Author: Sassy Southpaw

Story Title: Broken Promises

Summary: Ichigo's already in over his head; the arrival of a stranger makes his life even more complicated. Sasuke wasn't sure he wanted redemption, but when he's thrust into a strange new world, he'll need Ichigo's help to get back—before Madara finds him first.

Spoilers: This story contains spoilers for Naruto up to the most recent manga chapters. It also contains spoilers for Bleach up to the Rescue Arc.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach, nor am I making any profit from this story. The rights belong solely to Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo.

A/N: Wow, I can't believe how much time has passed since my last update. Thanks everyone for being so patient! Sorry I didn't get this out sooner, but my beta needed an extra day. Thanks also for the wonderful reviews; I'm really glad you're all enjoying the story :)

Chapter 4: Beginnings

Karakura High School.

Sasuke read the name as he walked inside the large building with Ichigo. The halls were littered with people his age, standing around in small groups and chatting with each other. Sasuke shifted uncomfortably in his uniform. Grey slacks and a white button up dress shirt were definitely not his idea of ideal clothing.

He still wore bandages over his wounds that were taking longer to heal. Most weren't visible except the ones on his right arm, which garnered him a few sidelong glances from curious students. Sasuke frowned. He felt…exposed, and the fact that Ichigo hadn't let him bring so much as a kunai didn't help matters.

"And here we are," Ichigo said, stopping in front of a door. "This is our classroom. The teacher's name is Ochi Misato. She'll probably make you go to the front of the class and talk about yourself. There is one problem though."

"What's that?" Sasuke asked.

"Your eyes. How are you supposed to explain them to a group of students? Not everyone is as gullible as my dad," Ichigo replied.

"It's not a problem. I can deactivate my sharingan—it just results in me having incredibly poor vision. I thought I mentioned that to you yesterday."

"I guess you did. Sorry, we talked about a lot of things. It's hard to keep it all straight. Will you be okay with your bad vision?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. It's not bad all the time. It kind of goes in and out," Sasuke said. He closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, they were black.

Ichigo shook his head. "Man, that's weird. All right. You ready?"

Sasuke nodded and followed him inside. Most of the classroom was already filled with students. Ichigo joined a cluster of people that he could only assume were friends and began talking with them. His vision wasn't as terrible as he recalled it being before, which was interesting. It probably helped that he wasn't in the heat of battle now, and his eyes had gotten a chance to rest. Still, it was frustrating when he tried focusing on people, who were most of the time just blurs to him.

"Oi! Sasuke, I want to introduce you to some people," Ichigo said, motioning for him to come over.

Sasuke nodded and approached the large group. There were so many he didn't know who to focus on first. One girl had dark orange hair, and her personality already reminded him of Yuzu, all smiles, even though she hadn't even spoken yet. Towering at her side was a guy—no, more like a giant. Was this guy really the same age as everyone else? The next guy had dark hair and glasses, and seemed the most reserved of the group.

Ichigo interrupted his analysis to introduce them. "These are some my friends. This is Inoue Orihime, Ishida Uryuu, Yasutora Chad, Arisawa Tatsuki, Asano Keigo, and Kojima Mizuiro."

"Everyone, this is Uchiha Sasuke. He's a relative of mine who is going to be staying with my family for a while."

It had been Ichigo's idea to tell people that they were related. That way, no one would question why he was staying with the Kurosaki family, and it would provide a useful cover identity for anyone who was overly curious.

"Nice to meet you, Uchiha-san!" Orihime said, taking his hand and shaking it enthusiastically.

"You too," Sasuke replied, trying to figure out how to regain control of his arm without hurting her.

It appeared he was right on the mark about Orihime. She sure had a lot of energy for one person. The other girl, Tatsuki, however, was making him uncomfortable. She kept staring at him like he didn't belong.

"So, you're related to Ichigo, huh?" Tatsuki asked.

"Yeah," Sasuke said, not wanting to go any further into that conversation.

Tatsuki turned to Ichigo. "How come I've never heard about him from you, Ichigo? I've known you for years, and you haven't mentioned him once."

"You never asked," Ichigo replied nonchalantly.

Sasuke hoped that she wouldn't press any further. He didn't need any more nosy people in his life.

"Attention!"

Judging by her expression, Tatsuki was nowhere near finished with her interrogation, but thankfully the teacher had come in. Perfect timing.

