Hello readers, good to see you again. It's hard to believe, and I'm still trying to grasp it myself, but today is the 1-year anniversary since this story began. As such, I couldn't help but decide that something special should be done. So, even though I'm still struggling with writing, I've decided to give you all the next chapter a bit early.

With our first whole year, and over 600k words behind us, I wanted to ask you all what you fellas think about the story as a whole so far. Not really the individual chapters themselves, but the whole storyline and plot altogether. Of course, there's no need to be shy or anything; if you thought a part of the story wasn't all that good, or that something is missing, please don't hold back. Afterall, a good story is only really good if it captures the reader's interest.

And so, just wanna say, Happy Anniversary to our story and let you all enjoy the next chapter.

(I DO NOT OWN BLEACH; ITS CHARACTORS, NAMES, LOCATIONS, OR STORY! THAT HONOR BELONGS SOLELY TO TITE KUBO AND HIS TEAM! ONLY THE OC, AND RANDOM NAMES NOT MENTIONED IN THE BOOKS OR ANIME ARE MY OWN!)


Chapter 42

(The Search Begins)

Las Noches Throne Room, Day 3, 6 p.m.

Content. Amused. Entertained. These were the emotions and feelings that one could say were etched upon Sōsuke Aizen's face at the moment; but the truth of the matter was that the former Squad 5 Captain was actually a bit concerned, in a manner of speaking.

Actually, concerned would be a vague term to use, anxious would be the better word to describe how the man, currently sitting upon his large, stone chair in the vast expanse of the throne room, was feeling.

He was not necessarily impatient, as his patience was rivaled by only a very select few, but rather a bit tested.

Everything was still occurring to his plan, and as far as he could tell, he had no need whatsoever to make any changes to his future plans. The only problem he faced at the moment was timing; his current project was slightly delayed.

But it was not the delay itself that tested him so, it was the fact that the delay had somehow, someway, managed to evade his planning. He had planned out everything perfectly, to the exact order of occurrence, to the exact minute of occurrence. Yet a delay in the current plan still occurred.

That was the primary thought on his mind at the moment. Had he misjudged something; or had something that somehow evaded his sight intervened to cause the delay? He wasn't sure, and if it could happen once, it was not impossible for it to happen again.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to ponder on the matter for much longer as the echoing sounds of multiple footsteps filled the room. Aizen waited as they grew louder, and only opened his eyes a fraction as the owners of those footsteps came to the top of his platform.

The edge of his mouth tilted up a bit before speaking. "Ah, good evening, Gin, Kaname. I assume our guests have arrived?" he opened.

Gin smiled his foxlike grin while Kaname gave a slight nod. "Yes, Lord Aizen. The intruders are about to enter the palaces." The former Squad 9 Captain informed.

The man next to him tilted his head to the side a bit. "What will you do, Captain Aizen? You don't seem that concerned about how several soul reapers managed to break into our lovely home." He taunted playfully.

Aizen's smile grew only but a small margin. "Of course not, Gin. And neither should you." The man returned smugly.

Kaname then felt it prudent to bring up a certain matter. "But it seems that they are a bit late. Will this not interfere with your plans, Lord Aizen?"

Aizen closed his eyes and hummed lowly. "I will admit that I am a bit surprised about their delayed arrival, but it is still of no consequence. Our plans will still proceed as before. We only need to make one or two things a bit easier for our guests, if they are to return on schedule."

Gin rose an interested brow. "Oh? So what will you do, Lord Aizen? Have our Arrancar run away?" he teased.

The man opened his eyes again and smiled wider. "Actually, Gin, that is exactly what we will do." He returned. The grin on Gin's face fell a bit in confusion as Aizen turned to Tōsen. "Kaname, I would like you to inform all of the Espada, and their fracción, that I would like to speak with them immediately."

Tōsen gave a swift bow. "Yes, Lord Aizen." He answered, then left to do as instructed.

Aizen then turned back to Gin. "With the Espada and fracción out of their way, our favored guests will only have to worry about some of the lower Arrancar. We can't have our guests believing that they are being welcomed without anyone to greet them; can we, Gin?"

The grin instantly returned to the foxlike Captain's face. "Oh, you are so sneaky, Lord Aizen. I can help but find this to be quite entertaining. But surely you intend to let some of the Espada have some fun as well, don't you?"

Sōsuke chuckled a bit. "Of course, Gin. It would be quite rude of me to allow intruders into the very homes of our dear Espada and not allow them to defend them. In fact, I believe that some of the Espada would find that to be quite…disrespectful. I will allow them to intervene when I deem it is appropriate. Gin, I have a job for you; one that I believe you will be quite…enthusiastic to accomplish." he said, now with closed eyes.

A shiver ran up the silver-haired man's back, electing a slight moan. "Oh, I'm so excited that I'm getting chills, Lord Aizen. This is going to be so much fun." He commented.

Aizen listened to the man's words and chuckled once more. "I agree. It will be quite fun indeed."

Las Noches, Palace of the Sexta Espada, 1 Hour Later

A head, adorned with short, black hair, peeked carefully around the corner, glancing down the open hallway. Upon seeing that, once again, that there was no one in sight, nor a sound to be heard, a brow rose in wonder.

Taking a couple seconds more to ensure the coast was clear, the head pulled back and the man turned to face his companions.

"It's clear." The man informed.

A red-headed man next to him nodded firmly. "Good so far." He acknowledged.

The short woman watching the rear nodded as well. "Looks like things are starting to look up for once, huh Renji?" she asked.

Uryū led the group out from behind cover and down the hallway, keeping a close eye out for any movement while reaching out with his senses into the rooms they passed, finding them to be empty.

Renji hummed in agreeance and glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah, for once." He concurred, then turned back to the front. "Although, something does seem a bit fishy here."

The teen in front nodded. "I agree. As big as this place is, we should have run into at least one Arrancar by now."

"Do you think they know we're here?" Chad asked in his normal, deep tone.

Rukia shrugged a shoulder at him. "It's possible. I mean, we still don't know anything about those two creeps in the tunnels, and they 'could' be working with Aizen. But if that's the case, and Aizen is aware about us being here, wouldn't he send the Arrancars and Espada to deal with us?"

"Yeah, good point. I'm wondering if we should call it for now and head back. We at least know for certain that those stairs lead into one of the palaces, so it's not like we're heading back emptyhanded." The Lieutenant offered.

Uryū glanced at a large door, following it as they passed by. "I'd have to agree with Renji, but I think we should keep going for just a bit longer. We're running short on time and we need to use every second we can spare learning as much of the layout as we can. Don't forget, this is only one of the many palaces here in Las Noches, plus we still have the large building in the center."

Renji moaned in agitation. "Yeah, I guess there's that too. I don't see how we're gonna be able to search every building in time, even if we never run into an Arrancar or Espada. There's just too much ground to cover."

"And to think the Head Captain intended to only have three of us come here with only two days to work with. What, did he think Kisuke was going to drop us off at the front door and Aizen just lead us right to Orihime?" Rukia complained.

The Lieutenant glared at her calmly. "I'm not saying I don't agree with ya, Rukia, but you should keep that to yourself. If the Head Captain heard ya, he'd likely incinerate your ass." He warned.

The woman sighed heavily. "Yeah, I know. I just don't understand what the Head Captain was thinking when he made the decision. And to add on to it, he honestly expects us to kill Orihime if we can't rescue her? I know we can't leave her here with Aizen, but kill her? Doesn't he know how much we owe her for the lives she saved after what happened with Aizen?"

Uryū nodded firmly. "I agree with what you're saying, Rukia. But, as much as I don't want to admit it, your Head Captain did make the right call. None of us can afford to leave Orihime's abilities in Aizen's grasp. Besides, just like Tim said, I don't plan on leaving until we do have her back, and there's nothing really your Head Captain can do about it." He said with a smug grin.

Renji rose a brow and grinned as well. "You make it sound like Rukia and I were going to leave."

This made the teen stop and turn to look at them in confusion. "So does that mean you don't intend to go back without Orihime?" he asked.

The spreading grin now found its way to Rukia's face as well as she crossed her arms. "Come on, Uryū. Orihime's a friend to 'all' of us. We can't just abandon her like that, can we?" she challenged.

Renji nodded in agreeance. "Yeah. And besides, we'd look like cowards if we left Hueco Mundo while a bunch of teenagers and a Lieutenant with an attitude problem stayed behind. I'd rather have my ear chewed off by the Head Captain than be viewed as a coward or abandon my friends." He added, Rukia nodding as well.

Uryū grinned back. "Be honest; you just want to be like Tim and upset your Head Captain, don't you?"

The woman shrugged a shoulder. "Well, that's not really the goal; more like an added bonus. And besides, also like Tim said, it's not like he'll come out here to get us, right?"

Chad looked down at her with concern. "Aren't you worried that you might get in serious trouble?" he asked.

