"I climb this tower inside my head
A spiral stair above my bed
I dream the stairs don't ask me why,
I throw myself into the sky"
Sting: 'Inside'
"It's not that simple, Mr. Kurosaki."
Ichigo's fiery brows ticked in frustration. He'd drug himself from Toshiro's deathbed with all the self control he'd been able to wrangle up, hauled himself back to the World of the Living just to ask for the man's help and all he got was a flat-faced median statement? He knew that Urahara was a smart man. Smarter than even he himself had given the man credit for at one time. So he couldn't help but find it a bit odd that the man was claiming getting them to Hueco Mundo, which he had done before, wasn't as simple a process as it had once been.
Trying to calm himself down a bit, Ichigo held his tongue to keep from making an idiot of himself. Instead he just let out a slow breath before asking, "What do you mean by that, Urahara?"
"What I mean by that, Mr. Kurosaki," Urahara started, his hands clasped in his lap and his shoulders bent, "is that Hueco Mundo is undergoing temporal shifting at this time. This means that the cohesion between Hueco Mundo, The World of the Living, and the Soul Society is severely unstable. However, the bond between the World of the Living and the Soul Society has remained blissfully unaffected. For what reason that is, I do not know. What that means for you is that the Garganta I have, even though it is still functional, may no longer be a safe passageway between the World of the Living and Hueco Mundo."
Ichigo blinked for a few moments, sensing both his and Renji's confusion as they sat listening. Matsumoto seemed less confused, though why was beyond him. "So it's just Hueco Mundo being affected?" Renji tried to reiterate, thankfully voicing the same question that Ichigo had intended upon asking.
The former Squad 12 Captain nodded solemnly, and his expression portrayed that he was still trying to figure out what to say next. Ichigo could only guess that he was going to try and explain a bit more, but apparently he too was at a loss for words. Rangiku seemed to be the only one not dumbfounded by this, but the pain in her eyes spoke volumes. The way she saw it, this was probably some trickery of Aizen to keep them from getting to Hueco Mundo in time to save her Captain. But the answer didn't seem that simple to Ichigo. If Aizen was trying to keep them away, then he probably would have made sure to keep the passageways between all three worlds in chaos, so that no one could go anywhere without great risk.
It seemed almost… unlike him to leave his enemies loopholes. And Ichigo was sorely suspicious of it. "So, Urahara, just how dangerous would it be to try to travel through the Garganta at this point?"
With a short sigh, Urahara crossed his arms over his chest, head still bowed in thought. The brim of his hat shadowed his eyes, but his mouth was set into a grim frown. "The way to put it best is that, where once the tunnel would have remained generally still, now it would probably be fluctuating. Meaning the end portal would probably also be moving. And any contact with that inter-dimensional rift would spell immediate death, so… it would be like trying to dodge a kidou firing squad while running blind."
Well if didn't that sound just like buckets of fun. Ichigo buried his fingers in his hair, tempted to rip it out from sheer frustration. But he resisted, instead just letting out a strangled growl. Releasing his hair as his scalp began to smart, he let out a very stiff sigh. He felt like someone had tied a whipcord around his ribcage in hopes of him never being able to catch his breath. It was working, much to his dismay.
"I'm going anyway," he growled out. He glanced over at where Renji and Rangiku sat staring at him with questioning eyes. "I'm not going to ask any of you to come with me. But I would ask that if you don't you at least stay here and wait for me until I come back."
Renji snorted loudly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like we'd let you go to Hueco Mundo by yourself. God, Ichigo, those dreams must have done a number on your head, because there's no way even your normal stupidity would have assumed we'd let you go alone." Had Ichigo the wiles to deal with Renji on an equal level at that moment, he would have probably hit the other, but was prevented from doing so as Rangiku joined in the argument.
"And besides," she said, her voice surprisingly soft as she spoke, "I've already lost Captain once, I'm not going to just sit back and watch again when I have the chance to do something about it. Please let us go with you, Ichigo."
The younger man nodded, looking over to Urahara. The man's fan hid his face now, but Ichigo could see the quick twinkle in the other man's shaded eyes that told him that the former Captain had been expecting as much. But there was still a glimmer of worry that made Ichigo want to re-solidify his resolve before he went off plundering into the nest of the enemy.
But just the thought of his last glance at Toshiro before he'd left was more than enough to remind him. His fears mended and smoothed into unwavering determination, and he stood as Urahara lifted the floor panel leading to his underground chasm without a word. Ichigo jumped down first, the wind rushing up past him as he jumped down. He landed heavily, his knees bowing. As much as he wanted to rush, he knew that he both could and could not afford to. He could afford to because the clock was already spinning against him, and the less time he spent waffling the less it would cost him later on. But he also knew that he couldn't afford to rush too terribly lest he miss something. There was a lot to absorb, between whatever expanses of Hueco Mundo lie between him and Toshiro.
And as he looked over his old training grounds, he let out a stiff sigh. He just had a feeling; a crawling twinge across his shoulders that promised change. He'd never really feared change; he had never been one to be intimidated by it, or felt the need to be intimidated by it. He knew the difference between what was resolute and what was variant, and knew how to value each as they were. But there were some things in his life, people like Toshiro, whom he had not yet had the chance to determine which category they belonged in. He'd known Toshiro for a time, yes, but not enough to determine whatever fate mattered to him.
With a short sigh, though, he realized that he'd already made that decision a long time ago. He'd made the resolution permanent the day he'd come upon the short Captain, lying alone and wounded by the side of the road, with his entire world turned against him. There was no denying that a choice had been made back then, but he hadn't quite realized the gravity of it until now, where it lay cause-heavy on each and every one of his actions.
When the last of his small vagabond group descended, Ichigo knew that it was time. Urahara stepped forth, setting about in his strange and eccentric ways until at last the Garganta split open the air in the underground chamber with a cacophonous rip. Once again Ichigo stood look up at the man as he sat on his pedestal, looking more like a glorified owl than a man as he sat peering down at them. His eyes gleamed under the shadow of his hat, and he spoke quietly down to them as the portal sat undulating wildly against itself. "Now, Ichigo, I have made some modifications since last you used this portal. Obviously I have not been able to make any to ensure you safe passage, but there is one trait that I think you will find useful. I have mechanized a return portal that will automatically open up after a certain amount of time."
