Chapter 3: Arrival at Hamunaptra

Having no luggage or form of transportation, the group of adventures was inclined to visit a caravan on their way to Hamunaptra. It was a small temporary village, but nonetheless bustling people of all ages and each traveler quickly got separated from the other. Mayuri was being chased out of a tent by a group of angry women all shouting in Arabic, while Renji haggled with a seller of camels.

"I only want four! Four!" he shouted, "I only want four, not a whole freaking heard!"

The seller, however, insisted that it was either all or none.

"Kurosaki, can you believe this guy?" the red head growled.

Irritated, Ichigo put his hands on his hips and snapped. "Just pay the man, moron!"

"Oh for heavens sake!"

Ichigo grudgingly pulled out a handful of bills, muttering, "can't believe the price of these fleabags…"

Taking two of the camels' reigns, the orange-haired guide smirked and replied, "You probably could have gotten them for free. All you had to do was give him to your sister."

"Yeah…tempting aint it?"

Jut then, Orihime appeared among a group of cooing women and Ichigo stopped dead in his tracks. She was dressed in a black dress with gauzy dark sleeves and a front decorated with silver sequins. A light ebony veil encrusted with silver beads rested a top her orange red hair and just above her nose, making her soft brown eyes sparkled in the desert sun.

Taking in the young woman's beauty, Ichigo thought back to her brother's last comment about her being "tempting" and murmured, "awfully…"

After the supplies had been sufficiently replaced, the travelers set off into the desert with their "herd" of dromedaries.

"Never did like camels," Renji complained. "They smell, they bite, they spit…"

On cue, Mayuri spat grossily into the sand.

"Oh, I think they are adorable!" Orihime exclaimed, scratching her camels head affectionately.

She glanced back at the warden, laughing as he began to sing in Arabic.

They rode for many arduous, heat-exhausting miles and kept going, even when the sin had completely set. Dozing off, Orihime's body began to lean over until her head was resting on the shoulder of her nearest companion-Ichigo. He smiled and gently steadied the orange red haired woman into an upright position so she would not fall off her camel. Shushing his own creature as it began to grunt noisily.

Mayuri had also fallen asleep and was snoring obnoxiously, so Renji hit him in the chest with his riding whip, waking him up instantly.

Ichigo stared at them in amusement, then gasped when horse whines sounded in the distance. He turned to see…the Maji watched him from a distant sand dune.

"This one is strong." Yoruichi murmured, as the small caravan proceeded.

At dawn, the next morning, Ichigo and the others soon met up with Grimmjow and his group.

"Hello, my friend," the spectacled man greeted, flashing a smile. Both teams line up in a neat row, watching, waiting for…something to happen on the desert horizon.

"What the heck are we doing?" Ganju demanded to know.

"Patience, my good friend patience," was Grimmjow's answer.

Ganju continued, "Remember our bet Kurosaki. First one to the city gets five hundred bucks."

Glancing to their guide, Ikakku added, "one hundred of those bucks is yours if you help us win that bet,"

"Oh, my pleasure." Grimmjow then turned to his ex-partner and snickered, "Hey Kurosaki…nice camel."

The orange-haired soldier simply smirked and rubbed his dromedary's head. He then straightened up and muttered to his party. "Get ready for it."

"For what?" Orihime cocked her head.

"We're about to be shown the way."

All eyes were fixed on the desert as the sun slowly rose, painting the sky blood red…and as it the desert itself were merely an illusion, the blurry image of an ancient city materialized in the sand.

"Will you look at that…" Ganju breathed.

"Whoa…" Ikakku gasped, "Can you believe it?"

Yumachika smiled. "Hamunaptra."

Ichigo, however, seemed slightly apprehensive, saying, "Here we go again…"

Finally, when the necropolis was clearly visible all riders let out a collective, 'hyah!" and the race to Hamunaptra began. Ichigo rode up beside Grimmjow's horse, urging his grunting camel onward. Not to be outdone, the silver-haired man grinned nastily and began hitting his rival with his riding whip.

"OW!" the soldier yelped, shielding his head from the blows with a stinging arm. Fed up, Ichigo grabbed the man's collar and said, "So long Grimmjow." Before throwing him off his horse and onto the ground.

"It serves you right!" Orihime grinned at the nearly trampled man. She urged her camel onward, catching up with Ichigo, and eventually passing him all together as her ride suddenly gained a burst of speed.

"Whoo-hoo!" Renji punched the air in triumph. "Go, Orihime. Go!"

And with that, the small group of heroes on their spitting, smelly camels, utran the group of scoundrels with their majestic horses.

The two groups set up camp at the ruins and each person began tackling their own tasks. Unfortunately, the "gamblers" had a team of Arabic workers with them doing all the hard labor such as moving stones and digging through the sand.

Noticing tat the opposing team was off in their own faraway corner of the City, Ganju glanced at Uryu and asked, "Do they know something we don't?"

