As Ichigo came to, he noticed something. Warm. I feel warm. But wasn't it raining? And wasn't it really cold? He opened his eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" As soon as he had opened his eyes, he'd noticed that a guy's face was about two inches away from his.

"Oh, what a good reaction. Quite excellent."

"What the hell are you doin'?!?!"

The man turned his head sideways. "Hey boss, you know how you wanted to know when Ichigo woke up?" he yelled. "Well, he did!"

"You work for Mr. Hat-and-Clogs, don't you? Get OFF OF ME!" he screamed, throwing the man to the side. Less than a second after he did, intense pain wracked his body. Wait…I'm not dead! But where the hell am I? Oh…this must be a room of the Urahara shop.

"Ichigo, try to relax. With all the wounds you've got, you'll die if you move around too much," Urahara said as he walked into the room.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna relax now. So you're the one that saved me, huh?"

"Is there a problem with that?" a new voice called out.

Ichigo growled. "Not now, Dante. A lot happened before you found me."

Dante snorted as he walked into the room. "I figured as much. You don't exactly get two stab wounds like that out of the blue."

Ichigo sighed. "It wasn't just that…there were two really strong guys…I did okay against one, but the other guy did this to me, and right before you guys found me some guy in a black cloak was spouting nons-" Before he could finish his sentence, Dante had grabbed him roughly by the shoulders. "Hey, what the he-"

"You said black cloak? What did he say?! Where did he go?!"

Urahara cleared his throat. "Dante, I'd rather you didn't attack someone in his condition. Please release him or I will have to force you."

Dante sighed. "I wonder if you could, but as a guest, I suppose I'll respect your wishes."

Something occurred to Ichigo just then. "Hey, what about Uryu? He was there too, right?"

Urahara nodded. "I treated him at the site. But his wounds weren't quite as serious; he was even able to walk home after he woke up."

"You let him walk home, wounded?!"

He shrugged. "I offered him a place here, but he said he'd pass; he was pretty worried about you, though."

"No way. Uryu was worried about me?"

"Yep. 'Please, take care of Ichigo. Because it's pretty apparent that if anyone can defeat those guys, it certainly is not me. The only one who can save Rukia' is you; so he said."

Ichigo snorted. "Only me? What am I supposed to do?! She's already gone back to the Soul Society! How could I follow her? How am I supposed to save her?!" He sighed, desperately fighting back tears. "It can't be done. I'm too weak!"

Dante snorted. "For someone so tough, you sure are dumb. Just because you're weak now doesn't mean you can't change."

Urahara nodded. "Not only that, but there is a way into Soul Society."

Ichigo shot up, ignoring the massive pain it caused. He grabbed Urahara's collar. "There's a way? How?! TELL ME!"

Urahara sighed. "Fine. But on one condition."

"What?"

"For the next ten days, you will let me teach you how to fight properly."

"What? Ten days?! I don't have that kind of time! Rukia's going to be executed, so we gotta…" The rest of his sentence was cut off as Urahara tossed him to the ground effortlessly. He looked up to find Dante's white pistol pointed directly between his eyes.

Dante rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dumb, kid. You said it yourself: you're too weak. You wanna save Rukia? Fine. But if you try anything at your current strength, you're practically asking to get killed. If that's what you want, I'll save you the trouble right now." Ichigo gulped.

Urahara put his cane under Dante's pistol, lifting it up. "But before you come to a decision, know this: the Soul Society's rules state a one-month waiting period before an execution, and for the most part, they respect their own rules."

Ichigo's eyes went wide. "'For the most part?'"

"It's a lot more complicated than when humans are executed. If I'm right, that gives you ten days to train, seven days to open the Soul Society gate, and the other thirteen to actually get the job done. We've got plenty of time, and we won't be wasting any of it."

Ichigo thought for a moment, then sat up. Dante re-holstered his pistol and Urahara lowered his cane. "Will I get strong enough?"

