A/N This is my first story. My initial plan for this fic was to redo the Thousand Year Blood War arc but I realized that I can't do that without changing the whole plot up to that point so… I'm going to do it. Throughout this fic I hope to fix a couple of things that really bothered me in the story of Bleach.
In no particular order:
Oversized zanpakutō
Remove all human characters including Orihime and Chad . I don't want to spend time with boring characters when so many greats were overlooked.
Orhime because I personally find her annoying and her ability to reject and bring people back from the dead removes all meaning in a character death.
Chad because unfortunately he serves no purpose.
The real lack of death
In a fight someone leaves a defeated character alive for a pointless reason
The Vizards, the TYBW did them dirty
The ability to create the Oken.
Please read and review
I in fact do not own bleach
Darkness. Within the endless void that would one day become something great stood a man, dressed in a white dress shirt with a long black overcoat with tattered ends. His shoulder length ragged dark brown hair slightly eclipsing his brown tinted sunglasses with a shadowed goatee completing his face.
The man stood completely still, patiently awaiting the day his words would be herd, waiting for the slowly approaching day the void of black around him became something. He could both hear and see the owner of this void in his physical world slowly growing, unable to hear his voice, unable to receive help he desperately wanted to give in times of need.
This was one of those times. The man opened his eyes as multiple waves of bright blue light passed through the void around him. His face turning to one of worry and sadness. Straightening his back the man looked around searching for anything different. Upon a quick inspection of the void around him he found nothing had changed. Once again, the power surged but with much greater strength. With his overcoat and hair blowing in the vast energy flowing through the void he knew what this meant.
Once the serge died down and his hair returned to his shoulders, for the first time in weeks he opened his mouth. "Ichigo," the man's deep voice echoing through the vast void around him. He waited for several moments defiantly hoping for a response, but when none came, he gave a heavy sigh and closed his eyes again. The realization began setting in that the child he wanted to protect couldn't be spared from his future. He made his choice right then that once the boy could hear his voice, he would not limit him, he would give all his power to him.
Every day, the man called and waited for a response, when none came, he went back to waiting. Years passed and only twice had his voice been heard. The orange-haired boy would search for who had called his name but in vain as his father looked on not wanting this for his son. After those two times the man's voice seemed to only grow further away from the boy.
All the man could do was watch on as one day a hollow attacked him and his mother. He could only watch as the boy was overcome by grief and guilt, falling into a depression that would take a great amount of time to get out of. It was at this time that the void around the man changed slightly. Everything was still the same except above him, storm clouds had formed. And with them the rain. The downpour lasted for many months drenching the only inhabitant of the void. While the forming of the clouds and rain showed that the boy's powers were beginning to manifest, he still couldn't hear him.
Time continued to pass with changes, the clouds were still there while the rain had stopped. The bottomless void changed into a large empty meadow with cobblestone pathways outlining square and rectangular patches of grass with a dense forest surrounding the meadow.
The man stood in the center of the meadow where all the cobblestone paths led, his hair and overcoat flowing with the breeze as he watched his one-day-to-be wielder grow up. The man could feel it now, the power flowing within this world and leaking into his wielder's physical world. Although he was concerned, as right now his wielder's power was a fraction of what it currently should be.
As night came and his wielder was now asleep the man wanted to try once more on reaching him. "Ichigo." The man's deep voice was only loud enough for someone right in front of him to hear and when no answer was returned, he continued. "Ichigo!" The voice louder than before disappeared as the silence reigned again before it finally happened.
"Hello." A confused voice came back that the man instantly recognized as his 17-year-old wielder.
The spiky orange haired young man opened his eyes and took a step back as he was assaulted with random colors. Everything in his vision was blurry random and twisting, everything except an intimidating middle-aged man standing a couple of meters ahead. Regaining his senses, the teen decided to ask the obvious question. "Who are you and… Where the hell are we."
The older man's resting face turned to a large grin. He had been trying to talk to his wielder for years and now finally he was able to. He took a step forward, "I am…" The final word muttered by the man fell on deaf ears as Ichigo only looked more confused. The man's smile turned into a small frown. "I see, currently you are not ready to learn my name. For now, that is alright as you can now hear me. As for where we are" he paused "this is where I live." The grin on his face returned and then quickly disappeared as he felt someone else's presence nearby.
Ichigo's mind was working overtime as he tried and failed to process the little information given to him by the man in the cloak. To many things were going through his brain, he was sleeping but this was not a dream, the only thing he could see clearly was the man in front of him, and that for some reason he was not ready to hear his name.
"What does that mean, not ready for what?"
"You will find out in time, no need to worry about it in the present. As for right now it seems that you have a visitor."
The blurriness vision Ichigo was now started to get accustomed to faded along with the man in front of him. Back into his view was the ceiling of his room. The curtain of the slightly opened window above is bed, dancing in a light breeze creating small shadows on the walls from the moonlight.
As Ichigo turned facing the wall, he noticed one barely moving shadow that was much larger than the rest but still relatively short. Not recalling anything in his room that could have caused it he raised his head and followed the path of the shadow and noticed something odd. A short woman with raven colored hair and violet eyes. Wearing a black Shihakushō with sandals and a sheathed katana on her left side.
