Playing With Reality, Chapter One
The Shaping of a New Reality
Bleach is the property of Kubo "The Troll" Tite. I Own nothing and am just playing with his characters for the lols.
Much like he does. Ohohohoho!
Rukia could only look on stunned, as the human she had meant to lend half her powers to, forcibly took them all, and emerged from the sphere of spiritual energy.
The Zanpakuto.
It was jaw dropping, the boy had manifested a Zanpaku-to, whose blade was even taller than him, resembling a broadsword more than katana, one side of the blade a pitch black, the other a chalk white.
And the reiatsu rolling off him...
"Impossible, how could a human possess so much spiritual pressure. He has nearly as much as Hitsugaya-Taicho..." She murmured.
"Amazing." oh right the Hollow. She'd almost forgotten. "Such Spiritual Pressure, you'll make a tasty meal." It laughed charging at the Orange haired boy.
"ICHIGO MOVE!" Rukia cried, she didn't give him her power, just so he could go and get eaten. Struggling to find her feet, she watched in wide eyed horror as Ichigo stood stock still, the Hollow almost on him.
"Hey Hollow," he whispered, head snapping up, eyes flashing a resolute brown. "Go to hell."
Clenching his sword tightly, his knukles turning white, he watched in barely restrained glee as Grand Fisher, the Hollow who had killed his Mother, back away from him fearfully, a look of pure terror locked on the face of the bait he used to lure in unsuspecting good Samaritans, such as he had been all those years ago.
But now, he thought twisted grin locked on his face as the same Hollow who had made him feel so helpless and lost was at his mercy.
"Please, no I'm sorry Ichigo Kurosaki. It was never personal, never I swear." The Hollow started and stammered as Ichigo stepped closer and closer towards the green beast, the girl at the end of his lure, sweating.
"It is to me." Ichigo ground out, dragging his sword behind him as he charged, intent on wiping the Hollow from the face of the world once and for all.
"NO!" Both the Hollow and its Lure yelled out in synchrony, Ichigo stopping short, face to face with the little girl at the end of the lure.
Only it wasn't a little girl anymore.
"Ichigo... you wouldn't hurt your mother now... would you?" The face of Masaki Kurosaki asked softly, hands cupping the frozen teen's face as he shook in silent shock and sorrow, the image of Masaki moving her hand towards his own, resting above the guard of his sword. "Why don't you put this down? My little boy has no need for weapons, not my little Ichigo." She whispered, the sword slipping from his grasp, a look of triumph spreading across Fisher's face, a look of anguish on the boy's. "YOU'RE MINE! ICHIGO KUROSAKI!" The Hollow roared, closing the distance between itself and his Lure, intent on ending the boy once and for all.
"I'm sorry... Mum." Ichigo sobbed. "I'm so sorry."
"Shush now." The Lure comforted. "It will all be over soon."
"I know." And with an echoing crack, Ichigo's hands twisted the image of her mother's head right around, snapping its neck, his face tear stained and furious, as he snatched up his sword and met Grand Fisher's charge head on.
His Zanpakuto only slicing the Hollow's bone white mask as a flurry of green tendrils diverted the attack slightly.
"Argh damn you Kurosaki!" The whole cried, the space behind him tearing and cracking as a hole in reality appeared behind it. Dashing into the gap, Fisher growled a laugh at a charging Ichigo. "I'll be back Kurosaki, and I'll kill you dead!"
Ichigo roared as his sword swung, only it was too late. The blade flashed through empty air and he fell to his knees. Eyes haunted and broken.
Rukia could only stare in muted horror as the most heart wrenching roar rent itself from the human boy's throat.
"It is raining today, Ichigo." A black clothed figure murmured in an azure cityscape, perched high on a flagpole, gazing up at the endless sky as a cold and bitter rain hit his face. Images of a green beast and Masaki Kurosaki flashing in the windows. "I don't like the rain Ichigo. The rain brings you sorrow. Next time, I will protect you from the rain, I swear it."
"To think, you were actually a Shinigami all this time." The boy spoke condescendingly, fingers pushing up at his glasses. "I don't know how I could have missed it before."
