Vorbereitungen

Part 1
It had been a number of hours since the initial clash between the, most of the major battles had ended, most being in the Wandenreich's favour, however the sounds of explosions and sword strikes continued between the lower ranking members of both sides along with a few major battles still taking place. During all the commotion, Ikiryō Kuragari and Kurokawa Tadayoshi sneaked their way to the base of the, they found a small hole in the side, large enough for a person of average height. They walked down the flight of steps leading to a, a truly fitting place to call a training ground.

"Amazing, I've never seen this place during all of my time in the Gotei 13.", Kurokawa said.

"Of course you haven't, it was made by Yoruichi-sama, she wouldn't make this place easy to spot.", Kuragari said looking around, familiarising himself with the grounds, as if remembering a long lost memory.

"Yoruichi-sama?", Tadayoshi said, confused, Ikiryō straightened up at the words.

"A former acquaintance.", he said quickly, walking into the grounds further, Tadayoshi, while still suspicious, didn't pry any more.

"Anyway, how are we going to train?", Kurokawa asked Kuragari, who promptly turned around.

"Well first we train with the basics, then we'll branch out and train in what we need to achieve most, meaning we shall be training alone in the 2nd half.", the 2nd division member said.

"What will it be first?", Kurokawa asked, his question was answered by Kuragari drawing his

"Zanjutsu.", he said quietly, "We shall take turns attacking and defending, honing our fighting styles until we are at a satisfactory level, I must admit after attaining Shikai I have become lacking in skill myself.", Kuragari said, pointing his blade at Kurokawa.

"Same.", Kurokawa said, drawing his Zanpakutō.

"I'll attack first", Ikiryō said.

Kuragari approached Kurokawa quickly, quickly slashing at the 5th Seat, Tadayoshi managed to block the initial strike however Kuragari changed the angle of attack, causing Tadayoshi to swing wildly to block it, leaving him open. These assaults continued, with Kurokawa managing, albeit barely to defend himself. Finally Kuragari let up on his attacks.

"Good, your turn.", Kuragari said, Tadayoshi responded with a firm nod.

The 5th Seat charged at Ikiryō coming in with a broad slash, Kuragari swiftly blocked it, undeterred, Tadayoshi rearranged his blade so it's tip was pointing at Kuragari's face, promptly thrusting, Kuragari barely blocked the attack by raising his sword to parry the attack.

"That's dangerous.", said Kuragari, mildly amused at Kurokawa's serious approaches, however, Kurokawa ignored him and pressed on.

After a couple more exchanges both men came to a tiebreak, knocking each others swords out of their hands with two strong attacks.

"Very good,", Kuragari said, picking up his zanpakutō, "it's my turn again.", he said, charging at Tadayoshi.

The exercise continued for a number of hours, resulting in both Kuragari and Tadayoshi becoming slightly fatigued. During the time it took them to do the exercise, the battles outside seemed to have ceased, despite not being able to sense any reiatsu in the cavern, both men knew quincy were still in the seireitei somewhere.

"Can you still fight?", Kuragari said to Kurokawa.

"Yeah, I'll manage.", Kurokawa replied, panting slightly.

"Good, next we shall be practicing Hakuda, well, you will be practicing Hakuda.", Kuragari said, correcting himself, Kurokawa looked nervous, remembering the 2nd division member's hakuda prowess during the battle between Anders Schäfer.

"Don't worry,", he said, noticing the 5th Seat's nervous look, "I won't be going all out right away, I'll hold back first, then I'll use my shikai and go more out on you, okay.", he said lightly.

"Right, I know some Hakuda, although it's basic, I should be able to hold my own.", Tadayoshi said, sheathing his zanpakutō.

Before he could take his stance, he found Ikiryō kicking him in the abdomen, sending him flying into a rock, regaining his posture, he barely blocked a strong punch from the hakuda master before trying to strike back, which was promptly blocked and countered, forcing him back into the hole in the rock.

"Too slow!", Kuragari said, grabbing Tadayoshi by the collar and throwing him a far distance.

Kurokawa managed to right himself by performing a frontal roll to absorb the force of the throw. Standing up, Kurokawa raised his fist to block another kick from Kuragari, sliding a few metres back in doing so, he then tried to punch the latter in the solar plexus, however Kuragari jumped onto his arm and kicked him in the face, causing Tadayoshi to fall back.

"I'm surprised you fared this well.", Kuragari said, watching Tadayoshi standing up and taking his stance.

"I am too.", the 5th division member said, panting heavily.

"Well, time to go all out,", Kuragari said, drawing his zanpakutō, "Fade away into nothingness, Shi no Hōyō."

