a hero's return
just an updated with grammar fixed, I hope. let me know if I uploaded the wrong version
"Did you really plan to leave without us Kurosaki?" a familiar voice said from the ladder. Ichigo turned in shock to see his family and nakama walking towards him. Ishida, Chad, Miziro, Tatsuki, Keigo and Inoue all had packs ready for travel, his father was carrying a dusty box.
"What are you all doing?" Ichigo asked in incredulity
"What does it look like Ichigo? We're coming with you, Keigo, Miziro and I won't be left out again." Tatsuki replied smirking.
"Good, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up." said a gravelly voice behind him. Whipping his head around Ichigo saw it was the sou-taicho that had spoken.
"You knew about this?" Ichigo inquired
"Of course, they contacted me last night to arrange it, they made a persuasive argument that a unit should not be broken up even if they take different roles, similar to how the 13 taicho all lead different divisions but are all the same organisation, they didn't tell you?"
"No!"
For the first time Ichigo saw the old Shinigami give a full blown laugh. He was interrupted by his father handing him the box
"I didn't tell my whole story last night and I'm still not sure how to say this..." Isshin started
"It's about mum isn't it?" Ichigo interjected. Isshin smiled and for some reason turned to Ishida, "Your father wasn't the only Quincy of his generation." the man stated
Both young men had an equal look of shock on their faces at the statement.
"Masaki was one of two students your grandfather taught" the man said looking the "last" Quincy
"They both believed in the alliance as he did but they took two different approaches to it, your father sought to rebuild the Quincy for them to become a force the Seireitei would see as a major power and worth an alliance while Masaki looked at it differently, old records showed the Quincy were far older then the Seireitei thought, she believed they were a part of the balance of souls and spent her life studying the composition of souls similar to Urahara."
Ichigo felt sick. His mother had followed the same research as Urahara, and Aizen?
"Get that look of your face boy, she had nothing to do with the Hogyuko, Urahara had already invented it and showed it to her but she felt it was the wrong path to take, she spent her time looking at how Shinigami were similar to a living soul and the Quincy, at least till you were born, I kept all her work, you and Ishida should be able to make something of it, after all you both have good grades and have doctors for fathers so intelligences shouldn't be a problem." Isshin said.
Ichigo scowled, "With an idiot like you as my father it's obvious it all came from mum."
"WAAAA MY SON THINKS IM AN IDIOT!" said his father bursting into tears and acting like normal for the first time since the previous night.
Choosing to ignore his father's antics Ichigo turned to his friends, "So what about school? We've only just started the year. I had my dad put me down as moving away for work but I'm still doing the years study, they will let me pass as long as I show up for the tests and hand in all the assignments."
Before anyone could answer the question, Isshin tackled his son to the ground shouting, "I HELPED THEM SET UP THE SAME THING!" now Ichigo was happy to give his father some slack considering he was not only moving out of home but to another world, however this was too much.
"GET OFF MY YOU STUPID FOOL!" and a fist in the face was Ichigo's prompt reply. From there things descended into a familiar Kurosaki brawl.
Saying goodbye to his sisters had been one of the hardest things Ichigo had ever done and it was the only time in recent memory he had seen Karin cry. He had promised to come visit when he could; Yuzu had even managed to make Yamamoto promise to kick his butt if he didn't. After exiting the Senkaimon the first words spoken were by the old taicho: "All Shinigami have two days off a week regardless of rank or unit, I expect to see you in the physical world twice a month unless a serious situation should occur. It is not good to see one such as Yuzu-san cry, they are the epitome of the innocents and virtue the Gotei 13 is sworn to protect."
Ichigo nodded in agreement but couldn't help adding in a low voice only Yamamoto could hear, "So is Inoue and you accused her of treachery during the war" replying in an equally low manner Yamamoto answered "There were very important reasons for that and we shall discuss them later."
The Senkaimon had opened out into the main gate of Seireitei and Ichigo and co could see Shinigami patrols coming and going from the world of the living around them. Having taken the official way for the first time Ichigo had noticed that the Senkaimon branched into multiple paths a bit within the gate and realised that having one entrance served more than just the purpose of monitoring the traffic between worlds. It was imposable to open a Senkaimon directly into Seireitei without going to this gate; anyone wanting to attack from a different world would have only one point of entry other than the four guarded gates in the walls. everything about the Seireitei said it was a bastion in both purpose and design, but Ichigo knew there was a distinct lack of ability at repelling high level invaders from his own experience attacking the place 'damn, I haven't even been here ten minutes and I'm already looking at weaknesses.' he thought.
"The first priority is to restore your powers and separate your friends from their bodies. Urahara's converter has got you this far but it does not allow flexibility in choice of deployment areas. second is to arrange for education in the Shinigami arts for those of you not already trained for combat," Yamamoto said looking at Tatsuki, Miziro and Keigo "as for the rest, you each use a power different to a Shinigami's we will need to run some tests to see the affect they have on hollows when you slay them," he continued looking at chad and Inoue "and you, young Quincy, are forbidden from any combat until a way for you to cleanse is found." he finished levelling his gaze at Ishida. As the group continued towards the first division barracks the newer members noticed that the lower echelon Shinigami were avoiding them.
