Recommended Reading
I'm a little surprised that some of these haven't been recommended here yet.
When the Sun Comes Up, You Better Be Moving by
hecatehatesthat
Instead of Byakuya and Renji, some noname shinigami are the ones sent to the human world to retrieve Rukia. Ichigo is able to defeat them, and he and Rukia go on the run. AU from around chapter 51 of the manga.
It's quite brilliant, and has the feel of a well-crafted faery tale. Albeit one about two people on the run with next to no money. The author hasn't updated it for a while, because she's been absorbed in other fandoms, but she swears she's continuing it.
Secret Student by
Sephy-Chan
Ichigo wakes up at the Shinigami Academy, he has to graduate if he wants to go back home, there is one condition though, no one may find out that he is a æheroÆ from the Arrancar war. Can he graduate before the students find out his real identity?
One thing I really like about this writer is that she actually considers readers' advice, especially when they point out misspellings of names or plotholes. There are still several of both, but it's a very good story overall.
Shunpo to the Future! by
Epsilon Zeta
You know those epic time travel stories where a heroic time traveler comes back to the past to save it from a dark future? This story AIN'T one of them.
Everyone here has probably already read this one. Still, I think it should be here because of its sheer fantasticness.
Lady Salazar has some absolutely brilliant stories. My favourite is 'A Different Type of Artificial', wherein Ichigo's zanpakutou is quite different...and that changes
everything.
'Strawberry' is perhaps the only longish fanfic on the internet about a female Ichigo who exists for something other than pairing purposes. The thing I like about her most is that, unlike canon Ichigo,
she's not a good person at heart. Except to her friends.
You should also take a look at her oneshots. They're wonderful. (And several contain very, very cracky pairings. Some of which involve female Ichigo, some of which do not.)