Author's Note: It's a long wait…o.O I'm sorry.

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

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Scroll Six – Ransom

It had been days.

Day after day…Ukitake waited. He waited as he did the paperwork. He waited as he lied down on his bed. He waited as he daydreamt about his son. He waited…and waited. For something, or someone, to come and bring him news about his son. Anything. Well, anything but death, of course. Ukitake was so desperate for news about his missing and kidnapped son that he had totally lost track of time, and hadn't been sleeping well. Sometimes he wondered if his son was all well, but he had his doubts about that matter.

And then suddenly, something swooped past him with a swift swish. A soft thud could be heard at the back of his head, quick and easy.

The guards didn't notice it, Ukitake mused to himself. It must've had been much too quick for them to notice the dart. The emperor stood up from his throne and walked along the sides, stretching his trembling arm out and tugging the dart out of the wall. Fingers trailed about the paper rolled up tenderly and perfectly before unrolling it and dropping the dart to the ground. The dart wasn't intended to be used to kill him; that he knew. But it was unknown was to whether or not the dart had been filled with lethal poison. He would have to take precautions from now on. Unrolling the rolled up piece of delicate rice paper, Ukitake scanned the words closely and carefully on his desk, reading it over and over again.

All he could muster was a soft and shocked, "…Eh?"

And even after reading the note for the fifteenth time, he still didn't get the meaning behind the last sentence.

＜ブリーチ＞

"Ne…he still ain't eatin', that kiddo?"

"No."

The grinning figure's creepy smile widened when he caught sight of the white-haired prisoner lying on the ground, sound asleep, but short and ragged gasps escaping his lips with every breath. "Aw, poor little koushi-han. 'Da air up here too hot fer someone like 'im, eh?"

"…"

"Ya know, if our lord wasn't 'da one who wants 'im, I wouldn't mind takin' 'im and givin' 'im all my dried persimmons ta' eat."

＜ブリーチ＞

Whack

Pieces of strong wood collided with one another, the piercing sound waves bouncing off the walls and echoing throughout the training halls. Kurosaki Ichigo dazedly brings down the wooden sword in his hands like a frail old man, his opponent-in-practice deliberately going easy on him since the other probably noticed how distracted the orange-haired teenager was. '…Toushirou…where are you…? Ukitake-san told everyone to be on the lookout for anyone who could've taken you…Just where the hell are you?'

"Halt!"

The loud booming voice of the zanjutsu sensei brought Ichigo out of his daze, but his vision was still pretty hazy in his opinion. 'And I haven't seen Syaoshiro these days too…damn, you royalties are too mysterious for your own damned good.'

"Half an hour break before you return to your class! Training will resume from there!" the instructor shouted, his voice echoing throughout the large room. He stomped his way out, the trainees bowing for his departure, before the doors closed with a loud bang and that was the cue for the new recruits to lift their heads up and begin resting up for even harsher training afterwards.

Ichigo heaved a huge sigh of frustration before settling himself down on the floor, sitting there Indian-style. His genius of a so-called childhood friend edged closer towards the somewhat depressed strawberry and half reluctantly sat down next to him. "Kurosaki-kun, you have been acting out of sorts since that party was held." When he heard the other sigh, Ishida continued, "Does it have anything to do with the abduction of the koushi?"

"…Pretty much."

The raven-haired archer repositioned his spectacles. "It isn't like you to worry this much, Kurosaki." Ichigo tossed him a look that said 'eh?' and it gave the spectacled rival a chance to explain. "The last time I saw you like this, it was after your mother passed on. It baffles me…do you see your mother in Hitsugaya-koushi?"

Ichigo blinked. To be frank, he didn't give it much thought. But this time, the more he thought about it, the more he realized exactly how those two were practically worlds apart. His mother was a kind, loving person who had beauty to match that. Toushirou was…well, just Toushirou. Smart, young, brave, stubborn…and very much admirable and well-liked. The only problem was that he never smiled. Well, not in his presence at least, but still. The orange-haired trainee glared at his childhood rival. "Don't be a bastard, Ishida. 'Course I don't. Toushirou is Toushirou; okaa-san is okaa-san, okay?"

Ishida looked away and sighed. He was still too much of an idiot to notice that there was a very deep connection between the koushi and Syaoshiro, but Ishida figured that it would be best left unsaid. "Then how do you explain your range of emotions now? Look at yourself in a mirror, Kurosaki-kun; you look like you've been run over by three trucks."

