Chapter 9: Kon Arrives, New Bankai

Back in Karakura town, Kon had been training her new body ever since she got into it. So far she was very proficient at hand to hand combat, speed, and a technique that she can use when she gathers reiatsu in her legs. Kon was now a force to be reckon with and this made her proud. She easily rivaled that of a captain, but knew that fighting one would be a bad idea. Now she can finally help Ichigo in more ways than one.

Kon had just finished training in the underground training area under the shop, and was waiting patiently for Kisuke. It was nearly time to go to the soul society now to help the others out. She sat on a rock wearing tight black jeans and a white tank top that hugged her body tightly. She also had her brown hair tied up in a ponytail similar to how Yoruichi has her hair.

After a few minutes of waiting, Kisuke finally came to her from behind a large mountain. She pulled off her bucket hat and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"Whew!" The shopkeeper said in an over-exaggerated way as she approached Kon. "Recalibrating that thing so you'd land somewhere inside the Seireitei was really super tough on me."

Kon could tell that Kisuke was both serious about that but also just trying to lighten the situation. She stood off the rock and stretched herself out before asking the obvious. "So Kisuke, since I won't be inside Ichigo's body all that much anymore, what exactly is gonna happen to it?"

Kisuke grinned deviously before answering. "Simple. I put another mod soul in him you silly girl." She pulled out another mod soul pill, but this one was blue instead of green. "This is a little something I've cooked up to serve as a potential replacement for you Kon since you wanted your own body. It will now inhabit this plushy whenever Ichigo gets back." Kisuke reached into the sleeve of her coat and pulled out a black panther plushy with white eyes.

"This is my replacement huh?" Kon asked her.

"Yes she is." Kisuke said as she placed the blue pill inside the plushy. After a few seconds, the plushy started to move around a bit. "Kon, meet Sen."

Sen looked up to Kon and smiled. "Hey there. Nice to meet ya." She said in an enthusiastic voice.

"Nice to meet you too." Kon said to her. "So I might as well go through some things that you're not allowed to do with Ichigo's body Sen." Sen nodded to her to continue. "No fondling his body. No sex with any other spiritually aware being that asks or any humans for that matter. Don't do anything illegal at all. And most importantly don't put his family in any danger at all. Understand?"

"You got it boss girl." Sen said as she raised a soft paw to Kon.

Kon nodded to her then looked to Kisuke. Kisuke motioned her over and the three went to the makeshift Senkaimon. Kon stood in front of it and waited as Kisuke started it up on her end.

"Alright Kon." Kisuke started. "Just like with the others, when you get inside the Precipice world, run as fast as you can toward wherever the light is and you'll be inside the Seireitei. When that happens, you'll either already be confronted by oncoming soul reapers, or have a slight chance of getting there before they do. Either way, when you get there, look for the others and help in anyway you can."

Kon nodded to her and waited for Kisuke to open the portal. It took the shopkeeper a short time to do so and Kon had already flashed in the second it happened. Kisuke quickly closed the portal and sighed in relief. "Well now that the hardest part is over, all that's left is to hope they succeed."

In the Precipice world Kon was moving at full speed down the long hall like area, leaving the cleaner in the dust and headed toward the light. She went through it and found herself falling down from high in the air, but from what she could see briefly she was inside.

"Dammit Kisuke!" She yelled out as she fell and hit the open courtyard hard. She stood up quickly ad realized that she was a lot more durable than she gave herself credit for. After a quick look around, Kon noticed that she was clear and no one was around immediately. She ran away from the area quickly and started her own search for her friends, or more precisely, Ichigo.

Secret Underground Training Area

Ichigo woke up not too long ago and was met with both his zanpakuto and Yoruichi staring him down. They had explained everything to him and said that he would be training here for now until he mastered Bankai. Ichigo wasted no time in getting into the training as quickly as he could.

In these training grounds it was very similar to the one Kisuke had under her shop, but Yoruichi explained to him that this was the original and that one was a copy. Ichigo was battling an infinite number of his zanpakuto spirit and Yoruichi as well. It was tough on him the first hour as both of them were of two different styles. Yoruichi of speed and close quarter combat, Zangetsu of sporadic sword play. The fact that there were multiple Zangetsu's didn't make this any easier on him either. The whole idea to this was to build up his energy and so he could find his Bankai blade amidst the sea of blades in the grounds. Zangetsu and Yoruichi weren't holding back or pulling any punches at all in the training process. They were going at him full force and the fact that each blade Ichigo grabbed didn't last at all didn't help at all.

"Oh come on Ichigo." One of the Zangetsu's said to him when another blade shattered in his hands and earned him a nasty cut on his shoulder. "Just grabbing at any one of these blades at random will get you killed. I know Yoruichi won't do that, but I will if I keep seeing this from you Ichigo."

