~FIREFLY KNIGHTS~

Bleach Copyright Tite Kubo

Firefly Knights Copyright Illand Girl

'For those that need a Guardian.'

Chapter 10: Draw Your Sword

"Wow! Look at this super cool underground training facility! Kisuke Urahara you're amazing!" Kisuke fanned himself dramatically after we stepped down the ladder.

I stared at Kisuke, who grinned at me like I should've been in awe. A frown gripped at the corners of my mouth instead.

"You kinda ruined it for me." I admitted. Kisuke sighed, deflating as he walked away from me. I followed, curious about what we were going to be doing.

"Well, I suppose it is what it is," he hummed. The black cat was resting on a rock that Kisuke stopped by. It turned it's head and looked to the blond at the same time he looked at the cat. Then they both looked at me. "Well, since we're getting friendly, why don't you tell me if there's anything you don't understand that I've explained so far?"

What he had already 'explained' was... well it was a lot.

"I'm still wrapping my head around the afterlife, thanks." I admitted, thinking back to everything he had clarified. Hollows, Soul Reapers, Soul Society, how Hollows are made, and what happened to Ichigo the night his family was attacked.

Kisuke smirked, hiding it flimsily behind his fan.

"Funny, considering you've seen spirits your whole life." He teased, I grumbled and crossed my arms.

"I did, which I need to ask about," I looked at him with a frown. "What happened three years ago?"

He hummed, thinking as he stared at the brim of his own hat. When he looked back at me, he seemed puzzled.

"You mean you don't remember?" He mused, looking at me like I was a puzzle. I shook my head.

"I mean, I was a child, right? So maybe I just forgot, but I dunno- there's this memory I have. You're talking to someone named Hiroshi," I began, biting the side of my mouth. "But I don't remember why I'm there, though it feels pretty important..."

"Oh, that's pretty interesting. I was wondering if you could remember that night or not." He closed his fan and stepped away from the cat. In doing so he moved closer to me. I often forgot how tall Kisuke was, more than a head taller than myself. From the angle I could see him, his face was concealed in the shadow of his wide brimmed hat.

"You see that night was a bit of a catalyst. It's kinda complicated to explain, and a good chunk of it isn't my place to say, but that night you were attacked by a hollow." Kisuke began, watching me carefully. I nodded, listening intently.

"You don't seem surprised." He said slowly. I hesitated in telling him about the horned woman, and instead chose to shrug.

"Go on." I encouraged. Kisuke smirked, tapping his fan against his chin before continuing.

"When a living being is attacked by a hollow, normally it attempts to devour them, but sometimes an infection can occur. Depends on the hollow and it's strength compared to the soul. What happened that night was you were attacked, but it didn't kill you." He pointed his fan directly in the center of my chest. "Instead, it began to manifest inside of you. Essentially it was slowly hollowfying you internally. In theory, a hollow can be tempered down by a soul reaper if they can overpower them, but you do not possess any of these abilities. As such, we were certain you would be dead."

I stared at his wrist, slowly digesting his words.

"But I'm still here." I said calmly. Kisuke chuckled, pulling his fan back.

"Indeed you are. You did something I never would've thought possible as a human being, Naomi," he adjusted his hat with his free hand. "You conquered the hollow on your own."

My eyes widened. The cat chose that time to leap onto Kisuke's shoulder.

"Don't exaggerate it, Kisuke. You need to tell her the truth."

My eyes snapped to the black cat that had just started to talk. Not only talk, but in a deep voice that did not belong to such a tiny thing. Kisuke didn't look at all alarmed despite alerts ringing loudly inside my head.

My gaze darted rapidly between the two as Kisuke continued.

"Alright, maybe conquered is a bit of a stretch. But you did have an overwhelming amount of spiritual pressure that tamed it enough for me to seal away." Kisuke clarified. I finally gave up my shock and decided nothing was off the table anymore from the realm of possibility. I swallowed, trying to keep focus.

