Meeting the Royal Family

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

"Come" The King said indicating to the giant house on top of a sloped area, "Your new home awaits you." Ichigo began following the King through the town. As they were passing through the small village below everyone dropped to their knees bowing to the King.

"Does this happen a lot" Ichigo asked.

The King nodded, "It comes with being the King. I've had to deal with this for all my life, which is about maybe 5000 years."

Ichigo's eyes widened slightly, "No offense your highness, but wouldn't that make you about twice as old as Yamamoto?"

The King laughed, "That is correct. In this dimension people age much slower than normal. If people were to guess my normal age by just looking at me then I would look like I am about 65 years old. Actually the ones who reside in this Dimension only age physically until they turn 21 and after that their physical aging process slows by at least 75% or more."

"Damn" Ichigo said quietly. "So what am I going to be doing while I'm here?"

"That is quite simple" the King said. "You will be stationed at my mansion to guard me and my family from intruders. Most of them are troublesome hollows that find their way in here or the occasional Arrancar. Sometimes we even have a traitor in our midst. They are rare, but those are the ones that cause the most problems. Do you understand all that?"

"So pretty much guard you and your family from any and all threats" Ichigo asked. The King nodded, "Yeah I can do that."

"Good" the King said. "I will evaluate your performance over the time span of a week. If at the end of the week you prove yourself then I shall get some of my best Shinigami to train you properly."

"Properly" Ichigo frowned.

"Not to be meant as an insult I hope you understand" the King said. "But while you are very powerful already, you could be as much as 10 maybe 20x stronger if you are trained properly. You have the most experience in Zanjutsu and Shunpo. Your Shunpo is near perfect so you can work on that over time on your own. Your Zanjutsu is powerful, but it has no style. That can be fixed in time. You have the basics down in Hakuda, but it can still be vastly improved. Your Reiatsu is at the maximum point possible, which gives you the potential to learn every Kido possible once you learn to control it."

Ichigo was trying to absorb all the information, "So if I do well for a week then I get trained fully in the art of the Shinigami?"

The King sweat dropped, "Has anyone told you that you have a gift for short handing things?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Never mind… we're here."

Ichigo simply stared at the massive mansion, "Wow, Byakuya's got nothing on this" he whispered.

"Byakuya" the King questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Noble guy… head of the Kuchiki… ten foot rod up his ass" Ichigo said failing to suppress a snort at the end of his explanation.

The King chuckled slightly, "Better not let some of the Squad members hear that since some of them are from the Kuchiki clan. Anyway let's go inside and I'll introduce you to the family." The gates opened and it looked like a warriors training ground in the front. (Think about Piandou's mansion training area from Avatar: the Last Air Bender.) "This is the training area. You will be free to use this area whenever you want to practice your skills and when the other Shinigami are training you."

"Welcome back your majesty" a servant said bowing. "If I may ask, who is this?"

"Ah, this is Ichigo Kurosaki" the King said. "He is our new Bodyguard in charge of making sure nothing breaks in."

"An honor to meet you" the servant said bowing.

"Ah, don't bow" Ichigo said uncomfortably.

"But… you have been given such an honor" the servant responded "It is worthy of respect."

"Listen buddy… I'm not the King; I'm not a Noble… I'm a Bodyguard" Ichigo said. "I am here to do service to the King and make sure he and his family remain alive and protected. That's what I was brought here for and that's what I'm going to do." Ichigo began walking ahead, "My name is Ichigo, the 'One who protects' and it's what I do best." Ichigo turned back to the King, "May we continue with the tour your highness" Ichigo asked politely.

The King nodded, "Yes, indeed." He turned to the servant, "Please go and inform the rest of the staff about our new guest at once."

"Yes your majesty" the servant said and hurried off.

