Disclaimer: I do not own bleach! All credits go to Tite Kubo
Silbern Great hall
***Next day***
Ginrei looked out at the sky, it was still morning, he recalled the aid from Ichigo to render military assistance as soon as they could, it was a massive relief that he could bring this information home, while Ichigo was yet unsure how many troops he could spare when the time comes as it greatly depended on the situation here in the Wandenreich, Ginrei walked through the hall, admiring it's architecture.
Suddenly a voice interrupted Ginrei, he looked back and saw Rurichiyo do the same with he did with Enryu, Kenryu and Rukia who had spent the morning speaking with the Kasumioji family, it made Ginrei glad to see that they were having a friendly conversation as it could improve internal relations between the noble houses, and that Rukia did her part for the Kuchiki pride.
When Byakuya lost his wife and Rukia was taken into the Kuchiki family he approved greatly but silently, he knew how much Hisana meant to his grandson, in Ginrei's heart Rukia and Byakuya were both his prides, he loved them both dearly, his beautiful grand children, truth was, Ginrei was greatly indepted to Ichigo on several accounts, he had greatly helped them with the Koga and Muramasa incident, and he had successfully invaded the Soul Society with a small party with a single goal in mind, Rukia.
Nothing in Ginrei's mind could ever express the gratitude to Ichigo for his actions, for helping his family, Ginrei was too aware of Byakuya's pride and he would always take matters alone without aid, but Ginrei was shown that Ichigo wouldn't let him go through hell alone, and had always pulled Byakuya out of his own hell, that was the sign of true camaraderie, Ginrei knew Byakuya was aware of it, but then again he would never openly admit it.
Ichigo was the only one to ever stand up against Byakuya when he did something stupid, and Ichigo knew better than anyone what had happened when situations arose, on the wall there was a painting, a painting of Ichigo killing waves of waves of hollows, protecting a Quincy family in the process all while holding the flag of the silver cross, it was obvious that the portrait was depicting the world of the living, Quincies lived there too after all, Ginrei looked at the portrait and let out a small smile.
'Once a protector always a protector i presume, that is what you are first and foremost isn't it? It is your way of ruling, you'll let the world fall down on the heads of anyone who dares to threaten your people, showing an unending fury never seen before.' Ginrei said inwardly as he understood what the portrait truly meant, what it signified.
Ginrei did wonder if he should be bold to ask Ichigo for a favor, but he was unsure of how to proceed with his request, the request that would mean so much to the Kuchiki family.
Silbern Royal Bedroom
Ichigo just woke up, he looked at Bambietta and realized she was still asleep, it was still early in the morning and the meetings wouldn't take place before 08:00 and later, he looked at the center and noticed a small head popping up through the blanket, with light brown hair, Ichigo chuckled a bit as he took down the blanket a bit so Sabrina wouldn't have trouble breathing under the blanket.
She had been permitted to sleep in the royal quarters, she was usually quiet and hard to notice at times, weird for a 4 year old, regardless, she had a terrible nightmare during the night, Bambietta had checked on her before she went to sleep and noticed her crying and trembling, Bambietta had woken her up but she was terrified of going back to bed so Ichigo proposed that she could sleep with them if it made her feel better.
Bambietta was happy to hear that she was permitted to sleep with them, the last thing she wanted was for her baby sister to be terrified or something alone, Bambietta had carried her to the bed she shared with Ichigo, Rurichiyo, Enryu, Kenryu, Ginrei and Rukia noticed the girl as they were speaking in the royal quarters, Rurichiyo thought she was wonderful and was happy to see her, furthermore they had also learned that Bambietta was seperated from her parents from a young age and only recently found them, with a extra bonus of course, namely Sabrina.
When Rurichiyo heard the story though the bad details was left out intentionally, instead Ichigo just told her that Bambietta had a tough childhood, she was happy that Bambietta had found her family, Rurichiyo believed that everyone deserves to be with their family instead of being seperated, regardless Bambietta had a happy ending to hers, one that kept evolving.
Ichigo went quietly around, Ichigo has thought a lot about Sabrina the last few days, she was a quiet but amusing child, very protective of what is hers, but despite that she never got angry when something went awry, something Ichigo admired in the little girl, in Ichigo's eyes she had a lot of potential and a very interesting character to her despite her usual silence and calm demeanor.
