黒崎一護 ☀ Kurosaki Ichigo

☞ Player Information;
Name: Luce
Player Journal: loobywibble
Age: 26
Contact: AIM: luceisonnow, e-mail: lucindachill@hotmail.com, LuceButNotLiterally
Other characters currently played at Ryan's Gulch: N/A

☞ Character Information;
Character Name: Ichigo Kurosaki
Canon: BLEACH
OU or AU?: OU
Canon point: Post chapter 479

Setting: At first glance, the Bleach world is one that is not so very different to our own. The story is set around the year 2001, and our hero lives in Karakura-cho, a suburb near the center of Tokyo. It's a fairly peaceful, average town, with the Karasu and Onose rivers running through it and with parks, shopping districts, and a number of schools.

But then you realise that more than a few of the local high-school population can see dead people and that's when it starts to get a little weird.

The action in the series is divided between the Living World, Soul Society (the Bleach universe equivalent to the afterlife), and Hueco Mundo (the world between the Living World and Soul Society). Hell also exists, and recently The King's Realm and the Soul King's Palace, where the
Soul King (the Bleach universe equivalent to God) lives, has been explored.

The main theme in the Bleach universe is the power of spirits and souls, and a large majority of the cast in the series are representatives from the Shinigami, a race of psychopomps tasked with ferrying the dead to Soul Society after their deaths, and safeguarding the wandering spirits- or Pluses- from attack from Hollows, spirits who have been consumed with negative emotions such as loneliness and hatred, and seek to fill the void caused by this by devouring other souls or, in extreme cases, attacking and killing their still living loved ones to have them join them. Shinigami serve in the Gotei 13 and vary in power and ranking depending on their spiritual power. The strongest are the Captain class Shinigami of the Gotei 13. It is the responsibility of the Shinigami to prevent this from happening, either by purifying the hollow with their Zanpakutou- special soul cleansing weapons that are an embodiment of the Shinigami's soul and spiritual power- or performing konso (or soul burial) on the wandering spirits so that they are safely transported to Soul Society and taken out of the reach of the Hollow who have not crossed over. When a Hollow is slain, the misdeeds they performed as a Hollow are cleansed and they are allowed into Soul Society, however, if they were as evil in life as they were in death, no amount of cleansing with a Zanpakutou would enable them to cross over and they are dragged to Hell. Hollows exist in the following forms:

• Demi Hollow- an earth bound spirit who has not become a full Hollow and is bound in place by chains.
• Hollow- a malevolent spirit with a hole denoting its lost heart. These are characterised by a bone mask over their face.
• Gillian- the least powerful of the Menos, which are a conglomeration of hundreds of Hollows coming together to form one more powerful entity. They are easily destroyed by Captain class Shinigami but are a struggle for lower ranking Shinigami
• Adjuchas- fewer in number than the Gillian and smaller in size, these Menos are stronger, faster and more intelligent and often lead the lesser Menos into battle.
• Vasto Lorde- these are the strongest Menos. They are the smallest in size, mostly humanoid in shape and extremely rare, and their combat abilities are said to rival those of Shinigami captains.

The three Menos classifications are constantly devouring weaker Hollows in order to become stronger and, in the case of Gillians and Adjuchas, evolve.

Soul Society is initially described as being like a paradise, but it is in fact not too dissimilar to the Living World, although ageing here is much less rapid and many of the denizens acquire spiritual powers and are able to undergo Shinigami training. Most residents inhabit Rukongai, the residential area surrounding Seireitei, the Court of Pure Souls where the Gotei 13 (the main military force in Soul Society), Nobility and Central 46 (Soul Society's governing body) have their headquarters. Life in the outlying districts of Rukongai is very hard with people struggling to survive and dangerous ruffians roaming the streets, while the quality of (after)life improves the closer one gets to Seireitei. Many spirits aspire to become Shinigami so that they may have a better time of things, though it is hinted at after the Soul Society arc that things may be improving for the residents of Rukongai. In order to become a shinigami, one must harbour a greater than average amount of spiritual energy, or reiryoku (the typical indicator that a spirit may have reiryoku is a desire to eat, which lesser spirits do not have).

