Chapter 9: Training begins.
Here we are. Ichigo getting his Shinigami powers back. How wonderful. Hope it'll be good. Also since this is a fanfiction, it's not going to be the exact same as the anime/manga.
[Toshiro's POV].
It's late and Ichigo has left to find Rukia. I can feel the two Shinigami. A captain and lieutenant spiritual pressure, I'm guessing. They're both powerful.
'How lovely, couldn't they waited until tomorrow night? I already have enough shit to get over that happened today.' I groaned in my head. I could hear Hyorinmaru chuckled. I leaned back in my chair. I spent the afternoon drawing.
"Perhaps it's for the best, Master." said the massive powerful ice dragon. I rolled my eyes and got up from my seat before hearing my window open. I looked up and saw Kisuke crouching on my windowsill. I glared at him.
"You know it's rude to come to someone's room in the middle of the night, uninvited?" I sarcastically ask. Kisuke chuckled.
"Well unless you want to save your brother, I suggest getting your shoes on." he said. I sighed and opened the draw in the wardrobe to get out some spare shoes that I kept just in case. I changed my slippers for them. Kisuke jumped down and I climbed up to the windowsill, then jumped down.
I then noticed it started to rain. I was about to pull my hood up when I noticed that Kisuke put up an umbrella.
As we got to where Ichigo was, I saw that two male Shinigami and Rukia leaving this world using the Senkaimon.
"I'm that's Byakuya Kuchiki and Renji Abarai?" I asked Kisuke. He nodded. We walked over to Ichigo as he punched the wet ground. I noticed a street lamp turning on. I clinched my fists when I noticed the blood from Ichigo.
'Oh, that man is SO dead!' I growled in my head. No one hurts my Ototo and gets away with it.
Me and Kisuke walked up to Ichigo's bleeding form. I noticed his brown chocolate dead eyes look at us. I could feel my heart clinch in pain. I never wanted to see that in his eyes.
Ichigo then lost consciousness.
"I'll take Ichigo, Kisuke. You take the Quincy." I said, picking up Ichigo. Kisuke didn't question me. I guess he knows why I want to take Ichigo. Kisuke picked up Uryu and we both headed back to Kisuke's shop.
I feel bad. It's my responsibility to protect my younger siblings as the oldest but I couldn't even protect Ichigo from Byakuya and Renji. I couldn't even protect Okasan before she sacrificed herself to protect Ichigo from that hollow.
It's been hours since Ichigo was healed and I stayed here at Kisuke's, the Quincy, Uryu left once Kisuke patched him up. I phoned Otosan to tell him the problem with Ichigo and my plan on how to train him. While healing him, I used the back up Hogyoku to give him the abilities of hollows so like me, he has a hollow living in him now. Although when I put the hollow within Ichigo, I noticed that it refused the Hogyoku and it worried me. So, me and Hyorinmaru went inside Ichigo's mindscape to find out what's going on. It was shocking.
[Flash back]
Me and Hyorinmaru went into Ichigo's mindscape. I saw an old looking guy but also a black and white version of Ichigo. My eyes widened.
Ichigo had a hollow within him all this time? But how? I thought I was the one who inherited the hollow from Okasan when I was born. How does he have it? Is that why the Hogyoku refused to put a hollow in Ichigo. I walked up to Ichigo's hollow.
"Hello there." I said. The hollow scowled at me. It was then that I noticed a huge amount of Shinigami within the hollow and a huge amount of Quincy in the old guy. Which means...
Ichigo's hollow is his Shinigami powers and his Zanpakuto whereas the old man is his Quincy powers and is here to balance out Ichigo's Shinigami and Quincy abilities. I have one in my mindscape but I don't really see him. He prefers to be in a bright cave alone, sleeping and balancing out my soul.
"Who are you?" asked the Quincy powers.
"I am Toshiro Kurosaki, Ichigo's Nii-san." I smiled. The hollow clicked his tongue.
"Like I care." said the hollow but I can tell that he does care. I looked at the two.
"I'm guessing that you." I said, pointing at the hollow, "are Ichigo's Shinigami powers and his Zanpakuto." The two spirits eyes widened. I could tell that Hyorinmaru was amused.
"And you." I said, pointing at the old guy, "are Ichigo's Quincy powers." I grinned.
"How did you know that?" asked the hollow. My hollow appeared.
"It's pretty much easy when your King and my King are in the same situation. We have a Quincy old man in our mindscape but we're not really friends, just acquaintances. Although, I'm not my King's Zanpakuto, just his inner hollow that was given to him by birth and inheritance." My hollow explained.
"Also, I could sense a huge amount of Shinigami within you, hollow, and a huge amount of Quincy in you, old man." I said. The two nodded.
