Ace woke up somewhere unfamiliar. He was in a futon, and blearily looked around and saw Ichigo sitting up. Touching his forehead, Ace felt there was a wet washcloth on it. He sat up, and it fell into his palm. It was still damp. There was a small bowl of water beside the pillow his head had been laying on.

"Ichigo," Ace said. "Where the hell are we?" Ace asked, rubbing his hands down his face.

"Urahara's shop. He saved us."

"So, you lost, then? So did I," Ace grumbled, and brought his knees up to his chest. Ichigo nodded, that he'd lost.

"I lost my shinigami powers, my sword broken to bits. I nearly died."

"All I did was fall asleep," Ace mumbled angrily. Ichigo looked at Ace, whose face was red in shame.

"Urahara said it wasn't your narcolepsy. That guy sucked out all your energy with whatever he did. It had nothing to do with that. He said the only reason you aren't dead was because your body is not normal."

"I thought shinigami didn't kill humans."

"Thats what they like to say. Death by accident is no big deal to them. They didn't directly try to kill you, but you could have died. It keeps their hands from being too dirty," Urahara said, appearing in the doorway. "I'm surprised how long you lasted. You must have quite the will to live and fight."

"In the end, I was useless and only good to throw them off. It was fun while it lasted," Ace admitted. "Rukia left, huh? I can see it on your face," he said to Ichigo. He nodded. "Well, we're going after her, right?" Ace asked as he popped his neck to the side and then stretched his back and arms.

"She's already in soul society! How the hell are we supposed to go after her?!" Ichigo shouted.

Urahara stepped in again. "Do you really think there's no other way to get into soul society?" he asked.

"We don't have to die to get there, right? I don't really want to die," Ace said.

"No, you don't need to die to get there." Phew. "But I'll only help you under one condition. Now, for ten days, I will train you, have you fight us."

"We don't have ten days to train! Are you crazy?! Rukia is going to be executed!" Ichigo shouted angrily. Ace tried to tell him to calm down and listen, but Urahara pinned him down before he could. The man seemed irritated. Well, Ichigo was just given an offer to train and he was yelling at him. Well, who was this guy anyways? He just sort of showed up. But at least he helped them both out.

He did seem angry as he looked down at Ichigo. "You don't understand what I'm saying. You will die if you both go to soul society as you are now. Do you think you can win if you fight them now? I purposely let you fight so you can see how weak you are. Ace is a more skilled fighter, but he has a weakness you don't. We will help you train to overcome your weaknesses," Urahara said. "With your current skill, not training with us and going would be you fruitlessly running to your deaths, not able to help anyone else or even yourself. Save Rukia? Don't be so childish."

Ouch, kind of harsh.

He explained that they did have time since the execution would have a grace period of time. What a shitty way to die. Knowing you'd die in a month. Ace would rather be executed and get it over and done with if there was no way out. Waiting and wondering would suck ass. So, they had one month, but the soul society gate would take seven days to open. They had thirteen days after getting into soul society. Plenty of time!

Ace stood up and stretched out some more. For someone made of fire, he sure felt stiff. "Whose training us?" Ace wondered. "I have a job, I should call them and say I need a break."

"You're thinking of your job right now?"

"Hey, you can skip school and keep Kon in your body. I can't do that shit," Ace said, slightly annoyed.

"I've already called Marco and he took care of it," Urahara said. Ace looked confused, dumbstruck. "I contacted him. I already know about you two and where you came from."

"What?! How the hell do you know that?!"

"Well, details aside, I generally know the jist of your situations. Just until you arrived here." Vague motherfucker. "For ten days, are you both willing to fight?"

"Hell yeah," Ace said.

"You shouldn't be so excited to face your death."

"I live for the thrill, I guess," Ace commented lightly. "Plus, I can't have myself look like a little bitch for good. I'm gonna prove myself to those pricks. And of course rescue Rukia." Ichigo looked thoroughly annoyed with Ace's seemingly upbeat attitude about the whole thing. Maybe it was because the younger no longer had shinigami powers, and Ace still had his stuff.

