admittance

The sun sat in the middle of the sky, marking noon to Earthia and its inhabitants. It shined its warm light down on a certain jungle where it peeped in through small openings in the canopies in some places, where in others its light is allowed in through much larger open spaces. The sound of vines and branches being cut echoed through the area closest to the southern entrance as Grimmjow led the way down the narrow path.

"We've been traveling through this jungle for hours! Where the hell is this temple?!" he shouted with annoyance as he used his Zanpakutō to cleave away the hanging greenery that obstructed his path.

Looking over the map in his hands, Ichigo remained calm, "I don't think it'll be much longer before we get there." He replied.

"You're awfully calm to say you have no endurance whatsoever for traveling." Grimmjow said over his shoulder.

Before he could reply, Ichigo spotted sparkling blue up ahead and smiled. There was a waterfall just ahead. It was on the map and was marked that the temple wasn't too far ahead. "Let's take a break." He finally stated.

…

Ignoring the obnoxious noises and splashes that Grimmjow made as he swam around in the water, that was not very deep at all, in pursuit of fish, Ichigo looked the map of Earthia over once more. It didn't hurt to be aware of where certain things were, and becoming familiar with the land could only prove to be beneficial in the end. From the looks of the map and the scale, it seemed like they'd be on their journey for quite a while. And while most of the temples seemed like they'd be easy to reach, there was one where there was just a circle on the ocean region to the far west. That must have been the Deep Sea temple… "How will we get to that one…?" he asked himself out loud.

As he looked over the circled temples on the map, he also wondered how Akako's father knew about them. The explanation for that was most likely because he lived in a village that contained a temple and knew Wabisuke, so it was plausible that he'd been told about the other temples scattered across the continent.

Looking back to the red circle on the ocean, he started wondering how they'd reach it if it was actually under the sea. And also, he wondered what kind of trial they would be facing… Starting off facing darkness wasn't the most encouraging. In fact, it made him lose his initial bravery that he had when he first started this trip. Humans really were so vulnerable to their desire for power and the darkness that dwells in the human soul…

"Kurosaki, do you want a fish?!" Said boy looked up and saw Grimmjow walking over to him without his clothes on and carrying a very large fish under his arm. "Answer when someone asks you a question." Grimmjow said as he put the fish down in front of the fire kindling.

"Sorry… I was lost in thought…"

"…" Grimmjow took a seat in front of the kindling with his back to Ichigo.

With that stub of a left arm showing, Ichigo couldn't help but feel bad for Grimmjow… but only to a certain extent. He had brought that punishment on himself with his selfish and reckless behavior.

Still, he promised him he'd ask Inoue to heal it for him, and that's exactly what he intended to do. And with Inoue waiting for him at the end of this daunting journey, he found more courage to keep carrying on. Plus, Grimmjow was here and seemed like a nice powerhouse to have, so he let his fears and insecurities go.

She was waiting for him to come for her. There was far too much riding on the success of this trip to fail.

"Are you offering to catch me a fish?" he finally asked. "You're being nice?"

"If I haven't told you before, I'll tell you now. I'm going to return to Los Noches at full power and take my place as an Espada again. Then I can take the others down and become the ruler of the kingdom. I can't do that without my arm, so I need you to stay alive to see it happen. You're clearly incapable of taking care of yourself, so I'll help you when I can." Grimmjow said without turning around to face the boy.

Ichigo blushed a little. At first, he was flattered and felt like Grimmjow actually cared about him. Then he got the actual message from what he'd just been told. Grimmjow just wanted to keep him alive so he could get his arm back. Selfish as usual. "I guess you can catch one for me if you want."

"Start a fire so you can cook them."

"Oh… so that's what this is? You'll scratch my back if I scratch yours?"

"Call it what you want."

"You don't know how to cook, do you?" Ichigo teased. It felt much like that time back in Los Noches when he cooked for Pantera. Grimmjow always had food delivered to his quarters, meaning he probably had no clue how to cook for himself. He was so needy it was almost cute.

"Shut your filthy mouth." Grimmjow spat, and then got up and went back over to the sparkling water.

"…As I thought… there's no reason for me to tell him something useless like how I feel about him. He's only interested in becoming a king, just using me like a stepping stool to reach that point." The orange-head spoke under his breath.

…

Finishing the fish Grimmjow had caught, which he had not cooked or even offered to help cook, Ichigo put the bones down on the ground beside him and looked around the area, noting just how surrounded the two of them were by the jungle. There was so much green and so many vines hanging that it was nearly overwhelming. Grimmjow, after finishing his fish, was swimming around in the water, making it near impossible to concentrate since he was naked. It was a little strange that he liked swimming so much considering his spirit animal was a panther who detested water.

