Chapter 03

The Great Divide

Now—

"Why are we participating in a human's school?" A male asked in a slightly annoyed tone, staring at all the humans roaming around. "Some smell like cats, some smell like dogs, and some smell like drugs even."

"We are here to observe their methods and their education." Toushirou announced, looking at a piece of paper that had his schedule on it. "A group has to do this every decade, you know this… Hisagi."
"Yeah, doesn't mean I have to like it though." Hisagi Shuuhei huffed lightly, looking at his schedule.
He tried to think about if a little. "Kusaka, go ask someone when classes start so we won't be late."
"Of course, Hitsugaya-sama." Soujirou walked over to a scrawny looking guy. "Hey punk, can you—"
"Wah! I didn't do anything! I'm sorry!" The poor student tried to run away from the scary student.
"Hey!" Shuuhei grabbed him from behind so he would not get away. "We just want to know something!"

"Why don't you leave him alone!" A large breasted woman called, embracing Toushirou from behind so her breasts caressed his cheeks—much to his displease. "Ask someone who isn't so afraid of you!"

"Wah! Ichigo-sama!"

As a third male came over to shut the whiny brat with their fists, a bright orange flash passed by all of them—the group barely noticed. Kurosaki Ichigo punched Shuuhei in the face to have the student released instantly before kicking Soujirou in the gut, and then bashed Kira Izuru into the ground. Three others began to charge at him with their vampire speed, but they were all kicked in the face with one easy swipe. Six vampires were taken down by a mere human, and the six others watched in awe at the fast reaction that he had towards them. They watched him stand up casually, dusting himself off before turning around to help up the frightened student who quickly embraced him.

"You alright, Hanatarou? You're not hurt or anything, are you?" Ichigo looked Yamada Hanatarou up and down, brushing the dirt off him as lightly as possible. "What seems to be the problem, huh?"
"Sorry Ichigo, we were trying to ask him when classes started." A raven-haired female called out.
He looked over at the one who spoke, and he came over to her. "Classes start in thirty minutes, Rukia."
"You're not going to be mad at me, right?" She wrapped her arms around him. "I've been a good girl."
"Oh yeah? Does that mean you want a piece of me?" Ichigo watched as she pulled down the collar of his shirt ever so slightly, but he brushed her hand away gently. "Hey, save that for later you naughty girl."

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't go flirting with girls! Besides, that one's mine!" A light raven-haired male called.
Ichigo looked over at him. "What are you talking about?" He hugged her closely. "You have a girlfriend."
"No shit, so let go of my girlfriend!" Renji spoke loudly as he walked over. "You're not being fair Ichigo."
"K-Kaien-dono… R-Renji…" She stared in surprise. "I didn't know you two went to this school together!"
"Damn you Kuchiki! Why don't you ever call me casually too!" Shiba Kaien stomped his foot down.
"Jeez, I wonder why." Ichigo rolled his eyes. "So what's a girl like you doing around these here parts?"
"Oh, this is Hitsugaya-sama, he wanted us to participate at this school for the rest of the year."

Ichigo glanced over, still hugging the young woman. "Oh… hey Toushirou, didn't see ya there."

Toushirou already had about two or three veins popping out of his head when seeing how this human was holding a noble. What was worse—this noble was wrapping her arms around him, practically asking him to give her just a little bit of his blood! Stupid Kuchiki Rukia; that damn woman should have noticed by now that Kurosaki Ichigo was his prey only, and he was not going to share. Suddenly, two callused hands freed his body from the breasted woman, only to have his face lifted to look into warm dark chocolate brown hues. His cheeks were beginning to redden until he sensed the attention that he was getting, and hurriedly shoved the teen towards the two other males.

"Don't touch me!"

"Fine," Ichigo replied casually, regaining his balance. "After all, you're the one he wrapped his arms around me and shoved his tongue down my throat." He snorted. "Renji, Kaien, Hanatarou, let's go."
"Hi! I'm Matsumoto Rangiku!" The large breasted one cheered. "Can I touch you, please!"
"Back off or else I'll cut your head off and burn you." A short blond-haired female stated.
"Berry-tan doesn't like your kind!" A bright green-haired female stated, clinging onto Ichigo.
"Mashiro, Hiyori, that's enough. You're not allowed to hunt on school grounds." Ichigo stated firmly to them before looking at the orange-haired female. "Perhaps I'll see you during break, Rangiku-san."

