"What do you think of Mr. Kurosaki?" Harry asked his friends as they walked through the corridors toward the Gryffindor common room. Despite the excitement over the Tri-wizard Tournament which would be beginning in a mere few weeks, his mind still lingered on the reappearance of the Japanese wizard.
"I'm really curious about magic in Japan," Hermione said excitedly, and beside her Ron snorted in exasperation. Harry only smiled. Typical Hermione.
"Is that all you can think of?" Ron asked incredulously. "He's like a bloody dark wizard, Hermione. He dresses exactly like Snape, too! His eyes, his laugh, everything about him screams 'Death Eater'!"
Hermione smacked Ron. "I think you're jumping to conclusions again. You can't classify someone just because of what they wear. I admit that his eye color is a bit strange, as is the magic that he's performed, but that isn't grounds for accusing him of being a Death Eater. Besides, you're forgetting about the fact that he attacked the Death Eaters at the World Cup."
"…Oh," said Ron. "I forgot."
Hermione huffed. "Of course you did," she said, and Harry smiled at his friends' bickering.
"Alright, guys," he said, placing himself between the two placatingly. "I have my own suspicions myself about this guy, this 'Captain Kurosaki,' but I don't think at this point we have enough evidence."
Hermione beamed, while Ron looked offended, and mildly disappointed, that Harry had sided with Hermione and not him. Harry exhaled. "Sorry, Ron, but that's what I feel. Honestly, the fact that he fought off those Death Eaters is enough to make me hesitate."
Ron only rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm tired, I think I'll turn in now." He turned and entered the Gryffindor common room. Not lingering by the fire as the trio usually did, he instead directly climbed the stairs and went up to the dorm.
Harry frowned at the retreating figure of his best friend, and Hermione sighed. "Don't worry about him, Harry," she reassured him. "He's a bit hard-headed sometimes."
"Don't I know it," he said, smiling and shaking his head ruefully. "I think I'll turn in, too. Good night, Hermione."
"Good night, Harry," she said. "I think that in my free time I'm going to go to the library to do some research. I'm curious to find out what sorts of magic the Japanese use."
"Dumbledore said that Japan's been closed off from the rest of the world, though, right?" Harry said. "Doesn't that mean that there won't be any books about their culture?"
Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "You're right, Harry," she mused. "I think it's still worth a try checking in the library, though. You never really know what you might find in there. But even if we can't find anything, we could just ask Captain Kurosaki, right?"
Something didn't feel right in Harry to ask someone like Captain Kurosaki about something like that, but he was curious about what the dark man with the golden eyes had used at the World Cup, as well as how he had just disappeared and reappeared behind Malfoy completely silently. It couldn't be apparition, since it was impossible to apparate completely silently. Besides, hadn't Hermione said something about not being able to apparate within the boundaries of Hogwarts? Something about wards…
"Alright," he said. "If you can't find anything, we'll just ask Captain Kurosaki."
Hermione nodded, a glint in her eye, a glint that Harry had learned meant not to get in her way if she was looking for something. "Good night, Harry," she said, turning and climbing the stairs.
Harry quickly changed into his pajamas and climbed into his four-poster bed, drawing the curtains shut. That night, he fell asleep to dreams of billowing black robes and a pair of sinisterly glowing golden eyes, staring at him from the shadows.
#
Ichigo tossed and stirred in his bed in a private room in his sleep as his mind dredged up long-ago memories.
The sun shined cheerily overhead, but on the ground dust was blown into clouds as sparks flew. The sounds of clashing steel echoed across the dunes. A dark figure hurtled out of the cloud of sand, smashing into a dune and tumbled head over heels until it smashed into a broken pillar. The hulking figure of the Tenth Espada, who surprisingly enough had turned out to be the Cero Espada, loomed from the cloud of dust, laughing at the pair of vice-captains before him. They stared in horror at the figure that had just been smashed into a pillar, and was now on the ground, coughing up blood.
"Kira!" Hisagi Shuuhei and Hinamori Momo yelled in concern and horror at their companion.
"HA!" Yammy Rialgo shouted, laughing in derision at the weary fighters before him. "You are mere insects to me! It was foolish of your commander to send only three vice-captains to fight me!"
