Ichigo Awakens

(Soul Society: Squad 12 labs)

A few days had passed and the Kurosaki family made their return to the Living world, putting off the union of the Kenpachis until the schedule cleared up for all parties. Urahara and Genryusai hoped that the time away would either change Ichigo for the better, or give Unohana enough time to calm down and NOT slash him to pieces again. Unfortunately, there was no rest for the wicked as Squad 12 discovered some notable disturbances in the Precipice World. Something was growing within the Dangai.

"Okay, how's everything going?" Urahara asked, taking a special interest in the disturbance.

"The initial scouting team has entered the Precipice world and are attempting to enter the dimensional space." The horned Akon told his captain.

"Good. Open communications." He ordered, analyzing the image that displayed the dimensional map. Immediately, things went to hell as the scouting force became trapped in the restrictive current. Screams and panic flooded into the rooms as the on-screen statuses declared an emergency, before disconnecting. "That can't be good." Urahara said, glancing back at the map. "And from the looks of it, the dimensional space is just getting bigger." 'Just what is happening?' His inquisitive mind raced a million miles to try to find an answer to that question.

"I'm afraid that there's worse news." He heard the twisted voice of his lieutenant behind him. "We've just lost contact with that foul mouthed monkey boy." He said, making Urahara pause at the unusual phrase.

"Foul mouthed monk..." He repeated as his eyes widened. "We lost contact with Hiyori? Our communications with the Living world are down?"

"It appears that way." Mayuri responded. "We were informing her of the dimensional disturbances when the feed just cut off. Fortunately, it seems like the Senkaimon is still active." Urahara moved to exit the facility.

"This has never happened before, something's controlling one of those dimensional pockets." He walked past Mayuri, making everyone look at the returned captain in surprise. "I'm heading to the world of the Living to get some answers." He paused before pointing angrily at his lieutenant. "YOU stay here and monitor the situation Mayuri! I don't want you near Ichigo. Not after what happened last time." The deranged skeletal clown scowled at his superior.

"It was a perfectly reasonable request!" He protested.

"Even I don't want to check that unless absolutely necessary!" Urahara yelled. "Now, what's going on with this Valley of Screams?" He muttered before flashstepping to the Senkaimon gate.

(Karakura Town)

"-and we lost contact with Soul Society shortly after." Hiyori told Ichigo over his cell. "Keep an eye on your soul tracker for anything out of the ordinary. I'll wait for someone from Soul Society to show up and give us the details. Keep going with that training exercise lieutenant baldy." She snarked before hanging up.

"Again with that stupid name." Ichigo grumbled, taking a look at his phone. During his stay last time Urahara modified most of squad 15's cell phones to track and identify souls, naming the device 'Soul Tracker'. Right now, half a dozen Soul Reapers were fighting a single hollow. "So it looks like we lost contact with Soul Society and we should keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary." He told his cousin who was helping while the rest of his fellow officers/friends were doing other jobs around town. Orihime and Tatsuki were investigating something while Chad was looking for more Fullbringers. This left Ichigo and Uryu to help train the new recruits... almost fresh out of Shin'o Academy.

"Wonderful." Uryu groaned. "Leave it to us, it's not like there's any apocalyptic, genocidal madmen we need to worry about." He kept his eyes forward, focusing on the half dozen green Shinigami fighting a lone Hollow. A sickly green one that looked like an odd mix of monkey and frog with a lion's tail and red hair. "What is the standard to graduate that academy?" Uryu asked, annoyed that it was taking the unit so long to kill the one hollow.

"Not the same we were held to." Ichigo said as he walked up next to the Quincy. "Two minutes passed. Shall we?" He asked as he manifest a red and black bow of Reishi. Uryu smirked and manifested his own black and blue, solid bow.

"Wanna make this harder for me?" Uryu challenged his cousin. "A specific area?" The two were silent as they aimed from their vantage point among the treetops, from a kilometer away.

"One inch under the left eye." Ichigo responded after thinking. "That's your mark."

