Yo! I thought I'd make a Bleach story (or at least start one and finish later). This is a time travel story (ever notice that those stories never end up finished? Damn unreliable authors... oh, wait...) but with a twist... of course, other than the fact that this Ichigo is older.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach (sadly).

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"How are you doing, Kurosaki-san?"

It had been years since Hat-and-Clogs had said anything like that. In all honesty, Ichigo was going to scowl at him, but he had been too disheartened to even put up even a façade of well-being. He just sat with the forlorn look on his face, not changing his demeanor one bit as he turned his head to look at his Zanjutsu (swordsmanship) teacher. He had every right to do so. It hurt to look around the area where he was sitting right now.

"Not well, Urahara-san," he replied, looking back down to the ground.

Ichigo had been through a lot. Losing against a foe who killed everyone (literally) except for three people, then subsequently killed himself due to his insanity, tended to take a toll on you. He had already lost an eye to that bastard, which he wore an eyepatch over.

Urahara thought better of saying something when nothing particularly comforting had come to mind, so he resolved to look around at the destruction. Right now, they were in a dilapidated, outdated version of Karakura Town, the home of the Substitute Soul Reaper. No, wait... that would be the former Substitute Soul Reaper. He still couldn't believe that it had been two whole centuries since he first defeated Aizen. The destruction everywhere was still sobering, at least. Buildings were either overturned, ground to dust, or simply embedded into the ground. All the color had been gone from this place for a while now, leaving only the brown dirt, the cracked gray stone and black asphalt, and the bent/broken pieces of metal everywhere. Kisuke could see stoplights cracked and shards of glass coated in red. There were craters everywhere around the town from where... that had happened. Neither of them liked to think about it much considering it only brought more sadness.

"Aizen's dead, but... they're all gone, Urahara. Orihime, Chad, Ishida... Not to mention all my other friends from school and the Soul Reapers from the Gotei 13..." Urahara looked back down to the downtrodden Soul Reaper. He wasn't going to reply, but he couldn't stand to see Ichigo like this again. It had been a long time... In most other situations, one would have gotten over an emotional trauma by now, but this... this was certainly not just an 'emotional trauma' in the slightest. Aizen had killed them all as if they were worthless. Even after everything Ichigo had done to fight Aizen whenever he reared his ugly head, the pseudo-immortal bastard had still managed to create the Ōken. No, not that first time with the Espada, but far, far later, after the Tentai Kecchu had already been used to swap the real Karakura with the replica again (since it was believed that Aizen would be sealed away for 20,000 years and the human residents all needed to be in their own world since they weren't dead yet). Of course, the leftover, half-mad Sternritter just had to endanger Soul Society by releasing him again before then, and of course, Aizen took advantage of his freedom to fade into obscurity, and of course he used the next century or so to plan his next attempt to reach his goal. And only Ichigo, Urahara, and a few others that had been murdered truly knew his real goal: to usurp the Soul King as the ruler of the three worlds: Hueco Mundo and the World of the Living were included. What Aizen hadn't known, however, was that there was more to sitting on the throne than commanding subjects or building a city, a fact he learned the hard way when he sat there and burned away right in front of Ichigo, leaving the Hōgyoku behind.

Ichigo touched that spot again under his eyepatch, where the Hōgyoku had merged with him like it did with Aizen. That was 100 years ago, after he had already "died." It wasn't that Ichigo particularly wanted that to happen, but the Hōgyoku deemed him its next master, which Ichigo was particularly put off by, considering it seemed rather selfish to ask someone else to be your master simply because you wanted to live and avoid the consequences of your actions. Still, all the same, he took in the Hōgyoku anyway. It merged with him, giving him the power to make desires come true (and, subsequently, choose who gets their wishes), but it didn't help now. He couldn't save those he lost to the inevitable war Aizen waged against everyone (and won). He couldn't even save his own human body. Even Ichigo, who had been training for a while, hadn't been able to win in the end. He could still recall Aizen's final moments clearly. The ending didn't feel great, like he had just beat an enemy army, but it felt more like the silence after winning a war where you just lost too much. Except they hadn't won the war. Aizen lost, but so did the Gotei 13... so did the Visoreds... so did the Arrancars... even the Sternritter had all been annihilated. And after some of them had become allies, too...

