CHAPTER 45: TRAINING! YAY!

Sunlight streamed into their room, which had previously been pitch black due to the night. The warmth of the sun managed to find its way to Tayomi, as it created a tingling sensation on her bright pink cheeks. Her eyes somehow managed to detect the presence of sunlight and her body immediately knew that the sun had risen. It was no longer night, but day. Forcing herself up and letting out a tiny yawn, Tayomi stretched herself. She did not exactly have a very good sleep, tossing and turning throughout the night. She slammed her hands back down onto her bed, tempted to ignore everything and just go back to sleep. However, instead of hitting against the soft, springy bed, her hands smacked something hard. Slowly looking down, she realised that she had smacked Hitsugaya by accident...

Oh no. He's going to wake up and kill me!

To her astonishment, Hitsugaya simply turned and continued to sleep. His hair was extremely messy and she knew that she was not the only one who had quite a rough night. Evidently, he had trouble sleeping peacefully as well. The two of them had stayed up to chat through the night, since they were unable to fall asleep. When they finally felt sleepy and decided to keep quiet, it was already two in the morning. Tayomi wondered how she wuld survive a day of harsh training with only four hours of sleep. Running her fingers through her hair with one hand, she used the other hand to gently shake him, hoping he would wake up. As she expected, he was still deep in slumber. She shook her head and laughed, before hopping over him to head to the bathroom and wash up. After that, she hopped back to the bed and stared at Hitsugaya for a moment, before attempting to wake him up.

"Susu-chan... Wake up..." She smiled.

"Hm..."

"Wake up... We have training to do..."

"Sakuri..." He mumbled, still half-asleep. "I want to sleep..."

"WAKE UP!" Tayomi screamed in his ear.

Hitsugaya woke up with a start, nearly rolling off the bed. Tayomi giggled, kissing him on the cheek gently.

"Are you awake now?"

"Yeah..." Hitsugaya smiled. "I think I am."

Tayomi sat down on the ground of Urahara's underground training facility. She decided that Urahara's facility was quite worth the money after all. The area was huge, with a suitable number of obstacles for combat training. As a Shinigami, they had to able to fight under any conditions, whether the battle field was an open area or an area with all sorts of objects getting in the way. It was a minute to the time their training was to start. Tayomi clicked her tongue as the watch continued ticking. At that moment, all the other Shinigami, along with Orihime, Ishida and Chad came rushing into the facility, practically rolling down the steps of the ladder. Hitsugaya grumbled and huffed, while Tayomi simply laughed and got up. They were almost late and Hitsugaya was about lose his cool. She walked over to him and hugged him from the back, effectively calming him down. He simply shook his head and started the training. Urahara chuckled and Yoruichi grinned as they watched the training take place, sitting on a tall rock, several metres away from where Tayomi was. Running his fingers through his hair, he ordered all the Shinigami to run around the whole of Karakura Town ten times, using Shunpo and without stopping.

"TAICHO!" Matsumoto cried dramatically. "He's MAD!"

"Toushiro..." Ichigo grumbled.

"Don't complain, Ichigo," Yoruichi spoke sternly, with a smirk on her face. "Hitsugaya Taicho managed to do that, while carrying Tayomi Taicho on his back..."

"WHAT?" Damn, Toushiro is one crazy kid...

"He did!" Tayomi beamed. "It was FUN! Heh heh... So you all can start now!"

Everyone glanced at one another, wondering what they should do.

"START NOW!" Hitsugaya screamed.

"YES! OKAY! ALRIGHT!"

They all climbed up the ladder and went off on their rounds. Hitsugaya sighed and she ruffled his hair. He looked at her for a moment, before putting his arm around her and resting his head on hers. Tayomi glanced up at him and put her arm around his waist, smiling and assuring him that they would manage to get it done somehow.

Ten minutes later, everyone returned, panting and out of breath. Tayomi smiled and announced that they would be split into two groups and practise Kido with her, or upgrade their combat skills with Hitsugaya. She dragged Rukia, Orihime, Renji and Matsumoto to her side, while the rest of them went to Hitsugaya's side. Renji almost choked due to the shock. He had always been a failure at Kido and now they were about to make him practise it. Shaking his head in despair, he sighed and hoped he would not do too badly. The training facility was divided into half and the two groups began to practise on their own.

Targets had already been lined up against the walls of the cliffs. Turning to face them, Tayomi explained that they had to destroy as many targets as they could within five minutes. For Orihime, she would not use Kido, but use Shun Shun Rikka instead. Orihime smiled and nodded, completely agreeing with the fact that she needed practice with her attacks. Rukia would go first, followed by Matsumoto, Renji and Orihime. Rukia stepped up to the front and began firing Kido spells endlessly, chanting the incantations and destroying target after target. Tayomi smiled, pleased with Rukia's standard. Matsumoto's standard was acceptable, as she was able to fire quite a number of Kido spells without incantation. Renji, as everyone else expected, was not exactly up to standard. Most of the time, his Kido spells backfired and damaged him, instead of the target. The damage Orihime dealt with Shun Shun Rikka was considerable alright, though Tayomi felt there was definitely room for improvement. Orihime suggested that Tayomi try it out as well and she agreed. The four squirmed in excitement as Tayomi began to fire the spells incessantly. The levels got higher and higher, ranging from Hado 31 all the way to 91.

