Stark White Chaos - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Arashi sat across from Kisuke and Yoruichi with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. He refused to accept Yoruichi's claim that he was pouting, no matter how many times Yoruichi insisted he was. It was a manly scowl, dammit!

He'd just finished explaining almost everything he knew about the gacha. He'd refrained from using the word 'system' or any mention of past lives. Otherwise, he'd explained everything else. Any attempt to outright lie to the pair had been immediately called out, forcing him to have to step carefully in some of his explanations.

Now the pair seemed to be silently digesting what he'd explained to them.

-----Line Break-----

She knew it! She'd been right! Yoruichi was feeling supremely smug about her previous belief that Arashi was more interesting than Ichigo! Suck on that, Kisuke! She'd never doubted that Ichigo had a lot of potential. Given his bloodline, it was impossible for him NOT to have good potential. But this?! A power that could pull powers, items, abilities, and skills not just from thin air, but from OTHER REALITIES?!

It was a level of bullshit that made other bullshit like a Quicy Shinigami hybrid look tame in comparison. They theorized there might be more in Ichigo, but they had no real concrete evidence yet.

But Arashi? Ohhhhh, the things he might be capable of boggled the mind! Just what he currently had made him a ridiculous existence that Central 41 would likely order executed before he could grow in power. The power to constantly grow stronger in battle wasn't uncommon. Frankly, all of her greatest breakthroughs had come during either live combat or brutal combat training. But that was always after she'd trained for quite a while.

Arashi though? He would just constantly grow stronger as long as he fought stronger people.

She couldn't wait to get into a spar with him. How quickly could he grow? How strong could he get? Just what kind of monster would he become if he were thoroughly trained by her and Kisuke? She wanted to know badly.

Her muzzle twitched as she suppressed some laughter at her sudden thought of introducing Arashi to the current Kenpachi. The man was a complete muscle head, but he was powerful and could definitely push Arashi to grow rapidly.

There was more to it than just her curiosity, though. She never forgot their mission, and things had already been put in motion. When did the first plan ever properly succeed, though? She had hope Kisuke was right, and things would work as he planned, but she was always preparing for the worst. Which, in this case, could be as bad as needing to invade Soul Society. Obviously, that was a worst-case, desperate scenario, and she doubted it would come to that.

Still, having another powerful fighter on their side could come in very handy. She turned to look at Kisuke and gave him her patented Smug Mug #21. She saw when he caught her look and the scowl he hid behind his fake smile. She'd told him Arashi was the more interesting one, and he'd dared to doubt her! HA!

With his attention on her, she spoke, breaking the silence that had fallen after Arashi had stopped talking, “Kisuke, he needs to be trained.”

Those few words conveyed a lot of hidden meaning behind them. She could see the gears spinning in his mind as he ran through who knew how many plans, calculations, and contingencies in a matter of seconds. He opened his fan and hid the lower half of his face to keep Arashi from seeing the hideously creepy smile on his face.

Yeah, Kisuke had found his new project.

Well, on the bright side, if Arashi survived, he'd be lots stronger by the end!

-----Line Break-----

Kisuke studied Arashi from behind his fan. The boy was... impossible. A nobody who had suddenly turned into a potential somebody. Given time, it was possible the boy could surpass even THAT being in power. Scary, yet interesting.

More importantly, it gave Kisuke another tool to use against Aizen. One potentially even stronger than he expected Ichigo could grow to become. He hadn't shared his suspicions about Ichigo's true potential with anyone, though he expected Aizen had some idea of it as well. But Aizen wouldn't have even the smallest clue about Arashi.

Not until it was far too late, anyway.

Yoruichi was one hundred percent correct. Arashi needed to be trained in every aspect of being a Shinigami. With help from Tessai and Yoruichi, he was certain they could turn Arashi into one hell of a shinigami.

The fact that training him would also keep him close and easily give Kisuke access to anything the boy 'rolled' from his strange power was just a side benefit, obviously. Why would a scientist like him be interested in strange new magical items like the necklace that granted its wearer regeneration during the day?

Okay, maybe the sarcasm in his own mind was getting to be a bit much, but the point stood. He couldn't let the kid out of his sight. It wasn't all for greedy reasons, though. Power had a tendency to corrupt people, and he couldn't risk Arashi turning into the second coming of Aizen just because he got lucky and pulled a godly ability from his power. He needed Arashi to remain close to ensure he walked the right path.

He fixed the smile on his face and snapped his fan closed, his thoughts having only taken a moment, “You're absolutely right, Yoruichi.”

He watched Arashi perk up at the idea and continued, “First, we'll need to turn him into a proper Shinigami if he's going to be running around using a Zanpakuto.”

Arashi looked confused and asked the obvious question, “What does that mean?”

“It's simple, really; it means making it possible for you to leave your living body as a spirit, without dying. Similar to what happened earlier, but without the chain. While I can't speculate how strong your living body can become due to 'Battle Growth', I can say, for certain, that if you're going to continue to fight Hollows, it would be best if you did it in a way normal humans can't perceive. We wouldn't want you being forced into any psychiatric holds now, would we?”

Arashi clearly shuddered at the thought of people thinking him insane, “Right. Makes sense. So, how do we do this?”

Kisuke could see that Arashi was excited, but he had to give the kid some bad news, “It will need to wait until the weekend. You've got school, and it could take a couple of days to complete the process. I also need to set some things up first, and that will also take some time. Come back after school on Friday...”

Yoruichi cleared her throat, loudly, “I believe I'll collect him from his school, or we might not see him until sometime on Monday.”

Seeing the scowl on Arashi's face had Kisuke snapping his fan open to hide his playful smile from the clearly disgruntled teenager. Hearing about his curses and how they'd shaped his life was fascinating. He thought back to his first impression of the unconscious teen when Yoruichi brought him in, and was aware that his first impression had led him to think the child was just another punk. It was truly amazing, and slightly terrifying, to know that the teen's power had clearly affected him like that.

He was certainly looking forward to seeing Arashi develop.

-----Line Break-----

Arashi's scowl as he walked down the sidewalk following Yoruichi toward his apartment had men and women both crossing to the other side of the street to avoid him. For once, he didn't care. He wanted to begin the training right after it had been suggested. School was boring. He'd be a multimillionaire, potentially a billionaire, in less than two decades. School meant nothing in the face of such money!

And that was all before he gained his Gacha System, which could randomly make him fabulously powerful or wealthy in a single roll.

So, yeah, school was a complete waste of time that could be spent hunting Hollows in the hopes of gaining more rolls. He was mildly annoyed that the second Hollow he'd purified hadn't given him a roll. Then again, according to Kisuke and Yoruichi, the two Hollows he'd defeated were the weakest of the weak when it came to the monsters.

