Well, welcome to: To Walk the Earth! If you have not read The Colored Forest, this story might not make much sense :) So please go read if you have not. To those of you who have, here is the awaited story of how Ichigo has to fight his way back to life, to get to Grimmjow. There is a biiiiiig surprise waiting for those who make it to the end, seriously.

THIS IS A SEQUEL :P

CHAPTER 1

A soft wind drifted across the flat land, yet it was no relief from the scalding heat. As Ichigo walked he grew hotter, so his leather armor grew hot and sticky with his sweat. The sweltering heat did not recede and Ichigo began to see the ground move around him in undulating rivulets. He nearly fell, watching the heat rise up from the ground. It was then that he heard it. The sound of hoof beats, though muffled by the shifty sand, rang through Ichigo's head. At first he thought it was a reminiscent memory from his living days, but it grew louder, rumbling in his ears. He turned swiftly and saw men approaching on horseback. He stayed firm, not believing that they would deliberately let their horses run him over. They stopped in front of him.

The horses were strange, pale, white creatures, with milky eyes. With growing trepidation, Ichigo saw that they had no hooves at the end of their forelegs, but hands. He figured it was to give purchase in the sifting sand. He noticed that the riders were very different from the people he had seen. They were wrapped in long strips of cloth, and whatever skin was exposed was pale and colorless. They had small tufts of hair escaping from their ragged coverings that adorned their heads. Their eyes glowed red in the light of the sun, leading Ichigo to believe that these were the 'obstacles' that Pantera had mentioned. One of them raised a hand and pulled down the rags from over his mouth, revealing a smiling mouth full of jagged gleaming teeth. It leaned forward in its seat on the horse, and a low hissing sound greeted his ears.

He pulled his bow from his back and strung an arrow. He released it. The thing jumped off its horse and approached him, pulling a shiny curved sword from his side.

Ichigo let loose another arrow. It buried itself in the creature's forehead, and it fell to the ground with a muffle thump. Instantaneously, Ichigo ran forward, catching the reins of the neighing horse and jumping into the saddle. He spurred the horse on, and it jumped over the fallen body and sped away from the other two riders. The hoof beats were different than those of a normal horse's, but it ran through the sifting sand like a breeze through the trees. He kept thinking of those trees, back at home. Resting in the shadow of a leafy tree was a luxury compared to what he was going through now. He shook those thoughts from his mind, though. He had some enemies to take care of, and they were short on his tail.

He turned in the saddle, and strung another arrow, releasing it. It landed in the middle of the second one's stomach. A loud screeching noise reached his ears, over the pounding of hooves, and the creature pulled the arrow from his gut. Red blood trickled out of the injury, making Ichigo believe that it was human, too, just distorted and weird.

He took another arrow and this time aimed for the head. He shot the arrow. It hit its mark.

He slowed the horse down, turning it to face the last rider, who was far behind the others. He placed his bow back at his back and unsheathed his sword. The rider stopped, and dismounted, and to his surprise, bowed in the hot sand. He slowly sheathed his sword, wary. Dismounting, he kept the horses reins in his hands and walked over to the bowed figure. As he came closer, he saw that it was a woman, if the slender figure was anything to go by.

He left the woman for a moment, and walked over to the fallen enemy. He killed the horse. As much as it bothered him to do it, having the horse return to its home, riderless, would bring up suspicion with any companions that these people may have had. They may come after him. They would, eventually, when they went to look for their companions that had not returned, they would find the bodies and demand revenge. But he would like to keep his presence unknown for as long as he could. He then examined the fallen body. He opened the rags with some difficulty, because the man had a series of metal hoops that pierced the skin of his cheeks, and the cloth was woven through them. He cut the rags with his blade and began to unweave the cloth from the hoops. He saw that the face of the second one looked to be distorted, with gross alterations that made bile rise to the back if Ichigo's throat. Its eyes were uneven and a blood red, no distinct pupil could be seen.

He walked back to the woman who was no longer bowing but looking at him curiously.

"Where am I?" he asked, his voice cracking from misuse and parchedness, "And why were you attacking me?"

The woman bowed again, trembling, and spoke.

"You are in the D'sol desert. We attacked you because you are an outsider, a stranger to the Saj." Her voice was husky and dry, like she had not had a drink in a long while. Ichigo wasn't surprised. She spoke again, "I plead for your forgiveness, please do not kill me." she said, surprisingly calm, for the words that were escaping her lips.

Ichigo took a deep breath, he could use her. She could lead him through this parched land.

"I am looking to traverse the desert. If I let you live, you will help me. You cross me, you die," he groused, "Stand up."

She stood slowly, and began to lift her hands.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo snapped, his hand reaching for his sword, his body ready to leap back onto the horse if there was a sign of aggression.

The woman paused, "I'm removing my wrappings; ait is a sign of submission to you. You are above me," she murmured and continued to remove the cloth.

