Disclaimer: I am not making money off of either One Piece or Bleach, both of which belong to their respective creators and publishers.


Ichigo was the first to shake off the gloom that had fallen upon them. "Ossan can you be my spotter?" Ichigo had actually been the best of all his friends at sinking into an imprint. While Ishida had been the best at feeling others signatures subconsciously; something Ichigo had initially been awful at (and still was, when he didn't know and care about who he was sensing) due to his inability to look past his own overwhelming Reiatsu, the part time shinigami had had an amazing capacity for melding his own energies with the energies from an imprint. Although he had never made the comparison it was simliar to the way he and Zangetsu could feel the emotions and deepest desires of whoever crossed blades with them. The only problem was that the wide and deep way in which he sunk into an emotion or history made it very difficult to come back out.
"I want to see just what made up the happy place. There at least, the imprints date back decades. I should be able to figure out what the people were researching that was dangerous to merit their wipe out. If they were doing something that caused that."
The hollow nodded, and pulled at the air, summoning his mask, a white bone skull with two horns and black tribal lines decorating it. As the the bleached copy of Ichigo slid the mask on he began to disappear from the feet up. "I'll stay inside King. This looks like it'll be boring on the outside!" Left unsaid was the fact that this would be easier for Ichigo with the hollow's energies firmly bound and part of him.
"Thanks hollow. Stay quiet in there, you here!" He said firmly, embarrassed from having thanked his hollow, "The last thing I need is your feelings of bloodlust sending me into a repetitive loop of dying."
Zangetsu nodded his confirmation and gestured with one hand for Ichigo to lead the way.
The place which Ichigo lead his partner to was barren, even by the standards of this place. In the approximate center of the island there was one especially big pit. The edges were layered with molten rock and great gouges had been made through soil and bedrock.
"I'm not really positive what was here, but I think it was a tower or something like that. When I concentrate I can sense emotions floating in apparent thin air." Ichigo paused, his attention caught by the warm, proud feelings that fluttered on the edge of his bond with Zangetsu. Ichigo sent a grin his way, the expression lighting up his normally dour face and making him look years younger. "Whatever this was had a really deep foundation or something like that, but I can't sense much down there."
They were silent for a moment, looking at the pit before the orangette shook it off. "Anyways, lets start. If I get to deep... you know what to do." What to do, in this case meant syncing some reiryoku to his level; an accomplishment made easier by complementary power levels and a pre-existing familiarity with the specific reiatsu, then sending some jolting through him. In essence it was the spiritual equivalent of a defribulator, the same procedure was done for any number of reasons ranging from losing a fight in an inner world, sinking too deep into jinzen, trauma - mental or physical- or any brain damage. It was considered a crucial skill, though one that Ichigo was horrible out, excluding those of fuku-taicho or higher power and people he was close to, people whose reiatsu he was very familiar with.
"I know."

Ichigo nodded, sinking into the customary position for jinzen and expanding his focus. Unlike jinzen, which extolled the virtue of focusing inwardly and singularly, hanaseru, or to be understanding, focused on spreading your energy out and focusing outward.
Slowly he closed his eyes and let his reiryoku his very being, step away from himself and meet the reishi around him.


wonder. surprise. despair beyond acknowledged human capacity. love. pain. escape. hatred. curiosity and the tinkle of a thousand laughs. awe. fire. loneliness even when surrounded on all sides. respect. destruction. boredom and curiosity and determination so intertwined one began before another ended. desperation(the desperately reaching hand). obeisance to an idea. pain. success. grim determination. pain. protect-protect-protect. PAIN.


With a gasp Ichigo turned away from the cumulative emotions that crashed down upon. Scoring the depths of imprints with all the concentration he could muster he reached out for the oldest -and one of the strongest to have survived so long- imprint and dived into a millennia old wonder.


"It's real," an aged man/curious boy from another time/world/place breathed in breathless wonder, as the toil/work of a life/goal came to life in front of him. Around him other men grouped behind him as they gaped up into the towering canopy above them. "The Tree of Knowledge is real."


'So, it was a tree,' Ichigo thought as returned to his own consciousness. 'the old man, a sailor? scholar?, found a mythical tree.' And then Ichigo was no more as he twined love around his soul.


"Do you so take this women, Mynat Tinaco to be your single wife? To join, to part, to always hold onto come what may and come what might?" The smiling man in a loud print shirt interrupted the shy/other young mans thoughts from his bold, fiery bride.
"O-of course." Mynat broke into a wide, irrepresible grin and waited impatiently for the statesmen to finish speaking so she could swear her own vows; something she did proud boisterous words.
"You may now kiss the - whoa!" The man who had been giving the vows stumbled backwards as Mynat shoved him away so she could kiss her man. Behind her the modest crowd, every person that lived in the small village of scholars and sailors broke into cheers and laughter.
In the background the towering tree -
bigger now by far then it had been in the last dream, Ichigo noted, and even then it had loomed. This was huge on a whole different level- overlooked the happy scene as love itself was imprinted into the air.


