A/N: Thanks to the readers and to the people who put this story on alert. That means a lot.
Well, fuck. For the first time since this whole assignment was strung together, Ichigo really questioned the logic of the thing. The infamous shinigami wasn't unintelligent by any stretch of the imagination, but he failed to see where the rationale lied in inserting three horribly combative Captains into the heart of enemy territory with next to no information about their opponents. Even worse, he had not realized the vagueness of the mission brief that the old Commander gave them. Hell, Renji's primal survival instinct kicked in before Ichigo was able to observe the true conspicuousness of the situation. But the very worst part was that, aside from the three pre-designated Captains, innocent bystanders were pulled through the gate because of shoddy preparation on everyone's part.
The Captain of the Third Division groaned as he straightened his body and adjusted Zangetsu's bandolier. After the doors closed behind them, the various shinigami were separated within the abyss that was the gate and Ichigo was ultimately deposited upon a hill of inky black sand. He brushed a few bits of the sand from his shihakusho and began a preliminary evaluation.
"Alright, so… There are four extra innocent people here, I have no idea where they are, and the only thing I can see is black sand and a sky that keeps moving from black to red."
Ichigo huffed and scowled harder than he ever had in his life. "Fucking great."
OoOoO
Renji, though just as angry as his orange-haired comrade, was faring slightly better. He had the fortune of being ejected near a structure of some sort, and with Rukia and Chad to boot. At the very least he had some companionship, not that he knew where he was supposed to go or if the rest of his party was alive. The only vague order the Commander had given was to "search for any persons of importance and any apparent source of energy or reiatsu."
"Chad, Rukia, are you two OK?" Renji called over his shoulder. He spared a glance behind him to see Chad giving a thumbs up and Rukia adjusting her zanpakuto on her hip. The eldest Reaper nodded once and turned his attention to the building nearby. He judged it to be about a thousand yards away (if it was indeed as large as it appeared). There were no less than six stories, but the building was decidedly simple. It looked like someone had dropped a giant rectangular cardboard box in the middle of this midnight desert. Unlike that sand surrounding it, the building was of tan stone and, from Renji's distance, it looked as though the entire structure was constructed as one piece. There were no visible seams or cracks anywhere along the face.
"Is that where we're going?" Chad asked quietly, now stationed dutifully next to the Captain. Rukia stepped to Renji's other side, hands on her hips.
Renji thought for a moment, weighing the options before making his decision.
"Yeah. If the others are close, they'll be heading there, too. That tower is our best bet to find everyone."
Rukia nodded in agreement and followed along after her childhood friend as he started for the building.
OoOoO
As it happened, Kanaye, Uryuu, and Orihime had landed together within viewing distance of the very same tower, but Uryuu was in a bad way. He had crashed quite unceremoniously on his head and was suffering from a concussion. Orihime of course put her zanpakuto to work right away and the glowing orange shield was working its magic. While Uryuu cradled his head and let the little fairies heal him, the fairies' master watched Kanaye out of the corner of her eye. She was still a bit suspicious of him, wary because of her encounter with his alternate persona, but had refrained from telling anyone about the incident. Additionally, she attempted several times immediately afterward to speak to him about it, but he skillfully avoided her each time.
The dark-haired shinigami knelt in the sand and ran a hand through it, pulling a handful away from the rest of the mass. As it flowed out of his palm, he frowned. "It's hot."
He stood and surveyed the horizon, instantly spotting the tower over four miles away. "Lieutenant Inoue, when you're finished healing Ishida we're going to head for that building."
The healer nodded and gave the newly appointed Captain a smile that he could not see since his back was turned to her. "Please, Captain, call me Orihime."
Kanaye turned and looked at the girl curiously, noted her bright smile and released a tiny smirk of his own. "Well, Orihime, I am very sorry you got dragged into this with us. We never meant for this to happen."
However, Orihime was no longer listening. Instead, she was staring with shock over his shoulder, her entire body shaking. She let out a choked sob as Kanaye rounded to see what was wrong.
OoOoO
Ichigo had been walking for quite a while now, and nothing of interest had come into sight. Every time he thought the black sand was going to give way to a patch of color, it turned out to be just a patch of sky. Still, he trudged along diligently, left to his thoughts, trying to figure out what the point of the mission was and – though he was loath to admit it – worrying about Rukia.
He had no idea where she was, if she was alive, if she was in one piece even. The fact of the matter was that he was terrified. Out of everybody who was flung into the gate, she was the weakest. Not by a large margin, but the weakest nonetheless. He had no clue what kind of monsters…actually he had an idea. The powerful Captain shuddered at the thought of that vile imitation of Senna. If there were things like that in this place, Ichigo certainly didn't want Rukia to wander around the wasteland alone. The best he could hope for was that Renji was with her. At least then Ichigo would feel safe knowing that the pineapple would die for her.
