A/N Well, boys and girls, no I didn't die, it just got hectic. Hell, I STILL haven't gotten all the stuffs I need for family gift giving... Anyway, if y'all haven't guessed, for this particular story I post when Niji does! Otherwise I'd forget to post at all, I've been that scatterbrained. So, yeah, enjoy~

Chapter Warnings: Ummm...supernatural creatures, mention of past abuse and violence, some demonic stuffs, oh, and magic. If you hadn't guessed. If anyone ideologically sensitive to the idea of magic existing has read this far and not freaked the hell out and went back to their religious texts, I have no idea what else to say. So, anyway, enjoy!

How long it took to regain his sight, Ichigo didn't know, but the piercing light of dawn through a window that shouldn't be there was his first clue. His second was a freedom of movement he shouldn't have had; he could unbend his arm and look down at his hand as though it wasn't supposed to be there, because in his memories he knew it had been behind his head when he passed out. The third thing was even more confusing. There was a tickling feeling on his belly. Not that the sensation itself was foreign, his lover regularly played with the lines cut into his skin by the ropes, but not only were the markings long gone, the thing tickling his stomach was not his blue-haired boyfriend's hand. It was a tail. A cat tail to be specific. Black tip and white fur, curling and uncurling contentedly around his belly button and as big around as his fist!

He blinked a few times before it finally clicked, "THE HELL!?"

He bolted back away from the thing, only to discover he couldn't go very far thanks to the chiseled planes of Grimmjow's chest, who yawned and curled tighter around him. The blunette tucked him in further, tail coming up to tickle his chin as strong hands stroked his arms comfortingly.

"Nnngh.."

Both hands came up and grabbed the offensive appendage so he could glare at it straight on. He couldn't turn around, and though somehow he should have noticed that the room they were in had rattan windows along the entire wall facing the East, he didn't.

From behind him came an unholy yowling of agony, "IIICHHIII!"

This caused another desperate squirm from the orangette as he realized it was attached to his lover. "THE HELL?!" He repeated, falling out of bed in a tangle of blankets and limbs to land on his tail bone.

This caused a second, louder, higher, and more agonized series of yowls and caterwauling, because he still had his tail in his grip and had just viciously yanked it. Grimmjow was shredding the bed, between his horns digging into the bed and his claws digging into the headboard and his footpaws thrust viciously against the footboard, long claws having punched all the way through as he was held rigid in indescribable pain.

"Oops!" Ichigo immediately let go of the tail, and then scrambled backwards until he reached the wall. "THE HELL! Grimm you're a...a...like that other guy! The fuck!?"

Grimmjow was clutching his tail to his chest, curled into a ball. The poor appendage was bent at a rather awkward angle, quite clearly broken. The man was nearly crying, ears down, mane in disarray, body curled protectively into a ball—covered in a strange white armor, with reversed knees, and with paws for feet and clawed hands that, though not furred like most of the rest of his body, had turned pure black in color.

He sniffled. "Ya din' hafta do that!"

It tugged at his heart, the orangette reaching out to soothe his lover, grabbing the edge of the bed to pull himself back up onto their it, in the process the frame cracked loudly, making him stop and stare at it horrified, with his other hand hovering in the air inches away from Grimmjow.

"Ah...uh..."

The panther looked from his tail to Ichigo's hand and the crushed wood where he had gripped, coming to the only logical conclusion he could. "Ya got stronger. Lots stronger."

It was at that point his Knowledge decided to return, and he bolted upright with a gasp, still holding his tail to his chest. "Ichi—yer—I—We Awakened! But I'm not—that means you—well fuck me. Who'da thunk?" He sat back on his haunches, blinking.

Ichigo blinked, too. There was a long pause, where he waited for the other to add anything to that. When it was obvious he wouldn't get anything else, he clipped, "What?"

Grimmjow frowned at his tail. "Gimme a second..."

