A/N: Here's the new chapter! I enjoyed writing it, so I hope you enjoy reading it :D
2 Months Later…
"Thank you for coming with me to this medical convention Orihime," said Ishida as they descended the ship.
"Oh no worries Ishida-kun! Besides, who would pass out on coming to Costa Rica? Beaches, resorts, the rainforest, oh and the cute little souvenirs!" Exclaimed Orihime with a large grin on her face as she ran over to a souvenir stand and picked up a ceramic toucan, "isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?!"
"No, not really no," sighed Ishida.
"Dr. Ishida?" Asked a woman suddenly; Ishida turned to look at her; she was dark skinned and with blonde hair, "hello, I am nurse Halibel; I was sent to escort you to the meeting." For some reason Ishida felt like he had seen her somewhere before.
"Oh, that's right, Orihime, I'll be back at the resort in about an hour or two, you know how these orientations are mandatory," said Ishida.
"Okay," said Orihime cheerfully; once Ishida left she turned to look at the toucans again, "now which of you should I take?"
"I still can't believe she left you just like that…just try to get over it man, two months are long enough," said Kenpachi patting Shunshui's back, they were both drinking at Kenpachi's house.
"My lovely Nanao, what did I do to deserve this?!" Said Shunsui crying.
"Are you still sad because your mommy left you?" Yachiru asked Toshiro, they were both sitting in the living room doing their homework.
"Whatever, I don't care," said Toshiro shrugging.
"I think you're lying," said Yachiru swaying her finger in front of him.
"Shut up," said Toshiro stuffing a cookie in her mouth to keep her quiet.
"Yachiru, why don't you take Toshiro to the park, his dad and I need to have a talk man to man," said Kenpachi.
"Which in other words means they're gonna get drunk as fuck," muttered Toshiro to Yachiru.
"You're such a potty mouth Shiro-chan," whispered Yachiru to Toshiro.
"It's Toshiro to you," he whispered back through gritted teeth.
"So are you going or what?" Asked Kenpachi.
"Of course daddy! Come on Shiro-chan!" giggled Yachiru pulling Toshiro by the arm and pulling him outside. A couple of seconds after the two left, Kenpachi and Shunsui sat up straight and looked at each other very seriously.
"Nanao knows," said Shunsui.
"You're sure?"
"Yes, she had known for a couple of days, of that I'm positive, the way she acted around captain Hitsugaya and I."
"So what's the problem then?"
"I know my Nana-chan is smart and all, but what if she gets herself in trouble? What if she feels angry about the entire situation and tried to go after Aizen?"
"Like you said Kyoraku, Nanao's smart, I doubt she went after Aizen all on her own, seeing that you and Shiro-chan here didn't remember, she went out lookin' for someone that did."
"Ha! If she only knew, you and have know for over a three months!" said Shunsui laughing.
"Yeah, took all your strength to keep me from goin' after Aizen," smirked Kenpachi.
"Yeah, but we need to wait, at least till there's more people that remember, we need to get together and plan out what we're gonna do."
"You think Kurosaki knows?"
"It would surprise me if he didn't; you know, I have a feeling he's the person Nanao went looking after, seeing as captain Yamamoto doesn't remember either," said Shunsui.
"I wonder what they're up to now, not just Kurosaki, but all of them."
"Excuse, Miss, you know how I could get to the medical convention?" Hanatarou asked one of the waitresses embarrassed. He was out in the pool area of a resort in Costa Rica.
"For the third time, sir, no, I don't know," said the waitress, and she left.
"Oh what am I gonna do now?" whined Hanatarou, "where do I go?" he said looking around, the place was practically crowded with women in bathing suits, it was making him very nervous; from the corner of the eye he caught sight of an auburn beauty in a crowd of people.
Orihime was in a crowd of people playing the drinking version of the "I have never" game; by now she was extremely drunk.
"Gee, well, let's see, I have never eaten pickles poached in beer with an ice cream Sunday and chopped fish heads," said one of the girls; Orihime and another guy were the only ones that took a drink.
"I have never had a threesome with a fat guy and a transvestite while being filmed by a midget," said one of the guys; Orihime was the only one that took a drink.
"Is there anything you haven't done?" Asked one of the girls surprised.
"Ha! For your information I used to be Chinese hooker! So there is nothing, and I say, nothing sexually possible that I haven't done!" Said Orihime laughing.
"I once was serviced by a cat and dog at the same time," said one of the guys; he too was very drunk by now.
"Okay, now that I haven't done," said Orihime.
"Umm…Inoue-san?" Asked Hanatarou nervously as he squeezed through the crowd of people to talk to her.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Asked Orihime; Hanatarou nodded, "oh right, you're that cute nurse from Shanghai," said Orihime walking over to him. They left the crowd, got inside a swimming pool and sat down by the pool bar.
