"Aah…"

Ichigo looked at his hand through dazed and blurry eyes; his ears violently ringing, his body screaming in mute pain.

"Blood?" His voice was hoarse and quiet, barely above a whisper. "That's right, it's mine…" It hit him, the sudden realization of what just happened. A man called Aizen Sōsuke had just turned traitor and had proceeded to completely decimate the entirety of the Soul Society, barehanded.

Ichigo had tried to stop the rogue Captain, but ultimately, even with all his might, he was stopped with a single finger and his Bankai was shattered into a million different pieces in the process.

When Aizen had shattered Tensa Zangetsu, he felt a crippling pain erupt from the very depths of his soul. It hurt more than any wound he had received so far.

"Ol' man Zangetsu, you there?" Ichigo called out to source of his Shinigami power via their mental link.

…

There was no reply, he couldn't even hear the mocking laughter of his inner Hollow either.

"Oh my! Kurosaki-san, you seem to have regained consciousness faster than I expected!" The familiar cheery voice of Kisuke Urahara rang through his ears.

"Urahara-san?" Ichigo turned to see the green clad shop keeper sitting a meter of so in front of him. He then noticed he wasn't even in the Soul Society anymore, he was in Urahara's shop.

"It seems like you've been through a lot Ichigo my boy!" Urahara cheered jovially behind his paper fan.

"Urahara-san, what happened to Zangetsu? I can't hear him," Ichigo immediately questioned with a deep scowl on his face, completely ignoring Urahara's small talk.

"Do you remember what happened on Sōkyōku Hill?" Kisuke replied, becoming serious.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked with a confused look. "I remember being completely beaten by Aizen and he also broke Tensa Zangetsu with a single finger," Ichigo gritted his teeth at the memory, he was powerless to stop the traitorous Shinigami from harming his friends and in the end he got away effortlessly. "Oh, I think I heard Yoruichi-san say something while picking me up, then I don't remember the rest."

"Ah I see, so you do remember most of what happened," Kisuke replied, crossing his legs as he did. "After you passed out from severe blood loss and other extreme injuries, Inoue-san had managed to do a quick patch job on you, healing most of your wounds but was unable to continue due to some external force,"

"What external force?" Ichigo simply questioned, getting annoyed at Kisuke's cryptic way of speaking.

"Your Inner Hollow of course," Kisuke bluntly told him without hesitation. Ichigo gulped at that, he had known that, that other being inside him wasn't normal, he wanted to believe that it wasn't a Hollow, he really did.

"What about Zangetsu? After he broke, I can't sense him within my soul anymore, I can't even talk to him," Ichigo decided to get back on topic, trying to forget the fact he had an Inner Hollow trying to claw its way to the surface of his soul and take over.

"Kurosaki-san, Your Zanpakutō, will never come back," Kisuke's voice was grim, one could immediately tell that what he had just stated was no joke.

"W-what do you mean?!" Ichigo shot up to face Kisuke, ignoring the searing pain in his chest.

"Tessai!" Kisuke called out. Tessai came rushing out of the kitchen door and struck an eccentric pose.

"How may I be of service Urahara-dono?!" The tall man boomed.

"I need you to tend to Ichigo's wounds with Kidō, it seems Orihime's rush job isn't holding," Kisuke explained quickly to the tall muscular man.

"Right away!" And with that a green aura encompassed Tessai's hand and he began healing Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-san I need you to stay completely calm okay?" Kisuke asked politely, his expression hidden behind his fan. Ichigo just nodded and let the hat wearing Shinigami continue. "If a Zanpakutō breaks while in Bankai, it can never be restored."

"What?!" Ichigo exclaimed at the top of his voice. "There's no way Zangetsu's gone! That can't be true!"

"I'm sorry Ichigo, because of me, you ended up going to the Soul Society to save Kuchiki-san and lost your Zanpakutō because of it, I truly am sorry," Kisuke bowed his head down in deep shame and regret.

"So there's absolutely no way of getting him back?" Ichigo asked, with harsh breaths and pained eyes.

"No…" Was all Kisuke replied with.

"I see," Ichigo fell silent for a moment, as if coming to a horrifying revelation and who could blame him? He had just found out that his Zanpakutō was gone forever.

After a silent minute or two, the orange haired teen got up and bowed his head just a little. "Thank you for everything Urahara-san," Ichigo grabbed his Shinigami garb that was lying on the ground, swung it over himself and slipped his arms trough it before tying the white sash around his waist. "Thank you for healing me Tessai-san."

