(Soul Society: Squad 1, Main Office)
"Word of our engagement being official is making its way through the Devils' territory." Serafall said, video calling the Captain Commander with updates on their coming marriage. She took hold of the camera to show off a separate work desk, covered by tall stacks of papers. "The number of appeals begging me to reconsider has been staggering. If they were 'upset' that we were dating, they're livid now." Her heavy sigh conveyed how tired she was of it. "They keep going on and on about the 'purity of the Devils'. Meanwhile, the Devil elders that support it just keep telling me to focus on bearing a strong child. They, in their own words, 'Will tolerate a half-blood bastard if they're strong'." Both the Satan and the Shogun took a moment to drink some tea and calm their stress. "I honestly think they're incapable of not being a pain in the ass."
"Just imagine how pissed they'll be when they learn the full details of the contract you wrote up when you decided to commit to this." Ichigo said, returning a part of his attention to his own desk that was filled with reports and paperwork. "Though I do wonder how many would be foolish enough to try and kidnap any kid we have... if that ever happens." He said, mumbling the last part as he remembered the low fertility rates of Devils.
"It'd probably be easier to get a count of how many would leave our children alone." The Devil returned. "I'm the strongest pure blooded female Devil and you are recognized as a powerful individual as well, though I know they'd rather drink holy water than admit that." She then sighed again and laid her head on her hand. "And I also know I shouldn't say this as a Devil but," her aura turned murderous, "any of them that tries to lay a hand on our children and I will find a way to entomb them in holy water."
"I'm sure my guys can help you with that." Ichigo added, already thinking on how to inspire the fear necessary to make his still growing family untouchable. "So, do we have a date for the... I want to say wedding but."
"It'll just be signing a few papers and a party or two." Serafall answered. "No need to do anything lengthy beyond the obligatory celebration party. The former will be before the first round of the Rating Games tournament for the young Devils that we'll be holding soon. We've sent invites to the other factions to come and watch since the first meeting will be held in Devil territory." Ichigo nodded, wondering which other groups would appear to partake in this meeting. "Oh, that reminds me. Ichigo, Sirzechs is planning on getting Azazel to help train Rias's Peerage for the upcoming Rating Games. So could you do the same for Sona? Think of it as an engagement present for your cute fiancee!" She said with a cutesy smile.
"Do you really think I'm so easily swayed?" The hybrid deadpanned while the Devil put her finger to her lips and gave him the puppy eyes.
"Please?" She tried again, making Ichigo sigh.
"My answer was going to be yes, but know that trying to be cute to manipulate me won't work. I'll see you soon Serafall." The Satan said her goodbye and the connection was cut, leaving Ichigo to his paper and his faithful lieutenant. "Kagetora, I suspect this will take a while but I should still be able to attend to my paperwork at the very least. I trust you can handle everything until I return?"
"Of course sir." Nagao answered immediately, already used to doing this when Ichigo was still the captain of Squad 8 just so he could spend some time with his family.
"Thank you. You're dismissed for the night." Her captain said as she bowed and turned to leave. "Don't forget to visit Echigo every now and then. Your village must miss you." He said, causing her to smile as she remembered her old home.
"Maybe when things calm down after your latest marriages." She returned before walking out the door.
"Yeah, I'm not one to talk about seeing family am I?" Ichigo mumbled as he returned to his work, typing out a message to Kisuke to check the data on the Sitri Peerage and to select the best people to help train them.
(With the Gremory Group)
It was a usual morning for the newest Red Dragon Emperor. Issei woke up between Rias and Asia, both naked as the day they were born, but he was too nervous to make any move. Then it was revealed that Akeno had also sneaked into his bed and was ready to 'deepen' they understanding of each other before Rias woke up and the two fought over him, Issei just sitting back and choosing to not get involved as they argued before being reminded that his home was now renovated from a modest home to a six story mansion outfitted with anything and everything any homeowner could want. An overnight change to accommodate his family and the whole Gremory peerage. Once things finally settled down between Rias and Akeno, the leader of the peerage called for a meeting in the sanctuary of the remodeled dining room after Issei's parents left.
"Going back to the Underworld?!" Issei shouted in shock and sadness at the thought of his Rias leaving him behind. "But lord Lucifer said you were still allowed to stay in Kuoh! Captain Commander Kurosaki didn't banish you from Japan! Please don't leave me!" Rias went over to her pawn and started stroking his face before caressing his head.
"There there Issei." She said soothingly. "I would never abandon you. We'll be together for centuries and millennia. Besides, this is just a yearly trip back home and I bring the members of my household with me every time. It's going to be a long trip so you'll need to pack for it." The talk soon shifted into what summer plans they had for the Devil Realm, leaving the group unaware as Azazel walked into the club room and sat at the head of the meeting room table.