Again, the woman shrugged a shoulder. "Renji just told you; we'd rather save our friends than worry about getting in trouble. But still…" She paused to give the Quincy a firm stare. "That doesn't mean we can take our time. Even if we all agree not to worry about the time constraint, the longer we stay in Hueco Mundo, the less our chances are of getting back home. None of us are going to like it, but I think we should really consider splitting up even more. Renji was right; we have too much ground to cover with the amount of people we have. And once the Arrancar and Espada get involved, it's only going to get much harder."

Uryū sighed with a gloomy expression. "Yeah, I guess yo…" He suddenly froze and glared down the hallway, listening intently. The other three froze as well when they heard something from a bit down the hallway and around a corner. A moment later, the teen snapped his head back to them. "Someone's coming!" he warned.

Renji instantly started looking around, his eyes falling on the closed door a short distance behind them. "In there! Quick!" he instructed.

Rukia gave him a worried look. "What if someone's inside?!"

"No choice, we'll have to take that chance. Move!" Uryū answered.

The group rushed back to the selected door, Rukia grasping the handle and instantly realizing the door was locked. She turned in worry to inform them, but Chad was quick to respond. Realizing what the large teen was about to do, Rukia swiftly stepped out of the way.

Chad rushed forward, placing his broad shoulder in front of him like a battering ram, and charged right into the door. The slot for the doorlatch snapped off the frame like a toothpick, allowing the door to burst open and the large teenager barreling inside.

The rest of the group followed right behind with Renji and Uryū closing the door behind them and bracing against it with all their weight. This all occurred with less than a few seconds to spare; for the near instant the door was shut, three Arrancar walked around the corner and in the direction of the, now occupied, room, talking amongst themselves.

Hearing the muffled voices behind the door, Renji and Uryū pressed their ears to the surface and strained to listen in on the Arrancars' conversation. At first, they were unable to make anything out, but as the trio came closer, their words became more discernable.

"…ired of … king around….zen is a… Not…na happen." One broken voice said in what they guessed to be mild anger.

A second voice followed quickly. "I've to…u dozens…imes, keep you…outh shut…fore Aizen…tchers you!" the voice returned, a bit more clearly.

"Both of you shut the hell up, you idiots. None of us like all this patrolling around, but that doesn't mean you gotta put our necks in a noose." A third attempted to calm.

A low growl could be heard from, judging by the pitch, the second voice. "You think I don't know that, Ravma? You should be telling that to dimwit over here, he's the one trying to make 'Lord Aizen' pissed at us." It defended.

"Fuck off, little bitch! At least I don't go pressing myself to the floor just at a glance!" the first fired back.

"No, you go and hide in a corner." the second and 'Ravma' said together in dull tones.

By now, the Lieutenant and Quincy could hear their footsteps walking closer to the doorway, but one set stopped as soon as they said that.

"I'll fucking kill the both of ya! I 'dare' you to come say that to my face, you cowards!" the first yelled in fury.

The last two beings stopped, and the two men assumed they were now facing the first Arrancar. "Jūst, just because you have a higher Arrancar number than both of us, doesn't mean you're stronger; we all know it just means you were 'born' before us, stupid." 'Ravma' commented dryly.

"Right. And besides, you know damn well you normally lose whenever we spar. So, I guess that makes you weaker, 'and' dumber." The second mocked.

Another growl sounded before Jūst stormed up to them. "You are 'really' testing my patience with you, Magnus! I'll have ya know that I've been going easy on ya all those times! You'd never stand a chance in my Resurrección form!"

"Alright, enough, both of you!" Ravma bellowed, throwing a fist at the door Renji and Uryū were right behind, causing them to flinch. "All three of us are stuck doing this patrol shit and there's nothing we can do about it! So stop your damn whining!"

Renji and Uryū glanced at each other with sweat dripping from their foreheads, thinking the same thing. 'That was 'way' too close!'

Magnus sighed heavily. "Yeah yeah, I gotcha. Besides, Jūst, it could have been a whole lot worse you know."

Jūst scoffed at him. "Oh yeah? Like, how?" he challenged.

"Try being stuck keeping guard on that weird woman Aizen is sooo obsessed over. Heh, at least this way we can move around instead of being stuck in one place all damn day." Magnus pointed out.

Renji and Uryū both gasped silently, now staring at each other wide eyes. Rukia and Chad, unaware of what was being said right outside, were a bit puzzled about the two men's sudden looks of shock.

"What's going on?" Rukia whispered as low as she could while still making sure they could hear her.

Uryū snapped a hand up towards her, silencing the woman as he and Renji pressed their ears back to the door.

"What the hell you talking about, moron?" Jūst asked in confusion.

A scoff could be heard from Ravma as he crossed his arms. "Really? Do you listen to 'any' news that goes around?" he asked in bewilderment.

Magnus nodded. "I agree. Everyone knows about that woman that Commander Tōsen brought back. What was her name again, Ravma?" he asked.

Jūst scoffed with a roll of the eyes. "The fuck does it matter? If she ain't an Arrancar, who the hell cares what the bitch's name is? So, what…'Lord Aizen' just decided to bring some woman here for his personal entertainment? Ran outta hollows to turn into Arrancar?"

Magnus sighed and shook his head. "I don't know what he wants with her. All I heard was that Commander Tōsen brought her here under his orders."

Ravma rose a brow at him. "I heard from Commander Ichimaru before our patrol that all the Espada and fracción were having a meeting to discuss what to do with her. Said Aizen had something 'special' planned for her. Never said what it was though."

Jūst waved them off nonchalantly. "Pft. Whatever. Like I told you, she ain't an Arrancar, so she ain't worth the attention. Can we just forget about the woman and get back to walking around like 'Lord Aizen's' slaves? As boring as it is, it's a hell of a lot better than discussing some useless woman."

Ravma sighed. "As much as I hate it, I have to agree with the idiot. Even I would rather walk around aimlessly than discuss her." He enforced.

Magnus nodded firmly. "Then quit your whining and let's go. I'd rather not get spotted loafing around and get my ass reamed by Grimmjow. We all know how he gets when he gets out of one of those boring meetings of Aizen's."

A shiver ran up Jūst's spine. "Don't remind me. I saw the aftermath of what happened to the last guy who just happened to be in his way after a meeting. Let's just that…yeah, he won't be using his Resurrección anytime soon." He stated, then started walking with the other two in tow.

"Yeah, I heard the poor bastard has a permanent limp now; stuck to being a dungeon guard, or something." Ravma added.

"He's lucky he's eve…ill an…ncar, l…ive." Magnus's voice said as the group of Arrancars slowly stepped out of earshot.

Renji and Uryū waited a few moments more to ensure they were gone before glancing at each other, both with serious looks on their faces.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Renji asked in a low tone.

Uryū nodded firmly. "There's no doubt about it; they were talking about Orihime."

At the mention of the teen's name, Rukia's eyes widened a bit. "You heard them talking about Orihime?! What did they say?!" she demanded.

Renji looked at her and shook his head. "Nothing we can really use, except that all the Espada and their fracción seem to be in some sort of meeting, possibly to discuss what they plan to do with her."

"That would explain why we haven't run into any of them." Chad jumped in.

Uryū nodded again. "Yeah, but for how much longer is the question. I think it would be best if we head back to the tunnels for now and see what Ichigo and the others have found out." He advised.

Renji hummed in agreeance. "Alright. Let's wait a few more minutes to make sure those three are long gone, then we'll make a dash for the entrance."

Everyone nodded back and took that moment to rest up a bit before their return to the darkness.

Palace of the Primera Espada, Present

"So, this is the Primera's palace?" Ichigo asked in a shushed voice.

The woman in front of the group nodded silently as she closed the door to one of the many empty rooms in the hallway. "Yes, and in a way that's good." She confirmed.

"How so?" Timothy asked further, peering into another room across from her.

She turned to face him as Ichigo came to stand next to her. "Because he is very likely sleeping right now."

The teen rose a brow. "Sleeping? What time is it here?"

The Arrancar chuckled lightly and shook her head. "It doesn't matter; Stark's always sleeping every chance he can get."

"How the hell is a guy that does nothing but sleep all day the Primera Espada?" the teen inquired.

Timothy closed the door and gave the teen a sweatdropped look. "How the hell is a clueless teenager able to storm the soul society and live?" he returned.

Ichigo shot him a furious glare and growled. "Shut up!"

The Lieutenant smirked at yet another verbal victory towards the teen. "What's wrong? Was I right?" he taunted further.

The teen stormed over to him, holding a fist up to his face. "I said to shut up!"

Nel groaned with a roll of the eyes as she thumped her head against the wall a couple times in annoyance. 'Why can't those two idiots be more concerned with finding Orihime than trying to start a fight?' she wondered.

The woman sighed heavily. "I am seriously at the end of my patience." She mumbled.

