Title: Limitations

Disclaimer: The plot and characters of BLEACH is the intellectual property of Tite Kubo. Kunoichi Yumemi has no claim over the characters or plot of BLEACH and makes no profit off this work of fiction.

Summary: It was a little known fact that Kurosaki Ichigo's body was weak to begin with. The sudden death of Kurosaki Masaki led a young Ichigo to fight tooth and nail to overcome that weakness so he could protect the people he loved, and by the time he turned fifteen, he had emerged victorious over his body's weakness. And then he met Kuchiki Rukia. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine the long term effect that this meeting with would have on his life…

Note: AU. Completely disregards recent chapters of BLEACH.

A/N: Wow! I'm really pleased with the turnout for this story! In anycase, unlike many of my other stories, Limitations was never meant to be an epic, and so I am both pleased and sorry to announce that this story is drawing to a close. Including the epilogue and excluding this chapter, we have two more to go! Now, please enjoy the story.

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Chapter 3

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Renji walked down the street toward the Kurosaki Clinic. The downturn of Ichigo's health had led to calling Inoue Orihime to reject as much of the illness as she possibly could. While the orange haired teen had been stabilized and somewhat recovered, there was still a fear of relapse.

"Oi, Abarai-kun!" a voice barked.

Renji looked up to see Ichigo's father leaning out of his son's window.

"Good afternoon, Kurosaki-san!" Renji called.

"You're here to see Ichigo?"

"Yeah."

"You have good timing! My invalid son's awake! Come on up!"

"Shut up, Goat Face!" Renji blinked as Ichigo's indignant shout was accompanied by a pillow slamming into the back of the former captain's head, sending the man careening out of the window to land face first in the bushes.

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Renji had been shocked when he entered the bedroom and laid eyes on his friend. The bedridden part he had been expecting. Unohana had reported that she had suggested plenty of bed rest, and it had been a suggestion that Ishida Ryuuken and Kurosaki Isshin had agreed with. The haggard, pale face was a given, but the sickly thin arms were a sobering surprise. This was one of the most powerful shinigami that Soul Society had ever seen? Was this what the shinigami who had defeated not only Zaraki Kenpachi, but also Kuchiki Byakuya was reduced to?

"You look like shit, Ichigo," the sixth division vice captain said bluntly.

Ichigo gave the shinigami a tired smile. "I feel like it too," he said. "Nice to see you, Renji."

Renji nodded, "Soul Society's in an uproar. Your sisters suddenly rushing into a Senior Officer's Strategy meeting and yelling that you wouldn't wake up was all over the place within the hour. I think it's starting to sink in that you're in a bad way, Ichigo."

Ichigo scoffed. "Shinigami," the teen said, "the dead has got to learn that not everyone in existence is so lucky as to not be subject to human illnesses."

"Oi!" Renji barked. "I'm dead too, you know!"

Ichigo grinned, "Really? I'd never have figured, what with your gigai dropping decaying meat everywhere."

"Why you little…" Renji growled only to find himself on the receiving end of a face full of pillow. "Kurosaki! You're so paying for that!"

"Hey! Ill and dying person here!" Ichigo laughed as Renji grabbed his wrists and proceeded to playfully wrestle him out of the western style bed.

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"So, Ichigo," Renji said, "any idea where you might end up?"

Ichigo gave the redhead a wry look. "What gives you the idea that I'm gonna die?"

"Well, I dunno," Renji poked the teen, "Maybe 'cuz you're human? Every meeting, Unohana's been reporting your progress, and it's not looking good."

Ichigo sighed and leaned backward. "That's true," the teen admitted. "If I hadn't put off the decision for so long, Inoue probably could have rejected the entire thing in one go, and now it's progressed to the point where she can only reject a little at a time. We didn't realize that it was so bad until right after dad sent Karin and Yuzu to get Unohana." The teen turned to look out the window. "We all thought that I'd have a little more time…"

"Yeah, that sucks. Well? Where are you going to go after this?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Dad said to take whatever the Sotaicho offered."

Renji blinked. "You know, lots of people are real eager to get you in their division."

"And like most people without enough work to keep busy, you lot are betting on the outcome."

