The Next Great Adventure

Looks like I forgot to do the disclaimer in the previous chapter O.o I have no idea if it's really necessary since it was never mentioned in the Fanfiction Guidelines but better safe than sorry, I guess. Anyway, to those who reviewed the first chapter, and those who subscribed to this story, thank you all! I hope I can live up to your expectations!

Another note: To author light soceress, you brought up a good point about parentheses, and they do seem pretty useless sometimes. But I think I'll keep them because they are there to describe what the character is thinking. You can consider them off-the-cuff comments that the characters might make without actually saying them out loud. But I'll try to keep them short and put them in places where they won't interfere much with the reader's train of thought.

Please feel free to criticise this work and anything that you feel needs improvement!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the Harry Potter Series, and neither do I own the various brands that might be mentioned in the story. This is the only disclaimer I'm going to do for this whole story and applies to the whole story.

Chapter 2: Challenge Accepted

Ichigo's POV

Tatsuki and I hurried along to where I had last felt Rukia's presence. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who had felt the entry of a powerful Shinigami into the Living World. Some Hollows had turned up as well, and they were converging on Rukia.

"We have a fight on our hands, Tatsuki! Make sure you-"

"-Stay behind! Yes, I know! Now stop nagging at me and do your work!"

I glared at her. Does she not know that I 'nag' at her for a good reason? Still, I say nothing of it and quickly shed my body with my Mod Soul Pill, letting Tatsuki deal with Kon, i.e. stop him from doing something perverted that would permanently damage my reputation. Tatsuki dragged him around some building, while I continued running through the streets at breakneck speed in Shinigami form, ready to get rid of Hollows (there seemed to be a lot this time!). I found the first of them and got to work.

A punch to one's mask.

A slash across the mouth with Zangetsu.

Yet another went down with a special move that I had developed in training: I punched it and pushed my energy into it. Instantly, the Hollow exploded (unable to handle my awesomeness, no doubt!) .

I worked my way through the street, casually slicing the Hollows that came my way, attracted by the energy I was emitting. Soon, I could see Rukia. She now had a cute bob and noticeably had a lieutenant's badge on her sleeve. So! That's why she was so busy! Maybe I'll let her off the hook for not calling me for the past few months. She saw me as well and waved with a big grin.

"Ichigo!"

"Hey Rukia! You're back!"

I sliced and diced my way over to her while she repeatedly blasted spells at any that I missed, and soon, we had wiped all of them out.

"Good job, Ichigo! Nice to see you again!" She said as she beamed at me. Then she noticed what I was wearing and snapped, "Why are you not in uniform?"

I had stopped wearing the black Shihakusho for more comfortable clothes: A T-shirt, gym shorts that extended to the knees and sports shoes. I ignored her quip about my attire and said, "Good to have you back, Rukia! How long has it been? A year?"

The Hollows had raised quite the commotion among the spiritually aware bunch in town, and many of our acquaintances had come running. Ishida was striding over with Tatsuki, who was dragging along my body, which had been inhabited by Kon. The pervert mod soul was complaining as he came our way.

"Damn you Ichigo! If you're gonna use me as your slave, could you at least give me a more attractive bodyguard? Can't you see I'm longing for my sweet Inoue-san?"

Tatsuki slapped Kon hard, making me grimace. Damn. That was gonna hurt once I got back in my body. But he deserved it.

"That's because you'd probably grope her! And what, am I not attractive enough?"

Ishida, still in his school uniform, shook his head at their antics and said, "Well, it looks like I wasn't really needed here. Wait, is that Kuchiki-san?"

"Yeah, it's me! How are you, Ishida?" smiled Rukia.

"What? Nee-san came back?" The idiot immediately tried to jump her, but I stopped him before he got into any more trouble while he was in my body.

"Well, let's get out of here, shall we? We're practically in the middle of a street! Guys, let's go! Starbucks™!" I said while slamming my badge onto my body to force Kon's pill out.

There were some enthusiastic cheers from the rest as we walked off. Yeah, we're all coffee addicts. On the way, we called over Sado and Inoue, who hadn't turned up yet. We all took a table that was in the corner, which was favoured by us because it was more private and allowed us to talk about spirits and stuff without being overheard by others. Some pretty epic things have happened at this very table: This was where I had brought Kurumadani Zennosuke for a drink and to work out the details of our Hollow-hunting timetable. My gesture softened him up and made him more open to sharing a greater portion of the workload than he usually did. I also frequently came here with Ishida and Tatsuki to talk Council stuff. We got seated and launched into an enthusiastic catch-up session.

