I do not own anything from Bleach

Author's Note is at the end

An old, dilapidated apartment complex. That was the place where a past future would be explained and a new one would be made. The place where Chad would gain the strength necessary to help shape that future and protect the one who was responsible for its creation.

A strange sort of numbness had taken hold of Chad. His body and mind unable to get a handle on what was about to happen. Instead it chose to stop trying and simply open up for any new information that would come his way.

For now, they were standing outside of that building. Hiding, for lack of a better word, inside an alleyway just within visual reach of the building.

Keeping an eye on as much as possible, Chad peaked from the corner of his eyes at the still seated form of Ichigo. It had been 5 minutes since Ichigo told him to keep an eye out and sat himself down in a meditating position.

Ichigo stirred, finally awake or done preparing whatever it was he was doing.

"Everything okay?"

Chad's voice was quiet, never straying his eyes from the building in front of him.

Ichigo stretched and stood.

"Yeah, I think so. My sensing is abysmal but with fullbring it seems to be a bit easier."

Reiatsu sensing was absolutely impossible since he could barely see past his own reiatsu that was constantly streaming out of him and with the current state of his shinigami powers the only way he could still sense anything was with a technique like reiryoku and even then it barely worked. Fullbring, luckily, was easier to do, if only because he wasn't interfering with his own sensing.

Still, Ginjo wasn't kidding when he said that everything had a soul, looking through the masses of souls for the few he needed wasn't an easy task for someone like him.

It took him 5 whole minutes to find the other fullbringers only a street away. Far too long.

"Let's go inside."

Ichigo quickly noticed that Chad was still keeping stock of his surroundings, walking without his normal ease, more prepared to act if something happened.

"Relax Chad, it's alright. I wasn't expecting anything to go wrong, just being extra cautious."

He could think of no good reason why Xcution would try to lay an ambush and attack him. He knew there powers and came in peace with an offer of help. Normally that was more than enough reassurance but now Chad was here with him. What he could think off wasn't going to cut it, not until Chad could properly defend himself at the very least.

Just as expected though, they were all present, sitting around their headquarters seemingly doing nothing with none of their fullbring active as far as he could tell.

The only thing that worried him now was that something was following them. Something small, nimble and agile. Akin to a cat or dog. Which wasn't an odd sight for the place they were in. But his memory quickly provided him with the only cat he had any real connection with. And the owner of that cat would be outright dangerous to ignore.

Walking up the stairs they arrived at the third floor in front of a familiar door with a keypad. Ichigo stopped in front of it and turned around to look back at the stairs.

For half a minute nothing followed.

"Ichigo?"

Chad was staring at the same place he was, looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Nothing was following them but still paranoia had well taken hold of him by now.

"It's nothing."

Ichigo mumbled turning around and taking his wallet from his pocket. Picking out a random card, his bank card he noted, he made a swipe motion in front of the keycard opening and pretended to press some buttons. Putting his other hand on the door in the meantime to really open it the same way he had done so before.

The door clicked open again and Ichigo instantly had all eyes on him, only shifting to Chad for a few moments before boring on him again.

They looked interested, some of them burning with questions but most importantly they looked good. None of the defeat and forlornness was present in any of them. They had all found some measure of peace or a new way to move on.

"Yo."

Once Chad was in Ichigo quickly closed the door.

"Ginjo what's that door made of?"

Ginjo's annoyance at the simple greeting quickly gave way for seriousness with such a question.

"Stronger than a normal house door, no normal human can kick it in or lock pick it with the keypad. It's also mostly sound proof but if anyone like us tries to get in they'll be able to without too much effort."

Sound proof was good but maybe not good enough?

"Giriko can you place a contract around the door opening? If any living being who is not a fullbringer stands within 2 feet of that door for longer than 3 seconds the keypad flashes green continuously and whatever alarm you have installed on it goes off until they leave."

"I can but I request your attention later today in compensation."

"Sure. Can you keep the contract active until tomorrow morning?"

A pleased nod was his reply and Giriko got up, bringing his pocket watch in sight and moving for the door.

"I don't mind you bringing more of our kind in here but don't lead the ones that aren't too our headquarters."

Ichigo nodded absently, surprised that Ginjo could sense that Chad was a fullbringer so easily.

"There might be someone following me around but I'm not sure. They have no idea that I'm a fullbringer though or even what fullbring is. They're mostly interested in the other sides of me. I'm going to talk with them tomorrow anyway."

"Still, this place is expensive. If it gets found out or trashed you're paying for a new one."

Ichigo snorted in amusement. Ginjo acted as if he owned the place even though he was sure that everything they had was bought and owned by Yukio.

"I'll ask Yukio to put it on my tab. Besides you still have the back-up base."

Yukio looked up from his game long enough to express his annoyance. None of them were even remotely surprised that Ichigo knew about their secondary base.

The precautions aside Ichigo could continue on with what he was really here for.

"This is Chad. He's a very good friend of mine and a fullbringer who hasn't accessed his powers yet. He knows the basics about fullbring along with the basic info about hollows, shinigami and so on but he is new to all of this. He also knows that I'm from the future so no need to hold it a secret."

Some actually looked surprised at the last part.

"Not everybody I bring here is necessarily going to know about my time travelling. So try and be discreet about that."

None looked like they would give it much thought.

Bastards.

Giriko walked back to Ichigo, ready for Ichigo to lend him his help.

"I'm going to tell all of you about some important points of the future and what I intend to do, I'd rather do that first if it's okay?"

Giriko nodded without problem and moved to his standard position at the bar.

"Of course Ichigo-san, would you or your companion like something to drink?"

"No thanks."

Chad shook his head to convey the same answer.

Ichigo sat himself down on the couch with Chad taking the place next to him.

The other fullbringers weren't as guarded as before, not taking up any kind of tactical position. Most just remained where they were with only Ginjo and Tsukishima sitting on the couch in front of them.

They weren't as relaxed as they appeared to be however. Every one of them looked at Ichigo in interest but it was more reluctant than before. They wanted to know what would happen in the future but they weren't very eager or hopeful for the answers they'd be getting.

"I can tell you about this later if you want? Nothing's going to happen any time soon so there's still time for you to get used to this."

