Chapter One:

Ryu was looking at a shop in Karakura Town with dismay. The name of the shop was Urahara Shoten, and he got the feeling just by looking at it, that it was owned and run by a mad scientist. The thought didn't do much to make him feel better. Ichigo walked forward, closely followed by the woman called Rukia Kuchiki, who was apparently a regular customer. Ryu resigned himself to feeling like he was being watched.

"Is this seriously Ryu Kakureta?" asked a disembodied voice.

"It is, but he doesn't seem to remember anything," snarled another, this one filled with blood-lust and killing intent. "Makes me wonder..."

"Attack to kill, and hope he wakes up?" suggested the first, but there was no hope in the tone.

"No," this one was clearly the boss. "We wait until he wakes up, but if he takes too long, then we kill him." The verdict was flat. "Even if he wakes up, kill him. Remember what he did to us."

Ryu turned and looked behind himself, unconsciously sliding the katana through the sash wrapped about his waist, and encasing himself in his armor. Keeping his hand on the sheath, and the other on the hilt, he looked around, cautiously. There was something malevolent about the night. After a few minutes, though, it vanished. He relaxed, sliding his katana out of the sash.

"What was it, Ryu?" asked Ichigo, noticing his tension, and subsequent relaxation.

"There was something about the night that was...malevolent," was his answer. "Whatever it was, it wants me dead."

Ichigo looked at him for a second, her haori billowing in the air, before nodding, and said, "Whatever it was, it wants something from you first." It was not a question.

"Indeed," said Ryu. "I get the feeling that I'll find out soon, one way or another."

Ichigo continued looking at him, and he asked, "What?"

"You seem to have the reiatsu of an Arrancar, when I can sense it... You must have a ridiculous amount of reiatsu..."

"And, that is what exactly?" asked Ryu.

"Reiatsu is spiritual energy, and an Arrancar is a Hollow which regained it's reason," answered Ichigo.

"Hollow?" parroted Ryu, feeling like he should know what that was.

"A fallen soul," explained Urahara. "You can generally tell whether or not a soul is a Hollow by it's size, whether or not it has a mask, and if it has a hole."

"Ah," said Ryu, nodding in understanding.

"Now, I believe we have to deal with your memory loss problem?" said Urahara, snapping his fan shut with a clack. "If you'll follow me inside."

Inside Urahara Shoten wasn't much better than outside, but when Urahara removed a tatami mat, and showed off a very long ladder, Ryu got an odd feeling. They headed down the ladder, and landed in a massive underground cavern, that simply had to have violated so many building codes that it wasn't funny. "This is ridiculous," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Hey!" cried Urahara, as Ichigo gave Ryu a high five. "This is where Ichigo-kun got her powers!"

"All of them, idiot!" snarled Ichigo, forcing a Cero up Urahara's ass. "Including the Inner Hollow I have now, because of you and your 'Shattered Shaft!' Now," she was slightly calmer, "Ryu's amnesia, Geta-boshi."

"R-right." Urahara got to his feet, gingerly holding his ass. Ryu couldn't help it, he started to laugh, and couldn't stop. The look on Urahara's face when Ichigo had shoved the Cero up his ass was pretty damn funny. It was the what the fuck? look that most people get when they walked into something, or something hit them out of nowhere. Urahara assumed a hurt face, which just made Ryu laugh harder. Something seemed to jar loose in his head, though, if the sudden blank look was any indication. Black reiatsu started to swirl around his feet, and surrounded him. His eyes were faraway, as though he wasn't with everyone in the room. He said, "Ryu Kakureta..."

Ichigo was puzzled. Hidden dragon? Had Ryu gone off the deep end?

"I am Ryu Kakureta," he muttered. The reiatsu stayed black, but seemed to give off a sinister kind of light as the pressure on Ichigo and Urahara increased. "What is my purpose?" Ryu asked nobody in particular, before pressing his hands against his head, gasping in pain. The pressure increased exponentially, before just vanishing. As in, it completely vanished. It was as though Ryu had just died, it was just...gone.

"Fumei?" asked Ichigo, cautiously approaching him.

Great white draconic wings suddenly unfurled, tearing the shihakusho top he was wearing to shreds. Slowly, Ryu stood, as scales covered him. "I am not Ryu Fumei," he said, his voice rumbling deep within his chest. "I am Ryu Kakureta."

Ryu slipped the white katana through the sash wrapped about his waist, and was encased in armor again. But there was a difference. Instead of plate around his upper body, he was wrapped in Ginjotan, a heavy steel sash primarily worn under armor. He seemed crueler, somehow. Older, certainly.

AN: Well. This is a new development, isn't it? Apparently Ryu is not even a human. If that is the case, then just what is he? R&R!