Author's Note: Here it is; the last chapter of the prologue and then well be getting into the start of Ichigo's journey and meeting a certain someone. This chapter is shorter than the first three but that's because there's not much to tell. Hope you like this chapter.
"Juha Bach"
"Shiro"
"Aka"
"Ao"
"P.O.V."
'Thought'
"Attacks"
Shikai/Bankai
Chapter 4: Returning Home and Arrival
Ichigo stepped out of the Senkaimon into the familiar grounds of Kisuke's underground training basement. Casting out his senses, he noticed that nearly everyone in the town has fallen asleep. Well, Kisuke wasn't, so why not greet the man? Ichigo's training surprisingly took only a year to complete. He had achieved Bankai and Segunda Etapa both and mastered them. He was now able to cast Hadō and Bakudō up to 99 without incantation. Training under the Squad Zero lunatics, he stood almost on the same level as them. He was sure that he could best Yoruichi in a game of tag and outclass Kisuke in Zanjutsu. Ichigo stealthily climbed the ladder up and peeked into the living room to see Kisuke absentmindedly petting Yoruichi while fanning himself all the while lying on his side. He grinned widely and with a loud sound he slammed open the slightly opened sliding door.
"I'M BACK!" Ichigo yells and got his desired reaction of Kisuke jumping high colliding with the ceiling with Yoruichi in her cat form flying and hitting a wall far left of Ichigo.
Living with the eccentric squad has changed him a bit as well. He picked up on a few habits of theirs and made them realize how eccentric the squad was. Kisuke immediately spun with his Zanpakutō out of the cane aiming at Ichigo's neck only to stop a mere inch from cutting the boy's head off of his shoulder. Kisuke sighed and fell limp on the floor on his back seeing as it wasn't an enemy but his very own protégée. Yoruichi transformed and immediately latched herself to him completely forgetting his prank and squeezed him hard. Like usual, she latched herself to him for good with her limbs around his neck and waist with her melons pressed to his back.
"YOU'RE BACK!" Yoruichi screamed and hugged him from her position. "Look at you! Grown up so manly! And your ass…" She says trailing off as she got a feel of said ass causing Ichigo to yelp but then she pouted. "But your cuteness is gone! Why?! Oh why did it have to go?! You were so cute back then, skin so soft and squishy! Smooth…" She continued on and on all the while drooling with a blush on her face feeling hot and bothered and thus her hold became loose causing her to fall on her butt and yet she continued rambling.
While Yoruichi was having her fun, Kisuke took in Ichigo's new appearance. His hair was slightly longer and he wears his standard black shihakushō, but with some notable changes: he has two white shoulder plates crossing his chest in an X shape that hold his Zanpakutō blades in place, with the first plate, meant to hold Zangetsu, on his left shoulder having three sections adorned with red scales, the second plate, meant to hold Getsu no Ikari, having three sections adorned with red scales on his right waist, and a white cloak with black markings tied around his waist.
"So you've been your own custom Shinigami outfit?" Kisuke asked prompting Yoruichi to start taking a good look at Ichigo's new wardrobe change.
"Oooohhh! I like it. It's one of a kind. Just…like…you…Ichi-chan." Yoruichi whispers licking his cheek making yelp in shock.
"Hey! Calm down!" Ichigo shouts blushing hard at Yoruichi's action while taking a few steps back from the female. "Anyway I'm sure you two are more interested in hearing about the training I received, huh?" He asks.
"Yes, actually, we are. I remember letter saying you'd be gone for two years and you came back in just one." Kisuke says as he sits at the small round table with Ichigo across from him and Yoruichi, now wearing a turtle neck shirt to cover herself, sat at the table as well.
"Yeah well, I was eager to learn." Ichigo says grinning.
"So what did you learn and do while you were there, Ichigo?" Yoruichi ask curiously.
"Well, first thing that happened was Ichibē took me to meet the Soul King…" Ichigo begins to say shocking both his teachers. "…and he told me the story about Yhwach. Afterwards, I was sent to Tenjirō Kirinji's city to get my body properly healed up in his hot springs. Then I was sent to Kirio Hikifune's city to be feed her delicious food and my next stop was Ōetsu Nimaiya's city. There he told me why my Reiatsu hadn't increased or changed my training with you guys." He says.
"Really? So why is that? This problem has been stumping me this whole time." Kisuke says.
"Turns out I've only be using half my Zanpakutō's true power." Ichigo says confusing Kisuke and Yoruichi but they let their student continue. "Ōetsu send me into his shack which was it's own pocket dimension filled with Asauchis and told me to find mine amongst the hundreds. It only took me a second to find them, all three of them, after that I put my Reiryoku into each one and became Ao, Aka, and Shiro. Once that was done, Ōetsu personally forged my Zanpakutōs and I mixed a bit of my Quincy powers into them and they became these." He says placing all three of his Zanpakutōs on the table for Kisuke and Yoruichi to get a look at swords in awe.
"Very impressive." Yoruichi says observing each of the swords closely.
