Chapter 3: The Truth is the Past

A Little Over Fifteen Years Ago…

"Where are they Kisuke? We've been searching for hours!"

"Calm down Isshin, we'll find their hide out soon enough. We just gotta keep going, I promise!"

The two hunters were on the lookout for their evasive pray. They we're an easy bunch to catch, or find for that matter, but it was their mission; their responsibility to take these monsters down.

"Up ahead! There!" Isshin whispered/shouted to his comrade.

"Shhhh! Do you want them to know we're here?" Kisuke warned him. They were so close to finding the vampire's main lair and his dumb partner was about to blow their cover out of excitement!

They had made it; after years of the Hunters searching and searching, they found the main lair. The Hunters always had a hard time finding the sneaky bastards, due to their ability to lurk through the shadows; blending in with the night as if they were a part of the black void themselves. Every time someone got close, they lost the creatures. All the attempts up until this point had been futile. But the Hunters learned from their mistakes, they sent the best men in the secret organization. And they lived up to their infamous reputation. Kisuke Urahara and Isshin Kurosaki were the best Hunters since the organization had started with the great fire and flame himself, Yamamoto.

Here they were, right in the mist of some of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the world. Hiding behind a gorgeous plant display, Kisuke and Isshin observed the deadly graceful creatures. The Hunters had learned that vampires all over the world had gathered in the main lair that night to pick the pureblood princess' fiancé. All of the noble and powerful young vampire men had gathered to try to take the hand of the beautiful princess.

All the vampires had gathered together and suddenly became silent. The Hunters glared at each other wondering what in the world was going on that the bloodsuckers abruptly stopped their aristocrat chatter. But then, Isshin saw what all the commotion was about. The pureblood princess was descending down a golden spiral staircase, clad in an elegant long red evening gown laced with white. Her porcelain skin seemed to glow in the gown, her auburn hair swept up in a messy but well thought out bun and she wore long white gloves and shimmering heals. She was the most beautiful creature either of the Hunters had ever laid their eyes own. But unlike Kisuke, Isshin fell instantly in love with her; there was no way in the world that she was a blood sucking creature of the night. He thought she was an angel, only brought to reality by his moment killing partner who saw the awe-struck in his eyes. "Remember our objective Kurosaki," the blonde man reminding his comrade, no, his friend.

"Right…" Isshin sighed in disappointment. A women as striking and gentle as her couldn't be a monster but an angel sent down from the heavens.

But Kisuke was right; their mission was to observe the gathering and find information on the ever elusive purebloods. And this beauty right in front of them was one of them.

And just then, a powerful voice boomed throughout the corridor. "Welcome young patrons! Tonight we will celebrate the harvest moon and the coming of age of my lovely daughter, Masaki!" The voice had to of belonged to the vampire's leader; the Lord himself the pair had deciphered, but there was no way they could see him behind the planter.

"Shall we begin the nights' festives with welcoming our unwanted guests?" the Lord exclaimed to all his subjects. Kisuke and Isshian sank at the mention of the 'unwanted guests.' So the purebloods are able to sense us huh, Kisuke made a mental note, this information will be useful in the future if we make it outta here alive.

"Come out and join us, will you Hunters?" the Vampire Lord boomed to the scared stiff men hiding in the shadows. The other vampires gasped at the mention of Hunters at their high society social gathering.

With their cover blown, they came out from behind the planter to face the Vampire Lord. They were surprised to see a man in his mid-thirties glaring at them with a self-assured smirk. He didn't look as old as he probably was, but the Hunter pair knew not to underestimate him just on looks.

"Well gentlemen, what brings you two to my humble gathering? We have not broken any rules set by the treaty, so why are you here?" the Lord questioned the two young men.

Kisuke was the first to speak, "Sorry, umm, … sir but you see, the Organization sent us here to see why so many vampires were gathering in one place. To ensure that your, kind was not planning a war on humanity." Kisuke took a much needed breath, relieved that they weren't killed upon being discovered.

What seemed like a million eyes were staring at them, judging their every flinch. "I see. Well, as you can see here we are not planning anything sinister. So you may take your leave. But know this, if the Organization plans on spying on us in the future, the tension between our races will be seen too; War will be eminent."

