Okay, here it is - Chapter 2. As always, I do not own either Bleach or HP. Updates will be slow, as I have been diagnosed with "Frozen Shoulder" in my dominant writing arm. Using a mouse is extremely painful... and since I tend to handwrite first, and then type out... it really puts a kink in my writing. Sorry about that.

:Zanpakuto speaking:

Ichigo talking to Zangetsu/Hichigo;

:Inner hollow talking:

Chapter 2

The lone figure stood on the Sokyoku Hill, overlooking the Seireitei. Soul Society was quiet, as dawn was just starting to peek over the horizon, so only a few Soul Reapers were up and about, working. That was going to change, soon, however as it was nearing the hour when the Squad Offices were due to open for the day.

Ichigo Kurosaki, Captain of the Fifth Squad of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He was almost sorry that his reiatsu detecting abilities had gotten better; he could sense that both his great grandfather, Head Captain Yamamoto and former Hogwarts Head Master Albus Dumbledore were awake, and that they were both irritated at something. Considering that they were alone with each other at the First Squad Barracks, it was probably with each other. He could also sense his Vice Captain, Momo Hinamori, and his Third Seat, Cedric Diggory, as well as his mother and his fiancée, Rukia Kuchiki. All of them were still asleep. Stretching his senses further, he could sense the only other people who were actually up and about at this hour of the morning were Soifon and Byakuya Kuchiki.

He did not need to speak to any of them; he had told them his plans before they had left Hogwarts at the end of their Sixth Year, so all he needed to do now was speak with Gramps. He was not sure how the old man was going to take what Ichigo was going to tell him. But there was only one way to find out, and no moment like the present to do so.

It only took him a few flash steps to reach the barracks. To his surprise Sasakibe was standing outside the door, and appeared to be quite uncomfortable.

"What are you doing out here?" Ichigo asked him. The older man was usually listening in on whatever meeting his grandfather was having; Yamamoto didn't keep many secrets from his adjutant.

"Ah..." Chojiro glanced back at the door uneasily. "I don't think you really want to go in there right now."

Ichigo cocked his head and listened, and he could just barely hear angry voices.

"They're arguing? This early in the morning?"

"Well..." His grandfather's Vice Captain shifted as if he didn't really want to answer the question. "Actually..."

"They've been arguing since last night?" Ichigo asked incredulously. Chojiro nodded. "Over what?" Studying his grandfather's right hand man more closely, Ichigo could tell that Chojiro looked rather tired. In fact, he looked very tired.

The Vice Captain gave him a rather pointed look, complete with one arched brow, which Ichigo was able to interpret correctly, and which he groaned over. He had been afraid of this happening ever since Hermione and Ron had given him the hopeful looks after Dumbledore's funeral.

"Guess I should get in there and stop it then," he muttered; his angry expression caused Chojiro to flinch. Ichigo really didn't need this right now, not after what his father had just unloaded on him… Isshin was lucky to still be alive – or at least walking on two legs. He had been very tempted to turn his father into something very small, and very furry, for a very long time, instead of just leaving him implanted in the wall of the living area. He was getting very tired of surprises…

"Good luck," the older Soul Reaper said, opening the door to admit him. From the slight fluctuation in the adjutant's reiatsu, Ichigo could correctly surmise that Sasakibe was hopeful Ichigo could put a stop to the argument, either by coming up with an alternate solution, or by getting them to agree with each other over one of their viewpoints.

As Ichigo walked into the spacious office and strode towards them, both old men turned to give an irritated look at the interruption – until they saw who it was that had interrupted them.

"Ichigo – you're up early," Yamamoto said to him.

"I'm not the only one," Ichigo retorted, "Although from what I understand, this is more of an 'up late' than an 'up early.'" He glared at the two of them. "You're both old enough to know better."

They both looked away uncomfortably at the truth of his accusation.

"Did you need something?" Yamamoto finally asked.

"Hm," Ichigo nodded. "I wanted to tell you I'm going to be – slightly unreachable for a while. I'm going to be training."