"What, the three of you are councillors? I never thought Ichigo could handle that much responsibility!" came a snide remark from Rukia when she was told the news of Tatsuki, Ishida and me, which earned a reproachful glare from me.

"So you're a lieutenant now? About time! I guess Byakuya-san finally decided to let you go for it, huh?" this was from Inoue, who was practically gushing with joy to have Rukia back.

The small talk went on for more than an hour, and I decided to put a stop to it. After all, I still have some homework to do! And on top of that, I had to finish that proposal for Council. I cleared my throat and said, "What brings you here, though? Did they send you on a mission or something?"

Rukia looked somewhat put off by my sudden break from the small talk, but answered my question nonetheless.

"Yeah, I am on a mission, sort of. It's…got to do with you, Ichigo."

Everyone fell silent and edged as close to the small circular table as possible.

"There's been a serious new development. We just played host to a Shinigami working in Britain, and his Soul Society has apparently uncovered evidence that Aizen Sosuke is still alive."

There were gasps and cries of 'impossible!' all around the table. All the men glared hatefully at the name, and Tatsuki actually looked somewhat scared, no doubt because he came so close to killing her while she had no way of resisting. Inoue gave her a reassuring squeeze of the hand and she calmed down.

Ishida asked, "If he's still alive, then I suppose you need all the manpower you can get. Did you come to ask Kurosaki to fight alongside the Captains once again, Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia answered, "Actually, the Gotei-13's request to Ichigo is not simply to fight Aizen. It's a little more specific." She paused, and said to me, "Ichigo, we're sending a delegation to England to root out Aizen and eliminate him. The first question is whether or not you're willing to join us on this mission."

A mission to England? Well, I suppose that makes sense, since it was the British who had found out that Aizen was still alive. I personally wouldn't mind joining such a mission, but I needed details first.

"I don't have many details yet. All I know for now is that it could take quite a while, perhaps more than a year, and that we'll be collaborating with a couple of British Shinigami. After the war, we started reaching out to other Soul Societies. This way, we wouldn't need to face crises by ourselves, and we could also receive training from them for different skills. This could be a good chance to build closer ties to the British Agency for the Protection of Spirits. After some time, we may end up becoming affiliated too," answered Rukia.

Affiliated? What does that mean? I asked, and Ishida, of all people, explained, "I've heard this term before from my grandfather. When two Soul Societies are affiliated, they work together occasionally, by going on joint missions or training together."

"That's right. Right now, our Soul Society in Japan is affiliated with only a few countries, like China and Israel, and we've not done any joint activities in many decades. We've only recently started to open up to the rest of the world, actually. But putting that aside, what's your answer, Ichigo?"

I asked her impassively, "When do we leave?"

She smiled when she heard that and said, "In a month's time."

"We'll be done with Council Investiture by then. Final exams come a few months afterward, though."

"Well…I guess we could arrange to have you join us at a later date or something." She then bit her lip, as though hesitating to tell me something."

"What is it, Rukia? Is there something else?"

"Actually…Final Exams may not be a problem in the end. Ichigo, let's ignore this issue for now and skip straight to the second question, shall we?"

"Now, the captains have been debating among themselves over a big problem: the three remaining vacancies for the rank of captain. I'll be frank with you: They want you to fill one of those ranks." Everyone was startled by this revelation, and rightly so. I was still a human who had just come of age, and suddenly I was being asked to take on one of the highest ranks in the army of the afterlife. Sensing the tension, Rukia held up her hands in a placating manner and said, "I understand it is a tough thing to ask of you, but still, could you please consider it seriously at least?"

"They seriously want me to become a captain?"

"If it was right after the War, they wouldn't have asked, since you were not an adult even by human standards. But now, you're past eighteen, and honestly, your standard of education is way above average, considering that many Shinigami have never gone to high school. Not to mention, your strength is already higher than that of the average captain."

Ishida pushed up his glasses and said, "You shouldn't be too surprised about this, Kurosaki. After all, you remember what we discussed back during the end of the War, don't you?"

I remembered that meeting well enough. The two of us had had a serious talk on my future. Ishida thought that I would be considered a loose cannon by Soul Society and that they might want to control me somehow, possibly by 'inviting' me to join the Gotei-13 formally. That way, they could monitor me. It was common sense that they would be somewhat wary of a powerful man living in their territory (Japan) but only loosely affiliated with them. I had to agree with his comments and when I probed him for ideas on what to do, he advised me to put myself in a position where I could make a good impression on Soul Society if and when they decided to come calling. For once, I decided to listen to him, and started working hard in school, and eventually I became one of the top ten scorers in the cohort. On top of that, I ran for Student Council and became the VP, so I had an impressive leadership portfolio as well. I also confronted what Tensa Zangetsu had dubbed the 'source of my fear': the alternate me, the Hollow living in my soul, and beat him again to prevent him from becoming a liability in the future. Simply put, I now had a reasonably good résumé for Soul Society, so if they were to suddenly ask me to join them, they might give me more favourable terms.

