The Alchemist in Bleach

"Really? Maybe, but I don't know who's behind it~ Let's go back, there's nothing else to do. Anyway, Rukia will be coming tomorrow, we can just ask her then." After saying that, Urahara turned and walked into the darkness behind him.

.......

"Not bad, not intangible, but it seems to be suppressed too much. Oh well, I'll go ask Urahara later. You brat, keep up the good work." In an alley, Isshin held Karin in his arms, quietly looking in the direction of Kurosaki Hospital.

Isshin wasn't surprised by Rukia's arrival. Years ago, he had wanted to protect Ichigo and keep him out of these things. Revenge was what he, as a father, should do. He was prepared to use Getsuga Tenshou a second time, even if it might cost him his life.

But as time went on, he realized that his idea might be wrong...

Not only Ichigo, but Karin and Yuuko have also shown high spiritual pressure. When they grow to a certain age, they will inevitably attract Hollow attacks, so they will need someone to protect them.

At that very moment, he discovered that the chaotic power within Ichigo's body was showing signs of going out of control. He had no choice but to find Urahara after controlling Ichigo once, in order to find a solution.

From that moment on, he knew Ichigo was destined to become a Shinigami, so he would often punch and kick Ichigo to train his fighting skills—well, one of his purposes...

After Ichigo's battle ended, Isshin gently kissed Karin, who was sleeping soundly with a furrowed brow in his arms, and said softly, "I'm sorry for disturbing you. Trust your brother, he will protect you."

Seemingly having heard Isshin's words, Xia Li's tightly furrowed brows began to relax slowly, and seeing this, Isshin also smiled.

........

Besides them, there was another person secretly who witnessed Ichigo's entire battle...

"Has the Hollow power been activated? A bit early, but it doesn't matter. In the next battle, I'll give you the power of a Quincy. The balance can't be broken so easily..."

He looked at Ichigo and chuckled softly, seemingly quite satisfied with Ichigo's performance. With a flick of his cloak, he vanished from the spot.

......

"Hey! Wake up! Hey! Are you dead? Hey!"

"Ahem~ First, if you shake me again, I'm going to die. Second, my name isn't Hey, it's Rukia."

"Oh, that's good. Don't you have a surname?"

"I'm a commoner, I don't have a surname, you can just call me Rukia."

"Do you Grim Reapers do this too? You've lost a lot of blood, are you alright?"

"What do you think?" Rukia rolled her eyes at Ichigo, then took his hand. "Lend me your spiritual power for a moment."

"It's okay, it was yours to begin with anyway, but you have to... Wow~~ the wound is healed? Is this a healing spell?" As he spoke, Ichigo felt the spiritual energy in his body flow to Rukia through the contact between his hands. At the same time, a faint green light shone between his hands, and Rukia's wound healed at a speed visible to the naked eye!

"Yes, it's the Reido, a special healing technique within the Kido." After a while, Rukia's injuries were fully healed. After all, she was taught by Ichiro, so her Reido skills wouldn't be too bad.

"Alright, let's go find your sister first, and then there are some things I need to tell you."

"That's right! Karin!" Rukia's words made Ichigo realize what was happening. He quickly jumped up from the ground and ran towards the direction from which Karin had made her cry.

When he arrived here, he breathed a sigh of relief, because Xia Li was now in his father's arms, while his father stared blankly at the half-destroyed Kurosaki Hospital, seemingly unable to accept this reality.

Ichigo awkwardly touched his nose, looked at his shihaka uniform, hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell his father the truth. So he mustered up his courage and walked up to his father.

"Dad, you didn't... um..."

However, to Ichigo's surprise, Isshin walked right past him as if he hadn't seen him at all.

"Dad? Dad! You idiot dad!" After shouting the last sentence with courage, he immediately crouched down with his hands on his head in defense.

Unfortunately, the attack Ichigo anticipated did not come. Isshin continued walking forward, still bewildered. When Isshin reached the spot where he had been stabbed in the kidney, Ichigo finally understood why Isshin had not reacted.

Because he saw Ichigo too!

That is, his body.

"So, I'm in a spirit state right now? Wait, what if that bastard Dad thinks I'm dead? That'll be really difficult... um..." Ichigo looked speechlessly at Isshin, who was kicking his body in front of him.

No, I collapsed on the ground unconscious! There are ruins all around! You just kicked me like that? That's so perfunctory! Am I really your biological child?

Finally, seemingly confirming that he was still breathing, Isshin stopped kicking him, kicked Ichigo away, and carried Karin into the room.

Fortunately, only the front part of the hospital was destroyed; only a small section of their accommodation was cracked and still habitable.

Watching Ichigo carefully carry Karin back to the house, the corner of his mouth twitched. He silently walked to his side, picked her up, and quickly returned to the room.

There was nothing he could do; he didn't know how to get back into his body, and Rukia had mysteriously disappeared, with no idea when...

As soon as he put himself back on the bed, Ichigo froze. Only now did he realize, how was he supposed to get back? Was he going to live like this for the rest of his life?

"Hey, what are you standing there for?"

"Huh!!" Rukia's voice suddenly came from behind Ichigo, startling him. He took a few steps back, patting his chest to catch his breath. "What are you doing here? By the way, how do I get back?"

“I was worried that your father might see me just like you, so I came up here to wait for you. I also have some things I want to say to you.”

"Don't worry, my dad is just an ordinary person. He didn't even react when I yelled at him just now," Ichigo said confidently.

"..." Rukia's lips twitched. Are all father-son relationships in the modern world this wild?

