The Dark Prince
Hello everyone, before we begin, there are some important notices, so please read them first, especially the first one.
Notice: It's been a while since I've updated, and that's because I'm on holiday. I've been sightseeing almost non-stop for the past few days, waking up at ungodly hours to take the bus to the next destination, and on top of that, I've got no internet connection. However, from the 1st of December onwards, I'll have more time to type, and perhaps I'll have a good internet connection as well, so I'll be able to update then. I'm really sorry but I can't do anything about it. Hopefully I'll still be able to follow a pace of at least a chapter or two every week.
Recommendation: On a separate note, I've been reading really old stories (published around 2008) and I came across, or rather, rediscovered Reincarnation by Allen the Musician, and I have to say these older stories really prove correct the saying 'Old is Gold'. Falconrukichi, I saw your picture of Ichigo and Rukia with their adopted son Toshiro and I have to say it was a great piece! I already read Reincarnation and its companion pieces like Carry On, but that was a long time ago, and I was unable to truly appreciate them at that time. Seeing stories today, it's very hard to find stories about friendship between characters; most stories have romance pairings instead, and while many of them are good, one does get tired of reading romance all the time…anyway, that was just my own recommendation and congratulations. On to the chapter!
Translations will be at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 11: Sekibetsu
Luppi narrowly dodged a horizontal column of yellow flames, and turned behind in surprise to face his attacker.
"Who the hell are you?"
Yammy looked up and grunted in surprise, recognising the man. The massive Espada yelled up to Luppi, "It's that Kurosaki brat! Ulquiorra and I fought him when we last came to this town!"
Luppi narrowed his eyes, and still looking at Ichigo, he replied, "Oh, so he's the weakling that Ulquiorra refused to kill, then. I'll take care of him! Then he can watch as I cut his friends to shreds right before him, one by o-"
Before he could finish, a large cut appeared on his shoulder, and Ichigo, who had been standing a few metres in front of him just then, was now behind him. Luppi gasped loudly and coughed up blood. Breathing heavily, he demanded, "Y-You! What did you do?"
Ichigo responded by simply fixing him with a cold glare.
"None of the Shinigami are going to die today. I won't let any of them.
Luppi sneered, "Oh really? I got the report, and it looks like Ulquiorra's report about you being weak was wrong. I hate to say this but the former Mr. Six turned out to be right – We are dealing with formidable foes. But you guys are still no match for me!"
"Former Mr. Six?"
"The former Sixth Espada – Grimmjow."
Ichigo replied flippantly, "Oh, him. You sure you should have left him to his own devices? Katsurou could rip him to shreds if there's nobody to stop him…" as he remembered something Katsurou had told him a few days back.
Flashback starts (Ichigo's point of view)
Shortly after the fight with Grimmjow, Ichigo quickly started guiding Toshiro and Rangiku to their victory against Shawlong Kufang and Nakeem Grindina. Once the battle was over and the healing of the wounded began, Ichigo took Katsurou aside for a serious talk.
"Ok, Katsurou, what was all that about?"
"I'm sorry, I don't get what you're saying, your Highness."
Ichigo sighed, "You went berserk back there! You seemed out of your mind when fighting that arrancar, Grimmjow. Your eyes were all blank, and you were moving as though on autopilot. You released your bankai, and started completely owning him!"
Katsurou blinked in surprise, then sighed and explained, "Oh, that. I'm sorry, your Highness, I just lost control for a while back there."
"Lost control? Look, tell me exactly what happened!"
Katsurou looked hesitant, then took a deep breath and said, "I have this condition that causes me to get flashes of my past as a human. Whenever that happens, my mind becomes a blank, and I become a crazed killer, your Highness."
Ichigo looked at him, concerned, and remarked, "That time, you seemed really bloodthirsty. Be more careful, or you'll end up hurting our friends and allies too. Are you sure you don't need to go back to recuperate?"
Katsurou replied forcefully, "No, your Highness. It is my duty to fight at your side. Abandoning my post now is unacceptable!"
Ichigo sighed, beat, and said, "Fine, do as you wish. But just make sure you don't lose your mind again, will you? Especially since such episodes could be easily used by your Gran Salvador to manipulate you."
