Sunset in Heaven

Chapter 8

"I'll show him! I'll show him!!!" Ichigo shouted as he clashed his zanpakutou against Shiro's. "I'll show him what this Rukongai dog is capable of!!"

'Calm down, King.' Shiro smirked. 'You've been fuming for two weeks now. How about you try and fight that guy Kenpachi?'

Ichigo looked up at him, immediately thinking of the percentage where he'd get out of that battle alive. "Well, there's that..."

'I think Shiro is right, Ichigo.' Zangetsu materialized beside them. 'Even though you've been fighting us for almost two weeks now, your physical body is still at rest so you're still restless after the fight.'

'Yes, a real fight will be good.' Shiro grinned, eyes gleaming in excitement at the prospect of a fight.

Ichigo thought about it for a while. Maybe Renji could spar with him? But that guy was that guy's fukutaichou. Not that he resented Renji for ever working under Byakuya. He just felt that anything he might achieve from sparring with Renji may as well have come from Byakuya since he was using the man's subordinate to train. And of course, there's Kenpachi...

Kenpachi was fine but the man's excitement alone might kill Ichigo. The teen sighed. "I think I'll ask Kenpachi to spar with me then."

'Speaking of which.' Shiro smirked before Ichigo's vision turned to that of the dojo inside his house. Kenpachi's reiatsu was as enthusiastic as ever. The man was tremendously strong, though it seemed he was not that good at controlling his reiatsu. He now wondered if Kenpachi even knew how to perform a kidou.

The door to the dojo was smashed after some seconds, revealing the maniacally grinning huge Captain of 11th Squad Division, and for once, Ichigo didn't run. "Yo, Kenpachi." He greeted.

"Hoh? You're willing to be caught right now?" Kenpachi's reiatsu radiated so much excitement. Not the usual fluffy happiness, though, but the happiness barely concealing the tremendous killing intent. Not that Kenpachi really wanted to kill Ichigo. He just wanted to spar, which could end up killing the teen anyway.

"Ichi! Kenny and I have been looking for you for some time now!" Yachiru spoke from Kenpachi's shoulder. "I told you, Kenny. Ichi's here right now."

"You know why I'm here, Ichigo." Kenpachi said. "I like to have a match with you."

"Alright." Ichigo answered as he slowly stood up and dusted himself off. "But you better pay for that door. Chichi will get a heart attack if he saw the door, together with some part of the wall, smashed to smithereens. He'll think I did it. And another thing, I don't want to fight here in Seireitei. Do you mind going to some forested area in Rukongai?"

Kenpachi's grin widened. "Yeah, yeah. I'll pay for the door and the wall. And in return, you lead the way to that forested area. I don't want to go leading and then find out that you're not following anymore."

Ichigo chuckled before he shunpo'd towards the gates of Seireitei in a matter of minutes. He stopped for a while to make sure Kenpachi was following him, though he didn't wait long because it seemed the taichou was quite fast despite his huge built. He shunpo'd again and found himself several minutes later in his old training ground with Kaien. It was a large clearing encircled by thick bushes and trees.

He closed his eyes as he inhaled the air. Memories of the time he and Kaien sparred, trained, and even slept in this place returned to him like a waterfall. It was overwhelming. He had not visited this place since Kaien's death and he could feel himself getting far too sentimental for his liking.

"Oy, are we going to fight or are you just going to admire Mother Nature there?" Kenpachi exclaimed from behind him. Ichigo inhaled once more before he opened his eyes again. When he turned around, he was more than ready to face the man.