This is not my own story it's a challenge from DragonOfChallenges that I decided to do and for those of you expecting an update to Bleached Shinobi that's next time. Since I now have two stories I'm doing I'm going to tell you how I'm going to do this. It'll be a every other time short of thing as such since I've just did this uploaded this story the next one I'll be working on will be Bleached Shinobi and after that this story and so on and so on

I do not own Bleach

Parings Ichigo/Orihime and Harem

Italics for thoughts, zanpaktou

Underlined for Hollow and other

Bold for Hado

XChapter StartX

Ichigo ran, he ran for his very life, gasping and panting, throwing himself forward as the thin blade whisked through the air, and with it, came a few strands of his orange hair. This was insane! Urahara was batshit crazy! Who the hell just drew a sword out of their cane and started swinging it around like that?! And why the devil was he laughing like a maniac?!

"Wait a minute," He began to think, "Why am I running? He pulled that sword out of his cane! There's no way he can cut me with it!"

Slowly, the strawberry began to turn-

Swish.

With a rush of steel, several more strands of orange hair flew into the air. The broken blade, damaged initially by Byakuya now fell to the ground, missing what little remained of its edge and left with little more than the guard and hilt.

"You let your guard down." Kisuke replied to the gobsmacked look upon the boy's face. "You thought, because I'm not a soul reaper, I couldn't have a zanpaktou." Twisting his thin sword to the left, Urahara frowned. "And right now, you're probably thinking there's no way I can hurt you."

A sigh escaped his lips.

"How naive."

'W-What the...

"Awaken now! Benihime!"

With those words, the cane glowed red. Before his very eyes, that little thin blade contorted, twisted, distorted itself into a fearsome weapon. When at last the glow had subsided, Urahara held a flat blade with a crooked handle and no hilt. Ichigo froze, his eyes widening to the point of extrication as an unseen force assailed him. Raw terror clawed its way towards his heart.

"I assure you, this is a real zanpaktou. VERY real."

Ichigo recalled Renji saying something like that.

"You can't even ask your zanpaktou its name? Pathetic!"

Yeah, those were his exact words, and now they made the newly awakened shinigami think.

"A name? For my...zanpaktou?"

"Yes," A small smirk tugged at feature's of Kisuke's visage. "Each zanpaktou carries a unique name. This one, is..." Ichigo felt his gaze drawn to the gleaming sword held loosely in Kisuke's grip, and is if in response, a trickle of fear wormed its way into is heart. The blade seemed to sense this, and pulsed red. "Benihime, the red princess."

Faster than the eye could see, that same sword lunged for his throat.

"Now, let us show you."

(Bleach Ost music: Enemy Unseen)

'Oh shit!'

By Kami's grace, he somehow dodged the first strike, but still, an overflow of red reiyroku picked him up off his feet, mercilessly throwing the strawberry into the dirt. Wincing as his jaw produced a hideous pop, he scrambled to his feet, only to find a shadow looming over him.

"Nake." (Sing)

"The...hell?!" Ichigo started in surprise, rolling away from Urahara's strike, swaying under the second only to be violently thrown into the nearby boulder, courtesy of the third move, a brutal snap kick from Hat n Clogs. The impact didn't so much as hurt him, rather than surprise him that he was being so relentlessly outmanuevered.

"D-Damnit!"

Spitting out a clod of earth, Ichigo shook his head and tried to rise-

Too late.

But before he could even think to run, Urahara swept forward from the smoke, Benihime already on a collision course with the young reaper's skull, with barely an inch to spare. No time, there was absolutely no way he could attack, and evade at the same time.

Ichigo dropped flat to the floor.

Though he'd dodged the blazing blade, Ichigo hadn't taken into account just how forcefully Urahara had swung. In other words, the result of blocking, again sent Ichigo Kurosaki through the rocky wall that lay behind him. It shattered from the impact,

"I don't know what you're thinking," Kisuke began bringing Benihime up for a lunge. Ichigo had seen enough, and took that chance to run, scrambling to his feet, clutching the sword and hilt for all he was worth, which wasn't really much at this point.

But too late, Kisuke appeared before him, barring his path.

'Swing! Swing Ichigo!' A voice commanded, but it did him little good in the end.

By blocking, he was forced to his knees, and with another strike, both arms went entirely numb, and with that, he was left with only the hilt of his weapon.

"But if you try to go against me with that inferior weapon...

"I will kill you."

And though surprise now mirrored his visage , it was gone in an instant, replaced by sheer terror. 'Shit!'Thinking only to save himself, Ichigo did not attack, he did not stand his ground. No, he ran, ran as hard and fast as his legs could hope to carry him, then the footfalls of Urahara's sandals fell after him like hoofbeats.

'I've gotta get away! I don't think he's kidding! He's really gonna kill me this time!'

Benihime sliced the ground where he'd been only a heartbeat before, ripping out a huge chunk of stone as it came away. Dust and dirt flew everywhere, stinging at his eyes, choking his lungs, filling his mouth with acrid, dry taste, but still, still he ran. 'This is so pathetic!

