Awakening

"I think he ran down the other street!" The other one said as they followed his lead and ran down the alleyway.

Ichigo evidently was on the roof of a building beside the alleyway as he confidently smiled while tossing a apple in his opposite hand.

"Well that was easy..."

...

Ichigo ran atop the roof of buildings for a few more minutes before dropping back down into the main pathway filled with people walking back and forth.

"Anyone need food?!" He shouted out as kids in rags quickly surrounded him, even adults wearing the same attire circled him.

"Yay he's here!"

"We can eat!"

"Thanks!"

He heard happy shouts as they all looked up at him with excited gazes.

"Okay, everyone get in a single line, I have plenty of enough food for everyone!" Ichigo smiled as he pulled out apples or pieces of bread, even candies, as they were fairly distributed amongst everyone.

Once he was done, he started to walk away with a content expression.

As he was walking through the crowded streets, he glances to each of his sides as he feels people following him.

Calmly increasing his pace, he abruptly turns into another dark alleyway as he jumps from wall to wall to get to the top of the building and promptly lands on the roof.

He then glanced down as he saw the 3 soul reapers from before, all rushing into the alleyway.

"Shit!"

"Where'd he go?"

"We need to find him-"

Before they could finish their words, Ichigo landed upon the brown haired and black haired Soul Reapers as he grabbed their two heads and slammed them face first into the ground.

"What the hell?"

Ichigo's gaze then landed upon a silver-haired Soul Reaper as they swiftly unsheathed their sword.

"Your gonna pull a sword on an unarmed civilian?" Ichigo snidely remarked with a chuckle.

The man frowned silently but didn't hesitate as he brought his sword slashing down.

Ichigo easily dodged that as he did a simple side step and grabbed their forearm before forcefully making them let go.

"Get your friends and get lost-"

Ichigo abruptly stopped talking as he felt something lodge through his stomach.

Slowly glancing down with wide eyes, he saw a sword piercing his stomach as blood slowly dripped from it, he looked back and noticed that one of the Soul Reapers he knocked out woke up quite fast.

His expression turned serious as he grabbed the blade before twisting his body hard and slamming the Soul Reaper into the wall beside them.

But then he felt another sword lodge into him, he gritted his teeth as he noticed the guy he just disarmed, picked his sword back up.

"Fucking nuisances..." He cursed as he simply pulled out both blades, not caring about his own life.

Ichigo glanced toward the fear stricken Soul Reaper who just stabbed him, and in a simply swiping motion, sliced his neck in one stroke.

The Soul Reaper looked at him in shock as he grabbed his neck that was gushing with blood, before falling onto his knees and then face flat.

Ichigo's gaze then landed upon the two knocked out individuals, before promptly stabbing them in each of their necks with no mercy.

They swiftly died with soft groans without even knowing what happened.

"I would have had no problem with letting you guys go, but you just had to go and stab me." He muttered with a weary chuckle as he sat down and laid his back against the wall.

Ichigo looked to his left as he saw a small crowd gathering at the end of the alleyway and as expected, none of them approached him for help.

Blood slowly seeped from his black Soul Reaper outfit and onto the dusty ground.

His eyes slowly closed as everything started to get dimmer.

"S-So I'm going to die again?" He mumbled nostalgically.

Before Ichigo's eyes completely closed he noticed a silver haired girl in a Soul Reaper outfit rushing toward him.

"Don't worry! I'll be sure to heal you!"

Those were the last words he heard before everything went black.

****

Ichigo's eyes slowly fluttered open as he noticed he was in a different location.

Looking around with stunned eyes, he realized he was somehow standing sidways on a skyscraper, with the bright blue sky above him, surprisingly standing side ways didn't feel too weird for him.

His eyes then trailed all around him, noticing dozens of other skyscrapers, until he heard a voice...

"Ichigo."

He slowly turned around as he saw a man clad in a black ragged cloak with glasses, standing on top of a pole.

"W-Where am I? Is this the next afterlife?" Ichigo questioned with apparent confusion.

The black haired man shook his head, seemingly unamused, "Ichigo you did not die, you are currently in your inner world."

"Inner world?" He questioningly murmured.

"You need to remember Ichigo." The man advised with his gruff voice.

Ichigo furrowed his brows, "Remember what? And who even are you?"

"It seems when you are at death's door, It allows me to communicate with you and intervene." The man commented with a calm voice.

Ichigo just stood there with a bewildered expression, not understanding, "What are you even talking about?"

The man shook his head with a wistful sigh, "If you can't remember by yourself, then I will force you to remember."

Before Ichigo could even react, the man instantly appeared in front of him as he tapped his head with two fingers.

Ichigo's eyes widened as memories flooded his brain, but they came at a calm pace, slowly easing into it.

