Disclaimer: Bleach is the property of Kubo-sama, not me. This makes me sad...

A nagging feeling that he was missing something distracted Ichigo throughout the battle, but he pushed it to the back of his mind and refused to think of it. He was out of shape, and his opponent both knew that and had been helping him to get into shape. Not the best person to have a one-on-one fight to the death with.

Once the fight was complete, at least for the moment, the nagging feeling came back into play and he found himself wanting to look for something, but what it was he had no idea.

"Ichigo," Urahara said quietly, coming up behind him, his voice unusually solemn.

"Hey, Urahara, thank you for-"

Urahara held up one pale hand, and effectively stopped Ichigo in mid-flow. "Don't thank me yet," The scientist said darkly. "Not until you've got the whole story."

The worrying feeling that he was missing something completely obvious intensified. He could almost hear Zangetsu mutter something, but the newly woken bond with his Zanpakuto was too fragile for him to catch the words. He was about to demand that Urahara explain himself properly, when he caught a glimpse of Rukia's face over the man's shoulder. Her wide violet eyes that had been so full of proud fire when she had blurred into focus for this first time in months were now shimmering with tears.

"Oh Kami I hoped that this would not happen," she breathed. "Ichigo, I am so sorry!"

"Sorry for what?" Ichigo asked. "You brought my powers back, you saved me. What do you have to be sorry for?"

"Ichigo," she said quietly, the tears that shimmered in her amethyst eyes spilling over and running down her cheeks. "I've killed you."

"What?"

"Look around, Ichigo," Urahara said. "Do you see your body lying anywhere?"

"What happened to it?" Ichigo demanded, curling his hands into fists as he fought the urge to grab the front of Urahara's coat and shake the infuriating man.

"It disintegrated," the Scientist replied. "The cells that made up your body lost their cohesion under the force of the combined reiatsu. We knew that this was a risk."

"And you decided to go ahead anyway? You didn't have the right to choose for me!" Ichigo cried.

"No, Ichigo," came a stunningly familiar voice, the very familiarity shocking him like a dash of icy water. "I decided that it was the best thing for you. And I have that right."

Isshin Kurosaki stepped onto the roof, an uncharacteristically sombre expression on his face. "I decided for you, because you were wasting all of your potential, and because I couldn't stand to see the Son that trained so hard and reached so high fall in front of my eyes. I decided for you, because you're my eldest son and it falls to us to keep your sisters safe." He closed his eyes. "I decided for you because I hated lying to you every day, even if it was by omission. We defeated Aizen, he is most certainly gone, but we defeated him on our ground. We've fallen back, and regained our strength, and now it is time to clear out the mess that was left behind him."

Ichigo suppressed a shudder as a chill of fear managed to pierce through the firey blanket of rage he had wrapped around himself.

"It's time to go back to Las Noches."

A/N: Ok, still short, but slightly longer than last time. I was going to try and follow the current manga storyline, but the damn fight with the Fullbring idiots is taking too long and I got impatient. Sorry. I may just diverge compeltely, if I decide to continue with this. I wonder if anyone is reading? I shall have to check the statistics seeing as no-one reviews my stories anymore... ^sobs^