Ginjo tsked and Tsukishima looked annoyed as well.

"No need to hold our hand for this, we can handle it. I told you, give me a day and I'll be fine. Ones I've made a decision I stick to it. That goes for all of us. We've all had our fair share of trouble way before we should have. We can handle this too."

All of them looked like they really meant it. They had made their decision on what to do next and apparently knowing more about the future was part of that.

"Right, in 3 months' time the shinigami that gave me her power is going to be arrested and taken back to the Soul Society to be trialed. The sentence will be death."

Chad was the only one who looked concerned about that. Although Riruka looked slightly disgusted the others clearly didn't care much about what happened with some random shinigami.

"The man who arranged all of that is Sosuke Aizen. He will kill all members of Central 46 and take over their function in secret to give the order."

Ginjo was the only one who understood the full gravity of that statement. The other members luckily had some knowledge about the afterlife if their surprise was anything to go on.

Ichigo gave a quick look to Chad to make sure he understood. His eyes told him he did.

"What Aizen is really after is what's currently inside of Rukia. The hogyoku. A stone of some kind that was created by Urahara Kisuke, an exile shinigami captain who lives in Karakura town."

The severity of that last part seemed to shake the Xcution members awake.

"There's a captain living in the town next to us?!"

"Relax Ginjo, he's on my side."

Hopefully.

"And he doesn't know anything about any of you or what fullbring is. He's not interested in any of that right now. Right now he's only looking after his creation. He might have made it but he has chosen to destroy it once he knew the full weight of his creation. Sadly the hogyoku can't be destroyed, according to him, so he tried to seal it away in the shinigami I told you about. She's in a gigai that slowly drains her power until she is left as a normal human with the hogyoku drained and inactive within her."

Ginjo seemed to calm down again, taking Ichigo's words to be the truth far more easily than Ichigo expected him to.

Riruka seemed to have picked something up however.

"Wait, isn't he the guy that got me and Yukio to the Soul Society to help you out?"

"Yeah that's him. He only knew about any of you when you went to Karakura town to investigate me. He keeps a close eye on the place."

Ichigo would have to inspect all of their expressions for the next part.

"The reason why the hogyoku is such a big deal is because it grants its user anything they wish for if they are able or know how to achieve it."

The surprise was palpable.

"You're kidding."

It wasn't even a question, just a hopeful statement.

"I'm not. The hogyoku listens to everyone around it and gives people what they most desire if they have the ability to achieve it or the knowledge. Back in my time it awakened Chad's fullbring when he lamented that he couldn't defend people from hollows. It awakened another one of my friends unique powers as well when she felt the same way. Once Aizen got his hands on it and subjugated it to solely his will. He was able to literally evolve and transcend multiple times in order to gain more power."

While most people seemed to understand the danger behind such an object. Giriko looked disturbingly interested. Power was clearly still on his mind for now. Yukio looked like he had eaten something rotten.

"Sounds like a cheat engine for real life. That's just sad."

And he was back to his game, engrossed once again. Ichigo was glad for the casual dismissal and downright distaste for the hogyoku but Yukio was one of the people he feared who might try to make use of it.

"I honestly thought you would be more interested in it. You're always very pleased when you can demonstrate how much control you have over your game world."

Yukio looked slightly embarrassed at that.

"Well, that's because it's my game. I created it so I should be able to choose what happens in it. It's my power."

It made Ichigo reconsider Yukio's game console.

"Wait, that's not the same game your constantly playing? Invaders must die?"

Yukio looked completely puzzled.

"Huh? Invaders must die is just the name of my fullbring. It has nothing to do with what game I play. This console is part of my fullbring not the game. I make whatever game I want to with whatever rules I like. I don't just play video games all the time, I'm a game creator. The hogyoku is just like someone hacking my game just because they can't handle the rules. Of course I think it's pathetic."

Ichigo found himself surprised and stupid for doing the one thing he always hated other people doing. Assuming things just because they were a stereotype.

"Right, sorry. My bad."

Ginjo picked up where they left off again.

"So is he the guy that invaded the Soul Society?"

"No, that was a little over a year after we defeated and sealed Aizen. Yhwach along with an army of quincy's attacked the Soul Society and even the Royal Palace where the Soul King lives. Destroyed most of both and killed the captain commander and the Soul King. I went back in time after I killed him."

That last bit might have been too much information, too fast. Everyone was shocked, most because Ichigo was apparently strong enough to defeat someone like that. But Ginjo was outright mind blown, having some knowledge of the insurmountable strength of the captain commander and of course assuming the Soul King to be stronger. Both of those defeated along with both of their armies was a hard thing to imagine. Ichigo then still winning and defeating Yhwach even more so.

Although now that his mind caught up with him a bit more, he should have been surprised sooner since this Aizen guy apparently evolved and transcended multiple times and was then defeated by, most likely, Ichigo.

"I couldn't do anything on my own though. Like Riruka and Yukio, many people helped me along the way to get there. You and Tsukishima included."

"What? But we were dead."

"True and I think Urahara had a hand in getting you up to the Royal Palace, your soul forms. Tsukishima used his ability to help a friend of mine repair my bankai after Yhwach broke it. I went down to the Soul Society again for our final battle and well, then this happened."

Ichigo took on a pensive look.

"So technically you didn't do anything Ginjo."

Ginjo's annoyance quickly abated at the still incomplete story.

"Anyway, sounds to me like everything turned out alright in the end. No, 'The world was going to end and going back in time was the only option' stuff, you seem to have won all your battles, so why are you back?"

Instantly Ichigo's eyes grew serious, capturing his audience and refusing for any of them to look away, a red color bleeding into them.

"The world was already broken when I was asked to save it. Quincy's were considered extinct back then and they were near extinction again at the end. Hollows and arrancars were seen as no different from one another. People still turn into hollows and were killed by them. The Rukongai is and has always been a mess with even fewer shinigami to help the people there after the war. I saved a world that was barely one to begin with. I fought only for those around me and ignorantly forgot those that I couldn't see but knew were still suffering."

Ichigo's voice was heavier, more commanding than anyone had ever heard before. No one was able to get a word in edgewise feeling that anything they could comment would be instantly shot down without mercy.

