READ THIS BIT!

Seriously, thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed last time, there was some really good advice there in that I realised the main reason people are losing interest is because it's usually so long between updates. So from now on I'll be doing a short recap before the start of the next chapter. Thanks for all your patience. :)

Recap

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto dramatically leave for Hueco Mundo, shock!

Karin and Yuzu are about to leave for Hueco Mundo as well, shock!

Sode No Shirayuki materialises in Zangetsu's world to ask Ogihci for help, and also explains that time works differently in Hueco Mundo, and for every day there it's a year in the human world and Soul Society, and is about to tell him what's happened to Rukia. Shock!

Rukia and Kaien realise that not everything's quite right in their perfect little world, and Rukia decides to go pay Renji a visit. Shock!

Also, while Ichigo is away to save Rukia, Renji and Inoue go to save Ishida. That's important guys ;)

So enjoy and try and give feedback! ;D

Heart

Chapter Six – Bloodstained Hurricane

You walk on like a woman in suffering
Won't even bother now to tell me why
You come alone, letting all of us savour the moment
Leaving me broken another time
You come on like a bloodstained hurricane
Leave me alone, let me be this time
You carry on like a holy man pushing redemption
I don't want to mention, the reason I know

- Stricken by Killswitch Engage

------h-e-a-r-t-----

"Ready?"

The youngest twin looked up at the hat and clogs wearing grin of the shop owner, without a trace of hesitation on her face. She looked over at Yuzu, who had the same determined expression in her eyes, and then nodded as she looked back over at the ex-taichou of the twelfth division.

"Ready."

Urahara Kisuke nodded back at her, grinning wider than before. "Then go for it!"

In a flash he had opened the garganta, and without a glance back at the underground training room and its occupants, Karin ran straight through, with Yuzu right beside her.

Silence ensued for the next ten seconds before Urahara closed the garganta, a noise like a suction vacuum ripping through the air before it disappeared into nothing but spirit particles.

"You seem pretty happy for someone sending two teenage girls to their deaths," a lazy voice reached his ears. He turned and saw Ururu and Jinta standing side by side, Jinta now nearly at the same height as him and Ururu only a little shorter. Over the last three years, Jinta had shaped into a young man who looked somewhat like an un-tattooed Abarai Renji, while Ururu looked more or less the same as always, give a few inches in height and overall teenage development. "Or d'you have something up your sleeve?"

Urahara let a dry chuckle escape his lips, which only the cat circling his ankles could tell was cracked and full of false reassurance, before he said, "Of course I do Jinta. Don't underestimate me."

"What's the plan?" Jinta asked, his arms tucked behind his head in an effort to look as nonchalant and carefree as possible.

The shopkeeper turned back to look at the space where the garganta had been only moments ago, before replying, "What makes you think I have one?"

Jinta's eyes widened. "Boss, you've gotta have a plan!"

"No. I've got two people who worked to the bone to achieve the highest strength possible, and they did it. Now they're fighting with the powers and strength they earned, and they're gonna do better than even they realise." He turned to look back at Jinta, a wide grin on his face. "You can't do much better than that."

"What about Tatsuki-chan?" Ururu's soft voice broke through the conversation.

"She's fine, and no doubt Karin and Yuzu will end up fighting alongside her."

Several moments passed in silence before Tessai's voice broke through the air from above, in the store. "Jinta! Ururu! Finish cleaning up!" Ururu silently made her way to the ladder with an eyerolling Jinta following behind her, and they ascended to the shop above, leaving Urahara alone with the careful stare of the cat.

"Yes, Yoruichi?"

She scrutinised him more closely before reverting to her human state, her arms folded across her chest as she studied his face."What's happening, Kisuke?"

A genuinely confused expression came across his tired face. "What do you mean Yoruichi?"

"I mean it's been three years, and not even Kyoraku takes three years to win a battle. Something's going on over there." She looked at him longer when he failed to reply, and her voice grew quieter, to the point where Urahara had to strain his ears to hear her. "I'm worried about them, Kisuke."