"Come Ichigo" the King said. Ichigo followed the King into the open doors and into the living area where there were currently four occupants sitting around. One of them was a woman of middle age with comparable beauty dressed like a noble, one was a young girl that looked beautiful as well and the last two were twin boys who were sitting on the floor gushing about something and Ichigo only caught a few words like "Black sword" or "Awesome orange hair" and he had a feeling who they were talking about.

"Your family I take it" Ichigo whispered.

The King nodded, "Honey, kids I have someone to introduce you to." The Queen and kids looked up at their father and their eyes widened when they saw Ichigo standing next to him. "Meet the new Recruit to the Royal Guard and our Personal Bodyguard: Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo this is my wife Rei" he indicated to the Queen. "My daughter Haruka," he indicated to the beautiful young girl. "And my twin sons Hiroshi and Satoshi" he finished indicating to the two boys.

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance" Ichigo said bowing.

"I think the honor is all ours" the Queen said standing up and walking to Ichigo. Ichigo stood up and the Queen put a hand on his shoulder, "It is quite an honor to meet the young man that saved the World." Ichigo blushed slightly from the praise. "Now I think me and the King need to have a little discussion. Hiroshi, Satoshi why don't you show young Ichigo the rest of the mansion?"

"Okay" they said excitedly. They ran forward and both of them grabbed Ichigo by an arm and dragged him off. It was quite a comical sight.

"Haruka, can you go with them to keep your brothers in line" the Queen said.

"Yes mother" she said grinning and quickly raced off after her brothers. She caught up with them quickly, "Okay you two calm down."

The two twins were too excited to listen to their sister, "Oh man you were so awesome in that fight against that Aizen guy. The way that every time you guys clashed swords a mountain blew up. You even caught his zanpakuto and destroyed a high level Kido attack with your bare hand."

Ichigo scratched the back of his head in a sheepish way, "Well glad you guys enjoyed it."

"Don't worry, these two get excited at any action that goes on around here" Haruka said to Ichigo. "So… why exactly are you here? My father informed us that you were a human living in the World of the Living yet you are here now." Ichigo sighed a bit and his eyes dimmed a bit "forgive me" Haruka said immediately. "It's not my business to ask you something so personal."

"No it's okay" Ichigo said. "It's just hard to think about sometimes. When I left home I left behind my father and my two little sisters. We lost our mother long ago" Ichigo laughed a bit. "Our dad is pretty damn crazy so it was mostly me looking after my sisters and helping them grow up. Sure dad was there a lot, but whenever there were major problems with them they always asked me to help them. … Ah damn I'm rambling" he grunted rubbing his forehead.

"I'm sorry" Haruka said softly rubbing his shoulder softly.

The twins were gushing too much and missed the entire conversation between the two, "Hey Ichigo" one of them said. "Would it be okay if you showed us your zanpakuto?"

"I don't know" Ichigo said. "I suppose if the King says okay then it would be alright." 'Are you okay with it Zangetsu' Ichigo asked in his mind.

"I do miss the fresh air, so I don't mind" Zangetsu replied.

"I'll go ask father" Satoshi said running off. "Hiroshi, take him to the training area."

"Got it" Hiroshi shouted back and grabbed Ichigo by the hand dragging him through the hallway.

"Ah, hey" Ichigo yelped as he nearly lost his balance. For a little kid he had a hell of a grip and considerable arm strength. Haruka sighed at her brother's eagerness and followed after them. Soon they ended up back outside in the open training area that Ichigo had already seen before.

"Hiroshi" Haruka sighed, "Didn't Mother tell you to stop dragging people around the place?"

"Maybe" Hiroshi said in a sing-song nervous voice. The young boy scratched the back of his head sheepishly while sweat dropping.

"Learn to control yourself you little dork" Haruka scolded and bopped him lightly on the head. Now something funny happened. Hiroshi's eyes quivered and watered and he fell to the ground flailing his arms and legs comical.

"You hit me, I'm telling mother. You big meanie" he cried out fake crying.

"Oh please you know Mother and me haven't fallen for that since you were seven" Haruka grumbling at him.

