Masaki did not have a good feeling about today. In fact, she'd been feeling weird the whole week and now she could vaguely understand why. After their latest plan to overthrow Aizen had failed and they had all scurried to hide inside the Urahara Shoten, no one had seen hide or hair from the eccentric owner. Honestly, Masaki had caught many of the surviving Visored giving the labs Kisuke had sequestered himself in very contemplating looks, but everyone knew barging in there would only cause setbacks, so they had all barely refrained.
As it was, two weeks after the latest failed heist, the man had asked them all to gather and they were now settled in the war room AKA the living room to hear what he had to say.
"Do you…" Yoruichi began from where she sat in one corner of the shop's living room. "have any other plans?"
Kisuke didn't so much as twitch as the entire room shifted their attention to the pale blonde man. There were somber expressions all around, and no one was quite sure if the fact plan M's failure meant they were now at the end of the line. As it was, plan L had been for Lunatic and plan M was for Maniac, the plans were becoming more and more desperate and unhinged than anything, at the rate they were going, they would reach plan S for Suicidal.
"Not so much a plan, as it is a deranged stab in the dark." Kisuke finally told them when it became obvious no one else would speak up. "Plan N for Nuttier than a fruitcake." He looked up from where he had been fiddling with his fan to stare at Masaki with an expression that was best described as a grimace. "Masaki-san, have you heard of the… legends passed by your clan?"
Masaki felt it eerie how the entire room moved their dead and desperate stare from Kisuke to her at that question.
"Legends?" she inquired and kept her gaze on the man instead of the others. "You mean Ywach? That's not a legend Kisuke-san."
The pale blonde shook his head. "Further back, about the roots of Ywach's power."
Masaki furrowed her brows as she tried to wrack her brain about what the man could be talking about. Quite honestly, sitting in on pesky lessons of their history had never been something she enjoyed, and whenever she could get away with it, she ditched oba-san to avoid them.
"You are talking about Myths, Urahara Kisuke." Ryūken interjected from where he sat next to Isshin, his eyes as impassive as ever but there was something almost defensive in the man. "Ywach was the son of the Soul King, nothing else."
Kisuke kept his stare level as he analyzed the other Quincy in the room with what could easily be labeled as i-don't-believe-your-bullshit-for-a-second.
"Funny you would say that." Kisuke states languidly while keeping eye contact. "Because the records I was able to find, speak of a slightly longer story."
Masaki found herself straightening as the words clicked in her head and dawning slowly entered her face.
"Masaki." Ryūken calls out to her. "The Sachkundige is a myth."
She hums in agreement but that doesn't stop her from giving Kisuke a curious look. "Ryūken is correct Kisuke-san. I don't know where you got this… knowledge, but it's all myths, a nice little song we were told at bedtime."
The pale blonde nods but his eyes do not waver. "That is true, but all stories have a grain of truth, and I'm at the point where fantasy ideas are leads I'm following and discarding."
Everyone grimaced at this -desperate times do call for desperate actions.
"What does it say?" Shinji asks out of nowhere when it looked like no one else was going to break the silence. "The song?"
Ryūken sniffs and crosses his arms. "This is ludicrous."
Masaki throws a disapproving frown at her cousin that has him instantly backing down and more than one person snickering.
"Correct me if I'm wrong Ryūken, but I believe it goes something like this:
The mighty King alone he was
So he begged the High Heavens for company
The angels took pity and so they think, a son would fill the hole he had
He could not see
He could not speak
He could not hear or even move
That was the fate he took.
For the Sachkundige do not forget when a debt is owed.
"So, what are the Sachkundige?" Yoruichi asked at last.
"According to records." Kisuke began wryly. "I believe the best term for them would be angels."
The gathered group made differing sounds of shock or confusion at this statement, but everyone still looked kind of bemused that they were talking about legends and myths. Masaki could understand the sentiment.
"That sounds more like a demon than an angel." Lisa pointed out. "I thought angels did things out of the goodness of their heart, but this sounds like they charger with interest."
