Limitless

It was gone, finally gone. He watched as his sixth sense dissolve before his very eyes. His old wish, the one he had for so long, had at last come true. He wasn't quite so sure that he wanted to be a normal human anymore. No, he was certain that he didn't want to be a regular human, not when he's had the taste of something more on the back of his tongue, stuck in his other senses. To be frank, it was agonizing to watch not only his closest of nakama fade away, but his ability to protect those around him as well.

Sure, he could still protect himself if the need arose, but he couldn't protect everybody like he used to. It was all he really wanted, the ability to protect. Now that he was losing that, he had no idea what he was going to do. Not just with his time, but with his life as well. He was positive that his powers wouldn't grow back over time like hair and such; it was more like a limb. Once it was gone, it was gone for good. One could get a prosthetic, but it just wasn't the same.

And life wouldn't be the same, to put it simply. Not at all, and Kurosaki Ichigo knew this well. After all, his life had been changed dramatically once. Who's to say that it couldn't happen again? Only this time, it changed in the opposite direction.

Before Kuchiki Rukia even stepped through the senkaimon, she was gone. Perfectly invisible, and Ichigo knew that the both of them knew the exact instant it was completely over. Finally it was done, gone, over with, that part of Ichigo's life. Now let the internal nightmare begin.

Days passed, and Ichigo seemed fine. A little depressed, maybe, but fine. Weeks flew by; his attitude was a bit shakier. Months, he seemed more secluded, isolated. And at the year mark, he was only a shell of himself left.

No one, no one was successful in bringing Ichigo to his former, meaningful state. Everything he did screamed 'hollow'. No, not the spirit-eating monster, but the empty definition. He put on his regular 'tough guy' image, reacting like he normally would, but there was no meaning behind it, no effort or even emotion. Most were fooled by Ichigo's act, but his closest and long time friend, Sado "Chad" Yasutora couldn't bear to look at Ichigo. He could tell Ichigo was suffering greatly from his loss, but he knew that if Ichigo were to go back time and redo everything, he wouldn't change a thing.

The Ichigo Chad had known had essentially vanished along with his powers. In a way, Ichigo's powers made him who he was. And to lose that, well, it was like losing himself. Just watching Ichigo go through the motions to satisfy everyone else almost killed Chad to watch. Still, Chad humored the lost seventeen year old.

Ishida Uryu and Inoue Orihime knew something was wrong with Ichigo, but resigned themselves to ignore it. He seemed pretty normal, though they knew it was an act, for the most part. The two had long since given up bringing Ichigo back to normal, it just didn't seem possible. This particularly upset Orihime, but she learned to let it go. Somewhat. All they knew was that they were there for Ichigo if they needed him, though Ishida would never admit that out loud.

It happened out of nowhere, literally. It was in the middle of the night when the reiatsu spiked. More than spiked, it climbed and climbed and climbed until it suddenly disappeared, probably so powerful that nobody could feel it anymore. In Soul Society, monitors that were keeping tabs on certain parts of Karakura broke when this phenomenon happened. Actually it was because of this phenomenon that the monitors broke. Imagine the surprise of the Twelfth Division members the next morning when they found their precious equipment shattered. However, because Soul Society was technically another dimension, nobody actually felt the spiraling reiatsu themselves.

Kurosaki Ichigo woke the next morning, groaning in pain. He felt like he had been run over and a nail had been driven through his head. Moving hurt, seeing light, hearing sounds hurt. All he wanted to do was lie there and cease to exist. Still, he knew he had school so he tried to get up, a tsunami of pain crashed over him, and he hissed. Every inch of his body hurt like the torture of Hell. What happened to him? Did he somehow do this to himself in his sleep? It seemed unlikely, but it was the only logical explanation.

Trudging downstairs in absolute agony, whilst clutching his head, Ichigo slowly made progress for the dining area. As soon as his foot hit the floor at the end of the stairs, Ichigo's father came hurdling towards him, but it seemed as if he moved in slow motion. Having no tolerance to deal with his absurd father, Ichigo merely side stepped him and fell into his seat. When Ichigo bent over the table, both hands holding his head now, his sisters turned to him in worry.

"Ichi-nii, are you all right?" Yuzu asked, concern written all over her.

Ichigo merely grunted in reply. He couldn't even pretend to be all right, not even for his family.

"Ichi-nii, what's wrong?" This time Karin was the one to ask.

Ichigo manage to look up at his sisters and began to form a coherent response when Isshin decided to retaliate. He was ready to punch Ichigo from behind, but Ichigo managed to whip his hand behind him, and throw him across the room. All three Kurosaki children paused to process what happened. Ichigo had used what would be, considered by human standards, supernatural strength and moved impossibly fast. However, to Ichigo, it seemed perfectly normal strength and a slow speed. How was that even possible?

