Everyone stared in shock as both Zanpakuto appeared in his hand, and Ichigo spoke to Kyoka in his mind. "Kyoka, if they saw your release while Aizen was your master, do I have to release you again?"

she quickly answered, "no Ichigo, the master does not matter, as long as they have seen my release, you can use my shikai on them" excellent, he thought and he proceeded to make Byakuya and Toshiro think that he shunpoed behind them, and the moment they turned to counter, he slashed Toshiro with Kyoka, and Byakuya with Zangetsu.

Both captains fell to their knees in shock, and Ichigo couldn't help but feel bad for wounding Toshiro, he had tried to help him after all. But he had no choice, he wasn't about to get captured again. He yelled for his friends to run, while he released Kyoka Suigetsu for all the shinigami in front of them, and made them think that they had ran off in the other direction.

They proceeded to the west gate, where Jidanbo stood guard. "Hey Ichigo. Wait a minute, I thought you had been arrested?" he asked him suspiciously,

Ichigo calmly tells the lie he thought up on the way there, "yeah we were pardoned thanks to Ukitake Taichou, could you open the gate for us?"

Jidanbo seemed torn, before saying "sorry Ichigo, no can do, I'll need permission from a captain first"

Ichigo panicked for a second, before remembering Kyoka, "no problem Jidanbo, he's on his way. Hey I got a second Zanpakuto, something to do with my training to beat Aizen, wanna see what it does?" he drew Kyoka and made sure Jidanbo was looking, before he released and made Jidanbo think Kyoka had transformed into a saw-like blade, before "sealing" it and making it look like Ukitake walked around the corner.

After convincing Jidanbo, and escaping Seireitei, they immediately headed to the Shiba household. He walked straight in and they proceeded straight downstairs, to find Kukaku having tea in the main room. She looked up and said "ever heard of knocking?"

Ichigo planted Kyoka into the floor and said, "surely family doesn't need to knock." gasps were heard from everyone in the room, before Kukaku looked at Kyoka Suigetsu, and back to Ichigo.

"so she told you everything huh?" she asked, and Ichigo nodded, "well, welcome to the family I guess. Are you angry at me for not telling you?"

she said this with panic and sadness in her eyes, and Ichigo replied "of course not. I didn't even know you knew, I suppose Yoruichi must have told you, does Ganju know?"

As if on cue, he walked into the room and said "does Ganju know what?" Kukaku turned to him and said "Ichigo knows."

Ganju looked surprised and Ishida said, "look, while the family reunion is very touching and... Disturbing, half of Seireitei is probably looking for us and we need to leave."

Ichigo looked at him with an annoyed look on his face before conceding, "what, why is Seireitei after you?" Kukaku asked.

Ichigo turned and said "I don't have time to explain, but we need to get out of soul society, and I need the both of you to come too. I know I'm asking a lot, but I need you to trust me, if you stay in soul society, you will die."

Kukaku simply stared at him in disbelief, before saying, "fine but you are going to explain the second we are safe, understand?" After Ichigo agreed and Kukaku and Ganju said hasty goodbyes, Rukia opened a senkaimon, and they ran through the Dangai.

About a third of the way through however, the cleaner appeared. "shit, why does thing appear every fucking time I pass through the Dangai? Isn't it only supposed to be once a week?" they all started running faster, but Ichigo noticed that they weren't going to make it in time, for if they used Shunpo, Inoue and Chad would get left behind. Suddenly he had an idea and he turned his head to yell "Ishida, that Reiatsu surfboard thingy you do, can you extend that to everyone?"

He shook his head, "I could, but I don't have nearly enough Reiatsu to extend it for everyone here." Ichigo immediately stuck out his hand towards the Quincy, who frowned at him, "while I appreciate the sentiment Kurosaki, now isn't an appropriate time to hold hands."

"Baka! Take the Reiatsu you need from me, I have more than enough, you can do that right?" Ishida thought for a second, and Ichigo looked back to see that the cleaner was unnervingly close, when Ishida nodded and took his hand. Almost immediately, a large blue light enveloped their feet, and the group started hurtling forwards at breathtaking speeds, towards the exit of the senkaimon.

Ichigo emerged from the senkaimon and reviewed the mental list of people they had to visit, he had hoped to visit everyone himself, but with soul society hot on his tail he simply didn't have the time.

