Readers enter a large ballroom, where they can see magical races from everywhere gathered for the festivities. A young two tailed kitsune girl runs past them with a laugh, her nine tailed mother right behind her with a gentle smile as she chases her daughter.

Matoro notices the audience, and walks up to them, Ogremen right beside him.

"Welcome everyone," Matoro says with his arms open. "And very Happy Holidays to you all. Sorry that we haven't been able to get this next chapter out till now, but we've been busy. However, I do think that you'll like what we have in store for you all."

"Yup," Ogremen says with a nod and grin, "I think you'll like what's coming up."

"Anyway, on with the show! Here is Chapter Six for The Lord of the Hollows!"

~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~

~Several days after Harry's Introduction to the Captains of the Seireitei~

~Song Start: Naruto OST 1 - Morning~

Harry smiled as he stretched like a cat and struggled out of his mother's arms. His life had improved immensely ever since his mother found him. No longer having to look over his shoulder every few minutes or expecting a beating for the slightest thing done wrong.

Deciding to surprise his mother, Harry squirmed till he was out of his mother's arms only to stop when he heard her speak. "And where do you think you're going?" she asked with a smirk.

The child smiled nervously. "To make breakfast?" he offered questioningly.

"And what did I tell you about making breakfast on your own?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Her son fidgeted as he answered, his eyes down. "To not do so unless adult is near," he said, or rather lightly mumbled.

Suì-Fēng smiled gently as she nodded, arms cross over her chest. "That's right," she said, "You need either myself or my father to be there to help you!"

Harry gave her a deadpanned look. "But you a'ways burn it when you helps," he said bluntly.

Suì-Fēng blushed. "Hush child," she replied. "What did I tell you about mentioning a woman's 'imperfections'?" she countered.

"Ne'er do so on t'reat of death," Harry replied promptly.

"That's my boy," she said with a playful smirk as she ruffled his hair with her hand.

~Song End, Song Start: Naruto Shippuden OST Konoha Peace~

Harry then looked up at his mother, "Can we make breaky together mama?" he asked hopefully. Ever since he had met Ruri, his pronunciation of words had been improving over how the Dursleys had forced him to speak, but it was slow going still as he had had to endure punishments for four years before his mother found him.

Suì-Fēng smiled. "Of course, Honey. But you just watch and advise when it comes to the bacon, ok?" she explained warningly. "After all, how am I to improve if you're not patient with your dear old mother?" she asked with a smile.

"But you not old!" he exclaimed, an adorable serious look on his small face, "You young and p'etty!" he added with a big smile.

"OH?" Suì-Fēng said playfully, "Pretty huh? Just like Ruri perhaps?"

"U-umm," the boy stammered, trying to find a reply to his mother's teasing.

Suì-Fēng smiled. "It's okay green bug. I'm just teasing you. Let's go make breakfast!" she said as Harry cheered and they went down, making as much noise as possible to annoy Suì-Fēng's father, Huì-Fēng, who was trying to sleep off the hangover from the previous night. His weekly poker game had run a bit late, and Harry had asked some very odd questions of his mother when he had woken up in the middle of the night due to having to go to the bathroom.

Needless to say, it was not a pleasant night for the Fēng Clan Head.

As Harry and Suì-Fēng started on breakfast, a loud 'thunk' sounded through the ceiling of the kitchen, alerting them to the fact that Huì-Fēng was now awake, or at least back amongst the world of Souls. Suì-Fēng followed Harry's instructions and, for once, only 'slightly' burned the toast a tad too far... though, it did take her three tries to do so.

When making the pancakes for Huì-Fēng, Suì-Fēng added some pepper flakes and some spicy curry to her father's pancake batter. This was to ensure he would wake up for sure when he tried his breakfast. Harry just smiled as he looked at what his mother did. If his grampy was unable to eat the pancakes, Harry would be sure to eat them in his stead, as he had come to love the spicy food that was sold around the Seireitei.

He had also been approached by Sosuke Aizen a few more times, and each time he asked Harry if he wanted to see something. Harry, not liking the man due to the 'bad juju', as Harry called the feeling he sensed around Aizen, had promptly run away each time, and found the nearest female Shinigami he could to help him find his mama due to the 'bad man asking to show him something'.

Needless to say, Aizen's reputation was quickly plummeting to abysmal levels.

Harry hummed a random tune he heard as he worked on making the syrup mixture for the pancakes, using some freshly picked berries of assorted types to do so. His mother watched just in case he needed some help. As he finished making the syrup, Huì-Fēng came down and sat at the table tiredly. This was evident as his head landed on the plate so hard the plate chipped a bit on impact and he promptly began to snore... loudly.