The all looked at him, rather confused as to what it would mean for them other than being able to get out of Hueco Mundo when the time came. The veiled genius seemed to understand their concerns, and spoke again in an attempt to nullify them. "What this means is that every hour until all three of you return, the Garganta will open to allow you to come back into this chamber. However, because the cohesion between the two worlds is shifting, it is likely that the location of the exit will change each hour. However, I have predicted from my data that the location will never be anywhere deviating from a general area of about five square miles. This means that should you come upon the Garganta as it is closing at the end of the five minute period when it is open, you should be able to find the next one within a reasonable distance."
"I only see two problems with that," Ichigo said, his tone grave as Matsumoto and Renji both turned to look at him. They seemed to have been satisfied by Urahara's explanation, and Ichigo was as well for the most part. But, as it stood, one of the points looked over was a rather pivotal one.
"First off," Ichigo said, pointing to the former Captain, "what's to keep Hollows from going through that Garganta and coming here? If it's just an open door, someone's going to go through it before we get back."
The man's scruffy face turned up into a devilish little grin, and Ichigo knew that the man had prepared for this as well. "If you remember correctly, Mr. Kurosaki, every employee that lives under this roof has more than enough spiritual competence to take care of any lower level hollows. And as far as I know, none of them would object to some practice. So, I would not recommend that you worry to deeply about that. Focus on the matter at hand, and not the one out of your grasp to control."
Ichigo snorted, shaking his head. It figured; it really did. He shouldn't have expected any less from the man whose eyes had seen through even the deepest opacity the world had to offer. "Yeah, well I still have one more issue with your explanation," he continued, holding the other man's grey-eyed gaze as his fist clenched at his side. He could tell from the other's raised eyebrows that he was just waiting for an explanation, so he gave one.
"There will be four of us coming back, not three."
"Whatever you say, Mr. Kurosaki," the shopkeeper said, waving a hand with a genteel smile painted itself onto his bristly lips. "But-"
"There will be four." He glowered up at the man, his tone daring the other to argue. Surprisingly the wily man did not, and just settled to look down at the younger man from his estranged perch. He was smiling still, but with a bit less of his usual insincerity. Ichigo knew he'd made his point, and that the other had listened. But whether or not the other man believed him could only be determined by the man's own convoluted mind, which Ichigo did not have access to.
So, in favor of dawdling even more, he strode forward towards the dangerously gyrating Garganta, giving his on looking mentor one last sidelong glance before he dove in. Head first he plunged into the darkness, chills thrilling up and down his limbs that had nothing to do with temperature. He heard Renji and Rangiku follow him, but made no move to look back.
He had far too much to look for facing forward; and thus could not afford a second to waste on looking back.
Urahara had been absolutely correct about the Garganta being more dangerous. All through their perilous trek through the deep dark of the weaving connecting world, the three of them were forced to keep eyes trained on the flickering mass of space, as it would rush forward as if to crush them, only to retract and pull the space out from under their feet. Many times all three of them had come gut-wrenchingly close to falling into the pits of the endless dark, but each time they had saved themselves just in time.
And when at last the light at the far end of the tunnel appeared, the entire group could not have been more thankful. But, as Ichigo led in front, he realized that the peril had not yet passed from the connective world. The door was moving, and he had to run faster in an attempt to even catch up with it. Soon enough their entire vagabond group was running at full pace, loping along with leaping strides before they finally reached close enough to the portal to leap through it.
Soon enough the curling walls of the intermediary world tore down, revealing Hueco Mundo in all of its stretching glory. The portal had been up in the air when they'd jumped through, so Ichigo angled himself in preparation as they plummeted down onto the white sands below. But his eyes were not glued to the forthcoming ground, but rather to the distance, where the towering hall that was Las Noches lay. When he felt the ground draw up near, he braced his knees, moving so that he could shift the impact into a skipping halt down the side of a large dune. Rangiku and Renji landed behind him, though with less grace.
Staring back at them and trying to reach out with his spiritual pressure as far as his blunted senses could go, he tried to think of which way they wanted to go. From what evidence they'd been able to gather, all signs pointed to Las Noches, and that Aizen had Toshiro there rather than wandering about the dunes of Hueco Mundo. It made sense, but something deep in Ichigo's mind told him that going to Las Noches was equivalent to going south after having brought a compass. But Renji and Rangiku seemed convinced that Toshiro would be there, and so he settled himself on that idea.
After all, he'd nothing more to defend his own opinion with other than the fact that it was a vague feeling. Without speaking they set off, taking to the dunes quickly as they approached the white fortress. But with a bite to his own lip, Ichigo knew that his premonition needed to be solidified before he could go barking out that the others were wrong, and that Las Noches was nothing more than a breeding ground for their enemies, and a snake hole down which they would be lost forever.
Because even though he had the vague notion of Toshiro not being in the hallowed hall that served as Aizen's fortress, he also had the vague need to go and fulfill some unmet cause that lay within those halls. He knew that plundering the base of the enemy was reckless, and could get them all killed, but there was something in there he needed, and whether it was Toshiro himself or information on what had become of him, it didn't particularly matter. Both options led to the same end; the only difference between them being how much pain the younger man was saved from in the end.
"Ichigo." The young ginger drew himself out of his thoughts, looking over at the busty woman who had spoken to him. They ran side-by-side now, rather than one leading before the other. Their eyes met, and he could see the burning resolution in her eyes diluted by worry. Even though he was thankful for her being there, he was also concerned that her personal attachment to the situation would burden their progress.
Not that he had any room to talk however; getting lost in his own thoughts and strange dreams more often than Yachiru burst into sugar-fits. But he could also see the Lieutenant in her taking over, and that her authoritative position, though rarely used, did help quell her emotions. He, unfortunately, had no training with which to console himself, and so he was merely left to act on his impulses and hope they didn't lead his team, and the man he sought to save, to death.
"What do we intend to do?"
