A/n: Well, I am finally back with my fifth installment of What if. It's coming along nicely. Since so many people suggested I play around some stuff and skip ahead, I am... It was all summed up in this chapter. So, now, we move onto the Soul Society Arc, which will be comical once they actually get into the Soul Society and meet everyone... 'Specially Kukaku, Ganju and Yoruichi... Also, Zangetsu and Kon get their appearances in this chapter... Since I skipped the whole meeting Kon thing, he gets to be in the very beginning... xD Also, this chapter explains a bit more into my plot idea. I'll also be posting somewhat of a prequel to this story today as well. Read it to understand who "Kinen" is... Now, onto the story.
Warning: Beating up Kon, Urahara being smacked with a pillow, Orihime getting chased by a pissed off Ichigo (Again), Zangetsu's sarcasm, And Ichigo in general.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. ;.; BUT, I do own Kinen. -Does a victory dance- She's the only thing besides the plot that I own...
Over the course of the next few months or so, Ichigo became more and more adept with her soul reaper abilities. She took out numerous hollows, helped Chad save his parakeet, met Kon the perverted mod soul who now was constantly with them, met the man who had been helping Rukia, fought her first menos grande, and met her new rival who was a Quincy. Uryu was an odd character in her mind not only with his cryptic messages but also his strange fetishes, sewing dresses being one of them. It was slightly creepy in her opinion.
The one thing that kept playing over in her mind was the incident that happened on her anniversary of her mother's death. She met the hollow that had tried to kill her, but killed her mother instead. Ichigo's jaw clenched at the memory as she laid on her bed, remembering what happened that day. Fighting that retched disgusting hollow and learning what really happened that cold rainy day. She shivered at the thought.
Ichigo then looked down towards her chest, where she could feel something walking across it. She mentally snorted as soon as she spotted Kon. She was mentally laughing about that flower button Yuzu had glued to the mod soul's ear that was now bandaged over.
"Oi, Ichigo, why are you laying there looking so depressed", Kon asked in slight annoyance, "Quit being such a woman about things... What is it, that time of the month?"
Kon was then promptly thrown across the room by a furious Ichigo and smacked into a wall. Ichigo was now sitting up, a livid expression on her face. "Shut the fuck up, you good for nothing-", Ichigo began as she grit her teeth in annoyance, letting her feminine tone out for a change, but was cut off by Rukia sliding open the door to Ichigo's closet.
"Quit fighting and put a sock in it", the raven haired woman said in annoyance, "No one wants to listen to you bicker..."
"He started it", Ichigo half yelled.
"I don't care who started it, now shut up", Rukia said as she shut the door to the closet once more.
Ichigo huffed and laid back on her bed. Her thoughts consumed her once more. She began to think about the experiences with ghosts Orihime had told her about. She knew that her best friend could now see ghosts and had a way to fight them, which had also been explained to Ichigo. The strawberry headed teen was worried though, for the safety of her friends. If she wanted to keep them out of this all, she would have to decide now. That thought alone was haunting her.
The other haunting aspect of the situation was that her dreams were back again. She had a bad feeling that something bad was going to happen to Rukia. She would always see Rukia being taken away in her dream by two figures, both soul reapers. Ichigo could also always see herself lying on the ground, unable to move. Ichigo frowned and her brows creased as her thoughts once again consumed her.
---
Ichigo laid on the ground motionless. She could hardly tell what was going on anymore. All she could feel was the pain, blood spilled all around her and rain pouring down. All the voices were gone from her hearing. Her sight was going quickly as well as she laid there. Rukia's cold words played through her mind over and over again. Be still! Move one more inch from there... Try coming after me... And I'll NEVER forgive you!" Ichigo felt numb as those words repeated in her mind. They hurt her tremendously. She laid there for what seemed like eternity before blacking out completely just as a shadow appeared and held an umbrella over her head.
---
Ichigo's eyes slowly blinked open, sight blurry at first. She blinked repeatedly to allow her eyes to focus before looking around the small room. And she noticed that she was bandaged up now and that she wasn't dead. 'But what happened', she thought to herself in confusion.
