Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo.

Chapter Ten:

He woke up with a splitting headache, and before he even opened his eyes he wished he could simply go back to sleep if it meant the pounding in his head would go away. However, as soon as he remembered how he had ended up falling asleep in an awkward and decidedly uncomfortable position with the side of his face pressed against a kitchen counter, his head immediately shot up.

Bad idea.

Ginjo held his head in his hand as the headache magnified ten fold. "Damn it!" he hissed as he willed his body to function, stumbling his way over to the nearest window even as stars were still dancing before his eyes. "That idiot! I'm gonna kill her!!"

Jumping out the window, he hopped up onto the roof and started moving with haste. Pulling out his cell phone as he leapt from roof to roof, he made a call. As soon as the other side picked up, he spoke. "She took off!"

It didn't take a genius to figure out who 'she' was. "What happened?" Uriya inquired calmly. "When?"

Ginjo grumbled. "Never mind that!" Like hell he was going to tell Uriya how he got tricked. He'd never be able to live it down! "I need a way to Hueco Mundo!"

Then he stopped abruptly as a figure appeared before him from seemingly out of nowhere, blocking his path. Ginjo looked up, a bit stunned to see who it was. "…never mind," he said distractedly into the phone. "I think I found it." He hung up, not caring that Uriya was calling his name from the other end.

"Gotta say," Ginjo began somewhat offhandedly, "never thought I'd see you again…Halibel." He vaguely remembered that, once upon a time, Halibel had been Nel's fraccion before becoming a member of the Espada herself. So, it was probably no coincidence that she was appearing before him now of all times.

"Is it true?" Halibel asked, bypassing greetings and getting straight to the point. "Did Nel-sama return to Hueco Mundo?"

"Ah."

"She's looking for Nnoitora."

"I know."

She studied him briefly. "Do you intend to fight him?"

"Of course," he replied, thinking that to be a stupid question. "Why else would I be going?"

"Nnoitora had long since surpassed me in strength," she said. "With Starrk staying out of the scene, he is now essentially the primera Espada."

"Your point?" Ginjo asked, unsurprised and unimpressed by the information she had just divulged.

"He's much stronger than you remember, Grimmjow," she warned. "You shouldn't take him too lightly."

The blue-haired youth snickered. "Talking so highly of that bastard… Doesn't sound like you, Halibel. What? Did he do that to you or something?" He looked pointedly at her armless shoulder. She didn't reply, so he took her silence as confirmation. "Aizen's dead," he said with a more serious tone. "Those numbers don't mean shit anymore. So, are ya gonna let me through or not? I don't have time to stand around and chitchat."

Halibel gave him a long hard look. Then she tapped the air behind her and a portal opened up. "I am assisting you for one reason only. Know that I will hunt you down if anything should happen to Nel-sama."

Ginjo grinned as he sauntered past her. At least she spoke his language. A favor for a favor. Just the way he liked it. "Thanks for the threat. Maybe I'll bring ya back a souvenir."

As Garganta closed up behind Ginjo, Halibel contemplated on her decision. Of all people, she never thought that she would leave Nel's safety in the hands of the one who had once been the wildest, most wayward, uncontrollable, and insubordinate Espada of them all.

Ginjo narrowed his eyes as he stepped out of the jagged portal into a quiet desert with nothing but sand dunes all around. He had a pretty good idea where he needed to go. Nel had mentioned a location in her sleep once. El Bosque Blanco…

Belatedly, he realized that he should have had Halibel open the portal somewhere closer to his destination. "Damn it!" Well, it was too late to gripe about it now. He better start moving if he wanted to get there in time.

At times like this, he was grateful for the endless nights he used to spend searching for Ulquiorra. Because of that, he was now able to use shunpo for an extended period of time without getting tired. That, however, did not mean that he was any happier about the situation he was in.

Disgruntled, he cursed under his breath. "Truckloads of women in three different dimensions, and I have to get hung up on the one with no front teeth!!"

On the streets of Karakura, Uriya spoke into his phone. "Ginjo…Ginjo!" The line went dead. He stared at the device in his hand, his mind already running at a hundred miles per second as he tried to figure out how he should proceed.

Standing beside him, Himeko regarded the raven-haired boy with concern. "What's wrong?"

Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "It would appear that Neliel has returned to Hueco Mundo on her own to seek out Nnoitora."

"Eh?!" she exclaimed with surprise. "Nnoitora? Why?" She never heard anything about that creepy Espada. What did he have to do with anything?

"That's not all," he continued. "Ginjo has gone after her alone as well."

"EH?!! But how?!"

"I'm not sure," he admitted, his voice still carrying the usual calmness, "but…I've just lost all traces of his reiatsu." It certainly was a mystery, but now wasn't the time to try to figure it out. They had to act. "Let's go. I'll explain on the way."

Himeko trailed behind him as he took off down the street. "Where're we going?"

"Urahara Shouten."

Nel entered El Bosque Blanco…the White Forest. As the name suggested, it was a forest where all the trees were white. However, since the trees were formed from quarts, their branches were bare, making a journey through such a place feel more like a walk through pillars of petrification.

