I DON'T OWN BLEACH .THOUGH I WISH I DID?

Thoughts 'Wow.'

Zanpakuto whispering "Wow".

Hollow "wow."

CHAPTOR 3

"Ah. What can I do for you today Isshin?" Urahara asked him.

"I need a new gigai Kisuke. One that won't damage my reiatsu. Then I need to get back into shape." He said.

"I knew you would come. So I prepared this gigai for you. It's like Kenpachi's eye patch. It will constantly eat your reiatsu building it up. In a few months you should be back to your old self again." Kisuke said.

"Thanks Kisuke. How much do I owe you?" he asked exiting his present body and entering the new one.

"Oh don't worry about that. I am sure you will repay me in spades when you save my life during the war that is going to occur soon." Kisuke replied cheerfully.

Ichigo meanwhile had woken up refreshed. He closed his eyes and sensed the area for any danger. It was a habit from living through two wars and was a habit he did not want to get rid of. He could sense Yuzu and Karin's body with an artificial soul in it. His father was heading towards Urahara's shop. He tried to remember what was supposed to come next. Karin had already taken care of Inoue Sora. Surprisingly Karin got Lirin and not Kon. Ichigo begin to suspect if him getting Kon was an accident or not. Still it was for the best anyway. Now if only he could remember what came first? Shrieker or Fisher?

He got up, dressed and walked towards school avoiding Lirin and Yuzu. Then he sensed it. Nel, Pesche and Dondochakka's reiatsu signatures. Restoring Nel had been simple as he only had to heal her mask and replace the lose reiatsu and leave behind plenty more, empowering her even further. However Pesche and Dondochakka's lost mask fragments made restoring them a real pain. However he managed it in the end by pumping a good quantity of hollow and shinigami reiatsu into them and restoring them.

'They shouldn't be here but I'll just go along with them just incase its something important.' he thought as he quickly ran out towards the school and followed the reiatsu threads to their destination.

In his haste he did not notice a pair of eyes watching him intently. The figure seemed to hesitate as if it was undecided and then finally it headed off towards the location of Rukia and Karin.

Just like with Rukia, all the female students were crowding around the new student. Ichigo looked over and saw that it was Nel. As for Pesche and Dondochakka, they were at the side talking to Keigo, Chad and Mizuiro. All three of them were in a gigai. He tried to slip in quietly when….

"Ichigo. It's so good to see you again." Nel shouted as she ran up to him and hugged him forgetting her great strength. Under normal circumstances it would not have hurt him but as he was in his human body at the moment, he was being slowly crushed to death.

"Nel-san let go of him. You are suffocating him." Orihime said with more then just his health on her mind.

But her point was valid as Ichigo could be seen turning blue. Quickly letting go of him, Nel clung to his arm completely oblivious to the impressions she was giving. Ok maybe not so oblivious.

"Wow, no wonder Ichigo was unaffected by Orihime. You have a nice girlfriend there Ichigo." Keigo said.

"We are just friends." He shouted not noticing how Orihime had stiffened when she heard the word girlfriend but relaxed when Ichigo denied it. But the rest of the females in the room did as well as a few of the males.

"By the way Nel, what are you doing here?" He asked turning to her.

"Oh I finished all of my work and employed some people to look after big brother's party and all of the other things. I then got bored so I borrowed a few things from work and came here to see you." She replied.

'To sum it up, the info net is complete and she finished raiding all of Aizen's back up stashes of weapons, equipment and other things and has put monitors on all of his movements and on all of his forces.' He thought.

Big brother was a code for Aizen that he had set up with her. During the second war those stashes had came in handy and though he had found out all of their locations, most of them had already been used up by Aizen's forces during the first war. So this time around he had Nel steal all of them, thus gaining them useful supplies for the future as well as depriving Aizen of valuable resources. A win-win situation.

'The best part of it is that those stashes are a secret and no one checks up on them.' He thought happily. Things were going ahead of schedule.

"Kurosaki-kun, how long have you known Nel-san?" Orihime asked almost spitting out the word san, the tension in the air immediately rising up a few notches after she said that.

"Oh we have known each other since we were kids." He answered.

It was true in a sense as Nel was a chibi when he had first met her and he was only fifteen back then compared to his now two hundred and more aged soul. Despite his age and experience however, he was still completely oblivious to the danger he was getting himself into.

