Chapter 8: A Little R&R

It's been almost a month now since Orihime, Chad and Uryu had joined Aizen's army to fight against the soul society, and there was only a month left till the Winter War began. Everyone had been training for the upcoming battles they would have to fight in and the possibility of death that they would face, but for that entire month everyone had been very tense. For Ichigo, seeing her allies and friends pushing themselves was fine, until they would all overexert themselves to the point of complete exhaustion. Ichigo couldn't take it anymore. Seeing them like this was too much, so while her and Sosuke were sitting together outside of the palace, she asked him for a small request.

"Sosuke, i think everyone needs to have a day to relax." She started. Aizen raised an eyebrow to her as she continued. "So what I'm basically asking is well, could we give them all some sort of way to relax before the war starts?"

Aizen chuckled a little and put his arm around her waist. He brought her closer to him and kissed her forehead. "I think I might have something that could work." He said to her with a grin on his face.

The next day

It was the start of another day for everyone in Las Noches. Another day passed, and now a new day to train once again. It would have been at least, if it wasn't for a full call of every body inside of the large palace to meet in the biggest room within its walls. It was the main throne room with a low throne on the far wall. This request had confused everyone in the palace, but they went anyway to see just what was so important.

As they waited, there were murmurs of just what it was that Aizen wanted to discuss with everyone. Was it something of importance? Was the soul society getting ready to attack them earlier than expected? Or maybe it had something to do with Ichigo. He is very fond of her by the way.

"Ah, I see all of you are here." Aizen said as he and Ichigo entered the room together. They walked over to the throne and Aizen sat down with Ichigo standing next to him.

"So cap'n Aizen." Gin started with his usual grin on his face. "What exactly did you call this meeting for anyway?"

Aizen smiled to his second in command and looked over to the others as they waited i anticipation.

"It's been brought to my attention that every single person in this room has been training nonstop to prepare for the war next month. And that each and every single one of you have strained your bodies to their near breaking point. So, with a little help from the Hogyoku, we created this." He stood up and pointed to the far wall. Everyone looked over and saw the wall disappear to reveal an oasis of endless water and tall palm trees within Las Noches. The water was a crystal clear color that swayed with the breeze of the palace and pulsed with some kind of energy. Everyone within the throne room other than Ichigo were absolutely shocked by what they were seeing, and couldn't believe just what this was supposed to mean.

"And just what is this all about anyway?" Grimmjow asked as he continued to stare at the water.

"Seeing as though next month is when we launch our attack, I need each and every single one of you at your best." Aizen started. "The last thing I need is for any of you to kill yourselves training, so as of right now until the next morning, I am ordering that everyone take this day to rest and recuperate."

"So your basically saying we can take the day off?" Stark asked in excitement at the thought of sleeping all day.

Aizen smirked and nodded. "This water will rejuvenate the body of anyone that enters it, so I suggest you all take this day off then."

Almost as if on cue, several of the arrancar had left for the oasis of healing water, some left to rest in their own ways, and some just sat back in the sands and laid there. It was a joy for Ichigo to see her friends going to change clothes and getting into the water.

She was very surprised to see Ulquiorra actually getting into a pair of black swim trunks and getting into the water with Orihime. She was in a green two piece bikini. Those two had been developing a relationship ever since Orihime had bumped into him one day. They were a good match for each other. Her with her giddy attitude and he with his stern one. They balanced each other out and were actually very great for each other, even considering the fact that Orihime didn't get the way he dealt with his problems at first. That went away the longer the two spent time together.

Speaking of good for each other, Chad and Mila Rose were sitting together under one of the palm trees. Chad had on a gray tank top and red trunks while Mila had on a tight yellow one piece bikini that left little to the imagination. They had also been item for a few weeks now and Ichigo could tell that her tall friend had found another reason to fight. He really cared for her and would fight the strongest of captains if it meant keeping her alive and safe. Mila was very apprehensive at first when they initially talked to one another, but she slowly leaned into the concept of being with someone who actually cared about her that much. It was surreal for her to be drawn to a human, but she stopped feeling that way when they took a walk outside of Las Noches and got to know each other a little better.

Uryu wasn't fully on board with associating himself with a hollow at all. At least that's what he would've said if he had never met Ichigo. Ever since he has and she's shown him around Las Noches, he's finally realized that he's had most hollows completely wrong. They weren't mindless monsters that solely lived to consume souls, the were beings who do this to survive. Once they reached arrancar status, they could care less about consuming souls. Uryu had also started seeing a certain arrancar in a different light as well. In fact, she was sitting next to him in the sands next to the water. The gothic girl named Cirucci had found the glasses wearing Quincy very interesting. He wasn't like any other male in Hueco Mundo, and that fact made her very attracted to him. Uryu had no idea why he was so drawn to her at first, but he eventually just decided to throw logic out and go for it anyway. He was wearing an unbuttoned white shirt and blue trunks, while Cirucci had on a purple top and black bottom two piece bikini.

