#also au where Kaien lives | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

whereisdie · 2 years

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Werewolf AU, A/B/O AU, Omega Zero, Ancient Pureblood Kaname, Alpha Hunter Kaito.

Main pair : Kaname x Zero, there would be brief Kaito x Zero but end game Kaname x Zero.

Also this is not purely following Vampire Knight Canon but this is pure AU with me butchering the vampire knight plot here and there, you all could count this as an alternative version of the plot. Um… also y’all probably going to hate me because of how I am going to portray Kaname here. I… really like the concept of the lesser of two evils and the whole story will evolve around that. It’s not really triggering but, morally questionable maybe but still I’ll put the trigger. LMAO I hate the incest in VK yet I make a morally questionable story. inspired by this wonderful edit https://www.tumblr.com/mesillusionssousecstasy/692587082100654080/vampire-knight-kaname-kuran-zero-kiryu

Song reference : Radwimps - Ms. Phenomenal

All the vampire hunters are werewolves, but they have their own hierarchy. Zero Kiryuu, the last of his Kiryuu clan, now living under the protection of Omega Kaien Cross, part of the Toga Yagari pack.

Seventeen years old Zero still has not presented as a wolf at all, but his symptoms indicate that he is turning into a vampire. Pseudo vampire, to be exact. Unbeknown to all, after the Shizuka attack, Zero suffered a significant amount of vampire poison that almost killed young Zero, making Zero’s young inner wolf fall into a deep slumber, unable to counter the pureblood poison and turning him into a pseudo vampire. It’s not common for a wolf to turn into a vampire but also is not impossible. Kaien tries his best to feed Zero blood tablets, but his body rejects them. The only way to repel a pureblood vampire poison is to drink another pureblood with higher status, which makes it almost impossible. Shizuka herself was royals among the pureblooded unless it was the Kuran’s heir or the Kuran’s ancestor that could cure Zero’s poisoning.

10 Years Ago, The Kuran Mansion

Feeling helpless, Kaien exchanged a favour with Kaname, the current heir of the Kuran clan. Kaien knew the soul that resides inside the twenty-two years old Kaname was the oldest, ancient pureblood from the Kuran Clan. The one who made a pact with the dire wolf of the werewolves. Kaname never dies. He always moves from one body to another; every millennium, the Kuran's will always make sacrifice their newborn heir for Kaname's revival. Kaname is supposed to be dead, along with his omega. The Hunter Association can't handle the fact, that the prime omega from one of the purest hunter packs, the Kiryuu was mated to the Kuran's Ancestor, to kill two birds with one stone, they murdered the young Kiryuu that recently mated to Kaname. Unable to handle his sorrow, Kaname massacres the whole Hunter Association and leaves only a small number of the Cross pack, the barest pack. There are rarely omega born from the Cross, but they manage to stop Kaname's rage because the Cross was a powerful spellcaster, when Kaname was on the brink of exhaustion and dying, feeling the pain that bonded pair that separated by death, the Cross was helping Kaname to revive in the new body but the consequences were he won't be able to restore his bond. It was either he looking for new prime omega or staying unmated. And the pureblood ancestor was never mated ever since. He was determined to find his beloved once again.

The pact between the Cross and the Kuran's gave Kaien the courage to approach Kaname. For the young pup that he'll never have the joy of having, Zero was a blessing for Kaien omega's.

Standing in front of Kaname’s office, one of the butlers opened the door for Kaien

“Kuran-sama had been expecting your arrival, Sir Cross”

“Thank you”

Kaien silently approached the mahogany desk, where a certain pureblood king was reviewing his work

“Cross” Kaname acknowledge

“Kuran”

“Please, just call me Kaname. How was the school that you’re building?”

“The progress was good and thank you for the donation from the council. The Hunter Association will definitely move in a better direction” Kaien smile

“Good, good, and the reason you’re here are?” Kaname arched his eyebrow

“I am adopting a youngling, barely a kid. His parents and twin were brutally murdered by purebloods….” Kaien drags the last part. And it had Kaname’s attention

“And which family is it?”

“Hio. Shizuka Hio. Yagari managed to take her down and killed her before she drained this kid”

“Sigh….. That crazy family. I’ll have a word with them and make sure the slaughtered pack gets even compensation, and which pack suffered such tragic fate?”

“Kiryuu” ice spread on Kaname’s bone. No way that Kiryuu still had an heir, he slaughtered them all and only the Cross that was left. “Before you throw a rage, the Cross manage to save a twin Kiryuu from one of the dead pregnant mothers, this is what my ancestor tell me”

“If you say so, Cross. What do you need me for?” for a millisecond, Kaname’s demeanour changed from relaxed to hardened.

“I’m asking your favour for my pack member in exchange for us sheltering your sister when you gain your power on the council” Kaien pledged

“And why does it concerns me?”

"We could guarantee Yuki's safety from the assassin when you take over your council, we have Yagari that could take even royal pureblood down. Also, it's been seven years since the attack and this pup was supposed to be presented as a wolf. Still, as time passed, there was no sign of him being presented as a wolf, but he showed symptoms of turning into a vampire or maybe a pseudo. Still, the chance was small if he was a pseudo one, since the wolf in this kid is basically a pup, there is no way that young wolf can survive a pureblood poison. And his sire was killed by your uncle. You know there are consequences, right" Kaien trailed

“And you let such dangerous thing near Yuuki? He can swiftly evolve into level E in no time”

“I pledged myself to Yuki’s safety and this kid, and his vampiric side had been dormant Kuran, we can’t be sure until he is at the right ages to present whether he is a level E or Pseudo”

“Mistaken not Kaien. I do this only for Yuuki’s sake, since she adores you as her uncle”, Kaname rose from his seat. “I’ll meet the Kiryuu boy right now and make sure he doesn’t go rabid when he near Yuuki.”

Kaien can only stiffly nod, and this is currently the best option he can offer Zero right now. He can't bear seeing his best friend pup suffering this much. As much as it pained him knowing Zero was badly poisoned from the pureblood that he could no longer present as a wolf, it was his selfish wish to shelter Zero and let him live. As a barren omega, Kaien's maternal instinct went haywire when he found Zero on the brink of death at such a young age.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Present time

Drowning in his sorrow because of Yuuki choosing to be with Kaname in the end, Zero didn’t notice Kaito always visiting him in the last week. His intention was clear. The newly mature alpha of the Yagari pack wants to court him. And Zero was dumbfounded when Kaito stated his purpose in the middle of the Hunter Association annual meeting. Don’t be mistaken, it was their tradition to announce their courting in the forum but it was unheard of that a candidate of Prime Alpha was courting a vampire, a low-level one. Prime Alpha was the next candidate for President of the Hunter Association. Kaito must be crazy. How could he court someone like Zero, a turned wolf, where Kaito Takamiya was such an excellent hunter from a young age. In his vein is the blood of the Dire Wolf, the first ever that walked on this earth, as old as the Kuran’s pureblood prince. Another thing that Zero overlooked was that his heat was approaching in full force as his wolf awakened and matured, fighting his level E and vampiric side to shreds.

Zero’s Bedroom

Zero was writhing on his bed, his body temperature rising gradually. He felt like something was crawling under his skin. After his last feeding session with Kaname yesterday there is this lingering feeling that Zero can’t pinpoint. He just brushes it off as their graduations are near and Yuuki is going to leave with Kaname. His best friend going to leave him. Left him alone on his birthday in a few days. Also, the day when all his family and his twin were brutally slaughtered was twenty years ago but the pain was still fresh. As if it just yesterday

Zero didn't notice that he had emitted a strong scent of ripe omega wolf in heat since his last two feeding sessions with Kaname. It was mild at first, Kaname noticed that Zero smell had changed, from the typical scent of the fresh cotton to the level as if level D was dousing himself in perfume, and a feminine one at that. Zero smells like freshly bloomed lilac with a hint of white flowers and vanilla. A pleasing scent, if Kaname was honest. Entirely different from Yuuki, she had this enticing smell but mainly came from her blood being a pureblooded vampire. But Zero, Zero awakened something primal and dangerous to Kaname. The ancient purebloods didn't want to admit it, but Zero smells like an omega wolf, in its prime. But he can't prove anything since the boy flies faster than light when his feeding session is done. Left Kaname with a lingering hunger for a prime omega. But that kind of omega already died with the last Kiryuu bloodline alive, Ichiru Kiryuu. There is no way Zero is prime omega since he was turned into a vampire. Unless by feeding from him, the poison is replenished and Zero wolf is not dead. It means the boy was presenting. And as omega on top of that…… Kaname didn't dare to speculate but if it was what he imagined, Zero was his. HIS TO CLAIM!! Kaname's inner demon roared. His prime omega was back.

Unable to handle the heat anymore, Zero strips down all his clothes and runs the coldest bath in the middle of the night. With the hope that it could calm him down, but this heat was persistent. Zero redressed and headed to the forest, he needed to get to the lake. It was early spring, the lake should be cold enough to calm his burning body. Unaware of slick dripping down from his back entrance, Zero dashed in the middle of the night.

- - - - - - - - -

When Kaito said he was restless, it was understandable, he was imprinting on Zero a few nights ago when the boy was unaware. He knows if Kaito imprinted Zero directly, he would refuse. But there are this pull and his instinct never lies. Zero was an omega wolf, not a vampire. Even if he was a vampire, Kaito going to court him. Nonetheless, he loves Zero for what he is, even with his attitude.

Kaito feels like he needs to get close to Zero, some unexplainable desire running through his veins and burning him inside out.

“Something wrong, kid?” Yagari asked, seeing his successor had been squirming in his seat in the past hour

“No…. it’s…. I don’t know” Kaito said, uncertainty in his words. Yagari arched his eyebrow.

“You sure it’s okay?” Yagari asked once again

“No. I need to be somewhere sensei, please cover me for the Hunter Association tonight” Kaito, unable to contain his uneasiness, shifted and bolted immediately.

"What a brat" Yagari sighed and continued sorting some reports from yesterday's mission.

‘Zero, beloved Zero,’ Kaito wolf hums in agreement, and they need to be near Zero no matter what, he howled, calling for Zero wolf, hoping he would answer but nothing replied.

~On the Other Side~

Kaname was in his study when he felt it. A mating call from a prime omega. Prime omega was as rare as ancient pureblood, presented once in a few hundred years. The last prime omega that peaked their potential was Kaname's late mate. But unfortunately, the boy died because of the Hunter Association's stupidity. Kaname's demon was restless in his cage and tried to break free a few times. Kaname did his best to sate his inner demon, even though he requested Yuuki's blood, but it didn't quench his thirst, making his inner monster angrier. Kaname was aware that his control was slipping, and he let the demon loose. Consequences are damned; let's see where the lord of darkness wants.

Kaname's demeanour was changed immediately. Gone was the gentle, pureblood prince. The Kaname now is the first vampire to walk this earth, the gluttony demon lord of darkness. One of the seven sins, the third king reigns in hell. Kaname's skin was pale as the death himself, his red eyes glowing in the darkness of his study, three sets of blackened wing adore his back the fingertips was darkened as his claws and fangs elongated.

"Onii-sama. Are you inside? I need to talk to you" Yuuki, unaware of what happened inside Kaname's study, decided to go, and she got the most terrifying growl as a reply. Yuuki froze. That is not his brother anymore. That was the ancient Kuran answering her. She always knew that vampire was born from the lord of the damned and the lord was still walking this earth to this day, but the chance to meet him was slim to none, even if her brother was the one hosting the demon. Yuuki gulped. She slowly retracted, she didn't want to show her back to the demon. "G-good n-night m-my lord"

The demon was pleased that the girl was gone. Now, where he left off? Kaname opened all his senses, so look for that enticing smell of prime omega. His rightfully mate. He found that the boy was slowly stripping his clothes near the lake, slowly, his scent was muddled with nature, and the boy must be dipping into the lake already. He flaps his giant triplets off the wing and takes off as fast as the light.

On the other end, Kaito is now fully transformed into a giant werewolf and standing on hind legs. He was howling and howling, but no answer from Zero wolf, and then he sensed it. The archdemon was near him. Kaito jumped into a sprint, trying to catch up with the demon.

The silver-haired beauty keeps unaware that he attracted two prime rulers because of his heat and decides to submerge his feverish naked body into the cold spring lake, staying as long as possible until his lungs allow him to. Zero emerged from the water as the moon shone on him, enhancing the silver-haired omega's devastating beauty. As if the moon goddess herself bless him with her beauty. Zero feels a little bit better with the lake's freezing water; it helps with his feverish skin. But his back entrance getting more sensitive. His back entrance wasn't supposed to be this sensitive. Zero dared himself; using his nimble finger he tried to touch his hole and found it really warm to touch and there was some kind of slick leaking out from him. Zero freak out. He is no longer a wolf and, moreover an omega. That place shouldn't be leaking lubricant right now. If what Zero thought was right, it means he is currently in heat. Zero, trying to reach out to his entrance once more, gather some lubricant in his finger and bring it to his nose, trying to scent it. It was unmistakably the smell of slick that diluted with the lake water. Damn it, he was really in heat and being outside and alone was the worst decision to make. Zero realizes the grave mistake he made and tries to swim to the lake banks before he can swim. Someone caught his hand, the hand that still had a little slick that he scented earlier, a forked tongue was licking his diluted slick, and a satisfying purr was heard.

“What a beautiful, ripe omega. My perfect omega”

Zero froze. He knows that voice very well, but usually, the gentle baritone not gruff and demonic. Before Zero can react, Kaname pulls Zero into his warm embrace and wrap him in a soft, fluffy towel.

“K-Kuran” can’t hide his initial shock, Zero stared into red wine orbs that were usually garnet.

"Sush my omega, I am Kaname, the lord of darkness. But for you beloved, I am your alpha," he purrs, nibling the finger that felt cold in his hand; Kaname bites Zero's finger. A tiny bite was enough to give him information about the beauty in his arm "Zero, my Zero, my dearest heart."

Listening to the vampire lord's undying confession makes Zero's body shiver from the excitement that he doesn't understand. His wolf was in triumph that he managed to attract such a strong and dangerous mate. Zero trembles again, this time he finally can feel and see his wolf. Beautiful wolf with pure silver as his coat and eyes was enticing lilac. He was still amazed that he could feel his wolf, and a terrifying roar redirected his attention. The satisfying purr that lulled him now changed into a threatening growl. In the banks, Zero can see Kaito in his wolf form, staring angrily at the being that held him now. Zero whines in distress, and he tries to get away from Kaname's embrace. He was in heat, and two supreme beings emitting a murderous aura around him. His sweet, inviting scent now turns into cold in fear. The two alpha stunned in silence, they scared the omega. Kaname lowers his murderous intent and starts purring again, and so does Kaito. But both alphas were glaring daggers at each other.

Zero scents haven't changed, he was in distress and Kaname realized this. He summoned his sabre and aimed in Kaito's direction while using his telekinetic power to flee with Zero in hand. Kaito roared in pain, pain because of the damned leech taking away his Zero not from the sabre-laced wolfsbane.