Nel on the other hand, knew exactly what Orihime was. A rival. She glared at her and had it returned ten fold.

"You know it reminds me of a story I once read." She said looking at Orihime. "It was about two childhood friends who were separated and later fell in love when they met each other again and got married."

'Nel-1 Orihime-0'was the thought of all the girls in the class.

"I liked the story of the two lovers who grew up together better. They lived longer and didn't get a divorce." Orihime replied.

'Ouch. Nel-1 Orihime-1'

"I am sure a little girl like you wouldn't know what you are talking about." Nel retorted stressing the word little and puffing out her chest, proving to all that her assets were bigger then Orihime's and sending a good portion of the male population and the class lesbian into dreamland at warp speed.

'Nel-2 Orihime-1.'

"What I lack in quantity, I make up for in quality." Orihime said placing her hands on her hips, clearly showing off her superior curves, causing quite a number of nose bleeds among the remaining males.

'Nel-2 Orihime-2.'

It was like a tennis match. The heads of the students, mostly female at this point, followed the insults as they were thrown back and forth. Before Ichigo had arrived they were like sisters. But now though they were battling it out like worse enemies. Tatsuki on her part was shocked at how vicious her normally meek and kind friend was. She was also amazed at how oblivious Ichigo was.

Finally, most lightly through Divine intervention, Ichigo's higher thought processors kicked in and realizing the volatile situation he was in, he slowly backed away from them so as not to set them off, only to trip, fall and hurt his hand. A book fell on his cheek bruising it.

That was enough as Orihime was immediately at Ichigo's side. Not to be out done Nel kissed Ichigo's hand to make it better. Orihime responded in kind by kissing him on the cheek. One thing lead to another and it quickly escalated into a huge cat fight. A very dangerous thing as Nel was a former-Espada and Orihime was tutored by Tatsuki to help her better defend herself.

'What the hell?? Even in the past I still can't escape this.' He thought as he tried to escape the two lunatics. He always had feelings for both of them but could never properly act on them except on a few occasions.

'You should just take both of them.' Shiro said as he had come to see what had made Ichigo's inner world so bright.

'I can't do that. It's inappropriate.' He thought knowing that is darker half would hear him.

'And the fact that they nearly killed you when they ambushed you in your room has nothing to do with it.' Shiro said.

'Shut up. You promised that you would never bring up that incident ever again.' He thought with a shiver. He had come so close to death that he could almost literally see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. It took him a week to recover from that incident.

'Fine. I am going to practice my cero's. Call me if anything interesting happens.' Shiro said as he retreated deeper into Ichigo's mind leaving him to try and escape on his own.

The catfight that occurred earned a place in school history as one of the most vicious in recent and distant memory. Over twenty people were sent to the hospital, tables were over turned, windows, glasses etc were broken and in the end the school was canceled for a week. It had finally ended a few of hours after it had begun with numerous broken bones for many of the bystanders, six for Keigo, and a broken rib for Mizuiro. They had finally found a way to separate the two instigators and Nel had to be restrained by Chad and Orihime by Tatsuki. Surprisingly, those two were unhurt except for a few scratches and bruises. Pesche and Dondochakka, being the cowards that they are, had hidden themselves the moment it had all begun. Ishida was strangely absent that day.

"What did we learn from this?" Keigo asked ruefully as he was being loaded into the ambulance.

"Never leave those two alone with Ichigo." Mizuiro answered him massaging his newly bandaged chest. 'They were like best friends before but when Ichigo turned up….' He thought with a shiver.

Nel, Pesche and Dondochakka left the area soon after the fight but not before they bumped into Ishida who had just arrived.

"Excuse us." She said as she moved on.

'What the hell? She's a hollow. Those two are Hollows as well.' He thought. He could not do anything now but decided to track them and confront them later.

Ichigo reached home tired and sour. He had not escaped from Nel and Orihime unscratched. His shirt was now torn open, scratches from their sharp fingernails were spread on his body and two different shades of lipstick could be found on his face and chest.

'Those two always did go crazy when ever they met each other in my presence. I really didn't expect them to go at it so soon though.' He thought as he slowly trudged towards of the front door of his house. He quickly turned the doorknob and stepped inside only to be greeted with a hug. Wait a hug? He expected to be kicked in the face.