He wasn't sure he wanted to answer her question directly, so instead just focused on the bleached terrain beneath his feet. "I don't know whether or not Toshiro is in Las Noches or not," he admitted, and he felt some frustration roll off her. He knew that she wanted him to have a plan, that she wanted him to have everything ironed out and ready to go at a moment's notice. But he wasn't Toshiro, and he didn't work that way. "But it's the only place right now that we have to start. We can't just go wandering around Hueco Mundo trying to find him out in the sand somewhere. The best chance we have is to start in Hueco Mundo, gather what information we can, and move out from there. For all we know, he could still be in there."
"But he could also not be," Renji butted in, his voice lacking its bull-headed acumen in favor of actually reflecting his rank. "Not to be the bearer of bad news, but even if we do get information by going into Las Noches, what will it end up costing us? Time, energy, and the element of surprise are about all we have going for us at this point, and going in there will almost guarantee that we waste all three of those resources."
Ichigo stopped, and the three of them stood a-crest a large dune as he looked back at the two of them. Las Noches was nearer, and he felt it towering behind him like the mountains tower over the sea. "As much as this may be ironic to the both of you, Las Noches is the lesser of the two evils we're faced with." Renji quieted. "And if anyone knows what's happened to Toshiro, it's Aizen. And if there's anywhere that Aizen would be, it would be Las Noches." Neither of them were able to refute the logic of his statement, although he wished that they would have. He'd taken the lead on so many missions before this, had charged ahead fearlessly, but now…
This time was different, and he couldn't quite place a finger on why. He cared about Toshiro, yes. They were comrades, yes. By Ichigo's definition they were friends, yes. But something had changed the rules of the game when the visions of the other man's peril had entered his mind. The rules had changed when the step beyond arms-length friendship had been taken. The world had shifted when deep emotions had been mixed in, deeper than any platonic fortitude he'd felt for Rukia or Orihime. It went beyond any of that, but just how deep it delved, he couldn't determine until the outcome of this particular mission had been reached.
"Well," Rangiku said, and Ichigo realized that in spite of his thoughts, not but a moment of quiet had passed between the three of them. "I think that we should at least try to figure out which end of Las Noches to go bursting into before we get too close. Our best bet is to try places that we haven't already been." She glanced over to Renji, who nodded, scoping out the castle to see if he could recognize any of it.
"I know that we entered over there last time," the red-head said, pointing. "You can tell because the stone is whiter than the rest; meaning its been repaired recently. And I know for a fact that there's nothing over there that would be indicative of any manner of holding cell, if that's what's they've done with Captain Hitsugaya."
"Wait a minute," Ichigo said, looking over at Renji curiously. The other only seemed unamused by his curiosity. "Didn't you fight that pink-haired guy in there last time? I thought the chamber you fought in blocked out spiritual pressure or something like that."
"Yeah, but you obviously forgot that I also destroyed it," Renji replied, a maniacal grin on his lips. Ichigo rolled his eyes, waving the other off.
"Okay, okay. The point is that we're pretty sure that nothing from that end can help us. So our best bet is to try the other side, and work our way in from there. If anything, we can just work our way over to the other side and get out where the repairs haven't been finished yet. But no matter what happens, we cannot split up. Even if we get inside the dome, need to stick together. I guarantee that we'll all be screwed ten ways to Sunday if we don't."
"Because we're only screwed three ways to Sunday right now," Renji grumbled, earning himself a swift and crushing punch in the side from Matsumoto. The man crumpled almost completely in half, a strangled "sorry" about the only thing he could say in his own defense.
"Let's get moving." Matsumoto started off again, the rare authoritative tone in her voice letting Ichigo know that she agreed with his statements. He followed after her, only waiting a few seconds until Renji got back onto his feet before following after the woman in earnest. He was tempted to use shunpo just to make the trek go faster, but shunpo required energy. And he didn't know if he'd need said energy for fighting, or even for more traipsing around the desert. So, he decided to just keep his legs pumping as they slowly rounded on the pearly fortress.
When they were probably only a couple hundred yards away from their wall of choice, Renji swore colorfully. Ichigo glanced back at him, finding his glance glued to some far off turret. Ichigo then looked up also, nearly skidding to a halt at who he saw. From such a great distance, it could have been very difficult to decipher one Espada's physique from the next, but the shock of blue hair was more than enough to let Ichigo know just who it was that was watching them.
At that point, he also colorfully swore, and picked up his pace so he was leading in front of Matsumoto. "What's wrong?" she asked, having been too busy focusing on navigating them to have seen their spectator. "What did you see?"
"We have company," Renji answered, drawing out his zanpakuto. Ichigo could tell that in spite of his hesitance, Renji was actually itching for a fight. He was a former member of Squad 11, after all; it was a part of him. But Ichigo could also tell that Rangiku was in no such mood. Her mind was set on retrieving her Captain, but Ichigo knew that could also be used to their advantage. Rangiku's focus meant that if anything got in her way, she'd gladly slay it in order to reach her goal. "It's an Espada."
Rangiku's skeptical expression sobered quickly, and her hand strayed to the hilt of her own Zanpakuto. She didn't draw it as Renji had, focused on covering as much distance as they could before the onslaught arrived. Ichigo didn't even reach for Zangetsu yet, knowing that though he could run and shunpo with the heavy sword in hand with little difficulty, he could not do it for very long. And, much like Matsumoto, his focus was on retrieving Toshiro. And that meant not wasting the energy on lesser fights if he had the choice of doing so.
When at last the wall drew near enough, Ichigo spared a glance over his shoulder, spying that the blur of blue that had not a moment ago been perched on a far off turret was now closing in behind them over the dunes. He clenched his teeth, knowing that they still had time to raze the wall if they hurried, but that said window of fleeting opportunity was slamming closed rather quickly.
Finally unsheathing his sword he howled out Zangetsu's name, sending a wall of blue energy rippling from the blade's pointed tip. The energy flared furiously, bombarding the towering white wall with threshing force as his haste was relayed through the strike. The wall of stone bellowed back as the strike tore through it, complaining crashes of falling stone following in the wake of the still moving blow as it tore into the empty space beyond. Their opening successfully made, he glanced back at Matsumoto and Renji. Matsumoto was practically on her way through the opening by the time he looked, but Renji was holding his ground, his fingers tapping over Zabimaru's glinting blade as if he had an incurable itch.
