A/N: WOW! I didn't expect anyone to read this, let alone like it ;D! Thank you! I started writing this a day after I posted (actually more like 9 hours), but I didn't get to continue writing it 'till today. Blame my brothers, who kept on hogging the computer. I accidently slept in today, so I had the whole day to write ;D So I have a head start on the next chapter. ;)I checked and I have 3 reviews! Compared to some that may be small, but to me it is so great! ;D I just got so excited and got inspiration to write this! Haha! Thank you guys! I just feel so insecure sometimes about things I write ;) Okay, I'll give you a chapter without along A/N like last time ;D Enjoy!

"Ichigo…"

Ichigo didn't respond, hoping the voice would go away.

"Ichigo, wake up…"

He groaned and hid in his covers, wishing the voice away.

"C'mon Ichigo…"

"Ichigo's not here." He mumbled under his covers.

"Where is Ichigo then?"

"Like I know." Ichigo snapped back.

"Is he… in the gardens?"

"No."

"With Hanataro?"

"No"

"In his inner world?"

"No."

"Where could he be then… Wait! Is there a lump on the bed?"

"No…"

"Lumps can't speak…"

"… Yes the can…"

Suddenly the cover was ripped from him to reveal a grinning Rukia.

"There you are!"

Ichigo just glared.

"What was up with that?"

"What?" Rukia crooned. "You didn't like the Lump Game?" (1)

"Is that what woke me up?" Rukia nodded. "I hate it."

Rukia laughed. "Well, since you're already up…"

"You woke me up!"

"How do define that exactly?"

"Waking someone up."

Rukia pouted. "Well, if you put it that way…"

Ichigo stared.

"Are you sure I'm the 8 year-old?"

"Shut up!"

After a few arguments and bunny drawings later, Rukia and Ichigo made their way down the streets of Seireitei.

"Why did I have to get up again?"

Rukia sighed. "Like I said before, you need to be around familiar surroundings to get your memories back. We're going to go around Seireitei for a bit."

"I don't see why we couldn't have done this earlier." Ichigo grumbled.

Rukia rolled her eyes, not even bothering to answer.

As they walked down the streets, squad members bowed in respect to Rukia, with her white haori fluttering about.

Ichigo felt irritated with the glances that they gave him. They weren't disrespectful, or anything, but still. The looks they gave him were unnerving.

Falling in step with Rukia, he glanced around at his surroundings. They were heading towards a fenced area that had a building in the middle of it. The building had glass sliding doors entering to different parts of the building. You could see people milling about inside it. Squad members trotted along, doing their daily duties, but with a sense of happiness that not too many squads had. People talked, sparred, ate, argue, drank, and just lazed about. The area had a considerate homey feeling to it.

Ichigo and Rukia headed to a corner of the building. Knocking on the door, which had a curtain draped on the inside, Rukia took a step back respectfully.

The man that answered rang a bell in Ichigo's head. It hurt to look at him, but Ichigo knew that he could trust this kind man. Ichigo then remembered seeing the man at the captain's meeting that he had unwillingly been a part of.

"Hello Ukitake-taicho," Rukia greeted pleasantly.

"Hello Rukia," Ukitake responded warmly. "Would like to come in?"

"Hai," Rukia smiled. "We would like to speak with you on some important matters." She looked pointedly at Ichigo. Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed in confusion-What were they talking about?

"Ah," Ukitake looked over Ichigo with a thoughtful look. "Come in, then."

After shooing Ichigo and Rukia through the door, Ukitake went and sat down on his spot of the floor. He gestured for Rukia and Ichigo to follow.

"Would you like some tea? Or…" he glanced at Ichigo with a twinkle in his eye. "Candy, perhaps?"

While Rukia's narrowed her eyes and glared at her former captain, Ichigo's own eyes widened and brightened considerably. With a wide grin, he nodded vigorously.

Ukitake clapped his hands together and immediately two people appeared. Ichigo knew immediately that he should probably cover his ears as long as they were there.

"Kiyone, Sanataro-"

"Does the kid need candy?" Sanataro interrupted.

"Of course he does!" Kiyone fumed. "Didn't you hear? Why did you yell and interrupt Ukitake-taicho?"

"You're yelling even louder than me! And I was just confirming what taicho wanted!" Sanataro screeched.

Then they both looked earnestly at their captain. "What type of candy, taicho?" they said simultaneously.

Ukitake raised an eyebrow and looked at Ichigo. He was silently seething about the "kid" comment. Rukia was watching him with a look on his face that branched amusement and cautiousness.

Knowing that they'd be no help, Ukitake apprehensively turned back to his two frantic subordinates.

"Pick out whatever candy you think would be best."

Worst. Idea. Ever.

Like a bomb the two third seats jumped around.

"Maybe Snickers-" (2)

"Don't be ridiculous, he would hate that! We need to get him Milky Way's!"

"Reese's-"

"Hershey's-"

"Crunch-"

"He would gag on his first bite!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

It went like that for a minute or so, but Ukitake soon got a headache and decided to end it.

"How about Kit-Kats?" he suggested quietly.

The two froze and turned back to their captain.

After a split second they jumped up and stood at attention.

"Hai, taicho!" they said enthusiastically. And with that, they darted off, along with their bickering voices.

Ukitake sighed, exasperated. His subordinates could be tiring at times… maybe a bit more than he would've liked.

Looking back at Ichigo and Rukia, they seemed to be having a glaring contest. The whole reason was because Rukia had brought out her sketch book, trying to explain to Ichigo the daily arguments of Kiyone and Sanataro. But, getting frustrated with her unhelpful Chappy drawings, he took her sketch book and threw it out the window. Thus, them glaring daggers at each other.

