Royalty
Chapter 1
At first Orihime didn't recognize the man that was walking towards her, he looked much like he had when he'd returned from the precipice world before he'd defeated Aizen except he wasn't in soul form and he was dressed in normal human clothing. His longer hair partially obscured his eyes, but she could feel his intense gaze on her as he walked closer and she found herself hypnotized by how he moved. He seemed to flow with a bit of a swagger that he hadn't had before and Orihime could see that she wasn't the only woman around taking notice; she wasn't sure what Ichigo had been doing in the year he'd been away, but it was clear that he had changed somehow and Orihime had a feeling she could quickly go from liking Ichigo to becoming totally obsessed with him. He stopped in front of her and tilted her head up with a finger under her chin, his expression serious, and Orihime swallowed nervously as a shudder went through her and Ichigo's mouth twitched upward on one side into a sexy little half smile
"Yeah, I guess Yoruichi was right, you really are perfect," he decided and she couldn't even find enough breath to ask just what she was supposed to be perfect for, but he evidently read the question in her eyes because he clarified "we're going back to the soul society so that you can meet everyone, and once all that's out of the way I'm going to make you mine,"
Orihime jolted awake and looked around her room wildly for a moment before her mind calmed enough to realize that she had been dreaming, she groaned and threw her arm over her eyes as she tried to calm her racing heart
'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' she chastised herself and her wayward mind that insisted on running amok when she slept to try and explain why it was that Ichigo had been gone for a year, though she was sure that it had something to do with why Urahara and Yoruichi had vanished shortly after Ichigo had gone missing. Without a way into the soul society Orihime wasn't even sure that Ichigo was alright, but she could feel that he was alive in a way she'd had from the moment she'd began to develop her powers. She hated that she had no way to check on him, but she supposed right now she should try and content herself with the fact that he was alright and continue to live her life.
She sighed and sat up, swatting her alarm which went off to signal the start of the day, and after washing her face and getting dressed she put her hair up and pinned her shun shun rikka in place before grabbing her bag and leaving for work. She'd gotten an office job straight out of high school, figuring she would have died in the soul society before having to worry about silly things like adult responsibilities but she had bills to pay after all, and just like every other day her shun shun rikka did quite a bit of work as well keeping men from touching her. She didn't know why but after she'd returned to the world of the living after being captured by Aizen, men had flocked to her; true she'd had her admirers in school, but this wasn't just harmless flirting. Twice she'd almost been attacked this month and she didn't know why or how she could make it stop, if not for her powers she knew she'd have been in a lot of trouble
"I should have killed them," Tsubaki muttered, on guard on her shoulder like most days lately, and Shun'ō sighed, perched on her opposite shoulder
"I'll admit that people have been acting strangely around Orihime for a while now, but we can't go around killing people; think of how much trouble that could get Orihime into Tsubaki," Tsubaki snorted and looked away as he often did when he knew that Shun'ō was right but didn't want to admit it, but Orihime was increasingly grateful for Shun'ō 's level headed way of looking at things because her attacking flower quickly reverted to silence which was no doubt a pout though he'd kick her for saying so. The work day was uneventful with Hinagiku, Baigon and Lily watching her back, a blur of filing, sorting, and transferring phone calls and when she was packing up to leave she stood only to come face to face with her boss. He'd been kind from the start, if a little too close for comfort most days, but today the look on his face made her wary and apparently rightly so because he moved a step closer and reached for her as he spoke but Orihime didn't hear his words because she was too busy backing away. Her shun shun rikka came to her defense and she quickly made her escape out the front door where she felt a hand grab her wrist and yank her into the alley nearby, she opened her mouth to call for Tsubaki but her mouth closed after a relieved sigh when she saw a familiar and female face
"You're jumpy today," Yoruichi observed and Orihime gave her a strained smile
"And you've been gone for a while, what's been happening?" Yoruichi gave her a once over with a serious frown on her face then shook her head
"This isn't the place, let's get out of here and I'll tell you everything when we get back to the soul society," Orihime followed after her to Urahara's store, but before they got to the subterranean area Orihime ventured
"Is Ichigo alright?" unable to hold it in anymore, and Yoruichi glanced back at her with a grin as she dropped off the ladder and called up as she walked towards the senkaimon
"Oh yeah, I'd say he's better than alright," Orihime hurried down the ladder and got to the senkaimon as quickly as she could, a bit out of breath by the time she caught up, and without giving her any warning or time to catch her breath Yoruichi grabbed onto her and grinned before tossing her through the gate.