Yoruichi let out a bitter laugh at this which had everyone jumping. "Heavenly and all-powerful beings are not benevolent! If they were, shit like this wouldn't happen."
That was a very valid point though no one really wanted to think about it that way because it made it sound like the heavens -God- had forsaken them already.
"So where were you going with this Kisuke?" Shinji brings the conversation back on track. "Myths and legends are interesting sure, but if you have nothing else it's useless."
The pale blonde man took in a deep breath before reaching into the folds of his haori and pulling out a brittle and frail piece of paper and extending it over the table.
"This is the most promising data I found after I had Yoruichi scavenge the destroyed Kuchiki estate. Their library had the most data recorded and if I was going to find anything, it would be there." He explained as he smoothed out the edges of the sigil inked onto the sheet. "After much investigation, it looks like eons ago ancestors called upon heavenly beings and offered trades."
Masaki leaned forward as she scanned the large paper and found many semi familiar characters and many non-familiar characters. Honestly, she couldn't make heads or tails of this.
"And you think that we can call on one and what… ask them to kill Aizen?" Lisa asked skeptically.
Kisuke smiled, broken and sad. "Plan N."
The room descended into silence again for a couple seconds before Masaki took a deep breath and nodded to herself. "Worth a shot." She states. "Can't be more suicidal than the last six plans we had."
Many winces are shared around the room and Masaki only vaguely hopes she didn't just jinx them.
"Alright then." Kisuke ascents. "To activate it we need to pour reiatsu and focus on our plea." He stops and looks around the room to give everyone a heavy gaze. "I would prefer if only those with an unwavering conviction joins."
That made sense. Trying experimental whatever-this-was with half hearted belief could be dangerous. Soon enough they were all shuffled and positioned in front of the spread-out sheet and many hands were firmly on the sigil. Kisuke gave everyone a last searching stare before nodding in signal to start pouring reiatsu into the paper.
They got an instantaneous reaction that had more than a few of the room occupants shuffling backwards in an attempt to shuffle away from the man, being, angel(?) suddenly standing on the low table.
"Why the hell did this take you so long?" was the first thing out of the new person's mouth.
He was a tall man with lightly tanned skin and orange hair cropped in a somewhat short messy style. He was wearing a blue kimono with waves and mountains on it -typical Japanese clothing. What wasn't so typical were the many white butterflies seemingly attached to his person and the hard to miss blue wings.
Once she was done gawking at the young man, Masaki pulled her wits about her and leaned forward as wonder entered her expression.
"Sachkundige!" she exclaimed in delight.
The orange head blinked in curiosity at her before leaning his head slightly to the left and scrutinizing her.
"Oh." He breathed out. "You're one of his cursed adoptees. How's he doing anyways?"
Masaki found her brows raising at the odd question. "Do you mean Ywach? He's dead?"
"Really?" the young man sounded intrigued. "It must have been longer than I thought. I could have sworn the little hellion started recruiting last year."
She found herself spluttering at that. "Ywach started his recruitment a millennium and a half ago."
"Huh." He sounded confused but not really distressed. "Well there goes that entertainment. Sorry about that, it's been a while since I was summoned, and human lives go by so fast I sometimes forget what mortal year it is."
Masaki was not the only one that looked taken aback by this statement. This man was just brushing off 1500 years as if it were a fortnight ago. What kind of being had they brought forth?
Kisuke cleared his throat and the orange head swiftly moved his attention to the blonde. "I believe we are getting a bit off track. My name is Urahara Kisuke, this lovely lady is Kurosaki Masaki and to her right is-"
"I know who you are." The man interjected. "I would be a very bad Sachkundige if I didn't know even that." He joked. "My name is… not exactly comfortable for you mortals so I suppose you may call me Ichigo. I am what they call Sachkundige or The Knowledgeable."
"Knowledgeable in what?" Shinji asked.
