A/N: Chapter five is finally here. And the Soul Reapers are finally going to England. Now our story kicks off. There will be a big change coming up from the original version of Harry Potter but it will work out okay in the end. I think it might be next chapter or something. If, at any moment, there are questions, suggestions, or useful critique, please feel free to let me know. All will be appreciated. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach, or either of their characters. They all belong to their respective owners. I don't think I would want to either. Think of all the work and high expectations I would have to meet. Ugh! Can someone say 'Nervous Breakdown'?
Warning! I will be out of town for a week and so I will be unable to post the sixth chapter on Monday. I apologize greatly but there is nothing I can do. I will write out chapter six on a notebook and when I get back to my computer, I'll type it out and post it as soon as I can. Sorry!
Chapter Five: To England
After Yuzu deemed his trunk properly packed and left to her own room, Ichigo pulled out his cell phone and dialed Orihime's number. When she answered, he asked her to meet him at the park in ten minutes. Then he called Chad and Uryu and repeated the request. After he hung up, he grabbed his jacket and headed down the stairs and out the front door. He headed down the street to the park, thinking of what he wanted to say to his friends when he got to the park. He had decided to tell them the truth and was planning on sending information to them in case he and his team needed outside theories on any problems they came across. He was going to send them letters asking for advice whenever he could. They were his friends and part of his team. He knew they would go with him if they could and he knew they had his back, even if Uryu didn't admit it.
Finally he reached the park and stopped at a swing set, sitting down on one of the swings and waiting.
"Ichigo!" Ichigo looked up to see a busty orange haired girl running toward him, waving happily. She stopped in front of him. "Hey, Ichigo."
"Hey, Orihime." He greeted.
"What's this about?" said a voice behind Ichigo. He turned to see a boy in a white and blue outfit, his glasses shining with the light of the moon. His dark hair blended with the shadows of the night, making him seem more mysterious.
"Uryu." Ichigo nodded. Then he added. "And Chad."
A tall Hispanic boy walked up from behind Orihime and stopped next to her, his messy brown hair falling over his eyes as he nodded in greeting. "Ichigo."
"What's happening, Ichigo?" Orihime asked, glancing at him nervously. "Is it Rukia again?"
Ichigo shook his head. "No, it's not. Actually, I called you guys here because I wanted to let you guys know that I'm going away for a year."
There was stunned silence for a moment, and then a sudden outburst from Orihime, followed by surprised grunts and stares from Uryu and Chad. "A year? Why? What happened? Is it the Soul Society? What did they do? Did they say you have to leave? Did they threaten you? What-?"
"Orihime, relax." Ichigo said, surprised by her outburst. It was the biggest outburst he had received so far tonight. "It's for a mission concerning some things in England. I don't want to go, but I'm a Soul Reaper, in a sense, and so, I have to go if the old geezer says so. And it's for a whole year because what we're supposed to protect is going to take place throughout the year."
"And what exactly are you supposed to protect?" Uryu asked.
Ichigo quickly explained the details of the mission. His friends listened in silence, absorbing as much information as they could. When he finished, he waited while they processed this. Then he spoke again. "Our mission starts immediately. We leave for Urahara's shop tomorrow morning at eleven and then somehow get to England."
"I'm coming, too." Orihime said. Chad nodded in agreement, his arms crossed over his chest in a stubborn manner.
Ichigo shook his head. "No, I need you guys to stay here. I'm going to be sending messages to you guys over the year, getting your thoughts on whatever needs fresh thinking and any other outside help."
"We're a team, Ichigo." Chad said. "You go, we go."
"Right." Orihime said.
"You can't." Ichigo said. "It's a whole year. You can't go for a whole year. What about school and stuff. People will get suspicious. And besides, Soul Society won't allow it."
"Then we'll just have to go in a way that Soul Society will have no say." Uryu replied. Deep down, he knew that he shouldn't go with them. He was a Quincy after all. And Quincy didn't travel with Soul Reapers any more than they fought with them. But the thought of studying western magic was a great opportunity he wasn't about to pass up.
