Author's note
Haha! Finished before the month ended! Got a bit distracted this month going through my collection of favorited Bleach stories on here in an attempt to thin it out, only to find that I really do like what I favorited. Go figure.
Anyhoo, on with the chapter!
"I searched those terms you heard when Ichigo explained Kon and I barely found anything." Hermione announces as she drops a small pile of books down on the bed. She had been doing research over the past few days to see if anything more could be uncovered, but had gotten disappointingly few results.
"But you did find something?" Harry inquires. They had been poking around quietly, gathering together when they had a moment of respite from Sirius's Christmas decorating frenzy.
"Well, yes, but I'm not really sure that it means much of anything." Hermione says as she opens a few of the books to the marked pages.
"Just tell us already." Ron says. He's sure she has at least a few thoughts on it, even if it's nothing she can solidly prove.
"I only found one term: shinigami." Hermione says, pointing to a picture with disfigured, human-like shapes drawn in an old Japanese style. "According to this, shinigami is literally translated as 'Death God' with the actual being represented as something between a malicious spirit that causes people to want to commit suicide to the equivalent of the Grim Reaper."
"You're kidding, right? I mean, a god?" Ron says incredulously. It doesn't compute. Wizards aren't the religious type, so the thought of some supernatural being unbound by the laws of the universe or acting as an enforcer of those laws is crazy. Sure, The Tale of the Three Brothers says that they met Death as a person, but it was a bedtime story, not real, wasn't it?
"Yes, Ron, that's what this says, but as I already told you, I don't think it means much. It's probably just a title of some sort like Ichigo said."
"If it is 'just a title', doesn't that imply that he's killed a lot of people?" Harry whispers with a note of dread. Hermione and Ron pale as the idea is brought to their attention.
"But Ichigo wouldn't –" Hermione tries to refute.
"He could see the thestrals, Hermione. He could have seen someone die because he killed them." Harry says with horror. Ichigo had said that he didn't want to kill everyone he fought, not that he hadn't ever wanted to kill nor that he wouldn't kill, even if he didn't really want to. "I mean, what else would a 'Death God' do except kill people?"
The trio wishes to deny such a concept, but they find that they can't. For all of the big brother kindness he shows, there is always that undercurrent of danger and lethality that Ichigo can't, or maybe doesn't, hide. Something deadly that becomes only too apparent when the self-proclaimed shinigami's temper flares up, when he's ready to really fight. They can't wipe away the memories of that evening in the Room of Requirement, the feeling of terror, of death, that accompanied Ichigo's other form. No, they can't deny that Ichigo could kill, and kill a lot if he felt like it.
"Geez, you guys don't trust Ichigo much, and after all he's done to help you too."
The trio jumps as Kon comes out from under the bed in plushy form before climbing up the sheets to stand on top of the books.
"The only thing Ichigo kills is monsters, and even then it's not really killing, he just purifies them." Kon explains, paws on hips with an air of superiority. "Didn't you know that a 'Death God' can be a guardian and overseer of the spirit world?"
"Monsters?" "Spirit world?"
"Just listen to Kon-sama and I'll set you straight!" the plush exclaims, chest puffing out. "There are other worlds out there, worlds of spirits. One of is a lot like this world where some of the spirits are saintly, some of them are evil, crazy bastards, and most of them are in-between. Another is filled to the brim with monsters that would like nothing better than to devour every being they come across. As a shinigami, Ichigo guides new spirits to the former and purifies the monstrous spirits so they can go to the 'good' world too."
"How does no one know about all this?" Hermione asks. She had looked into all sorts of books and not found a word of any of this.
"Well, most people can't see spirits, so they don't know any better and a little memory tweaking makes it so that any mysterious explosions or random destruction caused by fighting spirits suddenly has a possible cause. Those who can see spirits keep quiet because they're either taught to or don't want to be considered crazy by the world in general." Kon explains. "Although there is this one guy who is making some crazy cash with a TV show that follows him around as he chases spirits…" Kon murmurs.
"Could we see spirits?" Ron asks, intrigued by the notion that there's something besides thestrals that most people can't see.
"Sure, but you're not likely to see them here. The… well I guess you could call it the spiritual center of this world, is located in Japan, so almost every spirit that comes to this world is going to show up there or in the surrounding areas because it has the energies they need."
"I see, so that's why they keep saying we can't learn their magic. It has to do with those spirit worlds, right?" Hermione asks. "But if we can see spirits…?"
"Well, there's a difference between seeing spirits and being able to fight them." Kon says. "Basically, some people are born with innate abilities that can be used to fight spirits and others are exposed to enough spiritual energy that they become able to see spirits. Ichigo's got a couple of friends back home like that who can see, but don't have any powers."
