Force of Souls Chapter 34 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Force of Souls! The second day of Bankai training begins and Ichigo has to learn and understand his power if he hopes to defeat Shingetsu. But is something other than a lack of knowledge holding Ichigo back? Will he deny and defy what Shingetsu tries to make him realize and understand? While Ichigo is training, what else is happening in the Seireitei?

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Chapter 34 – Understanding and Acceptance

One soul, alone

Two souls, together

I don’t want to lose you

Weakest of the four

Bend existence with your infinite range

In the Captain’s Office of Squad Thirteen, a meeting of friends was taking place. To an outside observer, it was merely two of the oldest Captains, that were well-known for being friends, having a chat about the recent ryoka invasion. Nothing out of the ordinary given everything that had happened since the ryoka appeared in Soul Society.

But the truth was something very different.

“He’s certain?” Kyōraku asked without removing his eyes from the paper that Ukitake had handed him. What was on this paper, the results of a blood test, should be absolutely impossible.

Ukitake nodded to his oldest friend with a serious expression. “You know how Kurotsuchi is, he wouldn’t have let me see a test of his that was incorrect. He’s far too proud to let his failures be seen by others.”

Kyōraku hummed as he looked at the match on the paper again. “That’s true.”

“I know that it seems impossible, Shunsui, but the ryoka, Kurosaki Ichigo, is the son of Captain Shiba.” Ukitake said with a firm tone.

“I’m not doubting that, Jūshirō…” Kyōraku said, holding his tongue for a moment to look into Ukitake’s eyes before he continued. “From all of the reports, the young man is the spitting image of Lieutenant Shiba, just with bright orange hair and brown eyes.”

Ukitake’s eyes lost some of their sharpness as memories of his former Lieutenant came to mind. Having seen Ichigo twice now, it was impossible for Ukitake to not see the family resemblance. “I want to know what happened back then…both with Kaien and with Captain Shiba. Things were always strange with Captain Shiba’s disappearance, and that strange Hollow that led to Kaien’s death…its incredibly specific abilities…I’ve never forgotten them.” Ukitake clenched both of his hands into fists just remembering that night again.

Kyōraku put the paper on the table and between them and contemplated for a moment. “Are you proposing that we bring this information to the other Captains? It could endanger the Kurosaki boy’s family in the Living World. A Captain abandoning their post is a serious offense.”

“I’d like to bring it to Head Captain Yamamoto’s attention, at the very least.” Ukitake nodded once. “The sheer ‘impossibility’ of Kurosaki Ichigo’s existence should at least give sufficient evidence that something abnormal took place regarding Captain Shiba’s disappearance.”

“It almost seems like somebody had it out for the Shiba Clan if you line things up all in a row like this.” Kyōraku mentioned after a moment to take a sip of his tea and think. “First Miyako, Kaien’s wife, dies to a strange Hollow. Then that same odd Hollow manages to kill Kaien,” Kyōraku wasn’t one to blame Kuchiki Rukia for doing her duty and slaying a Hollow, even if said Hollow had taken over the body of another Shinigami at the time. “They lose their ‘Great Noble’ status when the Clan was reduced to only Kaien’s two younger siblings and Captain Shiba, who was head of the last Branch Family. Then Captain Shiba disappears and is labeled MIA for a while before it’s changed to KIA without any notice to the other Captains.”

It truly was a rather unfortunate series of events for the Shiba Clan. Had Captain Shiba managed to continue his service, the Clan may have regained their ‘Great Noble’ position after some time…potentially. However, if one lined everything up, it was almost as if someone wanted one of the Five Great Noble Clans of Seireitei to disappear.

“Yes, I’d noticed that myself after looking into Kurosaki Ichigo and his potential connection to Captain Shiba.” Ukitake said, his eyes sharp as he tried to put the mystery together without all of the pieces. “That’s why I want to bring this information to Yamamoto-sensei…” He coughed once. “I mean, Head Captain Yamamoto.”

“And you want me to present it with you to give this mystery more backing.” Kyōraku understood what his oldest friend was going for by showing him these results now. “Things have certainly been odd over the last century or so, even if the individual events were spread out over the course of decades.” He sipped his tea while giving Ukitake his support. It would be good to hopefully get some answers as to just what, or perhaps who, was behind this string of unfortunate events for the Seireitei.

Ukitake bowed his head in thanks to Kyōraku. “Thank you, Shunsui. With everything that’s happened in just the last few days, from the ryoka’s appearance to Captain Aizen’s sudden murder, I can’t help but feel as if something is coming to a close.”

Kyōraku nodded once with a downcast expression. “The investigation into Aizen’s murder is still ongoing, of course, but his quarters looked normal when they were photographed and searched, from what I’ve been told.”

“No leads as to who could’ve murdered him?” Ukitake asked, knowing that Aizen was the cautious type and if the man had suspected anything nefarious, he wouldn’t have gone off on his own.

