Toshiro was slow waking up the next morning.
His hair was caked with sand and his eyes watered constantly, and his throat felt like razor blades. Only after several frantic gulps of water did the pain recede. Blinking wearily, he stared glumly across the snowy white sand of Hueco Mundo and the back-drop of inky black, with a sliver of a silver moon gleaming dully in the sky.
Around him, the others still slept. All except Renji, of course, who had taken up guard duty some time after mid-night. Or at least, that's what Toshiro guessed. It was impossible to tell the time in a place where day and night didn't exist, and the moon rained supreme. He stood up and stretched, and took a great deal of time to shake the sand out of his hair. He muffled a cough into his hand, before marching up the slop to see how Abarai was doing.
"Good morning, Abarai." Toshiro said, announcing his presence to the tired red-head, whose sword laid threateningly on his lap.
Renji whipped round and his face was dark, as though he had been expected a brawl, and he visibly relaxed when he saw that it was Toshiro.
"Yeah. Morning, Hitsugaya-taichou." Then he gave a bitter chuckle and glanced at the sky. "Is it morning?"
"I'd rather say morning, Abarai," Toshiro told the man as he sat himself down, and brushed the sand off his lap. "it makes this place seem a little more human."
"Ah." And Renji went back to observing the motionless snow, and Toshiro followed suit. It was a big job. Guarding the tiny group against the incredible mass of sand and the creatures that lurked in the shadows took a lot out of a person, made evident by the faint bags under Renji's eyes. Toshiro couldn't help but wonder if Renji had slept at all.
A while later Rukia and the others stirred, and they all crowded around Ichigo and his firmly closed eyes. He looked troubled. A deep frown set into his face like stone, and Rukia's depression seemed to be affecting everyone. Sado stopped looking at Ichigo after a few minutes, and trudged up the hill to watch for hollow. Toshiro's sympathetic gaze followed him a way, and then Toshiro looked away and left the Mexican man to grieve in peace.
Ichigo still hadn't woken. And thus, hadn't recovered from his out-burst the previous 'day'. There had been no warning, no trace of discomfort, before Ichigo suddenly started screaming and lashing out, and crying rivers. In the end, Yumichika and Toshiro had paralysed him and knocked him out, but the damage was done. No-one knew if he would recover or not.
And Toshiro, somewhere in his mind, blamed himself for Ichigo's misfortune. It was a silly trait of his that a good number of his friends despised, but it was his trait and he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't stop the thoughts from randomly popping up. If only I hadn't brought him along; I should've made him stay; I should've gone by myself. Those kind of thoughts, and despite his rational thinking, they plagued his mind and buzzed in his ears as Toshiro examined Ichigo's pale face, that scolding face.
And then he twitched.
"Oh!" Rukia exclaimed and she inched closer, and gave Ichigo a stern shake. "Ichigo!"
"Sado!" Toshiro yelled to the giant man and he looked up curiously, and his messy brown bangs swung over his eyes. "Come here! Kurosaki's waking up!"
Sado was there in a flash, and he dropped down beside Rukia, and his eyes were wide.
"Ichigo?"
Ichigo let out a groaning noise, and then, grunting, he forced himself upwards. Sitting between the shell-shocked Rukia and Sado, Ichigo could do nothing but stare wearily around the camp and rub his temples, and groan into his hands.
"Gah, my head..." The boy growled.
"Ichigo?" Rukia said again, and touched his shoulder. Ichigo snapped out of his trance and looked Rukia straight in the face, and his eyes were tired. Rukia's face was pale and worried, and her lips were pressed together. Her blue eyes were big and observant, and soaked up every detail of his physical status.
His expression softened.
"Hey, Rukia," He grumbled, and scratched the top of his head. "What'd I miss?"
Rukia stared at Ichigo for a moment. And then she smiled, a kind and caring, and almost loving smile. And then, without warning and fast as a flash, she smacked the boy hard over the head, and Ichigo let out a cry of pain.
"The hell, Ichigo!" Rukia screamed, and her face was red with rage. "Is that all you have to say for yourself! What did I miss!"
"Rukia-"
"No! Why the hell did you have a fit, huh! What was that! Or did you just feel like-"
"Rukia!" It was Renji now, and he raised his hands in a helpless gesture. "Come on, Rukia, let the guy breath-"
"Shut up, Renji!" Came Rukia infuriated reply, and Renji fell silent. And retreated several paces. Ikkaku frowned, and Yumichika shook his head. The feathery man looked faintly amused.
