Karakura A Day Earlier:

"Hey Mom, I'm going out!" Tatsuki called out as she slipped on her shoes.

"Okay, stay safe!"

With that, she exited out the door and made her way to her destination. She hadn't done that much over the course of the break. Things were pretty relaxed for the first time in a while. The Hollows were no longer a problem anymore. In fact, she hadn't seen one for the past week, but why should she be suspicious of that?

She was making her way to downtown Karakura to buy some necessities, or maybe even some accessories if she was feeling up to it. Although, something on her mind had been bugging her for the past few days.

It was about Orihime and the rest of her friends. She hadn't seen them for quite some time now, and she began to worry if they were okay.

She looked up in an effort to forget her worries. She told herself that Ichigo was strong and that Ichigo wouldn't let anyone hurt those he cared about. Once she told herself that, the heavy feeling in her stomach had been lifted completely.

After a bit of walking, she had arrived at the bus station that would take her downtown. She looked at the scheduling stickered onto the pole to see that she had to wait three more minutes until the arrival of the next bus. So, she stood there, beside three other people who were doing the same thing, and waited.

Three minutes had passed, and the bus had arrived on time. The doors swung open, allowing for the people waiting to enter. They put in the money necessary for their stop and pulled their tickets out of the machine. By the time she did the same thing, she looked around for an empty seat on the bus.

There were quite a few people on the bus. She guessed that they were doing the same thing she was. It only took a few seconds for Tatsuki to find an empty seat. She strolled over towards it and sat down.

She didn't bother to look up as she pulled out her phone to see if she had received any messages. There were a few, but none from the people she was interested in. After that she decided to go on the internet and read some articles. She did this for about a minute before realizing that something was off. The bus hadn't moved in the entire time that she had got on.

Tatsuki looked up curiously to see what was going on only to see that there wasn't anything happening. In fact, there wasn't anything at all. Everyone had suddenly vanished with their personal belongings being the only indicator that they were ever existed.

"Hello?" she called out, hoping someone would answer.

There was no reply.

"Hello?" she said sounding a bit more irritated.

Again, no response.

"What the hell is going on?"

The first thing that came to mind was that this was some elaborate prank from a TV show just to laugh at people's freaked out reactions. She would continue to think that until she felt a bizarre tingling within her skin.

She began itching herself to try and satisfy the irritation, but it was all over and insatiable. She stood up to look around, but as soon as she did, a feeling of sickness rushed to her stomach. The pain was so immense that she collapsed to the floor.

Soon after it became increasingly more difficult to breath. It wasn't long until she was practically gasping for air as she curled up in a fetal position. Her breaths became more frantic as she gripped her throat. It was as if someone had dug under the muscles of her neck and grip tightly around her windpipe.

She tried to call out for help, but no words could come out of her throat. Her eyes began tearing up from the lack of oxygen in her lungs.

"Please," she thought to herself in desperation.

With one last attempt, she reached out her hand, begging for someone to rescue her, just to give her some feeling of hope. Her struggled soon stopped as everything faded to black.

Seireitei:

"Second and third patrol, attend to Captain Kuchiki!" Iemura called forth as people were rushing left and right to assist other members of the fourth division. "Patrols seven, ten, eleven, and thirteen, take care of Lieutenant Isane! Lieutenant Abarai has finished surgery up to the sixth stage! Patrols eight and nine, get ready to move him!"

"Byakuya!" called Rukia as she tried to get her brother's attention. He was laying unconscious with four people gathered around him all contributing on healing the downed Captain. "Byakuya!" she called once again as she tried to rush over to his side.

She then felt a pair of hands tighten around her arms as an unnamed squad four member held her back. "You can't! He's in the middle of treatment."

On the other side of things, Komamura began tramping away from the scene slowly, putting great effort into every step. Several squad four members rushed up to try and assist him, but he shot out his hand to tell them to back off. "I'm alright now," he said in a very hoarse voice. "Take care of the others."

Despite his order, the squad four members persisted on helping him.

Iemura couldn't help but sigh at the sight before him. "This is absolute chaos," he said, shaking his head cumbersomely. "It's a miracle that no one died."

As he watched the madness ensue, a bizarre call had reached his ear. He turned around to see a giant, green manta ray-like creature flying towards them. On top of the creature was a figure riding on the top of it. He immediately recognized who it was as he silently began thanking whatever god there was watching over him at that moment.

Once the creature landed, Iemura rushed over to greet the rider, giving as respectful of a bow as he could. "Captain Unohana. What is the condition of Captain Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Hinamori?"

"For now, they have escaped death," she stated calmly. "The rest is up to them to decide."

The Captain started walking over towards her patients with great haste. "Status report."

"Isane is currently being healed by the Ryoka, Soi Fon is almost finished with her treatment, Renji is currently being transported to the medical headquarter, and Byakuya is in need of higher medical attention."

As the two Soul Reapers continued walking, something in her peripheral vision had caught Unohana's attention. She stopped to give a puzzled look over at a body lying motionlessly, and lazily sprawled out across the ground. It was a rather curious sight for her as no one seemed to be helping the boy.

"And what of him?" she asked, point over to the unconscious carrot top.

"He's sleeping," the third seat said bluntly.

"Sleeping?" Unohana said, raising an eyebrow.

Iemura nodded. "Correct, reports say he had taken the most damage out of everyone here taking both Byakuya and Soi Fon's full powered Bankai head on and also getting hit by Aizen's Hado number ninety. He then collapsed right after Aizen had escaped."

"So then why isn't anyone helping him?"

"Because by the time we had arrived, all of his injuries had disappeared without a trace. Like they never even happened. When we and his friends offered to help him, he declined and requested us to leave him alone until he was ready. I'll tell you what, that kid is not human. He should even be in one piece, let along breathing. It's no wonder how he got this far."

Unohana hummed to herself in interest of the boy before turning her attention back to walking again. She smiled as she thought in the back of her mind that no doubt that he must have been the one that Isane was talking so much about. He certainly was quite the catch.

"Achoo!"

"Ah jeez, don't tell me you're getting sick," said his pale doppelganger.

"Nah, it was probably just some dust or something."

Zangetsu raised an eyebrow. "Really?" he said suspiciously. "Dust?... In here?"

Ichigo thought about his remark for a second before slapping his face at his own stupidity. "Wow." He said dumbfounded, "I really didn't think that through."

His doubleganger shook his head in disapproval. "You're such an idiot."

"Anyways!" Ichigo said unnecessarily loud, trying to change the subject of the conversation as he wipes his nose with his sleeve. "Why does it matter if I get sick? Couldn't you just heal me up?"

