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03:

After that eventful meeting with Death's master, Ichigo continued staying by Harry's side. It was something Death had specified after all. Some sort of payment for letting him go back to the past. For another chance of starting everything. Over time though, the obligation he had felt at only looking after Harry became genuine care.

It wasn't hard feeling for Harry. He looked so… broken, so uncaring of his own self. He doesn't even care about his basic needs. He found out later on that Harry has a strong, unsealed yet untapped and unused reiryoku simply because of the fact that he needed to eat. As far as he knew and observed – whether here in the past or before when he was still residing in the future, torn world – souls with high amounts of reiryoku gets generally hungry as opposed to those who were completely normal, as a soul anyway. It has something to do with the fact that reiryoku is an energy that ran all over a soul's body, making that soul react naturally the same way as humans.

They get hungry. They get sick.

Even someone who has a small reiryoku and wouldn't be able to unlock their potential feels the same way, because of this energy.

Harry has an unusually high levels of reiryoku. He hadn't noticed how it was encompassing the cave the first time he came was because he also had an abnormally large reserves that he didn't bother masking at first.

When he did, the power levels were overwhelming, especially with the unique… tinge it had in the air. Seductively dark yet refreshingly light. It was confusing and added to the contradictory that was Death's master.

More importantly, it was addicting.

Harry was adept at controlling his reiryoku now than before, even if he had no intention of using it as far as he could tell. He was even more adept at stamping out his aura than him when he was the one who taught him how. That wasn't important for him though because he was just happy Harry had finally agreed to let him teach at least that.

As much as Harry was Death's master, he was someone who doesn't care about himself. He didn't want Harry gaining attention from people with dubious intentions. With his apathetic view on himself, that's dangerous. Besides, Harry didn't want attention right? He was just helping him achieve that.

None of those facts mattered much though in the face of Harry's continued lack of care in himself. It was always the source of his frustration and worry. He managed to make Harry eat three meals a day, each time making him finish the pathetically small amount of food he had on his plate and increasing them once he saw that Harry was coping with eating it all.

But that's as far as he managed to make him do, and that alone was something that Harry didn't even fight so it wasn't hard to get him to follow.

He talks to him, not much but still enough to make him finally open those mouth of his. He was stubborn and reticent and just… doesn't care about anything. It took what felt like years to get him to talk comfortably with him.

He didn't usually like to talk much, but he had to. If only to get Harry to talk.

He also found out that what he had previously thought as an exaggeration was actually true. Death really did tell the truth. Harry never gets out of his home cave.

Never.

All his needs were provided by either the 'runes' Death carved on the surface of Harry's stone furniture that only needed a small amount of his reiatsu or Harry's brand of unique-yet-separate-from-reiryoku energy to activate or Death himself comes and delivers them, such as his clothes.

Now that he was there, Death assigned the task to him so he could apparently focus on his job – he didn't bother questioning that one. He was Death after all – and looking after his master even with him there.

He tried persuading Harry to go outside, told him the he would accompany him when he had to go out or felt the need to walk out of the cave, at least even just stand at the edge of his stone door and look out. District 70 might not be much, but at least Harry gets to see other sights than his stone cave house.

He refused. When he persisted, Harry didn't speak to him for what felt like months. He didn't even acknowledge him, which was really disconcerting. He had gotten used to Harry's quiet demeanor and his odd and random questions coming out of nowhere.

He was rather glad that episode was over. He also didn't brought that topic up. He figured Harry wasn't ready yet, even after all the years he had been in this cave, just like Death implied.

At least he didn't freak or flinched out about his touch anymore. Apparently, his touch and reiryoku signature was already 'imprinted' on Harry so he knew that it was him doing the touching, and he trust him not to do anything harmful to him.

He found himself striving hard to not to destroy that trust.

Harry might be Death's master, but he was a broken, human soul. Someone who genuinely didn't think his life was worth anything. Someone who was worse than the war-torn friends he had back home. Someone who needed protecting even if he already have Death behind him to do it.

Harry needed someone to help him. He needed an anchor to keep on living, and he found that Death just isn't enough to do that. Since he found himself genuinely caring for the broken teen and already considers him as his younger brother, his only family in this time, someone who badly needed him more than even his own blood sisters, he decided that he would be the person to do just that.

He would be Harry's anchor, and he would do everything to help him recover.

Even if only a little.

. . . . .

Harry was lying down on his bed, staring at the crystals that looked naturally pinned on the ceiling of his house cave. He was the only one inside right at that moment because Ichigo suddenly felt the need to wander out.

He didn't begrudge him that because, aside from him who already was used to his ways, Ichigo wasn't like him. He got the impression that Ichigo is someone who valued freedom, like he once had. He didn't like being confined in one place. A walk outside wasn't harmful. Ichigo could protect himself should the need arise anyway.

At the moment, he felt an overwhelming curiosity about those reishi's. He didn't know why but he had a feeling that they were important somehow.

