Outsider Chronicles: Bone, Bow and Blade

Remembering ones past lives can make for both a massive pain in the ass and a huge boon, especially when your current life is the protagonist of one of your favourite stories. It can also make massive changes to your powers, if only because you can cut out the bullshit.

Right, well this is an…interesting idea to put it mildly. I figured I could have some fun with an Ichigo incarnation without actually messing with his powers much at all. Should be fun if nothing else. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

Waking up was a remarkably weird experience. I was absolutely sure I was supposed to be dead, but I felt oddly good. My body didn't hurt, despite the fact I'd been hit by a car/stabbed twice by an asshole…

I jolted upright with a gasp, scrabbling at my front, looking for wounds. To my surprise and relief, there were none. Then, as the panic faded, I realised just what I had just thought and, in the process, that I apparently had two sets of memories. One belonged to a perfectly normal British man that ended abruptly with a pair of very bright lights and the sound of a trucks horn and the other of a slightly less normal Japanese teen who had spent the last few months fighting soul eating monsters after stealing a grim reapers powers.

Or, to put it more pithy, I was an Isekai victim who had been reborn as Ichigo Kurosaki. Well, at least that explained a few weird things about my life, although the memories didn't exactly paint a good image of my not so different future.

I let out a sigh and fell back onto my back, staring up at the grumpy looking sky as I turned my new memories over in my mind. I quickly concluded that my extra memories must have been subconsciously influencing me for a long time, even if I didn't actively remember them. While I was still recognizable the same as the Ichigo from the original timeline, I wasn't exactly the same. I actually had a sense of humour for one thing and I didn't blame myself for my Mothers death quite as much, although my new knowledge made it quite clear who actually deserved to take a sword to the face.

Unfortunately, it also made it clear that I couldn't really afford to just roll over and let my powers fade away.

I scowled softly as the sky above rumbled softly and a light rain began to fall. Damn, I really should get under some cover…

Hang on a sec, where am I?

I sat up and looked around for the first time and immediately recognized my new surroundings as the horizontal city that made up my Inner World. Huh, thats interesting, I would have thought I wouldn't be able to access this after Byakuya destroyed my Spiritual Powers. On the up side, I could deal with this WITHOUT having to go through the Shattered Shaft.

I got to my feet and looked around, quickly spotting the old man on his pole.

"Ichigo, you are here," he said, a hint of resignation in his voice.

"Apparently so," I said, "Would you mind bringing him out?"

Old Mans eyes furrowed slightly.

"Ichigo…"

"No Old Man, I'm not having it," I said, cutting off the Quincy manifestation, "I understand where you are coming from, but its not happening. It doesn't matter what you try, I will not allow myself to be chained down. I don't want to have to cut a part of me off, but if you won't work with me, I'll do it without hesitation."

Old Man stared at me for a long moment, before he let out a deep sigh and visibly deflated.

"Very well Ichigo," he said, "I know better than to think that you are bluffing."

His cloak flickered and expanded, before Zangetsu stepped out of the dark folds. He looked mostly like I expected, only with the addition of a pair of horns and a skull-like mouth.

"I hope you know what you are getting yourself into," said Old Man.

"So do I," I said, before turning to Zangetsu, "So, am I going to have any trouble with you?"

Zangetsu snickered.

"Nah, not if you keep this up," he said, "I'm perfectly happy to follow a King willing to lay down the law. That said, if you falter…"

He gave a manic grin, made worse by the permanent toothy grin and made a cutting motion across his neck.

"Noted," I said, "Right, well I know the basics of Soul Reapering and Hollow stuff is mostly instinctual, so lets make use of some time to get started on Quincy stuff."

Old Man perked up at that, looking at me with surprise clear in his eyes.

"What? You don't actually think I'd be willing to leave one full third of my power set gather dust, do you?" I asked, "Hell no, you're a part of me too and I have no intention of leaving anything by the wayside."

Old Man stared at me, his jaw working, before Zangetsu let out a bark of laughter and slapped him on the back.

"Well, you heard the King, hop to it geezer!" he said.

Old Man shot his counterpart a glare, before drawing himself up.

"Very well, I shall teach you how to use my powers," he said, "But first, you should be aware of one more thing."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

Instead of answering, Old Man pointed off to the side. I followed his arm and frowned when I spotted a patch of my inner world that looked weirdly out of place. It was an area where, instead of the horizontal city, a patch of frozen, ice covered forest with a house sized dome in the middle sat. I frowned as I eyed it.

"What is that?" I asked.

"That is the power you stole from Rukia Kuchiki," said Old Man, "Your own power has awakened thanks to its presence, but it is still present in you."

"Ah, right, I guess that makes sense," I said, "Well, not really, but you know what I mean."

