Hello once again my readers! It's time for Fated Death's second chapter. However before I get into all of that I'll take a moment to respond to a few reviews that caught my eye. Some say the same thing, so don't worry if I don't respond to yours, I still read it.

Anyways:

NIX'S WARDEN:LOVE THE IDEA! AND SHIRO'S POWERS! ALSO THAT HE CAN SEAL ZANPAKTOU WILL MAKE EVERYONE FREAK THE F*** OUT!

Response: I did intend a scene at some point where everyone learns of his ability to do this, although I don't intend to make him spam the miracle ability of Durendal to do such a thing.

Guest 01: no way shirou would be okay with Rukia killing him. You're trying to rush relationships without fully exploring emotional depth.

Response: I admit I dropped the ball on this one. I have a few ideas to resolve this, but just know that the relationship between Rukia and Shirou will be far from unemotional. He sealed her Zanpakuto, and she destroyed his body. Tension will be high for a while. However I'm not trying to rush anything, just a simple mistake.

sanddrake111: Interesting plot idea, but how UBW (namely his tracing abilities) fit with the Bleach Shinigami Zanpaktou systems? Anyways keep it up.

Response: I'm not going to reveal the whole aspect of this yet, but Shirou will not be able to trace Zanpakutos. At least…not in the traditional sense. As for UBW, it will be used in this story, although to a different effect than you might imagine, but he will get newer powers with it too. I mean its six years after the Grail Wars, with Archer's knowledge.

ocsummers: I thought if the soul is still connected to the body that it meant the body was still alive. When Ichigo lost his powers for the first time, Urahara had to break the chain connecting him to his body to transform him into a Shinigami. Meaning Rukia not only irreasonably seperated someone's soul from its body, she also performed a soul burial at someone who wasn't dead. Also on a side note, Shirou was a tiny bit too accepting of this fact.

Response: You and I have already discussed this, but for the rest of the readers. I am more versed in the way Fate portrays the soul than Bleach, but in the Heaven's Feel route, Archer is dying and they pretty much transfer his arm to Shirou, who had lost it prior due to an event protecting someone. They wrapped it in a holy shroud to prevent Archer's circuits from invading Shirou's body, and so on. Essentially when Rukia pulled the Shroud off, it overwhelmed his body and destroyed it. A similar event took place in the HF route, and they managed to anchor his body into a puppet sort of similar to a gigai. But enter Bleach physics, and his soul was still technically anchored to the world for a bit, so Rukia preforms the konso and sends him to the Soul Society.

Fangking2: Finally. A fic where Shirou can spawn Zanpakutous.

Response: Not necessarily as I stated above, but we'll come to that later on.

Selias: Counter guardians make a contract with Alaya, not Gaia. Still, this is looking good.
Response: Thanks for the catch, I'll correct it soon, also thanks for the compliment!

Ressan: Nice story, it should be maybe after Aizen betrayed SS and Ichigo and co are resting there before going home.

Response: Thanks for the compliment!The time frame for this is six years after the Grail War, and the Shirou of my story is a mix of UBW/HF, but will develop into AU as it progresses. Bleach timeline I'm setting it around the end of "The Lost Substitute Shinigami" arc, in a space of time between that arc and the Quincy War arc that is now going on in the manga.

Pandawa: Well you put shirou in universe that have much many weapon in form of blade, i will wait the reaction when shirou use copypasta spell or UBW when facing enemies.

Response: I certainly did, didn't I? Yes the reactions are something that I look forward to writing, but we won't see Shirou just able to copy Ryūjin Jakka right off the bat from seeing it at Yamamoto's side.

Anyway this chapter finds Shirou being confronted by a few members of the Gotei 13, and a sparring match or two along the way. Not a whole lot of action in this one, but it will kick up once Shirou decides to…oh wait, that's at the end of the chapter. Read on and find out! Also thanks to all those who wrote compliments to the story! Okay story start!

Seireitei, Soul Society

As the three Shinigami led me through the rest of the Rukongai, we eventually reached what seemed to be the center of the Soul Society. Well at least the outer entrance of the Soul Society. On the way Renji had explained to me how this Seireitei was where most of the governmental procedures took place and housed all the Gotei 13, which was the militant group of this dimension's government. I looked around and was rather astonished at how much cleaner this inner sanctum was compared to the Rukongai.

I had noticed that this place seems to operate much like feudal Japan did, however there were the obvious differences. As we approached the Seireitei from west, I could make out a large wall of white, but what drew my attention most was the man in front of it. Okay, so maybe man was the wrong word, but giant seemed to sum him up right. He must have been at least 30 feet tall and weighed a ton. As we got closer to the man, Sentarō took the lead from the group.

"Greetings Gatekeeper of White Road Gate, I am Sentarō Kotsubaki, Third Seat of the Thirteenth Division, and I seek passage through these gates for myself and my party." After bowing to the giant, the giant man looked over our small group.

