Within the Eternity Circle
Chapter 1: He Who Conquered Death
Name: Kurosaki Ichigo
Age: 17
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Orange
Occupation: Ex-Soul Reaper, High school Student, part-time worker at Unagiya Shop
Notable Achievements: Achieving Shikai in one day, Invading the Soul Society, achieving Bankai within two days, Invading Hueco Mundo, overtaking Las Noches, defeating an immortal in single combat, saved the world
Ichigo muttered to himself as he focused on the page below him, willing the black ink that made up it's text to make sense. He knew this, he was sure of it. The questions were just mathematics, he had this. It was easy, he was sure of it.
Ichigo just had to focus on his work and ignore everything else, like the fact that Chad had been missing from class for over ten minutes. He had rushed to his feet during the beginning of the test and scrambled out claiming bathroom problems. Which was a lie, of course. The whole class knew it, the substitute knew it, and Ichigo knew it.
Chad had to be fighting a hollow that was the only reason he'd be gone for this long. Inoue and Ishida had somewhat worried looks on their faces, so Ichigo could only guess that it was a strong one. He wondered what level it was, or if Chad was just taking his time fighting it...
No! Ichigo snapped at himself. Stay focused! Forget about it! That isn't your problem anymore! He ran his hand roughly through his orange hair and glared down at his test sheet, determined to ignore anything relating to the supernatural. The spiritual world wasn't his scene anymore, so what if Chad was fighting a hollow? So what?
It wasn't like he and Chad really hung out all that much anymore, Ichigo was busy adjusting to a normal human life and Chad was doing his own thing. Which happened to be practicing with his band and fighting any of the Hollows that wandered their way into Karakura town.
It wasn't any big horrific split, they just grew apart. Ichigo had to pick his life up from the gutter, and Chad was doing what he was doing with Inoue and Ishida. It was no one's fault, Ichigo's friends were just part of a world that he didn't belong in. Hanging out with them would cause him to wonder, or it would put him in danger.
Because Ichigo was too weak to defend himself, especially from invisible monsters that ate souls; some of which were the size of builds and had uniquely gruesome abilities. But it was fine, in its own way. Ichigo didn't miss the annoying buzz of ghosts as they followed him everywhere.
He didn't miss the painful and terrifying fights that he put himself through. He didn't miss the battles or sacrifices that he made. He didn't miss being a Soul Reaper at all; it was a thankless job, why would he miss it? The robes were stupid, the rules were stupid, and he had never even gotten paid for doing it.
Ichigo's family and home was safe. His debt to Rukia was paid. In fact, she and the entire world owed him, not that anyone would admit it. He had saved the world and didn't even get a cheerful 'good job' or a slap on the back. Or a thank you. At all.
Being a Soul Reaper was a thankless job.
So what if he and his team had grown apart? So what, if he hadn't heard a peep from the Soul Society in over a year? It was really funny, that even Urahara disappeared from the radar too and Ichigo hadn't seen any annoying black cats in a long time. So what?
Ichigo bit his lip and kept his gaze downward. Suddenly, he just wanted to jump up and punch someone in the face. To just let all of this anger out on someone, someone that Ichigo could beat the hell out of and get beaten up in return.
A soft hand rested on his shoulder and Ichigo almost jumped out of his skin. It was only then did he realize that his eyes were closed painfully tight and his fists were clenched in something resembling rage. It took a few seconds, but he managed to take a deep breath and look to his right.
Tatsuki sat to the side of him, several inches away in a desk of her own. Her sheet was turned upside down to hide its answers from cheaters. Her hand was resting on his shoulder while her brown eyes stared into his. Slowly, she moved her hand back to her lap, but her gaze stayed locked to his.
Her features were a mixture of worried and confused, it was clear that she was wondering about just what made Ichigo so angry. But instead of responding to her in some positive way, Ichigo just shook his head and turned back to his test.
Tatsuki wouldn't understand. She wouldn't get what he was feeling and Ichigo didn't know how to tell her–hell, he didn't even know what he was feeling! He was stumbling from anger, to sadness, to depression, and sweet, sweet apathy. Ichigo was beginning to wonder if Ulquiorra had it right all along, emotions seemed really useless right now.
Ichigo stole a quick glance around the class and realized that Chad had came back sometime during his mini-funk. He hadn't even noticed when the large teen entered the classroom. Before he would have noticed, back when he had powers he would have noticed.
Ichigo spent the next several minutes wondering about the Hollow Chad fought before the bell rang and class ended. He quickly jumped from his seat, handed the test to the substitute, and was out the door before Tastuki could catch him.
He never did finish that test.
[-]
The next two classes passed quickly. Ichigo only had to avoid Tatsuki for one period, since they didn't have the same schedule. Soon enough he found himself alone on the roof with Keigo, of all people.
They stood together in silence, leaning against the roof's guardrail and overlooking Karakura Town. The silence wasn't thick or awkward, but Ichigo could tell that his friend was preparing to say something. They stood there for several more minutes before Keigo spoke up.
"Ichigo, are you alright man?" The brunette waited several seconds for an answer, but just got an runt in return. "Seriously dude, are you alright? Seriously."
Ichigo sighed before looking up to the sky. Great, now Keigo was worried about him. Swell. "I'm fine. Why?"
Keigo stared at him for a long minute before replying, his words lacked any of his trademark goofiness. "I saw you in Math earlier; it looked like you were having a panic attack or something." He shrugged to himself before going on. "I dunno, I was just checking."
"Yeah, I'm alright." Ichigo lied to his friend with a smile on his face. "I'm fine. I ended up falling asleep in my seat and had a nightmare or something. When I woke up I had to stop myself from screaming my head off."
