A/N: This had been a request by Yuu3 a long time ago in 2017, wow. Here you go!
Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Bleach.
#24#
Being the King of Hell… had its ups and downs. On one side, he knows easily who he can trust. As the days went by he could begin to tell the level of sins every soul has committed and judge if they were beyond damnation evil, or if they were pencil stealing kind of evil. It certainly made it easy for him to be even wearier of Captain Kurotsuchi who was born in Soul Society and whose soul would undeniably go into Hell the moment he died without even a chance at living life.
On the other side, the feeling he got from people's souls could be… disgusting. He remembers -only vaguely because he was too busy trying to avoid losing his breakfast- walking past a man on his way off the train when he had been going out of town for the day and having goosebumps run down his spine at the sensation he had felt from the man. It was as if he were beyond Hell evil, the kind of evil that was only talked about in hushed whispers as if afraid of summoning bad luck upon you. He couldn't really know without further analysis exactly what he had done to give off such a slimy feeling, but he knew without a doubt that this went beyond theft or a murder. This was a soul the kicked puppies before lunch and planned cold blooded torture and murder with glee.
Once he was back home in Karakura, he had laid down on his bed, sunk into his inner world and tried to get his thoughts into some semblance of order.
"We should just go and run our sword through him!" His inner Hollow exclaimed, his eyes sharp and murderous in a way that would have been spine chilling if men like those didn't exist in the world. "He's a sick fucker, no one will miss him King, let's gut him!"
Ichigo had been tempted, very tempted, but he knew he shouldn't do it because that was ridiculous. Kill one, all is well, but there are more people out there who do evil, why would it matter if he removes one single one from the equation? Yet it did matter, it mattered to him but he also didn't want to become like that man and start murdering left and right.
"We can't" he denied somewhat reluctantly. "But we can figure something out."
Old man Zangetsu had only nodded proudly as if Ichigo had made the right choice. While Ichigo and his white doppelganger were no longer at odds after his defeat, they were still not really friends and so even now, he rather go along with the Old man then the white haired hollow.
"Kill a killer and the amount of killers in this world stay the same." The Old man intones, his voice grave and full of untold wisdom.
"Then just kill two!" The Hollow growls, his vocal cords deep and maniacal.
As if there was ever a question of who he would listen to.
#24#
Asking one of the demons in the palace had been his best bet. He usually didn't like going into Hell much in case someone came looking for him and noticed that he was not in the Human World but sometimes it could not be helped, he needed to make regular trips to Hell to keep things in order and make sure no more riots occurred because Hell hadn't had a ruler in centuries.
Really, Ichigo could do without the job, but after he had conquered his fears and saved his sister from Hell, the choice had been taken from his hands and he had been crowned without his say so.
Asking Satan, Prince of Hell and Demon of witchcraft should be his best bet, but that guy was an asshole and Ichigo knows the demon only humors him half the time because they both know that if Ichigo really got angry with him, Ichigo could and would banish him and/or Kill him if he really wanted to. That's how far Ichigo's power went when it came to his sovereign over Hell. His Shinigami powers may still be in process of being powerful, but his Hell given powers, his Demon powers, his inherited powers from the previous King Lucifer, were outclassed.
So he could ask Satan, but he's an asshole who wouldn't care, so no.
Going down the Hierarchy, Leviathan would be his next choice, and though the Demon of Heresy and Envy could be a dick too, at least his loyalty was unquestioning and he usually only acted like a dick towards others and not Ichigo.
Leviathan was easy to find and even easier to convince, and before the day was up, the two were sitting in Ichigo's private dining room –and seriously, what the fuck- and they are both enjoying a meal that Behemoth cooked for them.
"It's seriously unfair, how Behemoth only exclusively cooks for you and his Crown Prince Satan." Leviathan was whining into his wine.
Ichigo sighs for what feels like the umpteenth time before giving the demon a lazy glare. "Behemoth is the Night watchman- that is his main job and his priority."
The demon pouts. "Well yes, but he is also Satan's cook."
"It was a joke." Ichigo protests hotly.
And it was supposed to be a joke. When he had barley started understanding his duties and how things worked, he had jokingly mentioned how Behemoth always seemed to stop any task he was doing whenever Satan asked him to cook. And while it certainly wasn't something that happened often enough for it to be a problem, it was still noticeable that Behemoth only cooked when Satan asked.
So Ichigo had jokingly remarked on this, and since he was the only one who could really get away with it, Satan had not gotten mad and Behemoth had offered to cook for him too. He had brushed it off, jokingly said Behemoth's job as the Night watchman and Satan's cook was what mattered and accidently renamed the stocky Demon without meaning to.
He hadn't known his words held power like that. Ugh.
Even then Behemoth had made a habit to cook for Ichigo whenever he dropped into Hell and stayed long enough to dine, so the exclusivity had added him.
"Anyway." Leviathan brushes it off. "Our deal has been settled, one meal for the information you needed my Liege."
Ichigo cringed at the name but didn't correct him. It was an impossible task, he had already tried and given up a long time ago.
"While every soul has an expiration date, these are based off of natural death only. Which means, that if something out of their control happens, they can and will die." He explains.
"I already knew this." Ichigo rolls his eyes as he reclines himself on the wing backed chair. "I'm asking if there is a way to… expedite the damned's fall to Hell."
Leviathan eagerly claps their hands. "Already thinking of ways to improve your ruling and grow your subjects; as expected of my Liege."
