Many times over the centuries the Sogyoku has claimed the lives of Soul Society's worst criminals. A handful of times it has stayed its own swing, having deemed its intended victim innocent of their accusations. Now, though, it falls, without mercy, towards the breast of the condemned, and Ichigo is fast, faster with the cloak that has granted him temporary flight, but he is too far, and Renji is in position and much closer, but he is too slow, and neither of them will reach her in time-

The flaming bird falls-

And vanishes into the breast of Rukia Kuchiki, and even before the assembled Shinigami and ryoka can process this there is a blinding flash of light. When everyone can see again, the scaffold is gone, but the form of Rukia still hangs in midair, her hair now as white her prisoner's robe. Slowly she raises her hands, looks at them, flexes her fingers. Then she reaches into the air before her. There is no garganta, no senkaimon, just the faintest of ripples, and then Urahara stands before her, looking stunned and more than a little scared.

Then the being that everyone is beginning to realize is not Rukia speaks.

"Father." Its voice is feminine, but layered, strange but not grating like a hollow's. "Father," this new being says again, reaching out for him, "Why did you throw me away? What have I done wrong?" her hand comes into contact with Urahara's face and he screams. The hand is swiftly removed but at the same time it remains, a small, burning handprint cupping his cheek. The being stares at him, eyes wide, and that's when Ichigo arrives and grabs its shoulders. It looks up at him with wide, luminous grey-white eyes.

"Rukia," he says urgently, shaking her a bit, "Rukia, snap out of it!"

"Ru-ki-a?" the being says, confused, afraid. They are descending now, coming to stand atop Sogyoku Hill, and Renji has come out of hiding but he's on the lip of the circle, daring to come no closer, though he looks like he very much wants to, standing across from the captains and lieutenants, but Ichigo is too focussed on the being in his hands to see him. It continues to stare at him. "I am not Rukia."

"Who are you, then?!" Ichigo snaps, angry and afraid.

"I am Hogyoku," the being says simply, and this must mean more to the crowd than it does to Ichigo because there's a startled collective gasp. Two captains, one with white hair, one in a pink kimono, spin to face an old man with a beard. Several others fall back a few steps, and one with a scarf and hair ornaments looks like he's going to be sick. On the ground where he is crouched, Urahara droops, stilling clutching his burned face.

Hogyoku, however, looks puzzled, and reaches out to Ichigo as it had to Urahara, though its hand stops just short of his face. "You…" it says, its layered voice quiet but carrying, its gaze focussed not on him but on something only it can see, "I remember… we left you behind…"

"I followed," Ichigo says simply, "Like hell I was gonna let Rukia go to her death like that because she saved me! …please, give her back her body."

Hogyoku frowns at him, then smiles. "You are young and foolish. I can see why she likes you."

And it steps backwards, melting out from under his hands, but they aren't left empty. Standing before him, dark-haired, blinking violet eyes, is Rukia, dressed as she was when she first came through his window, her zanpakuto at her side once more, and there's a strangled yelp that sounds like Renji, and a flurry of footsteps that's probably from the same man, but Ichigo's too focussed on Rukia to pay attention to him.

"I-Ichigo?" Rukia whispers, eyes huge, "You're here? You're really here?"

And Ichigo can't help giving a relieved smile, the lines on his forehead smoothing for once, because she's here and she's real. "Yeah."

The blow is so fast he doesn't even see it coming. "YOU IDIOT!" Rukia shrieks, hands on his throat, "I LEFT YOU BEHIND SO THAT YOU'D BE SAFE! HOW IS THIS YOU BEING SAFE, HUH?!"

"F-fine show of gratitude th-that is-" Ichigo wheezes, but then they're interrupted by a giggle and turn to see Hogyoku watching them, hands over its mouth but not quite hiding a smile. It lowers its hands as they look at it, flexes its fingers again, and turns to Urahara.

"Father, this gigai you made – I think I'll keep it. I like being awake."

OoOoOoOoO

Many things happen after that. Ichigo and his friends are reunited. The truth of the Hogyoku and of Rukia's execution comes out. It turns out that Byakuya used to be a bit of a firebrand in his youth and that decades of Kuchiki propriety hasn't quite smothered that spark yet, because he gets so angry when he hears Urahara's role in all this that he doesn't even bother drawing Senbonzakura, just tries to strangle the man with his bare hands. Aizen approaches Hogyoku and tries to lure it under his influence, then discovers that this was a mistake.

Unlike Rukia and Urahara, Aizen doesn't survive his encounter with it. Afterwards, Gin shakes Hogyoku's hand, uncaring of the burns, then surrenders himself to the authorities. Hogyoku also reveals that it serves only one master, and that it's already chosen said master. The Captain Commander nearly has a fit when he finds out who this is.

Urahara is taken to the fourth division to have his burn tended to, and asks Unohana not to heal it all the way (to serve as a reminder of his hubris). Unohana smiles serenely and says she hadn't planned to. Renji apologies to Rukia, Rukia apologies to Kukaku and Ganju, and the Gotei 13 makes Ichigo an official substitute Shinigami, and Soul Society in general is forced to come to terms with the fact that it's got a newborn ascended being running around that it can't really control…

OoOoOoOoO

That's it for now. I've got some snippets written that are set in this universe, but it's not going to be a fully-fledged fic with an on-going plot – more like elaborations of some of the scenes touched upon briefly here, and a few others I felt like writing. They'll get posted as I type them up. Hope you enjoyed!

Note: I got the impression from some fics I've read that, when Ichigo temporarily became an ascended being, other people couldn't touch his bare skin without being burned, so I'm running with it in regards to the Hogyoku. In regards to what Hogyoku can do… I'm going with 'it's the frickin' hogyoku. What can't it do?!' Because why not? ;)