-Chapter 2-
"I found this in the street this morning. I believe it is yours. -U.K." read Zezuri off of the piece of paper she had discovered under her pillow along with her missing wallet, "U.K.? Who is U.K.?"

Airi was examining the window for any evidence of a break in, but the screens on the window did not appear to be tampered with at all, "How did that get here?" she wondered aloud.

"Do you think they picked the lock on the door?" asked Zezuri.

"Well... maybe... but who breaks in unnoticed in the middle of the day! Ms. Yamamoto is always working in the garden out front, there's no way she wouldn't notice someone breaking in."

"So... did they just walk through the walls?" Zezuri laughed.

The blonde rolled her eyes, "Of course not! But I guess, we shouldn't worry... they did bring back your wallet."

"The past two days have been odd..." thought Zezuri. She proceeded to leave the wallet on her desk and toss the letter in the trash.

The next day the two girls managed to get to school with plenty of time, partly to make up for the prior day's frantic rush. The friends continued in their early morning chatter on their way to school until Zezuri paused suddenly in the middle of a sentence.

Airi took a few steps before she noticed her friend had stopped talking and then stopped herself. "What's up?" she asked, turning around and retracing her steps.

"I-I... I don't feel so good..." Zezuri moaned. Her face was pale and her heart suddenly began to race.

Airi opened her mouth to ask her companion if she needed to go to the nurse's office, when suddenly, a strong, heavy, and powerful sensation, threatened to crush them into the ground.

"W-what's going on!" Airi exclaimed as the hallway became empty of students as they entered their respective classes upon the ring of the warning bell. No one else seemed to notice, but why? she wondered as everything became hazy as she and Zezuri fell to their knees.

Zezuri's chest was throbbing with pain. She felt as if her mind was melting as she coughed into her hand, fearing she would vomit at any moment.

Airi managed to lift her head and was struck with confusion as the air in front of her and a dark void opened suddenly. It was like staring into an abyss, pitch black and unmoving, until several figures in white appeared from the darkness. "I must be going insane," the blonde thought, struggling to maintain cognition. Airi was on the verge of collapsing as the white-clad figures stepped closer.

It was apparent that the figure in front had the most powerful presence as he strode over to the girls and nudged Airi with his foot nonchalantly. "Ahh these are the two..." he grinned.

Airi winced at the touch of man's sandal clad foot. Despite the enormous pressure weighing down on her body she forced a glance upwards at a gentle smile on the face of a brown haired man.

Meanwhile, the boy from earlier, Ichigo, sensed the powerful presence, and it froze him to his seat. "This spiritual pressure... It's strong..." he thought before raising from his seat.


"Mr. Kurosaki, I don't suppose you need another bathroom break." the teacher said sarcastically.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

He ran out the door as his other friends went to rush after him, but the teacher stopped them with a sharp glare.

"Sit down! One at a time!" she ordered.


The man in white continued over to Zezuri and knelt down as he tilted her head upwards gently in one hand.

"This one..." he gazed deeply into her fearful eyes.

Zezuri let out a small moan and slumped forward into the ominous man's arms.

"We take them both," he ordered as he hand the unconscious Zezuri to two of his followers.

As two other white attired figures brought the Airi to her feet, she noticed the man with blue hair she had mistaken for a mirage yesterday afternoon. Even stranger to her was the odd white material her captors had on their faces. A macabre thought crossed her mind, as for a moment, she thought it was bone, but her mind was too muddled to piece anything together. Airi then felt herself hoisted up and carried away toward the black portal. She noticed Zezuri was being taken as well before everything went dark and she went unconscious.

Loud, rushed, footsteps of straw sandals on tile floor were heard along the corridor as Ichigo managed to arrive before the portal closed. Then he was taken aback as a familiar figure shrouded in the darkness smiled and walked away, "Aizen!" he exclaimed as the portal closed.


Airi was dreaming. An ocean of stars lay at her feet. She watched, puzzled, as the black matter with small lights lapped up gently against her shoes as she sat up on a rocky shoreline. Yet, as the wave receded, she realized she did not feel wet at all.

"Where am I?" she asked aloud to the empty evening sky.

