Raised in the Light
Prelude to War
*I will never own, or make money, on Bleach. *
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Techniques or emphasis
More emphasis
***RitL***
Yhwach was facing a conundrum.
Part of him, the half that desired vengeance and, ironically enough, thought logically about the future wanted to 'inform' the Shinigami about their intentions as he strolled through their streets and watched their city burn to the ground. He wanted to see that shocked look on the old bastard's face as he ran his blade through his chest while his people lay crying around him. He wanted a complete and utter decimation of their forces... and he wanted it all done by surprise attack. He wanted them to understand exactly what they had done to deserve such things. That the slaughter of innocent people, of children, had consequences that would never be forgotten.
But still there was another side, a portion of his brain that cried out to be 'better' than those they were going to destroy. A part of his soul that wanted to show his people, to show his sons, that they could and would be kinder than the monsters they were exterminating. This half wanted to make the war official, to declare it against the Seireitei in a manner worthy of a Quincy and allow them time to prepare. But this would also mean higher casualties for his people. Giving the bastards time to build defenses, to train, and to plan would only delay the war.
It would cause more bloodshed for his family.
What would be his decision? It had to be his, he would never force his sons to make such a call. Should he bring forth a small council to vote? Maybe even collect the remaining Sternritter and have them give their own suggestions?
The Quincy lord sighed, before rising out of his chair to stroll towards his balcony, and the open air, once more. The elder man gazed out over his country, over his people that were just settling down to sleep and shook his head. He envied them, for he would be receiving no rest tonight.
***RitL***
"Mmmm right there"
"Just like this?"
"Maybe a bit rougher... oh God yes..."
Ichigo smirked a bit, as he looked at the black haired woman beneath him. He was infinitely glad that their 'relationship' had progressed to the level that such intimacy was acceptable. In fact he had been hoping for it a bit sooner.
"Do you do this with your two 'roommates'?" Bambietta inquired, letting out a gasp of pleasure.
"Yeah, wow you feel really tight by the way, Nel was the first to 'volunteer' but Harribel took a bit of convincing."
"Mmmhmmm" At this point the Quincy couldn't care less what he was doing with the two Arrancar, so long as he continued with his current task.
"Do you want me to use some more lotion?"
The woman nodded slowly, already half asleep as the man chuckled before continuing his back massage. Bambietta had been, much like the dark skinned Espada, initially reluctant to let me pamper her in such a way, but after he began... well there was a reason that Nelliel said he had 'magic hands'.
"If you keep doing this I might just have to propose to you Ichigo..."
The orange haired boy winced slightly at the woman's drowsy comment. They still were not officially in a 'dating' relationship and both agreed that it was for the best. True they were bonding over training, and simply relaxing together, but he still had not recovered over the loss of his former love.
Bambietta had understood and simply wanted to progress as friends for the time being.
Recently though, in the past week especially, she had begun dropping tiny hints of her attraction towards him, and wanting to progress to a more intimate relationship. It had started off as a few joking comments, which lead into her more frequent 'invasions' of his personal space. It seemed like she would make any, and every, excuse just to make some sort of physical contact with the young man.
Still, despite his heart wanting to feel that sort of connection again, Ichigo could not simply forget about Vanda. It had been two months since her passing, and his father's insistence that they continue preparations for the primary aspect of the war, but it still felt too soon.
Too many emotions were still nagging at the edge of his mind, threatening to spill out into his normal life.
He still woke up with the occasional nightmare, seeing her dying on the sands and crying out for him to save her.
It was times like this he wished nothing more than to have someone simply tell him what to do.
***RitL***
The Quincy lord strode into what had become known as the 'war room' of the palace. There the other members of the Sternritter sat, patiently waiting... or they would have been except for the fact that Bazz-B and Lutz had grown bored in the three minutes and thus began pestering the others.
"I'm just saying we could commission a really big pool and then I use my power to heat it up. Think about it, a room sized hot tub for our meetings. Can you imagine how much more productive that would be?"
Yhwach took it upon himself to further 'investigate' this idea, "I do not, perhaps you could enlighten me Bazz-B?"
The red haired man promptly sat down, quietly muttering out an apology, much to the amusement of the other Quincy.
"I would like to call this meeting to order. The agenda for today is the overview of our first invasion of Soul Society and the objectives for it. Jugo would you care to begin?"
"Of course father, as you all know the primary military power of the Gotei 13 lies in their Captain class combatants. Not only that but those individuals also provide the leadership and strategic resource that all other Shinigami depend upon. If we were to cut them off and eliminate them the rest of their forces would fall apart."