Ichigo tilted his head in confusion as if he could not fathom why Shinji was asking such a silly question but elaborated nonetheless. "I am an all-knowing Guardian of an all knowing God. My role as a Knowledgeable means that everything that has happened, is happening or will happen is at my fingertips there to leave it be or change it as I please." He furrowed his brows as he noticed the paling features on everyone. "This bothers you."
It sounded like a statement to Masaki, but for some reason it also seemed like he wanted an answer for the unspoken question.
"You can see everything we suffer, but nothing is done to help us?" she asks in lieu of an answer.
Ichigo still seemed perplexed but less then before. "No one is coming to save you." Everyone flinched again. "No one is coming to save me either." He scanned the room, his brown eyes meeting everyone's eyes before continuing. "God will not drop everything and come pull me out of the water if I'm drowning. I have to kick and tear my way out of it and that means you need to do that too."
"So you won't help us?" Masaki asked meekly.
"I never said that." The orange head denied. "I said no one will save you, not that no one will help you. This is you kicking and tearing through the water for fresh air, this is you not giving up which is the most important part of it all."
Shoulder relaxed all around at that proclamation, but no one felt like cheering either. This man- this angel made them feel like children -then again, if what he was eluding earlier is true, he's at least 1500 years old and definitely older than anyone else in this room.
"What do you require of us Ichigo-sama?" Kisuke finally asked when all the orange head did was look inquisitively at his audience. "It's meant to be a trade, correct?"
"Yes." Ichigo agreed as he hid his hands inside the sleeves of his kimono. "No worries though, your fear is unfound. The little King wanted an all-powerful child, a being above all else and paid the price for his arrogance."
This seemed to appease them and Ichigo belatedly jumped off the table and stood in the space between Masaki and Kisuke. It wasn't until he had moved from his position that the white butterflies that were attached to his person started fluttering around the room as if sensing there was no more tension.
"This person, Aizen Sosuke sounds like a terrible mortal." He pondered. "I shall take his soul with me and enslave it. The court is always looking for beings to clean the palace."
Masaki spluttered and she wasn't the only one. "Enslave? I thought Angels were of light and good."
Ichigo laughed as he waved a hand in the air as if to discard the silly notion. "There is no Angel alive or dead that has ever truly been a light and good being. I suppose in mortal terms, all Angels are half-way fallen in depravity. Not good, not bad, only an in between where we can do good for the wrong reasons or bad for the right reasons."
Masaki felt her shoulders dropping. "That makes no sense."
"It makes sense to us." Ichigo reassured her. "So I will destroy your Aizen problem and you will name your first born son after me. I also require tributes in the form of desserts once a month for the rest of your mortal existence." He clarified.
Shinji found himself sweat dropping. "Do you want all of us to do that?"
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "One Ichigo will suffice and only one person needs to prepare tribute at a time. You may decide how to organize yourselves, but it will be necessary until the last one of you dies."
"That…" Kisuke began hesitantly. "… sounds fair?"
"You won't be able to do anything to the baby, will you?" Lisa inquires with thinly veiled violence.
The orange head waved her off. "Nothing at all, just consider it a way for me to remind you of what I did for you."
"Alright." Yoruichi agreed for them. "Sounds like a deal."
Ichigo nodded regally. "Perfect, I will get to work."
Before they could even blink the orange head was already gone. The silence in the living room was almost awkward as no one really knew what to say about this dream like experience they just had.
"What just happened." Ryūken spoke up after what seemed like ages ago in a deadpanned tone that almost sounded like a prayer.
Kisuke took his hat off his head and held it almost solemnly to his chest. "They say the loveliest angels make the cruelest demons."
These words of wisdom did nothing to quell the Doctors imminent breakdown and this time his words most definitely ringed like an orison. "What. The. Hell?"
"I think it's actually what the heaven, Ryūken."
The glare the Ishida gave her was completely uncalled for in her opinion.
Not to be continued…
Well, looks like I still have a bit more in me.
Fanart I modified from manga for my purposes because it seems I'm doing that now: arelia22/art/Angel-Kurosaki-Ichigo-860373217