Edit: Never mind anything I've said about not continuing this.

(A/N) ...Ok, yeah, I couldn't stop myself. Bleach comeback? Kind of a big deal.

Do you want to know when I wrote this? The day after Burn the Witch first came out as a one-shot. I was so excited that Kubo-sensei was showing signs of life that I vomited close to 20k words in two days. It was a way for me to re-explore the fictional world that I loved so much from the beginning.

Why did this not come out then, you ask? I dunno lol. What I do know is that this had since been scrapped and some elements of the premise have been recycled into His Body is Made of Swords. I can't promise any kind of future for this story since I've got, like, 4 on the go. However, I'll put up the next lil bit that I've already written -chapter 1 if you will- sometime next week. From there, I'll see how things go.

I'm posting this as an homage to the series and its revival, as it holds a very dear place in my heart. Please excuse any incongruities or mistakes if any are found, but do let me know if you find them. I'll do my best to fix it. Notably, if the upcoming Burn the Witch serialization discredits anything that I've written here, that's my bad. I've incorporated elements under the assumption that we'd never get anything else to build on.

As a disclaimer, I have never attended an actual Japanese school on any level. This intro chapter makes reference to a lot of school tings, so if some things don't add up, again, let me know.

xxxxxxx

"Ichigo… Foolish child!"

The black mass that was once the Quincy King grasped Zangetsu's blade in a desperate attempt to retain whatever consciousness remained. The Shinigami that opposed him was unbothered, however; both of them knew how this was going to end.

"Because of you… because of you, fear will remain! There will be death, suffering, misery… and it's all on your head!"

The Shinigami's friend, a younger Quincy, let his bow fall to his side. It was over.

Yhwach had lost.

The younger Quincy walked past the Shinigami, not bothering to look back. He picked up the tattered body of the (unfortunately) still living criminal that made their assault possible. He served his purpose, but he would be released once again into the custody of the Gotei. Now he just had to get the red-haired idiot and meet up with Rukia, Orihime and the–

"I… will not have it."

The hand-shaped miasma let go of the Zanpakuto and grabbed the Shinigami by the throat faster than anyone could react.

"You won't win that easily."

The effect of the Still Silver arrow was being repressed, and the King's omnipotence slowly returned to him.

The Shinigami wouldn't let it end like this.

To win, he would need the ability of Zangetsu's true Bankai. The ability to transcend.

The young Quincy, his charge and the red-haired man were blown far off from the clearing of rubble as a power that surpasses all clashed with a power that can not be surpassed. In an instant, virtually everything in sight vanished from existence.

It was over as quickly as it began. The final vestiges of the Quincy King started to evaporate, a regretful grimace plastered on the creature's mouth.

"I see, now. Right to the end, you continue to defy me. To think I was still blind enough not to see that there would be no victory for either of us today."

Yhwach disappeared.

"Haaaaa… this sucks."

The battered body of Kurosaki Ichigo fell to its knees. His soul was beginning to flake off into spirit particles, much like his opponent.

"I won't even be able to see everyone, after all that."

He looked around and took note of the destruction the last bout caused.

"I hope Renji and Ishida were able to make it out al–"

His consciousness left him as his soul recognized that he should perish.

However, the universe decided something else first.

At the end of his life, Kurosaki Ichigo was an existence that artificially strengthened itself to a point where it could surpass omnipotence. It was an unnatural occurrence that could not be allowed. While Zangetsu gave Ichigo the ability to become something more, this wasn't what was intended. In his state of incompletion, Kurosaki Ichigo found a loophole in the laws of existence that allowed him to surpass those very laws.

The universe would not accept what it could not understand.

It reverted the Kurosaki Ichigo the point in time where it's power was a blank slate in the hope of it becoming what it should be.

It was only after both beings disappeared that others reached what little remained of the area.

"Are you sure this is the place?" asked a green-haired Arrancar. "All I see is a wasteland."

The sandy-blonde man that she was keeping upright laughed through the pain his lungs were in.

"Have some confidence, will ya? I wouldn't in good conscience… oh my, that's not good," the blonde trailed off as he took note of the downed bodies a few paces in front of them.

"Hnnnng…" the young Quincy groaned as he regained his wits.

The two quickly made their way to his side. "Ishida-kun! Please tell me what happened here."

"Everything was going well…" the white-clad man pushed his upper body off the ground awkwardly, "We were able to put Yhwach down, but then… I'm not sure. Somehow, the bastard caught a second wind, Ichigo matched him somehow, and then…" he looked back at the leveled ground behind him.

A sorrowful grimace crossed the blonde man's face before it settled itself into a more tired, if not neutral, expression. "I can't feel the kid's spiritual pressure anymore. His or Yhwach's."

The Arrancar woman gripped her sides and almost keeled over. She didn't have any strength to say anything as she came to the same realization as the blonde man.

The young Quincy looked grief-stricken. "Are you saying–"

"–that they're both gone," finished the blonde. "Ichigo had always sacrificed so much for us… only this time the sacrifice was a little too steep."

He let pushed himself away from the Arrancar supporting him and let himself crumble to his knees. He was a smart man; he knew that this was probably how things would go.

He wished now, more than ever, to have not been so right.

xxxxxxx

Ichigo woke up with a start. He pushed the sheets off of his person and sat at the edge of the bed.

"Bed?"

He took note of his surroundings. To his immediate left was a small desk with a simple yet sturdy chair tucked underneath. Facing him was a closet.

It was his room, though that chair didn't seem right for some reason. Didn't he get a new one a while back?

"What happened? Is Yhwach dead? Did we win?"

He didn't notice anything wrong until he tried to get to his up. He misjudged the distance between his legs and the floor and promptly fell face-first on the ground with a loud crash.

"Shit…"

He brought up his hand in an attempt to soothe his aching nose but paused halfway. His hand was different. It was smaller. Much smaller.

Oh hell no.

"What the–

The door to his room burst open, and in came his dad. Goat Chin –said facial hair missing– hadn't seemed this drained in a long time.

"Ichigo, are you alright? I heard something fall."

Ichigo frowned. What was going on? He looked younger, his dad looked younger, and didn't immediately try to kick him in the face.

"Ah…" he was a little lost for words.

His dad pulled him in for a hug. "It's okay… Everything will be okay, son. What happened to mommy the other day wasn't your fault."

Ichigo slowly started to piece things together. He was in his kid body, his dad was younger, and the man was speaking as if his mother just died.

Did he…?

No, that would be stupid… right? Did he dream all of it up? Ten fantastical and fictional years of his life simply birthed by the grieving and traumatized mind of a nine-year-old?

Somehow, that seemed even less likely. He remembered all of it clear as day, but he barely had an inkling of an idea what his nine-year-old self was up to these days.

Was he still dreaming now, then? Was this just a recollection of his past? It felt so real, though.

He idly noticed that his father had yet to let go of him. The man was strong, so there was no way that he'd be able to squirm his way out of the man's hold.

"Uh… dad?"

Isshin regained his bearings and hesitantly let go of his child. "Oh, sorry Ichigo, daddy zoned out for a second. But don't worry! I'm here for you no matter what, okay?"

Ichigo smiled to himself sadly before pulling away. He hadn't noticed when he was younger, but hid dad was probably even more shaken by his mother's fate than he was. He always acted so strong and tried his best to act lively when the rest of the house was gloomy, so a child wouldn't be able to pick up on that.

Ichigo surprised Isshin by wrapping his own smaller arms around his waist. "We're here for you too, dad." The now-diminutive orange-haired boy still had things to sort out –he was convinced of the possibility that this was all just a strange dream– but at this moment, he would do what he knew he should've done all those years ago. He was more mature, had time to grieve and to find closure, but the person in front of him wasn't as fortunate.

