The More Things Change

Following his training under Seireitou Kawahiru, Jason was now residing in the Human World's city known as Rider City as a. Following the recommendation of his previous teacher, he sought out another Yonkō by the name of Hikaru Kurosaki in order to learn the art of Zanjutsu and possibly the art of achieving his Shikai.

= To the Wolves =

Regular Morning
Hikaru yawned as he entered the living room. He clicked on the TV, turning up the volume to counter his brother's snoring. Mizu had yet again fallen asleep in a Zen position wearing only a loincloth. The next time he gets smashed, so help me God, I will put him in the bottle recycling bin. Hikaru's thoughts paused. Who am I kidding, my brother is always drunk off of the excess liquor here.

The usual chaos was happening: Kari and Bella "fought" over who would use the shower first; John pounded on Nodoka's door, telling him that it was his turn to train him today; Sayuri hogged the 3rd bathroom, and Saya was telling her to get out so she could prepare for the day. Rukia was taking a shower in the master bath, seeing as Hikaru already took his. ''It's like I live with college students and teenagers. I may be millenia old, but I still can't stand their whining! For once, could I please have someone other than Nodoka and the Arrancar Twins who is actually respectful?'' He sifted through the mail and found a letter from Seireitou. Hikaru opened the letter and read the contents:


 * Dear Hikaru,
 * I am sending over one of my students for you to train in the art of Zanjutsu. I estimate you have read this letter in the morning and are probably annoyed at the quirks of teenagers. Well, put on your big boy hakama and shape up!

I can already tell this day is going to be weird. Hikaru read on:


 * I am sending over Jason Palmer. He's like a younger version of Mizu, only more of a smart-ass, and he's extremely hot-headed. Have fun training him.


 * Your fellow Yonkō,


 * Seireitou Kawahiru


 * P.S. This one is worth training. Make sure you take your time and push him to the limit.

"Oh, and how his limits will be tested." Mizu yawned (He was reading over Hikaru's shoulder).

"Put some clothes on, Mizu," said Hikaru flatly.

"Killjoy. No kidney punch?"

Hikaru put the letter away in a junk drawer. "I don't want cleaning up blood being the first impression our guest has of us."

"Because we're so good at first impressions," mused Mizu. "Just look at the Hantā, they LOVE us!"

Hikaru sighed. "This time we're not being attacked by those hell-bent on decimating the Yonkō."

"Convinient," said Mizu. "Sei recommended the kid. Think he's THAT good?"

"Who knows?" Hikaru's aloofness reached a plateau. "It's more his battle ability I'm concerned about." He heard a crash, screaming, and Sayuri saying 'WHO TOUCHED MY BUTT?!' Hikaru looked blankly at his brother. "How many days do you give him?"

"For the training or living with the potential teen drama club?"

"Sure."

"Since we know practically nothing about the kid, and since he was Sei's student," Mizu stroked his chin. "five and one respectively."

Hikaru chuckled, "Time will tell."

First Impressions
Jason used his speed and agility to jump from roof top to roof top, he had a map given to him by Seireitou about how to find Hikaru. Rebounding off of a street sign using something similar to Fullbring, he saw a large Winery with the Kurosaki kanji on the front.

"That must be the place," He said as he landed and fixed his clothes, which were very american for a soul from the Rukongai. Walking up to the gates he felt a strange spiritual energy coming from the building.

"So many different spiritual energies this will be interesting," He said as he went to push the gate open.

"Stop right there." John and Nodoka waited at either side of the gate. "What's the password?"

Confused Jason looked at the two and shrugged.

"I don't know any password, I was sent here by Seireitou Kawahiru to meet a Hikaru Kurosaki." He said as he glanced at the two, trying to read their race and spiritual pressure levels.

Nodoka and John glanced at each other. John grinned, "Just kidding, Junior. We thought we'd just joke around a bit."

"You mean you wanted to pull a stupid prank under the pretense of threatening me with something totally unfair," retorted Nodoka through thought-speak. He made sure Jason could hear too.

Jason laughed and rather than opening the gates, chose to show off a bit and fullbrought the ground in a way and leaped over the large gate between him and the two awaiting Shinigami, his feet giving off a faint gold spark as he did so. Landing before the two he asked.

"Your both Shinigami aren't you? Can't wait to see your powers."

John sighed, "Shall we teach him the pecking order?"

"Nah, it's more fun to fight than explain."

"Point taken." John unsheathed his sword.

