Unknown

Legend:

"Death"

Thoughts and Mind speak

"Inner Hollow"

'Zanpaktou'

"Reishi spirits that are aware"

Line with Roman numerals - Flashbacks

Unknown

06:

Harry stared at the dark expanse around him.

He was confused. He was pretty sure that he had slept on his bed inside his cave with Ichigo on his own bed beside him. He had slept with a rather mixed feelings of hope, fear and apprehension. His mind still playing the events that happened that day. Normally, he won't be able to sleep with the complicated feelings he had. This was actually the very first time he was feeling this much turbulence in his emotions. Ones that he couldn't even shake off that easily, so he was doubtful if he could even sleep.

But he did. He managed to close his eyes and slept peacefully regardless.

Only to see himself in this place with no known marks, no buildings, no trees, no roads, no pebbles, not even light can be seen. He doesn't like darkness. He feels claustrophobic without even a hint of light. But in this moment, he couldn't feel his fear. He only felt warm.

"Death?" he asked hesitantly. He doesn't usually call the entity. Harry was perfectly aware that Death has more responsibility than just him. He is the entity of death, and death exists naturally. Obviously, he had to oversee his domain, even if Death says that he has many agents that could do it for him.

Not to mention that all souls go to this place after they die.

Besides, the unnatural warmth he could feel in this dark place screams of Death to his senses.

There was a blurring figure standing beside him after a moment before final solidifying into the familiar robed, male figure of Death.

"Master,"

"Where are we?" he asked after a few seconds, looking around the place curiously. There wasn't anything to see, but his magic, the eager child that it is, was giddily telling him that he isn't really in a dark place, just that it is concealed to him at the moment.

"… I have to show you something Master," Death eventually said after what felt like a long time. Harry's attention was immediately pulled away from his examination of the place to Death's figure. If any other were to see the entity, they would find that they wouldn't be able to read the other. But Harry had always considered Death a friend, even when he was still living. He considered Death as something or someone that would take him from all of the pain he was feeling.

He was correct. He just didn't expect that he would be seen as it's master. He had already forgotten about the thing called Deathly Hollows and its significance the longer he stayed in Voldemort's lair as his plaything. It hadn't been important to him at that time.

Besides, thinking about how being the supposedly 'Master of Death' makes someone immortal made him terrified and despaired about the very ominous fact that, if he couldn't die, he would always be there being Voldemort's pet.

Someone the lunatic gets to curse every day. Someone the insane megalomaniac got to torture and revel in the agony he was feeling. Someone he got to practice the spell he created whenever the mood struck. Someone the monster got to fuck to satisfy his sick urges, his pleasure of dominating a thorn on his side like him – never mind the fact that he gave up and was prepared to die, only the bastard didn't even grant it to him – along with being seen as a reward to his Death Eaters if they did a good job with the tasks he gave them.

After all, he was already modified by that time, his body accepting everything they did and would be seen as pleasurable even as his mind screamed in agony against it. Because no matter how much Voldemort tried everything, even various, increasingly volatile spells and potions to break him, only his body fully gave in to them, but not his mind, not fully at least. His mind might have broken, splintered and everything he believed in gone, but he had never submitted to any of them, no matter how it angered the Dark Lord and how the tortures he experienced worsen as each day passed.

A scream.

It was the piercing, shrill scream that woke him from the unpleasant memories that suddenly assaulted him without any sort of warning. His moist eyes blinked rapidly as he turned to look at the suddenly not so dark place he was standing in. He ignored the droplets of tears that rolled down his cheeks as he looked around him.

The place looked like it is on fire, but he couldn't feel any heat at all. He tilted his head to look at the much-taller-than-him Death.

For the entity's part, he just raised his hand and wiped the tears pouring down his cheeks lightly, gently, as if caring for a very fragile gem.

"We are in Hell Master," Harry's breath hitched at those words, eyes opened wide as he stared at his friend in shocked surprise. His mind already had an answer as to why, even if he was still unsure so he didn't ask. He didn't need to though, because Death still answered.

