Tessai fidgeted as he sat alongside Urahara and across the teenage human girl. The same Arisawa Tatsuki who claimed to know about Aizen Sosuke and the Hogyoku. Beside him, Urahara was taking care of his gigai's bruised nose after falling face first into the ground. The two weren't sure what to do since it was a first that a human knew about the Hogyoku, much less Aizen Sosuke.

"Arisawa-san, how did you exactly come across this information?", Urahara asked calmly. Tatsuki opened her mouth to say something, before closing it and shaking her head.

"A friend of mine passed on the information to me", the teen replied. Urahara rose a brow at the words.

"And who might this friend of yours be?", the shopkeeper asked again.

"He will tell you himself when the time comes", Tatsuki answered.

'He? So its a boy. But who exactly? Ichigo isn't a shinigami, much less visited the Soul Society. Isshin doesn't know about the Hogyoku. Was it Shinji or someone of the Vizards? They do know about Aizen, but not the Hogyoku. The only ones who know about the Hogyoku are Tessai, Yoruichi and I. Then who is it who told her?', Urahara thought with a visible frown.

Sensing a familiar reiatsu, he looked to the window on his right where a cat sat licking its paw. "Tessai sounded urgent when he called me. What happened, Kisuke?", the cat asked sternly seeing the three people in the room. The former shinigamis didn't miss the flash of recognition in the teen's eyes after seeing the cat.

"It seems you know her, Arisawa-san", Kisuke remarked causinig the Tatsuki to nod.

"Yes. Shihouin Yoruichi, the former captain of the Second Division of Gotei 13, before the three of you were exiled with a few other because of the hollowfication incident over a century ago", Tatsuki answered causing Urahara to balk in shock along with Tessai and Yoruichi.

"Who exactly are you, Arisawa Tatsuki-san? Your reiatsu is that of a human, yet you know things which only a handful of people know in the World of Living", Kisuke remarked as he narrowed his eyes. "Can you give me a reason of why I should believe you are not in league with Aizen?", he asked tapping his cane on the ground, and changing its form to a sheathed zanpakuto.

Tatsuki gulped in fear seeing the zanpakuto. Ichigo had told her about Kisuke's zanpakuto, Benihime. She knew the man was dead serious now. If she worded it wrong, she would have to say her mortal body goodbye. "I..I can assure you I am not Aizen's ally. I have never met that man. I just know what he is planning and the powers of his zanpakuto, Kyokasuigetsu from the story my friend narrated", she answered.

Urahara groaned in frustration. "And what of your friend? How does he know about all of this?"

"Kisuke! Calm down for a moment, you moron!", Yoruichi exclaimed in annoyance. "You said you and your friend know what Aizen is planning, right?"

Tatsuki nodded. "He said something about harvesting the Ouken? He didn't elaborate it much, but he said that he was ready to kill a hundred thousand human souls for it", she explained as Urahara and Tessai furrowed their brows.

"Ouken, huh? That's disastrous", Urahara muttered.

"Shit Sherlock, Urahara! We didn't know about that", Yoruichi snarked.

"Shihouin-sama, you shouldn't get that worked up", Tessai admonished, before flinching under the cat's glare at it shifted from Kisuke to him.

"Yoruichi, your anger is rightly placed. But, we have more important concerns", he remarked with a single eye glance at Yoruichi. "Arisawa-san, can you tell us more about your friend?"

Tatsuki looked confused for a moment before thinking over it. 'He needs someone to take that burden off him' "Well, he is a shinigami. His zanpakuto is named Zangetsu, and has two zanpakutos in his shikai".

Urahara and Yoruichi mulled over the new piece of information. 'Two zanpakutos, eh? The only ones we know are Ukitake-taicho and Kyoraku-taicho, but none of their zanpakutos are named Zangetsu. So, there's a third dual-wielder in the Gotei 13 and someone who has a bone to pick with Aizen?'

"Arisawa-san, I am sure you aren't here to just tell us about all this information are you?", Kisuke asked with a knowing smile.

Tatsuki broke the eyes contact and looked down. "Yes. He... I want to help him. He told me that I was better suited for Hakuda and Shunko and that I should learn it from Yoruichi-san".