The lie was weak, way too weak, but Keigo seemed to take it at face value. "Oh, alright. What was it about? Clowns? Murderer? Zombie invasion, or alien invasion? Or...was it about Hollows? Soul Reapers? Or maybe some other bullshit reason you're planning on feeding me." But the end of his rant, Keigo was turned fully towards Ichigo and his gaze was far too serious.
Ichigo's reluctance to talk doubled and his desire to leave quadrupled the minute his friend finished speaking. He had no idea what to say, and he really didn't want to have this conversation with Keigo of all people. Actually, he'd much prefer that Keigo go back to being goofy and drop his seriousness. It was creeping him out.
"I'm fine." Ichigo grunted, keeping his gaze stretched over the buildings in the distance and not to his companion. "I said that I am fine." He growled out as Keigo opened his mouth to speak again. His friend's jaw closed with a snap and a frown while silence filled out between them once more; except this time it was strained.
After a while Keigo spoke up once again. "Something is wrong." He ignored Ichigo's annoyed glare and continued to speak without pause. "During class, Tatsuki asked if I could get anything out of you. I guess she felt that you might've told me." Keigo's brown hair bounced as he shook his head and let out a bitter chuckle. "I don't know why, you've never told me anything important. Not really."
Ichigo quirked an eyebrow, where was this coming from? "Hey, what the hell are you talking about? Of co–"
Keigo cut him off with a scoff. "Whatever man, I don't even care anymore." The teen flung his juice box off of the roof and turned away from Ichigo to gather his bag. "It doesn't even matter right now. Tatsuki said that if you wouldn't talk, she'd get you after school." Keigo pulled his schoolbag onto his shoulder and turned to leave.
"She said that she'd meet you by the front entrance, and to come right after class. She also said that if you don't, she'd sit in your house all day and kick your ass when you came home." Ending the conversation; Keigo skulked off grumbling underneath his breath.
Ichigo was left confused and alone on the guardrail, wondering just what the hell had happened.
[-]
Class was ending and Ichigo was gathering his notebook and school supplies in his bag with haste. He didn't fancy meeting with his violent, karate champion friend after school when she knew he had avoided her. Tatsuki was hard to handle at the best of times, he didn't need her being angry on top of that.
After shoving the last pencil in his pocket Ichigo rushed out the door without saying goodbye to Chad, Inoue, Ishida or anyone else. He didn't have the time for pleasantries if he wanted to avoid Tatsuki. The girl could be a damn bloodhound when she had enough motivation.
Moving quickly down the halls, Ichigo sped past students and teachers alike in his efforts to escape. He took the the rear stairway and jumped and skipped as many steps as he could before he reached the last flight and flung himself over it completely.
Landing easily, he was able to make his way over to the school's back entrance. Which was on the exact opposite side of the school that Tatsuki was waiting for him on. Normally students weren't supposed to use this exit, but Ichigo had broken more than a few school rules in his life and one more wouldn't hurt.
His hand was just about to touch the cold, metal of the doorway to freedom when an all too familiar voice sprung up behind him.
"And just where the hell do you think you're going?"
Gritting his teeth, Ichigo turned around to face his oldest friend. Her hands were on her hips and her stance was one of anger, annoyance, and aggravation. Those same emotions shown on her face and in her voice. This confrontation wouldn't bode well for him, and it also didn't help that Tatsuki caught him attempting to flee.
"Around." Ichigo muttered. "Why do you care? It isn't really any of your..." His voice died out as the look on Tatsuki's face got even more deadly as he carried on. It seemed that his particular choice of words weren't the best. Ichigo tried his best to backtrack, "What I mean is–"
"Why do I care...?" Tatsuki muttered darkly, as her hands began to clench. Ichigo took a step back in response, and pressed his back up against the door to freedom. Too bad it was a pull, and not a push. "Why do I care...? I can't believe you word ask that...I can't." Her head lowered and she took a powerful step forward. "Believe." She took a few more steps, "That you." Tatsuki was stomping forward now. "Would say." She was right in front of him! "That."
Very few inches separated them now. Ichigo realized that he was cornered, and if he tried to leave he would probably have to push Tatsuki away from him to escape. Which would probably lead to a fight with the way Tatsuki was right now.
He raked his eyes over her to take in just how upset she was. Her shoulders were squared and shaking with anger, and her hands were fisted tightly. Somewhere along the line she had dropped her schoolbag, and Ichigo was thankful for that. Now she couldn't hit him with it.
Tatsuki slowly raised her right hand, and with a snarl she slammed it into the wall just to the side of Ichigo's face. The bang her action caused echoed in the air slightly, and Ichigo was reminded of just how alone they were.
She raised her head to look him in the eye, and he noticed that her teeth were bared in anger. Almost animalistic in a way, her eyes were narrowed and for a second he thought he saw something glisten in them. When she spoke, her voice was low and full of acid.
"Go ahead, Ichigo." She growled; her breath hot on his face. "Go ahead–say that shit to me again." Several tense seconds of silence past, but Ichigo refused to say a word. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but don't you ever try to feed me that, 'I'm-a-tortured-loner-with-no-friends' bullshit to me again. Understand?"
The tension was drowning them both, but when Ichigo opened his mouth to respond, something stupid tumbled out instead. "Don't you have a job to go to?"
Tatsuki looked surprised that Ichigo would remember that, since she had only told him it once and let her hand fall back to her side. She frowned at him before replying. "Part-time. I don't have to be in today." The rest of her message was unsaid, but rang in his ears anyway. She had all afternoon to find out what was wrong with him.
"Well, I have to wor–"
"Bullshit. You have today off too." Ichigo opened his mouth to give her another excuse about anything, but Tatsuki beat him to it. "And your boss hasn't called you in today either. I'm not stupid, don't act like I am."
"Do I look like I want to talk about my 'feelings'?"
"Does it look like I give a damn about what you want?"
