The story more or less sticks with the manga, up until the gang gets back from Soul Society. The war takes a different path here. Characters may vary in certain ways because of this. This is the first fic I'm actually posting. I've read so many wonderful stories on here; I'm excited to finally contribute a bit. I'm not the best writer but the story was begging to be written out. So… Please have mercy on me. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.

This is going to be an IchixHimexHichi threesome fic but… I need to get some things in place before there's going to be much action going on. There will be some plot and fluff then you'll get your smut, don't worry. I may or may not have some song lyrics at the beginning of each chapter, but I thought these fit in nicely here. A big thank you to Sariniste for reading my preview, encouraging me to actually write this out, and giving me some useful tips. I don't own Bleach, Kubo does.

**Japanese words used will be defined at the end of each chapter. Italics indicate a mental conversation between Ichigo, his hollow, and his zanpakutou.**

Tell me what you know about dreamin' dreamin'
you don't really know about nothin' nothin'
tell me what you know about them night terrors every night
5 am, cold sweats wakin' up to the skies
tell me what you know about dreams, dreams
tell me what you know about night terrors, nothin'
you don't really care about the trials of tomorrow
rather lay awake in the bed full of sorrow
I'm on the pursuit of happiness and I know everything that shines ain't always gonna be gold
I'll be fine once I get it, I'll be good

Pursuit of Happiness – Kid Cudi

She was tired… so tired. They had been walking along the secluded forest paths for days and she hadn't had a good night's sleep in over a month. Nightmares continually plagued her dreams. Nightmares of war. Her dreams had been warped into a world where strange scenarios played out each night starring her enemies, her nakama, gruesome memories, and death. Fear of what was waiting for her in the darkness of her own mind made her hesitate to close her eyes.

She pledged her help for the war, but she didn't truly understand what war was until it was too late to turn back. It was hard to believe it had only been a year and a half since she started high school. A normal teenage girl who couldn't see ghosts and thought nothing of the afterlife, other than wishing her brother well. Her biggest worries were wasabi, red bean paste, overtly friendly lesbians, and a certain boy with an amusing scowl. These days his scowl only seemed to be hardened and more pronounced. War had made the boy become a man, one who had faced death more times than she wished to recall.

Orihime was interrupted from her thoughts when one of the healers spoke, "Are you alright, Inoue-san?"

She quickly pushed her thoughts aside, perfectly happy for an excuse to let her bubbly side focus her thoughts on something less depressing. She replied enthusiastically, "Hai, hai. It's such a lovely day! I started thinking about what the penguins must be doing up in the North Pole! Are they helping Santa get ready for Christmas or are they deep underground researching how to fly to the moon? I think that penguins would look silly in a space suit, don't you?"

Remind me why we're walking again?

Not everyone can use shunpo. Not to mention the fact that we're traveling with important supplies, dumbass.

But King, the hollow whined, this is so boring! I'm gonna kill something if we don't get some action soon.

Is there ever a time when you don't want to kill something? Look, just shut up. I'm as bored as you are. Deal.

Fine! If we don't get a fight today, you're gonna come in here and play with me or I'm gonna take over the body and kill everyone who can't shunpo and blast the supplies ta bits!

Ichigo groaned. Why don't you just spar with Zangetsu?

Uh... He ain't talkin' ta me right now...

… Whatever. I'm not even going to ask. Just because he won't entertain you, doesn't mean you can irritate me instead.

Ichigo concentrated for a moment while he closed off his mental link to the hollow. He wasn't going to indulge the hollow's boredom, no matter how bored he was himself. It was an uncomfortable feeling- being cut off from his other half. Ichigo didn't like having to resort to blocking him out, but it was apparent that the hollow was not going to give him any peace today.

The weather and forest scenery was fine and all, but it gets dull after the first couple hours. Ichigo chuckled to himself when he realized that he probably wouldn't even mind having Ishida around to bicker with at this point. Rukia was still irritated with him after Ichigo had insulted another one of her monstrous illustrations last night. She and Renji were keeping guard at the rear of the group today. Ichigo looked around for nearby to talk to. 'Inoue must be up towards the front of the group,' he thought. 'There's that one guy from the 12th division... I want to ask him about those horns, but he keeps giving me the strangest look. Ise told me off the last time I started flash stepping around for fun...' Ichigo spotted someone and smirked.

"Waahhh! Ichigo-san! Don't scare me like that." Hanataro nearly fell over in surprise when Ichigo suddenly appeared directly in front of him.

"Sorry, Hanataro." Ichigo wasn't succeeding in suppressing his laughter very well. Several people around them were staring. Ichigo just ignored them, but Hanataro was staring at his feet in embarrassment. "Come on, let's keep walking," Ichigo urged. "There really isn't much to do when we're traveling like this."

