Thanks for the reviews guys. "FUCKING FINALLY!" Ehm.. anyways .. for those who want's to know the plot, KEEP READING !

AND KEEP REVIEWING! I lose motivation fast if I feel like people don't give a damn. I know ... I'm pathetic.. D:

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

"Zangetsu"

"Normal Conversations"

'Inner thoughts'

"That badass hollow"


The grey clouds hovering above the the remaining of once a great city filled willed with countless shinigami was synonymous with how Ichigo was feeling now. Ichigo recalled the discussion he had with his dad a few hours ago.

-flashback-

"You know what this means right?" Isshin asked, hoping his son understood the severity of the problem at hand.

"Yeah. But you gotta keep this a secret alright. This place is already having shit load of trust issues. I don't want them to think of me as a threat." Ichigo gingerly replied.

"So how do you plan to deal with 'it'. I can ask Urahara to help you solve this problem. Maybe he can come out with something." Isshin informed him.

Something snapped within Ichigo when he heard Isshin referring to to his hollow as 'it' and barked back "the 'it' that you referred to is a part of me dad. Show him some god damn resp-" Ichigo saw Isshin's expression went from passive to shocked at his rebuttal and realised whe he had just done and quickly apologised "S-sorry. I don't know what came over me. I-i think I gotta go."

Ichigo was about to leave when Isshin put his hand on his shoulder to hold him from leaving. "Ichigo. Is 'it'-" he saw Ichigo frown at that statement. "Is 'he' influencing you from your emotional standpoint?"

Ichigo thought for a moment and was about to reply when he heard the voice of a man he had not heard talk in a long time.

'I can assure you that he is not influencing your emotions'

'Zangetsu!'

'It has been a while, Ichigo. I'm shocked you still remember me.'

'B-but I thought your existence was destroyed when I unlocked my true power at the king's realm?'

'If I was destroyed, you would be powerless. My form was dispersed due to the strain you had while using your ban release over an extensive period. It took a while to reconstruct myself back into my form.'

'Well I'm glad to have you back, old man.'

"ICHIGO! WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME, YOU DISRESPECTFUL SON! WHERE DID I GO WR-" Isshin couldn't complete his sentence as his face met with a fist that dropped him where he stood.

"Damn it goat face! Do you really have to shout into my ears?" Ichigo frowned as he nurtured his fist.

"But! My son you were spaced out! I thought you were ignoring me!" Isshin bawled while rubbing his face. And in an instant, he stood back up and his expression changed back to being serious.

"So, why were you spaced out? Was it the hollow again?" Asked the 4th squad captain.

"Naah. It was zangetsu. Look, pops. I think I'll deal with this on my own. And if things seems like it might get out of hand, I'll find Urahara-san. Ok?" Ichigo nodded to his father and walked off into the 13th division barracks leaving Isshin alone to his thoughts.

'I hope things won't get out of hands. For you and Rukia's sake.' Isshin thought as he too left to his barracks.

-flashback end-


Rukia was seen hopping around the whole day with a big smile on her face and it pretty much threw the squad members off as they were too used to the grumpy and strict matriarch ordering them around. But the 3rd seats, Kiyone and Sentaro knew why their lieutenant was feeling so happy today for they saw the whole confession from the barrack tower's windows.

"Rukia-sama! The paperworks for today are done. Is there anything you would like for us to do?" Sentaro asked.

"No I did the paperworks, Rukia-sama! Order me something to do instead!" Kiyone exclaimed.

both of them started pulling each other's uniform in an attempt to get rid of the other.

"Sentaro-san, kiyone-san? Can both of you gather the whole squad to the training ground for the new captain to introduce himself?" Rukia asked politely and emphasised on the word 'Both'.

"Yes ma'am!" They both saluted and dashed away to complete their task at hand.

"You sure seem to be in a good mood. Anything special happened?"

Rukia turned around to find her long time friend and the lieutenant of her brother's squad, Abarai Renji smirking at her.

"Can't I be in a good mood once in a while, fool?" Rukia replied as she walkes towards him.

"What are you doing here anyway? Didn't Nee-sama give u anything to do?"

"Captain sent me to pass Ichigo these documents only to find you here acting all giggly and shit." Renji informed her as he passed her the documents when he heard Ichigo's voice.

"Damn, Rukia. Who turned up the lightings in this room? Oh wait. Its just your obnoxiously red hair."

"Tch. Says the man with a carrot colored hair." Renji rebutted.

"Well at least mine doesn't scream danger like yours does, you red haired freakshow!"

"Well fuck you berry. I bet you don't even get girls with that frown of yours and that bright orange hair, you delinquent wannabe!"