Halibel was actually sitting in the center of the water and on the very surface of it cross-legged. She seemed to be breathing in deep and slow breaths. She had taken off her masked part to properly relax and to truly concentrate in her white and top and yellow bottoms covered by a green towel. Halibel's other two fraccion were off playing in the water far closer to the shore with some of the fraccion of Barragan, surprisingly. They seemed to be enjoying each others company to an extent. Especially when they decided to play a fun little race where the loser would have to run around the beach naked for everyone to see.

Barragan was the most surprising figure on the beach. He was sitting on a laid back chair under an umbrella made of his own decaying smoke. He was dressed in a shirt on trunks and looked like he was smirking at the horizon of the water. Barragan seemed to be very relaxed and completely okay with this change to his former kingdom.

Grimmjow wasn't much for water, so he mainly walked along the shore along with a girl with aqua green hair. He was wearing just a pair of blue trunks to show off his abs while she had on a long, teal sun dress that reached her thighs. She was found last week in the sands of Hueco Mundo by Grimmjow, and she's been with him ever since. The two had grown close to one another this past week. Aizen recognized her as the former third espada, Neliel Tu Odelschwanck, and reinstated her in his army. Since there was already a third espada in Halibel, Aizen decided to make them both the third espada since they were very much equal and there was no point to them fighting each other for the position.

Stark may have been back inside sleeping with a smile on his face, but Lilinette was out and about with Wonderwiess in the water. They had become friends in the short time they've known each other and Stark was happy for her. Mainly because now he could sleep as long as he wanted without her surprising him every time. Lilinette was wearing a red and green one piece swimsuit while Wonderwiess was just wearing purple trunks.

Some Time Later

Ichigo was now sitting in the sand near the shore of the water and watched everyone else as they had one by one went into the water at some point. She along with nearly everyone else got a really good laugh when both Sosuke and Gin had surprised and thrown Grimmjow into the water. His reaction was just like a cat surprisingly as he quickly scurried out of the water and cursed up a storm to the two.

As time went on and everyone was more or less now out of the water, say for Halibel who was still in its center, Ichigo still sat down in the sand with her two piece white bikini with strawberries on it. A joke from her boyfriend that caused everybody to point and laugh at her, much to her embarrassment. Ichigo sat and watched as the calm breeze brushed over the sands and water, causing them to gently move at a steady pace. She took a deep breath and sighed as she knew what was to come in less than a week. The start of the Winter War.

"You okay?" The calm voice of Sosuke started as he sat behind her. Ichigo instinctively leaned back into him and was wrapped in his warmth once more.

"I'm just nervous, that's all." She said, more or less trying to convince herself more so than him.

Sosuke picked up on this and held her closely to her. She relaxed a little when he did this and felt his arms as she started to realize a horrifying possibility.

"This could the last time we all get to be together." She started in a low tone. "Everyone could be gone when this starts, and I'm not so sure what Kisuke is gonna have for me when we attack. For all I know he could have some kind of device to suppress my energy, and then I wouldn't be able to aid anyone then." She turned her head and looked deep into Sosuke's eyes as she started to form tears out of the corner of her eyes. "The truth is, I'm scared."

Sosuke planted a kiss on her forehead and then looked back into her eyes. "I am too." His words hit her hard. It was the first time that she had ever heard of him being scared of anything aside from when her mother was attacked. "I'm not afraid of losing this war, or being killed or captured, or even seeing all of soul society tear us all apart somehow. I'm afraid of losing the one thing I know I can't live without, and that's you Ichigo." He brushed his lips onto hers and paused to say one last thing to her. "I love you."

That was all she needed to hear. She felt his lips onto hers many times before, but this time though, there was a new spark inside them both. A spark that couldn't be explained or talked about so easily, but instead only felt through their intimate touch. They wanted to feel each other more and more and never let each other go. That was the new spark that Ichigo needed in herself now. As they parted their lips and rested on each others foreheads, Ichigo smiled at him and he to her. They stared into each others eyes and stayed that way for a while, until Ichigo said the similar three words that Sosuke had been craving to hear come out of her silky lips for so long now. The three words that he knew would light a fire in his soul and cause him to fight to the bitter end to win and see her once again.

"I love you, Sosuke."

Yay, Happy Ending To This Chapter. Like I Said Before, This Chapter Was A Little Different Than My Previous Chapters In This Story And I Wanted To Make It Short But Wound Up Making It Kinda Lengthy. Now That The Holidays Are Over, I Can Go Back To Writing And Updating As Frequently As I Possibly Can. This Story Is Close Drawing Close To Its End And I Do Have A Follow Up Story For This When It's Finished If You Guys Want It To See More. It Won't Really Have A Definitive Plot Unless I Feel Like It Should, And It Will Mainly Be An Aftermath Fic.

I Also Want To Say That I'm Adding Future Bleach Fics To My Profile Page, So Check That Out. I'm Starting A New Thing For Bleach Called 'What If' And It Will Be Short Stories Showing What If Scenario's. Now I Have One Already In The Works And I Would Like To See Just What You Guys Would Like To See Me Write. Really No Limits On What Ya'll Want, Aside From Anything Scat Or Heavy Gore Based, Cause I Hate Those With A Passion. You Will Get A Shout-Out For The Story BTW.

Follow/Fav, Review And PM Me Your Suggestions.

You Guys Are Awesome, And As Always,

Stay Sexy Out There, PEACE!