"I'll be joining you as well." He announced, surprising the group.
"Wha? When did you get here?!" Rias and Kiba asked, making the Fallen Angel sigh in disappointment.
"I just walked in through the front door. If you failed to notice me then your training is lacking." He said before mumbling that he's got a lot of work ahead of him as he pulled out Rias's notebook and read her schedule. "Pretty straightforward plan here. I and a few others will be meeting with Sirzechs while you lot stay at the Gremory house. I heard Ichigo will be joining us with the Sitri peerage." That news surprised the Devils in attendance while Azazel lazily handed Rias's notebook back to her. "I just found out that Serafall asked him to train his future little sister." The black winged Angel gained a smirk that was downright fiendish as he looked Rias dead in the eyes. "And I heard there's going to be a Rating Game tournament. How does the idea of beating them sound for motivation?"
(The Devil Underworld: Gremory Train)
'This is slow.' Ichigo thought as he watched the scenery of the Underworld go by, the familiar darkness of inter-dimensional travel giving way to a purple sky of swirling colors ten minutes prior and they were still not at either of their stops. The Sitri peerage met with the Gremory group as they boarded the train in the hidden underground station in Kuoh to take the official legal port of entry into the Devils domain, a route Ichigo honestly never took before. Every time he came beforehand was usually with Serafall through one of her portals as a guest of the Satan Leviathan or through a Descorrer portal he makes, and mainly because it always irritated the older pureblood Devils which made both him and Serafall laugh. Now he was stuck on this luxury train taking a 'leisurely' ride to the Sitri territory, and he was bored of it. The last ten minutes couldn't pass fast enough.
"Come on Kurosaki, it'll be fun~." The Fallen Angel sitting across from him suggested as Ichigo just tried to focus on meditation. He and Azazel were sharing a car to themselves while Sona and Rias were in their own and their respective peerages had their cars, currently the governor general of the Grigori was trying to get Ichigo to gamble on the upcoming Rating Games. "Stake your pride in your teaching skills on their wins."
"I don't gamble if I don't have to Azazel." The hybrid returned, sending out Pesquisa pulses and sensing the multitude of spirit signatures throughout the Underworld. Two strong ones seemed to be heading toward the train. "Please stop trying to convince otherwise and focus. We're completely isolated in here." A result of his training under the Hashashin was always checking to see if anyone was watching or listening.
"Tch, you're no fun." The Angel grumbled before leaning back. "So, did you bring enough of that surveillance bacteria stuff to share with everybody?" This made Ichigo look to Azazel.
"Because you and Michael might still have some rebellious elements in your own factions?"
"Yeah. They're being quiet about it, but I have no doubts more people in my group are not happy about what we're doing." Ichigo let out a sigh.
"We'll discuss this at the meeting with Sirzechs and Michael, since I'd rather not repeat myself." Ichigo let out another Pesquisa, and those two presences were still heading for them.
"Understandable. By the way, name dropping you worked like a charm. I got word from Olympus almost immediately that they'd send someone for the initial meeting."
"I wonder who." Ichigo sent another Pesquisa and the two presences were on an intercept course with the train. "Azazel, did you make any arrangements before coming here?" The hybrid suddenly asked, surprising the Fallen Angel.
"I did ask a Dragon King to fight Rias's group." He admitted. "I wanted an idea of where everyone was at. He said he'd attack us in the Gremory territory. Why?" The two of them were suddenly thrown from their seats as the train made an emergency stop.
"Seems like there's a change of plans." Ichigo growled as the train's conductor announced that they stopped because Dragon Kings Tannin and Tiamat were closing in.
"This... this isn't good! The Blaze Meteor Dragon is one thing, but the Chaos Karma Dragon as well?" Azazel shouted as the two made their way to the cars with the young Devils, everyone congregating in the car of the Gremory peerage, looking at the two Dragons in shock and awe. Both resembled traditional western Dragons; the one in the back having purple scales, yellow curved horns and claws, a gray underbelly, and wearing black armor pauldrons and armbands with a gray loincloth while the frame was unmistakably humanoid while the one in the front was a bewitching shade of pale blue with a thin lithe frame and a long serpentine neck ending in a diamond head topped with a crown of horns. "Seems like Tiamat's presence is just as much a surprise to Tannin." Azazel said, still in shock at the turn of events as the purple one seemed to be trying to talk to the blue one. Ichigo guessed which one was which from that.
