This was the second fic I ever wrote from when I was into the Bleach fandom years ago. A few days back, with the 'bleach feels' hitting back, I decided to translate it and post it here. But man, it was such a horrible story when I read, I wrote like shit back then, and therefore I have changed like half the story. For better I hope.
So, before starting, I need to give proper creedit to Tite Kubo and his characters, and warm that I am not an Egyptologist and shit. I have tried to be acurate but because this is a fic, and because I am not an expert, there is going to be mistakes.
Hope you like it.
Ichigo had been told that Egypt was the greatest empire of the world. Its history spread thought millennia, thousands upon thousands of generations, and its leaders were considered gods, incarnations of forces that controlled nature and life itself, and that were cherished and feared at the same time. It had been the gods the ones that had united the two Egypts, the ones that had made life prosper, and peace hold for so many decades. It was thanks to them that their culture, and traditions had been able to flourish and become one of the most exotics and wonderful of the world. Their knowledge of medicine, astronomy or even agriculture hadn't ever been surpassed by other cultures yet, not even the new empires like Greece or Babylonia had been able to stand in they way.
At the centre of all that empire and all that power was Memphis, the richest and most striking capital on the civilized world, overlooking the golden starching desert, and the sacred river and source of their civilization: the Nile. The long big river who allowed Ichigo's people to survive in that arid climate and feed and grow and keep on living.
Right now, the second season had arrived, and the water of the river had diminished enough to allow the people to cultivate in its fertile shores. The city was more active than ever in consequence. A trope of merchants was trying to sell their fabulous foreign products in the bazaars, the smell of spices, livestock, and oily perfumes filling the streets along with laughs and calls. Plants and gardens of emerald green dotted the view of the city between the building, contrasting with the yellow and white houses, and as always, his hometown looked alive and happy.
This was definitely the best time of the year.
Ichigo, observing the view from his room in the magnificent palace that overlooked the city, sighted trying to relax. He was dressed in a white linen cloth, too transparent for his taste but better than nothing. Jewellery covered his neck, his wrist and even his ankles, gold and shiny, with gemstones and complex designs trying to catch attention and make him look 'regal'. Or so he had been told by the servants. His skin has also been scrubbed clean, and the oils applied to it made it look healthy and soft.
Too soft for the king of such a deadly empire Ichigo knew, but there was nothing he could do about it. Tradition was tradition, and Ichigo had been a living part of it since he had been born.
Sighting again, and after mentally preparing himself in this last moment of solitude, Ichigo turned away from the window and the happiness and life, and left his private rooms with confident steps, and his head held high as he was supposed to do.
The walls of the palace looked clean and mighty, with tall ceilings, opened windows to interior gardens, and attentive guards. Everyone whom he met prostrated at his feet with words of adorations and respect escaping their lips. Servants, guards, noble ladies, it didn't matter who it was, he was a god, and they feared him.
A young man his age, his tanned skin and dark red hair hair started walking immediately next to him. Renji was one of two viziers, controlling the upper part of Egypt. Closer to his age than any other of the people at the palace, they had been friends since Ichigo was a kid. Coming from the far regions of Nineveh, his appearance was still different from Egyptians, skin darker, tattoos covering the skin of his arms and forehead, but his intelligence had made everyone forget his dirty origins far too quick. Renji was young and foreign, but he was capable and would fight for Ichigo any time.
"Blessing of our world" the young man started, bowing his head with tense and worried eyes.
Ichigo rolled his eyes "Renji"
"The high priest Urahara is waiting for you at the main temple to perform the daily rituals" he announced easily, starting to recite from the papers on his hands "The general also wants to introduce you to the troops. We advisors also humbly ask for your attendance, there has been a problem on the outer edges of the city and…"
Ichigo kept walking, not really listening to his friend's list.
He was the new pharaoh. He knew people was testing him, the generals, the priest, the nobles, they were looking if Ichigo could stand up to the position and be as deadly and imposing as his father had been. They were driving him to his limit.