Ichigo quirked his head, confused at Uryu's behaviour. "Yeah, I'm a Shinigami. So what does that matter?"
A derisive snort answered his question. "What does it matter? Its all that matters Kurosaki. I am a Quincy, you are a Shinigami. Nature itself has decreed us mortal enemies and I don't let my enemies live." A bow of blue light sprung to life in Ishida's hand, an bolt of blue energy fired off and scored the ground at Ichigo's feet.
"Hey what the hell was that for?"
"I will prove to you, Kurosaki, that Karakura Town has no need for the likes of you Shinigami. That you are obsolete in this world." His right hand pulled something out of his pocket, a small nondescript cube, and shattered it. "I challenge you to prove yourself better than me, Kurosaki."
And the sky cracked.
He could see it.
The creature that had been dogging him and Yuzu, Ichigo's little sister, intent on killing them.
He vaguely recalled another moment in time and another creature like the one before him, but he couldn't take the time to remember as the creature charged them, Ichigo having entrusted his sister's safety to him. No he couldn't focus on the past, he had to end this monster. Not for himself or his own personal pleasure, but for Yuzu's sake.
In that second he felt a well of power erupt from within him, wrapping itself around his right arm.
With a satisfied grunt, his right arm met the monster's bone covered face, an eruption of blue energy erupting in a brilliant blaze.
"Zanten Kesshun." Orihime growled, her new companion Tsubaki responding to her desire to end the monster's life. The beast that had hurt Tatsuki, Chizuro, and so many others today alone.
The tiny sprite rocketed towards the tentacled Hollow, a roar of joy echoing from deep within the tiny black clad man, as he impacted against the Hollow. "No, no! Stop! We can work this out, we can talk!" The Hollow cried in desperation, sensing its coming end. "You don't have to do this!"
Orihime regarded the Hollow with steely brown eyes, this monster had hurt Tatsuki, Chizuru and so many others. It was going to kill them. A stray tear escaping her eyes, she knew she couldn't show mercy to this beast. "I reject."
And she knew, that the beasts screams of pain as Tsubaki destroyed it from the inside out would haunt her forever.
"Just lay there and die." Rukia spat, her tine of voice completely contradicting her expression, as she stood at the back of her Brother and Renji. "Just stop fighting, and maybe you can live a little longer." She whispered, the unsaid 'long enough to be found and saved' making itself very clear.
"...I won't, I won't let them take you." Ichigo choked out, dragging himself across the ground, only to be stopped as Renji's foot came crashing down on his wrist.
"Give it up, Trash." The red haired man snarled. "You're done here."
Letting out a desperate cry as the trio of Shinigami stepped into a gate that appeared out of thin air, the boy's eyes drooped and darkness claimed him.
"Shatter the moon's reality ZANGETSU!" the dust kicked up as Ichigo's broken hilt morphed into a blade resembling a butcher's knife that was as tall as Ichigo himself, deep black in color, the white now translating to the edge of the blade.
A long white bandage wrapped itself around his arm, and flowed out behind him.
"I hope you're ready hat 'n' clogs;" Ichigo growled; "Cause I'm going to hurt you so, so much, it's not even funny."
The bandages wrapped around his left arm slackened, until they were fully encircling him, like a dome, spinning wildly through the air. "Sasapo." (Whisper Step)
At the whispered command, the swirling cloth stilled and contracted around the boy, shrouding his entire figure, not even leaving a strand of hair visible, before the popped open falling to the ground and evaporating.
And Ichigo wasn't there.
'No way, an illusion type Zanpakuto?' Urahara thought stunned, his sword coming up to his chest in a defensive position, just as Ichigo reappeared at his back sword drawn back, bluish energy flowing along it.
"Breathe, Benihime!"
And Ichigo just roared, his blade streaking through the air.
"Captain… Ichimaru…"
Ichigo leaned over curiously to see who had put such fear into the giant man he had just bested.
Silver hair, a devious smile and a short daito poking out of a white haori.
'Just like Byakuya's… that Haori must signify a rank of some sort then.'
