Chapter 3; Shallow waters of the deep abyss

"What?" Urahara says stunned. I look at him with content.

"You know this place. The castle I was looking for all this time. So where is it?" I can feel myself getting desperate. I take a deep breath and let it go in a sigh. "I wish you told me you were looking for this earlier." My eyes open wide, have I finally found the link to home I was searching for? "Ever since you left I kept having this dream." Ichigo tilts his head and groans,

"You mean repetitive dream, like in the movies? Sounds kind cheesy if you ask me, I mean how can you base all your answers on a crazy fortune teller and a lousy ex should reaper who makes a living out of selling crappy products in a shop he named after himself?"

"Sounds like you just wanted to bag me out Kurosaki." Urahara snarls.

"Children," I mutter.

"WHAT I'M NO KID! HE'S THE KID!" Ichigo shouts as he points his finger at Urahara.

"This just proves me point," I say.

"Anyway, in this dream I see a castle. This tall black castle surrounded by swirling clouds. I see a thin winding path leading up to it with cliffs on either side that drop down to a violent sea. Then I see a fire dragon, exactly like your Zanpakuto's true form. She gestures for me to follow her, I always know she wants me to follow her. I think she knows the way. All I know is the castle is in a place called Himei no tochi." Ichigo and I look at him confused.

"It means land of screams. It's a place only told in legends that is said to be the birthplace of all evil."

"So…. Do you even know where this Himei no tochi is?" Ichigo asks. Urahara stands up and walks over to a desk in the corner of the room. He takes out a torn and stained book, its cover housed a blanket of dust. He wiped the dust off the cover and coughed slightly. "This book is full of mythical places. I bought it one day a few weeks ago,"

"How the hell can that thing be so dusty from a few weeks in your desk?" Ichigo interrupts.

"As I was saying, the book is all about mythical places. When I passed the store selling it, it was open to this page," Urahara pauses to open the book, "Here page 13, the castle of untamed souls." I stare in disbelief, it's the castle I remember. Why, why is it in such an evil place? And why does it have a sinister name?

"I have so many questions that it seems only FlamingSakura can answer. It makes sense, I mean she was with me when Ichigo saved me. So she was with me before my first memory and must have been there with me before I lost my memory." Urahara hands me the book.

"Go on, read it." I look down at the crinkled page, I agree with Ichigo. The book looks like it's 100 years old yet Urahara bought it only a few months ago. "The castle of untamed souls. This castle is said to be home of the route of all evil, cursed long ago by the great Hollow god; Yami. The castle of untamed souls is said to house a gem of hell with the power to grant eternal rule over this kingdom as well as granting the wielder unimaginable and unbeatable powers. Little else is known about this cursed place as not many people go there because of these legends." A tear drop streaks down my face and drops onto the page. "What a stupid book, could that be any more useless? That didn't help us find out anything about where this Himei no tochi is let alone the castle itself," Ichigo growls.

"Well I know it's a bit off topic, but it will help us in the long run. The information about this Yami character, plus it did give us the name of this castle which will help us greatly in finding it." Now I understand, they want to come with me. "What, you want to come with me? It's too dangerous for them, I could never forgive myself if anything were to happen to them. "Yes, and there's no way you're going to talk us out of it." Urahara says. I leap forward at him, I knock him down to the ground and hug him tightly. "Thank you." Ichigo grunts in discus, yet I think he's just jealous.

"Ok so when are we going to' head out?" Urahara sits back up and taps Ichigo on the head with his fan, "There are some things we need to do first. We need to find out where this Himei no tochi is and how to get there before we go charging off into the night." Ichigo looks at him puzzled,

"So what exactly do we do?" I sigh,

"Ichigo, you're always rushing into things."

"N-no I'm not," Ichigo blushes. Urahara wacks his head rather hard with the fan this time.

"Don't you even think about her like that Kurosaki!" he snarls.

"If anyone knows where to go, it's FlamingSakura. We'll need to figure out how to get her to help us, I have a feeling it's going to be harder than we think," I whisper as I look over at my sword resting up against the door.