"We need lure the hollows away from this area," Ishida spoke, pushing his chic frames up the bridge of his nose. "Otherwise there could be too many casualties. They will be attracted to our high spiritual energy, so they should follow us."

"Thanks for the Hollow 101 lecture, Professor Ishida," Ichigo smirked. His grin turned serious when he saw the first of the hollows emerge. The same, snake-like creatures they had fought a week ago were back. "We need to get out of here."

The group ran from the crowds, who were oblivious to what was going on and expecting a rainstorm to come. There was an open field nearby and no civilians should be in that area.

Rukia quickly searched her pockets for the soul candy, but the dispenser was nowhere to be found. Her eyes went wide at the gravity of their situation. She was very limited in the body of a gigai. Kido would be less effective and she could not call out her zanpaktou.

"Where the hell is it? I can't find my fucking soul badge!" Ichigo patted himself over and over again, looking for the badge in his yukata that would force his spirit body out.

Then, to group's surprise, Tatsuki appeared, immediately followed by Renji. "What's going on?" she cried out to her friends. "Hollows attacked the festival," Renji-Vice-Captain-Obvious stated.

"I know that," Tatsuki hissed at him. Then she mentally hit herself. Her friends looked at her in awe. Questions started flying out of Orihime's and Ichigo's mouths, but their jumbled voices were overpowered by the screams of hollows above them.

Renji reached in his shirt pocket, and then frantically started searching all his hidden pockets in his white and pink yukata. "The soul candy, I can't find it."

"Join the club," Rukia spat out. Hollows circled above them, closing in for an attack. We are so screwed.

Ishida withdrew his Quincy bow, Chad unveiled his right arm of destruction, and Orihime was ready to release her fighting units. As the three humans prepared themselves for battle, a sudden burst of light nearly blinded everyone. When the light settled, a young girl stood in the center of the cleared area.

"Ben-Ten!" several voices cried out at once.

"That's Ben-Ten?" Renji asked.

"Who's Ben-Ten?" Orihime and Ishida asked nearly simultaneously. But that girl looked familiar. Her silver eyes glinted with mischief. Her dark plum hair whipped around the blue and green dragon yukata print she wore with pride. Chad didn't say a word, but his eyes were open now to what was going on.

Ben-Ten smiled and held her snake up in the air. The hollows came crashing down, then compressed into the body of the garter snake through a beam of light. In seconds, all the hollows were gone.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Ichigo raised his voice.

Ben-Ten immediately lifted a finger to silence him. She looked around her and her smile deepened. With her palms pressed together like a prayer, she bowed her head and closed her eyes. Then, without warning, Ben-Ten pushed her hands out towards the group with a quick flick of the wrist. The small motion sent all parties hurtling through the air, unable to distinguish which was up or down.

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Ichigo woke sprawled on the ground, not sure where he was. It was dark and the only source of light was the waning moon. He grunted and pushed himself off the ground. Standing, he surveyed the area. It sure looked like the same forested area they were in before, but what happened? All he remembered was seeing that brat he saved, and then waking up on the forest floor.

"Ooo," he heard a female groan from the nearby brush.

"Rukia?" He hurried over to the bush and parted the plants. Rukia looked up at him slowly, holding her head and blinking. Ichigo couldn't help but grin. Leaves stuck out from all directions in her hair.

"What's so funny, strawberry head?" Rukia asked with a groggy voice.

"Nothing, midget." He reached over and picked a leaf from her locks.

Rukia moved her hands up to feel what was on her head, then gasped and shook the leaves out of her hair. "Idiot, why didn't you tell me?" She stepped out from the brush and dusted herself off.

"I thought you weren't talking to me anymore," Ichigo mocked, bending over so his face was at her height.

Rukia blinked. His face was so close to hers. It had never really bothered her until a few weeks ago. Now whenever she was around him, she felt more nervous than comfortable. She felt like she did…back then. Ichigo saw her eyes soften and focus on somewhere else for a split second. Rukia shook her head out of the memories. "Shut up," she said quietly and pushed past him. "We need to find out where we are."