Isshin's jaw quivered and his eyes shone with unshed tears. Once again, he hugged his son with the desperation of a man who just lost the love of his life.

The father swore he would protect his and Masaki's kids no matter what. He wouldn't fail again.

xxxxxxx

"Zangetsu. Zangetsu, can you hear me?"

Ichigo frowned. It had been almost a full week since he somehow woke up in the body of his younger self, and his father decided it was alright for him to go back to school.

It sucked.

Obviously there wasn't much to learn, since a perfectly healthy eighteen-year-old man would have no issues understanding material covered in grade school. On top of that, talking to others "his age" had proven to be a little difficult since they were all acting weird around him on account of his mother's recent passing.

Well, recent for them, at least.

He had as a result decided to spend his time trying to reach his Zanpakuto spirit. So far, he didn't have much luck with that. If he weren't absolutely positive that one couldn't just dream up the knowledge of everything the education system had yet to teach him, he would be doubting his sanity.

Ichigo saw Tatsuki looking worriedly at him instead of paying attention to the lecture. That's no good, you should focus on your studies, Tatsuki!

He gave her what he thought was an easy-going smile, but it did little to appease her. In fact, that just seemed to stress her out more.

He sighed and buried his face in his hands. He and Tatsuki were supposed to be pretty close around this time, right? He didn't see Orihime around anywhere, so that should be the case. Why was she just staring at him pitifully instead of actually talking to him? She was acting like a child.

Oh, right.

Trying his best to ignore the girl's stare, he filed it as a lost cause for now. His priority was still trying to get in touch with the voices in his head.

…Huh. Maybe his sanity wasn't really the issue here.

He eventually decided to pass the time by listening to the teacher try to explain simple arithmetic in the most convoluted way possible.

"Alright. If I can't get either of them to answer me by this Saturday, I'm going to have to resort to desperate measures."

He might have to go find Hat'n Clogs a little early.

xxxxxxx

"Hey dad, I'm going to the candy store," called out Ichigo as he slipped his shoes on at the front entrance. He hadn't made any progress so Urahara-san would have to give him a hand.

Before he could reach for the handle, however, his father answered back in a panic, "Hey, hey, hey! Slow down there, kiddo," he walked out from the living room with a sleeping Yuzu and Karin in his arms, " I don't know why that idea suddenly jumped at you, but it's pretty far for you to go on your own. I've gotta take these two to bed, so how about I take you tomorrow. Sounds good?"

It only occurred to the boy then that he was still a child, and that no sane– that no caring parent would let their child go anywhere that far from home without supervision. As much as that put a dampener on his plan, he would have to work around it. There was no point in getting frustrated with the man; he was doing his best to take care of three kids on his own.

"M'kay. Thanks."

Isshin shuffled the twins to one arm so that the other was free to ruffle his son's hair. "No, thank you, Ichigo, for understanding."

The man took his sleeping sisters upstairs.

Ichigo sighed and made his way into the kitchen for a snack. There was no use crying over it now, but he'd have to figure out how to signal Urahara without his dad noticing tomorrow.

As he reached in the cupboard for the salt he was going to use for an omelet, a colorful box caught his eye. He turned it over so he could get a better look at it.

A wistful smile crossed his lips. He remembered these.

He abandoned the omelet, for now, choosing instead to take a couple of the animal crackers from the box. He sat at the table with a cup of milk, dipping the crackers as he remembered doing with his mom on weekends all those years ago. She ate all the elephants, because he didn't like them for whatever reason. As distant a memory as it seemed, some things just stuck with you forever.

He saw his dad come down the stairs, smiling as the bittersweet scene played out before him.

Ichigo looked at the sole elephant cracker, and after a moment of thought, "…Hey dad, want a cookie?" His relationship with his old man had always been distantly caring at best. He supposed that he could change that now since he was somehow given the opportunity. "I don't like the elephant ones, so…"

Isshin seemed a little taken aback for a moment, not expecting the offer. It always seemed to be a mother-son ritual in his eyes, so it was never thought that Ichigo would want him to be a part of that.

The man smiled at his son. "I'd like that. Thanks Ichigo."

His son was always a bit of a crybaby, so the way he pulled himself together to be strong for his family caught him a little off guard. He had to remind himself that he was still the same kid, so obviously he would be hurting inside even if it didn't show. If this was how he wanted to cope with the misfortune that befell them, he'd support him through that.

xxxxxxx

Ichigo stared at the shopkeeper who returned the look with a stupid smile. Urahara was standing behind his shop's counter while fiddling with a fan that seemed to have somehow jammed itself shut, but apparently it didn't bother him enough to look down at the darn thing.

His father was near the back of the shop with Yuzu and Karin. He was busy looking over the sugar content of some colorful and bubbly candy the two wanted. It was doubtful that anything Urahara had for sale would be remotely good for you, but hey, at least the man was trying.

What surprised him was that Yoruichi was around too, albeit in her cat form. The black feline was sitting on the counter, licking her paws, and minding her own business.

"What can I do ya for, little man?" It seemed that Urahara was starting to get a little creeped out by a child staring at him for so long. It wasn't his fault that he could figure out how to start this conversation, damnit!

Oh hey there! You don't know me, but I'm actually your apprentice. You helped me invade Soul Society and all that. Funny story, you see. I'm from the future or something but I can't figure out how to talk to my Quincy-Hollow-Zanpakuto-spirit-thing so can you help me out with that? Thanks.

Yeah, right.

An idea came to him when he saw Yoruichi walk across the counter space and plop down right on top of the cash register for a nap. He had to hide the smirk that threatened to crack his lips.

Yoruichi let out a surprised mewl as she was scooped up into the child's arms. She tried to squirm out of his vice grip but he was sure to hold her in a way that escape was impossible unless she did something to give away her position.

"I like your cat, mister."

The shopkeeper seemed to have somehow fixed his fan in an instant and fanned it out to cover the shit-eating grin on his face. "Yeah, she's a nice little kitty. Be careful though, she can bite."

Yoruichi proceeded to do just that. The orange-haired boy had to hide a wince. Damn it, woman!

Ichigo gave Hat'n Clogs the most innocent smile his young body could muster. "Can I play with her?" Yoruichi was his best shot at getting in touch with Urahara without his dad suspecting anything.

He was lucky that the blonde was enjoying the werecat's discomfort as much as he was. "Sure, sure!" He waved him off and went back to fiddling with his fan for whatever reason.

He rushed behind a tall aisle, trying to ignore the little demon digging holes into him with her claws. You'd think that she'd be more careful about shredding up nine-year-old kids, but no.

"Damnit Yoruichi!" he whisper-screamed. Luckily the name caught her attention as she froze up immediately. Keeping the low voice, he continued, "I can't explain properly right now, but I need Hat'n Clogs' help. Can you somehow get us away from my dad for a bit?"

"…" She nodded tentatively. She wouldn't start speaking just yet.

Ichigo let her go, sighing in relief as he rubbed his abused arms. Her glare showed just how happy she was with being dropped like that.

"Alright," he covered his mouth conspiratorially, "here's the plan…"

xxxxxxx

As both of the adults were busy doing their own things, Yoruichi activated her inner shit disturber and jumped at Urahara's face like a bat straight out of hell.

"GAAH!?" He seemed just as surprised by the attack as Isshin was from his position at the back of the store. The twins didn't pay too much attention to the commotion as they were still busy picking out the treats with the best looking packaging.

It took the blonde a moment to pry the feline off of his face –though it was more her deciding that she had enough– then she ran right out the front. What did the idiot do to piss her off this time?

"Ah. Sorry mister! I'll go get your cat back." The nine-year-old ran after her through the door.

Isshin looked a little worried. "Kisuke, can you look after these two for a second? I'll go get him."

