Trial of Fire

Chapter 7
Lights Shadow


She slid the door open, sighing as she let the stress of the day flow away from her. Rina was stabilized and Galgo was spending the night with his youngest sister to keep her company. Ukitake was at his own estate and hadn’t had an attack in a while. Isane was easily capable of taken care of the 4th.

There was no one at home other than her husband. That thought brought a smile to her face as she entered her home to find dinner ready and waiting for her, two candles lit the room and a meal that made her smile in remembrance sat on the table.

“I asked for their help. It has been a while since we had a chance to be alone.” Stark came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and planting a kiss on the back of her neck. “I was hoping we could enjoy it fully this time.”

Unohana smiled as she leaned back into his tender embrace and tilted her head to the side to give him better access to her neck. His hand untied the front of her obi and let it fall the ground.

The front of her uniform now open he moved his hands under the material till he hit her skin. She felt him smile against her neck shortly before his hands moved from her stomach to cup a breast each and give them a soft squeeze.

“Are we planning to eat, or are you the only one going to get a meal?” She asked softly.

He chuckled, but did remove his hands from her flesh and helped her out of the majority of her uniform before letting her take a seat on the large pillow set before the table of food.

Not surprisingly there was only one pair of chopsticks and he quickly settled behind her, letting her lean against his broad chest. He claimed the weapons before she could. The next hour was spent in leisure as they took turns feeding each other, sometimes with the chopsticks, sometimes off various parts of their bodies.

Somehow all of their clothing ended up removed at some point and she ended up laying across the table with him eating her. She gasped and mewed in pleasure as pleasured her. Wanting more she grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up her body and into a deep kiss.

“Take me.” She ordered sternly.

“As you wish, Mistress.” He grinned down at her.

Sighing in not quite annoyance she spread her legs a bit wider to let him settle between them easier. His tongue entered her mouth the same time he sheathed himself in her. She gasped at the familiar feel of him filling her. He took the opportunity to explore her mouth more fully.

Unohana became a withering mass beneath him as he worked her in ways only he knew how. It had started so small when she was still his slave in Hueco Mundo. The night she had returned his touch and sought to give him a bit of pleasure.

The laziest bastard in the world knew just how to get her worked up and she was honestly surprised no one had come rushing to her small estate to figure out what kind of animal was making the noises he was getting out of her.

She let out a long groan as she felt herself come to completion. He followed after several more thrust, sighing in pleasure.

“Once again, it is no wonder you are the Primera.” She grinned at him, heavily out of breath.

He smiled down at her and gave her another kiss. Which led to another. And another. Before long they were all over her body. She yelped a bit when he picked her up and brought her to their futon.

“Stark.” She muttered.

“Shh. It is not often we get the house to ourselves.”

“You mean it’s not often you are awake enough to enjoy this.” She countered.

“All the more reason to keep me interested.” He pointed out.

Chuckling her hands snaked around him until they found all the ticklish spots she knew so well. By the end of her assault he was under her and it was her turn to make him moan beneath her as she worked him.


Dinner went well. Kinomi wasn’t at all surprised to see Toshiro was joining them for dinner, although her Otousan seemed rather shocked. Oh yeah, there were definite sparks going off between the white haired taichou and Karin.

The weekend couldn’t come fast enough as far as Kinomi was concerned. It was with great joy, for the kids anyway, that Ichigo escorted them to where they would be meeting up with Grimm-ji and Nel-chan.

The two arrancar were ready and waiting for them. Small packs of supplies on their backs, consisting mainly of food and a sleeping bag, they followed the two arrancar through the garganta and out onto the sands of Hueco Mundo.

Kinomi could see the warring in her Otousans face about leaving them here, but in the end he sighed in resignation and read the two arrancar the riot act. It might have been more threatening if he hadn’t been reading it from a piece of paper that Rukia had written for him so he wouldn’t forget her words.

Then with a hug to the three kids, he stepped back through the garganta and it closed, leaving them on the sands of Hueco Mundo.