"We will still need to account for their reinforcements from the World of the Living and the Royal Guard. As powerful as both forces are it could prove disastrous if we allow them to unite together." Ichigo pointed out.
"That is why we will not be patiently waiting for them to gather and counter attack. Our priority in this first battle is to eliminate several high priority targets and cripple a large portion of their forces. After which we will withdraw and take further stock of their casualties against ours."
"Your majesty is that the best idea? If we retreat without finishing them off then they will be able to unite together and pose a serious threat to us."
"That is true Kort, however I am not foolish enough to assume we will be able to eliminate all of their primary force before reinforcements arrive. Normally I would target their forces in the human world first but I have no intention of causing wide scale destruction to the civilian population. What we must decide now is what our targets will be in the first assault."
"According to the 'Art of War' book that we memorized I suggest that we pick the most dangerous long term enemies first and foremost just in case this conflict continues longer than anticipated."
"Ah a wise idea Ichigo, whoever made you study such a thing is obviously quite the intelligent man." Yhwach praised, before turning his attention back to the other Sternritter, ignoring the annoyed glare that his son had sent him.
They were both well aware that it had been the Quincy leader who had demanded that his sons both read the novel.
A small screen flashed on, displaying over a dozen pictures and names of enemy combatants.
"As you can see I have made a list of the most powerful and dangerous of the enemy officers. Not only this but I have also asked Mask to note any others that he would have deemed as potentially 'dangerous'. Finally, all of the 'Enders' that are not currently on our side are shown as being highlighted in red. They are the most dangerous and thus must be approached with caution."
The others nodded at their emperor's command, while studying the information presented to them.
"Your majesty, what about those highlighted in blue?" A man by the name of 'Ubel' inquired.
"They are what we have designated as 'Potential Enders'. They are not nearly as dangerous as the others but could prove to be quite problematic in the future if they are not disposed of early on. I suggest that all of them be terminated in the first wave."
***RitL***
Captain General Genryusai Yamamoto glared up in annoyance at the white cloaked men who had appeared in his office. Chojiro had already drawn his blade and was currently standing several feet away from the men in preparations to attack.
Yet the strangers had made no move to arm themselves or make any offensive actions at all. In fact the only thing they had done, besides rudely interrupt his afternoon tea, was extend a small letter to him.
Taking the offered object, the older man's eyes widened as he saw the seal that was bore upon the paper.
The symbol of the Quincy.
"Consider this our formal declaration of war against the Seireitei and the Shinigami. Unlike you our emperor believes in informing his enemies of our presence prior to engagement. Otherwise we might seem like murdering psychopaths."
The Shinigami leader narrowed his eyes in a glare at the three cloaked figures before him.
"His majesty has deemed it appropriate to give you twenty-four hours' notice before judgment is rendered upon you. Use this time well to make peace with whatever God you so desire."
Just as the silver haired man charged in, attempting to strike down those who dared declare such a thing, the men vanished into thin air.
***RitL***
"Hey Bambietta... can we talk?"
The girl nodded nervously, she was well aware that it was never a good thing to hear when someone spoke those words.
Following her friend, maybe even boyfriend, into a nearby room, and watching as he closed the door behind him simply confirmed her suspicion that this was not going to be pleasant.
Ichigo stood silent, for what felt like hours, contemplating what to say. "I really like spending time with you."
The black haired Quincy let out the breath she wasn't aware that she had been holding.
"Y-yeah I like that too, I mean who wouldn't want to spend time with me? I am pretty awesome if I do say so myself."
His mouth turned upwards in a slight smile, showing his gratitude for her helping to lighten the mood. "Yes you are... and that is sort of the problem. I... do you have feelings for me?"
Once more the knots formed in the woman's stomach. "Ichigo I... of course I do."
"I figured, just wanted to make sure... I know you have been hinting at it for a bit..."
"Hinting? I would say it was more like me writing 'hey Ichigo I like you' on my forehead."
The young man chuckled, nodding his head in agreement. "Yeah, sorry I haven't really taken the time to talk to you about it until now. I just... I don't know what to do Bambietta. I care about you... a lot... and it feels like I am betraying her."
'Ah so that is the problem' the woman mused, finally understanding why he had seemed a bit distant the last few days.
"I understand Ichigo, I feel the same way too sometimes. She was one of my first friends here and she gave her life to save mine. I would never want to... well you know."
"So what do we do?" With his inquiry the orange haired boy fell back onto a couch, seemingly in frustration.
"Well I think we should think about what she would say if she was here. I think we can both agree that Vanda was about the nicest, sweetest person to ever live. I know she wouldn't have wanted either of us mourning her or holding back on life because we were afraid that we would upset her memory."
