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Disclaimer: I do not own BLEACH.

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"Renji…"

"Wake up…"

"Abarai-kun…"

He could hear the faint echoing voices somewhere in the depths of his mind. They sounded as if they were miles away, calling out in the distance. His eyes were shut tightly from the pain in his head. Everything was spinning around, he wished they would stop screeching.

Every inch of his body ached of the pain running through his limbs, joining at the upper body. He tried to open his eyes but the single movement of the eye ball sent pangs of torment down his face. Even thinking caused him discomfort. His hands gripped onto a soft surface as he finally managed to open one eye and then the other. Squinting from trying to adjust to sudden brightness he lifted his head up a bit, just enough to see the wall opposite.

"Ughhh, what…the…hell?" With his vision slowly coming to focus he looked around, the last thing he remembered was being trapped in Las Noches with tonnes of rubble falling down, now he was in a light beige room, lying down on something soft and comfy. He didn't dare move, if mere thinking or breathing caused stinging shots dash through his body then he didn't even want twitch a finger. Finally figuring out he was lying on a bed he wondered how he got in it or where he was.

"You're in the fourth division, Abarai-kun." Unohana answered his thoughts with a gentle and motherly tone. "Oh…" Renji tilted his head in a careful nod.

Renji closed his eyes blearily opened them again fully and blinked away the sleepiness. He groaned from the searing pain coming from his left shoulder blade and arm. He sat up into sitting position and looked out the room. Golden rays of sunlight seeped through the windows and lit up the room with warming colours.

"Finally awake, huh?" Came a different female voice as she stepped through the door. His head snapped up to the petite shinigami.

"Oh, Rukia. Yeah, how are the others?" He nodded at her. She stood near his bed and eyed his injuries. She sighed and crossed her arms disapprovingly.

"They're fine, nothing happened to them. That aside, what took place in Hueco Mundo? Can you remember anything?" Her inquiring eyes burned into his and awaited an answer. In some way, she reminded him of his captain.

He looked away from her and stared at the opposite wall. "It was some guy in a cloak, his face was completely covered."

"And?" She urged him on.

"He…seemed to know a lot about me…" Her eyes narrowed. Her brained searched through any recent traitors other than Aizen and his followers that could have been the enemy.

"Do you know his name?" He shook his head.

"His power?" His mind drifted back to when the guy defeated him as if he were a mere unseated shinigami.

"All I can say is that he evaded Zabimaru's attack with two fingers only…"

"Can you remember anything else. Every bit of information is needed, Renji."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know that. No, I can't remember anything else apart that the guy was ridiculously strong."

"I see. I'll go report to Hitsugaya-taichou later. Anyway, how are you feeling?"

"Like shit…"

Renji sighed and leaned back down to stare out on the evening. It seemed so peaceful, if he wasn't in a bed recovering from injuries he would be enjoying the view of the sunset more.

"You fool, you weren't supposed to get in a fight!" Rukia slammed her fist onto his head, a chain of colourful language with shouts of agony followed.

"OW! What the hell Rukia? I'm injured here!"

He looked at the fourth squad captain for help, only that she wasn't there anymore. The other three people in the small room were Rukia, Matsumoto and Iba. When did the other two get in?

"Well, somebody got their ass kicked…" The blacked haired man smirked.

"Piss… off." He weakly retorted but the warning was still there.

"Who was it?" Matsumoto asked, her eyes looked at him curiously.

"I don't know… his head was completely covered and he seemed to know a lot 'bout me. The guy was ridiculously strong too…" He remembered how the smart-ass evaded Zabimaru's attack with only two fingers. "The bastard left and I can remember tryin' to get out of the collapsing hallway…" He decided to tell them everything in detail and the others nodded every few moments so he knew to carry on. They didn't comment on it and found it weird that some one that strong appeared -without expectance- and defeated a vice-captain without breaking a sweat. Rukia's mind drifted off again.

"I'll report this, Rukia-san, and you," she looked at Renji. "Get some rest." Matsumoto grinned and left the room. Rolling his eyes behind his glasses, Iba pushed off the wall and headed towards the door, "Well, I'm guessin' my captain wants me back by now so I'll be going as well." He didn't turn around but lifted his arm in a waving manner. The ones left were himself and Rukia.

"How long have I been here?" He asked the raven-haired shinigami.

Switching back to reality she answered him. "About two days, you didn't sustain any serious injuries so you'll be fine…" She stood and walked over to the window, it was evening. "Unohana-taicho said that your body will ache for a few hours and it is better that you get some rest…" Renji groaned and rolled his eyes.

