Author's Note

Took me awhile to get to writing this 'cause I wasn't sure where to go with it next, but I figured it out, a bit, and here it is.

Anywho, chapter 15, enjoy!

It's been three days since Kurosaki and I had our duel and I've somehow found myself at ABCookies looking to buy him a damn chocolate cake. I suppose it's not all bad, Inoue-san has come with me, or rather, she dragged me out here to buy one. I assume Kurosaki told her about the bet and probably played on her sympathy to convince her that I owed him the cake so she would take me to get him one. Dirty, underhanded bastard. I don't care if he's been confined to bed for these past days while he adjusts, it's my money that he's ensuring is spent on this endeavor. I have to earn all my money myself, I refuse to take money from my father, even if he has some to spare as a hospital director. That man thinks me a disappointment and the sentiment is returned. He would rather see our traditions and abilities die out than train me, the bastard.

"Hmmm, what do you think of the ones with strawberries on it, Ishida-kun? Doesn't it look delicious?" Orihime asks, looking at the cake behind the counter with a hungry gleam in her eye.

"No."

Denying Inoue-san is best done like removing a band-aid: do it quick and ignore the stinging pain.

She pouts and I steel my resolve. That cake is 250 yen more than a plain chocolate cake and we don't need the strawberries to fulfill the bet.

"B-b-but… Kurosaki-kun said I could pick the cake!" she blubbers. "H-he said he trusted me to p-pick a good cake since I've h-had them before. The chocolate c-cake with strawberries is the b-best!"

Her teary eyes are steadily ripping apart my resolve to not spend extra cash unnecessarily. Her disappointed look tears at me and that resolve crumbles under its force. God-damn cheating bastard, sending Inoue-san to enforce his selfish wish. I reach into my pocket and pull out my wallet as I approach the counter.

"The chocolate cake with strawberries on it. Please." I sigh, reaching into my wallet for the precious yen I'm being forced to spend on that idiot. Inoue-san's delighted smile makes it slightly better as the girl behind the counter carefully places the cake into a box for us to take. I pay the girl, take the box, and march out of the shop. I'm not spending a moment longer in there when Inoue-san might try to convince me to part with more cash for sweets we don't need. I hear her give a hasty thank you to the counter girl before trotting out after me. We head for the Urahara Shoten, walking in silence.

"Thank you for getting the cake with strawberries, Ishida-kun." she says with an honest smile. I just nod in return, trying to be a bit upset about the extra cash I won't be getting back, but I can't really place any of the blame on her. Oh well, Kurosaki could always use a little more blame.

We reach the Shoten and Inoue-san waves to the young girl sweeping in front of the door, asking how her day was before following me inside. She takes the lead, slipping into the back rooms and making a beeline for the room Kurosaki is in. He's wearing sweets and a t-shirt today and his back is towards us. I can see the flicker of flames over his shoulders as he tries to do something with them.

"Shouldn't you wait until you're not indoors where you can burn the place down, moron?"

He flinches and the flame before him swells, licking towards the ceiling, before disappearing completely. He lets lose a string of curses.

"Dammit, Ishida!" he shouts, turning around. "Do you want me to freaking burn the place down?" I stare at him, ready to question why he was even playing with fire indoors in the first place, when Inoue-san interrupts.

"Are you sure you should be using your powers yet, Kurosaki-kun?" Concern laces her tone, deflating both of us.

"Yeah, it's fine." he mutters as he rolls his shoulders. "Gotta start practicing again to adjust to my new power level. Besides, I don't really have anything better to do and Urahara-san doesn't mind as long as I don't burn the shop down. As long as I keep it small there's no problem."

I raise an eyebrow at that. He calls that small? The flame he was using had to be at least around the size of his torso, considering I could see it from behind his back. If that's small flames to him, I shudder to think of what he would call large. I'm almost glad our duel was interrupted, I rather like not being burned.

"Ishida-kun and me went and got you chocolate cake!" Orihime happily exclaims, once more oblivious to how frightening the power Kurosaki possesses is. "It even has strawberries on it!" She snatches the box from my hands, setting it on the floor and opening it to reveal its contents.

"That smells really good." Kurosaki says, a grin creeping onto his face. He reaches forward for it, but I slap is hand back. "Hey– !"

"You're supposed to cut cake into slices and eat it with a fork, moron." He just glares at me, grumpy for being denied the cake.

"Oh, right!" Inoue-san exclaims. "I'll get some plates, forks, and a knife so we can all enjoy the cake!" She scurries off before either of us can object with a smile on her face. I see Kurosaki eyeing the cake out of the corner of my eye.

"Don't even think about it, idiot. Just wait patiently for her to come back." He shoots me another glare.

