Disclaimers, etc.: see chapter one
Opening Theme: No Way Back (AAA Dome Tour 15th Anniversary - thanx AAA lot - Live) by AAA
Ending Theme: Party It Up - City Summer Party Remix - by AAA

Chapter 07 written 10/20/2022

Bleach: Cross
Princess on Vacation
by Eugena

Rated M

Chapter Seven: Zero Pressure

天国的白雪公主

BEACH - NEAR KARAKURA TOWN

"Hime-sama looks gorgeous. Wish you could join us!" Heart, smiles, wink emoji.

Ichigo looked down at his phone, his mind racing.

Rangiku had his number in case of an emergency, but never did he imagine she would contact him like this.

His heart raced at the thought of seeing Shirahime again.

For a while, his past self took his place in life, and that self who was once her husband had many experiences with her that Ichigo could only hope for.

If only he were older.

He knew of several high school girls having relationships - and going all the way - with teachers.

He used to look down on that.

Until he met Shirahime.

He wanted nothing more than to be together again with his wife's reincarnation, but the fact she kept calling him a child and pushing him away discouraged him.

He knew exactly what Shirahime would think about those high schoolers with their teachers. Those teachers would not be intact when she got her hands on them.

What could he do to get closer to her?

If age was such a big deal to her, why did she put up with Toshiro Hitsugaya all the time?

His sister Karin fantasized about him. He accidentally overheard exactly how much. He tried to erase the memory.

Maybe he should hope Karin would finally -.

No, no, he shouldn't hope that.

She was way too young for that. Karin would disagree, but he couldn't allow his sister to become an adult so fast.

That's it. Just tell Shirahime about Karin and Toshiro.

The fact that his kid sister was having such "adult" thoughts about Shirahime's former taicho should gross her out so badly she would never look Toshiro's way again.

Perhaps it was good Karin was human. If she had been a shinigami, she would probably be more than willing to do as she pleased with him. Whether or not he wanted to.

Why couldn't Ichigo be several years older already?

He remembered how it felt to kiss her. The last time he did so she kissed his past self goodbye. This self was an adult, unlike him. And unlike him, they had been married and had a child together. When his old self left and he came back, he felt her kiss him. Only to pull back and apologize, intending to kiss Prince Ichigo but not Ichigo Kurosaki.

He didn't mind the mistake.

Perhaps she might think of him as his former self today.

He looked out over the beach and realized that more than anything, she would be thinking of the home she could never return to.

天国的白雪公主

KARAKURA TOWN - CLOTHING STORE

Rangiku promptly shut up after the discussion of a pending execution and the argument exposing some secret her taicho had and that he would be in a lot of trouble.

She looked to Momo, hoping her taicho's childhood friend would back her up.

Exactly why had she thought she would?

Pick a reason, any reason, and they all said Momo would not be supporting her.

So, trying to calm down, Rangiku considered some of the reasons, Shirahime is: a god; an elder god; a princess; the Imperial Princess; a member of the royal family; the one person who is going to marry the next Soul King; the mother of all that person's children; Momo's taicho; Momo's former (one-sided) love interest; and the mother of Momo's current love interest.

She probably should just stop right there.

"That was very stupid," Isane said to her as she checked to make sure Rangiku didn't have anything broken. "I would think when a god starts discussing reasons to execute people you would have shut up. Consider the fact as well she has a lot of children. Do you think she would have put up with people like you around them while they were still young?"

"Please, Isane, I'm not trying to bed her, so you don't have to talk down to me. I'm not your competition."

"No, you just finally bedded one of the fathers of her children. So, you're either gloating today or you're feeling insecure in your relationship with Zaraki. Guess what? You won. You got him. But don't think that would mean he would protect you from her no matter what.

"A lot of people had Zaraki until she came along. So, what are you afraid of really? That they will go back together or that he'll start seeing a lot of people besides you?"

"You don't really care for her, Isane. It's just because she's a god. You just feel like you have to."

"I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt today that you're having some relationship troubles. And that you think blaming them on the person Kenpachi Zaraki is still in love with will solve them. Guess what, Rangiku? You knew when you started your relationship with him that she'd never really be out of his life.

"Now stop having a 'me, me, me' moment and act like a grown-up woman."