"I want to show you Riddle and his minion's suffering,"

. . . . .

Kaien exasperatingly rolled his eyes at the gathered people in their hall, trying to get the voices down even just a little from the loud voices inside so he could be heard.

They are not in the mansion. No, it's appropriate to say that they are in the property where their Clan House stood, just not on the large house.

All Shiba's – those who had lived in the house as well as those who made their lives outside the halls of Seiretei – were called to a family meeting. Unlike the other Noble Clans, Shiba's do not have elders. They don't much follow to the strict rules of nobility. They don't have arranged marriage, they aren't separate and the members are all rather close. They were probably the opposite of supposedly proper clans like the Kuchiki's. It was no wonder Byakuya, along with a bunch of others from the Noble Houses turn their nose up when they saw them.

It was for that reason that the meetings of the Shiba Clan didn't just contain few people because all of them have a voice. All of them attends, even the little ones – though they still couldn't understand much what they were all talking about when meeting takes place.

Because of this, The Shiba Clan has the largest number of family members in the Noble Clans of Soul Society, scattered around the spirit world. As such, no matter how large their home was, it wouldn't be able to accommodate all the members of the clan.

So they built an underground place from below their property that could only be accessed by the blood of the Shiba's, their registered reiatsu, their name and code number, voice recognition and body health. It was a precaution so the place wouldn't be known by others outside their family. All of them also sworn to secrecy about it.

The Noble House of Shiba was considered to be easy going, loves to party and drink, their absolutely amazing fireworks and the members having quite a unique reiatsu signature. They goof and laugh a lot, thus making the others think they are less than a threat than the other Noble Houses. That meant that regardless of their rather large number of members along with possessing powerful reiatsu, there would be a tendency that others would attack them first than the other Noble Houses because they think they are the weakest in the nobility.

They were wrong.

They are a large family. They are scattered all over Soul Society, even some who doesn't even take the name Shiba. They are in every positions that they could get their hands on. They have large connections and an inherent ability from being a Shiba that helps them immensely from blending in. Using the rich reishi in the air to create an illusion.

They are literally everywhere and along with their quite good talent in Kido, they are not to be underestimated. How they were seen as weak, Kaien didn't know.

They weren't about to broadcast that out though. Being underestimated has its advantage and disadvantage. For the moment though, its advantage far outweighs the disadvantage it carries.

It wasn't that hard to determine why they think Shiba's are weak than others though. Just one look at the excited squabbling of his family members made that clear in his mind.

They act like a child, all of them does, even him. It was no wonder really. They don't see each other every day so it's understandable. Kaien won't begrudge them of that though. It's their nature. He wasn't about to suppress their real personality just to satisfy the others. They were fine just the way they are. They are all very loud and hyper because of the abundance of their reiatsu anyway. Although this meeting is really important…

"Alright! Enough!" he stated firmly, modulating his voice to carry authority so they would finally pay attention. At once, everyone quietened, looking at him firmly. Others had confusion clearly written on their face while the others were grim.

Kaien normally allows all of them to mingle with each other before when they all finally have time to meet again. He even joined in at times. He only interrupts when it was something really important.

"This is important so please answer," everyone nodded their heads so he continued. "Have anyone of you seen someone who looked like me?"

All of them just stared blankly at him before the murmuring began. He waited patiently until all of them answered in a negative, body language clearly telling their confusion.

"What are you talking about nii-san?" Kukaku asked, frowning a little at him.

"Kyurakou-taichou told my captain that he saw a person who looked like me,"

Silence.

"Exactly like me. To the point he had mistaken that person as my apparently hidden twin,"

There were sudden outburst in the large underground room.

. . . . .

"Hell?" Harry found his voice sounding weak as he stared at the dancing flames all around him. There were even flames on the ground he was standing on, only that it wasn't touching any of his clothes and skin, it was just surrounding him. He couldn't even feel any heat coming from the angry red and blue of the fire dancing around his feet. There were also lavas surrounding the place, lightnings and boiling waters were around. Falling boulders of stone and debris were there too. Harry stared with rapidly blinking eyes.

