KingVessel: Okay, I'll admit I'd never forgiven myself for failing my first Bleach fanfiction.

Chapter 01: The Demiurge's Offspring

One thousand years ago, two men stood to face each other in a final duel. On the left was a blond man with golden armor and a crimson waist cape. On the right was a black-haired man in white uniform underneath a black cloak.

Their sole connecting feature being their crimson eyes.

"Why?" The black-haired man demanded. "Why do you persist in ignoring the Shinigami for their atrocities?"

"Do not mistake my understanding for forgiveness, brother." The blond man replied. "I simply acknowledge that while their treatment of Father was the greatest of cruelties, the aftermath is necessary."

"Necessary?! This world is an insult!" The black-haired man snapped. "In the previous world, it was-"

"Father never cared, Yhwach." The blond man cut him off, raising his hand as the sand beneath him levitated and coalesced into three orbs over his fingers. "Our Father is the strongest. Even now, he still is. Even now, he doesn't care. Do you know that if the Soul King actually decided to leave the pedestal the Shinigami chained him to, not even that ugly monk would be able to stand a chance against him? Declare war upon me as you have upon Soul Society if you wish, but don't expect me to drag along my subjects for such a needless crusade."

"...very well, Gilgamesh." Yhwach extended his hand, sparks of reishi flooding into his grasp and taking form. "I suppose this is our parting of ways."

"Unfortunately." Gilgamesh raised his hand, spatial portals manifesting as gold-glowing energy ripples in the empty air behind him. "We have always acted as we saw fit... but now, we will continue to do so..."

"...even to the detriment of our brotherhood." Yhwach grimly finished.

And thus, the sons of the transcendent beings clashed.

For the last time.

Many centuries later...

Bubbles escaped his lips as he floated limply within a pod filled with unknown liquids. He'd long given up on trying to know exactly what it was. The most he'd acquired was that it healed him whenever his 'creator' got a little too curious or extreme on the lab and help him breathe without needing air.

Although he stirred (very) slightly at the signs of their approach, he gave no visible signs of even acknowledging their presences.

"He is the only survivor?"

The boy stilled at those words. 'Only survivor? I see... So FB-1436 did die..."

That meant... FB-1453 himself... was truly the last of his 'siblings'...

A second voice answered the first. "Yep. This shrimp's reiatsu barely budged when the Alteration got pushed forward. Hardly any screaming compared to the others, either."

"No instabilities?" The first voice asked.

"Nope, but no expected abilities either." The second replied. "Looks like we really can't force out Fullbring abilities out of nothin'. Ya can't win 'em all, Aizen-taichō."

The first voice - Aizen - sighed. " Then this side project is a failure. I suppose I'll need to focus more on the Hōgyoku."

FB-1453 internally panicked as there was a tell-tale sound of a hand resting upon a sheathed blade, just about to draw it out.

Just a single swing and FB-1453 would die as well. It was risky, but he needed to-

"Hold on, don't ya have that meeting' with Unohana-taichō?" The second voice suddenly spoke up. "Cutting it pretty close, ain't ya?"

"Ah, I forgot." Aizen's sword made the sound of being resheathed, much to FB-1453's relief. "I'm not yet at the stage where I can just stand her up. Gin, clean this entire area and the surroundings, and then deal with this failure."

With that, Aizen's footsteps echoed and receded until they were swallowed by the silence of the room, leaving FB-1453 and the owner of the second voice alone with each other.

"Oi, shrimp. I don't know how you somehow tricking Aizen, but apparently that's your limit." Gin spoke up. "I already know that you can hear me. Now open them eyes."

Recognizing that he could no longer pretend, FB-1453 opened his eyes to look directly at Gin. His short hair was silver and his eyes were almost permanently slits, making him resemble a fox while giving off the air of a snake. Even with that lanky frame and mocking grin, Gin seemed to be exuding a weird mix of amusement and surprise at FB-1453.

Pushing a button on the pod, Gin stepped back as the liquid within drained while the glass cylinder retracted, allowing FB-1453 to step out. There were many things he had wanted to ask, but only one thing took prevalence.

"My siblings..." FB-1453 coughed from how unused his vocal cords were. "Are they truly... gone?"

"'Siblings' huh?" Gin sighed. "Yep. They're all gone."

His tone contained neither sympathy nor cruelty, for it was just as so to him. A statement.

FB-1453 gritted his teeth. He wanted to rage, to scream, to vent. But not at this mere follower. No, this follower wanted him for something. "Why... did you not kill me?"