"Ah, you're awake", she heard a voice say beside her. Ichigo looked over and noticed Ururu sitting there, her usual sad look on her face. She blinked repeatedly. "Mister Kisuke. Ichigo-san is awake."
The door to the room slid open and Kisuke Urahara, the blonde haired shop owner of Urahara Shoten, stood in the doorway. He smiling lightly, placing his hand on top of his head over his customary striped green hat and bringing it down over his face.
"Well, Miss Ichigo, seems you're finally awake", the blonde haired man said with a smile, bringing out his also trademark fan and waving it about, "And I wouldn't move too much if I were you... We weren't able to heal a lot of the stomach wound..." Ichigo snorted lightly and sat up slowly before looking over at Urahara in alarm. "Ah, don't worry... I've known for quite some time that you are actually female..." Ichigo blinked repeatedly in confusion as Ururu left the room.
Urahara smiled lightly as he sat down in front of Ichigo. "I suppose I should explain", he said, "To begin, I've known you were a woman from the start... I met you once a long time ago... And the first day I met you, you were about two or three weeks old, was the day I sealed away your Soul Reaper abilities..."
"S-soul... reaper... abilities", Ichigo repeated in astonishment.
"Hard to imagine, ne", Urahara said with a chuckle, a smile forming across his face.
"But, why", Ichigo asked in absolute confusion.
"It was the orders given to me by the most powerful being in all of time herself", Urahara said simply, "Kinen-sama, the Seer of all things, gave me orders to seal away your abilities for now... She said you would come to need them much later... And I was told that when it was necessary, I was to unbind the powers locked within your soul..."
Ichigo was taken aback by all this. "But why me", Ichigo asked, "Why all of this for me?"
Urahara gave a vague smile. "All answers will be revealed when the time comes", he said mysteriously as he stood up, "For now, you'll have to find out... The important part right now is that we get you trained for things to come..."
"What things to come", Ichigo said resentfully, "The Soul Society has taken Rukia back and my powers are gone now... What the hell can I do?! I'll never be able to rescue her..."
Urahara smirked behind his fan. "Now what happened to your fighting spirit, Ichigo-san", he asked in a slightly serious yet playful tone, "I thought you would put up more of a fight then this... Don't you want to save Rukia?"
"Of course I do", Ichigo said loudly, her façade diminishing and her voice breaking back to its original form, "I want to save her more then anything! But I'm not near strong enough to do that! Plus, there's no way I'll ever get into the Soul Society... Even if I did, I'd end up dead in a heartbeat..."
"Do you really think there's no way into the Soul Society", Urahara said walking over to the door with a smirk.
"Is there a way", Ichigo asked hurriedly, face contorted to a frightened yet determined look, "If so, then tell me! I'll do whatever it takes to save Rukia!"
Urahara smirked lightly and waved his fan in front of his face. "On one condition", he said in a serious tone, "For the next ten days, you must allow me to train you."
Ichigo hesitated as confusion filled her head. "Train me", she asked slowly.
Urahara nodded. "Yes", he said, "It's time for you to learn the name of your zanpakuto. I'll help you regain the powers you lost and train you in combat."
Ichigo thought for a moment. "But, what'll happen to Rukia in that time", Ichigo asked, "They could just as easily kill her in less then that..."
"Don't worry", Urahara said with a light smile, "The Soul Society normally waits a month before executing a capital offender... So we have quite a bit of time... So, Kurosaki, are you really up for this?"
"Of course I am", Ichigo said with a determined look on her face, "I will not let Rukia die... Besides, if I don't save her then who will?"
Urahara smiled at this response. "Well then, since the decision is made, we'll start as soon as we can", he said throwing a bottle of pills at Ichigo to which she caught, "We can begin tomorrow... Take one of those very hour and your wounds should be a lot better by tonight..."
Ichigo clutched the bottle in her hands and nodded. "Thank you, Urahara", she said softly.
Urahara grinned lightly waving his fan. "Not a problem, Kurosaki-hime", he said before he was promptly hit in the head with a pillow by a pissed off Ichigo.