She pushed forward until she located an unpleasantly familiar figure perched casually upon a boulder in a small clearing, coming to a stop about twenty feet away from him, preferring not to get too close.

Nnoitora grinned. "Look who's finally here."

"Dondochakka and Pesche…where are they?" she asked with calm seriousness.

He couldn't help but snicker. "Don't tell me you're really that gullible, Neliel," he said, his tone offhanded. "You watched me slice through that useless oaf with your own eyes. Did you really believe that he'd survive?"

She clenched her fist wordlessly.

"The insignificant insect on the other hand…" His grin widened as he looked off to the side and waved his hand in a beckoning motion.

From somewhere behind a cluster of trees, Tesla stepped forth, dragging a tied up and uncooperative Pesche along with him.

"Hey! Where are you taking me, Eye Patch?!" Pesche hollered as he desperately pulled in the opposite direction to no avail.

Tesla paid him no heed.

"Let go, or I'll Infinite Slick you to death! I mean it!"

Nel breathed an internal sigh of relief. At least Pesche was still alive. And from the looks of it, he hadn't lost his spirit either. "Pesche!"

Pesche turned at the sound of her voice. He was surprised, not just to see her, but to see her in her true form. "Nel-sama!" Then surprise quickly turned into concern. She shouldn't have come.

Nel looked from Pesche to her former comrade. "I came as you have asked, Nnoitora. Let him go."

The lanky arrancar, his grin never leaving his face, gave Tesla the signal to cut their prisoner loose. Then as Pesche began to make his way across the sand to his master, Nnoitora swung his crescent blade down upon Pesche's back, cutting from his right shoulder down to his left hip, severing his spine in the process. With a cry of agony, the injured arrancar fell limply onto the sand, face down.

Nel stared with wide-eyed shock, a cold chill running up her spine. "PESCHE!!"

He did not respond, did not move. His life had already been extinguished.

She turned to Nnoitora with fury. "He has nothing to do with this! Why did you do it?!"

"Come now," Nnoitora began, unperturbed. "You're an intelligent woman. I'm sure you can figure it out."

"…it wasn't necessary!" she said, her voice shaky as she tried to contain her emotions.

"Oh, but it was," he retorted casually.

She glared at his lack of remorse.

He held her gaze, definitely liking the look in her eyes. "So, Neliel," he said, his voice almost cooing as he licked his blood soaked blade. "Was that incentive enough for you to fight to kill this time?"

Nel's eyes widened and her rage soared as she realized that the sole reason Nnoitora had killed Pesche was to get her riled up. Blinking back unshed tears, she unsheathed her blade and moved in with sonido.

Nnoitora met her half way and parried her strike, still wearing that sickening smile. When he spoke again, his voice was low but intense, conveying decades of pent up emotions. "I'll prove that even when you fight with everything you've got, there's no way you can defeat me. Not anymore. You're gonna die here, Neliel."

She narrowed her eyes but didn't bother wasting her breath with a reply. It was time to fight. Jumping back, she swung her blade again as their battle began in earnest.

From the shadows under his hat, Urahara looked at the pair of teenagers standing before him as he processed the information he had just been given, his expression neutral. The Ishida boy had just briefly explained to him the gist of what was going on and requested passage to Hueco Mundo in order to retrieve Ginjo and Nel.

"I see," the shop owner finally said, not feeling particularly surprised. Ever since Ginjo came to ask him for help, he had pretty much expected something of the sort to take place. "And so," he said, turning to Uriya as he carefully considered how to phrase his next question. "Will you be traveling alone? Or…" His eyes moved to Himeko.

The orange-haired girl opened her mouth and was about to protest to the exiled shinigami's implications, but Uriya beat her to it.

"Hime's powers will be needed," the boy said, his tone unwavering, allowing no room for dispute. "She's coming with me."

Urahara wanted to disagree but couldn't come up with a valid enough reason to prevent the girl from going. After all, her brother's life was in danger. Who was he to tell her not to go? It simply wasn't his place, so he bit back his unspoken selfish request. "…of course." He adjusted his hat as he stepped away. "Please follow me."

As for Himeko, she was still looking at Uriya with a mixture of shock and adoration. For him to say that she was needed with such defensive certainty, to her, that was a thousand times more meaningful than if he were to say 'I love you' over and over again, acknowledging her in a way she had always so desperately wanted, easing her deep-seated insecurities.

On the way, Urahara made a stop at a storage closet. Digging out a medium sized box, he handed it over to the young Quincy. "This is for you."

Uriya gave the man a questioning look.

"Your father left it here in my care a while ago with strict instructions to give it to you if the occasion should ever arise," Urahara explained as the boy opened the box.

Uriya stared at the item in the box, rather speechless.

Himeko clasped her hands together excitedly. "It's a Quincy outfit!"

Urahara watched the boy's reaction with amusement, thinking that Uryuu certainly had foresight to realize that, when faced with otherworldly challenges, just like he and Ichigo had done, their children would come to this place for help instead of turning to their parents. He grinned as he casually fanned himself. "It would seem Ishida-san wants to make sure that you go into battle in style."

"This is hardly the time to be concerned over such trivial things," Uriya retorted.

