Okay, here it is. I do hope you appreciate the fact that I've written all of this chapter today, pressing on despite not being all that enthused at some points. Not very long, but I wanted to get this out ASAP, and it didn't need to be any longer than it is.

It's made clear which Bankai is shown, but I've only shown some of its potential, especially at the end of the fight with Kouga. I've go to say, though, that Ichigo's Bankai was really pathetic compared to some of the others, and was used in every bloody fight, so I've changed that up quite a bit. Eventually, all of them'll be revealed, but that's going to take some time since Ichigo doesn't need them against a lot of opponents.

I hope you enjoy the chapter.

-()()()()()()-

Ichigo Kurosaki's eyes shone with malevolence as he hefted Zangetsus' blades and held both out in front of him, crossed at the non-existent hilts, and his Reiatsu spiked with glee that was born of Hichigo's eagerness to rain hell on the traitorous Shinigami in front of them and solidified by Old Man Zangetsu's determination to avenge the same Shinigami's Zanpakuto, who had only shown the determination that a Zanpakuto owed to their wielder in his actions.

Kouga took an involuntary step back as Ichigo's Reiatsu skyrocketed and the blue energy swirled around the hybrid in a raging vortex. Ichigo's own sigh of relief, at finally accessing one of his final releases in an actual combat situation was swallowed by the hum of his Reiatsu as it attacked the world around him.

"Bankai." Ichigo grinned, and the Reiatsu retraced, wrapping around Ichigo for the briefest of moments before its owner consumed the pressure and his appearance changed. "Tensa Zangetsu."

"That is your Bankai?" Kouga asked, with a frown. "I am all for mocking the Shinigami, but I find it insulting that you believe that such a pathetically small Bankai could do anything to harm me." Kouga's posture had relaxed as he looked at the technique of his opponent. "The Kuchiki Head," He nodded at Byakuya's unconscious form. "Called you Kurosaki. Is that your family name? I will make sure to carve it into your tombstone. And, who knows, I might hunt down any of your relatives at the same time so that they can join you in reincarnation." He grinned from beneath the half-destroyed mask as he mocked the interfering Shinigami.

"Not much of a talker, eh?" Kouga asked, as Ichigo did not answer. "Or do those bandages muffle your voice? Speak up!" He ordered, as Ichigo did not respond.

And then his opponent was gone.

"What th-Argh!" Kouga began to ask, before interrupting himself with a yell of pain. He flew forwards, with blood running down his back from the long, vertical, shallow cut that had been dealt to him. Kouga managed to twist in midair, and found himself looking at Kurosaki, stood where Kouga himself had been moments before, with his blade held in an effortless grip. Kouga's eyes narrowed as he tried to understand the speed with which he had been attacked, and Ichigo's eyes shone with hatred as he remained silent.

Ichigo's appearance somewhat mirrored that of Kouga, the traitorous Shinigami noted as he righted himself and landed with a slight skid. Both were wearing ragged robes, though Kouga's were literally rags after so long inside his prison-coffin, but the hybrid's were as black as the sword sat in his grip, contrasting greatly to what he was wearing beneath them. Kouga could see only a hint of the grey-white bandages that were tightly wrapped around Ichigo's torso, but they were far clearer on his left arm, as the kimono Ichigo was wearing was sleeveless just like his ordinary uniform, and on his face as it was uncovered except for the bandages that wrapped around his neck and the lower half of his face to leave his nose and brown eyes visible.

Ichigo's right arm, on the other hand, was not wrapped in the bandages, but black chains that snaked their way under the bandages covering his shoulders and cut off at the end of his wrist. That struck Kouga as odd, since it looked as though Kurosaki's blade had a similar chain hanging off the pommel, but he did not have time to focus on it as Ichigo vanished again, leaving a slight afterimage as he did, with his blade still hanging in his grip. Kouga's eyes briefly flicked to his hair, noting that it now had several black streaks running through the orange locks.

And then he was in front of Kouga, with his blade raised, and cut a deep wound down his opponent's right side. Ichigo watched as Kouga was thrown back again, and landed in a heap only a few meters from the broken form of Muramasa. Ichigo watched as Kouga struggled to his feet; his pale skin and absence of body fat extremely clear as the muscles in his arm tensed as he pushed himself upright while he grimaced from the pain of the newl-dealt wound in his torso. Kouga lifted his hand, and a spear-axe similar to that that he had been using before flew into his hand and the imprisoned Shinigami lifted it and pointed the sharp end at Ichigo.

Ichigo believed that he mumbled something about Kido, and was surprised at the next attack that came. He was vaguely aware of the fact that some Kido Masters became attuned with certain spells to the point that they could choose not to use any incantation at all, even forgoing the name and number of the attack, but did not expect this man to be that talented in the demon-magic.

