Universe: Bleach

Parings: ShiroXIchigo, RenjiXRukia, One-Sided AizenXIchigo

Spoilers: Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and Fake Karakura

Genre: Adventure, Action, Humour

Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo

Warnings: Swearing, Violence, Swords, Blood and also mild Romance.

Author's Note: Ah! It's been a while… There goes my plan of updating once every few weeks, eh? Heh heh heh… Sorry about that. I have no excuse. I'm a procrastinator, but I'm trying to kick the habit! Anyone have any ideas that could help me stop putting things off? Other than, you know, stop putting things off? I need more self-discipline.

Adopted from Little White Comet! Enjoy my version of Double Hearted.

Double Hearted

Chapter 3:

Separation: Living with the Consequences

Friday, July 19, 2:53 p.m.

"Damn it! How many times is this going to happen?" Shiro growled, watching as Ichigo konso'ed yet another soul on a Hollow hunt. The catch was that there was no Hollow. Irritated, the two boys got back into their body/Gigai.

"That phone of yours must be broken, Rukia." Ichigo sighed in agreement, dusting off his clothes. The petite woman frown, clicking through her phone.

"That's not possible…" the only female in the trio said, pausing for a moment before adding, "I think."

"You think?" The twins shouted, turning back towards the female. Rukia cringed before glaring at the two. Just as she was about to scream at them, another voice chipped in.

"Fighting amongst yourselves? How disgraceful." The trio turned around to see a teenaged boy with glasses standing perfectly straight on the sidewalk behind him. He had on a high-collared white coat that fell to mid-thigh and matching ankle-length slacks. Ichigo's face lit up slowly in recognition, and he blinked at the kid.

"Ishida Uryū." he mumbled to himself, catching Shiro's attention.

"Ya know 'im, Ichi?" the pale twin asked over their mental link, glancing over at the other teen.

"Yeah, he's the top student in our class." The twins shared a look, before realizing they were missing out on what the other teenager was saying.

"I am Ishida Uryū, and I am a Quincy." The dark-haired teenager glared at the oranget, completely ignoring the other two. "I hate Shinigami."

Saturday, July 20, 8:47 a.m.

The next day shows the twins standing by the class roster to see if their scores were on the Top 50 board for the final exams. It didn't take the orange-haired Kurosaki long to spot his name.

1. Kurosaki Ichigo 897

"Ok, I stand corrected. I'm the top student in our class." Ichigo sighed, rubbing the back of his head. He looked over at his Ex-Inner Hollow with a smile and pointed at the board. "Look Shiro. You're up there, too." Shiro looked at the board, spotting his name towards the middle of the board.

23. Shirosaki Hishiro 581

Shiro grinned sheepishly and shrugged, clothes-lining Keigo at the same time as his colorful look-alike when the brunette came crying over to them. Chad came up behind them to look at the board as well, nodding to himself before he pointed to the board for the twins to see what got his approval.

11. Sado Yasutora 769

Keigo screamed in horror, and ran away from the three with Mizuiro right on his heels. The twins blinked, and Ichigo shook his head with a sigh. They had to get to class soon, or they'd get in trouble.

Shiro followed after his colorful copy, catching the eye of the Quincy boy. With a smirk, he started pushing Ichigo in front of him to go faster.

12:27 p.m.

Ishida Uryū was no idiot. His father made him do his homework as soon as he got home, and made sure he studied his school books until it was time for dinner. After dinner, he picked up one of his father's medical textbooks and began reading that until he went to bed.

So, how had Kurosaki Ichigo beat him by one point on the final exams?

What the young Quincy didn't know, however, was that Kurosaki Ichigo had to memorize his school books on the first day of high school to make time for training with Urahara Kisuke. If he had a question on his homework, he would ask the genius shopkeeper for help.

The oranget had always been one step ahead of him, whether it be in school or in tactics. So when the teen had followed him home, he had to try to figure out why? When he let the other know he was aware of him following him, the teen had stopped, blinked, and said, "You're smarter than to think that I was the one unaware." Kurosaki had known that he had known that the oranget was following him.

With a few words thrown around, a technique shown off, and a temper that failed to be riled, Ishida Uryū was at a loss as to what to do. However, it did not pass his attention that the white copy of Kurosaki's was not around. "Your pet decide he didn't want to stay around you anymore?" It was a mistake to say that.

