A/N: A good group to thank for reviews of the last chapter: "anon," darklover, NC2001, Rukia's Reflection, GRT, Darkness9825, KitElizaKing, NieveDrop, Kurosaki-Shiba Mitsuki, and Assault Godzilla. And thank you to anyone who put this or its author on their lists. I'm not even going to look at the date of the last update; it'd probably make me faint at this point. Hope everyone comes back to read this.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach characters, manga, anime, movies, etc. They belong by copyright laws to Tite Kubo et al.

Consequences of War

Grief Is a Work In Progress

Ichigo returned to Rukia's manor, his heart heavy. He understood Ishida's motivation better, the fact that Yhwach had killed the Quincy's mother just by taking her powers something that would have had him going off on his own too at one time. It didn't matter that the woman had managed to hang on for three months.

"Ichigo?" Rukia questioned, her eyes heavy with the weight of her new responsibilities.

"How's Ishida?"

"Inoue-san's managed to close his wounds but whatever Yhwach did weakened him considerably."

"He probably tried to take his powers again."

"Again?" the lieutenant asked, curiosity making her eyes shine brighter.

"Yeah, I'll explain in a minute. Let's get everyone together. It might be better for the idiot if he only has to confess once."

"Alright," she agreed and led the way to the room she'd given his classmate.

Inoue and Chad were still there, Ishida once more asleep. Laying Zangetsu down in front of the door, Ichigo positioned himself so that any intruders would have to go through him first. "I just got back from the captains' meeting. They're not happy and are far from trusting Ishida. The only good news is that the information he snagged seems to be what Urahara wanted. At least that's the impression I got when I handed it over."

"You don't think they'll put Ishida-kun in jail, do you?" Orihime asked, taking a sip of the tea that Rukia had procured for her earlier.

"Not at this time. I told them I'd take responsibility for him and kick his ass if he did anything wrong again but I have a feeling the judge is still out on any possible punishment. "Anyway, my old man was there and told me a few things that make Ishida's double agent thing make sense. It seems that on the day my mother was killed Yhwach did some sort of ritual to gain power and take it from those that he deemed unworthy of having Quincy powers. Anyone who wasn't full blooded or was 'tainted' in his view was sacrificed in his greed."

"Didn't Ishida-kun's mother die the same year…?" Inoue was cut off by Ishida's groaning, and the student body president forced himself to sit up.

"Yes, she would have died the same day if Fate had been kind," Ishida answered, reaching for his glasses. His friends looked at him solemnly, sympathy in their eyes. They had all lost family that they'd cherished so he knew it wasn't just pity.

"Do you mean to tell us that the Quincy King took so much power from your mother that it put her into a coma from which she never woke?" Rukia clenched her fists, the skin of her palms stinging from the bite of her nails.

"Not just so much but everything. A Quincy's powers are attached to our life force, not unlike the Shinigami. Mother wasn't a strong person to begin with and it just drained her to the point of no return. For some reason Yhwach was not able to do the same to me so I was the only surviving Quincy that was not full-blooded."

"No, you weren't," Ichigo corrected, drawing all eyes to him. "My dad told me some things during the meeting that makes a lot of other things make sense. My mother was a Quincy. A full-blooded one; which makes me a half-blooded Quincy. He didn't say why Yhwach considered her tainted but I have a feeling it has to do with why my father stayed in the World of the Living."

"Kurosaki…"

"Yeah, a shocker, I know. When I fought the bastard before he called me his lost son. Dad and Urahara found a way to protect me and the girls from that spell and your dad did something to ensure that you were."

"That's why he was so interested in you," Rukia said. "He let you live because he wanted to bring you to their side. Ishida was the perfect person to set up."

"And I walked right into his trap. He probably knew from the beginning that I wanted revenge for Mother's death. I was always watched so that scenario makes the most sense."

"It doesn't matter anymore. Whether he knows or doesn't; he has to be stopped. I don't care if he calls himself all powerful. If he was stopped once, he can be stopped again."

"But how?" Ishida asked painfully. "I told you before, you can't defeat him. You're not strong enough."

"Then I will get strong enough. We all will. If I'm really half Quincy then I should be able to use those powers too. He couldn't take them from me nine years ago; I'm not letting him take them now. And I'm not letting him hurt any more people than he already has."

Ishida watched his friend stand up and walk out of the room. The others watched him leave, unable to say anything. The situation looked bleak but if anyone could find away to bring this war to an end, it was Ichigo. "How do we stop someone who knows what we're going to do before we do it?" Utter despair colored his words and he didn't fight the tears that slid down his face. He had tried to avenge his mother and had only been able to watch as the Sternritter laid waste to the city, killing hundreds of innocent souls.

"Kurosaki-kun will find a way and we'll help him," Orihime comforted, coming to sit next to Ishida and put her arm around him. "I have learned that my shields are only as strong as my will. My will was not strong enough in Hueco Mundo but after seeing what I have here, that has changed. I was kept out of the fighting last time, I won't be again. I will do everything I can to protect my friends and the innocents here in the Soul Society. If Yhwach takes control, there's no telling what will happen to this dimension, Hueco Mundo, and our world."