"Then no one knows why she's here?" Ichigo asked as Tiamat's eyes seemed to fixate on their car. The blue Dragon's head snapped back to Tannin and released a powerful roar that seemed to effectively cowed him before turning her head back to the train car, more specifically, on Ichigo himself.
"I knew I recognized something." The Chaos Karma Dragon finally spoke, her voice like gentle ocean waves. "It has been a millennium, but I remember the power of that Zanpakuto. Though... the wielder seems to have changed." He blue eyes narrowed on the hybrid. "Come out Soul Reaper. I wish to speak." All eyes turned to Ichigo as he returned the gaze of Tiamat, the Shinigami thinking back to other giant beasts and how none held a candle to the mighty Dragon before him. Saying nothing and holding their gaze, Ichigo began to walk to the end of the train car and got off. Manipulating both his and the ambient spiritual energy allowed him to easily walk on the air, letting him get to eye level with the blue Dragon.
"Tiamat, do you remember the man known as Shigekuni Yamamoto?" He called out, feeling Kagutsuchi heating up at his hip as if it too remembered the Dragon. A warm gust washed over him as Tiamat sighed in thought.
"I do recall the name, we've met and fought a long time ago." She said, running a critical eye over the hybrid. "I'm curious as to what has happened to him and why his partner seems so different now. But that's not the only thing." She took a deep breath, sniffing Ichigo as the force of the airflow pressed against him. "You carry the scent of Dragons that seem... incomplete, and another scent I've not known for a much greater time." Ichigo felt his Oken scar throb as a light shined from his chest. "Ahhhh, so that's what that was." The Dragon reared her head back, allowing Ichigo to gaze upon her full form. "I thought I had sensed that many times over the past few years, but I was usually asleep and dismissed it. Now I know for certain." Her throat began to glow. "You've gained my interest, now show me your power." The Soul Reaper narrowed his eyes to the Dragon as his hand gripped one of his blades.
"Hey! Go on ahead without me!" Ichigo called out behind him, the reactions of the people in the train being mixed between wanting to watch and wanting to run. "Let's take this somewhere vacant Tiamat." He suggested before unleashing his Reiatsu, surprising the two Dragons. "Because I have a feeling our fight would only leave ruin." The pale Dragon purred in excitement.
"Follow me, little one." She said before flying off, Ichigo following closely behind.
(Back on the Train)
"Come on!" Issei shouted, his Sacred Gear already out. "We have to go back!" He struggled in vain as he was being held down by Kiba, Saji, and Koneko. "How can we just leave him back there!?"
"ISSEI! Just shut up and stay down!" Ddraig's voice rang out from the red gauntlet. "The last thing you want to do is attract Tiamat's attention. Leave that to the Soul Reaper and avoid her at all costs."
"She must really be bad news if you want to avoid her." The pawn said as he relented, not like he could really do anything anyway. The matter was out of his hands.
"I borrowed something she liked and it was stolen and scattered." He admitted, surprising everyone. "She's never forgiven me and there's no way you can pay off that debt right now. If she finds you, you're dead." Issei once again cursed his weakness and looked back to where Ichigo and Tiamat flew off.
(Unknown Region)
It took them a while, flying beyond the territory of any Devil, to find a suitable place to call their battlefield. The landscape was a barren valley, no plants or animals to be seen or sensed for miles. Either they fled from Tiamat or simply never existed, the fact remained that the land was empty. Perfect for two forces of incredible power to clash. Both the Shinigami and the Dragon stood on the ground, facing each other.
"Before we fight, do you mind telling me why you want this?" Ichigo asked, his hand resting on his sealed Zangetsu Zanpakuto. This was to be a straightforward bout so he intended to treat it as such, deciding to draw the others only if necessary.
"Before becoming a Dragon, I was once a Primordial Goddess." She answered, her head drifting back down to better look at him while a claw came to his chest. "I remember the original state of the world, when the one you call the 'Soul King' first decided to protect all of us. I remember his mutilation at the hands of your predecessors and his later imprisonment." With surprisingly delicate movements and control, Tiamat's claw gently pulled open Ichigo's Shihakusho to reveal his Oken scar. "But... seeing that glow from earlier, I knew that he was freed and named you as his favored among the Souls of mortals. I wish to see that person in action." She said as she drew her claw back. "Show me your power, why he favors you so, then take me to see my revived brother." Ichigo closed his eyes.