They'd then given him a rundown of the various stages of evolution that Hollows could go through to grow stronger. He expected he would at least get a roll for beating a Hollow of each different stage. Kisuke suspected that he might gain feats from purifying well-known named Hollows, but the odds of running into any were pretty slim.

Arashi wasn't really sure what other things might give him feats, though he expected his upcoming transition into a Shinigami would likely be one.

“Hey, pay attention, you took a wrong turn.”

Yoruichi's deep voice pulled Arashi out of his head. He looked around for a moment and then down at Yoruichi, who was looking at him like he was an idiot. He didn't like that, or how his cheeks felt like they were heating up. He refused to blush, dammit!

He cleared his throat and opened his mouth to make a likely rather lame excuse, but Yoruichi cut him off mercilessly, “Pay closer attention to following me. I don't want this to take all afternoon.”

Arashi snapped his mouth shut with a click. His scowl returned with a vengeance. Damned cat being all bossy. It wasn't his fault he got lost so easily! It was a literal curse!

Dammit.

-----Line Break-----

Arashi stood on the school roof looking between his buddy Ichigo and the 'new transfer student' Kuchiki Rukia, “How the hell do you two know each other?”

Ichigo looked between Rukia and Arashi, “How the hell do you two know each other?”

Rukia is the only one not to ask the question since it's pretty obvious how Ichigo and Arashi knew each other. She'd been warned about the 'Delinquent Trio' by the other girls on her first day of school, yesterday. Arashi, unfortunately, had the worst reputation of the three among the female populace. Though there was a small subset that found his 'bad boy vibe' to be attractive.

Rukia just plain didn't like him.

Arashi is the first one to answer Ichigo, “I met her at the Urahara Shoten the day after some big black monster tried to eat my ass. You?”

Ichigo looked surprised at Arashi's answer, but it passed quickly. He was very used to Arashi being very upfront and blunt. He wasn't even sure Arashi was capable of lying to his friends, so he returned that loyalty in kind, “A big black monster attacked my place. It had Yuzu. Rukia transferred her power to me so I could kill the monster and save Yuzu.”

Arashi considered that, then turned to Rukia to give her a small bow of gratitude, “Thank you for helping him when he needed it.”

Rukia looked shocked at his sincere thanks. After he straightened up, Ichigo asked, “How did you survive your monster attack?”

Arashi glanced at Rukia, hesitating for a moment. But... If Ichigo trusted her, then he supposed he could as well, “Just as the Hollow was about to literally bite my head off, I awoke a power that gave me a sword and a healing factor so I could fight and survive.”

Ichigo looked a little surprised, “You got a sword too?”

Arashi nodded, “Yup, a Zanpakuto, a Shinigami weapon. I assume that's what you got too?”

Ichigo nodded, “Yeah. Now, until Rukia recovers, I'm helping to deal with the Hollows that appear in town.”

Arashi considered that for a bit before offering, “Sometime this weekend I'll be doing something to become a Shinigami myself. After I have, I can help out with your work. No need for you to do it all on your own when I can help out.”

Ichigo smiled, looking a little relieved, before Rukia cut in, “That won't be necessary. Ichigo can handle it on his own.”

The boys looked at Rukia together, making her fidget. Arashi was the one to speak while using a tone like he was talking to an idiot, “I know he can handle it himself. That doesn't mean he has to. Friends help friends. Period. Speaking of.” His gaze shifted to Ichigo, “You talk to Chad about all this yet?”

He knew Chad's real name was Sado, but he liked calling him Chad because his best friend of forty years in his last life had been named Chad. While the two were nothing alike, it still felt nice to have another die-hard bro named Chad in his new life.

Ichigo looked a little embarrassed, “Not really... no.”

Arashi rolled his eyes, “Then we need to tell him. It's not right to keep such a big secret from our brother.”

Ichigo sighed, “I know that, but at the same time I didn't want to burden him, or you, with the knowledge that there are invisible monsters out there.”

Arashi snorted, “That's stupid. I get it, I do, but at the same time, that's so stupid. He's a member of the Trio, you know that when something affects one of us, it affects all of us. First its you and me getting attacked by monsters, then it'll be him. At least this way he'll know to be prepared for it.”

Ichigo snorted a small laugh, “Yeah, true enough.”

After all, it happened all the time with the other delinquents who constantly challenged them like lemmings incapable of learning simple lessons. If they lost to one of the Trio, they would attack another in the delusional hope that they could win against the others.

Rukia grumbled, “You can't just go around telling everyone. It's supposed to be a secret. Mortals are not meant to know about the inner workings of the afterlife.”

Ichigo grunted, “Tough. Arashi is right, Chad deserves to know.” His gaze shifted to Arashi, “I'll find him after school lets out, he's not here today.”

“Good” Arashi held up his fist, which Ichigo fist bumped, “There's nothing we can't handle together.”

Ichigo smirked, “Damn right.”

-----Line Break-----

Arashi stepped in front of the Urahara Shoten, having followed Yoruichi to it after class had let out for the weekend. The last few days had been... annoying. There had been two Hollow incidents, and he hadn't been able to gain anything from either one! The first one had happened right next door, and he'd missed it because he'd left his apartment and gotten lost. Learning that Orihime's brother had turned into a Hollow and had almost killed her had been terrifying. To know a ghost had been so close and was slowly losing its mind until it attacked its own sister.

Horrifying.

The second incident had involved a named Hollow, a parakeet, and Chad. Thank god Ichigo had done the right thing and told Chad about ghosts, Hollows, and Shingami. It made resolving the whole incident exceptionally easy. Aside from some tricks, Shrieker wasn't that strong and had literally ended up sent to hell.

He still got shivers down his spine every time he remembered the gates to hell.

But today was Friday, and he would finally be getting turned into a shinigami. It would be a lot more convenient for him to be able to be invisible when Hollows attacked during school hours. Unfortunately, only Ichigo could currently do so since only he could leave his body. It made Arashi feel useless, which made him annoyed and cranky. He might've taken his anger out on a random Hollow last night in a less-than-healthy manner.

He followed Yoruichi into the store and found Kisuke waiting for them. With a gesture to follow, Kisuke turned and led him further into the shop to an open hatch in the floor, “We'll do this down below.”

Arashi shrugged and began climbing down the ladder, only to pause after a few rungs and stare in abject shock at the massive open area that looked as bright as noon time and stretched for at least a couple of kilometers, “Holy shit!”

He heard a sigh of satisfaction from Kisuke come from above. He ignored it and made his way down the ladder. Though he was mildly annoyed when both Kisuke and Yoruichi casually jumped into the hole and fell through the air, only to land as if they hadn't just fallen hundreds of meters. Arashi wasn't about to try that himself, even with his regeneration, it would take hours to repair the sheer amount of damage such a fall would inflict on his body.

