DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN BLEACH. Additionally, some content in this chapter may not be suitable for young readers. Read at your own discretion.

"So… you're a manifestation of all of my negative feelings." Ichigo's voice was dull and emotionless.

"Hahahaha! That's right!" hollow Ichigo cackled sadistically. "Were you afraid? Angry? Guilty? All these feelings just feed my existence, allowing me to gain strength. And finally, once I get strong enough, I can take over this body!" The hollow licked his lips. "Imagine how much fun I could have with the Queen if I were to ever take control… Ah, I can't wait! It's just a matter of time before you become weak and I become strong!"

Ichigo stood, wiping away the few tears that had trickled from his eyes when he was reminded of his mother's death. The thought of what this hollow could do with Rukia, the 'Queen' no doubt, chilled his blood. "Like hell am I gonna let you do that, hollow. You're gonna stay right here, in my inner world, where you can't harm anyone. I'll make sure of that."

"Ha! You think you can do that? You think you're strong enough to beat me, the way you are now? Look around you!" The hollow spread its arms wide, gesturing to the skyscraper-filled world, which was now pouring rain. "Don't you see how rainy it is? Don't you get what that means?" It saw Ichigo's puzzled expression and cackled again. "Really? You're trying to tell me that you've mastered bankai and yet still don't know what it means if your inner world is raining like this? You're more stupid than I thought!" Suddenly, a white katana, the inverse of Ichigo's sealed zanpakutou, appeared in the hollow's right hand. "Killing you and taking control of your body is going to be easier than I thought!"

The hollow sprang at Ichigo, slashing at his head with the blade. Instinctively, Ichigo's hand went to his back. In a flash, he had his own sealed zanpakutou in his hand, blocking the attack. Sparks flew in the rain as the two, Ichigo and his inner hollow, clashed over and over. Gradually, Ichigo felt himself weaken, while if anything the hollow got even stronger. Panting, with sweat dripping down his cheek and mingling with the rain, Ichigo blocked a flurry of wild slashes from the hollow. While it didn't have the grace and peerless swordsmanship of Byakuya, or the raw killing intent and reiatsu of Kenpachi, somehow the hollow was still beating him.

That's right, Ichigo remembered. My body's capabilities are majorly affected by the condition of my inner world. Since it's all rainy and depressing, that must mean that my very soul is weak. I can't beat him like this! Ichigo gritted his teeth, pushing back the hollow's inverted blade. Pulsing his reiatsu into his zanpakutou, he wordlessly released his shikai. Opposite him, the hollow did the same.

"Looks like you're ready to fight seriously now, King," the hollow mocked.

Ichigo glared at the hollow furiously. "You're damn right I am, you fucking hollow," he said, anger and rage causing his blood to roar in his ears.

"You're a fool, King! All your anger only fuels my strength. You're just handicapping yourself now! But if that's how you wanna fight, I'm not complaining! I'll take over this body and put you in your place!" The hollow charged forward, slashing fiercely at Ichigo. Goading him, the hollow cackled, "How do you hope to protect all your loved ones if you don't have control over your own body, huh?"

Ichigo stiffened. "Ooh, struck a nerve there, did I, King?" the hollow laughed, still striking at Ichigo from all angles. Sparks flew in the rain as Ichigo swung his shikai cleaver, deflecting and blocking the strikes.

"Are you threatening my comrades, hollow?" Ichigo questioned, regaining his calm. He realized that, as the hollow had said, his anger was only strengthening his enemy and clouding his judgment. Without waiting for the hollow to respond, Ichigo counterattacked, slashing swiftly at its head with a horizontal slash, strengthened by his reiatsu. "I don't care if you threaten my well-being, but when you threaten the safety of those close to me…" he began a furious assault, slashing and cutting expertly, exploiting the hollow's every weakness and opening, "you've crossed the line."

