Meh…

=^.^=

Second chapter for you all.

Chapter 2: The lowly crying moon

It had been a few weeks since Ichigo had passed on, things were dull looking.

Zangetsu had been oddly cheerful lately, his excuse?

A Shinigami's zampactou's spirit tends to be the opposite as the owner, seeing as Ichigo was a stubborn, hard-headed serious always frowning young soul his zampactou now turned out to be more emotional showing but still serious but liked to point out the obvious.

Sighing Ichigo leaned back against the tree he was sitting in, high up looking down at the town. It was rather boring at times.

Yet sometimes…

Ichigo smiled when he heard panting breaths and pattering feet. He pretended to be asleep when the three boys ran up to the three hooting and making a fuss about the great catch they just had. They noticed Ichigo sitting on the thickest branch, one leg bent on it while the other hanged off the side, his long sword was between his legs while his head rested on one shoulder looking away. They had grown attached to the older male immediately.

They had been shocked when Ichigo complained of being hungry. A clear sign of having reiatsu. They then started to nick food here and there for him, being the only one who needed food it was never a problem as Ichigo didn't eat a lot. Water was the more important one for them all.

They had gotten him another yukata claiming what he wore when he passed on didn't suit him at all. So somehow they got, or stole as Ichigo suspected a newish looking yukata made of a deep red cloth, he was thankful as it covered more of his body than his previous one.

They softly called his name before poking his foot, he smirked and started to lean to the side his head was facing, the sounds of their panicked voiced made him want to snicker but he hardly showed his emotions even to these small souls that still had childlike mentalities.

He gracefully flipped mid air and landed on one foot followed by the other. He head clapping and pretended to rub sleep from his eyes.

He smiled slightly when he was tackled slightly by three smaller bodies.

"Nii-san!" They chirped and hugged his legs, he was well and truly the tallest around Inuzuri.

He looked under his arm over his side to the little one with the yellow yukata who was smiling brightly up at him.

"What did you get today?" he asked when they released him. They showed a pouch filled with a few morsels of food consisting of fruit, a small loaf and some dried fish. This would last him a week at most. And two large jars of water that was a very good catch indeed. He gave them a small lopsided smile that made them practically shine as it was his way of praising them.

They sat down that sunset chatting idly telling Ichigo what happened in the town, Ichigo had yet to go into the town again, he just didn't want to.

It didn't seem to bother the child like spirits as they could keep Ichigo for themselves claiming that Ichigo would be snatched up by the other villagers.

What worried Ichigo was the feeling of dread that grew in his stomach. Even Zangetsu felt uneasy.

That night Ichigo went into a lotus position and meditated till he came to his mindscape.

He opened his eyes to a barred wasteland of nothing but hard smooth dirt, it was dark all but for a lonely large moon that ate up the sky, the moon was so large that it was not even fully in the sky part of it was down the horizon.

His zampacktou had yet to show himself but that was fine with Ichigo.

"Zangetsu." Ichigo greeted. He hated titles and honorifics a lot so Zangetsu never minded being called just that.

"Yes? Ichigo-san?" a gravelly voice echoed though the air.

"This feeling, it's still very slight almost like it's yet to happen and it won't soon. It makes me nervous." Ichigo sighed. Here in his mindscape was the only place where he showed his true feelings, a ugly frown marred his face.

With a sigh he plopped down and relaxed on the ground, his head being pillowed by his interlaced fingers. He felt a warm presence that was Zangetsu swirl around him. "Hmm, I have to admit I agree with you. It feels like something is coming but it's not close yet."

The feeling grew stronger as Zangetsu came closer. "I wonder what it could be." The normally emotional zampacktou's voice was curious yet worried.

That in itself put Ichigo more on edge.

Days turned to weeks, weeks into months and months into years. Ichigo watched amused as the three boys competed about who grew the most. Spirits aged very slowly in Soul Society but still those with reiatsu tended to live a little longer… or a lot.

