Note: This takes place 20 years after Ichigo defeated Aizen. In order to make this fanfiction run more smoothly, Ichigo never lost his powers and Xcution never existed.

"Iiiiiiii-chiiiiiii-gooooooo!" Ichigo Kurosaki lept to the side just in time to see a flamboyantly dressed man fly past him, right into a display of oranges, knocking them all over the place.

"Oi, Keigo. What the hell are you doing back in Karakura Town?" He bent down and started picking the oranges back up before any employees came and kicked Keigo out before he even had a chance to catch up with his old friend.

"Ichigo, you can be so cold! If you aren't happy to see me I can just leave!" He crossly turned his back to him. Is that supposed to faze me?

Ichigo sighed, "You haven't changed at all Keigo. That's not what I meant, I just thought you moved to Shinagawa to be with Yuzuki-san and- oi, what's wrong with you?" He was cut short when he realized that Keigo was crying.

"Ichigo, she dumped me! he just outright dumped me!" He grabbed Ichigo and pulled him into a giant bearhug, crying his eyes out.

"The hell'd you do to her? And stop, people are staring." He said while shoving him back, almost knocking him into the oranges again.

"Why do you think I'm the one that did something!" Keigo sighed and barely whispered, "I just flirted with her sister, a little.."

"You're a pig." With that Ichigo grabbed his groceries and headed to check-out.

"Ichiiiigo, I was kidding!"

"Then what the hell happened? Hurry up and tell me, I have to get back home. Daisuke's bringing his girlfriend for dinner tonight and if I don't-" He never got to finish.

"Ichigo, your son has a girlfriend! What kind of father are you, he's only ten years old!" At Ichigo's dumbfounded look, he backtracked. "Uhh.. I mean, twelve..?"

"Jesus Keigo, where the hell have you been? The twins are turning 15 in a week." Keigo's heart stopped. A dark auroa formed around him.

"Fi.. fif.. fiteen! Are you SURE!" That can't be right! That means we're o.. o.." He gulped, "Old..." A bunch of customers turned to look at the scowling orange-haired man in a dress shirt, tie, dress pants and loafers and the screaming, crying, scruffy-haired man in a blue and orange, flower covered shirt with khaki shorts and flip-flops.

"I think I remember how old my own children are, Keigo." Ichigo angerly rang up his items in the self check-out line. "I would have invited you to their party, but you've dropped off the face of the planet for the past couple months."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry Ichigo. It's just that Yuzuki's mom got cancer. You know, the one that lives in Europe.. we had to go over there and take care of her. But she suggested I come back to Japan to look after the house and I just couldn't stand being there without her, so I decided to come back to Karakura for a while." At Ichigo's dazed look, he responded, "I'm not going to say "I was kidding" this time."

"Keigo.." Ichigo was at loss for words. He's only seen Keigo this solemn a few very rare times before, he never knew what to say.

"Ah, it's okay Ichigo, no need for words, I'm sure everything will work out on its own." Ichigo cracked a smile and walked towards the exit, and Keigo trailed behind. "You know, for someone so small she sure has a hell of a lot of reiatsu. Hey, maybe when she dies and goes to Soul Society, she'll become a Shinigami! How awesome would that be! Then you could see her and maybe you could-"

"Keigo". At the cold sound of his voice, Keigo just stopped talking all together and waited for his old friend to continue. "Keigo, I gave up my position as a Substitute Shinigami long ago. I have absolutely no connection with Soul Society. I don't. My old man doesn't. Karin doesn't. Urahara doesn't. My wife doesn't. Chad doesn't. No one does. That's in my past." Keigo just stood there awestruck.

"You're really sticking to that, huh? I seriously thought you would have budged by now. What do you do when you sense a Hollow?"

"Keigo! Enough!" Keigo jumped at his tone of voice. "The World of the Living and Soul Society were never supposed to mix. Humans and Shinigami are supposed to be kept in seperate worlds. There are other Shinigami, TRUE Shinigami here that take care of the hollows."

"Okay, Ichigo, I get that part, but what about Rukia?" After that, Ichigo froze.

