…The True Heir…

/Warning/: This chapter contains, cursing, fluff, Ichigo being a BAMF, sadness, drama, and the secrets will be out! And who knows what! All the reviews are appreciated.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

…Flashbacks or dreams…

"Zanpakuto or Hollows talking"

Chapter 13

You can say that after living a long and full of surprises life, Ichigo can confidently say that nothing can shock him or make him speechless for more than five seconds, which was fate as much as it was true, but the thing is, he is now frozen solid in his place, because what the fuck? What the actual fuck is happening? It was only yesterday he finalized the adoption paperwork with Kaien, only yesterday since he was a full Shiba and Kaien's adopted son, and he thought that he will finally find as much peace as he can considering that, the quiet before the storm is going to take a place in a few days when Isshin will learn of Kaien adopting Ichigo, so by the laws, Isshin can't do anything to get him back considering that Ichigo was adopted by Kaien when he was nothing but an orphaned Shinigami from the 99th and was not even known to being related to Isshin in any way, shape, or form.

So imagine his surprise when he saw Yoruichi running toward them and crashing into Kaien whispering something in his ear while making sounds like a dying whale, and to Ichigo's fascination, Kaien didn't complain of losing his hearing, he only raises his brow and look at Ichigo and then at Byakuya all the while blinking his eyes so fast, it made Ichigo worry that they will stick in a strange position.

But what baffles Ichigo was him and Byakuya having to go to Yoruichi's house, something about 'A really important shit, Ichigo, that required your and Byakuya's present!' which brought him to the now, with him being speechless, and Byakuya looking between the 'Guests' that Yoruichi brought with her.

Byakuya's… family? Or so they say, and Ichigo has to narrow his eyes as he gazed at Soujun who was looking at Byakuya with tears of joy in his eyes, and the old man who was sitting near Soujun, taking in the resemblance between Byakuya and Soujun, which Ichigo knows that the two of them nearly looked like a copy of each other, after all, Ichigo was fooled once thinking that Soujun was actually Byakuya, so there is there.

Byakuya thought looked nervously between the two, looking at Ichigo next, fear and nervousness' warring inside of Byakuya, that Ichigo himself doesn't know if there were some of his emotions in the mix, after all the Kuchiki clan, The Kuchiki! Were telling them that Byakuya was their son! Which was a scary thought because there was the possibility that if this was true and the Kuchiki was Byakuya's family then they may take him away, and the only way for Ichigo to get him back will be revealing the secret of them being a Soul Bond, which then will end up with them living in Soul Society while spending the rest of their long-ass life in a mansion with servants that will gasp in horror at the thought of them holding a teacup in their hands, fearing that something will happen to them, and they sure as hell will refuse for them to be Shinigami anymore, in fear of one of them hurting themselves or worse, dying…

Ichigo pursed his lips at that and turn his head to Ginrei when the man cleared his throat. "So, Shiba-San, do you mind telling us how you found, my grandson?" The old man asked, and Ichigo nearly start sassing the man in the place, but he was stopped by Kaien throwing him a knowing look with a smile, whispering to him to behave behind his teacup, which made Ichigo purse his lips and clear his throat.

"Slave traders…" Ichigo said which made everyone take a deep breath at that with wide eyes, looking at Byakuya who was fidgeting and trying to stay near Ichigo. "They were killed by a Hollow in the 99th, long before I found their remains, and Byakuya was the only survivor, knowing the slavers methods I assumed that they killed Byakuya's parents, and were planning to sale him." Ichigo finished his tale, wincing when he saw the tears in Soujun eyes as he looked at Byakuya, making Ichigo fidget while looking at the two… this was awkward even for him. "What are you going to do now?" Ichigo finally got the courage to ask what was on his and Byakuya's mind, which made everyone look at one another before they turned their gaze to Ichigo.

"Well, now Byakuya is going to return with us home, so that we can announce him being back to the clan and to the other Nobel Houses, just like Shiba-Sama is going to do in a few days when he announces you being a Shiba and the heir to the clan, after that… what do you think about uniting the Shiba and the Kuchiki? After all, I heard the two of you were already married." Ginrei said which made Ichigo blink his eyes and turn his eyes to Kaien and Yoruichi, seeing the encouraging smiles on their faces, that caused Ichigo to bite the inside of his cheek and gaze at Byakuya who was looking at him hopefully which made Ichigo give the teen a small smile before returning his gaze to the older man and nod his head, which made everyone smile…

This was going to be interesting…

"I can't believe you two!" Rukia whined as she throws her arms in the air, making the rest nod their heads and look at Ichigo and Byakuya like they were traitors, which made the two, blinked their eyes turning to their friends who were giving them mocked glares of annoyance.

