Disclaimer – I do not own either Bleach or Kingdom Hearts!

Warning – see first chapter.

Note – I have started school so updating will be whenever I can. Which by the way I have completed my first week of college!

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

09/2011 – Mildly revised chapter.

Anyways… third chapter!

~ The 3rd chapter begins! ~

Last Time - Claire wiped the sweat from her forehead and laid down in attempt to get some sleep, putting her thoughts on hold till the morning.

Her attempt to get some sleep was a wasted effort.

A brown corridor lined the area, pictures hung on the wall here and there as Claire staggered down its length. The closer she got to the end she could smell a wonderful aroma, clearly Aeirth was cooking. Her mouth slightly watered as she hit the corner and stumbled into the small but spacious room.

"Have a good sleep?" Aeirth's light soft voice came.

Claire grunted as she took a seat at the table, while rubbing her eyes.

Aeirth chuckled, "I'll take that as a no."

Silence descended as Aeirth continued cooking Claire far too tried to focus.

"So why is it you couldn't sleep?" Aeirth asked breaking the silence as she placed eggs on the plate in front of Claire.

Claire sighed as she picked up the fork beside her plate, cutting the egg and taking a bite. As she finished she looked up at the now seating Aeirth as she gazed into her kind, questioning gaze.

"It was hot." Claire muttered at last, her eyes drifting back down to her plate.

Aeirth let loose a small chuckle earning a glare from Claire, "I apologize; I should have turned on the air conditioner. I guess it didn't occur to me that the heat would be a problem."

"It's not like I don't have heat from where I'm from, but the heat last night…" Claire trailed off knowing Aeirth understood. 'Though you would think from the exhaustion I have it would have been easy to fall asleep…'

The rest of their meal was eaten in silence and as they finished Aeirth asked, "What do you call your planet?"

Claire blinked slowly lifting her head to stare at Aeirth who had risen with her empty plate in one hand. Claire found the question a tad odd, not only was it unimportant but the question was out of the blue. Perhaps Aeirth was just curious or seeing as she had been told that this world was called 'Traverse Town' perhaps she thought it fair to know what her world was called.

Claire let her eyes fall shut as Aeirth picked up her empty plate as well and strolled over to the sink to clean them.

Silence befell them save for the running water as Aeirth cleaned the dishes, Claire let the sound wash over her and she felt herself relaxing. Because she was tired and exhausted all she wanted to do was drift away right here, and if she thought about it she could distantly here music. Not that there was music playing… it was only memory, a song that she had heard so many times in her life. 'A song I will never hear again…'

The water stopped running taking away the soothing rhythm and very reluctantly Claire opened her eyes. Aeirth was once again seated across from her, eyes gazing at her with concern.

"If you would like too; you may go back to sleep. We can take later when you're feeling more alert."

Claire stared rather blankly at the women as the words processed and she slowly shook her head, "No, if Alec were to awake I would like to be with him." Not that she was really expecting him to awake so soon.

Aeirth nodded in understanding, as Claire continued; "Besides if I absolutely need to I can take a nap later."

"Very well."

Claire stared at Aeirth who was no longer gazing at her, after everything she had thought about the woman the night before she found that she was sad about everything that she had to go through. The war… and even though she didn't know the details she knew that it had for sure affected her as war often does. Claire could tell, maybe not be one hundred percent certain but pretty close that this woman could be trusted.

Which was pretty ridiculous. Seeing as she didn't know anything but the others name. But for some strange reason something inside her was murmuring that Aeirth could be trusted.

Claire brushed a stand of blonde hair behind her ear before answering, "Earth."

Aeirth's eyes shot up and settled on Claire with a slightly confused, surprised look, "Pardon?"

A ghost of a smile crossed Claire's features not at all surprised that the woman had gotten so caught up in her thoughts as to forget her previous unanswered question. Or rather startled at getting a reply.

"Earth. That is my answer to your question."

Aeirth was silent for a few moments before realizing what Claire was referring to, "That is the name of your planet?"

"Yes, more or less." Technically she didn't live on Earth but Aeirth didn't need to know that.

Aeirth had a slightly befuddled, confused look but decided not to ask, as she changed the topic. "I did some thinking last night… and I think it would be best; once Alec has awakened; that the both of you accompany me."

"Why?"Blinking, Claire asked.

Aeirth let loose a small sigh, "It is not safe here, and you have nowhere to go right?"

"True."

"Hopefully nothing will happen until then," Aeirth stood and pushed the chair in as she continued, "Please feel free to look around the place but please do not leave the house as it is not safe. I will be in the back so if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask and please in from me if your friend awakes." With that said Aeirth turned and walked out of the kitchen leaving a more awake Claire before she could say anything else.

~ Soul Society ~

The room was silent, not a word was uttered.

Ten of the thirteen captains where assembled in two rows, in the front stood the head captain; Yamamoto. Had three of their captain's not betrayed them then they would not be in this situation.

"What news from the world of the living?" Yamamoto questioned.

A man with long white hair who looked to be in his thirties even though he was much older spoke up, "The report I received from Rukia Kuchiki stated that the Arrancars have been quiet. The most that she and substitute Ichigo Kurosaki have encountered are small fries."

"I see," The head captain thundered in a rather quiet voice (Not that it was quiet), "Thank you Captain Ukitake for your report."

"I don't like the sound of this." A man with a straw type hat said tilting it to cover his eyes; he wore a cloak of pink.

"I agree." The 12th captain inserted, "How am I to get anywhere with my research if I don't have a good specimen." This man had a white painted face and wore a funny hat.

