So, obviously AU
NOTICE
A couple things/headcanons beforehand to preface
One, the Hogyoku affected Rukia in some manner, you can't have something as powerful like that within you without being affected in some way.
Two, Ichigo is a freak of nature, his genetics make him a perfect hybrid, which means that all of his kids would be imperfect hybrids, I explain this further in the chapter but the basic premise is that his kids are incapable of completely surpassing him.
In one aspect of spiritual power? Sure. But all of it? No.
Also, yes, I'm an IchiRuki fan at heart but I'm not completely against Ichihime, Kazui's gonna have some tricks up his sleeves that's for sure but this just gives me an excuse to explore possibilities.
Eh, at this point I'm just tired of the constant arguments.
Thanks to all who've enjoyed so far, please keep reading and tell me what you think?
"So…why do you say you're not a fighter?" Orihime asked as she treated the two boys.
"I mean…you fight pretty well…and you'd think as Ichigo's son…well…" she trailed off.
"Hmm…I guess I should explain better." Kazui said as he sat up. "You see…I can fight, and I will fight to defend myself and others…but the thing is…I don't really need to."
"What do you mean?"
"Well…you and dad, you guys fought so much, defeated so many enemies that when the time came and I was born…there's not much really for me to fight or get involved in."
He looked out towards his half siblings.
"Old Man Zangetsu said that the life of a shinigami was full of pain and death…a ceaseless battle…and it's true…out of all of our siblings…the only ones who don't have to constantly deal with this stuff are those that are human, like me and Soryu."
He sighed as he brought his knees up and rested his arms over them.
"There's an old quote, I like history, that says "I study war and tactics so that my sons can study mathematics and phyics, and their sons can study arts and music." Or at least, that's the gist of it." Kazui said with a sigh.
"You guys gave up so much so that I could have a normal life…so that I could live my life without having to worry about life or death battles every other week…at first I didn't understand, and I was a pretty ungrateful brat…but after some things went by…I decided to live my life as a human…and enjoy it."
He gave off a sad chuckle.
"It's only after meeting my siblings that I realize just how blessed I am." Kazui said as he looked towards the others sparring.
"Take Youko for example…she wanted to become an animator after falling in love with art styles and anime and all that stuff…she even created special kido from scratch to help her animate better…she had to give that up when duty called however, and now she's set to become the Kido Corps Commander."
Kazui then pointed to Azami.
"Azami wanted to go to college, so that she could study things like a human and learn more about the human world and their sciences, to try and have that experience in life…sure, she can learn at the 12th, but it's not the same."
Soryu grunted and sat next to him.
"Masaki had a normal life too…then things changed and she got caught up in the life of a shinigami too."
"Yeah…she wanted to become a teacher…"
They remained silent for a moment before Kazui continued.
"I'm going to college next year…Tokyo U…that wouldn't be possible if I was active with the matters of the dead like you guys were…that's why I'm thankful. I'm not a fighter because I don't need to be one…I can just be me. Same as Soryu…"
"Hell, the only ones who have a normal life other than us humans are Shaolin and her siblings since they live all the way in Mexico…but that's rare," Soryu muttered.
Orihime paused then nodded in understanding.
"That's…a bit sad…"
"Nothing is perfect," Kazui wisely said. "Everything requires a sacrifice. Time, money, skill, power…lives…everything. In the end, you guys gave me the choice…and I'm glad for that."
'You won't forget me…will you, Kazui?'
'Never, Ichika.' Kazui says as he looks at his closest friend…perhaps more…
'You…you could try and come with me…you know?' Kazui asked one more time, his hand slightly reaching out to take hers.
Ichika sadly shook her head, pulling her hand away from his.
'I have a duty…you have a choice…enjoy your life…okay?'
She turns around and he watches himself let her go.
The trio looked out at the other children.
"They couldn't have that choice."
"Sho no Mai: Mai no Getsuga." [First Dance: Dancing Moon Fang]
Masaki swept her blades outward and Ichigo grunted as he suddenly found himself backing away from the Getsuga Tensho's that seemed to be hopping all over the damn place.
Also, can't forget the ice pillars popping out wherever they landed.
"GETSUGA TENSHO!"
His own attack blasted through the pillars before crashing against the bouncing attacks and forcefully dissipating them.
"Ni no Mai: Shiro Tensho." [Second Dance: White Heaven Piercer]
This time Masaki pointed her white blade forward and it glowed before a spearing white light came rocketing at him.
'Damn it!'
He raised up Tensa Zangetsu and barely managed to block the blast, the force still dragging him away.
With a roar he sent another getsuga at her.
She then twirled in place, black and white energy trailing across the air around her.
"San no Mai: Getsuga no Mai." [Third Dance: Dance of the Moon Fang]
This time the energy coalesced before exploding outward, completely overwhelming his own attack!
He gasped as she suddenly appeared in front of him, too close for him to react.
Her piercing yellow eyes, so much like his staring at him with apathy as Hagetsu speared into him.
'What the hell? Isn't this…supposed to be a spar?' Ichigo though as he could feel himself waning.
'...Masaki…why…?'
'Che.'
"She has a hollow…" Rukia whispered in horror.
Her daughter, even from another world, had been affected by the same thing that was driving Ichigo to despair.
"Yet she is in control," Byakuya assured her though they moved away, the sheer cold wave of reiatsu pushing them back.
The others had stopped fighting once Masaki had pulled out the mask and dragged their respective parents away.
"Sigh…that girl, she gets too enthusiastic with fighting." Youko said as she made some hand signs before a barrier appeared before them, blocking off the cold reiatsu.
"Did you just…?" Yoru disbelievingly chuckled.
"I like Naruto, sue me." Youko said with a pout while her mother mouthed the word 'Naruto' in confusion.
"Also, Ren, you good?" Yoru asked his half-brother.
The group turned to a bloody Ren with his head on top of an equally bloody Unohana and hugging her from behind.
The two had the same serene smile.
'Oh no, there's two of them.'
"Hm? Oh yeah, uh…we had a talk…managed to get some things out of the way…" Ren said with content.
"FIGHT ALREADY!" Ren roared desperately as he hacked away but despite using his shikai, despite finally drawing blood from his 'mother'.
She still refused to draw her blade against him.
"Why…why won't you fight!?" He begged to know.
Unohana raised her solemn gaze towards him.
"...Can a mother truly raise her blade against her son?"