Harry sighed, and, doing as his mother instructed him to, promptly gave his grampy a wet willy. This, of course, caused Huì-Fēng to wake up right away and glare first at Harry, who smiled innocently, and then at his grandson's mother for teaching the boy that trick.

As they all sat down to eat, Huì-Fēng stopped after the first bite as he had to go racing for a drink of water, fire literally streaming from his mouth. "And that, my son," Suì-Fēng began, "Is why you will never drink alcohol, am I clear?" she said threateningly.

"Yes mommy," Harry said with a nod.

Huì-Fēng was currently chugging down an entire pitcher of water, but he had been able to hear the small exchange. "Damn kids," he grumbled when he stopped to take a quick breath, before returning to drinking the cold water to soothe his burning tongue.

Harry, seeing his chance, stole his grampy's unprotected food and ate it like there was no heat, surprising Huì-Fēng and making Suì-Fēng smile.

"By the way my son," she said. "The Winter Festival is next week. Are you going to ask Ruri to go with you?" she asked with a smirk.

"...What's a festival?" her son asked after a moment, a look of curiosity on his face

This threw the two adult Fēngs for a loop. He had never been to, let alone even heard of a festival?! Just what had those monsters done to him?!

"A-a festival is kind of like a giant party, sweetie," Suì-Fēng said, trying to not cry at the thought of her baby never having done anything fun before. "There are games, rides, food of all kinds, and many different people who come just to have fun. We have one every winter, and it lasts a whole week. There are even fireworks!" she finished with excitement.

Harry's large smile only grew as he became more excited the more he heard about this festival. "Sounds like fun, but, what do I do if someone hurt me, mommy?" Harry said, finishing with a concerned tone.

"...Then I'll kill them," his mother replied darkly as she pulled him into her arms protectively. "If they even try to hurt you, I'll gut them like the rotten fish they are." She tightened her hold on her son, not noticing his face turning blue from the lack of air from how hard she was squeezing him.

"U-um, Suì," her father spoke up tentatively, noticing his grandson's predicament, "You might want to loosen your grip somewhat. The boy looks like he's going to pass out from oxygen deprivation," he chuckled.

Suì-Fēng immediately released her son and smiled awkwardly as he gasped for air. Oh, such precious air! Once he had recovered, she said, "Let's go see Ruri and Aimi, ok green-bug?" Suì-Fēng asked her son, who promptly smiled in reply. "Then you can ask her to go to the festival with you, okay?" she added.

Harry smiled and cheered when he heard his mother say they were going to see Ruri and her mother. He then raced up to his mother's room to get changed. That was another thing: Harry couldn't sleep alone. They had tried to ween him out of his mother's room, but every time they did, he would end up a sweaty, fear driven mess filled with nightmares of his treatment under the Dursleys, or nightmares about his mother and grandfather taking him back to the Dursleys and leaving him there.

Needless to say, Harry was more than welcome to continue sleeping in his mother's bedroom. Not that she would complain either. She too, still sometimes had nightmares that him being with her was all just some dream from time to time, so him being right next to her was good therapy for her as well.

Huì-Fēng on the other hand, found the whole thing adorable, and as such, had been taking pictures of some of the more adorable times he had managed to catch them napping or sleeping. It was, after all, all for the family photo album, at least, that's what he told the two of them when they found out.

As Harry and Suì-Fēng made their way to the Kasumiōji Clan compound, Harry felt a bit nervous at all of the Shinigami that stared at him and his mother, whether out of curiosity, disdain, or confusion. His mother explained that not everyone was in on the rumor mill or read the Seireitei News that was put out daily. As such, there were some who were still not in the know that she had a son.

Remembering what he was taught and that his mother was right beside him, the young boy ignored the stares, instead focusing, with difficulty, on seeing the young girl who was quickly becoming one of his favorite people again.

As they finally reached the Kasumiōji Clan compound, Harry eagerly ran up and began to ring the doorbell repeatedly, having fun pushing the button next to the door. He only stopped because his mother told him it was impolite to continuously ring someone's doorbell.

The door opened revealing Aimi to them, a gentle smile on her face. "Come in," she said as she let them through, "Ruri's still waking up, so why don't you wait down here with us Harry?"

Harry blushed. "I am sorry for ringing your doorbell so much," he said slowly, sounding out each word properly. His speech was getting better by leaps and bounds, but he still had to take his time to pronounce words properly. As such, he was kind of a slow talker, but only cause he was getting used to talking properly.

