"I am guessing everyone else got that weird summons from Yamamoto..." said Yoru dryly.

Normally the old man at least waited until a reasonable hour before dragging their ass out of bed.

Cheshire was still yawning.

It seemed every Squad captain (except Zaraki, who had taken off yesterday to kill hollows in the Rukongai districts) had been called to the execution hill for no apparent reason.

It was only pure luck that he happened to be up finishing paperwork at the time of the summons, or he would have been extremely cranky.

Suddenly the lieutenant of squad one appeared. He looked like hell.

Yoru felt the presence long before the others, and realize the real problem.

A new enemy had shown up to annoy him.

Komamura charged in, much to the surprise of Yoru. He was stopped by someone he had only heard from the canine's sword.

His zanpakuto had just blocked him.

Each of them attempted to use shikai at the very least, but for some reason they refused to respond.

Well, almost all of them did anyway.

Cheshire appeared at Yoru's side, annoyed at the man before them.

"You can't control me, idiot."

"He's behind this?"

Cheshire nodded. This Muramasa person just tried to take control of Cheshire through their inner world. Fortunately for Yoru, Cheshire wasn't like the other swords at all.

They all stared when the explosion started. Apparently Muramasa had taken control of all the zanpakuto except for Cheshire.

Ichigo had managed to con his lieutenant into covering for him while he stayed in the world of the living for a few days. So long as there wasn't a captain's meeting, he could skip the paperwork demons that threatened to eat his desk up.

(Yoru had made the mistake of mentioning that joke within Kurotsuchi's hearing, and the man had taken it upon himself to actually create the demons. Rumor had it he would have succeeded if Yamamoto hadn't caught wind at the last minute and used his zanpakuto on the beasts.)

Muramasa seemed annoyed by Cheshire. Possibly because he was the only sword spirit that remained loyal to his master. Clearly he had no idea why that was.

"Cheshire...strike."

"Gladly. The only one who can command me is Alyss!" hissed the cat.

To the shock of the others, Cheshire not only attacked Muramasa, he actually scratched him pretty good before vanishing and reappearing at Yoru's side.

"How interesting. How is it that your zanpakuto remains at your side when the others headed my call?" asked Muramasa, intrigued.

"Because Cheshire isn't my zanpakuto. He only plays the part," said Yoru, amused.

That was news to the other captains.

Muramasa had done what he came to do. He had released the zanpakuto from their former masters and told the soul reapers that they were their own people now.

The only one who dared to defy him was Yoru and his sword, though he had yet to figure out why.

Unohana was very busy healing those injured in the initial attack. Yoru used his secondary healing bankai repeatedly trying to keep his friends alive. He was the only person who had been at the initial scene that could still use his sword...though revealing that Cheshire had never belonged to him in the first place was a bit of a shock.

Renji and Rukia were concerned about Byakuya, though only Rukia had made it to the world of the living in time. Her sword had very nearly killed her.

Ichigo was concerned about the whole situation. It was only luck that he hadn't been in the soul society at the time of the attack.

Ichigo returned to the Seireitei looking for Rukia. She had gone missing when she learned her brother was nowhere to be found.

Yoru appeared beside him, and for once he looked serious.

"Ichigo...how's Zangetsu?"

"Same as ever."

"Good. Watch out for the one called Muramasa. He has one of the same powers I do."

"Which one?" asked Ichigo with a groan. Anyone who shared even one of his brother's powers always turned out to be major trouble for him.

"He can enter Inner Worlds."

"Crap. Thanks for the warning."

Yoru bounded off, and went to find someone.

"Hello Yoru. What happened here?" asked Alyss. She had felt something try to take Cheshire from out of her control, and she wanted to know what.

"Someone attacked us and released the zanpakuto from their bonds. Which reminds me..."

Yoru handed her Cheshire, who started to purr in her arms.

"You'll need to keep him close by in case Muramasa tries to control him again."

"What about you?"

Yoru grinned.

"I think I'll use my real sword from now on."

Alyss nodded. Cheshire had only been given to Yoru when he first transformed because the boy couldn't handle the powers of his true zanpakuto. Cheshire only helped the boy become accustomed to using massive amounts of power at his own pace.

As soon as the bonds between Cheshire and Yoru were cut (except the ones that bound Cheshire to Yoru as a Chain) a sword materialized.

It was a tachi, a bit longer than Cheshire was.

Yoru grasped his sword firmly. The familiar weight felt right in his hands.

