Author's Note: Hey guys, as requested, I tried to make this chapter a little bit longer. It's only about double the length of the previous chapters, but when a girl is trying to study for an economics test in between writing something totally distracting…it can be hard haha. So my apologies, once more, for any and all errors you see in the text. I spent about two-three hours on this little piece. Enjoy!

Nekura Enzeru: Thanks! Man you have no idea how much I just want to keep writing and writing and writing. Unfortunately I am taking some summer courses to help alleviate my stress for next year, so I can only write so much : - /. After the test is over this week, I should have some more time to attempt longer chapters.

darkheart1992: Haha, yeah this fic is really just full of depressing situations. But I'd rather have that than a fic fully of consistent happiness, haha. Thanks for the review!

AnimeMaster24: Yeah I tried to address the Yamamoto issue in the beginning of the second chapter. I have been calling him Yama-jii way too frequently (even going as far as to call him that out loud to friends and what not). Yes, it was an easily fixable situation, but I got too excited to post the story and as a result, I didn't really check for errors. I'm getting better though, I promise.

realityfling18: Hey thanks! I am attempting to put forth some more description as to why these certain characters are on Ichigo's side (as seen by the last part of this chapter for Toshiro, and hints in the middle of the chapter for Byakuya) so that it doesn't just seem like a random slew of characters were thrown together for the Ichigo-cause. The whole NYC as a location thing wasn't really thought out as much as other elements of the plot, which doesn't bother me too much because the location of the vizards throughout this fic is not going to take away from the essential plots that the vizards will be experiencing. NYC is sort of just background noise in the fic, if you know what I mean.

Chapter Three: Over the Edge

///

"Don't trip. Don't stress. My life seems to be heading over the edge."


"DAMN IT SHINJI!!!! HELP ME WITH MY BAGS!" Hiyori screamed as she toppled onto the curb under the weight.

Shinji debated following the command for a few seconds before deciding that it was probably best to just help her. He wasn't in the mood to get beaten up. Also, it wasn't his fault that she decided to bring so many bags. What did she think this was? A vacation? He strode casually over to the pile of bags where he could just make out one of Hiyori's blonde pig tails surfacing above the luggage.

Along with his own, Shinji grabbed two of Hiyori's bags and helped her up from the ground. She was snarling in his direction, but he ignored it. He didn't feel like dealing with the ferocious beast today. Beside him, everyone else was waiting patiently for Hiyori to rearrange herself. Well mostly everyone was waiting patiently. Mashiro was bouncing up and down whining at Kensei to let them go inside.

"Shut the hell up, Mashiro! Look. We can go in now. Happy?" Kensei's teeth were grinding against each other as the green-haired brat jumped on his shoulders – whacking Kensei in the head with one of her bags in the process- and demanded that he lead them into the house. Kensei was about to throw her across the street when he realized that the cab hadn't exactly pulled away yet. Simmering silently, he slowly walked up the stairs leading into the townhouse.

"Hey Love, toss me the key," He requested over his shoulder. Love threw the set of keys at Kensei who caught them with ease and opened the door. Walking inside, he abruptly dropped Mashiro onto the nearest couch and practically ran for the bathroom. 14 or so hours of Mashiro not letting him get past to the bathroom on the plane had practically killed his bladder.

As the rest of the vizards made their way into the house, Love pulled out a construction map. "Right, there are four bedrooms downstairs. There are two on the main floor, and three upstairs."

Lisa looked at the map over Love's shoulder, "Alright then the three girls will take the upstairs bedrooms, and the rest can be divided amongst you guys. I'm going with Kensei to the grocery store as soon as he gets out of the bathroom."

Ichigo and Shinji were busy scoping out the two bedrooms on the current level. Simultaneously they both shouted that they would take the bed rooms situated here. With Ichigo wanting the room because it had its own bathroom, and Shinji wanting the other room because it was the closest to the kitchen, which meant late night snacks. No one disagreed with the two, either.

