Renji gently teased Ichigo's neck, making the orange haired boy arch and whisper his name. They were lying in a meadow, far enough from the lake to be private. Ichigo was a screamer, but he'd known that since the first day.

Since the first semi-disastrous episode, they'd only made love in the daylight. A completely different side of Ichigo came out in the sun, more caring and sensitive. Also less impulsive and not as burning hot as his dark self, but a lot easier to be around. His eyes still went black and gold, but only when they were deep in the middle of things.

Renji was guiltily aware that he was wasting too much time here. He was recovered, completely. Ichigo had taken out the stitches the day before. But he just didn't want to leave. The strawberry in his arms was unbelievably sexy, and the daily infusions of reishi made him feel better than he'd ever felt in his life. Renji was beginning to understand why these people were so afraid of being forced out of this place. Who would want to leave this paradise?

"Weren't you going to train me again? Because if you keep doing that, we're going to be having sex." Ichigo said, giving him a feral little bite. Renji groaned, his cock twitching at the suggestion. That sounded awesome, but…

"Nah, let's get back to training." Renji resolutely put aside his fantasies, pulling his clothes back on. It had taken a while, but they'd managed to reclaim them from the lake. He was just glad his were in one piece. Ichigo's tighter clothing had taken more damage when he'd ripped it off, and it was heavily mended now. Right now some of the women were taking apart leather cushions to free up enough material to make him some handmade clothing. Renji's mouth watered at the thought. The group didn't have any really good seamstresses, or real needles for that matter. The kids mostly wore leather smocks with tie ups on the sides. Ichigo would look so hot in one of those…

"Are you going to train me or stare at my ass?" Ichigo asked and Renji came back to himself with a blush.

"Okay, right. Let's do that one I showed you yesterday." Renji demonstrated the kido again as Ichigo watched intently. Kido wasn't his best thing, which made it harder for him to teach it. But Ichigo didn't have a sword and didn't seem to need much help in the ass kicking area anyway. Taking out an Adjuchas was not something an amateur could do.

Surprisingly, Ichigo was pretty bad at kido. Renji wasn't sure of course – he was no teacher! – but he thought there was some kind of mental block at work. Half the time Ichigo tried to use kido his eyes went black and gold, and when that happened he always failed. And that was what happened this time.

"Damn it! I did it again." Ichigo cursed as Renji grinned and shook his head. He was actually kind of glad there was something the kid wasn't good at. The level of power he had already was pretty alarming, it would be scary if he mastered kido right off the bat. "Trying to stay nothing but positive is hard." He complained and Renji shrugged.

"Well, you'll need to learn how if you ever want to be a shinigami. We don't use hollow powers, you know. It's actually against the law." Renji was uneasily aware that the punishments for that could go up to execution. But Ichigo wasn't a shinigami at the moment. As far as he knew, there was no law against plus souls having that kind of power. Of course, there was no law about killing them out of hand, either, and eliminating Hollows was why shinigami existed. Ichigo turned his head to look at him, lifting his eyebrows.

"Don't take this the wrong way Renji, but I'm not sure I want to be a shinigami. First off, I have no problem with most of the Hollows around here, although I understand that they'd be more destructive without the lake. Second, the chance of me ever abandoning my other powers for these shinigami ones is about negative a thousand. Those powers are part of my soul and I love who I am." Renji met those calm, aggressive eyes and felt his heart skip a beat. Ichigo's whole existence would be a challenge to Soul Society and the fact that he didn't give a fuck was scary and sexy as hell.

"I'm not saying you have to. But keep it in mind, hey? I'd like to have you with me all the time." Renji said sincerely. He wasn't sure he loved the kid, but he did know he really wanted to find out. Ichigo looked startled, then smiled.

"Aw, you do care! Let's try that again." Ichigo carefully centred himself. "Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee! Fuck!" Ichigo's reiatsu fluctuated, but nothing happened as his eyes flickered for a moment. "I am going to get this if it kills me." He swore as Renji laughed.