'You have a visitor,' the man's words rang in his ears confirming that what just happened was real and not a trick.
Ichigo observed the woman look around his room clearly searching for something. Slowly sitting up his eyes became drawn to the sheathed blade at her side, the red hilt with a diamond pattern partially visible in the soft moonlight. Thinking of what to do, the idea of moving to intercept the intruder quickly dissipated from his mind as he'd prefer not to be skewered by her blade.
His thought process and breathing completely stopped as the woman who was now shrouded in the only dark corner of his room turned and looked directly at him, her violet eyes meeting his amber and refusing to move.
'Damn!' Ichigo mentally cursed; his eyes darted avoiding eye contact while trying his hardest to keep a straight face. One wrong movement would alert her to his ability to see her. So, when she found it, her hand instinctively trailed the hilt of her katana.
"Can you see me?" she asked, fully prepared to unsheathe her blade. Understanding that there would be no hiding it now, his eyes met hers again. Her eyes widened slightly as she finally realized that not only could he see her, but she wasn't able to sense and reiatsu from him.
She had been in Karakura Town for only a couple of weeks and had already seen multiple people that had a high amount of reiatsu for humans. Everyone knew that Karakura Town was a very spiritually active place, there had even been rumors that a group of exiles was here, and she personally had found a poorly dressed shopkeeper that not only could see her but helped her out.
The humans in Karakura Town also had more reiatsu than normal. Some high enough that they could be able to see plus souls. Every human in this town had at least a little reiatsu, most not enough to see spirits let alone a soul reaper like her. Despite all this absolutely zero reiatsu was coming from him.
The entire reason she was here was because while she was patroling, she felt someone's reiatsu skyrocket then on her way to see what it was the pressure fell to an undetectable level. Which left her to search for who could have caused it.
Neither of them made a move. They just stared at each other. "What's your name." she finally asked, her eyes squinting like she thought there was something familiar about the person in front of her.
"You broke into my room! Your name first." Ichigo scoffed.
After a few seconds and a conflicting mental battle, she responded "Rukia Kuchiki." Her hand still on the hilt of her katana as her eyes continuously scanned him.
Ichigo slowly rolled out of his bed maintaining eye contact with the on-edge Rukia as he did. Now standing and out of the shadows he noticed how short Rukia was.
Meanwhile, Rukia was frozen in place, looking at the standing man in front of her she couldn't help but see her mentor. Everything was the same down to the bone structure of his face. The only difference was the orange hair and a scowl so deep it must have been surgically implanted. The shocked Rukia stumbled in place, her hand leaving the katana.
"Ichigo Kurosaki" he replied. "Now… what exactly are you?" Ichigo asked, failing to find the right words for such a question.
Rukia shoved her previous thoughts to the back of her mind then regained her composure. "I… "she didn't know what to say. To tell him that she was a soul reaper would only bring many more questions but at the same time to not tell him anything would only confuse him to no end. She could go and get something to erase his memory then make a report. 'That might work, I just have to find that weird shopkeeper again'. She thought. With her mind now made up she moved towards the window, ready to outright ignore him.
Ichigo quickly moved to block her. He needed answers to all the questions that had been accumulating in the back of his mind. Once he was in the way of the escaping intruder, he reached out to grab her from going around him, clearly unaware of who he was dealing with.
Rukia wasn't one to be trapped like this and leaped from the ground. Her feet found Ichigo's outstretched arm and used it as a springboard. Hopping over and kicking him in the back of the head.
Ichigo, dumbfounded at what had just happened, turned around to retaliate. "Fucking mid-" he was cut off by a beeping sound. Rukia calmly raised her hand to stop Ichigo from moving forward anymore, with her other hand pulling out her beeping phone looking denreishinki.
Surprise overtook her as a blinking red dot showed a hollow right outside the house that she was currently in. Something was off, she just didn't have time to think about it. "Stay here." she instructed, Opening the window further then leaping out before he could get in a word.
Rukia quickly moved to the front of the house where she found a hollow looking through what was once a wall. The hollow sniffed the air looking for the owner of the previous burst of reiatsu when he caught the smell of something just as good. A soul reaper.
The hollow turned from the hole in the wall and moved to attack Rukia. In turn she unsheathed her zanpakutō and dashed forward in hope to end the fight before it could truely begin.
Unfortunately for her this hollow was not as weak as the others she had delt with thus far in her mission. The hollow quickly blocked her attack then went to grab her. She flash stepped away before any harm could come to her.
"Hadō #63 Raikōhō"
An orb of lightning quickly appeared in the palm of her hand and shot forward, towards the hollow. Shock overcame her as the seemingly low leveled hollow simply smacked the blast downwards causing a slight crack in the pavement.
With no other options, Rukia, for the first time in this mission released her zanpakutō. "Dance Sode no Shirayuki." Her blade turned white as she started forward.
