Welcome back to another chapter of Ballad of the Strawberry, now there is going to be spin-off that takes place immediately after this chapter and you'll understand once you read it, Ballad of the Strawberry: The Lost Nachos. Please go and support that as well as my sister on Wattpad if you enjoy reading Mummy fanfictions. Her name is karagreene01. Now onto comments!
ssj3gohan007: Tatsuki's powers are not an extensions of Rukia's. This is your only hint as to the answers to your questions. Tatsuki also still hasn't lost the powers given to her if that helps.
Jorodac: I sent the answers to your questions in PM, you should check that out if you haven't.
Guest Ch18: Ichigo still has all the powers of Canon. How he expresses these will be vastly different though. One thing that won't be happening is Karin or Yuzu having Hollow powers because Ichigo absorbed them all when he was born, this is explained in Canon.
Please continue to review and comment what you liked an didn't, I'm always accepting constructive criticism, now onto our feature presentation.
Tatsuki watched as they waited until the last second. Right before Urahara could act there was a massive explosion from the Shattered Shaft. Thrown back, Tatsuki thought she would slam into the wall when Urahara catches her and Tessai forms a small barrier to protect the group from the shockwave. A figure shot from the smoke cloud that had formed, landing several meters away from the group.
"Ichigo? Is that you?" Urahara called to the cloud. Tatsuki watched as piercing yellow eyes gleamed from within the cloud. Deep, husky breaths emanated from within. "Now would be a good time to answer that." Tatsuki hesitated as she drew her blade while Urahara simply tightened his grip on his cane.
"Don't play these games Strawberry! This isn't funny."
"I'm sorry but Ichigo is currently indisposed at the moment, can I take a message?" The dust cleared as a figure stood tall. A hulking beast of a creature with a strong, muscled tail that whipped around behind it. Clawed feet dug into the ground with flowing long, orange hair that reached down to the small of it's back. Tribal red marking leading up its arms and around it's back. A set of bull horns adorning its head, one on either side curving to the front, just above its ears. The two most defining features being a basketball-sized hole in the centre of its chest and a large black mask covering its face. Red markings running down to connect with the markings on its chest, all leading to the hole.
"Tatsuki, I'm afraid that's not Ichigo." The Hollow held it's hand to its chest as if insulted. Tatsuki couldn't keep her hands steady as she pointed her blade at the Hollow that once was her childhood friend.
"I'm hurt that you would imply that Ichigo is no more. He is here, you just can't talk to him till he's recovered." Urahara steeled himself but let out a sigh.
"I will ask once and only once, Hollow. Will you give Ichigo back?" The hollow gave an exasperated sigh.
"Even if I wanted to-" It's dual-layered voice sent chills down Tatsuki's spine. "-I couldn't. It's like I said, Ichigo is predisposed at the moment."
"Then I guess I have no choice. You will be purified and we will find Ichigo when I send his friends to the Soul Society." Urahara rushed the Hollow before Tatsuki rushed in front of him. "What are you doing Arisawa-san?"
"I can't let you kill Ichigo, he may still be in there!" The Hollow took advantage of the situation and opened a Garganta.
"Did you not hear what I said? You can find Ichigo when you go save Rukia, he won't die, only be sent there so he won't hurt anyone. All Hollows are driven by a hunger to fill the emptiness in their heart and he will attack his loved ones first. I need to purify him to prevent further tragedy." Tatsuki thought back and remembered when Sora had attacked herself and Orihime. She, reluctantly, moved out of the way, only for them to watch the Hollow jump inside the Garganta and vanish as it snapped shut.
Tatsuki froze. What had she just done? She had just watched, what was formerly, her childhood friend leaves through one of those portals hollows used. With trembling hands, she reached out to the air where the Garganta closed. Was he really...gone?
She jolted when Urahara laid a hand on her shoulder. Looking up to him she saw him also looking at the now empty training grounds. His gaze hardened before turning to her with, was that regret? She pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She would question him about it later.
"Have the rest of the day off, even with only 9 days of training I'll make you strong enough to save Rukia. It's what he would've wanted." She could only nod dumbly at his comment as everyone left the training ground.
As they exited the training ground they could hear the pounding of rain outside. Guess that's why Ichigo hated the rain, it rained the day his mom died, it rained when he lost his powers. Today it would rain in mourning, the loss of the linchpin of their friend ground. Their strawberry guardian. Today was the day Kurosaki Ichigo had died.
Kurosaki Isshin was sitting across from his old friend. The air was heavy though. Today, they wouldn't meet on good terms but to tell of bad news.
"So you made my son a Hollow?" Urahara bristled. He knew this wasn't going to be an easy thing to break to his old friend and former Taichou of the 10th division but it was something that needed to be done. It would have ended differently had he just claimed Ichigo had died. So far, aside from the Urahara Shoten residence, only Isshin and Tatsuki knew what became of the Kurosaki heir.
"It's not what it see-" He was cut off when Isshin slammed his tea down. A fracture formed on the table.
"Then explain how it seems." His voice was low and Urahara knew he would need to make a healing pit to recover from the storm to come. "It seems to me that you used an untested, highly risky, technique to give Ichigo his latent shinigami powers. You used my son as your little lab rat." Isshin was seething, when he had been called over for some tea he was expecting to catch up with his old friend but no. What he finds out was Urahara had essentially killed Ichigo because of the shopkeeper's own selfish gains.
"It was the fastest way to awaken his powers. Yes, there was a risk but I was fully confident in his ability to pass the test. Something happened, he resisted the hollowfication at the start. The hollow was even articulate for a newborn." Isshin watched the ripples form in the tea he was clutching with both hands. His features softening as he reeled in his anger.
"You told me he escaped right?" Urahara nodded. He didn't want to humour the light in his friend's eyes but he also couldn't lie to his friend, not about this. "Then that means there might still be a way to bring him back to us. What if you used the Hogyoku on him?" The shopkeeper took a long sip of his tea before gently setting it down.
"I have to warn you that it might be too late for your son. However, if you want to save him with that method then it might be best if we contact the Visored." Isshin shook his head.
"You know as well as I do that they want nothing to do with us and if they find out we know where they are then they'll just move. We need them here if and when Aizen makes his next move if only to have the extra power they can bring to the table."
"So what do we tell your daughters and Ichigo's friends?" Isshin contemplated what he wanted to do before deciding.
"We tell them the truth. That Ichigo has died and become a Hollow. Let them make their own decisions from there. If he comes back to hurt the rest of my family then I'll deal with him personally." The two men sat in silence, more comfortable than before.
"What are you going to tell your daughters?" Isshin locked eyes with his friend. The shopkeeper could see his eyes glow blue, electric energy behind those brown orbs.
"Everything."