A.N: Alrighty... So DEFINITE SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT KEPT UP WITH THE MOST RECENT BLEACH CHAPTER 423!

Ahem. Anywhoozel After that chapter I was hit with the "Well what now?" syndrome. Also known as the "panic-y fangirl". But that's not important. Or is it?

But somewhere along my weird throught process this plot bunny was born and I jumped on it, fed it several carrots and TADA!

Alright so

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH! . . . If I did a lot of characters would've died instead of living... And Tatsuki wouldn't be a background character :P. This will start out IchiRuki. But because of circumstances, it won't really continue... unless my muse dictates other wise -glares at muse-... meh.

After the Fact Chapter 1

They stood a mere three feet apart.

Morose copper met apologetic violet.

'I can't even sense her anymore... she's beginning to fade.'

"Tell everyone... I give them my best."

"Okay..."

"Thank you, Rukia... For everything. . . Good Bye."

A small smile graced her porcelain features, raven hair curling in wisps.

She was gone.

Along with any trace of spiritual energy.

He was a normal, as he should've been.

Yet, why?

Why did he feel so. . . empty.

Slowly he turned to gaze at the sky, clouds drifting lazily across its never-ending expanse.

For a fleeting second the image of his inner world flashes across his vision. Loneliness like none other threatens to completely overwhelm him, coiling around his heart like ice-cold chains.

'I'm sorry Zangetsu. . . Tensa Zangetsu. . . Hollow. . . It was an honor. . .'

With a heaving sigh, he runs a hand through his suddenly normal-length mop of hair, willing the emotions away.

"A-Are you alright, Kurosaki-kun?"

"I'm fine Inoue. Just a little tired is all." He replies with a sickeningly fake smile, hoping to avoid any and all conversation.

How could he be fine? After all he's just lost...

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The very next day

Instincts honed in battle roar to life, violently ripping the sleeping teen into full awareness.

"GGOOOODDDD MMOORRNNIINNGG IICCHHIIGGOO!"

In an instant he's out of bed intercepting the foot with his forearm and grabbing the attached leg with his free hand, then swinging the body into the wall with a pronounced thud of flesh, and creak of wood.

In a whoosh, air leaves his fathers lungs and he falls to his knee's gasping for breath and clutching his chest.

"Jeez, old man!" Ichigo yells mid-yawn as he mindlessly stretches not-yet-awake muscles.

"Ichigo."

The serious tone immediately wipes away any forthcoming sarcasm.

"Get dressed. We're headed to Urahara's shop."

With a simple nod Ichigo moves over to his closet, grabbing clothes while his father calmly walks out of the room.

'Well that's a first. He's actually acting his age. . . for once.' A light chuckle escapes his throat at the sheer amount of sarcasm coating those few words.

In almost no time at all Ichigo meanders down the stairs into the kitchen dressed in a simple pair of form-fitting jeans, a black V-neck, and a white belt.

The house is quiet, almost eerily so and it sets the war hero on edge.

With a simple nod both males of the Kurosaki household exit with a muffled click of the front door.

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One Year, 17

"Wher' do you think yer' goin, Kurosaki." A deep baritone drawls from behind Ichigo.

"Apparently nowhere." The teen replies sarcastically as he stops his trek home to send an annoyed scowl at the owner of the voice over his shoulder, adjusting his bag in the process.

'Damn it. Can't I just walk home in piece.'

The bleach blond afro immediately catches Ichigo's eye, along with a dull silver lip-piercing. He fleetingly searches his memory for a name to this face but comes up blank.

Noticing the void expression on the bright-haired teen's visage the blonde sighs in defeat.

" 'Ave ya' already fergotten' me?"

"Yup."

Large hands clench into fists and beady black eyes narrow.

"Well le's see if you'll ferget this!"

With no more effort then breathing, the orange-haired human simply side-steps the blow and counters it with one of his own toward he afro-wearing teen. Air leaves the thug in a explosive exhale, denying his feeble brain the oxygen it so desperately needs, sending him into unconsciousness.