"Do you have the travelling pass, Shinigami?" The giant man asked Sentarō. I could almost see the sweat drop forming on the back of his head as he frantically searched his person for this suddenly needed 'travelling pass.' I looked over to see Rukia steaming at her comrade's incompetence, and Renji just seemed to sigh. Rukia noticed me looking at her, and sent me a heated glare. Apparently all was not forgiven on either side. I thought I'd let her off easy for destroying my body since she didn't know a thing about the Shroud, but if I'm going to be on the end of this forever, then maybe not so much. I mean by the Akasha, how can she not so any remorse or not even apologize for blowing my body to kingdom come? I could feel myself getting angered as well, and I sent her my own glare.

Renji seemed to notice the change in atmosphere between his friend and me, as he put a hand on her shoulder and just shook his head. Rukia 'hmphed' sourly, but turned back to the issue at hand. I looked back as well. It seemed that Sentarō still hadn't found the pass that we needed to cross into the inner portion of the Soul Society, and the giant wasn't just going to let us pass, even though he knew who we were. I shook my head in annoyance and started walking. I walked up next to Sentarō, and spoke to the giant man.

"Pardon me, but it seems my travelling companion has forgotten our pass, but we have a meeting with the Captain of Division 13, and it would be terribly rude to be late. Is there any way you could let this slide?" I asked the giant Gatekeeper, who actually laughed allowed at my suggestion.

"It's been a long time since anyone has tried to pass through here without a travel permit…or wait maybe it hasn't. Spikey hair was the last one to do it, but I doubt you can! The only way you may pass is if you beat me!" To prove his point, or maybe just his bravado, the giant man pulled out a ginormous axe. It was a rectangular piece of metal attached to a bounded handle. The rectangular piece had an offshoot that formed into a linear blade. "I am Jidanbō, fight me if you dare!" I thought about it for a minute, and then looked over to Sentarō.

"So, what do you want me to do? I can fight this guy for you guys, and we can be on our way, or we'll have to wait for your captain to issue another pass, which won't reflect well on you at all," I told the other man. He paled at that, and I smiled. I remember from talking with him earlier that he held his Captain in a very high regard, and Rukia had mentioned how he and the other seated officer, Kiyone I think, would always fight for his attention.

"If you are really that eager to meet the captain, Emiya, then you can fight the Gatekeeper," Sentarō replied. I nodded, but then Renji appeared in front of me out of nowhere.

"Listen new guy I don't care how much reiryoku you have, you can't possibly beat a Gatekeeper." I was about to reply, before there was a low rumble, almost like a growl.

"Stand aside, Shinigami," Jidanbō growled, "the Plus has challenged me first, and it seems that you forget your manners, only one-on-one fights are allowed in the city." Renji looked stupefied at the giant and stood aside.

"Well then, don't go getting yourself killed," he told me. I nodded, but then Rukia appeared next to him as well.

"Listen fool, I don't know what you're planning on doing, but this isn't like anything you've ever faced back in the Human World. The Gatekeepers are immensely powerful, only three have ever survived his first strike. Only one of those three managed to beat him. I will not allow you to die!" She yelled at me, which actually caused me to blink in surprise, until her next words. "Only I am allowed to kill you, and I need you alive to bring back Sode no Shirayuki."

"Yeah, you already proved that once already when you blew up my body! I was giving you just a bit of leeway since you had no idea what the Shroud of Martin was really concealing, so yes I was angered, but I realized that it wouldn't do anything but slow me down in the long run, but you never even showed any damn remorse for destroying my body! I don't know what is even happening now, the way I was taught was that when a soul leaves the body it is sent into the reincarnation cycle, yet here I am. The least you could have done was explained to me what the hell was going on around here, but all you have done is send me nasty glares and insulting me at every turn you can get. I'm sorry I sealed away your sword or whatever, but you still haven't even told me what this Zanpakutō thing is, or how Durendal made it suddenly stop working. So maybe if you let go of your anger we can work this thing out and I can try to fix your sword!" Wow that was unexpected, I mentally hit myself for blowing up like that, but the look on the three Shinigamis' faces were ones of shock.

Renji and Sentarō were just looking at me in shock, even though in our relatively short time together, I had only given off my helpful and sometimes quite persona, this was a new side they hadn't seen. Rukia, well she was staring wide-eyed and then she narrowed her eyes.

"Is this really even the time to be discussing this? I have no interest in trying to help you if all you are going to do is hold onto the fact that I did something with untold consequences. Do you really think I meant to blow your body apart, and send you to the Soul Society?" She yelled back at me.

"Oh gee, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black. After all, I just said that I had no clue what I did to make your stupid sword stop working! I promised earlier that I would try and fix it for you, but all I got for my trouble was an angry glare from a pompous brat!"