The scholar smirked and replied, "They are lead by a woman. What does a women know?"

Climbing around an obstacle of stones, Orihime pointed to a nearby looming monument and explained, "That's the statue of Anubis. Its legs go deep underground. According to Bembridge Scholars that's where we will find the secret compartment containing the book of Amun-Ra"

The Orange red haired woman glanced at her brother fiddling with an ancient Egyptian form of lighting and sighed, "Renji, your ment to CATCH the sun with that."

Ichigo approached her with a curious expression, "So…what are all these old mirrors for?"

"Ancient mirrors. Its an Ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see."

Ichigo nodded and shifted about in a nervous, awkward manner. He finally held out a leather satchel and stammered, "Uh…h-here this is for…uh…you."

The brown-eyed beauty studied the gift with a perplexed expression as the soldier continued," Go ahead. It's a gift from out gambling brethren…I t-thought you might like it-you might NEED it when your uh…yeah." He started to walk away and was met by Mayuri who was watching his nervous antics curiously, "What are you looking at?"

The warden threw his hands up in defense.

Orihime watched her brown-eyed companion for a moment before finally unfurling the gift he had given her. He face lit up in delight when she beheld on amazing assortment of professional archeological digging tools.

Ichigo had just enough time to glimpse the girl's smile, before beaming himself and swinging by a rope down into the tomb.

"We're standing in a room that no one's entered in over three thousand years!" Orihime gasped once they were all inside the underground temple.

Renji wretched, "What is that god-awful smell?" His question was answered when he noticed Mayuri standing beside him.

The brown-eyed young woman shifted one of the mirrors in the room, "and then there was light," she announced as the light reflected off each of the mirrors, illuminating the entire room.

"Hey…that is a neat trick" Ichigo grinned.

Suddenly Orihime gasped, saying, "Oh my God…it's a sah-net jer…"

"Huh?"

"A preparation room for entering the afterlife."

"The mummies my friend," Renji smiled, "this is where they made the mummies."

The group made their way down the hall and froze when they heard loud skittering through the walls.

"What the-"

"What was that?" the red haired man looked around fearfully.

Ichigo raised his eyebrows. "Sounds like…. bugs…tch."

"I HATE BUGS!" Mayuri yelled.

They continued through the narrow chambers of the mausoleum until they finally came upon what they were looking for-the legs of Anubis.

"The secret compartment should be here..." Orihime murmured thoughtfully.

Unfortunately, her investigation was cut short by curious sounds coming from around the corner. Ichigo handed the orange red haired woman the torch and pressed her against the wall. He began inching towards the corner, slowly preparing his pistol until…about twenty guns clicked and pointed at each other as Grimmjow's team ran into Ichigo's.

"Geez…" Ganju groaned. "You scared the bejesus out of us, Kurosaki."

"Likewise."

"Hey…" Yumachika began sleepily and thoughtfully, eyeing the satchel in Orihime's grasp, " that's my tool kit!"

"I don't think so," the orange-haired adventurer growled, holding his gun on the blue-haired man.

"H-have a nice day gentlemen." Orihime stuttered, trying to prevent a shoot out. "We have a lot of work to do."

"Push off!" Uryu snapped. "This is our dig site!"

"We got here first."

Once again, guns were held up.

"This is OUR statue friend," Ikakku claimed.

Ichigo's brown-eyes narrowed, "I don't see your name written on it, PAL."

Always one to accentuate his rival's disadvantage, Grimmjow pointed out. "Yes, well…there's only FOUR of you and FIFTEEN of me. Your odds are not so great, Kurosaki."

"I've had worse."

"Yeah, me too!" cried Renji and Ichigo looked at him as if he had two heads.

"Oh, for goodness sake. Lets be nice, children," Orihime exclaimed, stepping between the quarrelling parties. "If we're going to play together, we must learn to share." She looked at her guide, placing a delicate hand on his bicep to calm him. "There are OTHER places to dig."

After finding another dig site, the boys set to work with pickaxes while Orihime read instructions. "According to the hieroglyphics, we're underneath the statue. We should come out right between its legs."

Renji huffed, "when those darn jerks go to sleep we'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under their noses."

Swapping tools with Renji, Ichigo inquired, "are you SURE we can find this secret compartment?"

Orihime nodded, "Oh, yes, If those idiots haven't already beaten us to it."

It was then that the orange red haired woman's sibling noticed that one person was missing from their group. "Where'd our smelly little friend go?"

The aforementioned "smelly man" was currently skulking around one of the ancient corridors, searching for treasure. Mayuri gasped in surprise when he spied a carving of an Egyptian on the wall, encrusted with strange shiny navy objects. Using a knife to pry one from the wall, the warden examined it, murmuring, "blue gold…" before whooping in triumph.

In another area of the temple, the opposing team was attempting to force open an ancient chamber.

"Yeah!" Ganju rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Lets get us some treasure!"

