Right!

The Las Noches Brother!

Need I say more?

Again I want your opinion on these three characters and how you see them.

And while there is no rape of an important character in here sadly there will be mentions of rape, not sure if I am up for writing it. There will be an attempted rape. I warn you now, it will not be anything graphic if I do decide to write rape.

Another thing all three Princes have their father's last name as well as mother. Their mother's maiden name is like their second name.

And this chapter might have the kingdom of tree as the title but there wil be little mentioning of Las Noches.

Chapter 4: Kingdom of trees

Starkk's POV

"So That's Ichigo now huh?" I thought as I watch the red head and his platoon ride off into the white snowy distance. He grew up that's for sure.

And Hichigo claiming he doesn't want to be king? Well that's a surprise.

Still I wish I could just take a nap. These two meaning Grimmjow and Hichigo are so hell bent on getting Ichigo but I have a feeling that Grimmjow doesn't fully understand that Hichigo wants Ichigo back permanently. Ulquiorra's voice broke me from my inner rant.

"And pray tell… why do you not want to be king? A roll you were born into as much as Ichigo was born into his?" the tone he used made me raise a lazy brow.

Not many could tell by the subtle tones in his voice what he was feeling like I can. Right now he was annoyed, greatly annoyed if I could pick it up so easily, Ulquiorra was told the full reason why Ichigo was always around Yhwach by King Isshin when the small curious boy had asked him.

I remember seeing Ichigo for the first time in the castle (when he liked to visit the castle staff as he didn't live in the castle anymore by that time) when we visited once. He was looking out a window down at the training grounds with a look of longing. Ichigo had gotten sick and the maids as well as his nanny didn't allow him outside. He looked pale and somewhat weak, I never heard what he was sick with but it didn't last long.

Half way through our visit he was healthy enough to go outside again.

He was seen then outside with a bow in hand practicing. A man with long black hair and mutton chops stood next to him and gave advice and such along with a pale skinned man who had blonde hair. Ichigo was all smiled and childish glee, it was like he was a different person to the one he was inside the castle walls.

Just a few days before we left Ichigo was taken away, the window accident sending most people into shock.

Now here was the older Ichigo.

Ichigo who was a year older than all of us.

Ichigo who had grown his hair out.

Ichigo who had clearly become a man.

A man that could kill a giant.

Without help I might add.

Watching that strong back disappear was something I never thought I'd see. Then the confrontation between Hichigo and my younger brother by seven months, we're all the same age but just months apart. Nel however is a year younger than us all.

Then the bombshell of Hichigo not wanting to be king was well… just so unexpected.

I however do wonder if he just doesn't want the responsibility of ruling a country while he would rather just play around and chase shirts. I sighed just wanting to sleep, I felt that this whole this was unneeded and useless. Hichigo should just admit his title and keep chasing skirts for all I care.

Now we were stuck in this cold country that felt like an entire different world to me, back in Las Noches the green forest and clear blue sky was all I knew till I visited Seireitei and saw the ocean for the first time. Now I'm in a country with mountains on all sides and snow.

It amazed me how strong these people were. They were so resilient against most of all the hardships of the icy country.

However one thing I have noticed were all towns no matter how small had tall walls, the height of them was about fifteen feet in height. Seeing that a twelve foot giant was a young teenager almost adult made me wonder all the more who big these things got.

We have yet to see any other wild life apart from rabbits, deer and some elk.

As we made way deeper into the snow covered forest in search of a weak enough post to take out we stumbled upon a deep valley, there was a distinct sound of water flowing which meant that it was either a strong flow of water that couldn't be frozen of hot springs underneath the ground warming the water in such a way that it remained in liquid form. We couldn't see the body of water due to the valley being completely covered in trees that were dusted with snow. In the distance there was a mountain, the largest we have yet to see.

If I looked closer I could see what I could only assume was the capital Wandenreich. It was massive, far larger than Las Noches or Seireitei. The castle was large but not in height. It had no towers or of the kind. I would guess that it was at the tallest four stories high. It was made in a square formation at the front, I had no idea what it was like at the back. The entire of the castle was made with pale stone nearing white in hue.

The rest of the city surrounding the castle was made of the same stone.

What else got my attention was the closer the trees got to the mountain the… whiter they got.