Zangetsu pinched the bridge of his nose with irritation. "My abilities can only replace your cells, I don't heal them. I don't deal with viruses. Also, if you get sick then I get sick, and I don't like getting sick."

The two sat on the edge of a building in silence as they just stared off into the distance with empty looks in their faces. There wasn't much to talk about. Their situation had already passed its climax and now all that was left was its resolution, and usually nothing happens during the resolution.

"So," the pale spirit said, breaking the ice. "What do you think of your new power?"

Ichigo looked at his partner for a little bit before returning his sights back on the horizon. "Well," he said scratching his cheek, "I would say your powers are quite…" he paused for a moment to think of the appropriate word to use which was taking far more energy than it really should have. Out of panic, he said the first word that come to mind, "powerful."

There was a weird silence that dwindled uncomfortably in the air after Ichigo had made his comment. Zangetsu eyelids became droopy with disappointment. "The sad part is that I know that was the best word you had in mind."

"Hey!" snapped Ichigo, "It's been a long day, okay?"

His partner just shrugged his shoulders with pursed lips without giving much thought. "Well, if that's the only word you can use to describe your powers now, I wonder what words you'll use when you're at full power."

Ichigo turned his head in shock as he stared wide-eyed at the distant spirit. "I can get stronger?"

"Yeah," Zangetsu chuckled as he scratched the back of his head, "and you can improve your current abilities even further. Right now, you're just in the process of leaving the cocoon. You just need to train off the baby fat."

Awesome. That was the only word the teen could use to describe the feel he had at the moment. Already he had proven himself to be strong enough to take down almost anyone in the Seireitei, and yet, here he sat, hearing that he could get even stronger. Even he became a bit uncertain if he was able to control his strength.

Zangetsu knew the thoughts going on in his wielder's mind. Whether it was because he was always in it, or just from his facial expression, he knew. "You're gonna grow up to be quite the monster, King."

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for that."

"Well, you're gonna have to be when the time comes."

Ichigo gave a suspicious look. "That's rather ominous, what you just said."

"Don't worry, it's all with good intention."

Once again, they both went quiet, listening to the silence from the world around them.

"Well, I think it's time for you to go." With a snap of his fingers, Ichigo was gone from the world without any retort. Zangetsu hadn't noticed this, but he suddenly forgot how to breathe as he forced a sigh. He picked himself up and summoned his bone-white zanpakuto into his left hand.

He gave his signature maleficent smile as he readied himself into combat position. "Come on. Why you gotta be like that?"

Ichigo soon awoke from his slumber with a groggy feeling covering his entire body. His body was much too tired for him to move so he tried the next best option. He turned his head to see the back of a squad four member.

"Hey," he called out. He got nothing.

"Hey!" he called out again, this time a little louder. Still nothing.

"HEY!"

A shiver traveled down the unnamed soul reaper upon hearing the teen's shouts as he turned around.

"Y-Yes?" he asked unsurely.

"Can you maybe give me some water, or something?"

"O-Okay," the young man then ran off in a direction where he couldn't quiet move his head to see.

Ichigo turned his head to look up at the orange, evening filled sky with an unreadable expression on his face. His mind wandered to the last attack that Ichigo had taken head on, the pain still remnant on his body despite it being fully healed.

"Oh, looks like you're finally up."

The teen was too sore to turn his head again to see the source of the voice, but it didn't matter. He immediately recognized it anyways. "Sup."

"At least look at me when you say that." The voice sounded rather peeved.

Ichigo tried to chuckle knowing the tone wasn't serious, but his muscles were still aching too much for him to fully do so. "Sorry. Too tired to move anything right now."

Appearing in his field of vision was the infamous Kukaku hovering over him in a rather distraction manner where her breast took up most of his field of vision. A small blush grew on his face as he forced his eyes away. "Can you maybe position yourself in a way that's a little less distracting

Kukaku chuckled at the boy's request, "What's the matter? Too much woman for you to handle?"

Ichigo felt a rise of temperature in his cheeks. Let's just say it was a good thing he was wearing baggy pants right now.

She laughed at his obvious discomfort. "You need to loosen up there strawberry. People are gonna start thinking you're a virgin." Ichigo made a frustrated look towards that remark, but still kept his eyes away from the Shiba leader. "Here, I'll get into a position that will be much more comfortable for the both of us."

She reached down and gently lifted the teen's head. She then lowered herself to her knees, placing them right under Ichigo's lifted head before placing it down on her thighs. She then began petting the top of his head in a caring fashion to calm his rapidly beating heart.

"There. Better?"

Ichigo looked up barely being able to see the top of the woman's head from her underboob. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation. It was better in that he couldn't see down her very apparent cleavage anymore, but at the same time it was worse in that her underboobs were basically all he could see at this point.

"Sure," he said unsurely.

The two rested in silence as Kukaku gently stroke her fingers through Ichigo's messy hair, still a bit dry from all the sweat he had accumulated in his fights. "So I heard you did something stupid," she said once the two were a bit more relaxed.

"Can you blame me?" he smirked. "Saving people's asses is kind of my thing."

The squad four member whom Ichigo had sent to get some water had arrived at that moment with a small glass three quarters filled with water. "Here you go sir," he said politely with a gracious bow.

"Oh uh, thanks," replied Ichigo. He made an attempt to reach for the glass, but was quickly reminded once again that he was still too exhausted to move. "Hey, um, do you think you could, uh, pour it into my mouth. I'm kinda too tired to move right now."

"O-Okay," spoke the unnamed soul reaper as he got down on his knees.

"I got his head," Kukaku said as she tilted the teen's head up so that he wouldn't drown himself.

Ichigo drank all of it rather quickly before the soul reaper parted the cup from his lips. It was quite refreshing to have some cool liquids in his body after everything he had just been through.

"I want to thank you, Ryoka," the soul reaper suddenly mentioned. "I'm sure you've already heard this a lot but, you've done so much for us even after everything we've put you through." He looked down at his knees with a clenched fist. "Thank you so much. I can't show enough gratitude towards what you've done."

"Don't worry about it!" Ichigo said trying to wave off the compliments. "You were just doing what you thought was right at the time. You don't have to apologize for doing your job."

A pout developed on the squad four member's face. "I know but still…"

"Hey!" said Ichigo, this time with a bit more force in his voice immediately snapping the person to attention. "It's all good. Thank you for your services."

At first, his face still showed uncertainty towards the teen's behavior. However, soon that uncertainty turned into a grateful smile. "Thank you for everything," he bowed before standing up and rushing over to help some of the other injured.

"My hero," Kukaku playfully said before she noogied the sides of Ichigo's head.

"Ow ow ow!" Ichigo hissed in pain as his body tightened to the pain. "Why would you do that?! Do you know how much that hurt?!"

