About an hour down the path they made it to a wider, more heavily traversed road. Orihime had become rather glum after their last encounter. Ishida had noticed and began to discuss all the outfits he thought would do well in their store after returning home. As they chatted away their tensions Ichigo was left stewing over his lack of efficiency in that last encounter.

Normally his blade disintegrated vamps on contact, but those ferals had been rendered in two instead. He was surprised the others weren't mentioning it after having seen his Gift in action so many times. Perhaps Totenmond reacted differently with his Gift than his typical, simple daggers. It was the only difference between now and every hunt up until then. Ichigo shook out his cloak a bit and sighed in relief that he was starting to dry out. And with the last shake of his cloak it began to thunder.

Thunder, lightning, rain. He hated all of them. No, don't go there now, Ichigo scolded himself. But trying to avoid it only made him think about it more. The first raindrop hit his face and he winced. So much blood. So much goddamn blood. The memory came back in fractured images as he tried to fight it off.

Ichigo walked faster as the rain pelted his face and cloak. Blood. Rain. Fangs. Screams. Thunder. Claws. More blood. Mother's blood. It was warm like her embrace. No! Focus on the cold! he thought frantically, suddenly forcing himself to feel the wet, stinging cold of the rain around him. The memory of the scents and sights of blood tried to flood his senses. His eyes clenched as he felt sharp teeth and the weight of his mother's limp body. With an internal scream he forced it all out in a rush, leaving nothing but the cold rain and the soft earth under his feet. Relief came gently in the form of cool air clinging to his wet skin.

But there was still shouting, shouting, shout-

"HEY! YOU GONNA MOVE OR WHAT?"

A horse brayed in his ear and Ichigo bolted forward, stumbling on the muddy path.

"Hey! What the hell?"

He scrambled to gather his bearings and realized he had been blocking the path for a horse-drawn cart to pass by.

"Got mud in yer ear kid? Sheesh."

The vamp had straight-cut blonde hair crowned with a worn out but dapper top hat. His scowl had to be the toothiest Ichigo had ever seen. Ishida and Orihime caught up and helped Ichigo off the ground.

"Yal fledglings? Hop on I'll give ya a ride into town."

Ichigo was dumbfounded at how easily their disguise had fooled this guy. "How could you...er...tell?" he asked going with the misunderstanding.

The blonde vamp tapped his lower lip, "Yer bottom lips are kinda swollen an' stuff. Yer still getting used to the-GAH!" A boot connected with the vamp's head, sending his topper flying.

"Oi Shinji! Don't go invitin' in anyone dumbass!" A short, blond vampress, who appeared to be the owner of said boot, leaned out behind the cart's covering. She glared at them harshly, scowling so hard her fangs were poking out over her lower lip.

"Come on Hiyori! They're just kids," Shinji grumbled back as he grabbed his hat from the air.

She sat herself down on the bench of the cart displaying her odd fashion sense of a hiked-up red dress and a matching pair of bloomers. "What's yer story?" she asked, not breaking her glare.

Ichigo felt a little weird getting scrutinized by someone who looked the same age as his younger sisters.

"Just get on and we'll talk on the way. Sun-up's gonna be in a few hours and y'all look like you'll drown in that rain before yer done."

Hiyori gave a huff and they started to hurry to the back of the cart. Orihime tapped her companions on the arm once they were out of sight, whispering, "Are you sure this is a good idea? They don't seem too bad but..."

She had a point and Ichigo really just wanted to get out of the rain. However, at the expense of avoiding Ishida's wrath for a while he glanced at him for his opinion.

Ishida looked at both of them staring back for an answer and sighed. "If I remember the map right we would still have at least five hours to travel on foot. Not to mention," he lowered his voice a tad, "The vamp holding the reins seems a bit daft."

The three gratefully clambered into the back of what might have well been a large, wooden storage crate on wheels.

As they peeled off their cloaks and coats Ichigo was thankful his clothes underneath were still relatively dry. It was a bit cramped among their cargo especially with the addition of Ishida's walking staff which had to poke out the back. Ichigo was relieved at being able to stay off his feet for a bit and warmed his hands against the lantern Orihime held snug in her lap.

The cart shook as they started forward again, rain hammering away at the roof. Hiyori tore back the drape and turned to continue to glare at them, folding her arms and propping her legs up on Shinji's lap. "Alright, talk."

During their journey up to this point the hunters had talked over some decent alibis for this kind of situation. Ichigo was about to use one he liked as Ishida spoke up using the one Ichigo hated the most.