“Freeeeeeeeedom.” Kinomi and Taka shouted in pure joy, letting their reiatsu completely lose, followed quickly by Zan.

In Soul Society they held their reiatsu down as they didn’t want every Shinigami showing up to ‘slay the hollows,’ at least in Zan and Taka’s case.

Grimmjow chuckled and Nel smiled as the wave of reiatsu washed over them. No where near strong enough to threaten them but easily the equivalent of a low level arrancar. Seeing as how most of those left were now serving Grimmjow and Nel there was no real need to worry.

Letting lose, Grimmjow and Nel followed the kids example, letting their reiatsu flare as well, but making sure not to harm the kids. They were both pleased when they were able to let it lose completely with only a slight amount of discomfort to the kids. They left it there, after all it was just more training.

As the five Reiatsu’s swept out across the desert every hollow paused to look where it had come from before quickly scurrying for cover. While Nel wasn’t really one for needless killing, with Kinomi there to finish off any of the prey the poor souls would be sent back into the circle of life and be freed of their torment.

“Alright brats.” Grimmjow called their attention to him. “The one who kills the most gets out of dish duty. Ready?” He asked.

“Ready.” The three declared, drawing their respective weapons.

“Finally, real combat.” Kinomi cheered to Kyattsuai.

Strong purring was the only answer she got.

With a grin, Grimmjow launched off in a random direction, the three kids following immediately behind him with Nel bringing up the rear. It took a while to find the first prey. Being the youngest Grimmjow let Zan have it.

Zan was as serious as Tatsuki and Soi Fon when it came to fighting so he wasted no time engaging and defeating his target, leaving it laying in a pool of its own fluids for Kinomi to send off back into the cycle of life.

He took a few scratched but otherwise came out the other side unhurt. Kinomi let Taka have the next one they found. Taka played with hers awhile before getting board and Kinomi put it out of its misery.

The next one they found was stronger than the first two and Kinomi looked forward to the fight. The last two had been typical hollow, but this one felt like a freshly evolved adjucas. A real challenge.

Grimmjow and Nel stood back, watching silently as the large ferret like adjucas stalked around Kinomi. Kinomi watched her target, stalking along with the hollow, both of them circling each other.

“You reek like a Shinigami child.” The creature hissed.

“My parents are.” She answered simply.

The creature paused to look at the four ‘hollow’ behind her.

“We wont interfere. We don’t need to.” Grimmjow assured the creature with a mocking grin.

“Arrancar?” The creature asked.

Nel nodded.

“This your pet?”

“Niece.” Grimmjow answered.

The adjucas stopped his stalking and began to back off, away from the group. Kinomi frowned.

“I see.”

Clearly this creature had a strong intelligence and did not want to tangle with the arrancar. In fact it was looking for an escape.

“Look.” Kinomi bristled. “This is suppose to be a training exercise. If you fight me with everything you got I promise not to kill you.” Kinomi offered.

The adjucas stopped its slow retreat to regard her curiously.

“Please.” Kinomi begged. “It wont be any fun or educational if I try to beat you up while your trying to run away.”

“A shinigami brats begging to spar with a hollow. What is the world coming to?” The adjucas shock its head.

“If you wont play with Pantera-chan, we really have no use for you.” Grimmjow pointed out with a wide grin that promised death.

“Very well Shinigami. We will… spar.” The creature stopped its retreat.

“Kurosaki Pantera Kinomi.” She introduced herself as was proper with opponents that had a brain.

“Hurón Marfil.” The Adjucas introduced itself.

“Hitonomi, Kyattsuai.” Kinomi declared, her blade changing slightly as she activated her Shikai.

With a wide smile, Kinomi leaped into battle. Hurón was fast, as expected of the weasel like creature. Her Shunpo was just strong enough to run even with his speed. His strength was on par with hers as well. His agility was slightly better, but unlike her he didn’t have a blade, just a lot of sharp claws and a set of fangs. In short, it was awesome.

