Disclaimer: Not mine

I gave in and bought FFVII and just got notice that it's in the post!

Chapter 10

Shinji opened the door to find Kisuke slumped against the wall, a cup of cooling tea before him. "Do I want to know?" he asked and Kisuke lifted his head to look at him.

"The Hollow that killed Masaki is dead," he answered. "Isshin came to tell of the fight so I went to investigate…it was Grand Fisher according to my instruments. I detected the fight but didn't go to see, despite the date…" he sighed.

"The kid kill it or the Shinigami?"

"Ichigo, though he may have had help from young Potter, I detected traces of magic as well."

"Any sign of it?"

"No," Kisuke shook his head.

Well, that was a relief. Let the kid get used to Shinigami powers before finding out about it. He knew Kisuke would want them to handle that part of his training and it made sense, who else could teach him to use and suppress the monster sealed within his soul?

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They sat quietly on the riverbank together, fingers tangled together as they watched the water flow by.

"You okay?" Harry eventually asked and Ichigo nodded.

"I know Dad got him last time but…"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "So what next?"

"Nothing much, pretty standard patrols and small fry until…" he thought it over and then groaned.

"What?"

"Don Kanonji," he muttered and Harry frowned.

"Who?"

"He's a spirit medium on tv, unfortunately he does actually have some power, enough he was apparently able to move around Aizen when Tatsuki couldn't move."

"Oh! That weird tv show I caught Rukia watching the other day."

"Yeah, even Dad and Yuzu love it. Thing is, he's got just enough power to cause problems, last time around he filmed at an abandoned hospital which had a demi-hollow and of course he used his stick thing to dig around the forming hole."

"Ah, so it went from demi to full?"

"Yep. Rukia and I got caught on national television trying to stop him," he grimaced and Harry snickered.

"Well then, simple fix, let's go deal with any spirits before he shows up. Which is?"

"After my birthday, though not by much," he answered, having to think about it.

"So we've got time."

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Isshin watched his son and his boyfriend (and hadn't that been a shock! He'd thought Ichigo was uninterested in anyone) as they sat together, talking softly. He didn't know what to think of his son anymore….the boy had changed and it had begun the first day of school. If it had been after meeting a Shinigami that would be understandable. There was something…too old about his eyes and Potter was the same. Had something happened that day to both boys that no one had detected?

Nothing out of the ordinary had been spotter by anyone who had kept an eye on them since but he was still sure something had happened. He'd heard the explanation of what had happened to Ichigo when the Hollow attacked, how he'd been knocked out of his body. How was that possible? There was too much unknown and that put their plans at risk. At least Ichigo was aware of his powers and the Shinigami was in the special Gigai. All they had to do was wait for her to be drained to human to destroy the Hōgyoku. Without it, Aizen wouldn't be as powerful as they feared him becoming.

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Harry landed lightly on his feet, returning Nejibana to her sheath even as Ichigo joined him. the hospital used for the tv episode was now cleared. They would check it again closer to the date to ensure nothing new moved in. They both got back in their bodies before leaving to meet up with Rukia.

"She's losing power," Harry commented quietly as they walked and Ichigo nodded.

"She's still stronger than she was last time though. She still has her Zanpakutō too so she'll be able to put up more of a struggle when they come to retrieve her."

"Think the charge will be giving you her powers?"

"Probably, it would be the easiest assumption to make," Ichigo shrugged and then they changed the subject as they joined her for a quick patrol around to check for Hollows.

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Rukia happily ate the piece of birthday cake she'd been given. Ichigo was turning sixteen today and a party had been organised, unlike the parties she was used to. They were all formal affairs, nothing like this. Technically, Harry was hosting it and Ichigo had been very thankful. The twins had explained their Dad would be better behaved in someone else's home rather than their own. Everyone was having fun, chatting, eating sweets…yes, Inoue and Chad were dancing but it was nothing like she'd ever seen.

"Do you want to dance?"

She nearly jumped but turned to face Harry. "I don't know this dance," she admitted and he grinned.

"That's half the fun," he offered his hand and she hesitated but then took it and they went to join the other two.

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Ichigo smirked when he saw Harry pull Rukia out to dance. If they failed to stop Aizen then war was coming and they all deserved to just have fun and be teenagers, even if technically several of them weren't. Looking at his friends as they celebrated his birthday he knew he had to do better this time, he would not let Soul Society hunt them down. He would make sure they knew enough to protect themselves and he knew Harry would help. This time, Britain could be a bolt hole, at least temporarily. If he knew Harry, and he did, he already had some sort of plan in the back of his mind for a way to hid in the living world.