"Damn right!" A pause… "Hey…"

Ichigo grinned and said lightly, "Oh, hey there, Byakuya!"

"Wha?!" Renji spun around and cast about frantically. After a moment, he turned back and scowled at Ichigo who broke out in gales of laughter. "That was mean, Ichigo. Real mean. Haha, laugh it up Ichigo. I'll get you yet."

And Ichigo laughed harder.

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"Ugh… Sorry about this, Inoue," Ichigo muttered, taking long, slow breaths to keep from coughing.

"It's alright, Kurosaki-kun," Inoue said, "It's not your fault you're sick."

"But I shouldn't have to bug you for treatment the way I do," the teen complained.

"No," Inoue agreed, "you shouldn't, but I want to help you Kurosaki-kun." The glowing golden dome vanished. "There," Inoue said, "All done, at least for today."

"Orihime," the little blonde fairy floated up in front of the teen, "We can't keep doing this."

"Shun-o?" Inoue said, "What do you mean?"

"He's getting worse," Shun-o said, "and it's getting harder and harder to hold back the damage the illness is causing. Eventually, we'll have to either heal everything at once, or just leave the illness to run its course."

"Oh no…" Inoue glanced over at Ichigo who was watching the two of them with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Let's not forget that he's part shinigami," Shun-o said. "There's no guarantee that the illness won't transfer over."

A pair of calloused hands closed gently around Shun-o, who squeaked in surprise.

"Thanks for the concern, little one," Ichigo said.

"Um… No problem?"

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Ichigo kept his breathing slow and even to stave off the cough that was growing in his chest. It was sad, he thought, that even the simple act of walking was becoming a chore because of this illness. He paused in front of the door that led to his father's study, and swallowed hard.

"This is ridiculous!" the two toned voice of his hollow said, "You can take on hollows, and Arrancar and shinigami captains, but you can't tell your father how you want this all to end? Whatever happened to your backbone, King?"

Shut up, Ichigo shot back mentally, and knocked. The door swung open to reveal Isshin, who stared at his son with unreadable eyes.

"Dad," Ichigo said, "We need to talk."

Isshin nodded, and stepped out of the doorway, allowing his son to enter the study.

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It was a surprise when yet another Senior Officer's meeting was interrupted, this time, not by a pair of frantic children desperate for their brother, but by a broken hearted father.

"Isshin?" Shunsui broke ranks to put his arms around his brother and guide him from the back of the room, where the unauthorized Senkaimon had opened, to the massive doors that served as the general entrance to the majority of the Gotei 13. "What's wrong?" he asked, though he suspected he already knew if the dark circles under his brother's eyes were any indication.

The former Captain drew in a shaky breath and said, "He's decided." Isshin turned toward Byakuya and said, "And he wants to speak with you."

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Kuchiki Byakuya frowned as he exited the Senkaimon in front of the Kurosaki family domicile. He simply could not fathom why the Representative Shinigami would want to see him, especially considering that neither of them seemed to be able to get along very well. He lifted his hand to knock, only for the door to swing open to reveal the orange haired teen. The dark haired noble was shocked to see the dark circles under the teen's eyes, and his pale skin and the way his clothes hung loosely from his frame. The teen had lost quite a bit of weight since the discovery of his illness. Byakuya found himself uncomfortably reminded of Hisana as she wasted away from grief and illness and felt his heart clench painfully. He had never been particularly fond of the boy, but to see his strength reduced to such a condition…

It was unsettling… Sad… Painful, even.

The corners of Ichigo's lips turned up in a tired smile. "Yo."

Byakuya frowned. "Should you even be up?"

The teen shrugged, "Might as well. It's only a matter of time before it's no longer a viable option."

Byakuya suddenly found himself thrusting the teen down onto one couches by the shoulder in the sitting room just beyond the domicile's entrance hall and draping one of the blankets that had been flung over the back of the couch over the teen's shoulders.

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Almost two hours later, Kuchiki Byakuya swept into the Kuchiki Estate and barricaded himself in his sleeping chambers. Confused and surprised, the next morning the servants would whisper quietly about finding the two empty jugs that once contained the strongest sake on the market in his room after the noble had left for work.

