What Kazui had in mind was using his Zanpakuto, which was why he manifested it in the first place. But it turned out that Yoruichi had a completely different thought in mind. Which involved him stripping down to his underwear!

On the dusty grounds of the training field under the shop, Kazui stood hugging his arms around his body, embarrassed. His face blushing and not very fond of Yoruichi at the moment. "Why'd you make me strip damn near naked?!"

Yoruichi was as cool and collected as a relaxed cat. A small gleam shined in her eyes as she smirked. "You're not training with Urahara, Kazui. I have different aspects I want to see you hone."

"Aspects that involve me only in my underwear…" He grumbled.

"You have the ability to make a shield that reflects, just like your mother, right?" She questioned. "Surprisingly without the use of an object, too."

He never understood it either. His mom needed her hair pens to summon her fairies to use her abilities. But him. He can do without a personal object. It comes from somewhere within him. However, he sucks at the ability. No matter how many times his mom has tried to teach him how to utilize the skill. The shield he makes always crumbles to pieces within matters of seconds. "I can, but it's not like it matters. I'm terrible with it."

"Perfect reason to get better at it." She winked. "I actually have something else in mind I want you to try regarding it, though."

"Like what?"

"I want you to try manifesting the shield on your entire body."

His eyes widened. That was an idea he'd never thought of before. It would be like making himself into a walking, impenetrable force. But, there's still that one, small detail. He can't maintain the ability! "It sounds awesome, Yoruichi, but…"

"Try it right now." Her arms folded. She was ready to wait.

Geez. It was going to be a real waste of time to try. Yoruichi seemed to have full belief in this thought, however. Even against what he said. Okay. He might as well try, fail and get it out the way. The faster he did, the quicker his real training could start. Kazui took a moment to think deeply about where he wanted to manifest the shield. He had to focus on a small part of his body first. Like his fist or something. That was perfect actually. Keeping his mind only on his hands, Kazui try to cover them in the shield, and it actually worked. The thin, orange, glass like, but yet flexible coat of the shield covered both his hands completely. Kazui surprised himself. A smiled that he couldn't help and didn't realize came over him, but shattered just as the shield did the second he bawled his fist. A step too far, he guessed…

A comforting hand fell on his shoulder, along with the supportive smile of Yoruichi. "By the end of the this day, you will master this." She took a step back. The moment she did, Kazui could feel the confidence she left in him.

Damn… Okay. Full effort.

In the soul society, Ichika arrived back to her home. Tired from doing all the chores she was assigned, she let herself fall to lay down. Kicking her sandals off, she scooted herself further into the house, like a slug. Her father, Renji passed by a moment before backing up to stop by her. A smile on his face.

"Looks like my daughter has been put through a lot today." He said to her.

Her eyes drifted up to him. "Punishment chores." Her reply came slow.

He laughed. "What did you do, Ichika?"

She shook her head. It was something she didn't really want to say. The truth involved Kazui. Not that her father minded if she saw him sometimes. But… She's sure he wouldn't have condoned her staying the night and neglecting to report back with her squad. "Something worthy enough of having my squad back burned from patrols…."

His voice reached a more disappointed level. "Ichika…"

Suddenly finding strength in her body, Ichika raised herself up to stand. She showed him a small smile. "Don't worry about it, Dad. It's only for about two weeks."

"Two weeks!?"

She turned sheepish. "Ah. Where's mom?"

Eyebrow raised, and far from the intentions of letting his daughter drift him away from the punishment matter, he obliged to answer her question anyway. "At a captains' meeting."

Captains' meeting, huh? That information sunk in her mind. A lot of captain meetings have been happening lately. She's noticed that her mom has been gone on more than one occasion because of them. She understands perfectly well that it's part of her mom's duty as a captain. The only reason it made her think about it longer than a second was because…

Was something wrong? Maybe her dad could tell her. "She's been getting called a lot to those lately. Is something happening, dad?"