Urahara simply looked upon the boy with an emotion similar to guilt. It was called sympathy a while ago. Now it was called comfort, but what it was hadn't changed. He remembered all that had happened, starting from Ichigo and that incident with Kon. That was too long ago, in his opinion. He reminisced on how things had been going well for a while; Ichigo, in time, managed to rescue Rukia from her unjust death after fighting the Gotei 13, managed to apparently defeat many of the Espada, was able to help the seal he had placed on Aizen take effect after reducing Aizen's power drastically (albeit with the equally-drastic Final Getsuga Tenshō), and even went on to defeat the Sternritter. Unfortunately, Aizen had already recovered and started planning his second attempt into the Soul King's throne immediately after, and Ichigo had not heard anything more of Aizen until he was much older (by human standards, anyway), when he had already had a wife and children. Heck, even his sisters could defend themselves from smaller threats at that point, having awoken a power thanks to the residual Hollow Reiatsu their mother had in her when she had already had Karin and Yuzu. However, Aizen disrupted things once again and managed to 'kill' Ichigo. He kept on fighting anyway. In the end, Aizen had decided to do things himself with his new-found power of mutation (he called it 'evolution,' so he must be bonkers) and other new developments that had come courtesy of the Hōgyoku, and managed to get through to the Soul King's Palace. Ichigo had followed him, but he was too late. Aizen had him bound in Bakudō 99 Part 1: Kin (with full chant, too) and Bakudō 99 Part 2: Bankin (also full chant). This way, Ichigo couldn't move his arms to use his sword if he wanted to, but he struggled anyway. He finally escaped, only to watch Aizen sit on the throne... and burn away as a result, screaming in agony. He faded away, taking the remnants of his Kidō and his screaming with him.

Urahara knew he didn't hear anything but facts, but he didn't need to ask how Ichigo felt. After all... he knew that, while he was feeling the same feeling that Ichigo was, Ichigo had it worse. He was in love and his lover was murdered. He was close with his family and his family was killed. He tried to protect his children, but they died anyway. He couldn't even get over to the Seireitei fast enough to protect any of his Soul Reaper friends when Aizen chose to direct his forces to Soul Society second, after defiling the World of the Living just for revenge. Urahara, on the other hand, didn't have a lover, or children, or a family (unless you counted his weird friendship with Yoruichi, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu as being 'family,' which is how he liked to think of it), and he had far fewer friends to grieve for. He only lost Yoruichi, Jinta, Ururu, and Ichigo's friends; Ichigo lost far more.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.

Ichigo turned to look at him. "Yeah."

They stayed as they were for a few minutes, but they really couldn't tell how long it had actually been. It felt like hours to them, hours of silence interrupted by the appearance of four figures.

"Yo, King, how long are you gonna be mopin' for? The rain is seriously killing my mood in there!"

Ichigo turned his head to look at the four figures. One was the very familiar tall old man wearing a coat-like Shihakushō and dark tinted glasses whom Ichigo had come to know the true nature of with (very painful) war time. The figure on his right was the familiar extremely-pale, white-haired, gold-eyed (with black sclera), double-toned carbon copy of Ichigo that he had found to be the monstrous Hollow he contained in his inner world as his Zanpakutō spirit, clothed in and wielding a blade inverted in color to Ichigo's own. The figure on the former's left was in the form of a girl. She was up to the old man's shoulder, and she looked, in most respects, like a female version of Ichigo, with the exception that she always appeared to be shimmering with a rainbow-colored aura (and the short black hair). The fourth was, simply put, a short, pretty girl with a regal air and a face that said she was a shy little princess and a red kimono that didn't match that description (as in, large splotches of red big enough to cover the entire front of her outfit). She had black hair and was wearing what appeared to be a casual white tank top and skirt under the large blood stains. "Zangetsu, Old Man, Hōgyoku, Benihime," he greeted.

"Zangetsu has a point. The rain in your inner world has been pouring ever since that day, Ichigo. I am trying to help you, but your condition does not improve no matter what I say or what these two say. I understand your pain, and I wish to help you 'snap out of it,' as it were," the old man affirmed.

