Author's Note: Hey guys, I know I haven't updated (or finished, cough couch) anything for a while now but I just found this in my files and decided, eh, what the hell? I hope it's ok since I had to do a little trimming here and cleaning up there, but its good to go for the most part :P You can imagine what happened up until this point but its all pretty sad. Enjoy!

Rating: K

Warning: There's some angst…ok, a lot of angst, but it comes with the territory lol time-travel, etc…

Disclaimer: Me? Own Bleach? Ahahaha, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard…but now I'm kinda depressed…lol

Summary: His eyes were still hardened by war and loss but still held the sense of unwavering pride and the fighting spirit that he had always carried with him – still softened by kindness and compassion that was so rare in the human world. "Take me back."

xxx

"You can go back. You can stop the war from beginning. You can kill Aizen without the unnecessary loss of life." Zangetsu stated sagely, gazing at his young charge with a faint sense of pride and approval though it was subdued by the heavy weight of time and wisdom.

Ichigo kept his eyes on the black blade in his hand, the chain clinking faintly as the wind swept past him. His eyes were blank, unreadable and hard to see with his now slightly longer hair blowing in them, but Zangetsu could feel his emotions jump at the notion.

The hybrid sighed as a feeling of bitterness surged through him, followed by a deep sadness that he had not allowed himself to feel for a long time, the grief almost as stifling as the reiatsu that still saturated the air.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked.

It wasn't said with incredulity or disbelief, but a genuine sense of curiosity that it almost hurt to hear someone who had gone through so much, who should've lost their innocence so long ago, still sound like that.

Zangetsu, for one of the few times in his existence, gave a small, almost sad smile that aged him over a thousand more years. "You know who I am and have for a long time." He expected skepticism, disbelief, even outright anger, but he wasn't the least bit surprised when the boy merely smiled grimly.

Ichigo shook his head with a humorless chuckle, his eyes closed with the bitter smile still on his lips. "Figures…" he murmured tiredly. He took a deep breath, the hundreds of memories of his friends, their faces, flashing through his mind – laughter and blood and tears and smiles – and breathed out while opening his eyes.

The older man didn't resist the urge to smirk when he saw the familiar determined fire burn in the younger mans' eyes, almost smoldering in their intensity. They were still hardened by war and loss but still held the sense of unwavering pride and the fighting spirit that he had always carried with him – still softened by kindness and compassion that was so rare in the human world.

"Take me back…"

…to how it used to be.

xxx

Author's Note: I know, random right? Well, I don't plan on continuing this. It was just a little prompt and if someone wants to use it as a beginning for their story then go ahead, just PM me first ;P Its supposed to be the start of a time travel fic and this is one of those gloomy, depressing ones where all of Ichigo's friends and allies are dead even though he won against Aizen – PS if anyone can catch who Zangetsu is in this fic, they get a cookie! I left a few clues but they probably suck so if you don't get it, don't be mad. I'm bad at mystery stuff like this xD if you really wanna know, I'll reply to a review :P Thanks for reading peeps!

BTW 'Take Me Back To How It Used To Be' is an actual song but has no ties to this story, I just really like the name :P