Instead, he came up with a plan, "okay everyone, we're going to split up in order to save time. I'll visit the Vaizards, seeing as they will probably bolt if they sense anyone else, Rukia and Chad, you guys get my family, because they know you both and my sisters will probably take the news better from Rukia. Kukaku and everyone else go to Urahara, and wait there. We will all meet in Urahara's basement once we have everyone. Ready?" everyone nodded and Ichigo ticked off his mental list, he was sure he was missing someone, then it hit him "Shit! We forgot Hanatarou!"

Everyone seemed to feel bad about forgetting him, and Ichigo was crushed, Hanatarou was his friend, and he had completely forgotten him, it was Ichigo's fault he was even in trouble in the first place. Kukaku saw how upset Ichigo was, and said, "Ichigo, we will go back for him, but not now, we have to get your family to safety first."

Ichigo felt terrible, but he reluctantly agreed. "I just hope he understands when we go back and he hears what happens. Okay if everyone knows where they are going, I'll see you at Urahara's."

Inoue suddenly spoke up, "umm Kurosaki-Kun, maybe I should come with you to the Vaizards, I mean they have met me before and it might be safer that wa-"

Ichigo cut her off before she could finish, "nah your alright Inoue, I can go much faster if your not with me, and once I get to the hideout I'll be perfectly safe." Inoue reluctantly agreed, and everyone set off to their respective destinations.

Ichigo parted company with the others and set off towards the Vaizard's hideout. The senkaimon had come out quite close to the warehouse, so it wasn't long before he was walking through the door. As he walked in the door closed quickly behind him. He was in pitch darkness until a spotlight was switched on; he was blinded when he heard Shinji's voice "Ichigo? Hey man sorry about that, we didn't know it was you."

Ichigo was quick to point out the obvious, "how did you not know it was me, I'm sure you guys would have no problem sensing my Reiatsu."

Ichigo was surprised when Hachi spoke up, "well we need to keep our Reiatsu hidden, as we are well aware that soul society may be trying to hunt us down, despite our help in the war. The barrier I put up is a sort of parallel power to the Negacion that menos use, it completely separates Reiatsu, making it impossible for our Reiatsu to be sensed from the outside, as a result however, we cannot sense any Reiatsu from outside either."

Ichigo was surprised that they had anticipated soul society's betrayal, then realised that was his whole purpose in coming here. "Well you guys were right, they betrayed me, they were going to execute me, and all my friends, including you guys. Rukia and Sado are getting my Dad and my sisters, everyone else went to Urahara's, I came here to get you guys."

Shinji just looked at him like he was stupid, "Baka, those are the first places soul society will look for you, and what if we do get everyone to Urahara's, where do we go from there? They won't stop pursuing you, or us. So-"

Ichigo just smiled as he said "simple, we go to Hueco Mundo." the Vaizards all froze and looked at Ichigo like he had suggested they hide from soul society in a plastic box.

Ichigo started to explain, "Look, we can fix up Las Noches and live there, think about it, it's large, defendable, and soul society won't send a large squad there for fear of attracting loads of hollows."

Hiyori was quick to scold him, her precious sandal coming out of nowhere, "But we will have the exact same problem, stupid baldy, what's to stop the hollows from coming after us?"

Ichigo smiled "easy, they already fear Las Noches, and once they hear that the one living there is the guy who killed Aizen, they won't dare come near."

They all looked thoughtful, before Shinji agreed. "fine, we'll come with you, soul society would have found us eventually anyway, I suppose this is our best hope for survival, everyone pack up your stuff, we're going to Urahara's in three minutes so hurry up."

with large amounts of groaning and muttering, everyone gathered up their stuff and three minutes later, Hachi deactivated his barrier. As soon as he did, they all felt five large, familiar Reiatsu signatures, all in the vicinity of Ichigo's house, "Shit!" Ichigo shouted. soul society had made its move.

As they neared Urahara's, Kukaku spoke up "So is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on? Why are we running from soul society?"

Ishida scoffed and said "we are going to need to explain it to Urahara, no need to explain it twice when once will suffice, but once we have told you, you are going to tell us exactly what Kurosaki meant when he called you family."

