↳ i cheated death and he wants a divorce

•| ⊱∙⚜∙⊰ |•

A POWERFUL RUMBLE SHOOK THE CONCRETE JOUNGLE CALLED KARAKURA TOWN, its sheer force knocking people off their feet and onto the ground, many grabbing a hold of any object in their vicinity, be it a tree or a random light post at the edge of the curb, in hopes of not ending on the dirty pavement.

Hidden among those people, a boy, no older than nineteen, with hair a vivid orange and warm hazelnut eyes stared in anticipation in an indecipherable direction, his gaze hard and expecting. From underneath his dark blue jacket, his hand clutched at a wooden badge, the symbol of a skull engraved into its material. He was waiting, and for what, only he knew exactly.

As predicted, a tall, monstruos figure emerged from the corner of the street, the shaking of the ground becoming more and more prominent as the beast neared, most likely attracted to the essence of his soul. Hollow, that was what the creature before him was called; souls who have given up on their hope and dear ones, entering a state called hollofication 一 something that he too went through a long time ago 一 when their heart decays and in its place, an empty hole, its size and placement varying on the amount of hate the person held in their heart.

A shriek of hunger echoed from the hollow's terrifying, white mask-like face, and in an instant, the orange haired boy pressed the badge over his heart and his soul form came out, dressed in a black haori shirt with a white undershirt, black hakama pants and a pair of thash sandals. On his back, a massive sword wrapped in a white cloth that was tied to its hilt.

Not even blinking, the boy slashed his sword horizontally, letting out a decent amount of reiatsu to destroy the hollow. Turning around, he returned to his body, patting his clothes as to relief them of dust and walked away, oblivious to the pair of eyes that watched him.

"You should have seen the look on the other woman's face when I took the purse out of her hands! It was priceless!" A fancy dressed woman boasted to her friend, her 'overly caked with make-up' face holding a proud look, yet she did not notice the person before her, not until she collided with them. "Hey! Watch out where you're going, this is Channel一! ...Woah." Her sentence hung in the air as her eyes came to stare at the person she bumped into.

Before her stood a man with silvery-white hair, half of his head tightly braided as it met in the back where a good portion was in a ponytail as most of it fell to bellow his hips, a few small braids littering its unkept, yet beautiful appearance. His eyes were of a bright green, a beautiful combination between lime and emerald, with his left one hidden by his bangs. With multiple piercings in his ears, the man was dressed in a white button-up shirt, a few ones being undone at the top to reveal a portion of his chest along with a few scars, a black waistcoat, black leather pants from which a chain with multiple charms hung and black combat boots that seemed to have a few more buckles than necessary.

Although he held scars on his face and body, the women couldn't help but stare at the heavenly looking man, even though his clothes would have placed him straight in Hell.

He ran a hand through his hair as he sighed, now barely noticing his long black nails as she and her friend stared openly and shamelessly.

"Sorry for bumping into you." He grumbled, the lollipop in his mouth bopping up and down as he spoke, a thick British accent present through his every word.

The two women melted on the inside, their bodies becoming puddles on the sidewalk as the man stepped around them and walked off, completely forgetting of their existence.

"Oi! Sandal-hat!" The orange haired teen called out as he stepped through the shop known as "Urahara's Shop". "Where the hell are you?" He muttered, his warm hazel eyes searching through the shelves to catch a glimpse of the man dressed in green and white.

Seeing as he was nowhere to be found, he popped up the trapdoor from the floor and climbed down into the underground training facility. There was the man in question, along with a tall, dark skinned man whose hair was in dreads. Tessai was his name and he was Kisuke's assistant.

"Oh! Kurosaki-kun! I've been waiting for you to come!" Kisuke, dressed all in green with wooden sandals and striped bucket hat that overshadowed his eyes, smiled upon noticing the boy.

"You already know?" The teen asked, not the least surprised that the strange ex-shinigami was already up on date with the information.

The shop owner only laughed. "But of course! I'm here to open the senkai gate for you to get to Soul Society." His cane moved to point to the large structure behind him, Tessai ready to start it up.

The orange haired teen grumbled a few incoherent words before gripping the wooden badge and pressing it over his chest, his spirit form coming out as his body fell. "Take care of it while I'm gone, 'kay?" Ichigo said, his eyes briefly falling over the body on the floor.

Kisuke simply smiled in response as he moved to stand before the machine. "Oh, and Kurosaki-kun. The Cleaner is not there today."

Silently fistbumping in the air, the substitute shinigami jumped through right after the gate had opened, only the slightest shadow of his reiatsu present.

"Did I miss him?" A voice suddenly asked, cutting through the silence with its playful undertone, a chuckle following its words.

Kisuke gave a wry smile as he recognised the timbered sound. "Just barely. You gotta get going if you want to catch him."

The mysterious voice laughed. "Well, I will be seeing you later, Kisuke-kun."

Stepping through the senkai gate, Ichigo was greeted by the captain of the Thirteen Squad, Jushiro Ukitake, his warm smile and pale figure giving the teen a feeling of happiness and relief. He certainly did not want Mayuri to welcome him.

"Welcome back, Kurosaki." The sickly captain worded, motioning for the teen to follow after him.

Silently falling in step with the older man, Ichigo asked, "So, what does the old man want to tell me?" The question stood at the back of his mind ever since Rukia said that the head captain wanted to speak with him a few hours previously.

Joishiro seemed a bit lost in thought before he turned to his orange haired companion. "No idea." With a shrug, he ignored the look of complete astonished shock on the teen's face and continued his treck towards squad one's barracks.

