A/N: This is just a last minute short story I'm putting together quickly. I'll probably do this sometimes, even if it is only to have something else to do other than work on some larger story that will get old if I work on it too much, too fast. Hope you like! And if you don't, I'd appreciate you telling me why, from pairing, to plot, anything! Flamers are also welcome, I get more reviews, which means more visits, which means I make more stories! So flame me, I honestly don't care (Not to mention that I usually only read legitimate criticism in reviews...).

Disclaimer: Err... I don't own? Well – actually I own my small, petty, insignificant thoughts... But that's all!

-==Light==-

(Sokyoku Hill – Rukia's execution)

"Kiko-oh." announced Head Captain Yamamoto to all the other captains and vice-captains present as the semi-sentient looking flames burst from the Sokyoku and took on the form of a massive phoenix. The flaming bestial form was facing a small girl that was dressed in bland white robes sporting a defeated look on her face. Like the phoenix, the girl too was hovering in the middle of the air, supported by a triplet of white blocks that held her steadily in front of the flaming bird. Yamamoto continued his miniature speech, "The spearhead of the Sokyoku has taken on its true form as the officiating executioner to render the ultimate punishment. The execution will be over when the prisoner's body is pierced by it."

Some of those present looked down at the ground of the hill the Captains and Vice-captains were all gathered atop, mostly to give their condolences to the small shinigami girl, which they had realize was being dealt an unjust punishment for her "crime". The only such not doing so, would be Captains Soifon, Byakuya, and Yamamoto, with some of the vice captains looking on in barely constrained wonder and astonishment.

The tiny shinigami girl, Rukia, looked at the magnificent construct of flames with no regrets and courage fueled by ignorance. The phoenix opened its eyes, and Rukia closed hers in wait for the seemingly inevitable. With one mighty roar, the flame construct surged forward, dead aligned in a path to disintegrate Rukia. The phoenix was fifty meters away.

Forty-six meters...

Thirty-nine meters..

Thirty meters.

Seventeen meters;

Ten meters–

Impact

...

All of the gathered vice and full fledged captains watched, as out of seemingly nowhere the flaming orange hair topped Ryoka appeared before the massive Phoenix and had stopped it effortlessly with only his massive body-length zanpakuto, held by a single hand.

And if the captain's view of the bickering between the detained and rescuer was anything to go by, it was safe to guess that the Ryoka boy had probably entirely forgotten about the ever pressing halberd pulsing its flames in defiance of the giant cleaver-like obstacle between it and its target.

Even after the gigantic bird backed up and soared once more for another attack on the duo, the Ryoka boy had held it off. Ichigo, as he was called by most, valiantly held it off. However, in a seemingly cruel joke that could have only been set up as a joke by a sort of omniscient being: Ichigo's sword was slightly off, and the far more massive flame-coated halberd hit the body length meat cutter in a diagonal thrust. Which caused all the power behind it to be deflected... right at Rukia's left side.

Rukia's left side would have been scorched, and the entirety of her dead. If not for one of the most stupid actions a person could ever commit in this situation occurring.

Ichigo grasped the head of the Sokyoku with his remaining left hand. Which was then followed by Ichigo dropping Zangetsu to the ground below to make room for his second hand at the head.

Suffice to say; saying the captains were shell shocked would be the understatement of the millennium, possibly ever. Even those who were previously looking down in mourning all looked up once they heard the clash of the first hit. They all had their mouths open, from Head Captain to Vice-captain, as they watched a shinigami of a few mere months take on the Sokyoku in its released state, which is said to hold the power of thousands of zanpakuto, with his bare hands. And was winning.

Ichigo was sweating under the pure power that this unmanned weapon was putting out in its vain attempt to slay him and the small female behind him, who was still yelling at him, like the numerous thousands of people that had been in their positions before.

Then, everything went to hell.

A brilliant golden light in the shape of a large column that went from the base of the Sokyoku hill to the skies above burst forth from the Sokyoku's shape and encompassed itself and Ichigo for the briefest of moments. But what appeared after the light died off was something none of the present peanut gallery had ever anticipated.