The girl had surprised and impressed Ichigo in so many ways in just a short amount of time, how she always put others before herself, how she was way more intelligent than most people around her age is, but despite that she had always maintained her 4 year old style, being very attached to things around her, like Bambietta for instance, if given the chance she would never leave her big sister's side.
'Never leaving you sister or family huh? Well i guess that is who you are, family matters a lot and you seem to realize that.' Ichigo said inwardly as he thought about Sabrina.
***54 minutes later***
Bambietta just woke up, and noticed that Sabrina was lying almost on top of her, if she sat up now Sabrina would be thrown off and Bambietta knew that, something she didn't want, Bambietta noticed the white pajamas Sabrina was wearing with lots of teddy bears on it, unlike her own that had lots of hearts on it, she also noticed how Sabrina always held her teddy and slept with it, never leaving it at all.
She chuckled at this, it was quite cute, Bambietta recalled how uneasy she slept in her bed before they took her into their bed, it wasn't the first time Sabrina had slept in that bed, though that was only when she was tired and wanted to rest at daytime where she took a small 5 minute nap.
Bambietta looked at Sabrina's head, the pony tails were gone, she always straightened her own hair before she went to bed, and always had two ponytails when it was daylight, something Bambietta had done for her the last few days, she did expect to help her today too, not only that but Rurichiyo had also shown eagerness to meet Sabrina, she was curious about Bambietta's sister.
Something Bambietta inwardly laughed at, though she hasn't told Sabrina about it yet, Bambietta knew it could be a very interesting meeting, the noble that always speaks vs the silent girl, then again, Sabrina hasn't really connected to anyone outside her own family with the exception of the chancellors and Ichigo aswell as the royal family, so she did have some people but she lacked friends.
Bambietta knew it, and she did feel sad for it, all she wanted was for her own sister to be happy, and she showed a lot of happiness now, but she also needed friends of her own age and size, and that was one thing she didn't have, but Bambietta couldn't force anyone to be her friend, Sabrina would have to figure it out herself and that is also something Bambietta knew.
Bambietta took her hand to try to wake Ichigo up, when she reached his side all she felt was a pillow, she didn't look to her side but still tried to reach him and moved her hand, eventually she got impatient and looked over and noticed that Ichigo wasn't there, Bambietta looked at the clock and noticed it was almost 7 in the morning, then she felt Sabrina move and looked back at her.
Sabrina had also woken up and was stretching and rubbing her left eye.
"Hey sleepyhead, did you sleep well?" Bambietta asked with a smile as she looked at Sabrina.
Sabrina nodded as she noticed that her big sister was already awake.
"Did you have a bad dream last night?" Bambietta asked as she moved her hand and began to stroke Sabrina's hair.
Sabrina just lowered her head, it was a bad dream she had, but she had slept better with Ichigo and her sister, feeling a lot more safe around them.
"Poor girl, your big sister will always be here for you." Bambietta said with a proud smile.
Sabrina looked at Bambietta and moved up to hug her, a hug Bambietta gave back, they were brought out of the hug when a knock on the door was heard.
"Come in." Bambietta said.
"Good morning lady Sabrina, grand mistress, his majesty has already woken up and ordered that breakfast will be eaten in the great hall with the guests in about 15 minutes, the guests are already awake and are in the great hall, all of them, the chancellors have also recently woken up, per his majesty's request lady Sabrina is asked to attend." A servant said as he entered the room with several other servants.
"I see, well i suppose we better get ready then huh?" Bambietta said as she looked at Sabrina.
Sabrina nodded and went over to change and use the bathroom, Bambietta decided to wait until Sabrina was done though it didn't take long for her to finish using it, Bambietta was in the midst of putting on her uniform when Sabrina was done, she had just put on her shirt and was in the middle of zipping it when Sabrina entered, but she decided to use the bathroom before she finished the rest of her dressing.
Eventually they were both dressed and Bambietta had just finished Sabrina's ponytails, Sabrina wanted to bring her teddy bear to the breakfast table, though Bambietta was a bit unsure whether it was okay or not she ultimately decided to not object to it, figuring it could be put away should it become a problem, she was just a little girl after all so how much harm can it do?
Bambietta looked closely at Sabrina and grinned.