"Nothing really poetic I'm afraid. This one here," he said pointing his thumb back at Ichigo, "was living with his sister and myself," now pointing at Orihime. "And decided to bring home a pretty stranger from the tavern. As you could guess the idiot bedded a vamp and and ended up being supper. He somehow managed to kill his attacker with a stake under the bed-"

"Oi, don't you think I should be telling this?" Ichigo interrupted putting on the most melancholy expression he could muster. He silently noted the gender ambiguity in Ishida's tale. Ishida gave him a warning look but Ichigo continued the lie anyway. "But it was still too late I was already infected. I locked myself in my room as my bloodlust frenzy grew. But I still gave into it like some animal and..."

Ichigo paused for dramatic effect and glanced at Orihime, "And attacked my own sister and her lover in their sleep." Ichigo found the idea of calling Orihime his sister a little weird, but figured their hair color was close enough for no one to question it.

"Once we all came down from the frenzy we realized what happened and fled town as soon as we could. We figured heading towards vamp territory was safer than waiting for the townsfolk to find us out."

"Höhle Welt," Hiyori interjected.

"Huh? What's a hool velt?" Orihime asked innocently.

"This 'vamp territory' where yal are now. It's called Höhle Welt with an 'ö'. Covers the entire mountain range that cuts through the continent."

"Hmm," Shinji pondered aloud. "If what you're saying is true you're very lucky you were prepared to defend yourself kid. Civil vamps don't usually hunt like that unless they're gonna kill their victims afterward."

"So they don't become vamps too?" Ichigo asked. As a hunter that lived to protect his fellow humans from the threat of vampire attacks he knew that was the case. He just was trying his best to fake a lack of detailed knowledge.

"Spot on," Shinji noted. "Unless they're good about getting' the job done quick an' hightailin' it's a pretty risky way to get fed."

"You would think in a town where the threat of vampires is constant he would be more careful about who he brings into his loved one's home," Ishida jibed with a spiteful glare.

"Eh wouldn't blame him too much. Some have a Curse that can seduce anyone under their will. Sounds pretty kinky ta -OW!" Shinji exclaimed, getting another boot to the head.

"Wait...Curse?" Orihime inquired sheepishly.

"Yeah, you know some humans get the Gift? Well, some vamps get the Curse. Cute, huh? We had Gifts before we were bitten, but never lost them so I guess they're Curses now." Hiyori explained nonchalantly.

"But if you have Gift...er...Curses that means..." Orihime muttered.

Shinji tipped his cap and turned to give a toothy grin. "Former Captain Shinji Hirako of the Fifth Order at your-STOP THAT ALREADY!" he shouted grabbing Hiyori's ankle before she landed a third blow.

"Wait, you were a captain?" Ichigo exclaimed. It was well known that the Order's thirteen captains were considered the most elite hunters in the whole continent. This guy...somehow didn't seem to fit the bill.

"Yeah, I know right! You'd think I woulda been Commander at that point!"

"Oi! Shut your mouth. We don't know if we can trust them yet," Hiyori grumbled and swung around facing the road again.

Ishida cleared his throat. "If you were in the Order then how-"

"Let's not get into it. She'll just get worse if we talk about it." Shinji grumbled. "We've already said to much."

"But we've told you our story, surely-"

Hiyori shot back an irritated glare. "We're the ones giving you a ride. We don't owe you anything."

They all went silent for awhile after that. All Ichigo, Ishida and Orihime dared to do was glance warily at each other and contemplate what they must have gone through. The road was getting wider after a bit and gradually the number of travelers by carriage, cart and foot began to increase. Orihime started to look a bit antsy at the idea of being surrounded by so many vamps at once.

Ichigo cleared his throat trying to break the tension. "So uh...getting close to town?"

"Yeah looks like less folks then last year though. Blood Moon's a blast; you're gonna love it." Shinji pulled Orihime close with one arm and made a wide gesture towards the sky with the other, reigns still in hand. "Imagine the clearest night you've ever seen. The sky filled with more stars then you ever thought possible and the moon hanging full and heavy and bright like an opal. It's the first full moon after the equinox, the first after several months where we can feel our vitae flow at the peak of virility. Our power is at our most potent and we celebrate till dawn."

"Or in Shinji's case he just gets shitfaced on drunken blood and hits on a mop all night."

"So um, all vampires celebrate it?"

