Deep Set

What if Aizen's plan all along didn't involve Orihime? What if all he wanted to do was lure two powerful shinigami onto his side? He figured it out all he had to do was kidnap one small child.

Disclaimer- I do not own bleach or any of its characters.

The next chapters are in parts- so that means, Cliff-hangers between them! I have tried to avoid them as much as possible since I hate them on fan-fictions myself but these next chapters are so action packed there was no way to wrap it up so there wasn't a cliff-hanger.

And to just add, I am continually astounded whenever I receive an email regarding this fan-fiction, I never thought so many people would like it – So a big thank you to you and I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Also Happy New Year! ^^ (at be it a couple days late)

Chapter Eleven- No Reply at All pt 1

The building had not gotten any closer; it was still the same minute size as it had been when they had first spotted it on the horizon. Having not gotten any closer to it Hitsugaya had called for a break so that they could at least rest even if Ichigo seemed to be developing more energy as he shunpo'ed.

Still continuing to pace he was as Hitsugaya and Rukia settled nearby near one of the many dead tree's watching idly as Ichigo paced up and down until eventually Hitsugaya had had enough,

"Kurosaki will you stop it?!" he exclaimed cutting the orange haired shinigami from his revere

"What?" he asked confused his brows seemingly furrowing into one.

"Your infernal pacing!" Hitsugaya exclaimed again, "I haven't the slightest idea how you have so much energy but just desist!"

Ichigo shot a questioning look to Rukia who pointedly looked in the other direction not wanting to get involved in the males squabbles, with a shrug Ichigo walked across to them and sat down with a thump the sand around making a small shockwave. Ichigo looked back at Hitsugaya but found he had his eyes closed pointedly ignoring the other shinigami.

Frowning he thought back to the problem that had been troubling his mind so much he hadn't noticed his actions. The hollow inside him seemed to be reacting to the current environment as though it was charging like a battery, he had found during there Shunpo'ing that it wasn't tiring him and in fact it felt like he had just had a long relaxing shower showing no adverse effects to there long run, and if his current unconsciousness actions were any pointer he had un-limitless energy. He was about to question Rukia about Huenco-Mundo and the environment what with it being hollow and arrancar central when a small object flew upwards from the ground and slapped him round the head.

"Tag! Your it!" the small object yelled before zooming off at a breakneck speed not giving Ichigo a full view of what exactly it was looking after it was no good either as a load of sand was flicked into his face by the retreating what he guessed was now a person. Coughing and attempting to clear his eyes, once they were clear he looked up and met the eyes of two other equally confused shinigami all who turned simultaneously to look in the direction the creature had run.

Standing up to get a better look they could still see in there vision the cloud of dust and sand that had whacked Ichigo un-provoked.

Shooting glances at one another again Ichigo gave a light shrug before jumping into shunpo after the strange creature the other two following shortly after following the dust cloud.

It eventually slowed allowing them to overtake and land in-front of the creature causing it to stop hastily created a large plume of sand to rise up around them, there was no need to cover there eyes however as the plume only rose as far as there waists as they discovered there assaulter was about 3 feet tall(1).

When the dust had cleared the three shinigami could clearly see what was standing before them. All blinking to check a few times that there eyes weren't deceiving them Ichigo bit back a comment about finding someone who was actually shorter than the icy captain when it finally spoke

"Your not Pesche..." the little creature spoke visibly scared as she watched the three take in her appearance, child like as she was there was definitely un-child like attributes to her, her hollow mask for starters broken and latched onto the top of her head along with the war like paint going across the bridge of her nose. She was also undecidedly rather green, not exactly camouflaged onto the almost white sand behind her.

Before any of them could speak there was a flurry of sand as the small creature zoomed off in the other direction crying at the top of her lungs.

"Well that was..." Ichigo started and then just let the sentence hang not quite finding the words he wanted to describe what had just happened

"Looks like arrancar aren't all under Aizen's control" mused Hitsugaya watching the green dot get smaller and smaller

"That was an arrancar?" voiced Ichigo surprised turning to look at the other shinigami his eyebrows raised

"Well I am assuming so; I have never seen other hollows have a human shape and I have seen many in my time" Hitsugaya further explained his eyes narrowing trying to focus on the green speck

"Do you think she knows a faster way to Las Noches?" asked Ichigo and Rukia cut in before Hitsugaya could reply

"She's hardly going to come back to give us directions Ichigo" whacking him upside the head for good measure, "We all just scared her away"

"I wouldn't speak too soon Kuchiki" replied Hitsugaya who was still focusing on the small arrancar, "She's coming back"

"What?" Rukia voiced and she focused on the now growing dot of green

"Looks like she's being chased..." Ichigo commented

"No I think there running ahead" Rukia added

"Well either way do you think we should move?" asked Ichigo looking at the two of them

They both shot Ichigo incredulous looks

"What?" he defended, "They're running at us it was a perfectly valid question!?"

Hitsugaya merely went back to watching there approach leaving Rukia to hit him for his stupidity. They stood there for another half a second before they could see clearly who and what was heading for them all of them twitching sub-consciously to there Zanpaktou's

When they where within a few metres of the others it was clear they like Ichigo had expected them to move so after a rather short game of chicken they crashed rather unceremoniously at their feet.

---

Karin awoke with a start as she felt a strange series of emotions overtake her, her eyes bleary from just waking up she couldn't make sense of it all just that there was an overwhelming feeling of happiness

She sat up from where she had been lying in the grass, 'Wait, Grass?' she inwardly voiced before her memory caught up with her and she remembered last night events including enigma,

"Enigma?" she called out wanting to know if the barrage of emotions she had just felt had come from her new found Zanpaktou spirit. There was no reply and Karin was wondering what could have happened to her new found guide and there was a voice behind her,

"You rang?"