"Hmm... Well, ta be honest, it was mostly on a whim." Leaning forward so that their faces were close to each other, Gin opened his eyes to reveal a sharp silver gaze that locked him in place. "2000 souls used for this experiment. 2000 clones born from Aizen-taichō's cells with some random human blood. And just a single survivor of them all... I dunno how or why. Fate... chance... destiny... It could be one or all of 'em. Alternatively, it could be none of 'em. So what motivated you? Hatred for us? Love for your siblings?"

"...huh? How can you ask such a question with a simple answer?" FB-1453 coughed, his head beginning to ache. "I... wanted to live! Even now, I want to live! It's a bit shameful, how much I'm relieved that I somehow survived all that... But I want to live. Even if someone like you is in my way... I'll kill you as long as it ensures my continued life."

"You'll die." Gin replied bluntly.

"So?" FB-1453 shot back with equal bluntness. "How's that supposed to stop me from doing that regardless?"

"...I like you." Giving a much warmer smile, Gin straightened up and turned around. "Follow me."

Having nothing better to do, FB-1453 trailed after the man as he led him deeper into the apparently large laboratory. "Where are we going?"

"You... will be going to the World of the Living." Gin replied nonchalantly.

"Why? What's in the World of the Living?"

"You should be asking 'What's not in the World of the Living?', which would be us." Gin clarified. "Captains can't just go there at the drop of a hat, which along with us having no base there prevents Aizen from coming across you over there. Plus, there's loads of other characters over there, too. Ah, speaking of which, catch."

FB-1453 stumbled as a sheathed katana was thrown his way, nearly dropping it. "Is this... an asauchi?"

"Yep. The best way for you to attain power is to become a Shinigami like us." Gin stated. "Keep this with ya every moment of every day and it'll become your own zanpakutō someday."

'Oh, um, are you okay in there?' FB-1453 got no mental feedback, but his headache did increase a little. 'Ow...'

"Now, what else..." Gin strode forward and picked up a strange device, wearing it like a glove. "Now I can't open a regular Senkaimon or use a Jigokuchō to guide you, because of how surveilled it is. Which leaves us with... the Garganta."

Moving his gloved hand as if scratching the air, as it immediately began distorting in the form of sliding boxes moving out of the way that exposed a featureless void within. "Get in there."

FB-1453 took a long look at the emptiness of the Garganta, then back to Gin. "No way."

"Not a request." Gin disappeared from view. A second later, Gin's foot collided with his butt and sent him flying forward.

"Bye~!"

'If this kills me, I'm going to haunt that silver-haired bastard until he dies!' FB-1453 mentally promised as the void cleaved open to reveal a riverside.

With a river he promptly got dumped in. Additionally, his now splitting headache decided that now was a good time to make him pass out.

When FB-1453 came to, it was to a lavish but somehow quaint room. On a table nearby, was his asauchi leaning against it.

"Ah, you're awake." A woman opened the nearest door and approached him. She was a petite bespectacled brunette woman with pale skin and large breasts. "I found you washed up on the nearby river."

"...I see. Thank you." FB-1453 smiled before attempting to get off the bed, only to fail when the woman pressed a soft but unyielding finger against his chest and pushed him back down.

"I think not." The woman gently protested. "So, I have many questions... but I also have tact when regarding children. You can open up to me whenever you're ready. Additionally, I'll come right out and ask which you prefer; being sent off to an orphanage or being adopted by a woman you've just met? I know its immensely unorthodox, but I have been feeling a tad lonely, recently, and I also have adequate knowledge of shinigami, that I'll have to be able to talk about."

FB-1453 went through a plethora of emotions; surprise, then suspicion, then serious consideration, before acceptance as he pointed a finger at the woman. This had been completely fortunate, meeting her like this. Plus, she really was exuding genuine care for his welfare.

"I'm glad." The woman smiled in relief before standing up from the bed. "Then let's get you a gigai quickly. Luckily, I've got a nearby spare."

FB-1453 nodded as he yawned against his will.

"Oh, I forgot to mention something important." The woman turned to face them, as the wind blew the curtain and sunlight shone on the woman's face for the first time in FB-1453's memory. The man had scruffy black hair and vacant black eyes. "There is something extremely important that you must know. My name is Subaru Kitti Asano and I am a shinigami. So what's yours?"

FB-1453 blinked... then opened his mouth to speak. "FB-1453."

"...that's a designation, not a name." Subaru's eyes narrowed, her glasses turning scarily opaque for a minute. "Fine, I'll properly name you. How about-"

"Keigo!"

Snapping out of the memory of many years ago, Keigo turned to regard his best friend. Behind him, the truck containing Mizuiro's stuff was almost filled to the brim. "Are you sure that I can't convince you to stay?"

