Grimmjow snapped himself awake. He was hanging from the blade, now less that a mile from the surface, but his whole body was drained. He clung to the hilt that had begun to slip through his fingers as he lost consciousness even as he climbed. It had been at least twenty hours, the sun had risen and set and was now nearing the point it had been when he started. But his mind was so hazy he couldn't even be sure it was just one day that had past. Maybe it had been two.

There was no point in thinking about it, he had to struggle through or die. If his hand slipped and he was separated from Zizimu the blade would turn solid and he would be hung on the chain of his soul in the most painful death imaginable. If nothing else, that was an incentive not to let himself fade.

He wrenched the blade out again and just before he slipped back into the abyss he shoved off the wall and jump upward. He'd lost his shoes hours ago, opting for the better grip that came with bare feet. Now, in the last leg, his soles were raw and sore, but at least it was another sensation to keep him awake.

It still took him two more hours to get to the top. The sun was at high noon, he could feel its rays reaching him and he knew he just had to hold on a little longer. Finally there was only one more jump before the lip of the pit. With a mighty heave he let Zizimu fade back to his heart and leapt. He just barley got an arm around the top edge, then the other and remained panting, still hanging over the edge. It took him a long moment to realized there was another present.

"You know I've been waiting for you for more than ten hours." It was the voice of the soul reaper who had pushed him down the pit. " I sensed you last night, could hardly believe it. Where's your sword, I heard you using it to climb, it's the only way. How did you get it? I'm just dying to know."

Grimmjow didn't look at him. He tried to heave the rest of his body out of the hole but the soul reaper stepped on his left hand with a sick crunch. Girmmjow didn't even have the energy to acknowledge the pain.

"You can tell me now or I can kick you back in, your choice."

Grimmjow faced him. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was slicked down to his head by sweat and blood and every inch of his skin was covered in a dry crust of the fluids of every hollow he'd killed at the bottom of the pit. When he stared back at the soul reaper it was a stare filled with the absolute deepest loathing that can be conveyed by a simple glare.

"Back into the pit is it then? I'll try to get you some new company soon." the sandalled foot was on his head, pushing backward. Grimmjow grabbed it with his right hand and, ignoring the screaming pain from the broken bones of his left hand, dug his fingers into the ground. The soul reaper realized his mistake too late and fell flat as he lost his balance. A second later his body was sliding over the edge of the gap, Grimmjow taking in every inch of his horror-stricken face as he plunged downward. The soul reaper caught his ankle for a moment but his grasp slipped and he fell head long into the dark. Grimmjow was jolted downward by the momentary added weight and he only caught the edge with his fingers. His left hand soon slipped and he was only hanging on by his right.

"Zizimu.." but he didn't have the strength to summon the blade again. He tried desperately to get a hold with his left again but the movement only threatened to dislodge his right.

"Damn them all." He muttered and felt a hot tear stray out his eye. His index finger slipped, then the next. He closed his eyes waiting for the last to go but something warm closed over his fingers, then it trailed lower and grasped his wrist. He looked up to see a bright pink head of hair blocking out the sun and leaning care-free over the abyss, both hands now tightly clamped around his wrist.

"Yachiru..."

"What are you doing down there?" She said yanking with force far greater than her small body should possess. His head was suddenly above the ground and with another yank he was lying flat out on the earth, the sun beating down on him. He didn't move for several minutes, the small girl had fallen with him but seemed contented to sit beside him. His entire body was trembling but very slowly he pushed himself up. If he let himself drift now he wouldn't wake for hours.

"Where's Rangiku?"

"Still locked up!"

"Okay," he panted and let the girl help him stand. "Let's bust her out and get the Hell out of here."

"Aye Aye!" Grimmjow stumbled back to the place he'd been held prisoner. They encountered a few soul reapers that he blasted with ceros, though he hadn't the strength to summon killing blows, or so Zizimu convinced him. Yachiru occasionally spun off into frenzied battles but he couldn't follow their speed with his tired eyes. They always ended the same though and Yachiru would return to him without a scratch. Kenpachi had trained her well.

Eventually they were inside. Grimmjow was now blasting anything that moved as he made his way down the corridors. He came to the cell, thankfully, she was still there.

"Grimmjow!"

"Get back." he blasted the door wide open and she ran to catch him as he fell. That had been the last of his strength, he had been hanging on until he found her but now he had nothing left. Yachiru appeared with Haineko in her hands.