This must be one of Death's scheme, he thought. He has always felt curious about those the first time he had seen it all those years ago. He just didn't want to know what it was, or what it meant. If it even meant anything.

Now, he felt like he needed it. He needed to know.

"Death,"

There was a moment of stillness before a gathering shadow came beside him and Death emerged.

"Master," Death greeted. He didn't look at him and just continued staring at those really curious crystals. He just couldn't keep his eyes off them. "I didn't think you'd ever call," the entity's voice was unusually tinged with surprise yet pleased tone.

It was true. For the long years he had stayed in his house cave, he never once called Death. The entity was always the one who comes to him voluntarily.

"Do you want to leave?" he asked. He didn't want the entity to feel like he need to follow his words.

"No Master. I am happy you called for me," Death answered decisively. There was a few moments of silence after that before Harry finally spoke.

"Why are those reishi here?"

Pause.

"… To give light,"

A sigh.

"Death," there was warning and weariness in his voice and unknown to him, it made Death felt something akin to hope swelling inside his chest. It seemed like his decision to send young Ichigo to care for his Master was correct. His master was already starting to feel even more emotions than before. It was progress.

Good thing he decided to bring his master a few hundreds of centuries in the past after the time he had died. He was busy enough right now with the little Shinigami who deemed itself as God. Aizen was full of potential. It was too bad he decided to destroy everything.

Before, he wouldn't have cared. But now that he had his Master to care for, his apathy wasn't needed.

"They are the core essence I took from the reishi of the magical people you wanted to see Master," Death finally answered. Perhaps it's time to tell his Master about them.

Harry's eyes went wide.

. . . . .

It was a risk, Ichigo knew that. But he had to know. He just had to see if all his friends was okay, even if it would be painful to see their faces unmarred by the terrible war that would happen in the future.

It wasn't hard slipping inside Seiretei, at least for him. He just completely suppressed his reiryoku – which was admittedly what made it somewhat difficult because suppressing his power always takes a long time – so they wouldn't feel anything from him, then he went. He knew everything about Seiretei after all, even if many things were different here and in the future.

He also made sure that no one would see him. He wasn't ready for anyone to see him, not yet.

He saw everyone there, carefree and happy. Even the old man looked more relax here than the future. It was painful seeing them like that. He kept seeing their face right before they died in front of him. Brutal, violent and no mercy. But despite this, it also made him happy.

His resolve to make everything better became even stronger than before.

He slipped out after that, racing away from Seiretei before stopping completely in District 2. It took him a couple of second to start walking away in a slow pace at the moment, mind in turmoil as he walked out of there, his reiryoku unconsciously leaking out of his control.

He never noticed someone seeing - or more like gawking at him - him before he turned around a corner and sped up again.

. . . . .

"Mom? Dad?"

Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was resolved in not seeing any of his family since he came in this strange after life. He firmly believed that there was nothing of them he would be able to see again that he never even questioned about how he was able to see his parents using the resurrection stone moments before he surrendered himself to Voldemort in the first place.

"Oh Harry," his mom said, tears flowing down her cheeks as she spoke. Her voice sounded far away and accompanied by an echo, much like how ghosts are. At least as far as he could remember on the ghosts that haunted Hogwarts. It has been a long time since his time there.

His mom slowly came closer to him and looked like she was about to hug him. Strangely enough, he was afraid. Not at her touch – he didn't think he would ever be afraid of their touch at all – but at the very real possibility that, like ghosts, she would pass through him. The he wouldn't be able to touch her.

But she didn't. Her hands held him gently, warm and comforting that was alike yet so different from Death's touch. It made his eyes watery, his breath to hitch and his body to tremble.

He didn't pull away though. He just continued staring at his mother who was there, right in front of him. Her tears fell even more and she hugged him closely, tight yet gentle, as if she thought he would disappear like if she let go even for a second.

He stared at his father behind his mother's ghostly form – who also looked like his mother along with a few of his grinning friends there – with his eyes wide. His father gave him a small, tremulous smile.

"Harry,"

He felt his hands holding his mother's strangely solid body tightly, uncaring about the possibility that she might get hurt at his strong hold. She just held him even tighter.

Then suddenly, he found himself crying, sobbing with grief, anguish, betrayal and a number of other negative feelings that he had buried inside him and festered for a very long time. He didn't care that his voice raised as he wailed, releasing all his pent up emotions. His mother in turn held him tight.

He didn't stop for a very long time.

TBC.

A/N:

Rare treat guys. Got the promised February update here right now. Can't believe I managed to finish this chapter in January. Like I said, I usually update a lot slooower. I'm in rare form right now. Hopefully, this will last. Next update will probably be in February or March. I'm not quite sure though. I am writing chapter 04 as I post this anyway so... cross fingers.

GUYS! REVIEW! Really, really love reading them... can't stop looking back on them and grinning like a loon. You're all brilliant for putting up with the possibility of waiting a long time for the next update!

lots of kisses from me!