AN: I actually wrote this a long time before I released it. Hahaha. Well, since the one-shot that mutated is almost finished, well, I thought I might as well tell you. Also, all those other chapters have been written a long time before I released them as well. I was just waiting for more reviews. Hahaha. Important: I may continue this fic later on. But for now, it ends in this chapter.

Anyway, this author's note is going to be the happiest bit of this fanfic. I hope you guys know what's going on as this is the last chapter – um…please tell me in your reviews if you don't get it, or what you 'perceive' happened and I will try clear things up. Hopefully you get all the 'hints'.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor the song at the end.

- - -

Waiting: The Sequel (Finale)

- - -

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and

Are melted into air, into thin air:

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff

As dreams are made on; and our little life

Is rounded with a sleep.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "The Tempest", Act 4 scene 1

- - -

He looked down on the globe. It was peaceful, the way it should be. There was no abnormalities – yet. He knew something was happening, something that would stretch the pathway between the other worlds and his world.

He knew that it was possible for shinigami to access this place if they were in a coma – but there really hadn't been any cases of that since Keito Haru. His impact on the world was insignificant.

But now, that guy, he swung the weight of the world, like it was a pendulum. Something would need to be done, and he hated doing it.

The people that guy had closely interacted with…it wasn't safe for them anymore – it wasn't safe for his world anymore.

But the bottom line was; he was a creator, not a destroyer.

- - -

Ichigo looked around frantically. Surely something had to be out of place. There had to be some reason why he was feeling uneasy. Besides, what was he going to explain to his wife when he went back to Hawaii? That he went back to the house, looked at it, and then flew straight back?

He laughed, in spite of himself. That sounded truly ridiculous, and she'd probably wonder if he really had come out of his coma. He walked up the front stairs slowly.

Turning the key in the lock seemed to take longer than usual, and the damn thing got stuck again. Cursing silently, he finally got the door open, and chucked his luggage to the side. The house seemed strangely quiet – usually there were the sounds of his kids playing, or his wife, talking on the phone. Now it was just him, alone.

He was suddenly thirsty. Grabbing a carton of fruit juice from the fridge, he poured himself a glass. He walked towards the window of the kitchen, where it over looked their small garden.

His glass shattered as it hit the floor.

- - -

The ice sword clashed with horrendous pressure.

The whitecloak grimaced. There was no holding back, now, was there? Hitsugaya Toshirou. The Spirit King had an eye out for the well-known prodigy. His potential had probably not yet reached its limit, which was terrifying, as the 10th division captain was probably the strongest all-round, perhaps only lacking in experience compared with the other captains.

It was going to be a shame to kill the reincarnation of the heavenly guardian. The Spirit King would possibly contemplate the idea of bringing Hitsugaya into the Royal Guard, but the way things looked now, the genius was clearly past all talking, not to mention reason.

- - -

"Ru…kia?"

There was someone, walking around in his garden. As the glass hit the floor, time seemed to stand still as she turned around. That raven-coloured hair, the hair he had admired so much when he was still in school, but never said anything, her piercing eyes, and her lips…which he had kissed…but it seemed like a long time.

It was her.

He watched as her eyes widened slowly, and she ran towards the kitchen sliding door. Ichigo fumbled with the keys he had placed on the bench a while ago; his thirstiness temporarily put on hold.

As he pushed the glass sliding door to the side, Rukia entered, after taking off her shoes.

"Ichigo," he heard her say shakily, and then she fell forward, into his arms.

- - -

By the time Rukia came to, the sun was setting, casting a soft orange glow in the living room. She was lying on a couch, she noticed, and was covered with a blanket. Her eyes opened slightly.

"Ichigo!"

She tried to sit up, but found she could only do so with great difficulty. Dammit. She didn't know that she would have to eat in this world as well in order to survive. Going without food for the past few days had probably been the most stupid decision she had ever made. Well, except for rejecting Ichigo.

Ichigo walked into the room, and she let herself fall back down on the couch.

He was holding two cups of tea, and he handed one to her, as he sat on the edge of the couch, above her head. Rukia sat up slowly, and sipped her tea.

For a while they didn't say anything.

"I'm hungry." She was meaning to say something else, but her basic desires had taken over her power of speech.

- - -

"Rukia…"

They were sitting on the couch again. Rukia had wolfed her way through four servings of food, and she was already feeling better.

"Yeah?" she answered, feeling better already. Now to just explain the whole situation to him, and then get back to Soul Society.

