OK! so the gang is finally in Hueco Mundo. yay.
Dear Lynn: I know i hardly update i'm sorry _ you know i get writers block calm down. you're just anxious for the fight between Mizu and Yura :P
mmkay enough chit chat. on with the story!
The three of them continued to walk on for what felt like forever. Yura was becoming exhausted from walking for so long, but she contained herself from complaining. "Can we stop for awhile?" She asked, falling in the sand and lying back.
"We're kind of on a tight schedule." Renji said.
Yura scoffed. "No we're not, and you know it." She sat up and ran her fingers through the sand.
"How are we supposed to find him when this desert continues on?" Rukia asked.
Yura looked up and out in the distance. "I have a feeling we'll find him soon enough. Don't worry about it."
"Well we shouldn't stop now."
Yura sighed and stood up. "Ok, whatever. Let's just find him and save Orihime and get out of here. I'm a bit uncomfortable here."
"I think we all are." Renji said.
"No one asked for your opinion." Yura began walking with the other two following. "Do either one of you see anything?"
"I see something far off in the distance," Rukia said. "But I can't really make it out."
"We should head that way, obviously. And we can get there faster if we use Flash Step."
"Do you think that's such a good idea?"
"How else are we supposed to get over there on time? Let's just go." The three of them took off using Flash Step.
"Well, so much for that." Renji said.
"What're you talking about? The place Rukia saw is much clo…hm?" Yura turned her head.
"What is it?"
"Shh. Do you hear something?"
"Something like what?"
Yura stood there, her head turned as she listened.
"The only thing I hear is the wind." Rukia said.
"It's soft…but we're close. Come on." Yura started walking.
"What did you hear?" Rukia asked.
"It kind of sounded like…screaming. And crying."
"In the desert?" Renji asked.
"I don't know, ok? I just heard something. Maybe if we keep walking we'll find out where it's coming from." The three started walking again, getting closer to the structure Rukia saw. After what seemed like forever, Yura stopped again. She stared at the large building a few miles away. "We're just about-" She stopped again, turning her head. "The sound…it's closer." Yura looked up and ran up a small hill.
"Can't you wait?"
At the top, Yura looked down below and she folded her arms across her chest and smirked. "I found Kurosaki." Rukia and Renji stood next to her and also watched the scene below as Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu were in a sand hole, beginning to sink as a giant hollow stood before them.
"They need help." Rukia said.
Yura sat down and continued watching. "Can't we just wait to see how this ends?" When she was met by silence she looked up to see Rukia and Renji glaring at her. "What?"
"You're terrible, that's what!" Renji yelled.
Yura huffed. "They're not even doing anything. And it's such a weak hollow, too. Pathetic."
"Are we gonna help them or not?"
Yura sighed. "I guess we don't have a choice." Suddenly the hollow's mouth widened to an incredible length. Yura cringed and stuck out her tongue. "Ok. Gross. Do something. Now. That's disgusting."
Rukia unsheathed her zanpakuto and held it out. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki! Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!" Suddenly, an avalanche of ice blasted out from Rukia's sword and hit the hollow, freezing it. Then it fell back and broke in pieces.
Yura sat there with her knee supporting her arm as she leaned forward and observed. "Wow. Nice shot." She said as she stood up. The three of them jumped down from the hill they were standing on.
"Rukia! Renji! Yura! You guys."
They smiled as they watched Ichigo running toward them. Then Rukia walked forward and punched him in his jaw. She turned around and walked back giving both Renji and Yura a high five. Then Renji walked forward and punched him in his other jaw. Yura smirked and walked forward. "Guess it's my turn."
"No way! Those two already punched me!"
"I know that! Now it's my turn."
"You abuse me enough!"
"You idiot!" Yura kicked up her leg and kicked him in his chest, making him fall back. Yura sighed in relief. "I feel much better now."
"Fool! Why'd you come here by yourself?" Rukia asked. "Why didn't you just wait for us?"
Ichigo stood up and narrowed his eyes at the three. "Well after what happened I wasn't sure if you'd be able to come back or not."
"That's no excuse! We were coming back no matter what!"
"Do I get to kick him again?" Yura asked.
"No one's stopping you." Renji responded.
"Renji and I were planning that from the beginning and we had a feeling Yura would tag along,"
Yura narrowed her eyes. "Gee, I feel so appreciated."
"Why didn't you wait for us? Why couldn't you just believe we'd be there for you? We're your friends, Ichigo." They were silent for awhile, the only sound being the wind.