"I see." said the hollow.
"That would make sense on how you were able to connect the dots between me and the real Zanpakuto." said the old man. I raised a brow.
"You're planning on pretending on being Ichigo's Zanpakuto?" I asked. The old man nodded.
"That is right." said the old man.
"What do you want us to call you?" asked Hyorinmaru.
"Well, Zangetsu is my real name but since the old man is pretending on being me, I guess you can call me Hichigo, for now." said the white-haired hollow, Hichigo. I then looked at the old man.
"I guess we should call you 'Zangetsu'." I said, looking at him. The old man nodded.
"But what should we call you guys?" asked Zangetsu.
"Toshiro." I said.
"Hyorinmaru." said Hyorinmaru.
"Hoshiro." said the black-haired hollow.
[End of Flashback].
That was a fun experience. So yeah, Ichigo has his very own inner hollow which is his Zanpakuto, how exciting.
Me and Kisuke were sitting down coming up with plans on training Ichigo. I had told him about Zangetsu and Hichigo. He said he was going to do the same thing he had done for me to Ichigo when I started out training as a Shinigami. I almost fucking died, well I almost got turned into a hollow.
We both sat in silence until we heard a scream.
"Ichigo's awake." I said. Kisuke nodded. I grinned. I know why he's screaming, Tessai's on him.
"BOSS, YOU WANTED ME TO LET YOU KNOW THE MOMENT ICHIGO WOKE UP AND HE'S AWAKE!"I heard Tessai shouted. I couldn't help myself. I fell backwards to the floor, laughing for a few second but I got up. We both headed to the room Ichigo was in.
Kisuke opened the door and he walked in, I decided to go and make a phone call to Otosan. I didn't want Ichigo to know what I was yet.
"Hey Toshiro, is everything alright?" I heard Otosan's voice from the phone.
"Everything's fine. Just letting you know that Ichigo has woken up." I said.
"I see, that's good." Otosan said. I stood there in silence for a few moments.
"Toshiro, is something on your mind?" asked Otosan. I told him about Zangetsu and Hichigo and the story behind the two.
"I see. Toshiro, do me a favour." Otosan said.
"Yeah?" I said.
"Train your brother good." Otosan said before hanging up. I walked to the room where Ichigo was, I heard Kisuke telling Ichigo about having 10 days of training, 7 days to open the Senkaimon and 13 days to save Rukia. To be honest, all this effort for a girl. Seriously, I swear the Kurosaki family is weird. Okasan save Otosan despite the fact he was a Shinigami and she was a Quincy and they both did NOT know each other. Stubbornness only lives in the Kurosaki family.
It's been a couple of days since Ichigo was told he could save Rukia. So, he went back to Kisuke's shop, this morning with the excuse of going to a summer vacation soon but he wanted to prepare.
"I still can't believe that Ichigo would take off on his own summer vacation and leave the rest of us behind." Yuzu complained as she set down tonight's dinner. Karin was reading a newspaper and I was reading a book, a manga book. Assassination Classroom, my friend would not stop telling me to read it and how good it was, so I decided to give it a shot.
"Grow up Yuzu, he's always taking off." said Karin, looking at her before going back to the newspaper. Out of nowhere, Otosan pooped up from behind the newspaper Karin was reading and I knew what was going to happen.
"We don't need Ichigo to have fun. Why don't you play a game of truth or dare with your dear old, Otosan!" Otosan said cheerfully. I rolled my eyes as Karin stuffed the newspaper into his mouth.
"You're so weird! Why can't you act a little more of a grown up?" Karin said. Good luck with that Karin, from the stories Otosan, Kisuke and Yoruichi told me, Otosan has been acting like that for over 100 years and he's not changing anytime soon.
I sighed as I went back to my book, blocking out the family's argument/crying.
It's been a day since Ichigo went to train with Kisuke and I decided to check what's happening. I flash stepped into the shop and climbed down the ladder just in time to see Ichigo fall down into a hole. I sighed and walked over to the three. I could hear Ichigo scream while Kisuke explained it to Ichigo. However, he is right. If Ichigo does become a hollow, we would have to kill him.
I spent most of the time (while Ichigo was in the hole) sorting out stuff for college, making Otosan's hoodie, getting to know the two children who are called Jinta and Ururu and planning Ichigo's training. I get this bad feeling that the execution will be different compared to others. I believe this execution will be when Aizen makes his move. He has to.
I ignored Ichigo's screams and the others talking.
This is bad. It won't be long until Ichigo turn into a hollow. Jinta and Ururu sure loves to tease Ichigo. Kisuke has been eating apples.
