A New Friend?

I tried to completely change my writing format. Tell me if this one's better or should I just stick to my previous one.

------------(Ichigo's-POV)------------

I spent the next few hours with Rossweisse, going around Asgard. That little time was enough for me to realize that this girl had no friends. She was too young to be with the older Valkyries and too old to be with the trainees, or too talented from what I understood. The others were jealous. Both sides didn't like her for getting to where she was so quickly, a bodyguard following Odin. Many also felt that she was not qualified for the position, though the fact remained that those who made the decisions thought otherwise. She seemed to know that as well, as she didn't even try to stop the voices all around her. Some very petty things were being said, like she slept with Odin to get her position, or she spent time with this and that person. She was clearly used to it as she didn't even twitch when she heard all of that. But, it wasn't exactly my place to interfere.

If it were the old me though, that Ichigo would have interfered and shouted at the others for being so petty, but even if I did that, what would happen after I left? They would start again, this time saying that it was with me and that's why I stood up for her. After all, I couldn't exactly take her with me. So, I kept quiet. She took me to a different building and after leading me to a room, left with a bell, saying that I could ring it if I needed anything. She was curt and looked a bit annoyed. It seems she wasn't as unaffected as I first thought.

Since I was already here, I thought why not explore a bit? It didn't seem like I would get many chances of coming back here, so after stretching for a while, I rang the bell. Rossweisse showed up again, but this time wearing a business suit. I wasn't exactly surprised at how quickly she had changed because I had seen just how convenient magic was and the fact that I couldn't use it. While Kido spells could be considered a branch of magic, I hadn't exactly learned any of it, not even the basics. Since I didn't even know how they worked in the first place, I couldn't even experiment. There wasn't anyone to teach me either.

Magic in this world could be used for many things, it was extremely versatile. From being able to teleport to changing or creating clothes in seconds. I would be lying I said I wasn't envious but I was able to put it behind me easily enough.

"What do you need, Kurosaki-dono?" Rossweisse asked me. I still didn't like honorifics attached to my name, so I frowned slightly before saying.

"Call me Ichigo. I wanted to look around Asgard as I probably won't have another chance."

"Of course Ichigo-san. Please follow me." She said with her head bowed a little and started to lead me back outside.

I followed her as she took me around Asgard. It was indeed a very beautiful place. The first thing that jumped out to me was a giant tree behind a large white castle. The castle itself seemed like it was built on top of a mountain. As you went down the mountain, smaller buildings and homes were built. I asked Rossweisse walking in front of me.

"Is that the world tree?"

"Yes, it is a small branch of the world tree." She answered.

"That's a small branch?" I asked, slightly incredulous looking at the 'small' branch.

"Yes. The world tree, Yggdrasil, was born in the era of chaos. It grew taking nourishment from the fallen gods and primordials. It grew so large and strong that it's roots and branches pierced nine different worlds, of which Asgard is said to be on the top. Midgard, or the human world or Earth, is the middle one, with four worlds on top of it and four worlds below it." She kept going on for a while before realising that she was blabbering. She had her own passions it seems.

"I'm sorry Ichigo-san for blabbering. Its just that I rarely have anyone my age to talk to that if I meet any, I get excited and start talking about all the stuff I like." She went on again, before stopping and hanging her head low.

"I'm sorry, I'll keep quiet." She said sullenly.

I didn't really care one way or the other. I was simply following Azazel for now and he was the one who had business here. The fact that she was away from her work and showing me around was good enough for me.

"No need to be sorry, everyone has their own passions." I said, being courteous because I was the guest here.

"What do you do Ichigo-san?" She asked me after a while.

"I'm still finding my own place. Currently I'm giving bounty hunting a try, but in the end, I'm a freeloader." I said honestly.

"A freeloader?" She asked me, looking at me with her head tilted.

