Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach


Chapter Twenty Four - Uninvited Guests

A few days later, school finally resumed. In the morning, Ichigo decided to finally tell everything that happened up until the point where he 'lost' his powers. Since his friends already saw him as a soul reaper, none of them were surprised at Ichigo's revelation although Tatsuki was a bit pissed Ichigo didn't tell her right away.

A more interesting part was that there was a new student in the class. Keigo in particular went insane at seeing a hot new transfer student named Bambietta Basterbine. Ichigo, on the other hand, just pretended to be his usual uncaring self despite knowing the fact the the new student wasn't a human at all

Right now, it was lunch time and Ichigo chose to stand on the school's rooftop alone. One thing Ichigo had noticed, was Orihime. For some reason, she seemed to be avoiding Ichigo and appeared rather afraid of him. 'What's with Orihime? She seems rather different today.'

"Really Ichigo? Two hot girls with big boobs are not enough for you? Consider me impressed."

'Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?'

"I should be the one asking you that. You keep denying being interested in girls. Don't tell me you're gay."

'Shut up! I'm not gay alright. I just respect girls and I refuse to take advantage of them.'

"Yeah keep telling yourself that."

'You are a pain you know that. Still though, why does Orihime seem afraid of me anyway?'

"Oh that would be because of me."

'What did you do to her?'

"When Ulquiorra nearly killed you, I saved your ass, again and after I let him and Starrk live, I berated the girl."

'What? Why the hell did you do that?'

"Why wouldn't I?"

'She was kidnapped and then you berate her? What the hell were you thinking?'

"You moron. She wasn't kidnapped, she willingly went with them. Even that brainless head captain said it himself. That girl had to hear it, To think she is supposed to be the third smartest in your class yet can't figure out or at least have a clue that it was a trap. Bottom line is, she put you in unnecessary danger. That whole invasion of hueco mundo could have been avoided if she simply used her damn head. If you think someone like that deserves to get away with it you're sadly mistaken. Granted, she is not afraid of you, she is afraid of me. After all I did nearly suffocate the life out of her."

This, of course, infuriated Ichigo but before he could respond, he felt a senkaimon open nearby, along with three low level soul reapers. 'Is that a senkaimon? What are they doing here?' he asked as he looked sharply at the direction which it opened. Luckily, none of his friends, as well as the new student Bambi was nearby so nobody noticed him feel the soul reapers come

"Hold on. There is something odd about this. The ones who came here are not captains nor lieutenants."

"These are probably the ones who are ordered to find the other substitute soul reaper. Ichigo, keep an eye on them."

'I can't believe they chose now of all times to come here.'

"I think they chose this time precisely because you are in school. If they intend to spy on you, they will not have to go look for you."

'Yeah well, those bastards have another thing coming.'

"You idiot. Don't leave your body now." White called out as Ichigo prepared to leave his body

'What? How am I supposed to deal with them if I'm in my body?'

"You don't have to. Ichigo, go to the bathroom and leave your body there. Once you left it, summon a few soldiers and have them go invisible. Use it to deal with the soul reapers."

'I can't even control it that good yet. I might screw this up and reveal those things I summoned.'

"It is alright Ichigo. The traces of your spirit energy is now different from what the soul society knows. Even if they survive, they will not know who's power was it that attacked them."

"It is also for the better that your zombies reveal themselves. Since the soul reapers are gonna be laying low while they spy on you, they will be forced to use their powers and risk revealing themselves. Whether your zombies kill them or not, they will be forced to make a choice they wouldn't like"

'You better be right about that.' Ichigo said before heading to the bathroom and leaving his body. At the bathroom, he entered a stool and hid inside before leaving his body. He then summoned six zombies in the shape of a regular human with swords before making them invisible. As Ichigo prepared to go invisible himself

"Ichigo, don't go out. Just stay in your body."

'Huh? Why?'

"You can control your zombies even in your human body Ichigo. You don't need to be in your spirit form to control it since it only requires your mind."

'Ok gotcha.' Ichigo replied before re entering his body and having his zombies move out

"Don't worry about it too much Ichigo. As we said, nobody is gonna know it's your spirit energy and if the soul reapers make some noise, it will be bad for them. Although, one of these days you will have to personally get rid of the soul reaper spies."

'Why?'

"To throw off any suspicion that it is you. If they put together the timing and who they are spying on, it might make the think it's you despite that fact that they think you are powerless and might potentially limit your options."

'Won't that make me more suspicious?'

"It will not Ichigo. If you attack them when you are supposed to be at school while using your Unholy Puppet Summoning to control your body during the attack, it will completely invalidate any accusations that you are involved. Remember, they think you have lost your powers. Even if they think you still have it, the fact that you are in school while they are being attacked should remove you as a suspect. In their minds, it is impossible to be in two places at once."