"Ichigo, take this, you may need it, you never know," Kisuke threw a skull shaped badge at Ichigo's direction. With a swift motion Ichigo caught it and inspected it with a curious gaze.

"What's this?" Ichigo simply asked, turning to face Kisuke.

"Captain Ukitake gave this to Yoruichi to give to you, it's your Substitute Shinigami badge, it allows you to eject your body out of your soul, much like the glove I gave Kuchiki-san not too long ago and even acts as a sort of identity pass for when interacting with neighbouring Shinigami on patrol." Kisuke explained.

"Thanks," And with that, he simply left.

"Urahara-dono, is this alright?" Tessai questioned, turning himself to face his long-time friend.

"I'm not quite sure Tessai, what happens now will be entirely up to Ichigo," Kisuke replied with a sigh. Tessai nodded swiftly before making his way to the kitchen area once more to prepare dinner.

"So yeah, I've lost my Zanpakutō forever it seems," Ichigo bluntly stated to his three friends: Orihime, Chad and Uryu. He had met them on his way home, apparently they were on their way to check up on him after Ichigo had been taken from the Soul Society by Yoruichi.

"So you're still a Shinigami?" Uryu stated, raising his glasses up.

"Yeah, but what good is a Shinigami without their Zanpakutō?" Ichigo almost snarled out, frustration seeping into his voice. His shoulders sagged slightly and he simply walked past them, without sparing them a single glance.

Chad, Uryu and Orihime couldn't say anything, it's not that they didn't want to say anything, but they just couldn't. They had no idea how intricate and deep the bond between a Shinigami and their Zanpakutō was, so they didn't know what kind of pain Ichigo was currently feeling.

"Damnit!" Ichigo cursed mentally. "My weakness caused me to not only lose to Aizen, but I also lost Zangetsu…I'm so utterly pathetic!" Ichigo felt sickened by his own inability to even protect his own Zanpakutō.

"FATHER'S RETURN HOME KICK OF LOVE!" Came the booming voice of the resident elder of the Kurosaki. Ichigo simple moved his head to the side and let his father sail past him as he silently made his way upstairs. "What on earth happened to my son while he was at the Soul Society?" Was all that came to Isshin's mind, as he watched his son head to his room without even registering his presence.

"Dad? Was that Onii-chan?" Yuzu questioned as she came out of the living room, sporting a confused look.

"Yeah, but he seems rather down right now, so let's just leave him be for the moment," Isshin explained giving Yuzu a cheesy thumbs up and a goofy grin. Yuzu just hesitantly nodded.

"I hope Onii-chan's ok," Yuzu murmured, heading back to the living room.

"Me too," Isshin said to himself silent with a grim expression.

"Oh hey Ichigo! You're back already?! I swear I didn't use this body to pick up girls or anything so please don't kill m-!" Kon was cut off from his rambling when Ichigo pressed his Substitute badge against his body's chest and true to Kisuke's word, it ejected Kon's soul pill out of Ichigo's body.

Ichigo simply phased into his body and picked up Kon's soul pill and simply put it in his desk drawer. He definitely wasn't in the mood for Kon's noisy antics right now.

He simply made his way over to his bed and collapsed on it. "After all he had done for me, this is how I repay him huh?" Ichigo hadn't known Zangetsu for long, but he understood that he'd always had been there with him; now he was gone, gone forever and he blame himself entirely for this.

Ichigo had been too busy lamenting himself to notice how physically and mentally exhausted was, before he could even notice, he had already fallen into a deep slumber.

A giant tear appeared in the sky, it seemed to lead into a static-like endless world. It seemed almost like the background noise you see when you flick over to an empty channel on a T.V.

"I wonder where you are, Kurosaki Ichigo…" A large distorted voice echoed throughout the silent night-time city. The voice belonged to a large, mossy, humanoid-like figure that donned a white master decorated with various tribal marking.