"I didn't save the world, I only tied it together long enough so those after me would have to deal with it. So no, the world wasn't going to end. There was never a real world to begin with, only bits and pieces. And yes, going back in time was the only option to create the world as it should have been. So that's exactly what I did."

The red disappeared again in an instant, breaking everyone out of there previous trance induced state. The words engraved into their minds, never to be forgotten.

Ginjo, as was the standard, spoke up as the leader again.

"So that's it huh? Redo all your previous battles and somehow change how the entire world works? Whatever your plans are you're not going to get anywhere near the end with just our help."

Ichigo agreed completely.

"I can't do this on my own. I can't do this with all of you. I can't do this with all of my friends and I never intended to. Aizen, Yhwach, the Soul King. They're always convinced that they need to grow stronger in order to solve the world's problems and that they are the only one who can. But I honestly don't see it. No matter how strong I get there's no way I can change the world and the way everyone thinks. This is not just my world, it's yours and everyone else's too. So I need your help and I'll need a lot more help from other people as well but if we don't work together for this then none of us will make it."

The room was silent again, everyone had expected some crazy or doomsday like time travel story, not this. No one could have expected to be asked to be a part of changing the world.

"You can have my help if you want it. But I need yours afterwards."

Ichigo hadn't expected Jackie's first words to him to be those.

Apparently neither did any of the other members.

"You have all of our help, for now."

Ginjo's words were surprising but also worrying, his frown and narrowed eyes broadcasting a deal with no compromise.

"If this is going to be a world that we help create then we want a place in it too. We all have our own goals that we want to achieve in life and you're going to help us with those. You can't make us do anything we don't want to do either, not all of us are as free giving as Jackie, apparently."

The last word was spoken with no malice but more with surprise.

Ichigo could only nod gratefully.

"That's all I'm asking. I'll help all of you and I only need all of your help for safe things. I could use your help for more along the way but if you don't want to or if it becomes too dangerous then I'll do it without you, no issue."

With the deal closed Ginjo fell back to his more relaxed self.

"Well since you said nothing exciting is going to happen in the next few months and your obviously stronger than me I'm going to take a break."

Ginjo got up and threw a card at Ichigo that he quickly caught and recognized.

"I don't think I need to tell you how to get in the normal way. You can come over here whenever you want, there's always someone present. Just don't bring any unwanted folks with you."

With Ginjo gone to do some more drinking. Giriko moved towards him with purpose.

"Since I was the first to request your help and give mine in return I must insist on speaking with you first."

Ichigo nodded casting a look at the surprisingly subdued Riruka first.

"Riruka, can you use your dollhouse to help Chad awaken his fullbring? This is just training so no need to add any unnecessary risks."

Addressing her directly seemed to kick-start Riruka's temper again.

"I'll have to see if he's cute enough before I can give him a pass. I only accept cute things in my precious dollhouse."

"Huh, really? I never knew. You gave me a pass whenever I asked or needed one before without a fuss."

Somehow his words were bringing Riruka's head up to boiling point. She was even worse than Orihime at times.

"You- that's not- CHAD! Get over here now!"

Riruka stormed off to get her dollhouse and Ichigo threw a worried and guilty glance at Chad. He just made things worse as he always did with woman.

"How long did it take for you to awaken your fullbring?"

Chad obviously didn't share his worry even though he and Riruka were complete opposites, Riruka wasn't good enough to break Chad's composure no matter what she tried though.

"Uh, one session of Riruka's dollhouse. But that was just awakening not mastering, not even close."

Chad nodded and moved forward, armed with a clear goal of what he had to achieve and when.

Chad would be alright, without Giriko's added difficulty there was nothing that he couldn't handle.

Giriko sat down in front of him and Ichigo gave him his full attention in return.

"I want you to tell me everything you know about my fullbring and how you think it works along with my exact appearance and how my powers felt when Ginjo bestowed me with a portion of yours. Knowing how your fullbring functions would help with this as well."

"This is still all about power isn't it?"

"Survival would be a more apt term."

"I'm going to create a world where there's more than solely survival."

"And I would welcome it with open arms but I have yet to see any proof towards your claims. You have the knowledge and supposedly the power to bring forth change but as you said you will need much more than that. If you want me to fully belief in your vision than I will both need more power to help you with and proof that you can actually change anything of any significance."

Ichigo couldn't really deny the man's words. Right now he hadn't done anything, only gathering allies and help where he knew he could get them early on and fixing whatever problems there still were with his own body. He hadn't really achieved anything just yet.

Giriko would be much like Urahara in that aspect. Only a true ally once he saw Ichigo's words turned into actions.

"I can understand survival but what were you planning on doing after you gained that?"

Giriko was silent for a moment. Absently he took out his golden pocket watch, opened it and simply watched the dial move.

"I can choose a contract and the conditions but I can't change or remove them nor break it. That's not even entirely true. You can always chose to break the conditions or ignore the contract. There's just always a punishment for doing so as is custom for any contract. Simply put I'm not really using my own power. This watch gives me power when I ask it and if its power is abused in any way then it retaliates. My power in and of itself is nothing more but another contract. A contract that will last until my time is up, that I can use the powers of this watch."

Closing the watch again Giriko put it away and continued.

"The watch has been passed down from generation to generation. I believe that the first user of the watch had a fullbring and that up until now there have been no other fullbringers in my family. This power is not my own but the fullbring of a family relative long before me."

"This watch has always been the only god in my life. Sometime after I grew up and had everything I could have ever wanted in my life, a perfect, safe, well payed job, a wife, a house, I started to belief that it was my power, that I made my own luck, that the watch gave me the drive to achieve what I set out to do."

His hand moved up to the leather strap covering his eye. And he pulled.

A gaping hole could be seen where the eye was supposed to be, leaving nothing but burned, seared flesh in its place.

"The watch reminded me that it wasn't my power at all. Instead of using the watch as the source of my fullbring it transferred all its power directly to me. With such power as my own I lost myself and tested out the simplest clause I could as fast as possible. To kill the first thing I saw, my wife."

Giriko had never appeared to be a man of much emotion but right now he was almost overwhelmed, every word he spoke was visibly difficult for him. A life-long regret he never believed he could make up for.

"When I lost my commitment to kill my wife it was considered a breach of contract, my eye was destroyed and the watch retook its power."

