Disclaimer: Not mine

I know, another one. Been watching and reading Bleach lately so inspiration is flowing.

Chapter 1

Ichigo sighed and leant against Shinji, huddled with him under a cloak to try and stay warm. Days in Hueco Mundo were cold enough, the nights dropped below freeing far too often. Huddled in the sand, there wasn't a lot they could do to improve their circumstances, they were always on the move, never staying in one place for more than a day or two. Any time they tried they ended up under attack and having to leave almost everything behind. It was funny that they were safest here, in the enemies homeland, and yet the very nature of the place made it difficult if not impossible to track them.

It was all the Central 46's fault they were stuck there. He had done what he had been born to do, he had fought Aizen, weakened him enough for Urahara's Kido to seal him, and then the bastard had been locked away. After that he hadn't really thought of the madman, too busy dealing with the loss of his powers and the pain, then the Fullbringers had given him hope only to snatch it all away. He didn't remember much after that until Rukia had stabbed him, again. Feeling his power rush through him for the first time in over a year… it had been euphoric and sobering all at once. He had been grateful and smiled at the Captains and Geta-boshi, all the while understanding the truth, he had only gotten his powers back because he had passed their little loyalty test and because they had use for him again. Within a week the Quincy had attacked, beginning the fifteen year-long war.

That had been the war that claimed his family, his Dad dying to defend the twins, Ryūken at his side, having sensed the attack and come to help. The Quincy had overwhelmed the two men but what they did after they all died was worse, none of his family would ever be reincarnated or move to Soul Society. The Quincy had turned their Spiritual weapons on them and destroyed their souls. He had gotten there too late to do anything but hear Yuzu's last scream, sending him into a rage. Only two Quincy involved had made it away from his old home alive, the rest had fallen to his blade and a materialised Shiro.

Ten years into the war, with Soul Society in ruins around them, some idiot got the idea of fighting a madman with another and had released Aizen. Kyōraku had been beyond mad when they had realised what had happened. He had been Soutaicho since Yamamoto had been killed by Yhwach himself during the first invasion by the Wandenreich, a job the once laid back man had admitted he had never wanted, despite being the old man's chosen successor for so long. He had died in battle two years after Aizen's release and Ichigo still wasn't entirely sure who had killed the man, a Quincy…or Aizen.

As far as Ichigo was concerned, the only positive about the war was learning the truth of his heritage and his Mom's death. In doing that he had finally gained his true Zanpakutō. Having the Old Man and Shiro in their proper roles within his soul and blades…he felt complete in a way he never had before. But even that hadn't been enough, not to defeat the Quincy King and his heir…and hadn't it been a shock, seeing Ishida at his side. After everything they'd been through it had hurt, even more when the other had led an attack on Orihime and Chad. To defend her, Chad hadn't hesitated, buying time for the Visored to show up and get them to safety. When Ishida had shot Yhwach in the back in the Soul King's Palace it had been such a relief, to know he hadn't been that bad of a judge of character. Between the two of them, plus Aizen and Kisuke, Yhwach had finally fallen.

For a brief week they had thought it was over, that there would be peace…and then Aizen had killed Byakuya and Rukia when the two had been meeting to begin the rebuild. Byakuya had been Kyōraku's replacement while Rukia had been Captain of the Sixth. Ichigo had been given the Thirteenth part way through the war, after Ukitake had given his life to stabilise the Worlds. It had been weird, but three years into the war he had felt his connection with his body fade away, it had nearly cost him his head as he had stumbled, gasping. Shinji had saved him then, taking out his attacker. They had returned to the Living World to find his dead body inside Urahara's shop, no obvious cause of death. Kisuke had theorised that it had been because he had spent too much time out of it and in Soul Society or Hueco Mundo. So when Kyōraku had offered him a place, he had accepted it, first in the Fifth as Shinji's lieutenant to learn the ropes and then finally as a Captain. He'd been running late to the meeting, when he'd gotten there it had been to find the two Kuchiki's already dead, blood cooling.

The second war with Aizen wasn't really a war at all. The Divisions had been too badly depleted, too badly weakened, to stand against the wanna be god. Ichigo, Orihime, Shinji, Lisa, Rose, Love, Renji, Kisuke, Starrk and Lilynette, Harribel, and Nel had teamed up and attacked him without stop for several weeks. They had been forced into retreat and on the run when Aizen had formed an army out of surviving Shinigami and Hollows. Soul Society was under their control now thanks to the fledgling government capitulating to Aizen. Since then they had been hunted, their numbers fluctuating as people were killed and others joined up.

At the moment there was just Starrk and Lilynette, Nel, Shinji, Lisa, Kisuke and himself. There were days Ichigo wished he could just stop feeling, stop seeing the deaths of his friends and family. Orihime…..she had tried so hard and in the end she had come closer than anyone else in stopping Aizen, only to be stabbed in the back by one of Aizen's Shinigami. Ichigo had lost it then, Hollowfying fully, and destroying all those with Aizen and even wounding the psycho. That had been two years ago, they'd barely seen Aizen himself since then, he preferred sitting back and throwing cannon fodder at them. Unfortunately, it was working. Even with those of them who could work as one person armies, he could create armies of Hollows without end. Their forays into the Living World for supplies had shown where he was getting the souls from, Karakura was gone, the whole of Tokyo was a ghost town.

