When I woke up this morning, I'll tell you the truth, I did expect the disgusting purple walls of ripped dimensions, what I did not expect was the train.

"What is that?!" demanded Ishida Uryu. Ishida was a lean boy, one that was more proficient with the marksmanship than the sword. He was also one of the last surviving Quincy's in existence. But that is a story for another time.

"It's the Cleaner!" shouted Yoruichi in her cat form (also more on that later. Later when I'm not about to become purple goop splatter), "It appears once every seven days, and this had to be the day! Anyway, run! It's incredibly fast!"

I looked back at the Cleaner. It looked like solidified purple wax that's been collecting the walls and merging it to itself.

"Say, Yoruichi-san, remember that training you had us do where we had to play tag with the Cleaner?" I asked out loud.

"What?! What kind of training is that?!" demanded Ichigo.

"Just be glad I didn't set your shoes on fire ... or stuffed ten kilograms of ants in your clothes!"

"That's not training that's torture!"

"Hurry! We're close to the exit!" True to Yoruichi-san's word, the light at the end of the tunnel grew nearer and nearer but the closer we grew near, the faster the Cleaner seemed to go, soon catching at our heels.

"It's no good! We can't outrun it!" Ishida shouted, being the pessimist that he is. That was until something happened. Something I would not think Orihime Inoue was gifted with. Inoue-san was a very young lady with an optimistic outlook on life and a huge rack of boobs.

"Hinagiku! Baigon! Riri! Santen Kesshun! I reject!" she shouted, having turned around to focus her attack on the Cleaner.

"That's not how you play tag!" I shouted before her triangle shield touched the Cleaner, causing an explosion between us and it. We were launched out of the wormhole and into open air.

For one measly glimpse, I saw everything. I saw home. I saw clear blue skies and old houses squeezed against one another. I saw old roads and trees, and evidence of reishi everywhere. I was in Soul Society. I was home.

... Then we were falling out of the sky and landing on before mentioned road which is dirt, dust, and gravel.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Inoue seeing as she was the only person well enough to ask, "Wow, Ichigo, the way you land is so artistic!" If any of you are wondering, I skidded on my thigh and my white yukata is stained brown with dust.

"Shut up."

"Inoue-san," I called out, "Next time, think of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object..." I gritted my teeth against the sting on my thighs before standing and trying to brush off dust.

"S-sorry Diabolos-san. I shall think of that very philosophical question until I have an answer!" I sighed but said nothing. I looked around the area to see where we landed and oh...

Oh. I'm home. This place was actually a very good place to live. Far better than other towns. Rue and I stopped here for a few years and actually liked it. I briefly entertained the thought of meeting my old friends again but quickly changed my mind.

They weren't my friends anymore. And if they were, they wouldn't be for long. I'm too much of a different person to be considered a friend.

"Oi! Diabolos-sensei! Pay attention!" I looked back to find Ichigo looking irritable at me. But at the same time, he looked irritated at everything. I blame on him not getting a good lay.

"Why? Did you say anything worth listening too, strawberry-boy?" He predictably flushed.

"Now you're just being a little shit! I don't remember you like this!"

"I'm always a little shit. You were just too little to understand intricate ways I was being so."

"Hey," Chad said, catching our attention real fast, "It's too quiet." The gang started surveying my surroundings and my eyes locked onto my target, Seireitei.

"Is this Soul Society?" asked Ichigo.

"Yes, this place is known as a Rukongekai, the Drifting Spirit Town. This is where all souls first live up on coming to Soul Society and is on the perimeter of Seireitei, where Shinigami live," Yoruichi began to explain to the undead newbies. "It's the poorest place in Soul Society but also the free-est and has the largest population of souls."

"Whoa, before all that, there's no one around here," Ichigo commented with his own opinions, "Why does it look so different on that side." The side he was talking about was Seireitei, a clean and polished looking place compared to Rokangai.

"Oh that-"

"I got it!" Ichigo shouted like the special boy he is, "That's where the Shinigami live. The Sei-whatever! Alright!" Ichigo started running ahead towards Seireitei.

"You fool! Don't get too close! You'll die!" shouted Yoruichi from experience.

"No, no, let the boy learn from this. It'll be fun," I voiced out loud.

"Agito-chan!" Yoruichi scolded and I had to laugh. When Ichigo got close enough, walls appeared out of the sky to stop him from entry, smashing into the earth and kicking up the dust and dirty.

"It's been a long time since someone tried to pass through the Southern Gate without a permit," echoed a booming voice from seemingly everywhere, "You're a rare guest. Welcome kid."

I had to smile. It was Jidanbo, a towering giant of unrealistic proportions. Forty feet tall with the strength to move mountains. An intimidating looking Shinigami but nearly everyone knows that he loves raspberry pudding. In fact, it's tradition for first year Shinigami to make huge bowl of pudding for him to eat on his birthday.

"Now come at me from anywhere, kids," he challenged. I turned around so my back was to him so he couldn't see my face.

I have to get in Seireitei, whatever it takes. But I have to be secretive about it because if I slaughter Jidanbo, I would have a higher ransom on my head than ever. Stealth is the key. But with so many eyes, I don't think I'd be able to slip away so easily.