"Cute." Bambietta said causing Sabrina to blush.
Sabrina wore a Quincy uniform customized to match her, it was a small officer trench coat, with the standard Quincy shirt, with a teddy brooch on her right side, and she wore a skirt just like her sister, with white shoes and white knee high socks. Sabrina had never worn this attire before but it was comfortable.
"Do you want to attend? If you don't want to no one is forcing you." Bambietta said as she kneeled down infront of her sister.
Sabrina thought it over, and nodded, effectively giving her consent to attend.
"Very well, let's go then shall we? We have three minutes left to be there." Bambietta said as she held Sabrina's hand and went out of the bedroom.
Silbern Royal Quarters (Dining Room)
Bambietta entered the dining room with Sabrina, Ichigo with the state guests, chancellors and the rest of the royal family had also just arrived, Bambietta noticed they had just sat down since not all of them was properly seated since Rurichiyo and Ginrei was adjusting themselves on their seat.
"Our apologies for being a bit late." Bambietta said courteously.
"No worries, we have just recently arrived ourselves, i see you brought your sister too, i'm happy she decided to come, lady Rurichiyo may i introduce you to Sabrina Basterbine, Bambietta's sister." Ichigo said as looked at Sabrina.
All the guests looked over at Sabrina, Rurichiyo was amazed over how adorable she was, though Sabrina's shyness did kick in she managed to retain herself since she was holding her sister's hand, she followed her sister to the table and sat down besides her. Rurichiyo was sitting right in front of her besides Ginrei and Rukia, while Liltotto was sitting on her right side and Bambietta on the left besides Ichigo.
"Aww she's cute." Rurichiyo said happily as she looked closely at Sabrina.
"Indeed she is Rurichiyo-sama." Kenryu responded in agreement.
"She looks quite shy and nervous." Rukia said with a comforting smile as she looked at Sabrina.
"Indeed, reminds me a bit of Byakuya's shyness when he was a lot younger." Ginrei said, inwardly smirking, though he did maintain his outer stern face.
Byakuya... Shy... Now that got Ichigo's attention, he bit his tounge to hide his laugh using pain, no one noticed how much Ichigo was struggling or the small smirk in the corner of his face as he looked down on the breakfast plate to hide it except one, Rukia knew Ichigo well enough to put the pieces together, she just wanted to beat up Ichigo right now for finding that hilarious.
However Rukia knew that doing that would cause a lot of problems, so she decided against it and didn't say anything since it was official business, however she would not forget that one, not a chance in hell, one way or another Ichigo would pay for it. Even if hell had to freeze over for it to happen, so she pondered her options and decided to speak with him later as friends rather than officials.
Eventually Ichigo got a hold of himself, and looked back at the people around the table and noticed Rukia's disapproving look and knew he had screwed up, but he knew it wasn't official insult since it was Ginrei that mentioned it, if it had been it would have been Ginrei that threw the insult not Ichigo, so Ichigo knew that it was personal for Rukia, and she would find a way to get her revenge for her brother's pride.
Ichigo knew Rukia wouldn't stop until she had gotten it, sweat started to drip down on his neck, he really needed to be careful if he didn't want to get the living crap beat out of him, he knew that much. Now he was becoming paranoid and would ask Bambietta for around 30 guards from the K.G to guard him for the duration of the visit when breakfast was over and they were headed towards the meeting, he was happy that he could atleast use that as an excuse to delay things, though he was unsure if 30 guards were enough for Rukia's wrath. Bambietta brought Ichigo out of those thoughts when she started to converse with him however.
"Anyways i'm Rurichiyo Kasumioji nice to meet you." Rurichiyo said happily to Sabrina.
Sabrina could only nod, she wanted to respond but the words was stuck in her throat, Kenryu noticed Sabrina's silence with cold eyes and he wanted to tell the girl that it was proper to introduce yourself when a noble has introduced herself, however he noticed that Ichigo already had introduced her and that he did mention she was a girl of few words, and to force the grand mistress's younger sister to respond when she was shy was not only cruel but it could also cause some trouble with their relations, something that they couldn't afford.
