1

The next morning Ichigo was jerked awake by a woman's scream. Before he was even fully aware of his surroundings, he had rolled out of bed into a fighting stance. His eyes darted around the room trying to assess where the danger was.

"It's just mom, Aibou," Shiro mumbled at him from where he was still curled up on the bed. Indeed, Masaki had come into her son's room and was standing at the door with eyes wide and her hand over her mouth. It took Ichigo a moment longer to clear the dregs of sleep from his brain and realize that she was reacting to seeing Shiro in his bed.

"Wait don't-" He said standing up to his full height. "Don't freak out," He pleaded. Seeing the two of them must have given her quite a shock.

Shiro sat up calmly and yawned. He looked between Ichigo and his mother. Then he shrugged at Ichigo and disappeared. "Thanks," Ichigo said statistically to the empty spot where Shiro had been. He wondered how he was going to explain this. "Um, I got lonely?" He asked as if questioning himself.

His mother frowned at him for a moment before letting the subject drop. "Breakfast is ready," She said tersely.

"No, really that's all it was," Ichigo said grabbing her skirt, trying to make her understand the gut wrenching loneliness he had felt when he had sacrificed his powers to stop Aizen. He never wanted to feel that again. When he had woken in the past and realized that he could not reach the two spirits; he had lost all rational thought. He had to have them back.

Masaki's eyes softened, and she knelt down to gave Ichigo a hug. Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief and returned the hug. After a moment she pulled back. "You should get dressed. You have school today."

Ichigo's relief turned instantly to horror. "School?" he asked.

"Yes, school, just like everyday," Masaki answered with a wry smile.

"I can't go to school," Ichigo said- almost wailed to Shiro's glee. The hollow zanpakutou spirit sill loved to torture his Ichigo on occasion. Ichigo was to busy remembering the nightmare that was elementary school to snap back at him.

Ichigo had been picked on constantly by the other children in school because of his bright-colored hair and his name. He had also been a bit of a crybaby much to his chagrin, especially after his mother's death. Some of the meaner bullies had taken pleasure in mentioning her death just to make him cry. This had gone on until he began to systemically beat the crap out of them.

Masaki crossed her arms over her chest and stared down at him. Ichigo was beginning to realize that he was not going to win this argument. His mother would not be moved from her current position on the subject. "You will be going to school," Was all she said, but it had a ring of finality to it.

But let it be said that Ichigo was not one to give up easily. "I have already been to school once, finished too... almost," Ichigo said mulishly. "It would be a complete waste of time. I even passed everything."

"I wont believe that unless you have the records," She had him there. Those records didn't even exist anymore. "And if you passed once, it shouldn't be that hard to do so again. School is important for your future."

"Not if I join the Gotei 13," Ichigo tried to reason with her.

The glare he got for that statement made him want to crawl under his bed and hide. His mother was scary when she was mad: Unohana scary.

Masaki looked her son dead in the eye. "You will go to school, you will live, your life in the living world, and any plans you have for being a Shinigami can wait until you are dead. Now get dressed." She swept out of the room to prepare the table for breakfast.

Ichigo could only stare after his mother with his mouth hanging open. He really had never pictured her like this. She had always been smiling and caring and gentle. His thoughts continued in this vein until he was jolted back to the present by his father's voice. "Tried to argue with her, didn't you?" He asked grinning at Ichigo's expression. "First time for everything, I suppose. And here I thought you were so smart for always going along with everything she wanted you to do."

Ichigo sighed. "I guess so. But I grew up, changed." He shook his head. "I have never seen her like that before. When she tried to strangle Urahara..."

"She was trying to protect you. It's a parent's job to protect their children," Isshin said. "She is still trying to protect you. I assume you know about the Quincy's?"

Ichigo nodded.

"Well, they are or were a really close knit group. They protected each other, more so after the extermination order. The thought of you being around a bunch of Shinigami scares her. The Quincys of her generation were taught to stay as far away from Shinigami as they could." Isshin looked at Ichigo for a moment. "You better get dressed. If you are late we are both going to get it." He turned and left the room. Ichigo could hear him descend the stairs, each step echoing in the hall, even though Ichigo knew Isshin could move as quietly as a cat if he chose to.

