The Dark Prince
I know I said that I said I would update Black Moon Rising and The Organisation, but due to an unfortunate incident involving lost data, I am unable to update The Organisation just yet (Basically I lost the file that contained the detailed outline for The Organisation. I can't remember all the details, so it will be a while before that story gets updated). Black Moon Rising will be updated later this week, so for now, I give you Chapter 4 of The Dark Prince. Hope you enjoy this!
Notice that Inoue addresses Ichigo by his name in this fic. It's somewhat out of character, but then again, just about everyone else is OOC. And besides, it's better this way, isn't it? I'm sure "Kurosaki-kun" does not mind either ^.^
Chapter 4: The opening gambit
Sado and Inoue approached Ichigo when he walked into school, and Inoue asked, "We have to talk to you about something, Ichigo. Do you have a moment?"
Rukia, at that moment, left Ichigo so he could talk alone. As Ichigo walked with them to a place where they could talk, he asked, "So...what's this about?"
"Strange things have been happening recently. We both discovered we can see people who recently died, and we can communicate with them as well. And just yesterday, something even more incredible happened. And it involved you, Rukia and Uryu."
"And I'm guessing it also involved a bunch of monsters, including one that was the size of a skyscraper and was killed by me."
"...Yeah, that too."
Ichigo sighed, knowing he had quite an explanation to give them. He said, "Alright, in that case, let's go to the sewing club's room first. Uryu needs to hear this as well."
Several minutes later, Ichigo, Sado, Inoue and Ishida were seated on the roof, away from prying ears. Ichigo explained spirits and Hollows, and the events of the previous day. Sado and Inoue listened closely while Ishida helped Ichigo fill in some of the gaps and confirmed the story's truth. When it was over, Inoue spoke, "Yesterday, I came too close to one of those monsters. It started to attack Tatsuki, Chizuru and me, and I could do nothing against it at first, but then suddenly I was granted the power to fight back."
She placed her hands on her hairpins and concentrated, calling out to the six fairies that gave her power to fight against the Hollows. The fairies immediately manifested before the amazed three amazed guys. After explaining their powers, the fairies disappeared. Then Sado also spoke about his power, but was unable to show it to them, as he had not mastered it just yet.
After that, Sado and Inoue looked expectantly at Ichigo and asked, "We saw you fighting yesterday, Ichigo. Just who are you, really?"
Ichigo smiled slightly and said, "When a human dies in this world, his body and soul will seperate. The soul, however, cannot stay here forever, it has to go on to the afterlife. That's the job of a Soul Reaper – That's what I am."
Sado replied, "Yes, we already know that. A man named Mr. Urahara Kisuke told us yesterday that you were a Soul Reaper and that you were doing your job. But how long have you been doing this?"
Ishida spoke up, "Unbelievably long, from what I hear. But I'd rather know something else – The Shinigami are like a military, and they have ranks like human armies. What is your rank, Kurosaki?"
Before the Prince could answer, a black cat suddenly ran up to the group and looking at Ichigo, it said, "Your Highness, Central 46 has ordered Rukia's arrest. We think that the decision may have been influenced by Aizen himself."
"What? Where is Rukia now?"
"She's at the Shop."
"Alright, let's go. This requires immediate attention."
Everyone looked at Ichigo and the cat in confusion.
"A-a cat just talked!"
"What did the cat mean by 'your highness'?"
"Ichigo, what's this all about?"
Ichigo turned back to face his friends and after some hesitation, said, "You guys really shouldn't concern yourselves with this. It's going to be dangerous-"
Yoruichi suddenly cut in, "Actually, Urahara wants to see them, so they should come too. You guys can call me Yoruichi."
Everyone sweatdropped at what the cat just said, and Ichigo snapped, "Look, Yoruichi-"
"Even if you had ordered me to keep them out of this, Urahara would have found some way to get to them. Anyway, aren't they your friends? They should at least know about your past, and what you're about to do, right?"
Ichigo shook his head in frustation, then said, "Fine. You guys come with us. I'll explain on the way."
On the way
"So, you're a Prince from the royal family that holds authority over the afterlife?"
"That's right."
"And you died 130 years ago, then you were reborn as a normal human. Then recently, you got back your memories of being a Prince."
"Yeah."
