Sorry for the late update~ XD
A/N: I don't know Zangetsu's eye color. But there are some people who said that it was red. Could someone tell me what his eye color is? For now, please bear with red :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any way T_T
To the story...
The Retrieval of The Powers
"Ugh..." muttered the orange haired teenager, "Where...am I?"
He happened to wake up under a blue clouded sky, surrounded by countless buildings. Everything seemed normal before the strawberry tried to get up. Realizing something, he quickly got into his initial position, lying nervously on the building. From his current sight, it's just like a normal world with normal buildings, though, the number of the buildings made him uneasy, but when he got up, everything changed horizontally.
"What are you doing, Kurosaki Ichigo?" said a familiar voice.
'That voice...I think I've heard it before...' thought the lying teenager, ignoring the question.
"...You really don't remember huh?" continued the voice, "You can get up; you won't fall. Trust me..."
The orange haired one, however, stood still. He didn't move nor speak; all that he did was thinking. After several minutes of silence, the amber eyed one finally moved, trying to get up, of course, slowly and carefully. He somehow trusted the man's words, though, not entirely. It was more to his amazement, of course, after hard times of struggling against his fear of falling from the building, that he managed to stand on the building; facing the ground, though, he could barely see it, without falling.
"I told you not to fear. Don't you trust me?" said the voice.
Being curious, the 15 years old teenager turned his body towards the direction of the voice. His amber eyes widened upon seeing a figure in black long coat, standing on a flagpole. He had a long dark brown wavy hair with semi-transparent brown glasses. A sudden flow of memory, again, entered Ichigo's mind. He then muttered, "Old man...Zangetsu..."
The red eyes twitched as he uttered, "So you do remember me and this place..."
"Well, not until a moment ago..." replied the still confused teenager.
"I see..."
"So, you really are Zangetsu, right?"
"Who else could I be?"
"In that case, could you...please, restore my powers?"
"I can't do it. It's you who had thrown away your powers, so, it's you who must retrieve them back," explained the old man.
"But how? I can't even remember what my powers were like," replied the teenager, confused.
"Then make your body remember," uttered the old man as he took a sword, a giant kitchen knife actually, and dashed towards the orange haired teenager. Startled, the teenager barely dodged.
"W-what are you doing?" exclaimed the startled teenager.
"There are two ways to restore your powers. The first one is to make your body remember; like I've said before, when the other one is to make me submit to you," he explained, "One way another, we'll end up fighting. Now, take out your sword and fight me."
'Even if he said "take out", I don't have any sword to begin with,' he thought, 'How am I supposed to take out something that doesn't exist in the first place?'
The old man, however, dashed towards the younger one and swung his giant kitchen knife horizontally, followed by a dodge from the younger one.
"Hey, that's not fair! At least gimme a sword..." said the orange haired one.
"...you want a sword? Then take whichever you like," he replied. A second later, hundreds of swords of different kinds and shapes appeared, out of nowhere of course, successfully amazed the youngster. The old man, again, launched another attack towards him. Being startled, he randomly grabbed a sword near him and swung it in order to block the attack. As soon as the swords clashed, however, the one he picked up earlier suddenly cracked and shattered into pieces, letting the other sword to leave a shallow wound on the teenager's right shoulder.
"W-what? This is..." muttered the teenager as he covered the half left of his face using his left hand.
"Yes, this is the test I gave you when you were about to achieve your Bankai," the old man uttered.
The amber eyed teenager let out a faint smile and said, "It's easy then. I'll just have... to..." His mind went blank and his amber eyes widened as he muttered, again, "I..."
"Pathetic," said the old man.
"I...damn! Why? Why can't I remember the most important thing? God dammit!" he groaned in disappointment. Ignoring the teenager, Zangetsu launched another attack, followed by the instantaneous block by the teenager, though again, the sword he randomly picked shattered into pieces. And so the whole thing – the attack, the block, and, of course, the shattering – happened again and again and again.
###
"Yep, this'll do it," murmured the amber eyed girl proudly after she laid an orange haired body on his bed. She managed to carry the body by using the air, of course, after setting up a barrier before. She then entered the orange haired teenager's room; the same way as she did before, and laid the body. Keeping the barrier set up, she sat on the floor beside the bed.
"Using time spells sure is tiring..." she mumbled before gradually lost her consciousness.
###
And now, about eighteen hours had passed. The midget was still sleeping beside the blue sheeted bed while the substitute shinigami, proudly, renewing his "sword-shattering" record. Nothing much had changed in the past 5 hours besides of the increase of the number of his wound, though; none was deep enough to threaten his life.