"You're late Ichigo!" Kurosaki Isshin yelled as he greeted his son in such an abnormal fashion.

"Welcome home onii-chan" Yuzu said from the kitchen.

As he pulled himself out of the hug, Ichigo forgot about his current problems for a moment. "What the hell! Why can't you greet me like a normal person? First you attack me in the morning then you hug in the evening!!! Make up you're mind."

"I just got off the phone with your principal." He said totally unaffected by Ichigo's ranting. He had a big grin on his face.

He then noticed the current state that his son was in. "Ah. Not only do you have two girls fighting for you, I see that you have also been very manly with them."

Before Ichigo could finish sputtering and deny that statement however….

"Oh, it's just you Ichigo. What happened?" Karin asked as she entered the room with Rukia and noticed the state her brother was in.

"I'll tell you what happened." Isshin shouted. "Ichigo was being manly with TWO GIRLS! Oh, Masaki." He said facing his wife's shrine. "I've found our third and fourth daughters! He makes me so proud."

"Shut up." Karin and Ichigo roared as they kicked him in the face. It would have continued but Ichigo sensed a problem and excused himself leaving quickly.

"Where is he going?" Rukia asked. She was still curious about where he had been in the past month and where he disappears to every now and again. It wasn't normal to disappear for days on end in the human world…. Was it?

"Oh don't worry. He is just going to those girl's houses to be manly with them again." Sniff. "He is so much like me when I was at his age." Isshin shouted.

"SHUT UP. You can't keep saying things like that in front of guests." Karin said as she kicked him a lot lower this time.

It was dark and he was very quiet as he silently followed the three hollows. They were going into an abandoned construction site. The two male hollows left in a portal of black distortion but the female remained behind.

"You've been following us for a while now." She stated.

His eyes widened slightly as she turned around, and spoke staring directly at him, "Who are you?"

Nel couldn't see his face, but she knew it was the Quincy, Ishida Uryū. She was proven right when he extended his right hand and a bluish white reiatsu bow formed. She remembered Ichigo's stories about him and did not want to harm him. But at his current level, even her weakest attack would hurt him badly.

"What were you doing at school? Why are you in a gigai? Well it doesn't matter as I am going to kill you. " he said getting into his fighting stance.

She watched, completely bored, as he pulled back on the bow, a reiatsu arrow appearing on the string, and let go. The arrow hit home destroying her gigai but it did not even put a scratch on her uniform.

"But before that tell me, what is your connection with that shinigami?" Ishida continued as though he had meant to do that. Though he did not show it, he was terrified. Not only did his strongest arrow have no effect on her but she had a zanpakuto and a broken hollow mask.

'She's an arrancar. Shit, what have I gotten myself into?' he thought despairingly.

Nel on part was mildly impressed. At first she doubted that this boy could be the slayer of millions that Ichigo had described but now she could believe it. He had potential. All he lacked was the equipment and experience. All she wanted to do now was to find out what skills he has at this point in time.

Ishida watched as the arrancar narrowed her eyes.

"You know what I hate more than fighting weaklings? Its fighting people who are emos like you." She said trying to goad him into revealing his true potential.

It worked as a high speed arrow shot pass her, grazing her left cheek. She felt a slight sting but was otherwise unharmed.

"Release your true form Hollow." Ishida spoke out trying to trick the arrancar into using resurrección. From what little he knew about arrancars, he knew that they would be helpless until the process is completed. All he had to do was fire two charged shots at her soul chain and soul sleep during resurrección and hope for the best.

Nel however just stood there placing her hand in her pocket, "I do not wish to use it against someone so weak."

Ishida paused for a moment, thinking of a way out of the situation.

"Fine. Let's just go our separate ways then." He said hopping to bluff his way out.

Unfortunately for him Nel was far from done with him.

"No, now that just won't be any fun now would it? But before I kill you I'll tell you my name. It's Neliel Tu Oderschvank. Former Espada numero tres." Saying so she shot her weakest cero at him.

'That attack is lethal. If it hits me there won't be anything left.' Ishida thought before just barely dodging the attack. He may have dodged the attack but he got hit by the debris.

