Chapter 3

Author's Note: I have misspelled Visored for the past two chapters as "Vizaird". I will be correcting this, so please forgive the spelling change.

Dell woke up atop his familiar mountain of throw pillows and plagued with a pounding headache. He stared at his ceiling for a few minutes as his senses came to him. The sight of the darkened room, the smell of the antiqued everything surrounding him, the taste of his morning breath on his tongue. Dell decided he would tend to his oral hygiene before consorting with his student, Kurosak-.

"ICHIGO." Dell shot up from his sitting position as his memory came flooding back to him. The fight with that absolutely gargantuan Arrancar came to mind, as did the fact that he must have passed out from exhaustion. Even so, Dell couldn't ignore the thought that whoever that monster was had brought company, so he decided to go check in on his student's condition. Dell could assume that Ichigo wasn't dead, he had to have brought Dell back here, but it could very well be critical. With his day plan decided, Dell kicked his way out of his mountain of comfort and quickly scoured the room for his Lady. He found her tucked away by a corner of his futon and quickly hitched her to his belt, which he realized he was still wearing from the previous night; along with the rest of his clothes.

As he fast paced into the main hall of the warehouse the Visored made their home, he did a quick maneuver to avoid colliding into his acquaintance, Kensei's, shoulder.

"Watch it! Next time try watching where you're going, huh?" Kensei advised. Dell had just realized he had been blindly advancing without really paying attention to who might have been in front of him; he really should stop doing that. Anyway, now that he had him, Dell took this chance to ask Kensei a few questions.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, "but do you know where the kid is?"

"The redhead? Right, he dragged your sorry ass back here last night."

"And?"

"Well, when I asked him why you looked so god awful, he told me he destroyed your ass in a sparring match." Kensei said with a smirk. He had really focused on the 'destroyed your ass' part of that sentence which instantly put him at the top of Mr. Constantine's List of Pricks and Assholes. Akuma, meanwhile, took a moment to start his stretches, as he was now certain that he'd be called on later today to serve Kensei a 'can of whoop ass', as he was sure Dell would put it.

"Thanks for the info," Dell muttered, "but do you know where he might have went after that?"

"Probably home. The kid doesn't live here, ya know."

Constantine turned away from the conversation and quickly made his way to and out the door of the warehouse, now with a more specific goal in mind. He was going to the Kurosaki residence and to find his pupil. He was certain he had heard Ichigo talk about his home before, so Dell, of course, had paid attention plenty and knew his student's address. Maybe. Possibly. He'd have to check with Akuma.

Akuma had no damn clue where Kurosaki lived, so Dell wandered the streets of Karakura Town for a few minutes before finding a sweet girl who gladly pointed him in the direction of the Kurosaki residence. Fortunately, Akuma paid attention to what the girl was saying because Dell was much too occupied by the absurd size of her bust to pay attention to anything other than the weight of physics on them. As Akuma chastised the Visored, Dell followed the direction the wonderful voice in his head pointed him in, thankful enough that Akuma was gracious enough to tell him where to go in between calling him a 'degenerate' and a 'pervert' to not insult the Hollow inside of him in equal measure.

'I think I have said all I can on your lack of restraint.' Akuma said. Oh, if only he knew the extent Dell's restraint as he kept himself from letting loose a verbal tsunami of unique insults and retorts. 'It is this turn here. Left.' He added. Dell took a deep inhale and quietly exhaled as he turned the corner and saw a few buildings, some homes, possible shops, and a clinic. Akuma informed him that the Kurosaki residence was above the clinic, to which Dell thought, was an awfully convenient location for your home. Seeing as Ichigo got into a myriad of life threatening encounters so often. Opening the door of the clinic, Dell massaged his temple attempting to ease the throbbing pain. The very irritating headache had persisted since he had woken up this morning, however, it was bearable but it was worse than it was then. With his eyes firmly on the ground, Dell actually collided shoulder to shoulder with a large man in a doctor's coat. Constantine assumed that this man was the resident doctor of the clinic.

"Whoa, pal! Are you okay?" The man asked. Dell looked at his face for a second and was hit by the striking resemblance to Ichigo and he decided that this must be his pupil's father.

