Chapter 27

Silence. It was completely silent in the squad 10 building. Hitsugaya sat in a chair in front of a desk. His elbows on the desk and he sat his chin on his balled up fists. He looked in front of him at the two jail cells. A body laying inside each one. The only thing he could do was wait. Wait for something to happen. Wait for his chance to interrogate. Wait for his chance to understand more about this increasingly confusing situation.

He began to close his eyes. Hundreds of thoughts filled his mind. He could only guess what was really going on at the Sokyoku. As he thought more about it, one person came to his mind. One girl who was still in a bad situation. One girl who he failed to protect.

'Hinamori,' he thought to himself. 'Things just get worse and worse.' Just then, Hinamori's picture left his mind. He began thinking about when all the bad events started. He pictured one man that was the cause of it all. 'Aizen.' he thought. 'If you have anything to do with what's going on at Sokyoku, I swear I will make you pay!' The thought of Aizen also brung up his loyal followers. 'And the same goes to you two, Ichimaru and Tousen.'

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard rumbling. His eyes shot open and he concentrated on the cells. One of the boys were moving. Hitsugaya stood and walked over to get a better look.

"You are," he started to say. "the one I fought in the woods."

"Let me out of here!" Sasuke demanded.

"Sorry, but I have a few questions for you."

"And if I refused to answer them?" Sasuke asked.

Hitsugaya smirked. He turned around and walked over to the desk. He reached down and grabbed his zanpakuto that was laying next to it. "If you refuse to answer, then I can't guarantee that you will live."

Sasuke seemed unafraid, even after Hitsugaya's threat. "Fine then. Ask away, captain." He said with a annoyed look.

"Fine," Hitsugaya started as he walked back in front of Sasuke's cell. "Let's start off simple. Who are you?" he asked.

"Your worst nightmare." Sasuke replied.

Hitsugaya gave him a hard glare. He held his sword with his left hand. with his right, he slowly began unsheathing the blade. "Wrong answer, choose carefully the words that come out of your mouth next."

They both began giving each other fierce stares. They both looked as if they were ready to fight. "Who are you?" Hitsugaya repeated.

"Go to hell." Sasuke said sternly.

"Set upon the frosted heavens," Hitsugaya began.

"Sasuke." came a voice.

Sasuke looked to his side to see the other ninja leaning against the wall. Hitsugaya paused as he looked over at his other prisoner.

"His name is Uchiha Sasuke." Neji said.

"well look who finally wakes up." Sasuke said.

"Uchiha Sasuke huh." Hitsugaya repeated. "Well who are you?"

"Hyuga Neji, a member from the Hyuga clan in Konoha."

"Konoha?" Hitsugaya said in a confused tone.

"I suggest you keep you mouth shut!" Sasuke threatened as he turned his glare to Neji. Neji completely ignored him.

"Konoha is a village of ninja. It is in a dimension different from this one. The only reason why we came to Soul Society was to stop another evil ninja."

"Damn it Neji!" Sasuke yelled. He moved closer to Neji's cell. Neji continued to ignore him. Hitsugaya was trying to comprehend Neji's words.

"Me, and all the other Konoha ninja, are here to stop this madman from taking over." Neji turned and looked into Sasuke's angry eyes. "Sasuke works for this madman. His name is Orochimaru. He wants to destroy Our village and if he isn't stopped, he will destroy Soul Society as well."

There was a moment of silence afterwards. Hitsugaya was thinking about all of what he was told. Sasuke continued to glare evily at Neji.

Hitsugaya walked over and stood in front of Neji's cell. "How do I know..."

"if you can trust me?" Neji finished. "Well I didn't struggle when you captured me and it is clear that I am not on Sasuke's side. After all, I wasn't the one you fought in the forest was I?"

Hitsugaya stared into Neji's eyes and Neji returned the favor. Hitsugaya walked over to the desk and opened a drawer. He reached inside and pulled out a key. "I guess I can trust you, for now." he said.

"So what about me?" Sasuke said.

"You will not be released since you refused to give useful information."

"As Neji said, I'm a bad guy. I'm sure you already concluded that I can not be trusted. Would it matter if I did tell you information when you already didn't trust me?" Sasuke asked.

