Chapter 01

Buried Fangs

Now—

All alarms had been sounding off like crazy for two minutes, signaling that a Hollow of some sort had managed to breach Soul Society somehow. The eldest that was the Commanding-General of the Gotei Thirteen only stood to watch as Shinigami began searching for the monster. An overlarge canine then walked next to the elder's side, snarling and growling when sensing the Hollow's presence nearby. Though it looked like a wolf, it was a dog when you got close enough to see the very small differences that separated the species. Its coat looked like that of Komamura Sajin, Captain of the Seventh Squad, which was a little unnerving. However, the fur was several shades orange with tints of black and white mixed strands here and there, unlike the wolfish captain.

"The plan is in motion, Kurosaki Ichigo." The elder stated firmly. "Let's see how far you can go then."

Yes, the large canine that was a little taller than Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, was Kurosaki Ichigo.

Five years ago, right after the war, Shihouin Yoruichi decided to see if he could learn how to shape shift into a cat, but it did not work so well. With his reiatsu never being able to be controlled, he took the form of a beast, and it was unfortunately a very large one that was shoulder height with most. Ichigo could try to concentrate his powers long enough to get the appropriate size right, but he enjoyed being this huge.

The canine snorted in agreement, knowing that he was not allowed to talk as of this very moment, and jumped from his office hundreds of feet in the air. He landed swiftly on the path before bolting off in a run to chase after the feline Hollow that he knew the elder had set loose for him to attack. It was Grimmjow Jeagerjaques that was in his previous form; the form a panther, since the hougyoku had been destroyed when handling Aizen. His ears flickered when hearing the Captain of the Tenth Squad and his lieutenant making it to the fight first, but it was no surprise when all he did was paperwork. Not wanting to chance anyone to get hurt nor a ridiculously large crowd ambushing Grimmjow, he flash stepped in the canine body to appear on sight. Ichigo took his chance and lunged himself onto the feline Hollow while Hitsugaya Toushirou and Matsumoto Rangiku were stunned.

"About time you came," Grimmjow hissed at him. "I was going to eat the woman."

He snarled with hackles up as he stood in front of the captain and lieutenant protectively before slowly walking sideways, licking his fangs. Two Shinigami became twenty in one split second, but no one had tried to interfere because they had never seen this before. A Hollow that looked like a feline with sharp ice blue hues, and a regular looking—but monstrously huge canine with piercing brown hues. Grimmjow had known about this plan that he had to follow along with, so his attention went to the familiar redhead that he had crossed paths with before. This allowed Ichigo to lung at him and bite onto his neck to shake him around like he was prey, causing the other to retaliate with claws. Before he could be scratched, he let go by throwing him into a building that then cracked from the impact, only to be destroyed when he tackled him against it. Shinigami alike stood up on the rooftops now to watch the large creatures battling one another as if it were some cruel and sick twisted game to them.

They all heard a yelp from the canine as it the appeared with a flash step in the middle of the Shinigami circle around the battle. His paw bled with bite markings on it, so he kept it a few inches from the ground as the feline came out with a cat-like grin. It was becoming personal now as he placed his wounded paw on the ground before charging after the opponent, latching onto the nape and flipping him on his spine before ripping through the bone plates with his claws. Grimmjow got the message that it was time for him to get out of there before he was seriously wounded and manage to surrender his life. The feline got up from under him and bolted off, entering a garganta to return to the world where he lived in; Hueco Mundo.

Ichigo then turned to look at Toushirou and Rangiku for being the ones to fight Grimmjow, then looked at the other captains and lieutenants—along with many others, that were at the scene. As he took a step to return to the elder, Toushirou pointed his Zanpakutou on the furred creature, causing him to watch him back without another movement. Ichigo and Sajin's ears flickered to a high pitch whistle that they could hear, causing the former to ignore Toushirou's threats to return to the elder without wasting time. It did, unfortunately, cause every single one of them to start chasing him as if he was a prize to be won just as soon as he was caught. The need to shake them off was dire, so he took one more leap before using quick flash steps that only the captains could be able to follow, which they did immediately. As soon as they reached the chamber as was planned, Ichigo then walked over casually and sat next to the Commanding-General straightly in a tall manner, and watched the others become confused.