The Lord was waiting for a response, but before either of them could say anything, an unexpected voice quieted the room. "Father, why can they not stay? Shouldn't we show more initiative in order to promote peace between our races? After all, they have done nothing wrong but have a little understandable suspicions?" It was the princess. All eyes went to her as she smiled with a truly kind intention.

After a few moments of awkward silence, the crowd was surprised of their Lords response. "Ha ha ha," he chuckled, "Very well my dearest daughter, since this is your night I suppose I will honor your wishes. But if they show any sign of hostility I will not hesitate to kill them, understand?" He was dead serious about the last part but his daughter showed no fear as she nodded.

"Alright then gentlemen! Enjoy the party and what have you!"

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Isshin and Kisuke decided to stay, after all, they basically got invited to the event; they could fulfill their mission without having to sneak around. However, while Kisuke was focused on the mission, Isshin was focused on the princess. To him, she was a perfect being; a God-sent from heaven to look over the earth. Pureblood vampiress or not, she was nothing short of a kind gentle being to him. She must have noticed him staring at her, because she glided right over to him as if she was floating on air.

"Would you like to dance, Mr. Hunter?" the princess sweetly asked the stunned Hunter.

"Th-that would be wonderful Princess! Thank you! Oh, and my name is Kurosaki Isshin," he stumbled his words, nerves building up in his stomach, "And you look more beautiful than an angel, if you don't mind me saying…"

"Well thank you, Mr. Kurosaki. Shall we dance?" the princess blushed at his compliment. She wasn't use to humans, so receiving such a compliment, from a Hunter no doubt, was truly impressive.

They danced across the floor in an elegant embrace. Everyone's eyes were on the pair; a Hunter and the pureblood princess were dancing together. What an amazing sight!

Kisuke was skeptical at his friend's decision to dance with the Lord's daughter in front of the world's most powerful vampires, including the Lord himself! He admired his comrade's gutsy personality, however stupid it may be. The Hunter glanced at the Lord to see his reaction, but the Lord looked almost pleased…. Could he be planning something? Kisuke's curiosity and scientific querying always got the best of him, but he reasoned that tonight was not the night to investigate the bizarre behavior. He was in a room full of vampires, after all. The Lord had warned them if they did anything suspicious, that he would have no problems eliminating them. So Kisuke decided to sit back and enjoy the lovely saki a pretty little waitress had brought over for him.

It was nearing morning and the 'party' was winding down. Isshin had spent all night talking to Masaki (as he was now on a first name basis, she had insisted upon), and learned what a wonder person she really was. There was no doubt in his mind that she was not one of the blood-thirsty monsters he had always fought. She was different. I can't even begin to imagine I've fallen in love with a vamp- no she is a beautiful person inside and out. Her being a vampire does not make her a bad person. It just makes her different from him. That's what Isshin decided on. And he would never go back on this decision.

A few days later, Isshin and Kisuke had finally made it back to the Organization's headquarters. They were to report to the head leader about their findings on the vampire's mysterious gathering. Once they reported the Head dismissed them to go on their way on a new mission. The Hunter duo was surprised that upon learning this information on the vampire's event, that he had ordered them to go back to the Lord and request to spend time with the vampire's and even learn their customs and way of life.

But the Head was in charge for a reason; his orders were not to be disobeyed. Kisuke seemed intrigued but was dreading the mission while his partner was obviously head over heels for the princess, he could barely contain his excitement.

