Notes: This is my first Bleach fanfic which I decided to make because something about the manga really annoyed me. First off, we never saw Ichigo having a talk with his Hollow after realizing he is the real Zangetsu and second, for someone who's power was supposed to be suppressed his whole life, he turned out to be a disappointment as his only new toy was a cross shaped Getsuga Tensho. The focus of my fanfic will be an improved relationship between Ichigo and his Inner Hollow. It will also cover all the way to the Thousand Year Blood War.

To avoid confusion here is how the story works:

Bold text indicate it his Hollow Ichigo speaking

Underlined text indicates it is Old Man Zangetsu

Italicized text indicates flashbacks

Words in in between '' means that the character is thinking to himself. Example: 'He is strong'

Disclaimer - I do not own Bleach

Warning:

- As mentioned, this story will not contain any trails of romance

- Do NOT expect any heroic characteristics from any characters

- Many of the battles will resemble the ones in the canon tybw arc, meaning they're gonna be really brutal

- This story is greatly inspired by the first two movies of the dark knight trilogy, although I won't mention which characters influenced this story

If you do not like things like that, then this story might not be for you. You have been warned


Prelude

-Ulquiorra's Report-

After Ulquiorra Cifer gave his report about Ichigo Kurosaki, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was unsatisfied at how the fourth espada handled the situation. Deciding to act without Sosuke Aizen's permission, Grimmjow mobilized to attack the world of the living, bringing with him his five fracciones.

Arriving in Karakura Town, the six of them split up to hunt down anyone even with just a sliver of spiritual pressure. Grimmjow, after sensing that one of his fraccion, Di Roy, has been killed, decided to investigate the area where he died and found himself facing off against Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki.

"What the hell happened here? Di Roy's been killed? Oh well. In that case, I'll just have to kill the both of you. Let me introduce myself, I'm arrancar six. You can call me Grimmjow." Grimmjow, announced who he is to the duo, then immediately punched a whole in Rukia's stomach. Now it was just him vs the orange haired substitute. Ichigo launches several attacks on Grimmjow only to have the blue haired arrancar block them with his bare hand. "Damn it" Ichigo cursed and immediately fell back.

"Hey are you even trying kid? I don't wanna waste the effort of killing you when you're not at full strength. You better do it or I'll punch you full of holes like I did to that soul reaper over there." Grimmjow stated with a bored expression.

"Ban-Kai" Ichigo muttered and immediately went to attack Grimmjow. However every slash, punch and kick he launched the blue haired arrancar just blocked and caught all of them like they were no big deal. Deciding to get on the offensive, Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo's sword and threw him across the alley all the way to a nearby street. He then used sonido to move in front of Ichigo and launched numerous punches at the substitute soul reaper. After a few dozen attacks, he kicked Ichigo to the center of a crossroad and the substitute soul reaper was knocked out cold.

"Is that all there is to your bankai? I gotta say you turned out to be a real disappointment. You used your bankai and all it gives you is average speed? Huh?" Grimmjow yelled. Bored with the fight, the blue haired arrancer decided to finish Ichigo off and used sonido to move to Ichigo's location and tried to kick Ichigo right in the head. To his surprise, Ichigo suddenly caught his foot and launched a kick of his own, sending the arrancar a few feet back. "Well that was a fine kick. It seems you might not be that much of a disappointment" the arrancar said after recovering from the attack and looking towards his opponent but to his surprise, Ichigo now had a white mask slowly forming on his face and his eyes were now black with a gold sclera.

"Ichigo, you really are an idiot. After learning bankai you never bothered to get stronger. All you did was get comfy as a normal human all the while thinking that you will be a match for anyone who crosses your path and now I have to save your miserable ass again. You're pathetic." Ichigo said to himself, which confused Grimmjow greatly as to why he was talking to himself

"What the hell are you talking about soul reaper? Have you gone insane?" Grimmjow yelled, obviously not understanding what was going on about his enemy.

"Insane? Well I guess you could say that." Ichigo said before immediately flashing in front of Grimmjow and slashing him across the torso. Giving him no time to react, Ichigo then kicked him right where he slashed and sent Grimmjow to the ground.