It had been thirty years since Ichigo had passed on, since then he had gained another yukata much to his displeasure. It was given to him on the twenty-fifth anniversary of his passing to Soul society. It was a pale blue yukata that was very long and in very good condition, Ichigo told the small boys he would wear it once his red one became unusable.

They bought it, the real reason was that Ichigo wanted to treasure it, he never told the boys but he still planned on going to the academy like his father wanted him to.

Being so close to the forest was a bad thing as rouge souls liked to prey on the weak, Ichigo had to disband much of these groups that came out in the night. Ichigo meditated throughout the night and slept throughout the day. It was tiresome in its own way making Ichigo wonder if they maybe shouldn't go back to the village.

He sighed as he watched the three boys sleep close to him, all three snuggling into loose balls around his legs mumbling about either him, water or the old man at the food stand being a meanie.

Ichigo gave a small smile no one had yet to see, it was a little disheartening when he thought about leaving these small boys. It bothered him.

That in the end was what made him stay there, there where he had yet to see a Shinigami, all he had yet to see was souls and more poor souls. Sometimes souls from the richer parts would come and pick on the poorer people. Ichigo had listened when the boys complained about the rich nobles being mean.

The feeling of dread had lessened as the years passed but one day while Ichigo was napping when he suddenly snapped wide awake when the feeling grew extremely strong.

One though went though his mind and he knew that that the feeling revolved around it.

The three boys who were out scavenging.

He hopped off the branch and shunpo'd to the village glad his father at least explained how to do it and training in his mindscape. Oddly it was easier than he expected.

He could thank his father for explaining it to him well enough in moments of seriousness.

He made quick work of the distance between the tree and the village, he wasn't even out of breath when he was at the edge of the town, he followed the feeling till he reached the centre of the town and his heart broke when he saw the scene that was in the middle. People watched him with an awed expression as he moved with a deadly grace to the middle of the now gathered crowd.

Four young noble teenagers were laughing at the now lifeless bodies of the small three small boys, his whole body went numb. The bodies were beaten that was clear. He felt his blood boil and the oh so fragile control of his reiatsu slip a little making it steadily rise.

The four nobles were chuckling and talking about going to the Shinigami academy. That made his blood boil all the more. His reiatsu suddenly spiked making everyone gasp and fall to their knees. His eyes were still looking at the corpses of the only friends he had.

Three small souls that were like brothers to him, he cursed himself for not going with them, cursed himself that he didn't think that something like this would happen.

Hated himself for letting it happening.

Hating himself for not being what his name stated.

He slowly raised his head to see four shocked faces as the teens were also forced to their knees. He sneered at them before making a noise of disgust.

"Please, you four won't make it into the academy. You're too weak." He took his sword still in its sheath and shunpo'd to the teens making everyone gasp in surprise.

He unsheathed his sword and held the blunt side to the one teens' throat.

"A Shinigami would never have done what you just did. Killing innocent souls for your own amusement, what did you think you'd become stronger after beating them to death?" he growled and lowered his upper half at the waist to whisper to the teens so only they heard.

"You're not hollows, you're just souls. Pathetic souls that can't even stand at this small amount of raised reiatsu." He straightened and growled sheathing his sword with practiced ease.

He looked to the side to see the old man who owned the food stand with a sad, almost heartbroken expression, he smiled a sad smile when he figured that the stall owner actually enjoyed the child souls' visits.

He locked eyes with the old man and gestured him closer. He glared back at the still awestruck teens and growled to them. "Get the fuck out of my sight before I beat you four to death." The message was clear. They skittered and scattered out of the area with squeals of terror. Ichigo picked up the biggest of the boys with the purple blue yukata and watched as the old man did the same with the smallest wearing a printed yellow one while another man picked up the other with the teal patched yukata.

The three men walked past the river where Ichigo could remember them playing in the water where the river was outside of the town, the fun they had.

Ichigo's hold on the small body tightened.