Aimi had to stop herself from squealing at how cute the boy looked trying to keep his grammar in check. She managed to hold herself back though, and instead giggled before patting his head. "It's honestly no problem," she replied with another smile, "I remember when your mother and I were you're age. Suì-Fēng would ring every doorbell she came across with endless eagerness. It was rather funny to watch, to be honest."

Suì-Fēng had the decency to blush and glare at her childhood friend in response to what Aimi had said. Then, looking at Harry, said, "Why don't you go wake Ruri up. I am sure that she will forgive you if you're the one who wakes her up." She smiled as she spoke, with Aimi nodding beside her.

Aimi nodded again in affirmation. "Yes Harry. If you're the one to wake her up, she will surely forgive you," she agreed. "Though, be warned, she has a mean left hook when startled awake," she added.

"Umm...Kay?" he replied questioningly, his head tilting to the side, not knowing what a 'left hook' was.

Ruri, meanwhile, was having a nice dream of Harry and her happily married with fourteen children, and a lot of grandchildren. Or at least, she was before being shaken awake, causing her instinct reaction to activate; or in other words, her left arm shot out straight and made contact with something, hard...She became fully alert though when she heard a familiar grunt followed by something falling into her closet full of toys.

She shot up and rushed to her closet to find Harry sprawled on the floor, various toys covering him due to being shaken off their shelves from the impact he made to the wall.

~Song Pause~

"OHMYGODHARRY!" she shrieked as she was beside him in an instant. "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?! PLEASE SAY YOU"RE ALRIGHT! COME ON HARI, SPEAK TO ME!" She was holding his head in her lap by this point, tears falling freely down her cheeks as she tried to bring the boy she loved back from the brink.

She then saw his body was trembling violently, further scaring the young girl as she feared the worst. She pulled him up into her arms and began sobbing, apologizing and blubbering as she clung to him.

Harry hadn't seen the fist coming and was in shock at what had happened. Then, slowly, the memories started coming back...the beatings...the yelling...the pain...the fear...the agony...the all-encompassing loneliness...the-

Was that Ruri's voice?

Why was she so sad?

Was she alright?

What was she sorry for?

Wait...did she hit him?

That's right, he had woken her up and she struck out.

But she didn't know it was him, right?

She'd NEVER hit him on purpose, right?

Was that why she was crying?

Was she scared that she hurt him and never wanted to see him again?

'Speak up!' his mind screamed at him.

"R-Ruri?' he croaked out, trying to get his friend's attention.

Hearing her name, she quieted and looked to see his questioning gaze. "HARRY!" she exclaimed as she clung to him tighter. "I'm SO sorry!" she sobbed into his neck. "I didn't know it was you! I thought it was one of the guards coming to wake me up like usual!" she sobbed.

So that was it then. She didn't know it was him. She hadn't meant to hurt him. They were fine. He was fine. He was SAFE.

His arms slowly wrapped around the crying girl, comforting her as he only knew how.

Ruri slowly stopped sobbing as she felt Harry hug her. "I'm sorry Hari. L-like I said, I didn't mean to hit you...can you forgive me?" Ruri said, sounding sadder then Harry had ever heard her before.

"S-sure," he stammered, trying to reassure not only his best friend, but also himself, that everything was fine. "J-just warn me next time, kay?" he asked worryingly. While he may indeed forgive her, it was going to be hard to get his mind to understand that she wasn't a danger to him.

Before Ruri could respond, there was a flash of light that blinded both of them, followed by the sound of two women laughing and giggling.

~Song Resume~

"MOTHER!" she shrieked out blushing crimson as she saw their mother's with a camera each, knowing that they had just photographed them together. Her face was a brilliant red as she tried desperately to hide behind Harry, which was, in of itself, hard to do seeing as she was still in his arms.

Aimi smiled as Suì-Fēng turned towards her and said, "That will be a photo worth showing the grandkids some day!"

"Aunty Fēng!" Ruri shouted in embarrassment, while Harry was also blushing.

"Anyway," Suì-Fēng said, "Ruri, Aimi had breakfast made for you, and while Harry has already eaten, alongside myself, you have not, and Harry has something important to ask you, so you best hurry up and get dressed!" Turning to her son now, she said, "Harry lets go. We must leave Ruri to get dressed in peace," she said as she led Aimi and her son out of the room, leaving being a blushing Rurichiyo.

~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~

~Twenty minutes later, downstairs~

Ruri ate a hurried breakfast and turned to Harry, "Shall we go out and play?" she asked hopefully, then stopped and remembered that Harry had something important to ask her. "Wait, what did you want to ask me Harry?" she asked with a kind smile.