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.
Uryu shrugged. "You'll see. And don't worry about us. We'll be just fine with coming up with an excuse for leaving. I believe you said something about studying abroad?" Orihime and Chad smiled as they caught on to what he meant.
Ichigo grinned. "Yeah, I did. And I said that a 'select few' were selected from our school."
"And where exactly is this trip supposed to take place?" Uryu asked slyly.
"London, England." Ichigo replied. "I believe there is a place around there that we're supposed to go to."
Uryu nodded with a smirk. "Then that's where we'll go. In the mean time, you should probably get home. I believe you have to get up early tomorrow?"
Ichigo nodded and stood up, stretching as he did so. "Yep." He started walking away from them but stopped near the edge of the park and looked back at them. "Remember, Soul Society didn't ask for your participation in this mission. But if you guy are planning a summer vacation, you should try a different country. I heard England is nice this time of year."
"We'll hit you up on that." Uryu responded as he shoved his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
Ichigo smirked and headed home, thinking that that had gone smoother than he had expected. He just hoped Soul Society didn't try to stop them. He really could use their help. And he knew he'd miss his friends during the year he was gone. As he headed home, he cursed Soul Society again for sending him on this mission. Couldn't they at least make me go for just the summer? Why a whole dang year? Are they that desperate to get rid of me? Stupid Soul Society. Stupid captains. Stupid old geezer. Stupid wizards, with their dark wizards, and evil spells, and freak creatures, and boarding schools and everything else that's wrong because of them.
Ichigo woke at ten o' clock the next morning, once again grumbling about a wasted summer. He angrily slammed his hand down on the alarm clock, smashing it into chunks of metal by accident. Then he got out of bed and grabbed a towel and his bag of toiletries and headed to the bathroom for a shower. He returned fifteen minutes later, his towel hanging loosely around his hips, and began pulling on his boxers and then his jeans. As he was reaching for his shirt, there was a knock on his window and then it slid open and Rukia jumped in.
"What the heck are you doing here?" Ichigo demanded, not bothering to be quiet. He had heard Yuzu in the kitchen with their father, so he knew the rest of the house was awake. He quickly grabbed his shirt and pulled it over his head. "And why don't you ever use the door? It's there for a reason, you know."
"Because this is the quickest way to your room." She answered. She jumped from his window to his bed and sat down on the end. "So what did you say to your family?"
Ichigo avoided her eyes. "Dad I told the truth. And I told the whole family I was going on a study abroad trip during dinner and that I would be gone for a whole year."
"But…" she pressed. She knew him well enough that she could tell when there was something he wasn't saying.
Ichigo looked up at the window, and then back down to Rukia. "Is anyone else out there?"
Rukia looked at him in surprise. "No. Everyone else is doing some last minute checks before they head to Urahara's. I already took my stuff to his place and got my gigai. So I decided to come and see if you needed help with anything. Why?"
Ichigo reached past her and shut the window. "If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone or do anything that the Soul Society would want you to do?"
Rukia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why?"
"Just promise me." Ichigo gave her a hard look. He didn't want to have to resort to this but he needed help with this. "You said you wanted to repay me for saving you. If you help me with this, I'll consider your debt repaid."
Rukia's eyes widened in surprise, and then nodded. "Okay I promise. I won't tell or do anything that Soul Society would want me to."
Ichigo nodded before telling her. "Karin knows."
"Knows what?" Rukia asked in confusion.
"About us, you, Soul Society, Soul Reapers, Hollows, everything." Ichigo clarified.
Rukia gasped. "How?"
Ichigo shook his head. "I don't know. She said she could see them the same way I could. Not as clearly but she can see them. She knows you're not human and she's seen me in my Soul Reaper clothes. It won't matter if we erase her memories or anything because it won't stop her from seeing them again. And I'm not turning her over to the people that tried to kill you for letting me save my family. I told her the rest of it."
"Why would you do that?" Rukia demanded. "The less she knows, the better off she'll be."
