Dawn creeped over the town of Karakura silently, the long, shining tendrils of light from the sun oozing across the sky, lighting everything in an orange glow. Ichigo yawned as he blearily opened his eyes, and slowly sat up in bed. He glanced briefly at his closet, where he knew a badly hurt and extremely confused Shinigami was hiding.

There was no doubt about it; yesterday was a complete screw-up. After wiping the memories of his family (luckily none of them had sustained any injuries this time round- he still could not perform Kido, and Rukia was in no state to), he had raided the clinic for supplies of bandages, painkillers, and the like. Of course, being restricted to human methods meant that Rukia would be staying here for a least a week, so things were going to get very awkward. The alternative was to get her a gigai from Urahara, and that was out of the question, for obvious reasons.

However, he did need to see Urahara to buy some Gikongan, and fast. That in itself would be problematic; Urahara was more skilled at detecting reitsu than Rukia, and just as notorious for puppeteering as Aizen. He wouldn't even be surprised if Urahara had sent himself back after Ichigo did. Again, the alternative was worse; he couldn't just sit around in his body and channel a massive, potentially dangerous reitsu burst every time he needed to fight.

He also needed to work out how much he could tell Rukia. She was sure to be full of questions, none of which could be easily answered. Right on cue, he heard a small whimper of pain coming from his closet. Sighing, he got out of pulled and pulled on a dressing gown. He was lucky that he had got into the habit of waking at dawn, mainly to avoid his fathers crazy attacks, though occasionally he overslept and his irresponsible parent caught him.

He tapped lightly on the door. "Hey, you okay in there?" For a brief moment there was no reply, then he heard her speak up quietly:

"Yes, thank you…" She paused for a moment, and then continued. "Please…can you tell me who you are? How did you get so powerful?" She spoke with a voice that Ichigo found…strange. It was familiar; yet he knew she had never spoken with him in that tone before…where had he heard it?

Then it clicked. It was her 'Respect for superior officer' voice, one reserved for her brother or other powerful captains. Great. Just great. He pulled the door open roughly, revealing her bundled up on her makeshift bed, dressed in Yuzu's stolen pyjamas. She was looking up at him timidly. What had happened to the fiery, tough girl he knew? He pulled over a stool from his desk and sat down at the closet opening. He didn't speak for a while, then began softly:

"There's only so much I can tell you, but to sum things up? A while ago, while I was on a school break, I was away from home and…I died." It wasn't a lie, per se. The training that Urahara had used to help him regain his powers involved the severing of his Chain of Fate, so that counted as death, right? "While I was wandering around as a plus, I became gradually more and more spiritually strong. Strong enough to become a Shinigami in just a few days. At this, Rukia's eyes widened disbelievingly. Hey, it was a white lie. While the method was different, he had still become a Shinigami just three days after his 'death'. "It was still break when that happened, so I was able to find my body and use it as a gigai. At first, I was confused, but after a few months of fighting Hollows I was able to contact my Zanpakutō's spirit, and he taught me about Hollows, Shinigami, Soul Society, etc. And that's your lot."

Rukia looked doubtful. "That's pretty far-fetched." She said scornfully. Ichigo cast her a piercing glance.

"Believe what you want. The only thing that you need to care about is whether or not I intend to harm Soul Society. Which I don't. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get something to eat."

Ichigo crept downstairs with all the grace and stealth that his Shinigami stats granted him. Of course, to other powerful spiritual entities he would be sensed a mile off, but it was more than sufficient not to wake his family as he prepared a small breakfast for the two of them. Nothing extraordinary; just some cheap cereal and a glass of milk each. If Ichigo tried to do anything that required actual cooking he'd probably set the house on fire, even if it were just toast.

They sat and ate in silence. Soon, Ichigo heard the telltale signs of his father stirring next door, and told Rukia to close the closet door as he hid his bowl under the bed. Right on time, as-

"RISE AND SHINE, SON!!!" Isshin yelled as he exploded through the door in little more than boxers, brandishing what appeared to be a lampshade. Ichigo decked him the face, and wrenched the lampshade out of his father's hand before he could recover from the counter-attack. Tossing the lampshade out the window (which Ichigo kept open at all times, it was his favourite method of dealing with his father), the fight began in earnest, though it was more like extermination; Isshin didn't stand a chance.

As what was left of the head of the Kurosaki household left, whimpering (no doubt to cry to Yuzu), Rukia flung the closet door open again, her eyes wide.

"You let your father beat you? That's horrible!" She paused as she noticed the blood on Ichigo's dressing gown was not his, as he did not have a scratch anywhere on his body.