"Come to think of it, I wonder where Nelliel and Pantera are…" he said quietly. Now he was starting to wonder if the two of them had even made it out of the kingdom. Grimmjow assured him that he would be fine, but Ichigo still had his worries.

Though, she assured him she would meet up with him soon. That's what he was holding on to. For some reason, he trusted her completely even despite knowing so little about her.

A rustling in the bushes caused him to turn around quickly to see what was coming their way. Two people, very strange-looking and different in appearance, were stepping out from the bushes and approaching him. The shorter one was connected to the taller one by way of a chain and collar around his neck.

"He looks like an idiot." The shorter of the two said.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked with an orange eyebrow raised.

"The question isn't who we are. It's who are you? You and your friend are the ones trespassing in our territory. We have the right to kill you, you know." The taller one replied. She seemed much calmer and more mature than the shorter one.

When he noticed the taller one who had just spoken resembled a baboon with pastel light green fur and the other was short and was very snake-like with short red hair, Ichigo realized that the two of them were copies of the spirits of Renji's Zanpakutō, Zabimaru. "They must be the guardians of the temple region." He thought.

"What are you doing here?" the short boy asked.

"We're not looking for trouble… We're just here to collect the crystal of the jungle." Ichigo replied calmly.

"And just why should we let you take the crystal from our temple?!"

"I… I'm just trying to bring my friend home… The king won't hear my request without these crystals. Look, I've already managed to get one…" Ichigo answered, and then reached into his bag and pulled out the Crystal of Darkness.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" the two spirit copies shouted in unison.

Grimmjow casually got out of the stream and walked over to where Ichigo was then stood beside him. "Who the hell are they?" he asked.

"For goodness sake, put some clothes on!" the snake-like boy shouted while covering his eyes.

"You dare defile our jungle with your filthy nudity?!" the baboon persona asked aggressively.

Cerulean eyes moved down to the white Zanpakutō lying on the ground, ready to grab it and strike at a moment's notice.

"Wait! We're not trying to make trouble here! We just want to get into the temple!" Ichigo said, and then picked up Grimmjow's Zanpakutō before he stood up with it defensively in front of the nude Arrancar to hide his nudity.

"You know what, fine. We'll let you reach the temple. You're actually not far from it. But you fools will never make it out of there alive." The baboon-like woman said. "Since you were able to sway that introverted and mistrustful guy Wabisuke out of his crystal, I suppose you cannot be all bad."

"Really?"

"It'll count for naught when you're dead inside the temple!" the snake-boy shouted.

"Go on. Go straight to your deaths. You're not worth my time, so I'll let the beasts inside the temple deal with you."

"Thank you." Ichigo said. Turning to Grimmjow, he blushed and avoided looking down. "Get your clothes and put them on so we can go."

"You're not the boss of me. Don't order me around." The man responded with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

When Ichigo and Grimmjow headed on their way, the snake-boy waved them off. "Have fun dying!" he said with a smile.

Emerging from pure green vegetation, Ichigo came to a stop when he saw the temple come into view. It was pressed into the land, a small depression really, and surrounded on three sides by various fauna. Notably, it was carved in stone. The aesthetic design seemed fairly Egyptian and Aztecan at the same time. He was so astounded by its beauty and the fact that it was almost embedded in the jungle that he stood there just staring at it, unaware of the man coming up on him.

"Losing your balls already, eh?" Grimmjow's raspy voice came in his ear.

"Shut up…"

"Are you that faint-hearted that you'd be scared off by the babblings of a bimbo and a brat?"

Without turning his attention from the massive temple, Ichigo responded to Grimmjow. "Well, they seemed pretty sure we were going to die… Those are manifestations of Renji's Zanpakutō, so I don't take them as seriously as I should, but still… Maybe we should tread carefully…" he said.

"Oh yeah? Just what the hell do you think could be so worrisome that we-"

A strange sound suddenly echoing lightly on the wind made Grimmjow stop and pay attention to what it was that was approaching. The sound grew more audible in mere seconds until the large creature became visible. Or, that should be creatures. Ichigo ducked a bit so he wouldn't be seen. Since Grimmjow was standing behind him and still hidden beneath the trees, he did not move.

A swarm of gargantuan bees, ones at least twice as big as Pantera was, flapped their wings and made their way straight to the large temple just ahead of Ichigo and Grimmjow. Through the entrance on the ground level they entered, disappearing one by one into the dark passageway, until they were gone.

Grimmjow's electric eyes were a bit wider than usual. "That's what we have to deal with?" he asked.

A shiver ran up Ichigo's spine, "Oh crap…" he whispered.

"What?"

"If… if those are just drones… imagine… how big the queen is going to be…"