Main Pairing: Stark x Ichigo
Secondary Pairings: Aizen x Gin, Halibel x Neliel, and a bunch one sided males x Ichigo.
Summary: AU where Ichigo is an arrancar (not to be confused with hollow!Ichigo). Ichigo, Aizen's favorite arrancar, gets assigned as Stark's Fraccion in an attempt to get the first espada to be more constructive. Beta'd by d3m0nang3l1106.
Author's note 1: This was originally intended to be more like my other works in that it focused on romance and that was the only semblance of a plot to the story. But when I started typing up the outline I realized that it wanted to actually go somewhere, so don't expect this to be like any of my other Bleach fics.
Author's note 2: I try to keep everyone as in-character as possible, but this Ichigo is going to be a lot more mature and reserved, although just as scowling and cranky as ever. Any OOC-ness can be easily explained away by the fact that Ichigo has been a hollow since he and his mother were killed by the grand fisher. We will see Masaki occasionally, but not much since she is more of a servant than a fighter.
WARNINGS!!! No underage readers, this story will contain: smut, yaoi, yuri (although the female on female isn't descriptive), lemons, sex, cursing, blood, death (though not Stark or Ichigo).
Death and the Strawberry: Chapter 1- Memories in the Rain
Seven Years Ago, June 17th…
Nine year old Kurosaki Ichigo beamed up at his mother happily as they held hands. Masaki returned the brilliant smile, tugging her son closer under the umbrella, and out from underneath the rain. Just then a truck drove by, splashing dirty rain water onto Ichigo. "Ah!"
"Oh my, what a bad truck. Are you okay, Ichigo?" Ichigo just blinked as he wiped the water from him eyes. "Sorry. Here, let's switch. I'll walk on the roadside."
"It's okay." Ichigo protested as his mother started wiping his face down with a handkerchief. "I'm wearing a raincoat, so I'll be fine! I'll protect you from now on, momma!"
Masaki just smiled at his remarks. "Oh my, how reliable. But no way! I can't leave the roadside to you when you haven't even won one match against Tatsuki-chan!" His reply was muffled by the handkerchief covering his little face. "Oh my, I don't know what you're saying."
"I said I got a hit in last time!"
"There, all cleaned up!" Masaki pulled her hand away and stood, ruffling her son's orange hair. "Now let's go!"
Ichigo loved his mommy so much. Never once had he seen her cry or get mad. Trouble in a parent's heart gets carried to the child. Masaki knew that.
"Momma, could we hold hands?" Ichigo childishly asked.
"Of course we can!" She held out her hand with a glowing smile that was reflected on Ichigo's own face, standing out brightly in comparison to the dreary rain and cold around them.
No matter what sorts of bad things happened, Ichigo would forget it all by returning to his mom's side. Not just Ichigo, either. Yuzu, Karen and Isshin all loved Masaki, too. At a small age, Ichigo was told that the name 'Ichigo' had the meaning 'to protect one thing.' Upon hearing that, Ichigo had decided that the one thing he wanted to protect the most was his mom. His mom, who always protected him.
It rained that day. And the day before, and the day before that. It rained so much that the river water rose to it's highest. Despite that, there was a girl, unsteady and without an umbrella, who stood at the river's edge and looked like she was about to jump in. In those days, Ichigo couldn't tell the living apart from the dead spirits.
"Wait here, momma!" Ichigo cried out and leaped over the fence, dashing towards the figure by the river.
"ICHIGO!" Masaki screamed after him in surprise and alarm. She chased after him as Ichigo reached out to grab the falling girl. "DON'T ICHIGO!!!"
And then everything went black. When Ichigo woke up, he was standing by the river, watching the rain come down, but not feeling it. He felt someone tighten their grip on his hand and he looked up at his mother, who was looking down at him sadly, but fondly. "Momma?" he asked in confusion. She turned to look at something and he followed her eye line. Lying on the ground were two bodies, a bigger one and a smaller one. He immediately recognized his own orange hair and his mother's fallen form. "Momma, what?"
"It's okay, Ichigo." She said soothingly, kneeling down and tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.
"It's okay, Ichigo." Another voice mocked. Both of them whipped around to see the girl, that had been about to fall into the river, standing there. A booming laugh assaulted their ears, but it didn't look like it came from the girl. "How delicious."
At that young age, Ichigo could do nothing to defend himself against the Grand Fisher, who made quick work of the both of them. And then Ichigo was falling and falling until he landed with a grunt on endless white sands. Sitting up, he looked around to his mother next to him. "Momma?" They didn't have a second before suddenly there were these weird creatures leaping at them, biting and tearing. Both of them screamed and screaming, calling out for each other before a horrid emptiness spread through their chest and whiteness clouded their vision. It was only a matter of moments before both of them were turned into hollows. They were hungry, oh so hungry.