"I don't care either way. I don't mind that it rains constantly, but I find myself... unable to simply ignore your current state," the shimmering figure addressed as Hōgyoku stated stoically, voice also double-edged like his Hollow's.

"I'm sorry you have to endure so much, Kurosaki-kun," the figure left to be Benihime stated apologetically. He could see the genuine concern in her eyes. He simply smiled in response.

"It's okay. None of it was your fault, Benihime. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Hat-and-Clogs over there," Ichigo answered jokingly, pointing to the blond man, who expressed his surprise.

"Huh?" Urahara simply grunted in confusion.

"Logically, he is right. You are the one who created the Hōgyoku and hid the device inside Kuchiki Rukia's gigai," Old Man Zangetsu pointed out.

"But Aizen was the jerk who took it from her gigai!" Zangetsu protested.

"Yeah, Kisuke! If you hadn't just let the Hōgyoku slip into Aizen's grasp, none of this would have ever happened!" Benihime followed up accusingly, pointing at Urahara like he broke the world (which was only slightly exaggerated).

"Uh..." Ichigo started awkwardly.

"Huh? What's wrong, Ichigo?" Kisuke asked, turning to look at him.

"I think Hōgyoku is mad..."

"I would prefer you did not speak of me as a mere object. I find offense in such remarks," the girl intoned just a little too blandly, giving off annoyance more than her voice was before; it was probably her glare that shut them up more (they both gulped).

Kisuke cleared his throat. "Anyway, you are right... it was my fault," he angsted, looking down slightly in disappointment. Ichigo surprised him by putting a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Ichigo. "Kurosaki-san," he remarked.

"It wasn't your fault, idiot. Remember, Aizen was crazy. He eliminated the Soul King just to try to fill his shoes, which failed in the end. Besides, you tried to fix your mistake, so it's not like anyone blames you for losing to Aizen. In fact, I do believe there aren't many people here anyway. Without the Soul King, those who have died have all either become Hollows or became completely erased," Ichigo consoled him.

Urahara paused for a moment to take that in while Ichigo continued. "Either way, there isn't any way we can change what happened in the past, so we have to get over it," was the way he finished his speech. Urahara and Benihime shared a look at that, getting the attention of the other four. "Is something wrong?"

"Actually... there may be a way to do exactly that," Urahara stated, to the shock of the four other spirits (which doesn't include Benihime.)

"Eh? Do what?" Ichigo asked, tilting his head.

"To go and change what happened in the past," Benihime jumped in with the answer, her serious voice returning.

"What? That's just plain crazy! Unless..." Zangetsu exclaimed.

"Urahara, have you invented a way to travel back in time?" Old Man Zangetsu asked calmly, his expression unchanging.

"Uh..." he started, but was interrupted by a very familiar Reiatsu approaching them. Everyone turned to where the new presence was coming from, to find Tessai (what, did you just assume I killed him off? I never said Tessai died...) appear to the group in a Flash Step.

"Tessai-san," Ichigo greeted.

"Is it ready?" Benihime asked.

"Yes, Urahara-dono, Benihime-dono," he stated.

"We must hurry. Come on, everyone," Urahara stated gravely, vanishing with a Flash Step along with Benihime and Tessai. Ichigo, stunned for only a moment, followed with his three spirits in the same manner.

When they finally made it to the lab, which was in Soul Society (Kurotsuchi Mayuri had excellent equipment, which was easy to notice once you got used to the fact that he was slightly crazy and yet still so logical), Urahara and Benihime began typing away at some of the consoles that belonged to the Department of Research and Development while Tessai was chanting. Ichigo had come inside seconds after the first three, and now, the door now closed, he marveled at the contents of this room. "I've never been to this lab before," he noted out loud.

"It appears you were wrong again to assume we have seen all the labs under the Department of Research and Development," Old Man Zangetsu stated. It seemed to be an inside joke to Urahara, but he didn't have the focus to think upon it.

"Forget that already, will ya?" Ichigo commented exasperatedly.

"You gotta admit, King, you walked yourself into that one," Zangetsu commented before cackling.

"Shut up. Your cackle is extremely annoying," Hōgyoku commented, her annoyed tone showing through.

"If you four are done with your comedy routine, then I will start explaining what's under the tarp," Urahara commented casually, yet he was not smiling.