The two of them weaved about each other, exchanging several hits on each other and blocking far more. They came to a stand still after the first exchange, blood running from a few cuts on her right arm and he had blood running down his front left and rear right legs.

“I am impressed Shinigami. I expected you to start crying as soon as the sight of your own blood reached your eyes.” Hurón hissed to her.

“It’s Pantera, not Shinigami.” She corrected him. “And if I was that weak Grimm-ji would disown me.” She smiled, flashing a grin at the blue haired arrancar watching the fight with a small smile.

“I see. Let us continue then, Pantera-san.”

With a wide grin Kinomi charged in again. Kyattsuai cut flesh when he failed to parry her and created sparks when she clashed with his claws. Small cuts and bruises began to form on her own body as well but she hardly noticed them.

The fight lasted a good fifteen minutes. Kinomi had never felt more alive in her life then she did here and now. Predictable she won, leaving an exhausted Hurón at her feet. Hurón glared up at her, but didn’t have the strength or reiatsu left to continue fighting.

“Thank you for the amazing fight Hurón-san. I was highly educational.” Kinomi thanked, a look of shock crossing Hurón face as Kinomi sheathed Kyattsuai and bowed to him. “I hope we can spar again some day.” She added.

She was hurting pretty bad herself now that the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off, but she managed to force it off and walk calmly away from Hurón, making sure not to turn her back to him just encase he was dumb enough to attack her.

Once she was back at the group, she allowed herself to cheer and share a high five with Taka before wincing and leaning on her friend for support, cursing about the injuries she had sustained during the battle.

Nel walked up to speak quietly to Hurón and heal his wounds a bit while Grimmjow smiled at her in pleasure and smacked her on the back with a sincere congratulations, causing her to stumble and nearly fall to her knees if she hadn’t been holding onto Taka for support. Kinomi sat still while Taka treated her injuries.

Once Nel was pleased with Hurón’s condition and Kinomi’s own wounds were more or less tended to they headed out to find a place to make camp and eat. Kinomi offered a cheerful wave to Hurón as they headed out.

“Well fought, Pantera-chan.” Kyattsuai’s voice echoed in her head.

“Thank you. Bankai?”

Kyattsuai’s chuckled echoed through her mind, but there was no answer. Kinomi sighed, but was still pleased with her performance.


“Kurosaki Pantera Kinomi eh.” Hurón mused to himself as he watched the strange party move away from him.

“Is it over, Hurón-sama?” A small voice asked.

Hurón nodded his head in answer. A smaller adjucas emerged from its hiding place in the sand. The small rat like creature climbed up onto the top of Hurón head and watched with him as the strange group walked away, the young girls still laughing and cheering on a fight well done, even if Kinomi was limping heavily from her wounds and had to lean on her friend for support.

“Shinigami.” The rat hissed.

“A pet to the arrancar.” Hurón pointed out. “She is strong, and not at full potential. I can see why the arrancar are keeping her.”

“Respect for a Shinigami?”

“Respect well earned.” Hurón countered. “I would not want to fight her when she reaches her full potential.”

“Arrancar. Thought they were all dead when Aizen-sama was killed.” The rat spit.

“Espada.” Hurón corrected. “Both of the adults.” He added.

That caused the rat to pause and shudder as it realized how close to death they had come.

“Strange, several times her blade came close to harming my Mask, but each time she turned it aside at the last second. Kurosaki Pantera Kinomi.....”


“You know love, I knew there was a reason you were the brains of this operation.” Ichigo smiled at his wife.

“The kids are out of the way for a change and the only thing between you, me and the bed is our cloths.” Rukia smirked back.

“Something easily remedied.” He smirked as he quickly devised them both of their clothing and had her pinned beneath him on their bed in no time.

“Ichigo.” She gasped as he literally attacked her neck and breast with kisses.

“What? You want me to stop?” He asked mischievously.

