Author's Note: What Might Have Been
As I've said before, my enthusiasm for Bleach has evaporated, however this is not the sole reason of my extremely long delay between updates. First, my computer, which had my original notes for this summary of what could've been, crashed and I had not yet backed any of it up. Secondly, I've had some personal problems that I'm sure you don't care about, but suffice to say that they've kept me distracted. So, without further ado, here is what I intended the rest of the story to be like (at least, what I can remember).
-I would have had Rukia and Renji both train to achieve bankai, while reconciling, and face Byakuya together. I also planned on having Ichigo and Chad face Kenpachi at some point, though I hadn't planned the specifics yet.
-Ishida would have faced Mayuri and actually succeeded in killing him. Mayuri is a complete bastard and I still find it absurd that Soul Society would have allowed such a sadistic psychopath such leeway. I mean, Kenpachi's a loose cannon too, but he's more easy to control. Uryu's vengeance would have created a more tense relationship between Ichigo's group and Soul Society, both in the current arc and the rest of the story.
-The climatic chapter of the arc, in which Aizen is revealed and there are fights atop the execution cliff, would have been called "Aizen's Mistake." Aizen would have done his whole overpowered hax thing, and then reached inside Ichigo to find the Hogyoku, reasoning that Urahara had given Ichigo a "spirit-to-human" converting gigai…BUT come up empty handed! He tries Rukia, since she received a gigai from Urahara recently too…but nothing! So, having revealed himself at last, Aizen has no choice but to flee Soul Society in a much less dignified manner than in canon.
-During the following arc it would've been revealed that Urahara had, in fact, hidden the Hogyoku in Isshin many years ago! Seriously, why would Urahara wait until Rukia's arrival to hide the dang thing?! It makes no sense! Especially considering Isshin's returning to life and having kids. Speaking of which, the Hogyoku could have still been dissolving in Isshin's body when Ichigo was conceived, thus giving him greater control over his hollow powers than in the original story. I also planned on revealing that Aizen needed the Hogyoku, not solely for self-perfection, but to convert the Vasto Lorde level hollows, which I theorized to be the top four Espada (not Yammy, that was ridiculous!). This would've also given Aizen a good reason to kidnap Orihime, to reverse the state of Isshin's body to acquire it. In addition, Ichigo is even more invested in going to Hueco Mundo, to rescue not only his friend, but his father as well.
So there you have it. That's basically as far as I got. My only other thoughts beyond that were that I wanted Chad to have a more developed form (see my other Bleach story), Tosen would've had a more meaningful redemption, and that I wanted one of Starrk's wolves to survive and return to Hueco Mundo. Because Starrk is awesome.