Kaname didn’t bother to return to the Cross academy, he was teleported to his master bedroom in the Kuran mansion. Zero landed in a bed with too much Kaname scent, the scent of ice and ozone, with a hint of rose and wine. Cold and dangerous. Zero scrambled in bed, trying to get away from such dangerous alpha. But Kaname has none; he pulls Zero to his embrace and starts purring, nosing his omega gland on his nape, and Zero is now a mess. His heat came back ferociously, and he started leaking and emitting a strong, inviting scent that had Kaname dizzy with lust. His omega was fertile and ready to breed. Zero will give him a strong heir of his own. The heir to his throne is a vampire king and demon lord.

Kaname started nibbling Zero's neck and down to his spine, Zero was sprawled on Kaname's bed as the vampire groped his plump cheeks and started lapping his entrance hungrily. Zero yelps. The cold tongue on his feverish skin made his heat and horniness come back tenfold, he was in full-blown heat. He realizes that Kaname's tongue dwells deeper and touches the peripheral of his prostate nerves, it feels good but not enough. There is an insatiable itch inside his passage, and his womb is ready to be filled with Kaname's seed. Wait a minute…. Zero is not supposed to be had this kind of thought. He wasn't in a good term with Kaname since he found out his best friend was engaged to her brother. Leeches and their weird tradition. Sensing Zero trying to get away, Kaname declawed three of his finger so he had blunt nails that won't hurt his omega.

Without much preamble, Kaname replaces his tongue with three of his finger and hits Zero’s prostate dead on. The silver-haired beauty arched from the bed his small and cute dick was twitching to live, his sense was overloaded with pleasure and Zero let honest to god moans. It pleased Kaname to no end, he tried to scissor his finger, and Zero velvety walls were welcoming his finger, so he added another one. Zero openly whimpered, he tried to get away from Kaname’s insisted finger on his prostate

“K-kana-Ahn-me… please” Zero didn’t know why he pleading.

"Sush, love, I know" Kaname nuzzled Zero's neck again and lightly bit it. Zero went pliant. Kaname hurriedly undressed, sighed when his erection was finally free, and nothing prepared Zero when the alpha virile scent hit him full force. His body gets incredibly hot as Zero lust reaches a new peak, if possible, his dick goes more rigid in the nest, almost transparent silver hair, the slick pouring from his entrance into his plump cheeks and thigh. Impatient, Kaname scoops some of the slicks to lubricate his aching dick. Kaname flips Zero to his back, positioning Zero legs to circle his hip.

“My beloved….” Kaname kissed Zero hungrily, and the omega was surprised… with the affection he received from the demon. It makes him pliant and his wolf purring in delight. Nothing can prepare Zero when Kaname penetrates him, it is too much, too hot, too big. Zero sense was overloaded and he was confused. That thing is splitting him in two, when he looks down it only halfway in, Zero starts to struggle to let that out.

"No.. noh… no" Zero breathlessly struggle, trying to get away from Kaname's excuse of male genitalia, it only excites Kaname more. Kaname grip Zero hips firmly and slide home. More slick pours out of Zero when Kaname's dick hits his prostate and stimulates his other spot. Like every omega wolf, he had two pleasure spots, one was his prostate, and the other was his gspot near his cervix. Zero screams. The stimulation was too much. His brain turns into mush he can't think about anything else but pleasure.

Kaname, as if he was encouraged, didn’t wait for Zero to adjust to his size, he pulled out slowly and then slammed in without mercy. And then he set a brutal pace, hellbent on bringing Zero to the higher pleasure he can offer. Zero openly sobbing.

Kaname ruined him for good, the pace that Kaname set didn’t give him any moment to break. He was confused, but Kaname was really persistent in drowning him.

"Kaname~! AH!! Slow-ah!! Slower!!..hyah~!!" Zero grips the sheet like his life depended on it, he knew it was impossible to escape from Kaname's grip, but at least he tried. Keyword : Tried.

"Don't go away love, my beloved Zero" Kaname once again nuzzled Zero's neck and pulled him close. Kaname's dick goes deeper than before and now it is touching his cervix. Zero cried.

“P-please... Not Ah! Not that-ngh-no that ah-ah! Place!!” Zero tried to push away Kaname that still had jack rabbiting inside him.

“I can’t do that, Zero” Kaname now gripping Zero hands and using them as his leverage to fuck the boy harder

“Hyaaa~ cuming!! Kaname I’m gonna cum, gonna cum!!” Zero struggled anew, feeling his orgasm building and reaching rapidly. But his effort was nothing to Kaname. He keeps fuck the boy like no tomorrow when Zero was convulsing and shivering as his first orgasm hits him hard and draws out. Zero entrance grows more sensitive than before.

“KANAME!! Kaname, I just cum, stop!! HYAH!! Stop it, stop!! No more I can’t take it, Kanameeh!”

“I’m sorry beloved” Kaname was determined to chase his own release, his movement was uncontrollable and Zero was crying out, begging for mercy as his second orgasm crested. Zero screamed hoarse when Kaname shot his load directly into his womb and his knot started to enlarge and press on Zero prostate.

After years of suppressed wolf and heat, Zero's heat lasted almost a week. His heat only stops when Zero finally catch and Kaname's instinct goes haywire to protect. He even binds Zero with the womb tattoo when he bites down on his omega glands. It means Zero was tied to Kaname forever.

-_-_-_-_-_-

Zero was seven months pregnant when he had to attend Kaname's appointment as the leader of the Vampire Council. Almost all of the butler of the Kuran household was busy that evening, preparing everything for their king consort. Kaname appointed eight experienced ladies waiting to cater to his mate's needs when he was unavailable. Today was Kaname's coronation but they put it as an appointment because he was the only pureblood alive and no one dared to oppose him. Kaname was dressed in his black suit, with the iconic Kuran's rose cufflink, matching his beloved. Zero was dressed in baby blue formal kimono with roses embroidery on the bottom doubled with lilac-coloured haori for additional warmth. Usually, he always wears a veil when coming to a formal gathering because Kaname will get jealous and could end up in a brawl. But today, Kaname is the one who's asking him not to wear it.

"I want to show the world that this beauty was mine" Kaname smiled as he kissed Zero's lips.

“Hmph, show off” Zero huffed, and Kaname chuckled.

“Kuran-sama, king consort Kuran-sama. The event is going to start. All of them waiting for both of you, your majesty, to walk down the altar and take the vow” the staff bowed down and opened the door

“Shall we, beloved?” Kaname offered his hand, and Zero gladly accepted. Kaname still emits his cold and dangerous scent, but there is a hint of possessiveness, and if you try hard enough, an underlying gentle scent of lilac is there. Zero was beautiful as ever, with him being pregnant, his scent growing more gentle and maternal. That’s when Kaito saw him again, his (once) beloved Zero, in all of his beautiful pregnant glory, in the arm of another man.

fin.

#kaname x zero #Top Kaname #Bottom Zero #I tried okay #but yeah #heed the warnings

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uraharashouten · 5 years

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--- We Do Knot Always Love You, by Makoto Matsubara

[[ Was anyone going to tell me that Rukia inherited the haori Ukitake meant for Kaien to wear once he was promoted to captain, which had been stored in Ukitake’s office all that time for sentimental reasons, or was that just something I was supposed to read WDKALY to find out for myself?! ]]

#[[ in case you wondered yes this is still an Urahara Kisuke blog #it's just that today is Kaien love day so y'all have to suffer with me ]]#[[ I don't know where to begin with this #You're killing me Matsubara #Captain Rukia gets the haori meant for Kaien? 😢😭#also #These two beautiful men had to die for Rukia to become captain?#that feels unfair :-( ]]#[[ Bleach AU in which both Ukitake and Kaien live #and they create a 14th Division just for Captain Rukia ]]#Shiba Kaien #Kuchiki Rukia #Ukitake Jushiro #wdkaly

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recurring-polynya · 2 years

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Soul Society Tattoo Artist AU Meta That No One Asked For: Who Killed Kaien Shiba?

So, you may have noticed Kuukaku and Ganju making an appearance in my most recent Soul Society Tattoo Artist AU comic. That was pretty much planned from the beginning, along with the next one, where they end up doing Renji a pretty significant solid, which got me thinking, how did Kaien’s death play out in this universe, and what role did (or didn’t) Rukia play in it?

See, the fanfic part of this AU (which I know you haven’t seen yet, I’m working on it) opens with Rukia trying to get a dirtbaggy tattoo to piss off Byakuya. Unlike canon Rukia, who entered the Academy barely literate and scrabbling to figure out social norms, this Rukia was adopted by Byakuya as a child, and raised with all the personal attention and high expectations that Byakuya would have given to the younger sibling he never had. Rukia is basically the star of the Academy, and Byakuya already has her twenty year plan to Squad Six vice-captain all mapped out. Except... Rukia’s doesn’t sit comfortably in her nobility. She doesn’t want to uphold the honor of Soul Society and drink fancy wine, she wants to protect people and do good. Mostly, she wants to join Squad 5 with her friends (lolololololol).

Meeting Renji is a seismic shift for her-- she’s never met another person who questioned their own duty to society as much as she has, and through her association with him, she comes to realize that just because she doesn’t like her privilege doesn’t mean she should try to discard it. So, she ends up joining Squad 6 after all, with the goal of bringing a sense of social consciousness to the elites of the Gotei.

I had all of this figured out, pretty much off the bat, but it raised a couple of questions, namely 1) how does Rukia end up on the Living World mission where she meets Ichigo, and 2) who went with Ukitake to witness Kaien losing his fight with Metastacia? What if, I said to myself, what if the answer to #2 was...no one. Ukitake is an immensely strong and ancient captain, and I think that he could have taken Kaien/Metastacia down, but at great cost to his health.

This entire incident is an enormous blow for Squad 13. They’ve lost their Lieutenant and Third Seat, as well as the entire unit that was slaughtered by Metastacia (it’s unclear how many people this represents, but in the anime Metastacia-possessing-Miyako goes through the squad a murders a significant number of people as well). Their captain is effectively disabled for who-knows-how-long. There is hushed talk that Ukitake is going to be replaced (but by who??) or Squad 13 possibly even disbanded. The squad is roundly seen as bad luck, and people are filing transfer requests right and left.

I’ve always headcanoned Ukitake as a family friend of the Kuchiki, and I can especially see him and Hisana getting along. I think Byakuya would have been friendlier with Kaien and Miyako as well (I always make Byakuya 1000% more friendly with everyone in AUs where his wife doesn’t die...which still basically only brings him up to “will tolerate their presence at dinner parties” but anything is an improvement) and I think Rukia may still have done a bit of training with Kaien, since elemental swords run in the Shiba family.

Rukia, who at this point is Third Seat at the Sixth, and basically shadowing Shirogane in the interest of replacing him, decides she can’t allow this to stand, and begs Byakuya to allow her to transfer to the 13th in order to help hold things together until Ukitake can get back on his feet. More than anything else, this has huge symbolic value: the Kuchiki princess and Byakuya’s personal protégé, delaying her own vice-captain’s exam to go do the paperwork of three people at a squad that’s in shambles, because that’s how important she thinks Captain Ukitake is.

It works, it stops the hemorrhaging. Byakuya doesn’t like it, but he and Rukia have come to an understanding that her continued role as stand-in Kuchiki heir hinges on him respecting the things she feels she needs to do. She also ends up taking quarters at the Thirteen, which allows her to get some degree of freedom and also allows her the chance to surreptitiously spend some time in Rukongai with Renji, which is good, because she’s so busy now that she’d hardly get to see him otherwise. (Renji, for his part, is extremely proud and supportive of her choice)

When the comics part of the story picks up, Ukitake is doing much better. Rukia has passed her vice-captain’s exam and is on the cusp of transferring back to the Sixth. Ukitake wishes like Hell he could keep her, but he knows Byakuya has been patient enough. Just for old times, he decides to send Rukia on one last deployment, just a few weeks in the World of the Living, since that’s a thing she’s not likely to get to do once she’s an assistant captain. After all, what could go wrong?

#soul society tattoo artist au #it's just very funny to me that rukia was supposed to become byakuya's vice captain on the same schedule that renji did #i just like it when different shaped puzzle pieces line up in the notches of the universe #lt shirogane. weeping: i was supposed to retire. i could be selling tacky sunglasses for outrageous sums of money RIGHT NOW #yeah the arrest scene goes down a little different too #which is not to say that byakuya is still down with his sister getting executed but also his Patience is Very Thin at this point #i do not think ukitake and renji have ever met but renji sends soup and cookies back to squad 13 with rukia sometimes #and ukitake sends back good tea and candy for The Miscellaneous Orphans #possibly also the bougiest dog biscuits for purchase in the seireitei

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midnightactual · 2 years

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So, I was reading your Kaien analysis YORUICHI AND CO. & KAIEN (PART 1+2) -- and now I'm thoroughly fascinated by the idea that Kaien was the foil to Aizen. Outrageously powerful and gifted shinigami who had the power to move mountains and break worlds if given the opportunity. My question is: If Metastacia was created by Aizen, what if it was created specifically to kill Kaien himself because Aizen viewed him as too much of a threat, a sort of 'I will not suffer even an unknowing rival' thing?

And if Kaien had lived to the current timeline, do you think he could've fought the pre-Hogyoku Aizen to a standstill?

I've noted before that it was really Kaname who ran the Hollowfication program, with Aizen seemingly only checking in at important moments. So while it's certainly interesting to imagine Aizen used Metastacia to assassinate Kaien, it doesn't really make that much sense even if it's possible.

It was a really indirect and unpredictable sequence of events that led to Kaien dying from that encounter: Miyako (and her unit) getting attacked and killed, Kaien seeking the Hollow out, Rukia and Ukitake not intervening, and then him getting his powers sealed. There are a lot of points of failure for an assassination.

Aizen never really gives it much import, and Metastacia getting eaten by Aaroniero also suggests Metastacia was just a prototype. Given Aizen's response to White's "failure", we can also get the sense he wouldn't have been impressed that Metastacia-Kaien was defeated by Rukia.

Regarding Kaien himself, he wasn't initially that powerful. Ganju tells us his reii grade was only 6 upon induction into the Gotei 13, with Captains usually being 1–3, and Lieutenants being 4–5. To be fair, Kaien is also a "genius", completing the Academy in 2 years (as compared with Gin and Hitsugaya doing it in 1) and becoming a Lieutenant in 5 years. (In other words, Ukitake approaches him to do it in 1891, so he entered in 1886, and joined in 1884.)

So as he was, Kaien probably wasn't that strong... yet. However, as I've noted in that article "Yoruichi's Soul", it could be that the Shihōin are uniquely durable as a clan trait. If so, it'd seem the Shiba's clan trait is (as Ichigo most embodies) potential.

We know that Kūkaku is strong enough to give Harribel and Nelliel pause, Ganju gives Yumichika (who's basically Lieutenant level) a run for his money, Isshin knocks around Aizen, and Ichigo doesn't need any explanation. So, it'd make sense that Kaien could've become very powerful very quickly. But the same seems to be true of Isshin and Aizen wasn't interested in bumping him off just for the sake of it.