"Things between my mom and I finally ended up in a better spot." Mizuiro shrugged apologetically. "But maybe its for the best that we're moving away so that I don't run into Nanako-san or the others around here. I've already said my goodbyes, but it'd be quite awkward so see each other again."

Keigo raised a disbelieving brow. "So you're telling me that you'll no longer be chasing after older ladies?"

"Depends." Mizuiro shot back. "Are you gonna stop chasing after girls with big breasts just because you recently became the the student council president?"

"Hell, no." Keigo immediately replied. "Also, I know I've asked this before, but how the hell did I win that election?"

"You need to stop griping about an election that was two months ago." Mizuiro shook his head. "The fact that you're still in office as a kaichō shows that you're doing great with it."

"Of course, I'm doing great with it." Keigo huffed. "Mama would kick my ass if I deliberately failed at it... but being a kaichō requires good grades... and less free time..."

"Aren't you already smart?" Mizuiro patted his shoulder. "Besides, showing a surprisingly smart side of yourself has drawn girls to you, hasn't it?"

'Well, it's not like I can deny that.' Keigo sighed. "You're no fun to argue with."

"That's because you'll never win in an argument with me." Mizuiro stated confidently, the honking of his mom's car horn calling his attention. "So, live well, Keigo."

"You, too, Mizuiro." The two clasped hands before Mizuiro turned around and walked towards the car, the vehicle and the accompanying truck soon disappearing down the road.

Sighing in disappointment, Keigo gave no further attention to the former home of his best friend behind him and went on his way.

"Your Majesty."

Pausing just before an alleyway, Keigo mentally reached out and compelled all nearby individuals to ignore him as swirls of shadow coalesced into interlocking plates of steel, spilling wisps of Keigo's purple reiatsu as its outlines. Within seconds, a fully armored knight knelt before Keigo, its head bowed. A faint, ethereal amethyst light glowed from between the woven metal strips of its armor, along with the T-shaped slit in its helmet, and a black broadsword sheathed at its side. "What is it?"

"A few dozen Hollow have breached into Karakura, and there's a chance that the newly assigned Shinigami might be overwhelmed on her first day." Speaking through one of the couple of Shōkan Heishi(Summoned Soldiers) he'd dispatched allover Karakura, Kokukishi continued her report.

"Not that I don't care, but why did you feel the need to directly report to me instead of dealing with it?" Keigo wondered.

"The new Shinigami most likely has her senses blocked by Kurosaki Ichigo's reiatsu."

"Urgh..." Keigo's groan escaped his lips before he could hold it back, feeling sympathy for the shinigami. Living in this city as a teenager while being spiritually aware easily meant that learning to work around Ichigo's frankly absurd reiatsu was a thing many of his supernatural classmates did.

In fact, there was even a bet about which species Kurosaki Masaki had been, considering how norma- Wait, 'normal' wasn't the right term to describe that man... Yeah, 'spiritually inept' Ichigo's father was. Keigo personally had ¥6,000 on his mother being a tengu and ¥8,000 on her being a kijin.

After all, it took a certain amount of strength to be able to crack concrete with a stomp, no matter how comical Ichigo could make it look.

Wait, Keigo was getting distracted. "So basically, the shinigami might end up getting engulfed in Ichigo's reiatsu, which will in turn muffle her own senses until she manages to leave its range..."

Doubly so if she was under the wrong impression that she was the strongest entity present in Karakura. If his mom hadn't traveled overseas for archeology work last week, she'd be the uncontested holder of that title.

Now, it was split between multiple people in Karakura, none of them caring about boasting about such a thing other than some oni.

"Fine, I've got some free time." Keigo turned about and began heading home, where he would drop his body and go Hollow hunting with his Shōkan Heishi. "Be sure to send word to Chizuru in case she feels like joining in."

"This is for attacking my family, you fish-faced freak!" Ichigo yelled as he swung his sword down in a textbook helm splitter. The blade of the huge zanpakutō cleaved the hollow's masked head in two without even slowing down.

To his relief, the hollow began dissolving away like the shini- Rukia had said it would, the sword being able to kill it. "I did it... Alright!"

A second later, another hollow crashed down before him, this one looking more like walrus just like the first one had resembled a fish. No matter, Ichigo raised up his sword even while blinking away the dark spots at the edge of his vision. "A buddy of the other guy, huh? I'll take you on!"

However, the hollow didn't even get the chance to move when another shinigami slammed down next to it from above, the hollow's head suddenly sliding off as he sheathed his sword. "Eh? Ichigo?"