Katsurou's reply betrayed no emotion.
"Understood, your Highness."
Flashback ends
Still uneasy over his friend's condition, Ichigo pushed these worries out of his head and focussed on the fight. Luppi charged forward and traded blows with him for a short while.
After a while, Luppi smiled and said confidently, "This is boring! Maybe I'll just release now and put an end to this farce! Strangle, Trepadora!"
Everyone shielded their eyes as a great deal of spiritual energy and smoke came from Luppi's body. When it cleared, there was a large bone-like attachment on his back, shaped strangely like a backpack. From this came several thick, extremely long tentacles. Luppi smirked at the shocked looks on the Shinigami, and sneered, "Well come on then, Shinigami! Let's make it five-on-one, shall we?"
Across town
Flashback starts (Katsurou's point of view)
Katsurou's soul phone rang, and he quickly fished it out of his pocket.
"Hello?"
"Katsurou, this is Isane speaking! How are you?"
"Isane! It's great to hear from you, dear. I'm doing well here in the World of the Living. It's a great place, you should come here for a holiday sometime!"
Isane noticed the edge to his voice, however, and asked him in a half-exasperated, half-concerned voice, "Something just happened, didn't it? Something really bad?"
Katsurou was silent for a few seconds. Then he said softly, "Yeah. I had one of those episodes yet again. There's this enemy we faced, he said something, then I blanked out. When I recovered, I found that I had done quite a bit of damage. I had gone into bankai, not even in control of myself. By the time the fight was over, the enemy was half-dead. And this particular enemy was no ordinary Hollow. He was a member of the Espada – the sixth strongest one."
Isane took a sharp breath. Katsurou had really gone berserk, it seemed. She quickly said, "You know what this is all about, don't you, Katsurou?"
"Yeah, I'm aware. They're flashes of my life as a human."
"Yes, they are, and in order for you to completely recover from this condition, you must look into your past, sooner or later."
"I'd love to do that, Isane. But I don't have the time for it. We're at war, and looking into the past at a time like this is no good. I have to get stronger to protect what I love. Isn't that so, Isane?"
Isane smiled and replied, "Yes it is. You're right, there really isn't time. But you really should make an effort to find out, after the war is over. Anyway, what about your other power? What about Gran Salvador?"
"Oh. It's under control, Isane. I've been using the techniques Captain Unohana taught me, and they're useful. I can go all out in a fight now without any consequences."
"I'm glad to hear that. It sounds as if everything's fine on your end."
"Yeah, that's true! So how are you then? Working hard in Soul Society, preparing the Fourth Division for the upcoming war and casualties?"
"Yeah, it's hard work, but we can afford to take breaks. Most rank-and-file Shinigami won't actually be fighting in the war. Only the Captains and Vice Captains as well as a few seated officers will be at the front line. We've already taken many Shinigami from other squads who had basic first aid and healing training and are preparing them to help us out as well. But they'll be sent back to their original squads once the battles are over."
"I see. Anything new?"
"Nothing, Katsurou. Listen, my break is ending, I'll have to go and resume work now."
"Oh, alright then. I'll talk to you later, sweetheart."
"Take care, Katsurou!"
Flashback ends
Grimmjow was at a complete loss for words. Standing before him was Murayama Katsurou, with a pure white mask on his face. The mask was clearly lupine, with a short snout that had sharp teeth protruding from it.
"W-what the hell are you? What's that mask? Why is it so hollow-like?"
Katsurou replied in a harsh, grating, metallic voice, which sounded as if several people were speaking at the same time.
"Is this the first time you came across one such as me? I am no ordinary Shinigami. I am a man who has crossed the boundaries of Shinigami abilities and acquired Hollow powers. I am like you, in many ways."
"Like me? Screw that, you're nothing like me! You may have a mask now but that doesn't mean you can beat me! Last time was a lucky shot, and this time I won't let you live!"
However, as soon as those words left his mouth, the arrancar gasped and jumped away. A horizontal column of blue spiritual energy moved past him. The column was so powerful that it started distorting the space it moved through. A single hit from the column would have severely wounded Grimmjow.