"Oh Yachiru you're the best!" She strapped her zampakuto around her waist and shifted Grimmjow's weight to one shoulder. "Come on, just a little further." his head slumped on her shoulder but his legs kept moving when she guided him down the hall and out into fresh air. Everything was a haze to him as they stumbled through alleyways and corridors until finally they were at the eastern gate. It was easily opened from the inside and with no more need for stealth Rangiku grabbed Grimmjow under the arms and disappeared in a flash step with Yachiru hot on her heals.

The two girls didn't stop until the Seireitei was too far to see. They were moving North along a river and halted when Rangiku could go no further. Grimmjow was unconscious and Rangiku set him down. She lay next to him feeling her own consciousness drifting and even Yachiru's seemingly endless bounds of energy seemed to be failing her. Rangiku passed out along side Grimmjow, and Yachiru climbed in between them and fell asleep herself.

Grimmjow felt the teeth closing down on his torso, not only cutting deep into his flesh but crushing his bones. He screamed but the noise was lost in the hundreds of other screams from the swarming bodies all around him. He would die in this pit, nothing more than a hollow.

It was pitch black when Grimmjow woke sitting bolt upright. He felt countless injuries and every muscle screaming at him. His body was not ready to be awake yet but he couldn't shake the nightmare. He felt the heat of the two women's bodies beside him and reached out to make sure they were actually there. Rangiku stirred under his touch but didn't wake, she was exhausted too. It was then that he realized they were too far from the Seireitei to even see it, and she had carried him all that way.

He sat panting. He felt the sticky grime of the filth that had dried onto his body and suddenly needed to feel clean. He couldn't see the river but he could hear it and he drug himself to its edge. First he drank deep. The clouds cleared a bit and he could see the shimmer of the surface of the water as it reflected starlight. When he'd quenched his thirst he plunged himself into the icy waters.

He scrubbed every spec of that horrible place off his body then his clothes. He had nothing dry to change into so he put his wet boxer shorts back on but lay his jacket and pants on the shore to dry. He shivered in the night's cold and looked back to the warm bodies of the girls. He swallowed his pride and lay next to them again to try to share some of their heat. As if aware of his discomfort, Yachiru rolled closer to him, like a child to its parent, and he could not deny in his heart that it was a comforting sensation. His eyes drooped but he snapped them open again, someone needed to keep watch after all.

"Let me, master." He did not think the tiger would have the strength, nor he, but Zizimu manifested beside him, adding more warmth along his back and with his strength outside his body there was nothing to keep Grimmjow in the waking work. His head sunk to the ground and he was asleep.

The next time he woke it was late afternoon and he felt warm. It might even have been cozy if pain didn't wrack so many parts of his body. He was slightly propped up by something warm and soft...and purring. His head whipped to one side and he saw white fur.

"Zizimu."

"Stay still master, rest." Grimmjow looked down and saw a black robe covering him.

"Good Morning!" Rangiku said and her head appeared over the river bank. He shut his eyes just in time. "Oh don't be such a prude. Here!"

He didn't open his eyes but he felt fabric land in a pile beside him and realized it was his clothes. A second later the robe was whipped off his body and he flinched at the sudden loss of heat, regretting the motion a second later as it caused pain throughout his body.

"You can open your eyes now!" He wearily peeled one lid back then the other when he knew it was safe and as quickly as his sore body would allow, put his pants back on. Rangiku looked down on him in amusement but said nothing about his embarrassment. "I was just about to check on your bandages. Yachiru actually did them, she was the first one awake, well, other than your midnight bath. I didn't think you'd be awake again for hours."

"Yeah, well, I just had to get the stench of that place off of me."

"I..." her eyes fell to the ground. "Zizimu told me what happened and how you got out. You guys are pretty incredible." She tried to smile but failed. "I'm sorry that happened."

He tried to pass it off but he too failed. The memory was still to fresh.

"Is Yachiru getting food?"

"Yeah, but we're pretty far from anywhere so it will take her a while to get back. She already got the bandages but she was in too much of a hurry to get food."

"I see."

Rangiku silently checked all his wounds. His back and chest were covered with a crescent of deep cuts surrounded by the bruises from the force of the teeth cutting into him. Fortunately, unlike his dream they had not broken his bones. Still there was a dangerous gash at his neck and his left hand had suffered several broken bones from the cruel soul reaper. Last she checked his feet. The bottoms were raw and red from where he'd gripped the wall. He wouldn't be walking comfortably for quite some time.

"One day..." he murmured as Rangiku did her work.

"What?"

