Hello, dear readers! Welcome back to the latest installment! College classes have been tricky, but I'm somehow managing. The difficult part has been trying to force myself to write essays. That part is definitely not fun. Anyway, since I'm rather sleepy from finishing up this chapter, I'll let you get right to it. Enjoy!

Chapter 10

Shiro…

I opened my eyes to see darkness all around me, but I could feel my wife's presence all around. Every now and again, I could feel her fingertips brushing lightly along my body and I tried to catch her when I felt her graze my cheek, but she was too quick. Even though I couldn't see her, I knew it had to be my wife from the way her soul called to my own.

Shiro, beware…

Her words startled me and I tensed up, trying to find her again when I saw a light appear further into the darkness. It took me a few seconds to realize that it was her giving off that light. I watched as she gave me a gentle smile, extending a hand out towards me as she sent off waves of heat through our bond. It was as the heat gradually shifted to deathly cold, I began to feel worried because it wasn't like her. The moment I saw the shadowy hands reaching out from the darkness, I called out to her and ran in her direction. No matter how fast I ran, I couldn't close the distance.

Beware of the Exiles…

"Imayru, watch out!" I yelled to her, reaching out a hand to try and grab hers but I was too far away. The shadows grabbed her and were trying to pull her into the darkness with her as she gave me an apologetic smile. This wasn't like her at all. She would have fought back with everything she had. Something wasn't right here, something I didn't know or understand.

The very core of the Exiles has been poisoned with evil… and it's slowly spreading outwards…

"Let her go!" I screamed to the shadows, leaping forward one last time and somehow managing to catch her hand in time.

"Beware, Shiro," she said with a sad smile, "or what you care about most will be pulled into the darkness and won't recover a second time."

Before I could do anything, she was pulled from my grasp and into the darkness, leading me to call her name until my voice went hoarse.

With a gasp, I woke up with a start, nearly falling out of the tree I was sitting in. It took me a few seconds to realize that I was still screaming and I closed my jaw with a click of teeth. I could hear shouts nearby as I looked up at the sky, realizing that it was nighttime as I looked upon the stars. When I looked down, I saw that ice had formed on the bark around me and I knew I was completely freaked out. The shouts were getting closer and I could hear that they belonged to the three girls that had been searching for me earlier. I dropped down onto a branch below before flash stepping away towards Squad 12. I just had to find out where she was after that nightmare and the only place that could possibly hope to track her location would be Research Department.

It didn't take long for me to make it there, jumping down into the courtyard and startling a few Soul Reapers that were loitering there. They looked as if they might come over to me to find out what I was doing, but I gave them a scathing look that stopped them in their tracks. They knew better than to mess with me when I was in such a state.

"Captain!" I heard a voice call out to me, immediately identifying it to belong to Rangiku. "Captain, what are you doing?"

I ignored her as I walked into the building, making a few of the researchers freeze as I stormed inside with the three girls behind me. I saw Lieutenant Kurotsuchi run over to me and try to stop me, but I wouldn't have it. "Captain Hitsugaya, what are you doing here?" she finally asked me as I pushed past her.

"I need someone to track my wife's location," I told her as I kept walking.

"I can do that!" a researcher called out, one that had shoulder length brown hair and a topknot in the front of his head. He gave me a respectful nod. "My name is Rin Tsubokura! I'm the best at tracking!"

"Good. Track my wife and do it quickly."

Rin nodded before turning back to his terminal. His fingers flew along the keys and different images appeared on the screen. I moved closer to his monitor and watched as it finally settled on two different images, a white dot blinking back and forth between the two. Rin had a confused expression on his face before he typed something else on the keypad. Everything he tried lead him back to the same two images.

"We may have a problem," he said hesitantly, seeming nervous to tell me about this. "She's pinging off of two different radars. It says that she's in the forest outside of the 1st District of Rukon and somewhere outside of Karakura Town."

"How is that possible?" I asked him.

"Well… the only explanation would be that there is a dimension between the Soul Society and the Human World."

"Ah, the land of the Exiles!" someone exclaimed behind us. We both turned around to see Captain Kurotsuchi standing there, his arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his face. "I don't appreciate you barging into my Squad, Captain Hitsugaya."

Ignoring his last sentence, I asked, "What else do you know about that place?"

