Second Time

By

Kage of Seireitei

(A/N: This is a revised edition of Second Time and is titled Second Time Revised Edition (lolz). Once this story reaches the 8 chapters that the original second time had, the older version will be deleted and replaced by this.)

Speech/Narration

Thoughts/Dreams

Hollows/Demonic voices/Alter Egos

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach sadly, cuz this plot would be like totally awesome.

Chapter 1: Captain-Commander

CLAP

BOOM

The deafening thunder roared across the skies as the torrent of rain fell upon the city. To a normal human it would seem as if Karakura city was completely deserted. Not a single bit of life was seen anywhere.

At the top of the highest skyscraper, stood a 25 year old man of exceptional build and orange hair. His piercing brown eyes scanned the horizon. The white haori cloak hugged closely to his form and his sword and scabbard lay hanging by his waist.

Its going to start soon. The man thought solemnly.

My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. I was born a human and lived most of my childhood like anyone else. When I was nine years old, my mother died protecting me. Even since that moment I began to notice things around me that no one else could see. I found out that I had the ability to see dead spirits, souls who wander around the earth because they couldn't come to terms with dying and moving on to the next world.

Then when I was fifteen, I encountered someone named Kuchiki Rukia, a shinigami from a place called soul society. It was her job to guide souls onto the next life and to purify tainted spirits called hollows. At first I was totally skeptical until my family was attacked by one of those hollows. I tried to fight the monster with my bare hands but it proved fruitless as I was tossed around like a rag doll. Rukia tried to kill the hollow but was also ineffective. In a last ditch effort, Rukia lent me her spiritual powers which transformed me into a shinigami, a soul reaper.

I easily defeated the hollow and later found out it was the beginning of a grand adventure. It led to discovering who really killed my mother, to bonding with new friends who later developed their own spiritual powers. However, things took a turn for the worse when Rukia was taken back to soul society by her brother Kuchiki Byakuya and life friend, Abarai Renji. She was to be executed for crimes against Seireitei. I along with Ishida Uryuu the last Quincy, Sado Yasutora the juggernaut, Orihime Inoue, and a cat named Yoruichi Shihouin went to soul society to rescue Rukia. Eventually our group met up with Shiba Ganju and Hanataro Yamada who also helped with the rescue.

There were many tough battles, but in the end everyone found out that the Gotei 13 Protection squads were tricked by a man named Aizen Sosuke and his underlings Ichimaru Gin, and Tosen Kaname. Aizen had murdered Central 46 which is the governing body in soul society that gives direct orders to the shinigami. Secretly, Aizen, Gin, and Tosen were feeding seireitei false information about Kuchiki Rukia in order to get her executed by the Sougyoku, a powerful zanpakuto said to have the strength of a million soul slayers. Their plan was to retrieve the Hougyoku from the ashen remains of Rukia after she was executed.

The Hougyoku was a device that was used to blur the line between shinigami and hollow in order to create a new being known as Arrancar. We succeeded in saving Rukia but Aizen accomplished his goal in attaining the Hougyoku and retreated off to Hueco Mundo. This was the start of a series of conflicts between Soul Society and Aizen's army of Arrancar.

Our first major encounter with the Arrancar started with the kidnap of Orihime. Apparently, Aizen wanted to use her powers of event cancellation in order to restore the Hougyoku to full power. He would then unleash a massive attack force on the spirit world that would gain him enough spiritual energy to create a Spirit Key which is used in unlocking the gates into the dimension of the spirit king. He planned to enter that dimension and assassinate the King of Soul Society, thus becoming a god.

When Soul Society refused to send help to rescue Orihime, I along with Sado, Rukia, Renji, and Ishida found a way into Hueco Mundo and attempted to break into the Arrancar fortress known as Las Noches. Later, we met up with Nel and her brothers Dondo Chakka and Pesche and their pet Bawabawa. They tagged along for the ride as we finally broke through the walls of Las Noches.

Together we battled against the Espada, the elite of the Arrancar and certainly the most powerful. Rukia fought and killed the ninth espada and barely survived the battle. Renji, Ishida, Dondo Chakka, and Pesche all fought the eighth espada and were outmatched. I encountered Ulquiorra the fourth Espada and lost horribly before I was healed by Orihime who was brought by Grimmjaw the sixth espada who wanted to end our fight from before. I fought hard and barely came out on top before I was defeated by the fifth espada Noitora.