"Shiro is with a very smart shopkeeper, preparing for the duel." The duel? It had confused the Quincy at first, before the orange-haired Shinigami pointed at the coin-like bump in the pocket of his school shirt. "After all, with you planning to put the whole town's lives in jeopardy, back-up will be needed."

It took two seconds before the bait was crush and the first roar of a Hollow sounded.

Kurosaki Karin looked up at the sky, the football rolling towards her stopping at her feet. Her eyes widened at the loud growl that sounded, her skin paling quickly. Something wasn't right, something was watching her. She shook her head.

There was nothing to worry about. It was just her mind acting up, still reeling from seeing her brother running around in that black outfit with their pale 'cousin'.

She turned away and kicked the black and white ball back over to her teammates. She didn't notice the giant monster glaring at her from above.

Arisawa Tatsuki sighed and threw a towel across the back of her neck. She took a sip of her water, and gazed out at the courtyard in front of her. More correctly, at the ghost couple in front of her. With a grunt of disgust, she moved to go back inside only to be stopped by someone calling out her name.

Inoue Orihime came running up to her, and stumbled over her words. Every since that day at Orihime's house, the two girls slowly started to see ghosts.

Screams sounded, and Tatsuki looked over before dragging Orihime off to check it out. She ignored the distortion in the sky.

Sado Yasutora was walking through the streets of Karakura with two of his bandmates. Something didn't feel right, and he looked up to the sky. The faint ripple across the sky wasn't normal, but nothing was happening so he ignored it.

"Something up, Chado?" Shigeo, one of his bandmates, asked.

With a 'hmm', the subject was dropped and they continued browsing through the shops.

2:36 p.m.

Ichigo regretted antagonizing the Quincy into breaking the Hollow bait. Hollows overrun the streets, flooding the roof tops and causing havoc all over the place. It had taken awhile, but eventually he had made his way back to where the Quincy was. Unsurprisingly, Kon was clutching to Rukia. The Quincy seemed angry at himself, and explained the reason for him thinking up the duel. Shiro had appeared next to the oranget during the story, missing the first half of it. At the end, the two shared a look that made the pale twin angry.

With a hand on the pale twin's shoulder, Ichigo looked to the teenaged Quincy. "Don't you get it?" the oranget asked. Uryū looked up to the Shinigami. He didn't understand; what was he was to 'get' during this battle? He had killed 12 Hollows, but more had been coming. How many had the Shinigami gotten?

"I don't understand." It was a statement, not a question. Ichigo sighed, and unsheathed his sword, causing the Quincy teen to take a step back.

"Your sensei didn't want you fighting the Shinigami. That much I could tell. He wasn't telling you that the Shinigami should acknowledge the Quincies' strength, rather that Shinigami and Quincies should be fighting together!"

And together they fought. Until a large Hollow known as a Menos Grande: Gillian rank showed up. Nothing they did worked. Not even combining their power by tying a sword to Ishida's head. The twins looked worried, and looked up to see the giant Hollow charging a red beam. "Cero!"

Ichigo pushed Uryū back, and ran next to Shiro to stop the Cero from demolishing them. Crossing their blades, they slid back at the impact the energy beam made with their swords. It was a struggle to keep his arm up, yet Ichigo could feel his reiatsu rise to fight off the outside pressure. Shiro already knew what was happening, and added his reiryoku to the mix. With a yell, Ichigo pushed back on the energy and released some of his own into the attack as Shiro pulled away.

"A premature Getsuga Tenshō…" Ichigo glanced over at the other with a questioning look, before his eyes widened as he fell to the ground face first. Shiro called for him, but his voice sounded like it was muffled by something. For the first time in a long time, Ichigo had no clue what was happening. A sudden pain ripped through his whole person, and his mouth opened, releasing a loud, agonized scream. "Ichigo! Let go of your Zanpakutō!" Ichigo did so, but the blade shimmered and distorted, and it still felt like his soul was being torn apart.

"Son'nani itai… Shiro!*" Ichigo's arm flickered into near-translucence. With the flick of his wrist, Uryū released an arrow, and another one, and another one. He continued to do so, sprouting nonsense of how Ichigo should live so he could beat him. ("It's so painful… Shiro!")

With one last arrow, Uryū collapsed, and Ichigo lost consciousness.

Monday, July 22, 2:32 a.m.

Shiro saw it when that red-headed Shinigami ripped his Zanpakutō through Ichigo's shoulder. When the teen fell to his knees, he had to stop himself from running to the boy. It helped that Kisuke had a firm grip on his shoulder to stop him from doing so. If he were to run out… who knows what they'd do to Ichigo and him.