“Yes. No. Damn it Ichigo.” She growled.

He chuckled and moved a hand between her legs. She let lose a rather beautiful yelp as his fingers worked their way into her, his thumb playing with a rather sensitive bundle of nerves.

Her hands flew down to grasp his hand, trying to get him to stop before she exploded. With a smirk he removed his hand and she sighed in relief, only to gasp as she was penetrated by a far thicker part of his anatomy.

“Ichigo.” She shouted, gasping in pleasure as he started on her.

His hands held him above her, hers found and squeezed his ass, pulling him deeper into her. He sighed in pleasure above her, setting a solid and deep rhythm. One he could keep up for hours, leaving her writing in pleasure below him.

When her eyes found his again at one point she noticed once again the whites had turned black, but still remained bright brown. She felt his reiatsu crackling in the air around them. It played across her skin, a wonderful sensation of power that caressed and enveloped her.

She hadn’t seen him like this since the first night they had spent together, the night when Kinomi had been conceived. A night she would remember for all time. He roared her name when he completed inside her, her nails digging into his back as she shouted his name in response.



The rest of the trip was not as exciting. All they found were regular ranked hollow. The Adjucas were smart enough to avoid them, even after Grimmjow and Nel hid their reiatsu and Kinomi flared hers to make it looked like a fancy meal. All that accomplished was to attract every normal hollow for miles and even a few menos that seemed to come all at once and gave them one hell of a good work out.

Not near enough for Grimmjow or Nel to even think about releasing, but they did actually have to pay partial attention to what they were doing. The fighting was thick enough they even got to use their special moves.

Taka fired out clusters of Bala with the odd Cero.

Kinomi launched her Toranekosuto, watching with satisfaction as the waves of green energy sliced through everything with ease and leave three large rents in the sand where it hit.

For the first time they got to see Zan’s ability. He called it Sangre Inciso, but it might as well have been called a red Getsuga Tensho, much to Grimmjows annoyance. It was bad enough his sons Resurrección looked like Ichigo in his Bankai form, but his main attack had to be a near copy as well. Someone somewhere was definitely mocking him.


“You look happy.” Nel commented, sitting down next to the blue haired arrancar.

“What makes you think that?” Grimmjow asked, making sure he was no longer smiling.

“You have a right to be.” Nel commented, letting a small smile light her face up as she also looked to the three sleeping children. “They are strong. A good legacy.”

He merely nodded his head in agreement. Nel was probably the only one who knew that losing Pantera had actually caused him some discomfort. He had grown use to the little brat following him around, ‘tera being dragged behind her and a look of hero worship in her eyes.

He wished he could say he loved his own Son more than Pantera, but the truth was he had little to do with Comillo’s upbringing and had spent so much time and energy on little Pantera.

And god was he proud of her. She was strong with the potential to be as great as he was. She did everything to the best of her ability and constantly strived to be better. It was a pity she didn’t have any hollow blood in her, but oh well. Technically they were all evolved from humans anyway.

“So, now that the kids are asleep, think we can get some alone time.” Nel asked with a purr, shuffling closer to him.

“Not a lot of privacy here. Wouldn’t want to wake up the kids.” He pointed out.

“Sounds like an excuse to avoid your husbandly duties.” She complained, crawling into his lap.

“You are insufferable, you know that?” He sighed, but his hands did rise to rest on her hips.

“And you love me for it.” She pointed out, straddling his hips now and pushing him to the ground.

He didn’t resist, letting her pin him to the ground and brush his jacket aside so she could run her hands across his chest.

“This really isn’t the time or place to be doing this.” He pointed out.

“So stop me.” She challenged, giving his cheek a small lick.

He sighed, knowing there really wasn’t any arguing with her when she got like this. It was much easier to just let her do what she wanted. Hell it definitely didn’t hurt him any.

“If you two are going to get crazy on each other, could you at least control your reiatsu so the rest of us can sleep?”

