Chapter Text
“Alright Geta-boshi.” Ichigo barges into the Shoten’s seating area, “What was so important you needed to drag me here?”
Ichigo stares down the strangely dressed old man with a beard that rivaled Yamamoto’s calmly sipping tea. “Who’s the old man in the dress?”
“Ah Ichigo-kun. As tactful as ever I see.”
Ichigo scowls “Just shut up and tell me what you want.”
“Well, I want a lot of things.”
“Kisuke.” Ichigo growls.
“Ma ma.” Kisuke placates in that way of his that only makes you want to strangle him more. “Kyouraku-Soutaicho volunteered you for a mission in the living realm.”
Ichigo massages his temples. “I’m guessing I can’t refuse?”
“Of course you can.” He whips open his fan. “By now the entire Seireitei knows they can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
But, he leaves out, that doesn’t mean they have to continue to help him protect Karakura or his friends and family.
Kyouraku and his Shinigami friends would do that without him asking. But Central 46 wouldn’t. Ichigo makes them nervous, he’s proven time and time again that he’s going to do what he thinks is right, and screw everything else. They know he also has the power to back it up.
On paper at least, it needs to appear as though Kyouraku has some control over him. So nominally, he falls under Gotei 13’s command in a position similar to Urahara and Yoruichi. At least until his body dies. However long that would be.
As an added layer of protection, he, Kukaku and Goat Face have started the process of reinstating the Shiba clan as one of the 5 Great Clans, with Kukaku as the head and himself as the heir. That will demonstrate that he is actively trying to join their society and play by their rules. Even if it means spending countless hours learning pointless etiquette from Kukaku and Yoruichi. Thankfully, no one expects perfect etiquette from a Shiba.
What this means however, is while he can refuse this mission. It wouldn’t be wise to. This is a perfect opportunity to prove that he can follow orders like a good little soldier.
“What’s the mission?” He asks resigned to his fate.
“How much do you know about magic?”
“You mean Kido?”
“Similar, but not quite. There are certain groups of people around the world who are able to somewhat access their reiatsu. They call this magic and refer to themselves as witches and wizards.”
“Okay…”
“Dumbledore-san here is a wizard that is Headmaster of a magic school in Scotland. He’s requesting help in taking down a terrorist.”
“You want me to stab the bastard or something?”
“Oh no, my dear boy, nothing like that.” He denies aghast at the idea. “One of my students is Voldemort’s target, I was hoping to procure some additional protection for him.”
“Let me get this straight. You want *me* to bodyguard some kid?”
Kisuke chokes back a laugh. Ichigo makes a note to get back at him for this later.
“Well yes, is there some sort of issue?”
“No, I’m just surprised that they’d send *me* for this sort of mission.”
Kisuke coughs, “What my student is trying to say is that he’s usually sent to take care of the root cause of the issue.”
Ichigo glares at the man in suspicion. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“You wouldn’t be much of a body guard if you weren’t near your charge right?” Kisuke waves the fan in front of his face.
“Geta-boshi.” Ichigo warns.
Kisuke snaps the fan close and beams. “Congratulations Ichigo-kun! You’re going to magic school for the year!”
Ichigo leaps over the table and tackles him.
Dumbledore stares at the two grown men wrestling on the floor in shock. Ichigo snarls and growls as he tries to strangle his teacher, and Urahara laughs as he wards off his student with ease.
“Ignore them.” Tessai-san collects the tea before it ends up on the floor, easily navigating the various flailing limbs.
Ichigo is kicked into a wall and this time it’s Urahara that initiates.
“Shouldn’t you stop them?”
“It’s fine. This is just how they show their affection to each other.”
Dumbledore winces when Ichigo elbows Urahara in the face.
“It’s rather… violent.”
“None of us are human. Tencho has always enjoyed a good fight, and Ichigo has other instincts he needs to fulfill.”
“Will that be an issue?”
“No. Tencho has it covered.”
“Is there anything I need to be aware of?”
“Ichigo usually has a good handle on his instincts. Just don’t mess with his people.”
“Good try my cute student!” Urahara smiles from where he’s perched on Ichigo’s back, pinning him down by the neck with one arm. Ichigo growls and tries to free himself. Urahara just pushes down harder until Ichigo goes limp under his grip. “Better luck next time.”
“Get off.”
“So grumpy.” Urahara chuckles but let's go anyway. Ichigo stretches out and plops down next to the man.
“Apologies Dumbledore-san.” Urahara says completely unrepentant and pats Ichigo on the head, the man grudgingly puts up with it. “You were going to explain the situation?”
“Ah yes,” he says warily. “Though to be clear, this sort of behavior is unacceptable at school.”
“I’m aware.” Ichigo scoffs. “I know how to treat normal humans. I just finished high school.”
“High school? How old are you? I was under the impression you were a Shinigami.”
“I am. I’m also still alive due to a set of convoluted circumstances I’m not getting into. But if you have to know, I’m 17ish. Time moves differently in the other worlds, so I’m not sure how old my soul is at the moment.”
“Hmm, I’d say around 20.” Urahara answers.
“Of course you’d be keeping track.”
“I was unaware of this. Are you sure you’ll be up for the task?”
“You asked for the strongest, didn't you Dumbledore-san?” Kisuke looks over his fan with challenging eyes. “Ichigo is it. There is nothing you could throw at him that would phase him.”