The strap was stretched over the wound again.

"I made a commitment to the watch and its powers the moment I accepted it from my father. To live with the watch as my only god and most treasured possession. If I break that commitment I will burn and die. I'm a slave to always worship my fullbring and pay tribute to it by granting it power whenever available."

Giriko pushed his emotions back down with practiced ease, gaining more determination in doing so.

"My hope is that if I gain more power I can break my commitment to the watch, transfer its power to me or destroy it all together. I want to survive on my own terms so I can go back to my life again, back to my wife."

Ichigo's eyes, already widened, widened further.

"Your wife's alive?"

The question was nearly as silent as the wordless nod he got in return.

"If a contract is broken a penalty will be met but after that the contract no longer takes hold. But…"

Giriko's voice trailed off unable and unwilling to bring memories of that time back up again.

Giriko was a hard man to read and Ichigo was sure that when he saw him express himself when he gained more power through Ginjo that Giriko was just another power hungry maniac. But thinking back on it now.

"I don't think that gaining more power is the way to go for you Giriko. When you gained part of my power your fullbring extended from your watch to your entire body, you even had 12 floating spheres hanging around you resembling a clock. Increasing your power means increasing the power of your fullbring. Stronger contracts usually have higher penalties to them the same is likely true for your commitment to your watch. I think what you need to focus on is more control."

Giriko was listening, not even trying to deny his words, that was good.

"I think what you need to do is either extend your control from making contracts to changing contracts or find a way to outsmart your own power with a specific or series of contracts in place. You said that your watch transferred its power to you once so you should be able to force it to do so again on your own terms without losing control."

Giriko took a moment to digest that.

"If more power won't help me achieve my goal than I will state my request clearer. Help me achieve my goal in whatever way possible and you will have my full support."

Ichigo nodded in consent, he wasn't smart enough to analyze Giriko's power and what exactly committing yourself to a god meant but he knew someone who was.

"I have an idea but it might take a few days before it can be finalized. In the meantime try making one object a slave to another with a contract and then try to break that contract or alter its conditions by placing another one on top of it, maybe you can find a solution to your problem on your own before I do. If anything you'll get better control that way and you'll learn if you can use layered contracts. Just don't use anything on yourself or other people, only objects."

"Then I will do so."

With that Giriko got up and moved to one of the far corners of the room. Leaving with one more statement.

"Do not worry about the time it takes. I am very much aware that anything worthwhile can only be achieved with the right timing."

Yukio gave a half-hearted comment to him on his way off.

"If you burn it you pay it."

With that done Ichigo turned himself to Jackie who was waiting patiently.

"I'll help you with whatever you need if you promise me that you'll either change the way my fullbring works or get rid of it."

Dirty Boots was a very unlucky fullbring to have. Ichigo himself was silently not the biggest fan of it, Jackie should downright hate it for far more personal reasons than just aesthetics.

He had no idea how she or Renji had gotten rid of her fullbring but it had been done so it could be done again. Changing it would be more difficult but also better in the end.

"In what should I change it?"

"These boots were a gift from my father and I always kept them in perfect condition, completely clean. My fullbring was born after they were stained by my brother's blood. I don't mind the effect of my fullbring but I don't want to constantly stain my boots to gain it. So anything apart from staining them will do. I've been using it for a long time now so I can continue using it until my power is no longer needed. But if you can't change how they work in the end then remove my fullbring all together."

Ichigo wasn't an Urahara or an Aizen but he wasn't stupid either. He couldn't understand something or predict a situation with a single glance but if he had all the pieces needed he could puzzle them together pretty well.

"Well if your fullbring increases your power when your boots get dirtier than they probably work on the anger and hate you feel at that time, so more on emotions, I think. I'd ask Giriko to try and make a contract with your boots and force them to work differently but if I'm wrong and they can't be changed then they might be destroyed."

Well he was no Urahara but he did know the man.

"Anyway, I think it should be possible to change them but I'll need some time."

Time Jackie luckily wanted to give him.

"Well, tell me when you have something. I'm ready to do something more worthwhile besides just surviving."

Jackie did seem either bored or uninterested in anything happening around her for most of the time. She didn't seem to have a goal she was striving towards and even gaining more power felt more like a way to waste time to her.

His opinion of almost every fullbringer had changed but Jackie still seemed to be her usual self. She didn't have a secret agenda. She had no agenda, nothing was planned she only knew she wanted to survive from day to day. Hopefully after all this she could find something more.

"After Riruka's dollhouse training, you were the one who helped me achieve the second stage of my fullbring by fighting me. Could you do that for Chad as well?"

"Sure I'll train him in a few days once he's done with the dollhouse."

Ichigo smirked and stood up moving towards Yukio who was pretending that he wasn't listening in.

"Today. He'll be ready today."

Chad had a purpose for fighting and it was that purpose, to protect and help Ichigo, that was key to his fullbring, his arms. Ichigo had his pride in his shinigami powers but those were gone at that time so he couldn't find a way to focus that feeling until Chad helped him. Chad would quickly make the connection. He would have his fullbring awakened today there was no doubt about it.

Yukio didn't look up at Ichigo but Ichigo knew he was listening.

"I need your help."

Yukio paused his game and looked up.

"With what?"

"I need to be able to leave at night whenever I need to so I need you to create a permanent chatroom in my bedroom and make it look like an exact replica."

The request seemed to kill Yukio's interest and he once more found his console to be more interesting.

"Impossible. I can only make chatrooms inside my game console and I would need to recharge my batteries constantly."

"I know but back in my time you were able to work without batteries and you could manifest your power into the real world."

It didn't take someone as smart as Yukio to figure out what he meant by that exactly.

"I'll ask Ginjo if you accept."

Yukio was staring at him, not revealing any emotion.

"You're giving me a portion of your fullbring just so you can sneak away at night?"

Giving away a part of your fullbring was permanent. It couldn't be replenished by training or any other method besides someone else giving you a portion of their own. A fundamental part would be lost and the fullbring would downgrade. For Ichigo it probably meant that his fullbring would revert back to its second stage, permanently, or somewhere in between that and his final fullbring.

There was no other choice though, he needed Yukio and he could only help him if his fullbring evolved.