Ichigo mulled over his eventful morning and what his father had said while he pulled out his school uniform to get dressed. He grimaced when he saw it. He had hated the things the first time around, and his feelings had not changed. The suit was just as horrid as he remembered it being. Grey short pants and vest over a white, short sleeve button-up shirt, and a navy blue tie.

After donning the wretched uniform, he was reminded of how uncomfortable they were as well. Ichigo made his way downstairs where everyone was waiting for breakfast. He tugged at his shorts for what seemed the hundredth time to make them seem longer and hopped up into his chair. This was ridiculous. He felt like a fool.

His mother reached over and ran her fingers through his hair trying to get it to lay flat. Ichigo knew from experience it wouldn't, so he hadn't even bothered to comb it. He still leaned into the touch though. " What's wrong with you now?" She asked trying not to laugh Ichigo's behavior.

"This is humiliating," Ichigo chewed ruthlessly on his toast. He was not in a good mood. This had officially started off as a bad day.

"From bouncing baby boy to surly teenager in literally one night," Isshin quipped. "Our darling son is all grown up."

"Ha-ha," Masaki's sarcastic laugh interrupted what would have been a retaliatory fist to Isshin's face. There was no telling what would happen if he should actually attack his father at the breakfast table with Masaki around. "Would it be too humiliating for you, if I walked you to school today?" She asked with a smile.

"No," Ichigo answered quickly jumping at the chance to spend even a little bit of time with his mother. "I would probably end up at the high school anyway if I went by myself," He added to cover for the sudden eagerness in his voice. He paused for a moment before deciding to try being diplomatic and asking first. "May I go to Urahara's after school?"

Masaki quirked an eyebrow at him not fooled at all. Isshin grunted but remained silent. In fact, Isshin had been rather subdued ever since Ichigo had been sent back into the past. Ichigo briefly entertained the thought of Masaki's death had made his father come completely unhinged.

"Alright," Masaki said finally. Ichigo blinked at her in surprised. "On one condition." Ichigo cringed knowing he was not going to like where this was going. "You have to go to school, everyday. If you miss even once, no more." He deflated at her words. He had wanted to try to spend all the time he could training. Now to train at all he would have to spend at least half that time at school. "You will also have to keep your grades up," She added.

Ichigo ducked his head and nodded. "Alright," He said in defeat. It would be better for him in the long run if he kept his home life copacetic after all.

"I will be going with you," Isshin said. "I don't trust you alone with that man."

Ichigo looked between both his parents for a moment. This was probably the best offer he was going to get. And unless he wanted to try his hand at being a real delinquent instead of the pretend one he had been, he had better accept it. "I can live with that."

2

School had gone pretty much as Ichigo had expected. Scowl firmly in place, he stormed out of the front gates of the school and thrust a piece of paper up into Isshin's face.

Isshin frowned when he saw the scowl. It looked much more annoyed than it had previously. He grabbed the paper curiously. What could have happened already? He read the note.

"What does this mean? Why did you beat up four of your class mates?" Isshin yelled jumping up and down and pulling on his hair comically. People were starting to stare. Ichigo started them walking with the intent to get them off the street before Isshin did something unforgivable.

"They were picking on me," Ichigo said shortly.

"But," Isshin searched for words. "We told you to ignore them, just last week," Isshin trailed off. Would Ichigo even remember that now?

"Tried that. It didn't work."

"Your mother is going to kill me."

"Killyou?" Ichigo asked confused. It seemed to him that he would be the one in trouble as soon as they got home.

"You do realize that your mother blames me completely for your bad behavior."

"Good."

"Ichigo," Isshin whined large crocodile tears in his eyes.

Before he could stop himself Ichigo smiled slightly. This was the idiot father he remembered. Somehow he felt better with his father acting like a fool. "How could she blame you for something I did anyway?"

