Author Rant: Okay I want to start by saying sorry for taking so long with this update…the last two weeks have been from hell. Besides being sick as a dog, getting stranded on the side of the road, in the pouring rain, for several hours, in a car that I just bought, emptying my bank account to pay for said car, I also had professors that decided that it should be test week. I don't know if any of you have gone through your last year of college but, tests are all essay form and I thought my hand was going to fall off…I couldn't spare brain space, sorry. And this is kinda on the short side, but I thought 'better that nothing'…enjoy…

Chapter 11

Twenty-five minutes and thirty-three seconds had passed since Ichigo passed into the black void that led to Heuco Mundo. Toshiro sighed and continued to count.

Harry cleared his throat. "Can I ask you a question?"

Toshiro turned teal eyes on the teen. "You just did." He relented. "I suppose so."

Harry looked off towards the rock formation that had captured his attention for the first twenty-five minutes. "What's it like to die?" he asked quietly.

Toshiro pursed his lips in thought. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know? Aren't you dead?"

Toshiro leaned his arms on his drawn up knees. "Yes, but I have no memories of my life. Well, not many memories anyway."

"You don't remember?"

Toshiro nodded. "Some souls lose their memories of when they were alive when they get to Soul Society. I was very young when I died. All I really remember is…blood on snow and a dark forest." He shrugged. "It's not really a big deal. When souls have resided in Soul Society for long, they tend to lose much of their living memories."

He looked at Harry's profile from the corner of his eye and sighed. "You aren't going to die. Not on my watch." He said confidently. He couldn't look at the hopeful light in Harry's eyes. He knew that the odds of Harry dying in the final battle were high, but he believed that a warrior going into battle believing he would come out victorious would fight much better than one who believed he was going to die.

The air ripping open in front of him saved him from any other questions. Ichigo stepped through the void and shook his head, ridding himself of the black and gold eyes. Toshiro rose to his feet and studied the scowl on the orange haired teen's face.

"I take it, it wasn't a pleasant visit?" he asked dryly.

Ichigo glared at him and rolled his eyes. "It's never a pleasant trip. I found Grimmjow…well he found me…" Toshiro rolled his eyes while Harry looked on confused. "Anyways he told me about a section of Heuco Mundo that has been drawing hollows in, and not letting them out."

Toshiro's brows wrinkled. "Something's consuming them?" A dawning light entered his teal eyes. "The fractured souls…" his eyes widened in shock. "That's not good news. But that would explain the decrease in hollow activity in the living world."

Ichigo nodded. "Grimmjow said that there is like a call coming from the section and the lesser willed hollows are being drawn in," his eyes flashed to Harry before adding. "I felt it as well."

Harry's eyes narrowed and he stood up. "What do you mean?"

Ichigo sighed. "Look you can't say anything to anyone else, alright?" Harry nodded while Toshiro looked on in slight amazement that Ichigo was willing to release this information. "I am part hollow." His face screwed up for a moment and Toshiro laughed to himself imagining what Hitchi had to say about that.

Harry stepped back and studied him from top to bottom. "But I though hollows were big monster like things that eat human souls?"

Ichigo nodded. "I said I was part hollow. I don't eat human souls. It's more like I have a split personality." He screwed his face up trying to figure out how to explain. "But if my hollow part becomes dominant, I suppose I look like a big monster thing…I don't know. I didn't exactly have a mirror the last time."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Last time?"

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, back before we decided that we would get farther working together." He banged his hand against the side of his head. "Except I think I will still go crazy having to listen to him bitch all the time."

Harry's eyebrow hitched up a few more notches.

Ichigo yawned. "Anyways, now we know what's happening in Heuco Mundo. You going to tell Soul Society?" he looked sideways at the short captain.

Toshiro looked at his watch. "Tomorrow." He decided as Ichigo reclaimed his body from Kon. The three of them slunk their way back to the dormitories to get as much sleep as they could before breakfast the next morning.

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Ichigo crawled out of bed the next morning to see Toshiro was already up and out of there. He rolled his eyes before throwing clothes on and making small talk with the rest of the boys in the dorm. Harry was giving him a few sideways looks, but knew they couldn't talk in mixed company. Ichigo was rather surprised he had taken having a fractured soul attacked to him so well.

Ichigo was halfway through his breakfast when he spotted a head of white headed his way. He raised his eyebrow as Toshiro sat down beside him, a dark scowl covering his face. He swallowed his bite and sighed before asking. "So what did they have to say?"

"We need to end this soon. Tonight we will meet with Abarai and Hisagi and the rest of the order and launch an attack on Voldemort's stronghold."

Ichigo's appetite was gone. "We have to get through an entire day of school first?" He rolled his eyes. "Typical. Did you inform Dumbledore?"

Toshiro nodded and started to pull food onto his plate. Ichigo turned to see Harry giving him a questioning look. He locked eyes with him and said. "Tonight." Others at the table who overheard looked confused but Harry just nodded, a determined look on his face.

Hermione and Ron whispered furiously in his ear, trying to get him to tell them what was going on. He silenced them with a muttered 'later' before pushing his half full plate away. He had obviously also lost his appetite.