"I wonder if it's dark outside. It's difficult to tell what time of day it is." Kisuke said. I tsked.
"If you wanna know so bad, install a fucking clock down here!" I yelled at him, from behind a large rock but also sitting on a smaller rock. It's been 70 hours since Ichigo was put into that hole. It's not going to be long until the chain of fate to be eaten just like that. The final step it completely different compared to the other steps.
Jinta went down into the hole with some food. Idiot, he knows he shouldn't be down there. It's completely dangerous. I then heard Ichigo's cries and screams. It sounds like he's been choked or something or maybe...
I dropped my sketchpad on the floor and jumped up to turn to the hole.
"He's turning into a hollow." I said to myself as I rushed to the hole. I looked down and my eyes widened.
'The mask is forming with his body still there. Which means...' I thought.
"He could easily turn into a Shinigami after his hollowification has been complete. It all depends on Hichigo now whether or not he'll allow Ichigo to live. After all, us inner hollows can easily make your bodies explode after the hollowification is complete and make you into a hollow." Hoshiro said. My eyes widened.
'It's that easy for you guys to do that?' I asked him. I could feel him grin.
"Of course!" He said.
"Watch closely. Usually when a hole becomes a hollow, first the spiritual body explodes then it reforms but, in his case, and Toshiro's case, the order is all mixed up. The mask is being created while the body is still a hole. This is a sign on where he can gain his Shinigami powers back due to the fact there is a huge possibility. So, lets watch a while and see if he does become a hollow." Kisuke explained. The two children were shocked.
"Wait what do you mean by Toshiro's case? Did he go through what Ichigo is now?!" Jinta asked. I nodded.
"I did but I was much younger then Ichigo is now. He is 15 and I was 12 when I went through this training. I barely didn't survive due to the fact that the chain was eaten up much quicker than Ichigo's. It wasn't due to the fact that I was hungry, it was because I was trapped in a flashback that I couldn't escape from." I explained.
"A flashback?" asked Ururu. I nodded.
"Yes, a flashback. I'm a reincarnated soul and I got the memories from my past life and the time I was alive." I said.
"Wait were you a Shinigami in your past life?" asked Jinta. I shook my head.
"No, I didn't get past the academy. I was killed by my best friend due to the fact we had the same Zanpakuto but we didn't have the same Zanpakuto just similar. I have an ice-water Zanpakuto and he has a water type." I explained going back to the rock. The rest watched Ichigo's transformation. I sat down, picking up my sketchpad.
Then there was a massive blast from the hole and some was shot out of it. It hit the wall and then the floor. Smoke covered whatever came out of the hole. I had a feeling it was Ichigo but you never know. Jinta called out to whoever it was in the smoke. The smoke died down and revealed a person, a male.
There was Ichigo wearing his Shinigami uniform and on his face was his hollow mask. Gotta say, it looked like my first hollow mask until it changed however, the strips where red not blue. Ichigo took out his Zanpakuto and used the hilt to destroy the mask. Fuck! I wanted to use that mask to draw on his jumper! He moved the mask to the side of his head.
He moved his hand then looked up as Kisuke clapped his hands. I rolled my eyes. I knew where this was heading.
"Congratulations, it seems like you went and became a Shinigami again, well done! Lesson 2: completed" Kisuke said with his fan out.
"Shut up." Ichigo said, using his hilt to hit Kisuke. Kisuke faked cried as Ichigo crossed his arms.
"Well, well, well. I bet you weren't expecting me to come back alive. I swore to myself that if I made it out of that hole, I would kill you the first chance that I got." Ichigo said with an annoyance face. Oh, he was pissed at Kisuke. Kisuke hummed.
"Your timing is perfect, with all of your spirit energy, we should get you onto lesson 3." said Kisuke, getting up from the floor. Ichigo had tick marks all of his face.
"What did you just say?" asked Ichigo. I sighed.
"And the best part about lesson three, there is no time limit! Knock off my hat and you're done." Kisuke said. He said the last part as a joke but it seems like Ichigo took it seriously. Ichigo went on to a swing and cut a bit of Kisuke's hat.
"Hm, not bad but that was a joke." said Kisuke.
"What?!" Ichigo growled. Kisuke smirked.
"You won't be fighting me." said Kisuke. That got Ichigo's attention.
"Who will I be fighting?" asked Ichigo.
"Why don't you come out, Kurosaki-Kun." Kisuke said. I got up from the rock and walked out from behind the larger rock. Ichigo's eyes widened. I smiled.
"Hello Ototo." I said.
Damn what a cliff-hanger, am I right? So how did you like this chapter?
Translations:
Ototo- Little Brother.