Welcome back. As I said I'd give you an early update and an on time update, so here we go! I do truly think you'll like this chapter, just because it's finally getting closer to the moment you all have been waiting for. Thanks to AbsoluteReader1995, Scarlett Foxie, urufushingami, Phantom Claire, flamingdarkfox, and Kurai Kage. Now onto the chapter

Scarlet Foxie: I'm aware that this may seem like its dragging, but I do have a few reasons, one I don't like writing or reading fast paced stories, two its suppose to show you everything that's going on most of the time, and three its setting the stage for the sequel which will be more action packed… once I get around to writing it. But I'll do my best to pick it up a little.

DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN BLEACH ONLY THE PLOT OF THIS STORY AND SOME OF THE OC's

Hurry. Time is short. Life hanging in the balance. Hurry!

Toshiro shot up the moment that he heard those words, startling a few of the shinigami around him. They were still waiting for the hottest part of the day to be over with. The icy captain knew the risks of leaving early and rushing through the desert. It wasn't worth risking the lives of six shinigami and himself. He gritted his teeth in irritation. He had two responsibilities, one to protect his team the best he could and to make sure that they were able to save Ichigo.

Rangiku walked over to him and sat down, the two tenth division members sitting in silence. Neither of them really had anything to say, the vice-captain knew her captain was going through a personal struggle and it was just his personality to not request help. She'd still offer him as much comfort as he would take. It was her job to watch over her captain, she was the one to bring him into the world of shinigami after all.

The sand was hot to sit on, so no one was really moving having the adjusted to the heat in their particular spot but that didn't mean that they weren't alert. When rumbling was heard in the distance all seven of them looked up, trying to evaluate what was coming towards them at such a high speed. Renji and Rukia who had been sitting next to each other looked at each other.

"You don't think…" Rukia trailed off.

"It might be." Renji returned.

"What are you talking about?" Toshiro asked the two.

"Last time we were here we met some very interesting people." Renji said with a shrug. "They were… it's hard to describe. They're probably playing another game of eternal tag."

Toshiro glanced at the redhead with confusion. He was interrupted by a voice.

Hey! Its Itsygo's fwiends!" Came a high pitched child's voice.

"Wonder why he's back?" Came another voice.

A third voice spoke up. "The Espada are defeated. Don't'cha know?"

Rukia and Renji glanced at each other and then sighed simultaneously. The rest of the group looked confused at the two shinigami's reaction.

"Don't worry about them." Renji said while waving his hand dismissively. "They're harmless for the most part. Just really loud."

Toshiro felt his brow twitch. He wasn't fond of overly loud and obnoxious people. But his curiosity was perked, who were these people that were approaching the group and how did Ichigo and his friends stumble across them while in Hueco Mundo the first time? The dust cloud was growing steadily larger and larger the closer that it got.

Soon the white haired captain was able to make out three humanoid figures and a giant worm looking thing. He blinked. He could barely make out one of the figures, it being still so small. In a couple of minutes he could see the figures get bigger as they approached, at a rapid speed Toshiro noted.

Within five minutes of the initial spotting of them three hollow like beings slid to a stop in front of the seven shinigami. Those who hadn't seen them before blinked owlishly at them and the giant worm that wiggled behind them.

Toshiro wasn't sure how to describe what he was seeing. He knew that they were hollow in origin he just never saw any quite like the ones panting in front of them. Renji and Rukia actually looked bored, chatting amongst themselves. Toshiro rubbed the back of his head and looked to his vice-captain for aid, she gave an unhelpful shrug.

"Uhmmm..." The frosty captain began smartly.

He was interrupted by the young child. She looked around with big brown eyes her mouth hanging open revealing her missing bottom teeth. She repeated her first question. "Where's Itysgo?"

"Er…"Toshiro tried again.

Just before he could explain anything a large hand clamped down on his mouth. He looked up to see Renji had crossed the fifteen feet between him to stop Toshiro from explaining.

"All three of them are like children, you have to be delicate." The red-head hissed.

Toshiro glared at the tattooed man, Renji luckily took the hint and removed his hand from the captain's mouth.

"Who are you?"

The trio turned to look at Toshiro. Before striking a pose.

"I'm Nel Tu!" The young girl chirped.

"I'm Dondochakka don't'cha know?" The largest one of the group replied.

"And I'm Pesche." The last one introduce himself.

Toshiro sighed in frustration. He didn't want to deal with this at the moment. The heat was making him and Hyorinmaru cranky and these three hollows were grating on his nerves. He reached for his zanpakuto unnoticed by anyone, he'd slay them the moment they got too annoying, something they were approaching very quickly.

