dtaeh hmislef


Chapter 9


Ichigo was hungry. He was so damn hungry! If someone had dangled some food in front of Ichigo's face, he'd have ripped the guys arm off and eaten it. (Ichigo had no time to be disturbed by his own thoughts, which were probably heavily influenced by the damn hollow.) He practically shoved the entire tray down his throat, but remembered at the last second that metal trays weren't edible. Ichigo couldn't remember the last time he had eaten something. Actually, he could, and it was dinner the day he got kidnapped, Yuzu's cooking. Oh man, what he would give for some of Yuzu's cooking! Not to say that the sandwiches were bad— they might've been good. Ichigo was too hungry to tell the difference.

Carefully putting the tray back into place and somehow knocking it over onto the floor, Ichigo once again found himself waking up in an unknown place for no apparent reason. It was a homey western living room, with a fireplace and pictures on the wall. He was on a bed, the tortured girl was on another bed. Harry and Ron were staring at him. Harry's face no longer had that allergic reaction puffed-up quality (maybe he was allergic to prisons?) and Ron seemed far more subdued. A person with a heavily scarred face and red hair was sitting in a chair and he was also staring at Ichigo.

The tray clattered to the floor with a clack and broke the silence that had settled over the group.

Harry yelled "What?!" like Ichigo had said something insane and wanted him to repeat it or something. Ichigo had only just woken up, so Harry must've been talking to someone else. Ichigo blinked a few times in a blank manner, and then moved to pick the tray back up.

"Don't move," the scarred man commanded, "you're injured."

Ichigo felt perfectly fine. Too fine, in fact. With the injuries he had sustained, Ichigo should've been out for a month. Instead, he felt like he'd been healed by Orihime. Orihime wasn't there, right? Why would she be? Actually, why was Ichigo there, nevermind Orihime? Nevertheless, Ichigo didn't move, because a small thing (a goblin? what the hell was it?) hurried over and fixed it. It had big pointed ears, huge round eyes, a thin long nose, and only came up to Ichigo's knee. It was swaddled in a green plaid jumper, pink striped shorts (boxers?) and about fifteen different socks, the outer one had some type of Christmas theme going on.

As soon as Ichigo's eyes landed on the thing, he felt a pressure in the back of his mind, pushing at him. Blackness seeped through his peripheral vision and a headache beat at his senses. Almost unconsciously, Ichigo slapped both hands to his temples and bent over.

Distantly, he could hear a few people yell his name and various types of "What's wrong?!" but the Prophet's voice drowned it out.

"KILL THE ELF."

The noise was so loud it rang in Ichigo's ears and he shut his eyes.

"SINCE THE END OF TIME THE ELF'S DEATH HAS BEEN FORETOLD."

Ichigo pushed back, remembering a time when his hollow ran loose. NO! I will not do your bidding!

"Do my bidding! Hah! Stupid human, you do not have choices! WHETHER YOU DEIGN IT TO BE OR NOT, IT SHALL BE SO!"

Ichigo redoubled his efforts, completely unaffected by the Prophet's threats. I will not kill anything, no matter what you tell me!

"And if I told you that the elf was already dead?"

Ichigo registered the fact that the Prophet was purposely saying confusing things so she could take over Ichigo's body, but this part was disconnected from the part of his mind that thought, Stop spouting nonsense and go away already!

"Kill the elf and the prophecy remains true. REFUSE MY ORDER AND YOU WILL TAKE HIS PLACE!"

Ichigo had the time to think, That sounded really ominous…, before he shoved the Prophet back in her tower.

Ichigo made sure his head was turned far away from 'the elf' before opening his eyes again. His breathing was heavy and he hadn't realized.

"ICHIGO!" Ichigo nearly flinched at the close-by noise. Harry and Ron were right next to his bed and the scarred man had stood up.

"I'm back. I'm fine," Ichigo quickly reassured, his head still turned away from the elf.

"What happened, mate?" Ron asked. "You suddenly bent over."

"Ah, nothing. Just a headache."

Ichigo stole a few looks at their faces and found Harry's especially skeptical. Ichigo cleared his throat. "So. Do you mind telling me where I am?" He tried to keep his voice nonchalant, but Ichigo thought a little of the underlying desperation leaked through.

Ron answered, "After escaping the Death Eaters we came to my brothers place. We'll be safe here; the house is under the Fidelius Charm."

Ichigo nodded like he understood everything Ron said. "Right. Of course. Fai-del-us Charm. Duh."

"You didn't understand a single word he just said, did you?" said Hermione from behind Ron and Harry. Ron and Harry attempted to move out of the way and ended up crowding at the foot of Ichigo's bed. Hermione was sitting up like Ichigo was (though Hermione had a shirt) and was giving Ichigo a very calculated look.

Ichigo could do two things in this scenario. One: continue pretending he knew what they were talking about. If they found out he was ignorant, they might try to kill him. On the downside: If Ichigo had no clue what they were talking about, he would essentially be stuck in a situation he knew nothing about. That left option two: admit ignorance.

"Okay, what the fuck are Death Eaters?" To Ichigo it sounded like a group of people who dined on hollow meat seasoned with shredded shinigami. If that was the case, then Ichigo was really happy that he had escaped before he was cooked. Ichigo was some type of super-rare delicacy to them. Hmmm, they kinda reminded Ichigo of Bounts, these Death Eaters.

As Ichigo expected, the people reacted badly to Ichigo's ignorance. Oh, they didn't jump up into the air and scream at him, but their eyes widened and they shared looks with each other. Ichigo swung his legs over the side of the bed so he could be sitting properly. This explanation was going to take a while.