It seemed like he had to think about it himself as well. "Well… your mother hasn't told me anything. And your uncle, my captain hasn't as well…" He showed her a face that wouldn't be very fond of saying safe words just because. Just because it would be the easier thing to say. "Let's hope not."

Let's hope not… No. That's not good enough. What she's thinking may end up getting her in worse trouble than chore duty, but… she needed to know.

All the captains had been assembled. Even former captain Kisuke, who had no idea why he was called upon. He and Ichigo were standing in the middle of everyone, and before the heavy eyes of Yamato. A light look on his face, Kisuke leaned over to Ichigo to lowly ask him, "My, my. Do you know what's going on?"

"Sadly." Ichigo responded. Noticing that Ichigo couldn't muster up a light response or expression—the light look on Kisuke's face faded. With a sigh, he tilted his hat down a bit.

Yamato took the initiative to speak first about the matter at hand. Everyone was more than ready to hear what the situation was. "There is a great impending danger to us. Time can only tell when it will hit. And if it will be too late if we do nothing."

Isane softly spoke then. "Sounds like there's only one option…" Yamato didn't need to say the words to confirm her sentence. Yes. The only option was to fight as soon as possible.

Shinji wasn't liking what he was hearing. Neither were any of the other captains. This was the first they were hearing of that matter. It was being sprung out of nowhere at a fast speed, no time to give them preparation to sink in the meanings. Just a sign of emergency and act. Shinji needed the rest of the fill in, however. He was sure the other captains would want to know as well. Every fill in. "I'd like to know exactly why and who."

Yamato's eyes squared on him. "You need a reason to fight for your life and others? Is that what I'm hearing?"

"I know why I'm here, Commander. Preventing deaths and tragedies don't really come with reasons for me. On the other hand of these deaths and tragedies… I'd like to know the reason of it being opposed on us. And who dares to oppose it."

Well, it was only to be expected. Ichigo knew this. They would want further explanation. The hard part of it all, convincing them the threat was real.

Kisuke spoke up then. "I'd have to agree with Hirako… Though, I'm not a captain anymore… Which is why I really want to know. Why was I called here to hear this?"

"You were called here to elaborate a possibility for us." Yamato elaborated.

Kisuke nodded. "Okay…"

"Have you ever attempted to achieve crossing different dimensions?"

Slightly showing that he was dreading the conversation about to happen, Kenpachi's head bobbed back. "Seriously, are we really…"

Ichigo had to applaud Yamato in his head for taking the subtler rout. If it was up to him, he would've probably jumped straight into it. He thought about it— 'My son from another world needs our help!'—Hmmmm….

Kisuke wasn't trying to hide the taken aback expression on his face. Maybe he couldn't. "Wait… are you serious right now?"

"Very serious." He responded. Eyes not lying.

Kisuke had to admit to himself that there was a time he did try when he was ahead of the 8th barracks. He came close, but it failed ultimately. There was one aspect, one arithmetic he couldn't get right. Why was this suddenly important to know? "Yes. However, the experiment failed… What does that have to do with this meeting?"

Yamato's eyes scanned around the room. Looking from dreaded eyes to dreaded. That dread was far from death. It was close to thinking of lives that needed to stay that way. Alive. "We have been warned of a great threat by a person from another dimension of time and space." The faint sound of Kenpachi cursing in disbelief could be heard. Other captains were not eager to jump on the belief either. Yamato ignored their slight skeptic eyes and continued explaining. "It was the same person years ago, that had a reiatsu resemblance to Yhwach."

"That would explain the sudden wipe of his reiatsu… It was untraceable after he flew under the radar." Kurotsuchi spoke then. His interest was clearly peaked in the new information. Arms folding, he smiled widely. He was excited for some reason. "How did he cross to our world?"

Byakuya went ahead of both Ichigo and Yamato to answer that question, since he was the only one to have a solid guess. Captains were not surprised that he was already in the loop of what was going on. Though, that just meant this was a problem that was kept low for quite a while. "Both times there was a cross to our world, the use of a wrist band device was always being wore."

