EDIT (12/11/2006): It's taken me long enough to revise all chapters. In fact, I'm procrastinating (no! what a surprise!), I should've been done with this weeks ago. But I guess it's not as easy as it seems at first. I just hope I'm not screwing it up. I do promise, however, to be done before the year ends. So let's see how I do. "My New Year's resolution is to be done with this story revising before the New Year". (Yeah, like that's going to work.)

I'm listening to "Swing of lie" by Yui. What a great song.

---

Hmm, my story is turning out frighteningly like the current chapters of the manga. Ichigo says he'll go after Orihime alone, Yamamoto responds from Soul Society and Hitsugaya & Co. don't like it, Tatsuki gets involved (and punches Ichigo), the Vizards come in. Maybe I'm just very in tune with what Kubotite is leading up to, but I'm afraid people might think I'm just ripping the manga plot. Which is not the case. I just want to point out once again that the plot of this story is originally mine, something that I came up with after the release of chapter 229. Any resemblance to current manga chapters is coincidence. After all, I like to keep with the canon, and by doing so, I guess there's no helping the fact that my ideas might turn out very similar to the manga.

Disclaimer: Not owner of anything. Lamentably.

Music: "Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me" by U2, "In the city" by Operatica, "Melancholy Rose" by Operatica, the whole Silent Hill 2 soundtrack (as much as I hated the film, the music was excellent, and I love the music from the videogames), and "Fall from grace" by Sound Dimension (my boyfriend's band).

This chapter is dedicated to my good friend, Alexz, frontwoman of Sound Dimension, for writing a song inspired by my story, which in turn inspired the title of this chapter, too. Here's an excerpt of the song, because it's not really finished. But it's awesome so far.

Let the sun burn down the darkness

If I can't undo the black of night

To set apart the world of sadness

Bring me back into the light

Let burn down the world in darkness

Let the black flames burn the light

Far beyond the silent blackness

Lies the waking sound of life

-- "Let burn down the world in darkness"

2006 © the mischievous Miss Chievous a.k.a Ultraviolet41

---

Coming Undone – by Deathberry15

7: Waiting to save you from the dark

Hitsugaya, Matsumoto and Tatsuki stared in disbelief at the glowing screen, and the face projected on it.

"What?" Hitsugaya asked. "We're just going to leave her there?"

"It has been decided," Yamamoto was saying, "that no shinigami will cross to Hueco Mundo to retrieve Inoue Orihime, because… it's simply not possible."

"How can you say it's not possible?" Matsumoto said, standing up defiantly. "Didn't we all see what happened at the site of the Soukyoku? Did we all not see Aizen and Ichimaru and Tousen ascend into Hueco Mundo, the negacion taking them away? It is possible. Shinigami can cross to Hueco Mundo."

"Matsumoto," Hitsugaya muttered in a warning tone.

"What you are suggesting, Matsumoto-fukutaichou," continued Yamamoto, "is something that has never been attempted. Only those who possess Hollow reiatsu or those who are in league with the Menos can cross between dimensions, into Hueco Mundo. If any shinigami were to attempt to enter Hueco Mundo by negacion, he or she would suffer great injuries, and be rendered complete incapable of carrying out any missions once inside, or even be killed by the negacion. The truth is," and here he paused and gave a wearied sigh, "no shinigami has ever been to Hueco Mundo."

"You mean besides them," Hitsugaya said pointedly. "But there has to be another way to enter without harm. How then could Inoue Orihime have crossed?"

"It is not certain that she is still alive," Yamamoto replied.

"Captain!" Matsumoto exclaimed. She could not believe he was suggesting it, that Orihime…

"Why would Aizen kill her?" Hitsugaya asked, trying to keep his composure.

"Why wouldn't he? Regardless of her form, human or merely soul, she will retain her powers, and we have already proved this to be true, because she has fought equally in the living world as well as Soul Society," Yamamoto explained.

Matsumoto sneered. He spoke of Orihime as if she were a random person, and not someone who has helped them. Someone worth saving.

"She is alive," Tatsuki spoke suddenly, drawing their attention. She was shaking, but she looked determined, as she stood up and looked at Yamamoto.

"I know she is. I can feel it. Orihime is alive."

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto turned to Yamamoto as the old man nodded very slowly.