The man simply waved him off and calmly walked to the entrance. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure Yoruichi was just a little upset that I let Ichigo drag her off like that. I'll bring the kid back."

Isshin sighed in relief. "Thanks. Though she should be a little more careful running off like that if she's got a child tailing her."

"I'll be sure to chastise her when she comes around," the candy shop owner waved over his back as he followed the wayward duo out of his humble place of business.

"Meet the kid out back, you say?" the man thought to himself, "interesting."

xxxxxxx

"So kiddo, what's all this about?"

As he expected, Urahara found Isshin's kid in the back alley behind his shop. He was decidedly not looking for Yoruichi since she seemed perfectly content sitting on top of the kid's head.

"Uhm, well… Ya see…" Now that he was actually here, Ichigo found it much more difficult to actually say what he wanted. Nonetheless, he was committed to figuring it out as he spoke, "I'm… trying to get in touch with my Zanpakuto, but they're not answering me. I can't get into my inner world for whatever reason."

That seemed to throw Yoruichi for a loop, since she abandoned all pretext of being mute like a regular cat. "How do you know what a Zanpakuto is? Did your dad–"

"No, his dad wouldn't have said anything." Urahara's voice lost its cheerful tone. Ichigo learned to be wary of the man when he's like this. "The reason you can't access your inner world is that you're human," he explained, "You have a perfectly good body attached to a perfectly good soul chain. If your soul chain isn't severed, that means that you're alive; if you're alive it means that you can't be a Shinigami; if you're not a Shinigami then you don't have a developed soul scape. No soul scape, no talking to voices in your head. Ya get it? Good. Question answered."

Ichigo looked like he wanted to argue. Wasn't the Old Man a fragment of Yhwach? Unfortunately, he wasn't given the chance to voice his opinion as the shopkeeper wasn't done.

"Now you can answer one of my questions: you are human, so there wouldn't have been any way you could've actually spoken to a Zanpakuto to find out about it. Moreover, you seem convinced that they're more than one spirit, which means that you've somehow, quite impossibly, met your Zanpakuto without a soul scape. Can you answer that one for me kid?"

Ichigo's shoulders dropped as he resigned himself to spilling everything to the man. Damn him for being too smart for his own good. "Urahara-san. Do you believe that time travel is possible?"

There was nothing but silence. No sarcastic quip from Yoruichi; not even the sound of Kisuke's paper fan coming out to cover a stupidly grinning face.

"…I don't know, you tell me." The man kept a straight face. The cat-lady left her previous position in favour of perching herself on Kisuke's shoulder.

Ichigo took it for what it was: he was being told to explain himself, and the ex-captain would decide whether on not he believed him after he heard the explanation. "Well you see, I'm actually eighteen. I was fighting Yhwach a couple weeks back, things seemed to be going well for a change, but then he somehow got his Schrift to work even though he was stabbed with Ishida's silver-arrow-thing. Because of that, Zangetsu and I pushed ourselves a little too much and I honestly thought I was done for. I don't really understand it but somehow, the next thing I knew I was a kid again."

This time, the silence was because of shock instead of weariness. While it was more of a word-vomit than an actual explanation, the human boy still said some pretty crazy things just then.

As usual, the genius man was the first to get a hold of himself. He sighed and reached over his shoulder to pet his friend, which she allowed more out of an unwillingness to move than any actual approval of the behavior. A bit of humour returned to his voice as he said, "You know kid, you weren't supposed to give me this much of a headache for at least another decade. If I wasn't so sure that no one but an idiot would try to sell something like that to me, I would've had some trouble believing you."

Ichigo looked relieved. "So you believe me, then?"

The blonde scratched his stubble while answering in his usual wishy-washy voice, "Wellllll, I suppose. I'm gonna need you to fill out some blanks for me, though."

The younger of the two nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! Can you help me get in touch with Zangetsu again?"

"Sure, maybe, yeah, in a couple of years."

"…Eh?"

"What, you wanted me to do something about it now?" Kisuke's grin was not-so-well hidden behind his fan. He slapped Ichigo on the back good-naturedly as he explained himself, "From the sounds of things, this isn't exactly something you want your dad to find out about. Besides, you're already busy with Karate practice, right? You only get to be a kid once– uh, twice, so enjoy it while it still lasts."

Ichigo had the wind knocked right out of him. He couldn't argue with what the man was saying. "If… I can get around all that somehow, will you help me then?"

He was dismissed by a lazy shooing gesture. "Sure, sure."

The two plus a still-unresponsive Yoruichi made it back to the shop.

"Ah, Kisuke, thanks for finding Ichigo." Isshin was waiting for them at the door with the twins in tow. He gently pulled his son close and chastised him, "It's dangerous to run off like that, you know? You scared me."

"Sorry dad." Ichigo had the decency to look apologetic for stressing his father out.

"Now come on, go get yourself something and we'll head on home."

xxxxxxx

Not long after the Kurosaki family left his humble little store, the exiled scientist found himself sitting face-to-face with his not-currently-feline friend. Both had a warm cup of tea in hand which they sipped from every now in then to fill the unusual silence.

Yoruichi had enough. "You're taking all of this pretty well, Kisuke."

The man's hand, moving the cup up for another sip, stopped and put the tea down instead. "I don't see the point of getting your panties all in a bunch about it" –she kicked him in the shin– "since all we can do at this point is wait for the kid to come to us again."

The darker-skinned beauty frowned. "Do you think he was telling the truth?"

"About being from the future?" the scientist pretended to think about it for a moment, "Yeah, I do. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything else that would explain his peculiar way of approaching us, as strange as that may sound."

"So, for us to get the whole story, we have to wait for him to come to us? You said it yourself that he wouldn't for a long while yet," the woman concluded.

Urahara's fan miraculously found its way into his hands and opened to cover his grin. "Well~ I dunno Yoruichi. He might just come around sooner than you think."

xxxxxxx

Ichigo bit the end of his pencil as he stared blankly at the textbook in front of him. No disrespect intended towards Ogawa-sensei, but he already knew how to spell and he was more worried about figuring out how to convince Urahara to help him out. It had been weeks now, and he still couldn't think of anything.

"Kurosaki-kun? Can you answer this question?"

Ah, sensei noticed that he wasn't paying attention. He looked to the board and found it to be empty, so that meant that it was more of a "you had to be there" type of question.

Flushing slightly in embarrassment, Ichigo asked, "Sorry… could you please repeat that Sensei?"

Ogawa-sensei looked like she wanted to get mad at him for his lack of focus, but for whatever reason, her frown melted into a pitying stare. "Of course, Kurosaki-kun."

The boy noticed Tatsuki staring at him again. She was looking at him the same way the teacher was. Was this really what people thought of him when he was younger? That he was a fragile little kid who didn't know what to do without his mommy?

…Ah… He supposed that was probably exactly what he was– or rather, what he was supposed to be. Sometimes it was easy to forget that his eighteen-year-old self was once upon a time the nine-year-old who just lost a mother.

xxxxxxx

The moment Sensei announced that they would break for lunch, Ichigo made his way to Tatsuki's desk. She was talking to some other girl in their class so she didn't notice him approaching her until he called her out. "Tatsuki. Can we talk?"

She was visibly nervous about his question, and a little surprised that he was talking to her at all. Admittedly, it was fair to assume that he would keep his distance since that's what should've happened.

Mutely, she nodded and the pair moved up to the front of the class where they wouldn't be overheard.

"You've been acting strange lately. What's wrong?" He knew what was wrong. At this point, he was using whatever leverage he had to start a conversation.

"…"

"…Is it because of my mom?"

"…"

"Tatsuki?"