Ukitake cleared his throat, perhaps hoping to get back to whatever subject they were about to broach before.

Rukia immediately snapped out of her daze. She shot back another look at Ichigo before ruffling his hair. Ichigo immediately snapped her hand away, and tried to smooth out his hair, disgruntled. Ukitake smiled. It seemed that their relationship hadn't changed. The only change that he saw was that Rukia didn't hit Ichigo, which probably had to due to the fact that he was an 8 year-old at the moment.

"So…" Ukitake said.

"Oh," Rukia snapped back to attention. "Sorry…" she said sheepishly.

"Oh, it's alright," Ukitake assured her.

"Okay," Rukia began. "As you know, we have to keep Ichigo around familiar faces and places in order for his memory to come back."

Ukitake nodded. "Hai,"

"Well, we have the slight problem of secrecy that may invade on that plan. A lot of familiar faces don't know about him yet, and we can't take him too many places, mainly because someone might recognize him. But," Rukia frowned and looked to the floor, her frustration clear in her eyes. "If we can't get him around these familiar things, it may take him ages to regain his memories." Rukia looked up at Ukitake. "Thoughts?"

"Well," Ukitake chewed on his lip, and frowned thoughtfully. "We could die his hair? That'd make him less distinctive."

"No."

Ukitake glanced down at Ichigo, surprised, while Rukia just sighed exasperatedly.

"We've thought of that. But Ichigo just plain refuses to dye his hair." She frowned down at the mini-Ichigo. "Must be a pride thing." Ichigo just glared at her.

Ukitake put his finger to his chin. "Maybe we can come up with a convincing background… Maybe he was Ichigo's younger cousin? I could imagine that working."

"Perhaps," Rukia mused. "Yes, I could see that working. We could say that Ichigo's father called and asked me to take care of his nephew." She shrugged. "That's as good as a back-story can get."

Ukitake nodded in agreement while Ichigo's face took on a glazed look while looking off in the distance.

Ichigo was having a difficult time with the voices in his head.

"C'mon King!" His hollow whined.

"Stop it other me!" Ichigo snapped back. "It won't ever work. Zangetsu, some help please?"

"I do not think that I would be of help in this, Ichigo."

"WHY NOT?"Ichigo huffed.

"I happen to agree with him."

That shut Ichigo's mouth- err…-thoughts. Ichigo may trust both of his companions, but he always looked to Zangetsu on a decision.

Ichigo sighed.

"Fine, I'll consider it. 'Kay?"

His hollow chuckled gleefully while Zangetsu made a noise of approval.

Ichigo rolled his eyes and then turned his attention back to the present.

He was startled when Rukia's frowning face happened to be inches from his.

"Argh!" he yelled. He rolled backwards and took a fighting stance.

"So you've finally decided to come back to us." Rukia said calmly, sitting back.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow and relaxed his stance. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?" He asked while sitting back down

"From the looks of you, I'd have to guess that you were in your inner world, talking with your Zanpakuto." Ukitake mused.

Ichigo shifted uncomfortably in his place. "Well, not quite…" he looked to the ground. "I was talking with them, but not in my inner world."

"Them?" Ukitake asked sharply.

"Hai," Ichigo responded. "They asked me to tell you this, mainly because they have a proposition."

Rukia's eyes narrowed. "Would they be Zangetsu and your hollow?"

Ichigo nodded.

"We can't trust-" Rukia began.

"Yes you can!" Ichigo interrupted.

Ukitake cocked his head a bit. "How?" he asked simply.

Ichigo huffed in annoyance. "Other me would never hurt me. He's saved my life more than once, and I trust him with my life." He looked up at them in defiance. "He and Zangetsu told me to trust you, even though I didn't want to. If he wanted to kill me or you, he could've done it at the very beginning. But he didn't, I trust him more than anyone besides Zangetsu." Ichigo looked down, leaving an astounded audience.

"And what is this proposition?" Ukitake asked weakly.

Ichigo sighed and looked up to meet them in the eyes.

"I need to go to Hueco Mundo."

A/N: *sweatdrop* Bad cliff, I know. I just thought of this, because, otherwise, I have no idea how to get my story rolling. Okay, so I think that this wasn't a really good chapter. I didn't mean for it to be boring, but I just went with the flow. I'm kind of annoyed with it. But we all have things that we get peeved with, 'ne? Okay so…

Okay, this was a game that my parents came up with when my brothers and I were little. The whole thing is that I was under the covers in my mom and dad's room. They'd start asking me where I was. I would giggle like the little kid I was and then tell them no. Then, after a while, they'd say "Wait a minute! Lumps can't talk!" and then they'd take the covers off of me. It was one of my favorite games when I was little, I loved it. My mom and dad said it was as fun for them as it was for me. Really silly, dumb game, but really, really fun for little kids. I thought, what the heck, and put it in the story I tried to give Ichigo the best reaction I could. I bet if he really was 8, and it was his mom he would've been laughing his head off and having the best of times. But since he still was somewhat a 28 year old, and it was Rukia… Well, you get the picture.

Okay, I'm not familiar with the candy in Japan, so I just used old fashion Snickers, and stuff. Oh, and I love all the candy I mentioned (and more), but I can totally imagine them getting into an argument about it. And Kit-Kat's are my favorite. ;D

Okay, I think that's it! I'll try to update soon ;D Thank you!

R&R! |-)

Shaybo27