"Yeah you're right" Hiroshi said standing up. Ichigo sweat dropped at the scene as the two siblings teased each other back and forth.

Ichigo sighed and scratched his head again and felt his long hair. He then reached up and brushed some of it out of his eyes, 'Hey Zangetsu, do you know why my hair grew back to this length when I got my powers back? Come to think of it I think my height increased as well.'

"I'm not 100% accurate," Zangetsu said. "But I think it has to do with the time you spent in the Dangai World. I'm not sure if you know it, but because of the way the space-time continuum works in the Dangai if one spends enough time in the Dangai they can gain the ability to gain space-time powers."

'Space-time powers' Ichigo repeated shocked.

Zangetsu nodded, "Yes. I think that you spent too much time in the Dangai world and by doing so you gained space-time powers. When you lost your powers for the first time you reverted back to your original form before entering the Dangai, but now that you have your powers back you also gained the space-time powers. I think that in time you will be able to control time and space in the future."

'As if I didn't already have enough to work on' Ichigo thought to himself sighing. 'But… I gotta admit the prospect of having space-time powers is pretty cool. Would I be able to stop time and all that stuff?'

"Space-time powers involve numerous kinds of powers" Zangetsu said. "You can stop time, slow down time, speed up time. You could probably open up rifts to other dimensions to either travel through or trap your opponents in and maybe with enough training you can generate a black hole. Gravity also has to deal with space manipulation so you could probably learn how to manipulate gravity as well."

'…' was all Ichigo thought. 'I have a headache now' he thought simply 'Ow.' Zangetsu chuckled at Ichigo from within his inner world.

Soon Satoshi came back, "Father said it was okay" Satoshi said excited. "C'mon show us please."

"Alright, alright, calm down" Ichigo said waving his hands about. "You should go stand over there. Last time I released him the backlash blew up quite a bit of things." The three of them went back and made sure they were out of distance, but they could still hear Ichigo. "Okay… here I go" he whispered.

Blue reishi began to leak from Ichigo and it swirled around him as he gripped his sword and pulled it out of the sheath. His voice seemed to be enhanced from the amount of reishi he emitted as he spoke, "Slice through the lines of destiny… Zangetsu" he shouted. Blue reishi exploded out of Ichigo and his reiatsu skyrocketed from what it was previously at. Now Ichigo was right to have them all back up because the backlash of reiatsu created a ferocious wind that would have blown them all away if they had stood where they were previously.

"Whoa… what massive reiatsu" Haruka said shielding her eyes from the wind.

Soon the reiatsu cleared leaving only dust in the area obscuring Ichigo. "You said it sis" Hiroshi said.

"And the scary part is that this is only the Shikai" Satoshi said. Haruka and Hiroshi looked surprised as they hadn't quite deduced that yet.

Soon the dust finally cleared showing Ichigo holding Zangetsu. His Shihakusho top had changed drastically as he now had a red sash around his torso along with some kind of velvet around his exposed parts of his arms, legs and his neck. Also Zangetsu looked different as well as it now had a hilt, with a chain hanging off the end with the blade looking like a butcher knife, but it was slightly altered in some places. (If you don't know what it looks like then look it up.)

Ichigo looked at Zangetsu, 'It feels good to have you back Zangetsu. Although why do you look different?'

"It's good to be back Ichigo" Zangetsu said. "And I think it has something to do with the time in the Dangai when your Bankai changed forms. If my suspicion is correct then the Jinzen form of your zanpakuto is now your Bankai form."

'Damn' Ichigo thought.

"What am I chopped liver" Hollow Ichigo asked sarcastically.

Ichigo gave a dry chuckle, 'Good to have you back as well… aibou.'

"Yeah, you too… aibou" Hollow Ichigo said.

"Whoa, that zanpakuto is massive" Satoshi said impressed. "Its massive size is most likely built for heavy swinging melee attacks for massive damage." Haruka and Hiroshi looked at him strangely, "What? It's basic analyzing skill."

