A/N: If those of you that have read chapter 3 thought that it was a bit of an eyeful I apologize. I never meant for it to be that long but that's simply how it ended up turning out.

Chapter 4: Sins of the Father

It was a new day and Ichigo found himself wondering still who this mystery person was and now there seemed to be two of them, the vizard that looked like him and the master of Shiragetsu. Zangetsu's zanpactou lesson helped but it wasn't enough. There had to be someone that could tell him who he was up against without him having to barge in unsure of what he was going to run into. Ichigo realized that this wasn't his usual style, that just fighting straight up was better for him, but if this guy was as powerful as Uryu figured he is then it would be better that he be somewhat prepared. That way soul society could prepare for collateral damage if something should happen in the real world. Getting ready Ichigo made his way down into the kitchen to find that Rukia was already awake and going through a new stack of papers brought over from the central 46.

"Hey," he told her as he moved to the fridge grabbing an apple.

"Morning Ichigo, you woke up a little later than usual," she noted not even lifting her head up to look at him.

"Yeah, it was an interesting night."

"Oh?" she inquired. "What happened, I just saw you go to bed I didn't hear you leave or anything."

"Zangetsu and I talked," he told her taking a seat at the table right across from her.

"What did you find out?"

"Kurotsuchi had the right idea, zanpactou can have what we could call siblings. Zangetsu told me that it can develop between two people that are blood related or really close friends like captain Kyouraku of squad 8 and captain Ukitake of squad 13. He told me that zanpactou can know of the other's existence and might even know a bit about the other but that too is rare."

"But how does that fit with this Shiragetsu?" asked Rukia.

"Zangetsu told me that Shiragetsu is his sister sword. Since I don't have any close friends that have a zanpactou by that name I would have to assume that it would be a relative," said Ichigo scratching his head a bit.

"Does Shiragetsu belong to our mystery guy?"

"That's the thing, either Zangetsu doesn't know or he won't tell me, it wouldn't be the first time that he's held back information from me," Ichigo told her. "I'm almost betting that he just won't tell me."

"So we might be dealing with more than one person, is what you're saying?" asked Rukia.

"We might be. I'm thinking that another place to dig up some dirt would be with the vizard themselves, since they seem to search out others like them no problem, they might know about this guy. I mean they found me with no trouble," explained Ichigo sitting back a bit.

"Lets face it Ichigo you are not hard to find, you still let so much of your spiritual energy spill out, I'm shocked that you aren't noticed all the way to Los Noches," she told him shaking her head leaving him to stare at her blankly.

"Ok, now that you are the umpteenth person to remind me of that lets get back to the point at hand. The fact being that the vizard are not stupid, if they know of another like them they would be there trying to recruit him like they were doing to me," Ichigo told her. "They would be trying especially hard if he is powerful."

"That's true, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a look. With the captain commander backing our travel permits we should be able to get there without too much delay. When do you want to leave Ichigo?"

"Sometime in the early evening would be best I think. That way when we get there, Karakura town will have quieted up and we can move around more freely. By the way those papers, who sent them?"

"Oh these…" she said looking a bit daft. "I had them sent over from the central 46, they are lists of captains, their zanpactou, subordinate officers, and their zanpactou as well. I was hoping that Shiragetsu might turn up here somewhere but as I near the names of some of the latest captains…" she trailed off as her finger stopped on the sheet.

"What, what is it?" asked Ichigo. "You found something?"

Snapping out of her trance, "no, no nothing just my brain stopped working that's all." Rukia was shocked to find who was listed as the previous captain for squad 10.

"Well I got some things to take care of before we go, so I will meet you by the gate later today, ok." Said Ichigo making his way to the door, "maybe by then you might find something we can use."

The young captain left the room and quickly faded out of sight.

XXX

Meanwhile…

"Why are we going back to the world of the living mother?" asked the young man.

"We have to clean up some loose ends my son, besides have you followed Shiragetsu's instruction and delivered the invite to Zangetsu's master?" asked the woman clad in white.

"Yes mother, he knows of the invite. But why does Shiragetsu want to meet him?" he asked, the woman paused, unsure of how she should answer his question.