"You're right, Inoue-san," Rukia said, standing and squaring her shoulders. "Everyone has a weakness; we just have to find that mad man's."

Chad stood, his face grim and his eyes harder than they'd ever seen them. "Ishida, do you know what his goal is?"

"He wants to kill the Spirit King and reshape the universe into what he thinks it should be." Taking off his glasses to clean them with shaky hands, Ishida drew a breath and let it out slowly. "I can't think of anything that will help you defeat Yhwach successfully, but I do know some things that will help you fight the others. Along with what I gave Urahara, I was able to observe the top Sternritter. They didn't reveal a lot but their words and attitudes may help."

"Good," Rukia said suddenly and the other three were startled by the hardness in her voice. "Inoue-san, I hate to ask you when you're so tired but could you do your best to get Ishida back to fighting form?"

"Count on me!"

"Chad, I need you to stay here and guard them. I'm going to go find Ichigo and ask what plan he's thinking up. From this point on nobody does anything alone. The Sternritter and Yhwach aren't going to hesitate to use every ounce of their power, we can't afford to either."

She left the teenagers alone, knowing that it would be easier for Ishida to either grieve or compose himself without her there. Having lost people she had cared about when she was young, she could easily imagine a young child being shaped by his mother dying as a result of a power hungry tyrant.

The new head of the Kuchiki clan found Ichigo standing outside. He was staring up at the sky, eyes closed against painful memories. "I can't blame him for trying to get revenge. I just wish he had told me what he was doing instead of letting me think he'd betrayed us."

"Ichigo, he was probably being watched from the moment the Quincy King made his move. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had someone in the Human World since the end of the war with Aizen." Taking a hold of his arm, Rukia turned him to face her. His face was etched with the need to cry, his mother's death affecting him just as much as it always had.

"I thought that with the Grand Fisher dead my mom was avenged. It makes me so angry to know that the Hollow wouldn't have stood a chance if that spell hadn't been used."

"The Auswählen," a new voice said, the gravely tone easily identifiable to the two Shinigami.

"Dad," Ichigo exhaled.

"It means 'Holy Selection,' in Japanese. None can escape its power yet you and your cousin did. Despite our precautions, I didn't think that you would be saved from it."

"Maybe we were saved so we could stop him from hurting anyone else," Ichigo mused, his father's words sinking in. "Wait, did you say cousin?"

"Masaki was Ryuuken's cousin. They were set to marry before your mother became irrevocably tied to me."

"What happened, Kurosaki-san?" Rukia asked, realizing Ichigo was too stunned to ask.

"Aizen was sending his Arrancar experiments to the Living World and they were killing the Shinigami stationed there. As they were my men, I went to investigate. I eventually ran into Masaki when she saved me from the Arrancar. Her soul was infected with the Hollow and in order to save her, I had to tie my soul to hers. It drained my power and I was not able to return to the Soul Society."

"Did Mom only marry you because you saved her?"

"No, she loved me just as I loved her. The rest was history until that June day. Ryuuken sunk in his grief while I pulled myself up from it in order to be there for you and the girls. I think that if we had closed ranks as a family, things might have been different. Maybe between Urahara, Ryuuken, and I we could have found a way to prevent what happened here."

"We all grieve in our own way, Kurosaki-san. The important part is that we start from this point together. We don't try to do things by ourselves. Speaking of which, you've got something in mind, don't you, Ichigo?" Rukia asked and wasn't surprised when he started guiltily.

"As you've probably realized, Zangetsu can't recover completely from where Yhwach broke him. I have to go with the blacksmith of the Royal Guard and have him fixed."

"I was afraid it was going to be something like that."

"I'm sorry. I know that I said I was going to stay and help but…"

"Go. Since you have both Quincy and Shinigami powers, maybe you can find a way to fuse them in such a way that makes it impossible for the king to take them from you."

Smiling gently at her, Ichigo nodded and glanced at his father. "Go back to the girls. You've done what you can here."

"It's best. I should let Ryuuken know what's going on anyway. You take care of each other, you hear? I'm still waiting for those grandchildren." Isshin chuckled when they grew red and left before they could retort. It was a parent's prerogative to embarrass his children.

They watched him go, embarrassment warring with affection. After several moments of just staring into space, Rukia sighed and looked at the young man next to her. "It's time for you to go too. Fix your Zanpakutou and come back to us. Don't think about revenge; just think about protecting people as you've always done. You're a human, whatever else you may be or where your powers come from. Yhwach doesn't have the right to dictate who you use those powers to fight for. I believe in you, Ichigo and I believe you'll do the right thing."

"Yeah. I hate leaving you while you're still hurting."

"Grief is a work in progress, Ichigo. There was a time when I would have tried to deal with it by myself but I know better now. I will look toward my friends for support."

"Our friends," he corrected, and bent down to brush a kiss across her cheek. "I leave my heart here," he whispered, the words almost soundless.

"And I leave mine here," she answered, placing a hand against his chest.

Ichigo didn't comment on that, merely readjusted Zangetsu's position on his back and began walking out of the garden. He would go and let the blacksmith fix his Zanpakutou and he would find a way to stop Yhwach's reign of terror.

As the one named "He who protects," he could do no less.