"Well…well! So what! I don't have to answer to you anyway, and who do you think you are calling me a brat, fool? You don't even know who I am, hell I could have not given you the soul burial, and left you to turn into a Hollow!" I sneered at her indignation, and shouted back.

"To come to think of it, I was fighting one of those damned things, and the only reason I'm even here now is because you decided that I was deemed a threat to your organization or whatever and decided that I had to 'come in for questioning!' You could have just let me kill the damn thing and be on your way! If this is how all you damn Shinigami act, then talking to your Captain be damned , I'll find my own way out of this hell hole!"

"You stupid fool, you don't even know what you're saying anymore. You can't just leave Soul Society, whenever you feel like it! You're acting like a coward trying to get out of this place, just because you don't understand what's going on here!" Rukia looked like she was at her tipping point, but I just grinned maliciously.

"You call me a coward? Quit trying to turn this around on me, the only wrong that I have done is made your stupid sword not be able to use its powers, I mean it's just a damn weapon. I get it, some swords have limited sentience, but it's not like it's actually alive! Meanwhile, you destroy my body, accident I know, but you haven't once even shown a hint of remorse for sending me here!"

"For the love of…why are you so stuck on that? What I did was totally accidental, but you purposely sealed away Sode no Shirayuki, and for your information, Zanpakutōs are alive! They are essentially spirits that branch off from your own and become their own being. When you commanded that damned sword of yours to send a spirit to sleep, and it clashed with my sword, that's what happened. I can't even rouse her away in my inner world. When I need her guidance, where am I going to go now? No one seems to be able to undo this slumber you've put on her, and I need her back!" Tears began welling in the small woman's eyes, and I looked down at the ground, ridden with guilt. I know I didn't know that these weapons were possessed, but I still couldn't help but feel like scum.

"Uhm," Jidanbō said cautiously, "are you going to fight me or what?" Rukia and I both looked at the giant Gatekeeper.

"Stay out of it!" we yelled in unison. I was as startled as she was by our synchronized outburst, but then we remembered what we had been talking about.

"Listen Rukia, I shouldn't have lost my cool like that, but I am sorry about Sode no Shirayuki. I promise I will do everything in my power to restore it to the way it was before, and may the Akasha strike me down if I am lying," I told her quietly. Renji and Sentarō looked at me with a weird look. Well I guess moments ago I had been unleashing my anger on the small Shinigami.

"Her," was all Rukia said. I eyed her quizzically.

"Her?" I repeated, questioning the Shinigami. She looked up at me, with a small brief smile.

"Shirayuki is a female spirit," she then caught herself smiling and quickly turned it into a neutral glare. "Don't think that this suddenly makes us friends or anything Shirou!" I looked at her a bit, and then chuckled. "What's so damn funny, fool?"

"Well the fact, that you called me Shirou, and then said we're not going to be friends. Whatever you say Rukia…" I taunted her, but she started to steam as Renji joined in the joke.

"That's Kuchiki, too you, Emiya!" She said angrily, and I just shook my head at her, but the time for all this was over, we needed to go see this Captain Ukitake.

"Alright whatever you say Rukia," she sent me a glare, "So Jidanbō was it? You're telling me that the only way to get through the gate is to fight you?" The giant nodded his reply, and I smirked. Finally, something I could hit. "Alright then, shall we go?"

"Such proper manners!" The giant gushed before he hefted his axe. Trace on. As the axe came slamming down on top of me, I gripped the handle and swung up the blade I had called to block it. With a clash of metal, I managed to block his strike. "What the?"

"So that makes four doesn't it?" I asked, referring to the number of people able to block his strike. He just snorted and smashed down again and again. I just kept blocking all of his attacks until he seemed to be tiring, then I decided to use my summoned blade's innate ability. I poured a little of my od into the blade, and it suddenly became limp like a whip. The blade was serrated and was broken into sections along the length of the 'whip'. I brandished the sword and wrapped the whip around the giant's ankle. I went to reinforce myself, but having no body at all that failed. Instead I just yanked with all of my might and pulled.

Jidanbō tumbled to the ground and I took the opportunity to solidify the blade and slash at his body. I left a couple dozen cuts, but he didn't cringe in pain at all. I saw him reach into his vest and pull out another axe. I sighed at this new predicament, and let my blade dissolve. I am the bone of my sword. I traced Kanshou and Bakuya into my hands, and then leaped forward. Blades met axe as Jidanbō attempted to smash me with one of his weapons. While both my hands were tied up, he tried to swipe at me with the other, but I jumped out of the way. 'My speed and strength seems to be just as strong as I was when I reinforced myself to the extreme' I mused to myself as I cut at the axe, but it did only to leave a scratch on it. This is getting me nowhere, Kanshou and Bakuya aren't bunker busters, and against an opponent this big, Crane Wing wouldn't even be useful.

