Chapter 12: In the knick of time

"Two weeks?" Ichigo looked at Rangiku with wide eyes. "You're telling me I've been gone for two whole weeks?"

Rangiku nodded to him. "When Kageroza attacked, he did so solely to get rid of you Ichigo." She held her head down as she continued. "When he told us that, we were all devastated. None of us wanted to believe that bastard, but as the days kept going and you were still gone, we all thought the worst had actually happened. to you."

Ichigo hugged her and held onto her gently. She hugged him and rested her head on the crook of his neck. It seems that wherever he was in the Dangai altered time. Like when he trained the learned the Final Getsuga Tenshou. It all made sense to him how he spent such a short time there and so much time passed by here, but it didn't explain who the hell was that guy that pulled him out. Another question for another time as the two's show of affection was interrupted by an explosion off in the distance.

"What was that?" Ichigo asked her as he now only realized that multiple spirit energies were fighting one another.

"Kageroza launched his attack almost an hour ago." Rangiku answered as she let go of Ichigo. "He's searching for something, but we don't know what. He has Nozomi too."

"Why does he want her so badly?"

"I don't know, but we have to stop him." Rangiku tried to move, but her body was still too injured from her fight with Blue Kenpachi. Ichigo stopped her and picked her up bridal style, causing her to blush heavily at this. "I-I-Ichigo? What are you-"

"Rangiku, you're too hurt right now." Ichigo started as he carried over to the unconscious Ikkaku and Yumichika. He placed a healing kido on them and gave Rangiku another passionate kiss. "This will take a bit to heal you guys."

"Ichigo." Rangiku started with a heavy look in her eyes. "Just be careful." She knew that he was all about protecting people, especially his girls. Nothing was gonna stop him from doing what he did best, and she knew it.

Ichigo smiled at her and nodded before leaving in a burst of shunpo, ready to take the fight to Kageroza and all of these fakes.

Seireitei, Senkaimon gate

Right now, things weren't going so well for the soul reapers. The fakes had launched many numerous attacks on the Seireitei to thin out the herd as Kageroza would put it. The reigai were doing a number on the soul society, especially after the failed attempt to take out Kageroza's base of operations. It ended with most of the captains being defeated and presumed dead, leaving the lieutenants to deal with them.

Right now though, Kisuke Urahara was in a very interesting yet horrible predicament. He was facing himself and a Blue Rukia Kuchiki. Now the former captain of squad 12 knew that facing himself would be difficult, but with the inclusion of Rukia and her long range keeping him on his toes, he was having a very difficult time with this battle. Kisuke stared his doppelganger down with a stern look while also glancing over to Blue Rukia standing next to him.

"My my." Blue Kisuke started while tipping his hat up and smiling. "What's that look for I wonder? Trying to think your way out of this I see."

"Yeah." Kisuke started as he stood up from his kneeling position. "You could say that."

"Well it's not like it matters right now." Blue Rukia started with a smirk. "You have to know that you can't defeat the both of us in your current state, Kisuke."

'She's right about that.' Kisuke thought to himself as he scowled at the two. 'A frontal assault is suicide, especially if I get too caught up in facing my reigai. The Rukia copy will catch me off guard and leave me wide open for a deathblow.' Kisuke sighed. 'I might have no choice but to use Bankai, but that's null and void because then he'll just use it as well. Damn.'

Blue Kisuke decided to make his move and rushed over. Kisuke didn't have much time to think as Blue Kisuke started to unleash a furious attack onto him. Right when Kisuke got his bearings though, Blue Rukia would launch an attack from her zanpakuto to grab his attention for a brief moment, leaving him open to an attack from his fake. Blue Kisuke landed a slash on the original only for him to explode like a balloon. Blue Kisuke smirked as he knew his original still had tricks up his sleeve. Kisuke flashed behind his double and went for a slash, but was caught off guard by Blue Rukia's frost attack. Thinking quickly, Kisuke used his last portable gigai to avoid the attack and retreated behind the Senkaimon gate.

He panted heavily as that was too close for comfort. As powerful as he was, he knew that this was a brilliant tactic against him. He had prepared for a fight with himself and set up a contingency in having Kon come into the mix later on, but with the fake Rukia here, that threw an entire monkey wrench into his contingency. Now was just a battle of attrition on his part, and he wasn't doing so well.

'Ichigo.' His mind wandered to the day he had to tell the horrible news to everyone.

True, Kageroza already told everyone that he had Ichigo killed, but Kisuke spent an entire week searching for his energy signature in hopes of proving him wrong. When he came to the same conclusion as what Kageroza spoke of, his heart sank. It was nothing compared to when he had to tell the girls that the mad man was right and Ichigo was gone. They were all heartbroken at this news and Kisuke felt terrible for being the one to tell them.

