Chapter 15: Soul-Healing, part 3: Shikai (Enlightened Black Sun/Moon)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

'Inner Quincy/Yhwach speech'

'Inner hollow/Zanpakuto speech'

xxx

"Damn kids…"

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto had been the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 for the past thousand years but only rarely he sighed as deeply as he did now. But with what had been happening in the past two weeks, even he was starting to feel a bit weary. First, the long forgotten creations of minds thirsty for knowledge, Bounts, had come back from the past to haunt the Soul Society, to haunt him. While this uprising hadn't last for long and hadn't really been a serious threat, it had taken a lot more power than he had anticipated to end it. The Bounts incident had quickly showed him just how much he had become comfortable with the peaceful world and how much he had underestimated the enemy.

Or just how much he had overestimated his forces.

Either way, Bounts had been dealt with and they had left his mind as quickly as they had entered it. Now, an unprecedented incident was occupying most of his thoughts. Just thinking about it brought additional wrinkle to his already old face. Just a couple of hours ago, three of his Captains had betrayed the Gotei 13 and had fled the Soul Society. Ichimaru Gin, Tōsen Kaname and Aizen Sosuke. Those three had immediately become traitors of the highest caliber. It saddened him, making him feel disappointed. Ichimaru Gin was an unpleasant brat to deal with and his constant teasing and taunting had been slowly becoming really irritating but he had also been a Captain with incredible potential. Ichimaru was a prodigy in the true sense of the word. Unlike young Kuchiki or Hitsugaya, who too had been hailed as prodigies, Ichimaru Gin was a true genius. Yamamoto was aware the standards in the Shin'ō Academy had been drastically lowered since he had first established it a long time ago. It had been necessary or they would have never been able to fill the vacant positions in Gotei that had been created in the past thousand years so fast. Still, Ichimaru had managed to literally breeze through all six years of curriculum in only one. Not just that, his learning curve was higher than anything Yamamoto had seen before. The brat was extremely determined. When he had left the Academy, he had already been on a level of a high-seated officer. While he would never rival Yamamoto in power, for a brat, he was exceptionally powerful. Unlike him, Tōsen Kaname wasn't a great loss in terms of power but he was a loss in terms of discipline, sense of judgment and ability to see what others couldn't. Considering the man was blind, Yamamoto found it extremely ironic. Then there was Aizen Sosuke.

That fool.

That arrogant, naïve and blind fool.

Yamamoto was aware of his advanced age. He was getting old even for shinigami standards. Despite that, his mind was as sharp as ever and so he easily understood the true meaning behind Aizen's words the man had said back at the Sōkyoku Hill. It were those words that made him feel just slightly worried. If that man was planning what Yamamoto thought he was planning then…

Aizen had to be stopped.

The problem was, Yamamoto didn't know how to do that. Aizen Sosuke clearly wasn't the man everyone, including Yamamoto, had thought him to be. He had managed to fool every single person. Even Yamamoto himself.

Feeling a bit of distaste on his tongue, the corners of Yamamoto's mouth twitched downwards.

Aizen was truly a mastermind of manipulation. Nobody knew what he would or could do next. Nobody knew what kind of man he truly was. Nobody even knew the extent of his power. Yes, the man did showcase his skillset a long time ago but it had been a lie. Yamamoto had noticed it as soon as he had smothered everyone on the Sōkyoku Hill with his reiatsu and Aizen had remained standing as straight as ever. The man didn't even twitch. When Yamamoto had seen that, he had thought of one thing.

'Impossible!'

There hadn't been a single man born in the past thousand years that wouldn't have been affected by his reiatsu even if just a bit. That was the reason why he was still the Captain-Commander. Because there simply wasn't anyone strong enough to take the mantle. And a Captain-Commander had to possess power enough to make his subordinates sweat just by glaring at them. That was what Yamamoto believed in.

There hadn't been a single bead of sweat on Aizen's forehead. Maybe the man had somehow faked it, maybe he had acted tough but the sheer possibility had made Yamamoto rethink things and so he had summoned all the remaining Captains for the Captains' meeting. It ended only recently, leaving Yamamoto with even more things to think about.

"Those damn kids…"

Standing on the balcony of his office, looking at the Seireitei below him, Yamamoto couldn't help but to sigh again. Just how far did Aizen's schemes go? In how many incidents had the man been actually involved? Yamamoto heard many new thing during the recent Captain's meeting but, so far, he chose to remain skeptical. While the new information had been said in a very convincing way, could he trust the words of a man that had been supposed to be dead for nearly two decades?

Shiba Isshin.

Yamamoto was glad to see the man alive and well. He really was. Despite being headstrong, pathologically idiotic and with a bad habit of challenging their superiors, the members of the Shiba Clan were good people and the Captain-Commander liked them; even after they had fallen from the position of a Great Noble Family. He remembered Shiba Isshin from twenty years ago. The man had goofed more than an average Shiba but his sense of duty had been engraved deeply in his soul. The Shiba Isshin that had stood in the center of the main hall during the last Captains' meeting was different. Less goofy and more serious than ever. The last twenty years had changed him. Was it a change for better or worse? Only time would tell. But there was something else about the man Yamamoto had noticed, and edge of some sorts. At the same time, there were things that remained the same. Shiba Isshin was still a terrible liar. The man must had been aware of that because most of his explanation felt true.