Ichigo had been trained since he had been a child, he had learned, he had commanded, and knew what to do in each situation. But the doubt and anxiety were still there. He knew the court, he knew the story of the dynasties that had preceded him, so, what if he wasn't worthy? What if he got stabbed in the back? What if he failed and Egypt and the millions of families living in it perished?
It drove him insane. Ichigo felt himself alienated, as if he wasn't there. Renji kept calling him by his royal title. People bowed, smiled and bowed again, and things seemed far away. He hadn't even saw his sisters in a week, and his dad…
His dad was dead.
"My lord?!" Ichigo stopped suddenly turning to face Renji. His friend was looking at him worried again, frowning, his long red tunic flowing around his muscular body as he stopped next to Ichigo "Are you alright? I... I can understand how this can be too much, we can reschedule today's…"
"I'm alright" Ichigo said way to forcefully, smiling at him however with a false smile, faking as he had been doing for a week now.
Because he was a god, he was a leader of an empire that had lasted generations, he couldn't show weakness or ignore his duties. Not ever to mourn his dad who was now being embalmed and prepared for his burial next to his mother. Not even to relax for an afternoon and come to terms with his new life and the way people looked at him now.
Ichigo continued walking on the empty cold hall.
The rituals had to be done before the sun was completely up, and the temple was on the other part of the palace. Urahara would get pissed if he didn't get on time, his father never had arrived out of time.
Renji behind him kept silent watching him go, but after a moment he followed him not saying anything. They both new the vizier had breached protocol, but Ichigo won't call him out on this. He was not the only one adapting to this sudden change and this new life. Isshin death had been a surprise for many, and Ichigo, barely twenty-five, knew as the rest of the empire, that they were far from prepared for this sudden change.
...oOo...
Ichigo saton the throne room uncomfortably, as he had been doing for several hours. The throne under him was hard and full of edges, gold and more gemstones were carved into a seat of pure white ivory, and it all shone under the midday sun filtering thought the windows. It was supposed to make him look regal and powerful too, as everything in this room, and as everything in his new life. Ichigo was starting to get annoyed at the stupid ostentation.
The open balconies on the room gave view to the Nile and the great pyramids on the distance, tall and proud and speaking of old ancestors of the monarch, they also allowed a calm and soft breeze to curl in the room. A few servants keep fluttering around Ichigo, offering honey candies and cooled drinks with nervous and adoring eyes, their bodies attractive, their clothes sparse, and their smiles inviting and tempting on their faces. Ichigo keep ignoring them but they didn't seem to get the clue.
The peasant in front of him however seemed terrified instead of horny. He was nervous, sweating despite the cooled atmosphere on the room and looking at everything in the room but at Ichigo, as he tried to speak and explain his demanded between little mutters. The guards on the door looked out in the distance bored after several hours of audiences, the advisors made the scribers take notes after notes, and Ichigo just tried to make sense of what the man was trying to say.
After a while a man stopped mumbling. He was finished. The advisors looked at him, Renji raising an eyebrow, but Ichigo, so far away in the throne, hasn't understood a thing the man had said.
"Give thirteen debens to this man and send some guards with him to solve the problem with his daughter" he commanded. Because the man has been talking about a daughter, hasn't he?
The peasant face lit up, thirty debens was a lot of money. Renji frowned but didn't comment on it, so Ichigo decided he must have answered right.
"Thank you very much, your Majesty… I-I swear I will make sacrifices in the temple to pay this generosity. For your father and yourself. May your light illuminate us for long" the poor man began, as he headed for the exit aided by the guards.
Ichigo couldn't help but flinch at the mention of his father, but this time he managed to keep his face neutral. Renji however looked at him worried, so he shouldn't have mastered it as much as he thought.
"Next," he ordered not giving himself even a moment to mourn.
Auditions were one of his duties, a way to 'connect with the kingdom' as his father had said. But after hours and hours of them, Ichigo was feeling bored and tired, and no matter how much he wanted to look at ease and capable, the las days and recent events were beginning to take its toll on him.
It's been a week since he had been able to sleep well.
"My lord this one is the last for the day," Renji said to him.
Ichigo thanked his thousands of gods and family. A little more and he would be free, maybe finally be able to see his sister's, the last time he has seen them has been the day of...