"I don't think I should drink anymore, I'll have a virgin strawberry daiquiri," Orihime told the bartender.
"And for the young man?" The bartender asked.
"Just give him the one I had this morning, it was delicious!" Said Orihime.
"So why are you here in Costa Rica Inoue-san?"
"Call me Orihime," she smiled.
"Okay, Orihime, are you here for the medical convention?"
"Yes, I came with Dr. Ishida, I've been living with him ever since I quit my job, he's been very kind to me."
"Yeah, that's Ishida, always willing to lend a helping hand," said Hanatarou smiling; he took a drink of what the bartender served them and winced.
"What about you Hanatarou?"
"I'm here for the convention."
"Is your dad coming too?"
"No, he umm…he had other plans," said Hanatarou.
"I'm sorry about what happened with your family by the way, Ishida told me you don't live with them anymore, what did happen anyway?"
"Let's just say we all remembered something about the past, and we had different views on what to do about it," said Hanatarou; he looked at Orihime expectantly, "have you had any…recent memories about your past, Orihime?"
"Well, just the usual, nothing new" said Orihime taking a sip of her strawberry daiquiri.
"By the way, what am I drinking?" Asked Hanatarou.
"It's this hot new cocktail, anchovy paste with peaches, pimentos, coconut juice, and red bean paste, all mixed with a couple of ounces of tequila, I think they call it the virgin suicide," said Orihime; Hanatarou laughed nervously.
"Well you've definitely gotten better since we started," said Hisagi to Ikkaku, they along with Chad were fighting somewhere in the Himalayan mountains.
"Thanks, you know I'm surprised how quickly our abilities have come back to us," said Ikkaku.
"That's because we never lost them, they were just dormant," said Hisagi wiping his brow of sweat.
"Why didn't Kurosaki come this time?" Asked Ikkaku; he and Hisagi turned to look at Chad; Chad just looked at them seriously for a moment.
"She did it again didn't she?" Asked Hisagi; Chad nodded.
"I don't understand what is wrong with Kuchiki-san, she tries to run away repeatedly and when Kurosaki doesn't let her, she tries to commit suicide," sighed Ikkaku.
"Maybe he should just let her go, it's obvious she's dying to get back to Ichimaru," said Hisagi.
"Ichigo can't let her do that, he cares for her too much; besides, there's always a danger of her telling Ichimaru about our hiding place," said Chad.
"Kuchiki-san wouldn't do that," said Ikkaku.
"No, but Ichimaru and Aizen wouldn't hesitate to torture her into telling them," said Hisagi.
"Orihime, I'm back!" Said Ishida walking inside the suite; Orihime burst out of her room wearing a flimsy bikini.
"Ishida-kun Ishida-kun! We totally have to go see the local witchdoctor!" Said Orihime thrilled; Ishida covered his eyes to keep himself from looking at her bouncing breasts.
"Witchdoctor?" Asked Ishida confused.
"Yes, Hanatarou said there's one nearby somewhere in the jungle, and not many people know about him; he said we should go, that it would be an interesting experience…why are you covering your eyes?" Asked Orihime confused.
"We'll go see that witchdoctor, just go change okay?" He said still covering his eyes; Orihime blushed in realization of what she was wearing and ran into her room to change. Ishida sighed relieved after she left. There was knocking on the door, and he left to open it.
"Hanatarou?" Asked Ishida; he wasn't so surprised to see him since Orihime had already mentioned seeing him.
"I'm here to take you to the shaman…or witchdoctor as Orihime calls him," said Hanatarou laughing.
"Of course, come in," said Ishida; they both sat in the living room.
"Did Dr. Mayuri and Nemu come?" asked Ishida hopefully; Hanatarou shook his head.
"They're very busy taking care of another project."
"Oh," said Ishida disappointed, "you haven't spoken to Nemu lately have you?"
"No, but don't worry, you'll both surpass that soon," said Hanatarou.
"You think so?"
"I know so, once we come back from seeing the shaman, you'll have an entirely different perspective," said Hanatarou.
"Ichigo, you really should eat something," said Nanao, she and Ichigo were sitting in the kitchen. They were residing in a cave in the mountains, but remodeled the entire place with furniture and necessary appliances.
"I can't, not when Rukia has gone four days without eating," said Ichigo dejectedly.
"Kuchiki-san will come around, I promise," smiled Nanao.
"Have you seen her?"
"Yes," said Nanao looking down at the floor sadly.
"She's so thin and pale…I don't know what to do, she'll die if we don't do something soon."
"I'll talk to her, maybe I can make her see reason, just, just be strong Ichigo, if she sees you like this, things will only get worse."