"Yes. Provided you truly wish to save her with your whole heart and soul. And your will must be stronger than steel; you can have no doubts."

Ichigo nodded. "Fine, then. Whatever it takes to save her."

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Ichigo did his best to keep his cool during school the next day, but it wasn't easy. It all feels like a dream. Fighting those two guys, getting hurt; none of it seems real. The part that seems least real is that she isn't here… He looked around class, shaking his head. The worst part is…not a single one of my class even remembers Rukia! It's like she just doesn't exist anymore! It's… He clenched his fists under his desk. It's all I can do to not shout out that she was here, that she existed…I just wish I could wake up from this nightmare!!

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As Ichigo walked home, he thought he would have felt better about school being over. Instead, he just felt empty. Somehow, the world's still spinning without Rukia. I didn't think it was possible…but then, she's originally from the Soul Society. Is that where she belongs? He shook his head furiously. No. She doesn't belong in Soul Society…she belongs here! With us! He stopped as he heard footsteps approach him. He turned around. "Huh? What's up, Orihime?"

She frowned at him, an odd look on her face. "Ichigo, where's Rukia?"

What?! She remembers?!

"Why does no one remember her, and act like she never existed? I need you to explain it, Ichigo; she was your girlfriend, after all."

Ichigo sighed. "It's a long story, Orihime."

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"So you're saying Rukia went back to this…Soul Society, then?"

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah. But I'm surprised. I didn't even know you could see us, Orihime. How long have you…"

"Ever since the incident…with my brother. I never properly thanked you for that, by the way."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's the least I could do for an old friend."

She frowned a little at that, but shrugged. "I'll bet he's happy on the other side…Rukia probably is, too!"

Ichigo gulped as the image of her brother flashed in his mind. "Not quite."

"But she's from there, isn't she? Wouldn't she have friends and family over there?"

"She does…but she's also in a lot of trouble. And if I don't do something about it, she'll be killed."

Her eyes went wide, but she spoke in a happy tone. "Well, then I think you should go save her! I mean, I still remember her talking about how much she enjoyed being with you!"

He smiled slightly, but became stern again as he stood up. "Sorry to leave you here, but I'll need some help if I want to rescue her. Thanks, Orihime." With that, he took off toward the Urahara Shop.

Orihime turned around as she heard heavy footsteps. "Huh? Chad?"

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Ichigo, Dante, Nero, Lady, Kyrie, Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta all glanced around at the wide, desert-like area beneath Urahara's shop. Urahara looked around incredulously. "Whoa…amazing! Who would've thought that all this time there was a huge, subterranean training ground under my shop?!"

Dante laughed. "You're my kinda guy, Urahara. No sense of acting or modesty…just like me."

Lady snorted. "So you're finally admitting it! Are you going to admit your additional lack of culture, courtesy, and tact?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. But not now. Give it another…I dunno, decade or so."

Nero rolled his eyes. "So, are we just gonna sit here insulting each other, or are we gonna get to work?"

"Well spoken, Nero," Urahara said. "Well, if you insist." His cane shot at Ichigo, hitting him directly between the eyes. The impact shot his soul form out of his body and sent him rolling for a good ten feet.

Dante whistled. "I'm always amazed at not only your aim, but how he never expects it."

"Hey, what's the big idea of knockin' me d-" Ichigo began, but collapsed, clutching his chest and gasping.

"Hard to breathe in your soul form, isn't it?" Urahara asked. "Because of your wounds, right now you're no more powerful than any other human. Before you can even fight again, you'll need to restore your spirit energy."

"All right, fine! Just tell me what to do!"

"So impatient…all right, then! Warrior, to the arena!"

Ichigo looked in the direction Urahara had yelled, and saw Ururu approaching with what looked like combat gear. "Nice to see you back, Ichigo," she said meekly.

"Lesson one: a match with Ururu, one-on-one. The rules are that the lesson is over when one of you is unable to continue. If I were you, I'd go for the knockout punch."

