"Shiro?"

"Ichi!"

The twins embraced on the porch having run into each other while the oranget was on his way to tend the farm, and Shiro was being escorted to the basement lab. They pulled out of the tight hug but remained within arm's reach of each other as they battered each other with questions and barely received or gave answers. Eventually, they calmed down and just hugged.

"I'll admit it, that was a very touching display, but you really must get to the lab," Renji, his escort, said.

Shiro threw his arm around his younger twin's shoulders and took a step away from the imposing, redheaded alien. "No way! What's it been, a week and a half since I've seen Ichi? I'm not letting him go now! You can milk me later."

Color flooded Ichigo's cheeks. "They're milking you too?"

"Yeah, it ain't that bad though. Feels kinda nice actually."

"What?!"

Shiro laughed and pointed. "Yer starting to look like a strawberry!"

The oranget scowled and punched his pale bare shoulder earning a yelp and another laugh from the other.

Renji sighed. "Enough playing around; come along." He reached for the albino who gracefully ducked out of the way. "I said come along."

Shiro dodged again and a mischievous smirk slowly spread over his gob. His golden eyes met Ichi's, who grew a smirk of his own."

Both sets of Renji's eyes narrowed. "I suggest you don't do whatever you're about to do." He reached for both humans who deftly dodged him.

"Run!" Shiro cried. The brothers tore across the porch and vaulted over the railing with the ease of long years of practice (namely running from their father or Karin from time to time). They laughed when they heard Renji shout what could only have been a curse in his native tongue and darted across the lawn. Shiro pointed and Ichigo wordlessly followed him to the hidden storm cellar at the edge of the treeline. Shiro found the handle easily and opened it for Ichigo, before diving in himself and shutting them in.

Engulfed in darkness the pair shared a laugh that ended with Ichigo coughing and sucking back some medicine. The oranget waved his hand around wildly, searching for the light. He eventually caught the string and gave it a good yank.

The old bulb gave off a dim orange glow, revealing the bomb shelter-esk space. Actually, no, it was very much a bomb shelter. There was a wooden bunk-bed with wide, thread-bare, hay-filled mattresses, a shelf was heavily burdened with canned goods and old books and board games like monopoly, chess and Scrabble.

Shiro sat on the lower bunk. "We're so boned when they find us," he snickered.

"Yeah, but it was worth it to see that shocked look on Renji's face!" Ichigo walked over to the shelf and looked at the cans. "God this stuff's old!"

"Well yeah, what did you expect, it's from World War 2."

"Sure, but you'd think that someone would get rid of this after a few decades."

"Why?" He went over and grabbed some canned peaches. "Canned stuff keeps for forever, right?"

"Not forever, only honey and wine can last forever."

Shiro chewed his lip and set the peaches back down and instead grabbed a game. "1960's Scrabble?"

"Eh, why not?"

The pair sat down on the hard-packed dirt floor and set up the board and randomly grabbed seven pieces from the bag. They played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would be first; Shiro won.

"We keeping score?" he asked as he looked over his letters.

"Nah, no point." Ichigo looked over his own tiles while Shiro set out his word. "I heard that you're a pet too."

"Yeah." Shiro finished his word: cake. "His name's Grimmjow. He's okay, I guess."

Ichi built off of the 'k' making 'kale'. "Grimmjow?! Oh my God, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That cotton candy-haired bastard is an aggressive, crazy, meat-headed, asshat!"

Shiro laughed hard enough that a tear came to his eye, and struggled to rein in his mirth. "Heh heh hah, yeah that sounds about right! Hah! Cotton candy-haired asshat. Whoo, I gotta remember that one!" He threw down the word 'tea' by building off of 'kale' by its 'e'.

Ichigo grumpily put an 'se' after 'tea'. "I'm just glad he's not the one with the key to my collar."

'Tease' was quickly built off of making the word 'sail'. "Who's got their mitts on you?"

Ichigo drew some letters to replace the two he'd used and laughed at his luck. He built off of the 'a' in 'cake' and made the word 'satsuma'.

"Oh, fuck you..."

"Hah! I almost wish we were playing with points!" He replaced his letters. "The prince's got his mitts on me."

"Oh ho, my brother's a royal pet, huh? That collar of yours made of pure silver?" He reached over and jabbed Ichigo in the shoulder, and the oranget pushed back. They shoved each other back and forth a few times before stopping when one of them bumped the board, not wanting to ruin the game.

Shiro built off of 'cake' making 'cum'.

"Oh, real mature."

Shiro laughed.

Brown eyes stared at the board and his tiles before creating the word 'malt' off of Shiro's previous word."

"You can't do that! It's touching all the other letters!"