The arrancar seemed to be toying with him as she fired off several bala's, forcing the Quincy to dodge and move back only to be cornered.

He closed his eyes waiting for death to come when he sensed his salvation arrive in the form of the orange haired shinigami. He opened his eyes and called out to him.

"Hey shinigami, you distract the hollow while I…." his words died out in his mouth when he saw what the shinigami was doing.

"Nel what have I told you about playing around with people." Ichigo scolded her waving his index finger at her. He never could get truly angry with either Nel or Orihime for some unknown reason.

"I am sorry." She said using her dreaded puppy dog eyes.

"It's alright, just don't do it again." He said, giving in to the cute spectacle in front of him.

"What the hell. She is a hollow, kill her." Ishida screamed at him.

Ichigo did not respond immediately but instead raised his reiatsu also using a little bit of his hollow reiatsu to go in for the grand effect. "She is my friend. You will not harm her if you know what's good for you." He said in his monstrous voice.

He expected a lot of reactions but he did not expect Ishida's Quincy cross to glow, followed by Ishida clutching his head as he started screaming. But it was when he started to cry blood that Ichigo became worried. Finally Ishida collapsed and Ichigo took him to the hospital after telling Nel to go home.

"Ichigo?" Ishida called waking up in an unfamiliar hospital bed.

"Yes?" Ichigo answered rushing in immediately. A few hours had gone by and Ichigo had admitted Ishida into Karakura general hospital. At first Ichigo had been worried but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was wait and hope for the best. He had already phoned home and told them that he would be late. At the end of it he heard his dad shouting something about how manly his son is being with the ladies and Ichigo immediately slammed down the phone and pretended that he had dialed the wrong number.

"Was it all a dream?" Ishida asked.

"Yes it was." Ichigo answered immediately relieved at this way out.

"Even that incident where when Nel and Orihime ambushed you in your room and the three of you didn't come out for two days?" he said with a small smile on his face.

Immediately Ichigo did a spit take. "I told you never to bring up that incident again." He growled.

Then he realized what they had just said.

"You remember?" He asked, his heart beating a thousand miles a second.

"It's fuzzy but yes. The last thing I remember is fighting Tōsen then waking up here and by the date on this news paper, we are back in time aren't we?" he asked.

"Yes. But I don't know how though. " Ichigo said.

"Tell me everything that happened from my death. I am sure I can figure it out." Ishida told him.

Two days had passed since that incident. Ishida was still in the hospital and was due to be discharged in a couple of days. From what Ishida had theorized, two events had occurred. One was the fact that Ichigo's shinigami/hollow reiatsu had been converted by his cross when Ichigo's Getsuga Tensho had hit it. Then Orihime's hair pins had somehow activated and rejected the passage of time. How Ishida remembered the past was a complete mystery. He knew it had something to do with the fact that Ichigo used his hollow reiatsu but seeing as both Chad and Orihime had already been exposed to it and neither of them remembered anything made them think that it must not be the sole factor.

Ichigo asked him if Chad and Orihime could also remember the future but the idea was immediately shot down by Ishida. Chad had no connection to the future and Orihime's powers, when they activate, will rejected all of her future memories. She would probably keep all of her skills though. Ishida was mostly sure that the only reason he remembered the past but did not have his abilities was because of his Cross. He theorized that the cross remembered all of the ways in which it had been used and that was passed on to Ishida when Ichigo had used his hollow reiatsu. On another note Ishida had been keeping an eye on Karin before his memories had returned and Ichigo was pleasantly surprised that she was doing a lot better then he had expected.

'Of all the people to remember I am glad it was Ishida. He has a good mind and his powers are mostly based on technique and not strength. It won't take him long for him to get back into shape again.' Ichigo thought as he walked home from the hospital.

Then he felt it. Chad and that kid Shibata. They were being chased by Shrieker. Rukia was already on her way and Karin was heading there as well. She had not frozen up this time and Ichigo idly wondered if having shinigami powers had anything to do with it.

'I'll just go with them just in case.' He thought as he and followed the reiatsu thread to their destination.

Chad was in a lot of trouble. He couldn't see his invisible opponent, making him have to rely on Shibata. What made matters worse was the fact that the hollow was closing in on them alongside his little leech-spawning minions.