Yoruichi was shocked that a zanpakuto spirit would openly say that she'll kill her own master. Was Zangetsu really serious or was she just saying this to get Ichigo to fight harder. She couldn't tell but this seemed to work as Ichigo rose to his feet and grabbed at another potential Bankai.

Zangetsu sighed loudly and she and her other selves rushed at Ichigo. Ichigo turned and ran away from the swarm, blocking oncoming strikes from the ones that caught up to him for a brief moment before the blade broke on him. He jumped away and was met by a swift kick to the back of the neck by Yoruichi. He fell unto the ground hard and the impact kicked up dust everywhere. When it cleared, there was a large crater but no strawberry. Zangetsu looked around as did Yoruichi and they couldn't find any sign of him.

Not too far off was Ichigo hiding behind a large rock away from the group attacking him. He was not only very beat up from that attack from earlier but now he was incredibly frustrated. How was he supposed to find his true Bankai blade in all of this if he had no idea what it would even look like. He looked around in the sea of blades and didn't know what to do. It was then that he remembered what Zangetsu said to him. He was just grabbing at random. He wasn't trying to find Zangetsu, he was just going through these blades until he found the actual one. That wasn't going to work here. He had to focus on finding the actual Bankai Zangetsu and tune out the others. With that thought now in his head, Ichigo closed his eyes and started to breathe slowly to focus.

"Come on berry boy." Yoruichi started with a devious tone that hid concern. "Hiding only makes me want to find you even more now." She may have been hiding it well, but she was very worried for Ichigo's health right now. He had been taking a lot of punishment for the past few hours now, and he would have to continue going through this for two extra days if he doesn't figure this out now. She jumped over to Zangetsu who had sent her clones in all directions to find Ichigo and asked her. "So which one is your Bankai blade anyway?"

Zangetsu looked at her and shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Contrary to popular belief, I have no idea what this blade will look like, but when Ichigo finds it, I'll know."

Yoruichi couldn't believe what she had just heard. Not only had Zangetsu literally just send Ichigo out on a scavenger hunt, but both she and said spirit were tasked with nearly killing him in the process. How was this a good idea?

Back with Ichigo, he had focused on finding his true Bankai blade when he felt it far in front of him. He concentrated and blocked out all the fakes from his mind to see his blade glowing a faint energy only he could see. Ichigo opened his eyes and could see his true Bankai blade far off. He stood up and started walking towards it. This didn't go unnoticed as one of the Zangetsu clones saw him and rushed down towards him. She twirled her cleaver and brought it down on the orange haired teen. There was dust that covered the area and it caught the real Zangetsu and Yoruichi's attention. They flashed over and saw that a clone found him.

"Alright." Zangetsu started as she placed her blade on her shoulder. "That's enough for today. Lets get Ichigo patched up and start first thing in the-" She was cut off when the dust cleared and Ichigo was holding the cleaver in his right hand.

They all stared at him in shock as he wasn't even paying the clone any attention. He flung the blade along with the clone away from him and walked forward. Ichigo ignored the rest of the blades around, walking only to the real blade he needed. The clones all rushed him only to be stopped when Ichigo grabbed one of the fake blades and twisted his body to strike each and every one of them. They fell to the ground and Ichigo dropped the fake blade to proceed to the real one. Both Yoruichi and Zangetsu watched as he stopped in front of something. Because of their position they couldn't see it, but they could hear what Ichigo said next.

"I found you."

Back In The Seireitei

Kon had fought through several soul reapers already with little effort to it. Her new body was more than a match for any standard reaper and now reports of a new ryoka had been spreading like wildfire though the Seireitei. A dark skinned girl in black jeans and a white tank top with tied up brown hair had spread everywhere. It didn't take long until it reached Orihime and Uryu though. They had decided to disguise themselves in soul reaper attire to blend in and get through areas easier when they heard about this new girl that was going through everyone that was in her way.

"Uryu." Orihime started as she and Uryu were walking through a street along with some other reapers. "What do you think of this girls?"

"The fact that she's dressed in black jeans and a tank top and is fighting off soul reapers must mean that she's here for some reason or another." The Quincy said to her. "This is a hypothesize but I think this girl might also be here for Rukia."

"Really? Then that means she's on our side right?" Orihime asked her in a low tone.

"Just because she's here for Rukia doesn't mean she's automatically with us Orihime." Uryu said to her.

They continued to walk as they saw their targeted area not too far ahead of them.

Kon had taken a break from beating up reapers and hid in a storage shed to get some much deserved rest. She hadn't found Ichigo's energy despite him always releasing it. She hadn't even found the others either, and it was driving her crazy. If she can't find any of them then that just means she would have to try harder or else she would have to save Rukia on her own. It wasn't long before she could hear other soul reapers outside the storage room conversing about her and Rukia's execution.