"You don't know?" Hermione asked incredulously. It seemed like Hermione would be doing the talking from now on. "You were their prisoner and you didn't know who they were?"

That ticked Ichigo off. "I was kidnapped and woke up in a cellar and you're blaming me for being ignorant of a bunch of whack-jobs?!"

Her lips pressed in a thin line. "I… suppose not. Death Eaters are the followers of an evil wizard. His name is cursed so we cannot say it."

Ichigo understood the part up until 'evil wizard.' Ichigo was trying to be patient— really, he was— but it wasn't working too well, and his voice came out hard. "What's an evil wizard?"

Again they shared those shocked looks.

"Ichigo…" Hermione spoke, "Do you know what magic is?"

It took every inch of Ichigo's willpower not to guffaw. He wrestled with this thought for about a whole minute, no one interrupted him. Finally, "Do I want to know what magic is?"

Hermione actually gave the question a lot of thought, and Ichigo appreciated it. "It's probably for the best."

Ichigo sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was way too long, but somehow he doubted he would be running to a barber any time soon. "Lay it on me."

"Magic is, well. It's hard to describe. It's the power to do impossible things. Bill, why don't you show him?"

'Bill' turned out to be the scarred man with red hair. He took out a stick-thing and waved it at the chair was sitting in. He said, "Diminuendo!" and the chair shrunk to half it's size, just like that. Ichigo knew that the stick-thing could do other things as well, like make people become unconscious.

Obviously, everyone was expecting Ichigo to freak out. But after all that Ichigo had seen, magic wasn't too special. Ichigo just blinked at the now-tiny chair and turned back to Hermione. "Okay, so that's what it does. But how does it work?"

She scrunched her eyebrows together. "You say the correct phrase, followed by wand movement, and the spell takes effect."

So it was like activating shikai and bankai. But her explanation was certainly lacking. "So anyone could do it? Just say the right words and you shrink a chair?"

Hermione broke eye contact and made an exasperated noise. "Listen, do you know why you were kidnapped? It just makes no sense why a muggle would be locked up in Malfoy's basement and still be… you know."

Ichigo didn't know. That was why he was asking. But it appeared like Hermione said something that was preying on everyone's minds. So he tried to reason it out. He woke up in the middle of the night. No, that wasn't it. He was woken in the middle of the night, because of a note. That note—it was from his boss, wasn't it? Ikumi… she'd been acting weird lately. Trying to distance herself from him. Could that be connected? It had to be. Ichigo's instincts were never wrong. And then there were the police, and Aizen— murderous thoughts flashed through Ichigo's mind— and England. Magic.

"I told you," Ichigo spat out, "if I knew anything I wouldn't be fucking asking for information!"

"Then how the hell do you know what we're looking for!" Harry snarled, entering the conversation.

Ichigo turned so he'd be facing Harry head-on, "That's 'cause I don't know what you're looking for, I just met you idiots today!"

Harry immediately backed down, which caught Ichigo off guard and he attempted to reign in his temper. "Before you said, 'You'll find what you're looking for in Bellatrix's vault.' A completely ignorant person doesn't go around saying things like that."

Ichigo came to a conclusion. "You think I'm lying."

Hermione butted in, "No— it's not that, Ichigo! It's just that we're shocked, is all." It sounded like a weak excuse.

"I'll tell you straight out I never said any of that crap. If you said you saw my body say those words, then we're fifty feet deep in shit," Ichigo continued to mumble, "and I'm probably already covered in it…"

"We definitely heard you say it," Hermione trailed off. "If you don't remember it, then I'd say that's very troubling."

Ron snorted and Hermione shot him a look that silenced him.

Ichigo eventually grumbled, "Well, if I said it, it must've meant something, I guess..." He continued reluctantly, "Do you guys know a Bellatrix?"

"Well, yeah, of course. She's that crazy bitch that fucking tortured Hermione—"

"Oh, the woman in black!" Ichigo cut Ron off, slapping his fist into his palm. "She sounded pretty freaked out when you guys stole from her vault. She must really like her stuff!"

Everyone was gobsmacked; Ichigo looked on, confused. Did he say something weird…?

"Sure, if you can call someone who goes into a torturous rage at the mere thought of someone stealing her things 'a person who really likes her stuff!'" Harry sneered.

"So I take it torturous rages are not normal…?" Ichigo was just playing with him now.

"Where do you think you are? In the middle of a fight ring?"

Hah, if only Harry knew! "I think I'm in England, but I was wrong before…"

"Ichigo," Hermione said, grabbing his attention away. "Did you say that we stole the sword from Bellatrix's vault?"

"Ah, you didn't?" Ichigo said sheepishly. "I just assumed that was why you were locked up."

"No… but maybe you have a point…" Hermione's face was overcome with a deep concentration and Harry and Ron both leaned forward. "Bill," she addressed the redheaded man, "could you go?"

Bill sighed, "Yeah, I get it, none of my business, mission from Dumbledore, etc. I'll go see how Fleur's doing." The man tromped out the room, herding a silent Luna away, closing the door behind him.

As soon as she heard the man walk upstairs, Hermione continued, "It's very strange how Bellatrix reacted, isn't it? What if, and I'm not saying it's true, but what if, You-Know-Who had given something to Bellatrix, something he told her to take very good care of—"

Ron and Harry's eyes widened.

Ichigo really didn't care about their "mission" or this "I-Don't-Know-Who" character. He just wanted to go home.

Was it likely that would happen any time soon? No. Not at all.


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