Chapter 7: Decisive victory

Ichigo had gotten into a kendo stance as she stood here with her zanpakuto at the ready. The smirk on her face was unnerving to the shopkeeper as she held a dangerous look in her eyes. This wasn't the same Ichigo as before when she was in her original soul reaper form. That version of Ichigo seemed ready to fight to simply win and be done with a fight, but this version of her was different in not only looks and power. This Ichigo seemed to take some sort of enjoyment out of the idea of fighting right now. It reminded the shopkeeper of a certain spiky haired captain within the soul society right now.

"Are you ready Urahara?" Ichigo spoke up in a chilling tone.

Kisuke could practically feel the cold wind going up his spine right now with just that one simple question. He would have to act quickly as to avoid some unnecessary pain on his part. Recomposing himself, Kisuke started in his relaxed tone despite the many unknown variables he was facing right now. "Alright then Ichigo, I want to see just how strong you've gotten." He pointed towards his bucket hat and maintained his jovial expression. "If you can knock my hat off of my head, I'll continue to train you. What do ya say, Ichigo?"

Ichigo tilted her head a bit as she maintained that same unnerving look in her eyes. Kisuke was put off by how Ichigo didn't seem to react like how he assumed the headstrong teen would've at the thought of not being trained to save Rukia. This was a true mystery to the man as he still had no clue just how this 'new' Ichigo was in terms of personality and power.

Ichigo lowered her sword as she kept her eyes on the man. Kisuke got into stance, ready to test out the raw potential Ichigo has. What he was not ready for was the very ground under Ichigo to freeze the second her blade touched the ground. Seeing the black ice rushing towards him once more, Kisuke thought quickly and leapt to safety. At least he thought he did as the ice shot up into the air where he was Kisuke dodged the pillar as it reached the ceiling and began to freeze it as well. He was astounded by just what a mere touch of Ichigo's zanpakuto to the ground did.

He whistled a bit at just what he saw. "Wow there Ichigo, that shikai of yours is truly something else."

He then heard a small chuckle right behind him. Acting quickly, he turned and swung his blade, hoping to clash swords with the teen turned soul reaper, but all he caught was air. Looking around, he noticed Ichigo hadn't moved from her one spot and continued to smirk at him. Kisuke was at a loss.

'Did he just use shunpo just to get behind me and then move back?' He thought to himself. 'I know I'm a tad rusty, but even as I am now, I can keep up with Yoruichi and even see when she uses shunpo.' He continued to look down towards her. 'Unless he wasn't using shunpo at all.'

"What's wrong Urahara?" She spoke up once more from the ground, only to Kisuke, it sounded like she was right in front of him. "Do you need a break, or are you still assuming this is my shikai's power?"

Kisuke went wide eyed at the latter. Was this not Ichigo's shikai, and if so, how the hell does a sealed blade have so much power to it? He didn't get the chance to ask as Ichigo walked forward, slowly dragging her zanpakuto on the ground behind her. As she was doing so, more black ice began to form, thicker than before.

'Just what exactly is he planning?' Kisuke was at a loss still on just what Ichigo's zanpakuto could do, but he figured it was time to go on the offensive now.

"Okay then Ichigo." He started while still being high above. "I guess it's time I take this seriously. Wouldn't want my precious hat to be frozen solid now would I."

Ichigo still held that unnerving smile as she continued on, almost as if in a trance of sorts. Kisuke decided to test a working theory. He held his free hand forward and fired a red fireball from his hand right towards the black ice on the ground. The fire didn't get far as it was frozen solid the second it got close to the ground. Kisuke wasn't surprised at that since it was a low level kido, but it did prove his theory right about approaching the ice in any way. Trying to fight Ichigo would be difficult for him since he has to stay airborne and he could fire off those ice pillars from the ground at will.

'What if I turned the pressure up?' Kisuke thought as he released more of his spiritual pressure to see what would happen. It seemed to work slightly as the ice began to crack, causing Ichigo to stop in her tracks. 'That seems to work, but for how long I wonder?'

Taking a chance, Kisuke descended to the ground, releasing even more pressure in the process. The ice cracked even more before shattering the second he touched down. Smirking at this small victory, Kisuke was prepared to take back control of the situation and test Ichigo's new zanpakuto out in full, but that smirk disappeared when he noticed Ichigo still smiling towards him. The fact that her ice was all but gone now didn't seem to phase her in the slightest. Kisuke was starting to worry as Ichigo seemed to know something he didn't. Whatever it was made the man cautious in his approach.

'I may need to end this quickly.' He thought to himself as he raised his blade into the air.

Ichigo stopped and watched as Kisuke began to power up an attack of sorts. The pressure he was releasing shattered the remaining black ice all throughout the training grounds and Ichigo could tell that he was deathly serious now. The odd thing about that though, was that she was actually excited about this next attack. She couldn't really place it properly, but this excited her to no end.

Tilting her head slightly, she watched as Kisuke continued to gather energy for his attack. With a smirk of her own, Ichigo raised her blade in the same manner as Urahara's and began to gather energy.