"Did you hear from your captain too?"

"I heard her say that since the ryoka are here for that Kuchiki girl that they're moving the execution date to tomorrow."

"Won't that just make the ryoka scramble to the execution grounds though?"

"I think that's the idea."

Kon was shocked by what she was hearing and couldn't think of what to do now. She had to find Ichigo and tell him yet she had no idea where he was or any of the others for that matter. What could she do now?

"If I know Ichigo, he'll probably know about this and rush over to save Rukia without a plan." Kon said to herself. She had picked that up whenever she got the chance to watch Ichigo fight hollows. He never went in with a plan, just fight until he wins. "I guess he'll come up with something. I just have to back him up."

Kon decided to take a nap in the shed so she could be fully rested for the battle tomorrow.

The Next Day

Today was the day Rukia had been dreading for some time now. She was told that she was to be executed earlier rather than the assigned date. It was less time for her to accept the mistakes she had made in the past and it had torn her up inside. The four women stepped inside the Senzaikyu and fastened the ropes onto her red collar to lead her outside. As she walked along the bridge, Captain Ichimaru walked up to them causing them to stop.

"Well well well." Gina started in with her usual grin. "It seems that you're about to be executed today instead of the assigned date Rukia. It must really be such a terrible fate for you." Rukia didn't answer and instead held her head down in shame and defeat. How would her sister react if she saw her broken like this? "Well, I guess I'll see at the Sokyoku Rukia." Gina walked away and waved. "I look forward to it."

With that, Gina left and Rukia could feel her despair rise even higher than before.

Near one of the stairways leading up to the Sokyoku hill, Chad and Genji were standing there in soul reaper uniforms waiting for Uryu and Orihime. By a string of luck last night, the four met back up with each other and decided to make their way up to save Rukia. The disguises worked to a degree as not many people questioned the appearance of the four anywhere. With that being said, none of them knew where Ichigo was or if he was still okay from his previous battle that rocked the Seireitei only a day and a half ago.

There wasn't much time to really think about that as both Orihime and Uryu walked up to them and they all proceeded up the stairs as fast as they could to stop the execution.

Back up on the hill, all the able captains and lieutenants were standing in wait as Rukia Kuchiki was lead to the Sokyoku. Her face was covered by a cloth, lucky for her, sense she looked like an emotional wreck now. She was lead to the base of the stand and breathed deeply to at least put on a strong face. The cloth was removed from her face and she looked out to see who was there. Her eyes immediately went to her older sister and she regretted looking. Byakuren didn't even so much as look up at her younger sister to show that Rukia should feel shame for bringing down the Kuchiki name.

"Rukia Kuchiki." The head captain started as she banged her cane down. "You are charged with performing a forbidden technique upon a human in the world of the living. You are hereby sentence to execution by the Sokyoku. Do you have any final request?"

Rukia swallowed the lump in her throat and answered the old woman. "The ryoka that came here to save me, could you spare them all?"

Yamamoto nodded her head. "Very well then. You have my word that we will not execute them as well."

Those words, though meant that they would all most likely be imprisoned, eased Rukia's heart for now. The head captain banged her cane down and the kido corp members started the Sokyoku. Rukia's bonds were disintegrated as she was lifted into the air by the block like objects. She was raised near the top of the stand and could only watch as the flames started to take shape in the form of a large fire bird. Rukia took deep breaths and started to try and find some type of solace as she was about to be executed. None came to mind. A regret she remembered then and there was the fact that she never got to see Ichigo one last time.

Down below on the stairs, the four were frantically running up the stairs when they saw the fire in all its magnificence. They didn't know what to think of it and the pressure coming from the fire wasn't helping.

"Guys!" A familiar voice yelled out from behind them. They all turned and saw the girl that was being talked about yesterday. They readied themselves for a fight but stopped when she talked again. "Guys its me, Kon. I just got a new body, chill."

The three calmed down and looked at Kon in amazement. Genji was confused but knew that there were greater things at stake right now. "Can we keep going now? Your friend is about to get killed you know." They all nodded and continued to run up to save Rukia.

The Sokyoku floated there for a several seconds, watching Rukia intently as its flames continued to engulf its space. She was scared. The Sokyoku spread its massive wings and reared back to start its charge. Rukia closed her eyes and tried to find peace in her last few precious seconds as the Sokyoku charged at her. The flames came closer and closer until they were nearly all over her, but then something happened suddenly.

The now five made their way up to the top just in time to see the Sokyoku charge forward to Rukia on the stand. There was nothing that they could do at this point except watch as their friend is executed in front of them by the massive fire bird. Suddenly though, the bird just stopped in mid flight. Everyone was shocked that a power of a thousand zanpakuto just stopped abruptly and with no explanation at all to it.