As Jidanbō kept pounding at my blades with his axe, I decided that I was just going to end this, no matter how much it pained me to take such an easy way out. I was growing tired of dealing with the giant and wasn't especially in the mood to deal with anything after my fight with Rukia. In my left hand I trace a large object. A crude looking chiseled hunk of rock, designed to be an axe. I hefted the giant thing above my head and rushed the giant.

"Nine Lives Blade Works!" I cried out, and I slashed at the giant at near supersonic speeds. My giant axe-blade connected with the upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, temple, diaphragm, rib, testicles, and thighs simultaneously at a speed faster than the speed of sound. Jidanbō fell to the ground in pain, and dropped his axes. "Have I gained my party clearance, or would you like to go another bout?"

"You…you may pass," the Gatekeeper said solemnly, as he got up and hefted the giant gates open, and we finally were allowed access into the Seireitei. I looked over to the three Shinigami, and nodded.

"Are you coming or what?" I asked them. Disbelief was on Sentarō's face, but then joy overcame his features.

"Thank you Emiya! You've saved my reputation with Captain Ukitake!" Sentarō ran over and tried to hug me, but I was still brandishing the giant axe of Heracles, so he decided against it in the end.

"Gotta hand it to you, new guy that was pretty impressive. I'm sure that the Gotei would love to see you in the academ-oof, what?" Renji started saying, before Rukia elbowed him in the gut.

"Fool, why are you spouting such stupid nonsense? Emiya would never be able to last in the academy and become a Shinigami." My eyes narrowed at that, but I brushed it off. I decided to head through the gateway, before Sentarō sped up and took the lead once more.

Thirteenth Division Headquarters

I looked around at our destination. So this was the 13th Division's living quarters? It reminded me of an old-style Japanese housing estate, much like the one I own in Fuyuki City. I was led by Sentarō across a small wooden dock that led to a separate house. From here, only Rukia and I proceeded into the small building. As Rukia drew open the door, I was greeted to the sight of a man with waist long white hair, who seemed to be meditating with his sword in his lap. When he heard us enter, he came out of his trance and stood up. I eyed his suspiciously, until he came up to us and bowed. Rukia instantly returned the bow. I decided to follow suit. When the three of us came back to an upright position, the man spoke.

"Hello Lieutenant," the man saluted Rukia, who returned the salute, and then he faced me. "Greetings, I am Captain Jūshirō Ukitake, commander of the Thirteenth Division, it's a pleasure to meet you." I nodded in respect.

"The pleasure is mine, Captain. I am Emiya Shirou, a recently moved-in resident of the Rukongai, which was due in part to your lieutenant, but I'm sure she included that in a report?" I asked the white-haired Captain. He nodded humorlessly.

"Yes it seems that she also you have a few unique abilities that required further investigations. The captain-commander was made aware of you, but deemed it beneath him to come and interview you personally," Ukitake began.

"Charming," I muttered under my breath, which caused Rukia to glare at me, but Ukitake actually chuckled at my comment.

"Yes, the captain-commander is a complex man, but now for the real reason we had you brought here. My Lieutenant has informed me that not only do you have the ability to generate spirit weapons; you can do so without the use of reiryoku. In addition, you can cast spells similar to Kidō with your weapons, some with incantations, others without; you can modify your soul weapons into an arrow, and most disturbing of all is that you were able to actually seal away her Zanpakutō spirit. Would you care to enlighten me?" So that's what this was really about. Go figure.

"Well I might as well seeing as I had to beat that damned Gatekeeper just to come talk to you," I started, and I could see Ukitake's eyes widen slightly. "Anyway, I don't know what these spirit weapons you Shinigami keep going on about are, but if you're referring to my projections, that's probably why I don't need to use any of this reiryoku energy, I used od to fuel my magic."

"Od?" The Captain asked, intrigued. "Reiryoku is the spiritual energy that all souls have to one degree or another, I'm amazed that you aren't aware of your own, it's torrenting out of you in waves and in such high volumes."

"Really?" I checked my circuits, but it didn't seem that any of my prana was seeping out into the environment. "I checked my reserves, and none of my prana seems to escaping my body." So that must mean…

"Yes, it seems that you have access to two sources of energy, Shirou. This prana seems to be something specific to only you, but at the same time I can feel the reiryoku pouring off of you in waves, but from what you just told me about being able to check your energy reserves for this prana as you call, I have no doubt that with training you would be able to reign in your spiritual energy as well." My eyes widened at this revelation.

"So you're telling me that by being only in my soul form, that I have access to this new energy supply as well?" Ukitake shook his head.

"No, not quite. You see every spiritual being and human has some degree of reiryoku, even if they themselves are not aware of it, in the case of humans. If you were able to perceive Rukia when you were still in your body, then you must have had at least enough to interact with the spiritual plane." I nodded my head. "But it seems now that without your body as a limiter, you have had a sudden spike in your spiritual power, and while it is not as nauseating as the normal case may be, you are a beacon and no doubt almost every Shinigami in the Seireitei is aware you are here. There are a few exercises to help you reign in your reiryoku, and even use it to aid you in battle. I could teach you if you'd like?" Rukia stared at her captain.