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"Well was something a genius would do, ya know…" Hiroki Itamaru shoved his face a mere few centimetres away from the man opposite's face. "Are you even listening?" He was replied by a cold glare that clearly told him to shut the fuck up. He backed away to his usual spot in the large room and sat down lazily against a boulder behind him and next to him, giving of a couch-like appearance.

"Seriously…You're the one that told us not to get into fights in the first place!" He lifted his arms into the air for emphasis.

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"You're getting soft…" Sniggered Raiden.

"You're one to talk, for all I know, you've been grieving over that little ex-girl friend of yours and had your head in your ass ever since we started on our plans…" He finally spoke with an uncaring manner.

"Don't you ever fucking mention her again…" Raiden's face had changed to pissed off in no time, he was ready to deliver an uppercut to the bastards face but thought of the consequences of getting him provoked into a fight.

"You have just proved my point…" One the other hand, that neutral tone could drive anybody up the wall. Running a hand through his light coloured hair he sighed in annoyance, he looked up to glare at his little verbal war enemy only that his eyes connected to the wall where he once stood.

"Probably gone out again…" Stated Grimmjow.

And he did.

The young adult sighed softly as he gazed out into the horizon of the never-changing desert. He always looked for the highest point in the ruins which in this case, was standing on the very edge of a cracked pillar that was dangerously leaning forward but still standing vertically, one unbalanced move and he would fall. It wasn't high but it was high enough to see the whole area of the destroyed palace and to clear one's thoughts under the crescent moon. He took a deep breath in and lifted his palm in front of his face, the hand clenching into a tightly held fist.

He hated feeling this way, the feeling of being controlled from the inside. From depth of the soul. A presence that knows your every move and every word, maybe even thoughts. He wanted to get out of this world, a world of killing innocent people and spreading chaos throughout the peace that had resided for the last few years.

He wanted to contact someone. To warn them and to escape. However, every time he even made a move to fulfil those wishes, something stopped him, it tried to pull him back to unconsciousness so that very time he would wake up, he wouldn't be the same. Every time he would close his eyes in hope of getting any real sleep, nightmares would haunt him to no end and torture him until his mind was torn and unable to defend its self. Once he was vulnerable they would take over his actions.

He would not give up if he wanted to help the worlds. With a quick scan of Hueco Mundo he soundlessly jumped off the edge of the pillar and went back underground to try and get some sleep for the next troublesome day.

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Rukia wondered if she would have any peaceful sleep tonight. Probably not… She pulled out her now longer hair out the pony tail and put on her sleeping clothes . I'll get another nightmare…what's the point? She had to try, lack of sleep was no excuse for not doing the proper duties of a vice-captain. She would of laughed at herself for being scared to go to sleep because she got frightened of illusions during her not-so-undisturbed sleep. She sighed for the billionth time that week and gently closed her tired eyes letting the all-familiar colour black take over her mind.

"Help!"

"Get me out of here!"

"Save our souls!"

"Don't come back…"

"Leave… Don't let them get you…"

Those screams again.

What was happening to them?

Will they ever stop?

Was she going to share the same fate?

She found herself running again, except this time it was in complete darkness. She couldn't feel the ground beneath her, she couldn't see anything in front of her, she couldn't feel anything but her midnight bangs tapping against her face. This time she had no idea if she was being followed and where she was running to but her legs wouldn't stop.

She tried to wake up.

She tried to block out the screams in the distance.

She wanted to get back.

Until…

"Help me…" A vulnerable and broken voice called out from the other screams. She recognised it straight away, she had been holding onto it for five years…

She stopped.

Her eyes were wide as saucers and her breath hitched in her throat.

Her head immediately turned to different directions but all she could see was black. She tried to even out her breathing and let out breaths as softly as possible so she could hear his voice again.

Are you alive?

"Ichigo?"

"Rukia…Help me…" It broke her heart to hear him like that, as if he were choked and being pulled back by something. She wished she could see him, she wished she could help him.

"Where are you?"

"I don't know…"

"Are you alive?"

Silence

"Ichigo?"

"Yeah, I am…" Her heart would of jumped from happiness if not for the current situation.

"Idiot, how can I see you? Are you here like me?"

"Yeah, I can't see you though, where are you standing?"

"Well, you could figure that out," she said sarcastically, "if you haven't noticed, we are standing in…nowhere…"

"No shit…"

"Keep on talking, your voice could lead me up to you." She commanded, ignoring his last statement.

