Wreckage of Stars

Prologue

-i|i-

"Haa?" Ichigo asked with surprise.

Kyouraku smiled sheepishly. "I know we've asked a lot of you before, and you've done more for us than we could ever imagine; but, you really are the best fit for this role."

The orange haired shinigami shook his head. "No, that's not the issue. I've already finished school and university." He eyed the captain-commander and sighed. "My national ID has all that information tied, stored in various databases and backed up till god knows what. I can't just go to some school and be admitted."

"Ahh, well..." Kyouraku smiled.

"You didn't," Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "Please tell me you didn't."

Shunsui nodded with parsed lips. "We've been around for thousands of years, and as such, built up connections everywhere so we can move freely. In light of recent developments, we've asked some of our... contacts to do the necessary changes."

He ran a hand through his hair. "So you wiped everything?"

The captain-commander smiled. "A fresh start for you. We've also asked Urahara-san to build you new gigai. Based on our intelligence, we've noted that boys are compatible with something called stigma. It allows them to draw out special power known as freezing."

"Freezing?" Ichigo asked thoughtfully.

"Yes, think of it similar to how we exert pressure with our rieatsu, but the effect with them is physical. A hexagonal tile pattern appears from the person casting freezing, and all agents within this field are trapped and frozen. Of course, this ability is dependent on the user's natural skill and compatibility with the stigma."

Ichigo sighed. "Is there a correllation between the capability of a user and the amount of stigma they have?"

"Yes, but there are different classes of stigma. Natural, based on NOVA tissue. Artificial, produced in the lab via synthetic technologies and partial NOVA samples, and legendary stigma-which we found out through our contacts, are in exceptional rarity and heavily guarded."

"Which you got your hands on and are going to implant into my gigai, yes?" Ichigo asked.

"There's no need for that. While we don't have access to legendary stigma, Urahara-san is more than adept at creating artificial stigma that rival them. He did, after all, create the Hogyouku-which you are more than familiar with." Kyouraku chuckled. "In order to minimize suspicion, at least until you have established yourself, your gigai will receive only two; designed to cap your power to 50% of your shikai capabilities."

Ichigo raised his eyebrow. "That's a lot."

Kyouraku continued, accepting the blonde's open ended and implicit question. "Based on our own observations, we believe that your current abilities coupled with shikai abilities at even 50% should easily rival some of their stronger fighters. There should be no need for you to use more than that of your shinigami powers."

An immense spiritual pressure breathed into the room, devouring all comforting air, and replacing it with a cold calculating void of a grand ocean. Ichigo eyed Shunsui seriously, "should I assume that you used those words in a very specific manner?"

The tense silence of the room vanished as an equal force counter-acted the blonde's only for a brief moment before both died away, and the warmth of the room returned. "We are shinigami, we will only oversee the domain we take part in. We hope that if the situation arises, you, Kurosaki-taicho, will take the necessary steps to address it." Kyouraku said seriously.

The two eyed each other flatly and then sighed in equal parts. "Alright," Ichigo said, "I hope it won't come to that either-and I've gotten the information I need. When do I leave?"

Kyouraku got up from his seat and dusted his garb, looked down at the young man and smiled warmly. "Your gigai should be ready by night's end. I'll see myself out and let your lieutenant know of the developments. Take care Kurosaki-taicho."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "There's no need to tell her, she already knows; and do call her a captain would you."

Kyouraku laughed lightly as he took a step out from the office, eyeing the dark skinned woman leaning against the wall. Her golden cat-like eyes tracking him carefully, though a sly smile lined her lips. "She chose the role Ichigo-kun, as fellow captains, we must respect such decisions."

The blonde snorted at the pretention. "Tradition aside, we all know who's the king and who's the horse here."

Kyouraku watched as the former Shihouin-heiress nodded to him briefly before stepping into their office and smirked as the door closed behind him with a click. Her sultry voice brought forward demands and he found himself whistling wistfully to their chemistry, before vanishing from their division with a flash-step.

N: I've got a few ideas floating around with Bleach crossovers I want to write, so here it begins