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Kon watched the Kurosaki household go about their everyday lives. It was nice, not being afraid of being found and destroyed. He didn't know why, but he believed Harry when he promised he would be protected. He even had his own body to use when not in Ichigo's and it was brilliant how lifelike it was. And he had all the reading material he could ever want!

Keeping Ichigo's body safely out of the way of any fights was almost too easy. The only dangerous one had been the fight in the graveyard where he'd had to get the twins to safety and protect them. The girls were innocent and he didn't mind protecting them, they reminded him of his siblings.

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Harry blinked and stared at Isshin and Yuzu in confusion before looking at Ichigo who groaned.

"Kanonji," he muttered.

"Oh," Harry smiled and reached out to ruffle wild orange hair. "I put a tv in Rukia's room so she can watch what she wants. Want to come over and watch a movie?"

"Yeah, thanks." He dashed upstairs to grab his stuff. "Going to Harry's," he called on their way out the door.

"Should we check out the hospital on the way to be safe?"

Ichigo nodded, better safe than sorry, so they took off. A quick check showed no spirits hanging around so they headed for the apartment. Harry put a movie in and then they settled on the couch together. "School is going to be horrible tomorrow," he warned and Harry nodded.

"Will you still go to the show?"

"There's no reason for Dad to have not bought the tickets," he grumbled.

"Well, I bought tickets for myself and Rukia so you won't have to suffer alone."

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Harry watched the crowds go wild and mentally groaned; he wasn't as bad as Lockhart because he genuinely thought he was doing something good but…how could a grown man act like that? "And people actually watch this peacock," he muttered, shaking his head.

Ichigo snickered at his description. "They say 1 in 4 people watch his show."

"So glad I grew up with no television."

"It's not that bad, is it?" A familiar voice asked but they didn't jump, having sensed his presence.

"Why are you here Geta-boshi?" Ichigo asked.

"Ah, the children asked to come and see."

"There's nothing real here, is there?" Harry asked, glancing back at him curiously and Urahara shook his head. "Good."

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Ichigo was relieved when the show ended, without a demi-Hollow to make it dangerous, the night had been dull if noisy. Kanonji had seemed disappointed, though he'd still put on a show, acting as if he'd found a spirit for the fans. At least he wouldn't be dragged into the office tomorrow to be told off for behaving badly on tv.

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Harry caught Uryū watching Ichigo a few times, despite how he had hidden the change in his spirit ribbon. Had he spotted Ichigo in Shinigami form at some point without them realising it? He knew what the Quincy had done the first time around, and they really didn't need a mass invasion of Hollows. Exams started tomorrow and the last thing they needed was him making trouble. Ichigo had written out a rough timeline of events now for the period before Harry had come to Japan the first time so he knew Uryū hadn't acted until after their class rankings were given, he probably didn't want to mess up his own studying.

For Harry, all of this school work was new. Ichigo on the other hand could remember bits of it from last time. They spent a lot of time studying when not training, hunting Hollows, or sneaking off on dates. The better their class ranks the more accepted their absences would be in the future and if things with Soul Society could be kept peaceful then they could hopefully attend University one day too.

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Rukia joined the group at the board, looking down the lists of names. She knew her brother wouldn't care about human school rankings but she still didn't want to shame the family with a bad rank. Ichigo and Harry had helped her but…not in the top fifty. Human school was just so different to the Academy and had so many strange subjects. Curious, she looked closer at the lists even as Keigo began wailing about Ichigo being a traitor and nerd…ah, there he was. How did Ichigo managed to rank 10th! Harry even got the 12th spot, despite the differences in schooling systems between countries and being a year younger. Ranked in between them was Chad.

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Uryū watched Kurosaki, Potter, and Kuchiki as they left the school. He had always been aware of Kurosaki, how could he not when his power saturated the town? They hadn't met before this year though, having attended different schools before. Kuchiki, it was obvious what she was, one of the hated Shinigami. Potter…he was a bit of an enigma. Seeing him and Kurosaki last week in the secluded corner of the park…that had been a shock. Kurosaki had struck him as uninterested in anyone with the way he seemed blind to Inoue's massive crush on him.

Even more shocking had been seeing Kurosaki take out a Hollow with a sword, dressed in black. Shinigami had red spirit ribbons and his was not red so how was that possible? Why else would a Shinigami be around him? He did not like not knowing the answers.

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Harry grinned as Ichigo rolled back to his feet, holding Nejibana at the ready, able to feel her excitement. He knew she was impatient for the day when they wouldn't have to hide anymore.

Ichigo laughed and darted in and Harry vanished, beginning a wild game of tag.

If Aizen kept to his old timetable, things would soon be heating up so they were taking advantage of some spare time to let off some steam.

TBC…

I know it's short but I'm still not sure whether or not Uryū will confront Ichigo and use the bait or not.