Hachi looked in the fridge and sighed deeply, "Lisa, are you leaving soon?"

Lisa turned and raised an eyebrow, "Why don't you just order everyone some take-out while you're waiting?"

Hachi grumbled and started rooting through the yellow book for the number for Chinese take out. After getting everyone's orders, he used broken English to place the rather large order.

Shinji walked over to the couch and flopped down on it before turning on the TV. Ichigo and Hiyori followed suit while Mashiro decided to be helpful for once and place everyone's bags in their respective rooms. If Kensei hadn't been at the grocery store, he probably would have died of shock from the action.

"Shinji, what are the plans from here on out?" Ichigo inquired, breaking the somewhat relaxed atmosphere in the house.

"Geez, what a mood killer," Shinji replied with a grin, "The plan is to stay here for as long as we are capable, and to train. Some of the vizards suck at Kido, and you can't even use it yet. Plus you still need to master all aspects of being a vizard."

"How the hell are we supposed to train here?" Ichigo shouted at the blonde.

"Idiot. We have a training room underneath this house," Hiyori replied and glared at Ichigo pointedly.

"How? Why did you guys plan this out so thoroughly years in advance?" Ichigo inquired, a bewildered look on his face.

"There was an incident a long time ago," Shinji spoke quietly and Hiyori bowed her head in shame, "A soul was accidentally hurt because one of us…"

"It was me," Hiyori cut him off and took over for the story, "It was back when we were all in your position. Having our battles with our inner hollows. As you know, it took me the longest to defeat my hollow, and even after that, it was hard for me to control it. I was out taking a walk, and stumbled upon a soul that hadn't received the soul burial yet. The smell of the reiatsu caused something inside me to snap. I couldn't control my instincts and I lashed out and injured that soul. A shinigami had shown up at that time and had seen my actions. Unfortunately, it was a shinigami from my previous squad, so I knew him. He had intervened and performed the soul burial and I had run off," Hiyori's eyes glazed over momentarily from the memory.

"I was scared. We all were. We discussed what to do for a long time and eventually took a week off to purchase this place and build the training room underneath. It was then that Urahara called and informed us that the shinigami who discovered me was killed by a hollow while on duty. The shinigami had never made it back to soul society and couldn't tell them what he had seen. We were somehow saved," Hiyori finished with a sigh.

"Until now," Ichigo breathed, "I'm sorry I involved all of you in this. I shouldn't have…"

"Idiot! Shut up! Don't apologize. We're all in this together. Like a family," Hiyori snickered slightly, "Though this is one messed up family."

"Agreed," Shinji said with a grin from her right.

Ichigo smiled slightly at that and then the smile slowly faded as he thought of his own family. He had wondered how Yuzu and Karin took the news of his departure. His father had advised him to let them sleep the night he had left. He had said it probably would have been too hard for both Ichigo and the girls if he had had to say goodbye to them that night. Although Ichigo wished he had said goodbye to them, he knew his dad was right. He didn't think he'd have been able to walk out the door if he had had to say goodbye to both them and Rukia.

Shinji noticed the frown on Ichigo's face and was about to comment when the door bell suddenly rang. Springing from the couch, Shinji made his way over to the front door with a wad of American dollars in his hand. Ichigo remembered Shinji explaining that the vizards had saved money from their paychecks back in soul society and were extremely thrifty with it in order to save up a large sum of money for an occasion such as this.

He watched as Shinji paid the delivery man for their food and brought the bag into the kitchen, placing it onto the counter. One by one all of the vizards either sat at the counter or the kitchen table and received their respective orders from Shinji. Ichigo's stomach growled as he opened the container of food that was placed before him. Just as he placed a fork full of combination fried rice, Kensei and Lisa entered through the front door, multiple bags of groceries in their hands.

"Oi, we have soda somewhere in here too!" Lisa stated as she dug in between the bags that Kensei and herself had dumped onto the other side of the counter. Seconds later she produced a case of coke and ripped the cardboard top off. Then she and Kensei proceeded to pack all of the groceries into the fridge before settling down to eat.

