Summary: Everyone thought that Kaien had died that night when he impaled himself on Rukia's sword. They were told that since his body had fused with the hollows, he would never be alive again. If that is true, then why is he now alive in the world of the living? Better yet, why is he living in Karakura?

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will...unfortunately.

Kaien woke up from a bad dream. He had dreamed of the night that he died by Rukia's sword in the soul society. That day was his worst nightmare. He could still hear Rukia crying, telling him to come back. He had always hated to disappoint her, but that time, he didn't have a choice. After they had died, he and Miyako had somehow been sent to the world of the living with all of their memories intact.

Miyako's spirit form was still that of a shinigami and so was Kaien's. Except there was one thing he was missing: his sword. It had been gone for only a few months then one day, it miraculously reappeared at his waist. He seemed to have the strange idea that the hollow had kept his form and his sword and had been using it against people. If that were true, then apparently, it was now dead, which made him very happy.

Kaien groaned. He knew he would have to get out of bed sooner or later, but he really didn't want to. Right on cue, Miyako opened the door and came into the room. She stopped at the bed and looked down at him with a look of amusement that she always had plastered onto her face.

"How pathetic," she said. "So many people looked up to you in the Soul Society, and now look what you are. I wonder if they would still look up to you if they saw you now?"

Kaien groaned again and pulled the covers completely over his head. "Why do you do this to me! You're my wife. You're supposed to be sympathetic!" This, however, was slightly muffled by the thick blankets covering his face.

Miyako laughed. "You knew what you were getting into when we were married, so why are you complaining now?"

Kaien pulled the blanket down so that only his eyes and the tips of his fingers were visable and said, "Well, now I don't have to keep those idiots Kiyone and Sentarou on task. This should be my vacation for all those years of hard labor!" Then quickly pulled the covers back up.

Miyako sighed, "I don't know what I saw in you."

Kaiens muffled reply came again. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Sure, you just keep on telling yourself that." Kaien, the king of sarcasm, threw back.

Miyako finally managed to pull the covers completely off of him. That didn't make him very happy. He jumped after bed and threw himself at Miyako in a poor attempt to get the blanket back. Miyako shreaked at her success and ran into the bathroom and locked the door. Kaien tried just about everything to get the door to open. These doors weren't like the ones in the Soul Society that slid open. These ones had high tech locks and a knob. Finally he gave up on his futile attempts to open the door.

"Okay Miyako, you win. I'm getting ready for work right now." he called from the bedroom.

"Finally," Miyako said, emerging from the bathroom.

Kaien put on a black t-shirt and Black jean pants. For some odd reason he always wore black in this world. His brother did too, but he was insane and they hadn't seen him in years. He grabbed the phone that Miyako had forced him to get and walked out the door.

He walked down a street (he didn't know the names) and passed a small medical clinic called the "Kurosaki Medical Center". 'What a strange name.' he thought.

That thought was cut short when he heard a crash. Then he heard someone yell, "What the hell are you doing, you psychotic old man?!"

Then another, which was surprisingly familiar to him. "What? I'm waking you up for school!"

"Well why do you have to attack me. And another thing! I was awake already!"

"It didn't seem that way to me! Go wake up your sisters and that wonderful third daughter, Rukia."

Kaien froze. Did they just say Rukia? And why was that voice so familiar? The voice sounded like his brother, Issin, but he seemed more detached from the world than usual. Than he saw a man go near the window of the same room the yelling was coming from. Kaiens eyes widened in surprise and horror.

The man was his brother, Issin.