The Double Edged Sword

30

Recap:

"It really sounds like an excuse to do the hanky panky. I'm feeling a little uneasy." Urahara said while feeling the tiniest amount of protectiveness come forwards for his dear niece. He didn't understand why Ichigo would be speaking of her now, after everything, but he just hoped the boy was ready for what he was about to see. Izumi wasn't the same as her normal self at the moment, and the only thing to do to get her out of her funky was to wait; it was a huge waiting game.

"PLEASE TEACH ME WELL!!" Ichigo screamed at the top of his lungs startling the older man from his thoughts and everyone else around them was speechless.

"Is something wrong?" Urahara trailed off completely blown away from the character change that he had witnessed. Something must've happened while the kid was at school, if he was out of his depressive funk, then there might actually be a way to save Izumi from her mental suffering faster; he hoped that Ichigo would continue to act like himself, and possibly save his best friend once again.

"Nope, nothing at all!" Ichigo concluded while standing up straight and tall. He was going to give this his all, everything he had was going to go towards this training, and he was going to get stronger. He was going to get Rukia back, and most importantly in his mind, he was going to get stronger along side his best friend.

"Please teach me well."

...

Summer Vacation has begun. 

....

Izumi stood motionlessly while silently looking around at the closed up shop. She stared at the door that was blocked off by a thick metal garage door before looking around at the various supplies that was stocked on shelves that lined the walls. Sunlight drifted in through the back sliding door revealing numerous floating dust bunnies. One in particular caught her attention, it was a rather large bunch of dust, and inwardly she questioned if she should even be breathing in the air of the building if it was so dirty. Following the bunny with her eyes she watched as it seemed to get sucked down into a hidden passage way that was right under the floor. 

She knew about the passage of course, she had even realized it was open when she had walked into the lobby from her room a few minutes ago, though it didn't perk her interest. At the moment she couldn't care less what her uncle was doing down in his training room. Her eyes scanned the thin wooden board that protected the opening before she debated on whether she should close up the door. 

It was a hole in the floor, it was dangerous, someone could fall into it; her brain pointed out all of these points but Izumi didn't care. If someone was stupid enough to fall into a hole, then they deserved to fall. Her pointless gaze was suddenly caught by another dust bunny before she could think over it anymore. At least, her attention was taken for a few moments before a familiar obnoxious scream filled her ears. Slowly her eyes were drawn back to the hole and she simply stared at the ladder that led downwards. No emotion crossed her face before she blinked and walked in the opposite direction towards her bedroom. 

....

"Whoa! What is this place?!" Kisuke Urahara called loudly while putting his hand up to his lips to make his voice echo. "I didn't know there was such a huge ass cavity beneath that shop!" he squawked louder trying to imitate how he had expected Ichigo to react. Though the orange haired boy was not impressed as he stood back with his arms crossed. 

"Shut up already. You don't have to bother screaming it out, we're already surprised!" he said dismissively while he gave the uncle of his best friend a lame expression. 

"That's right, there is no need for me to hid this study hall, it is a masterpiece created by a combination of Chic Swankiness from our hyper-technology, and I completed it all in one day and one night for you, Kurosaki-kun." the older man said sweetly while covering his mouth with his fan. If he were honest, he'd explain that the original idea for this room was actually for Izumi. He had wanted to figure out a way for her to allow her spiritual pressure to be released naturally without her having to hold back all the time but he never got around to it. Now that it was complete, he was quite proud of himself for creating such a feat in so short of a time.