“Apparently not, but after examining the ryoka we’ve captured, along with Captain Matsumoto’s report about her fight with the two young ladies of the ryoka, it doesn’t seem possible that any of them could kill a Captain. At least, not without making enough of a commotion to alert the entire Seireitei.” Kyōraku said as he recalled his fight with the young man from the ryoka and the power he used. “Aizen was murdered without anyone noticing a thing, and pinned to the wall with his own Zanpakutō on top of that. Such measures would take a staggering amount of ability that none of the ryoka seem to possess.”

Ukitake agreed with Kyōraku with a sharp nod. “My thoughts exactly. Most of the Seireitei felt the clash between Zaraki and Kurosaki Ichigo, and that battle apparently ended in a draw, according to Lieutenant Kusajishi. If we believe that Kurosaki is the strongest of the ryoka, then that brings even more doubt upon any of them being the one to have murdered Aizen.”

Kyōraku sighed before finishing off his tea and standing up. “Well, shall we deliver these test results from Mayuri and speak with Yama-jiji about our own speculations?”

“Yes, time is of the essence given everything that’s happened.” Ukitake stood up as well, making sure to put the results of the blood test into the inner folds of his shihakushō for safekeeping.

-Secret Training Area Beneath Sōkyoku Hill-

The sound of blades crossing rang throughout the air as Ichigo and Shingetsu continued their battle. Ichigo wasn’t wasting time, having slept for the night and woken up right after dawn. He’d been fighting with Shingetsu ever since.

Crack

“Fifty-eight…” Shingetsu commented on the number of swords that he’d broken today, so far.

Ichigo grimaced as he threw the broken blade and handle at his Zanpakutō’s face. He held his hand out and a star fell from the night sky into his palm to grant him another copy of his Shikai sword. “Jūryokuga!” Ichigo slashed his sword against Shingetsu’s, the massive arc of gravity snapping the blade in the Zanpakutō’s hands, but flowing around Shingetsu as the air warped making the powerful wave of gravity veer off course and destroy one of the plateaus in the area. “Damn it…” Ichigo grunted at not being able to land a blow.

Shingetsu’s fist socking him in the jaw was unexpected and sent Ichigo staggering back. “Don’t take your eyes off your opponent, Ichigo.” A dozen stars fell from the night sky straight at Ichigo.

“HAH!!!” Ichigo held up his sword horizontally and pushed with all of the gravity he could muster. The dozen swords streaking towards him shattered against the nearly solid gravity wave that Ichigo had created.

Clang

Blade met blade again, and Ichigo wasn’t even sure when Shingetsu had gotten the sword he was using. But he’d at least managed to block, even if it was barely.

“What did you do to block the swords, Ichigo?” Shingetsu questioned as he continued to pressure Ichigo. It was a constant string of questions whenever Ichigo managed to do something that he hadn’t done before.

“I just pushed as much gravity as I could between me and the swords.” Ichigo answered as he angled his blade and let Shingetsu’s slip to the side. He swung as fast as he could, looking to cut into Shingetsu’s arm and disable it.

Shingetsu caught the blade on his palm without a scratch. “How? That’s not an aspect of attraction.” He repelled Ichigo’s blade with the hand he’d used to block and then brought his blade down across Ichigo’s torso sending blood flying through the air to paint the rocky ground.

Ichigo hissed at the pain, but the wound wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been thanks to his Jūryoku Yoroi. He’d barely had any time to focus, but had managed to draw his Reiatsu in closer through his gravity to strengthen his defense. “I don’t know! I just did it!” He used a quick Shunpo to make some distance, and then a second one to take Shingetsu’s back, bringing his blade down in an overhead swing.

“Hm…” Shingetsu made a brief noise and Ichigo found his sword stopped against a wall of gravity, the same way he’d stopped the flying swords. “Like this, Ichigo.” The blade in Ichigo’s hands veered off to the left, leaving Ichigo wide open for the pommel of Shingetsu’s sword to slam into his ribs and send Ichigo bouncing across the ground twice. “Do you understand what I did?”

“The same thing…that I…did…” Ichigo gasped out even as he forced himself onto his feet in time to block Shingetsu’s next attack.

Shingetsu nodded just slightly. “And what was it that you did?” He asked again, even while forcing Ichigo backwards.

Ichigo thought about it as he pivoted to the right and broke the deadlock. ‘He deflected my sword with the gravity… But he’d already stopped it the same way I did.’ His thoughts were interrupted as Shingetsu swung his blade at Ichigo’s face, forcing Ichigo to deflect with his own. ‘I didn’t manage to deflect anything when I did it.’

Yoruichi watched on as Shingetsu and Ichigo continued to fight. Her golden eyes easily following every movement as she judged Ichigo’s progress. ‘He’s gotten faster, and his Zanjutsu is improving as well…it’s almost frightening how fast he’s improving. But his Reiryoku isn’t growing as fast as his skills… If it doesn’t increase enough, he won’t be able to achieve Bankai within the time limit.’ Even back when Urahara had used himself as a guinea pig for the Tenshintai, he’d told Yoruichi that going past three days would be dangerous, potentially fatal. That was why Yoruichi couldn’t extend the training period any longer, even if Ichigo hadn’t achieved Bankai by then.