"You can't seriously be offering to teach the man that has the ability to silence our Zanpakutō spirits, can you Captain?" she asked shocked. Jūshirō looked at his lieutenant.

"I can and I am, Rukia, now if you'll please excuse us, we have more to discuss," the Captain ordered. Rukia nodded and left the small building. I looked at Ukitake.

"I would be honored to learn how to use this…reiryoku," the word sounded odd in my mouth. "But let me answer your other questions first. My projections, which you thought to be these spirit weapons, are actually copies of weapons I've seen before, both mundane and magical. Whenever I lay eyes upon any weapon, it becomes mine forever."

"How is that possible?" Ukitake asked, astonished. I thought about whether to go into the full details of my Reality Marble, but thought better of it.

"It has something to do with this magical affinity with weapons I have developed, and after practicing one of the two magical arts that I know to the point of mastery, I can trace near-perfect copies of any weapon, shield, or armor. Of course I can project other things, but I still haven't figured out how to trace them." Ukitake looked confused at the difference in tracing and projecting, but what he asked me caught me more off guard.

"So," he asked quietly, "does that mean you can even trace our Zanpakutōs?" I was actually impressed that he had picked that up. I shook my head, and that seemed to relieve him.

"I actually can't, and I'll explain why. My tracing ability usually follows seven steps, done instantaneously, before I can add a weapon to my 'armory'. The first one is why I cannot reproduce your blades. I have to judge the concept of creation, and Rukia informed me that Zanpakutō are more-or-less forged from a Shinigami's soul. To me that would mean knowing your soul and that is a very intimate thing indeed." Ukitake nodded in agreement. Souls were a delicate thing.

"So that brings us to my final question, Shirou. How were you able to seal away Sode no Shirayuki? Rukia has told me that she can still sense the spirit of her Zanpakutō, yet it seems like she is sleeping deeply and cannot be awoken." I grimaced at that. Durendal sure knew how to take words literally, but that was my intent. I held out my hand, which caught the Captain's attention. Trace on. I successfully traced the sword of Roland into my hand and Ukitake looked on in interest. "This is the blade that sealed Rukia's Zanpakutō?"

"Yes, this is Durendal; the original sword was said to be indestructible, would always keep its edge, and had the ability to grant any three miracles, within reason of course. I used one of the miracles to give the blade the ability to put any spirit it came into contact with into a deep sleep. After that I swung it to attack Rukia, but she blocked my blow, but her blade suddenly returned to the normal katana form it was in and she couldn't use its abilities anymore."

"Not only did you seal away a Zanpakutō spirit, but you managed to disengage its Shikai state? What sort of weapon is this?" Ukitake asked, bewildered.

"It is said to have been given to King Charlemagne by an angel, so if the legends are correct, I'm banking on it being a blessed weapon at the very least. Something that can seal spirits with that much ease is holy in nature," I commented, but then I noticed the Captain's brow furrow.

"How many other blades can you replicate, Shirou?" The Captain asked me cautiously. I smiled devilishly, really relishing the thought at scaring a spirit that was named after the Death Gods.

"Tens of thousands," I said simply. It even scared me that I had that many blades cooped up in the Blade Works, but between the Gates of Babylon, Archer's memories, and my own battle experience, I could hardly be surprised. "And that's only the weapons."

"You mean to tell me that you can create things aside from swords?" Ukitake asked me calmly, he seemed to be eyeing me in a different light now. Good. I hated being underestimated.

"Aside from common place items, I can trace a plethora of mundane defensive items, only a few that are actually Noble Phantasms, and more recently I have learned that I can trace two things that I had witnessed, but never thought I could use them. I managed to use both a while back, but it was all just my state of mind," I explained.

"What do you mean?" Ukitake asked me. I figured explaining how parts of my tracing works wouldn't hurt.

"Well you see, when I said I couldn't trace Zanpakutōs because they are parts of your spirit, I was telling the truth, however when I trace a weapon I essentially must learn its soul. The difference is that a Zanpakutō is part of its wielder's soul, that's why I can judge its creation. However, in the instance of almost all of my other items, they are only as strong as I will them to be. That goes with saying I cannot make a blade exceed its original limits by will alone. I can enhance them with Reinforcement, but that is different. A mentor of mine once told me that 'your worst enemy is none other than yourself.' I didn't understand him at the time, but I learned that my projections will only work as well as I think they will. If I doubt myself, my blades will shatter." Ukitake just nodded, and then stood up.

"Thank you for being so forthcoming in your information, but now there is something that I must ask of you." I looked at him and arched a brow, waiting for him to continue. "Would you please restore Shirayuki? I thought on it, and then sighed. I figured if Durendal caused it, I could use another miracle to remove it. Right? Maybe Rulebreaker would work, but that may actually cut the ties between Rukia and her sword.