"Now, now, Jidanbo… just what do you think you're doing? Why are you opening the gate for people who obviously don't belong here, hmm?" The man drawled, his grin never diminishing.
"Their leader defeated me, it is only honorable that I let them pass." the simple giant replied, his voice shaking slightly.
Ichimaru shook his head sadly, clucking his tongue several times as if he had just heard a child try to explain just why their hand was in the cookie jar.
"Now that's not right, a gatekeeper must fight any intruder to his dying breath, honor plays no part whatsoever…" sliding the Daito out of it's sheathe he pointed his blade straight at the giants heart. "I'm really gonna miss you, ya know?"
'What the hell, does expect to cover that distance before any of us go to strike that's insane!'
'Wait, it's a Zanpaku-to, it's gotta have something more than that but what?'
"Shoot to kill…"
Ichigo's eyes widened; 'Shit either the blade fires some sort of beam or…'
"Shinso."
"…IT EXTENDS!" Ichigo roared as he deflected the fox faced man's blade, making it sever the giant's arm, instead of splitting open his heart.
"ICHIGO NO DON'T!" Yoruichi yelled in warning, but it was pointless because by that time, Ichigo had already charged Ichimaru, and the gate had slammed shut.
And the party he'd left behind stood gob smacked until Yoruichi spoke up "Hurry! Follow me, we must get in there immediately, and hope to God that boy hasn't killed himself."
Determined nods were her only answer.
Ichigo stood flat against the wall, hunched over, gasping in desperate breath after desperate breath.
That man that monster of a Shinigami had destroyed him, blocking every desperate attack, seeing through every feint and breaking down every strategy Ichigo could come up with, pressured as he was.
Even the illusory abilities of Zangetsu had been highly ineffective, in fact as they had landed, the Shinigami's eyes had taken on a look of suprise, followed by a grin that had been full of far to much glee for his liking.
"Hoh, an Illusion type Zanpaku-to, ne?" He had questioned resting his own blade on his shoulder. "How... unexpected. But maybe not, as clever as you are Ichi-kun. I might even just keep this to myself, our little secret as it were."
Biting back a growl at sharing anything with the man, he bent down low, grip on Zangetsu tightening as a stampede of Shinigami stormed past his hiding spot.
Letting out a sigh he allowed himself to relax, his racing heart calming, if only just slightly.
Pushing himself to his feet, he leapt up to the nearest roof, and made his way across the expansive city to the menacing white tower in the center, never noticing the presence shadowing his movements.
"He's good." A man with blonde hair, that fell past his neck, dovetailing towards his shoulders, fringe covering his right eye. "Just as good as Ichimaru-Taicho said. I think we'll need to be careful with this one, Wabiskue."
Uryu let out a smirk as he destroyed the supposed Shinigami Elites released Zanpakuto, the 20 or so bladed shuriken that the 20th seat of squad 8 had created shattering in the air and falling to the ground, his bow taut ready to deliver the final blow. "To attack an unarmed woman in an attempt to wound me? It was such a transparent move." The quincy taunted in barely bridled glee, letting his arrow loose, feeling a vindictive pleasure as it hit home.
"I have just destroyed your Soul Chain and Soul Sleep. You will live, but you will never be a Shinigami again. Scum like you, don't deserve that power."
"Woah, you're so awesome Ishida-kun." Orihime muttered behind him, the awe apparent in her voice.
Smirking, the young boy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the sunlight glinting of them momentarily hiding his eyes. If this was a so called Shinigami Elite, there was no chance they would not be able to come away from this rescue without Rukia in tow.
"Yorouichi-san, where do we go from here?" Sado Yasatora questioned of the black cat perched on his shoulder, as he ran through the tangled streets of the Soul Society, his spiritual weapon, Brazo Derecha de Gigante, out in full view, sleeving his arm and thrumming with barely contained power.
"There are two places they would most likely be restraining her." Yoruichi asserted, pawing his arm slightly indicating that he should swing a left. "Either her division holding cell, which considering she is Nobility is most likely out or the Blank Tower, which is where most Captain Class offenders end up."