The hollow's black and gold eyes widened in surprise as it desperately attempted to fend off Ichigo's relentless onslaught. Leaping back from a slash that would have cut him in half at the waist, it swore as Ichigo gripped his shikai with both hands, holding in high above his head. "BANKAI!" The water pooling at their feet exploded into the air, vaporizing at the massive column of blue reiatsu pouring off Ichigo's body, which was now clad in the black shirt, overcoat, slacks, and combat boots of his bankai outfit. The blade he held over his head in a kendo stance was now black as night and glittered in the rain with a deadly elegance. "Tensa Kage Zangetsu." Black reiatsu pulsed angrily around the blade, and the hollow cursed, scrambling to release its own bankai. But it was too late. "Getsuga Tenshou!" The massive boomerang of energy from Ichigo's swing smashed into the hollow and through several buildings, leaving destruction and devastation in its wake.

Ichigo looked into the rubble of the skyscraper impassively. "Are you done yet?"

Coughing, the hollow pushed its way out from underneath a slab of concrete. A massive jagged wound from the Getsuga Tenshou ran from shoulder to hip, bleeding profusely. It collapsed on top of the rubble and glared up at Ichigo. "Che. For now, King. For now. But trust me, every time you're feeling sad, or guilty, or angry, any time you have any negative emotions, I'll be ready to take this body. This isn't over, King. Not by a long shot." The hollow slowly faded from view until all that was left was a pile of rubble.

Ichigo sighed in relief and looked up at the sky. The rain was beginning to let up. "The physical manifestation of my negative emotions, huh?" he said to himself. "Fuck… this is gonna be inconvenient… I wonder how long I've been in here… I guess they're all gonna be worried. I probably just collapsed randomly. I should get back soon."

#

Rukia saw a slight movement out of the corner of her eye. She whipped around to look at Ichigo's prone figure lying on the bed. "Ichigo…" she breathed in relief as she saw his eyelids flutter slightly.

"Urgh… Rukia?" Ichigo said, blinking in confusion as he looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Oh… I'm in the Fourth division…"

"Do you remember what happened?" Rukia asked in concern. "You blacked out suddenly. We were all so worried!"

Ichigo rubbed his head sheepishly. "Ehehe, sorry about that. My zanpakutou had a new technique he wanted to show me…" This was the lie that he had decided that he would tell everyone. It wouldn't do at this point, when they were at war against Aizen and the hollows, for the Gotei 13 to discover that one of their own captains had a hollow inside their soul. "How long was I out?"

Rukia smacked him in the back of the head, causing him to shout indignantly, "OI! There's a reason I'm lying here in bed in the Fourth division, you know that!"

He was cut off by Rukia wrapping him in a warm hug. Ichigo was startled when he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "You were unconscious for two weeks, Ichigo. I'm so glad you're awake. You had everyone so worried! Even nii-sama visited you."

"Two weeks, huh? Shit. Rukia… I don't know how to apologize for this."

"It's okay, Ichigo. As long as you're here, you don't need to apologize."

Ichigo grinned up at her. Reaching up, he captured her lips in his. He whispered, "I'm glad you see it that way." The two lost themselves with each other, and all was right in the world.

#

"Eh? Toushiro's in the world of the living on a mission? What sort of mission could merit a captain's presence?" Ichigo wondered, pacing in the foundry in the Twelfth division. Urahara looked at his captain.

"I heard that there were a large number of strange deaths. I heard from the shinigami stationed there that even though so many people were dying, there were no souls. I think Yamamoto-soutaicho suspects that a hollow may be behind all these people dying. The hollow might be consuming their souls, which would explain why no souls were found."

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair. He stopped pacing, his back turned to Urahara. "Hey, geta-boushi. Where are the Visoreds hiding in the living world?" He heard a slight gasp from Urahara, and continued. "What I'm about to tell you must never leave this room until the time comes. I hope you understand the need for secrecy regarding this matter, Urahara-fukutaicho."

Urahara knew that Ichigo was serious if he was addressing him by his formal title. "I'm listening, Kurosaki-taicho."