"I know but she confronted me." Ichigo explained. "If I had brushed her off and lied to her, she would have tried to figure it out on her own and I wouldn't be here to protect her if Soul Society found out or keep her from finding out too much. But I promised I would tell her the truth and in exchange, she has to keep quiet about it and stay out of trouble because if the wrong people knew, we'd both be in trouble."
Rukia nodded. "You're right, you would be."
Ichigo glanced at his watch on his desk as he pulled on his socks. "We've got about a half hour before we've got to be at Urahara's. Yuzu said she wanted to make a big breakfast before I left. You coming?"
Rukia shook her head. "No, I have things I have to do really quick. I'll meet you at Urahara's."
"Alright." Rukia turned and left out the window she had come through. Ichigo rolled his eyes and grabbed his trunk from the foot of the bed and placed it on top of his messy sheets. He quickly opened his trunk and placed his toiletries inside. Then he closed it and turned to head out to the kitchen.
"Wait, Ichigo." Kon said, crawling out from under the bed. He pulled out a small notebook and a bundle of pens. "I need to put these in your trunk."
"Just leave them on the bed. I'll put them away later." He answered and went down for breakfast.
Harry knelt in the grass in front of his house, de-weeding Aunt Petunia's garden, when he heard the sound of a vehicle screeching down the street. He quickly turned on his knees, knowing he'll most likely end up with grass stains, and peered down the street to see a large black truck barreling down, dangerously swerving from lane to lane as if the driver didn't know which lane to use or didn't care. Harry watched with wide eyes as the large truck turned, teetered on two wheels and almost tipping over, before it pulled into the drive way of the empty house, pulling up half onto the lawn and nearly killing the garage. The left behind garden gnome lay crushed to powder under one of the front tires.
Interest piqued, Harry glanced up into the living room window to see his aunt, uncle and cousin watching TV, seemingly unaware of what had just occurred, and then he crawled through the grass until he was against the low wall surrounding their house. Cautiously he peered over the wall to watch as a tall man with pale skin and long white hair got out of the passenger side of the truck, seemingly unfazed by the truck driver's wild driving. He wore a black leather jacket with an odd symbol over the entire back and black pants and dress shoes; all of the black making him seem even paler. Harry glanced at the driver's side as the door opened and his eyes nearly bulged from their sockets at the sight of the other man.
The driver was huge, almost as tall as Hagrid and built like a tank. When he turned to the side to speak to the white haired man, Harry, with his keen eyes that had gotten him a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, noticed a massive scar on the left side of his face, traveling from his hair line down to his chin. He also had a strange eye patch over his right eye and his hair! It was massive; spiked up into eleven sharp looking points, each topped with a tiny bell and making him seem incredibly sinister. He was wearing a massive black leather jacket with another strange symbol on the back, slightly different from the white haired man's and baggy black pants and shiny black boots. But what surprised Harry the most was what he saw hanging off of the man's right arm.
A tiny little girl with pink hair sat on his shoulder, dressed in a plain black dress, almost like Harry's wizards robe, and seemed to be at ease on the man's shoulder. Harry noticed a small arm band around the girl's upper right arm and when the large man turned to the side, Harry could see that the arm band had the same symbol as the jacket of the man she was hanging off of.
Instead of feeling weary and terrified, Harry grinned at the sight of these three people. If they were the people who were interested in that house, then no doubt Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would throw a fit big enough to impress the Queen. Smirking to himself, Harry watched as the men spoke to each other before the white haired man started rummaging through the pockets of his jacket and pants before pulling out, what looked to be, a key ring with a single key on it. The man held the key up for the larger man to see, a small kind smile spread along the pale face, before he turned and headed up to the front door. The larger man started to follow but stopped before he was completely out of eye sight, turned, locked eyes with Harry, and gave him the most bone chilling grin Harry had ever seen, revealing two whole rows of very sharp canines. Harry felt his blood run cold and he had a feeling that he looked as pale as the white haired man. Harry couldn't move. He felt as though he were a deer caught in headlights, too afraid to even breathe. He could feel the blood rushing through his veins and hear his heart pounding a mile a minute as he stared into the man's wild eyes.
