The Darkness In Our Hearts (TDiOH Bk1)

Chapter 24: Bring on the Madness

Ichigo went flying across the ground, his soul rolling over and over, followed by a chain. When he finally came to a stop, lying on his back moaning, I noted that the chain was attached to the centre of his chest.

"What was that for?!" Ichigo shouted angrily at Urahara. Ichigo went to stand, but his face paled and his legs quivered, before he dropped to a knee, a hand splayed on his chest.

"Well? This is the first time you've left your body without becoming a soul reaper," Urahara stated. "It's hard to breathe, right? You'll find it hard to move, too. You're just a konpaku now."

Surprised, a panting Ichigo watched Urahara move closer. I surveyed the scene, realising that the same thing might be happening to me next.

"Byakuya Kuchiki destroyed the source of your spiritual energy – your hakushi – and it's booster, the saketsu," Urahara explained, arms folded, staring down at Ichigo. "Now you're just a regular, disembodied spirit from a regular human with no spiritual powers. Now, if you want to fight the soul reapers, your spirit energy must be restored. It's the only way."

Ichigo only panted, staring ahead with wide, worried eyes, sweating beading on his face.

"First, you need to learn to control your konpaku body. Spirit energy will give you that control. The more of it you have, the better your konpaku body will respond. And when it can move better than your material body, you'll have recovered your spirit energy."

"Sounds complicated," Ichigo said. "So what am I supposed to do, pilates?" he asked mockingly, but I could hear the current of panic lingering on his tone.

"Please," Urahara drawled, grinning. "Maybe you learn better by doing." He cupped a hand around his mouth. "All right! It's time!"

I swung my head in the direction Urahara was looking and saw Ururu standing forlornly to the side of us. Her skirt was acting like a bag, holding what looked to be like safety equipment. She bowed before us.

"Hi," she said meekly. "It's a pleasure to train with you."

With? I highly doubted that sweet, little Ururu, the same girl who got picked on by Jinta every once and a while, would be able to withstand whatever plan Urahara had cooked up inside his head.

"Huh?" Ichigo was just as surprised.

"Here's the first lesson." Urahara grinned, seeming pleased with himself. "Hit her."

"What?!" Both Ichigo and I said.

"The rules are simple," Urahara continued on. "The session ends when one of you can no longer move. Knock out before you get knocked out."

"Are you sick?! You want me to hit a little girl?!" Ichigo screamed in Urahara face, grabbing the front of his shirt.

"Well... it's not as easy as you think," Urahara mused. "Not with that body."

Irk marks appeared at the corners of Ichigo's eyes. "What?!" But his wrath was interrupted by Ururu dropping fingerless gloves and a padded headband.

"Hey! Hold on! I'm not-" Ichigo started to protest, but Ururu's soft voice silenced him.

"Please... put them on... or you'll get killed," she stated, her own helmet and gloves on her body already. She punched the thin air several times before fixing her big eyes on Ichigo.

"Ichigo..." I was getting a funny feeling in my stomach, especially with the way Ururu was watching him, "I think you should put on the equipment." The minute I finished my sentence however, the ground at Ururu's feet exploded into a cloud of dust and broken ground and she was gone.