"Just that it is called Night Fall," he explained. "If you want to know more, I suggest you go to Captain Kuchiki. He can go back to the Kuchiki Family Manor and search the archives for more information that has to do with the Exiles."

I thanked him for the knowledge and headed out of the Research Department with Rangiku, Rukia, and Momo at my heels. "Captain Hitsugaya, what is going on here?" Rukia asked me as we headed towards her brother's Squad.

"I had this crazy dream," I explained. "It warned me about the Exiles and that they might try to take Imayru. I just want to talk to Captain Kuchiki and hopefully find a way to get to Night Fall in case she doesn't come back."

"I don't think Ryzen would do something like that," Momo piped up. When all of us stopped walking to give her a strange look, she laughed nervously. "I mean, I was with him for a little while when he held me hostage. He didn't seem like the type to lie when he said that Imayru would be back tomorrow."

"That sounds a bit like Stockholm syndrome to me," Rukia said under her breath.

"Momo, dear," Rangiku said kindly before placing her hands on the other girl's shoulders, "remember the situation you were in with Aizen. We don't want to go through the same thing a second time."

"No, you don't understand!" she yelled, shrugging so that Rangiku dropped her hands. "This guy never once spoke a lie! Not once while I was with him! Not only that, but I could see how earnest he was because of his eyes. They're just like Imayru's and you know that she never would be deceitful unless she was being playful or trying her hardest to protect us."

"That would be because he is supposedly her twin," I told her before continuing on towards Squad 6.

No one tried to stop me at any point during the walk to Squad 6. Everyone must have heard about what happened in Squad 12 and decided to leave me be until I had my answers. When I arrived in Squad 6 Headquarters, Captain Kuchiki was already waiting for me near one of the cherry blossom trees. The wind was blowing softly, just enough to allow a few of the petals to lightly float through the air around him. He watched us as we approached, standing as still as a statue the entire time.

When he wouldn't speak first, I decided to initiate the conversation. "Captain Kuchiki, I need access the archives to find out more about Night Fall."

"There is no need for that," he said sternly. "I know about the land of the Exiles. The Kuchiki family was involved in massacre, along with the other royal families. What is it that you wish to know?"

"How do I get there?" I said, gravely serious.

"Are you sure that is a wise decision, Captain Hitsugaya?" he asked me with a blank expression. "Would your wife approve of you meddling in such a manner?"

"She'd try to kill me for sure," I told him, "but right now, I don't really care. I need to make sure she remains safe."

He narrowed his violet colored eyes before giving me a brief nod. "You must be able to sense something that no one else can. I do not want to have to tell you this, but there is no known way for a Soul Reaper to access their world unless an Exile grants it. It is like how we use Hell Butterflies to travel through the Senkaimon."

I was about to curse my luck when I remembered something important. "But we do have an Exile that can be used. It's that Seigo guy that was a trainee in Imayru's Squad."

"Captain, I don't think that will work," Rangiku said softly. "He won't talk and he's also been imprisoned."

"Then let's go have a little chat with him," I said as I began to walk away.

"Head Captain Yamamoto ordered that no one visit with the Exile prisoner until questioning is complete," Captain Kuchiki called out to me. "You will just have to patiently await your wife's return later. If she promised that she would come back, then she will do everything in her power to assure her arrival."

Even though I didn't like it, I could hear the wisdom in his words. With a sigh, I walked away, this time heading towards Squad 5, which wasn't far away. The three girls followed after me, staying silent the entire time but following suit when I made it into my wife's Headquarters. I leapt up to the balcony on the second floor before heading inside, the girls letting me having a little time to myself before they came inside as well. Her scent was all over the place and it calmed me down just enough so that I felt I could relax. It was as I was heading further into her office that I noticed a picture frame on the corner of her desk. I already knew what the picture was and it made a smile form on my face. It was the one and only picture of just the two of us. I walked around to sit in her desk chair before pulling the frame closer for me to look at.

The picture was when a large group of us headed to the Human World for a well-deserved summer vacation planned by Imayru. She said that she had never been to the ocean before and that was one mistake that she was going to rectify. During our vacation, she took a bunch of pictures from her soul pager of all of us before finally making Ichigo take one of her and me. She had her arms wrapped around my neck and I had one arm around her waist. Her smile was infectious, so I found myself smirking a little. I remembered that her eyes seemed to just shine all day, especially after the picture when all of us went swimming. Before I knew it, I was absorbed in the fond memory of that day.

