Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
AN: The premise for this story is a different Ichigo going through the events of the Bleach storyline. I aim to make him more cool headed, logical and just generally not a brash teen that rushes mindlessly into things. I would say that he would not become over powered, but then again, in a world where beings redefine landscapes with the swing of a sword, what is overpowered? Anyway, BAMF Ichigo
Rukia listened as one of the girls in her class described a funny incident involving her dad, a backyard pool and tons of corn flour. While she seemed to be paying attention to the truly humorous tale, she was in fact watching Ichigo out of the corner of her eyes.
A little more than a week had passed since the incident with Inoue Sora and the interaction between the orange haired teen and herself had changed once again. Now, he was significantly warmer towards her; much of the distance between them seemed to have been bridged by their shared experience with the older brother who had failed to move on. He had even taken her, along with his two sisters, to an amusement park on the last day of the weekend. She had to admit that being included had left her feeling warm, allowing her to experience what having a somewhat doting older brother would have felt like; the fact that she was about ten times his age didn't even factor into anything.
She found that she had absolutely nothing to complain about: he performed his duties as a substitute Shinigami faithfully, even taking the time to gently ease plus souls into the concept of Soul society before sending them onwards; he was patient with her, taking the time to answer her questions about the Living World, no matter how silly or obvious they might seem; he even put up with her unreal obsession with Chappy the rabbit. For the first time since being forcefully separated from Renji in the Academy and tossed into the uncertain world of Kuchiki nobility, she finally felt like she had a place to fit in…like she belonged. With a small smile on her face, she spared a moment to thank whatever god was listening for leading her to Ichigo's room so many nights ago, and then she refocused on the humorous tale being shared by her classmate.
Ichigo, who had not been oblivious to Rukia's scrutiny, was also thinking about the sable haired Shinigami who had suddenly intruded into his life. After the incident with Inoue Sora, he had taken the time to actually get to know her a little better, and what he found had saddened him a little; she seemed like someone dearly in need of a friend. His books had possessed a small chapter about noble houses – one of which was the Shiba clan…his own clan if the names on his father's books had been any indication. He had read about the Kuchiki clan, and when he innocently mentioned that she sometimes acted like a princess, she had closed up faster than a bear trap, donning a blank face that only served to reinforce his suspicions. Still, regardless of the possibility of her belonging to one of the four noble houses, he still couldn't shake the feeling that nobility was just not her.
Taking the chance to test out his theory, he had taken her and his sisters out to an amusement park, hoping to see how she would react to being treated like a normal person. She had been the happiest he had ever seen her. Oh, she did try to hide it, but being the perceptive person that he was, he had easily seen through her. Still, almost without noticing it, he had found himself slowly treating her like he did one of his sisters, albeit if they were slightly older. Sure, sometimes she kicked up a fuss about it, but having somewhat learned to read her true feelings, he had been easily able to tell that she appreciated it.
However, the change in their interaction had not gone unnoticed by the ever nosy teens of their class, and somehow, rumors had been rapidly generated and flung into the ever listening winds, claiming that Rukia and Ichigo were an item. The issue was further compounded by the fact that Yuzu had taken to packing their lunches together, thus leading to a situation where they always seemed to be sharing their lunch. When Rukia, blissfully naïve girl that she was, had mentioned to Keigo that she and Ichigo lived together…in the same room, it had been all over.
No matter how many scowls and heart stopping glares Ichigo tossed around, the rumors only seemed to be gaining in strength. Only his close group of friends believed him, and somehow, that had been enough for him.
Now, as he settled down for class to begin, he noticed that Chad had not yet turned up for school, and for some reason, that faintly worried him.
The sudden shadow cast over him alerted him to the presence of the person that his reiatsu senses had been tracking since they entered school gate. Looking up, he took in the slightly battered and bandaged form of his tall Mexican friend, before directing a slightly questioning look at him.
With a shrug to show that he was fine, Chad held up the object in his hand, which was a cage in which a white cockatiel was perched.
Blinking at the odd sight, Ichigo waited for Chad to explain while Inoue and Chizuru cooed over how cute it looked – though, he had a feeling that Chizuru was not focused on the bird, judging by the slight drool at the corner of her mouth.
"His owner didn't want to keep him anymore, and so I decided to take him in. The rest was just an accident as a metal beam fell on me last night, and then a biker ran into me this morning. I am late because I had to take him to the hospital."
Around him, the other teens just gaped at Chad's casual mention of being hit by a motorcycle. Seeing that Chad was not going to say anything further on the matter, Ichigo sighed and begun to root through his bag, looking for the small first aid kit that he always carried around for times when he had to deal with delinquents looking for a bit of fame. Finding it, he tended to the silent dark skinned teen, disinfecting the few cuts that had yet to be bandaged with an experienced and steady hand.
As he worked, he probed the bird with a sliver of his reiatsu, humming distractedly as his senses revealed the presence of a soul trapped in the bird. Wondering about how to approach the matter at hand – Chad's accidents made him suspicious of the bird – he made a mental note to ask Rukia for her suggestion on a reasonable approach to the problem. As he turned his full attention back on to disinfecting the last of Chad's wounds, his senses brushed against Chad himself and he just managed to avoid freezing in surprise.
Getting a grip on himself, and finishing up the last of his ministrations, Ichigo began to pack away the items in the kit, waving off Chad's words of gratitude. His mind was furiously working to understand what he had just sensed in his friend.
Without a doubt, that had been the reiatsu of a Hollow.