"Ichigo is playing hide and seek." Rukia supplied helpfully.

Renji nodded his approval and the other stared at them like they were crazy. "Really?" Nel Tu gasped.

"Yes. But we need some help…" Rukia trailed off.

Toshiro's eyebrows arched in understanding, he knew what Rukia was trying to do and he was quick to jump in. "Yeah, maybe you could help? You must know the layout of Hueco Mundo better than anyone!"

Four different gazes turned their attention to him. Staring at him blankly, not understanding what he was doing.

Nel Tu pushed out her chest and greed proudly. "Suwe do!"

Rukia knelt down, eyelevel with the teal-haired child. "We know where he's hiding but we don't know where the area is."

"Whewe's Itysgo?" Nel asked.

Pesche and Dondochakka leaned down to listen as well.

Rukia cleared her throat. "He's in a place that shouldn't be in Hueco Mundo but is. Several people of great strength should be hanging around there. One girl has blue hair she's super powerful."

The three nodded and listened intently. Toshiro turned his attention to Renji. "Do they only take games seriously?"

"Running for their lives is something else they take seriously as well." Renji shrugged.

The three jumped away and started to whisper, poorly, to themselves.

"That sounds like…"

"It does…."

"Its scawy there!"

"Ichigo is strong he'd be fine."

"But still there…"

"It's the only place that fits the description…"

The jumped back in front of Rukia, Nel looked upset, as far as Toshiro could tell. The conversation had left him with a slight confusion. He looked at the other to see that they hadn't understood it either, good, so he wasn't alone.

Rukia knelt down. "Do you know of a place?"

"The vampiwe guy's palace…" Nel mumbled tears forming in her eyes.

"That place means nothing good." Pesche whimpered

"Vampire guy?" Rangiku tilted her head in confusion.

Toshiro and Renji shrugged. The two men figure that's what Nel had nicknamed a guy that looked like he was in charge and must look like this "vampire" whatever that was.

"Where that?" Rukia asked undeterred by the name.

"Ower that sand dune!" Nel replied shakily pointing towards a large sand dune.

"That's it?" Rukia asked.

"Yep!"

Toshiro wanted to smack his head into the heel of his palm as hard as he could. They were that close and they had been taking a break because they thought it was further. Granted it was a tall sand dune, but it'd be easy enough to climb without exhausting anyone. The rest of the group looked like they wanted to do the same. Rukia and Ashido both checked over the device.

Toshiro walked over to them to see what it said, well he walked over to Ashido because Rukia was currently interrogating Nel and the other two about what they knew. Ashido handed him the device. It said that they were still miles away from where it was, he couldn't understand it… maybe there was another extra planar place here?

That wouldn't surprise him… Toshiro thought with annoyance. He had found that his dislike of the realm of the hollows had grown exponentially over the last week or so he's been here. The white haired captain also began to dislike sand and the sun. He was pretty sure that he wouldn't ever visit the beach again after this trip

"Could you show us?" Rukia asked.

"Show yes, but we aren't getting any closer." Dondochakka said waving his hands in a submissive gesture.

Rukia shrugged to the group. Toshiro nodded at her when she looked his way. This was a lead that they'd needed to check up on.

Rukia was surprised when Nel had shown up, as a child. Ichigo had told her what had happened with his fight with the fifth ranked Espada. Though he hadn't told her everything, Rukia was grateful for Nel's intervention, it probably saved his life. But that may have been in vain if they don't get to where they were keeping Ichigo and soon.

Nel and her "brothers" lead them up to the top of the tune and almost one the other side was a large stone palace. It seemed to be releasing a dark, evil aura. The sky directly above the palace was pitch black and the ground was the same way. It seemed to be floating.

The palace its self was built with dark gray stones. Its main gate was black cast iron with spikes at the top. The walls were smooth with no signs of any footholds and there were guards mounted with crossbows scanning the area. Guards made rounds around the grounds, they were all dressed in European knight armor from the Middle Ages.

There were four towers stretching towards the sky. The main building was expansive and stood half the height of the towers. It wasn't so much of a palace as it was a castle. It was impressive. It made the Kuchiki manor look like a rundown shack. Rukia winced, her brother wouldn't be pleased that she thought of the manor in the same context as a shack.

She took the scanner from Ashido and looked at the waves. Eyebrow arching in confusion as she saw that it was now pointing straight ahead. Ashido shrugged, he had noticed but didn't have an explanation. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Captain Hitsugaya was waiting for some sort of news.

