Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, and in this story the Hollow mask does not cause Hollow-Fication. Many other parts have been changed as well.
Ichigo parried Kisuke's Zanpakuto, Benihime, and, unsuccessfully, attempted to make a counter-strike. Yet, when he went for the counter-strike and failed, his side was left vulnerable and Kisuke striked, creating a large gash in Ichigo's side. Ichigo's knees went out, and Ichigo stuck out his hand, barely stopping his fall.
As Ichigo knelt on one knee, Kisuke gashed his other side and said,"Get back up Ichigo, you're going to have to do better than that if you want to get better."
Ichigo just barely managed to stand up, leaning heavily on Zangetsu, and nodded. Suddenly, Ichigo's vision started fading, fading, until everything was black. Moments later, or possibly hours due to his unconsciousness, Ichigo woke up to find himself on the upper floor of Kisuke's shop, or the ground level of Kisuke's shop, in a cot covered by some blankets. Ichigo's side had been gashed up pretty bad during training, and Ichigo looked under the blankets to finds his cuts and other injuries all wrapped neatly in bandages.
Suddenly, Ichigo heard a click and looked over to see Ururu standing in the doorway with a tray of food.
"Oh, so you're finally awake Mr. Kurosaki." Ururu said in her tiny little voice.
Ichigo sat up and grabbed the tray of food she offered him,"Thanks Ururu, so, how long have I been out?" Ichigo asked.
"Oh, just several hours."
"Oh, well, where's Kisuke? I need, to continue training." Ichigo replied, between bites of his food.
Ururu shook her head. "He's not here right now, he's off running an errand, but before he left he said that you need to rest and regain your energy and to heal your wounds." she said.
"No can do, I have t-" Ichigo said, but in the middle of his sentence a spike of pain shot up his side as he tried to sit up and he groaned.
"See, you need rest. Now just sit back, eat your food, and get some rest. Besides, today is Saturday, you should be relaxing."
Ichigo gave in, it was either that or suffer the terrible pain in his side, and obediently laid down after finishing his food, getting comfortable for a nap. Yet Ichigo couldn't help wondering about who would deal with the Hollows while Ichigo was gone, surely Kisuke wouldn't deal with things unless things got serious and Rukia was still regaining her Soul Reaper abilities. Well, there was that one time where Uryu spread around Hollow bait and Ururu, Jinta, and Tessai dealt with lots of Hollows, but with Kisuke gone somebody will have to run the business. Yet Ichigo let all this go, relaxing, trying to fall asleep, when suddenly, all faded to black quiet suddenly.
Ichigo opened his eyes to find himself in his "Inner World," the name he created for the place he met Zangetsu and battled his other self, the white Soul Reaper, and looked around, wondering what brought him here. Suddenly, off in the distance, Ichigo saw a something, possibly someone, approaching Ichigo in the distance. "Zangetsu, is that you! Zangetsu!" Ichigo shouted off in the distance towards the mysterious being.
Suddenly, that mysterious being in the distance disappeared, and when Ichigo looked to his side he saw Zangetsu out of the blue.
"Ahh!" Ichigo shouted. "Whew, you scared me there for a second Zangetsu. So, do you need me for something?"
"Why nothing, it just gets lonely in here sometimes." Zangetsu said.
"Well, where's that other guy, the white Soul Reaper who looks just like me, where is he?" Ichigo asked.
"He and I are one and the same, just right now I am the stronger part." Zangetsu responded.
"I see, I suppose. Well unless there is anything I am needed for I should go, my wounds may not be healed but they should be better, and even without Kisuke around I can still-" Ichigo was saying, until he was cut off by Zangetsu.
"Actually, there is one thing of concern. You remember that Hollow mask you got from training with Kisuke, correct?" Zangetsu asked Ichigo.
"Yes." Ichigo replied.
"Don't throw it out, there is potential in this mask, I know it. Besides… I like it." Zangetsu said as all faded to darkness.
Ichigo slowly opened his eyes, this time to find himself in the Urahara's shop, in the same room and cot as before. As Ichigo stepped out of bed he winced in pain, his wounds mustn't have healed all the way yet, oh well though, things have been worse. As Ichigo headed to the underground training area he saw the usual, Jinta harassing Ururu and Tessai there to stop it all, and with a slight chuckle Ichigo continued on his way. In the training area, while Ichigo was training, Ichigo tried to get Zangetsu to tell him about the mask, but Zangetsu was silent, so, for a while, Ichigo trained alone, until later Kisuke joined him, and after some cuts and bruises Ichigo confronted Kisuke to tell him about what Zangetsu said to him earlier and to ask him about this Hollow mask.