"What did we do this time?" Ichigo asked with a bored tone as he opened his eyes, looking at Rukia who was puffing her cheeks from his place on the ground near the Sakura tree, he can see how Rukia let out a warrior cry at his reply, glaring at him harder like he was the reason for all the nasty things in life.

"Need me to spell it for you? You, Shiba, Byakuya, Kuchiki, how the hell did that even happened?!" Rukia said while waving her hands like a manic while pointing to both Byakuya and Ichigo, moving her whole body to make the point across which made Byakuya laugh at that and shake his head at his friends, especially when Toshiro and Renji nodded their heads behind her while looking at them with narrow eyes.

"Tell me though, will I be adopted or turn out to be one of the Nobel Houses by association?" Renji asked after a while, out of curiosity which made Rukia let out an enraged scream and kick him in the shin making him squeak in pain and start hopping around the place with his uninjured leg hoping to lessen the pain of Rukia's kick, for such a small woman, Rukia kick like nobody's business.

"Rukia, please calm down." Byakuya said with a smile, which made the woman huff and then pouts like no tomorrow which made Ichigo's lips twitch up into a smile as he rolled his eyes a fond look making its way to his face. "It was shocking for us too, especially me… because I was told that my family was actually alive, and not dead as I thought for thirteen years… just because we found our families it doesn't mean that we will leave you, after all, you were our family first and you still are." Byakuya said with a smile, which made Rukia lose the tense posture she had not a few seconds ago and a small barely-there smile graced her lips.

"I know… I just… it's a surprise honestly." Rukia gave a weak chuckle at that as she looked at the ground with an interesting look, like the suddenly held all the secrets in the world. "First Ichigo, and now you… I just feel like we are going to be forgetting somehow, pushed back because now you have important responsibilities… ones that don't include us in the mix." Rukia finally said after taking a deep breath trying to calm herself down, which made Byakuya and Ichigo look at one another before looking at their friends.

"OK, first of all, we are never going to leave you… ever, not even for a stupid meeting with the Soul King himself, secondly, it seems like I had to repeat those words I said a few nights ago and you know how much I hate doing that, nothing is going to change, ever, never ever, ever… ever… and dear lord I feel like something nasty in my mouth, look what you did Rukia! You made me talk about feelings, gross!" Ichigo said, grimacing all the way while making everyone laugh at that, the tension that had surrounded the air disappeared as everything returned like how it was before, light and filled with laughter.

"So, what are you two planning for the next few days?" Toshiro asked which made everyone look at the two with them expectantly wanting to know what the two lovebirds are up too now, though knowing Ichigo the man was nothing if not a troublemaker who will run at the first trouble he sees with an insane grin.

"Well, Sou… I mean Tou-San told me that he will take me to my Tou-Sama's grave… he is going to tell me about him, he died when my Tou-San was still pregnant, and I really wanted to learn about him." Byakuya said as he starts twisting his hands nervously, but the gentle smiles he got from his friends made him relax a little.

When everyone looked at Ichigo they saw the man looking at the sky with a blank look in his eyes which made them worry a little. "Kaien is going to take me to see my… my family… I… I'm actually going to see my mother for the first time tomorrow, and I don't even know how it will go." Ichigo said as he sat up biting the inside of his cheek as he tried to calm himself, which made his friends give him concern looks.

"Look at it this way Ichigo; I'm sure she will be happy to finally see you." Toshiro said which got a weak smile from Ichigo as the man looked at the sky with an interesting look, a small smile taking over his face at the thought of finally meeting his mother, grandparents, and the little twins, Yuzu and Karin.

Maybe…

Meeting his grandparents and sisters after all these years, made a lump stuck in Ichigo's throat, as the man had to fight tears when Karin and Yuzu ran to his arms crying their eyes out and holding tightly into him… they grow up so much, they were both twenty years old, and both beautiful, making Ichigo hold into them tightly as he tried to make them stop crying, which only made the two of them sob harder and clutch him tightly.