"Alright, go get Rukia, and I will try my best," I told the Captain of the Thirteenth. He left the room and return shortly followed by the raven-haired Shinigami. I looked over and addressed her. "Rukia, pull out your Zanpakutō and prepare to intercept my strike." She did as she was told. I traced the Peerless Sword into my hands, and summoned the miracle. "Durendal yield to mine will. Deny the slumber thine blade has placed onto this spirit. Withdraw it, and awaken the sword!" I moved and slashed toward the blade Rukia was holding in front of me, and they collided.

Durendal shone a bright golden glow as its holy nature was pushed, and then it ceased. I ended the parry, and Rukia sat on the ground and took the meditative stance that I had seen Ukitake using earlier. After what seemed like hours, she opened her eyes and looked at me sternly.

"It didn't work, Emiya!" Rukia sneered at me, but I just stood there, racking my brain for another solution.

"I realize that, but don't disturb me, I'm trying to think of another way," I told the Shinigami coolly. She didn't seem to like my calm tone.

"My Zanpakutō is in a near-coma, because of you, and you're telling me not to disturb you? I have half a mind, just to use my Kidō on you to make you think." I was getting pretty damn fed up with this angry woman.

"Maybe I shouldn't even try and help you then anymore, you ungrateful little shrew. I am trying to think of some way I can possibly undo what I've done, but if all you're going to do is tell me what to do…" I trailed off, suddenly realizing I had something for this. Yes that's it, I could use it.

"Shrew?" Rukia shrieked before she noticed how quiet I had gotten. "Don't ignore me, Emiya! I'm talking to you!" Trace on. I summoned my blade, which was a falchion. However, the blade on this sword was a sky blue, and in the middle on the blade was a hole, but in that hole was a ring of untold power. This was Enesbit, or rightfully dubbed The Blade of Subservience. While the sword itself was mundane, the ring inside it was gave it its magical properties. The ring was told to be able to have any magical ability or enchantment that the user said it had. It could have an unlimited number at any given time and could incorporate an infinite amount of combinations.

As a sword, though, that power was severely diminished. While it could still take on any magical property one gave it, it sacrificed all other things for that one property. You could tell the blade to always land a killing blow, but the sword would in turn lose all realms of defense. I never really deemed it battle worthy, but in a situation such as this, it was the perfect item. I held the blade in my hand and focused. Remove all magically induced curses. The ring glowed a dim gold, and I knew it was ready. Without another word, I lunged for Rukia, who had still been shouting at me. My sudden movement caught her off guard. She blocked my blow, and then stared at me angrily.

"What the hell was that for?" she yelled at me, but then I just gave her a level gaze.

"Try talking with your sword," I told her quietly, but she seemed to refuse.

"Why should I do that after your last attempt flopped, just like this one. You didn't even enchant that blade or anything, you just lunged for me, so until you do something useful I'm not going to do –"

"Shut up!" I growled at her. "Just try and communicate with your damn weapon, I don't want to have to go with option three, so just humor me!" Rukia grumbled, but then entered her meditating pose again. Her eyes shot open and she gasped.

"I-I can hear her again," she whispered. Ukitake looked over to me and nodded in approval. "Emiya!" I turned over to look at the small Shinigami. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me, Rukia; I was only undoing something that I had caused in the first place." I grimaced. There was still going to be some bad blood between the two of us after our little shouting match earlier.

"Also…Shirou," she said hesitantly, "I am truly sorry for destroying your body. I have been so caught up in the fact that I had lost Sode no Shirayuki, that everything else was knocked away." I was surprised by her genuineness, but then I smiled, actually touched at her apology.

"I accept your apology, and while you may have triggered the event, it was my temptations for more power than I had to being with to undo the Shroud…" I just stood silently, until someone spoke.

"Well, Shirou, it looks like there is only one more thing left," Ukitake stated from his spot across the room.

"Captain?" Rukia asked confused. I was a little confused as well, but had an idea of where he was going with this.

"I want to train you in using your reiryoku, and possibly have you become Shinigami like Rukia and me." I turned to face the Captain fully, and I thought my mouth was agape. This divine entity wanted to train me to become like her was? This was completely unfounded. Humans were never allowed to ascend, even in the Age of the Gods, the closest thing was Demi-Gods and the like. I fell to the ground in sheer awe of the offer and bowed.

"I would be honored to a recipient of your tutelage Captain Ukitake," I said, the first time actually using the man's station with his name. He actually laughed at my reaction, but when I looked up I saw Rukia in a state of disbelief.

"Captain Ukitake, this is absurd! You can't really expect him to be able to become a Shinigami; he has no training with spiritual power at all!"

"Neither did Ichigo Kurosaki, but he is doing alright for himself as the Substitute," the Captain rebutted.

"Ichigo is half-Shinigami to begin with, Emiya has no training and is a Human soul!"