"You should be able to figure that out for yourself," a voice cracked.

Alarmed, Airi stood up and looked around frantically, "W-who's t-there?" She saw nothing but the sea of stars that surrounded the tiny rocky island she was on. Storm clouds framed the horizon in the distance, but seemed to be growing larger.

Thunder rumbled in the distance in an answer, "Ah, but it seems our meeting is not to be, at least for now."

A light breeze began and quickly turned into a gale as the clouds rushed in obliterating the night sky. The sea began to churn, stars twinkling menacingly at first then all grew dim. Away from the shore the liquid rushed on every side. Knowing what was coming next, Airi glanced about, but only flat, rocky ground met her eyes. Picking a direction at random, she ran in vain; the water came back with a roar smashing into her in seconds. Choking on the starry liquid, Airi struggled to breathe. Darkness soon overtook her mind.


Airi was amazed when she regained consciousness and found herself lying on something soft and white. However, as her vision cleared up, she was dismayed to find that she was not safe in her bed as she had expected.

"Hey, this one's awake!" yelled the gruff man who had her slung over his shoulder.

Terror seized Airi's mind as she slowly recalled the events prior to her nightmare. Just where was she? And who were these people?

Abruptly, she was dropped to the ground with a dull thud, "You can walk, one less for me to carry," he growled and shifted Zezuri on his other shoulder.

The blonde looked up groggily at the tall man carrying Zezuri. His hair was as blue as the sky on a cloudless day. Stranger than his hair color was the extra half jaw of bone on the right side of his face.

"This is stupid," he muttered, "why should we hide our presence and walk anyways! C'mon, this is Heuco Mundo! OUR kingdom!"

"Would you rather we have Soul Society or the renegade hollows on our tails right now?" replied another member of the white-clad men.

A cocky grin crossed the blue-haired man's face, "Peh, I could take 'em, in fact, I wanna fight 'em all NOW!" he laughed energetically, "Every last one of them! Bring it!"

"Patience, Grimmjow, you will have your chance," the brown-haired leader spoke as he outpaced the protester.

The group became quiet and Grimmjow fell behind his leader in frustrated silence.

Airi was still sitting where she had landed. Taking in her surroundings, she stared in awe and horror. Sand, so much sand, pure white, as pale as the moon, heaped in dunes, in every direction as far as the eye could see. A black night sky hung overhead with a crescent moon in its late waning stages provided a dim light. She made no effort to stand, her mind overloaded with the current situation. Her body began to shake and tears welled up in her eyes. A sob left her throat before she realized what was happening.

Pale hands with black nails wrapped around her arm and with a strong grip, pulled her to her feet. Piercing green eyes framed by black hair gazed emotionlessly down on the distraught girl. "We must proceed, woman," he stated in a monotone. Though her blurred vision she made out a bone helmet that covered half his head. What was it with these people? She wondered before shaking her head weakly. Her feet however, seemed to have a mind of their own as she found them moving despite her reluctance. She gave in quickly, not wanting to be left alone in the dark desert night.

The group walked for what seemed like hours, yet the moon didn't budge in the slightest from its high position in the sky.

A large white stone palace suddenly arose as they traversed a large dune.

"About time!" shouted Grimmjow, suddenly, he and Zezuri vanished from in front of Airi only to reappear briefly in front of the palace doors.

She had stopped crying a ways back but the sight of the palace filled her chest with a pang of hopelessness. It sat silently in the night air, yet the way it loomed in the distance gave a sense of foreboding.

A mangled cry rang through the night from behind.

Airi froze in place and began to shake violently.

The leader gave a glance to the pale man standing behind Airi, "We'll meet you there," he stated.

The pale man nodded and vanished in a single motion.

"Shall we?" asked another member of the group. His short silver hair was cut close to his face which bore a slanted smile slightly reminiscent of a fox. He offered a hand to the blonde girl who took it quickly. At least he looked human.

The remainders of the group flashed towards the castle.


By the way, this is a total re-write of the prior version. We're not just grabbing the old chapters and adding new words. I don't even look at the old version, I just let whatever comes to my mind happen. :) Hope you are enjoying! Let us know what you think! ~Airumel