"This is the place." She whispered.

The captain's eyes widened, the others shared looked between themselves not sure how to take that news. She couldn't describe her feelings either, she was glad that she found the place, but it'd be nearly impossible to search the entire place without being noticed. It would take a long time to even check one floor. The place was huge and no doubt had a large number of rooms, and probably lower levels that they couldn't see.

Not to mention that the guards looked like they were well trained. They wouldn't be able to get past them without the whole castle knowing that they were here.

"We need to contact Urahara-san." She whispered.

She flicked a few buttons and recorded the coordinates. Before hitting the call button. Urahara should pick up, or so she hoped, they didn't need to waste any more time.

"So have you found it?" Urahara said the moment his face popped up onto the screen.

"Yes."

"Well?"

"We won't be able to sneak in from this side, it's too well-guarded and they'd sound the alarm. It's too big to just rush in and hope for the best." Rukia reported.

Urahara had a grim face. "I was worried about that. Send me your coordinates and I'll bring you back."

Nel looked at the device with curiosity. "But I thought you wanted to find Itysgo?"

"We do. This is part of the game." Renji came to Rukia's aid.

"Oh…" Nel looked sad.

"You've been a great help!" Rukia smiled.

The smile cause Nel to smile back. "Say hi to Itysgo for me when you find him!"

Rukia nodded and returned her attention to Urahara, she heard Nel and her friends start to slide down the sand dune. "We're ready."

She transmitted their coordinate but made them at the bottom of the dune hopping that it would avoid detection for the most part from the guards. Soon enough the Garganta opened up. Toshiro and Rangiku went in first, followed by Renji, Yumichika, and the Ikkaku.

She turned to look at Ashido. "Will you come with us this time?"

He looked uncertain, a look she found didn't fit his handsome face, but was adorable. Whoa back up… what did I just think about him? She hoped that she didn't start blushing.

"I don't know…" Ashido looked around.

"I promised that I would come and get you and I did. You'll be welcomed back, I know you will!" She tried her hardest to persuade him.

She couldn't bare the thought about him being alone here with the madmen that took Ichigo. She kept her violet eyes on him.

Ashido nodded. "Your right. Alright. I think the others will be understanding."

"Let's go!" She said grinning; holding out her hand to him.

He took it, and she noticed how large his hand was compared to hers. They both leapt through the garganta easily, running on the uneven path. She saw the group a head and she sped up her pace, Ashido following easily. Soon they were only a few paces behind Ikkaku.

Urahara was monitoring the garganta and those in it. There was a seventh person in the group, he knew that it couldn't possibly be Ichigo so he had to settle with a lost shinigami of some sorts. The 12th division captain didn't look pleased that he had to lend out his lab to the one person he despised, but orders were orders, and he couldn't defy them unless he wanted to lose his lab.

The new captain haori swished behind the inventor as he went from console to console. A few minutes later and he saw the tenth division captain leap out of the opening followed by his Vice-Captain. The other party members leapt through as well. Finally the tag-a-long appeared. It was definitely a shinigami, an oddly dressed one but if he proved to be useful the he wouldn't complain. Besides he could see that Kuchiki-kun seemed to have taken a liking to him.

He raised an eyebrow at her, and she quickly let go, leaving the new comer confused. Though the majority of the party looked dumbstruck at him, a few jaws were hanging open (namely Renji's)

Toshiro was first to recover. "Why are you in a captain's haori?"

"While you were gone, it was decided that there needed to be temporary captains, and me and two other volunteered and were selected." He said with a shrug, downplaying it.

"They made you a captain… again!" Renji cried.

Urahara looked innocent. "I guess."

He quickly turned on his business mode. "The devices."

The group all handed over their devices, all trying to ignore the jealous look the other captain in the room was giving them. They knew well enough that ignoring the twelfth division was the easiest way to make sure you had all of your organs at the end of the day.

Urahara plugged them into the computer. "It will take a while for all of the data to be complied, you can leave. I'll call you the moment that I'm able to get you in."

The group nodded and left the barracks belonging to the creepiest division. Once they were outdoors they started to split off to go their own directions.

"I'm sure my captain will take you." Rukia said to Ashido.

He shrugged and followed after her. Everyone else left without a word, until it left only Toshiro and Rangiku.

As they began their walk to their barracks a new figure started to approach them. It looked familiar.

"It couldn't be…" Rangiku trailed off as the silhouette struck something in her distant memory.