Ren gave out a scoff.
"What do you know of motherhood?" Ren snarled as he strikes again and again. All of them deadly blows that she barely dodges, not from lack of skill, but simply her own corrupted sense of retribution. "Not even a year after I'm born and you throw your life away!"
Retsu closed her eyes.
She deserved this.
"Then it seems that my alternate self traded one sin for another."
Ren grimaces but found himself unable to stop upon hearing that damn word.
"Sin…pfah…" he spat.
"You were Soul Society's best healer. You even said it yourself that you'd bring your enemies back from the brink of death just to prolong your fights! But when you fought against Uncle Kenpachi…you didn't heal yourself! Why!? Why didn't you come back and join the fight against-!"
He cuts himself off, unwilling to reveal more and endanger this timeline even more even as his grip tightens, his blood mixing with Chigetsu's turning it even darker.
"You could've come back…to your division…to mom, to dad…but you didn't come back…" he whispered as he started to break down, bowing his head as tears began to mix with blood.
"Why didn't you come back to me?" He begged to know.
Retsu began to cry as well as he looked up again, bloody tears falling down his face.
"Was I not enough? Was I not important enough to come back to?" He begged to know.
They stared into each other's eyes.
"Did you even want me in the first place?" he brokenly asked.
Retsu shook her head, now knowing what her son needed.
Silently she raised her blade, her reiatsu rising.
Ren huffed and raised his, blood red reiatsu emanating from him as he finally snaps.
"Ban. Kai."
He is enshrouded in a bloody mist and his katana becomes a daito, just like his father's, only it is blood red yet no blood actually falls from it.
His expression has changed, less frantic, slightly more serene but not…it was bloodthirsty, in the calmest way bloodthirst could ever be.
"Tensa Chigetsu."
'He really is my son.' Yachiru thinks to herself.
She dodges a fast swipe, almost too fast for her to dodge.
It was too fast, as testified by the newest cut on her haori.
She however, does not let it distract her as she then stabs forward, her blade missing his eye as he dodges and instead cuts a gash from his temple all the way back, just narrowly missing the top of his ear.
His eyes widen before they focus in satisfaction as he keeps pushing and pushing and pushing.
She backs away.
"Bankai…Minazuki."
They continue their dance of death, just barely avoiding killing each other as their blood decorates the ground, a testament to just how savage and brutal they could be.
Truly, the enemies of Soul Society would be quaking in their feet if they realized that what they were watching was the Original Kenpachi, the greatest criminal of all of Soul Society's history.
Unohana Yachiru.
And her son.
They pause, the two panting.
They charge.
Their blades pierce through each other's chests, the two coughing up blood.
A moment passes as they keep panting, trying to catch their breaths.
Yachiru slowly raises her hand and cups his face.
"Look how big you've grown…how strong you are…my beautiful son…" Yachiru whispered, her eyes lidded as she gave a bloodthirsty yet somehow motherly grin.
"I may not be her…but I have no doubt that she loved you…as I love you right now…"
Ren shuddered and leaned into her touch.
"Mother…I missed you…so much…even now, I still remember the feel of your reiatsu…after all these years…"
He lets his head fall into her shoulder and she gently caresses his hair, leaving bloody trails down his neck.
"Shh…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry my dear boy, my little blood flower…I see now what you wanted…for me to take you seriously…I know not what the future entails…nor of your struggles…but I'm so proud of the warrior you've become…" she whispers and comforts him as he cries his release.
With a squelch, both blades are retracted.
The healing process begins.
"How…nice…" Isane managed to say even as Benjiro gave a wave to Ren.
"So why did you all stop the fights?" Yoruichi asked, she was ready to test her daughter's shunko when the fights had stopped.
"Masaki's shikai constantly decreases the temperature in an area around her, putting on her mask increases the rate at which the temperature drops," Azami explained. "We'll continue in a bit but Youko needs to make sure the barrier sticks."
There was silence for a moment before Rukia mustered the courage to ask.
"Do you…all have inner hollows?"
Much to everyone's relief, they all shook their heads.
"No, only a few do, none of us present barring her."
"Then how…?"
"Well, it has to do with the circumstances involving…your pregnancy and her birth, yet, truth be told, she wasn't born with an inner hollow. You'll be glad to know that none of her siblings have inner hollows either…"
Rukia's blood chilled.
"Then that means…"
"Yeah…it came later in life."
"Okay, I gotta ask out of all of Ichigo's kids, which one of you is the strongest?" Renji asked, having shown up midway through Masaki's fight.
"Mm…that's a loaded question," Shaolin said with a hum. "Cause it goes into some multiversal theory…Azami?"
Azami nodded and took over the explanation.
"First thing you must know is for reasons we cannot share, his ancestry and genetics have ensured that Kurosaki Ichigo is what is considered a perfect hybrid." Azami began. "For that reason, every child that he produces, irrespective of their mother, will be an imperfect hybrid."
Somehow, she'd gotten a stand with paper that had pre-made drawings to emphasize the fact with little cartoon characters.
Ichigo, were he here, would actually compliment Azami's artstyle.
"For that reason, no child of Kurosaki Ichigo can surpass him in overall power unless he marries and conceives with another perfect hybrid. A statistical impossibility, and so far the only universes where other perfect hybrids exist have collapsed due to their sheer instability. We call those, MS universes."
"MS?"
"Mary-Sue. Don't ask," Azami deadpanned.
Flipping the page, she then (again from an unknown place) pointed with a stick to the miniature figures.
"Moving on, as imperfect hybrids, we have a tendency to specialize in certain aspects. For example, out of all of us, Youko is the most proficient in Kido, becoming a verified Kido Mistress and is in consideration for leadership of the Kido Corps."
Youko blushed as she could feel the sheer amount of pride in Nanao's reiatsu.
'My daughter as the Kido Corps Commander! I'm so proud!'
She nudged her elbow into a chuckling Shunsui who was amused by Nanao's sheer pride.
"Shaolin, is her respective universe's Goddess of Flash."
Shaolin gave off a bow to her audience.
"Oh? We'll have to see then, won't we, little missy?" Yoruichi grinned.
"Only if you're ready to eat my dust, mama."
"Meanwhile, Yoru has the single most destructive bankai out of all of us."
Yoru grinned as he leaned on his mother a bit.
"Yeah, kinda takes after yours more than dad's, mother."