"K-K-Keigo!" Ichigo replied in utter shock at the sight of Keigo Asano of all people being a shinigami. Of course, this was when he finally had to collapse from exhaustion.

When he woke up, Ichigo found himself in his room. Something wasn't quite right, but he couldn't figure out what exactly. Everything in his room seemed the same as ever but he couldn't shake the feeling something was missing.

"Good... morning..." The door suddenly slammed open as Dad burst in and leapt into a flying kick. "ICHIGOOO!"

'Ah, there it was.' Dodging aside, Ichigo grabbed his dad by the face and slammed him into the durable wooden floor. "What kind of sick freak attacks his injured son in his sleep?!"

"N-Not bad, my boy!" Dad mumbled despite his face being muffled to hell. "I have nothing left to teach you! ...wait, what do you mean by 'injured'?"

"Say what?" Ichigo blinked at that question before looking at both their bodies and finding none of last night's injuries. Rushing downstairs to check on Karin and Yuzu yielded similar results. Both of them were healed, and neither of them remembered the attack from last night.

However, there was no ignoring the massive hole in the wall that led to outside. The next several minutes were spent with Ichigo questioning how the hell his family thought a truck backed into their house. Karin was annoyed, being the only other person to reasonably question how none of them had woken up to a truck crashing into their house. Yuzu had made breakfast as normal and was urging everyone to eat before they were late. Though to be fair, they were all already late. Isshin had called both Ichigo's school and his daughters' school to tell them that his children would be late due to an accident.

'Was this some sort of shinigami triage service?' Ichigo questioned as he got ready to leave. 'Did Rukia return to that Soul Society place- Wait. Keigo! Keigo was there, too!'

Ichigo's fist clenched as he hastened his movements. If he wanted answers, he'd better not be wasting time and head straight for school.

"ICHIGOOOO!" A deafening and exuberant voice rapidly approached the moment Ichigo stepped into his classroom's hallway.

'Just who I wanted to see.' Reflexively, Ichigo stuck out one hand to grab his face, only to startle when Keigo easily caught him by the wrist and held him dead. Even as Ichigo tried his best, he found himself unable to remove his wrist from Keigo's grip. "So it really was you. You're-"

"Not here." Keigo answered, his tone not having changed at all as he released Ichigo. "Meet me after school, then we can all talk about your new supernatural status."

"...fine, then." Ichigo shook his wrist. "But what about Rukia? Where'd she go?"

"Ah... Well..." Keigo looked aside awkwardly. "She's actually... our third member. Sorry, you'll have to see it for yourself when she shows up."

Later on, Ichigo did it for himself as Kuchiki Rukia introduced herself to his classmates as a transfer student.

"Oh, so you're Kurosaki-kun? Nice to meet you." Rukia said as she held out her hand, displaying a written message on her palm.

Make a scene and you're dead!

'Wha- Is she out of her mind?!' Ichigo gawked in shock at Rukia's behavior. 'Is this what Keigo meant?!'

Managing to restrain himself until break time, Keigo got asked to show Rukia around as the student council president with Ichigo volunteering to join in, quickly leading them both to a secluded area.

"Such a secluded place. Are you boys hoping to double-team me?" Rukia asked, causing both boys to startle.

"Okay, who taught you to speak like that?" Keigo demanded. "Both your tone and linguistics are quite... off."

'Calling them 'off' is a very tame way to describe what we just heard.' Ichigo scoffed at Keigo's tact.

"The place where I acquired colloquisms to learn had a very helpful lady to teach me some." Rukia huffed as she crossed her arms. "I'll have you apologize to Yadōmaru-san later."

"Anyways, isn't your work here finished?" Ichigo steered the conversation back on it's proper track. "Why are you sneaking into my class? Why haven't you gone back to Soul Society or whatever?"

"All good questions." Keigo added. "Additionally, why is it that Ichigo's reiatsu has increased significantly while yours is almost diminished?"

"Eh? Reiatsu? Diminished?" Ichigo's eyes widened. "What does he mean by that?"

Rukia sighed heavily. "...the reason for all that is because I lost most of my reiryoku over to this glutton!"

"Eh?" Keigo blinked, looking as shocked as Ichigo felt at that sentence. "How did that happen?"

"Yeah! You can lose your abilities as a shinigami?!" Ichigo questioned.

"To my utmost disbelief. Almost all of my reiryoku is now inside you." Rukia told him bluntly. "Not in your body, but in your soul. You practically drained all of my power from me last night. I can only do a few simple kidō now. I also have to rely on this Gigai."