"Oh, quit being such a baby," she laughed hysterically.

Ichigo growled at the Shiba, but his voice was drowned out by her laughter. It took a few more seconds of laughing before a long pause between the two occurred as they stared distantly in different in front of them. It was rather odd for the both of them. Despite knowing each other for only a few short days, here they were, acting as if they were siblings. It was an odd feeling for both of them, but it wasn't unpleasant.

"So this is what the infamous lap pillow feels like," Ichigo suddenly said causing Kukaku to raise an eyebrow. "It's quite nice actually. You have a nice lap."

"Oh my, I see that you're more of a pervert than what I took you for," the woman snickered.

"Can you don't?" Ichigo snapped back with an annoyed look. "Sheesh, why do you always have to take things the wrong way."

The two fell into a peaceful silent again as they stared off into the sunset.

"You know Ichigo, all joking aside. You remind me a lot of my older brother," Kukaku said with a sad smile on her face.

"Oh yeah? Must have been a pretty great guy," Ichigo declared in an act of cockiness.

Kukaku gave a small giggle, "Yeah… He was. It's really weird for me too, because he looked almost exactly like you, but with black hair and a way better body. Normally he'd be the one pampering me, but here I am, giving a lap pillow to a person who is almost an exact reflection of his image in every possible way. For me to be like the older sibling in this scenario is a bit strange for me."

"Is he still around?" Ichigo asked hesitantly.

"No," she said with a saddened expression. "He is gone."

Ichigo fell silent to the mournful words of the Shiba. He knew all too well what it was like to lose a loved one. "You want to talk about it?"

"No," her voice sounding distant. "No, not really." There was a long pause between her words as she unconsciously began to brush her hand through Ichigo's hair once more. "It's getting quite late, don't you think? I'll take you back to the house where you can have nice bed to sleep one. I don't think you'll particularly enjoy sleeping on the ground for the rest of the night. It could get cold."

Only just noticing how late it was getting, the wave of fatigue suddenly washed over him as his body became to tired to move, not that he could before. "Hey, um, do you think you could carry me there? I still can't exactly move."

"Aw, what's the matter? Little hero all tired out?" she spoke as if she were talking to a toddler.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Very funny, now can you help me out?"

Obliging to Ichigo's request, she pushed Ichigo's body into an upright, seated position. She stood up and walked around the teen, keeping his head up before squatting down in front of him. She then placed his hands on her shoulder before wrapping her arms underneath his thighs. As if he was as light as Styrofoam, she lifted Ichigo's limp body and carried him like a backpack.

Once Ichigo felt secured on the woman's back, he began to relax. That was his first mistake. Kukaku's grip suddenly loosened as she dropped down quickly to give the false impression that she was going to drop Ichigo. Him being as tired as he was, he had a minor heart attack as he felt himself fall for a split second before realizing it was all just a prank.

"You're such an asshole!" he said in a tired yell. The woman only snickered at his complaints before she began her descent down the hill.

The two walked without a word as Kukaku caringly held Ichigo in place to make sure he didn't actually fall. They let the moment sink in, both of them have a clear conscious. There was no more fighting, no more risks that needed to be taken, and for the most part, no reason to worry about anything. Just a calm and relaxing walk down a hill.

"Kukaku," the carrot top spoke, catching the attention of his escort.

"Hmm?"

"I think you're a great older sister." The older woman almost fell over from the suddenness of the compliment. She wanted to say something, but for the first time in a long time, she had found herself speechless. "Ganju must be very happy to have someone like you."

Ichigo's eyes suddenly became very heavy as it became more difficult to keep himself awake. After fighting a losing battle with fatigue, he finally dozed off with his head resting on Kukaku's shoulder. He wasn't able to see it, but the woman's face had been lit up like a Christmas tree. Her smile was incredibly bright, and her eyes were practically gleaming with joy. In all her life of bossing around people and gaining a following, she had never received such a direct praise to her efforts. Not even by Ganju.

To finally hear someone saying that she was a great older sister was like a dream come true to her and she never even knew it. She didn't even know she wanted it in the first place. She was practically (internally) squealing with joy. But she had an image to uphold so she didn't let anything else other than a look out.

"Thank you, Ichigo," she said knowing that her words would fall silent to the boy's ears, "And he better be happy."

It took quite a while for them to get back to the Shiba household and Ichigo was out cold. Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko both greeted her at the front gate, but asked curiously was to why she was carrying the Ryoka.

"Our little buddy here is tuckered out and needs a place to sleep," she said as she looked over her shoulder to see the resting teen on her back.

"I see," said Koganehiko, "Shall we get him a futon to rest on?"

"No," their leader said with a pleased smile on her face, "That won't be necessary."

The twins gave a confused look as the one armed woman walked past them with an unusual look on her face. The two looked at each other both trying to figure out why their leader was in such a good mood, but just shrugged their shoulders deciding that it was probably best that they didn't intrude on her privacy.

It didn't take long before Kukaku arrived at her resting quarters. She opened the wooden slide doors to reveal a rather simple room with only a bed and a small shrine on the other end of her room. The woman walked over to the bed and gently removed Ichigo from her shoulders and held him in the infamous bridal style position.

She gave a long look to the teen's resting face with an unreadable look gracing her face. That was until it turned into a twisted, devilish smile. The black haired woman then tossed the poor boy into the air, and made him land straight onto the bed's cushions.

This, of course, awoke the Ichigo from his slumber as he freefell into the bed. Almost immediately, he shot up in a fit of anger and started yelling at the Shiba.

"What the hell!" he shouted before he was brutally reminded of the soreness in his muscles. "Ah Fuck!" He then collapsed back into the bed with a pissed off look on his face.

"Man Ichigo, you're just too easy. Just how did you survive three days with Yoruichi?"

Ichigo grumbled, "I'd rather not talk about it."

It didn't take long for him to notice that he was now under a roof and in an unfamiliar location. He looked from the corner of his eye to see that he was resting in a plain bed. Something he hadn't done since the time he had broken into the Seireitei. It felt nice. It felt like he was back home again.

"Thanks," he said as he made himself comfortable.

Kukaku chuckled at his appreciation, "No problem." She then sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Ichigo fall back asleep again. She watched and waited for a little while, much like how a mother would with their sleeping child.

"Hey Ichigo," she said a bit hesitantly. She heard a tired hum come from the carrot top. "This may be a strange request but… do you think I could sleep with you?"

Ichigo, being too tired to think the situation through, and frankly not wanting to think at all just made a noise as if to say that whatever it was she was asking about was okay.

