Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach franchise it is owned by Tite Kubo.

Unexpected Deviations

Prologue

"Are you sure this will work?" the dark-haired Quincy asked.

"Who knows?" the dirty-blonde Shinigami answered, causing the Quincy to angrily take him by the collar. "Look…I've never tried anything like this before. No one has. The theory is sound, but theory can only go so far. We can only really know for sure by trying it out for real. And in an ideal world, we'd test this baby out for at least a few months before actually going through with the plan."

Kisuke Urahara paused, and then his smile faded. "But we don't live in an ideal world, do we?" he asked.

After a moment, Karin Kurosaki relented, and released Urahara's collar. "No," she admitted. "I guess we don't. If we did, we wouldn't need to go to all this trouble."

"…this is our only chance, Karin." Urahara said after a moment. "Our last chance…don't mess it up. We're counting on you."

Karin snorted, eyes fixed on Urahara's last, great invention. "…putting all the weight of the world on my shoulders…" she muttered.

"Look on the bright side," Urahara said, his smile coming back and showing nothing of what he was really feeling. "If it fails, you'll be dead, your soul scattered across time."

"Is that supposed to reassure me?" Karin asked skeptically.

"It's certainly better than getting eaten up by Yhwach." Urahara replied. "And if you succeed…well, you get a chance to set things right. You get to see everyone important to you again. Ichigo, Isshin, Yuzu, Captain Hitsugaya…"

"I know!" Karin interrupted. "You don't have to tell me all that. I agreed to this already, didn't I?"

"Then stop hesitating." Urahara said, before his eyes widened, and anything else he might have said left unspoken as an explosion erupted in the distance, causing the room to shake. "We're out of time. They've found us, and they've broken through the outer defenses. You have to leave, now."

The room shook again, more violently this time, and causing dust to crumble from the ceiling. A third explosion sent cracks through the floor, even as Urahara hurriedly typed away at a console. "…I can't just leave you here!" Karin protested, but Urahara didn't even look up from the screen.

"We both know there's no way to win this fight." He said instead. "If we stand and fight, we'll both die, and that's the end of it. But if you take the jump, then we get one chance to win. One chance to keep all this from happening. One chance to save everyone we care for."

Karin swallowed, even as a fourth explosion shook the room even more violently. "Come on, hougyoku, don't fail me now." Urahara muttered, a sad smile coming to life on his face as the hougyoku began to glow, power arcing from the deceptively-small orb to the surrounding receivers, and causing the nearby machine's aperture to glow.

Then the room shook a fifth time, causing a kidou barrier to come to life over the door. Inhuman screams could be heard echoing through the walls and door, the latter buckling and straining as something tried to force its way past. "Karin." Urahara said, drawing his zanpakutou with one hand, and holding out a disc with the other. "It's time."

Karin wordlessly took the disc, before glancing at the glowing doorway, then at Urahara's machine. "…will your past self even trust me?" she asked.

"Make him trust you." Urahara said. "It's all on you now. Make your brother…make all of us, proud."

Karin was silent for a long moment, and then tucking the disc away, did something unexpected: she hugged Urahara. "Goodbye, hat and clogs." She said. "Thank you…for everything."

Urahara chuckled. "Hat and clogs?" he echoed. "How nostalgic…go, while you still have time."

Karin nodded, and then rushing over to the machine, took a deep breath, before diving into its aperture. The light flashed to blinding before going out, the machine spluttering to inactivity with a shower of sparks, and the hougyouku crumbling into dust as its power expended.

Then the kidou barrier failed, and the door with it, allowing a tide of black, amorphous things with gaping maws and wide eyes to pour into the room. Urahara smiled, crimson light outlining him and his sword as he prepared to make his last stand.

"Don't thing I'll go down easy, Yhwach." He said. "Bankai: Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame."

Travelling through time was…

…strange. From the outside, the aperture…the corridor, leading across time and space, looked like that. A corridor of light, with walls constantly turning around the space inside. Once she stepped inside, though…

…she was falling…falling through nothing…

…and then with another blinding flash of light…she was back in the Human World, as it once was.

