Disclaimer: Does not own. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo
Chapter 6
Awed silence was thick in the air. A quarter of the arrancar stood frozen in fear, half in awe, the rest in confusion.
Finally after what seemed like eternity to the arrancar, Aizen chuckled. "Is that so? You seem to be in the belief that I care for your claim, however, as everyone here knows, only the strongest rule, and you don't seem strong enough to take the throne. Why don't you join me instead? I seem to be in need of a new Segundo after all."
It happened to be Grimmjow, who broke the ensuing silence with a loud cackle.
"Now, now, Grim-kitty, you shouldn't laugh at the illusion." Shiro said patronizingly. "After all he's never heard of me, and as such he doesn't know my abilities, but then again it is rather arrogant of him to assume…" Shiro paused, disappearing from his position at the door and reappearing in front of Aizen, sword held at the man's throat. "If you think your zanpakuto will save you, I have never seen your shikai, nor do I intend to give you the chance."
Aizen's eyes widened a fraction. He was the strongest Shinigami (besides Yamamoto, but he chose to ignore the fact), and he was at some arrancar's sword point, and he hadn't even seen the arrancar move. What further surprised him was that Grimmjow seemed to know the unknown arrancar.
Shiro smirked at Aizen's expression, and then jumped away leaving behind a small scratch to prove he had even gotten that close in the first place.
Aizen took the chance provided to reach for his Kyōka Suigetsu, only to find his beloved blade missing. He looked back to the grinning Shiro who proudly held the stolen blade for all to see.
"You! Who are you?" Aizen polite demeanor was thrown aside in his anger.
"Me? Well I guess I can give ya mah name… I'm Shirosaki Kaito, and I have ruled Hueco Mundo for over three thousand years, ever since the incident that turned this place into a day-less desert wasteland." His grin stretched from ear to ear. "Then some young up-start tried to kill me. As you can see he failed, wasn't very filling either. Managed to force me into hibernation though, I'll give the little shit that."
A gasp of shock caught Aizen's attention. Szayel's skin seemed to drain of all color.
"Who?" He whispered in fearful awe. Who was strong enough to support, and heal the king's massive spiritual powers?
Shiro turned his grinning face to Szayel whose fear was clear for all to see.
"Ya don't need to know that pinky, but dan worry I haven't forgot about you." Szayel paled even further if possible, and then collapsed in a boneless heap, his fear shutting down his brain functions. In short - he fainted.
Grimmjow laughed at that, pulling the terrified Orihime to his side. He was positive by the end of this meeting Shiro would be back on his throne, and Aizen would know he was not a god; at least he would if he managed to survive Shiro. Not many did, and the few he spared wished he had killed them.
Aizen bristled before calming down. "If you ruled this place for so long, how did I manage to dig my roots in this deep?" Aizen asked his polite demeanor back in place as he eyed Shiro carefully. Just looking at Shiro's posture had the beginnings of fear rolling in his gut. Shiro was dangerous, and he had a purpose, and even though it wasn't said out loud, if was more than just wanting the throne back, Aizen could tell that much. If he could only… Wait a minute! Why did Shirosaki's spiritual pressure feel like Kurosaki's?
Forcing the rolling fear back he spoke in a bored tone before Shiro could answer his previous question. "I didn't care to notice it earlier, but have you eaten a rather annoying shinigami recently? You have the feel of one that's quickly becoming a thorn in my side."
Shiro cackled. He knew once Aizen took the time to actually examine his spiritual pressure it would feel like his queen's, but that was because of the bond he was forging, and because he ate his queen's inner hollow, which he only partially regretted. After all, the bond he was forging was dangerous to him as well as Ichigo, luckily no one knew yet, and if he had his way, no one would ever find out about the weakness Ichigo brought him. That was why he tortured Ichigo, so that he may survive, that was all he could hope for.
"I didn't eat Ichigo if you're wondering." He paused thoughtfully frowning, then grinning like the cat that got the canary and the cream. "Well not in the sense you're talking about at any rate. Heh, heh, heh!"
Aizen blanched, he did not want to think about the implications of that comment, for a moment he almost felt sorry for the substitute shinigami. Almost.
"By the way, Sosuke," Shiro's watery drawl brought him out of his thoughts. "Ya only here 'cause I got bored and let ya in, but now I've gotten bored of ya games so I'ma gonna give ya a choice. I can kill ya, or ya can step down and follow me like a good little minion. Just so ya know the only reason ya gettin' a choice is 'cause I'm in a good mood."
Aizen gave him a polite smile, before he replied. "I apologize, but I'm going to have to refuse your request. You see I must rule if I'm to be a god, Shirosaki-san. Hado 90: Black Coffin."
