Okay, it's time for the next chapter here. Another one by Arei. Hope you enjoy!

As always, neither of us own either Bleach or HP.

Chapter 15

Death: The Next Big Adventure...

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was dead.

Funnily enough he didn't feel it. In fact, he felt a number of years younger even though he knew he looked the same as he had in life. But at the same time... he was so very tired (dying takes a lot of energy out of a person apparently)... and desperately worried.

Draco had been ordered by Tom to kill Albus. The older man had learned about the situation and had convinced Severus Snape to do the deed in order to become more solidly respected and trusted by Tom and his minions. The other goal with this plan was to protect Draco's soul from the darkness of murder. But things had gone so very, very wrong and thus Albus worried about one of his dearest allies and the boy under his care. You see, a Death Eater that Albus had not recognized had hit him with the Killing Curse before any of the others could react. He found himself very glad that Draco had had the wherewithal to disarm him before the killing blow could hit him.

Surprisingly, the Killing Curse hadn't even hurt...

As his body fell to the ground below, his old friend Yama had caught his Spirit and had quickly shuffled him off through a Gate to the Seireitei. Yama had helped him to sit down at a rickety looking bench and had told him to remain put as he sent off a hell butterfly. Yama let him know that Yachiru would be along shortly to help him first to Unohana's and then to the First Division itself. Now that he thought about it, he'd seen only the girl's pink hair during the large meeting of allies Yama had held when they explained the danger Tom posed. She'd actually fallen asleep early on while gripping Kenpachi's (he found out later that the tall man had essentially adopted the young girl) shoulder.

In the mean time, while he waited for his escort, Albus found himself lost in thought and memory.

Severus Snape. If there was one boy, one MAN, that he would have wanted as his son... His cunning outshone any other Slytherin save perhaps for Merlin himself. A brilliance in thought to rival Rowena Ravenclaw, the man had a mind like a steel trap. A Loyal Hufflepuff heart that would remain true to any who earned his friendship. A fierce and brave soul to rival any Gryffindor, it took a special kind of bravery to be a spy for so very long. Very strict considering the volatile nature of what he taught and yet surprisingly humble depending on the situation...

If he could have picked someone to be his kin by blood...

But that was never to have been. Regrets... oh, he had many over the long years.

Another regret was Harry. Dear Harry Potter. If it had not been for the ultimate protection of the Blood Wards Albus would have allowed Masaki to take the boy; it would have been the best thing for him. But Blood Wards required close blood ties and Petunia was the only one to fit the requirements needed. Albus had left Mrs. Figg to keep an eye on the boy but the woman had never been allowed within the house to find out how the boy was being raised, had never seen the cupboard that the boy had apparently been living in, had never known that the boy was raised believing his parents had been drunken fools.

Albus cursed himself ten times the fool for never checking in on the boy regularly, for not trusting Minerva's finely honed instincts, for not foreseeing how invisible Harry might have been in Japan.

He was lucky the boy had such a kind heart and had forgiven him after he explained the Blood Wards and the protection they provided to him as long as he called Petunia's home his own.

Albus closed his eyes wearily as his thoughts drifted from regret to regret over the years. He'd lived a good hundred and fifteen years and well... Thinking of regrets brought his thoughts to HIM... Gellert Grindelwald. His Gell..

Gell had always been a bit of a troublemaker and had a 'bad boy' personality. They'd met one summer and had just... 'clicked', as the kids these days would say. Gell's life-long dream was to find the Deathly Hallows and revolutionize the Wizarding and Muggle worlds, bringing down the Statute of Secrecy so that Magical kind would not have to hide from normal society. Albus had found the idea revolutionary and had decided to help him.

Things were brought to a crawl when Ariana was attacked by a group of muggle boys and Gell's dream twisted towards vengeance when he saw how badly Albus's family was torn apart by the attack and Ariana's subsequent disconnect from reality and the wild nature her magic took on as she could no longer control it. Their Father attacked the Muggles who had so traumatized Ariana and ended up in Azkaban. Not long after, a fit of wild magic from Ariana caused an explosion that took their Mother's life. Albus was suddenly and rapidly the head of a Family that was in mourning and disgraced by the actions of his Father.

Ariana had been a bright girl who loved bright colors. She'd been the heart and soul of their family. Her accidental magic in most cases ended up causing color changes for decorations, clothes and even hair. One day, when she was around eight, she'd woken and she'd turned their Father's hair and beard neon green, their Mother's bright purple, Aberforth's bright yellow, Albus' hair ended up a bright red and Ariana's a light pink. Even Gell was affected when he'd visited that day, his hair turned bright blue and his robes a lime green. Everyone had laughed, such happy times before... Before.

To have such a ray of sunshine damaged to the extent that she was, then to lose their Father and Mother almost back to back... Both Albus and Aberforth fell into a deep melancholic state.

Gell was still able to pull Albus out of his depression, and while Albus no longer tackled their search for the Hallows with the vigor he had originally, it still was enough for Gell to see him smile occasionally as the two worked.