"Please take your seats now." She waited until everyone was seated before continuing. "Will our new student please come to the front of the class?"

Sasuke walked to the front as he was told, feeling the crawling sensation of two dozen stares trained upon his back. The teacher smiled warmly at him and introduced herself as Ochi Misato. He mustered up a polite smile in response, though it felt stiff on his face. He wondered how this school would compare to the academy he went to. It was probably extremely different, given the fact that his school trained children from a young age to become able shinobi.

"All right! Everyone, this is Uchiha Sasuke. He's a transfer student and will be joining us for the rest of the year. Now, Uchiha-san, why don't you tell the class a little about yourself?"

There was one similarity he could have done without. He remembered Kakashi asking them almost the same thing when they became genin, though his answer this time was quite different. "I'm sixteen. My favorite food is tomatoes, I hate sweets, and I like to practice martial arts."

Scanning the class, even with his less than perfect vision, Sasuke could already see a handful of lovestruck girls, and he wanted to groan out loud. What was it that made girls want to be around him so much? It was an unwelcome flashback to his own academy days where the kunoichi, especially Sakura and Ino, would constantly bother him. He really hoped these girls wouldn't be as irritating.

"Thank you, Uchiha-san! We're happy to have you in our class. Go ahead and take a seat behind Kurosaki-san."

Sasuke nodded and made his way to his seat. Thanks to his poor peripheral vision, he didn't notice the foot that had extended into his path, and he tripped. He used his hands to break his fall, but it still hurt like a bitch with all of the injuries scattered across his body.

"Martial arts, huh? Looks like you need to work on your reflexes," said the owner of the foot, an unpleasant-looking guy with bleached blond hair and several piercings.

Sasuke was immediately pissed off and had to clamp down on his knee-jerk reaction, which was to yank the guy out of his seat and throw him into the nearest wall. Who the hell did this guy think he was? He was extremely tempted to give this guy a firsthand demonstration of just how good those "martial arts" skills were. It was a shame that killing someone in this world got you into a whole lot more trouble than where he was from, at least according to Ichigo. Maybe he had been bluffing. Sasuke wouldn't hesitate to shove a kunai up this guy's ass.

"Oshima Reiichi! Principal's office!"

Oshima threw him a final smirk over his should before he left the room. Sasuke, meanwhile, stood up and dusted himself off, taking his seat calmly, like nothing had happened.

"You okay?" Ichigo asked him.

Sasuke scowled. On his personal scale of pain, which went admittedly high even for a shinobi, this barely rated above a papercut. "Tch, I'm fine."

"That guy is always giving people shit. He always tried to tell me to dye my hair black, thinking I bleached it orange. I kicked his ass later," Ichigo said.

"Hn."

Sasuke tried not to remain pissed off for the rest of the day. He wanted so badly to find that guy and beat him to a pulp. It might not solve anything, but it would make him feel a whole lot better. Anger therapy, he liked to call it.

Instead, he tried to focus on what was being taught. As he looked around, he noticed the students were all taking notes. What was she talking about, anyway? After listening to the teacher for a minute, it became apparent they were starting with a history lesson.

History, he should be good at that. He knew plenty of history. At the academy, they had been required to learn about the founding of Konoha and all of the other hidden villages. They'd also had to study the previous wars and how they had affected the balance of power between villages. Sasuke sat up a little straighter. This wouldn't be a problem at all.

After about an hour, he found out something very important.

He had no idea what the teacher was talking about. She might as well have been speaking another language. Sure, Ichigo had told him about the lifestyle of this world and pointed out things to him, but it hadn't quite sunk in at the time just how different and alien it was. So he found himself now staring blankly at the board, wondering just what the hell he was going to do. He was a supposed transfer student, it was assumed he knew what was going on in the class.

This was going to be a problem.

Sasuke squinted at the board. Even if he did understand any of this, how was he supposed to read anything with his crappy vision? He was too far back in the classroom to be able to focus on any of the writing on the board. He hoped no one, especially the teacher, would notice his issue.

"Uchiha-san, would you please read the first paragraph on page 394 out loud?"

Sasuke stared at the teacher, then down at his book. He hadn't been thinking out loud, had he? No, this was just his luck, apparently. Lifting the book to his face, Sasuke squinted and tried to make out the words on the page. Why did the writing in this textbook have to be so damn small?

