Ichigo panted as she tightened her grip on her sword, golden-brown eyes lethal as she glared at her sensei.

The other female just gave her a toothy smirk, beckoning the 12-year-old.

"Don't just stand there, Gaki!"

Ichigo gritted her teeth in frustration. Then, with a loud battle cry, she lifted her zanpaktou with fatigued arms that felt like lead and charged towards the older woman.

Seconds later, she was lying on her back on the ground, unable to move.

It hurts. So much. Even breathing hurts.

"Oi, get up."

Ichigo just blinked at the golden eyes looking down at her.

"You want to get stronger, isn't it?"

Ichigo couldn't even bring herself to nod to the question, only a tired whimper managed to escape her lips.

"Why do you want to become stronger, Ichigo?"

"Well!?"

Ichigo flinched. She tried to swallow but her throat was dry. Taking a deep breath, she answered her teacher.

"...to protect..." she gasped out, "want to protect... my sisters...my family... friends..."

"Then get up. Don't stay down. Or you'll die."

Chapter 4 - Revealing Secrets

Karin stared in disbelief as her sister glared coldly at the hollow before her. The previously-arrogant hollow was now reduced to a whimpering mess without limbs. In less than five minutes!

What the hell is going on!?

"My wards are special," her sister explained idly, ignoring the pleas from the pathetic lump beneath her foot. She held up the red and black strips in one hand. "One designed to limit shinigami powers and the other to bind hollows." (1)

Then, she lifted her foot and bend down to the limbless monster, a cold smile on her otherwise impassive face.

"Together, they will tear apart any normal hollows," her smile turned cruel, "especially weak ones."

Then, she straightened, face once more emotionless.

"Grand Fisher, I'll always remember you," her sister whispered, raising her right hand towards the sky. "After all, you killed my mother."

Karin's eyes widen.

What!!

The two dark-haired shinigami watched as the crimson and black strips of wards around Ichigo's wrist begin to unwind andswirl above her hand to formed the shape of a large cleaver. Then, they fell away to reveal an unbelievably large Zanpaktou without a hilt.

Karin and Rukia gaped.

"Zangetsu."

Grand Fisher's shriek was sharp and ear-splitting as his body was cleaved in half. Effortlessly. As if it was never there.

As the hollow disappated, still struggling in denial, the whites of Ichigo's eyes turned black and her pupils golden.

She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, they were her normal brown. Inwardly, she was glad that neither Karin nor Rukia could see her face at the moment.

She breathed out.

"Sayonara."(2)

"What the hell is going on!? When did you become a shinigami!?" Karin shouted as she followed her sister through the thicket.

"I'll explain later. We better get back now. Yuzu and Dad is waiting," Ichigo said dismissively, pulling her little sister along.

"And what was that about the hollow killing mom!?" Karin demanded, harshly tugging her arm away from her older sister. "I want an explanation NOW!"

Rukia stood away from them, wary of both sisters' temper and shocked from what she had just witnessed.

Ichigo turned to her stubborn dark-haired sister and sighed.

"It's going to be a long story, Karin. I promise you that I'll explain everything to you later."

Karin opened her mouth to protest but Ichigo stopped her by bringing her hand up.

"Questions later. Not today. For now, you have to spend time with your younger sister, whom you have abandoned for quite sometime and is extremely worried."

With those words, the light-haired young woman left, leaving behind her upset sibling and a confused shinigami in human form.

"Ichigo."

The redheaded young woman looked up from the her mother's grave, her small smile strained and sad.

"Daddy."

Ichigo almost never used that affectionate term when calling him. The only times she did was when she desperately wanted something to be done her way or when she was upset and unhappy. It was obvious that she was feeling the latter right now. Without a word, Kurosaki Isshin wrapped his arms around his oldest daughter who returned the affection, closing her eyes tightly and wrapping her arms around her father.