"You live up to your namesake a little too well" Haruka said. A/N: In Japanese Satoshi can mean either 'wisdom' or 'reason.'

Hiroshi was over by Ichigo looking at Zangetsu in awe, "Man how do you wield this? It looks like it must weigh a ton."

Ichigo shook his head, "Zangetsu weighs just as much as any other sword to me."

"That's to be expected" Satoshi said walking up, "Each zanpakuto weighs like a normal sword to every wielder. That's why no one else can ever wield another Shinigami Zanpakuto's Shikai. Depending on the abilities or shape, it could either weigh a ton to another person or the special abilities of the zanpakuto can kill the person trying to wield it if they are not the owner." Now all three of them were looking at Satoshi with blank stares, "What? Brush up on Zanpakuto history why don't ya?"

Haruka shook her head at her smart brother before turning back to Ichigo, "What about your Bankai?"

Ichigo shook his head, "I only use my Bankai when I'm in a serious match. It's not to be used for demonstrations."

"Aw… please" Hiroshi begged.

Ichigo shook his head and had Zangetsu revert back to the Shikai form and his shihakusho top went back to normal as well. Sheathing it he turned away, "Sorry. My Bankai is only to be used in a serious battle. It's not used for demonstrations" he repeated.

The two twins pouted, "Hey cheer up" Haruka said. "Maybe when he trains in the future you'll be able to see his Bankai." The two twins bucked up and grinned agreeing with their sister.

Just now the King and Queen exited the house and out into the training grounds, "Ichigo" the queen said in a soft friendly voice; much like Unohana. "We would like you to come inside with us for a bit. We have some things we must inform you of. Children, please stay outside while we speak with Ichigo."

"Aw, but mother" the twins whined.

"Haruka, please keep them outside" the Queen said in a sickly sweet voice.

"Y-Yes mother" Haruka stuttered. Whenever her mother used that tone it meant that she meant business and failure to comply resulted in… dastardly consequences. "You two had better stay outside or so help me I will let my friends dress you up like they did on my thirteen birthday party, understand?"

The twins gulped as that memory made its way into their minds. It was horrible and they still had flashbacks, "Yes Lady Haruka" they said.

"Good boys" Haruka smiled and patted both, now sulking, boys on their heads. Ichigo watched all of this with a deadpan expression on his face and a sweat drop running down the side of his head.

"Ichigo" the Queen called making Ichigo look over at her, "This way please." Ichigo was beside them with a quick Shunpo and begun following the King and Queen back into the mansion.

"You'd think that with such a big Shikai he wouldn't be built for speed" Hiroshi said seeing Ichigo Shunpo.

"Yeah, but remember what Ms. Hikifune said when we saw him fight Aizen" Haruka said. "He has a compression type Bankai so it compresses all of his power making him stronger and faster so it's no surprise that he is good at Shunpo. Plus he has a slimmer build… so it's just right for speed." Haruka blushed as she finished what she just said.

"Aw, I'm supposed to be the smart one" Satoshi whined missing his sister's blush making Hiroshi laugh at his twin.

The King and Queen walked through the hallway with Ichigo behind them in silence. Ichigo had a stoic, neutral expression on his face. In these kinds of situations Ichigo knew how to keep a completely stoic and monotonous look on his face because he learned from past experience that showing any kind of emotion can let the other party play you like a harmonica. (Yeah he's spent a lot of time with Kisuke.)

They stopped halfway down the hallway, "We are here" the King said. Ichigo looked around to see no door anywhere in plain sight. The king turned and put his hand on the door and the well opened up revealing a small room with a table and a few mats for people to sit on. "Take a seat Ichigo" the King said.

Ichigo took off his zanpakuto from his back. He had to admit it felt nicer to be able to carry around his zanpakuto like a normal sword. He also liked the new addition as well. Before when he first got his Zanpakuto it was clipped onto his back with a large belt, but now it was held firm by a blue sash with a silver clipping that rested in the center of his chest. Setting his zanpakuto down next to him Ichigo sat down cross legged. "What is it you wish to speak to me about" he asked.

