motivation

Ichigo stood before the central chambers, the final, absolute authority of soul society short of the king himself and if history was any indication the king was more than happy to let them do as they pleased. Ichigo knew they couldn't force him to step down from his position as the next soutaicho but he also knew they could make his life very, very hard.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, we trust you know why you have been summoned?" an old voice hidden in the dark said.

"Well, I'm afraid not. I don't think I've broken any major laws recently" Ichigo replied. He knew aggravating them was a bad idea, but he wasn't going to let them push him around either.

"You have been brought before us because you dared to take up the position of soutaicho in training without our consent and after you have broken a plethora of our laws." another voice rang out.

"Well first off, I don't need your permission to do that. Second, I was pardoned for all of that by soutaicho Yamamoto because of heroism during the war." Ichigo replied

"The central chambers are the absolute authority of the soul society, not the man at the head of the military." the first voice spoke

"Normally no he's not, but if you remember the soul society was under martial law for the duration of the war. Concerning my new position, I only needed the approval of the soutaicho and six other taichos as well as the support of the nobility. I have permission from all required parties. Also you seem to be forgetting something; you're NOT the highest authority here. That would be the king. People would have some problems if you were to suddenly try and supplant him" Ichigo corrected in as serious tone as he could manage. His reply was met with silence. Ichigo turned to leave before someone spoke again.

"You have not been dismissed Kurosaki Ichigo" Ichigo recognised it as to first voice that had spoken.

"I'm under no obligation to be here in the first place. Because of my position in training I have the same rights and responsibilities to men as the soutaicho himself. May I remind you that the head of the military can only be forcibly summoned before the central chambers by a decree signed by all 46 members and I got a look at the message, it only had 20 at most. May I also remind you of the mistakes and corruption of your predecessors? When Aizen killed them no one was in a rush to reinstate the next group, namely yourselves. I beg you not to make their mistakes again. Since not even half of you had a big enough problem with me to sign a bit of paper, I have high hopes that you won't and that we can work together. After all, the government is there to serve the people they represent and the military to protect them and their interests. As we are a group that not only serves multiple dimensions but billions of people, we cannot let something as trivial as infighting weaken us, the stakes are far too high. Now excuse me, I have more to learn in the next few months than most Shinigami learn in several years so I won't be able to spare the time to appear before you for anything short of a full summons of a crisis." Ichigo replied before leaving. He truly hoped he had gotten his point across. The 46 members of the counsel were silent for some time after he left each lost in their own thoughts, some could not help but truly take his words to heart but inevitably, others did not.

"Good work in there." Yamamoto congratulated Ichigo as they met to discuss the previous meeting. "I'm glad to see that my advice to be formal with them was followed."

"I'm not about to ignore the advice of someone who's been dealing with corrupt officials for over 2000 years when I have no experience at it myself." Ichigo replied "But I don't think all of them are out for themselves, only about half if I was to take a guess."

Yamamoto nodded "Some would have said and done nothing so far so you keep your guard down around them and some would have only signed the document out of a feeling of slighted pride that someone could take our office without their approval."

"Did you have their approval when you became the soutaicho?"

"No, the central chambers didn't exist then. I was appointed by the king himself."

"Umm wow, that's a long time for a guy to go without being seen" Ichigo replied in astonishment.

"Yes, the king has very important tasks that he cannot leave for even a second. His authority is absolute but he is almost completely incapable of using it. Contact with the royal family is almost non-existent, bar a decree or summons every few hundred years." the old man answered "But you can be assured that each action he takes is taken with the utmost care for the people under his rule and with his sights set on as wholesome a future as he can manage." Yamamoto said. "Come, we will continue this conversation in our lesson together. It is something you need to know if you are to be a leading member of the soul society."

"Ahhhhh, I never should have listened to Shiro-chan. who knew a taicho had to know so much?!" Hinamori complained "The guy can barely control his reiatsu, do we really need to be able to teach him kido spells 70 and up? You and I can ONLY JUST CAST THEM!"

"We will simply have to make do, to be truthful we would be better off starting in the 90s but that's well beyond us." Rukia replied.