"Ah, what good timing you all have." Shigekuni stated as the captains slowly took their usual positions when in the room, but the Captain of the Twelfth Squad, Kurotsuchi Mayuri was not present. "With all who are needed at this meeting, I would like to discuss about our new partner." He motioned with an old hand. "This creature is here on a unique trial, he has been at my side for the entire month to see what he could do. Proving his worth today, I have decided to let him explore the other squads from here on, objections?"

"Not really an objection, but," Captain of the Eighth Squad, Kyouraku Shunsui lifted his cap. "How is there a large dog in Soul Society? I mean… it's as tall as me and the rest of us." It was a question they all had.
"That is not anyone's concern, he was brought here to serve, and he is doing his job smoothly." The elder stated before hitting his staff against the flooring. "Each taichou will have a turn with this creature, Ichi."
An ear flickered with displease instead of growling aloud while in thought. 'Couldn't he have picked a pet name that wasn't so close to my actual name?' Well, at least he was already used to being called by this.
"For now, he will be assigned to Ukitake-taichou for the month." Shigekuni stated firmly before adding to keep everyone in check. "Afterwards, Zaraki-taichou will have him, then down the squads as it goes."

Ichigo left his position at the old man's right side to walk down the aisle of captains to sit behind the tall white-haired man whom was Captain of the Thirteenth Squad, Ukitake Juushirou. The sickly captain turned to make sure the canine would not do anything to him with his back turned, but he only nodded his fur head to him as a greeting. This instantly made him believe that the beast and himself were going to be the best of friends, so he brought out his hand while saying 'shake.' A paw met with the hand although very reluctant to play the part of an actual pet, but it made Juushirou all the happier—and hug him.

"Okay, I accept!" The ill one smiled.

From there on, it began.

"U-U-Ukitake taichou!" A female voice screeched in fear. "W-What is that thing!"

"This is our newest member for the month!" The captain cheered happily. "It's okay Kiyone! He's a good boy!" Ichigo wanted to roll his eyes, but went with it. "We taichou are supposed to have his aid for a month. Already he's helped a great deal with several errands—he's very fast too! Isn't he just adorable!"

'I'm going to be sick if this continues…' Ichigo thought to himself, only to hear the man's other third seat other than Kotetsu Kiyone screeching horribly, and watched him appear with—only to instantly go into a fighting position, causing Ichigo to stand in case of retaliation. 'I'm surprised he thinks he can fight me.'

Fur and hackles rose as he snarled at the offensive position he was receiving, baring his fangs as he was instructed by the Commanding-General. He was not to be handled by anyone other than the captain's, not even the lieutenant could bark orders at him, only the captain he was presently with. Juushirou tried to settle down the situation by telling his male third seat, Kotsubaki Sentarou, to put his hands down slowly since he knew that this was what struck the beast. Once hands fell, Ichigo also stopped and turned away to go next to the captain to lie down by the desk that he was working at in his little hut. The captain had to explain that the canine was going to be at his side for the entire month starting today, and he was there to help out in any way that was possible for him. Suddenly the three jumped in fright when seeing their furry companion stand up instantly on all four, only for the two third seats to run away from the door when a Shinigami officer hurried in, which Ichigo instantly wagged his tail for.

The woman saw the large beast and knew who he was. "Ichi—" Ichigo barked to stop her from continuing.
"Ah, Kuchiki, you know Ichi already? Isn't he the cutest dog ever!" Juushirou cheered happily at her.
Kuchiki Rukia looked at him confusedly. "Ichi?" Her attention turned to the dog who nodded. "Uh… yeah."
'Thank God she'll keep quiet.' Ichigo thought to himself, tail still wagging as he barked more cheerfully.
"He seems to like Kuchiki-san." Kiyone stated in surprise. "Wah! How come it doesn't like me then?"
"You? He snarled at me like I was for dinner!" Sentarou complained in return, still terrified of the event.

