The Death Save The Strawberry - Bleach

Chapter Four

A year went by before she was contacted by Urahara again.

When she received his message, she hurried to his shop. Under Tessai's guidance, they walked through various white structures in a corner of the underground chamber.

Quite a few unidentified machines were placed closely together here, and the floor was covered with innumerable cords and lines. This was Urahara's research lab.

"Owner! Kuchiki-dono has arrived!" Tessai called in to the depths of the lab."Okay, okay! Please come in!"

Urahara's voice came from somewhere nearby. But with all the static and noise being emitted by the machines, she couldn't tell exactly where his voice was coming from.

"I'll take you there. This way, please, and watch your step."

"Ah, thank you," Rukia nodded and murmured quietly. She walked carefully behind him.

Even so, she still almost tripped and fell. Luckily Tessai noticed immediately and said, "Danger!"Since he grabbed her by her uniform collar, she didn't fall, but instead dangled in mid-air.

"Is it okay if we continue on like this?" she was asked.

"No, please let me down as soon as possible!" she protested, blushing, before she was set down again.

After that, she carefully watched where she stepped and managed to find Urahara without further incident.

"Welcome, Kuchiki-san! There seemed to be a bit of a disturbance... what was the matter?" asked Urahara who had been watching a giant monitor.

"What disturbance! There was no disturbance, just these power cords on the floor!"

"That's not it, it's impossible. Ururu-chan and Jinta manage to trip and fall beautifully each time. Even though I didn't think they would... I put the cords there just so they could arrive without incident. But let's get back to the main topic..."

"Exactly! Let's get back to the main topic!" Rukia felt responsible for allowing their conversation to stray.

Urahara shrugged slightly and said, "Okay, sorry. Well then Tessai, if you would please.""I understand!"

After receiving Urahara's instructions, Tessai pushed a cart in the corner towards Rukia.On the cart was a transparent cylinder measuring 65 centimeters across, and roughly 120 centimeters in height.

"This is..."

Inside the cylinder was a glowing sword. It swayed slightly and didn't have a distinct shape, giving off a warm yellowish-white light.

"This is the sword that will transfer spiritual power to Kurosaki-san."

"Transfer spiritual power... you mean the transfer of shinigami powers... Is that to say that this is a zanpakutou?"

Ordinarily, transferring shinigami powers required stabbing another with one's own zanpakutou, transferring spiritual power, allowing the other to turn into a shinigami.

"It's quite similar, but this is not a zanpakutou. However, it follows the same process of power transfer. Thanks to Isshin-san, I was able to use Engetsu as a base to make it."

Ichigo's zanpakutou Zangetsu was very similar in nature to his father Kurosaki Isshin's zanpakutou Engetsu.

Restoring his shinigami powers --- along with his bond with his zanpakutou and the transferral of powers, Isshin's help was absolutely necessary.