"So should we not head towards the tower then?" Sado asked slightly, ducking out of sight of a passing patrol, all screaming towards where the Shiba Cannonball had deposited them not 10 minutes earlier.
"Hmm, if Ichigo is still alive, and the fact that his body isn't being paraded through the streets he most likely is, that will most likely be where he runs to first, Ishida too. No, just in case we should head towards Rukia's Division, the Thirteenth." The cat affirmed, leaping from his shoulder. "Follow me, and stick close." He called, sprinting around a corner that emerged in a courtyard surrounded by Sakura trees, only to come screeching to a halt, Sado mimicking her as he came to a stop behind her.
"Damnit, not her. Not now." Yorouichi ground out, hackles raised a hiss escaping the felines voice.
Sado swallowed thickly, the presence of the woman in front of him almost stifling in its strength, yet calm at the same time, like a coiled spring ready to bounce almost. And it told every inch of his body to run away screaming.
But he couldn't move, his legs wouldn't listen, not as she started walking towards him, not as she slowly drew her sword. Not even as she started talking.
"Ryoka. My name is Soifon, I am Captain of both the Second Division and of the Onmitsukidō. I have been ordered to track down you and all of your cohorts and to eliminate you for the crimes of trespassing into the Soul Society." She spoke, every word measured and precise, the sword now held in a reverse grip, her left hand hovering over the hilt, her spiritual presence rising, causing the boy to drop to his knees at the sheer amount of it, eyes staring blankly ahead, not even comprehending her words as the pressure increased.
'This is insane... is this what Ichigo had to fight when he ran after that man at the gate?' He thought as the Captain stopped infront of him.
"Do not worry, I will respect the prowess you must have possesed to have infiltrated the Seireitei, you will get that much I promise. Sting all Enemies to Death." Sweeping her sword away from herself, the short sword morphed, melting into a new form that sat itself onto her wrist. "This is my Shikai, Suzumebachi." She announced, a hint of pride on her voice as she pulled back her arm to end the boy's life, before thrusting it foward only to find it repelled by an unclothed hand.
The Captain's eyes widened, several emotions flashing through them as she took in the new figure. "You... I should've known." She ground out, a tribal marking inking itself onto the new arrivals skin.
Chad's eyes also widened as he took in the naked form of Yorouichi. The very naked form of Yoruichi. His mouth dry, but his muscles now relaxed, the Captain's opressive presence now focussed entirely on Yoruichi. "What... I... How did you...?" Sado stammered awkwardly, shuffling to his feet slowly.
"Later, Sado-kun. You know what you have to do, leave me. I can handle this Little Bee myself." She smirked, watching as the Captain's cheeks flushed slightly before a growl escaped the clothed woman's throat."
"I am going to end you, Yoruichi Shihoin." Soifon growled, phasing out of existence only to appear in Sado's path, Suzemubachi poised to shoot through his heart, only to be kicked away as Yoruichi kicked her out of the way.
"Stop watching and go Sado!" she growled, dodging a series of high speed slashes courtesy of Soifon. "Mummy and Daddy are talking."
With a nod and a last look over his shoulder, Sado took off running, sure that Yoruichi would catch up.
"Well then." Yoruichi murmered as Sado faded from her senses, turning towards her former student and bodyguard, a sad smile on her face. "Shall we dance, my Little Bee?"
Kira let out a breath as the Ryoka boy stopped for a second to catch his breath. It was time to put a stop to this. Snapping his Zanpakuto to the side, he muttered "Raise your head" before disappearing in a flash of Shunpo, reappearing right in front of the boy, who even in his shock, managed to raise his giant cleaver like blade to bear his attack.
'Perfect.' Izuru thought, drawing Wabisuke back to strike out at the suddenly off balance boy, his sword being doubled in weight by the effect of Wabisuke's presence, only for the boy to let his sword slip from his grasp and off of the cloth that had been wrapped around the handle, weave around Kira's strike and nail him straight in the gut with a powerful jab.
"I don't know what you did to Zangetsu." The teen started, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "But I figure it wouldn't be smart to try and use him in this fight, you'd most likely just do it again and again."