It was as if the trees themselves got paler instead of the dark bark a normal pine would have. To the east of the valley was another mountain that was linked to the taller one, there I saw what could only be a massive waterfall. The waterfall was too far away to be heard but the sheer size of the waterfall was amazing. The beauty of the country… I just found it suited Ichigo from what I saw of the man now grown up.

"This place is amazing." Ulquiorra whispered next to me, his hands tightened on the reins before one released the leather strap to stroke the horse on its neck. So far the horses have been at peace showing that they grew up with human contact.

"There is no way we can be so close to the castle, we will have to look elsewhere." I said and nudged my horse to the right. Moving east to the waterfall, there would be a good place to set up camp for the night.

Grimmjow's POV

We moved closer to the waterfall, the trees making good coverage. There was only a long wide stretch of road that led to the capital city. The city itself was massive and had guard towers with patrols moving back and forth on the walls. Catapults were on each nook on the walls and three were surrounding the castle as well as a second structure of walls. The only reason we could see this was that we had yet to go into the valley that was by far way too big in my opinion. Too many places to hide and too much coverage that while it hid us…

It hid other things from us as well.

Our father had trained us all for our impending roles. Starkk would be next for the throne, I would be his war general and Ulquiorra explained he wanted nothing to do with politics and so Nel was given that roll. Our father allowed Ulquiorra to do as he please and soon the man showed a talent for knowledge and being rather a good sneak due to his quiet nature.

So Ulquiorra was trained by our spymaster in the art of assassins.

He got good… very quickly.

Throwing knives where his best attack but he wasn't half back with a short blade.

I looked around continuously for any signs of an outpost of some sort were nearby but so far nothing, it was frustrating. Where were their outposts? They had to have some sort of camps or something!

I growled faintly as we moved closer to the top of the waterfall that was now softly in the background. A closer distance from the waterfall we heard the tell tale sounds of something big, hair and had lots of teeth… growling at us. It couldn't be a giant as there was no ground shaking. The growls multiplied and soon angry barks and snarls filled the air.

A long howl filled the air and we all froze. The horses got jumpy quick.

The pack of wolves soon showed their faces.

Damnit was everything in this country BIG? These wolves tower of the ones we have back in Las Noches, they were all sable in colour. All but for the pack alpha, he was pure black with ice blue eyes that glared at us with animalistic hunger and instinct.

Ulquiorra's horse was the smallest so it would no doubt be the wolves' target. The horse also looked startled more than the rest and was making nervous noises eyeing the drooling maws of the wolves as they snapped their jaws at us.

I slowly moved my hand to my sword seeing Starkk do the same from the corner of my eye.

Bu sadly today seemed to be written as a bad day.

The wolves seemed to all charged at once and all at Ulquiorra's horse. The horse being so tightly strung snapped in an instant and was bounding with more speed than I thought was possible for such a large animal through the trees with the wolves hot on its tail.

Ulquiorra was stack on the horse as jumping off now would be suicide and if he did survive he had to face a hungry pack of wolves so without much thought we all sped after the raging pack of wolves.

The horse as it was now without thought galloped to the waterfall. The wolves right behind it with us just as close behind. Once the horse saw the river heading towards the waterfall it ran even faster.

But sadly it wasn't as it seemed from afar. The river was in a deep canyon like trench that meant the horse had to skid to a stop. We all jumped off our horses with weapons at the ready but we were too late by the time we reached the pack. The wolves had backed the horse to the very edge of the ledge that lead to the rapid waters.

In slow motion we all watched as the ledge gave way under the horses combined weight with Ulquiorra. They both fell to the icy waters below, the strong current carried them to the waterfall far too quick to be able to do anything with snarling wolves now looking at us as if we were dinner.

Feeling rage boil in my veins at this entire thing I gave a feral yell and with the help of an angry Starkk and Hichigo we slaughtered the wolves but by that time… we were too late. Ulquiorra and his horse were over the waterfall and were by now at the bottom…

Without a warning I swirled around on my heel and punched Hichigo in the face, he yelped and went down hard. Clutching his cheek that was turning red, that would leave a bruise. Good.

He was looking at me with a shocked looked. I growled my face splattered with blood. "This is your entire fucking fault! If you would just be a fucking man and accept that your brother wants nothing to do with you and leave him alone I would still have a baby brother!" My voice boomed across the deathly silence atmosphere. Only the sound of the river behind gave any noise. I tsked and looked to Starkk.