Kurokawa barely had time to move before he found Kuragari in front of him, preparing to punch him with his clawed gauntlets, he raised his arms to block the impending strike to no avail, as the force of the attack made Kurokawa think his arms just got broken. The shinigami flew into the wall, causing it to make a sizeable hole where he hit it.

"Shit.", he muttered, climbing out, he used shunpo to dodge Ikiryō's next attack, reappearing a considerable distance away.

He barely had time to move before Ikiryō appeared in front of him, his clawed fingers near Kurokawa's throat.

"Good, I didn't expect you to fare as well as you did.", Kuragari said, sealing his zanpakutō, he looked at the now panting Kurokawa, who was trying to regain his breath.

"You're so fast.", he said, between one of his deep breaths.

"We'll work on that after we rest, but you managed to hold your own long enough to use a more effective technique if this was a real battle, and I wasn't being soft either." Kuragari said, taking a deep breath.

"We'll rest, follow me.", Kuragari said, walking off into the distance, mildly confused, Kurokawa followed suit.

Part 2
"How in the...", Kurokawa said, looking at what could only be assumed as a massive hot spring.

Kuragari merely chuckled in response.

"The hot spring can heal your wounds at a incredible rate, we'll need it if we're to get ready for more attacks.", he said, jumping into the hot spring, much to Kurokawa's surprise.

"Hmm, not coming in?", he said, removing the top half of his shihakshō, letting it hang on the side.

"I'm coming.", Kurokawa said, he got into spring, however he immediately sprang up.

"Hot!", he exclaimed, prompting Kuragari to chuckle.

"It's a hot spring, what did you expect?", he said sarcastically to the 5th seat, who had settled uncomfortably in the spring.

"Shut it.", he grumbled, causing Ikiryō to laugh more.

After the two of them were fully healed, they returned to their previous training spot.

"Now, Hoho, this is meant more for you than it is for me, we need to raise your speed so you can keep up with quicker opponents.", Kuragari said.

"Right.", Kurokawa said.

"We will basically play cat n' mouse, I'll chase you, and you will run away, this is so you are exposed to high speed constantly, which will hopefully raise your speed.", Kuragari explained.

"I see, so lets go", Kurokawa said, using shunpo to run away.

"Seriously, so eager.", Ikiryō said, using shunpo also.

Kurokawa, now a fair distance away, looked back to see no-one, he turned back, stopping.

"You don't stop.", Kuragari's voice said.

Kurokawa turned around to see the 2nd division member on a rock, cursing to himself, he ran away again, only for Kuragari to follow. The two repeated this process for some time, however, as Kurokawa was getting tired, Kuragari managed to grab him.

"Tag.", he said quietly, "you're it.", he said, running away with shunpo.

With the roles reversed, Kurokawa tried fruitlessly to catch Kuragari, however he came nowhere close to doing so. After trying numerous times, Tadayoshi stopped to regain some energy, with Kuragari running around him just to mock him.

"Come on, we don't have all day!", he said, running around the 5th seat.

Suddenly, he saw Tadayoshi disappear, he stopped moving and waited, only for him to feel the rush of the wind as Tadayoshi appeared behind him. Mildly surprised, Kuragari used shunpo to clear the distance, however he saw Kurokawa move again, appearing very near to him again. This continued as Kurokawa was actually pushing Kuragari slightly, with both of them moving at blurs.

Kuragari, once again dodging another swipe from Kurokawa, who was trying to touch him, appeared on a rock, as he expected Kurokawa appeared just a moment after, however before Kuragari could move Tadayoshi managed to touch him with his index finger.

"Very good, you touched me.", Kuragari said, he saw Tadayoshi kneel down, panting.

"That was too hard.", he said, gasping for breath.

"Well you're certainly faster now, but it's late, we shall sleep, then it's my turn to train.", Ikiryō said.

Part 3
The next morning.

"Okay next your going to train me in Kidō.", Kuragari said, looking at the yawning Tadayoshi.

"Right, what are we doing then?", he said, rubbing his eyes.

"We're going to have a mock battle, you shall fight normally, but I'll just be using Kidō.", Ikiryō said.

"I want to add a condition.", Kurokawa said.

"Go ahead", said Kuragari, intrigued.

"I'll call out the number hadō's and bakudō's you can do, so for example, Kidō 1-10, and then I'll raise the Kidō level, forcing you to use higher level kidō.", Kurokawa said sternly.

"Not a bad idea, now lets go!", Kuragari said

"Kidō's 10-20", Kurokawa said, drawing his sword.

