Finished my exams so I'm back! This chapter has some more explanation to it, taken a while in happening but I'm rather happy with how it turned out.

The exam for students who were graduating early was different from that that the average academy student sat. Those put forward for it were the best the academy had to offer, those that excelled past the usual curriculum and the exam represented that.

While there were still a few written exams there was much more emphasis put on a single practical excursion in which the students' abilities were put to the test in the kind of situation they would encounter when they were serving in a division. Even more so with the high rate of early graduates going straight into a seated position within their division.

He silently observed the group he would be taking the exam with. He recognised most of them but wouldn't have been able to name them. They were all people he'd viewed briefly during his studies with the higher years or in passing as he attended his private sessions. He did however know the rumours that had circulated about their abilities.

Including himself they made up a group of five, lead by the vice captain of the eighth division Ise-fukutaicho. Of that group he was starkly aware that he was the only one amongst them that was yet to reach shikai. The only reason he was amongst them was that the teachers thought he was close or that he was just hiding it. They seemed to presume that power like his could not come from one that had not even achieved their first release. They were wrong.

He had internally asked about it and was accepting of his zanpakuto's decision that he wasn't yet ready. He was a part of his soul, one that knew him better than even himself so he felt there was no need to question the spirit's words.

They were heading off into the outskirts of Soul Society to hunt down a particularly troublesome hollow that had been attaching the edges of poorer Rukongai. Not strong enough to sent a high levelled shinigami but enough to be a suitable challenge for five students.

They were travelling through the woods for what seemed like hours before he sensed something. Just on the edge of his senses was the foul feeling his training and instincts identified as a hollow. He doubted the other students felt it yet, it had always been noted that he was best at tracking them almost like he had some type of affinity to it.

From the glance Ise-san gave him he could tell she'd felt it too and knew he had. He almost smiled, it was nice to have the approval of someone with so much authority over you.

The feeling got stronger and stronger until the others felt it. As they stopped in front of the mouth of a large cavern hidden away in the woods surrounding them he could see the tension in their bodies. They grasped their zanpakutos in sweaty hands as Ise-san went to flush the hollow out into the open.

All he felt was a sense of calm. It was like this was something he knew he could easily do. Like it was routine rather than a challenge. The feeling reassured him. Is it time yet? He felt himself thinking. The feeling of a smile in return made him grin.

The air became thick with the foul feeling as a bright leering mask emerged from the mouth of the cave. One of his companions launched themselves forward, shouting out the words that must have been their shikai release. The power in the air increased but the hollow batted them away like a toy.

It seemed to growl as two more of them launched themselves at it. The fourth was frozen to the spot, terror in his eyes as he stared forwards at his companions fighting for their lives. That one would be of no use in a real fight. He felt a strange type of pity for the boy.

As the three fighting the hollow were thrown to the floor he stepped forwards looking the creature in the eyes.

Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop. You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate.

The words echoed through his being as he swung his zanpakuto forwards towards the hollows mask, the name Zangetsu tumbling off of his lips.

The resulting wave of power knocked back everything within twenty meters of him. He felt his blade barely stop as it sliced through the mask and dug into the ground. His body shuddered with the thrill of the sheer vastness of his power. It took a few minutes for the dust he'd kicked up to settle down and he laid eyes on his transformed zanpakuto.

No not zanpakuto, partner, his Zangetsu.

He could feel the silent approval and cackling glee of the voices in his head as he ran a finger down the sharp onyx blade of his sword. It was thicker than he was used to and rather unconventional in its butcher knife style but it felt like a part of him in his hand and he couldn't stop the smile as it crept across his face.

The shock on his fellow students faces, even that of Ise-san, made him pause for a second. And that was all it took for the exhaustion of releasing so much reiatsu at once to hit him straight in the chest.

A hand firmly gripping the handle of Zangetsu he released his consciousness into the sea of black which was trying to pull him down.

ooo

Light slowly filtered through his eyelids pulling him back into the world of the dead. Awareness swept over him in a wave of soft warm surroundings and a soft voice talking to him. It took him a few minutes to recognise the tones of Ochi-san and to build the strength to prise his eyes open.

When she saw that he was awake she smiled down at him.

"Are you feeling okay? You collapsed from using too much power at once. You should be more careful."

She helped him sit up and passed him a glace of water from the table the other side of the room, all the time shooting curious glances his way.