Rurichiyo just looked at Sabrina, causing Sabrina to get a little bit more nervous, she had dealt with people in high positions before and the experiences wasn't great, she noticed how Kenryu looked at her, and started to get a bit scared of him, if Bambietta and Ichigo hadn't been there she might have panicked, Ginrei noticed Sabrina's reaction to Kenryu and so did Rukia, that was not the look of shyness, that was fear though what she was afraid of they didn't know.
Liltotto looked at Kenryu and noticed his stern face, looking straight at Sabrina as if he was going to scold her, she noticed Sabrina's frightened reaction and put her hand on Sabrina's shoulder and gave out a rare but comforting smile to the girl, calming her down a bit, Sabrina knew she was surrounded by members of the Wandenreich, guards was positioned around the room from the K.G, the chancellors was there, her sister and Ichigo was there, she knew she was in safe hands.
Liltotto looked back and Rurichiyo who had noticed Sabrina's frightened expression, Rurichiyo returned the look and Liltotto hinted at Kenryu, Rurichiyo didn't take the hint but Enryu did, and poked Rurichiyo on the shoulder and got her attention, he then pointed the kenryu and the Rurichiyo got it, why she was so terrified, she opened her mouth to speak but Sabrina acted quickly out of fear, she grabbed Bambietta and pulled her in before Rurichiyo could say a word.
Bambietta looked at Sabrina and noticed her look, Ichigo did the same and they both looked to where Sabrina was looking, and then they both noticed Kenryu, Rurichiyo didn't even have time to speak, her attention was brought back to Sabrina since she had forcibly dragged her sister close in a desperate attempt to get help from her sister regarding Kenryu somehow, they all saw it, that there was something else to this girl they wasn't told, even Rurichiyo noticed it, she had even started to tremble.
Once Kenryu saw it he eased up his look and was puzzled, he didn't even realize he was looking coldly at Sabrina, and that his look was the source of Sabrina's fear, it's not like Kenryu intentionally scared her, he didn't mean it at all truth to be told, Ichigo knew that aswell, however the guests wasn't aware of Sabrina's bad experience with people from higher positions, Ichigo also knew that, it was a topic he had hoped to avoid but now he figured he owed them an explanation.
"Kenryu! You're scaring her, ease up on your look, she hasn't even done anything!" Rurichiyo said with anger at Kenryu.
Kenryu didn't understand what Rurichiyo meant, it was a subconscious reaction from him.
"Kenryu-dono, you threw a quite the cold glare to lady Sabrina just now!" Ginrei said coldly and disapprovingly.
"Huh? I did? My apologies to everyone in this room, i wasn't aware i was scaring her or that i had a bad look on my face, i beg your forgiveness lady Sabrina." Kenryu said as he bowed down to Sabrina.
Sabrina eased up, feeling a bit safer after the look had eased up, she nodded to Kenryu and Rurichiyo pointed it out to him, showing her forgiveness, it was then the guests noticed how quiet she actually was.
"You weren't joking when you said she was a girl of few words." Rukia pointed out as she looked a bit amazed at Sabrina.
"No i wasn't, she can sometimes speak but those times are very rare, i think i have only heard her speak two times in the last week, she is very cryptic." Ichigo pointed out.
"I see, however there seems to be more to that girl considering how she acted." Ginrei pointed out getting nods from the other guests.
"Well i didn't tell you because i hoped to avoid the topic but i suppose i should have expected this so i guess i owe you an explanation, truth to be told she has a bad experience with people from higher positions." Ichigo said as he looked at the roof, remembering the reports that horrified him.
"What do you mean?" Rukia asked curiously as she switched looks between Ichigo and Sabrina.
Ichigo told them about the situation in Ansbach, how Sabrina was treated and what the reports said, Rurichiyo was horrified to hear this, so was Kenryu and Enryu, Rukia was shocked, Ginrei frowned, they all knew now why Sabrina got so scared.
"I see, so she is suffering from PTSD, the look Kenryu-dono was the same look she received in the village by the children of that mayor?" Ginrei asked.
"I presume so yes, you remember that i told you how she was sick when we found her?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes what about it?" Rurichiyo asked.
"Well, the truth is that the mayor's son threw her into a fountain that had cold water, and was infected with some sort of legionella bacteria that made her sick, the fact that the cold water gave her a cold and weakened her already weak immune system didn't help either, the bacteria infected her with legionnaires' disease a week before we found her, because the mayor had issued all the taxes and robbed them of all economy, they barely could afford medicine, her father tried to stand up to the mayor but was arrested with his wife, though they weren't thrown in prison they were placed in house arrest and forced to watch Sabrina as she got worse and was so sick she was dying." Ichigo said.
