…The True Heir…

/Warning/: This chapter contains, fluff, violence, bad fighting scene? Ichigo being a BAMF, and we got to meet surprising characters, a little bit of sadness, cursing, and Ichigo protects his friends! And who knows what! All the reviews are appreciated.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

…Flashbacks or dreams…

"Zanpakuto or Hollows talking"

Chapter 9

"So what was it like?" Ishida asked Ichigo the third day after the Shinigami arrived into the human world, in the past few days since they arrived, the Shinigami were fascinated by the humans, and to their luck, Ishida agreed on teaching them whatever they wanted on the condition that he can steal Ichigo any time he wanted, Kaien and Ai were a little reluctant to that, but they saw how Ichigo was happy when he was with Ishida so they agreed on Ishida's condition, needless to say, it made both parties happy, other than Inaba who was still sore that everyone starts ignoring him in favor of learning more about the human world, everyone was fascinated, from juice box to the smartphones, to the way people acts, everyone was happy to have the explanation they wanted, even Ai and Kaien who may not admit to their students didn't know that much about the living world like Ishida and Ichigo. Today was one of the low days the Shinigami had when they finish their tour with Ishida earlier, so Ishida decided to take them to the river that was Ichigo's favorite spot, which turned out to be the right thing as everyone was having the time of their lives, playing in the river or resting on the grass, which left Ishida and Ichigo alone to exchange stories and talk about what the other missed.

At Uryu's question, Ichigo paused and sat on the grass looking at Byakuya from where he sat, his soul bond was playing tag with their friends and it seemed like he was winning. "Being dead?" Ichigo asked to only to get a pause from Uryu who then shrugged and looked at Ichigo, it was hard, they both knew that talking about the past, about being dead, about the time that passed, about everything in general because they missed so much of each other's life that it was a little hard to connect, but the two of them were trying, and that was the important thing. "It was… hard." Ichigo ends up saying getting a hum from Uryu who nods his head. "It was nothing but another life, you close the chapter here, only to open a new one there… it was full of sadness and fighting, the strongest devoured the weakest, the nobles were the ones on top of the food chain, and in the end, you realize, everything is the same as the living world… there was no fluffy wings or halos, you live your life and wish for the best…" Ichigo tried to explain, after all, nothing was the same anymore.

Uryu stayed silent for a little while until he let out a sigh a small smile taking over his lips. "But this time was better, because you have your Byakuya, and have friends, and a family that cares, right?" Uryu asked gentle, head tilting in the direction of Ichigo's group of friends that were now playing in the river, which made Ichigo pause a little bit and turn to his friends looking at them with a warm look.

Yes, this time was better, he met someone who turned out to be the most important person in his life, he made friends, which was actually a fate by itself considering that people usually steer far away from him, and it ends up with him gaining a family that he hoped to never lose, and to top it off he met an old friend he never thought he will be granted the chance to meet again… life was really looking up. "Yeah, you are right." Ichigo said which made Uryu give a small smile.

"Do you remember when we were young?" Uryu asked out of the blue which made Ichigo blink and turn to his friend that was looking at the river, the sad look in his eyes made Ichigo's heart bang in his chest; he never wanted his friend to feel this much sadness, but it was too late it seems. "You always talked about becoming a Samurai, even learn how to fight with a sword using branches, because you were so in love with that story about the Samurai and the Princess." That got a laugh from both Ichigo and Uryu as the looked at the tree the two of them used to play pretend under when Ichigo could run away from his dark and gloomy home for a few hours a day to meet Ishida and the two of them will go on their little adventures.

"You wanted to be an Archer, I remember once you brought your grandpa's old bow, and cried when you couldn't use it because it was as tall as you." Ichigo snorted at that which made Uryu punch him in the shoulder muttering 'Traitor' under his breath.

