Hey all! Welcome back. I almost didn't get this chapter posted today because I've been sicker than a dog for the past three days or so. That being said, I'm probably going to late updating next week, so I apologize. Any how… .thanks to Kaga Kurai, urugushinigami, Phantom Claire, Mer-mer, and AngryHitsu for leaving your reviews. Now onto the chapter while I go take more medication and I'll see you at the bottom!

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

When night fell on Hueco Mundo two figures walked into the room where the prisoner was being held. The room had been remodeled somewhat instead of being just a singular bed there were two chairs, a table, and a pitcher of water. The teen's bed still remained the center of attention when walking into the room.

The two figures each took a chair. Neither of them looking pleased with their situation. "Why do I have to help you?"

"Our King ordered it such." Enyo replied.

"I know that much. But how am I supposed to help the queen of mindfucking with something I have no clue about?" Yuna growled.

Enyo scowled before flipping her hair and replying. "Your demoness abilities might be needed."

"Right." Yuna snorted.

"They most likely won't be needed, however." Enyo spoke.

Yuna rolled her eyes and leaned back in the chair. "Yeah, yeah. Just get this over with."

Enyo flipped her hair once more. "Gladly."

Enyo remain standing. "Entrap, Suneeku Chixeen."

As she said that her blade started to glow and extend until it was the whip. She cracked it once. "Bankai." She spoke and the whip started to crawl up her arm, across her back, and down the other arm.

"Kokoro no Rensa."

Yuna rolled her eyes. She didn't enjoy the time wasting that Enyo was doing. She had something more important to be doing she was sure, but the King had ordered to stay with Enyo while she attempted one last time to get the kid's hollow out of him. It was an annoying order, but she wouldn't be the one to disobey the king, first, at least. Besides this might prove interesting if Enyo fails the King again.

Enyo stuck her hand out in front of her spreading her fingers as wide as they could go. She muttered something in Greek and there was a brilliant flash, then there was nothing, Enyo was completely still, she wasn't even blinking. Out of mild curiosity Yuna waved her hand in front of Enyo's face. Nothing. Yuna arched a pale blue eyebrow but returned to her seat. She swung her legs up onto the bed.

"Might as well catch some shut eye." She murmured into the room.

Enyo looked around. She was in Ichigo's inner world that was for sure, she wouldn't be one to forget the skyscrapers reaching towards the sky. She closed her eyes trying to sense any sort of presence, unsurprisingly there was none. She spun around slowly, making sure that she was completely alone and that one of the inner world's residences wasn't hiding itself behind her. She found that no one was there.

She looked down at her feet, the foundations of the skyscrapers were cracking. They weren't minute hairline fractures, they were large enough that she could stick her entire foot into them, and they were making their way towards the top.

Leaping over the crack she headed towards the soul's chamber, hoping to find answers there. It was a longer walk than last time, Enyo wondered if it was because the closer she got to the soul chamber the more cracks appeared and the larger they were. The immediate area around the soul was nearly destroyed. There was piles of debris, the cracks were the largest that had been, and there was even a large crevice that separated her from the actual soul.

In one graceful jump she cleared the crevice. The soul had noticed her presence and the band that had been there before lashed out at her. She had to get out of the way before it impaled her. The band receded and continued to wrap around Ichigo's soul.

Enyo snorted. This was proving to be a huge waste of time, she was being attacked by things that don't really exist. She walked around looking for the form of the teen. If he wasn't brain dead like most people who fall into the pit beneath their soul, then he had to been near enough to it. Enyo knew better than anyone, prolonged exposure to one's soul could be a bad thing, not that she would care if that happened to the teen. After all the King's attitude towards him was that he was a means to an end.

She saw no sign of the teen. Crossing her arms she focused on the other side of the pit. She didn't sense any other presence, and she should even if it was barely there. It could've been the soul interfering but the interference that it would've caused wouldn't have been enough to hinder her.

After a few minutes of consideration Enyo decided that the teen wasn't here, and that he wasn't in his inner world. She huffed in annoyance, she knew exactly what had happened and he was out of reach for everyone but a singular person. Though the tricky part would be to find that person, unless of course the teen and that person knew about it. She shook her head, it didn't matter the teen would be physically dead by the time his rescue team got to him. It would take on hell of a healer to save his body,

Enyo walked back towards the main area of the inner world. Pausing when she spotted a crack that was further up the skyscraper than the others. Walking to the end of it she slammed her blade down causing the crack to speed up to the top, Enyo batted away the bits of debris that showered down from the crack. It would only be a matter of time before this whole place fell onto its foundations,

Giving an unusually loud snap, Enyo closed her eyes and felt her fade from the inner world. She figured that this was nothing more than a feeble attempt to reconcile for what she knew the King counted as a failure. It was more of a waste of time than anything, though it should've weakened his body some more, so there was a less of a chance that he would make it out alive. That gave her some peace.

