Shunsui strode down the hall of Muken with unhurried steps. His straw hat was tilted down to shadow his eyes, the encroaching shadows stealing away any color he wore. He stepped before a cell and paused at the door, ignoring the guards standing off to the side as he took a deep breath to steady himself. His sensei had recently passed away, the drain on his power from the latest quincy war was great, yet the man had still managed to live another 500 years. He and Jushiro were sad to see him go, but had long since decided that his way of doing things was no longer the right way. Not for a long time now. They had been surprised to see regret in his eyes, his fiery orbs dull with it as he whispered his final words to them. He gestured to the guards to open the door laced with humming kido and waited with an abated breath.

He watched as the two laced kido between their fingers, intricate seals fading away as they worked. They were too young to even know what they were guarding, had too much faith in the law and order that had been established millennia ago. Thinking about all their carefully hidden secrets left a sour taste in his mouth as he felt a stiff breeze from inside the room, heavy door swinging open.

A part of him chuckled at the thought that seals could hold the man held in here, if that had been the case then the desperations of the prior central 46 wouldn't have been necessary. Shouldn't have been necessary, yet they had quailed and been crushed under the weight of the overwhelming reiatsu during the last war just as much as the captains had. A spiritual pressure so vast they had felt it even when the man was in the royal realm. He couldn't deny the fact that it had also sent a shiver down his spine, knowing how powerless he was in the wake of it, but that memory wouldn't falter his steps as he strode inside.

It was darker in there, nothing visible to him besides the young nan that sat easily in a chair that was far more comfortable than what they had given Aizen. The dim light from the hall behind him flooded the room and ignited the shock of orange hair like a beacon in the dark. He swallowed, slightly surprised when he took in the teen's appearance. Because even after 500 years of imprisonment, the young man hadn't aged a day. The only notable change was how his locks brushed his waist and curled around his form as if wrapped in the fires of his sensei's Zanpaktou.

He hesitated then, his mind racing as he took in the lack of change. Reiatsu was your life force, its amount determined how much you aged and lived, and yet Ichigo sat before him, asleep, and unchanged in 500 years. Even he and Jushiro could not say the same about themselves. Time had weathered them, but Ichigo laid still and so, so painfully young. The kido he had been asleep with had no stasis effects so he could be certain that this was all his own power.

He brought his right hand up to wrap around the teen's chilled forehead, a frown tugging at his lips as he focused on the kido needed to wake him. He didn't know why, couldn't understand why Ichigo had willingly let himself be locked away. He had gone into Yamamoto's office with a sharp scowl and fire in his eyes, then had left with a look of understanding so deep that he and Jushiro had wondered if the boy had been in there for millennia rather than a few hours. The determined gaze that Ichigo had leveled on him only barely hid the regret, and that had been when he knew Ichigo had made up his mind. They had tried to talk to the boy, tried to make him change his mind, to escape, but they had only been given sad smiles and a wistful expression.

Shunsui let the kido around his palm fade away and he took a step back, gaze sharp as he looked at Ichigo for any sign of movement. An orange brow twitched and slowly, brown eyes opened, still filled with the same fiery passion he had held before his willing imprisonment. Ichigo shifted, wincing at his stiff muscles before looking up to meet his gaze.

"Kyor-" he was cut off by a cough and Shunsui snapped at a guard for water. He moved forward and hesitantly raised a hand, settling it on the man's shoulder when the teen didn't finch away.

"Shh Ichigo, don't talk yet. You need to let your body recover some." He soothed the teen and Ichigo blinked but nodded in understanding. A quiet shuffle informed him of the guards returned presence and he grabbed the cup of water without a second glance at him. He gently brought his hand to the back of Ichigo's head and helped him tilt his head back as he brought the water to his lips. While his reiatsu was locked away in the black bindings of Muken, he wouldn't be able to heal as fast as he usually could so he wanted to make sure Ichigo was at least comfortable. It was good to see that the teen still trusted him. When he was done, Ichigo looked up at him with eyes full of questions and he sighed, placing the cup on the floor even as he began to take the keys out of his haori.

