I don't own Bleach or the Skulduggery Pleasant Series, they are respectively owned by Tite Kubo and Derek Landy
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Ireland, the country that is located in a small island always had the reputation of being a magical place. It's people were always nice to foreigns and also lively and the natural beauties that one could find in that country catched the attention of a great number of tourists every year. In a pub at the heart of the city of Dublin, a young man was sitting in one of the tables. The man was clearly a foreign, and his wild orange hair and scary scowl were traces that always drew people's attention towards him...just like what was happening now.
Ichigo could only shake his head and sigh while trying to ignore the stares that he was receiving from the majority of the customers of this pub. He could at least be glad that there were no signs of disgust in the expression of the customers, just curiosity and lust from some women's and even men's, wich left the 20 year old ex shinigami feeling extremly awkward. He just hoped that he would get used to this type of things since he would be staying at the country for 2 years.
He luckily got a schoolarship to study at the Trinity college, wich was one of the best colleges,if not the best, in all Ireland. When he told the news to his family, they became thrilled. Yuzu and Karin couldn't contain their excitement by knowing tht their brother would study in another country and they would always tell him to send some pictures and buy some souveniers to them. Isshin was also happy for his son, but he knew the true reason for his son's departure. He needed some time away from Karakura, away from everything that made him remember how powerless he was now. Being his father, Isshin would support Ichigo in any decision that he made and, if he didn't want his friends knowing that he would leave the town, then he would respect his son's decision and would do his best to be of help to him.
Contrary to what many people believed, Ichigo was actually fluent in english, the language always caught his attention and, to understand the lyrics of the songs that were made by his favorite bands, he begun to study it from a young age. When he arrived at Ireland, Ichigo was impressed by the natural paisages and by the cultural difference of the country. It's been 3 weeks since his arrival and till now, he didn't make any friends. The cause was not his appearence or that he didn't like the people, he was just so focused on his job(that he luckily got due to some of Kisuke's contacts), that he just didn't have the time for it.
So here he was, alone in a pub with a glass filled with Red Label on it and some of the waistress trying to openly flirt with him. He tried to focus on the news that were passing on the Tv, but when he heard the doorbell ring, he glanced at it, partially due to the boredoom that was consuming him.
The person that walked through the door was as young woman. She had dark hair, dark eyes and was wearing black clothes. Her skin was also rather pale, but it somehow made the girl look even more beautiful. She was probably 19 or 20. But it wasn't her good looks or her young age that drew Ichigo's attention to her, no, it was her eyes, eyes that were as tired as his, eyes that had seen a innumerable amount of horrors, eyes of someone that had seen death.
When the girl passed through his table, she glanced at him. Brown eyes locked against dark ones. After what seemed like an eternity, they broke their stare. He looked at the Tv again and the girl walked towards the counter. Minutes passed by and Ichigo still didn't dare to look at direction of the woman, that was until he heard a strong and yet feminine voice speak.
''Excuse me, is this seat taken?'', Glancing at the person, Ichigo saw that it was the dark haired woman.
''No, You can sit on it.'', He said nonchalantly. The woman just nodded her head and, sitting right in front of him, she begun to drink her whisky. A few minutes of silence passed by, and then, the woman finished her drink.
''So, why are you here all alone and with that annoyed expression on your face carrot guy?'', Ichigo knew that he should've feel mad at her for calling him that, but for some reason, he didn't feel anything like that, maybe because he could tell that she was not mocking him, just teasing a little.
''Nothing important, and you, why that dead look on your eyes, emo girl?'', Said girl laughed a little and Ichigo couldn't help but smirk and chuckle.
''You got me there.'', She then gave a dry laugh and hesitated for a moment. Ichigo noted the tension and stifness on her body and gave a small sigh.
''You know, you look troubled.'', She raised an eyebrow.
''How can you know that?''
''Your body language tells everything.'', He shrugged,''If you want, you can talk to me about it.'', She gave a incredulous look to him.
''You're telling me to tell my problems to you, a guy that I just met minutes ago?'', She said with a hint of amusement.
Ichigo glanced at her serenely,''Sometimes, if you open up with someone you can feel a lot better, and I think that with a stranger is even better, you don't know the person, she or he is not a part of your family, so you don't need to be afraid of disappointing them or making them worry about you.''
''That's pretty wise of you...''
''What can I say, I'm awesome.'', he spoke jokingly.
She just shook her head while a grin made it's way to her mouth.