"Legionnaires' disease?" Rurichiyo asked.
Uryu told them all he knew about the disease, how horrible it could be, something that shocked all the guests, Rurichiyo didn't know what to say anymore.
"So how did the situation end out?" Rukia asked, feeling remorse for Sabrina.
"The A.N.U originally had orders to protect them from the shadows, Bambi's family was placed under house arrest and watched and guarded by the mayor's private milita, the A.N.U got suspicious of them and decided to investigate further, breaking away from their original objective to identify the guards, and see if they were friends or foe, as it turned out, they were foe and was executed by the A.N.U on the site once it was revealed, once they learned about Sabrina they instantly called us and requested a schatten back to Silbern so she could get medical treatment.
The nearby base was under the leadership of a close friend of the mayor that let him do as he pleased, so the A.N.U captured the general in charge of that base, arrested him and under my command placed the base under house arrest pending investigation, we got Sabrina here as i carried her here personally, and eventually i ordered the arrest of the mayor and his family, but the militia wouldn't allow it.
the group that was dispatched from the A.N.U to arrest the mayor was small in comparison to the militia so we had a division stationed close to Silbern, the 112th division that consists of 23.560 if i recall correctly sent in to intercept them, once they arrived in Ansbach through the schatten they got fired upon by the militia, resulting in a bloody skrimish, the casulties on our end was 13 wounded, one A.N.U officer and 12 soldats from 112th division, of the militia that consisted of 124 men, 76 was killed and 47 wounded and 1 captured, adding up all 123 men." Ichigo responded.
"I hope justice was brought to the mayor and his accomplices." Rurichiyo responded in a shocked tone.
"Yeah, it was, though i presume the justice served was a bigger bite of the apple then i originally anticipated." Ichigo responded.
"How come?" Rukia asked as she looked at Ichigo.
"Well, i kind of brought the mayor and his family along with the general back to Ansbach, the 112th division had assembled all the rich people on my command, i had already used the almighty to root out any accomplices so when we arrived at the city center, people were flocking in to see what was going on, i pointed out the accomplices and my soldiers grabbed them." Ichigo responded.
"What happened after that?" Rurichiyo asked.
Ginrei already had a feeling about what Ichigo had done, though he did not disagree with the method because of the cruelty shown by the mayor and his accomplices and family, it was still surprising considering it was Ichigo they were talking about, to further raise suspicions, Bambietta had already covered Sabrina's ear, something Ginrei already had noticed, he noticed that Sabrina did not need to hear this, even Ichigo's family was curious now.
"We had them brought to a wall and had them all executed at the same time using a firing squad at my command and judgment." Ichigo responded truthfully.
Rukia, Rurichiyo, Kenryu and Enryu along with Isshin, Masaki, Karin and Yuzu didn't know whether to be shocked or surprised over this, they never imagined that Ichigo would hand out a death penalty or a execution of multiple people at the same time, though Ginrei already knew it was coming, Ginrei was more surprised over seeing the surprise of his fellow nobles and Shinigami.
"That is proper justice to be served, furthermore it would demoralize any corrupt official to continue their misdeeds, and therefore send a viable warning." Ginrei responded with approval.
"Indeed, that was our intention, and it did the job as we had rumors of the execution spread fast using the A.N.U severely reducing corruption around my empire, as the mayor we executed was the most guarded and most corrupt in the empire according to my reports." Ichigo responded.
"That would be expected, especially if you manage to take someone like that out so easily, it goes to further show that no one can escape your justice." Ginrei responded.
"Indeed it does." Ichigo responded.
Rurichiyo decided to break away from that topic, it was a topic she didn't want to think much about, so she focused her attention back to Sabrina in hopes of repairing the noble pride, it was easy for Sabrina to judge, Rurichiyo knew that, she had been exposed to a very rotten apple when it comes to status, the only people she didn't judge was probably the Wandenreich leadership, not a wonder either, Rurichiyo thought it was worth a try to repair their own reputation, Bambietta noticed it and removed her hands from Sabrina's ears.