(Unknown location – Right after flash)

Ichigo was annoyed. He came all the way to the afterlife to save this stupid suicidal girl, putting all of his friends lives on the line, fighting through some of the toughest people in the world... after world? Something like that. He gains power that only a select few in all of history, all of forever have ever been able to achieve! And yet, he seems to have just died by a random flash of light from that stupid bird, right as he was about to save that pesky small shinigami. Why was his life so complicated?

Everything was pitch black, he could see nothing, he could feel nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing, there was simply nothing. Ichigo also found out shortly after that revelation, that he couldn't move.

Ichigo all of a sudden hears tapping, it sounded like walking. But people don't usually walk that slow, or were they walking fast? He couldn't tell, maybe it's a dying thing? Being all discombobulated. He tries to speak, but finds that even that is not possible, maybe this was his judgment for where he goes in his after-after life. Ichigo sighed. Facing judgment right after endangering your loved ones, abandoning your family, lying to those friends who couldn't help you, and injuring many innocent people that help deceased souls find their places in death – all to save a stupid girl for some partial honor is not a proper time for these sorts of things...

Ichigo then heard a distinctly feminine chuckle, followed by a laugh of the same origin.

"You are not dead yet, Ichigo. Actually, you have just begun to live life, well... afterlife is the proper term for this situation." Stated the female voice.

Ichigo found that he still couldn't even open his mouth, it was quite unnerving.

"I'm sorry about all this, but you seem to be the only chance I have to finally escape this contraption." The voice continued on, probably realizing his struggling. "Here, this should help you. But I suppose this is what happens when you barge in on things that you probably shouldn't be, not that I'm complaining though."

Ichigo found that he could move, and abruptly stood up and reached for his "man-cleaver" only to remember that he had to drop it to grab the flaming eagle, bird, avian, thing. Ichigo just brought his fist up into his natural fighting position in some sort of attempt to protect himself from whatever may come. "Who are you? Where am I? Why are you doing this? And could you turn the lights on?"

Ichigo heard a very boisterous laugh coming from a direction, but he was too busy waiting for some sort of explanation as to why she was laughing rather than throwing a fist in that direction. "Hehehe... just open your eyes, Ichigo." The voice then continued to chuckle.

Ichigo opened his eyes. And was suddenly very aware of how stupid he must have seemed. The sky was a strange purple-pink color with a few stray pitch-black clouds. Around him was a sky blue lake, and vivid green grass while he himself was standing near the edge of a cliff, that had no bottom and nothing beyond where it cut off. The dark red/black sun finished off the scene, making everything seem very... off.

Did he mention the giant flaming bird that was in the sky with an odd woman on top? No? Well there ya' go. Very off indeed. He was still wondering why he couldn't feel the heat from the bird a few moments ago, but he put that to the back of his mind for the time being. What was really odd to him though, was how he thought that he'd seen that bird somewhere before. He would like to think that he would remember a giant, flying, flaming bird.

"It seems you need to be reacquainted with Kiko-oh." The woman on the back of the bird said, grinning the whole way through.

"Reaqu-? Oh! That's that annoying pest that kept pecking at my sword earlier!" Ichigo yelled, now pointing his right hand's index finger at said phoenix in a very dramatic manner.

The girl growled and jumped off the back of the phoenix, landing right in front of him. She then pushed him a whole five feet back with one arm where he then managed to trip and lose his balance, falling flat onto his back. "Don't you ever dare speak of Kiko-oh like that!"

Ichigo sat up and crossed him legs. He then looked at the strange girl, now fully getting a picture of her. She looked to be about two or three years older than him, with fair milky skin and straight fiery red hair that went a bit past her shoulders. She was wearing a form fitting outfit that consisted of tight fit jeans and a thin white T-shirt that had a picture of a gigantic phoenix on the front. But the most prominent feature Ichigo could notice where her eyes, they were a shade of pink he'd never seen before, it was darker and screamed power and knowledge beyond his understanding... yet they seemed familiar to him. But she looked a lot like a very casually dressed human, nothing overly odd about her.

