It's been about a year and a half since I wrote any sort of fan fiction, and this is my first Bleach one so I hope it'll be okay! I originally planned this out for a one-shot, but found that it was a little too long so I'm dividing it to 3 chapters instead.

This WILL be completed!

*SPOILER ALERT*

This fic takes place after Ichigo wakes up from his 1 month recovery period thing, and I'm following the manga universe; so basically he wakes up at home and five minutes later all his shinigami powers evaporate and he can't see any ghosts or Rukia anymore. I'll use some minor stuff from the anime, but mostly it's from the manga.

Hope you enjoy this! Reviews are, of course, hugely appreciated!

-Ebony Glasse

The Volunteers of Gotei 13

Ishida was not at all suspicious of Ichigo suddenly dragging him to the extremely quiet, extremely private and extremely notorious little niche at the back of the school the very second the last bell rang. They had flown pass Inoue who was in the middle of saying goodbye, then gracefully (and desperately) avoided Tatsuki's angry kick before shoving Keigo out of the way and giving Chad and Mizuiro a very brief wave on their way out.

"So… what did you need me for?" he finally asked, adjusting his glasses. It should be forbidden for two men to be here. This place was notorious for not having two men around here alone. After school. With sunlight dappling on them through the trees.

"Ishida. I need you to tell me, right here, right now, with no shortcuts. Tell it straight to my face, with no fancy words. I just have to know." Ichigo finally blurted out, pacing back and forth while ruffling his hair with both hands in frustration.

"Yes?" he replied, bored. He had an inkling about what Ichigo wanted to ask though, and an internal debate was warring inside him. Some of what he would tell him he wouldn't particularly care, others he might even find quite funny but it was the few that would really, really piss him off that made Ishida not want to be the bearer of this good/bad/interesting news.

"What happened during that one month I was unconscious?"

"Several princesses tried to wake you up with a kiss." Was the immediate response, complete with the adjusted glasses twinkling pose.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, would you be happier if I had said 'princes'?"

"I-shi-da…."

"I assume you're then referring to how everyone seems to be avoiding re telling anything that had happened in during that period of time."

"…Yeah. Ishida, I just need to know if they're avoiding telling me since they don't want to hurt my feelings. Like if it's shinigami related or something but whatever it is it's just pissing me off. And I know you're the only one here who won't care if my feelings or whatever got hurt in the process." Ichigo spat out.

"Are you sure you want to know, Kurosaki?" Ishida replied. "You might not like what you hear."

"Just tell me, dammit!" he snapped back, fuming. He had had enough of Inoue suddenly stopping mid-sentence, as if she remembered something she shouldn't say; or Chad having a pause before speaking as if to make sure he wouldn't spit out something he shouldn't. It wasn't just in school, either. There was something about the air in his own home that reflected the unwanted sympathy in his classroom that he just couldn't stand. Ishida thought about it for awhile – even if he didn't tell him now, Kurosaki would definitely found out sometime later on. So he might as well be the one to tell him.

"Okay, but before we start let me just tell you I had absolutely nothing to do with it and before you think of taking your anger out on me for some unfathomable reason, I am here to just tell you what happen. I have no association, no relation and no influence to the events that had occurred that past month. If you wish to withdraw your request, please do so now."

"…What the hell is with your disclaimer?"

"Is that a yes? Or a no? I'm not going to take responsibility for the news that you will hear as I have no association, no relation-…"

"Fine, fine! No I don't wish to withdraw, so get the hell on with it already!" Ichigo replied, inches away from whacking the most annoying honour student he ever had the (mis)fortune to meet in his life.

"Very well. You see Kurosaki, it all started when Soul Society discovered that they had a severe lack of staff and manpower after the Winter War. So Urahara generously offered the services of some of us from the human world to-…"

"What did you say?"

"For goodness sake Kurosaki, let me finish. Anyway, Urahara gathered a couple of us to be transferred to Soul Society-…"

"What-?"

"…in order to provide some aid." Ishida half-roared over Ichigo's words, adjusting his glasses.

"O-Okay, so who went?" he replied, backing off a little.

"Well all the divisions needed help, so Urahara sent each division one helper. Yamamoto refused having one for the first division though since it had too much important afterlife admin stuff or something so only 12 got sent off. What I know from here on is all based on what others told me. Therefore I had no association, no relation and no-…"

"I heard your disclaimer the first time already. Get on with it." Ichigo growled, but he wondered: 12? That was a lot. Ishida couldn't go because of the promise had made with Ryuuken, so the only people he could think of was Chad and Inoue. That would make sense of their behaviour – they wouldn't want him to know they had gone back to Soul Society when he didn't have his powers, but that left another 10 people. Where did Urahara get them from?