Rukia couldn't sleep. But hey, given the situation, was she even expected to? She yawned and stood up, stretching. She'd seen Ichigo get up to take his watch, so why not join him?

Stumbling blindly around the dark room, Rukia managed to safely get outside without stepping on anyone (except Keigo, who didn't seem to notice). The second she opened the door, she was hit with a burst of icy, wet air.

"Ah! Cold!" she cried as she sprinted to the car and threw open the door.

"Woah!" Ichigo yelled. As she climbed inside, Rukia noticed that his hand had flown to the bat behind him. I probably scared him, she thought. Oops.

"Sorry about that," she mumbled.

Ichigo slid the door shut. "It's fine. You can't sleep either?"

Rukia nodded. "Yeah." There was silence for a few seconds before Rukia spoke again. "What're we going to do next? About, uh, you know…"

"Honestly? I have no idea."

Well, that makes me feel a lot better, Rukia wanted to say. But instead, she kept it polite by just replying, "Okay."

Ichigo ruffled his hair. "Sorry, I know that wasn't very helpful, but, it's the truth."

Another silence followed. Man, it was getting awkward in here. "I just can't believe this is happening," Rukia finally blurted out. Ichigo just nodded, and she continued, "One second it was normal, and then…what's that smell?" A strange odor filled the air. It was sweet and thick, like the scent of perfume.

"I don't—" Ichigo stopped suddenly. His eyelids drooped, and in a split second, he had fallen back against the seat like a marionette cut from its strings.

"H-huh? What's going…?" Rukia felt her own eyes start to close, acting on their own. Her arms started to tingle, her body going slack. Dammit…

"NEL! Hey, get over here!"

"Don't order me around! This is my house—"

"I don't give a damn, just come here! Hurry!"

"What is it? I was sleeping—"

"The orange guy, uh, Ichigo. He's gone. He was supposed to be doing watch, and now the car's disappeared too."

"WHAT? My car's gone?"

"Um, Nel…"

"Yeah, Orihime?"

"Rukia's gone too."

"What? Rukia too?"

"Who's Rukia?"

"Stay out of this, Kitty-boy—"

"'Stay out of this'? I was the one who told you the car was stolen in the first place!"

"This is bad…this is really, really bad."

"Yeah, we know."

"Stop being sarcastic! This is a serious situation! My freaking car is gone!"

"What's going on?"

"Who are you again?"

"Ishida. Uryu Ishida."

"Don't give me that look, I'm bad with names."

"It's fine. Just tell me what all the fuss is about."

"Ichigo and the car are gone. Oh, and so is some girl, too."

"I told you to stay out of this. But, uh, yeah, he's right. They're all gone. How're we supposed to get anywhere without a car?"

"I'm going outside to check things out."

"Let me know what you find, Ichi—Ishi—um…whatever your name was."

"Tch."

"Don't 'tch' me, Kitty Boy."

"Stop calling me that. Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"Hey, Orihime, go wake up the others. We need to tell everyone what's going on."

"Okay!"

"Did you just ignore me?"

"So what if I did, Kitty Boy?"

"I told you—"

"Oi! Stop fighting, you two."

"Oh hey, you're awake, Tatsuko."

"Tatsuki."

"Heh, sorry about that."

"What did you want to tell us?"

"Well—"

"Hey, wait. Why didn't you wake Ulquiorra up?"

"Ulqui-whata?"

"I'm awake."

"AH! Oh god, you scared me, coming out of nowhere like that…But anyway, to the point. Is that everyone? Yeah? Okay, well, you see…Ichigo, Rukia, and my car are all nowhere to be seen."

"RUKIA'S MISSING?"

"Shut up, Keigo!"

"What are we going to do?"

"Hey, guys, come check this out."

"Uryu? What is it?"

"I found tire tracks outside."

"So they did steal my car!"

"No, they didn't. I also found traces of an anesthesia."

"A what?"