"Should we…" I wanted to ask if we should look for a body. Starkk gave a curt nod and moved to his horse, amazingly enough the horses just edged to the forest and stayed there. We mounted; neither Starkk nor I made any effort to talk to Hichigo who was trying in vain to get us to speak. We moved as quietly and quickly as possible. When we reached the valley's bottom we made our way to the waterfall in hopes that we would find Ulquiorra alive but when I look at the waterfall and how… high it was… I felt my hope diminish.

Once we reached the waterfall's end we were surprised to see it had no rocks at the bottom only a deep mass of water. Feeling a little more hopeful we moved along the riverbed in hopes of seeing something, anything to take back.

Along a mile away from the waterfall we found the horse but no rider.

What made our blood freeze was the mass of footprints in the snow and the drag marks. The horse was alive just very tired so we stayed there and gave it some food. Once it was on shaky legs we moved deeper into the forest in hopes we would be fine for the night. We saw that the human boot prints changed to horse tracks.

Not wanting to light a fire in fear of being seen the we sat in the darkness listening, waiting and hoping as well as praying the gods that their baby brother and comrade was safe. I looked at Hichigo and hissed out. "We are going to get Ulquiorra back and leaving this country with or without you. This whole this was a mistake." Hichigo was about to say something but Starkk waved him off and struggled to get a good sleeping position. I did the same giving Hichigo the first watch.

The sound of horses woke us up. The horses paused and a very familiar voice was suddenly heard. It made us all tense.

"There are tracks, they are almost covered but can still be tracked if we hurry." The voice of the one and only Ichigo made us freeze. I peeked between the trees seeing he was kneeling by the many horse tracks leading towards the west of the valley. The raven from last time was near Ichigo looking at the soldiers then back at Ichigo.

"I think it's best if we ride out ahead and scout while the troops follow." Ichigo shook his head negative and rose. "I want us to go to the nearest outpost get all ready horsemen take them with us and ride. This is something we cannot wait or be delicate about. These… sick bastards have a six year old girl that they are going to sell off as a sex slave along with more innocent people. I will not stand for it." Ichigo growled out his whole face twisting into a savage snarl as he stomped to his horse and mounted. He didn't look back as the raven ordered the foot soldiers and archers to return to their base.

With just about twenty horsemen along with the two of them they rode out fast and hard. They were gone in the span of a few seconds. It was incredible but horrible at the same time.

Incredible because of how… fast and effective they were and horrible because now we knew who took Ulquiorra. "Fuck." I hissed and clenched my fists and eyes tightly.

Hichigo fidgeted, I glared at him.

"Thanks to your selfishness and stupidity… my… my baby brother… was taken by slave dealers!" my voice broke at the end. Sure Ulquiorra and I never really spoke all that, much buy we still loved one another. We were brothers. I was Bout to launch myself at the white haired bastard but Starkk stopped me

Starkk looked down at me where I sat against a tree head between my knees as I hugged them as closely as I could to myself. He kneeled and for the first time… he hugged me.

Ulquiorra's POV

"So… cold."

"Cold… Cold… cold…"

The biting cold was all I felt, in fact I couldn't actually FEEL anything, I couldn't feel my legs, my arms or anything else. Breathing hurt, I could feel liquid coming out from my mouth and the more escaped the better breathing was. I tried to move but I couldn't find the strength. I could open my eyes and saw I was lying somewhat on my side allowing water to escape my slack mouth. As I laid there in pain I started to remember what happened to me. I fell into the river and was swept into the waterfall, fell down and… that's all I can remember.

The sound of horses and shouting men alerted me that there was someone near. I groaned and tried to find some strength to move up it was hopeless. From my angle on the ground I saw boots of dust leather coming closer. I was harshly kicked onto my back. I hissed and gasped as well as coughed the last bit of water from my lungs. My vision was blurry and getting dark at the edges. All I saw before I passed out was gleaming brown eyes.

When I woke up I was tied, gagged and strapped to a horse with no rider. The man leading the horse slowed the beast down and picked me up only so slug me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

I groaned in pain as my body was jarred, the man paused and suddenly smacked my ass, rather hard. I made a small yelp noise which made the man laugh.

I still had no energy to struggle. I was now able to feel my body and I wished I couldn't as everything hurt. I was carried into a rack shack like place, the building was in terrible condition. The man carried me down some steps to the building's basement. Once there I saw it was more of a holding cell with people stocked inside like animals ready for the slaughter. I was placed on my feet, my ties to them cut and pushed into the cell with three other bodies.