"I was reserving this question for the moment before this communication ended," he said, "but I might as well ask now. Who might you be?" He was scrutinizing Tatsuki, not unkindly, but his voice was stern. Tatsuki, however, didn't feel any less confident now that he was addressing her directly.

"Inoue Orihime is my friend, and I'm here to help," she answered simply.

"As far as helping, there is little that you might be able to do. After all," Yamamoto gave another pause, "you are only a human."

Tatsuki balled her hands into fists at her sides, and looked as if she were about to beat up Yamamoto –if only he weren't in a completely different dimension and talking through a screen—, but Hitsugaya thought it timely to cut in before Tatsuki could utter something she would regret.

"Arisawa-san might not be able to help," he began, "but we are shinigami. We can find a way into Hueco Mundo somehow. There must be something we can do."

"In turn, Hitsugaya-taichou," Yamamoto replied, "what you are suggesting is that we dedicate what precious little time we have to discover in a matter of days something that has not been discovered in centuries of research and experimentation; how to get a shinigami into Hueco Mundo. And all of this to save one person. One. Single. Person."

"It very well could be one million people and it wouldn't make a difference! We still have to go! We have to save her!" Matsumoto said. "You can't possibly—"

"But she is not," Yamamoto answered. "It is not one million people in Hueco Mundo, but it is one million people in the living world. A million souls, a mile of soul miles in a land rich of souls. Right now, we are weighing the life of one person versus the lives of thousands in the living world."

"Sir, with all due respect, you don't know if it has been put in a scale already," Hitsugaya pointed out. "Rescuing Inoue before Aizen has been able to use her would be stopping him from taking all those souls. We might still be able to stop it all before it's even begun."

"We have no way of knowing if Aizen's plan for her has been put into motion," Yamamoto said. "And we are not willing to risk it. We are not going to waste any time, or risk the lives of any shinigami, trying to get into Hueco Mundo. What we must do with the little time we have left is to double our forces and strengthen Soul Society's defenses against any move from Aizen."

"And how exactly is that going to help?" Hitsugaya demanded.

"We must maintain balance," Yamamoto began, but Hitsugaya spoke again before he could continue.

"Precisely, balance will be lost anyway," Hitsugaya said, "if there are no souls left on Earth. It won't make a difference."

Yamamoto did not reply, and Hitsugaya felt that he had spoken the truth, even if it was hard to see. How could anyone believe something like this was possible? That all life on Earth might be exterminated, and there was nothing they could do about it?

But Yamamoto was right; no shinigami had ever gone to Hueco Mundo. And even as he argued, Hitsugaya had no clue if it was possible, even by alternate means.

Everything was screwed up. But he couldn't admit defeat just yet. He wouldn't.

"As soon as the order is given, all members of the expeditionary force under the commandment of Hitsugaya-taichou should report back to the Seireitei. Until then, standby, and be alert of any activity on Hueco Mundo's behalf," Yamamoto stated. Then the screen went blank and filled with static. The transmission had ended.

Hitsugaya stared at the grey static for a moment, then picked up the remote and switched off the screen. He couldn't believe it. They weren't going to do anything. They were just going to wait for Aizen to unleash whatever forces he was going to use, and destroy life on earth, and all because Yamamoto was not willing to risk the life of any member of the Gotei 13.

Hitsugaya was even willing to do it himself, if it meant not only saving the life of a friend, but the lives of thousands of innocent people on earth. That is all it would take. How could the general commander be so dense?

"Does…" Tatsuki spoke up suddenly but hesitantly, "does this mean that… you're going to have to disobey orders?"

Hitsugaya was surprised. He glanced at Matsumoto momentarily, and saw his vice-captain look back, the same expression as Tatsuki on her face. Hope.

"When we're all going mad, you alone seem to know what to do," she had said to him. "Don't you trust your instinct this time?"

"Wouldn't you say you know what needs to be done now?"

Hitsugaya glanced between Tatsuki and Matsumoto and smiled. "Yes," he said confidently, and they smiled back at him. "That is exactly what it means."

---

So these were the Vizards, Rukia mused from the large rock she sat on, wiping sweat from her forehead. She barely remembered what little Ichigo said about them, not wanting to speak of them much; he hardly mentioned them, as if wanting to keep them secret. But Rukia knew it had to do with them having abandoned him. He searched for them and didn't find them. And now they were working with him again. But it had been Urahara who summoned them here.

