Hey everyone! I'd like to tell you a few things about my plans for this story real quick. First of all, I don't plan to get into too many heavy, dramatic or angsty situations, but this isn't a crack fic. I just feel like the bleach fandom could use some more lighthearted stories. Another thing I'd like to mention is, yes, there will be some romance between Ichigo and Rukia later on but I don't plan on making it the main point of the story. I know one of the genres I chose for this fic was romance, but this will be more about Ichigo assimilating to life in the Soul Society after his death. Now I know you're not here to listen to me talk so without further ado, on to Chapter 2!

The rest of Ichigo's trip through Rukongai flew by pretty quickly. After donning his bamboo hat, the stares decreased significantly. The walk left him with an awful lot of time to think.

He thought it was strange that he showed up in white linen rather than his shinigami uniform, and where was Zangetsu? Ichigo reached out in his mind and tried to call upon his zanpakuto.

Yo Old Man are you there?

Ichigo felt a familiar stirring in his mindscape and heard Zangetsu's voice for the first time since he arrived in the Soul Society.

Yes Ichigo, I am here. Zangetsu's voice was fainter than it normally was, but Ichigo was thankful that it was still present.

Is everything ok? Why didn't you appear with me in the Soul Society?

It was silent for a moment before Zangetsu spoke.

The konso appears to have had an effect on your powers similar to a reset button. Thanks to your excess of reiatsu the effect wasn't as extreme as it could've been, but for now I am unable to manifest physically.

Ichigo silently cursed Urahara. He must have known the effect that konso would have, but he insisted anyway. This must have something to do with that idiotic speech he gave about how sending him straight to Seireitei would be "unfair" to the other souls.

"Damn him and his stupid hat," Ichigo grumbled other insults about the shop keeper under his breath. "I don't give a damn about 'unfair'. I think I've earned my right to be sent to Seireitei with my powers intact after I saved their asses."

Ichigo scowled at his feet as his mind wandered towards his family. Ichigo's father had returned to the Soul Society years ago to avoid suspicion. Once Isshin had reached the ripe old age of 97 as a human, he and his family decided that it was time to abandon his gigai. Last Ichigo had heard, Isshin was doing well as the new captain of the ninth squad. They couldn't offer him his old position as the tenth squad captain, Toshiro filled that vacancy after Isshin's disappearance, but he was more than willing to accept Yamamoto's invitation to fill one of the positions left by Aizen, Gin, and Tousen. Isshin wasn't Yamamoto's ideal choice, but strong shinigami that the Gotei 13 could trust were hard to come by nowadays.

Ichigo wasn't worried about his father at all, he wasn't worried about Karin either. Karin had died from a complication after her third surgery on an old soccer injury a few years before Ichigo. A hard kick to the kneecap had ended her soccer career prematurely. Karin's resilient spirit forbid her from dwelling on her misfortune and as soon as she was rehabilitated she became a soccer coach for elementary school kids. As she got older, her knee began to bother her more and more, so she had multiple surgeries to relieve the pain. Yuzu was devastated after Karin died and was the only living member of the Kurosaki family now that Ichigo had died.

Ichigo knew that Yuzu understood that their father and Karin had gone to the Soul Society and were just fine there but that didn't make her miss them any less. Ichigo suddenly regretted not going to say goodbye to his little sister, not that she would have been able to see him. Yuzu was the only one of the three siblings to get married and start a family, she even had grandkids now. The fact that Yuzu had her husband and children was a small comfort to Ichigo, at least she wouldn't be completely alone.

Ichigo noticed that he had reached the districts which housed the extremely wealthy residents of Rukongai who seemed like they were just a step away from being nobles. A man passed him wearing fine clothing that looked expensive enough to empty Ichigo's bank account. He threw a disgusted look in Ichigo's direction and Ichigo suddenly felt very underdressed. He realized he must've looked ridiculous to these people in his farmer's hat and not-so-white clothes. After walking for two days straight he had gotten pretty dirty and, now that he thought about it, very hungry.

