Nah, he's destressed enough for tonight!

"Okay," Ichigo panted, sitting back as he regained his breath. "That was quite enjoyable... but we still have a glaring issue," he noted.

Rukia nodded, standing, not even bothering to dress herself as she did. "You're right. We still need to figure out a way to get more powerful, so that we're ready to kick their asses when they come back. And we have to do it fast. Then again, that alone makes me pretty confident," she mused.

"The heck do you mean by that?" Ichigo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Is it not obvious, Master?" Rukia snorted. "Or are you just as much of an idiot as I regularly call you?"

"Hey!" he protested hotly. She leaned forward and flicked his forehead in response.

"Think about it! You haven't even been a Soul Reaper for a year, and already you're powerful enough to face Captain Class officers in the Soul Society! And they're basically the best fighters there! They have trained for decades, if not centuries, and yet, you grew strong enough to challenge them to save me!" Rukia replied.

"...true, but it was mostly Hat and Clog's training that helped me out," Ichigo replied, and Rukia shrugged.

"Maybe to an extent, but I doubt his methods would have worked as well if it wasn't you, and no, it isn't my bias as your genie talking. Besides, we can always go to him and ask him for some training ideas, maybe he can help you take another leap if you are correct in crediting him with your gains. Or maybe we can round out your training some more, teach you a few things you skipped, like Kido, that might help you out a bit... unless you're like Renji in that department. In which case, if we go that route, better do it a safe distance from others and other things we don't want to destroy," she chuckled nervously, remembering Renji's own disastrous attempts to learn Kido.

Despite himself, Ichigo let out a laugh at the mental image of a soot covered Renji as he got what Rukia was getting at. He did feel a little better... though he wondered if going to Urahara would be as helpful as it had been in the past. Ichigo was sure that if he had any ideas, he would have told him by now... not to mention the issues with his Inner Hollow... He paused as he began to consider some ideas.