Meeting A Faction Leader (2/2).

"As you know, I am Yasaka of Kyoto, Priestess of Amaterasu-sama and leader of the west youkai faction." She replied to his introduction.

"I would like to thank you for the hospitality you and your people have shown me in spite of my sudden appearance. I am willing to answer any question you have in relation to that." Ichigo replied rather stiffly. He still hadn't fully recovered from his earlier embarrassment.

"Then Kurosaki-dono, I would like to know why your were teleported without a set destination in mind. Such type of teleportation can be extremely dangerous and can instead throw one out to the dimensional gap." Yasaka asked with a frown on her beautiful eyebrows.

'Damn it Ichigo, control yourself!', he chided himself in his mind.

Left unsaid was that such type was only used in desperation or as a last resort. She wanted to know what would cause a powerful person to use such a method.

"Please call me Ichigo." Ichigo said without thinking, but it seemed Yasaka didn't mind his openess.

"Then you may call me Yasaka as well, Ichigo." Yasaka replied with a smile.

Ichigo thought about what to tell her for a moment. Every place he had been sent to helped him in some way. The first world helped him recover, the second one gave him time to adjust to his new body and also had a piece of Zangetsu and the third one helped him understand his new power, had pieces of Zangetsu and gave him something extra in the form of Sage Mode. He sighed softly before answering her question without lying. He decided to tell her an edited version of the war.

"My fathers and mothers clan had been enemies for more than a thousand years. Recently, I don't exactly know how long ago, but we had a full out war and I sided with my fathers clan because the leader of my mother's clan was the one who killed my mother. We managed to win but the leader of the opposition didn't go down alone. He self destructed taking everyone with him, including his own allies. I was saved because my friend most likely used her own life to send me away." Ichigo answered calmly. The anger and sadness had died away. He was starting to feel a bit numb at this point.

Yasaka could only sigh sadly. The world was like that. It appeared peaceful to the unsuspected, but skirmishes and fights between different clans, families and groups never stopped. The young man in front of her was just one of the many victims such fights caused. She knew people like those. Ones who had lost everything but didn't want to tarnish the sacrifice and memories of their families, so they kept on surviving but not really living. Surviving for the sake of survival. It was always a sad sight to see, but it was especially sad to see someone so young like that.

"What will you from here onwards?" She asked with the softest voice she would utter to a stranger.

"I don't know about the future, but right now I need to find a master swordsmith to repair my weapon." Ichigo replied as he showed her Zangetsu.

Yasaka was surprised. She hadn't seen a weapon on him when he entered and it seems her guards hadn't either since they had tensed and readied themselves for an attack. She turned her focus back on the weapon. It was a Katana. The blade was completely black, the guard was black, the handle was black even the pommel was black. It was connected to his right hand with a black chain coiled around his arm.

It was a beautiful weapon and nothing seemed wrong with it. No dents, no chips or bends. But the weapon clearly wasn't a normal one.

"Ichigo, what is that weapon." Yasaka asked, very interested.

"This is Zangetsu. It's a soul weapon, my soul weapon. From what I know, it is made out of a curropted soul and combines with the soul of the wielder to create a weapon unique to the wielder. One of the strongest member of my fathers clan made this." Ichigo once again replied as truthfully as he could.

Yasaka was fascinated. She knew of holy or demonic weapons, there were even divine weapons only the gods they belonged to could use, but this was the first time she heard of a soul weapon. She still couldn't see anything wrong with it, so she asked.

"What is wrong with the weapon?"

"It was broken as I landed the finishing blow. It is being held together due to my powers. Basically, the weapon is intact but the soul inside it is fractured. I need to find someone who can repair the soul inside. Just being close to me will repair it but that will take some time." Ichigo told her what he knew and understood about the damage to Zangetsu.

"I cannot help you with that personally but, you could go to Inari-sama's temple and pray to her for help. She is the goddess of smithing. She should have a way of helping you directly and if not, she can bless your sword and help you restore it faster." Yasaka replied after thinking about it.

"Will she agree to help someone who doesn't even follow them?" Ichigo replied, a bit skeptical.

Yasaka had clearly already thought of that because she answered immediately.