Timothy, who now had his hands up in surrender and a grin plastered on his face, glanced over to her. "Something wrong, Nel?" he asked.

A vein twitched on her forehead before she slowly turned to glare at him. "No Tim, I'm just fine. Nothing wrong here." She said in a hiss.

He rose a brow in confusion as Ichigo scoffed and waved the man off. "Whatever, bastard. Can we just get going and find Orihime? I don't have time to argue with ya." The teen growled.

Nel rolled her eyes again and started walking away with her fists clenched at her sides. Timothy watched her for a moment, then shrugged a shoulder and followed behind her with Ichigo walking next to him.

The group continued searching each room along their path, giving each a quick glance before moving on. From what Timothy and Ichigo could see, each of them seemed to be just simple rooms with the bare basics in creature comfort, making them easy to check.

It was only after about a dozen rooms before Timothy broke the silence among them. "So Nel, anything interesting we should know about this Stark guy you haven't told us yet?" he inquired.

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Not really. Stark is pretty laid back and doesn't really like to do much of anything. If he's not sleeping, he's usually taking a short walk, or playing chess with Tōsen or one of the other Espada who enjoy it. Really, it's Lilynette that's the more interesting of the two."

Ichigo tilted his head a bit in wonder. "That's the guy's fracción, right?"

She gave him a nod before chuckling lowly. "Yes, and she's quite…hyperactive, I guess you could say. I guess the best way to think about it is to look at Stark, then imagine the complete opposite. Where Stark likes to sleep and do nothing, Lilynette likes to run around and do everything."

"Didn't you say she was like an adopted sister of sorts?" Timothy asked further.

Her smile only grew larger with a nod. "Yes, we looked out for each other and spent a lot of time together. Our favorite activity was trying to find Stark's hiding spots, where he like to go to sleep at. We even had fun trying to devise ways of waking him up." Her laughter grew at that point as a memory came to mind. "The best one we did was when we pile all of his pillows over top of him, then jumped on top of them and trapped him underneath."

The two men sweatdropped. "Poor bastard." The teen mumbled into Timothy's ear, the Lieutenant nodding in agreeance.

"So, what…did that make Stark like your…adopted brother or something?" Timothy asked.

She lifted her head with a finger to her chin and hummed in thought. "I guess you could say that. Me and Stark were close friends, but nowhere as close as me and Lilynette. Really, if I wasn't spending time with Pesche and Dondochakka, I was spending it with her, or just wandering around." She said as she dropped her hand.

Timothy nodded, then sighed. "Ok, so, let me ask you a serious question here, Nel; if we were to run into her, do you think it would be a problem if we had to fight?"

Nel stopped in her tracks and dropped her head, causing the two men to stop as well. While Timothy had a caring expression on his face, Ichigo had one of concern; not really concern about Nel, but rather that they might not be able to rely on her to fight if it came to it.

The woman took a deep breath and shook her head. "I…I really don't know, Tim. I still…I may not be an Espada anymore, but…" She paused to glance at him with water in her eyes. "I still think of her as a sister."

She turned to face the men fully. "You guys really don't know how bad it is here. Sure, we may have been comrades, but in the end, it was still every man, or woman, for his or herself. If you were seen as weak, you were treated as weak. Even between an Espada and his own fracción, the relationship was really nothing more than work related; the Espada was the boss, the fracción his pawns. Sure, a few of them 'might' get along enough to spend a bit of time with each other, but it was never what you might call a 'friendship'. Even the relationship between me and Harribel, the other female Espada, was no more than a companionship based off of survival, with us both being females and naturally targeted."

Taking another deep breath, she continued. "Pesche, Dondochakka, Stark, and Lilynette were really the only ones I could ever consider friends, or even family here. Harribel's fracción were ok for the most part, but I really didn't spend that much time with them, except when Lilynette and I would purposely cause them to bicker amongst each other. But those four were the closest to me. With Pesche and Dondochakka gone, Stark and Lilynette are the only 'family' I have left from here."

The woman lowered her head and slowly shook it. "I know why you are asking me this question, Tim. I know you worry that I might not be able to give it my all if we were to fight against them." She paused to raise her head back up to him. "I don't want to fight her, or Stark, Tim. I don't. It would kill me inside to do it; to fight the closest thing I ever had to a sister. But…as much as I don't want to do it, I know that I don't have a choice. You guys are my family too, and I would hate it even more if my lack of action was to cause one of you to get hurt or killed. I will try my hardest to avoid having to fight Lilynette or Stark, but if it comes down to it, and we end up having to fight, I will." She assured.

Timothy sighed in worry while Ichigo nodded. "Do you think she'd fight you? Or Stark?" the teen asked.

Nel sighed as well and shrugged her shoulders. "I can't say. Lilynette would easily hesitate and might avoid fighting, and Stark tries to avoid fights anyway, but will still do it if he has to. But then again, I highly doubt that they would just let us go on our way. Stark may be lazy, but he is also very understanding. My guess is they would try to talk us into leaving Hueco Mundo, avoid the whole thing entirely."

Timothy stepped up to her and nodded in understanding. "And we all know that we can't do that, so the only thing we can hope for is that we don't run into them. But still, even if we did run into them, that doesn't mean we would fight them, Nel. We'd only do it if we really had no other choice. I'm sorry I asked, Nel, and I wasn't doubting you or questioning your loyalty or anything like that; I only asked for our safety." He comforted, placing a hand on her shoulder with a smile.

She smiled back and nodded. "It's fine, Tim. I know what you meant by it. I would probably do the same thing."

He nodded back before dropping his hand and reaching into his kosode to pull out the cell phone Chad had loaned him, powering it on and checking the time.

"We should head back. I'm guessing that, if they haven't already, Renji's group will be getting ready to head back as well." He advised.

Ichigo started rubbing the back of his head with a defeated sigh. "Man, we're never gonna find Orihime like this. We've barely cleared out the first freaking floor of this place, and there's still like…what, twenty more? Plus, another eight palaces and the main building? How the hell are we gonna be able to search everything?" he fretted.

Timothy powered off and tucked the phone back into his kosode and shook his head. "No idea, Ichigo. We'll just…do what we can for now. I'm just hoping that Renji and the others managed to find something out." He offered.

The teen sighed heavily and nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's go." he mumbled, falling in behind the others.

Las Noches Tunnels, 2 Hours Later

'Twitch'

A dull, rumbling sound echoed lowly through the narrow, subterranean passages of Las Noches tunnels.

'Twitch twitch'

The same rumble, yet again, rolled through the small room where Uryū leaned against the wall, keeping watch while the others rested.

Yet another 'twitch' pulsed on the teen's forehead as the sound continued endlessly.

At first, it didn't really bother him that much, knowing that he wouldn't have to tolerate the annoying sound for very long, at least until Timothy and his group returned.

That was supposed to be almost an hour ago.

Teeth clenched tightly as a low growl escaped the Quincy's throat. Opening and rolling his eyes towards the source of the vexing noise, his brows narrowed in annoyance as he glared at the sleeping form of Lieutenant Abarai.

The red-headed man was sitting down and leaning against the wall with crossed arms, his head tilted back against said wall with a slackened jaw and allowing the man's drool to run down his chin and neck.

He was snoring. It may have been a light snore, at least for the Lieutenant, that is, but the sound reverberating off the narrow walls over and over made it much louder than one thought; not to mention the faintly perceivable vibrations that tickled the teen's skin.

Rukia and Chad were also asleep as well, with the larger teen sitting Indian-style, hands in his lap and head drooped, while Rukia rested next to her longtime friend with her head resting against the man's shoulder, on the verge of drooling herself.

It puzzled him greatly, how the woman could sleep, almost literally on top of the snoring man, and not be disturbed by it. He took a split moment to glance at his schoolmate and listened closely, noticing that not a single peep was coming from the large man.

If someone who was not aware of how the teen slept, that person could swear he was dead with how silent and unmoving he was. Yet he couldn't be more thankful for this small reprieve; he didn't want to even begin imagining what the behemoth's sleeping sounds would be like.

Turning back to the dozing redhead, he closed his eyes and shook his head before glancing down at his wristwatch for the umpteenth time. Timothy's group were now officially one hour late, and he was now really starting to worry.

"Where the hell are you guys?" he mumbled softly, lowing his hand to cross his arms once again.

Pushing himself from the wall, he stepped forward to peer down the dark passage that Timothy's group should be arriving from; but to his dismay, again, he saw nothing but darkness.

'We can't wait around for much longer… If they're not back in the next ten minutes…we may have to assume the worst.' He mentally fretted.

"Still no sign of them?" a quiet voice asked.

The Quincy turned over his shoulder to see Rukia, her head still resting on Renji's shoulder, staring at him with tired, and concerned eyes. Uryū shook his head slowly before turning back to the passage.

"No, and besides Renji's idiotic snoring, I don't hear a thing." He answered in a testy tone.

