Double Trouble

21. Menos Attack

A couple of weeks had passed since Ichigo and Shiro had begun to train with Urahara and the Visoreds. Shiro had yet to release his sword into Shikai. Ichigo on the other hand had discovered his sword's name, Zangetsu. Releasing his sword had led to a new discovery, Ichigo was a dualist. His sword spilt into two swords. Zangetsu had explained that it was because Ichigo had two separate powers that made him who he was. Shinigami from his father and Quincy from his mother. This wasn't something Ichigo shared with Urahara though, only Shiro; who wasn't surprised to learn of this. His answer was simple to learning about this.

"Remember Ichi," he began as he laid on his back on the borrowed futon from Urahara. "as they keep saying, I used to be a Hollow. Who do you think defeated me in that life? It was Mum." He waited to hear the million questions that would soon come.

"How do you know that?" Ichigo inquired. It was a good question.

"My Zanpakuto." He answered softly, not really wanting to reveal too much about his Zanpakuto just yet.

"What is your Zanpakuto like?" Ichigo asked curiously. This was the first time his brother had spoken about the unknown sword.

"He's like me." Shiro answered with a grin before looking at his brother, a mischievous gleam was seen in his dark eyes. "Unpredictable."

That had been the last time they spoke about his sword. The next day they had to save Orihime from her dead brother's spirit. A couple days later, Chad had gotten into trouble leading both boys to come to his aid. More and more Hollow attacks seemed to be coming to their town and it just didn't make sense to either boy, especially Shiro who had been able to see and sense these creatures for years. Then the Quincy boy showed up. Uryu Ishida was a condescending teenager who thought he knew everything, however, upon actually meeting Ichigo, the teen felt a need to be rid of the Shinigami so strongly that he would use anything to be rid of him, including Quincy Bait. However, the game soon had turned dangerous. Too many Hollows were taking the bait. Uryu couldn't understand why, not until he met Shiro.

Shit. Uryu cursed mentally when he saw Shiro in a white Shihakusho with an equally big sword like Ichigo carried on his back. He was about to aim an arrow at him because those eyes were not normal. He had to be a Hollow in disguise. It was then he was hit in the back of the leg by something solid. Turning his head he spotted a man in a striped bucket hat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Urahara warned the young Quincy. "Not unless you want Ichigo as your enemy for life."

Confused, he asked, "Why, it's just a Hollow?"

Urahara peered at the boy from under the brim of his hat. "Well, Ichigo has a bad habit of fighting people who attack his twin."

Twin? Uryu wondered before recalling exactly that. Ah. Yes, he'd seen a boy who looked like Ichigo at school with pure white hair like what the Hollow sported, but he'd never actually seen the other boy's face or eyes, just from behind. Then there was the fact the other boy always wore sunglasses at school, supposedly for medical reasons.

That was when it happened, a Menos Grande had showed up. The creature was bigger than any Hollow before it and it was solely focused on the two Kurosaki siblings. It wasn't even interested in anything else.

All throughout this attack, Chad and Orihime both had been trying to keep people safe, only to discover they had unique abilities unlike anyone else. The Visoreds had sensed the attack and had gone to assist in defeating the Hollows. Yoruichi had been the one to find the two friends of Ichigo and Shiro fighting lower class Hollows. She helped the two teens. Karin had almost been hurt badly and Yuzu was knocked unconscious by a Hollow, only for Isshin to use a low powered kido attack to protect his youngest daughter, something he thought was impossible for him to do because of his and Masaki's souls being tied to one another.

"Ready Ichi?" Shiro asked his brother, feeling a swell of power rise inside of himself, his Hollowfied Zanpakuto was hankering for a fight.

The orange haired teen grinned cockily. "Bring it on!" he yelled above the noise that the Menos Grande was making. He readied his sword and as the creature went screech at them, both teens suddenly disappeared in a blur of motion. Ichigo released a strike so powerful the creature swayed in the crack that was created by it. The Hollow seemed to rethink coming into this world by backing up and away from the boy. Suddenly Shiro appeared beside the creature's head and released a blast of energy from his sword that was so powerful that when the light faded from it, the head of the Menos was gone!

Everyone present was staring at the white haired teen in awe. The power Ichigo usually released was that colour blue mingled with black, however the power released by Shiro had been red and black, two colours that were usually related to a being of great power. It reinforced the notion that Shiro was more powerful than what anyone knew of.

Soon after the Menos death, the other less powerful Hollows began to flee back to their world of eternal night and sands. Urahara looked at Shiro an Ichigo and was quite curious as to what these two boys would bring; however, another thought entered his mind. Would they be strong enough to bring Aizen down? Tipping his hat down, Urahara hid his face, ashamed of the thought of sending these boys after that...monster. No, he could never do that to them. He had to think of something else; meanwhile he would train them until he could think of something that would inevitably bring down the traitor.