Shingetsu sidestepped Ichigo’s sword and cut him across the right arm. The wound only barely bled though as Ichigo shifted forward and then shoulder-checked the larger man. Shingetsu took only a single step back from the blow, but Ichigo pressed his advantage using his uninjured left arm to grab onto Shingetsu’s right wrist and control his sword arm. Using his own sword, he stabbed forward, aiming to impale Shingetsu through the gut.

The world went sideways for an instant and Ichigo found himself flying through the air. With a grunt he managed to get his feet below him and land on the ground safely. Not wanting to give Shingetsu time to pressure him, Ichigo pushed himself to think as much as possible while keeping his eyes on his Zanpakutō. He needed to figure out what the hell Shingetsu was doing and why no attack worked on the blindfolded man.

Shingetsu was suddenly in front of Ichigo and gravity multiplied to such a degree that the ground beneath the two of them was instantly compressed dozens of centimeters deep. Ichigo raised his Reiryoku to counter, pushing back with his own gravity to nullify the effect as Shingetsu swung his sword.

Crack

“That’s fifty-nine, Ichigo.” Shingetsu said as the blade of Ichigo’s sword went flying before slamming into the ground so fast that it almost cratered the stone, such was the intensity of the gravity field caused by Ichigo and Shingetsu’s clash. “Do you still not understand our power?”

Ichigo grunted as he raised his knee to block a knee strike from Shingetsu, but that only weakened his balance and allowed Shingetsu to punch him in the gut with a fist that felt far too heavy. As Ichigo went flying backwards hacking up some blood, the realization of what Shingetsu had just done clicked in his head. “Mass… He used gravity to mimic greater mass on his fist and hit me with it.” That would explain why the punch had felt like getting hit with a boulder as opposed to a fist. Ichigo hit the ground and rolled to disperse the force. Even as his muscles screamed at him in pain, Ichigo ignored it and forced himself back to his feet quickly. It was then that something outside of the battlefield caught his eye. ‘What the hell? Why is Miss Yoruichi moving like that?’

Yoruichi had stood up from where she was observing, but to Ichigo’s eyes, it looked like she was on fast-forward. She appeared to be walking normally, but all of her motions were ‘sped up’ for lack of a better term. But whenever Yoruichi moved quickly, she just vanished from sight, that was just how great her speed was, not this oddly ‘fast-forward’ style of movement.

Shingetsu had closed the distance again and swung his sword at Ichigo, only to change course and use it to deflect a falling star coming right at his face. Two other swords got close, only to veer around him before they could make contact. Seeing Ichigo catch a fourth falling star and get another sword, Shingetsu readied his own blade.

“I get it…” Ichigo’s observation of Yoruichi had brought back a vague memory of something they’d only just touched on in his science class before he’d met Rukia. “She’s not moving faster…I just perceive it that way. That’s why yesterday’s ten hours seemed like only two hours to me, isn’t it?” He focused on Shingetsu as his Reiryoku started to rise higher and higher. “Exceptionally powerful gravity slows down time…it warps space-time.”

“Correct.” Shingetsu’s sword clashed with Ichigo’s but neither blade actually made contact with the other, two powerful gravitational fields fought against each other between the edges of the blades. “It’s called General Relativity in your science book; or gravitational time dilation, since you don’t recall the actual term that you read.” The older man remarked on Ichigo not recalling his studies.

Ichigo forced the deadlock to break as he focused more on his Reiryoku, his gravity warping the space between their blades and knocking Shingetsu’s sword to the side. “Haaah!” He slashed Shingetsu across the chest but the blade stopped dead against Shingetsu’s navy blue shihakushō.

Greater gravity had swallowed up Ichigo’s mimicked greater mass and the equivalent of a stone falling on top of a mountain was all that resulted from the attack. Shingetsu’s sword came around and slammed into Ichigo, sending him skidding sideways across the ground. “You’re starting to understand now, Ichigo.”

“Hah…hah…” Ichigo was breathing heavily, sweat running down his face. “I don’t have time to waste being dumb.” He said as his body trembled from the previous hit. He’d greatly amplified his Jūryoku Yoroi, much the same as Shingetsu had done to block his slash, but the overwhelming difference in gravity had still rattled his bones…he could already feel the huge bruise forming on his right side.

Shingetsu ‘looked’ at Ichigo through the blindfold over his eyes. “Intelligence and wisdom are two different things, Ichigo. You’re beginning to understand our power because you keep using it and you have knowledge about it. That’s intelligence.” He was suddenly right on top of Ichigo and his sword snapped Ichigo’s like it was a twig and cut a large laceration across his chest, soaking the ground with blood.