"Why don't we have a nap, drink some more water and try it later?" He suggested. He'd noticed Ichigo had an easier time with the kido when he was full of the positive water. Renji was willing to bet that during the day, the lake water tipped his internal balance more towards shinigami than Hollow.

"Sure, it might be worth a try." Ichigo was starting to sound discouraged and Renji gripped his shoulder, giving him a squeeze.

"You'll get it someday." He said encouragingly and Ichigo shrugged his hand off irritably.

"That's what my sister told me when she made me wear mom's high heels." He grumbled and Renji snorted at the thought. "And no, I never did get the hang of that."

"Good, that would just be wrong." Renji said as they made their way back to the lake. Neither of them noticed a little blonde girl trailing after them and zapping bushes with gleeful giggles.

The very first way of destruction really wasn't very hard.


"Ichigo." The voice reverberated through his soul, and the buildings shook as a spectral wind danced through them. The sky was painfully bright, without a single cloud, and Ichigo shielded his eyes as he glanced around and tried to find the owner of the voice.

This was a completely new dream. He had merged with the darkness so completely that it no longer had a separate voice. Despite Renji's training, Ichigo did not think that had changed. So who was calling to him? Someone new?

He finally located the owner of the voice, standing high atop a skyscraper. Dancing with darkness, Ichigo slid through the reality of his own soul until he was standing beside the man. He turned instantly and they stood for a moment, regarding each other thoughtfully.

Ichigo saw an older man, lightly bearded and wearing glasses. Wild, dark brown hair flew around him, and his clothes were old and tattered. He was holding a sword and exuded power, but it was strangely pure. Purity was just not something Ichigo was into, so this was curious. Was this his shinigami side? For a moment he wondered if it could be incorporated the same way his darkness had. He took one step forward and stopped as the man levelled his sword.

"That will not work." He said dispassionately. "I am not a Hollow that can be tamed with mating instinct."

"Heh." Ichigo heard the echo in his voice and knew his skin was bleeding to white, but he didn't care. "I didn't think so, old man. But it was worth a go and you never know until you try, eh?" Ichigo noticed as one of the man's eyes twitched and knew he'd succeeded in annoying him. Good. "So what do you want with me?"

"You are finally reaching out to me, Ichigo. It has already taken too long. But you must prove yourself worthy of my power." He said calmly and Ichigo sat back on his heels for a moment before laughing.

"You want to fight old man? Bring it on!" And this was his own soul, so he did not have to be unarmed unless he wanted to. He fashioned himself a sword that was white as a bone and pointed it at the stranger. "Who are you, so I'll have a name to put on the tombstone?"

"I am Zangestsu." And so began a truly exhilarating battle.


"Renji!" Renji was deep in a sound sleep, curled on his side, when something small and obnoxious jumped on him and planted knees right into his ribs. "Wake up!" Then a little hand curled in his hair and gave a yank, tearing him out of pleasant dreams.

"OW! Fuck Danica, what the hell is it?" He glared as he sat up, dumping the child on the ground. He knew most of their names by now, and Danica was the most memorable of the lot. Small, loud and pretty damn precocious when it came to absorbing the lake's energy, he could tell she'd be trouble someday. Hopefully, he'd be long gone by the time it happened.

"I want to show you what I can do! Way of Destruction One: Stinging Bee!" She tossed it right at his face and Renji's eyes widened as he grabbed his sword to parry it. He could have blocked it easily if he'd been expecting it, but he hadn't and he swore as it lashed his arm lightly.

"Danica! That is not a fucking toy and do not ever throw that at someone's face again! How the hell did you learn that?" Then he realized. "You little brat, you've been spying on us!" It was bad enough that she'd learned the kido, but how much had she seen before that?

"You make funny noises!" She piped in, making his face turn red as a brick. That answered that question. "Richard says Ichigo is being funny and you should come see!" She shouted and he ran a hand over his face.

"I've already seen his wet dreams, I don't need to see another." He replied, although truthfully, those dreams were hot as hell. He'd really wanted to take advantage of one a couple nights ago, but there was just no privacy in the cave. Instead, he'd gotten a sock for Ichigo and tried to ignore it. Danica laughed.