He suddenly smiled, the most genuine smile she'd seen in three years, as he said, "Why are you worried for them, Yoruichi?"

"Because I trained them, Urahara! They have as much potential as Ichigo did, maybe even more, and we've built them up to believe they can actually survive in that place…" He looked back at her, and for the first time in decades he saw true worry and fear on her face.

It doesn't suit her, the thought suddenly struck him.

"What if we were wrong, Kisuke? What if we've sent them straight to their deaths?"

Suddenly arms were encircling her waist, and she realised that she'd forgotten how fast Urahara could be.

"Let me ask you this, Yoruichi. Among the group we trained, who were the strongest fighters?"

She blinked. "What does that have to do with-?"

"-Please just answer, Yoruichi."

She contemplated the meaning of the question before answering, "Tatsuki, Karin, and Mizuiro."

"Wasn't it you, who taught them to fight?" He rested his chin on her head before continuing. "Weren't you the one who taught Ichigo how to reach Bankai, in just three days? More so, wasn't it you who taught Tatsuki-chan how to strengthen her own unique power, and taught her every single one of your own techniques, and then how to develop her own?" He felt her nod once, slowly. "On top of that, you helped Karin develop her shinigami powers and achieve bankai in just under three years, and you showed Mizuiro how to control and fight with his own unique powers, despite them being of a type we've never seen before."

Silence went by before she softly said, "So what, Urahara? They might still die."

Never in his life had Urahara heard such a painful sound as Yoruichi's voice in that moment. Leaving me broken another time.

"Yeah, you're right Yoruichi. They might. But if it wasn't for you, they'd have nowhere near as high a chance for victory as they do now. So have more faith in their abilities. They deserve it." He moved away from her and towards the space where the garganta had been. "Besides," he looked back at her and grinned to a degree that seemed humanly impossible, "I doubt they've got much chance of losing with half of Sereitei and Karakura sneaking over to help them."

You walk on like a woman in suffering.

-----h-e-a-r-t-----

All the hollow could do was stare at her, and all she could do was stare at her bare, white feet, and imagine that she was drowning in the crimson that coloured her toenails.

"You're not going to tell me you're kidding, are you?" His voice was uncharacteristically serious, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes themselves trying desperately to meet hers, as if hoping that if he stared hard enough then he'd pierce through her ivory hair and she'd hold her head up high, like he was used to, like she was supposed to.

"Only mere hollows like you could 'kid' about something like this," she snapped back, but her head still stayed trained to her feet, and he noticed that her retorts seemed to be missing the fiery calibre they were supposed to have.

Silence reigned the space between them for what felt like years.

He wished she would look at him.

He tried to speak, but for the first time, Ogihci was lost for words.

He couldn't take the silence.

She wouldn't look at him.

He wished she would look at him.

"I failed."

Of all the ways he expected the silence to be broken, he never thought it would be an admittance of defeat from the zanpakuto of Kuchiki Rukia.

He found his voice again. "What?"

Suddenly her head snapped up, and her violet eyes were burning in anger. "I said I failed, are you deaf? Or just ignorant? I failed my master in a way I never thought I could. In a way Zangetsu will never fail Kurosaki. Not even Nejibana, that crude, idiotic, carefree, shameful excuse for a zanpakuto, ever failed Kaien like this!"

Never, in all the time that he had grown accustomed to Shirayuki's visits, had he seen her lose her composure in such a way.

It doesn't suit her.

"What are you whining about? Catch a fucking grip!" She glared at him, a look of pure hatred on her perfect face, but he couldn't care less. "So Aizen has Rukia, and some other guy, trapped in their minds. They're perfectly healthy for the moment, aren't they?"

"…For right now." Her glare softened into worry. "But the moment Alulueri and the imposter in Rukia's body fight anyone, any damage to their bodies will be inflicted directly to the metaphorical bodies of the real Rukia and Kaien."

He stared at her harder. "So if this new espada in Rukia's body…if her body dies, Rukia'll die?"