Hitsugaya said nothing as he looked at Sasuke.

"Thought so." Sasuke said as he quickly formed some hand signs.

"Stop him!" Neji shouted.

"Fireball Jutsu!" He shot out a ball of flames and aimed towards Hitsugaya. Sasuke saw ice come out right before the fire hit him. The ice cooled the fire and mist filled the air. There was so much, Hitsugaya could barely see in front of him. Then he heard a noise. The same noise he heard when he fought in the forest. It sounded like chirping birds. He knew it couldn't be good.

A flash of blue light came from Sasuke's cell. There was an explosion and dust overtook the mist. It was still hard to see but Hitsugaya saw the bars of the cell in front of him. As he focused his reiatsu and squeezed his sword, he made a few quick slashes and cut the bars to pieces.

As the dust finally dispersed, Hitsugaya saw a huge hole in the wall in front of him. Neji was still in his cell, dusting himself off. Hitsugaya clenched his teeth as he looked outside the hole. There was no one to be found. The ryoka escaped.

S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S

Kiba landed next to Akamaru, who already took his owner's human form. Akamaru looked over at Kiba who was drenched with water. They both looked ahead at their enemy. A captain too. Ukitake also looked at his two enemies.

"This guy has too good of a defense." Kiba stated. "We need a good opening so we can get in a hit." Akamaru barked a response.

"Are you ready to give in and tell me what you know?" Ukitake asked.

"If that means letting you capture me, then I don't think so." Kiba replied.

"That's too bad. I guess this fight will have to end with you death."

Kiba smirked at the statement. "Don't get cocky. This fight is just getting started." Using his beast technique, Kiba slowly moved towards Ukitake while standing on all fours. Akamaru joined him as he moved to his side. "Let's go, Akamaru."

They both began to spin at a very high speed. They flew towards Ukitake using their signature jutsu. "Gatsuga!" They split up and tried to attack from two different sides.

"That isn't going to work!" Ukitake raised his swords and a barrier of water surrounded him. They both crashed into the barrier and water flew everywhere. They pushed with all their might but they couldn't break through.

They both jumped back and Ukitake let down the barrier. Ukitake looked to his left and then to his right. A clone of Kiba on both sides. He heard the one on his left bark. He almost started staring at the strange boy but he couldn't let his guard down.

"Good idea, that just may work." The Kiba on his right said. "Alright, let's try this one more time." Both of the Kiba's began to attack again with the same jutsu.

"Why don't you try using a different attack?" Ukitake suggested. He brung up his barrier wall again and the Kiba's crashed into it once again.

"Now!" Kiba yelled. Even while spinning, he was about to drop a smoke bomb. Smoke immediately covered the area around Ukitake. Because he couldn't see, It was too dangerous for Ukitake to take down the water barrier.

'What are they planning?' he thought to himself. All of a sudden, he heard noise coming from above him. He looked up and saw the smoke began to spin. "That's a nice try but an aerial attack won't work either!" Ukitake held one of his swords up and water gathered around it. He turned the water wall into a complete water dome!

"Damn." Kiba crashed into the top of the dome and water flew out. Ukitake smirked. 'Too bad,' Kiba thought. 'but there's always a direction no one ever thinks of!'

Ukitake was so focused on Kiba above him, he barely noticed the ground below him begin to shake. As soon as he looked down, Akamaru flew upwards through the ground and crashed into Ukitake's chest.

"Way to go Akamaru!" Kiba stopped spinning and watched Akamaru attack. The water from the dome fell to the ground and Ukitake was launched into the air by Akamaru.

'I was careless.' The captain thought as he hit the ground. He slowly stood back onto his feet. As soon as he looked at his enemies, they flew forward ready to attack again. 'I will have to do it.' Ukitake thought to himself.

One of the two flew forward with their signature spinning attack. Ukitake held his sword up and his opponent crashed into it. Ukitake used all his strength to hold him back.

"You're going to need more than just your sword to hold us back." Kiba flew around to the other side and attacked from another angle. However, Ukitake was able to block with his other sword.

He was holding both of his swords tightly. A human tornado pushing on each one. 'We almost got him.' Kiba thought.