"Yeah you are right I just... I don't want to 'replace' her with you. I want to keep her in my heart and not betray that and at the same time I don't want to think of you just as some sort of 'rebound'. You deserve someone who can care about you with everything that they are, without holding back."
She nodded in understanding, "I agree". A silence fell over the room for a few moments before Bambietta once more broke it, "So what do we do now?"
"I don't know anymore; this has been driving me nuts for way too long and... God I just wish I could ask her."
"But we can't. As much as neither of us wants to admit it she is gone Ichigo. It isn't fair, or nice, or kind but it happened. All we can do now is remember her and make sure that she didn't die in vain."
Ichigo nodded, before watching as the other Quincy rose, and slowly sat down next to him, before taking his hand in her own.
"How about we just take it slow for now? I know she would have wanted us to be happy so we will just see where this leads us."
He nodded, and awarded her with one of his warm smiles as the room fell into a comfortable silence once more.
***RitL***
"Captains of the Gotei 13, we are in a grave situation. Less than one hour ago several enemy agents appeared in my office and handed me an official declaration of war against us."
The various officers began muttering to themselves, trying to alleviate the worry and confusion present in the room.
"It appears as though our enemies are those from long ago. Roughly one thousand years to be precise."
"Ah so it was the Quincy after all?"
All eyes turned towards the Twelfth Division Captain, earning themselves a creepy smile from the man. "I figured they were responsible for the situation in Hueco Mundo."
"Situation? Why was I not informed about this?" The oldest man growled out.
"Because it did not warrant your attention at the time. We had no evidence that whatever was destroying large groups of Hollows would pose any threat to us what so ever and thus it was investigated in secret. Recently one of our scouting parties was destroyed by a large army of Hollows but now I assume it had something to do with the Quincy as well."
"If you had informed us of this earlier then perhaps..."
"Captain General perhaps if you had done your job a thousand years ago we would not be in this situation hm?" The painted man shot back, earning glares from several other experiences Captains. "The fact of the matter is that we had no concrete evidence one way or another that they had returned until now. So rather than give useless information we decided to continue doing our jobs."
"We will speak of this again after this situation is over Captain Kurotsuchi, regardless now is not the time. We have roughly twenty-three hours left until they promised an attack. We must make all necessary preparations to ready ourselves for this."
"Captain General I propose that we send my lieutenant to Karakura town and have her make contact with our allies there. If the situation truly is dangerous we will need all of the help that..."
"Bah we don't need those wimps Ukitake, we can take care of these assholes just fine by ourselves. Besides this just means more fun for us." The blood thirsty Captain interrupted, his smile twisting into one of malicious glee.
"That is foolish Captain Zaraki" Hitsugaya spoke up with a calm tone, "we cannot risk another 'Winter War' situation. I suggest we make contact with Squad Zero as well to enlist their aid."
All eyes slowly turned towards their leader, seeking his approval in the matter.
"We are the Gotei 13. We do not require outside assistance to fight our battles. We have dealt with Aizen and his army of Arrancar, and even the Quincy a millennium ago. We can deal with them again now."
Shunsui shook his head, not for the first time doubting his commander's decision.
***RitL***
"It appears as though the Quincy have made their first mistake."
"Yo yo yo, old man has gone wack. Why didn't he just attack? Now that we know they will be expecting the blow."
"I think it was rather nice of them" The pink haired woman noted, earning slight glances from Shutara and Oetsu. "Instead of just attacking like cowards they actually did a formal declaration of war."
The woman didn't realize the insult she had made, not knowing the history of the war between the Shinigami and Quincy, and thus was surprised when Ichibe growled out in anger.
"They should have stayed dead. He should have stayed dead as was decreed. Now it looks like we might have to clean up Yamamoto's mistake once again."
"They haven't made any attempt to contact us and the Spirit King had directly forbid our involvement for now. Is there something we can do in the mean time?"
"We will begin making preparations to intervene in the war below. Undoubtedly the Quincy will lose, but there is a slight chance that it might become problematic for our forces." The monk answered the tall thin man.
"What about the Royal Palace? Should we begin making defensive plans for..."
"Of course not" Shutara snapped at their newest member, who cringed at the tone. "The Royal Palace cannot be entered by any not possessing the Oken even you should know that by now."
"O-okay"
The five members of Squad Zero returned their 'all seeing' gaze towards the situation in the Seireitei, ensuring that should assistance be needed that they would be ready to deploy.
***RitL***
'Ridiculous' the Captain commander scowled as he paced back and forth in his empty office, 'absolutely ridiculous.'
