Ultimatum

Okay I decided to try a new story...For once I actually tried something new...XD thank goodness

(voice echoes) damn straight...

(looks terrified) Wh...who's there?

(dark appears) Dark-sama!!attempts to glomp but fails

Dark: she's creepy when she tries that...

(satoshi appears) Don't distract from the point of writing this piece of art, Paura...

Yes Sir! (posts Disclaimer and warning)

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Bleach, the series would be warped, twisted, and turned upside down. So me no own and you lawyers no sue...

Warnings: this story will have cutting in future chapters, Depression, and Random Crazy Hyperactive Author. You have been warned.

Dark: RUN FOR YOU LIFE!! (disappears)

EDIT I changed out the 1s border for the default line break...I didn't even know it existed till I played around with the docs editor.

EDIT I also added some details and changed some parts on Chapter 1. Hopefully the new version is a little better.

Okay now to answer all the reviews from the last two days...

Airyie- Thank you for the wonderful review...There will be at least four chapters..maybe more...wink wink also I can't answer any of those questions because they will spoil the plot...However, I am still thinking about the Ichi violence/torture thingy...dunno if I will have any...However if you still continue to read, I may make a separate story with ichi violence/torture if I don't with this one...

Gryphenvoid- Thanks for the review...I will make sure the story is the best of my abilities...120 that's what I always say...XD only on fanfics...

100Falls- I'm glad you like the story...I will be sure to update when I can...

VietShinigami- I feel sorry for him too...he's just the perfect character to create a dark fic with though...

Glacial-Heart-of-Ice- I told you to critique, not tell me to keep up the good work...Some friend you are...shakes fist lol XD

Trumpet-Geek: thanks for the heads-up about the link break thingy...Thanks for the advice...I may make more dark fics later on...;

Kia 500- O.o You actually cried...I didn't know I could make a fic dark enough to...make someone cry...(hands you a tissue) thank you for the wonderful review...

Chapter 2 should be out by the end of next week...I had it written and it didn't save...and now I have to start from scratch...sowwies to all who was hoping for a quick update...I was ready to upload chapter 2 yesterday too...;.;

Now for Chapter 1

Seireitei was filled with an intensity of anxiety and elation. They were going to get a visit from the Royal Guard! That hadn't happened since Yamamoto-soutaichou created the Shinigami Academy. The shinigami stood up a little straighter. The humans even acted more confident and graceful. Everyone knew that they would get to catch a glimpse of the noble Guards. Everyone except one.

Kurosaki Ichigo sat on the edge of Soukyoku Hill sulking. He looked down at Seireitei and he wondered for the hundredth time why he wasn't forbidden from going to the meeting. After all Inoue, Chado, and even Ishida got to go. Why couldn't he go? He felt the unfairness of it all weighing down on him. He shook his head to rid himself of the negative thoughts and decided to count the moving ants. He got to 46 before he got distracted by the gentle breeze blowing gently through the air.

As the gentle breeze blew, his head slumped and his hair shadowed his eyes. The wind let loose memories he'd rather not dwell on.After all, he knew deep down he never wanted to kill Kariya.

'After all, Kariya was like you wasn't he?' his hollow whispered in his ear.

He looked up suddenly and his breath caught in his throat. His eyes darted from side to side in unconcealed panic. He didn't even realize his hollow had been listening to his thoughts until that moment.

'Che...yer such an pathetic idiot, King. Can't even stop pondering on yer own freakin battles. How pathetic.' his hollow said in contempt sneer.

"Don't call me that." Ichigo muttered softly.

'Can't you stop the pondering...it rains in here when you do and the rain is driving Zangetsu nuts. He jus' won't say it, quiet and mute as the asshole is.' his hollow muttered as he continued to rant on about Zangetsu and his quietness.

Ichigo started suddenly at that.

"--stupid mute bastard thinks he's better than me...HEY ARE YOU LISTENIN' KING??" The Hollow snarled.

Ichigo looked down at the ground. "Sorry. I didn't realize I was causing you and Zangetsu-ossan trouble." Ichigo said even more softly as his eyes closed for a second. When he opened them back up, he stood up.

"Maybe if I go check on the meeting, it'll distract me from that stuff." he muttered as he pushed off of the cliff with his feet and flash-stepped away.