Ichigo came back to himself slowly, his own emotions and energy having to fight to pull away from the enthralling reiatsu. In, and out, in, and out. And the teen sank back into the imprint.


A man, seemingly ordinary bent over a book while numerous stacks of other books surrounded him. Behind him his hair grew out in a large afro, formed into three main clumps that -together with its pale green shade, put one in mind of a the leaves of a plant, in front the beginning of a beard hung wispily from his jaw. "I think this could be it," he muttered. With a negligent air he leant over and yanked a book from the bottom of one of the piles, his blasé attitude broken as it, then other stacks fell towards him as a result of the domino effect.
"Ow, ow, hey, ow!" He yelped as he dug himself out of the pile, with a great deal of wining he pulled one thinner volume from the tangled depths of his hair. Coming up with a gasp of air he lifted his hand; still holding the book he had been reaching for, and hurriedly flipped through it. "Yes! I was right, the dating and design of these poneglyphs in the picture patch perfectly with these ones, if we utilize the same principle we should be able to understand them in no time. It will
definitely move forward my goal of translating the poneglyph on Ohara. Together they'll definitely lead the way to the 'true history'! Doctor!" The historian shouted as he clambered to his feet and sprinted for the upper level of the library, passing shelves and shelves of book built into the hollow tree. Success, his mind screamed. With this new information they would be one step closer to understanding the Void Century.


The shinigami snorted, amused by the scholars actions. 'A true history huh?' he wondered, 'that's never good. If there's a true history theres a false history and false histories mean secrets.'


"Professor Clover, why can't I join the other archeologists and historians in the meetings?" A timid voice asked, full of quiet hope. Ichigo peered from her eyes with interest. Whoever this girl was she was important or recent for such a strongly centred imprint to be formed from a comparatively weaker emotion. Actually, this Professor Clover must be important as well. Ichigo recognized him from a previous vision which certainly compounded his importance. In addition... Professor Clover's hairstyle was just that eye catching. Not even the more eccentric arrancar and shinigami matched its impact. 'Well not normally at least, Harribel was pretty damn eye catching in other ways.' The scrawny little girl came up to just past Professor Clover's hip and her battered red dress only furthered the waif like feeling she gave off.
Professor Clove fidgeted nervously, before his customary calm took over his face. "Why don't you ask again after you've passed your doctoral exams?" He prevaricated


Ichigo smiled wryly as he came out of that memory. It hadn't helped much, but it had been a much more recent scene. Closing his eyes he sought out another scene that happened around the same time.


pain.
fire.
despair! frantic rushing. we have to do this. dogged determination. limping hobbling run as fire laps at our heels. desperation.

Ichigo was becoming lost, a hopeless feeling that cannot be escaped even as you struggle to live, unable to differentiate between real and unreal. pain, fire-fire-fire. flickering bright at the corner of your vision, roaring up in front of you, ready to devour.
Unprepared for the onslaught of emotion and pain, the knowledge that the life-work of generations will be lost. despair knowing that nobody will live and that many of your friends-family-lovers-children are already gone.
Ichigo floated in a loop of frantic panic and pain, as men and women tried to save every book they could from the great library, brushing away smouldering flames with their bare hands, uncaring of burns with the sole desire to save as much written knowledge as possible.


AN: sorry for the wait. Consolation prize! It's longer, almost twice as much longer compared to the next biggest chapter. ...That was really bad grammar. A mix of start of college, distraction and minor writers block held this up. The next chapter may be a while due to the need to go over the relevant episodes/chapters of One Piece (I'm primarily a bleach person, I've been watching the crap out of AMV's and episodes of One Piece for the past week... another reason this took awhile). Also I know the last little bit is not very grammerically correct. I was trying to express the severe disconnect Ichigo is feeling, and the way in which the imprint is screwing with him. :D

As always thanks to those who reviewed, alerted and/or favorited me. If anybody is willing to beta this, permanently or just for the next few chapters which will have heavy One Piece history going on that would be wonderful. Drop me a line by PM'ing or reviewing.

For those of you who think this is taking awhile to get to the action/interaction you're right. It is. However I hope to make this at least a 50,000 word thing (at MINIMUM) and I figure it needs a good foundation; Ichigo needs to have his basic opinions of the world worked out (and a goal which the Ohara Incident will start him on if not give completely) before he leaves the island and meets others... also I have to figure out how he's leaving the island...

Thanks

Kaen