These next two characters that make appearances may be a lil OC but this is how i picture their conversations..and once again, I do not own Bleach

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Chapter 3- Reunion and the Protector

A buzzing sound could be heard coming from the flashing monitor perused by a blue-haired man in all white robes. His eyes so squinted and lips curling into what seemed like an ever-lasting grin, it was hard to tell what exactly was on the young looking man's mind. But with an occassional grunt emitting from the back of his throat, whatever he had been surveying on the current page on the monitor couldn't have been too pleasing.

Footsteps behind the concentrating shinigami went unnoticed by his distracted ears. A black man, with dark shades covering his eyes and a sword hanging on his left side looked questioningly at his mysterious companion. He had called his name out a couple of seconds earlier and was a bit peeved that he was ignored. "I said, what is it...Gin?" He called out more forcibly to get his attention.

The sitting Shinigami calmly looked up at his company and made a slight noise that resembled a snort. "Hey, Tousen! It's nice of you to visit me in the middle of my busy work today, I haven't had anybody to talk to lately."

"Eh..? What do you mean? I've been here for a while..Perhaps it's just your short attention span that disallows you from remembering talking to anybody for a while..." Tousen stared down at where he could sense Gin sitting. If Gin could've seen his eyes, he probably would have shuddered at the intense glare he was receiving.

"Hey, hey! Don't go looking at me. I'm not blind, so I don't have sharpened hearing to hear that much while I'm distracted by something important!" Gin almost pouted out his case to Tousen. He clicked on something on the monitor and it flipped to a different scene. "Tired of seeing that so off to something better.."

"This is the third time asking, what is it that you're doing, Gin!" Tousen became impatient. He couldn't understand how someone could be so quick to forget the subject at hand.

"Well, I WAS watching Nnoitra's battle with our old friend Kenpachi from the Soul Society but that's not interesting anymore. The fight's over." Gin calmly stated.

Tousen was taken aback as such news of a fight with their fifth strongest Espada and a captain with whom he had actually 'lost' to in Soul Society seemed to be surprising to have missed his ears. "It is? Well, who won?"

"Kenpachi." The calm in which this name escaped his lips confused Tousen to no end.

"Kenpachi?! He's defeated our fifth strongest Espada? Why are you so calm when something like this has happened?" He didn't know about Gin, but this was bad to him. He wasn't really expecting that ryoka and his friends to do much damage to them but with three captains now helping out, he wasn't quite sure. With the defeat of the fifth Espada, that means half of their elite squad meant nothing to the strength of the enemy. How would that sound to report back to Aizen right about now?

"Because it's nothing to be worried about, Tousen. Why do you think Aizen allowed Nnoitra to leave the fortress in the first place?" Gin mused. Tousen looked surprised. "I've told you before. Our army isn't complete. It isn't complete for the simple fact that every warrior is not a Vasto Lorde yet. So, we're going through a cleansing phase. Those who Aizen-sama finds to be at their highest peak at this point with no possibility of progressing any further, he's allowing them to go out to do battle. This is just the distraction we're seeing right now..." Gin's grin seemed to grow even wider the further into his explanation he delved.

"So, Aeronierro, Szayel, Zommari, Grimmjow and Nnoitra are all just pawns to Aizen-sama's plans huh? I was beginning to wonder why we weren't doing anything drastic to make up ground for all that we've lost...But, what about Ulquiorra? Surely, he isn't just a pawn with his strength." Tousen quizzed.

Gin looked slightly confused. "Aren't you usually the one to keep on top of things? I feel strange having to be the one to explain everything to you! But you're right, it was not planned for Ulquiorra to be out there fighting at this point. Grimmjow somewhat threw a curve in his path when he took that girl away from her room, remember?"

"Yea, he came in here asking if we'd seen him pass by." Tousen wasn't sure if he would call the method in which he went about wanting to know where that girl, Orihime Inuoe, went 'asking' though. He seemed quite angry, which was unusual for one as calm as he always was. It felt like he had wanted to take out his frustrations on the closest living being he could get his hands on, so they hurried and told him they hadn't seen him.

"Something's strange though. This monitoring system allows us to keep track of each Espada, from their surroundings to the fluctuations of their reiatsu to see if they're in a battle or not. For instance, for the past hour, Nnoitra's reiatsu has been flashing bright red because he was using almost all of his reiatsu in his fight with Kenpachi. Now, however, it's a cool blue because he's exausted it all. Szayel's is as well. But, I haven't seen any trace of Ulquiorra shortly after he went after Grimmjow to get the girl back. How can someone just disappear?" Gin scratched his blue hair. "Even if he was somehow killed, the system would tell me.."

"Are you forgetting about the status of Negacion? Aizen-sama implemented a 'button' in each of the Espada's hollow holes to imprison them in another dimension entirely if they became unruly." Tousen tsked at Gin's ignorance.

"I forgot about that one..Give me a break, you and Aizen are the ones that dealt with the interaction with the arrancar mostly."

"Didn't you see it happen on your little screen though?"