(I have a post somewhere where I half-jokingly suggest Aizen is a monarchist since he doesn't go after Yoruichi, Kūkaku, or Tokinada even when it'd be well to his benefit, and he goes out of his way to sic Gin on Rukia and Byakuya, so he would seem to have issues with attacking clan heads...)

I'd say it's a mixed bag ultimately, and when I supposed that I imagined it mostly as a moral opposition rather than a physical one.

Regarding an AU... possibly, since Isshin could, and it seems Yoruichi could've as well. Aizen without Kyouka Suigetsu was very strong, but not incomparably so (given he went out of his way not to fight Kenpachi and Yamamoto).

#Out Of Character #Asks #anonymous #Meta #Headcanons

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cheshiresense · 4 years

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Could you do KoyoIchi (Swinging Pendulum), please? C: I have fallen in love with this ship ever since you posted those short one-shots (or whatever they are called) a while ago.

Hmm you didn’t include an AU and I’ve already done a KoyoIchi SP AU in the last batch, there’s not much else I can write for that I think. So how about KoyoIchi post-canon AU instead, where Ichigo’s human body gives out after the Quincy War, so he ends up splitting his time between SS and the Human world afterwards.

Edit: omg wtf did i do i went off i’m sorry this ended up semi-background pre-relationship KoyoIchi + like a dozen unrelated headcanons thrown in it’s a mess fml

1. It’s not usually done, he’s technically dead now (but not a Shinigami, not a Quincy, not a Hollow, and not even a Human anymore), but he has a lot of support from a lot of people - Kisuke has no qualms crafting him a gigai that would allow him to draw his blade even without stepping out of it, and Kyouraku basically gives him free run of Soul Society after they hammer out what Ichigo is supposed to do there considering he’s now stronger than the entire Gotei combined but also he’s technically only eighteen years old.

(It would be scarier, Kyouraku thinks, if Ichigo’s moral fibre hadn’t already proven itself superior.)

In the end, they settle it like this - Ichigo attends the Academy part-time for all the lessons Kisuke and Yoruichi and Shinji never bothered hammering into him because it was never important to the war, attends university in the human world, and the rest of his time is his do with as he pleases, whether that’s taking missions directly from Kyouraku, visiting with his friends in various squads and being roped into doing paperwork, or digging up yet another rebel faction or secret invasion out of the woodwork (”Please don’t dig up yet another rebel faction or secret invasion out of the woodwork for at least a month, Ichigo-kun. One month, you hear? We still haven’t finished cleanup from the last one.”).

Because it’s Ichigo, it works. it’s not like he wasn’t already coming and going from Soul Society when he was still human. The Shinigami have let him get away with far too much already to put restrictions on him now, especially considering he’s saved all their asses twice over now, and that’s not even counting all the trouble in-between. If there are some who complain, well, there are even more who are capable of making sure nothing ever comes of it.

So okay, no rebel faction, no secret invasion, but Ichigo’s not Ichigo without something to work towards, and he’s always wondered why the Shinigami side of his family was slumming it out in Rukongai when they’re supposed to be nobility like Byakuya and Yoruichi. The answer is simple enough - Aizen had mind-whammied everyone after Isshin ran off and fabricated a coup that resulted in assassinations courtesy of the Second Division before the remaining Shibas were ousted from Seireitei overnight.

(It was only too easy for Aizen to make them believe it.Nobody ever questioned whether or not the Shibas could. They had the power. They just never had the ambition, which nobody could understand.)

No way is Ichigo going to take that lying down. So he goes and yells at Kyouraku, who says it’s complicated and would take time, but Ichigo reminds him of the Visored and Kisuke and Yoruichi and Tessai, all let back in in the wake of the Winter War. If they could be pardoned, and rightfully so, why can’t the Shibas too?

“I’m not saying they can’t forever, Ichigo-kun,” Kyouraku says placatingly. “But Central 46 will want… assurances-”

“You mean they’re scared to let my family back in cuz they might still be a little bit pissed from having three-quarters of their members murdered in their beds,” Ichigo summarizes flatly.

Kyouraku sighs and gives up all pretenses of a neutral party. “If you have a better idea…” He waves a hand at the general situation, eyes dark and intent on Ichigo’s face.

Ichigo snorts and straightens up. “Yeah. It’s called ‘being too strong to fuck with’. The old bastards are in session right now, aren’t they? I’ll be right back.”

One day, Kyouraku muses as he watches Ichigo go, this will probably not work, and it’ll come back to bite them all in the ass. Then again, Central 46 has run Soul Society their way or no one’s way for far too long; Yama-jii had always given them too much power. They’d learned nothing from Aizen, so maybe Ichigo is exactly what they deserve, straightforward and running on emotion, but fair, always, and decent in a way that Kyouraku thinks most of their government has forgotten how to be, if they ever knew to begin with.

One day, even Ichigo’s threats won’t make Central 46 back down. But a god doesn’t bow just because someone demands it, no matter how important they think their bloodline or rank or status is. And Ichigo is probably the closest thing they have to a god these days. A god, with plenty of friends to back him up if he needs it.

So Kyouraku leaves him to it - better Ichigo than him, less headaches in the long run - and he isn’t at all surprised when Ichigo sweeps back into his office five hours later, expression grim but triumphant, reiatsu still writhing like a living shadow around him as he informs Kyouraku that his clan will be needing their old estate back.

Kyouraku pushes over the paperwork he’d completed an hour ago, authorizing the full restoration and compensation of the Shiba Clan. Ichigo smiles at him almost fondly, features only slightly tinted with a banked sort of inhuman rage that he carries around almost constantly these days - it’s three steps left of his cousin’s memory, with Hollow glinting in his eyes and the shade of his ancestor draped across his shoulders. He’s gone again in the next moment, off to tell his family the excellent news, and Kyouraku thinks it was probably a good thing Yama-jii died when he did. However reasonable Ichigo still is, he is no longer that boy with the too-forgiving heart who took the insults they served him with all the doormatted self-sacrifice of a storybook hero.

(He came back from the Soul King Palace equal parts pensive and victorious, with old eyes and reiatsu levels they could no longer sense and a terrifying sort of detachment when he looked at them all. But his friends had fallen on him without care, only relief, and the icy distance in Ichigo’s mien had melted. Kyouraku had understood though, in that moment, that Soul Society would stand only so long as Ichigo allows it.

He likes Ichigo, he genuinely does. Jyuushirou had too. That hadn’t stopped his old friend from attempting to leash him, which had almost backfired in the end and literally only hadn’t out of the goodness of Ichigo’s heart, and it doesn’t stop Kyouraku now from catering to Ichigo’s whims. Only time would tell if this approach will work better or worse than Jyuushirou’s law-abiding one, and in the meanwhile, it doesn’t hurt that Ichigo doesn’t actually want anything Kyouraku doesn’t want to fix anyway. Soul Society has been his home for over nine centuries now. He does not want to see it burn. If that means dragging it kicking and screaming into a new era with a boy their world created to fight their wars for them looking over his shoulder, then Kyouraku will do it gladly.)

It takes almost three months for the Shibas to gather again and move back in. They’d scattered, after their exile, all across Rukongai, but Kuukaku is their head, and Ichigo has single-handedly wrested back their birthright for them, and when both of them call, the rest of the clan answers, trickling in in twos and threes and fours, suspicious and wary and not inclined to trust anyone but their own, but they come, and the first thing they do is raise wards around their home strong enough to withstand a siege from the Royal Guard.

“That’s everyone?” Ichigo asks, looking from the civilians to the once-Shinigami to the children. All in all, they barely make thirty total, and over half of them are from their retainer families.

Kuukaku shrugs tiredly at his side. She’s never looked older than she does now. “You know Isshin’s staying in the Human world for your sisters, but other than that, pretty much. Everyone else is dead.” She pauses. “Well, except one, but I doubt he’ll come. Kaien’s wife’s brother,” She adds for Ichigo’s benefit. “Koyonagi Senzou. He was the Kidou Corps Commander before Tessai, demoted to Academy teacher after some mission the higher-ups covered up. He was the only one the Gotei kept on after we were kicked out. Never found out whether he actually wanted to stay or if Central 46 insisted he stay. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter. He’s wasted at the Academy, too useful to kill but too dangerous to let out of sight. As far as I know though, he’s still there.”

Ichigo frowns as he digests all this. “And he won’t come by to see you guys?”

Kuukaku shakes her head. “I doubt it. He was never really one of us.”

“Why not?”

Kuukaku shrugs again. “He never wanted to be. I didn’t know him very well, Ichigo, but he loved exactly one person, and she was more or less killed under Kaien’s watch. It wasn’t Nii-san’s fault of course, but she was sent out on a mission given to her by the Thirteenth Division lieutenant, and she never came back. He attended her funeral. That was the last time any of us saw him, although our Shinigami members reported glimpses of him in and around the Academy over the years.”

Ichigo hums. Kuukaku gives him an arch look and then snorts. “Shall I prepare a room for him anyway when I start renovations?”

Ichigo grins at her. “That’d be perfect, Kuukaku, thanks.”

2. Of course Senzou has heard of Kurosaki Ichigo. You’d have to be living under a rock in a cave in a different dimension to not have heard of Soul Society’s God-Slaying Saviour.

And of course he’s a Shiba. That lot always was more trouble than they were worth, too powerful for their own good, and too reckless or too confident or too stupid - Senzou has never really figured out which - to hide it from the world or at least play it down to keep the world from turning on them because of it. No subtlety at all. And look where it got them in the end.

In the aftermath of the Quincy War, he hears of the Shibas’ return to the city, and he can feel the power in the wards they almost immediately erect around their home. For protection, no doubt, because old dogs can learn new tricks after all, but to Senzou, it just looks like a very pretty cage. Why they - or the Visored for that matter - came back to serve the very people who betrayed them in some of the worst ways possible is beyond him.

Not that it makes much of a difference to Senzou. He’d ignored them for decades before their exile; no doubt, he’ll happily ignore them for decades more. They’re related only through an unfortunate marriage, and considering both parties are long dead now, what little obligation he had to them likewise expired years ago.

But, he thinks, as he watches an increasingly familiar head of orange hair slide into his classroom, someone forgot to give that memo to the Shibas’ newest pride and joy. Even Senzou - with expectations that literally no student has ever met - can admit that Kurosaki Ichigo attending Kidou lessons is a complete waste of time. Senzou spends his days teaching idiots the incantations for each of the ninety-nine standard spells, trying not to scratch his own eyes out when he has to grade their papers, and making sure they don’t blow themselves up when they practice producing them. Even the most advanced of the sixth-years can only manage spells in the fifties range, with a fifty-fifty chance of average-at-best success.

Ichigo memorized all the incantations in the first two weeks he was here. His first essay on the use of forbidden Kidou - instead of a regurgitation of laws citing the illegality of them that everyone else turned in - became a dissertation on their pros and cons, arguing that every case in which they’re used should be thoroughly investigated not only by Central 46 but also by a panel of Shinigami, and why the laws against them should be amended to allow for unexpected circumstances. The brat even had the gall to throw in quotes of interviews he’d conducted, and if it had been anyone else claiming to have received firsthand and eye-witness accounts of forbidden Kidou usage from names like Tsukabishi Tessai and Hirako Shinji, Senzou would’ve set them on fire for being such a bad liar. He couldn’t even fail the boy for incomplete research because the books he referenced might not be found in the Academy library but they all had Urahara Kisuke stamped on them.

And his practicals? A high level of reiatsu usually means the caster would have a harder time performing Kidou, especially when they’re first starting out, too much power shoved into the lower-level ones, too little control to hold together the higher-level ones.

Not Kurosaki Ichigo. That boy spent the first week putting holes into everything except his targets, went away for a weekend, and then came back with singed eyebrows and bags under his eyes but a resolute set to his jaw and picture-perfect Kidou at his fingertips. He didn’t even need the incantations anymore. And to make him even more of an anomaly, he could perform spells right up into the nineties. In fact, the higher the difficulty and reiatsu output, the better he was with them.

There is nothing the standard Kidou curriculum from any year can teach him. His learning curve is insane, and his essays read like he’s gearing up to go toe to toe with Central 46, never mind an Academy class.

He doesn’t need to be here. Senzou knows it. The other students know it. And Ichigo most certainly knows it too. And with the special allowances granted by the Soutaichou himself, he doesn’t even need permission to skip. The boy’s been given unprecedented free reign to come and go as he pleases, and yet he comes back, week after week after week. He doesn’t even have the decency to sleep through Senzou’s lectures. He’s a flickering candle in the corner of Senzou’s eye, all flame-bright hair and brown-gold-brown eyes and shadows that won’t stop moving, and that unwavering attention he pins on Senzou every time makes it damn clear exactly what he’s waiting for.

Shibas. No subtlety whatsoever.

The bell rings. Bags are packed. There’s a scramble for the door.

“Kurosaki-chan,” Senzou calls in bored tones without looking away from sadistically adding an extra assignment to the board. If no one notices, that’s their problem. “Stay behind.”

There are some interested whispers and prying eyes, but one glance from Senzou sends them scurrying away. And then Ichigo is there, sauntering up with his perpetual scowl - not at all like Kaien this one. The two are as charismatic as each other, from what Senzou’s observed. But Kaien had people wrapped around his finger because he had a knack for putting them at ease and making them feel special and making himself both approachable and worth looking up to. Ichigo on the other hand scared a lot of people when he first showed up at the Academy with an armful of books and a gruff disposition that didn’t lend itself to making allies, let alone friends. He wasn’t arrogant, just introverted, but it made him the kind of genius that people resented.

And then Senzou caught him in the hallway one day, looming over a mousy-looking fifth-year student huddled on the ground, and at first, he’d thought Kurosaki was bullying her. Everyone’s golden boy, picking on a shrinking violet of a girl. But then Ichigo had stooped down and gathered up all the books spilled across the floor before offering them back to the girl. The girl had still cowered, but she’d accepted them, and when Ichigo reached out and hauled her to her feet, she’d flinched but hadn’t moved away once she was on her feet again and Ichigo had let her go.

Then Ichigo had told her, quite clearly, “Next time someone can’t keep their hands to themselves, break their fucking wrists. Or kick them in the balls. Or tell them to fuck off. Start a scene so they have to stop. Do something. Don’t just fucking stand there.”

And then he’d stormed off, and the girl - Fujiwara, from the Kyouraku family - had stared after him, all baby-duckling wide eyes. And the next time Senzou had happened across her, it was just in time to see her chuck one of her textbooks at the head of one of her bullies. Said bully had staggered back, and then purpled with anger, already moving forward with fists clenched. Half a second later, he was on the ground and wailing from a broken nose, and Ichigo was standing over him, murder glowing gold in his eyes and black reiatsu streaking his hair and pooling at his feet.

Nobody had touched Fujiwara after that, especially since the girl had taken to following Ichigo around. Ichigo had still scowled like no one’s business, he’d also been seen kicking Fujiwara’s ass in one of the training rooms, they studied together in the library, and they ate together in the courtyard when Ichigo happened to stay for that.