"What are you talking about? She's happy, I'm happy. We made our desicions, and we're sticking to it. Life's better this way. Keigo opened his mouth to say something else but Ichigo beat him to it. "I gotta go. Call me later, maybe we can hang out with Mizuiro or something and have a conversation without mentioning soul society. Got that?" At Ichigo's glare, Keigo just gulped. "Right, well, see ya!" Ichigo waved before running over to his car.

"Tch," Keigo smirked. "Ichigo, it's only a matter of time before you become a Shinigami again. I know you haven't lost your powers, I still feel them burning inside of you. I know you don't want to put your family in danger, but they're already in danger. Especially Daisuke. His reiatsu is almost as powerful as yours was. I just hope you'll be able to accept the fact that he's destined to be a Shinigami, just like you are."

"Stupid Keigo, who the hell does he think he is! Doubting my willpower, mentioning Soul Society, he's crazy." He punched the dashboard in anger. "Bastard. Life's been perfectly fine like this. I don't need to be a Shinigami, it's just not right.." He sighed and looked up at the Shinigami Substitue Badge hanging from his mirror. When his kids asked, he told them that it was some toy his sister's won for him at a fair when they were younger. They then quickly changed the subject and forgot all about it. When he looked back at the road, his heart almost beat out of his chest; he saw a little girl running right in his lane.

"Shit!" He sharply whipped the wheel to the right, almost taking out a telophone pole in the process. He wrenched the brake and pulled to a shaky stop on the side of the road before jumping out of his car and running over to the girl. "Hey, are you o-" He stopped short when she turned around. She was floating a bit and had a chain coming out of her chest. "Oh, you're a plus."

"Uhh.. yes, I am. Sorry for making you swerve out of control like that... most people can't see me so I forgot to look where I'm going. Heehee.." She rubbed the back of her head as sweat dripped down her forehead.

Ichigo angerly sighed. "Okay, just as long as you're alright." He sharply pivoted and quickly walked back to his car. Okay, maybe that was a little out of line.. I probably shouldn't have just left like that. But what the hell? Seeing ghosts isn't normal, and I'm supposed to have a normal life, godammit. Ichigo climbed back into his car and carefully started to drive back home again. He noticed the sun sinking into the horizon and a smile started to grow across his face.

Ever since he married the girl of his dreams, he's been happier. He gone through hell when leaving behind his Shinigami life, and at first he couldn't resist pulling out his Substitue Shinigami Badge or reaching for Kon everytime he heard a Hollows' distinctive screech. Neither could his wife; she hated the thought of anyone getting hurt just as much as he did. But as time moved on, it got easier, and he became happier.

At first it was just him and her.. the world was in their hands. Everywhere they went, the sun shined on them, the birds sang for them, and the wind whispered to them. Sure, to the naked eye they seemed like two young fools in love, but anyone who knew them knew otherwise. They've been through hell and back together; nothing could tear them apart now.

Ichigo didn't think life could get any better, but weddings and children proved him wrong. Not only did he marry an amazing girl and have two amazing children with her, his friends did too. In fact, the only one who remained completely single was Mizuiro, but that wasn't a surprise. He'd forever be the womanizer of the group, no one could imagine him actually being faithfully tied down.

"Miageta yozora no hoshitachi no hikari"

Ichigo jumped and was pulled out of his reverie by his blaring cell phone. He looked down for a split second to see his wife's picture ID come up on the second. He looked at the clock on the dashboard and his eyes nearly jumped out of his skull. "Shit, I'm late!" He hit ignore and sped home, knowing that his son was going to give him hell when he got home. Where the hell did Daisuke get his disrespect from? Jeez, what kind of prick kid punches his own father and yells in his face on a regular basis? Must be some gene from his mother's side of the family. Racing home, he started to hear a voice he hadn't heard in a very long time, a voice that made the blood run cold in his veins...

"Remember precious King, I'm always here, I'll always be watching, and if you don't be careful, there's no telling what I might do.."

To be continued...

Author's Note:

Ahahaha, so I've never done this before.. I want to make this into a chapter story, but I seriously have no clue what I'm doing. I have the general idea of where this is going in my head, but suggestions and ideas for the future would be grrrreat..

A beta would really help, also any sort of review would help, so please review! Anything from "This is absolutely amazing" to "This is absolutely horrible" will help. I just need guidance, so please be as harsh as you want.