"It's time to end this." Ukitake said. Both of his swords began to glow. Then, electricity covered both of the blades. It then covered Akamaru and Kiba, electrocuting them both. They both stopped spinning and fell to the ground. Ukitake took a few steps back and looked at them both.

"What...did he...do?" Kiba said as he flinched from the pain. He looked over to Akamaru. He was covered by a puff of smoke and the small white dog laid there.

"If you thought water was my only method of attack, you are mistaken."

Ukitake stabbed both of his swords into the ground. The blades were covered with water and a huge amount of it spilled over the ground. Akamaru and Kiba were covered in water as well.

"This is your last chance to give up." ukitake warned. He held his two swords up and they began to glow with electricity. "You are already soaked with water. I can easily kill you both now."

Kiba looked up at the electrifying swords. Water conducts electricity. He was already soaked. There wasn't much he could do. He decided to put someone else in his shoes. What would his friends do? Then he thought of a certain blonde haired, demon having boy. What would his rival do?

'I have friends that I need to protect. I will protect them, no matter what! I never go back on my word and I will never let my friends suffer. That is my nindo, my ninja way!'

'Damn it.' Kiba thought to himself. 'Why couldn't you be a coward Naruto? That would make this a whole lot easier.' Kiba slowly stood to his feet. He took a step forward and Akamaru jumped into his jacket.

"Sorry buddy, I don't want you to follow me. Get to a high place, a place the electricity won't reach you." he said. Akamaru barked a response. "Thanks, good luck to you too buddy."

Akamaru jumped out of Kiba's jacket and ran in another direction. Kiba grabbed a kunai and charged straight for the captain.

"Give up! Don't be foolish!" Ukitake demanded.

"If doing whatever it takes to protect your friends is foolish, then you're looking at the craziest guy in the whole world!" Kiba yelled.

"Then I have no choice." Ukitake said. He gripped his electricity empowered swords and thrusted them towards the water.

"Stop it!" yelled a voice.

Before the swords hit the water, ice covered both of Ukitake's arms. 'Another enemy?' he thought.

"Don't do it, Captain Ukitake!"

Ukitake looked to the side and didn't see an enemy. It was another 13 protective guard warrior, his own subordinate no less.

"Kuchiki?" Ukitake said confused.

"Rukia!" Kiba said overjoyed.

Rukia ran over to Ukitake but Kiba stood his ground. "If you know that guy then now would be a great time to explain."

Ukitake broke free of the ice and stood in front of Rukia. "Tell me what's going on." he ordered.

"Yes captain," she said as she began to explain.

It didn't take long. Maybe five minutes tops. Kiba didn't want to move until he was sure Rukia had that captain under control. Of course, not long after Rukia began talking, Akamaru returned and jumped back into Kiba's jacket.

"And that's how this all started." Rukia finished.

"So these ryoka that invaded Soul Society,"

"Are only here to help us." Rukia finished. "To help us stop Orochimaru."

"And you say Yoruichi is also helping out?" Ukitake asked.

"Yes sir."

He took a minute to think about everything. Rukia waved her hand at Kiba, calling him over. He ran and stood next to Rukia and they both looked at Captain Ukitake.

"Okay," Ukitake started. "We need to go to the head captain's office and..." he was cut off.

"I have to look for Neji. Last time we seen him he was somewhere in this forest. I have to keep looking." Kiba said.

"And I need to help Ichigo." Rukia said. "You know how he can be without the proper guidance."

Ukitake took another look at the two determined faces before him. "Alright alright. Rukia, I assume you are going to head for Sokyoku?" She nodded. "Okay then be careful. You, Kiba was it?"

"Yeah." Kiba responded.

"If you continue to look through this forest more captains may try to attack you."

"But I have to try. I can't just..."

"So," Ukitake cut in. "if I help you look then I can change the mind of any captain you may run into."

"Thank you for understanding." Kiba said.

"Yes, thank you Captain Ukitake." Rukia said politely.

"Well then. We all know what we are going to do, lets get to it."

"Yes sir!" Rukia and Kiba shouted.

S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S

Orochimaru and Kabuto took a look at the two shinigami bodies in front of them. They were not dead. However, their eyes were shut and they clearly lost a lot of blood.