Rangiku blushed lightly at this. "He's actually really cute."

Toushirou ignored her outburst, but thought about it. "All of you from hereon are now banned from encountering Kurosaki Ichigo." His gaze was strictly on the carrot top that had a small crowd with him.

X—

Having this teenager's blood twice had thankfully allowed him to track him down a lot easier, but it came with an unfortunate price. Tracking him down by the scent of his blood was causing him to be thirsty for it whether he wanted some yet or not. It was lunchtime where everyone was doing whatever they wanted at their leisure—most were probably eating a meal. After roaming the campus for a few minutes, he found Ichigo behind a building with that small blond-haired female who snapped earlier.

"You know the law, you can't go killing during school. If you're going to slay, it has to be in private."
'Slay… a Vampire Slayer?' It made sense—at first, he thought she was a wolf. 'The other was one, too.'
"You're a prick Ichigo. Ya know that cocky brat is practically the soon-to-be King!" Hiyori yelled at him.
"Which means you can't touch him, how unfortunate." Ichigo sighed. "What do you want me to do?"
"Kill him for me, it'll be alright if you do it." She quickly looked over, sensing the vampire close by.
He had caught his scent earlier. "Me? A human, kill a vampire?" He laughed and patted her head.

"Whatever, play your damn game. But you know damn well that those bloodsuckers are after that girl."

"Good day, Hiyori." Ichigo walked towards the bathroom. "Don't do something stupid."

Hiyori fumed briefly before having no choice but to storm off because there was nothing else that she could do about this. There was no reason why she should wait around and look like she was a girl waiting for her boyfriend or something. It gave Toushirou the chance he needed to walk to the bathroom for being the same gender, and find Ichigo in the room alone.

"Why are you protecting me?" He asked firmly.
Ichigo looked over his shoulder. "I'm not, I'm peeing."
His eyes rolled. "I heard what you told the girl, Kurosaki."
"Vampires spy too, huh?" He zipped his fly and flushed. "Rude."
"I'll ask again, why are you trying to protect me, Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"Am I protecting you, or am I trying to? Which is it?" The carrot top was washing his hands before drying them off. He threw the paper towel away so he could leave. "You too, have a good day, Little Prince."

"Kurosaki…" Toushirou spoke softly to have the other stop by the door. "Allow me your blood."
"That's funny, coming from the one who said not to touch you." His voice was slightly bitter now.
He shut his eyes tightly. "You were touching me in front of inferior nobles! How was I to act!"
"So you think that, just because you're a vampire, that you can fool around with others?"
The pale one looked up at him confusedly. "I don't understand what you mean by this."

"Every living creature feels." Ichigo stated quietly. "We creatures feel pain and suffering, we feel anger and jealous—bitter and despair, but he feel pride, happiness, and joy too." He grabbed the handle. "Who do you think you are to trample on someone's feelings? Do you not have a heart that keeps you alive?" The carrot top opened the door. "I would rather offer my blood to someone who deserves it."

Toushirou watched as the other left the bathroom—one of the cubicle doors slammed open that caused him to jump slightly in surprise before looking over to see the redhead. In truth, this bathroom smelt like wolves, but he knew that Ichigo spent all of his time with them—probably lived with them for all he knew. Renji grabbed him by the shirt, throwing him up on the sink counter since the school could afford such useless things, and glared at him. This was supposedly the first time that he had met this person; having only heard the name last Friday when running off with Ichigo.

"You have my gratitude for taking care of Hinamori—"

"If you don't leave Ichigo alone, I'll leave you out to those vampire hunters, do you understand?" Renji did not like him in the slightest despite the praises he would get for helping. "You want blood? Leave him out of it, he doesn't have to waste his time on you." He bit his bottom lip to draw blood. "Deal."

His eyes glazed with red at the tease; slowly licking the blood off his lip to taste it.