Standing up himself, Ichigo said, "I guess we'll have to try. There's no other choice."

-x-

"Marco, you butthead. How can you go behind my back like that?" Ace asked, sounding pouty.

"He contacted me. Everyone at work thinks you went on a trip to your grandma's funeral." Ace shouted he had no grandma. "Well yes, she's supposed to be dead, that's the point." Ace kept in a laugh, damn it. "But you're hard working enough and don't go to school. Everyone is cool with it. There are plenty of people to replace you, but you won't get any pay." That was fine, why would he get paid when he wasn't working?

"What about Isshin? What do I tell him and the girls?" Ace mused. "Ichigo's fine, but I don't have a body double or anything," he complained.

"I'm not sure. I could say you're going on a trip with me, but to him I'm just a coworker/friend."

"Yeah, don't tell him the truth about it. I'll call and be super vague about it. I'll come up with something. I'm not allowed to do anything but train for now. I'll talk to you later."

"Be safe," he said, not sounding worried. He believed in Ace, and it made him feel warm. Even though Ace failed, Marco believed he'd do well by the end of training. He hung up, and called Isshin.

When he answered, he asked where Ace was. "I ended up sleeping over at my friend's house. I crashed after the movie. But I'm fine. I'll be gone for a week or so, though."

"Why?"

"Uh, stuff. It's a secret," he said, honestly but awkwardly. "But don't worry! I'll be fine. If I'm not you can be super mad at me and I'll do lots of chores or shopping. Anyways, gotta go, bye!" and he hung up. He didn't know how to explain further, so his tactic was just not explaining anything! He went to the underground cavern, and dropped instead of using the ladder.

He landed neatly, and looked around. "What a boring place," he said to himself. Ichigo was training already, and was exhausted on the first day, after two hours. Ace's training was completely different apparently. As he watched Ichigo - spirit Ichigo, out of his body but not a shinigami - fight with one of the worker children in Urahara's shop, he wondered what he'd be doing.

Well, he didn't end up needing to wonder long, as Urahara came over, and directed him to an area surrounded by rocks. "You're a superherb fighter, fast and sure of your movements. But that is against hollows and humans. You need to be able to be able to withstand fighting high level shinigami, who you will no doubt come into contact with.

"Kuchiki Byakuya was the one to incapacitate you. If that happens in soul society, you're a goner. For the next ten days, you will learn to withstand intense spiritual pressure. Of course you'll get more sleep because of your narcolepsy, but not much rest between then."

"Alright, bring it!" Ace said.

"Sit there. No fighting."

"What?! I have to sit the whole time?"

"Staying still is all you can manage to do in this short amount of time. Besides, you were kept still under the pressure last time, right?" Urahra said. Ace looked to Ichigo getting beat up by that girl, and slumped in disappointment. "You should be proud you don't need further combat training!"

"Fighting is fun, though."

"And you'll get plenty of it, no doubt, once you reach soul society. Do this training so you can have fun against stronger enemies."

"Alright! I'll do it," Ace said, and went and sat down. He was immediately crushed by spiritual pressure.

"Now then, try to stay awake and alive! Your goal is to sit up straight." Ace was pressed to the ground right now. "Now I will go train Kurosaki. His training will be much more arduous." Ace couldn't even hear anything under all the pressure. It was like a terrible wind was whipping around his head, deafening him.

It was hard to track time since the cavern was lit all day and all night. He was exhausted, but when he needed a nap, the pressure would leave and he'd rest. Then he'd wake up and it would continue. He only needed his two scheduled nap, and the rest of the day he was pressed in one place, unable to move.

It was terrible, boring training. He hated it. But he kept going, trying as hard as he could to resist the discomfort. Urahara told him after his first nap that the pressure was mostly bad for him because of his mindset. "Facing the complete unknown is frightening, even I would freeze up if I faced enemies I had zero clue about! But you have to pass that fear.