It was like the place was showing off…

"Yes. I want to ease your fears," Death said softly. He then stood up straight and held out his hand that Harry automatically reached out. "Come,"

Harry, with Death's guidance, followed.

Everywhere he looked, there were flames, even in the bodies of water, which he never thought was also a part of. Harry had pictured hell to be a place filled with burning flames, that they would play around their captive and burn them inch by inch until that someone turned to dusk only to be revive again and to have it done again. Over and over again. It was what his mind supplied that came back from his very vivid imaginations as a kid, when his aunt told him there was no salvation for him and he'd be greeted in hell for being a freak.

It was almost the same as what he was seeing, only it isn't just fire. It's everything here.

To think there was no heaven in the afterlife, only the promise of reincarnation and that hell is a prison for souls judged to be corrupted and cannot be saved anymore.

Aunt Petunia would be ballistic not being in the happy and no suffering land of Heaven, he thought to himself.

It's been a long time since he thought about them. He wondered why his mind brought it back to his consciousness when his time with them, although horrible, were nothing to his life without them. It made their treatment of him saintly compared to… those days. He grimaced as memories threatened to introduce themselves to his mind. He forced them out of will.

He didn't manage to think much on it though as Death suddenly stopped walking. He looked at the entity's face, only to see him looking straight ahead, face stony and the hold on his hands gentle yet firm.

Curious, he looked at where Death was looking.

Only to see a ring of colorful fire just a few steps away from where they are standing. Seven identical forms of man were chained by what looked like spikes made of flickering fire. Naked and their body looking unharmed for a second before it turned red, blistering and then burning scorched after a couple of seconds, bodies looking torched from the inside out with seemingly eager flames before they collapsed one by one then being revived back again in a minutes.

All the while they screamed and shrieked painfully non-stop in the process.

It's just like his vivid imaginations, only more torturous in his eyes than even his mind had supplemented him.

Harry didn't know if he should feel anything for the sight. If he should, then what? He couldn't summon even an ounce of pity for the man suffering. He wondered if he should be alarmed for his lack of empathy. But he had felt certain feelings for the people he encountered before he got in this place.

He love his family, even if they are now reishi, even if his emotions seems to be unsteady sometimes, coming back and leaving without any sort of warning at all.

He likes Ichigo, his scowls, how uncomfortable he seems to be sometimes, his insistence in wanting him to go out instead of 'brood' even if it had irritated him some other times, most especially how he feels safe with his presence. His reiatsu enveloping him, almost cocooning him with the feeling of home whenever he is around. His family making him feel at ease and in peace with how they interact with his magic and reiatsu.

He had felt something for them. Just not for this particular man. He wonders.

What is different from him?

"Death?" he asked quietly, not entirely sure what the point was in bringing him in this fire-filled place.

"Look closely Master, and you'll see," he stared at his friend, frowning a little at his ambiguous statement before he lightly stepped forward in between the gap of the flames in front of him since the fire was all around the floor.

Almost instinctively, just like before, the flames parted away from his feet, dancing around his form playfully even as they continued torturing the seven identical men around. Now sure that he wouldn't really be burned and that what had happened before wasn't because Death was with him, he walked forward a little more, slowly and cautiously as he looked around.

The men are the same. They have identical handsome features that he was sure would have made anyone feel inadequate. Only, their expression was clearly twisted in pain. Their eyes were closed and body twitching, their mouths open in various intensities of scream. Harry wondered what they were feeling. Are they only being burned by agonizing seconds just like what he had first seen or is there something more to their suffering? Death hadn't elaborated after all and his curiosity is spiking up at the moment.

It's rare, that emotion coming up. Because curiosity hasn't spiked within him after all the trouble he had because of that emotion. It was one of the reason why he was adamant not ever venturing outside his cave home. He hadn't felt curious enough to go outside and he hadn't wanted to.