Hanataro looked up at the spiky haired teen as he resumed walking. "You probably aren't used to things like this."

"Not really, no. At least not for this long." Ichigo was having trouble figuring out what to talk about with the timid healer. "Do you have any idea how much longer it is until we reach the next location?"

"Ano... Let me find my map." Hanataro shuffled around in his satchel for a moment before producing the map. "Here we go. We're getting pretty close to the bridge. Once we get past the river it should only be another hour. We should get there in time for a late lunch."

Ichigo sighed in relief. Once they got to the next location, he could take it easy for a few days while camp was being set up. He never thought that volunteering for this guard mission would be so boring and irksome. "I'm glad. I don't know how much more of this I could take. A week away from the battlefield and I'm already bored to death," he muttered.

They walked together in comfortable silence for a while until Ichigo spotted the bridge Hanataro mentioned off in the distance. "I'm going to go talk to the captain real quick. See ya in a bit." A second later, Ichigo landed next to Kyouraku-taicho, opposite his fukutaicho.

"Why hello there, Ichigo-kun."

"Hey, Kyouraku-san. I heard that we're getting close to the next location."

"Hai, hai." he said with a chuckle. "You'll be able to let off some steam soon." The captain leaned closer to Ichigo and whispered, "I'm planning a little party later tonight. You're invited to come and drink with me. Your friends are welcome too, but don't tell Nanao-chan."

Ichigo laughed. "Yea, sparring sounds like fun right about now. I can't wait until later."

Nanao rolled her eyes at her captain's antics and kept her nose buried in the book she was reading. Did he really think she couldn't hear exactly what they were saying? If he wanted to spend a night partying after 3 long days of walking, that was more than fine with her. At least she would be able to finish her book in peace tonight.

"Inoue-san," the healer whined, "I don't think we're in danger from a penguin/kangaroo alliance. The penguins wouldn't like Australia's climate much."

"But that's exactly why they would make perfect allies!" she argued. "The penguins would take over the colder areas and the kangaroo's would take care of the warmer climates!"

The healer sighed in defeat, "I guess you're right, we really should be on our guard."

Orihime closed her eyes and chuckled. The next thing she knew, she was knocked onto the ground after walking into something very solid. "Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his neck. "Sorry Inoue. I guess flash stepping in front of people to surprise them isn't the best thing to do when you're bored, huh." He extended a hand to help her up.

She snapped herself out of her confused state and took his hand. She was quickly pulled up to her feet and laughed nervously as she said, "I wasn't really watching where I was going. I'm sure that surprising people like that is fun though." He fell into step beside her and Orihime desperately tried, once again, to stop the inevitable blush from overcoming her face. She quickly berated herself, 'This is stupid. If he liked me at all, he would have done something about it by now...'

She let out a sigh but was pulled out of her thoughts when he leaned closer to her. She could feel his breath as he whispered, "I know it's been a grueling few days, but Kyouraku invited us to a little get together tonight."

Orihime melted a little inside as she saw Ichigo pull away and look over at her with the biggest smile she had seen from him in over a month. After a moment she realized she was staring at him and quickly replied, "That sounds like fun!"

Ichigo leaned a little closer and replied, "Yea, I can't wait until tonight. I've been bored out of my mind and it sounds like it will be a good time. Just don't tell his fukutaicho, ne?"

Orihime giggled. "Those two make a great team even though they are such polar opposites. That's probably why they work so well together. She'd be too strict without her captain, and he'd be too laid back without her to keep him in line," she stated with a smile.

"She's such a tight-ass, it'd be a riot to see her get drunk and let loose for once."

Orihime brought a finger up to her chin and responded after a moment, "I can't picture what a drunken Nanao-san would even look like..."

"She must be beyond salvation when even you can't imagine her drunk," Ichigo teased.

Orihime smiled up at him as they started to cross the bridge. 'Everything seems to be going so well,' she thought to herself. 'But then why do I have such an uneasy feeling? Something seems out of place.'

"Hanataro said it's only an hour-"

"Wait." Orihime cut him off with a gesture of her hand and stopped walking for a moment. He looked over at her, confused, as she looked up at him and said, "Something isn't right. Either they're already here or-" Orihime's eyes went wide as she felt a large burst of reiatsu and whipped her head up to see the sky begin to open.

As soon as Ichigo felt the burst of reiatsu used to open the garganta, he shunpo'd away from the group and quickly gathered his energy to go into bankai. Ichigo took a protective position above the bridge. He instantly recognized several espada reiatsu as the garganta began to open. "HURRY UP AND GET ACROSS THE BRIDGE!"

BAKA! HOW DARE YOU BLOCK ME OFF WHILE YOU'RE ON A MISSION! DO YOU REALIZE HOW DAMN STUPID YOU ARE!