"WHAT?!" Ichigo yelled, looking at Ururu in disbelief. "You want me to hit a little girl?"

Lady smirked. "I wouldn't underestimate that 'little girl'. Even Dante had a tough time against her."

Dante folded his arms as he scowled at Lady. "Define 'tough'. I mean, she was good, don't get me wrong, but…"

"Face it Dante, it was a lot closer of a match-up than most of your fights. No need to be ashamed just because she's small."

Nero ignored Dante and Lady's bickering, grinning as he watched Ichigo. "This'll be interesting…"

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"Amazing Headband of Justice, in place! Amazing Armor of Justice, protect me!"

Urahara sniggered. "Well, what do you know, he actually said it."

Dante grumbled as he handed Nero a small wad of bills.

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Ichigo rubbed his head absentmindedly as he got up. "Look, Urahara, just gimme another…"

"Lesson one: cleared. You pass."

"Huh?"

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"Lessons? Why?"

Yoruichi frowned as best a cat could. "You'll need them if you want to learn more."

"I suppose I do," Orihime said, intrigued. "But this is all so sudden."

Chad nodded. "Plus, it's still kind of weird dealing with…" he cleared his throat. "…a talking cat."

Yoruichi snorted. "Ichigo and the Devil Hunters will be going to the Soul Society soon. If you want to learn more about your newfound powers, you'll have to take my lessons. After that, it's your choice whether you want to go or not."

"Well, I'm going."

"Really?" Orihime asked. "Aren't you scared? I know I am."

Chad nodded.

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Uryu greeted Orihime and Chad as they approached him, a black cat following them. "Hey, Chad, Orihime! How'd you guys find me?"

Orihime smiled. "Yoruichi followed your aura. It wasn't too hard to find you."

"Yoruichi?" Uryu asked.

"Are you here on a camping trip?" she asked.

Uryu pushed up his glasses. "Um…not exactly."

"You're training, aren't you?"

Uryu looked around at the unfamiliar voice. "Who's there?"

"Me. I'm right over here." He looked to see the black cat waving at him. "Hi, there. I'm Yoruichi."

"WAAA! A talking cat!"

"What, you can't handle a talking cat?"

Chad looked at Uryu sheepishly. "Well, Uryu, if it makes you feel any better, I'm still having trouble with it myself."

Yoruichi sighed. "Humans have so much trouble adapting to the unusual. Except Dante, but I bet he's no stranger to that…"

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Lady looked at Dante as he sneezed. "Hey, you sick or something?"

"Right," he said. "You're talkin' to the guy who's never been sick a day in his life. Probably just the dust."

Urahara grinned. "Maybe a pretty girl's talking about you somewhere."

"Yeah, that sounds more like it…" Immediately after saying that, Lady hit him hard over the head with one of her pistols. "OW! What was that for?"

"Just be glad I didn't shoot you again."

"Whatever." He looked at Urahara. "So how long's Ichigo been at the bottom of that hole?"

Urahara checked his watch. "Let's see…about five hours."

Nero groaned. "This is boring. I'm gonna patrol. Call me if anything happens." He gave Kyrie a quick kiss and climbed up the ladder.

Kyrie looked at the hole Ichigo was currently in. "So…he either comes out of there as a hollow or a Soul Reaper, right?"

Dante nodded. "Somethin' like that…we're hoping for the second one."

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The fourth encroachment ended as the furthest chain link returned to normal. The pain left Ichigo's body, but he knew it was only temporary. This chain…it's like it has two modes. First in deteriorates, then it rests. When it deteriorates, I feel so much pain I can hardly move. But when it's resting like now…that's my chance! Getting up on his feet, Ichigo ran at the side of the shaft, forcing his legs to defy gravity and, amazingly, running straight up the side of the vertical shaft. However, he only got about ten or twelve feet before gravity overcame his strength, sending him crashing back down. Far above, Ururu and Jinta looked on in amusement.

