Chapter Text
Standard Disclaimer : I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or Bleach. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am only a writer working on my skills with worlds and characters that I love.”
Chapter Six - An Odd Choice
“Oh, Harry, yes!” Rukia shrieked in final ecstasy, all of her muscles seizing within her at once, before falling limply onto Harry’s chest for the last time, all energy and strength fading from her body in equal measure. He’d already carried her through five releases of her own that night, but this last she’d insisted on being on top to make sure he could at last get his in, and dammit she’d finally succeeded.
For several seconds she couldn’t even hope to move, but the light rumbling of her man’s chest beneath her cheeks got her to raise her head at last to look at him. The smile he gave her when their eyes met warmed her soul better than the fire from any hearth she could remember ever sitting at.
“Well,” he asked as he raised a hand to comb some of the loose strands of her hair that had come free in their passion back behind her ear, “was I worth the wait?”
“Beyond worth it.” Rukia purred, wrapping her arms around his body to snuggle closer as her man summoned their bed’s blanket up to cover them once more. “I… I honestly have no words. How did I ever go so long without this?”
“Well I live to please.”
“And please, you do.” Rukia laughed at the innuendo, and soon enough Harry was joining in as well, though his laughter dried up instantly once he saw the thin trails of tears that were slowly working their way down her cheeks.
At once he was cupping her face, his expression transformed into one of intense worry. “Rukia! Are you alright? Did I hurt you? Are you-”
“Harry,” The brunette woman soothed him as she covered his hands with her own and pulled them down to rest in the space where their chests met. “It’s nothing you did. I’m just… now that I have a moment to think, I can’t help realizing that… that…”
“What is it, Rukia?”
“This!” Rukia pushed her pelvis forward and lifted herself on one hand so she could gesture to her body with the other.
Harry spent a moment trying to figure out what she meant, and then offered, “A beautiful view?”
“Ooh!” Rukia, seconds ago absolutely delirious with pleasure, began to steam more than a bit as she explained, “I’m in a gigai, Harry! You made love to a gigai; a false form. I wasn’t… I wasn’t all of me. I wasn’t the real me. You deserve more than-”
“Hey, now,” Once more his hand rose to her cheek. “You know I love you no matter what. And I don’t think that something that basically amounts to the question of screwing with a condom on, or a condom off, would be enough to make you cry, so what is really going on?”
Rukia sighed, and relaxed herself back down on top of him, circling a spot on his hip with her finger as she continued, “This body is a crime, Harry. It represents my sin. I gave my power away to a mortal, something insanely against the laws of the Seireitei, and now a human is empowered to a level that is unnatural.”
“Well, I’d agree that his sheer lack of skill certainly is unnatural.”
“Be serious, Harry.”
“I’d rather be me.”
“What?”
“Old joke. Continue.”
Rukia huffed again, but refused to stop snuggling no matter how frustrated she became. “I’m a criminal now, Harry.”
“Oh please.” Harry made a shooing gesture with his free hand. “It’s only a crime if the people in power learn about it. I’m certainly not gonna tell anyone.”
“Yeah… about that….” Rukia hedged slowly, “You didn’t read the local area briefings before coming here, did you?”
“I… skimmed them.”
The shorter woman let out a deep breath to keep herself calm. “I thought so. We aren’t the only Reapers here, Harry. There’s at least two more in the neighboring towns, and I actually ran into one of them while helping Ichigo with a particularly nasty Hollow at his mother’s cemetery.”
Harry groaned and rested his head back on the pillow, already starting to get an idea where this was all going. “What did he say his name was?”
“Zennosuke Kurumadani.”
“Well fuck. That guy is a major snitch. If he saw you in that body without you letting off any latent spiritual pressure then it’s probably only a matter of time before the entire Seireitei knows.” Harry thought about that for a moment or two before deciding, “Well, I suppose it’s rampage time.”
“Eh?” Rukia gaped as she watched a look of cunning cross her boyfriend’s face. “Rampage?”
“Well, I’m definitely not gonna let you get arrested for something as stupid as this. You did exactly what you were supposed to, everything physically possible to protect human life. I won’t let the ancient fuckbuckets in the Seireitei punish you for it. They’d kill you. So that leaves my only option as, you know, killing everybody else ‘but’ you.”
“You can’t be serious.”