The Grecian opened her eyes back into the "hospital room." Smirking as she saw the trickle of blood flow down the teen's face. He wouldn't last much longer, that she was sure of, and her appearing into his inner would weakened him that much more. She guessed his body wouldn't last two more days. It was a pity, not that she cared much for the teen himself but having the hollow would've given them a clear advantage in power, the had a slight one, but it wasn't much, the hollow would've guaranteed that whatever shinigami faced it would be killed, because the hollow had no remorse, and at the end of the day all of the destruction that the hollow would've caused would've created poor shelter for the Gotei.

A soft snore jarred her out of her musings. She turned towards the sound, only to find Yuna asleep, her chair tipping back dangerously. Enyo kicked the chair sending the girl sprawling backwards. Yuna woke up and glared.

"What was that for?"

"What was what for?"

Yuna stood up and brushed herself off. "Kicking my chair backwards."

"You fell back, when I returned you chair was tipping dangerously."

Enyo ignore whatever profanity escaped the other shinigami's mouth and began to head towards the door. She didn't wait at the door for her companion but instead walked through the door not sparing the other a glance.

Yuna growled. "She needs to show more respect to me."

The blue haired girl looked at the teen laying in the bed. She pursed her lips. His condition had worsened, walking towards him she tilted her head observing him. This was the first time she had seen him since his move, she knew Enyo was charged with the task of converting him over to their side, but it seemed she was failing. Yuna placed a hand over the teen's heart, feeling the slow and unsteady beat. She removed it.

"To bad he's unconscious." She mumbled.

She drew a single symbol in the air, watching as her demon magic started to work. It wasn't an overly powerful technique, and it wasn't truly magic, it was like the shinigami's kido. The spell finally took effect, she could see the life force of the teen, but it was barely there. Life force was based on the color of the aura. If was vibrant and you could make a clear distinction of the color then the person was alive and nothing was hindering them. But the teen's, which she guessed was a bright orange color had faded into a near white that looked like the orange was staining it.

"That's too bad for him." Yuna spoke, "I'm sure the demons could've struck a deal with him."

She turned around to walk out of the room. Not caring about the teen anymore, she had satisfied her curiosity for now. Yuna needed to find Enyo so that they could report to the King together otherwise she'd have to explain why she was in the guest's room longer than Enyo was. You don't lie to the King. Yuna thought. She knew that Sachio didn't tolerate liars, and the half-demon wasn't ready to expose her ace just yet, certainly not when she was floating around.

Night had too fallen quickly for the seven shinigami. Being caught up in the excitement of finding a lead, they had failed to notice the passing of time and night had snuck up on them. The group had begrudgingly set up camp for the night, they were still quite a distance away from their destination, and the night was proving to be a cold one but they couldn't find any fuel for a fire, so would have to suffer with it.

The high spirits remained however. As a captain Toshiro was pleased, a high morale meant there was a higher chance of success. Though he guessed that sleeping out in the middle of an unfriendly world in the cold would lower it, but he wasn't sure how much it would lower, he hoped it wouldn't be that much. He couldn't imagine it if they failed on such a simple task. All they had to do was get the coordinates and then get back to Urahara then they it was up to the ex-captain to get them into the place.

Toshiro sighed, it was going to take more time that way but he highly doubted that the Neo-Gotei would be welcoming enough to let them into their lair and get Ichigo. Rangiku looked towards him when he sighed. He waved his hand towards her to dismiss her attention.

The young captain couldn't help but wonder about what Yuna had said about them knowing about the Gotei 13's plans. It was almost certain that it meant they had spies, but who? Toshiro wondered how the Gotei 13 had become so easy to infiltrate. True they were still recovering from Aizen's attack last year, and there had been a few losses and there was a sense of discord, so yes they weren't as organized as usual. Toshiro had a feeling that the spies had been in the squad longer than Aizen, possibly as long as 110years ago. Which if that was true then whoever the mastermind of the Neo-Gotei was good, and very patient.

Toshiro laid on his back. Looking up at the sky, not surprised by the distinct lack of stars in the sky. He sighed and closed his eyes. Hyorinmaru made a sound in his head, making Toshiro think that the dragon wanted to talk to him. Since he doubted this was about getting stronger he would just meditate, but make it look like he was sleeping.

The moment that he was comfortable he felt the familiar tug on his consciousness as he went into his inner world. The snow was blowing harsher than it normally did when he visited, due to the inner turmoil he was going through. The confusing thought about why he was hearing Ichigo's voice.

The young captain looked up to the Ice dragon who was looking restless. The large dragon turned to look at him, the red eyes landing on the white haired captain's teal orbs. The dragon hummed a greeting and Toshiro returned the greeting with a nod.

