Bleach: Familiar Stranger

Chapter 3

A dash, a kick, a throw, was all it took for Ichigo to disarm his opponent without even drawing his blade, and it happened in the blink of an eye.

Ichigo had never been one to hold back even in friendly matches. At first, it was because it took his all to simply keep up with his opponents when he first trained to save Rukia. As time went on and he improved, the war began. It just became natural to cut down opponents before they could attack – kill or be killed.

The taunting stopped.

Eight opponents for Ichigo and eight whole defeats for the Sixth Division later, Renji was getting increasingly frustrated and decided to step in himself. He'd trained his men, damn it. No Academy kid was going to show them up no matter how talented he was.

As his men were making way for him into the ring, he could see the student's discomfort. That's right, squirm. Renji would show him his place.

Just as he was about to step into the human-made ring, he felt a hand on his shoulder. All conversations in the field ceased as if a silent switch had been turned on.

'That's enough.' Byakuya announced, loud enough for everyone gathered around the ring to hear. 'Get back to work.'

What? The Captain was just going to leave it at that? Why?

Renji was perplexed.

'Abarai.' Byakuya called as he turned to look back at the unmoving Renji on the way to the office they shared, indicating for him to follow.

Renji moved obediently.

As the fervor died down and the Shinigami dispersed on their Captain's order, Ichigo felt relief, but also slight disappointment. A spar against Renji would have been troublesome, but it would've been so much fun compared to the people he sparred with lately. Shiro was also being agreeable for once, so consequences be damned.

But it appears a decent fight would have to wait.

Raido had brought Ichigo to his office in the Division barracks after the altercation in the morning. He hadn't talked to Ichigo since he directed Ichigo to a small seat with a table at the side. At this rate, it would be even more boring for Ichigo here than being at the Academy.

Couldn't Ichigo have been attached to someone else? Someone from the Eleventh Division would have been nice – they were a lively bunch and would've provided Ichigo with some entertainment. Sadly, every Shinigami knew that the Eleventh would never take on Academy assignments.

Wasn't Ichigo supposed to be doing something? Ichigo was surreptitiously glancing at Raido every few minutes.

'You are to go on a courier mission. Bring this over to the Eighth Division.' Raido commanded as he handed Ichigo a stack of papers from his seat without even looking at the student. It seems Ichigo wasn't hiding his impatience as well as he thought. Yoruichi would have been disappointed with his performance in covert operation.

Ichigo sighed. Having a mission might sound exciting and all, but it looks like he was going to be delivery boy for a while.

Byakuya and Renji had been working silently in the office for the past hour. They had extra paperwork to handle as the Gotei 13 was planning to send the Vizards over from the Human World to Seireitei in order to strengthen their forces, and all Divisions had to report on the most appropriate way to assimilate the Vizards into their ranks. They also had assignments from the Academy to deal with, ranging from student field trips in the Human World, to individual cases like Kai who had to be attached to a squad member.

The Academy Heads apparently loved working with the Sixth Division since Byakuya always responded cordially and positively. Some Captains like Mayuri of the Twelfth Division found interacting with Academy teachers beneath him, while others like Juushiro and Toshiro were always too busy with other assignments. The lazy ones like Kyoraku or Zaraki were out of the question.