Chapter Text
Childhood was the failsafe, it seems. Orihime couldn't heal the three remaining shinigami at Las Noches, but she could reverse their time and help keep them safe.
A year after the Vasto Lorde attack, roughly two since the whole mess between Rukia and Ichigo started, Sado Yasutora was back on his home in Mexico with three small children in gigai, completely oblivious to the worlds and lives they've wrecked. The summer was coming in to be hot already so he let the three play on the porch as it started to get dark.
Gin and Sousuke were coloring while Rangiku played with the radio a neighbor gave her for her birthday.
"I think I love ya'!" Gin jumped up and started "dancing" with seven year old Rangiku.
'Amazing. Time, space, and their worlds changed but they were still the same at heart.' Sado looked over to Sousuke, who looked at the two a little angrily and went back to his picture.
"What are you drawing, Sousuke?" Sometimes it looked like their spirits and memories were coming back to them and it was unnerving to see the chilling demigod in an eight year old body.
"I don't know." Sado did. He couldn't mistake the vague shape on Ichigo even on paper. He sighed and watched the other two dance. It was going to be a long lifetime.
…
"And one more time, up Kira!" Renji and Hinamori were watching the drills Ikkaku was still putting his division through.
"Isn't it just amazing Renji? How far people have come in this year recovering from it all? I mean everybody just seems so much happier!" Renji nodded slowly and didn't say anything otherwise.
It was a given that Captain Kyouraku and Yadomaru were happy, as well as the newest Byakuya and Nanao Kuchiki- after, of course, there were plenty of words between the newest family members and how content the Kuchiki should be with someone as lovely as Ise. Ikkaku was having fun, so was Zaraki (he'd gone on a PTA mission, and people were still figuring it out) and Captain Ukitake was excited that he was getting the school's newest "genius" shinigami.
Hinamori choose to only see those people though. Captain Inoue wasn't quite happy but she was getting better with the help of the Shinigami Women’s Association. Captains Shihouin and Urahara showed no obvious change except when their student was mentioned. The whole of the Tanimonban family was still mourning in their own way.
Renji also knew that Hinamori deluded herself into not seeing the bad. That Aizen wasn't the greatest traitor the Seireitei had ever faced and that she didn't help the destruction of the 10th Division Captain.
Captain Hitsugaya still can't recall many of his memories but his attitude returned to the same. Ukitake dotted, he yelled, the others played.
"I am very glad for everyone Renji."
…
Karin walked into the main building for the 13th division. She had graduated in a little less then a year and half and was being called a genius. That it was in her blood, how successful her dad was, the environment she was raised in, and the friends she made. Not a single person mentioned her brother.
For months after he died all she could do was poor herself into the books and it paid off in a way. Yuzu and everybody else was still in the academy but she was closer to Toshiro this way.
There were whispers in the sliding walls talking about her status. How she bought her way into the 10th seat. The only reason she was here was because of her famous family, never mind that she was the only one to keep the name "Kurosaki". Did they really think she couldn't hear the jerk offs?
Finally a door slid open and Rukia walked over to her and hugged her. There was soft smile when the other pulled away.
"You know, Ichigo would have thrown a hissy fit over this right? You fighting when you didn't have to and not being able to protect you." Karin snapped into attention. Was someone…? Rukia was actually crying a little now.
"When he was holding the sword he couldn't hold you, but if he held you he couldn't have protected you, isn’t that right? Even still he'd be really proud of you. Now come on. I've got to protect you now. I owe it to him after all."
"…Thanks Rukia." It was great. Not everyone forgot who her brother was.
…
"Ugh! You stupid moron, can't you do anything right?" Aiko kicked the king in the head with no abandon.
"Tsk. Enjoy you're throne for now. And get rid of that damn Central 46, we don't need it anyway." Since news of Ichigo's death she'd been upset. At least she knew the truth. He wasn't dead- just in Hell.
She'd be able to save him someday. Everything was going to be perfect.
…
"Ah, why did our old Yamamoto hold on to this job for as long as he did? It is actually the worst."
"Language, Shunsui. Although you had a rocky start, things are almost tranquil now. So relaxing." The two toasted into the night with sake.
"Don't set down your hot water bath yet, Jushiro. It's not over yet."
"What? How-"
"It's not over. Kurosaki did the impossible, Aizen for a few moments was God, Ichimaru knows every scheme in the book, and Rangiku refuses to admit defeat. It's not over and you're a fool if you think it is." Another sip.
"Unohana still annoying you about backlogged paperwork?"
"Yup. Oi, Oi! Watch the kimono, you can't get this pattern anywhere, Inoue's been making them."
…
Ichigo blinked up at the sky again. It was a reprieve. The ground below him was completely muddy with nothing but his blood and the shackles on his wrists kept cutting into his wrists.
The skeletons seemed to like jostling him for no reason even when it time for him to "rest".
A black hell butterfly flew across the moon in his vision and the hell started all over again.