As Grimmjow looked at the space in shock and curiosity, and Katsurou explained, "That was the 89th Hado: Hiryugekizokushintenraiho, cast without the incantation. With the incantation it would be a lot more powerful, although I dislike using such a spell since it causes so much damage."
Grimmjow steeled himself, thinking, "That column of energy...it was as powerful as the Gran Rey Cero of an Espada! He's easily on par with one of the Espada above me! But still, I won't run from this. I'll kill him and shred his corpse to bits for damaging my pride the last time!"
Grimmjow grinned and licked his lips.
"If that's how strong you really are, I sure as hell am gonna enjoy this fight!"
He then moved closer with his flash steps and slashed out hard. The air offered no resistance as the blade moved, poised to tear flesh. But Katsurou was fiendishly fast, and moved away before anything could happen. He was now standing 100 metres in the sky, while Grimmjow was on top of one of the houses down below. The arrancar smiled again and jumped up for another attack. This time, Katsurou's blade met his own, and sparks flew as the two blades repeatedly struck. Grimmjow grinned madly as he repeatedly lashed out at his adversary.
Looking at all the damage around town, Katsurou commented offhandedly, "Earlier I said I disliked using high level spells because of the collateral damage they cause. But it seems you've already taken care of that."
"Oh, have I? You haven't seen half the damage I can do! Especially if I release! And what the hell can you do anyway? You've gotten more powerful with that mask, but other than that, it seems to simply be for show!"
Katsurou simply smirked at the challenge, then jumped up to a higher level. From there, he held out his palm and pointed it towards the former Espada. The blue-haired man looked up curiously and asked, "What, another spell?"
"No, this is different. It should be very familiar to you, Arrancar."
Grimmjow narrowed his eyes doubtfully, and then he gasped loudly. A pure black ball of spiritual energy, outlined in silver, was gathering at Katsurou's palm.
Spiritual energy from the surroundings flew towards the ball, like iron filings attracted to a magnet, and after a few seconds, the energy in the ball reached dangerous compression levels*. At that point, it released.
A great deal of black energy flew out from the palm in a straight beam, right towards Grimmjow. The arrancar's eyes widened considerably.
Right as they fought on overhead, they were being watched by a certain someone on the ground. Inoue Orihime looked on in awe and fear as Katsurou's cero engulfed Grimmjow. She thought of raising her reiatsu and catching his attention, but then decided against it, knowing that it was a breach of the rules she had to abide by.
Flashback starts (Inoue's point of view)
Urahara Kisuke watched on while Abarai Renji and Sado Yasutora's powerful attacks collided, laying waste to the desert-like landscape of his secret training cellar. He turned around, feeling the spiritual pressure of Shihoin Yoruichi and Inoue Orihime behind him. He steeled himself for what he was about to say, while giving the enthusiastic-as-usual greeting to the two women who had just come in.
Inoue returned the greeting cheerfully, then asked what he had called her here for. Yoruichi remained quiet, knowing what he was about to say. With his voice serious, yet retaining the polite and flattering tone, he said, "Miss Inoue...I have a request to make. It pains me to ask this of you, but I have to ask anyway."
Inoue's smile faltered and she asked in a more serious tone, "Why, what is it, Mr Urahara?"
"I would like you to refrain from fighting in this war."
Inoue's eyes widened considerably. Even Sado turned around in surprise, and Renji followed suit, taking the hint that his sparring partner wished to pause their fight to listen to this.
"But why, Mr Urahara?"
Urahara answered, his voice becoming hard, "This is necessary for everyone, Miss Inoue. You may argue that you can fight with your offensive power, Tsubaki. But how are you going to use him effectively? You have little experience fighting, you don't have the same willingness to kill or wound as your friends. Don't worry about it though. Many Shinigami have this same problem, and you're just a sixteen year old human. Killing should not be expected of you."
Sado intervened, "Then what of me? What of Ichigo and Ishida? We are of the same age too!"