"Ah, but he already possesses other powers, and after I talked with him, they seem to operate similar enough to the way reiryoku does, that I think he could pick it up in no time at all. I am going to put in a request to the Captain-Commander asking that Shirou be placed under my teaching instead of the academy due to the nature of his powers. I will acquire an Asauchi for the boy, and he will train under me. I am well-versed in the arts of Zanjutsu, Hohō, and Kidō. I'm sure we could find others willing to assist me in training depending on what shape his Zanpakutō takes. Captain Zaraki is an excellent trainer, and I'm sure Shirou could pick up a few things if were ever to run into those 'exiles' living in Karakura." I was getting too overloaded with information, and I decided to finally speak up.

"While this all sounds extremely great, I think that perhaps you should submit your request before we get to ahead of ourselves. Your Captain-Commander may not be as lenient as you hope him to be." Ukitake nodded at my words, and then sighed.

"Well for now at least, I want for you to remain here in our barracks, it wouldn't due to have you trekking all the way back to the Rukongai, just for me to have to summon you again in a few days. Feel free to get to know my Division, and tomorrow we can begin training you in basic reiryoku manipulation."

"Thank you for the hospitality, Captain, it won't be wasted." We bowed to one another, and I left the small house. Outside by a pond with koi in it, stood Sentarō and Renji, and I wondered why they were still hanging around. "Yo, what are you guys still doing here?"

"This is my Division, and I was awaiting the chance to get my Captain up to speed on other events happening throughout the Soul Society," Sentarō responded, and then he made a mad dash for Ukitake's personal housing. I looked over at Renji.

"So then, why are you still here? I thought you reported to a different Captain?" I asked him, and he nodded, but held a fierce grin.

"I just wanted the chance to take you on in a spar, that's all. After I saw the way you took down Jidanbō, I just knew we were destined to spar!" I looked at Renji with such an incredulous look, but then I snorted.

"I don't want to spar with you now, because I know I could beat you," I said simply, just challenging the man with my words. It worked.

"What makes you so sure of that, new guy?" Renji challenged, oblivious to the fact I was taunting him.

"I sealed away Sode no Shirayuki, what makes you so sure I couldn't do the same to your Zanpakutō?" I asked him. That gave him pause as he thought it over, and then nodded.

"Alright fine, point taken, but once you do some training with Ukitake, you and I are going at it, got it?" he asked, his eyes just begging me to back down, but I held firm.

"Got it, as soon as I get up to your level in reiryoku usage, then we'll fight, Renji," I told the red-haired Shinigami. "After all, someone needs to beat you." He just snorted as my joke, and then left. I bid him goodbye as he walked, and then I made my way over to the barracks where I found Rukia sitting alone reading. As I approached her, she got up and moved to greet me.

"So, what did you and Renji discuss?" she asked me.

"He just wanted to spar after he heard about my upcoming training with your Captain. I just threatened to seal his Zanpakutō," I said slyly, which she punched me in the arm.

"You can't go around threatening to do that every time you want to dodge a fight with a Shinigami from now on, got it? Most of us are powerful even without our Zanpakutō in the way of Kidō or just hand-to-hand combat, but now that my Zanpakutō is restored, why don't we at least try and spar on a level field, this time Emiya?" I nodded, and we walked over to opposite spots of one another.

"What are the rules of engagement? Fatal blow or first blood?" I asked her, since she proposed the duel.

"I prefer fatal blow, and as for our weapons, nothing ranged, I will use only my blade in Shikai, but none of its attacks. So same for you I suppose. Nothing ranged, and nothing that would a fight quickly in a real scenario. Deal?" I nodded. Trace on. I summoned Kanshou and Bakuya into my hands, and was ready. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" Her katana blade turned bright white, and a long white ribbon flowed from the hilt. She exploded for the spot she was standing and was flying at me at insane speeds. I held up my blades in defense, and sent her blade wide. I slashed with Bakuya, and white met black as Rukia managed to block my swing.

She leaped back and then charged with Sode no Shirayuki, I braced myself. In a clash of steel, Kanshou was knocked from my grip, and I was only left with Bakuya. I could have instantly traced another, but decided against it. I slashed at Rukia and Shirayuki was knocked from her grasp as well, but it suddenly flew back to her hand.

"How on earth?" I mused allowed, but quickly got swept up in the battle, as white met black again and again across the field. After our dance quickly escalated into a show of strength, was pushing against Rukia and her against me, our blades clashing. I slid Bakuya up the length of her katana, and kicked her in gut. She fell on her back and I put Bakuya to her throat. Suddenly I felt a massive pressure against my being and I looked into the sky to see a bright blue beam of energy closing fast. Trace on. In seconds Bakuya was out of my hands. "Rho Aias!" The energy collided with the Aias, but my shield held firm. After the attack faded, I saw a person wearing black garbs coming straight at me.