"Damn! What the hell with these freakin' swords?" groaned the teenager. The old man, however, didn't do anything besides launching his hundredths attack towards the poor teenager. Again, another sword shattered. Nothing had changed in the past 5 hours. And again, another attack was launched. Nevertheless, instead of randomly grabbed a sword, Ichigo chose to dodge the attack and run, making some space from the attacker, though, it's proven to be fruitless. Zangetsu kept his distance close by shunpoing and landed right in front of Ichigo. The old man, however, stopped moving; he didn't swing his giant kitchen knife anymore or dash towards the poor teenager.
"...you're pathetic, Ichigo..." uttered the old man.
"What did you say? Well, how can I fight you with these...useless swords?" he protested, "At least give me Zangetsu..."
"You want this?" the old man replied as he lifted his right arm and hold the giant kitchen knife horizontally, "Then take this."
With the said, the old man threw Zangetsu towards the youngster. The orange haired one let out a faint smile. "The real fight begins now," he uttered as he dashed towards the old man and swung his sword vertically. The old man, again, didn't do anything; he didn't shunpo away or picked a random sword. Instead, he lifted his left arm. Unexpectedly, as soon as the giant sword touched the left hand, it, again, shattered into pieces.
"W-what the?" muttered the widened amber eyes' owner.
"...you know? Swords with no master can no longer show their true powers," uttered the old man. Upon hearing those words, Ichigo's expression changed. His amber eyes turned clearer.
'I-I understand now,' he thought,"No matter how great the sword I picked earlier, if it's not my sword – no. If it's not zangetsu, it'll be just an ordinary piece of sharp metal. If it's not my partner whom I've been fighting alongside with, it'll mean nothing. And I've...thrown away that Zangetsu. I've thrown away the powers he gave me. I'm...not worthy of retrieving this powers of mine.'
As the teenager sank into his deep thought, a candid light swathed the piece of giant kitchen knife on his right hand. Miraculously, the light then disappeared, revealing a normal zanpakuto, though, it's black. All of it was black. The hilt, even the sword itself was pitch black.
"T-this is..."
"Looks like you've understand," the old man smiled, "Don't ever think about throwing away your powers for the second time because the time you do that, I won't lend you my powers anymore."
"...thank you, old man Zangetsu..." the orange haired one mumbled.
"Now, let's continue the fight," uttered the black coated man as he summoned another giant kitchen knife out of nowhere.
"No need to continue," said the teenager, smiling, as he lifted his right arm, holding his zanpakuto horizontally.
"Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu"
The wind gusted around the teenager, creating a thick layer of dust while, at the same time, a vast amount of reiatsu was being released. In no time, the layer was blown away by the reiatsu released by the orange haired one, revealing him in a long-sleeved, ankle-length black coat shihakusho with red lining that was closed at his chest, then left to flare out into ragged ends, much like that of Zangetsu himself. His giant kitchen knife now shrank into a black daito with a swastika-shaped guard and a short chain dangled on the base of the hilt.
"Hmm...good job I must say," uttered the old man, "Congratulation on achieving your bankai for the second time."
The two beings laughed merrily, though, not so long after, the atmosphere changed dramatically as another voice, a vicious one, joined them.
"Don't be such a happy-dumbass just 'coz you've retrieve your freakin' bankai, King," said the owner of the voice as he smiled menacingly and threw the giant kitchen knife towards Ichigo. As a response, the orange haired one shunpoed away, successfully dodged the reversed-in-color Zangetsu.
"You're...Shiro?" mumbled the teenager.
"Don't call me with that fuckin' name, dumbass!" protested the white being. He was Hollow Ichigo, a perfect replica of the strawberry, though, he's white. H his hairs, his skin, even his shihakuso was all white. His sclera, though, were pitch black, when his irises were dark gold. Just like his name, Hollow Ichigo was a hollow born from a near hollowfication process during Ichigo's training to retrieve his shinigami powers. Ichigo preferred to call him Shiro though.
"Done with the old man?" inquired the albino one.
"I guess..." muttered the orange haired one.
"Well then, Ichigo, I'll take my leave here..." uttered the old man.
"What? But why?"
"...sleep"
"Uhh...sorry?"
"I want to sleep."
"What? But it's still noon. It's not even 1 yet," protested the surprised teenager.
"Well, sleepin' is that old man's hobby, yanno?" interrupted the dark gold eyed one.
"...pardon?"
"Are you freakin' deaf? Sleepin' is his hobby," repeated Shiro.
