Hey, what is up my Cryptic Knights, The Reaping KNight here Man, I'm so bad at staying consistent as a writer. I'm was kinda having a burnout from writing this so I took a break. I'm sorry for making you guys (and girls) wait so long. Without further ado, here's the next chapter of A New Found Power 2.
(Forest Ruins in the Rukon District) {Dawn}
Byakuya and Senbonzakura were following Muramasa into an abandoned and destroyed ruins. All that was left was some broken pillars, short and crumbled stone wall, as well as a couple steps that led to a corridor that seemed to just lead to more forest.
Muramasa walked up the steps and turns around to face Byakuya and Senbonzakura. "We must..." Muramasa started. But before he could finish, he was interrupted by Ichigo, who had jumped towards Muramasa from above.
He was wielding Zangetsu and was so focused on Muramasa, he failed to even notice Byakuya and the other figure who had leaped to block Muramasa from Ichigo's blade. The figure appeared to be wearing a full set of dark crimson traditional Japanese armor with purple garments covered a majority of the armor. He had a similar colored mask Oni helmet that had a golden headpiece in the shape of a blossom. This initially surprised Ichigo, but he was quickly recovered and he jumped back. "Who are you? Are you someone's zanpakuto?" askes Ichigo before noticing Byakuya standing off to the side.
"Byakuya, you're here! Everyone says that you have gone missing for days and everyone has been worried about you. Where were you? I could tell that Rukia has been especially worried about you. She's been pushing herself really hard to try and find you ever since she heard the news." Ichigo says in a worried tone.
"I do not have to explain myself to you, Ichigo Kurosaki, but know that if you try to stand in Muramasa way I will have to stop you." Byakuya said as he put his hand on his sword. However, Byakuya was slightly uneasy, as he felt Ichigo's spirit energy was much different than before, but he knew for certain that it was much denser and was much larger than when he had last seen the boy but he didn't show it. 'What could've happened in that short amount of time could've made him that much more powerful?'
Ichigo was shocked as to what Byakuya's words, but the zanpakuto didn't give him the change to recover and he continued his attack. Ichigo was easily able to dodge the attack thanks to Shirayuki's ability that slows down attacks. Ichigo immediately uses the opening to slash at the zanpakuto who was barely able to dodge the blade but Ichigo was able to break a piece of the zanpakuto's mask. Ichigo could easily tell that the zanpakuto was surprised as he was now able to see his left eye down to his chin. The zanpakuto glared at Ichigo as it held the piece of his mask and he tossed his mask to his side before he grabs his sword and points it at Ichigo.
"You will pay for this Ichigo Kurosaki! I will show my true power and defeat you once and for all without his help! BAN-KAI!" he yells furiously before he turns his sword to the ground and is seemingly disappeared into the ground before a surge of power was unleashed.
Ichigo however, just stood in the flood of spirit energy unimpressed. Shirayuki had telepathically told him that this was Senbonzakura while he was yelling for a moment ago. The reason he was unimpressed was that, even though the amount of energy was just as massive as Byaka's, he felt like this spiritual pressure was more unrefined and unconcentrated then Byaka's spiritual pressure, which was massive, but felt much so heavier and refined than this one. But one thing was for sure, this was definitely Senbonzakura. Ichigo wanted to try something new to test his new powers. As the huge flurry of pink petals rushed toward Ichigo, he seemingly let himself be surrounded by them. Senbonzakura, no longer able to sense Ichigo's spiritual pressure in the mass of petals laughed as he turned to Byakuya. "See that Byakuya! I told you he was weak, I killed him in one shot with my power." As he continued to laugh as he thought he was sure of his victory over Ichigo and that he was better than Byakuya, Byakuya turned his head with a glare towards him before he replied. "You still talk too much for my zanpakuto. Don't get ahead of yourself, there's no way such an unrefined attack even came close to him." Byakuya said coldly.
"He's right you know," said an unharmed Ichigo as he walked behind Senbonzakura before stopping and tilting his head back to look at him with Zabimaru in his right hand. Even Byakuya and Muramasa were surprised that they couldn't sense or even see Ichigo even though he had been looking over there the entire time. However, what concerned Muramasa the most was that Ichigo seemed to be holding a zanpakuto other than Zangetsu. He didn't know where it came from or why he had it in the first place, but it made him uneasy, though he didn't show it again. Ichigo smirked as maniacally as Gin as he could tell that Byakuya and his zanpakuto was totally shocked and confused by his most recent actions. He had even asked Zabimaru telepathically if he could use their blade to be icing on the cake.