"I can when it makes more words. See that make 'at' and that makes 'ta'."

"Ta ain't a real word."

"Wanna bet? I saw a dictionary on the shelf!"

"Go get it then."

Ichigo stood and grabbed the dusty paperback tome and flipped through. He laughed victoriously and shoved the book in his brother's face. "Read it and weep!"

Shiro snatched it and read aloud, "Exclamation. 18th century. An informal word meaning 'thank you'. Dammit!" He chucked the book at the oranget who caught it and sat back down.

"Your turn."

Shiro sucked his teeth as he looked at the board. He sighed and made 'alien' off of the remaining 'a' in 'satsuma'. "Hey. You think that there's a way out of this? Some way that those aliens'll be forced to stop invading?"

Ichigo looked up at him and met his brother's eyes. He huffed and bit his lip. "No... there's no way. They're way more technologically advanced, and this isn't some movie where something stupid like a disease or natural resource'll stop them."

"I don't know, Ichi, maybe they'll get taken out by the common cold."

Shiro was joking, but Ichigo was quite serious. "Shiro, they've been kidnapping and cultivating humans for only lord knows how long. You met Hanataro right? He was born and raised among those aliens, I'm pretty sure they've developed vaccines for most of what we have on Earth. Hell, I bet the scientist could come up with a cure for the common cold in a matter of hours if he needed. Shiro... the human race is screwed."

His usual smirk melted and he looked to his lap. "Yeah... I figured as much. I just needed to hear it from someone else for it to cement."

A sobering silence permeated the air with its suffocating presence.

The albino growled and tousled his already messy hair violently. "No. No, we're not allowed to get depressed over this! Not when it's already too late. Besides, sure we're pets now, but at least we've got decent 'owners'."

"I... guess..."

Shiro poked him. "C'mon, it's your turn."

It took a moment for the orange head to get back into the mindset of a friendly game of Scrabble, but when he did, he threw down a word that made his brother's smirk return: 'penis'.

"Oh and I'm the immature one?"

Ichigo chuckled.


It'd taken a few days, but there was finally a stable connection between Earth and Seireitei, and messages could be sent instantaneously. It was even possible to hold video conferences, which was what the Cerebro prince was doing at that moment with his father and grandfather.

His father, Sojun the King of Seireitei, wore a small but kind smile that correctly depicted his demeanor. His skin was very pale with swirling powder blue markings on his jaw and around his lower eyes, same as Byakuya, though his lower eyes were bluish-purple instead of gray. His black hair went a little past his shoulders, but his antennae extended well past that and a thicker ringlet of silver was wrapped around his hair.

His grandfather, Ginrei the former king and acting ambassador, wore an apathetic and serene expression. He was pale but with lilac markings framing his lower slate gray eyes and a gray mustache. His hair was long and gray and his antennae were slicked back and reached his shoulders.

"Did you receive the image I sent you, father?"

"Yes, Byakuya. And I agree, you're new pet is rather appealing. Even more so due to his vibrant hair."

"Indeed, it's quite a sight."

"And his temperament?"

"Calm and sometimes nervous, though he can get quite belligerent and irritable at times, though not usually towards me."

"Interesting mix." The hologram of his father shifted in his seat to a more relaxed position. "How are the preparations coming along?"

"Not as fast as I'd like. We've hacked into their satellites and have downloaded and continually download any information uploaded to their 'World Wide Web'."

His father smiled. "That is such a fun and clever name. Are there any foreseeable problems."

"There is a country across the sea from this one that is experiencing an outbreak of a deadly virus. After we've completed the assimilation of this home and perhaps even the miniscule town it belongs to I will have Doctor Szayelaporro send a team to the country and secure a few of the infected to study and figure out a cure for the virus. From what we've found out, it's akin to the Vipradutsa* Virus from three decades ago." His gaze went to the door when a knock sounded. He excused himself, and called for the person at the door to enter.

Renji entered and came within a few feet of where the prince sat before kneeling, with his head hanging very low. "Forgive me, your Highness, for I have failed you."

Byakuya's upper set of eyes opened at that. "Explain yourself."

"Ichigo and Shiro ran off while under my watch."

"What? How long have they been gone?"

"20 to 30 minutes perhaps, your Highness."

Byakuya grabbed his data screen rod, and made its screen extend. He went to the program that would show Ichigo's location based on the chip in his collar. His upper eyes closed upon seeing the information it carried. "They're still here, and it says that they've been in the same area for 24 minutes. Did you truly look hard enough?"

Renji lifted his head at that. "I along with three Queso de Cerdo Guardsman scoured the area!"

"How did they get away from you in the first place?"