"So how do they know we don't have these 'abilities'?" Harry asks. If the Japanese stopped telling him he couldn't learn their skills and actually let him try, maybe he could learn them and have an edge over Voldemort.
Kon gives Harry a sad look. "Because we can sense spiritual power in others. No one here has spiritual powers beyond sight." Kon feels bad for having to crush Harry's hopes for a bit more safety from Voldemort, but it couldn't be changed. "And even if we were unaware of your power, with all the life threatening things you've been through, any power you might have had would have already shown itself."
"Oh…" Harry says, looking downcast.
"Look, don't worry about it. Voldemort doesn't have them either and the people he's picked up that do have them are why we're here. We protect the worlds from bad spirits, whether it's their inherent nature or choice to threaten others. You're safe because Ichigo may be a jerk sometimes, but he doesn't lose." Kon says, looking the trio in the eyes and somehow conveying deep conviction with his bead eyes.
And somehow the plush's convictions do comfort them.
Christmas dawned bright and cheery with a stack of presents waiting expectantly at the foot of Harry's bed. It was, generally speaking, a fine haul. As Harry was trying to discover what exactly the dreadful painting that Dobby sent him was supposed to be of, Fred and George Apparate into the room with a loud crack.
"Merry Christmas!" George says. "Don't go downstairs for a bit."
"What? Why?" Ron asks, confused at the follow up to the holiday greeting.
"Mum's crying again." Fred replies sadly. It's never a nice thing to see a parent heartbroken. "Percy sent back his Christmas jumper."
The twins shortly explain the cold distance that their older brother is keeping with both parents, showing no concern for their hospitalized father, and that since their attempts at cheering her up had failed they had left it to Lupin and some visiting girl. Before Harry could ask anything about this visitor, the twins had moved on to trying to figure out his painting, finding more success than Harry since George found a label on the back identifying it to be a portrait of Harry.
Once they were dressed and ready to head downstairs, having assumed an appropriate amount of time had passed for Mrs. Weasley to calm down, they were met with an unexpected sight: Ichigo was floating a giant Christmas present down the hallway towards the stairs. Ron opens his mouth in question, but Ichigo, having spotted them, places a finger to his lips in the universal symbol for silence. Ron shuts his mouth and the boys silently follow Ichigo and his floating present to the top of the stairs. There Ichigo gently lowers it so that the box is carefully perched on the top step, kept from tumbling down the staircase by his steadying hand on the lid.
"Gee, I wonder what this present could be?" Ichigo says loudly in a tone that clearly states that he knows the exact contents of this box. It only raises the question as to why Ichigo was posturing in the other boys' minds. At least until they heard what sounded suspiciously like muffled giggles coming from inside the present.
"Guess I'll just have to open it and find out…"
"MEEEERRRRYYYY CHRISTMAAAAAAS ICHI–HWAGH!"
To the boys' great surprise, the present opened itself after Ichigo's comment about opening it, though 'opened' may be too gentle a word. Rather the lid exploded upward as a man with dark hair and a stubble beard shouted a holiday greeting and tried to pounce out of it, 'tried' being the operative word. The man obviously hadn't realized that Ichigo had moved the present to a new and more precarious position, nor that Ichigo's hand on the lid was the only thing preventing him and the box he had been in from tumbling down the staircase, which they now did with many thumps and grunts from impacts.
"Baka Oyaji. (Stupid Dad)" Ichigo calls down with a smirk once the man and box have come to rest at the bottom of the stairs, the man having come free of the box halfway down.
"[Ichigo, my son, how could you do this to your poor daddy?!]"
The man wails up the stairs in Japanese to Ichigo, who is quick to respond in kind with what are obviously scathing remarks if his tone and expression are any indication, as he goes down the stairs, the other boys warily following.
"Is everyone alright? It sounded like someone fell down the stairs." Hermione worries, coming to the staircase with Ginny in tow.
"We're alright." Fred replies. "Don't know about him though." He tilts his head toward the downed man who's still whining at Ichigo.
"Who is he anyway?" George asks no one in particular.
"That is Kurosaki's father."
Harry and the others startle at Uryu's response. They hadn't realized that he had joined them in the migration downstairs.
"His dad?" Harry asks in disbelief. What kind of person drops their dad down a staircase? "Then why –?"