All three of them decided to ignore it, especially when Isshin recovered and began saying weird, yet normal, things. If their father was fine, then it must not have been much. Unbeknownst to the kids, Isshin had a sneaking suspicion of what happened just then and about why his son was in so much agony.

By the time Ichigo left for school, he had taken migraine medicine to lower the nail-through-the-skull feeling, but, much to his dismay, it wasn't dissipating one bit. He nearly growled as the sensation continued on his walk to school. The sun's rays beating down on him did nothing to help either. If anything, it made it worse. When he reached school, he was happy to be in the shade. Yet, he sat near the window, so the relief was incomplete. He laid his head down on his desk, arms around it to try and shield out the light. It wasn't entirely effective.

Ichigo was in so much pain that he didn't notice feeling three particular people's energies enter the room.

"Kurosaki-kun!" an enthusiastic – and to Ichigo, very loud – voice said somewhere near him. As much as he tried not to, Ichigo couldn't help but moan from the pain in his head. This alerted Orihime to Ichigo's pitiful state. She repeated his name, but this time it was laced with worry.

"Kurosaki, are you feeling okay?"

Ichigo merely turned his head slightly to shoot Ishida a look. Why was Ishida bothering him with the obvious while he could be quiet and leave him alone? Ichigo turned his head back to its former position and tried vainly to block out the world.

"Ichigo?" This time it was Chad. Why wouldn't they just leave him alone?

Despite every cell screaming at him, Ichigo sat up and glared at his three nakama. All three were startled by the vehemence behind the scowl. It wasn't empty or fake like before, but real. Though it was progress, was it progress in the wrong direction? They couldn't tell.

At that moment a large, high pitched wail pierced the tensely silent air. Ichigo cringed, and his friends turned all their attention toward the sound of a Hollow. They didn't even notice that Ichigo reacted to a sound he wasn't supposed to hear, but Ichigo certainly did notice…subconsciously, anyway. His conscious mind was still preoccupied by the pain he was feeling.

One of Ichigo's friends took off running, though Ichigo wasn't entirely sure who as he had lain down on his desk again, and the other two took their seats as other students began filing in. The incessant chatter that burst into the room nearly drove Ichigo insane with intense pain. He wanted to yell at them to shut up, but he couldn't make himself move.

The very loud and very obnoxious Asano Keigo blasted into the room and dove towards Ichigo. All Ichigo did was lift his head slightly and glare, but the glower was so vicious it stopped Keigo in his tracks and involuntarily shiver in fear. Keigo then went to whine and complain to Kojima Mizuiro. Mizuiro brushed him off coldly whilst looking down at his cell phone, but then he noticed Ichigo's glare and shuddered himself. He wisely decided to leave the orange haired teen alone.

When Arisawa Tatsuki entered, she was not intimidated by the horrific glare Ichigo was sending to everyone in sight. She didn't approach him right away, though. She instead opted to talk with Orihime for a while. When Tatsuki decided to go up to Ichigo, Orihime tried to stop her, but Tatsuki would not be deterred.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" she asked almost rudely.

"Go away," Ichigo growled quietly.

"Is that any way to address someone who's worried about you?"

"Shut up. I never asked you to worry about me," Ichigo replied coldly.

"Excuse me?" Tatsuki nearly shouted, causing Ichigo to grit his teeth and shut his eyes tightly against the pain.

Tatsuki was about to hit him, when Ichigo abruptly stood to defend himself. However, a wave a nausea and torture-level pain crashed into him, and he took off running, a hand over his mouth. Everyone watched, stunned, at the teenager who rushed out of the classroom. What was that? Was he sick or something?

As Ichigo ran, his speed increased exponentially. It took him less than a minute to reach the bathroom that was down a couple of halls and a couple of floors. He let go of the little bit of breakfast he had that morning safely into the toilet. Why was he feeling so atrociously in pain? Like he had been interrogated by some sort of secret government organization bent on getting information. He panted and waited until he was sure he wouldn't barf anymore. Carefully standing onto wobbly legs, he made his way back to the classroom and at a much slower pace.

Everything instantly hushed as Ichigo entered, but he ignored it as he went to his desk, grabbed his bag, and left without saying a word. Using his poor health to get out of school, Ichigo made his way home. The sun seemed more intense than before, and his migraine shot through the roof. He groaned. How was that possible? He nearly collapsed half way home. Struggling significantly, Ichigo managed to come home and throw himself onto his bed.

After a moment, Ichigo forced himself to get up and close the blinds before collapsing onto the floor.

The blissful darkness dissipated after what seemed like an eternity and a matter of seconds. Ichigo's brown eyes slowly but surely opened and stared at the ceiling. Wait, ceiling? As far as Ichigo remembered, he was standing at the window closing the blinds so less light would filter in and burn his brain into a crisp. Not that he thought about it, where was that obnoxious pain? He didn't feel anything at all. As if his body had acclimated to the brink-of-death hurt that he experience all throughout his day. Either that or he was shot with so many painkillers that his body felt numb. Numb was an accurate way to describe Ichigo at that moment.