Kukaku's face lit up a little bit as she removed her mechanical arm, lifted the covers up, and slid herself into bed. Ichigo, meanwhile, remained relatively unfazed by this action. The bed itself was relatively sizable leaving a bit of room for the two to respect each other's personal space.

But Kukaku didn't really want there to be space between the two. She wiggled closer to the resting hybrid and wrapped her lone arm around him and pulled herself closer. It was then when she realized that she was taller than him. Albeit just by a few centimeters, but still, she was taller.

The feeling was still all too bizarre for her, taking care of a carbon copy of her older brother as if she were the older sister. There was just something strange about it to her. But all those feelings soon disappeared as she heard the soft breathing of Ichigo in his peaceful state of rest. Her grip tightened slightly around the boy, but in a caring fashion.

"Thank you," she said as she too fell into a deep sleep.

One Week Later:

"I'm telling you, you need to get more meat on those bones. That's all I'm trying to say," Ichigo said to Hanatarou. This caused a sweat drop to appear on the soul reaper's head.

"But I've… I've already told you that I don't like to fight," Hanatarou replied hesitantly.

"I get that, but aren't you tired of having those squad eleven members boss you around all the time? Maybe if you get more muscular yourself up and look more intimidating, they will stop bothering you."

"B-But, if I become intimidating, wouldn't that make the people I help feel… uncomfortable? I mean, you wouldn't want someone like Kenpachi tending your wounds"

Ichigo thought about this remark for a second as he imagined himself being taken care of a person who looked like Kenpachi. A shiver traveled down his spine at the idea of the psychopath's sinister grin peering down on him as he laid in bed, covered in bandages. That was quite an image put in his head. "I think I see your point."

After they came to an agreement, a head suddenly poked around the corner. "Ah Ichigo, there you are. I've been looking for you."

"Oh, Isane! How are you doing?"

The gray haired woman gave a sheepish giggle as she place her hand on the back of her head before giving a polite bow. "I'm doing much better now. Thank you for your concern. Who did you come to visit this time?" she asked curiously.

"I came to check up on Renji, he seems to be fully healed now. He's now with Byakuya, keeping a watch over him."

"I see."

"Alright, I guess I'll get going. See yah Hanatarou," Ichigo waved as he walked off towards the exit. He then suddenly stopped in his tracks as he reached for the door. "Hey, Isane." He sounded rather distant. "I know I've said this a few too many times but… I'm sorry for what I did to you."

Isane, feeling overwhelmed by the abundant number of apologies she's received over the past week, waved her hands frantically in embarrassment. "No, no, you don't have to keep apologizing to me. You had no control of the situation, and you did what had to be done."

"I know, but still…"

He felt a soft hand grab his wrist. It was gentle but had a firmness that he knew was meant for reassurance. "Ichigo, please… don't beat yourself up over something like that. You did what you could, and we're all alive because of it. If anything, I should be the one thanking you for everything that you've done."

The teen gave a sad look before a half-hearted smile stretched across his face at the attempt to try and brighten the mood. Giving a nod of understanding, Isane let go of his wrist, allowing him to leave.

"See you guys!" he called out before opening the shoji. "Hopefully you'll come to visit us sometime!" With that he disappeared behind a closed door.

With his large, holed Khyber sword on his back and his body now fully recovered, he decided to go for a quick walk. And a quick walk was what he got as he had only gotten outside Squad 4's perimeter before Orihime suddenly appeared out of nowhere, screaming his name.

"Kurosaki," she said breathlessly as she tried to catch her breath from all her running.

"What? What's wrong?" Ichigo said, a bit anxious in seeing the state that his friend was in.

"It's Rukia, I she's gone missing!"

Ichigo stared blankly the moment he received the information. He looked to be deep in thought.

…

…

"Kurosaki, are you alright?" ask his classmate, confused by his reaction.

Suddenly, a smirk inched across his face. "I think she's fine. There's nothing to worry about."

"…O-oh… I see," Orihime said, still feeling a bit confused over the whole ordeal. Seeing the obvious expression on the girl's face, Ichigo placed his hand on her head to ruffle her hair. "Look at you, being all caring and stuff."

All prior thoughts in Inoue's head quickly disappeared to be replaced with happiness as she reverted back to her normal, bubbly state. She liked the feeling of Ichigo's hand on her head. It gave her a sense of compassion she had missed when her brother had died. It felt warm, like a blanket comfortably wrapping itself around her soul. She couldn't help but let out a goofy smile.

"Hey Orihime," Ichigo said, breaking her out of her trance. "I'm going up to the hill to talk with Soukyoku. I promised her that I'd talk with her before we leave."

"Soukyoku?" she asked with a curious head tilt.

Ichigo smiled. "Yeah, that halberd that was supposed to kill Rukia."

The happiness in her expression vanished as quicker than it came; the thought's of Rukia's near death experience weighing heavily on her being. "E-eh?" she said confused yet again.

"You wanna come with? I don't know how fun it will be, but a promise is a promise. Plus, she doesn't seem like the kind of person that likes them being broken."

"She?"

One Long Hike Up a Hill Later:

"Well, this is… unexpected." Both teenagers were having some trouble beholding the sight in front of them. Apparently, the Soukyoku didn't want to be sealed until she saw Ichigo one more time, burning everyone who got near her. But that wasn't the thing that the two were bewildered by that. No, the thing that really caught them off guard was the size of said creature currently was. As opposed to its normal building sized form, it took a much smaller appearance similar to that of a falcon's.

Upon hearing the two's footsteps, it looked up to see who it was approaching her this time. She almost immediately recognized the face of the hybrid teen as the flaming phoenix lifted itself off the ground and charged at Ichigo. Once she came into range of him, she began pecking at him in an irritated fashion.

"Ow! Ow! What the hel-ow!" Ichigo said in distress. Despite being as powerful as he was, it still didn't take away the fact on how powerful the Soukyoku was as well. "Stop that!" he shouted as he quickly snatched the bird by the talon.

The bird screeched, unfazed by her position, but still held a rather annoyed look.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? It took me three days for me to fully recover my strength and I had a lot of other people to visit as well. I didn't forget you I swear."

Soukyoku let out an angry grumble before giving him one last peck on the head.

"Okay, that one I didn't deserve," Ichigo jokingly chuckled as it landed on his shoulder.

Orihime, on the other hand, was having the weirdest day. First, she finds out that Uryu could sew, then she finds Rukia had gone missing, and now she was watching her classmate was talking to a bird. Yup, this day will certainly leave a mark on her.

She quickly snapped out of whatever trance she had found herself in by the cooing of pigeon. Only it wasn't a pigeon, it was the phoenix now nuzzling its head affectionately into Ichigo's cheek in an adorable fashion. Orihime was inquisitive of this as she watched oddly as the spirit had immediately began bonding with Ichigo.