"Right, I have power... cool... what does this mean though? I mean having power and knowing how to use it are two separate things right?" I asked, staring at Kisuke again. He grinned.

"Precisely! Which brings us to the next topic at hand!" He raised his cane, revealing a skull in blue flames imprinted on the bottom. "It looks like the seal I made is breaking down. If we don't do something fast, you might actually become a hollow."

Without warning, he shoved the cane at my forehead. I flew backwards, barely landing on my feet. With a groan I rubbed my sore eyes and stared at Kisuke, about to cuss him out. He smirked and pointed down in front of him. I looked, freezing up.

My body laid between us.

A horrible hum filled my ears, a nausea I could only describe as overpowering and soul crushing consumed me then. I looked to my hands where steam was slowly escaping from my pores.

"I don't feel too good."

"You're asking a lot of her, Kisuke." Yoruichi said from her perch. Kisuke hummed, watching the girl explode with spiritual pressure from every pore. She was screaming, but the winds of the spiritual pressure dampened her cries immensely.

"This is just the residual energy pent up inside of her. Probably will help unclog her senses." He assured, though Yoruichi thought otherwise.

"This much of a release could cause her soul to give out and allow the hollow full control. You don't know what it will do."

Kisuke watched Naomi carefully, watching how her transformation was going. Yoruichi was right, he was asking the impossible of the girl. But the difference was he had seen her do it before. He smirked.

"I have a feeling that Naomi might show us a thing or two." He said whimsically. Yoruichi leapt off his shoulder, making her way to the ladder. She paused and looked back at Kisuke.

"When she is ready, send her to me." Was the last thing she said before leaving. Kisuke turned and watched as the horns appeared on Naomi's head. The wails had stopped, but the mask was only half formed on her face. She remained completely still, eyes entirely blank.

Her neck cracked when she snapped her head to face him. Urahara grinned, drawing his blade.

"Guess it's show time."

There was water everywhere.

I felt like I was drowning.

The water took all the life from me this time. I had no fight as I slowly sunk. She was there again, the horned woman. Was she the hollow Kisuke mentioned? Her eyes were shut as she drifted slowly in a current. I could see, upon further inspection, tethers wrapping around her. They stretched downwards and beyond what I could see. Some had snapped, others looked frayed. The closer I became, the less of a struggle I wanted to put up. I felt lulled and sleepy.

Her eyes opened; head tilting back to look at me. They opened further than they had last time we met. Her pale skin and green eyes sharp compared to the dark abyss that surrounded us. Her eyes shone in the dark, and as I felt myself lull further into sleep, she reached out for me. I reached slowly to her as well.

She disregarded my hand and went straight for my throat.

I choked, fighting the fatigue as something pulsed inside of my chest. My heartbeat gave such a powerful pump that it reverberated in the water.

Everything stilled as an ominous groan echoed in the depths.

The tethers snapped.

We were moving fast, I felt disoriented as I was shoved out of the water. Air burst into my lungs as we broke the surface and she let me go. I went flying back, expecting to fall back into the abyss, but the water slammed harshly into my back, knocking the air from my lungs again.

After a few moments of regaining my bearings, I finally sat up. My gaze fell to the woman, who was staring intently at her hands.

She looked different out of the water. Her hair was straighter than mine, all one long length and cut flat by her thighs, unlike mine that was swept back in waves and layered. Her eyes were much sharper in the light, and her skin far paler than mine. In the light I could make out the markings around her eyes. They were rimmed in black like cat eyeliner. Her horns were a steep contrast to the black hair, curving back like an antelope's, following the shape of her skull before pointing away at the crown of her head. They were small, but obviously bone. She was also dressed in the same attire I had seen Ichigo in, but all white. Her pale feet were bare.

Her gaze snapped to me. I jolted at the sensation that crept up my spine.

She lunged.

"Whoa!" I practically chucked myself out of the way. She turned and attacked again. I dodged and she hesitated; growling in frustration as she stared at her hands.