And gradually, other students joined in, tentatively, some nervous, some with hero worship in their eyes, all hopeful. Ichigo never turned any of them away, but one day, he started a debate in the library about laws that would take species outside of Shinigami into consideration that ended with raised voices and enthusiastic opinions that got the whole giggling bunch thrown out, and another day, he suggested a free-for-all game of tag where only Kidou could be used to catch each other which ended with everyone sweaty and gasping and wanting another round, and in calmer in-betweens, he answered when the others finally asked him about what Hueco Mundo was like, what the Material world was like, what Arrancar were like, what Humans were like, and he never lost his temper with them even when he had to explain something more than once.

He was still blunt and borderline rude and not at all like Kaien, like a Shiba, not outgoing or friendly or instantly personable. But the charisma was the same, people couldn’t help but be drawn to him, and it took weeks for Senzou to realize he was just as susceptible to it as Ichigo’s growing circle of friends within the Academy. So susceptible he was literally stalking him everywhere just to see what other chaos he was sowing.

That’s probably why he wants the boy gone so badly. He’d sworn he’d never forgive the Shiba Clan for taking his sister away from him, the only leeway they got was that he wouldn’t actively go after them either because Miyako wouldn’t want him to, and it wasn’t as if it was difficult to keep such a vow. He’d never liked the Shibas anyway. When they’d been slaughtered and cast out, and no assassins had shown up at his door in the aftermath, all he’d thought was good riddance.

But Kurosaki Ichigo…

Under any other circumstances, Senzou would be thrilled. Here is a student who challenged the world around him and brought a storm to the Academy.

But this isn’t any other circumstances, and as Ichigo stops in front of his desk, a beast glinting behind his eyes and a dead king’s inheritance pulsing in the shadow splashed at his feet, Senzou meets his gaze and slices a mocking smile in his direction.

“Kurosaki-chan,” He starts, smirk widening when Ichigo’s eyebrows twitch. “The Academy’s star part-time pupil. What exactly are you still doing in my class?”

Ichigo shrugs. “I signed up for it, your lectures aren’t boring, and I’m trying to figure you out.”

Senzou feels his smile grow fixed. “And how is that going for you?”

Ichigo scruffs a hand through his hair, pauses briefly to frown tug at the shoulder-length strands like he wants a haircut, and then shrugs again. “You’re the one following me around all the time, what do you think?”

They stare at each other for a moment.

“Let me make one thing very clear, Kurosaki-chan,” Senzou finally says. For once, he doesn’t feel like weaving his usual mind games. “I don’t know what your clan has told you, but I have no desire to play happy families with them. I know you Shibas tend to be all about bringing family together, but I am not one of you.” His lip curls. “Do not push this issue any further than you have. Am I understood?”

Ichigo cocks his head, something animal in the way he watches Senzou now. “Kuukaku agreed to reserve a room for you at the compound if you ever want it, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’m not here for that.”

Senzou’s eyes narrow. “Then what are you here for?” He gives the boy a sardonic look and cuts him off preemptively. “Besides class.”

Ichigo grins, quicksilver bright, and something in Senzou recoils with surprise.

“I don’t really have a plan,” The boy tells him. “But I’m getting my family settled back in, and making sure nobody can fuck with them ever again.” He aims another considering look at Senzou. “If you don’t wanna be all buddy-buddy with them, that’s fine. It’s not any of my business if you wanna hammer your shit out with them or not. But you were connected to them even if you didn’t like it, and that doesn’t change just because that connection’s gone. So I guess what I wanted to figure out was whether or not someone’s fucking with you too.”

Senzou opens his mouth, then closes it when nothing comes out. How embarrassing. He settles for a derisive smile that feels a touch too brittle on his face. “I don’t need your protection, God-Slayer.”

Ichigo immediately makes a face. “Don’t call me that. And I didn’t say you did. But when I start something, I like to see it through, so I thought I’d check just to be sure.”

Senzou scoffs with disbelief. “Then why didn’t you just ask?”

Ichigo rolls his eyes like he thinks Senzou’s being dumb on purpose, which is a new experience for Senzou. Usually he’s the one rolling his eyes.

“Well you didn’t want me to, did you?” Ichigo says, looking exasperated now. “You were curious about me, and all the stalking was recon or whatever.” He levels a thoughtful look on Senzou before snorting with something like amusement. “You are the type. But yeah, anyway, now you know. If you need help, the offer’s open indefinitely. But I’ll stop coming to class if you don’t want me here.”

He trails off, arching an eyebrow in question. When Senzou doesn’t reply, the boy shrugs once more, adjusts the strap of his bag, and turns to leave.

Senzou… Well, he’s pretty much been on the back foot this entire conversation, hasn’t he? There’s something about Ichigo that just… throws him off. It’s frustrating. Unnerving.

And yet… Ichigo didn’t push. Kaien would’ve pushed. The rest of his family would’ve pushed. It’s what Shibas do when they want something - push and push until they get what they want, a single-minded persistence hidden under their signature cheerful geniality that makes the rest of the world believe them to be the nicest clan in all of Soul Society.

Miyako had said no, the first time Kaien had asked to court her. But he’d asked again and again, until she’d said yes, and she’d been happy to, Senzou had made certain of that, she’d been perfectly willing, had found a good man in Kaien and been glad she’d finally given him a chance.

But she’d said no first, and Kaien had pushed, and it just… rubbed Senzou the wrong way. Because once upon a time, Shinigami had plucked them out from Rukongai, dusted them off and provided the training and shuffled them into the military, all expenses paid, but no had never been an option, and that had become all the more true after Miyako became such a public, vulnerable figure, not only Third Seat of the Thirteenth but also wife of a clan head.

When Central 46 had come knocking, interested in Senzou’s prodigal skills with Kidou, they hadn’t even needed to drop Miyako’s name for Senzou to know that saying no then wasn’t an option either. He’d been pushed into their service, and it had taken Miyako’s death for Central 46 to finally leave him alone, solely because he had no one else for them to hold over his head.

It’s not the Shibas’ fault, not really. It’s been long enough that Senzou can admit that, if only to himself. Miyako’s choices were her own, and even if she hadn’t married him, Central 46 probably would’ve found another way to get to him through her. But Senzou has always been petty and vindictive at heart, and he’ll blame the Shibas for the rest of his life, because at the end of the day, they’re just like all the other nobles in this place. What they want, they’ll push until they get, because privilege is in their blood.

So Senzou flounders when Ichigo doesn’t push his advantage. The boy is already halfway to the door, and somehow, Senzou is certain, if he doesn’t say anything now, Ichigo won’t come back. It’s so wildly different from what he’d expected, so unexpectedly not-like-a-Shiba, that he has to fumble for something to say for an unforgivably long moment. Him, fumble. This whole conversation has been one unexpected surprise after another, and later, Senzou will blame the shock for his next decision.

“Wait.”

Ichigo stops and turns back. He doesn’t look surprised, but neither does he look triumphant or even just smug.

Senzou suppresses a grimace. “The school has nothing left to teach you about Kidou.”

Ichigo nods in unabashed agreement.

Senzou snorts softly. “But I do. And I guarantee it won’t bore you.”

Ichigo blinks, and a crooked smile slowly curls at his lips. It doesn’t erase his frown, but it softens his brow and makes his features look less harsh. “You sure you wanna teach me?”

Senzou scoffs and pulls out his chair. “I wouldn’t have offered otherwise.” He gives himself a mental shake and drags a grin back onto his face, sharp enough to cut. “Sit your ass down so we can figure out a schedule, Ichi-chan.”

Ichigo instantly loses the smile and glowers like a thundercloud. Senzou all but basks in the familiarity of it, inwardly relieved at being back on steadier ground.

“Don’t call me that, asshole!”

He probably shouldn’t have offered, should’ve just let him go and good riddance. But Senzou hasn’t been taken so off-guard so quickly in a long time, and it had been frustrating and unnerving but underneath both…

There is a storm waiting on the wings of Seireitei, and Kurosaki Ichigo is the one holding its reins.

And Senzou. Senzou is just curious enough to want to see what that storm will bring.

3. “Did your hair grow three inches over the weekend?” Senzou asks the moment Ichigo walks into one of their weekly lessons.

Ichigo dumps his bag in a chair and scowls at him. His hair has been swept up into a bun, which is certainly a feat considering the last time Senzou saw him three days ago, it had only brushed his shoulders.

“This body is seriously shit at regulating itself,” Ichigo grumbles. “I didn’t have time to go to the barber’s, and Kuukaku threatened to shave me bald if I tried to chop it off with my Zanpakutou again.”

Senzou squints at him. “You realize that’s not normal.”

Ichigo rolls his eyes. “I didn’t have a knife on me, and it was getting in the way, okay? Don’t judge.”

This time, it’s Senzou’s turn to roll his eyes. “That wasn’t what I meant, Ichi-chan. Shinigami bodies don’t suddenly grow several inches of hair overnight.”

“You’d be surprised,” Ichigo mutters before shaking his head, and Senzou watches as black reiatsu crackles lazily across his shoulders. “I’m just kinda weird. Excess reiatsu plus funky biology apparently means random hair growth and dye jobs.” He shrugs. “Kisuke’s still figuring it out.”

Senzou hums noncommittally. “Urahara Kisuke. Your… mentor?”

Ichigo pulls out the books Senzou had given him last week, along with a notebook and the latest essay Senzou had assigned him. All are tagged with multiple sticky notes.

“Kind of?” Ichigo sounds like he isn’t all too sure himself and even less concerned about it. “He’s… Kisuke.”

Senzou eyes him curiously. “You don’t care that he basically engineered half your life then?”

Ichigo stills. Then he glances up with Hollow-gold eyes, and Senzou smiles and meets them without flinching.

“Why would you say that?” Ichigo asks in even tones, but the office suddenly seems darker.

Senzou shrugs carelessly. “Urahara has a bit of a reputation for… working outside the box. It’s not just me who thinks it, Ichi-chan. There aren’t many who knew him who wouldn’t take one look at you and guess that he had something to do with your existence.” He pauses. “Although admittedly, I suppose the worst of these rumours come from the ones who want him back most. Central 46 doesn’t benefit half as much without his skills in assassination and technological development. It must’ve been a blow to their egos when Urahara refused their invitation to come back after the Winter War. They might be hoping enough unease over any other projects he’s bound to be working on would be enough to make him come back under their protection-”

“That’s not called protection,” Ichigo growls, and Senzou stops, words withering on his tongue.

There is something about the black abyss of Ichigo’s unblinking stare that makes some base instinct in even Senzou want to back away, run, throw himself at this eldritch entity’s feet and beg for mercy. He squashes the urge and smiles like monsters don’t exist.

Ichigo blinks. The darkness in his eyes recede, and the room clears again, bright with the sunshine pouring in through the open window. A shadow passes over his face, and when he opens his mouth to speak, Senzou catches a glimpse of fangs.

“Well that sucks,” The boy remarks succinctly like the silhouette on the far wall behind him doesn’t outline a grinning mouth with too many teeth. “It’s none of their business anyway. Kisuke prefers his shop. He’s his own boss there, and he likes it that way. Central 46 will just have to deal with Kurotsuchi.”

He flips open his notebook and shoves his essay over. “Now come on, we only have an hour today, and you said you’d go over this bit with me.”

Senzou nods and drops the subject. But three weeks later, he laughs when whispers tell of five Central 46 members retiring from their seats, replaced by one Shiba elder, one Shihouin, one Kuchiki, and two seated officers from the Gotei, one of which has served long enough that she doesn’t mind semi-retiring, and the other who prefers more time at a desk job over constant fieldwork. Both have roots that trace back to the slums of Rukongai. Twelve days after that, the Soutaichou announces a new official position filled by Urahara Kisuke - Human World Liaison - and a team of his choice, effective immediately.

“You don’t waste any time,” is Senzou’s greeting the next time he sees Ichigo after that debacle.

Ichigo, seated on the edge of the Academy roof and surveying the rest of Seireitei (like a ruler looking over his kingdom), waves a dismissive hand that trails solid shadows through the air. “People who’ve never been Shinigami shouldn’t be allowed to judge them. Kyouraku-san agreed.”

“I’m sure he did,” Senzou agrees, fighting near-hysterical glee down to a chuckle as he drops down to sit beside Ichigo.

He wonders if this is what it looks like, for a man to crown himself without even trying while most of the world cheers him on.

He glances to the side, arching an eyebrow when he finds Ichigo watching him. “Yes, Ichi-chan?”

There’s a disappointing lack of irritable twitching this time, but the thoughtful look Ichigo has levelled on him instead is more interesting.

“I have finals starting next week,” Ichigo says abruptly. “So I won’t be coming by the Academy until I’m done.”

Well, less interesting than he’d expected. “I’ll pick up your assignments for you,” Senzou offers, feeling generous. It’s not every day Central 46 takes a beating. He doesn’t care about Aizen, but if there was one thing he did right, it was butchering the judiciary authority on the way out. One group of them anyway.

Ichigo snorts. Rude. “Thanks, but I was thinking, you could join me down there for once instead of me coming up to meet you here. I want to concentrate on my university exams, but I have to eat and stretch my legs sometime. If you want, I could show you around campus. Kisuke can lend you a gigai so you won’t even have to request one from the Twelfth and wait for the acquisition forms to be approved.”

The first thing Senzou wants to say is I can’t. Because he can’t. Central 46 can’t make him do shit anymore, but short of slaughtering his way to the Senkaimon or disappearing into the Rukongai and living out the rest of his life as a fugitive, he can’t leave Seireitei. He doesn’t hate it here so much that he’d prefer either of those options, but the truth of the matter is, this is as much his home as it is his prison.

(A very pretty cage indeed.)

So he can’t, but Ichigo isn’t stupid, he should’ve already figured it out, or guessed, if not from the start after whatever his family told him about Senzou, then in the five months since. Stuck at the Academy because he’s too much of a wild card to go on missions.

Ichigo isn’t stupid, but neither is he cruel, not to those he has no quarrel with - that much Senzou can accept as truth. That he’s bringing this up anyway…

So, “How?” He asks instead, raising his eyebrows when Ichigo actually barks out a laugh. And then his eyes widen when Ichigo twists fingers through the air, and a Garganta springs into existence beside them.

“This can take us there,” Ichigo grins. “And no one will ever even know if you don’t want them to.”

Senzou stares from him to the murky void and back again. “…Why?”

Why are you doing this? Why would you offer?

They’ve known each other for five months, six if you count the one Senzou spent studying him. Most of that time has been spent in private tutoring sessions, and it’s benefitted Senzou as much as it has Ichigo. He technically shouldn’t be teaching Ichigo even half the Kidou Corps secrets he’s already imparted, but Ichigo makes it worth his while - quick on the uptake, a challenge in the sparring ring, and a breath of fresh air from the tedious drudgery of teaching his other students. Occasionally, they even go out for meals, tucked away in a quiet corner of a restaurant or a food stand. And sometimes, Ichigo brings souvenirs back with him from his trips to the Human world - fiction, toys, tech, trinkets the living modern age has that Soul Society does not - and he gifts them not only to his friends amongst the students but also to Senzou these days.