He cringed slightly at the hollow's yelling- apparently going into his bankai conveniently got rid of the mental block. I didn't want to deal with your babbling. Shut up, now isn't the best time to be bitching about it. Besides, you should be happy. It looks like we're going to be getting some action after all, ne?

A quick look around told him that everyone looked ready for whatever was going to happen. All the guards were in position and everyone else was hurrying across the bridge.

"I was just thinking how boring it was out here. You guys should make Aizen invest in some entertainment if this place is more entertaining than Hueco Mundo," Kyouraku joked as the arrancar became fully visible.

"There's certainly a lack of shinigami to play with in Hueco Mundo," Grimmjow sneered as he stepped out.

Ulquiorra just let out a sigh and fired a cero at the captain. "Our goals are no concern of yours." He turned to address the rest of the arrancar, "You know the plan. Execute it quickly or face Aizen-sama's wrath. I do not wish to linger here any longer than necessary." Ulquiorra blindly blocked Kyouraku's shikai then turned to glare at him. "Wait your turn, trash."

"Sorry, I'm just not very patient when it comes to men."

The arrancars scattered and Grimmjow quickly found his favorite play toy. He sonido'd behind the bright haired vizard only to be blocked at the last moment. "Did you miss me so much that you had to come all the way out here and make this ruckus?"

"Bastard," Grimmjow muttered as they exchanged blows and their swords clashed together. "Do you know how boring it is in Hueco Mundo? There aren't many other Shinigami that are worth killing either. When I heard about this mission, I couldn't help but tag along." His smile was a mile wide as their pace started to pick up. "Enough with the foreplay, I wanna go all out. Bring out that mask of yours."

"You're not going to run away this time are you?" Ichigo asked with a smirk.

"TEME! It's not my fault all those other bastards got themselves killed and we had to retreat. Just bring it out and I'll show you what you missed last time," Grimmjow retorted.

"Oh, so you're finally going to release that zanpakutou of yours?" Ichigo countered.

"That's the plan," the Espada confirmed with a cocky grin.

The two broke apart as Ichigo moved to pull on his mask and Grimmjow took his stance for his resurrección. "Grind, Pantera."

Ichigo attempted to hold back his hollow's laughter, but it proved impossible. "Wow, Grimmjow. I never would have pegged you for the cat type, but then again, you are a pussy," he snickered at the Sexta's resurrección.

Grimmjow growled as he lunged toward the vizard. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M GONNA KILL YOUR ASS!"

Kyouraku was trying to figure out exactly what was going on here. He counted seven arrancar, three of them ranked Espada. There was no apparent objective that he could see. The one he was fighting seemed just as disinterested in fighting as he was himself. Nanao was staying back and flinging kido spells every which way. Renji was evenly matched at the moment, but the pink-haired Espada seemed to be holding back. The only one released was the one Ichigo was fighting. They seemed to just be biding their time.

Orihime was doing her best to assist the others, but there was only so much she could do without attracting attention to herself. She concentrated on protecting the people gathering around her on the end of the bridge. Suddenly, the 4th espada's reiatsu flared, and all of the arrancars, except for Grimmjow, used sonido to escape their opponents and immediately fire cero's off in multiple directions. She had no choice but to block the green cero headed her way and hope the others could stop the rest. Her santen kesshun managed to block the powerful blast of energy but immediately shattered afterwards. Rukia managed to freeze one of the arrancar's cero before it was fired. Renji moved quickly and fired off his bankai's cannon blast to negate the cero. Nanao managed to stop one with kido and her captain did the same. The other guards weren't able to move quickly enough to stop the cero that managed to hit and obliterate the middle of the bridge. Half the group was still crossing the bridge and several people got caught in the blast. Orihime gasped as she felt Ichigo's reiatsu spike to the highest she had ever felt.

Ichigo had never felt such raw power flowing through him before. Knowing that he couldn't block Grimmjow's attack and keep the cero's from hitting everyone else infuriated him. "This is about me isn't it?"

Grimmjow snorted, "Finally figured that one out, eh?"

Ichigo stopped for a moment before replying in a serious tone, "I've grown tired of this game we play, Grimmjow. I'm tired of all the death. This ends now." Ichigo flung himself at the panther only to be blocked by his blade. He calmly said, "Getsuga Tensho." Grimmjow's eyes grew wide as he took the getsuga point blank. Ichigo wasted no time. He appeared behind a bloody Grimmjow and pierced him through the chest from behind. He withdrew his blade and with a swift kick, Grimmjow crashed into the river below.

