Rebirth In Bleach 57 Black Hollow

'How did I get here?'

Itsuki was currently in the room surrounded by a drunk Soi Fon, Rangiku, Hinamori, Kaien, Rukia and various other people.

Rewinding time a bit, Itsuki was having his usual talk with Ukitake when Kaien barged in.

"Captain Minamoto, you can't refuse this, we will be having dinner over at my place"

Itsuki didn't have a chance before he was suddenly dragged out and taken to a n.o.ble manor that had the plaque stating,

- s.h.i.+ba Clan -

s.h.i.+ba Kaien was the head of the s.h.i.+ba clan while s.h.i.+ba Iss.h.i.+n, Ichigo's father, was head of a branch family. The s.h.i.+ba family specialised in fireworks and was part of the four great families. Somehow, Soi Fon and Rangiku had gotten wind of this and joined in while Hinamori was always with Itsuki wherever he went. Rukia joined in when she saw her idol being literally dragged around.

Upon entering they were greeted by an average height woman with messy black hair. She had green eyes and an ample bosom. She wore a white skirt and a provocative red robe. Itsuki remembered her as s.h.i.+ba Kukaku. It seemed either she hadn't gotten into an accident yet or due to saved Kaien and his wife, the accident was averted. Compared to the show, she was missing the bandages she had, and her right arm was still there.

"You're back Kaien-nii, you seem to have brought friends, luckily the food prepared is enough."

Itsuki was being dragged by Kaien, so she didn't see his face.

"Who are you dragging?"

Kukaku could see the captain's haori the person was wearing, but not the number. Kaien suddenly remembered something and tried to hide Itsuki's face,

"No one, you don't need to know"

Kukaku couldn't hold in her curiosity as she sneaked up behind her brother while he was replying,

Seeing Itsuki's face, Kukaku was visibly shocked. Kaien saw this and sighed while he quickly dragged Itsuki away. Kukaku just stood in the same spot shocked.

"It seems that the guests are here"

Miyako's melodious voice was heard as she prepared the dishes. One by one, scrumptious dishes were laid out as the people started to dig in.

It was a happy festive mood as a small smile appeared on Itsuki's face,

'When was the last time I felt like this'

That was how all the members of the s.h.i.+ba family were. No ounce of n.o.ble arrogance was found within them, they treated everyone equally and were a rash bunch.

Suddenly the dining room fell silent as everyone looked at Itsuki. The women had a blush on their faces while Kaien, the only guy, had a defeated look. Their youngest brother was out, so he wasn't there for the feast.

'So even Itsuki can smile'

The girls seem out of it as they continuously drank alcohol while Kaien drank out of depression. His wife and sister had joined Itsuki's fan girl club, quite literally. The rare merry night pa.s.sed.

Time pa.s.sed until the gears of fate started moving once more.

'Should be about now'

Itsuki was playing with Seikyo near the main Senkaimon.

Two reports had just come, firstly, there were some casualties within the 2nd Division from unknown causes within a certain district. The second one stated that Tos.h.i.+ro had just reported the death of a few s.h.i.+nigami in the real world and Iss.h.i.+n was making his way towards the Senkaimon.

Knowing that it was time for the main character's parents to meet, Itsuki wouldn't miss this chance. Waiting for a while, Itsuki felt a presence nearing the gate as a voice was heard,

"Eh? Captain Minamoto?"

Itsuki turned around only to see a middle-aged man nearing. He had short, spiky black hair with noticeable sideburns and brown eyes. He wore the standard s.h.i.+nigami attire with a sleeveless captain's haori with the number 10 on his back.

"What are you doing here?"

"Investigation"

Iss.h.i.+n knew that Itsuki was a man of a few words so he didn't find his way of speaking strange.

"Investigating what?"

"Deaths"

"What location?"

"Naruki City"

"Wh? That's under my jurisdiction, what is the Onmitsukido doing the-"

Itsuki never glanced at Iss.h.i.+n as he interrupted him while they waited for the Senkaimon to be opened.

"Confidential"

"You-"

"I heard what you said to Rangiku"

This seemed to stop whatever he was saying. As her captain, Iss.h.i.+n knew the relations.h.i.+p the two had. Sweat poured down his face as he replied

"I don't know what you mean"

Itsuki didn't pursue the subject as the Senkaimon opened.

"Don't worry about the captain-commander, he already knows"

Itsuki walked in with Seikyo perched on his shoulder and Iss.h.i.+n following.

- Unknown location -

Within a secret base a lot of scientific stuff was happening. Tosen and Gin were in front of a set of computers when Aizen walked in,

"Any luck?"

"No, not even one."