"What the hell am I supposed to talk about?"

"Anything, fool…" She stepped slightly to her right to where his voice was echoing from. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the sound waves he was emitting.

"Are you still a midget?"

"You're lucky I don't know where you are…" She growled, the smirk was already on his face, she knew it.

"How is soul society?"

"Fairly… normal, we are still rebuilding a lot though." She felt his voice getting louder and stronger with each step she took, her heart was beating rapidly in her ribcage and she spread her arms out to feel anything.

Bump!

"Ow!"

She felt herself bump into a strong chest and he into a small body.

"Fool! Watch where you're standing!"

"What the- You know, considering that I can't seeanything here, how the heck am supposed to know where you are?!"

"You could listen where my voice is coming from, even Renji could of thought of that!"

"Don't you dare compare me to that buffoon…"

She let out a breath and looked to where his face would be, it was weird to be talking to someone that you cant see but know that they are present. Inside, she felt excitement from meeting from her long lost friend in such an unusual way. However, as she let her thoughts drift in her mind, a realisation hit her hard like a rock.

"Ichigo?"

"Yeah?"

"Is this real?" She was referring to the fact that this was a dream. They couldn't know for sure that they would remember anything the next morning.

"I hope so…" He couldn't promise anything but he was glad he got into her dream. He had to warn her somehow, he couldn't tell her anything as they would find out and he would be in trouble. He was lucky he still hadn't been caught yet, this moment wouldn't last forever- he knew that. They would torture him and erase any evidence that he had been here and get punished in horrid ways. Mentally too. He closed his eyes and pushed those thoughts as far away as he could.

She sighed softly and leaned against him, letting her arms wrap around him tightly. All those years she had been waiting for him to come back into her life. She hadn't realised how much she needed him. How much she missed him, his reckless temper, orange hair, warm eyes that gave her fuzzy feeling within her, his goofy grins or his confident smirks, she didn't know how she coped without that for five years. She hadn't realised she had been crying all the time.

"Are you cryin'?" He asked.

But she was stubborn. She wouldn't let him know that she had shed tears for him. She didn't want him to think that she was becoming a softie. She had a reputation to hold up and she promised herself she wouldn't let her emotions break. "No…" She sniffled.

"Yeah, you are…" He wondered how she looked like after such a long time. He couldn't wait to actually see her but he knew that might not happen for a long time. He had so much to tell her about the danger soul society was in but for now, he decided, they deserved a reunion.

"I am not crying…" She gasped lightly when she felt his hand gently glide across the side of her face, wiping the tears away. "Then why is your face all wet?" She didn't reply but let out a puff of air against his robes. They just stood there in silence, enclosed each others company for as long as they could until Ichigo spoke up with surprising words.

"I've missed you…" He could feel her arms tightening around him even more.

"I-I've missed you too…" Her sobs were muffled. "I…I was so worried about y-you, everyone thinks you're d-de-" She couldn't say that word, it hurt too much to think that Ichigo could have been ripped out of her life forever. She felt his head nod above hers.

"Where can I find you?" She whispered hopefully.

"I…" He couldn't say anything, that thing was pulling him back, commanding him to stay silent about the topic. They have found him and would take him back any minute but they were enjoying this. "I…I…can't…" He drew in a shaky breath as he felt her tremble.

"I want to help you…" Her voice was beginning to break, she could feel it.

"I know but for now, I can't tell you anything although I want to…"

She faintly nodded. "Will you ever come back?"

"I can't tell you anything here, in this place they are watching everything I say and do…"

She sighed sadly.

"Hey, we'll find a way, I promise." He felt it again, this time it was stronger.

Then he disappeared. She lightly stumbled forward from the lack of someone to lean on. Once more she hopelessly looked around.

She closed her eyes to force the tears back. She hoped he was going to be okay, he felt tense and his voice sounded as is he hadn't drank water for days. She wondered where he was and if he would ever come back to her. If there was no other way then she hoped that they could at least communicate through dreams. Exhaling through her nose, she sat down on the non-existent floor in the shadowed abyss and leaned back so that she was lying on her back, completely defenceless to what could attack her. Rukia closed her eyes and slowly felt her body go numb. She noticed that she was surrounded by complete silence, the screams were absent.

For once in a long period of time, she felt herself be at peace in her mind.

She didn't feel the uneasiness anymore and let herself be switched off in her own dream. The last thing she knew was that she became engulfed in a warm light.

