Chapter 10: Ladies Love The Strawberry

"Jigoku no Shiroi Mikadzuki - White Crescent Moon Of The Hell"

"Shinku no Tsuki - Crimson Moon"

Ichigo stood on top of the stand with Rukia in tow. He smirked after hearing her words and knew that at least she was okay with him being there and rescuing her now.

Down on the ground, every female down there whether they be friend of enemy were absolutely astonished by the power that he possessed. Not a single moment in the soul society's history had someone been able to exceed and destroy the power of the Sokyoku. The only one that was on its level was the head captain and she couldn't destroy that power if she wanted to.

Everyone broke out of their own stupors when Ichigo looked down and waved at his friends with his right. The soul reapers looked over and saw the five and noticed the girl from the descriptions yesterday. There was tension between both groups as the five knew this would be a very much losing battle.

"Hey Chad!" Ichigo yelled out, catching said girl's attention. He held Rukia up over his shoulder much to her confusion.

"W-wait a minute!" Rukia questioned as everyone looked up to the two now. "Ichigo what are you doing!?" She was now over his head.

"Catch!" Ichigo threw Rukia with intense force towards the shocked and stunned five.

Rukia was screaming the entire time as she flew towards the tallest girl of the five. Chad braced herself to catch Rukia, but when said girl was in reach, the force of Ichigo's throw pelted Chad hard. After a few seconds of dust and skidding, Rukia was laying on top of Chad and they were both visibly disheveled from the throw.

"ARE YOU INSANE!?" Rukia shouted as she was the first to rise up from the ground. "THAT COULD'VE KILLED ME!"

"Oh calm down ya midget!" Ichigo said to her with a grin. "I wouldn't go through all this trouble to get here just to accidentally kill you! Now then!" He grabbed his zanpakuto off his shoulder. "Orihime, Chad, Uryu, Genji, and girl whom I don't know yet, get Rukia out of here! I'll take care of the rest!"

That surprised them all. Something was different about him. He seemed far more confident than before and the power he showed earlier was absolutely incredible. Without wanting to argue, Chad pick Rukia up and ran off. She was followed by the others but this didn't go unnoticed by the soul reapers.

"All lieutenants, apprehend them!" Soi-Fon yelled out.

All the present lieutenants, all aside from squads 11 and 6, rushed over to stop the five from escaping. The lieutenant of squad nine leapt into the air and shouted a kido.

"Bakudo no. 62, Hyapporankan!" She threw a flurry of light rods at the five that seemed to be getting closer by the second.

That was when Ichigo flashed down between his friends and the kido attack. Using his free left hand, he held it up to the attack and released his own pressure. The rods broke down before they could even reach him and this caused the group of lieutenants to stop in their tracks and draw their own blades in preparation. Ichigo lowered his hand and looked over to the group of lieutenants.

"No offense ladies." He started as he raised his blade. "But I really came here to fight a captain, and she's knows exactly what I'm talking about." He planted his blade into the ground, confusing them before disappearing from sight. He appeared in the center of them all and they tensed before he punched the ground. That sent a shockwave through the area, knocking away every single lieutenant that was in its range. They all landed in different directions and were seemingly dazed and confused now.

To the captain's surprise, Byakuren rushed towards the male with her blade drawn and aimed directly for the males head. When she brought her sword down though, there was nothing but air. She looked up and saw Ichigo standing next to his zanpakuto smirking at her.

"Miss me much Byakuren?" Ichigo said to her, causing her to twitch her brow slightly.

"I see that I should have killed you when I had the proper opportunity." Byakuren started as she stood up straight. "This time I will not make the same mistake, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"You do remember me. I'm touched." Ichigo joked on as he pulled out his large cleaver from the ground. He walked around her as did she and they now stood in front of each other. "Hey Byakuren. Do me a favor, use your Bankai."

This caught everyone's attention as they had no idea he knew of Bankai.

"Why would I do that against someone like you?" Byakuren started.

"Because, that'll be you only chance to last against me." Ichigo said with a grin.