"Yeah, you're right."
"Hm. Just as long as you understand." Rukia said, standing up. "Don't ever make me say something as pathetic as that again." Ichigo stood up and dusted himself off.
"Well, now that that's over, who're they?" Yura asked, pointing behind Ichigo.
"Dat was rude! Nel Tu." The little girl with green-blue hair said, holding her arm out.
"Dondochakka!"
"Pesche!"
The three of them stood in an awkward pose. "And together we're the-"
"Three Siblings!"
"Great Desert Siblings!"
"Thieves Nel Don Pe!"
They all said at once. Suddenly the three of them huddled together, obviously arguing over their "title".
Yura stood beside Ichigo. "Looks like you've got your hands full." She said, smirking.
"Don't remind me. Well, as you can see, they're hollow."
"No way. Really? I thought the freaky tiki guy was a human. Who would've thought?"
Ichigo narrowed his eyes. "Was the sarcasm necessary?" Yura smiled.
Suddenly, a worm-like hollow started crying. "Bawabawa's crying!" Nel said.
"Don't worry, Bawabawa! We didn't forget about you!" Pesche said.
"Ok, with Bawabawa with us, let's do it together!" Dondochakka said. And together, they did the same thing again.
Yura sighed. "We don't exactly have the time for this. Can we go now?"
"Yeah. Let's go." The six of them started walking off with the four hollow staring after them.
"W-Wait a sec! Itsygo!"
Ichigo cringed. Yura giggled. "She has a pet name for you. How cute."
"Shut up." Ichigo turned around. "My name isn't Itsygo!"
"Nel can take you to Las Noches!"
"How?"
The six stared up when the worm-like hollow came up behind Nel. Yura stared up at it. "Uh-uh. No way. I am not getting on that thing."
Everyone ended up piling onto the giant hollow as it slithered through the desert and closer to Las Noches. "I can't believe I'm actually on this thing." Yura muttered. Then she looked at Nel who was clutching on to Ichigo and glaring at both her and Rukia. "You're cute and all, but could you stop staring? It's kinda freaky."
Nel shifted her attention to Yura. "What's your relationship with Itsygo?"
"What?"
"Heh! Got them fighting over you, I see." Renji said, teasing Ichigo.
"Shut up." Ichigo then turned around. "Where'd you get the cloaks anyway? Pick them up on the way here?"
"Actually, someone ordered me to wear it to protect myself from the sand and dust out here in the desert."
"Who was it?"
Rukia turned away, blushing of embarrassment. "My brother."
At Rukia's answer, Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu got horrified looks on their faces. "Wait! Does that mean Byakuya gave you permission to come out here and get me?"
"Not exactly." Yura muttered.
"Urahara's the one that got us here in the first place, but Captain Kuchiki gave us permission do whatever we wanted." Renji said.
"My brother said 'The only order received was to bring us back to Soul Society'. There was nothing said about needing to keep us there."
"I see. Byakuya did that, huh? Sure has gotten rather soft lately, hasn't he?" Ichigo said.
"He also said that it must be unpleasant for the enemy to have that dingy boy wandering around." Ichigo froze, an annoyed look on his face. Unaware to what he was doing, he punched the giant hollow beneath them, making it buck back.
"Ichigo! What do you think you're doing punching our ride?" Uryu yelled.
"Dat's right! Don't pick on Bawabawa! If you're gonna beat someone up, beat up Nel!" Nel yelled over the commotion.
"Really, people?"
When Bawabawa finally calmed down, everything began to shake. "What the…" Yura started.
"Now what?" Ichigo said. When they all looked up, the ground exploded and the sand hollow from before emerged.
"That thing. I thought we killed it already." Renji said.
"That's impossible. His body shattered to nothing." Rukia said.
"Guess we're just gonna have to kill it again. Sounds fun." Yura said.
"I won't allow you to come any closer to Las Noches!" The hollow said, widening its mouth like before.
"Runaganga is a big pile of sand," Nel said. "So it's no surprise that he came back in a different body."
"This thing has multiple bodies?" Uryu asked.
Rukia stood up and unsheathed her sword. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki."
Yura's eyes widened. "Rukia, wait a-"
"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren." Suddenly, the hollow they were riding on began to squirm and buck back.
"What's your problem, Rukia?" Renji yelled.
"Sorry, it was…"
Nel screamed and pointed at Rukia. "You big meanie!" Suddenly the patch of stable sand turned into a sink hole as everyone was being dragged down. Unnoticed by anyone, Rukia fell off of the hollow and sank down below. Seconds later, everyone else went down.