----
The next day at school was odd for Ichigo. Not only was someone else sitting in Rukia's old seat, no one even remembered her. Ichigo now knew what it meant to be erased from existence. She sighed mentally at it all. Soon enough, the day let out and everyone was free for Summer vacation. Ichigo and her friends congregated outside as Keigo talked excitedly about going to the Beach together, though everyone turned down his offer when they all said they had plans.
Soon enough, the group split and Ichigo was walking home. Ichigo was broken from her deep thoughts by a familiar voice ringing behind her.
"Ichigo-kun", Orihime said as she began to walk beside Ichigo, "Where is Rukia? And why does no one remember her?"
Ichigo was silent for a few moments. "Orihme, do you remember how I explained about my new powers that Rukia transferred to me", she asked softly in her female voice to which Orihime nodded, "Well, now she's been taken back to the Soul Society and is going to be killed... Because of transferring her powers to me so I could save my family..."
"And you're going to go after her", Orihime asked softly, already knowing that was what Ichigo intended to do, "Then I'll go too..."
"No! You", Ichigo began in a frantic voice.
"I can defend myself", Orihime said with a smile, looking over at Ichigo, "Besides, you can't do this alone! Chad and I will help you! Maybe even Uryu!"
"I highly doubt Uryu will help us", Ichigo said dryly, "He hates me..."
"But he hates Soul Reapers just as much", Orihime said with a smile, "So technically, this could be his way of getting even..."
Ichigo thought for a moment. "Point there", she said with a sigh reverting back to her male voice, "I wonder how you can be so dense yet smart at the same time..."
"I wonder the same for you, Momma Ichigo", Orihime said with a sly smile before taking off running down the street with Ichigo chasing after her shouting death threats.
---
Later on that evening, Ichigo went back to the Urahara Shoten for her training. Her first lesson went through very quickly, as she was knocked out by Ururu quite quickly in her combat lesson. The second lesson was what was nerve wracking. Her soul chain had been cut and she was told to find a way out of the 'Shattered Shaft' before she became a hollow, which was proving impossible seeing as her arms were bound behind her back.
Ichigo continued to run up the sides of the shaft but kept falling back down to the ground. She screamed out in pure annoyance. As this was all going on, Kisuke and Tessai closely monitored Ichigo, keeping track of how much time had passed. Soon enough, Ichigo began to undergo the transformation. White matter began to cover Ichigo's face like a hollow mask as she screamed.
"So she's fighting", Kisuke said from above, "Kinen was right when she said Ichigo had an ear splitting scream..."
"Shall we take precautious measures", Ururu asked, her face devoid of emotions like always as she lifted her arm in a defensive manner.
"No, not yet", Kisuke said with a shake of his head, "She's fighting it... Give her time... She might make it in time... We'll have to wait..."
---
Ichigo blinked as she began to focus. She had no idea where she was but it looked as if she were sitting on a building of some sort. She looked around herself in confusion.
"Over here", a deep voice called out.
Ichigo turned and saw a middle aged man with pale skin, a goatee, and scraggly black hair. He wore a pair of sunglasses that fit tightly across his face. He wore a black and red cape. He looked curiously down at Ichigo.
"Who... are you", Ichigo asked slowly.
"Who am I", the man asked, "Don't you know? It's me..." The name said after that was lost to Ichigo's ears with showed with her confusion. "So you still can't reach it", he said softly shaking his head, "How many times do I have to shout for you to be able to hear me, Ichigo? There's no one in this world that knows me better than you do, Kisaki-sama..."
"Q-queen", Ichigo asked, "But, I don't know you! I don't know anyone that floats!" She was cut off as the man stood the right way on the pole he was standing on.
"How strange, Kisaki, how do you manage to sit in a place like that", the man asked curiously with a cold look to his eyes.
Ichigo blinked in confusion before noticing she was sitting on a building... sideways! She let out a scream, as she began to fall backwards. The old man was falling right beside her with a calm look on his face.
"Yes, screaming like a woman helps a lot, Ichigo", he said dryly as they fell, to which Ichigo glared in his direction, "Pull the reishi around you to your feet and check your fall."
"How the hell am I supposed to do frigging that", Ichigo asked in panic, "As you probably noticed I don't have Soul Reaper powers!!"
