Uruhara's shop

"Welcome my young friend." Uruhara cried happily. "Welcome to Uruhara's shop."

Conan stared at the weird looking man in front of him. "Uh…"

"You're so happy to be here that you're speechless. I know, my shop gives that kind of effect on people." Uruhara smiled widely. "I guess…"

Rukia aimed another flying kick at his head. He managed to dodge it.

"You can't try the same trick twice." Uruhara beamed at her. Then he pitched forward.

"Don't talk nonsense anymore!" Ichigo said angrily. "Let's get to the point already."

"Alright already." Uruhara gasped from the ground. "Before I die from all the kicks I get."

He led the group down to his basement. He had built a large cavern-like room beneath his shop. It was the same place where Ichigo trained to regain his shinigami powers. Uruhara had set up the portal that would allow Conan and his group to go to Soul Society. Ichigo remembered the portal clearly. He and his friends had almost gotten swallowed up when they went to Soul Society to save Rukia. Uryu Ishida had almost been lost to the portal. Ichigo shuddered.

Conan was in awe of everything around him. He was so amazed with his surroundings. He had a ton of questions to ask but the weird bunch of characters seemed to be engrossed in whatever they were discussing. Conan decided to stay silent for the time being and try to milk as much information before he asked questions.

"Okay!" Uruhara beamed widely. "This here's the portal to bring you to Soul Society. Besides Ichigo here, no one else has gone through the portal and made it out alive." He leaned in close to Conan. "Are you scared?"

"There's nothing to be scared of." Conan replied coolly, looking straight back at Uruhara.

"Don't you need to tell him about how the portal works?" Rukia asked.

"Ah yes. That..."

"This is probably a portal to this Soul Society place you keep talking about. And judging by the look on Ichigo's face, I can see that it's not as safe as it appears to be. Perhaps it has a time limit to it. The portal will close after a certain period of time and whoever is stuck, remains stuck." Conan looked around at the astonished faces. "Am I right?"

"Spot on."

"Darn right."

"Whoa."

"Now I know why he's needed back at Soul Society." Rukia whispered to Ichigo. He nodded.

"Good deduction kid. So let's get on with it." Uruhara touched the side of the huge portal. It hummed and exploded open with a bright light. "Remember, you have precisely 4 minutes before you're stuck. Good luck."

"Let's go Rukia!" Ichigo cried as he plunged into the light. Rukia followed close behind him. Conan was about to follow them in when Uruhara stopped him.

"Are you really a kid?"

Conan smiled mysteriously. "That remains to be seen." Then he followed the other two shinigamis into the portal.

World-in-between

Conan stumbled out into an open space. He adjusted his glasses and looked behind him. The portal had disappeared and in its place was a huge wall of nothingnes, rushing on to him. Conan felt as though he was a rabbit caught in front of a car's headlights. He froze.

Suddenly, he felt himself being lifted into the air by a pair of strong arms; Ichigo's. Beside them, Rukia was panting hard as she tried to keep pace with Ichigo. They were running while the wall of nothingness loomed dangerously behind them. Conan forced himself to breathe calmly.

"Nice one kid. We almost lost you eve before we reached Soul Society." Ichigo managed to say in between breaths.

"Put me down. I can run pretty fast on my own." Conan insisted.

"And risk having you lost forever. I don't think that'll happen."

Conan struggled for a bit and finally managed to jump out of Ichigo's grasp. He quickly bent down and turned the knob on his shoes. He could feel the boost of the shoes. He silently thanked Dr. Agasa's brilliant invention. With the help of the shoes, he could easily keep pace with the other two shinigamis.

"There it is. C'mon!" Rukia yelled. Conan saw a thin sliver of light up ahead. He immediately ran a little faster.

"C'mon! It's closing in on us!"

Suddenly, Conan felt a familiar burning in his bones. The pain was unbearable. But he forced himself to continue running forward. He slowed down.

Ichigo and Rukia leapt out of the portal into the fresh air of Soul Society. Conan was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?!" Ichigo cried. The portal still had not closed yet.

"I think that's him coming!" Rukia said, peering into the bright light of the portal.

A figure leapt out of the portal. But he was not a kid anymore. Ichigo and Rukia approached the figure. He was dressed in tattered clothes that were way too big for him. His eyes fluttered open.

"Who the heck are you!?" Ichigo demanded. "Where's Conan!?"

Rukia peered closely at the face of the young man. Then it struck her.

"Ichigo." Rukia's voice was barely above a whisper. "I think THAT is Conan."