His grandparents held him even tighter, giving pained laughs as they commented on how he grew up, as they took in his form, commenting on how much of a heartbreaker he became, smiling happily when Ichigo told them that he was engaged to Byakuya, which ended with the two telling him to bring his fiancé to meet them and not to hoard the boy to himself which made Ichigo give a happy if pained laugh.

Though when he turned toward his mother he froze in his place, he didn't know what to say or even do, he was just frozen in his place, that was until his mother let out a sob and rushed toward him taking Ichigo tightly into her embrace, and it was then that the tears Ichigo held into for a long time start trickling down his face, as he hides his face into his mother's neck taking comfort in being with the woman after such a long time of bottling everything up, even when he had Byakuya, he didn't want to make the boy concern himself with Ichigo's problems, wanting him to live as carefree as he can.

Days passed after that day and then followed by weeks and months, with Ichigo taking Byakuya and his friends to meet his family laughing when Toshiro stuttered and stumbled when Karin talked with the boy and hinting on him asking her out, and Byakuya taking them to meet his family, though the trip to the Kuchiki's house are usually made only to laugh at how much some of the Kuchikis were stuck up, and laughing harder when Byakuya trying to act like a proper Kuchiki, which he then will shudder after that and give a dramatic fall, making everyone laugh…

But finally, finally, it was here, the graduation ceremony they have been waiting for, for more than two years, they are going to finally choose their division or be chosen into the first, the second, the fourth, and the twelfth if they were lucky, or in the twelfth's case, unlucky.

So now here they were, standing in rows after rows looking at the Taichous that were standing on the podium looking down on them, which made Ichigo irritate to no end, though Ichigo could see Yoruichi and Kaien fighting on the side, the two of them screaming about Ichigo being in one of their division… until they were burned badly by Soujun's reply as he informed them that Ichigo and Byakuya were going to be in the sixth because they already registered there, which started another catfight, but not as rough as it was with only Yoruichi and Kaien, knowing that Soujun is too sick to participate in their childish act.

Though what was making Ichigo more irritated was the clicks and whistles he was hearing, to everyone else those click the Visored were letting out may consider as nothing but a sign of boredom or a strange habit of a sort, but for Ichigo, the man understand clearly that they were communicating, and the snide remarks Ichigo was hearing where making him irritated more and more as he listens to them, and he had to desperately to stop himself from giving them a sassy one in reply, the only one was stopping him was Byakuya, the younger man knowing exactly what was going to happen and was trying to calm Ichigo down before he does something he will regret.

They stood for an hour until the ceremony finished, every student already submits their request to join the division they want and the only thing that's left was to have their names being called by the Fuku-Taichou of the said division to inform them that they were accepted and to meet the Fuku-Taichou in the division's HQ.

They started with the thirteenth, and Ichigo can see the crestfallen look on Kaien's face when he didn't spot Ichigo's name in the scroll he has, he glared at Yoruichi when the woman grins and give a cackle at that, making the other Captains looking at the woman with a frown, but the calling out of the Shinigami continued otherwise. As expected, Rukia joined the thirteenth, and Toshiro in the tenth, making Renji pout when his lover left him alone to join the sixth, though Byakuya was with him so he did promise Ichigo to keep an eye on him, Ichigo never saw someone's beam as much as Soujun read his son's name on the scroll, though Ichigo expected for his name to be called behind Byakuya which to his surprise and his friends it was never called, by the time they reached the second's division name-calling, and not once Ichigo's name was called out, the man had to bite the inside of his cheek at that, especially when Kaien, Soujun, and Yoruichi frowned when Ichigo's name was never mentioned, they knew that if it wasn't mentioned then the man wasn't seen as a fit Shinigami, which was bullshit, and they doubted that the first division will call Ichigo's name because it was a hundred years since the last name-calling the first division did.

When the second division ended up with the name-calling, the Sou-Taichou stood up signing that the ceremony was over, which made Ichigo purse his lips at that, especially when that meant he was going to continue being a student in the academy until next year, but to everyone surprise, the Sou-Taichou actually announces that the first division had chosen a Shinigami this year. "… Shiba Ichigo, welcome to the first division… I dearly hope that you are not planning to turn my division into a brawling ring, Shiba." The Sou-Taichou said as he raised his eyebrow when he saw Ichigo's wide eyes but the old man's face soften a little at that.