"It's funny, don't you think?" Uryu hummed a little a sad smile taking over his face as he looked at Ichigo's Zanpakuto and then his bracelet. "We end achieving these childish dreams… but it was at such a high price… I never… if I knew… if you just told me, I would have done something…" Uryu whispered which made Ichigo swallow and look at the sky taking in deep breathes.

"If I told you… then you will be the one sitting in my place right now." Ichigo ends up saying after getting control of his own voice, mind going far away, as memories of his childhood took over. "Then I will meet you after years when you will force yourself to be a Samurai that you never wanted to be… and I will try to fill in your shoes, trying to be an Archer when I don't even know how to use a bow and an arrow, we will both be miserable, and we both will look at each other with hate, blaming each other for the fate we had… I never regret dying, because if I didn't… then I will never have met my Byakuya, I will never befriend those troublemakers that made me want to run to the hills half of the time, I will never know what it would be like to be a part of a family that cares for me… and I will probably never been granted the chance to meet you again, and see you grow up and achieving your dream… I am happy Uryu, and you should be too, so let go of your regrets, you are still my trustiest sidekick that will never change no matter how things turn out to be…" Ichigo whispered to his friend, heartbreaking a little when he saw his friend hide his face in his knees, shaking a little like he was cold, Ichigo just put his hand on Uryu's back rubbing his back gentle… he never mentioned the sound of choked sobs he heard…

Uryu was grateful for that…

The first time Uryu told Ichigo about his grandpa wanting to meet the orange-haired man, he the man had regretfully said 'No', because if he was true to himself, he didn't feel ready to meet another person other than Uryu, yet… the second time Uryu asked Ichigo, the man had to say 'No' not because he wasn't ready, because Ichigo had spent the last day and a half thinking about Uryu's request and he discovered that it wouldn't be a bad idea to see the older man after so long, but Ichigo couldn't go this time because Kaien and Ai took the group to see the veterans Shinigami fighting Hollows that showed up in Karakura… now the third time Uryu asked, he glared at Ichigo daring him to say no, but the man just smiled and nod his head a 'Yes', which caused the teen to sigh in relief at that and adjust his glasses before going to Kaien and Ai asking them to give Ichigo half of the day off because his grandpa wanting to meet the teen.

So this is where Ichigo ends up, looking at the clinic/house he hasn't seen in years and years, the look of disbelieve on his face as he took in the fresh paint and new plants, it had been fourteen years since the last time Ichigo saw that house, but he still remember clearly how cold and unwelcomed it felt, but now… it felt like home… and Ichigo didn't know what to think, he felt the love and warmth coming from the house, he saw the way it changed after years, and he heard the sound of a piano coming from the house which made him smile a little.

"Is that your old home?" Toshiro asked looking at the place in wonder, as soon as Ichigo's group of friends heard about the man going to his old home, they all begged Ichigo and Uryu to go with them, Kaien's eyes sparkled at the thought of seeing Ichigo's home, but a glare from Ai-Sensei who looked at the man with disappointment as he was acting like a brat, made the man pout and sigh, but he did give the group half of the day off to see Ichigo's home (And report to him what they saw) much to Ai-Sensei's charge.

"Yeah… I think." Ichigo said looking at the house once more with a strange and faraway look as memories start dancing before his eyes. "It changed so much…" Ichigo whispered which made Byakuya take a hold of his hand and give it a small squeeze, which made the man take a deep breath through his nose and nod to Uryu who was looking at him with a worried look.

At his nod Uryu took his keys and opened the door getting inside of the house followed by Ichigo's and his friends, Ichigo looked around the place a smile taking over his face at the changes he saw, instead of the beige walls his step-mother was fond of, the walls were white… actually all of the décors are white or different shades of blue, Ishida's family really take their Quincy colors seriously, but it worked for the Ishida family as the colors suit them.