"Not that! Richard says he's bleeding!" That got Renji moving instantly and Danica was right at his heels, laughing as if it was all a great bit of fun.

When he got to Ichigo he saw several people standing over him, frantically trying to apply the healing kido he'd been teaching them. It wasn't doing a bit of good and one look at the kid's reiatsu told him why.

"He's challenging his zanpakuto. But he doesn't even have a zanpakuto yet!" Renji knelt down and touched Ichigo's forehead, then swore as a long cut opened from his shoulder to his hip bone. Fortunately it wasn't deep but it splattered the rock with blood, dying the stones a vivid crimson. "And it's not supposed to be this violent!" Not unless he was trying to earn a ban kai, anyway. Then the spirit in the zanpakuto would go all out. But there was no way in hell Ichigo was trying to get a ban kai when he didn't even have a sword. "What is he doing?" Renji muttered to himself, trying to figure it out. Ichigo didn't have any kind of weapon. Was he trying to force his zanpakuto to manifest? Usually they didn't need forcing for that, but maybe Ichigo's mental block was getting in the way. "Come on Ichi, you can do it." He encouraged and was pleased to see Ichigo's head turn slightly, as if the kid had heard him.

"Can this kill him?" Richard sounded calm but when Renji glanced over at him, he was looking pale and shaken. His hands were covered in blood and Renji could sense he'd drained most of his reiatsu trying to heal the injuries.

"Uh…" Renji had never felt so helpless. He couldn't go into Ichigo's inner world to help him. Maybe some of the captain's could have, but he just wasn't skilled enough with kido. And besides, the way Ichigo's reiatsu was pulsing made him think it would be an awful idea. It would just figure if Ichigo and the zanpakuto both turned on him to force him out! "I don't know. A normal zanpakuto wouldn't kill him, even if he was trying to get a ban kai, but I've never seen anything like this." It looked like the zanpakuto was a no holds barred, balls to the wall kind of spirit. Renji winced as another slash opened on Ichigo's shoulder. Placing his hands over the wound, he tried to invoke a healing infusion. He might as well have been trying to heal a boulder. "Come on Ichigo, you can do this. We believe in you." He murmured.

There wasn't much else he could do.


"Come on Ichigo, you can do this. We believe in you." Renji's voice echoed in the momentary silence of his soul world. Ichigo stood facing the old man, panting heavily. He'd never fought an opponent like this in his life and while he loved it, he was starting to wonder if he could win.

Zangetsu was not unscathed. Blood stained those tattered clothes, but he was completely unwinded. As far as Ichigo could tell, he wasn't feeling his injuries much either.

"You are worthy of my power." Zangetsu suddenly said. Ichigo blinked, surprised.

"Giving up, old man?" He asked, unable to stop the taunt. There was no expression in Zangetsu's face as he levelled the sword again.

"But now you must accept me into your soul." The battle began again but this time, Ichigo's mind was a thousand miles away. Accept into his soul? What did that mean? He'd accepted the darkness into his soul by fucking it. Zangetsu clearly wasn't going to accept that method. How could he accept someone that was fighting against him? What did sex and battle have in common?

At that moment, he knew the answer. It was shocking and went against every instinct he had, but Zangetsu was not a creature of instincts. So it made a terrifying kind of sense. If he was wrong, though… fear paralyzed him for a moment, and then flashed into anger.

"Fuck it. I am not a coward!" Letting his blade of bone vanish into the mists, he leapt towards Zangetsu without any attempt at defence. The other's blade sliced through his chest easily as a dream and Ichigo gasped, mostly at the absence of any pain. But then he reached down to take the hilt of the sword as Zangetsu let go. "Mine now." He informed the old man, who seemed to smile for a moment before vanishing.

And the dream shattered as someone called his name.


"Ichigo!" Renji shook the kid's shoulders, utterly horrified. The last wound on his chest had almost stopped his heart. No one had expected it to suddenly seal over, healing instantly. And they really hadn't expected all the other wounds to follow suit. "Damn it Ichigo, wake up!" He roared into the boy's face and was rewarded by fluttering eyelids.