"So slow..." She muttered, then glared at me. "This is pathetic."

"What?!" I scrambled to my feet, glaring at her. "The hell you on about?! I don't even know what's going on and you're acting like I'm the pathetic one here?!"

"You are," her voice was hoarse from lack of use. It was deeper than mine, more menacing. It made me shiver. "Don't you know? This place is entirely your creation."

I paused, looking around.

"Don't take your eyes off me!"

I had to chuck myself out of the way as she struck. Water sprayed everywhere as I tried to keep on the balls of my feet. Every step made the weirdly solid water give ripple effects around us.

The hollow glared at me, squaring up. I prepared to dodge; her eyes narrowed.

"You are the one controlling me?" she asked, a growl in her voice as she took a step. Water rippled; I tensed.

"Disgusting."

She drew her sword and struck at me just like that time with the menos. I jumped out of the way but felt the sting of the blast nick my shoulder. I winced, falling onto the water with a splash. The blast created a massive tidal wave that flipped upwards into the sky above us. The hollow returned to her tall stance and looked down at me with a hatred I could literally feel on my skin.

"How is it that such a tiny, pathetic human can cage me? I do not understand you," she took another step. Water rippled towards me, the water from her attack finally coming down like a storm.

She struck again.

I dodged.

"I'm waking up," she looked at her hands, then to the end of her blade that had blood on it. Her gaze rose to mine then and I glanced down at the wound on my leg.

She was right. Her speed was increasing, and if I didn't figure out what to do, I was going to be diced up and devoured.

But what could I do?

I didn't

I didn't know what Kisuke was expecting of me. I've never been a particularly strong fighter. I wasn't delusional about it. I'm not like Ichigo, who would take on monsters and thugs and not bat an eye. I wasn't meant to have strong swings that could slice a hollow in half. Even as a child I mostly went for the surprise attack or Ichigo had to save my ass. Even in the one fight we had together, Ichigo was the one to attack, I just got that one thug off him. I knew that I had never been very impressive. I was always a liability in Ichigo's eyes. Which was so frustrating, because I wanted to be equal to him. I wanted him to depend on me, to rely on my support. He said he trusted me, but I knew deep down he didn't trust that I was strong enough to hold my own.

"There it is," she said, a smirk curving up the sides of her mouth. "You've realized, haven't you? There is no escape for someone like you. There is no victory, no counterattack. People like you have gotten this far on luck and other people's kindness."

She swung her sword to the side. It sliced through the water and created another massive wave that stretched above us. I felt my wet haired clinging to the sides of my head as my fists became balled up. She pointed her blade at me and gave a knowing smirk.

"You've finally realized..." She darted forward. "This is where you die!"

The water came down on us. It was cold, and the feeling of being lulled to sleep became stronger.

She was right. I didn't have any special powers. I wasn't a soul reaper or a powerhouse magical god. I was just Naomi.

Then why did you fight for Ichigo?

I hesitated.

"Momma? Who's that?" I asked, pointing to an orange haired kid across the daycare floor. He looked timid, stacking blocks and keeping to himself. Mom smiled when she saw him.

"I don't know, why don't you go and say hello?" She asked. I nodded vigorously, marching straight up to him. He looked startled when he looked up at me, smiling nervously.

"Uh-uh... hi?"

I looked him over. He was kinda goofy looking with big eyes and a pouty face, but his hair was so pretty I couldn't stop staring at it.

"Hi! I'm Naomi, what's your name?" I asked cheerily. The boy squeaked.

"I-I-Ichigo... N-Nice to meet you." He said shyly. I smiled, sitting down next to him without looking away.

"Wow! You have pretty hair Ichigo! I wish I had that hair colour!" I said, fighting the urge to reach up and touch it. Ichigo's cheeks turned bright pink, but a goofy smile broke out across his face. I felt my own cheeks turn pink as I giggled.