"Well in this part of the world, yeah. Once you start shifting latitudes the climates and phases and seasons are different and blah dee blah dee blah. All I know is it's always been one hell of a party the few decades I've been part of it. It's just like Harvest Moon back home except way more dancing, drinking, feasting-"

"F-feasting like...on people?" Orihime questioned timidly.

The cart went silent for a moment. Hiyori finally turned to them with a look of genuine concern. "Like it or not you're gonna hafta drink human blood eventually if you wanna survive. Fresh or bottled you gotta find something. You can still eat normal food if you want but you ain't survivin' without blood."

"But how can you..." Orihime started wringing the hem of her cloak in her hands. "How can you drink it knowing some poor soul suffered for it?"

"Sheesh, man I forgot how squeamish you newbies can get. When you were human did you care about where your beef and lamb for dinner came from? Hell what about milk and eggs? You take it from them and they live on fine."

"That's...that's horrible..." Orihime murmured, pulling her knees into her chest.

"Ya got a couple options. If you don't keep a human or two around you find someone who bottles it for ya. Unless you wanna start huntin' humans in their turf, but ya don't seem the type. Or ya gotta find a vamp just as powerful as yourself and share from each other. How much do you kids know about vitae? I don't want to go blabbering on about something you already know," Shinji inquired. He pulled the reigns to a slow trot as they were getting into the outskirts of the town.

"Er yeah you mentioned that earlier...you mean vampire blood?" Ichigo asked.

"Yup. Just tell me what you know and we can fill in the blanks. Kinda relevant information now don't you think?"

"Um, alright, let's see. It's not really like human blood. It's more...er...magic I guess?"

Ishida sighed and rubbed his temples, "Here let me take over. Human blood is a carrier of all the nutrients, hormones and chemicals that keep cells functioning. But now we're virtually dead so our blood, or vitae is more of a force that allows us to maintain animation, thought and consciousness. We can still feed from humans because our bodies simply convert it to replenish our own supply."

Ishida pushed back his spectacles and managed to reflect the light of the tiny lantern off of his lens. "However, if we consume vitae from another vampire, our body will instead combine it with our own. Weak vampires seek out those who are stronger to feed from so that they themselves might gain their power. But it is dangerous as the stronger would then have control over them. There is also a risk for the drinker to become dependent."

"Yeah, we call that Siring. A strong vamp obviously doesn't let themselves Sire too many vamps though, unless they want a disposable army. Most of us who don't want to deal with hunting humans or that Siring business just find someone nearly as strong as ourselves and share," Shinji explained.

Orihime's eyes got bright and she clasped her hands over her heart. "That's so romantic! Does that mean you two...?"

Shinji and Hiyori gaped at her. Then each other. Then turned their heads apart in a huff. "It-it's nothing like that! We ain't mates an' never will be!" Hiyori snapped. "We just go a ways back, ya know?" She whipped her head back at them again, face now annoyed and ruddy. "And kid, you know way more than most Academy freshies do! What the hell!"

"I..." Ishida paused for a second. "...read a lot."

"Pfft whatever."

"Oh and if ya wanna keep slaves," Shinji continued, "you can treat em however ya want, but they're never gonna love what ya do to them. Keep a bunch so you don't have ta drain em too much an' give em other important stuff to do like chores. Keepin' em chained up somewhere just makes them weaker and shortens their lives. But hey some vamps like the drama."

"And what's er...drunken blood supposed to be?"

"Just what it sounds like," Hiyori sneered. "I'd go into details but your girlfriend here probably wouldn't like it."

It was pretty quiet for the rest of the ride. The rain forced them to keep the drape down but they could still hear several other carts and voices growing in numbers outside. The town was far more populated than Ichigo had expected. He thought they would have been lucky enough to only have to deal with a small handful of vamps a day but this place seemed no different from a human town.

They finally came to a halt and the vamp jumped off his canopied perch to tie up the horse. "Oi! Hiyori you gettin' out?"

"It's still raining gimme yer hat or something!"

"I'll never let anything this stylish ever touch any head but my own!"

"Stylish! Yer sense..."

The three in the back sighed as the banter went. Carefully they made their way out. The small town didn't really look much different than their own. Except that it was still hours till dawn and the lantern-lit streets were still reasonably populated. The three humans incognito pulled up their hoods in the light rain and exchanged sober expressions full of hesitancy at whatever they were getting into.

