Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and give all credit where credit is due (maybe).

Italics= Thoughts/memories

Bold/Italic = Shiro

Bold = Zangetsu

Chapter 5

The gears . . .

"If they say destiny is made of gears, then we are the reason for turning it.

Believing doesn't connect . . . we go forth, beyond the power of the matching gears."

"Class . . . I'd like to present a new transfer student. This is Kuchiki Rukia."

Rukia smiled gleefully at the young class of humans (some of whom were over 100 something years younger) before her and quickly noted that not one in her class had the orange hair she was looking for, though she did find several unusually high reiatsu signatures located together. How very strange and where is . . .? She thought back to the events of last night as well as her unorthodox meeting with Urahara.

XXXXX

Whack!

Rukia watched, wide-eyed as Ichigo crumpled to the ground, revealing a sandal-wearing exiled shinigami captain behind him with his cane raised.

"Kisuke Urahara," she stated, still amazed at the events that had unfolded. What was the exile doing here of all places?

"Ah yes, it is good to finally meet you, Kuchiki Rukia. How is Soul Society, hm?" the scientist smiled warmly.

Shaking, she stood up, amazed that she had any shinigami power left. Her zanpakuto was alright, but her reiatsu felt weak, drained. That human boy had pulled more of her power than she thought. Then again, Rukia had assumed that all of her powers would be gone, not just a fraction. It would take a while, but her powers would return. The boy however . . . She turned to look at Ichigo who now sported his own shinigami form, a fact she was quickly regretting and pondering over. How is it he had his own shinigami powers?

"Strange . . . isn't it?" Urahara stated as he too stared at the unconscious orange top, a interested glint in his eye. Rukia looked quickly at the scientist, fearing for a second that he was threatening the teen. She had heard about the strange experiments of the previous captain of 12th division and didn't feel like taking any chances.

"What is?" she asked warily.

"His sword, little Rukia-chan, . . . is incredibly big for a sealed zanpakuto, is it not? Almost as if it were in shikai."

Shocked, she turned to look at Ichigo's sword that laid next to him. It was by far the largest sword she had ever seen, almost his full body length, and held no guard upon the hilt. The edge was white and black. Also there appeared to be some white cloth flowing from the hilt, adding to the mystery.

"That . . . that's impossible," she stuttered.

Urahara merely smiled from underneath his striped hat, pulling it down to hide his expression. "I have often found that in our line of work, 'impossible' is too limiting a word. Let's go with improbable, okay? And you are right . . . it is highly improbable. However, it seems that it has indeed happened," Urahara sighed at how troublesome the situation had become then grinned at Rukia, a knowing glint in his eyes. "What will you do now, little Rukia-chan?"

"What . . . What do you mean?" she asked, not understanding.

"You know, it is illegal for a shinigami to pass on her powers to another. And you not only passed some of yours on but also helped awaken some of his own," Urahara gestured to the unconscious teenager. "Soul Society will not look kindly upon this boy. You . . . will mostly likely get a slap on the wrist, something trivial. This boy however might be considered a threat . . . an unknown variable in Soul Society's calculations. Who knows how they will react to his existence?"

Rukia paled as his words sunk in. Her fault . . . it was her fault. Her determined violet eyes snapped up to look at the shifty exile. "What do I need to do?"

He grinned unpleasantly. "Well, first . . ." She did not like the sudden shudder that went up her spine.

XXXXX

Rukia was pulled out of her memories with a shout from the teacher.

"Kurosaki Ichigo!" the teacher called, glancing at his empty seat. With a frown, she turned her gaze to Chad, Orihime, and Tatsuki, all of whom met her eyes head on as if daring her to ask them. Just as she was about to ask of his whereabouts, said tardy student strolled into the classroom. His clothes were slightly askew and his head was bleeding from what seemed to be a hard punch but somehow he managed a small scowl toward the teacher. "Yo, teach, who's the new girl?"

Rukia met his eyes and noticed that he didn't seem the least bit surprised to see her, though he did seem slightly amused as he dodged the teacher's thrown chalkboard eraser. With a huff, Ichigo sauntered over and sat in his seat next to Chad by the window, wiping away the blood that was now running in his eyes. Orihime passed him a band-aid, which he took gratefully.

"Why were you late, Kurosaki?" the teacher's eyes narrowed.