"What is it? What have they said?"

She paused and turned towards him fully.

"They're saying that you are Kurosaki Ichigo and that having the same zanpakuto as him proves it. But you don't like that name do you? You don't remember being him."

A sick feeling crept up his throat. It was going to get worse. Being near his tutor Rukia-san was bad enough with her familiararity and insistence that he had done all these things but there would be others as well.

They would expect him to act as Ichigo had. To know the same things. To be as strong and as determined. He couldn't do it. He didn't remember any of it properly and it was all so suffocating, like they were trying to make him live the life of someone that he wasn't.

She must have seen the panic on his face at the revelation as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter that you were once Kurosaki Ichigo, you are a different person now with different experiences. Whenever they push you too hard remember that you are Zangetsu Ogihci. You are a different person."

He felt some confidence creep back with her words and yet he could not still bring himself to be convinced. Things would change from there on and he wasn't sure he wanted to follow in the shadow of his own footsteps.

ooo

Unfortunately, he was right. It took only a day for the rumours to filter through and for the visitors to start.

They were mostly people wanting to congratulate him for winning the Winter War, hero worshippers who were easily sent away, more often than not leaving gifts behind. The rest had been sent away, shocked by his coldness and the hate in his eyes.

The only ones that with stood it were Rukia-san and a red head that came with her, both expressing overly intimate knowledge of him. Expecting him to welcome people that were no more than strangers to him like friends. The red head brought a gift.

All it took was a simple little kido spell to express his displeasure at the gift, a little property damage and a rapid transferral to the fourth division medical centre to explicitly show how unwelcome their and all other presences were and that he might need to work on his control just a little bit.

ooo

In his few days in the fourth division medical centre he'd found Unohana-taichou to be rather accepting of his circumstance. Initially when he had found out that she was the captain he had turned her away saying that he needed no more special treatment for being someone he wasn't than anyone else. He was rather glad that she was rather stubborn and claimed that with his high reiatsu levels that she was the only one capable of safely treating him.

She calmly brought him tea and told him things while warding off unwanted visitors with a sweetly menacing smile.

It seemed that his situation was rather unique and that while there had been other living shinigami that they had maintained most of their memories through death but it was probably the loss of his powers that had caused the almost absolute blank on his memories.

The very fact he even had his powers at that moment, much smaller than they had been but increasing, was a mystery to almost everyone. It had also stopped him from being recognised beforehand.

While the name Kurosaki Ichigo was rather famous the most that most people knew of him was a rough description and it had been declared that all information on him be dampened to avoid him being harassed when he died and supposedly reappeared powerless. When he had appeared at the academy no one around knew the name of his zanpakuto so he had gone relatively unnoticed.

The exception of Rukia was put down to most as a woman who had lost two men closer to her with similar appearances seeing traces of them in a new student and latching on to that. The inclusion of her childhood friend in it was just an attempt to humour her and stop her causing shame for her noble family.

As she entered the room to discharge him and escort him to the graduation ceremony he was getting rather nervous. While most students were assigned a division all of them were vying for his attention and it was to be left to him to decide.

ooo

The speeches ended and he was stood in a room full of captains, each wanting him in their division. While there was a strong part of him that wanted to heal and join the fourth division he knew that his control was lacking and he would cause more harm than good for the moment. A nod from Unohana-taichou showed that she understood.

From the hungry looks in the eyes of the second, eleventh and twelfth he knew to instantly rule those ones out as well. He crossed the first off for being too strict, along with the captainless third, fifth and ninth as he didn't want to be pushed into a captains role involuntarily. The sixth had the red head and the thirteenth Rukia-san so they equally were crossed off.

That left him with the seventh, eighth and tenth. As he looked at them there was an overwhelming longing for someone that understood what it was like to be considered different than everyone else. To find that things came easier to you and be alienated. While this was also true for the seventh division captain he found his feet heading towards the tenth.

The room was filled with silence as Hitsugaya-taichou welcomed him to the tenth division with a raised eye brow and cheering vice captain. The silent approval of the Unohana-taichou cheered him forwards, after all by the displayed shock it was not what anyone had expected.

Not sure how expected that is but I can really see a kinship between Hitsugaya and Ichigo. Especially as this reborn Ichigo has a calmer personality and is worldlier after his time in Rukongai.