(Saturday the 21st of October, 2006)

'Good morning, Kurosaki-kun!'

Ichigo froze mid-step through the doorway at the sudden greeting, his head snapping to where the voice had come from. The breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding at the scare escaping past his lips once he saw Kisuke standing in the corner of the store, facing the shelves.

'The fuck are you doing over there?' Ichigo asked, stepping over the threshold.

Kisuke threw him one of his signature smiles over his shoulder, angling his body so that Ichigo could catch a glimpse of what he was holding in his hands, a clipboard. 'My job, of course'.

With a healthy amount of scepticism (this was Urahara Kisuke, after all), Ichigo walked over to the man. One look at the paper on the clipboard was enough for Ichigo to understand what the man was doing. 'You're doing inventory'.

'I am indeed', Kisuke confirmed, turning back towards the shelves. 'I cannot sell candy that is past its expiration date to innocent children in good conscious now, can I?'

'I bet ya can and would sleep even better because of it', Ichigo said before he even realised he had spoken.

Kisuke put the hand in which he held his pen over his heart, giving Ichigo the most convincingly fake look of betrayal the adolescent had ever seen. 'Maa, Kurosaki-kun. Those hard words shatter my delicate heart. How can you condone your Zanpakutō to speak such slander?'

'It isn't slander if it's true', Ichigo dismissed as he eyed the "shopkeeper" carefully. 'Is Tessai keeping your coffee hostage of something?'

'Whatever makes you believe that, Kurosaki-kun? Is it that hard to believe I take my day job as a shopkeeper seriously?'

'Yes', Ichigo answered without missing a beat. 'Normally you delegate things like this to Ururu'.

Kisuke heaved a sigh, 'It is true that I generally leave the task of running the store to her but I can't do so with taking inventory'. He scribbled down some numbers. 'While she is very accurate, she is a rather slow worker. It would take her multiple days to do the whole store on her own. Jinta, on the other hand, is fast but doesn't bother to count half of the time. It is simply more efficient for me to do the counting myself'.

'What about the re-count?' Ichigo questioned. He had some experience with taking inventory; his sister and he helped Isshin on occasion whenever the man decided to take stock of his equipment. It was an important thing to do, deceptively difficult for something so simple, and oh-so mind-numbingly boring.

'Tessai will do that tomorrow'. Kisuke glanced at the adolescent, catching his surprise. 'Contrary to what you may believe, I do not think myself infallible'.

'You sure act like it, though', Ichigo said before adding, 'Zangetsu's words, not mine'.

'Let's just say I have learned to not let my confidence blind me to my faults', Kisuke said, clicking his pen. 'So, I take it you are here to spar again?'

'Yeah, are you done with those renovations yet?'

'Almost. I am still waiting on that last delivery of Seki-Seki so I can finish those reinforcements'.

'So, no bankai today?'

'No bankai', Kisuke confirmed. 'And try to not hit the back wall too much'.

Ichigo pursed his lips in disappointment. It had been a few weeks since he had last been able to release bankai and he was itching to let loose again, a sentiment he knew was shared by his Zanpakutō. Guess we will focus on dual-wielding again. 'We'll try'.

'Thank you'.

With a nod, Ichigo turned and began to walk towards the door in the back that would lead to the residential area of the building.

'Oh, Kurosaki-kun!'

Ichigo paused at the doorway, leaning back to look at Kisuke, 'Yeah?'

Kisuke held up his hand, shaking the packaging of an unspecified candy bar between his fingers. 'Want some?'

'That…depends—' Ichigo eyed him suspicion— 'What is it and how long has it been expired for?'

'Chocolate. A month'.

'Hmmm…' Ichigo took a moment to consider it. 'Sure'.

Kisuke tossed him the bar in an underhand throw, the high arc making it easy to snatch out of the air.

'Cool. Thanks, Urahara'.

'You're welcome, Kurosaki-kun!'