A man entered the room, with the confident and long strides of a man accustom to command and power. He wore a military uniform, with a thin black linen shirt under a white leather armour that seemed to grip him like a lover's hug. Black tight pants fell down his legs, and tighter around his calves, finally stopping into a pair of simple sandals covered with the fine dust of the street. The long sword at his waist was pristine, perfect and dangerous. Like nothing Ichigo had seen before.
His body on the other hand felt...wrong.
His skin was pale, almost white, as if it has never been kissed by the dessert sun, or as if the colour has bleached from his body after days under sunlight. He was lean, muscular and athletic but not overly bulging. An assassin more than a soldier. He was attractive too. More than the slaves around him or the female nobles that tried to get him in their beds. He was the most attractive men Ichigo had ever seen, with sculptured features, arrogant confidence, and a sensuality irradiating from his body that whispered of dark nights and lust filled sights.
The stranger moved slowly through the room, with a firm step that echo against the walls, and finally stopped a few pages away from the throne.
His golden eyes stared up at Ichigo as if there was nothing else in the room. It was the most intimidating look Ichigo had ever seen in his life. The most arousing too, focused, and intent and knowing. It whispered of sins, and pleasure, and amusement. It had Ichigo trying to fight an erection in seconds.
Finally, the man made a slight bow, barely a mocking inclination of his head, and the eye contact between them broke.
Ichigo and everyone else in the room seemed to suddenly be able to breathe again. The room regained its life. Sounds came again from the street. Warmth caressed skin. Hearts beat again, and Ichigo managed to control his own body.
The man rose his head and smirked sideways at him, challenging, as if he knew what his mere presence was causing him, and was enjoying every second of it. Ah, so his first enemy then. Ichigo smirked back ready for the challenge.
Renji cleared his throat looking pointedly at him. His friend was looking pale. Everybody in the room looked pale, but as the professionals they all were, they all recovered their composure and keep on with the session.
"Ogichi Shirosaki, my lord. He has a request that would like you to grant" he announced.
"Is that so?" asked Ichigo, resting his chin on the back of his hand, and decided on making this man squirm and earn whatever he had come here for.
"Indeed" answered the pale shadow before him. His voice low, metallic, with a distant echo that made it sound unnatural and creepy. It however seemed to caress Ichigo in all the right ways.
He squirmed in the throne under the golden eyes of the other.
"What do you want?" He finally asked losing his patience, he was tired, annoyed and horny. He was in no state to fight and have fun with a mercenary.
"Of course, I just want to serve you, my King" he said easily, with that challenging and intimidating look still on his face, but the smirk and a dark amusement still on his face.
Ichigo just blinked. Was this some sort of joke? He looked at Renji, but the redhead just shrugged. He reclined on his throne rubbing his forehead with a fingernail.
"And what makes you think I need more servants?" he asked simply, looking at the man who was still smirking at him and then pointy at the bunch of people, half naked, fluttering around him.
He wouldn't mind having this handsome guy trying to get his attention like that, half naked, giving him bedroom eyes and feeding him honey with his fingers. But things in palace had a time and a process. He just couldn't accept this man like this.
"I fear you have not understood me" the man continued, frowning at the slaves as if disgusted "I want to serve you, but I would not be like the sorry servants you have here, I have other more specific talents… perhaps a bodyguard would be fitting"
Ichigo was now sure this was a crazy man. Renji too had now his eyebrow raised along the rest of the advisors. Incredulous at such a demand. The slaves however were plainly glaring at the asshole.
"That is…a very delicate and important position to give to a stranger" Ichigo tried, not wanting to offend the crazy man, but needing to refuse him "You can't actually expect me to give it to you so easily, do you?"
"No" replied the white-haired man, the challenge, the confidence and knowing eyes again appearing on his face as he looked back at Ichigo. "That's why I also came prepared"
Darkness spread in the room. Like a sickness. Like dead stinky curse. Covering every surface, every object and every person, and spreading out from dark unnoticed shadows. As if the sun has suddenly died on the sky. As if life and happiness had disappeared from the world.