He didn't care that his body screamed for rest. He didn't care that his lungs were burning, crying out for air. He didn't care that he was making a complete and total fool of himself. He didn't care.

'What am I doing?!'

He just had to...

'Why am I running away?!'

He had to run.

'Is this all the backbone I have?'

He had to get away from here!

Without warning, his body jerked back half a step, for Urahara had grabbed him from behind, jerking his victim around by the collar, and now roughly heaving the boy to the ground, his face betraying nothing, a mask of cold emotion, all the while. Ichigo however, wore a look of pure terror, darting to the right, just before Benihime could claim his spirit.

'Am I just a coward after all? A complete phony?'

As if to insult him, the blade swatted him from behind with its broad edge, leaving Ichigo unharmed, but still assiting the strawberry in a face plant, that which broke his nose, leaving the acrid taste of blood in his mouth and on his tongue.

'I'm so disgusted with myself!'

But still he kept running, desperate to get away.

'How pathetic! It's pathetic!'

Again the shadow loomed...

'PATHETIC!'

Yes, that would be you. A deep, masculine voice echoed in his ears, bringing him pause.

(Music ends)

All the colors of the world faded to grey, faceless, nothingness.

"Huh?"

There, floating in the abysmal darkness before, was a rugged looking man, his long hair streaming as if blown by some invisible wind, as was the cloak in which the rest of his body seemed to hide itself within. Eyes, hidden by tinted sunglasses, bored into his own.

Why are you running away, Ichigo?

When the rugged looking man said that the entire world around Ichigo turned white leaving only him and the mystery man.

You still haven't called me

Ichigo looked behind him to see the man now behind him "Look forward Ichigo, you should be able to hear it now"

Hearing that caused Ichigo to stop running and stand still unaware that Urahara had also stop running after him

The only thing plugging your ears is your own fear.

There's only one enemy, and there's one of you. What is there to be afraid of? the man asked who was now standing behind Ichigo almost as if he was talking into his ear.

Abandon your fear.

Turn and face him.

Don't give an inch!

Now Ichigo! Advance!

Never Stop!

If you retreat you will age.

Be afraid and you will die!

In Ichigo's hand the shattered hilt was bathed in blue light. His body motionless until this point, now whirled about the blue light trailing behind

Now, shout MY NAME!

"Zangetsu!"

Much to Urahara's surprise, Ichigo had actually swiped at him with the hand that still held the newly named zanpaktou, bathed in blue light. The intense wave of spiritual pressure rushed outwards from the blade, eclipsing both zanpaktou and master within the smoke.

(Ichigo's inner world)

Back in Ichigo's inner-world and unknown to both Ichigo and Urahara zangetsu stood in mid air as he watched the building reform themselves, when it was done zangetsu noticed that in the center of the 'city' there was something new, it looked like a haunted forest that had large spider webs covering the leafless branches and a fog covered the ground. It looked like it was taken straight out of some horror movie.

Zangetsu was about to walk into the forest when he saw a figure walking out of the dark forest and saw that a figure was walking towards zangetsu and into the light revealing it have a humanoid shape that was cover in a robe that was always shifting around it, like a living shadow, with it wearing a single piece of armor that cover it's chest on it's shoulders there was more of the living-shadow like cloth that and lastly the hood over it's head completely obscuring it's face in a shadow that was darker then night.

Zangetsu and the cloaked figure just stared at each other silently communicating with each other and both came to understand that they were each apart of Ichigo's power and awakened when his own shinigami powers were brought forth. The silent conversation would have continued but something drew zangetsu's attention and after a second knew Ichigo was unconsciously drawing upon his power.

(Real World)

Ichigo raised zangetsu above his and was staring at Urahara with a determined look but it look like he was glaring at him.

"Alright Urahara-san," There was no need for pleasantries, not know, when his very soul screamed for payback. Snagging Zangetsu by the cloth Ichigo began to spin it about, without even knowing how.

"I hope you're able to dodge this." His voice was even.

"Huh?"

Kisuke's frown turned to a scowl.

Brown eyes sparked their defiance.

"Because right now...

The pinned cloth at his shoulders now swelled, then abruptly shattered. "I can't control this very well!" Evidently, he wasn't kidding, as that same surge became tangible, rushing across the abyss between them!

"Scream, Benihime!"

A shield of crimson red appeared in front of Kisuke a split second before a wave of condensed reiyoku slammed into it causing cracks to spider-web out from the center and pushing the shield and Kisuke backwards before pieces of the shield started breaking away until there was barely enough to protect Kisuke when the wave of reiyoku stopped, Ichigo's attack had caused Kisuke's hat to fly off his head, severed in two, and kicked up a lot of dust that had started to settle back to the ground

Kisuke dropped the shield and saw the immensely deep trench that Ichigo's attack caused and blew out a sigh of relief "If I hadn't erected a shield in time then that attack would have more then likely killed me." Kisuke said as he looked over at Ichigo as the dust settled around him and saw that he was unconscious "Mr. Kurosaki your definitely one scary kid." Kisuke said unaware of what was happening with Ichigo as he was forcibly pulled into his inner-world.

