The Double Edged Sword

35

Recap:

"It's not as bad as it looks." The brown eyed girl promised before hiding it slightly behind her back; she didn't want him to look for too long. She was just in her gigai after all; it could be easily fixed while they go into the soul society. Izumi didn't plan on returning to that body for quite awhile. Ichigo just shook his head when she casted her gaze down to the ground from the corner of her eyes. He pushed her slightly towards the kids before looking over at them.

"Fix her up will you?" he asked before looking back at his teacher with full concentration. Ichigo wanted, no needed to pass this third lesson and in order for him to be able to do that he needed to know Izumi was okay. Yes he knew that she was terrifyingly strong, but she hurt herself in order to protect him; yet again. He sucked in a breath before looking back down at her and giving her a smile.

"One of these days I'll make everything up to you." he whispered confidently while patting her head; he wasn't used to her being so fragile and vulnerable. He wanted her back to being outgoing, strong, and hot-headed; he knew that he needed to stop worrying her so much. Before he could walk passed her completely to engage with Urahara, he was suddenly thumped on the back of the head. Looking back completely surprised he say Izumi grinning at him with a slightly blush on her cheeks; she had just smacked him on the back of the head while the kids had moved up and were on both sides of her.

"I'm looking forward to it carrot top!" Izumi declared before her arms instinctively went behind both Jinta and Uryuu as if trying to comfort them while they clung onto her clothes. Ichigo smiled widely at her before she was escorted away by the kids who had tears in their eyes. He was happy to see her acting like her old self even just a little bit.

"Now that that's been taken care of, how about we start this?" Kisuke questioned while giving Ichigo a satisfied smile. The older man was thankful that Izumi was acting like her old self; it gave him peace. When Ichigo focused back on his teacher, he nodded his head.

This was going to be interesting. 

....

An hour has passed since I went up topside with the kids, Jinta stuck around for a little before I shewed him away. He returned to the training room unwillingly, but he swore up and down that he was only going down there because I asked him to. Currently Ururu was wrapping an ace bandage around my arm, and I watched as she sniffled while she did so. The poor girl was trying to keep in her emotions while tending to me, in truth I really didn't need her to 'fix me up' but I figured it would put her little heart at ease. I've been unfair to them, to both of these kids. 

"It's okay." Ururu paused at my voice and I could see her tremble slightly. "I'm okay now." Reaching out my other hand I patted the top of her head as tears began pouring out of her eyes but she closed them tightly and sniffled to herself. 

"Izumi-channnn!" she cried loudly while wiping her eyes over and over again. I smiled sadly while watching her unravel and sniffle. My own eyes began to well up as I pulled her into my arms and patted her head while she continued to cry. Yes, I've definitely been unfair to these children. 

....

 Smoke began raising out of the hole from the aftermath of the explosion set off by Ichigo's transformation. Slowly Tessai pulled himself up from the pit. 

"Oi! You're okay Tessai-san!" Jinta exclaimed loudly in surprise from the spot where he was standing with his arms crossed. 

"Who says I'm okay!?" the older man exclaimed while pulling himself out the rest of the way. "My glasses have been damaged severely." he said matter-of-factly which was true, the frames were intact but the glass was shattered completely. 

"Eh, what I meant was that you don't have any wounds." the boy went to explain, but he thought better of it. The older man did seem to be slow sometimes when Jinta didn't go into detail with things. "Nevermind, even though your glasses are broke you should still wear them. Now that Owner has drawn his sword, it's gonna be fun. It's your own fault if you miss it. It's been awhile since we've seen him duel,  now that Izumi is back too this should be fun."

Rocks and dust filled the air as Urahara swung his sword towards Ichigo as he dodged while backing up. Ichigo smirked while watching the older man fumble around strategically. 

"You, you're pretty good! Even with that thin sword." Ichigo smiled nervously. 

 In the distance Izumi and Ururu began their decent down into the training room only to see the comical sight of Ichigo hooting and hollering while running away from Kisuke who was screaming something about a complement and being embarrassed. Izumi came to stand beside Tessai and Jinta who both gave her looks of surprise. Jinta immediately glued to her side while Ururu came up to her other one; both having done that specific movement a million times. Izumi smiled down at the two children as they held onto her clothes and she rested her hands on their heads before looking back up at the sparring match happening in front of them in the distance. 

Right as Izumi focused on her dear uncle and her best friend she was horrified to see Ichigo receiving a slightly major cut spanning from his cheek to to his shoulder. A gasp left Izumi's lips as she watched blood spray from her friend's body. That specific cut had her own scar on her own shoulder throb. 

"You seem too relaxed, I bet you're thinking. 'He's not a soul reaper, so it shouldn't have any affect on me if it does hit', right? Isn't that what you're thinking?" 

Ichigo fell to the ground and stared up at Urahara in both bewilderment as well as terror as the man he knew as Izumi's uncle once again surprised him. 

"You really are too innocent." Urahara glanced over at Izumi who looked away. The girl knew Ichigo needed to know exactly who he was dealing with.

"Benihime." Urahara said while allowing his spiritual to run wild. Ichigo sucked in a breath while feeling the sheer force of his strength before he looked over to Izumi who had her eyes closed.

 "This one is absolutely a real Zanpaktou."