He shrugged. “Honestly it wouldn’t be that hard. I can’t die, Nemu can handle most of the Lieutenants one on one, our squad members can keep the ground troops busy, and Kenpachi would probably revel in the chance to test himself against the other Captains. The main problem would be dealing with old Yamamoto, but I’m pretty sure I can tire him out.”
“He could just burn you to ash.” the short woman pointed out.
“Eh, it’d only be a flesh wound.”
“A… A flesh wound?” One look at Harry’s face and she knew he was serious. The man had become so accustomed to dying that even being atomized seemed normal to him. At once she hugged him even tighter and whispered, “Please don’t try that. I couldn’t bear the thought of it happening to you.”
“Alright, you win.” The vice-Captain ran loving fingers through her hair and kissed her head as he added, “Luckily, if that option is nixed, there’s always plan B.”
“Plan B? What’s that?”
“The greatest practical joke the Seireitei will ever see. Mwahahahahahaha!”
Meanwhile
Outside the window to the Kurosaki Household a lone black cat sat despondently on the edge of a nearby roof. No normal critter would have heard anything past the crazed combination of silencing wards mixed with a sleeping Ichigo’s snoring, but this feline was far from the normal variety. Its keen ears, backed by heaps of spiritual power, had been listening in abject misery to the goings on within the home and tent for the last hour, and it was a lesson in constant misery.
Idly, Yoruichi wondered why she was subjecting herself to such sorrow. Was it regret? Longing? A need to punish herself for such a hasty decision all those years ago? Perhaps a bit of both. Stepping away from Harry had been the right move back then, the only one, she knew that. Kisuke wouldn’t have lasted a week on the run without her direct hand to help him set up a new identity in the human world and make sure he didn’t blow it; but sitting there now, so close, yet a world apart as far as her love knew; listening to him make another woman scream the way he had once made her; listening to him discuss his clearly continued love of mischief; each aspect was a fresh knife to her heart.
Finally unable to stomach anymore, and feeling she’d flagellated herself as much as was necessary for one night, the black cat stood up on her disguised legs and started leaping off into the night. Things were being put into motion, only a bit of which she understood, and if nothing else came of her suffering that night then Kisuke needed to be warned to keep his head down as much as was possible in the near future.
The Next Day
Tatsuki was trying to come to terms with the craziness she’d been subjected to with all those Hollows in the only way she knew how… kicking the stuffing out of a training dummy in her dojo. It was rather early in the morning, but her family owned the place so she had a key to let herself in, and for the last hour she’d been working up a sweat and ordering her mind, and she was finally starting to find her center once more when the sudden appearance of the black haired woman that had followed the new Soul Reaper to Karakura Town threw her final kick out of whack, nearly sending her sprawling for lack of balance.
Luckily the strange woman was quick on her feet and caught the human’s heel with one of her palms, halting what would have been quite the embarrassing fall onto the mat below.
Tatsuki blew a fallen strand of hair free of her face and resettled her balance, gingerly pulling her foot free of the formerly iron grip as she adopted a stance of wariness. In theory, she knew that this woman likely meant her no harm, but with how her boyfriend had reacted to Urahara, well, she couldn’t be blamed for being a bit wary.
“Hey, uh, Nemu, right?”
“That is indeed my name.” the elder brunette nodded. “You were just practicing karate, were you not?”
“Yeah. It’s kind of my hobby. What are you doing here?”
Nemu slid her zanpakuto free of her waist sash and rested it easily against the nearest wall before moving into the center of the empty training room and crouching into a low stance, her arms spaced evenly in front and behind her. “Harry has decided that you show promise. As such, I have elected to begin your instruction in the arts of Soul Reaper unarmed combat. Come at me.”
“Look, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think-”
“Your elevated internal temperature and pheromone scents the other day when young Kurosaki engaged my Vice-Captain in combat were quite clear.” Nemu interrupted the girl without raising her voice, only her slightly arched brow giving note to the annoyance that being delayed was truly causing her. “Come at me now, or I shall inform your friend that his mere presence turns you on.”
“Y-Yes ma'am!”
Elsewhere
Chad was feeding the ducks at his favorite park when the bench seat next to him creaked with the weight of a new arrival. Only after dispensing with his last handful of bread to the hungry birds did he turn and see the robed form of Harry Potter, reclining easily against the wooden seat with an arm thrown lazily over the back.