Both of them jumped and looked sheepishly over to where Kinomi was glaring at them in clear, exhausted annoyance.

“Told you they could wake up.” He grunted in annoyance.

“Pantera-chan, go back to sleep and forget you saw anything.” Nel smiled at her.

Kinomi rolled her eyes and sighed.

“If Zan-kun wakes up and catches you two, I wont be the one explaining the birds and bees to him.” She threatened. “I already had to explain where we all came from.” She grumbled.

“Wait, what?” Grimmjow shot up, looking at her in surprise.

“Some noble bastard brought up Reina-chan’s heritage and it made Zan upset thinking he might have been brought into the world the same way. I assured him that was not the case.” Kinomi answered, rolling back up in her sleeping bag with the intent to go back to sleep.

The two former espada shared a look, then sighed and took up guard positions, Nel pouting a little at her fun getting interrupted.

“I’ll make it up to you when the kids are gone.” He promised.

“Really?” She asked excitedly.

“Really.” He promised. “Blood and all.”

She closed the distance between them quickly, jumping up and hugging him before returning to her guard post. He ran a hand through his hair and wondered what he did to end up with her, never mind she was the only known female arrancar of Espada level left alive short of one of the kids or Lilinette, and a King needed his Queen.


The next day didn’t bring much more luck in their hunting. They used Kinomi as bait again but all they tagged was large amounts of dim witted regular hollow with the odd patch of menos. Still, there wasn’t a single student in Shinoreijutsuin who could claim to have fought and killed menos. Hell only 6th year students could really claim to even fight regular hollows and that was in units and supervised.

It was getting late and they knew they would have to return the brats soon before their parents had a panic attack. Nel opened up the Garganta, bringing them back to the real world where they were met by Ichigo and Rukia.

Rukia looked slightly relieved once her eyes were done roaming over the three kids to make sure they were not injured too badly. Kinomi, Zan and Taka assaulted them at once, going on about their adventure and how Kinomi had taken on an Adjucas an won.

Nel barely gave them time to say bye before dragging Grimmjow back through the gate so he could make good on his promise to make up for their time lost the night before.


They were able to go back to Hueco Mundo one last time before they had to return back to soul society. Unfortunately they were once again unable to find any really challenging prey.

All too soon they had to return to Seireitei and the next school semester would be starting up. Zan was excited to get to start school with Leon and Unohana could only stare in surprise when she found out Taka had got to go play around in Hueco Mundo.
Of course Kenpachi was thrilled when he learned Kinomi had taken on and beat an Adjucas and Yachiru-chan quickly demanded that she tell the whole story. She was more than thrilled to tell the tale, Yumi-taichou and Ikkaku-taichou also stopping by to hear the tale.

“And that’s how it went.” Kinomi finished with a wide grin.

“That was awesome Pantera-chan.” Yachiru chirped.
“It was even better to watch.” Taka added. “The best part though had to be that the Adjucas actually thought Pantera-chan was Grimmjow-sensei’s pet.” Taka laughed.

Kinomi bristled in annoyance, but eventually joined in on the laughter, it was kind of funny when you thought about it. Her, a pet? As if.

Eventually they had to head home, after all they ALL had class the next morning and she was going to have to show Zan and Leon around the school. With a wave goodbye Taka and Kinomi headed home, getting ready for the next year of school.


It was not surprising that Zan and Leon quickly took the top of their combat class. The teacher just sighed, shook his head, and shipped them off to join Taka and Kinomi in their private lessons with Ukitaki-taichou instead of wasting their time like they had with the girls.

Of course Zan and Leon were not really the type of fighters that Ukitake was specialized in to train, so with a bit of work he managed to get permission for Ggio to have his reiatsu unsealed to train the boys along side the girls every day.

Sometimes the four would even spar with each other. Kinomi usually chose to spar with Leon simply because she spared with Zan all the time at home and wanted a bit of a change.