"Oh but you are mistaken, lieutenant Renji. I don't need shit load of girls flocking me, which they do thanks to my popularity but I only need one girls and I got her!" Ichigo smirked as he moved behind Rukia and hugged her from behind, leaving her blushing like mad woman, and Renji looking like a fish out of water.

"Wha-when! How! Oh my captain is not gonna like this. Damn Ichigo, and I thought you'll be a fine captain but I guess we should start looking for a new candidate since Captain Byakuya is going to tear you apart." Renji started walking away but stopped and turned around to meet Ichigo's eyes "congratulations on getting her thought." with that, Renji swiftly left, leaving them alone in the hallway. Ichigo knew the hidden message behind the last comment 'congratulations on getting to her before me. Hope you make her happy.' Ichigo felt bad for Renji but one of the things the war taught him was seize ehat you want while you can or you'll find yourself regretting your decisions while you are lying on the ground, slowly dying and not being able to do what you wanted.

Rukia meekly looked up to see Ichigo spacing out and decided to snap him out of his daydream "that was rather brave of you captain. I didn't think you had it in you." Rukia joked while she hugged him.

"You make me do things that I didn't think I could do." Was Ichigo's short answer but Rukia knew exactly what he meant. She just stood there in Ichigo's embrace for a few moments before reluctantly tore herself from his embrace and looked at him with a smile and asked "So are you ready to ho meet your squad, Captain?"

"No. But I have to at some point right?" Ichigo sighed as he let Rukia lead him to his squad for briefing session.


Ichigo followed Rukia to a clearing where he could see hundreds of shinigami gathered in the middle of the ground. "All these shinigami are under my leadership?" Ichigo asked his lieutenant, feeling astounded at the amount of shinigami present.

Rukia cleared her throat and commanded the squad to get into formation and pay attention to the new captain's announcement. She nudged Ichigo to step forward and acknowledge the crowd which he did with a frown.

"Alright. Listen up and listen well. I'm your new captain, Kurosaki Ichigo. But you will address me as Captain Ichigo. I don't know how the squad was when Ukitake-san was in charge, but things will be different while I'm here as your Captain. I never liked being weak and powerless because I felt the need to live up to my name. My name is Ichigo and it means "He who protects" and I expect-no. I demand you to help me live up to my name sake by protecting that's precious for you. I will help you gain knowledge and the power you need to protect for we, the 13th Squad is the symbol of hope the sereitei needs. I will do everything in my power to be your pillar of strength so you can be the symbol of hope. Anyone who wants to laze around can transfer to the 6th squad."

Ichigo spared a glance at his lieutenant who was fuming at her captain's comment on her precious Nee-sama's squad but bit back a retort. Ichigo could hear a few snickers from the squad at his comment and continued his speech "Don't tell anyone I told you that though." This earned a few more snickers. "Anyway, back to the topic. So who wants to transfer to other squad and who want to stay back with me?" When Ichigo was content at none of his squad member wanting to leave, he barked out "SQUAD DISMISSED!"

The 13th Squad replied with a loud and clear "YES CAPTAIN!" and dispersed back to their original duties.
Ichigo turned around to see Rukia smiling warmly at him which made him smile back a rare Ichigo smile which in return melted Rukia's heart. She stepped towards him and asked "Since when you knew how to give out charismatic speeches? Hem?"

Ichigo only shrugged and walked towards the door when he felt a hand on his arms.

"I hope you aren't avoiding a certain issue here, Ichi."

"That's Captain for you, lieutenant." Ichigo replied playfully.

"Fine, CAPTAIN. So are you going to explain or am I suppose to beat the information out of you?"

Ichigo went back to his wearing his frown and asked "What are you talking about, Rukes?"

"You know exactly what I want to know, Ichi. Why did you push me away and why did you look so horrified?" Rukia crossed her arms as she waited for Ichigo to give her clarification on this subject.

Ichigo sighed and replied "I heard my hollow.-" Ichigo saw the Rukia's expression went from pissed off to panic stricken look and immediately tried to calm her down "Hey, don't worry alright? I'll deal with this. Don't worry about it. And can you please keep this to yourself? I don't want people looking at me weird." Ichigo tried to make a joke to lift her mood which earned him a little chuckle from Rukia.

"Your hair makes people look at you weird." She said as she tried to shrug off the heaviness of the news she had just heard but was failing miserably. "You know you can count on me right, Ichigo?"

"Yeah. I do." Ichigo flashed a small smile at Rukia which earned him a small smile back in return from Rukia.

Ichigo was about to say something when he heard the voice of his animalistic dark side again.

"So King, how exactly do you plan to deal with me? I'd like to give you some suggestion if you are interested. EAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! "

"..." The sickening laughter of his hollow left Ichigo speechless.

'Shit. I have to fix this and fix this fast.'

To be continued?