A/n: Thanks for the reading, reviews, follows and favourites. It was Suki's birthday yesterday, and I would've posted if I had a chance to. Also, I read the Bleach chapter today and I'm ready to die. I mean. Come on Kubo! It's getting exciting and awesome all at once and don't get me started on the cliffhangers. Stop trolling us-!

Ahem. Sorry about that massive rant...

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its plot. The only ones I own are the badass Kobayashi Suki, the spunky Mizushima Kei and Ukeire Atsushi for number 1 jerk :D

I will warn that there may be errors, don't let that you stop from reading the chapter

Chapter 45

If she hadn't been so distracted by the headache, Suki would've been bored by the consistent background. Ever since Rukia and Renji joined up on the task, there had been no signs of hollow ambushes. But Suki wasn't complaining about the hollows – after all, she was sick and tired of obstacles in the path.

Sparing a glance towards the silent quincy, Suki wondered to herself why she had felt strange about talking to him. Chad, Ichigo, Rukia and Renji didn't affect her this way at the moment. She wasn't much of a talker in the first place, but whenever he so much showed concern for her, it made her feel slightly relieved.

Maybe she was getting sick of this damn desert to the point she started feeling weird. It was the only explanation she could come up with.

Before Suki could dwell on her distraught any further, a growl from Bawabawa made her shoot her head up to glance at the castle from up close. Her amber eyes slightly widened at the sheer size of the building before her scowl deepened once again.

"This is it," Suki realised out loud. From here on out was the true challenges; Yammy, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra and far more powerful opponents. She knew that there were meant to be ten of the espada, and they were on par with the taicho, if not then stronger.

"It looks like it," Ichigo agreed as the hollow pulled himself into a halt and allowed the group to jump to the ground.

Suki's boots kicked up sand, displeasing the silver haired female. However there were a thousand thoughts in her head at the moment, Suki wasn't the thinker and preferred to act. But Suki realised her direct thoughts as she sized up Las Noches with a determined glare.

No matter what, Orihime was going to be pulled out of this dump.

"We're here, eh?" Uryu stepped down to take a look at the walls in front of them.

Rukia placed a hand on the wall, observing the wall with a frown. "But what are we going to do about this wall? It doesn't look like it's made of Sekkiseki-"

Ichigo cut Rukia's conversation off with a scowl. "If it isn't Sekkiseki, then we can blow this wall into bits!" He grabbed his blade, looking towards Renji with a smirk. "Come on Renji, and let's smash this thing!"

"Don't act like you're running the show here idiot!" Renji retorted, as he withdrew his weapon and released Zabimaru without a command. The two males powered up their attacks with their reiatsu spiralling through their zanpakuto's before they sent their weapons into the wall. As soon as the blades made contact with the wall, it crumbled down like fragile glass and left a large hole in the middle of the castle. The amount of power that the shinigami pair forced was terrifyingly powerful. Their newly made hole was probably the size of a house.

Ichigo frowned, leering forward to observe the damage that he made, "Did we manage to breaking it down?"

It was Suki who immediately inspected the crumbling rock briefly. "Kurosaki," She said coolly and turned back to face him who returned her scowl. "It looks deep... we should be careful since we don't know how much you've taken down."

"Don't worry about it," Renji spoke up which interrupted to conversation, "I can feel a breeze from the other side, so it would be safe to say we managed to take it down." For once, he wasn't acting like a complete fool that Suki was use to. What the hell happened with him?

"Wh-What did you just do?!"Hearing the child's voice, Suki turned over to see Nel looking towards the destroyed wall in horror. Pesche and Dondochakka were quivering at the brute force that the pair of shinigami owned. "You can't just start smashing walls! There's a door thwee days from here in that direction!" When she pointed towards a random direction, Suki raised an eyebrow in confusion. Didn't this kid already establish that they were the 'bad guys'? But then again, it wasn't like the espada would return the favour if they went to the entrance.

"This isn't our friend's house dummy," Ichigo voiced Suki's thoughts out loud as he scowled towards the little girl. "So we can't just waltz through the front door."

