A Black Heart

I have just one thing I want to get off my chest…OMFG RUKIA'S BANKAI IS AMAZING! Ahem …thank you to everyone that continues to support this story, your reviews are heart-warming sight whenever I get an e-mail about them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

"Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"

"Zanpakuto speech/Inner Power"

"Hollow speech"

XXX

Chapter 12:

As Ichigo and Rukia hurried to make themselves more presentable, Ichigo found his mind racing as he processed the information dumped on him moments ago. One, Rukia had identified the two by a rank, namely Captain and Lieutenant. Two, the blonde guy seemed to be at his level, but the silver-haired guy's power was beyond him, even if it wasn't actively crushing him at the moment. Third, they were clearly here for Rukia, so maybe he could survive this if he played dumb and she didn't rat him out.

"I certainly hope tha' it was a memorable experience Rukia-chan. After all, your brother ain't gonna be pleased when he hears ya gave your virginity away ta a brat like him," Gin said with a grin, enjoying the way Rukia turned away from him in shame. "Eh but what do I know. After all I'm just a Rukongai peasant too. Neh Izuru you nobles prize virgin brides don't cha?"

Feeling his Captain's gaze on him, Kira shifted uneasily. "It isn't my place to say Captain."

"So uptight in the face of protocol, you gotta learn ta relax Izuru," Gin commented, before turning back to Rukia. "But you're right, it's time to go Rukia-chan, we're here to escort you back to the Seireitei." Turning on his heel, he began to amble off, his hands hidden away in his sleeves.

"But my deployment was supposed to last for another week at least," Rukia called out, causing him to pause in his step and regard her curiously.

"True, but orders from Central 46 have come down that ya are to be brought back immediately and as they have ordered, so to do we follow such orders. Now leave your gigai and come along now, we don't want to keep everyone waiting now do we?"

Panicking internally, Rukia began to tremble slightly, wondering what they would do once they discovered that she had transferred her powers to Ichigo and that they had yet to return. She was startled out of her thoughts though, when a hand was placed on her lower back. Looking up, she found Ichigo with an expression of worry on his face, completely ignoring the two men behind him.

"You're looking ill Rukia, perhaps we should head home now so that you can rest," he calmly said, surprising her and Kira. He had to know that there were two soul reapers near them, but…ah so that was it, she thought, understanding his motives now. He was trying to hide his presence from them, but why he would drag her with him was beyond her, especially since they would sense the power he held soon enough.

When they were a few steps away though, he whispered into her ear. "You called them Captain and Lieutenant…so what was your rank in comparison to theirs" Feeling her stiffen next to him, Ichigo sighed internally, knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

"I was an unranked soul reaper," she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear, this time causing him to stiffen.

Watching the two get further away, Gin's smile faded away, to be replaced with a frown. "Izuru," he muttered and with the briefest of nods, his Lieutenant vanished, pulling on a familiar glove. Reappearing in front of the stunned pair, he thrust his hand into Rukia's chest, forcing her soul from the faux body.

Freezing as she felt the cool air ruffle her brilliant white shihakusho, Rukia looked up to see Ichigo cradling her gigai, while Kira stared at her in shock. Gin on the other hand, grinned once again, his gaze zeroing in on the human that was the subject of Aizen's experiment. "Izuru…the boy too please." Not bothering to question his Captain, Kira quickly followed through on his order, forcing his hand into Ichigo's chest.

Knowing it was coming didn't help Ichigo much, as he visibly tensed his body as the soul reaper approached, before he befell the same fate as Rukia, standing tall in his soul reaper form.

"That was a decent acting boy, if they had sent someone dumber than me, they would've assumed that you were just another normal human and ignored ya," Gin said as he walked over to them. "But now ain't this a strange scene, a soul reaper without her powers and a human with the powers of a soul reaper, you really were a bad girl Rukia-chan," he teased her, ruffling her hair in what would have been an affectionate way, if not for the way she flinched at his touch. "An intimate relationship with a human is a crime punishable by stripping ya of your powers and exiling you, but giving your powers to a human…why they might just execute ya for that."