Preparing to use her greater power to defeat the hollow in front of her, she was forced to stop as a burning sensation overtook her neck. Her zanpakutō reverting to its sealed state. Rukia held her hand tightly to her burning neck as she dodged a swing from the hollow. She may not have known what was happening but could tell what caused it.
All high-class soul reapers who went to the world of the living were forced to wear seals. These seals would limit the power of the soul reaper to only one-fifth of their normal power so as to not affect humans. But what she couldn't understand was why she had one, she couldn't even recall it ever being placed.
What made this even more unusual was that her power was not limited. When a seal is placed on a soul reaper that person could feel their power being limited. But she still had all her power, it was just that now she couldn't unseal her zanpakutō and reach it.
Now left without the ability to unseal her zanpakutō and the burning that was rapidly expanding from her neck downward, she could only hope the hollow made a mistake that she could take advantage of.
Upstairs, Ichigo was going to listen to the weird katana wielding midget, he really was. He was perfectly content with sticking to his own business like he had done for years while the midget was conducting things that were clearly out of his league. Unfortunately for him this contentment was shattered when he heard a large roar and small yelp of pain coming from the only other person around, Rukia.
Moving his way downstairs and out of the hole in the wall he was unprepared for the sight he came across. Standing in the middle of the road was a large grey and black relatively humanoid looking creature with a hole in its abdomen and a white mask covering its head. But what stuck out the most wasn't its appearance but who it was holding. The clearly bloodied and exhausted Rukia in its lacerated hand.
The hollow was about to finish off Rukia when it suddenly stopped. The hollow turned toward Ichigo and sniffed. This was it, traces of the delicious reiatsu were on the teen. The hollow dropped Rukia and charged towards Ichigo.
As soon as Rukia hit the ground, she used what little strength she had left and flash stepped toward Ichigo, grabbing his collar, and took off down the street while dragging him behind her.
She looked over her shoulder at the hollow slowly giving chase, obviously enjoying its hunt. Her movement bought them a little time before it would reach them. Once she stopped, she let go of the winded Ichigo as he fell to the ground. "What the hell was that… that creature. And what did you just do?" he questioned in between breaths.
Rukia, struggling to stay on her feet looked down at her wound. She couldn't fight like this. She knew that some type of seal was still in place and stopping her from being able to release her zanpakutō.
"I'm going to stab you with my zanpakutō. It will give you some of my power so you can defeat this hollow." she calmly stated although on the inside she was furious at everything.
"W-what… I can't"
Ichigo tried to respond but was cut off. "We don't have time for this! Will you do this or not!" Rukia's voice made it clear there was no second option. Ichigo could only nod as he tried to figure out what he was more scared of, the hollow that wanted to eat him or the terrifying midget in front of him.
Before Ichigo could so much as stand back up, Rukia had already stabbed him with her zanpakutō. The blade faded as visible black reiatsu formed around him creating a Shihakushō like the one she was wearing. His stab wound closed as a rush of reiatsu forced her already weakened legs to the ground.
The next instant everything stopped as Ichigo's reiatsu started to fade. The kneeling Rukia glanced at Ichigo who had positioned himself between her and the approaching hollow. In his right hand was a thin long zanpakutō.
Her, zanpakutō.
The hollow sensing a new Shinigami picked up his pace towards his delicious new meal. Ichigo leaped forward towards the hollow with a killer instinct few had seen.
Once close enough, the hollow swiped at Ichigo who quickly dodged it thanks to his now faster movement speed. He then cut upwards at the out of place arm cutting it off at the elbow before moving again to block the next swipe. He then moved closer into the personal space of the large hollow cutting off its slender leg at the knee forcing the hollow to topple onto one knee and more importantly, closer to the ground. With the height difference minimized, he again cut upwards, slicing the mask into two before the hollow could properly react.
The two sides of the mask shattered on impact with the pavement. The rest of its body immediately followed, slowly disappearing, and fading away.
"Bastard!" Ichigo snarled. Feeling that was enough he turned around to face the shocked Rukia who was doing the best to heal herself.
"How did you do that?" She Asked.
"I don't know. Would you believe me if I said it was instinct?" Ichigo responded. "Hey what's happening you your clothes?"
Rukia looked down at her Shihakushō as the black began turning white. "No, no, no!"
Rukia looked around, her eyes desperately searching for her zanpakutō. "You took all my power! Idiot!" Rukia furiously stated as she kicked him in the shin before the two began to bicker in the street.
Unknown to both Ichigo and Rukia, a certain clog wearing blonde shopkeeper with a green striped bucket hat and a spiky black-haired man with a beard that some might say makes him look like a goat had just watched the events play out.
"Well, Isshin! It looks like your son has become a soul reaper after all." The joyful shopkeeper exclaimed, flipping open a fan to hide his massive grin as he looked over at his companion.
"Shut up Kisuke." Isshin growled back. He was in no mood to play around, after all his work and favors he had to give out to stop this from happening. Not only was it now happening, but he had to witness it. "OH MASAKI, OUR IDIOT SON HAS TAKEN HIS FIRST STEP INTO A WORLD I PROMISED HE WOULDN'T!" Isshin loudly yelled as he opened his wallet and looked at a picture of his late wife.