He says it with such complete certainty that Dumbledore has no choice but to believe it.
“Very well.” He concedes. “Allow me to explain.”
Dumbledore goes on to describe the circumstances of the last war and the events that have occurred within the last few years ending with Voldemort’s resurrection at the end of the TriWizard Tournament.
“He resurrected himself huh.” Urahara has a mad glint in his eyes. “Any idea how?”
“It’s unclear.” Dumbledore shakes his head. “Whatever he did, it is undoubtedly black magic.”
“I see. I’m quite curious how he managed it.” Ichigo whacks the back of Urahara’s head when he starts to get lost in various theories.
“You can figure out what that asshole did later Geta-boshi.”
“Of course, of course.”
Dumbledore pulls out his wand and several piles of books appear on the table.
“I’ve brought with me the first four years worth of textbooks for you to study as well as a few guides for our community. I’m hoping to bring you to where we are staying in two weeks.”
“That’s more than enough time.” Urahara says, itching to get his hands on the books.
“We're also going to have to get you a wand.”
“Why would I need a wand?”
“Ah, that’s right. You don’t use a wand to perform what did you call it? Kido?” At Urahara’s nod he continues. “In the Wizarding World a wand is used as a focus to help direct the magic.”
“So it’s similar to incantations.”
“Hmmm, I don’t believe so, magic also uses incantations in conjunction with a wand. As you become more familiar with the spell, you can omit the incantations. Regardless, a wand is a necessity and each wand is unique to the wizard.”
Ichigo grimaces and shakes his head.
“Ichigo?”
“Shiro does *not* like that idea.”
“Shiro?”
“My Zanpakuto. Shiro is absolutely against the idea of me using another weapon. Claims it’s already too crowded in my head.”
“This Shiro couldn’t be persuaded?”
“Ha!” Ichicgo barks a laugh, “You’d be more likely to convince a lion to become a vegetarian.”
“I see.” He says, even though it’s clear he doesn’t. “That could become a problem. While it is possible to cast wandlessly, it is incredibly rare and would draw more attention to you than necessary.”
“Hmm, why don’t you summon Zangetsu?” Urahara suggests. “I might have an idea.”
“Both?”
“Yes, we’ll see which is more suited.”
Ichigo holds out both hands and two swords appear. One a massive kyber blade and the other a smaller trench knife.
“Now focus on condensing their power.” Urahara instructs. “Imagine Zangetsu becoming smaller, make it look like a piece of wood.”
Ichigo closes his eyes and focuses. The larger blade predictably stays stubbornly unchanged. He expected Shiro wouldn’t be keen on being anything but a sword. Ossan was much more interested in discovering what this magic was capable of and how it compared to some of the Quincy techniques he knew of. Ichigo opens his eyes and grins when the smaller trench knife gradually shifts into a pitch black wand with a shock of white curling around the wand from hilt to tip.
Urahara and Ichigo are so caught up in his success, that they don’t notice the brief flash of surprise that comes across Dumbledore’s face.
“That solves the wand issue. I wonder if my Benihime would be willing to change?” Urahara wonders tapping the top of the cane that hides Benihime.
“I can’t see why she wouldn’t. She’s probably just as curious as you are.”
“I believe you’re correct.”
“That’s all I needed to cover, I’ll leave you gentleman to review the information I brought you.”
“We’ll see you soon, Dumbledore-san.”
“So, what’s the real reason they’re sending me? Kyouraku wouldn’t normally unleash a weapon of mass destruction on a bunch of unsuspecting civilians.” Ichigo asks as soon as Tessai escorts Dumbledore out of the Shoten.
“You’re right of course. There’s reason to believe that Voldemort split his soul to remain in the living realm.”
Ichigo scrunches his face up in disgust. “How?”
“It seems he ripped off chunks of his soul and then stuck them in trinkets. This way when his body died his soul would still be bound to the living realm, unable to pass on.”
“He did this on purpose?” Ichigo can’t believe someone would go to such lengths. He walked around with only a third of his soul for months. It hurt. Like nothing else he could describe. He was empty, and cold and most of the time felt like a stranger in his own body. He can’t imagine doing that as the main goal. He spent those months thinking he would have been better off dead. What kind of life would it be with so much of his soul missing?
“He did. I couldn’t tell you why he did it.”
“He can't be sane.”
“Not even close from what I know. Our best estimate is that he made six anchors.”
“And he’ll never die with those still in play. I’m guessing I’m the distraction?” Ichigo moves the conversation away from splitting souls. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be comfortable talking about it. “So someone else can take care of the soul bits without being noticed?”
“You are very distracting.” He teases. “While you’re drawing everyone’s attention, I will be hunting down the soul pieces.”
Ichigo sighs, “When this is over, I’m stealing Kyouraku’s good booze.”
Kisuke laughs in agreement.
Randomly picking up one of the books Dumbledore left, Ichigo heads to the basement. “I better get started on this, if it’s anything like kido, it’s going to explode in my face half a dozen times.”
“Only half a dozen? I seem to recall that you still can’t do hado #1 sho without it exploding in your face.”
“Oh shut up.”
“I’ll be down in a bit. Try not to destroy my training room.”
“No promises.” Ichigo calls and jumps down.
Kisukue shakes his head fondly.