Storekeeper's Apprentice

Part 2 Training Begins

     Sakyu groaned. Someone was nudging her. She rolled over in an effort to ignore it. Then gasped and sat straight up. Urahara was standing above her with a now empty bucket. Sakyu shivered. "What the fuck." She was freezing and found bits of ice on the floor around her. Urahara tossed her a towel. "Take a shower and get into some dry clothes." He tells her simply before turning around and walking away. Sakyu got up and went to the bathroom to do as she was told. She showered quickly and hurried to her room to dress. When she went in the kitchen, Urahara was waiting for her. She sat down. "Good Morning." He says simply and watched her. "Beginning today you will be on a schedule. I will wake you at whatever time I choose and you will get up immediately. If not..." He nodded to the hallway. "You'll have a repeat of this morning. You will eat breakfast and do any chores I have chosen." Sakyu sighed and nodded. "We will also begin training so that you can learn to release your Zanpakuto." Sakyu looked at the floor then. "Any particular reason why you haven't released it yet?" He asked. Sakyu shook her head. She honestly had no idea. Her spiritual pressure was certainly up to the task. "Well," He says as he sets a bowl of rice in front of her, "We'll change that soon enough." After Sakyu had eaten, Urahara took her to a large storeroom. "I want you to go through and catalog everything. Then reorganize it." He handed her a tablet with the info that he expected her to use. The storeroom was huge. Boxes, tubs, and file cabinets were stacked at least ten boxes high. When Urahara saw the look on her face, he grinned.  So far so good. Of course it was only the second day. Nearly a month later, not only was Sakyu physically exhausted, she finally reached the point he was hoping for. She was certainly stubborn. He expected her to react a lot sooner. When he went to wake her, her response was a resounding. "Fuck off, Uruhara." He picked her up then and proceeded to his training ground beneath his shop. At the bottom of the stairs, he dumped her unceremoniously on her ass. When she looked up he had pulled out his Zanpakuto, still sheathed. "Stand up." He orders her. She was exhausted, but she climbed to her feet. She felt his spiritual pressure rise. And much to his delight, he felt her spiritual pressure rise as well. "Draw your Zanpakuto." He orders her. She hesitated. Urahara had drawn his and sheathed it in the same second. A gash appeared on Sakyu's cheek. Urahara felt her anger build up some. Good. But not enough. "I said draw." He told her, his voice low. She needed to show her Zanpakuto that she had the fortitude to wield it. Sakyu still remained where she was. She continued to watch Urahara. Again he moved unperceptively. A gash appeared on her other cheek. She heard it then. "What is wrong with you?" Urahara shook his head. She was going to make this harder than she had to. He knew she was exhausted. He needed her to rely on her instincts. He brought his blade up then and aimed for her throat. Then she moved. Blocking his blade easily. He pushed against her. She blocked it. That was basic for her. He could feel her spiritual pressure building even more. Just as he needed it too. One more should do it. Either her Zanpakuto would waken to protect her, or this would end very quickly. He pulled back and watched her for a moment. She was breathing heavily already. In a flash he was behind her and lunged for an opening. "You foolish woman. You will owe me for this." She heard. There was a flash. Urahara blocked Sakyu as she struck him with three successive blows. There was a small gust of wind and Urahara found a slash on his own cheek. He smiled as he brought his hand up. Then he backed off and sheathed his blade again. Sakyu looked at him blankly for a moment before passing out. Urahara caught her. "Well done." He whispered. This was only the beginning. Now that she understood what it felt like to control her spiritual pressure, they could move forward. Urahara's Zanpakuto chuckled. "You certainly are unorthodoxed." Urahara nodded. "Did you expect anything different?"