Besides, it wasn't like stealth was their thing. Suki used to be a stealthy kid back in the day since she broke into houses. But since she stopped with the crimes, she hadn't exactly been the most 'stealthy' fighter. Especially when she fought Yoruichi. Uryu was the strategist, Chad and Renji were the muscle, Rukia was the noble, Ichigo was the 'wannabe leader' and Suki was the badass with a daring attitude towards everyone.

"Come on then," Ichigo's voice distracted Suki and she blinked out of her thoughts. Why on earth did she keep spacing out like this? It wasn't like her to be the thinker – why did she have to get so sidetracked?

Kei must've rubbed on her.

Suki immediately scowled at the thoughts of having the caramel haired female on her. She kept to herself, determined not to trip like the shinigami and made her way into the castle. She went past Ichigo and Renji, who shot a small glare at the silver haired female. They were definitely the two strangest friends; Suki never thought she would share a friendship with him.

"Thanks for bringing us this far guys," Ichigo uttered towards the small group which made the hollows pause from their panic attack over the destroyed wall. Suki paused as well, raising an eyebrow towards the carrot top. It wasn't like Suki could properly understand why the hollows helped in the first place but once again, Suki wasn't complaining.

"If you involve yourselves with us any more than you already have, you'll be considered traitors so this is goodbye." He gave a look towards his comrades, which made them nod in agreement and dash deeper into the ruins of the castle.

Well, at least there were no more kids that they had to deal with –

"Wait Itsygo!"

But Suki thought too soon. Ichigo had given the scariest scowl at the thought of the child constantly screaming out like a brat, "That damn kid..." He looked like he was ready to kill himself before saving Orihime.

"Nel and her bwothers was alweady twaitors when Lunuganga-sama saw us!" The girl cried rushing towards Ichigo who was still scowling in annoyance, "Maybe even before! Maybe Aizen-sama already saw us together!" Then why didn't Aizen bother flicking them away? He was the bad guy wasn't he? He acted as if he was the superior Kami and nearly killed Ichigo with one swing of his blade. But what if Aizen intended on bringing them, as if Orihime was the bait? "If you don't take us, I'll start cwying!"

Ichigo trembled due to his rage and finally snapped at the wailing child with a yell, "Alright, I get it so stop crying!"

"Limp dick!"

Wow, Suki never thought that she would ever see a kid call Ichigo... a limp dick. Obviously, Ichigo wasn't going to shrug her off and instead he bristled, "Hey!" His snarl widened, "I'm not a limp dick!"

Rukia stared blankly at the two, hoping that they would quieten down. "Why are you shouting?" She asked blandly and kept a suspicious gaze between the arguing pair. Whatever Nel had screamed out in reply, it had made Ichigo lose his edge.

"I said shut up already!"

"Whoa calm down Kurosaki." Suki grabbed Ichigo's shoulder and he was panting heavily. She barely saw Ichigo this mad since... ever really. What did the kid say to him? "What the hell are you overreacting about?"

"Shut up and don't bring it up again," Ichigo hissed and stormed into the castle like a brat. Suki wasn't sure how to react, letting Ichigo storm past her without a word of protest. Nel looked rather smug and hummed to herself with her brothers as they followed the kid as if she was the leader.

"Kuchiki..." Suki spoke up and gained Rukia's attention, "What on earth did the kid call Ichigo?"

Rukia's cheeks flushed slightly before she whispered the answer in Suki's ear. Her amber eyes widened for a moment and a snort of amusement escaped her lips. It was too late to stop it, and Ichigo appeared to know that Suki was talking about him. He shot his own glare back at Suki and she smirked mockingly. She couldn't believe that Ichigo was suddenly called such thing by a child.

They began to start off their journey and Suki ran behind Uryu. Even though it was pitch black, she could see hints of his white clothing and could sense his reiatsu in front of her. In fact, that was the only reason why she managed to keep a distance from the quincy in order to not bump into him.

As they ran through the path like it was forever, Ichigo let out an annoyed groan, "This is definitely a thick wall." He complained, looking around the walls with a scowl forming on his face, "How long does this thing go? And it's so dark that I can't even see anything."

A scoff that came from the front made Suki scowl. She could recognise that the scoff came from Renji which was never a good sign. "Well then, I guess I have no choice then," The redhead declared with his pride kicking in, "You guys should just leave this to me!"

Suki was definitely suspicious.