"Ichi, can you run another errand?" Juushirou smiled, and his third seats sobbed. "Take his pile of work to Hitsugaya-taichou please?" He held a tied group of papers to him. "After that you can take a break, kay?"

Ichigo nodded once before taking the papers in his mouth while walking out, but paused with his head lowered, allowing Rukia to jump on before bolting off in a run. Unfortunately, much to the dismay of the fury male, Juushirou then decided that he too could ride on the large creature whenever he wanted to. Back with the large creature, the female constantly asked what was going on—such as why was he there, but it went unanswered the entire way. It meant that he could not speak with her as he was instructed, so she left it alone thankfully as he grumbled a bark with the papers in his mouth before nudging the sliding door open with his nose. Toushirou did not seem thrilled about the monstrous sized creature in his office, but watched as it came over and held the papers for him to take, which he did.

"Ukitake-taichou told him to bring you the paperwork." Rukia stated, holding the large red collar around the beast's neck; it was there to make sure he would be a good boy. "Come on, it's time for your break."

A break sounded fantastic, so the large creature turned around and left the room—sliding the door closed with a paw before leaving. Rangiku sat there on a couch, unable to move due to being stunned that a dog opened a door, delivered some documents, and managed to close the door before leaving. Toushirou on the other hand was a little cautious about the creature, unsure whether he would be able to trust it when his turn came by. As he got back to work, he realized that he too had paperwork for the captain the dog served, but it was too late to give it to that canine.

"Matsumoto, take this to Ukitake." He waved the paper for her.
The lieutenant groaned at this. "Why didn't you let that dog do it?"
"Just do it." Never would he admit that he had merely forgotten to.

She took the paper, opened the door. "Here puppy! Taichou forgot to give this to you!" Toushirou looked up at her, watching as it returned and took the piece of paper in his mouth. "Oh, you're such a good boy!"

Ichigo only turned away again to leave with Rukia on his back and a paper in his mouth.

Juushirou watched merrily with his arms crossed as Rukia played with the dog for a good hour, and now it was lying on the grass with its head on her lap. It was somewhat of a cute scene in a terrifying manner; how many would have a large beast like that on their lap to have a nice nap? He saw an ear flicker on the canine's head, before it looking around with a nose twitching in the air, but a little black cat appeared in front of the dog casually. Knowing that it was Yoruichi, Juushirou was about to hurry over to make sure it did not kill or eat her, but he stood there with his mouth hung open. His eyes caught sight of the feline rubbing up against the canine affectionately before the latter placed a paw on her back in order to place her head in his mouth. Things were going to be bad so he took a step to hurry over, but paused as Yoruichi was not harmed, but she flung herself at his neck, were… were they playing? The captain could not believe her in her tiny cat form was playing with a gigantic beast that was well over ten times her size.

A loud ring was sent through Seireitei, causing the Shinigami to look up curiously to find out where it was coming from—and what it was. Juushirou heard Yoruichi yell at Rukia to get away from the dog as she leaped away from the large creature whose collar was glowing. Ichigo whimpered and yiped as the collar constricted against his throat while sending jolts through his body as if it was a shock collar. It was the doing of the Commanding-General who wanted him to summon a few Hollow for him to take care of now.

He lifted his head up and gave a long agonizing howl that shook the ground beneath him.

The collar stopped glowing as the ringing over Seireitei ceased; both were connected to one another—when the ring was sounded, the collar would react until he howled. His body collapsed for a moment as it could, but then a large amount of Hollow appeared, some circled about him as others fled to cause pain. Ichigo forced himself upon all four as he began snarling at the five, but he concentrated his reiatsu long enough to give a fearsome bark that ripped them to shreds. Rukia then hopped on his back without his consent, and she offered a hand hurriedly to her captain who managed to accept the offer and they left.

The three began tracking down the other ten Hollow that were now scattered over Seireitei as the alarms were going off again. Ichigo was on the hunt already as it was but Rukia told him to jump into the air for a better view for their advantage, which they caught one in sight. She yelled at him, telling him to use his bala since it was faster with precision and less drastic when being used, so he did as told. Juushirou was astounded that the creature could use such powers and that his subordinate could handle him so well; of course this was his learning experience for the day. They then went after the next one quickly while the third and fifth seats of the eleventh squad were rushing over to the scene, but Rukia told him to go faster.