Kira raised Wabisuke in a defensive position as the boy launched forward, muscles coiled like a snake.
Each strike was dodged, each slash avoided before it could land. The boy had obviously had some training in Hakuda, he was to good not to have, but he could tell the boy was getting frustrated, even as Kira missed the fleet footed human, he didn't allow himself any openings and he knew that the boy would risk trying to parry or block Wabisuke with his bare hands, not only for the risk of getting sliced, but also because he didn't know exactly how his Wabisuke worked.
It was only a matter of time before he had him.
Wait... where did he go?
"Sasapo."
He didn't even register the roundhouse kick that slapped him to the ground, skipping him across the greyish tiles and straight through a nearby wall.
Struggling to pull himself out of the rubble he watched as the human walked past him and picked up his sword, the bandage that had been wrapped around the handle of the massive cleaver, wrapped around the boy's arm instead, before leaving Izuru to his well earned unconsciousness.
"Word is, you beat back two Lieutenants." The mountain of a man smirked, hands playing with the hilt of his sword. "That makes you pretty strong huh?"
Ichigo's grip on Zangetsu tightened as the Captains Spiritual Pressure crashed into him.
He wasn't like Byakuya, whose presence was calm and controlled, like a rippling pond, the man infront of him was more like a storm ridden sea, wild and thrashing, dragging everything caught in its wake down into an inky death.
"Eh, whats wrong? You're shaking." The vicious Captain frowned, eyes dulling. "Tch. Don't tell me you're scared."
"Oh he's so scared Kenny." A voice echoed from his feet, eyes shooting downward he found a small pink headed child looking up at him from his knees, a Lieutenant's patch on her arm, signifying her rank. "Just look at his eyes, they're so wide. Ne, Fire Pants?"
"I'm not scared." Ichigo bit out leaping back from the girl, Zangetsu held behind him, cloth flapping behind him as he charged his own Presence, eyes glowing slightly.
'Taking this guy head on will be suicide, but he doesn't seem the type to just let me do anything else than take him on one on one.' Gritting his teeth, he used his free hand to beckon to the Captain. "Bring it."
His grin returning, the vicious Captain, let out a bellowing laugh as the girl leapt upto the rooftops of the skyscrapers surrounding them. "That's good, real good. Keep that up, keep your Pressure nice and sharp, one little slip and you're dead."
Gulping slightly Ichigo drew Zangetsu around into a two handed grip. This was going to be brutal.
"Did you see them cart in Renji?" A black haired man with bandages taped to his face asked of the room, each person in the room bearing the patch of a Lieutenant Class Shinigami.
The one who had asked the question, Hisagi Shuuhei, Lieutenant of the Ninth, continued on. "It wasn't pretty, he was a bloody mess and Zabimaru was in pieces."
He glanced worriedly around the room as his fellow Lieutenants took on looks to mirror his own. Rangiku Matsumoto Lieutenant of the Tenth was biting her lip, and playing with the ring she wore on a chain around her neck, no hint of the playful, slightly alcoholic woman anyway on her face.
Choujiro Sasikube, Lieutenant of the First, was scratching the skin just below his eye, the stoic man letting just a bit of worry creep into his eyes.
"How are we supposed to fight that?" Iba of the Seventh asked incredulously. "Renji was probably the closet of us to Captain Level, hell he's even close to getting Bankai. How can the Captains expect us to stand against whatever tore him and Izuru apart?"
Shaking her head, Rangiku let the necklace drop from her hands, settling for folding her arms instead. "I don't think they do." She started with a sigh. "Hitsugaya-Taicho said something about Captains getting the go ahead for wartime release rules."
That struck the room silent. Usually, Captain's were forbidden from releasing their Zanpakuto within the confines of the Seireitei, doing so was an offense punishable with everything just short of death. To allow them the liberty of release regardless of those laws was a massive deal, and usually meant that the Captain Commander was set to unleash his fellow Captains upon whatever problem they were dealing with.
Before anymore speculation could happen, an ear piercing shriek rent the air.