"In my fight against Aizen on the Soukyoku Hill, he injected me with something after hitting me with a high-level kidou. He said, and I quote his exact wording, 'I've been wanting to try out this particular formula for a while. You'll make the perfect test subject.' Afterwards, I blacked out from my injuries. Initially, Unohana-taicho was unable to find anything wrong with me. Even a few weeks after I was injected, nothing happened. However, the day I collapsed while testing out the kidou gun, I was dragged into my inner world. There, I fought and defeated an… entity, for the lack of a better term, that claimed it was a 'physical manifestation' of my negative emotions. It also claimed that it was my inner hollow. I don't know enough about the Visoreds and the technicalities behind their situations with their own inner hollows to understand if mine is any different."

Urahara took off his bucket hat and scratched his blond hair absentmindedly. "That's a very interesting story you've got there, Kurosaki-taicho. I've interacted with the Visoreds quite a bit, and I've never heard them talk about their inner hollow as a manifestation of anything. My guess is that Aizen's refined his hollowfication formula slightly. From what I've heard from the Visoreds, their inner hollow were simply forced into their souls. The Visoreds essentially have a hollow soul residing within their shinigami soul. However, from what you've said, whatever Aizen injected you with has awoken the part of your soul that has hollowish tendencies."

Ichigo stopped his pacing. "So what you're trying to say is that since hollows are basically the antitheses of shinigami, each and every shinigami has a part of their souls that has 'hollowish tendencies,' as you said. It would make sense, then. Those souls that have high reiatsu often hollowfy if they remain in the world of the living too long and their chains erode. In a situation like that, it's their hollow part of their soul that awakens, rather than the shinigami part?" Ichigo paused, lost in thought. "Or perhaps a soul tends towards the hollow half, which is why souls hollowfy rather than become shinigami in the world of the living." He snapped his fingers, turning to Urahara. "Geta-boushi, the hollows have a realm to themselves, don't they?"

Urahara nodded slowly, understanding where Ichigo was heading in his deduction. "Yes. Hueco Mundo, the realm of the hollows. That is where hollows go when they form from souls in the world of the living."

"In that case, my guess is that there is something with the conditions that the Soul Society exists in which prevents a soul from hollowfying. There have been no records of souls becoming hollows without outside influence within the Soul Society itself, so that must be it. The reiatsu of the Soul Society suppresses the part of the soul that tends towards hollowfication, allowing the soul to retain its original form. Then, when those souls with high reiatsu enter Seireitei and the academy, their shinigami sides awaken and are trained. Then the formula Aizen injected me with awakened the hollow half of my soul, which is now clashing against the shinigami half, since they are opposites by nature." Ichigo frowned. "Then this has something to do with the Hougyoku, which he claimed can blur the line between hollow and shinigami. The Hougyoku that was hidden inside Rukia's soul was your Hougyoku, wasn't it, Urahara?"

Urahara nodded. "That is correct. So the logical conclusion is that, if Aizen managed to inject you with such a formula, that he had a Hougyoku of his own, probably based off research he stole from me."

Ichigo cursed. "What would happen if he were to combine the Hougyoku? According to the records you left behind, your own Hougyoku seemed incomplete. If Aizen were to combine the two Hougyoku…" Ichigo paled. "He could create full arrancar, by taking a hollow and awakening its shinigami side. If the hollow side and shinigami side were able to cooperate, Aizen would create the ultimate hybrid. This is really not good."

Urahara mused, "So Aizen used you as his first experiment using that formula on a shinigami. I have no doubt that he's already tried it on hollow, creating pseudo-arrancar at the least. If the dominant half of the soul is the shinigami half, I wonder how it would differ than if the hollow half were dominant."

"I guess I had better train to subdue the hollow side then, right? No… not subdue. After all, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. If I simply fight and subdue the hollow, as the Visoreds did, I would be simply a shinigami with a hollow in my soul. But if I merge the two parts of my soul, shinigami and hollow…" Ichigo spun on his heel, heading out of the foundry and into the lab. "I have to run some tests. The possibilities of the amount of power one could gain if they fully merged the shinigami and hollow halves of their soul is endless. We have to get a head start on this research before Aizen can! If he can create full arrancar and have them merge with the shinigami side, this war will be lost before it can even begin!"

He walked out of the foundry. Holding the door open behind him, he called back to Urahara, "Aren't you coming, geta-boushi? After all, this is the perfect chance to research hat you weren't able to a hundred years ago." Urahara grinned. He was going to enjoy this.

