Somebody I Used To Know

by TheWeepingTurtle

After a shocking revelation from his father, Ichigo Kurosaki is thrown into the past (courtesy of Kisuke Urahara) to meet his past incarnation, Kaien Shiba. I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. I only own my plot and my ideas. Rated T for precautions. New cover!

21. Envision

/ Didn't have much time to write or proofread a chapter. I apologize in advance.

Ichigo's sandals dragged across the dirt as he looked to the ground, his brows pushed together as his lips set into a firm line. It had been a week since Rukia had told him, and still there had been no new news from Kaien. What was that man thinking? Scowling, Ichigo turned and kicked at another stone, hissing as it refused to budge, his middle toe smashing against it. "Damn it!" he hissed, jumping up on one foot to try and clutch his foot. He fell.

Someone clapped, and his scowl deepened as a grinning black-haired lieutenant came into view, offering a hand. "Need some help here?" he laughed, amusement clearly glinting in his ocean blue eyes as the orange-haired teen grabbed his hand and pulled himself begrudgingly. And with that, Ichigo turned to walk away before a hand clamped on his shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong with you?"

"Don't touch me," he grumbled, shrugging off the hand and swatting at it as he continued to stomp away, eventually turning and pointing an accusatory finger in Kaien's direction. The man simply raised his hands in defense. "Don't play dumb! You know as well as I do that Rukia is going to be married to some dumbass, and you're not doing a thing to stop it, you... you... DUMBASS!"

Kaien didn't respond, his head tilted down slightly to hide his expression before looking up, his small bangs flopping to the side. "You wouldn't understand."

The other soul reaper simply threw his hands up. "I wouldn't understand? I wouldn't understand!?" he repeated, glaring at him. "No, you don't seem to understand! Rukia can't-she can't do this!"

"I never said she'd have to."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Remember what I told you before? I've got it handled."

"It's been a week!"

Walking up to him, Kaien clopped him on the side of the head. "YOU LISTEN TO ME!"

"Eh!?"

"When I say I got it handled, I got it handled. You hear me?" he growled, his eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at the scowling orange-haired teen. "Got it?"

"Whatever."