It took him nearly twenty minutes to climb all the way down, and by the time he set foot on the ground, he was sweating and panting from the effort. Kisuke gave him a sanctimonious smirk, “Took you long enough.”

Arashi took a deep breath before countering with, “Shut it, candy man.”

Yoruichi chuckled while Kisuke just smirked. The next second, the bottom of Kisuke's cane was slamming into his forehead and ejecting his very soul from his body. Arashi picked himself up from where he'd fallen and looked between his soul body and flesh body.

Arashi walks closer to the pair, “So, now what?”

Kisuke snapped his fan open to hide his face, “Rather than explain, let's just get started. Ururu, are you ready, dear?”

Arashi jerked slightly at the sight of the small girl that he would have sworn wasn't there a moment ago. She had an array of protective equipment piled up in her arms. Kisuke gestured toward Ururu with his cane, “Lesson one is to survive against Ururu until I say to stop!”

Arashi looked at the little girl with the blush on her cheeks, and his first instinct was to ask if Kisuke was serious. Then he remembered that Kisuke was some big shot, bad ass Sherlock Holmes or mad scientist genius type of hidden master. He kept his mouth shut because there was no way in hell that Ururu was just some little girl, no matter what she looked like.

So, rather than potentially make himself look like a condescending jackass, he accepted the protective gear and put it on. It wasn't much, just some head protection and gloves. He knocked his fists together to get used to the gloves. Kisuke hadn't said it was a fight, but the gloves implied it was, and his fists were rated E for everyone.

Would he hit a little girl like Ururu? Yes, yes, he would. Because there was no way in hell that she wasn't stronger than him, at the moment. He also wasn't sexist, so that meant no holding back against women. Besides, he could think of dozens of powerful women in various fictions that could break him in half.

Why did he find that attractive?

Kisuke looked between Ururu and Arashi, making sure both were ready. He lifted his hand, then brought it down with a slash through the air, “Begin!”

Arashi applied the greatest tactic one could possibly use in the face of an unknown foe. Gain distance and observe. Or in short... RUN AWAY!

His decision showed wisdom as the moment he began to move, so did Ururu. She hopped up into the air and casually punched down where he'd just been a moment before. Her fist hit the ground like a bomb, shattering stone and creating a small crater.

God did Arashi hate being right in situations like he was in. Ururu was a tiny monster with terrifying physical might stuffed into such a small package. Well, at least he could cross 'meet a monstrously strong loli' off of his bucket list. He'd hoped it would be Toujou Koneko from DxD because he wanted to scritch her ears, but Ururu was just as good.

Thoughts of giving head pats to the monster loli were put aside for a much more relevant thought.

RUN!

It was awkward to run with the chain dragging from his chest, but he did it to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near fast enough to outrun Ururu, on top of which, he was getting winded already. It hadn't even been a minute, and he was already panting and sweating heavily. Which led to a weird realization: ghosts could sweat! Super weird.

His lack of stamina forced him to focus on dodging, making space between them, then dodging some more.

“You can fight back, if you want.”

Arashi didn't take his eyes off of Ururu, but he registered Kisuke's remark. Unfortunately for Kisuke, Arashi was smart enough to NOT even try to fight back against Ururu until he was stronger. He didn't want to find out the hard way that his Regeneration ability didn't affect him in his soul state. Thankfully, it looked like Battle Growth and Expert Hand-to-Hand did. He didn't feel himself growing stronger, but as the minutes went by, it looked like Ururu was growing slower. So that meant his strength was catching up to hers, right?

He slowly stopped trying to run and focused more on dodging. Expert hand-to-hand made it easy for him to read her well telegraphed punches, which gave him all the time he needed to dodge them. He still shuddered as every one of her blows that hit the ground did so with the force of a bomb. He did NOT want to get hit.

His dodging soon turned into redirecting Ururu's blows so they couldn't land. The fight swiftly shifted from a game of cat and mouse, where Arashi was the mouse, to a display of masterful hand-to-hand combat as two experts engaged each other. Their attacks grew faster and faster, becoming so fast that it would appear to be a blur to a normal person.

Suddenly, they were both stopped thanks to Kisuke appearing between them and effortlessly catching a punch from each of them in his hands, “Alright, that's enough of that.”

Arashi and Ururu both stepped away from each other and relaxed. Honestly, Arashi was slightly disappointed. He was really getting into the fight with Ururu. It was turning the inbuilt skill he had with hand-to-hand combat into something more tangible. It reminded him of that scene with Neo and Morpheus in The Matrix. He suddenly knew Kung Fu, but it wasn't until the fight that he truly internalized it and made it his own.

Kisuke looked Arashi over and hummed, “Not exactly what I was expecting, but it'll do.”

Arashi tilted his head, “What was the point of this?”

Kisuke started walking away while he answered Arashi's question, “A human soul, a normal one, is pretty weak. Ururu was meant to help your reiryoku grow stronger, strong enough to sustain you. She did, just not how I was expecting. You see, a normal soul's reiryoku grows fastest when there's a threat of imminent danger and death. You... never felt that. You were wary, but not afraid. Yet, you still grew fast to the point of being able to fight back against Ururu even as a normal soul. It's quite unprecedented.”

Kisuke stopped when they arrived near Arashi's body. Turning to face Arashi, he continued, “The next phase is the most dangerous. This is your last chance to back out.”

Arashi chuckled, “And leave Ichigo hanging? Never. What's next?”

Kisuke smirked at Arashi before moving faster than the teen could see, proving to the teen he still had a long way to go. There's a loud metallic clang just before Kisuke came to a stop while crouching slightly. Arashi stared at the cleaver, which had appeared out of nowhere, and was now stuck in the rocky ground between a severed link of the chain that kept him locked to his body.

Kisuke turned to look back at Arashi, “Your chain of fate has now been severed. There are only two paths before you. Either you become a shinigami, or you become a Hollow, and I purify you.”

Before Arashi could fully process Kisuke's words, Tessai slammed into his back and drove him to the ground. Tessai remained sitting on him while a massive gaping hole opened in the ground, and they fell in together. Arashi grunted painfully as they landed at the bottom of the deep shaft.

While he lay on the ground, stunned, Arashi heard Tessai speak for the first time, “Bakudo ninety-nine, Kin!”

Arashi's arms snapped behind his back and were bound there by metallic straps that made it impossible for him to move them. Kisuke stepped to the edge of the shaft and shouted down to him, “Your goal is to climb to the top of the pit without using your hands. Good Luck!” He stepped away from the edge of the pit but quickly returned, “Oh! And there's a time limit!”