Shiro threw his head back and laughed as the massive black box of energy engulfed his form. After a few seconds the box shatters like glass. Shiro was still laughing as blood splatter from lacerations all over his body.
"That tickled." His wounds disappeared before he even finished his sentence. "Don'tcha just love high speed regeneration? I know I do!" He licked the blood off his free hand. Then looked up at Aizen again, grinning. "Mah turn now!"
Shiro let go of Kyōka Suigetsu, and the next moment Aizen felt pain spread from hip to shoulder. Blood splattered, as Kyōka Suigetsu clattered to the floor.
Aizen fell back to the ground stunned. He hadn't even seen the arrancar move. Shiro licked a drop of Aizen's blood, as he moved in for the finishing blow. He stopped frowning as an old and familiar flavor assaulted his tongue. He pulled back and sheathed his sword a thoughtful look on his face, then crouched beside the fallen 'god'.
"Well it seems like ya really are different from the other shinigami, and it's going to let ya live a while longer. Grimmjow! Take care of that sword will ya. Szayel make sure… Oh just great he's still out cold. Okay…" He pointed at Ulquiorra. "Emocar take this loser with a god complex to Szayel's lab and make sure he doesn't die quite yet. Oh and before I forget, anyone see his cohorts send them this way I need to take care of them."
Grimmjow grinned, grabbing Aizen's blade from the floor. "Hey King, what do you want to do about the woman?"
Shiro blinked, turning his eyes to the terrified Orihime, and grinned. "Well, because I have a use for her she gets to be mah guest, and I expect no harm to come to her by any of ya." He glared at the room. "I guess ya can take her to a room while yer getting rid of that sword. I'll tell ya who I put in charge of her care later, but yer on guard for now Grim-kitty."
Grimmjow glowed at the nick name, pulling Orihime out of the room, as Ulquiorra approached Shiro and Aizen.
"Shiro-sama." He gave a polite bow, and picked up Aizen under Shiro watchful gaze. Shiro waited until he was almost out the door before calling to the arrancar. "Oh, for the record, if you betray me you'll suffer a fate worse than oblivion."
"I understand Shiro-sama."
III
Aizen gasped in agony as Ulquiorra bandaged his torso. He would get better treatment once Szayel was functioning. He felt humiliated with how easily he was defeated, and by a lowly disgusting arrancar at that. An arrancar who claimed to be King and the other arrancar just fell in line as if Aizen never existed, even though he still breathed. Shirosaki would regret leaving him alive and giving him time to plan. He just needed to find his weakness.
He hissed as his spiritual pressure was sealed. He was completely defenseless now. He had never felt defenseless, his sword has always been a shield as well as his blade, and that was taken from him in an instant. His kido skills were the best, and the arrancar walked through his Black Coffin like it was water. He had never encountered a being that was stronger than him. Everyone else would either bow before him or be destroyed. He felt excitement begin to build up, it felt similar to the feeling he had when he realized how strong the young Ichigo was, and how fast he progressed. Even he had been surprised at the boy's achievement of bankai in such short time. It had taken him five year once he began the training himself, which was a record in soul society (well besides Urahara, but that was a different story) until Ichigo went and broke it.
The feeling of excitement was one of the reasons he spared the boy, he wanted the boy to grow so he would have a challenge. Then he found out boy was a vizard. His power levels kept jumping. It was then he decided he wanted the boy on his side, someone who was able to stand beside him when he became the god of the world, so he encouraged his growth. He never expected Shirosaki to come in and ruin all his carefully laid plans. Mostly because he thought Baraggan was the King of Hueco Mundo.
He could do nothing now, and the arrancar no longer respected him as a leader, but given time he would have revenge, and take back the throne. Shiro really should have killed him, because first chance he got he was going to destroy him.
III
Ichigo awoke around noon, only to sprint to the bathroom to empty his stomach. He hated morning sickness. He wiped his mouth now feeling hungry since there was nothing left in his stomach. He padded down to the kitchen where he knew a bowl of soup was left for him. As he passed the living room, he did a double take.
He really didn't want to know why his father and Urahara were passed out on the living room floor, but was that sake he smelled? Yeah, he was going to go eat now. He would deal with those two later, curry soup first!
He happily chowed down on his bowl of curry soup ignoring the sound of his father waking up.
"Oh no! I forgot to wake up my darling son! What will he think of me not being a loving father!" Isshin wined as he noticed the time. "Oh daddy's head hurts."
"There, there Isshin I'm sure Berry-chan will forgive you." Urahara said happily.
Ichigo held back a growl at the nick name. Stupid Geta-boshi! His anger quickly disappeared with each bite of his soup. He heard his dad head upstairs holding back a snicker.