Ever since his firstborn was a child, she was a cheerful little girl who always had a smile for everyone. She drew people to her with her happiness like honey drew bees. But after his wife's death, his pleasant little Ichigo tranformed to an independent, fierce fighter who would never back down or show any signs of weakness. Not even to her own father. Sometimes, it hurt Isshin when he thought about the change that his darling little girl had to go through. All the pain and the suffering so that she could protect her little sisters.

"I'm sorry, daddy. I'm so sorry."

Isshin buried his face into his daughter's russet locks.

"So am I, honey. So am I."

It was the next day before Ichigo called her younger sister and Rukia out for an explanation. By then, Karin was about to burst in curiosity and anxiety. The same could be said for Rukia.

"There's a place that we need to go before I can start explaining," Ichigo said, ushering the dark-haired girls along.

"Ichi-nee, how long have you been a Shinigami?" Rukia asked, finally unable to stop herself from asking. She didn't take notice of what she had called the taller female, too intent on questioning the russet-haired Shinigami. After the initial shock of seeing Ichigo as a Shinigami, her curiosity had taken over her and subsequently, awe over the redhead's powers begin to manifest. In a distant part of her mind, she felt she should feel suspicious of this unauthorised shinigami who had escaped Soul Society's notice but for the first time in years, she couldn't bring herself to care.

"I've been a Shinigami since Mom died."

"That long!?"

"Yes, well. Circumstances pushed the process along, I guess."

"What? What do you mean!?" Karin demanded as Ichigo tried to avoid her eyes.

If her sister had become a Shinigami at 9, why hadn't anyone noticed anything? What was her sister trying to hide!? Karin felt so dizzy from the emotional and mental roller coaster that she was suffering from. Her thoughts was spinning so fast she didn't even notice her sister stopping till she collided against the older female's back. Her sister turned back to look at her and she quickly snapped herself back into attention.

"We're here," Ichigo said and Karin's eyes quickly flew up to see the familiar signboard that decorated the small little shop.

"This is!? Urahara Shoten!?" Karin's eyes was wide. Standing beside her, Rukia's mouth had dropped open in disbelief.

"Come on."

"What-!?"

"You want to know, right? Then, come along and I'll try to explain as much as possible," her sister said, before entering the shop.

Sometimes, Karin felt as if she didn't know her sister as much as she'd like to admit but now, she felt like she didn't know her sister at all.

Her explanations started from when Mom died, when Grand Fisher had killed Mom and accidentally knocked Ichigo out of her body. Fortunately, someone had been close by to help her return to her body.

"Who!?" Karin interrupted her sister. Ichigo sighed. She had told her sister to not interrupt her when she started her story to ensure that she would not second guess herself.

Rukia whacked Karin's shoulder and shushed her. The dark-haired soccer fanatic made a sheepish face and sat back down.

"Sorry."

"Shall I start again?" Ichigo asked, then turned to thank Tessai for the tea. Then, the large bespectacled man left. So far, Urahara the idiot hasn't turned up yet but Ichigo concluded that the man will show up when he is least expected, just for thrills. Ichigo sipped her tea and decided that the truth was long due anyway.

Question is, can Karin really accept the truth?

Then, her brown eyes shifted to the other dark haired girl that sat next to her little sister.

Perhaps it would be slightly better if she kept some stuff hidden about herself. Like a certain hollow that was currently screeching at the back of her mind, constantly reminding her of her presence. Just to be safe.

Urusai(3), she sent back to the unhappy hollow.

She set her cup of tea back onto the table and continued:

"I became a shinigami because I had no choice," she finally answered, "the night Mom was murdered and my soul was knocked out of my body, the chain of fate was broken."

Both Rukia's and Karin's eyes widen at the implication. Ichi-nee died 9 years ago?

Karin's eyes then shot to the body that was sitting against the wall of the room, leaning next to hers. Her sister had insisted that they discuss as Shinigami and had discarded her body to the side by touching a pendant that she wore around her neck.

"Urahara's," the redhead had said at that time, showing her the small crystal with the marking of a skull in the middle. She had thought that it was extremely cool compared to what Rukia always used on her. That bloody glove always gave her a headache.