Armed with a bar of chocolate, Ichigo walked down the narrow hallway to the trapdoor that led to the "secret" basement below the building. Unlocking the latch with his foot, Ichigo knelt down and opened the reinforced hatch with inhuman strength. The half-mile drop caused excitement to bubble in his chest.

Standing to his full height, Ichigo put his hands in his pockets, retrieving a small, yellow marble with his right that he popped into his mouth. The second he swallowed his soul was ejected from his body to make room for another.

Kon yelped as he tilted forward, flailing with his arms to move his centre of balance away from the deadly drop at his toes.

'Relax'.

The neckline of the shirt he wore rode up and dug into his throat, pulling his whole body back till he sat on the floor. Kon coughed a bit, craning his neck to give Ichigo a glare. 'Just a reminder, this is your body'.

'I know', Ichigo waved off as he stepped around Kon and onto the opening in the floor. 'Check the left pocket'.

Kon raised a brow but did as told, retrieving a bar of chocolate.

'What's this?'

'That's for you. If you want more, Urahara might appreciate some help with taking inventory', Ichigo said before letting gravity take hold of him, closing the trapdoor as he went down. After making sure it was properly closed, Ichigo put one foot against the wall, turned to face the rest of the room, and pushed off.

'Are you ready, Zangetsu?' Ichigo asked his spirit aloud, enjoying the way the air rushed passed him and messed with his hair and uniform.

Tch, like ya even have ta ask, Zangetsu responded, pretending the excitement with which his King had spoken their name didn't affect him at all. Lemme out already!

Ichigo's grin matched the one he could hear in Zangetsu's voice. His feet hit the ground, a cloud of dust sprouting up into the air while bright golden energy separated from him. It crossed the stone ground; the farther the energy went the darker the colour became, changing from gold to a deep red with black. It collided with an invisible wall ten meters away, the energy gathering and growing into a humanoid shape.

Drawing his zanpakutō, Ichigo watched the energy become a silhouette, with lines as sharp as his shadow. The red and black colour drained away, the shape becoming more pale and defined until it was Zangetsu staring back at him, weapon already in shikai.

'Ya wanna skip the foreplay and go straight to the good stuff?' Zangetsu asked, spinning the blade at their right side by the cloth wrapped around the hilt.

'If you mean bankai, we can't'.

Zangetsu's blade struck the earth. 'Still?! How long does it take that shady asshole ta fix a basement that's already fucking built?!'

Ichigo shrugged, 'I dunno but it's gonna take longer if we trash it'.

'Tch, fine—' Zangetsu crossed his arms with a huff, eyes going to their king—'Yer dual-wielding needs work still, anyway'.

'I've gotten better!'

'Then why haven't ya stabbed me with it yet?'

'I did last month!'

'Pfft, that paper cut? Nah, that doesn't count', Zangetsu dismissed. He uncrossed his arms and tugged on the cloth, yanking the blade free and returning it to his hand. 'I ain't satisfied till yer cross-guard leaves a mark on me'.

Ichigo raised a brow, 'Do you have any idea how hard I have to thrust to even get the tip to—' Ichigo shut his mouth, face rapidly gaining colour. Judging by Zangetsu's expression, this had been on purpose.

'Hm? "to get the tip to" what, King?' Zangetsu asked as innocently as he was capable of. 'To penetrate me?'

The red reached the tip of his ears, 'Y-You're the worst- And don't call me that!'

Zangetsu's grin only widened, 'Whatever do ya mean? All I asked was fer ya ta run me through from end ta end with yer—'

'Shut up!' Ichigo lunged forward with his blade still sealed. Zangetsu cackled as he dodged. Ichigo quickly released his shikai before following the spirit with shunpo. It didn't take long for their fight to gain another dimension. Their feet left the ground as they flicked through the air with bursts of sonīdo and steps of shunpo.

A swing to the side had Ichigo draw the smaller blade. White steel met black and Ichigo redirected the edge rather than blocking it completely. He side-stepped the follow-up with shunpo, eying the survival knife. He loosed his grip on the hilt, changing his grip to be more gentle and nearly dropped it when Zangetsu punched a bala at him. His left sleeve did not survive the attack.