As he packed the last of the items away, he suddenly had a thought, having noticed a slight discrepancy in the hollow signature clinging to his friend. Gaze flickering around to make sure that no one was paying undue attention to him, his eyes landed on Rukia's and he received a subtle nod in return; obviously she had something to tell him about the bird in his friend's possession, but it could wait.
Tuning out the rest of the world, Ichigo grasp a tiny portion of his reiatsu and sent it gently questing into Chad. A few inches from his skin, he picked up the remnants of a hollow's reiatsu on his friend, suggesting that Chad's accidents had been intentional acts of malice. Still, he probed further, and as he found nothing more the deeper he went, he began to wonder if his hunch had just been a –
There!
Ichigo couldn't stop his breath from hitching in his throat, though he was glad that no one present noticed his reaction.
There was something residing inside Chad's soul, something not quite human and more like a hollow.
No, that was wrong; the feeling lacked the frightening sensation of the insatiable and eternal hunger that clung to all the Hollows he had met so far. It felt more like a hollow had passed through him, and what he was sensing was the state of things left in its wake. Either way, this was his friend, he was hardly going to go about attempting to purify him; he would give it a wait and see approach, and when the time came, he would help his brother in all but blood in any way that he could.
With that conclusion, he turned back to his lunch, offering some to Chad who had obviously not brought any with him, and thinking of how to get Rukia alone, before school ended, to discuss what to do about the bird; Isshin was picking up the girls that day and Rukia had mentioned that she had some things to take care of.
Opening the door and calling out a greeting, Ichigo was taken aback at the pandemonium that met his eyes. Sparing a moment to question a passing Yuzu, he learnt that there had been an accident nearby and the people injured had been rushed to their clinic. Wasting no time, he put away his items and made his way to the family clinic, smoothly inserting himself next to his father and working in perfect synchrony with him, just like he had so many times before.
With the addition of a second pair of skilled helping hands, the patients were quickly seen to, and so, when the hulking form of Chad stumbled into the clinic, Ichigo was ready to catch him when his strength finally failed him.
Setting him down on one of the recently cleared beds, Ichigo began to provide first aid while he waited for his father to finish up with the last of the seriously injured victims. As he worked, he talked to Chad and found out that he had been involved in the accident. Going on a hunch, he used his senses to probe Chad's new wounds, finding that his suspicions were correct as he once again felt a hollow's aura – the same aura he had felt at school that very morning.
Isshin eventually finished with his patient and made his way over to Ichigo and his friend. Casting a searching look at Chad, who in turn responded with a bland one of his own, Ichigo finally made way for his father to tend to Chad while he left to dispose of the used medical supplies.
In keeping with the hygienic standards of the family clinic, Yuzu had moved the bird cage containing the cockatiel out of the ward, placing it on a chair by the entrance. Karin just happened to be passing through the same entrance a few minutes later with a fresh supply of bandages.
As she walked by the chair holding the cage, she suddenly froze as a psychic wave of anguish and terror abruptly overwhelmed her senses. She found that she couldn't breathe as she was bombarded with the deep cutting feelings of loss and torment that plagued the soul trapped in the bird, which was forced to serve as bait for a sadistic hollow. Just as it became too much and she was about to pass out, strong but gentle – always gentle with her and Yuzu – arms encircled her, enclosing her in a safe haven in which she was freed from the hold of the tortured soul.
Gulping down huge amounts of air, and completely oblivious to the tears streaming down her face, Karin hid her face in her brother's chest as he gently rubbed a soothing circle into her back.
Ichigo did not even need to ask what was wrong with his black haired sister; his senses did not fail to alert him to the dreadful aura currently surrounding the bird. Now, more than ever, he was completely convinced that the bird, and the soul trapped in it, was tied to the hollow attacks plaguing his dark skinned friend. Still, now was not the time to focus on that, not with his sister falling apart in his arms.
Rising to his full height, Ichigo carried Karin downstairs, taking the time – on a whim – to deftly weave his reiatsu in tight blanket around her, hoping that it would serve as a barrier to the effect of the trapped soul. Feeling Karin slowly stop shaking, he ascertained that his hunch had been correct, and with a few more murmured words of comfort, he finally deposited her on the same couch that held the concerned figure of his other sister. Dropping a kiss on her head, he left her in the loving care of her twin and made his way up to his room, intending to meet with Rukia and finally make a plan to deal with the problem.
Rukia looked up, meeting his gaze as he opened the door, and suddenly, Ichigo realized that she must have also been able to feel the taint of Chad's wounds all the way from his room. With a weary sigh, he sat on his bed and quirked an eyebrow in question at the girl seating in the only chair in his room.
Having learnt to interpret the orange haired teens little gestures, she responded to his silent question,
"It is obvious that Sado-kun suspects that something is off with the bird, and so, we have to be careful with sending it onwards. Also, since it seems like there is a hollow involved, even though my pager doesn't give off any warning, we might want to wait and catch it in the act."
Knowing how much Ichigo cared for his friends, Rukia held her breath as she finished her last sentence, fully expecting the teen to stubbornly reject the idea of using Chad as bait.
Ichigo surprised her by sighing once more and finally responding,
"I know you know how opposed I am to the idea of waiting for the hollow to make its move. Yet, I trust in Chad, and I know how strong he is, so I know that he will be fine. Still, we will have to make sure that we are on hand to intervene when the time comes; no matter how confident I am in his ability to hold his own against even a hollow, I see no reason to put him in unnecessary danger."