But he could help from his place. He focused his influence on Ichigo, watching as the teen grabbed a hold of his dropped asauchi and stood on his feet once more. Shiro added his reiatsu to the mix, feeling Ichigo's spiritual pressure increase as well. And, just like that, Ichigo was fighting once more.

A mirror injury on the red-headed Shinigami's shoulder. A cut from the inside of one of the man's tattooed eyebrows to the center of his hairline. Swinging his sword once more, Ichigo grinned in pure glee as blood splashed against his face, none of it his own. Unconsciously, he release more of his reiatsu, paralyzing the red-head to his knees.

Just as suddenly that he got the rush of power, it stopped as his blade was chipped and a scream of pain sounded out in his head. He looked down at the blemish in disbelief. From ten feet away, the raven-haired Shinigami looked at him, rolling a piece of his sword in between his fingers, careful to to cut the delicate skin. And then he disappeared.

Ichigo knew what was going to happen, the guy had used Shunpo to get behind him. But he was taught Zankensoki for two years before this. He moved his blade to block the blade that would've pierced his skin, but he was too slow. He felt it pierce through his chest, and retract just as quickly. He couldn't move when he felt the second strike pierce through his abdomen. Shiro felt himself lose form, and looked down at himself in alarm. Translucent, he could see the outline of Kisuke's coat behind him. He looked back up, and growled as Rukia kicked Ichigo's hand from the raven-haired Shinigami's hakama. They left with Rukia trailing behind, just as rain started to fall from the sky.

Shiro ran up to his fallen ex-host. His hands passed through the boy's spiritual one as they both let out a distressed cry. "Shiro… I was protected yet again…!" the oranget cried, fingers clutching at nothing where Shiro's hand should have been.

He whisper of, "I know." resonated around as his form disappeared into the soul plain he came from. Kisuke sighed and moved to stand next to the broken boy, holding an umbrella over the two of them. He glanced over at the Quincy teen who was watching the whole thing silently, forgotten, and sighed.

Tuesday, July 23, 7:49 p.m.

Ichigo struggled to breathe as he ducked under a punch thrown by Ururu, one of Kisuke's assistants. His chest was tight and his legs refused to move as he wanted them. What happened to all his previous training? Where was the skills he mastered? What happened to Shiro? The albino had yet to reappear to him, and it really bothered him.

He ran, dodging another punch. It got easier, breathing, that is. Actually, he didn't notice it got easier until Kisuke called time. Of course, that was after he had grazed her cheek with a punch and gotten kicked into the wall in return.

He was forced to his knees, and Tessai cut his Inga no Kusari a little too close for comfort, the chain dangling down and barely reaching the bottom of his ribcage. And then he fell into what will later be know as the 'Shattered Shaft'.

Wednesday, July 24, 5:50 a.m.

It hurt. Every hour on the dot the chains restarted the encroachment process. It was his way of telling time. Jinta came down with a plate of food, despite him not feeling hungry. He'd been down there for ten hours already, closing in on Kisuke's twelve hour estimate.

He had about five chain links left, but he remembered what Kisuke had told him about the final encroachment process. He had about five minutes before it took place. It was all the time he needed.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on the center of his chest, right below the metal plate that held his Inga no Kusari. He felt the final encroachment begin to take place, and fell into his inner world before the pain could register.

"So, you have finally come, Ichigo."

Ichigo turned around and faced the man caped in black. He knew who this man was. "You're my Zanpakutō Spirit." Two years of talking with this man, and not once had he told the oranget his name. "Why?" He did not fear the other not understanding his question.

"You were not ready. Still are not ready, as fear clouds your mind and blocks your senses." His inner world shook and began to dissolve. "Time is running out."

Gravity shifted, and Ichigo looked around as he fell towards the 'ground', watching as boxes fell with him. Unconsciously, he solidified the ground beneath him. "What do I have to do, Ossan*?" (*Old man)

His Zanpakutō spirit looked down on him, and simply said, "Find me, and you'll find the one you're looking for."

It didn't take a genius to figure out he was talking about Shiro's not-so-mysterious disappearance. And by finding 'him', obviously he was talking about his Zanpakutō form.

