Kurosaki Ichigo, Master of Time and Space

Alright! I'm back with yet another story. I've been watching Doctor Who and I couldn't resist writing a time-travel story about Ichigo. Something important before we begin: Please go to my profile and vote in the poll that is up there right now. This story will have multiple "adventures" that Ichigo will share with a companion or two. So, which companion will actually be the first to accompany Ichigo on his travels? That is what the vote is for. The character with the most votes will get to go first, followed by the one with second most votes, and so on.

The possible companions to accompany Ichigo are Kuchiki Byakuya and Rukia, Ishida Uryu, Kurotsuchi Nemu, Ise Nanao, Inoue Orihime and Hitsugaya Toshiro. Please vote! [Note: The first adventure is about Ichigo discovering his power to time-travel, and the second adventure will be him going to a different time by himself. The third adventure onwards will feature the companion(s).]. This, the first adventure, happens during the Zanpakuto Rebellion arc (The first one, not the Sword Fiend arc)

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Final Getsuga Tensho. If you don't like spoilers and don't know about the Final Getsuga Tensho, maybe you shouldn't read this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, and this disclaimer speaks for all chapters. Further chapters will not have disclaimers.

Adventure 1: The Journey Begins [Part 1 – Total Eclipse]

Kurosaki Ichigo stepped out of the Senkai Gate, with Shihoin Yoruichi next to him, and looked around him. There were short buildings everywhere, and they all looked identical. Once again, the young Substitute Shinigami was at Soul Society, fighting, and risking his life for their sakes. He sighed as he surveyed the landscape, and nodded tiredly as Yoruichi said, "Go look around for clues, Ichigo. I'm going to join up with Soifon and her Special Operations forces to lend them my support."

"Got it."

Immediately, the reaper flash-stepped away to find Rukia, the object of his concerns at that moment. The young woman had been injured back in the real world, but upon learning of her brother's disappearance, she had opened a Senkai Gate and gone right away to Soul Society. Ichigo sighed, half irritated and half touched by her concern, despite feeling that she should have worried about herself more than her brother, who could take care of himself easily, missing or not. And now, he was stuck dealing with a problem in Soul Society itself. Sighing again, the orange-haired reaper searched for Rukia's spiritual pressure and left.

As he walked along, he gasped. A small amount of reiatsu was somewhere behind him, and it had been there for the past few minutes he had been walking, while trying to search for Rukia's reiatsu. He whipped around, and with one hand on Zangetsu's hilt behind him, he shouted, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

His response came in the form of a low-pitched, resonating and echoing chuckle. Ichigo calmly drew Zangetsu and held the sword out, while thinking about how the echoing quality of the voice was similar to that of Zangetsu's. The voice then said, "You sure took your time realizing my presence, Kurosaki Ichigo. Your sensing skills are as bad as I have heard. However, you will do just fine."

"What do you mean 'just do fine'? Show yourself!"

"So I shall. What I meant by my earlier statement was simply that your Zanpakuto will be a great help for our cause."

"You want to take Zangetsu? I won't let you!"

"Is it really such a surprise? From what I have heard, you can hardly rely on your own power. All the time, in a fight, you end up having to go all out, to release your Bankai. Remove your ability to do that, and you're nothing, just an ordinary, run of the mill Shinigami. Soul Society's finest up-and-coming hotshot is left powerless against the unstoppable force of us Zanpakuto."

"Zanpakuto? Are you Muramasa?"

"Indeed, I am."

A man appeared in front of Ichigo. He was dressed in white robe-like clothing, and had brown markings around his teal eyes. His skin was very pale, and his hands were in his pockets.

Ichigo charged forward, crying, "Since you're the leader, if I can beat you-"

Without blinking, Muramasa materialized his blade into his hand and parried Ichigo's blow. Ichigo gasped at his great strength, and ran forward again for a second try. Again, he was effortlessly pushed back. Muramasa said emotionlessly, "I think it is time to end this pointless game."

With that, the pale skinned man reached forward and plunged his hand into Ichigo's chest. Ichigo screamed out in pain, but strangely, there was no blood. Instead, a hole formed in his chest. It was black, with a red outline, just like his reiatsu, and small streams of reiatsu were flying out of the hole. Ichigo heard a resonating, deep and familiar voice say, "Ichigo" and then he was momentarily blinded by a bright white light. The next thing he knew, his Zanpakuto spirit was in front of him, standing next to Muramasa.