"Well done, I've only spent an hour explaining it to you. How pathetic."

"Fuck up, you were the one who was so pathetic she started whining about what a failure she was."

She looked back at him, and for the first time, she spoke to him as if they were on the same level, which, although she didn't know it yet, they were. "I only said you were pathetic. I never said I wasn't." She looked away from him, to the sky beside her.

Silence was growing between them again, and it was killing him.

When the heart is cold, there's no hope.

"If Rukia is killed, it will be my fault. I was unable to save her. She is only in this danger because I was weak enough to be nearly destroyed by that disgusting imitation of him..."

Nejibana…

Ogihci didn't need to know what had happened between Rukia and Alulueri to know that Shirayuki wasn't talking about Kaien.

"So what do you need me to do?"

She looked at him again, silently surprised by his calm face and even calmer voice. His willingness to help her. "I need you to tell Kurosaki everything I've told you."

Just like that, the calm was broken.

"What? That's it?!" His reiatsu flared angrily and she looked at him, surprised, but speechless. "That's all you want from me?! So I can run and tell Ichigo what's going on, so he can go and put on his best crown and be the hero who saves the day?! So he can be the king, again?! So he's the one who matters, while I'm stuck here with nothing to do all day but listen to people like you and Zangetsu go on about how great he is, compared to me?!"

"…Ogihci…"

His reiatsu reached what felt like breaking point. "When are you going to realise, that I'm fucking here too?!"

"I already do!" she screamed back at him. "Why else would I be here, asking you to save me?!"

"Because you can't ask Ichigo yourself!" he shouted at her, his voice cracking with anger.

"I'm not asking Ichigo, you fucking hollow, I'm asking you!" Ogihci stopped in his tracks and stared at her, and he had to look twice before he realised she was crying, thick black tears staining her porcelain face. "I'm asking you to do this for me! If I was asking Ichigo, I'd have found some way to tell him directly myself, if I was asking Ichigo, I wouldn't still be here, talking to you, and if I was asking Ichigo anything, I'd be asking him to run away from this place and go home before he kills himself, before he kills you!"

No words could leave his mouth. All he could do was stare at her and ask himself when she turned into the emotionally unstable creature that she always said he was. When she lost her composure? When she lost Rukia? When she lost Nejibana all over again?

He was compelled by the need to say something to her, but once again it was her who broke the silence.

Her voice was bitter and her small, white hands were tightly fisted. "If it helps your ego trip any, there's something I need you to do that Ichigo can't."

"Name it," he said, and only when he looked back on their conversation did he realise his lack of hesitation to do anything to save her.

"I need you to wait for me," she stated, her violet eyes piercing straight through his black and amber ones.

"How long for?" It didn't sound like a heroic mission, but he found that he didn't care.

She looked at him and with as much honesty as she could, she answered, "I don't know, Ogihci." She turned her back on him and began to walk away, towards the city sidewalks in front of him, before turning back to him and answering his unasked question. "You might see me in a few days…or longer." With that she turned her head back and kept walking.

"How long until you see me?"

She stopped walking and stood still, leaving the hollow to stare at the back of her ivory head. "A few years, at least." Silence began to grow again until she spoke her last words. "Goodbye Ogihci."

An aching he couldn't describe was filling up inside him, anxiety and the need to speak to her, say anything to her, was overflowing. I feel like I'm drowning. He needed to say something. He needed to speak.

"Come back soon." She turned round to look at him questioningly, before the smirk she was so used to reappeared on his ivory face as he explained, "You're the only one in this place who calls me by my own name."

She smirked back at him before resuming her steps, and in five seconds she had vanished into nothing.

You'll never know how your face has haunted me.

-----h-e-a-r-t-----

"Just a little bit further…" He clenched his fists as he ran, his red hair flowing behind him, no longer in place but he didn't seem to notice. The auburn haired girl ran as fast as she could in a vain effort to keep up with him, but she knew Renji was much faster than her, having had years, lifetimes of experience.