With Ggio around Reina even started to show up once a week to train with them. Of course Barbo showed up soon after. A month later Galgo even showed up, muttering about how Garou wouldn’t shut up until he had agreed to train with them. Akata also showed up, although he never used his blade and only used Kidou.

Suddenly it went from simple sparing to actual group tactics where Ggio would take two of them on at a time in FULL swing, holding nothing back and leaving Akata to put them back together again before their next class.

This year they got to participate in the real world exercise and slaughtered said exercise. Kinomi, Taka and Reina had been put in a three person cell with Akata and Galgo teaming up with some 5th year.

Taka and Kinomi took the forward position with Reina backing them up with Kidou. It was too easy. So easy that Kinomi and Taka didn’t even bother with their Shikai and Reina kept to low level Kidou spells and no incantations.

Their scores were so high they were actually invited to the 6th years group training sessions, something Ukitake insisted they do as group fighting was something they needed to work on.

Leon and Zan were upset they couldn’t go to, but at the same time happy they got both teachers to themselves on those days. Ever since the one attack by the nobles no others had been dumb enough to mess with any of the HMKs.


“Otousan has been making his displeasure at the suggestion acknowledged, yet I fear he is threatened to be overruled. The heads of several of the notable noble families, several of the lesser noble houses and even some of the well standing shinigami have been highly suggesting for such a motion to be passed and implemented without delay.” Barbo finished.

“I didn’t understand half of what you just said, but I take the gist was ‘they don’t trust us and want us expelled and restrained like Stark, Lilinette and Ggio because they fear us?’” Kinomi clarified.

“That is what I just finished explaining.” Barbo confirmed.

“Why didn’t you just say so.” Taka sighed in annoyance.

“That could become troublesome.” Akata commented.

“What of the 13 honourable taichou?” Reina asked. “Being students of Shinoreijutsuin relegates us under the domain of making these concerns a Shinigami affair, and should not be considered a noble affair.”

“Most of the Taichou are unpleased with the notion being presented. Kurotuschi-taichou does still desires to gain further knowledge about us. Otousan and Unohana-taichou support us, as do a considerable number of the others.” Barbo answered.

“I regret my inability to control my emotions is what gave them the opportunity to threaten us in this manner.” Reina apologized.

“The fault does not lie with you Reina-san.” Barbo brushed her comment off.

Kinomi and Taka shared a look, then both sighed. Sometimes Kinomi wondered about the two of them.

“I will see if there is anything in the records to help divert the Nobles.” Akata offered.

“How?” Zan asked curiously.

“It is best if I am not involved with you.” Akata simply said before standing up and leaving.

“I wonder about him some days.” Leon muttered.

“Leave Akata-kun alone.” Kinomi ordered. “Now then, is there anything we can do to help the situation, and please, use normal words?” She turned her attention back to Barbo.

“If at all possible, curb your skills.” He requested.

“Why?” Taka demanded.

“I don’t think that is a good idea in Taka-chan and I case.” Kinomi pointed out. “If we started holding back it would draw way too much attention as we are both rather vocal.”

“True.” Barbo agreed. “However the rest of us can ‘hit our peeks.’ As we are being trained by Ukitake-taichou and Ggio-san we can continue to improve in private. However it might be advisable to return to the regular classes and only attend the special training on occasion.” Barbo suggested.

“This is stupid.” Leon grumbled. “Wait a tick, what about after school hours? We can set a time where we can all meet up and continue working on our group tactics.” He suggested.

“I would not advocate using Kuchiki-sama’s estate as the potential of offering the opposition another area to attack with their feeble attempts to undermine his authority is possible.” Reina pointed out.

Kinomi noted that despite Reina’s rather long and flowery response, she hadn’t objected to the idea of them all training together. Kinomi may not have been as wise as the others when it came to politics but even she could see that they could be in trouble if things turned out against them and the only people they had to really trust were each other.

“I might know of a place.” Zan piped up. “I can show you all later this evening after dinner.”

