Chapter One
(EDITED: 8/1/15)
Ichigo woke to something soft and grainy under him. Slowly he opened his blurry eyes and tried to make sense of what he saw.
He was laying on pale white sand. But he didn't remember visiting the beach...
Ichigo slowly rolled over onto his back. Bits of sand stuck to his cloths but he hardly cared.
His vision was met with a night sky and an ominous crescent moon handing from its rafters.
"Huh," he muttered, taking in his new surroundings. Hadn't he just been with his mother by the river? He was too tired to quite remember correctly...
He glanced around and felt a jolt as reality hit him head on. What he once thought was a beach was in fact a vast desert that seemed to stretch on and on and on.
Ichigo sat up, wearily taking in his surroundings.
So he was in a desert and had no recollection of how he got there. Ichigo tried to think back to his last memory and froze.
Slowly but surely the images came trickling back.
Walking with his mother, seeing the girl, his mother's blank stare and lifeless body, the monster, the anger he felt, the flash of red energy...
Had it really happened?
Ichigo then noticed there was something on his face. He reached up to feel a slick surface, almost like bone. It covered the left half of his face, leaving only a thin slit over his eye to see out of.
He grabbed the edge of it and gently tugged. It didn't budge. He pulled harder. Same result but it was accompanied with a small stab of pain. Huffing, Ichigo steadied himself before forcefully tearing the thing from him.
The result was immediate.
Ichigo doubled over, screaming in agony. Fire coursed through his head, burning away at every nerve, a wild screaming thing deep inside him roaring in fury at his utter stupidity.
After minutes, or maybe hours or perhaps even years, the pain began to lessen. His small heart pounded and his head throbbed but the pain was slowly fading and he realized the hole in his chest didn't feel quite so empty.
Ichigo gasped in ragged breaths, his quivering arms barely keeping him in a hunched over position.
Sweat and tears trailed down his face and he felt like he could very well pass out. Finally he calmed down enough to look at the thing that had been on his face. It was a mask of some sorts. It looked like half of a skull, with sharp teeth and slitted eye sockets. It was mostly white aside from two red stripes that ran diagonally over the left eye. It was both terrifying and beautiful at the same time. Ichigo felt suddenly naked without the mask, and had the sudden urge to put it back on. Another part of him was repulsed by the thing and refused to put it anywhere near his face again. That part won out just enough to keep the mask off his face, but still in his hand.
"Idiot."
Ichigo froze. He desperately glanced around, searching for the source of the voice. "Hello?" He called out fearfully. Maybe whoever it was could help him, tell him where he was. Or maybe the person would try and hurt him like that monster had.
"Stupid King," the voice muttered. Ichigo sucked in a breath. The voice sounded like it was coming... from his head?
"Course I'm comin' from yer head. I'm too weak ta manifest."
"Wh-what?" Ichigo squeaked out. "Wh-who are you? What are you?"
"I'm you." Said the voice. "I'm yer basic instincts, all the things ya don't want to be. I'm yer powers."
"P-powers? What powers?"
"Don't tell me ya didn't notice that giant cero ya used to take out Fish-Face back there?"
"Cero?" Ichigo murmured. The voice was making no sense. Plus, his (for it sounded very much male) watery double-toned voice was kinda creeping him out. There was also the fact that it sounded like a teenager's voice..
"The big red energy blast ya used dummy."
All Ichigo could manage was a quite "oh." He swallowed. Everything was so very strange. What had happened? All he had been doing was walking home with his mom from karate practice.
"Mom... is she really dead?"
The voice in his head was quite for a while. When he finally spoke his voice was subdued, softer. "Sorry King, but she's gone..."
Ichigo was quite for a long time. He curled up on himself, his legs pressed to his chest with his arms wrapped snuggle around them, his chin resting on his knees.
It was several minuted before he spoke again. "Do you have a name?"
"...Zangetsu."
Ichigo repeated the name softly. He liked the way it sounded. It was a powerful name. And dangerous. "What's it mean?"
