Chapter 1

In the small but cozy town of Karakura, there was a seemingly out-of-place and small store. The shop's name was proudly displayed on a large sign above the entrance. Written on it in big bold letters was 'Urahara Shop'.

At first glance, the shop might seem like a shabby establishment that sold either very specific or non-specific items and that no one visited the shop much. At least not anyone living visited.

The Urahara Shop's main form of clientele was the dead, and more specifically, Soul Reapers.

However, at this time the Urahara Shop was closed for a certain reason. Underneath the shop, and the surrounding buildings, was a large area, dug out by the shop's owner; Urahara Kisuke.

The point of this vast empty space being dug out was to train the young teen Ichigo Kurosaki. To prepare him to go save his friend Rukia Kuchiki from getting executed by the Soul Society.

So far, Ichigo's training had gone swimmingly, he had been able to survive one of the shop's assistants, Ururu's blows and acclimated his spiritual body to the fact of being… well a spirit. But right now, Ichigo found himself in a pinch.

He looked horrified at the chain attached, as the mouths that had been eating away at it multiplied until his whole chain was filled with them, and before he could even say anything, the mouths began chomping down on the chain.

"The whole chain!?" He yelled out in panic.

A horrid sound emanated from the hole Urahada had thrown Ichigo in as the mouths quickly eroded the chain away.

In a matter of seconds, the mouths had reached the last link of Ichigo's Chain of Fate.

"Stop!!" He yelled in vain. "Hey, stop that!!"

The mouths however didn't listen to him and ate the last chain and the base of the chain, revealing the hole that was hidden beneath the Chain of Fate.

Ichigo looked in despair, his eyes beginning to moisten due to the feelings of shock and helplessness inside of him. "Wha…" Before he could say anything, Ichigo felt something crawling up his throat and exploding from his open mouth.

He screamed in horror as the white substance that had come out of his mouth covered the left side of his face, forming the shape of a mask.

'Damnit…' Ichigo cursed in his thoughts. 'This can't be how it ends… I can't die… I haven't even gotten the chance… to tell Rukia…'

The Hollow mask slowly covered his other eye, filling Ichigo's eyes with darkness. Just as he was about to give in to despair, he heard a voice echoing from within.

"Are you just going to sit there?"

Ichigo opened his eyes, only to see the sky and buildings. He was no longer in the hole. He was now… somewhere else.

Ichigo looked around confused, wondering if the voice he'd heard just now was real or not.

"Over here."

The voice came from behind Ichigo. As he turned to look who had spoken, the sky and buildings vanished. In their place appeared a completely white room with bright lights. But what drew Ichigo's attention was the man sitting on a knocked-over bookshelf.

The man sat confidently, his right leg crossed over the other as he laid back on the furniture. Black metal-plated boots and black pants with two black straps attached to his thighs and two more attached to his shins. Over his torso, the man wore a tight, black sleeveless shirt with silver accents over his muscles. On his shoulders were two separate pieces of a red coat that was connected by a piece of metal on the man's neck and by a string on the front. The coat's sleeves were long enough to reach the man's wrist and further. The man's skin was tanned, and his hair was fairly short and swept back.

The man didn't even acknowledge the dumbstruck Ichigo who was now standing. "Who… who are you?" Ichigo asked.

The man slowly opened his gray eyes, giving Ichigo a condescending look. "I think you have other problems to worry about right now." The man drawled pointing a finger at Ichigo's chest.

Ichigo looked down and sighed in relief when he didn't see a hole there. His relief was stopped short as the man spoke up again, "Don't let your eyes fool… You are still very much dying… or becoming a hollow, whichever you prefer saying…"

Ichigo glared daggers at the man and he gave Ichigo a smirk in response. "Then where the hell am I? If I'm not in that hole then where…?"

The man sighed and rose from his chair. "This is exactly why I didn't want to do this first…"

Ichigo furrowed his brows in confusion. The man approached Ichigo slowly. "Alright, I'll tell you where you are, you'll have to figure the rest out by yourself. This place is the inside of your own mind. Everything you see before you is real, yet not real at the same time…"

Ichigo got even more confused at the man's explanation. "Inside of my mind… So… does that mean you're…" He trailed off, unsure of the answer.

"Oh for fuck's sake…" The man cursed. "What could possibly be inside a Soul Reaper's inner world? Think about it?"

The man crossed his arms, having finally stepped in front of Ichigo, he could see that the man was at least a head or two taller than him. "Soul Reaper… Inner world… Are you then my… Zanpakuto…?"