"I'm new to this world. I don't have anything to my name, no house, no money, nothing. Just a few good friends and a supportive girlfriend." I replied with my lips twitching upward involuntarily. I have never been a good liar and Azazel taught me that lying outright was wrong in the first place. You had to mix some truth in there to make it more believable. He taught me the method of saying a lot, but not giving anything vital away. Apparently, it was an art form, something you had to learn if you wanted to reach somewhere in the political world. It was surprisingly fun to mislead others.

"New to this world? How long has it been? You already seems to have a good relationship with Azazel-sama." 'and you already have a girlfriend.' She asked me, looking puzzled, though that last part about the girlfriend, wasn't said out loud.

"Around half a year or so." I said with a shrug.

"In that half year, you managed to impress Yasaka-sama enough to be her b-boyfriend and create a good relation with one of the most powerful person in the world?" She said, looking skeptical. I looked at her with my eyebrow raised.

"Ah, please forgive me, I just thought out loud." She said, looking ashamed when she realised that she had said that out loud.

"No need to worry. A few others have also said the same thing." I said shaking my head. It was true. Many couldn't seem to believe that Yasaka was my girlfriend.

"Yasaka... Well that happened naturally. She was the one who helped me when I first entered this world, completely lost. I was grateful and that slowly became attraction. I won't say it's love already, but I will say that it will get there." I said with an unconscious smile.

Looking at that smile, Rossweisse felt a bit envious.

"Azazel though, was a complete coincidence. My first meeting with him happened by chance, though it was going to happen anyways because of a good friend. We hit it off and he agreed to help me, in return I will do some commissions from him directly, if he ever needs it." I said. It wouldn't feel right to accept help and not give something back for it. We were quiet for a while before she said with a shaky smile.

"I don't want to sound patronising or anything, but Ichigo-san, what can you do that would be of value to someone like Azazel-sama?" She said to me, looking a bit guilty already. She was clearly a nice person, probably just not used to company. I smiled bitterly at that.

Fame was an important thing in this world. No one knew who I was or what I could do but everyone knew Yasaka and Azazel, and their brilliance. Two people I would say I was closest to in this world and that created bad feelings, like 'who does he think he is?' or 'how dare he associate with people so out of his league!' and other such things. I really wanted to beat those people up but Azazel stopped me saying that my chance would come and that if I did that, it would only create more enmity, so I controlled myself. Though it was getting harder and harder.

"No need to feel guilty about that, as I said before, many people have asked me that. I don't want to brag but there are very few things and people in this world that can touch me, let alone harm me." I said while feeling a bit haughty. It was true. Azazel had experimented with me when I said the exact same thing to him. And Azazel's conclusion was that only a being on the level of Ophis or Great Red could even have a chance of killing me. He wasn't exactly sure about that either because there was little data on the powers of the two dragon gods. Those were beings that had survived the era of chaos, which was the era after the collision of the two original dimensions up until a few thousand years before the Great War.

Before Rossweisse could answer my claim, I felt a powerful presence rushing towards me. She must have felt it too, as she was looking in the same direction. A boisterous voice shouted towards us from some distance away.

"Young man, I have heard your claim of near invincibility as well as Azazel saying that you are stronger than me! I wish to test those claims!" Soon a tall, bearded, blonde haired, blue eyed man with wide shoulders, carrying a small hammer was standing a few meters away from me. I could already guess the identity of the man but, before I could, Rossweisse answered my guess of who this man was.

"Thor-sama, welcome back." She said, going down on her knee. Thor was quickly joined by Odin and Azazel. Azazel looked a bit sheepish as he addressed me.

"Ah, Ichigo. I am sorry but Thor here overheard my conversation with Odin about you and now he wants to have a friendly spar." I looked at him for a while, not believing for a moment that it was an accident. It wasn't possible that Azazel didn't know someone was listening in on his conversation. Rather he most likely used some words that would ignite Thor's competitive spirit even more. All of this was almost certainly deliberate on Azazel's part. How it involved me, I would have to beat it out of him after all of this was over. I was still looking at him with narrowed eyes when he mouthed the words 'accept it'.

"Of course. Where should we go?"