Captain Hitsugaya was simply doing work in his office. It was a daily routine. In the middle of signing paper work, he cringed and held his head in his hands. "What are you doing now?" He whispered.
"Captain?"
Toshiro looked up to see Matsumoto walk in. "What is it?"
"Are you ok?"
Toshiro looked away then down at his work. "I'm fine."
Matsumoto looked at him with a grim expression. "It's Yura, isn't it? You're worried about her."
"I let her go. I wouldn't have done so if I wasn't aware of the fact that she's strong enough to protect herself." Matsumoto pressed her lips together and bit her tongue to keep herself from speaking any further.
She knew how much it hurt the young captain to have let Yura go. She's never seen him like this before. Yes, he's been in pain before because of his friends' well-being. But the pain he was feeling now for the one he loves is far beyond that. It was more than a lingering pain that could heal in a short amount of time. More than being cut down by ones enemy. It was like being stabbed in your heart by a dagger and leaving it there to remind him of the pain. Matsumoto's gaze fell to the floor as she continued to stand in her spot. She didn't know what to do. After so long of being his lieutenant, she still had no idea of how to comfort him. He just wasn't that kind of person. But she couldn't help feeling the pang of guilt for not being able to do anything.
The fall was a long way down as everyone but Nel and her brothers continued to hold on to the hollow. Then they crashed as they made impact with solid ground. Yura coughed as she inhaled much dust that scattered around when they crashed. She stood up and cracked her neck. "Ow."
"Are you guys ok?" She heard Ichigo asked. The dust finally cleared and everyone gave their confirmations of being unharmed. There was a scream from up above and suddenly Nel landed directly on Ichigo, causing him to fall down. Yura held her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.
"Dat hurt…" Nel said as she rubbed her head.
"That's my line." Ichigo said, as he stood up. Then more yelling sounded from above as the other two hollow came crashing down on top of Ichigo.
"That was close, don'tcha know."
"You saved us, Mr. Bad Guy."
"Dat was a nice landing." Nel said, as she clapped with a smiled planted on her face.
Yura looked away from the incident and observed their surroundings. "Hey, where are we?" She asked. When everyone regained their senses, they looked around as well, noticing the dull and lifeless trees that surrounded them. It was dark beyond certain points, which only brought more tension to the eerie feeling. Yura wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't like this place…" She muttered.
"I'm guessing…we're under ground." Renji said.
"Did we fall from up there?" Ichigo asked.
"Obviously." Yura said. She slowly wandered a small distance away from the group, blocking out their entire conversation. She walked beyond a few trees, but not as far to the point where she could no longer hear, let alone see, everyone else. She ran her hand along a trunk of a nearby tree, but snatched it back just as quick. These trees didn't feel right, and it's not just because of their dead-like appearances.
Only when Yura heard whining did she snap out of her trance and return back to the group. When she got back, it seemed as if no one noticed the short amount of time she disappeared. She sighed in relief.
"I dunno how to get out!" Nel suddenly screamed and held her head as she tightly shut her eyes. Tears poured down her cheeks. "We're toast! We're all gonna die!"
"This is the Forest of Death!"
"Don'tcha know!"
Yura walked over to the group of crying and panicking hollows. She knelt down and picked up Nel who's crying quickly turned into sniffles as she looked at Yura. "We'll find a way out. No one's gonna die." She said to Nel.
"If we fell down here, then there has to be some way out." Ichigo said, putting a reassuring hand on Nel's shoulder.
"Itsygo…" Nel said, tears still pouring down her face.
"They're both right," Ishida said. "If hollow live here, then there has to be a way for them to get in and out. So all we have to do is find that way."
"That's pretty smart thinking, Bad Guys."
Yura's eye twitched. "Even after everything so far, they're calling us bad guys." She muttered. She looked down at Nel who was still shaking. "Hey, you gonna be ok?" She asked her. Yura let Nel down and looked her in her hazel eyes. "We're gonna get out of this. There's no need to be afraid, ok? Especially when you got this guy." Yura said, looking at Ichigo then smiling at Nel. She stood up and looked around again.
"Alright, we should get moving."
"Hey, Ichigo!" Everyone looked at Renji who's eyes were wide in shock and fright.
"What is it?"
"Rukia's missing!" Everyone's eyes grew wide in realization. They all began to look around, but she was nowhere in sight.
"When did we lose her?" Ichigo asked.