"Ah, Uryu you are finally home…" The voice of Ishida Souken as came out from the kitchen made Ichigo lookup; a giddy feeling was squirming inside of his chest, which made him look like a small kid in a candy store, the older man pause a little when he got out of the kitchen looking at the Shinigami in his home in confusing until his eyes fell on an orange hair teen… or a man. "Ichigo? Kurosaki Ichigo…?" The older man question as he took a step toward the man… it is a shock to see the small boy after so long, it was like it was yesterday that the young man dragged Uryu to another adventure of their making his grandson laugh when his own son wouldn't look at his child.

"Ishida-San…" Ichigo nodded his head bowing a little a small smile taking over his face which was mirror by the old man as he walked to Ichigo and pull him in a hug, making the man freeze a little and look at Uryu in confusion not knowing what to do, but the older man let him go with a smile on his face.

"A family don't bow for one another, son." The old man said which made Ichigo's lips wobble but he bite his bottom lip and nod his head, that made the older man smile sadly and guide Ichigo and his friends to the living room, to think that after all of these years, the small boy will return home as a man. It was strange and in a way, a fantasy that no one thought will come true after all who would have thought that Ichigo would have chosen the way of the Shinigami? The man could have easily chosen another way, but still, he chose to be a Shinigami, and from the look of it, his life turned good, seeing that he got a lover, friends, family, and met old family once again…

Souken could only smile at that…

By the end of their long week of visiting the human world, the last day was spent with Ichigo and his friends talking about their experience and asking Uryu if they could visit him again one day, which ends with the teen threating Ichigo that if he didn't come to visit them that he will practically kick his ass and make Byakuya kick his ass, which made the teen buff his chest happily and look at Ichigo with a proud look which made the man sigh at them and shake his head.

Everything was looking fine, that was of course before Inaba showed his face, which caused everyone to groan, but the determent look on the man's face made everyone stand a little on edge. "I challenge you." Inaba said before Ichigo even opened his mouth pointing his Zanpakuto at Ichigo which made the man blink and steer the tip of Inaba's Zanpakuto away from his face.

"OK…?" Ichigo made a questioning sound as he looked at his friends who were all blinking in confusion, by now everyone was looking at the two of them, they were divided between looking at Inaba with pity because everyone knows that he couldn't win against Ichigo no matter how much he tried as everyone agreed that Ichigo was insanely strong, he will probably be the first in the top ten that will graduate, and looking at Ichigo with interest to see what he will do, though everyone knows that Ichigo wouldn't go into a fight without a reason no matter how much Inaba annoyed him.

"I challenge you, and the winner will be the person who will slay as many Hollows as they can." Inaba said, sending a flitting glance toward Byakuya who grimace and whispered something to Uryu's ear when the man sent him a questioning look, that made Uryu look like he just swallowed a lemon and turn his face away, which only made Inaba growl and glare at Ichigo like he was the reason of all of his misery.

"Uh, sorry to bother you pal, but there are no Hollows here." Renji said as he stretched himself and lean on his back, putting his head in Rukia's lap, which made her slap his face gently, warning him about egging Inaba more than he was already, Toshiro looked at the man from the corner of his eye, then end up rolling his eyes at Inaba's red face.

"Not if I used this." Inaba said smugly taking out what seemed to be like a pill, upon seeing it Uryu's face pale and he let out a cry as he jumped from his place trying to reach Inaba but the man just Shunpo out of the way a smirk on his face.

"Ichigo, this is Hollow bait, if he breaks this, thousands of Hollows will swarm Karakura in the next five seconds." Uryu said in panic which made the camp go into an uproar and chaos, Kaien and Ai screamed at Inaba to give the bait and Ichigo stood fast ready to take it away from the man, but because of all of the confusion and screaming it seemed that Inaba dropped the bait and when he turns to search for it he stepped on it…

The sound of Hollows' screaming and shrieking as Garganta pathways opened and thousands upon thousands of Hollows appeared from the black void, the sound of screams, some from souls, some from humans made everyone stand still and Ichigo cursed as he looked around the place taking in his worst nightmare.