"What are you doing to Rukia?" he shouted at me in raw anger. I jumped away from where he hit the ground, and a large amount of dirt flew into the air. Standing before me was a teenager, probably younger by a few years than I was, wearing a white shirt underneath a black shihakushō, which was open and held together by three 'x' patterns, and it ended in a number of coattails. He had black gloves with large, white 'x's going up until the forearm. The blade in his hand was extremely long and curved with three protrusions on it on the blunt side of the blade. The middle of the blade's shaft was actually hollowed out, and what I noticed most about this person was his spiked, orange hair. I mean that couldn't possibly be natural.

"I'll ask you again, what are you doing to her?" he asked, snapping me out of my information trance. He looked ready to run me through with his blade, but Rukia got up.

"Fool! We were just dueling! He wasn't actually going to kill me, Ichigo! Get out of Bankai, so I can at least try to decently introduce you," Rukia shouted to the man. He looked between me and her, and then suddenly shifted garments to the more regular looking Shinigami uniform.

"Well at least tell your friend to put away his giant swords before we talk, Rukia," this Ichigo told her. I looked down in my hands and I must have traced and reinforced Kanshou and Bakuya without realizing it. I let them fade away, which caused a look of surprise on the young man's face. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo," he finally introduced himself.

"Emiya Shirou," was all I replied, before I began studying him again. So this is the Ichigo that Rukia and Ukitake had been talking about before. They mentioned that he was half-Shinigami, which meant either his father or mother was a human. "So which one of your parents was the Shinigami?" The look on his face was priceless.

"Wh-what, how do you know about that?" His head snapped to Rukia, who was playing dumb by just innocently standing by. I just chuckled.

"Don't blame her, it just came up in conversation, while we were talking about how I may become Captain Ukitake's pupil. They just mentioned someone by the name of Ichigo, and I figured you were he." Kurosaki studied me for a few moments before nodding.

"Alright, but I can't believe the Captain never mentioned anyone named Emiya, so are you new to Soul Society?" I nodded.

"I have your friend here to thank for that," I said, causing Kurosaki to look at Rukia, "but that's a story for another time. She and I were just dueling for fun, considering Renji had wanted to earlier, but I denied him simply by threatening to seal away his sword."

"Wait…that was you? You sealed Sode no Shirayuki? Emiya that has been the hottest thing around both the Rukongai and the Seireitei. I heard from my friend Toshirō, another Captain, that even Central 46 is going crazy about some crazy spirit with the power to seal away our weapons." I blinked at that. This place's government was actually freaking out about me doing something so simple?

"It wasn't like I meant to use it on purpose, but at the time I was aggravated enough, and didn't need to deal with some crazy spirit woman yelling at me," I said eyeing Rukia. She let out an indignant huff.

"By the way, why were you so angry that day, Emiya? You were going to town on that Hollow, and it hadn't even attacked you." I thought back to the day, and then remembered the crucial detail I had forgot to mention to the others.

"Oh did I forget to mention, I'm from a parallel universe. I was transported here by this man named Zelretch, who is one of the only true Magicians left, and he dumped me here after my friend Rin and I attempted to recreate his jewel sword…it's a long story," I told them. Rukia and Kurosaki were staring at me in disbelief.

"You're joking, right?" Rukia asked me, shocked at my revelation.

"Afraid not, you see, he has the ability to move between dimensions at will, but it's not like here. Soul Society and the Human World are still bound to the same universe, but I'm from a parallel Earth, where I have never even heard of this Soul Society. Honestly I was taught that when we die, our souls return to the Swirl of the Root and we enter the cycle of reincarnation. I guess that's not so much the case now is it?"

"I need to tell Captain Ukitake this news right away," Rukia moved to leave, but surprisingly it was Kurosaki who stopped her.

"That wouldn't be a good idea Rukia. Just think, he already is news because he can do what he can to our Zanpakutō, but for now that's all they think he can do. Most of his other powers look like things we can do with reiryoku, but if it got out that he's from another universe, they'd be barking up our trees far too far for my comfort."

"Thanks," I told him, and he nodded. I guess he knew what it was like to be an outsider, being only half-Shinigami and being this 'Substitute' I heard about earlier, but I thought nothing else of it. "Well I believe that this has been enough excitement for me, I'm going to retire to my room…" Which I had no idea where it was. Rukia picked up on that.

"I'll show you Emiya, just be sure not to get lost." With that we said goodbye to Kurosaki, and headed into the Thirteenth's barracks for some sleep. I had a feeling that I would need it.

And so ends the chapter. Hopefully this made up for lack of emotional confrontation between Rukia and Shirou in chapter one. Also I have set up a forum for this story. The link is on my profile, and I will set up a chapter two discussion there, so I won't have to respond to readers in the beginning of chapters. That will be the place for all the latest updates on the story as well.

So please read and review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter finds us meeting a few more cast members, Shirou's training, and our main female protagonist of the story makes her FD début. Stay tuned!