The ground began to shake, first slowly but then more violently, a beast rising from the world below. The vases and decorations on the room fell to the ground breaking into thousands of pieces of black colourless materials. People screamed and cries of terror and pain filled the room. Outside the palace, the world seemed to suddenly be collapsing around them, ending.
Dying.
Ichigo gasped. Suddenly scared, suddenly insecure. Suddenly a man too young to rule a nation. Suddenly a boy incapable of surpassing his loving shiny father. He wanted to cry, he wanted to curl down and mourn. He wanted nothing more but the sadness and pain in his chest to stop.
And meanwhile the stranger kept looking at him. Golden intent eyes. Golden knowing and unnatural eyes. Serious, focused and deadly.
Ichigo suddenly felt a sudden grip on his arm and turned around breaking the eye contact with a monster. Renji was clinging to him, kneeling by the throne, with a face of terror himself. He seemed to be in extreme pain, his muscles shivering as he gripped Ichigo, as he tried to reach for a knife under his tunic to protect him.
"Ichigo, " his friend started, "don't listen to..."
He felt to the ground unconscious.
A few of the servants around Ichigo followed.
More screams of agonizing pain filled the place. Sad and dangerous and terracing. Death seemed to have been realised on the world. The earth rumbled loudly. Awakening. Eating them alive. The air seemed denser preventing them from breathing easily, thinking, living.
His people were suffering, they needed him, an Ichigo was still scared, useless and worthless, his father would be ashamed, his ancestors would...
The golden eyes kept looking at him. Ichigo screamed in rage trying to stop his own thoughts and looked at the man back with a hate on his face. The man only smiled more, crazed and lustful, with the clear signs of victory shining on his eyes. Ichigo wanted to punch him.
The shaking increased. The people cried. Blackness grew more profound.
Finally, not knowing what else to do, but knowing this was a lost battle, Ichigo closed his eyes in surrender. He would swallow his own pride and rage for his people, always for his people.
"Fine!" He shouted, "I will have you!"
And everything stopped as if nothing had happened.
Ichigo opened his eyes confused, surprised, and found those golden eyes that looked at him frowning confused. As if he hadn't expected him to give him what he wanted so easily. The room was shattered, people unconscious on the ground, or sobbing uncontrollably.
"Thank you, my King" said the pale man, performing an elegant bow, his eyes now unreadable.
Ichigo could not contain himself. He got up from the throne and walked down the steps and towards the man. When he reached the stranger, he raised his arm and crossed his face with a strong slap.
The servants behind him moaned in terror. Renji was still unconscious but beginning to raise awake.
"From now on you will be my bodyguard and obey any order that you are given." He got closer to his face "If you disobey even a single one, even the most stupid and ridiculous I give you, you will be condemned to death, understood?"
"Absolutely" the golden eyes kept looking at him suddenly curious but amused, as if he couldn't figure him out but was enjoying himself greatly".
"Kneel" Ichigo ordered "and swear allegiance to me"
The castle guards that had entered the room hearing the chaos, were forming around them both, swords ready to be drawn on the stranger. The man however only compiled and lowered on one knee on the floor. Not the traditional supplicating posture, but a mocking and dignified imitation of it.
"I solemnly swear that I, Ogichi Shirosaki, will protect you and watch over your health and interests. I swear that I will serve you in the best way I can, and that in case of disobeying my betrayal will be paid with death."
The room was still silent as Ogichi lowered his face to kiss one of Ichigo hands. The contact soft, quick, and to the matter. Ichigo however, still felt the goosebumps, and a knowing heat pool on his lower belly. He pulled his hand back. The man instantly rose.
"Captain" Ichigo said to one of the guards around him "Give this man a room and show him around"
The group easily walked out of the room.
As soon as they left, Ichigo breathed again and the world seemed to be the same again. He quickly organized the room, ordering to take care of the wounded and repair what had been broken. Apparently, the earthquake had only affected the throne room and the rest of the palace and the city remained intact. Of fucking course.
"Sir," called Renji behind him, still pale but looking more pissed than sick "Excuse me for bringing this up, but I think that taking that person into our ranks doesn't seem like a very intelligent idea"
Ichigo shrugged, trying to look much calmer and in control than what he really felt.