Ichigo hacked out a mouthful of blood as the cut sent a wave of gravity throughout his body, the force pulling and pushing as the wave moved through him and messed up blood vessels, organs, and muscles. Warm tears fell from Ichigo’s eyes, but as his vision went red, he realized that it was more blood from ruptured blood vessels. The same with his nose as he could only smell blood and felt it run over his lips and down his chin.

“Wisdom is the ability to understand human nature, which is complex, contradictory, and ever-changing. It’s most often associated with life experience, insight, and discernment.” Shingetsu said as Ichigo collapsed to his knees. “You are surprisingly lacking wisdom when it comes to yourself.”

Ichigo barley kept himself from falling with his left hand against the ground. His fingers were splayed out against the rock and blood stained everything beneath him, but he refused to fall completely. “What… What do you…mean?” Ichigo nearly choked on the blood in his mouth, forcing him to spit it up.

Shingetsu sighed at Ichigo, even as his other half looked up at him with bloody eyes. “You could do what I just did to you, with the same swing, if you weren’t still denying part of yourself.”

Ichigo looked confused, even as he hissed in pain from changing his expression, the muscles in his face were sore and painful, just like the rest of his body. “I’m not…” He spit out another glob of blood, even as he tried to force himself to stand up.

“You are.” Shingetsu kicked Ichigo in the chest hard enough to send the severely injured young man sprawling onto his back. “You deny yourself, and therefore you deny me! You shouldn’t even speak of Bankai until you figure yourself out, Ichigo! You can’t wield our power to its fullest extent if you’re always holding back!”

“Gkh!” Ichigo coughed out some more blood to clear his airway, trying to force himself up to argue with Shingetsu. Everything hurt, but the pain was overshadowed by the disappointment he could hear in Shingetsu’s voice.

The Tenshintai fell to the ground across from Ichigo.

Yoruichi appeared a second later, standing over Ichigo and seeing how badly injured he was. “He almost killed you this time.” She said as she carefully helped Ichigo up and carried him towards the hot spring.

It went towards showing just how much Shingetsu’s words affected Ichigo when he didn’t make a sound as Yoruichi stripped him out of his shihakushō. When he slipped into the hot water and felt the pain all over his body slowly start to ease, Ichigo still didn’t react. He was still going through his own head, over and over again, replaying Shingetsu’s words.

-Captain Commander’s Office-

“What is it that you wished to speak with me about, Captain Ukitake, Captain Kyōraku?” Yamamoto asked his two students as he gave them both a long look. The situation with the ryoka, and now Captain Aizen’s murder, had put Yamamoto into a ‘war’ mindset. He had no patience for anything that wasn’t relevant to the current crisis facing Seireitei.

Ukitake pulled a folded up paper from within his shihakushō and placed it on Yamamoto’s desk respectfully. “Head Captain, working under suspicions relating to the ryoka that have invaded, one in particular, I’ve gathered evidence that I think is prudent to this entire situation that we find ourselves in.”

“After seeing said evidence myself, I fully agree with Captain Ukitake that this information brings to light a potential plot by an unknown party spanning decades if not over a century.” Kyōraku said with respect to his commanding officer and direct teacher.

Yamamoto narrowed his eyes on the folded paper and picked it up. After unfolding it, his narrow eyes read over it, only to stop dead at the part regarding the lost Captain Shiba and the ryoka Kurosaki Ichigo. “What is this madness?” He looked up at Ukitake and Kyōraku with a look that was a s sharp as a blade. “Do you expect me to believe this?”

It went against all known information and even basic logic. The information was so against the norm that neither Ukitake nor Kyōraku held it against Yamamoto for having his doubts. Even still the Captain Commander continued to read a second later, his eyes taking in everything that was on the results of the blood test done by Captain Kurotsuchi.

“It’s hard to believe, I understand, but it’s the truth, Head Captain.” Ukitake said once Yamamoto raised his eyes to look at his students again.

“Hard to believe…this is simply impossible.” Yamamoto stated clearly, his tone brooked no argument from either of them. “The loss of Captain Shiba was a blow to the Thirteen Court Guard Squads; we were lucky that Lieutenant Matsumoto had the capacity to step forward and fulfill the role of her missing Captain. To suggest that a fallen Captain is still alive and has been in the Living World all this time, and even started a family with a human, is disrespectful and shameful.” His Reiatsu began to increase and both Kyōraku and Ukitake steadied themselves against it. “I know that I taught both of you better than this.”

Kyōraku spoke up, his tone calm and respectful to not further anger Yamamoto. “Yama-jiji, this isn’t a lie or a prank, but results obtained from Captain Kurotsuchi, the man that has your blade hanging over his neck every second of every day. He would never fabricate results like this, not as a scientist and especially considering his own awareness of what will happen to him should you ever doubt him for even an instant.”

“Please, Master,” Ukitake continued, his tone filled with his respect for their teacher. “The boy is clearly of Shiba blood. That can’t happen if he was just some human from the Living World. Something happened to Captain Shiba, and now he has children in the Living World…somehow. One of those children is here in the Seireitei now, as a ryoka, trying to rescue Tenth Seat Kuchiki from her execution. That’s too much to be a coincidence.”

