Chapter 7

Taken

Disclaimer Blah: I don't own bleach, if I did it would be an action packed romantic comedy.

Rating Blah: M *because there's more violence and sex then a mosh pit. (wtf?...idk)

Author's note blah: Yeah so I haven't written in a while so here's a nice long chap to make you happy. YAY!!

*Ichigo reads the chapter behind me*

Ichigo: WTF?! Renji leaves! And why is Halibel in here? Karin is…

*I slam my hand against his big mouth*

Me: Shut up! You'll ruin the surprise. *looks at her audience* Enjoy and no flames or Ichigo and me will come hurt you.

Ichigo: Whatever *sulks*

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Ulquiorra sliced through the other shinigami effortlessly. The orange-haired woman eyes grew wider in horror. She threw her healing dome over her wounded escorts and faced Ulquiorra.

Her burning eyes sent a mixer of attraction and curiosity through him. Why did this annoying female have this effect on him? Emotions were so revealing and troublesome. He quickly buried the feelings to keep his passionless demeanor.

The green-eyed man explained the situation to the woman before him. Watching her reactions was interesting. First horror, then determination, and last something he couldn't quite figure out. Hate? Acceptance? He gave her the bracelet and deposited her in the living world.

He despised every minute of it.

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Ichigo woke up feeling odd. It took him a minute to realize it was because the wound in his abdomen from Gin's sword was completely healed. Renji was already gone; the sheets were he had lay were cold. He gingerly probed his stomach and was caught off guard when he felt the familiar reitsu of Orihime. That didn't make sense. She was supposed to be in soul society.

"Ichigo!" Isshin sprinted into the room and tackled his eldest in bed. He held Ichigo in a headlock as the orange haired teen struggled.

"Wakey wakey!!!! I will not allow my son to sleep on such a beautiful day!" Isshin's mouth was shut when an angry elbow hit it.

"Get off of me! Now I know why they banished you from soul society. You probably jumped Yamamoto." Ichigo finished shoving off his father, who decided it would be best to cry on the floor pitifully. "Why do you hate your only father!?" Isshin left the room fake sobbing.

Ichigo muttered something about ridiculousness and grabbed a clean shirt from his closet. After a few minutes in the bathroom he proceeded downstairs to find only Isshin eating breakfast.

"Where is everyone?" Ichigo asked as he snagged a piece of toast and hit the fridge for some milk.

"A message came for them from soul society. Yamamoto wanted to talk to the girls since they're receiving shinigami powers as well, and Renji said he'd escort them." Ichigo's mouth formed a small 'O' before he gulped down some milk from the carton and headed for his room.

Ichigo left to go to his lesson with Kira, but was deterred momentarily by a weak hollow. He quickly destroyed the retched monster and turned to the quivering soul it had been chasing. The boy must have only been seven. Big tears escaped his soft green eyes as he looked up at his savior.

"It's ok," Ichigo coaxed softly. He pushed the butt of Zangetsu against the boy's forehead. When the butterfly had vanished, he noticed the familiar rietsu of Rukia behind him.

"Ichigo!" the look of distress on the young woman's face made his stomach go cold.

"Rukia what is it?" he asked anxiously.

'It's Orihime. The Aizen kidnapped her."

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Yuzu hated the path between soul society and the living world. It gave her the creeps. She clung to the sleeve of her brother's boyfriend as they made their way home. It had been a very quick visit. Yamamoto had wanted to assess the girls' abilities and potential help in the upcoming battle. As a parting gift, they had received substitute-shinigami badges.

The hell butterflies before them comforted Yuzu. Of all the new things she had seen in soul society she liked the butterflies the best. Unfortunately, it would take more then butterflies to fix the turmoil ahead. They reached home, only to find it in uproar.

"How did they kidnap her?" Renji asked an upset Rukia.

"I don't know. Her escorts were injured, and from what Ichigo said about his stomach it seems she visited you two last night."

They were standing in front of the large screen in Orihime's house. Yamamoto stared placidly down at them.

"It would seem," started the old man, "That Orihime willing went to Hueco Mundo. As such she is a traitor."

"What? Of course she's not!" yelled Ichigo angrily, "If anything, we need to go save her!"

"NO!" commanded the old man. "You are forbidden to go. The rest of you are to report back here immediately."

"Then tell us how to get there. We'll save her," answered Karin.

"No you won't," said both Ichigo and Yamamoto simultaneously. A gate before them opened to take the shinigami back to soul society. Renji hung back a moment.

He dragged Ichigo over and kissed him passionately. When they broke apart the red haired man whispered to his lover, "Be careful until I can get back to you. If anything ever happened to you…"

"I know," said Ichigo. "I love you."

Renji passed through the gate leaving the Kurosaki siblings to plan their next move.

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Chad, Uryu, and Ichigo were waiting for Urahara to open the gate to Hueco Mundo when an unexpected visitor climbed down to the training grounds.

"You are not coming Karin," said her brother angrily.

"But I can help!" his younger sister countered.

"Karin, you've never fought in battle before. You haven't achieved bankai. Yet you expect me to let you face arrancar which could probably tear you apart with a snap of their fingers!" Ichigo took a deep breath after his rant. Why couldn't she see reason? They had already discussed this at home.

"So what!"

"So what? So what if you die. I won't let you put yourself in that kind of danger."

The girl gazed up angrily and shouted, "Fine! Why would I want to help!? I obviously don't feel the same way about you!" With that, she shunpoed up the ladder and out of the shop leaving Ichigo feeling stunned and guilty.

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"Why did I have to have the most pig-headed brother on the planet?" Karin muttered as she stomped through the park. "He always has to do EVERYTHING on his own!"

Her shinigami-substitute badge beeped in her pocket. At least she could take out her anger on some hollow. She shunpoed to the back lot of a supermarket, and looked around.

"Hmm…a nice little shinigami snack. Just what I was hungry for," said a sweet voice. The hollow looked like a saber-toothed boarhound. It perched on top of the store roof before jumping down at her. She easily dodged it and pulled out Unidotaihou. The sword hummed happily in eagerness for battle.

She jumped over a claw swipe, landing on a platform of her own rietsu. The creature was getting frustrated at her speed and tried to lash her with its tail. When she dodged to the side, it sent down a claw on top of her. She threw up her zanpaktu and blocked the blow. Using her rietsu to make up for her lack of muscle, Karin was able to throw off the oversized foot. With her foe slightly off balanced, she flew into the air and came down to bury her sword into the white mask. The hollow let out an agonizing shriek and evaporated before her.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

"Nicely done, Kurosaki-san," said a low voice behind her. She spun around to see a dark skinned woman standing on the roof above her. Her hair was blond, and everything she wore was white. Karin frowned up at the face that was partially covered by a very high collar.

"Who are you?" Karin asked the well endowed woman as she leapt gracefully from the top of the building to stand in front of the young girl. Karin jumped back, intent on keeping some distance until she could find out what this woman wanted.

"My name is Halibel, and I am here to take you to Aizen-sama."

"And who says I'll go willing." Karin didn't like where this was heading. She gripped her zanpaktu in both hands.

"Who said you had a choice? Although why Aizen-sama needed me to collect someone so weak is beyond me." She stepped towards Karin, who shunpoed behind the woman and swung at her. But her sword only met thin air. Rough hands grabbed the back of her neck and lifted her into the air.

"Don't do that again," Halibel said flinging the young girl into a wall. Karin slumped down, tasting metal where she had cut her lip. Ichigo was right, these arrancar were powerful. She got up on shaky legs.

"I don't want to have to hurt you," said the only female espada, "You will come with me conscious or not."

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