16
Recap: Ichigo sighed and looked up when he saw Chad come in.
"Are you okay, Ichigo?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's get back to training. Maybe it'll take my mind off of what could have happened if they didn't stop me."
"It wasn't your fault."
Ichigo smiled in gratitude. "Thanks, Chad." After Ichigo finished saying his words, the two returned to training.
Ichigo and Chad had been training for the past couple of days inside Yukio's Invaders Must Die, PSP game console. Ichigo had worked on Chad's speed and agility first, since the man was already strong enough to make his arms go numb when he blocked an attack from the bigger teen. After that, they worked on putting both speed and power together behind Chad's attacks.
At this point, the half Japanese, young man was able to keep up with Ichigo while the orange-haired teen was in Shikai. Ichigo thought he should have Chad start dodging Getsuga Juujisho, but Shiro was quite insistent on making sure the fullbringers didn't know about it, and Muramasa, Zangetsu, and Kikoo all said that he shouldn't reveal all of his tricks, so no Muramasa Shikai, no Zangetsu Bankai, no hollow mask, and no quincy arrows.
The two teens had paused in their training to catch their breaths.
"I think we should take a break, Chad. How about ten minutes?" asked Ichigo. Before Chad could answer, the two heard Ginjo's voice.
"Actually, how about you guys go home and rest up for a few days? You have been training almost nonstop, only stopping to sleep, eat, and use the bathroom. You guys should rest up before you burn yourselves out." Ichigo couldn't help but agree with the leader of Xcution on that one. he was tired and his sisters were probably worried about him.
"Yeah, you're right," said Ichigo. "Chad should be able to handle Tsukishima should he attack him again." He didn't notice Chad's confusion at hearing about Tsukishima possibly attacking him. Ichigo then addressed his friend, "Is that alright with you, Chad?"
"Huh?" Chad voiced. "Oh...yeah, that's fine."
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Are you okay?"
Chad hummed before answering, "Yeah I'm fine. Just tired."
Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, if you say so. Let us out, Yukio."
When the two teens were let out of the game world, they said farewell to the rest of Xcution and left to go home.
"Hey, Ichigo, when do you think I could start training against your bankai?" asked Chad while he and Ichigo made their way home.
Ichigo thought about Chad's question before answering, "You just got used to my shikai. Bankai is ten times stronger than that, so you would have to be able to win a fight with me in full power shikai before Zangetsu says you're ready to start training against my bankai."
Chad was a little disappointed at learning this. He knew Ichigo was powerful, more so than most shinigami. So for him to be able to fight Ichigo and keep up with him while he's in shikai is an achievement all on it's own.
Chad opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. He wanted to ask about why Ichigo thought Tsukishima would attack him. Why did he think his own cousin, who had been with them throughout all their hard times attack one of them?
'Are you alright, Ichigo? Tsukishima is your cousin, isn't he? So why do you think he would attack me?' he thought.
They made it to Chad's apartment and said their goodbyes before Ichigo left to head for his house.
When Ichigo woke up the next morning, he ate breakfast and told his family that he was going to the forest. Before he left, however, he heard his dad say that he might not be there when the teen returned because he had a meeting to get to.
Ichigo called out, "Alright!" to let his father know he heard him. Now he just had to get to the forest, hopefully without people bothering him on the way.
When Ichigo got to the forest and entered the treeline, he ran into a black wolf with blue highlights within the fur. He knew this wolf. "Morning, Midnight Ice," he greeted.
The wolf bowed his head in greeting. "Hello, Ichigo. What brings you here?" he asked.
"I'm here for training. Do you know where I can go to do that?"
"What kind of training?"
"Bankai training."
Midnight thought about it, and then said, "I think I know just the place. Follow me." The wolf turned and jumped deeper into the forest. Ichigo ran close behind, not wanting to lose the intelligent, elemental animal.
After a bit of running, they entered a barren clearing. There were no trees and no grass. Ichigo had heard about this place from Tenebris, but had never been here to see it for himself.
"This is our fire training grounds," said Midnight Ice. "This has the most space, so you should be able to train for bankai more openly here."
Ichigo smiled and thanked him. He walked forward, about to start his training when Midnight's voice was heard again from behind.
"Why do you need to train for bankai anyway? I thought you already had it."
Ichigo turned back to the wolf and replied, "I do, but that's with Zangetsu. I'm training with Muramasa this time." As he said this, Muramasa's spirit entered the outside world.
The wolf studied the new being and nodded his acceptance. Ichigo knew that the dark being was just making sure that Muramasa was safe to let in and stay in the forest. "Come to the clearing when you're done. I would like to talk to you about Dark Dragon," said Midnight as ran off back into the forest.
Ichigo turned his focus to Muramasa and asked him how he wanted to do this training. As he listened, he couldn't help but think about how he found himself in this situation.
~Flashback~
"You want me to train for bankai?" asked Ichigo as he looked at his zanpakuto spirit, who had come out into the real world after the teen had entered his room.