This was the sword that had been buried when he was forcefully reincarnated by the Ouin four hundred years ago. Fortunately he wouldn't have to give up his position as captain, since any true Heir to the Throne had to at least master bankai first.

Especially if the one in question happened to be first in line to inherit.

"Take care, Alyss. Hopefully this mess will be resolved quickly."

A thought came to him that made him grin evilly.

"You know I wonder how Ichigo and the others will react when they see my sword's true form. Think Cheshire can record it for me to watch again later?"

Alyss giggled evilly. She knew his sword's true form. And knew it was going to be hilarious when it came out. At the very least his brother would faint from shock.

Because Yoru's sword...had been separated from it's master over two hundred years ago.

Muramasa spotted Yoru. He was sticking close to Ichigo Kurosaki. Sode no Shiroyuki had almost been defeated by Rukia, and he had to step in.

Ichigo glared at him, while Yoru looked bored.

Yoru kept pace with his brother, as Muramasa dragged Zangetsu out, despite the sword's objections. Apparently he played on their instinct to fight the enemy.

Too bad for him, Ichigo had another soul inside his body. A soul that went by the name Shirosaki Mamoru.

Zangetsu hit Ichigo hard enough to knock him out. Shiro, who had been inside Ichigo for the past week, took control while Ichigo recovered from the shock.

Muramasa came up from behind Yoru, and noted with interest he had a different sword this time.

So he decided to see if he could force the boy's sword to cooperate this time.

Shirosaki looked when he felt a familiar spirit energy appear. And grinned evilly.

"So he was stupid enough to bring you out? Funny, I didn't think YOU would be his sword."

The sword glared at him.

"Bite me, brat."

Yoru definitely had an influence on his zanpakuto, because there was no way he would have said that before.

"Hey Shiro! Mind keeping this guy a secret from Ichigo?"

"Sure, only if you let me watch his reaction later!"

Yoru and his zanpakuto smirked. It would be amusing to watch his reaction.

"How interesting. Your sword is a hollow?" said Muramasa.

"Yup. Not just any hollow either," smirked Yoru.

"Is he the idiot who brought me out early? I was taking a nap."

"He's the one."

Faster than he could blink, they heard the clash of steel against steel.

Ichigo was still unconscious, but he was starting to wake up. Shirosaki was going overboard...and he could sense Yoru's power take a drop. He guessed it had something to do with the vague figure standing behind him.

It looked a little too familiar.

Suddenly he could feel Shirosaki going full hollow. He had to stop him!

He retook control and faced Zangetsu.

Suddenly Muramasa came from behind. He blacked out and woke up again in his inner world.

A world where only he and Shiro inhabited at the moment.

"Show me...your true instinct..." commanded Muramasa.

Ichigo could feel the pain inside his body. The man who had attacked them and took away Zangetsu was trying to rip him apart to find something.

He had a sneaking suspicion the man was looking for Shirosaki.

As quickly as it began, Ichigo found himself on one of the sideways buildings. Shirosaki was standing before him, giving the intruder a smirk that he should have run from.

He wasn't too happy about the man being there either.

Yoru was sitting on the edge, talking to his sword. How he ended up with something that resembled a vampire was beyond him, because he preferred wolves. He wondered how Remus would take the true form of his sword.

He snickered. That might actually be fun to see.

"What's so funny?"

"Just wondering how Remus would like meeting you, considering there are numerous tales of how well vampires and werewolves get along."

"Oh ha ha. Like I asked to become your sword."

"Hey, it's not my fault we were split up two hundred years ago. At least we found each other again before you were killed by that idiot Aizen."

"Point."

The two sat there, and when they felt Ichigo come back to his senses, his sword vanished underneath him.

There was no way they were going to spring this surprise on Ichigo until after he got his sword back.

Which took him over two hours to pull off, without using Shirosaki's mask.

Ichigo stared at his sword, unable to believe he had just beaten Zangetsu with Shirosaki helping. The old man was the calming factor in their soul. Without him around, the two often made really bad decisions in battle.

"Ichigo..."

He turned. He could hear the old man's voice again.

Zangetsu saw what Ichigo hadn't during the battle. He decided to have some fun.

"Ichigo, turn around."

Ichigo saw his brother, with a smirk that spelled nothing but trouble for him.

"Where's your sword?" he asked.

"Oh, he's around here somewhere. Cheshire went back to his real owner, so I won't have to worry about him popping up."

"What?" asked Ichigo.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, took one look at Yoru's true sword, and fainted from complete shock.

He didn't hear Zangetsu laughing at him.