Shiba had told him the reason behind his sudden disappearance had been to repay a debt and to save a life of a girl that had interfered with his last mission, thus allowing him to win a serious fight. But because of her interference, the girl had become ill and the only way to help her had been for Shiba to lose his shinigami powers.

For the time being, Yamamoto had accepted the explanation even though he had known there had been much that Shiba hadn't been saying. But there had been other pressing matters Shiba had had to explain. And the man had done just that. He had talked for more than an hour. At the end of his explanation, Yamamoto had felt anger.

It had been a long time since he felt a spark igniting his inner flame in such a strong way.

He didn't want to believe things that Shiba had said. That it had been Aizen's fault that one hundred years ago, the Gotei 13 had lost almost half of its power. That it had been Aizen's fault that the 13th Division had lost its Lieutenant, Shiba Kaien. That it had been Aizen's fault Shiba Isshin himself had almost lost his life twenty years ago and more.

However, Shiba had backed up all of his claims with sufficient amount of proof. Although, most of his proof had consisted of information he had gotten from Urahara Kisuke and Shihoin Yoruichi, the two shinigami they all had thought to be traitors. But, looking at the big picture, Yamamoto had to admit.

It was all starting to make sense.

With Aizen openly revealing his schemes and intentions, there was no other way than to accept the joint explanation of Shiba Isshin, Urahara Kisuke, Shihoin Yoruichi and Tsukabishi Tessai. Aizen had even accepted Isshin's claim about his involvement in the incident a century ago with a smug smirk. Furthermore, it was clear to Yamamoto that Aizen had noticed the listening device on the Kurosaki brat long before they had surrounded him.

Yamamoto had to admit. When Shunsui had come to him with the proposition, it had sounded more than just ridiculous. One of his Captains was a traitor? No, that was impossible. In retrospect, he was glad Shunsui had convinced him to allow it.

After Shiba had said everything he knew about Aizen, the conversation had shifted towards the one thing that Yamamoto thought of as quite illogical and nonsensical.

Kurosaki Ichigo.

Apparently, he was the son of Shiba Isshin, and the one Aizen was greatly interested in. It was then, when Yamamoto had first seen the edge in the demeanor of the former Captain of the 10th Division. His features had hardened and his reiatsu, the one he was always subconsciously giving off, had changed and had become rigid and hard.

He had rebuffed everything and anything about his son, claiming he didn't know the reason behind Aizen's interest in him. Shortly afterwards, the meeting had ended. However, Shiba had surprised him by staying behind and asking him for a bit of his time.

Flashback - start

"What is it?" Yamamoto asked once Isshin closed the doors to his office. The man didn't answer immediately and just stared at the doors, his face hidden from Yamamoto's view.

"You haven't said anything about it during the meeting, sir, but how do you intend to punish me?"

A quiet grunt escaped the Captain-Commander's mouth. Through his mostly closed eyes, he squinted at Isshin's back until the man turned around and unflinchingly met his gaze. There wasn't a hint of cowardice on his face or in his eyes and it only showed just how different the man now was. Studying his former Captain with a strict eye, Yamamoto held off his answer for a while longer.

"I'm sure the Central 46 would want to punish you quite severely, so maybe it's for the best that Aizen Sosuke did what he did. Now, until we reassemble the Central 46, it is me who is in charge of their duties. In my eyes, Shiba, you haven't really broken any serious law. What you did was to save an innocent human from a certain death and I cannot condemn you for that. Moreover, since it seems that Urahara Kisuke, Shihoin Yoruichi and Tsukabishi Tessai are all just victims of Aizen's schemes, your collaboration with them is no longer considered a crime either." The Captain-Commander eventually stated.

Just for a second, Isshin responded with a small smile.

"Thank you, sir. However, there is more you need to hear."

Yamamoto snorted.

"I am aware of that. Do you think I'm the Captain-Commander for nothing, youngster? Your explanation was sketchy at best. You were obviously trying to hide something from the other Captains."

Isshin nodded and his smile vanished. Instead, he looked at Yamamoto with incredibly serious gaze.

"Yes, sir. I was, sir. I decided you should be the only one to hear this. I just hope you'll let me finish before you react."

Now that was curious and caused Yamamoto to slightly open one of his eyes. He ignored the reference to his quick temper and motioned Isshin to talk.

"Speak, Shiba."

Isshin nodded and took a few steps closer. He stopped in front of the chair and put his hands on it, as if trying to support himself.

"First thing you should know, sir, is that the girl I saved, later became my wife. Her name was Kurosaki Masaki and… she was a Quincy, sir."

The one eye Yamamoto had opened twitched.

"Continue."

"She was not just any Quincy, she was one of the last few purebloods. During my fight with that odd hollow, the fight that I mentioned during the meeting and twenty years ago, Masaki was the one who dealt the killing blow to it by letting it get close to her and bite her. It was that moment, when the hollow planted its pathogen into her blood. Since she was a Quincy, her state quickly deteriorated. When I returned to the Human World, I found her with a hollow hole already forming below her neck. I met Kisuke who explained to me that she was getting hollowified. The same thing that happened a century ago but a lot more advanced. The hollow that infected her was, of course, Aizen's doing." Isshin explained and began to pace around the office.

"Kisuke offered a solution. I could save her life but in return, I'd lose most of my shinigami powers and turn into a simple human because my powers would be tied with the hollow inside of her and would need to suppress it until the day she died." There, Isshin trailed off and expectantly looked at the Captain-Commander.

