Hey all, what's up? First up thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, and to Heero Yuy009, thanks for the suggestion, but Ichigo really can't use any fire attacks. It might be possible for him to combine one of his techniques with an attack from someone who does have a fire based zanpakuto and create a dual nature technique. To Miss Watzername, I think someone already did something similar in another fic, but I'd have to check to make sure. I've decided at this point to write a second fic to follow some of Ichigo's battles that I'll be skipping over in my main fic. By the way, did anyone else notice during the fight against shrieker in the substitute arc in the anime that Rukia used the wrong spell type for Sokatsui? She called it out as Bakudo 33 rather than Hado 33. Seriously, go check it out. Anyway, time to get to writing.
"Damn it", Ichigo muttered, more for his own benefit than for the Shinigami standing before him, sword raised to deliver a finishing blow. When the blade was swung, however, its wielder was surprised to see it cut nothing but air.
"That was a pretty close shave", Ichigo admitted, as Rukia's approach registered in his senses. "So", he asked, "who are you, anyway?"
"Oh, you're right. How rude of me not to introduce myself." The shinigami said. "My name is Eikichiro Saido. I'm in the Onmitsukido, and I've been ordered to bring Rukia Kuchiki in to find out why she's stayed for so long in this world."
"I see", said Ichigo, "in that case, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, deputy shiniga-he trailed off as Rukia's soul pager went off, indicating the appearance of a hollow, and at the same time, Ichigo suddenly had a feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
"I-I don't believe it", Rukia exclaimed in shock, "that's Grand Fisher! He's been avoiding shinigami for over fifty years! Wait, Ichigo, what the hell are you doing, you can't fight this hollow, he's too powerful!"
"Sorry Rukia, but I'm going to have to ask you to stay back while I fight this guy", Ichigo said. Despite his low voice there was no way Rukia could have missed the words that Ichigo was saying. "The instant I saw the lure growing out of his head I remembered the truth. He is the one who killed my mother. Grand Fisher, you may not remember this, but six years ago today you attacked me, and consumed the soul of my mother, Masaki Kurosaki. As soon as I realized the truth I decided that I had to be the one to destroy you. Now listen well, and hear the words that mean the end of your existence as a hollow. Strike in the night, Yami no Ryu."
The gasp that came from Grand Fisher was muffled by the blast of reiatsu that Ichigo released. The cord that had been wrapped around the hilt if his sword was replaced by white cloth. The blade itself turned solid black, though it didn't change its shape and retained its original length.
Grand fisher merely stood there, and though his mask gave nothing away, it was clear that he was shocked. Ichigo aimed his blade forward, thought for a moment, and then moved it to swing from his left. The air immediately surrounding the blade darkened just before he released the technique. He swung, and the blade sliced through the air, leaving a trail of shadow from the top ten centimeters. As the trail of shadow darkened and solidified Ichigo saw fit to name the new technique.
"Kage no Ogama (shadow scythe)", he declared just before the black trail, now in the shape of a sickle, flew towards the hollow at speeds too fast for most to follow, much less avoid. It just so happened that grand fisher fell into exactly the right category, as the sickle cleaved through his head, instantly purifying the hollow. What happened next was something nobody had ever expected.
A beautiful woman with hair a similar color to his own appeared before Ichigo and began to speak to him. "Ichigo, my son", she began, "I am so very proud of you. You have grown into a strong young man worthy of your name. Thanks to you, I can finally rest peacefully. I leave you with this advice. Go forward, and don't let the past weigh you down. May you always protect that which you feel matters most, goodbye Ichigo."
With that, Masaki Kurosaki faded and moved on to the soul society. Ichigo watched her fade, and as he stood there a single tear fell, and a thin smile briefly showed itself on his face.
I'm sure some of you may think that Ichigo wiped out grand fisher way too easily, but I would be willing to bet that some of you were sitting there during the canon fight thinking to yourselves 'come on Ichigo, wipe that smug bastard off the face of the earth'. Come on, you can tell me, after all my middle name is "never blabbed a secret". Anyway, how were the parting words that Masaki left behind? Did I overdo it? well, anyway, like I said, I'm unbelievably lazy, so I'll be doing this second fic to detail some of the more noteworthy battles that I'll be skipping over in the main fic. On a more important subject, we finally get an idea of what Ichigo's zanpakuto looks like in shikai. Anyway, read and review, you know how it goes.