"Humph," A tall man and very muscular with bells in his hair and an eye patch covering one eye stated, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi the previously spoken captain narrowed his eyes, "It has everything to do with it Zaraki!"

"Sure it does!" Zaraki leered, a creepy smile on his scarred face.

A youthful white haired boy, with teal colored eyes shook his head slightly while muttering, "Arguing old men."

Kyoraku chuckled, "Now now Toshiro." The captain of the 8th quietly muttered to the tenth captain.

As the two captains continued arguing the remaining captains, most of them couldn't believe that they had to do this every single time. It was always something, but tended to get irritating quiet fast in concerning situations. Not that most of their meetings didn't have concerning problems; but some meetings were downright pointless.

"Enough!" The head captain shouted, immediately silencing the room. "Let's get back to the situation at hand; I have something important to inform all of you. This is strictly confidential and is not to leave this room, is that clear? Not a word to any of your squad members or even your lieutenants."

"Hai!" All the captains replied.

"Concerning Sosuke Aizen, there was an attack at the Royal Palace."

Chaos broke loose as most of the captains started speaking at once, words of 'What' and 'How' echoing in the room. Even Captain Kuchiki of the sixth squad opened his eyes to look at the head captain who was waiting for the commotion to quiet down before continuing.

Finally the captains ceased their words realizing that they would not find out anything until doing so.

"As you all are aware of," Yamamoto at last continued. "Sosuke Aizen wants to be king, and thus needs the Ouin. At first he had found away to create the Ouin by using the souls of Karakura Town. However because of our interference and the fact that the Ouin was recently transported he obviously decided to take that one, probably figuring that it would be simpler and easier. But that doesn't mean he has given up on Karakura Town."

"But sir!" Soifon of squad two, a women very strict of the rules spoke up only to be silenced by the head captain.

"Let me finish!" Yamamoto voiced as he lowered his hand.

Soifon nodded and was once again in position.

"I am not sure how Aizen managed to get to the Royal Palace, but that is not are major concern. For those of you who do not know, for Aizen to be King he needs the Ouin and to kill the king. However fortunately for us even if he should succeed he would not have complete control over the Ouin as only the Royal Family or King knows of how to use it properly."

The head captain stilled his speech to let the words process.

"Now I am sure you are all wondering how I am aware of what has transpired at the Palace, right?"

"Hai!" All the captains voiced eyes intently on the head captain.

However instead of continuing his explanation he fixated his eyes on the door and called out, "You may come in now!"

The door opened with a small squeak as a figure slipped through and passed the captains to stand near the head captain, while ignoring all the stares.

After the man gave a low bow did the head captain speak, "This man before you is the head of the Royal Guards, and his name is Kinshiba. And no he is in no way related to the Shiba clan. He escaped the Palace and came here, according to him the King were killed in the attack."

"If that is true then…" Kyoraku voiced, trailing off.

A woman with braided hair that came in front of her spoke up, "Does that mean that Aizen now possess the Ouin?" The captain of the fourth quietly asked.

Old man Yamamoto's eyes closed, his hands firmly placed on his staff, "No."

Ukitake spoke before anyone else could, "But sir, you just said that the King was killed. So then surly Aizen has the Ouin?"

"It does look that way, but according to Kinshiba here, a few days prior the King stepped down naming his successor. So when he was killed he was no longer the King, but it was not made public, only those of the Royal Family knew. And of course Kinshiba knew being the head of the Royal guards." The head captain shifted his gaze to Kinshiba indicating for him to speak.

With a nod Kinshiba started, "The king said that he had a feeling that something was going to occur so to be safe he stepped down naming his daughter as the new King or in this case queen. Usually the son would be named King but he didn't have any sons to name."

Komamura who had been quiet up till now spoke, "I don't think anyone of us here thought he had kids." He was the seventh squad captain but was a fox. He had brown fur and yellow irises.

"That doesn't mean that he didn't, we just always referred to them as the Royal Family." Soifon firmly stated.

"Well since the head captain stated that Aizen does not possess the Ouin means that he has not encountered the new Ruler." Unohana voiced.

"That is correct." Old man Yamamoto stated. "According to Kinshiba he was with her up until an Espada appeared. He had been in the process of getting her out of the Palace but was forced to leave that job to a lower rank guard who came by. He however has not been able to find them since thus made his way here."

"Well if Aizen had her we would know right?" asked Toshiro.

"Most likely. So perhaps they are somewhere in the world of the living and we are just unable to locate her. So that being said I want Squad six to go to the world of the living and ask the substitute soul reaper Ichigo Kurosaki to help look for her. She will most likely be with a guard named Alec."

Captain Kuchiki muttered a quiet, "Yes sir."

"However Captain Kuchiki I do not want you to tell either your lieutenant or Ichigo Kurosaki the identity of this girl. Is that clear?"

With his eyes closed the sixth captain murmured a 'hai'.

"Now then," Yamamoto voiced as he inclined his head to Kinshiba. "I think it would be best for you to accompany them."

"Of course." Kinshiba stated in a voice that hinted that he had no intentions of staying in the first place.

"Now that all of that has been taken care of, this meeting is officially over! Dismissed!" Head captain Yamamoto thundered.

~ End of chapter three! ~

Wow, longer than the last one! Finally the soul society made an appearance! Sorry for the lack of action but hey it's only the third chapter.

Sorry for any bad grammar or misspelled words! That goes for the last few chapters too! Oh, and for any OOC!