(Ichigo's inner-world)

Ichigo opened his eyes and found himself laying against the side of a building and looking down at the white area of what normally would have been streets, when he suddenly remembered what happened last time and quickly pulled himself flush with the nearby windows where he then saw Zangetsu looking at him.

"What are you doing?"

"If... I don't do this I'll fall down!"

"You don't need to worry about that,when you were turning into a hollow your inner-world immediately started breaking apart, but now it's different." Zangetsu said before turning and walked along the side of the building until he was at a gap then looked back at Ichigo and said "come, there is something that you need to see." then jumped over the gap and continued walking.

Ichigo was wary about walking on the side of the building considering what happened the last time and cautiously tested to see if what Zangetsu said was true, when he saw that what Zangetsu said was true he ran after him only to see that Zangetsu was on the edge of a building before walking over it to stand on what normally would be the 'top' of the building and followed after him, when Ichigo finally caught up with Zangetsu he stopped in shock as he was now looking at what looked like a haunted forest "W-What is that!?"

"That is something that appeared after you awakened your own shinigami powers, apparently something caused this power to awaken from within you, and by having this power your strength has increased from what it would have been if only you had your shinigami powers to use."

Ichigo looked at Zangetsu in shock "Wait, are you saying that because of that new power awakening within me I'm stronger then what I was!?"

Zangetsu didn't say anything at first before looking directly at Ichigo "Much stronger." was all he said before he turned around causing Ichigo to look back and saw a figure, the same one that Zangetsu meet before, standing there and starring directly at Ichigo though, it was hard to tell because the figure's face was completely obscured by it's hood.

The figure seems to stand there for a few seconds before it seemed to glide over to Ichigo and slowly raised it's right hand and placed two fingers on Ichigo's forehead where he heard something in his mind say "Can you hear me, Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Ichigo was shocked that he was hearing a voice inside his head, even though he couldn't figure out if the voice was male of female he knew it wasn't Zangetsu, Ichigo snapped out of his shock before saying "Y-Yeah I can, who are you?"

"My name is Gespenst (1) and I am a power that has been sleeping inside you since your birth and all I acquired to awaken it was the right push."

When Ichigo heard what Gespenst said he was shocked that he had another power that was awakened with his own shinigami powers what's more he had this power from birth "D-Do you know why it took this long for your power to awaken?" Ichigo asked as he was curious as to why this power didn't awaken when Rukia transferred her powers to him.

Gespenst momentarily took his fingers off of Ichigo's forehead looked at Zangetsu, who had gained a slight unease look, nodded after taking a second to think things over where Gespenst put his fingers back on Ichigo's head"My power awaken after you gained your own shinigami powers but the trigger for my powers awakening within you was the birth of your inner hollow."

When Ichigo had just heard had shocked him to his core, he had a inner-hollow inside of him the same creatures that he went around town hacking to bits and it was the sole reason that his new power awakened, he didn't know what to think everything he just learn added with this new information on top was just too much to take right now, Ichigo backed away from both Zangetsu and Gespenst "I-I have to think." was all he said before he unconsciously exited his inner-world.

Gespenst looked over at Zangetsu who was looking back at him before Gespenst said "No doubt that Ichigo will take some time to come to terms with this information but it will be better later on when it is strong enough to momentarily take control of him." when Zangetsu heard this he only nodded before he wandered away from Gespenst.

(Real World)

Ichigo awoke with a start with sweat going down his face and looked around as he wasn't in the underground area where he fell asleep, he was now in a bed in a random room up in Urahara's shop, the door opened to the room opened revealing Kisuke standing in the entrance with that same goofy smile on his face "Well Mr. Kurosaki your awake, sooner then I though you would be actually, how are you feeling?"

Ichigo didn't say anything at first as he was trying to figure out what to tell Kisuke "Yeah I'm fine, just a little out of it. So what's going to happen next?" Ichigo asked he started to stand up and finally noticed that he was back in his body again "I'm back in my body!?"

"Yes thought it would be easier for you to adjust if you slept in it, the next step is having you gain experience which will happen after you get something to eat." Kisuke said as he walked away from the room's entrance and a second later Ururu came in with a plate of assorted fruits and vegetables and put it in front of Ichigo and when the smell of the food in of him hit his nose his stomach announced it's presence and Ichigo began eating.

When Ichigo was finished he eating he made his way down to the training area again to find the all the shops inhabitants with a med-kit nearby and Kisuke sitting a little ways away from them and saw Ichigo come down the latter and waited until Ichigo stop a short distance in front of Kisuke "Ah, Mr. Kurosaki so glad you could join us, now we can proceed with your training." Kisuke said as he held up the end of his cane and pushed it through Ichigo's body ejecting his shinigami self and when Kisuke looked at him his eyes widened "Oh my, this is a surprise."

(1) Is a German Noun for Ghost, Specter, Spook, and Wraith

XChapter EndX

Credit for the fight goes to NeonZangetsu just giving credit where credit is due

Reveiw Please