"That sounded like Hinamori." Choujiro murmured, unsheathing his Zanpakuto and leading his fellow Lieutenant's out towards the scream.
It couldn't be possible... There was no way. It was just a cruel trick. Right?
But as much as she wanted to deny it, as much as she wanted it to be a bad dream the blood on her hands was too warm and the smell was to real.
Captain Aizen was dead.
The reality hit her like a run away train and she screamed.
Rukia's knees buckled, her brother's Reiatsu crashing into her like a runaway train. There was no way, if Ichigo couldn't stand up to him, there was no way Sado could.
She wanted to scream at him, to run, to save his life and get as far away as he could. But the words wouldin't come, the sounds dying in her throat as her eyes zeroed in on her brother, the pure rage echoing in his eyes.
"I felt a reiatsu making its way towards this tower. I thought that maybe it was an enemy suppressing their presence, but in the end it turns out it was just a mere ant." He spoke derisively, unsheathing his sword slowly as he stepped towards the pair.
Sado Yasatora was a simple kind of person.
Not to say he was stupid, if his school record was anything to go on he was in fact quite switched on, but he had a very simple mentality about everything. Ichigo had befriended him, Ichigo had bled for him. So when Urahara had asked him to help Ichigo in saving Rukia it had been a no brainer. Of course he would help.
But there was to it then even that. With the manifestation of Brazo Derecha de Gigante he had broken the memory blocks Rukia had placed on him during the several times where he bore witness to her and the supernatural and he had remembered her risking her own life for his, even though she could barely call on her own powers at the time.
So not only was he here to help Ichigo, he was here to repay Rukia Kuchiki for saving his own life.
He had felt the Captain's, (Soi Fon was her name?) Spiritual Pressure crash into him on the way here. He had only escaped that on the merits of Yoruichi.
He could feel this man's Pressure and although it hadn't frozen him in his place completely, to compare the Female captain's pressure to the one crashing into him now would be almost unfair.
Knowing he would only have one chance at this, he manifested Brazo Derecha de Gigante and charged the man, an El Directo blast almost bursting at the seams as he approached the almost stoic Captain.
"You are... slow." Eyes widening, Brazo Derecha melting off of his arm, Sado looked to his back, the Shinigami already there his arm fully extended, sword dripping blood.
'Is that... mine?'
And then his world exploded in pain.
"That power of yours was interesting. You are certainly no Quincy and they are the only humans we were aware of that possessed such abilities." Byakuya spoke softly, staring at the slowly falling human, flicking his sword to the side, the boy's blood flying clean off of it. "But in the end, no human can stand up to a Shinigami Captain. Spiritual abilities or no, it was just your misfortune that you had to run into me."
He continued his gait, slow and steady, until he was standing over his sister. 'No. She is a traitor, a criminal. Not a sister of mine.' His sword resting on her shoulder, the edge trailing along her neck traced a small, almost invisible, cut across the skin. "You have defied our laws, committed a crime of Treason and have now attempted to flee our justice aided and abetted by other criminals. Give me one reason why I should let you have your remaining ten days of penitence and not just carry out your sentence now."
"Because the minute you go to kill her is the moment I kill you." A voice echoed from behind the pair.
Both eyes locked onto the stairs that led up to the bridge and there, bloodied and battered, was Ichigo Kurosaki, standing proud and tall. "How you doing, Byakuya Kuchiki?"
His hand grasped the The bar that had made up the left point of the Sanrei Glove's cross body quivering in barely supressed rage, his Presence burning away the twisted photograph of his Grandfather splayed open and mutilated as his voice growled out.
"Do you want to know the name he kept saying? The name you can't remember?" Uryu spoke softly in defiance of his current state of fury, eyes shining in victory as he saw the curiosity in the creature's face.
"How are you standing? And how would you know that name? Was he someone you knew?" The scientist shot of quickly, his desire for answers almost embarrassingly obvious.
"The name he kept saying was Uryu. Uryu Ishida. His own name was Sōken Ishida. He was my teacher and my Grandfather!" Uryu all but screamed as his Presence lashed out, tearing and lashing at the ground around him. "And I'm going to kill you. Not for what you've done to me, but for him!"
