Disclaimer: Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, everyone. Real life got in the way.
Ichigo was restless. It had been days since the Shinigami had last visited, and he didn't really want to admit it to himself, but he was worried. There were strange rumours flying around, carried by the many travelling salesmen that wandered through the different districts. There were reports of more monster attacks, and strange beings had been glimpsed, beings that were there one minute and vanished the next.
It didn't help that his sleep had been plagued by unrelenting nightmares. He woke several times during the night, his blankets twisted around him and soaked in sweat. After each nightmare he remembered more, and as the days passed with no sign of his red-headed nuisance, he started to think about journeying to find him himself.
Ichigo was pretty sure that he remembered the basics, if not the specifics. He knew that there were some faces that he trusted, others that he admired, and a few that he disliked intensely. He didn't seem to have mixed feelings about any of the figures in his dreams. He spent his days repairing houses and practising with Zangetsu in a clearing in the woods. He often caught himself talking to the blade, and when he wasn't paying much attention to what he was saying, sometimes he thought that the sword answered.
Ten days after the Shinigami had last visited a large explosion thundered across the dimension. Everyone in Rukongai dropped what they were doing and stared at the heavens with wide eyes as ugly tears ripped the sky open, and grasping, skeletal hands pushed their way through.
Ichigo gave up on thought and let his instincts take over. He found himself racing through the streets, dodging petrified souls as he moved faster and faster towards the battlefield.
An odd feeling of exultation rose in his soul. "Finally!" he heard a voice whisper.
"Shut up," he replied, pushing his body even faster until he was able to bounce onto the rooftops and skim his way through the air.
"You haven't used Shunpo in a while, King," cautioned the voice. "Take it easy, eh?"
Ichigo suppressed the stab of surprise that distracted him before he tripped and broke his neck. He shut out the voices in his head, and focused his eyes on the Hollow invading Seireitai, watching the far away flashes of reiatsu and savouring the feeling of familiarity.
This was what he lived for. This was what he was meant to do. Hurtle towards danger without looking back to protect those who sheltered behind him.
He was no-where near the main battle when he encountered the first Hollows. They were weak, easily dispatched and destroying the buildings lining the street as they searched for souls to consume. Zangetsu became and extension of his arm as he danced between their disfigured bodies, dodging their clumsy swings and leaving them to turn to dust in his wake.
Seconds later he came across the low-level Shinigami who had been sent to dispatch the small fry. He didn't recognise any of their faces, and moved on quickly before they had time to look up from their own battles to question his involvement in their fight. He wasn't exactly wearing the right Uniform after all. He left them to dispatch the rest of the Hollow and headed onward, towards the fiery beacons of reitasu that seemed to call out to him. A wild grin stretched the corners of his mouth, and he could feel his own power crackling around him as he sped forwards.
Xxx
Renji was stressed. The war that had been raging for over a week was not going well. The Arrancar had managed to raise a shield of sorts to block their way into Hueco Mundo – it only worked if you were trying to travel from Soul Society, but leap-frogging troops through the land of the living had turned into a logistical nightmare even though the state of emergency had allowed them to use the private Senkaimon of the Noble houses – and now their enemy had staged a full scale assault into their dimension which made him wonder just how powerful they really were. He suspected that the plans he had overheard had been quickly revised once the Arrancar had figured out how to lock them out.
As soon as the alarms had sounded he and his Captain had sprung into action, each leading a third of the division into battle, the final third composing of the greenest troops lead by some of the older veterans were left to guard the court. Renji had split the Division into squads of ten months ago, and he quickly sent most of his command out to kill the Hollow that flooded the streets of Rukongai. He kept two squads with him to watch his back as he attempted to take a selection of their more powerful assailants. He didn't dare use Bankai, there were too many innocents hiding in the buildings and the rubble all around him, and didn't want to have to live with the grief called 'collateral damage' if he could help it.
An Arrancar with burning yellow eyes and a nasty looking spear casually skewered the Shinigami fighting next to him. Renji quickly stepped in front of the bleeding man and squared off against his new opponent, hoping to buy him enough time to get to one of the Fourth. He bared his teeth in a savage grin and watched the Arrancar's face grow angry at the sight of the blood dripping from Zabimaru's blade.
A split second later the Arrancar leapt into the air, fire crackling around the spear as it aimed straight for Renji's heart. The lieutenant batted the weapon away with contemptuous ease and slammed the wielder into a nearby wall. He was about to step forward to finish the job, when a jolt of familiar reiatsu from the other side of the battlefield stopped him in his tracks.
"Ichigo?"
It turned out that letting oneself become distracted in the middle of a battle was a bad idea. The next thing Renji knew, something large and dark was descending on the top of his head, and he hadn't noticed in time to dodge.
Xxx
Ichigo wasn't sure what he expected to happen once the battle had ended and the last Hollow had been defeated, but he was pretty sure that he had expected the red-headed Shinigami to be there. The actuality was somewhat opposite; he was surrounded by half-familiar faces all chattering at once, and there was a distinct lack of tattoos evident.
"Ichigo, we thought that we'd never find you!" a tall blonde woman with breasts that should have been illegal cooed. The short boy wearing a white haiori standing beside her sighed in exasperation and crossed his arms, his white hair matted with blood.
"Matsumoto, now is not the time!" he scowled.
"But Captain-"
"We need to take him to see Unohana-taicho before Zaraki Kenpatchi realises that he's here. Come, Kurosaki. Please follow me."
Ichigo swung Zangetsu onto his back and followed the shorter boy through the wreckage of the battlefield. Members of the fourth division scurried everywhere, and one of them with straight black hair and sad eyes stared at him with a look of disbelieving joy plastered over his face – before the screams of an injured Shinigami brought his attention back to the many wounded surrounding him.
The ebb and flow of the fight had taken them close to the walls of Seireitai, and it didn't take long for them to reach one of the gates.
"The Fourth Divison will have manned the healing stations next to each of the gates," the young Captain escorting him explained. "I think we will find Unohana-taicho here, but if not her Lieutenant Isane-san is just as captable."
"Um... what's your name?" Ichigo asked, feeling more than a little awkward but not wanting to carry on not knowing. "I recognise your face," he clarified hastily as the Shinigami turned to look at him with an expression of dismay. "I'm just really bad at names."
"My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro," the Shinigami replied. "If you will pardon my rudeness, how did you know to come and fight with us if you don't remember any of us?"
Ichigo shook his head. "I remember enough to know why I fight," he explained. "I remember my friends from the living world, and a lot of my Shinigami friends. I remember my sisters and my mum and dad. I remember Kuchiki Rukia. Everything after her brother took her back to Seireitai is a bit blurry though. I have a lot of nightmares. I think I'm piecing it back together."
"So you remember your childhood better than you remember your recent past?" Hitsugaya nodded. "That makes sense. Things would have been very traumatic for your mind after Kuchiki-san was arrested, I am not surprised that that is the period that you are having the most trouble remembering."
"Do you think Unohana-taicho will be able to help me remember?" Ichigo's heart sank as Hitsugaya shook his head.
"We have rarely had to try to recover memories," he explained. "Normally to forget is a blessing for one who has passed on. It is part of the cycle. You, however, have always been a special case."
"Hitsugaya-san, can you please answer one question for me?"
"Of course, if I can."
"How did I die?"
A/N: Sorry this is a bit short... the majority of this chapter was really, REALLY out of my 'writing in comfort' zone. Still, at least the plot has advanced, right? I'll try not to make you wait so long next time for an update!