"Yeah, just a headache, but anyway, would you know where one Ichigo Kurosaki would be?"

"Oh yeah, he left a bit ago. Said something about Urahara's Shop. I'm not too sure why he went there but Ichigo sure looked like a man on a mission."

"That," Dell grimaced as he vainly attempted to massage his headache away, "is a great help. Thank you."

"Hang on." Ichigo's father held a hand up to Dell to inform him to wait there. He quickly turned around and rushed behind what the Visored assumed was the front desk of the clinic followed by a few bumps and barely audible curses. The raven haired doctor came rushing back with a canister in hand; he spun the top off and dumped two circular pills into his hand before shoving it towards Constantine. "Take these. They should help with that headache." He said with a wide smile. Dell silently took the pills in his hand and threw them to the back of his throat, swallowing them without issue. He hated the taste of medicine so he always ate it quickly.

"Thanks, Mister?"

"Ishin Kurosaki." The man said, beaming proudly at his good deed.

Dell wondered to himself how Ichigo could have possibly ended up like such a grouch with such a cheery man as a father figure. That, however, was a question that would have to be saved for later, as the Visored had a new objective for his personal quest of finding that ginger haired punk.

'He was a kind man.' Akuma said, honestly.

"Indeed." Dell responded. Ishin Kurosaki was, indeed, a kind man.

Ichigo half climbed half slid down the massive ladder into Urahara's massive underground thing. He'd have thought about asking the shop owner what it was called if not for the fact that he had a much more personal and pressing matter on his mind. It had been eating at him for a while now, but he refused to drag any of his friends or family into this. If any of them were to get hurt or, even worse, killed because of what he was about to do he would never be able to forgive himself. They were strong sure but compared to those monsters that had almost killed them a few days ago, well, he shouldn't have to say why he thought it was best for Chad or Ishida or anyone else to sit this one out. He dwelled on those thoughts till his feet hit the sandy ground with a crunch. As he turned away from the steel ladder he saw the two massive cylinders jutting out from the earth beneath them. He didn't know what they were supposed to do yet, but Urahara had told him that he had a way to get him to the people who took Orihime.

"This is it." Urahara said. Ichigo said nothing in response. "What? No, 'what is it' or 'how's this work'?"

"Orihime's life could be on the line. We don't have time for explanations." Ichigo explained. Urahara smirked and turned away from the kid. He shouted some commands to something or someone Ichigo couldn't see and, in the moments following, the young Shinigami bore witness to what could only be described as a great offense to physics. The air cracked and split as it opened like a dark ominous maw in space; an empty, seemingly endless, void was visible behind the now open gate. Ichigo stepped towards it and slowly waved his palm just beyond the jaws into the darkness, testing it.

"This will take me to those assholes that kidnapped Orihime?" He asked.

"Yep," Urahara answered, "but before I launch into my explanation I've invited some others here."

Ichigo's eyes widened, he had asked Urahara to keep this quiet. He spun around to find two of his friends arriving, as they came around from behind a large stone the young Shinigami pushed past Urahara to confront Chad and Ishida as they stopped in a spot a yard or two away from him.

"What are you guys doing here!?" He exclaimed. He was confused and angered by them being here; they weren't supposed to even know he was doing this let alone be present. There's no way he was having them be a part of this mess.

"The same thing you are, we presume." Chad said stoically.

"Urahara invited us." Ishida explained. Urahara had already done so, but Ichigo was too upset to point that out as he normally would have.

"I can't let you guys get involved in this."

"Do you intend on fighting us?" Chad inquired.

"What? No! No, I'm not going to fight you two, I just… I can't get you involved in my mess."

"Good, because we're going to get ourselves involved in your mess." Ishida remarked, emphasizing the 'we' and 'ourselves' in his sentence.

There was a moment of silence between the three as Ichigo's focused shifted from Ishida to Chad and then back to Ishida. They had come in full gear; Ishida was carrying a bow and wore the uniform unique to Quincy, heavily resembling a Christian pastor or something close. Chad was wearing a black and white muscle shirt that had a similar design, probably sewn by Ishida, and his right arm was… Well, Ichigo didn't know how to describe it. It looked like a Hollow arm, he supposed. It didn't matter, Ichigo didn't care how many new looks they went through he was not going to risk their lives or their safety by bringing them on something so dangerous.