Karin nearly jumped out of her skin and turned around to face the spirit, who had taken the form of her brother, who was hanging rather calmly upside down by her knee's in the tree she had just been sleeping against,

"Was that you?" she asked quizzically

"Was that me what?" the spirit replied turning her words around into another question,

"That huge burst of happy emotion that just woke me up, was that you?" Karin asked again but made her question clearer,

Enigma shook its head from its position it looked rather painful but it didn't show it on its face, "Wasn't me I was having a kip myself – Waking up really takes it out of you" it commented looking up at the snowy sky, "So burst of emotion you say?" it asked and flipped itself out of the tree landing neatly on its feet.

"Yea really happy" Karin frowned thinking about it, "Like I had just won a football match or something"

"Sooo like success?" Enigma tapped her chin and settled down to sit in front of Karin "Sure you weren't dreaming?"

"I'm sure" replied Karin, "The emotions woke me up and if I was experiencing them in a dream I can't imagine they would be strong enough to wake me up"

Suddenly enigma started snapping her fingers and leaping up again, "The control!"

"Sorry?" asked Karin startled at the sudden movement and watched as Enigma began pacing

"Your mind is currently being controlled, yes so theoretically the one who's controlling you is sending your mind information on where to go, it's possible..." Enigma stopped pacing and turned back to face Karin, "That in there excitement instead of instructions they sent emotions"

"So the basterd's happy about something" voiced Karin blandly ignoring the look Enigma gave her regarding her language.

"In theory yes" it sighed deeply, "Although more than likely he is"

Karin growled under her breathe, "Do you think he's managed to possess someone else?"

Enigma shook its head before she had finished her question, "I imagine even if he's an incredibly powerful shinigami his zanpaktou cannot technically be in two places at once at least not without leaving the minds of the ones already under its control"

Karin blinked up at Enigma confused

"What I mean to say is, if he takes over someone else you will feel" Enigma chewed its bottom lip giving Karin a disturbing image as that was a rather feminine thing to do inside her brother's appearance, "well not so much feel as know the presence controlling you is leaving" Enigma paused again, "Kinda like a wave receding"

Karin nodded in slight understanding although still not 100% clear on what Enigma was on about,

"You're very smart you know that" Karin commented changing the conversation to something more on her level of intellectual capabilities

"Why thank you" replied Enigma finally sitting down on the grass near to Karin, hopefully to stay Karin thought reverently it had almost brought on a headache with all that movement, if she could get headaches in here, after all she was already in her head. Great now her head hurt thinking about it, shaking her head visibly to get away from the mental thoughts she looked up to find Enigma staring at her with a twitch of amusement in her smile but it remained not to comment and merely lent back on the grass.

It was awhile before Karin spoke again,

"So what do we do?"

"Pardon?" replied Enigma wanting her to elaborate on what she meant

"Well you're my... Zanpaktou right?" began Karin slowly, "In normal encounters where your with your wielder in there mind, what do you do?"

"Train" that was the short answer from the spirit who had not moved from its lying down position

"Well, were not doing anything else but sitting here..." began Karin before Enigma sat up sharply

"No" the spirit lay back down again, "and before you argue you are too young, still alive and have no weapon in which to attack me with"

Karin's eye's narrowed and while still sitting down manoeuvred sharply to kick the spirit in the head, Enigma reacted sharply and caught her leg before it could come into contact with her and flipped Karin over onto her front using her leg making her lie spread-eagled on the grass.

"I. Said. No." The spirit voiced again punctuating the spaces between every word and without another gesture vanished up into the tree leaving Karin alone.

---

It was a few seconds before the large sand pile that had been created at the three shinigami's feet moved and three heads un-ceremoniously popped out the small arrancar from earlier and two hollow looking creatures.

"You said they would move!" complained the thinner greyer one directing his anger at the large coloured one on the other side of the arrancar who looked like she had been crying

"Not my fault they didn't don-cha know" complained the coloured one right back looking over at the three in front of them,

"You made Nell upset don-cha know!" he cried pulling himself out from the slight sand bank they had created picking the now named, Nell up once he was free leaving the other to get out on his own which he did in the end after doing an almost forward roll,

"And we want you to apologise" he added

If it wasn't for the fact of where they where and who they where Ichigo probably would have burst out laughing instead he just started flabbergasted at the strangeness in front of his eyes he still continued to watch as Hitsugaya stepped forward and pulled his sword

"Shhh" he instructed and they all fell silent and looked at him even the hollow who had really just twigged just who they had demanded an apology from both frozen in fear with there eyes wide taking in there uniforms and Zanpaktou's

"Can you feel that?" Hitsugaya directed the question at Rukia who nodded, Ichigo looked confused for a moment before he felt the sand moving slightly under his feet and a low rumbling in his ears. Also drawing his Zanpaktou he turned away from the hollow and arrancar to scout behind them but saw nothing out of the ordinary occasional dead tree on the landscape.

"I can't see anything" commented Ichigo keeping his eyes scanning the landscape behind the other's backs,

"Then I would turn around Kurosaki" Hitsugaya commented as Ichigo watched as a giant shadow blocked the moonlight from the direction he was facing.

--

Aww i find the relationship between Nell Pesche and Dondochakka rather cute in a weird sort of way, and Dondochakka does say that annoying Don-cha know doesn't he? I remember it used to annoy the hell out of me anyway.

I had to re-write this a few times but I'm happy with the final result.