It’s a friendlier relationship than Senzou thought he’d ever have with anyone outside his sister, doubly so for a Shiba. Then again, Ichigo’s barely that, thank the Soul King, even if he was raised by one of the worst examples of that clan.

“Why not?” Ichigo counters, like it isn’t downright unnatural for anyone to do anything for Senzou, mostly because he’d rather stab himself in the face than fall into anybody’s debt. People avoid him when they can because he is cruel, and that’s the way Senzou likes it. He has high standards and little tolerance for things that bore him. Nothing bores him as easily as people do.

Until Ichigo.

“You don’t wanna be stuck here all the time,” Ichigo continues. “And I have an easy way out. So yeah, why not?”

Senzou turns his gaze to the horizion, past the sprawling streets and buildings of Seireitei to the sun setting beyond the wall.

He looks at the Garganta again. When Ichigo doesn’t move to stop him, he reaches over and lets his fingers drift past the mouth of the portal. The void is cool to the touch but not freezing the way he’d half-imagined.

He retrieves his hand. “A campus tour then?” He muses lightly, and Ichigo’s features brighten in response.

Senzou almost sighs. He thinks he might understand now. Ichigo is a little more like a Shiba after all. It’s just that he’s also a little more manipulative than one would expect of him. Senzou had all but told him not to interfere, to play hero for someone else, so Ichigo had backed off. But he’d figured out what Senzou wanted anyway, and his solution was to offer another way out instead.

Persistent, without disrespecting boundaries, and cunning enough to find another answer. In that regard, he’s nothing like his Shinigami relatives, who are always so loud about their intentions.

Charismatic, but… discreetly, almost insidiously so.

Senzou blinks. And then glances sharply at Ichigo again. His eyes look bronze in the light of the sunset, with the heat of his Hollow just beneath it. He has his head propped up against one loose fist, elbow balanced on one knee.

He smiles, almost guileless if not for the possessive resolve in the curve of that expression, and Senzou thinks, unbidden, ah. That’s how he won their devotion.

He gave his friends and family and allies everything they wanted, everything they needed, threw his heart and soul and body into every fight in their defense, shattered himself and rebuilt himself to protect the ones he’d taken under his wing, and so when the time came, how could any of them have done anything less for him?

It had probably not even been something Ichigo had done consciously from the beginning, it was just how he was built, through a quirk of the genetic fun park Urahara had ensured, or perhaps from the numerous near-death experiences life had forced him into. Ichigo probably hadn’t been aware, at first.

But he definitely is now.

Senzou thinks Ichigo is only just starting with him. Senzou’s already been claimed, because - for whatever reason - Ichigo wants him.

It probably says a lot that even this early on, even having already figured it out, Senzou… can’t say he cares enough to protest.

A Shiba in his bones, but leagues more dangerous by far.

4. The Human world is bigger than he remembers. Size-wise, it’s the same. But there’s a lot more in it than he thought, and he isn’t sure if that’s due to the passage of time or because he’d never spent more time than strictly necessary here when he took missions on the material plane back in the day.

Either way, he’s free to explore it now, even if just a small part of it for the time being. The campus of Ichigo’s school is large and sprawling, and with Urahara’s gigai and fake IDs and some Human money (he trades them for a box of seal traps even Tsukabishi Tessai wouldn’t know of because they’re Senzou’s own creation, and Urahara smiles like he understands and doesn’t object), it’s easy enough to come and go once Ichigo drops him off.

“You bought an apartment?” Senzou asks the first time Ichigo shows him the place and lets him poke around inside. It’s recognizably a living space, but it’s foreign to him all the same, with a generous open floor plan and wide windows, marble countertops in the kitchen and dark wooden cabinets and a bathroom constructed of polished chrome and gleaming tile.

“Kisuke bought me an apartment,” Ichigo corrects, flopping down on the couch where he has papers and books spread all over the coffee table and floor. His hair’s shorter today, barely past his shoulders, tipped black and hanging loose. Senzou is vaguely curious about what the boy’s classmates think of it.

“I wanted my own place,” Ichigo explains. “But Kisuke took one look at the rent I could afford and practically frog-marched me here instead. Then he had Yoruichi-san steal all my stuff and move it here, and then he said I might as well just take it because staying would be less work than moving all my stuff back.” He snorts, but it’s a fond sound. “The asshole. It’s not like I’d want to turn this place down. But it’s a bit much, so I try to help him with his research projects whenever I can in exchange.”

Senzou digests this with briefly raised eyebrows but says nothing. Urahara probably considers this another desperate form of making amends, and Ichigo probably knows it too. He probably wouldn’t have accepted otherwise.

“There’s a guest bedroom,” Ichigo calls after him as Senzou wanders down the hall to investigate exactly that. “Rukia’s stayed overnight, Renji too, and a few of my human friends have as well, but I always clean the place after they leave, so if you wanna stay tonight, feel free.”

That’s all the conversation between them for the rest of the day. Ichigo already showed him the campus the day before, and after tossing him a key to the apartment, Senzou is free to wander off and explore on his own.

Two weeks of regular visits to the Human world, and he still feels a little awkward in one of the shirts and jeans and sweater that that Quincy friend of Ichigo’s had shoved on him before whirlwinding back out again, apparently neck-deep in the middle of his own finals project.

“It’s Ishida, he makes clothes for everyone,” was Ichigo’s unhelpful clarification. “You help by walking around and looking good in them.”

So Senzou does, and part of him feels like he should stand out more, but nobody gives him more than a passing glance at most. Well, some do, but he recognizes shallow attraction well enough to ignore it.

In the end, he finds himself spending the most time in the libraries and lecture halls, slipping into the back of a classroom and listening to lessons he actually has to pay attention to to even understand some of what the professor is talking about. The science lectures mostly go over his head, and he’s never been interested in that field anyway so he doesn’t bother putting much effort into following them. It’s the literature courses he likes the most. There aren’t any at the Academy, not like this, and there are so many more books in so many more languages and genres than Senzou ever thought there existed in the world.

Soul Society suddenly seems so small in comparison.

It’s always an exercise in patience every time he has to return to Seireitei to teach now. After the first two weeks of almost daily trips to the Human world, he orders - on a whim - the students from his upper-year classes to split into groups before assigning each of them a project due at the end of the term on the theoretical creation of three new Kidou spells.

Group projects are not a thing at the Academy. Senzou wonders why.

He tells them that at least two of the research sources have to be from outside the Academy, and he smirks when he follows Fujiwara Asuka to the First Division compound to speak with her cousin, and then the Eighth to speak with her cousin’s former lieutenant, and then even braving the Fourth, straight-backed and stiff with anxiety but marching in anyway with her nervous group members in tow until she manages to wrangle fifteen minutes of time from a few of the healers willing to answer her questions about Kaidou.

Even here, Ichigo’s influence flourishes.

Outside the classroom, Senzou begins collecting copies of Human books. He half-bribes, half-blackmails the librarian into setting aside a section for him, and then he begins his own project of filling it.

“You’ve been busy,” Ichigo remarks when he staggers in from his last exam and collapses into a chair just as Senzou finishes setting the table for dinner.

Senzou arches an eyebrow, smirking when Ichigo just rolls his eyes.

“People tell me things,” Ichigo informs him, barely waiting for Senzou to sit down before falling onto the meal like he hasn’t eaten in a week.

“You would make a poor king if people didn’t,” Senzou murmurs, smiling serenely when Ichigo’s eyes flick up to meet his. It’s not as intimidating when his cheeks are bulging like a chipmunk’s.

Actually, Ichigo in the Human world just seems less… overwhelming in general. It isn’t as if he’s any less powerful. This particular gigai doesn’t restrict him in any way. But there’s a relaxed quality in him here that Senzou’s observed in the past three weeks that’s always absent when he’s the rawest form of himself up in Seireitei.

“Soul Society needs to change,” Ichigo says at last, instead of denying anything. “If that means kicking it in the ass until it stops fucking up the lives it’s supposed to be looking after, then that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

Yes, and Senzou has no doubt he’ll succeed. The majority of those in power have no desire to stop Ichigo. Those who do aren’t strong enough. And Ichigo wants it. He wants it with a conviction Senzou has never seen in anyone, almost obsessive in its unfaltering desire… like the abyssal hunger of a Hollow and the eternal grudge of a Quincy and the timeless pride of a Shinigami all rolled into one.

Ichigo wants it, and he’ll get what he wants.

The Soul King knows the universe owes him that much, and even if it didn’t, Senzou doubts it would make a single bit of difference to their God-Slayer.

He lifts his mug in a toast. “Then I look forward to your endeavours. You’ll need to watch out for Central 46′s spies though. I’m sure they won’t take this lying down.”

Ichigo cocks an eyebrow. “Is that an offer to keep your ear to the ground for me?”

Senzou attempts an innocent face, which works about as well as he expects when Ichigo snorts. “A mere Academy teacher like me probably can’t help much, but…” He thinks of the seals he’d planted throughout the entire Central 46 compound every time he’d had to report in, slowly but surely sneaking invisible ears into the heart of Soul Society’s government. “I might hear things now and then. I’ll pass it on if it happens to be interesting.”

Ichigo grins and tips his own mug at Senzou like they aren’t talking treason.

5. “So.”

Senzou almost rolls his eyes. The Shibas’ commitment to their theatrics clearly hasn’t changed.

“Kuukaku-chan,” He says instead as he strides into his office and smothers the urge to draw his blade on the woman sitting on his desk like she’s posing for Most Dramatic. He smiles instead, hiding the teeth of it behind his lips. “What a pleasure.”

Kuukaku grins back without any of the same courtesy. Of course. “None at all, I’m sure, so I’ll get straight to the point. What are you doing with Ichigo?”

Senzou does roll his eyes this time. “You’ll have to be more specific. As of yesterday, he’s teaching me how to drive a car.” His lip curls. “It’s a mode of transportation Humans have developed.”

“I know what a car is,” Kuukaku snaps, finally hopping down from the desk to prowl across the room. “Why is he teaching you? What do you want with him?”

Senzou pauses halfway through setting down a stack of essays to be marked. “…If I said vengeance on the Shiba Clan once I’ve convinced him to side with me, would that be about what you were expecting?”

Kuukaku glares and crosses her arms. “Ichigo would never.”

Senzou smirks. “Then you have nothing to worry about, do you? You’ve wasted a trip.”

He brushes past her to flip through the paperwork on his desk. End-of-term reports are coming up, and that’s always a waste of his time, so the sooner he gets them done the better.

“I know you resent us for what happened to Miyako,” Kuukaku says from behind him, and Senzou wonders if he can just walk out. Probably, but there’s no way this woman won’t cause a scene. “But Ichigo wasn’t part of any of that.”

Senzou heaves a sigh and turns back around. “Kuukaku-chan, I thought we just established that we both know that using Ichigo against your family won’t work.”

“No,” Kuukaku nods. “But you could hurt him to get back at us.”

They eye each other for a long moment, not quite hostile but far from amicable.

“…My vengeance for Miyako was not lifting a finger when your clan was all but massacred,” Senzou finally says, ignoring the way Kuukaku’s expression pinches. “And so long as contact with you and yours is kept at an absolute minimum in the future, I don’t care anymore. Besides, there is no point in targeting Ichigo to get to you.” He sneers. “He’s a Shiba, but it would be an insult to consider him one of you.”

Kuukaku bristles but doesn’t explode in anger the way some of her even more hot-tempered relatives would. She stares at him instead, and when she doesn’t speak right away, Senzou goes back to organizing the contents of his desk.

“Say I believe that,” Kuukaku finally says, ignoring Senzou’s scoff. “Maybe you are hanging out with Ichigo with no ulterior motives. The gods know he makes that easy. But if that’s what you’re doing, there’s no way you won’t be seeing more of the rest of us eventually. He wasn’t raised the way a Shiba should’ve been, with none of our traditions and only a fraction of the family he should’ve had. That’s on us. But he’s still family, and so long as he doesn’t say no, we’re going to be a part of his life. You’re going to have to accept that if you plan on marrying in.”

The shelf closes with a resounding thud under his hand, and judging by the give, he’s probably cracked the back of it too. He barely notices as his gaze snaps back up to stare incredulously at his uninvited visitor. “I beg your pardon?”

Kuukaku smiles thinly, and this time she looks more amused than anything else. “Something to consider. But you’re more like Miyako than most people would think.” Her arms drop to her sides as she turns abruptly towards the window. “That’s all I had to say. You’re a smart man, Senzou. I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you fuck up.”

And before Senzou can demand an explanation or - more likely - set her on fire for cracking such an abysmal joke, she’s gone, disappearing through the window in a rush of Shunpo.

Senzou stares after her, then at the books he’d carried in earlier, then at the paperwork he’s putting off for the weekend because he has dinner with Ichigo tonight… just as he does almost every night nowadays.

He runs a hand over his face.

Shibas.

6. He says nothing. He’s self-aware enough to know (now, damn Kuukaku) that there’s something there, a spark, a connection, a pull Senzou has never felt towards anyone. He isn’t going to call it love or whatever Kuukaku thinks is happening because it isn’t. He finds Ichigo fascinating and endlessly entertaining, and anyone willing to face down Central 46 is worthy of some admiration in Senzou’s opinion. That Ichigo plans on turning the whole system upside-down and actually has the power to achieve it only raises Senzou’s esteem for him.

But he says nothing because Ichigo knows all this already. The day Senzou’s first instinct, when an assassin sent by Central 46 attempts to take Ichigo’s head, is to slit the hapless woman’s throat - even though he knows full well that she wouldn’t have come anywhere near to succeeding - is the moment Ichigo gets irrefutable proof that Koyonagi Senzou is willing to kill for him.

Ichigo doesn’t gloat of course, he isn’t the type. Senzou half-expects it anyway, breath caught in his lungs for a moment with something disgracefully close to fear twisting in his gut as he turns to check Ichigo’s reaction.

But Ichigo only wrinkles his nose and toes the fresh corpse at his feet, and then he glances at the blood splatter dotting Senzou’s shirt and offers to get him a new one.

He also reaches out to touch the hilt of Senzou’s Zanpakutou before nodding once, deliberately, solemnly, the weight of it as much a thanks as it is an acknowledgement.

And that was that. Senzou relaxes, doesn’t bat an eye when shadows surge up and swallow the body whole, and goes to change into another shirt. The incident passes, and it will be longer still before Ichigo’s enemies realize they probably should’ve tried harder to get rid of Senzou years ago. They’d thought themselves safe enough though: they would never earn Senzou’s allegiance, but at the same time, nobody - including Senzou - ever thought anybody else would earn it either.

But the point is, Ichigo knows. Senzou has no need to speak of it, and both of them are content with that. If something more comes of it down the road, Senzou doesn’t think he’d fight it. He lost this battle a good while ago, and he never even cared.

In the meantime though, he spies on Central 46 and enjoys what time he can spare in the Human world and continues reconstructing Seireitei’s education system brick by stubborn brick. There’s a kingdom to conquer and a god Senzou has pledged himself to, and for now, that is enough.