"I know" he just said simply, not daring to look at his friend. "Neither do I"
...oOo…
Ichigo entered his private rooms feeling incredibly tired. The king's room was the most beautiful of the rooms in the palace. Richly decorated, with golden and red paintings filling the walls and ceiling, it had oil lamps illuminating the big space, and luxurious carpets muffling each of his steps. It had a fantastic view to the gardens from the balcony, it had furniture made of exotic woods, stones and gemstones.
The room was nice, it had always been, even when it had been his father using it, however, now, Ichigo appreciated it for a very different reason: It was the only moment in the day where he was alone.
Today's routine has been tiring, there have been more audiences with common folk, then Kempachi and a few of his captains had required his presence. There had been a few revolts on the outer edges of the city, and they had needed his presence. One thing had led to another, and soon Ichigo had found himself fighting alongside Zaraki in one of the training grounds. There had been more rituals after that, he was beginning to get the hold of the think Urahara was trying to teach him. There had been parties too, with the nobles and the naked dancers petting more than they should have been allowed…
An intense day.
He hadn't been able to see his sisters today again. Or his new guardian.
A week have passed since he had accepted the strange man into his life, but nothing had occurred since then. Not weird darkness. No sadness. No screams of terror. The man, after the initial days of adaptation, just followed him around the place, silent, intense and a dangerous presence behind him with a long sword and mocking smirk. But he. Did. Nothing.
It was slowly putting Ichigo on edge.
Shaking the thoughts out of his head now that he was alone, Ichigo tried to relax. Following his routine, he began to undress. He got rid of the heavy jewellery on his neck, wrist and anklets, the signs of his power and richness, and then, he wiped away the dirt and the sweat of his upper body, with a wet cloth that had been prepared for him. Finally turned to undo his skirt with the belts trying it around his waist.
He froze.
"Good night, my king" muttered a metallic voice in front of him "Please, keep on"
With a very pissed glare, Ichigo observed Ogichi sitting on the edge of the window with one leg falling into the black night and the other raised against his chest.
The big full moon behind him illuminated his profile giving him a ghostly and mythical aura. He had ditched his strange clothes from the first day in favour of the light and warm Egyptian ones of soft colours. He now wore the usual wide trousers tied at the ankles that some servants at the palace preferred. His chest uncovered and glinting under the moonlight with defined muscles and a relaxed posture.
He was smirking at him, eyes fixed on his naked skin.
"What are you doing here? This place is off limits" Ichigo said frowning, taking his hands of the only clothe that protected now his nudity.
Ogichi shrugged, an elegant move on an attractive body "I'm supposed to protect you".
"Do it outside!"
The man frowned slightly, and Ichigo felt his blood ran cold. The darkness, the roaring sound, the screams. It all filled his mind again. He turned his back to the stranger not wanting the man to see his face.
He had never seen something like that before. Ichigo was supposed to be a god, Horus, fallen from the sky to give light and order to his people. And still, this man, a completely stranger, had managed to surprise and even terrify him without even raising a finger.
"How did you do it? " He said low, as if afraid to ask, his eyes fixed on a wardrobe.
"Do what?"
"The thing from the other day in the throne room the... the earthquake and all that...darkness and cold" he said slowly, very aware of the golden gaze that was watching him carefully.
"I don't know what you are talking about" said the other.
Ichigo couldn't help it. He got pissed. If the other wanted to be secretive and an asshole, so be it, if he wanted to piss him, fine by Ichigo. He had more important things to do than interrogate this man. He had an empire he needed to rule, problems he needed to solve. He had no time for this.
He teared the clothe from his body as if it burned, finally stepping naked in his room. The other wanted to see him naked, who cared, if the other wanted to make him feel uncomfortable, let him try. Ichigo was tired, annoyed, and he just wanted to fucking sleep.
He got into the huge wooden bed prepared to flip the other off and hit the bed, but when he turned, his dear new guard demeanour seemed to have changed radically.
The smirk and dry amusement were gone, and instead the golden strange eyes of his guard seemed fixed on his body, drinking him up inch by slowly inch, the feeling shimmering behind them dark and dangerous.