Yamamoto was silently absorbing all the information until he gazed at the man with a question in his eyes.

"There wasn't any need to conceal these information from the rest of the Captain, Shiba. That your wife was a Quincy is questionable but certainly not a crime. In the past two hundred years, we were even trying to find a way to improve the communication between us and the remaining Quincy."

Isshin's brow creased into a frown and he gave the Captain-Commander a hard look.

"There is more, sir. I'm sure you've noticed but I only regained my powers after my son died. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you, sir?"

The sudden shift in the man's tone surprised Yamamoto. He wasn't used to being talked in such a way and it instantly irritated him. However, something caught his interest and quickly dissolved that irritation. Shiba was clearly implying something, but what?

"My powers that should have been suppressing the hollow in my wife… but my wife has been dead for almost 7 years now, sir."

Yamamoto fully opened his one eye and stared at Isshin with unreadable expression. He wasn't shocked. He had lived for far too long and so barely anything could truly shock him anymore. But what he was feeling at that moment was something really close to that.

"Shiba… are you saying that your son…"

"Yes, sir. Ichigo inherited Masaki's hollow and not just that. He also inherited shinigami powers from me and Quincy powers from Masaki. If Kisuke's theory is true, then Ichigo's shinigami powers have merged with this hollow while, at the same time, he should be able to access his Quincy powers too. In other words, Ichigo is something akin to a hybrid being. And that is the reason I didn't want to say any of this at the meeting. I think you understand that this is most likely the reason behind Aizen's interest in Ichigo." Isshin finished for him.

A long silence followed after that. The one who broke it was Yamamoto.

"Why are you telling me this, Shiba? You do realize what the general consensus on hybrids is, don't you? Especially on shinigami with hollow powers. He could very well be executed simply for existing."

Isshin visibly clenched his fists.

"I do, sir, but as you have said it yourself, you are in charge now, not the Central 46."

Yamamoto fully opened his left eye and stared at the man in disbelief.

'This sly youngster.'

"Ichigo didn't chose to be a hybrid, sir. He probably doesn't even know he is one. Still, he is what he is and it'd be best to keep him around. Knowing him, Ichigo will use this to his advantage to gain as much power to protect those around him as he can. As his father, it pains me to say it as I'd like to keep him safe as much as I could, but he is a valuable asset. Ichigo is somebody Soul Society will need."

Yamamoto's eye twitched again.

"You think an infant like him could be of more use than our Captains?"

"He went from being a simple soul to a shinigami as strong as a Vice-Captain in just four months, sir. I think his growth speaks for his value."

"What?" Yamamoto raised his voice in surprise. He had to admit, he was impressed.

"Either way, Ichigo is a good person. Now, enough about him. There is more you need to hear, sir. It concerns the Quincy and the man you have fought a long time ago."

Flashback - end

Yamamoto sighed again.

The conversation with Shiba was unpleasant. Not because of the man himself but because of what he had told Yamamoto. It seemed Aizen was right about something.

It was inevitable.

He shook his head. He had time to worry about that. For now, he had other things he needed to take care of. He reinstated Isshin to his original position as the Captain of the 10th Division and reassigned Captain Hitsugaya to the 5th. Kurosaki Ichigo would remain as he is. Yamamoto was going to watch him from a distance.

But there was still a question of two more vacant posts he needed to fill. A question that had been too frequent in the past few centuries. Lowering his head, he glanced at the report from Captain Sui-Feng and at the picture of a man with a rather unkempt appearance.

…

"So, I'm a valuable asset, huh? Thanks Dad, I really appreciate your honesty." Ichigo muttered sarcastically. In response, Isshin sighed and rubbed his forehead.

After Ichigo had realized that his zanpakuto was partly hollow, Isshin had prevented him from immediately going into his mindscape to have a 'nice little chat' with it and had convinced him to wait at least until he was finished talking. Ichigo had begrudgingly calmed down a bit with a series of deep breaths and then had nudged him to continue. Isshin hadn't missed a beat and had told him a part of the conversation he had had with the Captain-Commander.

"C'mon Ichigo, you know I had to say it like that. The old man needed to know you are something special, something different, so that he'd leave you alone. I would fight him to death if he wanted to do something to you but… I wouldn't prefer to do so. You have no idea how scary the Captain-Commander can be."

"I'm touched." Ichigo retorted quickly but then sighed the same way his father did.

"Right, sorry. I'm just… it's getting really hard to trust anyone, you know. It feels like everyone I meet tries to manipulate me in some way." He said and leaned into the sofa. Tilting his head backwards, he stared at the ceiling of the room until Isshin spoke to him.

"You're one of the few last things I have, Ichigo. I am a horrible father but I care about you a lot, son. I hope you know that."

Ichigo snorted.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." He glanced at the man.

"So, is there something else you want to tell me?"

For a moment, Isshin appeared to be hesitating but then he shook his head.

"No. I mean, there are things we will need to talk about but it can wait. It's not that important at this moment. Instead, I want to hear more about you. How did you fare since you got here?"

Ichigo stiffened and a cold feeling ran across his spine when he heard the question and recalled his first few days in Soul Society. He quickly tried to hide it under the mask of indifference but, unfortunately for him, Isshin saw right through him.

"What is it?"

Ichigo closed his eyes.