"Please do," the old man commented swiftly.

"Benihime, if you would," Urahara told his Zanpakutō spirit, who obliged and pulled the tarp down to reveal a Senkaimon. It seemed different from Kisuke's normal Senkaimon. For starters, it didn't have the appearance of a stone border of a double door, but the appearance of a clock. It was circular, with the outside labeled like a clock should be, and the numbers appeared to be glowing white. Kisuke then finished up with the console and it came to life, showing the inside of the Dangai. Soon after, Tessai finished chanting and a white film appeared in the door-like space of the Senkaimon. Urahara started explaining. "Ever since Aizen died, I have been working on how to time travel, seeing as it was more viable an option than starting the human race all over again (not to mention less fictional). So, my musings brought me upon the Dangai. I have researched for a while how the Dangai works, since I didn't know the specifics at the time. It's truly quite fascinating. You see, I already knew that time flows far faster in the Dangai than in Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, or the World of the Living. But, after doing some reading, I found that the Dangai can actually be reversed... theoretically. I did some experimenting and I believe I've found just the right combination of Kidō and the devices in this lab. I believe I've just cracked time travel," Kisuke explained.

"'Reverse the Dangai'? How?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, I don't know how to explain it in layman terms and the full explanation is too long besides. But what I did was I reversed the flow of time in the Dangai to flow backwards, as well as slower. Now, instead of 2,000 hours passing in the Dangai for every 1 hour in the other worlds, that same 2,000 hours in the Dangai, that same time period that will feel like an hour to you since we are used to that, will be equivalent to travelling backwards in time 200 years in the World of the Living and Soul Society," Urahara explained further.

"What? I'm going back to when I was sixteen?" Ichigo asked.

"Holy shit..." Zangetsu remarked. Huh... guess he could shut up.

"Does this really work?" Old Man Zangetsu asked, clearly concerned.

"I've been studying this for a century. It has to work," Urahara answered confidently, all joking mannerisms aside.

"Wow. So, when do we leave?" Ichigo asked.

"I can't leave," Urahara said, still serious.

"Huh? Why not?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, for starters, the modifications I made to the Dangai make it rather unstable. If there is nobody here to monitor it and make the appropriate changes, you could be flung to the other edge of time. But I don't think I would be suited as well as you to go back to change all this. Kurosaki-san... all this time I've been living around you, I've been able to examine your personality. Even back before the war, you were always making friends in the weirdest of places. I mean, you made friends with most of the Gotei 13 captains and lieutenants whilst waging a war on them, a couple of Former Espada while breaking into Las Noches, even some of the Sternritters, not to mention all your... other friends. It was partially why we survived. But, sadly, it wasn't enough. This world will die, Kurosaki-san, because there's no more Soul King. Nobody has filled the position, or people would reappear here in the World of the Living. Eventually, the souls will die out, and the more time that passes, the faster that happens, if only a little each second. If you go back as you are now, however, you will be strong enough to handle Aizen before he became immortal. This bubble shield Tessai put up should envelop you as you walk through it, preventing anything from happening to you while travelling through the Dangai. If I was right, you should be 200 years into the past while still having all the power you do now."

Ichigo sighed. "Why did it feel like this was bound to happen?" he sighed exasperatedly.

Urahara shrugged. "I dunno. Oh, and one more thing before you leave..."

Ichigo looked at Urahara. "What is it?"

"I want to give Benihime to you."

Ichigo blinked. "Eh? You can do that?"

Urahara nodded. "I talked it over with Benihime and we agreed that it would help you drastically if she went along. Her Shikai ability is a lot like that of your Zangetsu; she can harden Reiryoku and release it in an attack. However, unlike Zangetsu, she can actually manipulate that Reiryoku. She can release it any way she wants, but her named attacks are most powerful. Still, we theorized that she could actually take the Reiryoku you have inside you from when you got your powers back the second time and actually mature Zanpakutō spirits that are identical to those of the Soul Reapers who gave you their power," he explained.

Zangetsu smirked. "So, Bloody Bag here's gonna give us sons and daughters? Cool," he smiled wickedly.

"Cut it out, Zangetsu. You're being creepy," Ichigo reprimanded him. Then, he turned back to Urahara. "And how are you going to 'give me' Benihime? Are you just going to hand her Shikai to me or something?" he asked.