"So... Sabrina, is there something you like to do during your days?" Rurichiyo asked Sabrina.
Ichigo looked at Sabrina along with everyone in the room, wondering if she would respond to it, though Ichigo was unsure. Sabrina on the other hand set her eyes on Rurichiyo and took her hand upon Bambietta's arm, and then she showed her teddy bear. No one of the guests understood what she meant, Rurichiyo had observed her closely and noticed the arm and the teddy bear, and then she understood what Ichigo meant with cryptic language.
"Ahh i see." Rurichiyo responded, causing the other guests to look at her.
"Rurichiyo-sama?" Kenryu said wondering what Rurichiyo meant.
"You like to spend time with your teddy bear and you big sister?" Rurichiyo asked happily.
Everyone changed their looks to Sabrina, noticing that Sabrina nodded to Rurichiyo.
"Huh? Lady Rurichiyo how did you know?" Rukia asked curiously.
"I see, so that is what you meant with cryptic, i didn't even realize it until lady Rurichiyo indirectly pointed it out." Ginrei responded as he looked at Ichigo, getting a nod from Ichigo.
The rest of them however were puzzled by this.
"It would appear that lady Rurichiyo noticed what Ichigo meant with cryptic, lady Sabrina primarily communicates using body language, objects around her, or her hands to point." Ginrei responded.
"I see, that is Rurichiyo-sama for you." Kenryu responded happily, getting a happy squeal from Rurichiyo.
Sabrina on the other hand looked at Rurichiyo and Kenryu with a dumbfounded expression, it was a bit unusual to see someone so happy to understand another, then again she was aware that she usually spoke in a very unique way, Rurichiyo decided to try to see if she could get the hang of Sabrina's cryptic language, much to Ichigo's amusement, since Rurichiyo missed the mark the majority of the time.
Bambietta was pleased to see that they atleast were getting along, eventually though Rurichiyo asked a question that Sabrina couldn't respond to cryptically.
"Do you have a name on your teddy bear?" Rurichiyo asked as she looked at Sabrina's teddy bear.
Sabrina looked at her teddy, and then back at Rurichiyo, she wasn't sure how to say that cryptically, so she decided for the first time in front of the guests and the rest of the royal family to speak.
"Teddy." Sabrina said, getting a surprised look from Rurichiyo and the other guests, Yuzu, Karin and Masaki knew about Sabrina and have met her several times but never heard her speak.
Bambietta was especially surprised since Sabrina was usually extremly shy in the presence of other people, especially those she had never met before, but for some reason she wasn't really that shy now, she did wonder if it was because of Rurichiyo's young age, and the fact that Rurichiyo had taken the initiative to speak with her, perhaps she felt a bit safer speaking to her for those reasons? The more Bambietta pondered on it the more questions she got for herself so she decided to let it go.
Ichigo smirked as he saw Bambietta's look of wonder, he found it rather amusing to say the least, he was thinking about the events of the day, the guests would leave tomorrow and during the day there would be an inspection of the soldiers of Silbern with the guests, it was to be held at around 12, so he would have to prepare for that, Emmerich would lead the inspection while Ichigo and the Wandenreich higher ups along with the guests of state watched.
Ichigo did indeed look forward to the inspection of the soldiers, as he was curious on how the procedure went, since he didn't know Emmerich was nice enough to add it to his list despite the fact that he is one of the guard commanders, however he did say that it wasn't an issue, not only that but it would be televised and people would come to watch, even the reporters from 9th division of the Soul Society would come to record the event and take pictures, and the team would ofcourse be led by Hisagi Shuhei himself.
It didn't take long for breakfast to finish, he looked at Bambietta and started to think about something that has been on his mind a couple of times but he was a bit nervous about it, and wondered if he should talk to her about it or if it would be stupid of him to bring it up, he thought about it for a while and decided to take her somewhere private once the opportunity presented itself.
He stood up along with the guests and prepared to leave the table, and he noticed that Ginrei approached him, asking for a word with him in private, Ichigo agreed and led him to his office.
Silbern Royal Office
Ichigo entered his office with Ginrei, Rukia had been told to be with Rurichiyo since Ginrei wanted this conversation more privately, something that Rukia indeed did even though it was obvious that she was curious what Ginrei wanted, Ichigo was curious himself but would soon find out what, something that really surprised him.