"Uchiha-san, is something wrong?"

Sasuke looked back up. An excuse. He needed an excuse. He didn't know how to read. Yeah, that wouldn't make him look like an idiot. Something else. Anything.

"Uchiha-san?"

Ichigo came to his rescue. "Did you forget your glasses, Sasuke?"

"Glasses? I don't—" Sasuke amended his automatic denial, "—think I can read this without them. My glasses. I forgot them at home."

"Okay, no problem. Just be sure to bring them to school if you can't read without them."

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief, and nodded to the teacher. After she resumed her lecture, Ichigo turned around in his seat to face him.

"This might be a problem," he whispered.

Sasuke just stared at him, hoping that his look conveyed the message that he was well aware of the problem.

Sasuke was grateful when lunch time finally rolled around. He was used to always being at the top of class. He'd never struggled like this before, and it was frustrating. Having shitty vision all day was what annoyed him the most. He wasn't sure he'd be able to keep this up five days a week and not go crazy. There had to be some way to fix this.

Sasuke sat quietly and wracked his mind for a solution. Tinted contact lenses were out of the question; they could render his sharingan a more normal color, but the tomoe would still stand out. He ate his lunch in silence, ignoring the conversations going on around him.

"So, you're a relative of Kurosaki's?"

Sasuke looked up at the person standing in front of him. Ishida Uryuu, he believed his name was.

"Yeah," he said curtly. Ichigo's friends were sure talkative.

"You seem awfully distanced from everyone," Ishida said.

"Could say the same about you," Sasuke shot back.

"I'm not denying that. It's just an observation I was making," Ishida replied.

Sasuke stared at Ishida carefully. Was he mimicking him? The voice, the posture—it was like this guy was trying to make fun of him or something. Sasuke shook his head after a moment. He must really be losing it if he thought people were actually trying to imitate him. His voice just sounded a bit similar.

"Hn."

He wasn't going to make idle conversation. He had too many other things to worry about. Sasuke's gaze slid past Ishida, across the courtyard, to the asshole who had tripped him. He was standing around with his buddies, laughing and picking on any unfortunate student that walked by. Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Despite Ichigo pulling him aside earlier to tell him to just ignore the situation, his pride was currently winning the silent battle between keeping a low profile and the desire to retaliate. With effort, he turned away and did a brief chakra focus exercise to calm down.

The rest of the day came and went, and Sasuke deemed the second half just as miserable as the first. He expressed his frustrations to Ichigo as they walked home, but he couldn't think of a solution to the problem with Sasuke's eyes either. This must be his punishment for going too far in the first place.

Sasuke recalled his battle with Danzou. He'd been blinded with fury that day, unable to think past his rage. That was when it had all begun. He shuddered slightly at the memory. Reflecting on that moment now was like looking at the shell of a ghost. That wasn't who he wanted to be anymore.

"I wonder why Rukia hasn't come back yet," Ichigo mused, breaking through his dark thoughts.

They were currently in Ichigo's room, having finished eating dinner a while ago. Ichigo had been trying to explain some of the homework to Sasuke, who had actually made progress. Mostly because he didn't have any handicap on his vision in the confines of Ichigo's room.

"It's been more than a day," Sasuke said.

Ichigo shrugged. "I'm sure it's fine. She's probably catching up with her brother or Renji or something."

Renji. Another name in the jumble of names Ichigo had mentioned when explaining the shinigami to him. At least, he thought it was one of the shinigami. Ichigo sure knew a lot of people. Sasuke didn't say anything more. Ichigo didn't sound too worried, and it was getting pretty late anyway. School started bright and early, so it would be best if he retreated to his makeshift bed on the couch.

"I'm going to turn in for the night," Sasuke said.

"All right, I'll see you in the morning. And hey, trust me, it'll get better. We'll figure something out," Ichigo replied.

Sasuke nodded and made his way downstairs. Things were going to get better; he'd make sure of that. Maybe he couldn't fix the problem with his poor vision, but that didn't mean he couldn't take care of other problems. More annoying ones.

Forming a hand seal and muttering some words, a shadow clone appeared in front of him. Giving it the sole order of pretending to be asleep until he returned, Sasuke slipped out of the house quietly and effortlessly.