He choked out, "Z-Zangetsu? What the hell just happened?"

Zangetsu remained silent, then suddenly raised his sword and brought it crashing down on Ichigo. With a cry of shock, Ichigo dodged and fell back several metres. The young reaper shouted again, "What's going on, Old man Zangetsu? Why are you attacking me?"

The only response he got was, "Getsuga Tensho"

Ichigo got up and ran. Once again, he tried to reason with Zangetsu, but he was unsuccessful again. This time, the Getsuga Tensho Zangetsu sent at him knocked him out cold.

When he woke up, Ichigo found himself in his inner world. Looking around in surprise, he called out Zangetsu's name without thinking. He was greeted by a resonating, high-pitched chuckle. He instantly recognised that voice and shouted, "Damn it! It's you again!"

His inner hollow materialized in front of him, still wearing his manic grin. The hollow said, "Yes, me. How think can you get? Zangetsu's out there in the real world, how can be here? Man, you sure are dumb, King? Or should I say, horse?"

With a maniacal laugh, the Hollow charged forward and attacked Ichigo, who blocked his attack.

"I won last time! I'm in control of my own body! I beat you!"

The hollow laughed and said, "Don't you mean 'we beat you'? That time, you managed to keep your position as the controller of this body through Zangetsu's influence. Now that the old geezer is gone, I'm in control!"

Desperately, Ichigo fought his inner Hollow for control, while his body on the outside started morphing into a Hollow, and attacking Zangetsu with deadly force. Ichigo could sense that Zangetsu was being pushed to his limits, dealing with his hollow-possessed body.

"Damn it! I can't lose here! Zangetsu's my Zanpakuto! I can't let him die! I have to win! I need more power!"

Then, another voice penetrated the tense atmosphere of Ichigo's inner world. The voice said, "Why are you wishing for power, when you already have it?"

"What? Who's that?" shouted Ichigo.

"I am another spirit that exists within your soul, similar to Zangetsu."

Ichigo asked, "Another spirit? Do you have a name as well?"

The voice replied, "I do."

"Well, then tell me!"

The voice ignored this question and said, "Normally, you would not see me for centuries to come. But you have been unique from the moment you were born. Due to the circumstances, I have to reveal myself early."

The Hollow cut in, "Wait! Who the hell are you? The only ones here should be Zangetsu and me! Nobody else has been here ever since I came to be!"

The voice continued, "I have always been here. Only Zangetsu knows of my existence. You have never been able to see me up till now because I am of a higher level than you. A being of your level cannot feel my reiatsu, and neither can you see me unless I want you to."

Then, at that moment, a dark being materialized before Ichigo and his inner Hollow, both of whom raised their weapons defensively.

"Who are you?"

The being, covered in shadows, said in a calm, steady voice, "Who am I? What do you call your signature attack, Ichigo?"

"Signature attack? You mean Getsuga Tensho?"

"That's right. It is not Zangetsu who is responsible for Getsuga Tensho. It is I. I am Getsuga."

The stranger stepped forward, out of the shadow, and Ichigo saw that he was wearing a hakama like all the Shinigami, and he was topless, but his torso was covered in dark blue bandages. The bandages extended to cover his mouth, leaving his eyes exposed. He also had waist-length black hair.

Without thinking, Ichigo's inner Hollow rushed to attack him, crying out, "If you're going to get in the way of me taking over Ichigo's body, I'll just have to defeat-"

"Defeat who?" said Getsuga coldly, before stopping the Inner Hollow's blade with his bare hand. With very wide eyes, the Hollow fell back, then raised his blade and brought it down, screaming, "Getsuga Tensho!"

Nothing happened. Getsuga said, with some irritation evident in his voice, "Didn't I tell you that I control Getsuga Tensho? You cannot hit me with that attack."

Ichigo called out, "Wait! Getsuga! Why are you showing yourself before us now, when you've kept yourselves hidden all this while?"

"I had to, Ichigo. You posses a great power, and your great rate of learning made it impossible for me to deny you the form of growth that I offer you."

"Growth? You mean I can learn something new from you?"

"Yes. Also, with Zangetsu around, you could deal with that albino monstrosity with his help. But with him gone, I have to intervene. Ichigo, you will gain more power, but this power will be different from everything you have faced so far."