Ichigo appeared silently, the black overcoat of his bankai outfit, now torn to shreds after his fight against the Sexta Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjacques, and the Cuatra Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer. Blood dripped into his vision from a cut on his forehead, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand before it crystallized. Shaking his head to clear his vision, he stared at the scene before him.
The broken body of Izuru Kira lay amid a cluster of shattered rocks, the remains of pillars scattered around him. Ichigo wasn't completely sure, but he thought he felt a flicker of reiatsu emanating from the blond vice-captain's body. It would have to be enough for now. He turned his attention to Hisagi and Momo, who were clutched in the massive hand of the Cero Espada.
"What's this?" the massive Espada grinned, turning to look at Ichigo, who released a massive burst of reiatsu in anger at the sight of his subordinates, the ones whose well-beings were his responsibility, unconscious and injured. "Another insect? Come on, then. Let's see what you've got. Maybe you'll actually injure me, unlike these useless things here." He squeezed, and Ichigo heard bones crack and a small moan of pain escape from Momo, who was now barely conscious.
Yammy flung his hand outward, releasing the two vice-captains, sending them hurtling through the air. "No!" Ichigo was unable to keep the panic from his voice as he watched in horror. Lunging forward, muscles screaming, he vanished in his shadow-step technique, desperately trying to catch up to the two vice-captains.
He pushed himself harder as he watched the bodies of his officers plummet. Shit. Shit. SHIT! With one final massive burst of power that crushed the ground beneath him into dust, he barely managed to wrap a finger around the hem of Momo's shihakusho. Enveloping the two vice-captains with his arms, he landed on the ground, skidding on the dust. Quickly, holding a hand over both their chests, he poured as much reiatsu as he could into their bodies, the green glow of healing kidou engulfing their injuries.
Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Rukia's reiatsu approaching, having apparently beating her own opponent. "Rukia!" he shouted, not taking his eyes off the two injured vice-captains. "Go heal Kira!"
There was only silence, and Ichigo wondered why Rukia wasn't following his orders. "Oi, Rukia, that's an order!" he shouted as he felt Toushiro's reiatsu appear, engaging the massive Espada in an attempt to give Ichigo time to heal the vice-captains.
He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see Rukia, with a tear slowly rolling down her cheek. "I'm sorry, Ichigo," she said, shaking her head slowly. "I'm so, so sorry."
Ichigo felt a cold chill run down his spine. "What's wrong?" he said, although he had an inkling of an idea of what had caused Rukia to act this way.
"Kira… he's gone, Ichigo," Rukia murmured.
It took a moment for the words to sink in, but when they did, something happened. Red began seeping into Ichigo's vision, and Rukia gasped as white began seeping into his hair. His golden eyes began to glow with bloodlust, and a feral growl escaped from his throat. Pain shot through his head, and Ichigo hunched over, clutching his forehead, leaving Rukia to heal the two vice-captains.
"You bastard!" he roared at the giant Espada, who had just swatted aside Toushiro in his bankai like he was nothing but a bug. "I… I'm going to KILL you!"
Black reiatsu exploded off him, flattening his companions, including the injured ones. Rukia gasped, "Ichigo… stop it…" as Hisagi and Momo began to cough blood violently.
With a roar, Ichigo leapt toward the Cero Espada, sword raised, black reiatsu swirling around the blade, preparing for a massive Getsuga Tenshou, while Rukia, Toushiro, Momo, and Hisagi groaned behind him under the weight of his reiatsu.
Ichigo woke with a gasp, beads of sweat running down his face. He cursed inwardly. He hadn't had those nightmares for years, so why were the popping up again now?
#
A bit of a shorter chapter this time, but it's pretty loaded I think. Gives you some of Ichigo's background. For those of you who read When Genius Meets Death, the events in the nightmare are coming very soon.
Sorry for the shorter chapter, but I didn't have much time to write today, so…
A few shoutouts: thanks to Maverick14th for your awesome reviews. I love your support.
Thanks to my sister, Say-theLastWord, for reading and reviewing. I love you too!
Everyone go to deviantArt and check out theanimeaxis and his drawing Monocle Ichigo, it's awesome!
Finally, thanks to Eradona for writing her own incredible story and to a certain extent inspiring me to write this one.
See you tomorrow for the next daily update!
~fokker333