"You say that like you have achieved a Bankai as well." She said to him. All Ichigo did at that point was nod to her. She gasped and then yelled out. "You think that a mere human such as yourself could ever achieve Bankai! Very well, I will entertain the thought if you can convince me you deserve it!" She held her blade out in front of herself and said. "Scatter, Senbonzakura."

Her blade broke apart into the pink petals everyone had seen before, aside from Ichigo. They swirled around in multiple circles and seemed to prepare to attack the boy, but then he raised his cleaver into the air and brought it down. A wave of black energy with red highlights flew out of his zanpakuto and tore through the petals with ease, passing by Byakuren easily. Everyone stared in shock after the energy dissipated and a widened opening was visible from his attack. Byakuren looked at the path that the attack was on and saw that it was going straight for her, but before it did hit her, it curved to her right. He made it miss her on purpose.

"Is that enough convincing, Byakuren?" Ichigo said to her with that grin still on his face. He placed his cleaver on his shoulder and continued to grin at her.

Byakuren gritted her teeth and took a deep breath to calm herself. When she did, she brought her blade back to her and stared at the grinning Ichigo. "Fine then." She started. "Since you seem eager to die today, I will show you that the difference in our powers is like the gap in between heaven and the earth." She turned her sword upside down and dropped it on the ground. When she did, it sunk into the ground and she said.

"Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

Suddenly, two massive rows of swords rose out of the ground and surrounded Ichigo. He dropped his blade off his shoulder and watched as the blades started to turn into petals just like her shikai had. The petals flew towards him from all directions and he leapt high into the air. The petals tracked him in the air and he fired another black energy wave toward them. The attack didn't do much and the petals flew towards him anyway. He blocked the initial attack but was being forced back by it.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" He yelled out as the black energy carved through the petals this time.

Before he could have a moment at reprieve, more of the petals came at him from behind. He carved through them like before, but more surrounded him from all directions and encased him completely, swirling around at breakneck speeds. The ball forced itself down to the ground hard and left a large crater there. Byakuren flashed to the edge of it as her Bankai left the area. She was joined by the other captains and lieutenants as they looked down and saw Ichigo trying struggling to stand up. As impressive as he was earlier and from the reports from both Ikuko, Renka and Kenpachi with their encounters with him, to see him taken down so easily was more than a little disappointing. He was covered in multiple cuts along his body and was in a pool of his own blood.

"Do you understand now, Ichigo Kurosaki?" Byakuren started from where she was. "Even if you had one hundred years of training to even achieve a Bankai, you would never be able to defeat me."

It was at that moment that Ichigo started doing something unexpected that caught them all completely off guard. He started to laugh. It was a low one at first, but when he got to his knees it was loud enough for all of them to hear.

"You think this is funny, boy!?" Soi-Fon yelled down at him in frustration.

Ichigo stopped laughing and stretched his back while looking up to the sky. After a few seconds of breathing, he lowered his head and stood up. This surprised everyone since he looked like he shouldn't be able to move at all. He took a few more deep breaths before grinning again and looking up to Byakuren, ignoring the other women around him.

"My turn." He held his cleaver out in front of him and his eyes changed from their normal brown to a black and white color. Energy started to release itself from his body and sword and flared high into the air. The energy started off as black with red highlights but also had a mixture of white in it as well. The energy that he was resonating was far past a captain class soul reaper, and the pressure was crushing to all of the lieutenants. Aside from Byakuren who was still in her Bankai, and the head captain, all the other captains could feel just how overwhelming this boys energy was and how his power nearly trumped theirs if they weren't in Bankai.

Ichigo could tell that now was the time to really see just what his new power could do. It was time to use her now and see just how different she was from Zangetsu. He stopped his energy and the pressure which was a relieve for the lieutenants, but then he raised his blade above his head and let go of it. His cleaver floated above him for a moment, confusing everyone around him. After he let go of it, his blade started to move on its own. The bandages on the handle started to glow white with red highlights like his energy, along with the white part of his blade. For a few seconds the glow encased those parts of his blade, then suddenly they stopped and Ichigo grinned once more.

"Bankai." He said and his blade exploded in a large beam of that white/red energy. The beam cut through the sky and was visible to the entire Seireitei.