"Shut the fuck up Renji, I'm fine." He said groggily, his hands moving like they were searching for something. "Got it. I am the boss." Ichigo grinned and lifted his hand up, revealing the large and brutally sharp looking sword. "Meet Zangetsu!"

"That's awesome, but look around you, will ya?" Renji snapped and Ichigo blinked before he glanced around, paling. The rocks around him were coated with a dangerous amount of drying blood.

"Shit, that was real?" He whispered, looking around a circle of concerned faces. "I thought it was a dream." Renji really wanted to hit him, but held back. The kid's reiatsu was dangerously low, not a surprise after that kind of show.

"When you confront your zanpakuto in your spirit world, the damage you receive is done to your physical body." He said, then stopped. From the look on Ichigo's face it was all gibberish. "Did Zangetsu tell you anything about what he is?"

"No, not really. But I know he's the lighter side of my power." Ichigo looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder why I didn't see him sooner?" He said to himself and Renji shrugged. They both looked up as Richard arrived, holding a flask of water. Renji hadn't noticed him leaving but it was clearly a good move, as Ichigo downed the lake water like he was parched.

"Got me. But I'll tell you a bit about the zanpakuto, after you get cleaned up." He said, eyeing Ichigo's clothes. They were in incredibly rough shape. The kid looked down and grimaced, standing up and wobbling slightly. Renji grabbed his shoulder, helping him down to the lake. He glanced back to see that Richard and a few others were trying to clean up the rocks. He was willing to bet they'd always be a little stained. But that hardly mattered.

What mattered was that Ichigo was still alive.


"Oh, fuck." Ichigo muttered as he turned slightly from his crouched position. He was kneeling beside the lake, and he had been drinking from the dark waters.

He'd just started his scouting for the night. He'd figured it would be easy. Take a drink from the lake, check the Hollow population to see if he needed to cull a few, spend a bit of time watching the Adjuchas and then back to bed. With his ability to move quickly, it was hardly any work.

That had all just gone out the window. Even from here, he could sense someone lighting off with some serious mojo. It was coming from up near the pass, and moving towards the Adjuchas lair, if he was any judge. Ichigo stood up and grimaced, wiping his hands off on his pants. His shirt had officially checked out, so he was done to nothing but torn and badly mended jeans. Not the kind of image he'd wanted to present to Renji's captain but it looked like he didn't have a lot of choice.

"The Adjuchas." He growled to himself as he started for the lair. He hadn't told Renji because he was positive the shinigami wouldn't understand, but he was protective of the little group. They had been there for a while, and the kid was cute as a button. With the lake and other Hollows to feed them, they didn't bother anyone. It seemed wrong that they would all be killed. But maybe, maybe they had fled with the cub.

Unfortunately, that was not to be. Ichigo grimaced as he saw the female darting away from the den, clearly leading pursuers away from the cub. The male wasn't there and Ichigo was willing to bet he'd already fallen in the fighting. The shinigami following the female was surprisingly pretty, with long hair that flowed behind him like a river of darkness. Ichigo followed, hoping the female would get away, but that wasn't happening either. She turned as she reached a sheer rock face, hissing madly as the shinigami stepped closer. Ichigo saw with dismay that she was already badly injured. If he was going to act, it had to be now.

"Hey! Hey you!" Two heads turned to face him as he threw his first rock. It hit the shinigami on the shoulder, with nothing but muscle power behind it. "Yeah you, fuck face!" From the look on the shinigami's face, he'd never had that term applied to him before. "You like to pick on a female with pups? Fuck you! Leave her alone!" The Adjuchas seemed as baffled by his intervention as the shinigami but Ichigo didn't care, pulling his sword off his back and letting the black ribbon settle around his bare arm as he levelled it at the other man.

"You are not a shinigami. Who are you?" The shinigami asked, his voice deep and, well, beautiful. Ichigo was suddenly struck by how attractive he was. It was a completely different attraction than Renji, but still powerful.