Zangetsu was quite for a moment. "Slaying Moon." He finally answered.
Ichigo gave a small smile. "Cool. It fits you, I think..."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." They were quite a moment longer before Ichigo spoke again. "Hey Zangetsu?"
"What?"
"Do you have any idea what this place is?"
"It's Hueco Mundo... the hollowed world."
Ichigo blinked. "So we arn't in Japan anymore?"
Zangetsu snorted. "We arn't in the world of the livin' anymore."
"World of the... does that mean I'm dead?"
"Yup!" The voice sounded much too cheerful. Ichigo was slowly realizing that Zangetsu might not be entirely sane. "Well, yes and no. Yer alive, but then yer not."
"What do you mean?"
"Lemme explain, will ya!? I'm not positive, but I think then you opened that garganta, and before you ask, it's a rip in space to travel between worlds, yer human body sorta merged with yer soul. Depending on which world yer in, you'll either be in a 'soul' body or a 'real' body. Get it?"
"I... guess. So as long as I'm in... Hueco Mundo, I'm dead. But if I go back to the living world, I'll be in a living body?"
"Pretty much."
"So, what was that thing?" Ichigo asked. "It had a mask, kinda like mine..."
Ichigo could feel anger and a little bit of sadness burning in the back of his mind. He realized the emotions were coming from Zangetsu, but at the same time he felt them as his own.
"That was a hollow." Zangetsu stated flatly.
"A hollow?"
"A hollow's basically ah soul that couldn't move on and got filled with a bunch o' hate and pain. They turn into mindless monsters. They have holes in ther chests and masks on ther faces."
Ichigo glanced down at the withe bone in his hands. "But I have a mask." He said in a small voice, worry quickly creeping into him.
"Yes you do."
"B-but why?"
"Ya have a hollow mask cuz yer part hollow. But yer also part somethin else." Zangetsu explained.
"Something else?" Ichigo felt something akin to a mental smack on the head from Zangetsu.
"Shuddup and let me talk, idiot."
Ichigo scowled but was quiet.
"I don know much more than you. I wasn't technically 'awake' until ya died. So there's still a lot I don know. What I do know is that yer part hollow, part human, and part shinigami."
Ichigo opened his mouth to ask what a shinigami was but Zangetsu beat him to it. "A shinigami is a spiritual being tha takes souls to tha afterlife and purifies hollows. Now, since hollows are tainted souls, the shinigami purify em so they can go on ta the afterlife too. Problem is, hollows like ta eat souls, especially shinigami souls. Thankfully for them, only the stronger hollows can eat em. Those stronger ones are called vasto lorde. They're the complete form of a hollow, the last evolution aside from arrancar. Vasto lorde come in all sorts of appearances, are intelligent, and regain some sense of who they were before they died."
Forgetting the 'no interrupting rule, Ichigo blurted out "What's an arrancar?"
Zangetsu sighed in annoyance, but otherwise didn't comment. "An arrancar is tha last stage of a hollow. It's what they become if they tear off ther mask. They look almost human, are much stronger, and have shinigami-like powers."
"Does that make me an arrancar?" Ichigo asked. It would make sense, he had a hollow mask, and he'd torn off his mask just a few minutes ago.
"Not really. Yer somethin in yer own right. Ya got a human body, but a soul tha's half shinigami an half hollow. Yer mask is broken, like an arrancar, but yer's can come all the way off, their's can't. Yer soul feels more like a shinigami, but ya look more hollow. Ya even have a hollow hole."
"A what?!" Ichigo pulled up his shirt to see he indeed did have a tiny hole running just below his sternum. It was extremely small, about the size of a golfball, but still there and still very unnatural. But then again, most of Ichigo seemed to be pretty unnatural.
"What... weird." He mumbled, looking at the little hole that passed all the way through him. He pocked at it, wondering if his finger would go through. It did. "Really weird..." He touched the inside of his hole. It felt like the same kind of bone as his mask.