I turned to Rukia and answered, "Actually, I was prepared for much worse than that. To tell you the truth, I was wondering lately if I should just join the Gotei-13 formally. I don't feel like there's much of a future for me in Japan. With things as they are now, it could take a long time before our economy picks up steam once again. I could always go overseas to work but jobs are kinda scarce now. So I thought I might as well do what I do best: help the effort to purify Hollows and protect souls. But there's just one thing holding me back: my family."

Without batting an eyelid, Rukia answered, "Don't worry about that. There's a rule that prevents Shinigami from staying too long in the Living World, but they've made some changes to the law to make it more specific. Since you'll be leaving behind your life as a human way before your time, they'll allow you to take leave once in a while to visit your family. We understand it's a tough decision, so the higher-ups are willing to compensate you in whatever ways we can."

I nodded, satisfied. To hell with studying, working and growing old as a human. I might as well jump off the fence separating life and death and start work seriously as a full-fledged Shinigami.

"Alright, Rukia! It's pretty sudden, but I, Kurosaki Ichigo, accept your challenge!" this drew some chuckles and groans from the rest. Truly, this table in the Karakura Starbucks outlet was made for meetings of epic proportions.

With that, it was decided. I would end school once our term as student councillors was over. At that point, we would hand over power to the juniors who had been elected by the student body in the yearly Student Council Investiture ceremony, and then I would leave for England. Apparently, the trip to England was a test in itself to measure my leadership skills and ability to respond to situations. The traditional Captains' Exam was redundant in my case as it focused more on strength and martial skills, and there was no question as to my prowess in that field.

Meanwhile, I was told that the Shinigami selected for the Delegation, as well as the British man who would be working with us, would be coming to Karakura, and Urahara had apparently been paid by the Gotei-13 to take care of their lodgings as well as to brief us. Speaking of Urahara, he was making quite a handsome living off being an agent for the Gotei. They had decided that his skills were of much greater use outside Seireitei, so they got him to continue his old job of staying at his shop, keeping his ears attentive to get useful information for them. He was also the go-to guy for newbie Shinigami assigned to the Living World, and spent his free time designing gadgets for them with funds from Seireitei. Yoruichi, Tessai and my own father had kept their roles of being part of his 'network', which had grown to include me and my friends once we had wised up a bit. Gone were the days when we were clueless kids who allowed ourselves to be manipulated by well-meaning adults*. Now we were adults deemed worthy of knowing things that were previously kept from us for our own good.

Today was the day the Shinigami were going to arrive. I had changed back into my uniform, as a captain would be coming, and also to give a good impression for the British Shinigami's benefit. Rukia and I had woken up early and left for the riverside, where the World Gate would be opening. We had come in a van which Urahara had obtained for us, as the Shinigami were coming with their luggage. After all, it was to be a long-term mission, so they would need to bring along a lot of items. At five a.m. sharp, the gate appeared out of thin air, and the silhouettes of a group of people appeared, preceded by ten Hell Butterflies. Hmm, there were several familiar reiatsu signatures present. Rukia bowed and greeted them.

"Good morning, everyone! Welcome to Karakura Town."

I raised a hand casually and said, "Morning all."

Rukia frowned at my choice of words but chose not to comment. There were unenthusiastic responses from the group, but one raised a hand like I did, and returned my greeting enthusiastically. I had no idea who it was, but I already liked this friendly guy! Everyone stepped forward so I could see them.

The group included Hitsugaya Toshiro, Matsumoto Rangiku, Abarai Renji, Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika and Hisagi Shuhei. As for the remaining four, I could recognise two of them because I had seen them in the battle over Fake Karakura Town, but I did not know their names. They were both lieutenants; one was a man with blonde hair that came down to his shoulders and covered his left eye, and the other was a young woman with brown hair kept neatly in a bun. The remaining two were people I had never seen before. One was a woman** with short brown hair in a bob hairdo and glasses. The last one was a man who stood out because he wore a black suit instead of a Shihakusho, and because he didn't look like an Asian. I realised that this was also the man who had greeted me just then. Was this the British Shinigami?

Deciding that I would get to know them better later on, I smiled at the tired looks on everyone's faces and smirked, "Well, look at all of you, dead on your feet! It's a good thing nobody can see you, or people will think the zombie apocalypse has started!"