Unbeknownst to Ichigo and Rukia along with Kisuke and Isshin the black cloaked man in Ichigo's inner world was anything but happy. He knew that another spirit would also inhabit his wielder's inner world. He knew there would be tough times ahead for his wielder. He knew Ichigo would need to train hard to learn and master all his power. He knew there would be war and death in the future and that Ichigo would have to take life.
What the man couldn't imagine was what just occurred. Now he was unable to communicate with his wielder, and his beautiful, peaceful, sunny meadow had changed to a very unpeaceful freezing glacier. Not only this, but there was not one but TWO new spirits. An inverted albino clone of Ichigo, the only other spirit that was supposed to be there. But the one that was not supposed to be here was the very shocked ice princess.
Across from the man and the inverted Ichigo stood a pale-skinned woman with waist-length pale lavender hair and ice blue eyes.
The white kimono wearing woman gracefully walked around pretending to not notice the other spirits deathly glares.
She compared Ichigo's inner world to Rukia's. Once she looked around her attention refocused on the other inhabitants of this inner world. She sighed and pondered as to what was going to happen now.
Ichigo made his way downstairs, his soft footsteps breaking the silence. The silence was a sign that everyone in the house was either asleep or was not home. Ichigo guessed that his sisters and his father were already asleep given the time so that just left Rukia. Her mission would be ending soon but that didn't explain his currently empty closet the midget had made her home in.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs Ichigo yawned as he turned the corner and walked around the house searching for Rukia.
He frowned when he couldn't find her in the living room. His frown only deepened when he made it to the empty dark kitchen; the last place in the house he had yet to search and didn't see her.
"Where the hell did she go?" He whispered.
He knew that there wasn't a hollow nearby, he would have sensed it. When there was a hollow, he would have already been out of the window before his closet dwelling midget could have opened the door.
If it wasn't so late Ichigo would have thought that she just went out with some friends that she had made while she went to school with him. The only time Rukia got to spend with her friends was if Ichigo wasn't around or when she went out with them after school.
When Rukia would be around Ichigo no one would come up to talk to them. In fact, no one would dare to interact with Ichigo at all unless they were being forced too. His permanent scowl and the widely known knowledge that he would often get into fights when out of class scared everyone off.
All of that and add to his recent behavior. For the last two months Ichigo would just randomly run out of class, or at least that's what everyone thought it was. The reality, which no one other than Rukia had known, a hollow had appeared, and he went to take care of it.
Ichigo turned around ready to go to his room and fall asleep. He believed Rukia would come back later so there was no point in him getting worried. He was about to leave the kitchen when someone called out to him.
"Ichigo" the voice of Ichigo's father. Isshin sat in the corner of the room at a small table.
Ichigo tensed expecting an attack from his father. His father would attack him at any time he could, saying that it was his duty to prepare his son and that he was making Ichigo stronger.
When no attack came, Ichigo flipped on the light switch and looked towards the corner his father was in, who in turn pulled out a chair for him.
Ichigo approached the chair and sat down expecting another lecture on why he needs to scowl less.
"Are you looking for Rukia? She's probably out hunting hollows."
"Yeah, I-" Ichigo stopped himself and looked at his father who was now sporting a massive grin.
"How did you know?" No, that question wasn't right. "How long have you known?"
"Ichigo, did you really think you could hide my third daughter in your closet forever" Isshin asked, clearly enjoying this.
"Third daughter? Rukia's not your daughter!" Ichigo quickly retorted.
Isshin raised an eyebrow, "Oh yes, she is, and you just wait. Unless… there's already someone who's caught your eye." He accused "Who is she? WILL SHE GIVE ME GRANDCHILDREN!"
"What! Nobody I-" Ichigo again stopped and gave a low growl which quickly shut his father up.
An uncomfortable and awkward silence passed over them. Neither of them wanted to talk about the obvious.
To Ichigo he didn't even know where to begin. His father knew about the closet midget Rukia, and hollows. Which meant that his suspicions were true. His father is a soul reaper…. Was a soul reaper? Something along those lines.
It wasn't that much of a leap to figure his father was a soul reaper. Ichigo could see spirits for as long as he could remember, and Rukia had told him that no one should be able to see soul reapers. It only made sense that one of his parents was spiritually aware.
Isshin on the other hand even now continued to try and find excuses for himself. He really didn't want to tell Ichigo about everything, he wanted his son to have a normal and peaceful life away from the spiritual world. But as he continued to think about his son, he could feel his reiatsu leaking; there wasn't really an option anymore, everything he had tried had failed.
"So… Rukia has taught you quite a bit hasn't she."
"Yeah, according to her its mostly the basics. I think she's still worried I'm going to fall and be impaled on my own blade or that I'm going to do something stupid and die."
Isshin lightly chuckled, "That's something I can see you doing." Ichigo gave a huff and turned his head away. "How close are her powers to returning? She's been here a couple of months now; her mission should be ending soon."