He smirked slightly. Tonight he was going to have a little fun.

The next day, while they were walking to school, Ichigo kept staring at Sasuke like he had something on his face. Puzzled and a little irritated, Sasuke finally just pointed that out to him.

"Sorry. You just seem…different," Ichigo said. "I can't place it exactly. Satisfied, maybe. Pleased with yourself."

Sasuke couldn't deny the mood he was in. He was in a much better mood than he had been yesterday, but there was a reason for that. He had indeed had some fun on his little outing last night and couldn't wait to see the results of it at school today.

As they entered the classroom, Sasuke took note of all the groups of students, huddled together and whispering the latest gossip. Pleased with what he was hearing, he took his seat and continued listening.

"Ichigo!" Keigo said, running up to him.

"What it is it, Keigo?" Ichigo asked.

"Did you hear about what happened to Oshima Reiichi?" he asked.

"No, what?"

"Everyone in school is talking about it!" Keigo said gleefully. "They're saying that he went crazy, or something. He refuses to go to school and just keeps repeating the same things over and over again. His buddies say that they saw some shadowy figure last night. It grabbed him, and then not even a second later let him go, and he passed out! He went to the hospital, and when anyone asks him what happened, all he'll say is 'red eyes, red eyes' over and over again."

Ichigo turned to Sasuke, who did his best to look oblivious, turning his head to face the window.

"Sasuke, mind if we have a little talk outside?" Ichigo asked, his voice strained.

"Everyone, please take your seats!" Misato ordered.

When she wasn't asking him to do the impossible and read a page out of his textbook, Sasuke almost liked their teacher. She had really excellent timing.

"Sorry," he said, "can't. Class is starting."

"Kurosaki-san! Please take your seat."

"Excuse me, sensei. I need to have a little chat with my cousin. It's important," Ichigo said, forcibly grabbing Sasuke's injured right arm and dragging him outside of the classroom.

Sasuke winced in pain. "Watch it!"

He jerked his arm from Ichigo's grasp. Ichigo, meanwhile, was glaring daggers at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? No wonder you've been so smug today. You can't go around mentally scarring a student for life, no matter how much of an asshole they are," Ichigo said, trying to keep from raising his voice.

"I didn't do anything that a little therapy can't fix," Sasuke replied.

"That's not the point. If someone pisses you off, you can't decide to go do something that messes with their mind. Not to mention you're drawing unneeded attention."

"But it's okay to kick their ass?" Sasuke said sarcastically. "Trust me, it could have been worse. I barely did anything! And how am I getting anyone's attention when no one has any clue about me?"

"You don't think people will find it a little suspicious Oshima gets attacked by a mysterious stranger the same day he picked on you, the mysterious new transfer student?" Ichigo demanded. His glare subsided after a moment, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I'm just trying to say that this kind of behavior isn't okay in this world. You need to behave yourself."

Sasuke hmphed and turned away. Who did Ichigo think he was, lecturing Sasuke like he was some kid? He'd only used his Mangekyou sharingan very briefly on the punk, and he'd more than had it coming to him. He'd gotten off pretty lightly, in fact.

"C'mon, Sasuke. After all that my family and I have done for you, the least you could do is not go out of your way to scare people shitless," Ichigo said.

Sasuke looked away and then sighed. He didn't like how susceptible he was becoming to being guilt-tripped. It shouldn't matter to him so much, but here he was, gone from proud to remorseful in ten seconds flat.

"All right, fine," he muttered. "Sorry."

"What?"

"Sorry," Sasuke repeated, louder this time. The word tasted like vinegar to him. He rarely apologized.

"Thanks," Ichigo said, "I guess it wasn't so bad what you did. At least you didn't beat him up. Considering your background that could have been a lot worse."

"You have no idea," Sasuke replied.

When they returned no one spoke a word, and class continued on like the interruption hadn't occurred. Sasuke noticed some of Ichigo's friends, Tatsuki and Orihime in particular, staring at him curiously. He ignored them and thought instead about the various exchanges between him and Ichigo. One minute they would be yelling at each other, both pissed off, while the next minute everything would be fine and all was forgotten.

It was a unique relationship that reminded Sasuke of his ongoing arguments with Naruto. Most of the time it was Naruto doing the yelling, though. He was glad that he and Ichigo were able to come to these silent agreements. Get out the frustrations and that was it, they were both fine after that.