"My name is Ichigo. I live here and you don't." Ichigo said sternly. He wasn't going to go easy on this shinigami just because he was cute. Although those silver things in his hair were extra pretty. "And I'm filming these guys for NatGeo, so you can just fuck off and die." The shinigami clearly didn't get the joke, and his eyes narrowed as he turned away from the Adjuchas. She just huddled down for a moment before licking herself frantically. Ichigo thought she was trying to heal herself enough to fight. Right now, she would be dead meat if she attacked either one of them.

"You think you can defeat a Captain? You will pay for your arrogance." He said softly and Ichigo blinked. Captain?

"Arrogance is my middle name." Ichigo answered easily. "And I paid for it a long time ago. Let's mix this up!" He launched himself at the stranger and sword clashed against sword. A dozen strikes later and he bounced back with a grin. "You're fucking fast!" He said admiringly. This guy was faster than Renji, and Renji was not slow.

"What are you?" The shinigami asked and Ichigo realized his eyes had just flipped. He shrugged insolently before picking up another rock and tossing it. This time it ignited with blue fire and the shinigami had to deflect it.

"A potential shinigami, if Renji has his way." Ichigo said flippantly and grinned at the sudden stillness of his enemy. "You know him, hey?"

"What have you done to him?" The deadly tone was back and the battle was on again. Ichigo didn't answer because he couldn't. Apparently, he'd pissed the guy off and now he was totally on the defensive, fending off dozens of strikes. "Way of Destruction 53: Hell Strike!"

"Oh bloody hell." Ichigo muttered as a ball of fire thundered towards him. "Way of Destruction 1: Stinging Bee!" It was probably the dumbest thing he'd ever done in his life, but for once he performed the kido perfectly and he gave it everything he had. The dart of power should have been easily consumed by the more powerful strike, but it wasn't. Instead it deflected the incoming strike, sending it into a tree that exploded into flaming splinters. "Hey! You better not set the forest on fire or I am going to fucking hunt you down and murder you in your SLEEP!"

"Like you murdered Renji?" He asked with deadly calm and Ichigo blinked as he realized the guy totally had the wrong end of the stick.

"Are you kidding? He was screaming my name just yesterday – ah!" Ichigo got his sword up in time to parry a blast of what felt like pure energy. It drove him back until he could gather himself to break it with his will. Then he jumped to the side as a sword bisected the spot he'd occupied a moment before. "You're freaking me out now!" Ichigo was starting to privately wonder if he could win this battle. He was strong, but damn.

"How did you stop a level 53 kido with a level 1?" The shinigami asked as their swords clashed again. That was worrisome just by itself. How could he talk like that? He wasn't even breathing hard!

"I am a meat miracle." Ichigo gasped out and had the satisfaction of seeing his enemy look mildly revolted. "And I have vast tantric sex powers." He added just to fuck with him.

"You are an idiot." Then something happened too fast for Ichigo to follow. His sword was ripped out of his hand and he felt the tearing strain through all of his muscles as the other man spoke. "Kido of Binding 29: Force web!"

"F-fuck ow!" Ichigo groaned as all his muscles locked up. It hurt. But he was far from done yet. "You think it's over? You think you have me? Fuck you fuck face!" And he concentrated, hard, and pulled. Reishi exploded from the trees and lake and the shinigami jumped back as they sloshed over him, invigorating and filling him with power. "Yeee-AH!" He shattered the bonds on him with simple, brute force and grinned at his enemy, bathed in an unearthly dark light. As he picked up his sword again he noticed his skin was dead white. "You want more? And did you notice that the bitch is gone?" He asked conversationally and was satisfied to see the shinigami quickly look around. Sure enough, the Adjuchas had recovered enough to retreat from the clash of titans.

"Ichigo, what are you – Captain!" Ichigo stopped at that voice and was pleased to see his enemies eyes widen. "What are you guys doing?" Renji sounded confused as he stepped out of the trees. "Ichi, tone it down, would you? You feel like a Hollow again."