"Her power is almost back. She's been able to use Kido for the last few weeks. Although, my reiatsu should be decreasing as I lose her power, but instead it's still rising." Ichigo commented.
Isshin nodded. His son's reiatsu was continuing to rise even as he was holding back his reiatsu. That only meant one thing, it was his power and not Rukia's that was currently rising.
"Did my third daughter teach you about zanpakutō?" Isshin asked.
Ichigo just sighed and gave a nod of confirmation. Then a question crossed his mind. "After Rukia gets her power back… I'll get my own zanpakutō, right? I even talked to him right before Rukia broke into my room."
"Wait, you've already talked to him!" Isshin asked, suddenly remembering the night Rukia gave Ichigo power and the burst of reiatsu that made him and Kisuke go check it out.
"Only once." He said sadly. "Either Rukia's power is blocking us from talking or he's incredibly mad and is ignoring me."
"It's probably Rukia's power. ANYWAYS…" Isshin leaned down to pick up a small wooden box and placed it on the table in between him and his son.
Ichigo remained quiet as his father opened the box and pulled out a medal five pointed cross.
"This was your mothers." Isshin placed the cross into Ichigo's hand who inspected it. "It was her quincy cross."
Ichigo opened his mouth to talk but words refused to leave. He hadn't expected both his parents to be spiritually aware. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering to his mother's death, and if she was a quincy then why couldn't she fight back.
"Ichigo" Isshin paused, "I lost my powers when I met your mother. She lost her powers a couple of months before her death." Ichigo's eyes widened. "When it happened, your mother became very sick. She tried her best to hide it from you and the girls, but the truth is she was dying." Isshin said softly.
"How?"
"What?"
"How did she lose her powers."
"I… I truly don't know. Me and a couple of friends investigated it and couldn't find anything."
Ichigo's reiatsu exploded outward in a show of anger causing items on the counter to fly off. The small shadows in all corners of the room grew like vines up the walls and across the floor and turned pitch black. The shadows closest to him created a barrier where the light from the ceiling was unable to pass. The shadows had split the room down the middle, one side that had light and black vines and the other, a darkened barely visible half where both Ichigo and Isshin sat.
Isshin could only watch in fascination as almost immediately afterwards the reiatsu stopped and was reeled back.
"That's… new" was all the out of breath Ichigo could say before relaxing back into his uncomfortable chair. "I… I almost want to do that again" he said as a grin appeared on his face. Isshin looked back over at Ichigo and couldn't help his own grin.
Getting back on topic Ichigo asked, "You said friends, other soul reapers?"
"Other exiles who happen to be soul reapers" Isshin replied.
"You were exiled from the soul society?"
"Well, I wasn't… technically. They think I'm dead." Isshin said with a goofy smile. "But if they were to find out that I was alive, I would be labeled a traitor for abandoning my division."
All of Ichigo's slight movements stopped. "You were a captain? YOU? Was the soul society that desperate?" Isshin faked a hurt expression while Ichigo continued to spiral. "People… other soul reapers called you Captain Kurosaki!"
"No, they called me Captain Shiba!" Isshin happily stated while sporting the largest grin possible.
Ichigo might as well have been run over by a truck because nothing made sense. His father was a Shiba, part of a great Noble clan. His father, Noble. Those words could never possibly be in the same sentence. Rukia had told him that Nobels were always proper and elegant. Nothing like his father.
If his father really was a Shiba, that would make Ichigo also a Shiba. And if the rest of the Shiba's acted the same way his father did, he had no interest in meeting them.
While Ichigo's mind raced Isshin behind his smile was thinking of how exactly to tell his son that as happy as he was, he still didn't want this to happen.
"Ichigo I… hadasealplacedonyou" Isshin said very quickly, "a couple of years ago by a very talented friend."
"What?" Ichigo asked, not quite sure if what he heard was correct.
Isshin tried to get out of it, "I had a very talented friend a couple of years ago."
"Dad" Ichigo menacingly growled.
"Alright, I… sort of had a friend put a seal on you to limit your reiatsu in hope that if we caught it early enough your reiatsu would be stunted and stop you from becoming spiritually aware." Isshin had spoken with a shame-filled voice and then turned it completely around. "But no need to worry because as soon as Rukia's power is back, we can undo it and you can get your very own zanpakutō!"
"Uh… okay"
That was all Ichigo could say. No other words came to mind. Was he supposed to be mad that his father wouldn't have allowed his son to choose whether he wanted to be spiritually aware. It seems like he should be mad, and yet he really wasn't, because he was and was going to get his own zanpakutō soon.
"You said you lost your powers so your spiritual awareness. But you knew about Rukia being a soul reaper which means that you had to see her in soul form" He paused. "Does that mean that your powers are back?"
Isshin stood up and yawned, then smiled at his son. Which Ichigo took as a 'yes' to his question. Isshin then turned like he was going to walk out of the room when he did a 180 and punched Ichigo square in the face, causing him and the chair he was sitting on to fall backwards.
"Ahh… Fuck" Ichigo cursed.
His father gave a giggle and said, "You must always be prepared my son." before quickly leaving the room.