"The Sou-Taichou chose him himself…" Ichigo can hear the clicking and whistling of the Visored starting once again which made Ichigo purse his lips as everyone turned to him and start whispering, but even then the clicking sounds were the loudest.

"Leave him by probably that carrot top kissed the commander ass or something!" The short woman with freckled and sandy blond hair said, which made Ichigo grit his teeth at that, which made Byakuya hiss at him softly and hold his arm in hope of the man not doing something stupid.

"Well, you are not exactly the picture of beauty yourself!" Ichigo sassed back, as he growled which made all of the Visored tenses and look at Ichigo with wide eyes and dropped jaws, that itself made Byakuya grunt and palm his face, giving Ichigo a tired glare telling him 'Look what did you do!' which made the orange-haired man huffed and cross his arms.

"… You understood…" That was the Captain of the fifth division Shinji and the leader of the Visored asked which made Ichigo narrow his eyes at the man and huffed once again… which made all the Captains look at each other, and for the Sou-Taichou to open both of his eyes and look at Ichigo long and hard, laughing hearty at that which made everyone jump and look at the commander with wide eyes considering that this was the first time the man laughed openly in front of everyone.

So after Ichigo and his friends were told to wait in the headmaster's office for the Captains to return, Ichigo was asked a lot of questions, and Renji became hysterical at the thought of the central being involved, all in all, it was the usual madness that promised Ichigo's migraine especially with Byakuya sassing him giving him the cold shoulder.

"I can't believe you!" That was Yoruichi who whined as she entered the room followed by Kaien and Soujun who was having a hard time containing his smile. "Why? Why didn't you say anything? You are a Visored! How did that even happen?" Yoruichi buzzed around Ichigo as she fired questions left and right making Ichigo grimace at that.

"Are you a Quincy too?" Kaien asked, the little shit acting all innocent and widening his eyes, giving a puppy dog eyes at the glare Ichigo sent him. "What?! It's a possibility! After all, you were a Visored! You didn't even tell me, your father!" The Kaien got the picture out of his pocket and start crying when Ichigo send him a murderous glare.

"Shiba Ichigo, can you please explain to us how you turned out to be a Visored?" The commander asked as he entered the room, followed by the Captains, and Ichigo glared at the clown of the twelfth when he leered at him, that caused the Visored to look at their fellow Captain and glare at him while hissing, especially that they were finally able to detect the faint trace of a Hollow on Ichigo.

Ichigo bites the inside of his cheek, turning to Byakuya when the younger man touched his arm gently and nodded his head, which made the orange-haired man pursed his lips at that. Everyone saw how the two of them were having a silent conversation of their own, and then Ichigo sighed at that turning to the commander as he tried to regain his thought. "As most of you know, I am from the 99th…" Ichigo said after a while of silence, his words making the Captains calm down to hear him. "Living there, meant people like me and Byakuya, are always attacked for their high spiritual powers… and that what happened, we were attacked by a strange Hollow, one that called himself Shiro…" Hearing that name made every Captain in the room gasp, eyes widen and face paling at that.

"Ichigo… what happened to the Hollow?" Yoruichi asked after a tense silent covered the whole room, as everyone looked at Ichigo with wide eyes, not believing that they heard about that Hollow after five hundred years of the final battle with Aizen, Ichigo's eyes go distant at their words, trying to remember but not being able to.

"Ichigo killed it…" That came from Byakuya and everyone in the room turned to the boy who was looking at the wall with a pained look and clenched fists, making Soujun take a step forward to comfort his son but stopped when the boy shook his head. "Ichigo fought it to protect me… but that Hollow was just too powerful… it had blades instead of hands… and one of them… he was able to hit Ichigo… but before Ichigo… before he died, he destroyed the Hollow mask… I thought he died…" Byakuya took a deep breath to calm himself down and look at his hands trying to regain himself. "I thought the Hollow died because it disappeared, so I ran to Ichigo, but I don't know what happened next, I remembered him waking up and screaming… and then he ran away… I found him three days later, he didn't remember what happened, but his Zanpakuto changed shapes, his eyes… the color… we decided to never talk about it after that… but it seems that not a month later Ichigo said he thinks that he was turned into a Visored..." Byakuya finished his take, making everyone turn to Ichigo who was looking at his feet while crossing his arms over his chest.