I thought for a moment.

"Is it possible to give it back?" I asked.

Old Man gave a sigh.

"Yes, but you will have to do it in person," said Old Man.

"All the more reason to save her then," I muttered as I started making my way towards the conspicuous igloo.

It didn't take long to arrive, distance was a bit weird here, and I peered inside, a little wary that I was about to take a fist to the face. The inside of the frozen building was dim, but I could still see the pure white form of Sode No Shirayuki sat in seiza in the middle of the chamber.

"What do you want?" she asked before I could speak up.

I stepped fully into the room, shivering slightly. It wasn't actually that cold, but I could FEEL the barely contained hostility leaking of the Zanpakuto spirit in front of me.

"I guess…I want to apologise," I said.

"For what?" snapped Sode No Shirayuki, "For stealing me from Rukia? Or getting her killed?"

"I don't really think I can apologise for something I had no control over," I said, "But yes, I am sorry for getting her into this mess. So, to make up for it, I'm going to get her out of it."

Sode No Shirayuki snorted.

"How do you plan to do that?" she muttered, "If you can't beat Byakuya and Renji, you don't have a chance of saving Rukia."

"True, but we have some time," I said, "I'm pretty sure I can get strong enough to manage it. I'm sure Urahara can help with that."

Sode No Shirayuki turned to stare at me, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Are you crazy?" she asked, "If you do that, you're gonna die!"

"Maybe, but thats OK," I said, "I don't think I could live with myself if I just abandoned Rukia. She did save my life after all and even ignoring that, shes my friend. Besides, I'm a guardian. Self proclaimed or not, its still my job to protect those who can't defend themselves which, for now, includes Rukia."

I ignored Zangetsu's snickering and kissy noises from behind me as I focused on the icy spirit.

"So, can you put your faith in me for a bit?"

She stared at me for a moment, then sighed deeply.

"Alright, I guess so," she said, "Not like I have much of a choice. Even if you fail, just make sure you get me back to my Master, alright?"

"I think I can manage that," I said.

"Might wanna hurry it up King," said Zangetsu, "I think your about to wake up."

"Good luck!" called Sode no Shirayuki as I faded.

"Thanks!" I called back, "I think I'll need it…"

I woke up to Tessei's face way too close to mine. I reacted appropriately by punching him in the face. He barely reacted and it felt like I'd just punched a brick wall, but at least he moved away.

"Quick response, good!" he said, "Boss, Mr Kurosaki is awake!"

I sat up, taking in my old fashioned surroundings as I rubbed absently at my bandaged chest. The inside of the Urahara shop looked exactly like I expected and smelt of sweets, which was rather surprising since I half expected it to reek of unwashed bodies and Urahara's crazy experiments.

"Ahhh, good to see you've recovered Ichigo~!" said Urahara as he entered the room, "I do suggest you don't move around too much though. Your wounds haven't healed fully yet."

I stretched and winced as my chest twinged.

"Ow, noted," I said, "Doesn't hurt as much as I was expecting though."

"The wounds looked a lot worse than they were as it turns out," said Urahara, "You were very lucky. When I found you, I was sure that your Saketsu and Hakusui destroyed, but it seems that Captain Kuchiki has got rusty. That means we can cut out the really dangerous stuff and get right into training as soon as you are recovered~!"

"Joy," I said dryly.

"Isn't it just?" said Urahara, before his smile shifted from faux exuberance to something more serious, "Tell me, how does it feel to have all those extra memories?"

"Remarkably weird," I said without thinking, then blinked and looked over at Urahara, "Wait, how did you…?"

"People possessing memories of their past lives are exceptionally rare, but they do happen," said Urahara, sitting down beside me, "They have a certain…scent to them. Most Soul Reapers likely wouldn't know the difference, but I've looked into them. It does go some way to explain why you are so powerful though. Reincarnations always have exceptional Spiritual Energy."

"Really? Huh, thats…cool," I said, "Useful too."

"Indeed," said Urahara, "You'll need all the advantages you can get if you want to save Rukia."

"You'll help?" I asked.

"I will," said Urahara, "But first, you need some proper training. We have time, the Soul Society generally waits a month before executing a criminal like her. Ten days to train you, seven to open the Senkaimon and thirteen to save her. As an added bonus, as you still have your powers, we can skip the first bit."

He chuckled softly.

"This is going to be fun."

The last few days of school went by at a sluggish pace, only broken up by my conversation with Orihime about Rukia and what actually happened, but eventually, I joined Urahara at his shop and followed him down into the training room underneath. I ignored his grandstanding and started stretching.

"Can we save the jokes for later?" I asked, "I'd rather get all the training I possibly can in."

"Oh, very well," said Urahara, hefting his cane, "Lets get started."