There was a similarity between his blood and Ichigo's, but he would be damned if he could pinpoint what the Hell it was. A deal was silently made as Toushirou sank his fangs on the inside of redhead's lip to hide the markings from the world outside. Something did not seem right though; his blood was ever so richer than a human was, but the carrot top's blood was even richer than that. It would be his luck if these two had some sort of blood disease that would plump the receiver up as if they had calories.

It took a little longer to have his fill because of the taste. "Kurosaki tastes better—"

The scent of said man's blood began running through his nose as a filter; warning him that the carrot top dared to share with someone else. With the deal easily broken, Toushirou jumped down from the sink counter, and quickly walked to the source of everything. Renji smirked with a pissed off attitude when knowing that having his blood would not make any difference, but the other was an idiot. How long was it going to take him to know that the reason Ichigo tasted better was that he had a more powerful bloodline?

"You know…" Kaien started as he opened a cubicle quietly. "He's going to know."
The redhead growled. "Ichigo should be more worried about the pack than some brat."
"Don't get mad at me—you're the one that'll be punished." He casually left the bathroom.

X—

"I specifically instructed for you to not encounter this human." Toushirou glared at Rukia.
Ichigo was amused by this. "Yet you were trying to get a taste while I was in the urinal?"
'You're not helping…' The little vampire thought sourly. "Don't encourage the situation."
"Which one? Rukia coming to me for blood, or you pushing me away when it's convenient?"

"Also! Just the other day you were surprised to know about my kind existing, and yet you knew of Kuchiki Rukia! What the Hell!" This person was getting more complicated. "Just who the Hell are you! Are you a slayer too or something? Are you waiting for the opportune moment to turn me to ashes!"

Rukia's hand rose into the air to slap the small one, but Ichigo caught her hand.

"Be nice." Ichigo smirked lightly, releasing her wrist slowly. "You shouldn't hit your superiors, right?"

Suddenly, there was a large commotion over by the bathrooms that Ichigo and Toushirou had left a few moments ago, great… now what? The three hurried to see six males and two female students in a big scuffle while four of the eight were trying to break everything up. Ichigo dove right into the mess to throw everyone on their butts before sniffing out the start of it all—which happened to be Kaien and Renji. Both were aware that they were in deep trouble for starting a commotion in a public area since there was a high possibility that could have turned into wolves.

"What's going on here?" Ichigo grabbed the two by their collars. "One of you better start talking."

"Ask Abarai." Kaien stated gruffly. "Or your pet at least."
"Don't make me feed you to the wolves." A scent hit him.
Renji was glaring daggers at Kaien. "It was for the best—"

Kaien was thrown to the side a few feet; landing against a trashcan as punishment for starting a fight with the beta in public. However, said beta was nowhere near as fortunate as his mouth was pried open to force the inside of his lip to be visible. Two puncture wounds were trying their best to heal rapidly, but it was not quick enough to save him from the soon-to-be alpha's wrath.

Ichigo began to chuckle heartily. "I said no, so you go for the next walking meal?"
"No, I was about to go after you, but this one jumped me." Toushirou stated accusingly.
Renji snorted. "As soon as I offered, you were all over me as you would with Ichigo, Dumbass."

"Who are you calling a Dumbass, punk?" Soujirou and the nine others joined the two vampires.
The eight wolves behind Ichigo began to watch the group, but Ichigo raised a hand. "Back… off…"
"Who are you to tell us what to do?" He crossed his arms curiously. "Your kind is barbaric."
"That's very fascinating." Ichigo let Renji go. "Didn't Toushirou say, not encounter me?"

Others began to back away a few steps when remembering this, however, Soujirou stayed his ground before getting a little frustrated. Ichigo teasingly began to unbutton school uniform to show off his neck and collarbone—the vampires were all starting to stir at the thought of sinking their fangs into him. As Soujirou was beginning to squirm the most, he became restless as Ichigo pierced his skin with a fingernail. Not able to contain his urges any long, he dove forth to get a taste of his blood for knowing who this damn creature truly was. Before he could even touch him, there was a blurry that ran passed him, cutting off his arm as punishment for attempting to bite Ichigo.

"Thank you for your good timing." Ichigo brushed himself off. "You were always most possessive."

"N-Nii-sama…" Rukia called in surprise.