"Ichigo, i was hoping we could converse here as two people, right here i am just a grandfather." Ginrei responded.
Ichigo was a bit stunned over this, meaning that this wasn't official, he wondered what Ginrei wanted to speak about in this manner, though the words "just a grandfather" swirled around in his head so he figured it was either Byakuya or Rukia, or maybe even both.
"Of course, please, be seated." Ichigo said as he motioned for the two chairs in front of his desk.
"I know that you have personally experienced the feeling of losing someone dear to you, mostly regarding your mother, though that issue solved itself with time eventually since you got her back." Ginrei said as he looked Ichigo straight into the eyes with a sad expression.
Ichigo was about to go from a bit stunned to absolute shock, the stoic face of Ginrei was all but gone, everything that defined Ginrei just cracked right down the moment he sat down, what Ichigo saw in Ginrei's eyes was not strictness of family duty, but rather worry and sadness.
"Yes i have, not a pleasant experience if i may say so." Ichigo said recalling the day of Masaki's death, the aftermath and her revival, all while he looked straight at Ginrei.
"No, such experiences are gruesome... You are lucky to have gotten a second chance with her and so is Uryu with his mother, Rukia has never met her sister, and Byakuya lost the wife he loved so dearly, even to this day his heart aches for her memory." Ginrei said while he looked down on the desk.
Now Ichigo was getting a little suspicion about what Ginrei wanted to speak about, he never bragged about his mother's revival, nor did Uryu, Ichigo pondered the hint Ginrei gave him a bit and he knew that it was regarding Hisana.
'When Hisana died she was a soul, but on the other hand the auswählen is a redistribution ability, and souls are made up of reishi, Quincy can manipulate reishi, but then again does the auswählen work on a soul or does it just work on Quincy?' Ichigo internally asked himself.
"Difficult to say Ichigo, but Yhwach did try to take your Shinigami and Hollow powers along with your Quincy powers with the auswählen and succeded for a brief while until you got them back, but that might be because of the fact that you are a special Quincy, even i have no idea in this field Ichigo, there is only one way to find out, though the answer should be interesting." Yhwach said in Ichigo's mind.
"I suppose you are asking me to bring her back?" Ichigo asked though he already knew the answer.
"Yes, i know it is much to ask and it might seem unjust-" Ginrei said before Ichigo interrupted him.
"What is so unjust about requesting to get a family member back? I would presume it is even more unjust to leave them be and stay dead while others suffer for it, emotions and politics aswell as diplomacy are different things." Ichigo responded with a serious tone, much to Ginrei's surprise, if anything he expected to be creating a deal out of this one request, one that would be in favor for Ichigo and would cost him a lot.
"To be truthful, i do not know if the auswählen will work on a soul, on one side you have the fact that Yhwach took my Shinigami and Hollow powers with the auswählen, and the fact that it is a redistribution ability, and another fact is that Quincy can freely manipulate reishi, but on the other hand it is unknown if it can bring a soul back from the dead, since it is a Quincy ability meant to give Quincy advantage in power and life at the cost of another." Ichigo responded simply as he looked at Ginrei.
"So it would be entirely experimental then?" Ginrei asked curiously as he looked at Ichigo.
"Yes, if it does work on souls i have two additional targets in mind aswell, though i never met them personally since they died long ago, if not entirely devoured." Ichigo said as he looked out the window of his office.
Ginrei knew instantly of whom he was referring too, not only would it benefit Rukia, but it would also benefit his own family, the hollow never managed to destroy the bodies of Kaien or Miyako, but why would Ichigo be so interested in them? That was the one thing that really bothered Ginrei, until he recalled Isshin, Kaien's uncle, was Ichigo doing it for his father? Or was it his cousins over in the Soul Society to repay them for all their aid?
Ginrei knew that if he would permit Ichigo to experiment with the auswählen on Hisana, and if it was a success, he would personally gain out of it, he now knew that he had presented Ichigo with a golden opportunity, one that would work both ways, and Ichigo had noticed it and seized it, if anything he wondered how long Ichigo had been thinking about it, or how he planned to take action on it until this opportunity came knocking on his door.
