Quetzal - well heres part four and our happy ending ^_^

Dauntless

Something missing, left behind

Search In circles, every time I try

I've been here before, yeah

I'v seen you before

These Walls - Trapt

X X X

Ichigo was barely aware of Rukia or anyone else the moment the power exploded from the blade into his soul. Time halted and the world blacked out. An instant later he was standing in the sideways city in his soul for the first time in ages, he was utterly still, almost afraid to hope. "Ichigo?" A voice behind him asked quietly sounding just as shocked as him. Ichigo was frozen, he couldn't forget that dream, almost as terrible as wonderful, to have had him back, if only for a few hours.

Hesitant footsteps echoed though the empty buildings as the apparition behind him walked up to him, a hand lightly touched his shoulder, familiar reiatsu curling around him. "Ichigo?" He asked again Ichigo shuddered and Zangetsu tugged lightly forcing him to turn around. The black cloak and sunglass were the same as he remembered them. Concerned blue eyes watching him from behind the orange lenses.

"Zan?" He asked finally terrified that he was going to wake up any second, the whole situation had seemed like a bad dream. First Ginjou and then everyones memories being altered, he wasn't sure what was real anymore. Zangetsu sighed softly and tugged him forward into a hug, ichigo didn't resist, allowing himself to be pulled into the embrace. Zangetsu's reiatsu wrapped around them like a blanket. That couldn't be faked, not even by a dream. Ichigo finally broke down crying silently clinging to the black cloak. Zangetsu closed his eyes cursing himself for ever letting Ichigo use the final Getsuiga, they may have died if they hadn't, but at least Ichigo wouldn't have suffered as much. He could see everything his wielder had gone through in the year and a half it had taken for the shinigami to figure out a solution, and knew for certain what the others had only suspected, another month, probably less, and ichigo would have died even with his fathers intervention. A few minutes passed and Ichigo had finally stopped shaking, now only clinging to his cloak like it was the only thing that mattered.

"Ichigo?" Zangetsu asked quietly keeping his reiatsu coiled tightly around them, it seemed to help a bit as Ichigo straightened, pulling away but not letting go of his cloak.

"I thought you were never coming back," He said quietly

"I am back now though." He answered with a faint smile.

"Im not just dreaming this again, am i?" Ichigo asked after a moment.

"Its not a dream, ichigo. And I do remember that night, as well as everything else." Ichigo blinked in confusion.

"Wait but if it wasn't real.. How can you remember it?" Zangetsu sighed, a faint smile on his face.

"Everything you know, I do as well, ichigo. I remember what happened as you do, rather then as myself." Ichigo was silent.

"Everything?" he asked after a moment, his expression blank.

Yes ichigo, everything. And if you ever try to kill yourself again..." He trailed off, a warning expression on his face. Ichigo winced, embarrassed.

"Sorry." He muttered. Zangetsu sighed and pulled ichigo close to him again.

"As much as it upsets me, Ichigo, I do understand." He let Ichigo cling to him for a few moments longer before pulling away. Ichigo looked at him in confusion.

"Zan?" He asked puzzled and worried. Zangetsu smirked slightly.

"As much as I wish we could spend the next week here, Ichigo. I believe you have a battle to be getting to. Will you let those fools get away with tricking you?"

"Tricking me?" Ichigo echo before giving Zangetsu a lopsided smile, the fire starting to come back to his eyes. "They never tricked me Zan, I'm not stupid, I knew they wanted something. I may not have known what at first, but I didn't go into that thinking they were simply helping me out of the goodness of their hearts." Zangetsu raised an eyebrow, oh he knew Ichigo wasn't half as stupid as he liked to make people think, but he hadn't had a chance to go through all 2 years of memories yet.

"Indeed. Now get going. You don't want to leave your friends waiting do you?" He asked. Ichigo grinned and nodded sharply before fading out of his mind. He opened his eyes back in reality to see a dust cloud that was beginning to settle. The comforting weight of Zangetsu's blade in his hand made him smirk darkly, he flared his reiatsu forcing the dust away. Zangetsu's reiatsu curled around him tightly as he stared at Ginjou, his face expressionless. Zangetsu chuckled darkly.

"Well? What are you waiting for, Ichigo?" Ichigo let a smirk slip onto his face, Ginjou took a step back, looking uncertain. Ichigo charged, Zangetsu cutting through the air before him.

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Quetzal - annnd thats it! This is done now I should think, but it is part of a series so you might see more in the future from this.