The man pushed me against the wall and stood behind me pressing his body against me, his vile breathe wafting over my shoulder to my poor nose. I flinched when he ran a hand over my backside giving it a good grope. He laughed and groped me harder before running his hands up my back then down again before slipping a hand down my pants. I started to struggle minutely and when he rubbed a dirty dry finger over my hole and struggled more getting the energy from somewhere deep inside me.

There was a harsh pull and I stumbled back falling onto my back. Looking up I saw that another man was busy shouting at the other who tried to dig his finger into my hole.

"You know we can't touch the merchandise!" A fairly tall raven haired man yelled pushing the other away and to the stairs. The cell gate slammed shut and the men left.

I breathed a sigh of relief and looked around at my cell mates I guess. One was a small girl no older than I'd say six, a feminine man holding the obviously scared child. The man had a short bob hairstyle and feathers stuck to his eyelash line that framed grey purple eyes. The other was a man a little shorter than me. He had mass of white hair on top of his head and startling teal blue eyes. The child had shocking pink hair, another one with a birth defect seemed, her face was smooched into the male holding her's chest.

The one with white hair looked him in the eye and there was a sympathetic look in those eyes. "How did you get caught?" the smaller man asked and scooted closer. I sighed and leaned back.

"I was riding with my brothers when we got chased by wolves to the edge of a river. I fell in and got pulled down a waterfall. I woke up in pain, they found me and here I am." I said slowly and out of breathe. My lungs still hurting from almost drowning, I glanced at the other man. "You?"

The man sighed and leaned back. "They attacked my caravan." The two of us looked to the due in the corner. The man rubbed the small girl's back. "I am part of a mercenary group. We… intercepted the slavers for the bounty in their heads but we got singled off and caught." The man rubbed the mall child's back and whispered into her ear. I sighed and looked up to the ceiling wondering what was going to happen.

The rest of the day was spent watching more poor souls getting dragged and being molested. I noticed that we were left alone while other men and women were targeted. I had to sit while I heard people being taken advantage of, the poorer looking people were squeezed into cells while we remained untouched. I made the mistake of looking down and saw the horrible scene of a teenage girl being violently rapped by two men, one in the front the other at the back. They were laughing while she cried though her mouthful of another man's penis.

The girl was abused by two more men before she was left on the ground. The man who had saved me from the other man's groping came in and gently kneeled next to her and covered her. He looked around as if to make sure it was safe and picked her up. He whispered soothing words to her and carried her upstairs.

The man and girl didn't show up. Another day passed and the man came back. I edged towards the cell and motioned him closer. When he was there I took a good look at him. He was on the tall side with pale skin, a scar ran at the corner of his lips and he had narrow eyes. His hair was black and was short at the back while he had pointed bangs hanging over the side of his face.

"What did you do to that girl?" I asked not a lick of emotions coming from my face or voice. The man sighed and looked around. "I took her to the nearest village in hopes that she could tell someone about this place, hopefully my price if I know him. He would be out hunting right now." The man said softly and looked around before looking back at me.

"When this group became such a massive threat I decided to infiltrate it as best I could in hopes that I could send word to my King, I know prince Ichigo is out for these slavers' blood. I just hope he makes it in time." The man said and looked at the steps when the door opened. He moved away from the cell to the wall where he leaned against it.

It looked like he was just keeping watch. The man that tried to molest me came down and said to the man that the leader was looking for him. With a sigh the man stood straight and glared at the man. "No touching the high price slaves." He hissed and walked up the steps.

I gulped when the man looked my way. I scampered back to the corner of the cell as the man slowly walked forward with a nasty smirk on his face. He got out a set of keys and slowly opened the cell only quick enough to grab a hold of my foot and dragged me out of the cell. Not being given food and still sore from the waterfall incident I was as weak as a child.

I twisted and turned my body to try and escape his grip. I gasped when I was suddenly picked and up slammed onto the wooden table where maps and books littered the surface. With one arm the man swept the items off the table. I struggled as much as I could, the door opened and another brute man came in and eyed the white haired man. I couldn't see what was going on but I heard more struggling before a slap sound filled the air followed by a crashing noise. The man above me chuckled and started to undress me and I started to struggle.

I did not want to be raped.

