title: The Next Lifetime, chapter 1

spoilers: trying to keep it as current as possible, so it may contain spoilers from 418 onward
blabber: The idea for this story just kinda came to me, so I sat down in the past two days and just wrote out the first chapter. I don't expect my other updates to be that fast, though. I've also been wanting to do a multi-chaptered IchiHime fic that's more involved story-wise than Small Talk. I hope you all stick around and enjoy the story.

Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite, Shueisha, and quite a few other people. Just not me.

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The rhythmic beep of the machines was the only sound in the room. When combined with the pungent smell of alcohol and cleaning products as well as the stark landscape of white, it was all enough to drive him crazy.

It had been a very long sixty years since his youth of fighting hollows and saving the world. Now Ichigo Kurosaki was lying in a hospital bed, waiting for his human form to waste away. Instead of a head of bright orange hair, it had all faded to grey and was becoming sparse. The scowl that he wore had etched its self onto his face, forming prominent wrinkles in his brows and forehead.

Years ago, when he'd discovered that it was his scowl that she first liked, he couldn't help but wonder, as he grew older, if she would have liked the way his features aged to accentuate his expression. Neither of them ever got the answer to that thought.

Orihime had made the choice to sacrifice herself so they would finally end the conflict with Aizen. In order to truly destroy the hougyouku that Aizen had embedded in himself, she had to use all of her energy, essentially swapping her life in order to end the life of that troublesome object. Ichigo wanted to think that, over the past sixty years, he came to peace with her death and understood that it was her choice. His conscious mind would have agreed, since that was what he always had to tell himself, even now. However, his subconscious still missed her and still thought that it wouldn't have happened if he protected her better or even just payed her a little more attention. Maybe then he would have been able to see how eagerly she wished to protect him and been able to say something to her before she made such a choice.

At times, he'd catch himself wondering about how things would have been if she'd survived. Would their friendship have grown and changed? As a young man, he had to admit that he wasn't very perceptive of his feelings, let alone Orihime's. As time passed and people walked in to and out of his life, he grew to understand what it meant to be love and to be loved. It was a heartbreaking realization for him, because it slowly convinced him that he probably did love Orihime and that she'd definitely loved him in what little life she had.

Encouraged by others, Ichigo tried his hardest not to let himself be alone because of what had happened. It wasn't until about midway through college that he had his first girlfriend. She was nice enough, but she wasn't kind in the way the Orihime was. She was always telling him to smile and telling him to stop being so grumpy. If she were truly kind, her presence alone would have made him smile. He didn't want it forced out of him, so he broke up with her. After that, there were a few others. Nothing was every very serious, but it was at least his attempt to show everyone that he was okay and moving on.

One last girl came along about a year after he finished college. She was laid back and low key. The type who'd rather stay at home and watch a baseball game instead of getting dressed up and going out. That made it easy enough for him. She also didn't seem bothered by his occasionally rude attitude. She lasted longer, much longer. In fact, they were even married. He thought of it more as the next step in their relationship, not necessarily a life long vow of love. He'd made it clear during the short stint of the marriage that he was simply going through the motions and even his laid back wife had enough. Ichigo Kurosaki got married at 25 and divorced just after he turned 28.

The years passed in quick succession. Ichigo went to work, socialized as necessary for his job, and did little else. Shortly after his divorce was finalized, Yuzu had a child. Then, Karin shocked everyone by eloping in Hawaii, and a few years after that, she started a family. At least his sisters were living a full life with families and friends of their own. Ichigo hadn't seen Chad since after they finished college, and Chad moved to Mexico. Ishida was still around, but one person wasn't enough to make him feel like he had a real life.

A few months ago, at a routine checkup, the doctor had told Ichigo that he was worried about the issues he'd been having with stomach pain. They'd been a part of his life for quite some time, but it had only been recently that the pain was enough for him to barely get out of bed some days. After a battery of tests, the final diagnosis was made: advanced stomach cancer that had spread through his body.

Ichigo refused treatment. He knew that it was terminal, and he didn't want to bother with any kind of effort to keep him around for another few months. This was it. He was finally going to die.

The news of his diagnosis must have spread, and a very familiar face appeared one day just at the end of visiting hours. Ichigo knew exactly who it was when he heard the telltale clomp of wooden geta against the linoleum floor.

"Ah, Kurosaki-san, I must say that it's certainly a surprise to see you like this," Urahara said, waving the same old fan with his usual green and white striped hat covering his eyes.

"What is it, geta-boshi?"

"Geta-boshi? I think it's been sixty years since I've heard you call me that," Urahara replied with a bit of a giggle tickling the tone of his speech.

"I know you're not one to be sentimental about me dying, so you've got to have some reason for being here," Ichigo rasped weakly.

"Just as short as ever. You've grown into quite a good grumpy old man, but you are correct. I've come because there's something you should know before you depart this life."

Depart this life? Give me a break, Ichigo thought as his patience dwindled.

"How long has it been since you last used your shinigami form?"

