Chapter 1: Old faces, New foes

Rain poured in Karakura town. It pounded on the roofs of houses and buildings, and slapped the leaves of trees. The sky was dark. The only light that came was the light from the lightning. Thunder continued to boom in the sky. It had been raining non stop for weeks. Streets were closed off, school was canceled, and all over people began either disappearing or acting strange.

Ichigo and Rukia were in Ichigo's room (or the cave as Karin calls it). Ichigo sat on his bed reading random manga and Rukia just layed on the floor drawing random pictures. None of them spoke until Yuzu barged in the door breaking the silence. "Ichigo, there's someone here to see you." She said with the same chirpy enthusiasm.

Ichigo looked over at his sister. "Hey, knock before entering." He snapped. Yuzu put on a slight scowl. "Well, sorry!" She exclaimed back. "Yeah Yuzu. Ichigo's right. For all you know they could've been making love in there." Karin shouted from down stairs. Rukia wasn't paying any attention to the conversation. Ichigo's face went blood red. "Will you quite assuming that, Karin!?" he shouted back.

He walked downstairs and before he knew it he was elbowed in the side of the head. He crashed into the wall and fell to the ground unconcious. "Sweet dreams, Kurosaki." The man snickered.

"Hey! Why did you just…" Before Karin could finish her sentence, she and Yuzu had their heads banged together. "Was that really necessary you two?" The two men turned around to face a lanky man with shoulder length black hair. He was dressed in tennis shoes, black jeans and a black, flanneled shirt. "Aw, shut up Stark. We did what we had to do." The man with bright blue hair hissed.

Stark rolled his eyes and looked at the pink haired man who bashed the girls heads together. "Syazel, you didn't really have to hurt the girls. What if they wake up and tell their father about what happened?" Stark scullded.

Syazel smiled and pushed his glasses back in place. "Well at least I didn't elbow them like some people, eh Grimmjow?" Grimmjow twitched and looked as if he wanted to kill Syazel. "Ya outta shut up or I'll elbow you, too flower man."

It wasn't long until Rukia heard the commosion and came downstairs. "What's going on down he…" Grimmjow punched Rukia in the jaw which set her unconcious aswell. "Nighty night, Kuchiki."

* * * *

Ichigo opened his eyes slowly. He propped himself up with one elbow and rubbed his jaw with the other. Man, what the hell was that? Damn, that hurts. He thought. He examined the room until he noticed Rukia resting her head on his chest. His face went a light shade of red. He tried to look away.

"Finally awake I see."

Ichigo turned his head to face a girl with long, dark brown hair tighed up with a purple cloth. She wore a Dark blue, long sleeved, turtle neck, and black jeans that stopped at her ankles. "Grimmjow must've got you good." She said. Ichigo started to rub his jaw again. "Yeah, he sure did…wait…GRIMMJOW!?" He exclaimed in shock. The girl looked confused and nodded slowly.

Ichigo layed his head back and sighed. "Man, I knew I left the guy alive but I didn't expect to see him again so soon," Ichigo propped himself back up. "and why the hell is he here!?" he continued.

"He ain't the only one kid."

He looked around to see he was in a room full of arrancar. Some that looked familiar and some new faces.

"Wha…what the…Grimmjow?"

"'Sup?"

"U…Ulquiorra!?"

"…"

"N…Nel!?"

"Hi Ichigo!"

"Well…who the hell are all the others!?"

The brown haired walked over to the remaining three. "Ichigo, this is Nilly, Wonderweiss, Stark, Syazel, and Ilforte." Ichigo thought he was gonna pass out. Pass out is exactly what he did. The brown haired girl rolled her eyes.

"I think we set the poor boy into shock." Syazel mocked with a smile. Wasn't long until Ilforte slapped him in the back of the head. "You idiot, must you always make a comment?" Syazel rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry brother."

* * * *

"Hey kid? You awake?"

"I think we really did put him into shock."

"I blame pink haired man!"

"Neliel for the last time, I have a name!"

"Ah, no one cares, pansy."

"I'm not a pansy!"

"Shush you morons! I think he's waking up."

"Ichigo? Ichigo are you okay?"

Ichigo opened his eyes slowly. He propped himself up slowly with his elbow and examined the room. "Wha…what happened?" He asked. The brown haired girl thought for a minute. "Oh that's right. Apparently these guys put you into shock so you fainted. My name is Jane by the way."

"Why the hell am I here?" Ichigo asked. Jane got up and walked over to the coffee table. Lying there was a book. The title was in Latin. "Ichigo, do you believe there are such things as phantoms?" Jane asked. Ichigo cocked his eyebrows. "Of course I don't. What kind of question is that!?"

Jane opened opened the book to a page with a girl on it. Her hair was long and in pigtails. There was nothing in her eyes and no expression on her face. She wore a dress with tattered ends to her sleeves and her skirt. "Do you recall the Valley of Screams?"

Ichigo was becoming aggiated with all the questions. "Yes, it collapsed months ago." Jane didn't respond for a moment. "Wrong." Ichigo cocked his eye brows again. "Excuse me?"

"I said you're wrong. It did collapse months ago, however you forgot one simple thing."

"Oh, and that is?"

"It regenerated itself."

Ichigo didn't speak. Rukia didn't react because Jane already went by this with her. "The Valley of Screams has regenerated itself by feeding off the souls of living human beings. We're still not sure on how it was able to do so but we're sure that something there is keeping the blanks from returning to the human world as the shinenju." She continued.