It was a humid, humid day in the Seireitei and Rangiku, Momo, and Renji were all loafing around in my office as I did paperwork. Like always, when it was too hot for other people to stand, they all ambushed me so that I could use my reiatsu to cool everyone off. My wife was the biggest culprit of such behavior, yet she was the only one who hadn't arrived. I expected her to lead the charge, so it was a little strange when she didn't arrive. It was close to lunchtime when the sun was beating down the hardest when the front door to my office was opened violently, slamming into the frame and startling everyone. When we looked up, there she stood with a huge grin on her face and practically bouncing on her toes.

"You look unusually happy, considering how hot it is outside," I said calmly.

"Because I am quite happy!" she exclaimed. "Everyone, I've been granted permission to take all of you into the Human World for a vacation!"

Rangiku jumped to her feet, feeling the same excitement, before asking, "Where to and for how long?!"

"We'll be going to Isshiiki Beach, which is just south of Karakura Town!" she told everyone. "I already saw Rukia and told her to get our friends there ready to go! We'll be in the Human World for about three days! Now, go get ready to leave right this minute!"

All of them practically ran out of my office and into the heat, shutting the door behind them and leaving Imayru and me alone. "Why the beach?" I asked her as she came over to sit on my desk, pushing my papers aside so she could lie back on the desktop. She reached over to brush my bangs out of my eyes and I grabbed her by the wrist, raising an eyebrow questioningly to prompt her into answering.

"I finally want to see what an ocean looks like," she told me ecstatically. "Who knows when the next time a huge battle ensues and I never get the chance to see it!"

"Don't think like that," I said sternly, leaning over to sharply nip the pad of her index finger. "I guess we can go on a vacation."

She sat up a little so she could lean closer on her side, her eyes lighting up from my words. "Do you promise to actually relax and try to have a good time?"

"Of course," I said, pressing a quick kiss to her lips. "Let's go. I can do paperwork when we get back."

Once we made it to the Human World and met up with our friends at Urahara's shop, all of us from the Soul Society entered our Gigai before the girls forced the rest of us to go shopping for the appropriate summer attire, including what Orihime and Tatsuki referred to as "swimwear." None of us wanted to be involved in that, but the girls, mainly Imayru and her suddenly scary look, forced us to do so. We were done shopping before the girls and we were happy when it was time for us to go to the train station to leave for the beach.

Once we were there and at the hotel, all of us changed into the clothes we would wear at the beach. I was wearing a white button up shirt that was completely unbuttoned and trunks, sitting on the bed and waiting impatiently for Imayru to hurry while she was dressing herself in the bathroom. When I heard the door click open and saw her walk out, I found myself standing up all of a sudden with no recollection of doing so. She was wearing a black bikini with a scaled pattern belonging to that of a dragon, silver under the scales to show off the pattern, and a thin, royal blue cover up tied around her chest, left to flutter open like wings behind her to show off her skin. Her long blue black hair was tied in a clip near the top of her skull like a ponytail, making the ends of it flip upwards like feathers. She noticed my stare and grinned at me teasingly.

"Keep it up and you'll end up panting like a dog," she laughed before grabbing me by the hand to lead me out of the room with her soul pager in her other hand. It definitely was the last thing I wanted to do after seeing her walk out of that bathroom and I tried to drag her back to the room, but she wasn't having it. "No, no, Shiro! There's time for that later! Right now, I want to go to the beach!"

The beach was quite warm, but with the ocean breeze it was finally comfortable. The water was a deep blue color and the sand was a light gold. Imayru started taking pictures left and right, sneaking them when we weren't looking. After grabbing a random passerby and keeping an eye on him in case he tried to run off with her soul pager, he took a picture of all of us together. Then she tossed it to Ichigo so she could have one with me.

No one wanted to get in the water right away, especially my wife. I bought us both sunglasses back in Karakura Town that were based off some in the 80s and we were lying in separate lounge chairs on the beach not far from the waves. Imayru was relaxing in the sun with her blue wrap on the back of the chair, making it seem like she might have fallen asleep, and I was reading a book that I picked up in the lobby of the hotel. It was about these kids locked in a huge maze with monsters, trying to find a way back out of it. I was getting into it when I heard Imayru stir, watching out of the corner of my eye as she got up, walked over to my lounge chair, and lay down next to me with her head on my shoulder.