"Ichi—" she caught herself from saying his full name. "There's two of them in one spot going after one of the Shinigami in the fourth squad, hurry!" With this, he gained speed on the other two that were after the same goal and found the sources they were after. "Taichou, hold on to me tightly!" She called quickly.

Just as he managed to wrap his hands around her for his dear life, Ichigo lunged at the first Hollow that then collided with the other. He instantly ripped off the first one's head before doing the same with the next; three down, only seven more to go now. Rukia felt something behind them and she yelled at him to jump in that second, causing him to grab the Shinigami victim before launching himself in the air. A large Hollow had tried to sneak up on them, so he tossed the Shinigami to the female who grabbed his hand to let him up in front of her as Ichigo attacked the creature with his fangs, using cero on its mask. When they landed on the ground, Rukia had the Shinigami officer jump off while he could before Ichigo ran off at full speed again. Ayasegawa Yumichika and Madarame Ikkaku stared in surprise at the large canine that just took on three Hollow while saving a Shinigami with two other on his back.

"That fierce look in his eyes," Ikkaku started. "I guess he's really serious about this."
"Who would have thought he could be so beautiful and graceful!" His friend cheered.
He turned to look at him, almost disgusted. "Hey… don't start, you're going to get hurt."

Back with Ichigo and the other two, they were going for the fifth Hollow that they were getting close to, but the scent of a lieutenant made him go faster. If he so happened as to lose one Hollow to a Shinigami, it might cause him a little trouble, he then caught sight of the creature along with the Lieutenant of the Second Squad who released his Zanpakutou. Ichigo barked to gather everyone's attention so that he was out of their sight when they looked, and he appeared in front of Oumaeda Marechiyo before lunging at its throat to rip its head off. The lieutenant fell over when he saw the large beast in front of him, though he was ignored as the creature then went chasing for the sixth one. Luck was not on his side as he felt Renji in the area of Ichigo's soon-to-be seventh Hollow victim, but he interfered with his kill and waited for them.

Ichigo looked at Rukia who then nodded. "Renji, take over, he's wants to finish this and taichou needs to learn his commands for the attack!" She hopped down and the redhead hopped up in her place. "Go!"

The canine obeyed and went two times faster than when Rukia was on his back, and it was making Juushirou cling to the lieutenant almost desperately to hang on. In truth, Rukia knew that she would hold him back because she was not as strong as a lieutenant was, or captain for that matter, so she left Renji take the reins this time. Renji told him to make a sharp turn and fire a bala instantly, which was obeyed as they found a corner of the maze, and fired bala at the Hollow that was not alone there. There, eight down and only two more to go—luckily though that they were up in the sky watching them, and the lieutenant told the other to hang on as tightly as possible.

"Do it!" Renji roared.

Ichigo the bolted off into a run before jumping up and leaping from pillar to pillar and jumping towards the two in the sky. He then gave an ear deafening bark that ripped them to shreds before he landed firmly in front of five captains that watched. His body lowered for the two to get down properly, and Renji patted his head to praise him despite earning a scowl for it. Renji also knew that this was Kurosaki Ichigo since he watched him practice often, which was how he knew that the canine sensed something nearby.

"What is it?" He looked around. "There's no more."

Brown hues looked to the five captains that were there; the second, sixth, seventh, eighth, and tenth captains who stared at him. His hackles rose as his attention went to the eighth captain before running straight at him—jumping clear over his head to latch on to something that they could not see. The Hollow that they could not see at first had then become visible as Ichigo ripped one of its arms off since he did not grab the neck. He snarled fiercely as he made sure the Hollow did not come near the ones behind him. Catching everyone off guard, the Hollow opened its mouth to perform cero against the large group, but Ichigo exhaled deeply before opening his mouth. It then blasted the cero at the group that was then inhaled by the canine; sucking the attack in before blasting it back at the creature with his own cero.