Suddenly, Ichigo stepped onto solid ground. He was so surprised that he nearly leapt back. He hadn't been paying attention to his path and was truly stunned to be walking on stone. A look around revealed that the area he was standing on was about one hundred yards in diamter, an octagonal space of tan stone that broke the monotony of the sand. The area was heavily pitted, as though hundred of battles had taken place there, and Ichigo got the eerie feeling that this place was an arena of sorts. He glanced toward the middle of the showground to see a short pedestal and sitting on it a man in a modern black suit. And a shock of pale blue hair atop his head.
"No."
Ichigo shook with barely contained rage, fighting the impulse to shunpo and take the bastard's head off. The man hopped off his seat and began a slow, taunting stroll towards Ichigo. His hands were lodged firmly in the pockets of his pants and the jacket of his suit was wide open, no shirt underneath, showing an expanse of muscle with a scar centered on his chest, but no hole where his heart should be. His black lace-ups clicked on the tan stone, and he came to a halt less than twenty yards away from Ichigo. That feral grin hadn't changed, the cocky stance hadn't changed, only the absence of the white Hollow jawbone was a marked difference. If anything, the lack of that last remnant of his Hollowdom made him look more like the destruction he embodied.
"Long time, no see Soul Reaper."
"Why are you here, Grimmjow?" Ichigo growled under his breath. The keen former Arrancar grinned wider and waved a nonchalant hand.
"You sent me here. Remember?"
Ichigo blinked. That statement didn't make any sense. "Zanpakuto purify Hollow, they recycle their souls. Besides, when I beat you the Gates didn't open."
Grimmjow's grin disappeared at that and he growled. Ichigo was surprised. Clearly that was not an acceptable response.
"The Gate doesn't have to open for a soul to be sent to Hell," Grimmjow spat. He removed his hands from his pockets and ran one through his shocking hair. Somehow he seemed calmer than he used to be. He hadn't leapt straight into battle. He hadn't tried to disembowel Ichigo. In fact, he seemed more than willing to talk.
"Do you know what happens when a soul is destroyed, Soul Reaper?" the blue-haired man asked."
Ichigo frowned. "Either it gets sent back to Soul –"
"Not purified, you idiot!" Grimmjow yelled, his hands clenched into fists. "Destroyed! Utterly fucking annihilated without any way to piece it back together!"
Ichigo remained silent.
"Ever noticed that the sand in Hueco Mundo is white?" Grimmjow began again after pacing and abating his anger. "That's because it's made of tiny shards of billions of Hollows' masks. Millennia and millennia of death. That's why the sand there is white."
Grimmjow paused to observe the effect of his story. To his credit, Ichigo seemed only slightly fazed, but he was completely unnerved by the current situation. One of his greatest enemies was alive and well, standing before him and conducting a fairly civil conversation.
Upon realizing that the shinigami wasn't going to speak, Grimmjow continued. "Why then do you think the sand here is black? It's the accumulation of every obliterated soul. Every soul that was forcibly ripped to pieces has been added to this sand. That's also why its so hot and why it gives off this crazy glow." He snarled the last part as if truly annoyed him.
"What does this have to do with anything?" Ichigo was now beyond confused. He had almost forgotten that his old nemesis was reborn, unnerved by the new information he was receiving.
The older soul chuckled a bit and swung his arm in a grand arc. A sword that Ichigo recognized as his opponent's zanpakuto shimmered to life in his hand. The shinigami's body followed his century of training and subconsciously removed Zangetsu from its resting place. Grimmjow grinned his infamous grin and slipped easily into a combat stance.
"You destroyed me."
Ichigo barely blocked the first strike, so fast had Grimmjow moved. The technique he had used was undoubtedly sonido, but Ichigo hadn't perceived the tiniest movement. It had been decades since anyone was able to move quickly enough to completely evade Ichigo's observant eye, but this was different. As Grimmjow hacked and slashed at his foe's giant cleaver, Ichigo noted with utmost concern that Grimmjow was much, much stronger than he had been all those years ago. He was faster, stronger, more fluid in his movements and possessed a more calculating gaze. He was calmer and angrier, and all of those things together produced an aura of complete and total danger.
Not that Ichigo hadn't gotten stronger, the Captain reminded himself – now was not the time to lose his grip on reality. But whereas before the blue-haired Arrancar had been a walking wrecking ball, he was now more like a raging typhoon confined within the body of a man. Every little twitch was precisely controlled and all of his power was directed into his strike instead of it into the movement it took to create the swing. This was bad.
Grimmjow finally broke Ichigo's defense and he landed a crushing blow with his fist to Ichigo's temple. The Captain flew and crashed at one edge of the arena they were fighting in. "Is that really as good as you are after a hundred fuckin' years of fighting?" Grimmjow roared as Ichigo stumbled to his feet.
The Captain of the Third Division wiped the blood from his brow and brandished his massive sword as his old enemy. Determination shone in his piercing amber eyes and Zangetsu screamed with unreleased energy. A dense wall of spiritual energy descended upon the battlefield. This would be no different than before, Ichigo decided. Later he would figure out why someone he had killed was alive again. Now was what was important. He would fight, he would win, and he would go find everyone. Simple as that. Grimmjow was right, he had developed his skills over the last century and he was determined to prove it.
"Not even close, Arrancar."