Outside the relative safe haven of Soul Society, and connecting it to the Living World is the Dangai (or Precipice World). Within the Dangai, time passes quicker than in the worlds it connects to, at a rate of 2,000 hours passing inside the Dangai for every one that passes in the worlds outside it, and this quality is used to Ichigo's advantage when he urgently needed more training in order to defeat Aizen Sousuke. Inside the Dangai, he was able to undergo many months' worth of training in a matter of hours. It is a very dangerous place and is strictly policed by the street-cleaner-like Kototsu to prevent anyone from lingering too long and taking advantage of the time distortion.

Hueco Mundo- the Hollow World- is where Hollows exist when they are not roaming the Living World or Soul Society. Upon Aizen Sousuke's acquisition of the Hougyoku (a powerful device invented by Urahara Kisuke and designed to break down the boundaries between Hollow and Shinigami and transfer their powers unto each other), Hueco Mundo became home to the former Shinigami and his fellow defectors where they dwelt in a fortress named Las Noches, which was also home to Aizen's force of Arrancar. Arrancar were formerly highly powered Hollows, but due to their exposure to the Hougyoku they have gained access to Shinigami powers and become considerably more powerful than the average Hollow. The strongest of the Arrancar, the Espada, rank from 0-9, and are served by their own underlings called Fracción, who are selected from amongst the ranked Arrancar or Números. There are also the Exequias who serve as the execution squad.

Closely associated with the Arrancar are the Visored, a small group of Shinigami who have acquired Hollow powers. Their abilities are elaborated on under Ichigo's abilities section as he numbers amongst them.

The most mysterious of the locales in the Bleach Universe is the domain of the Soul King. His palace is protected by the five members of the Royal Guard, who are tasked with protecting the King and create elements that are used by the lower ranking Shinigami of the Gotei 13. These characters and this world have been recently explored in the manga and have not yet been fully elaborated upon. There is also the possibility that yet another realm, that of the Quincy, may exist but this is yet to be confirmed beyond promotional material for the manga's final arc.


History: Take a very large cup of tea with you and have a peek at the wiki over here, but for a less lengthy read:

Ichigo is the main protagonist of the Bleach series. Born to a Quincy mother and a depowered Shinigami father, he grew up with the ability to see and communicate with the spirits of the dead, though he never understood why. Tragedy struck when he was nine years old as his mother was killed by a Hollow, thus shaping the rest of Ichigo's life by giving him a drive to protect the things he cared about, no matter what the cost. When Ichigo is fifteen, he has his first encounter with a Shinigami, Kuchiki Rukia, and after his family is attacked by a Hollow he finds himself acquiring Rukia's Shinigami powers to protect them all after she is injured. Due to very convoluted overarching plot related reasons, Rukia's powers do not return to her, and Ichigo must do her job as a Shinigami for her to prevent the powers that be from finding out she has illegally transferred her powers to a Human. Supernatural slice of life/comedy shenanigans carry on for a while, introducing a whole cast of colourful characters, but ultimately things become more serious after Rukia is located by Soul Society and taken back to stand trial. Ichigo and his ragtag band of supernaturally powered friends storm Soul Society to save her, and in the process stumble across and get caught up in Aizen Sousuke's dastardly scheme to take over the world.

With Rukia saved and Aizen on the loose, Ichigo does not get much time to relax before he is forced back into action again with the arrival of Aizen's powered up Hollow-hybrid soldiers, the Arrancar, attacking his hometown and his friends. After Ichigo gets depressed about being useless and learns how to tap into his Hollow powers, Aizen's goons show up and take another of Ichigo's friends, Inoue Orihime, into captivity in Hueco Mundo, the Hollow World. Once again aided by a posse of badasses, Ichigo charges into battle and while things initially go quite well, they quickly go horribly, horribly wrong, resulting in a group of Shinigami captains coming to Hueco Mundo to bail the rescue mission out and Ichigo going utterly berserk in Aizen's castle. And then it turns out that it had all been a major distraction tactic anyway and Aizen had sent an invasion force to try and destroy Ichigo's hometown while he was distracted and out of the way.