She rolled her eyes to her friend's face, seeing the line of drool running down it, and rolled them around in disgust as she raised her head straight and crossed her arms.

"Yeah…he does that when he doesn't get the sleep he needs. I can't tell you the number of times during our days at the academy where he was caught snoring while trying to sneak a nap or two. But then, you can't really blame him; all of us, even you, are a bit exhausted by this point. We're lucky he hasn't simply just dropped to the floor in a dead sleep yet." She commented.

"I can only imagine." Was the teen's reply.

A soft chuckle left her lungs before she turned serious again. "How late are they?" she asked in worry.

Uryū checked his watch again and sighed. "An hour. Normally, I wouldn't worry too much about it, but considering the circumstances, an hour might as well be like an entire day."

The woman nodded firmly. "I agree. Tim might have a bit of a temper, but we can all agree that he's punctual. If he's this late, then something must have happened. You think we should go looking for them?"

The teen took a few moments to think the question over, but ended up taking a deep breath and turning to face her.

"I honestly can't say. If they've been discovered, there's a chance the entrance to the tunnel may have been compromised, putting ourselves at risk of getting caught as well if we go looking for them. But on the other hand, if we ignore it and continue looking for Orihime, we may just be leaving them behind when they need our help. And I really don't like the idea of splitting ourselves off even more than we already have." He iterated.

Rukia nodded in agreeance. "I don't really like it either, but we can't just leave them."

"And we can't risk the entire mission by planning blindly." The teen countered.

"No, you're right, we can't. So, what's the plan?" she asked as she stood up.

He peered back down the passage and rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, for starters, I'd like to at least head towards where their stairway was, and we may just run into them as they're coming back. If we don't, then perhaps we can do a quick sweep through the area they were searching and see if we can find any evidence of what may have happened."

She nodded with a hum. "Sounds good to me. I'll wake Renji's loud ass up before he brings the ceiling down on us." She offered with a smirk.

The woman turned to do just that, but froze and snapped her head down the passage, Uryū doing the same, as they suddenly started hearing a low, rustling sound further down the tunnel. It started low at first, but started getting louder and louder as the seconds ticked by.

Uryū shot a glare back at Rukia. "Wake Renji!" he ordered and quickly ran over to where Chad was still resting.

They both shook their comrades awake, Rukia having to hold a hand over Renji's mouth to silence his loud rebuke of being woken up so roughly. But the gesture was not needed for long, once he finally noticed the serious look on the woman's face.

"Someone's coming, get up!" she demanded.

Not even giving her a nod in understanding, the Lieutenant, along with the large teen, stood up and turned towards the passage, finally hearing the, now louder, sounds coming from it. The two soul reapers placed their hands on their hilts as the teens got into ready stances, but the Quincy had not yet formed his bow.

It was only a moment later when the sounds grew loud enough to suggest that who, or whatever, it was that was making the noise was just out of sight range. Waiting until the last second, Uryū quickly formed his bow and drew and energy arrow, aiming right down the center of the walkway.

"Show yourself!" the teen demanded dangerously.

The rustling stopped instantly, followed by a low, but familiar voice. "Uryū?" it asked.

Eyes widened a bit in surprise, but they still kept their guard. "Step forward, slowly." Renji ordered.

Sure enough, the rustling continued, and it wasn't but a few seconds later when the faint form of Nel appeared in the darkness. Everyone let out breaths of relief as Uryū dissipated his bow and arrow, pushing his glasses up with a huff.

"Was it really necessary to give us quite a fright?" he moaned in annoyance.

Nel's face fell a bit in apology. "Sorry, I didn't mean to." She assured.

As she came closer to the light Renji's, once again, summoned 'kidō light', the group could finally see what was causing the odd rustling sound; for Nel pulled the unconscious forms of Timothy and Ichigo, being dragged by their ankles, behind her, seemingly ignoring the random bumps in the path that jarred their heads on the ground.

The group watched in shock and confusion as Nel came to a stop in front of them, dropping the legs of the two men behind her carelessly, before crossing her arms with a huff.

"Did…something happen?" Rukia asked hesitantly and worryingly.

A scowl appeared on the woman's face as she glared at the, still unconscious, forms of Ichigo and Timothy. A deep, animalistic growl rumbled out from her throat when she turned back to them.

"Let's just say I had enough of those two's endless arguing and leave it at that." She offered.

Uryū scoffed and shook his head. "Knowing Ichigo, I can only imagine. You have my condolences."

Her face dropped with a whine. "I 'really' don't wanna talk about it." She pleaded.

"I guess that explains why you were an hour late." Uryū commented.

Her face turned a bit serious at that. "No, we ran into a patrol near the tunnel entrance and had to wait for them to leave. Of all the places for them to decide to take a break, it had to be there. I knocked these two idiots out 'after' we got back into the tunnels…" Her face then fell again. "It was only after I did it that I realized that I would have to drag them the rest of the way." She moaned.

"We were about to come looking for you guys. We were starting to get really worried." Renji stated.

"Sorry." Nel whined.

Rukia waved her off gently. "It's fine. It's not like you could have told us anyway. But now that we're all back, you find anything out?"

The Arrancar shook her head solemnly. "No. You?"

Uryū nodded. "We ran into a patrol ourselves and hid in an empty room, listening to their conversation. From what we heard, it looks like Orihime 'is' here."

Nel's eyes widened a bit. "Really? Well that's good news…in a certain way. Did they say where she might be?"

The teen shook his head. "They only mentioned a human girl that Aizen recently brought here. And seeing as I doubt he just goes around kidnapping random humans, Orihime has got to be who they were talking about."

The woman nodded. "I agree. So, I guess once these two decide to finally wake up we'll go back out?"

"Yeah. We're gonna go ahead and continue looking around up top. You should get some rest before you do the same." Renji offered.

Nel shook her head with a smile. "No, I'll be alright. I slept a bit the last few times we stopped, so I'll let Tim and Ichi rest a bit."

Rukia rose a brow. "Ichi?"

The former Espada chuckled. "It's a cute nickname for him. Plus, it annoys him, so it's one way I can pay him back for his endless arguing with Tim. Kit does the same for me in regards to Tim."

Uryū smirked deviously. "I'll be sure to keep that one in mind the next time Ichigo gets all high on himself."

Renji gave a quick laugh before clearing his throat. "Alright, let's get moving. Same thing; six hours we meet back up."

Nel nodded firmly. "Got it. Be safe you guys."

"You too, Nel." Rukia said with a wave, then followed behind the other as they left.

20 Minutes Later

The world came back into focus slowly as a dull, throbbing pain racked Timothy's skull. Taking a slow moment to open his eyes, the darkened ceiling of the small 'room' became clearer with each blink.

He rolled his eyes with a low moan, lifting and placing a hand against his forehead to sooth the ache. Shifting said hand to gently rub his temples, and pushing through the pain, he slowly lifted himself up to a sitting position against the wall behind him.

"Holy… The hell just hit me?" he mumbled.

"I did." A soft voice answered.

Timothy turned to the voice to see Nel sitting down a few feet away from him, leaning against the same wall. She had her off-hand resting in her lap with a half-charge cero in her palm and rubbing the collar around her neck with the other, feeling the slight wears in the fabric.

"What…? Why?" he asked.

Her rubbing hand froze as she turned her head slowly to glare at him. "So you and Ichigo would stop arguing. It was giving me a headache." She hissed calmly.

His eyes snapped shut in regret before sighing. "Sorry, Nel. Not trying to get on your nerves or anything. Can't really help it the kid's as hardheaded as I am." He offered.

The woman continued to stare at him for a moment longer, but finally let out a slow breath and nodded. "It's ok, Tim. I guess I could have been a little less…physical…with my response. Sorry." He returned and turned back to the dark passage in front of her.

Sitting up fully, Timothy continued to rub the side of his head while breathing slowly. "Don't apologize, Nel. You've asked Ichigo and I numerous times to stop and we didn't really listen. Anyway, you doing ok?"

She slowly nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

He rose a questioning brow. "You sure?" he pressed.

The woman sighed heavily and shrugged a shoulder. "I guess…I've got a lot on my mind is all. It's nothing too serious, just a few personal problems."

"Wanna talk about it before we head out?" he offered.

She shook her head. "No, it's fine, Tim. Like I said, nothing serious or anything like that, just something I have to work out. I promise, I'm fine." She assured with a warm smile.

"She's lying." Kitsune said in a quiet and worried tone.

Timothy continued to watch the Arrancar as he responded. "How can you tell? I mean…she's obviously upset about something, but do you think she would lie like that?"

He could hear the spirit scoff lightly. "You seem to forget that I'm a woman, Tim. Men don't really like to let their feelings out to others that much, and women are far worse in that regard. Men are horrible about keeping things to themselves without it showing on their faces, while women are masters at it. Trust me, Tim, she's not being fully honest about her answer." She assured.

