There's one more chapter before this one. Go read it first.

Ichigo breathed in the crisp, clean air of the Soul Society, marveling how different it was from the air in the living world. He was visiting his Shinigami friends and cleaning up the last of the bureaucracy needed in the wake of Aizen's defeat. Shinji, Kensei, and Rose had been reinstated as captains; all the other Vizards lived in the living world as reserves. The Seireitei was slowly learning to cope with their Hollow sides, personally and politically. The Gotei 13 was slowly changing following Aizen's defection and corruption – for the better, Ichigo hoped.

Ichigo looked up and was surprised to find himself standing outside the Academy. His feet must have taken him there without him noticing. Students milled the grounds, like normal. Smiling fondly, Ichigo stepped forward.

Stares followed him wherever he went; his full Shinigami uniform and released zanpakuto garnered a lot of attention. Ichigo paid it no mind as he stepped through the familiar halls. Decades had worn the edges of the Academy a little rounder, made the floors a bit more scuffed, the walls a little more chipped, but it was still very much like the Academy of the past.

He rounded a corner and heard a familiar voice lecturing about zanjutsu. Curious, Ichigo moved forward toward a familiar classroom. He stopped at the threshold of the lecture hall and smiled nostalgically as he watched Hokkaido calmly teach a group of students. A handful of decades had hardly aged him at all, thanks to the slower aging rates of the Soul Society.

Hokkaido looked up, his gaze meeting Ichigo's. There was no recognition in his eyes; Urahara's memory spell had done its job well. Shaking his head, Ichigo backed out of the classroom. No need to stir up old ghosts.

Impulsively, he decided to wander into the expansive archives. He almost sneezed as dust assaulted him. The archivist gave him a disapproving look as he wandered past her. He browsed the archives looking for nothing in particular, until he realized he was following the chronological records of the Academy. Curious, he continued walking until he found the year he'd been transported to. He searched the shelves looking for his file. Urahara's spell wouldn't have erased physical evidence of his time here.

But there was nothing.

Ichigo was about to give up when he tugged wrong at a file and a stack of files fell from the shelves. He swore and hurried to pick up the files to return them to their proper places. He held a stack of files in his arms when he realized that there was another file on the shelf, jammed in back and hidden behind all the other files. He carefully set the stack down and grabbed the file on the shelf.

Ichigo smiled. It had been hidden and forgotten, but it was his old file, detailing his scores and his residency at the Academy. Ichigo replaced the stack of other files to the shelf and took his file from the archives. With how it had been treated, he didn't think it would be missed, and it would be a nice memento of his year at the Academy.

The time travel had changed him. It had given him time to become stronger, enough that he was able to face Aizen's warriors without flinching. But most of all, it had given him time to create precious memories with his friends before they'd even officially met him.

Ichigo closed his eyes and thought of young, inquisitive faces. He smiled.

A/N:

My writing style has changed, my favorite fandoms have changed, and my plot bunnies have changed. Honestly, if this fic hadn't gotten so much attention, it would have died long ago. While I am grateful, I really don't understand why people seem to love this old, tattered, clumsy thing so much.

I started it when I was middle school. Now, I am in college, and am very much a different person that started this story. Don't get me wrong, I still love me some good Bleach fic (looking at you, cywscross), but Bleach is no longer my fandom of choice. Maybe one day I'll come back and write something more for it (or rewrite this fic; lord knows it very badly needs it), but for right now, this chapter of my life is closed.

Thank you for sticking with me through thick and thin. I hope the ending is satisfactory to you.

-HM