Silence fell between them once more, and Ichigo didn't know what to do. Tatsuki seemed perfectly content to just stand right in front of him until he started to speak. Ichigo really didn't feel like talking to anyone right now, but he didn't really see any other alternative beside fighting. This whole situation was really beginning to piss him off.
His jaw clenched as he spoke. "What the hell do you want from me, Tatsuki? Really, what do you want?"
"I want you to get your head out of your ass and talk to me!"
"Am I interrupting something...?" A cool voice broke into the teenager's heated moment, and their heads turned as one to meet the gaze of one of their teachers, Takamata-sensei. One of his eyebrows rose deftly as he took in their close proximity. "I must ask you to keep all interactions of a personal level off of school grounds. To not do so would be...poor manners, wouldn't it?"
"Yes!" Ichigo grabbed onto his teacher's words faster than a bolt of lightning. "Yes, it would be!" He then used Takamata-sensei's presence as an excuse to move from his place against the back door.
It was with great relief that he made his way from his friend and teacher, but just as Ichigo was making his escape Takamata spoke up again, causing the teen to stop in his tracks. "Kurosaki, it would be terrible manners to leave a young lady's bag upon the floor...would it not?"
The man was obviously waiting for an answer, so Ichigo had no choice but to growl one out. "It. Would. Be." He struggled to get the words out as his body turned almost robotically back towards Tatsuki's schoolbag. He took several halting steps over to it, before wrenching it from the ground.
He then made the painful walk back over to Tatsuki, and couldn't help but glare at the smug smile on the girl's face. He forced his arm to raise and thrust the bag out to her, and she took it from him with slow, exaggerated daintiness. "Thank you, Ichigo." Her voice was mockingly higher pitched then it usually was, and at this moment Ichigo hated the sound of it. But, he still managed to choke out a 'you're welcome'.
"There you go Kurosaki; that was proper." At this point, Ichigo was all too certain that the ever polite and emotionless Takamata-sensei was making fun of him in his own twisted way. This revelation really made Ichigo want to hit the man. "Now, run along."
Side by side (something Tatsuki made sure of) the duo left the older man, and began the trek to the school's front exit. Ichigo would have preferred it to be made in silence, but it seemed that Takamata couldn't help but throw in one last jab.
"Leave your relationship at home children, it's only proper!"
[-]
"You're different."
Ichigo didn't turn to face Tatsuki as they walked down the street together. Since they had left the school together, both had been silent and focused on just walking. Ichigo didn't have a set destination, and knew that Tatsuki was just following him. "I'm not."
She scoffed at him, but it lacked any real heat. Ichigo supposed she didn't want to have to chase him down if he decided to make a run for it. "You are. You're angry too, and looking for a fight." She sounded rather firm in her belief, and Ichigo wasn't sure if she was wrong.
"I'm not."
"You were earlier. I would know." At his confused glance she elaborated. "I've had to drag your stupid butt out of alleys after a brawl for years. I've known you for years Ichigo, you might not think you're angry, but you are."
"You might not be screaming your head off, but you're pissed and looking to take it out on someone. With the way you are now, you'd tear the head off of any idiot punk that takes a shot at you. No matter how stupid it is or how many of them there are." Tatsuki turned a long, hard gaze to him before continuing. "I really don't want to have to bail your sorry ass out of jail."
Ichigo ignored her jibe. "You're wrong. If I was so angry, then I would've taken it out on you by now."
Tatsuki's face took on a vaguely pleased look as he said this, but it didn't stop her from answering. "You know me. I'm not just some stupid wanna-be thug looking for attention. Besides that..." Here she paused for a second, before continuing. "...You don't want me gone, not really."
"Get over yourself." Ichigo griped. "You're not that important."
She smirked at him. "You keep telling yourself that." Ichigo just had to toss an abrasive look in her direction as they continued walking. "If you really wanted to get away from me you would've tried to bail by now."
Ichigo scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Please, you'd just chase me down anyway." A blind man would've seen the truth in that statement. That same man would've also been able to see the smug look Tatsuki wore in response to Ichigo's words. "Then I'd have to deal with you whining about it."
His companion seemed to be less then pleased by Ichigo's opinion of how she would react. "Hardly! I don't whine!" In fact, she seemed particular annoyed at him for saying it.
"Hey now..." A calm voice spoke out. "That isn't anyway to treat a lady, is it?" The speaker was slouched on a sidewalk bench, looking as though he didn't have a care in the world. Grasped in his hand was a bar of chocolate that he seemed to be munching on.
His hair was a deep black, and more than a little messy. In fact, the man's hair might have been more wild then Ichigo's own locks. Emerald green eyes glowed eerily though his round glasses, and a lightning bolt shaped scar stood out on his forehead. His attire was a full black suit and tie, with a red collared shirt to go under it. The man's clothing may have been formal, but he wore them very casually.
"What?" Ichigo questioned harshly as his gaze cut to the man, he wasn't particularly fond of some stranger giving his opinion where it wasn't wanted or asked for. "What the hell is it your business how I speak to her?" He didn't even give the man a chance to answer before lunching one more question. "And why the hell can't you mind your own business?"
The green eyed man just shrugged as he answered both questions easily. "It's none of my business, and I'm bored. I've been waiting here all day after all." He scowled and looked to the sky before continuing. "There's this new group in town, and I've been waiting for them since this morning."
"What?" Ichigo repeated, somehow managing to sound less offensive and more annoyed at the same time. "Well, why the hell are you still here then? And why the hell would we care–?"
But Ichigo was obviously ignored by the man as he set his green eyes on Tatsuki. "Excuse me miss, but I can tell from your uniform you're still in school. Does that mean it has ended for the day?" At her stiff nod he gave her a small smile.