"Bakudō #10, Hōrin.", Kuragari exclaimed.

A yellow rope of energy extended and shot towards Kurokawa, he blocked the binding spell with his sword and pointed his finger at it.

"Hadō #1, Shō", he said, causing the end of the binding spell to dissipate, he swung his zanpakutō to rid it of the rest of the binding spell.

"Kidō's 25-35.", he said, running toward Kuragari, who promptly raised his hands for an incantation.

"Hadō #32, Ōkasen!", he shouted, firing a wide beam of yellow energy.

"Tch, bakudō #8, Seki.", Kurokawa said, raising his hand to form a small blue ball of energy.

The hadō spell hit the 5th division member head on, however the bakudō was blocking the middle of the blast, dividing the spell in two. Frowning, Ikiryō recited the incantation.

"Ye lord who bears the weight of mankind! Look down on thy pitiful excuses of man! Lend thy might to crush thy enemy with you bright radiance, Hadō #32, Ōkusen!"

The arc of energy brightened, overwhelming both Kurokawa and his bakudō spell, causing dust to rise from the force of the spell. Jumping from the dust, Kurokawa wiped his cheek, his uniform was smoldering and tattered.

"Good, now use Kidō 40-50.", he said, looking down on Kuragari, "also, May the Fangs of Heaven Bear upon us, Ookami no Shoukan.".

Kurokawa's blade transformed into a elegant wide blade, with a semi-circular groove at the top of the hilt, extending to the base of the blade.

"Hadō #41...", Kuragari started, he was interrupted however, by Kurokawa's kido spell.

"Hadō #33 Sōkatsui.", he said, placing his hand to the semi-circular groove of his blade, the zanpakutō absorbed the kido, enveloping the sword in a bright blue fire like energy.

"Here I come!", Kurokawa said, rushing towards Kuragari.

"Reimei!", Kuragari shouted, finishing his spell.

Suddenly a gust or razor wind hit Kurokawa, slicing his shoulder, he recoiled, looking at his injury.

"50-60.", he said, looking back at Kuragari, who recoiled.

"Dammit.", he said, crossing his arms in a x pattern, "Ye Lord of stone and fire!", he began, using shunpo to get away from Kurokawa, however the shinigami was in close pursuit.

"Through the grass unseen, unwitnessed by the Sun's ceaseless gaze, bear your fangs of black and rend their hearts from their sinful coil! Hadō 60 Jasō!", he shouted as he ran away, two pillars of red energy formed into a giant snake looking figure, the snake headed toward Kurokawa at full speed.

"Shit,", said the 5th seat, "Tenma Joumon no Douka!", he shouted, releasing his sōkatsui, causing it to become a crescent of blue fire, crashing into the snake, causing a massive explosion that both shinigami were caught in.

"Jesus, he's good.", Kurokawa said, landing on a rock, he turned around to see Ikiryō had escaped the explosion also, both of them had superficial burns but nothing more.

"Good, now lets do level 70 hadō", Kurokawa said, sealing his zanpakutō.

"What!", Kuragari said, he was panting due to his excessive use of higher level kidō.

"We shall fire one level 70-80 hadō at each other, and see if we can keep control and power.", Kurokawa said, sheathing his sword.

"Okay, I'll try.", Kuragari said.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens, Hadō #73, Sōren Sōkatsui!", Kuragari exclaimed, firing a massive wall of bright blue fire.

"Hadō #70, Hisame Akaihi.", Kurokawa said, taking a deep breath, from his hand came a pillar of bright red fire, shooting towards Kuragari's spell, which was crashing toward him.

Both spells hit each other and fought over sovereignty, however, before a victor was decided, the spells exploded, causing both shinigami to get engulfed in dust.

As the dust was settling down, Kuragari was on one knee, panting due to his use of an extremely high level Kidō, Kurokawa, also panting heavily, approached him.

"You're good.", he said, trying to catch his breath.

"I surprised myself.", Kuragari excalimed, finally standing up, "now that we have both honed our basic skills, we shall go on and train alone on what we need to train most, our Bankai's.", he said.

"Bankai's, but I don't have one.", Tadayoshi said, confused.

"You're well on your way though, your zanpakutō's materialisation is proof of that.", Kuragari responded to the bamboozled shinigami.

"I would let us rest but we have no time, the Wandenreich seemed to have retreated but we don't have much time left, we have to go on.", he said urgently.

"Yeah.", said Kurokawa quietly, "We should use the water of the hot spring to revitalize ourselves for now, so we can go on.", he continued on, panting still.

"Yeah, lets go", Kuragari said.