Walking over to Ichigo, he grinned at how he stubbornly stood his ground, despite that fact that he could see sweat beading his forehead and the minor twitches that wracked his body, evidence of his fear. "He certainly is a handsome fellow though," he commented, gripping Ichigo's chin between his fingers and examining him.

Slapping Gin's hand away, Ichigo snapped. "Sorry buddy, but I don't swing that way."

"Eh and funny too…don't worry kid you won't have ta worry about too many people like that in the Seireitei, but I would stay away from the 11th Squad's 5th seat in that case. Well come along, I need to get Rukia back and ya need to come with. I wonder what they plan to do with ya though. Mayuri certainly hasn't had anyone to dissect lately."

Feeling a rustle of wind, he turned his head over his shoulder and found Kira blocking Ichigo's zanpakuto with his own, the teenager's surprise evident to all of them. "Seems he's not one ta come quietly, I trust ya can handle this Izuru?"

"Yes Captain," Kira replied in a steady tone, the meek compliance gone and replaced with steel-hard determination. "I will ask you once to put away your weapon boy, otherwise I will use force to subdue you."

Scowling, Ichigo leapt back from his opponent, his blade held at the ready. He had thought that he could get away with a cheap shot to get rid of the stronger of the two, but he hadn't expected his subordinate to move with such speed. Blinking as the blonde disappeared again, he lashed out behind him on instinct, their blades clashing in a shower of sparks. He couldn't relish in the moment though, as he felt a foot connect with his abdomen, sending him tumbling back.

Frowning at the boy hacking and coughing on the ground before him, Kira advanced cautiously, the kick having sent him too far from such little force. When he was finally within striking distance of him, he calmly raised the hilt of his blade to strike the teen on the back of his neck to knock him out. What he didn't expect though, was for the teen to throw a handful of sand into his eyes, obscuring his vision.

"Bakudo no. 4, Hainawa!" Ichigo chanted, using the seconds he had to bind his opponent with a golden rope. Seeing him struggle blindly against it, he quickly switched to the last spell Rukia had taught him. "Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Bakudo no. 61, Rikujokoro!" he shouted, causing the rope to writhe around Kira, before it morphed into six golden rods that slammed into the Lieutenant's waist and held him in place.

Watching Ichigo play possum was amusing to Gin, especially when it worked on his Lieutenant. Seeing him use the synergy between the two spells was even more entertaining as the kid clearly absorbed every single detail of the spells he was taught, making use of them to overwhelm an opponent that would hold the absolute advantage if he released his zanpakuto. As he rushed to deliver the deathblow though and feeling Kira gather his reiatsu to shatter the kido, he sighed and flash stepped between the two, catching Ichigo's blade between his fingers and holding the teen suspended in mid-air.

"C-Captain…" Kira stuttered out, the release command for his zanpakuto dying away on his lips as his Captain appeared before him.

"Relax Izuru, no need to waste your shikai on this kid." Turning back to Ichigo, he grinned as he felt the teen trying to wrest his blade free of his grasp. "Ya certainly are being more trouble than you're worth. In fact, it would be less paperwork for me if I just killed ya right now." Seeing Ichigo release his blade and drop to the ground, he couldn't help but chuckle at the blue flame that gathered in the kid's palm.

"Hado no. 33, Sokatsui!" he cried out, watching as they wall of blue flame bore down on the Captain, before being effortlessly torn apart by his own zanpakuto no less. Seeing him vanish, Ichigo felt a shiver run down his spine, before it was replaced with a searing pain in his chest. Glancing down, he let out a choked cough at seeing his own blade stabbed into his chest, right up to the hilt. Collapsing onto his hands and knees, he reached for the hilt with his right hand, the slightest movement of it causing him unbearable agony.

"It's lucky that you attacked the way ya did kid," Gin said mockingly from behind him, restraining Rukia even as tears poured from her eyes as she stared down at him. "After all, I didn't want to bother Shinso with killing a bug like you." Glancing over at Kira, he saw that he had finally broken free of the kido and stood with a senkaimon at the ready. "Well then we're finally on the road. Feel free to cry and scream as much as ya want boy, the other humans can't hear ya after all."

