Chapter 2: What Happened Can Never Be Forgiven, Right?

"Palacio de la Sangre - Blood Palace"

While Kazui and Tier were heading toward the soul reapers, and Ryu and Yuzu were heading back home, there was an impending battle back in Palacio de la Sangre. The new home of the hollows had been made by its king a years ago after the war. It floated above the red ocean on an large island that could fit its structure. The palace was ten times larger than Las Noches and was completely red with some black and white around certain buildings around it.

Inside in one of the larger rooms designed for training were two of the Queens of Palacio de las Sangre. They stared each other down with the intent to hurt the other. On one side was the former single Queen of Hueco Mundo, Tia Halibel. She stood there in her usual white outfit, only now the high collar was gone, showing her beautiful face to the world of hollows. Her outfit was also a little tighter, showing off more of her curves as well. She held her blade to the other Queen and smirked.

The other Queen was Yoruichi Shihoin. She stood in a tight red shirt with her usual black leggings on. She grinned in her usual way to the woman she respected just as much as the other two Queens as she got into her stance to prepare for battle.

"Ready Tia?" She asked her as her hair started to spark with white electricity.

Halibel smirked at her and readied herself. She had charged her own reiatsu to match Yoruichi's and the two stood ready and waiting for what the other was prepared to do first. Yoruichi's grin grew as she was completely engulfed in lightning and formed paws on her arms and legs along with cat ears formed by her hair mixed with the electricity. Halibel smirked at her again as she stood in pouncing position. Halibel was suddenly engulfed in water and started to transform her own self. The water swirled around her and she had started to transform into her old resurreccion form. She swung her free hand to the water and it evaporated completely. Yoruichi licked her lips when she saw Halibel's form. The skimpy outfit hugging that tight and sexy body she loved so much. If their King wasn't an amazing husband, then she might have just stayed with Halibel based purely off of lust most likely. Halibel saw that hungry look in Yoruichi's eyes that she's seen many a times before. That look never once getting old to her as she readied herself by flaring her reiatsu to show Yoruichi that it was time to fight. Yoruichi shook her head to remove lust-filled thoughts and readied herself once more. The two circled each other, prepared to battle each other once again like they had many times before.

As they were circling each other, a burnt orange haired woman silently stepped inside the room and made her way to a far wall away from the two. The third of the Queens stood with a shield in front of her as she leaned onto the wall to watch the two bombshells face each other once again. The Queen smiled as she watched. Ever since living here with the other Queens, the hollows, the Outcast and their husband, she had grown to love watching others fight each other for fun or training. She stood in a long white dress with a black top covering her upper body. She also had on simple sandals and wore her hair in a tied up way somewhat similar to Yoruichi. Her hairpins long gone, and in their place were earrings on each ear and a necklace she wore all in those familiar flower shapes that she had as a teenager. Orihime had grown since her youth and was now on par in both height and size as Halibel.

Orihime smiled as she waited for the imminent clash these two were going to do, and she wasn't disappointed at all. Yoruichi took off at lightning speeds and met Halibel with an axe kick straight down to her. Halibel blocked her attack and dust kicked up, covering them both. The dust cleared out with the force of Halibel's reiatsu and she forced Yoruichi off of her weapon. Yoruichi flipped in the air and landed on her feet with the nimbleness of a cat and rushed towards Halibel. She delivered a flurry of attacks that all only connected with Halibel's weapon and forced more and more pressure onto the room each time. Orihime wasn't effected as she watched them both now within a light blue dome for protection. She smiled as Halibel had started to go on the offense, swinging her weapon to meet Yoruichi's strikes. The more she swung, the faster Yoruichi became, making it more difficult for Halibel to fight her in this form at least. Halibel went for another slash but missed and Yoruichi landed on her weapon. She was preparing to attack again, but Halibel flared her golden energy onto her weapon and Yoruichi quickly flashed out of the way. The two were preparing to go at each other once more, but that was when they felt their husband's reiatsu spike.

All three Queens felt it as his energy flared angrily before calming down. Orihime was the first out of the room followed by both Yoruichi and Halibel who were now both in their regular forms now. They made several twists and turns before reaching a large door that had many red symbols on it. Cautiously, Orihime opened the door to their large bedroom and saw Ryu and Yuzu standing next to their father as he stood on a balcony overlooking the red ocean of Hueco Mundo.