"Renji!" Ichigo bellowed out, allowing Matsumoto to forge ahead to the opening he'd blown. The redhead turned back at him, a foul expression on his sharp face that relayed his displeasure at not being able to stand and fight like a man. Ichigo knew it was hard, but also knew that they had more important things to tend to than a purposeless fight. If it came to the need for a fight later on, then Ichigo would let Renji have his way. But for now, they hadn't the time. "Come on, we don't have time to mess around!"
The other grunted, but followed after him as he dove into the gaping hole. He skidded to a halt a short distance behind Matsumoto, who had stood waiting for them. But now that the crawling halls of Las Noches were opened to their digressions, Ichigo had no idea where to start looking. He turned to the two, almost feeling the 6th Espada's breath down his neck as they stood all but waiting for him to catch up. "Come on, we have to get moving. It doesn't matter what direction we go in as long as we get somewhere. Which way do we want to go?"
"Left," Matsumoto immediately answered, and Ichigo only nodded as they began moving before she could even explain her rationale. "There are fewer strong spiritual pressures that way. And even though that may mean that we may not find the Captain right away, it does mean that we're more likely to survive long enough to find him."
Ichigo didn't contend her, and neither did Renji. They merely ran along the corridor, all of them trying to clamp down on their own spiritual pressures to go undetected for as long as possible. As they rounded the corner away from the compromised hallway, Ichigo looked back. Grimmjow hadn't yet arrived at their impromptu entrance, which meant that unless he had some kind of psychic ability of smell, then he too would have to guess which way they went. Ichigo could only pray to whatever God ruled over Aizen in Hueco Mundo that Grimmjow would guess wrong. They couldn't afford to have him guess right.
Matsumoto led in front, traipsing them down narrow passageways and dark corridors as they scoured the building for any sign as to where they needed to be. They skirted along the outside of the building first, slowing working in towards its heart as the sand in the hourglass fell. Ichigo's heart was still racing, and in no time at all he felt like he'd been running for hours, even though his strained mind was probably misinterpreting seconds for minutes and minutes for hours. But that did not change the ominous feeling of foreboding that wandering around aimlessly in the base of the enemy gave him, nor did it make his insistence any less urgent at wasting as little time as possible.
As they ducked down another hallway, they came to a T shaped junction, peeking out to stare down the left and right paths with a hint of indecision. They'd been following Rangiku's heightened sense of high spiritual pressures, but she now seemed frightened and unable to decide. Ichigo glanced at her worriedly, seeing that she had once more reached for her sword.
"There you are," an oily voice slithered through the hallway, and a rush of goosebumps wound up his skin. He turned, facing the familiar spoon-shaped hood of the fifth Espada, his one eye gleaming in the light of the wider walkway. Ichigo's hand strayed to Zangetsu's hilt, biting his own tongue to keep from doing or saying anything particularly rash. "Been waitin' for you little rats to turn this corner."
"Fuck off, Nnoitra, I found them first you lazy bastard," another voice bit back before any of their small party could reply. Ichigo swore in his head, and was almost positive that he did out loud as well. He glanced over to find Grimmjow yet again on their tails, his maniacal face twisted in anger at his fellow Espada. But there was a glinting malice beneath that angered visage that Ichigo easily recognized as Grimmjow's insatiable thirst for blood, and the thrill of the gore that came with it. He took a step back, and knew that Rangiku and Renji had already drawn their swords from the singing of waiting steel around his ears.
"What, just because I had the thought to know when to fuckin' corner them doesn't mean that you get them all to your lonesome!" The raven haired Espada lowered his one-eyed glare on the other, and a thought struck Ichigo as the two of them continued to bicker, stepping closer and closer to each other as their argument escalated over who would get to rile with them.
And, without a word to either offensive parties, Ichigo turned tail and ran back down the passage they had just come from. Dragging Rangiku and Renji by their sleeves, the caught on quickly to his tactic, and he quickly let them go as they sought out a different route. But Ichigo's heart pounded in his chest, and he strained a sparing glance over his shoulder to see that the fifth and sixth Espada had apparently settled their differences temporarily in favor of pursuing their collective quarry.
Ichigo whipped his head back around, seeing that Renji and Matsumoto had forged ahead of him, and he surged forward to keep up. As much as he would have loved to turn and fight, the thoughts screaming in the back of his head told him that they were all running out of time, and that battle was not an option he had if he wanted to come out successful in any way, shape, or form. After another eon-long minute of frantically trying to shake their pursuers, Ichigo glanced back over his shoulder as they came to a long, straight passageway where he could afford to look without running into anything.
But, much to his surprise, both Grimmjow and Nnoitra had stopped before they'd entered the long corridor, scowls on their faces a mile wide as they glowered after the small retreating team. Ichigo's brows knitted in confusion, and he turned back to ask Renji and Rangiku what the cause might have been. But in the split second that he looked back, several lightning-fast details of his surroundings flew past him.
First off, a wall slammed down behind them, separating them from where Grimmjow and Nnoitra had failed to tread. The barrier thundered down, sending shockwaves across the floor. Ichigo failed to stop running, and sprinted past both Rangiku and Renji as the both skidded to a stop to see what had happened. But as they saw the wall crashing down, the floor beneath their feet folded downward, swallowing the two members of his team into a pit of black. Ichigo made to rush forward in a vain attempt at fishing them out, or following after them, but a bony hand latched around his bicep, locking him in place as the folded floor returned.
"Well, look what we have here, the little ryoka is back to cause more trouble, eh?"
Ichigo felt like a spider had crawled up his back at the sound of the former Captain's voice, and he froze with a painfully jarring stillness. Slowly, his head curled around, looking at the fox-like face of the former Squad 3 Captain that grinned pleasantly back at him. Despite the man's permanently nonchalant demeanor, Ichigo still felt like the silver-haired traitor was teetering on the brink of deciding whether or not to gut him.
"What's the matter?" the other man said, his grin curling at the edges like a burning photograph. "Cat got your tongue?"
In a flurry of panic Ichigo wrenched his arm away, staring down the other as his hands reached for Zangetsu's square hilt. He didn't draw, seeing as the other man had saved him in a way. But without backup he still had every reason to be on edge, and so he maintained a guarded stance. "What the hell are you doing here?" he ground out.