He stood still for a few minutes, until finally the last memory entered his head and he could only stand there, seemingly with a serious expression.

Until suddenly grabbing both sides of his head furiously.

"How the hell could I forget!?"

His eyes seemed in pain, as if ashamed of himself...

But he simply sighed as he quickly calmed down and relaxed his nerves.

"This is no time for being emotional, get it together Ichigo."

Ichigo's gaze then landed upon the man as he pointed at him in understanding, "So if I remember correct, you should be Old Man Zangetsu! But how do I even know this?..."

Zangetsu nodded in confirmation, then said, "It seems a soul tried to invade your own soul when your were 9, which was why your powers temporarily woke up. But the memories that feel foreign, are what seemed to be of the future..."

Ichigo finally put everything together, he remember when he protected his mom and a random stream of memories entered his head, but he quickly realized it was the future which was why he could protect his mom.

"I see..." He calmly whispered as he wrapped his head around his situation.

Zangetsu silently watched as he saw Ichigo's eyes harden with determination.

"I don't have time to waste, with the information I have I can't just stand by and do nothing. And I need to meet my parents and sisters, I have to let them know I'm okay." He quietly asserted as he put a hand under his chin thoughtfully.

"But in order to use this information efficiently and in order to meet my family, getting stronger is a must."

Ichigo then glanced toward Zangetsu with an inquiry, "Since I know your name now, does that mean I already have my Shikai?"

Zangetsu nodded, "Indeed, you have unlocked your Shikai, but you will have to train your body to the limits before you attempt to gain a Bankai, but that should be a simple task for you."

"Unfortunately our time has come to an end, it seems you will soon wake up."

****

Inside the Seireitei of Squad 4's barracks, Ichigo could be laying inside of a futon of an empty small wooden-plated room.

Isane, the silver-haired girl who saved him was the Lieutenant of Squad 4 under Captain Unohana.

She curiously glanced at Ichigo's sleeping figure as she stood above him.

'His spiritual pressure is that of a 8th seat but he defeated 3 Soul Reapers who were at least the 10th seat... Without a zanpakuto at that, his potential must be immense.'

Once Isane finished her thoughts she heard someone slide open the door and enter.

"Captain?" She questiongly muttered once noticing Captain Unohana entered with her usual serene expression.

Captain Unohana didn't say anything as she stood beside Isane and also looked down at the orange-haired boy curiously.

"I heard you saved a young man from the Rukon district, I just came to observe..." Her eyes slightly narrowed on Ichigo's body as she continued speaking, "But it seems you've saved quite the interesting individual."

Isana lightly laughed embarrassingly, "I just found him critically injured after killing 3 seated Soul Reapers, but it seems they had it coming for them, after some quick investigation it seems they were extorting citizens foods and money."

Unohana simply nodded until a spike in spiritual caught her attention as both of their eyes locked onto Ichigo's figure.

A blue hue of energy surrounded his body as a large sword materialized beside him.

And soon after, both Unohana and Isane's eyes widened as the air was seemingly being distorted with spiritual pressure.

The air was violently vibrating, causing the winds to thrash around as the room itself and outside surroundings shook, as if trembling in his wake.

Unohana easily regained her composure as she glanced toward Ichigo's waking figure with an interested smile.

"Isane, go tell the others that everything's fine, make sure they don't panic." Unohana commanded as she calmly stood infront of Ichigo.

Isane seemed hesitant, but trusted her Captain's judgement as she nodded and went to follow orders.

Unohana watched as Ichigo seemingly didn't wake up.

"How long are you gonna lay there as if your sleeping?" She questioned with an unamused tone.

Ichigo didn't even hesitate as he simply sat up, "Sorry about that, I was just waiting until we were alone." He chuckled while scratching the back of his head.

Unohana ignored him as she observed his figure once more, 'To think his spiritual pressure instantly increased to Lieutenant level from what I presume was him unlocking his Shikai... But that doesn't explain the appearance of his sword, from what I was told, he came empty handed.'

Her eyes narrowed as she came to a realization, 'The only other way for such a thing to happen is if he could manipulate Reishi itself to create it, and only one race has such an ability...'

"Uhm, you must be Captain Unohana?" Ichigo interejected, breaking her from her thoughts, without so much of a reaction from her.

"And how might you know that?" She had a small smile as she retorted.

"Because your famous?" Ichigo's tone could only sound doubtful as he answered.

"Clearly your lying... By any chance are you a Quincy?" Her expression slightly darkened as the atmosphere suddenly became heavy, causing Ichigo to frown.

He quickly raised his hand up defensively, "Wait! There's more to it than it looks."

She raised a brow, indicating that she would listen.

"Uhm, I'm kind of a hybrid..."

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