Now…
Ichigo sat in his room, one of his long legs sprawled out on the couch while the other was propped up under his elbow. Not a sound was heard in the quiet room except for the arrancar's soft breathing and the occasional sigh of a page being turned.
Kurosaki Ichigo. The fifteenth arrancar, and favorite of Aizen-sama. The other arrancars were insanely jealous because of the blatant favoritism and the perks that came along with it. One of them was the fact that he got his own room and private bath, and conversed with the Hueco Mundo king on a routine basis. Ichigo did not know why he was gifted with such attention, but he assumed it had something to do with why he was specifically sought out by Aizen-sama in his hollow form- and why immediately after he was turned into an arrancar by the Hogyoku, his powers were sealed.
But he didn't hold a grudge against Aizen-sama for that, he was just grateful to be out of that slow, lumbering hollow body. In this form he could do so much more, and feel so much more. Sure, he wanted all of his powers back but, for now, he was satisfied with what Aizen deigned him worthy of.
"Ichigo-sempai." Ichigo glanced over to see one of the younger-looking arrancars nervously shifting from foot to foot with a heavy blush.
"What?"
"Um, Aizen-sama requests your presence in the throne room."
With a heavy sigh, Ichigo stood and marked his place in his book before setting it down. It wasn't so much agitation of being called, as it was being interrupted when he was reading one of his favorite plays. "Very well."
The lower ranking arrancar blushed even heavier at having talked to the Ichigo, who was considered the most beautiful of the lower ranked arrancar, and maybe even the top ten espada.
Ichigo scowled as the messenger left the room and tugged on his pristine white clothing to straighten them. He didn't understand why he had to wear such a ridiculous outfit. The hakama wasn't that bad, just a basic cut, but the top irritated him to no end.
The sleeves were purposefully made too long and got in the way whenever he tried to do anything with his hands, including fight. At least the rest, likewise to the sleeves, was long and covered most of his torso, but it was also very tight and was purposefully made so that a long line of flesh was visible on either of his sides with thin lacing. Some of the other arrancars enjoyed teasing him by brushing their fingers along the bare skin, which quickly got them either killed, or their asses kicked. Whichever one it ended up being depended on how quickly Aizen-sama stepped in to stop him, if he decided to stop it at all.
Yes, Ichigo was notorious for being Aizen's favorite, as well as for his temper and cranky attitude. As such, when he walked down the halls with his zanpakuto resting comfortably at his hip (1), the weaker arrancars scattered. The fifteenth espada paid them no mind and instead continued on to Aizen-sama's throne room.
In the throne room, where there was no place for lowly underlings to sit, there was just the throne. Nothing else. Ichigo walked toward the dominating piece and knelt before the powerful Shinigami king, who smiled charmingly and beckoned the worthy one to rise.
"Ichigo."
"Aizen-sama." Ichigo murmured back in greeting, keeping his eyes on the ground before his king.
"I suppose you wish to know why I called you here."
The fifteenth espada chanced a glance up to stare inquisitively into Aizen's eyes. "Yes sir, I was wondering." Usually, if Aizen only desired a conversation between the two of them, they would go somewhere less…formal.
"I have an assignment for you." Ichigo couldn't help but scowl; usually the missions he was sent on were boring and involved no fighting. "Now, now, don't look at me like that." Ichigo scowled harder, making Aizen chuckle. "You have met the first espada Stark, I believe?"
"I have only seen him briefly, we have never really been introduced." Aizen hummed under his breath and didn't say anything in reply, simply studying the orange-haired man in front of him, until Ichigo got more and more irritated by the silence. "Why do you ask, sir?"
Aizen chuckled; it really did amuse him when Ichigo got angry but still managed to maintain a semi-subservient façade. "I ask because I am assigning you to be one of Stark's Fraccion. Although he already has one, Lilinette, your job is going to be to make sure he is properly motivated, rather than just serving him."
Ichigo eyed his King a bit warily. "You want me to baby sit him?"
"No, no. I simply want you to make sure he actually puts forth some effort into our cause."
"So, you want me to baby sit him." Aizen said nothing, simply smiling at Ichigo with a twinkle in his eye. The arrancar sighed heavily, and frowned at the Shinigami. "Alright." He said, as though he had a choice. "When do you want me to begin?"
"Right now."
LINE
Author's note (1) Because Ichigo has had his reiatsu condensed and a lot of it sealed away, his sword is also sealed and therefore smaller and able to be worn on Ichigo's hip. Think bankai form, but not as strong.