Harry gulped and took a deep breath, calming himself as he suddenly felt very nervous. "Rurichiyo Kasumiōji," he began slowly, taking the time to form the words slowly, his Japanese was also getting better thanks to his mother and Ruri. "Wouldyougotothefestivalwithmenextweek?" he rushed out, having gotten nervous again.

Suì-Fēng taking pity on her son, placed a hand on his shoulder and told him to try again with a soft smile.

Harry, nodding, took a deep breath as Ruri blushed at what she thought she heard through Harry's rushed words. "Rurichiyo Kasumiōji," Harry tried again. "Would you be willing to go with me to the annual winter festival?" he asked softly as he blushed his way through the whole thing.

Ruri smiled brightly at the request. "Of course, Hari," she said, using her pet name for him. "I would love to go with you," she added. "Oh, what will I wear?" she began as she started to think of what she might wear. And then she looked at Harry and Suì-Fēng. "Aunty Suì," Ruri began, "You will make sure he chooses something that accents his eyes and noble features, right?" she asked hopefully.

Suì-Fēng smiled. "Of course, Ruri, he will look prim and proper for your 'date'," she replied.

"Aunty Fēng!" "Mommy!" came two distinct cries came from two different children, but both were blushing crimson at the insinuation.

Suì-Fēng meanwhile, was just smirking up a storm at the two kids. "So, Aimi, let's let the kids play before we take them to get festival clothes," she asked.

Aimi nodded and shooed the two kids outside, never seeing the hulking figure that flash stepped away from a window having seen the whole thing.

~Song End~

~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~

~A week later, Day of the start of the Winter Festival~

~Song Start: Naruto OST: Yellow Moon~

Harry smiled as he thought of all the games he and Ruri would play at the festival as his mother touched up his yukata. He had been only pricked by a needle once or twice when they had bought it when it was fitted to his size. Needless to say, he now had a fear of needles.

The Yukata was of a forest scene, a dark forest, and it was one that his mother had 'insisted' that he get, in the sky at the top on the back was two dragons fighting, one green, the other red, and in between was the Fēng Clan crest.

Harry blushed as his mother finally declared him ready for his 'not-a-date' with Ruri, and that he looked 'dashing'.

Suì-Fēng then took Harry's hand and led him downstairs, to where he would see his grandfather in a black and navy-blue yukata with a stormy sea scene printed on it. His date was the widowed mother of someone who Harry detested for his stuck-up attitude to others, and that person was Byakuya Kuchiki of the Kuchiki Clan. His mother and Harry's grandfather had been 'hanging out' as Huì-Fēng called it for a few days now. Huì-Fēng had said he liked his chances, whatever that meant.

Harry then went to the door. "Mommy, can we go see Ruri now?" he asked hopefully.

Suì-Fēng nodded and watched as her son tried to run carefully while wearing the new geta sandals that his mother had forced him to wear for today. It was an adorable sight to be sure as he kept nearly tripping. She rushed after him though, just to keep an eye on him and make sure that he didn't hurt himself again like he had the first time he had tried running while wearing them for the first time.

When they got to the Kasumiōji Clan compound, Harry was smiling up a storm as he rushed up to the door, with his mother coming up right behind him no more than a minute later. However, when Harry finally stood before the door, he felt nervous. His mother then laid a hand on his shoulder and helped calm his nerves, he then rang the doorbell.

A few minutes after ringing it, the door opened to reveal Rurichiyo Kasumiōji wearing a black kimono with colorful flowers on it.

~AN Note: Picture Ai Enma's kimono from Hell Girl; end of AN Note~

Harry immediately blushed upon seeing how the kimono helped bring out the color of Ruri`s hair and eyes, at least in his opinion anyway.

"H-hi Ruri," he stammered out, then remembered himself and offered up his arm, which Ruri took.

"Make sure they're back by nine, ok Suì-Fēng?" Aimi said before getting a nod out of said woman. She then turned to Harry, "Treat her right Harry. She's my precious daughter, ok?"

"Yes, Aunt Aimi!" Harry replied with a smile, missing the hidden meaning.

"Good boy," Aimi said, patting him on the head and then shooed him, his mother, and Ruri off to the festival, where they were to meet up with Ylva and her brood of children.

When they got to the festival grounds, the festival was already in full swing, with a lot of people coming this year, something that made Suì-Fēng scowl a bit as she knew many of the nobles were eager to see Harry walking around.

Suì-Fēng then turned to Harry and Ruri and gave them each some money for plenty of games and rides, and said, "Remember, as safe as Soul Society is, be careful, ok?"