Ichigo's friends stopped where they were as the beam along with intense energy had brightened up the sky. But just as suddenly as the intensity of the light had shined down everywhere, it was gone. The six looked back over to the hill and saw a massive torrent of the white energy swirling around the hill. It was incredible to them thinking that that energy belonged to Ichigo.

"Rukia!" A familiar voice caught Rukia's and the other's attention as they turned to see Renka running up to them alongside Ikuko and Kenpachi. All three women were bandages up visibly but looked ready to fight if need be.

"Renka." Rukia started as her friend stopped in front of them all. "What happened to you?" She saw the bandaged shoulder on Renka and was concerned.

Renka chuckled a little before grabbing at said shoulder and smiled. "Ichigo must really love slashing people in the shoulder." As she said that, both Kenpachi and Ikuko grinned.

"Best damn scar I've ever got." Kenpachi started. "Now, less talkin and more runnin. No way in hell I'm missing seeing Ichigo in action this time."

There wasn't much argument there, just curiosity to what he was doing and if he was alright. So they all turned around and went back to the Sokyoku hill.

Back at the hill, Ichigo's energy started to dissipate and now only dust was covering him. Everyone watched in anticipation at just what his Bankai would look like, and they were shown it when they saw a curved white blade. The blade had a red edge to it and had another smaller curved blade on top of it. That blade was also white with the red edges, but it also had what looked like a gray moon on it. The blades came down and the dust flew back, showing Ichigo standing there with the rest of his Bankai in his right hand. To everyone's surprise once again, Ichigo's Bankai was no ordinary weapon. It was a scythe. The staff section was red with sharp bladed areas around the bottom of it and the top before the large blades. There were white bandages around various areas of the staff section of the scythe that glowed like before. Throughout the history of the soul society, a Bankai like this had never been seen before.

Ichigo was also different. He was no longer in his original attire. He was now wearing a long, white shihakusho that looked more like a jacket than anything. It also had a hood that had a grayed out moon on it as well. His hakama was still black like before, but it also had a red trim to it all along the edge of the bottom section. That confused everyone at first, but then they saw that he also had a sheathed, black blade attached loosely on the right side of his hakama. The blade was in a dark red sheath that had a black moon on the bottom tip of it. The handle was black and wrapped in dark red bandages along with a black chain attached to it. The guard was a black cross that curved toward the bladed area.

Ichigo raised his head and everyone could see that his skin was little paler than before, almost as if he had lost some color from blood loss. His hair was still orange from what they could see, but what was under the hood was a patch of white on top of his head. He opened his eyes, where were now completely black sclera with white irises and red pupils, and looked straight at the stunned Byakuren. He grinned again as he saw the look of absolute shock on her face before seeing everyone else's. They were stunned and shocked beyond belief at his now revealed Bankai or the fact that he even has a Bankai at all. Ichigo grinned before looking back to Byakuren.

"Jigoku no Shiroi Mikadzuki." He said to them all. "Now, lets finish this Byakuren." He said with the same grin on his face.

She gritted her teeth and looked at the Bankai in sheer disgust. This boy had not only broken through their ranks and disgraced their laws by his own existence, but now he had openly challenged her with his own Bankai. Him, a male soul reaper, a human with a Bankai? The thought alone made Byakuren flash down to him and summon her blade back into her hand.

"I will wipe away your existence for your insolence, Ichigo Kurosaki." She pointed her blade towards him and suddenly, a mass of glowing pink swords surrounded the two within the large crater. All the captains had seen this part of her Bankai before, but none of the lieutenants had never seen the magnificence of it in person before.

Ichigo looked around and saw the spectacle surrounding them. He whistled to it before turning back to Byakuren. "Gotta say, this is pretty nice and soothing in a weird, murderous intent type of way."

"Now that you're here, I will show you not to tread on my pride." Byakuren started as she disappeared and reappeared in front of Ichigo just as fast.

She had her blade aimed directly for Ichigo's eye when she thrust forward. When she did though, Ichigo was already gone. She was stunned that someone was faster than her in this space of hers and her bewilderment only gained when she felt the blade of his scythe at the nip of her neck. She was motionless for a few moments before she heard him chuckle from behind her.