Muramasa nodded to confirm. "Yes. I don't trust the fullbringers, as I'm sure you know by now. I think it would be best to train for it, in case we need the element of surprise."
"I might not be able to get it in time," Ichigo pointed out.
"That may be true," said Zangetsu, "but the quincy king will soon awaken, so training now might be for the best."
"Not only that, but the fullbringers don't know about my shikai," said Muramasa. "If you were to learn my bankai before you had to fight them, then you would have the upper hand and end them quickly."
~End of Flashback~
That was how Ichigo found himself dodging Muramasa's sword without a weapon. Muramasa's way of gaining bankai was by fighting and defeating him without the use of a sword, but rather using illusions. The whole thing was no easy task, since Muramasa knew how to get past most of said illusions. For Ichigo to win, he needed to be clever and creative with his illusions if he wanted to prove himself to the Zanpakuto spirit.
Ichigo had trained all day and spoke to Midnight as the sun was going down. They didn't talk much, just Midnight wanting to let Ichigo know that either tonight or tomorrow Tenebris would be awake and ready to leave her seal.
Well that was one good thing, Ichigo thought. Now he wouldn't have to worry about this new enemy being too problematic. No, but he would have to worry about the scolding that he feels he's going to get when she wakes instead.
"Since you had gotten my bankai, you would think you would have gotten Murmasa's faster," said Shiro Zangetsu, ignoring Ichigo inner turmoil.
'I just started the proper training,' said Ichigo. 'No one gets bankai in one day.'
Ichigo may have trained all day to gain bankai, but he hadn't succeeded yet. He doubted he'd get it before the end of Tsukishima, but hopefully he'll have it as a back up by the time the Quincy King returns.
"You have to remember, Shiro, Ichigo took 3 months to get our bankai," said old man Zangetsu.
"Fine, then he should be able to get it in 3 days!" exclaimed Shiro.
'I doubt it,' said Kikoo. 'I'd give it 3 months for him, if not longer.'
'Why's that?' asked Ichigo.
"You aren't training nonstop," replied Muramasa. "We are taking our time with training since we don't have to worry about the world blowing up, unlike last time."
'I guess you got a point,' said Ichigo.
"I still say you should be able to get bankai in less time than it took you to get ours. I'd say it will take...2 months."
'Is that your final answer?'
"Yes."
'My guess will be when the time is now. Such as when the quincy king shows up and gives me no choice but to learn it.'
'Isn't that how it always is for you?' asked Kikoo.
"It's always like that for him."
"What happens if in two months Ichigo gets my bankai like Shiro guessed, but also when it's the I-need-to-learn-this-now, like Ichigo guessed?" asked Muramasa.
"Then they both win," said old man Zangetsu.
'Or lose,' replied Kikoo.
Ichigo decided to tone the others down when his house came into view. He picked up the pace and entered through the front door. He called out, "I'm home," to his sisters. As he was taking his shoes off, he noticed another pair of shoes on the ground by his sisters' that were not his father's. Even if they were, Isshin would have dropped-kicked him by now.
"Welcome home, Ichigo," greeting Yuzu. "Come on, our cousin has finally come back to see us," she said.
'Our cousin?' Ichigo questioned silently. "Oh… You mean Uryu?"
"No silly, I mean our other cousin."
"I don't remember having another…" Ichigo trailed off when they got to the living room. Who he saw, sitting on the couch like he owned it, was Tsukishima. Ichigo felt an immediate red flag go off in his head.
"What do you mean you don't remember? I'm hurt, Ichigo. How could you possibly forget about little, old me?" asked Tsukishima.
"I'm sure Ichigo was just joking, Tsukishima. Right, Ichigo?" said Karin, who was sitting next to the dark haired man.
"Right…" said Ichigo, who was not taking his brown eyes off of the dangerous man in the room. "Yuzu, Karin, could I talk to our...cousin alone for a moment?"
"Sure, I need to finish dinner anyway," Yuzu said, who then left for the kitchen after speaking. Karin said she'd help set the table and followed her twin.
Once Ichigo was alone with his enemy, he demanded, "What are you doing here?"
TBC
Well, Tsukishima is there, and Tenebris is about to wake up soon. She is going to flip when she finds out what kind of trouble Ichigo had found himself in.
Also, Ichigo will get Muramasa's bankai, but I'll need suggestions on what it should be like and how it should look, because I have no idea right now. Also, should I or should I not give Ichigo Kikoo's shikai? I'm thinking I shouldn't, because he is already OP as is.
Shiro: Tenebris is going to kill us.
Ichi: Don't say that.
Shiro: She's going to kill us.
Ichi: No she won't, but she will be killing someone, and it WON'T be us.
Shiro: Okay, but she is going to make us wish we were dead.
Ichi: … That I can't deny, sadly. :(
Enj/Dark: Please review! ^-^
Shiro&Ichi: She is way too happy. T^T Yup, we're dead.