They reached the area where Ichigo passed onto, the area also was a hill that looked down on the town with the tree they lived at near the end of the thirty years of his living in Soul Society. Ichigo gently laid the body down and started to dig a hole, no a grave. The two men laid the bodies down and slowly backed away.

It was obvious that this orange haired man was the man who the boys spoke of when they were just hanging around.

Ichigo spent the entire night well into the next day to dig the graves, once they were well and truly deep enough he went to the lake with the now empty jars and filled them with water, he cleaned the small bodies of dirt while taking up all the damage he could see. He laid the bodies down into one of their own graves, one for each. He sat then for a while looking at the beaten bodies. They were so bruised and broken that it made Ichigo's heart break even more.

It was then when he promised that he would never get attached to another soul in any form.

He closed off the last bit of emotion he would have shown. True emotion like love and affection.

His heart hardened making Zangetsu worry slightly at his master's mindscape as the once flat almost flawless ground cracked and dried up more.

Once this was done Ichigo watched the last sunset from the hill and sighed as he got up and filled the graves with earth, with the graves filled he made small wooden crosses to put on the graves. He gave one last lopsided grin before getting up. He moved to the tree and gathered what little food he had left and the yukata he had yet to wear.

He walked to the town, the people looked up and ushered him to their homes. The food stall owner was more than willing to take him in. Ichigo went with the older man saying his thanks.

He was given a futon, more than that he didn't need. He gave the food back that was stolen but the old man just shook his head pushing the food back into his hands claiming that people with reiatsu should eat or lest they grow weak and die.

Ichigo gave his thanks and told the old man he would work for food, the old man happily agreed.

A number of years went by, soon Ichigo became infamous as the orange haired demon, he wasn't mean. Didn't threaten or even attack so as to why he was called his he wouldn't know.

Zangetsu chimed in that it was his constant scowl that did it, he looked very intimidating when he stood to the side of the stall watching it with steady clear and sharp eyes and also it was the suppressed feeling that people got when they were near.

That being the sheer amount he hid. It gave off a feeling of suppression that even normal souls could feel. When Shinigami patrols came Ichigo would for some reason hide. He didn't feel like leaving yet.

The old man who had taken him in was also curious as to the suppressed feeling. Ichigo explained that if he let it go as it was he would make everyone weak and unable to move. The man's eyes went wide with the information.

Ichigo still trained at night when he meditated in his mindscape. He grew stronger and stronger as he trained, making him pull in even more power thus making his headache even worse and in turn making him scowl harder.

When it reached the fiftieth year of his existence as a soul Ichigo finally decided to go to Soul society with some nudging from the town's people, they all said that he was wasting his talent by staying.

So Ichigo started to watch for the patrols.

As luck would have it the very man his father told him to find came to the town to investigate something.

He felt two strong reiatsus come close to the town, their town had yet to lose any people as some neighbouring ones who did, they all suddenly just vanished, losing people. They simply… disappeared.

Ichigo moved to the strong presences and watched as a tall blonde and a short blonde walk around with concerned frowns. He moved to their fronts to show that he was not attacking. The blonde captain he now saw was looking at him with clear shock while the smaller female blonde looked at him suspiciously.

"Oh? What do we have here?"

Ichigo frowned and rubbed the back of his neck as he looked to the side unknowingly looking a lot like his father. The blonde male froze.

"You wouldn't happen to be Kisuke Urahara?" Ichigo asked looking back at the man, straight in his eyes.

Kisuke looked the male up and down. Yes he could see the resemblance now. This was Isshin's son no doubt. He nodded and watched as the young man's shoulders sagged. He sighed and scratched his head as if thinking of how to ask his next question.

"I need to talk to you. It's about my father." Ichigo said and watched as Kisuke stiffened. He nodded sharply and watched as Ichigo turned around.

"But not here follow me, please." Ichigo said as an afterthought.

The two blondes followed Ichigo as he moved past the town back to the hill overlooking the town with the three graves still untouched.

Ichigo didn't look back as he spoke.