Taking a moment to center himself, the Latino-born Japanese teen commented, “I was not aware that the dead carried weight.”
Harry shrugged, “I’m a bit of a special case. Suffice it to say I’m not really dead, but I’m also not really alive. I’m somewhere in between the two; and so, yes, I carry weight. But if you call me fat because of it we’re gonna have some problems.”
Chad raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “I mean no offense to you, Mr. Potter.”
“And I implied none, young man.” The Reaper smiled warmly at the youth then. “You know, out of everyone in Kurosaki’s group back in that basement, you were the only one that actually seemed to carry respect and bearing in your demeanor.”
“My abuelo taught me to have reverence for things I have yet to learn, else I would appear the fool. Knowledge and understanding breed peace. Rash action and impertinence lead to suffering.”
“Your abuelo sounds like a wise man.”
“He was.”
“Then I am sorry for your loss. Though I do wonder how a conscientious young man like you became friends with someone as crazed and impetuous as Ichigo.”
“It is a long story.”
“I have nothing but time.”
Chad stared long and hard at the other man. “You do not strike me as someone that approaches others for no reason. Is there something you intend for me? Or perhaps something I can help you with?”
“Well,” Harry kicked one leg over the other and lazily pointed at the human’s right arm. “I wanted to talk to you about training that arm.”
Chad warily folded it into his lap. “I apologize for any miscommunication you might have inferred, but I prefer women.”
Harry burst out laughing at that, and only started to come down once he saw the human begin to do the same. “Damn, kid. You play the straight man in a joke perfectly. Who knew you had a sense of humor? But seriously, there’s a great deal of latent life-energy leaking from your arms at a rather staggering rate. It’s probably why you managed to hold your own against your Hollow for as long as you did before being stomped into a pancake.”
Chad took a moment to process those words, and then asked, “What are you suggesting?”
Harry finally took on a more serious expression as he leaned forward. “If there is one thing I hate, it is letting potential go to waste. As such, I would like to work with you to see about making your power usage a conscious act, rather than mere desperate instinct. What do you say?”
Chad slowly reached his hand over to shake on the matter. “I too do not enjoy wasteful things. If there is strength in me that might allow me to protect the lives of others, then I would wish to learn how to wield it.”
“Outstanding.”
“But what about Ichigo?”
Harry quirked his head in confusion at those words. “What about him?”
Explaining his thoughts with his usual measure of care, Chad elaborated. “You are clearly highly ranked amongst the Soul Reapers. Surely there is much you could teach him about protecting Karakura town?”
“Yeah, I could.” Harry confirmed nonchalantly. “But there’s one thing you haven’t taken into account.” He waited for a moment, but when Chad offered no examples that he could make fun of, the Reaper finally explained, “He royally pisses me off. I mean seriously, what kind of guy rips off a Soul Reaper for her powers, a process she allows so that he can protect his family, and then makes her live in his closet? A fucking asshole, that’s who. Any decent man would have at least offered to give her his bed. No, Ichigo doesn’t deserve my help, no matter how awesome his dad is.”
Chad slowly raised a hand and asked, “Perhaps you could elaborate on that last point?”
“Nope.” Harry cheerfully smashed the bench out from under him with a concussive spell, and as Chad scrambled to reclaim his balance, the older man launched a hard kick towards his torso. “First lesson! Dodge!”
Three Weeks Later
Kisuke Urahara was just closing up his shop when he suddenly found his hand frozen in place with the key still half embedded in the lock. A quick test proved that not only was the limb frozen, it was also stuck fast to the point that not even his own prodigious strength could free it. His hand, the lock, and the door it was all connected to, might as well have been a two ton anchor for the effect they were all having as keeping him locked into one singular spot.
The former Captain could only think of one possible reason for his present circumstance, and it filled him with dreadful expectation. Not turning his head, already knowing what he’d glimpse behind himself if he did, he commented, “The old ‘Why Leave So Soon’ maneuver? Yoruichi mentioned that was how you first met-” He was cut off by a forceful grip suddenly latching onto his hair that soon sent his face careening hard into the wooden doorframe, shattering it at last and sending his torso flopping after it; an unfortunate state of affairs considering his hand was still stuck to the portion that remained. Had he been human his wrist would surely have been shattered into a dozen tiny pieces from the act.