"I'm not stepping on your pride Byakuren." He said to her in a serious tone after he stopped chuckling. "I came here with one goal in mind: save my friend from an unjustly execution. Simple as that. When my friends are in any kind of danger, I would move heaven itself to protect them. That's just the kind of guy I am."

There was a deafening silence as he said those words. Every person there didn't know exactly how to handle something like that. Byakuren started to question just why she started off hating him so highly before. Was it the fact that he had invaded the Seireitei, or that he openly challenged her? Or maybe it was the fact somewhere very deep down in her soul that he was the reason her younger sister was about to be executed.

"Tell me. What does this Bankai even do?" Byakuren asked him, trying to change the subject.

Ichigo smirked at how she tried to change subjects on him and decided to indulge her curiosity. "Jigoku no Shiroi Mikadzuki is a bit of a tricky girl to get a handle on. I couldn't tell you if she was a melee type like Zangetsu, or some kind of a elemental type zanpakuto. All I know is that she has the power of the moon, and I still don't know what that even truly means myself. So I guess this'll be a good way to test her out to her fullest, don't you think so Byakuren?"

As he said those words, his breath naped at the back of her neck, sending a shiver down her spine. She blushed lightly before flashing away from him as quickly as possible. Byakuren decided that if she couldn't stay too close to him, then she might have to use kido.

"Hado number 63: Raikouhou."

A massive bolt of yellow lightning shot straight out of her fingertips and went straight at Ichigo who wasn't even attempting to defend himself. The attack hit him spot on and caused a large explosion in the process. By this time, Ichigo's friends had made it back up the hill and witnessed the explosion within the cyclone of pink blades.

"Damn." Kenpachi said out loud. "Byakuren's usin her Bankai on him."

Aside from Rukia, everyone else was confused by what her Bankai even was. Kenpachi nor Rukia had the time to explain as the saw the dust clear from where Byakuren fired at. When it did, Byakuren gasped in shock as she was the first to see Ichigo completely unscathed, and holding out his left hand to her. There was smoke coming from it and he was smiling at her stunned reaction.

"That kinda tickled." Ichigo started as he lowered his hand down. "Seeing as though that was probably one of your best shots, I might as well try my own." He took his scythe with both hands and when he did the gray moon started turning a blood red color. Byakuren didn't even have the time to question what he was doing before he yelled out.

"Shinku no Tsuki!" He swung his scythe horizontally at her and a red arch flew towards her. It was fast, but she managed to get out of the way using flash step. When she did though, the arch of energy stopped where she once was and sat there.

"What in the-" She couldn't finish that sentence as Ichigo fired off another one at her. She dodged it again and it did the same thing as the first one. Ichigo kept this up for two more swings before Byakuren noticed what the energy was doing. Every time Ichigo would fire a new one, a previous attack would expand. Soon enough she would have no more room in her Bankai to run to.

Ichigo was about to fire another one, but Byakuren had had enough and decided to end this now. She sent a barrage of her blades towards him from all directions around him. He smirked and the red energy came over to him, shielding him from her attack. When that happened, Ichigo disappeared again along with his energy. Byakuren looked around in confusion before she felt a slash across her chest and shoulder. Her haori and shihakusho had a large tear on it as she started to fall to the ground. As she did, Ichigo appeared next to her and caught her with his left hand before she could hit the ground. Her Bankai started to dissipate as Ichigo laid her there and knelt down next to her.

"Like I said before, I'm not stepping on you pride Byakuren. I'm just protecting my friends." He said to her right before she lost consciousness. He stood up only to notice at the last moment that he was surrounded by everyone else. He looked around and placed his scythe one his shoulder before smirking again. "Ladies."

That's It For This Chapter. Ichigo's Bankai Will Be Explained Later On In This Story, And As I Said Before, After The Byakuren Fight There Would Be Lemons. And There Shall.

:)

Follow/Fav, Review, And PM.

You Guys Are Awesome, And As Always,

Stay Sexy Out There, PEACE!