"Careful!" Uryu warned before the over-zealous man could strike the stone wall. Byakuya was no fool. I think perhaps we should let the diggers open it, hmm?"

Behind them, the desert workers, none of whom spoke English, were all conversing anxiously among themselves.

Yumichika nodded in agreement. "Oh I think we should listen to Mr. Ishida, Ganju. I feel that not all is as it seems in this chamber."

Ganju shrugged and replied, "yeah, sure, let THEM open it."

The black haired scholar spoke some words in Arabic and motioned the men over. They began prying at the chamber, grunting with efforts as they drove their metal tools into the stone. Finally, the covering fo the compartment fell away…and the diggers were sprayed with acid from the hidden trap. Yumichika, Ganju, Ikakku, and Grimmjow all yelled in horror as the poor men screamed in agony from their horrible chemical burns.

Back at the mummification chamber, the trio of adventurers was currently conversing about mummification.

"So let me get this straight," Ichigo began. "They ripped out your guts and stuffed them in jars…?"

Orihime nodded. 'They'd take out your heart as well. Do you know how they took out your brains?"

"I don't think we need to know this…" muttered Renji, who was currently hitting the various rocks in the chamber with a metal pole, as if they were golf balls.

Ignoring her brother's lack of enthusiasm, the orange red haired woman continued. "They'd take a sharp, red hot poker, stick it up your nose, scramble things about and rip it all out through your nostrils."

"That's gotta hurt," Ichigo winced.

"Its called mummification. You'll be dead when they do this."

The soldier shuddered "If I don't make it out of here, DO NOT put me down for mummification."

"Likewise." Renji smirked, hitting another rock.

The rock hit off the ceiling and sent part of the roof crashing down along with a strange stone casing.

"Oh my God…" Orihime breathed. "It's a…it's a sarcophagus…buried at the base of Anubis. He must have been someone of great importance or…" she met Ichigo's perplexed gaze. "Or he…did something very naughty…"

They began brushing the sand off the front of the casket, trying to reveal the hieroglyphics.

"So, who is this guy?" Renji asked.

"He that shall not be named." Orihime read.

Ichigo blew on a sunken in section of the stone, pushing away the sand revealing a round, jagged indention.

"It looks like some sort of lock."

The red haired adventurer's forehead wrinkled with contemplation as he murmured, "well…whoever's in there sure wasn't getting out…"

"Yeah, no kidding," Ichigo agreed. "It'd take a month to crack this thing open without a key."

"A key…" the brown-eyed beauty's eyes lit up with realization. "A key! A key! That's what he was talking about!"

"Who?"

"That strange man on the ferry! The one who attacked me. He said he was looking for a key."

Orihime rummaged through her bag and pulled out the artifact Renji had previously stolen from Sasuke.

She placed it into the indentation and it fit perfectly into the shape. Grinning in triumph, the young woman was about to turn it when they heard screaming.

Mayuri, rushed into the room, howling in agony, and it appeared that his skin was LITERALLY…crawling. The warden's torment didn't last long, however, as he slammed his head into the stone wall, killing him instantly.

Later that night, the now trio of travelers sat around a campfire, speaking of the late warden.

"What killed him?" Orihime asked.

"Did you ever see him eat?" Renji grimaced.

Just then Ichigo came walking back to the fire saying, "seems that our greedy friends had a little misfortune of their own today. Three of their diggers were, uh…melted."

"WHAT?"

"HOW?"

"Salt acid, pressurized salt acid…some kind of ancient booby trap."

Renji shivered. "Maybe this place really is cursed…"

As if to confirm his suspicions, the desert wind howled ominously.

"Oh, for goodness sake, you two!" Orihime chuckled.

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow. "You don't believe in curses?"

"No I don't. I believe if I can see it and I can touch it, its real. THAT'S what I believe."

"I believe in being prepared." The soldier replied, clicking his rifle.

Eager for a chance to snoop, Renji grabbed Mayuri's bag and announced, "lets see what our friend the warden believed in."

He stuck his hand in the satchel, rummaging about until…"OWW!" he yelled in pain and ripped his hand back.

Orihime screamed. "My God what is it?"

"Uhh…broken bottle. Glenlivet. Twelve years old!" the red head grinned and popped the top off the wine. "He may have been a stinky fellow but he had good taste."

Ichigo chuckled…then his brown-eyes narrowed when he heard horses off in the distance. Worried, the soldier stood up and handed his rifle to Orihime, saying, "take this. Stay here." Before striding off.

The girl blinked then scrambled to her feet. "No, wait, wait! Wait for me, wait!"

"Orihime!" Renji groaned, chasing after his little sister. "Didn't the man JUST say stay here? Orihime!"

Unfortunately, "stay there" would have done them no good…as the Maji were rampaging through the camp.

A/N: well there is Chapter 3. Sorry that Sasuke is a little out of character in this but I wanted to make him almost like Rick is in the movie. Ok on with Chapter 4!