'Great…'

"Well… I guess you could say I received a sort of a wake-up call…"

…

An hour later

"…I'm going to beat that idiot to a blood pulp…" Isshin growled and Ichigo had to move further into the sofa when large amounts of spiritual energy began to pour out of his father.

"U-uhm, Dad? Who are you talking about?" The teen stared at his father in surprise. He had never seen the man so upset before. Not once. Moreover, it was the first time Ichigo could feel his reiatsu.

It was powerful.

It took several more minutes before Isshin finally calmed down a little and brought himself to sit back down in the chair. He ran a hand over his hair and shook his head.

"I know why Yoruichi didn't help you that night. It was probably on Kisuke's advice."

Now Ichigo felt like raging.

"What?!"

Taking a deep breath, Isshin put a hand on his face.

"I think he was trying to help you in his own, retarded, way."

Ichigo dumbly blinked.

"Help?"

His mind was unable to process those words. With a look of exasperation, Isshin rubbed his chin.

"If I'm right… Ichigo, did something happen to you immediately after that… after Kazumi died?"

"Uh, no… I mean, what are you…?"

'You met me.'

When he heard the familiar voice suddenly echoing within his mind again, Ichigo couldn't help but to stiffen. Somehow, the voice felt different… as if the spirit was a stranger to him. At the same time, his words brought back a memory.

"I… I met my zanpakuto spirit for the very first time." He said quietly.

"Then I'm right. Ichigo, there are many ways to bring forth the shinigami powers hidden deep within one's soul. Among them, one of them offers the strongest response. It is the emotional pain. That's what happened to you. I think Kisuke wanted you to awaken your powers as soon as possible so you could have a better chance to survive in Rukongai. I… I think I can understand his intent but…" Isshin explained in a somber voice, trying to look anywhere but his son. He was clearly expecting the teen to snap.

For a moment, Ichigo really felt like doing that. The revelation angered him greatly. However, a moment later, a mind-numbing exhaustion washed over him and robbed his mind and body of every ounce of rage. He just deflated and leaned into the sofa with a defeated expression.

He was just so damn tired of people trying to sneak behind his back.

"You know what, Dad? Aizen's right. He may be a real bastard but he isn't wrong about one thing. This place needs a change."

…

Sitting alone, surrounded by peaceful silence, Rukia waited for the return of the head of the Kuchiki Clan with a cup of tea in her hand, a simple method to keep herself occupied. She was in Byakuya's office and just by being there, she felt her attempts to remain calm slowly vanishing into thin air.

After what had happened at the Sōkyoku Hill, the only words she had heard from him was to go to Kuchiki manor and wait for his arrival. He had said he had something very important he needed to tell her. But what that was, Rukia didn't know.

Did he want to scold her?

Did he want to punish her?

Or worse?

Thoughts such as these persistently appeared in her mind and she was unable to shake off this uncomfortable feeling of bad premonition. She wasn't afraid of Byakuya, the man had never physically hurt her before. But she was afraid of the outcome of their inevitable conversation.

Sure, the relationship between the two of them was a lot better than in the past. Byakuya even began to spend his time with her more often. His words were no longer that distant. His face no longer felt detached. Still, he was a Head of one of the four Great Noble Families and so was responsible for his clansmen.

By the time the doors to the office opened and the man's face showed up in the doorstep, the tea in Rukia's cup was long gone.

"Nii-sama…" She timidly called out to him.

Byakuya entered the room without replying to her. He simply walked around her to sit on the chair in front of his table. Only once he was seated, he showed her a tired expression.

That surprised Rukia. Byakuya rarely if ever showed any kind of emotion on his face. But here he was, clearly giving Rukia a weary and somewhat ashamed look.

Rukia blinked.

Ashamed?

What was going on?

"N-Nii-sama… are you alright?"

The concern in her voice must have been too obvious, because the man almost jerked and tried to renew his everyday face. He succeeded if only for a moment and then sighed deeply. This only further alarmed Rukia. Before she could ask him again, Byakuya opened his mouth.

"There's… something I want to tell you, Rukia."

Something in his voice didn't fit the normal image of Byakuya Rukia was used to and so she was unable to find her voice to respond. So she just gulped.

Byakuya put both his hands on the table and, for a moment, his gaze wandered off. Then he began to speak without any preface.

"One spring morning 50 years ago, before the first plum tree blossomed, I lost my wife." He said solemnly but there was a hint of smile on his face, as if he remembered a happy memory.

"I'm sorry." Rukia finally found her voice. She did not expect Byakuya to suddenly talk about such things.

"Lady Hisana… I was told that I was adopted into the Kuchiki family because I looked like her." She said and looked down, at her hands.

"That is right. I instructed everyone in the family…" Byakuya trailed off and took a deep breath.

"…to lie to you."

In surprise, Rukia's head snapped up. Byakuya quickly found her eyes and looked into them.

"Hisana… was your older sister, Rukia."

While she simply returned her gaze, Byakuya made a slight pause and then continued.

"Hisana passed from the world of the living, and you and she were sent to Inuzuri in Rukongai. But… it was hard for her to survive there while caring for you. So she abandoned you and ran." He closed his eyes and broke the eye contact. Despite the happy expression when he mentioned his wife, there was clearly a lot of pain in his eyes.