"Well, from what I can tell, she thinks I should die first this time as I obviously don't know how to raise children."

Ichigo laughed at that.

They walked on in silence for awhile. As they drew closer to Urahara's shop, Isshin's idiot act had begun to wear thin. He was still crying and begging Ichigo be a good little boy at school for his mother's sake. The sad thing was that it would have worked if Isshin had left it at 'for his mother's sake'. In spite of how annoying Isshin was Ichigo slowed down to prolong the walk. He had to talk to his father at some point, now was as good a time as any.

"Look tou-san," he began using the address his mother insisted he use. "We both know I'm not the little boy you are familiar with." Isshin dropped his idiot act abruptly and watched his son stare at the sidewalk in front of him. "There are things that I will have to do, and no matter what it seems like, I know what I am doing."

Isshin nodded thoughtfully. "I am sorry son, this is hard to get used to. I thought we still had a few years before you became a man."

"Don't say it like that!" Ichigo yelled catching the attention of several other people on the street. His face turned bright red.

Isshin laughed at him. "You may be eighteen in your head, but you still look like my little Ichigo. Don't be surprised if you get babied."

Ichigo grumbled about crazy old men and their eccentric sense of humor. He stopped outside the shop. He looked around wondering briefly where Ururu and Jinta were. Usually one or the other, and often both were outside to greet him when he arrived.

"Are you sure you want to do this, son?" Isshin asked misinterpreting Ichigo's pause. "We can still go back home, and you can live a normal life with your mother and sisters."

"Don't tempt me, Goat-face." The switch in address did not go unnoticed by Isshin. He was sure that if he pressed the issue he could pry his son out of whatever hold Urahara had on him. "Maybe you should think about it. Give it a few days before making a decision," Isshin pressed.

Ichigo shook his head. Isshin could see the determination in his son's eyes. "I have to do this. Nothing is going to make me change my mind." With that Ichigo marched up to the door and slipped inside. He blinked his eyes trying to adjust to the dim light compared to the sunny day outside. Urahara was sitting behind the counter. He actually looked surprised to see Ichigo there.

Urahara stood as Isshin came into the shop on Ichigo's heels. "So you managed to convince your dad to let you come back."

Ichigo studied Isshin for a moment, suddenly curious. "Why did you agree all of a sudden anyway?"

Isshin looked down at his son incredulously. He really hadn't thought to wonder why? Maybe Ichigo needed closer supervision than he had originally thought. "Your mother said you were too determined to do this and would probably resort to something drastic if I our right forbid it."

"So, kaa-san told you to," Ichigo said bluntly.

"Yeah," Isshin said with a small laugh clearly embarrassed.

Ichigo thought about that for a moment. He remembered his words to his zanpakutou the night before: how he would sneak out his bedroom window if he had to. Even with a completely different personality from what Masaki was used to from her little boy, she knew him best. Ichigo felt warm and dare he say happy every time he thought about her being alive. He may not know why he was here in the past but that alone made it worth it. "She is right," He confirmed for his father.

"Eh?" Isshin said eyes wide. He had not thought his son would disobey him, especially if it were over something important.

Urahara smiled behind his fan. "I am so glad you hold me in such high regard that you would do anything to be near me," He said fluttering the fan.

Ichigo scowled at him. "Someone has to watch you."

"My my, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' as they say in the West, right Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo didn't answer, just stared at him levelly.

"So what does the wonderful Kurosaki-kun want with a humble shop keeper?" Urahara asked unperturbed by the lack of an answer.

Isshin glared at the man. "I don't like you talking to my son like that, Urahara-san."

"It's alright tou-san. That's just the way he is," Ichigo said drawing their attention back to him. "If he had to talk like a normal person, he would probably strain himself." He looked up at Urahara. "I want to use your basement to train, and I will also require a gikongan."

Urahara raised hie brow surprised at the brazenness of the boy. "And you expect these services for free?"

"Let's just call it payback for you screwing with my life," Ichigo shot back venomously.