As he worked on unwrapping Ichigo's body from the bindings, he began to speak. "It's been about half a millennia Ichigo, the old central 46 is gone and I'm here to rectify something that should have never been made to happen. Something that our sensei regretted until his last day."

It felt right saying that, knowing that nothing could replace the time taken but willing to share his sensei's most intimate moment with the man that had given everything for soul society. Ichigo blinked slowly, his brow drawing down in something that Shunsui could tell was sorrow, but not for himself, his sensei. Even the passage of five hundred years of his life didn't sway Ichigo's sense of self preservation. Once he had doubted that anyone could be that self-sacrificing, but then Ichigo had stormed into his life and went against everything he had thought to be certainties.

"Your sisters lived a full, human life and were personally escorted to soul society. Yama-jii wouldn't accept anything less. Captain Kuchiki adopted them into his clan and raised them, letting them know who they had been and who you were." And truly that had been such a large surprise, when the stoic Kuchiki had fought fiercely to take their young souls into his family. He had ignored any initial protests his elders had, but once they figured out who's sister's they were they had backed him completely. For different reasons, Shunsui was sure, but it helped their case either way.

A smile tugged at Ichigo's lips and he nodded in satisfaction, his shoulders relaxing. Shunsui took out the last key that belonged to the wrappings on Ichigo's hands and stilled when he was stopped. He quirked a brow at the young man but Ichigo shook his head.

"Can't..-" his voice was raspy and Shunsui leaned in closer so he didn't have to speak loud.

"Reiatsu. Need Zan-" a cough shuddered through him and Shunsui rubbed circles along his back until he calmed. He nodded, not knowing why Ichigo needed his Zanpaktou for the last binding to be released but gave in easily enough. He helped Ichigo get to his feet, holding him steady when he swayed on unsteadily.

"Lots has happened since you were sent here," he murmured as he put Ichigo's arm over his shoulders so he could support the man more. He walked out of the cell, ignoring the wide eyed looks the guards were giving him and continued to explain. "Yama-jii wouldn't have soul society forget you. That you had done something he couldn't." he paused, unsure if Ichigo would approve of what had been done, but continued either way. It wasn't like he wouldn't find out. He could already see it in the way the guards had looked at Ichigo with a sense of confusion and awe.

"Zangetsu is displayed at the first division." And he had remembered how the Zanpaktou had raged on its stand for nearly one hundred years, its reiatsu wild, heavy, and angry. "Your portrait and deeds are above it. Central 46 was fine with it as long as it said you were deceased." He glanced to his right and watched through the corner of his eye as Ichigo's face twisted into grief. Even now he was still disconnected form his Zanpaktou and Shunsui could only imagine what it must have been like to be separated from such an intrinsic part of himself.

"You're a hero in every sense of the word, and now that I'm commander I will not make the same mistakes of my predecessor." And that was why he was there, because Shunsui couldn't live a life so full of regret that he lost himself in it. A small smile tugged at Ichigo's lips, and he nodded his head in thanks. The walk through the rest of the prison was done in silence. Shunsui had nothing more to say and Ichigo couldn't speak well until his reiatsu was restored.

He didn't miss the gaping looks or the disbelief as they traveled, and he idly wondered how he was going to explain this. They had a completely new central 46 in place, none of them old enough to remember the heavy oppressiveness of Ichigo's reiatsu, nor his deeds in person. He figured he could work with that. They stepped into the main lobby and the silence was deafening. The light of the sun filtered through barred windows and Ichigo closed his eyes against it, still leaning heavily against him. Jushiro stepped forward, a sad smile in place as he took in Ichigo's appearance and offered him his other side. Once outside, Shunsui easily lifted Ichigo's weight into his arms entirely, and didn't bother to look down at the fiery scowl as he shunpoed to the first division, Jushiro following right at his side. He had hoped that the compound would be empty, but of course his luck was never so great. It was packed full with academy students and stray luitenints, and he could see why as he approached. Zangetsu was emitting black and red reiatsu in a torrent, eagerness radiating off it in waves.

