Look at that! An early update! This chapter was fairly easy to write and since I got it done so quickly I thought that I would treat you all to it. I did get the required amount of reviews so at the end of the chapter you'll have a small sneak peak at chapter 14 aren't you all lucky? Thanks to ctofi1, Kage Kurai, KageNekoReborn, Phantom Claire, and urufushinigami for reviewing. Now we disclaim and read the chapter, and I'll see you all at the bottom with a sneak peak.

DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN BLEACH ONLY THE PLOT AND SOME OF THE CHARACTERS!

Masao grinned sadistically. Smiling down at the shinigami who addressed him. "You do remember! I'm honored."

Ashido looked like he couldn't figure out whether to smile or cry. He stared up at the blonde in surprise unable to formulate the words to respond. Rukia whipped her head between them, trying to figure something out. The other shinigami were simply lost. Toshiro sensed a reiatsu that was too familiar to him. He looked up and sure enough there was the third epsada standing in all her glory.

He gritted his teeth. Can't these people stay dead! He yelled in his head. There was a group behind her as well. They didn't look like the three woman she had with her the last time that the met. He placed his hand on the hilt of his blade the female epsada saw the motion, and inclined her head towards him.

Toshiro stiffened, ready to strike should he need to. The blonde girl seemed to not be indicating that she was going to attack or even would defend if the white haired shinigami struck her first. The young captain watched the interaction that had happened between Ashido and the man known as Ashido.

There was a strained silence between the two opposing forces. Masao started to slowly walk down the sand dune, his gate was long and graceful. It didn't look like he was at all hindered by the slope of the sand dune or the unstable footing it was surely providing. When he reached the bottom his eyes scanned over Ashido, apparently evaluating him.

"You haven't aged a day since I last saw you." Masao finally declared.

"The same to you." Ashido was finally able to breath out.

Masao looked disappointed. "I obviously grew my hair out."

Ashido blinked not understanding the humor in the others statement. "Yeah?"

A long sigh was heard. "Never mind. You've been out of the loop for far too long."

Masao took another step forward, and Ashido responded by getting into a defensive position. The blond man set his hand on his hilt gently. "Not fond of ghosts?"

"Ashido, what is he talking about?" Rukia asked him.

Ashido looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, he returned his gaze back onto the ex-shinigami. "He was one of the members of my squad."

Rukia looked surprised. "Wait but you said-"

"I know what I said. It seems that I didn't expect him to reappear as a hollow."

"Me a hollow?" Masao chuckled. "Never would I be a being so low as that. I am something more than you ever will be!"

"Isn't that what Aizen said?" Renji asked.

"You aren't a shinigami any longer!" Ashido cried.

"No disagreement there. The hollows are better than shinigami. But I've gone beyond a level you never even dreamed of. You mistake was thinking that I was dead. When the hollow only ate my sword."

Toshiro was confused. "The hollow ate your zanpakuto?"

"I just said that boy!" Masao yelled.

"But what happened to it?" The blade was emitting nothing unusual for a zanpakuto.

"It was corrupted obviously." The way it was said so casually made the shinigami doubt the statement. "You don't believe me? Ashido do remember my zanpakuto?"

The shinigami in question looked up, mulling the question over before he answered it. "Didn't it just emit a strong beam of light?"

"Correct." Masao drew his blade, which was not silver like the others, but it was actually pitch black. Now that it was drawn there was a sensible difference between the reiatsu of the zanpakuto and the blade he was holding.

Masao waved the blade around, it left a black trail behind its as it move through the air. He let it hang at his side. "You see now? It is corrupted. Even its release is different."

The pony-tailed man turned around to the small squad waiting for him above. He motioned for them to move foreword. Or that's what the shinigami thought. Toshiro saw the ex-espada draw her sword and lunge towards him. The rest of the group followed suit. Toshiro was pushed several hundred meters away, until he could only see him and the girl. She looked around as if checking to see if they were alone.

She eyed him evenly. "You are looking for someone?"

"Yeah. I think that guy is part of the group that took our friend."

Tier replaced her blade in its sheathe. Toshiro arched an eyebrow. "That man is a annoyance. If you can get him to leave me and my subordinates alone, then we shall be willing to allow you free reign of Hueco Mundo for the time being. Until you return to the World of the Living or Soul Society."

"Why would you?" Toshiro said sheathing his own blade.

"As I said he was an annoyance. Your little group can take care of him."

On seeing Toshiro's doubting face she continued on. "None of you subordinates will be harmed should you agree to the terms."

Toshiro nodded. "Whatever. The goal is the same, no matter whose help we get it from. It does me and my squad to be incredibly beaten up."

Tier looked relieved. "Then we are agreed. I hope your friend will dispatch him."

