The feeling of the sun against her skin pulls her consciousness back to reality, the cold snow beneath her restoring alertness to her. Slowly she opens her amber eyes looking out at the river bank where she had to stop her son from running towards. The river is now in a deep canal, coated on the sides by concrete with a high guard rail over the side to prevent people from falling in. The chill air causes her body to shiver as she gets up, around her the buildings have seemingly changed now vastly different then how she remembered them. The last thing she can remember is the hollow and defending her son. The throbbing headache causes her to raise a hand to her head to try to ebb the pain but now the only thing she can think of doing is returning home. She slowly climbs the hill away from the canal and begins making her way home, as she begins walking through Karakura town a clock outside the college displays a date that surprises her. "December 22nd 2006." it reads.

"What's going on?" She wonders, as she picks up the pace heading down the main street towards the Kurosaki family clinic. "That's not the day I remember... there's no way it's been seven and a half years?" She thinks as she approaches a passerby on the road. "Excuse me, can you tell me today's date?" She asks, noticing that the woman is wearing the robes of a shinigami, her sandy blonde hair and brown eyes widen in shock noticing that this woman can see her.

"Y-you can see me?!" The other woman responds in confusion, "Uh... today's the 22nd of December."

"What about the year?"

"2006." The woman responds, "Do you need any help? Did you just cross over to soul society?" The soul reaper asks, looking for a soul chain on the other woman's chest.

"No... No, I just need to return home. This is Karakura town right? I'm trying to get to the Kurosaki Clinic." She responds, causing the soul reaper's eyes to widen. "What is your name ma'am, if you wouldn't mind helping me get there."

"Kiyone. I'm Kiyone Kotetsu." Kiyone responds, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Ichigo Kurosaki would you?"

"Yes. He's my son. Have you seen him? The last thing I remember is we were attacked by a hollow by the river and then I woke up." Kiyone's eyes grow even wider as her mouth drops open in a mix of shock and slight fear.

"C-capitan!!!!" Kiyone screams, turning to look at the white haired captain. "Captain, you need to take a look at this!!!" She shouts causing the other woman to arch an eyebrow before looking up to look at the long white haired man.

"Um, hello. Kiyone, what seems to be the problem?" Captain Jushiro asks as he approaches before seeing the woman staring at him.

"She claims to be Kurosaki Ichigo's mother. She says she needs to get to the Kurosaki family clinic." Kiyone responds, startling the captain as well.

"If it's any help, my name is Masaki." Masaki adds, causing both captain and 3rd seat to look at each other before looking back to her.

"I'm Captain Jushiro Ukitake of Squad 13." Jushiro responds with a slight bow. "I'll escort you to the clinic, but I'm afraid that there is a lot you've missed out on." Jushiro says as he nods to Kiyone causing her to return to her duties. "From what Isshin has told me, you've been dead for seven years now."

"I was dead?" Masaki asks, causing the older captain to nod at her question. "Wait...You know Isshin? I know he was a captain but he never talked about any of the other divisions."

"His younger brother was my lieutenant for a long time before his death. Isshin and I are close friends, though I'm sure you're in for quite a surprise when you see Ichigo again." Jushiro says, walking along the sidewalk with her and up towards the small side streets leading to the clinic. "Ichigo has become the single strongest soul reaper to ever live, and a few days ago he saved all of soul society from a former captain turned traitor."

"My Ichigo? Forgive me for being skeptical but the last time I saw him, he was too shy to peek out from behind my legs. He's supposed to only be 9 years old." Masaki responds, "Has that much time really passed?"

"He's much older than that, from what the head captain had told me, Ichigo sacrificed 10 years of his life in order to train to defeat Sosuke Aizen. He is now a man in his late twenties. If he was keeping track of time correctly, he believes he's either 26 or 27 now." Jushiro explains, causing Masaki to clutch the side of her head as she tries to understand how she could have missed so much time.

"What about Karin and Yuzu? I'm sure they've been worried sick... how could I miss out on their lives so much?" Masaki questions.

"They've been taken care of by Isshin very well in the time since you passed. Karin-chan is beginning to access her own powers as a soul reaper and Yuzu-chan has been learning healing arts from our fourth squad under Kiyone's sister Isane as well as tapping into her quincy side." Part of her is happy that her children have carried on past her untimely death, the other is saddened that they've been dragged into this life. "When did Ichigo start seeing spirits? It had to have been at a young age with his level of power."

"That night was the first time Ichi had seen a soul, he didn't have enough power to see Grand Fisher and was almost taken by him. I tried to kill it but I lost all my power in a flash of blue light. Next thing I remember is waking up on that riverbed." She recalls causing Jushiro to nod as they begin nearing the clinic.

"They will be in for a surprise of a lifetime, Kurosaki Masaki, and I'm sure you'll like to meet the newest member of your family."

"New family member?" Masaki asks as Jushiro motions for her to catch up to him. "Did Isshin get remarried? Did the twins get a kitten or something?" Jushiro shakes his head no.

"No. I'll just let you meet her instead." Jushiro responds.

