Hana was not looking forward to her first official mission. While it was a relatively safe one for someone like her, the fact was that the magical community got on her nerves since day one.

The only good thing about the whole thing was that because of the unique reitsu wizards had, she wouldn't need a gigai to get around. Magic had the annoying tendency to make soul reapers (and by extension hollows) corporeal to the living. Soul reapers would only konso a wizard if they were paid double.

Since most wizards lived past a hundred on average, that condition was usually met. However whenever a war erupted inside the magical communities, it always resulted in them being caught in the crossfire.

Rumor had it that some had even been captured by the wizards and forced to fight in their war during the last one.

Anyone who was captured or went missing was listed as KIA automatically, unless they somehow managed to escape and return home.

That only happened once, and the Shihouin heir wasn't talking about that nightmarish time.

On her first day in Europe (complete with a translation device from Squad 12) she had already discovered a problem with her presence.

First of all, she apparently resembled the former Girl-Who-Lived, Lillian Potter. Secondly, because of her nationality people looked down upon her to the point that they were extremely rude without any of the social niceties Byakuya used with people he didn't like.

(Unknown to the Kuchiki Clan Head, Hana was extremely observant to the point where she picked up several of his tricks to insult people without them being able to show their offense in public.)

The moment she returned to the barracks after buying the supplies she needed, she let loose a string of curses and words not meant for polite company.

Zaraki let her get it all out, then Ikkaku bravely asked what caused that torrent to come loose.

No one was willing to ask where she picked up that combination of foul words, considering the fact that Zaraki might turn the poor sap into a training partner. Then again, considering she lived in Squad Eleven, it wasn't that surprising she picked up such foul language in the first place.

Hana complained about the way they had looked at her, with reactions ranging from disgust or outright annoyance. All because she wasn't from Europe and could only speak English with a translation charm. The only ones to treat her with any respect were the goblins!

Though even she had to admit, their reaction to her appearance was a tad odd. To her surprise, she had vaults already set up in England. Because of what she was, they had asked for her name before they told her of them.

The goblin Griphook had explained that the vaults in question belonged to her parents, but had been sealed due to recent events. Because she was a shinigami, she had unlimited access to them.

Goblins liked shinigami more than they did wizards simply because shinigami treated them like equals and never tried to cheat the goblins out of what was rightfully theirs. Plus as long as they worked with the shinigami, the soul reapers would appear promptly in case of hollow attack without bothering to modify their memories.

After hearing her rant and rave about how much the mission sucked already, Yachiru took her to prank Kurotsuchi for a few hours.

If only to calm her little sister down enough to get back to the task at hand.

"GET BACK HERE YOU DAMN MENACE!" shrieked Mayuri.

Hana had somehow destroyed most of his lab, all of his Seireitei surveillance equipment and at least ten illegal experiments. All with a few bombs and some well placed kido spells.

Which was why she was running like mad to the nearest captain, who turned out to be Soi Fon.

Eyes glinting evilly, Soi Fon vanished with the girl into her barracks, where they spent the next three hours working on a technique she had discovered and was trying to perfect.

(To her eternal embarrassment, the girl only had to be shown it once, and Hana managed to get it on the third try.)

September 1rst...

Hana boarded the train with hours to spare, and went straight to sleep. She woke up when a noisy redhead with freckles tried to break into her compartment. Three seconds of his irritating personality, and she kicked him out of the compartment.

Ten minutes after that, a girl with bushy brown hair came in. She was considerably more polite, and actually knew a little Japanese, so Hana woke up enough to hold an intelligent conversation. Another boy entered, nervously. He had been kicked out of the last compartment by three fifth year Slytherins.

"Can...can I sit here?" he asked.

"Sure. Hope you don't mind sitting with a foreigner and a muggleborn."

He shook his head, and sat next to Hermione.

"N-Neville L-Longbottom..." he mumbled.

"Hermione Granger," said the brown haired girl.