'So you've finally decided to listen to me?' The dragon thought.

'I didn't hear you. I was preoccupied. Sorry about that.' Toshiro thought back

'So it would seem.' The dragon sounded like it was amused.

Toshiro sighed in irritation. 'What was so important that you requested my presence for?'

'A few things.' The dragon, if it had shoulders it would've shrugged.

'Which are?'

'One being that you could still here me. Another is to warn you. The last reason is I have a question.' The dragon hummed.

'Okay. One down. Why do I need a warning? I know these guys are dangerous.'

The dragon blew air out of its nose. 'They are. But what you do here is going to send something much older and much more devastating into action.'

'Something more serious than soul society being destroyed?' Toshiro almost scoffed, but remembered whose presence he was in.

'It transcends the needs of the mortals, it's something much deeper than pathetic squabbles over power.' The dragon rumbled.

Toshiro felt that it was best to change the course of the conversation, even if the dragon was the spirit that resided in his soul, it was still a dragon. After all.

'What sort of ancient devastating thing will be set into action?'

'Something that precedes even an ancient dragon.'

Toshiro shuddered involuntarily. The dragon sounded incredibly grave when it spoke about this ancient horror. Since he had little to go on Toshiro figured that taking heed of a warning would be beneficial in the long run, if there was one.

Toshiro suddenly recalled one more thing 'You said you had a question?'

'How much do you know of bonds? The type that are connected to the soul, and not just to the heart?'

Toshiro blinked at the dragon. Surely it had to know what its partner knew.

'I know what you feel and how you feel but not your individual knowledge unless you share it with me.' The dragon supplied helpfully.

The young captain shrugged. 'I know very little, in truth. I know that some bonds are strong enough to withstand the test of time, but they are quiet rare. If you find your love one in Soul Society, then those people are soul mates. Should they be reborn they find each other time after time.'

The dragon nodded its massive head. 'Then you are well on your way. I cannot help you more than that. But let it be known, a very strong bond is starting to awaken. This may be the key to stopping whatever is going to happen.'

Toshiro stared up at the massive dragon. For what seemed to be the first time in his life really looking at the dragon. It seemed older than he originally though, he wasn't an expert on dragons or anything but he could tell that the dragon was older than it was letting on. If the size was anything to go on. When Hyorinmaru was in the physical world he wasn't as nearly as big. Toshiro felt awed that this dragon had lent him its strength.

'Go now child. You'll need as much rest. The worst is yet to come.'

Toshiro opened his eyes to see that it was still dark, and judging by the moon's position it had been only an hour since they had made camp. Toshiro turned onto his side. His full intent was to use the rest of the time for sleep.

Rukia was talking in a muted voice to Ashido, telling him about all he had missed in his absence. She had been extremely excited when she had gotten the notification that there was a match in her vicinity. She thought that it was a sign. Rukia wasn't one to believe in a clichés like that, but she did think that it was destiny that she would find Ichigo. After all she had been the one to find him originally, though it wasn't like he was lost the first time.

Since the first time that she met him, Rukia had though that they were intertwined, not in the romantic sense either, like everyone thought when she explained the feeling to her. She knew that she wouldn't have Ichigo's heart, and originally she might've felt something akin to disappointment, but she had move past that, Orihime wouldn't have Ichigo's heart, the poor girl had never been told otherwise and hadn't come to that conclusion herself yet. Rukia wondered if she should intervene.

She noticed that Ashido was looking at her. Rukia blinked. "Sorry, my thoughts were wandering."

"About Ichigo?" Ashido asked.

"Yeah, I hope he's alright." Rukia mumbled.

"You two seem very close." Ashido remarked. It was a gently pry for information.

"We are. Living in someone's closet tends to do that." She smiled at the confused look that she got. "That's a story for another time. But I do feel responsible for him. It's my fault he got thrown into this world, and he still is a kid, no matter how much he denies it."

Ashido was quiet for a few minutes, then he spoke once again. "He can take care of himself can't he? From what I've heard, he's incredibly strong."

"He can take care of himself when he's fighting. But in the other aspects of his life, he really can't do anything. I mean he's seventeen and he's never had a girlfriend or boyfriend!"

"Maybe he is waiting for someone to be interested in him." Ashido supplied.

Rukia shook her head. "He's had plenty of people interested in him, so that's not the answer."

The man chewed on his lip. "I see your point."

"He's so dense about those things!" Rukia said irritably.

Ashido put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I don't doubt you. But maybe he's more aware than he seems."

Rukia shrugged. "Maybe, but I doubt it. He's too focused on protecting people and fighting than interacting with people. I don't blame him."

Ashido and Rukia sunk into a comfortable silence. The camp was quieting down a few people where still speaking, namely Yumichika and Ikkaku. They were silent in their communications so unless you were actually in their conversation you couldn't hear them.