Ichigo growled and casually looked out the window, as he tried to apply the band-aid on the cut. "I had to drop my little brother off at school and accidentally ran into a gang trying to mug some poor chap going to work. On my good conscience, I couldn't let that happen now, could I?" He threw the teacher and Rukia a slight smirk.

Sighing in defeat, the teacher told Rukia to take a seat next to Ichigo. Rukia gave a sparkly smile (too sparkly if Ichigo had anything to say about it) and went to the seat next to him. "Hi! I'm Rukia, nice to meet you!" she said as she held out her hand. He glanced down at what was written.

Say something and you're dead!

He smirked. Ah, subtlety . . . thy name is Rukia.

Ichigo shook her hand before turning (some of) his attention back to the class. His headache was getting worse and he welcomed the intellectual distraction. English had been one of his favorite subjects. Sooner than he would have liked, the bell rang for lunch and slowly Ichigo lead Rukia away from the school grounds.

She glanced around at the empty area. "Why are we here?"

He stopped and turned to look at her. Not for the first time, Rukia noticed the strange golden glint in his amber eyes. He was surprised at her appearance but just hid it well. "So I can freak out without anyone knowing. What the hell are you doing here? Didn't you have to go back to that Soul Society place or whatever? And why can everybody else see you?"

She snorted. "This isn't my shinigami form; this is a gigai. A human body we can use to travel in the human world."

Ichigo frowned as he mulled that over though inwardly he was rolling his eyes. "So then why are you still here, shinigami?"

Rukia folder her arms. "Because when you took some of my powers, your own shinigami powers developed. So I consider you some of my responsibility. That and I am almost too weak right now to fight any hollows. In order for me to recover my spiritual power, I need to rest. I can't go around fighting hollows like I did before . . . and you are going to help me." Her glare made any negotiation null and void.

Ichigo blinked. That seems a little strange. Instead of thinking she gave me her powers, she now thinks she helped me create my own powers. Interesting. But I could've sworn I only used a small amount of her reiatsu so why . . ? "What did you say?"

Rukia sighed before grabbing a large megaphone out of nowhere and shouting. "YOU NOW HAVE SHINIGAMI POWERS AND I'M GOING TO TRAIN YOU WHILE YOU TAKE OVER MY DUTIES!"

Groaning, Ichigo fell to the ground, clutching his now-sensitive ears. His headache just magnified. "What the hell?" She always was the loudest one of the group, wasn't she, king? He could practically see his hollow snickering at his pain.

Shut it, Shiro.

Sighing (he was never going to get his hearing back), Ichigo sat up before glaring at her. "Fine! I'll help you out, alright? So what do you want me to do?"

Rukia raised an eyebrow at this. She didn't think it would be so easy. "Well, for starters, we need to get you out of that human body."

Ichigo snorted. "Yeah and how are we . . .?" Suddenly, he felt something similar to a pill pop into his open mouth. A familiar feeling passed over him and Ichigo found himself in his basic shinigami form. "What . . ?" He didn't even have to feign surprise as he looked at his human body that was now sporting an awfully familiar (and mischievous) grin.

Kon?

More memories started pouring in. Little Yuzu hugging Kon while she slept, Kon fighting off a hollow using Ichigo's body, Kon protecting his sisters against a sudden Arrancar attack, Kon hugging Rukia out of no where, Rukia holding a crushed pill with tears in her eyes as Ichigo looked sadly at the rubble that used to be his home.

Well, this is certainly . . . surprising. Ichigo was mildly intrigued to hear such a comment from the old sword. Only Zangetsu would take something like this with such indifference.

His hollow however had no such qualms. What the hell? How did this happen?

Ichigo tried not to wince at the shouting in his head. Damn hollow was even louder than Rukia when he wanted to be. Come on, Shiro. You really didn't think we could bring Mom back without other ramifications too, did you?

Needless to say, that despite being surprised, he wasn't overly worried at Kon's sudden appearance. He was after all only two weeks early, all things considered. And with his appearance, Ichigo could now exit his human body in a much more efficient manner and without Rukia knowing. Still, he had not been expecting to see the perverted mod soul for a good while. He had missed the little guy, despite his unfortunate annoyances every now and again.

