A/N: Sorry guys, no Ichigo this chapter. Instead there's pocky! Don't worry, he'll be back soon. Also, I'm looking for a beta comment/review if you're interested.

Chapter 3: Pocky Before Dying

Urahara had suggested they take a break, but everyone seemed reluctant to leave the room. The desert brothers were arguing quietly in a corner about making a break for it. Tatsuki was still staring at the suspiciously. Asano was staring at Rukia. This was the first time she'd broken her stereotypical high school girl act in front of him. Orihime was sitting silently, her head resiting on Ishida's shoulder. Kojima was sitting in another coner, sipping from a bottle of water. Renji, who was sulking in a generic sort of way, occupied a third corner. Rukia took the fourth, staring down at her hands in thought.

Suddenly, the door slid open with a bang, revealing Captain Hitsugaya and the rest of the Karakura Shinigami team. Hitsugaya wasted no time.

"What the hell were you thinking?" he bellowed. Rukia and Renji scrambled to their feet, followed shortly by Orihime. "You disobeyed a direct order, went into Hueco Mundo and - WHAT THE HELL ARE THOSE?!" He pointed violently towards the desert brothers.

"I'm Nell!" chirped Nell.

Hitsugaya blinked, apparently unsure of how to deal with this cheerful declaration.

There was a moment of total silence which Matsumoto broke by breaking into uproarious laughter. Asano let out a choked, slightly crazed giggle.

"You're - you're one of those arrancar Urahara-san was telling us about, aren't you?" he asked in a strained voice. Nell nodded happily. "Then why haven't you attacked us?!"

Nell blinked. "Why would I do that?"

"Wait a minute," said Hitsugaya thoughtfully. "Do you even need to eat human souls?"

Nell gave him an odd look. "Nooooo... they don't even taste good. That's why Nell took off her mask!?" She was grinning widely.

The sound of clapping resounded from behind the group of shinigami, who turned around and parted, revealing Urahara with a plastic bag hung over his shoulder.

"Bravo Hitsugaya-taichou! I had theorized such, but to actually find proof... Excellent! Let's celebrate! I brought pocky."

Rukia stood up slowly and with great deliberation brought her eyes to bear on Urahara . "What the hell is wrong with you?!" she yelled, a vein throbbing in her forehead. "Ichigo might be dead and you- you bring snack food!"

"Ah, Rukia-chan! I simply wish to enjoy my final hours! You have been wondering perhaps where Yoruichi-san has gotten to? You see, she has gone to fetch csomeone who will doubtlessly kill me for loosing Ichigo-san, so I think I might as well enjoy a little pocky before they get here and I meet my inevitable demise!"

Everyone stared at him. After a moment, Ishida spoke.

"If you're going to die soon," he said, adjusting his glasses, "perhaps you would be willing to explain what has happened i the past few hours."

Certainly," said Urahara, seating himself at the table. The others resumed their places, the new arrivals found somewhere to sit, and pocky was passed around. "Here is the sequence of events as vest I can reconstruct it. We shall begin with when our expeditionary force, having rescued the fair Orihime-san, converged on the injured Rukia. It was at this point that Aizen Sousuke, bankai active, arrived and put you all under his spell. Orihime-san, panicking, released her power without a thought other than to be somewhere Aizen was not and "rejected" the very fact of being in a place. Because she did not "reject" all of you, you came with her. Kurosaki-san, however, was in contact with Aizen, which apparently prevented him his being brought with you out of physical existence. Now, since Inoue-san had rejected the very notion of physical placement you all became nonexistant in a physical sense, but, since all this happened on a spiritual plane, your consciousnesses continued to exist and forced a familiar physical template of perception onto your experiences, allowing me to track your exit from physical existence and rescue you from an eternity of very boring pseudo-existence. With me so far?"

"Wha?" said Asano blankly.

"Vaguely," said Rukia.

"Of course," replied Ishida.

"Chad simply said "Yes."

Orihime brought them back to more pressing concerns: "But what about Kurosaki-kun?"

"Well, he was either completely deleted from existance, or Aizen has begun turning him into an arrancar by now."

"But Kurosaki-kun isn't a -"

"He's part Hollow," said Rukia dully, interrupting Orihime. She stared straight forward and ignoring the horrified looks her statement caused.

Urahara nodded sadly. "My fault, I'm afraid, at least as much as his. I tried to force him to either become a Hollow or unlock his shinigami powers. Inconvenient young man that he is, he did both."

Nell spoke up. "What's wrong with Ichi being an arrancar? He could come live with us!" All this was said whilst putting two sticks of pocky up her nose.

"There's no way Aizen would leave Ichigo's mind intact," Rukia said in a monotone. "He'd be far too dangerous. Knowing Aizen, he'll have found a way to do away with inconvenient things like Ichigo's memories and personality. That's what you meant by worse than dead, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so."

Rukia stood abruptly and walked out of the room, a single tear making its way down her cheek.

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It was one in the morning and she had school tomorrow, but Kurosaki Karin couldn't sleep. Something was going on. She could feel it. Also, her father was having a conversation with a cat, which was odd even for Isshin. Staring out the bedroom window to the street below, she couldn't mistake his actions for anything else. The cat, it appeared, was even talking back. The way its mouth moved was completely un-feline. A couple minutes ago there had been yelling on her father's part and a deep voice had yelled back. She hadn't been able to tell what they were saying.

A year ago, she would have thought one or the other of them was insane, probably Isshin. A few weeks ago, she would have stormed out of the house to confront her father. Now, though, she waited for the two of them to leave and got dressed, careful to disturb neither Rukia's empty bed or the sleeping Yuzu. She left the room with equal caution and padded down the stairs to get her shoes, and her bike.

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Rukia paced back and forth in the front room of the shouten.

Ichigo was gone. Either he was completely gone, annihilated mind and soul, or he had been changed beyond recognition. Aizen would have been thorough, were the second the case. There would be no chance of bringing back the Ichigo she knew.

He was gone.

The door to the shop slid open.

"Hello, Rukia-chan," said the infinitely tired, infinitely angry voice of Kurosaki Isshin. "Where's the bastard who lost my son?"