Toshiro nodded. "By the way... what is Masao's power?"

Tier looked reluctant before she began to explain.

Ashido was left alone with Masao. The atmosphere was awkward to say the least. The two men hadn't seen each other in years. Ashido had thought the blond dead, but he was alive with a corrupted zanpakuto, looking like all he wanted to do was kill. Something that wasn't a trait in the old Masao, then again that Masao hadn't been attacked or eaten or whatevered by a hollow.

The stoic man eyed the blade once more. "A real beauty isn't she?" Masao asked him.

"She's ugly."

Masao took offense. "She is beautiful, and unique. Nothing like you've ever seen before or will see again.";

He swung his blade making a cross. "Rule, Kubomi no Kami!"

The black blade flashed into a large shield, that was made out of a hollow's mask. The top of his Shihakusho blew away, leaving his chest exposed and a hollow's hole over his stomach, it was jagged and not a perfect circle like most hollows, if one had an imagination they would be able to see a crown pattern in it. Ashido gaped openly at the released form of Masao's zanpakuto, or whatever it was now. He turned to observe the shield.

It was large enough to cover most of the torso, it was without a doubt a hollows mask, it was shaped like a ram's skull, but instead of the features of a ram it had one large almond shaped cutout in it, there was a crease running down the middle of it and it looked like it could open. But at the moment Ashido couldn't find a single use for an opening.

"Lets not waste time on formalities." Masao spoke, before rushing Ashido.

Ashido raised his sword just in time in to stop the ram horns from piercing his body.

Ashido slid backwards a few feet, grunting with effort to deadlock the shield. Both parties leapt backwards. Masao didn't give him the chance to recover as he was flying towards him once more shield raised and points glistening in the sun. He was approaching at a fast pace and there was no way that Ashido would be able to stop the shield with just a sword.

As was expected the sword slowed the shield down but did not stop it completely. The ram horn gouged Ashido's arm, leaving the horn a crimson color. The horn looked like it was absorbing the blood, and sure enough within a few seconds the blood was fully absorbed and the eye was starting to fill up with a red light. The two jumped apart once more, Ashido stopping the bleeding with a quick healing kido.

Masao was looking bored, he checked the eye. He looked pleased as he nodded and returned his gaze to Ashido. Ashido tilted his head trying to figure out the power of his zanpakuto. Nothing came to his mind. This time Ashido took the first step and rushed Masao seemed to be ready for that and idly blocked the strike sending the sword and the wielder the other way. Leaving Ashido's torso open for a strike from the shield.

Masao took advantage of the open torso and struck the ram horn into Ashido's side. The shield was yanked out from the man's side and it was slowly absorbing the blood. The eye was now filled halfway to the center. It occurred to Ashido that the eye filled up when the horn sucked in blood. Ashido clutched at his bleeding side.

"What? Don know how to fight?" Masao asked his tone was teasing.

Ashido stayed silent. Masao shrugged, though it was awkward since there was a large shield weighing one arm down. The shield had specks of blood that weren't on the horn. Leaving Ashido to believe that the blood was only absorbed when it was on the horn, and he was starting to think that something will happen if that eye was filled up, but he wasn't sure what.

Masao stopped, and looked at his former commander. "You were always a sharp one."

Ashido scoffed. He had slowed his bleeding down so that it was not a threat that he would bleed out so soon. He wasn't that skilled in healing kido, so he couldn't heal his wounds completely. He raised his blade and sent the other man a sharp look. Masao seemed unperturbed, he just hefted his shield up.

"But do you have any clue as to what my power is?" Masao spoke simply. "Since you'll be dead shortly, I as well give you an explanation."

Masao shrugged his shield onto his back. He pulled his arms across his chest stretching it out, since it had been encumbered by the weight of the shield. "Where should I start?"

"How did you even survive?" Ashido asked feeling slightly more comfortable since the shield was put away.

"There works as good as any place to start I suppose." Masao dropped his hand to his side.

The blond man took in a deep breath. "When we first went through the garganta we were ambushed by a large amount of hollows. Allowing us to be overwhelmed rather quickly I might add. I watched, and you did to, as our squad members were murdered, by these beasts. I almost fell to one. You saw me go down, and you and your friend fled like cowards. Yet the truth is I didn't die that day."

Masao ignored the comment of "Obviously."

"The hollow bit off my sword arm, and ate it."

Ashido looked slightly disgusted. Masao ignored it. "You know how I am still alive? I killed the hollow with a kido spell, yet my sword was still there after the hollow vanished. It had turned that black color. At first I was like you and was disgusted by it. I grabbed it anyway so that I may have a weapon but as I was wondering, I stumbled across an old library, written by someone or something and it had an odd kido in it, so I tried it out, and wouldn't you know I regrew my arm! Of course it looked like it belonged to a hollow so using a bit of another kido a did a charm so it looks my arm."