"She never forgave herself. After becoming my wife, she searched for you almost every day for the next five years. And in the spring of our fifth year together… she asked me to find you and take care of you but I was to never tell you the truth because she felt ashamed. She despised herself for abandoning you and thought she didn't deserve to be called your sister. Instead, she wanted you to be able to call me 'brother'. Then… she died." He lowered his head. For a moment, he couldn't speak. Rukia just listened to him, as she too, didn't think she could trust her own voice.

"I found you a year later and I immediately brought you into the Kuchiki family. There were many against it, the same way they had been against me marrying Hisana. Marrying somebody from the Rukongai was against our laws. They said it would sully our reputation. But I broke that law. That's why, after I took you in, I swore on the graves of my parents that I would never do it again, that I would never break law again. I swore that from then on, I would uphold it, whatever the cost."

He opened his eyes and looked at Rukia again.

"I dreaded the day when something would happen to you, something that would cause me to break the oath so I distanced myself from you. I pushed you away, treated you coldly and harshly. I tried not to let my feelings grow, tried to deny them, to throw them away, unwanted and unneeded. "

Rukia gulped.

"I dreaded the day when something would happen to you, something that would cause me to feel the same thing I felt that spring morning 50 years ago. It was something I never wanted to feel again. So I shut myself down, embraced my Kuchiki heritage, embraced my blood and, in the process, I discarded my heart."

Byakuya never once raised his voice but Rukia noticed that his hands, lying on the table, were twitching and subconsciously trying to form a fist.

"Many things happened in the past few months. My resolve to not let you close to me began to break ever since Shiba Kaien died but I endured. But then some boy died on your mission and your face fell once again. I watched you struggle but once that boy came back with you, you changed. You began to shine brighter than ever, like a yuki-onna in a blazing sun. I did not interfere, hoping the boy would give you the one thing I couldn't. But then, the two of you got yourselves imprisoned. Captain Kyoraku came to me with his plan to listen on the boy, convinced something was happening."

With trembling hands, Rukia quietly reached for Byakuya's fingers.

"When I was forced to listen to the conversation between the boy and Aizen Sosuke I realized one thing. All of my resolve was breaking down at the possibility of you running away. Back at the Sōkyoku Hill, when I saw you stand next to the boy, that resolve shattered completely. I was going to lose you and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Sure I could have forcibly ripped you out of his reach and save you from the act of treachery but, in the end, I would have still lost you. It was then that I swore another oath. I swore that if you remained in Soul Society, I would become the one thing Hisana always wanted me to become."

Rukia's breath got caught in her throat as she stared at Byakuya.

The man smiled.

"I swore that I would become your brother."

…

Instantly after he landed in his mindscape, Ichigo felt a shiver running up his spine. He was done talking to his father and so he was finally able to confront the one he needed to confront the most.

His own zanpakuto spirit.

"Do you smell it, Ichigo? It's the scent of blood. The scent of your own self."

A sense of foreboding hit Ichigo in the guts like a cannonball as soon as he heard that voice. The voice he could no longer recognize. The voice of the one who no longer felt familiar. He stood up.

When his sight fell on the person standing in front of him he immediately took a step backwards and a shocked grimace formed on his face.

"What… what the hell is that?"

His zanpakuto spirit grinned but Ichigo couldn't see it because there was something over its face. Something that forcibly spit the truth in the teen's direction with unavoidable precision.

A mask. A hollow mask. A hollow mask with an appearance of what could best be described as a menacing skull. It was white with two thick black stripes, each on one half of the mask, which were interrupted by the eye-holes and the jaw. The spirit chuckled in an eerie way.

"This? This is how I look in my initial released state. Does it scare you, Ichigo?"

Instead of replying to the question, Ichigo raised one of his own.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

The spirit reached for his mask and pushed it to the side so that a part of his face was visible. This action revealed his smirk.

"Believe it or not, despite this mask that has been forced onto me, I do have my moments when I care about you, Ichigo. You ask why I didn't tell you. My answer is easy. You weren't ready. Back then, the truth would have eaten you alive. Literally."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and his glare seemed to radiate power. His anger, the one that had suddenly vanished at the end of his conversation with Isshin, returned in full force.

"I won't fall for that again. This is not an answer. It's just an excuse!" He growled.

A burst of spiritual energy coming from his zanpakuto spirit forced him to take another step back. The ferocity, the sense of anger in it, confused him. It was only then when he noticed that the spirit was no longer smirking.

He was seething.

"Do not question me, Ichigo! I thought you were mature but you're acting like a fucking child again! You think I'm joking? Do you even realize what it means that I'm partly a hollow? I think you don't!" He shouted and reached for his sword. An instant later, his blade was only inches away from Ichigo's face. The teen cursed and hastily leaned backwards. Even then, he received a deep gash on his forehead.

"I'll just have to talk to you the same way I always do. With my blade!"

'Oh shi-' Ichigo didn't even have the time to mentally curse and quickly took out his sword to try and block the incoming barrage of fast strikes. Just barely, he managed to parry the first few but the spirit began to overwhelm him at a fast rate. Faster than his eyes could follow, the spirit blinked away from existence and Ichigo only registered it when he felt a sharp pain in his back. The blow propelled him forward and he crashed face-first into a large concrete construct. As he fell down he groaned from the pain.

"D-Damn…" He muttered and took a several short breaths while still lying on the rubble. He was covered with cuts and bruises and his back was killing him. In that moment he realized one thing.