A snorting chuckle was what answered him first. "I should be the one askin' you that," Ichimaru said slowly. "Seein' as you're the one intruding onto our turf." But the silver-haired man paused, stepping in a slow, almost circling motion only to tilt his face in as a condescending sneer wound his lips. "But I think I already know who you're here after."
Ichigo drew his sword then, the bandages guarding the blade uncurling as he lowered the hefty blade at the man, though the distance between them was still substantial. "Where are Matsumoto and Renji?" he demanded, his stance shifting into a forward opposition.
"Don't worry, little ryoka, where they are is part of the explanation." There was a teasing lilt to the other man's voice, but also a heavy darkness in it that made Ichigo pause for a moment. He lowered his sword a fraction of a hair, looking at the other man with a keen glance. What the other meant by that he wasn't entirely sure, but he knew that it had to be important if the cynical fox had interfered in their hunting down. If he meddled in anything it meant that he had a personal stake in it, and though Ichigo knew he and Rangiku had once had some sort of relation, he doubted that that was all the other man had come for.
"What explanation are you talking about?" he questioned, but the other man didn't answer right away, instead just offering another wraith-like laugh.
"The explanation to the one question you haven't asked yet."
Cogs turning, Ichigo's mind roiled as it tried to catch up to what the other's words were implying. And when the answer hit him, it hit him so hard that he thought he would topple over from the sheer force of his own stupidity. But with renewed fire in his eyes he stared down the former Captain, unafraid as he shifted his stance out of opposition and back into defense. "Where's Toshiro?"
"There you go," the satirical man sneered. "I knew that's what you came here for." Ichigo stared at the other man incredulously, unable to comprehend the man's forethought on their arrival. "After all," Gin started again, his tone growing a bit more serious as his omnipresent smile seemed to fade a little, "he's the same reason why I had to get to ya before those two hooligans did."
Despite the rather downtrodden wilt to his face, Ichigo still didn't trust the other as far as he could throw him. He gripped Zangetsu tighter, knowing that the man was about as trustworthy as a snake you couldn't see. "Did Aizen send you?" he asked darkly, knowing that anything and everything that went on under the domed roof towering over both of their heads did not go unseen by the godlike figure.
Ichimaru paused for a moment, straightening up from his lurking slouch to stand like an actual man. He was taller than Ichigo expected, a good hand or two taller than him. But with the way the man slouched around it made him appear smaller than he actually was. "No," he said, all traces of his smile gone, and the teasing tilt to his voice flattened out into a serious tone. Ichigo started in surprise, having never known the man to be even capable of showing some manner of seriousness towards anything. If he meant what he said, it could mean one of many, many things.
The first was that he was willing to put his audacious loyalty to Aizen aside in order to feed his own motives for once. The second was that it had all been his doing in the first place, which would mean that his errand was to eradicate Ichigo and their team rather than assist them. From there the list of options dragged out for miles, each option more applicable than the next. But Ichigo dropped the attempt to uncover the meaning of the other's words himself. He would get nowhere if he didn't get the facts straight from the horse's mouth.
"Then I'll ask you again," Ichigo said, his voice tight, "why the hell are you here?"
Gin was silent for a moment before he did something that Ichigo would never have expected. The fox-faced man opened his eyes, until they were staring eye to eye. Ichigo was stunned into silence, his mouth clamping closed as he stared into those veiled teal eyes. It struck him then that Gin and Toshiro had more in common than he'd thought, because the only place he'd ever seen eyes so brightly teal before was on the man he currently sought to rescue. But Ichimaru's were a sharp shade of Caribbean teal, rather than Toshiro's deep rolling, Pacific teal.
"I'm here on behalf of the person you're looking for," the silver-haired man said after a long while. Ichigo blinked, not realizing that he'd failed to do so in the past several minutes. "Because every once in a while I'm struck by this horrible thing called a conscience, and every even rarer so often I actually listen to it." Ichigo couldn't help his gaping as the man spoke. Every hint of his teasing, lilt of an obscure accent was gone in favor of him actually being serious. And Ichigo didn't know if he should be thankful for the change or frightened of it. Because he couldn't comfortably picture Gin Ichimaru being wholeheartedly serious and not in some kind of anger-induced tizzy at the same time. The fact that he was now only further served to disturb that imagined image.
"I know you're here looking for Captain Hitsugaya," Gin continued, drawing Ichigo out of his own whirling thoughts. "And I can tell you with all blatant honesty and regret that he is no longer here."
"What?" Ichigo barked, on the verge of getting hysterical with all of the complex messages being shoved into his brain. "But… wait." A thought on the man's use of words made him pause for a moment and narrow his eyes at the taller Soul Reaper. "That means that he was here at one point, doesn't it?" The gray fox did not answer. Ichigo growled to himself, barking out at the other man in a demanding voice, "Then tell me, where is he now? Tell me what you mean when you say he isn't here anymore, because there are several connotations to that statement; none of which I'm particularly fond of right now."
"I mean that Captain Hitsugaya is no longer within the confines of this building." Gin folded his hands into his sleeves. "Do not misconstrue my statement to mean that he has ceased to exist entirely, or that he has gone from this world." An almost sad shadow passed across the other's eyes for a moment, and if Ichigo had not watched carefully every millisecond of its presence he would not have believed it to have been there at all. "I wish that he were capable of leaving this world, little ryoka, believe me. It would be far better a fate to suffer than what he is toiling through now."
"And why should I believe you?" Ichimaru seemed surprised at the statement, apparently not having expected defiance. "You've given me no reason whatsoever to trust anything you say. So I'm equally sorry to say that I have no intention of doing so."
The older man chuckled weakly for a moment, shaking his head. Then, after a moment, he looked back up, once again as serious as a mourner standing alone at a fresh grave. "You should believe me, Ichigo Kurosaki," he started quietly, "because I would like to see Captain Hitsugaya saved from this fate just as much as you."
"Why?" Ichigo asked just as quietly, knowing that yelling at this point would no longer do him any good.
