1 The Awakening

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Zanpakutō. Soul-Decapitating Sword. It functions the way the name suggests. Born from the soul of the being tasked to overlook souls, Shinigami, Zanpakutō is used to cleanse and purify souls. It reflects the heart and power of a Shinigami. Each of them possesses a different form and a different name. Each of them lives and dies alongside their Shinigami.

To awaken one's Zanpakutō, one is required to reach into one's Inner World. It can be achieved through Jinzen, which is an advanced form of meditation. One should seek the incarnation of one's Zanpakutō once one is inside the Inner World and then learn its name. Once its name is learned, the Zanpakutō is thus awakened. Its power will belong to one and one shall fight with it till the very end of one's life.

In a place called Soul Society, the world to where the souls of the deceased are sent, one Ryoka—the term used to address uninvited souls to Seireitei, the empire of spirits—stared at the chipped blade of the katana piercing his chest in disbelief. His Zanpakutō was held horizontally right before him, futilely blocking the katana piercing his chest.

The orange-haired teenager was full of potential and nigh insurmountable willpower. However, at this moment, faced with such force and helplessness, his willpower quickly evaporated, replaced with fear which was furiously overwhelming him. He recalled his purpose to come to Soul Society time and time again. Despite knowing what would happen to his friend if he faltered, he still couldn't summon his courage.

Squelch!

"How boring. I thought you amounted more than this, Ichigo," the owner of the katana stabbing the youngster remarked in disappointment. "This fight no longer excites me. I'll leave you here, so you can die or something."

The brute pulled his katana and then turned around without a second glance. The bells hanging on the tips of his spiky hair rang each time he took a step. The orange-haired youngster, Kurosaki Ichigo, looked at the retreating back of his opponent in despair. Blood poured out of his chest as he fell forward, yet he kept urging his body to move, however futile it was.

Clenching his hands, Ichigo bit his lower lip. This was the second time he felt despair. He had first experienced it when Kuchiki Rukia's brother, Kuchiki Byakuya took her back to Soul Society after stabbing him in the chest. The days he had spent training and the pain he had endured in the shattered shaft—he had thought it would be enough to prevent this from happening again.

He was wrong.

"Ichigo."

Time stopped the moment Ichigo heard the familiar baritone voice of an elderly man. He looked up to see a visored man clad in a black cloak. His cloak billowed gracefully in the air. He looked both mysterious and charismatic. This was the incarnation of his Zanpakutō. The very same being who referred himself to be Zangetsu.

"You are looking down again and drown in your despair. I have to agree with that man. This is disappointing." Ichigo didn't say anything. Zangetsu, seeing his wielder's lack of reaction, approached the said wielder. "What do you want from this fight? Do you want to live or win?"

In another timeline, the young Shinigami would unhesitatingly answer that he wanted to win as he could do nothing if he could only live. Zangetsu was expecting that answer, so he was utterly taken aback hearing the words that came out of his wielder's mouth.

"I am tired. Everything has always been against my odds. Just when I think I am enough, reality hits me in the face like a brick. I do my best to get stronger, yet everyone keeps proving that I am weak." A pained look appeared on the young Shinigami's face as he faced his Zanpakutō. "Tell me, Old Man. Just when will it be enough?"

"How shameful. You are letting your despair engulf you whole. Are you going to give up on your friends? Are you going to let Kuchiki Rukia die?" Zangetsu chastised, internally panicking at his wielder's lack of motivation.

"I don't want to, but there is nothing I can do, is there?" Ichigo smiled sardonically. "Fuck all of this. Acting strong is tiring."

"Stop 'acting' and be strong. I shall provide you with the way," Zangetsu exclaimed sternly. "Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop. You'll die if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate. Come with me, Ichigo!"

Zangetsu's cloak enveloped Ichigo, pulling him into his Inner World. Ichigo soon found himself standing on the edge of a skyscraper. The cloaked man, Zangetsu, was nowhere to be found. In the place where he should be stood Ichigo who looked like he had just bathed in a tub of white paint. This Ichigo smirked upon seeing the blank look on his counterpart's face.