Watching this, Jason assumed his Shinigami state, transforming in a flash of golden sparks.

"Ok, I see your that type..." He said as he took out his own sword, which he still didnt know the name of. "Lets begin shall we?" He asked as he used his rather impressive speed to charge at John.

"What the?" John narrowly dodged, getting a cut on his face. "I should expect no less from one of Sei's disciples." He deflected Jason's sword and kicked the boy across the yard into the rose bushes.

Nodoka followed up with stopping Jason from hitting the roses. "John ,if we damage those plants, Rukia will make us do grunt work for a month."

"I thought we were already did grunt work," said John.

"The definitions of grunt work are very different between husband and wife," answered Nodoka.

Jason pushed off of Nodoka and used his speed and strange skills to stand on the air above them.

"Then lets take this to the skies," He said as he pushed of the air and jumped higher. In the air, Jason took a minute to contemplate what Seireitou had taught him and soon went to replace his sword in his sheath as without a shikai, it wouldn't be much use.

"Lets see what they bring to the table, I will have to be smart about this," He said as he waited.

"Hey! Gloomy and Persephone!" called Sayuri. "It's time for breakfast!"

"Did you just call me Persephone?" asked a bewildered John.

Nodoka pointed upward. Sayuri looked up at Jason. "Hey, Jason! You want breakfast?"

Nodding, Jason deactivated his Fullbring while floating back to the ground.

"I guess we will fight later huh," He said as he heard a voice in his head, whispering to him.

"You are a weakling and aren't worthy to be my master..."

Day 1
"So why is it that no matter who it is, friend or foe, everyone with a spit of spiritual pressure always attacks us?" asked Mizu while wolfing down some pancakes.

"Maybe it's because this establishment has 2 Yonkō class fighters, 3 Captain-class fighters, 3 Lieutenant-class fighters, and 2 higher ranking Espada class fighters living together and working together under the same roof," noted Hikaru. He sipped his tea and helped himself to another stack of flapjacks and some bacon.

"We can't help it if we're awesome," said John. He was on his 4th serving of eggs and bacon.

"Some people would disagree with you on that one," responded Nodoka. He sipped some coffee. "There are always those who want to fight us. Mostly because our idiot captain keeps sending us to hotspots for no real reason."

"Is it just me, or has Nodoka gotten snippier lately?" commented Sayuri after finishing some sugared strawberries.

"It's just his time of the month," said a bored Saya. She barely touched her food.

"You may need to get more sleep, Saya. I'm not a girl," countered Nodoka.

"You certainly complain like a woman."

"Would you please stop it, Saya?" asked Kari. "We have a guest and we should be more courteous to him."

"Speaking of courteous, where's Bella?" asked Mizu.

"She's helping Rukia cook," answered Hikaru. "Remember that while most of the males in this household can resist her hormone reiatsu," Hikaru didn't move his head, but Nodoka and John could feel his glare.

"Not my fault. I can't bench-press planets like you and your brother."

Hikaru continued, with a small grin at his subordinate's comment, "She'll keep her distance from Jason until such time."

"That's smart," said Kari. "At least I don't emit the same aura."

"The effect is still there," whispered John to Nodoka.

Nodoka said nothing.

Before another fight started, Hikaru decided to start a new topic. "So, Jason. How was your journey here?"

Jason looked up from his 3rd helping of food, finding it funny that he was so hungry while in his.

"Pretty confusing, I am so used to the East Coast, its been too long since I've been back on this side of the world," He said as he finished his food. "So you're Hikaru, the lone wolf of the Yonkō?" He asked as he felt another strange change in his spiritual pressure, as if someone or something was influencing it like it was when around Seireitou.

"For a lone wolf, he certainly has a lot of friends," mused Mizu.

"That is correct, Jason," answered Hikaru. "I was known as Hitokiri Urufukuro, or Black Wolf the Manslayer."

"I've been wanting to ask about that," said John. "You were known as the Black Wolf, but your hair is red."

"It wasn't always that way," said Mizu. "Hikaru used to have black hair, but post-war, it turned red."

"From the blood of his enemies?" asked Nodoka.

Hikaru chuckled. "Some may think that, but no. It's a side effect from a rejuvenation Kidō that I use. I am well over 5 millenia old."

"Wow, thats almost as old as Master Seireitou....." Jason said as he uncontrolably changed into his shinigami state, projecting it over his Gigai rather than exiting it as normal. "What is going on with my Reiatsu?" He asked, looking at the Yonkō.