Then, something spectacular happened. The little arrancar Nel who had tagged along, suddenly transformed into her true form Neliel Tu Oderschvank, the former third espada. The older Nel quickly disposed of Noitora but before she could finish him off she reverted back to her child like form which Noitora took quick advantage of.

Just as it seemed all hope was lost, the shinigami arrived. Rukia was rescued by her brother Byakuya, who had killed the seventh espada Zommari in the process. The eighth espada, Szayel Aporro was defeated by the 12th division captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri. And finally, I was rescued by Zaraki Kenpachi who fought fiercely with Noitora before barely coming out on top. Together we all escaped back to Karakura after a close encounter with Ulquiorra. Orihime was finally safe.

Now that Aizen couldn't use a fully powered Hougyoku to create his army, he had to slowly do it, building up his forces so they could match soul society. But with the loss of four of his Espada and the disappearance of one, it became a time consuming task.

The shinigami took advantage of this extra time to fortify their own army. It was during this time, that I trained extensively with the rest of the Vaizard who it turned out use to be shinigami and part of the 12th and 2nd divisions under the command of former shinigami Urahara Kisuke and Yoruichi Shihouin, before they were accidentally transformed into Vizard by Urahara's initial experiments with the Hougyoku. I fully mastered my hollow powers and learned a lot of new moves from old man Zangetsu to add to my bankai attacks.

Orihime studied under the tutelage of both Yoruichi and Unohana Retsu, the fourth division captain who specialized in healing kido. She learned a lot of new combat moves, healing techniques, and even improved her own spiritual powers.

Chad fully mastered the right arm of the giant, and left arm of the devil, and even unlocked the legs of the angel which gave him high speed, and horns of the bull which were his two katana blades that were made out of hollow bones.

Ishida mastered all kinds of quincy and shinigami kido as well as high speed flash step. He has mastered Girei Kojaku and the use of Seele Schneider and can access a power known as the Quincy eyes.

After getting back to the real world the child-like Nel was healed back to full adult form. It turns out that whenever Neliel is severely weakened her body reverts back to the child form. And with Urahara's help, Dondo Chakka and Pesche got their Arrancar powers returned to them. Nel and her brothers provided the shinigami forces with vital information about Aizen's army.

Ashido wasn't forgotten either. Once we escaped Hueco Mundo, the noble shinigami was rescued from the Menos Forest and returned to Soul Society. (A/N: If you don't know who Ashido is, don't worry he was just part of a filler episode and he won't play a major role in this story unless you want him to.)

Things were going pretty well until one day Grimmjaw reappeared. He had deserted the Espada after our initial rescue mission of Orihime. The tiger-like Arrancar had always despised Aizen and only agreed to help him for the promise of tough battles. But when I had defeated him, he decided to run out on them and since then has been living alone. But the day he showed up, he warned us that Aizen had built up an immensely powerful army and was nearly ready to attack soul society. All of us were weary of course. None of us trusted the rogue Espada, except for Neliel who seemed to sense something from him that nobody else could. Eventually, Grimmjaw became part of the group which he openly denied wanting to. Still he could always be seen hanging around Neliel and he would always help us if we needed information.

Then the darkest day in soul society came around. Hinamori Momo, still under the influence of Aizen's zanpakuto, despite any amount of mental healing she received, opened a pathway directly from Hueco Mundo into Soul Society. We were caught unprepared. Aizen with his new league of espada and Arrancar force, tore through Seireitei. Every able-bodied shinigami was fighting. Our group soon joined the fight with the Vizard tagging along.

It was the biggest collection of spirit energy ever seen concentrated in one place. The battle went on for days before all of the captains and all of the espada fought head to head in an all out match. It ended with the defeat of the third espada and Halibel the second espada. Yammy, the tenth espada, and Ichimaru Gin were also killed. But it was at the cost of the lives of 13th division captain Ukitake Jushiro, 8th division captain Kyoraku Shunsui, 4th Division captain Unohana Retsu, 7th division captain Komamura Sajin, 6th division captain Kuchiki Byakuya, and even the captain-commander Yamamoto Genryusai who fought Aizen himself.

The shinigami forces were devastated with the loss of more than half of the remaining loyal captains and the death of the Captain-Commander. Fortunately, Aizen was severely injured and was forced to retreat once more with the remaining Arrancar. Soul Society was left in ruins.

That was five years ago.