"Ichigo! Wake up my…Ichigo where did you goooo! Masaki! Ichigo is missing!"
"I'm eating lunch, you old goat!" Ichigo yelled.
He heard his father run down the stairs, dodging as Isshin lunged to hug him. "You can hug me once I finish eating. I'm enjoying my curry soup." His voice lowered to a growl. "Do not ruin it for me or you will find a new meaning of pain. Is that clear?"
Isshin nodded franticly, paling at the mention of the curry soup, Masaki had the same craving when she was pregnant with the twins, those were some the scariest months of his life.
"Good." Ichigo said sweetly, his mood doing a complete one eighty.
Isshin sweat dropped. Great, mood swings, if there was one thing he hated about pregnancies it was the mood swings.
"So why is Geta-boshi here, or do you usually hang out when I'm not around?"
"Oh my darling student, you've learned to sense spirit energy." Urahara appeared in the door way waving that annoying fan to hide his face.
Ichigo eyes narrowed as he took another bite of his delicious food. "No, I just saw you and goat face passed out drunk in the living room when I came down. You want aspirin right? It's in the upstairs closet." Ichigo then gave a blinding smile. "Now, I'm only going to say this once Geta-boshi, piss me off and I will shove that fan so far up your ass you'll be wishing I had just killed you. Understood?"
At Urahara's frightened nod Ichigo's smile became even brighter. "Great, now go away, I'm eating."
Urahara grabbed Isshin and went in search of the bathroom, which held the medical cure for hangovers.
"Isshin I never thought I would say this about Ichigo, but he is scary when he's pregnant."
"He gets it from his mother, she was the same way." Isshin shuddered at the memories. He loved his wife, and he loved his kids, but he could have done without Masaki's pregnancy hormones, she almost killed him during her second pregnancy, and she did not have Ichigo's strength. Oh yeah, hormonal Ichigo was far more terrifying than his mother was. His hangover wasn't helping his thought process.
"Isshin, I pity you." Urahara said solemnly.
"No you don't, you think it's funny."
"True." He agreed. "Now which shelf do you keep the aspirin on?"
"Second, last I checked, might have been move though." Isshin said as Urahara rooted around for the aspirin. Ah aspirin, it was going to make his headache go away so he could deal with talking to Ichigo. Thinking about that he added. "… and could you find the Valium? I believe I'm going to need it later."
Urahara grunted as he found the two bottles, then they realized something, and whimpered.
"We have to go back to the kitchen. We forgot to bring a cup."
"Oh fuck. I wanted to at least get the drugs down my throat before crossing the mother bear's den." Isshin wined.
"I heard that, you old Goat!"
Isshin and Urahara paled. They gulped in unison.
"We're doomed."
III
Rukia took a deep breath. It was time to see if she could find out about this Isshin character Ichigo was asking about, so she figured she had better chances starting with Captain Ukitake.
"Captain?" She asked carefully as she watched Ukitake struggle to move a tower of paper work out of the way so he could see her.
"Yes, Rukia. Is something wrong?"
"I was just wondering if you ever heard of a Captain Isshin."
Clunk!
Ukitake had fallen backwards dropping the paperweight he had been attempting to use.
"Where did you hear that name? We are very careful not to mention that subject anywhere it can get back to Captain Commander Yamamoto." Ukitake said with an air of seriousness she had only experienced once before during the incident that ended in Kaien Shiba's death.
"Ichigo asked me to find out about him, I have no idea why." Rukia answered. "And as his friend I had no reason to say no."
Ukitake gave a weak smile. "That's okay, I was just surprised. I'll tell you. Isshin was once the commander of the third division before Gin was promoted to Captain. I believe it was just a few years before you entered the Academy that he had vanished. There was no trace of him; he just went on a mission to the Living World, and disappeared. After no word from him for over a year he was pronounced dead, and it devastated the Captain Commander."
"But why?" Rukia had to ask.
Ukitake smiled sadly. He knew she would ask. He just didn't really want to answer. It hurt because Isshin had been one of his and Shuunsui's best friends, and the news of his death hit hard.
"Because Isshin was his son."
III
Yay another chapter out. I is awesome. But if anyone is offering I need a beta. Please*puppy dog eyes* I may be an awesome author but even I make mistakes.
Hichigo: Yeah right. Admit you suck as an author, period.
Noriykoi: Waaa Shiro-sama is mean. *grins evilly* you do know that as the author I can take Ichigo away.
Hichigo: Ha! You won't because the fans would murder you, so nah!
Ichigo: Don't I get a say in this.
Noriykoi, Hichigo: No!
Ichigo: You guys suck!