A/N: (Crymson) Well hello there fuckwits, crymson here to provide you with, hopefully anyway, along with my friend here, a proper version, of what bleach should have/could have been. And here as my co-author and one of my very good friends… (HarryDresden:) Well, after bleach officially came to a close i roped my friend here into helping me a bit with Winds of Change...he agreed under protest but here we are, with a long overdue chapter that i hope will let all of you know that i'm still alive and trying to keep you content. Welp its 2 am, im about to pass out and crymson, is um...crymson, so without further ado,

CRYMSON OUT BITCHES (I AM THE UNRULY STEPCHILD)

chapter 2

Cain stepped out of the warehouse and onto a street, the noise of the city hitting him like a cannon, after spending the last five years behind protective wards, minus those times he had snuck out onto the roof to get some fresh air and clear his head, it was almost overwhelming. The sun hit his eyes and temporarily blinded him, as he had not seen it in quite some time, well not the real sun anyways, he didn't think that the artificial one in the training basement counted. He had a small amount of money saved up from the couple of birthdays he had had. Contrary to their own philosophy it seems like he had grown on them, at least near the end of his stay there. He walked over to a fast food stand and looked at the menu, fortunately for him his teachers had an extensive catalogue of takeout menus that they often ordered from so he knew this particular restaurant, although it still vexed him to no end that they put the first two letters of their own name in front of just about anything. He ordered a soda and left the restaurant after depositing the appropriate amount of money into the cashier's hand, the customary "Come again." Rang in his ears. But after being inside there for only a minute he had had to restrain himself from bolting for the door, it was simply too noisy, even in his human body.

He rubbed his shoulder, the stiffness from hardly using his Gigai had already set in. it was as if he had outgrown his own body if that made any sense. That had been one of the bigger shocks, that his body had been fake. Talk about an existential crisis. What was even worse is he couldn't feel his reiryoku as well as he should be able to, it was like a pool of mud rather than the crystal clear water he was used to. This left him slightly more than certain that he was going to start leaking his reiatsu into the surrounding areas, something he had been taught would end extremely poorly for him. I'm going to die a slow and painful death far earlier than i should. He took a sip from his soda, looking for somewhere secluded to get away from the crowds and more importantly the cars that were in constant supply. Then, as if in answer to his prayers he walked past a deserted park with what looked like a decent crop of trees that he could jump into for a while and nap, after all Shinji had never said exactly when he had to meet the manager at the address. And besides he needed to give his ears a much needed break from the confusion of the city.

He strolled over to the trees, grateful that the noise from all the humans was diminished even if only slightly. He disliked interacting, not through any particular prejudice, but his mentors were not exactly the most sociable group of masters (So they said) and he had absorbed more from them than he cared to admit. He shuddered as semi repressed memories tried to resurface about certain parts of his education, no therapist in the world would be able to get him over THAT experience. Apparently shinji had found him curled up in a ball, whimpering about being scared of lisa for some reason, for the life of him he couldn't remember why though. He shook it off quickly, not wanting to relive that in a vulnerable state that was a gigai. He looked at the note shinji had given him, the store was apparently named, "The Urahara shôten" that name struck a chord in his memory, something half forgotten perhaps buuuuut he didn't have time to be wandering memory lane forever. He sighed as he jumped into the trees, not really wanting to leave his newfound sanctuary, the outside world was noisy and crowded, and overall not to his tastes. But circumstances forced him out, fuck. That was, he thought that they would, until his world faded from color to grey, and then finally to black and all he knew was oblivion.

Cain woke up to a small black cat mewling quietly and licking his face with a coarse tongue.

"Oh, hi kitty," he absentmindedly mused as his consciousness slowly took stock of his situation, "you wouldn't happen to know where the hell I am would you?" The cat meowed, and turned away before a deep voice rang, "Away, far away" it mused "Nobody with the ability or inclination will be able to find us here, and i know you've been through some training, but…. Well…. To be blunt, it isn't enough."