Since then the shinigami have attempted to rebuild but without the command of the other captains, some soul reapers were considering treason and were planning to run off to Aizen's side. That was when we came in. Our group included Orihime, Sado, Ishida, Nel and her brothers, Grimmjaw, Urahara, Yoruichi, my father, Ishida's father, Ashido, and the Vizard. Soul Society was very grateful and together we rebuilt Seireitei. Eventually some of us even filled in the empty captain positions.

That's when something unexpected happened. I was elected for the position of Captain-Commander. It was definitely the last thing I would have guessed would happen ever since I first absorbed Rukia's powers all those years ago. Who knew that I would end up commanding the entire force of shinigami in a war that would determine the fate of both the real and spirit worlds.

At first I rejected the offer but eventually my friends convinced me that I was the only real choice left. 'Someone who is strong and can inspire the troops to victory' That's what they said I was. Actually in my opinion I thought I'd be the last qualified person to 'inspire' the people.

Whatever

So I accepted the position and ever since then I was the one who led troops into battle. And today might be the last one in this damned war.

Recently, our spy Grimmjaw reported that Las Noches was completely empty. That meant that Aizen was moving his troops and preparing to make a final assault. Aizen's original objective was to eliminate the threat in soul society first before proceeding to the next phase in his plan which was to use the collected spirit energy in Karakura, to create the spirit key, before destroying the city and anyone who lived there.

But, it looked like Aizen was going to skip the first phase and go straight to attacking Karakura. We couldn't let something like that happen so the troops of Seireitei were mobilized and the largest concentration of reiatsu was assembled since the great battle five years ago.

We would be making our last stand in my home town of Karakura.

"Kurosaki-soutaicho (captain-commander or general) a large collection of Arrancar-like reiatsu is approaching and is estimated to arrive within the hour." A man with spiky maroon hair and gray eyes reported. He was wearing a white captain's cloak over his shinigami attire with the symbol of the third division on his back.

"Understood. Get everybody ready Ashido." The General ordered.

"Hai!" Ashido, captain of the third division disappeared in flash step to spread the word, leaving Ichigo to ponder alone.

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At ground level entire camps of shinigami were set up all along the streets of Karakura. The human souls had already been mass evacuated. They were told that there was a severe radiation leak in the city and everyone had to clear out until it was safe.

This was good in that no innocent lives would be lost in this fight.

"Huh……right…….I got it..." a man with crimson hair and tribal like tattoos running along the side of his face had just received the orders.

"All right men!" the man named Abarai Renji captain of the 6th division shouted out to his troops. A small nudge at his side reminded of who was next to him. Kuchiki Rukia captain of the 13th division looked at him with a small glare.

"Fine. Men AND Women. Prepare for battle. The enemy is approaching and is expected to arrive soon. So get your asses in gear!" The red haired captain commanded the shinigami soldiers.

"You sure know how to inspire the troops." Rukia said sarcastically.

"Shut up. Let's just get ready." Renji grumbled.

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"Do you feel that?" asked a young woman with long green hair and a skull with curved horns on her head. She was wearing the captain's cloak of the ninth division which also came with very long sleeves.

"Yea. I can sense a bunch of new Arrancar. And it looks like Aizen already replaced the Espada. The only two reiatsu signatures I can recognize are Ulquiorra and Stark." A man with teal hair replied.

"Don't worry Grimmjaw-chan, if you're in trouble Dondo, Pesche, and I will bail you out." Neliel said with a small teasing smile.

Grimmjaw turned away in a humph. "As if I need help from those two losers."

"What about me? I am stronger than you." The adult form of Neliel continued to say playfully.

Grimmjaw, for the first time in his life, blushed. "Shut up." He told her, but didn't deny the fact.

"Will you two stop flirting?! We have a job to do" the female Vizard named Hiyori Sarugaki interrupted.

"Aww. Let them have their fun Hiyori-chan. In the meantime why don't we go someplace private, eh?" Shinji Hirako suggested with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Hiyori sighed. "I liked it better when you were fawning over every other girl but me." The spunky blonde vizard said, trying to ignore the constant groping from her unofficial boyfriend.

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"HAHAHAHAHA! Even I can sense that power! I can't wait! Tough opponents for me to fight to the death with!" A man with spiky black hair that had bells attached to the ends of it. He also was wearing an eye patch and he had a single scar running down his face.

"Yay Ken-chan! You can do it!" the teenage pink haired Yachiru cheered from her position on her adoptive father's right shoulder.

Ikkaku was off to the side trying to meditate but at the same time couldn't keep a sadistic smirk off his face at the prospect of battle.