Finally, Harry was released from that piercing stare as the man seemed to have been called by the white haired man and he turned and went into the house, and the little girl turned her head and winked at Harry before turning back around and laughing as she patted the large man on the shoulder. Harry blinked several times, shuddering as he felt his heartbeat return to normal and his body heat re-warmed his freezing body. He had never felt anything like that in his entire life, not even when he had come face to face with Voldemort for the first time. The man's eyes weren't like Professor Snape's, whose eyes were cold and could make you feel as though you were staring down a black hole, knowing that something evil was on it's way and yet not being able to move or stop it. This man felt more like he was ready to fight and not willing to hold anything back. Like he relished the thrill of battle.
"Boy, what are you doing?" shouted a voice behind him. Harry jumped and turned around to see Uncle Vernon standing on the porch and glaring at Harry.
Thinking rapidly, Harry said the first thing that came to mind that he knew would distract his uncle from his grass stained pants and whatever foolishness he would think Harry was doing. "There are people moving into the house." He said, pointing to the house he had been watching.
As he had expected, his uncle looked up at the large truck half on the lawn and his eyes narrowed. "Blasted freaks, thinking they can come to a respected neighborhood and ruin it with their freakishness?"
"It was the man with white hair, Uncle Vernon." Harry said. "Except he had someone else with him. You should have seen him. He was huge and crazy looking, almost insane. His hair was spiky and had little bells on the tips. I'm betting that if you had seen him, you would have thought he was worse than me and the white haired guy put together."
Again, as he had expected, Uncle Vernon paled and beckoned Harry to him, never taking his eyes off the other house. "Get inside, boy. Go to your room."
Harry hurried into the house, resisting the urge to snicker when he saw the terrified look on his uncle's face. He hadn't seen him look like that since Hagrid first showed up to tell Harry he was a wizard. Harry rushed passed his aunt and cousin, both looking confused, and headed up the stairs to his room, where he closed the door, flopped onto his bed and gazed at the ceiling, his arms crossed behind his head. He wondered who these people were and if they were bringing anyone else with them. It was great that they were so unusual that Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia wouldn't let Dudley anywhere near that house, possibly not even allow him on that side of the street, but they didn't seem to have any kids his age. That girl looked way too young to even be allowed across the street on her own. Maybe he'll wait a few more days, until the family had completely settled in before he tried to estimate how many people were staying. Hopefully there was at least one person there that could save him from a terrible summer. Just this once.
Ichigo leaned against the wall outside Urahara's shop wearing light blue jeans and a black short-sleeved shirt with the number 88 over the left breast and an open black sweater with a grey hood and sleeves. The other Soul Reapers were currently inside retrieving their gigais from the annoying shop keeper while Ichigo looked through his trunk, making sure he had everything that would be needed. He had waited to pack any Soul Reaper stuff until he was just about to leave the house, in case Yuzu decided to do a last minute check. He seemed to have everything, so he closed his trunk and glanced up as Rukia emerged with Renji. Both of them were dressed in as normal of human clothing as possible; Rukia wore a plain shin-length, short-sleeved white dress with a light blue half shirt on top, the ends tied in a knot just below her breasts and a light blue design across the hem of her dress that, when Ichigo took a closer look, turned out to be her Division's symbol and number in Japanese; Renji wore black jeans and a black short sleeved shirt with longer white sleeves underneath and his signature white headband covering the majority of the intricate black tattoos etched across his forehead from temple to temple. His shirt also had his Division's symbol etched in white over his left breast and his number across his back.
"Where'd you get the clothes?" Ichigo asked with a raised eyebrow. He had a feeling the local clothing shops didn't put Soul Society symbols on their clothing.
Rukia looked down at herself and then back up at Ichigo with a shrug. "Rangiku took it upon herself to custom-make our clothes. She said she will not be traveling with fashion criminals in a new country."
