AN: so I'M BACK! Damn its been so long…I've been planning out this fic while I was on 'vacation' feh, I worked my ass this last month…tearing down fences, clearing property, feeding horses, at least the weather was pretty good. Mind, I don't like it when it gets below 70, and it froze a few times, but then jumped back up…but that's Texas weather for ya…anywho, there is a bit in this that isn't cannon…for example Dumbledore didn't put the ring on in my story (personally I cant believe he would have been that stupid, but w/e) There may be a few other things I missed…Thanks for all the reveiews! I loved them! Cookies for everyone…Cya soon

Chapter 5

Toshiro stood with his arms crossed and watched the expressions flit across his audience's faces. There wasn't much, and he had to admit it was disappointing. Come on, how many people could stand there and watch one person become two, without twitching? It was unnatural.

"You don't look much different." Snape finally commented.

Ichigo laughed while Toshiro glared. "Well, a soul retains most of its original form when it dies. After that they age slowly." He said through clenched teeth. What were they expecting?

"So you are dead?" Dumbledore asked, an interested expression on his face. Toshiro nodded. Dumbledore turned to Ichigo, who had returned to his feet. "You are dead as well? Ghosts?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I'm not dead, but I'm not really alive either. I'm…" he scratched his head in thought. "Complicated."

"No shit." Toshiro muttered under his breath.

Ichigo wasn't listening, as he had just popped Kon in his mouth and was busy separating from his gigai. "Ah, that feels better." He said as he stretched.

Kon grabbed at his side where Toshiro's fist had recently left a bruise. "Ow. Damn you Ichigo. Do you always have to beat up the body before I get into it?"

"Perhaps we should return to the matter at hand?" Toshiro's eye was twitching and even Kon knew that never was a good sign. He retreated to a corner and watched the show.

Ichigo nodded. "Alright then, where is this guy? The faster we kill him, the faster I can go home."

"So arrogant. You think if it was that easy we wouldn't have just taken him out already?" Snape sneered.

Ichigo glared. "I've heard that one before. If you know where the enemy is, there is no excuse to not take care of the problem."

"You have no idea what you are messing with, boy." Snape was now glaring daggers at him, gone was impassiveness.

"And you have no idea what I am, or what I am capable of!" Ichigo practically snarled. Toshiro appeared in front of his face, the air suddenly much colder. His face was icy and his eyes were drilling holes into Ichigo's.

"Calm yourself."

Ichigo blinked and took a breath. His face relaxed and he stepped back, pulling his reiatsu back as he realized he was flooding the room with it. "Sorry. It's just, I'm on edge after…" he scowled at Snape. "…whatever it is he did to me."

All eyes turned to Snape, who simply raised an eyebrow. "I merely was checking for ill intent. And then he grabbed the front of my robes and yelled, 'Get out of his head.' I'm still wondering about that part."

Now the eyes turned to Ichigo. Toshiro was waiting; he was going to let Ichigo handle this. It was his choice if he wished to share this particular secret.

Ichigo folded his arms and stared defiantly at all of them. "You can wonder all you want. I don't owe you an explanation. You attacked me."

"I did no such thing. You were the one who grabbed the front of my robes." Cold, dark eyes surveyed him.

Ichigo rolled his eyes but it was Dumbledore who directed the conversation into a new direction.

He turned to Toshiro, as if deciding he was the 'leader' of the two. "How much do you know about Voldemort?"

Ichigo and Toshiro didn't miss the way Snape twitched he said the name, but neither commented. "We have gathered quite a bit of intelligence on the man." Toshiro pulled a notebook out of his robes and started flipping through it.

"Why now?" Snape interrupted. When Toshiro just raised an eyebrow he elaborated. "Why are you here now? Why weren't you here before?"

Toshiro closed the book with a snap and calmly answered. "Because, until a few years ago he wasn't our problem."

"Wasn't your problem?"

"No. Not until pieces of his fractured soul started appearing on our side. But at the time we were having our own problems." He added dryly. Ichigo just scowled.

Snape looked confused but Dumbledore had the dawning expression of understanding on his face. "You mean…the pieces of his soul that were killed off…have already passed over?"

Snape turned towards Dumbledore. "What do you mean pieces of his soul?"

But Dumbledore was focused on Toshiro, who nodded. "Yes. Three have crossed over so far. The problem is, when there was just two, we could control them. However a third passed over shortly before we arrived here and the three condensed and disappeared."

Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "The ring…" he trialed off as if deep thought. "But what happened to the souls?"

Toshiro shrugged. "We assume they entered Hueco Mundo, which is the 'home land' of the Hollows…souls that have…lost their way." He tried to explain.

Snape finally interjected his voice into the conversation. "Are you suggesting that the Dark Lord…split…his…soul?" He glared at the Headmaster. "And pieces of him have died…and you failed to think this was important enough to tell me?" the last words seemed to be hissed between clenched teeth.

Dumbledore sighed and for once looked his age. "My boy, the less that know of this hideous act against nature the better. It has almost been lost to time and I had hoped that after Voldemort was defeated, when I died the art could be lost." He rubbed a hand across his tired face. "So what do you suppose will happen when all of the pieces of his soul are killed?"

Toshiro massaged his temple with his fingers and shrugged. "Truth be told, I haven't a clue. Something is going to happen, we just need to be ready for it. We need to destroy the remaining pieces of soul."

"The pieces haven't had a lot of time though," Ichigo reasoned. "It's not like they're going to become Vaste Lorde or even Adujucas. I doubt they'd even have time to consume enough to become a Menos Grande."

Toshiro shook his head, ignoring the confused looks on the two wizards. "But this is an anomaly. Each piece was created when another life was taken. Not to mention the power he gathered while his soul was whole."

Ichigo groaned. "Of course, nothing can ever be simple or straightforward."

Toshiro stifled a yawn. "Excuse me, I didn't sleep last night. We should pick up this conversation at a later date."

"I agree." Dumbledore opened the door to the classroom and after Ichigo and Toshiro reclaimed their bodies they followed him out into the hallway. Snape swept down the corridor without another word to any of them. Dumbledore looked after him for a moment before turning to the two. "Allow me to walk you back to your dormitory, after all it is past curfew." A small smile played around the elderly mouth as he escorted them to the Gryffindor tower.

Toshiro stealthily made his way up the staircase to the dormitory, but Ichigo collapsed in one of the armchairs that sat in front of the dying embers. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep any time soon. His mind was whirling and adrenaline still pulsed through his body. The reason for his current state of unease was that his hollow was not happy.

He sighed and dropped his head into his hands. Looking through his fingers into the flickering light he tried to breath calmly. He had come to the realization that his hollow was not something to fight against, for fighting against oneself was always a losing battle, but to fight alongside. Ever since then, he had tried to figure out why his hollow was raging at him. As his hollow had said before, it was in his best interest to keep Ichigo alive and well.

Ichigo waited. He knew it was pointless to try and converse with him at the present moment; all he would be able to hear is enraged roars. What unnerved him the most that one of the stronger emotions was fear. The other was rage. The two had been filtering through ever since the incident with Snape in the hallway. He cracked his neck and prepared for a long night.