"I'm sorry," Shinji whispered and Ichigo shifted to look at him.

"For what?"

"You shouldn't have been dragged into all this."

Ichigo snorted. "Right, then I would have been eaten by a Hollow, grabbed by Aizen at some point, or maybe even Yhwach for his army without ties to the Shinigami, or hey, dead with everyone else in Karakura. Besides, it wasn't your fault. It was Dad and Kisuke and even Aizen."

"Maybe, but we knew the plan," Shinji argued, shaking his head as Lilynette rolled over, elbowing Starrk in the face before settling again. "We could have approached you earlier, helped out sooner."

"Maybe, but maybe it wouldn't have changed anything," Ichigo told him firmly, there was no point playing the blame game, not anymore.

Ichigo shifted and Shinji tucked closer as the wind picked up. It had been weird, when Ichigo had first overtaken him in height, but the kid had still been alive back then, still growing. In the end Ichigo had matched his Father for height while keeping his lighter build. There were no personal boundaries anymore, hadn't been since early in the war, Shinji had seen more naked people since then than he'd ever wanted to. No one ever said a word about who sought comfort with who either, in their world you took what happiness you could. He felt Ichigo's arm go around him, pulling him even closer so that the cloak could be better wrapped around them both and he leant his head on a lean shoulder, trusting Ichigo to keep watch as he began to doze lightly.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Ichigo jolted awake as Kisuke let out a cry of triumph, hearing others stir at the noise as well, hands on their weapons. He felt Shinji touch his shoulder and forced himself to calm, the half formed mask fading from his face as he stood up. He stretched out the kinks in his muscles since there appeared to be no danger, even as Starrk grumbled over lost sleep while Lisa smacked the back of Kisuke's head. She grabbed a cloak and went to curl up with Nel, her watch done now. Ichigo and Shinji moved over to Kisuke, peering over his shoulders.

"So what was the heart attack for?" Shinji demanded, obviously annoyed at being woken before his watch.

Kisuke looked up and grinned at them, spreading out his notes. "A way to cut down on supply runs and collect more each trip."

Ichigo blinked, if that was true then that would seriously limit the risks they took. Kisuke was the only one in the group unable to open a Garganta himself so he never went on the trips, just provided a list of what he needed. Ichigo and Starrk did the most, since they were able to defend themselves the best from any possible attackers, because they always came when they went on supply runs. Renji had been killed on one, cornered and separated from Lisa, unable to make his own escape. He had taken out several Arrancar in the process though which had lessened the pressure on the group for a few months. "How?"

Kisuke was proud of his work, though he missed Tessai and Hachi's expertise in Kido, they would have gotten this done a lot earlier. Tessai had been his best friend since childhood, just like Yoruichi. He had never dreamed he would be the last one left, yet here he was, and they were gone. Tessai and the kids had died when the shop was hit by the Quincy, he had died trying to defend the children after the protections had been overwhelmed. Hachi had fallen half way through the war while healing Hiyori and Love. That had left him as one of their better casters since the Kido corps had been decimated by then. He was a genius, yes, but he had always focused more on science and after his exile, on destroying what Ichigo called the 'evil marble'. He'd been forced to branch out a lot, looking at areas of research previously ignored. The culmination of a lot of that study was the formulas spread across the flimsy bits of paper before him. "Simple, we apply this to bags of some sort, any sort of container really. The space within will be double, maybe even triple, what it was originally, and it will also keep what is placed within from aging, so no spoilt food."

Ichigo blinked and glanced at Shinji who grinned. Shinji had heard of similar things but never on this scale. If Kisuke could really pull it off then it would make their lives a lot easier.

"Now then, I've made these, all we need are bags to test them with," he stood up, dusting off the sand, not that it really helped in a desert.

"Where are you going?" Ichigo asked, getting up again as well and Shinji groaned but followed them.

"To the Living World of course, we need bags with which to ensure this works as planned," he answered absently and Ichigo sighed.

"Kisuke…."

"I know, I can't open a Garganta, but I am going." He reached up and then grimaced, he hadn't worn a hat in years and yet he still occasionally reached for it.

Ichigo and Shinji exchanged a look, speaking without needing to say a word. Finally, Ichigo groaned but nodded and went to speak with Starrk while Shinji opened a Garganta. Ichigo led the way through to Karakura, the path under his feet stable as they ran. "How many bags are we grabbing?"

"As many as we can carry," Kisuke answered absently, going over the papers and then he fumbled one. Shinji reached out to grab it, but it hit the path beneath their feet and lit up like a mini star. "Oh," was all Kisuke got out before the world went white.

TBC….