He then grabbed a black fedora that Ichigo hadn't noticed before, and plopped it onto his head in a manner that reminded Ichigo strongly of Urahara. Then man then stood slowly and stretched in a manner similar to a cat. "Well, alright then. Guess it's about time for me to go, thanks for the help." The man re-wrapped his chocolate and stuffed it into an inner pocket of his suit jacket, before he began to amble of.
"Huh? I thought you said that you were waiting for someone?" Ichigo voiced before the man had managed to get more than a few steps away. "Why leave now, if you didn't before?" As far as the teen was concerned, if this guy was stupid enough to sit and wait on a bench for this long, he deserved to stay there all day.
"Done with waiting for them. Now I'm waiting for it."
"It?" This time it was Tatsuki who spoke up, her voice was tainted with distrust. "It what?"
"You know, it. The calm before the storm–well, I guess it would be the coming storm in this case." The man looked back at them, and both Ichigo and Tatsuki noticed the odd look that had settled there. "You have felt it, haven't you? This whole town–it's practically buzzing in anticipation."
And, as though a conversation just hadn't be going on, the man turned away from them and wandered his way down the street. Ichigo and Tatsuki stood in front of the bench for several moments afterward, lost for words.
"...That was random..." Ichigo state redundantly as he shook off weird atmosphere the man had left behind. "Dude was a weirdo, probably some basehead or something." The teen gathered himself before beginning to set off once more. It took him a second to notice that his companion wasn't following. "Tatsuki, c'mon. Get the lead out."
But it seemed that his companion mind had other things on her mind when she spoke. "Ichigo, that guy–he had that spiritual energy stuff. I'm sure of it." Thoughtful brown eyes locked onto shocked ones as she finally met his gaze. "It definitely wasn't just a little bit either."
"Are you serious?" The teen breathed, emotions flashed across his face as he stared off in the direction the stranger had went. "Why didn't you say anything earlier? He might've been–I–he could've–" Ichigo seemed to struggled to put what he wanted to say into words, but Tatsuki could read what he meant on his face.
"Could've done what, exactly?" Tatsuki's voice was sharp as steel as she began to move forward and take her place at his side. "Fight him? Intimidate him? Don't even think of trying it Ichigo, what good would it do anyway?"
"I don't know, but come on! He–"
"Is not some Hollow or a Soul Reaper! If he was..." She shot Ichigo a pointed look and his face turned irate. "You wouldn't have seen him. Ichigo..."Tatsuki's voice softened as she put a hand on his shoulder. "He was probably just some guy, like you. Remember? You could see spirits and everything before you all that craziness went down with the Soul Reapers. Maybe he doesn't have anything to do with anything."
Disbelief was written in Ichigo's posture as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "You can't believe that! Did you not just listen to what that guy was just saying!" The teen shook his head at his friend, "He just gave us some kind of message!"
Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic. Weren't you just going on about the guy being a crackhead?" She removed her hand from his shoulder and gabbed his arm before dragging him forward with her. "Drug addict to mysterious messenger is a big jump, Ichigo."
He scowled at her, but didn't fight as she led him away. "You can't honestly think that this dude didn't mean anything? I mean, he talks to us out of all people? You think that wasn't planned? Gimme a break Tatsuki." The teen huffed and scowled into the distance, wishing he had gotten the man's name. "He even admitted that he had been sitting there all day."
The girl just crossed his arms indignantly. "He said he was waiting for some guys, didn't you hear him?"
A shrewd look was directed at her, and Ichigo's tone suddenly became unreadable. "Why are you so against this?" He question, but it seemed that Tatsuki was tired of this conversation or didn't want to answer, because she refused to say anymore on the subject.
That just left Ichigo to wonder about just what the man had wanted, and where he may have come from. Could he have been someone in a Gigai? Hell, the guy could have been a Quincy for all Ichigo knew!
And just what group was he waiting around for? Shinji's? The only spiritual group that had anything to in Karakura was the Visored. Well, besides Ichigo's team anyway...
Was that why Chad had been gone so long in class? Was he, Ishida, and Inoue the 'group' that the stranger had spoke of? Maybe he had been waiting for school to end and that was why he asked Tatsuki about it? He could have decided to wait in any of their houses until they came home...
[-]
"Run that by me once more Chad?"
Uryu and Chad were sitting in an empty classroom at Karakura High; the two teens were alone for the moment.
Uryu had been initially surprised when Chad had turned up right after class to speak to him, even though he didn't let it show. He had thought that whatever Chad wanted to talk about would be connect to the reason he had been gone so long from class even though the Hollow he had dealt with hadn't been very powerful.
He had been right, of course. But he would have never guessed why he had been right.
The dark skinned teen's voice rumbled as he spoke. "When I finished the Hollow I went after, I was called out by this man, he knew who I was. The fight with the Hollow happened on a roof, and this guy jumped from the pavement to the top."
"He knew who I was." Chad repeated, he seemed worried that his Hollow fighting was known to whoever that man was. Uryu couldn't really blame him. "He knew who I was and who Ichigo was too. He also knew that Ichigo used to be a Soul Reaper, and I wouldn't be surprised if he knew about Aizen and how Ichigo lost his powers."
"What does this man want?"
Chad didn't answer right away, and when he did speak up his voice was soft. "He said that he could restore Ichigo's powers." After Uryu's sharp intake of breath, Chad continued with his story. "He said that if Ichigo was willing to help out him and his friends, they'd help him restore his powers."
"This doesn't sound good at all." A calculating look entered the Quincy's eye as he took in the situation. "How could he possibly return Kurosaki's Soul Reaper abilities? That isn't an easy feat by any stretch."
Chad just shrugged, he didn't have any idea how the man could accomplish such a thing. "I don't know, but it looked like he meant business. What I don't understand is why he'd tell me at all, shouldn't he have just gone straight to Ichigo?"
Uryu didn't like where this situation was heading at all, it made him feel very on edge. It also smelled a lot like a trap, but that went without saying. "That makes his actions even more suspect...Are you sure he really wanted Kurosaki's help? He may have just been playing with you."