"Look. Could you please just tell me who you are and how or why I'm here? I have to get back and hopefully save what remains of my friends in the Soul Society."

"Well, I guess I should start off with my name. But I doubt you could understand my name. So I'll just tell you how you are here. Well to state it bluntly, I brought you here, to your mind so we could have a nice conversation." The girl looked a but antsy for some reason, maybe to get out of his mind. But wait.

"How is this my mind? My mind is all sideways with skyscrapers and buildings everywhere. And why wont you tell me your name? What am I suppose to call you if not by your name." Ichigo said, now looking around the area, thinking of how strange this new place is.

"Ichigo, did you honestly think that you would have only that small portion of your mind here? Even I have to admit that the human brain is too complex for such simple and narrow minded things as only having one layout. Even I cannot fathom how complex the brain is, let alone enough to understand its interior workings, Ichigo." She finished. But then remembered his final question, "Well, you won't be able to hear my name anyways but I suppose there is no harm in trying for a baseline. My name is... Hiiro no Tenshi."

"Hiiro no Tenchi? Bloody Angel. Sounds like a nick name for a serial killer. Who are you, exactly?" Ichigo asked. He then looked up, only to see a rather funny looking girl, with her eyes wide open and mouth hanging open.

"Yo-you. You heard me?! You heard my name! All of it!" She shouted out loud in both shock and glee.

"Of course I did, why wouldn't I hear you?"

"Ichigo, I'm a zanpakuto. Not just any zanpakuto, but the most powerful zanpakuto ever created, the first ever zanpakuto created. I'm what those out in Soul Society call the Sokyoku." Hiiro no Tenshi stated with each and every word soaked in as much pride as she could muster up. But it looked funny with her speaking like that while her eyes and mouth were still partially open in an obvious state of shock. "And no body has ever even heard my name before, let alone heard the full thing on the first time!"

Ichigo now was in the middle of an epiphany. The bird that emitted the light brought him and Hiiro no Tenshi to his mind. Hiiro no Tenshi is a zanpakuto. Zangetsu is nowhere to be found in his mind. Hiiro no Tenshi is supposedly stronger than Zangestsu. And he still has the most powerful zanpakuto ever in his mind. And if Zangetsu was his zanpakuto, and Zangetsu is suppose to be his only zanpakuto. And he has never seen a shinigami with two zanpakuto before, but he... then... then... "Wait. Where is the old man? Where is Zangetsu?"

"Zangetsu is a part of me, in a manner of speaking. I'd go with the specifics, but your limited knowledge of the spirit world lessens the severity of the situation for you, making it pointless." She said calmly, with a bland look on her face.

"Wa-wait just a minute, are you calling me stupid?" Ichigo said quickly, not really thinking about what she'd actually said. In his attempt to come out vicious in the "verbal brawl" he added, "We-well if zanpakuto are partnered with people who are compatible with them or whomever they feel is worthy of them, what does that say about you. Knowing that all of your wielders before have been too stupid to even understand your name!" Ichigo finished.

Hiiro no Tenshi growled menacingly at him. "You dare. Insult me!" She humphed, "Just goes to show how stupid you are." She said, trying not to be embarrassed at her childish response, however valid it may be.

Ichigo was about to go back on the counter attack, when he decided that he would probably get more done by humbling himself. "I'm sorry. But could you tell me, at least in layman's terms."

The red haired woman regained her composure and appearance. "I suppose. In essence, it is more like he's died and gone back to the realm of the zanpakutos until I relinquish my hold over his powers. Where he'll then choose a new partner to be with in the next fifteen to fifty years. But that doesn't matter now, what does matter is that since I control his powers, you can still use his bankai. But not his shikai, it's simply too large for you to control effectively and would only be a hindrance to you." She then rubbed her nose in a way that could almost be described as cute to Ichigo.