Sui-Feng slightly flushed.
"Kazui and Soryu, being human and therefore living souls, have the most potential for growth, though Kazui beats out Soryu due to the uniqueness of his abilities and a head start from Inoue Orihime's own powers. Kazui himself being our defensive expert."
"Defensive expert my ass, his powers are completely broken," Yoru grumbled.
"Still can kick his ass though," Soryu grinned even as Kazui grumbled.
It was true, Soryu inherited Tatsuki's penchant for martial arts. In powerless fights he beat out everyone due to sheer tenacity, even being in a human body.
"It is true, he is after all, our best hakuda expert, ironically enough." Azami commented before continuing.
"Benjiro is our best healer, while Ren is our deadliest fighter…I believe that his record is 1,627 hollows in one sitting."
The two hugged their respective mothers.
"Would've been an even seventeen hundred, but mom called me saying I was late for dinner," Ren sheepishly said with an added serene grin. "Uncle Kenpachi still has me beat at 13,000 even."
'...Uncle Kenpachi?' The rest thought with a shiver.
"Sho is actually our zanjustu master-"
"I'm even an instructor at the academy!"
"-and Fuyuhana has the Seireitei's current most powerful fire-type zanpakuto."
Sho grinned as he leaned on his sister's head, everyone else staring in slight bewilderment at the tiny, almost unassuming girl who was giving a sly grin.
"I guess it's fair to say you're the most intelligent." Captain Hitsugaya commented and Azami nodded.
"And Masaki?" Byakuya asked, interested in his niece.
Azami turned to the shield that was frosting.
"She…has the highest reiryoku but her specialty comes in the potency of her power, her ability to 'break her limits' thanks to being exposed to the Hogyoku."
A pause.
"WHAT!?"
"H-how!?" Rukia demanded to know.
"When you held the Hogyoku within you, the original plan was for your gigai to drain you of your powers, causing you to become a normal human soul, thus depriving the Hogyoku of power and forcing it to dissipate. The night when you were returned to Soul Society, it had begun the process but the immediate influx of reiryoku stopped it," Azami explained.
Rukia felt sick and swayed a bit, feeling faint, Byakuya was quick to steady her.
"A shard of the Hogyoku was left within you, the tiniest speck of dust, and due to the sheer amount of father's reiatsu, caused it to shatter and Masaki absorbed it as a fetus."
"But…what does that mean for Masaki?" Rukia asked in fear.
"Masaki's life story is her own to tell, but she faced many hardships due to it. The very nature of the Hogyoku is to break the boundaries of nature…one of which was the development of her own inner hollow."
Rukia swallowed.
"That's how she's so strong then?"
"It is a factor, yes. Though, as she is an imperfect hybrid, she cannot surpass her father, much like all of us.."
That gave the others pause.
Ichigo was already ridiculously strong, how much stronger could he get?
"My current hypothesis is that the only feasible way for a child to surpass him in strength was if they'd been exposed to the Hogyoku throughout the entirety of the pregnancy…in other words-"
"I'd have to have gotten pregnant…in the world of the living," Rukia whispered, pale as ice.
"Indeed. It is fortunate then, that our father is…not the type to do so."
Meanwhile, in an undiscovered universe
"A child born from a perfect hybrid being and mother who carries the Hogyoku," Aizen muttered as he observed the current data.
He'd yet to kill the Central 46 and was actually about to head out to do so.
He never expected this…but then again, teenagers…
The sheer amount of potential that this child carried by being saturated with the Hogyoku's reiatsu and its unique lineage.
Could it possibly be true? A being that could potentially match him in strength, in power?
It was too exciting not to consider.
"This may set me back, but there's too much to gain from this…"
He left his office, heading towards Central 46.
Not to kill…but to manipulate.
'I am eager to meet you, Future Child.'
The order would come after she was retrieved.
Rukia Kuchiki would be executed, one week after her child was delivered.
"Can you take it out of me?" Rukia whispered, palming her chest.
"That is…inadvisable." Azami said with a bowed head.
"Why?"
"Because we do not know how much of an effect the Hogyoku had on you…if you desire, Masaki would be able to remove the Hogyoku shard, however, I would advise that you wait until after mastering bankai to do so."
"B–bankai! Me!?" Rukia asked in shock.
"Yes. Bankai. You." Azami deadpanned.
KABOOM!
They stumbled from the sudden explosion and many gasped as minute cracks began to form in the shield.
"Oh dear…" Youko sighed before strengthening the shield again.
"RAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
"Ah dammit, Masaki…she went overboard again…" Kazui shook his head.
"Is that her?"
Soryu waved a fire covered hand over a section of the shield, melting the ice.
He deadpanned.
"Nope, that's dad."
"ICHIGO! I WARNED YOU, BUT HERE WE ARE AGAIN! LOOKS LIKE I GOTTA TEACH YOU ANOTHER LESSON AND THIS LITTLE GIRL PAYS THE PRI-"
"DAMN IT, ZANGETSU! QUIT SCREWING AROUND AND LET ME FIGHT MY DAD!"
All of Ichigo's children simultaneously facepalmed.
"Dammit, 'Saki…"
"!%#!# %!"
"That's…quite the mouth on her…" Rukia commented, horrified.
"You can blame Uncle Renji for that one…he always teaches us our first curse words."
The group of mothers collectively glared at Renji who nearly pissed himself from feeling the reiatsu.
"GUYS! I'M USING MY PASS!"
"Alright!" Kazui called out with a wave and a chuckle.
"Pass?"
"In our early days of exploring universes we kept on accidentally messing with timelines, so we established a system to keep us in check with one free pass per person," Kazui explained with a shrug.
Another explosion caused more cracks on the shield.
"SAI! HAINAWA! BAKUDO# 9: GEKI! CARRIAGE OF THUNDER, BRIDGE OF A SPINNING WHEEL, WITH LIGHT, DIVIDE THIS INTO SIX! BAKUDO #61, RIKUJOKORO!"
"YOU DAMN BRAT!"
"SHUT UP ALREADY! YOUKO, IMMA NEED A SEAL!"
Youko sighed and nodded before making more hand signs much to Yoru's amusement.
"Shush…SEAL!"
Various symbols appeared around Ichigo and Masaki as she sped forward.
And stabbed him again.
"Well damn."
"Quick question, has he met the Vizards yet?"
"The who?"