He couldn't feel his body at all. Any movement he made, he couldn't feel. His mind, as he tried to focus on sensation, blanked out. He could tell by sound that he was breathing, but that was about it. Eventually, the numbness wore off and feeling came back to Kurosaki Ichigo. Once it was gone, Ichigo felt…normal. How odd. Did he imagine the pain, then? No, that was impossible. He'd never felt that way before. Ever, except maybe once when he lost…He cut the thought off abruptly. He had promised himself never to think of that again.

Ichigo turned his head towards the window, and noticed no light coming through the blinds. In fact, it looked rather dark. Was it night time? How long had he been out? Ichigo pushed the thoughts out of his mind as he forced himself to sit up. The sheets wrinkled as he did so, and he noticed that he was under the covers of his bed. How did he get there? Ichigo assumed then that his family, whoever it was – and he desperately hoped it wasn't his father – must've put him there after they found him passed out.

Feeling completely fine, better than fine actually, he felt…like his old self, almost. But he knew that wasn't true as he was completely human now. Anyway, he also felt a ravenous hunger that made him get up out of bed and slowly made his way downstairs, trying to be silent so as not to wake his family up. As he opened the fridge, a voice behind him startled him into a straighter position, causing him to bang his head on the refrigerator, which then led to some cussing.

Ichigo whipped around and saw a translucent being standing behind him with a face saying that she wanted to laugh. Ichigo glared at the ghost and…wait. Ghost? That wasn't possible. At all. He couldn't see ghosts or shinigami or Hollows anymore, he lost every bit of power he'd ever had just for the sake of making everyone safe. Yet, here he was, staring incredulously at a translucent figure with a chain coming out of its chest. Clearly, something was wrong with this picture. Vaguely, he remembered hearing a Hollow's cry during the day. And his eyes widened even more. How was this happening?

"Say something already," the girl said impatiently.

"Uh…" Ichigo replied unintelligently.

The girl sighed, and then got straight to the point. "Can you help me?"

Ichigo certainly broke from his disbelieving state of mind, and focused on the female soul in front of him. "Help with what exactly?"

The girl exhaled in irritation. "What does it look like I need help with, dumbass?"

Ichigo had a feeling that this girl was loosely similar to a certain nakama of his that he hadn't seen or heard from for over a year. Ichigo sighed, knowing that he had no choice. But even knowing that he could now see and hear ghosts, it did not mean his actual powers had resurfaced. It was just that his awareness just came back. In other words, his energy was back, but that wasn't necessarily inclusive with his shinigami powers.

"I can't exactly help you. I don't think I have the ability to send you to heaven," Ichigo finally replied with a heavy sigh. He refrained from saying 'Soul Society' because, one, the girl probably never heard of it, and two, it hurt him to say anything about his previous shinigami lifestyle.

The girl gave him a look that clearly said she thought he was stupid. Ichigo felt a vein throb in his head. "I was told that you could, and I believe that you can."

It was Ichigo's turn to look as if the other was crazy. "How long have you been dead?"

Clearly, whoever told her that he could help her was not up to date. That piece of information was seriously outdated, and it looked like the girl wouldn't give up until he helped.

"About three years, so are you going to help me or what?" the girl said, crossing her arms.

Ichigo sighed. Yep, her source was definitely out of the loop. If she'd been dead less than a year she wouldn't know any better, but if she's been alive for that long, surely she could've found someone who was more informed. Oh well, he was stuck with the consequences anyway; might as well deal with it. He told the girl to wait for a minute as he went back upstairs.

Ichigo fished through his stuff to find a certain object that really reminded him of the past chapter of his life. He seriously doubted, though, that this would make any difference. Maybe it'd show the girl that he was unable to help her. Once he found the badge that a particular kind-hearted man gave him, he went back downstairs towards the kitchen. Once there, he pressed the badge to his chest, and out came his soul. What he had expected was not what he saw, besides the fact that his soul came out at all.

Ichigo was slightly taller than he had been just a few seconds ago, and he felt the hair at the back of his neck and knew it was slightly longer than usual. What really got Ichigo, however, was the black outfit he was now wearing. It consisted of a black gi and hakama with white tabi and woven sandals. It was the typical uniform of a shinigami, a shihakusho. There was a red chain slanted across his chest, and his hand reached over and felt the wrapped hilt of his zanpakuto.

A few seconds passed.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

The End?

A/N: This was what I came up with when I thought, 'What if Ichigo got his powers back on his own?' And also the fact that in some stories I've read, people don't seem to grasp the concept that Ichigo's power, at the time he fought Aizen, was so high that no one could feel it. His power was basically on another plane of existance. I wanted to write a story that incorperated that fact.

However, I want to know if I should keep going with this story or just end it here. This seems like a nice place to end it, though I do have inspiration to keep on going. I would like to know your opinion on this, though. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.