Ichigo felt lighter as the Senkeimon closed behind his mortal friends. But this was not his last farewell, nor the most bitter.

Karin and Yuzu would be devastated.

Still, he would see them again; he just needed to seal his Zanpakuto first. And learn to control his reiatsu. And cast a Kido.

Ichigo hoped he got to see his sisters graduate from high school. 'Seven years should be enough time to develop control, right?'

Regardless, the captain commander's lecture on the nature of Zanpakuto was enlightening. There was no such thing as a permanent-release Zanpakuto. The term was initially coined in the Academy Zanjutsu lecture when Kenpachi, under Yachiru's dubious directions, attempted to visit the 'fighting' class. The lecture, formerly on the dangers of the long-term release of Shikai, turned, at Kenpachi's growl, into a discourse on how some melee types, unlike Domain or Kido types, could remain in Shikai indefinitely.

The truth was far less malleable. While it was technically possible for a zanpakuto to remain in Shikai indefinitely, and additionally, melee types tended to be less restrictive, the long term release of Shikai was more than uncomfortable for the Zanpakuto. It would eventually cause the sword spirit to grow insane. Most scholars agreed that such long-term damage took at least a month to accumulate, but the idea was sobering.

As if seeing his family again wasn't motivation enough, the thought of a psychopathic sword spirit living inside of him certainly encouraged diligence.

Old man Zangetsu did not seem interested in being bound, which only increased Ichigo's concern. Maybe Zangetsu was special in some way? Regardless, to visit his family, he needed to seal his zanpakuto. To do so, he needed to turn his reiatsu inwards, hold it close and calm it down. It required the control he had only recently begun to attain. Until then, he could only send letters with mission-bound shinigami and occasionally make calls back to the material world.

But Yamamoto had agreed to let Ichigo borrow the 'image communicator,' despite Ichigo scoffing at the archaic misnomer, after Urahara's report to the captain commander so that Ichigo could see his family one last time. He knew this was a special favor from the captain commander; running the imager and communicating with the physical world took an entire team of specialists and would typically never be available for casual use. Even so, the portion of him grateful for the favor was not sufficient to make up for the part of him that desperately missed his sisters and refused to say goodbye.

Ichigo was dead. He knew this; he had chosen this. And he would not retreat now that the cost had come due.

###

As much as Ichigo wanted to see his little sisters again, time was a fickle thing, and he couldn't put off some tasks. Death, taxes, and apparently doctor's visits were as constant in his afterlife as they were in his life before. He could hardly argue against the merit; he had grown up in a clinic, after all, just the timing. But avoiding it would hardly solve the problem, and he was hoping to run into Hanataro while he was in the fourth division.

The set of people around him he could call a 'friend' had grown depressingly small, as of late.

He was disappointed when the Fourth Division Lieutenant entered his windowless exam room. "Hello, Mr. Kurosaki. I'm Healer Isane Kotetsu, the Fourth Division Lieutenant. I understand you're here for a checkup?"

She seemed familiar, though Ichigo couldn't quite put the finger on how.

"Yeah, since I'll be living here, I need to make sure everything is ok. And please, Mr. Kurosaki is my dad. Call me Ichigo"

"Well, Ichigo, I'm glad you came in. Some people refuse to visit unless mortally wounded."

Ichigo laughed at the truism. "Oh, I guess some things never change. One of my best friends snuck out of my family's clinic after taking some nasty blunt force trauma from an accident. He'd already tried to leave once and couldn't even stand, so surely he had learned his lesson, right? Not even close; he snuck out later that night and only managed to aggravate his injuries."

Isane nodded as she glanced at his file and began to perform diagnostic kido. "Oh, you wouldn't believe the things some shinigami get up to. Just the other day, I had a patient try to fight a captain with assorted lacerations, through and through wounds to his shoulder and foot, and a nasty case of exhaustion. The squad five Captain almost cut the man in half at his abdomen, nicked the spine and everything, and the shinigami still kept trying to stand up and fight. Most would have died before their body hit the ground."

Ichigo had the decency to feel embarrassed. "Well, I couldn't give up there, could I? To come so far and then stop fighting; that would be a betrayal of my resolve."

"And afterward, you needed to sneak out against medical advice before we could perform any sort of assessment to save your other friend from execution?"

Ichigo spluttered. Wasn't she supposed to be nice to her patients? Wait, was that why this room didn't have any windows?

Isane continued mercilessly. "I'm sure, with your experience, you know that bodies, spiritual and physical alike, need time to heal, that you should avoid straining them when injured, correct?"

Ichigo could only nod. He had been stupid in leaving how he did, although he wondered if she needed to be so severe.

"Well, it seems that your injuries are healing, at least. You need to work on sealing your Zanpakuto however; based on my exam, you have a couple of weeks until the damage of constant Shikai becomes a serious issue. Normally we would recommend meditation to reseal your Shikai, but that's not the best option in your case."