Ashido watched amazed that someone who once was so honorable would've fallen so far. Yet it seemed that it had happened. He watched as Masao shrugged his shield back on to his arm." Long story short, I was gifted the powers of the God of Hollows."

"The god of hollows?" Ashido's tone was disbelieving.

"Yeah, this realm is mine, I control all creatures that originate here" Masao said.

"You do?" Ashido spoke numbly

"Of course."

Ashido stared at his former teammate not really sure how to handle things. He had thought that he was the only one left from his squad but to be shown that he was wrong was something that he could easily come to terms with. Being shown that he was wrong and his teammate had gone to the dark side was something that he couldn't handle. He released a long breath of air, trying to chose his next course of action. It would seem, however that Masao had other plans as started to walk towards him brandishing his shield.

Ashido noticed something about the reiatsu radiating off of the shield. It was that of a hollows, but it still had shinigami intertwined in it. From his dealings with hollows he knew that the only shinigami that the hollows would listen to was Aizen, and he wasn't sure why, but he knew from the way that the other arrancar around him looked annoyed as he spoke he knew that wasn't the case. Instead Masao bullied them into following his order, though he couldn't explain how the other controlled the space of Hueco Mundo, he had to be missing something.

He also started walking towards Masao, a slight plan forming in his head. As the distance grew steadily short the stoic redhead shinigami could only pray that it worked.

Ichigo was still wandering around in the snow storm ravaged place, but now he decided that it was more of a harsh snow. The wind wasn't blowing nearly as fierce as it was when he first entered this place. He hadn't been able to make very much progress as he felt he was constantly going in circles. There was no way he would know until the snow fully died down.

As he had wandered something was progressively getting stronger What he wasn't sure but he thought he was heading in the direction that it was in. He had a vague idea about what it actually was. He remembered this type of feeling from the time when everyone in Soul Society forgot that Rukia existed. It was only because of the bond he and Rukia shared that they were able to get everyone to remember Rukia. He was having the feeling of a strong bond being awakened from within him.

He had reflected over the bond many times before. When he had examined it, it was just starting to be awakened so he could tell nothing from it. Though he could sense the age of it. It was ancient, he couldn't tell how old exactly because it was well past anything that he knew. He could also feel its potential strength, it was immensely stronger than the one he shared with Rukia, he could also feel that one as well, but it was clearer than this one. The bond seemed tired, like it was waking up from a long sleep, Ichigo thought that it was because it had been needed, used, or even known about it a long time. He couldn't really describe it. The feeling that it gave him was something that should be protected, that it was precious. Ichigo often wracked his brains to see if there was someone that he would share such a bond with. He knew it was the same as the ribbon. The name was at the tip of his tongue, if only he could think of it. Sometimes the snow would blow around him as if wrapping him in a blanket. This snow didn't make him cold, tired, or anything. It comforted him, as if he was supposed to be in the snow. He couldn't decipher if anything linked together. If he thought too hard about it he'd get a headache and that would slow his already non-existent progress. So he wouldn't dwell, he wasn't the type to anyway. He often found himself wishing for a road sign or something.

A lot of his memories were starting to become a blur. He could remember clearly what had happened to him in the past two years but the it was slowly starting to become hazier and hazier. When he thought about it the most distant thing he could remember clearly was gaining his shinigami powers from Rukia. The only other thing that he could remember that was early was his mother's death. He scoffed that would be one of the only things he remembered.

But when he tried to think about the time he and his friends hung out after school when he was in his last year of middle school, he couldn't remember the uniforms, and even the faces of his friends became hazy. He had always hated how he had such a clear memory. He used to be able to remember random things that he and his mother used to do, but now it was all starting to slip away from him. He wished for those happy memories, though they normally cause him to have stretches of time where he was constantly in a foul mood. In fact he had even resorted to not go onto the side of town where he and his mother used to get ice cream, because if one memory was triggered then a whole lot of them would come later. He found that it was one of his weakness to think of his mother before she died, but he would occasionally allow himself a day where he just remembered, so often it was the day of his mothers death.

He felt completely powerless. He felt it when he was being held, but now the feeling, slightly lessened, was back. He couldn't do anything but wander around while his captors were plotting the possible downfall of Soul Society. He was lost and he was alone. Alone. That word hit him harder than he would've thought. It wasn't as if he didn't have faith in his friends, but he could tell that he had been gone for a long time. He wondered if his friends were even looking for him. He knew if this had happened to one of his friends, he did have friends who were kidnapped, he'd waste no time in looking for them. Even if it took a long time for him to find them, he would make sure, that his friends knew that he was coming to rescue them. But since his capture he hadn't even gotten that gut feeling that he should've gotten. Leaving him to think that he was expendable.