Ichigo would have chased his father up the stairs and beat him in the hall, but his sisters were currently sleeping. So, he just sighed and walked up the stairs and into his room.
His eyes went to his desk. Opening his drawer and grabbing a glove with a flaming skull.
Putting on the glove Ichigo hit himself in the chest with it, ripping his body from his soul. Of course, there were better methods for this like a mod soul. But he would only use his mod soul, Kon, when there was no other choice.
Kon was a pervert and Ichigo refused to give his body over unless the situation was dire. That's why at times like this, when there was no rush and no danger, he would use Rukia's glove.
Ichigo caught his body and gently laid it down on his bed. Going to open his window he was stopped when a muffled yell came from the wall, where a stuffed animal lion was hanging by tape. Its mouth also taped over, muffling his yells. Inside this stuffed animal was Kon.
Ichigo, ignoring the sound just turned back towards the window, opening it, and jumped out, not giving a second glance to the stuffed lion. Solidifying the air below him, he flash stepped away searching for Rukia's concealed reiatsu.
Fifteen minutes passed before he finally found her. Rukia was on the outskirts of a nearby park.
Rukia could feel Ichigo searching for her and tried to hide as much of her reiatsu, it seemed to be in vain because after a while he made a straight line towards her.
"Damn me for teaching him how to sense reiatsu" she whispered, mentally berated herself.
But in all reality after spending the last two months close to each other, Ichigo could sense Rukia's reiatsu the best.
Ichigo appeared in front of Rukia, breaking her from her thoughts. "Rukia, what are you doing out here?"
"What are you doing here?" she responded.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Looking for you. How about you?"
"I wanted to go for a peaceful walk and now, you're ruining it, go home Idiot."
Ichigo knew something was up "What's wrong?"
Rukia just gave a sad smile and gave a heavy sigh showing him her denreishinki. Ichigo didn't have to look at the message, he already knew what it was. They had talked about it many times. What would happen if the soul society found out that Rukia gave her powers to him.
"How did they find out?" Ichigo asked.
"I don't know. We haven't done anything that would be seen as suspicious or fought anything big enough to get the soul society's attention." She paused to look back at him, "Right?" a hint of accusation in her voice.
He responded, "Of course not!"
Rukia's accusing eyes lingered on Ichigo a few moments longer before moving to the ground as she continued to think. Her mission was being cancelled and a pair of soul reapers were coming to escort her back to the soul society. The message contained no information on why, but it didn't matter.
Soul reapers were never recalled early from a mission. They may receive an update but were never recalled, let alone be given an escort.
"You can't go."
Rukia was taken aback by just a couple of words. Her violet eyes found his amber before she responded, "Ichigo, we decided that if we got caught, the only option was for me to go with them, willingly. If I don't, they will label me a traitor and an order will go out for both of our deaths. A couple of years in a cell is worth it over death. You agreed to that."
"That's because when we made the agreement you were just a mean midget. But now you're a mean closet-dwelling midget who is also my friend." He said sincerely.
Rukia closed her eyes. "Ichigo, go home" she said softly. "This is your chance to get away from being a soul reaper and to live life. They'll be here soon."
"Actually, we are already here!"
Ichigo and Rukia turned towards the new voice. Standing across from them was a man covered in tribal tattoos, his red hair pulled back in a ponytail and a head band over his forehead.
"Renji don't-" Rukia tried to say more but her vocal cords stopped working when her eyes drifted behind Renji. Standing in a captain's white haori was a silver-haired man with what could only be described as a sinister face. Said man had the largest grin and slits for eyes.
Ichigo just looked on with both curiosity and slight fear. Rukia had told him of her former best friend Renji, the lieutenant of squad six. And there was no way he could miss who this captain was. He recalled Rukia having chills describing him over a month ago and right now, he himself was not too far off from doing the same.
No one would want to admit it but Ichigo, looking at the situation in front of him, his foremost thought was that he was severely fucked. If this couldn't be solved vocally then it would with their zanpakutō. He was sure they couldn't hurt Rukia, but he was free game. He knew that even if they had seals that limited their power to one fifth a fight would be difficult. He might be able to win against Renji but a fight with the captain would mean certain death.
There was always the option to run, Ichigo had become quite good with flash step but still his two months of experience would be nothing compared to their decades. Even though he had a pretty good teacher, running would not work.
At present time Ichigo was staring at the captain Gin Ichimaru who was staring right back; scowl met smile. Gin's reiatsu stayed impassive and non-threatening as he moved and leaned up next to a tree all the while keeping eye contact.
Ichigo turned when he felt the fuming, anger filled reiatsu directed right at him from Renji who took a step forward his hand holding the hilt of his sheathed blade.
"Rukia, is this the bastard who stole your power!" Renji gritted his teeth wanting nothing more than to end the orange haired teenager standing across from himself.
Ichigo just mimicked Renji's movements, his hand on his own zanpakutō… well Rukia's zanpakutō. "I didn't steal anyone's power!" His words only seemed to enrage Renji.
"Shut Up bastard! I wasn't talking to you!"