"They've... proven to be very adept runners."

Byakuya let out a deep but inaudible breath and opened another collar oriented program. As soon as it loaded, which was very quickly, laughter came out of the DSR.

"No way, I'm not buying it! That's not a word!"

"It is! Don't make me get the dictionary out again."

"Augh! Stupid bookworm!"

Byakuya spoke the name of his pet into the rod.

"Words are power, so bookworms'll rule the world one day."

"Yeah, yeah, keep talking you stupid nerd."

"You know that that was an oxymoron, right?"

"Ugh! You and your big words!"

"'Cowl' isn't a big word."

"Ichigo!" Byakuya called, though this time louder.

The voices on the other side stopped for a moment. "Uh, Ichi, I think your collar's talking to you."

"Ichigo, where are you and your brother?" Byakuya asked calmly.

"Oh, uh, hi your high -er- I mean master."

Shiro laughed. "No way! He makes you call him 'master'?!"

Smack! "Shut up and take your turn!"

Byakuya closed his eyes as he pondered how the humans could be so petulant. "Ichigo, do not make me ask twice."

"We're just hanging out..."

"That's what you're doing, not where you are."

"I know that, but I can't just tell you."

"And why is that?"

"It'd ruin the game."

"I hardly have time to play games, Ichigo, I am busy."

His pet scoffed. "Geez, you've probably been doing nothing but working since you got here. A couple of minutes away from your screens won't kill you. In fact, it'd be healthy. Here, I'll give you a hint: we're somewhere along the treeline. Oh and you have to be the one to come get us. We'll runaway again if you send Renji or Grimmjow."

"When did you become so difficult?"

Ichigo laughed. "C'mon, I won't do this again if you play along just this once."

Byakuya let an audible sigh slip. "Fine. I will indulge you." He closed the program and gracefully lifted to his feet. "Forgive me, it seems that I must cut this conference short."

"Nonsense, use the ocular/auditory transmitter and allow us to come with you," his father said.

"Very well."

Shortly, the prince was exiting the house with the O/AT floating after him, following the blip on his DSR. It led them to the edge of the tree line nest to the house, but the human was nowhere to be seen. He went back to the other program, and spoke. "I know where you are, but I don't see you"

"You found us already? How, I- oh I'm so stupid! There's a tracker."

"Indeed."

Ichigo sighed, defeated. "One second."

A few seconds later, a spot on the ground opened, making the redheaded Guardsman pull the prince behind himself. Instead of a possible threat, Shiro's white head of hair peeked out.

"Sup!" he greeted and threw the hatch open to leave entrance to the underground area gaping wide open. "Come on down."

Renji preceded him down the few stairs and into the room where Shiro sat on the floor with Ichigo and a board covered in tiles in front of him. Something caught Ichigo's eye on the shelf near him.

"What is this place?" Renji voiced the question everyone present was wondering.

"A bomb shelter," the twins told them in unison.

"Bomb shelter? This country is supposed to have experienced the least amount warfare on native soil," Renji said.

"It is," Shiro said. "But then we split the atom, and made a bomb, and blew up a few cities, and then our enemies copied us so we had to take some precautions."

"And this is a threat even today?"

Shiro scratched his chin. "The use of those bombs have been outlawed or whatever, but if someone does shoot off one, everyone else will and then total global annihilation, so I wanna say no... but we humans can be pretty crazy."

"Hey Shiro, look what I found!" Ichigo called attention from the short history lesson.

The albino turned and barked out a laugh. "No way! Is that honey?"

"Yup." Ichigo struggled with the clamp on the mason jar and eventually opened it and gave it a sniff. "I dare you to try some!"

"Alright. Don't hold it over the board, though." He dipped a finger in and licked. "Mm, that's some good honey."

Byakuya cleared his throat and earned the humans' attention. "Why did you two run away?"

Ichigo shrugged. "To get some alone time together, but mostly to mess with Renji." He smiled at the Guardsman. "The look on your face was hilarious!" He sampled some of the honey when his brother bugged him to do so. "Mm! Hey, do either of you two want some 60 year old honey?"

"60?! Don't consume that, it could make you sick," Renji ordered and stepped forward to take the jar from them.

Ichigo closed the jar and hopped out of his immediate reach.

"Don't worry, honey lasts forever," Shiro claimed.

"Well, not forever, just a long time," Ichigo corrected. He looked to Byakuya and caught his displeased look. "I guess we have to go back to the house now, huh?"

"And into a shower; you're filthy."

"Oh, but our game," Shiro whined as he looked to the board between him and his brother.