Before Arashi could say anything, he watched in horror as the severed ends of his chain of fate transformed into mouths and began to greedily devour the chain. Kisuke explained, “You have until they get to the plate on your chest. If they make it that far, you will turn into a Hollow. Good luck!”

Arashi stared at the mouths literally eating his life away and fought down his panic. There was no way in hell that he was going to let himself die down here! Judging by the rate the mouths were eating the chain, he had at least a few hours before he was in any real danger. Maybe a little longer.

With panic pushed aside, for the time being, he forced himself into a sitting position and took the time to study the deep shaft he found himself in. The walls were rough but looked to be perfectly vertical. There was no way in hell he was climbing out of here without the use of his arms. Which meant that was not the goal of the exercise.

So, if escape wasn't the goal, then something else was. Clearly, he had the potential to become a shinigami inside of himself, or Kisuke wouldn't be putting him through all of this. So, if the potential was inside, then that was where he needed to look. Trying to escape was a distraction and a waste of time. It was probably meant to make him panic and become desperate to reach the power to survive.

It still might, but later.

He took a few deep breaths, closed his eyes, and focused his attention inward. He had zero clue about what he was looking for, but expected he would know it when he found it. He regulated his breathing and began to meditate, something he'd taken the time to learn in his last life and that had helped keep him centered in his new, literally cursed, life. Without the skill, he would have become psychotic over how often he got lost or suicidal over how often people looked at him like he was scum, even as a child.

Breathe in. Hold. Imagine a small flame devouring all negative emotions. Exhale. Breathe in. Hold. Focus on the calmly flickering flame. It is the entire world. Exhale.

Arashi's mind and body relaxed, the world fading away, leaving him in a world of silence with just the small flame in the center of his mind. Time had no meaning, only the flame and his breathing mattered. As time passed, the flame slowly grew closer, becoming larger, until it was all Arashi could see.

Darkness. The flame vanished, and he was alone in the dark of his mind.

Or was he?

Sound came first, soft and metallic in the beginning, but growing louder. Clattering, clanging, ringing. An array of noise with a unique feel to it that he almost recognized. It was like something he'd seen but never experienced in person.

Then came the lights. Flashing, bright, blinding. Gold, red, blue, green, what felt like the entire rainbow and then some. As he grew used to the light he recognized the place he was in, though it wasn't a specific one, it had all the right themes.

A casino.

He snorted. Of course, it was a casino. What else could it have possibly been?

“You're right about that.”

Arashi spun around to face the voice and beheld the biggest man he'd ever seen. Taller than even Tessai and so wide he looked like two refrigerators walking side by side. He was a literal mountain of muscles all stuffed into a custom-fit pinstripe suit. Clean-shaven, bald, and with a pair of pitch-black aviator sunglasses hiding his eyes, the massive man was an extreme example of a pit boss.

Arashi faced the man with curiosity rather than fear, “Who are you?”

“I'm *@$&(I$^$@#W” He paused at Arashi's confused look, “It's alright, I didn't expect you would be able to hear my name so soon. We've only just met, after all.”

“You're my Zanpakuto spirit?”

The man nodded, “I am. I'm here to make sure we don't die and that we become a shinigami, together.”

Yoruichi had given him a crash course on Zanpakutos, spirits, and the different stages of mastery a shinigami would go through, so he wasn't as surprised as he otherwise would have been. Arashi moved right up to the massive and intimidating man, where he held his hand out, “Ranmaru Arashi. I look forward to working together for a long time, brother.”

The pit boss grinned and wrapped Arashi's much smaller hand in his, “As do I.” He let go of the handshake and straightened the lapels of his jacket, “Now, it's time for you to wake up before the creep in the bucket hat is forced to kill you.”

“What?!”

The pit boss smirked, “More time has passed than you realize. You're halfway to becoming a Hollow out there.”

“Shit! How do I get back out there?”

The pit boss's smile grew predatory, “Clench your teeth.”

“Wha...”

The pit boss's fist slammed into Arashi's jaw with the force of a freight train. Arashi's jaw slammed shut while his body was launched into the air. His vision swam, then went black.

“I'm sure we'll meet again soon. Maybe next time you'll be able to hear my name.”

-----Line Break-----

Kisuke tilted Benehime just right to intercept and deflect a wild slash from Arashi's half-hollowfied body. The boy had been one surprise after another during this whole thing. It had been terrifying to see him growing stronger in real time while fighting Ururu. She was strong enough to take on lower-seated shinigami, yet he'd begun to fight evenly with her as a regular spirit! That was absurd. He had put a stop to it because he was honestly worried about just how strong the kid would become once he changed into a shinigami.

The transformation from regular spirit into shinigami gave a quantitative and qualitative increase to the spirit's reiryoku. Not to mention the boost from gaining a Hakusui (Soul Sleep) that amplified that power. If Arashi had continued to improve his spirit form to the point of being as strong as a seated officer, he dreaded to think of how powerful his shinigami form would be. He'd likely reach the strength of a lieutenant, minimum.

The next surprise was his hollowfication. Well, that in itself wasn't a surprise, it was part of the process. No, the surprising part was that the mindless half-hollow Arashi still had full access to his powers and items from his weird gacha thing. The Hollow had summoned Arashi's Asauchi and was now swinging it wildly in an attempt to kill Kisuke.

Worse, the Hollow was visibly getting better at using the blade. It was rapidly going from blind swings to skillful attacks, aiming at any opening Kisuke left in his defenses. Granted, those openings were all traps, but still! It was supposed to be a mindless beast, not an intelligent being rapidly learning how to fight.

Even WORSE, it was also getting stronger with every exchange, just as Arashi had against Ururu. That could only mean that his Battle Growth was still working at perfect efficiency. He shuddered to think just how powerful a Hollow of Arashi would grow given any amount of time. He wouldn't allow that to happen.

Yes, Arashi's growth was staggering, but he was still very much an ant compared to Kisuke, let alone Tessai and Yoruichi, who were also nearby just in case they were needed. If Arashi really did fall to his inner Hollow, then he would be purified immediately. They could NOT let such a dangerous monster go free.

Just as the Hollow raised its arm for another downward slash, it froze.

CRACK!

A large split opened up in the middle of the half-formed Hollow mask on Arashi's face. Smaller cracks quickly raced out from the initial one. Soon, the whole mask shattered to reveal Arashi's exhausted-looking face. His bleary eyes managed to focus on Kisuke while his lips curled into a smile, “Asshole.”

Arashi's eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Kisuke stared down at the teen with a frown, “What did I do?”