"The shinigami that I'm replacing, the one with the hogyoku inside of her, stays in my room. I need you to monitor the hogyoku inside of her and her gigai as best you can. I'll also need your help to possibly remove it from her. There are more things that you could help me with later on if you want to but you'll need my power for most of them."

Yukio was silent for a while longer as if waiting for something to happen. But whatever it was never came.

"Deal."

Ichigo turned to the bar where Ginjo was already looking at him, fully serious with a badge and a necklace dangling in his hand.

"I have never tried taking a portion of someone's power. I'm not even sure that I can."

"Then try, if you take all of it you can still share your power afterwards. Which means you can give me my power back and hold a portion for yourself to give to Yukio."

It was almost funny how easy it was to pass around powers like that. Of course the trust needed to have your powers taken and not abused was a rare thing to come by.

With a flash Ginjo's blade was summoned and he moved towards Ichigo.

They had gained the full attention of everyone present with most of them not believing what Ichigo was doing.

"Ready when you are."

Ichigo was fully prepared for this and more to come.

"You trust me enough not to just take all of your power for myself? I could also try to steal your shinigami power while I'm at it."

They already believed that Ichigo was from the future and now they believed everything that would happen in the future and everything Ichigo had done. If Ginjo tried to steal all of his power now he knew that the future really would be a doomsday scenario. There also was the fact that Ginjo was a horrible actor and he couldn't find any malice in his words.

His trust in Ginjo settled Ichigo focused on his pride. His pride for his shinigami powers had been taken an extra level higher after he knew the truth about his zanpakuto and fake zanpakuto spirit. A pride that wasn't linked to a badge any longer. He still had his power, his pride was waiting for him inside of him. Both shinigami and quincy.

With a flash of blue light Ichigo stood garbed in his familiar fullbring attire. For a short moment he took the time to acknowledge that he felt stronger than the last time he used it along with the now dual blades that were sheathed on his back. One long sword and one short.

"I trust you."

The tip of a large sword stabbing him all the way to his heart was his answer.

"Then let's do this on the first try."

There was no pain when he was stabbed, no pain when he felt the upper part of his armor tear of his body. It was working and both of them knew it.

Ginjo pulled his sword out and flashed to Yukio slashing him across his chest. And the room was blinded in light.

The light quickly faded showing three knew occupants in the room.

Ichigo had reverted back to his second stage after all. He felt stronger than he did the last time he was in this stage, much stronger but still noticeably weaker and less stable than he felt in that one moment where he could relish in his complete fullbring.

Yukio had his new attire and was looking at his gauntlets in amazement. Faint reflections of numbers were present in his eyes as if he was staring at something only he could see.

The other new occupant was surprising to most but expected for Ichigo.

Chad was standing tall and strong with the first stage of his fullbring active in the form of his Brazo Derecho Del Gigante already in its near complete form. The next stage would likely be his defensive shield form and the last one his Brazo Izquierda del Diablo. 3 stages, just like Ichigo's fullbring.

"Under 15 minutes, that's faster than me. Nice work Chad."

Ichigo was genuinely happy that Chad was improving so quickly but the next stage of his training was going to take a lot longer. Ichigo already had a lot of combat experience and he knew how to handle powers that were far stronger than the once his fullbring could give him. Chad had no experience and no idea how to work with his new found power. It would take a lot more training but they had the time for it.

"I've never felt anything like this before."

Chad was hypnotized by his newfound ability, he had every right to be since it was a large step from human to fullbringer.

"Riruka can you let Chad and Jackie use your fish tank for a little bit?"

Not needing his own fullbring Ichigo let it dissipate around him.

It was best to let Chad get accustomed to how his fullbring worked and let him explore it a bit. Otherwise it would just stay on his mind.

Riruka had been very subdued today but it seemed than any amount of direct attention was enough to break that.

"That's the second time you've asked me for help. I'll give it for now but I'm expecting something big in return!"

Ichigo was sure that she was helping him because she wanted to help but it seemed that she wasn't able to admit it just yet. Still he did promise that he would help all of them in return.

"Anything you want Riruka, just ask."

The offer seemed to stop Riruka in her tracks, maybe she did find something she might want in return?

"I'll-I'll hold you to that."

And like that she was gone off to get the fish tank, hopefully, from wherever she stored all her things.

Ichigo had no idea what she might want but this was Riruka so it wouldn't be anything bad.

More importantly Yukio had manifested several screens floating around him displaying nothing but numbers that only seemed to make sense to Yukio himself.

"Last time you knew how to use your powers and what they were instantly. How's it going now Yukio?"

The screens disappeared and Yukio looked at Ichigo with more emotion than ever before.

"I have a good idea of everything I can do right now and how. But I feel like I could do anything I want to! I'm sure if I analyze my abilities a bit more nothing will be left that I can't do!"

Hopefully Yukio's happiness wouldn't turn psychotic like it did last time.

"Oi, Yukio calm down. You're losing control of yourself."

The simple phrase was enough to put Yukio back down to earth. Clearly everyone trusted Ginjo as their leader without question which would hopefully hold along with their partnership.

He was obviously very excited with his new powers but without a clear goal for them Ichigo was sure that he would soon find that gaining more power wasn't really enough on its own.

"Right, first things first."

Yuki took off one of his headphones and threw it at Ichigo.

"I've programmed that to do everything you asked. When you get home pull off the pointy extension and drop it on the floor. It will scan the room and everything inside of it and then break apart to create an exact copy of that room within a chatroom. Unless someone decides to break down a wall they won't notice that there is a chatroom and no one will be able to sense it either. Keep the headphone disk with you. If you place it over one of your ears it will become invisible and untraceable and you'll be able to call me. I'll keep and analyze all the data of everything that happens inside the chatroom on my end."

Yukio was incredibly fast when he wanted something done and just like Ichigo suspected Yukio's fullbring was incredible if used the right way. His ability to make perfect clones of himself while hiding the original from sight or any other form of sensing alone was incredibly useful.

Although Ichigo did remember that just because Yukio said it was one way didn't mean that was absolutely true. He was sure that if he wasn't careful someone like Urahara would find some way around the supposed impossible.