"Oh, come on!" Karin screamed, as she found herself high above the sky, and falling fast to the ground below. Pulling on the spiritual particles present in her surroundings, she formed a slope under her feet, allowing her to slow before finally coming to a halt on a horizontal platform in the air.

For a while, she just knelt there, catching her breath, and then Karin was looking around her with wide eyes. It was night. The air was cool and crisp, and above the stars and the Moon shone through a slightly-cloudy sky. Below, the suburbs of Karakura Town stretched out beneath her feet, and in the distance, she could see the glittering expanse of Tokyo.

She was back. She was really back.

Back when people could still live ordinary, happy, peaceful lives. Back when they didn't have to constantly live looking out for Hollows or worse over their shoulders. Back when they didn't have to fight and kill each other for the smallest scrap of food and other necessities.

Back when her family was still alive.

"…dad…Ichigo…Yuzu…" Karin whispered, feeling tears in her eyes as she felt their spiritual pressures in the distance. So weak, but also so familiar. "…I'm back."

Then she blinked and gasped, as she sensed two other spiritual pressures near them. One was familiar, the other not so, that of a Hollow. She knew immediately who and what they were.

Rukia. A Hollow.

And Karin knew when she'd come back.

With a flicker of hirenkyaku, she was gone.

"…I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." The young man said, before allowing the Shinigami's sword to stab him in the chest. There was a flash of light, a powerful gust of wind, and as the former faded, the Hollow screamed in pain.

With a loud thud, its arm fell to the ground, sheared clean off its body in an instant, even as Ichigo hefted his zanpakutou over a shoulder, now wearing the black and white uniform of the Gotei 13. Nearby, Rukia Kuchiki stared in disbelief, her own uniform reduced to a white yukata from the loss of her powers.

As she watched and wondered what had happened, and Ichigo fought a Hollow for the first time in his life…

…Karin also watched from the safety of a nearby rooftop, hood pulled over her head to help further mask her spiritual pressure.

Then she blinked, turning in the direction of the sound of a pair of geta on the concrete. "Why, hello there!" Urahara asked with a smile, one hand lifting his hat from his head in greeting, while the other casually waved a cane around. "It's not everyday that we see a Quincy in these parts, much less watching Shinigami fight Hollows. Is there anything I can help you with, Miss Quincy?"

"It's Karin, actually." Karin said without preamble. "My name…Karin Kurosaki."

"Karin…Kurosaki…" Urahara slowly echoed, still with that smile on his face. "…you have the same name as one of the younger Kurosaki children, I see."

"That's because I am her." Karin said, and getting to her feet while reaching into her cloak. Then she slowly withdrew her hand, holding the disk the Urahara from the future she came from had given her, and extended it to the Urahara of the past.

Or should she say, her current present?

If it weren't for the seriousness of their situation, she'd wonder at the mindboggling complexity of time travel.

"Oh?" Urahara mused as he took the disk, holding it up to the eye before tucking it away. He then looked to where Ichigo's fight with the Hollow had finished. "I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about then. But first, I've got something else to take care of. It'll be over quickly, and then we can talk over a cup of tea back in my shop. Promise you'll wait?"'

Karin shrugged, gesturing invitingly towards her brother and Rukia's past selves. "Be my guest." She said.

"I'll hold you to that, Miss Kurosaki." Urahara said, before using shunpo to appear a respectful distance up the street from Rukia and the unconscious Ichigo.

Karin looked on in silence, watching as Urahara approached, and made his fateful offer of help to Rukia. Then she looked up at the starry sky, and closed her eyes.

Here we go…our second chance to save everyone…I can't mess this up…I just can't…

A/N

I'm sure you're all wondering why Karin's a Quincy instead of a Shinigami, in a world where Yhwach was victorious. You'd think she wouldn't want to be one of the same kind of monsters that destroyed everything she ever knew and loved. And you'd be right.

But…what if she – like most of everyone else in that world – didn't have a choice?

More on that in the future.