Letting loose a slightly relieved sigh, Rukia mock scowled at the amused light that entered Ichigo's eyes once he saw the tension leave her form at his agreement. Checking the time, he stood and motioned to her that it was just about time for dinner. The two made their way downstairs to find a more stable Karin who looked like nothing had happened, and Yuzu, who was bustling around putting the finishing touches on the meal.
Ichigo startled awake as a cry from Yuzu pierced through the stillness of the morning. Paying no attention to the suddenly scrambling figure of Rukia, he was already out of his room, practically flying down the path to the family clinic where the cry had originated. Coming to a sliding stop while adopting his most lethal unarmed stance, his eyes flitted from wall to wall, seeking whatever threat had dared to even look in his precious sister's direction.
Blinking at the empty room, he turned a questioning look on the surprised form of his younger sister, wondering what the problem had been. Wordlessly, and still reeling from Ichigo's sudden appearance, Yuzu motioned to the bed, drawing the attention of the other inhabitants of the house who had only just arrived.
With a muffled curse, Isshin hurried forward, searching in vain for the patient who was supposed to be in the currently empty bed. Spinning to his now perplexed son, he quickly explained the situation, and then watched as Ichigo hurried to ready himself to go to school and track down his missing classmate, all the while feeling a rising dread in the pit of his stomach.
Chad panted as he slid down the wall in the abandoned warehouse. He had been running near constantly ever since he had escaped from the Kurosaki family clinic, all the while feeling as though he was being hunted. Once more, he ignored Shibata's pleas for him to just leave him behind and get to safety, murmuring to the frantic bird that he would be fine. As the caged bird got more vexed and persistent, Chad finally turned to look at him and said,
"I'll be fine, Shibata. I am strong enough to –"
Only the fact that he was focused on the trapped child's eyes allowed him to notice when they flickered behind him in sudden terror. Using that split second warning, he was already rolling aside as the ground he had been sitting on suddenly cratered under the effect of some tremendous force – and judging by the huge shape of the crater, that force was a monstrous clawed foot.
Wasting no time, Chad lashed out with a kick at the invisible enemy, feeling it connect and watching as some part of the opposite wall demolished under the force of the super strength propelled flying object. Getting to his feet, and completely oblivious to Shibata's wide-eyed stare of awe, he tore out of the building, steadily making his way towards an abandoned park where he would have more space to fight.
Ichigo nearly growled in frustration as his most recent round of questioning revealed that Chad hadn't been seen at school that morning. Getting more irritated with his lack of success in finding his friend, he ran back to the agreed upon meeting spot to find Rukia already waiting for him, shaking her head in response to his unasked question and leaving him more disappointed.
Even his attempts to track down Chad by sensing for the reiatsu of the hollow that had been attacking him met with no success; it was as if something was masking both Chad and the caged bird, keeping him from honing in on them that way.
Suddenly, a wave of comfort, followed by a suggestion, from his inner world had him smacking himself for being so stupid. With Rukia looking on with a slightly bewildered look, he concentrated on his reiatsu, simultaneously focusing on his elusive friend while also letting his focus fly unfettered.
Rukia's eyes abruptly widened in disbelief as reiatsu condensed into visible ribbons around the still orange haired teen, while their clothing fluttered in the reiatsu generated breeze.
Snapping his eyes open, Ichigo's hand lashed out and grabbed a hold of the ribbon that felt most like Chad, sparing a moment to send off a surge of gratitude to Zangetsu before he took off running once more. Behind him, Rukia gaped after just witnessing the high level technique, Reiraku (Spirit Ribbons).
Chad panted as silently as he could as he tried to regain his breath while also keeping his ears open for the giant footsteps of his invisible opponent. He had been battling what could only be a monster for about ten minutes now and though he couldn't see it, he knew that he had given about half as good as he had gotten. Still, at the rate things were going he had to accept that he would probably lose the battle and maybe even his life.
A gasp from Shibata had his fists lashing out in an unconscious move, one which thankfully connected with what felt like a bone mask located where a face would be. Quickly turning his attention onto the silhouetted form now visible in the kicked up cloud of dust, he dashed in, arms blurring in a deadly combination of punches and jabs, all which struck their target powerfully.
The battered and bruised hollow known as Shrieker was getting to the end of his rope. The pesky dark skinned human who was supposed to be easy pickings had been giving him so much trouble that he was beginning to reconsider the whole bait and trap thing…well, only for an instant anyway.
But really, were his exasperated thoughts, he can't even see me for crying out loud.
Suddenly noticing that the teen seemed to be lost in thoughts in the middle of their battle, he lurched forward as silently as he could – having learnt his lesson painfully a few minutes ago. However, his prey was alerted by the gasp of that blasted kid ghost and he suddenly found himself airborne with a throbbing face as reward for his efforts.
Crashing into the ground and completely ignorant of the raised cloud of dust that was giving him away, Shrieker took a moment to contemplate his lot in life. He was just about reaching a decision on how to proceed when the first punch thundered into his stomach.
Arching up in pain, he was completely unprepared for the sudden onslaught of blows that rocketed into his prone body, causing him great pain and no small amount of internal injury.
After a few seconds of the salvo of punches, his patience snapped with a nearly audible sound.
With a roar of rage, he tossed Chad away from him and propelled himself into the air, remaining airborne using one of his hollow powers.
Chad, completely blindsided by the retaliation from his downed foe, crashed into the ground with a painful boom of sound and displaced dirt. He staggered to his feet a moment later, arms raised in preparation for a continued assault that never came.
Flicking his gaze over to Shibata, he followed the bird's eyes to the sky, where his enemy was no doubt waiting.