"Thank you. Ichibē said that my Getsu no Ikari is one of a kind. Not for just being the third duel wielding Zanpakutō but the first one with polar opposite elements of fire and ice." Ichigo says surprising both his teachers with this.
"So how far have you come in the last year?" Kisuke asked wanting to know more about his protégée.
"I did achieve Bankai and Segunda Etapa. Learnt Kidō up to the 90s. Why?" Ichigo
"Before you had home I want you to show me then how much you've improved in the last year." Kisuke says.
With that Kisuke lead them to the underground basement training room where he stood about twenty feet from Ichigo with is cane in his hand. A minute or two pasted by Kisuke launched himself at Ichigo with his Zanpakutō only to meet Ichigo's own. He was surprised with the speed Ichigo pulled out his Zanpakutō from their sheaths and blocked his strike without moving an inch.
"Surprised?" Ichigo asks getting serious.
Kisuke and Ichigo soon met each other in a fury of slashes. Dodge. Parry. Slice. Flip and slide. Stab. Dodge. This continued on for a few minutes before both reached a stalemate which with a grunt was broken by Ichigo who didn't miss a chance and aimed a cut for the annoying hat.
"Hey! That's my hat you're aiming for!" Kisuke shouts.
"Exactly!" Ichigo yells back.
They continued on for a while before falling into another stalemate which was broken by Kisuke back flipping causing Ichigo to stumble forward before he got a hold of himself.
"Let's get into Shikai shall we?" Kisuke asks to which he got a smirk.
"Sure…why not?" Ichigo says as crosses his right sword over his left in a reverse grip pointed downwards while the left was pointed upwards yet diagonally. "Ignite and Disintegrate. Turn White and Solidify, Getsu no Ikari (Moon's Wrath)!" He releasing his Shikai.
"Awaken, Benihime (Crimson Princess)!" Kisuke yelled releasing his own Shikai.
While Kisuke's Zanpakutō smoothly took its Shikai form, Ichigo's one wasn't smooth. Fire exploded bigger than Kisuke remembered and two bright flashes of light took place in the fire sphere where two large glowing Khyber knives could be seen. In fact the explosion was so big, that Kisuke not only did he had to jump away, he even had to use Chikasumi no Tate (Blood Mist Shield) to protect himself. The ground around Ichigo cracked and charred with a crater of radius 20 feet. Kisuke's eyes widened when he saw the familiar yet unfamiliar Khyber knives in Ichigo's hands. The last time he saw them, the blades were purely silver and the flames on the right one were reddish-orange while the left one had blue flames. But now? The blades were now half black and half bone white with faint but barely visible blue circuit patterns running vertically and horizontally crisscrossing each other. Both blades gave off reddish-orange flame with clearly visible blue highlights. Ichigo smirked at the gob smacked reactions of both Yoruichi and Kisuke. He vanished as soon as he saw Kisuke refocus on him with his guard up. Ichigo directly appeared above the scientist and swung down his left blade in an overhead swing and brought the right blade in a horizontal slash as soon as his left one was blocked. Kisuke had to use both of his arms to block Ichigo's swing and a crater formed around him because of the force behind the strike. Noticing the second blade rapidly approaching, he twisted his body and narrowly avoided being cut down in half.
'That's dangerous!' Kisuke thought amazed by the changes of Ichigo's Zanpakutō and its increased power as he then backed away and released an arc of crimson energy at Ichigo. "Nake, Benihime (Scream, Crimson Princess)!" He yells.
Ichigo simply swatted away the attack as he reared his right blade back and charged flames and swung at Kisuke.
"Nenshou Getsuga (Burning Moon Fang)!". Flames in the form of an arc raged towards Kisuke at a rapid speed towards Kisuke who instantly summoned Chikasumi no Tate (Blood Mist Shield) and protected himself.
"Shibari, Benihime (Binding, Crimson Princess)!" Kisuke said with a smile as the condensed energy in the form of tangible red net tried to wrap around Ichigo only for them to be burnt away.
"Hadō #73. Sōren Sōkatsui (Twin Lotus Blue Fire)!" Ichigo says pointing his right blade at Kisuke and blue flames rushed at him in the form of tornado and tried hitting Kisuke who had to Shunpo at the last second to avoid the hot blue flames.
'So he can infuse his element into Kidō, huh?' Kisuke thought as he prepared himself for one final attack.
Both of them nodded and charged their Zanpakutō and leaped toward each other. While Kisuke brought his sword behind completely charging the blade with energy Ichigo crossed his blades above his head and completely encased them in fire.
"Nenshou Getsuga Jujishou (Burning Moon Fang Cross-Shaped Piercer)!" Ichigo yells launching a large, cross-shaped blast of energy while being completely encased in fire.
"Kamisori, Benihime (Razor, Crimson Princess)!" Kisuke shouts firing a wave of energy.
The cross shaped flames collided with red energy creating an explosion throwing up dust and debris everywhere. Eventually a few minutes later, the dust cleared off showing a slightly injured Ichigo panting and Kisuke on the ground, hat burnt to dust. Yoruichi was blown off to a deeper part of the basement due to the explosion.