"Abarai-kun…" she panted, her breath coming out in cracks.

"What is it, Inoue?"

"Can't you feel it again?"

He frowned in confusion, but before he could ask what she was talking about, the strange reiatsu hit him again, the same as the one he, Ichigo and Orihime felt yesterday. He stopped in his tracks, Orihime right beside him.

"It's those… three reiatsu again, Abarai-kun…"

Three? In the suddenly blank, flooded state of his mind, only one reiatsu screamed out to him. It made his hair stand on end, it overwhelmed him completely, it twisted around his throat like ropes, cutting into his lungs in a way that made it impossible for him to breathe.

In his memories a smaller, weaker, far less intense reiatsu overwhelmed him in much the same way, a picture of hair as black as her eyes and a temperament as fiery as his hair, a presence that was once so weak he could barely notice it but was constantly watching from the corner of his eye.

Somewhere deep down, so deep down that he could push it down further and pretend it didn't exist, he hoped he was right. But as the seconds trickled by and the reiatsu intensified he wished, harder than he'd ever wished on anything his whole life, that he was wrong. He wished it wasn't her.

Suddenly, the raging storm that rang in his ears seemed to stop abruptly. He looked back at Orihime and from the confused look on her face, he confirmed that the reiatsu had vanished once again.

"Inoue…who do you think that is?"

His question went unanswered, and he hoped she would confirm his thoughts, yet wished more than anything that she would contradict them. They both knew who the reiatsu belonged to, but incredulity, disbelief and most of all fear prevented them from saying it aloud.

They once again continued to run, and in what felt like years they had reached the vast, empty space of dust and sand and the body lying face down in it.

"Ishida-kun…" Tears welled up in her eyes again, more sorrow than she'd ever felt in her life streamed down her cheeks despite the fact that she knew she could bring him back. "Ishida-kun, please hang on…" She knelt beside him and placed her hands over his lifeless body, her tears falling on his cold skin. "Ayame, Shuno!" They appeared instantly, and Orihime couldn't help but feel comforted as they smiled at her. "Souten Kisshun; I reject!"

The fairies immediately complied and set up a glowing shield around the Quincy's body, working harder than ever as they felt Orihime's worry and pain seeping through the air.

"Abarai-kun…" Renji looked at Inoue as she smiled sincerely and said, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For coming to get me. Ichigo wouldn't have let me go if you hadn't talked to him with me." She glanced at the fallen Quincy's body before turning back to him. "I would never have forgiven myself if I let Ishida-kun go."

Renji didn't really know what to say. He wasn't good in these touchy-feely situations. Awkwardly, he tried to reply. "Ichigo was just…worried you'd get hurt."

She smiled sadly at him before saying, "Kurosaki-kun should worry about Kuchiki-san more. She's more to him than I am."

Renji didn't have the heart to tell her that he does, and she is.

"What a touching scene we have here."

His head whipped round, looking for the source of the harsh voice, and his eyes widened in shock and horror at the sight in front of him. Standing before him was the espada that he and Ishida had fought so hard against, that Ishida had sacrificed himself in order to kill, and yet there he was, perfectly healthy with not a speck of blood or dirt on his immaculate clothes or pink hair.

"Szayel!" Renji roared, instantly pulling out Zabimaru and standing in front of Inoue and Ishida's healing body defensively. "You're fucking stubborn, y'know that?"

"Ah, shinigami, I'm hurt that you seemed to think you could get rid of me for good." He grinned manically, every silent step he took seeming like a never ending nightmare. "I knew you'd be coming back for the Quincy eventually. That's why I kept him alive long enough."

Renji gripped the hilt of his zanpakuto. He didn't like where this was going.

"Ishida-kun," Orihime's voice came out in cracked whispers. "Ishida…" Something was wrong. Something was twisted beyond her control. She turned to Ayame and Shuno, their faces mirroring hers. "Why…?" Tears rolled down her cheeks. "Why…?"

"I don't know, Hime-chan," Shuno frowned slightly.

