No-one said anything for a while as they ran across the endless desert, the only noise being the soft thuds of contact between sandals and sand. The view was similarly repetitive, with nothing but a sea of the golden dust, and the occasional grey building in the distance.
"So you're a quincy, right?" The sudden break in silence was by Shinji, who clearly was addressing Ishida. His response was a slight nod, and to tilt his glasses with his finger. "Indeed. What of it?"
"Nothing, just curiousity. There aren't many of you these days, but back when I was younger your numbers were comparable to that of the shinigami."
Ishida frowned at this statement, "That was what my father said. He also explained how the shinigami were responsible for our decrease in numbers."
"I see." The awkwardness could be felt in the air. "Anyway, are you all aware of whats happening back in the human world?"
"We are, is it true Aizen has invaded karakura town?" Ichigo answered, fearing the response.
"Yes and no. We were aware of his plans, and so have set countermeasures in place. To keep it simple, I can assure you your family will not be involved in the fighting." Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief, not realising he had been holding his breath. Orihime and Ishida looked similarly relieved. "However", Shinji continued, "That's only assuming we can win this fight. My companions are also helping the gotei 13, but even with us combined we have no idea if we can defeat Aizen. His true power is unknown to us, he may be even stronger than the captain commander himself. That's why," He looked straight at Ichigo, and Ichigo could see underneath the bangs, a pair of keen eyes stared at him, "We need a stronger hand so we can trump Aizen."
"So why are you here?" Ichigo was still confused. He knew Shinji was strong, strong enough to fight on par, if not beat most of the captains.
"That's what I was about to explain", Shinji said warily. "Have you forgotten, Aizen has closed off all exits from hueco mundo? I'm here to break everyone out."
Their eyes widened. Indeed, with the events that had occured recently, they had not stopped to even consider how they would escape this place. Their only focus had been to find the other shinigami (and chad). "Surely Aizen would've made the sealing foolproof", Ichigo said.
"Nothing is perfect, it's simply a matter of finding the imperfections", Shinji shrugged. "However, the point is that having 4 captains trapped here, on top of the defections seriously weakens the capabilities of gotei 13." As he finished saying this, they came across what seemed like the remains of a 50 foot wide building, about 20 feet high (or used to be). Inside the ruins they could see a group of weary looking figures with their hoods over them, masking their faces. One in particular was smaller than the others, and turned to look at them. A gust of wind blew off her hood, and as her dark eyes settled on the taller figure with carrot-coloured hair, her eyes softened and a smirk came to her face. Ichigo.
Rukia. She was alive. Despite how he currently felt, he couldn't help but return the smirk with his own. The other hooded figures stood, and he saw the 4 captains: Byakuya, Unohana, Kenpachi and Kurostuchi all regarded him and he nodded back at them. Renji was also there, who grinned at him, and he returned a smile.
"Chad!" He heard Orihime call out to their friend, who lay on the floor next to them, bandaged up and seemingly unconscious. Shit, shit, shit, in his mind he started to panic. Was Chad dead? Had he failed to protect his friends?
"He's going to be fine." He was snapped out of his thoughts by Rukia, who caught his gaze, and as they locked eyes he felt like she could read his very soul. He felt so bare in front of her, as if his raw emotions would come tumbling out any second for all to see. Despite this, just looking at her gave him so much peace-
"Idiot! What's with that expression?" Rukia suddenly karate-chopped his head with her hand, and he looked at her, dumbfounded.
"What was that for!?"
"You and that stupid soppy face! Unohana treated him personally, theres no way he won't be fine, so stop looking like your about to give up on life!"
"Soppy? Give up on life? What are you on shorty?!" He comically shouted back at her.
"Hmph. Dumb carrot-top." She shrugged her shoulders and turned away from him. "Just don't give me that kind of sad look."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, you damn strawberry!"
Although they had their backs to each other and seemed annoyed at each other, there was unmistakeable smiles on each of their faces.
"Now now kids", Shinji waved his hands at both of them, a grin on his face. "You can play lovebirds later, for now we have more pressing matters." Ichigo and Rukia both spluttered at the not-so-subtle tease. When they had both settled down, Shinjis expression went serious again, "I have been working on a recent project with Urahara, and we have constructed a rudimentary device that allows travel between worlds that bypasses any current route used. In other words", he said, flashing his grin once again, "we can avoid all of Aizen's attempts to keep us here and get you all back."
"It can't be that convenient, there must be a catch", Kurotsuchi spoke up. Being a technological geek himself and in charge of divison 12, he was well aware of the dangers and unpredictability of transport between worlds.
"Indeed. There are certain... complications, however it is the best and only method we have of getting back. I will entrust this device to you", he said, handing a bright green and purple object to Kurotsuchi that looked a lot like a gun. "To use it, pull the trigger twice to open a portal up. From there I cannot say what the journey through the between will involve, but know that no matter how hopeless it appears, there will be a way out."
"Why are you telling me all this? Surely you should lead the expedition.", was Kurostuchis response.
"Ah, but I'm afraid I can't leave yet. You see me and this guy", he said, dragging Ichigo over to him, "Need to go over some of our training sessions."
"HUH?" Ichigo looked at him dumbfounded. "But you just said-"
"Forget what I said, you need more training. Or do you want the same thing to happen as it did against Ulquiorra", Shinji replied, saying the second part more quietly so the others could not hear.
Ichigo stared at him. He had a point, there was no way he could match Aizen with his current powers, and the last thing he wanted was to lose control of his hollow again. But there was no time. The war was happening now, not tomorrow or in a few days time.
"I'll make a deal with you." Shinji held out both of his hands. "10 hours. Give me 10 hours to train you and I will have you ready."
"There's no way 10 hours will make a difference."
"Just trust me on this one." Ichigo again could see his eyes, and they bore no hint of deceit, only the sharp wit and potential Shinji possessed despite his overwise relaxed appearance.
"Fine. This had better be worth it though."
"Great!" Shinji grinned again, before turning back to the others. "So yeah, thats the plan basically. Tell old man yama that we will be providing backup soon as we have finished up here."
"Very well." Byakuya nodded, and him and the others began to turn around, with the exception of Rukia and Orihime. Orihime glanced nervously at Ichigo, before turning around to follow the rest. Kurosaki-kun... Please be careful.
"Oy, you'd better make it back from here," Rukia bluntly said to Ichigo.
"Well you'd better stay alive until I get out of this place." he replied back to her.
"Deal." She smiled, a genuine one, and just from that Ichigo felt the rain begin to settle down. "See you round Ichigo."
"See ya Rukia." He watched as Kurotsuchi opened the portal, and they left one by one, Rukia turning around and entering last.