"Maybe, but I don't think so. It looked like he really wanted whatever it was they need Ichigo for." That was another thing that was nagging on Chad's mind, what would someone spiritually aware need Ichigo for? He voiced the question to his friend, and Uryu wondered the same.
`"I don't understand either," The last Quincy admitted. "What would some Soul Reaper–"
"He wasn't a Soul Reaper." Chad interrupted, surprising Uryu once more. "Whoever this guy is, he's alive."
Uryu looked even more wary now. "Alive? He was spiritually aware and alive? Jesus..." The teen pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to keep focused. "...You don't think he was a Quincy, do you?"
"Who's to say? He might be. Or he might be like me and Orihime, who knows?"
That was the problem, wasn't it? Neither of them knew who this guy was, or what his origins might be. "We can worry about that later. We need to focus on what he wants, and not how he came to be." Uruy cleared his throat as he spoke again. "I can only assume that since he didn't go to Kurosaki himself, he wants you to act as a messenger."
"Yes. He gave me this to use." Chad reached into his jacket and pulled out a black card with the word 'Xcution' inscribed on it. "Ichigo is supposed to call him, and then meet him and his friends at wherever they are."
Uryu took the card and examined it, but soon realized it was just a plain phone card and returned it to Chad. "No." He said simply, even though his words were made of steel. "They expect us to just let Kurosaki surround himself with what may be an entire gang filled with spiritually aware humans? No, that isn't happening."
Chad agreed. "I thought so too. That's why I was thinking of trying to meet with them all myself, to see how they really are. Alone." The teen carried on despite his friend's, irate disbelief. "I don't think they'd let more then one of us in at the same time, that man seemed to just want Ichigo, no one else."
"Unacceptable" Uryu hissed out. "If you want, then get in contact with them. See if they are willing to meet, but you will not go in alone! Either both of us will be a part of this or neither of us will. That is nonnegotiable."
Chad frowned at him, but the bigger boy decided to let the issue drop for now. He would try it Uryu's way, and if that doesn't plan out he'd try his best to meet with Xcution alone. "Fine. Do we tell Orihime?"
"I don't think we should. She isn't all that great keeping secrets, and if Kurosaki goes find out about this she'd be the first he'd press for answers. And since Kurosaki is himself, she'd cave faster then the speed of light." Chad was sure that he didn't imagine the bitterness in his friend's voice, but he did his level best to ignore it.
"She'd be our best asset if a fight does breakout." Chad made it a point to bring up Orihime's healing abilities, they had a tendency to be overlooked. Which was a shame, they had always been so helpful.
"Only if we get that far, we might not even make it through the front door. Imagine if we told Inoue, and then she did spill the beans to Kurosaki. What do you think would happen if we aren't able to meet with this group before him? Either we'd get his hopes up and horribly let him down, or he'd go without us and probably get killed."
He offered Chad a flat look. "I'm not sure what would be worse: dealing with Inoue after Kurosaki dies, dealing with his orangutan of a father, or cleaning whatever was left of that idiot off the ground."
[-]
Harry's footsteps tapped loudly against the metallic roof of the building he was on. After he had left Ichigo and the girl, he had hightailed it to someplace out of the way. The best place he could think of in this town was on one of the buildings. A man was already waiting up there for him.
"Why are you here?"
The blonde man's voice was hard, and cold as ice. Just hearing him speak was putting Harry on edge, and the sheathed sword that the man rested across his shoulder wasn't helping him either. The man's dirt brown eyes were glaring into Harry with more than a little hostility.
This man was powerful, Harry could see that the instant he laid his eyes upon him. Hell, Harry could feel the man's spiritual pressure before he even meet the man. This guy was the reason Harry had to cut his initial meeting with Ichigo short.
It was mildly concerning how quickly the man had came running when Harry first made his presence known. Was Ichigo being monitored somehow? Now that was the concerning thought. Not that he'd let that show.
"Why, I'm just visiting." Harry, putting on the sweetest fakest smile he could conjure, but the blond man wasn't buying it. "Why, is that a problem?"
The man nodded grimly, and the action caused his neat, chin length hair to move. "Yeah, it is a problem. A big problem actually." He then began to smile, and Harry couldn't help but notice that it looked horribly stretched and forced. Almost as if his mouth was too big for his face. "Ya'see, me and my friends don't like it when people with spiritual pressure come to Karakura. And we like it even less when they stay for almost a week."
Harry had immediately tensed at the man's mention of his 'friends' and almost didn't catch the last part of the man's speech. The teen was immediately on the lookout for any Soul Reapers or Xcutioners. "Really now?" Harry replied, as he extended his senses as much as he could. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"Sorry guy, but you jumped right from uncomfortable to aggravation the minute you decided to make a move on Ichigo. Not cool kid."
Harry's demeanor shifted in a second. His plastic smile fell and his transparent attempts and casualness ended. "Oh really? Keeping the hero on a short leash?" His tone conveyed just how he felt about that. "Not cool, man,"
"Listen kid, you're not helping your case–"
"And you're just adding to yours." Harry finished, cutting of what the man was going to say. "And by the way, my name's Harry. Not kid."
Harry could see the man inhumanly large smile shrink a little and a small dash of annoyance filled the man's stance. But none of that was reflected in the man's tone. "Well Harry, my name is Shinji." The man's grip on his sword tightened, and Harry knew that Shinji was getting ready to fight. "And now since our introductions are outta the way, can you tell me just what the hell you're doing here."
Harry's right hand loosened and his index finger began to twitch lightly. He had a wand holster strapped to the underside of his wrist, meaning his weapon could be in his grasp within a second if things began to turn ugly. "Umm...I'm looking for Ginjo?"