"Simply put, your control is abysmal relative to your energy levels. Instead, I'm going to recommend we use a zanpakuto sealing ritual. That will help you seal your sword this time, though you really should work on your control before you perform Shikai. That actually leads me to my next question. Tell me, are you aware of the damage to your spiritual channels?"

Ichigo was confused; "I thought meridians didn't exist?"

"That would be true of your mortal shell, but the spiritual and mortal bodies are not the same. Since the physical imperfectly reflects the spiritual, the spiritual and physical bodies are similar but subtly different."

She continued at Ichigo's nod. "Regardless, I've detected damage, and variable scarring, radiating from your spiritual core. Now, it's hard to get a good reading, especially since your Shikai focuses and agitates your internal energy. Still, I'm detecting trauma to both your Saketsu and Hakusui. Beyond that, there's a build-up of scar tissues in your spiritual channels. The good news is that, unlike scar tissue in mortal vessels, so long as no foreign reiryoku interferes, such damage to your spiritual body will heal over time. This scarring may also explain some of the difficulties you've experienced with reiatsu control. It would certainly make it hard to sense or control reiatsu in any level of detail."

Ichigo was stunned; he could think of plenty of opportunities to have damaged his spiritual pathways, between Byakuya severing his powers and nearly turning into a hollow in the trial of the shattered shaft. Her comment about foreign reiatsu, though, hinted at an earlier danger, one that had been on his mind recently.

"Well," he gathered his thoughts. "There's a couple of things that come to mind. How dangerous is it to receive shinigami powers as a living mortal?"

"Very dangerous. Living bodies are not meant to hold such potent powers of death. It erodes the chain of fate and so takes years of mortal life from the recipient. If the mortal vessel does not release the shinigami reiryoku in time, the chain of fate erodes completely, the body dies, and the spirit turns into a hollow through encroachment. I understand this is how you originally received your powers?"

Ichigo nodded, "It is."

"That would explain the oldest set of scars on your reiryoku system."

He swallowed at the doctor verifying Zangetsu's words. "Would…" he could not avoid this. He had to know. "Would Rukia have known that?"

Isane doubtlessly caught the uncertainty in his voice; she sat down across from him and laid a hand on his arm in support.

"Only Rukia can answer that for you, but personally, I doubt it. The law is well known, and it only takes moderate knowledge to puzzle out the mechanics, but the effect of borrowed power on another, especially a living mortal? There are maybe five people in my division that would know this."

Ichigo could but feel relieved at the confirmation. He still could not be sure without talking to her. Still, between Yoruichi and Isane independently agreeing that she probably would not know the danger of empowering a mortal, he felt far more confident in the possibility of a mistake.

As the solemn moment passed, Ichigo pressed forward. "The next possible damage I can think of would be the loss of my powers to Byakuya Kuchiki when he retrieved Rukia. He told me he used Senka, and that I would die a mortal. When I woke up afterward, they told me they had healed me, but I was powerless. I wouldn't be shocked if Senka left its mark."

"Finally," he continued without interruption, head filled with memories of watching his inner world fall apart, "the procedure to regain my Shinigami powers was… difficult. They severed my chain of fate that day, cut it was I watched. After that, I was in a race against the clock to find my powers before encroachment completed, and I became a hollow."

Isane seemed perturbed at the information. "How long did the encroachment last?"

Ichigo remembered the damp and the dark, the aching in his shoulders and the pain in his chest. "It was nearly three days. I only found Zangetsu during the final encroachment, when my inner world had started to dissolve and a mask to manifest. It was a near thing"

Isane was stunned at first but soon found her words returning. "Of all the reckless, short-sighted…." She took a deep breath and tried to refocus. Then she took another. "That would explain a lot, but it also creates even more questions. Three days is an incredibly short time frame for encroachment; normally, souls take months to turn, and an empowered plus soul years. But the real mystery is that you gained your powers after the final encroachment started. When the final encroachment starts, Hollow Reiryoku floods the soul, and the spiritual body explodes. The Final Encroachment is just that, final. You would have needed a miracle to suppress the rampant hollow energy so that your spiritual body did not explode then. And you certainly had plenty of Hollow reiryoku, or else you wouldn't have manifested a mask."

Here she trailed off, seemingly creating and discarding theories on how, exactly, Ichigo survived.

"Still, you are certainly not hollow now. That stunt, though, would explain the scarring on your channels. Add in a Shikai state that compresses energy, hold it for far too long, and it's easy to understand how you did this to yourself. Though I'm still baffled at how exactly you have lived to this point. I'll have to ask Captain Unohana; perhaps she would know how you survived such an idiotic scheme."

Ichigo winced; she did not seem impressed with his decision-making.

"I'm going to prescribe light duty until we can perform the sealing ritual - no combat or sparring. Meditation and Jinzen are fine, as well as control exercises focused on calming your reiatsu. You'll also get some medicine on your way out, so long as you don't leave through another window, that will reduce inflammation of your spiritual channels."

Isane had seemingly finished her notes and started to wrap up the appointment.