If Ichigo had not been in his Bankai, this surprise would likely have allowed the Kido to hit him. The unexpected attack, combined with the fast-fire of the red bolt of energy no doubt would have combined to catch him off guard. As it was, however, Ichigo was in his Bankai, and so the attack moved almost comically slowly and he vanished from his spot as Kouga watched only to appear between the ex-Kuchiki and the red energy attack with his sword raised. Ichigo glanced at his blade in the moments before it fell, and smiled, under the bandages covering his mouth, at the sight of his long, ebony Daito, and took a hold of the hilt his left hand, wrapped in bandages, just below the cross-guard shaped like a manji. With a swipe of his sword, Ichigo sent a gust of wind at the treacherous Shinigami, and Kouga raised his spear-weapon to block it. He did so with ease, and raised his hand wit fingers splayed.

Ichigo found himself unable to move, as if he was bound by shackles, and Kouga smirked at him.

"I have never seen a Bankai like yours, but it is no matter. My power is unlike any Shinigami's before me. That is why I am not so weak as to need a crutch in the for, of a Zanpakuto. I will give you a taste of my power before I kill you, Kurosaki." His smirk grew to a grin, as Kouga raised his hand again and Ichigo felt a whisper enter his mind. "I have altered all five of your senses, and now you will be unable to block my attacks. I am almost tempted to let you free so that I can see your struggle." Kouga laughed. "But I will have ample opportunity to humiliate other Shinigami. You have impressed me enough that I will give you a quick death." He grinned at Ichigo, before the stock-still man's left arm twitched and a burst of blue-outlined black Spiritual pressure was expelled from Ichigo, only to halt inches from his hand and twist in mid air.

The black energy moulded into a blade made of Reishi, and Kouga blinked in surprise at the different power, only to have it rise in between he and Ichigo and slash through the air.

"How did you..." The blade severed the invisible ropes that he had created, and Ichigo vanished in a flicker again. Kouga twisted as he heard Ichigo's voice off to the side.

"They were made of Reishi," Ichigo said, his voice cold. "And, so, I could sense them even with my senses struggling to make sense of the world around me. You see," He smiled under the bandages. "Your powers are far from unique in comparison to mine. I am, as my Zanpakutos insist, a perfect hybrid of Human," Ichigo rolled his shoulders, and raised his Daito. "Shinigami," Black energy leapt from the blade an instant later, roaring towards Ichigo's target. Kouga leapt out of the way, barely, and landed in a roll as the crescent passed by him, effortlessly digging a whole in the ground. "Quincy," Kouga's eyes widened as the attack turned, and locked onto him once again; raging forwards still. He raised a hand and poured his Reiryoku reserves into a high-level Bakudo shield. "And...

"Hollow." Ichigo's voice changed, he appeared behind the man, and his bandaged hand seized Kouga by the back of his neck and slammed him, face first, into the ground. Ichigo absentmindedly allowed the Getsugha Tensho to fade away, and his Daito's tip stabbed through the Spear-axe's blade. "No matter your own skill, my attacks are strong. Too strong to be blocked by a weapon as mundane as those you are using. You have condemned yourself to failure, and with it death, by abandoning your Zanpakuto." Ichigo's distorted voice snarled, and he drew his leg back. With a movement, he kicked Kouga in the ribs and sent him rolling along the ground. "Now get up, and die on your feet!" Had Ichigo been able to see himself, he'd have noticed that the protrusions from his helmet-mask had grown somewhat since his training with the Vizards.

Kouga rose, and wasted no time in talking as he Flash Stepped towards Ichigo. Ichigo twisted out of the way of the Reiatsu-infused strike that was directed at his chest, and his Bankai cut through Kouga's midsection, and the man separated into two chunks.

Yet he was stood across the island from Ichigo, with another of the golden weapons clutched in his hand.

"I told you already," Kouga growled, ignoring the pain in his side. "That your senses are going to fail you. You can't fight me when you can't SEE!" With another Shunpo, Kouga approached Ichigo, and the Human-Shinigami frowned at the fact that five Kougas were seemingly converging on his position from different directions. Then, the annoyed expression gave way to a smirk and Ichigo's form flickered. He appeared in front of the Kouga that was on his left for a millisecond, with his sword in mid-swing, and then Ichigo moved and was cutting through the form of the next Kouga, advancing clockwise in order to eliminate all of the Kougas. The third, Ichigo cut in two from crotch to scalp, and the fourth he beheaded. The fifth he stabbed through the heart, and Ichigo scowled as not one of them produced a drop of blood.

"So none of them were you?" He growled, and Kouga wheezed his agreement.