Kuchiki Byakuya stood tall with a superior attitude before using his claws to scratch his face off practically to teach him a lesson. With a brief lecture to remind the group that they are forbidden to take a bite out of someone when they were out in public, he watched them closely. Toushirou, on the other hand, began to watch as the raven-haired female in Ichigo's group began to lick the blood away. All eyes began to lock on to the two as they were beginning to turn out a little intimate in each other's hands, making others slightly aware. Kurosaki Ichigo looked over at Toushirou for a second before quietly whispering something to the female's ear to have her pull away.

"Thank you again, Byakuya." He spoke calmly. "I'll be sure to let Alpha know you helped out."

With a swift nod of his head, Byakuya left—dragging Soujirou's unconscious form with him.

"Ugh… Alpha's going to have my head." Ichigo bit his tongue to keep himself from growling.
The small one finally snapped. "Will you stop bleeding, Kurosaki! You're starting to drive me insane!"
"Wha—oh…" he did not think he bit his tongue that badly. "Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it."
'He's purposely teasing me! This bastard is immature and completely over confident about himself!'
Rangiku hurried over like a giddy schoolgirl, "It'd be such shame to waste that blood! I'm a good kisser!"
"Back off Matsumoto! He is my prey and my prey alone—!" He stopped, twitched, and regretted it all.

What was it about this human that was so alluring to him; something that made him just as possessive as Byakuya was a moment ago. The thirst for this man's blood was slowly becoming unbearable to the small one's surprise after just having a good portion of blood. Was there a drug in this fool's blood that he was beginning to become addicted to; if that were the case, then bring on that drug. Pulsing rapidly, Toushirou knew that he would not be able to keep himself under control with the tantalizing offer.

"…Bastard."

Toushirou watched the man open his arms for him to approach without having to consider anything but the blood that he would receive if he came close. He slowly walked towards the bright-haired carrot top in order to wrap his arms around his neck so that he could gain access to his mouth. His eyes would have shot open as he felt his body lifted up to be carried like a three year-old, but Ichigo had opened his mouth before doing this. The pale one had to ignore the situation that he was in or else he might never receive this delicious blood again if he were to react now.

Brown hues watched the jealous group of bloodsuckers, and tried not to snort victoriously.

They all knew that they lost their precious soon-to-be King of Darkness, to the soon-to-be King of the Forest, but what was in it for the Forest's King? Both of their kinds were beasts—not human, so why were they embracing in peculiar acts that only Homo sapiens would do? The human race was known for their sexual intimacy of the same genders, but this was not something that a beast would know about. Both vampires and wolves alike began to watch with more cautious as Ichigo began to growl darkly at the small one for possibly attempting to bite him.

Everyone was thinking the same thing:

Kurosaki Ichigo was taming Hitsugaya Toushirou.

The bell rang to gather their attention in order to return for their classes, and so Toushirou slowly pulled away to glare at the box high up on the wall of the building. As he was about to turn around to continue feasting on the man's blood, he was placed down on his feet, and Ichigo said it was time for class. All of the wolves in human form got up to leave with the carrot top—some glaring at the vampires as they were passing them to head towards class. They were all very wary about one another, but they had everything in their worlds to consider with the two that led them.

"Hitsugaya-sama makes a good gay guy…" Rangiku chirped happily, earning a scowl.

Ichigo knew about Toushirou; who he was, what he was… so why was he trying to be friendly with him?

Toushirou knew nothing about him; not who he was, not what he was… but why was he friendly back?

If their future were in the hands of the two Kings that were trying to make peace, then they would do what they could to support them. After catching the scent of wolves on Toushirou on the first day, they knew whom he had encountered, and whose blood he had taken. It was no different with Ichigo's pack that was suspicious of the friendly attitude that he was giving their enemy, but waited. Everyone was trying to be as patiently as possible to find out what exactly would be the outcome of the situation…

However, the wolves knew that Ichigo intended to kill the brat after getting his blood.

The vampires were all most likely waiting for this moment since they knew that it would be coming eventually, but there was something very weird going on. For what reason would a wolf need to tame a vampire—what was even there to gain from being able to dominate him with his stature? Whatever the case was going to be, there was no need to dwell on it for now; there was no reason to upset the elders.

…or the District.