Nanao could see them from where she stood and overheard them. Rangiku was being so insensitive. Was she really so naive she couldn't tell Shirahime didn't willingly break up with Zaraki? Yeah, sure, she broke up with him. But it was quite obvious zero division used something very persuasive to pressure her. Really, there was only one thing that would have worked. Anyone with a brain would have figured it out.

"You okay?"

She turned to see Yumi there.

"Yeah."

"Believe me, I heard them, too," Yumi said. "I honestly thought him getting into a relationship with her was a bad idea. That he didn't explain enough he wasn't going to let hime-sama go."

"You know, right?" Nanao asked. "The reason why they broke up."

"Well, he never told me, but it was pretty obvious. She never told him. I'm sure that was part of the deal.

"Hell," he continued, "before she separated Daichi and Raiko, she told him no matter what she did or said later that she would always love him. * Rangiku was there. She heard her say it. It was obvious there were a lot of things she wasn't allowed to talk about, but the real reason why she broke up with him should have been obvious."

"So obvious I can't believe Rangiku didn't figure it out. No one talks about it, but anyone knowing enough would understand. Nobody talks about them. It's insulting, you know? We're supposed to be protectors of the royal family, and now that happened with her and she's just dealing with zero division on her own. It's not right at all. Damn it, I wish I was skilled enough to kill them all. I wish they'd leave her and her kids the hell alone. What were they thinking anyway? She's the mother of the next king's children. Don't they at least have any loyalty to him?"

"No," Yumi admitted. "The puppeteers don't like the prince. He and hime-sama are going to kill them all. They know they have such little time left. But there are so many of them - some of them even lesser gods - that even an elder god like hime-sama would struggle to kill them all.

"It's how she died. The very first time. When she had Yachiru - Hikari. She killed thousands. I don't know if it was kindness or cruelty they chose to tell Prince Ichigo that she only died in childbirth. Not that she bled to death while she killed all them."

"It was still from the birth, right?"

"Yeah. But it seemed nice to omit that to Ichigo. Before Kurosaki came back and the prince found out the truth, he lost it. Really lost it. Just about killed Rukia.

"Speaking of which, wanna help me beat Kurosaki's ass if he asks her to marry him again? I'm getting tired of that crap. He can't take a hint."

"We'll all help you on that one. Even Rangiku - maybe. By the way, what is the truth about Hitsugaya?"

"That he needs his ass beaten worse than Kurosaki. Raiko is right. What he's been doing is an insult. Sure, not everyone might agree, but what Raiko says is like what her father the prince would say. Raiko picked up on a lot of the ways of the royal family and protocol while hime-sama hid her. She's a lot more powerful and frightening than Yachiru if she gets motivated enough. She's untrained."

"And that other father of hers?" Nanao asked, referring to 'the bad man' no one was allowed to speak of.

"No matter what, he must never get his hands on her. More so than Daichi. She has less control. Then his little underling, that man looks at hime-sama in that wrong way. Imagine what he would fantasize doing to her child."

"I honestly can't wait to kill him and his lackeys. It's pretty clear how he became the father of those children. But he's nearly as dangerous as zero division."

"I can't decide which side would be worse. His side for what he wants or zero's dark side for what I can't begin to imagine they want."

"And what about you in all this?" she asked. "You're still Daichi's father, better than that other man, but your relationship with her isn't the way it used to be."

"My fault," he admitted. "I kept acting like I didn't want her. She ignored that. She figured that since so many people thought I should only be with a man that I was just bending to social pressures and didn't really want to break up with her. She was right. She was so right on that. It seemed alright when people knew I preferred men, but you can't believe how much hate I've gotten when others found out I was with her."

"No," Nanao said, "I can believe it. It could have been that way with me, but I fell for her after she came back. Not like you did all the way back in the day when she was in the eleventh division. It's like people look the other way on their expectations as long as you only liked her after she became a god. It was never fair to you. She would never have kept pursuing you if she honestly believed you were over her. It wasn't that she could accept that -."

"It was that she knew it wasn't my own choice," he said. "But in the end, it was. I walked away. She kept giving me chances, kept showing me it was okay for us to still be together, but then she finally walked away. Gods, it still hurts so much. I can still spend time with Daichi and the family, even her, but not like I used to. I can't spend time with her just the two of us anymore."

"Well, don't waste any more time. I'm sure you can find some way to be back together with her."

* Red Gemini

谢谢你们的阅读。