Ichigo stayed in the same position for a moment before moving to follow her. What just happened?

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Ishida wasn't out of it long and soon he was up on his feet, searching for someone, anyone. He had been separated from the group. Idiot! he cursed himself. He should have sensed something was odd about that girl, but she seemed to block his powers. Ishida wasn't used to not being in control of a situation and it scared him.

"Hellooo…?" he heard a familiar voice call out.

"Inoue-san?" he called back, cupping his hands over his mouth to amplify his words.

"Ishida-kun?" Orihime replied, hope suddenly building up. They gravitated towards the sounds of each other's voices, using the concept of Marco, Polo to find one another in the dark. The light from the moon barely reached them, its face peaking out between the thick treetops every few yards.

"Inoue-san?"

"Ishida-kun?"

They were getting closer. Ishida heard a rustle and Orihime squeak as she tripped over a tree root. She shot out her arms to dampen the impact and ended up falling into him. He almost fell back from the collision, but held his ground and helped her up. Orihime raised her face up to him and couldn't help but start to giggle.

"Is this a bad habit of yours, running into me?" Ishida had to interject. Her giggles turned into full on laughter. Ishida had to admit her laughter was contagious. He lightly chuckled with her, releasing all the tension between them over the past few weeks. It was great to hear her laugh again. She hadn't been genuinely happy since they got back from Hueco Mundo.

After a few moments and calming down, Orihime was the first to ask. "So where are we now?"

"I don't know, around the festival grounds I'm sure."

That's not exactly what I meant, Orihime's subconscious voiced. She gave the naïve Quincy a smile. "Do you think we're far?"

Ishida looked around at their surroundings. "We shouldn't be. Come on." He led her through the dark forest, holding her hand the entire way.

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"Oi! Wake up you big oaf!" Tatsuki slapped Renji's face.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?" Renji shouted, sitting straight up.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "Finally! Do you know how long I've been trying to wake you up?" Renji rubbed his cheek, the pain starting to hit his nerves. Tatsuki huffed, "You'll probably feel it in a bit." She stuck a hand out to help him on his feet.

Renji shook his head to wake himself up, then slapped his hand in hers and pulled her down. He had quickly changed their positions: now she lay in the grass and he was standing above her.

"You ass!" Tatsuki reached a leg out and swung it at Renji hard, making him lose his footing.

"Ugh, my ass," he whined, laying out on the grass at an angle to Tatsuki. They both panted for a few seconds, their heavy breaths the only noise around them.

"So," Tatsuki swallowed, "what do you think happened?"

Renji looked over at her, his long red hair rolling against the soft grass. "I don't know, but we should probably find the others." He flung an arm out near her, his palm open. "Truce?"

Tatsuki thought about it, then flipped him the bird. She popped herself up, gracefully using a Karate technique and began to walk away.

Heh, Renji chuckled to himself. She sure is something else…

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"Face it, we're lost, Ichigo." Rukia followed behind the orange-haired teenager, easily ducking under branches in their way.

"We're not lost," he lowly growled. "We're just further away than I thought we were."

Boys, Rukia huffed, Never stop for directions, do they? She rolled her eyes and stopped behind him, kicking off her sandals.

"What are you doing?"

Rukia reached up to the branch above her and started scaling the tree. "I should have done this an hour ago instead of letting you run us around in circles." She climbed and climbed, getting close to the top of the tree. But the more she climbed, the further away the top of the tree seemed. Rukia looked up and up…and up. The tree seemed never ending. She frowned. Something here wasn't right.

"So did you find out where we need to go?" Ichigo asked as Rukia made her way down the tree. She jumped off from the last branch with a concerned look on her face.

"Rukia? Which way do we get out of the forest?"

Rukia furrowed her brow and looked up at Ichigo. "We're not in a forest. We're trapped in an illusion."

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