"Say again, old man?" Ichigo gawked with an expression rooted between fear, shock, and disbelief.

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, known for his composure in times of stress and hardship, sighed. He rubbed his forehead with gnarled fingers, and stared at the letter (more of a scroll in truth) bearing the long broken seal sitting on his desk.

"Read the letter yourself. It says what I've been told, and I know nothing more."

In a rare act of humility, the Captain Commander, Head of the Gotei 13, bowed to the orange-scalped boy that he, at one point, perhaps had believed to be beneath him, and retreated from his desk. Said boy picked up the scroll, and began to read.

Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain of the 1st Division of Gotei 13, Captain Commander of Gotei 13, Protector of the King's Key, and Dean of the Shinigami Training Academy -

My Friend, it has been a long time, has it not? I'm afraid that my avowed lack of interference with Soul Society and the Seireitei has also prevented me from being able to visit you. In some aspects I regret that you never used the King's Key to visit yourself, but it is understandable - you always did value your duty over your life, and I gave you said duty.

Unfortunately, we shall never meet and share tea again. My time as Spirit King has passed - my time as the lynchpin of existence has fled. I have known of this date for aeons. I write this to you as I sit in the Meditation Room, and await my release.

Do not fret Genryūsai, my death has not signaled the end of all, but merely the end of an era. I shall have a successor, an heir. My heir, at time of writing is not yet born, but he will be. Know this, old friend, he will shake the foundations of your world before he even steps foot inside the King's Realm. You will know him when he comes. He will be like no other, and shall usher in a different royalty, a different life and a different Kingship. For the better or worse? My precognition fails me. My spirit fades.

I must be brief, I am nearing oblivion - you must find him. You must aid him. He will be given his rightful throne upon entry into the Kingdom, but he will face challenges I cannot predict along the way. At one point, he will attain his inheritance - sometime nearing his 18th birthday I believe - and he will grow stronger - as strong as the position of a God requires - but he will change, and he will be scared. Please, as my last request, not as King, but as your friend, help him.

This is it. Remember the good times Genryūsai. They live on only in your memory now.

And don't forget to drink some tea with my heir for your old friend's memory.

Goodb

Ichigo stood there, mouth agape, the holy scroll all but slipping out of his hand. He knew what this meant. Coupled with Yamamoto's politeness, bowing, almost deference, he knew.

Yamamoto, having previously retreated to allow Ichigo to read the scroll in solitude, returned.

"His death is the reason the realms have been so unstable. Why you were so easily able to invade Seireitei - ignoring, of course, your personal power - and why Aizen's plans have managed to go so far. The empty throne is leading to the collapse of creation. But," he gestured towards the scroll, "he knew that you would come."

"Are you sure," Ichigo's voice trembled, "that he meant me? I'm not even a full shinigami. I've barely managed my father's clinic for a day while he was away, let alone the entirety of existence! I'm not fit for this for God's sake, I mean, how -" He was interrupted by Yamamoto gripping his shoulder in a show of support, and a plea to stop panicking.

"My boy, you are his heir - no one has shaken Soul Society as much as you - save, perhaps, for Aizen." The mention of the now-deceased traitor sobered Ichigo immediately. "And, my boy, you forget that there is no one - perhaps not even I - who could best you as you are now, let alone when you come into your full inheritance. I have no doubt my boy, and neither should you.

"You will be the Spirit King."

Four weeks had passed, and neither Rukia nor Renji had seen hide or hair of Ichigo, and despite the fact that Renji would never willingly admit it, he was starting to worry. It wasn't uncommon for Ichigo to disappear for some time, and he'd been gone for longer when in the Living World, but for him to disappear for so long when in Soul Society? They were probably his closest friends in the Seireitei,

They'd even tried following Ichigo's usually obtuse spiritual pressure, but all traces of it were only in places that Ichigo had spent a long time in - the 13th Division barracks, various training grounds, his own room in 4th Division - and strangely, a large concentration of it was at the 1st Division barracks, but he wasn't there either. He'd just disappeared.

"Where could he have gone?" The joking had bled out of Rukia's voice by the end of the second week. The fear crept in by the start of the fourth. "God, he gets himself into trouble all the time - what if he's fighting someone right now? Some remnant of Aizen's army?" Renji watched as she bit at her nails, small cracks reaching his ears as the nails gave way. They paced across the 13th Division courtyard.

"Alright, I'm sure he's fine. He's probably managed to lose himself in Rukongai - that idiot would do something as asinine as that."

"Then we would have felt his reiatsu like a beacon, and we haven't felt anythi-"

"Who're you calling asinine, Sonic?" The two stood, open mouthed, gaping at the boy in front of them. Rukia kicked him, hard.