The Lord was a bit surprised at first to learn of the Head of the Organization's request, but even more surprisingly was completely fine with it. He even let them stay in his castle and gave them standard vampire attire. Unknown to the Lord, his daughter was actually very excited that the Hunters pair was staying with them; or rather that Isshin was staying with them.

~~~~~~~~XxXxX~~~~~~~~

After a few long weeks of staying with the Lord and the princess, the Hunters had learned all of the ways and customs of vampires. They discovered that most of the vampires they encountered in their many battles were a resistance group known as the Espada, and among them were even a few other types of creatures such as werewolves and other shape shifters. They were the ones who didn't want peace with humans and waged the war between races. Their leader, Sauske Aizen, was a powerful necromancer, who had, among other abilities, the ability to raise the dead. This dead army of zombie-like creatures were known as Hollows. Each Hollow had a special ability along with different power level, due to the fact that they were all once vampires and other species when they were alive. But now, they were subjected to their master's will and Aizen was raising his army of the un-dead to overpower the vampire Lord and his nobles.

Once they learned this, they were to go back to the Head and report, however, Isshin had other plans. In the few short weeks that he had known her, he proposed to Masaki (and even went to the Lord himself to receive his blessing and he agreed!) The Lord saw the look in his daughter's eyes as she look at the now ex-Hunter (as he let Kisuke know that he would no longer be a Hunter and to spread the news to the Head as well) and decided that it was best for both factions if their wasn't only a paper treaty between them, but a couple willing to defy the odds as a symbol of unity. The Organization and the Vampire faction were no longer to be enemies, but actually became a joint army to combat Aizen and his spreading evil empire.

"And your mother and I wed at the most wonderful ceremony that you could imagine! But there still were skeptics of both parties that our union would join the two together willing to break the treaty by any means necessary, so the Lord had us secretly moved to a quiet little town, that just so happened to be Karakura." Isshin had wrapped up the long story to his bewildered son sitting next to him.

"So, mom was really a vampire? But not just any vampire, but a princess?" Ichigo stated rather than questioned his father.

"Yes son. She was. But she was a wonderful kind person. She was as generous as a saint and loved to help others in need. I hope that you think nothing less of her being a vampire."

"Of course not dad! It's just a lot to take in," Ichigo explained to his father, "Oh and by the way, what did you mean when you said she was a pureblood?"

"It means that she was the direct descendent of the first vampires to ever live."

"So,…. how old was she when you two met? You were in your late 20s and vampires are said to live a long time so…." Ichigo dragged on hoping his goofball father would catch on.

"Ha ha! You think your mother was a cougar! A perverted son I have!" the ex-Hunter laughed at his son's reddened face, " Actually, I was a couple years older than she was. Just because she was a vampire doesn't mean she was older than me. And she was born a vampire, just like a human baby, which meant she aged just like everyone else. The only difference was that she stopped aging, unlike humans. It was different for every born vampire, but she happened to stop aging at the age of 21."

"Wow. So, does this mean Karin and Yuzu are vampires as well? Will they awaken like I did?" Ichigo continued to question his father.

"It's hard to say, but from what Masaki told me, you had always had vampric blood, whereas the twins have never shown any signs. We always knew you were a vampire Ichigo, but didn't want to tell you until you were old enough," Isshin explained, "and those black outs you had when you were little was your vampire half acting on its own."

"What do you mean 'its' own?" Ichigo raised a worried brow.

"You are not the first hybrid amongst vampires and humans, but I am no ordinary human. I have Hunter's blood in me, meaning I have some vampiric abilities without being a vampire. It is said that Hunters were originally hybrids of purebloods and humans, and purebloods have very unique powers, compared to regular vampires. So we believe that your 'other half' was created as a byproduct of having Hunter and pure-blood in you. Kami, I wish your mother was still here to explain this to you, but know that you are no monster and you can learn to control your abilities. You may not be the first hybrid, but you are amongst purebloods and Hunters. You're special Ichigo. Learn to use that to protect the ones you love and don't let your instincts consume you."

And with that Isshin walked off leaving Ichigo to wonder in his thoughts. He knew his son would have more questions, but after hearing all that, it was enough for one night. Tomorrow was going to be a long day afterall…. The first day of Ichigo's vampire training.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone! Hoped you enjoyed the chappy, and if you have any complaints, take it up with my butt!

Just kidding, if you have something you would like to point out to me, or something you would like to suggest, please review! Also, I didn't really proof read this chapter very well, knowing it needed to be sent out a.s.a.p. so there might be a few errors!

Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows so far! Love ya'll and I hope this chapter was long enough for ya this timeXD

I will put another character profiling in the next chap, so for now,

Hugs and Loves,

~usedheartOoO