"Alright alright, but I can't stay here forever," Ichigo said in an apprehensive tone. "I have a life outside of being a part time Soul Reaper, so I got to go back sometime soon."

The phoenix looked up at him with an estranged look on its face before letting out an adorable chirp. The two of them looked back at the building sized weapon, that rested behind the group. "Yeah, I don't think I can do that." The animal let out yet another annoyed grumble.

"Ichigo," chimed in Orihime, a bit lost in the conversation. "What did she say?"

"She wants to come back with us to the World of the Living," he explained. "But I don't think that's possible. I'm strong in Reishi, but…" he looked back at the halberd once again, "I think it's a bit too hefty of a task."

"Yeah… probably."

The bird had been saddened by this as it drooped its head in a disappointed murmur. Seeing the animal's distraught, Orihime took it upon herself to try and cheer up the creature. She reached over to try and pet the creature in order to comfort it. "It's okay, I'm sure we can-Ah!" she yelped in surprise as the spirit suddenly snapped at her hand, leaving a bleeding scar on the top of it.

"Hey!" shouted Ichigo with authority. The phoenix cowered in fear and surprise at the sudden action. With a quick swipe of hand, he smacked the bird on the top of its head, causing it to squawk in surprise.

"Ichigo!" yelled Orihime, taken aback by his sudden action. She knew he was very defensive of his friends, but she didn't need any more unnecessary violence at the moment.

"Now apologize to her," the hybrid demanded the phoenix. The bird hung its head in both slight pain, and shame at its denouncement. The majestic creature then spread its wings to an impressive length for its size and flapped over from Ichigo's shoulder to Orihime's.

The girl was a bit shocked at the bird's quick action as a swirl of emotion overcame her thought process. The bird made a motion with its head towards Orihime. She looked up at Ichigo to explain what the spirit wanted.

"She's telling you to stick your hand out again," he smiled. Orihime looked at the bird with hesitation in her eyes. "Don't worry, I'll make sure that she doesn't hurt you again." He gave the flaming bird a look that can only be described as firm as his kind smile quickly disappeared behind his all too familiar scowl.

Cautiously, Orihime complied as she stuck her hand out ever so slowly until it was in the bird's reach. With a low, chicken-like grumbling, Soukyoku extended its neck so that Orihime's hand was just below her head. From her eyes, a small drop of water began to form from underneath. Once it had gathered enough volume, it dribbled down the cheek of the phoenix completely unaffected by the fire that surrounded it. Reaching the edge, the teardrop fell like a burning ember atop of the high school girl's hand.

Originally, nothing had happened. There was no feeling of pain, nor was the sensation one would feel when exposed to a fire. But soon, Orihime felt a tingling in her hand. The feeling was warm, comforting, like it was meant to give some sort of pleasant feeling to make up for the stinging from before. She looked at her hand with captivation. The wound was healing, and at a rapid pace too. Soon, it had vanished, like it was never even there. But the warmth was still there to comfort her.

Orihime looked down at the phoenix in fascination. The only thing that was running through her mind in that moment was utter amazement. She reached out once again to pat the bird on the head, though with more caution this time.

The bird looked up at the girl with an unreadable expression in its eyes. Orihime just smiled. "May I?" she asked politely.

The creature stared at the hand for a good few seconds, clearly thinking deeply about something. Finally, it made its decision. The Soukyoku pushed its head into the girl's hand and began to nuzzle into it. The bird's flames didn't burn her. In fact, they gave off the same feeling of cozy warmth as the tear that healed her hand did.

"I can see you two are getting along quite well," Ichigo said with a bright grin.

Orihime had almost completely forgotten about his presence. She looked up with a blushing smile as she continued to gently stroke the bird's feathers. "Yeah, I guess I just surprised her a little bit."

The three sat and relaxed for the rest of the day for tomorrow would be the last time (possible) they see this place. This happened all the while a certain black haired Captain of stealth watched over them curiously.

The Next Day:

"So, you decided to stay, huh?" said the carrot top with an empty hand on his hip.

"Yes, as much as I enjoy your company, I have to stay here for reason I'm sure you understand," Rukia said as she bowed politely to her departing friends.

"Yeah, I get it. Sleeping in a closet must not have been the greatest experience you've ever had," he waved off.

She chuckled. "You know that's not what I mean."

"Ah! I almost forgot!" Orihime rushed up to Rukia with a beaming smile on her face as she suddenly shoved a well-made blue dress into the soul reaper's hands. "Ishida made this for you, isn't it cute! Be sure to take good care of yourself!"

"O-Okay," Rukia replied, a bit stunned by the gift.

"Ichigo!" The orange haired teen perked up at his name as he looked to see who had called him. Approaching him was the sickly white hair Captain, Ukitake with a peculiarly chiseled piece of wood in hand.

"What is it?"

"I want to give this to you." Upon closer inspection, the carved piece of wood had an odd-looking skull engraved right in the middle of it. "This is called a Substitute Soul Badge. It will allow you to free your soul reaper form from your physical body."

"Badass," Ichigo said without much thought before putting it in his pocket. He then turned to Rukia one more time. "See ya," he smiled.

"Goodbye, Ichigo." And with that they went through the giant gate.

Everyone watching waved and said their goodbyes as their figures vanished through the portal.

"What nice kids," smiled the white haired Captain.

"Captain Ukitake!" shouted a soul reaper from behind him in a panicking manner.

"What is it?" Judging by the looks on both of their faces, something had happened, and it wasn't anything good.

Senkaimon:

On the other side, they found themselves in a rather familiar place. It didn't look like what the group was expecting. The walls around them were shrouded in purple smoke and the ground beneath them was granite-like. It was only when the walls of purple smoke began closing in on them that they soon realized where they were.

"Fuck."

The group immediately made a run for the exit as the walls quickly grew closer and closer together.

"Why the hell are we back here again?!" Ichigo shouted in a mix of confusion and frustration. "Didn't we go through the official gate?"

"Unless you are led by a Hell Butterfly on a one on one basis, you can't use the official route!" yelled Yoruichi as she ran in front of everyone else. "And only a Soul Reaper can control a Hell Moth. Just be thankful that the Kototsu isn't here!"

"Don't jinx it!" pleaded the orange haired.

"Look the entrance is right there. Everybody, get ready to jump!" Yoruichi cried, completely ignoring Ichigo's comment.

"What, why?!" yelled Uryu.

It was too late to answer; they had reached the end of the tunnel. For a moment they couldn't feel the ground beneath their feet. It was only when they looked down that they noticed that there was no ground beneath their feet, but that they were practically suspended in mid-air.

"…"

"…"

"Well shit."