"Think, Ichigo", the man said seriously, "As a soul reaper, you were able to unconsciously gain traction on the very air itself! Listen to me! The soul reaper powers Byakuya Kuchiki removed from you were only those given to you by Rukia! You still have your own powers deep inside you soul... They've been locked away all this time by a powerful binding spell while you never needed them... That bind was partially broken when Rukia transferred her powers to you... Now, you need those powers. So you won't lose yourself now, and so you'll be able to save Rukia... Now, find them, Kisaki-sama..."
Ichigo looked around herself as the buildings began to come apart around her. They fell in the form of boxes. Ichigo looked around at the boxes.
"The time to find your powers is now", the man said, "Your inner world is falling apart. The boxes raining down on us... You're powers are in one of those boxes... Find them before this world disintegrates... If you don't, you'll become a hollow..."
Ichigo glared up at the man. "Thanks for the words of encouragement", she yelled sarcastically up at him before feeling herself surrounded by dark matter like she was drowning. She looked around herself at the boxes and tried to figure out how she would find the box. She then began to think back to the time she met Uryu and recalled he said something about sensing spiritual energy and reiraku and such.
Her eyes widened in realization. Red! That was the color of a soul reaper's reiraku. She quickly reached out to the box whose spirit ribbon was red. She pulled the ribbon and opened the box up. Sticking out of the box was a zanpaku-to's hilt.
"Good, you found it", the middle aged man said gently from behind her, "I hope next time that my name will reach your ears..." Ichigo turned around slightly to face him. "You truly will be a great warrior, Kisaki."
"Why do you call me that", Ichigo asked in confusion, "And tell me, are you my-?"
"There's no time to explain", the man said hurriedly, "The world is collapsing... Quickly! Pull me out!"
Ichigo turned around quickly and grab the hilt and drew it from the box.
----
Urahara, Jinta and Ururu were almost caught in the blast that came from the shattered shaft. Urahara stared at the hole, hearing Tessai's voice float to his ears about going into suppression mode. He could hear the chants and kido spells being cast. Jinta leaned down and watched as this all happened. He kept shouting at Tessai to stop but Tessai kept saying he needed to destroy her before she became a hollow.
Urahara quickly pulled both children back again as another explosion erupted from the shattered shaft as Ichigo broke free from her bonds. Jinta immediately pointed to smoke saying there was someone there. The person soon landed on the ground in front of the three. As the smoke began to clear, Jinta called out to Ichigo, telling her to answer him if she was alive.
The smoke cleared fully soon enough to reveal Ichigo, though different. She was garbed in shinigami robes once more, but a hollow's mask covered her face. Jinta and Ururu readied themselves as Ichigo reached back for her sword, but instead of attacking them, she broke the mask with her hilt. She then pulled the thing from her face and let out a breath of relief.
Urahara began clapping his hands together. "Well done", he said with a grin, "You've succeeded in becoming a soul reaper... You've passed lesson two! Congratulations, Kisaki."
Ichigo's eyes narrowed as she grabbed the front of Urahara's robe. "Why do people keep calling me Kisaki", she asked darkly, "What is it about me that I don't know?!"
Urahara blinked repeatedly. "I only called you that once, who else has called you Kisaki", he asked.
"Him", Ichigo replied, with even more narrowed eyes, "When I was in my mind, there was someone there... I don't know what his name is... But I can now understand he's my zanpaku-to... He kept calling me Kisaki... Why?"
"That is something I'll explain after your third lesson is complete", Urahara said with a light smile, "Which I suppose we should skip right to." After Ichigo had released her hold on his robe, he continued. "Lesson three has no time limit. If you can knock my hat off with the zanpaku-to, you pass!"
Urahara took a small step back as Ichigo stepped forward and slashed the air in front of him. He looked up at the brim of his hat as it twitched lightly. "Not bad", he commented, "You got this close with a broken zanpaku-to..."
Ichigo snorted lightly and held a defense stance. "I probably won't get that lucky again", she commented softly.
Urahara smirked lightly. He held up his cane and took the handle in his hand. From the cane he began to draw a sword. "Probably not", he said in a slight sadistic voice, "But you can try..."
