Rebirth In Bleach 44 Inner World

The eagle looked at Itsuki as he looked back.

"A name, huh?"

The two gazed at each other as Itsuki got to ruminating. Looking at its eyes Itsuki suddenly had a vision. It wasn't clear but he swore that he saw it. Focusing once more, the vision emerged once again as Itsuki closed his right eye. Now it was clear. He was looking back at himself, no, the eagle was looking at him and he just shared its vision. Although he found it surprising, he kept his cool as a name popped up in his head

'I will name it'

"Seikyo. As if when you see it, death itself was looking at you"

"Kyuu-"

It seemed Seikyo approved of its name as it jumped down onto Itsuki's shoulder and rubbed its face against it.

"Really. I was thinking of something along the lines of Pablo Romani conti D'Souza Pierre Antonio Lafifi, Fifi for short. Well yours seems plausible, I guess"

Hearing that name Seikyo who was rubbing Itsuki's face suddenly lost its footing and fell to the ground. Luckily, Itsuki caught it quickly, it was still young, although it grew fast. Itsuki's eye twitched with Yoruichi's naming sense as he thought to himself

'Luckily, I never asked for suggestions'

Soi Fon who was silently listening decided to make herself known

"What a marvellous name Yoruichi-Sama, but it's too bad that the eagle likes its name"

"Right"

It seemed that even Soi Fon found Yoruichi's naming sense lacking. Itsuki, however, thought differently

'She actually didn't support her'

Seeing her change, Itsuki didn't think too much of it and excused himself. Before he left, Yoruichi called out,

"For your hard work, I'll let you use my hot spring"

He had already left so he never saw the underlying smirk hidden beneath the shadows. Itsuki quickly reached his office and closed his right eye after placing Seikyo down.

"Indeed, we can share our vision, can't we?"

"Kyuu"

Giving a nod, Seikyo looked smug as it crossed its wings. Itsuki didn't care as he told it to look in different directions and checked to see if there was a limit. He couldn't fly now so Itsuki had to personally put him at a distance and move back himself. After giving it a few tries, there were no distance limitations as Seikyo was like a familiar to him. Further tests would be needed if the visions sharing would work if Itsuki was in Seireitei and Seikyo in the human world, for example. Currently all he could think of was the hot spring and, in his excitement, seemed to have forgotten about the antics of a certain captain during a visit to the hot springs.

Getting undressed he relaxed in the hot springs as he closed his eyes while a rare blissful smile showed up on his face. Although, he seemed to be relaxing right now, currently his mind was working to its full capacity. He was still trying to reach Bankai. A slight rip had appeared on the veil to Bankai and all he needed to do was rip it fully open and that was exactly what he did.

Walking through he arrived at the peak, but the thing was that it was upside down. Strangely though it seemed everything in this world was upside down as the snow was falling upwards. Looking up he saw the peak where Byakko and Ryurai resided but no presence of them.

Returning his gaze, a figure clad in a white yukata was in front of him. To reach what Itsuki needed was to disregard all life, even his own. This exact notion was also needed to properly master Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu's last move, the one he used against the dark dragon.

Walking forward he tried reaching the figure that had their back facing Itsuki but no matter how hard or fast he ran, he couldn't reach that figure. Realising that he wasn't ready yet, he became confused as to what to do. With the figure not turning around, he couldn't see how the person looked.

Suddenly, the figure started to swing the sword around as if they were practicing. Surprisingly, it was the Hiten mitsurugi-ryu. Although Itsuki saw the moves, he understood that the person had a similar grasp on the sword technique as him. That carried on until the last move, Hiten mitsurugi-ryu ogi, Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki.

Looking at the swiftness of the strike, he realised that his was lacking, too lacking. He doesn't remember the exact detail of the last move, and the manual doesn't go into much detail. He realised that to get to that mastery, he would need to have a bout with the opposite party. An intense desire surged in his heart as he tried to get closer to that figure but still failed to do so.

Suddenly, the figure slightly turned their head and Itsuki felt a shudder. A connection of some sort. Focusing carefully, the connection came from their head, more precisely, their eyes. What Itsuki came across was a familiar pair of eyes. The same indifferent, azure-pink eyes was what lay there.