"Did you know that a Shinigami's reiraku* was red?" Wasn't that what Uryū had said? (*Spirit Thread)

Of course, he had known this thanks to Kisuke, but the memory itself was a giant kick-start to his search for his Zanpakutō. With a pull to the surroundings, ribbons of white appeared around him, all attached to a box of its own. A lone red ribbon floated past his face, and he grabbed it, following it back to the box it belonged to.

With a yank, the box opened and revealed a Zanpakutō's hilt. Wasting no time, Ichigo reached out and pulled. Something wrapped around his wrist, and with a smile, he helped the other part of him out of his temporary prison.

"Welcome back, Shiro." Ichigo sighed, wrapping his arms tightly around the waist of his albino counterpart. Shiro blinked in surprise, and grinned, returning the hug.

"It's good to be back, Aibou. It was dark in that box." The two boys laughed as they disappeared from their Inner World, missing the Zanpakutō's amused smile.

"Come on boys! You'll never pass if you hide!" Kisuke trilled as Ichigo hid himself behind a rock on the other side of the underground training area.

'I knew he was a Shinigami, but shit! Kisuke knows how to really freak someone out when he wants to!' Ichigo groaned as Shiro 'Ninja-rolled' behind the rock on the other side of the one he was hiding behind.

'You can think twice about that.' Shiro grumbled over their mind-link. There was a few tense seconds after the comment and a large explosion as the shopkeeper kept looking for them on the other side of the training grounds, and the two teens sighed graciously at the small reprieve from running.

That is, until the overzealous shopkeeper appeared in front of them. "I've got you now!" The cane-turned-Zanpakutō sliced towards the oranget first. With a curse, the teen dove under the swing, somersaulting over to the other teen.

Helping the oranget up, Shiro pulled him aside as Kisuke swung at them once more. The chase had resumed with the two boys running side by side. Neither one noticed how their hands were still connected, despite the fact they pulled the other out of the way of one of Kisuke's attacks every so often.

"Have you heard him yet?" Shiro asked as Ichigo dragged him behind another rock. Panting, the oranget shook his head in the negative.

"No, not yet. Ossan said something about fear blocking my senses, and with Kisuke-san as crazy as he is, it's very hard to not be afraid." The oranget sighed and tilted his head back against the rock. "What about you?"

With a grunt, Shiro ran a hand through his white hair as he repeated the other teen's action of disagreement, unsettling the stray pieces of sand that clung to the snowy locks from every tumble he took while trying to get away from the crazed shopkeeper.

The rock behind them exploded, sending them forward from the blast. Tired from running so much, Ichigo wasn't able to keep control of himself anymore. He shrieked, something he would deny he did vehemently in the future.

Someone grabbed the back of his Shihakushō, throwing him to the ground. He knew Kisuke was an exiled Taichō of the Gotei 13, he knew that meant the man was able to kill him, and he knew that given the chance, perhaps the man would. Without thinking, he rolled to the side as the shopkeeper swung his Zanpakutō down once more, scrambling to his feet, and grabbing a hold of Shiro's hand once more.

But the other didn't budge, his eyes looking in front of him with a clear resolve. Wondering what he was looking at, Ichigo glanced up from the ground, his honey brown eyes meeting the hidden blue of his Zanpakutō Spirit.

"Why do you run?" Neither one of the two look-a-likes said anything. With a shared glance, they knew the point the brunet was trying to make. "There is nothing to run from. Your fear is blocking you from hearing me." The brunet reappeared behind the two teens, laying both hands on their shoulders. "There is only one enemy, yet there is two of you. What is there to fear?"

With their hands still clasped together, the two teens clutched at the hilts of their Zanpakutō.

"Cast away that fear."

With a calming breath, they held the blade-less hilts to their side, the tips touching as their reiatsu began to rise.

"Look forward."

Kisuke held his Zanpakutō up, watching as the teenagers' reiatsu began to make the sand around them levitate with their power.

"Go forward."

Their eyes closed, the two teenagers never saw the nearly-transparent pillar of silver-blue and blood-red reiryoku that surrounded them.

"Never stand still."

With the words of their Zanpakutō reverberating in their mind, the pillar of reiryoku converged towards the two blade-less Zanpakutō, repairing the blades.

"Retreat and you will age."

"Now that's impressive." Kisuke murmured as he let his sword arm drop slightly.

"Hesitate and you will die!"

With their blades fully repaired and full of reiryoku, they both opened their eyes, the orbs glowing with the color of their reiatsu.

"Sakibe,"* (Shout,)

"My name is–!"