The oldest Shinigami was not used to situations such as this one. Not that war was new to him, far from it, but the hesitance he now felt. It was almost a feeling of... fear.
'There is nothing to fear from them. We destroyed them before and we will do so again. This time we have far more officers and soldiers, improved technology, and the defensive advantage.' Yet despite his attempts the man simply could not ease the feeling inside of his chest.
Perhaps it was the narrow victory they had managed to obtain over a treacherous Captain and his Arrancar forces. The Gotei 13 had outnumbered Aizen as well in their battle and yet...
***Flashback***
"What will you do now Captain General?" Aizen cockily called out at, "now that your powers are sealed away and your officers lay defeated. I want you to watch as your precious Seireitei is destroyed and that thing you worship dies. Then I shall become a God, and all shall worsh..."
"Oh come now Captain Aizen, do you really believe we would just sit back and let you destroy our home town? I thought I knew you better than that."
"Kisuke Urahara" the traitor growled out, as he noted the arrival of not only the blonde genius, but also Isshin, Yoruichi, and Tessai.
"You know it you sick bastard, since the old man over here is getting his ass handed to him we thought we would drop by, say hello, maybe shove your face into the ground a couple of times for old time sake."
"Isshin Shiba, I thought you would be more concerned about your daughters' safety rather than interfering where you have no business."
"Nah my girls are fine, just finishing up kicking the asses of your remaining Espada."
"It does seem that they performed rather poorly doesn't it? Oh well I suppose I can always create more after I become God of this world."
"Yeah yeah enough talking, let's break this asshole's face already." the dark skinned woman cheered, before charging forward with blinding speed.
***End Flashback***
Even with the assistance of the other outcasts, and the two 'substitute Soul Reapers' who appeared later on in the battle they had been hard pressed for victory. Due to the man's fusion with the Hogyoku he was near invulnerable, and every time they had managed to gain even a slight advantage he had simply evolved and increased in power.
In the end it had been an unlikely ally that created the window of opportunity for Urahara to activate his seal and end the war.
Gin Ichimaru had stealthily activated his Bankai and then betrayed his former commander, using it to dissolve the ex-Captain from the inside out. Thus Aizen had been weakened enough that a series of attacks were able to drain his power away enough for the artifact to reject him, and thus leading to his defeat.
For his efforts Gin had been reprieved from execution, although he was still imprisoned for the foreseeable future due to his crimes.
But still they had won. Their triumph had been without casualties on their side, and even without the intervention of the Royal Guard. If they could win against such odds and expertise, then there should be no question of their victory in this new war.
But still something bothered him.
This was not some former Captain with a God complex and a habit of creating elaborate schemes. No, if Yhwach truly had returned then even with his full strength Aizen paled in comparison. The man would have had centuries to rebuild his forces, since apparently he had done so without their knowledge. Not only that but he had apparently discovered a way to infiltrate their defenses without anyone noticing.
That was disturbing in and of itself, but the worst part was that his own soldiers did not have the element of surprise this time.
There was no question among the original Captains that they had been so successful due to the manner in which they attacked. The Quincy were not given time to prepare or devise a strategy, and Yhwach was caught off guard.
This time though... this time there would be not 'cheap shots', no surprise attacks. This war would end the dispute among scholars of which was greater, the Shinigami or the Quincy. This conflict would prove, or disprove, once and for all which faction would take control of reality.
There would be no mercy, no second chances for either side. The Quincy would hunt them down to the last to avoid the same mistake he had apparently made.
The Shinigami would do the same upon their victory.
***Next Chapter Preview! ***
Thus the man strolled through the fortress that functioned as the command center for the Shinigami themselves, intent on finding the object that was so very valuable.
It was a bit ironic, that the defenses setup to secure the most important structure of the Soul Society would also prove to be its downfall once more. Completely shielding it from any sort of detection from the outside meant that the Quincy lord and his two sons had no need to conceal their presences.
Once more the Shinigami thought themselves to be untouchable.
Once more they were mistaken
***Omake: Swift and Terrible Vengeance Pt. 1 ***
"Ladies and gentlemen we have a serious situation. It appears as though we..." Gin paused for dramatic effect "have been betrayed!"
Dramatic music emanated from... somewhere, while Ichimaru turned to his remaining 'subjects'. "Yes I understand the gravity of the situation. For our own officers to do such a thing..."
The man paused, and wiped imaginary tears from his eyes.
"BUT FEAR NOT! We shall have our VENGEANCE!"
The silver haired Shinigami turned and departed, cackling madly.