"But that's impossible!" Ichigo snapped. "There's no way that can happen! It…it can't happen…can it, Rukia?" he asked. Rukia didn't have a sure expression. "Frankly I'm not sure what to say. I've never heard of something like this happening. I also know nothing about these so called phantoms." Rukia explained.

"That's why I brought the arrancars back. You see, they can sense spiritual pressure better than you soul reapers can." Jane continued. Ichigo seemed as if he wasn't paying any attention. "That's why I asked permission from the head captain Yamamoto entry into the Valley of Screams. I've already gathered a team to travel inside. Can I count on you and Rukia to accompany them?" Jane finished.

Rukia nodded in agreement. Ichigo's eyes just twitched. "No way!" he shouted. Jane had a look of disbelief on her face. "Wha-what!?" she exclaimed. Ichigo sat up and crossed his arms. "You can forget it! That was a one time deal, and that was because a friend of mine was in danger. So you can count me out." He explained. Jane sighed. "Fine, I guess I can't force you to go." She said not sounding very convincing.

"No, you can't."

"Unless,"

"Unless wha…"

Before he knew it he was elbowed in the jaw again. Jane sighed again. "You know, when I said unless, I meant we could've just got Stark to get him there by force. We don't need to break his jaw off. He's lucky if you already didn't disconnect it." Jane scolded. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and rubbed his hand. "Aww, shut up, he'll live. The kid needs to toughen up anyways. He's kinda've a wimp."

* * * *

Ichigo opened his eyes but he wasn't in the same room he was 3 hours ago. He sat up and rubbed his jaw. Dammit! If Grimmjow keeps that up I'm gonna loose my talking ability. He thought.

"Ichigo! Can you come here, please!?"

Ichigo tried his best to stand up. "Where are you!?" He shouted back. He his head until he was facing Rukia and another soul reaper he didn't seem to recall. They were about a yard away. He could probably make it that far.

The soul reaper who was with Rukia had about shoulder blade length hair and it was a bright shade of brown. Black barrets the shape of butterflies held her bangs back. Her eyes were bright green and she were her kimono shirt with no sleeves and it cut down until it was about ½ inch under her chest. "Rukia, this is Sakamoto Miharu from squad 11. She's on the team that Jane gathered to investigate Valley of Screams." Rukia explained.

Sakamoto smiled. "Hiya!" she exclaimed making a piece sign with her hand. Ichigo looked at Rukia. "You said she's from squad 11? She doesn't look like she could put up an acutal fight." Sakamoto looked as if she didn't know what he was talking about. Rukia rolled her eyes. "She was originally accepted into a different squad because of the kido she knows, but she refused." She explained.

"Wadda ya mean? I thought there was only one type of kido. You're telling me there's more than one?"

"Yes, but it was out lawed in soul society years ago…"

Rukia was interrupted with a foot connecting with the back of her head. "Hey!" she shouted. The culprit was non other than Renji. "We don't have time to discuss that right now." He scolded. Rukia just rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue at him.

Other than Ichigo, Rukia, Renji, Sakamoto, and the arrancars, the other 'team members' were Shuuhei Hisagi, Rangiku Matsumoto, Toshirou Hitsugaya, Momo Hinamori, Kenpachi Zaraki, and Yachiru Kusajishi.

Ichigo wondered into a cave down below the ground. On the walls were some type of latin writing. "They're spells," he whispered. It was dark so he couldn't really read it. Wait a minute, how did I now they were spells? I can't read latin! Let alone understand it. He thought.

Come here little boy

Ichigo's eyes widened at the strange voice. He looked around the cave but couldn't see anything. "Who are you!?" he hissed. No reply. Ichigo growled and slowly walked further into the cave.

Come here little boy

There it was again. The same voice. It sounded like a girl but the voice wasn't familiar. All Ichigo could tell was that it was a girl. "Come out from hiding!" he hissed again.

Come here little boy. Let's play

"I don't wanna play!" he shouted. The girl giggled. Ichigo curled his hand into fists. He was becoming aggiated but he didn't know what he getting aggitated at.

That girl, Rukia. Is she special to you?

Ichigo looked dumbfounded. "What the hell are you talkin' about!? Me and Rukia are just friends!" he hissed. The girl giggled again.

Do you love her?

Ichigo's face went red. "Wha…what the hell is that supposed to mean! Rukia and I are just friends! Nothing more!"

Then why are you blushing?

Ichigo covered his face from the nose down to his chin with his arm. "I'm not blushing!" he hissed.

Where is it?

The girl sounded a little more serious than she had. "Huh, where's what? What the hell are you talking about?" Ichigo asked putting his hand down. The latin on the walls began to glow a dark red color.

You're not leaving until you tell me where it is!

A strange, invisible barrier blocked the exit. A strange and extermely powerful rietsu filled the air, sending Ichigo to his knees gasping for air. Ichigo's sight began to dim, sending him into darkness. This time it was a deep, male voice speaking to him.

We have come for you my liege

I know, I know. "We have come for you my liege" has been used so many times it's loosing its spark =____= but other than that, I left you all on a major cliff hanger, didn't it D Plz review. I would love to hear what you all have to say about the story ^^ But please, don't give too many rude cirisism D=

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed chapter ! I've got school starting tomorrow so I won't be on as much But I'll try to post new chapters up weekly =D Bye!