The word 'both' did not fly over Sui-Feng's head. She caught on to notice that he chose to avoid saying the same intruder crossed over two times. "There was a different one that cross the second time?"

Ichigo's brows slightly rose. He wondered how in the world she pieced that together. Then again, he remembered that she was the captain of the 2nd division for a reason. Paying attention to small word details like that was a skill anyone would want the person in control of the executive militia to have.

Byakuya answered her. "That is true. The second person was also male."

Shinji looked as if he was being taken for a bad ride he was very much against. "Okay," He started, "Did these two mystery men reveal their identity? No offense, but how do we know if we can trust their story if they didn't want to reveal who they are? For all we know, they could be lying." And trying to lead them into a trap.

"They are my sons." The whole room went slowly shocked at comprehending Ichigo's abrupt, sharp declaration. He sounded as if he was offended when he stated those words. He was. Ichigo knew for a fact that Kenji was not lying and trying to pull a ruse. He could feel it when he was in his inner world. They were connected. Even with the depth and gap of space and time, there was still a connection. He himself had to put aside doubt to notice it.

"Kazui?" Shinji raised a brow. There was a high chance of him not finding out about Ichigo's first born, and he only found that out because Rukia and Rangiku couldn't contain themselves from screaming the news in joy all over the place. One. very. drunken. night. A second born was surely unknown knowledge to him. "Sorry, you have a second son? Your sons from another world, crossed to ours to warn us?"

Ichigo firmly nodded. "Except that, these two sons of mine are not Kazui, nor another son from this world. In this world, I only have Kazui." Ichigo's eyes drifted to Rukia's. He was asking for her confirmation. She showed him that she had no fear of them knowing. They needed to know this piece of the explanation for it all to make sense. So, she nodded. Ichigo looked away from her, directing his gaze from captain to captain. "Their names are Kenji and Karuchi. The sons of both me and Rukia."

The room felt heavy with disbelief. Shinji had to try hard to stop himself from smiling wildly out of giddy shock. "What?"

Kenpachi did the laughing for him. "Is there anything else to top to this bullshit?"

Yamato's voice boomed heavy, reaching everyone's ears and ceasing the moment's banter. "Our word is no joke to make slight of!" Kenpachi bit his tongue. Shinji's almost smile froze somewhere in the middle before he fully killed it. "Leave now if you can't bring yourself to believe this. Make sure to leave your captains status behind as well. I will not tolerate incapable squad leaders. Laughter?" His eyes went dead on Kenpachi. "I didn't hear the joke."

Frowning, Kenpachi grunted. Standing uncomfortable under the scrutinizing gaze of Yamato. "Continue."

Ichigo did continue then. "Kenji pulled me to his inner world somehow, and explained to me the situation at hand. He told me that because Rukia and I ended up together, it made it so that Yhwach was able to successfully come back in my happiest moment and… take over everything."

Isane's brows creased with sadness. "Oh… that's…"

Kurotsuchi grinned. "Interesting."

"Not at all…" Isane lowly said. "It doesn't make sense. Why would you two being together have a drastic changing outcome like that?"

That was a good question. One that he didn't think to ask Kenji, but it wasn't like Kenji gave him much time for asking questions, anyway. Kenji never said the reason either. He only said because they ended up together, it helped Yhwach for the better… Because of him marrying Orihime, what happened in their world that didn't happen in Kenji's? Only difference would be who his…. Ichigo's eyes widened.

Yamato caught this look in his eyes. Look of realization. "Did you realize something that is crucial, Kurosaki?"

All eyes went to him. Crucial? Maybe… It was a wild possibility. But it was honestly the only one.