Ichigo figured that he could wait out his hunger until he reached Seireitei but he decided that it would probably be better to travel on back roads and remain out of sight to avoid trouble. The few people he did pass either glared at him or pretended like he didn't exist all together. He managed to reach the gates of Seireitei without incident.

Ichigo looked up at the gate towering high above his head, sighed, then leaned against it and slowly sunk to the ground.

"Dammit, I did not think this through." He had come this far but never once thought about how he was going to get past the massive gate. He thought about Jidanbo but he was the guardian of the Western Gate, and of course Ichigo had arrived at the Eastern Gate. If he remembered correctly, each gate had a ten day walking distance between them, and Ichigo would be damned if he was going to spend the next twenty days walking through a district full of rich, standoffish spirits.

Ichigo continued to sit against the gate and marvel at his own stupidity. Lucky, he didn't have to sit for long. Ichigo felt the gate start to move against his back. He quickly jumped away and dropped into a fighting stance, expecting the worst.

Ichigo was pleasantly surprised. Standing on the other side of the gate was none other than Ukitake Juushiro, captain of the thirteenth division.

"Ichigo-kun! I thought I felt a familiar reiatsu. We received word of your death yesterday and have been trying to track you down. Who'd have thought you'd find us first!" Ukitake gave him a warm smile but he didn't seem at all surprised to find Ichigo sitting at the gate. In fact, there was a twinkle of amusement and nostalgia in his eyes. Ichigo didn't blame him, he had come full circle from the time he first entered Seireitei as a ryoka. "Why don't you join me for some tea and we can catch up."

Ichigo followed Ukitake through back to his captain chambers at the thirteenth division. Ukitake's living space was kept very organized and clean. There was a desk on one side of the room with some paperwork and an ornate looking orchid. In fact, there were many types of plants all around the room. Ichigo assumed that they were there to improve the air quality in his office to help with Ukitake's illness. The other side of the office opened up to a dock that stretched across a large pond. Ukitake lead Ichigo out to the end of the dock to a wooden cabana with rice paper walls and a circular window on the opposite wall. The traditional japanese style matched the office that the two men had just come from.

Inside the cabana was a table with a tea set along with snacks ready and waiting for someone to use it. Ukitake sat and motioned for Ichigo to join him and he poured himself a cup of tea. Ichigo sat opposite of Ukitake who had since moved to fill Ichigo's cup with tea as well.

"Well Ichigo-kun, I'm glad I caught wind of you when I did, you've been surprisingly hard for us to track down," Ukitake took a sip of tea. "You're usually leaking enough reiatsu to locate from anywhere."

"I've noticed that too, Zangetsu has a theory that it might have something to do with the fact that Urahara-san sent me here through konso, he hasn't been able to materialize since I've arrived here." Ichigo said through mouthfuls of the little cracker-like snacks set next to the teapot. Ichigo knew that what he was doing was a bit rude but his stomach thanked him for it. After two days of walking without anything to eat, Ichigo was desperate for something fill the dull ache in his gut.

"He sent you here through konso?" Ukitake's eyebrows raised slightly in surprise.

"Yeah but I wouldn't have agreed to it if I had known about this fabulous little side effect." Ichigo's right eye twitched in annoyance as he thought of Urahara's smug expression when he tapped that damn cane on his forehead. Ukitake sighed in exasperation.

"Yes that does sound like something Kisuke-san would do. Well your Zanpakuto was right, I'm afraid. Konso does have a tendency to temporarily seal a soul's spiritual powers if it has any during life. It's a reaction the body has in order to acclimate to its new environment. The high concentration of reishi in the soul society tends to make those who are not used to it feel quite sick if they have spiritual power," Ukitake gestured towards Ichigo, "You are a special case, the amount of reiatsu you had while you have while you were alive far exceeded the average person. That with the fact that you've already spent time here explains why all of your power was not sealed away. The portion that was sealed was most likely due to a vestigial instinct coded in the human half of your DNA."

"Well it's good to hear that this is only temporary. How long does this usually last?" Ichigo felt some relief in the explanation Ukitake had provided.