"You think we're weak, Ichigo?" Chad asked calmly.

"Wait, Chad that's not it." That was it.

"We've gotten stronger since then, Ichigo." Ishida said.

"That doesn't matter, Ishida." It does matter.

"We can do this, Ichigo, we can help yo-." Ishida continued.

"THAT ISN'T THE PROBLEM! I CAN'T LET YOU-!"

Abruptly, Ichigo was cut off by two simultaneous bangs; a small dust cloud erupted around him and he felt small shrapnel bump against his legs and waist. Silence reigned over the group, and as the dust began to settle Ichigo noticed a small crater in front of his feet. Across from him, Chad stood with his right arm outstretched in the aftermath of a punch. As their eyes met Chad eased his position and relaxed.

"We've gotten stronger, Ichigo." He said. Ichigo sure as Hell knew that now. While the crater wasn't deep or all that large the red head could easily have stood in it with space to spare, but the size of the crater in the ground wasn't what was impressive. It was the wave of energy Ichigo felt after the initial explosion; it was like the concussive force of a grenade at his feet. His entire frame shook at the thought of what would have happened if that had hit him. Ichigo had never feared or respected Chad more than now. Any doubt about his friends' strengths melted away as a smile crept across his face.

"I can tell. If you guys want to tag along, feel free," Kurosaki said, "but don't expect me to babysit." He joked.

"We would never dream of it." Ishida responded with a smirk. Chad simply smiled. Ichigo wasn't completely happy to see them along, but he at least he was certain now that they'd be able to take care of themselves to some extent. Ishida and Chad walked past Ichigo and the Shinigami turned to walk with them, but as he did he noticed a much larger dust cloud than the one from a moment ago spring up in the distance.

"GODDAMN LADDER!" Ichigo heard screamed from that direction. He recognized that voice.

"You're late!" Urahara shouted.

"What do you mean 'late'?" Dell asked as he came out from behind that same rock Ishida and Chad had.

"Didn't Tessai invite you?"

"No one invited me, dammit; I had to wander around Karakura Town for most of the damned day!"

"I thought I told Tessai to invite you here. Weird. Anyway, it's good you're here."

"What do you mean 'go-?" Dell cut himself off as he looked up from his knees that he was dusting off, "ICHIGO! I've turned this damned town upside down looking for you! What are you doi- IS THAT A GARGANTA!?"

"Alright now I can explain." Urahara announced.

Kisuke sprung into a lengthy monologue as to what the Garganta was, how it worked, why they were going to Hueco Mundo, what Hueco Mundo was, and who they were going after. All of which was either extraordinarily boring or was already known to at least one of the parties present. Afterward, Dell was introduced to Chad and Ishida, both of which were a little standoffish towards the new member of their rescue party.

"Why are you coming, anyway? You don't even know Orihime." Ishida investigated.

"Well, I came here to make sure Ichigo was alright, but now that I know he's planned a damned suicide mission I at least have to make sure my pupil comes back in one piece. Otherwise, I'll never hear the end of this from the others." Dell answered. He wasn't being completely dishonest, he did want to make sure that Ichigo came back alive but not for the reasons he had given, but these kids were on a need-to-know basis and they didn't need to know.

"He's fine, Ishida. A bit annoying but it's not like he'll stab us in the back." Ichigo assured. Ishida eyed Dell like that was exactly what he expected the Visored to do, which Dell did not appreciate.

'Another one for the list.' Dell mentally noted. As Ichigo, Chad, and Ishida disappeared beyond the Garganta, Urahara placed a hand on Dell's shoulder.

"By the way, your order is done. Took me a while to get the formula right"

"Keep it in storage." Dell said.

"Anything for my number one customer." The shop owner mused. He released Dell's shoulder and let him continue towards the gate; the Visored stood before the Garganta and turned sharply, stabbing a finger in Kisuke's direction.

"DON'T SELL IT!" He exclaimed before also vanishing into the mouth of the Garaganta.