D'oh.

Ichigo goes back, finds out things are going badly, has a major confidence crisis and mini-breakdown, gets some sense knocked into him by his father (quite literally), and then gets put through some special training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber dangai for the equivalent of three months in order to learn how to master his sword's final ability. With that under his belt, he arrives in the nick of time to shove Aizen's face into a mountain with one hand and then proceeds to lay a comprehensive smack down on him with the Final Getsuga Tenshou and weakens Aizen to the point that he's able to be sealed away. The only downside to this is that Ichigo then loses all his powers, can't see ghosts anymore, and goes on to mope about it for seventeen months.

Seventeen months later... Ichigo is still moping, and a mysterious new group of people called Xcution approach him promising to help give him shiny new powers and then get his Shinigami powers back after Ichigo's friend Ishida is attacked. Lacking any trace of better judgment, Ichigo goes off with them, acquires a shiny new ability called a Fullbring (which are powers acquired from a person's parent coming into contact with a Hollow and the abilities being passed onto the child somehow), but it turns out that Xcution were just helping Ichigo get powered up so they could take his Fullbring powers and use them to strengthen their own. Ichigo throws a tantrum but is swiftly brought back to badass by the timely arrival of his father, Urahara, and Rukia wielding a magical sword that fully restores Ichigo's Shinigami powers by giving him a jump start with the borrowed reiatsu of all his allies in Soul Society, and as a bonus, his Fullbring powers manage to boost his strength too, making him more than capable of beating the leader of Xcution and returning to his abnormal life, ready to face down the final arc in the story.

Personality: To those that don't know him, Ichigo can appear to be stand-offish and thuglike, an impression which is not aided by his naturally bright orange hair. He is hot-headed and will occasionally ignore the old adage ‘look before you leap.’ He can be brash, petulant and antagonistic at times, but beneath this tough veneer is a determined and driven young man whose sole purpose in life is to protect those in need, especially if they are dear to him. His mother's death when he was nine forced him to grow up fast; he stepped into her shoes as the self-appointed protector of his family and, as he grew older, his desire to protect people spread out to his friends and then anyone in trouble who he was in a position to help. As he believes that his mother died protecting him, he cannot stand when others protect him and hates to feel helpless and useless.

Ichigo has a strong moral compass; he is a very merciful person, as shown in both Soul Society and Hueco Mundo when he made a point of healing those opponents he defeated (such as Ikkaku and most notably Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez). He also doesn’t want to win a fight through unfair advantages- rather foolishly he offers to cut his arm and leg off in order to fight the greatly mutilated Ulquiorra Cifer on an even playing field. However, it is debatable as to what angle he was taking when he made such an offer: if what Grimmjow and Kenpachi state about Ichigo being a man driven by the pursuit of strong opponents, it would be galling to him as a warrior to live with the knowledge that he had defeated someone incapable of giving him the sort of challenging fight that craves. Perhaps it is due to this, or perhaps it is a combination of the two; Ichigo has certainly never demonstrated a lack of decency as a human being. He is a devoted older brother to his younger sisters and sticks to his family ties like glue; he has very little tolerance for Byakuya’s attitude towards Rukia during the Soul Society Arc, as he is neglecting his duties as an older brother by not doing everything in his power to protect her. This is taken to the utmost of extremes after Tsukishima uses his Fullbring on Ichigo's sisters to alter there memories and accept him as part of their lives. Ichigo openly states for the first time in the manga's history that he plans to kill someone for what they've done, as it appears as though interfering with his younger sisters is the hair trigger for Ichigo's berserk button. He ultimately doesn't carry out his threat as his sisters' memories are restored and they remain unharmed. It is a sharp contrast, however, to the Ichigo who once appeared haunted by the knowledge that he had killed a 'human' enemy (or at least human looking and acting), that he would be willing to go to such extremes for the sake of his sisters and closest friends.

