1,784Straight Bleach fic, with elements of time travel and fem Ichigo. Also, thank you to everyone who prayed for my mother's recovery. She's home at last!
Ichigo was getting her things from karate class when she found it. It was an odd, stylized mask with a rather scary design. However she found it fascinating. It was predominantly white, with red markings.
She fully planned to show it to her mother when they got home, and to find out who the owner was later. The mask completely slipped her mind when they began to walk along the riverside, staying on the road away from the raging waters.
Without knowing why, her hand slipped to the mask when she saw the girl standing far too close to the waters.
She began to race towards the girl, intent on warning her away from the water.
Ichigo woke up a few hours later in her own room, her mother deeply shaken and looking very relieved she was alright.
"Mama? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong sweetie... you hit your head pretty hard trying to help that girl is all."
Ichigo felt like her mother was lying, but didn't know why. Her head still hurt a lot, so once she had eaten some food she went right back to bed.
With Ichigo safely asleep, Masaki went to find Isshin.
"How is she?" he asked, his voice uncharacteristically serious.
"Aside from being rather tired and hungry, she's fine," said Masaki.
"And that mask you saw?"
"Disappeared the moment that hollow was killed," said Masaki.
She had only seen it briefly, and it had nearly given her a heart attack that Ichigo had what was clearly a hollow's mask in her bag for some reason. It had only gotten worse when Ichigo put the mask on.
It had felt like the entire world had dropped around her, and it wasn't from the sight of Ichigo wearing a hollow mask. The sheer spiritual density that had come the moment that mask was on had been enough to knock the wind out of her lungs. If it had been bad for her, with her spiritual sensitivity, she couldn't imagine how bad it had been for the actual hollow.
She later learned that they had a run-in with Grand Fisher, a known threat who had already eaten a few shinigami.
Masaki had no idea where Ichigo had gotten that mask, but her daughter had returned to normal the second it disappeared.
"What exactly happened?" asked Isshin.
He wasn't the only one curious...anyone spiritually sensitive had felt the second that massive amount of pressure the moment it appeared, and then again when it suddenly vanished. Kisuke had jokingly commented on someone waking up Godzilla for a moment before the king of Kaiju rolled over and went back to sleeping.
Whatever it was had felt terrifying. It was far beyond what Isshin or Kisuke could have tackled without a massive fight and far too many innocent casualties in the crossfire, and even then they weren't entirely certain they could have won.
And the epicenter was a nine-year-old girl.
Masaki fully planned to have Kisuke look over Ichigo later, but for now she was just relieved they were both alive.
A week later...
Ichigo happily ate the candy the odd man with the hat gave her, and answered any questions he asked because her father was there.
"So you found a mask in your bag after karate class?" said Isshin.
"I was really funny looking. It was white with red markings, and almost looked like bones," she replied. Ichigo tilted her head, with the lollipop still in her mouth. "It was whispering something weird."
"Weird how?" asked Isshin, suddenly concerned.
"Must protect. Must prevent," said Ichigo. "She sounded really sad."
"She?"
"It sounded like a bit like Mommy that time some weird old man tried to talk to us," said Ichigo. Ichigo made a face. "She really didn't like that weird girl by the river."
Kisuke shared a look with Isshin. It sounded like the spirit attached to the mask was incredibly protective, and had likely protected the girls from Grand Fisher. Masaki had admitted her powers felt like they had sputtered out shortly after Ichigo put that mask on and blacked out, which meant they would have been helpless against the hollow.
Isshin firmly placed this mysterious force firmly in the "protective" category when another hollow attempted to get near the twins...only to be shredded as if attacked by some large dog. He saw the bite marks...they were clearly that of a canine or other large predatory animal.
He did his best to put it out of mind for now. After all, they had no idea what sort of spirit they were dealing with.
Isshin had thought nothing of Ichigo going on a camping trip with some of her little friends. That is, until he saw what she brought back.
"Ichigo...where did you get that?"
Ichigo had in her hands an old sword with obvious binding spells on it.
"I found it! She said his name is Muramasa!"
Isshin was already mentally preparing to call Kisuke.
"Who is 'she'?" he asked.
"Shirosaki," said Ichigo, as if it were obvious. "She's really nice!"
"Does Shirosaki talk to you often?" asked Isshin.
Ichigo nodded.
"She sleeps most of the time though," said Ichigo innocently.
"What sort of things does she talk to you about?" asked Isshin.
"Lots of things," said Ichigo.
"Can you give me an example?"
Ichigo suddenly became very quiet.
"She said that she's glad she made it in time, because mama wouldn't have survived that weird girl by the river that night."
"What did she say about this sword?" asked Isshin.
"She said his friend stopped listening to him and did a bad thing, and that he needed a better friend to hear him," said Ichigo. She tilted her head. "She also said 'Engetsu is getting annoyed you are ignoring them'."
Isshin went stock still at that.
"She said that, huh?"
"She also said 'Benihime is so damn whiny, it's a wonder Hat and Clogs puts up with it.'"