His presence wasn't noticed for a moment, but when he put Ichigo down several eyes swiveled to him before landing on the orange haired man. Gasps echoed around, causing others to look and repeat the action. Several pairs of eyes looked at Ichigo's scowling face then over to the portrait that hung precariously over the Zanpaktou. He could see when the dots were connected, several of them reeling back in shock and others going white. He could have ordered them all away, but a something in him wanted to show them just why Ichigo was deemed a hero in a land that had vast amounts of power. He glanced at the young man, ready to see his annoyance, but raised a brow when it was absent. His honey brown eyes were staring intently at his zanpaktou, his legs shaky as he took a step towards it. He didn't look away even when Shunsui helped him get closer, the others parting around them and giving them a large breadth, seemingly understanding Ichigo's intent. If they needed any more confirmation about who he was, Ichigo had just given it with the longing way he stared at his sword.

Now that they stood before the zanpaktou, Shunsui could feel him tremor as Ichigo lifted his hand towards it, his other still wrapped around his shoulders to steady himself. Shunsui's hand on the teen's side tightened when it seemed like he would tip forward too much but he didn't interrupt Ichigo as he let out a shaky breath and gripped his sword. It hummed loudly, it's reiatsu skyrocketing into the sky and blasting a hole into the ceiling. Shunsui braced his legs against the weight, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle, this was only a portion of Ichigo's power returned to him. Shunsui absently noticed some weaker academy students fall to their knees before he saw the wide grin that etched itself onto Ichigo's face. His eyes brightened and his hands stilled form their weak quaking. His shoulders squared and he leaned back, supporting his own weight and releasing his arm from around Shunsui's shoulders.

Shunsui let Ichigo stand under his own power as he reacquainted himself with his zanpakuto, not missing how his smile dimmed.

"The last binding needs to be removed, then they should be more easy to hear," he interjected when Ichigo glanced at him questioningly.

"Thank you," his voice was still low, but it was an improvement from the choked off speech he had just earlier. Shunsui smiled and took out the last key, bracing himself as he twisted it.

He saw several bakudo go up at the same time form Jushiro and he shunpoed backwards as soon as he could, staggering as reiatsu fell around him in a freefall. Shunsui gasped, flaring his own reiatsu in an attempt to ease the pressure but found it nearly useless. He quickly cast his own bakudo around himself as he fell to a knee, lamenting the fact that it began to crack as soon as it was up.

Black, red and blue reiatsu rippled from Ichigo in an explosion, clashing against any barrier it connected with and ripping the room apart. Ichigo's calm, heavy presence was there and Shunsui hadn't realized just how much he missed it. The sound of glass shattering around him only gave him a split second to take in a deep breath before he was forced down onto both knees, arms snapping out to catch himself. Sweat dripped down his brow even as he felt Ichigo desperately try to rein his power in. He glanced to the side, watching as lieutenant's passed out under the strain, landing on stray academy students that had been the first to go.

Shunsui found himself taking in a deep, gasping breath when the pressure suddenly eased, his coughing mirrored by Jushiro and one other person in the room who had managed to stay awake during the onslaught. He was certain that the power had covered all of soul society, and possibly the royal realm if he could say anything about it. An enraged scream that decidedly did not belong to Ichigo startled him. He glanced up in surprise, and just in time to see a sword lung for him. His eyes widened, knowing he wouldn't have enough time to react, and braced himself. The sword was deflected to the side and orange filled his vision as Ichigo parried the blow meant for him. He quickly stood, eyes wide as he took in the being that had nearly maimed him. His form was entirely black and white, he was young and a black horn came out of one side of his head followed by a streak of black.

"Stop, Zangetsu!"

He paled, even as weakened as Ichigo was, his zanpakuto had enough energy to materialize itself. A snarl of outrage ripped out of the spirit and Shunsui could feel his own spirit reel back at the anger directed at them. In a blur of shunpo that was too fast for him to see, they disappeared, leaving him staggered and surprised in a ruined room.