Once the school day was over, Ichigo and Sasuke began the short trek back to the Kurosaki house. They'd barely made it out of the dispersing crowd of students when they ran into Orihime, who had stopped to wait for them. Sasuke threw her a wary glance, wondering what she wanted.

"Hello, Uchiha-san! Kurosaki-kun! You said you wanted to talk to me about something?" she said.

"Yeah. I want to try something, but I need your help to see if it'll work. Do you mind coming with us to my house?" Ichigo asked.

That was the first Sasuke had heard about this. He turned his stare on Ichigo instead, who either didn't notice or ignored it.

"Not at all!" she replied. "I'd be glad to help out in any way!"

Ichigo and Orihime chatted the rest of the walk home, though she made an effort to include Sasuke, asking him a question now and then. He kept his responses short and polite. He was busy trying to figure out why exactly Ichigo asked her over, and moreover, why he had been so secretive about it.

Ichigo waited until they were all alone in his room before explaining what he had planned. "Okay. Sasuke, I want you to lie down on my bed, and close your eyes."

"Will you first tell me why I'm doing this?" Sasuke asked, uneasy.

"Just do it, trust me," Ichigo replied.

Trust? Well, Ichigo had had plenty of opportunities to attack him before. It was doubtful he'd do so now. Sasuke sighed and did as he was told.

"All right, Inoue. I want you to use your powers and heal Sasuke's eyes," Ichigo said.

"His eyes? Are they hurt?" Orihime asked, sounding pretty concerned for someone who had all of two conversations with him.

"Sort of, yeah. Just go ahead and try it, please," Ichigo said.

Orihime made an affirming noise and he heard the light pad of her footsteps on the floor as she approached the bed. So that was what Ichigo was trying to do. If he'd just asked Sasuke, he could have saved him the trouble and told him not to bother. Unfortunately, no amount of healing would ever fix his eyesight, no matter how much he wished it would.

He could feel the faint warmth of her hand hovering a few inches above his eyes. After a moment, he felt a light pressure over his face and something glowed, the light visible even through his closed eyelids. The room was utterly silent, presumably so Orihime could concentrate.

He frowned. This was pointless. He had done extensive research into healing poor eyesight. In his world, there was no jutsu that could fix eyesight, and no amount of medical healing could do enough to make an impact, especially in his case.

After what had to have been several minutes, the pressure over his eyes finally disappeared and the glow faded.

"Okay, I'm finished!" Orihime said.

"I know what you're trying to do, Ichigo," Sasuke said, sitting up. "But trust me, this is something that I've looked into and there's no…way…" His voice trailed off.

He could see. Not just see, he could see clearly. Sasuke was in shock. Did he have his sharingan activated? He dismissed the thought instantly; he would be able to feel its power if it were. But the alternative explanation, that she had been able to somehow heal his eyes was—impossible.

Apparently not, he conceded after a moment. For one thing, he could now pick out each and every individual pore on her face from three feet away.

"What happened?" he asked. He brought his eyes up to Orihime's. "How did you do this?"

"Inoue has a special kind of healing power," Ichigo explained. "Since you first told me about your predicament, I've been trying to think of any way to fix it, especially after your encounter with that punk, Oshima. I figured Inoue would be your best bet."

Sasuke shook his head mutely. He couldn't imagine not having to rely on his sharingan anymore to see. No, even more than that. With the permanent Mangekyou activated, it was very likely that no matter what techniques he used, it wouldn't damage his normal eyesight anymore.

For having such a terrible start to his week, today was turning out to be a damn good day.

"I'm just glad that I was able to help!" Orihime said, smiling at him. "I'd stay a bit longer, but I promised Tatsuki-chan that I'd meet her this afternoon. I'll see you in school tomorrow!"

Sasuke realized suddenly that he hadn't even thanked her yet. "Thank you," he said, unsure if he could ever truly convey how much her healing meant to him. He owed this girl a lot. If he was ever able to return the favor, he would. "Thank you so much."

Once she was gone, Sasuke took the opportunity to ask Ichigo a few more questions about this world. There was so much he didn't know, and he found it all pretty fascinating, especially the whole premise of planes—being able to travel hundreds of miles in mere hours through the sky was mind-boggling. The whole time, though, a single question was bugging him. No matter how he tried to ignore it, it kept creeping to the front of his mind.