"I have to say...that's not very believable. Sure, you seem to speak with a natural authority now, and you have people addressing you as 'your highness'. But, that's not really enough."
Ichigo replied, "I thought you might say that. Yoruichi, is Urahara's device ready?"
"Yes, it is. We can establish a connection, but we need the password from you first."
"What device?"
"It's a communicator that I am going to use to speak with someone."
"Who?"
"My siblings." said Ichigo, unexpectedly. Later, when they were in the shop, Urahara led Ichigo to a room with a large screen attached to the wall. He left the room, and asked evryone else to leave too, to give Ichigo some privacy.
The screen flickered on, and asked for a password. Ichigo entered the password, and it was accepted. Then, on the screen came the face of a young woman with dark blue hair. She looked with narrow eyes at Ichigo, then her eyes widened with recognition. Ichigo chuckled, "It's been a while, Fionna!"
"Aniue! You've been reborn! How long has it been since then?"
"16 years. I only recently got back my memories."
"I see. It's really great to see you again, Ichigo! Hold on, let me call the others."
A moment later, in ran an excited-looking boy and girl who looked very similar to one another enthusiastically came over and said, "Onii-sama!"
"Hey, Marie, Marco! How are you both?"
The girl answered, "We're ok! We missed you since you died so long ago...When are you returning home?"
At this, Ichigo's face fell slightly, and he answered, "I'm sorry, you guys. I won't be able to come home for a while. I have some stuff to take care of in the Soul Society. It'll be a while, but I'll surely come sometime! Fionna, is Aniue there? I'd like to speak with him in private."
"Sure, i'll call him over. Aniue – Ichigo...everyone here's missed you a lot in the decades you've been gone. Could you please come back as soon as you're done?"
"Of course, Fionna. It's not fair to simply ditch you guys for work. But this is something major, Isaac can explain it to you later. I can't avoid this. But as soon as it's over, I'll make sure to come back home to you guys. Love you, Fionna, Marco, Marie."
"Love you too!"
The three laughing siblings left, and in came a slightly older looking man with blond hair. Ichigo inclined his head slightly and said respectfully, "It's been a while, Aniue."
"Too long, Ichigo! We all were waiting and hoping that you would regain your memories and contact us. And now, here you are, looking just as you did when you left us all those years ago!" said the man in an easy-going, casual voice.
"Now, Aniue, I have something important to tell you. The current Fifth Division Captain, Aizen Sosuke, is secretly planning a rebellion against Soul Society. He wants to use an object that will allow him to give a Shinigami Hollow powers, and vice versa. Right now, my rebirth is unknown to Soul Society, and I plan on entering Soul Society to try and stop him."
"A rebellion? That sounds bad. What's your backup plan, if the man gets away?"
"Then I'll just have to assist the Shinigami in fighting against his army."
The other man looked concerned for a while, then said, "Alright then. Take care, Ichigo. You've just been reborn, and I don't want you to die so fast. Come back home as soon as you're done with the work over there, ok?"
"Of course, Aniue."
The screen faded to black with that, and Ichigo stepped out, feeling happy that he could speak to his brothers and sisters, but at the same time, sad that he could not join them just yet. He walked into the room where everyone else was seated. Urahara snapped open his fan and said, "Ah, now that his Highness has joined us, we can start. Firstly, Ms Kuchiki is wanted by the Soul Society authorities. The official reason, we hear, is that she has stayed fro too long in the Real World. We think that Aizen is behind this decision, as he wants the Hogyoku, which, as far as he should know, is in Ms Kuchiki's soul. Luckily, it is not there, and I have it in a safe place now. Ms Kuchiki is safe here, but Aizen really wants the Hogyoku, so he might ask that a Captain may be sent."
"Ok, so has there been any captains here lately?"
"Well, none so far, but we can expect one to come soon. What do you think we should do, your Highness?"
"I think going to Soul Society is the best option. Over there, if we can unmask Aizen, we'd have the whole Shinigami army on our side. Here, we'd have limited forces. I'll go there, along with Rukia, and try to speak to the Captain Commander. I should be able to convince him."
"Well, I can agree with that, but getting within Soul Society will be difficult. Majority of the Shinigami don't know you, and you won't be able to convince them of your identity. Not to mention, Aizen will also be keeping a close watch on everything. If he hears you're a Prince, your life may be in danger."