"…" she was facing him, but her eyes slowly drifted to the side. "I don't know what to say. I feel bad, but…"

Ichigo understood perfectly well what she was feeling by virtue of knowing exactly how all of this would play out between them in the coming years. Children weren't known to be masters of expressing themselves or anything.

The carrot-top sighed. Anyone looking at him then would agree that he looked like a kid playing grown-up. "I miss my mom. I miss her a lot, but… you don't have to avoid me just because you don't want to hurt my feelings."

Her eyes finally reached his own. There was still a little apprehension there, but their relationship wouldn't regress like it did "the first time" if things played out the way he wanted.

Tatsuki took a chance and tried to throw her two cents into the discussion. "I–"

"Hello everyone, quick announcement!" their gym teacher, Fujimura-sensei, bust through the classroom door with as much pizzazz as was usual for her. Unfortunately for the two kids, Fujimura-sensei effectively put a stop to all discussions currently going on in the vicinity with her next announcement, " I want you all to take a moment to consider joining a club next semester! They're all pretty great" –she conspiratorially mimicked an aside– "but of course, my soccer club is the best."

The kids laughed. Even Ichigo smiled knowing that she was just as cheery as he so fondly remembered her.

"Oh, that's right. Kurosaki-kun?" the gym teacher pulled a paper slip out of her pocket and seemed to give it a once over. Ichigo was a little curious to hear what he was being called out for. "Let's see here… Ah. As far as clubs are concerned, that won't be much of an issue for you; Urahara Kisuke-san of the 'Urahara Karate dojo' called to let us know that as of Monday you'll be spending most weeknights with them."

"Ah…okay." There was honestly not much else Ichigo could say then due to his honest surprise. He really shouldn't have put it past Hat'n Clogs to go against what he explicitly said and pull something like this off.

With a wave to the class –which most of them returned– Fujimura-sensei was off again, skipping down the hall to the next classroom.

"So you're changing dojos, huh?"

Ichigo panicked a little internally when he noticed Tatsuki's betrayed pout. "It was really last minute, sorry. I–"

She kicked him in the shin and stalked off back to her seat as threateningly as a child her age possibly could.

The time-traveler sighed. Always two steps back with this one, huh?

Tatsuki paused. She unexpectedly turned right back around and gave her friend an awkward hug. "I, uh… I hope you'll be okay, Ichigo."

Then she kicked him in the shins again. This time, she really did scamper on back to her seat.

He smiled. Heh, maybe he was making some progress.

xxxxxxx

Ichigo woke up the next morning bleary-eyed. He knew it was Saturday, but for the life of him, he didn't know if he actually had school today.

He slowly made his way down the stairs to the kitchen, hoping that the calendar was truly on the fridge as he remembered.

As he turned the corner at the bottom of the landing, he found what he was looking for. So today was–

"Happy birthday, Ichigo!"

"Happy birthday onii-chan!"

"Happy birthday, Ichi-nii."

–July fifteenth, his birthday.

His family was waiting for him, seated at the table. Both Yuzu and Karin sat on their father's lap with their arms outstretched for a hug from their big brother.

He complied. He scooped up his siblings in the biggest hug possible without hurting them. Ever since their mother's death, they hadn't been the same, in this timeline as well as the last. Karin was all quiet and Yuzu acted like a lost puppy most of the time. He would make sure that they could see him as a pillar of support.

His dad ruffled his hair from where he was seated. "Just take it easy for today, alright? We're all going out for lunch later. For now, I have a gift for you."

Ichigo could admit that he was curious. What did he get for his tenth birthday the first time? He couldn't remember.

Isshin put a small red box in his son's hand. It didn't look like a toy, so it was definitely unusual as far as kids' presents went.

Ichigo opened the box and–!

"It was your mother's. You've been trying so hard to be strong for all of us –especially your sisters– so I know that Masaki would've wanted you to have this."

…He definitely didn't get this the first time.

He had never seen this before in his life, and yet it was evident to him what it was: a silver bracelet with a five-point cross hanging from the chain.

His mother's Quincy cross.

Ichigo's eyes started to tear up despite himself. It hadn't sunk in until that moment just how close he was to seeing his mother alive and healthy; the cross still smelled like her. It was a smell he thought would forever be lost to him years ago.

He held the precious treasure close to his chest.

"Thank you."

xxxxxxx

"So, anything new going on at school, kiddo?" his dad asked them as they were seated at a small family-run diner. It wasn't super fancy or anything, but it was good food and it was basically an old forgotten tradition of theirs to eat here on special occasions.

Ichigo thought about the question for a moment as he set up the booster seat for Karin as his father was doing or Yuzu. "Oh. I joined a club actually," he said, referring to the peculiar arrangement Hat'n Clogs made with his school, "so I don't think I'll be able to keep going to Karate."

Isshin was a little surprised at how blasé his son was being about essentially ditching a sport he'd been doing for quite a while. Though it was probably because it was too closely tied to his memories of his mother for him to be completely comfortable with it any more. Masaki was the one who took him to every lesson.

"I see. What club did you join?"

The carrot-top thought of that for a moment. He couldn't exactly say that he was ditching one karate place for another, could he? "I joined the soccer club with Fujimura-sensei."

"Soccer?" asked Karin curiously. If only she knew just how much of a soccer nut she'd grow up to be.

"Yeah, it's lots of fun. I can show you how to play if you want."

She nodded shyly at her brother's offer.

"When do you start then?" Isshin peered over his menu curiously.

"Monday evening. I'll… have to ask what days we have practice."

xxxxxxx

"Oho, welcome to this humble karate dojo of mine, Kurosaki-kun." Urahara's usual stupid grin was covered by his usual stupid fan. At this point, he knew that everyone was tired of it, but that just made it better.

Ichigo did a good job of ignoring it. He bowed slightly to show some level of respect. "Hat'n clogs, thank you for doing this."

Kisuke motioned for the boy to follow him inside. Yoruichi was there lazing on the cash register in her cat form.

"So… what now?"

"Now," answered the strangely deep voice of cat-Yoruichi, "you start from the beginning and tell us everything. Before Kisuke even thinks of helping you," she glared at her long time friend warningly, "we're gonna need a little more than a few jumbled up phrases."

Kisuke was already seated at a table in the back room. He patted the seat next to himself jovially.

Ichigo made it a point to sit across from the man, making him pout childishly. Yoruichi curled up in the prepared place in his stead.

"Well, when I was– uhm, will be…" he tried again, "At fifteen, a Kuchiki clan member named Rukia just waltzed into my bedroom while looking for a hollow…"

xxxxxxx

"So let me get this straight." Yoruichi looked like she desperately wanted to rub her temples. "Sosuke Aizen steals Kisuke's 'Hogyoku' –which this asshole hid in some Kuchiki girl's body– then he revolts against the Seireitei after wiping out Central forty-six."

"Yeah."

"Then it turns out that he had his own Hogyoku which he used to make an 'Arrancar' army to fight off soul society while he waited for the two Hogyokus to make him some sort of 'transcendent being' in the hopes of overthrowing the Soul King?"

"…That was a mouthful, but that sounds about right."

Urahara was having a hard time keeping up his "all smiles" attitude. "What bugs me the most is what you were saying about the Quincy in Soul Society. You said they've been hiding in a 'shadow realm' right under the Gotei thirteen's noses this whole time? Then… in a couple years, that man will return?"

"That's pretty much what happened."

"Nine hundred years for his body, ninety more for his intellect… Nine years from now his powers will be restored. That's something I wished would never come up in a conversation."

"…"

"…"

"Never mind that. We have work to do, and not as long as I might've wanted to do it." –Kisuke pointed at the boy's wrist– "You have Masaki-chan's cross, right?"

"How did you–"

"Good, let's go downstairs."

"Wait one goddamn second!" shouted said boy, subconsciously grabbing the wrist the cross was tied to, "how do you know about that? Dad just gave it to me the other day."