"Chidarake Hana... Sorry, I mean Hana Chidarake. Unohana said you guys say you have the names reversed here..." said Hana.

"What does Chidarake Hana mean?" asked Hermione, curious.

"Loosely translated it means Bloody Flower. My dad found me abandoned drawing flowers in my own blood, which is where I got the name."

Hermione gaped.

"While I can understand that kind of reasoning, what possessed him to name you something like 'bloody'?"

Hana shrugged.

"My dad is a fighter, not a poet. His favorite thing to do is fighting. My sister Yachiru and I love riding on his shoulders when he goes out for a good fight. Though his sense of direction could use some work."

And with that, Hermione got into a long discussion with Hana over the differences of Japan VS England in concerns to magic. She got her first taste of Hana's brand when Draco made his appearance.

Hana listened to his speech, unimpressed, and when he tried to evict them from their compartment, smirked.

"Bakudo 1: Sai!"

Draco went ramrod straight, and fell to the floor. His arms were completely pinned behind him.

"That should wear off before we reach the school, but if you annoy me again I won't be so nice."

Draco fled, but Neville was still in shock.

"He's never going to leave you alone now..." said Neville.

"Like I care. I've seen people like him before, and they all either pissed themselves when they annoyed me too much or my dad came and really scared them."

Neville gave a small grin.

"I would pay to see someone scare Lucius Malfoy into pissing himself..." he mumbled.

Hana looked at him grinning evilly.

"How much would you be willing to pay, and when do you want to arrange it? My dad could kick any pansy wizard without moving."

Neville grinned shyly back. Hana seemed like a great friend to have, so long as you stayed on her good side.

And with that, Hana got into a debate on gardening with the shy boy, with Hermione piping in every once in a while with input she learned in a book.

Hermione learned more about gardening talking to them than she would have from a book. While they had embarrassed her a little, the fact they didn't hold it against her put her in the right direction.

Once they got the sweets, with Hana deciding to spread the chaos, used a newly invented type of hell butterflies to send Yachiru some of the wizard candy...and a request for photos.

The look of evil on her face was enough to send shivers down their spines.

Hana waited impatiently for the sorting. She had insured that Ron Weasly (the annoying redhead from earlier) wouldn't bother her by breaking his nose. Draco, upon seeing that, didn't even bother trying to get near her until he could gain her trust enough.

"Chidarake Hana!"

'Difficult, very difficult. Intelligent enough for Ravenclaw, braver than most Gryffindors and more cunning than any Slytherin in the house today. But your loyalty is second to none. Which house would you like to be in? Think carefully child.'

'Which house wouldn't look down on me for being Japanese and violent?'

If the hat could grin, it would have.

'There is only one option for those requirements. I hope you stir things up in...'

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Hana skipped over to the Hufflepuff table, grinning the entire time.

Hana stretched in her new bed. It was less comfortable compared to the one in the room she shared at home, but she chalked that up to cultural differences. If she had trouble sleeping tonight she was going to sleep under the bed. She was used to floor-type mattresses.

Close to her, still asleep, were Susan Bones, Hannah Abbot, and Hermione Granger. Hana had gone before Hermione, and determined not to lose the only female friend she had, Hermione had asked to be placed with her friend. Considering she was showing such loyalty to a girl she barely knew, the hat agreed to it.

Hermione woke up the moment she sensed movement outside the beds.

Years of raiding the library in her neighborhood had enabled her to sense whenever someone was moving within fifty feet. This sense was heightened to sixty when she was half asleep. Her parent's bedroom was twenty feet from hers.

Which was why she glared at Hana when she read the clock and realized it was well before six.

"Go back to sleep," she growled.

Hana cheerfully grinned at her.

"Time difference. Can't sleep."

"Don't care. Too bloody early for you to be up."

Hana grinned. Squad eleven was FILLED with people who killed anyone that was too cheerful in the morning. It was a daily battle to get to the lone coffee machine that Zaraki had managed to get from the head captain.