"That is true. Your powers only allow you to give the illusion that you are in two places at once when in fact you are in one place and mentally controlling your body or zombies who are in another."

'Still though, if my zombies are invisible, how are they supposed to attack?'

"That should be obvious. The same rules apply to them as when you use it. In fact, it goes to anything you have invisible. Any offensive action will reveal them, which is why this works to your advantage. A spy does not want to be found."

'Here I was thinking I would never use that zombie technique. Damn Yhwach and the soul society.' Ichigo grumbled as he returned to his classroom while mentally controlling his zombies

The two soul reapers who arrived were from the stealth force with orders to thoroughly scout the town for any signs of the first substitute soul reaper, Kugo Ginjo. At the moment, they were not yet ordered to spy on Ichigo

"So what's the plan?" one of them asked as they exited the senkaimon and arrived at a rooftop of a building

"Our orders are to thoroughly search the town for anyone suspicious." the second one answered him. He was the one who lead the trio through the senkaimon

"What about the first substitute soul reaper? Isn't he the guy we are supposed to find?" the third one questioned

"He is. However, he was laying low for a long time now. Captain Soi Fon told me it is possible that he may have allies. That is our main objective for now. To scout for anyone affiliated with Kugo Ginjo." the second one explained

"What about Ichigo Kurosaki? I remember captain Soi Fon mentioning that Ginjo might make contact with Kurosaki." the first one pointed out

"Ichigo Kurosaki has returned to a normal human life by now. We know that he will be at Karakura High School during the day on weekdays. That is why our first priority is to find anyone suspicous in the town. Once we have reported that, the higher ups can decide what to do accordingly." the second one answered him. "Now split up. We rendezvous back here in four hours. Let's go."

With that, the three of them split up and headed to different directions in the town. Being members of the stealth force, they knew how to hide their spiritual pressures. What they didn't know however, was that some weird creatures doing a counter spy on them. When they split up, two creatures followed each of them

One of the soul reapers wound up in the area where the fullbringers were staying. Unfortunately for him, one of the fullbringers, Jackie, saw him although she did not make it obvious. The soul reaper thought everyone in the area were just regular humans and thus had no particular reason to be that stealthy. The soul society was even careful enough to take measures so that Kisuke would not notice unless they screwed up

'Soul reapers? What are they doing here?' Jackie thought as she saw one of them while walking back to the house. Immediately, she decided to hurry back home to inform to her two comrades in the house. "Riruka, Yukio." she said as she entered the house

"What is it?" Yukio asked nonchalantly while still playing a video game with Riruka reading a book and ignoring them

"Soul reapers are here." Jackie answered, immediately getting both of their attention

"What?! Are you sure?" Riruka asked surprised

"I am. They have hidden their spiritual pressures. They are probably from this stealth force group that Ginjo once told us about. I only got lucky that they think only regular humans were in this area and got sloppy." Jackie explained

"This is bad. I'll tell Ginjo to stay out of town for now." Yukio said before grabbing a phone. Usually, he and Riruka rarely concern themselves with any of this but with soul reaper spies in the area, even they have to get serious

Another of the soul reapers somehow wound up near Ichigo's school. Realizing where he was, he was extra careful as he was made aware that Ichigo's friends can see spirits. He could sense that Ichigo's friends were in their classroom and concluded that they were in the middle of a class. He decided to risk scouting the school instead. Like with the other guy, he was unfortunate as Bambietta saw him as she was walking in the halls but like with Jackie, she made sure not to give the soul reaper any hints that she saw him

'For real? How dumb does a stealth force member have to be to roam an area that has spiritually aware humans?' Bambietta thought as she recognized immediately from which squad the soul reaper was from. 'Whatever the case, seems like I'm not the only one who has to lay low. I'll have to find a way to interrogate one of them though just to be safe.' she thought while walking back to her classroom, assuming that a stealth force member soul reaper was here on an espionage mission

The last soul reaper on the other hand, was the luckiest among the three. He ended up in the mall area and did a search, finding no one suspicious. He moved on and searched a nearby place that was a residence area, again finding no one suspicious

The three of them were still completely oblivious to the fact that Ichigo had been keeping an eye on them since before they split up. Much later, they rendezvous at the same rooftop they arrived in

"So, what did you find?" the guy who went near the fullbringer residence asked

"Nothing much. Nobody in the mall area was suspicious at all. Just regular humans enjoying their life. What about you?" the one who went in the mall and residence areas gave his report

"Just the same. I went to one of the residential areas and found no one of interest whatsoever. The higher ups aren't gonna be pleased at our results." the first guy said