He opened his half closed eyes. "One day I am going to wake up after a normal night's sleep without a million different injuries and in my own time zone."

She smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, you've had it pretty rough lately."

"What about you, are you okay?" Her eyes dropped from his face and she looked back to his feet.

"Mhmm."

He sat up as much as his muscles would allow. "Rangiku, are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You're lying."

She sighed.

"What happened? Did they question you?"

"Yes."

"And...?"

"I just kept waiting to see the Head Captain and, I don't know, make him understand or something but he wasn't there, it was central 46, except not the central 46 I know. It was five guys in a room– the first, they said, of the forty six that would eventually rule the Soul Society. They've probably only been soul reapers for a few years but they had all the power in the absence of the Head Captain. I just...they just treated me like–"

"An outsider. Like a threat."

"Yeah." she said with another long sigh. "I guess my faith in the Seireitei was just shaken a little. It just drove home that we might be in the same place as the Soul Society we know, but that place is really so far away, somewhere I'm afraid we can't get back to."

"Oh believe me, I'm getting back there, even if I have to wait a thousand years."

"Because that's where Rin is?"

"Exactly."

"Hmm, I guess Captain would miss me. He needs me, he just doesn't always realize it. So I really need to get back too."

"And I can't wait to see Kenny again! And see all his cool new tricks with his sword!" Yachiru said, arriving with a bundle under her arm.

"Yeah, well maybe he'll figure it out and get us out of here."

"Of course he will." Yachiru said indignantly and suddenly Grimmjow understood why she was so cheerful. She'd been banking on this the entire time and she had no doubt in her mind that her Kenny would rescue her.

"So she remembers nothing." Toshiro gripped his tea cup tightly as he sat facing Kokaku. They were alone in a private room while the others had their tea in the common room. Rin had gone to bed, it was best she not get involved until the situation was more clear.

"No. But her soul seems too. That's how I found her. Zizimu provided me with the information I needed to track her. I was shocked to feel that intense of an outburst in such a young transitionary soul but it allowed me to find her. She was momentarily weakened by the strain but not as much as I would have expected."

"Could her soul have been strengthened from all those years living as an immortal?"

"Undoubtably. It is the only explanation. Urahara agrees."

"So you are in contact, good."

"That's why you came, is it not?"

"I was seeking help and he was my first thought, but I would never be able to do it on my own, the Head Captain would find out. But I knew you must have contact with him. He has helped me with a similar situation before."

"Yes I've heard of your trip through time last year. You've had quite a few adventures since then, young captain. Quite the prodigy indeed."

"Not many were enjoyable experiences, and that's not what matters now. I need to find my friends."

"Alright little Captian, no more idle talk. Come with me." She lead him to the basement, chalked the signs on the walls and called Urahara. He had already been informed on the situation and his news was grave.

"I'm afraid the situation is different from when Tessai sent you through time. We knew the time and place. In this instance, we know neither. I cannot help you. Your only chance is through Kenpachi."

"There must be something. It could take Kenpachi years to master his bankai."

"I am sorry."

Toshiro heaved a long sigh. "Thank you any way Urahara."

"Toshiro, remember that Zizimu is the king. Eventually he will be powerful enough to bend even the laws of time."

"But how long will that take?"

There was a hesitation then a sigh. "Well, have you considered calling Karin and Koorizimu?"

"Yes, but I promised Ichigo I wouldn't get Karin involved again."

"Like it or not, it is her choice, not Ichigo's, and not yours. Sooner or later, the Head Captain will make the decision for all of you. He may not like Grimmjow, but he must not risk losing the King either. It is very dangerous, if any of them die outside of the natural cycle, they might be lost forever, never to be reincarnated in any form ever again."

"Can Koorizimu find them?"

"Its impossible to say, but maybe if they can establish a connection, like they do when travelling between dimensions. It ought to work on the same principal."

"Right...Urahara, could other people establish such connections?"

"Like who?"

"Zizimu and Hyorinmaru?"

"Perhaps..."

"And Zaraki and Yachiru."

There was a pause.

"A three way connection. The bond would be strengthened if it was three and three. But you'll have to change your pairings a bit."

"What do you mean?"

"You and Grimmjow share a bond, but not as strong as his and Rin's. And you share a powerful bond with your lieutenant, no? If you, Rin and Zaraki concentrate on your respective pairs, and pool your spiritual power, your chances would increase."

"Then that's what we'll do. Try to shield Koorizimu for now. If this fails, I'll ask Karin for help myself."

"Good luck."