Chapter 1: Deja Vu all over again
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Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kabuto
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If this was what it was like to travel through time, Ichigo decided it wasn't like anything he had read about before. As he stared up at his pristine bedroom ceiling, which was notably missing the scar from his brief battle with the hollowfied Sora when the older man had ambushed him, he tried to remember the last thing he was doing before waking up. It was confusing; the last thing he remembered was challenging Yawach, Orihime and Chad by his side, Uryu stepping in front of his attack, Chad catching Uryu as he fell, and Orihime…
Ichigo bolted upright, idly noting that the few changes in his room over the years he had been a Soul Reaper had not been made yet. He furrowed his brow, trying to understand what had happened. Orihime's powers were something he hadn't really looked into, trusting her to know what she needed to know. He knew she could heal injuries, and could bring back people who had died very recently, and Chad had mentioned off hand that she could erase someone's or something's very existence.
I Reject. Orihime had screamed these words when Uryu had bled out after intercepting Ichigo's attack. She had rejected the reality around her where her friends were forced to fight each other. Orihime, his perpetually perky, if not childishly happy, friend had rewritten reality. He needed to figure out what the date was and go from there.
It was just after dawn, too early for most of the family to be awake. As he crept through the house, he checked the positions of his family. His father, Isshin, was asleep but something was off, his powerful aura was missing. It was the second piece of evidence of time travel in Ichigo's mind, after the minor differences in his room. The third piece of evidence was his sisters, Karin and Yuzu. Karin had moved into the guest bedroom and claimed it as her own a little while after he had learned about his Quincy abilities and their mother's story. Both of their auras were in the same room.
Deciding to check to make sure Karin hadn't just fallen asleep in Yuzu's room, he opened the door and looked in. Two beds sat in the room. Taking care to remain quite, he walked over to the girls and sighed. Their hair was shorter than the last time he had seen them and they were smaller as well, seeing as they had both hit a growth spurt before entering middle school.
As he left the room, he heard one of the girls stirring. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Karin sitting up trying to figure out why she had woken up.
"Ichigo? What's going on?"
"It's nothing Karin, just woke up early and couldn't go back to sleep, "he said, "Heard one of you moving around so I decided to check in to see who was up."
"Oh," Karin said, the girl was already snuggling back into her pillow for another hour of sleep. Sighing, Ichigo decided to head down to the kitchen where Yuzu kept a calendar. He needed to know the date.
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He had a month. One month before Rukia originally appeared in his life. One month before the Hollow attack that had granted him his powers. One month to figure out how he was going to handle everything. First thing he needed to do was check in on everyone else, Chad, Orihime, Kisuke's crew, and even Uryu. After that he would try to reconnect with his powers.
"Heh," Ichigo chuckled as he thought of the weird mess of tangled bloodlines and abilities. Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy, and hell, he might even be able to use his Fullbring again. Since that there was no way he was going back to sleep, Ichigo decided to get ready for the day. As he headed back up the stairs he decided that no matter what happened today, he would take his time and plan out everything.
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"I-CHI-GO!" a loud yell came from behind the orange haired boy as he walked into his old classroom. Without even looking, Ichigo threw his elbow back, catching Keigo in the middle of his forehead, causing the spaz to flip and land face down on the floor moaning.
"Morning Keigo." He said as he walked to his desk, examining each and every person in class. Most people he passed over, such as the class rep and her little group of friends. Others he studied more in depth, knowing that they were, at least in his time, spiritually sensitive. Keigo and Mizuru were near the front of the class, neither of them standing out from the others. Tatsuki did have a noticeable amount of spirit pressure for a normal human, but seemed unaware of the ghost that had ended up following him today. Orihime was similar to Tatsuki, but even then she did not seem to recognize him any more than a classmate. She didn't remember at all.
The only two noticeably missing were Uryu and Chad, but that issue was soon resolved. When Uryu had walked into the classroom, he had shot Ichigo a calculating stare, but his eyes held no recognition. Chad had walked in right before the bell, only briefly pausing at Ichigo's desk.
"I need to talk to you," was all that the giant said.
"We'll talk at lunch." Ichigo replied. He couldn't remember if this had happened before, trivial little details like day to day interactions often escaped his memory. So he didn't know if this was something he and Chad had talked about in the past, or if this was different. Chad's spirit pressure wasn't as strong as he remembered, but it was still substantially more than anyone else's.
As Miss. Ochi started lecturing, Ichigo felt that lunch wouldn't come fast enough.
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Ichigo sighed in relief as Chad grinned softly. He wasn't alone, he didn't have to muddle through trying to fix everything by himself. All it had taken was Chad asking if he knew the phrase 'I Reject.' He had his best friend with him, and that made everything that much easier.
"Man Chad, you don't know how happy I am that you said that," Ichigo said as he opened his lunch, packed for him by Yuzu.
Chad nodded as he pulled his school provided lunch closer to him, "I can understand that."
As the two ate in silence, both were thinking hard. Chad placed his drink down as he turned back to the orange haired teen, "What's our plan?"
"All I can think of is regaining our powers, which shouldn't be too hard. Other than that, the only people I haven't checked on are Urahara's group."
"I think we should tell him."
"You think? He's caused just as many problems as he has solved."
Chad shrugged as he stood, "Better to have him with us than against us."
Ichigo sighed as he also stood, "You're probably right about that. After school?"
The Mexican teen nodded as he left the roof. Ichigo sighed once more as he wondered about the visit to the crazy scientist's candy shop. At least it wouldn't be boring, considering who owned it.
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Author's Note: I actually had a majority of this typed before Uryu's involvement was clarified, but I'm not changing it. Well I am, but I'm not... you get what I mean.