#headcanon meme: answered #bleach #koyoichi #koyonagi senzou #kurosaki ichigo #kyouraku shunsui #shiba kuukaku #post canon au #headcanon #hi brain #wtaf happened

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deivorous · 3 years

Text

@rukia-kuchiki-divided asked: ♦⚜☆☽

Questions for the Mun

♦ What's an AU that you've always wanted?

Ohhh, there’s so many! How do I pick only one!!

I would love to write a role reversal AU of Grimmjow and Ichigo, with espada Ichigo and substitute shinigami Grimmjow. For one, the concept of a human teenage boy Grimmjow is just hysterical to me. God he’d be such an awkward little dork!

I’m also fascinated by how the story would change to accommodate new characters in different roles. Would Rukia still choose to sacrifice her power and commit the crime of making Grimmjow a shinigami? He doesn’t have any sisters to protect, he doesn’t look like Kaien, he’s just some grumpy delinquent kid, would she help? (I like to think, with what I know of Rukia and her morals that yes, she would help).

But is it even Rukia who’s sent to the living world?

What about Isshin and Masaki? Do they still meet and marry? Did Ichigo become a hollow bc he was killed by Grand Fisher? Or does Masaki marry Ryuuken? What about Uryu?

Is it still Chad and Orihime that become the fullbringers? Or is it Tatsuki and Keigo?

I love working out all the world building changes that happen as a result of these kinds of character swaps, and I’d also be really interested to see how Grimmjow himself reacts in these scenarios.

He’s not the monster, born and made, in Hueco Mundo any more. He wouldn’t have Pantera (unless he’s hollowfied - and is she really Pantera anymore?) What about his Zanpakutō, his fighting stule, his motivations and drives.

He’d still go to rescue Rukia - she saved his life - he owes her the same. He’d still fight Byakuya for her, but he doesn’t have siblings to be telling the captain about why his perspective is wrong. Would he even have the charisma to talk-no-jutsu himself friends the same way Ichigo does?

What about Aizen? There’s no guarantee that he’s got a hybrid background (shinigami-quincy bloodline) would Aizen still be interested in that? Or will his disinterest mean that he wins bc Ichigo and his transcendant wtfuckery isn’t around to stop him?

But yeah. I’d love to take a crack at an AU like that, but it’s super involved obviously, and that makes it very un-tumblr friendly.

⚜ What is the best time to write for you? Why?

Best time to write as in time of day? Or most fun?

I just write whenever I have time. I tend to have less trouble if I reply to a post/thread immediately after reading it. Usually I end up writing in the night but honestly, I don’t need to be in “the mood” to write so whenever is good.

☆ What type of fantasy AU would you like to do one day?

Maybe somethign like Cacao society? Or Spirit Society AU? Idk if those count as fantasy AU’s but I like all sorts of stuff.

I’m more prone to digging into the darker underbelly of these kinds of AUs as opposed to the pretty castles and etc.

☽ Do you like writing angst? Why or why not?

Yesssssssssssss it’s my favouriteeeeee

I don’t write a lot of angst on tumblr bc... I guess I’m more cautious about offending someone? And it just... hasn’t really come up. The threads on tumblr tend to be more superficial and the result of that is that the emotions that emerge from writing are also rather superficial.

It’s a bit of a shame. My DMs are where the angst is at.

#rukia kuchiki divided #thank you my dear! for the asks!! I appreciate YOU #[ ooc || out of control ]#long post #eheheh sorry i didnt mean to put so much down for the au that isnt even about grimmjow but i have so many questions and i like thinking abou #this sort of thng

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gunnerpalace · 4 years

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▲ ICHIRUKI (also that edit!!!! my heart!!!!!)

Unpopular Opinion #1: I really dislike the notion that’s been built up in the fandom that Ichigo and Rukia understand each other perfectly just through eye contact and that they don’t need to talk (and certainly not about their feelings!) because they’re soulmates and uwu just so perfect for each other. Because that’s bullshit, and it’s just not borne out by how they act in the text.

They’re incredibly damaged people who heal each other and develop a very deep and intuitive understanding of each other, but they clearly didn’t always have that understanding and even once they do, they remain somewhat codependent on each other. The clearest evidence of that understanding taking time to develop is the prelude to the Grand Fisher fight, when Rukia is chastising herself after Ichigo says he killed his mother. Then she comes back and gives her speech:

Ichigo famously parrots this back at Isshin later. Like, my dudes, it is unambiguously right there in black and white: they still need to communicate complex shit verbally. They’re good at reading one another’s emotional states and knowing when things are wrong with each other… but they aren’t psychic. They still need to talk. And that is why whenever Ichigo is in a funk, Rukia gives a speech to snap him out of it: she talks to him.

And I feel like this perception is fueled by the fact Kubo went out of his fucking way to separate them as much as possible within the pages of his manga and to ignore most of the time they did have together to talk because it got in the way of shounen-y things or whatever other bullshit explanation he might’ve had.

A whole month of Rukia’s two months in Ichigo’s closet, including his 16th birthday? Not shown.

Ichigo staying in Soul Society for a week, presumably around Rukia rather than his friends? Not shown.

Ichigo and Rukia’s day together after her return from Soul Society before the fight with Grimmjow? Not shown.

Ichigo and Rukia in the aftermath of Ichigo regaining his Shinigami powers in the Xcution arc? Not shown.

Ichigo and Rukia training in the Soul King’s Palace together? Not shown.

Ichigo and Rukia in the immediate aftermath of the war? Not shown.

They had an awful lot of time to just talk. And they presumably did talk, given for example that Ichigo knew Rukia would be at Kuukaku’s house if she wasn’t in Soul Society—he had to have some idea about Kaien, and that means she must’ve told him about him. But we didn’t see it.

Because Kubo is a wuss and refused to let anyone interact for any reason, but especially not people who’d talk for hours and hours due to having a natural and easy interpersonal connection. (The live-action movie is canonical as to how Ichigo and Rukia’s downtime would’ve gone down, fight me.)

Unpopular Opinion #2: In a related fashion, a lot of people in fandom say they’re not the kind of people to outright say “I love you” to one another. And while that is admittedly a very Japanese position to take (as saying “aishiteru” is considered really dramatic) I would counter by saying that Ichigo and Rukia very much are the D R A M A T I Q U E sorts who would do exactly that.

Like, come on, they met with Ichigo kicking Rukia in the ass, Rukia drawing a mustache on Ichigo’s face, and Rukia stabbing Ichigo through the heart to transfer her soul powers to him after he cracked some sexual innuendo like “Let’s do it.” Then there’s Ichigo’s various arrivals in the Soul Society arc, and Rukia’s arrivals at the start of the Arrancar, Hueco Mundo, and Xcution arcs to pay him back, which are all dramatic as fuck. It’s always spectacle with them around each other, and they can’t seem to help it.

Oh, but it’d be too dramatic for them to say “I love you”? As if. They’re precisely the kind of people to spring “I love you,” on each other in a society where that doesn’t happen often, just like they almost instantly skip to being on a first-name basis and start up that rumor mill. They would just need some time to come around to it.

I originally wrote here that: “(The Leia/Han thing from The Empire Strikes Back of “I love you,” and “I know,” would fit perfectly at the end of chapter 423, in either configuration, and you cannot convince me otherwise.)” I instead went and made it and gave it its own post, but you can have it again:

Tell me this does not work. Tell me it does not feel canonical. Tell me it doesn’t feel like them. And I’ll call you a bloody liar for your troubles!

Unpopular Opinion #3: They’re both switches. Neither is a defined top or bottom, sub or dom. (And to be honest, I pretty much hate the whole concept/trope in fandom for all ships that each party must be one defined thing.)

This is more of a Rukia-specific note but she tries to be so put-together and in-control all of the time that the idea that her thing is being in charge strikes me as weird; she’d seem just as if not more likely to have a kink of losing or giving up control (and being coaxed/made to forget her responsibilities/past as part of the act) simply because it was novel.

Meanwhile, on a more Ichigo specific note... Shirosaki/Hichigo/Zangetsu is basically Ichigo’s id and has a real thing for being The King and riding “a horse,” and you’re gonna tell me Ichigo’s an innocent bottom? Nah. I think Ichigo’s a little shy and seems fairly close to demisexual if anything, but he is also still clearly interested in women (as Yoruichi, Rangiku, and Tenjirou of all people could attest) and I think given what we see of Zangetsu, he would be pretty eager to learn.

(I would probably call them both demisexual overall. But they’re switches.)

Unpopular Opinion #4: This is IchiRuki-tangential, but I cringe when people write Byakuya as disapproving of Ichigo in particular or IchiRuki in general for the sake of petty drama. Post-Soul Society, Byakuya is absolutely Ichigo’s biggest booster other than Rukia (ahead of Isshin, Karin, Yuzu, Orihime, Chad, Uryuu, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, Kisuke, Yoruichi, Juushirou, Shunsui, et alia).

Dude did his best to kill Tsukishima, who he thought was a mentor-figure at the time, because he wanted to hurt Ichigo. He would be fucking thrilled, in his severely understated and conservative Byakuya way. The omake material with Byakuya getting Ichigo a lifetime meal pass in Soul Society is another example of this.

Other than Rukia there is no one more likely to start singing “Number One,” and you can’t tell me he wouldn’t support them given that. I feel this should also broadly be reflected in most AU settings because it’s pretty fundamental to Byakuya’s development as a character.

Unpopular Opinion #5: This one is for the Bleach community at large, and I’ll say it real simply: there isn’t a single plot point or sequence of events in the rest of the pile of shit that is Bleach that works one bit without Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship as the lynchpin holding it all up. There is no manga without them and their interactions.

It is, as I have said before, functionally more of a supernatural romance than an urban fantasy because of this. IR is like, the goddamn Higgs field of Bleach: it gives everything else mass.

#Asks #Ask Games #zenzenzence #IchiRuki

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elfyourmother · 4 years

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I know I say this a lot but I genuinely feel so sorry for ppl whose first FF is XIV. Not bc XIV is terrible, by any means. But there’s just so many more added layers of meaning and feels if you’re familiar with what came before, because the story beats and not just the references

Like I can’t describe to you what it felt like hearing “Doma” this, “Doma” that and then finally meeting Lord Hien on the Steppe and CYAN’S THEME IS PLAYING. One of the most gorgeous pieces of music Uematsu ever composed!! And then you find out in passing that Hien’s childhood nickname was “Shun”...Owain’s name in the original Japanese FFVI. And then you put 2 and 2 together with the fact that Hien’s father was named Lord Kaien...as in Cayenne, Cyan’s Japanese name and realize you’re living in an AU when Cyan died when the Empire attacked instead of his son, and his son is the Samurai you befriend instead.

(Not to mention that heartbreaking little cutscene after you beat Phantom Train in Sigmascape and you see Elayne and Owain thanking you for saving Doma. 😭)

There are so many little things like this in this game that totally fly over your head if you don’t know from FF. Conversely I always feel bad for FF fans who avoid XIV because it’s an MMO, for all the same reasons—also because lbr it’s where all the good FF writing went to.

#it’s not that you can’t enjoy it #but it’s so much deeper w that background #I think of that reveal in 5.2 about who led the Hydaelyn dissident faction and how badly everyone who played FFXII lost their shit

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plunnies-n-shit · 4 years

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in for a penny (and a pound of flesh)

Bleach -- ShinIchi -- Assassin’s Creed AU

My Ao3

Ichigo is kidnapped by Aizen and Espada Corp., which is really just a front for Abstergo in japan.

Because Isshin is an assassin, who never fucking told Ichigo because Isshin is and probably always will be a piece of shit in my book sorry.

Ichigo and Isshin i guess is the descendant way down the line of Shiba Kaien, who established the branch of Assassins in Japan during the Warring Kingdoms Era and who found (and subsequently hid) a POE called the "Hōgyoku"

(actually Kisuke did the hiding, but at Kaien's request, so, ya know, basically same thing right?)

Anyway, Shinji is an assassin who's been undercover with the Espada for longer than he cares to acknowledge (but this isn't going to be a Lucy situation i promise). And he knows even before word gets to him that Ichigo 1) is Isshin's son. 2) needs to get the fuck out of here ASAP. Which. Is easier said than done. Because Aizen is a paranoid bastard.

That doesn't mean that Shinji likes the brat, of course, because for the Mentor's son Ichigo can come off as. Stubborn and also kinda stupid. And of course Ichigo is super sus of Shinji, because Shinji is the Animus technician. They're not like, at each other's throats, but there is some animosity. Over time, though Ichigo appreciates that Shinji treats him like a human being instead of a human test subject, and Shinji appreciates that Ichigo is taking this all surprisingly well and hasn't broken under the strain yet, and they form a weird kind of semi-antagonistic-friendship

basically enemies to lovers speedrun edition

Outside of Espada/Abstergo, the rest of the Visoreds are planning a sicknasty jailbreak.

Inside the Animus, Kaien recruits a young noblewoman named Rukia and trains her while also trying to balance the Assassins' relationships with various kingdoms and trying to stop japan from devolving even further, which inevitably means throwing his support behind Oda Nobunaga and the efforts to unify japan. He also at some point meets his future-wife, Shimamoto Miyako who is (was?). One hell of a samurai, and one hell of a woman.

Anyway. Ichigo starts experiencing the Bleeding Effect, and it kind of hits Shinji like. "Oh. Shit. I've caught the feelings for this kid." but there's not a lot that can be done, because Aizen is watching them like a hawk, and also because Ichigo is about as dense as concrete.

they have to wait for the rest of the visored to get them out. There's the angst of Shinji having to watch Ichigo slowly break down. Ichigo just. really. really wants a nap.

Kaien uncovers that Oda Nobunaga intends to use an artifact he has finally obtained, a "wish-making orb", to create an ideal a la tobi-obito from Naruto and/or Al Mualim with the Apple of Eden. With a heavy heart, Kaien assists Akechi Mitsuhide in his betrayal of Oda Nobunaga.

Miyako isn't happy about it, of course, she is a samurai, she is loyal. Kaien demands to know whether she is loyal to her daimyō or to her state and its people. Miyako... doesn't have a good answer to that, not really. She tells him that she wont be a part of this, but, "What I do not see, I cannot stop."

It all kind of aligns in the worst possible way: the visoreds attack the Espada-Abstergo headquarters where Ichigo is being kept, but Ichigo is in the middle of his last session and they have to abort. Except, even though Ichigo gets physically pulled out of the Animus, he's still living out the memory through the bleeding effect.

Shinji has a minor panic attack trying to keep Ichigo alive while Ichigo hunts down Aizen-Oda and lives through obtaining the Hōgyoku and Oda's dying words telling him what it can do (which may as well be anything, really).

They get Ichigo and Shinji out. Espada-Abstergo burns. Ichigo bleeding-effect-lives through Kaien, Kisuke, and Miyako talking about what to do with the Hōgyoku, and finally deciding on the probably-insane idea using it to sealing itself inside of Kaien in the hope that, when Kaien dies, the Hōgyoku will be destroyed with him.