Biting his lip hard, he took the tip in one hand and held just below the break with the other. Then he gave it a single, firm yank. The sickening crack was compounded by him biting clear though his lip with dagger-sharp teeth, but immediately a bolt of bright blue traveled his tail from base to tip and he let his tail go with a sigh, before awkwardly twisting around and forcing the base of his tail joint back into its socket. Another couple flashes of blue and he was good as new.

"Well, I Awakened as who I truly am—Conquest. Er, I think humans 'ave taken ta callin' me Pestilence, which is stupid 'cuz I hate diseases and dirt. I'm more the 'take what'cha got 'cuz ya won it fair an' square' man. But I ain't cursed no more, so tha' makes you my Key—key ta takin' off m' curse. BUT ya managed ta really hurt me, meanin' ya can't be just any ol' descendant o' tha' old windbag, Th' First King, so you must be his Heir, meanin' since he's been dead some years now, YOU'VE gotta be th' next King! So I'm the King's Consort, jus' like Shiro's always called me! So fuck me, who'da ever thunk it?"

More blinking and a noise that sounded a bit like an electrical short. Then Ichigo was on his feet, pacing back and forth and gesturing wildly while ranting, "Ní féidir liom a bheith ar an oidhre chun an throne, tá mé díreach tar éis an duine. Bhí scéalta Yama-jii s go díreach. Conas a d'fhéadfadh siad fíor?! Agus Shiro? An bhfuil a chiallaíonn sé a bhí ceart faoi seo ar fad an am seo ar an iomlán, agus bhí ár gáire air am amú? má tá muid ag tabhairt aird dó? agus cad faoi coláiste? bhí ceaptha agam a céim a bhaint amach an bhliain seo chugainn! An bhfuil gach rud déanta againn agus d'oibrigh sé do bhí useless? agus mé Gortaítear leat! Cad a tharlaíonn má is féidir liom é arís? Ní féidir liom a bheith Rí. No! ní bheidh mé! diúltú liom!"

"Ya can't jus' refuse yer throne, luv, the King is a necessary balancer. Ya won't hurt me anymore once ya git a grip on yer new strength. Yes, we shoulda been payin' better attention ta Shiro an' every time we laughed at 'im was wasted time. Yes, th' stories were real. Yer human, but more as well. And no, not everythin' we've worked for 'as been useless. Ya can still finish college, it's not like anyone else can claim th' throne...and there's good sense in livin' yer human life, you'll know what needs balance an' how badly. Also, sweetie, either slow down or switch to Japanese, m' Gaelic's juuuus' a lil' rusty," Grimmjow replied, quite calmly considering, and licked at his armored tail. Bones he could heal, he wasn't so good with bruises.

"Ach níl ach an oiread sin...go fóill, cad é?" Ichigo stopped his pacing, and blinked again. "Switch to Japanese? But I am speaking Japanese, what's Gaelic?"

Grimmjow rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Baby, Gaelic is what'chu were jus' speakin'. 'Diúltú mé' an' all tha'? And yes, tha' is what'chu were speakin'. Don't argue, I was JUST listenin' to ya."

"Je ne parlais pas le gaélique! Je parle normalement, si ça sonne bizarre pour vous c'est à cause de ce que Shiro fait qui vous a fait tourner dedans!" He argued anyway, not noticing the shift once again. "Et où en sommes-nous de toute façon!? Je me souviens d'aller au lit avec vous à la maison. Ce n'est pas à la maison. Et ce qui s'est passé à la corde? La moitié du plaisir d'être ligoté est que vous me délier!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, look, ya WERE speakin' Gaelic, an' can ya please stop wit' da French? I fuckin' hate those puissant pussies! We—well, we are home. Mah home. In th' Shrine. When we Awakened, shit happened, I musta teleported us ta where I felt most 'safe'. After all, I wouldn' want anythin' happenin' ta mah mate." His tail ticked. "Love, c'mere, would'ja?"

