3 Acceptance.

Yasaka didn't take long to find a large and open place for him to create a grave. He was led to an open space in the middle of a forest. In that opening was a large boulder. The moment he saw the boulder, he understood why he was brought here. He moved forward and cut the boulder in half, creating a clean surface on one side of it. There weren't any bodies, so he slowly started to carve out the names of his family and friends on the boulder.

Every name he wrote was filled with memories and emotions. Memories that he was determined to carve into his own brain. His tears didn't stop even once in those few days. It was painful, much, 'much' more painful than he thought. Starting with the most painful. Yuzu, Karin, his father, Orihime, Chad, Mizuiro, Keigo, Tatsuki, Rukia, Renji, Uryu, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Nel, Hanataro, all the captains, the vice-captains, the hollows, even the fullbringers, he didn't exclude anyone. Anyone he had any memories with, good or bad, big or small, he wrote their name. Even when writing names like Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Ginjo or Kurotsuchi, names like these that didn't exactly bring forth good memories, but he didn't stop carving. Then came the acquaintances, some teachers whose names he remembered, some shopkeeper whose name he suddenly recalled, some other people whose name he started to remember.

He kept moving, without eating or resting for an entire week before finally stopping and moving back. He wasn't tired, at least not physically, but mentally and emotionally he was completely exhausted. He was drained but felt much lighter. He seemed to have shed a heavy weight. He moved further back and looked at what he had created. His writing wasn't neat in the first place, furthermore, he wasn't writing on a piece of paper with a pen but on a giant rock with his sword. An entire week spent on writing and there were still less than a hundred names on the stone.

He sat down and looked at the surroundings. Yasaka had led him to this place personally, knowing what he wanted to do. As he looked at the peaceful scenery, he felt calm and his exhaustion started to catch up. He said one final thing before finally succumbing to sleep.

"I'm sorry, but... goodbye."

He slept for a while before opening his eyes in his inner world. He looked around and saw a lot of changes in the place. The skyscrapers were still here, the sky and clouds were also here but everything was finally right side up and nothing was submerged in water like it usually was whenever he was sad. He was standing on a road that lead to a park, a park he had never seen in here. He moved towards it slowly looking around. He could feel Zangetsu and another strange power in one direction but decided to go there after the park. If it was important, Zangetsu would have already called him.

He entered the park and found himself standing in front of the same memorial he had created outside. He looked at it for a while but no more tears came out. Soon he felt Zangetsu getting impatient and moved towards his direction. As he turned his back to the stone, he released a sigh and started to walk away. He would never forget them, the ones that had died too early, the ones he wanted to spend his life surrounded by, the ones he wanted to see grow up, he would never forget them. At the same time, what would they think if he stopped moving forward? What would they think if they saw him crying because of them? Because he would never forget them, that was also the reason why he couldn't just stop and keep crying and why he would continue to move forward.

'Heh, as old man Zangetsu said, Retreat and you will age. Hesitate and you will die.'

Not exactly a fitting thought, but with it, he felt even lighter. Ichigo didn't know it yet, but with his change in mentality, his powers had completely merged with him. His eyes, normally a soft brown had changed into a warm golden color. His speed increased and soon he was standing in front of a lake. A lake that was not here, in his inner world before. In the middle of the lake was an island, another new thing. He quickly made his way to the island and saw Zangetsu standing in front of a... gate? A familiar looking gate. It took him a few seconds to remember where he had seen it. The moment he remembered, his jaw dropped and he shouted.

"What the fuck is a Hell Gate doing inside me?!" The gate in front of him was much smaller than the one he had seen. The original was at least a few dozen meters tall, this one was much smaller than the one that appeared over Karakura Town, at around three meters. But it was an exact replica. Same skeletons embedded into the door, having the same sealing tags. Though the answer he got to his shout wasn't exactly reassuring.

"How the fuck should I know!?" Zangetsu replied with the same vigor.

"Since when!?"

"Probably since we came here." Zangetsu answered with a shrug.

"Probably? And why didn't you tell me when you first found it!?" Ichigo asked irritatedly.

"Hah! Like you were in any shape to handle another shock Ichigo! And 'probably' because we weren't in any shape to sense it if it appeared before that." Zangetsu replied with his cocky smirk. Ichigo could guess why Zangetsu was smirking. Hell was a place that empowered his hollow powers after all. Zangetsu certainly had fun rampaging around in there.

Ichigo pinched his brows. The good feelings he had only gotten started diminishing. This would most likely be a cause of great headache sooner or later. He was leaning towards sooner than later.

"How long do you think before this becomes a pain in the ass?" Ichigo asked Zangetsu with a fed up expression.

"A month at most, give or take a week." Zangetsu answered confidently.

"Hmph, at least give it a year damnit!" Ichigo replied heatedly, before sighing. Zangetsu's laughter wasn't helping.

