[Balling like a fool]

Originally Posted by Red Comet

Rukia didn't have the hougekyou until after she gave ichigo her powers. ichigo got his hollow powers when he was trying to get his soul reaper powers back. his inner hollow was a result of his partial hollowfication when he was in the shaft.

i'll rewatch the episodes, but im pretty sure rukia had the hougekyou in her the whole time. and i know "how" he got the hollow powers, but during those episodes urahara made it sound like, "you get your powers back, or your chain will run out and you die" i think ichigo was an exception to this rule because he had had the hougekyou inside of him. otherwise, why would Aizen go through the trouble of getting the hougekyou? why was it even created? if it was that easy for a shinigami to get hollow powers.