Here's chapter 8. Unfortunately I won't be able to update for a while but I was able to finish this. Sorry in advance if there is any grammar mistakes and what not. Thanks to Yashiru Kusajishi, AngryHitsu, Mer-mer, Phantom Claire, and Firefly234. I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter. Now Disclaimer and chapter.

DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN BLEACH! ONLY THE PLOT AND MY OCS.

It was the next morning, Toshiro trudged his way into the room with the round table. He had gotten very little sleep the night before, as he was haunted by the feelings he got from Ichigo's reiatsu. He hadn't told his Vice-captain everything, yes their was distress in the reiatsu and it did feel hopeless. But the thing that concerned him most was the darkness that was in it.

In some ways it was similar to a hollows, but in other ways it resembled a dark void that someone would fall into in there mind right before they shut everyone off from the world. The young captain chewed on his lips thoughtfully. He reached the room and was surprised to find everyone was already there laughing and appearing to have a good time, but he could tell the joyous atmosphere was faux.

The loud group quieted down when they saw the white haired captain walk into the room. He nodded in greeting. The others returned the greeting and the noise level slowly grew back up.

Toshiro wasn't paying enough attention to know what the others were talking about. He ate his food without speaking once. He was glad that the others made such swift recoveries. He was sure they were going to have a meeting once the two former captains join them.

They didn't need to wait long. Yoruichi walked into the room bright eyed she nestled herself a spot between Rangiku and Yumichika. She started to eat her bowl of rice without even giving a greeting. Urahara walked in, he was looking decidedly less bright eyed and had bags under his eyes. He sat down between Toshiro and Renji.

The atmosphere suddenly got a lot tenser, even if the formerly joyous one was fake it was still better than this atmosphere, Toshiro decided. In this atmosphere you knew something was wrong, whereas in the previous atmosphere a simple onlooker walking into the room might've been fooled into thinking that there was nothing out of sorts.

Toshiro suddenly found himself without much of an appetite as he recalled the atmosphere that surrounded Ichigo and his friends whenever they were together. It was always so incredibly relaxed, unlike those in the group. Ichigo alone always had an air of distance and tragedy around him.

As the young captain thought more about it, Ichigo's reiatsu was similar to the air he had around him when he was alone. He tilted his head in thought, it was stronger though, and distance was replaced with something else he couldn't think of.

He noticed that Tessai had cleared the plates away, and once again there was a silence. Everyone was waiting for someone to break the quiet and nobody wanted to be the one to do it.

Urahara cleared his throat. "It would see out enemies are stronger and more numerous than we had imagined."

The was a murmur of assent throughout the room. "The question is how many?" Yoruichi said crossing her arms and her eyes were closed.

"That is one." Urahara nodded. "The other is how did they get to the anomaly in the first place? After doing more researching of the anomaly I've found that its actually been there for a long time, so it isn't an anomaly any more."

"Then what is it?" Toshiro asked.

"Its a dimension inside of Hueco Mundo. Someone, or someone's, made a dimension out of their reiatsu, that's why we haven't noticed it until now." Urahara explained.

"Could it be their leader's reiatsu?" Rukia asked Urahara.

"Possibly." Urahara shrugged. "Now, what did you find out when fighting yesterday?"

"They seem to have a somewhat organized way of leadership." Toshiro stated. "I'm not sure how it works, but I'm pretty sure their leaders are called premiers and are like the Captains of the Gotei 13, though the premiers lead cells. We know one is called the demon cell, and the premier of that cell is Yuna, the one Ikkaku fought yesterday."

"We also know her power now." Ikkaku added. "She was also in the eleventh."

Yumichika looked surprised at that news. "Seriously? Its rare to have a female in the eleventh, buts its rarer to have one defect."

Yoruichi stepped in. "Under Captain Zaraki it is rare to have defectors. But at one time the captain and the squad were nothing more than a gang with power. It also goes without saying that we don't know when exactly Yuna was in the protection squads."

"Yuna Hasegawa, eh?" Urahara mumbled.

"That name mean something to you?" Toshiro asked.

"Not at the moment." Urahara shrugged.

"I don't think they're all shinigami either." Yumichika said recalling his battle. "There was no way my opponent was a shinigami, exiled or otherwise."