After an hour, they got together again and announced that they would be sparring with one another. Tayomi twirled a strand of her hair round her finger, instantly reminded of her school days with him. The other Shinigami persuaded Tayomi and Hitsugaya to spar against each other, wanting to see a friendly match between two child prodigies. Hitsugaya smirked, telling them that they had intended to do so from the start. However, Tayomi would be using only her Shikai and her Kido, while Hitsugaya would use his Bankai and would not be allowed to use Kido. They smiled at each other, excited to spar with each other after such a long time. The feeling was nothing but nostalgic. He released his Bankai and she released her Shikai, causing a cold and electrifying feeling to surge through everyone's veins. Seeing two Captains fight was a rare opportunity. With their Zanpakutous gripped firmly, they charged towards each other and a deafening crash was heard, as their blades clashed with brute force.

"Susu-chan!" Tayomi squealed.

"Hm." Hitsugaya simply smiled at her.

The rest of them raised their eyebrows as they watched the fight unfold in a strange way. It did not feel like a battle at all. Instead, it felt as if the two of them were playing around with each other. Ichigo was too shocked to speak, as he discovered another side to Hitsugaya which he was never aware about. Seeing Toushiro being anything but serious... The image and feeling just doesn't feel right at all...

"Alright, let's get serious." Tayomi smiled, her expression suddenly turning serious. "Hado 33, Sokatsui!"

A huge, blue burst of spiritual energy was fired straight at Hitsugaya. He raised his eyebrows and dodged neatly. Her spell was fired with such power and speed, yet he knew that she was not going all out at him. It was simply terrifying to imagine how strong her Kido would have gotten after all these years. Ever since she was a student, her skill in Kido would have already surpassed an average Shinigami's in the Gotei 13. Judging by her skills, he preferred not to imagine how strong she was not. He sent numerous ice dragons at her and she avoided every single one of them, without a hint of worry or panic on her face. Jumping up and flying towards her, he attempted to aim his blade at her. Tayomi noticed that at quickly raised her arm, using Bakudo 8, Seki, against him. A large round shield was produced near her wrist, protecting her from his sharp blade. Rukia gasped, realising that Tayomi's Bakudo spell was strong enough to defend herself from the blade of the strongest ice-type Zanpakutou. He smirked and used Ryusenka. Not expecting that at all, Tayomi's eyes grew wide, but quickly dodged it. Shaking his head, he quickly swung his blade, using Guncho Tsurara and sending a series of ice daggers at her. Tayomi reacted, swinging her blade as well and using Datsu against him, sending her lightning darts against him. Jumping upwards and with proper aim and precision, she landed smack on Hitsugaya, letting out a tiny giggle.

"You shouldn't be caught off guard in such a situation, don't you think?" She laughed, hugging him as they both fell on the floor.

"Yeah." Hitsugaya nodded. "I shouldn't."

He helped her up and they gazed at each other for a moment, ignoring Matsumoto's squealing and cheering in the background. They shot everyone else a look, hinting to them that they should start sparring with one another. Ichigo managed to take the hint and immediately ran off with Ishida, Renji and Chad. Shaking his head, Hitsugaya sighed. Everything was still the same. They still needed to be prompted to shake their laziness off and start training. Tayomi nodded at him and watched everyone else spar. It certainly felt peaceful, just like a normal day in Soul Society.

At the end of the day, everyone sat together in a circle, eating dinner at Urahara's shop. Yoruichi had transformed back into a cat and sat on Tayomi's lap. Tayomi stroked her fur and wondered if Yoruichi would lash out at her all of a sudden. Hitsugaya glanced at her, wondering what she was thinking of. He had a feeling that the battle with Aizen was drawing closer by the second. Tayomi looked at him, with the same feeling in her heart. Somehow, she felt, she knew that they would be clashing with the New Espada soon and that it would be a rough battle ahead. A battle that they would hopefully survive. A battle that they would hopefully emerge victorious in. Hitsugaya put his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead. The battle was definitely looming in the shadows.

Author's Note:
Yup the battle against the New Espada IS going to start! :D We'll start off with the Fraccion's battle... It will be *chokes* hilarious.
So next chapter, we shall head back to Soul Society and keep Aizen's Fraccions' hands off our territory! XD
Sorry this chapter wasn't as nice as other previous chapters, halfway I ran out of possible sttuff that could happen during training T.T
But the next few chapters is ALL-OUT BATTLE :D
Hope you all enjoyed the story so far :D Please review! Thanks! ^.^ You can make guesses on which Fraccion will fight who :)