Ichigo also had a bit of a grudge against Hirako, the smartass-looking dork with the bowl haircut; he always showed up at the worst time, and managed to get on Ichigo's nerves very easily. He made snotty, inappropriate remarks, and harassed Orihime whenever he saw her. Of course Ichigo would have a tiff against him.

Rukia had never seen them before, except for Hirako and Hiyori, the strange girl who once took Orihime to their training area. Now she got a good look at all of them, and still she didn't know who they were.

Urahara explained what a Vizard was, what were their powers, and why Ichigo was one of them. In spite of the initial shock, the shinigami plus Ishida and Chad resolved they would be valuable in the battle to come, and in this mission. Urahara remarked, and they had to agree he was probably right, they were trustworthy.

But where did they come from?

Rukia assumed these Vizards probably liked to maintain a level of secrecy regarding their kind. Who knew how many of them were out there and what they were up to. But Ichigo needed their help, and even if they abandoned him for some time, they were willing to work with him once again. And as long as they were here to help, Rukia had no problem with them.

Except the girl with the pigtails. She could be so noisy.

"Taking a break again?"

Rukia looked up at Renji. He was sweating and panting, but he was smiling widely, which could only mean he was doing well and feeling well. He sat heavily beside her and watched the others train. Right now, Yumichika had taken over against Ikkaku and they were really going at it. They had been called only ten minutes ago, and showed up before two minutes had passed, full of glee at the prospect of fighting, even if it was just a training. Renji had been fighting Chad, whose arm was stronger than ever, and then fought Ikkaku because the 11th division member could not contain himself and begged him to let him kick his ass. Renji, of course, got so angry that he wasted a lot of his energy bad-mouthing Ikkaku, and ended up getting his ass kicked after all. He then fought Yumichika, and once his ego was deflated by the ever-patronizing narcissistic shinigami, Renji was able to beat him after a decent effort.

"Yoruichi-san is not an ordinary opponent," Rukia replied, glancing at Yoruichi, who was now facing Ishida. There's a sight you don't see everyday, she thought. A Quincy and a shinigami, fighting fair and evenly, sharing the same objective. Who would've guessed?

Renji snorted. "Guess not."

They watched Ichigo. A Hollow mask covered his face, and he was fighting two of the Vizards, the girl with the green hair and the tall one with the afro. Rukia was amazed. She still couldn't believe that Ichigo was a Vizard, or that such a thing as a Vizard existed. They were such a strange and powerful kind. They were like the polar opposite of Arrancar. To think that Ichigo harbored such powers, it was unthinkable how very strong, how very threatening he could ever become.

And he was clearly gaining fast control over that power. If he could only achieve complete control, then there would be no stopping him. Going to Hueco Mundo and rescuing Inoue would be a cinch for him. Or so Rukia hoped.

"It seems Ichigo is becoming stronger," Renji said, as if to fill in the silence. "It's amazing how quickly he can develop, how fast he grows and moves on to the next level. Soon enough, there will be nothing left for him to learn, no higher place he can climb up to."

"Yeah," Rukia agreed, but then she sighed. "But sometimes it seems like that is never enough."

Renji gave her a questioning look.

"It's just like Urahara said, just after we came here, when they took… well, when the Arrancar came," Rukia began hesitantly. "He said that Ichigo had to be sure that he knew what he was fighting for. He had to be determined, to go to any lengths, or else he might fail."

She observed Ichigo intently. He was holding the transformation longer now. Rukia could remember his fear of losing control; he had told her about one occasion in particular, when the Hollow inside of him threatened to come out, and he was paralyzed with fear, unable to do anything. That was the time Orihime had gotten hurt. Rukia remembered dragging him over to Orihime afterwards to apologize for failing her, and making him promise to get stronger. He disappeared for a month after that, gone to train with the Vizards. She was glad to see how committed he was to his goal, but it had been a long month of not knowing where he was.

"I think Ichigo finally understands what it means to risk anything and everything for the sake of something," Rukia continued. "I think now, more than ever, he fears losing something so valuable to him, someone so… I think he believed he could make himself immune to this kind of thing, because if you don't love anything, then how can you get hurt if it's lost in the end?"

