Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any of its forms, but if I did, I doubt I could have made it any better, but I would have tried to go deeper into what those Fullbringers could do?

In the event that you are displeased with my level of skill, please, don't hesitate to send a Review. I will use the best of my skills to reply to each one, but in the event that things are getting repetitive, then I will make an area in my Authors note to comment on it. Please note that this is my first official FanFiction, so please go easy on me.

I give thanks to my first friend on this site, Pehpig, who helped me get things ready.

Just so that you are aware, I have decided to modify this story's rating to M due to some sexual themes presented in this, even though it is all soft-core.

~Ulquiorra~

As Ulquiorra climbed the ascending pit, he couldn't even see an exit, just a single star up above. He looked down to check his progress and he couldn't even see anyone following him. It was pitch black in both directions.

Ulquiorra could feel something strange happening to him as he climbed, but every time he stopped to inspect the change, it seemed to stop and fade from his notice. He tested it by walking down and up and confirmed that while nothing happened to him at all while he climbed back down, going up seemed to leave a strange feeling swelling in his chest and stomach.

As he climbed, he began to experience flashbacks over and over again. He saw himself climbing, and then he watched himself fighting Kurosaki.

He looked farther back and saw himself as a Hollow. He had been made different than most Hollows. He wasn't hungry or even desired to eat other souls: it was every other Hollow that wanted to eat him. It had something to do with his spiritual energy, but something about his unlimited negativism and his emotion-less attitude seemed to infect his Reiatsu turning it into a kind of homing signal for other hollows.

He spent his days eating every single thing that tried to eat him. It was just like his human days, only even more timeless. But it wasn't like he had much time to compare the two. Imagine, dying of a heart disease in the 1600's. It was almost like getting the Grim Reaper to mark you for death.

Then Ulquiorra's thoughts drifted towards the Woman. He red hair and ample bosom stirred his thoughts. He felt no warmth reach him though. No, just…something else. Something not quite cold, but not quite warm.

He felt raindrops hit his face and run down his cheeks, which drew his attention back to his destination. He didn't even know where he was going, but he did now.

As he pulled himself out of the hole, he felt his body almost explode dew to the intense amounts of Reiatsu entering himself. He wasn't even in Hueco Mundo or the Soul Society, which was where Reiatsu was most abundant.

No, he was in a park. A park in a town. And that town was called Karakura Town.

He felt the rain wash over him and soak his black hair. Its thick body hung over both of his eyes and the running water made it look like he was crying. But crying tears of what? And for what reason.

~Ichigo~

Ichigo wander the streets and found himself outside Orihime's apartment complex. He had been coming by a lot recently, but he had always found himself an excuse for coming over. He was sure that she had figured out b now thought that he just needed the company.

He walked up the stairs and found himself significantly weaker than he used to be. Just going up these three flights of stairs left his legs a little wobbly. He had found himself so commonplace in his Shinigami form that he had neglected to exercise his body. Kon had taken good care of his body in terms of getting decent amounts of sleep and eating proper meals, but it wasn't like he needed to fight on a twenty-four hour basis.

Ichigo's first realization on how out of shape he was, was when he found out that he could feel his rib-bones. He used to do 300 curl-ups before he became a Shinigami, but now he had the stomach of a supermodel.

As he opened the door, he was shocked to see Chad already over there, and it looked like he had been talking to someone who he couldn't see. Realizing that someone from the Soul Society was here, Ichigo's heart thumped as he thought of Rukia. He had found her absence to be the most unbearable out of all the major changes,

Chad must have seen him when he passed by the window, cause he opened the door and let him in.

Ichigo was hesitant at first, but then he noticed Kisuke and Yoruichi in their Gigai and relaxed a little.

Kisuke was the first the break the ice, taking off his hat to show just how serious he was. "Ichigo, have you seen Rukia within the past 24 hours?"

Ichigo's heart thumped, but in a different way as he heard Kisuke sounding like a FBI agent from TV. "Huh? She was here?" Which was all he could say in response to that.

"Yeah, and now both she and Orihime are missing. We can't find any traces of their Reiatsu to begin with. It's like they never existed in the first place." Chad followed suite, his typical calm demeanor was cracking a little out of fear.