After being torn down so thoroughly by doubt prior to his showdown with Aizen, Ichigo appears to have grown more confident in himself and his abilities. This is shown best after the time-skip when he has become aware that doubting himself is a dangerous flaw, to the extent that he actually calls Ginjou out on trying to mess with his head in the midst of battle and unsettle him to get an advantage. After seventeen months of powerlessness, Ichigo has seemingly retained the same mature stance that he demonstrated in his final battle against Aizen; he is aware of his limits and capabilities and would sooner fight than play mind games to achieve his ends. Ichigo at seventeen is a calmer, more rational fighter in the heat of battle, one who has learnt from his past and from each of his major fights.

The thing that defines Ichigo more than anything else is his desire to protect. This has motivated him to become stronger throughout his life; as a child he heard his father say that the name Ichigo means ‘to protect one thing,’ and he has spent his life trying to live up to his name. Initially he didn’t want to have to bear the burden of responsibility for helping everyone- he says himself to Rukia after acquiring Shinigami powers that he's not going to go out every time and save everyone, but he's not the sort of person who is going to stand by and let someone get hurt when he's in a position to save them. He also states that he is not a person who will see his debts go unpaid to a person. However, as the series has progressed his spectrum of people to protect has expanded to the extent that it can be argued that it encompasses his whole home town (and due to the nature of Aizen’s plans for world domination, the whole world by extension). While this desire has enabled some of Ichigo’s finest moments of heroism, it was also responsible for his darkest hour, when he succumbed to the control of his Hollow and was reduced to his basest, most violent instincts to protect Orihime. He will not stand for anyone hurting his friends or family, and woe betide anyone who does. If protection is Ichigo’s raison d’etre, then ‘Never give up’ is his mantra. Ichigo will carry on fighting until he is physically unable to, and even then that is not enough to hold him back. When Ichigo has resolved to do something, he will do it, whether it means taking on an entire military organisation or charging blindly into enemy territory to rescue a friend.

It is also worth noting that one of the most extraordinary things about Ichigo is his rate of growth, he is able to adapt extremely quickly to life as a Shinigami and is constantly getting stronger, even doing so while in the midst of a fight (as shown during his fight with Kenpachi and his battles against Ulquiorra, where he is incapacitated by a Cero blast at one point, and then later is able to withstand another with ease a few hours later.)

Ichigo is a teenage boy, and is not immune to bouts of gloomy depression, but unlike most teenage boys these spells are usually brought on by him feeling helpless or like a failure in regards to his own abilities. Prior to Orihime's abduction to Hueco Mundo, he was so despondent about his own apparent weakness that he literally had to have the depression beaten out of him by Rukia. This was not the first time that he had fallen into a black mood; after Rukia was taken back to Soul Society (admittedly, he was lying half dead in a road and can’t really be blamed for this) and after Orihime was taken he has been very angry and withdrawn. It is shown again, after the seventeen month time skip, where Ichigo is clearly bothered by his inability to go out and take on Hollows, even though he knows that his friends continue to do it, but refuses to admit that it bothers him. After seemingly longing for a life free of the burden of seeing ghosts and having to fight Hollows, Ichigo is stagnating in normality and once again internalising all his problems, a fact that is not unnoticed by those closest to him.

Supernatural abilities aside, Ichigo is an intelligent person- one of the people he admires the most is William Shakespeare, so the boy has a good head on his shoulders. As his brightly coloured hair gets negative attention, he tries to dispel the common perception that he is little more than a thug by trying hard at school (he is 23rd in his age group). He is observant and able to analyse attack patterns in battle and use this to his advantage to launch a counter attack. He has also demonstrated leadership abilities, both in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. He has a tendency to leave his head at the door when something gets him angry enough, but generally speaking he is not a stupid person (despite the fact that he is terrible at remembering names and faces, and is prone to the odd moment of utter idiocy- usually under provocation from Rukia, or Renji, or Ishida).