Currently airborne, Shrieker fumed in volcanic anger at the happenings of the past few minutes.
Completely fed up with the charade, and knowing that his prey wouldn't hear him anyway, he didn't waste time with any taunting.
Chad suddenly felt a huge number of moderately sized squishy objects impact his body and cling to him. Without any visual aid, he could only conclude that they seemed to be giant slugs of some sort…or leeches. He suddenly spun to the cage placed aside when he heard a despairing cry from the talking bird there.
Shibata, having long since learned Shrieker's hunting methods, let loose a cry of despair as he took in Chad covered from head to toe with pink leeches. Turning his fearful gaze up to the airborne hollow, he met the maliciously triumphant eyes of his tormentor with a plea for mercy in his own – a plea that was disdainfully ignored.
Wasting no time whatsoever, Shrieker stuck out his tongue and vibrated it at high speed.
As soon as the dust from the resulting explosion had cleared, Shibata gazed upon the still form of the kind dark skinned human. Chad was lying unmoving on the ground, covered in slight burns, bruises, and cuts…as well as quite an amount of blood.
Shrieker softly touched down a few feet from the prone human, and began to make his way towards the teen. He had reduced the effectiveness of his bombs to keep the teen alive, though unable to do anything. He wanted to savor his meal while it was still alive and warm.
As he reached down to grasp Chad's hair, the teen twitched, and Shrieker only had time to think: Oh for the love of…
Chad was in more pain than he had been in in a long time. The explosion had drained him of almost all the strength he had, leaving him battered, bruised and bloodied on the floor. He could hear the approaching footsteps of the monster, along with tearful sniffling from the direction of the cage containing Shibata. Gathering the last of his strength, he waited until he could feel the thing's breath on the back of his neck, and then he struck.
With a grunt of pain, Shrieker once again found himself winded and contemplating the skies directly above his prone form. He was stunned for one moment as he lay there, before his reiatsu erupted in a lethal storm of fury and raw killing intent as he went far beyond anger, and into apoplectic rage.
Surging to his feet, he focused on the kneeling form of the panting teen. Zeroing in on his target, he hurled an obscene amount of leeches at the human, covering every single inch of his body, as well as the region in a five foot radius around him, in explosives.
Far past wanting to keep his meal alive, he stuck his tongue out and screamed with maddened eyes and a crazed voice,
"Die!"
And then it all went wrong.
Ichigo, with Rukia carried on his back, set a relentless pace as he followed the reiatsu ribbon he had summoned. However, his single minded focus was interrupted when an explosion suddenly occurred a distance ahead of him. Impossibly speeding up further once he saw it, he entered speeds that left him a nearly indistinguishable blur to the people he blew past.
Deftly cutting a sharp corner, he finally entered the park where his friend was located, but the sight before him had him rooted to the spot in an instant.
His worried gaze landed on the kneeling figure of his best friend, easily cataloguing the numerous injuries he had sustained as well as the pink leeches that covered him and the ground around him. Slowly, he set Rukia down and, before she could say anything, tilted his head in Chad's direction. Hesitating for only a moment, Rukia made her way towards the teen covered in huge bugs, clutching in her hands, the first aid kit that Ichigo had snagged from his bags before running off that morning.
Now, Ichigo turned his suddenly blank gaze on the hollow who had dared to harm his friend – the hollow who was too distracted to notice the sudden proximity of two tastier and far more dangerous, souls. As soon as he saw the hollow's tongue stick out, and although he didn't know what it planned to do, he moved.
As the hollow prepared its attack, Ichigo was suddenly crouched in front of it, and before it could react, his fist rammed into the bottom of its jaw as he sprung up into a powerful uppercut. With a sound like a sword being sheathed, the hollow's tongue fell out of its mouth, severed by the teeth of its owner.
Letting loose a howl of pain, Shrieker stumbled back as his mouth filled with blood from his now shortened tongue.
Rukia, who had been working to pull off the things clinging to Chad so that she could get at his wounds, spun to find Ichigo staring down at the currently screaming hollow, wondering how he could have injured it in his human body. Now done with removing the bugs, she helped Chad to his feet and led him back to a tree nearby, where he slid down and rested as she worked quickly and efficiently to tend to the worst of his injuries.
Shrieker, after a few moments of agony, was finally able to work through the blinding pain of having just bitten off his tongue. He focused on the newcomer and found, to his ever growing consternation, that it was yet another human. He paused on that thought, took another sniff, and then stumbled back in fear. No, he thought to himself, a Shinigami…two in fact.
Still, he reasoned to himself, the two Shinigami seemed to be stuck in human bodies, meaning that he still stood a chance at defeating them. A haze of greed descended upon his thoughts, causing him to focus on the veritable feast before him at the expense of actually feeling out the relative strengths of the newcomers.
Too injured to bother with talk, he lurched towards the orange haired teen, intending to deal with him first.
At this time, Rukia had managed to tend to the worst of Chad's injuries, enough that he could take over binding the rest. She then promptly turned and sprinted towards Ichigo, noticing the hollow doing the same, and praying that she would get there first. A few feet from him, she pulled on the spirit glove she had obtained from Urahara and leapt forward with her arm outstretched, a scant few seconds ahead of the hollow.
Chad looked up at Rukia's actions and noticed Ichigo's body crumpling down into Rukia's arms. His sharp eyes made out the rapidly approaching giant footsteps of his invisible foe causing them to widen in alarm. He tried – and failed – to get to his feet, and could then only watch in rising concern as the footsteps reached his two classmates.