Ichigo's mind drifted to his earlier conversation with Fionna and remembered his promise to come back to his siblings. He thought a bit, then said, "In that case, I'll pretend to be a regular Shinigami. I'll enter Seireitei along with Rukia, and try to get to the First Division Offices as soon as I can. Once I get there, I can talk to the Commander. Hopefully, Rukia will also be allowed to enter without anyone suspecting her."
"Well, it's the only plan we've got, we might as well do it."
Sado then cut in, "We'll come too."
"Do you guys understand-"
Urahara interrupted, "Actually, I believe that's a good idea. Your skills can be improved by going to Soul Society. I imagine there will be a bit of fighting there, and this will be a good chance to get stronger."
Ichigo snapped, "Geez, why does everyone keep interrupting me today when I'm trying to keep them out of danger..." but in the end, he agreed to it anyway.
A week later, when the Senkai Gate is prepared
Ichigo and the others had once again gathered in the Urahara shop's basement. There, they stood in front of the gate that Urahara had been creating, ready to go to Soul Society. Over the past week, they had been training. Yoruichi had taken Sado and Inoue under her wing, Ichigo had trained Rukia, and Ishida had been learning a new technique on his own. Everyone had gotten slightly more skilled, although the the second-strongest in the group, Yoruichi, was way more skilled than everyone else, and Ichigo, the strongest, was even more skilled than her in the Shinigami arts.
As Urahara stood by to open the gate, Ichigo turned to the group and instructed, "Sado, Ishida, Inoue, Rukia, the four of you hold on tightly to each other's wrists."
The three humans were surprised, but did so, and Ichigo then cast a kido spell to create a glowing rope, with which he bound their hands to each others'.
"Kurosaki, why are you tying our hands together?"
Yoruichi sighed, "You're doing that again, aren't you?"
"Only as a last resort, Yoruichi. You guys will see later."
Urahara then opened the gate, and everyone stepped through. Everyone started running, since they only had four minutes to get to the other side. However, they soon ran into trouble. The 'janitor' was active, and it started chasing them. The group of six broke into a sprint, but the janitor was still gaining on them. Ichigo shouted, "I'm going to do it now, Yoruichi! Hold on to my hand and Rukia's!"
Yoruichi sighed, "This should be fun. If I don't throw up in the end, that is."
She grabbed Rukia's hand, then with her free hand, she took Ichigo's hand. Because of this, and the Kido spell, everyone was connected in a line. With that, Ichigo shouted, "Raiko no Tsubasa!"
Everyone else saw a bright flash of blue light, before blacking out. After a few moments, they came to, and found themselves in a completely different environment altogether. There were wooden houses some distance away, and there were some people looking at them strangely. Ichigo was standing up and observing his surroundings. When he noticed that the others were awake, he clapped his hands and said loudly, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Soul Society!"
To be continued
Now, for some notes.
Firstly, to HitsugayaToshirou1220, congrats once again, and the questions you asked will be answered at the conclusion of this story's soul society arc.
Ichigo, in this story, has strength and skills exceeding those he has in canon, but at the same time, he has greater control here. So, he can seal his sword and use Kido. This is in response to Kinglumption's question, and it is something that I wanted everyone else to know as well.
Another reader, Just some advice commented that the royal family members all have non-Japanese names, except Ichigo. This is because they are an international bunch, and they don't just represent Japan. The royal family members are Isaac (the blonde man who was addressed as Aniue by Ichigo, he's the oldest), Fionna (Dark-blue haired woman), and the twins Marco and Marie. This is the royal family, and that's why Marie addressed Ichigo as "Onii-sama". Just to refresh your memory, Aniue is a respectful way to address an older brother, similar to "Onii-sama" which should be more familiar among Bleach fans, given Rukia's frequent usage of it when addressing Byakuya.
Finally, Raiko no Tsubasa means "Wings of Lightning" and it is a technique that Ichigo uses. It will be explained in greater detail later, when Ichigo uses it in battle and seriously pwns some unlucky fellow. But for now, feel free to guess exactly what kind of technique Raiko no Tsubasa is! Your clues are that it gave off a bright blue light, and that it caused everyone to black out. Have fun guessing :D