Now able to see through the new opening, Kisuke gulped at the forbidding image of Harry Potter. The man was stonefaced, breathing heavily, and he was already wrapping strips of cloth torn from his robe around his knuckles. Well, this didn’t bode well for his immediate future.
“Where is she?” The Brit asked slowly, voice filled with absolute menace.
As was his way, the shop owner attempted to plead for time. “Why, you’ll need to be a bit more specific, Harry. I’m sure you remember that I tend to get quite a lot of action and-” He was cut off as the wizard crossed the threshold, knelt over his body, and slammed one wrapped fist into his kidney.
“I don’t give a fuck about your sex life and you know it. Now, I’ve been patient because Rukia has practically been begging for your life. I’ve given you a few weeks to get your affairs in order. But my patience is pretty much at its end. So you’ll either tell me what I want to know tonight or I’ll wipe you from existence. Plain and simple.” Leaning down so their noses weren’t but an inch apart, he added, “You know I can do it, Kisuke. Imagine, no reincarnation. No second chance. Not even another few centuries in the slums. Just oblivion.” His fist reared back for another round, “But first” * Smack* “a great deal” * Smack * “of pain!” * Smack *.
“Harry.”
The sudden onset of a modest feminine voice had the man looking up from his epic beatdown to find Nemu standing just outside the shop with her hands folded formally into her sleeves. “I’m kind of in the middle of something here, Nemu. Pausing somebody mid-rampage is just bad etiquette.”
“I am aware.” Nemu walked onto the deck, stepped lightly over the ruined remnants of the door, and smoothly fixed her boyfriend’s robe closed to smooth out the sight of the tears he’d made in it. Rage was no excuse to look slovenly in her opinion. “I sensed a pull on the Veil Gate. A passage has been opened to this world from the Seireitei.”
Harry grew very still. “So they’ve finally made a move.”
“Indeed.”
“Fuck!” The Captain sent a final kick into Kisuke’s side and started stomping off in the direction Nemu was pointing. “And he was just about to give me everything I wanted.”
From behind them, the still-bucket hat-wearing man wheezed, “I-In your d-dreams, Potter!”
“Fuck off and die!” Harry yelled back before clutching his Lieutenant to his side and apparating away.”
Once he was sure the man was gone, Kisuke gingerly pulled his ‘trapped’ hand free and shook it for all he was worth. Could he have freed himself sooner? Yes. His quick mind had found the loophole in the spell’s effect within a few seconds. But would Harry have killed him if he had? Most likely. “Had him right where I wanted him.”
A trapdoor opened in the floor and Yoruichi came strutting out. “Not from where I was standing. Any further and I’d have had to step in to save your ass.”
Kisuke folded his legs under him and shook his head to clear some of the ringing out of it. “That’s just what he’s hoping you’d do. I’m his only link to you and I’m guessing he waited this long to ‘give me time to contact you about his arrival’ so now he thinks if he causes me enough pain and trouble you’ll come swooping in to save me. I’d almost admire his foresight if my ribs weren’t making it so hard to breath.”
“So he’s gonna keep beating you in the meanwhile?”
“Maybe. But I think a new variable has come onto the scene to ruffle his feathers. Something tells me he’s about to have more on his plate to worry about than scheduling enough time in the day to provide me with a steady diet of knuckle sandwiches…..”
Elsewhere
Rukia forced her trembling hands to still as she looked out the window of the kitchen in the Kuroski household where she’d been heating up a mug of tea. She was only partially surprised to see the stoic forms of her elder brother and his second in command, Renji. Of course it would be them that were sent. The two were walking out of a floating gate in the air and stepping down an invisible staircase on a direct path that would lead them to the home’s front door.
Nemu had warned her that it likely wouldn’t take long until someone was sent to bring her in, but she’d been hoping for at least another couple weeks of blissful vacation before having to deal with the politics of the Seireitei once more.
Setting her now useless mug in the sink, she reached to the locket hanging from her neck and squeezed it in her hand. Once it began to vibrate she let it go. Now Harry knew that the Reapers had arrived, and on the off chance he didn’t make it in time the portkey would take her to a place of safety. Failsafes within failsafes as Nemu would say.
She needn’t have worried. A moment later a second vibration followed the first, signaling that Harry was now in the area and ready to move in when she gave the signal. Another dish clinking in the sink had her turning to see none other than Ishin now standing by her side.
“Did Harry tell you about me?”
