Anyone remember when this was still a oneshot?

Part 11

Zangetsu was only partially aware of what Ichigo was doing. The orange-haired teenager was walking through the warehouse district, searching for where the Visored were currently hiding out. As Zangetsu had expected, the Visored had continued to be—or were still—cryptic bastards and hadn't just given Ichigo the direct address.

Because that would be far too convenient, apparently.

Instead of paying full attention to his wielder, Zangetsu was busy ripping Ichigo's inner world to shreds. Not for the sole purpose of destroying the skyscrapers, of course (though it was immensely satisfying to see the herculean structures come crashing to the ground with a roar that shook the very air), but to practice his attacks. He had already released shikai—but he wasn't going to release bankai, hell no—and his most recent white-and-red Getsuga Tenshō cut through the nearest building so cleanly that the skyscraper's upper half actually slid a few meters with the sound of metal screeching against metal before the entire structure crumbled.

Control had always been a large issue for Zangetsu and Ichigo, but during the war the hollow had figured out how to refine his Getsuga Tenshō so that it was more like an extension of his blade than a simple energy attack. He could still send raging crescents of energy, but in a fight it was invaluable to be able to simply extend the reach of his weapon and potentially burn his opponent at the same time.

It had taken weeks to perfect, but when he did, Ichigo had been that much more effective in the war.

"You're far too loud for this place," the Old Man commented dryly, standing a few meters away from Zangetsu. The hollow glanced at his Quincy partner before charging up another attack, refining and focusing his power so that he could reach the skyscraper that had been behind the other.

"If ya have a problem, go somewhere else."

"The noise carries to wherever I go."

"Cry me a river."

Zangetsu released the attack and watched with satisfaction as it blasted the building to smithereens while the shockwave blew his hair away from his face and nearly forced the hollow to take a step back. Once the chaos had subsided, Zangetsu held the cleaver out and pushed the trench blade into it in a clearly practiced motion. The two blades merged, and as the hollow portion of the cleaver blade filled and became whole the blade itself shrank and lightened until nothing but a regular sealed blade remained. Zangetsu promptly sheathed the blade on his back.

"Ya came here ta talk about somethin else," said Zangetsu, fully facing the other Zangetsu and crossing his arms. "So talk."

"You told Ichigo that you were from the future."

Zangetsu nodded, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"I am curious. If you returned from the future and remained the source of Ichigo's Shinigami abilities, what happened to the source of Ichigo's Quincy powers?"

Zangetsu cocked his head to one side, regarding the Old Man with a disturbingly hard-to-read gaze. "Ya were severely weakened in the fight against Yhwach. Ya barely survived, and that forced Ichigo ta rely more on me for the fight against Aizen."

"Ichigo targeted the Quincy before he did Aizen?"

"'Course." Zangetsu blew out a breath. "Aizen took a backseat and went inta hidin when the Quincys showed up. He knew when he and his arrancar were outclassed. He took the time while we were fightin the Quincy ta get stronger."

"I see." The Old Man closed his eyes, his expression flickering with slight pain. "So I was unable to protect Ichigo when it mattered most."

"Nah."

The Old Man's eyes widened. "What?"

Zangetsu waved a hand in the air, turning away. "Ya heard me. Nah," he repeated with special emphasis. "King could still use yer techniques when he got inta a bind. Yer Blut Arterie was what allowed him ta defeat Aizen. Without that boost, Aizen coulda recovered.

"So don't do that broodin thing I know ya were gonna do." Zangetsu rolled his shoulders and cracked his back, the very picture of relaxed. "Now, if ya don't mind, I have ta help King not get his head sliced off by a punch of paranoid motherfuckers."

The Old Man's expression gradually returned to its typical neutral state. "I appreciate your words."

"Tch. Whatever, Old Man."

Zangetsu closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing on Ichigo's consciousness before opening them again.

"Ya ready, King?" The Zanpakutō knew his words would reach his wielder.

"No, I'm having a great time getting my ass kicked by some pint-sized shrimp. Take your time!"

The last word was accentuated with a dull pain forming in Zangetsu's stomach that felt suspiciously like the result of a kick to the abdomen. "Wow. Yer pathetic."

"You wouldn't let me release shikai!"

"'Cause I'll come in when ya do that. So do it."

"Not before you tell me why I feel so damn slow. Nothing feels right."

"Ah. That's 'cause I've been forcin ya ta subconsciously shake off my attempts at control. Right now, yer right eye should be black and gold."

Ichigo was silent for a moment, his mind filled with thoughts of battle.

"All right, fine. Just try not to kill anyone."