He had already associated curiosity with danger because it was always the main reason why he got into all the danger he was in before. Ignorance meant he was safe. But since he is safe here anyway with Death just a few steps away from him and that he, for the first time after all that had happened to him, really wanted to know what his friend was talking about without fear or worse, numbness creeping up on him.

He step closer, watching the extremely familiar face of the seven man connected by a chain of what he labelled as black fire. All of them had their eyes closed and he inched closer again, up until he had the single, gritting man that was at the center just a step away from him. He leaned closer, not minding the coiling green fire around the man.

The fire backed away from him, leaving the suffering man alone as well even though it was still hovering just a few inches away. It was like an eager bodyguard, backing away from him yet alert as it watched them. The fires seem sentient, he absently thought to himself as he examined the man's features, his forehead narrowing a little. I know him.

Then the man's eyes opened abruptly and red ruby stared back at him in surprise.

I.

"How is it Potter, the feeling of being alone?" silky voice asked just behind his ear. Harry tried to contain his spasms to no avail.

His magic is gone. It's gone. He couldn't feel it. He couldn't take comfort from it. It's gone. It's GONE.

"Nononononononon…" he didn't realize he was mumbling, not until someone slapped his cheeks, sending him straight to the cold, tiled floor.

"Shut up you pathetic creature!" Harry looked up and glared at the man, his body still on the floor, weak and defenceless. Chains around his hand and feet. It's cold. Without his magic trying to comfort him, he could feel every cell of his body protesting against his current condition. He is completely naked and haven't been fed for a while now. "You've always been a stubborn one," he said in a calm voice, staring at him with contemplative eyes. "Perhaps that is good. It would only make my days worthwhile with you,"

Red ruby eyes leaned closer to his own, shining malevolently at him, teeth glinting at the nasty grin, body scaled hand caressing his face softly, almost gently.

"It's a pity I never saw it before," he then grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled it back harshly, forcing him to look up at the disgusting face of his enemy. A hand trailed along his neck gently before nails began to dig into his skin lightly, making him bleed from the shallow cut. "Blood looks good on your pale skin," he commented.

Harry glared poisonously at the man, wanting him to let go as he couldn't move his hand. Instead, the man chuckled huskily. "Yes, you may be of use to me…"

Harry had a bad feeling about this.

"You'll be of use in Lord Voldemort's bed,"

Harry gasped, eyes wide as he stared at the red eyes of the man in front of him. He abruptly walked away from the other, the beginnings of irrational fear creeping up on him.

II.

His body had become numb from the numerous crucios he had received. Harry didn't know what is happening around him. He gasped out loud at another thrown crucio.

Pains have a different effect on him already. It gives out information of pleasure inside his mind regardless of how broken his body becomes. It just heals itself in a day anyway.

His body had been changed through spells and rituals to suit Voldemort's sick needs and desires. The Dark Lord's proximity brought pain to his being, the feeling of burning acid and heated fire licking his skin and intensifying the more he come close. His touch gives a signal of relief from the pain, but really, it only intensifies the pain.

His blood became their booster for magic. Voldemort's minions uses him with their Lord's permission. Voldemort himself always delights seeing him. He always says he was the reason why he is always relax around his minions as they conquer the Wizarding World.

Harry didn't care about them. He was left with burning anger at how he had been abandoned. He still saw Snape around the Dark Lord. He saw him watching as he had been violated, introduced to an electrifying spell and all other ones that the minions wanted to try, tortured using muggle methods about wounds and salt, whips and pain instrument and his mind invaded multiple times in a day. He had even used his own spell, that Sectumsempra when he had been ordered to teach the others that spell with him as the practice dummy.

He was a spy was he not? Yet he never tried to help. Malfoy always had that green hue in him, as if he was going to be sick watching them play with him. He was also close to Snape and Harry suspected he was also a spy. He never helped. He heard nothing from his other friends. The only one who helped was Dobby, a house elf.