In the typical cartoon fashion, once all of them acknowledged the fact that they were about to fall, they began to rapidly spiral towards the ground, just like they had the first time. This time however, with a bit of quick thinking, Ichigo was able to use the Reishi in the air to launch himself towards the rest of his descending friends. He wrapped his right arm around Chad's waist and his other arm around both Uryu and Orihime's.

Once he felt like he got a good grip on all of them, he gathered the Reishi around his feet and used it to slow down his fall. Unfortunately, because of the panicking nature of the situation, he applied more than what was necessary and came to a sudden halt which hurt the people Ichigo was carrying a considerable amount.

"You guys okay?" he asked hesitantly.

Looking at their faces, they seemed to have been on the verge of throwing up their guts from the sudden pressure on their stomachs.

"Sorry about that," he said guiltily.

Uryu looked up groggily with a shadow of misery plastered on his face. "Please do a little better on the stopping part. I think I'm going to throw up or pass out before I even do that."

Ichigo did his best to gently set his friends down as they struggled to regain their balance from whiplash. Despite the pain, everyone was happy that they made it back in one piece.

"You're so mean Ichigo," said Yoruichi as she approached the group from God knows where. "You didn't even bother to catch me."

"Oh… Didn't see you," he said with a deadpan expression.

"O-Oh…" said the cat, slightly disappointment as she had hoped for at least a 'shut up' or something.

Ichigo looked around for a second. "Well, I'm going back home. Hopefully Kon didn't do anything weird with my body while we were gone, for my sake, and for his," Ichigo said ominously as he cracked his knuckles causing a sweat drop to appear on everyone's heads.

"I think we should all start heading home," suggested Uryu which everyone promptly agreed with a nod of their heads. With that, everyone went their separate ways back to their homes.

As the orange haired teen made his way to his house, Yoruichi decided to follow him.

"Hey Ichigo," said the black cat in a teasing tone of voice.

The boy looked around to see where the voice had come from only to see the source standing top of the stone wall beside him. "Oh, what's up Yoruichi?"

"Nothing, just wanted to walk home with you," she said unsuspectingly.

"Okay," Ichigo said a bit skeptical of the feline's words, but decided not to question her further.

They walked in silence for a little bit, neither of them breaking the silence.

Ichigo was unsure of what to do. The silence between them was beginning to feel awkward for him, but he couldn't come up with a good way to start a conversation. Plus, what did Yoruichi want anyways? Couldn't she have just gone back to Kisuke's place and relax? Ichigo thought about it silently. He only had some idea of what it may have been, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

Yoruichi was enjoying every second of it. After several days of not being able to see her favorite student, she was glad to finally be able to be in his company. Whether he decided to talk to her or not didn't matter to her. She looked at Ichigo, seeing the obvious nervousness of the boy. The werecat could tell Ichigo was trying to think of something to break the silence. One of the many things she found adorable about the boy.

Though she did want to transform into her human form and snuggle against Ichigo's arm, she didn't want to appear naked in a public setting despite her boldness. Oh well, guess she just had to settle with what she got.

"Hey Ichigo," she said finally breaking the tension.

"Hmm?"

Without even the slightest hesitation, Yoruichi decided to say it flat out. "Would you like to go on a date with me?"

Ichigo became so shocked form hearing this that he tripped over his own foot and practically faceplant into the asphalt. He immediately picked himself back up and looked at the cat with a completely flustered face. "C-Could you repeat that? I think I might have misheard you."

"Do you want to go out on a date with me?" she repeated. "It's not that hard to understand."

Ichigo turned away, the blush still apparent on his face. "So I was right," he said aloud, but quietly to himself.

"Right about what?" the feline asked teasingly.

Ichigo just waved his hands in front of himself in denial. "No, no, no. Just forget that I said anything."

Yoruichi let out a huff. "So is that a yes, or a no?"

A suspicious look appeared on the carrot top's expression once again. "Where is this coming from?"

Yoruichi did the closest thing to a shrug a cat could do. "Nowhere in particular, just want to hang out with you for a bit."

An eyebrow rose. "But why?"

Yoruichi just sighed. She knew that Ichigo always wanted a straight answer. If she were to beat around the bush, she wouldn't get very far. Why did Ichigo have to be so dense?

"I'm interested in you." she said flat out without any hesitation. She didn't necessarily shout it, but it wasn't in her indoor voice either. Her words were very firm, to say the least.

The teen, for the most part, was having a lot of trouble trying to understand the words coming out of his teacher's mouth. "Like, as in liking me kind of interested?"

"Geez, what are you seven? Yes! I like you. Now stop making this so awkward."

A very apparent blush appeared on Ichigo's face. He tried to cover it with his elbow, but the werecat had already spotted it. "Aw, you're so cute when you're flustered," she said like one would to a toddler.

"S-Shut up!" he said turning around. "I'm going home!"

"Weren't you already doing that?"

"Shut up!"

"You already said that," she said with a teasing smile.

Ichigo opened his mouth, about to retort but was suddenly cut short a powerful pulse emanated from his body. He suddenly collapsed to on knee as an odd sensation started to fill his entire body. His head began to spin, and his heart rate was skyrocketing. He lifted his hand to his head to try and stabilize himself, but it was to no avail.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" Yoruichi asked, a bit confused by the sudden silence.

"Yeah, I just… I just need to… to…"

His muscles suddenly trembled from keeping his own body weight up, and then suddenly it became impossible to breathe. He collapsed to the concrete with a quiet thud as he choked on nothing.

"Ichigo!" This time Yoruichi shouted in a panic as she rushed over to his side.

The teen tried to come out with something as a response, anything other than the sounds of gasps for air, but he was unable to do so. It didn't feel like he was being strangled, it felt more like something internal, like something was physically gripping his lungs. His eyes were starting to tear up, and his vision was becoming blurry. He kicked and even tried to scream, but still, nothing came out. Nothing he had ever experienced prior could ever compare to the physical pain he was feeling. He felt his eyes roll behind his open eyelids, and before he knew it everything turned black.

Yoruichi watched in absolute horror as her student's body suddenly went limp. "Ichigo!" she yelled as she tried to wake the boy back up. Sensing the immediate emergency of the situation, she transformed into her human form, uncaring of her lack of clothes. She pressed her ear against Ichigo's chest to hear if there was still a pulse.

She had to wait for a few seconds to settle herself down so that her own racing heartbeat wouldn't get in the way. The wait seemed like an eternity for her as she listened closely. She practically held her breath just to make sure that everything was completely silent.

