Chapter: 07

The sound of sword colliding resounded within the vast training field depicting the shape of a desert.

One black blur and one white blur raised their swords against each other and fought with everything they have got; yet the white blur seemed to be playing with the black blur, evident by a big grin on his face and from time to time taunts that he threw towards the white blur.

"Hahahaha! What happened, Ichigo!? Is that all you've got?! Is that all you have?! As I had thought, Ichigo! You are pathetic!" Zangetsu shouted while laughing maniacally. "You do not deserve to wield Zangetsu!"

"... Shut up." Panting loudly, with one hand on the hilt of the sword bearing his weight, Ichigo wiped the blood that filled his vision. "And tell me what you did to old man Zangetsu."

A burst of annoyance appeared on White Ichigo's face, the sword in his hand trembling as he slashed, cutting out a massive ravine in the ground.

"I told you, didn't I? Old man Zangetsu is dead! Ask that fox bastard and what he did!"

"Again with the same bullshit! How can he die? I am wielding Zangetsu!" Ichigo shouted, making White Ichigo's face turn into a scoff before he burst out in a peal of loud laughter.

"You said you are wielding Zangetsu? Hehehehahahaha! ICHIGO! IF THAT FEEBLE SWORD YOU CALL IS ZANGETSU, THEN YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO WIELD THE REAL ZANGETSU! I WILL NEVER ALLOW SUCH A THING!"

"As if I need your permission." Ichigo scoffed as he parried another strike, going back to square one of fighting with White Ichigo.

'Something is not right.' It has been a day and a half since Ichigo started his Bankai training, and nothing has changed. Yes, he was steadily improving but the speed was too slow. 'And not to forget the weird behavior of his sword.'

Yoruichi, after watching over Ichigo's training knew one thing, he was denying his own sword—no, it was something different! It was as if the sword spirit in front of him was not the Zangetsu he knew but someone else.

This was impossible.

There can only be one sword spirit, not two. Nor can someone impersonate a sword spirit. But she also could not deny Ichigo's weird behavior, which resulted in her confusion.

'Though not that it matters. As long as he defeats him, he will be able to use his Bankai.'

That was how it is. Unlike Shikai where one needed the sword's permission to know its name, one needed to clear some… prerequisites, Bankai was the complete opposite in which the user needed to defeat the materialization of one's sword to submission.

That's why, despite it being a weird scenario, Yoruichi believed, or at least liked to believe that Ichigo should be able to learn Bankai. She believed what Urahara had told her beforehand, about Ichigo having more talent than him. If that's the case, then it shouldn't be impossible for Ichigo to learn Bankai the same way as Urahara did.

'Though time doesn't seem to be with us…' It was weird how Rukia's execution date seemed to be changed two times. But Yoruichi didn't need anyone to tell her that someone was controlling the execution behind the scenes. She already knew it.

'Also, if I met that bastard Ichimaru Gin, I swear to punch him on his smirking face at least once!' Her face flushed with anger as she remembered the marvelous painting within the training grounds—it was one massive painting of Yoruichi and Gin hugging each other as if lovers with "The place where our love ignited — Ichimaru Gin x Yoruichi" written in massive bold letters beneath.

Just remembering that made Yoruichi's blood boil and her face flushed crimson. Despite her attempts to explain to Ichigo that it was a lie, his obvious weird stare told her that he didn't believe her even for a little bit. The frustration she felt at that time was enough for her to go hibernating for another century or so.

'Fucker Ichimaru Gin, do not let me catch you! I swear to my pride that I will definitely kill you!' The malice she had for Gin was just fabulous!

Though of course she was weirded out as to how Gin seemed to change… a little… still a jerk and obnoxiously sarcastic, he seemed to become more… annoying?

'Fuck. He didn't change even a little! He just changed from annoying to more annoying!'

"The malice I feel here is scaring me. Maybe I should really not have come here."

"Nya—?!" Yoruichi jumped scared, a cat-like scream leaving her mouth, as she landed some distance away from where she was fueling Zangetsu's manifestation. Her hair stood erect as she felt a chill crawl past her spin—she did not detect his presence at all! He seemed to just pop out of nowhere!

Though Gin would just shrug at her worries since he literally did pop out of the void—teleportation for the win!

"Oh my." Gin's smirk enlarged as he stared down at Yoruichi with a gleeful expression. "Princess Yoruichi… did you just nya—ed?"

"Stop spouting nonsense, Ichimaru Gin!" With a face fully flushed—she could not believe that she just "nya—ed" in front of someone else—Yoruichi became fully guarded. "Why are you here and what do you want? Are you here for a fight?"