"I would think that your zanpactou would like to know what her brother's master is capable of, watching him battle Grimmjow I already know of the power that he can produce." She told him.

"How will coming here aid your plan for Hueco Mundo?"

"In order for me to knock Grimmjow around I need you at your full strength. I can't remove him from his throne by myself, I will need your help. Since your skills have matured your zanpactou hasn't given you a moments rest. Taking care of its one request should allow you to take full control of her power and use it willingly. I have never come across a more defiant zanpactou in all my life. You let her take control the first time, and now she comes and goes when she wants using you like a puppet. I still can't accept the fact that my own son would let that happen," she told him with the coldest of stares as she created a tear.

"I'm sorry mother," he replied looking down at the ground. "Why not call him to Hueco Mundo?"

"He has allies on all sides, the world of the living is the farthest point from his strongest allies in both Hueco Mundo and Soul Society. Besides since the real world is patrolled by soul society we have a greater chance of getting his attention."

"That would make sense," he muttered as the two of them walked into the tear.

XXX

Rukia paced by the gate, she had been there now for almost an hour and still there was no sign of Ichigo. "Where is that bastard, I'm gonna…"

"Hey Rukia, sorry to keep you waiting," Ichigo told her coming to stand right behind her.

"AHHHH!!" she screamed spinning around trying to kick him in the head, Ichigo promptly blocked it with his arm. "YOU SON OF A BITCH YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME!!" she barked at him taking a step back.

"I said I was sorry, jeeesh."

"That's beside the point, you're not supposed to do things like that," she continued, glaring at him the entire time. "By the way what took you?"

"I ran into Hitzugaya and Matsumoto, and she wouldn't shut up. It was something about one of her shopping trips or something like that," Ichigo told her displaying his annoyance with the chatty lieutenant of squad 10.

One of Rukia's eyebrows lifted in suspicion, "so is it your ears that hurt from her talking or your eyes from you staring at her tits?"

Ichigo stepped back a bit in shock, "Uh…Uh." Ichigo stammered out, not really knowing what to say, he was a surprised by Rukia's reation to his excuse.

"That's what I thought," she told him turning on a heel and moving toward the gate, leaving Ichigo feeling confused. He sighed in defeat and followed his partner to the gate. "Eh, hold up I'm coming."

The two passed through the gate, with hell butterflies to guide their way. It only took them a short time to pass from soul society over to the world of the living. Soul society had a much more efficient gate than anything that Urahara could manufacture for them, seemingly cutting their travel time in half. The doors on the other side came into view and opened before them to expose a view of the land of the living. Passing through they appeared down by the river, some distance away from the industrial district where Ichigo knew the vizard were last hiding. The sun had just finished setting and all the lights of Karakura town glowed bright, Rukia scanned around attempting to get her bearing when she felt it…

"Ichigo, that pressure, can you feel it?"

"What…" he muttered looking back to her, it was then that his senses caught up with him and he simply stood there trying to hone in on it. "Where is it coming from?"

Rukia was moving, honing in on the spiritual energy given off by the three people, as far as she could tell, that were over in the direction of Ichigo's house, "Ichigo it's…"

"I know, lets go…" he told her leaping into the air and flying off in the direction of the house, Rukia, unable to sustain flight was left to use shunpo across the rooftops to keep up to the pace of Ichigo.

Looking down over the city Ichigo realized truly how far he was from his family's home, he would have to cover half the city yet just to get there so he decided to pick up the pace, "sorry Rukia," he said to himself. "I have to get there quickly."

Ichigo doubled his pace leaving Rukia behind. She looked up just long enough to see him fade out of sight. "Damn it Ichigo, just wai… awww forget it, just don't go doing something stupid alright," she said aloud as she moved toward the Kurosaki home.

Ichigo looked down and saw his old house and there down in the street stood two people, a man and a woman, and just off in the distance he saw a soul reaper hunched over unconscious under a bent over lamp post. It looked as if the man in front was about to attack again so Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu and dropped down in front of him taking a swing, but missed. The man in white before him simply shifted back and turned around taking an odd stance to defend himself as he now faced the woman in white. Collecting himself Ichigo looked at who he was up against, even though it took him a minute he pieced the details of the guy before him together. He noted the black hair and the large zanpactou sheathed on his back. On the guy's right shoulder he seen the mask, then it clicked. This was the guy that he was looking for.