Seeing the three of them enter the portal and disappear, Ichigo rolled onto his side, wincing at the fresh wave of pain that came with jostling the blade in his chest. It was…strange, being killed by his own sword, his hand finally slipping away from the hilt to fall with a splat onto the blood covered grass beneath him. He couldn't hear the rumbling of Hell's gates, so that was a good sign right? He didn't feel himself becoming a hollow, so that was even better. Maybe, just maybe he would pass on to this Soul Society place Rukia first told him about and maybe, if he was really lucky…he would find the rest of his family there. Chuckling softly, he found the direction of his thoughts unsettling. There was no way he was going to get what he wanted, he never did after all. 'I'll just have a nap…' he thought as he felt his eyelids grow heavy. 'A short nap and then I'll face my fate…' he mumbled, before passing out from blood loss.

XXX

"Kisuke…I need a favour," one Isshin Kurosaki, formerly Shiba, said as he entered the small shop, owned by fellow exile Kisuke Urahara.

"What can I do for you today Kurosaki-san?" he asked, his tone lacking its usual jovialness since the passing of Isshin's wife Masaki, several days ago.

"If something happens to me…I need you to look after my children," he said, the full weight of what he was asking, striking Kisuke like a freight train. Not hearing the man speak, Isshin ploughed on. "You've already guessed that Aizen had a hand in Masaki's death and if that's true, it won't surprise me if he came after me too. If that happens, I need to know that you'll do everything you can to keep them safe from him."

"I…promise to do everything in my power to aid them Isshin," he replied, the words falling from his mouth easily, even though he felt the weight of his promise settle on his shoulders, yet another burden to the one's he already carried.

And as the others before, he found himself under the stress of his promise all too soon, only this time he couldn't quite see Aizen's hand behind it. He had arrived on the grisly scene to find an emotionally dead Ichigo being consoled by Tatsuki's mother, his eyes staring blankly at the spot where his father and sisters had passed. Having no experience with emotionally shattered children, Kisuke merely observed as Tatsuki's parents went through the steps to take guardianship of him, preparing to step in only if he was to be sent to an orphanage. As the days and weeks passed, he found it unbearable to watch a child walk around so lifeless to the world, but could not bring himself to step in to his life. There were kids who had rougher lives in the Rukongai and they came out of it, surely he would too, given enough time. He had thought his words were proven true as he watched Ichigo one day, walk with renewed purpose, his expression…alive.

Following the boy to see what had him so pleased, he was surprised, but did not think much of it when he entered the city's slums. It was only after a dishevelled looking man took interest in the boy that Kisuke felt slightly apprehensive. Tailing the two of them, without either of them knowing, he watched as Ichigo turned down an alley, disappearing from view. Seeing the vagrant hurry after him, he leapt to the rooftops, hoping to intervene before the boy was any wiser. Looking down to observe the scene, he was shocked to at what he saw below.

The man was looking around in confusion, clearly surprised that the boy had vanished into thin air. Unknown to him though, a figure slowly crept up behind him, a loose piece of rebar in their hands. Before the man could slink of to his spot again, he cried out and fell to his knees as he was struck clean across the back of his skull. Reaching back to feel the injury, he gasped as a thin metal wire was looped around his neck, before being tightened to the point where it was cutting into his skin. Grunting in pain as he tried to pry the wire from his throat, he felt a foot connect with his upper back, forcing him forward as his assailant tried to get better leverage over him. Seconds passed as he continued to struggle, until finally his movements began to lose their momentum and his arms fell limp at his side. Seeing this, Ichigo continued to hold him there for a few more minutes, assuring himself that he was actually dead, before releasing his grip on the piano wire and allowing the man's body to fall forwards.

Despite how much Kisuke wanted to rule this as an act of self-defence, the moment when Ichigo stooped down to ruffle in his victim's pockets, shot this theory down and erased it from consideration. Frustrated at the lack of loot, Ichigo vented his anger by kicking the dead man clean across his face, before stalking off with his hands in his pockets. Hearing him yelp, Kisuke watched as the boy pulled out the wire he had used to kill the man, his own blood dripping down it from the cut to his hand. Hearing him mutter a few choice curses, he followed overhead as the boy wrapped his hand in a cloth, before bounding away back to the more respectable part of town. Seeing a trashcan that was mostly full, Ichigo wrapped the wire with the blood soaked rag from earlier and tossed it amongst the other garbage items and walked off calmly, appearing as a simple boy to the other people on the street.

