Time and Tide

Chapter Two

Harry gasped awake, finding himself in pitch blackness, he felt sick, dizzy, and he pressed a hand to his forehead. What the hell? He blinked but the darkness remained, so he fumbled around in the dark, finding he was in a small space with a sloped roof and locked door...the cupboard. He was in the cupboard under the stairs...his bedroom until the Hogwarts letters. His head was killing him! He lay back down and closed his eyes, focusing his aching mind and then he found himself falling until he was standing on a massive lake of churning water, not that he needed the visual to know he was in turmoil. He looked around desperately, was she still with him? "Nejibana!" he yelled desperately and then he felt a tug on his ankle, pulling him under the surface and he came face to face with his smiling Zanpakuto spirit. "Nejibana," he whispered, unbothered by being underwater even as he hugged her, feeling her hug him back.

"I am with you Harry," she whispered, deep blue eyes closed as she held her wielder. "No one will ever part us," she swore even as they surfaced and moved to one of the small islands dotting the area. She sat and Harry lay down, his head in her lap.

"We did it." He couldn't believe it, their Hail Mary attempt at time travel had actually worked.

"Of course we did," she smiled down at him.

"I'm still in the cupboard so I can't be more than eleven, which means Ichigo is twelve...so that leaves three years to fix things here and then get to Karakura." That would be enough time, he was not leaving Ichigo to go through all tat alone...if it would even be his Ichigo. They'd been separated, they could end up popping up years apart. What if Ichigo didn't appear until it was too late? If...if he wasn't his Ichigo he'd just have to befriend him all over again before everything went wrong. He had no allies here, none of their comrades would remember. Urahara was out, he would have trusted their Geta-boshi without a thought, but this one wasn't tempered by years on the run, he was still focused on the immediate, how to defeat Aizen. Harry would be a wildcard in his plan and that wasn't something he would like. No, for now he would have to focus on Britain, Dumbledore and Riddle. "The Horcrux?"

"I would never allow such a thing to threaten you," she sniffed in disdain.

That explained the state of things, but even now the water was slowly calming. "I guess I have to relearn everything, huh?"

"Your mind knows and that will enable you to train here but in the real world, yes, you will need to retrain your body. You are rather...small at the moment," she teased, and he rolled his eyes.

"Not my fault," he mumbled feeling tired.

"Sleep Harry, nothing will harm you," she kissed the infamous scar as he drifted to sleep. Here, in their world, he looked no different to how he had when he leapt with Ichigo into the timestream. It was how he saw himself. The real world was a different matter, she could feel the borderline malnutrition, the ache of badly healed broken bones. They had a lot of work to do and limited time to do it in. She stared out over the water, brushing silvery locks back over her shoulder. Her dark blue and white kimono served as Harry's pillow; his sleep unbothered by the fact that the cloth was always wet. She ran slender fingers through his hair, working to keep the nightmares at bay. Only being reunited with their Ichigo would truly soothe him now, but that would be years away.

When Harry woke the next morning, it was to Aunt Petunia unlocking his door and sneering for him to make breakfast. He'd forgotten what a...well he was too much a gentleman to use those words, but she was horrible. Her death was not one he had mourned. Opening the fridge brought back memories, how long had it been since he'd seen so much food? He quickly made the breakfast and then looked at his Aunt. "When do you expect my Hogwarts letter?" he asked, and she froze.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

"Let's make a deal, you don't lie, and I will be permanently out of your hair within a month," he snarled, and she startled back in shock and fear as green eyes glowed briefly. "I am well aware of my heritage Petunia. I am not the child you have abused for years anymore. Do not try me." He didn't hate them, not anymore, but he felt no desire to lift a finger to save them, his mother's family or not. He knew his mother would have loved Dudley and raised him well if roles had been reversed. "Just remember, once I'm gone, so too are the wards that protect your worthless lives."