"Please…please just work harder." Her vision blurred while she blinked rapidly, trying to regain focus. She turned back to the unconscious body at her knees. "Uryu." She shook his shoulders, while hers did the same. "Uryu!"

Renji listened to Orihime's cries, all the while staring Szayel in the eye. "What did you fucking do?"

"Like I said…I kept him alive long enough," the espada breathed, his eyes glinting in a disturbing way.

"If he was dead, she'd be able to bring him back!" Renji roared, suddenly charging at the pink haired espada. "Stop fucking me around!"

Szayel blocked the strike easily with his own bare arms, a chuckle escaping his lips as he retaliated by making a scratch on Renji's torso. "I never said he was dead, shinigami. I said I kept him alive long enough."

Renji screamed in anger as he tried to strike again. "Long enough for what?!"

"Long enough for this!" the espada laughed, "Kill her!" Renji's heart plummeted to his stomach as he heard a high pitched scream from behind him. He spun around to see something horribly familiar (not Ishida, no, that can't be Ishida!) with his hands around Orihime's throat, her screams dying as a guttering, choking sound escaped her lips instead, memories streaming from her eyes while someone she trusted with her whole heart was squeezing the life out of her.

"Inoue!" Renji screamed, his legs running faster than he ever knew they were capable of. "Ishida! Ishida, what the fuck are you doing?!" He was slowing. "Ishida, STOP!" He was definitely slowing. "INOUE!" Why the hell am I slowing? "ISHIDA! INOUE!" What the fuck did that gaydo espada do to me?! His limbs were slowing, he couldn't deny it. His legs felt heavier. His arms felt like lead, suddenly. Even his eyelids struggled to stay open. Still he tried to run, but he realised he could only be at a walking pace.

"What…the fuck did…you do to me…?" With horror, he realised that even his speech was slowing.

"Ah, what a marvellous test subject you turned out to be! You and the Quincy, well done!" A merciless laugh racked the espada's body before he composed himself. "Shinigami, you've experimented with drugs, ne? This is my very own form of relaxant. I managed to give you a dose through that nice big scratch I gave you about ten seconds ago. It's very concentrated stuff." He laughed again. "You want to sleep, don't you?"

Suddenly, sleep sounded like a very nice idea.

"That's what the Quincy did. He was dead when you left, y'know, but me being the kind, generous man I am, I brought him back to life. He seemed pretty tired, so I gave him some of this. I suggested he slept, so he did. I suggested he kill the pretty girl over there, so he's doing that now. The power of suggestion is oh so underrated, don't you agree?

Yes, Renji agreed.

"Have you ever wondered what happens to a shinigami when they die?"

Yes, Renji was rather curious about it, actually.

"Would you like to find out, shinigami?"

Yes, Renji decided it would be interesting to find out, and nodded his head once slowly.

"You see that zanpakuto in your hands? If you were to run that through your heart, you'd find out."

Yes, Renji supposed he would. He raised his arms agonisingly slowly, his blood pumping in his ears, until his sword was held out in front of his heart.

Orihime's vision was beginning to darken, but her eyes constantly jumped from Ishida to Renji and back to Ishida again. She wanted to shout to Renji. Don't do this Abarai-kun! This isn't how it's supposed to go! but all breath was escaping her as the hands of Ishida Uryu squeezed the life out of her. She looked back into his face, and even more tears silently streamed from her eyes as she saw his calm, blank expression.

He was not Ishida. Ishida was not passively doing as he was told, and Ishida was not turning on people who loved him, and Ishida was not hurting his friends. Ishida was the blue of the dress he made her, and Ishida was the suspense in the movies he convinced her to watch, and Ishida was the ice cream he'd buy her at weekends, and Ishida was walking home after school, and walking with her at 3am when neither of them could sleep, and Ishida was the clean white stitches of her heart, and Orihime suddenly realised that Ishida was-

Ishida is the only one I'll ever be completely and utterly in love with.

She shakily raised an arm and touched his cheek softly. She tried to tell him, but not even air could leave her throat now. At least when I die, he's the last face I'll see.