"What are you reading?" she asked sleepily, her body feeling extra warm from our time in the sun. I showed her the front cover of the book and she made a curious noise. "Interesting choice you made." She lightly placed a hand on my chest over my heart and I felt my breath hitch slightly. "Come swimming with me. It will be fun!"

"I'm reading," I told her. "You told me to relax on this trip and this is how I'm doing it."

"I'm not above doing tricky things to get what I want," she murmured in a sultry voice, leaning in to brush her lips along my throat.

"H-hey, take it easy," I said shakily, pushing her away just enough to put a bit of distance between us. "We're with other people."

"Then come swimming with me!" she whined, pouting a little to draw me in.

When I wouldn't answer her and tried to go back to my book, she resorted to forcing me to do what she wanted. She snatched the book from my hands and took off running down the beach. For a split second, I couldn't believe what she had done, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. Another second passed and I was on my feet, taking off after her as she ran away and giggled. If she really wanted to, she could have easily run fast enough to keep away from me for as long as she wanted. Instead, she ran slow enough so that I kept drawing nearer and nearer by each passing second. Just before I caught her and swept her off of her feet, she tossed the book to Rangiku, who happened to be sitting in a lounge chair nearby. With an arm under her legs and another supporting her back, I carried her over to the waves crashing on the beach.

"What are you doing?" she asked me, squirming a little in an attempt to escape but only making me hold her closer.

"What do you think?" I said with a small laugh as I stepped into the waves. "You wanted to swim, so here's your chance!"

Once we were in water up to my waist, I threw her into the air and watch her drop into the water. She spluttered a little as she came up from the surface, giving me a dirty look before splashing me. It ended up turning into a bit of a sparring match after a few minutes, both of us punching and blocking as we laughed. At one point, Ichigo ran over to us to break it up, but Imayru splashed him in the face, leading for them to run around as Ichigo tried to catch her.

After that, she and I went swimming down the coast until we found a hidden cove where the sun seemed to light up everything, including the leaves of the trees around the cove. We spent the rest of the day there, taking naps, kissing, and just enjoying the other's company. It was the same with the other two days of our vacation, spent out in the sun and relaxing in its warm rays.

"Captain," Rangiku said and I snapped myself out of the memory to see her, Momo, and Rukia standing there. "What were you thinking about?"

"Just the memories behind this day," I told her, pushing the picture frame towards them so that they could see what I had been looking at.

"That was a good day," Rukia said with a smile. "Ichigo was finally starting to look happy and carefree, along with all of our human friends. I think that was why Imayru planned that three day trip."

"My wife is very spontaneous," I said with a soft sigh. "Not only that, but she always seems to get her way, whether it's by being tricky or stubborn."

We all fell silent for a little while before I noticed that Momo looked sad. "We're talking about her fondly as if we think she won't come back. I know that Ryzen will bring her back to us, but… what if something goes terribly wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong," Rangiku assured her before pulling her in for a hug. "Like the captain said, she's tricky and stubborn. Even if Ryzen can't bring her back, she'll definitely find a way to bring both her and Ichigo back."

I all of a sudden had the feeling that I couldn't stand just waiting around and so I stood up, apologizing for having to leave and walked out of the office. I still didn't like having to leave things up to chance and the fact that there was nothing I could do only exacerbated the situation. Almost fifteen minutes later, I found myself walking in the direction of the 1st District of Rukon without even realizing. I just let my feet carry me along until I reached the forests outside of the 1st District. It took me a little while to figure out that I was heading towards a very specific point within that forest.

A cave came into view and I walked inside to see old signs of habitation, along with a few newer footprints that seemed to belong to a child. Someone has taken up her old hiding place, I thought to myself with a small smile. It was as I was moving further inside that I heard the snap of a twig behind me. I quickly turned around to see a pale, little girl standing at the cave entrance. She had long white blonde hair and sharp, bright green eyes. On her shoulder was a bright green bird with red feathers around its eyes and blue along the edges of its wings, one I thought might be a macaw. I could see anger blazing in those eyes in such a way that it seemed almost familiar.

"What are you doing in here, Soul Reaper?" she asked in a soft, raspy voice that sounded like it hadn't been used in a long time.

"A friend of mine used to live here," I told her as I slowly walked closer to her. She reminded me a lot of the stories I used to hear about the Lost Girl and I knew she would be just as wary as the original.