Kisuke went wide eyed at what he seeing. The energy Ichigo had was forming more black ice faster than he could destroy it with his reiatsu. The energy she was releasing was on par with what he was allowing himself to use for this attack right now. Ichigo's energy flared to life as black reishi began to circle around her, causing Kisuke to worry as her energy easily matched his now. Not willing to see just how far Ichigo could release, Kisuke reared back, watching as Ichigo did the same. The two stared each other down for a few seconds, gray eyes meeting lavender, before they attacked.

And attack they did.

Both waves of energy, one red the other pitch black, collided with one another, causing a large explosion within the training grounds that rocked the entire place. Tessai had managed to get out of the frozen shaft and had managed to shield the two kids as best as he could from the resounding explosion. The sheer power of the clash was nearly too much for the tall man, but the cold winds and ice were almost unbearable.

After a few minutes had past of dust and ice as well as the chilling wind surrounding the two combatants, everything eventually died down. Standing in front of each other were both a smirking Ichigo and chilled Kisuke as he could feel the black ice on various parts of his form. His hat had been frozen solid from atop his head and shattered after the smoke had cleared. The man was beyond shocked at just how powerful Ichigo's apparent sealed state was. If that was the case, then his shikai and bankai would be a true force to be reckoned with.

Ichigo was the first to speak after everything was cleared. "So Hat-n-Clogs," she started as she walked over towards the near frozen man with a normal smile on her face. "What do you think?"

Kisuke shook himself of the ice as best as he could only to notice that wherever the black ice was on his bare skin had actually changed his color. Most notably his arms as he did try to shield himself as best he could. They had gone from their natural color to a dark blue, almost like he had gotten frostbite of some sort. It would take some time but he would heal himself of this later one.

He looked toward Ichigo and saw that the boy turned female soul reaper didn't look or even act the same way he did during the fight. It was strange for the man as it felt like he was fighting a completely different person from what he had seen of Ichigo beforehand. Was this the affects of the soul imprint, or did this have anything to do with Ichigo's specific 'heritage'? The man had no idea and would need to tread carefully.

"W-w-well I-I-I-Ichigo, it seems you've d-destroyed not only my h-h-hat but also a g-go-good portion of my-my training gr-grounds." Kisuke said to her while trying, and failing, not to show that he was actually very cold right now.

Ichigo scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she now got a fairly good look at the place. There was a huge crater where their attacks met as well as several areas where ice had already reformed. What really caught her off guard though was the falling snow all throughout the grounds. Was that really all her in a sealed state? Guess his zanpakuto has more power than he initially thought.

"So what happens now?" Ichigo asked the now shivering man, feeling a bit sorry for him, but not by a whole bunch. He did throw her into a hole after cutting her soul chain and left her there with extremely vague instructions, so she was not feeling too too bad about his current predicament.

"T-t-tomorrow, w-we train." He stuttered out through chattering teeth. He couldn't feel his arms all too much thanks to the frostbite.

Ichigo nodded and decided to head out in her body since there would be no real reason as to stay here. She sheathed her blade and used whatever that speed technique was to reach the top of the ladder to the trap door. She still had no idea what to even call this technique as it wasn't like the shunpo that she knew about from Rukia's memories. Whatever it was, Ichigo had to experiment with it until it became second nature for her.

Ichigo mad her way out to the shop and noticed that their clash was a lot rougher than she thought. There were items strewn about all over the floor and even some shelves were toppled over. All Ichigo could do was sigh in embarrassment as she made her way to her living body only to hesitate. She knew that every time she was in her body, it felt uncomfortable, but who knows how it will feel now. Slapping her cheeks to psych herself up, Ichigo entered her own body and once he now opened his brown eyes, he could feel just how unbearable it felt. It was like trying to move with 100 pound weights, only they were all over your body. Not only that, but it felt incredibly difficult to breathe for him. Maybe getting into his body wasn't such a good idea in the first place.

Ichigo struggled just to stand up at first, but after a while to adjust to the constriction around him, he was starting to at least get a grasp on the movements. He stood up and took a breath before heading to the front door to leave. Just as he opened it, a black cat jumped onto his shoulder and stared deep into his eyes. Ichigo was too slow and too stiff at the moment to really avoid the cat, but he was able to at least shoo it off of him before heading out. The cat stood there with a surprised look in its golden eyes at all the damage done before heading down towards the training grounds. As soon as the feline touched down, it could see the dark snow and feel the cold all around.

"Kisuke!" It yelled out in a deep male tone, noticing that everyone was gathered around and checking on each other. The cat ran towards the group as they all noticed it. "Just what in the hell was all of that earlier?!"

"Wait a minute." Kisuke spoke as he was starting to get a bit warmer now being around everyone else. "Yoruichi, are you telling me that you felt our little clash above?

The cat nodded before explaining how the shop looked. Kisuke was amazed to hear this. The training grounds were meant to withstand a captain class soul reapers shikai at most before any affects could be felt outside. The fact that Ichigo's sealed state could cause such a ruckus above was something to be both amazed by and fearful of.

This seems like the best place to end this chapter. Man it feels good to have free time now that I've graduated from college. Expect more frequent updates at least a few times a week now.

The next chapter will have Ichigo and the gang heading towards soul society. I still haven't thought of a good calling for his shikai, but I'll figure it out later.

Stay awesome, stay safe, and as always...

PEACE!