He leads Masaki up the rest of the way to the front door of the little clinic and inside they hear Isshin talking to Karin and Yuzu as well as Ichigo himself. Masaki feels the spirit energy of her family members feeling comforted by them but she also senses something reminding her of the night she met Isshin. It feels cold and refined as well as empty, though she can't tell what exactly it is she knows it's a hollow of some sort. Jushiro senses her anxiety over feeling this power and merely holds up a hand calming her. He moves his hand up to the door and raps his knuckles against it twice before taking a step back. "I'll get it." A low male voice says from inside the home prompting Masaki to shoot a look to Jushiro before the handle turns and the door is pulled open.

Standing in front of her is a tall man with long orange hair and slight stubble along the edge of his jaw. Despite his hardened features, the soft whiskey amber colored eyes are a clear indication of who is in front of her. A look of shock runs over both of their faces as they realize who's on each side of the door. "M-mom?!" Ichigo exclaims, this statement causes Isshin to lean back on the couch to see what Ichigo is looking at. The moment he sees Masaki he falls backwards out of the chair before knocking over an end table. "What's going on? Who's at the door?" Yuzu's lark-like voice calls out as she rounds the corner with a tray of food. When she sees Masaki at the door she drops it to the ground, right onto Isshin's face. Karin is quick to follow her sister around the corner before locking eyes with her mother. "Holy shit."

"I take it, can we come in?" Captain Ukitake asks as he pokes his head around the corner of the doorway.

"Y-yeah... just l-leave your shoes at the door please." Ichigo says as he walks aside and lets his mother and the captain into the room.

"H-hello." Masaki says as she steps inside, the stunned look on her daughter's and husband's faces is still present. As she looks around the room she sees a new woman, short with black hair in a soft purple and lilac blue kimono. She has two bunny clips in her hair and a slight bump on her lower abdomen. "I don't think we've met before..."

"Oh um... Mom? This is Rukia. We're getting married in a couple weeks." Ichigo says as he walks over to the couch and helps her up. Masaki immediately recognises something in Rukia and turns to her son and arches an eyebrow. "And she's uh..."

"Pregnant." Masaki finishes, and Ichigo feels a wave of fear wash over him despite his power. "What have you taught our son?" Masaki asks immediately, prompting Isshin to jump to his feet despite being covered in hot chocolate staining his lab coat.

"Th-that's all h-him!" Isshin says pointing at Ichigo. "He was th-the one who didn't use protection! I tried to warn him but his stupid teenage hormones didn't listen to me." Isshin immediately rats on Ichigo, pinning the blame on him.

"Certainly an excitable family you have, Captain Kurosaki." Jushiro says as he tries to defuse the situation. "As you can see, Masaki is now alive once again. She said she woke up on the riverbed where she died that night and she stumbled into Kiyone in the middle of town before I brought her here." Jushiro explains, "Ichigo and Rukia are already married within soul society law, but the main ceremony and reception hasn't happened yet. I had signed the marriage forms for her myself since she is my lieutenant."

"That's somewhat relieving... but why does she feel like a hollow?" She asks as Isshin quickly and fearfully goes about cleaning up the mess that Yuzu accidentally made.

"That's because... I am one." Rukia responds, "I'm kind of a soul reaper and an arrancar. It's a long story."

"It's also how we met." Ichigo adds as he wraps his arms around Rukia's small frame, waiting to see Masaki's reaction. A warm smile comes to her face as a tear begins rolling down her cheek, the first person to move in the lull of the conversation is Karin. The tomboyish tough girl attitude melts away in an instant as she rushes forwards and wraps her mother up in a tight hug, tears streaming from her eyes as she buries her face in Masaki's shirt. Close behind her is Yuzu who practically tackles the two of them.

For almost their entire childhood she's been gone, taken from them when they were only four years old. Rukia watches as the Kurosaki family is finally reunited, Masaki trying to comfort her near inconsolable twins. Their hands balled up in her shall, as if grasping for dear life. Rukia can sense the fear coming from them, that if they let go of her she'll vanish again. The Kurosaki Matriarch opens herself to her son and husband allowing them to join in, while Ichigo is good at hiding his emotions even he can't keep them hidden for very long. Rukia smiles seeing this before she's grabbed by Ichigo and pulled into this as well. Jushiro can't help but chuckle to himself before quietly leaving the home. He gives Ichigo a slight nod before he leaves, shutting the door behind him. After a long while they finally separate, Ichigo taking a seat on the couch and placing Rukia in his lap as Masaki takes a seat across from them. Isshin rights the upside down chair as the twins gravitate to their mother.

"When did all this start?" Masaki asks motioning to Ichigo and Rukia.

"May earlier this year." Ichigo answers, causing his mother to arch an eyebrow. "It was a usual day around here, I saw a few ghosts and then I saw a hollow walking through the city before it left. That night, Rukia floated into my room through the wall and started talking to herself. I called out to her several times before..."

"He planted his foot in my backside and shouted at me." Rukia continues. "I was shocked that he could even see me to begin with, then he said he could see spirits for most of his life. I got mad at him for the insults, put him in a binding kido then explained what hollows and plus souls are."