'Into the fire,' was Orihime's first thought when she opened her eyes and looked around, in shock she was sure because all she could do was remind herself not to move around too much because she had no idea what was going on but she'd seen enough nature shows to know that the large cats in front of her were a danger to her even if they were oddly colored. The tiger was darker than it should have been and was wearing an eye patch, the jaguar was red instead of tan, the cheetah was black with gray spots, and of all of them the leopard looked the most normal since Orihime had seen pictures of snow leopards before, and when a black panther stepped through the senkaimon behind her Orihime reacted quickly. Her shun shun rikka formed a shield that was a cone shape, guarding her from all sides, and she startled when she heard Yoruichi's voice
"Well that's new, we leave you alone for a year and you mutate your powers on us?" Orihime looked around a bit frantically, wanting to believe that Yoruichi hadn't just literally thrown her into a big cat's den to be dinner, and her eyes fell on the panther who was tilting its head to the side curiously as if not understanding her reaction "Orihime? Come on, we're not gonna eat you," the panther said in Yoruichi's voice and Orihime's eyes widened in shock
"Speak for yourself," came Zaraki's voice and Orihime's head whipped around in time to catch the tiger continue "the way she's smelling I get the feeling Ichigo's gonna-"
"Captain Zaraki!" came Yumichika's outraged voice and Orihime glanced to the side to catch the cheetah add "Really, so crude, there are ladies present and judging by Inoue's face I don't think Yoruichi bothered to explain anything before shoving her into the senkaimon,"
"What fun would that be?" Yoruichi asked as she glanced around "Where'd Ichigo run off to?"
"We had him go back and get the others, figured it'd be faster than letting us all go back," the jaguar said in Renji's voice
"True," Yoruichi decided and laid on her stomach "especially since it's almost spring and even you male couples are becoming randy bastards," she sighed and closed her eyes "well in the mean time, why don't we all get cozy and answer Orihime's questions so she can relax a little?" Orihime looked around again as the cats all settled on their stomachs much like Yoruichi and then, swallowing nervously as her shun shun rikka shattered, she slowly pointed out the cats she knew
"Captain Zaraki, Yoruichi, Yumichika, lieutenant Renji, and…?" she paused on the leopard who rolled onto his side with a sigh as he seemed to melt into the ground in a content lump of fur, no doubt because of the warm sun
"Ukitake," the leopard supplied and Orihime's eyes widened in surprise before looking around at them all
"Why…?"
"Aizen," Yoruichi said and Orihime immediately noted the bristling fur on Yoruichi, Renji, and Ukitake "he changed us, implanting his DNA inside of us and using us for some twisted project," Orihime looked at the ground as she felt bile rise in her throat, she didn't have to ask how because their reactions told her more than she wanted to know already, and she glanced a bit cautiously at Yumichika and Zaraki who surprisingly didn't seem upset like the others "Yumichika used to be a prostitute," Yoruichi supplied and Orihime decided that, with what little she knew about him, it made sense. She looked at Zaraki who didn't even bother opening the eye that wasn't covered with his energy eating monster
"He said it would help me get stronger, and as much as I hated him I gotta admit that he was right; we're all stronger now," Orihime looked back at Yoruichi and ventured
"What does any of this have to do with Ichigo?" Yoruichi grinned as she slowly opened her eyes
"Oh, I had hoped that you'd ask that," she practically purred and Orihime looked up when she felt a shadow fall over her
"Behave, Yoruichi," Urahara said as he wandered over to her "you know how humans are, if you get right to that matter she won't hear you tell her anything else," Orihime watched as he settled on the ground by Yoruichi and started running his hand through her fur while he looked back at Orihime. His hair was pulled back into a small ponytail at the base of his skull and his hat was gone, but otherwise Urahara hadn't changed at all
"Kenny!" came a familiar cry and Orihime looked up to see Yachiru come falling down from seemingly nowhere only to land impossibly lightly on the back of the tiger who lifted his head to nuzzle her tiny body before settling his head on the ground again, and even as Orihime frowned because after seeing Yoruichi and Urahara interacting she had a sneaking suspicion Yachiru suddenly glowed a light pink and changed into a woman with waist length pink hair and a body more curvy that Orihime's own. Orihime's eyes went wide and Yoruichi chuckled
"Oh yeah, so worth it, I'm glad I didn't tell you that she could do that because you're reactions are priceless!" she laughed when Urahara nudged her and Yachiru looked over at Orihime and grinned before waving and settled herself comfortably over the tiger's large body
"Hey Jiggles! We missed you!"