In the middle of her explanations, he thought in a random moment of thought that it felt very strange seeing a zanpakuto act and look so human. Ichigo had only ever seen Zangetsu's form before and he'd always acted so well composed. But he definitely liked her as a zanpakuto better, he decided that she would be a much better partner to work with.

"Thank you for the endearment, but understand that this is your mind. If you don't think quiet enough, I can hear it as if you are talking to me. But anyways, I must teach you on how to control my own shikai later. But for now, I'm going to unleash a portion of my spiritual pressure on you, if all goes well, this should help prepare you for what is to come later."

Before Ichigo could ask questions like: What about my mind, wont it damage it? Or other useless questions he could think of. She'd unleashed pressure that had him on his stomache and in agony. He was unable to speak and barely able to breathe.

"Take slow breaths Ichigo, breathe in deeply and breathe out just the same. You must be able to withstand your own spiritual pressure, or you'll damage yourself. You will be weak and you will die to a pathetic shinigami like that Byakuya, a good for nothing shinigami that would kill his own flesh and blood to save something as temporary as an order in response to an interpretation of an unwritten law that nobody wants to listen to and is ordered from people that nobody ever really sees. Understand Ichigo, you will have a hard future ahead of you, and you need to start working hard to match up!"

Ichigo was breathing now. Heavily breathing, slowly and with hitches in them, but it was an improvement. Ichigo began to feel the pressure increase.

"Know this Ichigo, since that light was emitted, it has been less than a second in here. You can still save everyone, none of your friends have to die today. But you must work for it!"

Ichigo was already sweating profusely, he was under unbearable pressure. But he was fighting, he managed to get up from his laying down position and get on his hands and knees. He could feels his muscles straining, his bones creaking, but he was determined. Lives of those he cares for are on the line, lives of those who he trusts and vice-versa. Ichigo was now on his two feet, and wobbling on his legs.

Ichigo felt the pressure increase again, it was painful, his body was on fire, his breathing was ragged and shallow. But he persevered.

"Ichigo, I should tell you now that one of my many abilities allows you to use something known as instant regeneration. It takes a lot of spiritual energy, but I'm using mine currently, so you should be fine." It wasn't entirely a lie, but she wouldn't tell him of a strange phenomena she found in his mind until all this was settled down. "I just wanted to let you know that when we get out of your mind, this training will not be all for nothing. As this is your brain, your brain is making all of these injuries and strains real for you, meaning this is helping you outside."

Ichigo did his best to nod, but he found that it would be far easier to just think his affirmative with the hopes she would hear it.

"One last thing I would like to point out. This training is not for Zangetsu's bankai. It is for your sealed state. I said you would never use that shikai of yours again, and you are unable to go back to Zangetsu's sealed state, so I am combining my sealed state and Zangetsu's bankai. This is why you are doing this." She then decided to increase the pressure even further. "Now then, you shall be training yourself until you are near death and then some more. It has been a total of 0.263 seconds outside of here and you still have another 2.487 seconds left until we are done. Or in here, that would be another eight or nine hours of training and torture to go!" She smiled sinisterly.

'This is going to be hell' was the last thought that crossed Ichigo's mind before the pressure on him doubled and he dropped to a kneel.

(Back with the other captains)

1...

Everything was glowing in a brilliant light emitting from the phoenix's location, in a blink of an eye, Byakuya took Rukia and brought her over to the captains. Most everybody then had to close there eyes to avoid from going blind from the light that seemed to make the sun dim in envy.

2...

Pressure, extreme pressure was being emitted at an exponentially increasing rate, the light began to dim so some where able to open there eyes slightly. Those that could saw a sight they were sure they would never see again, Yamamoto was sweating under the spiritual pressure.

2.5..

The pressure was instantly stabilized at about captain level. Then it started fluctuating, it began to go from non-existent to three times an average captain's level. The light began to grow steadily dimmer, and yet they still couldn't see inside of the light.