Ichigo had changed his look slightly these past years. He now had his bright orange hair replaced with a pure white color that was shoulder length to him like before. He was taller now and was even more toned than what he had ever been. He wore a long white coat that went to his ankles and a white shirt with black pants. He still had the same face as before, but he had a scar that started on the right side of his neck that stretched just under his right eye.

From what the Queens could tell, he had calmed down significantly from whatever his two children had told them. He would never raise his hand or pressure against any of his children, no matter how angry he was. They walked inside and were met with a wave from the children.

"Ryu." Yoruichi started with a hand on her hip. "Mind telling me whatever it was that you told your father that made him flare his reiatsu."

All eyes, aside from Ichigo who was still looking out in the distance, were on Ryu now. He tensed for a second and nervously chuckled to his own mother. "Well. You see mom. Funny thing about that. Um-"

"There's a bunch of soul reapers in that ruined palace thing back there." Yuzu said in her usual straightforward way as she pointed off in the distance. "They looked real hurt, so big brother Kazui told me and Ryu to tell daddy while him and Tier stayed there."

Halibel and Yoruichi gasped in shock at hearing this news. Orihime went wide eyed then put on a stern look as her son was left with those people. She knew her son was more than capable to stop any and all soul reapers that came to invade them, but then she remembered that Yuzu said they were hurt. That could only mean one thing.

"You mean to tell me Kazui is healing them?" Orihime said as she rubbed her temple with her right hand.

Yuzu and Ryu nodded to her.

Before anyone else could say anything, Ichigo sighed. "Ryu." He started in a stern yet soft tone that caught his youngest son's attention. He turned to him and sighed again. "Take us to them, would you."

Ryu nodded and leapt out of the room through the balcony. He was followed by Yuzu and they both stood on solidified reiatsu to wait. Ichigo raised his right hand to his side and his weapon materialized in his hand from out of a black smoke. It was his normal, old black Bankai sword. After the war, this had become his lowest form that he could go to. His base form could take down armies. His shikai terraformed all of Hueco Mundo. And his Bankai was on another level entirely that couldn't be fully explained.

He sheathed his sword to his hip and was about to leave. That was when Orihime grabbed him by the sleeve of his coat. He turned to his three wives and they all had concerned looks in their eyes. He sighed yet gave them a small smirk nonetheless.

"I won't kill them. Not in front of the kids at least." He said to them. His voice had gotten deeper in those years as well.

"Well that's not it, but that's nice nonetheless." Yoruichi started with a grin as she moved closer to him.

"Just, don't do anything that you'll regret with our children being there." Halibel said to him as she also got closer to him.

Ichigo smiled to the three before kissing each one of them passionately. When he finished with Halibel last, he nodded and leapt out to follow his two children. The three Queens knew all of them couldn't leave the palace, so Halibel decided to stay behind to watch over everything. As the two followed, they could tell that Ichigo was feeling a mixture of anger and curiosity. Anger for any of these soul reapers showing their faces here, and curiosity for why they were here and injured no less. Just what was it that would intentionally bring soul reapers to this world of all places?

Kazui & Tier, After Ryu And Yuzu Left

Kazui and Tier stood ready for anything as they watched their younger half brother and sister leave. Kazui had put his hood on and looked to Tier. She nodded to him and the two decided to make themselves known to the injured and dying soul reapers. They rounded the corner and walked over to the group with caution. At first, none of them saw the two children, but when they both reached the group was when there was tension in the air. With his hood still on, Kazui made sure that none of the soul reapers could see his face. Some of the ones not too injured stood and took defensive stances just in case they would be attacked as expected. But to their surprise, the two unknown children simply stopped and stood in front of them all.

"What are all of you doing here?" Kazui asked them. He held his head down so that they couldn't see how similar he looked to his father just yet.

Seeing as though now the only captains not dead were Unohana, Toshiro, Shinji, Rukia, and Lisa, Kazui was mainly speaking to one of them. Unohana was busy attending th injured while also healing herself for the most part. Toshiro was being attended to by Isane and unable to really speak. Lisa along with Nanao were still reeling over the sacrifice of Kyoraku. Shinji was to badly injured to answer the boy, so that just left Rukia to answer the cloaked boy. She sighed and left her family to answer him much to the protests of Ichika and Renji.