Yumichika was in the middle of one of his vain episodes. So nobody dared to bother him.

Yes. This battle certainly wasn't going to be a beautiful one.

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"Oh dear me. All of this ruckus is certainly not going to attract any customers today." A blonde haired man wearing a white and green striped hat mused aloud.

"You can't be serious? The most important battle in history is approaching and all you can worry about are customers you are NEVER going to have anyway!" the purple haired, dark skinned, woman known as Yoruichi shouted. Urahara Kisuke visibly flinched as the others in their company sweat-dropped.

There was a small group of veteran fighters located in the Urahara Shoten shop. It included Urahara Kisuke, Yoruichi Shihouin, Kurosaki Isshin, and Ishida Ryuken.

Yoruichi was dressed in the sleeveless cloak of the captain of the second division. She had to replace Soi Fon for the position of captain since she was severely injured in the first great battle with Aizen. Urahara was wearing the captain's cloak of the fifth division as Isshin was wearing the one for the 7th division.

"This sort of reminds me of old times." Isshin thought aloud in nostalgia.

"When it was just us four, Masaki, and Hana." The adult quincy, Ryuken remembered sadly of once happier times with his friends and family. But it was all taken away.

"I'm sure Hana would have been proud of her little quincy warrior." Isshin said, trying to cheer up his friend.

"Yea. Uryu does get his knack for never giving up from his mother." Ryuken pointed out.

"Boy, if Masaki were here she would be boasting and bragging about her son to the other shinigami women." Yoruichi said with a laugh.

"That's true. But not even I predicted that Ichigo would grow up to be Captain-Commander, when I started his training all those years ago." Urahara admitted.

"Don't forget though. He has had a lot of help from the beginning. His friends especially helped him through the tough times." Yoruichi added.

"Well, that boy has finally grown up to become a man. I don't think I can punch him around anymore" Isshin said with a proud undertone as he looked off into the dark horizon, listening to the rain beat against the roof of the candy store.

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"Hey! Kurosaki. You alright?" Ishida Uryu, the youngest living quincy asked his 'friend.' Although he would never admit it aloud, Uryu actually considered Ichigo as one of his friends despite the man being a shinigami, commander of the entire army no less.

"Ichigo!" the large man named Sado exclaimed trying to get his friend's attention. Sado was wearing the captain's cloak of the 8th division.

"Huh?" Ichigo said as he broke out of his reverie. "Yeah I'm fine guys. I was just thinking."

Ishida and Sado looked at each other with knowing glances. "You know Kurosaki…" Uryu began.

"Inoue-san was really disappointed when you ordered her not to participate in the battle." Sado finished.

The orange haired shinigami flinched at the little reminder. He remembered exactly how furious the normally peaceful captain of the fourth division, Inoue Orihime was when she found out her boyfriend wasn't going to allow her to fight.

She outright refused until Ichigo played the I-am-your-superior-officer-and-you-will-do-what-I-order card. Not that it helped any except to anger her further. That day everybody was treated to some of the strangest sights they had ever seen. One was the rather…..extensive…..and colorful…..range of vocabulary the peaceful captain had that would have made even Zaraki blush. The other, which was more entertaining, was seeing their captain-commander so…….whipped.

Anyways

"You should go see her, Kurosaki." The young Ishida suggested.

Ichigo looked out toward the horizon again before he sighed in surrender.

"Fine."

And with that, the orange haired captain-commander disappeared in flash step.

"Ichigo's a dead man." Chad said.

"Yup." Uryu finished and nothing more was said.

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In a secluded section of the city, protected by many wards and some quickly constructed foundations of SekiSeki, also known as spiritual stone which served the purpose of repelling reiatsu based creatures and attacks rather than contain the reiatsu from within these structures, stood the makeshift shinigami hospital and healing station. A place where the fourth division of the Gotei 13 thrive.

"Inoue-taicho! We have just received report that a large mass of Arrancar reiatsu is approaching. Estimated time of arrival is one hour." A young man named Hanataro Yamada reported. You wouldn't recognize him when comparing him with his younger self ten years ago. The new and older Hanataro was filled with confidence and determination.

Oh and he was also vice-captain of the fourth division.

The teenage girl that got kidnapped by the Arrancar years ago was long gone. In her place stood a matured and experienced warrior. Her long hair reached to just below the waist. The two hairpins symbolizing her power were still firmly attached to those long strands. She is normally known for her kindness and peaceful expressions but today, for certain reasons, she was actually scowling.

