Demon's Blood

Demon's Blood

Ichigo had sighed as he sat up in bed, confused for a moment as to where he was, after a few minutes he blinked the confusion away. He remembered where he was and why he was there, why he wasn't Byakuya's mate.

"Heh... I guess this charm really does work." He muttered lifting his wrist and looking at the little charm there. "I'm gonna have to thank Lillinette." The knock on his door made him jump. "Yea? C'mon in Chad."

"The potions are finished." The big demon said holding out the first potion and a bag that had been prepared.

"Oh, thank you." Reaching out Ichigo took the offered potion.

"Be careful though, too much of this stuff could have dire conesquences." Chad warned, Ichigo nodded. "You drink that quickly I hear it tastes disgusting." Doing as the older demon said he downed the potion without ever tasting it, he found himself gagging on the after taste though, he froze between gags and felt the small changes happening. He had figured he would be little less noticable as a woman, therefore the potion changed him into a woman, he would go to Kukaku's manor. He knew everyone would look for him there but he didn't know where else he could go, so Kukaku's manor it was. "Be careful out there Ichigo, no one will recognize you, at least appearance wise. Try not to let anyone near enough to smell you though, your appearance will change but your scent won't."

"Thanks Chad, I really appreciate you doing this for me." Ichigo was surprised at his own voice, he wasn't used to it sounding so soft.

"The potion I made for you lasts for one entire month unless you take the bluish potion in that bag, then you'll be your normal self again, you have three potions for each side and a change of clothes in the bag." Chad turned and left the room, getting up from the bed he looked around seeing a mirror hanging over the dresser. He moved towards it and smiled, he didn't even recognize the girl staring back at him, his hair had lengthened to his shoulders and turned black.

Looking closer he could see that his eyes darkened to be as black as his hair, it was little scary to think that it was him, he grabbed the belt around his waist and pulled it as tight as it would go. Noticing that the jeans he had been wearing were hanging off his hips he smiled, it was an interesting look, he began going through the drawers of the dresser and found a pair of scissors. Smiling he pulled the shirt off and began cutting it, the collar of the shirt was the first thing to go so that when he wore it it would hang off his shoulders, then cut the bottom half-way up so it showed off the midriff. Pulling the shirt back on he smiled again at the woman that looked back, dressed like the teenage human girls running around.

"I guess it's time to get to Kukaku's place... Maybe I'll go somewhere else, a vampires coven? No... Lady Matsumoto! I can't stand her but oh well, I'll live." With a new destination in mind he grabbed the bag and left the room, he met Chad at the door talking to Kenpachi, freezing for only a moment Ichigo looked at his half brother.

"Are you sure you haven't seen my brother?" Kenpachi asked, it sounded like he'd asked a few times now.

"If I have or haven't is strictly confidential and you know that Prince Kenpachi." Chad said calmly, Ichigo heard Kenpachi growl and feared for the demon.

"I'm leaving now, thank you for everything Chad." Ichigo said before Kenpachi decided to hurt Chad.

"Not a problem in the least, you are always welcome here dear." Chad smiled then turned to the half demon prince. "Will you allow my client to leave?" He asked acid on his tongue, Kenpachi stepped aside, Ichigo looked at Chad with a slightly pleading look. "I thought you were a prince!" Growling Kenpachi stepped further in the entryway and off to the side nearly touching the wall. Ichigo smiled and nodded at Chad then moved towards the door, he paused as he saw who was waiting on the other side of the door, his heart aching at being so close to his best friends and not saying anything to them.

"Good evening milady." Both demons bowed their heads.

"Gentlemen." Ichigo nodded as he hurried away from them, there was no way he was going to get caught there when the wind picked up, they would recognize his scent. When he was a distance away from them he sighed, then growled, there was no way he could change his scent but he could mask it. "I guess that means I'm going shopping..." He turned and headed for the nearest mall, once there he walked into the perfume shop, his nose became assualted by the various scents.

"Welcome! Can I help you find something?" A woman in a chinese style dress asked smiling too brightly.

"Um... I'm looking for a new perfume, I want something that isn't too strong but not so subtle that you don't notice it."

"Any preference as to brand?"

"None whatsoever." Ichigo smiled.