The meeting started simply enough. The Royal Guard entered majestically. There were seven of them, all of them wearing the typical shinigami robes, a red scarf, and a red ribbon tied around the waist instead of a white one. That was where the similarities ended. The tallest one had sparkling blue eyes and dark brown hair cropped short. The next two appeared to be twins with black hair and red eyes. The next one had blonde hair and dark soulful eyes. The only female of the group had reddish brown hair and bright green eyes. The last one stepped forward. This one seemed to be the leader. His eyes were a silver eyes alit with power and white hair. The wrinkles on his face seemed to add to his old age look. He coughed for a second and stood up straight.

"Let us commence this meeting. The reason we are here is to tell you of the king's message." the old man stated as he looked Yamamoto directly in the eyes. Yamamoto nodded for him to continue.

"We the Royal Guard have been ordered to give you an ultimatum by his majesty." The leader of the Royal Guard stated. Yamamoto's eyes narrowed. The next words said by the leader dropped a bombshell.

"You are to sever all ties to the Substitute Shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo. Failure to do so will result in the Substitute Shinigami's execution." The Leader said as his eyes coldly took in the shock his words left. He was not not finished however. "This not only includes all of Seireitei, but also all of the humans as well." he stated as he looked pointedly at the humans.

"How can we do such a thing!" Inoue screamed. Everyone else started. They had never known the sweet, kind-hearted girl to yell or even scream. "Kurosaki-kun doesn't deserve that! Kurosaki-kun has helped Soul Society!" Inoue continued.

"However, he is a forbidden thing. We will not allow a filthy little half-breed to be even considered an ally of Soul Society. If we must, we'll go ahead and rid the world of that pathetic vermin.

Everyone's faces grew gloomy and the humans looked down. They knew they were beaten. "Now do we have an agreement?" The Leader snarled. "Yes..." everyone muttered. They had no choice. They knew Ichigo would be hurt but it was better than him being dead. Little did they know the error of their choice.

Ichigo stumbled back as if hit. He could clearly hear every word. "You are to sever all ties to Kurosaki Ichigo.."

"...Do we have an agreement?"

"Yes..."

Ichigo flinched as his world turned upside down. He looked downward in an attempt to grab hold of his swirling emotions. As his hair shadowed his eyes, he wrapped his arms around him to keep the pain and sorrow from ripping him apart. As one solitary tear slipped out of his eyes, he flash-stepped away.

The only evidence of his appearance was a solitary water droplet on the floor.

Seiretei was in silent uproar. They did not believe what the Royal Guard had said. They didn't want to believe that they must betray their most reliable ally. They tried to block it away but knew that orders were orders.

Byakuya and Yamamoto were the only ones who would show up to wish the humans a good departure. Except Mayuri, the others coulnd't handle it.

Ukitaki wouldn't leave his house.

Shunsui was in his division getting drunk, and most of Seiretei's taichous and fukaitaichous were with him. For once, they wanted to drink until they could forget how things went so terribly wrong, instead of just for enjoyment purposes.

For once Nanao said nothing to her taichou and even got drunk herself. She hoped that by drinking the pain away, she could forget the betrayal if even for one solitary second.

Rangiku giggled drunkenly as she slumped down on the ground. How had everything gone so wrong? How could she betray such a good person? She drained down her third sake bottle and wished she could get drunk enough to forget the pain she was going through.

Soi Fong kept punching and kicking the log. She hoped that with each punch she could forget what she must do. For the first time since Yourichi left, she wished she could defy the orders she was given. She didn't want to betray the substitute shinigami. After all, thanks to him, she now had her precious Yoruichi-sama back. She would never be able to forgive those Royal Guards for doing this to her, to them, and to him...

Hitsugaya Toushirou viciously stamped another paper. He clenched the stamp so hard it nearly broke like the last 12 stamps he had gone through in the last hour. He wished for like the umpteenth time that he was an adult. Usually he wished for it so people would treat him like an equal. this time he wished he was an adult so he could get drunk like everyone else. After all he knew something the rest of them didn't. No one else had noticed it but there had been a water droplet on the floor. No one had sweated or cried so it had to be someone who was listening. He knew deep inside that the betrayal would be even worse for Kurosaki.

After all, that solitary tear must have come from Kurosaki.