Ichigo sighed. Well, that didn't work. Let's try something else. He thought for a while on his options. Well, I'm not strong enough to jump straight out, that's for sure. And I've obviously proven that defying gravity doesn't work either. I sure as hell can't climb out with my arms pinned like they are, and from the looks of it, Tessai's gonna keep it that way. Hmm… He looked straight up to the top of the shaft. This place kinda reminds me of a tube in a pinball machine. Wait… Suddenly, an image of a pinball bouncing within its machine formed in his mind. Even when it hits the bumpers almost straight on, there's always that small angle it has when it bounces back. And if that angle points upward…it goes right to the top! He stretched out his legs a bit. I'll have to keep my speed not only high, but constant. If my speed goes outta whack, I'm in for a long fall!

Tessai looked at Ichigo curiously. Hmm…what's he up to now?

Ichigo faced the side of the shaft again. Okay…here we GO! Immediately after he finished thinking the last word, he took off at full speed toward the side of the shaft. He jumped at it, but instead of running up like the last time, he pushed off of it with his feet, barreling toward the other side. As he landed sideways, he pushed off again, going straight back to the other side. He launched himself back and forth between the sides of the shaft this way, gaining a few yards of altitude at a time.

Urahara grinned at the top. Not a bad plan, Ichigo. But even if you make it out safely like that, if you don't recover your Soul Reaper powers…

As Ichigo got about a fifth of the way up, the chain began to encroach again. Screaming in pain, he lost his footing, falling back to the bottom of the shaft with a SMASH!

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Dante cringed at Ichigo's screams. "Urahara, I sure hope you know what you're doing." Kyrie was holding her hands over her ears, unable to stand the screams, as they sounded much like Nero's. Lady's eyes twitched, but she didn't show any outward signs of distress.

"Uh-huh," Urahara replied. "Trust me on this. It's for his own good."

Dante shook his head. "From the sounds of those screams, Ichigo disagrees. Can Tessai really handle him?"

"Absolutely. So just watch and see."

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"Ichigo, can you hear me?"

Ichigo opened his eyes at the strange voice. The first things he saw were… Buildings…and they're sideways. What the hell? He looked to his sides. Just more buildings. Where did that voice come from? "Hey, where are you?" he called out.

"Over here."

He turned to see…"AHHH! The black-cloaked guy! Not you!!"

The man shook his head. "No, I am not him. I am Zangetsu."

Ichigo blinked. Huh? He started telling me his name, but all I heard was "Zan-", and then nothing, like he was cut off.

The man frowned. "I see. It seems I still can't quite reach you. How sad. Tell me, how many times I must cry out to you before you can hear the rest? For there is no one in this world who knows me better than you."

Ichigo snorted, holding a hand over his face. "Sorry, pal, but I don't know anyone nearly as depressing as you are." When he pulled his hand away, he gasped. "How did you…?"

The man was now standing sideways on a pole, parallel to the building they were on. He raised an eyebrow. "You amaze me. How can you just sit there like that?"

Ichigo suddenly realized that the buildings weren't actually sideways. And the second he came to this realization, he began to plummet to the ground. As he fell, screaming, the man descended next to him. "If you've got time to scream, you've got time to think. Think about why you're so afraid. Aren't Soul Reapers sometimes called 'Gods of Death'?"

"Look, pal, I'm not a Soul Reaper anymore!"

"Know this: when Byakuya Kuchiki attacked you, he only took away the Soul Reaper powers you had absorbed from Rukia. He'd intended to stop you by taking that power, but he failed to notice something. You have Soul Reaper power of your own."

"What?!"

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Ichigo looked around at the boxes surrounding him in the water-like substance. So now what? How am I supposed to know which box has my Soul Reaper power? That guy's weird…he reminds me of the guy in the black cloak. Wait… That man in the black cloak had told him something about this…

"If you find your inner world crumbling, remember Uryu and Dante."