"And who do you think convinced him to give you that cross?"

That shut him up pretty quickly. Ichigo couldn't figure out for the life of him what this blonde bastard was thinking.

Kisuke continued, "Powerless or not, I doubt you're subtle enough to hide the fact that you're a Shinigami from your dad. That being said, if he found out that I essentially ended his nine– sorry, ten-year-old son's life as a human by cutting your soul chain, he'd kill me."

"…So you told him I'm from the future?"

Yoruichi scoffed. "As if. Isshin already thinks that Kisuke is batshit crazy, –he is, by the way–"

"So mean, Yoruichi-chan~"

"–so even if he did tell him, at best your dad would just think that he's either scheming something or bullshitting for fun. All he did was make a few well-timed phone calls every now and then to convince Isshin that you'd be somewhat safer with the cross 'protecting you'."

No matter how well he knew the man after all these years, Ichigo would always be unsettled by his machinations. "Why the cross?"

Urahara's grin was back. It was a mischievous grin that promised great pain and headaches for anyone on the receiving end. "Well since I can't kill you, we'll try out the next best thing."

"Oi."

"No Zangetsu for now, sorry. In the meantime, we can get started on awakening your Quincy powers which we now so conveniently know you have." –the man in the striped hat was doing a piss-poor job of keeping his amusement in check– "After that, there's something I need someone to go get for me before we can progress to our next step."

"You seem to have put quite a bit of thought into this, Hat'n Clogs," remarked Ichigo suspiciously.

"Of course," –out came the fan– "you're the one who's gonna save the world, after all."

xxxxxxx

Ichigo was staring at the large metal container that Kisuke dropped his mom's Quincy cross into. "Are you sure this isn't going to damage it?"

Kisuke wiggled the cable that was jammed into the kid's forearm with a needle, causing said kid to wince. The mad scientist's giggle was disconcerting. "To be honest I'd be more worried about this thing damaging you."

"Wha–"

"Yoruichi, if you'd please."

The just-as-mad cat lady pushed some button on the side of the container.

ZAP

"FUCK THAT HURTS!"

BOOM

Both ex-captains were a little caught off guard by the huge surge of spiritual pressure that came from the small child beside them. One moment they were trying to stimulate the dormant Quincy blood within him using the vestiges of Masaki's power, the next… well, boom.

Ichigo was panting hard. The needle was blown far away from his person along with the shredded remains of his t-shirt. Where the needle once was appeared a vein-like pattern of glowing blue spirit energy.

"That's one hell of a blut vene," remarked the man lamely.

Yoruichi was busy trying to fix her frazzled cat hair.

"Okay, next step," said Urahara, pretending he wasn't the cause of an explosion going off in the face of a ten-year-old, "think of any weapon that you feel is comfortable. Then, we work on getting you to manifest something resembling it."

"Aren't I supposed to be using a bow or something?" Ichigo was also doing a pretty good job of pretending an explosion didn't go off in his face. Maybe getting used to Urahara wasn't a good thing?

"You said it yourself, didn't you? You didn't have an asauchi until the Zero Division picked you up. That means that until that point you've just been using a Quincy spirit weapon. Shikai, Bankai, Mugetsu, all of it. Honestly, it's impressive that Yhwach's little spin-off spirit was able to pull your leg for so–"

"Wait, wait, wait. What do you mean Mugetsu was just a 'Quincy spirit weapon'? I became one with Zangetsu for that. It was supposed to be the 'final Getsuga Tenshou'." Ichigo wasn't too quick to believe that one.

"I'm just going by what you told me, Ichigo," Kisuke spoke as if he were trying to explain string theory to a toddler, "you said 'both Zangetsu' combined into a single blade–which you admit yourself was a Quincy spirit weapon– then you all merged to reach a transcendent state that would subsequently drain all of your powers. Trust me on this one, that wasn't the final Getsuga Tenshou. That was Zangetsu's 'Quincy half' forcing the Quincy Letzt Stil."

It was like a hammer came in to hit Ichigo on the side of the head. "…What are you trying to tell me Urahara-san."

"You know Ichigo, it's good to know that your heart is in the right place, because your brain sure isn't." It was Yoruichi that came out with the insult, putting her grooming to a stop for a moment. "What Kisuke's trying to say is that anything from your Shikai to your Mugetsu can technically be achieved without a soul scape."

Ichigo went bug-eyed. "So if I can use my Quincy powers properly I can use Mugetsu!?"

Yoruichi scratched him in the face.

"YEOWCH!"

"Dumbass. It still needed all of your power to truly be 'Mugetsu', didn't it? That means hollow and Shinigami powers too. If you did manage to pull off a Letzt Stil, you'd need a Sanrei glove and you'd start back at square one after some half-assed, B-tier technique. And that's only if it doesn't outright kill you."

Ichigo teared up from the pain while holding his nose. "Sowwy."

"Anyway, forget all of that stuff for now," Kisuke waved off the whole discussion about Mugetsu, "just focus on creating a spirit weapon."

The carrot-top nodded. With a face scrunched up in concentration, he held out both hands out over his head. "HaaaaAAAAAAH!"

"…What's he doing?" whispered Yoruichi into her friend's ear.

"No idea, but it looks pretty embarrassing," he answered in an equally reduced voice.

In a shine of sprit particles, a glowing blue but otherwise perfect copy of Zangetsu's true form materialized. It was nothing but a silhouette, but one could not mistake its massive, intimidating size and elegant curve–

"OOF!"

Unfortunately, being a perfect copy meant that there was no way that a prepubescent human could lift it, as Ichigo soon found out while he was crushed under its mass.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Yoruichi was enjoying it a little too much. "It-It's like the sword and the ground are making an Ichigo-sandwich!"

"Ha-ha." The boy didn't find it nearly as funny. He grunted trying to lift the damn thing off of him, but he eventually gave up and returned the weapon to spirit particles.

Urahara didn't try to hide his own smile. "Your weapon and your body are a part of the physical plane; they're not weightless like you're probably used to. Why don't we try for something a little smaller for now? We made pretty good time today, so let's see what we can get done within the hour and call it quits for the night. I'm sure Isshin would like to have you home soon."

Ichigo nodded as he tried to form something resembling his compressed Tensa Zangetsu with a lot more difficulty.

"After today, we'll cut our little "karate club' short for a while– until the end of your summer break, let's say. Like I said earlier, there's an item I need 'in stock' before we go any further, so I'll keep in touch by other means."

Neither of the two with him in the room bothered to ask what that item was. One already knew, and the other pretended not to care for the sake of his own mental health.

xxxxxxx

"I feel kind of bad lying to the kid, Kisuke. From the sound of things, he really trusts us." Yoruichi was in her human form, eating some kind of frozen dessert. She walked up behind the blonde man as he filled out a form with a scowl on his face.

"Neither do I Yoruichi, but I'm sure he expects at least this much if he truly knows me as well as he says he does. Besides, I like to think that the ends justify the means in this case."

The darker-skinned woman put down her spoon in her plate, pulling it forwards from her person a few centimeters then immediately brought it back close to her chest. She was about to offer the man a bite of her dessert to cheer him up but thought better of it once she decided that any portion that he consumes would be a portion she wouldn't have for herself. Naturally, this internal debate went unnoticed by the blonde who was still hunched over with his back facing her.

"You seem to think that a lot, and that usually ends up being the problem." It was more of a statement on her part than a question.

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" he laughed humourlessly.

xxxxxxx

Ichigo put a cut-up slice of pizza in each of his sisters' plates. It was just them tonight since their father said that he had some sort of emergency to deal with in the next town over.