"Okay, well if you step this way I can pull together a few samples." She smiled and motioned to a glass case that had different perfumes in it. "So something that isn't strong but not weak either?" Ichigo nodded. "Musk or sweet?" She asked and Ichigo frowned, she smiled and pulled two different perfumes and sprayed them on little slips of cardboard/paper. "This is musk," She said handing one of the cards to him, he held it under his nose and sniffed it. "And this is sweet." She smiled again as she handed the other to him, he repeated his actions.

"Musk." Ichigo answered, she smiled and nodded then pulled a few more samples out. Spraying one after the other she named them while she sprayed and handed them to him, he paused at one then nodded holding onto it then he paused at another. "These two..." he murmured still switching between them.

"They're from the same company." She said holding the similar bottles up, one was a dusty red that said Pure above the brand name, the other was a white/rainbow that said Hypnotic. "If you want you can take both. I have a friend and she has both, she mixes the scents together, here's what it smells like." She sprayed a card with both bottles and handed it to him, smelling it he nodded.

"I'll take both." He smiled at her and she nodded, he had a sneaking suspicion that she got paid on commision, shrugging he followed her on his side of the case towards the counter where they waited for the other cashier and customer to finish. She rang it up, then bagged the two boxes that the perfumes were in, smiling the whole time as Ichigo left.

------------------------------------------ One Month Later ------------------------------------------------------

Byakuya growled when news that Ichigo still hadn't been found reached him, it had been a month and there hasn't been a sign of Ichigo anywhere. He looked at his long time friend and sighed, the younger vampire had been with him, since the demon prince had taken off. They didn't want Byakuya attacking anyone again and Nnoitra was the only who could control the vampire lord.

"Nnoitra."

"Hmm?" The tall vampire was sitting against a wall with his eyes closed making you think he'd fallen into human sleep.

"You don't have to stay with me, you know that right?" Byakuya said and was surprised when he received a negative response.

"It's okay, I've been with you for longer than I can remember, so I'm alright staying with you." Nnoitra smiled up at him.

"Thank you, remind me to let you go on a vacation when we find Ichigo." Byakuya said with a rare smile, he had been smiling less and less, it was worrying everyone.

"I'll hold you to that." Nnoitra said smiling.

"Ikkaku, Grimmjow and Prince Kenpachi are across the continent, there's no luck there. They're staying with Coven leader Lisa Yadomaru and her mate Nanao Ise." Yumichika spoke up from the corner of the room he had occupied, the vampire lord had him moved back to the coven manor as demon's tended to get a bit dangerous around a vampire/demon expecting a child. Without Ikkaku there Yumichika wouldn't have stood a chance, at least in the vampire coven he was protected by many.

"You shouldn't be doing this Yumichika." Nnoitra scolded as he moved to wipe the blood from the younger vampires forehead.

"I'm okay, just a little tired..." The pregnant vampire admitted.

"Then you should sleep." Byakuya said motioning Yumichika towards the bed, he then looked at Nnoitra who nodded and helped the youngest to his feet. "You are carrying the child of a demon, you know depending on the type of demon, how long they carry a child."

"Yea... Ikkaku is one of the demon classes that only carries for a few months..." Yumichika said reverently. "From what I heard his mother only carried him for six months."

"Then you're due anytime." Nnoitra said amazed.

"Yea, at least that's what Lady Sun-Sun had told me." Yumichika said smiling at the thought of the female demon.

"I think we should get the opinion of a vampire." Byakuya said with a nod, he went to the door and spoke with the servant waiting outside, the human flinched remembering the bad mood the vampire had been in as of late. "Would you send for Lady Unohana please." He added the please hoping to ease the frazzled nerves of the poor butler, there was a look of relief in the human's eyes and he nodded, then hurried off towards the female vampire's quarters.

"You really should issue a personal apology to the poor humans that work here." Nnoitra said once the door was closed again, Yumichika nodded in agreement behind him.

"Yes, I will, tomorrow." Byakuya agreed moving back towards the window where he had been before, a few moments of staring out the window and there was a little knock on the door. "Enter." Byakuya said without turning around.

"Lord Kuchiki?"

"Lady Unohana, thank you for coming, I'd like you to examine Yumichika." Byakuya said still watching out the window, he heard the movement behind him, a small pained gasp from Yumichika had him turning around seeing that the female vampire was applying slight pressure to his lower abdomen. "Is that necessary?"