"Theirs is not the… typical father-son bond. It is my understanding that Isshin-san tends to engage in mock fights with Kurosaki all the time, much to Kurosaki's annoyance, so it is not necessarily odd for such damage to be inflicted between the two." Uryu explains. Truthfully, the Quincy hasn't ever really seen much interaction between the Kurosaki men. The times that he has visited Ichigo's home, Isshin was usually working in the clinic or had the tact to stay out of the way since it was more of a 'team meeting' than a social call, so what Uryu knew of their interaction was more along the lines of Ichigo's complaints.
They had reached the bottom of the stairs at this point and Isshin jumps up and launches himself at Ichigo.
"SUPPAA-DADDII RABU TAKKURUUU! (Super-Daddy Love Tackle)"
Only for his face to slam into Ichigo's raised foot.
"[GIVE IT UP ALREADY, OLD MAN!]" Ichigo roars, grinding his heel into his father's back.
"[A flawless counter, Daddy's so proud!]"
"URUSAI! TEME WA– (shut up! You {in an insulting way})" Ichigo stops mid-roar, sniffing the air. His eyes widen and what looks like a genuine smile starts on his face before he dashes for the kitchen, carelessly stepping on his dad.
The others pause for a moment, noticing a scent that is obviously food, but not something the British teens can identify, before chasing after Ichigo.
"Yuzu! Karin!"
"Ichi-nii!" "Onii-chan!"
They arrive in time to see a teenage girl with light brown hair happily latch onto Ichigo in a hug which he returns with a grin, reaching out and dragging a dark haired girl who seems to be just as happy, if not as expressive of it, into the hug when she comes within his reach. For a moment they wonder if somehow they missed a swap-out with Kon because Ichigo doesn't usually smile with such carefree abandon. The lighter haired girl is quick to babble away in Japanese to Ichigo and he replies fondly. When the black haired one says something with mock annoyance he returns it with a mock scolding and ruffles her hair, causing her to swat at his hand.
"Ano, Yuzu-chan?" Orihime calls out, glancing between the happy reunion and the breakfast on the stove top. With a small "eep!" Yuzu untangles herself from the hug and goes back to cooking.
"Who are they?" Ginny asks politely.
"These are my little sisters, Yuzu and Karin." Ichigo says, gesturing to the girls in turn.
Pleasantries are exchanged with the holiday visitors and fun is had by all. Shinji gets a good laugh going around when he notices that Ichigo, Orihime, and Uryu sitting next to each other in their Weasley sweaters spells out "I O U", much to Uryu and Ichigo's embarrassment. More gifts are passed around from what Isshin and his daughters brought with them, Rukia's self-illustrated copy of Romeo and Juliet received with a groan by Ichigo (She knows I hate her drawings) and laughter at the childish drawings by most of the guys (Oh where for art thou, my bunnykins?).
After a wonderful lunch, curtesy of Yuzu and Mrs. Weasley, Harry, the Weasleys, Lupin, Moody, and Uryu went to visit Mr. Weasley. Shortly after they stop in to see Mr. Weasley, the children bail-out for tea to avoid hearing Mrs. Weasley chew Mr. Weasley's head off for attempting to use stiches, Bill, Fred, and George fleeing earlier than the rest because they recognized the signs sooner.
"Typical Dad." Ginny says with a shake of her head as she, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Uryu head for the tearoom. "Stitches… I ask you…"
"When properly administered, stitches are quiet effective in preventing a person from bleeding out since they hold the wound shut. I suspect that your father's were poorly done and that he was unaware that moving the wrong way will reopen the wound." Uryu lectures. "Medicine tends to be a matter of doing things properly for the best results and when done poorly it will often make things worse."
"Yes, well, I'm sure they'll get Mr. Weasley sorted out." Hermione says. "…I wonder where the tearoom is?"
"Fifth floor." Harry replies, remembering the sign at the welcome desk.
The four walk in silence for a while before Ginny asks, "Why didn't you stay behind with the others. Uryu?"
He gives her a sidelong glance before answering, "Mostly because I don't think I could handle much more of Isshin-san and his antics. To be honest, at this point I'm glad to get away. I don't think I could take another round of Put the Hat on the Santa. Or anything else Isshin-san might cook up."
The others shudder. The game was some sort of unholy conglomeration of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Hide and Seek, and Tag, where everyone was blindfolded, and no one knew who the 'Santa' was except the previous 'It'. In the end, everyone was crashing into walls and each other, and they could hear every time Isshin tried to pounce on Ichigo or Uryu and it wasn't always possible to get completely clear. Not to mention all the awkwardness of how one might bump into another. No, it was a terrifying game that really had no business in existing.
"What about your family? Why didn't they come and visit?" Ginny asks, trying to change the subject. Uryu's sharp glance makes her back track a bit. "I mean, if you don't mind sharing…?"