"Renji stop! Ichigo didn't steal my power!"
That was it, Rukia saying Ichigo's name broke the string that was holding Renji back. He unsheathed his blade and advanced. "I'll kill him! I'll return your power!"
Talking could not have gone worse, in a matter of seconds diplomacy had failed. All that was left to do was fight. Ichigo took a step forward unsheathing his zanpakutō, putting himself in between Rukia and Renji.
Then just like that the fight started, Renji flash stepping into the face of Ichigo trying to decapitate him. When the attack was blocked, he immediately struck again and again, trying to overpower the orange-haired teen.
Ichigo on the other hand was having none of it. Staying on the defense and giving space along with swift strikes against Renji's zanpakutō waiting for an opening. A single streetlight illuminated the striking blades and by extension their wielders.
A slight hiss was heard as Renji had drawn the first blood, a small cut just barely breaking the skin on Ichigo's lower abdomen. Renji didn't stop there. He immediately moved his blade upwards to strike at Ichigo's shoulder which was blocked. It didn't matter too much as Renji now had an opening. He quickly punched Ichigo in the face with his free hand, causing the teen to stumble backwards.
"Hadō #4 Byakurai!"
A bolt of lightning fired from Ichigo's free hand hitting the advancing Renji square in the chest and knocking him off balance. Ichigo flashed step forward catching the already off balanced Renji off guard; his zanpakutō quickly slicing diagonally across his chest, only flash stepping away once Renji lunged forward aiming for a lethal blow.
Once away both fighters just stared at each other, they had traded places from their original stances. The bleeding and frustrated Renji brought his hand over his zanpakutō, he would need to go further if he wanted to kill his orange-haired opponent.
"Roar Za-"
Soft words barely above a whisper cut Renji off. "Bakudō #4. Hainawa." A yellow rope snaked around his body, tying his arms to his side. The rope wrapped around his legs forcing Renji on his knees. His zanpakutō forcefully taken from his hand as he felt a cold blade to his throat, slightly digging into his skin and drawing a few drops of blood.
Renji blinked, tilting his head upwards, he saw Ichigo holding the blade to his neck. Turning his head he saw Rukia, her hand extended towards him. Then it hit him, figuratively. Ichigo wasn't the one to cast the last Kidō, Rukia did. He opened his mouth, but no words came out, for the first time in his over a century of afterlife, he was speechless.
Ichigo had won, kind of. Rukia had hit Renji in the back right before he was about to release his zanpakutō. Not exactly how he had wanted to win but a win, nonetheless. He might have celebrated if not for the worried face of Rukia who had just hit her former best. Along with this there was a captain very close who started… clapping?
The grinning, fox-faced captain slowly approached them, swaying from side to side like a snake slithering. Only stopping when Ichigo raised his zanpakutō slightly, the blade still on Renji's neck just higher forcing Renji to tilt his head further back.
"Well Done. It seems Rukia has been a pretty good teacher to Ichi here, wouldn't you say Renji?"
Renji opened his mouth to challenge that statement and say that Ichigo just goes lucky but the creepy smile on the captain's face forced his jaw shut and his head down desperately trying to avoid the gaze.
"Now would you remove your zanpakutō from Renji here's neck?" The captain sighed. "It would be such a pain to go back and tell the old man that a lieutenant was killed by what he would call an 'Infant'. Although, on the other hand, when I tell his stone-faced captain, he might even show an emotion."
While Gin debated the pros and cons of Renji returning, Rukia and Ichigo's eyes met, a silent conversation passing between the two.
With a nearly non-existent nod from Rukia, Ichigo lowered his zanpakutō and flash stepped as fast as he could away.
The captain waited a few moments after Ichigo's escape before speaking up.
"Rukia if you could let dear Renji go, the head captain would scold me if he didn't come back."
Rukia released the binding on Renji, and he fell face down into the concrete causing a slight chuckle from Gin.
"Now Renji, take Rukia back with you to the Soul Society while I track down the kid. I can't just let him roam around with soul reaper powers."
"Wait, you don't have to hurt him" Rukia explained. "My powers are almost back, once I return to the Soul Society, he'll lose my power. There is no need to hunt him down, no one else knows I'm a soul reaper and he'll move on with his life."
The captain nodded his head in acknowledgement while his grin grew. "No need to worry, I will just have a little chat with Ichi.
Renji finally spoke, "He stole your power, Rukia." Anger clear in his voice as he opened a Senkaimon, its light illuminating the surrounding area.
He went to grab Rukia to drag her into the gate when she quickly struck her hand to the wound on his chest causing him to wince in pain. She then walked around him, grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him through the gate.
At the same time, she inspected his neck where his seal was placed, trying to find any similarities between her seal and his. Unfortunately for her there were none.
Renji and Rukia disappeared into the closing gate leaving Gin there alone. His grin for the first-time sense arriving dropped although his eyes stayed closed, or squinted, no one really knew. He then turned around and flash stepped following the trail of Ichigo's reiatsu.
