9

Ichigo, Brielle, and Kokuto were running down some stairs. The soul siblings thought that it looked like some sort of shrine, but they weren't sure. Thanks to not really paying attention, Ichigo slipped on a step and slid down three of them.

Brielle walks over to him and holds out a hand. "You okay?" She asked.

Ichigo grabbed her hand with a nod of his head. "Yeah, thanks."

Kokuto came back up some of the stairs to them. "You sure?" Ichigo nodded his head again to confirm. "Then let's keep moving." The three started running down the stairs again.

They made it outside again, but Ichigo stopped and looked down. "This sand feels weird," he muttered.

Brielle didn't look at him and kept her eyes out on the landscape, but answered him none the less. "That's because it isn't; it smells like bone to me."

"Bone?" He asked.

"Crushed bones from the Sinners to be exact," Kokuto added. Ichigo shivered. "This is what happens in the end to all Sinners. After they lose their will to live, they finally turn to dust. (AN: I forgot what he really said, so let's just roll with it. ;)) There is no true freedom; we could never leave here," The Sinner explained.

Ichigo was about to ask how the Sinners got to Karakura Town if they couldn't leave, but then he remembered his uncle and grandfather telling him and Brielle that since Ryuu killed Satan, no one was really doing his job, the Sinners could do whatever they wanted.

"Ichigo." Kokuto turned to him. "Promise me that when we save your sister, you will free me from Hell. I would want nothing more than to be reborn so I can see my sister again and apologize to her." He stars into Ichigo's eyes. "Please, promise me!" He begged.

Ichigo didn't say anything at first, which made Brielle hopeful that he was going to be smart about this. "...I promise." She face-palmed. 'Darn it, Ichigo. You should know that even if he was reborn, he would never be able to find his sister again. Not the same one anyways. Heck, she could be from a different family or is a guy in her new life,' Brielle ranted in her mind. 'Not only that, but he didn't regret what he did. He still not allowed to leave here. Not even close.'

"We should get going," Brielle said. The two males nodded their heads at her, and then all three kept running till they made it up a hill.

Ichigo looked over and saw a lava pit, but didn't see anything or anyone there. "I thought you said this is where they would have my sister," he stated.

Kokuto could only look toward the lava pit. "...This should be the place..." He answered, but he had an angry look in his eyes that only Brielle saw; she narrowed her eyes. "They must have moved her."

The three of them run down to the lava pit, but when Ichigo got close, Shuren attacked him with a fireball. Ichigo dodged out of the way.

"Welcome, Ichigo Kurosaki," Shuren greeted.

Ichigo glared at him. "What the heck did you do to my sister?!" He gritted out between clenched teeth.

Before anything was said, Gunjo, Taikon, and Garogai came out of the lava pit. Gunjo looks behind him and sees that someone is missing. "Where is the girl?" He asked.

Shuren sighed in frustration. "She escaped." Ichigo's eyes widened, he wonders how Yuzu got away. "So, we'll just have to go with plan B. Kill Ichigo Kurosaki, so he will be chained to Hell! If he wants to leave here he'll have no choice but to destroy the Gates!" He ordered.

Ichigo wanted to laugh, but he couldn't let the Sinners know that if he was killed he wouldn't chained. The reason for this is because he is a Devil-Spawn.

Brielle sighed, "Well, this should be fun," she said while turning the dark crystal necklace into a sword. 'But why do I smell a Devil-Spawn that is not Ichi?' She thought to herself.

Toshihiro was at the palace when he felt his niece enter Hell. He knows that she shouldn't be here and that that the Sinners have been acting up. So he takes Shiori, Ichigo's servant, to go and find her. Halfway there, he finds a golden phoenix flying toward him, but it crashed landed.

Toshihiro walked up to the down fire bird. "Are you okay?" He asked.

The golden flamed bird got up and exclaimed, "Uncle Toshihiro, it's me, Yuzu! I was kidnapped by some people known as Sinners, and I just know that Ichigo is here to try and save me, but I think they said something about using me to get Ichi to blow up the Gates or something like that!" Yuzu was panting at the end since she said all that in one breath.

Toshihiro's eyes widened in worry for his nephew. He turned to Shiori and said, "Take Yuzu back to the palace. I'll be there shortly." He took off before the Arch-demoness could say anything.

TBC

This is a short one, but oh well. I had to go back to the story 'Could Things Get Any Worse', because I forgot some things. ^^'

Toshi: I'm finally in this! XD

Ichi: Aren't you supposed to be the calm type?

Enj/Bri: He is, but he's also like a kid at times. -_-

Ichi: Oh yeah...

Yuzu: Those Sinners are mean... :(

Enj/Bri: There aren't any nice ones.

Ichi: Sadly. *sigh*

Enj/Bri: Please review! ^-^