Prologue – The Beginning, and the End

Ichigo stepped out of Heuco Mundo, an unconscious Orihime in his arms. He had been fatally wounded, but she had helped him through his perilous journey and he would be damned before he left her behind again. Ichigo grinned in spite of the pain that wracked his body. He had overcome his biggest obstacle yet. He gruntedd as he took another step forward and tripped. "Damn it! I'm not going to to let it all end here" He whispered Hoarsely.

Before the teen could exit the giant mansion, he heard a faint, chilling voice in the wind. It was familiar… but he couldn't place the desperate cry that seemed to echo out of the giant fortress formerly named Heuco Mundo. His Carmel eyes focused on the entrance, he was hoping for something… Someone to come through the threshold of that place that embodied horror and pain… but who?

Sudden faintness took Ichigo like a wave as he slumped to his knees, grappling to hold onto his consciousness. Sitting in the white sand, Ichigo lost himself.. Exhausted from the battle and emotional scars, he fainted. One name, One thought was on his mind, and it taunted him like a ghost. "Grimmjow" he whispered silently before falling into darkness.

When his brown eyes opened, he was still surrounded by blinding white and the strong scent of sterilizing alcohol

"Have I finally Died?" He whispered.

The pain in his abdomen unfortunately said otherwise. The teen slowly Hoisted himself up on the hospital bed So he could survey his surroundings. He tried to think clearly, but the drugs within his system(Whatever they were, they worked well) seemed to keep everything hazy. Then he heard a familiar Voice cry out in shock.

"Hey, Ichigo! Your alive!"

The teen turned to be greeted by Renji, His best friend. He looked a little worse for wear, but he nonetheless was grinning like a beast

"ugh, Renji, your so Loud!" Ichigo moaned, "What happened? Why am I back in soul Society? Are you ok? Are the others ok? Where's Ori-…

Renji Grinned and sat down on the side of the bed.

"Well, full of questions just as your awake Aren't you? Well… I'll start with when we found you in Heuco Mundo…"

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Renji ran through the Maze that he had gotten himself into at Heuco Mundo. It seemed to go on forever, and he worried that he was too late.

"Tch! That Damn Szayel! He held me up far too much and I probably am missing all of the action!" He Growled "And that damned Ishida… He Left me! I'm going to kill that bastard when I get hold of his little Pencil Neck!" He almost shouted in anger as he shunpoed out of the maze.

Renji stepped out of Heuco Mundo to find Ichigo, collapsed with Orihime in his grasp.

"Ichigo! Orihime!" the redhead rushed toward the two. Orihime looked up helplessly at Renji.

"Renji, Help me… Ichigo fell unconscious and he's on top of me… I can't get up and he needs help… He's fa… fatally wounded and he needs help!" she whispered almost in tears. "It's all my fault… HE's suffering because of me.. because I couldn't help myself or protect him…"

Renji then proceeded to thump the girl on the head. "Baka" He said, "Ichigo needs help now. And as you said, he's fatally wounded. This is no time for you to be going on about how it's your fault. He needs for you to heal him. You can apologize to him later if you must, even though you did nothing wrong." He frowned at her as he gently pushed Ichigo's Body off of Orihime's. Something was Horribly wrong with Him.. he was totally out and even moving his body was like moving a corpse, Renji noticed grimly.

Orihime pulled herself up and healed Ichigo as well as she could. "There is something wrong with the wound" She stated Hopelessly, "Theres only so much that I can do to heal him. But the hole in his stomach isn't going away… It's not healing" She almost sobbed.

Sighing Impatiently, Renji Picked up Ichigo's Body like it was a light Life sized doll. "We'll heal him in Soul Society. For now we need to get out of here"

Renji picked Orihime up in his other arm and shunpoed To where the other captains, Rukia, Ishida, and Chad had congregated.

Ishida looked at Ichigo's Body once and chuckled, "Leave it to him to overdo it and make us all look like fools as usual , Unbelievable."