At this moment, in Xia Li's room, Yi Xin was covering Xia Li with a blanket. She pursed her lips and began to think about how to teach this brat a lesson tomorrow.

"It's better to be on the safe side. I have something to tell you now. Please have a seat."

"???"

Ichigo looked at himself sitting there, then looked at Rukia with a puzzled expression.

"Ahem, let's start by answering your first question, how to get back to your body. Simply put, just relax and lunge at your body, like this." As she spoke, Rukia drew a "sketch" for Ichigo to see.

"Hiss~~~" Looking at the two rabbits above, Ichigo gasped. "It's a bit profound, but I can barely understand it. The main thing is that I can understand what it says."

"That's good. Your question has been answered. Now it's time to talk about something else. I've given you my power of death. I'm currently powerless, so you'll have to complete my task for me."

"Uh... Kill Hollow?"

"Yes."

"I won't do it!"

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Chapter 318 The Flying Bird

"Why? If you're worried about danger, you can rest assured. Missions in the real world are generally quite simple. With your strength, you should be fine, probably."

“Probably…” Ichigo looked speechlessly at Rukia, who seemed a little guilty.

"It's about the same anyway, because the tasks assigned to me won't be too difficult."

Ichigo glanced at Rukia's waist, which still bore large patches of blood, and his lips twitched: "You mean this kind of mission?"

"...This was an accident, you have to believe me."

Rukia wasn't deceiving Ichigo; she genuinely believed he wouldn't be in danger. First of all, his potential power was terrifyingly strong, and the best way to unlock such potential power was through combat!

Endless battles!

There's no faster way!

This is the valuable experience that Rukia gained by being nearly killed by Ichiro thousands of times!

Therefore, she believed that with Ichigo's potential, as long as he fought more battles, he wouldn't be in such danger. Moreover, the mastermind behind all this would certainly not let Ichigo die so easily, nor would he let him live such an ordinary life.

There will definitely be other actions.

Therefore, instead of passively waiting, it's better to take the initiative and become stronger! Strong enough to shatter all conspiracies and schemes!

"...I like a peaceful life. I can cooperate with you to help you recover your strength as quickly as possible. I don't like fighting."

After listening, Rukia quietly looked into Ichigo's eyes and saw determination in them. After a long gaze, Rukia sighed.

She decided it would be better to tell him the whole truth, and that was the only way.

"You have no choice, you must fight!"

"Why?" Ichigo wasn't angry. Although he hated being told what to do and Rukia's words were somewhat forceful, he knew from their brief time together that Rukia wasn't the type to force people, so there must be some reason behind it.

"First, for the sake of your family, you possess powerful spiritual pressure, and so do your family. In the eyes of the Hollows, you are the most delicious food. Although we Shinigami are prepared for this, there will always be times when we are oversighted. After all, we Shinigami do these things not to protect humans, so you yourself need to have power."

"Secondly, do you really think my arrival was a coincidence? Your spiritual pressure is so strong, why weren't you attacked by Hollows before, but you were attacked as soon as I arrived in the human world? Why did I only lose my strength when I got near your house? Do you really think it's just a coincidence?"

Rukia looked at Ichigo with a serious expression.

"You mean, someone is using me? But I'm just an ordinary high school student!" Ichigo said, frowning and somewhat puzzled.

"...Can an ordinary high school student see spirits? Can an ordinary high school student kill a Hollow on their first Zanpakuto? Can an ordinary high school student crush my Kido with their bare hands? Can an ordinary high school student...?"

"Stop reading it, I think I know!" Faced with Rukia's probing question, Ichigo immediately covered his face. He did seem to be a little bit different from ordinary high school students.

"In fact, I wanted you to fight the Hollow in order to save you. I don't have many missions in the mortal world. In any case, I dragged you into this, so I have to take responsibility for you!"

"...Don't use such a strange way of putting it...So, do I need to become stronger?"

"Yes, as long as you have enough power, no one can outmaneuver you! Play chess? You'll destroy the chessboard!"

Ichigo stared blankly at Rukia, who suddenly seemed rather bold, and asked in confusion, "Why does this sound like something you would say?"

"Yes, it was my teacher who taught me."

"Your teacher? Is he very good?"

"Very strong! More than a hundred years ago, he was already one of the strongest Grim Reapers in the world! As for now, I don't know, he hasn't fought in a long time."

"One hundred years ago... the strongest..." Ichigo clicked his tongue in amazement. The strongest... is that outrageous?

Suddenly, Ichigo paused, looking at Rukia with a strange expression.

"what happened?"

"Your teacher is so good, how come you...?"

"...As I just said, I was ambushed! Anyway, that's roughly how it is. Think it over carefully, for your own sake and for the sake of your family."

"And what about you?" Ichigo turned to look at Rukia, who was perched on the windowsill, and asked.

He noticed something: this time, Rukia didn't offer to help her.

"Me? I'll be fine. I don't have any missions to begin with. I'm the vice-captain; I'm the one who assigns missions to others."

"Then why not use that reason now?"

Rukia paused for a moment, looked at Ichigo's sincere eyes, and smiled: "Because our teacher said that if you really want what's best for someone, then don't hide it from them, treat them as an equal, and respect them. So Ichigo, I will respect your choice, but don't feel burdened. In the end, this is still a matter for us Shinigami. I'm sorry to have dragged you into this. I will handle this matter."

"etc....."

However, after Rukia finished speaking, she didn't give Ichigo a chance to reply. Instead, she jumped out of the window and disappeared into the night.