-----Line Break-----

Arashi groaned as he woke up. Not from pain, but from pleasure. He was submerged up to his neck in warm water that was performing miracles on his sore muscles.

“Good, you're awake.”

He opened one of his eyes to glare at Yoruichi as the cat lounged near the edge of the water, “You couldn't let me just enjoy it in peace for a little longer?”

The cat looked supremely smug as it answered, “Nope.”

Arashi grumbled while closing his eye, “I take it that it worked?”

“Yup, you are officially a shinigami, kid.”

He smiled and fully relaxed at Yoruichi's confirmation, “Good. Now I can help Ichigo properly.”

There was a moment of silence before Yoruichi commented, “You're pretty loyal to your friend, eh?”

“Until I met Ichigo and Chad, I had no friends. My literally cursed face made all the other kids, and even some of the adults, wary of me. So when Ichigo became my friend and introduced me to Chad, I promised myself that I would fight, even die, for them, if necessary. Then there's Orihime. I would destroy the world for her, not that she would ever ask for something like that.”

“Ah, young love.” came Yoruichi's sarcastic reply.

Arashi chuckled, “Maybe, before. But she's got it bad for Ichigo, though neither of them seem willing to admit it yet. Now? Mmmm I'd say she's my sister more than anything else. If Ichigo ever hurt her I'd be required to punch him in the face at least once.”

Yoruichi snorted, “I see. So, no love prospects for you then?”

“None. Though maybe that will change once I can break my damned curse.” He looked at the requirements to break it.

[Resolve: Acquire Adept level communication or above OR acquire a trait that contradicts your curse.]

“Shouldn't be too hard, so long as I get a little lucky.” His gaze moved to the corner of his vision, “Speaking of lucky.”

Yoruichi perked up, “You achieved a feat?”

[Archived Messages]

[Feat Achieved! Perform Jinzen for the first time. +1 Bronze Gacha Ticket]

[Feat Achieved! Meet your Zanpakuto Spirit. +1 Bronze Gacha Ticket]

[Feat Achieved! Survive becoming a Shinigami. +1 Gold Gacha Ticket]

“Yeah, I got two bronze and one gold for performing jinzen, meeting my zanpakuto spirit, and becoming a shinigami.” He focused on the tickets, “Roll the two bronze.”

His eyes widened in surprise as what used to happen when he rolled a ticket suddenly changed. Normally, it just said it was rolling, and he got the result. This time, a roulette wheel and table appeared in his vision with the spirit of his Zanpakuto standing behind it, smirking at him, “Place your bet, kid.”

Before Arashi could say anything, the spirit spun the roulette wheel and dropped the little white ball into it.

[ROLLING!]

The white ball rolled along the wheel's rim until it slowed enough to bounce around and then landed in a pocket.

[Dowsing, Common Ability, Allows you to detect metals around you like a mental radar, the more valuable a metal is, the more distinct its presence in your radar.]

“Could be worse, kid.” The spirit commented while picking up the white ball and giving the wheel another spin.

[ROLLING!]

[Job Application Form, Common Item, "Does this scare you?" An otherwise ordinary-looking job application form, that when filled with the correct information and handed to an employer, will guarantee that the applicant is hired, no matter the job or their qualifications, although not guaranteed that they will keep the job. The form loses this effect after being used once.]

“Oof, your luck sucks, kid. Want to try again with your last chance?”

“Yeah, roll the gold ticket.”

“Ha! That's the spirit!” The roulette was spun once again.

[ROLLING!]

“Sixty-nine Black! Wait, that's not a standard Roulette number.”

[Arousal, Rare Ability, Allows you to make targets in your vision aroused or make them climax with enough arousal. The stronger the target, the more energy has to be spent, and if they are significantly stronger than you, they will be able to notice your attempts.]

The Zanpakuto spirit slowly began to fade away from sight while smirking at Arashi, “Have fun with that last one, kid.”

It took a lot of effort for Arashi not to scream at the last result. The first two were 'meh'. Dowsing combined well with his Metal Manipulation, so it wasn't terrible. He just might be able to use it to find undiscovered deposits of expensive metals. So, not horrible.

The Job Application was utterly useless, for now. Once he graduated from college, it would be worth a thousand times its weight in gold. Guaranteed to get ANY job he applied for? He could instantly become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and retire after a single year with how much they get paid. Something to keep in mind for his life as an adult.

The last ability, though?! First goddamn hentai tentacles disguised as a 'fighting' ability, and now one that was a straight-up sexual power not even pretending to be something else! The fuck, man?!

“So, what did you get. Clearly, you got something juicy. What is it? You can tell me.”

He flat-out ignored Yoruichi, “I didn't get anything very useful, unfortunately.”

A long moment passed before Yoruichi huffed when it became clear Arashi had no plans to explain more. Yoruichi was certain she would find out later, so she let it pass... for now. She moved on to another subject, “Now that you're a shinigami, we can begin to train you properly in how to be one.”

Arashi nodded, “Right, you mentioned the skills before. Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hoho, and Kido, right?”

Yoruichi nodded, “Right. Your Hakuda is already rather good thanks to your gacha, but it is far from mastery level. Still, we can ignore it, for now. We will focus on Zanjutsu and Hoho to begin with. Kido can wait a while as it takes a lot more practice with it before it's even remotely combat-ready.”

“Makes sense.”

“We'll start by teaching you Shunpo, the basis for all Hoho combat. Then we can combine training Hoho and Zanjutsu together while throwing in some Hakuda occasionally to round your main combat abilities out and be more than enough for the average, and even above average, Hollow you'll run into in town.”

Arashi stood up and stretched, ignoring the fact that he was completely naked and being oggled by a talking cat. It was a cat, and he had long ago lost any sense of body shame. American High School locker rooms had long ago made sure of that.

He stepped out of the hot spring and got dressed in a standard Shinigami shihakusho that had been provided for him. He calmly tucked his sheathed zanpakuto in the white obi around his waist and grinned at the cat, “So, how do we begin?”

He didn't like the look of Yoruichi's sadistic grin.

-----Line Break-----

Kra-BOOM!

A huge dust cloud exploded into the air as Arashi used his face for a detonation device. Craters littered the ground all around him, each one created by falling on his face at extreme speed. Shunpo, it turned out, was really easy for him to begin. He got that part down on his very first try, even!

Stopping properly, on the other hand? That... still needed a lot of work. Judging by how hard Yoruichi was laughing while rolling around on the ground, he still had a long way to go before he got it right. Even so, he didn't mind. Flashing from one spot to another, even if his stop resulted in a face plant of epic proportions, was amazing. It was like getting just the smallest hint of what it must be like to be The Flash.

It was thrilling beyond belief, and that euphoria of speed was the only reason he hadn't stopped trying out of sheer frustration.