"Why does this keep happening to me." Ichigo asked no one. Though he still got an amused answer from Zangetsu.

"Because you are Fate's bitch Ichigo, accept it."

"Not helping you sonuva-!" Ichigo got ready for a fight.

"Wasn't trying to, bitch!" Zangetsu happily obliged.

Soon they were both fighting each other. For Ichigo, fighting helped him center himself and get rid of frustration. For Zangetsu, it was simply fun. It was also a way for him to connect with Zangetsu more deeply and in turn understand himself. He hadn't exactly done this before. Well, he had fought Zangetsu before but without knowing who he was fighting. Every time he fought Zangetsu, there was something else going on outside, so he didn't have any time to connect with his zanpakuto, like many other Shinigami did. Since he had decided to keep moving forward, this was a necessary step in that direction. Finally, this was a way for them to understand the changes that had happened to them. Before and during the final battle, his zanpakuto had gone through multiple successive changes with little time in between each change. Now that he was well rested and had shed the weight, he was able to experiment with his powers.

It didn't take long into the fight for Ichigo to realize that he was different. He felt more... complete, in a sense. It was a feeling he didn't know he lacked. As soon as he realized it, Zangetsu started to fire Ceros at him, laughing out loud.

"Since when can you just lob them around!?"

"You can too, you idiot! Don't you feel it, Ichigo! That's you at your full power. Hahaha!"

Ichigo had felt it too. He was overflowing with power and yet all of that power listened to him obediently. He also felt a lot of it locked away, just waiting to be released. Now that he was fighting again, he felt amazing. The more he fought, the more free he felt. This wasn't the first time he had felt such an exhilarating rush during a fight but the fact that he was in no mortal danger and there was no one who would die if he didn't step forward helped a lot. Maybe he was being selfish, but after making the decision to keep moving forward, he kept feeling better and better and a fight with no danger or consequences helped him even more.

Soon he also started to throw around Ceros and trying new ways to use them. He had already combined one with Getsuga Tenshou, but what if he let it sit, would it explode on contact? He kept trying new things and realized that Ceros were a lot more convenient than Getsuga. He could fire them from his hands. If he wanted a bigger one, he could fire it from his sword. If he wanted a smaller one, he could fire it from his fingers. From his fist, the back of his hands, his feet. There were too many ways to use them with varying degree of lethality. The one from his hand was wider and concussive in nature. The from his fist was narrower and bludgeoning in nature, the ones from his fingers were more penetrative, the ones from his feet tended to lash out like a whip and the the one from his sword was the most destructive in nature as it disintegrated whatever it touched. Of course there would always be someone who could take them all without a scratch. So during a lull in the fight, he asked Zangetsu.

"Zangetsu, the remaining that is sealed, how do I use it?" He was talking about the remaining power that was still sealed in him. Zangetsu stopped after hearing his question, and answered.

"Ichigo, when Yhwach first broke Tensa Zangetsu, he took your Hollow and Quincy powers, leaving only your Shinigami powers. The only reason I survived was because I am your Hollow 'and' Shinigami powers personified. You don't see the old man around here anywhere do you? He died with Yhwach." Zangetsu stopped, letting him digest what he just heard. He nodded Zangetsu to continue after a while. What was one more in the list of dead and gone. A callous thought, but he couldn't help it.

"Since you were born a Hollow and Quincy as well, those powers started coming back as soon as Yhwach was dead. During the final blow, Tensa Zangetsu transformed into Zangetsu without you releasing your bankai. Currently, you are always in your released state." Zangetsu stopped once again, he motioned him to keep going.

"The last of your powers are sealed by that gate, as that thing is an outside entity, I don't know how to excess the sealed parts." Zangetsu ended it with a shrug.

Ichigo groaned and started massaging his forehead. The gate was already being a pain in the ass and it hadn't even been a day since its discovery!

"Let's stop here for now. We will slowly try to figure this out as we go." Ichigo said. Suddenly though, he had a thought.

"Zangetsu. During that kaleidoscopic trip, we were barely running on fumes. We shouldn't have survived no matter what we did. Do you think this thing... Hell, helped us survive?" Zangetsu just shrugged, saying he didn't have a clue.

If that was true, then there must have been a reason for that help. Even last time, the only reason Hell helped him was to keep Kokuto, a sinner kept at the bottom most level of Hell, from escaping. That time, there wasn't a price because he achieved the goal he was given, but what about this time? What was the goal he had to achieve? Was the sealed part of his powers the price for that help? He didn't know and it didn't feel good knowing that an outside entity had such influence over him. He groaned again thinking about why such things keep happening to him and started to leave his inner world. As he was leaving, he heard Zangetsu's laughing voice,

"Fate's B~itch."

He could only sigh after hearing that. Waking up, he found himself still in the clearing. He looked at the monument one last time, smiled and said.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine here."