"Ma~ ma~ calm down, Princess Yoruichi. So much thinking will lead to headache and depression." Gin calmly waved his hand before sitting down on the hill and patting the empty side. "Come, sit."

"..."

Seeing her not reciprocating his feelings, Gin sighed and shrugged before shaking his head. "No. I am not here to start a fight or anything. I was bored and decided to visit the place where our love ignited—"

"FUCKER! I REALLY SHOULD KILL YOU!" Yoruichi shouted as Reiatsu burst out of her body, stunning Ichigo as White Ichigo turned into a toy Renji also turned his head towards Yoruichi stunned.

"Oops!" Gin vanished from his place and appeared over another hill, the previous one shattering into pieces as they flew in the air. Yoruichi punched it away. "I was joking, joking. I have come with peace."

"Peace my ass!"

"Now you are just tempting me, Princess Yoruichi."

"Fuck you!" Yoruichi spat at the side as if disgusted by the very idea of being with Gin, making him sigh sadly.

"It is as if you hate me. I am sad."

"Oh! What gave it away?" Yoruichi asked incredulously. "The fact that you planned against the Soul Society or the fact that so many captains died due to you and that four-eyes pretender? Or maybe the fact that I HAD TO RUN AWAY FROM THE SOUL SOCIETY BECAUSE OF YOU!?"

"Now, don't be like that. You left Soul Society solely based on your own decision." Gin felt offended so he corrected Yoruichi hurriedly lest he is accused of the wrongdoings he has never committed.

By now, Ichigo and Renji also appeared on the spot. Both of their eyes widened visibly and their bodies tightened instinctually.

"Captain Ichimaru…?!" Renji sucked in a cold breath, wondering if they have been fucked. He hasn't learned Bankai yet after all!

"It's you!" On the other hand, Ichigo shouted with anger toward Gin.

"Yes. It is me. How did you know?" Gin asked amusedly.

"What did you do to Old Man Zangetsu!? Why isn't he showing up?!"

Gin's gaze narrowed, something that even he thought was impossible, as he smirked and answered. "Don't be like that now… I saved you some time, Kurosaki-san. But if you call that imposter Zangetsu… I guess you still have a long way to go. At this rate, Captain Aizen will be disappointed."

"Imposter?" Ichigo asked, shocked.

Yoruichi frowned hearing what Gin said. She must admit. Despite being an asshole, arrogant, mocking, sarcastic, annoying, obnoxious, and many more; he seemed to know about Ichigo's status more than her and Urahara. Something she definitely didn't like.

Gin turned his gaze away from pondering Ichigo towards Renji, who stiffened under the scrutinizing gaze of Gin.

"It has been a while, Abarai-san. It seems that you are also training for Bankai… but your intentions for it seem to be quite… ambitious."

Renji's hold over his sword tightened. Despite knowing that it was going to be a useless struggle, he was ready for a life-and-death battle. If push came to shove, he wasn't afraid nor was he going to chicken out.

"Ma. No need to be afraid." Gin waved his hand in front of his face, finding all of this bothersome to explain. "You can do whatever you want. I am not here to stop you."

Renji's eyes widened. He wondered if Gin also wanted to stop the execution from happening. If that were the case, then their chances of victory would increase exponentially.

"All I am here is to talk with my lov—ahem." Feeling intense killing intent thrown his way, Gin thought that the talk might not even begin if he kept annoying Yoruichi any further. He decided to stop now. "... Princess Yoruichi. I am here to talk with her, nothing else."

"So why don't we all just calm down and talk over a cup of tea? I brought the leaves with me!" Gin said with slight excitement bringing a bag of leaves from his clothes, making everyone dumbfounded.

It sure was a weird day for them.

1

"Haa~. Really, nothing beats a cup of tea after a fight." Gin sighed in satisfaction, taking another sip of his tea and nodding. "Why didn't I look for tea before? But, I guess, it is more due to how expensive this tea is."

"..." If someone had said before that she would be sitting with Gin, over the same table… or a rock, drinking tea, Yoruichi would have simply scoffed and laughed at the person who said it. But now she had no idea what to think. Everything was weird.

"Do not worry, Princess Yoruichi, Captain Aizen isn't aware of this meeting nor is he anywhere around us right now." Gin answered, enjoying his tea way too much than he would like to admit.

"... What do you want, Ichimaru? What is your purpose for coming here? What are you planning?"

"So many questions. Really makes me dizzy."

"Ichimaru—"

"Alright. Alright. I will stop." Gin sighed. No one wanted to have fun with him. People really were too stiff around him. He wondered why.

"Well, long story short, I am here to make a deal."

"A… deal?" Yoruichi's expression portrayed her confusion as she waited for Gin to finish what he had to say.