"With all due respect, we were given no other option but to retreat here to your home." Rukia said in a calmed voice. "We have no intentions of starting a war with your king. we have just left a battle with barely our lives and we're simply trying to get our bearings."

Kazui kept his head down to avoid eye contact while Tier was a little skeptical about all of this. "What battle causes five captains and a bunch of lieutenants to retreat into true enemy territory?" She asked in a stern tone.

"The kind that we had no chance of winning." Rukia said as she clutched a light blue scarf with blood all over it in her hands tightly. "The soul society is lost to us and we're suffering enough casualties now. Please, we're already heavily injured as we are. We just need some time to heal and we'll leave, no questions asked." Rukia continued as she put back on a brave face.

Kazui sighed at hearing this. He knew what he was about to do would get him in serious trouble, but he was taught to help those in need. Against his better judgment, Kazui rose his head and his hood started to glow that light blue color. All the soul reapers tensed for a moment at the possibility of these two attacking them, but that changed when the boys hood disappeared to reveal his face to them. Aside from Rukia and Renji's daughter Ichika, everyone else were surprised and shocked to see that this boy looked almost exactly like Ichigo. They were going to question, but Kazui cut them off before anyone could speak.

"Rejection."

Suddenly, the energy from the hood surrounded them all in a massive light blue and orange barrier reminiscent of Orihime's healing dome. They could feel their strength returning to them and their severe injuries healing. Unfortunately, the dead could not be brought back.

"Wait a minute." Rukia started as she went wide eyed at the boy standing in front of her. "You're- you look just like-"

"Our dad?" Tier finished her sentence and caught both Rukia and everyone else's attention. "He gets that a lot." She said as she nudged her older half brother playfully.

"Sometimes a little too much." Kazui said to her and continued to heal the wounded.

"So if you two are his children," Unohana started as she stopped her own form of healing, "then why exactly are you helping us?"

Both Tier and Kazui looked to one another before he continued to heal them and sighed. "That's a question I really don't know the answer to."

Before anyone else could say anything, an intense pressure bared down onto the room. The soul reapers in the dome could feel the pressure and some were more than a little fearful of it. Rukia, more specifically, was absolutely frozen with fear as she remembered the last time she felt this pressure. The only difference from before was that there was absolute malice and hatred behind it back then. Kazui and Tier felt it but weren't as effected as the soul reapers were. To them, this felt pretty tame compared to say when he's really getting into training them.

Before a single word could be said, Ichigo flashed into the room next to Kazui and Tier, with the others following soon after, Ryu and Yuzu behind Orihime and Yoruichi. The soul reaper's stood there, numb from his gaze but could tell that if he wanted to, they would already be dead by now. They saw both Orihime and Yoruichi walking up to him and standing next to his side. Their gazes were also hostile towards the group, but not as much as Ichigo's.

Ichigo crossed his arms and lightened his energy. "What are all of you doing here?" He asked, his voice stern and authoritarian like.

Since Rukia was already closest to him, the question was more demanded to her than anyone else. She swallowed the lump in her throat and took a few deep breaths before looking to her former friend to answer. "We had no choice but to retreat here while we still had a chance to Ichi-," She stopped herself from finishing that name. She found that she wasn't worthy of calling him by his name after what she had done before.

"And what exactly is the reason for any of you coming here to begin with anyway?" Orihime asked with a strong hint of disdain and anger in her voice that didn't go unnoticed.

"Aizen." Rukia said as he held her head down to Orihime's glare.

Yoruichi and Orihime gasped lightly at that name while all Ichigo did was keep the same hard look. Kazui, Tier, Ryu and Yuzu didn't know all too much about Aizen, but they did know that their dad defeated the man and was the only reason why the Soul King was still in existence now.

"How?" Ichigo asked Rukia in the same tone without skipping a single beat.

"His last creation, Wonderweiss somehow managed to survive and broke into the Seireitei." Rukia started as she dreaded the memory already. "He decimated nearly all of our forces and broke Aizen out of the Muken. Aizen only allowed a piece of his bindings to be released and it was enough to kill many of our captains and other forces. The head captain sacrificed himself so that the rest of us could escape."

Ichigo's look hadn't changed emotions in the slightest from hearing this information. He kept the same stern glare throughout the whole explanation and only sighed after a few second.

