Chapter 1

Ichigo Kurosaki sprinted away from the Vizaird chasing him down; it ran along and jumped from one rooftop from the other occasionally shouting after him. He had trained with the Vizaird, exiled Shinigami with Hollow powers, to harness his own Hollow powers and after waking up from the coma that followed, he learned that Orihime had been abducted by the Espada, an elite group of Arrancar that had attacked before. Now, the young Kurosaki had made the mistake of asking for further training from the Vizaird and he had been taken under the wing of one Dell Constantine, he didn't look threatening so Ichigo thought this would be an easy sparring match; to put it simply he was wrong, but he didn't get the chance to regret his decisions as a large gash was cut into the asphalt before him.

"Stop running." The masked Shinigami growled in a voice that felt like sandpaper on Kurosaki's ears. The dark narrow eyes behind his mask staring him down before jabbing at him with his zanpakuto, Ichigo only barely managing to hop back and avoid being skewered.

"Like Hell!" The orange haired Shinigami yelled in response. The Vizaird swung downward onto Ichigo's shoulder; he's fast, very fast, the young Shinigami only barely managing to defend himself from the slash with Zangetsu at the last moment.

"This is cowardly, young Kurosaki." Dell and his new pupil traded blows for a few moments before Constantine's own zanpakuto cut a hollow slash in Ichigo's abdomen. A deep red stain spreading across the young Shinigami's black kimono. With a hiss of pain, Kurosaki hopped back quickly and stared down his teacher. 'What is this bastard thinking? I only managed to get a hang of this a few days ago, dammit,' he thought.

Lowering Zangetsu, the orange haired youth grasped the non-existent Hollow mask of his own and yanked his hand in a quick downward motion, fetching his newly acquired ability. Student and teacher silently glared at one another, neither wholly aware of the other's full capabilities; Dell pointed his steel at Ichigo, the same unpleasant growl hit his ears once again.

"Show me your Bankai." It demanded. Ichigo stared into his teacher's eyes.

"Why?" He simply asked. The response that Ichigo received astounded him, he couldn't have heard him right, Constantine said it with such confidence that it almost reminded him of a few Shinigami he knew. Dell had assuredly answered:

"It will not be a fair fight if you do not."

In Kurosaki's mind, his new teacher was some over arrogant psychopath and there was no way he'd need to use his Bankai to win this fight, so he didn't. Ichigo launched himself at the opposing Vizaird, his clothes flapping violently against the air being dispersed by him, and prepared a slash aimed at his foe's right shoulder. Dell hadn't even flinched when Ichigo moved and as the youth's zanpakuto was moving in a wide downward arch, Dell's own steel met his; shoving Ichigo back, Dell moved quickly and stabbed his blade into his pupil's left shoulder and followed it up with a quick punch directed at the redhead's nose. It connected and left the youth disoriented and clutching his wound, it wasn't bleeding all that much but it still hurt like hell.

"Show me your full potential, Kurosaki Ichigo!" Dell shouted, agitated he continued, "I despise this! Fight me on even ground!"

'Fine,' Ichigo thought, 'If he wants to see me go all out so badly, I'll show him' and with that last thought, Ichigo decided he might as well use whatever few seconds he had left to show his newly appointed teacher just who he was dealing with. Taking an offensive stance, Ichigo gripped Zangetsu with both his hands and shouted, "Bankai!"

The surge of spiritual energy that followed pushed Dell two feet back, his knuckles turning white as he gripped his zanpakuto eagerly. Excitement and adrenaline began to pump through his veins and a he smiled elatedly behind his mask, and as Ichigo's figure quickly approached him, bankai released, through the smoke his mask dissipated and his smile transformed into a scowl. Kurosaki had launched himself at Dell with a yell, but was surprised when his opponent's fighting style suddenly changed. Constantine had ducked beneath Ichigo's swing, only cutting harmlessly through air, and the redhead now felt a stinging pain in his stomach. He looked down to find Dell had shoved his fingers into the shallow wound he had inflicted when this began and had little time to recuperate before his Hollow mask had begun to dematerialize and a quick blow to the chin made his vision go black.

As Dell unhurriedly carried his new pupil on his shoulder towards the Vizaird's hideaway, he reflected on the pitiful display of power that Ichigo had shown him. He had decent control over his new Hollow powers but he had played right into Constantine's hands; sure, what he pulled might've been called dishonorable by some, but battles weren't won with honor. At least, that's what Dell thought. Unfortunately, the Hollow living in his soul disagreed, and made sure to vocalize his distaste for Dell's underhanded tactic. 'I cannot believe you did that,' it had said, 'you call yourself a warrior?' Akuma, the Hollow's name, was very opinionated, always whining about honor and chivalry. It despised fighting women and children and had an odd obsession with fair fights.