He was in a way, he had defeated Aizen. That was the primary reason for him to be so welcomed in the shinigami community, sure he was friends with Rukia, Renji, and all of those guys, but he wasn't really a shinigami, in many of the captain's mind. He should be thankful for what they did for him, even after he probably broke every rule that was possible to break. So he knew that he'd be lucky if they stuck their neck out once more for his sake, or maybe it would be indirectly. He didn't care, another thought struck him, maybe they didn't know he was missing? That was plausible, but unlikely, as they had Karakura town under surveillance. He shrugged to himself, he wasn't going to get his hopes up to much, as there wasn't much to allow him to hopeful except for the whim that his friends would return the favor of him saving them so many times.

His feet were getting tired of walking, he had long since just given up on trying to find a shelter, he was pushing his already weakened body too much. He wasn't sure where the injuries that he got from his torture went, but at the moment he didn't miss them. They were just reminders of how weak he was at one time when he didn't have a sword, sharp words, or the ability to walk away.

The battle between the former allies was starting to wind down. Both were injured, neither had any lethal wounds on him. A fact that Ashido found annoying, he had hoped swinging his sword around the shield and hitting the exposed flesh would wield satisfying results, it had only proved to injure the other man. Masao's shield's eye was all the way full now. and Ashido had a bad feeling about it.

Masao was pointing the shield directly at him. "You ready to see what I can really do?"

Ashido got into a ready stance. He wasn't sure what the attack would be but he was ready to move into whatever block would work best for the attack.

Masao murmured something and the eye started to glow brighter. Ashido watched as a small ball of energy formed in front of the eyes. That looks like a cero! Ashido thought, it was another second before he thought Crap! It is a cero!

The cero was released and Ashido jumped to the side, marveling at the size and destructive power of the cero. He saw Masao lower his shield, and just as he was about to move forward once more, he saw the blue eyes widen impossibly large as they looked down and saw a blade piercing through his heart. He crumbled to the ground as the blade was pulled away. Ashido looked at the wielder of the blade. It was a pale woman, adorned all in white, even her hair and her ribbon that loosely held her waist length hair back.

She had startling blue eyes, and the front of her kimono was now splattered with red making a sharp contrast. She looked up and saw Ashido looking at her. She inclined her head towards him. He backed up slightly and she smiled almost sadly.

"We are on the same side... For now." The words echoed in his head, barely a whisper but there was no doubt the owner of the voice was the woman in front of him. She turned elegantly and within a second she was gone, leaving a swirl of white sand in her wake.

Ashido was soon joined by the other members of the squad. "Who was that?" Ashido asked them.

Rukia shrugged. "A passerby maybe."

"Do random people dressed entirely in white often come and kill people in your battles?" Ashido wondered.

"Not often"; Toshiro spoke calmly.

"This has happened before?" Ashido cried.

Toshiro shrugged. "Anyway, let's head off to Los Noches."

Renji nodded. "The sooner we find this anomaly the better for us, and for Ichigo."

Ashido couldn't help the grim thought that crossed his mind. If there is anything left to help.

The seven of them set off towards the tall white towers in the distance. Thankfully it was an easy landmark to follow since Hueco Mundo was empty and nothing was obstructing their vision at the moment. Toshiro thought that it was a nice change to have a peaceful, non aimlessly wandering walk. He liked to have a course, and he finally got it. He had a plan, and hopefully it would go off without at hitch. Of course, knowing the luck of the shinigami, something would no doubt go wrong, but he was expecting it, so the damage should be minimal. He hoped at least...

Halfway Cliffhanger? Right we're at the bottom. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 13 as much as you enjoyed the other chapters. Foreshadowing is kind of my thing in case you didn't notice. I'd make a good suspense writer don't you think? Not really. Alright enough stalling on my part and I'll give you the sneak peak.

Yuna rolled her eyes when she felt Masao's reiatsu disappear. The king was not going to be pleased with the turn of events. She had felt the seven reiatsus before, the newest one was the shinigami that lurked on the lower levels below them. The other six were the same group. Just before Masao's reiatsu disappeared she sensed an eighth. After evaluating the reiatsu she leapt up with such ferocity that the chair she had been lounging in toppled backwards. She had even startled Osamu, who was just walking into the room after fulfilling her order.

"Premier?" He asked uncertainly.

Yuna didn't hear him or was ignoring him. She was seething, the amount of anger she was feeling was evident in her eyes, normally a russet color with more brown, looked to be redder.

She growled. 'There's no way that she can still be alive!'

Osamu took a small step back. Hoping to avoid his premier's apparent wrath at someone.

…

And that's your preview! Later! ~IF