"Everything within the chatroom needs to be sensable from the outside though. Can't have anyone freaking out when I suddenly drop of the map."

With a flick of his wrist another digital screen and keyboard appeared and Yukio started typing away again.

"I have to leave a permanent opening where any doors or windows are anyway so that won't be a problem."

"Thanks Yukio. I'll call you when I need anything."

"After seeing what Yukio can do after just gaining his powers it really makes me wonder how we managed to lose so badly."

Ginjo was quiet but Ichigo heard him, Ginjo expected him to as well since he was clearly waiting for an answer.

"You weren't using your abilities to their full extend, only focusing on overwhelming with raw power. Your ego boosted just as much as your fullbring did so that had a lot to do with it as well."

Ginjo couldn't help but smile.

"Well even if we didn't fight as hard as we could have the Gotei 13 must have gotten a lot stronger from what I remember. Odd but no point in trying to ignore the truth. If you find some spare time at any point I feel like I'm going to need someone to train against to get stronger myself."

They trusted him almost as much as his friends did which was good but too fast.

"Yeah sure, besides why is it that all of you are just taking everything I say as the truth? I thought you'd be a lot more skeptical?"

It was really odd not that he was unhappy about it but still this was going a bit too easy.

Giriko seemed to have heard them and chose to answer.

"Any person not currently an official member of Xcution will glow green and be paralyzed if they tell a lie. That was the condition for the contract that Ginjo asked me to place on our headquarters this afternoon."

Ichigo wasn't sure if he should be surprised that Ginjo had used his own tactic against him so quickly or that his sensing ability was even worse than he thought it was.

Ginjo looked annoyed now that the secret was spoiled but chose to elaborate, lest Ichigo got the wrong idea.

"We all decided to believe who and what you said you were since yesterday but we weren't certain yet if we could fully trust you. You could have told us a doomsday story or exaggerated the events of what might have happened in the future so we would be more inclined to help you or even have no other choice but to help you. But you didn't, you told us the complete truth and gave us the choice to help you or not even though you knew that we might say no especially since you were able to take care of most problems in the future on your own or at least without our help."

"We trusted everything you told us because we could instantly tell whether you were telling the truth or not. And now we can fully trust you even without the lie detector. You're not going to try and sacrifice us for your own goals no matter how noble they might be. Not all of us are certain that you can actually change the world like you want to but we at least trust you enough that were willing to give it a try."

Tsukishima moved back inside the room, having left somewhere in the middle of everything, and threw a familiar key card at Chad.

"From now on you can both consider yourselves members of our Xcution. Congrats!"

The difference was instantly noticeable from last time. His membership definitely felt a lot better and more real. Right now he and Chad were actual members, no strings attached.

"Thanks Ginjo. But I have something else I really need to do tonight so I'm going to have to leave for now. Yukio, Can you check if you can upgrade the base a bit more just in case something does go wrong somewhere down the line?"

Yukio nodded absently, changing screen and instantly moving on with the job.

Riruka had just entered again and Ichigo focused back on Chad.

"You'll be alright on your own here?"

Chad nodded, not fully understanding everything going on around him but far too eager to try out his new power to care right now. Ichigo seemed to have everything under control so that was more than enough, right now he had to learn how to use his new found power.

"You're going to need some time to unwind you know. Get back here when you're ready to celebrate your membership!"

With that Ichigo stepped outside. There was only one person left that he had to fill in on everything. Inoue.

He was reluctant to do so especially since they didn't know each other that well at this point in time but Inoue was a very unique and special person and somehow he knew she wouldn't turn him down. Besides with all the weird fantasies she could concoct on a moment's notice, tales of how the spirit world worked and time travel wouldn't be the craziest things she had ever imagined.

Inoue was invaluable. It was impossible to plan for everything, impossible to prepare for every possible scenario. Mistakes would be made and someone was needed to make sure that those mistakes didn't end up being permanent. A healer like Inoue was the best safety net he could ask for.

After that everyone who would believe his story was on his side. All other allies would have to follow later on when he proved himself to them through action and not tales about the past/future.

Only two problems remained that shouldn't have been there. One would be solved tonight and the other was now in the hands of the much smarter Yukio to find a solution too.

It was time to free Zangetsu.

XXX

His room was quiet and empty. Rukia seemed to be asleep, her closet was completely closed and Kon was either sleeping under the stars or flying among them.

He might as well start this now.

Taking Yukio's headphone from his pocket Ichigo pulled and the extension came lose with soft click.

Putting one end on the floor and the other back in his pocket Ichigo waited.

The extension pulled itself upright, now standing vertically and shot up in the air until it was at the same height as Ichigo. A soft green hue hung around it and from that purple laser like beams shot out and scanned every inch of the room even moving through objects to scan the ones hidden behind or inside of them at will.

Ichigo desperately hoped that Rukia really was asleep for this, he had hoped for something a bit more subtle but then again he hadn't asked Yukio for any such thing.

The green light hanging around the extension turned purple and shot outwards in a familiar tessellated black purple pattern instantly covering the entire room and turning it completely dark for a moment.

With another flash his room was back, the extension was gone and light was shining in through the window again.

Everything looked alright, except for the light show the whole transformation had been a silent one and Rukia hadn't seemed to wake up at any time during it. A quick test showed that all his belongings still felt the exact same, every drawer was filled with the same material as before.

He wasn't even sure if Yukio's ability was active at all. Which meant that it had worked perfectly.

Another thing he wasn't sure about was how to call Yukio with the remaining part of his headphone.

The thing looked like it could be one of those wireless headphones that people use to call while driving so hopefully it would connect him to Yukio automatically once the stealth field around it activated.

Ichigo hopped out of his window just in case the phone wasn't muted and placed it on his right ear, waiting and hoping for something to happen.

A flash of purple shining at the edge of his sight was probably the phone turning invisible. Luckily a typical phone beeping sound soon followed. It only took one before Yukio's voice came over.

"What do you need?"

Yukio sounded annoyed probably still experimenting with his abilities.

"I need a perfect clone of myself sleeping in my bed and a private chat room, what I'm about to do might alert every world out there otherwise."

"hmm, I'll make a fake bottom in the first drawer of your desk. In there is going to be a game console like my own. Hit start and it will transport you into that chatroom. When you're in, there will be a large door on the side you enter, you can get out by going through it. Also that console is made inside of your first chatroom so you can't take it with you outside of your bedroom."