…

…

Ba-Thump

…

Ba-Thump

Yoruichi let out a sigh of relief. He was still alive and from the rising and falling of his chest, he was able to breathe again. She picked up the unconscious body and held it close to her. For a brief moment, she honestly believed that she had lost her disciple. She then lifted his feet and carried him bridal style to the first place that came to mind.

Kisuke.

Somewhere Else:

Ichigo found himself in a place he was all too familiar with. The sideways skyscrapers, the clear blue sky, all things he was too familiar with. "Zangetsu!" he called out, "Where are you?!"

There was no response. This greatly unsettled Ichigo. He was never brought to this place without a purpose. Every time he'd been here there had been something important that his pale white doupleganger would inform him of. "Zangetsu, come out already! You're not scaring anyone!"

"Zangetsu is no more," boomed a low, growly voice.

The teen searched around the empty space in search of where it had come from. "That voice," Ichigo thought. "Where have I heard this voice before?"

"Oh? So you remember," the voice said inquisitively.

"Who are you? Where is Zangetsu?" demanded the teen.

A soft chuckle echoed though the realm that was Ichigo's mindscape. It was then when Ichigo could feel a presence appear behind him. Almost immediately after he did this, his eyes widened not just out of surprise, but out of horror. There stood a tall, lean man who was almost as pale as Zangetsu. He had a scruffy beard and long, unruly brown hair with every article of clothing he wore being black white the only exception being the torn white collar round his neck.

Beside him was a bruised and bleeding Zangetsu who hung unconscious in the man's clenched hand. Ichigo's eyes narrowed in anger and fear as he grit his teeth with great force. "What have you done to Zangetsu?"

"He is not who you think he is." He looked down at the pathetic body that hung from his grasp. "He's been toying with you. Making you submit to his every word so that he can have full control over you."

Ichigo could feel his grip tighten in his fists. "What do you mean?"

The thin man looked back at the boy standing before him as he place his hand on his chest. "I am the true Zangetsu. This thing that you once called your Zanpakuto is nothing more than a Hollow trying to take over your soul. I am the source of your power. I am the one who will protect you."

To say Ichigo was shocked would be an understatement. A dead look clouded his eyes as he heard the man's words. He looked down with the plethora of emotions running rampant in his head. The sky over head started to turn gray as clouds overcast the once blue atmosphere.

The man frowned at this sudden happening. He expected the rain was to fall at any second. This was to be expected.

"All this time… he was using me?" the teen spoke, almost in a chuckle still thinking that this was all some sick joke.

"That is correct."

"And you," he looked up at the thin framed man with anguish, then to the hanging body of the white Hollow he once knew as Zangetsu. "You claim yourself to be the real Zangetsu, and this to be the faker?"

"Indeed," the man said, trying to comfort the boy in some way.

"After everything we've been through. After every battle, every scar, every near-death experience. All of that, just to control my body? Was everything an act! Was it all just to make me fall under your lies! You gave me this power! You made me stronger than I could have ever been, and you were just going to throw it all away!"

The supposed "True Zangetsu" fell silent to his user's words.

All these emotions that had swelled up inside him. He could feel himself plunging into despair. An old friend of his he hadn't seen since the death of his mother. Ichigo would have fallen into this pit, until the point of no return had it not been for one simple thing.

"Cut your bullshit," the teen said in a deathly low voice.

A sudden flare of reiatsu began emanating from where Ichigo stood. It encircled him like an enraged flame sprouting the colors of red and black. The air became very dense for the pressure that he was exuding. "I'm not some fucking idiot who's going to believe every word you say. Him being a Hollow doesn't mean shit to me." He tried to summon his Zanpakuto to his hand, but nothing appeared.

"I've sealed off your passage to use your Zanpakuto. You cannot bring out Zangetsu while I've sealed him off."

"If that's the case," Ichigo said gritting his teeth, "I'll beat the living shit out of you with my bare hands!"

Gathered an astonishing amount of reiatsu beneath his feet, and charged straight towards the old man without any signs of fear. In the blink of an eye he appeared right before the old man with his fist wound up and filled with reiatsu enforcement. The burning in Ichigo's eyes was immense. "Zangetsu's" eyes widened slightly. He was impressed by the speed, to say the least, but he wasn't surprised.

Ichigo uncoiled his full-frontal assault on the man, practically breaking the sound barrier as he unleashed his punch. In less than a fraction of a second, Ichigo threw his punch sending a massive shockwave that rattled all the windows of the nearby buildings. The two figures stood unmoving. The silence between them was almost deafening.

Blood soon dripped from where the two stood. Had it been anyone else, Ichigo's attack would have sent them flying to high heaven or would have completely blown their head clean off. Unfortunately, the old man was an opponent unlike any other. The blood that trickled was no other than Ichigo's.

The teen looked down to see a trench blade as black as his own Zanpakuto lodged deep into his chest. He could taste the blood beginning to swell up in his mouth before it leaked from the corners of his mouth.

"Zangetsu", with an expression cold as ice, pulled the blade out of the teen's rib cage. "It's time for you to wake up," he said, void of all emotions.

Ichigo staggered a little bit as he felt himself teetering over. The older man thought that the boy was about to fall to the ground, but he never did. In fact, albeit very weakly, his trembling legs still managed to keep him up right. The boy's breaths were deep and agitated. His body was slowly turning to dust, disappearing from the realm he was in.

Much to his surprise, the teen stepped forward and gripped the collar of the man's overcoat. Ichigo's amber eyes stared intensely into the thin man's with insatiable flames in his eyes. Most of his body had already disappeared already except his upper right body. "This isn't over, you bastard," he said rather quietly, but with enough force to get his message across. "I will be back, and I will defeat you."

Those were his final words before he vanished entirely from his mindscape. Yhwach stared at the sky once more. The dark clouds still hung overhead, but not a single drop of rain fell from them. He then heard a very weak laugh coming from the nearly lifeless body hanging next to him.

The man's eyes widened in slight fear as he looked down at the pale body. "Well well well, looks like you were wrong about him," it said quietly. "I must say, you put up a rather convincing act, but it seems that my wielder is exact as he should be. King." The body's head turned to give a sinister grin to the old man, "Did you honestly think you could stop the inevitable?"

"How are you still conscious?"

The form dissipated from his grip leaving the man confused and on edge. In a quick maneuver, he narrowly dodged a strike from the back as a katana stabbed through his cape-like overcoat, missing him by two inches. The old man jumped back and landed forty feet from where he once stood.

"How did you regain your form?" the man more or less demanded.

Zangetsu chuckled. "To be perfectly honest with you, I have no idea myself. I just suddenly feel reenergized. Like I could take over the world." He then pointed the end of his bone white blade towards his opponent. "Now, let's try this again."