So was Ichigo and judging his tone, it had more suspicion that Suki had. And Suki was overly cautious about the redhead. "What sort of plan do you have in your sleeve?"

"Just shut up and watch Ichigo!" Renji sneered, raising his hands in front of his face. Somehow that didn't make Suki feel better at all. Instead she kept her frown on her face, "You can use kido in situations like this if you tweak it a bit."

Okay, Kei was the one that was good at kido. But Suki never really saw Renji use kido during their training time together, so it was dangerously clear that he wasn't good at kido. Not one bit. Next time Suki asked Kei, she swore to herself to ask the caramel haired female about Renji's kido skills.

Now seemingly proud with his idea, the reiatsu around Renji's hand had stirred slightly as he began to form the kido, "Hado thirty-one, Shakkaho!" At first, Suki couldn't see it but she managed to catch a glimpse of Renji's form. She appeared next to Renji to have a look at this so-called kido only to sweat drop at the sight. A faint red light emitted from Renji's hand which made Suki squint her eyes at the marble sized kido.

"Oh I think I can... wait no, that's not what I thought it was..." Suki spared a glance at the kido with a flat expression. Renji's cheeks went as red as his hair at the embarrassment. "I still can't see whatever the hell you were showing... your kido must be broken."

"Well Abarai, I must agree with Kobayashi-san... that is a pretty small light," Uryu uttered as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "I never thought you would've been a conservative time." The thing was, Suki actually agreed with Uryu.

Rukia looked rather smug as she called him out, "That's what you get fool – you know you're bad at kido yet you still try to be cool by skipping the chant!"

"Don't worry about it," Ichigo gave a teasing grin as he placed his hand on Renji's shoulder, "We can follow the path because of the brightness of your red hair." He chuckled at the thought. "You should know how it goes, Rudolph with his nose so bright-!"

"Yeah, real freaking funny," Renji gave a dry laughter before he swatted his friend's hand away. "Put a sock in it carrot-top!"

Even after Renji's humiliation, they had made it into the castle walls and they paused around the area. Suki kept her eyes around the scene with a frown. First with the white and now the darkness; she really hated this place at the moment. If there was some sign of light, it was only Renji's failure of a kido and that barely gave off any light.

"It seems that we've finally made it through," Uryu observed with a frown, looking around the black room.

"Of course this place is dark too," Chad finally uttered as he looked around the room with a frown.

Suki scowled in annoyance as she eyed the area around her. "I hope it isn't like this in the whole damn castle." Her eyes caught the attention of a light in the distance and she felt relief flood her system. It wasn't Renji's crappy kido, so it was the obvious thing, there was a light.

The group silently headed towards the room, frowning at the flames that showed the six individual paths to take. Now Suki stared back at the paths with a frown. How on earth would they know that Orihime was in one of these? And why was there coincidentally six path ways in the room?

"It's rather strange to have crossroads," Uryu noted with a scowl, glaring at a single path from his position.

"What a pain in the ass spot to end up in," Renji complained as he folded his arms in annoyance. When he disposed of the kido was a mystery to Suki, but she didn't really get so sidetracked with those kinds of thoughts. No, Suki had her attention on trying to locate on her friend's reiatsu. Wherever Orihime was, Suki had to make sure they chose the right thing.

"Nel," Ichigo muttered towards the surprisingly quiet girl. For a moment there, Suki thought she had gotten lost while they were running. "It seems that this place is going to be goodbye for real." As if it was a cue, the heavy reiatsu from each room leaked out like it had a dangerous and powerful opponent in each. "This reiatsu up ahead, is a bit heavy for you to be able to withstand!"

"There are six paths ahead," Chad grunted as he stared back at the rooms.

Uryu nodded in agreement, observing the paths with a concerned frown crossing over his face. "Are we going to have to go through one room at time starting from the end?"

"Maybe we should split into two groups," Suki suggested and crossed her arms over her chest. When Uryu sent her a surprised look, Suki pressed on. "At least then we could go twice as fast. We would able to keep going if there's an espada in here."

"No that would take far too long," Rukia finally spoke, and it was Suki's turned to look at the Kuchiki. She could read the hint of seriousness in her eyes as Rukia explained her intentions, "Each of us will take one path at the same time – that's the only way."