"You don't have to worry about that. I can ask Amaterasu-sama to put in a good word for you and as long as you are a Japanese, all the Shinto gods will at least listen to you." Yasaka said happily.

"You are willing to do that for a stranger? or do you want something in return?" Ichigo asked, now even more skeptical. He had his brows furrowed as he thought of a reason for her to help him.

"Yes, I would like something in return." She replied, her smile turning somewhat mischievous.

"What is it?" Ichigo was always willing to return a favor, as long as it wasn't something ridiculous.

"For the next three months, I would like you to look after and protect my daughter." She replied losing her smile.

Ichigo had to do a double take. She wanted him, a complete stranger, to look after her preteen daughter? He could understand the protecting part, the little girl was a princess after all, but even then, he was a stranger. It seemed the guards also shared his thoughts about the matter because they were quite vocal with their displeasure.

"Enough!" Yasaka shut her guards up before running to Ichigo.

"Ichigo, are you willing to accept it?"

"Are you really going to trust a stranger with your daughter?" What else was he supposed to say to that. He needed a place to stay, food to eat and somewhere he could gain knowledge about this world. If he accepted, he would most likely get all of them at once.

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Yasaka didn't really want to but during his explanation about the soul weapons, her goddess had sent her a small message to keep the young man close to her. Amaterasu-sama had never led her astray and she never would. Her goddess had a plan for this young man and it was her duty, as her priestess, to help her in any way she could.

So, if her goddess wanted the Ichigo to stay, she would do her best to make him stay.

"For the next three months, I would like you to look after and protect my daughter."

He was clearly confused and so were her guards. She let them talk for a while before shutting them up and asking Ichigo.

"Enough! Ichigo are you willing to accept it?"

He seemed to think it over before replying.

"Are you really going to trust a stranger with your daughter?"

No and she had other ways to make him stay but, the devils had wanted to make a proper deal about the Japanese town they were occupying and they would be visiting after the next few weeks or a month for negotiation. She just wanted that extra protection for her daughter. Her guards were not bad, but they didn't have the power required to stop an ultimate class being, should one decide to attack them when they open their barriers.

Now, how to explain all that to Ichigo. She didn't want to say that a goddess was most likely listening in on their conversation and that the goddess wanted her to keep him close to herself.

"I do believe you are the type to return a favor as soon as you can and for some reason I have a feeling that you know how to take care of young girls." She replied with another soft smile.

The first part was because of his behaviour and the second, well she did get that feeling, from her goddess, that is. When she had suggested that he guard her daughter, her Lady was happy with that. While Amaterasu-sama didn't get involved in Kyoto's or her personal affairs, as long as it didn't involve another god, she still helped her whenever she could. Her Lady would most often help her with discerning the nature of the people she met.

Based on that, she decided to trust Amaterasu-sama, who seemed to trust this young man. She would have to have a proper conversation with her on this though. She received a confirmation from her goddess that they would.

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Ichigo decided to accept it. He could have landed anywhere in this world, but he landed in this place. Zangetsu had also sent him a message that he should, so he decided to trust his instincts.

"Ok, Yasaka-san, I will do it. But my current priority is getting Zangetsu fixed." Ichigo replied with a sigh.

"Of course. One of the servants will show you to a guest room where you can reside during your stay here. Tomorrow morning, I will send a guard to lead you to Inari-sama's temple." Yasaka said waving her hand.

A young girl in a kimono showed up after a while and he was told to follow her to his room.

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As soon as Ichigo was out of earshot, one of her guards asked her.

"Are you sure about this Yasaka-sama?"

"I am not sure myself but Amaterasu-sama deems Ichigo trustworthy and she has my complete trust." Yasaka replied with a smile.

The guards hearing that quieted down. Amaterasu was known as one of the most benevolent goddess in the world. What most people didn't know, or rather didn't care about was her title of the Mother of All Japanese. She could tell if someone had foul intentions towards her children as soon as they came close to her temples. Yasaka-sama was her priestess, one most closely connected to her.

It was a known fact that Amaterasu-sama would help Yasaka-sama every once in a while. They decided to trust their judgement and give the young man some time.