Rukia took Ichigo's shocked face to be a good sign. The orange-haired strawberry (hehe strawberry, good nickname, she thought) had been far too indifferent to everything for her liking. It almost seemed like he didn't even care what was going to happen. Too apathetic for her taste. So it was time for a little test to see if he truly was up for the responsibility of being a shinigami. But before that, an explanation was needed.

Rukia pointed at Ichigo's human body. "This here is a mod soul or soul candy. A pill with an artificial soul that Soul Society created so that shinigami such as myself can move around in the human world. Understand?"

Ichigo nodded dumbly at her explanation, still staring at Kon who was smiling back in a very anti-Ichigo kind of way.

"Good, now come with me. It should be arriving any minute," Rukia ordered as she started to run off toward a playground. Ichigo started to go after her, but stopped quickly in front of the smiling and innocent (yeah, right) Kon.

Quickly he lifted the mod soul from the ground using the collar of his shirt, glaring at him effectively. "If you dare ruin my body, kiss any girl, or even so much as make a peep out of character, I will stick you into a girl toy and give you to my younger sister. She would love to have a doll to play dress-up with." Kon paled a bit at that last statement and nodded vigorously, promising not to do those things. Satisfied, Ichigo then dropped the mod soul unceremoniously on the ground. Kon yelped slightly as he landed hard on his butt, unused to the pain, and looked at the towering and intimidating Ichigo who suddenly smirked, with a knowing look in his eyes as he folded his arms over his chest.

"That said, have fun with it. I'm sure it was lonely in that pill box at the old sandal-hat's place," he muttered quickly before running after Rukia's retreating figure, leaving a stunned Kon in the dust.

Kon watched Ichigo go then got up, cautiously dusting himself off while muttering "What a weird guy." He stood looking at the sky, frowning for a second, before grinning mischievously and running in the direction of the high school. Ah the joys of being in a human body hehehe.

You do realize that that little threat will hardly deter him, don't you, Ichigo?

Ichigo sighed, even as he ran full sprint to catch up with Rukia. I know that, Zan, but I thought I might as well try. I'm hoping he'll at least keep out of some trouble this time.

Ichigo's dark half snorted at this, unable to keep his comments to himself. Kon? Yeah, right. If we are lucky, he'll kiss Orihime; if we aren't, he'll kiss someone like Tatsuki who will then proceed to kill you and hold a grudge over it for the next ten years.

Ichigo suddenly found his heart beating with dread. That is not helping, Shiro.

The hollow shrugged his shoulders and yawned, not really caring either way. Whatever . . . wake me up when there is a real fight like an Espada or shinigami captain or something.

Ichigo almost growled at the lazy hollow but suddenly found Rukia stopped short right before him, glancing around obviously waiting. Exasperated, Ichigo looked at her. "What are we doing here?"

"Just be quiet and watch,"she said, not even looking at him. Her eyes were on the soul of a child that was lingering on the playground. Quietly Ichigo watched and waited, already feeling the hollow coming down the street to eat the poor child soul.

It burst into view chasing the child who screamed in fear before running. Acting shocked, Ichigo looked over at Rukia who merely stared emotionlessly at the scene. "What will you do now? This is your choice. Right now you can save that soul in front of you and in the process take up the mantle of being a shinigami, or you can let it be eaten by a hollow, and continue on with your normal human existence." Ichigo hid his expression, beneath his orange bangs and Rukia tensed, wondering if she had made the right choice in leaving the decision up to him.

The hollow dove for the child soul that had fallen unceremoniously on the ground, helpless, and found itself suddenly split in half by a black and white sword with no hilt. Rukia stared at the dissolving fragments of the hollow before looking at Ichigo, a shocked expression upon her face. "So you made your de . . ."

"Enough of that crap!" Ichigo interrupted, almost shouting. Rukia quieted, looking at him. "When you saved me and my family, were you thinking that it was your shinigami duty? Were you doing it only because you had to? No, you weren't."

Rukia winced at his words before he continued, sighing. "Listen . . . I can't promise you that I will always be happy with this decision but I never go back on my word and I'm not such a lame guy that I don't pay back my debts. And from what I can tell, I have a pretty big debt owed to you already. So consider me your Substitute Soul Reaper . . . for now. Got it, shinigami?"

There was an awkward pause as Rukia digested his words, amazed at his conviction, before she exploded. "I told you, my name is Rukia . . . Kuchiki Rukia, strawberry!"