"What the hell?!" Ichigo reeled back as he felt a massive, unfocused Reiatsu wash over him. "This definitely belongs to a Hollow, it somehow feels really familiar too…" Ichigo recognized instantly, his scowl deepened slightly at that. "But what can I even do against it? I don't even have my Zanpakutō…" Ichigo was thinking over the idea of letting the Shinigami patrolling the town deal with it, but immediately ruled out that possibility noticing the Reiatsu belonging to the Hollow was extremely potent. "There's no way, some unseated officer would be able to deal with it,"

Ichigo grabbed his Shinigami badged and thrust it onto his chest allowing his spiritual forme to burst from its Human exterior. "I'll just have to beat this Hollow down with my bare hands!" Ichigo dashed out his window with blinding speed, he then started to hone in on the massive Reiatsu signature. Even for someone who wasn't adept at sensing Reiatsu at all, he could definitely sense where this massive amount was coming from.

"Oh there you are, Kurosaki Ichigo," Ichigo, acting on his instincts whirled around and brought his arm up to stop a monstrously giant fist in its tracks.

"You!" Ichigo hissed out loud, pure hatred reflecting in his brown eyes.

"That's right, I'm back again, to exact my revenge on you! Kurosaki Ichigo!" The Grandfisher roared with sadistic glee. "But I'm not going to just kill you, oh no, that'd be too easy. I'm going to slowly rip your limbs off one by one until you're nothing but a pile of flesh on the ground," The Grandfisher was practically drooling at this rate.

"In your dreams you giant freak!" Ichigo roared, charging straight at the Hollow that had murdered his Mother. Ichigo cocked his arm back and unconsciously empowered it with large amounts of his Reiatsu, he immediately thrust it forward aiming from Grandfisher's mask, wanting to shatter it off his face in one blow. But to his surprise the over-sized Hollow disappeared with in a sonic boom.

Ichigo blinked. One moment he was in the air ready to smash the Grandfisher's face in, the next he was in a concrete, meter deep crater writhing in pain. Though his ears were ringing violently, he could still hear the Grandfisher cackling with glee from above him.

"What the hell, he wasn't this fast when I last fought him, now that I think about it, he looks a lot different now too," Ichigo mused as he tried to regain feeling in his body.

"You must be wondering why I'm so much stronger now than before right?" The Grandfisher cockily stated, jumping down from the invisible platform of Reiatsu he had created. "You see, I'm now a special class of Hollow, I was once just a regular Hollow when we first met but now that I've removed part of my mask, I'm an Arrancar!" He roared triumphantly.

"So you just became a whole lot uglier huh? That's what it sounds like to me," Ichigo bit back, breathing harshly as he made his way out of the crater.

"Still acting cocky huh? Try to keep that cocky attitude up after you've seen this!" The moss covered Arrancar reached for its back and pulled out a giant skyscraper size sword.

"No way! That's a –"

"That's right, this is a Zanpakutō!" The Grandfisher bellowed, revelling in Ichigo's horror. "A Zanpakutō is relative to the size of its wielder's Reiatsu, so you never even had a chance at defeating me in the first place!"

Without warning, the Grandfisher brought down his towering Zanpakutō with full force," Ichigo pushing his body to the limits, managed to Shunpō out of the way just in time. "That was way too close," Ichigo cursed mentally.

"Why do you not draw your Zanpakutō, Kurosaki Ichigo?" The green behemoth questioned, his anger rising. "Do you intend to try and defeat me with your bare hands?!"

Ichigo didn't reply, only keeping a steady gaze on his enemies own Zanpakutō, and body movements.

"If you're not going to draw your sword, then I have no choice but to force you to use it! I cannot be satisfied if I don't crush you at full force!" Grandfisher brought down his blade once more, but even having taken a big hit, Ichigo was still able to nimbly evade the oversized blade with relative ease.

A giant face splitting grin appeared on the Hollow's face as it spotted a human not too far away from their fight. "I wonder if you'll be upset if I kill that little bug over there." He cackled madly.

Ichigo's eyes instantly darted towards the person who was walking down the empty street. He was about to block the giant Hollow's path when long protrusion skewered him through his chest the moment he had become distracted.

"Gah!" Ichigo coughed up copious amounts of blood as he stumbled to his knees, blood began flowing into his lungs making it exceedingly hard for him to even breathe.

"How sad, even at the brink of death you don't draw your Zanpakutō…" The Grandfisher slowly made his way over to Ichigo's bleeding body. "This was almost too easy, well after I kill you, I'll go and slaughter the rest of the town I suppose," The large Arrancar stated nonchalantly.

"So this is how I die huh?" Ichigo thought, completely frustrated. "Shinigami are completely worthless without their Zanpakutōs it seems," Ichigo would have laughed if he were in any other situation, but now all he could feel was a deep rooted regret.