While it was a gamble, tossing out the man's name would at least let Harry know if Shinji was a member of Xcution. Harry didn't remember seeing him before, but there was always the chance that Harry had missed him or that he was new.
Shinji's eyes narrowed and managed to distort his face even more then before, and he began to unsheathe his sword in a deliberately threatening motion. Obviously the man wasn't playing games. "Who the hell is Ginjo?"
So now either Shinji was telling the truth, or one hell of an actor. Harry didn't understand what Shinji would gain by claiming not to know Ginjo, hell, knowing Ginjo would be better for the man in this instance. At least then Harry would be half-expecting Xcutioners to jump out of the woodwork.
So the good news was that this man isn't an Xcution member, but the bad news is that he's most likely a Soul Reaper. And from what Harry's heard, Soul Reapers are tough and strong. Not a good combination to say the least.
The air was becoming heavier and heavier by the second, Shinji had drawn his sword fully and was starting to release more of his spiritual pressure. Harry counteracted it by matching the amount as he drew the Elder Wand.
It happened in a second. Shinji took one powerful step forward and seemed to disappear right in front of Harry with a distinct 'fwoosh' effect. But before he was even able to get within striking distance Harry was gone.
With a crack of apparition Harry was several yards above where he had stood previously. His feet were planted firmly in the sky as he constructed a platform made out of ambient spiritual particles. With a vicious wave of the Elder Wand, Harry conjured a a wave of crimson flames and directed them at his opponent.
Shinji sidestepped the attack and lunged into the air towards Harry. The man's blade was held in a perfect jabbing motion and he was closing in on Harry like a bullet. But Harry grunted and swung his wand like a person would a whip. A thick iron chain sprouted from it and smashed painfully into Shinji's face, stunning the man and allowing Harry to apparate away.
Reappearing on the other side of the roof, Harry and Shinji locked gazes. Both stood for several moments without saying a word, though Harry was tempted to point out that the side of Shinji's face looks like it might already bruise.
Shinji broke the silence. "Nice tricks you got. I like that cracking thing you do, it's really fast. Faster than my shunpo, I think." The man's creepy grin made a reappearance as he continued. "Bet you're gonna do that whenever I get close, huh?"
Harry only had the vaguest idea of what shunpo might actually be, so he just disregarded the man's first comment. "Yeah, probably." He answered honestly. "I don't want to be anywhere near that sword and a big fight wouldn't be very good right know. Actually..."
Both combatants looked at the building below them as the fire Harry conjured began to spread. The fire wouldn't harm the building, since it only burn flesh, but it was easy to see how a fight in the middle of the city could turn really ugly really fast.
"...Yeah. A fight really wouldn't be good here." A cold sense of foreboding hit Harry as Shinji spoke. "Good thing you're finished."
"Sing, Benihime!" A powerful voice roared out as a bright red light shone from an area behind Harry. The teen whirled around one to gasp in horror as a crescent shaped blast of energy flew at him. He could do nothing as the attack slammed into him. It cut through one side of his body and then out the other before hitting the roof below and causing a small explosion.
As the smoke cleared, both Shinji and the new attacker looked on as Harry hung in the air like nothing happened. He gave one sarcastic smile before simply fading into thin air. The boy had been an illusion. Shinji and his companion began to survey the area before until Harry called out to them.
"Well, that wasn't cool."
And suddenly Harry was back. He didn't reappear slowly, he didn't fade in, and there wasn't a spike of spiritual energy. First he was invisible and then he wasn't. First he was gone and then he was directly in their line of sight.
It was unnerving.
But Harry didn't seem to notice as he continued to speak. "You know, back in my neighborhood, a cheap shot to the back is seen as pretty rude." He raised his hand and pointed his wand at them. "Now we can do this nice and easy, or we can turn this very ugly. Which one will it be?"
The new comer frowned and adjusted the green and white stripped bucket hat that rested on his head. He wore very casual clothes and sandals under what seemed to be and overly large black coat. In his right hand rested and very ornate sword with a straight blade, red handle, and various tassels.
Fire trucks began to wail in the distance as the trio of fighters took in one another, and not a word was said in response to Harry's question. After several more long moments the man in the hat spoke up. "Why are you here? And just who the hell are you?"
Shinji supplied answers easily enough before Harry could respond. "His name is Harry, and he's looking for some guy named Ginjo."
The look that the hat wearing man sent Harry could have frozen an entire ocean, and the teen could help but be a little intimidated by its fearsomeness. "How do you know that name? Do you work for him?" His voice was even colder than his glare.
"How do you know that name?" Harry shot back. The insinuation that he may be working for Ginjo annoyed him. "Don't tell me that you didn't know he was here. If you could find me then you could definitely find them!" Honestly, Ginjo and his gang had been running around Karakura longer than him and Harry hadn't seen anyone attack them! This whole situation was completely unfair...
Idly, Harry noticed that the firetrucks were getting closer, and the fire that Harry had conjured was spreading by the second. He really needed to do something about that, but he wasn't willing to turn his back on his two opponents.
"I dunno kid." Shinji cut in, "You have quite a bit of spiritual energy and I can tell from here that your crap at controlling it. That makes you pretty easy to find."
[-]
Ichigo was wandering down the main river that divided Karakura in almost two equal parts. It was something of a symbolic gesture, since this was the same river that he had wandered as a child after his mother had been killed. This river held many memories for him, some of them were good and some weren't so good.
His family visited the river bank often for festivals, or just for picnics and familial outings. Those memories were what drove him to practically camp out here those first few weeks after his mother's passing. It was also the same place that Tatsuki would usually find him and drag him almost unwilling back home before it got too dark.
Almost instinctively Ichigo looked behind in just to make sure that Tatsuki wasn't stomping over to him this moment, but he told himself that she was pobably at home now.