The former shinigamis shared a glance before Yoruichi nodded. "Fine. I will teach you, but... if I find out that you or your friend are in league with that asshole, I will gut you and your friend myself. Am I clear?"

"Yes", Tatsuki nodded knowing the message. It wasn't a threat, it was a promise.


"We have reports of a sudden appearance of a potent reiatsu in Karakura Town, the place where Kuchiki Rukia is stationed. That said, we have completely lost Kuchiki Rukia reiatsu in the World of Living. Considering Kuchiki Rukia's strength and her sudden disappearance, I hereby assign..."


A few weeks later

He groaned as he blinked his eyes. He tried to move his muscles but, his entire body hurt like hell. He wondered why he had thought it would be a good idea to go on with his stupid plan. His father and his uncle were going to give him a earful. He shuddered imagining the glare which the two could muster.

"You shouldn't be moving, young man. Just be glad that my daughter found you when she did. You would have been dead if she was even a few minutes late", a voice sounded from his right. He eyes flitted to right, spotting a middle aged man wearing a doctor's coat.

"Thanks", he murmured in a low voice. 'Damn I don't even have energy to speak a single word... WAIT! How in the world can this doctor see me?!'.

"Name's Dr. Kurosaki Isshin, and you are here in my humble clinic", he heard the doctor say.

"My name's Kaien", he responded before losing his consciousness and giving Isshin the shock of his life.


Ichigo sighed as he played with mechanical pencil in his hand, his attention not entirely in the class. He had learned all this the last time around and was not in his priority list. He considered this entire thing a waste of time, and wanted to be out there fixing things and screwing over Aizen and Yhwach. But it was risked with getting detention during the summer break, when he intended to rescue Rukia.

He knew that Tatsuki had already made contact with Yoruichi, since he could sense her reiatsu increasing over the past few weeks. He still wondered if it was right dragging Tatsuki into the Soul Society mess. Yamamoto-so-taicho had tried to keep him out of this mess because the people in World of Living didn't need to fight the battles which concerned over Soul Society's stability.

'And that same man's foolishness led to the scrambling of all the three realms', a voice sounded in his head, causing Ichigo to sigh.

'But he was right, Zangetsu. She doesn't need to get dragged-'

'You know he's right King. I wouldn't deny that Old-Beardy was strong as hell, but he was a wimp. Hell, if he had asked that brown-head, she could regenerated his arm. Yhwach would be dead even before he had time to monologue about his ambitions. No offence, Old Man'

'None taken'

'I get it, but I shouldn't've-'

'Shouldn't have done this and shouldn't have done that. Are you forgetting King, Arisawa Tatsuki is the same woman who painted the Battle of Tokyo against the Quincies, that too in a weakened state?'

'Shiro isn't wrong. You need all the support you need Ichigo. Yamamoto can defeat Yhwach, his bankai will always be stolen. Your bankai can't be stolen, and don't you show it until against Yhwach himself'

"Attention students, I have an announcement to make", a voice called out, which Ichigo recognized as their high school's principal. He had no interest in what the principal had to say. A good guess would say that the short man was here again to threaten the students over detention over the exam scores.

"I know it is late now, but we have a new student for a few weeks. This is Ise Nanao. Please treat her well while she attends the high school", the words were enough to Ichigo snap his head around, a mistake as he found himself under a piercing glare by said woman, before it transformed into shock and disbelief. Ichigo could feel Tatsuki stare on him, as she remembered the name from Ichigo's story.

When Ichigo heard his homeroom teacher say the newcomer should take a seat beside, he knew his previous plans had gone down the drain.


He moved a little closer to Tatsuki as the pair walked their way home. The teen flashed a little smile towards him, before looking over her shoulder towards the newcomer following them. On the other hand, Ichigo suppressed a growl at the blatantness of the Division 8 lieutenant.

"I would prefer if you stopped following us, Ise Nanao-san", Ichigo called out as he stopped and turned around.

The shinigami fukutaicho pulled to a stop and tried to act as innocent as possible. "Why would you think so, Kurosaki-san? My uncle lives this way. Is it wrong for me not to return to my home?", Nanao responded sounding bitter towards the end.

Ichigo sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Had Nanao never been stationed in the World of Living?