"Eat well, Ichigo, after dinner we start kido training," Rose announced from Ichigo's left.

Mashiro nodded her head wildly in confirmation, "Berry-chan will learn all of the finer aspects of kido," she dangeled a piece of general tso's chicken above her mouth and completely missed. Ichigo watched as it dropped down the front of her white jumpsuit, causing a streak of brown sauce to appear. Mashiro cried out in despair and claimed that the jumpsuit was no longer wearable.

"Thank God," Kensei muttered quietly, though Ichigo could still hear, "That's not even an appropriate outfit to wear out in public."

Mulling over what Mashiro just said, Kensei suddenly got an enraged look on his face, "And Mashiro, you SUCK at Kido. Don't go lecturing others about the 'finer aspects of kido' when you can barely shoot a red canon in the right direction!" A pair of chopsticks flew at Kensei's face after the outburst, and Kensei lit up like a tomato.

"Easy, Easy, everyone just calm down," Rose pleaded from Ichigo's left, "And Kensei you aren't exactly a master of kido, yourself," he added.

Kensei glared at Rose and the man immediately regretted what he had said, "I'm aware of that, Rose, but at least I'm willing to admit it!"

Ichigo sighed and procured another forkful of his meal. Just as he was lifting the food to his mouth, a sharp pain in his elbow caused him to drop it back into the container. He quickly massaged the sore area, cursing under his breath. Now he knew why all of his shinigami friends hated gigais so much. They could be extremely uncomfortable at times.

"Meh I'm done eating," Ichigo announced as he rose from the table and put his leftovers in the fridge.

He turned back to others with a small smile on his face, "So…who's ready for training?"

Rukia sat in a chair, facing forward, and felt fear run through her veins. She couldn't see what was behind her but she sensed the presence of at least four others blocking off the only two exits in the room. Before her, the captain-commander was furious. Rukia kept drifting between the emotions of fear and anger, this time settling on anger. What gave Yamamoto the right to be angry with her? If anything, she had more of a right to be angry with him.

"I refuse to answer," she responded for the tenth time in the past half hour. Yamamoto had repeatedly asked her to reveal the details surrounding her trip to the real world, even though she warned him that she wouldn't respond, even if it meant sitting across from him for the next year.

"You realize that your actions will have severe consequences, Miss Kuchiki?" Yamamoto prompted angrily.

"It can't be any worse than being sentenced to die," Rukia retorted just as angrily.

"I am right about that decision, Miss Kuchiki," Yamamoto said with a biting tone.

"Just like you were right about sentencing me to death all of three years ago? If I remember correctly, if it weren't for Ichigo I would be dead right now," she said icily.

"That is enough!" Yamamoto's reiatsu flared and noticeably choked Rukia. Her eyes widened in fear and she felt as if she was about to pass out before the 8th division captain walked into the room, causing Yamamoto to cease in his attack.

"Yama-jii, what's going on in here?" Kyoraku asked while looking over at the visibly shaken Rukia Kuchiki.

"None of your business," Yamamoto replied swiftly, "What is your report from the real world?"

Kyoraku sighed and adjusted his hat before looking back at the old man, "Kurosaki, Ichigo's body was already destroyed when we arrived. Also, as suspected, the boy has disappeared."

Yamamoto took in the information, "We will dispatch the team to permanently reside in Karakura now. I want everyone to be on the look out for Kurosaki, Ichigo," he paused before eying Rukia, "Kuchiki leave."

Rukia stood on shaky legs and passed the 8th division captain without acknowledgement. She was furious with him for siding with Yamamoto. Of all people, she thought Kyoraku at least would have helped them out.

As she exited the division, she was greeted by Byakuya. They walked together for a short period in silence before Byakuya spoke, "They sealed the senkai gate at the manor. If we decide to venture into the real world again, we will have to find connections, elsewhere."