With that final depressing thought, Ichigo succumbed to unconsciousness.

Crying…

He could hear someone crying. It was such a sad sound. A quiet, faint whimper in fact. The sound reverberated through Ichigo, causing his eyes to snap wide open.

"Where am I?" The orange haired Shinigami thought to himself. All he saw was a never ending blackness. A cold unforgiving, lonely blackness. His eyes wandered the empty world, trying to find the source of where the crying was coming from.

After a moment, his brown eyes landed on her.

She was lying on the ground, her long, straight, silver, reflective hair sprawled out around her, a sizable stream of tears cascaded down her ivory skin. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of crimson red a stark contrast to her white kimono that had intricate red flower designs decorated all over.

Ichigo frowned, silently making his way over to her. "You ok?" Ichigo asked quietly, kneeling down her to her.

As soon as those words left ichigo's lips, she sat up, almost instantly, a look of complete shock plastered on her snow white face. She tried to speak, but words didn't come out of her mouth.

She reached up and touched his face, pinching his cheek a little, causing him to wince in pain at the sudden contact, then she pinch her own arm.

"I'm not dreaming?" She croaked out. Her soft voice sounded like it hadn't been used in a lifetime.

"Well, I can't really say for sure. I was about to be eaten by a Hollow, then I suddenly ended up here," Ichigo explained bluntly, not quite sure what to make of the current situation. "Wherever here is…"

"You know of the term Hollow?" She questioned, with slightly wide yet hopeful eyes.

"Yeah," Ichigo replied simply, not quite understanding the big deal.

"Then you must be a Shinigami!" Her face lit up, as if she were the sun. A childlike happiness now covered the sad expression he had seen just a moment ago.

"I am, but a completely pathetic and useless one," Ichigo stated, as if berating himself. "A worthless Shinigami who let their Zanpakutō get destroy because he was too weak…" Ichigo punched the nonexistent ground in anger. "Why were you crying?" Ichigo asked, trying to change the subject, not wanting to dwell on the sad memory.

"I'm so very lonely…" She whispered out, tears threatening to breach the surface of her blood stained eyes once more. "I've been alone ever since I was created."

"Created?" Ichigo questioned with a raised brow. She nodded sadly, wiping a few stray tears of her skin using her sleeves of her kimono.

"I'm a Zanpakutō after all," Ichigo's eyes went wide at the revelation. She gently lifted her hand, allowing a physical manifestation of her sword form to appear, as if to prove her point.

It was a simple sword, one with a white hilt, an oval guard and a blade on the slightly shorter end of Katana standards.

"Wait, aren't Zanpakutō born from the soul of the Shinigami? If you've been alone ever since you've been created, that would be mean you had no Shinigami to begin with, how is that possible?" Ichigo questioned with a quizzical look, turning to face her once more.

"I was created personally by Nimaya Ōetsu, the creator of the Zanpakutō, a Captain of the Royal Guards, the personal protectors of the Reiō and his dimension, The Spirit Palace." She told him with a small smile. "When he had finished creating me, he looked at me with such a heart broken expression, it was as if he was pitying me. He said, "I'm so sorry," before he put me in a container, floating in some sort of liquid. And that was the very last time I ever saw him."

"Why would he do such a thing?!" Ichigo spat angrily, he knew that Shinigami and Zanpakutō had to have a healthy relationship. They looked after each other, they were partners- no greater than that, it was a relationship so closely tied, not even after an infinite amount of time passing could the bond be broken.

Then why did Nimaiya just throw her aside just like that?

"It's ok, you do not have to get angry for me, and I fully know the reason behind why he did what he did." She said with a soothing voice, despite her emotional state, she tried to calm the young ex-Shinigami down despite her own inner turmoil. "I am a blade too dangerous to wield…If anyone got a hold of me, it would surely end in eternal bloodshed, for everyone around the wielder and the wielder too."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, his anger subsiding just a little.

"I am a blade that can cut through anything. I believe Nimaya refereed to me as "The One Hit, One Kill Sword." There isn't a single thing in this universe that can escape this truth." She whispered on the verge of tears again. "I am a blade that can never be damage, I am a blade that is never stained in blood and I am a blade that can't be held within a sheath, therefore he didn't recognize me as a Zanpakutō, a true Sword…" And that did it, she started to weep once more, letting her tears flow unrestrained.