"You are different, Mr Sado. You have fought before, and from what you have told us of your life, it is easy to see that you will be able to fight well in a war. You still need much training, but the basics are there – both logical battle skills and the more instinctual. You have had a violent past which made you a natural fighter. Later, the important life lessons given to you by your grandfather refined your abilities – you are the result of the combination of these factors, Mr Sado. You are now able to do violence to your enemies, all for a noble cause: protecting your friends. Mr Ishida meanwhile, has had similar training all his life. His training was very structured, and I have no worries regarding him for the future. As for your other friend, I suppose you have already heard of his history. I hate to say this but the Kurosaki Ichigo you knew is not fully existent. Some of the traits he had as a human passed on to him when his memories returned. But there are a whole lot of other traits he already possessed, and fighting is one of them. He is easily the strongest man in this entire town, and a more-than-worthy warrior to lead the war on the front-lines."
Sado nodded in understanding, then argued, "I don't like it, but I can understand why you want Inoue away from the front lines. But still, I think it is a very unwise idea to completely send her away. Her healing skills are excellent, and we need to keep her close by. Even if she doesn't fight like the rest of us, she deserves to be close by. She's our friend, and we shouldn't leave her behind!"
"She is indeed a phenomenal healer, easily up to the level of the highest ranking officers of the Fourth Division. However, the Fourth Division members have more experience, and a wider variety of medicines and techniques. Furthermore, they are all combat-trained, and are able to fend for themselves. Furthermore, Miss Inoue is a special case. I really wouldn't want her near the Front Lines at all."
Sado sighed, "There is a lot you're not telling us, Mr Urahara. I trust you, and have great respect for you. But how can you continue to keep information from us?"
Urahara turned away and said softly, "You wouldn't need to trust me at all if I told you all I know, if I could ever do so. Honestly, Mr Sado, you should feel glad that you don't know half the things that I know."
Sado was surprised by his answer, but let it slide. Training and the war was more important, in his opinion, and he concentrated on it. Inoue walked out after sadly agreeing to Urahara's request. She had earlier been informed of what had happened to Tatsuki, and decided to visit her friend. Now that Tatsuki knew everything there was to know about spirits, she could talk openly to her. She went up the ladder, and walked to the room where Tatsuki was being kept. She stepped inside with an enthusiastic greeting.
"Good afternoon, Tatsuki!"
But she was greeted with a frightening scene. Her friend was unconscious, and was being held up by her neck. The person holding her was a man with deathly pale skin, striking green eyes, with green lines on his face running from below his eyes to his jawline. He was dressed in white clothes and had a strange bone on his head that resembled a half-helmet. There was also a hollow hole on his neck.
Inoue gasped, "Who are you?"
"Inoue Orihime. Do not speak, and do not raise your reiatsu to attract attention. If you do not agree to my conditions, I shall take the life of your friend here. If you still do not agree, I will go out and personally exterminate the other Shinigami in this town."
"W-What are your conditions then?"
The green-eyed Arrancar spoke tonelessly, "You are to come with me to Las Noches, our base. Lord Aizen desires your power, woman. Your friend will be taken with you as well. You will be a prisoner, but you will eventually become one of us."
Inoue considered her options. She could raise her reiatsu to attract Urahara's attention, but the arrancar would be able to sense it, and would take action quickly. She deliberated, but at that moment, help came.
"Well, isn't this brazen of you, arrancar, coming straight into our base?"
Inoue turned around and exclaimed, "Miss Yoruichi!"
Urahara was with her too, and while looking coldly at the arrancar, he said to Inoue, "This is why I wanted you to stay behind, Miss Inoue. I wanted to ensure that you wouldn't be taken away like this. Up till now, you thought that your powers were healing, but they are not. Your powers allow you to reject reality itself. If that power was to fall into Aizen's hands..."
He broke off. The arrancar nodded and said, "As expected of you, Urahara Kisuke. Lord Aizen has spoken highly of your intellect."
"Oh has he now? That's nice of him. Now, arrancar, I suggest you let go of Miss Arisawa there."
"I think not, Urahara Kisuke."
In a single instant, Ulquiorra made his move. He fired a bala towards the side, and when Urahara and Yoruichi instinctively moved aside, he flash-stepped over to them and pressed something on their skins. Some black beams of energy criss-crossed all around the two former captains, and when they dissipated, they were nowhere to be found. Inoue looked around desperately and then turned to Ulquiorra.