"You'll either live or die; the enemy will stay the same," and then he'd left to work with Ichigo. He had no idea what they were having him do, but he could tell he was still in there. But his presence was dim, and he was kind of worried. Though he knew that he'd be angry if he found out Ace was worried about him.

They were both embarrassed about their failure in trying to save Rukia. They both made fools of themselves. Ace was cocky but had no pay off. There was no lasting damage, only them thinking he was a freak - strong, but a freak.

It was day three that he managed to sit up straight. When he did, it happened again. A wash of a memory in front of him, like the scene was being painted before his eyes. Ace watched himself, looking older, as he sat in a cell, behind bars, his arms handcuffed beside his head, and both ankles chained together.

"Jinbei…. pro… ther… me." Ace couldn't understand what was being sad, but looked to the side at who he was speaking to. It was a huge man, blue and round. He had a grimace with two large pointed teeth coming from his bottom lip. Ace had no idea what he was, and had no idea what he was saying.

He got the jist that he had been in prison, and looking at himself, he was clearly being beaten or tortured. Covered in bruises and lacerations. He stood up, and walked forward, but the painted memory washed away.

But he'd stood up! He pressure was still there, and he was flattened once again. He tried standing again, but only was able to sit up after three hours. What changed? Why was he able to get up then? What was special? What could he replicate? At that time, he hadn't cared about this training, he wanted to get closer to his memory.

Ace wasn't sure what to make of it, how to feel. He'd been in jail and tortured. It was a scary thought, and he wondered what he'd done to be in prison. At that time, he hadn't even been aware of what was happening to him, the pressure. If he was unaware… Maybe the whole thing was psychological after all.

Was he thinking too hard? Was he trying to hard? He looked up as one more memory showed up, this time he was surrounded by flames. A child was there, one he'd never seen but knew was him. Around him there were faceless people. A lot of much larger men, their faces blacked out, looking almost like static. There was a smaller boy behind Ace, but his face was blacked out, too.

The only person with a face was Ace. One of the faceless men grabbed the faceless boy, and stabbed him in the face, though the blade disappeared into the black static. There was no blood or a disturbing image to see. Ace saw himself shouting, but the words were garbled. He had no context again.

But suddenly, there was a burst of something, which quelled the fire in an instant before it burst up again. But these flames burnt a different color than Ace's. Different types of fire. But the fire surged back, and all but the two children collapsed. All that showed now through the black were white and empty eyes.

They still breathed, but they were unconscious. That was it, that was the haki Marco told him about. If he could use that, then did he have a need for this training? He closed his eyes, imagining using it. Just wanting to use it didn't work. What had he been feeling in that memory, which was washed away once again into nothing as the real scenery around him came back, the pressure as well.

In that memory, he was angry, angry over the injury sustained to the boy. Who was he to Ace? Who was it? He hadn't seen his face or heard his voice. But he wasn't only angry, he looked panicked. But he couldn't just summon panic to do that or he'd be a mess. That boy, he'd wanted to help him, protect him.

He closed his eyes, and imagined his friends in front of him. Ichigo, the girls, Marco, Isshin. A monster was behind them, and Ace wanted that monster gone. But just then, when the image was about to fade, that small boy from the memory was there, standing between Yuzu and Karin, still no face on the child.

A burst of energy radiated from him. When he thought he wanted to help them. To protect them. The assault from above ended instantly, and there was almost an echoing buzz that went through the air. He stood up, and walked around. He saw that the workers there, Urahara and the kids were all passed out.

Ace ran to them to wake them up, and sensed Ichigo below. In that big dark hole. When he shook Urahara awake, he looked kind of confused, but mostly surprised and interested. "What was that?" he asked curiously.

"I - it's haki. I think."

"Well, done, you escaped the pressure! I never planned on letting you escape it fully before. That only thing you could have done was incapacitate me. Hoh, I already spoke of this with Marco. So, you awakened your haki," Urahara said, sounding thoroughly amused with himself. Ace scowled, one eye twitching.