Ichigo was shocked. Completely flabbergasted in fact. This poor girl had been branded as a failure by her own creator and left to spend an eternity in complete solitude, all because he feared her ability? This did not sit right with Ichigo at all. No, it damn right pissed him off!

"E-erm-"Ichigo began but the moment his mouth opened it instantly became useless. "How the heck do I comfort people? I'm not exactly good at it, shit!" Ichigo was about to start panicking when he suddenly realized all the times his twin sisters, Yuzu and Karin would come to him crying, needing comforting. It couldn't be that much different right?

He gently placed a hand on her head and slowly brought it towards his chest. The unnamed Zanpakutō was completely shocked at this action, having never felt such contact before.

"I was wondering…"Ichigo looked away a little embarrassedly scratching the side of his cheek with his free hand as he did. "Would you do me the honour of becoming my Zanpakutō?"

The abandoned Zanpakutö's head instantly looked up, she had a look of complete disbelief on her face. She looked for any signs of deceit in Ichigo's eyes. She found none, just a pure determination and un-ending resolve and compassion.

"Zangetsu would want this…"Ichigo replied with a sad smile. "He would want me to continue living for as long as possible, even if it meant it was at the cost of his own existence, he's just that kinda guy." Ichigo could only smile at the fond memories he and Zangetsu shared, all the experiences that they had been through, the hardships, the pain and victories. "Well? What do you say?" Ichigo stood up and lowered his hand down, inviting her to take it.

"A-are you sure you want such a disgrace of a Zanpakutō?" She sniffled, looking down slightly in shame. That was it, Ichigo had had enough.

"Hey listen right here! Who wouldn't want a Zanpakutō like you? You're amazing! I think this Nimaya guy needs to get his ass kick off his high horse for doing what he did to you!" Ichigo stated, a voice full of conviction. "And also I don't want you to be alone anymore, I know how hard it can be." Ichigo finished with a sad smile.

The white clad woman could only stare at him in complete shock. She had been disowned by the creator of all Zanpakutō, cast away as a failure and now this boy would willingly throw away any chance of meeting his original Zanpakutō, one whom he must have shared countless hardships and fond memories with, just to save her from eternal solitude?

"T-then since it's ok with you, please allow me to be your Zanpakutō!" She quickly stuttered, not wanting to miss this once in a life time chance. They both stood up and faced each other, both smiling as they did, one more so than the other.

"My name is, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo said in a strong yet, kind voice, deciding to lead off with the obligatory introductions.

As if by pure ingrained instinct, her name came to her, bursting from her Ruby coloured lips.

"And my name is Sayafushi," She couldn't help let loose a few tears of pure happiness roll down her face. "I've finally found my Shinigami."

And the world went completely white, shining with the brilliance of a Thousand Stars

The Real World.

A pillar of blinding white light erupt from Ichigo's seemingly lifeless body, parting the clouds as it did. A blindingly fast streak of sliver rocketed its way out of the smoke and flying debris, effortlessly cleaving through the solid concrete ground as it did.

Before the unsuspecting Grandfisher could register what had come its way, the string of silver sliced its way through the Arrancar's body, perfectly down the middle.

"I don't know how you managed to come back to life Kurosaki Ichigo, but now that you've finally drawn your sword, I can crush you with all my might!" The Grandfisher laughed maniacally.

"Too bad for you ugly, you're already dead," Ichigo simply retorted, bringing Sayafushi back down.

"Wha-" Before the Arrancar could question what he meant by that, his body parted down the middle erupting into a fountain of blood, before dissipating into black spirit particles, no doubt from having been cleansed.

After Ichigo made sure the Hollow he despised most was properly dispatched, he looked down at his new blade and when he did, his breath hitched. "Beautiful," was all that came to his mind.

Sayafushi looked considerably different from what he had first seen when she showed him her Zanpakutō forme for the first time.

Now her hilt seemed almost transparent, like a crystal gem, it carried a familiar chain too, reminiscent to that of Tensa Zangetsu which mirrored the colour of her hilt.

Her guard hadn't changed much, the only difference being it was a little thinner and more narrow. The part which had changed the most, was undoubtedly the blade. Instead of being a black blade with a silver edge, it was now completely black and had become far thinner. He had also noticed the length of the blade had nearly double too.

"This is my Shikai," Ichigo heard from within his mind.

"It's really beautiful," Ichigo complimented, brandishing it in the artificial light that was surrounding them, admiring how it refracted from the blade in several different directions.