'Ichigo, if you were still here, I would tell you that I'm sorry.' He thought to himself as he took a deep breath and stepped out of from the Senkaimon and stood his ground.

"Ohoho." Blue Kisuke spoke up as he saw the hardened look in his originals eyes. "So you've decided now is the time to bust out the good ole' Bankai, eh?" The fake tilted his hat down and held his own zanpakuto out. "You should know that I'll just use mine as well, just to be fair."

Kisuke didn't say anything as he knew this would be a horrible idea, but what other choice did he have in this situation. He held his blade out and started to gather his spirit energy. The reigai did the same. The two stared each other down intently, Kisuke with the intent to win, Blue Kisuke with the intent to kill. But that was when Kisuke noticed something very crucial to this battle.

Where did Rukia's reigai go?

His answer came as he felt the air around his feet freeze. He looked down and noticed that he was in Blue Rukia's Some no mai, Tsukishiro. He was about to break the ice around his ankles only to feel the reiatsu of his double flare for a moment. He looked up with wide eyes as an arch of red energy came flying towards him at breakneck speeds. He had no time to react as he simply brought his blade up to protect himself from the attack as best as he could.

'Ichigo.' Kisuke thought to himself as he closed his eyes. 'It seems I might just join you and say the words myself.'

As he stood there with the ice ready to flare up to encase him and the energy ready to destroy him, a familiar voice cut through the air like a shock.

"DRINK, NOZARISHI!"

Kisuke snapped his eyes open quickly to see the largest cleaver he had ever seen in his life land right in front of him, kicking up dust in the process. The cleaver stopped the beam dead in its tracks and shattered the ice on the ground. The three looked on as they had never seen anything like this before, but that all paled in comparison to what they saw and heard next.

"So Kisuke." The familiar voice broke the silence as the intense reiatsu blew the dust away from the area, revealing the long since dead Ichigo Kurosaki standing tall on the edge of the blade. Kisuke looked up with a mixture of shock and joy at seeing his friend alive and well, and with another new zanpakuto from the looks of it.

"Ichigo." Kisuke spoke out.

Ichigo grinned to him. "Ya miss me?"

"How?" Blue Rukia started as she looked on at seeing her originals boyfriend standing there, alive and well. "Kageroza killed you!" She shouted out, her eyes flaring the blue electricity.

"Didn't take I suppose." Ichigo started as he grabbed at the handle of Nozarashi and pulled up. The large blade came out of the ground and Ichigo landed in front of his former teacher. He resealed Nozarashi since he didn't want to overdue it for now, especially with her crazy weight to her released state. "So, what did I miss?" He asked as he placed the blade onto his shoulder.

Kisuke got a real good look at the zanpakuto and recognized it immediately, same with the two fakes. "Ichigo, is that whose I think is?"

Ichigo gave a grin to the man as he turned to the fake of his teacher. "Yep. It is."

All three gasped as this changes everything. Blue Rukia grew fearful as she knew that now they were at an even bigger disadvantage with Ichigo here with this manic power to him. Blue Kisuke was gritting his teeth as he knew that this was now going to be an impossible win. Kisuke simply sighed as he was relieved that Ichigo hadn't lost his touch, literally and figuratively. It was still unknown to him how Ichigo had the ability to take a persons zanpakuto spirit, but maybe they could use this to their advantage.

Kisuke went over to Ichigo and stood back to back with him. "Listen Ichigo." He started in a whisper. "Since you can still steal others zanpakuto spirits, use that on these two."

Ichigo didn't answer at first and instead gave a light chuckle. "That's the plan."

With that, Ichigo disappeared from sight, surprising them all at how fast he had gotten and appeared right behind Blue Rukia. She turned quickly once she felt the chill down her neck and turned quickly to strike at him, but her blade simply bounced off his skin. She went wide eyed as he grinned again and grabbed at her blade. He was suddenly wrapped in snow and ice and once again brought back to his mindscape. He looked around and saw the light blue, almost white skyscrapers being formed. He smiled as he leapt towards them and saw the form of Rukia's zanpakuto spirit standing there in her kimono. She looked at him with a hard scowl and charged towards him.

"Sode no Shirayuki." Ichigo spoke in a calmed tone as the two felt that painful sting in their heads.

Shirayuki stopped dead in her tracks as she grabbed at her head for a moment. Ichigo did the same as he was flooded with flashes of Rukia was running through a few streets along with Yoruichi and Orihime. The pain went away and Ichigo opened his eyes as he looked to Shirayuki. She bowed to him and he to her as he got ready to end this quickly to get to his girls.

