A mess of black hair tackled him to the ground. He felt thin hands hugging him with the strength of a bear.

"Can't... breathe," he rasped.

The pressure lightened. He lay there, unsure of what he should do. He felt several other people approach him. When he saw them, memories instantly assaulted his brain. There were flashes of every color imaginable and every feeling he could endure wracked his mind. The weight lifted off his chest, and he quickly brought up a hand to his head. His head throbbed, and he shut his eyes in an attempt to keep the memories at bay.

"Kurosaki-kun?" a soft, hesitant voice called out.

More memories. He clutched his head harder, and curled in on himself. He saw golden light, a snow storm in the desert, blood, a giant bamboo snake. Too much. With each image brought a new feeling and each feeling constricted his chest as if squeezing all of the air out of it. There was fear, relief, grim determination, amazement. His hands tightened in his hair. Distantly, he heard the soothing alto of Zangetsu speaking.

He felt a hand rub his back, and he inwardly cursed at himself for being so weak. His hands gradually untangled themselves from his hair, and his eyes opened slightly. He heard Zangetsu give out instructions of some sort.

The pain in his head smoothed into a dull ache, and he finally looked up to see his friends. Friends. A light smile broke out on his face as he thought of his friends. The first person he saw had a head of short, raven colored hair. He remembered shinigami, hollows, and the overwhelming feeling of gratitude. She stood in a way so as to block his view of everyone behind her, and Ichigo realized Zangetsu had asked them to greet him one by one. The teen flashed a grateful smile at the Zanpakuto.

"We were looking everywhere for you, Ichigo," Kuchiki Rukia said, happiness clear in her voice.

He blurted out, "Your hair's different."

An annoyed expression replaced the previous happy one.

"Of all the things you remember," she muttered.

She held out a hand and pulled Ichigo up to a standing position. Though he could've easily looked over her to see his other friends, he kept his eyes on her face. It wouldn't do good to have another wave of unbearable pain. After a bit of standing and simply observing each other, Rukia moved to the side. A taller, red haired man stepped in her place, grinning ear to ear. There were long, pointed tattoos running from his forehead to his neck.

"How's it been, Ichigo?" Abarai Renji asked while holding out a hand.

Ichigo shook it and replied, "Boring."

Renji stepped to the side to reveal the black haired Quincy. The orange head remembered Haschwalth, the card that was still tucked in his Shihakusho, and quickly shook off the memories. Now was not the time. He made mental note to think more of it later.

Ishida Uryuu greeted, "Hello, Kurosaki."

"Seriously, did everyone get haircuts?" Ichigo said instead of replying with a greeting.

Ishida pushed up his glasses and said, "Unfortunately, yes. I also highly advise against getting a haircut to match everyone else."

Ichigo scowled at Ishida, but the two quickly turned their condescending looks into playful smirks. Ichigo absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair. Maybe I should grow it out, he mused to himself. Next was a teen with long, thick hair that stretched well past her shoulders. Her eyes were absolutely relieved and they shone with unconcealed joy. Her hairclips were neatly clipped onto her collar.

"How are you, Kurosaki-kun?" Inoue Orihime asked.

"Happy, now that all of my friends are here," he answered honestly.

She moved to stand next to Rukia, and a large, messy haired teen took her spot.

"Ichigo," Chad greeted.

"Chad," he greeted back.

That was it. The big guy didn't talk much, but Ichigo could hear the happiness in the single word he spoke. The pain in Kurosaki's head had spiked with each meeting, but he stamped it out. He didn't want to ruin their happy noon, after all. Most of his memories had came back now, but there were still little holes riddling them like Swiss cheese. He looked over the five of them, noting that Zangetsu was standing a bit awkwardly to the side.

"This is Tensa Zangetsu, my Zanpakuto spirit," Ichigo introduced and pointed at him.

Everyone nodded in understanding, but Ishida had an inquiring look on his face.

"No offense, Tensa-san, but as a Zanpakuto spirit, what are you doing manifested?" Ishida asked. "Ichigo has Bankai, and I don't remember hearing any other reason why Zanpakuto spirits could be manifested besides personal choice; which I don't believe is likely since it drains the owner's spiritual energy to stay manifested."

The teen blinked. Huh. He never thought to ask why Zangetsu was always by his side, corporeal and very much real. He'd always just accepted it without questioning why. Ichigo heard Ishida sigh, most likely at Ichigo's obtuseness.