The only reason he even managed to get that was because the Squad periodically raided any nearby squads for coffee every morning, and there were complaints.

A thought came to her, as she said "Can I have some coffee please?"

Without warning there was a pop, and a large pot of coffee appeared where the water usually sat.

Hana and Hermione stared.

"How...?"

"Heard from someone that there are house elves here. If you ask the right way, they bring stuff to you."

She looked to the coffee and said "Thank you!"

Hermione glared at her, but drank the coffee without blinking. Once the caffeine hit, her glare went down enough that she could hold a coherent conversation.

"Is this going to be a daily thing, or should I just tie you to your bed?"

"...Daily."

Hermione stifled a curse, and drank her coffee. In order to keep the girl from hexing her later, Hana did the only thing she could think of.

She held up a book about spirit energy and the different types documented. Hermione snatched it up, and the glare went away. She had successfully diverted the bookworm.

Professor Sprout handed them their time tables, and Hermione stifled a yawn. It was too bloody early for her to be up.

Fortunately their first class was History of Magic, because she was out like a light within two minutes of the teacher's drone. Once it was over, she was more awake and ready to learn.

Which was a good thing, considering they had Herbology next.

Hana rarely paid any mind to the owls in the morning, until she heard the distinct chime that usually accompanied a Hell Butterfly. Once it landed on her hand, it started sparking wildly.

She grinned, and placed it carefully on the table with a large space cleared in front of her.

What happened next would be the source of rumors.

The butterfly unloaded it's entire burden at once, nearly spilling over the table. Everyone stared at the amount of things.

"Wow...looks like the SWA came through!" chirped Hana.

"SWA?" asked Hermione in shock.

"The place I live is primarily dominated by men. The SWA is a place where the females can relax and hash out ideas for the lower ranked female members, and keep the predators from causing too much trouble."

"What sort of place do you live in?" asked Susan, curious.

"We primarily try to keep a balance and prevent monsters from harming the general population. We try to keep people safe from things that hunt them, but it's not exactly easy. Sometimes we have to wipe memories in order to keep the peace, though there are rare exceptions."

"What sort of monsters?" asked Hannah, worried.

"We call them Hollows, because they have holes in their body, usually in the chest. I heard tales about them being other places, but I have yet to see it."

Dumbledore listened to her description with interest. He had heard rumors of a creature known as a Hollow, but he had never seen it. Such creatures were harder to control than dementors.

The rumors went that unlike dementors, who devoured souls through the mouth, hollows actually ate the soul.

But the girl never said who the organization she worked for was. From what he heard, they were called Soul Reapers, and they lived in a place known as Avalon.

He would have to learn how strong her ties were to Avalon...

Hana practiced with her wooden sword (courtesy of Ikkaku, who didn't want her to get rusty) in the common room, carefully avoiding her dormmates.

"HANA! Could you please sit still for five minutes?" yelled Hermione.

"I could, but why would I want to? I've already completed all the homework given, and read enough books to keep me happy for a month."

Hermione thought hard.

"Would anyone here be interested in learning swordsmanship?" she called out.

To Hana's surprise, several people raised their hands. She took a hand count, and found the number to be an even dozen. She had about thirteen extra swords, so it wouldn't be too hard. The only issue was her patience.

She could sit through lessons, but teaching others was hard for her.

"Right, if I teach you, then you had better not slack off! I'm a hard task master, so be prepared!" she said.

Hermione hid a grin. Her plan to keep from getting hit with Hana's sword was already paying off.

Dumbledore was planning on getting information on Chidarake Hana. The girl looked far too much like Lillian Aurora Potter, the now dead Girl-Who-Lived. The mere fact that she resembled the brat was enough of a reason for him to take an interest.

If she proved pliable, he would carefully cultivate her into a useable pawn. If not, she would be crushed without hesitation. He looked outside the window with a cold smile. This year could make or break him, depending on how he acted.