A moment later, Zangetsu felt a brief tug on the core of his being as Ichigo no doubt released his Zanpakutō. With a grin, Zangetsu closed his eyes and reached for Ichigo's consciousness, pulling it out of control and easily taking its place. Ichigo put up a pretense of resistance so that the Visored would sense the fluctuations in his Reiatsu before fading to the background, waiting for Zangetsu's signal.

Zangetsu, meanwhile, let out a deranged-sounding laugh as he allowed his hollow Reiatsu to explode out from Ichigo's body, making the people in the warehouse wince with its density and power.

Hiyori was standing six meters away, pulling her mask back over her face while she scoffed. "Pathetic," she said, her mask making her voice sound double-toned much like Zangetsu's. "He didn't last five minutes."

"Actually," drawled a blond-haired man who was crouched on one of the upper levels of the warehouse, "he lasted for almost six."

Hiyori let out a growl. "Shut up, Shinji!"

Zangetsu let out another laugh. "Ignoring me?" He asked, the crazed grin on his face and the insanity lurking in his eyes directed towards everyone in the warehouse at once. "How rude. Maybe I should kill you and force you to pay attention!"

The hollow gave Hiyori no time to react as he darted forward, having already sheathed the trench blade to give him a free hand. That hand promptly closed around a startled Hiyori's throat and slammed the smaller girl into a convenient wall, choking her.

Zangetsu's expression became cruel as he tightened his grip.

"Careful," Ichigo warned, lingering wariness in his tone. He still hadn't entirely forgotten what had happened with Byakuya.

Zangetsu sent a wave of reassurance—because he'd be damned if he lost control again for such a stupid reason—and tried to ignore the rush of satisfaction that flooded his veins when the black fled from Hiyori's eyes and her mask cracked and crumbled into Reishi.

The hollow then jumped back, releasing his hold on the Visored as the rest of the group closed in on him, nearly pinning him to the ground.

"You're fast," Kensei observed. "But not fast enough."

"Che." Zangetsu unsheathed his trench blade just in time to block a sudden attack from Lisa before leaping up to avoid a follow-up from Love. "Too slow!" Zangetsu went to attack the now-open Hiyori—while giving the impression that he was going to finish her off—but he let himself get kicked in the side by Shinji and sent to the ground.

"You're done," declared Shinji, planting a foot in Zangetsu's back and levering his Zanpakutō against Zangetsu's mask. An instant later, the Visored shattered that mask.

Zangetsu composed his expression into one of shock and slight pain – because having his mask broken hurt – before letting Ichigo take over again.

"Nice acting, Zangetsu."

The hollow landed on a skyscraper in Ichigo's inner world, a manic smile plastered on his features. "Thanks. Now try not ta fuck things up, King!"

Zangetsu spent the time it took for Ichigo to "train" with the Visored to get ready to defeat his inner hollow by destroying more buildings and ignoring the Old Man's disapproving glares. Occasionally, the hollow felt the need to check his back just to make sure there were no twin burn marks.

He wouldn't even be surprised if a Quincy arrow somehow found its way into his back at some point.

At least the Visored seemed to have bought Zangetsu's act. Though they seemed surprised that Zangetsu had demonstrated signs of higher intelligence and even spoken, they hadn't brought it up besides a passing mention. Though Shinji often sent Ichigo considering looks, ones that even Zangetsu was hard-pressed to interpret.

But the Visored leader was as trustworthy as he was suspicious and underhanded, and while Shinji was incredibly smart he was not a man without morals. He'd accepted Ichigo, and as far as Zangetsu was concerned, that was all that mattered. After all, the Visored protected their own.

So when Shinji tried to knock Ichigo out with that odd sensory-scrambling technique like he had in the original timeline, Zangetsu had to suppress a fit of laughter when Ichigo merely staggered back, cursing and rubbing his eyes while fighting back a rising tide of nausea.

Zangetsu's laughter could no longer be suppressed when Ichigo's vision cleared and Zangetsu could see the shocked expression on Shinji's face.

His laugher died when Kensei's hand expertly made contact with Ichigo's neck and knocked the substitute Shinigami out cold.

"Wow," said Zangetsu, turning to look at where Ichigo had appeared in his inner world with a grin, the orange-haired teens scowl aptly communicating his irritation. "Ya didn't even try ta stop them."

"I had no reason to," retorted Ichigo, standing straight and cracking his neck with a wince, his nausea gone. "You said that I needed to let them do it yourself!"

"It was still pathetic."

"Good thing I don't care. Now, are we going to fight or what?"

"Depends on whether yer ready ta get yer ass kicked or not."

"I would say the same condition applies to you."

"Tch. Shut up and draw yer sword, King."

Ichigo did so and then glanced around. "What's with all the dust and destroyed buildings?"

"I was practicin some stuff."