"None. I am guessing that your Bankai being so small allows you to be extremely quick," He deduced. "By condensing all of your Reiatsu into your own form?"

"That's right." Ichigo nodded, with annoyance. "Are you going to show yourself?" Ichigo turned on the spot, and slashed his sword across what looked to be nothing but air. "You're good at hiding your Reiatsu," Ichigo acknowledged, as Kouga appeared several meters away from him clutching a deep gash in his abdomen. "But it flared before you were going to attack. I assume this means that you don't have the focus to sabotage my senses anymore." Kouga snarled, and Ichigo took that as a yes. "Well, I can't say this will be painless, but it'll be quick." Ichigo vanished again, and Kouga swung his head from side to side looking for his opponent, but found no trace of him.

"Getsuga..." Kouga Kuchiki looked skyward, with an expression of dread, just as black and red Reiatsu gathered around Tensa Zangetsu, and tried his hardest to flee. He failed, and found that blue chains, protruding from the ground, had wrapped around his midsection. In his final moments, Kouga realised what a mistake it had been to betray Muramasa, but did not have the chance to express this in anything more than a look of sorrow that he shot towards the dying Zanpakuto. His eyes met Muramasa's for the briefest of moments, and then a torrent of black Reiastu, lined with crimson, crashed down on him and erased him, and the majority of the island he was stood on, from existence. "Tensho."

Ichigo landed on the ground, the bottom of his ragged, pitch black Kimono being dirtied by the cloud of dust that his attack had brought up, and his Bankai dissipated. The bandages and chains fell away and the kimono was replaced by his ordinary Shihakusho. Ichigo sighed, and allowed his Shikai to fade as well before sheathing the Wakizashi and O-katana on his left hip.

After a brief glance at Byakuya's unconscious form to check he had not inadvertently hit it with his Getsuga Tensho, Ichigo moved his attention to Muramasa. The Zanpakuto, as Ichigo now knew him, shuddered and gasped as blood pooled around him, and Ichigo's brow dipped in sympathy for the painful death he was enduring.

The hybrid quickly made his way over to Muramasa, and knelt next to him, ignoring the blood that stained his trousers, to place a hand on Muramasa's shoulder.

"Kuro...saki..." The Zanpakuto weakly asked.

"I'm here." Ichigo squeezed his shoulder. "What do you need? I think one of my friends might be able to save you?" He half-asked.

"N-No... no... I a-am ready to d-die..." He wheezed. "P-Promise... promise me..."

"Promise what?" Ichigo asked, as the spirit gasped in another breath. "What can I do?" Muramasa had been a bastard in the Soul Society, but Ichigo would have done the same had he needed to rescue the partner of his soul.

"T-The Zanpakuto..." Muramasa's eyes dimmed as they locked onto Ichigo's. "L-Look after... them..."

"I would never let any harm come to my Zanpakuto." Ichigo promised.

"N-No... look after a-all of them... make sure they never lose contact w-w-with thei-r... the most pa-painful thing I-I ha-ve ever... the bonds... p-please... they will... come back... they need to know they are... n-not j-ust swords..."

"I will do everything in my power," Ichigo nodded. "I promise." Muramasa gave a shaky smile at this, and raised his hands.

"A gift...to h-help..." He plunged them into Ichigo's chest, and the Shinigami gasped as Muramasa pushed something into his inner world. "T-Thank you..." The light faded from Muramasa's eyes, and his head lolled back. His wrists fell from Ichigo's chest, sans hands, and the Zanpakuto died.

The breaking down of Muramasa's soul began at the new stubs of his wrists, and Ichigo stayed knelt next to him until the Zanpakuto had faded into Reishi particles completely. With a sad frown, the Substitute Shinigami stood. He did not have time to mourn, as the others may need help. He would honor Muramasa by keeping to his promise, as soon as he found out how he was meant to do such a thing.

Maybe the so-called gift would help him in his task.

Ichigo Flash-Stepped over to Byakuya, and unceremoniously took a hold of the back of his Shihakusho. He lifted the unconscious captain, and turned his sights to Rukia's location. With another Shunpo, he appeared next to the tree, where Rukia had apparently woken and was being seen to by Orihime while Chad and Uryu stood off to the side.

"Everyone okay?" Ichigo asked, as he dumped his burden. Orihime jumped, while the other three hid d=their surprise at Ichigo's arrival significantly better, and Ichigo smiled at the girl.