'Eyes on me, King!' Zangetsu warned.

'Don't call me that!' Was Ichigo's knee-jerk response. 'And it isn't my fault you're so damn bright it hurts my eyes!'

'Then start doing some damage!'

Ichigo grinned as he ducked under a kick and planted a fist into the spirit's stomach, releasing a bala that sent him flying. Ichigo followed. He sheathed the survival knife, adding his left to the hilt of his main blade. Upon hearing the sound of impact, Ichigo swung the blade, silently releasing the Getsuga Tenshō he had been charging. The arc of red cut through the cloud of dust, leaving a straight line carved into the blue-stained stone behind (as well as a leg).

Where did he-oh, fuck! Ichigo ducked. The shine of metal a flash above him. Had he been a moment later, Zangetsu would have cut his head clean off.

Ichigo felt the pride in Zangetsu's blade when they crossed swords again. The spirit's eyes had turned gold, their lips stretched into a wide grin that would make one question Zangetsu's sanity. A quick glance down revealed the spirit's right pant leg had been cut short. Blue stained the bare skin in a straight line around, just above the knee, with a handful of lines drawn down his shin and calf to his clawed foot.

To see Zangetsu so deeply invested in the fight was immensely satisfying and Ichigo grinned as they exchanged a series of rapid blows, showering the air around them with sparks birthed from their clashing blades.

'Bakudo #1, Sho'.

Ichigo's eyes widened as an invisible force planted into his abdomen and pushed him away. He had to swallow back his lunch before it reached his mouth a second time. Should have used hierro.

'Up here!' Zangetsu shouted and Ichigo (like the absolute idiot that he is) looked up only to be elbowed hard in his back. He recovered in time to avoid being skewered.

'Yer too naïve, King!' Zangetsu scolded as he fired a silent Getsuga Tenshō.

Ichigo noticed it a second too late and had no choice but to take the hit. His clothes and skin burned under the fierce energy, his hierro not strong or stable enough to protect him completely. At least, not while his attention was divided.

'I told you not to call me that!'

'Make me!'

Sensing Zangetsu advance, Ichigo struck. Pointing at the spirit, he released a fully charged cero at point blank. It wouldn't be enough to take Zangetsu down but it would buy Ichigo the time he needed to get his shit together. Or, that had been the plan. Zangetsu was a lot more proficient with hierro and high-speed regeneration, after all. He was back in Ichigo's face before he could take a breath.

S-Shit!

Out of reflex, Ichigo drew his secondary blade once more to black the swing to his chest. The two edges met, and one started to crack—

So Ichigo let go.

The knife clattered to the ground below them, cracks having spread out from the place the larger blade had hit it to cover the whole surface. A second later, a left arm joined the knife.

Ichigo hissed at the rush of pain radiating from his elbow. A shiver ran through his body as the coldness of the blade now stuck in his ribcage. Yep, that hurts. That de-fi-nite-ly hurts. Fuck!

'M-My bad', Ichigo said with a pained and bashful smile. 'I didn't have a good grip on it'.

Zangetsu didn't move for a second, almost as if he were frozen in time before his face morphed into fury. With a snarl did he yank his blade free (leaving no trace of an injury) and grabbed Ichigo by the throat with his left.

'Don't ya fucking dare cover for his ass'.

Ichigo gasped for air as his air pipe was squeezed shut, too surprised and confused to try and free himself. When his vision started to blur, Ichigo was let go. His feet hit the ground, his knees buckled, and he found himself on all fours coughing and heaving for air next to his dismembered arm (hadn't they been higher up?).

Zangetsu stood beside him and kicked the cracked blade as hard as he could. Using the momentum of the kick, the spirit settled in a familiar stance and threw his arm forward, pointing their blade at the one that skidded over the stone and screeched with rage,

'BAN-KAI!'

#

TO BE CONTINUED

BLEACH – Tite Kubo