Before I could react, he popped me in the head and I tumbled back as my body collapsed. I got to my feet and looked myself over. My Shihaksho was pretty much how I expected and remarkably comfortable. The only difference between the canon Ichigo and me was that my massive Zanpakuto had been replaced with a more naturally sized sword, wrapped in a snow white carry case. I was a bit surprised that Sode no Shirayuki had appeared like that, but whatever. At my hip was my own Zanpakuto. Or rather, Zanpakutos, plural.

One of the two was a Katana in a black sheath with a red wrapped hilt and a simple guard, while the other was a short dagger with a cruciform guard with a white sheath and the handle wrapped in blue leather. Curious, I drew it and found that it was actually a swordbreaker, with a series of deep serrations down the blade. A closer look revealed that each one held a small amount of blue Spirit Energy.

"Huh, neat," I said, "I wasn't expecting you to appear as well."

I felt a faint response from Old Man as I put the dagger away and turned to Urahara, who was eyeing my blades with some interest.

"Now that is an interesting arrangement," he said, "There are very few double Zanpakuto and I have never heard of THREE."

"To be fair, this isn't mine," I said, tapping Sodenoshirayuki, "And I'm not sure that the dagger counts as a Zanpakuto in this sense."

Urahara raised an eyebrow, but I didn't elaborate.

"I am surprised that you have managed to gain so much control over your Spiritual Power in such a short amount of time," he said, moving on rather than dwelling on a topic.

"Thanks, I've been practicing," I said.

"I see," said Urahara, his jovial attitude vanishing as he slowly drew his Zanpakuto, "In that case, lets see what you can do. Your goal is to knock my hat off, no time limit."

I responded by drawing my own weapons and bracing myself. I had a feeling that I was stronger than canon Ichigo was at this moment, but I did not believe for a moment I actually stood a chance against Urahara if he took this fight even remotely seriously. I was proven right a moment later when Urahara surged forwards and thrust at my chest.

Reacting on instinct, my parrying dagger shot out and did its job, only for my intended counter to die before it could begin as the hatted shop keeper simply followed up with a palm to the chest that sent me flying.

"To slow Ichigo!" he shouted.

I ducked Benihime's second strike and went in with one of my own, forcing Urahara back with Zangetsu as my Quincy Dagger shot up and locked down his sword. A twist of my wrist forced Urahara back before his wrist was twisted out of position or his sword snapped, not that I thought that the latter was likely. As he moved back, I twirled my dagger and pointed it at him, releasing the energy that had been gathering with every movement in a blast of blue energy. Urahara went wide eyed at the unexpected attack and barely managed to evade it, taking a gash to the brim of his hat in the process. The fight paused as he watched the attack continue until it hit the wall and dispelled, leaving a small hole in the painted sky.

"Well, isnt that an interesting turn of events?" he said, turning back to me, "Unless I miss my guess, that was a Quincy Arrow, correct?"

"As it turns out, I might need to have a chat with Dad once this is over," I said with a smirk.

"Indeed," said Urahara, "Well, I guess its time I started taking this seriously. If you know about that, you must know about your Zanpakutos name, yes?"

I nodded.

"Good, in that case, lets get started. Awaken, Benihime!"

I swallowed as I felt the sheer bloodlust radiating of the normally jovial shopkeeper and his blade, before steeling myself and shifting my stance.

"Ride, Zangetsu!"

My Zanpakuto glowed brightly and transformed, quickly transforming into the familiar form of Ichigo's first Shikai, wrapped in its wrappings. A flick of my wrist had the bandages flowing off and I took a ready stance, massive sword in one hand and tiny dagger in the other.

Urahara smirked at the sight and lifted his blade in salute.

"Well, this might be interesting after all," he said, "Lets go."

And thats done. I think this idea has a lot of potential. I'm sure its been done before, but I haven't so nyeh.

If you follow my Vaults, you might recognize parts of this and thats because this idea was born out of my Bleach/Stormlight Archives idea, with a similar basic premise, minus the new powerset.

I spent some time considering how best to make use of both of Ichigos power sets because I liked the idea of keeping them more separate than just copying Ichigo's 'True' Shikai, so I decided that his Quincy powers would take their own form. And considering the more western style of the Quincy, I figured a western style sword would be fun. Since it was always going to be more of a 'sidearm' to his Zanpakuto in melee combat, a dagger was a perfect choice and a Swordbreaker both looks cool and leans into the idea of the conflict between the Quincy's and the sword using Soul Reapers. Plus, I love the idea that the serrations gather Reishi as its wielded that Ichigo can then use.

I thought Ride worked nicely as Zangetsu's release command due to his whole thing with the horse and the king.

Anyway, I think I'm going to wrap this up here. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!