"It must've been when we were engulfed by the sand." Uryu said. Yura sighed.
"Well, we're not gonna find her or a way out just standing here. We should go."
Suddenly, Nel and her brothers began to freak out again. "W-we're going in dere?" Nel asked, as more tears threatened to spill from her wide eyes and she cowered by a tree.
Yura looked at her and smiled. "It's gonna be ok. Promise. Come on." Yura picked up Nel yet again and the group started their search for Rukia.
Once in the forest, everyone began to call for Rukia. Each response was only silence and never ending darkness. Only small amounts of light managed to seep its way through the bottom from the surface. Despite Yura being a caring and nice person, she was growing tired of the Arrancar on her back, but she didn't complain. She was just a little girl after all who was scared of just about anything.
"It's no use. We can't find her anywhere." Renji said.
"Don't be such a downer." Yura said, walking past him.
"She fell from the same place we did. She can't be far." Uryu said.
"Hey, I got it!" Everyone stopped.
"What is it, Kurosaki?"
"Rukia's really small and light, correct. So it's possible that she could've been thrown further than us!"
"That's right, Ichigo! No wonder we haven't found her anywhere nearby." The two crossed their arms over their chest and closed their eyes.
Yura sighed in frustration and continued walking. "You're both idiots."
She suddenly stopped when Bawabawa made a noise. "What? What is it?" Ichigo asked the hollow.
Bawabawa began to talk, or at least what sounded like talking since they couldn't understand him. "Oh," Nel said. She turned to everyone else while still on Yura's back. "Itsygo, Bawabawa said dat he'd climb the tree and look for her from dere." Everyone looked at each other.
Pesche ran over to the large hollow. "Bawabawa, you're such a good boy! Go on up and search! Make sure you don't miss that despicable Soul Reaper!"
"That's a nice idea, don'tcha know!" Yura sighed and dropped her head.
"Hey, he called us despicable." Renji said.
"These guys have no manners." Ichigo responded.
"This is useless…" She muttered.
"Don't dwell on every little thing. We'll be here forever." Uryu said. Bawabawa started to ascend up the tree, but stopped long enough to let Uryu and Chad aboard.
Yura let Nel down for the time being. She looked up and watched the giant hollow make its way up the large tree. It eventually stopped. "Hey! Can you see anything?" Ichigo called up.
"No, nothing!" Uryu replied.
Yura sighed. "It's pointless. This place is huge. Rukia can be anywhere by now."
"Are you ever positive?" Renji asked.
Yura glared at him. "No one asked y-"
"What's that?" Ichigo interrupted.
"Over there!"
Yura looked up and saw a bunch of hollow coming toward them. She smirked. "Finally. Some entertainment." She unsheathed her zanpakuto. Yura cut down three hollow that came after her. She cut down two more, but her eyes widened when she noticed how badly they were outnumbered. They were all strong of course, but the number of hollow kept increasing. Yura, Ichigo, and Renji all stood back to back as they held their zanpakuto in front of them, ready to strike.
Each hollow began to make their own noise and together they created one giant roar. "What's going on?"
"Itsygo!"
"What is it? Nel, go and hide!"
"Itsygo, run! Run away!"
Yura's breath caught in her throat when she noticed another disturbance. "This isn't good…" She muttered. "Ichigo…Maybe she's right." They all looked up at the same time and gasped. Standing all around them were multiple Menos. They filled the air with an echoing roar. Yura narrowed her eyes. "Alright, I'm not standing around any longer! Renji, deal with the small fry!" Yura yelled over everything else around them.
"What? You're crazy!"
But Yura paid absolutely no attention to him. She took off using Flash Step, going straight for a Menos. She held out her hand, palm facing the Menos. "Kyuu Isei!" Lightning shot out from Yura's hand, hitting the Menos directly in the face. It roared before falling down. Yura landed on the ground and turned. There's no way we can kill them all. There's too many! Yura gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes.
Use your power, Yura.
Yura's eyes widened. "Dena…I can't. I won't. I'm not gonna waste my power on these small fry. I'm looking forward to something else."
You're still going to fight her.
It wasn't a question, yet Yura responded anyway. "Of course I am! I can't ignore her now." Yura cut down a hollow that ran for her. "Crap. Hey Ichigo! I think we should…" Yura let her sentence hang in the air as she stood there, frozen to the ground, unable to move as she processed what was happening. Every single Menos that surrounded them was charging a Cero.
A/N: Tada! Ok. i don't have much to say. please REVIEW! -_- That includes you Mizu.