"Uhh...wow..."
"...well, there's nothin' interesting here, so it's not a bad hobby I guess..." mumbled the white one. With that said, the old man shunpoed away, searching a peaceful place to sleep, leaving the sweat-dropped orange haired teenager with the white haired one.
"Now, enough for the chit-chat, you're goin' down, King!" exclaimed the albino as he, again, threw Zangetsu towards the strawberry, though, it was proven to be fruitless.
"You know what? I think it's impossible to defeat a bankai with only a shikai," uttered Ichigo.
"Heh! That sounds to me that you want me to use my bankai."
"Well, it is."
"Yanno what? You'll regret it soon enough," exclaimed the hollow with a menacing smile on his face.
"Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu"
It was a complete replica of Ichigo's bankai, though, again, it's all white. Even the daito was white. Without any warning, the white one dashed towards the black one and swung his white daito vertically. Nevertheless, the black one successfully dodged the attack with an amazing speed and launched a counterattack; he swung his black daito diagonally and successfully left a wound on the hollow's chest.
"Not bad, Ki – "
Before the albino finished his words, Ichigo had already shunpoed towards his hind and did another sword-swinging, though this time; it was perfectly dodged by the hollow.
"Talk less, do more."
"Fine, whatever."
Shiro then dashed towards the other teenager and swung his sword, only to be blocked by Ichigo. He, however, smiled menacingly despite of his failure.
"Getsuga Tensho..." mumbled the hollow. A black, red outlined condensed spiritual energy was blasted through the white daito, severely hurt Ichigo and made him planted on a skyscraper nearby.
"D-damn!"
"'s that all you got?" razzed the hollow.
"Ugh," groaned the shinigami, "I'm not finished yet."
"Well, I just wanna let ya know," uttered the hollow as he, for no reason, let out a menacing smile, "There are two interestin' facts. The first one is that if ya failed to retrieve your powers in time – which is 24 hours – I, your power source, 'll take control of your body. Second, the time here flows six times slower than in the real world. Now, how long d'ya think you've spent with that freakin' old man?"
'S-six times he said?' thought the shocked teenager, 'It's impossible! I've spent about three hours fighting with the old man. Plus, it's been like an hour since then. It's...'
"It seems like ya only got three minutes to defeat me, King!" said he before he laughed menacingly, "Well, ya know what I'm goin' to do with your freakin' body, don't ya?"
The orange haired one, without being realized, successfully shunpoed, landed right in front of the hollow and strangled him. He then placed his black daito in front of the white neck.
"Sorry, no time to play with you," uttered the darkened amber eyed one. A black condensed spiritual pressure blasted as the teenager mumbled a "Getsuga Tensho", annihilating the hollow, though, still, couldn't completely get rid of it.
###
"Ugh..." groaned the orange haired teenager as he opened his amber eyes. The first thing he saw was a worried face really close to his.
"Thanks God! You finally woke up!" said the now cheerful voice, "Geez, that's close you know?"
"Whoa!" exclaimed the male teenager as he shoved the face away.
"That's hurt..." said the light-brown haired one as she rubbed her nose.
"That's too close, baka!" protested the orange haired one.
"Well, I was worried so..." muttered the female with a hint of blush on her face.
The amber eyed male then sighed, "Well, never – "
Just before he could finish his words, a vast amount of reiatsu was being released. Even the most insensitive person in this world, Ichigo, could feel it. A second later, the closet door was opened, revealing the midget.
"Uhh...Ichigo?" muttered the midget.
"Yes?"
"And uhh...Hikari?"
"Uh uh..." replied the light-brown haired midget.
"...well, sorry for interrupting you two. By the way, Ichigo, where were you yesterday?" inquired the black haired one.
"Uhh...the reiatsu, please?"
"Oh, you're right..." uttered the violet eyed midget, "This reiatsu – "
"Damn! Not again! Ughh..." groaned Ichigo as he put his right hand on his face. It was another headache. This time, however, it was longer than before.
"Ulqui – "
Before he could finish his word, he passed out from his painful headache, startled the two other female teenagers.
"H-hoi, Ichigo!" exclaimed the violet eyed midget, worried. The reiatsu, however, mysteriously vanished as the teenager passed out.
Translation
Shunpo: Flash step
Daito: Japanese long sword
Reiatsu: Spiritual pressure
Once again, sorry for the late update XD
And uh...E***** is not an Ending...
Btw, I've got a little anouncement here...
If any of you named Kaitlynn Samehada, please send me a message...
Pretty please?
Mind to review? XD
See ya.