Ichigo sighs tiredly before giving the demon a glare that could –and would, if he let his powers reign free- freeze Hell over.
"Alright," he huffs. "No need to resort to violence. The best option could be setting us on these souls." Leviathan explains as if resigned that he would have more work by the end of the day. "You know us demons make contracts with humans and reap their souls, so if we make sure to approach these humans and trick them into selling their soul before their time, we get more power and souls are taken off circulation quicker. Simple."
Ichigo thought about it for a bit before nodding and looking up towards the second Prince of Hell. "Can all demons feel how damned they are? Or only high level ones?"
"No lower than a Marques my Liege. And really, the only one who can see the expiration dates and sins perfectly is you. But the rest of us can see enough to know who to target." Leviathan purred, his smirk cocking up at the thought of all the humans he would get to fool.
He nodded, and while the satisfied smile on the demons face gave him pause, it was a neat and satisfactory solution so he had finished his meal, dropped into his office, made sure Baal-Berith, Secretary of Hell and Demon of Blasphemy took a break from all the paperwork and drafted his… royal decree.
Once the order had been sealed and cemented they had all burst into flames and instantly transported towards the recipients. Already Ichigo felt better about his excursion.
#24#
He hadn't really stopped to think back to his order much. He didn't have the need to do so. The demons were happy to have a target and since they were all higher level demons, no one really had silly questions about his command.
Ichigo would only sometimes wonder, if a bit distractedly what with all the Arrancar and Espada dropping in, whether it was a good idea or not, when he would sense a demon nearby. Once he had followed the presence to a non-descript two story house at the edge of the high class area of Karakura just to make sure, he had left with his jaw clenched and his eyes set when he felt the clammy sins of the female who had found pleasure in hitting her children behind her husband's back and had this twisted idea of bleeding the kids dry to bathe in their blood and regain her youth.
Ichigo had cursed her with one of the mean easy spells Satan had taught him and left on his merry way content with the fact that one of his demons would have her soul by the end of the day and in the meantime she would be miserable.
By the time he was in Hueco Mundo trying to rescue Inoue, he had found out that his demons had not been restricted to live souls and found it amusedly interesting that even Hollows –sentient and not- were being targeted. Another thing he noted, somewhat distractedly, was that many Shinigami had come into Hueco Mundo to help –late, but better then never he supposed- and that Kurotsuchi was actually being tracked by a demon. It was Olivier, prince of hell and demon of cruelty, and if Ichigo had ever doubted that he didn't fit in with all the demons as the King of Hell, the twisted sense of glee at the thought of what Olivier would do to Kurotsuchi more than confirmed it.
He got back to Karakura for his showdown with Aizen, and when he had finally found out that Aizen was trying to make an Ouken to reach the Spirit King, he could hardly restrain the laughter that wanted to break free at the mere thought of the stairway in his bedroom at Hell that connects to the Spirit King's palace.
Once he arrived onto the battlefield he finally met face to face with Aizen for the first time since he had ascended to the throne and couldn't suppress the cringe at the feel of the man's soul. He had done many questionable things, Ichigo could sense that clearly enough, but one thing that that stood out like a beacon was the sheer amount of souls this man had permanently eradicated in his little experiments.
That was the last straw.
"Okay," Ichigo huffed out once he regained his bearings "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Take your pick."
Aizen's expression didn't change, but Ichigo could tell that he was not as unemotional as he liked to portray himself. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Ichigo sighed in resignation before flicking his zanpaktou back into shikai and then going further and sealing the cleaver-like blade into a katana. The stares he was getting were ranged between confused to enraged, but before anyone could yell at him for putting away his weapon when the enemy was right in front of him, he extended his right arm, the silver katana gleaming in the sun as he put two fingers on the edge of the blade and painted the steel in his blood.
"Diverbero," he whispered, the words uttered as if he were speaking to something delicate. "Zangetsu."
His power burst outward and dropped onto everyone heavily as if it were water. While Ichigo had marginally attempted to keep his power under wraps to not injure his comrades, he still knew it was not a pleasant feeling. Once the clouds of black on red cleared and his appearance was visible again, he heard gasps and shocked mummers and knew that they were securitizing his change.
He was wearing a black kimono with red trimmings and a haori on top. The haori was also black but had stitching of koi fish, branches and a red moon hanging above them. His hair was long and twining with the wind, and the only thing keeping it out of his face was the silver and gold circlet settled on his brow with the large red ruby nestled on his forehead. As he opened his eyes, he knew they now shinned with an unnatural red color eerily reminiscent of the color of his black on red Getsuga tenshou. He didn't have the full body armor he had manifested that day he became king of hell, but his left arm was wrapped in it, and the barest of gold color peeked from under his kimono's collar.
"So," Ichigo began ruefully. "I pretty much left the task to all my demons and didn't really need to intervene since they were doing such a good job."
The wide-eyed stare Aizen had been steadily giving him was a great pleasure. And as comprehension started to fill those pale brown eyes, Ichigo's lips started to quirk upwards at the corner.
"But I think I will indulge myself into stealing your soul and bringing it with me to hell the next time I go and check on my throne." He mused, his eyes full of mirth as fear started entering Aizen's expression.
"What the hell is going on here?" someone murmured as if in prayer, and Ichigo bit his lip to not burst out laughing.
Not to be continued…