Finally, Sasuke decided to just get it out. "Why are you doing all of this for me?"

Ichigo paused for a moment before answering. "Why not?"

"I don't know. I'm just not used to this kind of generosity. You went out of your way to figure out how to restore my eyesight. You're letting me stay here with your family for as long as I need to. You promised to help me find a way back to my world." He gave an uncomfortable shrug. "I guess I feel like I don't deserve this."

"Why wouldn't you deserve it? Sasuke, whatever decisions you made in your world, they don't make you exempt from receiving kindness. If it makes you feel that bad, just reciprocate the best you can with your own kindness," Ichigo replied.

He thought about Ichigo's reaction to his attack on Oshima and looked away. "I guess so."

A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye gave him enough time to turn and watch Rukia appear on the window sill.

"It's good to see you're still in one piece," Rukia said to Ichigo, ignoring Sasuke completely as she climbed into the room.

"Jeez. It's about time you got back," Ichigo said gruffly. "You've been gone for a couple days now. I thought you said it was just going to be a day."

"I know, I'm sorry. Things got a little complicated for a while, but I think everything has since been pretty much sorted out."

"Everything okay in Soul Society?" Ichigo asked.

She hesitated briefly before nodding. "For the most part, yes. We've gathered some intel on Aizen, and some of it is raising red flags. We are going to have to keep an eye on Karakura Town, because there's a good chance that we will be attacked in the near future."

Ichigo's eyebrows rose. "Why would he want to come here? What's Karakura Town to him?"

"We don't know yet," she admitted. "That's why we need to be alert and ready to respond at all times."

"Is this Aizen guy really that dangerous?" Sasuke interrupted.

"Let me just say, if he and Madara were to form an alliance…well, we'd be fucked, that's about the one thing I could say for certain," Ichigo replied.

"Madara?" Rukia asked.

"Oh, that's right." Ichico smirked at her. "Since you decided to take so long, me and Sasuke went ahead and had the discussion about how he got here without you."

Sasuke listened as Ichigo briefly and quickly filled her in on his situation, true to his word about leaving out all of the specifics. He only described about who Madara was, omitting his last name and comparing him once again to Aizen.

"I see. I suggest we go to Urahara-san then to see if he has any solution to this. If there was someone who would know, it would be him," Rukia said.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Ichigo said.

"Do we have time right now to go?" Sasuke asked, not bothering to disguise his impatience.

The sooner they could find a way for him to get back to his world, the better. Even though Sasuke somewhat enjoyed the more relaxed atmosphere of this world, he had a job to do. He couldn't let himself become distracted by another world's problems. He needed to stop Madara, and the longer he stayed here, the further away it dragged him from his goal.

"Yeah, it's early enough. We have time to pay him a visit," Ichigo replied.

Sasuke just hoped that the man they were going to see had some much needed answers.

"You're from another universe? How fascinating," Kisuke said.

Once they arrived at the Urahara Shop, Ichigo hadn't wasted any time on introductions and lengthy explanations. Sasuke got a strange vibe from Urahara, but it wasn't a bad vibe. In a way, he kind of reminded him of Kakashi.

"Yeah," Sasuke replied.

He reverted back to his short answers and reserved attitude when around anyone other than the Kurosaki family. He didn't know why he would talk so much one minute and clam up the next, settling for grunts of confirmation or nods of his head. Maybe he felt like he'd been talking too much. The less other people knew about him, the better.

"Your situation certainly is dire, but I believe that it is not impossible to create a portal that will take you back to your world," Kisuke said.

Sasuke felt his heart begin to pound with excitement. Was this guy really telling the truth? "How long would it take you?"

"To create the portal itself? Not long at all. It would involve some research, but to venture a guess, I would say perhaps a month. Two at the most."

Sasuke's breath caught in his throat. That soon? He would be able to return to his world and give whatever aid possible in the war against Madara. He felt some of his worry and impatience drain away. Two months gave him plenty of time to get better, and he could train for the remainder of the time here.

"Unfortunately, there's a catch," Kisuke said.

That stopped Sasuke mid-thought. A catch?

"What is it?" he asked warily.

"While the portal would take only two months to create, it would require a substantial power source in order for it to be activated," Kisuke said.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "How substantial a power source are we talking about?"