"She's planning on etching our Division's symbol and number on all of the clothes we'll be buying in London." Renji added. "As well as our school uniforms, even though I don't think it'll be allowed but Captain Hitsugaya said that whether or not it's allowed won't stop her from doing it."
Before any of them could say anything more, Kon jumped out of Ichigo's pocket and tried to latch himself onto Rukia. "Rukia looks great in anything!" he cried. Rukia absent mindedly back handed Kon, sending him flying into the wall of the shop with a soft sqush.
"Idiot." Renji scoffed, glaring at the living stuffed lion in annoyance.
"Whatever. Are we done yet?" Ichigo asked in a bored tone.
"Just about." The three of them turned as Toshiro, Rangiku, and Urahara came out of the shop, Urahara's helpers trailing behind him as usual. Toshiro was dressed in black jeans with a silver-grey belt and a dark blue polo shirt under a black leather jacket, the symbol of his Division sewn in white over the left breast pocket and his Division number written in Japanese across the back; Rangiku wore a tight, short-sleeved hot pink shirt with a low V-neck that revealed the top of her large breasts and the silver necklace trailing down her chest, and wore light blue jean shorts with a stylish black belt. Her Division's symbol, which was the same as Toshiro's since she was his Lieutenant, was etched onto both front pockets of her shorts and her Division's number etched onto her back pockets. Toshiro crossed his arms over his chest and nodded towards Urahara. "We still need a few things."
Urahara pulled a small box from his sleeve and opened it before showing them the contents. Inside was a row of small silver rings, each one a different size and etched with a picture like the one on their trunk. "These," he said. "are the translators you will be wearing while you are in England. I just decided to be creative with etching the pictures like Captain Kurotsuchi. Whichever has your picture is your ring and has been sized to fit your middle finger only. We wouldn't want you accidently proclaiming to the English population that two of you are married because you put your rings on the wrong finger, now would we?" Ichigo and Renji glanced at each other and shuddered. "While you wear these, you can still speak Japanese to each other if you wanted but you can also understand what the gaijin's are saying as well. Whereas if you were to take it off, you would have no idea what someone is saying to you or about you."
"Why rings?" Renji asked, looking oddly at the row of silver bands.
"Well, would you rather go with the filling that surgically goes into your teeth?" Urahara asked pleasantly. "Because if you would, I believe Tessai has some experience with drilling." The tall mocha-skinned man with rectangular eyeglasses and a permanent frown, Tessai, pulled a painful-looking drill from inside his shop apron, surgical gloves already covering his hands.
Renji shook his head nervously. "No thanks. I'll take the ring."
Everyone grabbed their ring and placed it on their middle finger before looking back at Urahara. "I've also got these for you guys. But don't let anyone else use them or see you using them recklessly; we wouldn't want to cause a panic with the muggles or attract any unwanted attention from the wizarding population." He said, pulling out several small black silk sacks, small enough to put in their pockets, and handed one to each of them. They loosened the drawstring and opened their sacks curiously, pulling out a small handful of odd looking paper and coins.
"Is this what wizard money is?" Renji asked, eyeing the paper suspiciously.
"No, this is British money." Urahara answered. "These sacks have been made so that you never run out of money. It's a trick that Head-Captain learned some how and used it on these sacks. He's the one who had Captain Kurotsuchi make them. How they work is that when you want to buy something, you just think about how much you want to pull out and then reach into the sack and pull out that amount. But like I said, don't be using these recklessly. If you pull out enough money to buy a house, for example, you will no doubt attract unwanted attention. Also, these sacks are able to give out other types of currency as well. Japanese yen, American dollars, Mexican pesos, whatever type of currency you need; you just have to put some in beforehand so the sacks will have an idea which currency you want. For example, right now you have British currency in your bags that Soul Society personally put in each of them. Now, whenever you want to buy something in Britain, it will know the right currency. But if you suddenly want to use a currency the sack isn't familiar with, a.k.a. wizard currency, you must first place some of the unknown currency in the sack, then it will become familiar with the currency and "keep it to memory" so to speak, in case you need to switch between British money and wizard money or whatever other type of money you decide to put in there. The money won't ever seem fake or counterfeit; however, there is one drawback. These have been specifically instructed to 'run out' at the end of your mission. So if you lose it sometime between leaving England and returning to Japan, it won't matter because by then it will just be an empty sack."