"Not enough?" cain blurted out without thinking it, "I go through the equivalent of hell for five years and it's not enough!?" he paused, wondering why the cat knew all of this, "and who the flying fuck are you anyways, i don't remember being told to expect a goddamn talking cat. I was told that i had to go to some shop in the middle of nowhere and i wake up after being fuckign kidnapped...again." He looked around, bemused somewhat "And you couldn't even be original! This is the exact same environment shinji sensei and the rest trained me in, minus the cold warehouse of course." He noticed something in the corner, almost concealed behind a rock formation, he could smell the moisture in the air, at least there was one of those weird hot springs here. He could almost sense that the cat knew more than it was saying. "Fufufufufufu. A master knows. A Student listens. Now quiet your tongue, brash one." Cain actually shut up for a moment, taken aback by a measure of the cat's voice, he could tell that the cat had years of power and practice, even though by all fucking counts it looked like an ordinary cat. He knew that he couldn't escape, and most likely if she wanted him dead he would be so already, he could tell that much just by gauging their respective reiatsu, she was, at the very least as strong as his mentors, if not stronger, no most definitely stronger if what his intuition was saying was true, and much more experienced in her craft. And this was still just him looking at the damn cat. He actually felt fear, literally fear crawling from his skin to his core, from LOOKING INTO A CAT'S EYES. If he could explain it he would, the only thing that possibly jumped to mind was that this cat was a literal god. "Kami-sama?" He asked half incredulous, half reverent

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" The deep voice rang with laughter "I'm not god kid. Although people have called me a goddess before, i have a lot of titles." the cat laughed "I'm just skilled" Cain backed up a bit from the cat, not knowing what to expect, this was an unknown entity to him...although he seemed to be getting on its good side, "You wouldn't happen to know of the shop i was supposed to go to, would you?" Cain gently inquired "It was called the Urahara Shôten, at least that's what this note says."

"Oh, that joker?" the deep voice inquired sarcastically "i half expect his shop to be burnt to the ground every time i visit it, and he's never in a reasonable state when i arrive" she observed coldly "He's not fit to train such a rarrre specimen as you" it seemed to purr. Cain seemed to be a bit confused at the purr, he did not exactly like what it entailed, he kind of shuddered. "And what kind of training do you intend to put me through?" he asked, somewhat fearfully

"Nothing like what you seem to think at the moment…" the voice was rather flat "Just intense, grueling, mind bogglingly difficult mental and physical conditioning. Don't get so excited, boy"

"Oh is that all? And for a moment i thought getting kidnapped would provide a different schedule than what I had done every day for half my life anyway." he asked a little bit directly "Could you maybe surprise me with something today?" that was apparently all the stupidity the cat would tolerate from him as a cloud of smoke popped into existence, he could see the silhouette begin to grow in definition as red spots appeared on his cheeks. The smoke began to coalesce into certain areas, revealing first a face, then legs, then the rest of the smoke faded away and Cain started to shudder "P-P-p-p-p-ple-please p-put s-s-somet-thing on…." he stuttered through blood streaming down both nostrils. Turning away, he started to regain his composure "Well… I'd say you certainly surprised me!" he tried to laugh it off, failing miserably, Oh gods have mercy, not another tease like lisa. He didn't need that again in his life. He honestly didn't know if his heart could take it. Let alone everything else. "Hmm? Like what you see boyo?"

"No, not particularly ma'am" Behind his shoulder her cat ears (inexplicably, still there) perked slightly, and her grin turned into a slight snarl "Oh, you don't now?" she purred, drawing closer to the youngling slowly "Well let's just test that now, shall we" she began to draw her arms around him, moving slightly. "Now shall i continue?"

"No-yess….." He gasped. She chuckled, and withdrew a little too quickly. "Do you want to say that again boy?"

"No Miss" he said cautiously, he was on thin ice, and he knew it, this lady could make his life hell, well, more hell than she already planned to make it. And he did not plan to exacerbate that particular demon in whatever form it took. "So, what kind of training did you have in mind?" he said rather cheerfully, taking a gamble and turning around to reveal a fully clothed brown cat woman clad in black revealing skin tight garb. She chuckled at his straightforwardness,"just a little thing called Tor-training, yoruichi sama's famous and guaranteed super training begins nyow" she meowed enthusiastically, as she vanished from cain's eyes, "Tag you're it, oh and by the way, if you don't manage to tag me back before sunset, no dinner for you"

"Shit" cain said aloud quietly "Do i really have to do THIS again so soon?! Fuckers…." and he chased off after her. Pushing himself quickly, he tracked her shunpo steps easily at first, as he caught up to only a couple of steps behind her. Out of nowhere she exploded with speed, moving 3 points past Cain's predictions. "Goddamnit, she's too fucking fast" he pushed himself further, straining his muscles to their limits, slowly but surely covering more and more ground in less steps. By the time he passed out it was well past sunset, and a smirking female cat figure stood over his non moving body. "Not bad for a beginner, boyo, but not good enough" she laughed "My name is Yoruichi, By the way"

"Cain, Cain zephyrs, although you probably already knew that" He said, bemused, or he would be if he could fucking move, she was as fast as she appeared and more so, he could tell that his time here would be well spent...not to mention it was away from all those annoyingly loud humans.