Inoue-san quickly returns and carefully cuts up the cake and serves it. Kurosaki picks up the fork and takes a bite. His eyes widen and a large, boyish grin spreads across his face.

"This is really delicious! Thanks, Inoue, Ishida." Then he devours the piece of cake. Inoue-san just giggles at his eagerness and even I had to admit it looked rather funny. He quickly reaches for another piece and starts to scarf that one down too. I doubt there will be any cake left. Somehow, eating cake with Inoue-san and this yokai half breed is enjoyable. It somehow makes me the happiest I've been since sensei died and I can't bring myself to care that one of the Quincy's sworn enemies is helping me feel this way. Well, maybe not an enemy. He is half Quincy.

"Ne, Kurosaki-kun?" He hums in reply. "Could… could you maybe tell a-a story about the zanpakuto? I was kind of curious about them since Urahara-san mentioned that your family helped make them." She twiddles her fingers, keeping her eyes on her hands in her lap, an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.

"Sure. This is the story of the first zanpakuto…

Over a thousand years ago, in a time when yokai walked freely and man feared their power, there were but a few who would stand to fight them. These men served their king, called Reio for he was said to be blessed by the spirits with many great powers. They would hunt and kill all yokai at his command, never questioning the nature of the monsters they fought. Until one day, a young hunter apprentice named Yamamoto Shigekuni caught a phoenix in a rabbit's snare.

The young man was surprised to see such a beautiful creature caught in his snare and saddened too, for the plight of the poor creature. The phoenix is the immortal bird, they can only be killed by the complete annihilation of their heart. It would struggle as the rope around its neck strangled the great bird only to die of suffocation and be renewed by its eternal flames to suffer the same death once more. To watch such a cruel fate befall the bird again and again was heartrending and the young man could not stand the torture inflicted upon the yokai. He was a noble minded young man who would hunt yokai as his king commanded, but would not torture them as he carried out this duty, unlike many of the others, so carefully moving forward, he cut the rope around its neck and set the phoenix free of the snare.

The bird fell limply at his feet, too drained to do anything after being reborn so many times. Yamamoto knew not what to do, for he had just spared this yokai and if he left it here another creature would surely devour it. He looked at the once magnificent creature laying at his feet, looking so pitiful, still pondering what he should do.

"Help me, please." a soft voice, like the tinkling of bells, begged him.

Yamamoto started in surprise at the sound of the voice and looked around, calling out, "Who's there?"

"Please, help me! I'm right here!"

He looked around once more, his eyes landing on the phoenix at his feet. He then noticed its eyes, soft, pleading, and intelligent. Yamamoto then realized that the phoenix he had freed was asking him for help. Not knowing what else to do, he carefully scooped up the bird and took it to the hut he lived in to nurse it back to health.

At the end of the month the phoenix was healed and, in the dark of night, Yamamoto set it free back into the forest. Several years passed, and Yamamoto became one of the Reio's most prized hunters. He was considered one of the greatest and most noble of the hunters for he never let a civilian die when he hunted. At that time, another young man had started his rise in the ranks, not far behind Yamamoto, who was said to possess mystical powers, named Yhwach.

One day, Yamamoto and Yhwach were sent with a group to hunt a great oni. They believed that it would be no problem, for they had hunted oni before, but they were wrong. The oni was far more powerful than any other they had encountered and it overpowered them. They were forced to retreat, but as they did so, the oni struck a terrible blow on Yamamoto. His companions left him for dead in order to preserve their own lives.

"See how your companions run, little hunter? They have no loyality, no honor! They just hunt and kill. See how little they value your life?" the oni laughed and sneered at the downed man. "I'll leave you here to suffer as you die, knowing that they didn't care enough to save you." And so the oni left him there to bleed and die.

Yamamoto lay there in the dirt, both hating and understanding why they had left him. He cursed his fate to die like this, leaving the oni alive to attack more innocent people. He cursed the uncaring hunters. And he cursed how powerless humans were against the yokai, even as the darkness claimed him.

When he awoke, he felt indescribably warm and was confused as to how he was alive. When he looked around, he noticed on his arm there was perched a phoenix, the phoenix he saved all those years ago.

"Get out of here! If the others come back for my body and see you, they'll kill you!" he shouted as he waved his arm, trying to dislodge the bird. Yamamoto had come to like the phoenix in the time that he had cared for it and did not want to see it killed.

"Stop it, you fool! If I cease to make contact with you, you'll die!" Yamamoto stopped moving as the words sunk in. "I found you still just barely alive, so I used my power to keep you alive. However, you are too far gone for a simple healing, so I must continually lend you my strength or you will die."

Yamamoto looked at the bird, amazed by its selfless act and what it was willing to give up to save his life. "Then, where shall we go? I cannot return to the humans, for they would hunt you, and you cannot go back to the yokai, for they would hunt me."