Yukio seemed to have taken his future self's failure to heart by working on his creativity with his abilities. Like creating a chatroom within a chatroom. If Ichigo somehow broke through that one he would still have the other one to make sure that he didn't destroy his home. Although any secrecy would be lost.

"Are you sure it will be able to hold me? Last time when Ginjo and I were in one it broke."

"Yes, you said that already. You most likely broke it because you reached the edges of my chatroom and caused enough damage for it to collapse. I don't know how to make them more durable yet but this one is as big as I can make it. You'll be fine."

With that Yukio ended the call and Ichigo was left on his own again.

Yukio seemed to know what he was doing so it should be fine if he stayed away from the edges.

Back in his room Ichigo soon found himself lying in his bed asleep. Since he was worse than abysmal at sensing anything he couldn't see anything wrong with the clone even if there was something but with Rukia's weakened state she wouldn't know either if she woke up sooner than expected.

The first drawer, false bottom, game console.

With the press of a button Ichigo was off and dropped into his own private world.

A very empty world.

A large, white, cube like world.

A square grid in all directions much like the first time he was absorbed inside of Yukio's console to train with Ginjo. Only this time the grid went up every wall and the entire place was white. Luckily he only needed this place to enter his inner world from otherwise he would go crazy in here.

A quick look around showed that the only real object here was the stark contrasting black door behind him.

With a thought Ichigo was in his fullbring again and sped forward towards the center of his world. Hoping all the way that his suspicions about being able to enter his inner world in fullbring were correct.

XXX

The dome was coming off today.

A burning black bow and a perfect blue one were their greetings.

"Changing the type of reiryoku that you use will be relatively easy inside of your inner world. More so since you have an actual object to focus on and see what effects your actions are having. Stand on the dome and focus on the force pulling you down, imagine that force to be the energy you need and pull it towards you to form an arrow. This will grow more difficult over time since the pull you now feel strongly will continue to lessen."

The pressure within the dome hadn't stopped building and was now at a high enough level that Ichigo could barely stand on the air above it. Making those first few arrows was going to be easy like this. Still no matter how much Ichigo wanted this dome gone there were still some issues he was trying to find an answer to.

"Are you sure Zangetsu isn't going to try and destroy the dome the moment he feels it becoming weaker? And if we destroy it all of his reiatsu will still flood outwards."

Zangetsu and patience were antonym's of one another so giving him even the smallest hint that his rescue was stalled would easily set him off and might cause Ichigo's reiatsu to explode around him after all.

Ichigo was just asking for clarification not doubting that Yhwach's plan would work. Such an obvious problem wouldn't slip past his notice.

"Zangetsu will feel our presence once the dome weakens enough. He might be impatient but he is not stupid, he knows that his current way of freeing himself will work in the near future and he knows that there are no large threats waiting for us in the near future. If we work on a different, faster way of freeing him he will wait it out.

Yhwach could predict Zangetsu's every move perfectly, he wouldn't suggest this plan if he couldn't. They were both born the same day he was but unlike him they were together and knew each other since that moment. Even though Yhwach had taken over Zangetsu's rightful roll as his zanpakuto the two of them still worked together and even fused together at one point. They trusted each other, so much that one was willing to bury himself deep down inside of Ichigo and act as the enemy when he was supposed to be Ichigo's soul partner.

"I will deal with Zangetsu's reiatsu myself the same way you will deal with Rukia's."

Yhwach was able to use Zangetsu's reiatsu but only because Zangetsu was a part of them. He couldn't interfere with Rukia's shinigami powers and by extension couldn't reach Zangetsu so long as she was in the way, that was the part where Ichigo came in. Creating the opening Yhwach needed to interact with Zangetsu again and leaving it to Ichigo to destroy the dome entirely.

Ichigo focused and created his first, barely stable, arrow.

"Let's save Zangetsu."

XXX

It took a long time. with every arrow Ichigo loosed he could feel the gravity pulling him down lessening. And with every arrow, focusing on it was becoming more and more difficult. Yhwach was the other way around. The more Ichigo weakened the dome the more Yhwach was able to access Zangetsu's reiatsu and shoot it outwards. They balanced each other out since Yhwach had a lot more reiatsu to deal with but also far more skill to do so.

The dome right now was almost translucent. Silhouettes off the ever present skyscrapers were clearly visible and there was no longer any noticeable force pulling him downwards. Yhwach had finished his part already and was now patiently waiting for Ichigo to finish his own. Almost.

Focusing Ichigo created one more massive arrow and shot it into the air. The first crack appeared right beneath him and he had just enough time to jump up before the entire thing broke apart and shattered into fast dissolving pieces.

There was no aftershock so Yhwach had done his part as perfect as he expected.

"You look different."

The voice was a familiar and wanted one, the action accompanying it wasn't.

Turning around swiftly Ichigo formed a long Khyber knife over his right arm and used it to block Zangetsu's incoming slash.

"Huh, a lot weaker to."

Zangetsu looked the same as the first time Ichigo had seen him. A perfect, white double of his 15 year old self. With a large, full black Khyber knife in his hand. The same as Ichigo's last zanpakuto.

"Nice to see you too Zangetsu."

Zangetsu nearly recoiled at the name, instantly sheathing his sword and relishing in a feeling only known to him.

"I never thought that hearing you say my name would feel so. Complete."

Ichigo stayed silent letting him relish in his moment that he should have had far sooner.

With a deep sigh Zangetsu focused on him again, grin back in full force.

"So what did I miss? You haven't been in any interesting battles I hope. And what's with that weak fake shinigami power?"

"Not much, no battles except for a few normal hollows and this is fullbring. You should know what it is but you weren't around when I had it."

Absently Ichigo reverted his arm back to normal and looked at his now complete inner world.

"They're taller."

It wasn't hard to guess his thoughts apparently neither was it hard to notice how notably bigger the skyscrapers of his inner city were.

"And they better be, your horse has gone up a few notches so the king better follow or he'll fall off."

Ichigo met his feral grin with a serious line.

"No more horse and king. Were partners now until we can become one again."

