Bleach One Shots

The early mistakes.

Take Ten: A little of this, a little of that.

It had been many years since Kurosaki Ichigo had become a shinigami, slaying untold hordes of Hollows of every kind and state of evolution, defeating many of his fellow spirit reapers in combat to earn his position, but it was only now that he would learn who the Spirit King truly was after all of the mysteries surrounding him.

Zero Squad members flocked him at either side by the dozens; after all, his reputation for rebelling against Soul Societies rules and regulations was legendary. What would he do if he disagreed with whom was responsible for creating it all?

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"What the hell?" his voice was still the same as ever despite the decades since his youth and Ichigo couldn't keep his surprise or dismay from it as he finished descending through the ridiculously long hall leading into the throne room.

Sitting in several marble chairs with arching backs pressed together in a semi-circle were a group people he knew very well, though they had died at some point- or so he was told. Zaraki Kenpachi was the first he noted, and the giant of a shinigami grinned widely at the sight of him in turn but said nothing.

Gin Ichimaru was seated next to him, a friendly expression on his features this time, and beside him was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez looking bored as ever. The next few looked equally out of place though he did not recognize them from his personal history.

"Seriously, what the hell is going on here?" Ichigo demanded as the multitude of Zero Squad members spread out around the large open throne room.

"Calm down." another voice he recognized pitched in from the furthest seat from the entrance and Urahara Kisuke slowly rose from it to approach him, no sign of his usual goofy attitude in sight. "Maybe you'll still remember it, but Aizen once said that the Kings throne was empty up here, yes?" he asked.

Ichigo warily nodded his head as Urahara threw one arm around his shoulders and began walking the younger shinigami around to the empty seat. "Well, he was right in a way. The Spirit King used to rule from here a long while back until he got sick of watching his creations from afar... see where this is going yet?" Urahara asked carefully.

"... Um, no." Ichigo stated honestly. Urahara gave him a considering eye as they came to the seat and paused.

"Okaaay, well. To sum it up, the main aspects of the Spirit Kings soul were cautiously split apart in the most defining characteristics he was longing for and sent down into Soul Society and Earth to work themselves out." he explained while the orange haired man listened.

"A dangerous, stupid, but highly enjoyable experiment if I do say so myself." Urahara added.

"So does that mean..." Ichigo trailed off as he looked back toward the others and then at the shinigami he thought he had known so well before.

"Yes!" Urahara agreed happily. "Zaraki embodies his recklessness. Grimmjow his determination, Gin his desires." he explained and pointed out that the other three were the Spirit King's kindness, creativity, and honor.

"So what does that make you?" Ichigo asked curiously.

Urahara looked confused as he asked, "Me? Oh no, no, I'm merely the Captain of the Zero Squad, your highness." and with that he pushed Ichigo backwards into the seventh seat. The younger mans startled expression vanished along with the looks on the others as a barrier of kido burned to life in the air around them and became solid and opaque.

Several minutes later and it faded, revealing that the marble seats had merged together into a single heavy throne with a single occupant within it, features muted and hair darkened to black with five o'clock shadow in place.

The Spirit King reached up to run a hand over his face in quiet testing, and finding everything in place nodded in satisfaction. "And of course, Kurosaki Ichigo embodied your potential, your highness." Urahara answered the open-ended question from before.

"Hnph." drawing a pair of bright orange sunglasses over his face from the spirit particles in the air Zangetsu leaned into the throne and let out a tired yawn. "It is good to be whole again." he said aloud. Zero Squad saluted proudly.

"I think it is high time we taught Aizen who the King truly is. I'm in the mood to slay an immortal."

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A/N: Weird how the mind works late at time with no sleep. Just thought it would be amusing if the Spirit King was actually several people in disguise over the course of the series and tried to figure out who fit that best. Hope y'all enjoyed it.