Yamamoto frowned at him. "Training? What do you mean?"

"I need to get back to the level I was at when I faced Aizen during the Winter War," Ichigo explained, ignoring the outcry from his inner world. "I'm going to need that power."

"You're not going to -" the alarm on his grandfather's face was equal to that in his inner world.

"No, I have no intentions of using Mugetsu. I have too much to lose," Ichigo said, shaking his head. "But Uryu and I came up with a plan that we think will work, so he's going to be spending a lot of time with Urahara over the summer trying to work out the basics. Toshiro will probably need to go over and help him, and then we'll put our heads together when we have the plan worked out, and sort out what kind of spells we'll need to accomplish it. They're going to need to be fully original. I don't think anything that we are going to need already exists."

Yamamoto's relief was evident when he heard his grandson's explanation.

"Try to keep me informed, he said, "and I'll let Captain Hitsugaya know he can have whatever clearance he needs to go to the World of the Living."

"Thank you," Ichigo said, "I'm a little concerned that there were no major incursions over the last year, just a few minor dust ups the Vizards were able to handle with relative ease."

"You did rather thoroughly destroy the team he put together; both of them, actually," Professor Dumbledore commented, "It wouldn't surprise me if he wasn't having trouble finding replacements."

"Yes, you could be right," Yamamoto agreed.

"Well, Tier Harribel and her fracciónes finally made their escape from Hueco Mundo; the Vizards have them, now too." Ichigo rolled his eyes over the loudness of Hiyori's bitching about 'babysitting.' "She said the stronger Arrancar - the Adjuchas and Vasto Lordes - have all gone underground. None of them want to be recruited. The ones she did talk to before she left Hueco Mundo told her that joining Aizen was suicidal and they wanted nothing to do with him."

"So his army is going to consist of the lower level hollows."

"As many Menos Grandes and lower as he can herd and throw at us," Ichigo nodded. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the two old men critically, scowling as he did so. "So what were you two old men arguing about?"

They looked uncomfortable.

"You may as well tell me, I have a feeling I know what it is anyway."

Professor Dumbledore sighed. "It was over whether or not you should go with Harry to hunt down the Horcruxes."

Ichigo nodded, unsurprised. "I already told the trio I didn't think I would be joining them. We don't know where he's going to have to go – or eventually hide. If Aizen decides to show up, you can't be searching all of Great Britain for me. I'm the only one strong enough to stand up to him, even now."

"My argument exactly," Yamamoto nodded his head.

"But how will we get aid to Harry if they get into trouble?" Dumbledore argued, "He can't go out on his own with no means of getting assistance!"

"Through Hermione. Urahara is working on it now; it'll be ready by the wedding. I'll bring it to her when Rukia and I go over."

Professor Dumbledore appeared a little mollified, but not entirely, as Ichigo left the pair. He went back up to the Sokyoku Hill, but not the top – he went to the hidden cavern where he had learned his Bankai. It was isolated and quiet and not even a handful of people knew the location existed.

It was, he thought as he wordlessly entered Bankai and prepared himself to enter his inner world, almost as perfect as the Dangai for Jinzen. 'Almost' being the operative word, because he wouldn't have the time jump to deal with, but it was just as quiet and isolated. He ignored the sole occupant of the cavern, giving her a brief nod of greeting as he sat down with his zanpakuto across his lap and settled down, immediately focusing on the task at hand and forgetting her presence, because he had more important things to worry about.

Zangetsu and Hichigo were going to fight him over this, Ichigo knew; they both felt that if he had access to the technique, he might be tempted to use it.

:You will be tempted,: Tensa Zangetsu told him sternly.

"You both heard what I said to Gramps and Professor Dumbledore – I have too much to lose. Uryu, Toshiro and I really think we can solve this with magic. Or haven't you busybodies been listening?" Ichigo restrained himself from snapping. Losing his temper wasn't going to work, here. He needed to use reason, logic – not anger.