But before Rukia could return to her rant, Toshiro summoned up his courage and snapped at the seat-less officer in the most commanded voice he possessed.
"Kuchiki! Shut up!" He shouted, and Rukia flinched like he'd slapped her. "You're not helping at all. Kurosaki," and he rounded on Ichigo, and Ichigo paled. "explain." It was an order, and not a single person on the planet was dumb enough to disobey an order from a irked and ill-tempered captain.
Ichigo seemed to struggle with what to say for a few moments, and the people gathered simply watched his face, looking for something, anything, though none were sure what.
"Well..." Ichigo said finally. Rukia crouched a little lower, a little closer. Clinging to every word. "It's kinda hard to explain, so I'll just tell you what happened...
0-0-0
The world was shaking.
It rumbled beneath Ichigo's feet. Growling like a enraged animal, and vibration shook his body to the core. They numbed his brain, and, strangely, all Ichigo could think about was Zangetsu, and his silly rain-watching sessions. Ichigo didn't see the point. Rain would always come. No matter how hard you glared at the side-ways sky.
"Ichigo!"
He knew that voice.
It was Hichigo.
And it was higher then usual. The fear so thick that it almost dripped off his tongue like water.
Numbly, Ichigo looked up. His amber eyes were dull, and Hichigo, clad in his frosty white shihakusho, stood high above him. Suspended by nothing.
And close by, Zangetsu sat, perched upon the hilt of a deathly black zunpaku-to, and his misty grey eyes never left the figure of his counter part. But they seemed to be everywhere. Seeing everything. Including Ichigo, and his strange detachment to the world. His world.
"Ichigo!" Came the hollow's cry again. "She's here, Ichigo!"
"Who?" Ichigo said calmly. The building gave another sudden lurch, but Ichigo wasn't afraid. He knew he should've been scared, but somehow he just couldn't find the energy to tremble, to curse, to flee. It seemed so much easier to stand there. To let the threat pass, and enjoy the show while he could.
And then someone touched his face.
It such a gentle touch. So timid, so tentative. And delicate. Oh, so very delicate. Slender fingers, soft as lavender, gently stroked his face, and Ichigo's eyes clouded over. He swelled with bliss. And yet, high above him, Hichigo spat out an oath, and cried out. A warning cry. A cry for Ichigo; to run away. But Ichigo couldn't understand why. It was a sweet touch. Why run from it?
"Ne, Kurosaki-kun, just stay here, okay?" A cute voice asked, and Ichigo was barely away of his head nodding up and down. A smile, dripping with honey, and then she was gone, and Hichigo let out an unearthly scream of pain and grief.
Ichigo looked towards his hollow self, and saw a girl with a mane of jet-black hair cascading down her back, and her hand was buried in Hichigo's chest. Sooty black blood gushed from the wound, and Hichigo crumbled to his knees, and his head hung. His yellow eyes were wide and his body was utterly still. And his blood steadily swept down his front, pooled by his knees.
Her laugh was like silver, chimes clinking in a winter breeze, and she placed a bloody hand on Hichigo's head.
And then, in a blinding flash of pale purple, he was gone.
Zangetsu stared. His eyes wide with horror. And the girl turned to him with that sweet smile, and she flashed teeth too sharp to be human. Zangetsu gaped, but quickly regained his composure. With a desperate glance at Ichigo, the spirit vanished, and thus Ichigo was alone with the pretty girl.
She was very small, Ichigo noted. About Toshiro's height. Maybe even smaller. She was wearing white, completely white, with the most pathetic splashes of black, all in the form of lines. Her feet were bare, and her mid-section was clear for all to see. Her shirt hugged her frame shamelessly, and her insanely long sleeves washed over her tiny hands. Her skirt was short, and didn't come close to brushing her knees. She giggled. And Ichigo smiled.
"Cute." He said dreamily, and she giggled again.
"You're too kind, Kurosaki-kun." She purred. She sounded like a happy kitten. "Too kind."
And then she was there, with her pale hands pressed gently against his chest, and she smiled up at him. Her eyes were red, and they gleamed with an inhuman blood lust. But Ichigo simply smiled back. She was too cute to fear.
"This'll only hurt a lot, Kurosaki-kun." She promised.
And then his world exploded in pain.
Ichigo screamed.
Both inside his Inner World and out.
0-0-0
"What the hell?" Was Ikkaku's immediate response.
His blurted question was reflected on the faces of all assembled, and Ichigo shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
"Don't ask." He said, and his voice was heavy with irritation. "I don't know what the hell happened, so don't ask."