Ichigo, sorry but I need to head out to see a critical patient. It's a little far but I should be able to make it back by the day after tomorrow. I ordered takeout for you and the twins for dinner, and I called Arisawa-san who said she'd be able to look after all of you tomorrow. I'm not comfortable leaving you all alone, but I promise it's only for a short while. Be good, okay?

It was strange of the man to just up and leave his ten-year-old son to look after his six-year-old sisters, but considering he'd always known his father to leave his emergency clinic unattended he really shouldn't be surprised.

Again, the man was used to having another parent looking after his children.

The home phone rang.

No. It was the clinic's phone.

"Hello?" He didn't have a choice but to answer since his father wasn't there.

…

"No, sorry, he isn't here."

…!

"Yeah, I can get it ready for you by the time you arrive."

Not good. Not good at all. What are the odds that on the night his old man isn't around, an ambulance says that they need to stop by with a critical patient?

He didn't have time to worry about that now.

"Ichi-nii?" His sisters were looking at him confused.

"Don't worry about it Yuzu," he called out, his voice muffled from behind the wall of the other room, "I need to get something for people who're stopping by real quick, so both of you stay put okay?"

"M'kay," they both responded.

He was lucky he had such well-behaved siblings.

It didn't take him long to find his father's medical equipment. He took the whole case and made his way to the operating room that was always kept prepared in case something like this happened.

He opened the case and set up all the tools in a way that they'd be easily found by the trained professionals once they arrived. He opened the large doors that connected to the outside of the building just in time to see the ambulance turn into the driveway that ran down the side of their house.

A group of first responders brought down the stretcher from the back of the vehicle while other medics followed them out with grim looks on their faces. At a quick yet controlled pace they wheeled the patient into the clinic.

Ichigo felt a little out of his element. He was so used to being the one that solves everyone's problems that not being able to do a thing left him with a pit in his stomach.

Not wanting to get in their way and honestly not knowing what he was supposed to do, the boy went back to the dining room to find his sisters waiting with more patience than any six-year-olds had any right to possess.

"Is there something wrong?" Karin tried to hide the waver in her voice.

"Someone just got a little hurt, that's all. I had to go prepare the backroom for the doctors that came to help."

xxxxxxx

Ichigo was teaching his siblings simple kid-safe card games to pass the time to keep their minds off of what was going on a little ways away from them. "There you go, Yuzu! If you put down that card there, you can–"

"Kurosaki Ichigo-kun, right?" one of the medics came out from the operating room. "We need to use the clinic's phone to contact the patient's next of kin. Could you show me the way?"

He nodded silently. He put down his hand of cards on the table and brought the man to the landline reserved exclusively for the clinic.

As the medic dialed the numbers, he left the man alone in the room in some need to preserve the victim's privacy… Not that it really mattered to them anymore.

He made his way back to his sisters and checked the clock. It was getting pretty late, he supposed.

"Karin, Yuzu, you have school early tomorrow. You two should head on up to bed so that we don't make Arisawa-san wait for too long."

After nothing more than a few grumbles from Karin, he was able to bring them up to their room. He tucked them in and stayed with them until they eventually fell asleep.

He was feeling pretty drained himself, but figured that he wouldn't be able to rest until the ambulance left. As slowly trotted back down the stairs, he heard a scream coming from outside.

"No! It can't– it's not!"

He picked up the pace to see what the commotion was.

Opening the front door to the clinic, he saw a police vehicle that wasn't present before. The patient was being slowly wheeled back to the ambulance with a white sheet covering them from head to toe.

Then he saw the source of the voice. It was a little girl around "his age" with shoulder length auburn hair. She was desperately clinging to the side of the stretcher with tears falling down her cheeks in rolls.

Orihime.

His eyes found their way back to the covered body. So that was…

"Sora-nii… you can't… I'm so, so sorry…"

The officers that accompanied her to the clinic gently pulled her back as her brother's corpse was lifted back into the vehicle. She struggled, screamed, cried, but it wouldn't change where Inoue Sora was going.

Ichigo's body moved before his brain did. "Hey," he called out to her. She looked his way almost despondently. "Would you like to come in for some tea? Cocoa?"

"…"

When she didn't answer, he took her hand and slowly pulled her towards the clinic. The two officers flanking her gave him a soft smile. "We'll be right out here if you need anything. We're going to call around to see if we can reach any other relatives."

Ichigo brought his future friend to the kitchen area and had her take a seat. She was still wearing a coat, but for some reason, he felt the situation was too awkward to ask her to take it off.

"I'll put on some tea for the two of us. That okay?"

She didn't answer verbally. She simply nodded her head after a moment's thought.

"…Trust me. I know it hurts but–"

"I yelled at him today."

The carrot-top was surprised to hear her speak. When he'd known her she was already much older and had learned to accept what happened, so it was strange to hear the peppy girl acting so subdued.

"He bought me hairpins as a gift, but I got mad that they were too childish. I… won't be able to say sorry anymore."

The water was ready. He prepared two mugs of hot tea and put one in front of the similarly-haired girl. "I have little sisters too, you know. Just saying, but if anything happened to me I wouldn't want them to be sad because of a little argument we had. I'm sure your brother loves you just as much as I love my sisters."

Orihime started to cry again. She brought her tiny hands up to cover her face, but they weren't enough to stop Ichigo from seeing her expression contorted in agony.

He wasn't good with things like this. Was talking about his sisters the wrong thing to do? Regardless, even if he continued to screw up, he would do his damndest to protect his friend.

At first, he hesitated, but then he slowly wrapped his arm around her shoulders. When she didn't push him away, he pulled her into a hug.

Ichigo looked to Orihime's side to finally address Inoue Sora's ghost– a plus soul.

He'd been standing there, watching over his sister the whole time. Naturally, he couldn't say anything with company around since it would draw out some sort of negative attention, but right now the only other person in the room was busy crying in a "stranger's" arms.

He mouthed to the spirit, I'll protect her.

It seemed taken aback, not really sure if the kid was really talking to him or not. Nonetheless, he smiled back and gave a nod of approval, from one "big brother" to another.

"Inoue, do you have anyone close by that can look after you?"

She tensed up and her voice cracked. "No…"

He was afraid of that. He'd heard that she was receiving financial support from a distant relative throughout high school, but how many years had she actually lived alone?

…Did her brother really die this far back originally?

"I'm sure the officers out front will do everything they can to get things sorted out for you. My dad's gonna be home in the next couple days but in the meantime, you can come here if you need absolutely anything, 'kay?"

She pulled away from him and nodded shyly.

"Kurosaki-kun, are you both here?" a police officer asked as he poked his head in through the front door. The officer kneeled to look at the crying child at eye level. "We were able to get in touch with your aunt in southern Tokyo. When you're ready, we can take you to her to sort things out."

"Uhm, mister officer," said Ichigo, trying and succeeding to get the man's attention, "I told Inoue-san that if she needs help she'd be able to come to us. I'm sure dad will say the same thing when he's back."

The officer smiled. "I'm sure he would. Once we get Orihime to her aunt's place we'll give your dad a call."

Orihime and the officer were making their way out of the house when the girl turned around to give Ichigo a tearstained smile. "Thank you for the tea, Kurosaki-kun. And, uh, everything else."

He returned the smile. "I hope to see you soon, Inoue."

xxxxxxx

After school the next day, Ichigo and the twins found themselves at Tatsuki's place. Yuzu and Karin kept asking to play the card game Ichigo showed them, so the three siblings ended up spending the evening playing at the dining room table with Tatsuki and her mother.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"Ah, sorry kids, one moment." Arisawa-san got up to answer the phone

"Isshin?... Yeah, I'll put him on, just a moment." She looked at the boy in question and help out the phone, "Ichi-kun, it's your dad."

Ichigo took it from her and placed it to his ear. "Hi dad."