"I must've been tuning in on Szayel's battle at the time..." Gin muttered. Tousen couldn't help but compare Gin's actions to that of someone watching normal television. He shook his head a little. Gin perked up to something happening on the screen. "Ah, there's Captain Unohana, Captain Byakuya and my Rukia! What a great reunion this is turning out to be wouldn't you say, Tousen?" He looked up at his companion.

"Please, Gin, I am not interested in getting to know the characters in your little show...I prefer to wait until they come to where we're at to entertain them. Let me know if they do happen to head this way." With that, Tousen walked out of the monitoring room, Wonderweiss close on his heels.

"Will do!" Gin waved his hand the air without turning back. He kept his eyes on the four people now walking off towards the desert area of Las Noches. "Now, where are you headed my dear Rukia Kuchiki?"

On screen, the four warriors were approaching a group consisting of an orange haired shinigami, the girl that Grimmjow had kidnapped, a man who looked mexican, a man dressed in all white garb that resembled that of the Espada, a shinigami that looked as if he had a pineapple on top of his head and a very tall shinigami with large spikes for hair. They appeared to be talking amongst themselves for a while, with the orange-haired shinigami finally being released from the yellow orb he was under during the huge battle that had taken place. As he began walking towards the group, he suddenly grabbed onto the raven-haired girl.

"Ah, it seems someone is really happy to see you, eh Kuchiki-san? But I wonder how long this bliss will last? Someone might want to have a talk with Ichigo in a few!" Indeed, in the corner of the screen, a familiar reiatsu had emerged once again into existence...

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Ichigo had seen them when they walked up but he had only seen three people at first. Captain Unohana led the group, then he saw Hanatoro beside of her and then, his eyes widened at seeing him, Kuchiki Byakuya. So, Kenpachi wasn't the only one that Soul Society had decided to send to help them. Did that mean the rest of his friends were in trouble as well? He knew Rukia was but he had lost track of Renji and Ishida during the earlier chaos. Chad had found them a few minutes after Nnoitra had fallen to the ground and Kenpachi came over to check on their condition.

"Well, if it isn't the other two captains finally finishing their fights! What took you so long to get here?" Kenpachi asked arrogantly.

"What do you mean, Kenpachi? I've had enough to time to defeat the seventh Espada and have Unohana heal both my injuries and Rukia's injuries before you most likely finished here..." Byakuya answered, refusing to let it seem that Kenpachi handled everything better than he did.

"Tch..so how much healing were you in need of, Byakuya? Hehe.." Zaraki seemed to enjoy trying to get under the sixth division captain's skin.

"Much less than it seems you're in desperate need of right now, I assure you!" Byakuya eyed Kenpachi up and down, measuring the state he was in.

"Gentlemen, is all of that necessary at a time like this?" Unohana tried to step in between the war of words between the two captains.

Much of these words had been tuned out for Ichigo, however. He had stopped listening after Byakuya had mentioned something about Rukia's injuries being healed. "Rukia..?" he called out, grabbing Byakuya's and Kenpachi's attention away from each other for the moment. The named woman had finally stepped out from behind Byakuya and looked at Ichigo still inside of Orihime's yellow orb. She was about to speak when she was interrupted by another voice calling out for them.

"Hey, guys! We've finally found you!" It was Uyruu and Renji, looking tired and beat up but still enthusiastic after seeing their friends. They both looked over at Orihime at the same time. "And it seems you've gotten what we've all risked our lives for too! This is great, we can get out of here now!" Renji bellowed.

"Yea, it does seem to be that way." Ishida agreed, smiling.

"And Rukia too..." Renji started. The yellow orb holding Ichigo in had finally lifted. He got up, and without saying a word and to everyone's surprise, walked over to the rest of the group and embraced Rukia in a tight hug, cutting Renji off. It was so out of place for the moment, it left Kenpachi and Byakuya gaping at the way Ichigo was holding onto Rukia.

"I-Ichigo..?" Rukia had been shocked almost as much as everyone else. No one had ever seen Ichigo act like this before. Somewhat vulnerable and in need of affection. His bankai finally faded away, as there was no threat near anymore and he relaxed into her body even more. She instinctly put her arms around his neck to try and console him. She probably knew why he was acting like this but she didn't want to bring it up, knowing Ichigo wasn't a type of guy to let anyone in on his feelings. So, she just allowed her reaction to communicate her feelings over to him.

Rukia looked around at the rest of the group over Ichigo's shoulder, who had begun to look pointedly away from the two of them, as if they felt they were intruding in on a personal moment. Everyone except for Orihime that was. For an instant, Rukia could sense tears welling up in the back of her eyes. Deep sadness oozed from her eyes as she looked on at the hug that seemed to last an eternity to her. Rukia looked down.

"I thought you were dead, Rukia..I could barely feel you anymore and Ulquiorra told me...I should've realized he was just trying to throw my concentration off..." Ichigo released her from his grip but he still held onto her shoulders. At this moment, it appeared that he realized what he was doing and where he was doing it. He turned red and looked away from his friends as he muttered, "I should've never agreed to split up in the first place!"