He merely scoffed at her before heading back towards the high school. "Whatever, midget," Ichigo called laughingly as she ran after him.

Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chad walked the hallways of the high school leisurely. They still had ten minutes until class and didn't even have to worry about the possibility of being late though they were a bit perplexed over the fact that Ichigo had missed having lunch with them to talk to a stranger.

"How do you think Ichigo knows the new girl?" asked Mizuiro, tapping his chin thoughtfully. It was unusual for Ichigo to be familiar with anyone let alone some transfer student.

"I don't know, . . . but she was really hot, eh?" snickered Keigo the pervert, his hands in his pockets. Ah . . . to be so simple-minded. Chad merely walked behind them, keeping his own thoughts to himself until they arrived at the classroom, only to find a dark aura surrounding Tatsuki in the middle of a bunch of ruined desks. The rest of the class were giving her plenty of space as she continued turning desks over in her wrath.

Keigo and Mizuiro immediately hid behind Chad, wondering what had happened to disturb the volatile teenage girl. "Demon!" they cried.

"I'm no demon!" she spat with fire, glaring at the quivering masses. Her eyes narrowed as she cracked her knuckles. "Ichigo . . . that bastard will pay when he gets back!"

Chad frowned, the only reaction they would get from the quiet giant. He wondered vaguely if he should warn his brother-at-arms of this threat but then pushed that thought aside. Tatsuki, although violent, wouldn't cause any serious harm to Ichigo. A crash echoed from the classroom as Tatsuki brought her fist down to break a desk in half and Chad's frown deepened. Then again . . .

Orihime tried to calm her friend down. "Come now, Tatsuki-chan. I'm sure . . . I think there was something wrong with Ichigo. Either way I don't think he meant it."

"What did Ichigo do?" asked Keigo tentatively. A growling Tatsuki smashed another desk.

"Well, we were sitting here after lunch when all of a sudden Ichigo came running into the room with this strange expression on his face, and kissed me, then frowned at Tatsuki, saying he couldn't kiss a girl with such a flat-chest," recalled Orihime blushing. "Then he ran away before we could react."

CRASH! and there went another desk. Mizuiro wondered vaguely who was going to pay for all of the property damage.

"THAT BASTARD IS SOOOOOOOO DEAD!" Tatsuki raged.

"I don't know, Tatsuki-chan. That does not sound like the Ichigo we know," said Chad, quietly, always the voice of reason.

Orihime nodded, her eyes glinting. "I agree, and it did not feel like Ichigo either . . . I'm worried something happened to him with that transfer student . . ." then suddenly she smiled, "or maybe he was taken over by fairies or replaced with a perverted robot, or became a man-eating zombie or . . . " Orihime's friends rolled their eyes at her active imagination.

Tatsuki calmed down a bit after hearing this, though her rage was still prominent in her mind. "I know, he felt wrong . . . like it was someone else in Ichigo's body. But if that's true then what the hell is going on?"

Just then the teacher walked into the room and gasped. "What happened to the classroom?"

Tatsuki quickly turned, tears in her eyes, a pout on her lips. "Teacher! A delinquent came in and destroyed the entire classroom! Can you believe it?"

The teacher looked at Tatsuki then at the rest of the class. "Is this true?"

One foolish student opened his mouth to contradict her and received a glare from Tatsuki that spoke of death to all who disobeyed. Wisely, he shut his trap and shrank into the corner of the classroom, nodding as did the rest of the class. Word from the wise: Do not go against the National Women's Karate Champ if you want to live.

The naive teacher sighed, "Well, since our classroom has basically been destroyed, I'll have to cancel class for the rest of the day, it seems."

"Woohoo! Yeah! Freedom!"

"But . . . I will be giving you extra homework to make up for it," the class groaned in unison, "So grab this assignment and go home to slave . . . I mean, work hard, my little students." The disheartened class filed to go outside.

"So . . . where do you think Ichigo went?" Mizuiro asked cautiously to Orihime, the fuming Tatsuki still next to her. Apparently she still hadn't gotten over it. Keigo and Chad walked behind them in the hallway.

"Well, I think I saw him heading over towards the middle school. Maybe he was going to see his little sisters," replied Orihime thoughtfully. Tatsuki growled again, muttering something about 'perverts and their weird tendencies.'