"Shinigami with hollow powers. Have the arrancar appeared?"
"What?"
"Hollows with shinigami powers…okay then, wow, this is a pretty early universe." Kazui thought aloud.
"Nueva Luna, I'll need you to deal with him while Hagetsu and I fix things, alright!"
"Nueva Luna?" Rukia asked, dreading to know the answer to the question.
"Masaki's inner hollow, she's different from the Visored's inner hollows and Ichigo's."
"Oi, I think Masaki's taking this too far, Kazui." Soryu muttered, having a feeling as to what Masaki wanted to do.
Everything went quiet, for a moment, then the two went limp.
Kazui snorted.
"It's Masaki, since when does she do anything except at full throttle?" He sighed with a rueful grin.
"Since when do any of us not do so?"
Then Ichigo's reiatsu exploded as he fully hollowfied.
Many gasped in horror, seeing someone who was a dear friend become such a beast.
"Hahaha! This is gonna be fun! It's been a while since you've let me out to play, Masaki!" Nueva Luna roared.
"By the way, when we're done with this, you guys wanna show off your bankai's too or just hang out?" Soryu asked.
Another pause.
"BANKAI!?" The various mothers shouted.
"All of you?" Sui-Feng gasped.
"Indeed, though we did not use the…expedited method." Azami said to a relieved Yoruichi.
"I certainly want to, especially since Masaki's going to be busy for a bit."
"Hold on, as much as I'd like to see your bankai's, the release of that much concentrated reiatsu in such an enclosed area will make this hill collapse!" Hitsugaya sternly warned.
Fuyuhana grinned before turning to give Kazui a pout.
"Kazu-nii?"
"Yeah, yeah, don't give me that face!" Kazui grumbled.
Fuyu was too cute for her own good.
Kazui did his best to ignore the snickers.
"But it'll have to be after Masaki's done with whatever she's doing."
Ichigo's hollowfied body attacked Masaki's though the latter was laughing in glee.
"I'm having so much fun! Masaki! I really hope you let me out more often!"
Dark reiatsu began to flow from her swords before she crossed them.
"GETSUGA JUJISHO!"
…
"That's new…" Jushiro commented as he observed the proceedings.
"Agh! I wish you had your Vasto Lorde form already! ("VASTO LORDE!?) Now that's a fun fight!"
Ichigo roared before sticking out his hand, a crimson orb forming from it.
"THERE WE GO!"
Nueva Luna hunched her shoulders forward, a spark forming from the lips of her mask.
"HAARGH!"
"CERO!"
KABOOOM
Ichigo fell into the familiar city, but halfway through the buildings, he suddenly found himself crashing into water.
"What the hell!?"
Ichigo gasped as he got back to a dry place and shook himself off.
"So…you're finally here, eh?"
Swiftly turning, he found himself facing the same white counterpart as before!
"You! Where is Zangetsu!"
"Hahahaha…don't you get it? I'm Zangetsu now!"
With a flash of black cloth, a white Zangetsu was bearing down on him.
Another blade met it.
"What the-how the hell!?"
"Sorry about this, dad…but I can't bear to see the two of you in pain." Masaki said as she held back Zangetsu.
Zangetsu leaped back with a snarl.
"Sorry girly but you don't get to interfere-" Zangetsu paused as a long white katana was set against his throat, the tip near impossible to see against his skin.
"Father…there is no need for this," another voice called out, and he gawked as he saw the girl next to him.
She was pale, not quite to his extent, but she was definitely lacking in melanin. Dressed in exquisite robes, the kind that would be found on a queen.
Or rather…the daughter of one.
She also had heterochromatic eyes…her left was his and her right was a stunning blue.
"...what did you call me?" Zangetsu shakily asked.
"Father…much like how Masaki is the daughter of Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia…I am Hagetsu, daughter of Zangetsu and Sode no Shirayuki."
Zangetsu was dumbstruck. So much so that he let his sword fall…
"...how…?"
"A tale for another time…let's just say that involves baby showers and the Royal Realm," Hagetsu said with a small smile.
In Masaki's Universe during Rukia's Baby Shower
"Yo…Go-Ichi…lemme…lemme see Zangetsu there…" Oetsu said as he drunkenly stumbled over them.
Ichigo and Rukia blinked at him.
"Tru-trust me…it's gonna be a good gift…"
Still hesitant, he nonetheless gave him the twin blades of Zangetsu.
"Y-you too, Ia-Ruk (Ia-Ruk!?) lemme see Sode no…no Shirayuki…I've got an idea." Oetsu said before grabbing Sode no Shirayuki much to Rukia's chagrin and left for a bit.
Inside Ichigo's Inner World
*POP!*
Zangetsu and Sode no Shirayuki blinked in unison as she suddenly appeared in his world.
"Queenie?"
"Zangetsu?"
Outside
Many of the party goer's gasped as a dark figure suddenly manifested out of Ichigo's body, almost in a rush actually.
A few of them began to panic upon seeing the similarities between him and their defeated enemy Ywach.
"Old Man Zangetsu?" Ichigo cried out in shock. "What are you doing out here?"
"I am not dealing with those two," Zangetsu grumbled as he walked forward and approached Matsumoto who looked at him warily.
"I know you have alcohol…where is it?"
Matsumoto blinked before taking out a jug of sake from…somewhere.
Zangetsu didn't deign to ask as he swiped the jug, popped the cork and took a swig straight from the bottle.
Ichigo blinked in honest confusion and slight horror.
"Zangetsu…?"
Still drinking, he raised his finger to stop Ichigo before finally stopping and taking a breath before sighing.
"Damn degenerates…could have at least waited till I was out before tearing each other's clothes off like that…" Zangetsu grumbled before stalking off to a corner and sulking (not sulking).
After a few moments, and upon noticing that he wasn't doing anything else, the party continued.
A few weeks later
Rukia sighed as she soothed the back of her manifested zanpakuto who had come out to the real world so that she would avoid staining her inner world.
Again.
"BLEEGGHHHHH!"
"There, there…your pregnancy has almost caught up with mine…so that means that this phase will pass soon like it did for me…" Rukia gently whispered as she rubbed Shirayuki's back soothingly.
"Cough-cough…DAMN THAT NIMAIYA! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM-hurp-gah…DON'T THINK THAT YOU'RE GETTING OFF SCOT FREE EITHER, ZANGETSU!" Shirayuki roared before bowing to the porcelain throne once more. "YOU DID THIS TO ME!"
