Generic disclaimer! Don't own! Yada, yada! For fun and not profit (tragically)!

That said, this is about as much an update as it is a short. Originally I was planning on making this a full fledged story, but then a thought occurred to me—would I really be adding anything to it? Changing the story up other than basically swapping out Ichigo's cannon powers? The more I thought about it, other than potentially mellowing out Ichigo I couldn't legitimately say I was doing anything special. It was thanks to this thought that any inspiration I felt for this as a proper story died off to the point where I was basically ignoring the "for now" part on the original summary for this story. That said however.

To anyone interested, feel free to adopt either this story or the premise.

For what it's worth I hope you enjoy this second one shot. It was something I kind of had in mind back when I was still interested.

Sans Determination

He simply stood there. One would think that he would be actingmore cocky, more arrogant or at least sneering at those who would stand as his enemies as he made sure Rukia escaped, but no. In complete contrast to expectation he barely said anything from his arrival to now, and furthermore he looked more interested in going back to bed as he scowled at the head of the Kuchiki household. But it was there in a more subtle form. Namely in the form that he hadn't even deigned to bring his zanpakuto to the fight.

It was time to teach him the price of his hubris.

"Scatter, Senbonzakura."

The beautiful wave of death in the form of scatter sakura blossoms rushed forth at the false reaper, aiming straight for his chest to either annihilate him or at least maul him enough to teach him the much needed lesson that is his place in this matter as it should have been learned the first time around.

... he dodged it however. Not by scrambling out of the way or leaping... but by simply side stepping it at the last second. For better or worse however he did bother to keep an eye on the streaming mass of blossoms as it swerved to take another swing at him.

... he dodged it as languidly as he had the first time. Subsequent attempts faired no better, sadly.

"Bakudo number 61! Rikujokoro!"

As six panels of light screamed across the air to trap the intruder in place only for him to outright vanish. Thankfully he reappeared in another spot within the captain's line of sight, though at this point it was clear to Kuchiki that the upstart was making him as he leveled an unimpressed glare whilst still looking like he'd rather go back home to sleep the day away. He didn't even glance at the petals as he lazily dodged them once again.

And so it was on...

Barrier were erected to trap him in place only to be outmaneuvered and ultimately ignored. Spears and bolts of energy at most garnered a raised brow as he kept dodging. Senbonzakura was still being evaded, and all the while the false shinigami made it a point to creep nearer and near without seemingly breaking a sweat.

This song and dance continued on to no avail for Byakuga until Ichigo Kurosaki was about two meters from him, his hands in his pockets. Senbonzakura was recalled, but not dispelled, and left to swirl in the air behind the captain as the two stared at one another without sparing a word between them for what was beginning to stretch into an eternity...

"Look," Ichigo finally spoke up, "it's been a looong day for me as it is. In fact it's to the point where a nap really is sounding tempting right now. But as it is I'm not going to allow you to pursue Rukia if you guys are going to simply kill her. So, can we just agree to part and go our separate ways and never bother each other again?"

"That is out of the question," Byakuga stated firmly as he quietly glared at the teen. Ichigo simply sighed as he cracked his neck and leveled a more dour glare at him in return.

"Trust me, you're not going to like what I will do to you if you don't reconsider."

"Then I'm afraid we are at an impasse then."

The teenager sighed as he dropped his head in defeat. "So be it then," he grumbled as he lifted his head to the captain once more. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Bankai."

In less than a moment the entire world went black. Only he and the intruder were there, only he was a fair distance further away now. The only thing breaking up the monotony of shadow, other than themselves, was a practically glowing white outline of a box the soul reaper captain found himself in. There, before him, were also three boxes colored in a duller yellow which contrasted heavily enough against its ebony background that it too was practically alight like the white outline. The yellow boxes themselves were practically hollow save for some rudimentary symbols and English lettering: the shape of a sword was in one box paired with the word Fight. Act was joined by what appeared to be a representation of sound. A bag was coupled with the word Item, and the world Mercy and a slightly drooping X next to it.

"We each get a turn in this dimension," Ichigo intoned from his spot. "One attacks, acts, uses an item or decides the fight isn't worth it, but only chooses one per turn. No real point getting worked up if you can't respond twice in the same turn."

Byakuga's eyes narrowed as he sent Senbonsakura forth at the teenager only for it to be dodged once again with what actually looked to be more effort than before. What struck him as odd however was that as soon as the attack missed, or rather passed him, it was as if some force took a hold of all the petals at once and began to quickly shove the zanpakuto into the white outline the captain found himself in. What's more the additional boxes faded into near nothingness as the captain attempted to resist the efforts of the unseen force to no avail. He even leapt forth with the use of shunpo to escape its confines only to be readily stopped by an unseen force that simply kept him from leaving his apparent domain.

"As I said, you only get one action per turn."

Byakuga once more leveled a silent cold glare at the teen. It was interrupted however with the abrupt appearance of what he had first thought was a hollow only to realize it was an oddly shaped skull. A quick glance to his sides confirmed that his box was surrounded by the elongated alien skulls whose jaws were separating both in the conventional sense as well as sideways as a glow emerged from the darkness of their mouths.

"And now it's my turn."