"...I see." Keigo mumbled. "So that's why you were in such a state last night... and how Ichigo suddenly became a shinigami out of nowhere. But isn't such a thing immensely risky? How bad was the situation that this occurred as an option?"

Ichigo swallowed. "Very bad. My sisters and I were about to die, and she'd gotten injured while being distracted by me."

"...I see. My condolences." Keigo muttered contritely. "Considering your presence at school, I assume that they're alright now?"

"Yeah, Rukia did something to heal them and change their memories, right?" Ichigo turned to Rukia, who nodded in affirmation. However, she looked aside shiftily as she did so. 'Strange...' "So regarding you, how long have you been a shinigami?"

"Since I was born." Keigo answered. "However, I'm not from Soul Society like Rukia-chan here."

"What?!" Rukia exclaimed. "How?! There are no existing shinigami without an assigned squad from Soul Society, especially when permitted into this world!"

Keigo shrugged. "Think again. The world is bigger than you think and frankly, Soul Society is very well known for it's closemindedness in the supernatural world."

Rukia's mouth worked as she tried and failed to speak words before giving up to concentrate on Ichigo. "Anyways, until I recover my reiryoku, you'll have to substitute as a shinigami and stand in for me."

"Not likely." Keigo spoke up as Ichigo yelled in disbelief. "Ichigo isn't irresponsible, but he's not going to do your job and throw himself against hollows just like that. Your best option's just settling down for your recovery. I'm already protecting Karakura in my own ways already."

"E-Exactly!" Ichigo agreed, pleased that Keigo was here as his support. "Instead, shouldn't we find a way to give you back your powers? Should I stab you like you did me?"

"No. With your shoddy reiatsu control, you'd instantly kill her." Keigo immediately vetoed, causing them both to flinch. "I'll call Mama later, so you two just make do and leave it all to me."

"...I refuse. Just like you say of him, I am not irresponsible with my own duties." Rukia pulled on a red glove with a stylized skull surrounded with a flame design on the back. Quick as a blink, her hand was on Ichigo's chest and the orange-haired teen felt himself stumble backwards. A second later, Ichigo was looking at his own body in Keigo's arms while back in that black shinigami apparel.

"Asano-kaichō, please look after Ichigo's body." Rukia turned about and walked off, leaving Ichigo with little choice but to follow her while Keigo shrugged apologetically and piggybacked his body. "You. Come with me!"

Leaving Ichigo's body in the infirmary, Keigo barely managed to step into the student council room before he got yanked by his collar and was slammed against a wall. "Hey, Chizuru."

"Hey." Chizuru replied before claiming his lips for a heated kiss, moaning in delight as Keigo's hands drifted down to her butt to squeeze while lifting her slightly. "So what Rukia-chan's real story?"

"Soul Society shinigami." Keigo murmured curtly, hissing as her fingers deftly undid his belt and reached beneath his pants to caress this throbbing shaft. "She got injured and is in recovery. I'll introduce her to the others later."

"She looked cute." Taking her glasses off, Chizuru giggled as he held her up and sat her down on the nearest table, telekinetically locking the doors and windows while a Shōkan Heishi hid outside to warn him of any approaching intruder. "We don't have much time though, so lets make this a quick one."

"I think I need to redefine your definition of 'quick'." Keigo boasted as he pulled her panties off and slid into her, enjoying the gasp she made. Despite himself, it was always an ego boost to know that for all of Chizuru's lesbian desires, she still very much liked having sex with him.

Sure, they'd somehow transformed from childhood friends to friends with benefits, but who was he to deny enjoyable sex? And Keigo could hardly stop now, especially as Chizuru often used him as relief to not 'greet' Orihime as she used to.

Of course, it was probably due to his telepathy that Chizuru loved the sex, especially when he would link their senses together with every orgasm, which in turn meant that they always orgasmed at the same time no matter what.

Cheat? Definitely.

Constantly in use? Obviously.

Such as now as Chizuru shuddered beneath him, her limbs holding him tight as her inner walls squeezed down around his dick and caused him to shoot his load deep inside as she reached her own peak.

"...I swear, you're so unfair." Chizuru sighed, her arms going slack as Keigo's hips twitched a little against her thighs.

"Thanks. I try." Keigo muttered into her heaving breasts.

A little over five minutes later and Chizuru tentatively poked her head out the door, only to let out a high-pitched squeal and leap out into the empty hallway as Keigo's hand slipped under her school skirt and gave her ass a squeeze. "You shit!"

"Haha!" Keigo did nothing to dodge the roundhouse kick she threw at his back, figuring that he deserved that a little.

KingVessel: Alright, lets see how this one gets taken.