I accepted it with a forced smile. Azazel had helped me a lot over the last month, but after this, I would take him to Shemhazai and help the poor man tie this asshole to a chair so he could do his work properly, for a month or so at least, he would escape after that. Looking at my forced smile, Azazel got a bit nervous. The others probably thought that we were regretting what we had said, because it was widely accepted that Thor was stronger than Odin and one of the top ten. My thoughts were completely opposite. I was thinking about how much I should hold back? Should I finish it in a single attack? or let the man land a few hits?

It may sound terribly arrogant, but it was the truth. I was one of the strongest beings in this world and it felt fucking nice knowing that. I was led to a wide colosseum outside the city we were in. There was already a fight going on with a few hundred spectators but the moment the fighters saw Thor, they left the arena.

"Come young man! Let us test your strength!" Thor 'said' with what I understood as his normal, conversational voice. I shook my head and followed him up the arena. The few hundred spectators had already turned into thousands in a matter of seconds, but with abilities like wide range communication and teleportation easily used, it was understandable. I sighed and shot Azazel another irritated look and saw him giving me a thumbs up. As fun as the man was, he could be damn irritating if he wanted to. For now though, I focused on my opponent. Thor looked eager with his smile and lightning already arcing around him.

He didn't have his hammer though, so I didn't bring out Zangetsu either. For some reason, whenever Zangetsu was on my back, people tended to ignore it, like it was a piece of cloth or something, meaning as long as I didn't hold Zangetsu in my hands, it was effectively invisible. Azazel volunteered to be the referee and I could almost hear their thoughts. Their thoughts about me being beaten to the ground and unable to do anything. As Azazel started the countdown, I slowly loosened the dams and soon enough, the entire arena was quiet. Thor also lost his smile and now his face had a frown on it.

"It seems you were not jesting. I would need my hammer for this." He said as he stretched out his hand, a small hammer quickly flew into his open hand and the intensity of the electric arcs around got magnified a few times. I thought about Azazel saying that I would get my chance, maybe he had already planned for this at that time. I made a come here sign with a cocky smile on my face.

Thor rushed at me, leaving behind lightning with every step and raised his hammer to strike my head. Straight for the kill, this lightning bastard. At that moment, I decided to play around a little and get rid of some frustrations. I stepped away from the path of the hammer and kneed him in the stomach, making him fly up before being stopped and sent back down with a kick. He landed with a crash and left a small crater and a dust cloud but came out of it relatively unscathed, only a few coughs and scratches. I kept standing in the air, waiting for him to attack me, so I could punt him away again. He didn't disappoint, as he came at me faster than before, but also slightly wary of my speed. I decided to meet him head on.

I loosened the dams further and as soon as Thor was within punching range, before he could even react, I punched him as hard as I could in the face. He flew backwards, skidding across the arena floor and crashed into the wall. The arena was completely silent as the dust cloud settled. Thor stood slowly as he held his bleeding nose, but rather than looking angry or frustrated, he started to laugh.

"Hahaha, finally! A worthy opponent!" Thor said laughingly as he raised his hammer. Immediately, thunderclouds started to gather in the clear sky and lightning started to flash. I let the man do his thing. It was clear that he was finally getting serious. Odin seemed a bit vexed as he shouted at his son.

------------(General-POV)------------

Odin looked at his son getting serious in a friendly spar and shouted.

"Thor! Stop this at once! Do you wish to kill your fellow Asgardians!"

"No no, let them do this. Send everyone away and let them continue. This will be helpful for both of them." Azazel stopped Odin with an excited smile. He could finally see Ichigo fight someone on par with him, how could he not be excited. Ah, if only Ichigo would get serious as well but that wasn't possible for someone on their level. It would still be exciting though.

"How?" Odin asked Azazel with a frown.

"Ichigo will learn of the more powerful people in this world and Thor would learn some humility. And if I know them, they would probably become friends after this." Azazel didn't exactly tell Odin his main reason, but the latter was enough for the old God.