World of the Living:

"Neh." Ichigo's eyes shot open almost immediately after his encounter. He laid there in a cold sweat, unsure of what to do next. He then lifted his arm towards the ceiling, perpendicular to his body and slammed it against the wooden floor.

"Fuck."

Quickly realizing the roof above him wasn't his own, he lifted his head to look around at his surroundings. He soon realized where he was. He tried lifting himself up, only to find his body restrained by some kind of Kido or Hado, or whatever it was called, he didn't really care.

"Hey!" he called out, "Kisuke!"

…

"Yoruichi!"

…

"Anyone!"

…

"Ururu?"

The shoji to enter into the room slid open to reveal the scraggly middle aged man rubbing the top of his head. "Loud as always I see," he said as he closed the door behind him.

"Mind explaining why I can't move?"

The typical goofy smile appeared on the shopkeeper's face. "Why, it's for a gameshow of course!"

"Nani?"

"That's right, I've managed to sign you up for one of those gameshows in Tokyo!" He looked at his empty wrist as if to check the time. "The bus should be coming any minute now."

"Cut the crap Kisuke!"

The man's smile quickly disappeared to be replaced with what could have been described as a frown. "You want the actual explanation? Fine. The reason for the restraints is so that when you woke up, you wouldn't escape."

Ichigo's eyebrow raised in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"For some reason, every human has disappeared on the face of the Earth and a sudden increase in the Vasto Lorde population has increased to an unprecedented number."

"Vasto what now?"

"Vasto Lorde," Kisuke explained. "They are the final evolution of Hollows. It's rumored that they are so powerful that they could even match up to Soul Reapers at the rank of Captain, but I wouldn't know, I've never encountered them before. Originally, there were only a hand full that existed, enough to count on your one hand. But now, there's thousands of them."

The man then crouched down next to the teen with a wry smile. "The reason why you're restrained is because I believe that some people that existed in the world of the living had transformed into these Hollows, but that's more of a hypothesis than anything else. As for you, you're a special case. You're what's known as a Vizard: A Soul Reaper that can tap into the powers of a Hollow. There are more of you, of course, or at least were more of you. Their inner Hollows took control of their bodies and destroyed their memories, so now, they are nothing more than Hollows with a human body. Now the question remains. Are you really Ichigo?"

Kisuke stared intensely into Ichigo's eyes for an uncomfortable amount of time. Occasionally, Ichigo's eyes would wander from the awkwardness only to see Kisuke staring at him with the same intensity, eyes practically unblinking. He began to feel his heart beat pump a more frantically by the moment as the thumping grew more violent. He even began to feel sweat role down his face.

"Um…" Ichigo said uneasily.

"Nah, I'm just messing with you. I know you're fine."

A mixture of confusion and a deadpan expression formed on Ichigo's face as the man beside him stood up and began walking towards the door. With a snap of his finger, the spell around him was gone, and he could once again move freely.

"H-How did you know I was myself?" the teen asked as he shook his arms to promote blood circulation.

The scruffy man gave him a smile. "It was obvious. You called out our names, didn't you?" He turned back leaving a rather relieved Ichigo. "However, I must say that that mask really did give me a scare. I like the new design of it thought."

Mask? Ichigo reached up to his face to feel a cold, smooth surface brush against his fingertip similar to touching a well crafted bone. He hadn't even felt it on his face. How did it get there?

"Weird."

Location: Unknown

The sounds of nature echoed through the green of the forest. The tall trees reached high into the great blue above, the leaves a bright green to show their good health, and the birds chirping to give sound to what would have been empty silence.

In the distance, a small pond could be seen glistening light through the wilderness. The pond was no wider than ten meters wide with its lowest depth being less than one meter. Such a small and insignificant thing, yet could be the source of so much life. Plants, insects, mammals, it attracted everything. Where this body of water had come from was from was unknown. There were no nearby streams nor had there been a larger body of water. It never dried up, nor did its size ever increase, and it was perfectly circular. A bizarre phenomenon of nature to say the least.

The pond itself was quite a peculiar one at that. It was completely still, unmoving do any form of nature; wind, the falling of leaves, nothing seemed to be able to disturb it. Due to its stillness, the water reflected everything around it like a mirror. A near perfect replication of the sprawling life around it.

Truly a beautiful spectacle.

The water suddenly began to sink. Lower and lower it went without reason like it was being drained, but there was no signs of such anywhere. The once chirping birds suddenly came to deathly silence. All this was happening, but the water's reflective gaze at the sky remained unchanged from how it was in the beginning.

It wasn't long until the waterbed began to reveal itself. However, as opposed to the typical color of mud that would have been either a light or dark brown, the soil was a char black. The once beautiful and now nearly disappeared water had been a cover for such a sickening sight. It was all a ruse. An act to hide a stain of the earth, something hideous.

It all happened in mere moments. The water was now completely gone to reveal the blackened earth before the shining sun as if to insult the star's gift of light. In the very center, a crack took form. The part of the scorched earth would rise and fall in small increments, much like how a baby chick would when trying to exit its egg.

It took a while before a form finally broke free from the confinements of the terrain. It shape was similar to that of a reptile's claws. Long and slim tipped with sharp nails that could pierce through flesh. Its talons dug into the dirt to get a good grip.

A disturbed laugh soon came echoing out from the hole. The spawn of Hell had awakened…

A/N:

Wow… it's been a while hasn't it. I'm surprised that this story has made it to 400 hundred followers. In all honesty, I would have thought it would only make it to 200 max, not to mention the 300 favorites. I thought that the best this story would do is 100 or something along those lines. Thank you all so much for sticking around and bearing with my story. I promise you all, shits only barely just hit the fan.

As for the half year hiatus, there are many reasons why I haven't posted a chapter in a long time. Mainly because of school work and partially because of the death of a family member. Because of the long wait, I wanted to make this story a better. For the course of the next few months, I'm going to be editing the chapters to make the characters more compelling, and improve the writing from what I've learned over the course of my break. As I reread my chapters, I noticed that the character are, to say the least, bland and not very interesting and are only there to admire the MC. I don't want that anymore.

I know, that sounds hypocritical after a good chunk of the chapter was about admiring Ichigo, but I at least want to give them a legitimate reason, or some sort of character to them.

Over the course of the hiatus, I've done a lot of research on how to design different characters and now I know how to make them less boring. Also, I know some of you guys/gals have completely forgotten what's going on in this story and I'm doing this as a refresher for myself as well.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot to mention this but the new move that Ichigo used in the last chapter in the fight against Byakuya and Soi Fon translates to Moonlight's Destruction, just in case for those who have recently picked up on this story and don't know Japanese that well.

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, who here is excited for the new Godzilla: King of the Monsters movie? I'm super hyped for that movie.