A Bleach Fanfic by AncientArchive

Hi! Hahahaha! Finally, I could force out a Bleach fanfiction from my ass. Recently, I've been on an intense Bleach marathon, all for the sake of Urahara Kisuke: the so-called 'humble' shopkeeper. As you can guess, that guy is my most favourite character in the whole of Bleach, chemical or fictional. Maybe I just have a thing for trolling guys. Either way, like I mentioned in my bio, I have a strange infatuation for impossible ukes and if there is one impossible uke in the world, it'd be Urahara-san. So I present to you the rare IchiUra fanfic, written solely for the sake of myself (because I'm greedy like that). And if any of you is kind enough, PM me to help beta this story as it's 100% unbetaed.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Unless you consider the chemical type ones, then maybe, yeah. Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, that sunglasses wearing guy.

Chapter 1: Turn Back The Pendulum

The whole world tilted a 180 as nausea caused his stomach to churn and his throat to burn from acids. He groaned pitifully and laid a consoling hand on his temple in an attempt to straighten the world to its rightful place. The pads of his fingertips blinded him with the surge of flaming white pain, but it had momentarily stopped the world from spinning before his eyes. He could make out a large bump on his right temple, just above his ear. Definitely a concussion then.

It took quite a while for the throbbing pain to subside to a more bearable level and while he patiently waited, he took a breather in an effort to slow his racing heartbeat. He closed his eyes and surveyed the world through his other senses, knowing that this would do the trick. The grass tickled the nape of his neck and the back of his palms, the soothing wind brushed gently on his cheeks, the scent of earth surrounded it and everything was quiet other than the occasional soft chip notes from sparrows.

He did not know where he was. Although a good guess would be very far from civilisation, which was odd because the last thing he remembered was that he was at home, within civilisation. Karakura Town, while fairly quiet, did still have the occasional shrieks of children's laughter and irritated car honks.

Another thing he noticed was the enormous amount of Reiatsu in the air. "Soul Society?" He asked himself, "That can't be..."

With great care, he squinted open his right eye and felt elation when his stomach remained calm and his vision was balanced. His head pounded every once in a while. That was easily ignored and pushed to the back of his head. The sky above was tranquil, the clouds moving leisurely across the sky as though it had all the time in the world. The sun was blocked by a tree, for that he was thankful for, and cast a long shadow over him.

"Oi. Carrot-head, you alright?" a raspy voice sounded from above him, but out of his sight. Ichigo jolted in alarm, wincing when he whacked his temple harshly on the ground. His hand reached behind to grasp the familiar cold hilt of Zangetsu and in a split second, was up and pointing the dangerously sharp blade at the unknown person.

A young boy tumbled to the ground in fright, his two small hands before him with his eyes tight shut. "Please! Don't hurt me!" So the raspy voice came from him. Ichigo did not notice it at first but the voice had the innocent tone that was constant in all children. He probably just has a dry throat from the lack of water.

Ichigo lowered his zanpaktou and sheathed it back in its rightful place. He kneeled down to the boy's height and laid a comforting hand on the boney shoulder. "Sorry, I'm not trying to hurt you. You just caught me by surprise, that's all," he explained and when a large raven black eye peeked out at him, he smiled.

The boy sniffed and wiped his hand across his wet cheek. "I'm sorry too. When I saw your sword I thought you were injured or something. It's not common for Shinigami from the Seireitei to find their way here."

So this is Soul Society, Ichigo realised. The cogs and wheels in his mind rotated slowly as his thought processes that new information. "..." He opened his mouth as a shudder swept across his body. "WAIT! DOES THAT MEAN I DIED!" His scream startled the boy and he fell back onto the grassy ground with eyes wide with apprehension. The word 'died' echoed around the two, accompanied by terrified shrieks of fleeing birds.

Ichigo took a deep breath to pacify himself. "No... That can't be right. I can't possibly be dead. I would remember dying. The last thing I remember was that I was in my room doing homework. How can I die from that?" He paused. "Or maybe Dad tried to catch me by surprise and accidentally killed me. Or a sudden attack seriously caught me unguarded."

Looking at the orange-haired teen who paced across him worriedly, relentlessly muttering to himself with a solemn look on his frowning face and a finger on his chin, the boy chuckled softly to himself. Evidently, it was not soft enough as Ichigo's ears caught the melodious laughter and whipped his head around to see the smiling boy. "What? What are you laughing about?"

"You, obviously," the boy replied, his once trembling lips now stretched widely from mirth and amusement. "Of course you're dead, silly. How can you be a Shinigami if you're alive?"

Ichigo quirk an eyebrow but then remembered that the people of Rukongai did not know about the going-about within the fifty metre high white walls. "Yeah," he let out a breath of laughter at the end of that, deciding to amuse the boy with his answer. "I have forgotten that yeah."