"Lieutenant, you were just calling her Orihime a minute ago, why do you insist on using silly nicknames to the one you're talking to but not everyone else?" Yachiru snuggled into Zaraki's fur and muttered
"Shut up and hug Yumichika before he jumps on you, baldy," Orihime glanced over her shoulder to see that Yumichika had risen and gone over to meet Ikkaku, and Orihime looked away with a light blush
"Oh, she's gonna lose it the first time she sees one of our male couples kissing for the first time," Yoruichi said with amusement and Orihime looked up quickly and squeaked
"What do you mean one of the male couples?"
"Yoruichi, I'm starting to think you enjoy this too much," Kyoraku said as he wandered over to Ukitake and knelt, taking a moment to run his hands along both sides of Ukitake's face before kissing his nose and settling against his side to use the large feline as a reclining cushion
"Well yeah, except all of the Aizen bull we've been sorting out this last year it's been boring as all hell," she lamented and Orihime looked around curiously, wondering who would come to claim Renji, and her eyes went wide when Byakuya came through the trees
'No way,' she thought in shock but, sure enough, Byakuya went over to Renji and knelt at his side, settling comfortably on his heels before reaching out a hand to scratch Renji's cheek for a moment which clearly wasn't enough for the jaguar because he rose and draped himself over Byakuya's lap. The squad 6 captain didn't seem at all ruffled or annoyed by the action and in fact rested his hand on Renji's side as a purr rumbled from all of the large cats creating quite a chorus as Orihime looked around at all of the happy couples before her gaze fell to the ground again. She thought of leaving, after all being around so many blatantly content couples only made her feel restless, but a moment before she could stand and run she felt warmth at her back and she found that she could barely breathe when Ichigo spoke
"I hope these idiots didn't scare you," the low rumble in his voice was exactly like in her dream and Orihime felt her cheeks flush
"Told ya so," Zaraki said and Yumichika spluttered a protest
"He hasn't said hardly anything, how does that in any way translate to-"
"Zaraki's right," Kyoraku broke in "but really, this time of year which of us isn't ready to jump into bed at a moment's notice?" he held his hands up defensively, clearly Ichigo had given him a dark look
"You'd really benefit from choosing a mate and locking yourself away with them for a while, you're so fucking uptight lately," Zaraki muttered as if bored and Yachiru looked at Orihime for a minute before asking Ichigo over Orihime's shoulder
"Are you and Jiggles gonna be mates, Ichi?" Orihime felt her cheeks heat further and she stood quickly, intent on leaving before she could hear Ichigo's answer, but she only made it a handful of steps before she found her path blocked by a lion with a familiar shade of orange streaking his mane. He caught and held her gaze before saying in Ichigo's voice
"That's up to Orihime, right now she's only here so that we can help her through her change," he looked over at Yoruichi with an intense gaze and Orihime had a feeling that he was talking with her, then the others as he shifted his gaze to each of them in turn, but Orihime could only frown in confusion as she ventured
"Change?" Ichigo looked back at her and sat down before explaining
"Aizen forced the change on all of us, even those that willingly went to bed with him, but it seems that he changed his method with you in the hopes of infecting me; we think it worked, judging by what Yoruichi found out about your troubles lately," Orihime shook her head, not understanding what he meant, and Zaraki being the helpful guy he was said quite bluntly
"You're going into heat,"