Rukia sighed and tilted her head back. She wished she could block out her surroundings for a moment; the noises, the stress, the exhaustion, all these distractions that affected her when she just needed to focus on one thing: to keep going.

"You can't take life for granted. You can't take for granted that you might not feel anything anymore ever again; that's impossible. Even if you try, you can't make yourself not care for others, worry about others, risk your life for someone. You can't take for granted that you might stop yourself from falling… in love."

She fell silent, wishing for a moment she hadn't said anything. But she suddenly felt his eyes on her, and she blushed. She wanted to look at him, but she feared what her eyes would reveal. Finally meeting his gaze, his expression was indecipherable, like he couldn't fully understand but wanted to grasp the meaning of her words.

They looked at each other without speaking, but then the noisy pigtails girl started yelling.

"Oi, we need help over here!"

---

Ichigo woke up with a start. He felt a presence, a strong reiatsu in his room, very near. He looked around. Someone stood by the window.

He got out of bed and stared. No, not by the window, but on it, feet planted firmly on the windowsill. "Rukia?" he asked very quietly. He thought it likely to be her; he was used to her striking dramatic poses on a windowsill. Whoever it was, there was no response. He squinted, trying to make out a face.

It was Orihime.

Instead of calling out her name, he simply stood in front of her. She stood against the moonlight pouring in, her face shadowed completely. There was a loud thumping in his ears.

He reached a hand toward her, but suddenly it felt like it was pulled, as if by magnetism. The thumping became louder and his first thought was that his heart was beating against his chest so hard that he could feel it in his head. His hand went through her chest, his fingers dipping into her skin like water, all the way to the wrist. His whole hand vanished inside her chest, and he could feel nothing but icy cold. He couldn't pull it out; it was just like having his hand in concrete. The cold spread over his entire body, and he started to gasp for air. She just stared down at him.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore; he began pulling with all his might, until he managed to free his hand, after many painful attempts. His fingers were wrapped around something warm and soft. A heart, he realized, still beating, and making that loud thumping noise inside his head. He watched his hand, in frozen horror, holding Orihime's heart. It was a sickening image. He tried looking away, but it was impossible. He couldn't let go of the heart either. Ichigo looked up at her again; there was a hole now in her chest, where her heart should've been. It looked just like a Hollow's, perfectly shaped like a circle, and clean through and through.

Her clothes were different now, too; she wore a long white cloak, like an Arrancar, completed with a broken Hollow mask attacked to one side of her face, casting an eerie shadow over her features. She gave him a look of utmost hatred. He tried to speak, but no words made it out of his mouth before she had drawn a long, white sword from its sheath at her hip, and in one fluid movement, stabbed right through his hand, which still held her heart. The blade pierced all the way into his own chest, and through his own heart, until he felt it had stopped beating completely...

---

Ichigo woke up very suddenly, violently gasping for air, hands clutching at his heaving chest.

"Are you okay?"

Ichigo looked to his left, straight into Hachigen's face. The shinigami plus the Vizards stared at him expectantly. He lay on the ground, his body aching all over.

He had blacked out.

"What happened?" he asked hoarsely, sitting up.

"If you don't know, then we're clueless," Hiyori said. "You weren't even hit. You leapt, and when you came down, you really came down. You just keeled over."

"We thought you were having a seizure," Rozu added.

"Ichigo, what happened?" Rukia asked concerned.

Ichigo swallowed hard. "I just, I thought I was having a dream."

"A dream?"

"It was more like a vision, really. I was in my room."

"Why would your room represent a vision?" Ishida asked.

"I saw Orihime."

The others exchanged looks. They wondered exactly what he meant by "seeing", and also because he used Orihime's given name and that was something new.

"You were dreaming, Ichigo. That's all," Rukia said, rubbing his shoulder comfortingly. "How do you feel?"

"She was an Arrancar," he said, his voice breaking.

No one said anything. They all seemed to be waiting for him to just get up and start training again. But he seemed weak and powerless, and he started to shake. He clutched at his chest again. "It was so… real."

"But it wasn't, Ichigo. It wasn't real. You were dreaming. Okay?" Rukia said, trying to calm him down, but his nails dug into the dusty ground and clawed at it, as he tried very hard to contain himself.