"Nii-sama," Rukia breathed staring up at her brother in awe. Byakuya had basically stated, in so many words or less, that he was committed to helping her and Ichigo.

As they walked towards the sixth division, Renji came out to greet them with Kenpachi, Yumichika, Madarame, and Yachiru behind him. Byakuya raised an eyebrow at the sight before greeting the quartet.

"Taichou, Kenpachi-taichou wants to help us as well." Renji stated while placing himself next to Rukia.

Byakuya nodded slightly, "We can't take any dramatic actions yet, though I know you are inclined to, Zaraki. This is a process that may have to proceed at an exceedingly slow pace. At least until Yamamoto has calmed down enough to not monitor every aspect of every shinigami in sereiti."

"True enough. The old man has been nothing but a kill-joy lately," muttered Kenpachi, "Ichigo better appreciate us trying to save him. The minute we get that scrawny bastard back I'm going to kill him!"

Everyone looked at the wild captain in disdain, "Taichou, isn't the point to save Ichigo and not kill him? Killing someone after being saved would not be a beautiful event at all," Yumichika sighed deeply.

"Of course it would be a beautiful event," a low voice broke through the conversation. Everyone turned to see Mayuri coming around the corner and standing in front of them.

"Kurosaki must die. Not only is it an order, but it is a promise. Besides, I don't understand why everyone thinks the boy is special…he's nothing but trash."

Mayuri let out a startled yelp as Rukia landed a swift punch to the captain's nose. He stumbled backwards and held the now-bleeding appendage as he glared up at the younger Kuchiki.

"Why you little bit—"

"Enough!" Yamamoto came into their presence and glared at all seven people, "I don't care who started it. As of now consider the sixth, eleventh, tenth, and thirteenth divisions on suspension of their duties. None of you are to leave soul society under any conditions. Now return to your respective decisions."

"Sou-taichou," Byakuya started.

"Dismissed," Yamamoto said with a glare at the eldest Kuchiki before he and Mayuri departed.

Byakuya looked as if he was ready to unleash senbonzakura at any moment. Rukia placed a hand on her brother's arm, calming him temporarily.

"There's no point in fighting that bastard. He's set in his ways," Rukia hissed before looking around at the group.

"The only way we can keep in contact is through hell butterflies at this point. Nii-sama and I will work out a way to reenter the real world and inform all of you as to what to do when that time comes."

Rukia turned towards Renji, "Renji, can you send a hell butterfly to Hitsugaya-taichou informing him of the same information?" At his nod Rukia turned towards the path leading to her division, "We should go before Yamamoto decides to return and see if we actually have left."

With that, Rukia walked away.

Kisuke Urahara stood just outside the small shack that was his home and waited in anticipation. The air buzzed slightly and a small black butterfly appeared instantaneously. Urahara immediately caught the flying creature in a tupaware container and disappeared into the darkness of his house. The previous action would solve two problems. One, the shinigami stationed about three buildings over would never receive his instructions to extract information from Isshin Kurosaki – using force if necessary – and two, it provided Urahara with what he needed for his new experiment.

Returning to his room, Urahara turned on the light and set the hell butterfly down at his workstation. He then unfolded a poster and flattened it along the table. It was a rough diagram at best, but it had everything necessary for completing his project. He hoped to finish it by the end of the week, at the very least.

Yorucihi, in cat form, watched from her perch on the windowsill as Kisuke returned to his study with a hell butterfly. She had no idea what the scientist was attempting to work on next, but whatever it was, she was certain it would be ingenious, as most of his experiments were. Hopping down from the cozy spot, Yorucihi made her way out the shack and down the alleyway. She was intending to go for a nice night run around the neighborhood to clear her mind. She often did this at night to rid herself of the stress she felt during the day. Especially with the recent situations.

As Yoruichi ran along, she stopped abruptly as a looming shadow appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"Soi Fon," Yoruichi stated simply.

"Hello, Yoruichi-sama," Soi Fon's smile never seemed more sinister.