Grimmjow was in utter surprise, one moment his opponent was on the verge of death and now suddenly has gained tremendous speed and power. "This is how it should have been from the start! It may turn out that you may be a worthy opponent soul reaper." Grimmjow yelled and flashed in front of Ichigo, trying to punch him again. Surprising him once again, Ichigo just blocked his punch with the back of his left hand and immediately used his free hand to swing his sword right towards Grimmjow's head. Sensing the danger Grimmjow flashed away but was still grazed by the attack.

"What's the matter arrancar? What happened to all that big talk of yours?" mocked Ichigo, which only infuriated the arrancar.

"Shut up" Grimmjow said before charging a Cero in his left hand and launched it at his target. His eyes then widened for the umpteenth time when Ichigo just caught the doom blast with his bare hands. Ichigo's sword then suddenly emitted black energy with a red outline before slashing his sword at Grimmjow's direction, launching a Getsuga Tensho at his opponent. Realizing this attack was dangerous, the blue haired arrancar then jumped up to dodge it but unfortunately for him, the attack can be controlled and changed direction, hitting Grimmjow and causing a cloud of smoke to appear at his location. Once the smoke cleared, Grimmjow was shown to be bleeding profusely. Part of his clothing were now torn, blood was dripping from his head and there were cuts all over his body.

"Is that it arrancar? That cero of yours almost had no bite to it. I say it was pretty pathetic. I didn't even have to dodge it. Oh well I guess that's all there is to you." Ichigo stated. Just as he was about to finish off Grimmjow, he suddenly grabbed the mask on his face and trying to pull it off. "You're going to interfere with me again? You're too weak stop. If you chase me out right now you'll die for sure. Don't you understand you're not strong enough. You fool! Damn you!" the entity yelled before his mask was torn off. Ichigo then ended up panting heavily, having used up too much energy to drive away his inner hollow and now having almost none left to continue the fight.

Grimmjow was watching the whole scene and was now more confused than ever. It was only when Ichigo ripped off the mask on his face that Grimmjow realized that his opponent's spiritual pressure changed from a hollow back to a soul reaper when he knocked him out cold. "Hahahahaha what the hell was that soul reaper? You had me on the ropes and now you're just standing there and not finishing me off? If you won't end it then I will. Now Grind..." Grimmjow yelled, while getting into his sword release stance when suddenly someone flashed to him and stopped him from releasing his ressureccion.

"Put your sword away, Grimmjow" the man ordered him

"What the hell are you doing here, Tosen?" Grimmjow asked the man who interfered in his fight.

"You ask why? You can't be serious. You chose to invade the world of the living on your own and you took five arrancars without permission, then you lost them in battle. You have disobeyed orders. You understand that much don't you? Lord Aizen is quite upset with you Grimmjow. Come. Your punishment for these acts will be decided in Hueco Mundo" Kaname coldly stated before opening a garganta.

"Are you kidding me? Things were just starting to get very interesting and now you stop my fight for this?!" exclaimed an outraged Grimmjow

"Do not make me force you to return Grimmjow." Kaname stated before heading inside the garganta. "Fine then." Grimmjow muttered and followed while still fuming about his fight being interrupted

"Hey you hold on! Where the hell do you think you're going? You come here and you attack us and then you just leave? You've gotta be kidding me. Get back down here. This fight still isn't finished damn it" Ichigo raged at the blue haired arrancar who was going home

"Get over it! The only reason you are still alive is because i'm going home and whatever that thing was that happened to you so consider yourself lucky. We will meet again and once we do we will finish this fight. Don't forget my name soul reaper and you better pray that you never hear it again. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez" Grimmjow yelled back to the teen before retreating inside the garganta

One thing that Ichigo realized was what the arrancar said before he retreated. 'Whatever that thing was that happened to you'. Upon hearing these words, Ichigo realized something was off about his inner hollow.

"So, did you win your fight?" Renji asked, walking to him from down the street

"I'm not sure" Ichigo answered

"Well in any case let's go back to where Rukia is. She is being healed by Orihime right now." Renji said before walking off with Ichigo following shortly thereafter


Author's Notes: This part is just a prelude to the main story, specifically where everything begins for Ichigo and his Hollow. Kindly review however I will not be doing any revision until the story is finished.