Chapter 1: Prologue

Disclaimer: me owning nor earning. Tite Kubo is the master. Bow to him.

Summary: Ichigo was tired. But his purpose wasn't fulfilled. A tale of loss, time travel, and hopefully with a happy ending. Inspired a lot from Swinging Pendulum by cywscross, not a continuation, but has the same basic plot.

Zanpakotu speech will be in cursive

The horns of war were broken. The Fake Karakura town was turned into rubble. Soul Society was demolished. Everything was destroyed. The culprit of all this was on his knees in front of the supposed protector, coughing up blood. The orange- haired protector stood in front of him, staring impassively at the despicable man. The man coughed again, a lot more vigorously

" You...have lost, Kurosaki Ichigo." the man with a broken body forced out. "I may be dying, but it is you who truly lost." Aizen mocked

"Your family and friends are all dead. But you knew that didn't you Ichi-kun? After all, you were there when they died, not being able to do anything while I killed them. Did you know, before you came to see them take their last breathes, I had the opportunity of listening to the music of their screams. Your blonde sister, what was her name? Ah, Yuzu. Did you know how she screamed when I had my way with her while your father and other sister watched? It was music-Aizen's tirade was cut short as Ichigo finally freed the three worlds from his presence by beheading himShut up, you vile fucker, I said SHUT UP!" Ichigo shouted

" I... think he's incapable of speaking as of now. " came from a haggard voice behind Ichigo. The orange haired man turned around fast enough to get whiplash

"Kisuke?! Are you alive? You're hurt! C'mon let's get you to the 4th division! Don't you dare faint now!" Ichigo said frantically

" I-I'm sorry Ichi-chan, but I am afraid that my time is up. Here, take this." the shop keeper replied weakly while shoving a small box into Ichigo's hands

"Don't be stupid, and don't call me that! What is thi-why the fuck is it glowing?! Kisuke? Kisuke!" the hybrid exclaimed.

"Sorry Ichi-chan, for making you do this. But I am too weak to relive this life... and too weak to deal with Aizen-san. I am sorry for doing this to you, I truly am. But you are the only one who can do this. Fix this, Ichigo, and hopefully you'll be able to live happily ever after." the scientist said

"What the fuck are you saying?! Kisuke? Kisuke! OH, FUCK!" Ichigo shouted once again.

"Around him the world was whirling. Kisuke was long gone, and Ichigo was seeing several scenes playing out, but they were all too fast to comprehend. Finally, he began to notice that the box was seeping his reiatsu, and even though he wanted to let it go, he could not. The orange haired man whose reiatsu hadn't been that drained even after a month of starvation at the hands of Aizen while he was under his TLC, was surprised to find himself losing consciousness. But he didn't fight against it. Instead, he welcomed the blackness. After all, he was so tired

§ An infinite amount of time later

"Hey, Kingsy. Wake up!"

The orange haired man twitched.

"Hey, WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Ichigo's zanpakotu/hollow Shiro (zanpahollow?) shouted from inside his mind. Ichigo just twitched again. Shiro sighed, annoyed with his wielder. Beside him, Ichigo's manifestation of his Quincy powers, Yhwach, shoved his fingers in his ears, which proved to be wise as Shiro began to scream bloody murder

"HEY, KINGSY, WAKE UP, YA FUCKING LAZY-ASS MOANIN' BITCH!" This time Ichigo just grumbled a low "Shaddup!" and continued to sleep. At this point, Shiro looked like someone had just told him pizza was the worst thing ever, i. e completely baffled and scandalised, and Yhwach was trying (unsuccessfully) not to laugh at this particular expression. Shiro turned to Yhwach with fire in his eyes.

"I can't believe it! The idiot lands himself in a shit load of trouble, which is nothing new, by the courtesey of Kisuke Urahara, which is again, nothing new, and all he does is sleep?!" he hollow exclaimed. Yhwach looked amused, but decided that yes, it was time to wake their wielder he sighed, and after mumbling something about unruly kids he said

"I will wake Ichigo up. No need to be so angry, Shiro."

"Oh, yeah? You know he sleeps like a log when he has the chance to." Shiro replied with a sceptical expression. Yhwach's eyes darkened a little at the reminder of their wielder hardships, and Shiro clenched his fists. After a long pause, Yhwach finally said, "That may be true, but now is not the time to think about that. It seems like Urahara did something good for once. We are back in the past, and we have a chance to stop Aizen before he becomes that..thing." Shiro was quiet for a while before he spoke.

"You're right, as usual. Wake him, o professional alarm clock" Yhwach twitched at the insult before he sent his "wake-up call" to Ichigo.

"Ichigo, Captain Shunsui is here.." The reaction from Ichigo was immediate; "Huh, Shunsui?! Where, what, why, how and...old man, I hate you!" Meanwhile, Shiro was laughing his ass off.

"Th-that was the key? Oh, man, I'm going to have so much fun with this"Ichigo scowled and grudgingly asked the two of them.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it off, would ya? Anyway, Old man, where the fuck are we, what the fuck is happening and why in the seven hells am I laying on a futon?" Both of the spirits paused.

"Uh..Kingsy, what is the last thing you remember?" The famous scowl was back. "What do you mean 'what do I remember?' The last thing I remember is Kisuke shoving a box to me, and rambling about second chances...oh, please tell me he didn't?"

"He did. He sent you back in time, Kingsy,"Shiro replied very unhelpfully Ichigo groaned . A trip back in time. Now what, Kisuke?

TBC