Chapter 13: Damaged

Gekkō - Moonlight

"Uh, Ichigo," Vas started as he went to stand next to his little brother. "You alright there?"

Ichigo looked at his brother then pointed back to the bow. "You didn't hear that?" He saw his brothers shake their heads slowly as they looked to the bow cautiously now.

Rei stepped forward and decided to get a good look at the bow for anything they should be worried about. It looked the same as before and nothing felt different than before, but Rei wanted to be careful from now on. He looked to Ichigo and saw that his youngest brother was staring at the bow as if he was listening to someone.

'They won't be able to hear me master. Only you.' The voice spoke once more to Ichigo, capturing his attention fully.

"So what are you exactly?" Ichigo asked, his curiosity peaked.

'Simple,' the voice continued, 'I am your weapon. Your shield. Your will. Your spirit. Your resolve. That is what I am, master.'

"Whoa." Ichigo looked at the bow with eyes filled with wonder and awe. He looked at Rei with a smile that reassured his older brother.

Rei smirked back and had to ask a question he's been meaning to ask since Ichigo started talking to his bow. "Does he have a name?"

"Do you?" Ichigo asked as he looked back at the bow. "I mean, I know you're called Ryu no Tamashi, but do you have another name?"

'Huh,' the voice started once more. 'I've actually never been given a name before. I have my title, yes, but not an actual name.'

Ichigo looked a bit dejected hearing this and felt bad for the bow. That was when he got an idea. "Why don't I give you a name."

'Oh? And what would you call me, master?' The bow asked with a slight, eager tone to his voice.

Ichigo thought for some time as both Rei and Vas watched him with smirks on their faces. From what they heard Ichigo say, the bow had no name and it wanted Ichigo to give him one. The two looked at each other as they waited for Ichigo to come up with a name for his weapon. While they weren't soul reapers with zanpakuto's that had names to them, they knew the importance of naming your weapon. It was an extension of yourself and an extension of your soul, so it should be treated as a very big deal for Ichigo.

After a few minutes of thinking and really giving it some thought, Ichigo had a eureka moment. "Gekkō."

'Hmm.' The bow hummed in an amused tone before chuckling at the meaning behind it. 'Gekkō. I like it.' He sounded very enthusiastic hearing his new name as he glowed within Ichigo's hand, surprising the two older brothers in the room. 'From now on, my name is Gekkō!'

Ichigo smiled and chuckled at Gekkō's excitement over the new name. The light died down and Ichigo felt more determined to train than ever now. He would never allow himself to be helpless towards those soul reapers ever again as long as he had Gekkō with him.

Soul Society

Things were looking uncertain for the soul reapers at the moment. Their efforts to recapture that orange haired hollow and kill the other four hollows was all in vain as that strange rain water had driven them back harshly. They had sent three captains along with their lieutenants, around twenty unseated officers and several dozen stealth troopers to apprehend and eliminate these threats to the balance of the worlds, yet the entire group was soundly defeated with their spirit energy, reiatsu and reiryoku nearly depleted.

One of the captains sent into the world of the living was captain Kenpachi Zaraki along his lieutenant, Yachiru. The man only agreed to go just to have a rematch with Shiro as the pale hollow gave him his first good fight in decades.

Another was captain Soi-Fon and her lieutenant Omaeda along with a substantial amount of their stealth force. Soi-Fon felt insulted four mere hollows had the audacity to tread upon their world uninvited all to rescue some abomination towards nature. She told herself she would bring the orange haired hollow back to Mayuri's lab half-dead if it was the last thing she did here.

The last captain to venture into the world of the living was captain Byakuya Kuchiki, though his lieutenant was not with him at the moment. While Renji was killed by one of those hollows that were here to rescue some abomination, he was not the reason the Kuchiki captain was here. The reports from the invasion told of one of the hollows with orange hair that reached the bottom of his neck was responsible for Rukia's current condition. While he never showed it, he cares deeply for his sister, and to see her in such a state made his hatred towards hollows grow. That particular hollow would die by his hands, and it would be without mercy.

That was the plan for them all, until the rain fell and they could all feel their strength leaving them. The stealth force were the first to lose consciousness as they lacked high enough energy to last only a few seconds in the rain. The unseated officers fared no better as they all started passing out from losing so much energy so quickly. Even Omaeda and Yachiru were starting to fade. This was when Byakuya made a decision to retreat for now. They gathered as many as they could and opened a large Senkaimon to escape the rain and its strange effects.

After they returned, many were sent straight to the forth division and even captain Soi-Fon and Lieutenant Omaeda had to be sent as they immediately collapsed once they were all back in the Seireitei. Yachiru was feeling sluggish but was deemed okay while both Kenpachi and Byakuya could feel a drop in their power, but it wasn't enough to warrant going to the fourth just yet.

The head captain ordered that the travel to the world of the living was now prohibited until they could find a solution for this phenomenon. Mayuri was hard at work as he wanted some personal revenge on that hollow that destroyed his lab. Unohana was also hard at work checking and healing everyone involved in the mission to the world of the living, but even she was being pushed to her limits as a healer. She's never had to deal with anything like this before and it was taking its toll on her physically.

While this was going on, Aizen was both intrigued and frustrated at the same time. These five hollows were making it difficult for him to achieve his goals. While at first he wanted to recruit them in order to use their power to overthrow the Gotei 13, they were starting to become more trouble than they were worth now. Finding them through his own means and surveillance was now impossible as the rain that had destroyed every drone he had to monitor a certain someone with high enough spirit awareness to see both spirits and hollows. His original plan was to have Rukia Kuchiki interact with this person and transfer her powers to them. This would get Urahara to act and place his half of the Hogyoku into Rukia's gigai, effectively rendering her human. It would make his retrieval of the Hogyoku much easier as she would have been captured and the individual would provided a well enough distraction for him to move forward with his plans. Now his test subject was nowhere near what he needed, Rukia Kuchiki was stationed back into squad thirteen, the Hogyoku was out of his reach once more, and now he couldn't even monitor the world of the living anymore. It was all because of those five hollows. He didn't know who they were, but he knew they were now an obstacle to his goals and had to be eliminated by any means.

"It seems I will need to find a new strategy." Aizen said to himself in his lab as he monitored squads four and twelve for any new information on the rain that caused such a large force to retreat.

"Perhaps I could be of assistance to you then." A deep and warped voice from behind Aizen's chair.

The man turned and stood quickly as he looked around the dark room to see no one there. Reaching out with his senses, he felt a presence in the room, but knew they weren't really there.

"And who might you be?" Aizen relaxed as he felt he was in no direct danger.

The voice chuckled a dark chuckle in response. "I just might be the answer to you new," he passed and let out another dark chuckle, "problem."

Aizen could feel that this individual was strong and calculative. Something about this made the man smile very so slightly. "Tell me more."

And that's the end of this chapter.

Leaving it on a cliffhanger. Whose the one Aizen was talking about that essentially would have replaced Ichigo's role in his plan? Who was the dark figure he was speaking to that just might be the answer to Aizen's problems. You'll have to wait and find out.

I like the name Gekkō. It fits Ichigo's new weapon perfectly in my opinion. You'll all see soon enough why.

Anyway, stay awesome and as always...

PEACE!