"You're a very slow version of me. Are you sure you're not a gigai?"

Ichigo growled as Captain Kurosaki switched between using sonido and flash step to maneuver around the Soul society in the game of tag that was occurring. To his own dismay, Ichigo had to admit that his older version was definitely more advanced than he was. Probably because he's lived here for so long and has had a lot of experience...

"Hey, what are you dreaming about?" A deep voice growled in his ear.

Ichigo yelped and jumped back quickly on the air, staring at his older self. Captain Kurosaki scoffed and crossed his arms.

"You are one pathetic being. You need to go back to Urahara so he can give you better enhancements. Either that or you need to get your act together, Kon."

Ichigo blanched, staring at his older self.

"You are you going to cry?" The captain asked.

Ichigo grabbed his swords and held them up.

"Getsuga TENSHO!!!"

The reiatsu shot out from Zangetsu but Captain Kurosaki easily dodged it and glared at Ichigo.

"I see..."

"Who the hell do you think you are? My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, Substitute Soul Reaper made so by Rukia. I've been through a lot in the last twelve years that I'm not really happy about. I've been sent through time and space to the past and now I'm not only in the future, but in a different dimension altogether. My world could be dying and here I am, talking to an asshole like you."

"Twelve years? You don't look a day over eighteen." The older Soul Reaper mocked, giving Ichigo a barely noticeable smile.

"I count the past as years of my life too, ya know? Or does that not matter to you anymore?"

Captain Kurosaki stared at him for a moment.

"Most of my past is gone, so I do not dwell on it. You have not caught me, gigai. Tell Urahara to fix your abilities."

"I AM YOU!!!!" Ichigo yelled.

"You are not good enough to ever be me."

Captain Kurosaki went away and Ichigo went to the ground. He didn't understand why his own self was denying him. It was an oddly agonizing experience, to be denied by one's own self...

He sent a wave of reiatsu into a tree, knocking it down.

"Nyeh, still have a temper I see." A voice said from behind a tree.

"Gin, I'm not in the mood." Ichigo growled.

The sneaky captain slid from behind the tree and smiled his usual smirk.

"Is it really that important? You don't even belong to this world; besides, that Ichigo isn't the most friendly anyway. Why would you want to be like him?"

"I'm not trying to be like him... It doesn't matter. It wouldn't matter to you anyway."

"You're right. I just came here for Byakuya's sake. He is with his family at the moment but he is worried about you."

"So he sent a snake to spy me out?"

Gin's smirk widened. "I had nothing to do..."

Ichigo scoffed as the two headed back toward the barracks.

"What did you have to do to get back as a captain?"

"Nothing shady, if that's what you mean." Gin said, frowning.

"But you were with Aizen's coup to overthrow the Soul Society."

"I thought I explained this when you got your powers back?"

"You explained how you came back to life, not how you got to be a captain again."

"My squad has been without a captain since I abandoned it the first time and when Kira died, there was still a need for someone else. I've been very good and when no one came up to the plate, I kindly asked if I could have my old squad back."

Ichigo made a face but they ended up in a comfortable silence.

"I never did thank you, Kurosaki-san."

Ichigo looked at him as he just joyfully looked up at the sky.

"What do you mean?"

"When you warned me about Aizen-sama. Your clue helped."

"And yet you still went with him."

"I told you that I had to get revenge on Rangiku. But, I knew that I would die, which made things just a little easier to do."

"How could that make things easier?"

"Because your clue about him being powerful led me to understand when I should strike and that he would know about my plans already. When he told me how to stop his zanpakuto from affecting me, I realized that that was when he knew about my plans. It was fun, going along and acting like I was with him. The thrill was... not worth dying for but it was interesting."

Ichigo smiled a little, though confused.

"Just like you said it would be, huh?"

Gin's smirk widened. "Indeed."

They stopped in front of a barrack and Gin turned his head.

"This is my barrack, would you like to come in? There's gallons of sake from when Rangiku wasn't pregnant and I'm not a sake drinker myself. Care to have some?"

"Your parenting skills are lacking already and the baby hasn't been born." Ichigo said with a face.

Gin laughed. "Maybe you can get drunk and make your stuck up older self tell you whatever frivolity bothers you."

Ichigo thought about it for a moment when Matsumoto walked out onto the porch, arching her back, her baby bump clearly showing now.

"Oh, you found Yichi." She said with a smile. "Sorry you had to see me acting crazy in the infirmary... Toshiro just... he just grew up so fast."

"Now, now... don't go into that again..."

Ichigo shrugged. What's a little drink?

********************

"Haha, ani is here!" Chinnaoya yelled, running from the back room toward the front door.

Nanao walked behind him slowly as a maid opened the front door, revealing Captain Kurosaki.

"Oji-san! Oji-san!" Chinnaoya giggled, bouncing in front of the captain.

He bent down and picked the boy up as Chinnaoya immediately began to touch his bare arms, looking for scars.

"What's this one, ani? And this one? And this one?"

"Chin-kun, enough." Nanao said, grabbing the boy from the captain. "I'm sorry, Ichigo, I don't know what his fascination with scars is about..."

"You shouldn't let the Head Captain babysit him."

Nanao laughed. "True. What brings you here?"

"I thought I would have a small talk with Byakuya. I didn't see him at the barracks."