Dobby coming to him in Ron's order, apparently defying the orders of an alive Dumbledore, delivering messages to him from his few other friends when he couldn't apparate him away, not with his magic thoroughly bound. Until he died when he was caught.

Following Ron and Neville when they tried to sneak in.

He was violated thoroughly in front of him before they were hit by a hunger curse and the three of them locked in a room. Them trying to eat each other's flesh to survive an artificial hunger as they refuse to hurt him even in their mindless state.

They died horrifically with Voldemort's sadistic laugh echoing in his ears.

He felt a hug from behind him, jarring him out of his mind, out of his nightmarish memories.

The screams returned with vengeance. He was shaking as he looked up at Death's blurring face. He only just noticed that he was now sitting on his lap, Death carding his long, pale fingers on his head, calming him down slowly but surely.

"Hush Master, you are safe," Harry twisted to bury his head on Death's long, pale neck, inhaling his scent of curious sweet decay and nothingness and feeling calm about it.

"I can't forget. I want to forget Death. Please…" he repeated like a mantra, holding his friend tightly in his hands.

"I can't take it away Master," Death sounded pained as he said that, his hold tightening around him. He began shaking, fear coming again without any warning. Death made a hushing sound and Harry felt like a child, yet he didn't want to let go.

He didn't want to let go.

He will not let go.

"I can't take away your memories Master," he repeated. "But I can take away the emotions associated with it," he paused, his body stilling. He stared at his friend with wide eyes, feeling hope bubbling inside him for the first time.

"You can?" at Death's nod, his hold tightened. "Please, can you…?"

Death stared at him intently for a few seconds before he nodded, beginning to caress his cheeks as his eyes turned into a pool of black colour, reflecting his hopeful green eyes. The motion calming him down considerably instead of panicking him.

"For you Master, I will,"

. . . . .

"Be silent!" Kukaku snarled, an irate look on her face as she tried to get the attention of his brother but was unable to since he was busy calming down everyone.

They immediately shut their mouths. Kukaku is a good person, but she does have a rather nasty temper when evoked. They all knew that. Along with the fact that Kaien wasn't the only one good enough to be a shinigami, it was no wonder they followed immediately.

It wasn't just because she is their Head's sister, it was because when Kukaku's angry, you will know it with her binding kido coming your way and being berated and shouted at the entire time until she is satisfied before she releases you and you become her buddy until she forgives you.

It wasn't that bad really because she doesn't torture you, she just looks for all the information regarding you and teases you about it. Basically, you'll be embarrassed for the rest of your life if you capture Kukaku's bad mood. To those who hadn't harmed her and the people she loved that is.

"What is it Kukaku?"

"If Kyurakou-taichou saw a look-a-like of yours, why didn't he just snatched him up? That look-a-like is a male right?" when her brother nodded, she continued. "He had that personality. Kyurakou-taichou can't mind his own business sometimes," she muttered with a small snort.

"Captain didn't say. He just asked if I have a twin brother," Kaien looked at everyone in the large underground hall. "He looks like me, only his hair is orange and has tanned skin,"

Kukaku started looking around the hall as they all started murmuring amongst themselves, looking completely lost and confused. She can't blame them. What are the chances that there is someone out there who would look like their Clan Head? That person might be family that we overlooked.

He heard a tiny gasp from further his right and she snapped her head to look at where she heard it. Right there, at the corner of the pillars, were children crowding around. She relaxed at seeing that. I thought someone remembered seeing a person of that description, she thought to herself. She is using a light kido spell to heighten his hearing senses a little so that she would know the discussion of others.

It wasn't that she didn't trust them, it's just that they might dismiss someone with that description thinking it was just their imagination. Because out of all the years they are alive, how come it was just this time they had heard of something like this?

But there were none. She was about to cancel the spell when he heard childish giggle from the children again.

"Yes! Kaien-nii colored his hair! It's so cool!" one of them exclaimed.

"Kaien-nii has black hair now though,"

"Uhuh," a sigh. "His orange look really cool though," a disappointed voice.