"Kisuke," Ichigo said, tugging on his robe a little as he was walking away, "Could you hold on a sec, there's something I need to talk to you about."
"I've got time, here, why don't we go and sit on that nice looking boulder over there." Kisuke said, with the same tone of humor and seriousness.
By the time it took to walk from the stairwell to the boulder Kisuke pointed out, Ichigo had explained the whole thing, and Kisuke just nodded and was quite silent. In fact, as Ichigo described this he looked slightly, disturbed, even.
"Well, there is one thing we can discern from this for sure." Kisuke said thoughtfully, with his chin on his palm.
"And that is… " Ichigo said, leaving the thought in the air.
"That Zangetsu like the mask." Kisuke said.
Ichigo did not look amused and responded," Come on, I am serious. This is concerning, I mean think about it, right when I unlocked my Soul Reaper powers I appeared with a shihakusho and a Hollow mask. Was the unlocking of my Soul Reaper abilities somehow connected to the sudden appearance of my mask?"
"It is most likely the best answer for now, but something about your conversation with Zangetsu disturbs me… " Kisuke replied.
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.
"Can you describe to me what your opponent looked like, you know, when you were fighting for Zangetsu." Kisuke asked Ichigo.
"Well, he looked exactly like me feature wise, however his eyes were dark and his skin was pale. Just like, just like a-" Ichigo was saying, suddenly cut off by Kisuke, who was now standing.
"A Hollow, yes, and when you two were talking, you and Zangetsu, he said that he and the 'other' Zangetsu, the Hollow-like one, were one, and he also said that he liked the mask." Kisuke said, pacing around.
"So, how does all of that fit together." Ichigo asked, standing as well following in Kisuke's footsteps.
Then, Kisuke stopped walking and faced Ichigo with a serious look on his face and said to him,"This is merely a theory, however, I believe that Zangetsu, is not who he appears. I believe that Zangetsu is part Zangetsu… And part Hollow."
Ichigo tried to cut him off with a question however Kisuke continued.
"But that's not all, I also believe, and this may come as a shock to you, but I believe that you are part Hollow too."
Ichigo stared at Kisuke in disbelief, not only because of what he just said, but also with confusion, I mean how could someone come up with some crazy conclusion like this with just the few facts presented to him?
"Every Zanpakuto has a link with it's Soul Reaper correct? So this is why I assume that you are part Hollow. Also, Ms. Yoruichi has shared with me that whenever you have tried to throw out the Hollow mask it returns to you, so that means that it shares a strong link with you. In addition, when you have that mask on, it seems to make you stronger, like how you broke out of that Kido Tessai put on you in training. So, my guess is that this mask, your Hollow side, is quite strong." Kisuke explained.
"So this very long and complicated speech means what?" Ichigo asked.
"Well, just that Zangetsu is part Hollow and so are you, so if you want to get stronger, I'm telling you, that mask of yours is the answer." Kisuke responded, walking towards the stairwell, leaving Ichigo alone and stunned.
Ichigo was shocked for a moment, but only momentarily when he realized his true mission. Just like Kisuke said, he had to master the mask. Zangetsu had said himself that this mask had potential, and he now understood what Zangetsu meant. So Ichigo left the training room and the shop and went home, and, ignoring his dad and sisters, went to his room. Ichigo frantically scurried around the room looking for the object he required, until at last he found it. Hidden in a secret place in his mattress was the Hollow mask he had once before feared, and now wanted to understand.
So even though he yearned to discover the secrets behind the mask he took a well deserved rest to recover from the many hard hours of training. After many long hours of sleeping, Ichigo decided to do something different today, and instead of going to Kisuke to train, he went to Ms. Yoruichi instead. Ms. Yoruichi was found where she always was, near Kisuke, whom was outside the shop, and as soon as Ichigo saw her he approached her.
"Yoruichi, can I have a word." Ichigo asked.
"Geez, why so formal. But sure, shoot kid." Yoruichi replied.
Ichigo, slightly embarrassed, replied," Umm… I was wondering if you could train me, I would like to become stronger."
Yoruichi looked at Ichigo, with a thoughtful look on her face. "Okay, but why come to me? Haven't you been training with Kisuke?" she asked.
