D-F: Oh my gosh! I am soooooooo sorry for not updating in like what, years? I really meant to but I was so flipping busy with college and work. I'm currently out of school yay! And now just working to save up some money so I can move out of my small boring town lol. So now that I've got some inspiration to get back into this I will, so expect more updates and such. I promise I'll try to keep the updates coming quicker.

DISLCAIMER: Nope, I don't own Bleach, just my characters and the plot of this story =3

Chapter 18

Kyo woke up in a cold sweat. She sat in her bed at first completely unaware of where she was. Slowly her senses came back to her and she was able to remember what had happened in her dream plane.

"That was terrible and I can't tell Ichigo about it," Kyo mumbled aloud, "If I told him he'd worry like crazy and I just can't cause him any more stress than he already has." The young hollow girl got out of bed and started to get ready for school, allowing the memories of the dream to fade to the back of her mind for now.

. . .

Meanwhile next-door to Kyo, Ichigo also woke in a cold sweat. He'd had a different dream from his friend. Breathing hard the orange-haired teen ran his hands over his face. It had been one of the most horrific dreams he'd ever had, it had started off rather nice but ended in blood. He could remember it perfectly; he and Kyo had been walking through a park hand-in-hand talking and laughing with each other. Ichigo had felt as if he were on cloud nine in the dream with Kyo laughing at his every joke, her purple eyes gleaming with admiration.

It didn't take long for his dream to turn into a nightmare however; he shuddered as he relived it, the feeling of the hollow taking over, his skin ripping to reveal bone armour, his hair lengthening and the mask forming and taking over. Once the transformation had completed he had turned to look at Kyo and saw the look of surprise in those vibrant eyes of hers. Surprise turned to horror and pain as she screamed when Ichigo began to tear into her flesh.

The teen shook his head trying to shake off the horrible feeling the dream gave him. There was no way that would happen; he had control over the hollow now didn't he? The Vizards had helped him with that and now he could use that power whenever he needed it and had no worries about the hollow taking control of him.

"Damn it," Ichigo cursed as he began to get ready for the day.

. . .

Rukia sighed to herself as she walked to school alone. Ichigo had woken up almost screaming that morning and Rukia was almost sure it was because of his hollow and the girl Kyo. Thinking of that name made her sigh again.

It wasn't that she hated Kyo herself, in fact she really liked the girl. They had after all become friends before they found out about her arrancar roots. The soul reaper kicked at a clump of grass in frustration, wishing things weren't so complicated.

. . .

"Kyo!" Orihime called out to the violet-eyed girl as she ran in the arrancar's direction. Kyo stepped to the side to keep from being glomped by Orihime and giggled when the orange-haired girl skidded past.

"What's up Orihime?" Kyo giggled again as her friend breathlessly waved a flyer in front of her face. Kyo took the flyer from Orihime and skimmed over it. "There's going to be a concert and the school has some surprise singer performing in it!" The taller girl exclaimed, clearly excited. Kyo smiled but inside she was freaking as it would be her performing as the surprise singer. "This is awesome Orihime!" Kyo grinned despite her nervousness. Orihime nodded enthusiastically as Uryu walked up behind them also holding a flyer.

"We should all go together! It's this Sunday coming," Orihime suggested and the Quincy nodded his agreement, "Indeed we should all go, it might be fun and I'm quite curious to see who this mysterious surprise performer is going to be." Kyo broke out into a cold sweat, trying to keep her cool as Ichigo walked up behind her. "What's got you all excited Orihime?" The orange-haired berry asked, taking the flyer from the hyper girl. He scanned over it quickly and then scowled, "This might be interesting but what's with the mystery performer? Why not just let us know who it's going to be?" Orihime shook her head at Ichigo, "The school is keeping it a surprise to get more people interested in going."

"Yeah, and maybe the mystery performer doesn't his or her identity to be known," Kyo said, hoping that her friends would let it go for now. Ichigo merely shrugged as he and Uryu turned to head into the school. Orihime grabbed Kyo by the arm and started dragging her along. "So are you going to come with us Kyo? You totally have to!" She said practically jumping up and down with excitement. Kyo laughed and nodded, "Sure, okay I'll go with you guys." At that Orihime squealed with delight.

. . .

Aizen was lounging lazily on his newly built throne in the new throne room of Las Noches. The former soul reaper was beginning to get impatient with having to wait for what he wanted. He so very badly wanted to get revenge on the Soul Society for what they did to him, and the only way he could do that was with the girl. He didn't care an ounce that she was half arrancar, she was weak anyway and would be no good as a fighter in his army. It wasn't her hollow abilities he wanted anyway. What she could do to the mind was what he wanted, what he needed. If he could use her influence over the dream plane of a person then he could, without a doubt, take his much deserved revenge on the Soul Reaper scum he so very much despised.

. . .

Szayel had been working tirelessly on the project that Lord Aizen had given to him. It was a simple task that really gave him no problem at all. He was quite proud of how it was turning out so far. A few prototypes lay discarded in the corner of Szayel's lab; useless first attempts that did nothing but caused the subject they were used on to explode. Curiously some had imploded. This one was going much better and he hoped that it worked perfectly. It would not do to have the arrancar Halfling explode before Lord Aizen could use her for his plan. Of course, even if this one was a failure Szayel wouldn't mind. Science was all about failing before succeeding. Besides, he had plenty of test subjects at his disposal to try the project on.

. . .

Ichigo sat staring at the back of Kyo's head. He was mostly paying attention the lesson, but not entirely. His mind was still on the dream he'd had and it really scared him. He was sure that he had complete control over his hollow but that didn't stop him from feeling sick at the thought of tearing into Kyo with bone claws. The teen couldn't understand why he felt so protective of the small girl, but he wanted to keep her safe from all that would harm her and that included his hollow.

As if sensing his gaze on her the small brown/red-haired girl turned to look at him. She smiled sweetly at him but it didn't reach her eyes. Ichigo could see something in those purple depths, something that resembled weariness or even a small amount of fear. He couldn't understand it, why would she look as if she were suddenly afraid of him? He was about to ask her if she was okay when their teacher's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Kurosaki, Flynn, are you two paying attention or would you rather be left alone?" Snickering erupted among the other students and Kyo blushed madly before turning to face the front of the classroom once again. Ichigo sighed and went back to partially listening to the lecture.

D-F: So yeah, not much to this chapter cause I started to get a bit of writer's block part way through it. Just figured I'd bring up the concert again(it's important because something major is gonna happen there) and of course I thought I should let you in on some of what's going on in Hueco Mundo. Yay for Szayel! Anywho, until next time R&R! And thank you to everyone who has reviewed and followed and faved! You are all awesome!

BTW wolfsrainrules I actually hadn't thought about Kyo being able to call to Ichigo through the bond. Thanks for the idea, I'll probably use that later on in the fic =3