A lightning bolt flashed through his mind as the figure turned around. He knew that person. Suddenly, he was dragged out his inner consciousness by a forceful pull. He had a feeling, a feeling that was hard to describe. He felt that to have a bout with that person he would need something, something that he was lacking.

Waking up he found himself in the same spot, the only difference now was the intruder in front of him.

Yoruichi.

In her cat form.

"Yo, seems like you have woken up?"

A strange masculine voice came out of the cat as he saw it swimming from one side to the other. Seikyo was giving out cries in the back as it found Yoruichi familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time.

"You should smile like that more often. Its more pleasing to the eye 'not like you will ever be the opposite of that'"

The last part went unsaid as Yoruichi took a glance at Itsuki. Seikyo trotted to the side of the pool before making a few threatening gestures towards Yoruichi.

Yoruichi smirked as she jumped out of the pool and walked towards Seikyo, with the figure of a predator. Seikyo, slowly stepped backwards, but noticed its father behind. This gave the eagle a sudden burst of courage as it went back to threatening Yoruichi. This surprised Yoruichi as she never expected Seikyo to stand up like this.

Before she could think, Itsuki quickly grabbed her and started petting her.

'Soft'

Yoruichi's fur was really soft and, although, he had petted her before he couldn't get enough of it. Behind Itsuki, Seikyo was proud of her papa as it had taken care of the big bad creature. Giving a few cute cries she returned back to playing with Itsuki's hair that was spread along the side of the hot spring.

Yoruichi was annoyed at Itsuki suddenly grabbing her but couldn't resist the petting.

"Nyaa"

Suddenly a girly voice came out of the cat while Itsuki was petting her. Itsuki continued to pet her despite her trembling as a sudden smirk appeared on her face.

* Poof *

Smoke immediately covered Itsuki's vision as the soft fur disappeared from his grasp. Instead what replaced it was the feeling of soft skin. Confusion appeared on Itsuki's face as he couldn't see what was in front of him. With the smoke clearing out, he was finally able to see what he was touching as an all too familiar face appeared in front of him.

"W-what? C-captain?"

Seeing his hand touching Yoruichi's chest, Itsuki got fl.u.s.tered. His eyes widened and his ears got red with a slight unnoticeable blush appearing on his face. Yoruichi who saw this version of Itsuki had one thought going on in her head

'Cute'

Shaking those thoughts out of her head, a playful smirk returned to her face,

"Nyaa, Itsuki-kun don't touch there"

Looking at where he was touching, he quickly retracted his arm as he tried maintaining his composure, returning to his cold façade.

"W-what are y-you doing, captain?"

Yoruichi didn't answer as she brought her two hands and wrapped it around Itsuki's neck.

She inched closer with her face and soon, they were looking at each other's eyes. Itsuki's breathing was steady yet his heart wasn't. Looking at those eyes something stirred within him.

"Like what you see?"

The same playful smirk was plastered on his face as he kept his silence.

"Fufu"

Giving a slight giggle Yoruichi moved away from Itsuki and returned to her cat form.

* Poof *

"Quickly, finish your bath. I'll be taking you somewhere"

Giving a nod, Itsuki also left the pool with a dazed Seikyo with him. It seems that the heat had gotten to the bird. Steadying his heart, a wry smile appeared on his face as he remembered Yoruichi's character.

'She was like that in the anime. I need to sort out my memories of the show first just in case another situation happens due to my negligence'

While Itsuki was getting ready, Yoruichi had returned to her human form and was in her captain attire. She stood there waiting with on hand near her chest.

'That was close…'

- Sometime Later -

"Yo, Itsuki, took your time, hu?!"

Itsuki stayed silent as picked Seikyo from his head and kept it in his arms.

' She's back to her normal self'

Yoruichi didn't wait for Itsuki's answer and carried on.

"Follow me, don't get lost"

With this she shunpoed off with Itsuki following. Along the way she noticed Itsuki keeping close to her and she upped her speed. Itsuki still followed until she used her maximum speed and Itsuki started to fall behind. Looking around she found her destination and landed outside a manor.

Itsuki who arrived a little later than her and saw the plaque that was engraved on the side.

- Kuchiki Manor -