Toshiro looked at his Vice-Captain in confusion. He would admit that the figure did seem slightly familiar but the memory of it was hazy at best. The figure kept coming and Toshiro assumed that it was one of the new captains Urahara has spoken of, it was weird to see that person in a haori.

The features of the newcomer were becoming more and more distinguishable and more familiar with each passing second. Though for neither of the two 10th division members they didn't realize who it was until he literally stopped in front of them.

"Captain?" They both cried.

He chuckled. "Long time no see."

"You left so suddenly I wondered what happened to you." Rangiku said.

"That's a story for another time." Isshin said with a shrug. He looked over to his former third seat. "So you became the captain in my stead?"

Toshiro nodded. "I said that I would."

Isshin laughed again. But his face turned serious in a split second. "Did you find anything about Ichigo's condition?"

"You're on a first name basis with him?" Rangiku said putting her finger to her lip trying to remember if she ever saw Kurosaki-san with her Captain Shiba. She couldn't think of any.

There was a deep inhale. "I should think that I should be allowed to call my son by his first name."

There was dead silence, no pun intended when those words were said.

"You're that crazy guy that was Ichigo's father?" Toshiro said stunned.

Isshin nodded.

"But your last name is Shiba, not Kurosaki." Rangiku pointed out.

"Changed my name." Isshin said heavily. "That's part of the long story."

The others shrugged not really knowing how to respond to that statement. Isshin however turned around a raised his hand in a farewell.

"Just wanted to see a few of my old squad mates. I have a shattered squad to get functioning."

Toshiro and Rangiku could both see the 5 inscribed into the back of Isshin's haori. The looked at each other, they both knew that was a tough squad to take over. Especially after what happened to it.

The two of them resumed their walk to their barracks. Passing the noisiness of the eleventh, who were rejoicing in the return of two of their members. Returning to a relatively barrack, their third seat certainly knew how to take care of things in their absence.

The room containing the body hadn't been entered since the king had left it earlier that day. The guards were sure of it.

But…

Inside of the room, the teenager's body lay on the bed untouched by any sort of medical anything. Suddenly a figure materialized beside the boy. She was dressed in a solid white kimono, with a solid white ribbon tied in a bow in the back. Her eyes a gentle purple and her solid white hair went past her hips.

She pursed her pale lips and then clicked her tongue. The boy was in terrible condition and would die within the hour. His breathing was fast and uneven, his chest was actually heaving, he was having muscle spasms which would tug on his wounds and cause them to bleed more or cause them to leak more pus. She could tell from the spider webbing from the infected wounds, all of them, had spread throughout most of his body.

He went through a particularly terrible spasm which left him almost falling of the bed and tearing some of the scabbing wounds wide open. He was feverish, and the temperature at which he was burning would kill him if the infection didn't.

She titled her head. Trying to decide whether or not he was worth using her magic on. The only advantage that she would get would be getting to spite Yuna, which was worth it in its own way. But a storm was coming and she wondered if he'd be a valuable asset.

The teen started too choked as he coughed, and spat up blood with each hack. She stepped back to dodge the spray of the blood. Had she interfered enough in mortal endeavors? Looking down at the feverish dying teen her mind was made up.

She drew a sign in the air above him. The sign glowed bright white before it started to dissolve falling onto him like snow. His spasms and coughs started to lessen and eventually stop. Some of his still bleeding would started to close up, the ones that were cursed. She also mended some of his ribs that were dangerously close to puncturing his lungs, and some of the more severe internal bleeding.

She didn't stop the infection, heal the naturally cause wounds, or even mend anymore broken bones. The fever had lessened but his chest was still heaving. His eyes were tightly shut.

She touched a mostly healed area on his hip and traced a symbol into it a flaming snowflake. It shown brightly before it burned into the flesh, branding him with the symbol. The skin were the brand was had been irritated and was now red and angry looking. The brand itself looked like it had been there for at least a year as it was white like a recently healed wound.

With that she drew and arch in the air starting at the top and bringing her hands down to her side. The archway opened revealing a snow covered world. She glanced back at the teenager whose face had relaxed at the coolness the archway brought.

Not yet, young one. The time is still too soon. The mortals must fight their own battles before joining ours. You are lucky.

She disappeared into the archway which closed in a whirlwind of snow.

On the other side of the Neo-Gotei base Yuna sat straight up from her lazy leaning position. Osamu, who had been standing off to the side jumped in surprise.

"Premier?"

Yuna said nothing as she vaulted over her desk and charged out of the room, smoke trailing behind her. She stormed through the halls causing the few cell members that were socializing to jump away before running away in terror the moment that she passed them.