He pushed himself to his feet once again and took the pose Yoruichi had taught him was the proper way for a beginner to learn. The technique was centered on the ankle and calves, using them in conjunction with his Reiryoku for a sudden burst of speed that was supposed to be like taking a single step. According to Yoruichi, true masters of Shunpo could move kilometers per step at speeds that couldn't be tracked by the naked eye. She even hinted at things beyond that. Things that excited him to no end.

After all, speed was king in combat.

Arashi pushed off the ground. The world around him blurred, giving him tunnel vision. A moment later, his feet touched the ground. He stumbled, his arms windmilled through the air, he skidded, then he stopped, still standing.

“YES! I did it!”

Yoruichi's snort broke him out of his excitement, “Congrats, you didn't faceplant. But you didn't do it either.” As if to drive Arashi's failure home, Yoruichi vanished from the rock she'd been laughing on and appeared next to Arashi without disturbing so much as a grain of sand.

Arashi scowled, “Hey, let me enjoy my little bit of progress here! Any more falls like I was taking, and no amount of gacha rolls would be able to fix my face!”

Youichi chuckled, “Your face isn't so bad, once you get used to it.” She just chuckled at his responding glare and continued, “Focus on your balance and accuracy first. Aim small, miss small. Only after you master those two aspects will speed and distance come.”

He wanted to be petulant about going faster, but he was tired of faceplanting into stone, so he heeded Yoruichi's advice. He took a slow breath, focused on a spot just a few feet away, and stepped. The world blurred, and then he was there, only slightly off balance and skidding just a few centimeters.

“Better.” Came Yoruichi's voice, “Now do it again without losing your balance or sliding.”

Arashi grumbled about slave driver cats, but tried to do it anyway.

Yoruichi watched Arashi as his next step was smoother, but still not perfect. The next was even smoother. On the third, he didn't slide, but his balance was still off as the momentum of his upper body hadn't been entirely negated when stopping.

Despite how she teased him, Arashi was actually doing amazing. Only the highest level of genius would be doing better than he currently was. Average Shinigami in training took weeks to months to learn how to use Shunpo properly. Then again, they didn't have the Flash Goddess herself teaching them one-on-one.

She knew she could only take some of the credit. In reality, Expert Hand-to-Hand Combat and Pugilist were doing a lot of heavy lifting as both boosted the speed Arashi learned Martial Arts at, and Shunpo was a Martial Art. With those two skills of his working together, he should have no trouble getting better at Zanjutsu, Hoho, and Hakuda at a prodigious rate.

As for Kido, she was on the fence about whether or not it would count for the benefits of those skills. She somehow doubted it since Kido was more of a magical art than a martial art. Of course, there was always the possibility that he got something that made him a prodigy at Kido from his strange power.

However... if he did show either a real talent for Kido or gained some power to help it... that might be rather interesting. Either way, it looked like she would need to start working out again if she wanted to remain drastically ahead of Arashi to continue pushing him to be stronger.

That sucked, but it would expand the length of time she would be able to continue to tease him, so it would be worth the effort.

-----Line Break-----

“He's definitely a Fullbringer.” Kisuke remarked to Tessai, “There's no other explanation for his strange power. They're the only group where everyone develops a unique ability. His is by far the most unique I've ever heard of. Quite possibly the most powerful as well. The ability to pull items out of thin air? To suddenly gain skills and abilities where there were none before?”

He scoffed, “His power spits in the eye of everyone who had ever strived toward growing stronger.”

Tessai, in his calm way, replied, “He must still work toward gaining power. We are watching him do so with our own eyes.”

Kisuke scoffed, “For now, he must, yes. If he's right about the full extent of his power, then there's no limit to how strong he can become. All of the crazy power he has now, and he's never rolled a ticket above Platinum in rank, and that was only a single one. There are four more rarities above Platinum that he could potentially earn a ticket for. What do we do if he gains a Divine ticket?”

Silence hung between them for a few moments as they watched Arashi growing faster and more confident in his usage of Shunpo. Finally, Tessai asked, “Do you believe he should be eliminated before he can reach such a level of power?”

“I do.”

“Then why...?”

“Why are we training him to become stronger? Because he could become the greatest weapon we will ever find to use against Aizen. Even greater, perhaps, than Kurosaki Ichigo. And, despite how cynical I am, even I can see the kid is more interested in getting stronger to help his friend than in being stronger for himself. That makes him fundamentally different from Aizen. As long as that remains true, then he probably isn't a threat to anyone that doesn't threaten him and his first.”

Kisuke sighed, “On the other hand, a single roll granting him immense power could be all it takes for him to walk down a path of death and destruction worse than anything Aizen could hope to accomplish.”

He sighed, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of the world rested on them, “For now, we watch and wait. Hopefully, his training with us will allow us to pass on some of our wisdom to guide him down the proper path.”

Tessai nodded, “I believe that if we place our faith in him, he will not let us down.”

Kisuke stared at Arashi as he blitzed around the training ground, “I hope you're right, my friend, I truly do.”

-----Line Break-----

Arashi knocked on the door to the Kurosaki home. It would be dark soon, and he had just spent the last two days with Yoruichi teaching him the basics of being a Shinigami. However, it was Kisuke that he practiced Zanjutsu and Hakuda against, for obvious reasons. Cats couldn't fight like that. Though for some reason, Kisuke kept giving Yoruichi the stink eye every chance he got.

The door to the house opened, and Arashi had to look down to spot the one who opened it, Kurosaki Karin, one of Ichigo's younger sisters. Also, the one with the very obvious crush on him. Seeing her cheeks turn pink even as she tried to act unaffected at seeing him was adorable. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him for a moment, then scoffed, “The idiot is in his room.”

She turned and walked away with all the grace an eleven-year-old could muster. It was fucking adorable, and he had to fight the urge to chase her down and mercilessly pinch her cheeks. Her crush on him was cute, but it would never go anywhere, not even in seven years when she was old enough to think about as anything other than Ichigo's little sister.

He walked into the house, taking his shoes off and slipping on a pair of guest slippers, then made his way to Ichigo's room. He knocked on the door, not willing to open it and risk seeing something he really didn't want to see. There was a fair bit of shuffling noise coming from the room before Ichigo called out, “Who is it?”

“It's me.”

There was more noise, and the door swung open to show a concerned-looking Ichigo, “Where have you been, man?! No one's seen you since Friday!”

Arashi pushed Ichigo back into his room and then followed him into it. Only once the door was closed did he answer, “I told you, man, I was getting turned into a shinigami to help you out.”

Ichigo huffed, “And it took you all weekend? All Rukia had to do was stab me with her sword and BOOM! Shinigami.”

