"Hello, Luna," said Ichigo warmly. Turning to his comrades, he introduced her. "Everyone, this is Luna Lovegood. We met in the hallways a few days ago, and we had quite a pleasant conversation."

Momo smiled. The blonde's reiatsu indeed was the same as Kira's. She also noticed that it was rather stronger than the rest of the wizards, almost unseated shinigami level. It was quite impressive, but it also had some implications, not to mention complications. But the Fifth division captain put that thought aside, turning her attention back to the young girl that was the reincarnation of her friend and companion.

Luna bowed politely. "Hello, everyone," she said with a smile. "I'm very glad that Captain Kurosaki permitted me to meet you all. I hope it was not too much of a bother."

Hisagi allowed himself a wry smile. Just like Kira had been, always polite and thinking of others. "It was not a problem," he said, and Luna blinked in mild surprise at his voice. Despite his scarred and tattooed appearance, the Ninth division vice-captain's voice was very warm and kind, as well as rather deep.

Ichigo smiled at their interaction. "Luna, these are my closest friends and companions in Japan. Here is Captain Hitsugaya Toushiro, Captain Hitsugaya Momo, Vice-Captain Hisagi Shuuhei, Captain Kuchiki Byakuya, and Captain Kuchiki Rukia, my wife."

Lune shook hands with each shinigami as they were introduced, smiling at the last one widely. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said. "Captain Kurosaki, that is, Ichigo, has told me a lot about his friends, especially you, Princess," she said. Bowing again, she continued, "It is truly an honor to be in the company of nobles such as you."

Rukia shot an amused glance at Ichigo before turning back to Luna. "So, my husband has told you a lot about me, eh?" she said. "What exactly did he say?"

"He had quite a lot to say about how much he loved you," Luna replied, causing Ichigo to flush bright red. "He also told me about the nickname you were given, the 'White Moon,' and I must say, it suits you quite well." The blonde indicated the pure white swords sheathed at the petite woman's waist and back.

Rukia laughed softly, smacking Ichigo upside the head playfully. "So he did," she said, prompting a startled yelp from the orange-haired captain. "So he did. He also told us quite a bit about you, Luna. It seems you've caught my husband's attention." She frowned jokingly. "Is that a good thing or not?"

Ichigo laughed at Luna's nervousness. "Relax, Luna," he reassured her. "She's only joking. It's definitely a good thing."

"What was it that caught your attention then?" Luna asked.

All the shinigami, who had facial expressions of amusement or laughter, instantly sobered. Ichigo was the one who broke the awkward silence. "You have… abilities, Luna," he said. It was best not to lie, but now he had the challenge of not lying while at the same time not revealing too much information that might spark a sudden memory recall. "Abilities that are greater than your fellow wizards and witches. Abilities that are similar to our own."

"It's called kidou," Momo continued, picking up where Ichigo left off. "It's different from regular wizarding magic in that wizards draw power from their magical cores, focusing them through their wands." It wasn't a lie: what the wizards called a magical core, the root of their power, was actually their latent reiatsu. "In kidou, we manifest our magical cores, which we call reiatsu, and, using our pure intent, shape the power to form the various spells."

Luna's eyes widened. "So my suspicions were true!"

The shinigami's eyes widened as well, though for different reasons. "What… what do you mean by 'suspicions'?" Momo stuttered, trying desperately to hide her alarm. If Luna knew about kidou, then any further information could very possibly trigger a recall.

The blonde was about to speak, but suddenly clutched her head in agony.

"Luna?" asked Ichigo, worry coloring his tone. "What's wrong?"

The pain got worse, and Luna's breath came in ragged, short gasps. She felt agony lance through her head, each spike accompanied by a sudden image: a silver-haired man, smiling sinisterly; a large-chested woman swigging from a ceramic bottle; a girl with brown hair tied in pigtails and a boy with vibrant red hair and tattoos grinning at her; a large creature with far too many legs to be normal grinning down at her madly. "I… I don't… what is this…?" Her wide gray eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she collapsed in a heap.