"Aww, but you'll break his heart!" the shinigami said, enjoying this just a bit too much. "Ishida-san brought it here especially for you! It won't take that long to change into it. I need time to set things up anyway."

"Oh, yes!" Himeko nodded her agreement. "I think it'll look really sharp!" she encouraged.

Uriya heaved an internal sigh. That was hardly the point. Nonetheless, since it seemed it would be faster to change than to convince this strangely enthusiastic pair otherwise, he reluctantly complied. Taking the clothes, he went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Placing a hand beside his lips, Urahara called out in an almost singsong style. "We'll be waiting for you in the underground chamber!"

Uriya entered the training room dressed in his brand new Quincy outfit as requested. To him, it looked exactly the same as at least ten others that were in his overstuffed closet. However, knowing his father, there was probably a detail somewhere that made this one unique unto itself: an extra button on the cuffs, a slightly different collar, or perhaps an extra thread in some imperceptible location.

Himeko gasped at the sight of him. "Uriya, you look great! It fits perfectly! Ishida-kun's a genius!" She laughed with a beaming smile. "I'm so jealous! I wish I could have a battle uniform, too!"

He tucked a stray lock of her hair behind her ear, an absentminded natural gesture, as he allowed himself a moment to muse about her quirky desire. "I'm sure he'd be elated if you asked him to design one for you." And that was no exaggeration. It would probably put his father over the moon if someone went up to him to request such a thing.

"You think so?!" She perked up even more, practically jumping with excitement as she animatedly described her ideal battle outfit. "I think I'd like something form fitting so it would make me more aerodynamic. And waterproof, too! Like what you'd wear to go scuba diving! Oh! And cool battle boots with hidden weapons in the soles…like shuriken!...and mini bazookas lined along the sides! I'd have a little pocket that's really small, but it can fit tons of stuff in it, and I'd use it to carry my lunch! And when I put the suit on, I'd be able to shoot laser beams out of my mouth!"

Uriya tried to hide his smirk as her list of fanciful gadgets continued to grow. He would remind her that his father was a fashion designer and not an engineer…or a weapons specialist…or a technological genius…or a magician, but…that can always wait.

After making sure that everything was in place, Urahara came over to join the pair, looking at Uriya with mock disappointment. "Aw, but you didn't wear the cape…"

The young Quincy shot him a cold glare. "That useless piece of decorative cloth is where I draw the line."

Urahara shook his head with a sigh. "…and he even left you an extra one…"

"Are the preparations complete?" Uriya inquired, ready to change the subject.

"Of course," the shinigami replied with a smirk.

"Are you able to control where the portal opens?"

"That depends. Where is your destination?"

The boy turned his eyes up to the pair of wooden beams jutting out of the rocks. "…Las Noches."

Urahara kept a hand on his hat as he made his way up to one of the beams. "Las Noches it is."

After stabilizing the inter-dimensional portal, Urahara rejoined the pair to speak to Himeko. "Please be careful," he said, his usual carefree tone absent from his voice.

The girl smiled back at him with confidence. "Don't worry, Urahara-san. I've grown plenty! I'm strong enough and old enough to take care of myself now."

He put a smile on his face for her sake. It was true that, with much effort, she truly had blossomed and changed as Kurosaki Himeko. Nevertheless, she could be the most powerful being in existence, and he would still worry about her. "Old enough to take care of yourself, but…not too old for a lollipop, I hope," he said as he retrieved a lollipop from under his hat.

Himeko chuckled, remembering how he used to always shower her with candy and magic tricks when she was a child. "Only if it's strawberry flavored," she replied teasingly.

Urahara grinned. "But of course!" He spun the lollipop around so she could see the flavor she had designated printed on the wrapper.

The orange-haired girl accepted, understanding all that went unspoken. Stepping in closer, she stood up on the tip of her toes and kissed his cheek with gratitude.

The exiled shinigami blinked at the unexpected gesture, and she simply smiled warmly in return. Then turning around, she took Uriya's proffered hand, and the pair entered the dark void without hesitation, the inter-dimensional fabric sealing up behind them.

A/N: I love Urahara and Himeko's relationship. XD

Uryuu has yet to make an actual appearance in the story, but at least his presence can be felt. LOL! That magic pocket idea Himeko had is kinda based on Doraemon, if anyone knows what that is. And a shuriken is a throwing star.

Ok, so I know absolutely no Spanish, so I hope El Bosque Blanco is grammatically correct. I think it is, but I can't be sure. I figured, if it's wrong, then at least it still fits within the Bleach convention, since I think Kubo sometimes gets it wrong, too. LOL!

I don't really care much for Dondochakka, but I do have a thing for Pesche, so I'm kinda sad that I had to kill him off. Sorry, Pesche!! DX

Random question time: Has Soi Fon's sash always been so neon yellow? Whenever she shows up in the recent episodes, I feel like that's the only thing I can see. It's a rather un-stealthy color, isn't it? LOL!

Updates will probably be slower from here on. Action-y things take me longer to work out, and I will be busy with other things.

Thanks for reading, favs, and alerts! Reviews appreciated!