"Wow, this place looks super cool!" Said Orihime excitedly as she, Ishida, and Hanatarou walked inside a hut with numerous plants and masks.
"Come in," Said a frightening-looking man sitting on the floor," the three guests bowed and sat in fron of him.
"Our friend Hanatarou said it'd be super cool if we came to see you," smiled Orihime.
"Yes, it was wise of you to come, now tell me, do you want to know the truth?" Asked the shaman.
"Truth? What truth?" Asked Ishida confused.
"The truth, the only truth."
"Well, of course," said Ishida.
"Are you certain you are prepared, after you see what I am about to show you, there is now going back," said the Shaman; Ishida turned to look at Orihime, then at the Shaman.
"We understand, we only want to know what's going on," said Ishida.
"Very well then," said the shaman; he took two cups with a hot liquid, and gave them to Orihime and Ishida, "drink this."
Ishida and Orihime hesitated for a moment, but then they looked at each other and nodded. The cups fell on the floor, and the two clasped their heads painfully, strange images displaying themselves quickly in their minds. When it was over, they were both perspiring and bleeding from their noses. They both looked up at the Shaman with their eyes widened.
"Why? Why did they do this…how could they be so heartless?" Asked Ishida shocked; Orihime covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Now that you know the truth, I will tell you one thing, this…inconvenience, was necessary," said the shaman.
"Necessary?! How could such a monstrosity be necessary?!" exclaimed Ishida.
"Fate works in mysterious ways, many times in ways so small that we mistake coincidence for destiny. This that we have witnessed, has happened for a reason, one so great that it will eventually affect all of us, not only those who are involved with the spirit world. These, three things, will affect the outcome of the final battle, in our favor," said the shaman.
"Three things?"
"Yes, the dagger, the moon, and the dragonfly."
"What is the…meaning of these three objects?" Asked Ishida.
"You will know when the time comes," said the shaman looking at a large bowl of dark water, "the dagger, the dagger's destiny has already been drawn, it is here…the dragonfly, the dragonfly has not yet been created…that destiny is not yet drawn, something still needs to happen for its creation to begin."
"What about the moon?" Asked Orihime suddenly snapping out of her state of shock.
"The moon is on its quest, still battling for its right to survive…
…many obstacles will place themselves on the moon's path…in the end, it will have traveled many worlds…just to find one that will grant it the right to live…"
Rukia was sitting on the cold floor inside her dark room, rocking back and forth as she looked at an empty wall. There were candles but she refused to light them. The only light came from a ray of moonlight coming from a corner of the cave. She walked towards the light, and examined her hands, there were scratches and cuts all over them; her left wrist was bandaged, it had been bandaged earlier by Ichigo. Couldn't he understand? It didn't matter how many times he tried to heal her, she would always do it again.
She didn't like being in here…she wanted to be with, him, he whose hair was like the moon. She needed to find a way of getting back to him…but behaving the way she was…she wouldn't be getting out of here anytime soon. Perhaps if she made them think she was fine now? Maybe then they would let her wander around without watching over her all the time.
"That's it!" She said enlightened, a crazy smile displaying itself on her face. All she had to do, was behave so Ichigo would think there was nothing wrong with her; then she'd leave as soon as they dropped their guard.
"Did you like my chicken teriyaki? It's the first time I've made it you know?" Smiled Nanao, she had finally gotten Ichigo to eat something.
"Yes, it was delicious," said Ichigo without looking at her, he was still deep in though; a sudden gasp brought him back from his reverie. It was Nanao; her eyes were wide, and her smile was large. Ichigo immediately turned to see what she was looking at; he was speechless. It was Rukia,
She was standing at the entrance of the room. She wasn't in good condition, she was very thin, her skin was pale, there were dark circles under her eyes, and there were cuts all over her arms. Her eyes were the most frightening thing, they were an eerie pink, and she looked at them as if she would attempt to kill them any second now. But he was happy to finally see her come out of the room.
"Rukia," smiled Ichigo; Rukia ignored him and walked past him over to the platter of chicken teriyaki and rice. Without using any utensils, she grabbed handfuls of the food and stuffed it in her mouth desperately, barely chewing before she swallowed
"Easy there Rukia, you're gonna hurt yourself," smiled Nanao placing a hand on her shoulder, but immediately removed it when Rukia looked up at her through dangerous pink eyes.
Nanao walked over to Ichigo, and the two just watched her as she devoured the entire platter; once she was finished, she began to fall asleep; she would have fallen to the floor if Ichigo hadn't caught her.
"No matter how oddly, I think she's gonna start to come around; I mean…she finally came out of her room, that in itself is great improvement," said Nanao.
"I think you're right," said Ichigo looking down at a sleeping Rukia "I hope you're right"
A/N: Weird chapter huh? So what did you think?