"Since the frenzy yal had a chance to feed for real yet? C'mon I'll buy ya yer first pint," Shinji offered as he grabbed his hat back from Hiyori to enter the tavern. It was a plain establishment on the outside except for a nicely carved and painted sign. "The Thorny Whip" was spelled out in bold, elaborate script, each letter entwined with thorny, golden roses.

Orihime clung to Ishida's arm, making a small worried noise as they passed the threshold into the windowless building. There were plenty of figures milling about, mostly indiscernible against the poor light of the large fireplace and several candles scattered about.

"That's alright, we're set for now," Ichigo replied as his eyes scanned a table, soberly noting the silver goblets of dark, thick liquid that sat there among some vamps playing a card game. A stringy, greasy-haired vamp with an eye patch placed a yellowed card out onto the table then grabbed his drink, dripping a bit onto his outstretched tongue with a sickening look of satisfaction.

Ichigo glanced away only to see a human girl trembling slightly, with a vamp's arm clamped tight around her shoulder. On her neck a thick, black collar was strapped with a silver seal over the lock. Several lengths of bandages were wrapped from her elbows, down her slender arms to her hands that were wringing constantly. All universal marks of a blood slave. Ichigo gritted his teeth when he noticed the thin chain latched to her collar the vamp kept wrapped around his fist as he casually chatted and drank with others at the table. Behind the bar a burly human man and middle aged woman sat strapped to a bench next to a row of dark bottles. They seemed to be in a painful sleep, probably the effect of some magic or drug.

Ichigo's stomach clenched up. He faced straight forward as they followed Shinji to the bar. For the first time since they entered the black mountains of Höhle Welt he felt an overwhelming mix of anger and fear of the reality of where he was washed over him. What would happen if they were discovered?

"Excuse us, but I think we'll just head up for the day. We've been traveling for quite awhile and just wish to have a long rest at this point," Ishida explained to Shinji. Orihime was so tightly clenched to his side now she might as well have fused with him.

Shinji glanced down and her and sighed, "Naw I get ya. C'mon I know the guy that owns this place, I'll get ya a discount." They made it to the bar and Shinji started chatting with some vamp with a cascading mop of golden curly hair as Hiyori broke off to join a table of acquaintances.

While waiting for Shinji to finish up Ichigo made another attempt to take in his surroundings. The place seemed to be packed with the kind of scum he was expecting. Then he had to double-take at something. Upon looking back he saw there were two blood slaves sitting at the far end of the bar. But they seemed to be there as customers, not stock. All Ichigo could really make out of them in the poor lighting was their dark collars against their pale skin and tunics. The one with darker hair seemed to be talking to the other bartender, who in turn nodded his head towards the vamp with the eye patch back up front. The other, fair-haired slave turned cautiously to get a good look then nodded at his comrade.

To Ichigo their casual presence seemed odd, but considering no one in the tavern seemed to mind he supposed some slaves were allowed a little more free reign that he thought. He leaned against the bar which gave him a better vantage point of the scene. Ichigo noticed where Hiyori had headed when he felt a weight on his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin.

A slender vampiress with her maroon hair swept up into pigtails and her skirt scandalously short leaned over from her barstool and rested her hands on his shoulder. "Hey there hottie," she crooned licking her fangs. "How about we head upstairs for a bit of necking? You look like you've got some mighty fine vintage."

Ichigo shifted a foot in the other directions, making her lose her grip and fumble, almost falling off her seat. "Sorry, you're not my type," he stated.

"Well...well fine then!" she sneered, readjusting her white, rabbit-fur hat and blushing madly with embarrassment and drink. "I was just bored anyway! It's not like I really wanted to sink my teeth into your gorgeous, tan, muscly flesh anyway!" She huffed and let her head rest on the bar.

Damn, I'm going to have one hell of a time getting around if all vampiresses are going to be like this. Ichigo grumbled to himself.

"We're heading up," Ishida informed him taking a key from the blond innkeeper and carefully guiding Orihime towards the staircase.

Glad to get away Ichigo turned to join him. He didn't make it too far though as he caught a bit of conversation from Hiyori's table as he passed.

"-right outside of Seireitei."

Ichigo slid behind a wall that jutted out right before the entrance to the stairs. Seireitei was the city and fortress that housed the Order. Why the hell was it being brought up in the middle of a place like this?

"You mean the outer wall?"

"Yeah made a huge mess for them to clean up. Literally. Not to mention the massive PR sweep they're gonna need after pretty much all the townsfolk in the surrounding city saw it."