"I said a challenge Ichigo." Uryu said arrogantly, just before they released the spiritual bolts. The two black arrows raced toward the Hollow in question, threading past the Soul Reapers in the way, and slamming into their mark. Ichigo's bolt buried itself in the middle of the Hollow's forehead and Uryu's hit exactly where Ichigo challenged him to. "Told you."

"Just go yell at them already." Ichigo growled as they prepared for high speed movement. "I'm going to see to this soul that the Hollow was chasing." Uryu looked at his cousin disappointed.

"Why do I have to be the bad cop?" He asked, continuing his look of disappointment. Ichigo was unaffected.

"You can't perform Konso, you're the third seat while I'm the lieutenant, and you love being bad cop." Ichigo listed off with ease as his phone rang. Uryu shrugged as he acknowledged the truth in Ichigo's words. They went to their chosen locations, Uryu with the rookies and Ichigo with the soul of the little girl. She wore her hair in two small buns and a pink hoodie with a white shirt underneath. "Don't be scared." He said with a brotherly smile. "You're safe now. You won't be chased by those monsters anymore." He offered his hand, which the little girl hesitantly took. "It's going to be fine." He said, tapping her forehead with Zangetsu's kashira. She glowed before disappearing as a ball of light. "Now to get to the group before Uryu makes them cry... again." He groaned as he went in the direction of Uryu's yelling.

"Two minutes!" He shouted at the assembled rookie Soul Reapers. "You had two minutes to eliminate one weakling Hollow! There was six of you, you should've coordinated an attack of some kind! We seated officers won't always be there to hold your hands." Half of the group looked ashamed by their poor show, others were getting pissed at the 'upstart human', before Ichigo revealed himself.

"Your failure to actually kill that weakling of a Hollow aside, you all contained the potential damage and did corner him." He said walking up next to his cousin. "But Uryu is right. You need to step it up because at some point, something stronger than these fodder Hollows will show up. For now, dismissed." They called out a resounding 'sir' before heading off for the squad barracks at the Shoten. "At least none of them are crying this time."

"That was one time Ichigo." Uryu moaned. "They won't improve if we coddle them." He said before Ichigo's Soul Tracker went off. The two took a look at the reading and they were blank. Nothing to indicate Hollows or Pluses, it was just a bunch of souls at the train station. "That's odd." Uryu said before the phone rang.

"Yeah, I saw it Hiyori." Ichigo said as he answered the phone.

"Something's off about this Ichigo." She said in a rare moment of seriousness. "I've never seen or heard about anything like this. Go check it out, there might be some answers as to what the hell is going on."

"On my way." Ichigo said as he hung up. "Uryu, head back to the Shoten in case Urahara shows up, then try to decipher his technobabble."

"Alright. Watch yourself Ichigo." The Quincy said before disappearing in a burst of speed, an action Ichigo emulated shortly after.

(Karakura Train Station)

"What the hell?" Ichigo arrived to find hundreds of cloudy humanoid spirits with dark pink pin like heads. They had no expressions, no energy, they were just blank. All of them were wandering about aimlessly, sometimes examining something before walking off again. "This is certainly out of the ordinary." He said, putting his phone to his ear and calling Hiyori. "Hey, Area 3-8-8-8. I think I found something." He said, trying to perform a Konso on one of the strange souls with no results. "Hiyori?" He asked, getting nothing but static as the souls began moving more aggressively. He switched out his phone for his badge and got the same results. "And now communications are off with the Shoten. Wonderful." He muttered as he was surrounded. A sudden wind picked up and the blank souls turned toward him with their colored heads becoming red as they reached for him. He knocked them back with ease, pulling out his sword as more and more surrounded him. He used a Pesquisa pulse and felt four notable presences. Scanning, he saw three wearing green and weird armored breastplates, and a female Shinigami wearing a red ribbon around her waist and a yellow one in her purple hair. She practically danced through the souls like a gust of wind, cutting each one down with ease before flying up on a pillar of wind. Ichigo jumped onto a building as lightning built up in her tornado.

"Bring them to the twilight, Mirokumaru!" She called out, turning her katana into a Buddhist khakkhara staff, connecting the ring with her tornado and wiping out the blank souls with a tunnel of wind and lightning. She cleared out the area in seconds with a burst of wind as the only evidence of the battle. Ichigo scanned the area again, but the other three beings just vanished without a trace.