Ichigo does not hold grudges and even demonstrates signs of understanding to the point of empathy when it comes to his foes. Despite Aizen's desire to wipe Ichigo's hometown off the map and kill every single person he held dear along with thousands of innocent people in order to create the King's Key, Ichigo appears rueful at the end of their fight and even questions Urahara on Aizen's motives, claiming he could feel sorrow in Aizen's Zanpakutou, Kyouka Suigetsu. He is surprisingly merciful towards Kugou Ginjou by going to Soul Society to retrieve his body to allow it proper burial, even after he was manipulated and used by the former Shinigami substitute and his family put in immediate danger by him. When questioned why, Ichigo claimed that he had no reason to hate Ginjou anymore; his family were safe and his friends back to normal.

Ichigo does not set a lot of importance by status and traditions for the sake of them being there, nor is he terribly respectful in his way of addressing people. Most people he knows are addressed without honorifics, and often by only their first name (a fact that rankles both Hitsugaya and Byakuya, who he consistently refers to by their given names rather than rank); rather than being disrespectful as some might claim, it seems to suggest that Ichigo regards these people as his equals. This is not to say that he has no respect for anyone; where he once referred to Urahara Kisuke only as 'geta-boshi' (lit. hat and clogs), after he has his powers restored by the older man, Ichigo marks his new found gratitude and respect for him by referring to him as Urahara-san. This shows that Ichigo is a young man who is more impressed by a person's strength and deeds than he is by rank and title.

It should also be noted that Kurosaki Ichigo is allergic to mammaries: his boobphobia is legendary.Though it seems that he is now able to rest his head on a bosom without having a complete meltdown.

Abilities: Ichigo's natural abilities, before taking into account those acquired by his status as a Shinigami are as follows. (The term Shinigami, which literally means 'god of death', is translated as Soul Reaper in the dub. Shinigami are supernatural entities who serves as the Bleach universe's psychopomps and operate in the living world ferrying the spirits of the dead to Soul Society- the Bleach universe's 'heaven'. They also exorcise Hollow, which are souls corrupted by loneliness and despair and purify them for entry into Soul Society or, if they were already evil before death, send them to Hell.)

• The ability to see, communicate with and touch spiritual beings such as ghosts, Hollow and Shinigami
• Above average strength, agility and durability; he was schooled in karate from a young age and regularly got into fights due to his appearance, which has resulted in his body being in peak physical condition
• Advanced growth rate (this is expanded upon in the personality section)
• Keen intellect. Ichigo is able to use his head in battle and also in an academic setting

As for Ichigo's shinigami powers, the full and extensive list of his abilities can be found here, though I will list the most notable below:

• Vast spiritual power: Ichigo's power is expansive and unusually strong, rivalling even captain class Shinigami when he is only at half strength. Early on in the series when he has not even tapped into a fraction of his own abilities and using a sealed Zanpakuto, (a Shinigami's weapon, which takes the form of a shape-changing sword unique to each wielder that is, in essence, a physical manifestation of the Shinigami's power and soul, which will be revisited in the weapon section), he is able to single handedly defeat a Gillian Level Hollow, a feat that far exceeds the capabilities of an average Shinigami. His newly reawakened and Fullbring enhanced Shinigami powers are even more impressive (and as of current manga status, their full potential beyond strengthening his already impressive power has been unexplored.) His reiatsu (the spiritual pressure that he emits palpably into the atmosphere), is vast.
• Zanjutsu- swordplay. This seems to come naturally to him, as he is able to use a Zanpakutou with no problems when he gains Shinigami powers. There is nothing in his backstory to suggest that he has had any type of training with weapons before getting Shinigami powers.
• Shunpo- (Flashsteps), aka super speed/pseudo teleportation. Ichigo learns how to do this in Soul Society and is able to move at super speeds, making it appear that he has teleported. This ability is further heightened when Ichigo uses his Bankai (which increases his speed anyway)
• Reiraku detecting: Ichigo is able to locate the spiritual energy (reiryoku) of anyone, no matter how faint that might be, if he concentrates hard enough. Using this technique, he is able to visualise the spiritual energy of whoever he is looking for in the form of 'spirit ribbons'. This he does without being taught, and to the surprise of Rukia as it is a very advanced technique. After returning from his training in the dangai (the void between the Living World and Soul Society), Ichigo appears to have improved at this and is able to sense and locate multiple people easily.