"Hm. You seem to be at a disadvantage in your negotiations, Kurosaki-kun." Urahara came around the counter cane in hand. Ichigo tensed, ready for a fight. He knew for a fact that that was not an innocent cane. "What could you possibly do to me?" In that moment Urahara wasn't the "humble shopkeeper" but something much more sinister that Ichigo had no name for. Grey eyes seemed to pierce his soul searching for answers.

Isshin stepped in front of Ichigo prepared to defend him if necessary. He probably couldn't do much to an ex-captain who still had all of his power, but he was sure as hell going to try for Ichigo's sake.

Suddenly there were two more people in the room. Both Shiro and Ossan had materialized behind Ichigo. Only this time the hollow was holding a large white Khyber knife over his shoulder, and the Quincy had a matching trench knife drawn and ready.

"Give me a reason, Geta-boshi," Shiro practically purred, excited by the possibility of an all out fight. He was obviously hoping Urahara would push the issue.

Urahara and Isshin both sweat-dropped. Urahara was wondering if the zanpakutou spirits were powerful enough to actually kill him. Isshin was busy contemplating his son's obvious future as a Yakuza boss shaking down innocent shop keepers -not Urahara of course- with the help of his zanpakutou spirits in the place of the usual goons. He silently thanked Kami-sama that Masaki was still alive and able to prevent their little Ichigo from descending into a life of crime.

"On the other hand, Kurosaki-kun," Urahara said coming to a quick decision. He pulled back dropping the threatening stance and studied the zanpakutou spirits intently. As long as the boy was willing to bring them out he wanted to learn everything he could about them and their power. He was curious as to what such a unique blade actually did. "I would be glad to loan you my training facilities."

The hollow actually pouted when Urahara suddenly agreed. Urahara forced the smile on his face to stay in place, even though he was sweating. That thing was a little too eager to shed blood. "Fine," Ichigo said shortly.

Urahara reach behind the counter and pulled out a gikongan dispenser. He held it out to Ichigo who looked at it incredulously. It was Chappy the Rabbit. "Come on Kurosaki-kun, I thought every child your age liked Chappy," Urahara said with a smile and a wink. Ichigo just growled and snatched the dispenser. He could not wait to grow up again.

Ichigo did not wait for the two adults and made his way unerringly to the back of the shop where the trap door to the basement was located and tried not to hear Urahara laughing from somewhere behind him. Even in the past he could not get away from the man's irritating hobby of embarrassing him.

He opened the door and looked down into darkness. He climbed down wishing he could still take it in one leap, but in his younger body was not as strong as his older on had been, and he did not want to take the chance that he might break his legs if he tried. At the bottom of the ladder he stopped and look around. He spotted a relatively flat rock off to the side near the entrance and headed over to it.

Ichigo popped the gikongan into his mouth and separated from his body. He turned around to the mod soul to see it standing at attention, if bouncing slightly. He studied it carefully. If this one turned out to be sentient, he was going to have Shiro kick Urahara's ass into the next town. After studying his body for a moment taking in his painfully younger face, even he had to admit he used to be disturbingly cute.

Once Ichigo was sure that the mod soul was not going to run off with his body he addressed it. "Chappy, I need you to stay here with my dad." He pointed at Isshin who had walked up to join them. Chappy looked at Isshin and nodded. "And don't do anything Geta-boshi says," He added for good measure gesturing at Urahara. Better safe than sorry. The mod soul nodded once again giving him a double thumbs up.

"Aye sir," the annoying rabbit said saluting for good measure. Ichigo twitched at the sight of the insanely stupid smile on his own face. He nodded and walked out to the open area of the training ground.

"I'm assuming you will be practicing some katas to build up your strength?" Isshin asked curious as to what kind of instruction his son had had. He would assume Ukitake-taicho would have instructed Ichigo, or Kyouraku-taichio if he was not feeling too lazy. Both wielded dual blades of one type or another and were obvious choices for instructing a new dual blade wielder.

"Don't know any," Ichigo called back absently.