"I wouldn't necessarily say that. Most likely scenario is that they will send another batch of stealth force members to do another recon to gather more intelligence. This is after all only the first try." the second guy thought

"Perhaps. I even went to Ichigo Kurosaki's school and even that place had no one of interest." the third guy said

"For real? You took that chance?" the first guy said

"I did. Ichigo's friends were in one classroom so I went around the school and avoided that particular classroom." the third guy answered

"You had better be sure nobody saw you for that." the second guy said

"I was sure about it. Unless of course the intel that only Ichigo's friends can see spirits was off. I didn't even see anyone who noticed me and I stayed there for a good while." the third guy explained

"Well you better be right about that or Soi Fon is gonna have your head. Let's go back." the first guy said and prepared to open a senkaimon

As the soul reapers were heading to the rendezvous, it was at the same time school went out and the students were going home now

"Hey, Ichigo. What's up with you? School just resumed and you are so grumpy?" Keigo whined as he pointed out Ichigo's mood earlier during the afternoon. What he didn't know however was that Ichigo was busy observing some uninvited guests on different parts of town. "Are you ignoring me?! Why do you have to be so cold?!" he continued to whine before suddenly being kicked

"Shut the hell up you idiot." Tatsuki berated Keigo. "This is probably Ichigo's first day of school without his powers. Give him some time to adjust."

"Thanks Tatsuki." Ichigo said, grateful that he didn't have to deal with a whining idiot. "I'm going home now."

"Wait Ichigo." Tatsuki called out

"What is it?" Ichigo asked

"Are you alright?" Tatsuki asked, concerned about her friend

"I am. Just getting used to not being a soul reaper anymore." Ichigo answered back before leaving. The rest of his friends soon headed their separate ways as well

"That's odd Orihime." Tatsuki said as she noticed something odd about her best friend. "You usually greet Ichigo good bye."

"Oh it's nothing really." Orihime said while waving her arms in defense

"Something happened, didn't it?" Tatsuki persisted. "What happened between you two?" she asked when she noticed Orihime's rather sad expression

"I'll tell you that at home." Orihime finally gave in after a few moments of silence, knowing there was no way to change Tatsuki's mind

With Ichigo

'They still haven't gone back. Do i get rid of them? What do you guys think?' Ichigo asked as he noticed the soul reapers arrived at their rendezvous

"Do it Ichigo. The more soul reapers die the more they will be kept on their toes."

'If I kill them now, the soul society would just send more of them here to uncover what happened.'

"That is why at least once, you kill them personally and reveal that the zombies are under your control. When you do kill them personally though, make sure to let at least one of them alive."

'Why?'

"So that they will give the report of the time that they were attacked. Doing so would force the soul society to ask Kisuke or your friends about the deaths and in doing so would reveal that they have been sending troops here, making Kisuke get suspicious about them. If the soul society decides to send more spies here it would also limit the options of those weirdos as well as that Bambietta girl."

'How exactly would it limit their options?'

"Because if they slip up, they would give away the fact that they are not regular humans. Now get rid of those soul reapers."

'I see. Alright then.' Ichigo replied before mentally ordering his zombies to attack the soul reapers, who at the moment, were in the middle of discussing their findings

As the soul reapers were about to open a senkaimon, they were suddenly attack by weird looking creatures, creatures that they have never seen or heard of before. It was Ichigo's zombies from his Unholy Puppet Summoning technique

The zombies appeared out of thin air and immediately pinned the soul reapers to the ground. Like an unranked soul reaper, their fighting abilities were downright pathetic. Ichigo didn't even have to actively control the zombies to dodge or attack at specific spots as the soul reapers were just laughable. Ichigo on the other hand, was just calmly walking back to his house clearly not minding that he was attacking a bunch of soul reapers

'Do I let them have a fighting chance at this?' Ichigo asked as he was nearing his house

"That would depend on you Ichigo, if you want to make the soul society look suspicious now or not."

'What would be at stake of the soul society were to look suspicious now? And how exactly would that make Kisuke suspicious of them?'

"Think about it Ichigo. The main purpose of the stealth force is either to gather intelligence or to assassinate someone. If they are here, they would do just that and I am sure even Kisuke would find it odd if they bother not to tell him about it which would cause him to think that you and your friends are potential targets. Even if he did not suspect something was up, it would limit the soul society's options as they have to be prepared for the possibility that Kisuke would do some research of his own about what the stealth force is doing here in the first place."

'So I'm supposed to play everyone like they are on a chessboard? Still what do you think? Would I reveal the stealth force's presence here now or not? I think I should train more about my powers first.'

"Yeah you will if you want to finish off Yhwach for good. Don't take any chances. And to be honest, I agree with you. It is best to hide the stealth force's presence for now. You can always reveal it when you are ready."