And it tickled.
"Ey! Quit pokin' it!"
Ichigo laughed at Zangetsu's exasperation. "Sorry. But... what is it exactly?"
"It's just... a hollow hole." He could feel Zangetsu shrug in his mind. "All hollows have em. Yer's is small compared ta most, meanin ya still got humanity in ya. The bigger the hole, the more animalistic a hollow is."
"What am I then? Human, hollow, shinigami?" Ichigo asked, confused and a little afraid.
"Not real sure what ta call you."
"Maybe a hollowgami." Ichigo joked. It wasn't a very good joke, but it was enough to make the boy laugh, and Zangetsu chuckle a tiny bit.
"Sure, whatever ya like King. An you should probably put yer mask back on. It's gonna keep hurtin' if ya don't."
Ichigo winced as the throbbing on the side of his face increased as if to emphasize Zangetsu's words. Taking a deep breath, Ichigo pressed the mask back over the left side of his face and sighed in relief as the pain vanished as if it were never there. He also felt stronger with it on, like a rush of energy passing through him.
The pain no longer clouding his mind, Ichigo realized an interesting little think about Zangetsu. "Why do you keep calling me 'King'?"
"Cuz, I'm yer zanpakuto, yer soul-cuttin' blade. Itsa weapon all shinigami are born with. And each one is alive, with a spirit, like me."
"A-a sword. I have a sword?" Ichigo gasped.
"Two actually, but only in yer shikai." Zangetsu replied.
"Shikai?"
"My second command. One blade for yer hollow powers, one for yer shinigami powers."
Ichigo fell into his back, laying limp in the sand. "I'm so confused. I'm one thing, but I'm another. I'm dead, but also alive..." He trailed off, not really sure what else to say.
"A walkin paradox, that's what you are." Agreed Zangetsu, a hint of a smile in his voice. The analogy made Ichigo quirk a smile as well.
He jerked as a sudden tugging pulled at his mind. Then it was gone, not just the tugging but also a little part of him. It felt almost like a memory he just couldn't reach, like when he had a word on the tip of his tongue but couldn't quite say it. He found out why a moment later.
"It'll make sense gradually."
Ichigo sat bolt upright, eyes wide. There was Zangetsu, kneeling right in front of him. He did a double take. The zanpakuto spirit was completely white. White skin, white cloths, white hair. Even the two blades strapped to his back and hip where glaringly white. The only colour were his eyes. They were a bright, intense gold shot through with bits of electric yellow and orange. They were like molten gold behind a raging fire. The sclera of his eyes were ebony black, making a disturbing yet beautiful picture when it all came together.
Zangetsu grinned. Not a nice grin, but one that spoke of madness and bloodlust and yet was somehow comforting to the confused boy.
"I think ya need yer rest King. Probably need ta find some shelter or somethin'. Follow me." And without a word of warning, Zangetsu unleashed the blade on his back and plunged it into the sand. The feathery ground beneath them gave way and the two fell through. Instead of dozens of meters of sand though, Ichigo found himself falling through air. Somehow beneath the sand was a massive cave or something, filled with brittle grey trees that reached all the way up and through the sand.
Zangetsu had a crazed grin on his face as they fell hundreds of feet. Ichigo on the other hand, was screaming blood murder as he fell.
He was going to die! He was going to go splat on the ground and die! Again!
With lighting fast motions, Zangetsu grabbed hold of Ichigo and held him close to his chest. Seconds later he landed with a soft 'thump' on the ground below.
"Well, that was fun."
Ichigo squirmed free of Zangetsu's hold. "Fun?! I almost died!"
"But ya didn't." Zangetsu pointed out.
Ichigo pouted. Zangetsu laughed.
"Now, ta find a place ta stay..." The hollowed weapon suddenly took off in a sprint, heading to god knows where.
"Hey! Wait up!" Ichigo cried, taking chase, absently wondering what he did in a past life to deserve this.