The hollow's hands were inches from his face when Ichigo stepped forward out of his human body. His brown eyes, flickering with the blue power of his reiatsu, locked with the yellow and black eyes of the approaching hollow, and in that instant, Shrieker realized that he had made a grave miscalculation.
Ichigo seemed to only stand in place as Shrieker ran past the people in front of him, all without harming a single one. The hollow experienced a brief moment of confusion before it registered the sudden change in its center of gravity – a change brought on by the fact that it was now less one arm.
Rukia, whose gigai had almost completely succeeded in leaving her little more than a reiatsu sensitive human, had found herself unable to follow Ichigo's sword swing, and thus she could only blink in surprise as the hollow seemed to miss them as it ran past. However, her confusion was rectified once she saw the hollow's severed right arm crash into the floor.
Before Shrieker could adjust to the sudden pain, Ichigo spun around and blurred forward, ending up with his back to the now stationary hollow.
Abruptly, blood erupted from the hollow's remaining three limbs as the effects of Ichigo's furious assault made themselves known.
Now on his knees, and unable to move due to the debilitating pain, Shrieker could only watch on helplessly as the broad katana was raised above the orange haired Shinigami's head and then brought down, effortlessly splitting his mask and ending his reign of terror.
Ichigo, seeing the monster that had caused such injury to his best friend finally getting its just desserts, moved forward to the bird cage containing the trapped soul of the child, Shibata. Crouching down, he coated his hand with a thin film of reiatsu and then gently prodded the bird, smoothly releasing the plus soul from its imprisonment.
Shibata, who had been left speechless at the ease with which Chad's orange haired friend had dispatched his tormentor, wordlessly grasped the hand that was offered and made his way back to the tree against which Chad was currently resting, and where Rukia had finally moved Ichigo's limp body to.
Ichigo, knowing that Chad couldn't see the two of them, followed a sudden suggestion from Zangetsu and reached out to envelop Chad in some of his reiatsu, smiling softly to himself when Chad jerked in surprise at the sudden appearance of his black clad best friend and a small translucent child who seemed eerily familiar.
However, before the gathered people could begin to talk, a pall of utter despair descended upon them all, leaving even Ichigo – who was currently the strongest of the lot – off balance and wary.
Focusing on the slowly dying form of the defeated hollow, the four individuals gasped as they took in the humongous doorway that was slowly appearing behind the kneeling hollow.
Taking in the grotesque images carved into the door, Ichigo's mind flashed back to a little paragraph in one of the books Isshin had given him, a paragraph which spoke about what happened to the souls whose sins were too great in life to warrant a free trip to soul society. With that knowledge, he watched grimly as the Gates of Hell opened up and one of hell's guardians exacted justice on the pleading hollow known as Shrieker. As the gates closed, and the guardian receded, Ichigo could have sworn that its shining yellow eyes glanced at him for an instant.
Shaking off the feelings of despair that had fallen over them with the appearance of the gate, the four people by the huge tree finally focused on the matter at hand. They listened as Shibata chronicled the events of how Shrieker had killed his mother in real life, and then killed him as a hollow, only to then trap him in a bird and use him as bait to lure Shinigami and other humans to that death, all the while dangling a reunion with his mother as temptation. After listening to the story, the three students lost whatever pity they might have had for the hell bound hollow.
With all the explanations out of the way, and some words shared between Chad and Shibata, Ichigo performed Konsou on the child's soul, but not before stealthily tagging him with a tiny piece of his reiatsu to make him easier to find if their paths crossed in the near future.
Shinigami duty over and done with, Ichigo returned to his body under Chad's amazed stare, and after having a silent argument with Rukia involving many scowls and twitching eyes, he finally turned to Chad and began to explain about the world after death. Knowing how Rukia felt about human's knowing about the afterlife, he didn't go into too much detail…yet. Still, he reasoned that now that Chad had been exposed to the dangers of the Spiritual World – and also shown that he could hold his own reasonably well for a human, it was only fair that he not be kept ignorant.
Once they had finished, with Chad calmly accepting the news that death gods ran around slicing evil spirits in half and so on, Ichigo turned to Rukia and told her she should feel free to take off since he was going to hang out with Chad for a while.
Giving her friend a searching look, she thought back to how Ichigo had manhandled the hollow in his human body, as well as how beat up the hollow had looked after facing Chad, and then she nodded and turned to leave; the two teens could clearly take care of themselves if anything popped up. Besides, she recalled that she had gotten roped into the plans Orihime, Tatsuki, Yuzu, and Karin had made for the afternoon – the fact that Ichigo cared so much for his sisters and wanted them to have female influences meant that his two closest female classmates were very good friends with his two younger sisters.
Once Rukia left, Ichigo motioned to Chad to follow him, falling into step beside the now standing teen who walked as though he had not just gotten put through the wringer. As they walked, Ichigo apologized to Chad for failing to intervene earlier on when he first had his suspicions about the various 'accidents' that seemed to plague him. Chad waved it off, reminding him that he too had noticed that the accidents seemed a little too suspicious, and yet he hadn't asked for help. Knowing his friend as well as he did, Ichigo accepted Chad's words and his unspoken forgiveness, though he still made a mental note to try to avoid using his friend as bait in the future, no matter what he said about it.
As the two teens walked, Ichigo told Chad more about Soul Society, and the afterlife in general. He shared his thoughts and opinions about the way things were run there, as well as his determination to keep certain things from Rukia. Chad agreed about the issues that would crop up if Rukia got involved more with Ichigo, mentioning things like plausible deniability in the event that she had to choose between loyalty to Ichigo and her loyalty to Soul Society.