Renji snapped at Ishida. "And what about you?! Mr. Qunicy? You left me behind to fend for myself so you could get some of the action while I was lost in the maze!"

"Your getting lost wasn't my fault Renji. Your just far too slow. So don't get mad at me for leaving you behind… you simply didn't have enough skill." Ishida scoffed.

Renji became a bright red at this accusation. The little wimp was telling HIM that he couldn't keep up?! Granted, he was a little slow, but what he lacked in speed he made up in power and combat Prowess. He was more than able to destroy the little Imp sitting and scoffing at him.

"If Byakuya was as weak as you were," Renji growled "I would be ashamed to have a Taicho weaker than myself."

"Say what you want" Ishida stated impatiently.

Yachiru Poked up from Kenpachi's Shoulder with a happy Smile as Kenpachi frowned. "We've been given bad directions before, now haven't we, Yachiru?" He questioned with almost an annoyed tone. Yachiru frowned at the comment "My directions have never led you astray Ken-Chan! I'm the best when it comes to navigating!"

Grunting, Kenpachi refused to hear the little girl's excuses. "Are we getting out of here or what?"

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"It has been about 6 months since we came back. You have been in a comatose since that time I found you with Orihime. We were afraid we were going to lose you." Renji Smiled weakly and looked away from Ichigo's face. "But your body has awakened a few times… But it wasn't you… I can't explain it… but you were almost as cold blooded as a hollow… Your skin turned to a paper white and you had a hollow's eyes…" Renji's stare became Hurtful and pained "You.. or your other half rather, told us a few disturbing things… but only to a few shinigami, fortunately… we had to tie you down until he gasped something about a battle to end all battles and then became unconscious and your body returned to normal. I'm not going to ask questions, Ichigo…. But please… keep whatever it was inside of you at all times… That could get you killed. But it would explain why you are so strong." Renji finished with a tired sigh.

Ichigo could only frown.. So Shiro had been out.. He had taken advantage of Ichigo's own weakness and taken control of his body. He was actually surprised how weak his mental state had become during the fights in Las Noches.

It then suddenly hit him. He had missed the fighting. 6 MONTHS?! Ichigo's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the awaiting Renji.

"Wait…." He said, " 6 Months?! Has the war ended? Was Aizen killed yet?!" He almost became frantic before Renji laughed like Ichigo had Just told him an amusing joke.

" We could always take care of ourselves" Renji Chuckled "The war ended a few months ago. All of the Arrancars have been exterminated and the Sokoku Has been officially destroyed!" The Redhead beamed at Ichigo. "We are all living in peace at last. There is no longer any force that opposes Soul Society. Other than the Occasional hollow of course. But they are quickly dealt with and destroyed.

The teen felt like he could breathe easily again. The fresh air was an amazing blessing… There was no more war. No more suffering, And everyone had survived!

Ichigo began to laugh happily until his chest felt like it was going to burst.

Renji smiled at Ichigo. It was so breathtaking to see him alive and laughing like there was no longer a care in the world.

"Oh, and Ichigo?" Renji Inquired, "All of your friends are waiting for you in the realm of the living. Even Orihime has made a full recovery after gaining some much needed sleep."

Ichigo jumped out of his bed like there were hot coals underneath his body.

"Wait! Ichi-"

Just as He had landed, Ichigo had felt a sharp pain shoot from his abdomen all the way to his skull. Nearly doubling over, Ichigo tried to inspect what was wrong. Where Ulquiorra had wounded him in the stomach, there was still a deep and painful wound. He had re-opened it in his quick exit from the bed.

"I tried to tell you to stay put." Renji growled Firmly, "The wound in your stomach isn't healing very well. The one who put that hole in your stomach embedded a lot of reiatsu into the surrounding flesh. Even our best healers couldn't fully heal it." Renji became Grim… Almost angry.

"You must be careful not to re-open the wound again. Go easy on your body and it will heal itself."

Ichigo Steadied himself and gazed at Renji, his tattoed face fully exposed with a frame of cascading crimson hair. The teen could never say that Renji was never an attractive man, simply because everyone thought he was attractive. But it was nothing like a lustful attraction, he was just naturally feminine.