Sayafushi's cheeks flushed slightly at the sudden praise, she had never been complimented before in her entire life, only ever being called a failure.

Ichigo stumbled slightly, suddenly feeling like his entire body weighed ten times more than it actually did.

"Shit! I need to get to Inoue to heal my wounds," Ichigo thought, panting heavily.

"Ichigo! Are you ok?!" Came the worried yell of Kisuke Urahara, who was donning Benihime in his hand.

"You're late, Hat'n'Clogs," Ichigo smirked slightly, turning his sore, bloody body to face his former mentor.

"What on Earth happened here?" Kisuke questioned, surveying the heavily damaged area.

"Well I was about to get killed by the Grandfisher, but then I got a new Zanpakutō, somehow…And kicked his ass," Ichigo extremely uninformative explanation caused Kisuke to sweat drop.

"Kurosaki-san, Shinigami just don't get new Zanpakutōs overnight you know," Kisuke explained.

"Then how do you explain Sayafushi right here?" Ichigo pointed to Sayafushi, raising her up to eye-level.

"I…Can't" Urahara Kisuke for the first time in his life, couldn't find an answer to something. "Wait, it can't be…"

"Can't be what?" Ichigo questioned curiously.

"Nothing, nothing! Never mind little ol' me!" Kisuke laughed merrily bring his fan up to his face.

"If you say so…" Ichigo sweat dropped, not bother to pry any further.

After their quick back and forth, Kisuke brought Ichigo back to the shop and together with Tessai, fully healed the Substitute Shinigami. Once he was back at one hundred percent, Ichigo had made his way back home and into his room through his window.

He was far too worn out to deal with his crazy dad and his shenanigans right now. "So tired…" Ichigo mumbled into his pillow. Despite his sore body and aching mind, Ichigo couldn't help but smile. He had a new Zanpakutō and with it he could now protect everyone he held dear to him.

And this time, he'd definitely protect his Zanpakutō too, he would never let what happened to Zangetsu happen again.

With new found resolve, Ichigo peacefully fell asleep.

"Ichigo… wake up Ichigo," Sayafushi called out, shaking his body gently as she did

"Huh?" Ichigo groggily answered, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"I'm sorry for waking you, but I was wondering if we could talk just a little bit more." The white Zanpakutō spirit asked shyly, with a hopeful expression.

"Sure thing, I don't mind." Ichigo paused after he had finished his sentence, something was very, very different. "What the hell happened to my Inner World?" Ichigo looked on in a mixture of shock and awe.

His once matte blue coloured Skyscrapers, were now completely see through and different in design. Before being quite chunky, they had become slimmer and each building was slightly different of one another. In the reflection of each building was a direct mirror imagine of his town. Ichigo had also noticed the sky was almost completely black, save for a few specks of white which were without a doubt stars and there also was a three-quarter moon looming over them, shining brightly as it did.

"This is the by-product of our souls merging." Sayafushi explained, sweeping her hand across the scenic view. "It's quite the sight to behold, isn't it?" She said with a soft smile.

"Yeah, it's a lot different from what it used it to be, that's for sure." Ichigo added, reminiscing as he did. "Speaking of changes, you a little look different too," He said, inspecting her with curious eyes.

True to his word Sayafushi had changed indeed. Her eyes had gone from a deep crimson, to a bright amber, her Kimono sleeves were now longer, gliding across the floor with each movement and the once blood soaked flowers that decorated it were now pitch black.

Ichigo couldn't help but noticed a white crescent-moon shaped hairpin firmly placed on the left side of her head. It seemed to be made of the same material as the hilt Sayafushi's Zanpaktou forme held.

"Since I am now a physical manifestation of your power, it's only natural I changed," She explained smiling at him. "Ah, Ichigo, I almost forgot, would you like me to train you from now on? Of course I'm not going to force you or anything!" The flustered Zanpakutō asked, nervously looking at her new master.

Ichigo could only chuckle at her shyness. "Sayafushi, you don't need to be so formal with me you know? We're Shinigami and Zanpakutō, bound together till the day we die after all," Ichigo reminded her with a small smile. "And of course, I'd really appreciate it if you did train me, I only have about five days' worth of formal training under my belt anyway, I could definitely use a lot more."

"That's great! Then how about we start tomorrow?" Sayafushi chirped happily.

"Yeah, that'd be fine with me, I've got no school tomorrow anyway," Ichigo responded with a nod.