A group of older students were walking passed, talking excitedly. "Man, did you see how high that guy jumped? It must have been like over fifty feet in the air. It was awesome!" Chad overheard them say.

"Yeah, I know, . . . how do you think he got orange hair like that? Think it's dyed?" At this, Ichigo's friends stopped and looked at their seniors, then started running down the hall toward the middle school, one thought running through their minds.

What the hell is going on with Ichigo?

Somewhere not too far away, a certain shop-keeper was realizing just what exactly he gave his client.

The war-veteran-turned-teenager stopped in his tracks, as he sensed a hollow presence nearby. It wasn't a very large hollow yet it could hide its presence very well. He closed his eyes briefly to concentrate, gathering up his reiatsu to pinpoint its location when his concentration was suddenly and violently broken by a cry of "You BAKA!" and a large bump on his head. Ichigo fell to the ground for the second time, clutching his bruised cranium.

"Ouch, you midget! What the hell was that for?" he cried glaring at said-woman.

Rukia stood over him smirking, her violet eyes narrowed. "I am NOT a midget."

Ichigo scowled, still rubbing the bump. "Well, I'm not a strawberry. So can we stop with the hitting?"

Beep! Beep! HOLLOW! HOLLOW! Beep! Beep!

Rukia frowned as she pulled out the hollow beeper. Usually her duties consisted of destroying a couple of hollows a day, in various locations. However, this indicated that on top of the hollow they just destroyed, there was another in the short distance of only a couple hundred feet. How unusual. Her eyes flickered over to Ichigo. "There's a hollow."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, scowling again slightly as he stood up. "Yeah, I kind of got that from the weird beeper. Where is it?"

Rukia ignored the barb as she put the hollow beeper back into her pocket. "Luckily it's only a couple hundred feet from here to the west . . . Ichigo? Ichigo, wait!" She watched as his eyes widened and he took off in that direction before she could stop him. Cursing, she ran after him as fast as her gigai could carry her. That reckless fool.

Ichigo ran down the labyrinth of streets, waiting until Rukia could no longer see him nor sense him before switching to a low-level shunpo. With a single step, he stood on the grounds of the middle school, perched on one of the fences. He expanded his senses again, searching for the hollow signature. Now where are you, my little soul-eating friend?

This is reckless, Ichigo, advised Zangetsu. The old sword thought that if any shinigami near by, including Rukia or the old Hat-and-Clogs, sensed Ichigo using such a high-level reiatsu power such as this, they would have a lot of explaining to do, explaining that would again tip their hand early to either Aizen or Soul Society.

Zan, I am not going to just sit back and watch events repeat themselves, replied Ichigo as he headed off to the west, where the hollow was. We've already changed a lot and I can no longer accurately predict how things will turn out. I just . . . I need to know that everyone is safe . . . that I did all I could to protect them.

Zangetsu sighed in defeat at his shinigami's protective instincts that were borderline obsessive. It's that type of determination and single-mindedness that saved them in the end after all.

Very well, just make certain that there is no one who can possibly trace such power back to you, advised the zanpakuto before retreating back to his subconscious.

I will, you worry-wart, Ichigo replied with a smile. The old man's paranoia hadn't changed at all.

Silently, like a whisper of the wind, Ichigo stopped himself a short distance away in the branches of a tree from where he could see Kon in his human body protecting a bunch of middle schoolers against some sort of caterpillar-like hollow. It was not a bad fight either, with Kon seemingly holding his own with his super-powered legs.

Ichigo was ready to step in, just to confront the mod-soul about abusing his body, when suddenly his friends burst onto the scene, each respectively wearing their own looks of disbelief. "What the hell's going on, Ichigo?"

Crap.

Kon dodged another swipe of the hollow's sharp claws, ducking onto the ground and rolling away. What the hell was up with this thing? He couldn't kill it and it refused to back down at all. Kon glared angrily at the caterpillar-hollow, wishing it just didn't exist.

What luck he had. He finally gets a human body to use at his discretion, (something he would never takes advantage of) and some kids make a few off-hand comments that totally ruin his mood. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, they are attacked by a hollow and he is forced to save them out of some age-old obligation he felt towards the human race (he was a battle-soul after all). Could it get any better?

"What the hell's going on, Ichigo?"