Toshiro snarled, "Very funny, Kurosaki. If you don't mind, could you bring us to where we're supposed to stay?"

"Of course, Toshiro. You guys, bring your luggage to that van over there and load it in the boot. Or the trunk, whatever you call it. Your Faux Bodies are in there too, so get in them." I said as I flashed a charming smile at the group ('How many times do I have to tell you, it's Captain Hitsugaya!'). The two women I did not know seemed to be struggling somewhat with their suitcases.

"Here, let me help you with that." They thanked me nervously and let me carry their suitcases for them. Renji smirked at this and said, "Hey Ichigo! It's been a long time! Won't you help a friend with his baggage?"

"Screw you, Renji! Do it yourself!"

The other guys guffawed and Ikkaku said, "But he's right; it has been a long time. I bet you've improved greatly since the last time we saw you. You'd better show me your strength one of these days!"

"I see your behaviour has become more refined. That's good. It's a lot more beautiful than last time." I sweat-dropped hearing this from Yumichika and muttered, "Umm, ok. No comment."

We all piled into the big van once everyone had gotten into their faux bodies. I was driving with Toshiro sitting next to me. I checked the directions to their hotel on my smartphone and drove off.

"Kurosaki, we'll rest first or we won't be able to think straight during the briefing. Let's meet at…Two p.m. Have your lunch and meet us at the hotel for the briefing. We'll handle introductions at that time as well."

"Got it." After some time of driving in silence, I turned to the captain and asked, "How are we going to Britain? Not by flight, I hope?"

"We will be taking one of those…airplanes. But not all the way to Britain. It is possible to travel directly from one Soul Society to another via the World Gate if the two Societies are affiliated. Unfortunately, we aren't affiliated with Britain. So, we'll take a plane to another country, Malaysia, if I'm not wrong, and then go to Britain's Soul Society from there. I'd rather not fly, but we have no choice. At least this is better than flying all the way to England."

"So we will be flying. I hope you have all your passports and visas then?"

"Yeah. Urahara had them made. Apparently he has a man in the Japanese government to take care of all these stuff. But you'll have to instruct us as to what to do at the airport since none of us has flown in those contraptions before."

I chuckled at how extensive Urahara's network was, and then frowned. It was going to be difficult getting this violent bunch to behave themselves in the airport and on the plane. Ikkaku had better leave behind that wooden sword he always kept with him in the Living World and Renji had better mind his manners when dealing with airport staff.

Then, I remembered something and asked, "By the way, what became of Ichimaru Gin? If I remember correctly, Tosen died, but I'm not sure what happened to Fox-face after the war."

Toshiro's expression darkened before he said, "Ichimaru was brought before a court martial, but he escaped punishment. He was allowed to work as an unranked Shinigami, and did so for a few months. After that, there was even some talk that he might be returned to his previous position because he had displayed so called 'good behaviour' for the past few months and built up many merits. But then, he just vanished."

"He vanished?"

"He just disappeared one day. All he left behind was a letter saying that he was sorry but he couldn't become the captain because he had found a job at another Soul Society. We were naturally furious at this, but his actions weren't exactly in violation of the laws of Soul Society. The Society that hired him would have done an extensive background check first, so that means that they clearly approve of him despite all his past actions. We can't do anything about that."

I breathed out heavily.

"Wow. That's just…wow. That guy was so creepy it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to hire him."

"I disliked him greatly. But I have to admit, his work during the few months for which he was free was nothing short of exemplary. If not for all he did in the past, I think that work alone merits a promotion straight to Lieutenant-level at the very least."

Soon, we arrived at the hotel, and dropped everyone off. Urahara had booked five rooms, so they would be doubling up. Since there were three girls, Matsumoto had decided to share her room with Yumichika, reasoning that he was the least likely to pull anything on her while she was sleeping…well, whatever.

Toshiro turned to me and said, "Well, that's all, Kurosaki. We'll see you later. You'd better not be late."

Before I could say anything, Rukia answered, "Understood, sir! We'll see you later."

And the bunch of Shinigami then retired to their rooms and Rukia and I drove back home to catch up on sleep. Rukia had insisted on using my room's cupboard once again. She fit right in, like she hadn't grown at all the past 17 months. Some things never change. Oh well, best not to think about all that now. I had a briefing later, and I needed my rest. Good night, Rukia.

To be continued

*Urahara has manipulated Ichigo and his friends in the past. He trained Ichigo to be able to fight in Soul Society during the Soul Society arc, but he had ulterior motives to rescue Rukia: to prevent Aizen from getting hold of the Hogyoku inside her body.

**Who is this woman in the brown bob hairdo and glasses? She will be introduced next chapter and she is not an OC.