Isshin blinked in surprise. He had assumed from what his son had told him that he had been formally trained. At the very least he should know some basic katas for zanjutsu. He watched as Ichigo drew his blades. Much more smoothly than any nine-year-old should be able to. In front of him, a few meters away, the hollow half of his zanpakutou materialized once more. Only this time he was holding both white blades. Isshin got an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Interesting," Urahara said from where he had settled down cross-legged next to Isshin. He held his closed fan to his chin and seemed deep in thought. "He trains only with his zanpakutou spirit? Or is that merely where the bulk of his instruction comes from?"

"Don't you have a shop to run?" Isshin asked eyeing the shopkeeper distrustfully. "And what exactly do you mean by that?" He could not help adding. Urahara was a genius after all. Maybe he could shed some light on the young man his son had become.

"I told Tessai to take over for awhile," the blond said with a shrug. "I would not miss this for the world," He answered more earnestly ignoring Isshin's distrustful look. "And as to what I mean, there are very few reasons to not be formally instructed in zanjutsu as a Shinigami. It is completely feasible, if not likely, that your son has learned all or most of his fighting skills in the midst of battle."

Isshin frowned at that as he watched his son and Shiro face off against each other. Their stances mirror opposites. What had the future been like that he had willingly allowed Ichigo to be put in that position.

"No real duels until I can wield your monstrous blade more easily. I want to actually be able to block you before we go all out," Ichigo informed Shiro. The blade spirit sighed obviously feeling put upon.

"It's gonna be slow goin' if I 'ave ta baby ya, Aibou," Shiro threw back. The statement sounded like a challenge in and of itself.

"I'm half the size I'm supposed to be and not nearly as strong. If you use half your real strength you are going to kill me," Ichigo reasoned. "Then where would we be."

"Fine then," Shiro snapped. "Let's whip you into shape, so we can have some real fun."

Isshin winced at the thought of what the hollow would consider 'real fun'. He wondered why the other half of the zanpakutou was allowing this. Zangetsu as a whole seemed to be pitiless. He felt his whole body spasm and barely kept himself from jumping between the two as the zanpakutou spirit launched toward his son at a speed he thought was way too fast for a young boy to block.

But Ichigo did block it. Blades clashed and Ichigo was thrown backward several meters. He shook out his arms which were tingling from the impact. Pitting strength against strength the way he usually did was not going to work, Ichigo realized. He heard Shiro snort. The hollow was not impressed with his performance. Ichigo shot forward to take a swipe at Shiro's midsection. He was easily deflected with a flick of the trench knife.

It was obvious to everyone from the beginning that Ichigo had problems swinging the over-sized Khyber knife. It tended to drag behind on attacks and blocks. Even sized as it was for his smaller body it was still the size and weight of a full length sword.

Ichigo found wielding the trench knife much easier, and so attacked with it more as a result. Shiro found this set up to be offensive to his sensibilities, and being the selfish being that he was, he would smack Ichigo upside the head with his own blade every time Ichigo would attempt an attack with the trench knife.

Ichigo got fed up with this real quick and growling began to attack Shiro's knees to keep him dancing back out of his shorter range. They traded blows for about ten minutes. Ichigo was panting and sweating by the time Shiro stopped to observe him. Clearly they had their work cut out for themselves if they were going to increase Ichigo's endurance to where it had been before coming back.

"Man yer a puny little thing, ain't ya?" Shiro remarked. The hollow wasn't even slightly winded.

"Shut- up," Ichigo panted annoyed at his own weakness.

"Wonderful, Kurosaki-kun," Urahara called cheerfully. He crossed the training ground to stand in front of Ichigo. "That was a good session." He clearly thought Ichigo would be quitting for the day.

Shiro glared at the man's back. "We ain't done yet," He snapped and grabbed Urahara by the back of his haori and threw him back over to where Isshin and Ichigo's body were still sitting. Urahara flew head long toward Isshin but somehow managed to catch himself before he crashed into the ground and landed gracefully on his feet. He turned to face Shiro with a look of surprise plastered across his face. "He ain't gonna grow any stronger if I go easy on 'em." Shiro turned back to Ichigo. "Ready, Aibou?" Without waiting for an answer Shiro attacked again.