"That's two more shinigami that can't stand up to our strength." Orochimaru stated.

"Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto started. Orochimaru looked at him, he looked quite serious. "I think we should retreat. First off, Sasuke should've been here by now. Something must have happened to him."

"Kabuto, I had faith that you'd get here alive and Sasuke isn't any different."

"Secondly," Kabuto continued. "more captains are definitely on their way here. We can't keep this up for too long. We should search for Sasuke and retreat."

"Well well, I've never seen you this scared Kabuto. You've never been so bent on retreating before. I would take your advice if it wasn't for two things."

Kabuto clenched his teeth a little. He should have known that there's no changing Orochimaru's mind.

"First, I'm still waiting on an important call." Orochimaru made his usual evil smirk. "And second,"

Kabuto heard a noise. He turned around and looked at the edge of Sokyoku. A figure shot up into the air. He also saw some hands grabbing the edge of the cliff.

"we still have a few pests to eliminate." Orochimaru finished.

The figure that shot up was Ichigo. He fell down and landed on the edge of the cliff. He was already in his bankai state. He gave Kabuto and Orochimaru a few dark glares.

"I see the shinigami is back." Orochimaru said.

Naruto and Kakashi finally reached the top and climbed over the cliff. They rose to their feet and joined Ichigo by giving more death glares.

"The copy ninja and the brat." Kabuto said.

"You two are gonna pay!" Naruto yelled.

"Well it's three on two now. What are you going to do, Orochimaru?" kakashi asked.

"All I'm going to do is wait. You should be happy. You three still have a little time left to live."

"Bastard." Ichigo murmured.

Naruto was ready for combat. He could feel the Kyuubi chakra flowing through him already. "If you think we're going to let you stand there and insult us, you got another..." He stopped mid sentence. He heard a beeping noise. It was faint, but he knew he heard it. He turned to Kakashi and Ichigo. They had confused looks. They heard it too.

"Why don't you finish your sentence Kyuubi boy?" Orochimaru asked. "Was it because you heard this?" He reached into his pocket and pulled out something. They could tell that that is what was beeping.

"What is that thing." Kakashi asked.

"It looks...like a communicator." Ichigo said. "Rukia always had one when she was in the human world. It let her communicate with Soul Society and locate hollows."

"Why would Orochimaru want something like that?" Kakashi asked. Ichigo was just as confused as he was.

"Sorry but you are way off." Orochimaru said, looking at Ichigo. "You see this communicator is special. I can do more that just talk to Soul Society with this. I can talk to anyone."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto yelled.

Orochimaru began to laugh loudly. "With this I can talk to anyone! No matter what city, no matter what village, and...no matter what dimension they are in!" He pressed a button on the communicator and moved it close towards his mouth. "Do it!"

Then, right after Orochimaru spoke, a crack appeared in the sky. When it became large enough, a yellow beam was shot down. The ground shook as soon as it hit. It wasn't a beam that attacks, however. It was a barrier and it surrounded Sokyoku, trapping the five of them inside.

"No way." Ichigo said as he looked at the yellow walls surrounding him.

"What is this?" Naruto asked as got ready to punch the wall.

"Don't touch it!" Ichigo insisted. Naruto quickly lowered his fist.

"What is this?" Kakashi asked.

'Is this...negacion?' Ichigo thought. 'But that means...'

"Hello, everyone." said a voice. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Naruto and Kakashi looked confused, but Ichigo only hoped that it wasn't who he thought it was.

Another crack appeared. It cut the air right next to where Orochimaru was standing. The crack widened and the three could see inside it. As it widened, they saw a throne. The portal got bigger and they could see someone sitting on it. When the portal finally stopped, they could fully see the man sitting on the throne.

"Who is that?" Naruto wondered.

"No...no, damn it!" Ichigo yelled. "You again!" he said with extreme hatred.

"Who the hell is he?" Naruto asked.

"Who is that guy?" Kakashi asked.

Ichigo clenched his teeth as he looked into the man's eyes.

"Nice to see you again, Orochimaru." said the man. He took a look at the three people in front of him. "Well, it's nice to see you again as well, human ryoka boy."

to be continued...