He darted his eyes from one side to another. His heart was pounding and his breathing was erratic. He was franticly trying to hold in his emotions while he was around them. He didn't want them to know he heard everything. He didn't want to explain himself, not when he felt as if a thousand needles stabbed his heart.

He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to admit to himself that their agreement hurt him. He didn't want them to know he knew. He just wanted to get as far away from them as possible. His eyes were filled with a caged look, of an animal locked away in a small cage with no one around to save it. As far as he was concerned, Seireitei had become a stifling prison that he wanted to desperately get away from.As the portal opened, Ichigo darted after the others; hoping that maybe he was wrong and that the entire thing was just a horrible nightmare.

When they returned, Urahara was waiting for them at the entrance to his shop. Urahara's eyes were unusually solemn as he admitted them into his shop. He knew the orders also applied to him and his shop's inhabitants. He didn't want to follow his stupid order but he knew what the terms were. He also did not want to break the awful news to the others in the shop but knew he couldn't put it off for too long. Unlike the others around him, he noticed Ichigo's behavior. He wondered about the young shinigami's behavior but Ururu's entrance into the room distracted him.

"Ohayo, Kisuke-san." Ururu said softly as she served his tea. Urahara sipped contemplatively as he looked into space. He knew he was putting off the pain only temporarily. "I need to speak to everyone. Bring them in here, please Ururu." Urahara said calmly as he fished sipping his tea.

Urahara pensively stared into his cup of tea. He just wished that this wouldn't hurt Kurosaki-san but knew deep in his heart he was lying to himself. He knew this would rip Kurosaki-san apart. After all, he had knowledge the others didn't. He sighed as he once again stared at the files below him. KUROSAKI ICHIGO stood out to him in bold, capital letters. He sighed again painfully and stood up as the others came in.

"I have some bad news, I'm afraid..."

Ichigo got back into his human body and ran off to his house as fast as he could to get away from them.

No one noticed and no one even seemed concerned.

He knew deep in his heart that this was only proving the point of their betrayal.

He stopped in front of the door to the house and opened it only to be kicked in the head. He fell back on the ground and laid there for a second, stunned. Then he stood up and walked into the house silently.

"I'm not very hungry today. In fact, I'm going to go to bed early." Ichigo stated in a monotone as he walked to the staircase. Yuzu and Karin looked at the doorway their brother had gone through moments earlier.

"I wondered what happened?" They asked out loud.

"Maybe he has girlfriend problems!" their father said as he started dancing around the living room. Karin stomped on her father's foot and kicked him in the shins.

"Stupid idiot!!" she said as she continued to beat up her father. They soon forgot all about Ichigo as they started a new argument.

Ichigo flopped down on his bed and hid his face in the pillow.

"Oi, Ichigo!! Where's Rukia??" Kon demanded as he flew out of the closet at record-breaking speed.

"Can you go stay at Urahara's place?" Ichigo asked quietly; his voice muffled by the pillow. Kon looked down in suprise. He heard Ichigo's tone and decided for once he'd humor Ichigo and do as told.

"Che! As if I would stay here with a gloomy, depressed idiot!" Kon sniffed as he jumped out of the window and began his long trek to the Urahara Shouten.

Ichigo sighed as he lifted his head from the pillow. What should he do? What should he say? He kept asking himself these questions as he sat up. His heart seemed to restrict painfully as it throbbed with a tormenting beat. He wrapped his arms around himself as he slumped his shoulders and closed his eyes. He wished the pain would go away. He wished he had never heard the conversation. 'What am I supposed to do??' he asked himself as he sighed. Suddenly he heard the soft pitter-patter of rain. The rain soon turned into a torrent of rain pouring onto the ground. He looked outside and sighed painfully. 'Why must it rain? I hate the rain...it represents everything taken away from me...Please make it stop...' he begged and pleaded mentally as he began to shake slightly he started rocking himself back and forth. Soon his silent form began to whimper and sob silently. The rain continued to pour and the boy continued to sob silently. His shoulders heaved and water droplets stained his covers. He looked out into the rainy landscape and silently continued this pattern until he feel asleep.

That night, another piece of himself was torn away in the ever-pouring rain.

So how was the chapter? I love to hear reviews...I might update in a few days or even a week...review if you like!

Ja Ne

Pauratagashi22