"She's dead, isn't she? She's already dead. I might as well be dead too, then," he began in a hurried whisper. "No matter what I do, how fast and how hard I work, when I get there —IF I get there—, there's no way I'll make it out alive."

"What?" Rukia was too shocked to say anything else. Everyone else was equally puzzled.

"It's too late. I just know it," he continued, and a tear slipped out of his eye. "None of this should've happened in the first place. Now it's just too late. No matter what, she's going to die anyway, isn't she? And who knows how many of you will die in the process, too, and the whole world is in imminent danger now, isn't—"

They were truly too shocked to say anything by the time he was going into hysterics, when someone pushed through the crowd and slapped him hard across the face. Ichigo stumbled backward, onto his elbows, completely stunned. Everyone stared, stupefied, looking at the person who had knocked him over.

"Get it together, Ichigo!" Tatsuki shouted. She knelt in front of him and seized him by the collar of his kimono, and gave him a little shake, as if to make sure he was paying attention. Behind her, Hitsugaya and Matsumoto joined the circle, none too surprised to see this development.

"Tatsuki," Ichigo mumbled idiotically, still too stunned to react.

"I just sat through a very thorough, very confusing and very strange explanation on what you have been doing and why you act so strange sometimes, and it's just starting to make sense. I'm still trying to process it all, and it's completely insane, but it makes sense. And I believe all of it."

"I know what happened to Orihime, and I know what you guys are doing, and I want to help. But I don't think I can help much, I have no powers or anything, so the only way I can think of is moral support, or whatever you want to call it. To be honest with you," she glared at Ichigo, "I never thought you would need any. In all these years that I've known you, I believed you to be strong and confident. I understand that you're afraid. And that's why I want you to know that I trust you."

She stood up and held out her hand to help him up, which he hesitantly took. She pulled him up to his feet.

"I do trust you," she said, smiling. "I think everyone here does. You've earned their trust." She patted his shoulder. "You don't need to show me, because I've always known you to be loyal and honorable, and to fight for what you believe in. And I believe that you can accomplish anything, if you set your heart on it."

As if wanting to show her true affection for him, Tatsuki pulled him into a hug. She might seem tough, but she still had a soft side, especially for her friends. And even if it would seem that Ichigo and Tatsuki had stopped being friends a long time ago, the truth was that they were closer than ever. As he hugged her back, Ichigo smiled at the realization that he still had his best friend.

"And if there's anyone who can bring Orihime back, it's you," Tatsuki whispered in his ear, barely keeping her tears at bay. "So get a grip and finish your training."

Urahara surveyed the whole scene from his post on a large rock. He grinned as Ichigo seemed animated again and yelled at Hiyori to start up again.

"I think Kurosaki-san only needed someone to knock some sense into him," he said. "Literally."

Yoruichi nodded. "I think Arisawa-san only told him what he already knew, but he's too dense to see for himself," she replied.

"Maybe you're right, but you can't deny the effect she had on him," he said. "I think his training will be over soon. I just hope the others can catch up."

"All we need is the Vizards, don't we? They certainly seem ready."

"As ready as they'll ever be. Still," Urahara lowered his face so that his hat cast an eerie shadow upon his eyes, "no one would know what to expect."

---

It had only taken one day.

After Tatsuki had knocked him around a bit ("Well, he deserved it, didn't he?" she said to anyone who questioned her actions, and they had to agree), and he stopped moping and started working again, harder, faster and with a lot more conviction, it only took Ichigo one day and one night to accomplish what he hadn't been able to do in an entire month of intensive training in the Vizards' grounds. By the next morning, he was pummeled and didn't even get up to eat, but he was cheerful. Everyone stayed in Urahara Shouten for the night, unable to move an inch. Even Tatsuki, who didn't have much else to do, was exhausted; but she truly helped. She got Ichigo out of his funk, and that was enough.

It was only a matter of time now. They had to plan what they would do, who would do it, how and when. But none of the shinigami, Vizards, Quincy or humans had a clue on how to do it. It was left up to Urahara to direct them. He was the commander now. Outside of Soul Society, he alone seemed to know everything.