Both Isshin and Urahara were socked by the marked difference between this spar and the last. Before Ichigo had been attacking as if he were much taller. Now, he was crouched down more, lower to the ground. Shiro obviously wasn't used to attacking an opponent that was so much smaller than he was. Many of the zanpakutou spirit's attacks were too high, and he was struggling to counter a disproportionate amount of attacks aimed at his knees and ankles.

It was a complete turn around from the first bout. Isshin and Urahara blinked at each other. Neither had ever seen someone change tactics so fast. In the span of minutes Ichigo had changed his fighting style to be more suited to his new size. But his endurance did him in in the end. Shiro pulled back suddenly, just before Ichigo collapsed into the dirt breathing hard.

"Man, I suck," Ichigo said abruptly.

"Actually son, you are doing quite well," Isshin said from his place off to the side. He did not want to receive the same treatment Urahara had. He doubted he could land half as gracefully with his current level of reiatsu or lack there of. He would like to think Ichigo wouldn't let it happen, but obviously Shiro had no compunctions about causing bodily harm to anyone. Isshin also doubted the amount of control Ichigo had over the hollow. Whenever Isshin had seen him, Shiro pretty much did whatever he wanted to.

"No, it's bad," Ichigo pointed the Khyber knife at Shiro. A conscious choice of blade in the hopes that he wouldn't get smacked with the flat of the mirror blade again. "He didn't even bother to draw blood."

Isshin bit back his immediate response of horror to that in favor of keeping Ichigo's trust in him intact. But his imagination ran away from him with thoughts of blood flying everywhere and his son being ripped to shreds. He shivered. Masaki had to hear about this. Maybe she could convince Ichigo that training with his zanpakutou spirit was not the best way to improve his endurance.

During Isshin's introspection Ichigo had pulled himself to his feet. "Okay, I'm ready," he said.

"Uh, how much longer are you going to be at this?" Isshin asked snapping back to the present.

"I don't know," Ichigo answered scratching his head. "Couple of hours, maybe," He said with a shrug.

Isshin stared.

"I do have to work on my strength and endurance," Ichigo elaborated noticing his father's shock. He pointed at Shiro again. "It's a pain to have him go easy on me." With that Ichigo turned back to Shiro. Isshin shared another look with Urahara. The irony of being on the same page as the shopkeeper not lost on him.

Urahara went back to watching Ichigo fight with a thoughtful look on his face. "Kurosaki-san," he said as Ichigo collapsed into the dirt once more, unable to stand. "You can bring Ichigo-kun here as often as he wants."

Isshin frowned at him. The man was obviously up to something, but he had no clue what. "Why are you being so agreeable all of a sudden. You were ready to tell us to take a hike earlier, even though you had already promised to help him."

"I promised to work out a deal with him." Urahara pulled his hat down further to cover his eyes. Isshin peered at him anyway trying to will the man's motive to be written on his face. "Kurosaki-san, I used a very valuable object to send him back to now. I was told it would only work once. The one I showed you and your family the other day is now useless."

"But you haven't used it yet?" Isshin asked confused.

Urahara smiled. "Evidently I have. Right now I am trying to fathom why I chose to send your son back. I have, in effect, out smarted myself. I am beginning to see why everyone thinks that is one of my most annoying traits. I have no clue as to why he was so important. "

Isshin blinked, "Wait, you said you were told. You did not invent that thing yourself?"

"Nope," Urahara said with a wide smile. "In fact, I don't even understand completely how it works."

Isshin gaped in surprise.

Urahara laughed. "I am flattered by your confidence in me though, Kurosaki-san." He smiled coyly from behind his fan.

All Isshin could do was splutter indignantly as he tried to wrap his mind around this new bit of information. Urahara turned back to observing Ichigo, ignoring Isshin in favor of studying his newest puzzle.