Kinomi looked at her beaming brother in confusion, before the possible location suddenly jumped into her brain as well.

“If you are thinking where I think you are thinking then I am ashamed for not thinking of it first.” Kinomi slapped her brother on the back in pride.

“Try saying that five times fast.” Taka muttered.

“Will it be adequate for our desires?” Barbo asked.

“Yes.” Kinomi answered without hesitation. “It will work perfectly.”

The bell rang and they all returned to their classes. They didn’t see Akata at all that evening although Azucena mentioned she might have seen him entering the 12th sometime after school.

They didn’t all want to arrive at the same time so Kinomi told Taka where they were going during their usual after school meet up at the 11th so she could bring Azucena and Galgo. Zan went and got Leon, Barbo and Reina followed them at a decent distance. Kinomi went ahead of the others first to make sure the place was secure.

Once inside she let her reiatsu lose, calling forth her shikai and summoning Kyattsuai to manifest. If anything would bring someone investigating it would be that much reiatsu going off.

It was so very rare Kinomi got to actually spar with Kyattsuai in the physical plane, and so took this moment to do so. After all the others wouldn’t be here for another twenty minutes to give anyone investigating plenty of time to show up.

Kyattsuai may not have had hands to hold a sword but Kinomi knew the zanpakuto spirit was extremely fast and had a very strong spiritual pressure, much like Kenpachi-sensei’s, that made cutting her very difficult.

Kinomi remembered the first few times she had spared with Kyattsuai. It had been about as bad as Taka-chan’s and hers first miserable attempt at ambushing Kenpachi-sensei.

Now she could hold Kyattsuai at bay, in fact she was certain it wouldn’t be much longer before she could beat the white panther. Kinomi and Kyattsuai were not going full out, after all they were suppose to be training with the others and it wouldn’t do for the others to arrive and be too exhausted to train.

She knew the first group had arrived because Kyattsuai disappeared. With a grin she dropped her shikai and sheathed her blade while turning to greet Taka, Azucena and Galgo.

Taka was packing a fold up table and Azucena and Galgo were loaded down with cushions.

“Sorry we took so long Pantera-chan.” Taka apologized. “We had a hard time finding the place. Were you just training with Kyattsuai cause we couldn’t feel a damn thing until we got down here?”

“Yeah I was. If you couldn’t feel that then we should be safe to do whatever we want here without anyone noticing.” Kinomi grinned, helping them set up the table and cushions.

“I didn’t ask ‘tsuki-chan if she wanted to come. I wasn’t sure if she should.” Azucena spoke up hesitantly.

“That is fine. She isn’t broiled up in this mess anyway and I would sooner keep it that way.” Kinomi responded.

“What is this place?” Galgo asked curiously, looking around.

“It’s a place Urahara-san made for training. This is also the place Otousan achieved his Bankai in three days.” Kinomi answered.

“And where Renji-taichou achieved his as well, but it took longer than three days.” Zan added as he and Leon arrived.

“I don’t think I am ready to go for that yet.” Galgo muttered.

Taka laughed as she helped Azucena set the table with the cups, thermoses of tea, and rice balls that the youngest girl had put together for them. They had just finished setting the table when Reina and Barbo arrived.

They all sat down and began their meeting.

“This place appears to be suitably adequate to our needs.” Barbo nodded, looking around the underground training area.

“Otousan said there is a hot spring around back that has healing properties as well.” Kinomi waved off to the back. “And this place conceals reiatsu so we can go full out and not draw any attention.

“Is anyone else aware of this place?” Galgo asked.

“Not that I know of. There were no prints in the dust that I could see coming in. As far as I know not many people know of this place.” Kinomi answered.

“We dare not convene too frequently least we acquire unwanted attention towards ourselves and this location.” Reina pointed out.

“Even once a week may bring us into compromise.” Barbo agreed.

“Every second Sunday?” Leon suggested.

“Sunday is a good day. Most people are sloppy and lazy on Sundays or would predict we need to be home for school the next day and not watch us as diligently.” Kinomi agreed.