Kon turned his head, slightly, not taking his eyes off the hollow, seeing the big-chested goddess he had kissed earlier, the flat-chested she-demon, some giant foreigner, a brown-haired monkey, and a black-haired playboy, each standing and staring at him as he seemingly dodged and kicked the air. The monkey was the first to break out of the trance. "What the hell are you doing?" he cried, pointing at him.

The mod-soul winced at this, forced to admit he had royally screwed up with this human's body. Not only had he been jumping around, having the time of his life, but the body was now injured and the human's friends had seen him fighting an invisible monster. Oh well . . . he'll try to salvage the situation. He grinned sheepishly, toward the humans, ignoring the blood pouring into one of his eyes from a cut that had reopened. "Hey, guys, um I'm practicing my karate moves, ya know."

Each human now sported mixed looks of incredulous disbelief. Okay, so that didn't work. It probably didn't help that he had said it while jumping into the air to avoid the damned hollow's spiked tail but he didn't want to die now did he? Well then, it was time to do the next best thing. Glaring at the hollow and making sure that the it was focused solely on him, Kon started to back up and suddenly turned to run, drawing the hollow away from the humans. "And now I'm practicing my running, see ya, guys!" he said as he ran off.

"Wha . . .? Wait, Ichigo! Wait!" they called after him, but Kon and his super legs were meant for speed as well as kicking. There was no way they were going to catch him.

HOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLLLLL! The hollow was a different story. The damn thing was fast with its fifty caterpillar legs and Kon had no idea where he was going in the maze of streets. Suddenly Kon tripped over some uneven pavement, falling hard at the speed he was going and crashing into one of the aligning walls. Dammit! He heard the hollow come from behind, opening its mouth to strike, then nothing.

He turned around, to find the orange-haired human/shinigami whose body he was using, blocking the hollow's teeth with a rather large sword. Kon let out a sigh of relief as the human - Ichigo if he remembered correctly- pushed the damn thing away with a single sword stroke. Suddenly, the orange-hair turned on him angrily, glaring and grabbing Kon by his collar.

"What in the seven hells were you thinking, pill-boy?" the teenager shouted. "Whose body exactly do you think you're running around in, eh? Whose life is on the line?"

Kon, feeling guilty and stubborn, crossed his arms and turned up his nose. "Yeah, well, sorry, stupid human, maybe you SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT IT WITH ME!"

"Then WHAT THE HELL was I supposed to do, huh? Just leave my unconscious body in SOME NICE DITCH OR SOMETHING?"

"THAT'S NOT MY PROBLEM!'

"OH YES IT IS. WHILE YOU'RE IN MY BODY, YOU FOLLOW MY RULES, GOT THAT?"

"LIKE HELL I WILL!"

The hollow at this time had recovered from the attack and was now watching the exchange confusedly. Prey usually did not ignore it. It started to howl again when both of them turned on it and shouted, "SHUT THE HELL UP!" followed by a sharp kick and sword stroke to the mask.

Ichigo watched the hollow disappear disinterestedly before turning to yell at Kon some more, only to find the mod-soul quickly running down the street. "Oh no you don't," he growled before chasing after him.

Kon ran as fast as his human legs could carry him around the corner, trying to escape the overbearing strawberry, when suddenly WHAM! he was back in pill form in the hand of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Ichigo watched as his human body crumpled to the ground, and Rukia picked up the mod soul she had ambushed from behind the corner. "It seems that when I purchased this mod-soul, I was given a defect," she stated while looking at the pill in her hand that now seemed to sparkle.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, quickly inspecting his human body to see if there was any lasting damage. "That's an understatement," he paused and glanced at her. "What's wrong with it?"

"Soul Society created battle-souls to fight alongside shinigami against the hollow and gifted each with a certain enhanced ability. But after a while, they decided that it was too dangerous to have such unpredictable components in battle and proceeded to exterminate them. This little guy must have escaped before the extermination," she stated, her gaze softening slightly.

Frowning, Ichigo stared at her, wondering how he had never noticed the cracks in her Kuchiki-armor. "So basically, Soul Society created these beings and then decided to kill them at their own convenience?" It was more of a statement then a question.