"This calls for a visit to Urahara." Ichigo said as he dropped to the ground, letting out a loud whistle to signal Kon to bring him his body. "What were those things?" He asked, looking around for the other Shinigami. He could've sworn he met every new member of the squad. He noticed her dancing around like a happy kid, already in her gigai. 'Gonna be one of those days isn't it?' He thought as he walked over to her.

"Yes yes yes!" She cheered. "Oh that felt so good!" She stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to she Ichigo with his usual scowl. "What do you want?" She rudely demanded.

"Nice job out there." He said making her smile cheerfully. "Pretty impressive work. What's your name and graduate or transferee?" He asked the active girl.

"Name's Senna. Nice to meet you." She said, holding out a hand. "And... well..." She started looking around before gasping and running toward the window. "No no no! This is bad." She started examining her reflection. "Yellow isn't my color." She said, coming to the sudden fashion conclusion. Ichigo looked at the ribbon in her hair.

"Yeah. Red would work better." He paused, realizing he just said that. "I've been around Uryu way too much." He sighed, regretting that he thought about fashion before work. "Anyways, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. The lieutenant in charge of the Shinigami here." He told her as she turned to face him. "You know what those things were, or did you just attack them without thinking about it?" He asked as Kon showed up with his body, letting him get inside it. He heard her giggling.

"If you wanna know you have to catch me!" She said before running off.

"Definitely one of those days." Ichigo mumbled before chasing after the girl.

(Soul Society: Squad 9)

Hisagi wandered around his squad barracks, sulking from the aftermath of the party. His crush was going after a child that outclassed him in practically every aspect and was mocked horrendously by the other guys at the party. Even the Quincy had the nerve to mock him, all because he disapproved of his Zanpakuto and the philosophy he learned with his former captain. He still respected Tousen greatly, despite the man's misguided belief in Aizen's path. He found his fellow lieutenant and current captain, Mashiro and Kensei, training some of the squad and decided to consult the man that save him a century ago.

"Kensei? Is Hisagi an idiot?" Mashiro asked after Shuhei finished telling them about his troubles. Unfortunately for the 2nd lieutenant, Kensei agreed.

"Yep, that's a pretty stupid problem you have there Hisagi." Kensei said bluntly. "Zaraki can't find many people to match him in power and strength. Ichigo matched that man and needs two seals to protect the people around them. Old man Yama has the strongest offensive power in the entire Gotei. Do any of these guys seem afraid of their power? Hell no! They learned to master and harness their power! Sure Ichigo's going through a rough patch, but he just learned how powerful he is when he annihilated those Fullbringers." He scolded the lieutenant who hung his head in despair. "Fear of your power is the worst thing you can do, especially when you want to protect people. You have to strive to overcome that fear. It's not fear of one's power that makes a warrior, it's the courage to act in spite of that."

"Captain." Hisagi breathed, rethinking his long standing philosophy. He was defined by fear, the fear to act in the face of danger, the fear to pursue Rangiku only to be rejected, creating fear in his opponents, fear of his own blades, and fear of failure.

"As warriors and defenders, we can't afford to let fear control us when we need to fight. Either to save or to kill." Kensei continued. "If it looks like it was meant to reap lives, then reap the lives of those that are irredeemable. The enemies that threaten everything you care about." Kensei gave the boy a smile that was out of place on the usually stern man. Hisagi felt tears come to his eyes.

"Yes sir! Thank you for your guidance!" He said gratefully, making the silver haired captain smirk.

"Can't help with the love problems though. Guess your screwed there." Kensei said, purposefully ruining the tender moment. "On another note, what the hell is that?" He asked, pointing to a widening portal in the sky.

"That looks like Karakura Town." Mashiro said, squinting at the sight. "I see Ichigo! HI BERRY-TAN!" She screamed as the two men looked at the childish lieutenant. Hisagi was about to say something before Kensei stopped him.

"Just roll with it. I'm heading to the inevitable captain's meeting." He groaned.

(With Ichigo)

Ichigo chased after Senna, who was giggling without a care in the world as they ran through the city in their human bodies. He felt something was up with the hyperactive girl, just not what it was. Suddenly, she veered off to the railing and looked up to the Ferris wheel in the city.

