Toshiro was floating in the sky, his wings fully extended on either side of him.

He grimaced as his Bankai began taking his toll on him. He lowered himself to the ground and let his wings dissolve away.

Toshiro removed a watch from his pocket and looked at the time.

'Less than ten minutes,' he thought. 'And this time I just had it activated. I wasn't fighting or using any special techniques.'

'That's nowhere near good enough.'

He needed training, a lot more training.

There was one problem. Summer vacation was over, and school would start the next day.

"No! I am not going in your backpack!"

Zilla was refusing to come with Toshiro to school.

"Ever since you came back from the Soul Society you've been ignoring me! With that badge they gave you, you think you don't need to switch bodies with me anymore! Well, I can take a hint!"

"You know I need to keep my body awake when I'm at school so as not to arouse suspicion," Toshiro said.

"What if I don't care?"

"All right," Toshiro said. "I guess I can take really long bathroom breaks."

"Wait – you aren't going to try to convince me to come anymore?"

"You don't want to. I'm not going to force you." Toshiro picked up his bag and made to leave the room. "Besides, if I stay here arguing with you I'm going to be late for the first day of school."

Zilla jumped in front of the door and held out his pudgy arms. "Oh, no. I'm not letting you off the hook that easy!"

"Off the hook?" Toshiro asked. "For what?"

"You know! You didn't do what you promised to do! You didn't bring Rukia back!"

Any annoyance Toshiro had with the talking Godzilla doll dissipated.

"You miss her too."

"Of course I do! Why don't you?"

Toshiro stepped over Zilla and opened his bedroom door. "I can't force Rukia to go anywhere any more than I can force you to come to school. Soul Society is where she belongs."

Zilla tried to fold his arms, but they were too short to fold against his chest. "Where she belongs, huh? So where do you belong, Mr. superhero?"

"Right now, I belong in school."

The students were very loud as they filed into class, exchanging stories of what they did over the summer.

"Drama camp was great! We put on a musical!"

"We went to Disney Land. And I thought Tokyo was crowded! I've never seen lines so long."

"My parents took me to Australia. Did you know that when it's summer here it's winter there? I feel cheated! I didn't get any summer!"

It was a ritual that was repeated at the start of every school year. Toshiro, Uryu, and Chad never really participated in it, but Orihime did. She was always telling exaggerated stories about what she had gotten up to.

This time her story was not exaggerated at all. She regaled her classmates with tales of visiting a city where everyone dressed like they were from feudal Japan and carried katanas.

Toshiro paid her no mind. He knew that she knew no one would believe her, and he noted that she was careful not to slip any of the truly important details into her story.

When Uryu entered the class he and Toshiro exchanged looks. They each nodded silently in acknowledgement of the other before Uryu took his seat several rows away.

It was the only interaction they would share that day.

Eventually the teacher entered the classroom and got the students to settle down.

Toshiro opened his notebook and got out his pen to take notes on their lesson.

But the pen never touched the paper.

He wanted to focus on what his teacher was saying, but her couldn't. It all seemed so … banal, so mundane.

Toshiro had never been one to jot down everything his teachers said, only the points that seemed important. But now he could not distinguish a single thing which struck him as important.

He looked around. Orihime seemed lost in thought, and not at all happy. And Chad showed visible signs of frustration on his face, something which had never happened during a class before.

Toshiro sighed and put his pen down.

He should have expected this. Their group had seen, done, and experienced things beyond human comprehension over the summer. They had fought demons and death gods and lived to tell the tale. They all had discovered powers beyond the ken of mortal men, and had spent about a month in the literal afterlife.

There was no going back for them.

Even if they could be assured that there was no threat from the likes of Aizen, they could never forget what had happened, They could never un-see what they had seen, or un-experience all they had experienced.

Normal life was over, for all of them.

Toshiro went to the roof to eat lunch as he had previously done. As he had expected, Chad and Orihime followed him.

They sat down to eat, unsure of what to say to each other.