"Ichigo, I heard what happened from the police department. Are you okay?"

"Yeah we're all fine."

"That's good to hear. And by the way, I've heard about little Inoue-chan too. I've already talked to her aunt and arranged for her to move in nearby within the week. I told them we'd help the girl out in any way we could."

"Thanks, dad. I… I really hope she'll be okay."

Ichigo could practically hear the grin on the man's face.

"My son's already a man, making sure that his little girlfriend is nice and safe–"

"Yeah, yeah. See ya tomorrow goat face."

"Love you kiddo. Give the girls a big smooch from me."

"…Yeah dad, me too. And I will."

He hung up the phone.

xxxxxxx

"Yo, Hat'n Clogs," called out Ichigo as he walked past the sliding doors, "Yoruichi came to tell me that I had 'club practice' again all of a sudden. Did you get that 'shipment' you were waiting for?"

The man in question seemed to appear out of thin air right behind the boy, scaring the crap out of him. "Yessir, I did! I didn't believe my delivery boy at first when he told me he'd get it to me this quick, but I guess he has yet to disappoint!"

A package was shoved into Ichigo's gut.

"Whoomph!?"

The wind was knocked out of him. He glared at the smiling shopkeeper.

"Why don't you open her up, Kurosaki-kun?"

Grumbling, he did just that. He set the box down and opened the lid–!?

"O–Oi, is that…?"

Out came the fan. "I see you recognize it. Why don't you put it on, so we can see what sizing adjustments we have to make."

It was a little different from the one he got from Squad Zero, but the idea was the same. A white strap-on shoulder guard with a scaled pattern on the epaulette. The most notable divergences in design were the single-shoulder strap rather than the cross strap, and the slightly yellower scales.

"Why do I need this? I got it from Ichibei, but he never explained why."

"The monk, huh," said Urahara to himself before getting back on track. "Those scales have some special properties. They serve two purposes: balancing Quincy and hollow spirit energy and preventing Quincy techniques from destroying the soul. You in particular are gonna need both of those things to stop your soul from committing soul suicide, as well as prevent Soul Society from coming after you."

"Wait… why would I have any problems with soul suicide?"

"You said that your dad told you how we saved your mom from hollowfication, right?"

Ichigo thought about it from a moment. "Yeah. He said you balanced her soul with opposing spiritual energies; Shinigami to neutralize Quincy and human to neutralize hollow."

"Exactly. You, Ichigo, could function in your 'unique little way' because your human, Quincy, hollow, and Shinigami parts of your soul were perfectly balanced. Right now though, you don't have a soul scape. That means that your Quincy powers are going to have a natural head start on your other ones, and by consequence, they would have gotten so much stronger than the rest of your powers that your soul would go 'pop!'."

"…So you're saying this thing is an all-in-one solution?" Ichigo looked a little skeptical.

Kisuke scratched his chin. "Hmmm… let me put it this way. Quincy and hollow don't get along on a biological level, but that's more of a by-product of relocation than anything else. Quincy originate from Europe, where they were faced with their real sworn enemies. Hollows are their eastern equivalent."

Seeing that his 'student' wasn't doing much with the item in his hand, he took it upon himself to start fitting the boy with the item despite his indignant protests. Running his hands down the scaled side, he continued, "These are dragon scales, taken and preserved from the corpses of some of the most notorious Quincy killers known to us. Naturally, this stuff isn't easy to get since the West Branch doesn't like it when we poke our nose their way."

Ichigo's jaw went slack. "Wait. Dragons are a thing?... The hell is 'West Branch'?"

"Don't worry about it." Urahara ruffled Ichigo's hair in a patronizing fashion.

The boy grumbled in annoyance but didn't press further. If Hat'n Clogs didn't want to say anything, then he wouldn't.

"…So what now?" he asked, swatting away the hand that remained planted on his skull.

Another man walked up behind Ichigo. He spoke in a voice that he couldn't immediately recognise, "Now I give you a hand. Honestly, I can never tell what that moron you call a father is thinking."

"Ufufu, that's kind of mean, isn't it Ishida-san?" Despite his words, Urahara definitely found humour in the other man's insult.

Wait, Ishida?

Ichigo turned around to see the ever-austere face of Ishida Ryuuken.

xxxxxxx

xxxxxxx

Ichigo stifled a yawn as he groggily made his way to the kitchen. After all these years of Hat'n Clogs' punishment, it seemed that he still couldn't get over the exhaustion that seemed to always follow.

The smell of a wonderful meal finally hit his nose. Bacon, eggs, toast… An English breakfast? Nice.

When he rounded to corner to the kitchen, his not-quite-awake brain was having trouble doing the math when he saw all three of his family members seated eagerly at the table.

If Yuzu wasn't cooking, then who was?

Oh, that's right.

He only then took note of Orihime humming happily in the kitchen, flipping tasty-looking sunny-side-up eggs onto five plates. Her hairpins were doing a good job of keeping her bangs out of the way while she tied the rest of her long hair up in a ponytail.

Five years ago it would definitely be a strange sight, but a lot has changed. For all of them.

Despite not knowing her that well herself, Orihime's aunt didn't feel comfortable leaving the girl to be some complete stranger's responsibility. After a long talk with Isshin, they reached a compromise where she'd move into the small but nice apartment complex just down the street; she'd be close enough for Isshin to keep an eye on her without 'burdening' him financially.

Of course, she spent more time at the Kurosaki clinic than not. Isshin insisted that his "third daughter" eat with them, go to school with them… basically everything short of living with them.

Eventually, the time came when Orihime said that she wanted to cook a meal for them. Ichigo was a little worried (since she had been known to come up with some serious monstrosities in his past life) but was pleasantly surprised that with a bit of help from Yuzu and himself, the meal turned out being pretty good.

Thankfully, her problem was never that she was untalented as a cook. The issue was more her cooking to satisfy her own abysmal taste buds that she'd developed after years of living alone.

"Ichigo! I know you've been tired recently, but it's not good to sleep in this late on our first day of high school. You could have been late," chided the cook once she noticed him come down.

That was another thing that changed. The Orihime he remembered was always pretty meek around him for whatever reason, but being around Karin and Yuzu so long (and having to put up with a boy "her age" for five years) had her more than willing to scold him (or others) when something happened that she took issue with.

"Sorry, Orihime," –he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment– "I completely forgot about today."

"Honestly…" she sighed. She placed three dishes in his hands, which he had to balance properly lest they fall to the ground. "Take these to the table and sit down. I'll be done with yours in a second."

He flashed her a smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a friendly hug. "Thanks 'hime."

He missed her scarlet blush, but caught his father sniggering at them. "What're you laughing at goat face?"

The older man waved him off. "You'll understand when you're older."

Yuzu and Karin were trying not to laugh.

What was so funny!?

They all ate in a comfortable silence once Orihime joined them. Once they all finished, Isshin gathered all the plates. "Girls, go get dressed. You don't start class for a little while yet but you should still get ready. Orihime, Ichigo, you two should head on out before you're late."

The two teens said their goodbyes to the Kurosaki family and made their way at a leisurely pace.

"Hey Orihime, now that I think about it, why haven't you been hanging out with Tatsuki recently?" The two were making good time at the pace they were moving. Ichigo decided to spring up a conversation to kill the time.

Orihime's frown showed exactly how she felt about that comment. "You know, considering Tatsuki's one of your best friends, you should at least pay attention to what she's doing every once in a while. She just got back from the tournament, remember?"

"Tournament… Oh, yeah!" Ichigo had been spending so much time at Urahara's little "karate club" that sometimes things would just slip from his mind. Spending hours on end trying not to get killed by a crazy cat lady would do that to you. "She won first place, didn't she?"