We played with the blocks for a while, until two older kids came up to us. We were both standing and admiring our block tower when one kid kicked it over while the other shoved Ichigo. He dropped onto his butt, looking startled. Tears welled up in his eyes, which surprised me.

One of the boys laughed while the other went to shove me next.

I turned demonic on him, throwing blocks at his head and tackling the other boy.

My mom was not impressed.

Despite that, despite the scolding she gave me by the doorway, it was all worth it when Ichigo came running up to me with a beautiful woman in tow. He was gripping her hand aggressively and looking at me.

"N-Naomi... thank you for standing up for me!" He said, turning to run and hide behind his mother. I blinked once, twice, then grinned.

"Of course! I always protect my friends!"

Then why did you fight for Ichigo?

I jolted, coming back to the present as the hollow charged. It seemed to happen in slow motion as I instinctively raised my hands up to defend. She made to stab at me, her blade going through my left palm.

Because he's my friend.

I shut my eyes, expecting a wave of pain, for it to go through and stab me in the head, something. But nothing came. I hesitated, then began to open my eyes.

Her blade had indeed gone into my left hand, but it hadn't stabbed it. Rather, it seemed to have gone into a hole from my left hand, all the way over to my right. My right palm, as it was, had been pointed at her chest.

Which meant she had, effectively, stabbed herself in the heart.

The hollow looked at me, then to the bleeding wound. She winced, a growl escaping her throat.

"Dammit." She said, coughing blood. As she tried to pull the blade out, I closed my palms. A cry escaped my throat as the blade cut into my skin, but I held out. She gave a tug, but I refused to move.

That I must protect.

"Let go!" She shouted. I didn't budge.

"I may not be a strong fighter," I leaned my right hand closer, pushing the blade deeper into the hollow. She let out a growl as a wave of energy burst from my palm and into the sword before pushing into the hollow. "But these hands... can still... protect!"

The blade slid out the back of her shoulder.

She coughed again, giving a short laugh as she let go of the sword. Her hands went limp as she glared at me.

I felt my breath go ragged and my vision waver for a second, but then it righted itself as I took a deep breath.

"I know it's futile, I know it's an uphill struggle," I felt the dripping of the blood down my hands. "But I can still defend my friends!"

She scoffed, falling backwards into the water. The blade slid out with a squelching sound as she slammed into the water. This time, there were no ripples as she slowly sank down. Her eyes never strayed from me.

"Best not get too comfortable," she whispered, a wicked smirk on her tired features. "You won't always have the nerve to hold me back. I'll be waiting for any chance to free myself...!"

She sunk into the water, and the surface stilled.

After some struggling, I removed the blade from my hands, and held it in my palm.

It was a silver blade with a black handle wrap, no guard, and a blue teardrop tassel hanging from the end of the pommel. The hilt became stained with my blood, before the droplets began to drip down into the water.

I mulled on what her words meant and watched her sink further into the abyss. I took a deep breath, then looked up to the sky.

In a blink I was out of that place and back into Kisuke's underground training arena. Which was startling considering he was coming at me with a red attack.

I screamed, raising the blade in my hands to guard. With a loud shnk noise the red strike swapped directions and returned to Kisuke. He side-stepped casually, then paused and stared at me.

I glared at him, frowning.

"What the hell was that?!" I snapped, looking between my arms and the green dressed man. Urahara grinned, looking mighty proud of himself.

"Oh good! I was beginning to think you weren't going to make it!" He cheered. It was then that I noticed his hat was gone, and several rips were in his outfit. I blinked, then looked at our surroundings.

Gouges and craters I didn't recall being there before were now all around us. Scorch marks sizzled in some places.

"What... what happened?" I asked, fighting back the urge to yawn. Kisuke smirked, walking up to me.

"While you were fighting the hollow internally somebody had to keep you busy out here. Not a big deal, you didn't continue to hollowfy after the initial stage either, which is impressive." I noticed a shallow cut on his cheek and was dying to ask him more questions. He beat me to it though and pointed down to the blade in my hands.