Some of the shinigami were reluctant at first to have Urahara as the leader. Hitsugaya, on the other hand, agreed promptly, as long as things were done swiftly. He purposely left out that he had spoken with Yamamoto, and what had been said; nobody seemed to care anyway, and they seemed to have forgotten about it. In any case, he would take responsibility for disobeying orders. Matsumoto knew he was once again taking all the blame. But she had been the one who convinced him to do things how he felt was right. It wasn't a matter of pride; it was about honor and loyalty. That's what Hitsugaya was about. So she had no choice but to agree.

That afternoon, the former 12th division captain asked Yoruichi, Hitsugaya and Hirako to join him in a private room to talk. Not much needed to be discussed, really; the plan was simple. What they needed to determine was when it would be carried out.

"Be honest, Hirako-san," Yoruichi began, changing the subject momentarily. "Why are you doing this?"

"What?" Hirako pretended to be taken aback.

"You are certainly not doing this to help Ichigo. No offense, but you Vizards don't exactly seem like the kind to help others out of the goodness of your hearts," she said. "You already abandoned him once, why would you suddenly reappear and help him get stronger, especially when you thought he wasn't worth the trouble?"

Hirako seemed to take a long time to think before answering. "I was waiting for Ichigo to make up his mind."

"He never changed his mind. He's always known what he wants to do," Yoruichi replied.

Hirako gave an exasperated sigh. "We were waiting for him to face his fate. To accept that, whether he believes his powers are a curse or a blessing, he's still got them, and he might as well make good use of them. That is why we let him go. He lost his purpose somewhere along the way, but now that he's had some time to think about it, to feel the need once again, I think he can accept his fate, and perhaps become one of us."

"And what about you?" Yoruichi asked. "Do you believe your powers are a curse or a blessing?"

The Vizard seemed surprised. He glanced at Urahara and Hitsugaya, who remained quiet, as if wanting to hear the answer too. Hirako sighed resignedly.

"We are not a bad kind," he said, uncharacteristically soft-spoken. "Just because we have these powers, we shouldn't be the bad guys. We've been outcasts all this time, and to be taken into consideration for something… I feel it's a chance for us to be recognized. We don't want to take sides; just to be taken into account."

"So you'll help us, but you might decide later that you want to, say, stay in Hueco Mundo? Join their ranks? How, then, can we trust you?" Hitsugaya finally spoke.

Hirako gave him a menacing look. "We don't take sides," he repeated. "We are our own side."

"Then what are you risking your lives for, right now? Can you tell me?" Hitsugaya asked.

"We are not hiding anymore. We want a place in all of this. As unbelievable as it may seem, all we want is to be acknowledged."

Hitsugaya and Yoruichi looked at one another, but Urahara beat them to speaking their thoughts.

"Fair enough," he said, and smiled like he was satisfied with the outcome of the chat, even when he hadn't asked any of the questions, or spoken at all until now.

"Everyone should know what they are fighting for. What you are risking your lives for," he continued.

Hitsugaya looked uneasy for a moment. "The point is; will all our efforts be worth it?"

"That I cannot tell you," Urahara answered. "That will be defined tonight."

Yoruichi raised her eyebrows. "Tonight?"

"Tonight," Urahara said with a nod. The shinigami and Vizard looked at one another, but they weren't really surprised. Tonight was actually perfect.

They were ready.

---

Ulquiorra gazed up at the very top of the wall, to address the occupant of the great chair.

"Aizen-sama?"

The figure stirred at the sound of his name. Aizen looked down at Ulquiorra and grinned. "You know what to do."

"Yes."

"Grimmjaw has insisted on joining you," Aizen added, gesturing to the Arrancar who was walking up to Ulquiorra at that instant. The former sexta Espada looked every bit as strong and threatening, even when he still only had one arm.

"In which case I think you should take her with you, too. And Yammy and a couple of others. See if you can make it interesting," the former shinigami continued, smiling bigger as he looked at his best Arrancar with satisfaction. "I know it will be."

Ulquiorra nodded, and gestured for Grimmjaw to follow. They were leaving immediately.

---

It was going to be a rainy night.

Bad omen, Ichigo thought, even when he didn't believe in such things as bad omens or luck.

The rain just made him uneasy. He liked the weather after a storm, the calmness and quiet after the rain, the coolness and moisture and smell of the air. But the rain itself… he just didn't have many fond memories of rainy days.