"Ummm, have we done something wrong?" Orihime asked the elderly man
"Not at all, however a group containing both the sou-taicho and the hero of the winter war is an intimidating sight." Yamaoto answered
"Ahh how much does everyone know about that?" Ichigo queried
"We have released all the information we have, however as no one saw your battle with Aizen no one knows how strong you both became."
"We did." Tatsuki replied "is it common for Shinigami to use nukes in close range combat?"
Yamamoto went still and several nearby people's jaws hung open. Ichigo groaned
"No, it's not." was the old man's short reply. Both he and Ichigo could already see the rumours and stories THIS bit of information would lead to. No speculation by the rank and file had come close to that. The 13 taicho had an idea from the destruction left at the site of the battle but even they had been a bit off. Ichigo had no intention of telling how far off anyone was, after all Tatsuki's "nuke" was an ability of Aizen's and Ichigo had used the final Getsugua Tenhsou immediately after, he knew he could have won without it but simple swings of his sword were levelling mountains, who knew what a full Getsugua Tenhsou would have done? He had wanted to protect the people and the town, blowing it up himself would have been counterproductive. Instead he used his final technique, an intense, concentrated blast with every bit of power he had. If Aizen hadn't been fused with the Hogyuko he would have died, as it was the blow that had enough power to rip away his "evolution" as the man had called it. Ichigo and the group stopped in front of the large doors of the taicho's meeting hall
"Is this a full meeting?" Ichigo asked
"Yes, it is to serve two purposes, one is to formally restore your powers and inform the taichos of our decision, the other is to introduce the three replacements for Gin, Tousan and Aizen to you" Yamamoto replied opening the door. For the first time Ichigo saw the Seireitei's taicho arrayed as they were before Aizen's defection with no gaps in the ranks. He noticed some VERY familiar faces in the previously empty spaces.
"Yo Shinji, you all get invited back huh?" Ichigo asked the "new" 5th division taicho.
"Sure did, with Aizen locked up, us and urahara were proven innocent but the old man there still had to do some fast talking to the new central 46 to get us allowed back into soul society. Not all of us have come back though just me, Rose and Kensei here, everyone else wanted to stay in the physical world but they still drop by a few days a week." Hirako Shinji replied. A thud echoed through the room silencing all farther conversation.
"This meeting will now begin. First on the agenda is the reintroduction of Kurosaki Ichigo to our forces as well as the introduction of his comrades. They are all aware of the limitations placed on them until more is known of their abilities." Yamamoto started. Ichigo's concentration on the meeting was interrupted by Tatsuki
"Ichigo, how can you be breathing in this atmosphere so easily?" she asked. For the first time everyone in the room noticed how difficult it was for Tatsuki, Miziro and Keigo to breath, they were even having some trouble standing.
"I apologise for your discomfort it is the effect of having all 13 taicho in one place." Yamamoto interrupted, "I know you wish to stay but it may be best for you three to wait outside, Kurosaki is having no trouble because he currently cannot sense our Reiatsu and your other friends have enough power to withstand it."
"Why are worms like them even here in the first place?" Kurosutchi Mayuri asked in contempt
"They're with me." Ichigo answered with thinly veiled hostility. He had heard all about the man's twisted nature and his experimentation on Quincy from Ishida combined with the recent revelation about his mother and his own experiences with the man it lead to a solid dislike. Similarly Kurosutchi despised his respect of Urahara above him. There was no love to be lost between them.
"it's alright Ichigo we'll sit this one out," Keigo said smiling "besides its only going to get worse when your back online isn't it?" once the three newest additions to the group had left, the sou-taicho revealed a box containing a sword. The blade burning with Reiryoku.
"We feel it is only fitting that the person to restore you power is the one who first awakened it, if you will enter Kuchiki fuku-taicho" Yamamoto finished. Ichigo spun around to see his dear friend entering the hall and, as stated, on her arm was the badge of the 13 division.
"You getting soft Byakuya? I never thought you would let her take a seated position let alone a fuku-taicho." Ichigo said with a smile.
"Don't talk about nii-sama that way!" Rukia shouted, kicking him in the shin to little effect
"Perhaps, but it may be best if reintroductions are left till later, I believe we have interrupted enough" Byakuya replied with a small smile
"Too true, let's get this done!" Ichigo stated with a gleam in his eyes.
"Man how embarrassing, we couldn't even stay in the same room as them" Keigo moaned
"I have to agree with Asano-san, but I guess it just goes to show how far we have to go before we can really help out. At least we have a goal now, but hey wasn't that Kuchiki-san who entered just now?" Miziro asked
"Yea I think it wa-" Tatsuki started to reply before being cut short. They could all feel it, a surge of power swept out of the room crashing over them and billowing out over the Seireitei. The building shook and Shinigami had their breath stolen from their lungs as it passed. Sparkes flared as the wave of power smashed into the seki-seki stone wall that had been lowered from the royal realm for this occasion, it would not do for the wave to continue and cause harm to the residents of Rukongai.
"What the HELL was that!" Keigo screeched when he could speak again.
"Shut up, can't you FEEL that?" Tatsuki shouted, "Is that ICHIGO?"
All three could feel a new, fierce aura coming from inside. It felt like fire flickering around them in intensity, like the bottom of the ocean in depth. The three couldn't help but compare it to the power of the old sou-taicho when he announced his presence over Karakura town.
"It looks like we have farther to go then we thought." Miziro said in a whisper.
The others couldn't help but agree.