"Ichigo look out!" Byakuya screamed as he saw a Hollow fly at Ichigo at a fast speed that even Byakuya couldn't get his Zanpakuto fast to protect Ichigo… but something that looked like a bolt of lightning? Rushed at the Hollow hitting it in the mask, which made the Hollow shrieked and disappeared, which made everyone turn to the source of the lightening only to see Uryu with what looks like a bow in his right hand… a bow made of Reiatsu.

"You are… a Quincy?" Kaien breathed out which made Uryu turn to him for a split second, but the shriek of a Hollow behind him distract him and made him turn ready to kill the Hollow, but Ichigo was already there with a frown on his face.

"Everyone…" Ichigo snapped as he avoided another Hollow slashing in on its mask. "Get your shit together and protect the town, the souls and the humans are in danger!" Ichigo jumped out of the way from Uryu's arrow which hit its mark.

No one knows how much time that passed, but by the end of the third hour, half of the Shinigami were exhausted, especially the students as some of them haven't even woken their Zanpakuto, so those students were responsible for saving as many souls and humans as they can while the rest fought the Hollows, everyone was getting desperate, as every Hollow they killed two take its place the cycle continued.

"This is fucking ridicules!" Ichigo snapped as he slashed another hollow, his head turning to Ishida in worry, the man was perching on a high building shooting hollow, but in the past hour or so Ichigo noticed that Uryu's arrows were getting weaker and weaker, that made Ichigo swallow and let out a growl as he attacked another Hollow.

Toshiro and Byakuya were by his side helping him, while Renji and Rukia who didn't wake their Zanpakuto yet were protecting souls and the humans they could find. "Less talking more slashing Ichigo, they are getting larger." Toshiro snapped and used one of his ice dragons to kill the Hollow that was heading to Uryu who jumped off of the building and Ichigo's heart nearly stuck in his throat in fear that his friend broke his legs, that was until his friend landed safely on the ground and used a technic similar to Shunpo to stand beside Ichigo and the rest of his friends.

"Guys, I hate breaking our lovely chat, but what the fuck is that tear in the sky?" Byakuya shouted as he used his sword to stop another wave of Hollows from going after the souls that Renji and Rukia were trying to send to Soul Society. After Byakuya points out the large crack forming in the sky, everyone's jaw nearly hits the ground, and flatly Uryu notes that the Hollows are converging upon it.

"Look at the Hollows; they are heading to the crack." Uryu points out and uses his arrows, the group was running like headless chickens killing whatever Hollow appear in their place, and Uryu had to take a deep breath as he noticed that they were in Karakura's park, where Hollows liked to gather the most… great.

Suddenly a deafening screech was heard and the rip in the sky became larger and suddenly a monster emerges from the tear which made Ichigo raise an eyebrow and put his sword on his shoulder. "Well, that will be harder to kill…" Ichigo ends up saying which made Ishida throw him a nasty look.

"Harder to kill? Are you insane this is a Menos Grande! It can't be killed!" That shriek came from Renji as he Rukia and Kaien reached their friends painting for breath looking at the monster that was towered over them looking like six stores building high.

"First of all, that is a Gillian, who is the weakest of the Menos; you should know that since you loved reading books so much." Ichigo said which made Renji screamed his head and point at the monster with his sword cursing Ichigo for his know it all at the unfortunate time.

"Weakest? And how do you plan on killing it genius if we couldn't even reach his head?" Uryu said as he fires one of his arrows that hit the Gillian's neck but did nothing other than scratch it and made the Hollow angrier, that made Uryu raise his eyebrow and look at Ichigo challenging.

"Well, I was going to cut it from the feet until I reached the head, not the first Hollow I butchered like this." Ichigo said with a grin, well, it was more of a feral look on his face and his teeth were showing, that made Byakuya sigh at Ichigo's action but a small smile took over his face as he throws his Soul Bond a knowing look.