"I keep having to sleep. Won't that be a danger?"

"I don't know, will it?"

"...I think it will."

"Then it's a good thing I have something to counteract your unfortunate illness!" Urahara said. "But! You cannot use it until you reach soul society."

Ace asked, "How am I supposed to know if it works?"

"You don't trust me?"

"You sold Rukia a corrupted pill, and gave her a shitty tracker phone."

"Ah, but for you, I've taken extra care. It will keep you in a state of complete awareness. You won't sleep for one week. After that, you'll be asleep at least another week."

"What if I still have to fight after a week?!"

"Well, then you will die or need to be protected by your allies," he said. "Now, break time, go get some food."

"Hell, yeah!" Ace said, and started to run to the exit, only to pause. "Hey, what's Ichigo doing in that hole anyways?" he asked, wandering back. He saw it was very deep and dark. He could hear his friend swearing colorfully and grunting.

"Well, he has to regain his shinigami powers and get out of the hole before his chain of fate is destroyed and he becomes a hollow," the man said brightly.

"...You're turning him into a hollow?!" Ace demanded, voice small at first but loud and angry near the end. Urahara repeated it was up to Ichigo whether he became a hollow or not. Ace made to fight his way to the tunnel, but he was stopped with a sword to his throat. It would do no good, but then Urahara ended up nicking his skin with his thin blade. It came from the cane he brought everywhere.

"This is his training. Don't interfere," he said darkly. "Ah, and a real zanpakuto will damage your body. Unless you use that armament haki to guard. Form it or I'll chop your head off." Ace covered his neck in it, which was kind of difficult, but the sword didn't cut, it bounced off with a spark. "Now you have your next phase of training! Learn to guard any part of your body from an attack, not just your hands and feet. Don't worry about Kurosaki, worry about yourself."

Ace was still nervous about Ichigo in there, but knew he didn't know how to fix him anyways. And he was sure Urahara wouldn't really hurt him. Ace tried to calm himself down, and made a move to go back a few times before he finally just hurried to the ladder and to the surface to get food and drink.

He raided the refrigerator, and found a whole roast chicken. He hadn't realized he hadn't eaten in days from that endless training, what felt endless. Urahara was the kind of guy to make up his own card game and then pretend he didn't know how to play and then beat everyone else and claim he was talented for it.

He inhaled the chicken and then a dozen apples and three bags of grapes. "Ah…" he sighed in satisfaction before he chugged a five glasses of tap water. Then he hurried back down to the underground cavern.

When he hurried to see how Ichigo was doing, Urahara took out some ear buds from his pocket. "Put these in and mind your own training, and don't interfere with Kurosaki's." Ace frowned, but nodded. He would trust the guy. Besides, it wasn't like Ace could kill Ichigo even if he did become a hollow. And there was nothing he could do, now.

The boy with bright red hair was his opponent. He was going to hit Ace everywhere over and over until Ace could guard with haki in some spots as fast as he could. To say he had a beating all day was an understatement, but luckily none of it hurt. But it was disappointing to not be fast enough with his haki.

Once he finally was allowed to take his ear buds out, he saw Ichigo out of the hole, banged up and injured, but with a new sword. He walked over, but passed out, falling asleep after hours and hours of getting hit and expending energy trying to move his haki around.

When he woke up, he was in bed at home. He jerked up, and found Ichigo at his desk. "Hey… How'd I get here?"

"Brought you from Urahara's place. How'd your training go?"

"Uh, kind of weird. What about yours?"

"Really weird. I got a new sword, though. No more broken one, and I got its name. Zangetsu. I'm a shinigami again. For a second there, I really thought I was going to turn into a hollow, but I ended up being fine." Ace focused for a moment.

"Are you sure you're back to normal?" Ichigo promised he felt fine, and wasn't a hollow.

