Sparring With Kisuke

The next day when Ichigo arrived at the Urahara shop along with Orihime he was welcomed by Kisuke who was fanning himself with his fan as he stood at the entrance of the shop.

"Good evening, Ichigo-kun. You're a minute late but I'll forgive you for that today since today would be my first day of training you." Kisuke said in a joking manner.

"You're training me today?" Ichigo asked as he had wasn't told about this by Yoruichi.

"Indeed, Yoruichi had passed down the baton of training you to me from now on, You don't look happy…is it that you rather prefer training with her than me?" Kisuke asked Ichigo.

'If you were just a normal man then yes, I would have preferred a big boobied hot lady like Yoruichi over you but you're not,' Ichigo lampooned inwardly as he said "I don't mind any of you, since you know Yoruichi then it only means you are as strong as her or maybe more,"

"You flatter me, a smart move I must say. Anyway, let's go in and start with your training as for you Orihime Chan, Yoruichi is currently taking a shower and will be out in a while to train you, meanwhile, you can enjoy the tea that Tessai has prepared for you," Kisuke said with a gentle expression.

Orihime nodded hearing him as Ichigo and Kisuke soon entered the underground training area.

"So Ichigo, Do you prefer fighting with your hands or with a sword?" Kisuke asked.

"With my hands of course since I've never held a sword in my hand before," Ichigo replied honestly.

"Since you've never held a sword before it's naturally foolish to prefer swords over hand combat but do you think that your punch or kick would be effective on a hollow?" Kisuke asked Ichigo.

"Well, I can complement it with my Kido spells as I've done before," Ichigo said based on his earlier experiences.

"Indeed you can but not all of the hollows would be easily dealt with using the level of Kido you know. Yoruichi has told me about your speed of learning but even with that it would take you at least a decade to even be assigned as an instructor in the Kido classes that take place in the soul reaper academy in the soul society." Kisuke paused for a second to take in his breath and continued "What I'm trying to say is, I'll be teaching you how to fight with a sword, any problem with that?"

"I don't," Ichigo replied.

"Good, now let's get started," Kisuke said as he passed Ichigo a Katana that he was hiding under his haori. Ichigo was quick on his reflexes and caught it midair. He took the Katana out of its sheath to see it properly but the moment he did that he saw Kisuke who was standing right in front of him a couple of milliseconds ago teleport right in front of him and aimed his wooden staff towards his throat.

With fear and surprise taking over him, Ichigo could only lift his Katana as much as he could during that small window of time, wishing it would be enough to block the strike. Luckily for Ichigo, he had lifted his Katana enough for it to block the strike but the resulting momentum it generated made him slide back a few feet away.

Ichigo could feel his heart racing from the adrenaline rush he was currently feeling as he looked at his hand which was shaking a bit after taking the attack from earlier.

"What are you spacing out for Ichigo Kun? Doing that will get you killed in a real battle." Kisuke once again appeared right beside Ichigo and slashed towards Ichigo's right shoulder. This time Ichigo had already prepared himself for it and successfully blocked the attack though it did make him skid towards his right.

"That was a lot better than before," Kisuke said as he aimed his next attack towards Ichigo's waist and in an attempt to block it Ichigo lost his footing and fell on the ground.

Dusting himself up Ichigo said while taking in deep breaths, "Shouldn't you be teaching me basic stances of attacking before starting with the sparring?" Ichigo asked a bit frustrated because of the way things were going for him.

"Well, I could but that's not the way I want to teach you. So, if your whining is over then lift your blade," Kisuke said in a serious manner. The funny Kisuke from earlier was nowhere to be seen which made Ichigo become serious aswell.

With this, Ichigo began his sparring with Kisuke with full focus and after each exchange of blades, one could see an improvement in Ichigo's way of attacking. With each strike, he was adapting and improvising to defend against Kisuke's attacks.

After they had exchanged around fifty attacks Kisuke finally started advising Ichigo in the middle of the attacks about the proper way for him to block his strikes and the proper way of maintaining his foothold.

At first, it was a bit difficult for Ichigo to focus both on defending the strikes and listening to Kisuke's advice but his mind slowly got used to it and adjusted itself after getting bruised tens of times by his staff.

By the end of the training, Ichigo became accustomed to using his katana and had gained some confidence in being able to defend himself from Kisuke's strikes.

"That's it for today. It's been a while since I moved my body this much so I'm also a bit tired," Kisuke said while stretching his upper body.

Ichigo who was sitting on the ground perspiring nodded in relief as he too had enough of it and wanted to get it over with. When they moved upwards, they saw Orihime and Yoruichi chatting happily. On asking he got to know that she had long finished with training and was waiting for his arrival.

Soon the food was arranged on the table and everyone started digging in. During the meal, Kisuke suddenly asked Rukia who had been eating quietly, "Rukia Chan, when you're free can you come and help me with training Ichigo? It would be beneficial for him to cross swords with someone other than me so that he could become accustomed to different styles."

"Alright, Urahara san" Rukia said as she got back to eating and so did the rest who had paused to listen in on the conversation they were having.

The exhausting day was finally over for Ichigo as he lay his sore body on the cold sheets of the bed and entered the world of dreams.

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