The King and Queen sat down as well; "We have had some suspicions going around lately" the Queen began. "And we have reason to believe that there is a traitor in our midst."

"A traitor" Ichigo repeated.

The King nodded, "We have reason to believe that it is this man." The King handed Ichigo a folder. Ichigo took it and scanned to picture of the guy. He was dressed like any other Royal Guard Member with the Shikakusho, Hakama, and Haori with a wakizashi length zanpakuto on his waist. Though he was dressed normally his face looked different. He had sunken cheek bones and a creepy look in his eyes and he looked really skinny with a shaggy Mohawk going down and covering his right eye. "This is Kiyo Michimaru."

"Before we inducted him into the Royal Guard he was Captain of the 7th Division" the Queen said. "He has been in the Royal Guard for 45 years now and he has always been a little… unstable."

"Unstable how" Ichigo asked.

"He has shown an insatiable thirst for combat" the King said. "It's as though he can't live without it. Whenever there has been a hollow attack he is the first on their ready to fight. He has no fear… no conscious… no loyalties… and no weakness."

"Then why has no one taken him down until now" Ichigo asked.

"We had one try a few years ago by challenging him to a full on fight saying that it would be just a spar" the Queen said. "It would end with our guy 'accidently' striking a fatal blow. Sadly we underestimated his skill as he completely beat back our guy. Even when we called the fight to an end he kept attacking. The others managed to restrain him, but we were unable to save our man."

Ichigo heard all he needed to. This guy sounded like a mixture of Kenpachi and Mayuri. Kenpachi because of the love of fighting and Mayuri for his insaneness… or maybe he just sounded like Kenpachi. "What do I do" Ichigo asked.

"First we are going to announce your acceptance to the rest of the Squad" the King said. "There is always a small party whenever we have a new member come to the Royal Guard, but nothing too big. Not since both Hikari and Kasumi were both excepted." Both King and Queen shuddered at that. Ichigo sweat dropped! "Anyway" the King said clearing his throat. "While the gathering is going on he will most likely want to see what you're capable of and if he challenges you to a fight then you are to accept and defeat him no matter what."

Ichigo nodded, "I understand."

"We shall officially announce it tomorrow" the Queen said. "You will be staying here with us in the mansion. We shall show you to your room later. For the rest of your day you should explore the area to get use to it. How are your sensing abilities?"

"About High Lieutenant Level to Low Captain Level" Ichigo answered. "When I'm using Bankai then it goes to about High Captain Level."

"Good" the King said. "Then you won't get lost. Keep that file to study up on. It has a full list on his capabilities and Zanpakuto abilities." The King reopened the wall and Ichigo walked out listening as the wall closed behind him. Ichigo decided to read up the file as he walked towards the outside area.

Name: Kiyo Michimaru

Occupation: Royal Guard Member

Previous Occupation: 7th Division Captain

Kido/Reiatsu: 70/100

Offense: 100/100

Defense: 80/100

Mobility: 90/100

Intelligence: 60/100

Physical Strength: 100/100

Total: 500/600

Zanpakuto: The length of a wakizashi with a bronze hilt and a double hourglass shaped guard.

Shikai: Goken (Strong Fist)

Shikai Special Ability: Turns into bronze metal gauntlets capable of breaking bones in a single hit.

Bankai: Tentou no Goken (Heaven's Strong Fist)

Bankai Special Ability: Bronze gauntlets extend up and cover both arms in impenetrable armor. Shikai ability increased 10 fold and if a solid hit lands anywhere in the torso then body will implode.

"Yikes, note to self: do not get hit by that" Ichigo whispered to himself. Ichigo finally made it out into the open area and saw that the area was completely empty. 'Guess everyone else went back inside' Ichigo thought to himself. Since the King told Ichigo he could go out and explore Ichigo left the compound and took a second to admire the view of the landscape.