She, on the other hand, loved the rain. She had once told him, not long ago, that it was nice how every once in a while, heaven and earth were connected.

He liked that idea, too. But he was still uneasy in the rain.

"So, now, we just… wait," he said out loud. Rukia, Renji and Tatsuki were silent. The four stood near the entrance of a playground, waiting.

The sky was darkening quickly. Clouds rolling across it, wispy and grey, blocking what was left of the afternoon sunshine. Ichigo was growing tense and expectant.

Renji stretched out his arms and groaned lazily, leaning back onto the wooden backrest of the park bench he sat on. He stared up at the cloudy, stormy sky.

"You know you don't have to be here," he said to Tatsuki, who sat beside him. She wrung her hands together nervously, distractedly, and didn't even hear him.

"You'll get wet and you'll catch a cold and then what are we going to do?" Renji spoke again, but still it didn't seem like she was listening.

"Hey," he called, nudging her shoulder lightly to get her attention. "Arisawa, go home. You shouldn't be here. None of us would like to see you get hurt."

Tatsuki frowned at him. "I won't be in the way," she replied. "I know I won't be able to do much. But I just can't go home and wait patiently. I need to be here."

Nothing else was said about that.

"What if nothing happens?" Yumichika asked. Hitsugaya, standing with arms crossed in his usual fashion, gave him a look.

"What if we stand around all night, waiting for them, and they never come? What happens then?" the 11th division fourth seat continued.

Ikkaku frowned and snorted. "What do you mean 'what happens if nothing happens'? If nothing happens, then nothing happens."

"What?" Yumichika asked.

Matsumoto shook her head. "Neither of you is making much sense. So I suggest you both shut up."

There was a moment of silence, but much to Matsumoto's dismay, Yumichika started again. "I mean, what if nothing happens tonight?"

"Well, something has to happen eventually, sooner or later. I guess we won't know until then," Hitsugaya replied, hoping he would shut up once and for all.

"We're underestimating them. They always seem to know where we are. How can we expect them not to take precautions?" Yumichika continued.

Hitsugaya turned his head in his direction. "What?"

"They knew where Inoue was, so it was easy for them to take her," Yumichika explained. "They must be able to sense us. They could sense us right now, know that we are alert and waiting for them, and then they could just wait until we've got our guards down to attack. Because we're certainly not expected to hang around here forever. We're bound to need to rest."

"Maybe you would. I don't mind staying her, keeping an eye out for them," Ikkaku said.

"Still, they can sense us, can't they? They can track us," Yumichika continued.

"Pesquisa," Urahara said, approaching suddenly and quietly. "It is the Arrancar's sensitivity to spiritual pressure. They can perceive any sort of reiatsu. So yes, naturally, they should be able to find us." He stopped in their midst.

"They know we have the hairpin. They will eventually come. Sooner is better than later; with pesquisa, it makes no difference to come right now or wait until we're resting. They will attempt to get it anyway they can. And I'm quite sure most of them are all about fighting, much like Madarame-san," here he grinned in Ikkaku's direction, who looked rather proud at this mention, "so my guess is they would rather have an all-out battle than trying to catch us in our sleep."

"And it seems like we won't have to wait much longer," Hitsugaya said suddenly, and he pointed to the sky. All eyes followed his finger, and watched as a big hole tore across the inky darkness of the firmament. They were coming after all. They were already here.

"It's our move," Urahara said, and gave the signal.

Shinigami, Vizards and humans all moved in unison, scampering through the streets. It wasn't too far off.

---

Ichigo ran, as quietly and as fast as he could, ahead of the rest, all the time keeping his eyes on the tear in the sky. He wouldn't lose sight of them this time.

"Ichigo, slow down!" Rukia hissed. He ignored her.

"Keep up, would you?" he whispered to the ones behind him.

Yoruichi had the hairpin. She stayed close to Urahara, and Tessai, Jinta and Ururu kept her surrounded and shielded. Ichigo wanted to keep an eye on her too. The Arrancar shouldn't get their hands on the hairpin. It was their only safety right now; as long as they didn't get it, the Arrancar were not going anywhere.

There were six of them.

Ichigo counted them as he reached the end of the sidewalk and stood atop the steep hill that led down to the riverbank. Back in this place, once again. How appropriate, he thought miserably, surveying the area he was unfortunately so familiar with, where so many things had happened. He hated that place.