Senbonzakura turned to try to attack him again, but Ichigo was so much faster. He had Zabimaru completely coil around his body and the end of the blade was at his throat. "Don't you want to know how I was able to do that? I can tell you're all curious." Ichigo said keeping the smirk on his face. Senbonzakura dropped his sword at his side and it fell to the ground with a soft clanking sound. Ichigo asked Zabimaru if they would release him, but to be ready at any moment.
"Oh! I almost forgot," Ichigo said as he had almost let him free before forgetting the most important part. He reached his hand out to Senbonzakura's forehead before sending a small pulse through it and he thought he was able to dispell the spirit energy controlling him and then had Zabimaru release him.
After Ichigo released Senbonzakura from Zabimaru and they reverted back to their human form. "Hey Gengeta, It's okay for you to release your power. Thanks for your help. You all to come out now!" Called Ichigo looking over the tree line. Byakuya, Senbonzakura, and Muramasa looked to where Ichigo was looking and neither of them could see anyone or even sense any spiritual pressure in that area beside Ichigo's. Then they both felt a huge flurry of many different kinds of spiritual pressures. All of them, with the exception of three of them, felt like Ichigo's while at the same time felt different.
For Byakuya, he didn't know who they were, but he could tell that each of them was extremely powerful and seemed to with Ichigo. He thought this must be the reason that Ichigo has gotten so much stronger.
For Muramasa however, they immediately recognized the other figures as what was once their fellow zanpakuto spirits. Muramasa instinctively took a step back as he could feel the animosity directed towards him from the other zanpakuto that were once under his control. Muramasa felt the need to escape before the situation escalated further, not to mention that he was starting to feel drained and his right eye was bleeding again. He knew that someone had been destroying the mind control spirit energy he had placed in all of the zanpakuto, but he didn't know who was doing it or how. He called to Byakuya and Senbonzakura and said that they had to go. He turned around and used his sword to open a small portal to Hueco Mundo between a small crack in the wall and walk through. Byakuya began to follow Muramasa in when he was stopped by Ichigo's voice.
"Wait, Byakuya! Why are you on Muramasa's side and betraying the Soul Society?" Ichigo called out to him, wanting Byakuya to explain the reasons for his betray to Rukia and the rest of the Soul Society. Byakuya simply glanced back over his shoulder with cold eyes before saying, "It's to uphold my self-respect. Now let's go Senbonzakura." He replied before heading towards the portal expecting Senbonzakura to follow him. However, Senbonzakura stayed right where he was. He looked at Ichigo, Shirayuki, and the other zanpakuto that he knew as his allies. He then looked toward Byakuya and the portal to Hueco Mundo, and now he has a clear head, free from Muramasa's control, he began to think about what Muramasa's plans for the Soul Society and why the other zanpakuto would deliberately be with Ichigo, let alone another soul reaper as their partner. He knew what Muramasa was planning and that it was likely to end in catastrophe.
"I'm not going with you," replied Sanbonzakura. "What did you just say?" said Byakuya as he glared at the zanpakuto who had just refused him. Senbonzakura looked at the ground with his fists clenched and replied, "I said I'm not going with you. I'm going to go with my fellow zanpakuto."
Not many people knew this, but Senbonzakura hated to be alone. Since Byakuya was so uptight, in his opinion, he had kept his distance from everybody, he never got to communicate with of the other zanpakuto or anyone for that matter aside from Shirayuki, whenever Rukia had come to the Kuchiki manor, and whenever Byakuya spoke to him for his own training. When he had initially answered Muramasa's call, he thought that he might finally be able to talk the other Zanpakuto and make some friends. But, slowly, one by one, his zanpakuto started to disappear (to join Ichigo) and he was alone again once Byakuya joined Muramasa.
Even when he tried to talk the zanpakuto who had joined Muramasa, they had avoided him because they thought he was the serious, standoffish, and scary because he always wore his mask. He was inexperienced in talking with other people, so he had always he always came off as serious because he had only spoken in a formal tone. Only Shirayuki would speak to him and she knew what he was really like and she wasn't with Muramasa for very long before she joined Ichigo.
