The meeting was soon.
Toshiro had spoken to his father last night about it. The eight world commanders residing over the different branches there were all to gather with the king, and this time him as well, to see what all was happening around the world. The young prince planned on mentioning the Japanese branch's possible involvement in the battle to come, as they weren't about to back down now. He'd mentioned it to Satoru last night and the man had looked rather amused by it all.
He walked with his father now, as he didn't know where the meeting was, and thought about how he was going to word it to the others. Surely they wouldn't be as amused by it as his father. They might think he was picking favorites, though considering he grew up in that branch it really shouldn't have been that much of a surprise, and it wasn't his choice, really. His friends would have done it anyway, orders or no.
Teal eyes glanced up at his father. The man looked a shade paler now and he had a slight slump to his shoulders; his condition was worsening. Toshiro frowned, concerned. How long did his father have left? Not long enough in his eyes; he'd only known him for two months.
Something else was also bothering him. He had yet to finish the book about the twin dragons, what their importance was, but the part he had read wasn't all that detailed and as cryptic as the King of Hell had been. The part he'd found that had interested him before Dyrilæn reported her partner in danger had been a mentioning of a prophecy, However, most of it was scratched out save for two lines: Twin drakes reveal a world once lost, light does fade as death is near.
'The first part is sort of understandable.' He mused. 'It seems to suggest that someone with two dragons finds a new world. Or…something like that. It could just be referring to the Soul King's Realm, since the Soul Society hardly ever knew anything about it until I started going back and forth.'
'Then perhaps the second part refers to Fear, as light fades in its presence.' Hyorinmaru offered.
'But Nakryin can reverse it.' He paused as they reached the meeting room. 'I'll think about this later if I ever have time to finish that book.'
"Ready?" Satoru turned to his son.
"Yes."
The two stepped inside, eight other figures already there, sitting around a circular table of dark wood, the walls cream colored so as not to be distracting. The Soul King took his seat at the head with a chair beside him for Toshiro, who sat quietly.
"Good day to you all." The king spoke. "I'm sure you've all met my son, by now."
"We have." Alicia replied.
"Very well, let's get started."
Toshiro listened with interest to what everyone had to say. The branches in the North American region seemed to be having trouble with the citizens in the slums, their version of the Rukongai, and he blamed it on America's stubbornness of free speech and need to help others, even if they were invading into the realm of other branches of Soul Society. Sure, America was a diverse nation, but it seemed to be having difficulty keeping its hands to itself. It was a rather new system, there was bound to be some trouble there. The others all seemed to be normal, with their slum citizens feeling a little worse for wear with the Soul Reapers of each branch doing their jobs. Nothing out of the ordinary in the other countries, no signs of demon interference.
"The only real trouble seems to remain in the Japanese branch." Spoke Hazuki Moonleaf, a lean woman with pale green hair and amber eyes in charge of the side of Asia containing Japan. "First Sosuke Aizen pops up trying to play Soul King, though thankfully he was taken down before anything drastic happened, and now Dethmaiyn is Hell bent on messing things up down there."
"You don't think Sosuke Aizen's attempt at trying to create a King's Key was drastic?" Toshiro argued, bristling a bit at the thought. He'd been in that war, and that war had almost killed him.
"We actually were planning on stepping in." Hazuki quickly corrected. "In fact, the Royal Guard, Ruala Nakryin, had intentions of helping the fight, but then Ichigo Kurosaki somehow managed to put a stop to Aizen before she could step out of this realm."
"And you have to understand, my lord, we're fighting our own war." Spoke Damian Talor, commander of the four to five African branches. "The threat of Dethmaiyn affects more than one branch; it affects all the realms of this Earth."
Though still a little miffed, Toshiro let it go. He was right; this demon threat was far more than Aizen's threat. If he'd had the power he'd earned now during the Winter War, Aizen would have already been defeated before he'd even made an Arrancar army. But even with that same power he had trouble defeating one of Dethmaiyn's lesser demon warriors; Sarcum was clearly caught off guard, making that the only reason he'd won, he knew that.
"If Dethmaiyn has turned to threatening the Japanese branch, probably because I have a history there, wouldn't it be right to give the Soul Society there a fighting chance?"
"Could they even handle it?" Hotaru, younger sister of Hazuki and commander of the other Asian branches, questioned.
"I have no doubt most of them could." Toshiro replied. "And for a human, Ichigo Kurosaki shows quite a bit of talent."
A few of the commanders snickered. They knew the death berry's story.