"Well, this is a curious turn of events." He said in a humoured tone. I raised the blade, looking it over once again. My hands had completely healed from that inner world I was in, but the blade still looked the exact same as before.

"So... what is this?" I asked, feeling a pulse come from the blade. Kisuke hummed, thinking out loud.

"Normally, a zanpakuto would arise because you've awoken your soul reaper powers. But considering you don't seem to have any I'm not entirely sure." He admitted. I frowned.

"How would you know if I have soul reaper powers?" I asked, curious. Kisuke looked down at the blade.

"Well, truthfully, I'm not sure if you do. Usually one's spiritual pressure would ascertain if you can even gain these powers... but there's a problem." He tilted his head to the side as if thinking.

"Normally, an asauchi would be required to gain a zanpakuto. They are, in the simplest terms, a blade made up of a fragment of your own soul. They express your true power. But in this case, you seem to have drawn this blade from the hollow within yourself. This doesn't make a lot of sense if I'm completely honest with you."

He grinned then, hiding behind his fan.

"But that's where all the fun comes in." Then he swung at me. I scrambled to evade his strike, forgetting I was holding a sword. I ran away from him some more, when he appeared directly in front of me with a dark look in his eyes.

"Naomi Sakurai, if you don't start defending yourself properly, I will take insult." His voice dropped an octave as he spoke, spooking me. He swung, and finally I raised my blade.

To my surprise, the attack bounced off my sword without any struggle. Kisuke looked intrigued.

"Curious ability. Looks like you're able to deflect attacks back at the attacker. Hm, but I wonder how long you can keep it up for?"

By the end of that training session, I was convinced Kisuke was actually trying to kill me.

I couldn't do more than deflect and dodge or side-step an attack. I didn't feel like I was meant to go on the assault at all either. But it seemed Kisuke didn't mind that as he corrected my footing and taught me bits and pieces as we went.

"You are definitely a defense type." Kisuke said, casually fanning himself from where he sat on a boulder. "From what I gather, that sword is able to block attacks that are sent your way, but it takes a huge toll on your spiritual pressure. Which is why that last one didn't bounce back."

As I laid motionless, Tessai- the giant who drugged me yesterday- continued to heal my shoulder. I glared from my flat-out position, looking upside down at Kisuke grinning behind his fan. The man definitely wasn't sorry.

I muttered under my breath a few curses, which Kisuke pointedly ignored.

"We'll start again tomorrow. You should get back in your body and rest up until then." Kisuke informed me. I felt my stomach grumble, and wondered when the last time I ate was.

Tessai helped me up and I achingly waddled back into my body. It felt weirdly cramped being back inside again, and I had to stretch to loosen my back out.

"Man, that's not a feeling I'll ever get used to." I muttered, heading for the ladder. Before I could leave the shop, a little girl called me over.

"Miss Sakurai, Mr Kisuke said I should make you something to eat. You can have a bath afterwards if you'd like." She said in a timid voice. I was surprised, and considered still walking home, but between my loud belly and my sleepiness I didn't think I had it in me to walk home.

Not to mention it was very dark outside. It had to be close to midnight.

Dinner was quiet as I was introduced properly to Jinta, Ururu, and Tessai. Kisuke sat next to me and looked like he hadn't broken a sweat all day. His hat had returned and while it looked a bit ruffled it was in one piece again. I wanted to scowl at him but bit my tongue and thanked them for the food.

"I'll admit, I didn't think we'd be doing this when you said you'd 'pull back the veil'." Kisuke looked over at me mid-bite. He hummed, then swallowed.

"I'm not surprised. But I figured the best method to get you moving was throwing the gauntlet at you and see what sticks." He admitted, reaching for some more food. I raised a brow.

"But why? What reason would you have for it?" I asked, curious and suspicious. Did this have to do with that Hiroshi guy? Kisuke finished swallowing and paused, before looking over to me.

"You really wanna know?"