'Alright then.' Ichigo said before having his zombies go full out. Instead of them just doing hand to hand combat against the soul reapers, three of them incapacitated the soul reapers by either grabbing their arms or pinning them to the ground while the other three grabbed their swords and cut them down, finishing them off

"Seems like we do not have much time before things get rough. Ichigo, we will inform you about the rest of your techniques. Over the next few days, you will have to practice them inside your inner world."

'You mean I won't practice in the real world? Why?'

"You do not have to be in the outside world for the rest of your techniques. Unlike your inferno and summoning techniques, the rest won't require as much mental effort like the other two."

'Just a moment.' Ichigo said as he finally arrived home, preparing for the inevitable. As Ichigo opened the door

"Welcome home daddy kick." Isshin yelled as he tried to kick Ichigo who merely sidestepped and avoided the attack. Ichigo then used the momentum from his father's kick and kicked him all the way to the other side of the road

"This is getting really old dad." Ichigo said as he walked up to his room. 'I'm sorry about that. What were you saying?'

"It is quite alright Ichigo. That was to be expected whenever you come home. At any rate, there are only three techniques left for you to use. We will tell you two of them now and the last one when you have mastered all of your abilities, including your quincy and hollow powers."

'Alright. So what are these techniques?' Ichigo said as he finally settled in his room

"The first is called Fukushū no hametsu no sokubaku and it creates chains to bind your target. Like with your other techniques, this one has some added effects. The first is obviously to bind someone down, the others would take effect once you make the chain itself vanish from sight. Whatever you choose to bind with the chains, you will always know where it is located, even when you are in a different world."

'How is that any different from me using my puppet summoning technique to keep track of my enemies?'

"Because it doesn't spy on them like you can use your zombies. It only tells their location nothing more and nothing less. In simple terms, once the chains is cast upon a certain target, you will know if that target is in this world or not regardless of how good they are at hiding their spiritual pressures. It also has another effect. If a target was affected by the chains even once, you can relocate them back to where the chains was cast upon them, placing a curse of some sorts."

'Relocate as in teleportation?'

"In a way yes. However, instead of classic teleportation, the only destination is the place where it was originally cast and it works across worlds. For example, you bound someone here in your house and you make the chains vanish and they travel to the soul society. You can relocate them here back in your house whenever you want to. Like with your other abilities, its effects can only be lifted when you choose to do it yourself or when they have equal or greater level of power than your own."

'What's the other one?'

"It is called Yūrei no bēru. It obscures the light in the sky, creating the illusion that it is night time during the day. This technique requires your complete intention of utterly destroying someone as it also increases the capabilities of your other techniques by at least four times. It also has another effect. It allows your inferno to instead of just burning or petrifying something, to create explosions as well. How large of an explosion would depend on you. It also allows you to create pillars of darkness and anything in between the pillars will be utterly destroyed. This technique is called Mokushiroku no 7tsu no chimei-tekina hashira. Although you can only use the pillars when the veil is active."

'Alright. I'll train at night so that everyone thinks nothing's off about me.'

"That is fine Ichigo."

'Hey, there's something I wanna ask you. When I awakened after you told me about who or what I really am, I released a bit of my spiritual pressure for the soul reapers to feel before lifting it in the next few days. Won't they be able to figure out it is me who is attacking them based on the spiritual pressure from when I attack the stealth force and the one I released?'

"They won't. You see Ichigo, during that time, your spiritual pressure was still the same as your old one except on a much higher level. When you finally received your true zanpakuto, your spiritual pressure also changed drastically and it is completely different from your previous one."

'That's good. You two better have a plan to deal with Yhwach in case my cover is blown.'

"Of course we do Ichigo. Now just finish up the family stuff you have so you can finally begin training."


Finished the next one. I decided to just describe the rest of Ichigo's powers instead of writing a chapter dedicated to them like I previously did because those were kinda tedious to write. Also, I will only use the english translations of Ichigo's powers along with a specific key word to denote which ability is being used

Translations / Key Word

Owari no nai teiden inferuno - Unending Blackout Inferno / Inferno

Fujōna ningyō shōkan - Unholy Puppet Summoning / Summoning

Fukushū no hametsu no sokubaku - Bindings of Vengeful Damnation / Chains

Yūrei no bēru - Haunted Veil / Veil

Mokushiroku no 7tsu no chimei-tekina hashira - Seven Deadly Pillars of the Apocalypse / Pillars

The ones on the right would be the words I would use to denote which ability of Ichigo's is being referred to just to simplify things. For example, haunted veil will be referred to as simply 'veil'. I will also refer to the things summoned by the summoning technique as 'zombies' or 'puppet's