A vein began throbbing on Rukia's temple. "It's not like you had a choice in the matter! I can take care of myself Ichigo! I've told you before that I don't need you to protect me at all times, you know!" She couldn't understand why he couldn't get that through his head. It was like he believed she'd be dead by now, in other words useless, without him being by her side all the time.

"Oh, is that why you almost died now?!" Ichigo looked back into Rukia's eyes. She moved her head back in alarm at the intensity in which he was staring at her. "What do you do, say 'Screw everyone else's opinion!'? It doesn't matter what those that care for you say does it? As long as you feel like you don't need me or anyone else, it's alright huh?" If the enviornment wasn't already tense enough, it was beginning to feel really unbearable for everyone else now.

It had stung. She hadn't known this was exactly how Ichigo was feeling the whole time. "Ichigo...It's not like that, at all! I'm just not this weak damsel in distress that you seem to picture me as, idiot! I'm stronger than you think, I can fight alongside you and everyone else!" They glared at each other, each too stubborn to give in to the other's arguments.

"Ichigo, Rukia! Please calm down..Don't forget, we have to get out of here before it's too late!" Uryuu finally found a good place to interrupt them to state.

"He's right. Even though I would love to stay and fight all of the Espada, orders were to just come and get you guys, including Orihime Inuoe, out of Hueco Mundo. We're all here now, there's no stopping us going back!" Kenpachi said. "And man, any more of this kinda stuff from you Ichigo and I may just change my mind about wanting a rematch with you after all..." Ichigo looked kind of relieved from this, however. Maybe he should hug Rukia a lot more often then...

"Let's go! I'm tired of this place!" Renji cried out as Byakuya reached out to open the Garganta once again. However, once it opened, another voice called out to them.

"Hey, you aren't forgetting about us now, are you?!" Mayuri had finally walked up behind them, with Nemu close in tow. He had two bodies in his palms, dragging on the ground behind him. "I've had some difficulty carrying these corpses around but no one seemed to have noticed..." He glared over at Renji and Uryuu, whom sweat-dropped and pushed his glasses up on his nose respectively in response.

"We told you before that we won't going to take chances with touching them..Wasn't any telling what Szyael could've done with those bodies..." Uryuu shouted from in front of the Garganta.

"Well, what about when I said I'd test it myself and pulled them down from their hangers..? You could've helped then, you cowards!" Mayuri was livid.

"We didn't know you'd be so gullible!" Renji taunted as he and Uryuu stepped into the portal to leave. Mayuri spit on the ground, and the others had a dumbfounded expression on their faces. Ichigo looked down at one of the bodies in his hand.

"Uh..isn't that Dordonii? How the hell did he end up like that?" he asked. He remembered that he had left him alive after their battle, not deflated as if someone had pulled out his skeleton without damaging the skin at all.

"Who? Who's Dordonii, Ichigo?" Rukia spoke up.

"Oh, he was the first arrancar I fought after we split up. He was a Privaron Espada, or an Espada before the ones that are in Aizen's army now." He explained.

"Ah, is that his name? I learned from that Quincy brat that the female specimen's name was Cirucci Thunderwitch but he wouldn't give anything about him. I'm speculating that Szyael had been experimenting on them before I got my hands on them as you can plainly see." Mayuri proceeded to throw the two bodies through the Garganta. "I hope they land on those insolent fools on the other side!"

"Hehe, so you've even got some of the taste of the action while down here, Mayuri?" Kenpachi chimed in. He always viewed Mayuri as a guy not into fighting, seeing as how he was always in his laboratory researching and experimenting all the time.

"Of course, what the hell did you expect?! Apollo Szyael Grantz will no longer have any need for any of his experiments in the place and time he's in right now..." Mayuri flashed a big creepy grin over to Kenpachi. Kenpachi just raised his eyebrow in approval. Mayuri pointed for Nemu to follow as he stepped through to the other side as well. Byakuya, Unohana and Kenpachi started to walk and passed through together.

With it only being Ichigo, Chad, Rukia and Orihime left, Rukia began to feel uncomfortable in the same vicinity as Orihime. It wasn't like she didn't want Ichigo to hug her but he definately could've chosen a better time to do it. She wanted to get away as soon as possible so she decided to go next. Ichigo was right behind her, and Orihime and Chad followed suit. Time seemed to be going slower for some reason, at least that's how it felt to Rukia as she got closer. Suddenly, Orihime screamed.

"Kurosaki-kun! Kuchiki-san! Watch out!"

Ichigo looked around just in time to see a huge green wave of energy hurtling towards himself and Rukia. He grabbed Rukia and shunpo'd just in time as the blast sizzled the spot on the sand they were once standing. By the time he landed a couple of feet away, he was already in his bankai form again. He knew to whom that color of cero belonged to...

Ichigo looked back into the enraged eyes of Ulquiorra Schiffer once again...

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A/U: So, how did you like? It was longer than I thought it was gonna be but I'm satisfied with it. How did you like the little comedy i added into it? I want to see if I'm any good at that..well, hope to see some reviews!