"My father told me before I died that I should seek you out. I must admit I didn't do so the first day I came, nor the first few years…" Ichigo sighed and looked over his shoulder to the two blondes.

"How long have you been here?" the female asked as he looked the man up and down, her eyebrow rose when she saw that the orange haired male had a nodachi sword and it didn't feel empty at all. In fact this male gave a feeling of being pressed down but not in a normal sense, it was more of a contained feeling. She didn't struggle to breathe or keep her stance.

It was like the air around the man was being suffocated not them.

Kisuke nodded with his blonde companion. He also wanted to know this.

"Fifty years." Ichigo said with a blank face. Kisuke made a squawking noise that made Ichigo almost want to smile, almost.

The two moved closer. Ichigo went to the tree and hopped onto his branch with the same position as always cradling his sword with folded arms. He then started to tell his whole story since he was able to recall clearly. Kisuke and his companion listened with rapt attention, Kisuke more than the short woman. Ichigo told them about his training but not in great detail, he avoided telling how strong he was.

"Do you know the name of your zampacktou?" Kisuke asked curiously, they had now gotten to more comfortable positions on the grass underneath the tree. The sun was high in the air signalling mid day. Ichigo nodded "I knew it before I died." He said as if it wasn't a sheer near miracle.

Ichigo then went on to the day he died, the short period afterwards and then his time in Soul society. When asked why the air around his seemed odd he told the truth he was keeping his reiatsu to a low as to not gain attention.

"I want to join shin'ō academy." Ichigo said showing an emotion for the first time in his eyes, determination.

Kisuke nodded and rubbed his chin. The smaller woman jumped up and demanded that he released his reiatsu; he denied the demand flat out with not a lick of emotion. When the smaller female launched herself at Ichigo he shunpo'd off the tree branch to a few feet away.

It was a near perfect shunpo to the amazement of the two older Shinigami souls.

Ichigo sighed and rubbed his temples as the headache spiked for some reason, he groaned softly but it sounded more annoyed then pain filled.

Kisuke stood and moved to the younger soul and looked into gold speckled amber eyes, they were guarded. He sighed and nodded his head. "I see. Well if that is true well then you need to be in the academy. Luckily it is now the time where new students can be entered so I will come and fetch you at sunrise. That should give you enough time to say farewells to those you know." Urahara looked to the unchanging face of his friend's son. He was amazed.

He never would have thought that his special gigai would be able to reproduce.

Ichigo nodded and moved back to the graves, it was clear that those where the graves of the small boys he met, saying nothing the two shunpo'd away to Seireitei to get the papers and such ready. Ichigo remained where he was. Staring at the graves till the sun set and the moon rose from its hiding spot. When the night took over Ichigo spoke.

"I am sorry that I was never there, I should have been a better Nii-san I know, I failed you all. I promise I will become a shinigami that would make you three proud. I will become stronger, strong enough to protect, I won't fail again." With that he looked up at the moon.

It was full and shining down on him illuminating him in a soft blue light that made his skin look almost white. A smirk formed on his lips.

"Slaying moon eh?" he heard a gravelly chuckle in his head.

He made his way back to town to say his farewells.

Tomorrow he would enter the shinigami academy.

Kisuke sat in his house, no light was lit. In his hand was a cup of sake. He heard his front door sliding open and close.

He remained where he was. He sighed when he saw purple in his peripheral vision near his sake cupboard. He chuckled when he saw two mischievous cat-like eyes peeking up at him. "What has gotten you to take refuge in sake?" The sexy woman asked with a hint of concern.

Kisuke sighed and finished his cup only for it to be filled.

"Isshin Shiba has a son, not only that but he is here." Kisuke smirked wider when Yoruichi dropped her thankfully empty cup and looked to him with wide eyes.

"He is also powerful. Hiyori might not have felt it like I did but the boy is strong. Isshin had trained him while he was still human, he saw spirits and even had a reiatsu. Isshin taught him everything, Kido, Honō, Hakuda and Zanjutsu.