"Ah, fuck you too Renji." Ichigo said without rancour and put a hand over his eyes, trying to calm the power he'd just summoned. It was almost impossible, but he managed it by releasing some of the reishi back into the environment. "You know this guy?" He hadn't moved an inch since Renji arrived, and he'd lowered his sword. Ichigo did the same. He was pretty sure now that this guy would eventually fuck him up if he kept at it. He was scraping the bottom of the barrel of his useful abilities.

"This is Captain Byakuya. Ichigo, have you been fighting him? Are you nuts?" Ichigo hissed as Renji slapped him upside his head. It wasn't gentle at all and he had a cut there on top of it.

"He was going to kill the Adjuchas female and ruin my documentary. Ow! Stop hitting me!" He shoved Renji on the shoulder then stopped as a blade was pressed to his throat. "And please don't kill me?" He'd been too distracted with Renji to watch Byakuya. Clearly, that was a mistake. He wasn't afraid of death but Ichigo really didn't want to embrace it again this soon.

"Renji, who is this man to you?" Captain Byakuya's voice was full of quiet menace. Ichigo was truly impressed, especially at the cowed look on Renji's face.

"He saved me from an Adjuchas and nursed me back to health, Captain. His name is Ichigo Kurosaki and he's only been a plus soul for three years." He said. Ichigo tried to lean away from the sword then froze as Byakuya stared at him. "He might be my lover… uh, can you please not do that?" He asked nervously as a drop of blood appeared on Ichigo's throat.

"What do you mean 'might'?" Ichigo breathed, afraid to move an inch. Then the sword was suddenly gone and he sighed in relief as Byakuya sheathed it in one smooth move. He straightened his shoulders before looking at the Captain challengingly. "And if you people try to steal our valley we will do everything we can to fuck you up – OW! Renji, for fuck's sake, I have a cut back there!"

"I'm sorry about this Captain, he gets weird at night. Where is everyone else?" Renji asked as Byakuya just looked at Ichigo. Ichigo looked back, uncowed and unimpressed. The staring contest might have gone on forever, but Renji waved his hand in front of Ichigo's face. That broke the tension and both the contestants blinked.

"They are sealing the rip to Hueco Mundo. Please report." He commanded crisply and Renji did, explaining everything that had happened to him. Ichigo was mildly impressed at how well edited the report was. No mention of midnight swims, Hollow powers and other socially unacceptable behaviors. "And this… man is your lover?" Ah, but the editing was noticed.

"I told you, I have vast tantric sex powers." Ichigo put in and dodged Renji's slap. "Hah! I'm ready for you – mrph!" He wasn't expecting a hand over his face, though. "Mrphmrphmrph!"

"Just shut up! Sorry Captain." Renji apologized again as Ichigo rolled his eyes. He wasn't appreciating this at all, but he wasn't quite ready to bite Renji. That would be the next step though. Byakuya wasn't looking even remotely amused. "These people are all kind of upset about us."

"Explain." Byakuya commanded crisply and Renji told him about the gold and the power of the lake. A sudden thoughtfulness seemed to settle over the shinigami. "That is a logical concern." From the faint surprise, he hadn't been expecting logic. Running over the whole encounter in his mind, Ichigo couldn't be too offended. Logic hadn't really been his strong suit tonight. However, the thoughtful stare Byakuya gave him was a bit worrisome. "We can begin to deal with these people tomorrow, but I will give you this assurance. You will not be forced out of your homes." That made Ichigo relax a little, but he needed a bit more. He tugged on Renji's hand and the redhead reluctantly let him go.

"And you'll leave the Adjuchas alone?" He asked warily and avoided Renji's appalled look. "She was just trying to defend her cub. We'll probably have to take over bringing her kills and water." That would be a nuisance, but it was possible to hunt down Hollows in the day so they could definitely do it. Byakuya paused and Ichigo thought he detected a bit of fatigue on that handsome face.

"We will leave her alone for now, but I make no promises. Now come. My men are waiting." He commanded and Ichigo hesitated before falling in behind Renji. He wasn't sure about all this and had a bad feeling he might have pissed off the most important person around. It made him worry for everyone else, but not himself.

He'd given up worrying about himself a long time ago.