"Are you serious?" Uryu nearly whines at how much Ichigo was acting like a handful, and before the orange-haired man Shunpo away, Uryu gripped his arm, only for everyone to pause as his bow double in size… that made the Quincy let go of Ichigo only to see his bow shrink, so after gripping and letting go of Ichigo's hand for a few more time he turns to Ichigo and smiles at him, creepily as Ichigo might say.

To say the least, Ichigo was humiliated as he looked at his friend kneeling before him, he could hear Byakuya's giggles as he failed to contain his laughter at the sight before him, Ichigo never doubted Uryu intelligence, until his friend gave him his bright idea of having Ichigo tie his sword to his head and channel as much as he can of his Reiatsu to Uryu. "That's the most stupid thing I ever heard in my life, I hope you realize that." Ichigo said face going a little pink as he heard Kaien choke on his laughter, and Toshiro was looking anywhere other than the two, face going red from him trying to hold his breath last he laughed to death and have Ichigo go after his ass.

With Ichigo's Zanpakuto tied to his head, Uryu just rolled his eyes at how much his friend was being dubious. "Look the only way for is to beat that this is for you to increase your power to its maximum so I can shoot an extremely large arrow at the Menos Grande." Uryu looked at Ichigo with a triumph look which made the orange-haired man pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Me firing my power to its maximum will practically burn your soul out of its existent, the only one who could handle my power is Byakuya and even then he couldn't handle it half of the time." Ichigo points out as he pulled his sword away which made everyone become quiet and look at Byakuya who was grimacing and looking at the ground.

Being distracted gave the Menos a head on to charge a Cero at them, which made Uryu calls for Ichigo to connect his Zanpakuto to his body again, but to everyone's surprise, they all saw Ichigo rushing towards the Menos. When the Cero hits Ichigo everyone screamed until they realize that in fact, Ichigo was blocking the Cero with his Zanpakuto, and Uryu notes Ichigo's power increasing as he resisted the Cero, and he had to glance at Byakuya who was gasping in pain, trying to stay quiet as to not attract everyone's attention. When Ichigo repels the attack he screamed and releases highly condensed spiritual energy at the tip of the blade, which, magnifying the slash attack, flies forward the Menos taking the form of a crescent moon, it ends up killing the Menos in the process.

As the Menos disappears Ichigo turned to his friends who were looking at him with shock as the saw the Hollows retreat into Hueco Mundo. "Byakuya…" Ichigo muttered before looking at his Zanpakuto in confuse, and to everyone's horror, the blade broke, the sound of breaking glassed rang around the silent park and Ichigo swayed a little and collapsed on the ground, Rukia screamed as Byakuya pass out, but thankfully Toshiro was able to catch him before he hit the ground. Uryu screamed as he saw Ichigo's hand smoking from being in connect with his disappearing Zanpakuto. The energy released from Ichigo caused Uryu's bow to growing again, that caused Uryu to choke as he felt like his bow was about to explode, Uryu then begins to fire arrows into the sky to release the excess power and stabilize Ichigo, which by doing caused him to be injured his hands.

Uryu didn't notice how much he fired toward the sky, but by the end, his hands were shaking and bleeding, and he was swaying on his feet, but thankfully Renji and Kaien took a hold of him before he fell face-first into the floor, the sound of screaming and shouting and he raised his head to look at Toshiro who was shaking Ichigo and taking his scarf and covered Ichigo's bleeding arms with it. Uryu's vision swarms a little and when it cleared he saw a black cat screaming its head off a male's voice getting out of its small throat. "A talking… cat…" Uryu murmured blinking his eyes, before passing out tiredness taking over his body and mind…

He wondered if Ichigo and Byakuya were OK…

So what do you think?

Again sorry for the late update… college sucks…

*Dramatic Gasp* the angst rolled out!

Read and Review.

And tell me what you think…

Nazaki-Sama