Arashi opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by shock when the door to Ichigo's closet burst open and revealed an angry-looking Rukia, “You what?!” she hissed.

Arashi stared at Rukia, in her pajamas, sitting on a futon, inside Ichigo's closet. Slowly, he looked between the two, trying to fully comprehend what he was seeing. Finally, he addressed Ichigo, “What's all this then?”

“Don't you ignore me! Did you seriously let that shady as hell candy man turn you into a shinigami?!”

Arashi stared at Rukia, though he noticed Ichigo looked curious himself, so he answered, “Well, yeah. I told Ichigo I wasn't going to leave everything to him alone.”

He dug in his pocket and pulled out a small green ball that Kisuke had given him, a Gikon with a modified soul in it that would keep his body safe. He popped it into his mouth and burst out of his physical body. He grinned at their looks of surprise as he stood there in his new, modified shihakusho.

He'd added a pair of black fingerless gloves that went to his elbows, removed the sleeves completely, and swapped the tabi and waraji for a pair of normal socks and black combat boots. His clothing wasn't the only thing to change, as his plain-looking Zanpakuto had begun to change its appearance as well. So far, the changes were small, just the kashira, tsuba, and habaki turning golden in color.

Ichigo looked him over a bit, then gave him a smirk, “Nice look.”

Rukia, on the other hand, was gaping at him, “You desecrated the uniform!”

Arashi looked at Rukia for a moment before turning to face Ichigo, “Is she always like this?” He asked, gesturing to Rukia.

Ichigo looked at Rukia with a little confusion while shaking his head, “Not really. She can be a little stuck up and stubborn, but she's different with you alone.”

Arashi grunted, “Must be the curse then.”

That got both Ichigo and Rukia to look at him seriously. Though it was Ichigo who asked, “Curse?”

Arashi nodded, “Yeah, you know how people always assume the worst of me the first time we meet or cross the street to avoid me because of my resting asshole face?”

Ichigo snorted at the term but nodded, “Yeah, it always pissed me off how people judged you on looks alone.”

Arashi nodded at Ichigo's claim. He'd seen the furious look Ichigo got when strangers judged him, “Well, turns out the way people treat me is a literal curse.”

Ichigo looked shocked, “Shit, for real? Is there anything we can do to break it?”

“It can be broken, but it's honestly just up to chance at this point, really. There's literally nothing you or I can do to make it break faster.”

“That sucks.”

Rukia spoke up, “Curses are very, very rare. Do you know who did it or how you were cursed? It could help in breaking it.”

Arashi glanced at Rukia and noticed something odd. She looked... guilty? Was she feeling bad about how she treated him since it had been pointed out and attributed to a curse? Maybe she wasn't so bad, after all. Most people would either double down or just ignore it completely. To answer her, he shrugged his shoulders, “There's nothing to be done since I've had the curse since childhood. Any clues are long gone.”

He looked behind Rukia at the closet she'd been in when he arrived, then turned to Ichigo, “Is she really sleeping in that closet?”

Ichigo grunted while nodding and looking mildly annoyed. Rukia chimed in, “What? It's efficient!”

Arashi's lips curled into a teasing grin while he slowly shook his head and asked in a mocking tone, “What would Orihime say?”

Ichigo instantly flushed, “You can't say anything to anyone!”

Arashi chuckled, “Relax. I won't tell anyone.” He looked at Rukia, “Actually, I think it'd be better if you moved to my place. I live alone, so you wouldn't have to hide in a closet or sneak around to take a bath, or anything like that.”

Rukia was shaking her head before he'd even finished speaking, “No. I need to stay close to Ichigo in case any Hollows appear during the night. It's much easier and more efficient if we're close together.”

Arashi stared at Rukia for a few moments before slowly looking down at himself and the sword on his hip, “Gee, I wonder if there might be another shinigami that would still be close by to take care of the issue.”

Rukia blushed, then scowled, “It's Ichigo's job.”

Ichigo scowled, but Arashi was the one to speak first, “And I'm making it my job too, whether you like it or not.” His gaze swung toward Ichigo, “I'll take the night shift while you handle the day shift. We can team up if there's more than one to make sure as many people are as safe as possible.”

Ichigo thought about it for a moment before nodding, “It would be nice to get a full night's sleep without having to worry about a random monster popping up.” His gaze shifted to Rukia, “Not to mention having to sneak you into the bath or getting breakfast.”

Rukia looked between the pair of teenagers with a frown. She wouldn't admit it aloud, but having a full-sized bed to sleep in, being able to take an actual bath instead of a rushed shower, and sitting down for breakfast instead of scarfing it down on the way to school sounded... heavenly. She struggled with it for a few moments before she sighed, “Fine. I will allow this.” Her sharp purple eyes bored into Arashi's own dark ones, “But if you're not up to snuff, I'm coming right back here no matter what either of you say!”

Arashi rolled his eyes in exasperation, “It'll be fine.”

Rukia opened her mouth, likely to say something scathing, but was cut off by an electronic beeping. She spun around and ran back to the closet, where she grabbed a small flip phone and flipped it open, “Weird timing, but you'll get to prove yourself sooner than expected.”

Ichigo explained, “That's a warning about an incoming Hollow.”

Rukia walked over to the window in Ichigo's room, “Come on, it's due to arrive in four minutes. If you're not too slow, we can get there before it arrives.”

Arashi held his fist out toward Ichigo, “Keep an eye on my body for a bit, yeah?”

Ichigo bumped fists with Arashi before looking at the stationary body in his room. Unlike Kon, the modified soul he used, the one Arashi had seemed to be the silent type... Lucky bastard, “It'll be here when you get back.”

Arashi turned to the window, which Rukia had already jumped out of, and made his way outside. She held up her phone, showing him the screen, which had a grid and a blinking dot on it, “This is where we need to go.”

Arashi thought for a moment, then scooped Rukia up into his arms in a princess carry, which instantly had her blushing bright red while simultaneously angrily yelling at him, “What are you doing?!”

He looked down at her and smirked, “It'll be faster. Just hold the phone up so I don't get lost.”

“PUT ME DOWN!”

He scoffed and used Shunpo. Rukia gasped at the sheer speed they were suddenly moving at. The signal was a half dozen kilometers from the Kurosaki household and would've likely taken longer than four minutes for Ichigo and her to run. Ichigo didn't have a clue how to perform Shunpo, and she didn't feel qualified to teach him.

Now, here was his friend who should have only been a Shinigami for the last two days using Shunpo like he'd been doing it for decades. They cleared the distance from Ichigo's place to the arrival point of the Hollow with several minutes to spare.

The moment her feet touched the ground, Rukia hauled back and kicked Arashi's shin with all of her might.