"No. I also built a machine that will actually tie a Zanpakutō to someone else's soul, to put it simply. As you know, Zanpakuto spirits are born with their Soul Reaper and die with their Soul Reaper. If their master dies, so do they. However, Benihime insisted I find a way to save her life. So, being the gracious man that I am, I agreed and started looking," he started.

"Yeah, right, Kisuke! You kept leaving me in your room on purpose just to avoid me! I had to beat you up just to convince you!"

"Shh, shh, Benihime. Now's not the time for that." Urahara tried to calm her.

"Why you...!" ...and it probably didn't work.

"Save the explanations for later, Urahara. How do we do this?" Ichigo interrupted them.

"Right. Step over here, into the right chamber. You need to stick your Shikai into the floor in there," Kisuke commanded.

Ichigo did as told once his spirits dematerialized. The machine looked more like a cloning device than what it was intended for. There were two chambers, each looked identical to the other. Once Ichigo was in, Urahara got inside and pressed what looked like a remote switch. As soon as he did, both chambers became blindingly bright... and then it was over. After the bright Reiatsu disappeared, they stepped out.

"Okay, now I can give you Benihime's Shikai. Here." He handed him the cane sword, which Ichigo held onto. "Now, I need you to travel through the Dangai at the highest speed you can manage. So use your newer Bankai," he instructed.

"Okay." Ichigo leaned the sealed cane sword against a console, took out both of his blades (which were sealed, a remnant of rough war life; Ichigo had to learn how to place a strong seal on himself to limit his power enough for him to seal his blades) and called out his Bankai.

"Bankai: Kirameku Tensa Zangetsu." (Sparkling Heaven-Chain Slaying Moon)

His Bankai didn't look much different, actually. It had all the features of before: cool new shihakusho, smaller daito blade, chain going up his arm. The only new feature was that the coat seemed to display the night sky. And not in the same way as a simple pattern or embroidery; it shimmered with the appearance of the night sky. He also got new glasses on his face reminiscent of Old Man Zangetsu's.

Urahara looked him up and down. "Wow. The Hōgyoku's influence did more than I thought," he noted. "Now, run through with all your-"

...Aaaaaaand he was gone. Honestly, he could have at least let him finish a sentence. Urahara turned to Tessai. "Now, would you do the honors, Tessai?" he asked, turning to him.

"Is it really necessary to do this, Urahara-dono?" he asked, unsure.

"Yes, it is. Because of my machine, both Benihime and Zangetsu are tied to both of us. I will die anyway, but it's better to die now while he is in the Dangai than if he was in the middle of something important. That way, Benihime and Zangetsu can become fully used to drawing only on Ichigo's power so he won't be defenseless when it matters. Now, do it quickly," Urahara explained.

"...Yes, Urahara-dono," Tessai said. He held his palm towards Urahara.

I feel kinda bad for lying to Ichigo about needing to stay here...' Urahara thought as Tessai chanted.

Finally, he finished the spell; "Hado 88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!"

Earlier...

Ichigo was travelling through the Dangai. He seemed to be doing a good job of running from the cleaner. He left it in the dust a while ago, and he was still running when he suddenly felt an intense pain. Wide-eyed in surprise at the sudden feeling, he stopped flying at high speed, rolled head-over-heels when he hit the ground, and skidded to a stop on his face.

"What the-?" he said, doubled over in pain. He could hear the screams of the blade on his back and the blade in his hand (Benihime). Blood trickled from his mouth.

"What the hell? What's going on here?" asked a very mad Zangetsu.

"It's the machine. Kisuke had to kill himself after he used it so Zangetsu and I could get used to only being tied to Ichigo. The pain will subside," Benihime explained.

Ichigo looked back the direction he came. "Urahara-san..." he said forlornly. Then he expressed surprise when the Cleaner came towards him.

"Shitshitshitshitshit! Move it, King!" a very surprised Zangetsu screamed at him.

Ichigo couldn't move, however. He tried to move his legs, but he only fell over in response, helpless. Lying on his back, he watched helplessly as the Cleaner knocked into him, making him black out.

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...Done! Please read and review. I will answer reviews in the next chapter's author's note.