He began to fret inside. "You think I should press her for the truth, then?"

"It may not…be wise…to ignore it…but neither…is it…the time…to discuss…such things…It would…be best…to simply…observe her…for now…and only press…the issue…should it…become…a burden…on the mission." 'Johnny' advised.

"I agree, Tim. She shouldn't keep things from you if they might be dangerous to her, but pressing her for the truth may only cause her to shield herself from you with how thing are at the moment. Let her be for now and just try to comfort her the best you can. With how much you comforted me in the past, I know she would benefit greatly for it."

Timothy sighed lowly and gave a slight nod. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm just worried about her is all."

"Who knows, it may just be Gamuza giving her a hard time about you again, and you know how she gets when that happens." Kitsune offered.

The man rolled his eyes. "Tsk, don't I know it."

"Tim?" Nel spoke up.

"Yeah?" he answered, closing the conversation with his spirits.

"You wanna wake Ichigo up? We've been resting here for almost a half hour, and we should really get back to looking for Orihime." She asked, now looking at the teen.

Timothy sighed with a nod. "Yeah, I'll wake the fool up." He turned his head to the still unconscious teen and started shaking his legs. "Yo, Ichigo, wake up man. We gotta get going again." He called.

The teen started stirring back to the world, rubbing his head with a low moan just as Timothy had done only minutes before.

"Oh man…the hell…" he moaned as he sat up clutching his head.

"Wakey wakey, Ichigo. Ready to start the day?" Timothy teased, earning a glare from the substitute.

"I swear, if you two start your bickering again, I'll do a whole lot worse than simply knock you out." Nel warned in a dangerous tone, causing the men to flinch.

"He started it!" Ichigo defended as Nel stood up, glaring down at him.

"I don't care 'who' started it, only that you two are doing it again. So, unless you two have something 'constructive' to say, I think it would be best if you two simply didn't speak at all." She furthered.

Both men raised their hands up in surrender. "Got it!" they answered in unison, sweating.

The woman nodded firmly and held a hand out to Timothy. "Good. So, ready to start looking around again?" she asked, now smiling sweetly, but the threatening aura was still there in full effect.

"Yeah, good to go, Nel." He said, accepting her hand and allowing her to pull him to his feet before turning to offer the same back to Ichigo.

The teen accepted, grunting in pain with a throbbing head as he came to his feet. "Yeah, let's get going. I'm assuming you spoke with Renji and the others while we were out, so did they say anything?"

The woman shrugged a shoulder. "Only that they ran into a patrol that was talking about a girl that was brought to Las Noches. We were all in agreeance that it must be Orihime they were talking about."

Timothy's eyes widened a bit before nodding. "Agreed. So we know that she's here, now we just gotta find her and figure out how to get everyone outta here safely."

"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Ichigo pressed in annoyance.

The Lieutenant rolled his eyes at the teen's impatience. "I may be just as hotheaded as him, but at least I've got more patience." He mumbled.

Nel narrowed her eyes. "Tim…" she called in warning.

He held his hands up again placatingly. "Ok! Ok! Sheesh."

"Tim…" she hissed through her teeth.

He quickly drew a hand across his mouth like a zipper, telling her he would keep silent, and earning an approving nod from the woman before she turned to start back down the passage.

Ichigo walked past him, but not before stopping and grinning victoriously. "Soo whipped." He mocked in a whisper.

"Ichigo…" she said lowly without turning her head, making him flinch at her voice.

Timothy rolled his eyes to him. "She hears everything, in case you didn't notice. So, in the best benefit to our safety, we should probably avoid speaking for the rest of the trip." He advised.

The teen nodded. "Got it." He answered and continued following the woman.

"Whipped, just like you were with me." Kitsune teased with a snicker.

"Agreed." 'Johnny' added.

Timothy narrowed his eyes with a growl. "Shut up! At least she doesn't lose her sense of intelligence when she drinks!"

The spirit flinch in his inner world as 'Johnny' gave a single chuckle. "Shut up!"

The man grinned evilly at his small victory before moving on to join his friends.

Squad 5 Barracks, Present

"No way, really?!" a feminine voice nearly screeched.

"Shhhh! Keep it down, you idiot! These damn walls aren't exactly thick, you know!" a second voice berated.

The first person quickly slapped a hand over her mouth and nodded. "Sorry." She offered, then lowered her hand to pull out her sleepwear from the dresser. "But seriously, did that really happen?! You woke up 'on top' of him?!"

The second person clenched her eyes shut with a moan of embarrassment. "For God's sake, Yuka, 'please' don't put it like that. You make it sound like…something…happened. But it didn't! Nothing happened like that, I swear it! I just…yeah…I woke up to find myself lying on top of him…Still in my clothes!" she defended.

Yuka held a hand over her mouth again to stifle a giggle, much to Hinata's chagrin. "Oh, is that so? You sure nothing 'else' happened, Hinata?" she teased.

Hinata snapped her half-clothed body around to glare at the woman. "Nothing happened, stupid! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

The other woman waved her off dismissively. "Yeah yeah, I'm sure nothing happened, Hinata. You're lucky Narumi ain't here to hear all this. She'd go absolutely crazy! So go on, what happened afterwards?" she pressed.

Truthfully, the secret about Hinata and Tetsuzaemon's morning 'incident' the day before lasted a bit longer than she expected. Yuka Sano, as clueless as she could be on certain occasions, was normally quite observant.

The slightly older female had actually figured out that something was going on that same morning, with how strange Hinata was acting and Tetsuzaemon's quick intervention as to why her friend didn't come back that night. But she decided to give her friend a chance to come clean like she normally did and chose this night to ask when Hinata still didn't say anything.

At first, Hinata kept dodging the question by trying to redirect the conversation, as she normally did when asked something she didn't want to answer. The redirection turned into 'mis'-direction when Hinata started giving extremely vague answers to the questions.

But finally, after nearly two hours of endless pestering, Yuka managed to back her friend into a proverbial corner, pointing out that all of the empty officers' quarters were kept locked and there was no way they could have used one without signing out a key, which didn't happen.

As expected, Hinata became furious at her friend, trying to turn the conversation against her, but, like always, it didn't work and the officer was forced to submit and begin telling the, still embarrassing, truth.

The 4th seat growled, as she turned back around to finish dressing for bed. "Oh shit, if Narumi, of all people, found out, I'd have to kill myself just to prevent the, literally, 'endless' questions and rumors!" She shivered at the thought. "The worst nightmare possible. But whatever. Anyway, I woke up with a splitting headache on top of him, and once we got our heads straight again, I got off of him and we discussed what the hell happened the night before. Turned out I passed the hell out on his bed and he used a spare futon he kept handy for things like this. Somehow, during the night, I must have either fell off the bed, or sleepwalked to lie down on top of him. But, once we figured out what the hell happened, I told him that there was nothing between us and that that morning 'never' happened. And the same thing goes to you as well, Yuka! I better not find out you ran your mouth about this, or so help me…"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I got it. Not a peep. Zip the mouth. Lock it up and lose the key. Geeze Hinata, you act like it's the end of the world just because you woke up on top of someone, when nothing else 'happened'." she said, quoting with her fingers. "I mean, it coulda been a lot worse, you know. Something else 'coulda' happened, but it didn't. And really, if it 'had' to happen, be honest, the Lieutenant is not that bad of a guy for it to happen with."

Hinata, again, snapped her head around with her arm halfway in its sleeve. "Are you fucking crazy?! The Lieutenant?! You can't be serious! I mean…yeah, I'll admit he's good looking and all, but come on! He's our 'Lieutenant'!"

Yuka turned back to her and raised a questioning brow. "So?"

The 4th seat's eyes widened in horror at what her unspoken suggestion. "You 'are' flipping crazy! You 'have' to be to suggest that doing…'that'…with the Lieutenant is a good thing! Fuck, losing your brother has turned you into a lunatic!"

The older woman flinched with tightened muscles at her words, and Hinata's eyes, if even possible, grew far wider at what she inadvertently said. The officer's hands shot up to clamp over her mouth in horror, dropping the dirty uniform she was holding on the floor.

"Y…Yuka…I…I'm so sorry! I…I didn't mean to…" she tried to say, but Yuka held a hand up.

"It's okay, Hinata. I know you didn't mean it." The older woman said and smiled kindly. "I know how your mouth gets when you're upset, and I did kinda push you into it. I promise that it's ok, and I understand. I've moved on for the most part, so you don't need to worry." She assured, placing a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

Tears came to Hinata's eyes as she shook her head. "No, it isn't! I have no idea why those words and thoughts came to my mind, but I still shouldn't have said it! I so sorry, Yuka!" she said fitfully.

Yuka stepped forward and encased the distraught woman in a tight embrace, using a hand to press the woman's head down onto her shoulder. "Really, Hinata, it's fine. It was an accident and I'm not mad or upset. Please don't worry about it."