"Well, remember when I showed you mask, well even in your cat form I could tell you were surprised, like you knew something?" Ichigo said suspiciously.
Yoruichi looked at the ground momentarily, obviously guilty, however being the strong woman she was, she looked Ichigo in the eye and said,"Why yes, I do, but why does it concern you?"
"I need to train, but not physically, mentally, I need to understand the mask. It is the only way I can become stronger. Please Yoruichi." Ichigo asked.
"Hmm… Alright, however it will be very intense training, and it won't be easy, Zangetsu will be merciless." Yoruichi replied.
"Wait, what?" Ichigo asked.
"Come on, let's take our leave." Youichi replied, ignoring Ichigo's concerns.
So Ichigo followed Yoruichi, totally clueless as to where they were going. He followed Yoruichi into the shop, down to the training room, and finally to Kisuke's makeshift senkaimon.
"What are we doing here?" Ichigo asked Yoruichi as she was setting up.
"You really want to know? Fine, well the training you're about to go through requires many hours of intense training, and to do that we'll need to go into the senkaimon, to the dangai, and train there." Yoruichi responded.
"And, how exactly does that help me with my training?" Ichigo asked.
"Well, the dangai, being cut off from the world of the living and the Soul Society, has a warped sense of time. In numbers, it is actually 20,000 times denser timewise. So if 20,000 hours pass in the dangai, one hour will pass here." Yoruichi said.
"Okay, but what about that big train thing that keeps people from being there for too long?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes, that is true, the Kototsu will try to keep us out, however, the Soul Society has found a way to stop the Koryu. It's called Kaikyo Kotei, or boundy fixation, and normally takes several dozen Soul Reapers pouring in their spirit energy by means of a special technique to hold the Koryu in place, however I can probably hold it for a while by myself, now come on, let's get going." Yoruichi said to Ichigo.
So Ichigo, with this new knowledge, yet still wondering how to train, followed Yoruichi inside. When Ichigo entered that cloudy, dream-like landscape he followed Yoruichi to the middle of the dangai and watched patiently as she set up, throwing what looked like hollow shurikens into the walls with thick strings attached, most likely for the spirit energy to travel through.
With the extra length of the strings, Yoruichi was able to walk over to Ichigo and instruct him, and said, "Now I want you to sit down in the lotus position and put your Zanpakuto across your lap. This is called the Jinzen, or sword zen, and is a technique developed to communicate with your Zanpakuto. Now, get the answers out of your Hollow side, it won't be easy, like I said, Zangetsu will be merciless." Yoruichi said.
"Wait, how do you know about my Hollow side?" Ichigo asked while getting into position. "And what do you mean, Zangetsu will be merciless? Will I have to fight to get the answer out of him?"
"Yes, and don't you think that me and Kisuke talk about things. Now enough talk, concentrate, and enter that place with your Zanpakuto." Yoruichi replied.
Ichigo nodded and relaxed his muscles, calmed his mind, and slowly… Drifted… Into… Darkness.
The world was upside down, rushing at him, then Ichigo realized that he was falling, yet it was difficult for there was no wind or feeling in the stomach like he was falling. Ichigo started freaking out, wondering what to do, then he realized that he had been in weird situations like this before. So Ichigo slowly turned around in the air until his feet were facing the ground and landed softly on a raised platform in what could be an arena, if there were bleachers hanging over the dark pits below.
As Ichigo looked around, he noticed a figure in the distance, at the other side of the arena, standing there ominously. Ichigo already knew who he was, so he slowly approached him, as did the other guy, his Hollow side. As Ichigo approached he started to feel this feeling, slowly creeping up on him, a feeling that seemed to radiate from his Hollow side. Ichigo wasn't sure if it was fear or spiritual pressure causing this feeling, however Ichigo was starting to break into a cold sweat. Slowly and surely the feeling was starting to get worse, and when Ichigo's knees were starting to wobble he realized that this feeling he was experiencing was because of spiritual pressure, not fear, and eventually, Ichigo had walked close enough that he was on the ground, crawling towards this figure, his Hollow side.
As the feeling got greater and Ichigo couldn't move from the spot, he felt a figure, standing over him, and as he looked up he saw a creature with a big hole in his gray chest with three blood red stripes emitting from it, and great big claws for toes and fingers, and it bore a mask with blood red stripes and big bull horns, with big blue and eyes and long, flowing gray hair and it spoke, "You are not ready to bear this power, now begone."
And everything… Turned…Black.