Due to accidentally acquiring Hollow powers when attempting to restore his Shinigami abilities after he lost them the first time, Ichigo may also have the ability to tap into his inner Hollow's strength and fight using a Visored form, which greatly increases his speed. In this form, a bonelike mask with black stripes manifests on his face and his eyes change appearance with the scelera turning black and his irises becoming yellow. However, due to events that took place in Ichigo's inner world where the spirit of Zangetsu forcefully dragged Ichigo's Hollow out of him and merged with it, vowing to rid Ichigo of the source of his despair (as it broke free and led Ichigo on a berserker rampage in Hueco Mundo, brutally tearing Ulquiorra apart and attacking Ishida in the process), it is unknown whether Ichigo still has this ability at his disposal, as it has not been seen since. As he does not call upon his Hollow powers when he is facing the invading Quincy army shortly after regaining his Shinigami powers, it seems likely that he managed to rid himself of the Hollow's influence permanently upon learning the final Getsuga Tenshou.

While Ichigo does not demonstrate Quincy abilities at the time point I have taken him from, they remain dormant in him as a legacy from his Quincy mother and I feel they should be included. A Quincy is a human with the ability to serve as a medium between the living and the dead and therefore detect Hollows. They possess the ability to absorb spiritual energy from around them and manipulate it into weapons, most commonly taking the form of a bow and arrow. They are considered to be the polar opposites of Shinigami. (For a full list of the their abilities, please see here). In the manga thus far, Ichigo has been shown to use Blut, a defensive ability which enhances his offensive and defensive abilities. He is shown to use Blut Vene, a defensive technique, subconsciously when he is almost decapitated by Yhwach (the leader of the Quincy) and escapes with only a minor cut. This is after his Quincy blood is somehow awakened by another Quincy, Quilge Opie, after Ichigo is kept captive by him in the dangai.


How did your character arrive in Rapture? He arrived via the Teleportation Plasmid, unfortunately coming to rest in the Apiary and upsetting a few bees in the process.

Network sample: [There just so happens to be a very distinct sound of buzzing in addition to the short, sharp bursts of static that broadcast over the airwaves. It's not electronic, it sounds like a low, angry hum, almost like...

...bees?]

You've gotta be kidding! Damn it I thought I got rid of y- shit!

[The voice on the radio is young and male- not a kid but a young adult by the sounds of things- and it sounds distinctly annoyed by the situation its owner's just found himself in. Someone's just been stung, but that's what happens when you crash land on top of a beehive and walk around in honey covered hakama apparently.]

Stinging me's not gonna give you back your goddamn honey, knock it off!

[This is followed by a strange sound, almost like a sonic boom, and a woosh. There's some heavy breathing, and then the voice on the other end of the transceiver speaks again.]

Oi, this thing working? Some guy handed this thing to me and told me I ended up here 'cause of some 'transporting plasma' or some other weird sci-fi sounding thing and I don't know whether to buy into that or think this is some prank, and if it is a prank then don't think I'm not kicking your ass if you're responsible for it. Ha ha, very funny, I'm not laughing.

[He sighs heavily, audibly exasperated.]


So if this thing does work and someone can hear me, I'mma need directions to a shower, a map and a way out in that order 'cause I'm not planning on staying here for long.

[There's a pause (because he knows in advance he's going to regret asking this but he doesn't have a choice) before he adds this little beauty to the end of his transmission. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and he definitely sounds uncomfortable bringing this up.]

And I'm kinda missing a corpse. I had it before I got here and now it's gone. Anybody seen one?