For a moment the seventeen year old youth just stares as he flexes his hand, idly musing how all of those life-or-death battle drastically increased his physical strength. The bright green numbers on the watch on his wrist catch his attention.

"Ah damn it! You made me late!"

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Three Years, 19

"Ichi-nii where are you going?"

Ichigo freezes in the doorway. Really he just needed to get away for a while, escape the memories that seemed to have become stuck on repeat in his mind. But the quiet stubbornness of his sister Yuzu halts his attempt at some sort of collective sanity.

"You've got graduation tomorrow Ichi." Karin cuts in from behind him.

"Yeah I know. I'll be home in a few hours." He pauses to turn and hug his growing sister, slightly spikey black strands tickling his chin.

"Promise." He finishes in a whisper.

Karin only hugs him back, only slightly, before literally shoving him out the door.

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Five years, 21

"Mind if I sit here?"

Flinching slightly Ichigo jerks his gaze out of the medical textbook, pen stopping on the last character to the sentence. Long brown-hair frames a feline-like face under a set of bright green eyes, a long slender body hidden behind an oversized sweat-shirt, but accentuated by a pair of tight-fitting joggers pants.

"Ah sure." Ichigo replies after a moment, moving some of his school work to the far side of the table.

"I'm Toyama Natsumi." She begins softly.

"Kusosaki Ichigo." Honey brown eyes search the tanned complexion so much like his own, only a few shades lighter.

"It's nice to meet you."

Natsumi laughs then and Ichigo cant help but think, 'I have to hear that again.'

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Thirteen Years, 29

"Kurosaki-sensei! The patient in room thirty-two has gone into labor!" One of the three nurses working at the Karakura hospital call frantically.

With a speed reminiscent of battle-times, Ichigo is on his feet, lunch forgotten on the table. A thrill of anxiety and joy surges through him.

Everything begins to pass in a mass of color and sharp clarity as adrenaline kicks in.

A few hours later, the relatively young doctor finds himself at the woman's bedside gazing at the white-haired bundle in her arms.

"Yuki." The new mother whispers almost reverently.

Ichigo can only smile.

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Twenty-three Years, 36

"Yuki, Eiji! Come on! It's dinner time!" Natsumi calls.

The ten year old girl and the eight year old boy squeal in delight before racing into the house.

"Oi! Calm down you two!" Ichigo chastises, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Hai, Tou-chan!" Both Kurosaki children call, yet they continue to babble to one another in excited chirps.

"Ne, Tou-chan! When will you teach me again!" Eiji asks with all the innocence an eight year-old can muster.

The orange-haired father pauses in his task of setting the table to lock eyes with the bright green of his son.

"When you start practicing the skills I've already taught you Eiji." The current doctor of the Kurosaki Clinic responds slyly as a still-calloused hand ruffles a head of light brown hair.

"Stop that!"

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Fifty-five years, 71

The skies are relentless, thoroughly soaking all of those at the funeral. A family grieves, tears swept away by the rain.

A proud, curvacious woman with waist length snow white hair and a powerful, broad man with long brown spikes stand on either side of their father who doesn't look a day over fifty and gaze at the cherry wood coffin as it lowers painfully slow into the ground.

"Does it ever get easier. . . Tou-chan." Yuki mutters into his drenched jacket.

"Eventually." Comes the hoarse reply.

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Eighty Years, 96

He can feel it. The drag on his heart and lungs. The way all of his muscles just seem to relax as his last breath leaves him.

He feels nothing but peace. He's happy with his life.

So, as his eyes close for the final time, he never sees the raven-haired shinigami in the corner of the room, waiting ever so patiently for Kurosaki Ichigo to be ready to leave the world of the living.

Ahem. Anywhoozel After chapter 423 I was hit with the "Well what now?" syndrome. Also known as the "panic-y fangirl". But that's not important. Or is it?

But somewhere along my weird throught process this plot bunny was born and I jumped on it, fed it several carrots and TADA!

So please leave a comment and tell me if you like this or not. Because most likely I will replace the original Lost and Found with this story line seeing as I already have most of it planned out.

Please leave a review!

Much Love:

~Animelover