"They're not. Yuna's second in command was a Quincy." Renji grumbled, remembering the stuck up bastard he had to fight.

Rukia spoke up, her eyes widening as she thought about her fight. "The cells are named for something about their premier. The cell we fought, the Demon Cell was named such because Yuna, its leader, struck a deal with demons to improve herself."

"Struck a deal with demons?" Renji inquired. "I thought those only existed in stories, and weren't for real."

Toshiro remained quiet. He thought about what Ichigo would say to a comment like that. It'd probably be along the lines of "Right. You're a death god, with a sword that turns into a giant snake made out of bones and have been to hell and back, literally, and you say demons don't exist?"

Urahara considered Renji's statements. "There was an old story that was about how shinigami were the reason that demons were wiped out but in a last ditch effort they created the hollows, but evidently that story was true and the demons are like the Quincys, they still exists but in small scattered groups."

There was a moment where everyone was absorbing the information. Rukia spoke up once more. "Also it seems that their leader, which is called king, wants something from Ichigo, but can only get it by exhausting him physically, so they've taken to torturing him. But they haven't gotten what they wanted yet. Only the premiers seem to know about it, from how my opponent spoke about it"

"That would seem like something they would do. But what does Ichigo have that they want?" Renji spoke angrily.

Rukia, Urahara, and Yoruichi shifted uncomfortably. Last night in the recovery room Urahara approached those who he for sure knew that had any idea about Ichigo's hollow and explained to him what he thought the group wanted. He wasn't ready to disclose that theory just yet, he didn't know how the others would take it, knowing that a friend of theirs had a hollow in his head.

"Who knows?" The ex-captain waved his fan.

"How long has Captain Unohana been with the fourth division?" Rukia asked.

Urahara replied with a shrug. "A long time, I'm not really sure."

Rukia nodded. "Then she may know who my opponent was. She was a member of the fourth after all."

The others remained silent. There was a quick lull in the conversation. Renji piped up after a few minutes. "They call themselves the Neo-Gotei."

Rangiku who had been silent the entire discussion finally spoke. "Neo-Gotei?"

"Neo means new..." Toshiro trailed off.

"So they're saying that they're the new Gotei?" Ikkaku grumbled. "Cocky bastards."

Yumichika rolled his eyes at his companions use of words. "Of course it gets us insight into their mindset slightly."

At Ikkaku's confused look Yumichika elaborated. "They want to become the Gotei, they plan wipe us out."

"I agree with you, Ayasegawa-san." Urahara said. "It would seem that they also have infiltrated the Gotei protections squads as well, if what Yuna said was true."

"Could they be that good? Can they infiltrate us without a hint?" Rangiku tilted her head.

"Look at Aizen. He was a captain and we had no indication he was planning what he was." Yoruichi stated bluntly.

The six officers shifted awkwardly. A few of them scratching their head at the reminder. Urahara allowed himself a small smile at their awkwardness. Even though he had known about Aizen experiments longer than anyone he hadn't thought that they were for the purposes they were. So he wasn't exactly in a position to hold himself higher.

"Urahara-san?" Yumichika spoke. "How can someone, who is not a shinigami be able to wield a zanpakuto? Like the Quincy?"

Urahara answered seriously. "That's a good question. I haven't been able to find an answer. I'd understand it if they hand latent shinigami abilities like Ichigo, but for a Quincy, who hates shinigami, to wield a zanpakuto it doesn't seem likely. So my guess is its something close to a zanpakuto but its not exactly the same thing."

"Which means their leader is someone who was a former shinigami." Toshiro said firmly.

Urahara nodded. "Which makes this all the more tricky."

†††††††

Ichigo was surprised at how long it had been since he last got a visit. Though he assumed it was because they were busy doing something. He wondered how he looked. He was starving, had multiple bruises, his cuts from Tadashi's zanpakuto were still bleeding, and to top it all off he hadn't been able to get any sleep at all.

His dreams were of disturbing nature. They all had the yellow eyes with black instead of the white. There was also a manic cackle that went along with the dream. He would always awaken from the dream in a cold sweat. Then there was the dream with the snow storm, there was only the rumbling and the blizzard, nothing more and nothing less.