"Tch, I will allow this for a few minutes." With that, Odin turned around and bellowed.

"Leave at once, if you hold your life dear!!"

Within seconds, the entire arena was empty besides a dozen or so people. Most of them were guards following Odin and a few who didn't value their lives. Rossweisse was standing behind the two leaders and seeing Thor transforming into the Thunder God.

------------(Ichigo's-POV)------------

Soon the gathered lightning started to strike Thor as he slowly transformed. Everything about him got... shinier. His armour was shining, his hair was shining, his eyes were shining and his small hammer had turned into a Warhammer. Now lightning was being generated from his body and I could feel my hair standing on edge. Seeing such a transformation, I was starting to get a bit excited as well. He lunged at me and this time I lost sight of him for a moment and that was enough for Thor to have his hammer right in front of my face. I could still move away, but it would still graze me so I decided to take it head on and crossed my arms. The hammer struck my arms with enough force for me to hear my bones creak a little.

It seems like I was being too lax. I opened the dams as far they could open without breaking. By this time, I knew that the silhouette of a gate had already appeared behind me, but just like how I could call it, I could also stop it from manifesting. My eyes were most likely glowing and I could feel a smile on my face.

"Hahaha, you are finally getting serious my good man! Let us have some fun!" Thor said happily as he lunged at me again. This time, I met his hammer with my fist. The sound was more akin to metal striking metal, than metal meeting a fist. Lightning started to flash across my body but I didn't feel a thing, besides my hair standing up. I pushed his hammer away before kicking him in the stomach. He flew backwards but came back even faster than before but I was ready. His hammer came at me and I once again punched it away. That happened a few more time before he accepted that neither his hammer nor his lightning was affecting me. He retreated but there was still a smile on his face. He raised his hammer and pointed it at me.

"Behold my friend! This is a form that none have seen before, because I have never had a reason to use it! I will show it to you today for you are the only one who has pushed me so far!"

Just as he finished saying that, the Warhammer in his hand turned into golden lightning and entered his body. That reminded me a lot of what happened to me when I used final Getsuga Tenshou. Zangetsu combined with me to give me an extreme boost in power. Soon, Thor's hair and beard turned into golden lightning and his eyes went completely blue. He came at me fast enough that I had to react as he came, rather than move away from the anticipated path. The spar quickly turned into an exchange of fists and I started to feel the lightning as it left a numbing feeling wherever it landed. His punches had also gotten stronger as they left slight marks wherever they connected. I felt the dams breaking and let them. This was too damn fun!

Zangetsu was giddy inside his head as he kept shouting at him on what to do. Most of which was follow your instincts. So I did. The exchange of fists rapidly turned into fisticuffs, as we punched at each other with more and more ferocity. It wasn't even a spar anymore, just a mindless brawl. Mindless, but so damned fun!

Before we could go any lower and start pulling at each others hair, our bodies were restricted for a moment before we broke free. That moment though, was enough for us to come to our senses and realise what we were doing. Both of us stepped backwards and looked at our destroyed surroundings. I couldn't help myself and started laughing and immediately, another voice joined me.

"Hahaha, my friend, I cannot remember the last time I had such mindless fun!" Thor said as he fell backwards, still laughing.

"Me too, you lightning bastard. Every single hair on my body is standing up due to you stupid electricity." I said with a laugh.

"Hahaha. You are the only one my friend, who has called my mighty lightning as mere electricity!" Thor's transformation started to reverse and a warhammer appeared on his chest, forming out of golden lightning, which quickly turned into a small hammer after a releasing regular lightning. I also started to focus on rebuilding my dams as all the excitement left my body leaving behind a lot of satisfaction. I also sat down near him and finally introduced myself.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, you lightning bastard. Nice meeting you." I said with a smile.

"And I'm no bastard! My name is Thor Odinson, God of Thunder! Prince of Asgard!" He said in his usual boisterous voice.

"And it was indeed a pleasure to meet you, Ichigo!"