2.75-

The light disappeared all together in an instant, and what remained shocked everyone present.

In the wake of the brilliant light was a changed Ichigo. Ichigo's orange hair now was a few shades darker than normal at the root and gradates to a few shades lighter near the tips, where they change to white. Ichigo's clothing was now much simpler, casual even. He wore a black sweat shirt and a maroon colored V-necked T-shirt under it. It was white at the bottom and black around the neck of the V. He was also wearing tan pants that didn't look like they were good for fighting in and a belt with a phoenix for the buckle. But what was really shocking was that he was wearing see through sun glasses, and from the captain's distance it appeared that Ichigo's eyes became a dark red that was so dark it was nearly black.

In the next moments, they began to notice some odd things. Such as the seemingly normal katana that was sheathed and attached to Ichigo's side in a belt buckle. The only strange things about it was the odd chain that was attached to the pommel, the strange swastika shape that formed the guard, and the fact that the sheath itself was blood red with a black engraving that said 'Ichigo' on both sides.

The captains realized it could be taken as a joke, some would have laughed if not for the tense situation.

Ichigo stared blankly at them, as if expecting something. And that's when they noticed it, the Sokyoku was gone! The captains then turned to Ichigo.

"Child, what have you done with the Sokyoku!" The Head Captain demanded, adding in his spiritual pressure in high hopes to increase his authority over the 'child'.

"Hmm... can't say I remember. Been a while since I've heard of something by that name before." Ichigo drawled, he then turned his head to the other captains, "What do you guys think. Care to help me remember?"

"You insolent Ryoka! I will teach you to belittle the greatest captains in all of Soul Society's history!" Shouted out Soifon as she began to draw out her zanpakuto.

Ichigo merely raised an eyebrow, "Wow, and here I thought that an apprentice of Yoruichi's would be a little bit more carefree, especially around another apprentice of the same master." Ichigo smirked at the enraged look that crossed Soifon's face.

In a lightning blitz of speed that only few of the crowd could follow, Soifon had her shikai out and at Ichigo's neck in a move that was meant to go for a kill shot. But in the very next instant, she was on the ground with Ichigo's hand wrapped firmly around her neck and her Shikai broken. Soifon passed out and Ichigo jumped back from the other captains before they reeled in their bearings.

The captains watched in shock, none of them were able to follow that speed. But what they were able to see was how effortlessly Ichigo took down the captain of the division known for their speed, accuracy, and close quarter combat and had defeated her in all of the division's specialties.

"Hmp. So, are we going to do this, or not?" Ichigo said as he began to draw his zanpakuto. But was stopped when a hand grasped his. He felt a toned body that was definitely female, if the weight on his back had anything at all to say about it.

"Ichigo." The voice of a familiar were-cat spoke next to his ear, "What are you doing?" She practically hissed at him.

"Finishing this, I know what is going on now with Rukia and Unohara. So I need to keep Rukia within a group of powerful people and preferably on a battleground. And I needed a reason for them to attack me. Your student happened to be the best option for me. Besides, I figure you could just talk to her in the hospital or something when you don't have to risk your life, she'll be fine either way." Ichigo whispered back to her while staring down the captains who are also just figuring out the identity of the masked woman behind Ichigo. "But right now I need you to keep every last one of my friends away, my spiritual pressure is powerful enough to kill anyone that doesn't have a vice-captain's spiritual energy or higher. But if they stay off the top of this hill, they should be fine."

Ichigo felt her leave and her unique signature head down the hill, hopefully for his friends.

"Now... where were we." Ichigo recalled out, flaring his spiritual pressure out as a warning for vice-captains around. And judging from Omaeda, it was working better than intended. "Ahh, yes. Me kicking your asses."

And before anyone could respond, he unsheathed his sword, and instantly his spiritual pressure went through the roof.

A/N: Not my best cliffy ever, but this was a last minute story idea that I wanted to get out. Now, this isn't going to be a long story, probably 3-5 chapter max (most likely 5).

Welp, cyo guys!