The phoenix laughed at his statement. "Don't be so sure of all yokai, my friend. I know of several who wouldn't try to hurt you for being human, for they are too fond of watching and studying humans to give up a chance like this. No, we will go to them and you can learn what it means to be yokai as we learn what it is to be human."

So they left to live with the Shihoin and Shiba clans of yokai. Yamamoto learned much of yokai culture and how those they hunted for attacking villages were often outcasts, unwanted in proper yokai society. The Shihoin and Shiba learned how to act human so that they might trade their wares for the things they could not make. Soon the Shihoin were famous for their performances with tamed animals and acrobats and the Shiba for their metalwork, glass, and fireworks. They only ever went to outskirts and trading towns where they could avoid the presence of hunters, for they might see through their disguise or recognize Yamamoto.

One day, the hunters in the capital city were in the market when they noticed some extraordinary metal work at one of the stalls. When they asked where it had come from, the man told them he had bought it at one of the trading towns on the outskirts of the kingdom. Wondering who could craft such fine metal and wanting to hire them for hunter purposes, the commander of the hunters had a small group sent to the town to find the source, headed by none other than Yhwach. When they reached the town, they found a store selling the metal ware and some finely made glass. The man owning the shop told them that it was made by a clan of craftsmen known as the Shiba. He also told them how the Shiba made incredible firework shows for festivals and holidays. Highly interested in the skill of these craftsmen, Yhwach asked where they could be found. The man didn't know, they just came to town selling goods, took requests, then disappeared. Sometimes they would come with the Shihoin clan who would put on amazing shows, especially for festivals. The hunters still wanted to find the Shiba, so they asked around the whole town. No one knew where they came from. According to the townsfolk, they just appeared sometime before first light on the outskirts of town, stayed a couple of days, then disappeared into the night once more. Some of the children said they saw big shadows in the Shiba camp while they stayed, others said that they saw the people fly away at night.

Disturbed, the hunters visited a couple of other nearby towns and found similar information. They all said that the Shiba would arrive unexpectedly to sell, trade, and do some work all for surprisingly low prices. So with no further leads, the hunters returned to the first town, only to find the elusive clan already settled on the outskirts of town. There were many booths set up with all kinds of metal and glass work with people flocking around them. On the edge of the camp, children watched a few performers and played with small fireworks that some of the clansmen brought.

Yhwach demanded a meeting with the group's leader and asked that the clan work for the hunters. The man laughed and told him that they did not forge metal to end lives, but to serve hands in making a better world. Yhwach was angered by these words and asked how not killing a yokai would make the world better. The man asked him how he would know it did not when they weren't given a chance. "Just because the dog can bite doesn't mean it's a bad dog." he told Yhwach. Yhwach made many offers to the man, hoping to change his mind, but no matter the riches or titles offered, he was refused. He even tried threatening the man, but the man did not flinch and told him that violence would win him no support.

Infuriated at the man's continued refusal to work for the hunters, Yhwach left. As Yhwach left the man's tent, he saw Yamamoto with a great bird perched upon his shoulder walking through the camp. Hardly believing his eyes, he looked harder and stretched out the sixth sense he had learned he possessed before recoiling in shock. The camp was filled with yokai! Confused he looked about, but all he saw where humans and tamed animals. He left the camp and posted men to watch for their departure so that they might follow the Shiba to wherever they came from. He was determined to learn the truth about the Shiba and Yamamoto.

That night, the sentries reported a great shifting in the camp before the Shiba left under the cover of a heavy fog that had rolled in that evening. They also said that they had seen figures through the fog that had not looked human and heard quiet, wild calls as they moved away. The hunters carefully followed after them and, in the light of the morning, they saw the true forms of the Shiba. The whole group was made of yokai and Yhwach could see Yamamoto walking among them. A great fury took hold of him and his hunters upon seeing so many yokai that had been able to fool them into thinking that they were human.

The hunters charged the camp, taking the yokai by surprise and killing them. Many of them fled the attack, while Yamamoto and some of the others tried to hold them off. Once the yokai were away, the defenders made their retreat. As they fled, Yhwach shot the phoenix on Yamamoto's shoulder in the heart with a special arrow made of reishi, wounding it terribly.

Once they reached the Shiba and Shihoin compound, Yamamoto and the phoenix collapsed, for Yamamoto couldn't live without the phoenix and its heart had been shattered by Yhawach's arrow. The Shiba and Shihoin didn't want to see either die, so they pooled the Shihoin's knowledge of shapeshifting and posssession with the Shiba's knowledge of the heart and metal working to bind the phoenix's heart together in a blade and bind the blade to Yamamoto. Thus the first shinigami and zanpakuto were born.