"What did you do to them?"
"It is called Caja Negacion. They have been placed in a pocket dimension that is completely inaccessible. But with their power levels, they can break out in a few hours. Now I have some instructions for you. Your friend will be taken to Las Noches and kept there now. You, however, will be given a period of 24 hours before you are taken to our base. In that time, you are to wear a special bracelet that allows you to be seen only by us Arrancar..."
Flashback ends
Ulquiorra had given Orihime the special bracelet, and she had gone out into town. She had been firmly instructed not to contact anyone or alert them to her presence.
Katsurou's cero soon dissipated, and Grimmjow could be seen, hurtling down towards the ground. He soon hit the road, creating a large crater. He struggled to get up on his feet, as Katsurou floated down to the ground.
The Knight looked carefully at the arrancar and said thoughtfully, "I see. You avoided some of the damage by firing your own cero at mine. It was barely powerful enough, but it saved your life. But even so, nothing you do now will save your life, Arrancar."
Grimmjow's eyes narrowed, and he yelled defiantly, "Damn you Shinigami! I won't die!"
Katsurou coldly readied his blade. But then, he looked up sharply, feeling the reiatsu change. He stepped back just in time to avoid being enclosed in a bright yellow beam of light in which Grimmjow was kneeling. Grimmjow looked around him in surprise, then sneered, "We'll meet again, Shinigami!"
Katsurou looked on, recognising the yellow beam as Negacion. He watched on, and was about to leave, when someone yelled out, "Katsurou! Hey, Katsurou!"
He turned around in surprise to see a shockingly familiar face: a man with bowl cut blond hair, and a large upper jaw. He was dressed in an orange shirt with a black tie and grey trousers, and a grey trenchcoat. Katsurou took one look at him and gasped.
Elsewhere
Ichigo now had his Shikai released and was facing off against Luppi. The latter was laughing, repeatedly using his long reach and eight tentacles to harass the other Shinigami as well. Toshiro was busy, occupied with Yammy, and was using his bankai, without much avail, at the Espada.
Luppi shouted gleefully, "What's this, Shinigami? Is eight on one too much for you?"
Ichigo had been holding back up till then. But suddenly, he felt Inoue's reiatsu disappear. Surprised, he decided to end the fight quickly. As Luppi continued hitting around with his large tentacles, aiming for Ichigo this time, the Prince immediately grabbed the tentacle mid-swipe and stopped it with one hand. Luppi looked shocked by this. Instantly, Ichigo concentrated his spiritual energy and said softly, "Hado #33: Sokatsui!"
Luppi looked on, and then started screaming out in pain. Yammy looked on in surprise, and jumped back, shouting, "What the hell's going on, Luppi?"
He gasped in shock when he saw that one of Luppi's massive tentacles had been completely burned off. Without wasting another second, while Luppi was still in pain, Ichigo moved closer and shouted, "Getsuga Tensho!"
The blue crescent immediately flew towards the arrancar, but before it could hit its target, a bright beam of yellow light surrounded Luppi. The Getsuga Tensho rebounded harmlessly off the light. Luppi sealed his Zanpakuto and looked at Ichigo hatefully.
He sneered, "You'll pay for this humiliation, Shinigami! Next time, I'll waste no time taking your head off!"
Ichigo quickly flash-stepped off. Soon, he reached the Urahara Shop. At the same time, Katsurou reached there.
"Katsurou, what happened?"
"Your Highness, the reiatsu of Miss Inoue has disappeared!"
"Yeah, I felt it earlier."
"I also felt someone using pocket dimensions in this area. High level hollows have a technique where they place another hollow in a separate dimension to either punish them, or to rescue them. That technique was recently used here."
"Oh, that's the one they call Negacion, right?"
"Yes, your highness. Another thing: I just saw a very familiar face recently!"
They continued discussing this matter as they walked into the shop. Katsurou cast around his senses and felt for the pocket dimension. Soon he found it, summoned his mask, and ripped the air with his fingers. Instantly, a small gap opened up in the air, much like a garganta, and out stepped Urahara and Yoruichi.