Urahara lowered his head, his eyes falling into shadow beneath the brim of his hat. As Sasuke intently waited for an answer, a bad feeling began to creep into his chest.

Urahara looked up finally. "The only thing that would be powerful enough to successfully create a portal to another universe, would be the Hogyoku."

Hogyoku. Why did that sound familiar? Had Ichigo mentioned that to him before? Sasuke thought back to their conversation. When he had invaded Soul Society, during Rukia's execution, after Ichigo had saved her, he had mentioned that was when Aizen had revealed his plans. He had removed something from Rukia, something that Urahara had created.

Sasuke's blood ran cold. The Hogyoku.

And Aizen had the Hogyoku.

All of his earlier excitement immediately rushed out of him, replaced by devastation. The key to returning to his own world was in the hands of a man who was as dangerous and ruthless as Madara, and just as smart. Sasuke wondered now if he really was going to be stuck here forever. Would they ever be able to get the Hogyoku back? It seemed like a stretch right now. According to Ichigo, Aizen had retreated to the center of the hollow world, to a place called Hueco Mundo.

"I see," Sasuke said finally, breaking the silence.

"Sounds like you've pieced it together," Ichigo said.

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, his voice solemn.

"Well, hey," Ichigo said with forced cheer. "At least we know that there's a way to get you back. It may seem impossible right now, but we'll defeat Aizen, and in the process reclaim the Hogyoku. It just might take a little longer than two months."

"I don't have two months!" Sasuke said, voice rising. "How long will that take? Six months? A year? I don't have that kind of time right now. A war is about to break out, and I need to be there when it does!"

Sasuke felt his frustration rising to an all-time high. The way he saw it right now, he really was stuck here indefinitely.

"Well, this is all I can offer right now. We have a mutual enemy in Aizen. Let's do our best and work together to find a way to stop him," Ichigo said.

"By the time that happens, I might not even have a world to return to," Sasuke said bitterly.

"It's all you got right now," Ichigo repeated, not backing down. "Take it or leave it."

Sasuke crossed his arms and huffed. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. Things were looking bad. No, things were looking catastrophic. Now it seemed his only hope in being able to thwart Madara in his attempt to rule the world was figuring out the importance of the scroll he had stolen. He knew Ichigo was right. They needed to work together to stop Aizen. It didn't mean he was happy about it, though.

"Fine," he said.

Everyone kept their distance from Sasuke, who must have been giving out a pretty angry vibe for them to tip-toe around like they were walking on egg shells. Ichigo and Rukia conversed briefly with Urahara, but he didn't really hear any of it. He had too much on his mind to pay attention to anything.

Eventually, they left the shop and returned to Ichigo's house. Sasuke flopped down on the couch without uttering a word. Ichigo and Rukia let him be and walked upstairs.

He would use the time he had to train. That way, when, or if, he ever got back to his world, at least he would be stronger and more capable. It was all he could think of to contribute, besides figuring out a way to read the scroll.

Was it enough? Sasuke wasn't sure as he drifted off to sleep.

It was a restless night of tossing and turning. Sasuke would wake every now and then, his normally comfortable covers feeling stifling. He was sweating for no reason he could think of.

He was surrounded by nothing. He couldn't see, couldn't hear. Suddenly, it was as if a light switch had been turned on. Except Sasuke would have rather had been left in the dark.

He was surrounded by familiar faces now, and they all looked angry.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Naruto asked. "We're all fighting a war right now, and you're just sitting there and doing nothing? I went through so many obstacles to get you back to Konoha, for this? What a waste! You're a disgrace, and you're letting everyone down! You're not worthy of being my best friend!"

"I can't believe I ever had feelings for a guy like you!" Sakura said. "You're pathetic, and overrated!"

"You were the worst student a teacher could ever ask for. You left your friends and teammates to die. That makes you trash," Kakashi said.

Sasuke tried running away, but wherever he went, everyone was still there, berating him.

"Sasuke."

He turned at the mention of his name.

"Father?" He asked.

"I couldn't be more disappointed in how you turned out. Your brother will always be better than you. I will never truly acknowledge you as my son. You mean nothing to me," Fugaku said.