He saw the clear silhouettes of the newly-arrived Arrancar, standing about the bank, looking around. The large one was most likely Yammy. As for the rest of them, he would have to take a closer look to be able to tell.

"It's now or never, Kurosaki-san," Urahara said. Ichigo nodded.

They trudged down the hill, and into full view of the Arrancar. This was their strategy; a face to face encounter. Or else they wouldn't have a chance.

Grimmjaw was the first to speak. "Ah, what is this? We have a welcome party," he said with a cynical grin. He looked at each of them in turn. "Shinigami. And not just any shinigami, but the one I still have a bone to pick with."

Ichigo gritted his teeth furiously. He wasn't sure whom he hated more. Grimmjaw, driven by a sheer desire to overpower him; or Ulquiorra, apparently the most powerful of the group, for his calm countenance and the ease with which he took Orihime away.

No. He might yearn to defeat them, to see them vanish and never come back; but he knew that was in their nature to do these evil things, to follow these orders. They were Arrancar; Hollows with shinigami powers. They were creatures from Hueco Mundo. That was the limit of their existence.

It was Aizen whom he truly hated. That traitor; Aizen, who sent others to do the dirty work for him while he watched from his high chair. Aizen, who nearly killed him and half of the Gotei 13; who nearly killed Rukia for the Hougyoku; and who had taken Orihime for his own purposes with that same object.

Ichigo drew his zanpakutou, leaving the wrappings to fall to the floor. Grimmjaw's grin, magnified already by his broken mask, was accompanied by a low growl of excitement. Every shinigami drew their zanpakutous as well.

"Grimmjaw," Ulquiorra said warningly. "We came here for other reasons. You won't fight him. Not tonight."

Grimmjaw squeezed his one hand into a fist, knuckles cracking, but stood still, looking disappointed. It gave Ichigo a rather false sense of security. He knew this guy wouldn't give in so easily. The shinigami were restless at Ulquiorra's words. If they wanted the hairpin but they wouldn't fight for it, what did they plan to do, if not?

"Besides," Ulquiorra added, "Aizen-sama said he wanted her to handle this."

He said that, and immediately stepped aside to let someone through. A shadow at first, until the others could see clearly in the faint light of the streetlamps and train track emergency lights. Someone they had not been expecting.

"Orihime…?" Tatsuki mumbled, her eyes wide with shock. Everyone was speechless, frozen at the sight.

Ichigo's mouth went dry, and he nearly dropped Zangetsu. "No…" he whispered. I'm dreaming again. But she was real, and she walked steadily toward him.

She wore the white robes and hakama pants of an Arrancar, and her broken mask resembled that of Ulquiorra's, nestled to the left side of her head. On the right, close to her temple, two flower-shaped hairpins held her red hair back. Unlike the other Arrancar, she carried no zanpakutou, but just like the rest of them, she had a large round hole, the mark of a Hollow, in the middle of her chest, where her heart should've been.

Orihime stood in the faint light and looked straight at him. Her lips curled into a smile, but unlike the warm, sweet smile he knew, this was cold and alien.

"Hello, Kurosaki-kun," she said.

---

I am so evil, aren't I? Oh well, evil is not so bad (what? That doesn't make sense). You know what I mean. I just wanted to spice things up.

Funnily enough, as I finished writing this chapter, it started to rain. Bad omen? Hmm, I don't really believe in those either, and I like the rain, a lot, even if there's thunder and lightning, which can be a bit scary some times. So in the words of Kubotite, "If I were the rain, could I connect with someone's heart, as the rain can unite the eternally separated earth and sky?" I think that's a lovely way to think of the rain.

I wanted to use one of my favorite quotes and insert it in the fic, but it would be too weird. It's just too funny, it would ruin the feeling of the story.

But I love it anyway:

"What we've got to do is what they think we won't do. They know we know where they are. We know they know we know that. So since they know we know what they probably know, we know what to do."

If you think any of this is twisted, then you should wait and hold any questions until next chapter, which is where a lot of messed up things will be explained. Because I know a lot of things don't make sense right now, but I will explain. I don't like plot-holes. So there will be no plot-holes. Don't worry.

Thank you for reading. Have a nice one!

-Nariko the Seer a.k.a Deathberry15