"Hey! What do you want here?" hollered out Ichigo.

Then from behind the guy came the softer voice of a woman, one that Ichigo knew, "Ichigo Kurosaki, its been a while."

"Halibel," responded Ichigo as he took note that Rukia just landed on the roof off to the right of him.

"Halibel? What's she doing here, and who's this with her?" Rukia asked taking note of the man in front of her, it was then that she noticed the mask, this was the one that they were looking for. "Ichigo, this is the one we've been after," she hollered down to him.

"Yeah I just realized that myself," he told her not taking his eyes of the two of them in front of him.

"Ah, Rukia Kuchiki, how nice of you to join our little party," Halibel told her looking over to the roof in which she was perched. "I have someone here that I'm sure that you would want to meet, because I know that they want to meet you, Ichigo."

"Huh?" Ichigo looked confused as the man turned around and showed Ichigo his face.

Ichigo froze, it was like staring into a mirror, the man before him looked just like him. Aside from the black hair and the scar over the right eye, they were the same. Ichigo took note to look for the hollow's hole but he couldn't find one. Ichigo spread his stance waiting for an attack. The man just looked at him, with soft and sad eyes, like he knew what was to come and there was no way he could get around it.

"I would like you to meet my son," she told them.

"Son?" Ichigo asked himself.

"His name is Kai, and he has a very special zanpactou. Would you show them my dear?"

"Yes mother," he replied gripping the handle behind his back. He swung out his zanpactou in front of him pointing the tip toward Ichigo. The blade was massive, about 4 foot long and 18 inches wide, keeping the same width most of the way down until about 6 to 8 inches before the end it beveled up to meet the tip fashioning a sharp point. Ichigo noticed that there was no guard and that the handle was quite thin and long. The handle looked to be about 2 foot long, ending in a diamond with a small red rope tail just long enough to grip with your hand. "Meet Shiragetsu."

"So that's Shiragetsu," Rukia noted. "It's huge, even a bit more robust than Ichigo's. Now I can see where they would be seen as siblings."

"Now, Kai, show Ichigo what she can do," Halibel ordered.

"Yes mother," he replied dashing at Ichigo swinging down with only one hand.

Ichigo stopped the blade with only one hand on Zangetsu but he could feel the pressure increasing and soon he had to brace his blade with his other hand. Then something odd happened, Kai broke eye contact and closed his eyes for a second. Upon seeing him open them his spiritual pressure skyrocketed and Ichigo noticed the ground beneath his feet begin to crumble as he found he was staring into the yellow and black eyes of a hollow.

"I can feel your power Zangetsu. Why don't you come out and play with your sister," spoke Kai, but it didn't sound like Kai at all, it was something more twisted and demonic.

"What are you?" asked Ichigo beginning to strain from the weight of his opponent's blade having to take a knee.

"Me?" the voice asked innocently pointing to himself. "Why I'm Shiragetsu, silly boy. Now where is my brother, I want to see him," the voice told Ichigo as it sported a sadistic grin.

Ichigo was trying to figure out what was going on, how could he go from some pathetic looking being to someone of this power. Why did he call himself Shiragetsu and not Kai? But something else was going on, Ichigo could feel something begin to come up inside him. It felt just like when his hollow was trying take over. Then ever so slightly he heard him, "come on now King why won't you let me come out and play".

"No!" Ichigo thought to himself. "Not now, I thought I was through fighting you."

"No I told you that I was going to get stronger again, I just didn't tell you when, King," giggled his hollow as he tried to push up to take control of Ichigo.

It was then that he was let up off his knee as Kai took a swipe at him, and Ichigo looked to block. Their blades connected sending Ichigo back sliding on his feet. Taking his stance once again Ichigo prepared for another attack, it was then that he felt the spiritual energy of both Urahara and Yourichi coming up from behind him. There was no doubt that Halibel sensed it too as she fashioned a tear.