Kaien dies before that can happen. The Hōgyoku is sealed inside Rukia instead. No one realizes until it's too late that instead of being destroyed when she dies, the Hōgyoku just made her literally incapable of dying.

#q's plunnies #in for a penny (and a pound of flesh)#bleach #assassin's creed #shinji hirako #ichigo kurosaki #kaien shiba #kushiki rukia #miyako shiba

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sonnets-and-snowdrops · 5 years

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bleach for the ask thingy ?

The first character I first fell in love with:

Uryuu, actually. Y’all know Ukitake is my boy, but Uryuu shows up way earlier. He’s the first character that I saw and went - oh. You. Yes. I really like and care about you.

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

Rukia. I watched the dub first, and looking back, I think something about Michelle Ruff’s performance kinda turned me off? Slash, I’m not sure her performance captures all of Rukia’s layers properly? It wasn’t until I read the manga that I realized that Rukia is a very serious big nerd. Later, when I watched the sub and heard Fumiko Orikasa’s voice work, I finally felt that I really understood her character. She speaks really formally, and that makes the bunny pictures funnier. The way she behaves when she wears her schoolgirl uniform gets funnier. The stakes of her fights get higher. I actually understand why she feels as bad as she does about what happened to Kaien. And so on.

The character everyone else loves that I don’t:

*braces for impact* That would be Ichigo. Sorry, dudes. Like, he’s fine? He’s a very tolerable shonen protag, actually. I just don’t really understand exactly what everyone really, really likes about him. He doesn’t interest me much. His whole personality seems to come from fighting for his friends - which is like,,, pretty okay, considering he’s, oh right, a shonen protag. But yeah. There are a lot of other aspects of Bleach I care more about than Ichigo’s character development, level-ups, personal journey, etc.

The character I love that everyone else hates:

Huh. I’m not sure. Maybe Askin?? (Do people even hate Askin??)

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

There aren’t any characters that I started off liking, but now dislike. I used to be more invested in Byakuya, Renji, and ByaRen than I am now, I suppose?

The character I would totally smooch:

Other than Ukitake?

Yoruichi. Hands-down.

And actually, also Rose. I feel like he’d be fun and nice to kiss.

The character I’d want to be like:

Other than Ukitake?

Probably Urahara. He’s so fucking smart. And he still has a sense of fun.

Actually, if I could combine those aspects of Urahara with Ukitake’s general aura and years of experience, I really wouldn’t be mad.

The character I’d slap:

Szayel. And he’d love it.

I also wouldn’t not slap Ryuuken. He needs some parenting lessons.

A pairing that I love:

As much time as I’ve spent thinking and writing about ShunUki, it is by no means a perfect pairing. It was formative for both Kyouraku and Ukitake, and I’m definitely not done thinking or writing about it, but these days, it’s hard for me to say that I love it. In fact, a lot of what I like about it is its imperfections - and frankly, the imperfections are where all of my broody, think-y, angsty fic comes from, anyway.

This is a bit of a cop-out, but my current favorite pairing is the product of an Everyone Lives AU that an RP friend ( @guardeddreamweaver ) and I have developed together. Ukitake is healed in the Royal Realm after the war, and he meets Shutara. He shows her that it’s all right to let love into her life, and she shows him that it’s all right to live for himself.

...they’re perfect for each other, honestly, and this ship is lowkey my life.

There are a few canon ships, both confirmed and implied, that made me feel things, but idk. Shipping is fine, but when it comes to canon content in a shonen, it’s not really what I’m here for.

A pairing that I despise:

I’ve never loved IchiHime. BUT - because I know it’s a very, very contentious topic in this fandom - I want to make it clear that I’m a big believer in “ship and let ship,” and I’m definitely not about to get mad at you if IchiHime is your OTP.

Thanks for the ask, @cestpasfaux24601 ! Bleach was probably inevitable, huh?

SEND ME A FANDOM and I’ll tell you...

#asks #cestpasfaux24601 #meme #bleach

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azure-et-aurum-blog · 6 years

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Jade Lotus: Memories from Before

((Purpose is a jewel crafted inside your heart, that blossoms like the lotus finding its way to the light)) ((Soundtrack for this is Ketsubetsu)) ((From the memories of Len T’ien-mu))

Sometimes I wish I was some normal auri girl. But...

Some time ago, I was born in another place called the “Tenryuu Estate”. My family used to serve as bushi to Lord Kentaro, head of the Tenryuu family. We served as guards, assassins, shinobi, warriors... each one of us had individual talents.

Lord Kentaro died soon after I was born.

And so were my relatives. In a fight that nobody until today could explain quite right what happened. The only ones that survived returned to Tenryuu Estate, without their lord’s body, only his sword. They would present it to Lady Kaori, his wife.

With the end of the battle, Lady Kaori dismissed all the warriors and servant families of the Tenryuu Estate. There was no need for us, no purpose. Only one family remained, the Kiryuu branch, because they were already related to the main clan.

Mother and Father were gifted with a naginata, a personal weapon, a spear that belonged to Lady Kaori. It was meant to become a memento for our times as servants. But it was also a message. And an omen somehow. It was almost like Lady Kaori would know what would come after this.

She sent a scroll with us, recommending our services to any lord that would take us. We ended being hired by a village at the margin of the One River, to act as guards against any imperial threat.

Mother trained me to become an onna-bugeisha and a shrine maiden, so I could choose a path between both and follow my heart. I learned how to play the guzheng, and also archery, fencing and the traditional kagura dance. Father said one day that I would be a great woman and marry a great man because of my dedication. It was the happiest day of my life...

and the last time I would talk to him.

Word spread as quickly as the wind, talking about a revolution. We would liberate Lord Kaien from his prison at the Doma Castle, we would take what was ours back. We sent a letter to the Tenryuu Estate, so that Lady Kaori and perhaps even the young lord Shintaro could help in the fight. But they never answered the call... and many others didn’t too.

We were short of lords and men.

To guarantee that the young lord Hien could escape, some of ours stayed behind, including Father and Mother. Their bodies arrived several days after they departed, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I wanted to die with them too... but, as one day the sword of Lord Kentaro was given to his wife, I was receiving my parents blades and bow. As a memento, to remind me that I was also trained to be a warrior, an onna-bugeisha. And something... something awoke inside me. And with 13 years old, a young girl from Yanxia set journey to find her path and her way.

(1 year ago - Doma Castle)

I have searched for the other families, not finding anyone else. Anyone but him. As almost if by a miracle, Shintaro of the Tenryuu Family was alive. I helped him to free his land and home from a great evil and now we are here to help Lord Hien taking his own. Where our parents sacrificed their lives, we would stand and fight for our country, for our love, families... and for us. We will triumph and let these memories from before succumb to their own demise.

It is true that sometimes I wish I was a normal au ri girl. But now, I have found my way, Mother, Father. So thank you for everything. I will live my life like you taught me.

#ffxiv #story #writing #Writings #Len #Shintaro #Secret Files

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descieux · 6 years

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Not in Lone Splendour, part 2

Summary: A Jedi on the run needs to travel light. Without attachments. But maybe, this boy can be an exception.

Excerpt: Not a stitch of clothing extends above the sloping ridges of his lower abdominals as he slants his upper body above the sink and lightly shakes his dye-wettened hair = my convoluted way of describing shirtlessness ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Author’s note: Part 2 of this Star Wars AU/crossover in response to day 7 of ichiruki month. I’m sorry about the lack of timeliness 😬. You can also read here.

“Stop. There’s someone with aggressive intent waiting to attack us.”

The sense of a lurking peril started as a tingle along the back of Rukia’s neck and now flares as they stand on the threshold of the Kurosaki family home.

Alarm momentarily flashes across Ichigo’s face before he appears to realize something and simply rolls his eyes. “Oh, don’t worry about that. It’s not a real attacker, it’s just my —”

A long metallic shaft swings out from the shadows of the darkened home, meeting the bisecting arc of Rukia’s lightsaber, ignited out of instinct. Rukia’s sword arm is already twisting to deliver a reverse grip counter-attack when she discerns that what she just cleaved in half was a household vibro-mop. The middle-aged man holding the remaining half of the mop tosses it and bounds toward them as if Rukia were not brandishing a blade of pure plasmic energy near his limbs.

“Now that’s my boy! I send him out to get groat chops for dinner, and he brings home a girl!”

“Dad, she’s not a girl!” Ichigo hisses, promptly wincing at the erroneous assertion. “She’s a Jedi! She’s the one who helped Yuzu and me in the market earlier.”

Extinguishing her saber and tucking her loose padawan braid back into her ponytail, Rukia attempts a smile. “Sorry about that, sir. I haven’t encountered many friendly strangers these last few days.”

“There’s a lot of people trying to arrest Rukia,” Ichigo elaborates.

“Considering what just happened in the marketplace, I’d say there’s probably a lot of people trying to arrest you too,” she shoots back.

“I see…,” the amused father remarks. “Well, why don’t we get both of you past the doorway, and we can speak in less conspicuous and less audible quarters?”

Rukia allows them to guide her deeper into the house, but protests as the sandy-haired sister emerges to offer her steaming sapir tea from a thermajug. “Thank you for your hospitality, but the longer I stay here, the more danger I place you all in for harboring a Jedi. I have to find this smuggler Urahara and get off Corellia as soon as I can obtain a serviceable ship.”

“Oh, but Daddy knows Urahara!” Yuzu tells her, insistently pressing a sticky sweetmallow square into Rukia’s hand to pair with the tea. “We visit his shop sometimes, but Urahara-san always warns us to not touch anything because it might explode in our faces. Or it tends to be illegally acquired.”

“Indeed I do know the man,” Isshin affirms. “Old friend of mine. I’ll contact him right now and ask him to come over. Ichigo, find Rukia-chan something to wear from your sister’s wardrobe. She’ll attract less attention out there if she looks less like a Jedi.”

It’s a cozy home, Rukia observes as she trails Ichigo into his sisters’ room. At the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, she, adhering to the ascetic lifestyle of the Order, retained only the most basic of material possessions — a rigid boa-wood cot, a workbench, a week’s worth of rough-spun brown and black Jedi robes. Everything else was communally shared, and her eyes inquisitively study the various personal items in the girls’ room.

“Is this droid broken?” she asks, brushing dust off its ochre plating.

Ichigo glances over his shoulder, snorts, and goes back to rummaging. “I don’t even think that mishmash of junkyard metal qualifies as a droid. Yuzu spotted it in Urahara’s shop years ago. She thought it was cute so he gave it to us for free, but I never managed to fix its programming and get it working. It’s an EG-9, and its logic circuits are a complete mess because his components are from at least three different droid models. Here, see if this dress fits.”

A quick, soft laugh escapes Rukia as she shakes out the rolled up fabric. She hasn’t ever owned anything this flowery. Even when she’d lived with Nii-sama and worn dresses more frequently, the silk had been of the plain, unpatterned variety in accordance with her adoptive brother’s tastes.

“Oh, um, you might also want to do something about your hair.”

“My hair?”

“Well, that braid signifies that you’re a padawan right? You keep tucking it back, but it’s probably easier to just wear your hair in a style less preferred by Jedi but more common among girls generally.”

Rukia blinks owlishly at him. Sure, she can unravel the braid, but she’s in low possession of ideas of how to alternatively style one’s hair; training and fighting have never demanded that she cultivate such knowledge.

Sighing, he strides over to her, snatching up a brush along the way and muttering, “Well, Yuzu wore it like this for months.”

Ichigo moves behind her, and this time, it’s the skimming graze of his fingertips dividing her hair into two parts that elicits a lingering tingle at the back of her neck. Running a warm hand over her right temple to smoothe the hair back, he gently loops one bunch of hair through a fastener before coiling the interim pigtail into a bun above her right ear.

“You do this for your sisters?”

“When there are three kids on the continual verge of being late for school and a dad’s proposed solution to hasten morning routines is to offer to chemically perm everyone’s hair, you learn things.”

As he finishes securing the twin bun above her left ear, Rukia uncoils the plait of hair he’d left alone, her padawan braid, and decides to let the strands hang loose, framing her face with slight curls.

She does not look like a girl on the run, as Isshin excitedly proclaims upon their rejoining the rest of the family in the room where Urahara has arrived.

“Kuchiki-san, it’s a relief to see a member of the Order still standing,” he tells her, his eyes shaded by the brim of his hat. “I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to access the HoloNet recently, but the news from Coruscant is that former Chancellor and now Emperor Aizen issued Executive Order 66 on some fabricated basis that the Jedi tried to assassinate him and seize power for themselves. Since then, there’ve been reports of clone troopers slaughtering Jedi on —”

“Every planet where we’ve been stationed during the end of the Clone Wars,” Rukia finishes grimly. Names, belonging to strangers in relation to those currently in the room but names of people precious to her, coat the tip of her tongue — is Kaien alive, is Renji okay? “We were on Kuat for months with clone troopers that we trusted with our lives, as our comrades. When the first person fell from a shot in the back, the others were still processing that it was going to be our fellow soldiers gunning us down.”

“Do you have a plan, Kuchiki-san?”

“Admittedly, not really. I was just planning on finding some route to the Outer Rim and reaching out to any other survivors. I can’t stay here, especially since our wrecking of the bazaar earlier will doubtlessly reach Imperial intelligence.” Rukia jerks her head in Ichigo’s direction. “An Inquisitor in the marketplace specifically identified him and was out to capture. Apparently, the boy’s Force-sensitive.”

Said boy does not confirm or dispute her words, instead seemingly immersed in contemplating the holographic portrait of a smiling woman above the family’s dining table.

“Ah, I suspect the Inquisitor’s effort may have been part of Project Harvester,” Urahara supplies. “Rumor circulating around that Arkanis Academy has stepped up their recruiting of youths recently, and they’re not just looking to produce your typical Imperial cadet. If all this is true, they seem to be trying to develop a distorted substitute group, loyal to the Emperor only, in place of the Jedi Order. May I suggest an alternative to your plan?”

Pivoting to address Isshin as well, Urahara continues, “I don’t know if Imperial agents have flagged your son by name for capture, but at the very least, they will receive reports of a young man with such a...distinctive hair color causing a ruckus in Treasure Ship Row as well as —” He swivels to gesture with his fan at Rukia. “A young woman with a well-crafted but currently impractically flashy sword — we shall get you a nice blaster pistol Kuchiki-san, and yes, I know you Jedi regard it as comparatively uncivilized, but it’s more prevalent among civilians. Isshin, what I think would be best is for you to take your family off-world and lay low for a few weeks in case more Inquisitors come looking for your son at your address here on Corellia.” Urahara’s eyes focus past Isshin’s shoulder, toward the same holograph Ichigo was gazing at. “Masaki-san’s ancestral home is still intact in Naboo’s Lake Country, is it not? You could comfortably keep a low profile there.”

Scowling, Ichigo retorts, “That’s the Emperor’s homeworld too. We’d be right under his nose if we went there.”