It had been several hours since school had ended and Tatsuki had kept her word. She had followed and nagged at Ichigo for some time before she had annoyed him to the point that he would talk to her.
She had asked him what his problem was, and he mentioned to her about how useless he felt. She questioned him about his anger, and he told her of how angry being so useless made him. He had also let slip that he might miss seeing spirits also.
Throughout Ichigo's confessions Tatsuki had been silent except when she asked the occasional question. After he had finished he had waited for her to respond. To tell him that he was stupid, that he was being stupid, and that he was acting stupid.
But instead of her saying that or trying to cheer him up, all Tatsuki did was get a really weird look on her face, tell him to not get into any stupid fights, and go home. After that, all Ichigo did was just wander around until it got dark. What the hell was up with that?
Woman, Ichigo decided, were weirdly complicated and annoying. First Tatsuki basically hunted him down and stalked him. Then when he finally did say something, she got all quiet before bailing on him. Now what the hell was he supposed to do?
Soon Ichigo spotted an unoccupied wooden bench and decide to help himself to it. The sun was beginning to set and night was setting on, but he didn't feel like going home just yet.
"This town is a pretty nice place, huh?"
Ichigo almost jumped out of his skin when he heard that voice right next to him, and he did jump from his seat before turning around, fists raised and ready for a fight.
Sitting there, on the opposite end of the bench that Ichigo had been sitting on, was the man from before.
"You alright?" The man asked without looking at Ichigo. He was leaning back fully on the bench and gazing up at the sky. "Looks like you've seen a ghost."
Oh, hell no! Ichigo thought furiously as he backed up a few steps and glared darkly at the man. Whatever small amount of doubt Ichigo had about this guy being someone important was killed, it looked like Tatsuki had been wrong.
"Who the hell are you, and why are you here!" Ichigo demanded.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" The man muttered to himself, before shaking his head and standing. Ichigo stiffened as he walked forward, and raised his right hand for a handshake. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter."
Ichigo just looked at the hand incredulously before he harshly smacked it away. "Don't play with me!" He scowled at Harry, causing the man to step back. "Why the hell are you following me around!"
"I want to help you." Harry raised his hand to put a stop to any comments Ichigo began to make. "I know that sounds hard to believe, but it's the truth. I want to help you regain your powers."
Ichigo scowled once more. "I told you not to play with me! My powers are gone, and their never coming back!"
"You can't honestly tell me that you really believe that?" Harry questioned before sighing. "You're lying to yourself, you and I both know that you don't think you're power is well and truly gone. 'Energy cannot be destroyed, just changed from one form to another' haven't you heard of that?"
Ichigo scoffed, but didn't lower his guard. "'Changed'? Changed to what? Pudding? You're not making any sense. My spiritual energy isn't something else, it just isn't there anymore." A brief look of sadness appearance across his feature, but it was quickly replaced with a scowl. "The point is, it's gone."
"It isn't gone, and you missed my point. I wasn't trying to say that it was changed, just that it couldn't have been destroyed. Not really." Harry frowned before backing up and sitting back down. "Why are you fighting me on this? I thought you'd be happy to have your powers back."
"What? First of all, you don't know a damn thing about me. And second: why am I fighting you? Uh, I don't know? Maybe it's because I have no clue about who the hell you are." At this point Ichigo's tone had gained a harsh, sarcastic tone to it. "It'd be like taking candy from a stranger, to the extreme!"
"Ichigo, what could I possible gain by lying to you? It's not like I'm trying to lure you away, we both know that if I wanted to kidnap you I'd just take you be force." Harry shot him a hard look. "With the way you are now, you wouldn't put up much of a fight."
Ichigo gritted his teeth, but didn't comment. It was true. If this guy did have some sort of spiritual powers, then Ichigo wouldn't be able to match him in a fight. His best choice would be to run away. But he was far from home, and didn't think he'd be able to work his phone and flee at the same time.
And besides, why would some guy want to help him out? There was no way that this guy would give Ichigo his powers back for free, he would definitely want something in return. But what could Ichigo offer him?
His strength? But there was no way to tell if Ichigo's powers would be as strong as before with them being gone or dormant or whatever for so long. Information? On what? The soul Society? Or Aizen? Or maybe about the Hōgyoku and the final battle?
It didn't matter anyway, Ichigo didn't plan on selling anyone out or sharing secrets that weren't his, and he let Harry know this. "And why would you help me regain my powers? What's in it for you?"
Harry smiled. "You mean besides having one hell of a Plan B if the world is ever in danger again? I need some help with a lot of things and from what I hear you're a great fighter."
"I'm not anyone's tool."
"I never said that you were. And plus, when you do get your powers back, I doubt that I'd be able to force you to do anything that you wouldn't want to." Harry sighed before continuing. "To be honest, there is going to be a lot of fighting soon, and I'd rather you being alive and helpful then dead and not."
Ichigo frowned at the mention of him being dead. "Fighting? Why is there going to be fighting?"
Harry demeanor shifted to a decidedly more serious one as he met Ichigo's eyes. "Did you know that there is a whole gang of spiritually empowered humans running around your town?" At Ichigo's shocked look he continued. "Yup, and every single one of them is damn powerful from what I've seen. Damn tricky too."
"You're lying." Ichigo accused him, but Harry could see that he didn't truly believe that. "Why would they be here and how did they all get powers?"
Harry just shrugged. "Number two: I don't know. But as for question one...they want you." The look in Harry's eyes turned grim. "They want to use you and your powers."
Ichigo cast him a shrewd look. "And you don't?" The teen's tone was accusing, but Harry didn't mind.
"Oh, of course I do." Harry answered honestly. "But at least I'm willing to admit it. And at least I'm not hiding things from you and pretending that everything's alright when it isn't." Here the teen paused before going in for the kill. "And I'm not monitoring you and tracking your every move."