"Does Uryuu know? He's way better at sensing Spiritual Energy than I ever was." Ichigo asked, just throwing out answers as they came to his mind.

Chad looked at him strangely at first, but answered politely anyway. "Did you forget? He and his dad are in Germany revisiting the roots of their Quincy Powers. We can't get any connection from where he is."

Ichigo felt like an idiot. They had even done a send-off party and everything.

~Chad~

Chad looked worriedly at his best friend. They had been through every life and death situation you could name and Ichigo still kept his feelings bottled up.

He looked over at the kitchen and saw Grimmjow, outside of his Gigai, going through the evidence. He had been in some kind of flux between extreme aggression and extreme serenity.

He had been staring at that Teapot for the past hour and a half and hadn't said a word so far, which was probably a good thing at the moment.

Uken had been spending his time inspecting the bathroom and closet. He had explained that these places are were people would notice things the less and that if the enemy had come from these spots that no one would notice right away if they were talking or something.

Kisuke and Yoruichi had been the last to show up before Ichigo. Yoruichi left immediately to inform Soul Society of her findings while Kisuke set of a parameter check and tried running a Reiatsu scan to cover the events that had unfolded over the night. He found nothing unusual until their energy just went up and vanished. At least we no WHEN they vanished. Sometime around 11:30PM.

~Grimmjow~

I wasn't getting anywhere from where I was standing. I needed a fresh perspective. How could spiritual go without getting detected?

Then the answer hit him: The Negacion!

"Kisuke!" He shouted, still not aware of Ichigo's presence. "Is it possible that a Negacion had been used without our knowing?"

"Well, it is possi-"

"Hey! What's he doing here?" Grimmjow pointed accusingly at Ichigo. He proceeded to walk up to Ichigo, but when he realized that he couldn't see him, he got a mischievous grin on his face. He began with simple obscene gestures but then started doing a little dance around Ichigo before he felt the sudden pain in his head!

"YOW!" He creamed, turning around to face Uken, only to see Kisuke holding the remote instead.

He cleared his throat to get his focus before continuing. "As I was saying. There is a small possibility that a Hollow or Arrancar had opened up a Negacion. Around here, but not only would they need to have been fast enough to avoid leaving any traces of their Reiatsu, they also will need to have some way of subduing Rukia and Orihime without either of them using any of their powers."

"So, should I go to Hueco Mundo to check it out?"

Kisuke sighed, putting his hat back on as a sign of giving up. "I guess, but make sure that you don't go and start a War like Ichigo did. This is reconascience work, not blitz attack work."

But before he could finish, Grimmjow was long gone. Kisuke didn't even have time to us the switch to get him attention.

~Chad~

Chad guessed that being the only human on bored, it was his job to deal with Ichigo. Ichigo was a wreck, both physically and mentally. He was even flunking some of his classes, and Tatsuki had even given him her notes from when he was gone.

He led Ichigo out of the apartment, hoping the change in scenery would do him some good. It didn't. Every spot Chad took him to seemed to have some connection to Rukia or Orihime.

The two of them had walked an entire circle around their neighborhood before Chad reaized just how out of shape Ichigo was. He was panting and dropping to one knee on several locations, but he refused to to have Chad stop for his sake.

Chad then noticed an Eel shop and pulls Ichigo in to eat and take his mind off of things.

Sadly, Chad was mistaken by the name of the shop and he was sitting down with Ichigo and a rather curvaceous older woman. She was wearing goggles on top of a hat that made her look like an ex-delinquent.

"So, your friend here is going through some physical rehab and doesn't know how to take it slow?" She asked, summarizing the simplified version of their events.

"That is correct, Miss…?" But he was cut off with the woman smacking Ichigo right in the face.

"You idiot! Don't you realize that rehab is a very important part of recovery? You need to avoid pushing yourself and take it easy. You wanna die?" Her words were true, but her violence seemed a bit over the top.

"If I don't push myself, how will I find Ruki and Orihime?" His own remark made him stop, showing that he at least still had some common sense not to reveal their reality to a bystander.