"Why…why did you come here?" he asked softly. "Didn't I tell you? I have a wife…and kids." He was referring to the incident in the park, when she approached him in his office.

She waited a moment before replying. "Truly…don't you remember? You…don't belong here."

A sudden pain assaulted his head, and he clutched his forehead. "What the…what do you mean, I don't belong here?"

Something told him she was right, but what did she mean? Didn't he grow up in this place?

"Remember, Ichigo?" she touched his shoulder softly. "You…were in a coma…in Soul Society."

The words 'Soul Society' shot beams of pain through his brain, and he squeezed his eyes shut as memories flooded in. Memories of Rukia, him, captains and vice-captains. His father, his sisters, and Rukia again.

And then, he had come back, for a little while. He had stayed with Rukia, that little while. Then he had to go to this world, for his family. Why was she here? He sat on the couch, with his head in hands.

"Ichigo."

He felt her small hands guiding his face towards hers. She kissed him, without saying anything more.

He remembered something like this. They had been sitting in a field, and she had kissed him then, too.

- - -

The barrier was down, but Urahara wasn't on the Spirit King's watch list for nothing. They had to spend an extra half an hour trying to break down a powerful electrical barrier that the former 12th division captain had put up as a precaution.

But finally, they were in. But with losses. The electrical barrier had killed two of his men instantly, and, counting the second-in-command, there was only seven of them left.

Seven was enough to kill two people.

"Cut the cords off the girl before you kill her."

- - -

Ichigo pulled away first. Rukia looked to the side, her face flushed. "I…" she started, but got no further.

Ichigo pulled her into another kiss, deeper than the first. The next time they broke for air, she continued her sentence. "I don't have much time…Something is happening in Soul Society."

Ichigo frowned. Something about her…it was as if she was turning paler by the second. Her voice also seemed to be fading away, as if he was hearing it from a great distance.

"Rukia?" he said, panic creeping into his voice. He shook her lightly. "Rukia!"

She kept her eyes open; they were the only part of her body that seemed to be resisting the fading effect.

"Rukia! Come back!" Tears dropped from his eyes, but he didn't notice anything, even when his vision became blurry.

"No…" he heard her say faintly. Then she disappeared, completely. "Why don't you come back?" he heard a voice say in the back of his mind that sounded distinctly like Rukia.

- - -

They had taken longer than expected. Urahara had placed a small barrier around the two on the bed, which took a small while to remove. They had needed to kill two people.

Their job was half done.

- - -

Hitsugaya rushed down the stairs, blood streaming from various wounds that he didn't feel.

He hoped he wasn't too late. That other guy would have been a tough opponent, had Hitsugaya versed him fairly. When the 10th division captain got mad, he was mad. With the deaths of so many powerful people in Soul Society, there were only a few people left that could probably fight Hitsugaya evenly.

But that was okay. He wouldn't let anyone die anymore. Not after Hinamori had been killed in the war against Aizen.

- - -

The man looked sad as he placed a finger on the spinning globe. People all over the earth froze. Every living thing, every particle, every molecule stopped, because he told it to.

He was sad. It had to be done. Because that guy never really belonged to this world, it was inevitable that he would have to go back to wherever he came from someday. It would cause pain, and suffering for the family.

Sometimes the man hated knowing the future. Even though it told him to make the wisest choice, it hurt. A lot. But he couldn't delay his decision any longer. He had pondered over it long enough. About a year, to be exact. The people in the world wouldn't notice anything, because he had frozen time. But freezing time was a tricky thing, and it got dangerous after about a year.

There was no 'poof' or 'bang', just three less people on the beach, all girls, a hotel room turned vacant, footsteps leading to nowhere, and a sand castle, still in the process of being made, destroyed by the tide.

The world continued spinning, as if nothing had happened.

And the man wiped his tears away.

- - -

Ichigo woke to sunlight streaming through the room. Shaking his head in a dazed manner, he surveyed his surroundings. The walls were a dull grey, which stood out in stark contrast with the yellow sun. The sun was coming from high above where he was – he could tell, since the room had no roof.

No roof? He frowned. That's why walls were cracked in some places and only reached head height. It was as if an intense battle had taken place, and they hadn't fixed up the building yet.

Yes, that was right, he was in the 12th division. But what had caused all this…this damage? As far as Soul Society went, there was no such thing as natural disasters.

He sat up, as he saw heard someone coming down the stairs. His breathing quickened. Was it Rukia? More or less, he had understood his situation. She had come to visit him while he was in that weird coma-world, and now he was back. Because of her.

