Chapter 5

Harry's head pounded as they sprayed more foul smelling poison into the moldy curtains. The ugly blue creatures darted about, confused and choking. Biting at exposed flesh whenever the chance presented itself. But none of these things were the cause of Harry's current discomfort.

"These are called doxies!" Ron stated slowly and loudly, holding the spritely being up for Ichigo to inspect. This had been going on for a while. Ichigo had tagged along and began helping with the cleaning projects. Ron and the twins had been speaking to him in near yells for going on three hours. Pointing things out and giving the name of the item.

Lupin, Sirius and Mad-Eye had all surprisingly joined them as well in their crusade against filth. Harry had not had time to point out to Hermione or Ron how odd this was though Hermione probably already had thought about it.

Didn't order members have more important business to attend to? Unless they were keeping an eye on Ichigo that is.

Harry swept the spray in an arc, catching three doxies unaware. Ichigo bent over to pick them up when the desk directly behind him jumped and shook. He spun, eyes narrowed and muscles taught. The orange haired boy looked inquisitively at the desk for a moment before reaching his hand out.

"No!" Molly's voice was harsh and filled with warning. "Sorry dear." She continued leading Ichigo away from the still shaking desk. "there's nothing in there you need to worry yourself about." Thankfully Mrs. Weasley had yet to use a patronizing tone with the boy. She turned to Mad-Eye. "I've been meaning to ask you Alastor, I'm fairly sure that a bogga-"

"It is." He responded gruffly, not allowing her to finish.

"Oh good I'll take care of that later."

Ichigo watched the exchange and Harry once again got the strong feeling that the boy was assessing the situation and understood a lot more than he was letting on.

Harry was trying to assess the boy. His reactions to the things he had witnessed; such as the moving portraits and the creatures, weren't the reactions of a muggle. But he didn't seem too used to anything either. Earlier when Kreacher had hobbled in muttering obscenities just loud enough for everyone to hear Ichigo had fallen into a crouch until Sirius kicked the loathsome beast from the room.

Around the strange boy the order members were on edge and the tension spread through the room.

Dinner could not come soon enough.

Harry fell back onto the bench between Ichigo and Sirius. Molly was bustling around in a fretful way.

"Oh dear I had no idea it had gotten so late!" She was saying as she spelled fire under her cauldron to prepare dinner. More members were walking in. Thankfully, for once, Tonks did not wake up Sirius's mother. Shacklebolt sat down next to Ron who fidgeted nervously.

"Fred, George help me carry things to the table."

Molly never specified why they were in such a hurry but there was really no need to. Harry clenched his fist on top of the table. The frustration which seemed to have made a permanent home within him intensifying. He had a right to be in these order meetings. A right that he was reminded of each night as he watched Cedric fall over and over again encased in green light. As he watched that sickening form rise from the smoldering cauldron. As he dreamt of all the new horrors Voldemort would inflict upon those he loved. Nightmares which replayed in an almost never ending fashion behind his lids,even while he was awake. Every moment Harry spent outside the order's inner workings was another moment of uselessness that piled onto his already burdened shoulders. He felt a hand rest lightly upon his back and started. For a moment Harry had completely lost himself. Ichigo had a questioning look on his face. Harry could not even begin to formulate an answer to the unasked question for in that exact moment-

"Fred! George! No! Just Carry them!" Harry barely had time to snap his head up to witness the broiling cauldron and large knife flying in their direction. Before he choked as his shirts collar was yanked. Ichigo had grabbed Harry by the scruff and pulled him out of the cauldron's way moments before it skidded past the table and onto the seat. Ichigo stepped behind Harry, pivoted his foot and caught the knife before it could impale Sirius's eye socket.

Dead silence reigned in the room as the wizards processed what had just transpired. Harry nervously rubbed his neck where the fabric had chaffed his skin.

Nonchalantly Ichigo spun the knife. It expertly twirled between his deft fingers before he set it onto the table.

BREAKBREAKBREAK

Ichigo faced the room noting every somber face. Some he recognized from earlier that day. But more were completely new to him. An extremely old man with a long graying beard and the most ridiculous purple outfit he had seen had arrived. The ensemble was tied together with a tall pointed hat. This crazy looking person motioned for Ichigo to sit, which he opted not to. 'Now what' He wondered tiredly.

First he had woken up in a strange room next to naked. There had been no clothes for him to put on. He had managed to dredge up some reitsu around him to form into something non decrepit. The process being more difficult than it should have been. When Ichigo had looked in the mirror the surprise of it commenting on how messy his hair was had sent him stumbling back, where he had tripped rather gracelessly over a trash can, which then proceeded to spit balls of garbage in his general direction.

His senses had been out of wack from the moment he had opened his eyes. Everything around him pulsed with a strange foreign energy. the door had been locked. A simple enough fix but he was met with a weird resistance as he moved over the threshold. The air got heavy and seemed to push back at him. He barely flexed his reitsu and the sensation was gone.

The hallways and stairs he walked down were dark and foreboding. Frames he passed felt like they had souls behind the curtains. It all gave him a feeling of apprehension. But he hadn't met anyone so far. The house seemed deserted.

Then he had heard the noises coming from the bottom of the stairway, at the end of the hall. He felt a cluster of energy but he could not tell if it was human. Ichigo gulped and pulled reitsu into his fists, ready for anything.

