Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo.

Author's Note: Another one of my ten stories project. I hope that you will enjoy this story too.


Chapter 1: The Successor.

"It seems that the time has come."

"My king?"

A chuckle. "You know that nothing last forever. Not you, not me, nothing."

"This world need you, my king… "

"Do not worry. Even if I disappeared, this world shall not perish, for I've already chose a successor."

"A successor?"

The king chuckled softly before showing an image of an orange haired human teenager with a scowl that seemed to be permanent on his face.

"From now on, this boy will be the one to keep the balance in this world. His name is Kurosaki Ichigo. Guide him well, Hajime."

Sometimes, the black haired man can't help but to think that his king was rather insane with his twisted sense of humor. For example, when he let the war between the soul reaper and the Quincy happened which resulting in an almost complete annihilation of the Quincy.

"Why didn't you stop it?" He had asked at that time.

The king answered him with a grin on his face, like a little child that just watched his favorite film. "Because it was a fun show."

… He even stood from his throne and clapped when both of the soul reaper and the Quincy went ballistic at each other.

And now, he seriously wished to make a human teenager to be the next spirit king? The black haired male shook his head in pity at how this chosen successor will never have the chance to live his life as a normal human ever again.

Nevertheless, he could only bow down to the king and said, "as you wish…"

The king seemed to be satisfied with his answer as he closed his eyes and smiled. Then, bit by bit, he started to turn into a reishi particle.

"This world is cruel but it is also very beautiful. Don't you think so, Kurosaki Ichigo? I wish you luck… The weight of the world is in your shoulder now." Were his last words before he completely perished.

Every creatures that existed in the world stopped dead in their track as they felt something went amiss but they just immediately dismissed it without giving a thought and resumed their activity.

As Hajime bowed his head in respect to the king that just perished, a teenager in the human world shuddered as he felt a hand touched his shoulder when there was nobody near him.

He could even swore that he faintly heard a voice carried by the wind. "This world is cruel but it is also very beautiful. Don't you think so, Kurosaki Ichigo? I wish you luck… The weight of the world is in your shoulder now."

He shook his head and stood up from his chair. "Perhaps I study too much…" He muttered before he went down to the kitchen to get a glass of water to freshen his mind.

Meanwhile, in the spirit king's palace, two females, one was a grown up woman while the other was a little girl, surrounded a male with long black hair that was tied in a low ponytail when he exited himself from the throne room.

"So, how was it?" Asked the woman with long pale blonde hair and bloody red eyes calmly.

"He perished." He answered with the equal calmness.

The woman closed her eyes. "If we are still here, a successor had been chosen, then?"

"Yes."

"Eh, who? Who?" A high pitched voice piped in childishly.

"A human teenager. His name is Kurosaki Ichigo."

"… I didn't know that you can actually make a joke, Hajime-san." Said the long pale blonde haired woman.

When the man didn't say anything, she blinked. "You were serious?"

"Of course."

The woman rubbed her forehead and sighed. Trust their king to do something crazy like this. "Should we go inform the royal guard now? And what about the soul society? Should we inform this to Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni?"

"I will immediately inform the royal guard about this. However, we should wait until the royal coronation before informing the other." The black haired man with stormy grey eyes answered calmly.

The woman nodded. "Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"Please bring our soon to be king to this palace as soon as possible." Said Hajime while showing the long pale blonde haired woman an image of Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Understood. Let's go, Chouko." Said the woman to the child with the same bloody red eyes and pale blonde hair, only it was tied in pigtails.

"Yay! A mission!" The little girl cheered.

They went to the living world through a special portal and immediately landed in Karakura town.

To be exact, they somehow landed right in front of a certain shop and a certain blonde haired shopkeeper with funny hat.

The woman immediately recognized the blonde haired man. "Urahara Kisuke."

"Eh? You know this guy, Shouko-nee?" Asked the girl while the former twelfth division captain widened his eyes, he clearly was dumbfounded that an unknown woman somehow able to address him by his name.