It wasn't her. It was someone he didn't expect to see – Hitsugaya Toshirou. The child prodigy, who didn't look like a child any longer, walked calmly up to Ichigo's bedside.

"Oh. You're finally awake," said the white haired captain.

Ichigo grunted. "Yeah."

The captain sighed, and sat down on a wooden chair next to Ichigo's bed. After a few moments of silence, he spoke.

"If you had woken up a bit earlier, you could have helped me out," Hitsugaya said, motioning to the broken walls and the lack of roof.

"Sorry," Ichigo replied, as there was really nothing more he could say.

"You ready?"

"Yeah," Ichigo swung his legs slowly across the bed to stand up shakily. As they climbed the stairs, Ichigo noticed marks of a battle, and a fierce one at that.

"Rukia's waiting for you, at my division," he heard the genius say. His pulse quickened. Rukia.

They reached the end of the staircase and Hitsugaya turned left. Left? Ichigo had regained his memory, and he knew, from the exit of Urahara's quarters, the tenth division was to the right.

"I thought she was in your division," he said, though he continued following Hitsugaya.

"I'm the first division captain now," came the cold reply, as if that was a reminder of a horrid memory.

Hitsugaya continued walking, even though he knew the shinigami behind him had stopped.

"Since when?" he heard the orange-haired man say.

"Ten years ago."

- - -

Ichigo's face was cold. And not just because of the cold temperature of the room.

"She's in the last room," Hitsugaya said softly, and leaned against the door post.

The room wasn't actually a room. It was a long hallway, that had strange boxes in it, each with a name plaque on it. But Ichigo ignored those long boxes, ignored that they were intricately carved, ignored the fact that they could probably the length of the average person.

Why was Rukia here? In this cold room? And why had it been ten years between his leaving the other world?

He reached the end of the long hallway, and then opened the door. There were two boxes here. But they were different to the rest. They were crystal clear, and Ichigo could see the body of a girl in the box closest to him.

"Ru…kia?" he croaked out. But it wasn't. It was someone else, who looked vaguely familiar. He dimly noticed Hitsugaya come in, but by now his heart was thumping so loudly he didn't care. He didn't want to believe it. The next box.

It was the same material, crystal clear as well, except for a small white envelope that lay on top of the box. In the handwriting he had taken for granted all those years ago was the words: To Ichigo…

He gently opened the envelop with trembling hands, not wanting to look past the envelope, not wanting to see her in that box, however beautiful it was.

The letter unfolded gently, and he read it slowly.

Dear Ichigo,

I am about to be put in a coma, so I can find you. Urahara told me that the world you have gone to is the world where shinigami are sent if they die here.

I'm writing this letter because Urahara said that you might wake up before me, so I wanted you to read this before I wake up. I just want to say a few things.

I love you, and I did love you, back when you told me that you loved me. I couldn't reply to you because Soul Society had a rule about those things, and I didn't want to hurt you. Even though, now I know, I hurt you more by not telling you that I loved you then. If I had, then maybe this whole thing wouldn't have happened. Sorry.

That is why I'm going to find you, and bring you back. I'm going now. The machine is ready.

Love,

Rukia

He was crying now, but he didn't care. His tears were wetting the letter, but here were no pictures, or drawings, or anything distinctly Rukia-like. It must have been a hurried letter.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder, and he turned around. Hitsugaya was standing there, with a sheathed zanpaktou in his hand.

"When Hinamori died, I made perfectly transparent ice to place her in so I would never forget her how she looked. I put Rukia in the same ice. But I didn't include her sword because..." Because a shinigami can't die by their own blade! Was what he was supposed to say, but instead he kept quiet and handed the sword over to the other shinigami. "Here," he said flatly.

Ichigo took the sword, and their eyes met for a moment passed between the genius and the orange-haired shinigami.

"I'll be back tomorrow…" The white-haired captain turned his gaze away, looking slightly awkward. "You know…just to clean things up." His gaze fell on the other coffin that held the girl he loved. "When you go...if you see Hinamori…tell her…," the prodigy shook his head, and cleared his throat as his voice sounded hoarse. He had read that book in Yamamoto's desk – after a few weeks of searching, he had finally found the keyhole to the key Yamamoto had mysteriously given to him the night before he died. Being a genius, he quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together and only regretted not knowing earlier. "Never mind."

Ichigo nodded, and Hitsugaya left.

- - -

"I need to talk with you again,

Why did you go away?

All our time together, just feels like yesterday…"

Will You Wait For Me, Kavana

Part I: Fini