Chad had no problem with believing what Ichigo was saying, since he trusted the other teen completely. From the very beginning, it had always been them against everyone else, and not once had Ichigo ever let him down. Remembering their promises to each other to always get stronger to protect what the other held dearest, Chad vowed to prepare for the coming storm when the Worlds of the Living and the Dead collided.
As though hearing his thoughts, Ichigo then said,
"There is also something else I wanted to talk to you about. Yesterday morning, when I was bandaging your wounds, I noticed the taint of a hollow clinging to some of your injuries, which made sense considering what we just learned. Still, I tried to dig deeper and I found something else."
At this point, they had arrived at one of the more secluded parks in a deserted part of Karakura Town. Now curious about what Ichigo was saying, Chad turned to face him, feeling as though he were standing at the edge of a cliff and somehow knowing that the next few minutes would change his entire life.
Noticing that he had his friend's full attention, Ichigo went on,
"I found a core of spiritual power hidden inside you. It felt a little similar to what your wounds felt like, but more like the sensation left behind in the wake of a hollow. Basically, I believe – and Zangetsu agrees with me on this – that you might have been born with some powers which can be unlocked."
Seeing Chad's thoughtful look, Ichigo settled down to wait for the teen to think through what he had just shared with him. After a few minutes, his friend's even baritone responded,
"Long ago, we made a promise to each other, to always have the other's back and to always fight to protect what mattered most to the other. At first, when you told me about this Shinigami business, I had wondered how I was to keep on having your back."
Here, he locked determined gazes with Ichigo and spoke in a serious tone,
"If you think that I can really access this power, then let us try it. I must get stronger, so that you don't leave me behind and leave your back open to attack."
Unable to suppress the happy smile that spread across his face, Ichigo reached out and bumped his right fist with Chad's, relieved beyond words that his friend chose to include himself in Ichigo's suddenly expanding world.
Finally getting a hold of himself, he sunk down into a meditative pose and motioned for Chad to do the same. He didn't really know how he was going to go about unlocking Chad's power, but using his instinct and the knowledge gained from his new books about the effect of reiatsu on living things, he figured that he should be able to work it out.
Before he started, he gave a note of warning,
"Since I will be basically jump starting your powers, it is completely likely that you will be out of it for a while, at least until your powers stabilize."
Getting a simple nod of acknowledgement, he closed his eyes and, firmly grasping his reiatsu, he extended a tendril of it into Chad. With Zangetsu supporting him every step of the way, he dove in, searching for the same source of power he had felt before. Once he found it, he took the time to fully scan it and found that it had something of a shell encasing it, seemingly keeping it locked away. Momentarily at a loss, he received a suggestion from his older companion and, seeing no other way, decided to go with it.
Shaping the reiatsu into a hard spike, he aimed and drove its sharp point into the shell.
A few miles away, sharp grey eyes snapped up as a wave of reiatsu passed overhead. The owner of said eyes furrowed his brows in confusion as he tried to analyze what his senses were telling him. The reiatsu was, at its core, human, but it seemed to possess a hint of hollow reiatsu in it. Turning his gaze onto the now alert black cat beside him, he raised an eyebrow at it, before promptly chuckling in amusement as it simply stretched and went back to lazing in the patch of sun streaming into the room. Putting the odd curiosity at the back of his mind, he turned back to his work, idly wondering what Isshin's son had gotten into now.
A pair of glasses flashed as their owner readjusted them with his finger. He had finally stopped twitching from the unexpected wave of reiatsu that had just cut through his home. Without a doubt, he knew that it must have had something to do with that pest of a classmate of his. Sighing to himself, and putting it out of his mind, he returned to his sewing; it was his thirteenth attempt at making a small white cape and he was determined to get it right.
In the Kurosaki household, the inhabitants were completely oblivious to the wave of reiatsu that had just passed through the air; understandable given the sheer density of reiatsu that had seeped into the very foundations of the house. Rukia never even paused as she followed Yuzu's directions while she attempted to make an outfit for her recently acquired small Chappy plushy.
Ichigo finally released the breath he had been holding once he ascertained that Chad was merely unconscious after the release of his powers. Bending down, he effortlessly scooped up the bigger teen, as though he weighed nothing, and turned to face his own private hill, before taking off in a flash of Shunpo. Having finally learned how to use Shunpo in his human body, the trip was carried out in about a minute, when before it would have taken him just under an hour – running.
After rearranging the passed out teen into a more comfortable position, he settled back into his meditative pose, determined to get in some training with Zangetsu. Before he delved in, he cast one last fascinated glance at Chad's black and magenta armored right hand.
Letting his senses out, to alert him if anyone or anything approached him while he was in his inner world, he underwent the now smooth transition to find himself facing an already armed Zangetsu.
Knowing that they had about three hours in the outside world – considerably more in the inner world – before Ichigo would have to return, they began immediately, clashing at high speeds that Ichigo could never have hoped to maintain a week before.
An hour and a half later, Zangetsu was breathing slightly heavier as he watched his wielder catch his breath. He could not hide the feeling of pride that warmed his chest and brought a gleam to his eyes. In merely two weeks, Ichigo had progressed so much that it was nearly unbelievable, yet no matter how much better he got at wielding the sword, Zangetsu noted that Ichigo took particular care not to become complacent. Of course, he was not always successful in keeping his successes from getting to his head, but Zangetsu was always quick to step in and remind him that he was not quite there...yet.