"And you said this sword's name is Muramasa, correct?" asked Isshin.
"Shiro-chan said that it's safer for everyone if he 'plays the part', instead of waking her up."
Isshin helped his eldest put the sword in a safe location in her room, and that she was situated with some cartoons before he called Kisuke.
Needless to say the former Shinigami was just as floored that this...Shirosaki knew the name of their zanpakuto.
Isshin and Masaki were giving the strange, pale man with long hair and turquoise eyes a side eye with his proximity towards Ichigo.
It wasn't until he had a chance to talk to the stranger that Isshin realized what was going on.
"Wait...your name is Muramasa?" said Isshin.
Muramasa nodded.
"I was able to sense my physical form recently, and it brought me here," he replied.
Isshin stared at him.
"You're a zanpakuto, aren't you?" he asked.
Muramasa slowly nodded.
"My old master, Koga Kuchiki, was betrayed by his comrades who came from rival factions. I was to be sealed by the Central 46 as my powers were deemed 'too dangerous', since his innocence was called into question."
Isshin winced, as he remembered the mess the Shiba had gone through for similar reasons. They were too 'quirky' for those stuffed shirts to like, and the Kuchiki clan were high ranked enough that he could easily see some of the other families targeting a lower member out of spite.
As Muramasa seemed content to hover around Ichigo, who was the only one of the household who could properly hear him, Isshin made a few called to Kisuke and Yoruichi.
"Wait...so you're saying Ichigo found an actual zanpakuto and is able to hear it?" said Kisuke in shock.
"He mentioned something about a betrayal and that his master was of the Kuchiki clan," said Isshin.
"Did he mention a name?" asked Yoruichi, who had been visiting when Isshin made the call.
"Koga Kuchiki, and the sword's name is..."
"Muramasa," said Yoruichi. "I vaguely recall a huge scandal a long while back regarding the son-in-law of the Kuchiki clan and a possible murder charge. From what I recall the previous head and Yamamoto were only able to subdue the culprit because his zanpakuto stopped responding to him."
"What exactly was it's ability?" asked Isshin seriously. He had to know if this Muramasa was a threat or not.
"He could manipulate and control other zanpakuto...even make them manifest outside their inner realm," said Urahara immediately. "And that was his shikai."
No wonder the Central 46 called it dangerous. However the only shinigami in the area that he knew of was Urahara, as he had lost that ability when he saved Masaki.
He decided to adopt a wait and see approach...especially if it meant finding out more about this Shirosaki.
In the end, Muramasa became an unofficial member of the Kurosaki family, even if the only one who could hear him properly was Ichigo. He seemed content to hover around Ichigo, likely leeching off her excess spiritual energy. With her heritage, she had more than enough to support a second sword.
Masaki and Isshin were both trying to keep a calm face seeing the odd apparition Ichigo and the twins had brought back with them.
"Who's your new friend sweetie?" asked Masaki.
Hearing Ichigo babble on about the new 'friend' she had made, Masaki inwardly wanted to cry. Then she looked to Muramasa.
Outwardly, he had a calm expression. In reality any parent could see the minuscule twitching on his face indicating that he had tried to stop them and failed, spectacularly. Karin still pouted that the only one who could hear him properly was Ichigo.
Coincidentally all the girls were learning sign language so that they could all communicate with Muramasa.
Which was why the two adults waited for the girls to be preoccupied with cartoons to see the 'discussion' they were about to have.
"What happened?" sighed Isshin.
Muramasa took out the white board and began to scribble. It was easier than charades.
"Something took notice of Ichigo's powers, and Shirosaki had to coach her in what to say to deal with it."
Isshin twitched at that.
"Took notice...how?"
"Shirosaki may have had to threaten the spirit into behaving and leaving the girls alone."
"I swear, one of these days we're going to find out who or what Shirosaki is," said Isshin exasperated.
"She's a zanpakuto spirit. Ichigo's zanpakuto, to be exact."
Isshin gave Muramasa a startled look.
"Are you sure?"
Muramasa's flat expression said volumes.
"Shirosaki's true power is too strong for Ichigo to handle at the moment, hence why she gave Ichigo a nickname to call her. If her true name was called, then it might accidentally kill Ichigo...and would absolutely draw the wrong sort of attention."
"What sort of attention?" asked Masaki.
"To put it bluntly, summoning her might accidentally draw a Menos Grande at the very least."
Both parents winced at the implications. Yeah, that was definitely a bad thing for a girl with no training and a human form. From the sounds of things the spiritual pressure they all felt that day likely came from Ichigo's zanpakuto, and that was not something a preteen could handle without a LOT of training first.
It was little wonder Shirosaki had directed Ichigo to find Muramasa as a stand-in, if summoning her caused that.
Isshin had a pained look on his face.
"This is going to be a common thing, isn't it?"
Muramasa had a smirk on his face, indicating how much he enjoyed their suffering. At least they didn't have to try and act as the voice of reason for Ichigo's insane adventures.