Ichigo grinned. "Oh, my dad's completely insane. But he doesn't have a hope in hell of hitting me. Its actually quite thoughtful of him, providing me with such exercise." Unsure what to say, Rukia just listened as he continued. "Now I'm not going to be here- school and all- so you're home alone. If you feel hungry, raid the kitchen, but don't let Karin see you! Yuzu and my dad can't sense spirits, but she can, so watch out. She's the one with black hair and lots of sarcasm." He looked down at her, a serious tone to his voice. "And don't play hero and run off back to Soul Society. You're gonna be screwed if a Hollow finds you, and I can't promise I'll come running. Got that?" And with that, he left.

In the closet, Rukia was fuming that she was confined to quarters, and felt confident that she could take on a Hollow, even in her weakened state. Still, it would be wise not to provoke this rogue's (for, despite his protests, that's what he was) wrath. He said he had no reason to harm Soul Society, so she wouldn't give him one.

She wondered, lying there in the darkness, why she behaved so differently from her usual self around him. When she first saw him, he was merely a human brat, someone beneath her. But now…he was so powerful, as much as a captain. Was that part of it? Rukia was uncertain whether it was respect, fear, or a little of both that she felt. This human denied all possibilities; to become so powerful within such a short space of time was deemed impossible.

And as much as logic screamed at her that because of this, he was something to be feared, something to be reported as soon as possible…something in his eyes told her that he was being completely sincere when he said he meant no harm. Those, eyes, deep hazel pools of hidden torment, contained something Rukia could not quite pinpoint. They swirled with all kinds of emotions; pain, determination, hope, love, loss. But what stood out prominently was age. Despite not even being an adult by human standards- let alone Shinigami ones- there was something in those eyes that made her ancient soul feel so very, very young.

"But Ichi-nii! A good breakfast is essential to keep your concentration at school! It says so on the cereal packet!" Wailed Yuzu, concerned for her brothers health.

"Leave him be, Yuzu," Drawled Karin as Ichigo slammed the door on his way out. "It's just his emo phrase. Bet you a thousand yen that he comes home with his hair dyed black and listening to Bullet for My Valentine."

The door re-opened a fraction, enough for Ichigo to scream: "I AM NOT EMO!!!" Then he slammed again as Karin snorted into her cereal.

The trip to school was uneventful, as was the school day itself. It took Ichigo a brief moment to realise that Rukia would not be 'transferred' this time around, so he actually spent time in the lesson this time.

Of course, about halfway through the day Ichigo sensed the Hollow Rukia had made him fight. At that point, Ishida excused himself to the bathroom. As he left, Ichigo threw him a knowing smirk. He suppressed a chuckle as he saw the enraged look on the Quincy's face.

Other than that, things were fairly normal. However, Ichigo decided to take a little detour from his regular journey home.

The Urahara Shoten soon loomed into view, but not before Ichigo could hear Ururu's cries of pain as Jinta bullied her. Little brat fumed Ichigo and, sure enough, as he approached he could see the red haired kid puller at Ururu's hair while shouting at her. A pair of brooms lay abandoned and forgotten at the side.

Ichigo was about to give the rude little snot a piece of mind, but Tessai beat him to it. The hulking Kido master dashed out of the store and wrenched Jinta away from the girl violently, though his imposing aura was somewhat ruined by his apron…

"Jinta! What are you doing! We have a customer and the store is filthy! Get back to sweeping!" Jinta swallowed.

"Yes, Tessai-san…"

"Tessai-sama!"

"Whatever…" Tessai was about to launch into lecture-mode when Ichigo cleared his throat. The enormous man's demeanour quickly changed to 'polite store assistant'.

"Ah, greetings sir! Can we interest you in some excellent quality candy, chocolate, or watermelon?" Ichigo made a face at the unorthodox third option, but then replied cryptically:

"I'm looking for a candy that I heard only your shop sells around here…" Tessai then gave a knowing nod.

"Then perhaps you would like to speak with the store-manager!" Ichigo was led into the store's interior, where he spotted Urahara carefully arranging a display of…chocolate watermelon?! The eccentric ex-captain stood up, a jovial expression on his face.

"Ah, Kurosaki-kun! I thought I might see you here!"

Inoue Orihime was having a very strange day. Well, stranger than usual.

Technically, it started the day before, when Ichigo came into school. She didn't know why, but that day was different from the others. He acted the same, behaved the same, said things he would normally say. But he just felt different.

Every time she glanced at him, it was like…like…like he was separate from them, like he was hiding something. The very air around him seemed to tingle with some form of energy.

He felt powerful.

And, since then, she had felt strange stirrings within her. It was a difficult sensation to describe; no part of her body felt different, but she just felt…alive.

She felt powerful.