No one had seen the half-demon look so angry before. It was simply terrifying. She kicked in the door to the guest room. The guards lacking the bravery to stop her before entering. She looked around, the room. Spotting the melting snowflakes, she pulled her lips back to reveal rather sharp looking canines, and the rest of her teeth slowly sharpening.

She saw no sign of the person she was looking for. Glancing at the teen she saw that he lacked the cuts that Tadashi had given him, his rib cage looked less deformed as well. On the hip she spotted the thing she had needed for confirmation. That was her sign. That person had been here tampering with Yuna's territory.

"Oh she will pay." The demoness growled into the room. Before spinning on her heel and slamming the door behind her.

"Keep better watch inside and outside this room!" She snapped at the guards who could only nod meekly.

She had to inform the King that someone had been tampering with their guest. She knew that the seven shinigami had left Hueco Mundo, but this had been directly in their base and they were unable to sense it before it was too late.

While she didn't want to get the King involved, it'd make her possibly having to admit that she had more power than she initially had. Not something she had wanted to do, but having the King angry at her could compromise her more-so. She'd tell the King because that's what she did, she didn't even understand how that woman got into the place in the first place.

She banged her fist against the door.

This will be pleasant. She thought sarcastically before entering the room. Yuna bowed gracefully when she entered the room. Sachio looked at her, his face mostly impassive but she could tell that he was curious about the reason behind her visit. She bowed longer than normal and when she raised herself she did it slowly.

Sachio said nothing.

"Milord, I must report something to you." Yuna began slowly.

The incline of Sachio's head told her to continue. "As you know the seven shinigami have left Hueco Mundo. We assume that they've given up on trying to retrieve the boy."

"Yes, they got close but didn't want to face the guards." Sachio replied.

"But someone snuck in." Yuna said quietly.

Sachio stared for a minute before he spoke again. "What?"

"I do not know who, and I am uncertain as to how."

"Well what did this person do?"

"Healed the prisoner." Yuna said meekly.

Sachio blinked, and this his face turned into one of pure anger. "They healed the prisoner?"

Yuna nodded. As expected Sachio wasn't pleased but he was taking it better than she thought that he would.

"They just snuck in?"

"Yes, milord."

Sachio slammed his hand down onto the table, and glared at Yuna. "Do you have any idea who they are?"

Yuna paused to think about it for a minute, pretending that she was thinking about the possibilities. She knew telling him that it was one of her "kind" would put her in a bad position, but him finding out that she knew could also look bad. She returned her gaze to her king. "The only people that I know of that can do something like this, they wouldn't. It isn't their style to be forgiving to mortals."

Sachio studied her, attempting to detect any untruth in her words. He was ready to punish her with the cruelest things he could think of, and he was a cruel man, but Yuna did not lie and he didn't want to punish the half-demon for nothing, so he sat down on his chair harshly.

"See what you can find out." He ordered.

Yuna bowed again. "Yes, milord."

She raised herself, nodding towards Sachio, and then spinning on her heel and leaving the small office. Once the door was closed she smirked. The king could be a complete fool at times, but he didn't' seem to question why there wasn't anyone backing up her story. She shrugged, sometimes mortals were too blind to see anything, even the great ones such as Sachio.

She didn't have time to dwell on mortal affairs, she needed to figure out how she was able to get into the keep without anyone noticing. Yuna grit her teeth and headed off to her wing of the castle, ready to strike at anyone who dares interrupt her.

Ta-da! Here's number twenty! I hope you enjoy the almost tidbits I'm giving you. I did enjoy the last part of the chapter. So I shall give you your preview and all of that?

Ichigo blinked confusedly. He was sure that he was in the midst of one of his torture sessions, and that the one that he was in lasted longer than it did, but all of the sudden it just stopped. He couldn't explain it. Not that he was complaining that they stopped, he just found it curious, but he was sure someone at one time told him not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The snowstorm was still blowing outside. While he was no longer receiving one of his bouts of torture, two things were stopping him from leaving. One being that he wasn't sure that he was done with these sessions, and the other being, he was still in incredible pain from all the sessions he had to relieve, so he wasn't in a hurry to get lost in the snow storm, again.

Whatcha think? Drooling over the next update? Well we'll see. Oh and by the way, this is only one arc in my bleach series. I have two in all XD. There will be a sequel to this, and then Arc number two starts! Yay! And I'm off! I guess I'll see you in a week or so, maybe earlier! Later! ~IF