With that cry, he tugged down on the metal in his grasp, the sound echoing around the deserted street and, for just a second, time seemed to suspend itself and Uryu saw things with far more clarity than ever before.
The bonds of Spiritual Presence that made up the buildings and streets, hell the very world that he stood in now, he could see every little bit of it in picture perfect quality. The way that the mad man's own Presence twisted and squirmed like a hive of maggots and the small trail that leaked from his body and led away to somewhere else.
He could see the tainted and almost feel the artificial nature of the woman's own presence and he could even taste the warm radiance of (the now absent) Orihime's.
It was as if every strand and spot of Spiritual Presence was his to know and command. To dominate.
And then his world exploded, the threads for ransotengai unraveling and his very clothes changing their shape and nature.
The power was intoxicating and he knew, that with it, he would put Mayuri Kurotsuchi into the ground.
"BANKAI!"
'Impossible!' Kuchiki Byakuya thought desperately. 'Bankai is the pinnacle of a Shinigami's power, even in the 4 Noble Houses only a Handful achieve it, how can this human, possibly have gained it, in three days no less?' The idea was ludicrous, even if Kiskue Urahara had managed it, he had been a Shinigami of the highest caliber, to think that a mere human could possibly match that record was unfathomable.
As the dust cleared and Ichigo was revealed, the giant bandaged cleaver that was Zangetsu replaced with a black and white bladed pitch Nodachi, set into a Manji shaped guard, still possessed of the bandages that had flowed off Ichigo's Shikai, wrapping around his arm, some slack just under his forearm and the end tied off just under his elbow, the left over slack flowing behind him softly.
"Kyoka Zangetsu."
"That's your Bankai? That tiny thing?" Byakuya spoke incredulously, his eyes wide in disbelief as he took in the blade that resembled a sealed asauchi, or even just a Shikai more than it could ever resemble the Final Release of a true Shinigami. "I don't know what this is boy, but it's not Bankai." He spat with vehemence.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night Kuchiki." Ichigo spoke softly, a second later, the tip of his sword was tickling Byakuya's neck. Blackish red energy dancing along the blade. "Tensa Sasapo."
"How…?" the Captain spoke eyeing the slowly fading after image Ichigo had left behind.
"I'll think you'll find Byakuya, that Zangetsu, is just full of surprises, now show me your Bankai, so I can destroy it." He smirked jumping away from the Shinigami, who sneered at him.
"You'll regret not slitting my throat when you had the chance boy. You want to see my Bankai so much, fine;" Dropping his sword he spoke the words, "Bankai, Chire, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi." A sea of pink surrounding him, the 100,000,000 blades flooding towards Ichigo. "You have trampled on the pride of Seireitei and spat on our traditions. Before I kill you, I will make you beg for death Boy."
Watching the enraged Shinigami, Ichigo let out a smirk, swinging Kyoka Zangetsu behind him, reminiscent of how Zaraki had after loosing his eyepatch in their battle, a thin reddish black line tracing itself into the ground, the stone on the other side of the execution grounds, torn apart not a second later.
"Ready when you are, Byakuya Kuchki."
"Gin. It is time." a shadowed figure smiled, from a chair in the middle of a room of corpses, Ichimaru standing in the door way, permanent smile stretching just a little more.
"Well than, Aizen-Taicho. Lets go greet our guests, like the good hosts we are, ney?"
Standing from the chair and making his way towards the doorway, supposedly dead Captain of the Fifth Division, Sosuke Aizen smiled at his Lieutenant benevonantly. "Yes Gin. Lets."
Well, that happened.
I know it isn't any kind of story progression and I apologize, but I felt the need to just rewrite this slightly (Or alot) to increase the quality and hopefully to bust through my plot block. The main change is that Ichigo no longer has Dual Zanpakuto mostly due to the fact that I felt it was either double swords or Illusion, and Illusion is the whole point of this story. That's the biggest change except for the new content and added scenes.
At any rate, tell me what you think of the new direction, all comments are appreciated, even if I don't get around to replying to you, I still read every review. Honest.