"So. Were you gonna tell me about the things you learned about your world? Urahara kept hinting you weren't 'from here'." He sounded irate, but not yet angry. Ace laid against the pillow, glad to be back home. He wondered if Isshin was mad about him being gone for ten long days. Ichigo had Kon to pretend to be him. It felt like so much longer. The whole time, he'd only worked on haki. While he was glad it seemed that the professionals thought he was good enough at fighting, it had been boring.

"I don't know where to start," he sighed. "I didn't ask for much information, but Marco is like I am. Apparently we both died, and then woke up here. He showed up a few months before me and got his life in order then."

"Do you believe him?"

"Yeah, we were close in my other life. I have a memory of him being there. My fire is from something called a devil fruit. I knew the metal was called haki, but apparently my ability to sense people is also haki. I de-aged from 20 to 17. He de-aged 20 years."

Ichigo scoffed, and it hurt Ace's feelings. "I know he told me the truth."

"You only met him a couple months ago."

"I only met you a couple months ago, too," Ace said, slightly heated. Ichigo was angry, and Ace didn't know why. But then Ichigo spoke what was really on his mind.

"Why'd you just run off? And then why'd you interfere with my fight against Renji?"

"I saw Marco in my memory, so I had to go confirm it. And I was trying to make myself useful before I fucking fell asleep. I was literally laying on the ground and they didn't kill me just because I'm human. I'm glad I'm not dead, but can you imagine how humiliating that was?" he asked heatedly. "That fight was mine first, and I lost. Sorry for trying to regain any sense of pride."

They were quiet, and it was awkward. "Is Isshin mad?"

"He doesn't care where we go or what we do," Ichigo said shortly. The atmosphere was tense and uncomfortable, so Ace left. He met Karin and Yuzu downstairs playing a game at the table. Ace wanted the distraction, and sat down there, too.

"Where were you?"

"It's hard to explain," he said, not sure what to lie after all. "I was with my friend most of the time I was gone. We went camping," he settled with. Karin gave him a look, and Ace made minute head shake. She knew it was a lie, but wasn't going to ask about it, which Ace appreciated.

"What's your friend like?" Yuzu asked, not suspicious at all. She just seemed relieved he was okay.

He hummed. "Well, he's smarter than me by far. He's really nice and funny. Marco's really easy to get along with and talk to. I like his company, and he lives by himself in a nice place, so I'll probably hang out over there a lot after work." He didn't know when he'd go back to work. They seemed fine with him not being there as long as he wasn't paid for missing work.

Ichigo walked downstairs and left the house without a word. Ace didn't make any show that this concerned or bothered him. "Wanna go to the park?" he asked. "I'm itching to play soccer."

"Hell yeah!" Karin said, running upstairs to her room to get her soccer gear. Yuzu started making lunch for a picnic. Ace smiled, and turned around to see the faceless child, standing in the hallway.

"You…-et… me." Ace was frozen in place. Yuzu asked what was wrong, and Ace startled.

"Sorry, just spacing out," he said. Then he got to making some sandwiches with her, the faceless boy gone. But it left Ace pale and shaken. He didn't want parts of his old, unknown life to spill into his current one. They went to the park and had a fun time. Ace was a violent soccer ball kicker, and Karin was, too.

He probably gave her shin bruises, but she said she hated people ever going easy on her. So he didn't, and she was happy with that. "It's no fair you're not sore," she complained on their walk back to the house as the sun was setting. It had been a long day, and he didn't especially want to spend an awkward night sleeping in the room with Ichigo. But sleeping on the couch would only make things more awkward and more obvious to the others.

Ace did understand the reasons he was frustrated, but he also didn't like it. So he could understand, but didn't like or agree with. Dinner was late and light for the three that had left. Ace knew he could eat a ton more than a nicely sizes sub sandwich.

He literally ate a chicken and a dozen apples at once. And grapes. Marco had told him he always ate a lot, but he'd never realized how just how much he could eat. But he went by what he should eat, not how much he could or wanted to eat.

When night came, Ace was texting with Marco in bed, telling him about the training since they hadn't talked that day. After a bit, Ace fell asleep on the phone, gladly not having to stay awake in the uncomfortable silence.