Looking over the training Ichigo and taunting White Ichigo, Gin looked back at Yoruichi with his usual smirking expression and explained.

"Aren't you interested in what Aizen has planned? As long as you are willing to seal the deal with me, I will tell you everything that I know."

"—!?" Yoruichi looked incredulously at Gin wondering if it was another ploy from him. For obvious reasons, she didn't believe a single word uttered in his mouth.

"I guess… I need to explain some of my… backstory and why I am working for Aizen so we can get on the same ground."

Yoruichi's expressions hardened. Interested, of course, she nodded her head. She thought she might understand something from this and Gin's weird behavior too.

"When I was a kid, I was a very mischievous boy."

"I can tell."

"... Rude." Gin sighed before snapping his finger and a contract appeared in front of her. "Just sign this and you will know about my reason and why I joined Aizen."

"... This is?" Yoruichi stared at the blue-colored contract with visible interest as she read the contents written over it.

—By signing this contract, Yoruichi Shihouin, agrees upon receiving the memories chosen by, Ichimaru Gin.

"A contract. Something like a Kido but my original." Gin didn't explain much, nor was he willing to explain more than needed. He didn't want his power to be known by another person to the level of familiarity. They can guess and come to whatever conclusion they want, but they are not getting a word out of Gin's mouth.

After staring at it for a while, going through that one sentence over and over as if trying to find some hidden mechanism, Yoruichi finally signed the contract.

The moment she did so, a bunch of memories shoved into her brain and played like a cassette on a TV.

After some time, her eyes widened as she finally realized the reason for Gin's betrayal of the Soul Society and why he was working for Aizen! At first, Urahara and she had come to a simple conclusion that both Gin and Aizen wanted the powers of Hogyoku for themselves.

But after reading the memories, or being shown the memories, she realized that this was obviously not the case! The only reason Gin was working for Aizen was so he could avenge Rangiku! — Aizen stole a part of her soul that stumped her growth.

"Don't think for a second that these memories are fake. The contract that you have signed makes it impossible to fake anything. Whether it's you or me, whatever is written within the contract will be followed no matter what! If not, the Kido will backfire at whoever broke the terms of the contract and pretty much kill him."

Taking another sip of his tea, he looked toward Yoruichi and smirked.

"You can give it a try if you want. I won't stop you. How about a contract to be my lover for five seconds—"

"—Stop! I understand!" Yoruichi sighed, her hostility decreasing a lot as she called Ichigo over. "We are still trying it though."

And so another contract was formed.

—The person who will sign this contract will jump five times in the air. If not, he will jump ten times. No further punishment will be required.

Gin stared at the contract and instantly got interested in the results. He still didn't know the full capabilities of his Essence. He also didn't know if he could dedicate punishments himself or not. Anyway, the terms were to jump five times so even if Essence were to carry out its own punishment, it wouldn't be severe.

Confused, Ichigo was forced to sign the contract.

"Now jump." Yoruichi said.

"... What?"

"You can refuse—no. You will refuse. Now refuse to jump."

"... Yoruichi-san… I don't have time for this—" He couldn't complete his sentence as his body, against his will, started to jump up and down only stopping after the tenth jump.

"... What in the actual fuck?" Ichigo stared at his body and was about to ask a question but was kicked away by Yoruichi into the training ground. As he was about to complain, he shut his mouth as White Ichigo appeared ready to slash at him.

Yoruichi stared at Gin, who calmly sipped his tea, and sighed.

"... I really need a bottle of sake for this shit. What is this? Some poorly written villain story with a sudden plot twist?"

"You are not far from it." Gin nervously chuckled, knowing it was true… almost.

After calming down her emotions, Yoruichi picked up her cup of tea and inquired. "Why now?"

"Because it took me some time to create this Kido. If I had come before, you wouldn't have believed just my words now, would you? Also, I realized that I cannot kill Aizen alone."

Yoruichi nodded in understanding. If Gin had really come without being able to prove his words, Yoruichi would never have believed him. So she understood where he was coming from.

"So, what's the deal?"

"As I have said, as long as you say yes to my terms, I will expose all of Aizen's schemes to you. At least those of which Ichimaru Gin knows."

"A weird way to say that."

Gin shrugged. Of course, he won't tell her that he didn't want his future information to be included in the contract, so he purposefully stated "Ichimaru Gin", and pointed toward Gin who didn't have his ego yet.

"Okay. I am listening. What's the condition?"

"Glad that you asked!" Gin's grin widened as he stated happily. "In return for telling you all of Aizen's schemes that Ichimaru Gin knows, you will work as my maid for one year!"

"... What again?"

..

AN: Yoruichi was always one of my favorite characters in Bleach UmU 

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