I was slapped across the face before being pushed down harshly on the table making the back of my head collide with the hard wood table.

The other slaves started to make a ruckus as they always did when one was raped. I opened my mouth to scream or something but I found a hand over my throat squeezing tight enough that I couldn't make a peep. With the other arm he slowly got my shirt off. I struggled all the more. I'd rather die than be raped. The world around me slowly vanished as the entire world for me was pinpointed at the hand on my throat and the one down my pants.

There was the sudden bang of the door being kicked open that made everyone freeze. The slow thud-thus noise of someone coming down the steps made all everyone still. The man above me removed himself, the man was mumbling some sort of apology to what I assume he thought was his boss but the words caught in his throat making a wheeze noise. I saw his entire body tense.

"H-h-h-h-how?!" he yelled with fear filled voice filled the stuffy basement. The sound of battle was going on upstairs. "You know… I think I came at just. The. Right. Time." I instantly knew who it was and was fairly shocked that it was Ichigo. The next moment I knew the man before me fell to the ground his head no longer part of his body. I looked up just in time to see Ichigo looking at the other man as he was stabbed by the short hired raven from before. "Well done Cang Du." Ichigo stated and walked towards me. I tried to sit up but failed. I saw amber eyes looking me up and down with a critical look before he nodded and sheathed his sword. He slowly moved closer till he was now in the place where the slaver was. He looked me over one more time before making eye contact with me.

"He didn't hurt you did he?" Ichigo's tone was soft and compassionate. I instantly relaxed and found my voice after a few seconds. "He didn't get a chance to…" I didn't finish my sentence as I watched other soldiers come down the stairs and the process of getting all the people out of the cells and up the stairs begun. Ichigo helped me back into my shirt and allowed another person to help me close it. I watched him walk to the white haired man who was worse off than me as his pants were halfway down his legs.

Ichigo did the same looking him up and down with a sharp look before asking him if he was hurt. When he got his answer he also helped the teal eyed man back into his close and waited for another to help fix his clothes. Ichigo then moved to the cell where the feminine man and child were. He kneeled in front of her and slowly and softly started to speak with her. The small head mover away from the man's chest and I saw that the girl had dark brown pink eyes.

The man was helped up still holding the girl. They were led up the steps, I looked around once we got outside and saw a lot of horses and men with wagons and such. "Right men, get all of these people in the wagons and back to Wandenreich!" Ichigo commanded and stepped in front of me.

"Why is the prince of Las Noches here?" he asked not looking hostile at all. I sighed feeling very tired for some reason. "Following your idiot of a brother." I said hoping he wouldn't be offended. He gave a snort and patted my shoulder gently before leading me to the wagon with the white haired man and the other two along with five other people inside.

Once we all got seated we all watched as Ichigo effortlessly got onto his massive black stallion. The trip was slow and uneventful allowing us to talk. "I don't think I told you my name." said the white haired man, I shook my head and looked him in the eye.

"Toshiro Hitsugaya. Merchant." I nodded to him and shook his hand.

"Ulquiorra Cifer Aizen… third prince of Las Noches." I said and watched the teal eyes of Toshiro go wide in surprise. "What are you doing here?" he asked curiously. I shrugged and sighed while rubbing my face. We all were handed blankest when the snow started to fall.

"It's a long story." I said and looked to the duo form our cell. The child looked a lot calmer and was smiling a little. The man understood the stares he got. "Yumichika Ayasegawa and this is Yachiru Zaraki." The child waved at them and started to talk.

She soon started to talk our ears off about the band of mercenaries including her father. As we got closer to the city I was amazed to find that the trees were pale like they had no bark but looking closer I saw that the bark of the trees were a silvery white and the leaves a pale green.

It was amazing but anything neat amazing as the city of Wandenreich. I looked around being naturally curious, they had a bakery, library and so much more.

"It's nice isn't it?" came a voice from the side of the wagon. I looked to see Ichigo riding along side us. He looked us all up and the back at the castle looming closer. "You four will be staying in the palace until further notice. Don't be afraid you are safe and will not be harmed." The last bit was said with Ichigo looking me in the eye.

And I had a feeling that I was in fact safe.

Right….

Okay so next chapter will be Kenpachi, Toshiro and Cang Du's POV

Again I want opinions of how you see the thee brother's now how you see them now and how you feel about them now.

And like all my other stories I will fix mistakes when the story is finished.