Zangetsu grimaced, Ichigo having forced him to come out.
"If I have to deal with a pregnant wife, you get to deal with her pregnant zanpakuto."
"I didn't even know this was possible!" Zangetsu cried out in his defense. "There's literally no way that she could have gotten pregnant! We're zanpakuto!"
"As you've stated multiple times, Zangetsu…" Ichigo rolled his eyes. He knew that this was mostly an act for Zangetsu since they were one and the same and knew that the spirit was actually really excited to meet his kid.
"...hurp…gasp…I'm gonna kill you, Zangetsu…" Shirayuki muttered as she finally finished throwing up.
'I don't even eat!' she whined in her head.
"Sure wasn't what you were saying when we made it! Ai!" Zangetsu yelped as he dodged the icicle sent his way.
"No powers in the house." Ichigo and Rukia groaned in unison.
'Hm, maybe we should have Zangetsu meet his children too,' Masaki thought as she recalled the same situation happened with Tobiume, Haineko and Suzumebachi (somehow) at least…
Though that last one was a mystery…
"Dad…Zangetsu…" Masaki said as she walked between them. "Let's talk…all of us…"
"And that means," Hagetsu said as she plunged her hand into Zangetsu's chest before yanking something black out.
It quickly materialized into a now stern, yet slightly shaken, older man.
"All of us…Zangetsu."
Old man Zangetsu and White Zangetsu grimaced.
Yet neither could ignore the hope that could be seen in their eyes.
"Dad…there's something you need to know."
Ichigo's hollow suddenly paused in place before shuddering and collapsing.
"Aww…are we done already?" Nueva Luna whined.
That was barely a warmup!
'Relax…we're both exhausted from that debacle thanks to the amount of energy needed for what we just did.' Masaki called out to her.
'Wait, what did you just do?'
Ichigo suddenly erupted in power, the reiatsu becoming a mix of black and blue, twinges of yellow appearing before focusing on Zangetsu's blade.
Zangetsu had changed…now half white and black.
Not the true blade, or rather, blades. That would have to wait until it was reforged in Oetsu's forge, but at least…
At least Ichigo's soul was that much more unified.
'He'll be asleep for a bit…as it is, so am I…feel free to hang out with the others, Nueva Luna…'
'Just don't scare them too badly…'
Nueva Luna gave a mental nod and grinned before dispelling Hagetsu and sheathing her, picking up Ichigo and slinging him over her shoulder and then grabbing Zangetsu with her off hand.
She sonido'd over to the shield and gave it a quick kick.
"Oh, hey Nueva Luna, Masaki and Hagetsu pass out?" Youko asked through the shield.
"Yeah, they did some crap with Pops and now all three are asleep."
"Ah…I can tell…" Youko said wryly as she noticed Zangetsu. "Well then, let's get this over with."
With a few more handsigns (Youko ignored Yoru's sniggering), the shield dropped.
"Yo. I'm Nueva Luna. Princess and the Pops are asleep so I'll be hanging around in their stead." The girl said with a wave before tossing Ichigo's body with a grunt.
"...really Nueva Luna?" Kazui asked.
"What? It's Pops, he'll be fine."
The siblings sighed while the others tried not to react to the clearly lucid hollow in front of them.
"...Is this uh…normal?" Rukia asked.
"Sigh…yes…for her, it is."
"Huh…" Nueva Luna grunted as she walked up to Rukia who nearly took a step back. "So you were always that short, huh Ma?"
"M-ma!?" Rukia exclaimed in shock.
"Technically adopted, but after a few life or death scenarios you called me as part of your family so Ma it is."
Flashback
Rukia panted as she and Masa- Nueva Luna finished fighting off what seemed to be the latest in a string of natural born arrancar.
Nueva Luna sat on the ground, slightly panting in exertion.
Her daughter had been knocked out early on due to its special abilities, and Nueva Luna ("Did she really have to name it?") had picked up the slack.
Still though…ever since Masaki and the others had returned from Hueco Mundo…where she learned that Nueva Luna had actually nearly died saving her…
"Despite our…initial meeting Ho-mm…" Rukia sighed as she saw the girl look sharply at her once she approached. "Nueva Luna…it seems that you make a good fit for our family after all…"
She could see black eyes widening underneath the mask.
"Let's go home…" Rukia said, extending her hand.
Nueva Luna looked at it warily and took it.
Rukia blinked.
'What even is my life?'
Later
Kazui closed his eyes and clapped his hands together.
"Tsukuyomi: Tsukikei. [Moonscape]."
A shudder as the ground in front of him began to shift before the world in front of them turned into a grey landscape, the stars dotting the sky.
Orihime gasped in awe.
"Is that…the moon?"
"Eh…not exactly? I don't know the exact details but it's basically a subdimension. It can only handle so much though at a single moment, so one at a time!" Kazui warned.
"FIRST!" Yoru said as he walked forward, somehow having moved his mother with him.
'That was…quick…and disconcerting.'
Yet Sui-Feng couldn't help but feel proud.
"Mother! Would you care to go first?"
Sui-Feng raised her brow yet Yoru simply smiled at her.
"Trust me, mom…it'll be good!"
Sui-Feng sighed.
"You know how much I don't like to use it…but very well."
Yoru hid his snickers.
'She always says the exact same thing.'
"Bankai."
Her reiatsu skyrocketed as the large launcher appeared, dwarfing her.
"Jakuho Raikoben."
"Beautiful as ever, mother!" Yoru said with a grin as he started to bounce around.
She gave him a nod, a pleased flush on her cheeks.
"My turn! Ban-kai!"
His reiatsu howled like a wolf as the claws disappeared.
A large, she hesitated to say backpack but it was as close a word that she would get, black metallic backpack that was basically a rectangular prism in shape with yellow markings appeared strapped to his back.
And coming out of his shoulders were two absolutely enormous rectangular shaped cannons.
"Tensa Kagegetsu."
"Let me guess," Rukia said dryly. "Your bankai's have Tensa in the beginning, too?"
"Hehe…"
"Yep, it's due to the lineage. Though for everyone's safety, not all of us will show it," Youko said.
"Indeed, out of all of us, the only ones who are prohibited from using bankai are Masaki and Youko."
"Really?" Shunsui commented as he looked at his…great-niece?