Kisuke, who fell into the dark of the main center of view, started to realize something as well. His arms turned into a position where one hand would be able to cradle his chin, while his other arm was used as resting support. "Ah… Oh… Hmm… The answer why is obvious now." Kisuke side eyed Ichigo. "There's something you should know. I should have told you this a long time ago, but it kept slipping my mind." Everyone, on edge, waited to hear what he had to bring to light. "Years ago, Kazui, he…"

The shield coated Kazui's arms to his elbows. He was managing to maintain it without it shattering for at least 5 minutes. That was, without him being attacked anyway… Yoruichi's foot came crashing down above his head, and Kazui wasn't a big fan of feeling the impact, so he brought both his arms up to block the blow. A heaving pulse of power and wind rippled for a mile by far. Swinging her other leg around as she dropped low, Yoruichi landed a clear hit on Kazui that sent him crashing into a large rock.

He even made a body print of himself… Eyes squinting, wincing, he tried his best to focus on Yoruichi without seeing a tracing blur of her figure. He coughed. Raising his arms, the shield crumbled to pieces before his eyes yet again.

"It lasted a full 10 minutes this time at least." Yoruichi told him, trying to sound encouraging. She held out a hand to him.

He reached, about to grab her hand, but paused short, eyes falling on a tiny remain of his shield on his hand. He hummed disappointedly, connecting his hand with hers. "That's a fact. Sadly, not the wanted result by now." He was helped to stand and let her hand go. "We've been at this for hours now. Probably night by now…"

A small, sympathizing smile came over her face. "Even the strongest had spent many days, on both knees, drenched in their own sweat, brought down by doubt and weariness, Kazui. Nothing is gained by expecting or without trial and error."

Kazui exhaled, nodding. "Yeah. Yeah. I know. You've told me that a million times." He wasn't focusing on her expression at that moment, but when he did, eyes meeting hers, he saw that she was confused and baffled. "What?"

"What have I told you a million times?" She asked him.

"What you always tell me. What you just said."

"I… didn't say anything, Kazui. What are you talking about?"

Kazui had to think a moment to himself. Seriously… He heard her say those words to him. He's not going crazy. He hoped… Kazui chuckled uncomfortably.

Yoruichi showed him a concerned glance. "I was going to say something, actually." She wanted a few seconds before continuing. "…Even the—"

"Strongest had spent many days…" He eyed her seriously. "That's what you told me already…."

And this is the part where she'd start thinking he lost his mind. Kazui was starting to wonder as well. It's just like the last time he experienced this. When he heard someone tell him to duck, but no one had actually said it till a… moment later… Wait a second. He's not… He can't be… That would be out of this world.

Yoruichi was getting worried then. "Kazui. Are you okay? I didn't hit you too hard, did I?" She was about to touch a hand to the side of his face where she hit him. "I don't think I did…" Kazui's abrupt voice made her stop in her actions.

"What would you say if I told you I might have the power to briefly hear in the future?" I was slightly nervous to what her response would be.

Her brows narrowed in confusion as she let her hand fall back by her side. "Are you saying you heard me say that before I said it?"

"Not just then. It happened when I was at school, too." She had to believe him. He needed her too. Or else he wouldn't know what to think about himself. He couldn't hide the slight fear in his eyes.

Yoruichi could see it and sighed. Her confused expression fell to show honesty. "We had suspicions that this would happen…"

It was Kazui's turn to be confused then. He didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes were firm. "When you reflected Yhwach from manifesting. You did more than just that. You absorbed some of his abilities. And apparently, it's the future aspect."

What? How would that make sense? He didn't feel any type of energy being absorbed into him when that happened. Only thing he remembers is that it dispersed the second he touched Yhwach's small spirit form. He didn't know how to describe it really. All this time. Yoruichi and Kisuke knew it might have this effect on him. Why didn't they tell him? "Why didn't either of you say anything?"

"We didn't know for sure this would happen. We didn't want cause unnecessary worry. Kisuke and I decided that we'd tell you and your parents if you ever started to show signs." He could tell that she was telling him the truth.

Kazui shrugged his shoulders. He had to calm himself. So what if he absorbed some of his powers? There's nothing seriously bad about that. If anything it's a slightly disturbing fact, but… he's fine otherwise.