Still reeling from what he had watched, Kisuke calmly appeared at street level and made his way over to the bin, ignoring the stares of passers-by as he rummaged through the trash. Finding what he was looking for, he shuddered as he pocketed the murder weapon, before disappearing back to his shop. He couldn't understand how the boy had reached this point, but he had promised Isshin to keep him safe and if that meant cleaning up after his…activities, then he was just going to have to deal with it and hope that Ichigo did not continue.

But he had continued, as a tired looking Kisuke walked over the dew covered grass towards the body he could see in the distance. It was disturbing to see him lying there so peacefully, but he found it slightly ironic that he ended up the same way that so many of his victims did. "I suppose it's time I save you once again Kurosaki-san…but I think now is also the time when you start paying me back…

XXX

When Ichigo began to regain consciousness, the first thing he felt was an intense heat around him. Opening his eyes slowly, he found himself face down on dry, scorched ground. Pushing himself up, he sat back on his haunches, blinking his eyes rapidly to clear his daze. When he finally could take in the detail around him, he grimaced and almost wished he was asleep again. As far as his eye could see, he was surrounded by islands of black, scorched earth, separated by rivers of flame. Even as he watched, a geyser of flame erupted a few feet to his right, sending him sprawling backwards. Amidst the roar of the flames though, he could hear dull, defeated moans of both men and women alike. Facing the direction they were coming from, he found some of the islands had prisons made of crimson steel on them, the prisoners clearly having seen better days as they were covered in countless injuries.

"So I really went to Hell…" he mumbled, his heart sinking at the thought.

"Fortunately for you, this isn't Hell," a teasing feminine voice spoke, causing him to spin on the spot to face it. Staring back at him was a woman that he would guess was in her teenage years, dressed in a shihakusho similar to his own, except that hers was white. Her white hair was cut short and spiked similar to his own, but what unnerved him the most, was the appearance of her eyes. Her irises were a poisonous yellow and the scleras were as black as the night sky. "We finally meet and you're all tongue-tied, how cute,"she said with a chuckle, as she began to circle him.

"Who…who are you?"

"That will have to wait my King…it seems as if he is trying to wake you now. Remember our meeting though my King, for when we meet again, you will need to make an important decision and I know that you will make the right one," she said, before both she and the landscape began to disappear.

XXX

Feeling a torrent of ice water wash over him, Ichigo yelped and shot up, gasping and spluttering for breath.

"Good you're awake," a male voice spoke and Ichigo was annoyed to find the shopkeeper from the artificial soul fiasco standing over him.

"I'm awake cause some asshole decided to dump a jug on my head," he groused, shaking his head to get rid of some of the water in his hair. He froze in the action though as he found himself staring down at his torso, whole and unharmed, barring the bandages that covered him. "I…I had a sword in my chest."

"You did, but your opponent used your own sword to destroy the powers that Rukia gave you, so given some time it was only natural for the blade to disappear," Kisuke explained to the teen, placing the now empty jug of water on the counter. "As you can see though, I treated you and thus you owe me a debt for your life."

Looking up at the man through narrowed eyes, Ichigo suppressed a growl at the mere thought that he owed the man anything. Seeing the look of defiance in Ichigo's eyes, Kisuke sighed and reached into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a photo, tossing it at Ichigo. "I have a lot more of those in my possession, so listen and follow through with my request…or the police, your school mates and everyone else in Karakura Town will get a copy of that before the week is over.

Staring down in shock at the photo of him beating Yokochin to a pulp, Ichigo grit his teeth in frustration and glared up at Kisuke. "What favour do you want exactly?!" he hissed.

"It is a simple enough task to understand, even if it might be a bit more complicated to perform," he muttered, glancing down at Ichigo with all the contempt he could muster. "I want you to rescue Rukia Kuchiki."

XXX

And that'll do for now. I have a few fun things planned for his training, which I hope you'll enjoy. Until then though…you'll need to endure. See ya boys and girls

PS. I put up a poll related to this story. Do check it out please.