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Ichigo didn't feel at peace at all, not even close to such luxurious feeling. All he could feel was the cold edge of the blade running down his spine and the trails of blood running down his head. His body was completely exposed apart from the torn hakama that hung low on his bruised hips. Everything was silent and all he could hear was drops of dirty water dripping down onto the blood covered and murky ground. He was kneeling and his arms were twisted at unnatural angles behind him, binded by chains. He did now know who was the wielder of the sword as his back was turned to them. He was in some dungeon looking place. The cells were all far back and out of earshot thanks to large closed doors with blood splatters all over them. He was kneeling and he could feel a wooden pole scratching at his bare back leaving bloody marks everywhere and splinters digging into his skin. The blade pressed harder onto his back until it made a stab wound and slowly slid out of the flesh earning a low hiss from Ichigo. The sharp weapon pressed onto the skin again and then slowly moved upwards, Ichigo yelped in pain, he gritted his teeth as the blade -still embedded in his body- was roughly yanked up to his shoulder ripping everything on its way and slid out again, his scream echoed through the walls.

"What is your name?" He glared at the cruel and intimidating beast before him. It was attached to tubes with pulsing reiastu pumping into the its body, all the tubes contained different reiatsu from different souls so all the colours were different; there were reds, blues, greens, oranges, pinks, violets and golds all attached to different places. Its yellow irises looking straight at Ichigo. The creature was the size of an average house, he could make out the huge fangs in the dim light. Most of the body was covered by shadows but Ichigo could see part of the hollow mask, he could see the outline of sharp bone teeth from the side, below the glowing yellow eye. In the shadows he could see the bull-like horns standing proudly on the top of it's head with a tinge of red covering them. Ichigo grimaced at the thought of them piercing through his body.

Still glaring he answered the beast although it already knew his name, "Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Who do you fight for?" It growled through the mask, expecting the right answer.

"I am a comrade to….Soul Society." He screamed at the sudden entrance of cold metal tearing through his wound again.

"Who do you fight for, boy?" It asked again, mockingly.

"My soul will remain loyal to Soul Society!" Another scream escaped his mouth, this time the sword pieced through his side but remained there.

"And you think that will give you a chance to escape?" The animalistic voice snarled, "kozo, you already belong to this world!"

"No…no…You forced me into this, I never asked for it!"

"What did you ask for?" The orange-haired adult scowled at the hollow. He knew what it was and it knew who he was. The beast was just enjoying the fact of aggravating the prisoner.

"I asked for the power to protect the ones I care for! You had nothing to do with that!" He yelled, glaring at the hollow. "I wanted to join my friends and family once the war was over, BUT YOU RUINED THAT!" His breathing was hard and he was furious, it was because this beast that he didn't go home. It was because of this beast that he never saw his friends and family again. It was because of this beast that he was torn away from his life!

The hollow chuckled at his anger. "I saved your life, kozo," its bright yellow eyes looked at the furious form of the twenty-one year old a mere few metres away. Ichigo's glaring eyes were on fire, "You saved my life?! I would survived anyway without your goddamn help! Am I supposed to be grateful for spending five years in this shit hole killing innocent people?!" He forgot about the blade that was still in his body but when he felt it twist inside, he let out a yelp and spat out blood. Crimson liquid dripped down his face from previous injuries, he tried to blink out the blood from his eyes. The droplets trailed down his scarred face, giving him an appearance as if he were crying blood.

The dark creature hissed, "You should be grateful that you are still alive… but then again even if I tried to kill you, you'd still make it, maybe that's why you are my favourite out of the five of you…"

"Bastard…" He whispered under his breath. The one present behind him heard him though, unfortunately, causing the blade to thrust deeper into his body, "Arrgh!!" His head shot up from the sudden painful movement.

"You will learn," the hollow voice held clear and sick amusement "what happens when you disobey the king…" It nodded at the one who inflicted the wounds on Ichigo's body. The young adult had a faint idea of what was going to happen to him. He felt light-headed from the blood loss and his vision was stained with red liquid and sweat dripping from his head and temples. He felt that he was going to pass out any minute.

However, as he was yanked of the dirty ground by his hair and dragged towards the blood-stained doors, he found out that he was going to be awake for another long-period of time in one of the many torture rooms…

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IMPORTANT!

Guys, I really don't know how you put up with this story! Just as I was going back through a few chapters, I realised how rushed/badly wrtitten they so were! So I gotta tell you lot that there will be a MAJOR EDIT, the plot will be overall the same but there will be some changes, nothing too much though.