He even knew the name of his sword before he died and I have a feeling that the zampactou spirit had trained Ichigo even more after Ichigo passed on." Kisuke rubbed his face and leaned back. "So I was rather surprised that he asked to go to Shin'ō academy. I agreed.

If he is anything like Isshin well then… he'll be one hell of a shinigami." Kisuke looked to Yoruichi who was sipping at her own cup of sake with a thoughtful look on her face. "Can I come along?" she asked looking at him from the corner of her eye.

Kisuke nodded and smiled.

"Yes he might as well learn those who he can trust, but I am afraid that me and Hyori couldn't find a trace, nothing. I am afraid we may be too late to stop it. All we can do now is try to stop it when it happens. We can't stop it happening now. He is too well liked."

Yoruichi licked her lips of sake and sagged down slumping her shoulders.

"It is as we feared then. All we can hope now is… well maybe grooming Isshin's son into being strong enough?" she tested the waters. She bit back the smirk when Kisuke got a thoughtful look on his face.

"I need to see how strong he is and gauge his potential. But as from what I saw today there may be hope on those strong shoulders." Urahara nodded and began making plans in his head while Yoruichi drank all of his sake yet again.

The next morning Kisuke and Yoruichi made their way back to the hill, Ichigo was back up the tree, it looked like he was asleep but when the two got closer Ichigo opened his eyes and stared straight at Yoruichi who froze when she got caught in the eyes of a very guarded suspicious look.

Those eyes were frightening to her for some reason, there was a mysterious edge to them that made you want to look into them and just bend your knees and bow your head.

She gulped but held her playful expression determined to gain a good spot in the younger's book.

Ichigo examined the newcomer, she was a curvaceous woman with purple hair and deep mocha coloured skin. She had cat like yellow eyes. She was wearing a white haori with the kanji for two on the back, her clothes underneath where the normal shihakusho hakama pants but her top was slightly different.

Kisuke wore the same haori with the kanji for twelve on the back, he wore the standard shihakusho. He grunted as he pushed himself off the branch and stoop straight; he was an inch taller than Urahara, he was more bulky and showed that his strength was in brute force.

However Yoruichi noticed the gleam in those brown eyes, this one was a smart one. Tactical to a degree and that was dangerous. An opponent who wasn't all brawn or brains but a mixture of both was dangerous. He shifted from one leg to another letting his gaze shift from one to the other captain in front of him.

"Is there a reason why you have a captain with you?" he asked with an even voice giving away nothing.

Kisuke looked at Ichigo, he had cleaned since the day before, he was also now wearing a new yukata, this one was a pale blue, it was long and covered all with a thick strong black obi. His hair was long and shaggy almost jagged at the top but the layers got longer the lower it went. His hair was also somewhat in his face hiding most of it.

Yoruichi moved forward but Ichigo didn't move an inch, his eyes shot to her though.

"Don't worry we just want to know how strong you are, it will decide in what class you fall in, after all I don't think you want to be in a class that is way too easy?" she asked giving a cheeky grin but her efforts didn't get her the reaction she was hoping for.

She was hoping that he would have joked back like his father would have but alas all she got was a thoughtful look as the already furrowed brows furrowed even more.

"You have a point but I don't want to do it here, I don't suppose you have an area where nobody would sense us?" he asked looking back to the small rundown town he was now leaving.

Urahara chuckled and pointed his finger in the air with an 'Ah ha!'

"I do, I have a secret training area, it is so that nothing can be felt unless it is over a certain level of reiatsu and not even the great Yamamoto has enough reiatsu so we should be safe." He looked to Ichigo who was watching him like he was an experiment not knowing what would happen next.

He looked back and forth between the two captains with suspicion before slowly nodding.

Ichigo arched an eyebrow when they settled into the training room, to say he was impressed was an understatement. He would however keep that to himself.