"Ichigo. Ichigo!" yelled Yoru.

"Ow... Did I just have a nightmare or something?" he asked. Surely he hadn't seen what he thought he seen.

"It depends. What did you see?"

"Someone Shirosaki took out months ago!"

Yoru started cackling evilly.

"Now why would seeing him surprise you?"

"He's supposed to stay hidden for the next five years, at least!"

Yoru cackled even more. Ichigo's reaction was hysterical!

"Blame Muramasa. Well, him and the Ouin anyway."

"What?"

"Ichigo... When he was split from me, he didn't just take all of my hollow powers away. He took my true sword as well. Over the course of two hundred years, he became my sword."

"So Ulquiorra is...?"

"The name of my real zanpakuto."

Ichigo fainted again. Things had gotten a lot more complicated.

Ichigo and Yoru ended up checking on Rukia before chasing Muramasa. It helped that Yoru was better at detecting spiritual pressure than his brother.

Without warning they were hit with Senbonzakura's petals.

Ichigo swore.

"Bloody... Stupid Byakuya."

"Hmm?"

"It had to be his sword to block us."

"Can't...he...get past them?"

"Ichigo, he only comes out under protest. He doesn't mind me using his sword during battle, but he prefers to sleep. He's spent over two hundred years mostly awake, trying to keep from being eaten. And all those stress filled months did not help."

"Ah."

"Besides... Where's the fun of having him out all the time when I can use him to scare the other soul reapers later?"

Ichigo snickered. Frankly that had been one of his brother's more pleasant pranks.

Ulquiorra spent most of his time wandering around their inner world. It was one of the most interesting places he had ever been in.

He found the memory of Cheshire's realm, still strong. He didn't care that his true self had bound his power to a Chain to hide his true nature.

Or that the Chain was still linked to Yoru.

Finally, he found something Yoru tried very desperately to hide.

His childhood.

After only a few pages (which displayed themselves like holograms) Ulquiorra shut the book up with disgust. The next time they went to England, the Dursley family would suffer his wrath. There was no excuse for harming a child.

Probably why Nel survived as long as she had with her powers sealed.

Over the past two hundred years, Ulquiorra had never felt at peace. Then again, hollows almost never knew peace. A hollow was forever hungry for the stability it lacked. A hollow was born without it's center, which is why they hid behind a mask.

A hollow... was never truly at peace for long.

But he was no longer a true Hollow anymore. He had found what he had lost so long ago.

He had found the core which he had been separated from two hundred years ago.

He was, dare he say it?

Happy.

Anything that threatened to harm Yoru in any way would have to deal with him. Because Yoru gave him the peace he had thought he would never have.

And he would cross Hell to preserve that feeling.

Muramasa simply couldn't understand why he failed to get Yoru's sword under his control. He had played on the sword's rather dark feelings and brought it out.

But for some reason Ulquiorra refused to heed his words.

Then again, the zanpakuto didn't feel like any he had encountered before. It was almost...Hollow-like in it's power. Ichigo had the same soul as well, only his wasn't tied to his sword.

He would get Ulquiorra under his power. He could tell that once he did, he would have completed his mission.

Now how to go about it?

Yoru paused. Something was calling his sword. Even Alyss had decided to skip their usual tea time to keep Cheshire out of this mess.

Then again, Shirosaki was keeping her company at the moment, so he could only speculate what those two were doing.

"Neh, Ichigo. Have you seen Nel?"

"Last I checked, she was with Yachiru and Kenpachi."

Nel and Yachiru had hit it off, like Yoru knew they would. In exchange for keeping Nel away from the sweets (and keeping her brothers away from anything breakable) the soutaicho had allowed Yoru to keep Nel around.

Unfortunately, no one (except Yoru and Ichigo) could have predicted exactly how well Yachiru and Nel would hit it off.

At the moment, Unohana had told both Ichigo and Yoru if she ever caught them giving sweets to Nel or Yachiru again, she would kill them without hesitating. It spoke volumes on the sheer amount of destruction the two caused when Old man Yamamoto informed them that if Unohana did kill them, she wouldn't be punished.

Omake:

Yoru: We must perform the most powerful of techniques, Ulquiorra!

Ulquiorra: What technique would that be? I know many powerful techniques, Yoru. Be specific.

Yoru: It is...THE FUSION DANCE!

Ulquiorra: …

Ulquiorra: ...Yoru, lighter half of my soul or not, I'll kill you before that happens.

Props to Anon42 for coming up with that one! Even I didn't consider that joke!