Isshin sighed as he ran a hand through his hair and shut the blinds of his daughters' room. That was the second shinigami he had seen perched on a neighboring roof, waiting. Obviously the team they had decided to dispatch consisted of the entire second division. Isshin had to give Yamamoto credit. It made the most sense to send a division specialized in secrecy and discipline to try and draw forth information from Ichigo's friends and family.

Isshin, however, was slowly growing more and more furious by the situation. It was okay if they pried him for information, but his two young daughters was a bit much. Only yesterday, he had caught one of them following Yuzu home from school as he was passing by in his car. He had immediately driven alongside his daughter and picked her up, making sure to flash a dangerous glare in the direction of the second division member. He didn't want his girls exposed to this kind of danger.

What made it worse was that he could barely contact Urahara or Yoruichi without approaching them directly. It seemed as if every time he picked up the phone, he heard several clicks on the other line, signifying that someone was listening in on their conversation. It had only been a week and already it was started to get out of hand. Isshin wasn't sure he could hold back much longer.

Orihime sighed as she drew the blinds closed and returned to the kitchen. It was times like this where cooking made her feel infinitely better. She didn't like being spied on, it was probably worse than being attacked directly. She only hoped that Kurosaki-kun had not been found.

Inoue turned back to the stove and took a batch of brownies out of the oven. She put them off to the side and put the cooled cookies from her previous batch of sweets onto a serving tray. Both food items were, amazingly enough, not contaminated with bean paste or some other form of unmixable ingredient. The only reason the food wasn't is because it was Orihime's first time trying an American recipe and she didn't want to ruin it. Inoue put the brownies next to the cookies on the tray and brought the treats over to her three awaiting guests.

Tatsuki, Chad, and Ishida had started staying over Orihime's house frequently, ever since the second division started staking out their respective houses. With Inoue being the only one who lived alone, they worried for her safety the most. As Inoue set the desserts down on the table, her three guests shakily muttered thanks. They weren't sure if this new recipe of Inoue's would be appetizing.

Being the only one unwilling to hurt Orihime's feelings, Uryuu took one of the chocolate chip cookies and cautiously took a bite. His face lit up in pleasant surprise and he popped the rest of the morsel into his mouth, "Inoue this is great!" he exclaimed in between chewing.

"Really?!? Oh Ishida-kun that's wonderful! Thank you!" Orihime bounced about cheerily and Chad and Tatsuki each picked up their own cookies, wondering if Uryuu had been faking it. Cautiously they each took a bite of their own cookies and had much of the same reaction as Ishida. Needless to say, Inoue was beaming with pride the entire rest of the night.

"Taichou, you've been depressed ever since that mission to the real world. What is going on?" Nanao questioned as she took a seat in front of her captain's desk. She had her suspicions about what the matter involved, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"Ah, Nanao-chan, I'm particularly indecisive about this whole situation. On the one hand, I see my best friend attached to tubes in the hospital and I want some kind of justice. On the other, I saw the broken man that Isshin has become, and have my doubts about the younger Kurosaki's involvement in this situation." Kyoraku's shoulders sagged with the admittance of his burden. It felt good to tell someone else.

"I thought you might say something like that," Nanao replied. Isshin looked up at her in surprise and she held up a hand, "We all saw what happened to Ukitake-taichou, but we never saw the events leading up to that moment. It is a little unclear as to what the entire story is. If your second suspicion is right and Ichigo was not involved in the injuries that Ukitake-taichou sustained, then that means we are dealing with entities beyond our level of comprehension."

A grave look passed between the lieutenant and her captain. They had all heard the reports of a new threat arising in hueco muendo, but as of now there were no reports of the threat actually attacking anyone from soul society. The only reason they knew as much as they did now is because teams had been dispatched to hueco muendo about three months ago to retrieve the pieces of the hyougyoku, at Urahara's insistence.