Still, the fact that Zangetsu himself was slightly winded from the hour and a half long bout spoke of Ichigo's advancing talent, as did the negligible cuts and bruises that now adorned the teen's form.
Seeing that Ichigo had gotten his second wind, Zangetsu dismissed the slim katana they had taken to practicing with and moved to stand beside the now seated form of the orange haired teen.
Ichigo, knowing what came next, repositioned himself into a comfortable position and evened his breathing while deftly turning his senses to the older man by his side.
Noting that he was ready, Zangetsu turned back to face the edge of the tall skyscraper and raised his right hand, pointer and middle fingers extended, while saying,
Hadou no Yon: Byakurai
A tightly leashed powerful beam of blue-white lightning erupted from his pointed fingers and tore through the air at tremendous speed, travelling from the center of the inner world, where they stood, to the edge of the defined boundary in the space of a breath.
Zangetsu gave Ichigo a moment, before he cast the same Kidou spell again, and then again.
Receiving a nod from Ichigo, he moved on; repositioning his right hand so that his palm faced forward, he intoned,
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadou no Sanjuuichi: Shakkahou."
A swirling red ball of reiatsu the size of a man's head formed in his palm, and then, with a flicker of heat, it was off. Travelling through the air slower than the lightning bolt before it, the ball of spiritual flames arrived at the edge of the inner world in about two seconds, where it promptly detonated with a powerful roar of heat and light.
Once again giving the teen a moment's pause, Zangetsu continued as before, firing the same ball of energy two more times, before switching it up for the last time.
Returning his hand to the palm forward position, he carefully spoke,
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hadou no Sanjuusan: Soukatsui."
This time around, the flames that sparked into existence were blue and markedly hotter than their red counterpart. With a sound like a high pitched scream, a massive torrent of blue flames burst into existence, leaping across the sky with apocalyptic fury, leaving the air dry and heated in its wake.
On the floor beside Zangetsu, Ichigo twitched minutely at the amount of reiatsu Zangetsu had packed into that attack. Somehow, without looking – not that it still surprised him at this point – he was able to tell that Zangetsu felt slightly sheepish at overpowering that move, though he knew that his face would be in its usual stoic façade.
Clamping down a little more firmly on his reiatsu, Zangetsu repeated the incantation, this time getting out moderately powerful flames instead of the inferno from earlier. Satisfied, he gave Ichigo a few more minutes before he performed the attack a last time.
Once he was done, he shifted into a more comfortable position and awaited the teen.
While Zangetsu had been firing off the various Kidou spells, Ichigo had been observing him using his burgeoning abilities with reiatsu sensing, as well as the deep bond he shared with the older man. His observations had allowed him to witness, on the basest scale, the steady ebb and flow of reiatsu in Zangetsu as he performed the various attacks.
It was a method that Zangetsu had suggested they try in order for Ichigo to learn the Shinigami Arts. Since Zangetsu did not need to sleep or go to school, he spent the time when Ichigo was unavailable parsing through the scant few experiences he had managed to harvest from Rukia's reiatsu, as well as the instruction books given to Ichigo by his father. Using what he learned, he had taken to practicing the various techniques any time that Ichigo was not there. That way, when Ichigo finally arrived in his inner world, they wasted no time in getting him to learn the moves.
For Kidou in particular, Zangetsu had suggested that Ichigo keep track of Zangetsu's reiatsu usage during the incantation of each spell, getting a feel for how much he used and how it flowed in his body. That way, Ichigo might come to develop a finer grasp on the techniques and might even be able to use them without incantations eventually. And indeed, their efforts had borne fruits; it had taken him only about three to five tries to get down each of the Kidou attacks that Zangetsu showed him, and now, all that was left was mastering their use in practical battle.
Getting up out of his position, he took in a fortifying breath before turning to face the awaiting figure of his companion. Jumping back to make some space between them, he readied himself as Zangetsu drew his sealed form out of thin air with a wicked and elegant flourish. With only a small smirk as warning, he was suddenly blurring across the distance between them.
Ichigo wasted no time in reacting.
Left hand flying up to buy himself some time, he pointed his left pointer and middle fingers at the approaching blur and said,
Hadou no Yon: Byakurai
While Zangetsu veered off to dodge the piercing bolt of lightning Ichigo took the chance to Shunpo away and suppress his reiatsu to give him some much needed few seconds.
Casting his senses out, Zangetsu prepared himself for the telltale spike in reiatsu that gave away all but the most practiced of Kidou users.
Sensing a surge of energy behind him, he spun, sword singing through the air on a sure part to cleave Ichigo in two from head to toe.
With a triumphant smirk on his face, Ichigo raised his right hand up to block the swing, taking pride in the widening of Zangetsu's narrowed eyes once the pale blue orb at the back of his palm became visible. With a slight hum, he said,
Bakudou no Hachi: Seki
As soon as the sword struck the orb, it was repelled with the same force with which it came down, throwing Zangetsu's right hand upwards and opening him up for attack.
Thrusting his right hand forward, Ichigo fired off the prepared red orb of fiery reiatsu while shouting out,
Hadou no Sanjuuichi: Shakkahou
Leaping back from the resulting explosion, Ichigo did not pause as he began another incantation under his breath, not naïve enough to believe that Zangetsu had been defeated by that manoeuver.
Indeed, Ichigo's only warning was the fluttering of a cloak before a sword passed through the air where his head had been an instant before.
From there, the two engaged in a Shunpo tag that saw Ichigo escaping by the skin of his teeth – sometimes only because Zangetsu let him. Whenever he could, he would fire off one Kidou spell or the other, learning which spells were appropriate for which situations on the fly.