"The ritual itself will take about a week to prepare - schedule it when you pick up your medication. On the day of the ritual, you will need to spend your time meditation and fasting. Also, avoid channeling large amounts of energy. The calmer you are going into it, the more settled your reiatsu, the better. Once we finish that, we will hold you for a couple of hours to ensure there are no lingering issues and have a follow-up appointment in a week. Do you have any questions before I leave?"

"No, I'll make sure to stop by the desk on my way out."

"Good. Then I'll leave you here, Ichigo."

Ichigo could only nod. Perhaps he had been a bit reckless. It was good they found the problem now; he could have gotten himself in some trouble if he fought someone dangerous.

###

As Urahara wrapped up his report of increased hollow activity, Ichigo nervously considered how to discuss his death with his family. That death was not so permanent was irrelevant. Karin and Yuzu had already lost their mother; to lose their brother, especially if he could not follow through on the forthcoming promise to visit, would be devastating.

Still, when Yamamoto stepped aside and Urahara fetched his Dad, Ichigo's words failed him. He realized this would be a lot easier if his dad were already familiar with the spiritual side of things, but Ichigo had recklessly chosen to hide this side of his life. Well, afterlife.

If Yamamoto coughed at the appearance of his father, Ichigo certainly did not pick up on it.

"Hey, Dad."

If Isshin didn't look surprised to see Ichigo in the garb of a Shinigami or tuned him out as Ichigo gave a poorly informed description of the afterlife, Ichigo was too distraught to be perceptive.

Still, Karin and Yuzu couldn't be kept in the other room forever. When Ichigo first saw his precious little sisters, his heart ached. They knew something was wrong.

The second explanation proved no more factual but much more draining. Karin's stoic mask betrayed her turmoil, and Yuzu did not attempt to suppress her tears.

"You're dead, Ichi? How can you talk to us if you are dead?" Yuzu's tears cut across her face.

"I'm a part of the afterlife now. I'm a spirit being, and I belong in the spiritual world. I want nothing more than to come home, but there are things out there, abominations. They do not hunt the living, but my presence would call them, and they could hurt you or Karin. I could never forgive myself if something happened. And I refuse to let it happen, no matter how much it hurts me."

"I'll still look out for you two, and once I get a better handle on my energy, I'll be able to visit. Until then, I promise, I'll call whenever I can."

"Ichi, did…" Karin's hesitation was atypical. "Did you find Mom? Is she up there with you?"

How could he tell his precious little sisters that a corrupted projection of hunger and despair had consumed Mom's soul?

"Mom… her soul already moved on. She is already in the cycle of rebirth."

A lie, yes, but this truth cut deep.

Things turned lighter after this, in part since there was nowhere else for a conversation to go, but it was a far cry from the exuberance that characterized Kurosaki conversations. Still, it felt good to talk to his family after nearly a month of preparation and time spent in the soul society.

As the conversation wound down, Yamamoto decided to make his presence known.

"Ah, Captain… Kurosaki, is it? The second division has been looking for you. It seems we never received notification about your extended leave of absence. I'll make sure to update the records accordingly, along with the rest of your family's missing documentation. We're expecting you to report to me for duty in, say, seven years."

Here he cracked open an eye and seemed to project his presence through the imager.

"Understood, captain?"

Isshin swallowed and looked down at his twin daughters. Seven years was just enough time for Karin and Yuzu to graduate from High school and enter college. Yamamoto doubtlessly knew that. Still, he should have regained his powers by then; he could use the first release even now.

And Yamamoto did not seem keen to negotiate. "Am I Understood, Captain?"

Isshin snapped to attention, ignoring his children's questioning looks. "Yessir, Captain Commander." He paused and bowed to his old boss. "Thank you, Sir."

Yamamoto's posture relaxed, slipping from the absolute confidence of a military commander to the relaxed contentment of a man one burden lighter. "And Isshin?" He paused and seemed to consider his words before continuing. "I'm glad to see you are well."

"Me too, old man Yama. Me too"

Notes:

First, a big thank you to everyone who has read the story! I'm not one to respond to reviews individually, but I will say to everyone that has taken time to leave a note of encouragement, correction, or a theory, Thank You, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story.

I will say, on the theory, that that particular bit of world-building is coming soon, so I won't spoil anything here. I am trying to keep things logically consistent, so that is something that I've thought about.

That's all five of the chapters I'm releasing to start things off. As a reminder, my normal pace will be closer to one or two a week. I'm still figuring out the whole writing as a hobby thing, so don't be surprised if that changes.

As for the chapter itself, I really enjoyed this one. I got to wrap up the arc about his living friends, flesh out some world-building with the help of a snarky healer, finally write the confrontation with his family and top it off with a little bit of humanization for the captain commander. I had the most trouble with Karin and Yuzu; the dynamic of how the older sibling could and would tell his little sisters, especially flavored by the grief of that situation, was difficult to capture.

As always, thanks for reading, and I'll be back next week with chapter six, 'The Weight of Duty.'