"Yes. Urahara Kisuke, the creator of Hogyoku, formerly known as the twelfth squad captain of the thirteen protection squad, banished to the living world for experimenting a dangerous thing to his fellow comrades."

When he heard that, the blonde haired shopkeeper immediately lost all his playful attitude and dropped to a battle stance. "Who are you?" Asked him while gripping his cane tightly.

The little girl pointed to him with her finger. "Eh? This guy is a criminal? Then, can I punish him?" She asked innocently, still with her high pitched voice.

"No. The real culprit behind that crime was a dangerous person called Aizen Sousuke. This guy is innocent, Chouko." Said Shouko before showing the blonde scientist her royal symbol. "Let us introduce ourselves formally. I am Arisu Shouko and this girl is Arisu Chouko, we are the right hand and the left hand person of the former spirit king."

Then, she continued. "We are on a mission to bring the chosen successor to the royal palace. We will appreciate it if you can help us, do you by any chances know a human teenager with the name of Kurosaki Ichigo?"

The blonde haired man snapped his hanging jaw shut and spluttered out, "Bo… Both of you are the spirit king right hand and left hand person?" He can't believe that he was talking with the people of a very high status right now. And it took another five seconds before he could fully process the information that was given to him.

He tipped his hat slightly and said in a more composed manner. "So, the spirit king is dead and Kurosaki-kun was chosen to be his successor?"

"Yes. So, you do know him. Tell us his address, we are in a hurry right now."

He looked sharply at her. "Give me a reason of why I should tell you his address. For all I know, you would ruin his life as a human. To be the spirit king meant that he had to abandon his life as a human." He said coldly.

"This is the will of the spirit king. Right now, the stability of the balance of this world is in the chosen one hand. Would you sacrifice the whole world for the sake of one person?" She replied back emotionlessly.

He winced. He knew that if the balance was disturbed, the world will be plunged into an utter chaos.

He sighed, it would be pointless to argue with her. He finally gave the direction to Kurosaki's house from his shop to the siblings.

The older one, Shouko, nodded in understanding. "Thank you for your cooperation. I trust that you will keep this little information as a secret. Oh, before I forgot, keep the Hogyoku well for we will comeback to take it. Don't let that thing fall into a wrong person hand." She warned him which he nodded in replied.

"I understand." He said.

"Have a good day, Urahara Kisuke." Said Shouko before she and her little sister vanished.

The man sighed once again. What would his friend think when he found out that his only son had been chosen as a successor to the spirit king?

Unknown to him, a thought went sadly across the right hand person of the spirit king. 'It is not right to sacrifice a person for the sake of this world but the world can't be sacrificed for the sake of one person.'

When Kurosaki Ichigo returned to his room to study, he never expected to find two unknown females stood inside it.

He scowled. "Who are you?"

The older female nodded to the younger one. "This is the person."

Then, both of them dropped to their knees. "My prince, we've been looking for you. Please come with us to the Royal Palace." Said Shouko.

"Huh? Um… I think you mistook me for someone else. I'm sure as hell that I'm not a prince and my old man is sure as hell isn't a king."

"Everything will be explained later." She said shortly before the females stood up and Shouko grabbed his right hand while her little sister grabbed the orange haired teenager left hand.

"Wa… Wait! What the hell? This is kidnapping! Someone, help me!" He shouted while struggling futilely. The two females were unbelievably strong. In a matter of second, he was dragged through the portal that was opened by Shouko to the Royal Palace.

In an unkown place inside the Soul Society, a brown haired man with glasses stilled, his jaw hanging open, unable to believe the scene that played on the screen. The screen went blank when the orange haired boy was dragged through the portal and he snapped his jaw shut before muttering, "well, this is certainly very unexpected."


Author's Note: Please don't forget to leave a review on your way out. Thank you.