Yoruichi didn't say anymore. She swallowed down whatever there was to be said and decided to hold it off, he could tell. Laying a hand on his shoulder, she gently encouraged him to walk with her. "Come on. I think that's enough for this training session." For a long while, she hadn't smiled at him. She did then. "You look half dead, Kid."

And it brought him peace.

He snickered. "I feel half dead." He flexed his arms and neck. "You did hit me hard."

"Aw." She one arm hugged him to her as she told him lightly. "No pain no game."

"Kazui is the reason Yhwach didn't come back to attack us again." Kisuke revealed. Everyone couldn't choose one expression to react with. Confusion. Shock. None-understanding. Disbelief. Or too taken aback to sink it in. Everyone shuffled between at least two of them.

Ichigo on the other hand, took on a brash anger along with surprise and concern more than anything. "What?" His eyes were heavy on Kisuke.

Kisuke started get sheepish. "Now Ichigo, just calm down and let me finish explaining." Ichigo seemed to bite a mouthful of words as he relentless crossed his arms. "6 years ago, Yhwach tried to manifest in your house. At the time, Kazui was there and touched his soul form. When he did that, somehow he reflected Yhwach's entire being."

"You knew this and you didn't tell me! Why?" Ichigo fumed.

"I…" Kisuke gazed around. Then back to Ichigo once he came to an inner conclusion. "It's not important right now. What is important, is knowing that your son Kazui is the reason Yhwach didn't get a chance to destroy our world as well."

Byakuya spoke then. "It all makes sense now. Because you didn't end up with Inoue, Kazui was never born. He was never there to stop Yhwach."

Of course. When the puzzle pieces are put together that way, everything fell into place to make the picture they're in. Yamato had listened and taken in the new information. After a moment, he spoke. "You all know the situation now. Who is willing to fight?"

The captains in the room had the look of a thousand words on their faces. They were thinking well on it. Toshiro seemed to be the only one to come to a final thought.

"I don't doubt what you honestly feel, Kurosaki. However, I would like to see for myself if this Kenji person is trust worthy." Toshiro told him.

Ichigo was slightly disappointed in his response. Just how was he going to test Kenji? Ichigo turned to him and kept his demeanor open minded. "And just how do you intend to do that?"

Toshiro didn't ignore Ichigo's gaze or question. But he paid him one moment of awareness and turned his focus to the head captain. "I want to fight him, Commander."

Yamato seemed to not understand for a moment and waited for him to continue. Ichigo was ready to jump and object, but Kisuke put out an arm in front of him to remind him to be calm about it. Not liking it, Ichigo did settle down and let his ears open up to hear what else he had to say.

Toshiro did continue. "If he is honest about what he claims and is to be trusted, then… he will hesitate to kill me if his life is threatened."

Ichigo could feel the word "no" wanting to yell out from his voice. But he pushed it back as fast as the feeling came. He was worried about this ordeal. He won't go back on his word. He did trust Kenji. He trust that he wouldn't seriously harm Toshiro even if he was pushed to. But if he's wrong… If they do fight and he's wrong, and Toshiro does get hurt badly. It will be on him. And he will be there to personally inflict his apology on Kenji.

There's just no way he's wrong, though. Ichigo nodded in acceptance. Rukia looked slightly surprised that he did. "Okay. I have nothing against that." Ichigo confidently stated.

Yamato had the final say so. His eyes drifted from Toshiro to Ichigo. Once again. The other captains seemed to be on board with the fight as well. Yamato sighed. If Kenji was a good person, truly and honestly, he hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way. "Very well then. Our reiatsu indicators should pick his up again when he does arrive. When that time comes, make sure to be there to personally welcome him, Hitsugaya. This meeting is over."

After all the captains left the area, including Yamato, Ichika had dropped down from her stealth post, up on a pillar. She had heard everything from middle to finish. She didn't know what to think. Another world? Yhwach being a threat again and… Ichigo having another son in that world named Kenji? She had no idea what she ease dropped on, but she's sure it was never going to reach her ears willingly. In any case, one thing was for sure.

Another war was coming.