Finally managing to put some significant distance between them, Ichigo rapidly formulated his final plan, knowing that his move would decide the outcome of the match.
Thrusting his hands down while watching the rapidly approaching form of his older companion, he intoned,
Bakudou no Nijuuichi: Sekionton
A sudden explosion of red smoke concealed him from view, forcing Zangetsu to halt in his charge, lest he walk into a trap.
Less than a second later, Ichigo's reiatsu spiked and a slightly underpowered ball of red flames roared out of the cloud of smoke towards Zangetsu.
With an almost lazy motion, he coated his sword with some reiatsu and swatted away the weak attack, idly wondering if his wielder was running out of energy or if he had been rushed.
As he moved to return his sword to his side, he found that he couldn't. Turning his head, he noticed a crackling yellow energy rope bound to the blade of his sword. Following it back to its origin, he locked gazes with his wielder. Tossing a glance at the now dissipated cloud of smoke, he saw that Ichigo was not there. His brows furrowed as he tried to reason out what had just happened, before the light of understanding dawned in his eyes, quickly followed by approval at his wielder's ingenuity.
Ichigo had fired off a weak attack, expecting Zangetsu to block it, thus forcing him to use some reiatsu to defend himself. He had then used the first surge of reiatsu produced by the initial Kidou attack to conceal his use of Shunpo, before using Zangetsu's own reiatsu use to disguise his use of Bakudou no yon: Hainawa.
Turning back to Ichigo, he experienced a slight feeling of dread at the smirk on the teen's face. With a slightly cheerful tone, Ichigo placed his free hand on the energy rope and said,
Hadou no Juuichi: Tsuzuri Raiden
Zangetsu's eyes widened as he took in the yellow lightning surging down the rope towards the sword. Suddenly, his face relaxed into a smile, and, noticing Ichigo's suddenly uncertain look, he twitched his hand and the sword held in it suddenly let loose a brilliant blue glow.
With Ichigo curiously looking on, and with the lighting attack seconds away from impacting, Zangetsu focused on the sword and pushed.
Now it was Ichigo's turn to show surprise as the elegant katana morphed into a wider blade, effortlessly cutting through the binding rope on its blade. As soon as the light died down, he beheld the new sword.
It was longer than the original sealed katana had been – he estimated that it was almost as long as he was tall, but now, its shape was significantly different. At a glance, the blade resembled a huge butcher's knife, however, the sword was more than that. Though it looked unwieldy, Zangetsu swung it around with poise and it sang through the air, weaving a melody of leashed power waiting to burst out and shake the very heavens.
Relaxing his stance, knowing that the spar was at its end, Ichigo made his way over to the older man, eyes still locked on what was undoubtedly his Shikai.
Zangetsu quietly observed his approaching wielder, searching the teen's eyes to glimpse his thoughts. He was pleased when he saw that Ichigo did not just dismiss the blade out of hand for its seemingly ungainly shape; if anything, he seemed to be thinking of ways to incorporate the sword's new design into his fighting style. Satisfied with what he read in his young companion's eyes, he spoke up,
"I had planned to wait until our next meeting, when we had more time, to reveal it to you, but once again, you exceed even my expectations, high as they are."
Choosing to overlook the light pleased blush stealing across Ichigo's face, he turned his now contemplative eyes back to the sword,
"In just a few weeks, you have already come so far and I know, without a doubt, that you are ready to move to the next level. Though we don't have much time, I can at least teach you how to call me forth, as well as begin your instruction in wielding me."
Reaching his own right hand forward, Ichigo focused his reiatsu and pulled his own sealed sword out of thin air. He watched as Zangetsu made his way towards him, standing behind Ichigo and placing his right hand on his left shoulder. Ichigo listened to Zangetsu's soothing tone as he spoke,
"To wield my Shikai, you must understand the essence of what I represent; the essence of who I am. This is something that I believe you have come to learn already."
With a nod at Zangetsu's words, Ichigo suddenly felt the world around him still in anticipation as reiatsu began to rise around the two figures. Zangetsu continued, his voice growing more powerful as he spoke, until the very air sang with his power,
"Abandon your fear Ichigo, and move forward. Never stand still, never look back. Retreat and you will age, hesitate, and you will die. Now, release me!"
And Ichigo, voice filled with power to match his zanpakuto, shouted to the heavens,
"Go forth, and tear the heavens asunder, Zangetsu!"
Once the bright explosion of light and reiatsu died down, Ichigo hefted the cleaver like sword in his hand, noticing that it felt as light as the sealed katana. Turning his gaze back to his older companion, he matched Zangetsu's anticipatory smile with one of his own, and suddenly surged forward to cross swords with him, injuries all but forgotten in the rush to spar with his newly released sword.
A few notes, if I may. First of all, the Chad thing. I thought to myself: if I'm going to explore how the bleach world changes when faced with a different protagonist, why not really shake things up. A reader pointed out that I should avoid making Ichigo's companions seem like weaklings – sound advice which I intend on listening to.
Secondly, a few people have asked about his inner hollow…yes, he will still be there. In fact, I just recently had a moment of brilliance, if I do say so myself, and I made plans for said hollow…but that is a chapter for later.
Finally, I want to get to the bottom of this thing that people have been PM-ing me for; should I or should I not give Orihime her reality defying powers? There's a poll on my profile, please vote, and if you have a particularly compelling argument either way, kindly shoot me a message.
Please leave a comment if you can. Thank you for taking the time to read and review my story.