"M-My h-hat. How cruel." Kisuke cries holding his poor hats in his hands.
"That was really impressive, Ichi-chan. How did you manage to add fire to a Kidō spell?" Yoruichi asks appearing at his side as he sheathed his Zanpakutōs.
"Getsu no Ikari (Moon's Wrath) allows me to incorporate the element of fire or ice into Hadō or Bakudō spell for added power and I can change to element I'm using to my other one by says 'Suitchi (Switch)'." Ichigo explains.
"Those are some interesting abilities your Zanpakutō has." Kisuke says having gotten over the loss of his hat. "Well, I suppose you should head on home and see your family cause you made it back in time since you'll starting at Karakura High School in a week." He says.
"I am?" Ichigo asks in confusion.
"Yup. Depending on when you made it back, your dad filled out the paper work to have you start with your age group which includes Chad too." Kisuke explains.
"Alright then, I'll see you two again soon." Ichigo says as he Shunpoed away in a flash leaving a nearly solid afterimage.
Yoruichi stared wide eyed at the slowly fading afterimage of her love interest (not that he knew). She turned to Kisuke to see him watching the same thing but deep in thought with the hat shadowing his eyes and the fan covering his lower face.
'That kid's growth rate is one hell of a scary thing.' Kisuke and Yoruichi thought.
Ichigo in a single flash step stood before his home and took in the sight before him that he hadn't seen in over a year. He knocked on the door and was met by Yuzu who stood frozen in her place at the sight of her beloved big brother. Ichigo spread out his arms and caught Yuzu.
"Ichi-nii!" Yuzu cried out as she then proceeded the squeeze the life out of her brother not willing to let him go.
Seeing as Yuzu won't release him he smiled and walked into the house to meet the shocked gazes of his family. Karin stood up and stopped before him taking in his new form before punching him in the gut only to wince in slight pain.
"Welcome home." Karin said before hugging him.
Ichigo noticed Karin's wince but he knew she was strong so he pretended not to see it and returned her hug. They all heard a click sound followed after a flash of light. They released themselves and saw Isshin smiling at them with the camera in his hand. Ichigo briefly wondered when the man brought the camera but knowing him…he immediately dropped that line of thought. The siblings released themselves from the group embrace with Yuzu reluctantly doing so.
"I can tell just by looking at you that you've gotten much stronger, my son." Isshin says but got a somewhat superior smirk from Ichigo that caused him to feel inferior and thus got into a father-son all out brawl.
The Kurosaki twins watched the scene with a fond smile…well a scowl in Karin's case. The victor of the brawl as expected was Ichigo.
"So Kisuke told me I'm starting school next week at Karakura High School, huh." Ichigo said rather than asked as he sat down on one of the chairs and watched his father pull his beaten and bruised body on a chair before slumping forward on the table.
"That's right." Isshin said and then remembered something. "While you were going Kisuke and Tessai worked on turning your body into a Gigai with the added effect of making it look like you're aging to fool your peers. It's up in your room for you to slip into." He explained as Ichigo nodded in understanding.
"So, Karin, Yuzu, how'd your training go while I was gone? You two meet your Zanpakutōs yet?" Ichigo asked his sisters.
"No. we haven't met them yet." Karin says feeling a little bummed out.
"But we are about to cast Kidō spells up to level 20 even though we're not able to exit our bodies." Yuzu says.
"Impressive." Ichigo complements.
The family then stay up for the next hour discussing Ichigo's time at the Soul King Palace and what they had been up to before deciding to turn in for the night. Ichigo entered his room and found his Gigai on his bed and entered it before changing into his night clothes and began falling asleep.
The next day Ichigo spent most of the morning catching up on what he missed in the last year of school and sent a text to Chad telling him that he was back in town and asked how far he'd progressed. The two friends met up and had a friend sparring match to what they had learned. It turned out Chad was now slightly about to see spirits and the somewhat outline of hollows but none ever attacked him. Ichigo still knew that there was something else about Chad that would probably show itself in the near future. Over the next few days Ichigo caught up with Tatsuki and learned she'd be attending Karakura High School as well along with Orihime too. The first day of school was interesting to say the least, a group of punks from Ichigo and Chad's middle school came looking for them, they met Mizuiro Kojima, a teenager who has short black hair and green eyes, parted down the middle with a stray bang in his face and the tips fanning out, and rescued his friend Keigo Asano, a teenager with medium-long brown hair, which flips outward, has brown eyes, a slim figure and his expression usually stays the same with either frowns or pouts, but whenever a girl is involved, he smiles, becoming quick friends with them. That night high in the sky a Senkaimon opened up and out stepped a short and petite female Shinigami that has light skin, black hair, with a few strands that were hanging between her purple eyes. The female Shinigami landed on a telephone pole and stood there for a few minutes before jumping off the pole and into the town.
Author's Note: And there we have the prologue is done and a certain Shinigami has arrived in Karakura Town but will she be able to handle that which is Ichigo Kurosaki-Shiba? Find out when the next chapter is uploaded.
Please be sure to review and tell me what you think.