Ichigo shook his head. But what does that mean? I bet Uryu could sense which box had…hold on a second. He said something about how he could find me so easily…there was some special technique he bragged about. What was it again?

"A Soul Reaper's spirit ribbon is…"

Damn it! What was so special about a Soul Reaper's ribbon?! Then he remembered the next part of the black-cloaked man's advice. Remember Dante…what about him? Then he saw an image of Dante in his mind, and it hit him immediately. A Soul Reaper's spirit ribbon is red!

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Dante and Urahara looked up as they shielded Jinta and Ururu from the dust. Lady and Kyrie coughed as the dust began to clear. Dante stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Hey, kid! Is that you? Say somethin'!"

Ichigo's breath rattled as his shadow appeared within the dust cloud. Two red lights shone where his eyes would have been. Dante put a hand on his sword. "That doesn't count! C'mon, answer!"

As the dust finally dispersed, they saw Ichigo in a Soul Reaper shihaksho wearing a white, skull-like mask with red markings. Lady began to draw her guns, but Urahara held out a hand to stop her. "We don't know just what he is yet. Let's not do anything rash."

Ichigo drew his sword, to which Dante quickly responded in kind. But instead of attacking, Ichigo planted it into the ground and pulled the mask off, tossing it over his shoulder. He then pulled his zanpakuto out and re-sheathed it.

Urahara clapped, causing Ichigo to look at him oddly. Urahara smiled. "Congratulations! You became a Soul Reaper again! Lesson two, completed!"

Ichigo walked toward him angrily, punching him in the face after he got there. "You bastard! Betcha you didn't expect me to come back alive, did you? I swore to myself that if I made it out alive, I'd kick your ass the first chance I got!"

Urahara rubbed his bruised nose. "Is that right? Well, then, I guess you'll love your prize for passing the second lesson! Now we can start lesson three!"

"What…did you just say?" Ichigo growled, his eye twitching in anger.

"The best part is, there's no time limit here! Knock off my hat and you pass!"

In the blink of an eye, Ichigo had drawn his zanpakuto and slashed downward. Urahara was faster still, but even so, his hat now bore a small cut. Ichigo smirked. "No time limit, you say? I got a better idea…Let's set the timer for five minutes!"

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Ichigo ran as fast as his legs could carry him. In the first two minutes of their fight, Urahara had already sliced his zanpakuto right down to the hilt. Why? Why am I running away? Am I just a coward? How pathetic…it's pathetic…I'M PATHETIC!

"Yes, that's you."

Ichigo found himself staring at the strange man again. The world around them had stopped completely. "Master…?"

"You still haven't called my name. If you face forward, you should be able to hear it. The only thing that plugs your ears is your own fear."

Ichigo nodded, and stood his ground as the world restarted. He turned around to face Urahara, who had stopped as well.

Dante tilted his head in curiosity. "Huh? What's up now? Is he finally gonna man up?"

"Abandon your fear. Turn and face your enemy. Don't give an inch! Now, advance, and never stop! Fight with all your heart. If you doubt, you will age. Be afraid, and you will die! Now shout out my name!"

Ichigo pivoted around, yelling "Attack, Zangetsu!"

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Urahara dusted off what was left of his hat. "I do believe you've killed my hat," he grumbled.

Dante chuckled. "Nero's sure gonna regret not being here…Hey, wait!"

Lady looked at him, startled. "What?"

"He cleared the test in less than ten days! Nero lost our bet!"

Lady rolled her eyes. "Why do I bother with you?"

He winked at her. " 'Cause you can't resist my hot bod." He then ducked under an angry pistol-chop.

Wow. That was a really long "few days", huh? I'm really sorry, but I've been swamped for the past couple of weeks. The next chapter probably won't be out for a while, but I'll do my best! [insert review request here]. Please?

Next Chapter: Into Soul Society