:Oh, we've been listening, Kingy – but what if magic doesn't work?: Ichigo glanced behind him to see his inner hollow glaring at him.

"Aizen doesn't know about it. He thinks it's kido. I know from the last time that at that stage I'm a lot stronger than he is. I can hide the spells behind my normal attacks – he won't see them, because they won't be flashy, not like my Getsuga Tensho…"

Ichigo continued to wheedle, cajole, and talk – once even having to levitate Hichigo, who tried to jump him from behind. Tensa Zangetsu simply raised an eyebrow at this, but he did not interrupt Ichigo's speech. While he worked on convincing this intransigent pair, a sleek, black furred figure sat curled up on a rock, watching alertly for any covert attack that might come while he was otherwise occupied.

"It" was in actuality Yoruichi Shihoin, shapeshifter, former Princess of the Noble House of Shihoin, former Commander of the Stealth Force, Captain of the Second Squad, and mentor to Captains.

Oh, and Godmother to a hero.

She had been visiting Kisuke when Ichigo and Uryu had descended upon him with their idea, an idea that had thoroughly intrigued him. Her lover and the Quincy had their heads together now, and probably wouldn't come up for the rest of the summer. Ichigo meanwhile had told them he planned on doing this – and while he was meditating, he was open and defenseless. She had been quick to point that out to him, and would not take no for an answer when she told him she was going with him to watch his back while he meditated and spoke with his zanpakuto and inner hollow.

While she was primarily there to watch out for Mayuri, there was another reason she did not want to leave Ichigo defenseless: it was on the off chance that Aizen had another henchman or two that they did not know about.

Not that Ichigo needed assistance in ordinary circumstances – but right now…a little bit of caution didn't hurt. After giving the area a thorough search for reiatsu, the Goddess of Flash settled herself down to her vigil.

#

Cedric stood at the entrance of the Fifth Squad, trying to pinpoint his Captain's reiatsu. He thought he had detected it briefly, but then it had vanished again. There had been no indication that Ichigo had been fighting; no sign of stress, shock, or anything else of that nature – it had just – vanished, like it was being blocked.

He sighed. Kurosaki was nearly impossible to detect on a good day, unless he was irate, excited or careless. When he was intentionally trying not to be found…not even his fiancée could locate him. And nothing irritated Rukia Kuchiki more than not being able to find her future husband when she wanted him.

The Lieutenant had been back for several days already, and yesterday she had been floating on air because Rukia had asked her to be her Maid of Honor. Momo would share those duties with one Orihime Inoue. Cedric had met the girl, very briefly, but he knew who she was: one of the 'ryoka' who had helped his Captain invade the Seireitei to save Rukia Kuchiki from an unjust execution. They had learned about the invasion at the Academy, and all of the girls had gone nearly faint from the romantic aspects of it. He had found it rather amusing, watching the girls go all silly and romantic over it, and he had wondered how much of it had actually been true.

And now they were getting married. His lips twitched slightly. He could imagine the reactions among the Academy cadets now.

"Is there a problem, Third Seat Diggory?" one of the squad members asked, seeing the way he was pensively staring into the distance.

Cedric sighed. "No, just thinking. And wondering when the Captain was going to return."

The Soul Reaper nodded. "It would be nice to have him and the Lieutenant here full time," he agreed, then added, "having to switch Vice Captains every month is –" he trailed off meaningfully.

"Yes it is," Cedric nodded his agreement. "But it should hopefully only be for one more year. If that."

"Thank Kami. It'll be good to be a real, working division again. Normal."

Cedric smiled as the Soul Reaper wandered off; he knew the history of the Squad – Ichigo had told him all about it, from Captain Hirako to Aizen to himself. He'd been a bit shocked – what Ichigo had told him was not what was covered in the Academy. In fact, it was not even close.

"Why don't they tell recruits the truth?" he had asked the Captain.

Ichigo had sighed. "I'm not really sure; anything I say would only be conjecture, but I think it has to do with the nobility."