Shirayuki had told Ichigo and the others about Senbonzakura and his issues, so Ichigo had a general idea why he wasn't going with Byakuya. When the other zanpakuto heard this from Shirayuki, they felt kind of bad for him as well as guilty since they were partially at fault for his situation. Ichigo felt bad for the zanpakuto as he knew how and cold feeling alone could be and how hard it could be to deal with that. He felt it when he had lost his mother and a bit whenever someone ran away or beat from him since he looked like a yakuza because he was always scowling and his natural orange hair. He knew that if it wasn't for his friends the other zanpakuto, he would've been faced with similar problems.
"Senbonzaukra, Shirayuki told us about what you're going through. I'm positive I can speak for all of us when I say that we can be your friends and I would be honored if you would join us. If you join us I can guarantee that you will never feel alone anymore." Ichigo said as he held a hand out towards him.
Senbonzakura turned to Ichigo and he saw the other zanpakuto grinning at him with their arms out towards him as well. His visible eye was beginning to tear up as he took a step towards Ichigo and the others.
"So you've decided to join him and abandon your honor and self-respect then?" asked Byakuya said still glaring at him. Senbonzakura turned his head towards Byakuya and then looked down. He was about to say something, but Ichigo walked up and put his hand on his shoulder and walked towards Byakuya.
"Senbonzakura, you should go join them," started Ichigo as he gave a huge, genuine grin as he glanced over his shoulder before he turned to Byakuya with an angry glare that made even Byakuya and Muramasa take a step back instinctively. "As for you Byakuya, I thought that you were better than this. He's not simply your zanpakuto, whose power you can you whenever you feel like anymore! He's his own person now. Why are you treating him like he's still the sword whose power you can use at will? You didn't even try to understand what he was going through. Did you even know what he was going through or even consider him to be anything more than a tool to you?!" Ichigo yelled at Byakuya seething with rage. The other zanpakuto, Zangetsu, and even Ichigo didn't know that Ichigo could get this mad.
(Ichigo's Inner World) {Same time}
Sokyoku was watching from the inside of Ichigo and she could see and hear everything that was happening and she was pissed at this Byakuya's arrogance and pushing his own morals and agenda on the lonely zanpakuto. She could tell that Ichigo was also getting angry for the same reasons she was. She was surprised yet again at how upset he was getting over the other zanpakuto. She knew that he felt a similarity between himself and Senbonzakura as they were both shunned by others, having seen his memories. She felt bad Senbonzakura as he had no one to be there for him, unlike Ichigo that had his friends like Chad, Tatsuki, and Orihime.
While she was thinking this and Ichigo was yelling at Byakuya, she had unknowingly begun connecting her power to Ichigo as both of their feelings towards Byakuya was the exactly the at that moment. was She realized what she had done and quickly severed the connection before she would be forced to completely bind her power to Ichigo. However, a small portion of her power was forced to linger and stay connected to Ichigo. Now that she had calmed down, she once again started to look outside of Ichigo to what was happening.
(Back with Ichigo and the Others)
Ichigo was slightly panting after he had finished yelling and took a deep breath to regain his breath and it also served to calm him down, but he was still looking at Byakuya with fierce eyes. Byakuya looked at Ichigo than at Senbonzakura, he then sighed and turned towards Muramasa and followed Muramasa through the Hueco Muendo portal.
After they left, Ichigo turned towards the others and smiles at them and walks over to them before he suddenly passes out. Shirayuki quickly flash steps over to catch him, before laying him down gently and placing his on her lap. The others ran up to him as they looked at the now sleeping Ichigo. The female zanpakuto all thought about how cute the serenely sleeping Ichigo was. "Don't worry, he just passed out from exhaustion," Shirayuki explained as she began gently running her fingers through his hair. All the other zanpakuto present sighed in relief that it wasn't anything serious.
As the looked at his sleeping form, they realized, aside from that brief rest they had before and after fighting Hyodinmaru, he had been fighting almost non-stop all day. He had first almost died fighting the Sogyoku, where she had later healed the injuries and basically revived him. He then almost immediately had been woken up to find that Soi Fong and Toshiro and told them to call a meeting. On the way there, he had to deal with Muramasa try to take Zangetsu from him. After that, he fought Zabimaru and released her from her the mind control. He then had to carry Renji on his back to the Squad 4 Barracks for the meeting and to get Renji healed. He then had to help patrol the Soul Society for Muramasa and any other rouge mind controlled zanpakuto that were in the area. He had found Gengeta and Omeada fighting and had to finish up the fight with Gengeta. After that, he had chased Honzoki and had to fight him to pass his 'test of power' if you will. Then, he chased the remnants of Byakuya's spirit pressure. He had discovered Tobiume and Haineko fighting each other before he had to fight both of them together. After that, he had to fight Hyodin and save him. He then continued to follow Byakuya's spirit pressure and fight Senbonzakura almost immediately after finding them. Finally, he saved Senbonzakura and was yelling at Byakuya.