Aberforth had found out of course, that Albus was sneaking out to see the 'town delinquent' instead of helping to take care of their little sister, instead of taking care of him. He'd been angry. So very, UNDERSTANDABLY, angry with his older brother. A duel had broken out between the three men.

Not a one of them was sure how it happened or whose magic it was but Ariana had somehow gotten in the middle of the fight. Perhaps to stop them, but Albus wasn't sure and they would never know. One of their spells had hit the girl and sent her spinning into the wall hard. Her neck snapped. In an instant she was gone.

Aberforth and Albus had been stunned. They'd fallen to the ground near their sister as if they were puppets whose strings had been cut. Albus had drawn her broken form close and had wailed brokenly.

The three of them might have forgiven each other. The tragedy might have brought them closer together. They had no way to figure out whose spell it had been and Albus would have forgiven his brother, or his lover Gell, or would have begged for forgiveness for himself. But Gell... oh Gellert, curse his next cold hearted, foolish words.

"There's nothing we can do," he'd said to the brothers. "After everything she's been through, she's better off dead. She would never have been anything but another accident waiting to happen anyway."

Both brothers had been stunned at his words. Both had been ANGRY at the callousness shown by the other man. One would think though that it would have been Aberforth to chase Gellert off but no. Albus had handed Ariana over to his brother and had stood. The 'CRACK' that had echoed through the room was not the sound of a slap, but a punch that broke Gellart's jaw and shattered more than a few bones in Albus' hand.

"Leave," Albus had said coldly through his tears. "Leave and if you EVER loved me then NEVER show your face to me again."

Gellert had fled without a word and Albus had turned to what was left of his family, only to face complete and absolute hatred in his brother's eyes. Albus could all but see his brothers' thoughts; it was Albus' fault, if he hadn't snuck out, if he hadn't left them alone, if he had just focused on the family and not been so selfish... Aberforth had picked up their sister's body and had left, leaving Albus by himself in his grief.

Albus lost himself to research over the years, no friends, barely eating. He ignored all letters. He ignored the news. He ignored the world. The Noble House of Dumbledore, the House that had already begun to decline over the long years, had been all but broken within only a year's time.

Eventually he'd met Nicholas and his wife. The couple had drawn him out of his shell and back into the world. Albus was able to forgive himself with their help and was able to LIVE again. He forged his first friendship in years with the couple and that had lasted to their dying days.

And then the war broke out, both in the Muggle world and in the Magical world. Albus found out that Gellert was bent on power and was harming thousands. He rose to the challenge. Gellert was his responsibility to stop.

And stop him he did, though the fight lasted for hours.

Spells flew back and forth like lightning bolts. The two men all but danced as they dodged, robes flowing about them like water. It was beautiful, it was deadly... and it was interrupted just as Albus disarmed Gell of his wand and the other man was pulling out a second wand from the sleeve of his robes.

A screech unlike anything either man had ever heard echoed across the battlefield and sent both men stumbling out of their Battle lust. A massive form seemed to fall from the sky, a white mask upon its face. The... thing seemed to be some mockery of a man crossed with an ape and then crossed with a lion. A twisted thing with a massive hole in its chest and a horribly twisted white mask (Albus wondered idly for a moment, as he recalled the fight, if Tom got his idea for the mask for the Death Eaters from the hollows). Gellert had turned with him to face this new, unknown threat and the two were united in the face of the beast before them.

The thing had said something in a voice so guttural to be a growl about the two being a meal fit for a king before it had tried to attack them. He'd gone for Gellert first and had sent the man flying with a back-handed blow that had left the man out cold before turning on Albus.

Albus sent spell after spell at the beast, but it was too fast. The most that he could do was keep the thing on the defensive and prevent him from getting to the fallen Gellert. Even his strongest Shield spells could barely deflect the few attacks that slipped through. The strange beast was strong and Albus was already tired after so long a fight.

The next thing he knew an older, balding man with a beard to rival Merlin appeared in a white robe with what looked like Japanese writing on the back. Albus blinked in surprise and watched in shock as the strange man easily took down the beast that had attacked them. He'd then approached Albus and they eyed each other warily.

"Fancy bit of footwork that, for an old man," Albus said with a smile to break the ice.

"Arigatou," the bald man said with a nod, "Not so bad yourself for a young idiot."

As curious as Albus was about this strange man, he refrained from further conversation at that point and moved to check on Gellert.

As he took the second wand from his old love, who was waking from the earlier blow, broken and bleeding on the ground. Albus looked down on Gellert sadly, "I would have forgiven you anything but this, you know."

"As you forgave me for Ariana?" Gellert spat weakly, bitterly.

"I forgave you for that and for your words, a long time ago Gell," Albus said softly.

"Liar," Gellert shouted, "I wrote you! Again and again! You never wrote back! What was that but a sign that you did not forgive me!?"

"You're wrong, Gell. The one I couldn't forgive for so long was myself," Albus said simply, with the calmness of a man who had come to terms with his demons.

Gellert had been stunned into silence.

"But this?" Albus indicated the battlefield around them. "You have caused the deaths of hundreds of Magicals, thousands of Muggles... I cannot forgive you this."