"The –"

Ichigo had nodded. "A lot of them are resisting the truth, so it's going to have to filter down to them from the Four Great Families, and those among the lesser families that are allied with them. Byakuya, Ukitake, and Kyoraku have that job, and with assistance from Omeida, Soifon and Yoruichi." A faint smile had graced his face. "Eventually the Academy will catch up to current events."

"Wool gathering, Cedric?" Momo's amused voice broke into his thoughts.

"Lieutenant," he greeted her, "Just thinking about the Captain, actually."

"He's here," Momo nodded, "But he's – training, I suppose would be the best description for what he's doing. He thinks it will take about a month, but it could be less."

"I'm not sure I understand," Cedric admitted to her. Wasn't the Captain strong enough already?

Momo sighed. "And I'm not sure I can explain it to you – because I'm not sure I understand it all myself," she admitted.

#

Rukia sat at a table at the Thirteenth Squad, several pieces of parchment in front of her, along with several copies of various bridal magazines from the World of the Living – Wizarding and Non-Wizarding.

With her at the table were Lily and Masaki; empty bento boxes sat pushed aside as the three browsed, and if something caught Rukia's attention, she wrote it down. Her lists were getting extremely long.

In addition, her guest lists for both ceremonies were growing. It was a good thing that both her brother and her fiancé were extremely rich, or they'd never be able to afford this.

"You said your friend was making your dress?" Lily asked her.

Rukia nodded. "Ishida is going to make both of my wedding dresses. Because I don't want to stress him out too much, I think the bridesmaid dresses I'll have made by someone else."

"There's a very nice shop in Tokyo," Masaki told her, "and Twilfitt and Tatting's is better for that sort of thing than Madame Malkin's. They specialize in higher end dresses, gowns, and robes."

"All right, I'll keep them in mind," Rukia nodded at the suggestion. "I'm sure we can trust Hermione to organize that whole thing on that end. Well, once I choose a gown and colors, that is."

"You'll need something everyone can wear," Masaki cautioned, "That won't be easy. Orihime, Ginny and Luna all have a different coloring from Tatsuki, Hermione and Momo."

"Maybe you should do a rainbow," Lily suggested, "That way everyone can wear an appropriate color."

"Oh!" Rukia blinked at Lily. "What a wonderful idea! Tatsuki, Momo and Hermione can wear the cooler colors – green, blue, violet – while Orihime, Ginny and Luna can wear the warmer reds, yellows and oranges. And Yuzu and Karin can wear the paler shades of the same…" Rukia could imagine Ichigo rolling his eyes when he heard the plan, but he'd let her do what she wanted.

With one exception.

She had wanted Chappy themed weddings; Masaki however, with a sly deftness that Rukia had never expected, had managed to limit the bunny's presence: the bride and groom figurines on the top of the cake; the cake decorations would be bunny related (and Rukia had a feeling her fiancé would enjoy biting the head off of one of the rabbits); tiny little rabbits on the cocktail napkins; and some discrete rabbit embroidery on her dresses. These would blend in and be nearly invisible unless one really looked for them.

And Rukia had agreed to it before she had realized what it was she was doing.

"So…" Lily put a mark on the page of a magazine that had a dress that Rukia had liked and was a possible for the bridesmaids. "Once you decide on a date, the girls can all go and get measured. It would be best to have them all made at the same place."

Rukia nodded. She found that planning her western/wizarding-style wedding to be much easier than the stuffy noble ceremony…

"Do you know where Yoruichi is?" she asked, almost plaintively. "I thought she was going to help with this, but I haven't seen her. It's the only way to keep Ichigo from going Bankai on the Kuchiki elders…" not to mention her brother, who was finding out how demanding they actually were. Rukia was marrying the grandson of the Head Captain, the man who was going to be the future Head Captain… the most powerful Soul Reaper ever. They wanted everything to be just perfect – and they wanted to rub it in the face of every other noble family. He had even admitted to her that he had not experienced this level of interference from them before…not even when he had married her sister.

"Or turning them into rabbits?" Lily laughed.