Once he exited his mindscape and the ice and snow broke apart, Ichigo stood with little trouble with the released form of Sode no Shirayuki in hand and not much difference in his appearance. Well, almost no difference as now there was now a bracelet made out of ice on his left wrist. He looked to it and saw that it had an intricate design of a flower etched onto it and a small tassel of a rabbit hanging off of it. Ichigo smiled as he remembered how much she loves Chappy. His smile turned to a hard scowl though when he saw the fake of one of his girls standing there, shaking.

"After I'm done with you two," Ichigo started as the area started become covered in ice and snow started to fall, causing the three to look around in absolute shock. "I'm gonna take down Kageroza for what he has done."

Without a moments hesitation, Ichigo fired off a Hakuren, without having to set it up like Rukia does, right into Blue Rukia's face. She was covered head to toe in ice and shattered under the pressure Ichigo was producing right now. Both Kisuke and Blue Kisuke looked on in shock as Ichigo looked to them and smirked before disappearing once more. Blue Kisuke knew exactly what was going to happen as he went wide eyed and turned just in time to block Ichigo's strike with his blade, though the force and strength he was producing was above anything Kisuke had ever felt. Ichigo pushed him back with intense force and he skidded to a stop.

"My my Ichigo," Blue Kisuke started only to be cut off by a beam of red energy coming at him from his left. He used Benihime to summon a red shield and blocked the attack, only to feel the strike hit him from the other side. "What?"

He looked over to see Kisuke standing there where he was before, behind the fake and not to the side. Blue Kisuke looked in front of him and saw the one that he thought he blocked shatter into glass. That's when it hit him, Ichigo still had Kyoka Suigetsu.

Right as that revelation hit him, he felt his body freeze at an alarming rate. He looked down and saw that he was standing in ice as it made its way up his body. The last thought he had before being taken was really simple.

'Guess I lose.'

Blue Kisuke's body was encased in Ice except for his sword. Ichigo made his way to him and grabbed the blade with his free hand. He was encased in a vibrant red energy and once again brought back to his mindscape. He looked around and saw vibrant red skyscrapers forming. Using shunpo, Ichigo flashed over to see a woman that looked like a doll standing there. She looked at him with lifeless red eyes that complemented her dark red dress that hugged her body tightly and went to her ankles. Ichigo was taken aback a bit before he said her name.

"Benihime." Like with all the others, they both received a strong pain in their heads for a brief moment before looking at each other. Benihime bowed to him and Ichigo to her.

He was about to make his way out of his mindscape when he saw Shirayuki standing on one of her skyscrapers looking out into the distance. He flashed over to her and looked out to see what she was seeing. Ichigo went wide eyed when he saw Rukia facing down a reigai of her brother Byakuya and her friend Renji. She was flanked by Yoruichi and Orihime, but thy all looked worse for ware.

"Rukia." Ichigo started. "Orihime. Yoruichi."

Almost as if answering his unspoken question, Shirayuki spoke to him in a quick and worried tone. "This is all happening in real time Ichigo."

"How?" He asked her as he alternated between looking to her and looking to his girls fighting the two fakes.

"Rukia is connected to you since she gave you her power back then!" Shirayuki explained briefly and frantically. "Now's not the time to ask questions! Go! Save them Ichigo!"

Ichigo nodded as he exited his mindscape and was no longer encased in the energy. He was now holding Benihime and now had red stitches all over his arms. Ichigo paid them no attention as he was about to tear his way to his girls only to be stopped by Kisuke.

"Wait, Ichigo." He started, getting the teens attention. "Where are you going?"

"I need to get to Rukia!" He shouted. "She's in danger and so is Yoruichi and Orihime!"

Kisuke went wide eyed as he was relieved his best friend was alive. He nodded to Ichigo and said teen took off in a huge burst of shunpo. He didn't know why but he already knew exactly where his girls were, and he knew after all of this was over, he would treat them all out to a very nice lunch afterwards.

It was really split between both Benihime and Sode no Shirayuki, so I decided to put both in. I also really liked the idea that Zansuga S suggested with Shirayuki. You're awesome dude.

Anyway, the next chapter will have some more action to it. Maybe Ichigo getting another new zanpakuto. Who knows.

Also, I'm planning on posting my second Naruto fic at some point this week. I was asked awhile ago by many people if I would write another one since White Fox was so popular, so I'm here to say that I will be writing a new one. Hope ya'll enjoy it when I finally post it.

Till then, stay awesome out there, and as always,

PEACE!