Nanao frowned. "You didn't? Did you check with Rukia?"

"Yes, she thought he might be with you."

Nanao panicked a little but, like her husband, was able to hide it very well as she adjusted her glasses.

"I'm sure he's fine. I know that he likes to go to that clearing that he met Hisana at to practice with his Hollow powers."

Captain Kurosaki turned his head. "Doesn't it bother you that he goes there?"

Nanao shrugged. "I've seen the clearing and it's a good place to practice with the Hollow powers and out of the way. The fact that he met his first wife there is ironic, but she's dead and can't come back."

The captain nodded and turned around to leave.

"Ani! I want to come!" Chinnaoya yelled out.

"Chin-kun, he has lots of things to do."

The captain turned back and held out his hands to the little boy. He grinned as he put the boy on his shoulders and Chinnaoya squealed in delight.

"Mind the door frames!" Nanao yelled, knowing that the captain's height was already a problem.

*******************

"Oh, Nii-san!" Karin yelled out.

Captain Kurosaki turned and Karin smiled up at Chinnaoya.

"Hello, Chin-kun!" she yelled.

"Ka-nee!" he said, waving. "You're tiny like me from up here!"

Karin made a face as the child giggled.

"What is it, Karin?"

"Oh, Toshiro wanted me to tell you that your younger self is drunk and is at Squad 3 barracks. Toshi had gone to get Matsumoto and apparently, Gin has been giving him sake for a solid hour or so."

Captain Kurosaki rolled his eyes and turned to go to Squad 3's barrack.

"Is Gin an idiot?"

"I think he was just trying to help. Matsumoto wouldn't have helped any; she would have just challenged him and we all know how you are about challenges." She said with a laugh.

"Don't compare me to that idiot. You truly think that that disappointment is me from the past?"

"Why not? He looks and acts just like you used to. I don't see why you're making it hard on... yourself..."

Captain Kurosaki made a face at her as she grinned.

"That wasn't intentional."

"Because he is from a different dimension. He should learn his own future when it happens. I didn't have a future me to tell me about what was going to happen so why should he?"

"Well... He can prevent some things from happening. Like Orihime and Tatsuki?"

Captain Kurosaki stopped walking and Karin looked over her shoulder.

"Do you think that that would happen in his dimension?"

"It seems more likely than not." She said with a sad look.

The captain sighed as they continued to Squad 3 barracks.

***************

"An- An another thing! What's wiff that goofy lookin' eyepatch I'm wearin?! Am I- Am I a pirate?! It looks like I'm- I'm trying to look like that stupid Kenpachi" he laughed obnoxiously.

Captain Kurosaki stood at the porch and watched his younger self laying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling yelling at no one. Toshiro looked up at the captain and reached for Chinnaoya.

"Snowman!" he squeaked.

"Well, we finally know what you look like when you get drunk." He said.

"I still think he's a gigai..." He stepped up and bent down to get in the door of the barrack. "Hey, get the hell up."

Ichigo looked up and then frowned, getting up quickly making a karate stance.

"I'll fight ya! I know moves!"

Captain Kurosaki sighed and swiftly punched his younger self in the face. He promptly collapsed to the floor and the captain picked the boy up.

When Kurosaki got to Squad 9, he put Ichigo on the porch and filled a bucket up full of water. Yachiru walked out from the back and silently watched Kurosaki walk over to Ichigo and pour cold water over him. Ichigo sputtered and coughed, looking up.

"What the hell man?!"

"Are you sober now? An hour's worth of drinking should pass through your system quickly."

"I'm... coherent." Ichigo said, a headache developing.

"Good. Because I'm going to explain some things to you that you need to understand. Got it?"

"You're going to tell me why you're a dick?"

Yachiru laughed and the two turned.

"It's funny how you're arguing with yourself."

Both of them made a same face and sent Yachiru into laughs.

Kurosaki rolled his eye and then looked back down.

"Are you going to stand there or come on?"

Ichigo got up and followed Kurosaki out.

********************

NEST OF MAGGOTS

"How is she?"

"She seems to have broken through but she is very tired. Are you sure you want to see her?"

"I put her down here. If what you say is true then I want to see her."

Urahara nodded as he turned to the guard and handed Benihime to him. Byakuya hesitantly gave up Senbonzakura to the guard and they turned as the guard unlocked the door. They traveled through the main hallway of the cave-like dwelling when an inmate stood up.

"So, you came back after all this time. Where have you been, Urahara?"

"Oh, here and there."

"I'm going to pound you!"

Byakuya turned swiftly and apprehended the inmate without much effort. Urahara smiled.

"Thank you, Kuchiki-sama."

They made their way to another door that was at the other end of the room. Once inside, Urahara grabbed the torch on the wall and walked down a dark hallway. They finally got to the end of the hallway and Urahara handed the torch to Byakuya.

"She can hear you but whether she can communicate is not known."

"Can I..."

"Go in? No. She's still very unstable."

Byakuya went up to the bars of the small cell and raised up the torch to see inside. On the wall a body was hanging limply from chains, their head lolled down.

"Kohana? Can you hear me?"

The face lifted, a Hollow mask on the face. It turned to the side for a second, listening.

"Kohana?"

The mask suddenly cracked and burst, a young woman's face looking at him except that one of her eyes was inversed, black sclera and yellow pupil.

"Chichi?"