"…Ryuuken and I don't get along." It takes a moment for them to realize that Uryu is referring to his father by name rather than the usual paternal title of some sort. "And seeing as he's the only 'close' family I have, I wasn't expecting or desiring any special guests for Christmas."
"What about Orihime? I would think she'd want to see her family for the holidays."
Uryu's gaze becomes a little sad. "Inoue-san has no close family. She was raised by her brother, but he died several years ago. I'm sure though that she's enjoying being treated as a part of Kurosaki's family right now. It's a wonder that she puts up so well with Isshin-san."
The others make sounds of agreement.
As the group reaches the fourth floor, Harry stops, spotting a face he never thought he would see again through a window. It is Gilderoy Lockhart, ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and narcissistic faker extraordinaire. Unfortunately, at least in Harry's opinion and probably Ron's as well, Lockhart comes out to see them, offering autographs all around and not taking 'no' for an answer. Before they could withdraw from his presence, the Healer looking after him comes out and assumes them to be guests for Lockhart and none of them have the heart to prove the motherly and doting Healer wrong.
As Lockhart signs a stack of pictures for them, the Healer passes out Christmas presents, commenting upon how nice the gifts are to her patients, something they were all only half listening to until they heard her say, "Oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?"
Harry and Uryu quickly turn to see a formidable looking old witch with what Uryu finds to be a very questionable taste in fashion, followed by Neville. Harry immediately knows who occupies the end beds that the pair was departing from and Uryu can guess that they are close to Neville and the reason Neville tried to fight Malfoy earlier in the year. Harry tries to find something to distract the others so that Neville and his grandmother can leave unobtrusively, but it is too late as Ron has also looked up at the sound of a familiar name and before Uryu could slap a hand over his mouth, he calls out, "Neville!"
The poor boy jumps at the sound of Ron's voice before pulling in on himself, as if that might make him invisible and get him out of conversing with his schoolmates.
"It's us, Neville!" Ron calls out brightly, as if they were meeting in a nice park and not the mental ward of a hospital were people who are mostly lost to the world are sent. "Have you seen? Lockhart's here! Who've you been visiting?"
Uryu is so very tempted to put Ron into a headlock, force him to apologize, and then bodily drag him from the room for his tactless, thoughtless actions. It is only by reminding himself that Ron has led a highly sheltered life in terms of loss (and not wanting to stoop to Ichigo's level of problem solving) that he restrains himself from doing so.
"Friends of yours, Neville, dear?" Neville's grandmother kindly asks Neville, whose face was becoming flushed with embarrassment as he avoids eye contact and looks for a possible escape.
Neville's grandmother closely scrutinizes them, then offers a claw-like hand for them to shake, identifying them in turn until she comes to Uryu.
"And you are?"
"Uryu Ishida, hajimemashite." Uryu says with a slight bow.
"Ah, one of those transfer students Neville's told me about. Says you're all quite kind." She replies, dipping her head in turn and Harry worries her vulture hat might come off. "Neville's a good boy, but he hasn't got his father's talent, I'm afraid to say…" she continues, jerking her head toward the beds at the end of the ward.
"What?" Ron says in amazement, and Harry and Uryu both wish they could do something that wasn't so obvious to shut the boy up. "Is that your dad down there, Neville?"
The fact that they were unaware of the predicament his parents were in leads to Neville's grandmother scolding him, telling him to take pride in the fact that they fought Voldemort and his forces to the point that one his followers decided to torture them into insanity. Uryu has half a mind to try and talk the old woman down, seeing the discomfort it brings his classmate. Uryu is well aware that some things that happen with your parents aren't things you really want to share, whether there is pride in those actions or not.
Then Neville's mother comes forward to give Neville a bubble gum wrapper, something his grandmother seems to be fed-up with, but for which the boy himself seems to have genuine appreciation of because it shows that somewhere in that locked up, fractured mind, there is remembrance and love. The fact that Neville gives the others a look that dares them to laugh makes them feel all the more guilty for stumbling into something so private and heart-wrenching.
They watch Neville and his grandmother leave without saying a word.
"I never knew." Hermione says, tears in her eyes and guilt in her voice.
"Nor did I." Ron hoarsely says, guilty regret for his inconsiderate actions swimming in his eyes.
"Nor me." Ginny whispers sadly.
The three look at Uryu and Harry when the two don't follow closely on their denials.
"I suspected that he had family who were not well in mind back when he was so adamant on fighting Malfoy on the first day of classes." Uryu says quietly. "But I saw no reason to pry into his personal history."