"Can you control your Hollow? Summon your mask?" Shinji finally asked after a while of silence regaining control as much as he can still not believing that even after centuries Aizen's foul plans continued to destroy innocent people's lives, though, that didn't matter now, what matter was teaching Ichigo how to control his Hollow before something happened.

Ichigo blinked at that and turned his eyes to the man. "Yes, I can control my Hollow part perfectly; I guess destroying that bastard's body made him see things my way. As for summoning my mask I can summon it, and keep it for five hours, sometimes six." Ichigo said which made the Visored's eyes widen at that and for their jaws to drop for the second time that day.

"How in the name of…?" Shinji looked at Ichigo while blinking his eyes, already feeling his pack becoming restless wanting to test the newcomer and see if his claim was true after all the longest summoning of the mask was Hachigen and even that it was half an hour top. "Can you summon your mask?" Shinji asked narrowing his eyes at Ichigo which made the orange-haired man raised his eyebrow but closed his eyes, snapping them open.

And everyone watched in fascination as a helmet mask with horns covered Ichigo's face, which made the Visored wow at that, Renji, Rukia, and Toshiro's eyes were wide open and their jaws on the floor, while Kaien let out an impressed whistle as he looked at Ichigo. "That's my boy!" And that was what the man said which made Ichigo look up at the ceiling and let out a pained groan…

This was embarrassing…

It took them half a year after that to get married, and Ichigo had to say that it defiantly wasn't his fault like Rukia always say; it was all Kaien's sister! The woman was a crazy bitch who wanted everything to be perfect or she will have a fit, Ichigo had expected that kind of behavior from Soujun, Yoruichi, Kaien, or hell Ginrei! But no! It was from that crazy woman that made sure to turn Ichigo's life a living hell… talking about tough love.

"I will kill that woman." Ichigo said through gritted teeth as he tried to smile, nearly failing miserably and say fuck it, Rukia was still pouting to the side, mainly from not being able to plan the wedding to her heart content but have to contain herself with the Kuchiki and the Shiba traditional wedding.

"No, you're not, not on my fucking wedding day." Byakuya said while he was beaming happily the smile on his face was more natural than what Ichigo thought the young man was capable of considering that Ichigo's aunt was the one who nearly destroyed the wedding not an hour ago when she screamed her head about the flowers not being perfect.

"This is bullshit and we both know that, we are already married." Ichigo said with a hiss, turning his face to some Kuchiki who decided to congratulate them with a smile, laughing at what the man said, and starting a small talk that Ichigo plea with the soul king to end it.

"It doesn't matter~" Byakuya sing-song when Ichigo turned to him, giving him a smile that promised Ichigo death if he didn't comply, and Ichigo shivered and cursed the fates for making Byakuya spent time with the Captain of the fourth who was a friend of Ginrei and liked to come for tea every week. "Just smile and wave Ichigo, don't tell me that you can fight hoards of Hollows, but can't stay an hour at a wedding… ours to be more precisely." Byakuya blinked at that as he looked at Ichigo with an innocent look, causing Ichigo to purse his lips at that.

"I'm sorry." Ichigo said which made Byakuya tilt his head at that a smile twitching on his lips, which made Ichigo laugh and lower his head to kill the other man on the lips which caused Byakuya to hum a little as he turned his head when he heard Kaien sniffing and start crying in the corner while hugging a posture of his late wife which made Ichigo sigh at that and shook his head, smiling when Byakuya laughed at that…

He will get used to it…

The end…

The fic actually has a mind of its own… I can't believe I was able to finish it.

Sorry for the rushed chapter, even I feel like I want to scream my head when I finish it, but something came up, and I was left with two options either abandoning it or rushing to the end, hopefully, one day I will return to finish it!

Sorry for not having smut in this fic T^T but don't worry my next fic certainly does!

For are of my lovely readers!

As you know I made a poll in the previous chapter, to choose the next story I will write, and not surprisingly, Hollow Ichigo has won! And as such, I finished writing the first chapter of that story and post it!

The name of the story is "A Good Deed" go check it out if you are interested!

Read and Review

And tell me what you think…

Nazaki-Sama