After that, he turned to the others—Renji rather, and mauled him playfully against the group, only to lie on top of him while snorting victoriously. "Okay, there's no more, I get it! Get off me, you know you're heavy!"

"How outstanding Ichi! Sixteen Hollow and you got them all!" Juushirou cheered, applauding the canine.
"I can't help but notice, the noise that came, then his howl, and then Hollow appeared." Sajin stated.
This made him retort. "Yes, when we heard it, his collar glowed, I think his howl summoned them here."
"It was him, but he was forced." Renji stated as the beast got off. "The sound hits his collar to bring him enough pain to call for Hollow to come." He got up slowly. "He's forced to summon them by soutaichou."

Everyone tuned to look at the four-legged creature to watch as he was walking away slowly from the scene as they talked about him. Juushirou, not caring about what they were told, waved to the others and caught up with the large canine as quickly as he could. They watched as it then allowed the captain to get on his back as Ichigo was returning to the thirteenth squad location where he was staying. But they all saw as the canine looked up to the sky with a low growl—they looked but saw nothing there, and he then snorted before leaving. Only, the canine jumped out of the way as the Captain of the Eleventh Squad, Zaraki Kenpachi attacked the spot where he once was before jumping on a rooftop.

Ichigo's fur from nape to the tip of his tail was sticking up as he bared his fangs dangerously towards the captain that attempted to attack him. His body lowered to let the ill captain off his back, which the man obeyed so that the canine could hop down and face the violent man. He snapped and barked at him, daring the psychotic battle-driven captain towards him, if he wanted a fight, he would give it to him. The canine dodged the blunt attack easily and bit his hand that forced him to drop the blade, which he took.

"That tickles." Kenpachi snickered before grabbing the canine's nape—

Ichigo vanished before he could, stealing his Zanpakutou in the process before jumping into the air to land on the rooftop. His attention went towards the man before lifting his head sideways and swaying it towards the opposite side to throw a gust of reiatsu his way. He knocked the other down, tossed the sword aside, and allowed Juushirou back on so they could leave while they could. The canine was just about to pass by Rukia as she was returning to her squad, so he barked to warn her, and she hopped on.

Juushirou stretched in his futon in exhaustion, wondering why he woke up in the middle of the night.

"Why won't you talk to me?" He heard Rukia ask worriedly. "Does Yamamoto soutaichou not want you to talk?" There was a pause of silence. "Taichou is asleep though, everyone is for that matter, so, please?"

A gentle sigh came afterwards, and the voice has deep like an older man. "Even so, I can get into trouble by talking to you." Though Juushirou did not know it, it was Ichigo's voice. "What do you want to know?"
"I want to know what's going on, you've never had to take this form before, and where were you all last month? I was angry at you!" Rukia fumed in annoyance for not knowing what was going on with him.
"Well, as you know, he has been coming after my soul for some time now. So he made a deal." He paused. "I can spend time with the other taichou to figure out if this is a path that I would like to choose."
"You said you would never take that offer, and now you're going to?" She glared at him. "You liar…"

Ichigo chuckled as he stretched. "I wouldn't go that far, I'm merely exploring my options." He lied down on the night grass, rolling around carelessly. "Besides, I wouldn't mind taking over the fifth squad if it's this laid back around here. That Hinamori Momo girl…" there was a pause as he softened. "She needs help." His eyes stared up at the moon. "He can't stay by her side every day, but maybe he'll let me do it for him."

"You're just trying to please everyone." Rukia snickered, making him roll back over to glare.

"Soul Society has done a lot for me," he stood up on all four, "you… have done a lot for me."

Hearing this made her frown sadly. "That doesn't mean you should sacrifice yourself for us."

"It's late, you should go to bed." Ichigo stated, walking passed her to enter the hut. "I would hate to see what he would do if his dog was missing." After she said goodnight, he closed the door behind him, only to freeze when seeing that Ukitake Juushirou was not asleep at all anymore. "…I suppose you heard me."

"Yes… Ichigo-kun…"