Well, anything except for what he found.

Now the adults conversed around him not aware that he was following every word. Ichigo was not in the top of his class for nothing. The one with the swirly eye who had hovered over Ichigo the entire day (Moody?) was speaking to the old man. Others spoke as well. Each telling him their own bit. He appeared to be the leader of this rag tag group and despite his flamboyant attire reminded Ichigo somewhat of Yamamoto, except softer. His gaze never left Ichigo.

When they had finished giving reports on Ichigo's behavior the old man smiled.

"Well now you have some small idea as to who we are, but who exactly are you?"

Ichigo placed the same dumbfounded blithely ignorant smile on his face as Molly stepped into answer.

"Oh! He doesn't seem to understand English though we think his name is Ichega." The boy cringed and resisted the temptation to correct her. Dumbledore's smile widened and Ichigo wasn't sure he like the twinkle he saw in the old coots eyes.

"(Well Ichigo-san just so there are no misunderstandings, my name is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and you are currently standing in the house of Black)" He said in almost perfect Japanese.

Ichigo felt his mouth fall open and he wasn't the only one. Others in the room were looking at Dumbledore in surprise. The one known as Lupin shook his head with a small smile and the man next to him (Sirius?)stated "Should have known." Under his breath.

Caught off guard Ichigo clamped his mouth shut. Then scrambling for words, fell back on tradition. He bowed low.

"(My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. It is a pleasure to meet you.)"

Dumbledore continued to smile. "(It's a pleasure to meet you as well young… man. But it you wouldn't mind I would very much prefer if we continued in a language everyone can understand.)"

"(How did you know I speak English?") Ichigo stuttered out without thought.

The smile upon the old man's face grew more mischievous and Ichigo cursed himself 'well now he knew baka!'

"Now that we have that small problem taken care of," Dumbledore had switched back to English and now adopted a very somber manner. "We do have some… issues that need to be addressed Mr. Kurosaki."

The fact that Ichigo could understand this passed over only a few heads, most people in the room turned to look at Ichigo in irritation. Molly went to speak on his behalf once again when Ichigo interrupted her.

"Yeah? About what?" He hated how thick his accent was. He shoved his hands into his pocket as general outrage at the fact that he had been playing them all for fools the entire day sunk in. Ichigo shrugged at their comments, focusing completely on Dumbledore. The boy hated how much he had to concentrate on what was coming out of his mouth because it drew away from what was coming out of theirs.

Dumbledore simply studied him for a moment before speaking. " For now we shall focus on only one of the many things we have to discuss." He paused and continued to stare unblinkingly at Ichigo. "What are you Mr. Kurosaki? We know that though you appear human, you are not." The others in the room shifted uncomfortably in their seats by his blatant point blank tactic.

Ichigo averted his gaze and took a small almost unnoticeable step backward. He opened and closed his mouth a few times. Not sure how honest he should be with these complete strangers. Soul Society was technically supposed to be a "secret" from mere mortals, a rule that was broken time and time again by Ichigo and those close to him.

Trying to bide his time he muttered "well you can all see me, which means there's gotta be something special about you." Instantly he regretted opening his mouth for a few of the adults had leaned into whisper in hurried voices to each other, too low and swift for Ichigo to catch their meaning. "So what are you guys?"

"Wizards." Dumbledore answered immediately with a bright smile.

Ichigo didn't quite successfully subdue the snort.

"See?" one of the other Adults in the room gestured rudely to Ichigo. "That was one of the most common muggle responses!"

Ichigo had a moment to wonder vaguely at what exactly a muggle was before he was forced to follow a swift confusing argument between the "wizards" he once again failed to suppress a snort at the ridiculous concept. But from what he had seen thus far today did he really have room to object their existence. They used small sticks that did seem to amplify and concentrate some sort of power. A power which seemed so different than what Ichigo was used too.

Everyone seemed to have something to say and they spoke swiftly and loudly, sometimes even over each other. Ichigo found it difficult to follow along at times. A feeling doubled whenever he heard terms that he had no idea of their meaning. Something about there being more important matters to discuss. Some people wanted to just obliviate him, whatever that meant. And a phrase, a strange phrase kept passing between lips which only confused Ichigo even more; "You-Know-Who"

'How ridiculous', Ichigo thought. But at least everyone did seem to know who.

Dumbledore did not allow the cacophony of a conversation to continue for long. He stood and immediately conversation died down.

"Our guest has not answered our question yet." Ichigo did his best to avoid eye contact with anyone in the room but his gaze was somehow inexplicably drawn to the old man's intense light blue eyes. "So I am going to help him along. Are you, perhaps, a shinigami?"

Taken aback Ichigo snapped his gaze to the floor. How did the old coot know that word? A small hope kindled within Ichigo; were there other shinigami in this world? Another problem arose however. How was he supposed to answer this "wizard"? he wasn't necessarily a shinigami. He wasn't completely a hollow nor a vizard either.

Finally Ichigo shrugged and lifted his eyes to meet Dumbledore's once again. "No, not exactly." He scratched the back of his head in annoyance and switched to Japanese because it was easier. "(Look it's complicated if you want to know the truth I'm not sure what I am.)"

Dumbledore's gaze seemed to bore right through the body of his soul and Ichigo shivered. He felt as if he had just been challenged. But to what he was not so sure.