     Sakyu woke up and found herself in her bed. She got dressed and found Urahara sitting in the kitchen waiting for her. She sat down and remained quiet. "Did you learn anything after what happened?" Sakyu nodded but wasn't sure how to voice how she was feeling. "You weren't allowing yourself to hear your Zanpakuto." He tells her. "Your mind was too cluttered with meaningless drabble." Sakyu nodded again. "Your sword spoke to you didn't it?" "Yes, sir." She noticed the cut on his cheek. Urahara smiled, "A message from your Zanpakuto to me. Don't get cocky. Your sword acknowledged your existence. It only gets harder from here. And don't think that I'm letting up on you. You need to learn to control your mind. Distraction can get you killed." Urahara stood up again. "You'll be working outside today." He tells her simply. She was on her own. She fixed herself breakfast and went outside. Urahara held a broom in one hand and a rake in the other. He didn't work her near as ragged from that point. Most of her energy was to be spent on the training phase. Sakyu was put through sword drills until Urahara was satisfied. She was forced to stay downstairs until her Zanpakuto was satisfied as well. When her sword was personified, she presented herself as an aristocrat. Her Zanpakuto  was dressed in a straight-laced black gown. Her hair in a bun on top of her head. She had two strands of curls framing her face. Sakyu grinned. How did she expect to move like that? "Do you find something amusing?" The woman asked. She was serious. No nonsense. "I'm not going to make this easy on you. You're going earn the right to know my name. You're nothing to me at this point. Show me what you can do girl." Sakyu drew her blade and waited. "What are you waiting for?" The woman asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Strike me. If you can." Sakyu smiled again. And attacked. The woman simply stood to one side. Sakyu found herself face first on the ground. "Is that the best you can do?" Sakyu growled and got to her feet. She swung and the woman stopped her sword with just one finger. "My turn." Sakyu went flying and landed flat on her back. "Get up." Sakyu began to prop herself up so she could stand up. "Not fast enough." With one kick Sakyu went into a wall behind her. This time coughing up blood. "Worthless child. Attack me or I will end this here." Sakyu growled. "Bitch." With that she ran and flipped over the woman. She turned and attempted to strike her. The woman simply kicked her again and smiled. This pissed Sakyu off and she began striking hard at her. Feints, thrusts. Any move she thought would get through the woman's defenses. As she did so, she began to feel a familiar pressure. Her strikes became more accurate and soon she had succeeded in making the woman take a few steps back. The woman brought up her hand and Sakyu paused. Only to be struck and thrown against the wall again. "Not near enough. Stop holding back." Sakyu could feel the anger building up in her. "I'll show you holding back." Sakyu threw herself at the woman, holding her sword behind her. She spun, tucked and rolled. But only managed to strike at her feet. She dodged. The woman struck her on the head. Blood ran into Sakyu's eyes. But she heard the woman. She got behind her again and in a flash held the tip of her blade at the woman's throat. The woman's lip curled up in the closest smile she could manage. "That will do, for now. You're still lacking, but you have the willingness to continue even when injured." She bowed then. "My name is Ariyama."

     Urahara watched Sakyu sleep. Her wounds were dressed. All she could do now was rest. He began to wonder if he was making the mistake of underestimating her. He had yet to actually begin to fix the problem that brought her to him in the first place. But all in good time. He had to wait and see if despite his best efforts, Sakyu still felt the need to pleasure herself. He knew from his own experience that the urge would only grow. He would be a fool if he tried to convince himself that he wasn't looking forward to it. He groaned then and got up. It would be better for him to find something constructive to do than to continue down his current train of thought. He was not the type of man who would ever take advantage of an woman who is incapacitated. However, there was something about Sakyu that was beginning to affect him and most likely his judgement as well. Perhaps the reports on Sakyu and her unconscious ability to entice men was not as far fetched as he had originally believed. When she wasn't being worked to exhaustion, it seemed her body had ideas of its own. Then is struck him. Not her body. He got up and ran to his office. When he had still worked in Research and Development he had of course been involved in inventions and experiments. His experiments unlike the ones his replacement as Captain was involved in, were harmless. He went through his notebooks until he found what he was looking for. When he saw her photo, he froze. That's why she looked so familiar. As he read through the notes describing the experiment that had been done he began to realize that his colleague had added some notes of his own. The woman apparently had an abnormally high sex drive when puberty began. Mayuri felt that this could possibly be weaponized. When Urahara had done his research, he was only interested in finding out what would cause someone's sex drive to increase so significantly. It had only come to his attention because of the complaints of some of the other inmates that he was responsible for. The woman had succeeded in killing an older inmate because of her insatiable appetite. He had decided to take her under his wing and see if he could help her. He didn't feel that she belonged amongst the criminals that resided here. He felt that she was suffering far more than she deserved to. And for a time, he thought he had made some progress. But as time went on, he began to develop strong feelings for her. And they did end up having relations until mysteriously he found her gone. Mayuri had simply transferred her. Before Urahara could begin to search for her, he was exiled. He had long since thought that Mayuri had simply become careless and killed the woman. He had a reputation of not having his share of prisoners last very long. His contacts had described to him how much worse things had gotten since his departure. He wouldn't recognize the department that he created any more. Mayuri had become something of a monster and so long as the Soul Society was provided with what they needed by his department, he was left alone. Urahara sat there for a moment. She hadn't recognized him. While there could be many reasons for that, it was still unsettling. Mayuri must have done more to her than he was aware of. He knew that the woman had been accepted into training as a soul reaper, but he never learned the circumstances that led to her being in the possession of his department.