The Royalty Series

Author's Notes: These are written as they come to me and are in no particular order. You do not have to have read Revelations or Bed Check, but it might help. This collection assumes Isshin is the king of Soul Society, making Ichigo the heir apparent, and has no connection to A Shadow of What Was

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Breakfast

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Even after three months, Hitsugaya still found that breakfast with the royal family shocked him. For one thing, he had dined with nobles before and the Kurosaki breakfast was nothing like those meals. It was a noisy, boisterous affair with the only firm rule being no servants and no work. The closest thing to a formality observed during breakfast was Urahara's sleepily murmured 'my prince' to Ichigo. The blonde always managed to make the title into an endearment though, which made the redhead scowl before giving the other man a tender look and a quick kiss.

Breakfast was the one meal that the whole family attended. No matter how busy his day or how early Karin or Ichigo's training, breakfast was family time. Even Urahara attended, mostly dragged by Ichigo and slumped against the prince until he could return to bed; but he was there in body if not in mind.

Urahara was not a morning person, being a firm believer that if 10 AM was a fine time to rise, then noon was an even better one. Hitsugaya still had trouble believing that Hougyoku had really been nothing more than an attempt by the blonde to find away around having to deal with early mornings, but Ichigo had been the one to relay that bit of information to him and the prince was usually reliable on things concerning his lover. It was just odd imagining that the whole Winter War could have been avoided with a few strong cups of black coffee.

Toushiro paused in buttering his toast as the idea of combining Urahara and coffee rolled around his brain. In the mornings it probably wouldn't have been too dangerous, the man was pretty much a zombie...but Urahara awake and high on caffeine...he shuddered.

"Something wrong?" asked Karin

Toushirou shook his head and silently vowed to speak to Ichigo about keeping his lover away from coffee. The redhead was currently engaged in a heated battle with his father after having been jumped at the breakfast table. An evil glare from Karin kept the conflict from spilling over towards them and Toushiro laid a quick kiss on his love's cheek. Karin had told him to jump right in and punch Isshin when he got nuts but Toushiro still had qualms about hitting his king. Technically, it was still treason, even if the crown prince routinely sent his father to the floor.

Yuzu sidestepped her father and brother, who were wrestling on the floor, to join them. She murmured a quick good morning to everyone and got several in return. The only person who didn't respond was Urahara, who was snoring softly over his tea.

Hitsugaya decided it was just business as usual with the Kurosaki family.