The oranget grabbed a book from the shelf and leafed through it to find that it was a mostly empty journal. "I'll draw what it looks like, and then we'll clean it up and take it with us."

x~x

"What an amusing human," Byakuya's father said after having been transferred back to the hologram projector in his room.

Upon reaching the house, Ichigo was taken to the bathroom down the hall to take a shower, and Shiro was escorted, much to the pale human's chagrin, to the lab, along with the honey; Shiro for his milking and the honey for analysis.

"A lot more amusing than I had originally thought, though not in an unacceptable way."

His grandfather cleared his throat and spoke for the first time. "What will you do with the information you were told of?"

Byakuya paused to think. The information he'd been briefed on before leaving his home planet was quite outdated, as they'd known of the first world war, but not the second in which all the events Shiro and Ichigo told them of took place. "I will have to go through the information we've gathered and revise my original plans as it seems. It will delay our progress, but it's better to be prepared for every plausible outcome."

"Indeed," Sojun said.

The door opened without a prior knock, and Ichigo walked in wearing only the gel cloth disk in a brief style that Byakuya favoured and a towel on his head which he was using to dry his hair. He pulled the cloth away and looked around the room, his eyes stopping on Byakuya and the holograms. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No. Come sit at my feet." Byakuya waited until the human was seated where he'd indicated before speaking again. "This is my father Sojun, and grandfather Ginrei. You will address them as Highness and Excellency respectively."

Ichigo nodded as he shook his inhaler - which the prince had not realized he'd been carrying - and took a puff of medicine.

Byakuya rested a palm on the orange tresses. "Your hair is still wet."

Ichi ran the towel over his hair a few more times. "Hey, I'm starting to run low, did the scientist ever make more?"

"I will ask." Byakuya sent out a wave to the pink-haired male. "Szayelaporro, have you synthesized more of the medicine Ichigo needs?"

"Hm? Ah, yes, your Highness, I will send someone up with it after I transfer it to the proper container."

"Very good." He ended the wave just as Ichigo spoke to his parents.

"Hello, by the way."

Sojun smiled and spoke in Ichigo's language. "Hello, young human. What is this medicine for, if it is acceptable that I ask"

"It's alright, I take it for my asthma."

"Ah, yes I am aware of that respiratory disorder," he said with a nod. "Is my son treating you properly?"

"Yes, uh, your Highness."

"Good, I wouldn't want him giving you a bad impression our race and our goals, as horrible as they may seem to be to you."

Ichigo shrugged. "They don't seem all that bad..."

Sojun cocked his head. "You're taking the invasion of you planet rather well, are all of the humans of this millennia so accepting?"

A few stray droplets flew as he shook his head. "Me and my brother have lived a rather isolated life, so we don't think we're all that normal. And, well, that's what we were talking about when were together. We thought it over and decided that there was no reason to get depressed over it."

"What a very forward-thinking way of thinking; it's refreshing. However, there will undoubtedly be opposition from other humans."

He chuckled. "Oh yeah! My sister Karin would be the first to..." He trailed off as a thought hit him and gripped his hair. "Oh my God!"

"What is wrong?" Byakuya asked him.

"My little sisters were supposed to come over last weekend!" He looked to his master. "Did they?"

Byakuya nodded once. "Do not worry, we sent them home."

"Really?" His brown eyes narrowed in threat. "You're not keeping them locked away somewhere, are you?"

"Ah, there is the belligerence you spoke of," Sojun murmured.

Byakuya gripped Ichigo's chin and looked to him with both sets of eyes. "I swear on my honor that we sent your sisters home two days after they came here, safely and with no memory of seeing us."

The oranget's hard look wavered before finally softening, confident that he was not being lied to.

His second set of eyes closed and his attention returned to the hologram. "Is there anything else that we should speak of?"

"No, I believe that we may conclude our conference now, but I want a new report from you by the coming month."

"Yes, father. I wish you well."

His father and grandfather both bobbed their heads and their images disappeared.

"Oh, I would've said goodbye had I known that they were hanging up..."

Byakuya's lips betrayed him and formed a small smile before he could stop it. "You may sit next to me now."

Ichigo gave him a confused look as he lifted off the floor and flopped onto the cushion next to his master. "Why couldn't I sit here in the first place?"

"The conference I was having was being transmitted all over Seireitei for its citizens to see, as we are truly transparent with our government. There are parts of Seireitei where Cerebros believe that humans and pets are under us; I seated you at my feet to keep from offending them."

Ichigo wrinkled his nose. "Of, course there'd be those types. Hey, were you having the conference when you called me on my collar?"

"Indeed."

"I'm sorry..."

The prince looked to him. "Whatever for?"

"I probably made you look bad to all of the others."