Yamamoto was silent for a long moment before he looked into the eyes of his two students. “We are currently dealing with both a ryoka invasion and the murder of a Captain. We have no time to waste on cases that are decades old. The Central Forty-Six labeled Captain Shiba as killed-in-action, that is not something that I can overturn. Even if this is true and Captain Shiba still lives, then his desertion is a high crime in and of itself. What do you expect to happen if this ryoka boy does indeed turn out to be the son of Captain Shiba?”

Ukitake and Kyōraku shared a look before they began to speak of their findings and ill-feelings of what had been happening over the last one-hundred-ten years or so. One incident after another, spanning across decades between incidents, all with two common ties…a weakening of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads and misfortune for the Shiba Clan.

When laid out in a line like this, the seemingly unconnected incidents of the last century did have something linking them; and Yamamoto couldn’t deny that what his two students suspected could have genuine merit.

-Secret Training Area Beneath Sōkyoku Hill-

Ichigo was still sitting in the hot spring, letting the water heal his wounds as he thought about what Shingetsu had said. ‘What part am I denying? I already admitted that I was afraid. I’ve come to terms with that, understood it, and accepted it. But Shingetsu nearly killed me in a single swing…I can’t even injure him. Yet he said that I could do the same thing if I stopped denying myself.’ Ichigo’s thoughts continued to swirl around as he tried to make sense of what Shingetsu had told him. So lost in his thoughts was he, that Ichigo didn’t even notice when someone joined him in the hot spring.

“You’re being very quiet tonight, Ichigo.” Yoruichi said as she sat about two meters to his right in the hot water. “What’s got you so lost in your own head?”

Ichigo looked over at Yoruichi for a moment (not even reacting to her being naked in the hot spring with him) before he let out a long sigh and looked up at the starry sky above. “I’m trying to understand what Shingetsu said to me right after he put me in this condition. But I’m just going around in circles.”

Yoruichi glanced at Ichigo, but stayed quiet.

“I’ve started to understand our power now…I thought I was making progress.” Ichigo’s tone shifted a bit, becoming frustrated. “But then Shingetsu shows me that I’m just as weak as before…and tells me that I could be that strong if I just stopped denying part of me. I don’t know what part of me he’s talking about though.”

The two sat in silence for a while, Ichigo continuing to heal and Yoruichi allowing the hot spring to slowly help restore her Reiryoku that she’d spent on maintaining the Tenshintai all day.

“Ichigo, do you remember the first time you stood on your own two feet?” Yoruichi asked, breaking the lengthy silence.

“No…of course not, I was too young.” Ichigo blinked at the strange question.

Yoruichi nodded at his answer. “That’s because you weren’t aware of it. So what made you stand up?” Ichigo clearly didn’t know how to answer that question, so Yoruichi continued on. “People know how to walk from birth. Birds know how to fly. Fish know how to swim. That’s instinct. And it’s instinct that makes us strive to gain power.”

“Instinct…” Ichigo repeated the word.

“Your determination looks like instinct to me. You know instinctively that you possess the power.” Yoruichi looked Ichigo in the eye and held his gaze. “That’s why I believe in you, Ichigo. And why I know that you’ll attain Bankai in these three days.”

Ichigo felt a small smile form on his face at Yoruichi’s words, tension finally released from his shoulders as he let out a long, slow exhale. “Thank you, Yoruichi.”

Yoruichi gave Ichigo a small smile of her own. “You still have to prove me right, Ichigo. Attain Bankai tomorrow, without fail, and save Rukia.”

“I will.” Ichigo said and the water of the hot spring rippled from the mere pulse of his Reiryoku that was let out by Ichigo’s words.

-Early Morning-

“You only have today left, Ichigo.” Yoruichi reminded him, perhaps unnecessarily, but it would hopefully serve as further motivation.

The Tenshintai became Shingetsu again and stood across from Ichigo.

Ichigo held out his hand and a star fell from the night sky to become another copy of his Shikai sword again.

Shingetsu did the same without a word.

Clang

Their blades clashed so powerfully that both shattered into fragments from the conflicting gravitational forces. In a flash of light, dozens of falling stars rained down on the battlefield, some from Ichigo, but most from Shingetsu. Sword struck sword in a rain of blades, but Shingetsu and Ichigo were already clashing again, despite the shrapnel of shattered blades flying around.

The two clashed over and over again. Ichigo couldn’t even count how many times. Any time his sword broke it was instantly replaced by another with barely a thought. Shingetsu did the same, but even faster, scoring a few light cuts against Ichigo here and there, though most were stopped by his shihakushō. Shingetsu, however, didn’t seem to be taking any damage at all, Ichigo’s blade barely able to touch his Zanpakutō’s skin no matter how many times they clashed.

“You’ve not progressed, Ichigo.” Shingetsu finally spoke as he knocked Ichigo back, sending his blade high. A swing of his blade blurred towards Ichigo’s chest.