Then, Karin looked back at her sister, trying to divert her mind back at the topic at hand. If her sister had died years ago, what was that body? A gigai?

"Weirdly enough," Ichigo continued without a hitch, settling down her tea cup after another sip, "My body wasn't dead. More like, it had fallen into a coma. Do you remember, Karin? Everyone at home were told that Mom and I was involved in a freak accident and I was in the hospital?"

"I do..." Karin answered, searching her memory desperately. Her dad had received a call that had rendered the talkative man silent for hours on end. In the end, her dad broke the news to them that their mother had died in a car accident and that Ichigo was now in a coma in the hospital.

"Sensei knew Urahara and she needed a place to help me get back into my body. The only way I could, was to become a shinigami while Urahara preserved my body. And that's how I ended up here," Ichigo concluded, sipping her tea again. Tessai really did make good tea. As appose to the Urahara's shitty rendition of the beverage.

Karin sat silently as she tried to digest everything. Ichigo looked at her sister worriedly before the other dark-haired girl in the room lifted her hand up like she was a student in a classroom in junior high.

"Tell me about your Zanpaktou, Ichigo-san," Rukia questioned.

Ichigo actually thought for a while before she explained. There was simply too much to tell about her Zanpaktou, which she had gained with great difficulty.

"His name is Zangetsu," she said, lifting her hand and summoning the great cleaver that was her beloved sword. The long red and black strips that floated around her swirled immediately to form the sword and then fell away to reveal the soul cutter.

Ichigo started to explain, turning her sword around to let the two dark-haired ones get a better view of the unusual sword that was nearly as tall as its owner.

Her zanpaktou was in perpetual shikai form because of her enormous reiatsu. Fortunately for her, ever since she learned to control her reiatsu, she gained the ability to summon her sword only if she needed it so she didn't have to carry the large sword where ever she went in her shinigami form. It was unheard of for a shinigami to have such a skill but Kurosaki Ichigo was not a normal shinigami.

Another big difference about her shinigami form was the long strips of black and crimson cloths that was always floating around her protectively. Even when it's not, the strips of wards could be found around her wrists, neck or waist. When Karin asked about them, Ichigo explained that they were binds that she had tied to herself to control and hide her powers if she needed.

"I have entirely too much reiatsu," the orange-haired teen explained, fiddling with one of the strips around her wrists, "I needed powerful wards to hold my powers in control. Fortunately, when I came into my shinigami powers, someone taught me a method that I can use to bind my powers myself."

"Who!?" Karin finally demanded, unable to take the suspense any longer.

Ichigo smiled mysteriously and Rukia was struck with a sudden realisation as to why people were attracted to this fragile-looking but powerful young woman.

"Someone you'll undoubtedly meet one day now that you're a shinigami."

Tsuzuku

This chapter is actually supposed to be longer than this but i split it into two. Next chapter: Renji and Byakuya will make their appearance. Next instalment is mid of next week (keep your fingers crossed).

Author's Note:

(1) Someone once asked if her black and red wards are her shikai form but it is NOT. The binds are to limit her powers. We all know how powerful Ichigo truly is, the problem is controlling it. The strips are wards, the red to contain her zanpaktou and the black to contain her hollow. Later in the story, Ichi-chan will confront her hollow. I'll try to describe her difference better next time.

(2) "Good bye."

(3) "Noisy!"

Zangetsu: Just imagine Ichigo's sword when he has it wrapped up and strapped to his back. When he 'unsheathes' it, the wrappers shortens and fall away. Just imagine the white wrapping to be black and red and longer.

On another note, I'd like to thank my reviewers: HunterHatakeandNekoUchiha, seasnake.756, RefurAG, Aya-Mikage2002, Kat-Sakura, jhanna555, lizard26, blitzfury, Flameingphoneix, Mystic-Neko85, tinyNecile, coian, Leen and Lady Azar de Tameran.

Thank you for taking your time to write your reviews. I really appreciate it, minna-san ;o)