Great-niece, he decided.
She looked at him benignly but there was a sadness in her eyes.
"My bankai…it is similar to yours, Uncle…"
His eyes widened.
"Let's just say that Shingetsu was heavily inspired by his aunt…"
"I see…" he said before placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it comfortably.
"What about Masaki's?" Byakuya asked.
"It's super similar to dad's, well, all of ours is similar in that it compresses our reiatsu to various extents, but hers takes it a step further thanks to her ice powers. You guys see all that ice right? Any of y'all know what Yamamoto's bankai does?"
Shunsui and Retsu nodded.
"Imagine that but with ice."
"Wow…impressive." Shunsui grinned.
Kazui shivered.
"And deadly…all that cold condensed into a single blade…" he shivered.
"Tensa Hagetsu has some pretty unique abilities, and takes after her mother's," Shaolin said with a smirk. "Of course, so do all of ours!"
"Alright! Moving on! We can discuss that later!" Yoru said as he eagerly motioned for his mother to fire.
Sui-Feng sighed but fired anyway into the distance.
FWEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeee….ka-BOOOOOMMM
Yoru grinned.
"Niiiice…nothing to start the day like a good explosion."
Sui-Feng blinked and turned to her son, confused.
"Aren't you in the stealth force?"
"I'm in the Second, but not Onmitsukido, I'm part of another subdivision we created together," Yoru explained.
"Oh really?" Sui-Feng asked, interested in learning how her division grows.
"Yeah, the Diversion Corps."
She blinked again.
"...Diversion Corps?"
Yoru grinned maliciously.
"In other words…the Wreckers."
She paled.
'Why do I have a feeling he's been influenced by the 11th?'
He pulsed and reiatsu began to coalesce in his cannons, compressing itself. The glow actually showed that the barrels had 'vents' along its length that began to glow one by one.
"Here's my special technique, just for you, mom!"
The glow spiked.
"GETSUGA…"
The backpack opened, popping out supports that rapidly spiked into the ground.
"RAIKOBEN!"
[Moon Fang Thunder Whip]
'My bankai is in his…' Sui-Feng thought as she saw the attack begin.
She couldn't help but feel proud.
And the two cannons were in fact not cannons at all.
They were railguns.
Two arcs of blue lightning streaked out over the horizon, the air shrieking as it was ionized by the energy.
Sui-Feng's eyes widened in surprise as she trailed the two blasts as they coalesced midair before impacting the ground.
KABOOOOOOOMMM
'Sheer most destructive bankai indeed…' She thought as the shockwave passed over them, a large wall of wind buffeting them soon after.
"Hehe…I still remember the story you told me of dad nuking some guy with a getsuga…since then I've been doing my best to replicate it!" Yoru said as the back of the cannons suddenly popped out, letting out an enormous amount of steam.
"Last time I showed you, you said that I eclipsed it by twice the power!"
Sui-Feng was…glad to see her son so animated but was still slightly torn.
What happened to stealth?
"Hmm…I'd say that was almost three times…" Kazui grimaced.
"Huh? What makes you say that?"
"You broke Tsukikei." He deadpanned in response before pointing.
It was true, far off into the distance, they could see the subdimension warping and cracking, giving an odd effect of seeing the rest of the training ground in the cracks as if it was close by, which it was, yet still seeming far away due to the effect of Tsukikei.
"Oh cool! Now I know what to do the next time we spar!" Yoru said with a grin.
"Please don't blow yourself up just to win spars against Kazui, Yoru." Youko admonished.
"Please, your powers are almost as broken as his, you have any idea how disorienting it is to attack him and end up on the other side of the moon!" Yoru complained.
Kazui snorted.
"And do you know how many clothes I've lost due to your claws! Hell, don't forget the one time those spiritually sensitive girls saw us spar and turned into Fujoshi's cause of what you did!" Kazui roared at him with a blush.
"What I did!?" Yoru cried indignantly. "That wasn't my fault and you know it! You were the one who wanted to test out your new Moonshine ability-"
"It is not called moonshine it is-"
"Apapap! You named it! You get to deal with the consequences of picking a name that sounds like an alcoholic drink! Besides! That's not the point! That damn explosion blew the both of us up!"
"Wait, so that's why Sakura and the other girls from your highschool were drawing you-"
"WE SAID NEVER TO MENTION THAT AGAIN!" Both Kazui and Yoru roared at a grinning Shaolin.
The two suddenly moped.
"We couldn't even explain that we were half-brothers…so we tried the cousin route…" Kazui groaned.
"That only made things worse…" Yoru shivered.
Sho shivered as well…he'd made the mistake of visiting his brothers as Kazui was leaving school and had added to the rumors by accident.
'...the Orange Trifecta…'
All three of them shuddered in unison upon remembering that accursed title.
Shaolin raised a brow at the trio before shaking her head with a chuckle.
"Right, well let's move on then…I'll go next!" she said as she crossed into the subdimension.
She cracked her neck, her tail whipping about behind her as her reiatsu began to rise continuously.
"Ban…kai!"
In a swirl of dark energy, Shaolin disappeared.
Everyone blinked.
"Give it a moment…I sent her to a different place within Tsukikei so that she could show off." Kazui said before pointing off in the distance. "In fact…"
They could see a cloud of dust appearing in the distance that seemed to increase.
"Is that…"
"Don't blink."
FWOOOM
The gust of wind pushed everyone back a step.
"What was that!?" Rukia asked in shock.
"Ah, that was Shaolin."
"Huh, her speed's increased," Kazui noted as he did something with his hands.
"But what's she doing?" Sui-Feng asked.
FWOOOM
"Ah…she's getting warmed up." Yoru said as another dust cloud passed by them.
FWOOM
"But what exactly is she doing?" Renji asked as he approached.
It was Yoruichi who realized it first once she saw the trench in the ground.
"...she's just running…"
Everyone blinked as the dust cloud appeared again, a black blur approaching.
"Hehe…you're gonna love this," Kazui said as with a flick of his finger a stone cube appeared from the ground.
PT-M
BOOOM
The cube shatters from a single kick, disintegrating into dust as the sheer impact of the shockwave sent those unprepared flying back.
Those that could still stand could now see Shaolin, covered in dark armor with orange accents, her tail armor had changed, instead of a mace at the end was now a wicked scythe that swished back and forth around her and she had a helmet with a purple visor.