Hinata returned the embrace and nodded lightly. "I'm so sorry. I miss him." She said weakly.

The older woman nodded back. "We all do, Hinata. But he died doing his job, and we both know that's how he would have liked it. I may be upset that he's gone, but not about the circumstances. So please, don't cry and stop worrying about it. Ok?"

The officer gently pushed out of the embrace, staring into her friend's eyes with a weak smile and nodded. "Yeah…you're right. I'm sure he didn't have any regrets when it happened."

Yuka shook her head. "No, I'm sure he didn't." she confirmed. They stood there for a moment longer before Yuka grinned mischievously. "So…" she started, then leaned forward to the woman's ear. "You plan to ask your boy out?" she questioned with a playful tone.

Hinata quickly pushed the woman away with a horrified expression on her face. "W…What?!"

The grin grew wider. "You know, ask the Lieutenant out; like, as in…a date?"

The officer slowly backed up until her back collided with the wall. "You've fucking lost it, Yuka! This isn't funny!"

Yuka tilted her head to the side with a questioning stare. "Who said I was joking? I mean it. We can both agree the guy's hot, and he may be gruff a lot of times, but I'm sure he's a sweetheart underneath. And besides, after your little 'accident', your chances of him saying yes only skyrocket, right?"

Hinata slapped her hands to her ears. "I'm am 'not' hearing this! La la la! Nope! Not hearing a thing!"

Her friend rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Oh my God. Like, really, Hinata? What's the big deal about it? You're 'both' officers, right? It's not like you're breaking any rules, or whatever. Don't be such a baby about it."

The younger woman froze and narrowed her eyes at her while slowly bringing her hands down to her sides. "'What's the big deal'? Have you seriously lost it, Yuka? He's our 'Lieutenant'. 'Lieutenant'! And I'm only a 4th seat to give him a hand with the office stuff; I have 'no' intention of keeping the rank when we go back to the 8th! I 'was' thinking of taking him out to a dinner or something, but that was 'only' as a thank you for looking out for me that night!"

Yuka listened to the woman's rant, then finally threw a hand to the air and turned away. "Forget it. If you wanna be blind as a bat, and stupid as a goldfish, you go right ahead. I was just trying to help you out."

"By trying to set me up with our Lieutenant? How the hell is…"

The older woman snapped around and pointed at her accusingly. "No, I was trying to help you out with a 'man', Hinata. True, he may be a 'Lieutenant', but he is still a 'man', and from everything I have ever seen and heard of him, a damn good one at that. And unlike every other woman in the 13 Court Guard Squads who pine over him, at least 'you' are not being held back by fraternization rules. You have a chance with him, and they don't. You said it yourself, that even you think the guy is good looking. So honestly, I absolutely fail to see what the problem is here."

Hinata slapped a hand to her forehead with a moan. "The problem is that he is our Lieutenant, Yuka. 'Ours'. We're in the 'same' squad, for crying out loud."

Yuka threw her arms out wide. "What does that have to do with anything?! What, you afraid that the two of you are gonna hump each other's brains out on the Captain's desk?!"

The younger woman's jaw dropped in shock. "W…W…What the fuck?! You're goddamned crazy!"

The older woman sighed heavily, planting a hand on her hip and pinching the bridge of her nose. "You really are hopeless, you know that?" she mumbled, then dropped her hand. "Look, Hinata…I'm gonna spell this out to you, 'really' slowly. Tetsuzaemon Iba may be a Lieutenant, he may be 'our' Lieutenant, and he may be working in the same office as you do, but in the end, he is still a single man, with a kind and caring heart, who's not stuck-up and snobby like the nobles, and 'clearly' has good morals; seeing as how he didn't try to take advantage of you and tried to look out for you when others likely wouldn't have."

The woman took a few steps forward and rested her hands on Hinata's shoulders. "The only reason you're having such a big issue about this is because you don't wanna look like some lovestruck schoolgirl in front of him. You think I didn't see how you looked at him when he lied about where you stayed that night? You think I didn't notice you looking at him with admiration? Well, helloooo…I did."

She then dropped and crossed her arms smugly. "Neither of us are stupid, Hinata, except for you thinking you could hide things from me. Granted, you probably didn't feel anything past a mild, and common infatuation for him when we were back with the 8th, like everyone else, but ever since that night, and I'm willing to bet since you started working in the office with him, you've slowly grown more enamored by him. Answer me this, and be honest with me, Hinata; what is the worse that could happen? Him say no? Do you think he's the kind of person who would look at you like you're an idiot or something for trying?"

The woman didn't answer at first, simply turning her head away in embarrassment. Yuka continued to stare at him, now tapping her foot lightly.

"Well? Do you?" she pressed.

Hinata sighed heavily and shook his head. "No…I guess he's not." She admitted, then looked back at her. "But still…"

Yuka raised a finger. "Ah! There's no 'buts' to it, Hinata. You 'just' said it yourself, that he's not that kind of person. So why are you worrying so much? Hinata…you're always helping us, looking out for us, being the 'big sister' and all that. You've had a poor time at life before you came to Squad 8, and you 'still' ignore yourself to help others. Why can't you just stop and let 'yourself' be happy for once?" she pleaded.

The officer turned away once again, and Yuka shook her head with a sigh. "I'm not trying to force you to do anything, Hinata, I'm only asking that you be willing to at least give it a try." She placed a comforting hand on Hinata's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Let 'me' help 'you'. Let 'me' be the big sister for once, ok?" she asked, giving a last squeeze before turning and climbing into bed, turning her light of and leaving the room in darkness.

Hinata watched as she did so, standing there with slumped shoulders in defeat. "Yeah…big sister." She whispered to herself, then followed Yuka's example and climbed into her own bed.

The woman's thoughts weighed heavily on her mind as she fought to let sleep claim her, but her body and mind simply refused to let that happen.

'How can she think I have feelings for the Lieutenant? Or…am I really that oblivious that that I can't even realize my own feelings? Do I have feelings for Tetsuzaemon? But even if I did…'

Her body grew uncomfortable, so she shifted herself into a better position. She sighed yet again, closing her eyes at another attempt at sleep.

'Does it really matter? Even if I did, it's not like I can act on them. Tetsuzaemon would just think I'm an idiot…Heh, he'd probably say it right to my face and tell me to get back to work. That is, if he didn't straight-out think it was a joke or something. 'What the hell you talking about, Ogawa?', or 'Are you an idiot or something?'. Yeah, like something could ever happen between us.'

She tossed around in her bed once more, now lying down on her stomach, her arms tucked underneath her pillow.

'Do I even want something to happen between us…? Was Yuka right…saying I was looking at him like I did? Should I take her advice…should I…give it a try?'

Rolling onto her side with a huff and moan of annoyance, she took a deep, slow breath to clear her mind.

It did not work.

'This is so fucking stupid. I've gotta be in the office early as hell to keep us caught up, and here I am tossing and fucking turning, swooning like a flipping schoolkid over something she can't have. Yeah, way to go, Hinata. Stupid, freaking imagination.'

Hinata Ogawa continued to toss and turn endlessly through most of the night, completely unaware that the woman in the bed across from her was resting peacefully, with the widest, most mischievous smirk plastered on her face.

Palace of the Primera Espada, 4 Hours Later

Nel was having a difficult time. No matter how hard she tried, she was fighting a losing battle trying to hold back from breaking out in a laughing fit. For right in front of her were Timothy and Ichigo, both with looks of stupor as they gazed upon the large room Nel led them to.

Their eyes were wide as saucers, and their jaws were, almost literally, dropped onto the floor.

"Who…" Ichigo began.

"The fuck…" Timothy followed.

"…has a need…" The teen added.

"…for that many…" The Lieutenant furthered.

"PILLOWS?!" They finished in unison.

That did the job for Nel as she fell onto her back, clutching her stomach and kicking her legs in hysterical laughter. For in front of the trio was a large room nearly stuffed to the brim with numerous pillows of different shapes and sizes.

To be honest, both of the soul reapers were amazed they could even see what color the floor was, never mind being able to enter the room without stepping on one of the cushions. Ichigo was thinking hoarder; Timothy was more along the lines of 'mommy issues'.

After what seemed like forever, Nel finally calmed down enough to stand back up, wiping tears from her eyes as she rejoined her companions.

"This…This is…Stark's room." She said between giggles.

Both men turned to her with looks of shock. "The Primera?" Timothy asked, getting a nod.

Ichigo rose a skeptical brow. "You mean to tell us the most powerful Espada in Hueco Mundo is a pillow hoarder?" Another nod.

"The fuck? You can't be serious, Nel. I thought these guys were supposed to be stone-cold killers, not some weirdos with…with…fucking Big Bird pillows!" he yelled.