Once again Ichigo froze, "NEIN! Was wenn ich dir wehgetan wieder!?" His toes turned inward, and his hands came up to his chest, and he mumbled, "Ich konnte es nicht ertragen wenn ich dich wieder verletzt. "

"So come up 'ere, on th' bed. Lemme cuddle you. I'll do th' touchin so ya can't hurt me," he coaxed, opening his arms to his lover. "Ya won't hurt me, Kitten. Now that ya know ya gotta be careful, ya will be, won'tcha?"

The orangette came over to the bed and sat down on the edge, staring at the place where he'd cracked the frame, and tucking his knees up under his chin. Change was scary, and apparently now he was a monster. His insecurities about being odd and strange and different that had caused him to be both violent and temperamental all of his life made this whole situation panic-inducing.

Grimmjow curled up to his back, crossed his legs—twisted and odd as they were—over Ichigo so they were in the orangette's lap, looking like a pretzel, and used the heels of his black palms to massage his temples, down the sides of his face, and then back up to pull his fingers lightly through his hair, murmuring softly in his ear.

"Feel me pull th' tension outta ya. Feel me. Only me, mate. Feel how much I love ya. Can'tcha sense how much I love ya, how I would go ta th' ends o' th' earth for ya?"

"I knew that already." The new King did lean back into Grimmjow's touch though, and there was a drawing sensation, pulling the fear from his heart and removing the panic. "I just don't understand. Yama-jii never acted like it was important. It was just stories and when I stopped wanting to listen to him, he didn't push me about it. Shiro was always the one who would beg him for story after story about it. Ever since M—" He paused. "Since Mom died and we started staying with him and Uncle Kisuke when Goat Face was working. I don't get it. If it was important. If I'm so important, why'd they go off and leave me to figure it out on my own." His eyes fell closed.

"Because as with most things, timin' is an extremely important factor. If anyone tried ta push ya, tried ta Awaken ya, b'fore ya were ready..." he shuddered, hands faltering a moment. "...you'da gone insane. Killed everythin' in yer path b'fore self-destructin'. We've seen it happen b'fore. An, well, I'd be cursed ferever. Like...th' Third." His voice dropped, as if speaking of a horrible thing, an unmentionable name, on that last sentence.

"The Third?" Ichigo tilted his head so he could look at his lover.

"He means me," Said a bit of thin air by the door in a teasing baritone.

Grimmjow pulled Ichigo against him protectively, growling as his eyes turned to slits. The air shimmered, and out of the shimmer stepped a man—tall, handsome. Brown hair, mesmerizing brown eyes, hair pushed out of his face and a single lock hanging between his eyes. Most strikingly, however, was his garb—or lack of it, as he wore only a loincloth, but his reasoning was obvious seeing as out of his back sprouted an enormous pair of glistening butterfly wings, in an astonishing rainbow of color, and it shone like a thousand gems in the weak dawn light, dust being left in his wake as he scoffed at the feline.

"Oh, do calm yourself, First. I have no interest in your Key," he waved a dismissive hand.

Grimmjow held tighter to Ichigo—just looking at the Third, just thinking of how he could have lost his love into an endless loop of agony like the butterfly demon lived in, made his heart clench and stutter.

"Wh-what happened?" Ichigo stuttered, clenching the discarded sheet to his lap. "I'm pretty new at all of this. Are you...um..." His eyes drifted over the wings. "Like the other one...and um...Grimm?" His nervousness was coming back, and being naked in front of this new person didn't help at all.

"My Key was damaged," the new demon replied, "and yes, I am. We are called the Four Kings, though more honestly, we are the Four Horsemen. We supposedly herald the Apocalypse, but in truth it simply falls to us to keep the human population from exploding and draining the earth of all its resources—as, you may have noticed, it most definitely has over the years."