"Kisuke! Yoruichi! What happened to you too?"
"Good to see you again, your Highness, Katsurou. We were stuck in a pocket dimension."
Katsurou said patiently, "Yes, we can see that. But how?"
Yoruichi slapped the back of Urahara's head for his frivolous behaviour and said seriously, "An arrancar invaded the shop, and kidnapped Inoue and her friend Tatsuki. It was the same arrancar that we saw in the park a few days ago. I think Aizen wants her power, and that must be why he had her kidnapped."
Ichigo turned pale, and his eyes widened. Then he quickly calmed down and asked, "Ok, we've already realised that her power is to reject reality itself. She can reverse all the actions performed on a body, particularly injuries. Knowing that, we can guess that she can also cause objects to return to their original states. If an egg were to fall on a hard surface and break, she could make it whole again. She could completely counter entropy, if you want to see it that way. So what could Aizen want her to repair? Who would he want to heal?"
Urahara answered, "I have no idea, your Highness. Perhaps this means that his army is getting injured faster than their healers can cope? I know for a fact that Hollows have extremely limited healing abilities. That is why they evolved Instantaneous Regeneration. As far as we know there are no Shinigami in Aizen's army other than Aizen, Tosen and Ichimaru. Maybe he wants to force her to use her powers to heal many of his soldiers in a short time. Perhaps he wants to fully restore the powers of ageing warriors who are well beyond their prime. I imagine he'll have quite a few such old warriors, since he has clearly been dealing with Hollows for a long time now."
"Either way, with Inoue's powers, we're at a disadvantage. We also can't let the two girls be prisoners there. I'm all for mounting a rescue mission."
Urahara smiled, "I thought you would say that, your Highness. But before you go, I have something else to say. Earlier, you mentioned that the Hogyoku has his own inner world, and he has his own interests. You also mentioned, most importantly, that he knows about Aizen's attitudes towards his powers. Now the question is: How did the Hogyoku know of such a thing? Denka, you spoke with the Hogyoku that we have here in Karakura Town, while Aizen has a different Hogyoku in Hueco Mundo. So how is our Hogyoku able to know so much about Aizen?"
Katsurou clicked his fingers and exclaimed, "The two Hogyoku are somehow connected! Who knows, they might be exactly the same being! Aizen has probably been seeing the same spirit Denka has seen. It's like Captain Kyoraku's Zanpakuto: One spirit, that inhabits two blades. Even if the blades are kept far from each other, the same spirit can be accessed through each blade!"
Yoruichi contributed, "So that means that doing something drastic to one will affect the other! We could combine all our powers here, and manage to do damage to Aizen's Hogyoku!"
She turned to Ichigo, but the Prince and his Knight were already walking towards the cellar.
"Kisuke, bring the Hogyoku down now, will you? We're going to...do something drastic to it."
Kisuke let out a breath, impressed, and went off to get the Hogyoku. Something dangerously impressive was going to happen, and he wasn't going to miss it for anything.
To be continued
Translations
Sekibetsu – Parting regrets (It's also the name of an instrumental used for the Darker than BLACK Soundtrack, composed by Yoko Kanno)
*An explanation was never provided by Tite Kubo for Cero, well, at least no explanation was provided that will satisfy people like me. So for this story, I assumed that ceros are formed by compressing spiritual energy into a ball, with your own spiritual energy as well as energy collected from the surroundings, then when the energy is packed very tightly, it is released towards the enemy. Of course, one can't really compress energy according to the laws of Physics (well, as far as I know), but Bleach sort of has a record for accomplishing the impossible, so I guess it's acceptable.
Go look at my profile! I've updated it and added my personal list of rules for writing FanFiction. I added that list so that people reading my stories for the first time have a rough idea of what to expect.
Sigh...nobody bothered to guess what I based the inner world of the Hogyoku on...Perhaps I should stop these little guessing games. The Hogyoku's inner world was based off Gallifrey, from Doctor Who. Just go to Google images and type 'Gallifrey' and you can see a picture of the landscape and city in the inner world.