The last time they had been together it was when they had gone out for ice cream right after returning from the Soul Society. There had been an air of celebration between them then. They were the heroes returning from a successful rescue mission. They had all had a good laugh when the woman behind the counter freaked out at the sight of an ice cream cone floating in midair, as they had forgotten that normal humans could not see Toshiro's Shinigami form.

There was no sense of triumph now, no moment of humor to add levity to their situation, only a sense of uncertainty over what the future held.

Finally, Toshiro broke the awkward silence.

"So, what do you two plan to do?"

Orihime and Chad looked at each other.

"We were wondering what you were planning on doing," Orihime said with a hint of worry. "Are you really going to fight this Aizen?"

"You have a choice," Todhiro said. "I don't."

"Why not?" Chad asked.

Toshiro put his lunch down. "I'd probably choose to fight anyway, but I can't be certain that the Shinigamis' decision to let me live is not contingent on my helping them fight Aizen."

"You really think they'd come after you again?" Orihime asked in shock.

"I don't know, but I think there's a very good chance they would if I stopped being useful. They don't tolerate loose canons or wild cards very well.

"And if the Soul Society is counting on me so much," he continued, "then Aizen will feel compelled to come after me sooner or later. There's no way he can ignore his enemies' vaunted 'heavenly guardian.'"

Orihime and Chad looked at each other and nodded.

"That's it, then," Orihime said. "We'll fight with you."

"You don't have to – " Toshiro began, only to be cut off by Chad.

"There's no way we're going to let you face what's coming alone."

"I … " Toshiro bowed his head. "Thank you, both of you."

"So, what's our first move?" Chad asked.

Toshiro closed his eyes in thought. "If we're going to do this, then we need to learn to work together. When we went to the Soul Society, none of us really knew what the rest of us could do. I didn't even know you to had powers until right before we left."

"That was a mistake we can't repeat. We need learn to work as a team, to know each other's abilities inside and out. We need to train together this time."

Chad nodded, and Orihime said: "That makes sense. But do you think we should ask Uryu to come with us?"

"No," Toshiro said firmly. "You heard Uryu. He's already decided that he will not fight. We have to respect his decision."

Chad nodded. "So where will we train? At Mr. Hat and Clog's place?"

Toshiro gritted his teeth in anger. "Absolutely not. There's no telling what that man might do. The only thing that's certain about him that he's completely untrustworthy."

They did not notice that the door to the roof was slightly ajar, or that a teenage boy with long, blonde hair was sitting on the stairs leading to the roof and listening to their every word.

The blonde boy smiled when he heard Toshiro criticize Urahara.

Toshiro paced back and forth along the river bank.

They had chosen a location at the edge of the forest on the outskirts of Karakura Town so as not to draw attention when they trained. The river would ensure that Toshiro's zanpakuto was at its maximum effectiveness during their training.

Toshiro still had deep concerns.

He did not know which would be more selfish, to knowingly put Chad and Orihime in danger so that he would not be alone, or to not respect the choice they had made and make them quit for their own good.

He wished they had simply chosen not to fight so that he would not be faced with this dilemma, but he knew what they'd say when he saw their faces during their first class of the day.

They would fight no matter what he'd say to talk them out of it. The only course of action was to ensure they could defend themselves as well as possible, and that he could protect them to the best of his abilities.

It wasn't long before Chad and Orihime arrived, showing no signs of having cold feet.

In fact, Orihime was bursting with energy.

"All right," she said excitedly, raising both her fists, "let's get started."

Toshiro had to be impressed by her enthusiasm.

"Before we do, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

He drew his sword and pointed it to the side. A large mist swelled around the area just in front of where he was pointing.

The mist was thick and spun like a tornado. Orihime's mouth was wide open in wonder as she and Chad watched a figure take form within the mist.

The mist began to clear, revealing a large, winged dragon of ice with glowing red eyes.

"Whoa … " Orihime said. Even Chad had to strain to look high enough to see the dragon's face.

Toshiro sheathed his sword.

"Chad, Orihime, I'd like you to meet Hyorinmaru."