Ichigo watched with growing interest as her face was revealed. Her hair was blonde, light despite not having had contact with the sun's punishing rays, and her eyes were shown to be a light green, framed by thick blonde lashes. Ichigo felt a wave of heat flow through his chest. Gods she was beautiful.

The woman looked down, her eyes hid themselves and Ichigo thought for a moment that he was disappointed that he could no longer see those expressive, green eyes. With a slight grunt he turned and mounted his horse. He looked at the woman.

"Lead the way," he said.

Ichigo had no idea where they were, and he had no idea how the woman riding in front of him knew where they were. Maybe she was leading him toward a village of some sorts, where she could gather her people and kill him off. He would kill her if he had any foresight on the matter. But of course, he didn't. And he was getting hungry. His throat was already parched, but he couldn't drink, for fear of being stuck in this arid desert forever. He didn't even know if he would die. He knew that the Saj could die, he'd killed two of them. But he didn't know if they lived indefinitely until someone killed them, or if they were mortals with lives that ended at old age. He needed to find out.

"What is your name?" Ichigo asked, trotting his horse up to ride next to the woman.

The woman looked at him, her face blank, but her mutinous eyes displaying her suspicion and fear. "My name is Hallibel."

Ichigo looked at her for a moment, and then looked across the desert, trying to find a way to lead the questions in the direction that he wanted them to go.

"Why are the Saj in the desert?" he finally asked. That was a great place to start, Ichigo thought, silently praising himself for a job well done.

Hallibel thought for a moment, looking straight ahead, before she spoke; "I don't really know, I was found in the desert a long time ago," she paused here, not really having answered his question, but still thinking how she was to word the answer. "I am told neither what happens nor what has happened in this land. I was captured and forced to drink and eat, so I am ageless and bound to these sands forever. And after you do eat, you must eat to survive. I have been here for years, and the days have begun to blur together."

Ichigo looked at Hallibel. His question was answered, but what she said, prompted another. "What do you mean by 'captured?'" he asked.

The woman next to him smiled, "We all have secrets we'd like to keep," she said, then she flicked the reins and her horse trotted forward.

Ichigo stared after her, one eyebrow raised. He was making sure to keep a sharp eye on the horizon and Hallibel, and thought about what he'd found out. So Hallibel was a woman not of the Saj, apparently, because she was captured and forced to eat. But if that was the case, where did Hallibel come from? She hadn't seemed hostile at all, only different. She immediately submitted to him, but that may have been because she feared him. He saw the fear in her eyes as he looked into them. But she hadn't done a thing when the others attacked him, she even let her horse trot slowly behind. If anyone had initiated the attack it would have been Ichigo. Maybe she wanted to leave this place as much as he did. Well, what he had to do first was get through this day without dying. That was the first thing, because despite the fact that there were no longer any of the Saj chasing after him, Ichigo was sure that they weren't the only thing that posed a threat to him in this desert land.

After a couple of hours the sun began to set on the horizon and Ichigo saw that it was the end of the first day. Thoughts of his journey plagued his mind. Like making it on time, would he? How could he when he had no idea where he was. And this woman... she was tempting him. Giving him fleeting glances when she thought he couldn't see, but looking away quickly when he faced her. Watching her slender form ride her horse in front of him was giving him many thoughts on what else she could ride. Gods, she was gorgeous. But the Rii desert was not a homely place, and he felt that if he were to settle in and to inside her warm wet depths, his little escapade would be quickly interrupted by any danger that may pass as the cried out in their joyous ecstasy. He wished he was back in the colored forest, where everything was beautiful. He had not forgotten that just because something was beautiful in the Gikleurde it didn't necessarily mean that it wasn't dangerous, but at least it was nice to look at.

"We should set up camp, it's getting dark," Hallibel said, reining in her horse. She led it down a sloping sand dune and then dismounted. Ichigo followed, still worried about reaching his destination on time.

"Can't we travel through the night?" he asked, leaning back in his saddle as his horse slowly walked down the hill.

"We could, but there are more dangerous things out here, more dangerous than the Saj. And the roam at night."

Ichigo couldn't argue with that. He couldn't very well die out in this sea of sand, all because he didn't listen to the voice of reason garbed in a robe of beauty.

With slow progress they set up camp, Hallibel having to show Ichigo how to pitch the strange tent that was rolled up and tied to the horse's saddle.

Ichigo climbed into the tent, as he lay in the raggedy bed, he realized that it smelled atrocious. He wouldn't be able to sleep with this disgusting smell breaching his nostrils, and breathing through his mouth made his stomach lurch.

"You can sleep in my tent."

The utterance was so soft, so low, that Ichigo almost didn't hear it.

"What?" he asked, rising and sticking his head out the opening in the tent.

Hallibel didn't move, but she spoke louder this time.

"I know that the Saj don't smell very good, you can sleep with me, if you'd like."

Ichigo thought for a moment; he wanted to, but would that be a good idea? He might just follow through with his desires and take her right in her tent. He had a feeling that she wouldn't resist.

He took a deep breath and immediately regretted it, because the stench hit his nose and he nearly gagged.

Maybe it was a good idea.