Ichimaru looked away, and Ichigo watched as his sharp eyes trailed around the room, as if remembering the things he'd seen transpire inside it. He turned back to Ichigo, though did not look at him in favor of looking at the floor. "Because," he said. "Give or take a few dozen years, it could have just as easily been me suffering this fate. And though I may not be the most wholesome man, I do have a heart for those I relate to." He looked back up at Ichigo then, his eyes hard with bitterness. "And believe me, little ryoka, there are few indeed whom I allow myself to relate to."
The young ginger paused for a moment, considering carefully the man's words. All of his body language pointed to his seriousness, but his own reputation for deceiving belied what could have been good intention. Ichigo took his word, but at an arm's length. "Fine," he said, noting the other man's unvoiced relief with wary eyes. "Suppose I believe you. Suppose you do want to save Toshiro. My only question is why didn't you, while you had the chance? Why wait for someone else to come and do it for you when you could have done it yourself?"
Gin faced the questioning without fear, and with every second that passed by, Ichigo began to realize that his sincerity was not an illusion; as it stood up to his prying time and again, spiting his trepidations each time. "Because I would not openly spit in the face of God, for fear of him." There was a pregnant pause, and a shadow of a hope of a grin passed over the man's face. "But I will gladly sin whence his back is turned in sheer spite of him. Had I tried to save him when he was here, I would have failed; and we both would have died in the end." Ichimaru looked back at him, his glinting teal eyes keen with a razor-sharp intelligence. "But I knew if I waited for the cavalry to arrive that I could make my move then; when all eyes were turned from the matter and my chances of success better than none."
"At the risk of the person you were trying to save," Ichigo bit back, but saw the man nod slowly.
"Better him to have a slim chance than no chance at all. Just think; if I'd made my move to save him earlier and failed, I would have been executed. And then, if you will, imagine your arrival to this place. Facing off against two Espada whilst racing the hands of the clock, with no way out and no idea where to go. You too would have died here; leaving the one you sought to save with no chance of surviving at all." Their eyes leveled again, but Ichigo did not shy away. The man was right, in a disgustingly damning sort of way. "It is as I said; better to give him a slim chance than none at all."
When the man reiterated Ichigo's situation on time, he again remembered that the hands on the clock were still spinning against him, and that even though in the long run this meeting would probably have saved him a great deal of time, at the current moment it had been dragging on for far too long. "Alright," Ichigo said once more, letting Zangetsu once again settle over his back. "I'll take your word for it, for now. I won't ask any more questions about why you're trying to help us; it'll only waste what little time we have."
Auburn met aqua in a steely battle of wits. "All I need to know from you now is what happened, and where we need to go to find Toshiro."
Aqua caved in at that last statement, wilting away to glance around the room, again as if reliving a painful memory. "Even I haven't the heart to tell you what's happened in this room," Gin said, facing away from him. "But I can tell you that the sooner you leave Las Noches the better off all of you will be. Captain Hitsugaya is no longer here; I've told you that. So there is no reason for you to linger here looking for the traces of what's befallen him."
"If you find him in time, he can tell you himself."
Ichigo was struck hard by the statement, but nodded resolutely. Gin seemed to sense this, and turned around once more to face him. He nodded towards the part of the floor that had folded away earlier, and Ichigo glanced back at it, making sure to keep one eye trained on the silver-haired traitor. "That trap door leads to a tunnel far under Las Noches," the former Captain explained. "Ms. Rangiku and Mr. Renji are probably at the bottom of it by now; trying to find some way back up to retrieve you. What they don't realize is that the tunnel they fell down leads to another passageway. That tunnel travels under the whole of Las Noches, buried at least eighty feet below the lowest floor. No one will hear you down there, nor will they sense any semblance of your spiritual pressure."
Ichigo was tempted to ask why such a passageway would even exist, but just as the words were about to pass from his lips a cacophonous explosion reverberated against the outside of the wall that had closed them in. Ichigo looked back at it nervously, realizing that someone on the outside must have caught on to Gin's plot, and was not all too pleased about the situation. Ichigo looked back to Gin, who seemed unafraid of whatever punishment lie ahead.
"After the panel closes behind you, no one will be able to follow," he assured, his eyes closing once more. But his grin remained absent, if only for a moment. "Take the passageway out from under Las Noches; it will lead you far out into the desert, where it would be difficult to pursue you in any rapid fashion. From there I can only recommend that you try and find where Captain Hitsugaya has gone as quickly as possible. In the condition he was in when he left, I would say he doesn't have long on his own."
Ichigo nodded, stepping away from the folding panel as he watched the black maw open up a short distance away. He then looked back to the former Captain one more time, noting that his greasy smile had returned. "Give my regards to Ms. Rangiku," he said, the teasing lilt back in his voice. But it dropped away with the second half of his statement. "And do your best to save our snowy little Captain; I couldn't ever picture the world without him."
Ichigo didn't even bother to nod; only turning back and jumping down the gaping hole in the floor without another word. He looked around the tunnel as he went, taking in what he could before the light faded above him as the panel reclosed. The tunnel was circular; falling downward in a perfect pillar, free of twists or turns. But he'd noticed that there was a distinct difference in the stone it had been hewn out of. In some places, it was as smooth as polished concrete, catching the light in a shining glint. But in other places, it was deeply scored and gouged by what appeared to be great claws.
But all that faded away as the light was shut out, leaving him with dozens of yards of darkness below him, and nothing but his own thoughts to follow him down.
He couldn't tell how long he'd been falling; his senses disoriented by the encompassing darkness and the utter lack of feeling save for the tug of gravity against his body as he reached terminal velocity. He would reach out every so often, his fingers searching in the dark just to make sure he wasn't about to crash into some wall. But his fall had proven a good one, in that he had jumped straight down the middle of the tunnel and had strayed nowhere near the walls.
After what felt like forever he felt like there was a foreboding rush of ground up to meet him. He looked down, squinting in vain in an attempt to see through the dark. All but from nowhere a flash of red burst forth from the darkness, illuminating his path for what looked like miles and inches all at the same time. The red beacon glimmered weakly, but against the pervading darkness it stood out in full colors, showing him the way down as the bottom rose up to meet him.
Through his now useful squint Ichigo could now see two figures whose shadows were cast upon the floor, their faces upturned to watch him descend. He smiled, glad that Renji and Rangiku had made it safely down, and that they had indeed waited for him in spite of what he still felt to be his grievous delay. Once again positioning himself for a force-abating roll, Ichigo touched down and let his gathered kinetic energy transfer to the ground as he tucked his body in expertly. He couldn't go breaking his own bones now, could he?