Ichigo walked down until he was in the main town and took notice of all the people there. There were actually normal people there doing normal things and little children playing around in the area. Ichigo just assumed that other members of the royal guard had children with each other.

"So this is the new recruit" a female voice said from behind Ichigo. Ichigo stopped and turned around to see three of the eight bodyguards that came with the King to the human world there. One was a male and two were females.

The other female, who looked a lot like Yoruichi smirked and licked her lips, "And a handsome one at that" she said seductively. Ichigo felt a shiver go up his spine and a blush go to his cheeks.

"You think almost every man is handsome Hikari" the male said dryly.

"I do not" the woman, called Hikari, said insulted "Shut up Wataru." The other female giggled, "Zip it Kasumi" Hikari hissed like a cat. Kasumi kept giggling and then another play fight broke out in between them.

Ichigo sweat dropped while staring at the scene while the male, called Wataru sighed, "Sorry about that. They're always like that when they tick each other off." Ichigo looked at Wataru; he was tall with long spiky red hair with a bang falling down in front of his face and he had deep amber eyes. He wore the normal Shinigami outfit and white Haori over his outfit. He had a katana length zanpakuto with a red hilt on his waist that had an open star guard on it. "Allow me to introduce myself. Former Captain of the Fifth Division Wataru Kasaimaru at your service" Wataru introduced.

"Ichigo Kurosaki: Substitute Shinigami" Ichigo introduced as they both shook hands. "So who are those two" Ichigo asked indicating to Kasumi and Hikari, who were still play fighting.

"The dark skinned one is former Second Division Captain Hikari Shihoin" Wataru said "And the light skinned one is former Tenth Division Captain Kasumi Enkou. Back in the Soul Society they were best friends and still are now despite how they're acting right now."

"Shihoin" Ichigo mused before he slumped slightly, "Great another seductress to deal with."

Wataru raised an eyebrow "Another" he asked.

"One of her family members taught me Shunpo" Ichigo said "And from what I'm seeing now they're exactly the same." Next thing Ichigo knew Hikari appeared in front of Ichigo surprising him.

"Someone from my family taught you Shunpo" She asked. Ichigo nodded, "Who was it?"

"Her name is Yoruichi" Ichigo said.

"Ah my favorite great granddaughter" Hikari said with a smile.

"Your only one too" Kasumi said form behind her.

"What's she like" Hikari asked.

"From what I've seen about the same as you; a gorgeous seductress- crap" Ichigo cursed while slapping his forehead when he realized what he just said.

Wataru snorted slightly while Kasumi giggled loudly and Hikari grinned "Gorgeous eh." She appeared behind Ichigo with her arms wrapped around his shoulders hugging him tightly and Ichigo felt her assets press against his back making him blush brightly. "When we're private I'll show you how sexy I can be" she purred in his ear. Next thing Hikari knew she was holding onto nothing making her look confused and look around "Where'd he go?"

"Up there" Wataru said pointing on top of a roof where Ichigo was crouched panting slightly and blushing brightly.

Ichigo stood up straight, "Uh sorry, but… I… think I hear the King calling. Nice meeting you all; later" he said quickly before disappearing with a Shunpo.

Kasumi whistled "Wow he's really quick. I think he just covered over a hundred feet in one Shunpo."

'He's defiantly a talented kid' Wataru thought stroking his chin 'If he's this fast now I can't wait to see how fast he is when using his Shikai and I can only imagine how fast he is when using Bankai.'

"Strong, fast and sexy" Hikari grinned "I'm gonna have a lot of fun with him in the future."

Ichigo reappeared back in the Palace Grounds and sighed to himself, 'Great another Yoruichi; that's all I need right now.' Ichigo decided to put it all out of his mind until tomorrow since that was when he'd be officially announced as a royal guard member to everyone else and it was when his mission would begin. Ichigo looked up at the darkening sky knowing he'd be in for a hell of a day tomorrow.

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