"Shut up." Dell said exhaustedly under his breath to silence the Hollow's nagging. He looked up from his shoes at the warehouse he had called home for God knows how long; he had stopped keeping track after the first decade. Kicking in the door, he dropped Kurosaki onto his back on the cold and unforgiving concrete. Only a few of his fellows acknowledging his arrival with quick glances and nods, aside from Shinji who had for some reason taken interest in the kid. He had strolled over from his seat on an abandoned crate and now stood over the unconscious redhead.

"He's a pain, ain't he?" Shinji asked with a smirk, the bill of his flat cap hiding his eyes.

"You can say that again," Dell sighed, a slight Southern British accent present in his exhausted voice, while he massaged a crick in his neck, "little bastard's got spirit, I'll give him that. I still don't know why the lot of you picked me to teach him."

"Cause you did jack shit when we were keepin' him from levelin' Karakura Town." Shinji answered.

"I was busy! There were other things that required my attention!"

"Sure, Bell." Shinji said as he turned his back on the now fuming Constantine. The other Vizaird would sometimes purposely muck up his name and nothing infuriated Dell more than this; well, almost nothing.

"MY NAME IS DELL! DELL!" He yelled after him, but to no avail. His attitude now soured, the irate Vizaird firmly grabbed his student's ankles and proceeded to drag him to the storeroom that Constantine had claimed for his own. Inside the average sized room, the walls were covered with framed posters and shelves that held everything from souvenirs purchased from Urahara's store to authentic antiqued weapons. Book shelves filled with copies of Shonen Jump, annual almanacs and dictionaries, and textbooks focused on the finer points of Kidou and Shunpo. Everything free of any sign of dust or age and organized based on anything that can be organized by: size, color, and release date, etcetera. A single couch, buried in a mountain of throw pillows and blankets, sat pushed against the right wall of the room and, with a single swift throw, Dell introduced Ichigo to his temporary lodgings. Now that the kid was sound asleep, Constantine took this moment to spoil his zanpakuto with a fine polishing. She did always appreciate that.

The last few hours had passed without any excitement. Dell went about his day as he normally would have if the child he had been forced to take into his tutelage were not sleeping soundly on his couch; tidying shelves and displays, dusting off his rarities, and pampering his girl. In fact, it was the scraping sound of the whetstone on Dell's sword that woke Ichigo from his nap. He winced at the stinging pain in his front as he tried to twist to see Dell in his seat on the other side of the room. Fingers hovering over the reopened wound, Kurosaki glanced at Dell expectantly. After a moment of awkward eye contact, a look of understanding passed over Dell's features.

"Oh! I should probably get someone to fix you up, shouldn't I?"

"You think!?"

Dell left the room in a hurry leaving Ichigo to admire his surroundings. His first impression was that Dell clearly had too much time on his hands if he had enough to organize and clean everything here. Then again, Ichigo and his posse did take care of most of the Hollows that appeared, and the Vizaird really didn't have anything to do already, so, on second thought, this collection was probably one of the pastimes Constantine had picked up. Ichigo was noticing that most of the Vizaird had some kind of hobby that kept them busy. Kurosaki's thoughts were interrupted by Dell's return.

"Did you-?" Ichigo was interrupted once gain by Dell. The man had swept the redhead from his comfortable spot on the couch and now was carrying him out of the room.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU BAS-!" Kurosaki hit the concrete floor again. This time, he had been dropped on his ass rather than his back so, luckily, he retained consciousness. However, he found himself in front of an extremely large well-dressed fellow with a strikingly pink mustache.

"Sorry to bother you with this, Hachi." Dell apologized.

"No worries." Hachi responded. He held his hands closely over Ichigo's wounds and, as his torso was encompassed in a transparent rectangular prism, healed them within a minute. The wound closed and white scar tissue faded till there was no remnant of the injuries in Ichigo's stomach and shoulder.

The young Shinigami pushed himself upwards into a sitting position and touched where his injuries had been. He thanked Hachi and the Vizaird left with a nod and a smile, and as Ichigo was about to stand on his own, Dell grabbed his young pupil by arm and lifted him up onto his feet. Planting a hand firmly on his young pupil's shoulder, Constantine led Ichigo to a small closet furnished by a single futon and a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

"This will be your room till your training is done." Dell said matter-of-factly.

"It's a closet." Ichigo said in his infinite wisdom, "WHY DO I HAVE TO STA-?!" He began before being cut off by the slamming of a metal door behind him as Dell shoved Ichigo into the room. This was going to be his living conditions for the next few weeks whether he liked it or not. And he didn't like it.