Kukaku sighed, "Fine, we're nearly there anyway and I suppose it's a fair deal." They arrived at Urahara's, and Yoruichi came running out, "Kukaku! So nice to see you again, but what brings you here, and why are Ichigo's friends with you?"

Urahara walked out with a serious look on his face, which immediately silenced everyone.

Everyone was surprised when he said, "So, soul society decided to betray us after all, a shame really."

Ishida was the first to ask the question on everyone's lips. "You knew? How on earth-?"

Urahara smiled and said "simple, I felt you all appear, and I felt Ichigo's Reiatsu head towards the Vaizard's hideaway, and Rukia-San and Sado-San's Reiatsu headed towards the Kurosaki household, that plus the fact that the rest of you are here tells me that soul society decided that we are no longer useful, and are now merely a threat, such a shame. I suppose we should better go in." they all went into the shop, and Renji explained exactly what had happened in soul society to Urahara, Yoruichi and the Shibas.

Just after Kukaku had finished explaining her relationship to Ichigo, much to the surprise of everyone except Urahara and Yoruichi, they all felt the same Reiatsu that Ichigo had felt. Everyone looked at each other before Urahara said "well, looks like soul society wasted no time making their counter-attack. I suppose we had better go help."

Kukaku looked at him uncertain "are you sure? while I would love to have a good fight with soul society at the moment, Isshin and those other two can hold them till Ichigo gets there, and as much as I hate to admit it, we would probably just get in his way."

Yoruichi finally spoke up and said "well we had better go just to be safe, soul society may have reinforcements waiting, and Ichigo would never forgive us if we didn't go and something happened to his family, or Rukia for that matter." she said the last bit with a smirk, and with that they set off.

Rukia and Chad arrived at the Kurosaki household, and each took a deep breath, unsure on how to break the news. Just as Rukia was about to knock, the door swung open and Rukia was caught in an impossibly tight bear hug, "Rukia-Chan! My precious third daughter! You've returned!"

Chad pulled Isshin off Rukia and said in a calm voice, "Kurosaki-Sama, we have something important to tell you and your daughters."

Isshin looked at him seriously and said, "I take it this is the reason that my son left soul society with all his friends and the Shiba family. You had better come in."

They entered the house together, and Karin and Yuzu both looked up from the couch, noticing Rukia, Karin said "Yo Rukia, what are you doing here?"

Yuzu looked at Karin as though she had gone insane, "what do you mean Karin-Chan, the only ones there are Dad and Onee-Chan's friend."

Karin noticed then that Rukia was in Shinigami form, and was surprised, she quickly said, "you're a Shinigami too Rukia-Chan?"

Rukia quickly replied "look Karin, I will explain everything to you but we don't have time, Sado-kun will explain everything to you as Yuzu can't see or hear me."

After a brief explanation of Shinigami and soul society for Yuzu, Chad explained what was happening and why they needed to go to Urahara's as soon as possible. While Karin seemed to reluctantly accept, Yuzu looked close to tears, "but why, they're Ichi-Nii's friends right? Why would they do this?"

Isshin sighed and hugged Yuzu, "it's complicated Yuzu, and I will personally explain it to you, but right now we need to go, so both of you have three minutes to pack your essentials, and only essentials mind you, and then we are leaving, okay?" both the girls agreed, and ran upstairs.

Isshin looked close to tears, "Thank you, I know this must be difficult for you." Rukia said, trying to comfort him, when Isshin turned to her

"its okay, I always suspected this day might come, I just wish it could have waited until the girls were a bit older, where are we going by the way?"

Rukia shrugged, " Ichigo said that we were to meet at Urahara's, apart from that I've no idea. However, when he said it he had that look in his eye," Isshin looked at her confusedly, and Rukia continued, "I first noticed it a long time ago, when we were fighting together, he'll come up with some weird plan, and get this cocky look in his eye. And whenever that happened, everything seemed to have a way of working out."

Isshin smiled at her, "you know him so well Rukia-Chan, I'm glad he has you." she blushed slightly, and was saved from answering by the girls coming downstairs.

They all left the house, ready to set off to Urahara's, when a burst of Shunpo caught the eyes of all but Yuzu, they turned around, to find themselves face to face with the captains of squads two, seven, six, eight and twelve. Soi Fon stepped forward and said in a calm, clear voice, "it's over, surrender now or we will bring you in by force, all of you."