"90s!" Hinamori shrieked "But, but what's the point of teaching him high level kido in the first place? He's got that getsuga tenshou thing of his." the small girl continued, making a downward swinging motion with her arms, "Will he even use what we teach him?"

"I'm sure he will. You're comparing him to the 11th division, who rely only on their Zanpakuto and only if it's a melee type. For all the similarities they may have to Ichigo, he is very different. He uses every tool he can get his hands on, at first he was afraid of his inner hollow but as soon as he realised it was crippling his ability to fight and protect he sought out a way to control it, he then used that hollowfication in battle even though all of his friends were either afraid or wary of him in the beginning when he did. I'm sure he will use the things we teach him, kido has several differences to his getsuga tenshou such as elemental attributes like fire and lightning, and it also allows him to do things like bind his foes, communicate over long distances, place barriers..."

"Alright, alright I get the point but 90s level kido sounds a little extreme."

"I talked to Ukitake-taicho and he said that the higher the kido is the more reiatsu it takes to cast. With ichigo's power being above a taicho's level it stands to reason that the stronger the spell the easier it will be for him to learn." Rukia replied.

"But the higher the level the more complicated it is, or did you forget that part?" Hinamori asked in exasperation.

"No, but I must admit to hoping he will be able to understand it the same way he understands every other aspect of being a Shinigami."

"And how does he do THAT?"

"I would pay through the nose to find out, but we are getting off track and we only have a few days to figure this out." Rukia said stopping the conversation.

Hinamori replied with an increasingly familiar groan.

Byakuya had a small, almost unnoticeable smile on his face. He had just spent the last few hours after the meeting brushing up on his shunpo. He was pleased to find his training over the past year and a half was paying off; the boy would be in for a surprise when it was time for them to train together. Though something told him he wouldn't be the only one with a surprise for the young man. Training Ichigo Kurosaki was an activity the gotei 13 had taken to with gusto, possibly to an excessive extent, on his way back he had seen his sister and fuku-taicho Hinamori working on spells well beyond their regular level and Komamura-taicho in a sparring match with a mixture of eleventh and second division members. The large man had been taking on, and laying waste to, all comers that used a mixture of zanjutsu and hakuda. The new drive to improve wasn't limited to the Shinigami's upper echelons; the rank and file at all levels had started working like never before. The gotei 13 had lifted its game after their all to close defeat at the hands of Aizen Sosuke, but never to this height. Every man, woman, and in some cases, child wanted to show they were worthy of Kurosaki's time and effort. Every one of them looked up to the taichos as the ultimate of what a Shinigami could be and no one had really considered that there could be a higher level of power, Kurosaki Ichigo had not only proved this existed but gone on to SHOW everyone that it was obtainable. Aizen had used the hogyoku to increase his power to an unprecedented level, and Ichigo had surpassed him through brutal training and a deep understanding between himself and his Zanpakuto without the aid of some mystical rock. The limits Aizen had seen on every aspect of life had not only been proven false but were completely shattered. Everyone's view of what was possible and what wasn't had shifted, if he could do that with bankai then maybe more could be done with shikai or an asauchi than anyone had thought. Every person in the Seireitei wanted to show that man, who had achieved bankai in three days and mastered it in under a year. That man who had dared to challenge the power of the Seireitei with a mere four comrades against thousands and won. That man who continued to change and grow in power and wisdom without losing who he was to it, that every one of them where worthy of the unquestionable effort he had and would continue to put forth for them, they were determined that when that man handed down his command none would be found lacking. Byakuya could only compare it to going into battle next to the old soutaicho himself, it was the knowledge that he would never ask anything of you that he would not ask thrice of himself, knowing that come victory or defeat, he would be in command to the last, and that when the troops grew tired or could not face the foe and hope to live, he would take to the field and sweep the enemy aside himself. Byakuya sent out his senses to find out what the source of this new found motivation was doing, and was not surprised in the least to find that, even with a few weeks before training even started that he and Yamamoto had already begun their first lesson together.