"Shiragetsu, you will have to wait to play with your brother another time," she told him.

"WHAT? How dare you interrupt me," he shot back.

"The odds have fallen out of our favor, we will continue this another time. But for now we have to go," Halibel informed him becoming annoyed.

"No," he replied defiantly. "You will not interfere."

"Shiragetsu … I said NOW!!"she yelled as she walked up and grabbed him by the hair and drug him through the tear as they faded out of sight.

Ichigo took a knee and realized that his hollow receded back into the depths of core being. Panting a bit, Ichogo was surprised by how strong this guy was. Rukia jumped down and walked up to him as Urahara and Yourichi showed up a little too late.

"You alright Ichigo?" she asked, a bit concerned.

"I'll be fine," he replied standing back up.

"Don't worry you'll get another chance with them," spoke a voice from behind them.

Ichigo turned to find Yourichi helping up the now conscious the soul reaper off the ground. He lifted his head to look Ichigo in the eye, and Ichigo froze with shock. "Dad?" he asked. "But wha…"

"I guess I've got some explaining to do," he told the group. "Yourichi would give a hand into the house he busted me pretty good."

"Sure Isshin," she replied throwing his arm over her shoulder. "Lets go."

Ichigo next turned his attention over to Urahara, still unable to shake the stupefied look that had fallen over his face, "What the hell is going on here Urahara?"

"Come on Ichigo, I'll let your father explain everything. I think it would be better if you heard it from him," he replied guiding Ichigo and Rukia toward the house.

The group moved inside, Yourichi put Isshin on the couch and then went and found a corner to stand in. Urahara took a seat next to Isshin as Ichigo and Rukia both sat on the couch opposite of the two former captains. "To be honest I don't know where to start," said Isshin rubbing the back of his head. "There's a lot to let you in on."

Rukia looked over to find Ichigo completely silent, gritting his teeth and looking over at his father with a glare so cold. An awkward silence fell over the room, which seemed to go on forever, that is until Isshin tried break the silence but Ichigo promptly cut him off. "How long have you known?"

"From the day that you defeated the Menos. Of course I was wondering about you before that yet, I could feel your spiritual energy increase now and again but I wasn't sure if you changing into a soul reaper or not," he explained leaning forward, resting his arms on his knees.

"What about me?" inquired Rukia. "How long have you known about me?"

"From that first night that you showed up, there was no mistaking your spiritual energy, it was easy to see who you really were." He told her. "When it comes down to it, even though I acted clueless I really wasn't. I knew what you were up to Ichigo, and I had a good feeling as to who was training you," he said looking over to Urahara.

Grinning he replied, "What? Am I really that easy to figure out?"

"You have your moments Kiske," noted Yourichi gazing out the front window and out into the street.

"What can I say. I knew how powerful the father was so I couldn't help but be curious as to what the son could do," Kiske muttered shrugging his shoulders.

"Now what about soul society, how long have you been here?" asked Rukia.

"I was last in soul society about 20 years ago, Kiske made me a gigai and I have been living here ever since."

"Now what about that arm band that looks almost like it was a captain's jacket," noted Rukia pointing to Isshin's arm.

"It was, I am the former captain of squad 10. Which if I'm not mistaken was taken over by my young 3rd seat Toushiro Hitzugaya."

"Why did you leave dad?" asked Ichigo.

"To be honest Ichigo it was because of your mother. I had a choice to make, your mother or the Gotei 13, and I chose her. Soul society wouldn't have looked too nicely on a soul reaper fraternizing with a living person from the real world. So I left."

"Easy for you to say, we had to fake your death. You wanna know how hard it is to get away with something like that when the then captain Hirako Shinji was assigned to the case. Him and his new bloodhound lieutenant Aizen Souske, needless to say it was a real pain in the ass," snorted Yourichi

"Now dad, you have sat on the sidelines before why get involved with these guys?"

"Well Ichigo, that's another bit of information that I should have told you about," he told the group holding his head down and noticeably becoming more uncomfortable. "You see, Kai and you are close because… because Kai is your… brother."