Going through the school days, she had seen a troubled expression on Tatsuki-chan's face that told her she was feeling it, too, though neither of them had said anything yet. Even more bizarrely, she had started to see things. Ghosts. She had always kept an open mind- much to the chagrin of her friends, as she tended to go off on a tangent as a result- but she had never even thought about the existence of ghosts. And now she could see them as well as any other person.

She wondered whether or not Tatsuki-chan could see them, too. Well, she was seeing her tonight, so she could ask her then…

So caught up in her thoughts was she, that she didn't notice she had walked right in the path of a speeding car. Suddenly she felt something grab her leg, and pull her out of the way onto the sidewalk. The driver sped on, not really caring.

"Thank you, you sav-" Orihime's breath caught in her throat as she saw her rescuer. It was a monster! It was an enormous, serpentine creature with a human head and torso, with claws for hands. In its stomach it had a gaping hole. Its face with covered by a chilling skull mask.

"Aaaaah!" She couldn't help it; she screamed. "Somebody help me!" But no one was nearby.

"You can see me, Orihime?" asked the monster in a gravely voice. "That's surprising. But it hurts me that you are afraid of me!!"

"You…you can talk!" Gasped Orihime in surprise. "But how do you know my name?" The creature responded with a roar that made the young teenager flinch.

"I knew it! You have forgotten me completely!" It said with a howling wail. "It's me Orihime! It's Sora!" Orihime's eyes widened in shock; her brother? Impossible! He was dead! Or was this creature some kind of ghost?

"…What? No! That's not possible!" She began to protest, tears beginning to trickle down her face.

"You used to pray for me everyday, sister! But then that karate girl and the orange-haired boy appeared, and you stopped! That is what has made me as I am now! ITS YOUR FAULT!" He began to slither towards her, and she couldn't move. There's nothing I can do… she thought with a whimper.

Actually, girl, there is something you can do. Her head shot up in surprise. A voice…that came from inside herself?

Can you hear us, Orihime? The voice said, and she realised it was not one voice but many, all saying the same thing. It was a mixture of male and female, but all had a gravely overtone. Normally it would be up to you yourself to do this, but needs must…kid, you're going to have to use our power to kill him. Orihime's eyes widened.

"I can't! He's my brother!" Looking up, Orihime noticed that Sora had frozen in place, barely a few metres away. Similarly, she could barely move.

You have to! He is no longer your brother. Only by killing him can you ensure he is laid to rest permanently. Grudgingly, Orihime had to accept.

"What do I have to do?" She whispered, and the voices chuckled. She shivered; the voice, no matter how helpful, was chilling.

Just go with the flow, girl. And then, Orihime was shocked to feel an overwhelming force assault her mind, and she was unable to do anything expect relinquish control and fall to unconsciousness.

There was an enormous flash of white light as time restarted, and Sora was forced backwards several metres. Pulling himself back up, he looked into the light, which was beginning to fade, and saw the figure standing at its centre.

"What the hell…?" He said in astonishment. "Orihime?" The figure started towards him and spoke in Orihime's voice, but with a Hollow overtone:

"Sorry, but you're finished." And so he was; he didn't even have time to see what she did before he dissipated into nothingness. But as he did so, the part of his mind that was still himself was freed, and he smiled.

Orihime…thank you. And then he passed on.

Suddenly the figure collapsed, and the light vanished. Orihime lay there, panting, her eyes fluttering open briefly.

"Sora-nii…I'll pray for you everyday…" she whispered as she began to fall unconscious again. Just before she did, she briefly saw several things flying in front of her, though she couldn't quite make them out.

"You are not yet ready to wield our power fully." They said. "And next time, girl, you will have to fight for it, or we will be the ones wielding you." Then everything went black.

"What the hell!?" Yelled Ichigo. "How did you know my…no, wait, let me guess. You sent yourself back, too?" Urahara only smiled mysteriously, and Tessai watched, bewildered.

"Perhaps we should continue this discussion in private, Kurosaki-kun." He said, beckoning Ichigo to follow him as he turned around and went into the back of the shop. Ichigo tailed him, but so did Tessai, to which Urahara frowned.

"I'm sorry, Tessai-san, but I really do mean private. That's just Kurosaki-kun and me. You too, Yoruichi, no spying." Ichigo jumped, he hadn't noticed until just now that a black cat had been watching them from the shadows the whole time. It meowed in disappointment and stalked off towards the kitchen.

Urahara ushered him into a nondescript storage room and sat down on a crate. Ichigo did likewise.

"Now, then." Said Urahara. "Perhaps we should start from the beginning. Yes, I did send myself back after you." Ichigo had a sudden thought, and mentioned it to Urahara.

