Warnings: this story is rated M for its language, violence, and sexual relations between two men (Yaoi).  Please do not read if you are not into those things.  Please leave me your comments and reviews telling me what you think! I claim no rights or anything associated with the Bleach series and/or its characters.

Special Keys: "regular human speech", 'thinking to ones self', *mental telepathy*, (authors notes), bold - point of view, italic - Zangetsu's speech

Five - Ichigo

Shiro's POV

I sat up in my bed stunned at the words that came out of Ichigo's mouth.

"I never got the chance to truly thank you for what you did Shirosaki.  You took care of me and gave me a name.  Thank you." stated Ichigo bashfully as he began to blush lightly.  His ears fell back showing that he was embarrassed.

'God how cute!' I thought to myself.  "Your welcome Ichigo.  But please just call me Shiro for short.  I see my clothes fit you nicely.  Do you need for me to fix those pants for your tail?" I asked.  Ichigo slowly nodded his head yes as I got up from my bed walking over to my dresser grabbing a pair of scissors.  As I walked back over I could see Ichigo's eyes widen like dinner plates as he looked ready to bolt.  But he sat perfectly still as his sharp nails dug into my bed.  I carefully cut a hole into the pants weaving his tail through the hole that I created.  Ichigo bit down into his lower lip trying to prevent from crying out because of his tail.  I gently let the tail fall from my hand as it twitched in irritation. "All better now Ichigo."

"Thank you Shiro." replied Ichigo as I climbed back onto the bed patting to a spot right besides me.  Ichigo slowly crawled up to my side.

"So tell me about what happened." I stated softly.  Ichigo placed his head against my chest as he curled up against me.

Ichigo's POV

I got comfortable next to Shiro loving the way that he smelled and the feel of his warmth.  I let out a long soft sigh before I spoke.

"I was born normally into a litter of kittens but me and one of my older brothers were different from our other brothers and sisters considering our coloring.  Then one day a strange looking human came and took me and my older brother away from the rest of the litter.  We both thought that we were going to live with this human." I stated.  I could feel Shiro stroking my hair as he carefully avoided my ears as a soft rumbling purr rattled my chest.

"I take it from the dream that I had that the teal kitten is your older brother." stated Shiro as I nodded my head yes.

"Me and my brother never earned a true name from this human that took us." I told him.

"What can you remember about the human that took you and your brother?" Shiro asked.

"His face..........it was painted." I replied before I continued on with my story.  "We were brought to a lavatory were this human used us for his experiments.  He shot us with various chemicals and put us through various experiments that drastically changed our DNA."

"Changing both you and your brother into nekos, human-like cats." stated Shiro as I nodded my head yes.

"He wasn't done with us as he continued to experiment on us injecting us with various chemicals in order to have us develop powers.  He was trying to create the perfect weapon.  The experiments and what he had put us through was living hell.  I couldn't stand it anymore. That is when I meet him, the other part of me, Zangetsu." I told Shiro.

Shiro's POV

Suddenly a vision flashed before my eyes as I could feel my whole entire body go stiff.  I could feel myself screaming as I saw everything that happened to Ichigo as if I was experiencing it myself.  A being appeared before my eyes in a city with a bright blue sky which had very little clouds in it.  This being stood sideways on a building without falling off.

"My name is Zangetsu........I am a part of you, your other half." stated the man whom was wearing all black with smokey gray sunglasses and had long black wavy hair.  "I can help you escape from this place.  Set you free."

"Please help me." whimpered Ichigo.  Zangetsu said nothing as I could feel his powers as it felt quite similar to my own.  I watched as the container that Ichigo was contained in shattered to pieces as Ichigo was freed.  Ichigo stumbled out of the lavatory leaving both his brother and his captor behind.  Ichigo transformed back into his cat form as that is when I had found him.  My mind blurred as I collapsed in exhaustion slowly slipping out of consciousness because of what I had seen.  Now I knew how Ichigo came to be.