"Luna!" As one, the shinigami ran to her side, Ichigo lifting her arm to check her pulse at her wrist. He looked up grimly.

"This is what I was afraid would happen. I didn't know the extent of the memory recall, but it seems to be further along than I had expected. There wasn't enough that we said that could have triggered a recall. This isn't normal." He took the unconscious blonde in his arms and laid her down gently on the couch.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Momo worriedly, while the others looked on in concern. "Healing kidou, anything? Maybe we can call Unohana-taicho?"

"Calm down, Momo," Ichigo said soothingly, although he still looked serious. His golden eyes flashed with worry. "With luck, she won't go into complete recall. But if she does, we can only pray for her mental stability." He sighed heavily, running a hand through his orange hair. "This is my fault. I should have stuck to protocol. I knew that she was showing signs of recall, but I still let you guys see her." His head whipped up to stare around at the gathered shinigami, who were beginning to look worried at his behavior. "But I couldn't deny you this chance! You lost Kira already, and now you had a chance to see Luna…" His hands clenched into fists, and white began seeping into his orange hair. Black began flooding his sclera, while the gold in his pupils brightened, glowing in the flickering light of the fireplace.

"I… this is my fault…" he said, voice tinged with anger and anguish and frustration. "I knew the risks for Luna, and it would have been best for her if she didn't meet you. But what about you, Momo? And you, Hisagi? How could I have denied your request? How… there was no right choice… I picked one, and now we might lose her again! Even after promising, I still can't protect people…" A tear streamed down his cheek as he thought of that fateful mission fifty years ago. "Kira…"

SMACK! "Snap out of it, Ichigo!" demanded his diminutive wife, who still managed to intimidate and beat the snot out of the orange-haired captain. "You sulking over what happened fifty years ago isn't going to help! What's done is done. And you couldn't possibly have made a better choice. You said it yourself, didn't you? This isn't a normal occurrence. You couldn't have foreseen this happening! So stop blaming yourself and pull yourself together!"

The other shinigami sighed in relief as the white began fading from his hair, his sclera reverting to its usual white. They knew the damage Ichigo could do with his hollow reiatsu when he got worked up, and they could only thank Rukia's quick thinking for bringing him back to his senses.

Ichigo coughed, rubbing his cheek, which was an angry red from Rukia's slap. "Sorry, guys," he said shamefacedly. "I still can't help but get pissed at myself when I think about that incident. I guess it's my fatal flaw, huh? Bring up my failure to protect someone I love, and I'll just break down and lose control."

"You need to stop blaming yourself for these things, Ichigo," said Byakuya. "Kira's death wasn't your fault. You didn't know that Yammy was the Cero Espada. Even Gin didn't know."

Ichigo breathed out slowly and was silent for a while. "I guess you're right," he said finally. Looking over at Luna's prone form lying on the couch, he turned back to the group of shinigami. "There are other important matters to discuss. Lord Voldemort is not dead, and he is trying to return to a functioning body. As it were, he will most likely target Potter, since supposedly Potter was the one who killed him fifteen years ago. Because of this, we need Potter alive."

Before he could continue, though, Toushiro held up a hand, silencing him. "I sense unidentified reiatsu. Someone's listening."

Ichigo stiffened as he too reached out with his senses, encountering three familiar reiatsus. He cursed silently under his breath. "I can't believe I'm so negligent that I didn't even check."

Rukia placed a hand placatingly on his arm. "We were all worried about Luna, Ichigo. It wasn't your fault, it was all of ours'."

Ichigo nodded grimly. He snapped his finger, and the portrait-door was sealed off with a thud, a glass-like barrier appearing over the only entrance, and exit, to his chambers. Rising from his seat on the couch, he faced the doorway and spoke, apparently to thin air. "Was getting caught once not enough to teach you a lesson, Potter? Eavesdropping isn't a polite thing to do, you know."

There was no response, not that Ichigo had expected one. The other shinigami remained seated, though. He could handle this himself. He vanished in an instant, and when he reappeared in a flurry of black, the shinigami found themselves with company.