"Hmph, nonsense, my own birth interrupted a conference once."

He let out a brief laugh. "Whaaat?" he asked in disbelief.

"My mother was sitting in on a conference when she suddenly went into labor. The whole or Seireitei was there to witness my birth. Your interruption was nothing problematic to my image, in fact it probably made this conference seem more appealing to our audience."

"How?"

"Even a Cerebro can have a short attention span. Had it continued as it had before I had to retrieve you, more than likely some would've went to do something else." He pulled his data screen rod from his pocket. "We have something very akin to your social media sites. Look at what some people have written." He set it so that the words would automatically translate and showed the screen to Ichigo as text scrolled by.

Did you see the conference?

His Highness has a new pet!

Humans are so prone to dysfunction. The Prince's pet has a breathing difficulty!

What a cute troublemaker... He seems bright too.

The Prince has great taste in pets. I think he'll have no trouble taking that planet.

I wonder if someone owns the albino human. If not, he'd sell for a high price.

That bomb sounded fearsome if only a few could destroy their planet.

How will his Highness get around the threat of that split atom bomb, I wonder...

Prince Byakuya is smart, he'll figure it out.

"Hahaha! Alien Twitter! I can't wait to tell Shiro!" the oranget laughed as the prince put the device away once more. Ichi's laugh caught when he was grabbed and made to straddle his master's lap. "Wh-what?"

"You deserve a reward for helping out the conference, Ichigo," he murmured. Byakuya grabbed the collar circling Ichi's neck and pulled him close to kiss him. He let his lower eyes close but opened his top ones to watch as Ichigo's brown eyes fluttered closed.

Bare arms wrapped around the prince's neck and Ichi pressed himself firmly against the other's chest. He moaned as the kiss broke and rested his head on Byakuya's shoulder.

"Did you like your reward?"

Ichigo nodded.

A knock sounded, preceding Renji with a status report. "The house is nearly fully converted."

"What are the exceptions?"

"There is only one exception, namely his room."

Byakuya felt Ichigo flinch in his lap and took hold of his pet's face in his palms. "Ichigo," he said softly and did not speak again until he'd gained view of those beautiful brown orbs. "I realize that this is hard for you, but your room needs to be converted." His pet looked down once more. "Tomorrow, I want you and your brother to gather what you wish to keep close from your room, and then the next day it will be converted. Is this acceptable?"

The human was hesitant but eventually nodded reluctantly.

Byakuya pulled his pet into an embrace as he addressed Renji. "Make sure that Lieutenant Grimmjow is aware of this plan. You may take your leave."

Renji bowed at the waist and left.

Sniff

Byakuya was surprised by the snuffle, and noticed that Ichigo was shaking. He tightened his embrace. "Why... are you so attached to that particular room?"

"It's my parents'..."

"Am I right to believe that they are not with you anymore?"

Ichigo nodded.

Byakuya secured his arms under Ichi's rump before standing and going to the bed where he deposited his human and curled up behind him. "How long ago?"

"Two years," Ichigo snuffled. "What are you going to do with all of the stuff you've packed away?"

"They won't be destroyed. In fact, we'd planned to make a museum on Anurvara*, another one of the moons orbiting Alma."

"Why?"

"We find the diversity of your species to be amazing, as well as highly interesting. Bringing pieces of it closer to home would delight many, if not all." Byakuya gently stroked Ichi's hair. "A replica of your home is going to be made on Anurvara for others to visit. We hope that your home will be the first of many."

The oranget nodded. "I guess that isn't bad... but it still hurts."

The prince made him turn over so that they could face each other. "I know, but it'll pass." He kissed him. "Rest for a while, I must get back to my screens before I die."

Ichigo's eyes widened as Byakuya rolled away. "Did you... just make a joke?"

"I have no clue what it is you're talking about."

Ichigo sat up. "You did! You made a joke."

"Hush, human. Lie down and rest. Don't make me order you again."


Here you go! A nice, lengthy chapter after a long hiatus! I'm feelin' it again after a nice break from this story, and now I can continue it... until I get stuck again TT_TT Thinking of chapters for an alien invasion story that doesn't end with the aliens getting taken out or leaving is hard (for me anyway)!

Dictionary:

Alma: (Spanish) Soul

Anurvara: (Sanskrit) Barren

Cerebro: (Spanish) Brain

Queso de Cerdo: (Spanish) Brawn

Vipradutsa: (Sanskrit) Very bad

Anyway thanks for reading, and I hope this is still a story you all enjoy. Don't be afraid to ask questions (or tell me where I royally f***ed up XD). A review would be appreciated! Have a nice day/night/somewhere in between!