It didn't take long for the shinigami duo to reach their destination, lieutenant Chojiro Sasakibe announcing their presence to his captain and the rest of the people in said room.

Standing in two lines on either side of Yamamoto's arms, the captains of their respective divisions awaited his arrival. As Joishiro took his place next to Zaraki, Genryusai hit his cane on the floor, attracting all of the attention from the boy to himself.

"I sm glad to see that you all could make it today." The old man began, a frown hidden by his long beard pulled at his lips. "I wish that the reason for me calling you all here would be more positive一 and I hate to destroy your previously cheerful ambiances by speaking of this, but it must be said."

The head captain's words pulled at the dread forming in the pit of Kurosaki's stomach, his adam's apple moving as he swallowed his nerves, mentally preparing himself for the bombshell that were jiji's news.

"The Soul King is returning to Seireitei."

Those words, those damn words spoken with such calmness and serenity caused a root to unleash itself within the main office's perimeters.

All the while the captains were speaking among themselves, the young substitute shinigami stared at the scene that was unfolding before him in both astonished confusion and borderline fear.

For one, he was amazed to be able to witness such a side of the normally calm and composed captains, but he was also afraid; afraid of the response he would get should he question the reason for their reactions.

"This is the first time since Seireitei's creation!"

"What reasons does he have to return?!"

"Do you know when he will arrive?!"

Fed up with the noise, Shingekuni hit his cane on the floor with such intensity snd power that in an instant all ten captains straightened up and schooled their features to sheer calmness before averting their gazes to the floor. If it was because they were embarrassed, Ichigo didn't know.

Clearing his throat, jiji said, "The only person that can answer all of your questions is一"

"Right here!"

At the interruption of the old man, Ichigo nearly fell of his feet as he turned around towards the open shoji doors that lead to the balcony, only for his eyes to fall upon the person that stood leaning onto the railing.

His eyes. That was the first thing that the youngest in the room noticed about the man. The sheer brightness of the colour in his eyes was blinding, their intensity a bit too much for the boy. The next thing that he saw was his completely different outfit. While it wasn't as out of this world as he had imagined, he couldn't help but think that this man was up to date with the twenty first century's fashion trends. And then there was his hair. God dammit it was longer than Kuchiki's一 hell, it was probably on par with Unohana's.

"Yo." He smiled, the faded scars on his face crinkling up at the motion. Seeing as he wasn't getting an answer, the man tilted his head in confusion, silvery-white hair spilling over his shoulder, revealing multiple small braids hidden amongst the strands. "What? Cat got your tongue?" If he was trying to hide his amusement, his lopsided smirk did nothing to help his case.

"You're here sooner than I had anticipated."

The old man's words seemed to snap everyone out of their thoughts, bringing the stranger's gaze upon himself. At the sight of his eyes, Genryusai hid a shudder as he internally pondered how something so beautiful could be not only deadly, but also littered with cutthroat secrets.

Grinning at those words, the green eyed man simply stated, "There was an anomaly that I wanted to look at," his gaze instinctively falling upon the orange haired boy's face.

While the captain's were exceptional at hiding their true emotions behind cold faces and neutral smiles, Ichigo most definitely was not. His eyes were wide and his lips were pulled back in a thin line, the hands at his sides fisting and relaxing with trepidation.

"Hi."

Ichigo flinched on the spot at the sound of his British accent infused one-liner that was directed at himself. "H-Hello." He mentally slapped himself for stuttering.

At his nervous response, the man simply laughed. "Don't be so stiff, little boy. I merely wish to test your power, if that is alright with you."

"A-As you w-wish, your highness!" Ichigo could have sworn he heard Hitsugaya sigh and Shinsui chuckle.

Bringing out a sotoba seemingly out of nowhere, he began twirling it with his hand, his spiritual pressure along with his overall presence beginning to rise, a fluorescent green aura surrounding him as he continued to twirl the wooden object.

He grinned at the strain showing onto their faces as the mere action to remain standing was taking its toll on their bodies. "Lovely." He muttered, barely audible before he stopped his ministrations on the sotoba. "But I ask of you, please一"

His sentence trailed off as an explosion of neon green reishi shook the entirety of Seireitei, nearly taking the captains off their feet and bringing the young Kurosaki Ichigo to his knees, poth parties panting from severe spiritual exhaustion.

As the smoke of the explosion faded, the person before them became cleared to the eyes.

Dressed in completely black long robes over a pair of straight back pants and a button up black shirt with a gray scarf strapped across his chest and knotted by the hips; black combat boots on his feet, the man before them adorned an emeral ring on his left index finger, a band of prayer beads around his neck and multiple small piercings in his ears, his overall appearance topped off with a chain of six different mourning lockets that hung at his waist from his pants.

Yet the most noticeable change was present in the object that rested over his shoulder and clutched in his right hand, the place where the wooden sotoba was previously held in.

A silver scythe taller than himself, with its long curved blade, looking as if it grew out of the skull at the top end of the handle; a miniature skeleton adorned the scythe, which consisted of the skull and a rib cage, all wrapped in a thorny vine. The spine of the skeleton turned into the scythe's long handle as it continued down, ending in a lower backbone一a weapon brough from the darkest nightmares of mankind indeed.

Fox-like curiosity mirrored in fluorescent green eyes, the clad in black man's face morphed into a wide grin that went from ear to ear一practically a promise for a painful death and everything in-between一, his aura clearly amused at their varied reactions to his grand reveal, and the shinigami felt as if their had just been cheated into a gruelling game of cat and mouse.

"一call me Adrian."