"It all depends on the individual, for some it takes years. This does put a delay on our plans for you. We were going to offer you a position as soon as we found you but it looks like that'll have to wait." Ukitake's brow furrowed as he scratched his chin, "There is something we can do to jumpstart the return of your reiatsu and be of great benefit to you but I'd have to run it by the Soutaicho first."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa back up! you were going to offer me a position? What position?" Ichigo looked shocked but Ukitake waved him off.

"It's not important right now but don't worry, we will go over it with you in detail when the time comes." Ichigo looked like he wanted to argue more but knew it would be useless. Now that he had found the cause of his sudden decrease in reiatsu, there was something else he had been meaning to ask about.

"So, it looks like I'm celebrity now, how did that happen?" Ichigo smirked and waited for Ukitake to answer. Ukitake just set down his tea and laughed.

"Well it's hard not to notice that there's a war going on, especially when you're fighting someone like Aizen. We couldn't have kept it hidden if we tried." Ukitake gave Ichigo a sympathetic smile, "A couple of years ago, word got out that an orange haired shinigami named Kurosaki Ichigo was the one to finally defeat Aizen, and not one of the captains. I'm sorry, it must've been very inconvenient to get here."

"I've got to admit, I was shocked when someone asked if I was a war hero but I managed to solve that problem pretty quickly." Ichigo gestured to his bamboo hat, "No matter where I go, my hair is always causing trouble for me."

The two men continued their conversation until they finished their tea. Ukitake pushed his cup to the side and stood up, "Why don't you stay in the thirteenth squad barracks tonight? I'll bring up my idea tomorrow at the captains meeting but until then you should get some rest."

"I appreciate that Ukitake-san," Ichigo followed Ukitake to an empty room with a futon rolled out on the floor. The room was pain but Ichigo didn't need much. He bowed to his senior and thanked him once more before parting. After Ukitake left, Ichigo collapsed on the futon. Walking for two days straight with nothing to eat took a lot out of a guy.

He lay staring at the ceiling wondering what Ukitake had in mind for him. As much as Ichigo trusted him, there was still a level of concern about what he might be getting himself into. Ichigo sighed and rolled over, he would deal with that potential problem when he had too. He was relieved to be in the Soul Society again, but it was a little bit of a disappointment that he hadn't been greeted by more of his friends. He chalked it up to the fact that his reiatsu had been severely depleted after the konso incident and they probably hadn't realized that he'd arrived yet.

He thought of Renji and Ikkaku and Yumichika, even Hanataro. His mind eventually wandered to a certain violet eyed shinigami. Why didn't Rukia greet him? He was in her division, there's no way she wouldn't have felt his reiatsu. He would have to ask Ukitake what she's been up to tomorrow. Ichigo's fatigue took over and he finally fell asleep.

When Ichigo woke up the next morning, the thirteenth division was awake and moving. Someone was knocking on his door. A young shinigami stood so stiffly upright, Ichigo thought that his spine might break if it stretched any farther.

"Captain Ukitake would like to see you in his office, sir!" The shinigami saluted and bolted down the hallway and around the corner. Ichigo yawned and scratched his head.

"I guess I should get dressed then." Ichigo found the linen clothing folded neatly next to his futon. Someone had obviously taken them and cleaned them since last night.

After he got dressed, Ichigo set out to find Ukitake's office. After a couple wrong doors and awkward moments, Ichigo finally found the room he was looking for.

"Ukitake-san?" Ichigo knocked as he opened the door. He was relieved to see that it was the office he passed through yesterday.

"Ichigo! Come in, come in. I have some good news," Ukitake gestured for Ichigo to take a seat. "My idea went over well at the captains meeting."

"That's good to hear, although I still have no clue what this idea is." Ichigo sat himself down across from Ukitake.

"Oh that's right! I suppose I should tell you. Ichigo, starting today, you're going to be attending the Shinigami Academy!"

Wow some of this chapter was hard to write! Please review and tell me what you think!