"What the hell are you guys talkin' about?" Ichigo recognized Hiyori's perpetually angry tone.

"Gah don't make me start from the beginning. Here's all you need to know. Remember Central 46?"

"Of course I remember those assholes. What kind of stupid question is that?"

"Well, news from Nanao is that a couple nights ago every last one of them was pinned to the fortress wall with a big ole stake through their chest."

"Then they gave 'em a gash in the wrists and ankles so they just bled to death overnight. Must've been quite a sight for everyone to wake up to. Stained that white rock something nasty."

"Shit, it's like the Quincy thing all over again. 'Cept that massacre was kinda provoked. What the hell did the Order do to deserve that?"

"Maybe it's not the Order that's the target maybe it was just Central 46. Back in our day it was just a bunch of scared old farts that were being coerced into shit like having all of us executed."

"Ugh don't remind me."

"But they must be long gone by now. The new recruits probably weren't as accommodating of Aizen's threats. And well...you can see what happened to them."

"Even if you're right that doesn't mean the Order ain't in the clear."

Ichigo's eyes went wide as all the implications of what they were saying can to light. He turned to go up the stairs and realized his palms were sweating. Questions were firing through his head only as more piled on. Were the rumors true that Aizen had been part of the Order? Were Rukia and Renji going to be okay? How had he pulled off that mass execution? Was it even really Aizen that committed that mass murder? And were they walking into a trap leading to a similar fate?

He reached the landing and heard Ishida and Orihime's voices coming from the only open door down the hall. Should I tell them about what I heard? It would probably do more harm than good. This is for our town, my family and now for the good of the balance between our kind and theirs.

Ichigo took a deep breath to calm his nerves and wipe his sweaty palms on his cloak before joining his friends.

"How are you feeling, Orihime?" Ichigo asked as he joined them on the floor of the plain room.

"Oh, I wasn't really that scared down there. I was actually more hungry than anything else." She smiled and unwrapped a large, golden brown loaf of bread from a handkerchief. Her face lit up like a child's on Christmas morning.

Despite the lack of windows they heard the rain outside start to pound on the walls and roof with increasing ferocity. Safe and warm inside from the downpour the young hunters sat on the floor around a candelabra and some of their precious food. Orihime gleefully broke the bread into three pieces and sunk her teeth into the largest with a muffled sound of approval.

Ichigo gratefully took his share along with some cheese and cured meat. He hadn't been able to eat at the last tavern due to that misunderstanding and he felt like his stomach was trying to eat itself.

"Let's try to have our fill tonight then ration out as much as we can until we return home," Ishida suggested, buttering his bread.

Home. That's a weird thought. Ichigo pondered. They were still days away from their contact point and even more days to Die Nächte after that and they still had no plan or even a vague idea of how a ragtag bunch of hunters were going to take down the strongest vampire ever known. Their contact was apparently supposed to supply them with that information.

After eating a thorough fill Orihime yawned widely and let herself fall spread eagle on the wood floor. "I'm so stuffed I probably can't even make it to the bed!"

Ishida cocked an eyebrow and started wrapping up what was left of their rations. "If you're that heavy then I won't be able to carry you to bed myself. Ichigo will have to help and then we'll want to protect you from those fiends and slip under the cov-"

"Aaiiee don't say things like that so casually!" Orihime squealed, blushing and pulling the hood of her cloak over her face in embarrassment.

"What the hell was that about?" Ichigo groaned.

"Sorry about that," he knelt over Orihime and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead. "Seeing the light of your purity shine bright in this dark place makes me like this I'm afraid. I'm sure Ichigo would be opposed to the idea anyway."

Ichigo knew perfectly well what Ishida was implying with that statement and rubbed his face in annoyance. I told you and not her about that, asshole, for your sake so don't go mocking me about it.

They settled down and got ready for bed. Ichigo laid out a pile of blankets, as he had been exiled to the floor again while the happy couple snuggled into bed.

He checked around the room trying to find a mirror. Then he had to sigh as he realized along with windows, mirrors were not something he would find this side of the mountains. The best he could do was use the side of the silver water pitcher at the commode. Shinji was right, his bottom lip was looking a lot worse than he felt. With a slight tug Ichigo pulled out the fangs and placed them open in their case so he would remember them in the morning. He figured he should give his lips a bit of time to heal overnight. Overday?