Gin replied while Tosen looked at the computer screen and continued,

"We've been successful in equipping hollows with the ability to hollowfy targets but it's too toxic…"

"That's all right, we've been narrowing down Hirako s.h.i.+nji's location, we can experiment hollowfication while we find their whereabouts, killing two birds with one stone. It's all in the palm of our hands"

A confident smile was plastered on Aizen's face as he remembered something,

"It seems captain Minamoto alongside Captain s.h.i.+ba has also left for Naruki city. Although the one we have there is the only one we have made from a s.h.i.+nigami's soul, it is too weak, send the strongest one we have"

"But we can't control it"

"We don't need to"

What they were going to send was a failed experiment. Aizen sent a subtle glance towards Gin who had usual look. Seeing him unperturbed when Itsuki's name being called out calmed Aizen down. Gin felt the glance and returned it.

- Real world -

- Naruki city -

The moon was slowly enclosed by the clouds as they heralded a night of rain.

A pair of s.h.i.+nigami could be seen manoeuvring through the roof of houses when the two captains appeared behind them

"… it rained the day the last guy died and the guy before him."

Hearing this Iss.h.i.+n spoke out,

"I see, so it's dangerous when it rains."

The s.h.i.+nigami were surprised with the sudden intrusion,

"W-w-w-whoa!!"

"That's good to know"

"C-c-c-captain Minamoto and Captain S-s.h.i.+ba!!!"

Iss.h.i.+n felt irked for some reason,

"I'm your captain and you say my name last"

The s.h.i.+nigami was shocked seeing two captains here,

"W-w-what're you doing here?!"

"Well we got lost looking for a bathroom."

"That's the worst lie ever and both of you did?!"

Iss.h.i.+n then turned around,

"Oh yeah, if it rains tonight, you guys can leave, I like to pee in peace."

Itsuki suddenly felt a vision on him as he saw something disappearing in the distance.

Iss.h.i.+n then moved along and tried looking for any clues as it started to rain. Finding nothing, Iss.h.i.+n then came up with an idea,

'The fact that there are only targeting s.h.i.+nigami means that they're either targeting us or that they are going for ones with a high spiritual pressure.'

Thinking up to here, Iss.h.i.+n increased his reiatsu output as it blasted outwards. Itsuki was relatively unfazed by this but the two subordinates were pushed back by the sudden force. What Iss.h.i.+n didn't expect, was for Itsuki to suddenly disappear and appear next to his subordinates blocking a strike.

Itsuki was currently looking at a pure black hollow that had white hair falling down it's back. It had two horns sticking out either side of his head and his hands were shaped like swords.

"Wha… what is that?!"

While confronting the black hollow, Itsuki saw something else being released. That thing brought with it a tremendous amount of reiatsu.

- Soul Society -

- Division 12 HQ -

"Emergency, Emergency"

Red alert signs were going off within the whole division.

Kurotsuchi Mayuri stood there shouting at his subordinates. He had a skeletal look with a skull like visage. His whole face was coloured white and the inner portion was coloured black except for his nose. Even his arms were painted black and white.

He had golden coloured eyes and constantly bared his teeth, giving him the expression of one that is always smiling. Both his ears were replaced by gold cone like objects and he had blue fingernails. All of his fingernails were short, with the exception of the middle ones which were kept exceptionally long.

He was wearing a standard s.h.i.+nigami's attire with a captain's haori and a white hat that pointed to his right. He also had a large purple scarf around his neck.

"What is happening?!!"

"Captain, a large amount of reiatsu has been spotted. Location Naruki town. Reiatsu levels: Captain cla.s.s and its growing, no it's now advance captain cla.s.s"

"What?!"

Looking at the readings Mayuri knew that his subordinate wasn't lying. Giving out orders he sent someone to report it to Yamamoto.

- Real world -

"Iss.h.i.+n, he's yours, that's mine"

Itsuki suddenly disappeared while handing Iss.h.i.+n the black hollow. The one Itsuki was confronting looked exactly the same but was giving out a more tremendous pressure. The only difference was that this had a normal hollow's hole.

'Wasn't there supposed to be only one?'

Itsuki was confused at the additional black hollow. This didn't have a s.h.i.+nigami's aura but a vasto lorde's. Itsuki could tell that it was too powerful to be an arrancars. It seemed that Aizen must've also experimented in giving a vasto lorde the powers of a s.h.i.+nigami. This abomination in front of him seemed to be the result.

A vasto lorde was the final evolution of an arrancar, a hollow who had ripped off his mask. Yet the one in front of him had one. It must've been because a s.h.i.+nigami was the opposite of a hollow.

Feeling the pressure given out from the hollow in front of him, Itsuki concluded this was going to be a hard battle, most probably the hardest one he had ever fought. He didn't need to think as he unsheathed both his swords.

He held Ryurai in his right hand and Byakko on the left. He released Byakko and left it hovering in thin air while putting both his hands onto Ryurai while muttering,

"Bankai…"