The sword slowly inched towards his chest, feeling like a lifetime to him. The less he thought, the more he wanted to know. What was going to happen? Would he be reborn into the human world? Would he just cease to exist completely? Would he- (something stung where he figured his heart was, something that wasn't the sword which was mere inches away) would he see her again?

"You stopped," the espada laughed lightly. "Don't you wanna know, shinigami? Aren't you just dying to find out where you'll go?"

…Yes. Yes, he was dying to know. He gripped the hilt harder as the blade slowly began to pierce his skin-

His hair stood on end as that inexplicable, overwhelming feeling returned, that reiatsu, twisting around his throat like ropes, cutting into his lungs and making it impossible for him to breathe. In the blank state of his mind, thoughts and feelings and his sense suddenly flooded back, images of that spiky black hair and fiery temper flashing before his eyes.

The sword slipped from his hand and lay forgotten on the ground.

"Hey, Glasses!" and those hands were ripped from Orihime's throat as Ishida was sent sprawling across the sand. "I almost approved of you too, you asshole!"

He was afraid to turn around and look.

"I don't know what the hell got into you, but – take this, Glasses!" Renji distinctly heard a cracking sound coming from over his shoulder.

"Ta-Tatsuki-chan…?" came Orihime's hoarse whisper.

In the back of his mind, Renji felt a small sense of pride at knowing he'd been right all along, but this was outweighed by the fear that suddenly dropped from his throat to the pit of his stomach like a runaway elevator. She couldn't be here. She was only human, and now she would be killed like one.

"Hey, Mizuiro, you do your thing now, kay?"

He wanted to turn around, so badly.

Orihime looked on in shock as Ishida suddenly became completely still where he stood. "Tatsuki-chan…" Her body became racked with sobs. "Tatsuki-chan!"

"It's okay, Orihime." Tatsuki looked behind her shoulder to catch Orihime's eye, and gave her a bright smile. "Whatever that bastard did to Glasses, he's fine now." She winked at her best friend before turning back to Mizuiro, who was clad in a standard shinigami hakama like Keigo, who stood mere feet away from Tatsuki. "Keep going!"

Orihime was confused. She couldn't see Mizuiro actually doing anything. He was just standing there stock still, watching Ishida with the creepy sort of intensity usually reserved for stalkers and paedophiles. In any other situation she would have laughed, actually. She continued to watch Ishida, slowly inching closer towards him so she could try and work out what was happening. It looked as if his eyes were clouded over by some sort of translucent film, but she saw that the sharp blue was steadily returning with every step she took. She didn't know what Mizuiro was doing, but it was working, whatever it was.

"Hey, Pineapple!" Renji had to turn around now, and came face to face with the bloodstained hurricane, the one person he had hoped would never get involved in all this. He looked down at her and noticed with slight surprise that she'd let her dark hair grow longer, down to her shoulders, but still with the same spiky edges he'd grown used to in Karakura. Her pale face was flecked with blood, he realised probably from previous fights. Her brown eyes looked up at him while her small, (bloodstained) lips twisted into a triumphant grin. "I knew you were one of them."

She just crashes back in as if she was never gone in the first place. Arisawa. She would never know how her face had haunted him. Renji became lost in his thoughts, and it took him a moment to register that she'd said something. "…What?"

She sighed impatiently. "I knew you were a shinigami, like Ichigo. I just didn't know what that was at the time." She blinked away the fleeting, painful memory of feeling left behind and gave him a smirk. "So, Abarai, what's the plan?"

He inwardly smiled to himself as he turned around and gestured towards Szayel, who had been watching the proceedings with unhidden interest. "We kick that guys ass."

-----h-e-a-r-t--c-h-a-p-t-e-r--s-i-x-----

Hope you all enjoyed, and I hope the snazzy recap helped to jog your memory. :]

No Ichigo this chapter, or Rukia either, but she'll be taking most of the spotlight next chapter, so I hope all you Rukia fans will be pleased.

Review? :D