Rukia nodded, wincing at the blunt way he put it. The way he says it makes it seem as though Soul Society's rules are things to be questioned.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, thinking. "We don't need to give it back, do we?" Rukia looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Ichigo's face flushed with embarrassment. "Well, it's not like I feel sorry for him or anything, it's just that I need to pay him back for the mess he caused today," he said with a huff.

Rukia smirked knowingly, irritating Ichigo further. "You don't need to worry about that, I don't think, little strawberry."

"I told, you, midget. Don't call me that!" Ichigo growled before pausing. "What do you mean I don't have to worry about it? Don't ya think everyone's going to notice I can't jump fifty feet in the air?"

"Well, I had a friend go and erase all of the memories pertaining to this little guy's escapade similar to how we did your family's memories, so none will be the wiser," she stated, smiling in a sort-of-evil way.

Ichigo wondered when exactly she ran into the old sandal-hat before he groaned loudly. "Isn't that a lot of work to do that to an entire school?"he asked, still thinking about the repercussions of Kon's unusual actions in his body.

Rukia nodded. "Yeah, but since it was his fault . . . he said he was doing it free of charge."

"Oh?" Ichigo stared at Rukia, trying to force her to reveal her co-conspirator a.k.a. Old Hat-n-Clogs but she looked away, ignoring the question hanging in the air. He inwardly groaned. It seems he was going to have to do this the hard way.

"Yep . . . enough chit-chat. You better get back into your body before you miss the rest of the school day," she said, already starting to walk back, the happy mod soul tucked away safely in her coat pocket.

Grumbling, Ichigo got into his human body, wincing slightly as his headache came back full force, and walked behind her slowly, every bit aware of the shinigami scientist that had been stalking them throughout the day. Just to play with the mad man a bit (he certainly had earned it), Ichigo stopped and turned quickly, staring hard with narrowed eyes at the corner of a street, behind which a sweating Urahara hid. Smiling slightly to himself, (that little trick was gonna cost the paranoid and fatally curious exile a good night's sleep) Ichigo turned back to his walk, satisfied with Zan's chuckle and Shiro's outright laughter in the back of his mind.

Oh yeah, today was a good day.

The night however failed to be the same. Ichigo sat on his bed, his back resting against the wall, staring at nothing in particular, his thoughts circling through his mind. The day had been tiring, what with the acting and his friends' constant suspicions (apparently the memory eraser doesn't work as well on them - go figure, and dealing with an angry Tatsuki hadn't been fun either) yet he found he could not sleep. Even now after years and years of lonely peace, every time he closed his eyes he could still see the battlefield.

Hey Ichigo, do you think this fighting will ever end? Wistful Chad, his brother-at-arms, stood next to him, looking out on the clashing sands, every bit the human teenager he was.

Hey taicho, we'll always follow you. His squad of make-shift fighters fresh out of the Academy . . . their faces flashed through his mind.

Ichigo, come on, trust us. We're your friends, we'll survive this and go back home alive, just like we always do. Renji's grin as he raced to face his opponent.

Ichigo was forced out of his reverie by the sound of soft footsteps in the hallway. He raised his head just as little Arashi cautiously opened the door, the lion plushy in his arms, tears in his eyes. Ichigo smiled softly, before getting off his bed. Soft even breathing coming from the closet indicated that Rukia was unaware of their little visitor.

"What's wrong, Arashi?" No answer, the little 6-year-old had his head down, his light brown bangs hiding his expression but Ichigo heard a sniffle, and his gaze softened.

"Did you have a nightmare?" The bed-head brown locks shook as Arashi nodded, still sniffling. "Wanna talk about it?" A shake of the head - a negative.

"Okay, do you want to spend the night with me then?" Arashi looked up to find his older brother kneeling to look him in the eye. Ichigo grinned softy. "'Cause I had a nightmare too and could use some company."

Arashi's eyes widened a tad, perhaps at the thought of his brave and strong older brother having a nightmare and he grinned back, nodding. In one swoop, Ichigo picked up the little boy and carried him to his bed, assuming his previous sitting position with his back to the wall, but now Arashi sat in his lap, his head resting on the his brother's chest, clutching the lion plushy to his chest. They sat like that for a while in comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

"What was yours?" The boy's voice was soft and shook slightly but was filled with child-like curiosity. Ichigo tensed sightly in remembrance then smirked with an idea.

"I don't know if I should tell you . . . it was really scary," he said, knowing it would just peak his little brother's curiosity.