Once he'd come to a safe enough point to stand up again, he did so, turning to face Renji and Rangiku with a hopeful glimmer in his eyes. He had been clawing at his own skin all the time whilst dealing with Gin alone; it went against every principal they'd set up when they'd set out on this suicide mission. Renji's faintly glimmering kidou was all that they had to see, but Ichigo was thankful to be able to see them at all, lest he had not been able to see the bottom and broken every bone in his spiritual body.
"There you are!" Rangiku said, placing her hands on her hips as if indignant. "We were wondering what happened to you, leaving us behind like that. Care to explain?"
"Let's just say that an old friend of yours sends his regards," Ichigo said, walking past her and Renji to face the gaping horizontal tunnel that was their proclaimed escape route out of the hallowed building. "And instructions on how to get out of here alive and how to get Toshiro back. Come on; we've already wasted enough time. We can't afford to lose any more."
Renji followed after Ichigo without asking, and Rangiku did the same for a while. But soon she voiced the question that Ichigo had felt slowly digging through the air between the three of them. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell her, but he knew that he didn't have an option when it came to the blunt truth of the matter. She would find out eventually, anyway. One way or another.
"Ichigo, who are you talking about?" she asked, and he didn't look back as he delved headfirst into the dark, Renji's bobbing red light trailing after his heels. He could just barely make out what was ahead of him thanks to the small light, but knew he couldn't blaze too far ahead lest he lose them and his only source of light. "How do you know how to get out of here?"
"Ichimaru told me," he replied frankly, and sensed the shock explode off of his two battle compatriots. "But before you go asking me if I'm crazy," he said, biting back at them before they could properly refute him, "I know he wasn't lying. He wouldn't have let us go or separated us from Grimmjow and Nnoitra if he intended to just kill us himself."
"Don't be stupid, Ichigo!" Renji barked out at him, his kidou flaring a bit as his emotions did. "There's no way you could ever tell if that man was lying or telling the truth! He's a snake!"
Rangiku's pained wince did not go unseen to his eyes, so he stopped for a moment, turning around to face them as they all skidded to a halt. He looked at both of them evenly, sure beyond doubt that he was right in trusting the seemingly devious man. "I know he was telling the truth because he opened his eyes and looked at me when he told me," Ichigo said, and both sets of his companions' eyes widened at the statement. "And he stood up straight and told me like a man. If he can lie while doing that and not have me be able to tell, then he's worthy of tricking us."
A very wayward moment of quiet passed between the three of them, each of their own thoughts and emotions consuming whatever time they could allot to such things. Rangiku was the one to respond first, her light blue eyes, dyed a light lilac in the red light of Renji's kidou, boring down on Ichigo heavily. But he upheld their weight, defiant of being pinned down by his own nagging intuitions. "I believe you," she said, but the words were weighted heavily. "Let's get going, then. We can't afford to leave the Captain alone any longer."
Renji just opted not to respond, instead looking away with a snort, as if still not convinced but willing to agree for the sake of their mission. Ichigo was thankful, but merely went back to leading them on through the darkness rather than voicing such trivial things. The weight of the world pressed down on their little tunnel, compacting the air into a heavy haze of cold and damp that was almost unprecedented for an arid world like Hueco Mundo. And as they ran, along each dip of the long tunnel, Ichigo noted time and again where the tunnel beneath his feet seemed carved by long dragging strokes. Every so often he would catch himself glancing over his shoulder nervously, the childish fear of the dark and the deep personified by the hellish jaunt through the unknown, unforeseeable world of Hueco Mundo's depths.
Sooner than he'd expected another light began to pour over the darkened passageway, slowly turning the frigid black into a dimly warming gray, eventually grading up to a full scale, blinding white light as the end of the tunnel came into sight. The substitute increased his pace unknowingly, a full scale sprint carrying him far beyond the others in his will to be out of the place. He dashed out past the barrier of light, finding his vision cleared as he was greeted once more with Hueco Mundo's endless night, the silver light from the lonely stars and wheeling moon a far better alternative to the suffocating dark he'd just waded through.
Panting from his own primal exertion, Ichigo waited for the others to emerge as well. As he waited, his eyes craned around, scanning the horizon with every sense he had to see if he could detect any proof of a lie in the former Captain's words. Sure enough, no spire or stone of Las Noches could he see, nor could his blunted senses pick up any trace of foe or descending spiritual pressure for as far as he was willing to search. As it seemed, Ichimaru, the snake that he was, had been more than true to his words.
When at last Rangiku and Renji caught up, Ichigo glanced back at them, seeing on their faces the surprise at discovering the circumstances he had observed. Obviously neither of them had been expecting what could only by circumstance be called a positive outcome, but did not speak against it as they looked back to their impromptu leader. Both were on edge still, but neither on the verge of drawing their swords for fear of battle.
Looking back out at the sprawling dunes one more time, Ichigo spoke. "Look, I know that I said that we needed to stick together no matter what back in Las Noches, but…" He paused, swallowing the brazen words he was so tempted to say in favor of ones that would seem at least some semblance of logical. "That's not the case anymore, I don't think. If Ichimaru hasn't lied to us, then we can only assume that we have some time before the Espada or Arrancar pour out of Las Noches to come looking for us." He scanned all the eyes laid out before him for any sign of disapproval, and found none. "So now we have to use the time we have to cover as much ground as we can. And we can't do that if we're glued to each others' heels."
"I don't think it's wise, Ichigo," Matsumoto said sternly, obviously still weighing the benefits of sticking together over the risks to be taken traveling alone. "What if the Espada or Arrancar do show up and we're caught unawares? Alone we'd stand no chance, and who's to say that either of you could get to me in time if something should happen? It's just too high of a risk."
"No," Ichigo argued, beginning to get a bit desperate. "I know it's risky, Rangiku, but we have to do something. If we stick together then we might be defeating the purpose of us even coming here in the first place. We went to Las Noches to get information on where Toshiro is. Now we know he's somewhere out in this area of desert; that tunnel was the same one he went through to leave Las Noches. If we don't split up and cover as much distance as we can, then we might as well be trying to find a needle in a haystack without ever trying to move the hay out of the way. We have to take the risk."