But now he was having other dreams. All of them different. The one he had just awoken from was Renji laying limp and cold in his arms as his blood slowly started to coagulate. He watched as something, it resembled a pale hand, was plunged into his best friends chest, and then it was gone.

He growled his frustration, well attempted to. He ended up going into a harsh coughing fit which left his body trembling. He knew it would be long before he could even sit up. He had always seen in movies that when the hero was kidnapped and treated as he had been the hero always walked away beaten, bloody, hungry, and slightly shaken.

He knew now, more than ever, that it wasn't possible. Your injuries would get infected, like he was sure his older wounds were starting to, the gashes on his front were turning a sickly yellow color and oozing something that wasn't blood. You also always winced when the light opened because you were stuck in perpetual darkness, whatever that singular light source was, that lit the room in the beginning vanished. Your body got weakened without food, so your tortures couldn't be as harsh if they wanted you to live. He was also getting sick, the coolness of his cell, and his discovered at one point the dampness of the floor, were conditions perfect for breeding illness. Without food, his body was unable to fight off the sickness as he was able to.

He was still getting minimal water whenever he got close to dehydration, which was a plus, he didn't have to deal with the sticky mouth.

He head thumped against the wall numbly. He couldn't see anything, and even if he could what would he be able to do. At some point he found himself reveling at the barest sensation feeling. That way he knew he was still alive.

The arm which Tadashi had plunged his dagger in, hung limply beside him. It wasn't of much use anymore, he still had feeling in it and could move it, but otherwise it was just a dead weight. It still occasionally trickled blood.

There was nothing to do but sit around, a teenagers dream, but he wanted to be doing something. He had listened to music and enjoyed it but it was a crucial part of his life like it was to some people. Yet he had started to sing songs he had heard so many times, they were on the radio when Yuzu was doing housework. He wasn't the best singer but he wasn't terrible, this gave him something to occupy his mind.

The fatigue his body and mind was to much for him and he fell into a light doze. He didn't want to but he couldn't fight it, first off if your body needs sleep there's barely anything you can do you keep it awake, and second he just lacked the willpower to fight it off any longer.

In his dream he was in a sandy place, the sands weren't of Hueco Mundo, but they didn't look anything like those he had seen in the living world. The sand was a tan color with a lot more orange in it.

Turning around he saw nothing by the sand. He didn't feel the wear his body had on it. Looking down he saw that all his injuries were healed, but left ugly scars. He didn't mind however, it just felt nice to actually be able to move without pain, he had forgotten the sensation.

He looked around once more this time he spotted a girl clad entirely in white. She stood standing in the middle of the desert. Everything about her stuck out against the tan-orange of the sand that enveloped the world around her. Even her hair, which cascaded down her back, was white. She remained still, her eyes were closed.

Yet as he went to approach her she opened her eyes and turned towards him. The intensity of the gaze startling him. Her eyes were an ice blue color. She was stunning. Then as quick as she came she left without a trace.

He blinked. He wasn't sure who she was, she didn't look like any of the physical forms of the zanpakuto he had seen. She was probably without a doubt the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

As he close his eyes and opened them, a sandstorm and stared up. The tan-orange sand was wiping around in a circle, but instead of leaving thin spots, the sand was turning bone white.

With a surprised gasp he realized that the world was slowly turning into Hueco Mundo. The sandstorm reached his position but then it just stopped. A figure was approaching him.

This figure was dressed in white as well, but even from this distance he could tell there was a small amount of black staining the figures blankness. It was steadily approaching him. He remained rooted to the spot.

Turning his head to the left, Ichigo heard the sound of rushing wind. He looked and saw another figure, identical to the one slowly approaching him, was speeding towards him. He felt the concern radiating from the speeding figure, but when he tried to sense the other figure, he only got contempt.

The rushing figure was approaching the same distance away as the other one. Soon enough the speedy blur overtook the slower of the two. Yet the slower of the two suddenly sped up.

Ichigo wondered which would reach him first, or would they reach him at the same time? Just as the two got into range where he would be able to tell any features from the two rushing figures, a caring feeling enveloped him. It reminded him of how a father's embrace should be to a child.

It felt like he was being brought up to awareness. He fought it the tiniest of a fraction. It only delayed him seconds, but it was enough to see that they two rushers were identical, except the one that was approaching him from the front had long white hair, instead of the white hair that resembled his.