Ichigo extinguished the candelabra and they said their goodnights. He lay awake for a bit pondering how much he should be worrying about what he overheard downstairs. Ichigo fell asleep before he could come to a decision.

-:-:-:-

At some point Ichigo stirred from his slumber without any rude awakenings from Ishida. He glanced over to see they were both still deep in slumber.

He wasn't really tired, so he figured it was time to get up. Ichigo lit a candle and pawed around for his clothes, only to find that he had left all of his dry clothes and supplies back in the cart. He threw on his cloak over his nightshirt and crept out as quietly as he could manage. The stairs creaked as he made his way back down the stairs into the tavern. The whole place was empty and weirdly silent.

Double-checking that no one was around he opened the front door and suddenly felt blinded by the golden glow of twilight. After a couple moments of readjustment he blinked at the sun, swollen and burning off the edge of the horizon. They couldn't have been on their mission for more than a week, and yet it already felt like eons since he had been able to see it. It made him feel an odd appreciation that he had never felt before to absorb its warmth. Knowing it would be a long itme before he saw such a sight again he took a moment to admire its light as it stained the clouds hues from everywhere from reds to blues and from yellow to violet.

Ichigo snapped out of his brief reverie knowing that if sunset was coming the vamps would come out soon. He lifted up his hood and found Shinji and Hiyori's cart among the vehicles locked down and the tied up sleeping horses. He marveled briefly that in these mountains even the beasts of burden had to alter their sleeping patterns. The bag was just where he though he left it.

He pulled back the flap to crawl out, but two cloaked figures were now there to greet him.

Before Ichigo could react the taller figure yanked him out by his shirtfront. A large hand gripped his jaw shut and pried his lips open. Panic flooded in as he could now see it was the eyepatched vampire from the night before.

"Oi you were right Tesla. Smart ass human. You thought ya could jus' waltz in our turf and no one would notice? Heh?"

"ISHIDA! ORIH-" Ichigo's shouts were cut short as a wad of moldy cloth was stuffed into his mouth.

"Throw 'im in we gotta get movin'!" Ichigo winced and let out muffled screams in protest as a thick rope was lashed tight around his wrists behind his back. He kicked wildly at his captors as they managed to manhandle him into their own cart and slam the barred door in his face.

No no no I can't let this happen! He shouted internally. But his brief hope was stomped upon as he heard several metal locks slide into place and the cart jetted off.

-:-:-:-

Ishida blinked awake. He thought he had heard something. Stretching out in bed he yawned and turned to put an arm around Orihime. When all he found was a warm patch of mattress he bolted up.

"Uryu, quick!" Orihime was already up, throwing her clothes on and stuffing their packs in an orange blur around the room. "Ichigo needs our help!"

"How..what?" Noticing his absence in the room and knowing Orihime and her 'woman's intuition' Ishida knew better than to question her.

In minutes they had slapped some coins on the bar and bolted out of the tavern, taking care to make sure their hoods were in place.

"Look! He must have gone for this!" Orihime recognized Ichigo's pack hanging halfway out of Shinji's cart.

"There's only one set of tracks," Ishida pointed at deep ruts in the wet earth. Any others would have been washed out in the rain the night before. "That idiot must have let himself get caught!"

"Quick, get on!"

They turned around as the two blood slaves from the bar pulled up behind them on two black stallions.

"We saw the whole thing! Your friend may be in grave danger!" one shouted as they offered their arms for a lift. Ishida and Orihime shared a glance, silently and quickly agreeing there was no time to question any of this. They allowed themselves to take their hands and join them on their steeds. Orihime had to stifle a sound of worry upon seeing the heavily bandaged hand.

With that they peeled off, out past the outskirts of the town and down the dirt road.

"So what exactly happened?!" Ishida shouted over the thunder of hoof-beats.

"Your human friend got snatched up by some slavers we've been tracking!" the blond, pale slave riding with Ishida replied.

"You're lucky we had to sleep outside or I don't think anyone would have witnessed it!" the brunette rider added. Orihime had to carefully wrap her arms around his waist so she wouldn't fall off the back.

"Thank you so much for this but who are you guys?" Orihime called out as they sped faster after the tracks.

"Don't concern yourselves with us we're just slaves! But my name is Kira!"

"And you may call me Sousuke!"


Eternal thanks to Sariniste for beta'ing this.

As you could probably guess Höhle Welt is the German equivalent of Hueco Mundo.

Don't think this chapter took as long to put out as the last one. I'll do my best to get the next few out ASAP :)