"You're so funny, Shinigami-san. I'm Shuuhei and this is the 64th East Rukongai District, Sabitsura," the newly named Kurosuke informed. "You have a nasty bump on your head. Maybe you're suffering from... from... Amnes... Amne-something!"

Ichigo hummed in agreement. "Amnesia," he corrected and carefully nodded his head. "I agree with you, Shuuhei-san. I don't remember how I got the nasty bump but there's something positively missing from my memory, " like how the hell did he get here, "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, it's nice to meet you, Shuuhei-san."

The boy grinned wider and there was just something about him that struck Ichigo strange. "Wait a minute. Shuuhei? As in Hisagi Shuuhei?"

The obsidian eyes blinked in surprise as the small mouth hung on its hinges. "You know my name?" The boy gasped.

Ichigo ignored Shuuhei's question in favour of voicing out his own. "Wait, wait, wait! Why are you so short? Why are you so tiny? The last time I remembered you, you were around my height. Where's your tattoo? Or maybe you're a bit too young for tattoos now. What the hell happened?!"

"The last time you saw me? I've never met you before, Ichigo-san!" Shuuhei raised his voice a volume louder so that he could be heard over Ichigo's own boisterous one. He could not make heads or tail of whatever his new found friend was talking about. "I was just playing hide and seek with my friends when I spot your hair from a distance."

"But... But... But..." Ichigo spluttered, his arms now flailing in the air to physically express his confusion. "But... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!"

"This is Hisashi, Takeshi and Masahi," Shuuhei introduced, pointing to his three friends. Hisashi was a chubby boy that was the shortest of the four. To Ichigo, he looked to be suffering from a cold, judging from his constant sniffing. The boy blushed shyly and waved when Ichigo nodded at him. Takeshi was the skinniest of the group and the tallest too. He waved happily. Masahi, if anything, reminded Ichigo of Byakuya, especially when the boy scoffed when he was introduced. "And this, my friends, is Kurosaki Ichigo. I found him in the nearby jungle!"

"Uh. Hello," Ichigo gave his best attempt at a friendly smile.

"What's a Shinigami doing in a place like this," Masahi asked rudely, his arms cross over his chest.

Hisashi jumped slightly at Masahi's discourteous manner. "Don't be so mean, Ma-chan. He didn't do anything to you," he chided. Masahi loudly snorted before stomping away from the tiny house they were holed up in. Noticing Ichigo's perplexed face, he smiled comfortingly and explained," Ma-chan doesn't like Shinigami because they took his older brother away from him."

"And when Hi-chan says take, he meant that Misugi left for the Shinigami Academy without telling Ma-chan. Ma-chan has always been very bitter about everything related to the Shinigami ever since then," Takeshi said, at the same time poking at the kindling that burned a bright orange.

Shuuhei nodded his head. "You shouldn't be too let down by him though. He'll come around sooner or later. Especially if he wants to play kick the can with us later."

"Yeah yeah! For now, let's go fishing in the river!" Takeshi cheered, jumping up on his tiny feet excitedly, fists pumping the air.

"Fishing?" Ichigo questioned. "I thought you guys usually don't get hungry."

"We don't," Hisashi replied as he stood up as well. "But Shuu-chan does, so it's like tradition to eat three meals per day just for the sake of it."

Shuuhei blushed to the colour of tomatoes and anxiously got up. "I... I'll put out the fire. You guys go ahead!" His voice trembled and it was clear that the young boy was embarrassed. With that, the boy raced out of the hut to get the bucket of rainwater and lug it in.

Ichigo could feel a tug on his shihakshou and looked down to see Takeshi pulling on the long sleeves. The little doe eyed boy pointed to the direction of the river and exclaimed, "Let's go! The sooner we get there, the better, before others come and get all the big ones! Shuu-chan will come later once he finds Ma-chan!"

Hisashi was already running as fast as he could on his chubby legs out of the house, eyes squinted with glee at the rush of cooling wind. He looked back at them and shouted, "Hurry, Ta-chan, Ichigo-san!"

For a boy that looked like a very malnourished ten year old, Takeshi sure had a lot of hidden strength in him. With a hard jerk, Takeshi had managed to drag Ichigo who was at least a good 1 metre and 40 kilograms taller and heavier than him out the door and into the entrance of the jungle. Glancing around, Ichigo could not spot the familiar spiky hair of Shuuhei. He really must have gone out in search of the slightly haughty Masahi.

The walk to the river took a good ten minutes with Takeshi leading the way and Hisashi out of sight. They walked mostly in silence, occasionally broken by the broken tune of Takeshi's whistle. The small hand still lay on Ichigo's sleeve, jostling it only occasionally when the young boy took a sudden turn from the straight path they trod on.