"Very well. Zangetsu!" Instantly he drew and slashed. "Getsuga Tenshou!" He yelled, as a crescent of energy shot out from a long Khyber blade with a hollowed center. The sudden aggression surprised the Dragon as she quickly swung her claws to smash through the attack, the energy exploding against her talons before she roared at Ichigo, or rather where he was standing. "Getsuga Jujisho!" Ichigo called out again as he manifested a smaller Trench blade in his other hand and swung the two in a cross strike, a massive X of Reishi slamming into Tiamat's unprotected chest and point blank range. She shot back a bit, gripping onto the ground and tearing deep gouges in an effort to steady herself from the sudden and vicious attack.
"You certainly waste no time." She hummed as she swung her wings out and create a devastating gale, one that threw up the many debris and rubble made as he claws tore through the ground. Ichigo responded by stomping into the ground and tossing up Zangetsu, the wind immediately blowing them away, before throwing a barrage of Balas with each one destroying a rock. Tiamat's throat then glowed bright before the Dragon unleashed a torrent of white flames at the hybrid. Ichigo allowed the fire to close in an nearly engulf him before flashing away, floating just behind Tiamat as he held out his hands with the dual Zanpakuto shooting back to his hands. The Dragon saw them coming and let her scales deflect them, grunting slightly as the strike still hammered into her shoulders with a relative nick into her natural armor.
"Getsuga-!" Ichigo readied another strike as Tiamat also turned with a deceptive speed as the flap of her wing disoriented him, causing him to be open to the Dragon's backhand strike. He slammed into one of the rock walls as Tiamat readied another fiery blast, intent on testing the limits of his endurance. Ichigo quickly erected a Kido barrier and watched the flames wash over him, the rocky environment quickly glowing red from the intense heat, as he thought of his next move. Eventually, Tiamat's flames ended with the area around Ichigo still glowing.
"A strong barrier." The Dragon complimented as the hybrid released the Kido. "And now you brave the heat? I can't imagine this would be comfortable for you."
"Eh. Master Yamamoto's was hotter." He answered before turning around and flared with Reiryoku as he temporarily activated his Shunko, destroying his Shihakusho while his Haori flew off, before he threw both of his fists into the mountainside. "Sokotsu!" He called out as the mountain shattered into rubble, slightly impressing the Dragon as she watched. "Hado #57, Daichi Ten'yo!" He turned and thrust his hand at Tiamat with every last rock and stone now flying at her. She attempted to swat them away, but the sheer force and volume quickly buried. Ichigo dispelled the spell as his clothes started to restore themselves. 'Maybe we should make this kind of fabric standard for the Gotei.' He thought, thanking that he had self repairing clothes. 'But then, what would Senjumaru do?' He was brought out of his thoughts as he noticed the winds and air pressure changing.
"What the?" He managed to say as Tiamat burst from her burial mound with an earsplitting roar, a massive torrent of water coming from around her, and the two of them now caught in a powerful hurricane. 'Truly a force of nature.' Ichigo thought as he watched the Dragon took flight as the storm grew ever stronger, rocks of varying sizes flying about on the wind fast enough to tear anyone too weak to shreds. The hybrid then took note of some new presences at the edge of his passive senses and released a Pesquisa to confirm that some unwanted attention was heading their way. 'We should end this now. I'd rather not expose more than I have to.' He quickly decided as he released three of his suppression seals with fiery black Reiryoku rising from his body.
"Ura Hado." He raised his right hand, a massive black eastern Dragon head forming with puffed up cheeks. "Sannodo, Teppusatsu!" Ichigo swung his arm down and the manifested Dragon head unleashed its own gale, one that blew away Tiamat's storm. The Dragon King was forced back to the earth with Ichigo calmly raising the Khyber blade of Zangetsu, slowly cutting into his other arm and coating the edge in his blood, as spiritual energy gathered on the sword. "Gran Rey Getsuga Tensho." He swung down as the blade of energy shot toward Tiamat, slamming into the Dragon and engulfing her in a large explosion. Ichigo stood by as the smoke cleared, revealing Tiamat covered light burns and many of her scales were peeled away, glaring at the hybrid.
"You're holding back." She accused as Ichigo flashed in front of her. "And by quite a lot. How much do you intend to insult me?"
"You asked to see my power and I showed you." The hybrid responded. "This was not a duel to the death, nor did you seem intent to kill me. Not that I'd want to kill such a divine creature. Besides, I'd rather not reveal more of what I can do than necessary." She released an agitated growl but bowed her head.
"I see now why my brother favors you." She said while Ichigo reverted Zangetsu back to its sealed form and returned the bow.
"And I thank you for this fight." The Commander said, then stood up and thrust his Zanpakuto to the side. The blade disappearing as it sank into the space before he turned it like a key. "Unlock." He ordered, the space distorting as a pair of sliding doors manifested before opening. "Take this gate and you'll reach the Soul Society." Ichigo told her as a few black butterflies came fluttering about the Dragon. "I'll let them know you're coming, but I still have some things I need to take care of her in the Underworld." The hybrid flashed away, reappearing high above the field with his phone out and already ringing.