"Ichigo! Look!" She exclaimed happily, looking up to the tall rotating structure. "I've always wanted to go on one." She gazed at the machine in amazement, looking back when Ichigo put his hand on her unsuspecting shoulder.

"There, I caught you." He said, confusing her for a second before remembering what she said. "Yeah, now what were those things and why did you attack them?"

"I don't know." She said as she skipped away, twirling a bit now and then. "I just felt like I should get rid of them." She said, pointing to her forehead. "Instinct, you know?"

"I'm familiar with the concept, yes." Ichigo admitted, thinking back to Zangetsu. 'She doesn't know about those white things and I swear I already met all the new recruits.' Ichigo thought to himself as he watched her dancing about, simply enjoying life. 'I still haven't heard anything from Hiyori and I should report about that incident.' Ichigo was so lost in thought, he never noticed Senna walking right up to him and booping his nose.

"Tag! You're it!" She said before running off, giggling the whole way. He grunted as he chased her into the shopping plaza, going past stores and crowds of people, losing her and finding her again by her laughs. Finally, after a half hour of chasing her around, she lost him and he stopped looking. He was looking into the crowd and saw Uryu, gesturing for him to follow.

"Crap." He muttered, swallowing Kon's pill form and exiting his body. "Senna! I have to go back to base!" He shouted, prompting her to come out.

"Aww~." She whined. "I was having fun."

"I figured, but I have a job to do." He said as he headed toward the Quincy. "Stay in the area and out of trouble."

"You got it L.T.!" She exclaimed, giving a mock salute before running off, Kon going after her.

"New recruit?" Uryu asked, feeling a similar suspicion his cousin did.

"Maybe. I went to the train station and found these things and she got rid of all of them." Ichigo responded as they picked up speed. "She seems to be a Soul Reaper but when I asked whether she was a transferee or graduate, she dodged the question with complaining about her hair ribbon." Uryu just sighed. "Yeah. Wants a red one instead of a yellow one."

"I'll do it when we get back to base." Uryu said, already thinking about how to make it. "In the meantime, Urahara's already here and wants a report. He says he has an idea of what's happening."

"Of course. Because Kisuke knows everything." Ichigo groaned, not surprised by the eccentric scientist. "How does he seem to know everything?"

"I just assume he got bored one day and read the entire central library of Soul Society for fun." The Quincy said, which both boys could legitimately believe.

(Urahara's Shoten/Squad 15 Barracks)

Isshin, Urahara, Hiyori, and Ichigo were sitting around the small table to discuss what was currently happening. Uryu was making the ribbon and Lisa was checking the squad roster for any mention of Senna. Urahara was just informing them of the situation with help from his previous lieutenant, who held up the picture descriptions, after Ichigo gave his report.

"-then we lost all contact between Soul Society and the Living world and just before I went through the Senkaimon, a portal opened to reveal the world of the Living." He started the simplifying of a complicated talk. "There are four major dimensions, the world of the Living, Soul Society, the realm of the Hollow Hueco Mundo, and just recently the Quincy empire of the Vandenreich. Separating all these worlds is the Precipice world, navigable with the various dimensional portals that each group has made. However, the Precipice world is littered with dense pockets of Reishi from souls that fall out of the Reincarnation cycle. These pocket dimensions are called, 'Valleys of Screams', and from these come the souls you've encountered. They are called 'Blanks' because with the loss of their Reishi, they also lose their memories. Normally this is of no concern as they eventually return to the cycle, until a certain bachelor party caused a massive influx of souls." He said, giving a pointed glare at his student.

"So this is our fault?" He asked, feeling numb from the realization.

"Nope." Kisuke said, pulling out his fan. "I'm just mad I wasn't invited." He pouted, prompting everyone to punch him in the face. "Continuing," he said after a bout of healing, "this particular Valley of Screams is located in the middle of Soul Society and the Living world, opening a gateway of kinds but only visually as it's gradually growing for some odd reason. Connecting two worlds is something that has never happened before."