Kukaku immediately stood up, hushing everyone from their talking. She walked towards her brother with a purpose, her eyes watching the children giggling.

"What is it?" her brother asked softly on her ear.

"The children. They said they saw you colour your hair orange and that it looked cool," her brother blinked at him, his green eyes looking surprised. She looked at him intently.

"We have a clue,"

. . . . .

It's been a week since he came back from Hell – he had been counting, for the first time – and Harry had been left alone by Ichigo and his family. He had been meditating since then, visiting his memories and trying to differentiate what he was feeling before and now.

His memories are fractured and doesn't make sense. He couldn't remember some of his childhood and his school days. They don't fit anymore just like he had always suspected. One doesn't come out of torture unscratched and with how much those people raped his mind, it's expected.

His emotions on the events though stayed. Like how happy he was knowing Sirius wanted to take him away from the Dursleys. How his days before Hogwarts was miserable. How he feels whenever he conjured a Patronus. His emotions remained the same. Only his days with Voldemort was different.

It was like he was just an observer, his emotions neutral. He feels bad at what was happening, nauseous. But he couldn't feel the debilitating fear, the overwhelming anger, the rage, the sense of betrayal, the creeping hope when he saw Dobby and the crushing hopelessness as his friends died, humiliation and shame. His vindictiveness when everyone in that house prison died painfully with the release of his magic. There was nothing of those.

It made everything easier for him.

Slowly but surely, he felt himself healing. He knew it would take long and that the scar would never go away. There would be good days as well as bad days he knew, but the very fact that he was feeling hope for the first time made him happy.

. . . . .

Apprehension came onto him abruptly seeing his stone door so closely moving to open up his usually close cave home. His hand shook a little, and his palm was sweating.

Harry is nervous. He can almost feel his heart beating fast and his vision is blurring from not blinking even once. The door stopped moving and he felt a warm hand touching his shoulder. He already knew, even before the hand touched to his, that it belonged to Ichigo, his reiatsu already familiar and registered in his senses. It was the reason why he didn't flinch.

He trust him, probably the only soul he would trust in this new and bizarre world.

"Are you okay?" Ichigo asked. He looked at the concern eyes of his recent companion and smiled a little.

"Yes,"

"You're sure of this?" he continued to ask for the fifth time since he had said earlier that he wanted out. Harry nodded decisively, his hand rising to hold the other's rough hand.

The stone door opened once again and he watched with baited breath as it opened.

. . . . .

Harry didn't know what he expected. He couldn't remember what the outside was when he first found his cave home as it was too long already. It probably was not the green, rich grass around his cave home along with a small patch of flowers. He walked forward, his hold on Ichigo's hand loosening until he dropped it to walk forward. The outside of his cave home is beautiful.

But beyond…

The 'city' below his cave home is different. They're greying. The houses has dull colours. There are too many people. They looked dirty and thin and only some were smiling. Fear started creeping back inside him again.

"Hush…" hearing the tingling, whisper-like voice of the wind, Harry slowly calmed down. "We're here…" He instinctively know that those voices were his reishi family and with how his magic rose in consciousness again, he felt safe. Not to mention Ichigo's reassuring presence behind him.

He heard light footsteps behind him. "Do you want to go below?" he heard Ichigo asked.

Harry unconsciously reached Ichigo's hand and he felt him squeeze it reassuringly. He looked at the civilization below for a few minutes of silence before he squeezed the hand he was holding back.

"Yes,"

TBC.

A/N:

Will you look at that! I reached 5k! Amazing! This is the longest chapter I've ever written! An accomplishment!

Yes, I changed the Shiba's. Don't worry about it. I have a plan for them. There is no mistake so don't wonder about it.

Next chapter: Harry slowly explores North Rokungai, District 70. Any suggestion on the appearance of the place? I'm lost. Also, clues starts creeping in with the Shiba's. And should I introduce Aizen?

OHMYHOLYGOSH! I can't stop squealing whenever another review comes. You are all the best!!

Alright, I'm calm. Now, what do you think?

Review!