It was at that point that Renji finally decided to rejoin the conversation. "Look," he said, obviously not pleased with their indecision, "why don't we make a compromise then? Urahara said that the return portals to the shop open every hour, right? Well I don't know how long we've been here, or how long it will take the Arrancar to get here. But, if we look until we feel one of the portals open, or until the Arrancar come after us, then we decrease the risk of being caught alone. That way if something goes wrong, we can either get out or get to another member of the team before an enemy arrives."
The Substitute was pleased with the idea, but the other Lieutenant still seemed rather unsure. "Sounds good," Ichigo said, turning to Rangiku to add something that he hoped would seal the deal. "Then we'll make a deal. Regardless of when it shows up, we all make for the first portal back to Urahara's. I don't think the Arrancar will take an hour to find us, in which case we can't afford to wait for more than one portal to open. But this way, we're guaranteed to stay close so we could all get to the portal in time."
That Rangiku seemed satisfied with. Pleased that they'd come to some semblance of an accord, Ichigo set off first, going straight out from the tunnel mouth, whereas Rangiku and Renji set off at forty-five degree increments to form a fan of search over the desert. Ichigo couldn't help his own haste, all but skipping from dune to dune as the distance between them grew. Soon enough he couldn't see either of their bobbing heads over the dunes, nor could his minimal sense track either of their presences.
Alone in the desert again, Ichigo still felt as if he was in a dream. Everything whirled past his eyes in a dizzying gradient of gray sand and black sky. But in spite of his own disillusion, his eyes remained keen, and his ears open for any sound of disturbance in the damningly silent desert. It was almost unnerving, that encompassing silence. It reminded him all too much of the fall through eternity down to the tunnel that they'd exited out of. And in spite of no longer being in an enclosed space, Ichigo still felt like he was caged in.
When his eyes continued to turn up nothing but winding sand, Ichigo succumbed to desperation. But rather than let his emotions consume him like others did, he stopped altogether, taking a deep breath as his mentally and physically taxed state complained against him. He looked over the dunes, this time, instead of trying to look over them and around them, actually look at them and what they could tell him.
He'd never been taught proper tracking techniques; what was he, a trapper? But he did know the fundamental signs of when things had been disturbed. Around the entrance of the tunnel, there had been no disturbance at all; not a surprise considering the sand had probably been shifted by wind during the time since Toshiro had exited. But as his gaze continued to wander, his prying senses still wary of his own horizon, he began to see faint as whisper patterns in the dunes.
Much like the path he was taking, small dips in the crests of the dunes began to appear, indicating that something had disturbed their naturally sharp crest. But the rounded, weathered state of those indentations made them appear old; perhaps some days, or hours depending on the mercy of the desert. But as Ichigo's eyes followed them, he noted how as the distance grew further away from the tunnel mouth, the more sharply accented and deep the grooves grew. Meaning, as the trail lead away, it also got progressively fresher.
Head reeling with his own discovery, Ichigo was thrown out of his own thoughts by the rippling feel of a portal opening behind him. He felt the space of Hueco Mundo scream in complained as the hole emerged, probably some few hundred yards behind where he stood. He knew that Rangiku and Renji would have felt it, and were probably far closer to it than he considering his haste.
He glanced back over at the sign's he'd stumbled across, biting at his own lip. For all he knew they could just as easily be some kind of hollow's tracks, luring him out to a battle he couldn't win, or a situation he couldn't escape from until Urahara's next portal opened an hour later. But resolve stuck him to where he was, defiance of surrender keeping him from turning back to retreat through Urahara's portal. The likelihood of them ever finding this chance-rich patch of desert again was impossible at best, and Ichigo wasn't fond of the idea of letting the young Captain suffer and die out in the desert when a few more sparing moments of risk could have saved him.
But what froze Ichigo's feet to the dune he stood atop was the faint whisper of a roar trickling on a gentle breeze that ghosted from the far horizon. The ginger whipped round, his eyes wide as they searched manically for the visible source of the sound. Without second thought he started once more in his search, moving away from the portal with all haste in spite of his promise. He knew that Rangiku and Renji would want to wait for him, but also knew at that point they were probably at grave risk of being caught up with, and would exit through the portal to wait where it was safe.
Cascading over mile after mile of trail marked dunes, Ichigo's brows set, and he clenched his jaw. He was going against a deal, but for the sake of Toshiro's life, he knew it was more than worth it.
Because there was not a soul in Heaven, Hell, Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, or the World of the Living that could tell him that the roaring he'd heard wasn't a dead-marked copy of the sounds he'd heard coming from Toshiro's mouth in his dream. And there was no soul in Heaven, Hell, Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, or the World of the Living, that was going to keep him from finding out whether or not he was right.
-GAWDTHISTOOKSOLONGTOWRITE. Ahem. Anyway. Yes, this chapter was almost excruciatingly long, but that was because a good majority of the character movement had to take place in it, and that meant a lot of probably not-so-fluid demi-action sequences. Don't worry, kiddies, there will be a full-blown fight sequence in RBF later on; just not in this chapter. Or the next one I don't think. Just to give you a heads up. Well, here's my last update for October, so I'm bidding you all a farewell for November, because I'm going on hiatus for ONE MONTH (I promise) in order to do NaNoWriMo. I WILL be back in December, I promise. Until then, you will just have to let the end of this chapter fester on your minds. Oh, also, I have somewhat modified my plans for the sequel to RBF; it has changed from potentially being a Shuuhei based fic, to a sequel, but still on the grounds of Ichi-Hitsu rather than changing the pairing. If you like this idea better, please go vote on the poll on my profile, or submit your votes in a review. (Meaning you could vote twice if you did both.) All votes will be tallied and posted below. After those that's all I have for now; have a happy Thanksgiving everybody, and I'll see you in Deccember. Here they are as they stand thus far:
Renji-Shuuhei: 6 votes
No Pairing (No fic): 2 votes
Ichi-Hitsu: 2 votes
Kensei-Shuuhei: 1 vote
Byakuya-Shuuhei: 1 vote
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