"You said it was a little girl?" Rukia questioned, and Ichigo nodded shortly.
"Yeah. Just a kid. Maybe a little older then Yuzu."
"Judging by what?"
Ichigo hesitated before answering. "Her hips."
Rukia's expression was disgusted, and Ichigo immediately swapped to a defensive tone.
"Oi! Don't go getting ideas! She was wearing close to nothing! It was impossible not to see them!"
Renji rolled his eyes, and Sado stood up, and he was grinning from ear to ear. Relief was obvious on his features, and Toshiro couldn't help but feel impressed by his incredible loyalty and love towards his friend.
"We should go." Toshiro said, once Rukia and Ichigo had finished shouting at each other, and both were smouldering in their respective corners. "Obviously, known of us know what happened to Kurosaki, and there's no point sitting here and worrying about it."
"Toshiro's right." Ichigo decided, and he jumped to his feet. "Let's go!"
And so they set off. Rukia stayed close to Ichigo and dismissed his protests with a flick of her wrist, and Renji tagged close to Rukia, as was his habit. Sado was never far away from his life-long friend, and always stayed close. Ikkaku and Yumichika trailed behind somewhat, but they never trailed far from each other, and their usually bantering kept the two lively and ready for action.
Toshiro lagged behind.
The snowy white sands rolled like waves, and they climbed up and down, up and down. The sky never changed. The scenery never changed. The terrible, dome-like castle that forever towered over them never seemed to grow larger. They just kept running. Running, running, running.
But they didn't get far.
0-0-0
Crimson eyes flared in the dim candle light, and she hummed softly as she plated her hair, twirling it around her fingers, and she was forever smiling.
The room, once very near empty, was now full of furniture. A huge bed stuffed with feathers, and wrapped in blankets of the softest silk imaginable; scented candles sat on every free surface, glowing dimly; a big, comfy chair draped in crimson ribbons, on which she sat and stared merrily out the window; a coach, long enough to seat four men, and it was the colour of dried blood, with bright red pillow adorning each end, and a pink rabbit grinned up at those seated.
Ulquiorra found the rabbit-pillows somewhat disturbing.
The oily haired arrancar was sitting stiff backed on the coach, and his vivid green eyes drifted aimlessly around the room. Everything was red. Just like her eyes. It was creepy. Very creepy. And even Ulquiorra, with his emotionless exterior and unnerving gaze, was affected by the sheer creepiness of it all. She reminded him of a demon in manga, clad in leather and brandishing scythes, smirking smugly down at their screaming prey...
And they were her prey.
Those seven.
The boy, the captain, the fighters, the red-head, the girl. They were her prey, and she never left prey alive for too long. Already, she had hunted and killed several low-ranking arrancar, giggling excessively as they bled out at her feet. And Ulquiorra had stood by and watched, and his horror had been visible.
He had no clue as to how such a loveable girl could become so cruel.
Was this the dark side of Hyuuga Hinata, perhaps? Had that tiny, timid smile and flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes all been some sort of cunning disguise? Hiding the true evil that boiled just before the surface? Perhaps. But Ulquiorra didn't like to think of the outcome that why, and so cringed away from such thoughts, while his face remained as impassive as usual.
"Ulquiorra-chan," She said, and her voice was almost a giggle. Ulquiorra hated that, her girly voice, and the fact she called him 'Ulquiorra-chan'. He never defied her, though. There was no point. She was free now, he knew, and she would not be refused anything. Not even a simple pet name.
"Yes?"
"They're coming closer." She sounded giddy. "But still so far away!" Her voice became a whine, and she clenched her doll-like fists. She turned to Ulquiorra, and her red eyes were big. "Why are they so far away?" She demanded.
"Hueco Mundo is very large," he informed the distraught she-arrancar, and she brought her hands up to her chest. "It will take them a day or so before they can reach us."
"That's too long." She seethed.
"It cannot be helped."
"I want them to come now!"
"I apologize, but there is nothing that can be done."
Her face twisted with rage, and suddenly she didn't look so cute anymore. Ulquiorra quickly steeled himself, and prepared for the onslaught of reiatsu that was about to come, like whenever she threw a tantrum. Her reiatsu was incredible, and shook the building like an earth quake. If Ulquiorra didn't prepare himself for such attacks, he would surely fade away where he sat.
But abruptly she stopped. Her narrowed eyes grew wide as an idea formed in her mind. And then she was grinning, and she let out a squeal of glee, and spun on the spot, her black her rippling around her.. Then she danced across the room and took Ulquiorra's hands in hers, and he stared up at her with cold, emerald eyes, while she beamed down at him like a school girl.