Thud

And stopped cold on the black shihakushō.

“I think I’ve improved a bit.” Ichigo said as the tip of his sword headed for Shingetsu’s face.

Shingetsu didn’t move, the black blade veering off to the side when it was about to touch the Zanpakutō’s skin. Ichigo grimaced but unleashed a wave of gravitational force pointblank into Shingetsu’s face.

“Jūryokuga.” Shingetsu’s tone was even and cold as his blade swung across Ichigo’s chest at a forty-five degree angle. The massive navy blue arc of gravitational energy with the pitch black core was unleashed and sent Ichigo rocketing across the battlefield to slam into the far wall.

Ichigo grunted, spitting out a bit of blood as he forced himself back to his feet. He’d managed to defend with his Jūryoku Yoroi, but he’d still taken damage.

“I will not go easy on you, Ichigo.” Shingetsu said, having already closed the distance. “If you do not understand what’s holding you back today, then you will die.” His sword came rushing at Ichigo’s face.

Ichigo parried, his blade warping the air with its intense gravity. He tried to hit Shingetsu, but every attack was redirected, or it just veered off before it could hit Shingetsu’s body. Another star fell from the night sky, and Shingetsu caught it. The new sword knocked Ichigo’s to the side and held it at bay. The second sword slashed down on Ichigo, managing to cut through his shihakushō and into his flesh a bit, drawing blood.

“Ngh!” Ichigo let out a hiss at the pain, but it was clear that he was surprised by Shingetsu’s new tactic.

Shingetsu didn’t give Ichigo time to think, both of his swords were a blur as he struck at Ichigo over and over again. Ichigo was forced onto the defensive, but Shingetsu was scoring hit after hit, bloodying Ichigo more and more. “What’s wrong, Ichigo? Are you still going to deny yourself? Deny me?” He kicked Ichigo in the stomach and into one of the remaining rocky plateaus left after two days of their fighting.

Ichigo used Shunpo in rapid succession, trying to confuse Shingetsu, then struck from his Zanpakutō’s blind spot. As he expected, Shingetsu blocked, not evening having to turn his head to look, but that was fine with Ichigo. “Jūryokuga!” The massive blast of navy blue and pitch black Reiryoku and gravitational power slammed into Shingetsu head-on. The entire area was crushed under absurd amounts of gravity, the ground was compressed into hyper-dense rock instantly, not even making cracks around the edges where they split from the rest of the floor. The edges were all perfectly smooth, and Ichigo pulled his sword back. “Huh?”

Or he tried to at least.

“You still don’t realize, Ichigo?” Shingetsu had Ichigo’s blade firmly held in his left hand. His right fist slammed into Ichigo’s stomach while surrounded by a visible distortion of space.

“Haauugghh!” Ichigo hacked up a mouthful of blood even as he went rocketing into the Sekiseki wall again. He fell onto his hands and knees, barely able to keep himself from falling to the ground as he tried to breathe after having the wind knocked out of him so harshly.

Shingetsu held out his hand and another star fell from the sky. “It is not tactics or power that you lack, Ichigo…” He caught the falling star and it was instantly the black-bladed Shikai like always. “It’s your denial of yourself.”

Ichigo struggled back to his feet under the heavy gravity that Shingetsu continued to crush the area around them with. “I’m not…denying anything.” He pushed back with his own gravity, the clashing forces equally out and making the air feel thick.

“You are.” Shingetsu slashed Ichigo across the chest, blood flying once more, even though Ichigo had defended with his Jūryoku Yoroi. “You just don’t want to acknowledge it.”

“Jūryoku Mo!” Ichigo threw both of his hands forward and created a massive gravity well behind Shingetsu. With an outpouring of his Reiryoku, Ichigo sent the gravity well flying, dragging Shingetsu backwards with it.

A sword impaled itself through Ichigo’s shoulder before he’d even seen it. Ichigo was taken off his feet and fell to the ground. “Gah!” The pressure on his new injury didn’t help and he forced himself to sit up quickly. “Nnngh!” Ichigo pulled the sword out of his shoulder through gritted teeth and then held it as best as he could while his left arm hung limp at his side.

“Denying it to the end.” Shingetsu was already back, another sword in hand. “Come, Ichigo.”

Ichigo held his sword shakily, but refused to back down. “You first.”

Shingetsu granted his request and cut Ichigo’s blade in half as if it were made of paper. “You’re not yourself like this, Ichigo.”

“What’re you talking about?” Ichigo questioned as he took the brief respite to catch his breath.

“The Ichigo that I know never had a problem with fighting…he was good at it, in fact. But somewhere along the way, you started to make excuses for it.” Shingetsu said as the gravity got more intense. “The first was self-defense.”

Ichigo snapped at that. “It was! If I didn’t fight back then those punks that hated my hair would’ve beaten the shit out of me every damn day!” He’d heard so much shit about being a violent delinquent from teachers about his hair and the fights he got into ever since he’d entered Junior High.