Ichigo knew that look intimately. He had seen it today at the party, on the eyes of the men watching the barely dressed dancers. He had even seen it in the dancers themselves as they had approached him, lush breast pressing against his chest, pleading lips opening sensually and invitingly. It was lust. Raw, violent and consuming.
However, that look felt different coming from this man than from the dancers of his slaves. It felt claiming, possessive a so very dangerous. Ichigo felt his own breath catch and the anger and tiredness disappear in a blink. The hunger and desire, plain and laid bare in the other's eyes, Shirosaki looking at him and not hiding anything of what he felt.
It made him feel powerful.
Then, Shirosaki got up slowly from his perch on the window and approached. A lion stalking his prey. Ichigo, of course, panicked. He was alone, in a room with a man who had summoned shadows and shattered the ground. He wasn't going to escape, not this, he was powerless before the other. He didn't move. As id hypnotized with those eyes and the pure confidence this man exuded, with the mystery and with the hunger.
Ogichi reached the bed and the lights from the oil lamps went out in a crispy hiss. Wind blew from the window, hard and strong, unlike anything in these calm climates, it felt cold, and wild and perfect.
Ogichi lowered himself to his knees on the bed, between Ichigo parted tights, until he was at eye level with him. Ichigo began to breathe with difficulty. He could not stop looking into the golden eyes, he saw hundreds of things in them, pleasure, pain, and even more pleasure. He saw a desire that would burn him whole. God, how was he going to be able to survive him?
Ogichi raised a hand grabbing his chin firmly with soft fingers. It was a simple touch, a little and exquisite caress, but Ichigo felt an electric current running already over his body, gossebumps running along his whole body, making the place between his legs began to stir and wake and his nipples tighten into hard nubs.
Then Shirosaki edged closer, tilting his own face slowly, caressing Ichigo's lower lip invitingly with a thumb from his hand. His other hand was now on one naked tight, delicate but branding, making him want to open his legs more. Ichigo began closing his eyes by inertia waiting for a kiss. He had never done this, he had been just too protected and supervised his whole life. The dancers and slaves had never provoked feelings like the ones the man now on top of him did. The desire on the other's eyes felt liberating, freeing, as if he didn't need to watch himself and what he did anymore, as if he could finally...let go.
He felt a soft tingling in his lips as the albino's lips gazed them slowly. Unhurriedly, as if he was savouring each and every one of Ichigo reactions.
"I ..." the man began in a low, hoarse voice, as if it was taking everything, he had to contain himself from jumping Ichigo. Ichigo opened his mouth slightly, invitingly, needing just a small taste "...I have been waiting so long for you"
The loud sound of a thunder made the whole palace rumble.
Ichigo opened his eyes in alarm and pushed Ogichi away trying to stand. Thunder? In the desert? It has been years! He would have to warn the docks to...
When he turned, it was to see the room in a chaos of wind and noise. Currents spinning around them, tearing at everything they found but leaving them both intact in the centre of it. Like a tornado. What the hell was happening?
Turning again, Ichigo looked at his guard who was looking at him angrily, confused.
As Ichigo observed, the wind slowly stopped around them revealing a destroyed room. The only furniture had fallen and broken, the rugs were fluttering to the ground, lamps laid broken amid it all, with big stains of oil beginning to spread between the pieces and on the floor.
In a second, in a little moment of lowered guard, this had happened.
"Out" Ichigo said deadly. Angry, but not at the chaos and the creature in front of him, but at himself for what he had almost done. "Out!" Ichigo demanded again, this time louder.
Ogichi looked at him for a moment. The sudden calculation in his eyes, making Ichigo felt like a pray who had woken a predator again.
Finally, his guard rose, and headed to the door.
T he slam made Ichigo actually calm down a bit. He reclined on his bed slowly feeling drained, but satisfied. He had been waiting for the man to do something, attack him, mock him, take his throne with the power he had...well, he had been so fucking mistaken.
Hope you liked it, this chapter is more introductory than anything, so sorry for the long descritions, they would be contained in the following ones. We have Shiro and in the next, Grimmjow would apear, what do you think he would be?