"Ulquiorra-chan!" She sang. "Let's send Runuganga-chan!"
0-0-0
"Oi, anyone hear that?"
"Hear what, Ikkaku?" Yumichika asked as they topped a hill, and stared across at the forbidding fortress that loomed in the distance.
"That rumbling noise," Ikkaku continued, and he glared from side to side, as though searching for its source.
"I don't hear anything, Ikkaku-san," Renji said as he, too, searched for a sound similar to that of which the eleventh divisioner described.
"I do." Rukia moved over to where Ikkaku stood, and joined him in his listening. Together they stood and waited, and before long Toshiro blinked in surprise, and said that he, too, could hear something.
They waited.
They listened.
And suddenly the rumbling was like thunder, and it drowned out all other sounds. The sand beneath their feet shook violently, and Renji gripped Rukia's shoulder in a feeble attempt to keep her steady.
And then, with a deafening roar, a creature made purely from the snowy white sand broke free, and went up, up, up, until its shadow had devoured them completely. Hollow, blank eyes stared down at them, and a huge, gaping mouth dropped a little further, making room for the house-sized tongue that ran over them.
Toshiro shuddered.
"Hello, intruders." The sand-hollow boomed. "I am Runuganga. I was informed about your trespassing by Aizen-sama...and I will not allow you to go on any further-"
"Getsuga Tensho!"
The ridiculously bright slash of white cut through the air like a knife, and smashed into Runuganga's enormous head. His head came apart, and the disconnected sides swayed dangerously, leaning towards the ground. And then they fell apart utterly, and became one with the sandy hills that spread around them like an ocean. Ichigo made a 'hmph' sound, and settled Zangetsu on his broad shoulders.
"Ichigo!" Ikkaku wailed. "That was so cowardly!"
"Definitely no beautiful," Yumichika added, and his contempt for Ichigo's actions was plain and open.
Ichigo twitched.
"Shut up! He was gonna slow us down, so-"
Suddenly he stopped. His eyes bulged, and whatever arguments he had prepared died in his throat. A shadow was forming, and as it stretched across the ground, it almost seemed to be reaching for them. And then, as one, they all looked but, their movements slow and shocked, as the sand giant Runuganga reappeared in full strength with the sand swirling around his base, and his black eyes burned like hot coals.
"Foolish boy." He snarled. "I am not so weak."
And then the sand beneath their feet shifted, and suddenly they were being sucked inside it like a vacuum, down, down, down, and Runuganga loomed over head, and his mouth dropped to reveal line after line of pointed, fang-like teeth that gleamed in the watery moonlight.
Toshiro gasped.
He was going to eat them!
"Dive!" He yelled.
"What! Are you crazy!" Renji hollered back.
"He's going to eat us!" Toshiro shot back.
Renji didn't protest any further, and one by one they disappeared into the icy sands.
By the time Runuganga's mouth came crashing down, they had already been gobbled up by the shifting sands of Hueco Mundo, and were out of his reach.
0-0-0
Toshiro was falling.
Fast.
Really, really fast.
The scenery flashed by him in a blur, and no matter what he did, he just kept falling. Falling, falling, falling, falling...
Thump.
The ground shattered into a shower of dust as Toshiro's body smacked against it, and the air was knocked out him. Pain coursed through his veins, and Toshiro lay there gasping out of both pain and need for air, and black specks danced across his vision. Something hot and sticky tickled across the back of his neck, tickling his skin, and dimly Toshiro wondered what it could be.
Through the blurry screen that was his vision, he could just see rocky ceiling, partly broken away, and all around was darkness, thick and heavy and suffocating. Creatures crept in the darkness, morphing in and out of sight, and their bloody redy eyes gleamed like fires.
And then the face of a red-haired, battle-worn man filled his vision, and Toshiro's eyes slid shut, and he knew no more.
! I own neither Bleach nor Naruto !
Woot! Chap. Twenty! I never thought I would make it so far!
Thank you, readers. You've made me so seriously happy. I never thought Lavender Lily would be so successful. 73 reviews! *does happy dance* Your reviews gave me motivation to write, even when I felt that everything I wrote was crud. I apologize for such corniness, but I do love you guys!
Also...I wanna make something clear. Some people have been asking. What ever happened to the byukugan? Well, to be painfully obvious...I completely forgot about it. *face-palm* I know, pathetic. But I really did forgot. Sorry!
Thanks for reading! Please, please, please review!
[I apologize for the shortness of the chap! I'll try to make the next one longer!]