“What will our declaration be should we become compromised?” Barbo asked.

“It should not be our interest to compromise Kuchiki-sama, as Kuchiki-sama will be the only defense at our exposal should we require noble assistance.” Reina pointed out.

“Why can’t she just say ‘let’s leave Byakuya-san out of it, we may need him get us out of trouble.’” Taka muttered.
Kinomi, Leon and Zan chuckled.

“Regardless of how it is put, Reina-chan is right. We do not want anyone else getting in trouble for our actions. We do not need to give those noble bastards any more ammunition then they already have on us.” Kinomi pointed out.

“And if they do decide we are a threat and should be sealed?” Galgo asked.

Silence.

“Otousan will not stand for it.” Kinomi commented. “My family will just leave, but the rest of you may not be so lucky.”

“I for one would leave.” Taka snorted. “Like hell I am going to permit myself to be sealed. I mean, I would miss Otousan and Okaasan, but we are getting old enough to make our own decisions and care for ourselves.”

“I would leave. In fact…” Leon was suddenly silent.

“What is it, Leon-kun?” Kinomi asked.

“I was playing around with my spells when I accident, sort of…” He looked around the room, going so far as to place his hand on the ground and cast Pesquisa, something Ggio had been teaching them lately. Assured they were safe he spoke just loud enough so they could hear him. “I can make a Garganta.” He admitted.

They all looked at him in shock.

“You can what?” Zan demanded.

“I can make one. I did it by accident and managed to close it right away before too many alarms were tripped.”

“You do realize that only the Espada were strong enough to make those things and now you are telling me the 2nd weakest member of us can do it?” Taka demanded. “No offense meant Leon, but other then Azucena-chan you do have the lowest level of Reiatsu.”

“Maybe, but I also have the best control.” He pointed out.

“That is undeniable.” Reina agreed.

“Well, it would be a last resort thing, but at least we know it’s an option.” Kinomi nodded. “The thing will be escaping before they seal us. We will need a warning ahead of time.”

“I may be able to work something out with Otousan.” Barbo offered. “Some form of warning to give us time to met up and retreat.”

“Where should we convene should this event occur?” Reina asked.

“Here. With the shielding Leon will be able to cast his garganta and no one will know where to find us for some time.” Kinomi answered without hesitation. “But Leon, for sure you can cast a garganta?”

Leon stood up and moved away from the table. He closed his eyes, and then tapped the air before him, a look of pure concentration on his face. They watched in awe as a line ripped across the air and then spread apart.

“Holy shit.” Taka gasped.

As quickly as he opened it Leon closed it before anything could attempt to come through or they triggered alarms. He looked sheepishly back at the group.

“Well, that will be our ticket out of here if the shit hit’s the fan.” Kinomi grinned. “It might not be a bad idea to put together an emergency kit to keep here in case we do need to bolt.” She added.

“Agreed.” Barbo agreed.

“Well, shall we get any training in tonight or just finish up and head home.” Taka asked.

“No training tonight.” Galgo muttered.

“I believe today has been adventurous enough.” Reina commented.

“When should we meet here again?” Zan asked.

“This Sunday.” Kinomi ordered. “And then every 2nd Sunday after that.”

“Should we include Akata?” Zan asked hesitently.

“Let me deal with Akata-kun.” Kinomi promised. “I’ll see you all at school tomorrow.”

“We should depart separately to prevent suspicion.” Reina declared.

“A good idea.” Kinomi agreed.

With that they decided to head out, leaving separately with Kinomi leaving last. She erased their foot prints before also heading home. Hopefully all their planning would never need to be implemented, but she wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.


Stay Tuned for Chapter 8: Akata

The Girls plot hell for several poor boys as the Sakura Festival approaches

Thank you once again for the lovely reviews.

Anime: yes, it is similar to the two combined.

Kazes: Not sure how long it will take me, I can be a fast typer when I get going.