He was seriously outclassed. Never once he had gotten in a fight that ended before it even began. The two of them exchanged only one series of blows yet he was ready to keel over. It was unreal. Still, he didn't forget about his anger. It was the only thing that forced him to put his hands beneath him and push.

Slowly, he stood up. The pain was bad but not nothing he hadn't felt before.

"You call this 'having a talk'?" He laughed without a smile and gripped the hilt of his sword, ready to continue.

"Not yet. Right now, I just want to beat the shit out of you."

"Good luck with that, I'm kind of stubborn to just let you do it."

They clashed, their blades meeting in the center of the scene. Yet only one of them got blown away from the force behind the strike.

Ichigo's back connected with yet another wall and he felt his bones screaming in protest. The wall cracked but didn't topple over and so he simply slid down on the ground. Blood spurted from his mouth and forced him to cough.

'This is im-impossible. I can't do a thing…'

Still, he wasn't about to let it end there. He tilted his whole torso to the right side, supported himself on his elbow, turned around on it and got up while facing the wall. He put a hand against it to take one breath and then turned around to glance at his spirit. Despite his earlier words, the spirit was calmly waiting for him to recover.

"What, you think I'm already done? I'll hold out and defeat you when you're tired of beating me."

The spirit shook his head.

"You cannot defeat me, Ichigo. Not yet, at least."

Ichigo reacted as soon as he saw the spirit disappearing from his view. Just narrowly, he managed to evade a powerful frontal blow but the attack smashed the wall behind with such force, it created a shockwave that forced him to jump forward. He slid across the ground and turned around, just in time to see a blade falling down on him from above.

He raised his sword to block it. When the two weapons collided, his hands trembled and he was forced on one knee. With only his anger pumping the adrenaline into his veins, he strained his muscles, along with his spiritual energy, and pushed.

The spirit was forced to take a step back to recover but the pause was too short to allow Ichigo a moment of peace. He just rose back to his feet when a black-reddish wave of crescent energy erupted from the spirit's sword.

"Shit."

In the last moment, he desperately tried to mirror his spirit's actions but the dark blue wave that emerged from his blade was considerably weaker than the spirit's wave. It was clear on first glance. As soon as the waves made contact with each other, they exploded. It wasn't the only thing that exploded.

"You think this is easy for me, Ichigo? I can see it on your face! You no longer see me in the same light! You think you can go all out on me because I am partly a monster! You think that right now, I am something like a stranger! You think that I am no longer you! Don't you get it? Don't you realize how hard this all is for me?! I didn't chose to be this way! But now, after all this time, do you think that if you took that hollow part of me, of us, away, we would be the same?! No! Of course not! It has been part of us since our birth! We lived with it, cried with it, laughed with it! It is because of it that we are who we are!"

"Calm down… you don't want to kill him, do you?"

Gasping on the ground, trying to draw at least one deep breath after being blasted away, Ichigo wasn't sure if he was starting to lose his consciousness and hallucinate but he thought he could hear the voice of the other spirit.

After a minute, when nobody tried to slash him again, Ichigo shakily raised his torso and sat to see his zanpakuto spirit in a distance with Yhwach standing right behind him, one of his hands on the masked spirit's shoulder.

Whatever Yhwach was saying or doing to him, it seemed to help and calm the zanpakuto spirit down and Ichigo saw him lowering the hand in which he was holding the sword.

Feeling extremely glad for the timely intervention, Ichigo let his body hit the ground again and just opted to simply wait until he could move without his whole body protesting.

…

He didn't know how much time had passed before he moved again. At one point, he had even fallen asleep. But when he woke up, he felt better. Much better.

Surprisingly better.

He blinked and slowly sat to see that his clothes were repaired and his body was no longer covered with injuries. Cracking his knuckles, he almost jumped in surprise when the deep voice of his other spirit came from behind him.

"Feeling better, Ichigo?"

"Gah, don't do that old man Yhwach… yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for stopping him. I thought I was going to bite the dust."

"So… you still think you can defeat me?" His zanpakuto spirit asked from his left side, leaning against a wall that hid him from the teen's sight.

Ichigo snorted but he felt tired and a bit sad, especially after what the spirit said before.

"I do, I'm just having a bad day."

The spirit muttered something but, because he was behind a wall, Ichigo couldn't hear him properly. Then he spoke again, this time louder.

"Ichigo, do you now understand the purpose of my three tests?"

Ichigo glanced at the sword lying on the ground next to him and put the palm of his right hand on its hilt. Then he closed his eyes.

"I have three different sets of powers. Quincy, Shinigami and hollow. You wanted me to accept them one by one."

"You're close but not completely right, Ichigo. After the first test, you have subconsciously accepted your Quincy powers. The fact that you learned about them only later but reacted as if it was no big deal is only a proof of that. If it was completely on me, I wouldn't have allowed that to happen but I had no other choice. Quincy powers were the only ones you could have accepted at that point. Back then, you couldn't have accepted my powers because I'm part hollow and this hollow side of me would have corrupted you too easily and too fast. After the second test, you have accepted your own powers, as well as your own heart. Without the heart, which is the one thing a hollow doesn't have, you had no way to accept me. To balance all your powers, you need to have inner equilibrium. Quincy as your white horse, Shinigami as your pale horse, Human as your black horse and Hollow as your red horse. Funny thing is, you are already dead and so you should have lost your Human part that night more than four months ago. But you didn't. Do you know why?"