His straight-forwardness caught me off guard. I stilled, then composed myself.

"I do."

It started to rain by the time Kisuke and I stepped out of the shop.

Needless to say, I hadn't been expecting Kisuke to take me outside. Much less was I expecting him to show me Rukia being escorted by two men. Uryu and Ichigo both seemed to be trying to stop them. Despite putting up a decent fight, Ichigo was eventually taken down by the guy with black hair and Uryu was down as well.

My heart stuttered as I took a step towards Ichigo's prone form. Kisuke put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from going towards them.

"If you move now, you'll both be killed." he said sternly. I glared at him, but in the time it took to turn and look at him Rukia had left with the two men. Kisuke let go of me and I raced up to Ichigo. I jumped the sidewalk guard and landed next to him.

"Ichigo!" I cried, hands hovering over him and uncertain what I should do. Kisuke walked up at a much more casual pace. The carrot top laid his head on the ground, turning it to look at me.

"N-Nao...?" His voice sounded weak; his whole body wasn't moving. He closed his eyes shortly after, not making another sound. I put my fingers to his cheek and found him cold to the touch. I felt panic run through me as I stared at the trail of blood and the broken hilt beside him.

"Relax, he's not dead yet." Kisuke said, arriving next to me. I sat motionless for a moment, then glared up to Kisuke.

"Why did you show me this?" I asked, pulling off my jacket to rest it under Ichigo's head. My fingers slowly trailed over his body to find his wounds. "Why would you make me stand there and watch?"

"Because you needed to understand what is happening," Kisuke explained, then he grabbed my hands to stop my search. "I've got him, go and check on the other guy."

It was then that I remembered Uryu, but by the time I turned to call to him he was already standing up.

"I uh- don't worry about me," Uryua said, looking ashamed. "Make sure you take care of Ichigo."

He looked shaken, but after insisting he was fine he left us and went home. I was then turned back to the problem at hand, only to find Ichigo slung over Kisuke's back.

"C'mon," Kisuke held his umbrella out to me. "Give me a hand will you?"

I numbly took the handle, carrying it while watching Ichigo the entire way back to the shop.

Tessai rushed to heal him, revealing his wounds were worse than Kisuke led me to believe. I glared at him the entire time, even across the table with a steaming cup of tea in my hand. Tessai returned.

"Ichigo will make a full recovery." He declared. A knot in my shoulders released immediately, but my glare never subsided from Urahara as he requested Tessai alert him when Ichigo woke up. Tessai left, meaning Kisuke and I were alone once more. Kisuke watched me, hiding behind his fan.

"So have you understood why you had to see this?" Kisuke asked, I scowled.

"No, I don't understand why you'd make me watch Ichigo nearly die and do nothing about it." I snapped, scowling. Kisuke hummed, then snapped his fan shut and made a shooing motion.

"Then let's go to the training grounds and I can show you." he said, his voice stern. I marched there, waiting impatiently for him at the bottom of the ladder. He pushed me from my body and then glanced at my waist.

"Where's your sword?" He asked. I blinked, realizing it wasn't with me. I searched myself and found nothing of the sort. That didn't stop Kisuke though as he suddenly swung at me. I dodged, groaning at the soreness, but Kisuke wasn't playing around like before when he humoured me between strikes. He meant business this time, and I was nearly left stumbling over my own two feet. I finally did trip and fall when he shoved me, and felt a panic quickly rise as he went to strike.

As if on instinct I felt the thudding of the hollow rise to the surface. My hand closed around his zanpakuto, holding it in place. It didn't cut my skin like I expected it to. Whatever happened seemed to satisfy Kisuke as he yanked his blade away with enough force to lightly cut me.

"You've let the hollow resurface."

I blinked, confused when he meant. He stared at me blatantly, then slowly raised his blade to tap the flat side of it on my skull. It made a sound as if hitting something solid. I reached up and felt the tiniest of horns sprouting from my head.