“Then it was for someone else’s sake.” Shingetsu forced Ichigo to one knee as the gravity increased even further. “Having each other’s back…wasn’t it?”

“What’s wrong with that?!” Ichigo wasn’t going to let anyone, not even himself via his Zanpakutō, say a damn thing about how he and Chad watched each other’s backs! “We had people out to get us! It’s how we became friends!”

Shingetsu slammed Ichigo into the rocky ground with his gravity. “And then it was to repay a debt…”

Ichigo’s eyes widened as Shingetsu brought up the words that he’d said to Rukia, back when he’d agreed to help her with Shinigami work. “D-Don’t…you…fucking say…anything…!” He struggled as the gravity made drawing even a single breath harder and harder.

“You just won’t admit it, will you?” Shingetsu ‘looked’ down at Ichigo as the gravity crushed him slowly. “You’d rather cling to your lies until you die.”

“Nnnhh…grrrnn…” Ichigo struggled against the gravity, doing everything he could to push back against it with his own.

Shingetsu sighed in disappointment. “Was it really so important to prove them wrong?”

“I’m…not…like that…” Ichigo forced out as his lungs struggled to expand and draw in more air.

“You can’t lie to me, Ichigo.” Shingetsu reminded as Ichigo’s nose began to bleed from the force he was being crushed under. “You know that you can get out of this if you win, don’t you?”

Ichigo saw the darkness creeping into the corner of his vision, he couldn’t’ draw in a full breath anymore. He’d felt like he’d improved so much yesterday, then Shingetsu had nearly killed him. Ichigo hated that…hated this…this weakness… ‘I need…to beat him…’ Even his thoughts were getting foggy as his consciousness started to fade.

“Don’t be a crybaby, Ichigo!” Tatsuki’s voice from when they were children at the dojo rang through Ichigo’s mind. “Just fight back! You’ll enjoy class more that way!”

“Kurosaki-kun… Thank you for helping me.” A young, Junior High first year, Orihime said with a smile. “It’s amazing that you’re so strong.”

“You’re not scared of me?” Ichigo remembered asking Orihime back then.

“Who’d be scared of someone for helping them, Ichigo? Use your head!” Tatsuki had said while looking at him like he’d said something stupid.

“I don’t use my fists for myself.” Chad said when they first met.

“Yeah, we’re gonna need five ambulances.” Ichigo has said into a cellphone, connected to emergency medical services, when he’d found Chad tied to a chair with metal cables and his precious golden coin from his grandfather about to be destroyed by a punch of thugs. The wide grin on his face as he looked at each of the punks that he was about to beat the hell out of was equal parts threatening and a show of his enjoyment.

Reiryoku exploded off of Ichigo’s body, the blue turning to navy then to indigo, before becoming black. In the next instant Shingetsu was flying backwards, his head whipped to the side and blood flying from his mouth. The Zanpakutō hit the ground once, bounced, hit it again, and then managed to get back to his feet.

“Hah…” Ichigo exhaled loudly, his fist still extended from where he’d punched Shingetsu in the mouth. A visible distortion of space warped the light around his fist making it look dark and wavy to anyone that saw it. “I’m a fucking idiot…” He lamented as he looked at Shingetsu, his eyes focused and calm.

Shingetsu called the sword that had fallen out of his hand back to his palm with just a flex of gravity. “Are you going to stop lying to yourself now, Ichigo?”

Ichigo didn’t know why he didn’t feel any pain right now, but would chalk it up to adrenaline, just like back in his Junior High days. “I really tried to change myself for the opinions of people that I don’t care about…even when I always told everybody that I wouldn’t change just because others didn’t like me.” He caught a falling star in his right hand and leveled the sword at Shingetsu.

“You did.” Shingetsu had a small grin on his face. “Now that you’ve stopped lying to yourself, I think you’re actually ready to fight me.” He reached up and hooked his fingers into the white blindfold covering his eyes. “Do you know what this blindfold symbolizes, Ichigo?”

“Something about myself?” Ichigo guessed, knowing that Shingetsu was another part of him.

Shingetsu nodded once. “This blindfold is the symbol of you blinding yourself to your own lies and your true self.” He pulled the white cloth upwards and tossed it aside. His eyes opened and Ichigo was briefly struck by the fact that they looked similar to his father’s. “But now that you’ve stopped deceiving yourself, I can fight you with all of my power!” Shingetsu’s eyes sharpened and for just a moment Ichigo swore he saw a night sky with a galaxy spinning within both of them.

Then Shingetsu’s Reiryoku exploded off of him and the night sky above the battlefield began to spin rapidly until nothing could be seen except circles of light in the black sky. Gravity went completely out the window, some areas crushed and compressed by insane gravity, others had rocks and dust floating freely through the air with no gravity at all, and everything in between.

Ichigo counteracted the gravity around him with his own, creating a field where gravity was remaining constant. “Alright…” Ichigo grinned as he poured his Reiryoku, into his blade increasing the Reiatsu around it and the gravity.