"Oh, and Akon-san!" Ichigo called. The third seat appeared behind the captain and vice-captain, head bowed in respect.

"Yes, Kurosaki-taicho?"

"If you go into the foundry, I've left some plans for a few more kidou guns. I would like them completed to the exact specifications that I've mentioned in the blueprints, as soon as possible. There are a few more people that I have to express my gratitude towards."

Akon bowed. "Yes, Kurosaki-taicho!" He turned to summon a few other members of the Research and Development Institute to help him in the task.

"And, Akon-san?"

"Yes, Kurosaki-taicho?"

"Call me Ichigo."

#

Ichigo rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily as he looked down at the test results he had gathered. "What've you got, Urahara?" he asked his vice-captain, who was busy jotting down notes and looking at the small screen on the side of a strange-looking machine. "Well, the reiatsu resonance reading is quite… interesting. After five tests, the average resonance is 2.3746 spirit meters. Compared to the resonance of a normal shinigami, that's almost a whole spirit meter lower. In fact, right now it's somewhere between the resonance of a shinigami and a hollow, though it's still leaning quite heavily towards shinigami reiatsu."

Ichigo nodded. "So my theory was correct. The soul is in fact split into two parts, shinigami and hollow."

"The test results confirm it," Urahara said.

"Then this means that I have to hurry and merge with my hollow before Aizen is able to create full arrancar."

"That would probably be the wisest course of action, Ichigo."

"We can't tell anyone else about these results, Urahara. We can let the captains know about Aizen's plan to create arrancar, but we can't tell them about my inner hollow. Not until we can gather enough evidence to bring the Visoreds out of exile. At this point, they'll never accept the fact that a shinigami and a hollow could work in conjunction. Countless centuries of seeing hollows as enemies will cause them to be blinded to the truth. We need proceed slowly from here." Ichigo took the test results and burned them to ashes with a quick kidou spell. "I'll leave you to clean up here, Urahara. I have to give some more gifts to certain people.

Urahara nodded. "Of course, Kurosaki-taicho. You can count on me." Ichigo left with a flash-step, leaving Urahara looking at the screen readout pensively.

#

"Kurosaki-taicho to see you, Kuchiki-sama!" The servant bowed to Kuchiki Byakuya, who sat in his manor sipping a cup of tea.

"Thank you. Let him in and leave us," the noble said quietly. The servant bowed again and gestured into the room. The familiar orange-haired captain entered, and he quickly backed out, sliding the door shut behind him.

"Good afternoon, Kuchiki-taicho," Ichigo greeted as he sat down opposite the noble.

Byakuya returned the greeting. "Kurosaki-taicho. To what do I the pleasure of this visit?

Ichigo withdrew a cloth-wrapped package from his haori. "After seeing you test out the kidou gun I made for your vice-captain, I decided to create several more for certain individuals. You are one of them." He unwrapped the cloth, revealing a sleek black handgun, not a revolver like Renji's, but rather a semi-automatic. "This is based from the human SIG Sauer P226. The cartridges currently fire only shakkahou, but you can load them yourself with whatever kidou spell you wish. All you have to do is charge the spell, concentrate it, and put it into stasis with geki. You seal the cartridge with a small burst of reiatsu. I assume you know how to load a pistol magazine?"

Byakuya nodded. He picked up the handgun, examining it with a practiced eye. He racked the slide, peering down the inside of the barrel from the chamber. Ichigo placed a box on the tea table, and Byakuya opened it. Picking up a slim black magazine loaded with shakkahou rounds, he slid the magazine into the pistol's grip. With a click, the slide smoothly slid forward, pushing a round into the chamber. Byakuya flipped the switch on the side to safe and ejected the magazine. Cocking back the slide, he caught the round as it flipped out of the chamber. Replacing the round in the magazine, he placed everything onto the table.

"You have my gratitude, Kurosaki-taicho. Your creation is truly a thing of beauty and convenience. With these, one can fire multiple kidou in a short amount of time without exhausting one's reiatsu." Byakuya nodded approvingly. "Well done." He glanced back at Ichigo, who had a slight smile on his face. "Was there anything else you wanted?"