"Oh! I can even teach you Kidō!" Sayafushi added with a hopeful smile.

"Kidō? I've never really had the chance to get to learn that at all, and if I'm anything like Renji, I'll probably suck really badly at it," Ichigo admitted with an embarrassed look.

"I'll try my best to teach you Reiatsu control, manipulation and awareness, so that practicing Kidō will become easier for you," Sayafushi almost pleaded, clasping his hands with her own.

"Alright, fine, fine, I guess it couldn't hurt to learn some Kidō, but how do you even know Kidō anyway? I thought Zanpakutō were limited by what they knew about themselves and their wielder?" Ichigo questioned confusedly.

"Have you forgotten Ichigo? I was crafted with a fragment of Nimaiya Öetsu's Soul, His knowledge of Kidō is very expansive, and one of the other Captains of the Royal Guards is a master at Reiatsu control and awareness, she can even strengthen other people's with hers," She explained with a matter-of-factly-tone.

"Well then, I guess I'm in your care from now on," Ichigo conceded, knowing he was eventually going to have to learn it, whether he liked it or not. How hard could Kidō be anyway? Renji could fire a few mid-level Hadō's without incantations pretty convincingly, so if he had Sayafushi teach him with all her knowledge, he surely could become fairly adept at it with some hard work right?

Sayafushi noticed Ichigo trying his best to keep himself awake, but failing terribly to do so. She couldn't help but smile, he was trying his best for her since she had selfishly asked for him to stay awake just a little while longer despite knowing he was exhausted.

"Ichigo, come," She instructed, patting her lap motioning him to lay down on it, he blushed slightly and was about to refuse, but seeing her hopeful look, he hesitantly obliged. "I'm terribly sorry for keeping you awake," She apologized sincerely, running her fingers through his disheveled hair.

"Nah, it's alright, you don't have to apologize," Ichigo dismissed her apology with a tired yawn. "It must have been hard being alone for so long."

"It was," She replied somberly, before gazing down at him. "But I'm not alone any-more, right?" She finished with a cheerful smile, looking down at him.

"Yeah, you're right," Ichigo respond in-kind, sighing contently, fixing his posture to a more comfortable one, before closing his already heavy eye-lids and drifting off to a peaceful slumber.

"Goodnight Ichigo."

"Nimaiya."

"Yo! What's shakin' my main man Ichibei?!" Nimaya jovially yelled spinning around on his heel to face the Monk.

"Why did you do that?" Ichibei Hyösube questioned with a raised brow, making his way over to the progenitor of all Zanpakutō.

"Why did I do what? ~" Nimaiya innocently responded with a large toothy grin, this intern caused the large man to sigh at his fellow Zero Squad Captain's antics.

"You know what I mean Nimaiya, why did you give Kurosaki Ichigo that Zanpakutō?" The bearded Monk clarified.

"Ichi-Chan seemed like he was in a bit of a pickle, so I decided to help a brotha' out! What's so bad about that?" Nimaiya exclaimed striking an eccentric pose.

"Of all the Zanpakutō you could have given him…" Ichibei could only sigh, he shouldn't have been surprised, really. This was the most random and eccentric member of the Royal Guards after all, there was no changing that.

"Also, two incomplete and lonely souls coming together, don't you think it's just poetic?" Nimaiya added, with a melancholic expression hidden behind his bright gold shades.

"Ah, so that's the reason." Ichibei realized, with slightly wide eyes. "You just couldn't stand to see her like that could you?" Ichibei let out a large toothy grin before putting an arm around his fellow Zero Squad member. "You can be quite the compassionate individual when you want to be, eh' Nimaiya?"

Nimaiya only smiled in response with a knowing look. "I guess so."

Yo.

This is indeed the first of many to come chapters of my new story. This is NOT a ONE-SHOT, unlike the other story I posted, that was basically a draft of sorts for this story.

I'd like to thank Mas2009 for his/her review, pointing out that I had chosen a terrible timeline to start the story at. This has now been fixed.

I'd like to thank everyone else who reviewed too.

This story won't follow the Bleach Cannon 100% of the time. It will definitely deviate from it at some parts, but I'll definitely try and keep it as close as I can.

About the update schedule for this story. I haven't really thought of one yet, but I'll try to give you guys at least 1 chapter every 2 weeks.

Anyway, leave a review if you'd like, it motivates me a lot.

WeirdoKen.