They then discovered the changes wrought in Yamamoto and Ryujin Jakka, the name the phoenix decided to take after the binding. Yamamoto realized that if the yokai and hunters worked together like this that they could achieve peace and maintain a balance between the two peoples, so he went alone to the capital to seek an audience with Reio.

After some time, Yamamoto got his audience with Reio thanks to the help of the Kuchiki, Aomori, and Umetatsu clans and told him all about what he had learned about the yokai in the past years that he had spent among them. He also showed Reio the magnificent power that he had acquired through his partnership with the yokai.

After many talks between Reio and all the clans involved in bringing the shinigami into existence and to him, an agreement was come upon to create an alliance between the peaceful yokai and the people, thus the Gotei 13 and shinigami were created to protect and maintain this balance.

"It is said that Yhwach was so opposed to the idea of shinigami that he took the hunters loyal to his ideal and left to make his own kingdom, Vandenreich. They fought many times with the Gotei 13 until they finally reached a mutual non-violence pact against each other, though there's still plenty of prejudice between the two." Kurosaki finishes. I have to admit, his version of the story is very different from what I'd read in the old books on Quincy techniques and history.

"Xcution is a bit more recent since fullbring was only acknowledged in the last two hundred years." Kurosaki continues. "So that's why they're not in the story, in case you were wondering."

"Thank you for the story, Kurosaki-kun." Orihime quietly says. She seems to notice her watch as she looks at her hands folded in her lap. "AH! It's already so late!" She scrambles to her feet, dashing for the door. "Sorry, I have to get back to the temple. I'll see you tomorrow! Bye Kurosaki-kun, Ishida-kun!" She slips out of the door, feet pattering over the floors as she makes her escape.

"Well, I think I'll take my leave. Thank you for the story, Kurosaki." I unfold myself from the floor, turning and heading for the door. I can hear the clink of the plates and silverware as he picks up after us. He coughs quietly.

"Ummm… Thanks for the cake, Ishida." he mumbles and I can hear the bit of embarrassment in his voice.

"Hmph, just don't expect me to do it again." And with that comment I leave.

I look up at the sky as I walk home, wondering just how much I really know of yokai, of anything of this supernatural world I work in. How biased are our old texts? How much of the truth has been bent to make them look like the bad guys? The questioning of all that I've known won't leave me. When I try to find the source of these questions, my mind produces the images of Kurosaki's cracked heart being presented before us, his happy smile at something as simple as having chocolate cake, and Urahara's request: I'm asking that you look out for him and try not to get yourselves killed. He's suffered a lot already and I'm not sure if he'd survive going through something like that again. When did I begin to care about that idiot?

I shake my head. There's not much use in worrying about it now, what's done is done. I've decided: I'll see what this world has to offer and make my own judgments and decisions, because all is not as it seems.

"So, have you gathered the information I asked for from three days ago?" a smooth, velvet voice asks.

"Yes, sir." comes the monotone reply. "The hollow, Leon Fuego, was defeated by two opponents: Ishida Uryu, a Quincy, and Kurosaki Ichigo, a fire class yokai, true form unknown."

"Oh? It seems Urahara's favorite pawn has been released, how… troublesome." And it truly was to the lord. Kurosaki Ichigo had been a strong wildcard back when he walked free and Urahara had been able to employ the boy's nature to impede his plans. He even used the boy to upset his deception of the Gotei 13, leading to having to reveal himself sooner than he liked. He thought he had properly dealt with the problem when he had the boy's remaining family murdered one at a time, resulting in the boy's declining sanity and sealing for life, but it seemed that someone had decided to release him anyway and he had recovered from the mental blows enough to be found useful again.

"Have you gathered further information on Kurosaki Ichigo?" he asks.

"No sir, but I shall start right away if you wish."

"Then do so. I will not allow Urahara Kisuke to upset my plans anymore. He will certainly try employ that boy, so we'll remove him from Urahara's control before he can cause any trouble. Now go."

"Hai, Aizen-sama." The man bows before departing from his presence.

I shall break you Kurosaki Ichigo. You shall fall and become my pawn.

So I've had the first zanpakuto story written for like three or four chapters because I knew I wanted to tell it, but I wasn't sure when until I started this chapter and realized that it'd be perfect for this.

Now here's the problem, I'm not sure what exactly to do next with this. I mean I have a few scene ideas, but no clue exactly how to put them in. So here's the deal: I'd appreciate hearing some ideas from you lovely readers for this. Hopefully something you say will inspire me, or the books I'll likely be reading on my little camping trip will inspire me.

Sorry for those who were hoping for my fast paced updates on this, like I said earlier, I'm at a bit of a loss on where I'm going with this. I've also been working on my idea dump, so check it out and let me know which one you want to see most because I would like to start a second fic to get ideas bouncing in my head some more.

Please comment/review to tell me how I did.