"You stupid bastard-"

"Ow! Jesus, midget, talk about overreaction-"

"Overreaction? You absolute-"

"Ow! Goddamnit, alright! You aren't a friggin' midget-"

"You disappeared for four weeks! We were terrified about you!"

"Jeez, that hurt like hell-"

"Are you even listening?" The two fell silent. Ichigo stood straight, and sighed. His eyes dropped to the floor.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't want to make you worry, not at all, and it wasn't as though I wanted to avoid you, but I kind of had to." He scowled - harder than usual - and scratched the back of his head. "Old Man Yama told me specifically."

"Had to? You didn't have to- wait Captain Yamamoto?" Her violet eyes cooled from fiery rage to curiosity. "What are you doing with him?"

Ichigo opened his mouth, shut it quickly, and bit his cheek. "Well, something's happened that's caused me to get strong. Like, really strong. He's been helping me control my reiatsu, and we've been doing some other stuff too." The news that Ichigo was strong came to no surprise to the either of the older Shinigami. What did surprise them was that Ichigo seemed to be getting personal training from Yamamoto himself, something almost none had received.

"Other stuff, huh, Berry boy? What like, Introduction to Tea, 101?" Renji's eyebrows quirked, the tattoos on his forehead shifting into an arch.

"Well...he'sbeenteachingmehistoryanddecorumandstuff." Silence.

"Say again Ichigo?"

"Goddamnit, History and Decorum and stuff. Noble families, calligraphy. And yeah, tea." A beat of silence.

"So you've sat with Yamamoto, and made tea?"

"Yeah."

"You're learning the traditional tea ceremonies?"

"Yup." Another beat.

Then the two burst into gales of laughter, echoing off of the walls of the courtyard. "All right, yeah, hilarious. Quiet down, will ya?" Ichigo dropped to the grass, leaning back with his legs stretched. Zangestu laid parallel to him.

"Ohmygod, that's, hic, fuckin' hilarious! You and Yamamoto, and just, just...tea!" Renji dropped to his knees, hands going to the ground for support. Rukia collapsed beside the two of them, laughing so hard that she was silent, only letting out the occasional squeal or squeak when she'd finally caught her breath.

Ten minutes later, they were still quietly giggling. "It's just insane. Ichigo, you don't do decorum, or tea. I don't even know why you'd be interested in the history of Soul Society."

"It's all tied in with this thing with my reiatsu."

"Speaking of which, Yamamoto must be a brilliant teacher, if he could teach even you how to properly contain your spiritual pressure." The conversation was, thankfully, going the way Ichigo had hoped - they didn't seem too concerned with the reason behind the reiatsu increase - but he knew that if they felt it, they'd want to know immediately.

"He is. He's actually quite...alright in lessons as well. I think that he's the person to treat his pupils like sons. Care for them. Half of the time we spend with tea," they sniggered, "we just talk. About how he's doing, how I'm doing." He smiled, a warm smile that even lessened the frown in his brow. "Yeah. He's alright sometimes."

And just then, Ichigo and Renji locked eyes.

Unnoticed to the two lieutenants, Ichigo had been avoiding making eye contact the entire time. But it was just a split second, where Renji had shot him a look of disbelief. And they locked eyes.

Renji couldn't breathe. It felt like a building was on top of him - crushing him. He dropped onto his back, hands whipping to his throat and chest.

"Holy shit, Renji you alright?"

"Renji? What's wrong? Oh, fuck, he can't breathe."

The two fawned over their fallen comrade who was currently gasping air through his teeth. A few minutes passed, and Renji's face went back to its original color.

"Berry...you weren't lying...you really have...had a reiatsu boost...neh?" Renji wheezed. He was smiling, but the appraisal in his eyes really probed Ichigo.

"Yeah...this is why I've not come to find you for the last four weeks. Yamamoto trained with me until I could control my reiatsu, just so I wouldn't be doing this to everyone everywhere I went." His face twisted, scowl deepening, brow drawing even tighter. Averted eyes darkened and shadowed, flicking to the floor.

"Naw man, don't be ashamed...This is incredible. It just means I've gotta train some more, so you can't crush me...like that." He chuckled softly, wheeze abating.

Rukia jumped in. "Renji's right - you mustn't ever become ashamed of your strength. He fact that it's too much for us means that we've not done enough to get stronger ourselves." She smiled, clasping Ichigo's shoulder.

"After all, you may have gotten stronger Ichigo..." Renji and Rukia shared a glance.

"...but we don't have to deal with any tea ceremonies!"

Ichigo felt a vein pop as they rolled back into laughter.