"Thank you." Toshiro said with a bow. "We appreciate your help and your useful items."
"Don't worry; Head-Captain will get the bill in a few days." Urahara said. Toshiro smirked. Serves him right for sending me on this stupid mission in the first place.
"Well, now that that's taken care of, is everyone ready?" Urahara asked.
"How are we getting there?" Ichigo asked. "I'm assuming we're not taking a plane."
"Nope. I'm going to open a gate for you guys that will take you directly to an alley in London." Urahara said cheerily. "Captain Ukitake will pick you up there and drive you to your new home."
"Drive?" Rukia asked, sharing surprised looks with Renji and Rangiku. "I didn't know Captain Ukitake knew how to drive a human vehicle."
"Why, yes. He can." Urahara said. "Or at least I think he can. I'm assuming he's better than Kenpachi. I heard he ran over several different hedges and maimed dozens of lawns before they made it to the house to move in the furniture, and I think there was something about a murdered garden gnome. But Captain Ukitake should be at least a little safer."
The group gave each other shocked and relieved looks, except Toshiro who looked bored, and then back at Urahara. "We're ready." Toshiro said, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Let's get going."
Urahara nodded. "Right. And don't worry about getting your school supplies. In about two or three weeks, a message will be sent to you via owl with instructions on what to do about getting your supplies. When you go to get your school books, get the book for the grade lower as well. You'll need to read and practice everything over the summer that you will need to know when you get to the school. The house has been worked on by Captain Ukitake and Kenpachi so that anyone in the house can use magic. British wizards forbid underage magic but they can't detect it in that house. Understood?" When everyone nodded, Urahara turned and he and his helpers quickly set up the exterior of the gate, making it look more like a door than a gate. Urahara said a small, incoherent incantation and the gate began to glow white before going clear. The other side of the doorway showed a dark isolated alleyway, hidden behind several large dumpsters. Urahara turned back to the group and waved them forward with a small fan that he pulled out of his sleeve. "Off you go."
Toshiro stepped up first and walked right through as if it was the most normal thing in the world. As soon as he crossed the threshold, he disappeared for a split second before reappearing in the alley. After Toshiro had gone, the others quickly followed suit before only Ichigo was left. Before he could go through, Urahara stopped him. "Your friends won't be able to go through this way. They're going to have to go the normal way, and by that I mean by plane." Ichigo stared at him, surprised that he had known about his friends' plan to follow him. Urahara turned to the side of his shop and spoke up. "You hear that? You're going to have to go by plane because this won't work for you."
Ichigo turned to see Orihime, Chad, and Uryu step out from around the shop, the three of them weighed down with duffle bags and back packs and nap sacks, Orihime seeming a bit sheepish at being caught. "I've put together some of my money with some of Chad's and Uryu's and we came up with a little less than half of what it would cost for three one way tickets to England. We'll figure something out for the rest and for the plane ride home."
Ichigo glanced at the gate, seeing his group watching him expectantly, before walking out of view to where his friends were and pulled his money sack out of his pocket. "Here." He said, handing Orihime a large wad of Japanese money. "This should cover the plane ticket to England. I'll send you guys more money for the plane home before the mission ends." Then he turned and headed through the gate.
"Well that was certainly a waste of money." Urahara said in amusement. He pulled out three sacks identical to the ones he had given the Soul Reapers and handed them to Orihime, Uryu and Chad. "I was going to give these to you guys anyways. Oh well. Now let me explain how these work…"
A/N: So what did you think? Interesting enough? Hope so. Sorry if the ending didn't stand well. I wrote that part around two in the morning. Sorry if the whole thing with the money sacks was confusing. It didn't come as easily as the rest of it but it will have to do because I need to go to bed.
Sleep… it calls to me.
Don't forget to review!