“You cannot defeat me with some half-hearted attack, Ichigo.” Shingetsu said as he focused his power and the battlefield turned against Ichigo, rocks and debris coming at him from all directions while hundreds of shooting stars fell down on him from the spinning night sky, the swords glowing with all of the Reiryoku that Shingetsu was pouring into him. “Come at me with the intent to kill…or you’ll die.”

“Sounds like Kenpachi…” Ichigo’s grin got wider, reminded of his fight with the Captain of Squad Eleven. “But I think I’ve finally understood what you’ve been trying to explain to me these last two days.” Ichigo continued to pour all of his Reiryoku into his sword, the Reiatsu and gravity combining and warping space to such a degree that none of the debris or the falling swords could touch him, all of them being drawn solely into his sword and being crushed down, smaller and smaller. “The greater the gravity…the greater the distortion of space-time…” Ichigo said as he and Shingetsu locked eyes. “But what’s greater than the be all and end all of gravitational forces…that which binds everything together across infinite space!”

Shingetsu vanished into a blur.

Ichigo disappeared in the same instant.

“Kokūnoken!!! (Void Universe Sword)” Ichigo and Shingetsu called out at the same time just as their blades clashed.

Yoruichi felt the danger, sensed it down to her deepest and most base instincts, and had vanished the instant that Ichigo and Shingetsu had launched themselves at each other. She was all the way up the long ladder and into the secret room at the top before the clash had even happened. She slammed the secret door closed just a moment before the clash down below happened.

Sōkyoku Hill shook minutely, no one that wasn’t standing on it would notice, but small pebbles and rocks all over the huge cliff shook and jumped from an unseen force. Small rocks fell from the sides of the sheer cliff and smashed to dust on the ground far below.

Within the secret training room the clash of the two techniques unleashed gravitational waves that leveled the area. The hot spring was the only thing spared, and that was entirely because of its placement in relation to Ichigo and Shingetsu’s clash. The rest of the rocky plateaus were gone, reduced to naught but dust that caked the lightly cracked walls. Even with Sekiseki mixed into the stone walls of the hidden training area to make them nearly unbreakable, the fact that they weren’t pure Sekiseki meant that there had been some damage from the colliding forces.

Ichigo stood behind Shingetsu, his sword gone, crushed into nothing and returned to Reishi and Reiryoku in equal measure. His shihakushō was gone as well, reduced to nothing but a memory now. Ichigo’s entire body was covered in injuries, bruises, lacerations, broken bones, it was honestly a miracle that he hadn’t lost a limb or his eyes from the clashing forces that he’d been part of.

Shingetsu stood behind Ichigo, the older man was the same mess of injuries as Ichigo, though his navy blue shihakushō was still barely holding together as tattered scraps of cloth around his waist. There was also a massive hole through his chest as well, perfectly circular and smooth to the touch on the edges, as if this section of his body had simply ceased to exist.

“Well done…” Shingetsu said with a smile on his badly damaged face. “Never doubt who you are, Ichigo.” The Zanpakutō’s body began to disperse, parts of Shingetsu turning into wispy black Reiryoku. “Keep that killing instinct sharp for when you need it…” Shingetsu said before his body completely dispersed into the wispy black Reiryoku.

“Yeah… I get it now, Shingetsu.” Ichigo smiled as the wispy black Reiryoku gathered in his right hand and condensed into a form that Ichigo was seeing for the first time.

Yoruichi walked towards Ichigo, seeing how badly injured he was made her wince slightly, but she stopped when she saw what was in his hand. “So, that’s your Bankai, Ichigo?” It was certainly different from most other Bankai that created a huge creature or effect, that was for sure.

Ichigo gave Yoruichi a small smile. “Yeah… Shingetsu says his name in this form is…” He fell forward, only prevented from hitting the ground by Yoruichi catching him with her insane reflexes and speed.

“Get some rest, Ichigo…” Yoruichi said with a soft smile. “I doubt you realized it, but you were fighting for hours.” As she carried Ichigo’s unconscious form towards the hot spring (very glad that it had survived when basically nothing else had) she mused on the weapon in his hand, even as she watched it return to its sealed stated, once more looking like a fairly normal Zanpakutō in its scabbard. “I’m interested to see just how you’ll develop now, Ichigo.”

Tomorrow was Rukia’s execution date, all that was left to do was save her.

-End Chapter-

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Well, damn… Ichigo and Shingetsu fucked each other up!

However, Shingetsu reminds Ichigo of who he is.

It’s amazing what we hold back because of the opinions of people we don’t even care about, huh?

Without lying to himself, pretending he’s someone that he’s not, and even if he doesn’t always like that part of himself; Ichigo has finally achieved Bankai by accepting and subduing everything that makes him Kurosaki Ichigo.

I hope you liked the new move that Ichigo learned! Quite powerful, isn’t it?! Kek!

What form does Ichigo’s Bankai take? What is the full extent of its power and abilities?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!