"Ara Nanao-chan! Are these two harassing you?", a voice sounded from behind Ichigo causing the boy's eyes to widen. He turned his pale face shakily to the man, still wondering if he was imagining the voice. Water pooled in his eyes as he spotted a man wearing a tuxedo, who had his long hair in a pony tail and a bang of hair framed the left side of his face.

"Kyoraku-sensei?!", Ichigo whispered quietly in shock, Tatsuki being the only one who could hear it.

Shunsui raised his brows in shock seeing the orange-haired teen's face, as well as the unmistakable lip movements of 'Kyoraku-sensei'. 'Wow! Nanao-chan wasn't kidding when she said that I wouldn't believe my eyes after see this guy. If he were to dye his hair black, he would Kaien's carbon copy. Enough to fool the Gotei that this guy is Kaien himself. Not to mention him referring to me as sensei. I have never seen this boy in my life, and yet his expression shows that he knows me', he thought with amusement. "Ne, have me met before Kurosaki Ichigo-kun?", he asked with a smile.

"No", Ichigo answered quietly. "Yet you know my name", he added as his flitted back to Nanao, who had exited her gigai and took her position beside Shunsui.

"And it seems you can see Nanao-chan. Aren't you full of surprises?", Kyoraku responded with amusement.

"What are you exactly here for, Kyoraku-se...san?", Ichigo asked as amusement filled in the man's eyes.

"And you know my name too. Are you sure we haven't met before?", the Division 8 Captain replied amusedly.

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock, realizing that he had slipped up. Ichigo gulped, as he unclenched his fist, ready to put up a barrier if needed. "No. I know your name from passing from a few people. My mentors, you can say" 'Which was you, Ukitake-sensei and Kisuke', Ichigo replied.

Shunsui rose his brows at the skillful avoidance of his question. "You're an interesting one, Ichigo-kun", Shunsui hummed with a small smile. "Should we stop beating around the bush now, and get down to business? Where is Kuchiki Rukia?"

Ichigo furrowed his brows. "Why am I the suspect? What have I done exactly to get in the crosshairs of the Gotei 13?"

"So you do know about Soul Society. Well, your reiatsu appeared the day Kuchiki Rukia's reiatsu disappeared. Isn't that enough for you to make our suspect?", Shunsui countered, thought Ichigo could see the preparedness under the relaxed posture.

"Then you're behind the wrong person", Ichigo responded narrowing his eyes. He looked to his side, where Tatsuki had suddenly grabbed his hand, her face terrified. Realization flashed across his face. "Sorry for leaking my reiatsu around like that, Tatsuki", he apologized reigned back his reiatsu which he had leaked in the surrounding.

Shunsui shook his head. "If we are behind the wrong person, then why do you as a living person, still have Shinigami powers? The only reason of which I can think is that you stole them Kuchiki Rukia", he remarked as he took a step forward only to emerge from his gigai, clad in the standard black shihakusho along with the Captain's haori. Ichigo tensed as he noticed Shunsui's left hand on Katen's hilt.

Ichigo subconsciously shifted in front of Tatsuki, shielding her from the immense reiatsu which Shunsui released as soon as he stepped out of his gigai. Ichigo gulped as he stared back at Shunsui's, right in his eyes. "We shouldn't do this. We have no reason to".

Ignoring the boy's words, the Captain of the Eighth took a step forward and drew out Katen. 'I don't want to hurt this young boy, and my gut tells me that he is innocent. But rationally thinking, the Central 46 has their suspicions right. There's no possible way a living human can so much reiatsu while being alive. The only way he can get it is by stealing a real shinigami's powers'.

However, the shinigami's focus on the young boy proved to be fatal. Nobody noticed the hollow, until it sped forward and attacked the unsuspecting Captain. It landed a small blow on the shinigami Captain, before being killed by the shinigami himself.

Moments later, Nanao could only watch in horror as her Captain staggered, blood rushing out of the injury on the right shoulder and the white substance coming out of his mouth. "Taicho?", she whispered in a small voice, only to be greeted by black sclera and bright yellow eyes, as well as maniacal smile on his face.

Before Nanao could be attacked, Shunsui went through a nearby compound wall by the courtesy of the orange-haired kid. Nanao's horror turned into shock seeing the bunched-up white haori fluttering behind the boy.

"Sorry for being harsh Kyoraku-sensei, but you need to go to sleep"