"Uh…how is that possible? If I went back and changed the timeline, then that version of you wouldn't exist, so you couldn't send yourself back!" Urahara simply gave a superior smirk.

"I have revised my theories on time travel, Ichigo, and I have come to the conclusion that not only have we travelled, in time, we have come to a different dimension- a parallel universe. Therefore, we are changing the timeline of this one, so I was perfectly able to exist in the other one."

"Uh…right." Mumbled Ichigo, his head spinning. "We've got a problem, though. I've come back to far and no Rukia thinks I'm a powerful rogue and she's terrified of me."

"And where is Kuchiki-san? Back at Soul Society informing them of your presence?"

"No, she was injured in the fight with the Hollow and I'm helping her heal and providing her with a place to stay in exchange for her silence." Ichigo explained, and then frowned. "Uh…is it illegal for a Shinigami to interact with a human and leave their memories intact at all? I don't want her to be executed again…"

"No need to worry, Kurosaki-kun, Soul Society is well aware that they have not escaped the notice of spiritually aware humans, and it is frowned upon, but not illegal, to accept medical help from them." His face grew grim. "A more pressing matter is the Hōgyoku."

"You're not going anywhere near Rukia with that gigai."

"I do not plan to. For now, it is best to simply hold on to it here at the Shoten and plan what to do next. Aizen needs to be dealt with as swiftly as possible, but we cannot simply barge into Soul Society and attack him." He stood up and looked around the storage room packed with crates. "I will think further on this and inform you when I have a solution. For now, I believe you originally came here for some Gikongan?" Ichigo nodded. "Good. I have it here for you, free of charge! I believe you will find it familiar…" Sure enough, Ichigo unwrapped the 'Soul Candy' to find it had a duck attached to the end: This was Kon!

Unsure whether to thank Urahara or not, Ichigo simply turned to leave, but was stopped by the ex-captain.

"Before you leave, Kurosaki-kun…remember that time is fluid, and the smallest change can have far-reaching consequences. Bye-Bye!" And before Ichigo could comment, he was shooed roughly out of the shop.

On his way home from school, Ichigo found a disused plushy on the sidewalk. It wasn't the same one as last time: It was a black bear wearing a white jumpsuit. Wondering where kids got this kind of crazy toy from, he picked it up and took it home with him, hiding it under his jacket.

Dinner was uneventful (Or as uneventful as dinner at the Kurosaki's could get- moaning, sarcasm and blood was everywhere), and Ichigo went up to his room to discover that Rukia had fallen asleep, one of his old manga clutched in one hand and held against her chest. Ichigo smiled fondly, then pulled out the plushy and Gikongan, and pushed it into the toys mouth with a grimace.

After a few seconds, the toy straightened up and saluted.

"Greetings!" It said joyfully. "My name is-HUH?" It yelled, looking down at its body in surprise. "What is this?"

"I know what you are." Said Ichigo, and the plushy looked up in shock. "You're a mod soul- the last one. You were planning on running off with the first body you were given." The bear could only look at the floor sheepishly. "But I'm offering you a deal. When I need to put you in my body when I hunt a hollow, you do it and don't run off. In return, you get to use that body the rest of the time, and Soul Society doesn't kill you." During his speech the plushy's face got happier and happier, until he was bursting with joy.

"OH, THANK YOU KIND SOUL REAPER! WHAT IS YOUR NAME? OH, THANK YOU SO MU-mmph!" Ichigo clamped a hand over the bear's mouth.

"Shut up, my family will hear you! Geez!" He let go, and the plushy fell to the floor. "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. While you are here, you are Kon. Got it?" Kon frowned at the choice of name, but nodded. "Great, now go hide in a drawer somewhere…"

Sometime later, Ichigo looked at his watch and realised that in about half an hour the Hollow that was Inoue's brother would appear in his room. This time around, he'd finish it quick so Inoue and Tatsuki wouldn't get hurt. He quickly went and had a bath, and emerged from it to fend off Yuzu's complaints about missing pyjamas. He entered his room again, and waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened.

Frustrated, Ichigo extended his awareness, but couldn't sense any hollows within the town.

Eventually, Ichigo fell asleep on watch, Urahara's words playing in his mind:

…The smallest change can have far-reaching consequences…

Wow, this chapter didn't take as long as I thought it would. Of course, it was delayed somewhat as the login area was down.

My thanks to:

Ayumu Nayumi- Well, there seems to be a lot more now.

Lunar Iris- Thank you, I'll be sure to go through it again and correct my mistakes as soon as possible.

BrokenMuse- A simlilar thank you, I'll correct that as well. Actually, there are quite a few time-travel Bleach fanfics, if you take the time to look.

And all the other reviews are highly appreciated, I'll see you soon!

Reduxer.