"He makes an interesting point." Satoru hummed. "Though I suppose if I were to tell you no you would do it anyway, no?"
"If I told them no they'd do it anyway."
The king chuckled at that.
"What do you have in mind, young prince?" Kavain questioned.
"One way of saying it is we give the Japanese branch of Soul Society an upgrade. There are lots of powerful Soul Reapers there, if we can get them to increase it even Dethmaiyn's Demon Lords will have a cause to worry."
Several of them nodded in understanding. Strategies were then discussed between them as they wondered how best to train the Japanese fighters into a demon fighting force. With Hazuki being the commander in charge of their branch, she easily volunteered her skills to the training, and Toshiro mentioned how Ruala had already been training some of them. Satoru listened with interest as his son easily took charge of how these events would go, silently admiring how quickly the boy fit into his role. There was no question his son would be a powerful Soul King.
Once everything was decided, the commanders began to move out. Hazuki lagged behind as Toshiro left to find Ruala before she headed out to train the others.
"Well, despite his age, I must say it's very easy to see him as the authority." She spoke to the king, who remained in his seat as he pondered things they would probably never guess. "Must be his experience as a Captain."
"He's a natural leader." Satoru chuckled. "A little stiff, though. Lady Greenleaf is attempting to…open him up a bit. He's used to leading warriors, but not everyone here is a fighter."
"In these times that might be just what we need, Soul King."
The man frowned a bit.
"Yes…perhaps you're right." He stood and headed out of the room, Hazuki following for a time before heading off in her own direction. She needed to talk to those under her, warn them that she would be out of the realm more often now.
Thankfully for Toshiro, Ruala was in the palace and easy to get to. The blonde woman was nursing a strange creature that Toshiro had never seen before, a skinny creature with short fur and large eyes, body long like a snake but with three sets of legs, toes webbed. She finished healing a small wound and Sofia took off in eagle form with the creature on her back, back to the Kingdom of Magika.
"What did the council decide?" She asked quietly, turning to him.
"They agreed with me." He replied. "The Japanese branch is going to get some special treatment for a while until Dethmaiyn can be stopped."
"Do you plan on assisting in the training?"
He sighed heavily.
"I can't, I have things I need to do here." He glanced around him. They were in a work room, several souls running around getting things done. "I still haven't mastered Hyorinmaru's new attacks, and there are duties I need to know how to do."
"But these people are your friends." Ruala argued quietly. "Surely you want to help them? Many of the things you're trying to learn through this discipline of yours can be learned later, and people would understand why you didn't know it."
"That may be…" He mused aloud. "But…I want to know how to get the other marks; I'm not exactly sure what to do for each one. At least let me train my new power before I rush off to train the others."
The woman tilted her head but spoke no more, simply remaining in her seat and looking through a few files she'd had sitting on her lap, occasionally writing on one. She was a Royal Guard; she had her own fair share of paperwork. Toshiro did too, but thankfully it was far less than what he was used to as a Captain and for once he thanked Rangiku's laziness, as it somewhat prepared him for the work he did here.
Leaving the girl to her work, Toshiro wandered back to the icy floor to train.
'Why are you avoiding them?' Hyorinmaru questioned as the young prince unsheathed him and began his practice.
'I'm not avoiding them, I was serious. I've only been in this position for two months; I can't just show up and start telling them how to fight things that I'm not even sure how to fight without some kind of experience myself.'
'You've killed one of the lesser demon masters.'
'Key word being 'lesser' here.'
'Yes, that's true. But you fail to see the point. You are the Soul Prince, with Spiritual Pressure ten times stronger than the average Captain. They will listen to you, they will follow. Perhaps not all of them, but you can bet most of them will. Kurosaki trusts you, and everyone trusts Kurosaki.'
'I know…' He paused as switched to Shikai. He'd been attempting to use some of his Bankai techniques while in Shikai, as it lessened the power behind it while still giving him something powerful to attack with. 'It's more for my sake…if I can feel confident in my power I can better help them. The people here are counting on me, I need to be strong.'
'You need to stop caring about what everyone thinks. As long as they're safe it doesn't matter what they think.'
There was silence between them as Toshiro switched to Bankai and attempted to use the two-part technique, wanting to know its name. It was on the tip of his tongue, but when he attempted to say it, it slipped away again and the attack fell apart.
'I won't be heading back any time soon….My father needs me here.'
The ice dragon did not reply to that.
Ugh, first day of school is crazy. But I promised a chapter after school so here ya go! Enjoy!