"Right." Zangetsu had to give Ichigo credit—the substitute Shinigami didn't even look fazed by the destruction around him. "Let's get on with it, then."

Zangetsu raised an eyebrow, impressed despite himself that Ichigo had not reacted in the slightest to the aftermath of his power. Normal opponents would have probably balked upon seeing the destruction Zangetsu could wreak, but Ichigo had not. He had continued with his challenge and faced it without trepidation. He hadn't even hesitated.

That was respectable.

"Use yer instincts, King," Zangetsu warned, adjusting the grip he had on his blade. "Or things are gonna get very unpleasant for ya."

"Noted."

Zangetsu realized that Ichigo had that look in his eye, the one that he had often had during the war—a look of complete determination with single-minded focus. The hollow grinned wider.

Well, King, he thought, let's tear the sky asunder!

When the two fighters clashed, the shockwave dispersed the remaining dust clouds. Zangetsu pressed down harder on the cleaver, using his other blade to counter Ichigo's. Ichigo's own strength came to bear against Zangetsu's, and the substitute Shinigami quickly found that it was a losing battle.

Ichigo grit his teeth and then abruptly kicked Zangetsu's smaller sword on the flat of the blade, knocking it to one side. Zangetsu immediately moved to counter but he hadn't seen the silent Getsuga Tenshō charging in Ichigo's cleaver blade.

"Getsuga Tenshō!" Ichigo shouted, releasing the energy pent up in the larger sword. Zangetsu cursed, leaping back as the swelling bubble of energy rapidly eclipsed his previous position. The hollow had no doubt that Ichigo had gotten out of range too; it was his attack, after all, and it was far too early in the fight to use a technique that ran the risk of injuring its user.

"C'mon, King!" Zangetsu called, casting out his senses to find Ichigo. "I know you've got more skill than that!"

"You're damn right I do!"

Zangetsu spun and brought up his blades in a block just in time to block a downward strike from Ichigo's Khyber blade. The hollow disengaged his smaller sword in time to block Ichigo's and then quickly spun, knocking Ichigo back and switching his grip on the smaller blade to the cloth material that wrapped around the grip and hung off it. Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he quickly loosed another Getsuga Tenshō. The attack seethed with energy but Zangetsu batted it aside with his cleaver, taking pleasure in the power behind the crescent of energy. Ichigo was certainly no weakling, but he was still wasting far too much Reiatsu without realizing it in each of his attacks.

The Zanpakutō spirit quickly spun and threw his smaller blade, automatically extending the length of the cloth as the sword flew at Ichigo's head. The substitute Shinigami stepped to one side and moved to retaliate, only to find that Zangetsu had shunpoed in front of him and swept sideways with his cleaver. Ichigo desperately blocked, but upon seeing the grin on Zangetsu's face his eyes widened in realization.

Ichigo jumped back, but not in time to completely avoid the blade that Zangetsu had tugged back into his grip. The trench knife dug deep gash in his side, dripping blood. Ichigo glanced at it and scowled before tearing off some of the cloth on his own sword and rapidly binding the wound to slow the bleeding.

"Don't lose your focus!" Zangetsu called mockingly, spinning his blade once more as he charged it with energy.

"You don't have to worry about that!" Ichigo retorted, finishing and bringing his blades to bear once more.

The two clashed in a dizzying display of swordsmanship, with Zangetsu favoring a berserker style that used a speed Ichigo couldn't hope to match. The orange-haired teen countered that speed with his own reaction times, relying on his agility and tactics to try to avoid getting disemboweled.

Zangetsu's expression became annoyed as Ichigo hesitated for a fraction of a second before dodging Zangetsu's cleaver and jumping back. The hesitation hadn't been much – a normal swordsman may not have been able to capitalize on it – but Zangetsu was extraordinarily skilled and the opening had been enough for him to score a shallow cut across Ichigo's chest.

"Yer gonna have ta move faster than that, Ichigo," warned Zangetsu, spinning his larger sword by the cloth for a few moments. "Ya can't hesitate like that in a fight!" He then caught the sword and swung it down, generating a powerful and refined Getsuga Tenshō that brimmed with barely restrained energy.

Ichigo set himself to deflect the attack, but he quickly realized that it was too strong for that. Instead, he went to Shunpo out of the way, only to realize that Zangetsu had used Sonido and appeared right next to him. The hollow sent Ichigo flying back with a savage kick, keeping Ichigo in the path of the Getsuga Tenshō. Ichigo was struck with little time to brace himself and Zangetsu watched with a grim expression on his face as Ichigo was slammed into a nearby building. The impact of the follow-up Getsuga Tenshō created a rather large cloud of dust, preventing Zangetsu from seeing the aftermath of his attack.