He was pulled back into an awake state. His breathing was elevated as he thought back to his dream. It had felt so real. Who was that girl? He knew now who the figures who approached him were. They were his hollow, but they were different... and his hollow was dead.

He couldn't figure out why there was a difference in Hichigo. Or why there were two of him in the first place. Also why did their feelings towards him feel so different?

He groaned in confusion which only made him cough. This time his cough was fiercer and left him struggling for breath. The pace he was currently breathing at was making his injures scream in pain.

All the emotions swirling in him was too much for him to handle. He needed to find someway to release them. He let out a hoarse whimper, his voice wasn't used much these days. Soon enough his weakened body was being wracked with harsh sobs. He felt the tears stream down his face, they cut through the grime on his cheeks.

In all honesty he was surprised his body was sparing the water for his tears. He couldn't find the strength to stop crying. He had never felt so pathetic in his life, he was even sure why he was crying.

He was exhausted. With the stress his body and mind, the fact he was spending energy he didn't have, and he hadn't eaten in god knows how long, he collapsed into a heap. He was spent. His eyes closed and he fell into a mercifully dreamless sleep. Allowing his body, mind, and soul to rest and try to recover.

Meanwhile...

Enyo stood next to her king, watching the child have a mental breakdown. She tilted her head towards him. Her perfectly sculpted lips curved into a pout. She hadn't gotten the results she had wanted, and in front of the king no less. She had even drawn out her bankai for the occasion. She darted her eyes down to where her sword had turned into a ribbon that wrapped around her arms, a small pattern of a snake embossed carefully into the ribbon.

She waited patiently for her king to speak. "Excellent Enyo."

Enyo turned her gaze back onto her king, he was handsome, a bit to pale for her tastes, but he wasn't someone she would refuse to look at because they were so ugly. "Milord?"

"We almost got his hollow." Sachio smiled sadistically. "We're so close."

Enyo nodded gracefully. "Yes, I can sense his inner world slowly crumbling. His sword and the good side of his hollow are putting up a strong fight however."

Sachio's eyes opened in amazement. "They can still fight, even with the downpour that they're sure to be getting?"

"The downpour is more of a light rain. Somehow he's found something to hope for."

Sachio darkened incredibly. "Something to hope for?"

Enyo backed away, not in fear, but incase he was to lash out. She couldn't risk having her delicate face damaged. "Yes, Milord. Do not ask me, for I do not know. Perhaps he's stubborn and still hopes that his friends will save him."

"Yuna was supposed to take care of that yesterday!"

Enyo shrugged gently. "No matter. He will be broken in a matter of days. Or hours if this is the pace he's keeping."

"I suppose." Sachio had returned to his calm demeanor, yet there was the dark aura still radiating around him. "He's given me a lot of trouble. Is there anyway he can watch what his hollow does."

Enyo sighed. "I am not sure. I shall look into it, if that is what milord wishes."

"Do it." The man growled.

Enyo bowed. "It shall be done."

The Grecian girl raised her head up. She was bothered by how much resistance she still had with him and his inner world. They would need to act fast, this was the tricky part. If he retreated into his mind, he'd go comatose and there was no way she could break him out of that. All she could do would be to cage him in his inner world, leaving him like that forever. Yet she could also be on the point of him breaking and they'd have his hollow by morning.

She was racing against the clock. For the teen's survival and they were steadily preparing for the attack on Soul Society. She heard her king leave. She turned elegantly to see the door swing shut.

In truth the king didn't understand her power. She watched the teen as he finally got a sleep that wasn't haunted by her power. She was able to manipulate others inner words and mess with their minds but in was all on her victims choice and willpower.

She smiled grimly as she began to walk out of the room, as she was about to leave she turned her head to look through the window and as expected the teen hadn't moved. Yes, her power depended on her victim in the end. What choice they made was all on them. She just gave them the options. What will you do Ichigo Kurosaki?

Or have you already made your choice?

The door swung shut behind her.

There you all be! Chapter 8 is finished. I'll see you all when I get back, which I hope is soon. Still looking for OCs. Check the previous chapter for what I wish. Anyway, I'm off! Later! ~IF