"Your father is right, Sasuke." Sasuke looked behind his father and saw his mother standing there, a frown on her face. "You were such a crybaby as a child. I constantly had to comfort you. I thought I had another son, not a daughter! Grow up! What's wrong with you?"

Sasuke wanted to curl up in a ball. This was a horrible nightmare. He wanted it to end right now.

"Shut up," he said.

As he spoke those words, he watched his brother materialize in front of him.

"All I ever did was try to protect you, and this is how you thank me? You can't fulfill my only request? Instead you're just sitting around doing nothing. I wasted my whole life because of you," Itachi said.

"Shut up," Sasuke repeated.

"Because of you, Madara is going to succeed now in his plans. Everyone you know will die, and it will be your fault. How can you live knowing that you're the reason why everyone is dead?" Itachi asked.

"Because of you I'm never going to become Hokage!" Naruto said.

"I hate you, Sasuke!" Sakura said.

"I will never be proud of you, Sasuke," Fugaku said.

"You're no son of mine," Mikoto said.

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!" Sasuke screamed.

He wanted it all to stop. He could hear everyone saying his name over and over again. They wouldn't go away.

"—Sasuke. Sasuke! Sasuke, wake up."

Sasuke's eyes opened and he shot forward. He was drenched in sweat and panting, heart pounding in his chest. He knew it was a dream, a nightmare. He just didn't know how to wake up from it.

"Are you okay?" Ichigo asked, backing away from the couch.

"Yeah." He closed his eyes for a second and caught his breath. "Just a nightmare."

"I was just getting some water, and I heard you. You were tossing and turning, and kept saying shut up over and over again," Ichigo said.

"I'm fine," he said curtly. "It was just a really bad nightmare. No big deal."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ichigo asked.

"Do I look like someone who shares his feelings all the time?" Sasuke snapped.

Ichigo threw his hands up in a warding gesture. "Jeez. I was just trying to be nice. You look seriously shaken up, so I thought I'd offer. Guess I was wrong."

Sasuke knew he was acting like an ass. He sighed, his guilt getting the better of him. "Look, I'm sorry. All of my thoughts and worries decided to manifest as a bad dream."

"Yeah, all of this seems to really be stressing you out," Ichigo said.

"You have no idea," Sasuke said. "In my nightmare, everyone I know—friends, family, they hated me. They kept berating me for not doing anything. For being a failure. I couldn't get away from them. I couldn't make it stop."

"It's not your fault that you're stuck here," Ichigo said.

"It is, though. All because I couldn't keep my mouth shut. I couldn't contain my anger, and because of that, I ruined the only thing I had going for me at the time. Now Madara wants me dead. He thinks I already am. I could have pretended to be on his side. At least that way, I could have kept him nearby, spied on him. I could have studied him, identified his weaknesses."

Sasuke slammed a fist on the couch in frustration. The one time he'd needed to be himself, to act like the ass he's been for years, and he couldn't pull it off.

"If it were me, I probably would have done the same thing," Ichigo said. "I'm starting to see how similar we are. I can't count how many times I've let my emotions run wild, and the consequences resulted in poor decisions. I still let my anger get the best of me sometimes."

"Yeah, well, somehow I guess your worst decision didn't get you stranded in an entirely different world, for who knows how long," Sasuke said.

"Instead of being pissed off about it, why not make your time here worthwhile? I want to get stronger, and I'm sure you do, too. We can train together, push each other to the max. That way, when we have to deal with Aizen, we'll be ready," Ichigo said. "And when you have to deal with Madara, you'll be more than ready."

Sasuke considered Ichigo's offer. True, it would be beneficial for them both if they trained together. They both had unique talents, and it could be interesting to see what he could learn from Ichigo, and vice versa.

"You know what, you're right," Sasuke said. "We can learn a lot from each other. Who knows? Maybe I'll even pick up a few new techniques. It's better than sitting around, wishing things were different."

The more Sasuke thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Everything he'd done so far since arriving in this world had been reactive, just him responding to events as they happened around him. Now was the time to be proactive, and if he wanted any chance of defeating Madara, this was the logical place to begin.

"Yeah. So what do you say? You ready to get the workout of a lifetime?" Ichigo asked, offering his hand.

"I say I'm ready for whatever you plan on throwing at me," Sasuke replied, grasping the hand and shaking it.

Kurosaki Ichigo. He was more like Naruto than Sasuke would have ever thought.