"A knock-out gas, to put it simply."

"Well…"

"Then we've got to go rescue them!"

"Orihime—"

"Do you have anything else we could drive?"

"Well, there's an RV in back—"

"An RV? Why didn't you take that in the first place instead of that crappy cramped minivan?"

"'Cause it wasn't at the school, duh!"

"Don't 'duh' me, it makes you sound like a butthurt Kindergartener."

"What did you just—"

"HEY! Enough talk, let's get on that RV and follow the tracks before they get washed away."

"All right! It's time to commence Operation: Save Those Two Kids and My Car!"

Rukia tried to open her eyes, only to be greeted by a very unwelcoming room before her. It was small, dark, and covered in dirt and tanks of gasoline. Splotches of a dark liquid that looked frighteningly similar to dry blood littered the floor and walls. By the stuffy feeling and amount of light coming in, Rukia guessed they were underground.

"Ichigo?" she called out weakly. Her voice was cracked.

"Finally awake, are we?" A voice said from behind her. It wasn't Ichigo's. No, this one was high-pitched. Female. Cold.

Rukia attempted to stand up and realized for the first time that her hands were bound behind her back. So she tried craning her neck, only to find out that that was stiff, too. "Who're you? Where am I? What did you do to Ichigo?"

"You ask a lot of questions." Click. Click. Click. A pair of high-heeled boots walked over towards her. "Who am I? Like I'd tell you," the voice snarled. "Where are you? Far, far away. And if this spiky-haired kid is who you're looking for, 'Ichigo' is right here."

"Let me see you," Rukia choked out.

"Hm?"

"Bend down so I can see you."

"Why don't you just look up at me?" the voice cooed. "Is your neck too sore?" She laughed sadistically. After a silence, she continued, "I drugged you, you know—"

"Bend down," Rukia repeated.

"Huh?"

"I want to see who you are."

"And why the hell would I let you?" A pair of manicured hands grabbed Rukia by the chin and threw her down, on to her back.

Rukia could finally see who her attacker was. She was tall, young, about high school age. Strangely enough, she seemed to be wearing some variation of a maid's uniform, with her magenta hair tied in pigtails to match.

The door across the room creaked open, and a blond boy with hair obscuring his eyes walked in. "Torturing the captives, are we, Riruka?" he said calmly.

"Yukio, you idiot!" she hissed. "Don't say my name in front of—" she pointed to Rukia.

"Why not? It's not like she's going to be going anywhere any time soon." Throwing her hat at him, Riruka stormed out of the room, making sure to slam the door extra loud.

"Really?" Rukia said. "Then what am I here for?"

"A reward," the kid named Yukio answered boredly.

"I don't understand."

"With all of this walking dead stuff going on, people are in a mass-panic, so it's easy for us to kidnap kids like you, steal your stuff, and demand a ransom from your parents…or whoever you're with. And of course, if they don't come in two days, we'll sell you to someone willing to buy."

Human trafficking. Rukia's vision started to blur again. "H-how will our group be able to find this place, though?"

Yukio laughed. "We left tire tracks the size of craters leading from your house all the way here. Your lot would have to be pretty dense not to get the hint. Though…" he glanced at a watch on his wrist. "Your two days will be up in ten hours. Maybe you are traveling with a group of idiots." Yukio stood up to walk away.

"Wait!" Rukia called. He turned around expectantly. "Ichigo…the guy behind me…did you do anything to him?"

"No."

"Then why hasn't he woken up yet?"

He shrugged. "Some people just have different reactions to anesthesia." And with that, he was out the door.

What's taking them so long? Rukia thought desperately.

Author's Note

Finally this story is getting somewhere XD Hopefully you guys enjoyed the addition of the fullbringers. Oh, and just a heads-up, the next chapter will be kind of strange, but bear with me. (Yes, that's right, for once, I actually have the chapter planned out in advance! Shocker!)

-Jedi Espada