Well, here's the first real part of the story line. As I said before, I wanted to see how Ichigo would develop his powers if they were awakened by him rather than by Rukia giving him her power. That being said, let's see how this all plays out. By the way, for the purposes of my story Ichigo will not have Zangetsu as his zanpakuto. I used Google translate to get the name of the zanpakuto I'll have him using.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. If I did then I would definitely not be so damned broke all the time.

He briefly wondered how he had managed to break out of that kido as the dark haired woman who claimed to be a shinigami had called it. Before that train of thought could leave the station he was surrounded by what looked to him like a violently spinning cloud of dust. He didn't have time to so much as sneeze before the cloud fell and dissipated. Strangely, once the cloud was gone he felt like something had changed, and sure enough he looked down to see that he wasn't wearing his street clothes anymore. He swore silently as he realized that he was now wearing a black uniform much like the one the shinigami woman was wearing.

While he was looking down at himself in shock he noticed that he now had a zanpakuto in the shape of a katana pushed through the sash of the uniform. He quickly looked over at the shinigami to see her standing there, mouth hanging open, as her eyes switched between him and the floor behind him. When he looked he was surprised, but strangely not worried, to see himself lying face down on the floor. He finally looked back at the woman who was still staring in shock. She wasn't making any noise, but he guessed she was probably flipping tables in her mind.

For the sake of ending the silence, which had just started to be awkward, he spoke up, saying, "hey you, shinigami".

After a moment she finally recovered enough to say to him, "my name is not shinigami, it is Rukia Kuchiki".

"I see", he said, "in that case, my name is Ichigo Kurosaki".

Just as the two finished introducing themselves an earsplitting howl reverberated around the area. At the same time, Ichigo heard a voice in the back of his mind, and rather than be the hard-headed teenager he was, he decided to listen to it. He rushed at the creature that was the source of the unearthly howl, drawing his zanpakuto as he went. His reiatsu rose as he did what the voice, which he instinctively recognized as belonging to his zanpakuto, told him to do. With it being late at night, he somehow knew that the power of his blade would be at its highest.

Ichigo found himself standing in the street facing the creature, which he had learned earlier was called a hollow, with his zanpakuto drawn and pointed forwards. He proceeded to thrust the sword out to his right, before bringing it horizontally in front of himself. He then spoke the words that would allow him the full power of his sword.

"Strike in the night", He began.

"Yami no Ryu (Dragon of darkness)", He finished. Ichigo risked a glance over at Rukia, and he chuckled to himself when he saw her fall flat on her ass in shock, apparently having also gone catatonic as he could hear nothing from her despite it having become completely silent without warning.

He turned his attention back to the hollow just in time to see it charge. He raised his sword as the name and essence of his first technique were made known to him. He aimed the tip of his blade at the hollows mask as he said the name of the technique.

"Kage no yari (Shadow spear)", He said, as an almost imperceptible burst of darkness leaped from his blade. No sooner had he announced the attack than the hollows mask suddenly split in two, with the hollows body dissolving almost immediately afterwards. Satisfied with a job well done he nodded to himself, then sealed and sheathed his blade. He left the street and went back over to where his body was lying on the floor of the house. Rukia was sitting on her ass, still unable to form words, gaping at what she had just seen.

"Are you going to stay out here catching flies all night or are you leaving", he asked as he re-entered his body. Ichigo knew full well that he couldn't let her stay because no one would be able to see her. "If you're leaving then leave", he said, "I'm going back to what I was doing before you decided to walk through my wall, in other words, sleeping".

Well, that's it for chapter one. Reviews are welcome, and I always appreciate a good suggestion or two. Don't forget to tell me what you think of the zanpakuto I gave to Ichigo. I think it suits his attitude a little better, but that's just my opinion.