Ichigo didn't know where to go. There was no doubt in his mind that the captain would be able to sense his reiatsu and he couldn't exactly go home. His father may have also been a captain but there was no telling the difference in power between the two. Ichigo just couldn't risk it.
Then he felt it. The captain, Gin released his reiatsu which Ichigo instantly felt crawling over his skin. Gin was chasing him, and at a far faster rate than Ichigo could keep up with.
Then the reiatsu moved to Ichigo's right forcing him to go left and towards the opposite direction of the captain's reiatsu.
The reiatsu moved again. Forcing Ichigo to rotate in the opposite direction. Again, and again Gin changed directions causing Ichigo to repeatedly turn. Then all at once Ichigo realized that while he may have been running from the captain, he was also being led somewhere.
Gin could have easily caught up to him by now. Ichigo was being led like livestock to a slaughterhouse. And a slaughterhouse would be an overstatement seeing as Ichigo was nearing a beat-up old warehouse district in the city.
Now there was no point. Ichigo could not outrun the captain, and now he was sure he was purposefully being led somewhere. He stopped, turned around and grabbed his zanpakutō pulling it halfway out of its sheath before he stopped, unable to move as an extended blade came out of seemingly nowhere, entering his stomach before he had a chance to react.
Then as quickly as it came the blade retracted to its owner. Gin flash stepped into Ichigo's line of sight stopping once he got close.
Ichigo quickly pulled the rest of his zanpakutō out of its sheath with one hand and with the other went to his bleeding wound.
For several moments nothing happened. Gin stood perfectly still, not moving an inch, while Ichigo fumbled around unable to stand still. In fact, he was barely able to stand at all.
And in a fracture of a second Gin struck, his zanpakutō extending towards the teen. Ichigo barely managed to bring up his own zanpakutō before the strike came. Unfortunately for him, as soon as their blades met, his shattered while Gin's continued into his chest.
Ichigo didn't even know what happened then. In one moment, his blade shattered and in the next he was lying with his back on the ground struggling to get a full breath of air as blood slowly pooled beneath him.
Gin stood over the down teen and listened to his labored breathing. His zanpakutō hovered over Ichigo's neck while the teen stared into his slightly opened sky-blue eyes.
Ichigo's own blood dripping down the end of Gin's zanpakutō. The captain moved his blade from side-to-side smearing blood across Ichigo's neck, making it look like someone had just slit his throat.
"Try not to die Ichigo." Gin's shockingly soft with a hint of sinister voice caused the already troubled breathing teen to stop cold. "There is still so much that needs to happen, you wouldn't want to miss it would you? Capt'n Aizen wants you out of the equation, says you're becoming an 'unstable variable' in his plans. We all know how dangerous an unstable variable can be too long laid plans."
Gin flashed a smile as Ichigo looked on.
"Well… I should be going; arrangements must be made before I return. Goodbye Ichi!" With that Gin flash stepped away in a direction the Ichigo didn't care enough about, his mind was preoccupied by pain and the shocking amount of blood that covered the payment below him.
Laying in his own blood Ichigo could feel the distinct lack of sheath on his hip, signaling the Rukia had arrived in the Soul Society and that her remaining power inside him was gone.
A rain drop hit his face, then again and again until a constant drizzle had started. That was all the noise he could hear, his struggled breath and the sound of rain.
Minutes passed, maybe hours, it didn't matter. Ichigo couldn't feel his limbs, his hand that was over his bleeding gut had gone limp. He struggled to keep his eyes from shutting, if he closed them now, he would never be able to open them again. He turned his head to the side to stop the constant onslaught, the was the rain beating against his face. His view to the side was even worse as he saw all the blood he had lost. It was almost surreal to think that he was still conscious with the sheer volume that flowed away from his body.
The steady sound of rain was broken by uneven footsteps, then they quickly stopped. Ichigo tilted his head but didn't see anyone. Believing that he had finally cracked and was starting to hallucinate he led out a shaky breath and closed his eyes, ready for death to overtake him.
The footsteps started up again, this time growing closer. Ichigo didn't open his eyes; he didn't have the strength to get his hopes up just for nothing to be there. The footsteps stopped right in front of him.
"Not looking to good there are ya Ichigo."
Ichigo slowly opened his eyes. He was met by a brown eyed, blond jaw-length haired weirdo with a giant shit-eating grin.
Gin flash stepped in front of a sign that read 'Kurosaki Clinic' with his classic grin plastered on his face. Jumping into the air he climbed through Ichigo's window, his eyes landed on the shell of a human body on the bed below him.
A muffled, almost inaudible scream alerted him to a stuffed animal taped to the wall, its eyes wide and staring at the intruder.
Gin looked on with interest before he brought a finger to his lips trying to silence the aware stuffed animal. "Ssshh!" He then grabbed his zanpakutō lined it up with the body below him and stabbed into the heart of Ichigo's empty body.
Kon could only look on in horror as right before his stuffed lion eyes the captain killed Ichigo's human body and then thrusted his zanpakutō into the air opening a senkaimon. With a wave the captain stepped through the gate. As quickly as Gin had arrived, he was gone.