That actually sounded better than Suki's idea anyways. Especially since Suki never expected Rukia of all people to suggest their split up. It was far more dangerous, but they came here to rescue Orihime – not because of danger. Finally Suki nodded in agreement. "Yeah... that idea's better."

"What the heck are you two saying?!" Ichigo interrupted Suki's thoughts as he snapped back at the women, glaring at them with a flash of concern in his eyes. "We should stick together because we're up against the Espada, if we spread out-!"

Renji had already stepped in between the duo with a grave expression. "Knock it off Ichigo, if you show concern for a warrior's life on the battlefield then it's an insult to that warrior." Suki's eyes slightly widened at the sudden change of attitude in Renji. Renji was standing over Ichigo with a stern scowl on his face and Ichigo had the same amount of surprise that Suki did. He really meant it; Renji cared for Rukia just as much as Ichigo did and he was letting her fight on her own. Renji must've really trusted her abilities.

"It's sounds like you're saying that because you're worried about me," Rukia calmly commented, staring at her friend directly in the eyes. "That's not like you Ichigo, I told you to not worry about me and you know very well that I didn't come here so I could be protected by you!"

The answer seemed to snap the carrot top out of the daze; he had let out a heavy sigh. "Alright then – we'll each take a different path."

Now falling into silence, Suki looked up on path with a hard gaze. They were splitting up, just like Soul Society. However this time it was clearly by choice, Suki didn't think it was a good idea on terms for survival but she knew that this was for Orihime.

"Hey!" Renji announced with a grunt, making Suki pause and the group look towards him. "Now let's do a little chant before we go on!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Renji's words. "A chant?"

"Yeah, you do it before a decisive battle," Renji explained as he put a hand in front of him in the air awkwardly. "It's almost like a tradition in the Gotei thirteen but lately it's gone out of style and almost no one does it. So I thought it would be something that needs to be done at a time like this."

"That sounds... different," Suki confessed as Renji shot her a warning look. In other words, she found it corny and lame that Renji would decide to do such a thing. It sounded something like cheerleaders would do when they went for their favourite teams.

"I think it would need to be done at a time like this," Renji's voice went thick before he turned towards Ichigo with a scowl that rivalled his. It turned out that Ichigo wasn't looking forward to any of the cheesy and lame motivational speech. "Hey put your hand in – I think this is lame too!"

"I really doubt that," Suki muttered under her breath, unsure if the redhead had heard her. Ichigo grudgingly placed his hand on top of Renji's and Suki was the next to place her hand. This was the most contact she was going to have from her friends in a while, so she might as well suck it up.

And to think, months ago Suki never thought that she would be chanting 'go team' with Ichigo, Chad and Uryu. It was a strange twist of fate, if Ichigo never been in her life then Suki wouldn't be involved with this mess. Rukia and Renji wouldn't be here, Kei would've been tripping over her feet as usual, Orihime would've been making some new type of soup and Suki, she would've never come to care about her friends more than she did now.

Renji cleared his throat to prepare for his speech, "We at this moment head into the decisive battle! Have faith that our blades will not shatter! Have faith that our hearts will not waver! Even if our paths should diverge, we all share a heart of iron!" Now Suki clearly understood why Renji actually used this motivational speech at this moment – it definitely suited the scene. "Swear! That even if the ground beneath us should be torn asunder! We will live and return to this place again!"

Pushing down on Ichigo's hand, Suki turned around and dashed into her path. But for a moment, Suki felt her gaze sweep back to see Uryu's white form disappear into his own path. She felt her hands clench in her gloves, however Suki returned her attention to the path in front of her.

Inoue... Suki found herself thinking about her bubbly friend. Orihime's friendly face flashed in her mind, and Suki pressed herself onwards. There was no more hesitation, Suki swore to her friends, to her family, and to Hayato. Good luck everyone, I will meet you on the other side.

A/n: For anyone who was curious, Nel called Ichigo a virgin. Suki's amused that Nel told Ichigo off by calling him that. Anyways, I feel like I drew out this chapter a bit. But hopefully it was enough for everyone to enjoy.

But I'm still mad at Kubo. Serious Kubo! Why must you be the troll master?!

03-09-2015*

Ciao!

Please review.