While he was talking, the zanpakuto spirit walked from behind the wall and now faced Ichigo with his mask still covering half of his face. Ichigo returned his gaze but was struggling to find the answer to his question. He was too surprised at hearing all of that.

"I… no. I don't."

The spirit grinned but the grin soon faded into an unreadable expression.

"I guess you still think that what you saw and heard during your second test was just some kind of metaphorical representation, right? It was not. The hearts of your sisters are literally inside of you, parts of their souls still lingering within your own, protecting your from your death even after their own."

Ichigo froze in shock with his mouth opened. For a long moment, he could only breathe. The rest of his body was unresponsive. His brain was completely shut down.

"What…" He whispered in a squeaky voice.

"You died in the same exact moment your sisters did. When that happened, your soul literally tore itself into pieces. Me and Yhwach saw it. Everything around us began to fall apart and we could only watch, unable to do anything. However, you screamed. But your voice didn't come out through your throat and out of your mouth. No. It was your very essence that screamed. It was a pained shout to the darkness, filled with your despair but also filled with a desire to protect your sisters no matter when or where. I don't what happened in that moment, but in the next instant, we saw a small orb of something… something that I can't even describe. It spoke but it wasn't a language we could understand. The only thing we know is that it granted your wish to protect your sisters and stopped your soul from dying in the process."

Ichigo's breath got caught up in his throat and he felt like hyperventilating. But the images of his two sisters, the two angels that he had sworn to protect, played in his mind. Something moist appeared on his cheek but he paid it no mind. He was just too happy.

'Yuzu, Karin… I don't deserve to be your big brother. I failed you yet you still saved me. I…' His thoughts trailed off. He couldn't even think, his emotions were just that much stronger.

"With them guarding your soul, you still have some humanity within your soul. You still have a heart, their hearts. That is the only reason you are still alive. Thanks to them, you are able to, step by step, accept what is rightfully yours. Step by step, you can claim the power that is mine as much as it is yours. In this third test, you need to recognize me as your zanpakuto. When you do, you'll know my name. That is the reason I put this off as much as I could. Because to recognize me, who is part hollow, you had to grow first. I'm not asking you to accept me. We have time for that. For now, I just want you to recognize me, despite my flaws, as your blade."

The solemn voice of his zanpakuto spirit caused Ichigo to let go of his emotions. He wiped the moisture from his face and looked at him. He didn't even know why, but, in his eyes, the spirit once again looked like somebody familiar and not like a stranger. There was still something in the teen's subconscious that was causing him to squint his eyes when looking at the spirit but it wasn't so significant anymore.

"Why not completely accept you?"

The spirit chuckled in a bizarre way.

"I don't think I can ask you for that. But it is my conscious decision, Ichigo. I have decided that the time when you fully accept me is the time when you reach your Bankai but… that is light years away. Now, what you have to do to recognize me as your sword? Tis' but a simple thing, Ichigo! Tell me what part of you I represent! Draw your sword. We'll exchange our inner thoughts with our blades as we always do!" He exclaimed and threw away all the expressions he had had so far. In their stead, a playful grin formed on his face. He pushed his mask back onto his face and unsheathed his sword.

After a long time, so long it felt like a lifetime ago, Ichigo felt like he could do one thing he thought he didn't know how to do anymore.

He smiled.

"Come at me you bastard!"

…

It was a lot later when Ichigo sailed through the air but landed perfectly on his feet. One of his legs shook and he fell on its knee. His stamina was very slowly, but surely, depleting. Once again, he was covered with cuts and bruises but they wasn't as vicious or serious looking as they had been before. They were mostly caused by his own carelessness and attempts at improvisation. Such tactic had brought poor results at first but the more he battled his zanpakuto spirit, the less injuries he received as a punishment for trying it. He was getting good at handling the erratic and often unpredictable fighting style of his spirit, delivering some good blows of his own while doing so.

However, he was aware he was still not forcing the spirit to fight at full power.

"We've been fighting for some time now, Ichigo. Don't you still have the answer?" The spirit asked with a bit of a disappointed sigh, redirecting Ichigo's crescent energy blast with the blunt side of his blade. Tough it took him considerably more effort to do so as the teen's attacks were getting heavier and harder to block.

"Hm? Oh, sure, I have it."

Hearing the reply, the spirit stopped in his tracks and gave him a sardonic glare.

"Are you fucking with me, Ichigo?"

"Hell no!"

The spirit shook his head and caught the teen's blade with his free hand before it could impale his abdomen.

"Then do answer, you idiot. And wipe that disturbing smile off your face."

Surprised at his spirit catching his blade like it was nothing, Ichigo actually took a double-take at those words and touched his mouth with his left hand.

The spirit was saying the truth. He really was smiling a bit too much.

'Crap, I've been enjoying the fight too much…'

"You've been enjoying our fight too much, haven't you?" The spirit asked as if reading his thoughts. When only the silence was his answer, the spirit sighed and pushed the mask to the side to reveal his half amused, half irritated expression.

"Well, I can't fault you for that. Since your soul is partly hollow, you have that predisposition."

Ichigo grimaced at that and pulled the sword out of the spirit's grip.

"You know… sometimes I don't get you. One moment you act like a psychotic murdered then you act like some kind of a mentor. It's like you possess two personalities that… oooh!" Ichigo slapped his face when the realization hit him. The spirit stared at him in disbelief.

"Seriously? You only got it now?"