"Zangetsu!" Swinging around, the two teens released their Zanpakutō back to back. Dual energy slashes advanced towards the blond shopkeeper, blowing over him like a strong gale. The wind from the attack picked up sand and dust, causing a cloud of it to hide the teens from view.

As the dust cloud cleared away, Kisuke peered out from under his hat and looked over towards his students. Both Ichigo and Shiro were kneeling on the ground, still back to back. Lodged into the ground were two very alike, yet different, cleaver-like swords. With either a white cloth-wrapped tang, or a black one, neither one of the swords had a hilt or a guard.

Both of the teens stood up, examining their Zanpakutō's new form. While Ichigo's blade was black with a silver edge, Shiro's blade was silver with a black edge.

The two boys looked to each other, their Zanpakutō held in different hands. They could feel the power surging through their bodies, causing their eyes to glow silver-blue and blood red once more.

'Ichigo-san alone could give the Taichō a run for their money… But now, with Shiro-chan at his side…' Pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind, he smiled at the two teens in front of him. "Very good you two! Now we can really begin lesson three!"

"Warī*, Kisuke-san." Ichigo muttered as he held his Zangetsu out in front of him. (*Sorry)

Shiro grinned wide, his left arm coming up to hold his inverted Zangetsu out as well. "You better hide well and hope you dodge this."

Kisuke blinked at the two, the smile on his face wavering only slightly. "Hai?*" (*Hai has many meanings, like 'yes!' or 'yessir!', but when said with a questioning tone, it can mean, 'Excuse me?' or 'I beg your pardon?')

"We probably can't control it just yet..." The two teens raised their blades above their heads, gathering their rampant energy within the swords.

"Since this is the first time we've tried this out on a real person!" With that said, Kisuke's eyes widened from under the shadow of his hat. He brought his Zanpakutō up just as the two boys started to swing their blades down.

"Nake, Benehime!" The blond called out, hastily calling out one of his sword's abilities.

"Sōseiji Getsuga!"* Two energy slashes flew his way, carving out the ground in their path. The attack shattered his Chikasumi no Tate* after it passed by, leaving every part of him unharmed; aside from his hat, of course. (*"Twin Moon Fang!"; *Blood Mist Shield)

As the pieces of the shredded hat fell to the dirt ground of the underground training room, Ichigo collapsed against his colorless counterpart, breathless and exhausted. His amber eyes slid to half-mast, his consciousness slipping away as Shiro lifted him into his arms like a newly married couple without any resistance. Zangetsu dug into the ground from where he hung from Ichigo's grasp.

Coughing and slapping away the dust picked up from the attack, Kisuke looked over at the pair. "If I hadn't have put up my Chikasumi no Tate, I probably would've lost both of my arms." He bent over and picked up the scraps of his hat. He didn't look back up as he held the shredded fabric in front of himself. "You two completely destroyed my hat!"

Shiro scoffed as he shifted Ichigo in his arms, the oranget's head resting comfortably against his shoulder. The oranget was three quarters asleep already, and only kept himself awake in case he needed to continue to fight.

Kisuke sighed and put his hand up to block the light from reaching his eyes. "Both of you are really scary kids."

The shopkeeper watched as Shiro turned his head towards his colorful counterpart, murmuring to the nearly comatose teen. "You did great, Aibou. You can sleep now, it's over." Ichigo's face relaxed into a light frown, Zangetsu dropping from his hand to impale the ground as he clutched at the white fabric of Shiro's Shihakushō.

"Lesson three, passed." Kisuke whispered to himself, two deep trenches running parallel to each other in front, beside, and behind him. 'They can double their potential and have a chance against him!'

And Chapter 3 done! Wow, that took a while… So sorry for the wait! You guys might have a few questions about the whole bold-italic-underline thing. Well, I did that to show that Zangetsu, Ichigo, and Hishiro were all speaking at the same time. Since Zanpakutō and Hollow talk is bold, and Ichigo thoughts/Inner talk are italic, I made Hollow Ichigo thoughts/Inner talk bold-italics. Since I had to show all three of them talking at the same time, I made the bold Hishiro, the italics Ichigo, and the underline Zangetsu. Thus, all three of them said "Sakibe,"! See how that works? That also goes for Ichigo and Shiro screaming "Zangetsu!" together. That wasn't Shiro saying Zangetsu's name through their 'link'.

Feel free to ask any questions! I'm open to any suggestions you guys have on my problem or on how to better my writing and make your reading experience better.