Even though he had a massive amount of spirit energy and he had those short rests between some of those fights, they weren't nearly enough to fully restore his spirit energy, but even more than that, his physical fatigue and strain he had put his body through. Even though he was very fit and in his soul form, and he had Hollow's stamina, he was still partially human. His body couldn't keep up with his mind and power. Not to mention, since the Sogyoku is still residing inside him and hadn't bound her power with Ichigo yet her power had to be weighing him down because her power was separate from his. As well as, use some of his power whenever he bound a zanpakuto's power to his own.
Needless to say, they were impressed that he had been conscious for that long while doing all of that. The zanpakuto agreed to return the Squad 4 Barracks to let him rest and have Captian Unohana heal his other minor injuries and cure his fatigue. Zangetsu looked at Ichigo and he noticed something, he felt that that the smallest amount of Sogyoku's spirit energy infused with Ichigo, and he smirked that that went unnoticed by the others.
Meanwhile, the female zanpakuto were arguing about who would carry Ichigo. They were all imagining being able to carry Ichigo bridal style. "I'm going to be the one to carry him!" said Shirayuki as she pulled Ichigo's head closer to her.
"You already giving to give him a lap pillow right now, so give us a chance!" Haineko and Tobiume retorted in sync back at her as they grabbed Ichigo's arm to try to pry him away from Shirayuki.
"Alright, alright, we don't have to fight. Ichigo is going to get hurt with all the pulling you are doing on him so I'll be the one carrying him back." Katen said removing Ichigo from their grasp.
"I want to be the one to carry him though!" Monxie pouted as she tried to grab the now slouched over Ichigo that was in Katen's arm. (She's holding him by his stomach and is hanging over her arms.)
"I carry him," Kyokotsu said simply as she jumped up and snatched him from Katen and was holding him the heavily desired bridal style.
The other Zanpakuto stared at how strange it looked at the small girl carrying Ichigo with ease. All the while, the males sweatdropped watching the girls fight over Ichigo, not wanting to get in the way, in fear that they may become collateral damage in their fight.
Shiro looked over at Suzu, in her human-sized form, who was just sitting on a rock watching them argue, laughing to herself all the while. "I'm surprised aren't you arguing with the others over Ichigo," he commented at the black and yellow dressed girl. She stopped laughing and looked over at Shiro and grinned. "I don't have to because no matter who wins that argument, I still win," replied Suzu. When he tilted his head slightly and was about to ask how she would win no matter what she answered. "Because I can ride on top of Ichigo, no matter who carries him. So I get to be close to him no matter the outcome of the argument." Suzu stated. Shiro was surprised that she had actually thought of that plan, as it was a plan that only Suzu can do with her small form.
Hyodinmaru worked up the courage to finally step in and grabbed Ichigo from Kyokotsu's arms and looked at the girls with an icy cold glare. "Your yelling is just wasting time and Ichigo is not able to sleep well because of it," Hyodin said as he placed Ichigo in his arms bridal style, much to the jealousy of the female zanpakuto, excluding Suzu. All the zanpakuto gazed at how elegant the scene looked that was Hyodin carrying the sleeping Ichigo looked. As Hyodin turned and started to walk away from them, Suzu had flown, over to Ichigo's chest and lied down. This didn't go unnoticed by the other females they and grumbled in jealousy at Suzu and Hyodin before beginning to follow Hyodin. The other males sighed and followed them, but they all though how tough Ichigo must have it, having to deal with the feelings of 7 females that were clearly attracted to him.
Phew, finally finished this chapter. Guys, that's it for chapter 19. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please tell me what else you would like this fanfic. I am open to any reviews and suggestions for later chapters as usual. I'm sorry for being SUPER LATE on this chapter. I'm going to try to get the next one out a lot sooner than last time. I'm going to try to make the 'Next Chapter' previews less descriptive so I can make the lengths more flexible without having the story be exactly as long as the preview would have the next chapter entail. Many times, I have found that trying to make the chapter fit everything that I had said I would have at the end of the previous chapter. And because of it I kept procrastinating on doing it. NEXT CHAPTER: A big battle begins and a lot of zanpakuto will be joining Ichigo. The Reaping KNight signing off for now, and I'll see you, in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!