''Have you...'' She begun but paused,looking at him with reluctance,''Have you ever felt like there's another person trapped inside you? That if you're not cautious that other you could take over and hurt the ones you love the most?'', To her own ears it seemed like she was talking about having a double personality, but she guessed that it was better this way than saying, 'Hey, I'm Stephanie and I just discovered that my true name is Darquesse, the most dangerous mage in the world and that I'll probably destroy Ireland or even the world itself if I lose control', still, the woman didn't have the courage to look at the orange haired young man.
When she felt Ichigo's hand resting on her right shoulder, she looked back at him.
''This is something that I know fairly well, I had a problem like this a couple of years ago, I was scared, scared of hurting my family and comrades, scared of failing them, I tried to handle it by myself, thinking that I was strong enough.'', There was a far away look on his eyes, and the woman knew that he was lost in memories of said time,''But you know? I managed to overcame it.'' He said with a strong voice.
''How? How did you manage to overcame something like this?'', her voice was just a whisper.
''It's simple, I had people that I could rely on, and no matter what type of monster I could became, they were always by my side, supporting me in every difficult moment.'',Squeezing her shoulder a little tighter, Ichigo's eyes pierced hers, and the woman's breath caught in her throat by the sheer amount of resolve that shone on them,''What I'll say now to you is something that helped me in the hard moments, do listen carefully ok?'', She limited herself to only nod, feeling imcapable of saying even a word,'' Abandon your fear. Look forward. Move forward and never stop. You'll age if you pull back. You'll die if you hesitate.''
The woman felt the words being engraved deeply inside her soul and, to her surprise, she wasn't scared anymore. She felt as that no matter what, she could and would defeat her darker side and show who's the queen. When she gave a full smile at the ex substitute shinigami, Ichigo felt his cheeks heat up a little and his heart also begun to beat faster.
''Thank you.'', She said, feeling happier now.
''I-It was nothing, really.'',He managed to calm down his racing heart.
A big noise was heard outside the pub, wich immediately caught the duo's attention. Not even a minute later, a strange man passed through the doors. Ichigo was sure that he never saw a man as skinny as the one that entered the pub, he was using clothes that looked like something from the 70's,with a scarf wrapped around his neck and was actually covering almost all of his face. The guy was also wearing sunglassess and his hair was brown and long, although, Ichigo was sure that it was a wig and not his real hair. The weird man then came to their table.
''There you are! Could you tell me what are you doing in a pub?'', The man asked and the woman sitting with Ichigo scowled.
''If you forgot, I'm already an adult so I don't need your permission to have a drink Sku- I mean Gery.''
''Looks like I'll have to tell your parents about your new hobbie huh?'' The guy said with amusement.
''Don't you dare, or I'll give you to the dogs.'', She growled.
''Ah! that would be nice wouldn't it?'' He mused,''But enough talk, I need your help with...'', He glanced at Ichigo, who had an eyebrow raised,''Something.''
Massaging her temples, the woman got up of her seat,''Okay I'm going, but wait outside, I'll just say my goodbyes to my friend here.'', She pointed at Ichigo. 'Gery' nodded and walked outside. The woman then turned to Ichigo.
''So...It looks like I have to go.''
''Yeah.''
''It was nice to talk to you, and thank you for listening to me, and for the encouraging words too.'', She grinned slighlty at him.
''No problem.'', She gave him a nod and turned her back to him,''Also, my name is Valkyrie Cain.''
Ichigo smiled,'' Ichigo Kurosaki.''
''I hope to see you again... Ichigo.''
''I study at the Trinity college, if you ever want to talk again just go there.'', He spoke calmly and Valkyrie couldn't suppress the grin that dominated her face.
''Got it.'', and with that, the dark haired woman left the pub.
Ichigo kept staring at the door for some minutes, before he shook his head and brought the cup to his mouth, taking a small sip of his red label.
''What an interesting woman.''
Ichigo was certainly looking forward to their next encounter.
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AN: This was something that I've always wanted to write when I saw the big amount of Bleach/Harry Potter crossovers, so when I looked to see the Bleach/Skulduggery Pleasant stories, I saw only one story with that crossover(and it's not updated since 2010), In my personal opinion, I do think that Skullduggery Pleasant is a cooler series than Harry Potter, that's just because the characters were way more likeable for me and the dark humor,sarcasm and fight scenes in the books are incredible(Derek Landy has a great sense of humor), we need more of this crossover!
Also, I made Valkyrie older than what she was in that moment at the books( this story would take place after Dark Days but before Mortal Coil and she is 20 here not 16, so...yeah).
Anyways, for now this will be a one shot, but I made the end of it that way so If I have the urge to write about Ichigo and Valkyrie again, I could always continue this story, and this is what I'm actually planning to do!(but would you guys actually like to see more of this?).
Hope that everyone enjoyed it.