"That has to be a lie," the little girl said. "This place belonged to the Lost Girl. This forest is her domain and she still haunts this place to this day."

"Unfortunately, the new stories you've been told about her aren't true," I said with a small smile before kneeling down in front of her. "She did live here over a hundred years ago, but she's been gone from this district for a long time." The little girl looked dubious, so I tried another tactic. "Have you ever heard of the Soul Reaper captain of Squad 5, Imayru Hitsugaya?"

Her eyes lit up excitedly before she exclaimed, "Of course I have! She's one of the best female captains! I want to meet her one day because she's my idol! I want to be just like her when I get older!"

"I'm sure I can arrange a meeting for you," I told her. "You see, she's my wife. I'm Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya of Squad 10."

"No way!" she yelled. "You were a resident of this district, along with Imayru! You married her?! How did you two meet?!"

Now I had her hooked. "In this cave," I said simply.

"But… but this is the Lost Girl's cave…"

"That's right. We met her here in this cave the night of the spring festival. She was cowering near the back because the fireworks hurt her ears. She couldn't speak well and she had this proud air about her. She may be a little calmer now that she's been out of the forest, but she's still just as wild as she was then. You'll see when she comes back."

"What do you mean by 'comes back'?"

"Well…" I said hesitantly. "She's not in this world right now. She's on a mission in a place I wasn't allowed to go to. She'll be back tomorrow night." I decided that then was as good a time as any to stand up so I could leave. "Why don't you come with me? I have a relative in 1st District and she makes wonderful food. You look like you might be hungry. I'm sure that a warm place to sleep wouldn't hurt either. You can stay there as long as you like with your friend."

"His name is Harlie," she said before scratching his feathers lovingly under his beak, giggling a little when the macaw cooed pleasantly. "He's a Great Green Macaw. My family used to own a bird sanctuary on an exotic island. Say hello, Harlie!"

"Hello, hello!" the bird said in a raspy voice, flapping his wings happily. "Your turn, your turn!"

"My name is Rika," she said, "and I suppose we can go with you. We haven't eaten in a while and being warm when we sleep sounds… nice."

I nodded and led her out of the cave without a second look back at it. I had something else important to do than to worry about the situation I was in or the one Imayru was involved in. I finally felt like I could trust in her abilities and the fact that she would come back home to me. I led Rika into the 1st District until I had to veer off the path to head towards our next destination. Like last time, I found my grandmother outside in the garden, watering her plants before sprinkling something on them to help them grow. When she heard a twig snap, she turned a little to observe us coming towards the house.

"Toshiro!" she called out kindly. "It's good to see you again! So, who is your friend?"

"Her name is Rika and her Macaw is Harlie," I explained. "She was living out in the woods where we found Imayru. Is it alright if she stays here for dinner and a good night's rest?"

"Of course, dear," she said with a gentle smile. "They can stay for as long as they like. It will be nice to have to have a new face in this old house." She looked down at the little girl before saying, "Why don't you go inside and get comfortable? There is something I have to ask my grandson first." Rika nodded and ran off into the house, the bird jumping from her shoulder to fly alongside of her. "Now, you know I realize you're a smart cookie. You should know what I'm about to ask."

"I'm sure that it has to involve Imayru's whereabouts," I told her softly.

"That's correct."

"She's not in this world right now," I said.

"Is she out in the Human World again?"

"Something like that."

"Well, it can't be helped. She is a Soul Reaper captain, after all. That's all I wanted to know, so let's go inside as well."

"Alright, Granny."

We both walked inside, going different ways as she headed into the kitchen and I went into the front room where Rika was playing with her pet. She was a rather quiet girl, which was surprising considering the fact that most girls were chatty. I watched her as she chased her bird around the room, the bird speaking occasionally as it flew and seeming as happy as a little creature like that could. Dinner was made by Granny almost an hour later, the smells of delicious food wafting into the room and drawing us into the kitchen. With a happy smile, Granny let us carry the food out into the dining room before we all picked through what we wanted. We stayed silent throughout the whole meal until everything was gone. I could see that Rika was looking sleepy, so I picked her up and carried her into one of the many empty rooms in the house so that she could get some rest. Her bird followed after and perched on a desk while the little girl fell asleep.

I walked out of the room and headed into my old one to stand by the window. Outside, the stars were shining brightly and soon found myself hoping that they could give me the answers that I wanted. This only made me worry about her more.