"Different in what way?"

"You are going to evolve. When you perform the technique I am going to teach you, you will become a changed man. You will no longer be of this dimension, but of the next. You will be of a level of power far beyond the grasp of any currently-existing Shinigami."

"Dimension? What do you mean?"

Getsuga said softly, "Trust me, Ichigo. I am doing this because I have to. Zangetsu is counting on you. I don't know what happened to him, but there is something wrong with his mind. It is up to you to set him right. Besides, if you don't, this guy will run free within your soul. I will contain him here. So, go now, Ichigo. Trust me, accept my power, and bring back Zangetsu. I will teach you the Final Getsuga Tensho. The technique will come to you naturally once you're outside."

Ichigo listened to him with a surprised expression. Then, his eyes narrowed and he looked at Getsuga resolutely. "Understood, Getsuga. Lend me your strength. I will save Zangetsu."

The dark spirit chuckled, "That's the spirit." and sent Ichigo out of his inner world.

Outside

For a few seconds, Ichigo had not moved. Zangetsu and Muramasa eyed the teen warily. He had started turning into a Hollow and had relentlessly attacked Zangetsu. Then, he had stopped. To the two Zanpakuto Spirits' shock, the Hollow suddenly spoke.

It said, "Zangetsu..."

Zangetsu looked at him in shock. How had the Hollow become capable of speech? At that moment, Ichigo should have been fighting it in his inner world, leaving his body in the control of his Hollow. The fact that the Hollow was talking could only mean one thing.

"I see you have taken control of your body once again, Ichigo."

Ichigo stood up straight, and his hollow mask and the white armour on his body cracked and fell to the floor. He spoke clearly, "I just wanted to ask you, Zangetsu: Why are you fighting me now? Are you not my Zanpakuto?"

"I am. However, now I am following my own instincts, which have been set free by Muramasa himself."

"I see. What do your instincts tell you, then?"

"Throughout our short, but impressive partnership, I have taught you a lot of things, Ichigo. Now, I want to know if I am stronger than you, or if you are stronger."

"I see. Do we really have to fight, no matter what?"

"I'm afraid so, Ichigo."

"Alright then. In that case, prepare yourself."

Zangetsu looked at the teen warily, then noticed that Ichigo's reiatsu levels seemed to be dropping, but there were no visible changes with the boy. Steeling himself, Zangetsu charged forward. Ichigo raised his Shikai with just one hand and easily blocked Zangetsu's strike. The old Zanpakuto spirit looked at him in shock, then fell back a few metres. It looked like he was going to need full strength for this.

"Bankai!"

Black reiatsu surrounded Zangetsu, and when it cleared, Zangetsu was no longer there. In his place stood a much younger man who looked to be around Ichigo's age. He had long black hair, a cold, piercing look on his face, and icy blue eyes.

Looking at Ichigo's surprised face, he said, "I am Tensa Zangetsu. I am your Bankai, and my wish is the same as Zangetsu's. Show me, Ichigo. Show me who is stronger."

Ichigo said, "As you wish. I really didn't want to have to do this, but it looks like I have no choice."

Tensa Zangetsu gasped, "It can't be!" as Ichigo's reiatsu completely vanished. It was as if Ichigo had vanished off the face of the earth. His reiatsu was non-existent. And the Bankai spirit knew exactly what that meant.

"You learned...the Final Getsuga Tensho?"

"I did." said Ichigo, as dark blue bandages wrapped around his torso and the lower half of his head. His hair turned black and lengthened until it was waist-long.

Before the wide-eyed, stunned-silent Tensa Zangetsu and Muramasa, Ichigo said emotionlessly, "Mugetsu."

A shroud of darkness covered the entire Seireitei. The sun never shone for those few seconds. Everyone was in total darkness.

End of Part 1: Total Eclipse

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Adventure 1: The Journey Begins

So...many of you are probably wondering why I'm doing this story in this manner – starting the story in the Zanpakuto rebellion arc and making Getsuga an actual spirit like Zangetsu and teaching Ichigo the Final Getsuga Tensho at a moment like this. Rest assured, Ichigo will not lose his powers, instead, this will lead to him becoming a Time-Traveller. How so? Stay tuned for Part 2! And please remember to go to my profile and vote! Please review as well! If you want me to include in my story an OC created by you, I don't mind doing it :) Just tell me about it in your reviews or by PM!