Instant regret.

She screamed and began hopping on her other leg while trying to cradle her foot, “What the hell are you made out of?! I think you broke my toes!”

Arashi stared blandly at Rukia as she hopped around, wondering how any of what just happened was his fault. He'd barely felt the kick. As a Shinigami, he was significantly more durable than as a human. Though he had noticed there was a fair bit of crossover, as his living body was significantly stronger when he re-inhabited it earlier.

Rukia eventually stopped hopping around, though she still treated her foot gingerly. Neither said anything and let the silence drag on until her phone let out another warning chime. Rukia looked around the street they were on, “It's coming.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the roar of a Hollow echoed through the area. It was a distinct sound that Arashi was sure he'd never forget. His head snapped to the side, where the air began to warp and twist before ripping open like a gaping maw at least ten stories tall. The beast that walked out of it was massive beyond reason.

Arashi stood just under two meters tall, yet he barely reached the top of the monster's ankle. Rukia had gone completely pale as she stared up at the Huge Hollow. Arashi stared up at the creature. He was slightly intimidated by its size, but after his training with Yoruichi and Kisuke, he wasn't exactly scared of it. During his training, they'd taught him about Hollows and the classifications he was most likely to run into. Huge Hollows had been on that list, but were exceptionally rare.

Wasn't he just one lucky S.O.B.?

Rukia reached up and grabbed the shoulder of his shihakusho, “We need to run and call for backup. There's no way just the two of us can handle this!” she hissed.

Under normal circumstances, those being her having access to her full power, she'd be a lot less concerned about fighting the Huge Hollow. She might've needed her Shikai to beat it, but she would definitely beat it. Unfortunately, that was currently impossible, and there was no way Arashi, a shinigami for all of two days, could possibly fight a Huge Hollow. Even Shinigami from Shin'o Academy, with months or even years of training, had died to Huge Hollows.

Arashi gently pried her hand off his shoulder and gave her a confident smile, “Don't worry about it, I got this.”

His confidence as he Shunpo'd away did not make her feel better. She screamed after him, “We need to RUN AWAY! WE'RE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO FIGHT IT!”

It burned her pride to have to say it aloud, but better her pride stung than to have the death of Arashi on her hands. If Arashi died, she was certain Ichigo would never forgive her... She probably wouldn't forgive herself either.

Arashi ignored Rukia as he focused on using Shunpo to gain altitude by climbing the side of a building. He hadn't been able to create footholds of Reishi in the air yet, but he could use his Reiryoku to stick to surfaces like the sides of buildings. He hadn't mastered it yet, but he was good enough to get to the roof of a building that put him roughly level with the head of the Huge Hollow.

Arashi considered what he needed to do next. The Hollow, being so massive, presented a unique problem, compared to the monster, his sword was a toothpick. Well, there was little else he could do but cut it to ribbons until it was purified.

He slowly drew his blade, reveling in the sound of it clearing the saya. Shunpo launched him through the air at high speed, his body and blade becoming little more than a streak of light. One of the coral-like protrusions on the Hollow's mask fell off after he flew past, prompting the Hollow to roar in pain. Yet Arashi wasn't done. The moment his feet touch the solid surface of the building opposite the one he'd launched from, he launched again.

Arashi became a bouncing streak of light, hopping from building to building. Each pass sliced into the Hollow without mercy. He knew it was a human soul he was cutting to ribbons, twisted and blackened as it was. Yet he didn't hesitate at all in his effort to purify it, no matter how much pain he had to put the soul through first. Hesitating to end it could see it running free, where it would continue to hunt and kill the innocent. It was better to just end the threat it posed now, once and for all.

After nearly five minutes of cutting the Hollow apart piece by piece, Arashi came to a stop on the roof of a building and looked the being over. It looked pretty bad, but it was still going strong and clearly hadn't given up on trying to eat him. Even now, its gaze was focused on Arashi, and its hand was already coming toward him in an effort to capture him.

Arashi glanced down at his sword, “Any ideas?”

The sword was his partner, so why not ask it for help when he needed it? Sure, the Hollow couldn't hurt him, but he didn't want to spend the next six hours cutting it down inch by inch. Thankfully, he felt a reply from the blade. It wasn't in words, but he felt a slight tug on his Reiryoku, prompting him to feed the blade more of his energy. His Reiryoku began to drain at an alarmingly fast rate, but he didn't fight it or stop it. Instead, he focused on using Shunpo to dodge the Hollow until the blade was ready with whatever it was doing.

The more energy the sword began to contain, the more it began to glow with a golden light. It happened when he landed on yet another roof and turned to face the Hollow. His sword was ready. The blade was now glowing with bright golden light, and Arashi instinctively knew how to use the attack, though its name eluded him.

He raised the blade above his head and gripped the handle with both hands. The light brightened just as he brought it down in a powerful vertical slice. The golden energy burst from the blade, not as a beam of energy but as a solid projection of a cutting edge that greatly extended the reach of the attack. The golden energy blade followed the path of his swing to slice down completely through the Hollow's mask and body as if they weren't even there.

The world paused for a moment, as if unsure what to make of what just happened. When it resumed, both the Hollow and the golden extension on Arashi's zanpakuto began to shimmer and fade. The attack's energy was spent, and the Hollow was properly purified.

Arashi made sure the Hollow had completely faded before he hopped off the building and made his way to where Rukia had remained through the whole battle. He smirked when he saw her gaping at him in shock. He rested his hand on his sheathed sword and cocked his head to the side, “So, am I good enough?”

Rukia shook herself out of her stupor and tried her best to give Arashi a bland look, “You pass, just barely.”

Arashi snorted and unceremoniously scooped the midget up into a princess carry again, “Whatever you say. Let's go collect our stuff from Ichigo's place, then I'll take you to mine.”

Rukia turned away from him in an effort to hide the blush on her cheeks, “Fine, make it snappy.”

Arashi chuckled and took off toward Ichigo's place, ignoring the notification he got for defeating the Hollow, for now.

[Feat Achieved! Purify a Huge Hollow. +1 Silver Gacha Ticket]

AN

11k words.

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It lets us see that Arashi will be a much different Shinigami from Ichigo. Basically, skill VS raw power. Arashi is getting a more-or-less normal education as a Shinigami, while Ichigo is just winging it as he goes.

The next chapter should cover everything up to the departure for Soul Society. Maybe. After all, there is the incident caused by Ishida and the Hollow Bait to deal with. Only it might be even worse since not one, but two of his classmates will have become Shinigami, thereby pissing Ishida off even more.

If you're a fan of Ishida... you may be a little pissed at the direction I plan to take that event.

Aaaaanyway, let me know what you thought of this chapter!

Until next time.