"Yeah, something like that." The man raised an arm and a box appeared in it a second later. The man threw the box to Ichigo who looked at it in confusion. "Inside is your Zanpakuto and your Soul Reaper powers as well… All you need to do is pull it out and you'll avoid becoming a Hollow and getting killed by Urahara Kisuke…"

Ichigo opened the box and his eyes widened as he saw the hilt of his Zanpakuto. He went to grab it but stopped momentarily. He looked at the man and asked, "If you're my Zanpakuto, shouldn't you have a name?"

"I…" The man paused, thinking his next words over carefully. "I don't remember…"

"Ichigo deadpanned at the man. "You… don't remember your own name...?"

"Yeah… Amnesia… Crazy…"

He stared at the man suspiciously before grabbing ahold of the sword inside of the box. As soon as he did, he swore he could see the man smiling.

Ichigo opened his eyes again, seeing the familiar hole and fake sky above him. His sight was slightly obscured however by the hollow mask that was on his face. Thinking back to his brief time working as a Soul Reaper, Ichigo effortlessly jumped out of the hole he was in and landed in front of Urahara Kisuke and his two assistants, Ururu and Jinta.

The group in front of him gave him wary looks which confused him. Until he remembered the hollow mask that was still on his face.

Reaching back, he pulled his sword from its sheath. He felt saddened by the reduction of weight and the lack of an actual blade.

Even though Ichigo recovered his Soul Reaper powers, he couldn't fix his sword it seemed like. He sighed and hit the mask that was covering his face, cracking it and loosening the grip it had on his face.

Peeling it off, Ichigo placed the mask on the side of his head, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the bright lights.

"You didn't turn into… a Hollow?" The short red haired kid said in disbelief.

Ichigo flexed his fingers, feeling better than before. The familiar black robes of the Soul Reapers felt comfortable and light on him. He was taken out of his thoughts as Urahara applauded. "Congratulations!"

The shopkeep flicked his fan open and covered a part of his face. "You succeeded in becoming a Soul Reaper! Hooray! You passed lesson two!"

Ichigo smiled slightly before turning to the shabby man and hitting him in the eye with the hilt of his broken sword. "Screw you!!"

Urahara recoiled back, covering his eyes with his hands. "My eye!!" He yelled out in pain.

Ichigo chuckled darkly at the man. "You should have been praying I'd never come out of that hole alive!" He pointed at the downed man with confidence. "'Cause I swore that if I ever made it out of there alive I'd kick your ass!!"

Removing his hands from his face, Urahara gave him a look of wonder. "Wow…" Then he smiled, raising himself back up with the help of his cane. "That's perfect then. Let's carry that spirit right into lesson three, shall we?"

Now back up, the shopkeep flicked the underside of his hat. "Lesson three has no time limit!!" He announced joyfully. "If you can knock my hat off with that Zanpakuto…"

Giving him no chance to finish talking, Ichigo went straight for the kill. He swung his broken sword at Urahara, catching him momentarily off guard. "...you pass." The man finished and Ichigo managed to hit the hat on his head, cutting it slightly.

"Not bad…" Urahara said, staring at the cut on his hat. "You got this close with a broken Zanpakuto…"

With rising confidence, Ichigo pointed his broken sword at Urahara. "That's right!! And I wasn't even trying!" Confidence and ego at an all-time high, Ichigo raised five fingers. "Forget the time limit stuff!! I'll finish this in five minutes!!"

Urahara looked at him from beneath his hat. "You think so?" He challenged Ichigo's confident promise and raised his cane, pulling out the hidden blade within.

"All right… Let's see you do it…"

Urahara Kisuke skillfully cut the last remaining part of Ichigo's blade, reducing it to only the hilt.

Ichigo stared at it in shock, all of the confidence he'd had just a few minutes earlier was completely gone.

"There. The blade is gone." Urahara spoke, smiling eerily. "Now what will you do? Come at with that?"

Seemingly relishing in the despaired expression on Ichigo's face as he stared at the hilt, Urahara continued. "Well. all you have to do is knock my hat off. Maybe you can do it with only a hilt."

Ichigo turned to look at the shopkeep, a clicking noise coming from his clogs as he walked. "But I warn you… If you try to fight me with that toy… I will kill you."

Ichigo suddenly felt a heavy pressure emanating from Urahara. His senses screamed to escape the dangerous shopkeep. And trusting his instincts, Ichigo ran away. He ran as fast as he could but was stopped as a hand grabbed him by the neck, stopping his escape and throwing him on the ground.

Before he could be cut down, Ichigo rolled away, barely avoiding a killing blow. He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could and continued running.

"Pathetic…"

It was the voice of the man inside his mind. Ichigo turned around abruptly, finding himself not in the same place. Instead of a city, or a white room with knocked-over furniture, he was in a church.

The only light inside was the candles and the shallow light coming through the thick glass. Ichigo turned around wildly trying to see if he could find the man from before.