"Now you die!" Shrieker shouted as he came forward. He lunged forward only to get blown back as fireball hit him. It was followed by a kick to the head and another explosion on the back side of his mask. Thankfully for him, the kido spell was weak and did not affect him much. The kick hurt but did no damage to his mask.

"Not today hollow." Rukia replied with bravery that she did not have. She knew that she was useless at the moment as her Kido spells were so weak that they didn't even scratch the Hollow.

"So you're the shinigami. Today is my lucky day; a tasty human and a Shinigami together. What a great day." He said.

"New student, you can see ghosts too?" Chad asked.

"Yes now run." Rukia said as she ran towards Chad away from Shrieker. "Listen you have to follow me. We have to get out of here."

Unfortunately for her, Shrieker cut off their escape route and his minions had them completely surrounded. Shrieker stopped and looked at his prey.

"You smell delicious. I've already eaten two shinigami before you. They were delicious as well. They wanted to send that kid to the after life but I ambushed them. The funniest thing is that I just put the kid in there for fun. I never knew that he would turn out to be so useful. I killed the mother of that boy and told him if he lived like that for a few months I would bring his mother back to life. Ha what a joke. I…."

Shrieker' speech was cut short when a telephone pole was thrown directly at him or to be more precise his mouth. Up until recently Chad had started hearing the voices of the hollow and his minions. When he concentrated, he could make out vague shapes. But when Rukia had arrived and he had heard Shrieker, he became pissed off. He did not know how but now he could clearly see Shrieker as well as his minions. Not thinking properly he ran at the recovered Shrieker and punched with all of his might.

Shrieker jumped back confident that he had avoided the giant's attack, which is until an explosion of energy erupted from the giant's right hand, destroying Shrieker's left wing and a good portion of his minions. He looked on as darkness flowed down the giant's arms, up his forearms until it had reached his shoulders and rose upward from it.

The darkness then settled revealing a scarlet and black armor on his right arm. The armor was not the original he had awakened in the previous time line and did not have the wrist wings or the two dorsal points but rather had only a single fin on its top. It was mostly black with red lines. It was the same armor he had when he had left for Hueco Mundo to rescue Orihime. On his left arm however the armor was completely white with reddish black stripes and had a single spike at the end.

Unknown to him Ichigo had been exposing him directly to his hollow's reiatsu. While his reiatsu was only slightly higher then before due to Ichigo's brief absence, all that hollow reiatsu had caused the giant's powers to evolve a lot quicker. This coupled with his desire to protect Shibata and Rukia and avenge Shibata's mother had awakened his powers completely.

Shrieker lost his grin and replaced it with a look annoyance. Finding the once helpless human now approach him ready to attack made him wish that he had kept his mouth shut. The two leech containers he had near the girl and Shibata had been killed by a quick kido spell from her.

"New girl." Chad shouted grabbing her and Shibata.

"Why the hell do you think you are doing??" She shouted only to be thrown away from the area with Shibata safely in her hands.

"Be safe." He shouted to the dot in the sky that represented Rukia.

The very next second, he jumped away just barely dodging Shrieker's attack.

"You are going to die." he said simply.

"Oh, no I won't!" Shrieker shouted, opening his right wing and launching himself forward. While he may not have been able to fly he could still use his wing this way.

Just as he came close enough, Chad's right arm changed to its shield form. With a single push of his feet, he ran forward and smashed his right arm into Shrieker stopping him dead. With a lazy shove, the brown haired teen sent his enemy flying in the opposite direction. Before he could do anything more however he bent over and fell down unconscious. He had used up his most of his reiatsu to awaken his arms and was now empty. Given a few hours he would recover. That is if he survived Shrieker.

"You are powerful. I will enjoy eating you." Shrieker told the fallen boy as he raised his arm to deliver the final blow. This whole day had turned out so awfully good but then that boy had to go and ruin everything. Of course, it didn't make him feel better when the ground beneath him suddenly exploded as a beam of crimson energy impacted it.

Karin arrived just in time to watch a groaning Shrieker came out of the crater that he was blown into. The Hollow then looked at Karin and sensed her power.

"So you're the real one," Shrieker said as he smiled. "I knew that other one was too weak."