"Uhm…"

The spirit snorted.

"Unbelievable… so? It seems that this time, you don't need any help forming the answer. Tell me. Who am I?"

Faced with the direct question, Ichigo didn't avert his eyes and looked the spirit directly into his eyes. He knew the answer long before they began to fight. Long before he came to his mindscape. Long before he even got to know that the spirit was partly hollow. Before he got to know that he was partly hollow. He knew that instinctively, because…

"You are my instinct."

A silhouette of Yhwach appeared next to the masked spirit, both of them looking at him with approval.

"Indeed I am. Now go. Leave this mindscape and shout my name to the world!"

…

In the real world, Ichigo opened his eyes with a smile on his face. He slowly got up from his sitting position and grabbed the sword that had been on his lap. With a proud face, he gripped the hilt with both of his hands, raised it to the air and exclaimed loudly.

"Bleach their souls, Zangetsu!"

End of chapter 15.

Damn, fourth chapter since new year already? My muse has been kicking me quite a lot lately. Shame that only for this story...

Oh well, I'm very excited that I've been able to finally write the scene I wanted to write ever since the very inception of this story : Ichigo proudly releasing his Shikai with the phrase: "Bleach, Zangetsu!"

Originally, it was supposed to be "Bleach their souls, Zangetsu!" but... most Shikai have one worded phrases for release and so I cut the rest off. (I know, I know, Ukitake and Kyoraku have chants but... well, zangetsu is a simple zanpakuto in comparison so I kept the phrase simple too. And i didn't want to make Ichigo even more special than he already is.) UPDATE: Due to demand, I changed it back to my original idea.

Yamamoto's thoughts show, that in this fic, he'll be more "think first, act later" kind of guy. He is an experience leader as so I think he should act just like that. Byakuya grew as a person. Rukia did too. Ichigo and Zangetsu... that is an interesting relationship.

Tite Kubo put a lot of emphasis on "Heart" in Bleach and because of that, I'll be using that too. Some may think that the reason for Ichigo not soul-suiciding is an asspull or a cop-out but i stick with what i wrote. I did not have Karin and Yuzu die in the beginning just for pointless angst. Their deaths were supposed to serve a purpose = saving Ichigo. Of course, a certain orb helped too...

That doesn't mean Ichigo is safe, of course.

Next chapter, we advance to next small arc (A hint has been given in this chapter).

Oh, he'll also meet Yoruichi once again. How will he react?

btw: I changed a small detail in chapter 13 that will have a role in the future. Can you find it?

To reviews:

*AresLaw - we exchanged PM about it so I'll just say for the others: I corrected my mistake. Moving on to Hell... I finally decided on my vision of hell so yeah, Hell will appear in this story but it'll be different from the movie. Fullbring will most likely not appear (as in the canon arc) though I may include Ginjo...

*jusa18 - thanks. Yes, I thought about making Ichigo a double agent. It may still happen, since Ichigo realizes more and more that he is being manipulated quite a lot.

*reality_deviant - thank you, I did think that Rangiku should be there and she fit in the scene nicely. Kyoraku should have had a POV this chapter but i already wrote one for Yamamoto and one for Rukia. I may include Kyoraku's in the next chapter.

*Kragh50 - honest question: what could I have done to destroy the story? I'm interested in hearing that :) . Yes, Ichigo will be a dual-wielder.

*blarg7865 - he said it but only to Yamamoto. For now, Ichigo doesn't want to be known as Shiba. He is still Kurosaki. Kukkaku fand Ganju will appear indirectly in the next chapter, directly the one after that.

*Takei_Daloui - yep but this secret will be different from canon ;). Thanks, I thought it fit.

*Lord_Wolfe - my intention is to make Ichigo rethink his decision to stay in SS at one point. I want to show him that while there is evil in SS, there is also good there.

*Dinner - no problem. Well, at this point, Aizen doesn't have Urahara's hogyoku so his espada is a bit different from canon. At least for now. Now, it consists of familiar names but...well, you'll see. They won't be of main focus for some time but I'll make them gradually appear. Orihime will probably won't even appear in the story. Only indirectly.

*YuukiAsuna-Chan - it saddens me to hear that. I hope that you'll take a quick look after 5 or 10 chapters and maybe that interest will return :). I stand by my decision, though.

*dinadan256 - Ichigo will be a balanced powerhouse in time. Emphasis on the 'balanced'. Aside from having raw power, he can already use (with very good results) 3 Kido spells, knows variations of Shunpo and his Hakuda is good too. He's learning at a fast rate because of his hollow part. A hollow is a creature of instinct and Ichigo too, grasps knowledge of brawling instinctively. That's why Kido is harder for him to learn. Despite that, he'll make progress with Kido too.

*MugetsuIchigo - two ;)

*Harbinger_of_Kaos - no problem, man. Yeah, Orihime and Sado are simple humans. Uryu will appear, though. I think Yamamoto reacted as a leader should have. Isshin is practically innocent so there wasn't really point in punishing him harshly. He'll just have some restrictions placed on him. Oh yeah, Mayuri will be curious.

Leylani-sama - from his friends? I have plans for Uryu and (probably) Tatsuki. Oh and Urahara will appear again in two chapters. Thanks.

I thank the others as well. Your opinions and ideas help me in the long run!

That's all for now. The next chapter will be titled "Black & Noble". I don't have a subtitle yet.

See ya next time!