He turned to face the two captains who were looking at him expectantly, no words were said he just sighed and unsheathed Zangetsu. He paused when he heard Zangetsu pulling for his attention. He looked to the two captains and groaned annoyingly.

"I need to speak with my zampactou he seems to wants to speak." With that Ichigo lowered his sword till it was a few centimetres from the ground and closed his eyes.

Once he was in his mindscape he saw something he had yet to see, a strange fire like smoke almost like a tattered cloak was near his feet. He suddenly got the feeling to look up, as he did so he took in the hooded figure. Well he wasn't hooded per say. The hood of the cloak was so that his face was still visible.

Well.

Ichigo couldn't call it a face…

A human skull was staring at him. The empty eyes regarded him, he heard a sniffing noise and looked down when he felt a tug on his sleeve.

He had to admit he was slightly confused.

There was a wolf, a large one with pure midnight fur however he had a skull of a wolf over his face. Red eyes looked at him with a curious expression, the body of the wolf had wisps of black fire smoke linked to the standing humanoid figure.

"So, now you know what I look like." Ichigo looked between the skull figure and the wolf. Not sure which mouth spoke. He heard a chuckle and saw that neither the wolf nor the skeleton's mouth moved.

Frowning even more Ichigo crossed his arms.

"I always wondered what you looked like."

The wolf's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"This is how I look, I am two beings for a purpose. However the reason I called is because you are now strong enough to use your shikai."

Zangetsu's face was the wolf, but the main sword was the hooded skull.

Ichigo got a strange feeling, he nodded.

The wolf grinned, it's eyes proud.

"Use me well master. Now say these words."

All the while Urahara and Yoruichi watched as Ichigo's body remain motionless, after a few minutes the two became worried. Kisuke was about to move towards the young soul but jumped in shock along with his fellow captain as Ichigo's eyes snapped open and his body suddenly become surrounded by red tinted black reiatsu. He breathed in deep as his other hand joined the one holding the long sword.

"Cry to the moon, Zangetsu!" he yelled and was forced to hold back a yell as his body was suddenly forced to push his reiatsu up and through the roof faster than his body could manage. He gasped when he felt and odd sensation at his hands as Zangetsu changed form.

The two captains watched in shock as the dust settled.

"So good enough?" he asked as blood ran down his face from his nose, his head felt like it was going to explode but he refused to show weakness.

Urahara nodded in shock, the sheer amount of power the orange haired man had was staggering. It was between a captain and lieutenant. And he was not yet finished growing. Urahara could feel it. The man was still holding back.

He grunted and held a hand over his eyes while he laughed. Yoruichi looked at Ichigo with wide eyes, she was downright impressed.

"Just what we should have expected form Isshin Shiba's son." That got a small near invisible smile from Ichigo. It was a look of fondness that the two captains nearly missed.

"Well… I think he should be in Gengorō Ōnabara's class… don't you think Kisuke-san?" Yoruichi asked as she nudged the blonde in the gut.

Kisuke nodded and watched as Ichigo breathe in hard and reverted Zangetsu back to his standard form. His stumbled and wobbled a bit and his nose bled a bit more almost reaching his yukata. Ichigo looked down at the blood with a frown.

Urahara chuckled and came closer slowly as if Ichigo was a wild animal. He used the sleeve of his shihakusho to wipe the blood from Ichigo's chest. He was surprised when he felt just how hard Ichigo's chest muscles were.

He nodded when most was off. His face was still blood stained but they could stop by the river to wash his face before going to Seireitei.

On their way Ichigo noticed how as they got closer the better the surroundings became. He frowned a tad more when he remembered those nobles who killed the only friends he had.

He also wondered if he's see them there.

He hoped not.

Next chapter is where Ichigo goes to school ^w^

I'll try and update as soon as I can!

Thanks for reading.

Oh and I will not be revealing Ichigo's Shikai yet but just know he has it before he goes to Shin'ō academy.

And there was no activation command for Zangetsu that I could find so I made my own.

Ta-ta!