Chapter 3

As he entered his home town, he decided to head towards Urahara's shop. If anyone knows what's happening here, it'll be him. However, just as he was heading in said direction, he felt a strong spiritual pressure coming close. As he concentrated on it, he recognised that it was none other than Rukia: "Ichigo!" She called as she neared the orange haired teen's location.

"Yo Rukia…" a strong punch came crashing right in the middle of his face. Yep, it's Rukia all right.

"Don't 'Yo Rukia' me you moron! Where the hell have you been, I couldn't even find you near Karakura."

As he got up, rubbing his bruised face, he answered: "Well actually I was going to head towards Urahara's to ask him about what's going on. My inner world just went berserk all of a sudden and this time it wasn't Tsushiro."

"I think I have the answer to that. Come on."

He raised his eyebrow, wondering, but followed her nonetheless.

"Taichoooooooo! You've eaten literally everything in this house, and you're still hungry!" Whined Rangiku. At this rate, I won't be able to go shopping! Who knew that just babysitting the captain when he's growing into a man could be this much work. I thought this would be funny…

"Stop whining! You came here on your own, I didn't force you!" He responded. It's not like he wasn't sick of this too, he wanted to do something else and having his lieutenant hang out around him 24/7 was driving him nuts. But, he reminded himself, I have to get this over with or else I won't be able to go back to soul society any time soon. In fact, no one was allowed to go to soul society when in this stage and there was a specific reason for that. When reaching the final level of their zanpaktou, which is what he will be doing when he's done to finalize everything, a soul reaper 3rd seat or higher can release a wave of energy so big it can wipe out an entire district of rukongai. The reason why it's better in the real world is that this specific power wave doesn't affect the ones that aren't spiritually aware.

Renji rolled his eyes. They've been at it for the last hour. Just then, someone entered the small apartment: "Hey Rukia, Ichigo. So, who kicked your ass this time carrot top?"

"Can it Renji! I'm definitely not in the mood" answered the said teen "anyway Rukes, you were going to explain to me what's going on right?"

She nodded: "What you're going through now, captain Hitsugaya here is too. You see, when a soul is made a soul reaper at a very young age, their zanpaktou isn't mature yet, but I think you knew that much already" he nodded as she continued "now when you enter this stage, your inner world basically shifts so it can better fit your power, since it will be growing tremendously. However, no one having an inner hollow has ever matured before in the history of soul society, so we can't know for sure what'll happen with you."

That last information kind of made him uneasy. Usually, before the quincy war, everything involving his hollow was very painful and mentally exhausting. "I guess I'll just wait and see. I mean, it's just like a growth spurt right? It can't hurt me."

"It huuuurts!" he whined to himself. He was now sprawled on his bedroom floor, rolling around from the pain. After he bid farewell to his friends, he decided to go back home and get some rest. It seems though that he won't be getting any sleep any time soon. Just then, everything intensified and his vision went black yet again

Rukia was lying on the futon, generously provided by Inoue, and staring at the ceiling. She couldn't get her mind off of what had happened to Ichigo. Usually, when a soul reaper passes through that stage, the only apparent change is the increase in the amount of food they eat per day. However, none are supposed to disappear just like that. It could be the hollow, although… She stopped her though right there as she remembered her little talk with Kisuke earlier when she arrived in the real world.

Flashback

The small group of soul reapers had just gotten out of the senkai gate, in front of the Urahara shop. They didn't intend on staying there, it was just a specific place that they all knew and where it was easier to meet up.

"We'll call if we need your assistance, Kisuke", said the small captain, starting to feel quite hungry.

He nodded and the group headed out. "Ah, Kuchiki-san, may I have a word with you?"

Said soul reaper halted and walked towards the shopkeeper: "What is it, Urahara?"

"As you may have already heard from Ukitake, our dear Kurosaki-san is going through the same trouble as Hitsugaya here" he spoke as she nodded "however, I must advise you to stay clear of him for the next week or so. This time, his hollow won't be the attacker."

As he finished, he entered his shop: "Be careful, Kuchiki-san, and have a pleasant day."

"Wait, Urahara, wha…?" She tried but he had already closed the door. This was puzzling, to say the least, but thinking about it, he's always been like that. I suppose I'll just find out sooner or later what he meant. She thought as she headed in the direction of Orihime's house.

End of flashback

An inhuman roar tore through the night's silence, and it wasn't anything near a hollow's howl.

"What the fuck was that, it sure as hell ain't a hollow, there's no freakin spiritual pressure!" Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika were awakened by the strange noise. The captain, after having eaten too much for his own good, couldn't get up even if he wanted to and Rangiku was, well… Rangiku.

"I don't know but something tells me it has something to do with our favorite green horn." Answered Ikkaku as they all headed towards Ichigo's house.

What they saw was certainly nothing they expected. A few meters over the Kurosaki household stood a black beast. It was covered in a sort of armour, some parts gold, others white as a hollow's mask. It was covered in a thick jet black fur coat and its head resembled somewhat a wolf's. It stood on its two legs however and had what looked like an overgrown sealed Zangetsu on its left hip. It let out another inhuman howl as it opened its eyes, that were a yellowish golden color.

Just then, it noticed the four new arrivals. Renji had no time to dodge as he suffered from a direct hit and blacked out.

Okay so I'm not really sure about this one so plz tell me what you think about it and thx for reading! :D