Rukia looked away from Ashido's profile and stared up at the moon. It was so different from the moon of Soul Society and the Living World. This moon seemed unwelcoming, secretive, and lifeless. Whereas the moon in the World of the Living was friendly, mysterious, and so full of life. Though Rukia wondered how a moon showed life. She just thought that the moon on the night that she met Ichigo was the most beautiful moon that she had ever seen. It had been a full moon and it had been bright, so the world had been bathed in the eerie white glow of the moon. But instead of causing a sense of unease it had caused beauty.

People where starting to turn in for the night and Rukia decided that she would try to get some rest as well. She settled down, curling herself into a tight ball, after sleeping in a closet for so long she had developed the sleeping habit of making herself as small as possible.

Rukia let out a sigh. She remembered laughing silently at Ichigo when he had wiggled around a bit too much and had random parts of him hanging off of the bed, sometimes he even fell out of bed. She wondered if he was getting enough sleep, or was he being tortured twenty-four seven. She snuggled deeper into the shifting sand. She'd find out soon enough. They all would.

26 days since Ichigo went missing.

The morning was bright. It actually felt like a desert, but just not as hot as a normal one. The team was packing up their camp. It took them a good hour or so before they actually were ready to get a move on.

Rukia and Ashido planned on taking turns leading the group as they were the ones that found the anomaly. The rest would take turns leaving the group for a quick perimeter check. It was more of a precaution than anything. There was no way to tell when one of the Neo-Gotei would try to attack them, like Masao had.

Toshiro didn't enjoy heat that much. Being an ice-zanpakuto user tended to make him prefer the cold. It wasn't him, he didn't like the heat before he became a shinigami but it was worse when he got his zanpakuto, the dragon hated the heat and he made sure that Toshiro would know when it was too hot. For being a dragon, Hyorinmaru certainly complained a lot. Right now it was nearing 80 degrees already and the dragon was making a pathetic whining noise trying to get its master's attention, no unlike a dog.

The others were starting to feel the heat as well. "If this is what it's like in the morning, high noon is going to be awful." Yumichika grumbled.

"Deserts are notorious for being hot." Ashido replied unhelpfully.

"Matsumoto replied in an unusually smart tone. We might need to stop if it gets too hot, fighting while having a heat stroke doesn't seem like a good idea."

There was a grumbled of assent but everyone could tell that the idea wasn't a welcomed accepted one. They wanted to find Ichigo as soon as possible. But they did know that they would be facing tough opponents and being in less than perfect heath would get you killed in a heartbeat.

Though Urahara stated that they only needed to get the coordinates and he would do the rest so if they needed they could get a few days of rest. That was assuming that there wasn't any sort of guard as well. Toshiro, as much as he would like to believe the Neo-Gotei was cocky enough to forgo guards, he knew that his team wouldn't be that lucky.

The group trekked on in relative silence, other than the occasion comment about something, complaint, or Rukia and Ashido conferring over what Toshiro assumed were directions. The only way they could tell that time was actually passing was because of the sun moving across the sky. That was one of the more annoying things about deserts Toshiro decided, everything looked the same.

Since they were walking in a mostly straight line Toshiro allowed his thoughts to wander with the memory of what happened last night when he had talked to Hyorinmaru. The dragon had mentioned bonds, the white haired captain wondered what that had to do with anything. He was genius, and evidentially the bond was something they needed to stop this unknown threat but it wouldn't matter if the two members of the bond didn't know of its existence.

It was baffling. Something had happened and it was setting too many things in motion too fast. Toshiro had to wonder why mentors, he used the word loosely here, had to be so damn cryptic when they attempted to provide aid.

The line had paused while Ashido and Rukia searched for the direction of the wave having lost it or something along those line. Toshiro felt an unnatural fear creep into his heart. Something terrible was happening to Ichigo, he just didn't know what. All he knew was that he needed to get to the substitute shinigami as fast as possible. But he knew he couldn't let his worry shine outwardly, it would only cause to worry the others and that might cause them to lose focus. They couldn't have that. Toshiro knew that it was now a race against time more than ever, and what was worse, it was approaching high noon, and they were still a long distance from the base.

Woot! Made it to the bottom and I'm about dead with exhaustion so don't blame me if the preview is short. So here ya go.

Ichigo really began to wonder if his wandering had any meaning at all. Maybe it was some sort of spiritual journey that he was supposed to engage in and find something out that he didn't know and once he found out what he needed this dammed snow would stop. Okay so maybe he was grasping at straws but when one was wandering around in a wasteland getting nowhere, on tends to grasp at straws. Ichigo got up and started what he assumed was his daily wandering.

There you all are! Hope you enjoy, leave your thoughts, and all of that. I'm off to curl up in a corner. Later! ~IF