The team had returned with reports of facing entities with reiatsu above the former espada-level hollows and somehow managing an escape. The reports also confirmed that it was almost as if the new entities were being told not to attack. That in and of itself had worried Kyoraku above all else. Why was their leader waiting so long to attack?

"Taichou," Nanao said quietly before meeting her captain's gaze, "If your second suspicion is correct, then we will need Kurosaki Ichigo and the rest of the vizards in this war."

Kiyone woke from a deep slumber by the sound of alarms screeching somewhere nearby. Startled, her eyes snapped open at locked gazes with Sentaro's before the duo looked up at their beloved captain's monitor. The screen was flashing and it was obvious that Ukitake's heart had stopped beating. Kiyone only had a few moments to reflect on the situation before she was being forcibly dragged out of the room so that Unohana had more space to work. She watched as her sister, Isane, rushed in alongside of her captain and the two begun casting various healing kidos to attempt to resuscitate Ukitake.

Kiyone could only watch in horrified awe as her captain was repeatedly shocked with a kidou to get his heart to beat again. Kiyone silently swore to herself that she would personally kill Kurosaki, Ichigo the next time she laid eyes on him. How could that horrible boy do such a thing to her captain?

Kiyone suddenly gasped for air as she felt the heavy reiatsu of the captain-commander enter the small room. She looked up at the old man and noted that he was looking panicked at the site before him. Kyoraku walked in behind him with Nanao and both stared in horror at the scene. Kiyone suddenly grew angry. Why were they reacting like that? They were acting as if her captain was already dead!

"He's not dead yet, damn it! HE'S NOT DEAD YET!" She bellowed at the trio. She watched as their eyes snapped towards her and she suddenly felt two arms haul her off the ground and into the air. She heard Sentaro apologize profusely to the seated officers before he bolted out of the room, Kiyone still hollering the same sentence over and over again.

Yamamoto watched as Unohana attempted to resuscitate Ukitake's heart for the final time. There was no change. Yamamoto closed his eyes, grief consuming him completely. Well, for all of a minute anyway. A slow beeping noise attracted his attention and he opened his eyes to see that the heart monitor was slowly but steadily climbing it's way up. Ukitake was still alive.

Yamamoto turned and left without a word to anyone.

"Matsumoto, WAKE UP!" Captain Hitsugaya roared in the general direction of his lieutenant. Matsumoto flew from the couch, her hair wild and her eyes startled as she stared at her tiny captain.

"Taichou, I'm sorry I didn't mean to –"

"We received a message from the Kuchikis," Hitsugaya interrupted, "They are in negotiations with the Kasumiōji clan to use their senkai gate at a time in the future in order for us to reenter the real world and help Isshin and the others. We will all communicate via hell butterfly until then. It's too dangerous to try and having a meeting about this."

"Taichou, are you really willing to risk everything for Ichigo-kun?" Matsumoto asked seriously.

"If there is another war approaching, he and the vizards are the only hope we have, Matsumoto," he paused and looked away, "Also, he saved my life. I owe him the same in return."

Matsumoto looked at her captain in surprise as he returned to fill out his stack of documents.

Hitsugaya was pinned in between a concrete wall and his own layer of ice and was bleeding profusely. At this rate, there wasn't a chance in hell he would survive, unless his opponent, Ichimaru Gin, suddenly decided to call it quits.

"Shinso," he heard a voice say and knew it was the fox-like traitor, "Shoot to kill."

Hitsugaya could do nothing but watch, with wide eyes, as his opponents zanpakuto raced towards him, with every intention of piercing his heart. Toshiro closed his eyes and prayed that his death was swift. However, it never came.

He opened his eyes again to see Ichigo Kurosaki knocking Gin's blade into a nearby wall. Ichigo turned towards him and used his zanpakuto to free Hitsugaya from his imprisonment.

"Thank you, Kurosaki."

"It's Ichigo."

"MATSUMOTO!!! STOP DAYDREAMING AND GET BACK TO WORK!!!!"

"Hai, Taichou!!"