On her forearms were large spikes that slightly curved, the light of the moon glinting dangerously off of them.
All in all, it was one of the strangest bankai's they'd ever seen.
Orihime loved it though, and said that it looked like a futuristic ninja.
"Let me guess…Ichigo's speed combined with my speed and compressed even more?" Yoruichi asked.
Shaolin nodded.
"I can also add a bit more thanks to these vents on my back. They act like thrusters from my own reiatsu when I use Shunko and add even more to my speed."
Yoruichi blinked.
"You can go even faster?"
"She's topped out at mach 3," Azami deadpanned.
Yoruichi blinked again, unfamiliar with the human term.
Notably the humans in the group were extremely surprised.
"Mach what?"
"It means that she can hit the speed of sound times 3."
This time Yoruichi gaped.
"Yep! It's what makes my bankai so deadly and destructive. I weigh about 60 kilos, you put that at about 3700 kilometers per hour and that's almost 6300 kilos of force I put into a single kick!" Shaolin exclaimed happily before pointing at her armor.
"My armor's meant to protect me from the sonic blast and air friction."
Many of the shinigami blinked in confusion.
"When you go faster than the speed of sound there's a shockwave that emits from it," Shaolin explained with a shrug. "My armor's not meant to take blows so much as to protect me from friction and backlash from doing that."
Yoruichi blinked.
She was fast but…
"Show me!" she said with an excited grin.
Shaolin gave one right back as she cracked her neck.
Vents popped out of her back, glowing with purple reiatsu.
"Yoru, a countdown please!"
Yoru was quick to do so as Shaolin's reiatsu increased exponentially.
"SHUNKO: SOKUDO KYO!" [Shunko: Speed Demon]
"3, 2, 1, GO!"
BOOM!
The ground exploded behind her as she raced forward.
"Youko, we're gonna need a barrier."
"Right."
A shield appeared in front of the spectators as Shaolin got faster and faster.
FWOOM!
Yoruichi observed as Shaolin got faster and faster, her reiatsu streaking behind her like jets.
FWOOM!
FWOOM!
FWOOM!
She kept going faster and faster, so much that a cone of air was forming on her body.
And this was only her pure running speed.
Then she used shunpo.
Yoruichi still couldn't believe it.
She saw a black blur appear in front of the shield before disappearing completely without a sound.
It was quiet for a single second.
KRA-KOOOM
"And there's the sonic boom!" Youko said.
"WOAH!"
They saw her pass by, a cone of air centering around her and getting narrower as she increased speed for some time.
"Aaaannnndd…Mach 2!" Yoru called out.
A few more minutes later.
"Mach 3!"
"Hmm…that's ridiculously fast…it takes her a bit to reach that level though."
"Yeah, she's fast enough for battles but she's working on increasing her acceleration to reach the mach's faster."
"Check this out though!" Kazui said as he raised another target, this time a bit to the left of the original to give Shaolin time to adjust and aim."
KRA-KOOM!
Dust…that was all that was left of the target.
"Alright now we just gotta let her slow down."
It took a bit longer, momentum wasn't an easy thing to beat, even for shinigami, but Shaolin managed to slow down enough that she could come to a full stop.
The adults blinked at seeing her armor steaming, some parts even glowing red.
"Nobody touch me, the friction of the air heats up my armor…Azami's theory is that I can get hot enough to burn something to ash one day if I go fast enough," Yoru explained as she waited for her armor to cool down.
A few soft Tenran's from the others helped speed up the process and she let go of her bankai.
"Alrighty then…next?"
"Eh…I think we need a quick healing session, quite a few eardrums burst…"
Fuyuhana was the next one to come up and Toshiro felt a sudden dread.
Her shikai was fairly simple. Fire-based, which was pretty common among shinigami. It allowed her to make whips of flame and also send exploding getsuga tensho's at him.
Yes, you heard that right.
Exploding Getsuga Tensho's.
Though he was intrigued, wondering how the daughter of his childhood friend turned out to have her Seireitei's current most powerful fire-type zanpakuto.
'Is the Head Captain still alive in her universe…or?'
"Bankai!"
FWOOOOOOOOOOOSSSHHH
She was consumed in a pillar of fire that erupted into the effigy of a phoenix before crashing down on her.
"Tensa Higetsu."
Toshiro couldn't help but feel…humbled and awed.
'Her bankai takes after her uncle's…'
Her fire had changed, becoming a brilliant blue, the same color as her father's getsuga's. With feathers that could be individually determined from their white outlines, the very tips a blazing bluish-white that were searing the air.
Three wide tails of fire swirled about around her legs, scorching the earth to slag.
Youko had to actively increase the intensity of her shield and even still they felt the sheer heat coming from it.
Shunsui observed carefully.
'Quite the intense reiatsu…Yama-jii has to be dead in her universe for it to be considered the current most powerful fire-type…but even still…it's sheer power is surprising for one so small.'
Taking a deeper look into her reiatsu.
'And…the scariest part…it still hasn't reached its full potential.'
He looked over to the various children.
'None of them have.'
He chuckled.
"You sure have some scary kids, Kurosaki."
"Hm? You say something, Captain?" Nanao asked.
"No…don't mind me, Nanao. Just the musings of an old man."
Fuyuhana's outfit had changed, becoming armored like the Onna-musha (female warriors) of old.
"Hehe…I'm almost at the point where like Masaki and Youko, I'd be forbidden to use my bankai around others! Fortunately I'm actually able to control it." Fuyu slightly bragged.
"Oi!/Fair."
Youko and Nueva Luna stared at each other before shrugging.
"I don't want to show off all my tricks though…so I'll take a page out of dad's book and unleash my strongest Getsuga."
"Ah crap…" Kazui groaned. It was gonna be a pain to hold Tsukikei together.
The fire bird that enshrouded Fuyu began to condense into her sword, with the others now seeing that it changed from a normal firewreathed wakizashi, to an longer katana with a protrusion from the top similar to her mother's shikai, the two points of her sword parallel to each other.
Of course, the fire had to coalesce between them.
A burning ball of energy began to form before expanding and 'filling' the space between the normal blade and the protrusion with white hot reiatsu.
"Getsuga…" Fuyuhana breathed as she raised her blade up.
"TEN….SHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
It was…oddly beautiful…simple in nature as fire ultimately is, but powerful, majestic even as the crescent of fire erupted from her blade, blinding them all with its white light as it carved through the ground and seared through the heavens.