Arashi turned around, a little scowl on his face as he clutched Kon close. "Tell me! I can handle it!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes slightly, still smirking. "I don't know, Arashi."

The boy scowled again before pouting. "Please?"

"Okay, okay, I'l tell you mine if you tell me yours, alright?" Ichigo suggested. The boy nodded eagerly, wanting to find out his older brother's weakness.

Ichigo leaned forward, a serious look on his face as he stared into Arashi's wide brown eyes. He started to whisper, acting nervous and looking around to make sure no one heard. Arashi leaned forward too in anticipation of this great secret. "Mine was about . . (a pause for dramatic effect) . clowns!"

Arashi face scrunched up with a confused look. "Clowns?" Then he scoffed. "Those aren't scary."

Ichigo, nodded trying his best not to laugh, as he looked at Arashi's expression of disbelief. "Yep, evil clowns that kidnap you in the night and do experiments on you."

Bwahahahahahahaha! Clowns? Really, king? Shiro could not believe what he just heard as he laughed. Attention, everyone! The Great Kurosaki Ichigo, Hero of the Winter War also known as the Guardian himself and exiled Captain Commander of Soul Society is afraid of clowns! Bwahahahaha!

Ichigo internally raised an eyebrow at the fun Shiro was getting out of this. Oh I wouldn't laugh so hard, Shiro. You're afraid of them too.

That cut the hollow's laughter short. Hmph! I'm afraid of nothing! the proud hollow cried, scowling at the suggestion that suddenly ruined his fun.

Ichigo internally raised an eyebrow. Oh really? So you wouldn't mind if I revealed you to Urahara-san or, worse, Mayuri?

Shiro turned an even whiter shade of white before scowling. Point taken.

Sighing, Ichigo turned his gaze to his younger brother. "Okay, Arashi. I told you mine, so you gotta tell me yours."

Arashi looked down, nervously, clutching the plushy even tighter as his voice spilled in a waterfall of words. "Well, um I see this huge scary thing with two glowing yellow eyes and wearing a white mask. It attacks you and mom and dad and then it laughs and it's really evil and leaves me alone in the darkness and I don't know what to do and . . . " Tears started to pour out as the nightmare's effects came back with vengeance. Ichigo ran a hand through his hair, sighing before gathering his younger brother into a hug.

"I'm sorry, Arashi," he said softly as he held the shaking little boy. "But I promise that I'll always protect you, okay?"

Arashi pushed himself slightly away from his older brother's chest to look him in the eyes. "D'you promise?" the voice was no longer shaking, even though Arashi's eyes still had some unshed tears.

Ichigo nodded, his eyes filled with resolve and determination glowing in the light of the moon that shone into the teenager's bedroom. "Always."

Arashi smiled softly, before giving his older brother a hug. Ichigo hugged him back, taking in his soft brown hair, his thin arms and legs, and even that smell of new grass that Arashi always seemed to wear, romping around with his friends on the playground. Then as Arashi fell asleep, Ichigo stayed up, listening to Arashi's rhythmic heartbeat and calm even breathing, repeating it like a mantra. I promise . . . I promise . . . I promise.

Again Ichigo's eyes seemed to burn, emotions overcoming reason. Zan, I've made my decision about our little power problem.

Oh? Ichigo grinned at the old man's indifference. He wondered if all zanpakutos had personalities that were the exact opposite of their counterparts.

Yep . . . Tomorrow night, we go to see the Family.

Shiro grinned in a predatory fashion as he made the connection, putting in his two cents. Finally.

Unbeknown to the time-traveler and his fellow counterparts, outside his bedroom window, a black cat with unusual human intelligence watched her charge with narrowed yellow eyes, her tail twitching.

And somewhere the wind of the night whispered faintly where a group of Vizards long since forgotten lived in unjustified exile.

. . . The gears are turning . . .

A/N: Booyah! Over 7300 words on that one. What a feat, eh? Sorry, it took a little longer than I thought and if something doesn't add up to you in the story, feel free to tell me : ) Also thank you so much for all of your reviews and shout out to animelover1993, Black Sun Upon an Icy Sky, and Neko of Death as well as various others for your corrections, ideas, and support. Keep up the hard work, fanfiction fanatics, and I'll keep it coming : )