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Kyouraku Shunsui stood in the doorway of his nephew's bedroom, watching as the moonlight spilled through the window over the pallid face which reminded him painfully of Ukitake Jyuushiro whenever his tuberculosis got the best of him. How often had he visited his old friend in his sickbed during the two thousand years that he's known him? Many, many times. And now, he was doing the same for his nephew. The eighth division captain hoped fervently that he would not have to continue this after the boy's body expired. He didn't think that he could handle it if Ichigo's illness ended up transferring over to his spirit form. Shunsui quietly closed the door and crossed the hallway to his nieces' shared room, and opened the door. Karin and Yuzu had curled up on Karin's bed, their faces close together, clinging to each other, as if fearful of loosing the other sibling the way they were loosing their brother. Shunsui closed the door and made his way toward the stairs. He stood at the foot of the stairs and looked toward the living room where Isshin sat in front of the television, staring morosely into a cup of sake.

"Six years," Isshin said quietly, "Masaki died for him, and bought him only six years…"

"Six years is better than nothing," Shunsui said, "At least you got to see the type of person he'd grow up to be. Some parents don't even get that luxury."

"I didn't think I'd loose him so soon," the retired captain whispered.

"His death won't be the end of everything. You know that you can always see him in Soul Society."

"It won't be the same as having him under the same roof. And if Kisuke's invention doesn't work?"

"Kisuke's been your friend for years," Shunsui said, "Have a little faith in him."

Isshin turned and gave his brother a reproachful look. "I would, but it's a little difficult to do so while it is my son's memories on the line."

Shunsui sighed and tilted his head back to look up at the ceiling, beyond which, a little past where he stood, his nephew lay in bed even as his illness consumed him. His heart clenched painfully. He had always known that for Isshin, a third son in a lesser noble family, there was very little. This quaint little house and those three children was all Isshin had to show for his hard work and now his firstborn and only son was dying. Isshin had been slated to inherit very little from the beginning, and as the son of the third son, Ichigo's inheritance as a scion of House Kyouraku may as well be nonexistent. The most he would get from the family would be a place to lie down and sleep, provided that he didn't do something stupid that would end in his being disowned. Whatever Ichigo wanted, he would have to, like his father, earn it with his own two hands.

"He'll be fine," Shunsui said with more confidence than he felt. "Ichigo is strong, and he's not afraid of a little hard work. Even if he forgets, he'll find a way to get his memories back himself. It's simply the way he is."

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Tousen Kaname stepped out of the Garganta and allowed his Reiryoku to give him a sense of the boy whose labored breathing could be heard not too far from in front of him. It seemed improbable that one as powerful as Kurosaki Ichigo was dying, for even in illness, the sheer volume of his reiryoku was jaw dropping.

Despite his misgivings, Tousen stepped forward to complete his mission. Aizen believed that if the boy's connection to his body was severed in Hueco Mundo, his inner hollow would leap to the very forefront while the boy's consciousness would be pushed to the back, and the resultant hollow could be converted into an Arrancar. Aizen had every intention of having an Espada with Kurosaki Ichigo's face and powers, and what Aizen wanted, he would have.

"Forgive me," Tousen murmured, "You should be dying with family and friends around you, but now you will die among enemies to become the one to kill those you loved…"

He picked up the child, whose breaths came easier as his head and shoulders were elevated, and his eyelids fluttered, but did not open. The Garganta opened just as Kurosaki Isshin and Kyouraku Shunsui flung Ichigo's bedroom door open.

"Ichigo!"

A weak noise left the ill teen's lips, though he did not wake. Tousen's grip on the child tightened slightly as the Garganta closed behind them, cutting off the boy from the sound of his father's voice.

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TBC….

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SanadaSayuri: Uh oh….

Ichigo: Ok, first I'm shot, then I'm nearly smothered, then I'm tricked into leading a small nation for a revolution, then I'm dying from some physical deficiency, and now I'm kidnapped? Do you have something against me, woman?!

SS: Umm… Sorry, Ichigo. Plot device.

Ichigo: -glowers— Not good enough. Try again.

SS: Eep! –hides—

Anyway, about BLEACHed Elements… I'm still waiting for a response from Deragonmaji. Well, either way, updates will be scarce. Please leave a review!