Grimmjow stared at the brunette. "Ya call bein' constantly separated, bein' eternally tormented, double-torn between Curse an' Contract, forced ta watch th' love o' yer life bein' born over and over only ta die, ta be abused, ta be born in a different country where ya can't get 'im-"

"Enough!" The butterfly snarled, eyes glowing and fangs showing as his claws grew, making a violent 'shut the fuck up' gesture in Grimmjow's direction before he forcibly calmed himself, pulled his hair back from where it had been in disarray, and once more held himself in cool elegance. "My troubles are not your mate's concern, nor are they yours, Conquest." His chin rose. "War and Death have also found their Keys and are with them now. I suggest the Heir go and comfort Death's key, seeing as the Dawn Light will soon spirit him back to the blackness and he will need to summon him back more permanently."

"Death..." Orange brows drew together, "Oh, what the fuck did Shii say about the Four Horsemen?!" He brought his hand down in frustration on the footboard, scaring himself back further into Grimmjow's arms when the wood splintered. "MERDE! Nie ficken lassen daran gewöhnt!" He looked up at his lover, "Ugh...Déan é a stopadh...?"

Third chuckled at the way the King's emotions affected the language he spoke. "Hold out your hands."

When the King had done so, the tall demon held out his own above them and began chanting softly in a non-voice that commanded the energy in the air. Bind the tongue, bind the breath, bind the muscles, bind the strength, stay within a human's power, 'til the vessel's rightful hour. Give to him the gift ere long, but help him keep his native tongue. This binding lasts until he's grown into his powers on his own. The spell cast by Blessed Three, my will be done, so mote it be. A gentle purple glow enveloped the orangette.

Grimmjow petted Ichigo's head. "Ya come up wit' th'best spells, Aizen."

The brunette fluttered some wing-dust over Ichigo to finish sealing the binding, before replying, "That's because I've been trapped in this world, fully conscious, and in the same life for so long."

Again the ginger found himself blinking. He was doing a lot of that lately. "Now what?"

He flexed his fingers, watching the glitter dissolve into his skin with some trepidation. His mind was buzzing. "I...there's something I should understand here, but it's not coming to me. Third, right?" He looked to Aizen, at the man's nod, he looked over his shoulder at Grimm, "Conquest? And somewhere nearby is Death, and did you say War? Wait...does that mean I'm...whoa..."

His hand flew to his temple and his eyes went unfocused for a moment, as the realization that he was the King, the Savior, according to the legends...Christ. But they'd said that was just legend, right? Well, then...but...and even if...ugh! He needed Shiro to sort all of this out for him. His twin had always been the one with answers.

"Yes, and—" There came a cry of distress and outrage, echoing through the chamber, brought on echoes from a secluded alcove, and Aizen sighed. "That...would be Death's Key. Death's Contract is up. He has been sent back into the darkness."

Grimmjow's ears shot straight up. "Shiro? Shiro's Four's Key?"

"Are you surprised? He did summon him. You are aware that's the only way they can possibly meet." The butterfly raised an eyebrow.

Ichigo was off like a shot, moving faster than he ever had before, and somehow the sheet had been wrapped around his body like a traditional toga. He burst through the door to find his twin curled in the middle of a bed that was identical to the one where he'd woken up. The albino rocked back and forth holding himself. The orangette was on top of him in the blink of an eye, pulling him into an embrace he was slightly terrified would crush the slightly smaller male, but it didn't and he soon found a white nose buried in the hollow of his neck.

"He's gone, King. Gone 'til I c'n summon 'im back. I dunno how ta do that without m' board." He was murmuring.

Ichigo shushed him, drawing his hand through the spikes so similar to his own. "We'll get him back, Shii. I promise. You broke his curse. He can't stay away from you for long. I'm sure of it, and I don't even know this shit."

The two were quiet for a short while, Shiro fighting off tears as he spilled everything that had happened, leaving out a few specific personal details, and about how he was certain the others were around here somewhere because the release of energy that morning had been entirely too large for just his own interactions. "I know they're here. I dunno where, but, King, I'll find 'em an' get 'em their keys. I swear it!"

"Heh, we're closer than you think, Shii."

"Eh? Whatcha mean?" It was the albino's turn to blink, as his twin smiled crookedly.