When the thick jungle became thinner bit by bit and when the sound of rushing waters met his eardrums, he knew that they had arrived at their destination. Sure enough, the few trees that blocked their path cleared to afford a full scene of serenity and peace. Hasashi stood on an outcropping rock, waving his arms frantically at them. At the upstream of the river, there was a miniature waterfall that stood, at most, three metres in height. The water was clear with vibrant fishes swimming in it.

"Ichigo-san, Ta-chan!" Hisashi said in a disapproving tone with his hands on his rounded hips when they arrived. "You sure took your own sweet time, didn't you."

Takeshi laughed cheerfully, a guilty hand on his neck. "Sorry, Hi-chan. But we're here now! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" He whooped in joyfulness and released his tight fingers on the silky black material, before leaping into the river with a loud splash.

Hisashi guffawed loudly and joined him too, both not bothering to remove their yukata before going in. The silence was broken by jubilant laughter and splashes of water as the two played in the cool waters for awhile. Ichigo smiled and sat down on the outcrop, the soles of his feet lightly treading the water.

"Neh!" The call made him look up at the two smaller boys who stared eagerly back at him. "Ichigo-san is not joining us in the waters?"

He did not want to let them down by declining but he had more important things to do just then. The tranquility of this place was good enough to meditate on and he undoubtedly needed his answers now. "Sorry, the both of you, but I'd rather stay here," he replied, feeling guilt-ridden at the gloomy expressions that took over their tiny faces. "But call me when you need my help with catching fish."

Apparently, that was good enough for them as they quickly went back to splashing water at each other with immense glee.

Ichigo sighed and pulled Zangetsu out from his back and put it across his lap, both hands on the cool metal of the blade. He slid his eyes shut, the glow from the glaring sun being taken over by darkness. Concentrating on his breathing patterns, he took a deep breath in, held on for two seconds and released, continuing the cycle until he could feel his waraji hitting the glass with a soft thud.

A deep breath in and he opened his eyes. Despite having been in his inner world for countless of times, it still took him by surprise on seeing the horizontal sky.

"Ichigo," a deep voice came from behind him and he slowly turned, relief bombarding within his heart at the sight of his zanpaktou. With all the odd things that had happened, he was beyond happy at the one constant thing that had not changed.

Turning around, he was greeted with the sight of Zangestu balancing on his usual pole. "Zangestu-ossan! Thank God you're alright!" He walked closer to the man.

"Of course I am alright," Zangetsu replied, "If you are alright, I would be the same."

Ichigo paused in his footsteps and scratched his hair, feeling slightly dumb. "Ah, well, after the whole Shuuhei thing, I was certainly doubting that," His voice took on a more serious note as he asked, "But seriously, ossan, what's going on?"

Zangetsu stayed silent as he observed the teen who stared back with confusion. Seconds passed until a tick started to form on the Shinigami's head as his fuse started to reach the end. Knowing that he had perhaps remained silent for far too long, Zangetsu released a long, tired sigh. "You possess the clues and you do know what's going on. Running away from your conclusion wouldn't make things any easier than it actually is."

Ichigo frowned and crossed his arms, eyes shining with bewilderment and disbelief. "Are you seriously telling me that we went back through time?"

"Yes, I am," Zangetsu retorted bluntly. "How? I don't know the answer to that but we are most definitely back in time."

"Hmmm, well that explains things. But wait a minute. If my soul is here, back in time, then where's my human body? We're still alive, aren't we?"

"Yes, you are."

"God. This is boring," Rukia complained as she flipped through a fashion magazine, boredom printed plainly on her face. "There's nothing to do here."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at her, even if she couldn't see it. He scribbled the answer to a maths question furiously down on his worn text book and answered, "How about studying? Exams are just around the corner, you know."

"Exams," Rukia repeated mockingly. "That's the last of the things I care about here. Why can't we go out?"

"Because, you know, exams," Ichigo answered monotonously, prepared to start ignoring her bemoaning altogether. She had been saying the same thing for the past half an hour without stopping. And while he did agree with her that there has been a lack of hollow activity around Karakura Town, that was something that he was not grumbling about. His life had been hectic for the past few months, a little bit of peace would cause no harm.

Thankfully for him, she remained silent after that and instead groaned out loudly as she flopped backwards on the bed. And for a moment, he was actually fooled to believe that today was going to be peaceful for once. That was until he could feel pain pulsating deep in his chest.

He released a soft gasp and dropped his pencil on the floor, the free hand now clutching his chest.

Rukia snapped up at him when she heard the sound and was immediately by his side, not wasting a second on foolish shock. Her small hands were cool on his suddenly heated skin and while it gave a moment of relief from the intensifying pain, it still did not help much. He squeezed his eyes shut and toppled from his chair and onto the ground. Rukia's hand never left his arm as she followed him down.