The teen next to him shot him a surprised stare. "What?! Where?!" Timothy glared back and pointed out the 'offending' article, where the teen looked and allowed his jaw to drop again. "T-The hell?!"

But Nel, on the other hand, was lost. "Big Bird?"

Both men turned to her with fallen faces. "Don't ask." They said in unison. "I swear that stupid show has 'got' to be a brainwashing program in disguise." The Lieutenant added.

Ichigo rolled his eyes with a scoff. "Tsk, if I ever have kids, there ain't no way in hell I'd ever let them watch that junk."

Confused, but deciding it was best not to inquire further, Nel simply shrugged her shoulders to let the matter drop before pressing on and entering the room. Obviously, Orihime was not in the room, but there was something in the room that Nel thought might be very useful in their search.

Stark's diary.

The Primera had told her, or rather Lilynette did to his chagrin, that the Espada had kept a series of diaries since the time he became a Vasto Lorde.

Due to his unnatural amount of raw power for a Vasto Lorde, he quickly discovered that his raw spiritual pressure was so intense, that basically anything that came near him died. Not by his hand, not by a cero; just by coming too close, they simply fell over…dead.

Because of this, he was unable to even have a simple conversation with any being. Afterall, it wasn't exactly easy to speak with someone who died before you could even come within earshot.

In his bouts of loneliness, after discovering a few empty books that one or two of the fallen hollows possessed, he began small entries onto their blank pages, only for him to go back a few days later and read them aloud to himself.

It felt to him like he was speaking to himself, but from another perspective. Of course, it didn't completely rid him of his loneliness, but it did provide a bit of reprieve in a sense.

But it still wasn't quite enough. In the end, the loneliness drove him into desperation, forcing him to take his own soul and split it in two. He couldn't remember who or what the original being was, but he did know the result of the split was two individual beings; Coyote Stark, and Lilynette Gingerbuck.

But even after the split, he still wrote entries in those books. They were no longer needed, as he now, after so many years, had someone of similar power able to withstand his own, but after years of filling numerous entries, it became a habit. And Lilynette actually enjoyed going back and reading what he had wrote in the past.

After Aizen had approached the two and offered them to join his ranks, he had stopped writing for a while, now occupied by the many new 'friends' he now had. But it wasn't that much later when the urge to write in the diary returned, and he quickly found himself doing so once again.

Even to this day, Nel knew, Stark would nearly fill an entire page with the day's activities, be it his own or Lilynette's. And that was why she had led her group to the Primera's room when she first discovered it was his palace their set of stairs led to.

She needed to find the man's diary. Stark wrote everything in it, and if Aizen had ever said anything in front of, or to, Stark, he would have written it down. The only question was, where did he hide it this time?

The woman chuckled a bit at the thought, knowing that 'she' was the reason that he tried so hard to hide it. After Lilynette showed it to her, she almost made it a habit to read it and get a laugh out of the poor Espada's daily writings.

"Something wrong, Nel?" Timothy asked after hearing her low laughter.

She waved him off gently. "No, just thought of something is all. We need to start looking around for Stark's diary. I'm sure he must have heard something about Orihime, and if he did, he would have put it down."

Ichigo's face blanched. "…He has a Big Bird pillow…'and' a diary? The hell is wrong with this guy?"

Timothy rolled his eyes. "Pft. This coming from the guy who tried to use spirit energy to kill a spirit energy absorbing Adjuchas." He mumbled.

The teen flinched at his words and glared. "H-Hey! It wasn't my damn fault! I didn't know it could do that at the time!"

The Lieutenant snapped his eyes to him. "Bullshit! I specifically told you what the fucker could do 'before' you attacked it, dumbass!"

A fist on the top of his head sent him down to the floor, causing Ichigo to point and laugh at him being put down by Nel. "Ha! Serves you right!"

Another fist sent him down as well when Nel moved so swiftly that the poor teen didn't even catch the movement.

Now Timothy was giving the teen a dark chuckle. "You were saying, dipshit?"

A glare from Nel shut him up instantly. "We're running out of time, and you two still want to waste it by arguing? Honestly, both of you are idiots." She hissed.

Timothy flinched under her harsh tone, dropping his head and nodding. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry bout that, Nel."

She sighed heavily and shook her head. Try as she might, she simply found it impossible to stay mad with him. "It's ok. Let's please just drop it and find Starks diary. He usually hides it under a pile of pillows, though he has hid it under the furniture before." She informed.

Both men stood and looked out at the numerous piles of pillows, sweatdropping. "Personally…I think it would be faster to just search all of Las Noches for her. We'll be here for weeks." Ichigo whined.

"Agreed." Timothy added.

"Question though, if it's likely the guy wrote about Orihime being here in this diary of his, why the hell didn't we check here first?" the teen questioned.

Timothy rose a brow at that. "Good point; why didn't we check here first, Nel?"

The woman shook her head slowly. "Whenever he's not at a meeting, or trying to sleep somewhere hidden from Lilynette, Stark is normally here. The last thing I wanted to do is run into him and ruin everything, so I wanted to avoid coming here if possible."

Ichigo groaned and shook his head. "Whatever, let's just hurry up and get this done. I think it's almost time for us to start heading back."

The other two nodded and the group split up to start looking through the room. Nearly an hour later, the group found themselves flat on their backs, lying on top of a pile of pillows with fallen expressions. No diary.

Ichigo growled in agitation and dropped a fist down on the pillow next to him. "This is stupid. Are you even sure it's in here, Nel? The guy might have it with him."

Nel sighed and lifted herself up to a sitting position with a headshake. "No, I've never known him to keep it outside his room, no matter how many times I've found it. I kinda wish Lilynette was here, she has always been able to find it. I even had to rely on her a few times to help me."

The Lieutenant took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm sorry things turned out this way, Nel; with you two ending up on opposite sides of the fence." He comforted.

She nodded with a sigh herself. "Thanks, Tim." she said in a low voice.

Silence followed for only a moment before Timothy shot up and stared at Nel intently. "Wait a minute. You said he never takes it out of his room, right?" he asked, and she nodded. "And you said there was only one time where you never found him, right?" Another nod. "What time was it when you tried to look for him that time?"

She lowered her head a bit and hummed in thought. "Um…About the time he hides to write in his diary." she answered, looking back at him.

He narrowed his gaze. "Have you or Lilynette ever 'seen' him writing in it?"

She shook her head. "No, any time that he did, he was hiding. Me and Lilynette knew why he did it, so we gave him his privacy, knowing we'd could always read it later. Why?"

He tilted his head. "Well, think about it, Nel. If 'you' wanted to write in your diary, but keep yourself hidden without leaving the room, where would 'you' hide?"

Her and Ichigo, now sitting up as well, both thought about it, but could come up with nothing. "I don't know." She finally answered.

The man gave a toothy grin. "The same place you couldn't find him that one time, cause he was probably writing an extra entry at that time." He informed, pointing a finger up. "In the rafters."

The Arrancar and teen's eyes widened before shooting them up towards the ceiling, seeing the numerous, long, stone beams running along it. Ichigo groaned and slapped a hand to his face in embarrassment.

"I can't believe we didn't think of that." He mumbled into his hand.

Standing up with a victorious smile, Timothy looked down at the still sitting Arrancar. "Be right back." He said, putting all his effort into his leg muscles and leaping up into the rafters, landing on one of the beams.

"I'll give em a hand." Ichigo informed, then he, too, leaped up into the ceiling, leaving Nel the only one still reclining on the pile of pillows.

Knowing the two men 'should' have it all under control, the woman laid back down with a relaxing sigh and closed her eyes for a moment. She could still hear the two of them walking around above her looking for the diary as took a deep, calming breath.

Fortunately, it was only a few seconds later when she heard Ichigo calling out. "Hey, I think I found the damn thing."

She opened her eyes to see Timothy hopping from one beam to the next over to where Ichigo was crouching down holding up a small book. When he got there, he took it from the teen and glanced at it for a moment before nodding to Nel.

"Got it." He called down.

Smiling in triumph, she moved to get back up as they prepared to jump back down, but all three of them froze when they suddenly felt a powerful spiritual pressure closing in. Ichigo and Timothy glanced at each other in surprise, but Nel was frozen in terror.

She knew this pressure, and if she was being honest with herself, the owner was the last person she wanted to see at that time. Her eyes shot to the door, and remembering the layout of the hallway, and detecting how close the pressure was, they had no chance of escape.

In fact, she knew she had only a few seconds before that door opened. Knowing she didn't have enough time to join them in the rafters, Nel shot the pair a quick, fearful glance before turning around and diving into the nearest pile of pillows, hiding herself.

And not a moment too soon, for the second she pulled her feet into cover, the door opened and a tall, somewhat crestfallen, individual with dark-brown, unkempt hair walked in, followed closely by a small, green-haired…very talkative, young girl.

The man was rubbing the side of his head with one hand while having the other tucked into his pants sleeve. The girl was nearly jumping up and down with agitation and fuming at her taller companion.