"Actually, there was," Ichigo said. "I would like your permission to take your sister to the world of the living for a day. I have already obtained permission from Yamamoyo-soutaicho for a day off, and I just need your permission to take Rukia on a 'date,' as we call them in the world of the living."

Byakuya smirked slightly. "And this gift was incentive for me to give you that permission?"

Ichigo chuckled. "Of course not, Kuchiki-taicho. It is simply a gift from a friend to a friend. Of course, there is that added bonus."

Byakuya also chuckled slightly. "You are certainly a clever one, Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Clever? I'm offended, Byakuya. You know very well that I'm a certified genius." He clutched his heart, feigning offense.

Byakuya waved his hand dismissively. "Technicalities, Kurosaki. Clever, genius, I see no difference. Very well. You have my permission to take Rukia to the world of the living for a day."

Standing, Ichigo bowed to the noble. "Thank you, Byakuya. I will see you soon then." Turning, he opened the sliding door. Halfway through the door, he turned. "Oh, and Byakuya?"

The noble looked up from his cup of tea again. "Yes?"

"Please, call me Ichigo."

#

"Ah, Ichigo-kun! Please, come in!" Ukitake waved from his desk as Ichigo entered slowly, shutting the door quietly behind him. "How can I help you today?"

"Good morning, Ukitake-taicho," Ichigo said politely.

"Please, call me Juushiro!" the white-haired senior captain said cheerily. "We're friends and colleagues now, aren't we?"

Ichigo laughed. "That's exactly what I've been trying to tell everyone. Unfortunately, many still insist on being stuffy and formal. At least I've gotten Byakuya to call me Ichigo."

Ukitake's eyes widened. That the stiff and formal noble had called Ichigo in a familiar manner was a shock. Ichigo was certainly changing the way things worked in the Soul Society. "Was there something you needed?" he asked.

Ichigo nodded. "That's right, I almost forgot." He laughed sheepishly. "Do you know where I could find Rukia? I'm taking her on a date today in the world of the living. I've already gotten approval from the captain-commander for a day off."

Ukitake smiled knowingly. "Ah, yes. You and Kuchiki, eh?" He laughed. "Oh, to be young again. You'll probably find her outside at the training grounds. She's been training so hard ever since she recovered fully. She's gotten quite strong. At this rate, she'll reach vice-captain level soon."

Ichigo smiled back just as knowingly. "I'm quite aware," he said with a light in his eyes. "Thank you, Juushiro-san." He stood and flash-stepped away, leaving Ukitake grinning as he returned to his paperwork.

"Ah, love," he murmured, dipping his brush into his ink and signing his signature. "It's nice to see that despite the war we're about to be engaged in, the young ones can still find the time for it." His smile faded as he heard the familiar bickering of his two third seats outside. Ukitake sighed resignedly and continued to do his paperwork.

#

Rukia swung her zanpakutou in a short but strong arc, slashing straight through the waist of the wooden practice dummy. Pure swordsmanship, or zanjutsu, had always been her weakest point. Her kidou was strong, and she was hailed as an expert by many in the Thirteenth division, but her physical strength and technique with her zanpakutou was sadly lacking. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" The katana in her hand glowed and changed, becoming pure white. A long white ribbon grew from the hilt, and the blade gleamed in the light. Known as the most beautiful zanpakutou in the Soul Society, Sode no Shirayuki was regarded with awe and respect by many shinigami.

Slashing through the air with the pure-white blade, Rukia called, "First dance, Tsukishiro!" A white circle appeared beneath another pair of dummies. In a flash, a massive column of ice rose into the air, freezing both dummies solid. With another slash, the column shattered into pieces, along with the dummies frozen inside.

Rukia spun on her heel. Stabbing her blade into the ground, she stood in a fighting stance. "Second dance, Hakuren!" A wave of spiritual particles rose from the ground, concentrating at the tip of her blade. With a shout, she thrust forward, and the wave of cold air rushed across the training grounds, encasing half a dozen more dummies in ice. Again, she waved her blade and the ice shattered. Looking at the decimated dummies in satisfaction, she called to another shinigami who was standing to the side with a stopwatch. "How fast?"