"So Aizen's free and Kyoraku thought sending all of you here would be a good idea?" He started as he smirked a little at that last statement. "If that's the case, then give me one good reason I shouldn't just send you all back to the soul society to meet Aizen yourselves."

Rukia was at a loss for words. She didn't know what to say to get Ichigo to at least let them regain their bearings or even at the very least let them rest before he makes them leave. She didn't know what to do, and that was when memories of that day came swarming back to her mind. The day of her greatest failure and when she became the sole reason that Ichigo wanted nothing more to do with the soul society.

Ichigo was getting slightly agitated by her quiet and unsure demeanor and was about to send them back with no hesitation, but then someone new that he had never seen in his life before showed up in front of Rukia. She was a small girl, about close to Tier's height, with red hair tied in a ponytail and eyes that reminded him of a certain raven haired girl in front of him. He looked at her and saw a hardened yet determined look in her eyes that stopped him in his tracks much to everyone's surprise.

"Because if you did that, then all of us would die." She said to him in a voice trying not to squeak from the man's sheer presence. "Wouldn't that bother you that everyone here would die because of you?"

"Ichika that's enough." Rukia said as she quickly got in between her daughter and Ichigo.

The name caught Ichigo's attention more than anything else. He admired the girls courage in an impossible situation whereas the others around her would simply give up. But before Rukia could push Ichika away, he had to ask.

"Ichika." This got the girls attention and made both Rukia and Renji sweat drop.

The girl quickly turned around to look to the man her parents feared but would never tell her what for. She swallowed the lump in her throat and answered him as best she could. "Y-y-yes?"

"Do you know me?" He asked her, never looking away from her eyes.

"N-not all too much." She answered in a shaky voice. "Just that you're the guy that beat Aizen and you're the sole reason the soul king is still in power."

"Anything else?" Ichigo asked as his voice started to soften to the little girl.

"Uh." Ichika started as she scratched the back of her head. She then snapped her fingers in an almost eureka like moment. "I know you're name means 'protect', and that you used to be really nice to people."

Ichigo smirked a little to the use of his name coming from the girl. He may not know her all too much or like the fact that she's the daughter of Rukia, but hearing her determination to save her family and friends. Ichigo started to remember when he used to protect his once so called friends of the soul society. From Kariya all the way to Aizen, Ichigo started to chuckle a little under his breath. This did catch everyone's attention and they were all on pins and needles when he looked to Rukia. She may not have been his friend anymore, but she could tell by that look he was giving her that he had made a decision that would impact them all.

"You should thank your daughter. Because she is the only reason I'll allow any of you to stay here." His words hit everyone in many different ways. The soul reapers were all shocked and surprised that Ichigo had agreed to allow them to recover here and not kill them on sight like he promised he would all those years ago. Both Yoruichi and Orihime had no idea just what their husband was thinking or why he was allowing this, but something told them he had his reasons. Kazui, Tier, Ryu and Yuzu were also wondering what their father means by doing this, but right now they would settle for confused. Ichika was the most surprised by his words and was actually happy to hear them. Ichigo turned to leave and only stopped to address his children.

"Kazui, when you're done with them, lead them back to the palace." Ichigo said in a stern yet calmed tone. "The rest of you will help your brother with that. Okay?"

"Yeah. Okay." Kazui said to his father while the others nodded in stunned silence. Before anyone could ask him anything else, he disappeared in a burst of speed that didn't even have a true name yet.

Yoruichi and Orihime had no idea just what he was thinking when he said that. Why would he allow them to stay here? What was it about Ichika that made him do it? Something wasn't right about all of this, and it made the two Queens leave after their husband/King. This left the kids alone with the soul reapers.

For the most part, most of them weren't seriously injured. Just hurt and required minimal healing. One of the only ones not injured at all was Ichika who was now looking around the ruins of the former palace. Kazui noticed her looking around and watched her for a short while. She had a strange wonder to her that he couldn't figure out. An almost majestic-like aura that somehow coerced his father into letting them stay in their palace for now. Of course, Ryu noticed his older half-brother looking at her and smirked deviously. If there was one thing that Ryu loved to do, it was teasing his brother.

Gonna End The Chapter Right There. Next Chapter Will Have Some Backstory Through Either Explanation Or Flashback. Still Haven't Really Decided Yet, But I'll Figure Something Out.

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