"Yer not Ichigo," White Zangetsu accuses with a snarl, and Ichigo merely sighs in response before he lets the now irate Zanpakutō spirit up.
"I am not your Ichigo," he corrects, if only because it is technically true, and stands up. "He is still recovering from the process of becoming the Soul King, whereas I have been Soul King for a few thousand years."
Somewhere behind him Shutara inhales sharply, but he's largely unconcerned with her presence. Right now only White Zangetsu matters, along with those hollow instincts of his that need to be gotten under control, so he gives the Zanpakutō spirit his full attention.
White Zangetsu glowers at him, anger and mistrust filling that pale gaze, but after a few tense seconds the Zanpakutō spirit sits down. "Say I believe ya-"
"You don't," Ichigo interjects, his tone nonchalant, and White Zangetsu's glower intensifies. "And I don't care if you don't believe me, White Zangetsu, because my time here is extremely limited, and you need my help getting your hollow instincts under control."
White Zangetsu visibly chafes at his words but doesn't respond, at least not verbally. His reiatsu, much more potent now that he is Soul King alongside Ichigo, flares, and Ichigo gives a slight shake of his head.
"Looks like we'll be doing this the hard way," Ichigo murmurs, mostly to himself, and then he glances in Shutara'a direction. "Please gives us a few minutes alone, Shutara-san."
"Yes, my liege," Shutara acknowledges, and she rises from the kowtow in one smooth motion and makes her way out of the room.
Once she is beyond the threshold Ichigo gives a casual wave of his hand and a translucent barrier forms flush against the walls of the room. "There, now we can go all out without having to worry about someone interrupting us," he says as he returns his gaze to White Zangetsu, only to find the Zanpakutō Spirit glaring daggers at him.
"I'm not doin' anythin' with ya in tha' body," White Zangetsu snarls out, and his reiatsu flares again.
Ichigo stares at the Zanpakutō Spirit for a moment, confused, until what White Zangetsu means by that little declaration finally clicks. "We're fighting, 'getsu, not fucking," he states quite bluntly, and notes how those pale cheeks color with a faint blush. "But if how I look is what's putting you off, I can easily remedy that," he adds, and holds up his right hand so the Zanpakutō Spirit can watch as he lets his nails lengthen into sharp black claws.
"That's not yer body to do with as ya please," White Zangetsu rages, and his reiatsu skyrockets as he vanishes from Ichigo's sight.
"Ah, but that, 'getsu, is where you are wrong," Ichigo states as he spins around on his right heel and catches the elbow White Zangetsu had aimed at his lower back and then knees the Zanpakutō Spirit in his freshly marked side.
White Zangetsu takes the hit surprisingly well, having expected it, and uses it as an opportunity to send them both tumbling to the ground by grabbing the collar of Ichigo's kosode and pulling on it hard while simultaneously sweeping his leg.
The corner of Ichigo's mouth slants upwards into a smirk and he lets himself get pulled to the ground, only to use the momentum from their tumble to flip their positions and pin White Zangetsu to the floor once again. "I am Kurosaki Ichigo and this is my body," he breathes into the Zanpakutō Spirit's ear, and then he lifts his head as he senses someone attacking his barrier.
"Let me-"
"Quiet," Ichigo commands with the full weight of his power behind that singular word, which he immediately regrets as a stricken look appears on White Zangetsu's face, but he doesn't have a choice in the matter. His presence has been discovered by that damnable monk, meaning that they are out of time and what he is going to do next will stretch him to his very limits. "The future you saw will come to pass if I don't take action right now, and I do not have the time to explain what I'm about to do so I need you to trust me implicitly," he says in a rush as he moves off of White Zangetsu and then stands with a hand held out to the Zanpakutō spirit.
Whether White Zangetsu sees something in his expression or hears the urgency and the truth in his voice, relief floods through Ichigo when his beloved Zanpakutō spirit stands up and takes his hand without any hesitation. In one smooth motion, he pulls White Zangetsu towards him and throws him over his shoulder as though he weighs like nothing, and then he simultaneously drops his barrier and flash steps them out of Shutara's work room, right past Ichibei.
"Kurosaki!" Ichibei cries out, and then he brandishes his ink brush Zanpakutō as he gives chase.
"Shatter the layers of space and pierce through the passages of time to smite the heavens and strike down my enemies, Zangetsu." The incantation flows from Ichigo's lips with practiced ease as he navigates his way across Shutara's disc towards his intended destination of the Palace's Front Approach, where they had entered from, and there comes a cracking sound as the space hundreds of feet ahead of him begins to shatter.
A passageway appears in this space, and in that passageway stands a figure that is clad in black hakama and has a white kosode secured around his waist by a dark red sash. The figure's pale torso is left bare, exposing part of a vibrant red mark that adorns his right side, while he wears pitch black sleeves that cover his arms from his wrists to his shoulders. A pair of inch long jet-black horns protrudes from where his forehead meets his hairline, while a much larger pair of black horns with bright red streaks shot through them protrudes upwards from behind his ears.
"Ya know tha' usin' my old name only summons me with barely even a quarter of my power, Ichi," his Zangetsu croons out as he takes a step out of the passageway, those luminous silver eyes of his briefly taking in Ichigo's incoming form carrying a now tense and shocked White Zangetsu. "But I guess it's more than enough t' deal with tha' trash."
"Thank you, my beloved Moon," Ichigo calls out as they pass by his other half, allowing White Zangetsu a glimpse of his future self.
"Just do what yer here t' do, Ichi," his Zangetsu replies in a bored tone, and then he raises a hand towards Ichibei's approaching figure and simply flicks at the air.