"Shortly after our house was attacked by a hollow named Fishbone D. I managed to break out of the Kido, and rushed outside to try to stop it from eating Yuzu. I threw an oxygen tank at it's face and it then started attacking me. Rukia jumped in front of it as it tried to bite me and she was bitten instead. She was forced to give me her powers and that's how I became a soul reaper, what he didn't know at the time was that it was an artificial hollow made by the traitor captain Aizen. It was meant to cause me to develop an inner hollow but it bit Rukia instead and she began to develop one." Ichigo explains, moving his hands so they rest on Rukia's baby bump.

"A few months later, I got arrested for giving Ichigo my powers and was taken to soul society. Aizen fixed the trial and they sentenced me to be killed by the Sogyoku, it's a massive blade with the power of a million zanpakuto. Ichigo came to rescue me and fought my brother, after he hollowfied and defeated him, Aizen made his move." Rukia continues. "Aizen stopped me and my friend Renji from escaping, almost killed Ichigo and Renji in the process and stole the Hogoyoku from my body. It was placed there by Urahara after I gave my powers to Ichigo, he hid it inside of the gigai that I had to use."

"Rukia hollowfied and attacked Aizen and after that we were released from soul society to go find a group of masked shinigami called the vizards in order to control our powers. From there we went back to soul society, learned how to use our powers and Rukia got kidnapped again. It wasn't until a few days ago did we actually rescue her in Hueco Mundo. We got engaged in Soul Society since her family, the Kuchiki's, decided to arrange for us to be married since Kukaku and Dad named me the heir to house Shiba." Ichigo takes a pause before continuing, as he does so Rukia leans back and tucks her head into the crook of his shoulder. "The Hogyoku made Aizen immortal, Rukia even cut his head off and he still regenerated. I had to resort to stealing his power by corrupting it with my own to defeat him. Now..." Ichigo says before unbuttoning his shirt slightly exposing the black pearl embedded in his chest. "I have it."

"How did you steal his power?" Masaki asks as she runs a hand through Yuzu's hair and rubs Karin's back.

"I used The Auswahlen." Masaki gasps when her son says this. "A part of Yhwach lives in every quincy, mine takes the form of half of my sword Zangetsu. I call him Gramps and Zangetsu, I call him White or Shiro depending on his mood. Gramps is my quincy powers and Shiro is my soul reaper and hollow powers. When I trained in the Dangai, Gramps granted me his blood and wrote a letter on my soul. I am the Sternritter Omega, The End. I can steal away the power of anyone who intends to harm me. To do so I have to corrupt their spirit energy with mine and once it's been infected I can steal it away."

"So you have a Schrift." Masaki says, causing Ichigo to nod. "Part of me always knew you'd be pulled into this life. I was hoping you'd never have to deal with it."

"If I wasn't, I'd have never met Rukia and Yuzu would have been killed by that hollow that night. We probably all would have."

"My powers were still sealed so I would have been powerless against it." Isshin adds. "I think this is about enough for such a heavy conversation. How about we go out to dinner tonight, spend some quality time as a family."

"Do you have a name picked out for the baby yet?" Masaki asks, now addressing Rukia.

"She's going to be named Hisana." Rukia responds. "The Hogyoku let Aizen see the future, and Ichigo now for that matter. She's gonna be born in July just like Ichigo."

"Are you two planning on having any other children?" Masaki asks.

"Yes, but not until after the war with the Quincies." Ichigo responds. "After our wedding and honeymoon, I will be preparing with Captain Yamamoto a plan to deal with the looming war. I haven't tapped into the bulk of my new powers since I fused with the Hogyoku. I do know that I can heal people around me and I managed to resurrect hundreds of dead shinigami that fell to the Arrancar in the winter war. We're getting married on the first of the new year."

"The Hogyoku also grants the desire of the one who wields it. Aizen wanted to make himself a god and Ichigo... just wanted you to be brought back." Rukia says, causing Mitsuki to smile at her daughter in law and her son.

"Let's get everyone ready for dinner tonight, do you have anything fancy in mind?" Isshin says as he pops out of his chair and begins walking down the hallway. However, Ichigo stops him by snapping his fingers and teleporting his father back to his chair.

"Oh no you don't. I'm letting Mom see that shrine you made to her and would scream at whenever we did something bad. 'Oh Masaki, what have I done with our children? They don't love me anymore.' Or something along those lines." Ichigo mocks, once again doing a nar perfect impression of his father. "This is what you get for 5 years of waking me up with a fight old man!" Ichigo shouts and a look of horror runs over Isshin's face.

"He built a shrine to me? This I have to see." Masaki says as she gets up from her chair. Yuzu and Karin are still practically glued to her as she stands up.

"No! Wait! Masaki! Please! I built it in the throes of grief! I wanted to make sure our children wouldn't forget you!" Isshin pleads as he attempts to get back up.

"Bakudo no 61, Rikujokuro." Ichigo says before pointing a finger at his father. This kido summons six golden triangles that slam into him trapping him in place. This leaves Isshin trapped and subject to his wife's teasing as she gets to view the shrine first hand.