The hollow leaped to one side as a Getsuga Jūjishō ripped through the space he had just occupied and went on to destroy a skyscraper. Ichigo had followed his attack, however, and he quickly threw his Khyber blade at Zangetsu, directing it with the cloth attached to its hilt. Zangetsu had taught the move to Ichigo while training him for Soul Society, but there was a large weakness to the technique. If the opponent could overwhelm the attacker's Reiatsu for even just a moment, the cloth wrapped around the hilt could be broken.

Zangetsu deflected the blade with his own and then brought his smaller sword down on the cloth, severing it with quite a bit of effort. Ichigo was getting stronger and stronger.

Ichigo vanished with Shunpo, reappeared next to the falling sword, and grabbed it while twisting and l unleashing another Getsuga Tenshō at Zangetsu with his trench knife. The hollow countered it with one of his own and his that quickly overpowered Ichigo's, forcing the orange-haired teen to once more use Shunpo to dodge.

Zangetsu grinned. "Stop lookin so serious, King! Let's have some fun!"

Ichigo's eyes widened in the instant that Zangetsu disappeared with Sonido and he automatically leaped back, but not in time to completely avoid Zangetsu's swing. The white cleaver tore through Ichigo's Shihakushō and scored a deep cut along his chest that crossed the shallow one from earlier. Blood instantly filled the wound and Ichigo winced, getting distance between himself and Zangetsu once more.

The hollow didn't allow Ichigo any space. He chased the substitute Shinigami relentlessly, gradually increasing his speed and the power behind his strikes. Zangetsu could feel Ichigo's arms trembling with each impact, his legs buckling even as he tried to counter.

Even with his life in danger—much to Zangetsu's frustration—Ichigo still seemed to be unwilling to tap into the instincts that Zangetsu knew rested in his core. Therefore, the hollow didn't let up in his assault, making full use of both his blades but still limiting his power and speed. He didn't want to accidentally kill his king, after all.

Ichigo grimaced as he felt his defense crumbling and he quickly executed a complicated series of Shunpo steps that successfully got him behind Zangetsu.

The hollow grinned, flipping his cleaver into a reverse grip and deflecting Ichigo's attack, which would have severed his spine. Ichigo didn't flinch, instead stabbing his trench blade with the intention of hitting exposed area of Zangetsu's back.

Zangetsu parried the strike and twisted around, flipping back to his regular grip with ease and pressing Ichigo back once more. The substitute Shinigami was ready for the attack this time, however, and he successfully countered by releasing a sudden Getsuga Tenshō that forced Zangetsu back for a fraction of a second. Taking advantage of the split-second pause, Ichigo charged a far more powerful Getsuga Tenshō and released it with a wordless roar.

The blue crescent was easily three times Ichigo's height and twice his width. Zangetsu scowled when he realized he would be forced to dodge the attack and he did so, hearing the energy attack crash into the skyscraper he and Ichigo had been fighting on.

Ichigo went to attack but he paused when a mighty groaning noise pierced the air. His gaze slowly went past Zangetsu, his eyes widening in horror when he realized that the skyscraper he had just launched a Getsuga Tenshō at was now tilting dangerously off center.

Zangetsu noticed it as well in that moment and he began to step back, but then the building's metal supports screeched in protest as the gargantuan structure began to topple, debris and metal shards and glass fragments falling down as Substitute Shinigami and Zanpakutō spirit found themselves right in the path of the toppling building.

A/N Last update for a little while. I've suddenly got a lot on my plate but I'll do what I can.

Reviews:

Krazyfanfiction1: Maybe you just forgot to follow this story or something.

enjali: Yes.

Heavenly God: Aizen's dead.

Harbinger Of Kaos: Yes, Harribel and Starrk are alive.

chibissima: Surviving Espada: Starrk, Harribel, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow. Most of the Fraccion are alive as well.

Crimson Homura: Uh, yeah. Don't do the bankai thing - it sounds painful. For me.

T51b Moridin: (I'm just gonna try to answer the questions from all of your reviews) The Quincy Blood War arc isn't complete and it's too complicated for me at the moment which is why I won't touch it right now, I'm doing the Amagai arc as well as the movies (I think) but not the Bount arc, details about the previous timeline will emerge as time goes by, and in Zangetsu's timeline things went as they did in Canon up until Ichigo confronts Aizen in Soul Society; that's when things go to absolute shit. Ichigo and friends fight Aizen for a year or two, the Quincy show up, Aizen reemerges as the Quincy are losing (during that time Ichigo is captured and tortured by Aizen), and then you have the events previously described by Zangetsu. Hope that helps.

Man, you guys review a lot. It's awesome. Maybe I can get this story to be one of the more popular Bleach stories, eh? (If I could just improve my writing . . . )

Until next time,

-RoR

Please review.