"None taken. Though, I have to say, I wish Ichigo was more observant," Zangetsu said, ignoring Ichigo's sputtering protests. "You're correct in your assessment that I'm not exactly here of my own choice. The reason I'm manifested is because of how the Final Getsuga Tensho works.

"When Ichigo uses it, he becomes Getsuga itself. That means, all of his Reiryoku goes into a single attack. That's why he is left without any Reiryoku; however, given time, the stray particles should find itself back to Ichigo, and he'll eventually regain all of his Reiryoku, like he is currently right now.

"Now, sometimes, spirit particles from the same source will group together. If enough of it gathers in one place, I can manifest. This allows the particles to get closer to Ichigo, so that he can regain all of his energy faster. Eventually, I will have to revert back to Zanpakuto form when Ichigo regains all of his Reiryoku."

Throughout the whole explanation, Ichigo was trying to decipher the expression on Zangetsu's face. It was entirely blank, except he swore there was some emotion leaking through the areas where the blankness didn't cover.

"There's just one thing I don't get. Why're you in Bankai?" Ichigo asked.

Another emotion flashed through his eyes. Ichigo frowned, a slight narrowing of his eyes.

"This is the form I was in when you used Saigo no Getsuga Tensho," he said tersely.

Ichigo nodded.

"Let's head back to Seireitei," said Rukia.

The six of them flash stepped back, well, most of them flash stepped. Ishida carried the humans on his Reishi platform while the shinigami occasionally blurred into existence next to him. While steadily making their way toward Seireitei, Ichigo suddenly noticed the tall buildings protruding out of the horizon and mentally smacked himself for not noticing how close he was earlier.

"Hey, what if I grew my hair out?" Ichigo asked out of the blue.

Ishida was quick to comment, "It would strengthen that delinquent status of yours, Kurosaki."

He scowled and suggested, "Then what if I cut it shorter?"

"I think you'd really look like a strawberry that way, Kurosaki-kun," Inoue said.

"Ichigo, what you should really do is to grow it until it goes past your shoulders, and then tie it up!" Renji recommended.

"No," Ichigo deadpanned. "Then I'd look like a tattoo-less, orange haired version of you."

"Exactly! My looks are great!" said Renji.

Ichigo groaned. All of a sudden, he stopped. He clutched his knees and breathed heavily, feeling the strain on his feet from using Shunpo for so long. There was a thin line of sweat on his forehead, and he hastily wiped it away. It was bad enough that his head was still throbbing, as if a hammer was consistently pounding on it, sending little cracks down his skull.

"Are you alright, Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

Darn, he was hoping no one would notice.

"Yeah, just needed to catch my breath for a moment there," he huffed. "You know, still regaining my Reiryoku."

Her expression was skeptical, but she didn't push. After a few more seconds of breathing, Ichigo resumed his Shunpo, quickly catching up to the others so as to not cause suspicion. At last, they arrived at the intersection. A large ape like man stood in front of thin air, a loose veil for the gates that would crash down if someone tried to go to Seireitei.

"Yo! Jidanbo!" Ichigo called out.

His head felt like it was ready to explode when he got a good view of the man. The memories kept branching off and reminding him of more things and therefore, it was getting more difficult to brush away the pain. He ran his hand through his hair, resisting the urge to hold it like he had earlier the day.

"Ah! Kurosaki Ichigo!" he greeted while lifting up the gate. "It's so nice you aren't Ryoka anymore!"

"Yeah, I never want to do that again," someone behind him whispered.

They entered Seireitei. No memories awoke, and Ichigo was semi-glad they had entered Seireitei via cannonball. He grit his teeth. He shouldn't have thought of that. Memories of boars and bad control of Reiatsu drifted through his mind, creating jabs of dull pain through his brain.

"Ukitake-taicho! Nii-sama! We found Ichigo!" Rukia suddenly called out.

Ichigo looked to where she waved to, and instantly regretted it. He saw white and black before ducking his head to the side, head gripped in a vice like grip. He hissed in pain. Bright and neon pink petals threatened to engulf his head and drown his vision. Ichigo felt several presences coming near him in an attempt to calm him down, and he shakily jerked away from their touch. He heard voices, all of them trying to help, but none of their words working.

Memories clashed, erupting in vibrant, yet torturous displays of color. Darkness seeped from the corners of his mind like a cool gel, sending the memories to rest. The images dimmed down, and Kurosaki Ichigo fell under the comfort of nothingness.