Taking a deep breath, twin sheets of my golden Reiryoku formed in front of me before they shifted and blocked off a barrage of arrows from both sides.
Yuzu looked a bit disappointed that hers didn't hit, but Karin didn't waste any time to attack as she lunged forward, aiming a barrage of arrows at me that I quickly blocked before raising an eyebrow as her bow disappeared.
The next moment, I leaned to the side as she missed with a kick, ducking under the arrow from behind by Yuzu before sending a Kan'onball at her right as Karin continued her assault.
The ground under me warped before rising to block her spinning heel kick, her eyes widening as the dirt wrapped around her leg before I nodded with a smile as she quickly fired an arrow that destroyed the dirt hand on her ankle.
Quickly jumping back, I turned just as Yuzu fired a piercing arrow straight to the wall, spinning around with a flourish before raising an eyebrow in surprise as Karin caught the arrow and shot it back at me while adding some more reishi into it.
'Nope, not going to let you do that.' I thought with a frown as I created a sheet of spiritual energy besides me before redirecting it slightly upwards, pointing a finger at it and unleashing a Byakurai at it that made it explode right as both girls charged towards me.
Spinning my cane with a flourish, I blocked and pushed Karin's attack to the side while kicking out to stop Yuzu's punch, wrapping my leg around her arm and pulling her in right as I rolled forward and let the two girls run into each other.
I was most definitely not a good close quarters fighter, but what I don't have in combat I do have in figuring out how to make someone regret coming close to me.
'Like now.' I thought with a smirk as I traced a circle on the ground before slamming my hand into the ground, watching as it rippled before the girls squeaked as they sunk up to their knees into the ground below them.
Solidifying it around their legs once again, I slid forward and stopped in front of them before Yuzu frowned while Karin stifled a curse as I held a glowing finger to each of their foreheads.
"Boom, I win again."
"I don't think you should be proud of winning against girls." Ikumi spoke up from the side and I rolled my eyes as I let the girls out while smirking at the excited look in Kaoru's eyes.
"Considering these girls can fire twelve arrows in the span of three seconds, I'm allowed to do so."
"Mom, can I have the powers too?!"
"No/ Oh, no." Ikumi and I said respectively and while Kaoru looked disappointed, I shrugged at the woman's raised eyebrow.
"What? I like to teach kids how to defend themselves, but only when their parent or parents agree to it."
"…I see."
"Jeez, won't you two just kiss and go out already?"
"Karin!" Yuzu squeaked at her twin's words, but the girl looked unapologetic while I snorted and Ikumi shook her head.
"Sorry, kiddo. I did ask her out, but she said she's too busy for stuff like that."
"Yeah, but she's interested considering she has no reason to come watch you train us for hours every single day since we started." The girl said and I wanted to respond before stopping myself as I looked over at the woman in question.
"No, Kaoru wants to come see you ever since you showed him that you're training the girls in hopes that you might let him train too."
"No, I d-!"
"Yes, you did, right sweetie?" I blinked at the sweet smile on the woman's face and Kaoru's slight frown before he shrugged.
"…Eh, sure. Yeah, I wanted to do that."
"I thought we weren't supposed to tell kids how to lie?" I asked with a teasing smirk and chuckled as she rolled her eyes while blushing slightly.
"Shut up."
"Oof~ Good comeback."
"Like I said, she's into you."
"You are too observant for your own good, little miss." Ikumi said with a narrowed smile aimed at Karin who simply shrugged as I sat down besides them.
"So, you're saying that what she's saying is the truth?"
"I said she's too observant, not that she's telling the truth."
"Uh-huh."
"Mom, I really didn't want to come. You were the one who wanted to-!"
"Sweetie, please stop talking."
"No, keep talking there, buddy."
"No chilli mackerel for you if you keep talking."
"A hundred thousand yen if you do."
"She wanted to come watch you train. She's even been watching the TV Show with me and has a big poster of you on her bedroom wall. I'm talking like bigger than our TV and it's pretty big." I blinked slowly at that before looking at the woman who looked like a bright red tomato with a glare aimed at me.
"Mister, you are grounded until you are 50. You say anything and I'm walking away right now."
"…Anyway, girls, what are the things you did wrong in your fight?" I wanted to tease her, but I'd not ruin what slight chances I had with the woman.
That doesn't mean I'm storing that information away for a later date.
"W-We shouldn't have attacked you directly." Yuzu said after snapping out of her shock and I made a so-so gesture before turning to Karin as she spoke up.
"We shouldn't have switched to a close quarters fight since we haven't trained in that."