Ichigo's voice became tight and harsh while his eyes narrowed dangerously. "What did you just say?"
"I'm saying that you're being watched. It's one of the reasons that I cut our first meeting so short. The minute I stayed around you for too long, some idiot named Shinji with a big spiritual presence starting gunning right to us. I left so there wouldn't be some giant fight."
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would Shinji of all people care if you came near me?"
"I think it was a combination of things. I'm pretty sure I was making him nervous by hanging around town, I'm not good at hiding my spiritual pressure and I guess he felt me the minute I came." Harry frowned and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I'm also pretty sure that Hat-guy called him or something, since there was no way for him to tell I was near you since you don't have available spiritual pressure anymore."
Ichigo was starting to develop a sinking feeling somewhere in the pit of his stomach. "Hat-guy' sounded suspiciously like Urahara, and it would be just like Urahara to place some stupid tracking chip on him. It would also be just like Urahara to keep Ichigo in the dark if something was going to go down, the man had a bad habit of keeping things on a need-to-know basis.
Ichigo wondered if any of his friends knew about this so called gang and didn't tell him because Urahara felt that he would just be a liability since he couldn't defend himself. It was even worse because Ichigo understood why they would be hiding something like that from him. Or, he understood until he heard that these guys might target him directly. If these guys were looking for him then he wanted to know so he could avoid them. And tell his family. That was key.
"So you think that Urahara–that's the guy's name–sent Shinji after you because he could tell that you came near me?" That seemed kind of off...but then again Urahara was kind of off. Ichigo could never tell what the man was planning. "What for? And why would Urahara track me?"
Harry shrugged. "Guess he thought that I was a threat. And maybe he's just trying to make sure that you aren't killed or something." There was a lull in the conversation after that, with neither of them knowing what to say.
"Well, in case you're wondering, the reason no one is hear now is because I threw up a couple of wards." At a questioning look Harry continued. "Barriers. I could tell that you were walking along the river, so I moved ahead and waited for you. I even made this bench so both of us could sit down."
"You made a bench? Bullshit." Just who the heck did this guy think he was talking to?
But Harry just smirked before standing up and drawing a stick from somewhere. He the turned to face the bench and waved the stick. The bench disappeared. He then looked expectantly to Ichigo, as if he was waiting for him to start being impressed.
But Ichigo just raised an eyebrow. While what Harry just did was interesting, it wasn't all that to be proud of. Nothing really surprised Ichigo these days, as a person begins to accept impossibilities after they stop the charge of a giant, soul destroying bird made of fire with a single sword.
"I've seen cooler. Make another one."
Harry rolled his eyes and after a single wave, he made a sign appear where the bench used to be. On that sign was the word 'Asshole'. Ichigo gave Harry the finger in response.
"Damn you Japanese are rude."
"American asshole."
"I'm Britsh, Tojo."
"Like that's something to be proud of. You guys lost a war when you outnumbered the Americans three to one."
Harry almost responded with something along the lines of 'Didn't the American's bomb you and send you hiding in your rice fields' but held his tongue. In an attempt to divert any kind of insult-war that might be started if they kept going like this, Harry got the conversation back on track. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a set of keys that he tossed to Ichigo.
"Take these. I'm staying at this motel called The King's Queen. It's pretty shabby, but I've slept in worse places and it gets the job done. I'm in room sixteen."
Ichigo caught the keys, and for a second Harry thought that he might toss them away. But all Ichigo did was shrug and shove them into his pants pocket. He sent Harry a level look. "You seem pretty sure that I'll come." He seemed annoyed at the fact that anyone expected him to do something that he may not want to.
"Oh, I know you'll come. You'll come because you're sick and tired of being powerless and ignored. And I know that you'll come because you and I are very similar."
"You think that we're similar?" Ichigo asked.
"Yup. After all" Harry sent Ichigo a dark smile, and Ichigo began to notice just how old his eyes seemed. "...You don't think that you're the only person that saved the world, do you?"
And with that, Harry Potter disappeared with a loud CRACK!
Name: Harry Potter
Age: 19
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color: Black
Occupation: Ex-wizard, ex-student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, jobless
Notable Achievements: Surviving the Killing Curse, conjuring a corporal patronus at thirteen, reclaiming the lost sword of Godric Gyrffindor, slaying a basilisk, Winning the Triwizard Tournament, breaking into the Ministry of magic, saving the world, and becoming the Master of Death
Author's Note:
Jeez this chapter turned out outrageously longer then it should have. I wanted this to be a lot shorter then it actually was when I first thought it up. The idea of this came from my desire to see a Bleach/Harry Potter that didn't involve Harry going to the Soul Society or Ichigo and everyone going to Hogwarts.
But Hogwarts does exist in this story. Harry hasn't came from an alternate dimension or anything. Hogwarts is here and the Wizarding World is too. Why Harry wants to work with Ichigo will be answered eventually. Just like I'm going to explain just how Harry meet and got in contact with Xcution.
Is Harry OOC? Hell Yes. He's been beefed up to survive fights against characters in Bleach. Is he almighty? Hell no. He probably wouldn't win a fight against Ichigo pre the final battle with Aizen. Does Harry have magic? No. Does he have Spiritual Power? Yes. Will that be explained? Yes. Will how he is able to do spells with the Elder wand be explained? Yes.
Is Voldemort dead? Yes. How AU is this from Harry Potter? Not much. The only thing that really changed was the ending of the final fight with Voldemort and what happens after that.
Is this yaoi? No. Not in this story, just a little bro-ness. I can completely see Ichigo with Tatsuki though (as if I didn't make that horribly obvious). Will Ichigo have magic? No. Ichigo is awesome enough. Will Harry have a Zanpakuto? No. But he does have some Deathly Hallow-specific abilities that will let him hang with the characters in Bleach.
Is this AN long as hell? Yes. Yes it is.
Laters.
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