"Yo, King. Look at the weather. Your moody ass will drown this place like Athena soon. Stop brooding and pick up the sword."

White Ichigo threw Ichigo an Asauchi, a nameless Zanpakutō that every low-leveled Shinigami wields. Ichigo didn't even bother to catch it. He found the dark sky more interesting, bringing a frown to White Ichigo's face. Being the feral side of Ichigo, White Ichigo rushed at him and thrust the human-sized Khyber knife he wielded at Ichigo.

Stab!

White Ichigo's grin turned into an apprehensive frown as Zangetsu easily pierced through Ichigo. The impact pushed both of them off the skyscraper, causing them to fall. Even so, Ichigo barely reacted. He was very much alive but looked dead. White Ichigo clicked his tongue and cursed at Ichigo. Regardless, the young Shinigami didn't react.

"Oy, Quincy bastard! I told you to never mess with the King! Look what he has become!" White Ichigo bellowed in frustration.

Their fall stopped abruptly. They stood in the air as if standing on a solid ground. Not a moment later, the cloaked Zangetsu appeared. His eternally somber face looked even more somber than usual.

"Can you feel it?" Zangetsu asked.

"What? His despair? It even soaks me, damn it!" White Ichigo exclaimed in irritation.

"Something is waking up in his soul. Something that I don't know but feels familiar."

White Ichigo did a double-take before looking at Zangetsu weirdly. "You are not insinuating that King is awakening a new Zanpakutō, aren't you?"

"Who knows?" Zangetsu shrugged lightly. "It might be and not."

"I don't like where this is going."

Zangetsu and White Ichigo rarely agreed with each other. At this moment, they agreed on one thing and Zangetsu didn't think it was a good thing. Both of the Zanpakutō spirits looked at Ichigo apprehensively. White Ichigo didn't dare to pull Zangetsu out of Ichigo's body, fearing that he might do irreversible damage to Ichigo's soul.

As seconds turned to minutes, the weather got worse. The rain poured more heavily than before, slowly flooding the ground. The two Zanpakutō spirits began to get agitated. Ichigo remained motionless. They didn't want the worst to happen, but the signs were telling them that the worst might happen.

It was when they wanted to interfere with whatever Ichigo was undergoing that they felt something changed. They lost connection with Ichigo for a moment only to be reconnected in the next second. The second they were connected, their eyes widened in shock. They couldn't recognize Ichigo anymore. They could tell it was him, but they were sure he was not the Ichigo that they knew.

The rain abruptly stopped. The dark clouds parted, letting the bright sun illuminate the world. The Zanpakutō spirits loved the weather. However, at that moment, they couldn't bring themselves to enjoy it. Their apprehensive gaze was planted on the orange-haired Shinigami who was tearing his gaze off the sky.

"It is good to be finally awake," the young Shinigami muttered, a small smile tugged on his lips. "You don't need to be wary of me. You are born from, after all. Well…at least, a part of my soul."

"Who are you?" Zangetsu shot.

"Didn't you hear what I said?"

Ichigo raised his eyebrow. Zangetsu wanted to rebuke, yet held himself. The young Shinigami was not lying. He was Kurosaki Ichigo. He seemed foreign to them, but he was Kurosaki Ichigo to whom Kurosaki Masaki gave birth.

"Ever heard of dying inside?" Ichigo asked with a hint of intrigue. "I died inside and returned from the death. Now, I am a different man."

"Don't play around, bastard. What did you do to King!?" White Ichigo snarled.

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow and touched the human-sized white Khyber knife piercing through his chest. "What did you do to your King?" The human-sized Khyber knife turned black whereas the black edge turned white. "Don't be so surprised. You are part of me. I can do what you can."

Ichigo pulled Zangetsu out of his chest and then flipped it to grab the handle. White Ichigo could only stare in disbelief as he swung Zangetsu a couple of times.

"I don't inherit my counterpart's handling skill, apparently—not that he was good to begin with," Ichigo muttered to himself. "I will need your help to get used to it, partner."

White Ichigo was still wary of this new Ichigo, but seeing the smirk on Ichigo's face made him like this new Ichigo already.