He then heard the sound of footsteps. Turning to where the sound was coming from, Ichigo saw a man who looked similar to the one from before, but only younger.

Instead of a tall man with a short red coat and tight sleeveless shirt, this man wore a long cloak-like coat that went past his knees. Long black boots, black pants, and a loose black long-sleeved shirt with a cross hanging from his neck gave him the look of a priest.

This man was also much shorter than the other one and had longer hair with bangs hanging off. His skin was tanned just like the other one and he had white hair too, but his eyes were brown.

"Greetings…" The man said. His voice was much softer than the other ones. "It seems you're approaching the last step of training…"

"Huh… what do you mean?" Ichigo asked, confused.

The man however ignored him and walked to a podium that sat in front of the rows of benches. "I am the bone of my sword… Do you know what that means?"

"What the hell… No, I don't." Ichigo said. Turning around he looked at his surroundings more. "Where am I? Where's the other guy?"

"There's so much to do and yet you still can't see the big picture…" The man lamented before sighing. "Do you know what happens to a Soul Reaper's Zanpakuto if the hilt is destroyed?"

"Maybe…" Ichigo answered warily.

"Don't worry it's nothing life-threatening. It's only…the death of your Zanpakuto…"

Ichigo opened his eyes wide in shock. "Did you just say the death of my Zanpakuto…?"

"Verily… A dead Zanpakuto means you can't wield a sword. You would be a swordless Soul Reaper, helpless to save anyone…"

"Okay, so how do I stop it from dying?"

The priest smiled at his question. "Knock off that Soul Reaper's hat, of course."

"Yeah, that's impossible…" Ichigo's eyes were downcast trying to find an answer. "Dammit!" He yelled out in frustration.

"I can't do anything with only a hilt!" The priest chuckled at his outburst.

"My oh my… You seem to be having some trouble… Fine… I'll give you a hint." Ichigo looked at the priest in hope.

"All you have to do is call out your sword's name and you'll win…"

In an instant all of the hope that was in Ichigo vanished. "Damn him! He didn't tell me his name!! Why didn't he tell me his name!!?" Then a spark of hope came back as he remembered where he was. "Wait! If you're here, does that mean…?"

"Good observation, but no. I am not your Zanpakuto…" The priest smiled at Ichigo. "But I can tell you its name… sort of…"

Ichigo regarded the man with suspicion before sighing in defeat. "Honestly, I'll take anything I can get at this point…"

The priest calmly stepped from the podium and walked to where Ichigo was. "The man you saw here before me… Although I can't give you his true name, I can give you something that will suffice…"

He sat on one of the rows of benches and kissed the cross on his neck before continuing. "You can call him Archer…"

Ichigo felt something inside of him changing when he heard the name. "And your name is…?" He asked curiously.

"You can call me Ruler… Ichigo Kurosaki…"

Back in the training grounds, Urahara was about to slash Ichigo's back, as the substitute Soul Reaper had stopped running.

Before he could, Ichigo turned around drawing the hilt of his sword from his hand.

"ARCHER!!" He yelled out, the surrounding area bursting with the raw energy he was exuding. Urahara sidestepped the powerful wave of energy Ichigo had launched. The shopkeeper was stunned for the first time in a long time.

Ichigo's sudden attack had created a massive cloud of dust, and when it cleared Urahara smiled looking at the Soul Reaper with a large cleaver-like sword.

Ichigo looked at his sword briefly before turning back to his teacher. "Well then…" He said, having recovered from the shock and amazement of seeing what he had just seen. "Now that you've managed to draw your Zanpakuto we can really begin."

Ichigo looked at Urahara calmly. Raising his sword above his head, Ichigo decided to warn the man before unleashing an attack. "Sorry, Mr. Urahara… You'll evade it as best you can, right?"

The shopkeep scratched his chin worriedly. "Why…?"

"I probably can't restrain it…"

Ichigo swung his sword down as hard as he could, sending a large blue wave of raw energy barreling at the former Soul Reaper. Barely managing to block in time, Urahara watched in shock as his hat floated down on the ground, a quarter of it missing.

"Boy oh boy…" He spoke solemnly. "You killed my hat…"

He put the slashed hat back on his head, glancing at the downed Ichigo. "All this from a single sword strike… Mr. Kurosaki, you are one scary guy…"

Okay that's it!

First chapter of Bleach: Unlimited Bankai Works is finished.

I am terribly sorry if you couldn't understand what was happening. I'm still new to writing so if you have complaints, criticism or advice that would be appreciated.

Didn't take that long to write so I'll write another on if this one gets enough attention. And given the fact that this is my first story, I don't need a huge crowd of people yo convince me to keep writing

Seeya whenever the next chapter comes out!