With that, he moved away without looking back. Once he was back at the palace, he went to look for Yasaka and was quickly led to her. She was currently on a break with her daughter. As he was approaching her, she looked at him with a somewhat surprised expression but quickly controlled it and smiled. He was still struck speechless whenever he saw it. Usually she would send her daughter away whenever he was near and he thought she was scared that he would harm her, which was a valid concern but that didn't mean he liked worrying others. This time though she didn't. She started talking with a smile.

"Ichigo-dono, you seem to have calmed down."

"Calmed down?" Ichigo asked, a bit confused.

"Yes. Ever since you arrived, the pressure around you had been suffocating except for me and my elite. But now, the suffocating feeling has vanished." If before his aura had been like a Dragon looking directly at you, ready to pounce, now it was like a sleeping dragon. Still scary, but not enough to give heart attacks.

"Is that why you sent your daughter away whenever I was near?"

"Yes. The aura of death lingering around you was enough to kill the weaker Youkai, including my daughter, if they got close enough." She replied a wryly. The daughter was still sitting in her mother's lap and looking at him with curiosity. She was a cute little thing. She had golden hair and eyes like her mother, but she had darker hair and lighter eyes, whilst her mother was the opposite, and she was wearing a Miko outfit. Her fox ears and tails were waving and twitching around as she looked at him. He knew her name and decided to introduce himself. He said with a small smile.

"Hello Kunou, my name is Ichigo Kurosaki and I am a Shinigami." This was the first time he had told them what he was. He had shared what had happened to him and who he was, but not what he was. Though he had a feeling that Yasaka already knew that. He looked at her and saw that she wasn't surprised so she had probably figured it out somehow. While he was thinking that, Kunou suddenly gasped and held on to her mother tightly. She asked him with a trembling voice,

"Are... are you here to take my mother away?"

He looked at her, barely holding back a smile and shook his head.

"No, I'm not here to take your mother away. Your mother helped me when I was hurt." With that said he slightly bowed his head.

He wasn't used to saying thank you, let alone bow his head, but he also knew that the help he received from Yasaka was vital for him. He didn't know if she had any ulterior motives behind helping him, rather he was pretty sure that she had, but the fact remained that she helped him and that he was thankful for that help. And so, he bowed his head for a few seconds and said.

"Thank you, for your help Yasaka. I was able to do something I really wanted to without any problems." Saying that, he looked back at her and continued.

"I will still need more help and I don't have anything to pay you back with." He kept looking at her. She appeared slightly flustered and her ears and tails were starting to twitch, showing her agitation.

Yasaka had done her best to help him due to the instructions of Lady Amaterasu. So she was flustered when faced with such sincere gratitude. Ichigo noticed it and kept going.

"I don't care why you did what you did, but I won't deny how much it helped me. I am not good at anything except fighting, so if you need anything related to that, don't hesitate to ask for my help." Ichigo said it with such sincerity and intensity that it caused Yasaka to flush. Seeing how serious he looked, this felt more like he was swearing an oath than wanting to return a favor. Yasaka knew that such a thing from a being like Ichigo would be immensely helpful, in many situations. She could use such a favor in many ways, but most importantly to her was the wording. He was thanking her, not the Youkais but her, meaning he took it as a personal favor from her and was willing to return it as such.

'Maybe Lady Amaterasu already knew it would lead to this.' Whatever it was, it would definitely prove to be helpful. She sighed softly and got herself under control, before deciding that being truthful would be the best course of action. From what she had observed, Ichigo would not take it too badly.

"I helped you because Lady Amaterasu asked me to do so. I don't know what my Lady's goals are, but I assure you that she is known as the most benevolent deity to exist and it isn't without reason that she is known as that...."

Seeing Yasaka all flustered and try to explain her and her leaders reasoning for helping him was surprisingly... cute. Before this, he had seen her as a mature woman, filled with charisma and while it felt bad even thinking about it, very sexy. Right now though, she looked downright cute, and with a chibi version of her sitting in her lap looking all confused, the overall cuteness was overwhelming. Enough to make him snort in laughter. Though he controlled his laughter immediately, it was enough to being Yasaka to a sudden stop.

With her mouth open and an indignant expression on her face, she asked him.

"Wh-why are you laughing?" Yasaka was angry. Here she was worrying about him being angry and possibly even taking out his anger on her and her people and this-this man had the nerve to laugh! As she got more and more annoyed and irritated with him, he finally lost it and started to laugh out loud. It was a stupid thing to laugh at but he couldn't help it. He decided that these people weren't all that bad and that being a bit more open with them wouldn't hurt him. So, he told Yasaka and Kunou about himself and his life. He couldn't find anything in himself that told him that this was a bad idea. With that, he actually took the first step to integrate himself in this new world and started to form new bonds.