"Precisely. You were doing good at long-range in keeping me on my toes with the arrows while one of you attacked at close range now and again. However, since you both attacked me at close range and since you haven't trained in either hand-to-hand combat nor teamwork at close range, I had all the advantages in moving you into each other so that I can win."
"So, what we need to do next time is make one fight from close to mid range while the other takes shots from long range?"
"And then switch whenever I try to go for the other one. Make sure one of you is always too far for me to attack without fully turning my back towards the other and leaving myself open to them."
"Okay and how do we train that?" Yuzu asked before blinking as I shrugged.
"Do things together. Hang out, play games, go on shopping trips, play outside. Just do things together and figure out how the other person's mind works. From there, train more together and figure out who can shoot the fastest and who can last the longest in close-range fighters. After that, you two should start getting in sync with each other the more we spar. However! This does not mean you must neglect your actual training as you two meditating together will also help you two get into that same spiritual mindset of teamwork and coordination."
"…Huh, okay. That we can do, right Yuzu?"
"Yep, twin telepathy and all." I chuckled at Yuzu's response to Karin before looking up to see Kaoru giving me an expectant look and remembered the deal I made.
"Tomorrow."
"Cool!" He exclaimed with a grin and I looked at Kaoru to see her looking away with a huff.
"You know, I could split it fifty-fifty since it was your secrets he spilled."
"70/30."
"60/40."
"55/45."
"Deal." I agreed and she nodded with a smile before rolling her eyes as Kaoru looked at us in shock.
"What? I'm taking my half and putting it away because I know you're going to blow most of it on something you want."
"…I wasn't." The boy muttered with a frown, but Ikumi and I just shared an amused look as I snorted.
"Sure, you weren't."
"…I'm still mad at you by the way."
"I know."
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"Remember what you guys need to do?"
"Keep track and eliminate the Hollows inside Karakura Town, protect our friends and families and make sure to talk good about you in front of Ms. Ikumi." Yuzu listed off their three objectives for the time that I was gone and I nodded with a grin.
"That's right. However, don't overwork yourselves, don't train too much and make sure that you get enough rest."
"What are you? Our dad?"
"No, your real dad would not want you guys to do this, so I'm the one who is asking you not to tell him that I suggested this because I do not want to get hunted by a guy that doesn't feel anything when punching his own son."
"Sure thing. We won't let the old man hit you." Karin said and I nodded in thanks before taking a deep breath.
"You nervous?" She asked and I nodded as I let it all out with a sigh.
"Yeah, I'm going with four teenagers and a cat and we're supposed to face off against thirteen guys, one of which your brother struggled to beat, and another thirteen guys that are supposed to be far stronger than the first thirteen."
'Not to mention, all of them are five times stronger in the Soul Society than they are in the Human Realm so that makes it even harder.' I thought with a grumble before I was surprised as I felt a pair of arms wrapping around my sides.
"Uh, thanks for the hug, but what is it for?" I asked as I looked down at Yuzu, who smiled happily as she pulled back.
"For good luck. That's what we always do to Big Brother Ichi when he feels nervous."
"Even you?"
"Hell no. The best you get is a fist bump." Karin said with a smirk as she held up a fist and I couldn't help the chuckle as I nodded while we shared a fist bump.
"I'll take it. Anyway, training is dismissed, my dear disciples! I shall see you all in…two weeks at the latest."
"Be safe!"
"And kick ass!" Karin exclaimed as I walked away and I simply gave a thumbs-up while feeling my anxiety and excitement growing with each step.
'Oh, this is about to be so much fun.'
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"Coming~!" Kaoru's voice shouted and I smiled as I heard feet rushing to the door before he looked surprised to see me standing in front of it.
"Hey, Mr. Kanonji! Did Mom invite you over?!"
"We both know that's a low blow there." I said with narrowed eyes and he snickered before I looked up to see his mom walking down the main hallway with a smirk.
"Go finish up the dishes, sweetie."
"Okay, mom! Remember, no flirting with her, okay?!"
"I won't." I said as he walked away, Ikumi simply rolling her eyes as we watched him leave before she turned back with her arms crossed and leaned against the open door.
"So, you come to say bye before your little rescue trip?"
"Yep. Don't know how tough it's going to be or how many evil spirits there might be, but I'm going to try my best to make sure those kids come home safe."
"Don't sacrifice yourself to make sure that happens, okay? Kaoru would feel sad if his favourite star in the world dies before he can make you teach him the stuff you teach the Kurosaki kids."
"Only him?" I asked with a smirk and chuckled as she rolled her eyes while trying to hide her smile.
"Oh, shut up."
"That wasn't a yes."
"It wasn't a no, either." She said and I shook my head before raising an eyebrow as she looked a bit unsure.