“He mentioned that there were things that I didn’t need to know unless you wanted to tell me, but that you were trustworthy.” She answered.
“Hm.” The doctor, an uncharacteristically serious expression locked on his face, asked, “You gonna need help with the two that are coming?”
“You can sense them too?”
“I can. Luckily the girls are still too young to understand it so they’ll sleep right through the visit. That said, you’re my guest. That means if you need help I’m both happy, and honor bound, to provide it.”
Rukia smiled up at the man and shook her head in the negative. “I appreciate the offer, Mr. Kurosaki, but Harry and I already made a plan for this eventuality. We’ll be alright.” She bumped into his side teasingly and added, “Though I guess this means you’ll be missing out on further rent from us.”
Ishin chuckled easily and started moving off towards the stairs. “Don’t worry about it. Harry paid in advance for the next three months. I’m well covered no matter what happens with your living situation.”
Once the man was gone, Rukia took a deep breath, smoothed out the wrinkles of her dress, and finally crossed the distance to the front door and pulled it open. Byakuya and Renji were just completing the final steps to meet her when she did, stopping right on top of the rather ironic (all things considered) welcoming mat.
“Big brother.” The woman steeled herself and nodded to the redhead. “Renji. May I ask what it is that brings you here?”
The stoic man in white Captain’s robes stared imperiously down at the shorter woman. “I believe you know exactly why we are here, Rukia. Though if we are mistaken to be so, you may assuage the concerns of the Council by removing the gigai you wear and providing an example of your spiritual energy.” He waited for a few moments and when no such effort proved forthcoming, he crossed his arms over his chest in a gesture of finality. “I am afraid that this is exactly what we thought. I am sorry, Lieutenant, but from this moment I declare you to be under arrest.”
Beside him, Renji pulled a scroll free of his own pocket and presented it to his oldest friend, his formerly cocky expression turned to one of clear regret as he did so. “This is a record of your arrest warrant. Upon proof of your sin we were authorized to serve it and return you to the Seireitei to stand trial.”
Rukia took the warrant, slid it open, and read through every line carefully. It was a bit sparse on the fine print, but all the relevant signatures were present. Damn. Dropping the document to the ground, she held both arms up and pressed her wrists together before her. “I knew this might happen. Big brother, I formally surrender…” The Captain made to reach for her wrists, but was firmly rebuffed as she turned her torso ninety degrees to the right. “...to Vice-Captain Potter of the Eleventh Division.”
At the conclusion of her words, Harry popped into existence in front of her and swiftly bound her wrists with a silk sash (that he ‘might’ have requisitioned from their bedroom) and tossed her amused body over his shoulder. “I got this, boys. Feel free to take a hike.”
Byakuya’s brow began to twitch with clear frustration at what he was seeing. This was supposed to be a simple arrest. No one had informed him that Potter, of all people, would be here with his sister. Honestly, he’d been hoping the time on an extended deployment would cure the foolish girl of her infatuation with the man. “Vice-Captain, I must protest your actions here.”
Eyes growing cold, Harry settled his free hand on the hilt of his weapon and nearly growled, “Are you challenging my authority to make an arrest, Byakuya?”
“Well, no, of course not-”
“All officers above the rank of Lieutenant have the right to fulfill warrants and take criminals into personal custody, do they not?”
“You know that they do, but-”
“Then, I’ll just handle the transfer myself.” Harry’s smirk returned, and with a clench of his hand on the hilt of his jian a swirling vortex came into existence behind him. Meanwhile he pointed to something behind the others and added, falling back into his portal as he did, “But you might want to deal with that before following me.”
As the Englishman faded from view, the others spun on the spot and took note of a teenager with a large bow racing right at them with a strawberry blonde youth in Reaper garb charging in on his heels with a comically large cleaver clenched in his hands.
Byakuya rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance, his anger at the situation dangerously close to actually becoming visible in the lines of his face. “At least we know where Rukia’s powers went, then. Renji, deal with this quickly. Severing the chain of life in that imposter should hopefully begin the process of returning Rukia’s powers to her soul; at least then she’ll face her death as a full Soul Reaper once more. Then we need to make haste back to the Seireitei. I don’t trust Potter alone with my sister, no matter what he claims about being her arresting officer. That man is clearly up to something.”
Renji scoffed and settled the blade of his Zanpakto on his shoulder as he waited for the newcomers to get into his personal range. “No shit. When is he not?”