"You know, for someone so self-composed, you'd think you'd be less airheaded." Despite her dig, her small smile let him know that she wasn't really annoyed. Both of them understood the irony in what she said, since she was still called airheaded by people when she went on one of her "tangents".

As they approached the school gates, they saw a tall tanned fellow being pushed around by some blonde delinquent despite being built like a brick shithouse.

The tanned boy turned to the two of them, completely ignoring the delinquent. He waved at them from a distance.

Orihime covered her mouth. "I know that Sado-kun is strong, but is it really alright for him to keep getting hurt like that?"

The Strawberry patted her on the shoulder, giving her a smile that seemed to be coming more naturally to him as of late. It was always nice to know that his friends were still the same despite all that has changed. "You're right. I'll go make sure he's okay. See you after the orientation?"

She nodded and gave him a thumbs up. She watched his back fondly as he made his way to give his friend a hand.

Even if he was a little "difficult" sometimes… even if he liked to go off and do things on his own no matter how many times she told him he could ask for help… none of that mattered. To her, he was the knight in shining armor amongst the aliens and robots and such that occupied her fantasies.

She loved him, after all.

xxxxxxx

"Ah, Orihime! Over here!"

Tatsuki waved her friend over. With her generous bust and colorful hair, it was easy to pick her from the crowd.

Orihime ran over to her friend and hugged her. "Tatsuki-chan! How are you? I haven't seen you in weeks."

They wore matching grey uniforms, much like the countless other teenagers that joined them within the front gates of the campus. New students were running all over the place; checking what class they were in, meeting up with old friends, and even making new ones.

Tatsuki looked around. "Where's Ichigo? It's rare to not see you two walking to school together."

A gentle smile crossed the auburn-haired girl's lips. "He's with Yasu-kun, I think. They ran into each other on the way here, so I told them I'd go on ahead."

Tatsuki's lips slowly curved up into a sly grin. "Oh? So the big, protective strawberry left his princess all by her lonesome?"

"Ugh… Tatsuki-chan, honestly!" Orihime tried to look bothered, she really did. However, both Ichigo and herself were subject to those kinds of well-humoured jibes from their friends all the time, so she was used to it.

Not that she minded them all that much.

"Come on, don't give me that," –Tatsuki wrapped her arms around the other girl's shoulders. The Cheshire smile didn't budge– "Everyone from Mashiba Junior High knows that you and Kurosaki are practically inseparable. Hell, didn't you bring him a homemade bento every day that last semester?"

The blush on Orihime's cheeks betrayed her otherwise straight face. "You know it's not like that. His family has been very kind to look after me all these years, so I just want to pay them back however I can. And Ichigo, he… feels obligated to take care of me since he was there when my brother died. He doesn't see me that way, it's just how he is."

Tatsuki felt bad for putting a dampener on her friend's mood. "Hey, hey, that ain't true at all! I mean, if there's anyone that blockhead is gonna cozy up to it's for sure gonna be you. I mean, just look at 'ya!" the tomboy gestured to her companion. "Your body is killer, you've got a pretty face, you're super mature for our age, you're kind, you can cook, you–"

"Okay! I get it, really," Orihime covered the short-haired girl's mouth with her hand. Despite her embarrassed flush, she had a grateful smile. "But thanks Tatsuki. I… hope you're right."

"See? Even your smile is gorgeous!"

"Tatsuki!"

xxxxxxx

"MIZUIROOOOO! THIS IS BAAAAAAAD! Really, really, really, really bad!"

The short, black-haired boy watched with half-hearted interest as his exuberant friend rushed towards him in tears. "Yes, Asano-san?" he teased.

Asano Keigo wasn't amused. "I'm serious, Mizuiro! Have you heard who's going to be in our grade this year? Huh?"

"I don't see why that would matter."

Keigo grabbed Mizuiro by the collar of his brand new uniform. "You don't, huh? Well, what if I told you that the 'super juvenile delinquents' Kurosaki Ichigo and Yasutora Sado were both going to be here! You've heard the stories, right? How they're gang affiliated? Apparently, they're into everything. Drug dealing, pimping, turf wars, the whole shebang! I even heard that they once got jumped by, like, thirty guys, and then they beat them all up then went after their families and–"

"Oh look, they're in the same class as us."

"–huh?"

Keigo went dead silent. He slowly walked up to the billboard with all the new students' names organized by classroom, and saw…

"We're fucked. You hear me Mizuiro? Fucked."

CRASH

Both boys recoiled in shock as the billboard exploded into a million pieces. Lying in the debris was a groaning delinquent. Dyed hair, piercings and all.

"MIZUIROOOOOOOO WHAT WAS THAT!"

The short boy ignored his classmate's distressed scream. He instead turned around to see a whole group of scary-looking teenagers surround a tall orange-haired kid and a freakishly tall shaggy-haired one.

Seriously though. What was he, two meters?

"Damnit, asshole, look what you did to Reiichi!" shouted one of the thugs. In anger, he raised the crowbar he had at his side and swung it at the orange-haired one's head.

No one tried to stop it, not even tall-and-shaggy.

For a moment, Mizuiro's heart skipped a beat and Keigo almost fainted thinking that they were about to bear witness to a murder.

The crowbar struck its target with a resonating smack. A few other onlookers screamed and ran away knowing that this just went beyond the usual juvenile delinquent scuffle.

All remaining spectators were both shocked and relieved when the carrot-top's head didn't budge an inch. He grabbed the crowbar out of the now-terrified thug's hand and dropped it to the ground next to him.

"C'mon, there's no need for that." The orange-haired one smirked.

The taller of the two cracked his knuckles, and the delinquent's legs just about collapsed from underneath him.

"Hey! Don't try anything! I've got your little friend!"

Mizuiro looked to where Keigo was standing an instant ago only to find unoccupied space. Further down the schoolyard, the blonde delinquent that they thought was knocked out earlier was holding Keigo back by the arms.

"Didn't you hear me? I said–"

He didn't get to finish. The shaggy-haired giant got close to the delinquent in an instant and grabbed his face like a volleyball. Showing incredible physical strength, the tall boy lifted him off the ground, effectively separating him from his "hostage".

"HMMF! HMMMMMMF!"

No one ran to help the "problem child". In fact, everyone was frozen in place, including Keigo who didn't think of taking the opportunity to put some distance between himself and his aggressor.

Surprisingly, it was the orange-haired one that cut things short.

"Hey Chad, let's go to class. If Orihime finds out about the commotion we just caused I'm definitely going to get an earful."

The giant's hands released its charge and let it crumple to the ground.

"Ah, fuck! Bastards!"

"Next time, you're dead Yasutora!"

"Get fucked!"

The posse of troublemakers gathered themselves and left the school grounds, trying to maintain whatever appearances they had left.

The carrot-top walked up to Mizuiro, and surprizing him, held out a hand a shot him an easy-going smile.

"Hey there, sorry about all that. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo."

Getting over his surprise rather quickly, the shorter boy didn't miss a beat and returned the smile. "Likewise. I'm Kojima Mizuiro, and the one you just helped out was Asano Keigo."

"We're both first years, so let's get along, okay Kojima-san?"

Mizuiro definitely didn't expect this kind of personality from the "super delinquent". Didn't Keigo say that he was some hair-triggered, violent psychopath or something? If anything, he prevented things from escalating any further.

"Just call me Mizuiro."

Their discussion was interrupted by a certain excitable brunette. "That was so COOOOOL! You, like, totally just lifted him off the ground with one arm! Are you 'Spanish Superman' or something?"

It looks like Keigo completely forgot how scared he was of these guys a minute ago.

"Ah… I'm Mexican though." The giant scratched the back of his head.

Mizuiro sweatdropped. That's what stuck with him? Guess the big guy was bad with compliments.