Ichigo dropped the silvery invisibility cloak onto the ground, next to the three students, who were now staring horrorstruck, their cover having been blown once again. Turning the full force of his glare at the three, Ichigo said slowly, "What do you think you three are doing here?"

"P-please, sir," said Granger, fear written clearly across her face. "W-w-we just w-wanted to f-find out what you wanted with L-Luna, sir. We didn't mean to e-eavesdrop."

Ichigo scoffed. "Oh, please. Don't give me your pathetic excuses. You wanted to find out more about me, didn't you? Wait, don't tell me. You're still laboring under the delusion that I'm a Death Eater."

The red-headed Weasley blurted out, "But you just basically admitted it yourself! You said that Lord V- You Know Who was coming back, and that he needs Harry alive! You're here to capture Harry, aren't you? Death Eater scum!"

Ichigo rolled his golden eyes. Apparently Weasley was so fixated on the idea that he was a Death Eater that he had completely forgotten about the five other captain-level shinigami in the room, who had a mere half hour ago faced down the Minister of Magic and a full contingent of Aurors, and sent them with their tails between their legs back to wherever they came from. Fool.

"Even if I were a Death Eater, there's nothing you can do about it," he said condescendingly. "If the Minister of Magic couldn't, what could you, a mere student, hope to achieve?"

"We'll tell Dumbledore!" burst out Harry, finally overcoming his shock to speak. "Even if you can't get arrested, he could still have you evicted from the school."

Ichigo threw his head back and laughed. "Dumbledore!" he scoffed. "The old man trusts me! I am, after all, a respectable government representative from magical Japan. Whose word do you think he'll believe, yours or mine?"

Before any of the trio could respond, Ichigo snapped his fingers again, unsealing the door, which swung open slowly. He turned his back on the trio, gesturing towards the open portal. "Go. Get out of my sight. And the next time I find any of you eavesdropping on top secret meetings, or trespassing, you won't be unpunished, I assure you of that. I am going easy on you today because I have much more important things to attend to than a few meddling students.

"If you aren't a Death Eater, then prove it! Show us your left arm!" shouted Weasley defiantly, even as Potter and Granger hastily tugged him towards the door.

A whistling cut the air, and Weasley squeaked in surprise as a sleek black dagger embedded itself in the wall beside him, the blade cutting through the stone of the wall like it were nothing more than butter. "I don't have to prove anything to you, child. Now get out before I change my mind."

The door slammed shut as Potter and Granger finally pulled the now-pale Weasley out of the room, leaving Ichigo and the other shinigami alone. Ichigo stared angrily at the now-closed door and muttered, "Damn interfering students, can't keep their noses out of other peoples' business…"

A sudden shifting sound caught their attention, and the shinigami turned as one to the couch, where the unconscious Luna was lying.

She shifted and groaned. "What… what happened?" Blinking open her eyes, the blonde looked groggily around. Momo and Hisagi gasped aloud and the others gaped in shock. The once-gray eyes of the young blonde were now a familiar, piercing blue.

#

Phew! Man, this chapter took so long to write! I feel like I made a mistake in the last chapter by involving Luna so quickly, but I don't like changing things after I've already published them. So this is my attempt to fix my perceived mistakes, which may not be mistakes at all. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Also, for those of you who read When Genius Meets Death, I find that I'm a bit at an impasse with that story. Somehow, I just can't bring myself to write the next bit. Hopefully I'll be able to post the next chapter soon, but no guarantees. Don't worry, it's not on hiatus!

Also, I just completely rewatched both seasons of the anime Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. Holy crap. I can honestly say that it is the BEST anime I've ever watched (not including Bleach since I don't really watch the Bleach anime). Even after a second time, it still managed to make me cry like a baby at the end (my sister can attest to that), and there isn't much in the world that can make me cry like that. Definitely my favorite anime ever, I highly recommend it to all of you.

Thanks for reading this chapter, and I'll see you next time for the selection of champions!

~fokker333