Log sample: It had taken a little time for this new information to sink in. One moment he had been opening the dangai, the next he had felt a peculiar wrenching feeling and suddenly vertigo and all its accompanying disorientation had struck. He had found himself falling from a considerable height with a yelp, and crashed onto something that gave way beneath him with a crack and the unmistakable sound of splintering wood.

Ichigo greeted this news the way he usually greeted unwelcome information.

He yelled.

A lot.

“What the hell is this?"

Wait. Wait. He was sticky. Why was he sticky?! Shit, was he bleeding? He didn't think so, he'd had a lot of experience with open wounds before and they tended to hurt a lot more than the mild discomfort his rear was feeling from landing hard on... well, whatever the hell it was he'd landed on. Ichigo wasn't quite sure and couldn't easily identify the remains of the thing.

Huh.

Before he knew it, he was being yelled at for landing on someone's beehive- and tentative and hasty analysis of the wreckage and a hesitant lick of the sticky stuff confirmed this- and ushered away from the devastation that he'd unwittingly caused while being called every creatively insulting name the beekeeper must have had in his repertoire. Ichigo, however, was having none of that.

"Oi! It's not my fault, I didn't show up here on purpose! It's not like I just decided to fall outta the sky and break your damn beehive for kicks!"

He was duly berated in return and was about to formulate his response when something struck him as being distinctly off about the situation. Firstly, the beekeeper was yelling at him. Secondly, the beekeeper was not dressed as though they belonged in Rukongai. Thirdly, he wasn't even sure this was Rukongai now he came to think about it, and this then begged the unsettling question of how this guy was even seeing him in the first place. 'Cause he was definitely being seen, and he was definitely still in his shihakushou and could feel the reassuring weight of Zangetsu strung across his back, so either this irate beekeeper had the ability to see spirits or- actually Ichigo had no reasonable explanation to provide for an 'or'.
And fourthly, there was the small and unsettling matter that it appeared that Ichigo had misplaced the corpse he was carrying.

Wait, was the angry beekeeper saying something about an undersea city? Ichigo blinked and began to concentrate on what the other man was saying, his confusing deepening with everything he was raving about. It just didn't make any sense. A undersea city named Rapture? What the hell?

Ichigo took a moment to pinch himself and was mildly annoyed to find that the action hurt.

Apparently his deeply furrowed brow and accompanying scowl of concentration did nothing to endear him to the furious beekeeper, who threw up his hands in defeat and stomped off somewhere, leaving the new arrival even more irritated if that was at all possible. How the hell had he managed to wind up in an undersea city? Surely that kind of thing wasn't possible or it'd be all over the news? And yeah, it had been some time since he'd used the Dangai and he hadn't had a lot of practice at taking himself to and from Seireitei without a chaperone but he'd never thought he'd get it so wrong that he'd wind up somewhere he'd never even heard of before. Tch, he could practically hear Rukia now:

'Fool! Only you could manage to fail so comprehensively at basic navigation! Did you lose your last remaining shreds of common sense over the course of the last year or were you just saving this ineptitude for a special occasion?'

Ichigo quietly made a pact with himself to never let on to anyone that this had happened. Ever. He would never be able to live it down.

Grumbling to himself and briefly checking out the new phone in his hand- hi-tech looking, Urahara-san would have a field day over this kind of thing- Ichigo made a check over his shoulder to make sure that everything was as it should be. Sure enough, Zangetsu's weight and form remained reassuringly palpable, as though he had always been there and never absent. After seventeen months without his Zanpakutou's presence, Ichigo wasn't ashamed to admit that he still had the old man there with him. They'd been through a lot together; it was only fair they go through this weird turn of events together now.

With Zangetsu strapped firmly on his back and still feeling stickier than he'd have liked, Ichigo set off in search of someone else to help explain just what the hell had happened to him. There were answers that needed to be got, and even though he didn't have any idea where to begin looking, Kurosaki Ichigo was going to find them.

...and hopefully Ginjou's missing body in the process.