"Ichigo!" She shouted but all he could hear was a faint muffle over the loud thrumming of blood rushing in his ears. "Ichigo! Are you alright? What's happening?"

The question remained unanswered because Ichigo had taken that time to fall face forward to a fetus position. He could vaguely make out someone groaning in agonising pain and took far too long to figure that it was coming from him. He did not know what was happening nor could he be bothered at the point of time as the pain worsened till he shivered uncontrollably.

Rukia frowned in worry when she had no comprehensive reply and instantly whipped out the phone to call Orihime. If there was anyone that can help Ichigo, it would be the gentle, orange-haired girl. She waited impatiently for the girl to pick up, at the same time, wiping away the sweat that beaded the boy's forehead. "Come on," she muttered when the ringing continued on for eternity.

Ichigo's scream grew louder in volume and Rukia was torn between relief that no one was home or horror because they were alone. It would terrify Yuzu and Karin to see their older brother in pain but at least Isshin could help his son, at least to knock him out so that he could not feel the pain. "Hold on, Ichigo," she said encouragingly, massaging the tensing shoulder muscles as it contracted and relaxed repeatedly. "Faster, Orihime!"

Finally, the dial stopped as the other side picked up the phone. Not bothering to wait for Orihime say anything, Rukia quickly blurted out, "Orihime! Come here to Ichigo's house! Something's wrong with him!"

"Ah!" The soft voice sounded surprised and confused but being the nice girl she was, she did not question her and replied firmly, "Okay. I'll be there as fast as I can." She hung up after that and Rukia knew in her mind that she would not take long. That girl's speed can sometimes be beyond superhuman capacities.

Well, with one person down, Rukia started pressing the numbers to Urahara's Shop into her phone. The man might be a complete idiot at times, but it was still undeniable that the man had saved their lives again and again without fail. Her heart drummed with anxiety and despair when the muscles beneath her fingers fell lax and the screamings stopped. Ichigo had fainted from the excruciating pain. While she waited, she single-handedly manoeuvred the unmoving body onto his back and placed a pillow under his head. The face that was previously contorted in unbearable pain was not smoothen out.

"Hello, Kuchiki-san, how may I come to help?" The jovial voice answered the phone. "Is there something wrong or do you simply want to order something?"

"Urahara-san! You got to come! There's something wrong with Ichigo!"

"Oh my. I'll be there in just the second."

There was a sound of plastic hitting plastic at the other hand and the sound of frantic footsteps that got fainter. Urahara must have not hung up the phone properly in his panic. Rukia hung up her phone and slid it back into her pocket.

"Oh, Ichigo," she said under her breath, smoothing out the drenched orange locks. "So much for a peaceful day, huh."

All of a sudden, a loud pop blasted in her ears and she stumbled back in shock as she tried to get away from the origin of the sound as fast as she could. Considering all the loud noises that have been coming from Ichigo's room as of late, it was still amazing to her that the neighbours had not yet called for the police. The sound was not unlike a freight train's horn.

She whipped her head to Ichigo and only to realise that there was two of them, the soul one wrapped in his usual black shihakshou and the physical body. They had separated without the help of a soul badge! What was going on! Scrambling onto her feet, she tried to get closer to the two only to be blinded by a flashing white light that cocooned Ichigo's soul body. "What in the world!" She cried out as her hands shot before her eyes to block out the glaring beams.

And then, in a blink of an eye, the light faded, along with Ichigo's soul body. The place where Ichigo tumbled out from his physical body lain empty. For a second, she thought that he had gone back into his physical body but the lack of wind on her finger underneath his nose crushed that thought completely. If he wasn't in his physical body, where in the world could he be? "Ichigo!" She shouted, foolishly wishing that he would reply to sate her worry. She had expected silence but it definitely did not feel any better seeing the soulless body of her best friend on the ground, limp, cold and very dead.

The window slammed open, announcing Urahara's dramatic entry. The upbeat spirit of the shopkeeper was gone, only to be replaced by the hard lines and the sharp glint in his gray eyes. "What happened?" He asked seriously. Even during speaking, his eyes were scanning the scene, the puzzle in his mind more or less pieced out.

"It's... It's Ichigo!" She informed. She had a good mind to break out in wails and tears but the Shinigami in her told her that breaking down would help no one. She hardened her heart, despite the fact that it howled for her friend, and gave a good and detailed report on what exactly happened.

Urahara hummed as he digested the information. "You should tell Inoue-san to meet us in my shop. We're bringing him there," he told Rukia, who took out her phone without delay to dial her friend. At the same time, Urahara turned back out the window and shouted, "Tessai-san! I need your help moving Kurosaki-san's body!"

So that's the end of the first chapter. Review it or PM me to tell me how you liked it, or how you like it to be. And remember, if you want to help beta this story, just send me a quick PM yeah?