"What are you scheming?" I returned my attentions to reality where Yoruichi was studying me with her cat eyes.

"Schemeing? Me? I don't have the tenacity to do that."

"That's what makes you most dangerous. You're a soldier, but you'd make a damn good general."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I reassured the cat.

"Don't, you're downgrading. Whatever is happening with you needs to be resolved, but you need to do it on the good side." Ah, so this is what it's all about. Truly, we never talked about my 'murdering a Kuchiki Elder' or my daring escape. Or why Uruhara seemed to invest his faith in me. And for that blind spot, she's going to watch me extra carefully.

"Sorry Yoruichi-san, I don't agree with you," I say, watching Ichigo handle Jidanbo like the brute he is, "I'm not general material. Comadante is more like it." She watched me suspiciously, unsure what I said to be important or not.

We only stop our in-depth discussion when the earth began to shake. We both returned our attentions to the fight ahead of us, only to realize the fight was over. Ichigo won. And Jidanbo was crying his eyes out like a little baby.

"-I'm acting like a kid over my axis," Jidanbo was saying, "I'm an embarrassment as a man. It's been three hundred years since I became the guard of the White Road Gate. I never lost. You're the first man to defeat me. So I, Jidanbo, grant you permission to pass through the White Road Gate."

"We can really pass?" asked Ichigo in disbelief. With Yoruichi at my side, we both approached the Gate as it was to be opened. A dozen plans filtered through my mind on how to get away from the group, each more extravagant than the last.

"Yes, I lost to your leader. I have no right to stop you. I don't know why you are passing through these gates. On the other side they're all strong." I grin. Yes, everyone was strong -stronger- on the other side than anything I've face in fifteen years. I think it's time for a little reunion with my power at full strength sometime soon.

"Don't be scared. I'll give it one heave," Jidanbo said before squatting before the Gate, digging in the dirt and lifting it in the air. Clearly it was heavy, heavy enough for even Jidanbo to struggle lifting it. In mid-lift he paused. And I knew why.

"Who is that?"

"Gin Ichimaru."

Gin strode across the empty quad at the leisure of a snake that knew it was more lethal than a y of its foes. If I could describe him, it'd be an albino black mamba.

"Oh, this isn't good," Gin said, his voice coy and sly as I remember it. Jidanbo was quaking and sweating in fear. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. "Unacceptable. A guardian of the Gate isn't supposed to open the gates."

"I lost," Jidanbo tried to defend himself, "Opening the Gate is what is expected of a gatekeeper who has lost." I couldn't feel sorry for him. I pitied him. Poor, poor, Jidanbo, believing that there's such a thing as forgiveness from failure.

"What are you saying?" Gin asked before a shot of light zoomed forth and sliced through the thick meat of Jidanbo's arm, weakening his hold on the heavy gate. "A gatekeeper who lost isn't opening any gate. When a gatekeeper loses it means death."

I glanced down at Yoruichi-san to see she was distracted by the taichou in front of us. Now was my chance. I moved my way towards the gate, mindful that if I move too slow, I might not make it in time. If I move too fast, I'll catch someone's attention.

"So you're Kurosaki Ichigo." I looked up to see Gin sizing the boy up but I knew better. He caught sight of me and what my mission entitled. Obviously, I completed it.

"You know about me?"

"Oh just as I thought-" Gin began walking back from where he came and I knew what was going to happen next, I got into position and got ready to run.

"Hey, where you going? hey wait!"

"All the more reason why I can't let you pass," he said before drawing his sword.

"Why are are you standing so far back? Are you going to throw your short sword?"

"It's not a short sword. This is my zanpakuto." Gin got into battle stance and I began to run. "Impale him, Shinso."

The bright beam of light was even faster than before. It shot out at nearly four times it's speed when in relaxed form. Luckily, Ichigo was trained enough to try and block the thrust but he couldn't do much else. The sword pushed him with enough force Ichigo went flying into Jidanbo and they were both sent back into Ryokangai, the Gate shutting behind them.

And I ran. I ran through the closing Gate and made it to the other side as easily as a light jog. I turned around to witness the stunned faces of my old 'comrades' before crossing my arms.

"Bye bye," Gin sang, as it closed. Only the lightest of dust clouds moved from this side of the gate. I waited for Gin to acknowledge me, seeing as he had to job to put me in hiding and in touch with Aizen.

When Gin looked at me, his eyes were slightly open.

"You don't look like yourself," he teased, seeing as how I was still in a dusty white Yukata.

"You're wearing my coat," I said, commenting about the taichou haori that once adorned me once upon a time.

"I'm not giving it back to you, what do you think my subordinates would think?" It took only a second for me to have a plan to get my coat back. I began stripping.

"Kinky. I like~" he said before realizing I wasn't joking. I stripped my dusty Yukata and before I could straighten up and show my glorious skin to the sun, the white taichou's haori was covering my shoulders and pulled close.

"Jeez, sensei, I hope you got a lie for me to use if someone see this." I pulled my arms through my coat, spit into my hands and ran my fingers through my hair until it was artfully tossed and wicked looking.

"Kinky. Let's go with that."

It felt so good to be home again.

~~~