"I knew." Harry glumly confesses. "Dumbledore told me but I promised I wouldn't mention it…" A comforting hand on his shoulder from Uryu shows the Quincy's respect and approval for keeping that promise. "That's what Bellatrix Lestrange got sent to Azkaban for, using the Cruciatus Curse on Neville's parents until they lost their minds."
"Bellatrix Lestrange did that?" Hermione whispers, absolutely horrified that someone could be so cruel as to break another's mind with pain. "That woman Kreacher's got a photo pf in his den?" Maybe the house-elf wasn't so innocent and senile as she tried to make the others believe.
The rest of Christmas break was decidedly less merry. Isshin, Yuzu, and Karin had left by the time they returned from the hospital, though Ichigo's content mood had lasted the rest of the day. Sirius seemed to have realized after Christmas day had passed that the kids who made his empty house more cheerful would soon be leaving and was subject to bouts of sullenness. Harry thought that wouldn't mind following his godfather's lead in these withdrawals from company because for once he barely wanted to return to Hogwarts. Too much had gone wrong this year, most of it stemming from Umbridge, leaving the D.A. as the only thing worthwhile there.
Things only seemed to become worse when Harry learned that he was being required to take extra lessons with Snape of all people to learn Occlumency. It was not helped by the fact that Sirius and Snape got at each other's throats, letting old rivalries burn again. They had pulled their wands on each other and were only an insult or two away from dueling when they suddenly found themselves flat on their backs, gasping for air and not daring to move.
Perched above them were Shinji and Urahara, Urahara's cane resting above Sirius's throat and Shinji's hand above Snape's, both giving the feeling of blades being held to their throats rather than the innocuous things that were actually there.
"Ara, ara. Shouldn't adults leave schoolyard fights to the children?" Urahara calmly questions, what could be a gentle smile on his lips if it weren't for the dangerous light in his eyes that could just be seen from under the shadow of his hat.
"Guess they don't know how ta set an example for the little brats." Shinji easily agrees, a smug and dangerous grin on his face.
Snape and Sirius glare at their captors, defiant yet afraid.
"Well, I think they've been reminded that they're on the same team, so I believe we're done here." Urahara says and the two stand up, allowing their captives to do the same.
"Jus' don' forget to play nice now, ya hear?" Shinji mocks them, earning a glare from the two wizards.
Before Snape or Sirius can say anything the kitchen door bursts open, admitting all of the Weasleys, the Japanese teens, and Hermione, all looking quite happy with Mr. Weasley proudly in their midst, released from the hospital.
"Cured! Completely cured!" Mr. Weasley proudly announces, only to come to a stop with the rest of the party upon finding Sirius and Snape giving murderous glares to each other, Shinji, and Urahara. "What's going on here?" he asks, smile slipping away at the tension within the room.
"Oh, just a little disagreement is all!" Urahara cheerily replies, fan out and waving off the matter. "We've already settled it though, haven't we?" he says, cheery smile in place, but sliding a glare at Snape and Sirius.
The two mutter affirmations as wands are discreetly pocketed and Snape leaves, though he stops in the doorway to remind Harry of when their first lesson will be.
And what an awful lesson it is. Even being successful in asking Cho Chang out for a Valentine's Day date can't provide enough cheer by the time Harry goes to Snape's office for his first lesson in Occlumency. It doesn't take long at all to realize that this will be exactly as bad as Harry thought it would be, if not worse because he hadn't thought that Snape would be reading his mind, seeing some of his worst or most private memories. The only seemingly good thing to come from the lesson is that Harry is finally able to piece together from his viewed memories and Snape's reactions to his questions that whatever weapon Voldemort was seeking was hidden in the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Mysteries.
The night, unfortunately, did not end on a high note. Instead, more bad news rolled in because something had happened. Something that made Voldemort happy, and Harry knew that whatever made the mad man happy enough to share across their mysterious link was bad news for the rest of them.
Author's Note
So some out of season holiday fun. It's mostly a joking chapter, I know, but we're working our way towards more fun stuff. Promise.
Anyhoo, a bit on the recent manga chapters. Urahara's bankai is awesome, Toshiro and Byakuya make a great comedy duo, and I won't believe this "Yachiru is Kenpachi's zanpakuto" shtick until we get an explicit confirmation because too much doesn't add up if that's right. Yachiru has memories of before she met Kenpachi and she has her own shikai, so just no. I also don't care for the fact that apparently Kenpachi's already gonna have his bankai. He's cool because he doesn't have/need one! Not to mention that there's Shinji and Love are in the area who have bankai, being ex-captains, that we haven't seen! But meh, Kubo does what Kubo wants and I will probably still enjoy it.
Please comment/review to tell me how I did.