"This is Akon. Go ahead Captain Commander." The Squad 12 member answered.
"I've met and fought the Dragon King Tiamat, now I'm sending her to Soul Society because the Soul King requests her presence." Ichigo watched as the Dragon shrank and took a new form before walking through the gates. "She took a human form, but you should still be able to sense her Dragon power."
"Understood sir. Any particular orders regarding her?" Ichigo thought for a moment.
"Tell her to enjoy the hot springs." He said before hanging up. "Now... let's remove everything." He raised his right arm, now black with fiery red lines cracking along his limb. "Hado #96, Itto Kaso!"
For miles around, anyone could look and see a fiery red explosion that rocked the Devils' home. The spot where Ichigo and Tiamat fought was now replace with a charred black crater and no trace of any energy could be sensed, all of it being absorbed into the hybrid with Sklaverei. The only trace of his presence and fight was that single massive crater.
(DxDiaries!)
Nagao Kagetora
Many of the details of my time among the Living are forgotten, but I still remembered the clang of steel and the smell of fire. I remembered living during the Warring States Era and how the ruling lords changed as often as coins in a peddler's hand. My life ended in a bandit attack and I fought to my final breath, determined to die as a courageous Samurai warrior. Eventually I found myself in the care of the Soul Society.
Becoming a Soul Reaper was an easy decision, I had the power and skill, but I also saw it as a chance to help all the lost and bound souls that were made during that time. A noble desire I had intended to follow through on and had proven to have a promising future, quickly rising up the ranks of the 6th division, but the longer I stayed in it the more I saw how the Rukon was basically ignored beyond the occasional Hollow. Any arguments I made to change that seemed to fall on deaf ears until I had had enough.
It was on total impulse but during a mission to exterminate a few Hollows in the lower Rukon I decided to fake my death, an effort to ensure I wasn't arrested for desertion and treason. I waited for days and weeks in hiding to make sure that they wouldn't try to find me and that I was now safe. Once I was confident in my new freedom, I started gathering those trapped in the slums of the lowest districts of the Rukon with the idea of finding a new home beyond the reach of the Seireitei. It took no small effort but after a few years we finally built ourselves a new self sustaining village. We called it Echigo and I took up the name of Nagao Kagetora, honoring the lord of my original home in the Land of the Living. My original name was long discarded and forgotten as I took up my new purpose as protector of my new home.
For centuries we were left alone and relatively safe under my protection with my Zanpakuto Hachihana ready to strike down any that threatened our small village, but that would not last as a group of Soul Reapers came to our home. They claimed to not be hostile but I would not listen, we put too much work into building Echigo to let the Soul Reapers take it from us. I fought and captured them, imprisoning them in the village to demand answers. Why now? What was the Seireitei planning? They told me what I could only believe as a lie, that the Gotei and Soul Society was changing and expanding.
More Gotei agents came and again I would best them, though eventually during one fight a single Shinigami fled and would alert the greater Gotei. It didn't matter, I would fight anyone to protect Echigo. Eventually a captain came, wearing the Haori of Squad 8 and identifying himself as the future Captain Commander, Ichigo Kurosaki. He asked if I was the one that kept besting the others and offered me a position as his lieutenant. I scoffed and told him he would have to beat me first, to which he only smiled and accepted.
I fought fiercely, even being driven to use my Bankai to overwhelm him with eight copies of equal skill and power, but he didn't respond in kind. He wielded four different Zanpakuto and only used three Shikai, and I couldn't beat him. After my Reiryoku was spent, I pleaded with him to take my head but spare my home. His response? He came here to find a worthy right hand, nothing more. And so, I became the lieutenant of Squad 8 and returned to the Seireitei after a long three centuries.
I saw first hand the change that I refused to believe in, the Rukon Police Force of Squad 14 being the most welcome sight for me. The Shinigami were showing more care to their charges, the slums were slowly fading away into clean streets where children could happily run through, a thriving economy that brought smiles to the people. It was jarring to see and I was overjoyed, but a part of me wanted to continue refusing to believe it. I stood by my new captain's side, ready to betray him if he proved this was all a lie on some level, but he was always genuine. I was made to bear witness that the corrupt Seireitei and Gotei I had abandoned so long ago was now living up to it's role as guardians of the living and dead souls as they passed through the cycle of rebirth. I swore to follow my captain, even before he was named Shogun by lady Amaterasu. Ichigo Kurosaki was the lord I waited my whole life for, both of them.