"Don't worry Suì-Fēng," a feminine voice came from behind them. They turned to see Komamura with an incredibly short silvery white furred female werewolf in a blue and silver kimono dress. Twelve werewolf children followed close behind, their ages ranging from around Harry and Ruri's age to young teens.

"They will be safe, I'm sure of it," Ylva said with a smile. The four eldest Sajin children then began to lead the younger children to the festivities. Once the children were all out of earshot though, she turned to Suì-Fēng and said, "I'm sorry to hear your Second Seat Lieutenant disappeared," she said sadly.

"Don't be. He was a creep, always going around spouting how I was secretly infatuated with him, and that he would be successful in 'winning my heart'. The fat oaf was a piece of garbage. You know, he only got his seat because of his family's political connections to the Central Forty-Six," she snorted in disgust.

Ylva looked to her husband, who only nodded in confirmation to their friend's statement. "Well then," she began uneasily, "I guess good riddance then?"

"Not exactly," Suì-Fēng said. "He was a garbage of a man, but, he was still a powerful Shinigami. If he was killed, then there will have to be an investigation," she said with a sigh. "And that would fall under my squad's purview," she finished with resignation in her voice.

~Meanwhile with the kids~

Harry was having the time of his life. Granted, he needed Ruri to explain the rules for the various games to him, but he caught on to how the games worked quickly after that, and proved he was very skillful. Much to the joy of some of the game owners, as he was proving he could win quite a bit, even if he had to play quite a times to get the good prizes. It made them happy, as on the one hand, he was spending quite a bit of money, and on the other, he was also drawing crowds who were eager to play since it was being shown that their games weren't rigged.

Harry eventually had quite the large number of prizes, most of which he gave to Sylva's children. However, he had also won a six-foot-tall Dragon plushie that he gave to Ruri, which she proceeded to hold tightly with one arm as she held onto the blushing boy with her other arm. Quite the feat, really, as even though it was a plushie, it was still much bigger than her.

~Song End, song start: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OST: Knives and Shadows~

It was as he was playing another game, trying to win a giant Bee plushie, that the screaming began, and Harry immediately looked back.

Running through the crowds was the weirdest and scariest creature that Harry had ever seen before. It appeared to be covered in bone, but the bones on the arm seemed to have multiple indents on it making it look weird. There were also spikes shooting off the shoulder where the bone joined a kind of half skull mask covering the figures face. It also appeared to be wearing Shinigami robes and was wearing a deformed Zanpakuto at its hip on the side opposite that of the bone arm. At the end of the bone arm was a large hand that had five long serrated claw like fingers on it.

The creature was also at least twice Suì-Fēng's height, maybe even bigger than Komamura, and under the collar of the bone mask could be seen purple cloth that meant nothing to Harry.

All in all, the creature was hideous in appearance.

Ruri gasped though. "Its a Hollow…I think?" the young girl said as she had seen pictures of Hollows that were notorious in a book that had belonged to her father. So, she at least knew a little of what Hollows looked like, even if she had never seen one in the flesh, as it were.

~Song End, Song start: Inuyasha OST 3 - Juusensha Ginkotsu~

As the creature raced through the crowd, it kept slashing at people and pushing others out of its way using its sizeable bulk and mass to do so.

When it finally reached them, Harry and Ruri were too scared to move. The creature however, grinned.

"Harry Potter, the half-bread freak of nature spawn of a living and a Soul Reaper!" the creature spat. "How dare you defile the daughter of a noble clan! I should kill you where you stand you little mongrel bastard!" And with that the creature lunged at Harry and Ruri.

~Song End~

~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~~w~

"...And that looks like a good place to end for today. Evil Cliffy, arrrr! lol"

~THUNK~

~THUD~

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwww"

"I'd thank you to not antagonize the audience any more than they already should be with that cliff-hanger," Matoro tells Ogremen with a frown.

Said Oni is too busy laying on the ground holding his head from the rather hard smack the smaller man gave him, causing everyone in the hall to sweat drop.

"Cough...Anyway, yeah that's where we'll end for today. Again, sorry that we couldn't get it out to you sooner, but we'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible."

"Sorry that this chapter is short, but we wanted to hold some of the action back till the next one, so please don't hate us. Trust me, the wait WILL be worth it."

"I hope you all have a very Happy Holidays, and look for the next chapter sometime next month."

"Until next time, everyone!"

Ogremen just groans as the readers leave the halls. The small kitsune girl from earlier approaches him with various other children and begin to poke him.

A large tiger that was laying on the floor looks at what they're doing and grins. "Poetic justice," Tora says in a satisfied tone, before laying her head back down.