Soon enough, Ichigo and Urahara were all over the small arena. Ichigo dodged all the attacks she could. She complimented Urahara a few times for being able to do damage with such a small sword. This went on for quite a while until Ichigo began to wonder if his sword could even cut her. She soon found this to be true.
"Wake up", Urahara said with a smirk, "Benihime the Red Princess." The sword began to change before Ichigo's eyes. It grew a bit bigger, longer, and the hilt curved slightly at the end of it. All in all, it was an extraordinary zanpaku-to.
Urahara then began to attack Ichigo once more, only with fiercer attacks, to which Jinta and the others in the background hid behind rocks to avoid. Urahara ruthlessly attacked Ichigo over and over again and managed to cut through her blade and guard, leaving only the hilt in her hand.
Ichigo ran as fast as she could, dodging attacks thrown her way. She was absolutely terrified. She didn't know what to do. As she ran though, she began to question why it was she was running. She began to see how pathetic she truly was.
"Why is it you run, Kisaki", the familiar voice of the man from within her inner mind asked as he appeared in front of her, "Why, Ichigo?"
Ichigo stared up at him in fright. "Because", she answered a second later, "I'm afraid... I don't know if I can truly do this... And I'm afraid that I'll fail everyone... Fear, that's all it is..."
The man smiled down at her. "You finally understand", he said as she stopped running, "Call for me Ichigo... Now that you understand, you should be able to hear me... Call out my name, Kisaki..."
Urahara's eyes narrowed at Ichigo as she stopped. He stepped closer before stopping as well, understanding what was going on.
"Face forward", the man said gently as Ichigo stood still, head raised high and a determined look on her face, "Abandon that fear... Remember your dreams... Remember the people you love... Always fight... Never give up... Now, shout my name!"
Ichigo moved her stance to make it seem she were drawing a sword and turned her upper body to face Urahara. "Pierce, Zangetsu", she and her zanpaku-to yelled in unison as a massive amount of Spiritual energy erupted from Ichigo.
Urahara took a few steps back and looked over at Ichigo as the smoke cleared. She was kneeling on the ground, holding onto a sword almost as tall as she was. Her new blade was massive, the blade black and silver divided down the middle. Attached to the hilt were bandages and there was no guard. Ichigo stood up straight and looked down at her new zanpaku-to for a moment.
"Well, now you've managed to draw your zanpaku-to", Urahara said with a grin, "Now we can really begin lesson three."
Ichigo looked over at Urahara with a slightly tired look. "Sorry, Urahara-san", she apologized, "You'll evade it as best as you can, right?..."
A bead of sweat ran down the back of Urahara's head. "Why", he asked.
"I probably", Ichigo began quietly as she lifted her sword, "Can't restrain it..."
Urahara's eyes widened quickly and he held up his zanpaku-to. "Scream Benihime", he shouted and a shield was quickly made in front of himself as a blast of energy was shot at him via Ichigo and her sword.
The only thing you could see was Urahara's hat flying over the top of the area. As the smoke cleared more, you could see Urahara standing there with his shield in front of himself. The shield had a section missing on the right side.
Urahara let out a breath of relief. "If not for my shield of blood-mist", he began, "I'd have lost an arm at least..." He looked off to his right where his hat landed. He picked it up and tutted at seeing the nick in it from the blast. "Oh, boy", he said with a pout, blonde hair now fully visible as he dusted off his hat, "You killed my hat..."
As Urahara turned and put his hat back on, he surveyed the damage. He whistled at the sight. "All this from just one slash", he asked, "Miss Kurosaki, you truly are one scary kid..." Ichigo was propped against her sword, fast asleep as he said this. Urahara looked over the massive crater like split in the ground from the attack with a light smile.
"Lesson three, passed."
Ha! Ichi gets her powers back. And Urahara's hat gets killed. =P Take that, hat n' clogs. Just kidding. He's actually one of my favorite characters... Anyways, there we go. And yes, Kisaki does mean Queen. There's a good reason Zangetsu calls her that, which will be explained later on in the coming chapters by Yoruichi. And when Hichi comes in, she'll be calling her Hime, meaning Princess, which pisses off Ichigo even more... Yes, Hichi and Ichi have to match genders... Otherwise things would be VERY odd... ._. Anyways, read and review my darlings~!