Rukia noticed that she was very much still alive and slowly opened her eyes. When she did, she saw a cloak flying around with the wind and someone standing in front of her holding the Sokyoku back. She went wide eyed when she saw that it was Ichigo dressed in bandages under his normal soul reaper clothes. He had on a cloak tied around his neck and held his cleaver behind his back to stop the Sokyoku in its tracks. He looked at her with a grin on his face that showed just how simple this incredible feat was to him.

"I-Ichigo?" Rukia stuttered as she was at a loss for words.

On the ground, everyone could barely make out who was stopping the Sokyoku, but they were very sure that it had to be this male soul reaper. There were stunned looks on everyones faces though as this male had stopped the Sokyoku with one singular blade. The five were among those stunned by what Ichigo had just done.

"Yo, Rukia." Ichigo said to her as he held his place easily.

Rukia quickly registered everything and could finally speak her mind now. "You idiot!" She yelled out, surprising the teen. "I told you not to follow me you idiot! I told you to live your own life before I showed up in it! Why would you come here to save me!?"

Ichigo smiled at her after she asked that question, causing her to blush. "Simple." He started. "Because you're my friend Rukia, and I will always help my friends, no matter what the odds."

"Ichigo." Rukia said as tear started to form in her eyes.

The moment was ruined when the Sokyoku started to back away, causing Ichigo to stumble a bit. He turned around and saw that the fire bird had backed away for another attack.

"Oh?" He started with a grin on his face. "So you wanna try again, eh? Alright. Let's go!"

"Wait Ichigo!" Rukia yelled out as Ichigo rushed over to the bird.

Both Ichigo and the Sokyoku charged one another and were on a head on collision that every captain and lieutenant thought was suicide. Even Sorako, Gina and Kaname thought it was suicide to attack the Sokyoku. That's why it wasn't an absolute shock when Ichigo was swallowed whole by the fire bird. The Sokyoku floated there for a few seconds before screeching loudly into the air. Everyone watched in confusion as the flames started to become dim on the large creature and was replaced by a growing black energy. The black energy started at the belly of the beast and spread all the way throughout the rest of the bird, until it reached the head. When that happened, the Sokyoku screeched one last time before imploding in on itself. When that happened, Ichigo was standing there, bandages and cloak on fire wit his zanpakuto excessing the same flames from the Sokyoku. He had his head down as everyone had no idea what just happened. Ichigo raised his head and took a deep breath. Everyone was on pins and needles at what he was going to do now. Then, without any warning at all, Ichigo swung his cleaver into the air and the Sokyoku came flying out of it, covering the entire area until it dissipated.

"Huh." Ichigo started as he brushed the flames off of himself. "That's gonna be a very useful technique in the future."

Now that the flames were out and there was no darkness from the smoke of the Sokyoku, all of the captains and lieutenants could see Ichigo in full now. There were many stunned looks from what he just did earlier, but those paled in comparison to what their reactions were to seeing him for the first time. They all stared at him intensely, especially after he brushed the flames off and the bandages around him started to rip off. Showing his incredibly toned abs and chest.

Ichigo noticed the stares and smirked. Before anyone could do or say anything, Ichigo jumped backwards and landed on the stand.

"Since everyones staring at me so hard!" He started as he twirled his cleaver above his head. They all watched as his blade resonated that same black energy that destroyed the Sokyoku. He brought his blade back to himself and held in a downward motion. "Then watch this."

He stabbed his blade into the stand and the black energy overtook the entire stand. Everyone watched in stunned silence as the stand exploded right in front of them all. When the dust cleared, Ichigo held Rukia under his arm next to his toned body and had his blade on his shoulder. She blushed heavily at the close proximity and looked away from him.

"I'll say this once Rukia." Ichigo started, getting her attention. "I've come here to save you because you're my friend and helped save my family, so stop arguing and let me do that. Alright?"

She was at a loss for words but smiled nonetheless and looked down. "I won't thank you, you idiot."

Ichigo smiled at and knew that that was all he needed to hear from her.

The Next Chapter Will Have A New Bankai For Ichigo. It Took Me Some Time To Think Of Something I Haven't Done In My Other Fics Where He/She Has A Bankai, But I Think I Got Something I Think You Will All Enjoy. I Know, I Only Gave Him One Bankai In My Other Fic Ichigo's New Mom, But I Also Thought Of One For Ichigo Vs. Soul Society, Redo And Change, And Ichigo And His Brothers.

LOL.

Anyway, Follow/Fav, Review And PM. I'm Slowly Working On Request So Keep That In Mind.

You Guys Are Awesome And As Always,

Stay Sexy Out There, PEACE!