The room got quiet for a second as the woman got up (revealing a very nice piece of ass to them) and got the two of them some bowls of Ramen.

"Eat, it's good for your soul."

"I thought that was chicken nood-OOOWW!" He screamed as she shoved his face in the still boiling water and noodles.

"ENOUGH! Your friends are missing and you feel helpless. But I'm sure you still got other friends right? Lean on them!"

And do what? Forget my friends were here? That's stupid!"

"No, YOU"RE stupid. What you need to do is learn to trust and rely on your friends. Let your friends handle some of the work and let yourself rest and recover. You'll be no help if you don't and thn what happens when your friends really start to need you? Hmm?"

Her words were strong and right. And Ichigo knew that.

After they finished our Ramen, she got up and grabbed a pair of aprons from the closet and threw them in front of us? They looked at her in confusion.

"Unless I'm wrong, you two probably don't have any money to pay me. I run a problem-solving shop. Come to me with a problem and I shall solve it. But it looks like I got me another pair of empty pockets, so you two are going to work your butts off to pay me back. And you will." She cracked her knuckles and had an evil glint in her eyes.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~

The two of them walked back to Orihime's place with smiles on their faces and bruises and dirt on their faces.

When Chad opened the door, he found Kisuke sitting on the couch with his face looking more serious than either of them had ever seen him look. He looked up at them and he opened his mouth, but closed it again, still in thought, before talking to them.

"Yoruichi is missing. She never checked in with Ukitaka. Plus, Rangikyu-chan, Onohara-san, and Nemu-chan are missing from each of their respective divisions and haven't been discovered yet. Each of their rooms had had their Reiatsu completely removed, just like this room."

He didn't even carry a false smile. He truly had lost some of his hope, Chad realized. He must feel that if someone as strong as Yoruichi could get taken, then we have no hope left.

~Ulquiorra~

Ulquiorra found himself walking the streets of Karakura Town devoid of all his spiritual power, except for his Pequisa. His ability to sense, observe, and analyze Reiatsu was still in top condition, even if he couldn't use Sonido or a Cero.

He felt his instincts draw him to Orihime's house without a second thought. He could feel a small sensation of her energies, like she had left and didn't want anyone to know. But why?

He opened the door to see Ichigo and a large, muscular teen standing just before him. They had disbelief on their faces, but they weren't directed at him.

He cleared his throat and immediately found himself being thrown inside by Ichigo, he had rage in his eyes. And that rage made Ulquiorra put the pieces together. Orihime hadn't left or ran away, she had been taken. He felt the same rage that Ichigo was feeling, only Ulquiorra's was ten-times as worse, as he had spent the past 300 hundred years suppressing all of his emotions.

"Where is she?" They both asked each other, their voices equally as cold and angry, which shocked them both, easing their rages a little.

"Wait, why can I see you?"

"Where is Orihime?" Ulquiorra asked, ignoring Ichigo, asking the muscular teen instead. He seemed calm enough.

"She's missing."

"And Grimmjow?"

"He went to Hueco Mundo to look for her."

"I see."

And with that, Ulquiorra, walked back out and found himself equally depressed that he couldn't go after Grimmjow.

~x~x~x~x~

Ulquiorra found himself in a park and looked back, seeing a man wearing a strange kind of hat on his head, carrying a very serious look on his face. Ulquiorra remember that this was the man who had saved Ichigo from Yammy's and his first attack on Karakura town.

"If I help you get your powers back, could you find Yoruichi?"

~Ichigo~

Ichigo couldn't realize what had happened. He was here. And he could see him. Did tha mean his powers were finally returning? He didn't even realize that Chad had been calling his name over again.

"Ichigo!"

"I saw him Chad. I thought I killed him when my Hollow went loose, but I guess that…"

"ICHIGO!" He yelled. He must have been yelling for quite a bit. "He was alive.

"I know, right?"

"No, Ichigo. He was alive." He said, and with that, Ichigo realized just what Chad was saying.

Author's Note:

Hi everyone. I really didn't enjoy righting this chapter. Filler isn't really my thing. But that should give you a little more insight into what is happening now. I particularly like Writing as Ulquiorra.