Meanwhile his remaining 'soldiers' stared at his retreating form with unblinking eyes. Dark and soulless like a dolls eyes... mainly because they were, in fact, just stuffed animals and thus had no souls or eyelids to use for blinking.
***RitL***
Kakashi was having a good day, no scratch that he was having a fantastic day. It had started off with him sleeping in well past when he was supposed to meet his team, the spoiled brats, and followed with no less than two hours in front of the memorial stone.
Truly there were times where he felt that the only ones who understood him were the names carved upon that beautiful rock.
Afterwards he ran a few errands around Konoha, picking up groceries and the such, until he discovered it.
The newest Icha Icha novel had just been published and made available for purchase.
Truly it was a glorious day.
After buying several copies, one never knew when they would come in handy, Kakashi prepared to begin his reading, when he was interrupted by a high pitched screeching sound.
It was a horrific sounding battle cry, like a cat in labor mixed with someone running nails down a chalkboard and Gai shouting about 'youth' in the background.
And he had been having such a nice day...
"SENSEI! THERE YOU ARE!"
"Ah Sakura I was just busy contemplating the meaning of life when I overheard an assassination plot against the Hokage, naturally I sprung into action and apprehended the criminal through a battle of wits and skill. Unfortunately the man had prepared for this and laid a dastardly trap that would end the lives of several innocent young children if I..."
"LIAR!"
Kakashi rolled his eyes, the girl really did need to think up some better comebacks if she ever hoped to challenge him to a battle of wits.
"You are supposed to be training us today, remember Sensei?"
The Jonin blinked, then blinked again in confusion. "Hm? Did you say something Sasuke?"
It wasn't his fault, the boy was so mono-toned that he literally would fall asleep when he spoke. He had begun using the phrase 'micro naps' for what would occur, and had been attempting to find a way to weaponize it against their enemies.
"Anyway I did not forget, I was just taking the scenic tour." the man took out his newly purchased book to begin his reading when he froze, his eyes opening wide in horror.
"No... no this isn't possible..." frantically the former ANBU began flipping through the book, desperate to find something he was looking for.
Meanwhile two of his three students looked on, puzzled at what was going on.
"Sensei are you okay?"
"It... it... it... IT'S CENSORED!? WHO WOULD COMMIT SUCH AN ATROCITY!?" The man promptly fell to his knees in depression, before reaching up to the sky and tilting his head back in emphasis.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
***RitL***
From a nearby building a certain silver haired Shinigami looked on with glee. "I warned them of the consequences for betrayal. The Soul Society might have let Aizen-chan-san-kun get away with such things but I do not."
***A/N***
All Sternritter will have their status' updated as time goes on per request.
I assume that many of you have already noticed the changes in canon, I will begin clarifying a few facts now.
Aizen was defeated, and sealed just as Urahara did before. The difference is that Karin and Yuzu were not Ichigo and thus could not defeat the man by themselves. So instead the 'outcasts' decided not to wait until the last possible second and figured that teaming up with the most powerful Shinigami alive would be a pretty good idea.
Gin betrays Aizen far earlier on... because I still don't understand why he waited until the man was immortal to do so, thus he survived. Mainly because I really do like him as a character regardless of his entertainment value.
Ulquiorra had survived the war, only to be killed several chapters ago.
Yuzu and Karin did not lose their powers, because they did not acquire the Final Gestuga Tenshou.
As for the current events, I feel as though Squad Zero would not have intervened even with advanced knowledge, because they sure as hell didn't when Aizen was murdering people.
Yamamoto was still an over prideful son of a bitch even when the Quincy were directly invading them so there seems to be no reason for him to ask for reinforcements.
Yhwach was a poorly developed Aizen replica in terms of tactical knowledge... so I am taking over for him. This means that he is actually going to make somewhat intelligent decisions regarding the war instead of just hurting a bunch of people and then letting them go.
This will also result in deaths... a lot of them. So here it is folks There will be character deaths in future chapters!
So do not message me complaining that your favorite character got killed, don't whine and cry when such and such is defeated and doesn't pull some miraculous recovery because they are "so cool". You have been warned.
War Enders (Aka Special War Potentials)
Ichigo (presumed)
Jugo (presumed)
Sternritter/Vollstandig:
A
B
C
D The Domain Kort
E The Emotion Vanda – God's unending Love -deceased-
F
G The Golem Irmine
H The Heat Bazz-B
I
J
K
L
M The Mirror Lothar
N
O
P
Q
R The Restraint Lutz
S
T The Thunder Adali – Light of God -deceased-
U
V The Volatile Bambietta
W
X
Y
Z