"Yes, I want to find out if the baby has turned yet." Unohana said in her gentle voice, moving her hands up to the top of the slight swell in the vampire's stomach, putting pressure there instead causing the vampire beneath her to moan in pain. "Yes, the baby has begun turning, it could be here any day now. Where is your mate? He should be here, it will make the birthing easier, it is supposed to be very difficult on a male to give birth." She gave him a disapproving frown before she shook her head, standing and walking out of the room.

"Call him back to you Yumichika." Nnoitra ordered not even giving the younger demon a chance to argue, with a nod Yumichika concentrated on entering Ikkaku's dream. When he pulled back he was smiling, he nodded at the questioning glance he got from Nnoitra.

"He said he'll start heading back this way tomorrow."

"Good, now rest." Byakuya said using his authority as the vampire lord to put the young vampire into the deathly sleep of their people.

"Was that wise?" Nnoitra asked looking at Yumichika, he grabbed the wash cloth he had been using to wipe the blood/sweat from Yumichika's brow.

"Unfortunately it was, he will awaken when his mate arrives." Byakuya informed then motioned for his second to follow from Yumichika's room. "What I'm worried about is if he will survive the birth of his child, there are very few vampires that survive giving birth to a demon."

"I remember, we've lost so many, it's why I didn't want his mate to be a demon." Nnoitra sighed remembering when he fought against Yumichika and Ikkaku's union.

"None had a chance of keeping the two apart." They both turned and smiled as Ukitake walked up to them from the direction they had been heading, he smiled at them in greeting. "We are all born for one person and only that one person can make us feel complete, you both know that, I had taught you such. It is why the two of you don't have mates or lovers because without even knowing it you were waiting for the one that would make you see only them. For you Byakuya it was the demon prince and for you Nnoitra it was Lord Jeagerjaques, we all wait for that one person whether we're aware of it or not doesn't matter."

"Is that why you aren't attached Master Ukitake?" Nnoitra asked without a thought.

"Yes, I'm waiting for him or her to find me, as I have been searching for them." Ukitake gave a small smile of sadness, before he nodded at the two younger vampires.

"Good night Master." Byakuya said bowing before the older.

"Good night to you as well." Ukitake said nodding then continuing past the two.

"It's been a long time since he spoke of searching for the one for him." Nnoitra said thoughtfully. "I feel sorry that he's lived for so long and hasn't found them yet."

"You feel sorry that we've lived for four hundred years and have found the ones who are ours, while he has yet to find his." Byakuya corrected, receiving a nod from the taller.

--------------------------------- Across The Continent ----------------------------------------------

Grimmjow growled as he ate what meager food had been brought to them, they had been forced to sleep in the same room, understandable they had futons but the point was that they couldn't separate them all. Kenpachi's snoring could have woken the dead and Ikkaku talked in his sleep, it's a wonder when Yumichika sleeps as a human would that he slept at all. Grimmjow knew he had his own sleeping habits that got on people's nerves but the point was that he didn't get a wink of sleep that night or the nights previous.

"Hey, I need to head back to Karakura." Ikkaku said suddenly, Grimmjow perked up at this news.

"Oh yea? Why's that?" Kenpachi asked.

"Yumichika is due any day now."

"How do you know this?" Grimmjow asked raising a brow questioningly, he received a glare from Ikkaku and nodded, knowing that it was widely known that vampires could enter the dreams of any they chose. "Souka... Well you gotta do what you gotta do, we should all probably start heading back, for a couple of days anyway."

"Yea, we all need to sleep in actual beds." Kenpachi agreed, after finishing their little breakfast they entered the meeting room where Lady Ise was said to be taking care of business.

"Good morning gentlemen, I hope you slept well." She said in a strict voice that didn't leave room for a response. "I assume you'll be leaving us now." They all nodded and she forced a smile, they knew they were taking up her time that she obviously thought could be used elsewhere. "Very well then, take care and safe journey back to Karakura." That said they turned and left, they made it home the next day, exhausted from lack of sleep and too much use of their demonic powers.

"Ikkaku, stay here and rest, you don't want to go to Yumichika looking like death." Grimmjow said placing his hand on the younger demon's shoulder. "Besides he's probably asleep for the day." Ikkaku nodded and left for his room.