"But- I didn't-" I heard laughter in the back of my mind and imagined I shoved her head underwater. The laughter silenced. Kisuke gauged me carefully as I felt my head, finding it horn free once more.

"It seems like your spiritual pressure is much larger than I initially thought." Kisuke admitted. I tilted my head to the side, curious. "It's impossible to gauge since I can't sense it at all."

I hummed.

"Uryu said the same thing." I admitted, getting up from the ground. "He said he initially thought I had no spiritual pressure until the incident with the menos."

"I believe something inside of you, quite possibly the hollow itself, is deflecting any invading spiritual pressures around you, and in turn hiding yours from being detected." He hummed. "No, that's not right, when you took on the menos with the hollow inside of you, it's spiritual pressure was pretty obvious."

"What if there's something else hiding it?" I asked, curious as I stared at my palms. "I did something weird in that other world, maybe it has something to do with it?"

That piqued Kisuke's interest.

"What do you mean?"

I held out my palms, showing them to him.

"I defeated the hollow by allowing her to stab one of my palms. Her blade appeared in the other." I explained. Kisuke hummed, thinking quietly again. After a moment of silence, I lowered my hands and looked him in the eye as he spoke.

"Regardless, my point is that your spiritual pressure is actively holding that hollow in check. It doesn't appear to be affected by your stamina, rather it is affected by your emotions." Before I could ask what he meant, Kisuke continued. "Truthfully, had you not been able to contain the hollow actively during today's lesson, I might've had to seal it back up and sent you on your way."

He pointed his blade at me again.

"But you were able to control it despite going to near exhaustion. That means whatever energy is actively holding back the hollow is not currently at your disposal, so you can train and tire without worrying yourself. However, the moment you felt cornered, you immediately relied on the hollow inside to protect you." He lowered his blade as I kept eye contact with him.

"This reliance is a double-edged sword. It might seem simple at first, but a tamed hollow is still a hollow. Don't think for a second that it wouldn't devour you if given the chance. Slowly but surely, your fear and doubt will feed it, until it consumes you." Kisuke sheathed his blade, then fanned himself again.

"In order to prevent your reliance, you'll have to learn to depend on your own strength," he said calmly. "You had to see what will happen if you continue down this path and insist on being part of this. This isn't a game, if you lose, you die. What's worse, if you lost control in front of people like them? You'd be slaughtered, and Ichigo would go down trying to rescue you. So, Naomi, do you still want to be a part of this story?"

Despite Kisuke's condescending words, it weirdly made me feel empowered. While it was clearly a warning, it also told me exactly what I needed to hear. I didn't doubt Kisuke had some sort of ulterior plan in play. In fact, he seemed to be prepping both Ichigo and me for something big. He clearly knew more about what was happening with me than he let on, but also seemed just as fascinated with learning more about my abilities as I was.

What was more, I highly doubted that Kisuke was the type of man to waste his time on someone who was entirely incapable of succeeding. Meaning I had the ability to wield this power if I tried hard enough.

I had the chance to stand equal with Ichigo.

The corners of my lips lifted into a slight smirk.

"Now more than ever." I said confidently. Kisuke watched me for any signs of wavering, before chuckling lightly to himself.

"Well then, we shouldn't waste a good training session, should we?"

IDK why I make chapter outlines at all. I went full send on this and just went with the flow. Some of it feels stiff to me but that's probably because i wrote it. Regardless, I'm happy this chapter is done.

I'm hella curious whomst in soul society that you think Naomi would get along with? I have my head canons but I'm very eager to get there. Naomi's is, in my eyes, a teddy bear with a spiked collar. She's not necessarily tough but kinda scary at the same time haha.

Anyway, thank you to Cinnabae for the review, I love them truly. Reviews honestly make me want to keep writing.

Ok, I'm super tired, thanks again for reading, hope to see you in the next chapter. And again, I cannot see if anyone interacts with this story other than via reviews so... please review so that I know people are reading? Thanks.

Cheers,

Iland Girl