"Very well, i will ensure that you can try the auswählen on Hisana as an experiment, if it goes well you can bring back those two aswell." Ginrei said with a smile, which Ichigo promptly returned.
"Thank you, i will ensure you get a message regarding my arrival in the Soul Society when i have the time, though i am not entirely sure when that will be, hopefully not too long into the future." Ichigo said as he stood up and took out his hand.
Ginrei was happy that Rukia had a friend like Ichigo, he took out his own hand and shook Ichigo's hand firmly, glad that they had reached an agreement.
Silbern Parade Ground
12:00
Ichigo had taken his guests down to the parade grounds for the inspection, Emmerich was waiting patiently for them to arrive, Thousands of spectators had arrived to watch the inspection, cameras was flashing and others were sending a direct broadcast, thousands of soldiers was lined up, all with the present arms stance, with their rifles in front of them, bayonetes attached, all except the high ranking officers that stood in the front row with swords and in the right should arms stance, except their swords didn't touch their shoulders and they pointed upwards.
Emmerich walked up to them in a marching like manner, when he approached them he quickly went into attention stance and saluted, and gave of a report.
"The Silbern Guard is ready for inspection." Emmerich said as he received a nod from Ichigo.
They began their inspection, though they wouldn't inspect everyone since it would take all day did since there was too many guards and soldiers, they looked at each and everyone of them, eventually Ichigo decided to test how far the inspection could go.
"Emmerich, i want to see those soldiers in detail." Ichigo said as he looked at a soldat.
"Corporals, approach." Emmerich said to the soldat.
The soldats marched up to them and went into inspection stance, they used reishi that they connected to their fingers to open the chamber of his rifle, something Ichigo didn't know was even possible, and the inspection began in detail, though Emmerich was leading it, they first looked at their uniforms, that was put on in a perfect and disciplined order, then they showed off their rifles, in perfect detail.
Ichigo was surprised, it was almost like the changing of the guard over at the tomb of the unknown soldier, except more noisy and more detailed, they eventually finished with the inspection and afterwards was a military parade, the parade lasted for 90 minutes, regardless the guests was impressed over the discipline and dedication of the soldiers Ichigo had at his disposal, aswell as their training.
However there was more people impressed by it.
Soul Society
The captains was all watching the events in the Wandenreich relatively impressed by what they were seeing from their regular meeting room.
"I must say, these soldiers are very dedicated and trained, and properly disciplined." Byakuya said as he looked at the monitor.
"Yes they are, i have never seen weapons being handled like that, and with such precision." Soi fon said as she recalled the inspection of the soldiers before the parade.
"And their skill in battle is impressive too as we have all seen." Kyoraku said as he recalled the war.
"Do you think these soldiers are just as skilled as those that attacked us during the war?" Nanao asked.
"It's highly likely, judging from their discipline, though we could be wrong, it would be boring to underestimate them." Toshiro said.
"Correct." Kyoraku said in agreement.
"Let's just hope the meeting went well and we can begin to build our relationship further with them without incident." Byakuya said as he eyed Mayuri, causing Mayuri to snort in frustration.
"You are no less guilty then i am Byakuya." Mayuri retorted.
"Perhaps not, but i did not get an army into Karakura town." Byakuya said in his own defence, effectively silencing Mayuri.
Wandenreich
Ichigo was just standing there, watching the soldiers marching by along with the parade music, several songs was played and Yhwach in Ichigo's mind told him the name of each song, after the parade and a few conversations later, it was time to show of their own military might, using the Silbern guard and the sturmarmee a military exercise has been prepared, it would last throughout the majority of the day, the objective was simple, capture a point and hold it, the enemies, was dolls, created by the research division, they were movable and what they fired at the Soldats didn't kill them, rather it just knocked them unconscious, and they were presumed dead in the exercise.
To be continued.
A/N: Alright, so i kinda screwed up something when I started this story as i misunderstood something about CFYOW that i recently figured out but i will not make any efforts to change it, the Königs Macht and the Almighty are practically the same, as the almighty originally comes from the soul king which Yhwach most likely inherited as he is the soul king's son, if it means that in canon bleach Ichigo has the almighty dormant and unawakened due to his mixed heritage being almost the same as the Soul King's power or not is only a matter of speculation, maybe canon wise Ichigo does possess the ability to split his soul, maybe not, it's never been talked about.