"You know, if you want to kiss me, I wouldn't mind."
"…Really?" She asked and I shrugged as I rested on my cane with a smirk.
"Hey, can't blame me for try-!" I froze as she leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek, really close to the corners of my lips as she pulled back and giggled at my shocked look.
"Come back safe."
"…Oh, now I definitely will." I muttered and she smirked before closing the door, leaving me standing in front of the door as I grinned and began making my way towards the Urahara Shop.
'See, now I just have more motivation to finish this mission with a 100% record.'
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"What took you so long? Also, how do you know of this room?" Urahara asked as I dropped down the ladder and walked over to where he and Tessai were standing.
"I was saying a few goodbyes and you're not the only one that has knowledge." I said cryptically with a shrug, to which he smirked and Tessai adjusted his glasses.
"Oh, right. Don Kanonji, pleased to meet you."
"Tessai Tsukabishi. Pleased to meet you as well." Tessai greeted with a bow and I returned it before turning to Urahara as he cleared his throat.
"Now that everyone is introduced, are you ready to go?"
"Where are the others?"
"Oh, they're already through." He said nonchalantly and my eyes widened as I finally looked to the side to see a square structure made out of some white quarts stone with a dark purple void.
"What?!"
"Yeah. Also, you have another two minutes before the portal closes and we have to wait another three weeks before we can open another one."
"I swear you just make my life difficult!" I exclaimed with a middle finger at the man and grumbled at his laughter as I raced through the portal only to stop in the middle of a never-ending corridor-like dimension that seems to be made up of a purple ooze.
However, I didn't gawk at it for longer than a brief moment before turning in the direction of where I heard voices shouting and took off in that direction.
It took me a minute or so before I caught sight of a light at the end of the tunnel and took a deep breath before I dove through it and out of the void.
The bright white light spun around me as I felt myself spinning through the air before I blinked as the white light finally vanished.
However, as it did, my eyes widened as I appeared above a vast rocky terrain instead of the villages of the Rukongai outside the Seireitei like I expected.
There were many valleys and mountains and as I looked around, I frowned at the giant long wooden pole that stretched up high and until the clouds from where I was falling.
'Where in the fuck am I?' I thought with a frown as I created a thin pair of shields below my feet before riding them down to the ground, jumping off while firing them away right as they exploded with soft pops.
"Damn, this place has got some good Reimyaku." I muttered out loud as I knelt on one knee and felt the spiritual energy in the leylines, its energy far more potent than the spiritual energy of the leylines in the Human Realm.
However, the reishi in the air didn't feel like the spiritual energy I felt in Rukia and Ichigo and as I focused on my spiritual sensing to find any energy nearby, I had to gasp as I felt nothing but hundreds of different spiritual energies in all directions.
"That…is most definitely not the spiritual energy of Shinigami." I whispered as I felt the energies drawing nearer, watching as the first energy climbed out of the valley they were in and my eyes widened at the sight of its source.
With a pure white ghost-like body that had no distinctive features other than a flaming hair style and pink pin-shaped heads, the being looked at me with a tilted head while I frowned as I couldn't see any facial features whatsoever.
'What…the absolute hell is that?' I thought as I watched it stand up straight, watching as more and more crawled out before I felt a bit unnerved as nearly a hundred of them were standing at the edge of the valley while standing still.
"Uh, hello?" I greeted, frowning slightly as they all simply stared at me before shaking my head as they all stayed silent and just stared at me.
"Well, this is fun. The natives of this place can't speak and I'm stuck in another dimension." I grumbled as I shook my head, looking around before shrugging as I chose to walk towards the one landmark I can see.
However, as I began walking, I blinked as I heard footsteps following after me, turning back to see the white ghosts following after me robotically.
"You guys want something?" I asked as I went to walk closer only to frown as they followed my exact movements and walked towards me, the one at the front reaching out and touching the gem around my neck.
As it did so, my eyes widened as I felt an influx of spiritual energy flushing through my body, looking as the white spirit was replaced by a confused yet happy old man as the spiritual energy was fully absorbed into the gem around my neck.
"T-Thank you~! Thank you so much~!"
"Namu Amida Butsu." I said it subconsciously and watched as the spirit faded away before smirking as I looked at the numerous spirits around me as well as the many others that were appearing out of nowhere.
"…Time for some good ol' cheat grinding."
A/N: And we're ending this chapter on a cliffhanger~!
As we expected, the Don has joined the gang on the Soul Society Rescue, but…where is he and who are the spirits around him?
Also, what is with the large pillar and what does it have to do with why he is here?
We'll find out next time.
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As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next chapter,
Ba-Bye~!