"Do they get their memories back?" Ichigo asked the captain. "Could there be another party causing this?" Urahara leaned back and gazed up in thought.

"The memories merge together into something called the 'Shinenju' or 'Memory Rock'. That collection of memories finds its way back into the world of the Living and attracts the Blanks to it." Urahara rubbed his chin in thought. "The rapid expansion of this Valley of Screams does seem like a third party is behind everything happening, which means they've learned to harness the power within the Blanks and the Valley of Screams."

"How much time would that take?" Isshin asked, already planning search parties to look for the Shinenju.

"That would be new territory since there's no documented record of anyone controlling and harnessing the Blanks so time may vary." Hiyori chimed in.

"Years to discover, more to master." Urahara said. "You told us you saw a few guys in strange armor?" He looked to Ichigo.

"Yeah, they were dressed like Shinigami except with green instead of black." Ichigo described the figures he saw. "Green breastplates and berets. Except for one guy, he had a scar on the left side of his face and long white hair." Urahara seemed to recognize the description, but he needed to do more research.

"If someone is behind these current events, then I doubt it's anything good." Urahara warned as he got up. "I'll see what we can find in Soul Society, while you guys in squad 15 step up your patrols."

"Indeed." Isshin agreed. "We have to find the Shinenju as soon as possible."

"Then I recommend lieutenant Ichigo stays close to this Senna girl." They hear Lisa say as she came into the room. "I've double checked the records. There's nothing about a Shinigami named Senna transferring to our squad."

(Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers!)

Best Chest

Ichigo woke up, ready to leave Soul Society and return home to whatever counts as normal in his life now. He got out of his room in the Shiba household and grab some breakfast. He was so groggy from waking up, he didn't realize what he was walking into.

"Okay, so for size is self explanatory." Masaki spoke out. "Then there's perkiness, firmness, sensitivity, and use. Ready girls?" A chorus of ready rang through the hall just as Ichigo opened the door. Upon doing so, his blood raced as he saw Orihime, Tatsuki, Rangiku, Rukia, Kukaku, Yoruichi, and his mom, all topless. "And look, we have a judge." Masaki said with a smile as Ichigo slammed the door shut and ran for the back exit.

"WHY DO I OPEN DOORS!?"

Rangiku's Initiation

Ichigo finished a long day of school after coming back to the world of the Living. Afterward, he had to patrol a good chunk of the city and chase down three weak Hollows. Needless to say, he was looking forward to getting home and to bed. The problem was that Rangiku and Rukia tagged along to, 'get to know their new allies better'. Something Ichigo didn't trust. He reached the door and sighed.

"Something's going to happen. Something always happens." He groaned as he hesitantly opened the door. He pulled it open and Rangiku was just coming out of the kitchen, wearing an apron. She seemed to exude serenity with gently, mature aura surrounding her.

"Welcome home darling~." She said with a gentle smile as she walked up to him, planting a quick kiss on his lips. "You seem exhausted." She helped him out of his jacket and took his schoolbag. "Go on inside the kitchen and eat your dinner, I've made curry." She said before heading up the stairs. "I'll go draw a bath for us." She teased as she ascended the stairs. A few seconds passed before he finally realized she was wearing just an apron. Meanwhile, Masaki and Ichigo's other lady friends were watching the scene in shock by how Rangiku went through it.

"MY THIRD DAUGHTER~!" Masaki cheered out, making Orihime, Tatsuki, and Rukia gasp in shock.

What Happened Last Time

Mayuri was overjoyed with the rich sample he got out of Ichigo's arm. There were other things he was eager to test. The first time he asked Ichigo for more samples.

"Ichigo, would you mind giving some of that chitinous Hollow armor?" He asked as Ichigo wandered through the research labs. Ichigo created small plates and gave them up. The second time he asked. "Ichigo, there's something strange about your Reishi but your arm doesn't have any left. Mind filling this up?" Mayuri asked, giving him a Reishi conductive stone. There were no problems there. Third time was the last time. "Ichigo-"

"What do you want now Mayuri?" Ichigo asked, turning to the scientist... who had a jar in one hand and a few naughty pictures of Nemu in the other.

"Nothing much." He said before Ichigo punched him in the face.