"You are very confident aren't you?" Karin asked him.

"I've already killed a couple Shinigami and you're nothing more than a kid." Shrieker told her, slowly walking closer. The two tensed waiting for the other to make the first move. The air became tense with the reiatsu from both the combatants.

Shrieker broke the silence and shot towards Karin as fast as he could. She just stood there calmly and when he was about to hit her, she released the kido that she had been charging up. In a simple thrust, Shrieker was thrown into a nearby fence.

"Is that all you got?" She asked him.

Shrieker fumed and then charged at her again only for Karin to duck, role under him and get up behind him. He tried to turn around in time but she pulled out her blade and slashed his legs causing him to fall to the ground. She paid no heed to his pleas of mercy and slashed his mask causing the Hell Gate to appear. She jumped back unsure about what was happening and watched as a large skeletal hand pierced Shrieker using a knife. It then pulled the knife back in with Shrieker on it. For the entire time, the Hollow screamed in fear and pain as the doors closed with a final slam.

She then turned her attention to the fallen giant and checked to make sure that he was alive. Doing so, she saw a tired looking Rukia carrying Shibata arrive. Nobody noticed a smirking Ichigo who was watching the entire fight. His hiding skills were so good that not even Aizen could find him if he did not want to be found.

'She's doing well. She even managed to kill Shrieker a lot sooner then I did. She is certainly better then me when I was at her level.' He thought.

Ichigo looked on as Karin and Rukia helped Chad up and sent the kid to Soul Society. He wanted to help her but knew that if he fought her battles for her then she would never grow stronger. Things were going well so far. He had already contacted the visords. His info net had been set up. Nel was slowly turning the arrancars and hollows against Aizen. Ishida was almost up to the level he was when he died and now Chad had awakened his powers as well. Oh yes, things were definitely going well.

"So what happened when you arrived?" Rukia questioned Karin later that night.

"I arrived to find Shrieker crawling out of that crater." she said. "We fought and I killed him. Then this gate thing came and sucked Shrieker into it."

"Don't worry. It was just the Hell Gate. Souls that have sinned before death get sent to hell. Are you sure there were no other hollows there?" She asked.

"I told you, I don't know." Karin replied.

"Well, that crater was caused by an attack called cero. Only a menos class hollow can use them." She said mostly to herself.

"Menos class?" Karin asked.

With a reluctant sigh, Rukia told her. "There are normal hollows like the ones we have been fighting then there are three classes of Menos. First is the Gillian. They are large and powerful but possess very low intelligence and have no individuality, the result of the merging of hundreds of hollows. In the rare case that a Gillian retains its consciousness, it can continue to consume other Gillian's and eventually evolve into an Adjuchas. They gain a smaller body and superior strength, speed and intelligence compared to their previous form. From there, some Adjuchas have the potential to evolve into a Vasto Lorde. Vasto Lordes are more humanoid in size and appearance and possess battle strength comparable or superior to a Shinigami captain, the elite of soul society."

As she put down the sketch book, Rukia saw the despair on the younger girl's face. "Don't worry. Adjuchas are pretty rare and the last Vasto Lorde sighting was reported over five hundred years ago."

Letting out her breath, Karin thanked God as she did not have to fight one of those monsters. "If it was an Adjuchas then why did it leave when I arrived or why did it save Chad?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe it was just Chad's power. Nothing else can explain what happened." Rukia muttered.

She allowed her mind to wonder as she fiddled around with her hands. It wouldn't surprise her if her theory was correct as his powers did look hollow like.

"I'm going to bed," Karin said and was soon followed by her twin and Rukia.

"I've got a fix on the location of the Hōgyoku, Aizen. Urahara hid it in the soul of Kuchiki Rukia. Not only that but she has apparently lost all of her powers by giving it to a human." Tōsen said.

"Hmm. That is good news. It gives us a perfect cover to retrieve the Hōgyoku. There are only two ways to retrieve an object from a soul. One is at the execution grounds." He said.

"What shall we do now?" Tōsen asked.

"We wait for now and strike when the time is right." He replied.

'Soon the Hōgyoku will be mine then the three worlds will tremble beneath my might as I sit upon the throne of the heavens as the king.'He thought darkly as a cruel smirk stretched across his face.

Well point out the mistakes.