"Very well." Ichigo said "I'll be careful Renji. May I leave and go home now? I need to see that my family is safe."

Renji stared at Ichigo for a long while, almost fighting with the uncontrollable urge to keep Ichigo in Soul Society even longer to heal. But the urgency in the other man's eyes told him that it would all be pointless and a waste of effort. Ichigo was always stubborn to the extremes sometimes… why else would he almost always be on the brink of death? He never gave up.

Renji sighed. 'Yes, you may leave, But remember, Ichigo, you need to take it easy. Leave all of the hollows to the healthy Soul Reapers alright?"

Ichigo nodded and left the hospital building feeling like he had missed a secret message in Renji's words… but nonetheless. Ichigo was looking forward to some down time from the Death God business. "Karin… Yuzu… wait for me" he whispered as he rushed home.

When the berry reached his home, he was greeted by the sight of Yuzu and Karin Playing video games… HIS video games. He diddn't really mind, but it made him feel at home at last.

Yuzu turned and smiled at the Teen. "Oni-Chan! Your back from your trip!" She giggled happily as she gently hugged her brother. "We missed you! Even Karin was wondering when you would get back!" She grinned at Karin as Ichigo gently embraced his sister back.

"I missed you as well." Ichigo smiled

"ICHIGO!!" Suddenly his father came out of the kitchen wearing an apron that stated 'Kiss the Cook' in bold letters across his chest. Surprisingly, Ichigo noticed, his father wasn't attacking him like normal, but trying to actually HUG him.

"I missed you so much my beloved son! Come into your father's awaiting bosom! I-"

Ichigo put a stop to his father's vicious onslaught with a quick punch to the face.

"I've only been gone for 6 months! Get a hold of yourself Old man!" Ichigo shouted irritably… god he had actually missed his dad.

"Why are you so cruel to your loving daddy?!" Isshin cried with tears pouring from his eyes. 'Good feelings gone' Ichigo thought.

"I can't take this anymore!" Ichigo sighed, "I'm going upstairs" He trumped up the stairs and entered his room.

Ichigo plopped down on his bed. 'Today has been a good day' he thought. Even Kon and Rukia were gone. Rukia had moved in back with her brother in soul society and moved out of his closet. Kon couldn't take the solitude and went to Urahara's shop. It was very peaceful.

He went to lay his head on the pillow when he froze in shock. There were hairs on his pillow… hairs that weren't his. A light Teal Color, Ichigo only knew of one man that had that impressively colored hair.

"Grimmjow" Ichigo Growled.

Inside his head, he could hear the sexta espada's maniacal laughter.

"No… no, he's dead. Nnoitra killed him in front of me" He whispered.

'He can't still be alive!' he thought. But how could he explain the hairs that stood out against his black pillow like an accusation… a threat? He himself had been gone, unconscious for 6 months, it was impossible.

Suddenly, he came down with a fierce headache. He dismissed the the thoughts and pushed the hairs off his pillow.

'It's impossible, I saw him get killed' He thought. 'Everything is over. All of the arrancars have been exterminated. Dead as door nails.' Ichigo grinned at this soothing thought. Everything will be ok. He could finally sleep in peace. The orange headed teen drifted off into deep sleep and became dead to the world.

A dark shadow paused at Ichigo's bedroom window. Clever lips spread into a giddy, cruel grin. The demon grinned and laughed impishly, almost with a hint of insanity laced with the hypnotic, soothing sound.

"Your finally back, Ichigo" Purred the voice, "Your reiatsu is impossible to miss for miles…. Now that I've found you, it's my turn to have fun playing with you." Another wicked grin crossed the malicious face, revealing teeth that were pointed like a feral cat's.

The wind blew serenely through thick, Teal Teal Colored hair as the espada jumped from the window.

"I shall bide my time, Kurosaki Ichigo, Then I will make you fall to your knees…" Grimmjow Jeagerjaques laughed happily Under his breath as he sped off into the dark night.