"It's probably been a good thirty years," Ichigo replied, counting back in his head. After Aizen, he'd learned to better control his reiatsu to keep it from spilling out of him. As a result, hollow attacks greatly diminished, and by the time Ichigo was in his mid-30s, the Soul Society only needed a semi-regular patrol in the town and allowed him to retire from being an official shinigami substitute.

"Hm, I was hoping it would have been less than that. Well, you know how when you fight as a shinigami, the wounds you receive are transferred to your human form. As a young man, this isn't a problem, but as you age, it's harder and harder for your human form to keep up. I was hoping you'd have used your shinigami ability later in life and felt this happen."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, you haven't let me finish, Kurosaki-san. Before your chain was cut, your soul and your body were still one. They would have aged at the same rate. However, your chain was cut in order for you to regain your powers, go to the Soul Society, and rescue Kuchiki-san. That would mean that you died sixty years ago. Thankfully, your human form was not damaged in the process, and you've been able to use that like normal since then. Your reiryoku powers your human form, which functions just as a gigai, but unlike a gigai, a human body can only live for so long. It ages, which is what's happening now. Normally, when people die of old age, they're sent to the Soul Society, live for a short time, then enter the loop of reincarnation. Some are even sent directly into reincarnation, because they are unable to live in the state in which they died. However, when your human body dies, the spirit body you have right now, Kurosaki-san, is quite different."

"I still don't get why you're telling me this," Ichigo said, his irritation at this point quite apparent.

"Spirit bodies don't age at the same rate humans do. That means, when you die, you won't look or feel much older than you did when you were sixteen. At most, you'd be about twenty in human years."

"You're coming over here to tell me that I'm going to look younger when I die? That's it?"

"Trust me, Kurosaki-san. You'll soon understand how important it will be to you."

With that, Urahara turned and left, but not without stopping in the doorway. "You say I'm not sentimental, Kurosaki-san, but it will certainly be a lot less interesting without you around. Good luck on your next life."

Weeks passed, and slowly, Ichigo's conditioned worsened. The pain was unbearable, and he wondered how long they were planning to make him suffer. He wasn't sure if he was excited at the prospect of being young again. Entering the loop of reincarnation sounded mighty tempting. He knew if he were to be young again, he'd certainly get pushed into being a shinigami and likely become a captain.

His attention was turned away from his thoughts as a quick flash of light flooded his room. His eyes widened as a familiar-looking circular shouji screens appeared as the light faded. As always, they opened on their own to let out another familiar sight. He could feel what could possibly have been his first smile in years form as the short, black-haired woman stepped out of the portal.

"Long time no see, Ichigo," Rukia said with a smile, her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, it's been awhile. Hasn't it, Rukia?" he weakly replied.

"I never thought I'd be seeing you as an old man like this," she said, a little softer and gentler this time. Even though she knew this was only the end of his human life, seeing the man she'd grown so close to in such a short time all those years ago looking so sickly still tugged at her heart.

"How do you think I feel? The first you come here in forty years, and I'm like this. It's embarrassing." Just as he finished speaking, he felt himself getting very tired, more so than after one of his episodes of pain. It felt like a battle to just stay awake.

"I think it's time, isn't it? Just let yourself fall asleep," Rukia said in a calming voice.

So he did. He let the weariness of his body take over as he slowly let himself slip away. There was no fear or questioning. He knew exactly what was going to happen. All he had to do was sleep.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing beside the bed, looking down at his lifeless human body. He could see his hands and lower arms. They were as they were when he was younger. Urahara was right.

"Are you okay?" Rukia asked as she noticed his fixation on his aged body.

"Yeah," he replied, shaking his head to break his fixation on his past. "I think I'm ready to go now."

"That's good to hear. I thought we'd spend more time with you being surprised that you're young again."

"No, Urahara told me about that a few weeks ago. I don't really know why, but he said that it'd be important to know."

"You know Urahara, Ichigo. He's incapable of giving anyone a straight answer about anything. Whatever it is he's talking about, you'll figure it out sooner or later. Probably later."

"Great, now I have something to look forward to," Ichigo replied sarcastically. "Let's just get out of here. Being around my old body for too long is gonna creep me out."

"Okay," Rukia said, turning to open the senkaimon once again. "This will be your first time going to the Soul Society the real way."

With that, the two entered the gate. It was only a few steps between the real world and the Soul Society. There was no need to clear out intruders not that he had a hell butterfly, so the long corridor of the dangai wasn't necessary. It felt strange to Ichigo not to be running for what felt like forever when going over to the other dimension, but even without the time between the worlds, he remembered something just as they neared the gate on the other side.

"Rukia?" Ichigo asked as they stepped out the other end of the senkaimon and into the Soul Society. "Is Inoue here?"

"I had a feeling you'd ask about that," she said with a sigh. Her tone caused Ichigo to tense, not sure what exactly he was going to hear. "She's here, but there is something that you should know about Inoue."

"She better not be in some slum on the Rukongai. After everything she did and how her life was, she doesn't deserve that!"

"Calm down. It's not that. She's a shinigami now, but the only thing is… she doesn't remember her past life."

. To be continued .