Blood soaks Zaraki’s blade as he pulls it out of Ichigo’s chest and through the sword.

Ichigo collapses.

Zangetsu, his Zanpaku blade, shatters cleanly in two.

"...Damn," Zaraki curses regretfully,* "And it had been such a long time since there was a guy who could cut me as well as hear the bells in the middle of battle..."

He looks down at his fallen opponent gasping for air beside the broken sword. "...it’s over, huh," Zaraki says to himself in disappointment and turns away, "...how boring..."

Ichigo lies there, coughing up blood. …Shit…!! he berates himself, Shit! Shit! Shit! SHIT!! I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna die! I can’t die at a time like this…!! I can’t die yet!!

From the ground, Ichigo looks up and watches angrily as Zaraki scrapes the tip of his sword against the ground as he leaves.

Move! Ichigo orders himself. Move, Body! Stop bleeding!! Please let me fight one more time…! I… He struggles to raise his head off the ground, blood dripping down his chin. I’ve gotta… save Rukia!!!**

Zaraki sweeps the blade tip off the ground and rests the sword against his shoulder idly as he walks off, not bothering to look back.

In that same instant, a black-clad, long-haired man appears beside an oblivious Zaraki and strides toward Ichigo. The man is Zangetsu, the spiritual embodiment of Ichigo’s Zanpaku sword.

Meeting Ichigo’s wide-eyed gaze, Zangetsu stands over him with his black cape billowing out. "Do you want to fight? Do you want to win?" he asks. "Or do you want to live?" He gives Ichigo a hard look, "Which one is it."

Gripping the hilt of his broken sword tightly, Ichigo chokes out, "...I want to win..."

"...I can’t hear you," Zagetsu says.

"There’s no meaning to just fighting..." Ichigo says. "There’s no meaning to just surviving...! I want to win! I WANT TO WIN!!!"

Zangetsu’s eyes narrow, "...Fine." He kneels down a places a hand on Ichigo’s shoulder, "If so, then I’ll bring you with me!" His clothes spread out, unraveling like blackened wings and quickly surrounds the determined Ichigo.

The area where Ichigo collapsed is empty as a dark void closes up. Ichigo finds himself falling quickly into the darkness until there is a sudden flash of light. He winces and looks around. "...This place is..."

Ichigo stands on the vertical side of a high building. He has been here before, when he went through Urahara's training to become a Shinigami and earn Zangetsu. Suddenly, he remembers what happened here before: last time, he fell down the vertical drop.

Ichigo quickly pushes himself to fall flat on his back and clutch at the building’s wide windows. Zangetsu appears, standing on the vertical face, and asks, "What are you doing?"

Still laying flat against the window pane, Ichigo says, "Wha... but, if I don’t do this, then I’ll fall again, right!?"

"That is not a concern," Zangetsu turns his back to Ichigo. "It only happened at that time because this inner world had lost its stability due to your Hollow transformation.*** But now it’s different. Look. Even though you just had that battle, it didn’t cause the slightest tremor in your inner world."

"Wait, wait," Ichigo sweat-drops "Well, what? You’re saying that it’s normal to have this haphazard crisscross crap inside my mind?"

Zangetsu continues talking to himself, "Somehow you seem to be getting stronger..."

"Amazing," Ichigo snaps sarcastically at Zangetsu’s back, "You do a fantastic job at ignoring me."

"Stand up, Ichigo," Zangetsu orders. He turns around and tosses an average-looking Japanese sword at him.

"Wah!? Whoa!" Ichigo stands and fumbles comically with the blade as he catches it. "H-h-hey, that’s dangerous!! Who’d throw an unsheathed sword!?"

"Take it," Zangetsu turns away again. "It is your sword."

"...huh?" Ichigo holds onto the hilt, looking a bit clueless. "But, Mister... this isn’t Zangetsu..."

"It is ‘Asauchi,’"**** Zangetsu explains. "It’s an unnamed Zanpaku blade, which low-level Shinigami who haven’t joined the 13 Divisions carry."

"No," Ichigo protests, "my Zanpaku sword is Zangetsu–"

"Isn’t this the one called ‘Zangetsu’..." Zangetsu suddenly holds up the real Zanpaku blade in his hand, "the one which your enemy broke a little while ago?"

He looks at Ichigo in deep disappointment, "I will not hand this over to you."

"Wha...!" Ichigo watches in surprise as Zangetsu flings the blade down the other side of the building.

"What are you doing!?" Ichigo dives after his blade, but a powerful voice calls out from behind him.

"Step aside."

Ichigo spins around and sees a white figure blur past him at an incredible speed. What the…!? He watches the figure leap and bound down the side of the building after the blade. Ichigo notices something strange about this newcomer, His Shinigami uniform… it’s white!?

The white figure grabs Zangetsu’s hilt, flips through the air and lands powerfully. Ichigo sprints after him and sees the figure turn towards him, "...Wha... what are you...!?"

The man who holds Zangetsu’s hilt is Ichigo... but also the opposite. He resembles Ichigo, but his outer clothes are white, while his belt, undershirt, and tabi are black.

"There’s no need to ask, partner," he looks up at Ichigo with eyes that are black with white pupils. Sca~ry!

"Now we’ll try and see if you have what it takes to wield me," Zangetsu appears beside this new, slightly crazed-looking version of Ichigo as he addresses the real Ichigo, "If you want to have me once more, let’s see you try and steal me back with your own hands."

Ichigo, who holds the measly ‘Asauchi,’ faces down Anti-Ichi, who rests the immense Zangetsu on his shoulder.

"The enemy," Zangetsu says, "is yourself!!!"

* "...Damn," Airy curses regretfully, "No intro drawing this week."
**Yay! I’ve been waiting for him to say that! ^_^
***The last time he visited this inner world, Ichigo was being transformed into a Hollow and that caused his soul to start breaking down – thus the instability of the place during that time.
**** ‘Asauchi’ literally means ‘Shallow Strike.’

Notes:
-My apologies if this chapter was confusing. It’s kinda tough to write about a sword named Zangetsu who is also at the same time a man named Zangetsu. Not to mention that we’ve now got 2 Ichigos to deal with (not entirely a bad thing). ^_^;;
-I’m gonna call the new guy “Anti-Ichi” until I hear a better name…
-Anti-Ichi scares the unworldly crap out of me! O_o
-Tabi are split-toed socks worn with traditional footwear. Shinigami wear them along with their straw sandals.
-The ad for Next week’s Shonen Jump is boasting a Bleach cover, color pages, and the 2nd Annual Character Polls! They better not be lying, dammit – I can’t wait till next week!! XD
-If I have the 1st Annual Polls that I translated for lacewood still saved on my computer, I’ll post it up here on the community later. ^_^

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