His feral grin became less stressed and morphed into a smile.

"Well then, as partners I'll be taking over control whenever you put our mask on. Hollow abilities are instinctive anyway so letting your instinct make use of them is only logical."

Zangetsu was showing himself far wiser than Ichigo had ever expected him to be. He did have a point and Ichigo didn't think that Zangetsu would go berserk either. Feral was still an apt description for him but he wasn't angry anymore. They were both finally at a level where Ichigo could understand and accept him and Zangetsu could be properly wielded and Ichigo was strong enough to wield him.

"Fine by me."

It felt good to finally be at peace with his soul. Thinking of his soul.

"Where did Yhwach go?"

Zangetsu seemed lost for a moment but quickly found the person that fit the name and the reason for it.

"Probably flashed to one of the flagpoles the moment the dome broke."

Zangetsu shifted his gaze to the tallest of the skyscrapers and wasted no time in flashing towards it. Ichigo followed him, incredulous at Yhwach's unhealthy preference for flagpoles.

On the tallest of the skyscrapers Ichigo's complete soul was present.

Zangetsu grinning, Ichigo alternating between barely containing his laughter and looking incredulous and Yhwach standing proud and tall on a flagpole, pretending nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Now that we are all here we must decide what course of action we will follow."

Yhwach kick started the conversation and the other two members quickly changed their moods accordingly.

"What I want to do first is solve the quincy problem. We can use Ishida and his dad to see if it works, once it does we need to make the Wandenreich aware of it. Yhwach wants to bring the worlds together and end the cycle of life and death. If we give him the solution and it doesn't impact his combat ability at all, then he'll use it and we'll be saving a lot of souls that way."

Both other parties seemed to accept this. Zangetsu wanted something else to quickly follow though.

"That's good and all but what about the hollows? We need a solution for that before the whole Aizen, Espada thing. Otherwise hate and resentment will cloud the Soul Society's judgement and they'll reject anything involving them instantly."

They didn't have the time for both nor the means. They needed more time and the only way to make it was by taking time away somewhere else.

"We need Aizen to reveal himself to the Gotei 13. So we'll wait until they realize what his plan is and then we'll take care of him ourselves. If we can prove that we can defeat 3 captains and an army of hollows on our own then we'll get the attention we need."

Yhwach nodded his agreement.

"We will need to exaggerate your already impressive growth rate. Before we defeat Aizen we must combine and transcend once more while also revealing that we know of Aizen's goal. Afterwards we will wait for the shinigami to prove themselves to us by sending the zero division."

Zangetsu's grin showed his pleasure.

"A human boy who ascended in less than half a year, knows how to make an Oken and doesn't take orders from anyone. They definitely won't let us be."

Ichigo would be someone they would want more as an ally then an enemy. Sending in the Zero division was their best shot to show him that there were even more powerful shinigami around than the Gotei 13 and to try and get him into their ranks.

"With their help we should be able to solve the hollow problem and we would be in the perfect position for our end move against Yhwach."

But that was all so far away and in too short a time.

"First things first, we need to go to Urahara and finally start learning kido. Brute force isn't always going to cut it especially now."

Yhwach assented the point knowing full well that Ichigo couldn't just go around using quincy powers he shouldn't be able to use yet. More surprisingly even his trigger happy zanpakuto spirit agreed.

"Yeah, unless were ascending, people like Aizen are going to be difficult in a close up fight."

"Aren't you supposed to be all for going in head first?"

Zangetsu actually had the nerve to look at Ichigo like he was stupid, as if thinking that he and Zaraki were alike was so strange.

"Of course I'm all for going in head first, I'm your instinct! Which also means survival and going up against someone like Aizen head first is suicidal without your full power."

Putting the fact that Zangetsu made a good argument aside Ichigo focused on the second part of his statement.

"Yhwach's not holding you back so why can't you use your full power?"

"All real zanpakuto are made with asauchi idiot. Even if I'm not being held back your still left with a makeshift zanpakuto and without an asauchi you can't focus your quincy powers into one either."

So he only had one blade and a weakened one at that? Well it wasn't ideal but not a huge problem either. He wanted to learn kido regardless. It wasn't like he was in this alone anyway.

Yhwach's gaze had been on Ichigo the entire time and he was visibly pleased that Ichigo wasn't despairing just because something wasn't going his way.

"More importantly you will need to tell Urahara that your shinigami powers have changed before he notices himself. We must make this seem like you had nothing to do with it."

"Right I'll take care of that first thing tomorrow."

Yhwach gave him a look that conveyed the word 'sorry' in his mind for some reason.

"It is tomorrow Ichigo, a new day starts now. With all the most pressing concerns taken care of you can sleep again tonight."

Well, today was going to be a tiresome one, hopefully only his exhaustion and lack of sleep would be the cause of it.

XXX

"We cannot ignore this any longer."

His eyes were shaded by his hat but both Tessai and Yoruichi could read his emotions clearly.

Ichigo was up to something, what he didn't know and that made things all the more pressing.

The hogyoku's interest in Ichigo was worrying enough but a late night visit to an old apartment complex with high-end keycard security and an unknown trap system was too much.

Yoruichi had been unable to either identify the nature or the function of the trap that was placed in front of the door. With the timing of its placement after Ichigo entered it was likely that she had either been found out or that Ichigo and his companions were very careful. Both were bad.

The hogyoku was too important for these kinds of secrets. He'd let Ichigo explain himself first but if the wrong explanation or lack thereof turned up.

"I'll leave Ichigo a message to come see me again about his powers. He must at least feel that something is wrong and won't pass up the chance for help or either to question how I knew."

Urahara's head inched upwards just enough to show the seriousness in his eyes.

"Tessai, restrain him if he refuses to cooperate. If that fails and I can't hold him for any reason."

A heavy and mournful silence followed, one that only an assassin of the onmitsukido was able to interpret.

Yoruichi's own silence carried her answer.

Either way he was getting closure today.

Urahara had been ignored for too long.

Thanks for the continued support from all of you!

I'm already near half way for the next chapter so it should be up sooner than usual.

Please continue to let me know what you think about the story, grammar, writing style and so on, so I can continue to improve.

Hope you liked this chapter and I'll see you with a new one in about half a week.

See ya!