Without him realizing it, his hands had traveled up to his eyes. He couldn't see it, but he had a bad feeling that if he were to become a half-human, half-animal hybrid, he'd most probably be a panda right now. If only he had white hair like Hitsugaya or even Syaoshiro…damn, that beautiful, graceful symbol of pure snow…(then he'd really look like a panda)

Doors suddenly opening with a bang, the strict instructor returned with the usual scowl on the face. "Break isn't over yet; why are you all so scared?! And you, Kurosaki!" he exclaimed, pointing a beefy finger towards a somewhat frightened strawberry who glared at the other. "Stop wasting time being so rude to your instructor and go on ahead! Ukitake-koutei is asking for your presence."

Ichigo blinked twice in rapid motion. "Ukitake-san…asking for me?"

＜ブリーチ＞

When the orange-haired shinigami-in-training gave a hard knock on the doors, he had a strange feeling in the gut that whatever Ukitake was looking for him for, it was something bad. It took a while, but the sickly koutei answered for him to enter nonetheless. Nodding inwardly, the orange strawberry pushed the doors open and closed them, a bit confused as to why there were no people standing on guard, even after the mysterious abduction of the second most powerful of the royalties. Ichigo didn't bother to make a bow at the emperor and walked on, venturing deeper into the large realm of the highly-esteemed koutei. Ukitake had his hand pressed against his forehead, elbow shakily supporting the hand by lying on the table. Scrolls and ink bottles fell over, but it wasn't like the latter cared. In his other hand, there was a small but noticeable note with slightly smudged kanji.

Ransom.

"Ukitake-san…"

Ukitake looked up and casted Ichigo a worriedly serious glance. "Ichigo-kun, I'm glad you acceded to my request of suddenly needing to see you urgently." The white-haired ruler of Tamashii then stared at the dog-eared note signed anonymously in his hand, narrowing his eyes a little. "This is…from the person behind Toushirou's abduction." Ichigo's eyes widened slightly. Unable to restrain himself, he moved closer and pulled the paper out of Ukitake's weak grasp and began to read the letter, taking in every single word written on the delicate piece of paper.

Hello, Ukitake-koutei.

I'm sure you're dying to know about your son's whereabouts at the moment. Don't worry; he is perfectly safe in our hands. For now. Just so you know, this isn't a normal note of ransom. It's also to communicate with you via special darts that have been created to be only seen by you and you alone. Therefore, I will stop beating about the bush and come straight to the point. We would like to arrive at a negotiable price that you would have to pay. Fufufu…isn't that wonderful?

It's very simple, really. We'll give you back your son, but only when you agree to hand over the throne of koutei to a person in the Gotei 13. The name of that person will not be revealed as of yet but if you were to reply with a yes, I would reveal to you who that person is. However, you are not to decline this offer; if so, it would be as good as killing your dear boy, but we can't have that now, can we?

I expect your reply by tomorrow. If we don't receive anything from you…well, who knows what could happen next? Here, this is your boy's palm print coated in his own blood as proof. Well, thank you for taking the time to read this, Ukitake-koutei. I hope you'll make the right decision.

Anonymous

PS. Just how do you teach your child?! He has no manners whatsoever! He's been asking for watermelons and watermelons and watermelons over and over again! Oh my heavens…From where we are, there are NO watermelons! Do send watermelons over as part of the ransom; please do. Your child is driving all of my minions, as well as myself, up the wall.

Kurosaki Ichigo didn't know whether to laugh or to curse.

"Ichigo-kun," Ukitake called, dragging Ichigo out of his dream world. "I would also like to inform you of something." The white-haired emperor dug into under his sleeves and pulled out a few more bunches of notes before passing them over to the orange-haired strawberry who took them with a confused look on his face. "All this while, I have received ransom letters, but I haven't noticed till I received the most recent one."

"…Ukitake-san, all these letters are blank."

The sickly worried father of the koushi snapped his fingers. "Exactly." He got up from his seat, footsteps echoing in the eerily quiet room and picked a letter gently out of Ichigo's grasp before slowly making his way towards the dimly-lit candle, raising the paper above the tiny delicate flame at a perfect height away so as to not burn the paper. "Take a look, Ichigo-kun," he warmly yet worriedly instructed. Said strawberry stole a glance at the paper, a circle of light guiding his way through the kanji that magically appeared on the Japanese writing material.

Your son is with us.

Ukitake picked up another piece of paper and shone the candlelight below, words showing up once more.

We wish to have all the money you have in the palace.

Give us the ransom money or else.

We have decided not to have the money; we want something much more. There will be more details in the next letter you receive from us.

Give us the throne or else you'll never see your son again.

…Don't give them…what they want…otou-san…

Ichigo couldn't resist and grabbed the last piece of paper. The words slowly faded away but he could at least catch a glimpse of blood smeared at a corner of the piece of delicate paper.

Blood.

Toushirou's blood.

Oh hell.

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A/N: This is the shortest chapter I have ever written for this story.

But that's mainly coz I'm giving you two chapters at one go XP