The shinigami glanced at the watch. "16.45 seconds to take down a dozen targets. You cut your last time by about half a second."

Rukia nodded. Turning, she began to set up more targets in a wider formation, to increase the difficulty of her training. Once finished, she took up another fighting stance. This time, she would work on her flash-step. Hohou had been her second-weakest skill, and although her skill with flash-step was adequate, if she wanted to reach vice-captain level it would need to be greatly honed.

Crouching, she nodded to the shinigami with the stopwatch. At his shouted command of "Go!" she immediately leapt into action. Flashing next to the first dummy, she decapitated it. Without pause, she flashed to the next target. With two smooth swings, she looped off both arms and stabbed it through the chest. As ice spread from the hole her blade had made, she was already flashing away, cutting and slashing at the other dummies. She dropped out of flash-step at her original position, panted slightly.

"32.93 seconds!" the shinigami called, clicking his stopwatch. Rukia made a sound of dissatisfaction. She needed to break thirty seconds before she could be considered a flash-step expert.

Turning she prepared to flash-step again when she caught sight of a familiar shock of orange hair out of the corner of her eye. Turning in surprise, she called, "Ichigo! What are you doing here?"

Ichigo grinned as he walked up to the short shinigami. "Watching you train. You've gotten a lot better, you know? Even Ukitake things so."

Rukia blushed at the praise. "I need to be stronger. We're going to need every strong shinigami we've got for this war against Aizen."

Ichigo smirked down at her. "This intense doesn't have anything to do with a comment I made about becoming a vice-captain, does it?"

Rukia slapped his arm. "No! Well, maybe…" She saw Ichigo's amused look and huffed in exasperation. "Alright, it does, okay? After what you said that day, I decided that I needed to push myself harder. If I become vice-captain, I can help ease Ukitake-taicho's burden a bit. He's been getting sick a lot more often lately, and the paperwork piles up." She sealed her blade and sheathed it with a click. "So, what brings you here? And don't tell me it was just to watch me train."

Ichigo chuckled. "You're right, I did have another reason to come. Take a day off today, Rukia. We're going on a date to the world of the living."

Rukia's face lit up. "Really? Is it okay for you to skip work like that?" she asked, a hopeful look on her face.

"Of course it is. Urahara's still on probation, so he'll take care of the division for me. I've already gotten a day off from Yamamoto, and Ukitake gave you a day off too. Oh, and I cleared it with your brother, so don't worry about that."

Rukia laughed. "Wow, that was fast. You sure are eager to take me on a date, aren't you, Strawberry?"

"Of course," Ichigo smirked. "You know me, that's what I do. Holding out a hand, he said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Rukia smiled. Taking a break from training couldn't hurt. She grasped the offered hand, and the couple disappeared in a flash-step.

#

Hey, guys! I'm back with another chapter of When Genius Meets Death! I know that it's a day later than I had initially promised when I released the spoiler, but for some reason I found Ichigo's fight with the hollow to be incredibly hard to write. I must have started over at least three times… At any rate, I hope you enjoyed it. Please, leave a review, add it to your alerts/favorites, or PM me if you have questions! Next chapter will be dedicated to Ichigo and Rukia's date. Lots of fluff inbound!

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you all again to check out my Bleach/Another crossover that I'm working on, The Color of Death. It's a parallel story to this one, focused on Hitsugaya Toushiro. That's why he's in the living world right now. So while the crossover plot is being written, the timeframe is the same in this story. However, for the sake of plot development, I may have a timeskip of a few months in When Genius Meets Death. That means that Toushiro will be back in the Soul Society, but the plot will skip a few months where nothing really significant happens in the Soul Society. Instead, all the action will be in the world of the living, which you can read about in The Color of Death. Shameless promoting, I know, but Another is such a good manga/anime and I'm really disappointed in its fanbase here on this site. So, go check out The Color of Death, drop a review for both this one and that story, and I'll see you all, my loyal readers, next chapter for Ichigo and Rukia's date. Fokker333 out!

~fokker333