(Seika's POV again)

We - Matsumoto, Hitsugaya and I - stood proudly in the air as the senkaimon closed behind us. I caught a glimpse of a black gate closing a short distance away, though I was too late to see what Arrancar it had taken.

"Are you sure that she's here and not... with them?" I asked, peering worriedly at my comrades. "By now even I would've been able to sense her reiatsu, but...nothing..."

"She could've been in her gigai," Matsumoto suggested.

"You saw that black gate - a Garganta - too, didn't you, Matsumoto?" She shook her head. "Arrancar must've been here recently. She may not be that intelligent, but I know for sure that she's smart enough to know that these people are no good. She would've left her gigai to fight the Arrancar. Not a single trace of her reiatsu in the air leads me to believe either they have her or she's dead. The latter is more likely, but I could be wrong," Hitsugaya pondered aloud.

"We'd best go see Urahara-san. Regardless of whether or not they have Konoe-san, Orihime Inoue has been missing recently, too. Ichigo is still here, I can feel his reiatsu. It shouldn't be long until he leaves to save her. We should gather a larger team and join up with him. Then we shall invade the Arrancar's kingdom and save the princess!" I declared.

"Which princess?" Matsumoto asked stupidly.

"Whichever one is still alive," Hitsugaya finished. "Now, Matsumoto, go back to the Soul Society and find as many as possible that are willing to help. Bring them to the Urahara shop, we'll regroup there."

"Hai!"

"Why's it taking so long?"

"I'm sorry, Ichigo, but you shouldn't be so violent! It's YOU who's managed to screw this up so many times with your emergency training!"

"It's not my fault you kept getting in the way!"

"Ahem," Hitsugaya cleared his throat, grabbing the attention of the fighting couple and their friends in the room. The friends being; the Quincy boy, Mister tall, dark and muscular, Renji Abarai, Rukia Kuchiki and the Urahara staff. The couple? Ichigo Kurosaki and Kisuke Urahara.

Matsumoto had brought reinforcements. Not that many, but they're still reinforcements. Our group now consists of; Captains Byakuya Kuchiki, Toshiro Hitsugaya, Retsu Unohana, Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Kenpachi Zaraki, lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, and finally, me.

Several greetings were exchanged, some pleasant whilst others seemed as if they regretted coming here.

"Matsumoto, you should return to the Soul Society. You do not even have bankai to protect you. You'll die. The Espada are not to be underestimated as you saw when we fought those other Arrancar in Karakura," Hitsugaya told said lieutenant.

"But I wanna come too!" she whined.

"Matsumoto, it is too dangerous," Byakuya enforced.

"But Seika's allowed to go! She doesn't have a bankai either!" she retorted.

"My Zanpakuto performs mind-control, I can use the Espada's powers against them," I explained. "Nonetheless, it is dangerous. Please, return to the Soul Society."

"Fine... Bye everyone, good luck! Come back alive!" Matsumoto waved as she exited. Better brace myself for the huge sake-flavoured mess that'll probably be there when I return. IF I return.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," I spoke kindly. "Aid us in our battle against the Arrancar. We all have the same goal; to rescue Inoue-san and Konoe-san."

"Wait, Chie's been kidnapped too?" the confused members of Ichigo's group asked.

"You didn't notice? How ignorant," Byakuya commented.

"We thought she had gone back to the Soul Society," Uryu said.

"It's unlike her to disappear without any sort of warning, so we're guessing that she has been either kidnapped or killed. We're hoping it's the former, but the latter is quite likely," Hitsugaya said.

"We came here in hope that you, Ichigo Kurosaki, and your friends would join us," Unohana smiled. "Will you join us?"

Ichigo took a glance at each of his comrades, another head nodding as they were looked at.

"We'll do it," he concluded.

"That's great! Now all we need is a way of getting to Las Noches safely..."

"I think I could help you with that..."

I knew you could.

I searched intently for the exit, wishing to get out of the darkness that surrounded us.

Finally, we did.

When we had stepped out, I observed my surroundings cautiously.

A large white room.

A fancy king-sized bed.

A throne.

A fat, old guy with a moustache sitting on the throne.

Several other guys surrounding the fat, old guy with a moustache sitting on the throne.

This can't be good.

(Ulquiorra's POV now, because everybody loves him ;3)

"Woman, you will eat or you will starve."

"Then I'll starve..." she said in melancholy, her gaze still fixed on the window.

"Your duty to Aizen-sama is to keep yourself alive, and from what I know, that is impossible to do without food. It is not a choice, it is an order. Eat, woman, or I will shove it down your throat," I demanded.

"I'm...not hungry," she responded. "There's no chili rice with lemons, pineapple and wasabi, and on top of that, I sense a disturbing lack of red bean paste. I refuse to eat it."

What kind of a meal is that? It sounds positively revolting.

"I don't have time to waste, trash. You will eat it whether you like it or not. I will be back in an hour, you better have finished it by then."

I should probably check on the annoying, destructive trash that is my Fraccion.

As I made my way to her room, I sensed a disturbance in spiritual pressure coming from Barragan's room. It felt like Shinigami. A lot of them.

Nevertheless, Barragan and his Fraccion should be able to handle a few feeble Shinigami.

Yammy and I soon crossed paths, him eating that human food I believe Chikara called 'Bacon' and me trying to ignore it. Though, it is quite hard to ignore an idiotic, loud, seven-foot-six giant.

"'Ey, Ukiorra," he mumbled with his mouth full.

"Yammy," I greeted nonchalantly.

"Where ya goin'?" he asked.

"Nowhere that concerns you."

From that point on, I tuned him out completely. There wasn't a single word I would bother to hear.

I sighed in relief once he had finally left me alone and continued on my way.

(Ugh I struggled to write this... Hopefully the next few chapters will improve ._.' recently they've been kinda cruddy. There's been a few moments where I gave myself a pat on the back for my epic work but a few more moments where I mentally kicked myself for writing something that's absolute crap. Oh well. :/

Oh and I'll be able to get this way past 30 chapters :3 I haz a few ideaz. Please bear with my crap & keep reading. I promise the next chapter will be much better. ESPECIALLY the beginning ;3

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Love ya & baibai.)