"Now how did that thing go? 'til I need it? Eh, dunno how well this'll work but this morning when I woke I could do this." Ichigo reached out and grabbed one of the wooden crossbeams on the window and actually concentrated on squeezing the wood. A small symbol glowed on the inside of his wrist in lavender, then the bar splintered, the same the bedframe had before.

"Whoa! King!" Shiro exclaimed momentarily distracted. "How'd that happen?"

Ichigo related his mating with Grimmjow and how somehow they'd gone to bed at home and woken up here while the albino paced, obviously thinking. "An' then this Aizen dude cast a spell on ya so ya could control it? Damn, that does mean th' others 're here, an' this Aizen dude must be Famine. I mean if Blue's Conquest and Qio's Death. Wonder who War is."

"Dunno, but I really wish Ulquiorra could be here for you, Shii." Ichigo drew his knee up to his chin, watching his twin shiver as a ripple of energy the orangette didn't exactly feel coursed through the air.

There was a deep shudder, and the fabric of reality rippled. An oval shape, vertical this time, but identical to the one Ulquiorra had come out of the first time, appeared. The blackness buckled. It writhed. It fought. It twisted. And finally, it vomited out Death, in all his horned and furry glory, in a heap of twisted long limbs and wings and tail, looking confused, groggy, and rather like something heavy had just hit him over the head.

"What—?"

The last is alone, and forever despairs, for his was a Key in need of repairs.

A/N 2: In case anybody's interested, here are Ichi's language slips Google Translated:

"Ní féidir liom a bheith ar an oidhre chun an throne, tá mé díreach tar éis an duine. Bhí scéalta Yama-jii s go díreach. Conas a d'fhéadfadh siad fíor?! Agus Shiro? An bhfuil a chiallaíonn sé a bhí ceart faoi seo ar fad an am seo ar an iomlán, agus bhí ár gáire air am amú? má tá muid ag tabhairt aird dó? agus cad faoi coláiste? bhí ceaptha agam a céim a bhaint amach an bhliain seo chugainn! An bhfuil gach rud déanta againn agus d'oibrigh sé do bhí useless? agus mé Gortaítear leat! Cad a tharlaíonn má is féidir liom é arís? Ní féidir liom a bheith Rí. No! ní bheidh mé! diúltú liom!"

"I cannot be the heir to the throne, I am just a human. Yama-jii's stories were just that. How could they have been real?! And Shiro? Does that mean he has been right about all of this the whole time, and our laughing at him was wasted time? Should we have been paying attention to him? And what about college? I was supposed to graduate next year! Has everything we have done and worked for been useless? And I hurt you! What if I do it again? I cannot be King. No! I will not! I refuse!" (Gaelic)

"Ach níl ach an oiread sin...go fóill, cad é?"

"But there's just so much...wait, what?" (Gaelic)

"Je ne parlais pas le gaélique! Je parle normalement, si ça sonne bizarre pour vous c'est à cause de ce que Shiro fait qui vous a fait tourner dedans! Et où en sommes-nous de toute façon!? Je me souviens d'aller au lit avec vous à la maison. Ce n'est pas à la maison. Et ce qui s'est passé à la corde? La moitié du plaisir d'être ligoté est que vous me délier!"

"I was not speaking Gaelic! I'm talking normally, if it sounds weird to you it's because of whatever Shiro did that made you turn into that! And where are we anyway!? I remember going to bed with you at home. This is not home. And what happened to the ropes? Half the fun of being tied up is you untying me!" (French)

"NEIN! Was wenn ich dir wehgetan wieder!? Ich konnte es nicht ertragen wenn ich dich wieder verletzt."

"NO! What if I hurt you again!? I couldn't stand it if I hurt you again." (German)

"MERDE! Nie ficken lassen daran gewöhnt! Ugh...Déan é a stopadh...?"

"Shit! Never going to fucking get used to that! Ugh...Make it stop...?" (French, German, Gaelic – in that order)