If I ever see that…….man……..It'll be too soon! She thought furiously.

"Umm……Inoue-taicho?" Lieutenant Hanataro repeated cautiously.

"Oh….um….sorry, go and tell the others to prepare." Orihime told him kindly and with a forced smile.

Hanataro sighed exhaustedly. He knew exactly what was going through his captain's head at the moment. Something about a certain orange-haired captain-commander.

Speak of the devil.

The man known to be the strongest shinigami, rivaling Aizen in power, had just appeared in the middle of the makeshift medical center and entered the captain's tent. Even though Orihime wasn't facing Ichigo, Hanataro could tell that she knew the captain-commander was there. She was just trying to ignore it.

The tension in the air seemed to thicken.

Or maybe it was the spiritual pressure emanating from the two captain-class soul reapers. Either way it was starting to choke him, so the lieutenant of the fourth division slowly crept out of the tent to give the two privacy.

A long moment of silence passed between the two, yet not once did Orihime turn around to face her boyfriend. Finally, Ichigo began

"Hime-chan…"

"Don't call me that" she said coldly which hurt the man deeply.

"I just came here to beg for forgiveness." Ichigo explained with a pleading tone. Orihime abruptly turned around to face him directly, with her arms crossed in front of her.

"I'm listening."

"I'm sorry about what I said before. But you must understand. I don't want you to fight in this battle." Ichigo said firmly.

"Why is that Kurosaki-soutaicho? Is it because I'm not strong enough?" Orihime continued harshly, still angry that Ichigo forbid her from participating in the upcoming battle.

"You know that's not why Hime-chan." Ichigo ignored the pointed glare he received. "It's because I care about you. I don't want you to get hurt and even though it may seem a bit selfish, I don't want to worry about you while I'm fighting Aizen. He could use you somehow to get to me and I need to be concentrating a hundred percent on the battle." Ichigo explained.

Orihime knew that Ichigo's fight with Aizen is what will determine the outcome of the war. So she couldn't ignore his logic. "You are not the only one fighting this war Kurosaki-kun. And you are not the only one who is worried. Did you ever think that I would be just fine knowing the fact that you are out there battling some of the most powerful and dangerous beings in existence? I may be angry at you right now, but I still care about you Kurosaki-kun." Orihime turned her back to him to hide the tears forming in her eyes.

Ichigo was slightly feeling better when he heard Orihime use the old name she used to call him when they were teens. He smiled a bit while he remembered the brief moments of happiness he shared with her. "You're right. I guess I wasn't thinking about how you would feel about this………Alright I won't keep you out of the battle. But, I want you to promise me something. If you encounter somebody who seems to be too strong, I want you to run. No matter what, don't look back. Just run. That way at least I know you will survive and I won't have to worry."

Orihime remained silent for a while. Ichigo presumed that she was contemplating the deal. Finally, the fourth division beauty turned back to face Ichigo. She looked at him straight in the eye as if trying to search his very soul. He stayed motionless.

"Fine. I promise if I end up fighting someone stronger than me, I'll retreat." She said with a dejected tone. Ichigo sighed in relief.

"But…you have to promise to do the same thing. If you fight Aizen and he turns out to be too much for you……you need to run as well." Orihime looked at him with a resolute expression.

Ichigo thought to himself for a moment. "I can't promise much. But I'll try to retreat if Aizen becomes too much of a hassle."

Then I can't promise much either. Orihime thought. She sighed tiredly before walking up to Ichigo and burying her face in his chest while wrapping her arms around him. All the while trying to prevent herself from showing tears.

Ichigo was momentarily shocked but looked down at the woman in his arms and smiled softly. Orihime met his gaze and let herself smile in return.

Ichigo saw a teardrop slowly trace her cheek. He brought his finger up to it and gently wiped it off before whispering to her.

"Don't worry." They soon found their faces gradually coming closer together. They could feel the other's breath upon their lips.

Orihime murmured ever so gently. "Give me a reason not to."

Finally, their lips met and all of the tension seemed to flood out of them. No more words were said as both of them just wanted to escape from the world. Both of them wanted to forget about the war, about Aizen.

If only for a moment.

They wanted to be with each other.

End Chapter

(A/N: Now if any of you are curious, next was suppose to be a little 'Ichihime love'. But, since I'm a terrible lemon and/or lime writer, I'm gonna stay away from that. Use your imagination. As for the next chapter, it'll be up soon…….I hope……)