"Come on, you idiot! You've only been awake for like…I don't know…an hour! Can't you do something better than sit around and freaking sleep all day?!" the girl fumed.

Timothy and Ichigo glanced at each other in worry as the pair below them walked within feet of Nel's hidden location. Swallowing the lumps in their throats, they made sure to keep themselves in the center of the beams; said beams, thankfully, being just a tiny bit wider than their bodies.

The man below them sighed in despair as he dropped forward and plopped facedown onto the closest pile of pillows, ten feet away from Nel.

"Go away, Lilynette. You and I both know that meeting was pointless and a waste of time, and much longer than an 'hour', so let's go back to sleep." The man whined.

Lilynette's forehead pulsed in anger before she stomped her foot down on the man's lower back. "You lazy, good for nothing idiot! Come on! I wanna go do something, Stark!"

Stark groaned into his pillow. "If you really want something to do, lay down and go to sleep." He mumbled.

The two soul reapers above them again glanced at each other, but this time in epic disbelief. They were having an impossible time trying to grasp that this man, this lazy, moody man, that allows his own fracción to abuse him, is the Primera Espada; the most powerful man in Las Noches besides Aizen himself.

It didn't make sense.

The men shook their heads in disbelief and turned back to the pair.

Lilynette grabbed her helmet-like hollow mask and growled out in anger before stomping on the man's head. "Get up, lazy ass!"

A snoring sound, obviously faked, rumbled out from the man's body, only serving to anger to tiny fracción even more.

Only feet away, hidden under a large pile of pillows and keeping deathly quiet, Nel held her hands tightly over her mouth, daring not to even breath as her body trembled in fear; a single layer of the stuffed fabrics as her only protection from being discovered.

Her mind was reeling, fearing that just the slightest hint of movement on her part, or even a wrong one on Lilynette's part, would reveal her and ruin everything. And she was mentally praying that, if she was discovered, that somehow, between her, Timothy, and Ichigo, the three of them could fight off both Stark and Lilynette.

But more than that, she prayed that she wouldn't have to fight them. Even after everything that's happened, she still cared a great deal for the two, and it would tear her soul apart by having to fight her close friends.

Tears were actually starting to form in the corners of her eyes as the thought plagued her, made worse by just the nearby sounds of their voices.

Lilynette stomped the ground and growled in anger again as Stark continued to fake his sleep…or was he really asleep by now? Not even Nel was sure at this point.

"Stupid…lazy…dumbass." Lilynette seethed as she kicked her partner against his side and stormed over to a pile of pillows.

The pile of pillows that Nel was currently hiding in.

The woman's eyes went wide as saucers as the small fracción picked up the only pillow covering the former Espada's head, revealing her to the small girl. At first, Lilynette didn't notice, still glaring at her 'sleeping' partner, but soon turned to the pile below her.

Eyes locked, and the whole universe froze in its place. Timothy and Ichigo nearly gasped aloud and prepared to jump down and interfere, hands on their zanpakutōs, as Lilynette stared at Nel, and Nel stared right back. The fracción with shock and surprise, and the former Espada with fear and horror.

For what had to have been the longest minute of their lives, the two women just…stared.

It surprised Lilynette even more when she finally noticed that the woman below her, her 'adopted older sister', had tears of absolute fear running down her cheeks, staining the pillows below.

And it ate at her.

She had seen Nel cry before once or twice, and the woman in turn had seen Lilynette cry a few times, but the smaller woman had honestly never seen the older one so terrified before in her life.

The small girl spared a quick glance at her partner, checking to see if he had noticed their 'guest', but saw that he was now actually asleep. Seeing this, she turned back to Nel and she could see the pleading look in her eyes, begging her not to say anything.

Regardless of what Aizen said, what the others, hell, even Stark said, she still cared a great deal for the woman and actually pitied her. As much as she knew she had to wake Stark and tell him, she knew she just couldn't do it; especially since even 'she' had doubts about what supposedly happened.

She knew in that moment what she had to do, or rather, what she 'didn't' have to do. She was going to keep quiet and spare her 'sister' what, she knew, would be a very painful death by Aizen's, or even Nnoitra's hands.

But it still raised the question: why was she even here?

It was then that Nel, unintentionally, spared a quick glance to where Ichigo and Timothy where hiding. Unfortunately, Lilynette noticed. The girl turned over her shoulder to where Nel was looking and managed to catch a glimpse of Timothy's face as he was pulling back behind cover.

'She's not alone…' she mentally observed.

Turning back to the woman and rolling her eyes back to Stark to make sure he was still asleep, she looked back at her and sighed. 'The girl?' she mouthed, earning a slight nod in return after a brief pause.

She sighed heavily once more with closed eyes, nodding back in understanding. Waiting for a few moments, and finally coming to a decision, Lilynette opened her eyes back to her, nodding once more.

'Quatro's palace.' She mouthed further.

Nel's eyes widened further, now seeing that her friend, her 'sister', was helping her. More tears flowed and she gave her the most thankful looks she could muster. The girl nodded again, then had a fallen expression on her face.

'I'm sorry…about your brothers.' She mouthed with a hint of tears in her eyes, then replaced the pillow over Nel's head.

Seeing everything, but not noticing the silent conversation between the two women, the men above shared confused glances at the fracción's actions. They couldn't understand why the girl hadn't woken her partner up yet to warn him about Nel, or 'them' for that matter. The girl may have been close to Nel and may try to help her, but not them, surely.

Standing straight and sighing loudly with hands on her hips, Lilynette turned back to Stark and gave him a fierce kick in his side. Needless to say, the man woke right up and turned to glare at her.

"Damnit Lilynette, what was that for?!" he yelled.

She crossed her arms tightly. "I'm tired of you sleeping your ass off all day! I wanna go do something, so get up!" she yelled back.

His face fell back to normal as he growled. "I'm not going."

Lilynette stomped his face in, and when he fell back, started bouncing on his chest. "I'm bored! I'm bored! I'm bored! I'm bored! I'm bored! I'm bored! I'm bored! I'm…"

"Alright already!" he yelled, defeated…finally.

She stopped her childish ranting and smiled sweetly at him. "Thanks Stark!"

The man growled deeply. "Yeah, fine. Let's go and get this over with. But you better let me sleep when we get back." He said as he pushed her off and got back up.

Lilynette sighed in defeat. "Ok ok, I'll let ya sleep for a little while afterwards. Now let's go! I'm bored, Stark!"

"Be quiet." He moaned as he led them out of the room.

Lilynette followed him to the door, but stopped and glanced back to where Nel was hiding, seeing her eyes peeking out from a small break in her cover. Sighing once more and knowing Stark couldn't see, see gave the woman a hand flick in a wave.

'Be careful.' She mouthed, then turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

The group waited until Stark's spiritual pressure was no longer detectable, plus another minute or so to be safe, until they broke their cover. Ichigo and Timothy jumped down from the rafters while Nel removed herself from her pillow prison.

"Well the hell was that about?!" Ichigo loudly whispered.

Nel lowered her head a bit and glanced at the door, causing Timothy to look at her in worry. "Nel?"

The woman took a deep breath and looked back at them. "I know where Orihime is." She said in a low, defeated voice.

The men's eyes widened. "What?!" Timothy asked in shock.

Nel nodded and sighed. "Lilynette told me she's in the Quatro's palace…and I trust her."

Ichigo started scratching his head in wonder. "Why the hell didn't she say anything? I coulda sworn she was going to rat you out, Nel."

Her face fell even more. "I don…I don't know. Maybe she…still cares about me. I don't know. Let's…" She sighed again. "Let's just go." she mumbled in sadness.

Timothy sighed as well and nodded. "Alright. If what she said was true, then I guess we don't need the guy's diary, huh?"

Nel shook her head slowly. "No, we should put it back and leave." She advised.

Ichigo scoffed. "Couldn't agree more. I'll put it back, you two keep watch." He said, then leaped back into the rafters.

It was only a few minutes later when the teen hopped back down and rejoined them at the door. Opening it a crack, they peered out into the hallway and, seeing that was empty, quickly left the room and ran back towards the tunnels.


Alright, it looks like the team finally has a more general location of where Orihime is now. I know a few of you have asked in the past what Timothy and Ichigo's relationship would be like, and as you can now clearly see, they don't exactly see eye-to-eye most of the time. Lol.

Once again, please be sure to shoot me a review or pm regarding your thoughts on the story so far, good or bad. Had a pretty good year so far, and I'm honestly looking forward to this next one.

I will give you all a little heads up that we are roughly at, or very close to, the halfway point in the story now. Can't believe that I was originally shooting for around 700k words by the end, and I can clearly see now that the story is going to pass that by a large margin. Can't wait to finally finish the story for you all.

Hope you all had a good year and looking forward to the next one with ya. Laters.