"Do you feel the compulsive urge to swoon over Bella Pelear?" asked Mizu.

"No I do not..." Jason said as he remembered his lost love, who was eaten by a. "Not many can affect my heart." He explained as he looked at his form and then heard another voice.

"You are a weakling......." A strange female said to him.

"Seriously?" asked Mizu. "Most guys can't resist her charms. She destroys the 10 scale."

"Talking with your Zanpakutō?" asked Nodoka. "That seems to be happening a lot lately."

Mentally he spoke to Nodoka. "You can hear her too?" Jason asked confused by the comment.

"Your face gives everything away," Nodoka continued to eat pancakes as he 'spoke' to Jason.

"This is the the first time I've heard her voice, she is quite rude," He said as he grabbed his blade which released a large energy wave throughout the room, ruining breakfast. "What was that?"

Everyone was covered in various breakfast foods. "That was annoying," said Kari as she plucked a strawberry from her chest.

"ACK!" Sayuri screeched. "And I spent all morning getting myself ready for the day!"

"Ugh!" Saya pulled a sticky pancake off of her shoulder.

Hikaru avoided all of the debris as he flashed to the kitchen at the last minute.

"Well, since breakfast is over," started Mizu. He pointed to John and Jason. "Lowest rungs! Clean up!"

"You're not the boss of me," said John.

"Really," Mizu smiled sadistically. "Then I'll train you today instead of Nodoka."

John's entire body tensed. "Jason, let's clean this up."

Scared and ashamed he could not control his powers, Jason simply nodded to Mizu and went to start cleaning up the mess he caused. "Darn Zanpakutō, I don't know why it wont listen to me..."

A Common Soul
"Alright, now that breakfast is cleaned up, Saya and Sayuri have relented in killing Jason, and Mizu has gone off to deliver more booze to the local taverns, training can begin," stated Hikaru.

"Isn't it offensive to call our fine wine, booze?" asked John.

"Yes," answered Hikaru. "That's why we call the cheap stuff, booze."

"We're not going to go into our different slang words for our alcohol, are we?"

"Nope," said Hikaru. "But we are going to start training. Jason, what are your current powers?"

"Well, Seireitou-sensei trained me in Hakuda, and some Hohō, But I don't have control over my Zanpakutō nor do I have Shikai, as seen with the breakfast fiasco." Jason explained as he glared at his Zanpakutō, sitting propped up on the wall.

"Wait, it is that you don't know the name of it, or is it snippy and won't let you use it's powers like my Ryojō?" asked John.

"Dont know its name, it was just today that I heard her voice....." Jason said to John.

"Hmm," John puzzled. "At least you know it's a girl. Thankfully, Zanpakutō aren't like Bount dolls. They aren't going to kill you for lack of power. They'll just act holier than thou until you learn to control them. Just like Ryojō."

I hate you, said Ryojō to John.

"I know."

"Okay," Hikaru clapped. "We have 1 of 2 options. We either send Jason into the world of Zanpakutō and have him battle his Zanpakutō with an Asuachi, or we put him in scenarios where he has to use his powers to get out of."

"He has a Fullbring," noted Nodoka.

"Good point," said Hikaru. "What's your Fullbring again?"

"I don't know what a Fullbring is exactly," Jason said perplexed as he looked at Hikaru and then at Nadoka.

"Huh?" John was more confused than Jason. "You know, that power you used to jump over Nodoka and I. Unless that's a different power."

"Oh that, I don't know what that is exactly, It just manifested in my as my personal speedy technique." Jason said as he jumped releasing golden sparks rather than green typical of Bringer Light.

"Huh," said John. "Spiritual residue from using Hohō?"

"Probably," said Hikaru. "It's a lot like a Fullbring, so I can see the mistake in identification. It's kind of like a thunder deity running. Wouldn't you say so Jason?"

"I'd say so, I wish I could develop it more, so I could keep up with other Shinigami. I am not that fast yet." Jason said as he liked the idea of a lightning god running among the clouds.

"Well, let's see if we can't work on that first," started Hikaru. He looked over at Nodoka. "You know what to do."

Nodoka nodded. He popped a gikongan into his mouth from a Soul Candy container with a chibi bat's head on the top and left his gigai. "Fledermaus, zur arbeit gehen."

"Ja, mein herr, klappe," responded Nodoka's gigai.