Gellert went peaceably after that with the Aurors who came for him. He plead guilty to his crimes and accepted his punishment with the grace and pride he'd shown in his youth. He'd left to the prison with a warning to Albus.

"Never lose a duel unless you mean to," he'd said.

Albus had been stunned by the realization. He had the Elder Wand.

The bald man, Yamamoto as he introduced himself, remained and spoke in length with Albus. It was the start of an amazingly complex friendship.

Instead of vying for power he worked to become a teacher at Hogwarts and eventually became the Headmaster. He enjoyed the life of a teacher, passing on knowledge to the next generation. In a sense, every student became his son and his daughter, and he wished them all well. Tom though. So many regrets.

"Bumblebee? Why ya cryin'?" a soft voice called out jerking Dumbledore from his thoughts enough that he smacked the back of his head HARD against the wall behind the bench. He blinked the stars from his eyes and stared at the young girl in front of him.

If he wasn't dead already he'd have died of a heart attack right then and there.

It was Ariana. An eight-year-old Ariana with her hair magicked pink like that sunshiny day so long ago. Albus let out a choked cry at the sight, thinking that he had gone mad.

"Ari?" he asked as he reached out with a shaking hand.

"Who's 'Ari'?" The girl asked with a tilt of her head and a smile. "Silly Bumblebee, I'm Yachiru! Yama-jii sent me to take you to Uno-san. Come on Bumblebee!"

"Yachiru?" Albus asked, still stunned. This was the girl that had been on Kenpachi's shoulder.

When he still didn't move Ariana... no Yachiru... grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled him to his feet. Carefully she led him toward Unohana's while she yammered on about random things; the sky, the butterflies, the flowers, food, etc. Honestly, she acted and talked just like Ariana did at that age but... her name...

She led him to Unohana who smiled indulgently at the talkative youngster, handing her a sweet to keep her busy as she tended the older man. She gave him a look with a raised brow.

"Are you hungry Dumbledore-san?" Unohana asked.

"Hmm?" Dumbledore said distractedly before he recalled the importance of that particular question. "Oh! Yes, actually. Tea and biscuits sounds lovely right now."

Unohana nodded and got him a small snack before declaring him fit. Yachiru then escorted him to Yama's sitting room and the two sat down and chatted for a long time about anything and everything 'cute'. Yama showed up hours later with his lieutenant, Chojiro Sasakibe. Chojiro moved to distract Yachiru as Yama set down next to Albus. The two men watched the small girl chase around the lieutenant for several long moments before Albus worked up the courage to speak.

"Yama... is that... is that Ariana?" Albus asked hesitantly.

"After seeing the photos you have of her when she was younger, I do believe so. The date she appeared in the Seireitei matches Ariana's date of Death as well," his friend said.

"She doesn't seem to remember me... except for, well she called me 'Bumblebee'," Albus said wistfully.

"With what happened to her, her mind and soul regressed. She escaped inwards because of the attack," Yama said as he sipped his tea. "It happens often with souls who have something traumatic happen to them. As it is, when Unohana looked her over her soul is scarred enough that even if she develops her own Bankai she will never change from her current form. Hmm, you recall what I told you about Nel?"

"Ah yes," Albus blinked at that. "I recall now."

Nel, a rather buxom Arrancar, had been betrayed by her supposed allies and the drain of energy as well as the emotional onslaught had reverted the woman into a small child. It made sense that with what happened to Ariana, her own soul would have regressed in a similar manner. But Nel had been able to return to normal after a time. Albus closed his eyes.

"Will she ever remember?" Albus asked.

"Bumblebee! Yama-jii! Looky looky what I can make!" Yachiru rushed over then, preventing Yama from answering.

She cupped her hands together to make a hell butterfly, only the coloring was in shades of pink and white and red. A black mark was on the wings and Albus's breath caught in his throat. The mark of the House of Dumbledore, a small bee resting on the tip of a wand. Yachiru frowned though as she stared at the butterfly for a long moment and she plopped down in front of the two older men with a pout.

"It never works! I tried to send it to Yama-jii and it didn't work!" she cried out, "Whenever I change the color it NEVER works an' I can't figure out why!"

"Ar... Yachiru," Dumbledore said slowly as he stared at the mark. "Try to send ME a message. Just me."

"Just you, Bumblebee?"

Albus nodded. A moment later the butterfly fluttered up to circle him before landing on his hand.

~Can you hear me, Bumblebee? Everything is alright now, isn't it?~ came her soft voice, trembling with a soft and fragile hope.

Albus laughed with tears in his eyes as he looked at her as the butterfly faded away. "I can hear you. And yes... yes it is."

A light flashed in Yachiru's eyes and for a moment it really was Ariana staring back at him with love, kindness and most of all FORGIVENESS in her eyes before she leaped up and started chasing Chojiro around the room again with a happy cry.

"She may never remember it all, but she might just remember the important things," Yama said softly, "like Family."

Albus couldn't help the tears that fell and took comfort in his friend's gentle hand on his shoulder.