The other two joined her in laughter briefly, before Masaki smiled. "Yoruichi had something to do, so she found a substitute to help us. She should be here any minute…"

As if on cue, a loud, strident voice called out, "Hey, Kuchiki! Are you in here?"

Rukia's eyes widened. "Oh my God – she didn't…"

Masaki, still smiling went to the door. "We're in here, Kukaku-san!"

Oh, dear lord, Rukia thought, gulping as the loud clop of Kukaku's sandals grew louder as the woman approached.

"Thank you so much for coming, Kukaku-san," Masaki smiled genially, "Please do come in."

Rukia cleared her throat and stood as the fireworks expert entered the room.

"Shiba-san…" Rukia whispered, bowing. Even though the two had cleared the air between them, she still made Rukia uneasy. She had no idea what to expect from her…

"Yoruichi asked Kukaku to assist us in the planning as she has some experience in the matter," Masaki explained.

"Oh – right, I forgot," Rukia said weakly. Kukaku would have been involved in Kaien-dono and Miyako-dono's wedding plans.

"Besides, she's family," Masaki then dropped the bomb that had Rukia's jaw dropping.

"She's – whaaAAAT?" Rukia gaped at the pair of them as Lily blinked with some surprise.

"Hm, I'm guessing Uncle neglected to mention that as well," Kukaku said dryly. Rukia slowly nodded, her mouth still open, until Lily reached over to gently close it.

"Isshin was required to change his name when he went to the world of the living," Masaki explained, "he chose Kurosaki. It just happened to be my surname as well."

"Um, does Ichigo know?" Rukia finally asked, when she was finally able to get her brain working again. No wonder Ichigo and Kaien-dono looked so much alike!

"If Isshin told him the way he was supposed to, then yes, he does know now," Kukaku nodded, "He should have been told while he was in Karakura Town last."

"I wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that conversation," Rukia commented dryly, imagining the condition Ichigo had probably left his father in after hearing the news. Ichigo did not like secrets, and this was one that he was not going to react very well to. If Isshin hadn't left an impression on the wall where Ichigo had planted him, then he'd been transformed into something else.

"You and me both," Masaki smiled gently at her.

"Make that three of us," Kukaku added with a predatory smile.

Author's Notes:

Sōkyoku Hill – The hill is visible from most of Seireitei and has sheer cliffs on all sides. There are two known access points to the Sōkyoku Hill - a long bridge connecting to the Senzaikyū ("Palace of Remorseful Sin"), and a long, zigzagging stairway carved into one side of the hill. One end of the hill is heavily undercut, where the Sōkyoku and the bridge are located. The opposite end is covered by a white forest. The Sōkyoku Hill is the scene of the execution ceremony of Rukia Kuchiki and several battles, including Ichigo's final fight with Byakuya Kuchiki. It was central to Sōsuke Aizen's plot to acquire the Hōgyoku. Not only was the Sōkyoku his intended method of gaining the Hōgyoku, but it was also the place where Menos Grande arrived and enveloped Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tōsen in Negación to allow them to escape from Soul Society.

Sōkyoku Hill training ground - Urahara styled his shop's secret training ground on one he built beneath Sōkyoku Hill while young. In this training ground, he and Yoruichi Shihōin would play and train. When Ichigo Kurosaki narrowly escapes defeat by Byakuya Kuchiki, Yoruichi takes him to this training ground in order that he might rapidly attain Bankai through use of the Tenshintai. Renji also attains Bankai in this space. While very similar in appearance to the Urahara Shop's training ground, the Sōkyoku Hill training ground also sports a hot springs whose waters have the power of healing injuries.

Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions: Sometimes simply referred to as Madam Malkin's, it is a shop in Diagon Alley. Students get their Hogwarts school uniforms there, and also dress robes, travelling cloaks, and the like.

Twilfitt and Tatting's: Twilfitt and Tatting's is a wizarding clothing shop located in Diagon Alley. Given that it is favored by elitist pure-blood witch Narcissa Malfoy, it is probably an up market shop.