“Oh I think he’ll be quite preoccupied in Coruscant for a while, trying to subjugate the galaxy and all. If anything, I predict that like other despots, the Emperor will reserve his more lenient border policies for his homeworld’s economy while cracking down on other worlds. As for you Kuchiki-chan, I think you should go to Naboo with this lovely family.”

“I already sent a message to my brother Senator Byakuya,” Rukia objects.

“And has he responded?”

Rukia says nothing, the jut of her lower lip, stifling excuses she would otherwise make for her brother, and her tense posture telling enough.

“Alright, that’s settled then. Kurosaki-kun, those are some singular auburn locks on your head truly, but might I suggest a temporary coloring agent?”

The family disperses speedily to prepare for their journey, Isshin to ready the Corellian light freighter that will carry them to Naboo, the twins to pack — lightly, their father emphasizes, and surly-faced Ichigo to apply whatever hair dye Urahara has procured for him. Rukia’s pacing in the hallway, debating whether she dares sending Byakuya another plea for help via subspace transceiver when Ichigo sticks his head out of the ‘fresher doorway to ask, “Hey, want to give me a hand with this so I don’t walk out with random orange patches in the back of my head?”

Inside the ‘fresher, not a stitch of clothing extends above the sloping ridges of his lower abdominals as he slants his upper body above the sink and lightly shakes his dye-wettened hair.

With tufts of his hair already turning black, he looks like Kaien, she realizes with an ache.

“I don’t think shaking like a dog helps the pigment spread,” Rukia mutters as she enters his radius cautiously. She hates asking people to bend down so she gingerly places her fingertips on his clavicle and applies enough pressure to direct him to sit at the edge of the bathtub. Sheathing her hands in disposable gloves, she squirts out more of the dye, attentively combing the inky substance through his orange spikes root-to-tip with her fingers while trying not to press too close in his personal space.

“So you have a brother?” Ichigo asks, shoulders rolling and neck arching slightly. His eyes are closed so she can’t decipher if teasing the dye through his hair is producing an unpleasant sensation or a more relaxing feeling, but she figures that he’d be the type to gripe openly if she were really hurting him.

“Sort of. We’re not blood-related. It’s simpler to refer to him as brother, but in truth, he’s my brother-in-law. My sister’s dying wish was for him to bring me into the family, give me a home so I wouldn’t persist as some feral gutter orphan.”

A tick of silence before Ichigo ventures, “How come he hasn’t responded to you? Did your message get through?”

“Nii-sama,” she says slowly, trying to describe the man who still remains an imposing enigma to her. “Has very strict views on the importance of abiding by the law, and technically, I’m on the wrong side of the law right now.”

“The law isn’t always right.” Ichigo’s eyes are open now, brown irises flaring with conviction as he says, “Adopted or not, he accepted you into his family. That’s not a promise he can revoke. That means you should get every protection an older brother owes to a younger sister.”

Rukia shifts her position a step over; it’s awkward standing in front of him between his lanky legs so her fingers run through the roots at his hairline with particular efficiency before transitioning to smear colorant across his right temple. “Maybe that’s true for other people, but I don’t even know if I can really call him my brother anymore. You give up all your attachments when you commit to the Jedi Code because the Order becomes your family and because you’re to cherish all lives equally. So that we can protect as many lives as possible.”

“Are those words straight from the Code? I like the sound of that…” he says softly.

She leans in to brush the excess dye from the shell of his ear, and their noses nearly graze as he abruptly turns his head toward her to add, “But that seems very hard for any flesh and blood person to practice.”

Rukia straightens immediately, her lashes flitting over irises determined to not reveal her discomposure. “Looks like we’ve sufficiently converted you from a ginger to raven-haired for now. Finish up and rinse. I’ll see you outside. About time we say farewell to this world.”

#ichirukimonth #ichiruki

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higuchimon · 6 years

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[fanfic]I Will Be Your Wings: Chapter 1

“When do I get my wings?”

King Aodh and Queen Kaien exchanged looks. They’d expected this question. Every parent in their particular situation expected it sooner or later. And yet it always managed to somehow come as a surprise.

“Juudai,” Queen Kaien said, reaching down to pick him up. “Why are you asking?” She knew. She already knew. She’d asked the same question when she was his age, only a different answer had come for her.

He stared at her, large brown eyes full of curiosity and hope. “Because I want my wings!”

Aodh held back a sigh. “Juudai, I’m sorry.” He didn’t want to tell him this. Few parents did. But there wasn’t any way around it. “You won’t have wings.”

Juudai stared at him, then swung his head around to stare up at his mother, his eyes getting larger and more confused by the moment. “Why not?”

“Because you weren’t born with the marks.” Kaien rested her hand on his shoulders. “Only those who are born with the marks develop wings.”

Juudai blinked in raw confusion before he reached behind his back to rub his fingers on his shoulders. “Marks?”

Kaien nodded. “Everyone who is born with those grows wings when they’re older. Those who don’t, don’t.”

Juudai’s fingers brushed as close to his shoulder-blades as he could get them to go. “Why don’t I have them? You both have wings! Everyone around here has wings!”

That wasn’t entirely true; there were a few people on the palace staff who didn’t have any. Though as a general rule, those who were human-shaped did tend to them. Those who weren’t didn’t always. But Aodh and Kaien could both see where he was coming from.

“You were just born like that. It happens. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Aodh said, touching his son’s chin lightly. “It might help you one day, too.”

Juudai didn’t even tilt his head at that, still straining for his shoulder-blades, face twisted up into the most unusual configuration Aodh had ever seen.

“Juudai, what are you trying to do?”

“I want wings!” Juudai declared, eyes bright. Aodh hoped those weren’t tears he saw. “I’m Haou, aren’t I? I should be able to have wings!”

Kaien tried her best to soothe him. “It doesn’t work like that, Juudai. Your power will be to create and to protect. Not to sprout wings.”

“Then why can’t I create wings?” Juudai shot back. Aodh stifled a small chuckle. He could see the logic, such as it was.

“Keep trying,” he advised. “Maybe you will be able to one day.”

He didn’t believe it; nor did Kaien. The look in her eyes as she met his gaze said everything. But it was either offer a slender thread of hope or have to deal with Juudai bawling until he could bawl no more. Neither of them wanted the latter, even though both suspected that they would have to deal with it sooner or later. Especially as time passed and no matter how hard he tried, Juudai would certainly not be able to manifest wings.

Juudai slumped down on the bed, burying his face in his pillows. They were soft. So were the blankets bunched to one side and the sheets underneath him.

He didn’t care. He didn’t care about the soft bed or the delicious dinner he’d just had or the offer that his parents made to take him flying before the sun drew too far down.

I don’t want to fly with them. I want to fly with me!

It wasn’t fair! It wasn’t fair at all that almost everyone else got to fly and the only way that he could do it would be if someone carried him.

Juudai wanted wings more than he’d ever wanted anything else in his entire life. He could hardly breathe for the thought of being able to spread wings he would never have and take off into the skies that he could only stare at longingly.

Why me? Why not me? He was Haou. He’d been told for as long as he could remember that he would one day be able to control the power that brought life into the universe. So why didn’t he have wings? Wasn’t he supposed to be able to protect everyone? How could he do that if that one little gift that almost everyone else had was one that he didn’t?

Juudai refused to think that the burning in his eyes came from tears. He shouldn’t cry about it. He didn’t want to. He was only eight; maybe the wings would show up later? What if he were different and the marks didn’t appear because he was Haou?

He wanted to believe that. He wanted to convince himself of it so hard that he thought that he had.

Only it was harder and harder with each day, when there wasn’t a single sign of feathers or scales or anything else. The few kids he knew around here were already developing stronger shoulders and little bumps where their marks rested. They would have wings one day. Their parents strutted around looking so proud of them.

Why are they so happy? Wings aren’t that special.

But he wanted them. That would make his wings special.

Juudai closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around one of his pillows. In the time since he’d asked his parents about his wings, he spent hours a day trying to find the power of life inside of himself and bring it out so he could make wings.

Only it never worked. Nothing at all happened. He didn’t even get a wiggle out of his shoulders, much less anything else.

His eyes burned a little more and he wiped at them absently. Not tears. Not at all. His eyes were just leaking because he’d put so much effort into things.

He would have to grow up, he decided. Once he grew up, then he could find a way to create his own wings. That would make it good for everyone, too. He would make wings for people who didn’t have wings and for people who lost their wings.

How did wings work in the first place? Juudai knew that he didn’t really have a clue. He saw people spread theirs and take off and that was all there was to it but if he made wings, would they work the same? Could he even make wings and if he could, how would he do it? What could he make them from? Did wings have to be light to fly or heavy to carry people?

He wanted his own wings just so he didn’t have to think about all of these things.

Juudai slowly let himself relax. He would have wings one day. It didn’t matter how he had them, as long as he had them. He would make sure that everyone else who didn’t have them would have them too. Everyone should be able to fly.

Creating wings wasn’t nearly as easy as he’d hoped it might be. The thought of weight alone still bothered him. Wood? Metal? A bunch of feathers tied together? What would make the best wings?

He’d seen people who had metallic wings and they flew as easily as anyone who had leather wings or fairy wings or feathered wings.

How do they do it? Juudai ached to touch wings and learn what he could.

“Can I touch your wings?” He stared at the maid who came to clean his room, who had a small set of fairy wings folded onto her back. He’d seen her fly; as small as they were they could carry he just like anyone else’s did.

She stared back at him, as if no one had ever asked her that in all of her life. He didn’t know why. They were pretty wings; surely someone would want to touch them. She was married, wasn’t she? Wouldn’t her mate touch them?

“Your Highness, you shouldn’t ask that,” she said at last, a faint heat on her cheeks. “It isn’t proper.”

Juudai tilted his head. “Why not?”

Her fingers closed harder around the broom in one hand. “That’s for your parents to explain to you. Please don’t ask me again. Or anyone else.”

She started to sweep fiercely and no matter what he said, she refused to so much as look at him. She didn’t even turn her back on him the whole time, no matter how she had to twist to do her chores then.

Juudai stared for a few minutes before he hurried out, determine to get his answers. His parents didn’t lie to him so they would tell him what was going on.

“Why can’t I touch someone else’s wings?” Juudai demanded the moment he entered their room. Aodh and Kaien exchanged a look. He’d seen that happen between them many times, usually when he’d asked a question of some sort. He didn’t know why they seemed so confused by what he wanted to know.

Juudai knew he didn’t understand a lot of things but they were adults. Why didn’t they already know the things that he didn’t?

“Wings are sensitive,” Kaien said as he came closer, holding her arms out for him. Juudai snuggled in there right away. He loved how being enfolded in her arms and in her wings. “Not everyone wants them to be touched, not even by someone they’re close to.”

“Why not?”

Aodh reached over to ruffle his fingers through Juudai’s hair. “There are a lot of reasons. Sometimes being touched can hurt someone’s wings, even if the person touching doesn’t mean to. Sometimes, it’s just not something they like. Not everyone likes to be touched, whether it’s on their wings or not.”

Juudai frowned, trying to work his way through that. He couldn’t quite figure out how that worked, but if his father said so, he was willing to accept it as true. He raised one hand, starting to reach towards his mother’s, then stopped himself, staring up at her.

“Can I touch your wings?” She’d always let him before. But was it going to be different now?

Kaien smiled at him. “Go ahead. Just remember.”

He nodded at once. She’d told him that ever since he could remember. “Always be careful.” Was that what she’d meant? That it could hurt her if he wasn’t careful?

He set a hand on the wing closest to him. Her feathers were warm and soft and a rich shade of chestnut red, much like her hair. Her wings closed closer about him and he sighed happily. Being in here, held like this, was one of his earliest memories, and his favorite one.

Juudai tilted his head against her wings and breathed in the scent of her feathers. There was another scent there, one that he recognized as his father’s, and then another set of wings folded around outside. He’d never felt so safe or so comfortable in all of his life.

“I want wings,” he murmured. “I want everyone to have wings.”

“Everyone isn’t born with wings,” Aodh said softly, his voice only barely audible through two sets of wings and two arms. “That’s the way that it is. Everyone does have their own benefit in the world, something that they can do. But not everyone has wings.”

“Why not?” Juudai demanded. “It’s not fair!”

His parents remained silent for a few moments. Juudai didn’t look up, but he felt if he did, they would have been exchanging more of those looks that he didn’t fully understand. Then Kaien spoke.

“Why isn’t it fair?”

Juudai blinked. Shouldn’t that be obvious? “Because everyone should have wings.”

“Would you think that if you had wings?” Aodh asked, his voice gentle. Juudai started to nod; of course he would!

“You want them now because you don’t have them. But if you did have them, would it have ever occurred to you?” Kaien asked, just as gentle as her husband.

Again Juudai started to nod. Of course he would! Why wouldn’t he?

But while he couldn’t see their looks, he could still feel the way they held him and the way that they expected an answer. The answer they expected wasn’t the one that he wanted to say.

Juudai bit his lip. The more that he stayed quiet, the more he wondered what the right answer would be anyway.

“It’s a good idea, trying to help people who can’t fly or don’t have wings,” Aodh said. “You don’t have to give it up.”

Juudai tightened into them. He wasn’t sure of what they meant and he didn’t know what he should say about it.

“I think he should meet a few other people who don’t have wings,” Kaien said after a long span of silence. “See what they can tell him.”

Aodh nodded. Juudai could feel the movement ever so faintly. “It shouldn’t take long to find a few.”

Juudai could feel weariness tugging at him. It wasn’t very late but he’d been thinking hard about wings and what to do about them and then everything to do with the servant and now sitting like this with his parents – it all took a toll on him. He breathed quietly and closed his eyes. The idea of meeting other people who had no wings appealed to him, but not now.

Aodh smiled a trifle weakly at his wife. They could feel Juudai going limp in between them. When both moved their wings back, he slumped there, already asleep.

“Do you really think that will help?” Aodh wondered, pitching his voice low in hopes Juudai wouldn’t be disturbed.

“I don’t think it can hurt.” Kaien leaned her head back in thought. “Do you want to put him to bed?”

Aodh gently scooped their son up and tucked him over his shoulder. “He’s a handful, isn’t he?”

“What did you expect? He’s life and justice incarnate.” Kaien smiled a touch of a weary smile. “This is only the beginning.”

Aodh couldn’t argue against that. All that either of them could do was hope that he learned how to use his powers properly, before the Light of Ruin came calling.

We should find a way to deal with that. It will be years before he properly comes into his powers and the Light could strike long before then. It won’t be polite and wait for him to mature.

He would consider the matter. A bodyguard of some sort came to mind. A very special one.

He would talk it over with Kaien later. Once they’d settled this matter with Juudai and wings and fairness in general. There would be time. It was their task to protect Juudai for now. Not yet time to pass it to someone else.

To Be Continued

Notes: I said I had other stories in this world. This is only one of them. Because I wrote this for the Yu-Gi-Oh Big Bang, it's not only a complete story, but it's going to be updated every day until it's finished.

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygo gx #yuuki juudai #yubel #yubel x juudai #juudai x yubel #soulshipping #chapters: i will be your wings #series: sky stories

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