It was over in an instant honestly.
But the aftermath…
"Nothing but dust and ash…" Toshiro murmured to himself a part of him wondering how his bankai would handle that amount of fire.
Currently?
He honestly had his doubts.
"Damn it, Fuyu!" Sho scolded. "You overdid it again! Look what you did to yourself!"
Fuyu pouted as Sho began to fuss over her, the spectators shocked to see the severe burns that she had across her hands and arms.
"F-Fuyu!" Toshiro exclaimed in shock.
Not only at the injuries, but at how nonchalant she was about them, not even reacting to their severity.
"Hm? Oh…" Fuyu hummed as Toshiro held onto her hands. "I'm used to the pain from my own power…at this point my nerves are kinda…numbed."
"That's not…" Toshiro sighed as he began to fret over her…"What am I going to do with you?"
Fuyu began to giggle.
"That's what you always say, Uncle," she said before a green glow appeared from her arm, surprising everyone, especially Orihime who'd come to heal her.
"That is…quite the proficient use of kaido there, young one," Unohana complimented.
"It was either learn or keep burning…I preferred to learn."
Sho sighed.
"Honestly, I can't even say anything…not with my bankai being so similar."
"Yours is a fire-type as well?" Hitsugaya sharply asked.
"Nah, but you see, ash has to come from somewhere right?" Sho asked with a terrifying grin. "And well…what better thing produces ash than a volcano?"
Sho then disappeared from their view.
"Wait for it…"
"KRAKATOA!"
Everyone stared at Fuyu who merely giggled.
KRA-KOOOMM
They then turned around and saw what seemed to be the after effects of a volcanic eruption in the distance.
"Dammit, I told him to go for a Pelean not a Plinean when inside Tsukikei," Kazui grumbled. "Youko, we're gonna need another shiel-"
"Already on it."
The crowd began to mutter as they saw condensed reiatsu fall across the sky.
"Tensa Haigetsu is a bit weird, it condenses his reiatsu and then explodes it outward like a volcano's eruption. Only reason it's not technically more destructive than Yoru's is cause the explosive force is limited to a smaller radius…what you're seeing is the 'fallout' of his reiatsu which is basically similar to lava rain…"
"Sheesh…"
"Indeed."
"That dumbass…gets on me about going overboard and he explodes himself like that," Fuyu grumbled. "Hypocrite."
"At least he's not-"
RUMBLE
"...he launched a Getsuga, didn't he?" Kazui said with a groan, not facing the lightshow going off behind him.
"...How is he not forbidden from using bankai?" Toshiro asked in slight horror.
"Because that," Fuyu said with a grunt, pointing her thumb towards the dying light. "Is when he decides to show off. His bankai's eruption is only a third of that at most when he's taking things seriously."
"Otherwise he risks hitting everyone else with the initial explosion which is why he'll only use it for one on one fights."
Fuyu sighed before using shunpo to disappear and bring back Sho.
The young lad was…toasty to say the least.
Though it was very amusing to see the girl who barely came up to his abdomen practically tower over him and scolding him like there was no tomorrow.
"Alright…is there anyone else that wants to go?" Youko asked.
"We've been at this for a while…"
"We still have Benjiro but…" Fuyu looked over to her half sibling who shrugged and faced the audience.
"Eh well, Tensa Kumogetsu isn't really a combative bankai…it basically gives me greater healing capabilities and a defensive getsuga."
Rukia blinked.
"A defensive getsuga?" she asked.
"Oh, basically I can make a static getsuga tensho, and once my enemies touch it, it'll explode at them. Really good for defense. Gives enough time for Ren to come by and slaughter them."
Isane blinked at the wording but…
She couldn't help but feel proud of her boys and was glad that she'd been able to be a part of Captain Unohana's legacy.
She idly feels her presence behind her.
"Thank you, Isane…" Unohana whispers from behind and she merely nods.
Anything for her captain.
A groan caught everyone's attention and they turned to face a waking Ichigo.
"Ichigo!"
"Dad!"
"Pops!" Surprisingly enough Nueva Luna was the first by his side to help him up.
"Easy there, old man," Nueva Luna teased.
"I'm not old…" Ichigo grumbled before looking closer at her.
"Huh…I know that hollows have the same eyes but…you have Zangetsu's…how?"
"He saved my life once…didn't always look like this…" Nueva Luna said
Ichigo grunted and let himself get helped up before cracking his neck as he palmed the new Zangetsu in his hand.
He took a deep breath, felt the balance of his soul and nodded.
"So…what did I miss?"
Everyone groaned.
In another universe
SLASH
"Kurgh…"
A white blade, stained in blood, was ripped out of the cooling corpse.
Another figure approached her from behind.
"Any news?"
"We've tracked them down to another universe."
The first one snorted in derision.
"Arrogance…" she spat. "They think of themselves as gods, messing with timelines and fate, unheeding to the consequences of doing so."
She idly palms a scar under her robes before clenching her fist.
Another fighter tried to attack her but a blue cube surrounded him before it collapsed on itself, crushing him.
"You have a sword sticking out of you, brother." she deadpanned without even looking at him.
"You know I can't feel anything nor can I die, so why bother?" he shrugged.
A loud explosion and maniacal laughter caught their attention.
"Well…he's having fun."
She sighed.
"Well then…after we're finished here, let's hunt down some idiots."
Her brother sighed.
"Don't you think we've done enough, Masaki?"
The girl stopped and turned to face her brother with a glare.
Her left eye was scarred, blind and void. The other fully black and yellow.
"It will never be enough…" she snarled before calming down.
"Besides…I'm sure you're all about seeing your dear old mom again…right, Kazui?"
Kazui snarled as black chains began to flicker and appear around him.
"How many has it been so far? 53?"
"54 with this universe…" Kazui grumbled as he crossed his arms, unheeding of the amount of blood staining his armor. "All fruitless."
"Then you know, until we can get back what we lost…it will never be enough."
Kazui sighed before moving forward.
"Then let's go already, this universe is just as boring as the last few."
A portal opened up in front of them and they left behind a dying world.
Maybe one day I'll get around to drawing them
I have one but it's half-finished.
I may or may not continue this, hard to get inspiration sometimes or motivation to even write.
Hope you enjoyed, if not then too bad, I honestly don't care.