"Kuroski-kun!" Orihime greeted him warmly while maintaining her healing dome. "Yes, we're fine! There were some nasty Hollows that managed to knock Sado-kun unconscious, but he woke up in time to give one of them an uppercut, and it gave a roar of pain before fading away and Sado-kun was all nonchalant and asked me if I was okay, while Uryu was off distracting some more of them with his blue arrows, and he beat them! Is it true that you beat up all of the Menoses?! That's really impressive, but I'm not surprised that you're that strong, Kurosaki-kun! They didn't stand a chance against your righteous powers! The hero always wins, and you're obviously the hero, Kurosaki-kun; that's why you always wear a scowl, so that people won't get too close to you and put themselves in danger! You couldn't stand for that, because you're too selfless, and you take on burdens that aren't yours just because it's in your nature!" The other four, at this point, were staring, confused, at Orihime's rant. "We're lucky to have you, Kurosaki-kun, aren't we guys?!" She asked, and then frowned when the only response she got were weird looks. "Guys?"

"Yes." Chad nodded, agreeing with the general point. "The fight would have been far harder without you, Ichigo."

"Tss. You're still a Shinigami. I don't see any reason to thank you." Ishida scoffed.

"You were very impressive, Ichigo," Rukia nodded, before asking the obvious question. "Is my brother going to be okay?"

"I think so, yeah. His injuries shouldn't be life-threatening." He shrugged.

"Orihime, please can you heal my Nii-sama?" Rukia requested.

"Of course."

"Wait a second, Inoue," Ichigo halted her. "Please don't heal him entirely. He's still a traitor, and he could try to escape by hurting one of you."

"My brother would never-"

"This is the same brother that tried to kill you, Rukia. He'll be given a trial, but he deserves to be punished for helping them and, for that matter, nearly killing me." Rukia fell silent, with a look of guilt, while Orihime looked horrified.

"He tried to kill you, Kurosaki-kun?!" She asked, worriedly, and tried to spot any injuries on Ichigo's person. "Are you okay?" She continued, with concern evident in her features.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine Inoue. It happened a few days ago and Unohana-taicho healed me up quickly." He smiled reassuringly at the girl. "No need to worry." He assured her.

"That's good." Orihime smiled at her crush, and then frowned at Byakuya's injured form. She, briefly, considered refusing to heal the Shinigami, but it was not in her nature to actually do so and Orihime's powers were quickly put to work rejecting the damage that had been done to the Captain of Sixth Division. At the same time, Ichigo had checked that all of his friends had made it through their fights relatively unscathed, and sat down against another tree, in view of the others, and began the process of Jinzen. Maybe one of his Zanpakuto would know what the gift was that Muramasa had given to him, and how it would help him help the Zanpakuto know that they were more than just weapons.

And why were his hands tingling?

-()()-

As it turned out, they did not know what the now-deceased Zanpakuto had meant by that. Zangetsu had stated that he felt a change in Ichigo's inner world, and that he fully intended to investigate what its nature, but that nothing had turned up yet. They could guarantee, however, that there was not a new spirit in the world, and Ichigo got the feeling that they were relieved that this was the case, and that Ichigo's abilities in combat had not been altered, not that he had expected something of that nature. Kikoo had cooed something about barriers, but had not elaborated when Ichigo asked what she meant.

After exiting his inner world, Ichigo had travelled back to the Soul Society with Rukia and Byakuya after promising Orihime, who was rather unhappy that he was headed back for some reason, that he was returning to the Human World at some point in the next few days. He did, however, have to give his report to the Captains before he could return, or they would keep pestering him until he did.

Ichigo had dropped Byakuya off at Fourth Division, where Retsu Unohana had assured him that the Captain would be restrained, and then left Rukia with her brother. The human-Shinigami had not caught sight of anyone he wished to talk to on the way back to the Shiba home, and decided to track them down tomorrow lest he get roped into helping to rebuild the Seiretei. Ichigo saw no reason for him to have to help with that, other than the destruction Hichigo caused, and so would avoid that duty.

Now, he was stood in his inner world again, practicing his Reishi manipulation by creating complex patterns as Old Man Zangetsu watched and offered a few pointers. It was necessary, apparently, for him to learn the intricacies of the ability before he could start creating anything of substance outside of his Bankai form. Since Ichigo wanted to move onto things that could actually help him in battle, he was throwing himself into this stage of Zangetsu's teachings.

Ichigo was taking a break, and discussing what he could do better with his instructor when a new Zanpakuto appeared inside his inner world.

"Ichigo!" A voice unfamiliar to the hybrid yelled, moments before a pair of arms wrapped around his neck in an enthusiastic hug, and Ichigo was thrown off balance and fell to the floor.

"Hey! We agreed I'd get to hug him first!"

-()()()-

Okay, there it is. A slight cliffhanger, but I doubt anyone'll be all too irritated by this one.

I put an emphasis on Ichigo's speed in the fight, because that just seemed to disappear, or at least become a helluva lot less significant, after his fight with Byakuya in Canon.

No, he didn't get Muramasa, but he did get something.