Black and gold eyes met green for an instant before Ichigo charged. Negación suddenly enclosed all of the arrancars. The assault ended as quickly as it had started. Ichigo stood outside the Negación and stared at the emotionless espada for a moment before disappearing with a quick shunpo. He landed at the middle of the bridge near Inoue, who was already working to save as many as she could. He surveyed the damage to the bridge littered with carnage. People were carefully moving the injured to the nearby healers. Ichigo could already tell that there were several who were beyond saving. After a few moments, he was interrupted from his thoughts with a firm, "Kurosaki-kun."

"Sorry. What can I do to help?"

"You need to take off your mask. Not everyone can withstand the pressure," she explained. His mask dissipated and his voice returned to normal as he apologized. Orihime kept her eyes focused on her patient as she quietly stated, "Your mask changed again." Ichigo pealed his eyes away from the damage and frowned as he looked over at Inoue. "It's almost completely black on one half now," she continued, not meeting his eyes. "Your reiatsu became much more dominated by your hollow too."

He sat down trying to take in everything that had happened. His hollow was being awfully quiet for once. He sat there immersed in his own thoughts while watching her patient's wounds quickly dissipate as if they had never happened. Once the last of the cuts were finished, she began restoring the lower half of the leg that was blown off. It only took Orihime a few minutes to heal all the near fatal cuts and restore a limb. "Your Souten Kisshun is getting even faster."

Her patient sat up once she released her shield. His face was awestruck as he watched himself wiggle his newly restored toes. He got up, bowed, and thanked her profusely before quickly walking off to help the others. She stared at her lap as she said, "I don't understand why I'm able to sense these attacks before they happen..."

He looked over at her, his eyes filled with concern as he attempted to reassure her, "I think my hollow felt it this time as well but I was blocking him out mentally. With that many espada..." Ichigo trailed off with a sigh and stood up. "I need to talk to him about what happened back there and report to the captain. Later, Inoue." Ichigo took off in a flash to allow her to get back to work.

Ichigo stopped a few feet from the captain and waited for him to finish issuing orders. "What's the plan, taichou?"

"Well, we can't leave the bridge like this but I want to move as many as possible to the site. We're close and it will be easier to take care of the injured there. I'm going to split up the team. I'll stay here and send Nanao-chan with you. I'll split up the guard and the healers and send as many of the others as we can. I guess we'll have to postpone the party." Kyouraku said with a chuckle.

"Yea, about the attack... Grimmjow pretty much confirmed that I was the focus. It seemed like they wanted to test my skills and my limits as far and as quickly as possible."

"More than likely they wanted to do some research on your hollowfication. I don't see any other reason why they would have sent that pink-haired Espada. Our intel says he's ranked 8th and he's a scientific type which is why we don't see him fighting much."

"All those people that died and were injured..."

"It's not your fault. Don't go blaming yourself. That was the only normal attack they did."

"Yea, but they probably only did it to see how I would react."

"Maybe, maybe not. Ichigo-kun... I know it's hard. I think you should take some time to sort things out while we're getting ready to move."

"Yea, I know. I was planning on it. We're on for tomorrow night right?" Ichigo asked with a grin.

Kyouraku smiled. "Of course!"

Ichigo sat down and propped himself up against a nearby tree. He sat his Zanpakutou across his lap as he concentrated on entering his inner world. A few moments later the world began to melt away and he felt the usual sense of falling into place inside his inner world. He slowly opened his eyes. "WHAT THE HELL?" A pair of black and white eyes was mere centimeters away from him.

"Welcome your worshipfulness!" the hollow greeted him excitedly. "Welcome back to your humble abode!"

"Get away, you freak! You're too close!" he screamed as he kicked the hollow off.

"That wasn't very nice, King... I was just trying to have some fun," the hollow mumbled. He was bent over clutching his stomach but still managing to send Ichigo a potent irritated glare.

"The first couple minutes here are disorienting enough without having you 5 cm from my face," Ichigo muttered as he noticed his inner world was in a normal state, apart from the wind and clouds that were forming.

"Yea, well it was worth it to see you blush, King," the hollow chuckled.

"What? I am not!" he denied as his face immediately began to flush.

"Well if you weren't before, you certainly are now," the hollow retorted with a grin.

Ichigo stood up and huffed, "What the fuck is up with you?"

The hollow's veins began pop out in agitation as he replied, "Oh. So now you want to know what I'm thinking?"

"Yea..." Ichigo admitted sheepishly.

"I think you're the biggest BAKA on the face of the fuckin' PLANET! That damn mental block is uncomfortable and I don't want to get killed because of your dumb ass," he ranted.

"Maybe if you weren't the world's most annoying hollow, I would! It's the only way to get some peace and quiet in my own damn head." Ichigo sighed and shook his head. "Look, can we address the real topic here? What did you want to say so badly?"

"I sensed something was off before the princess did. You could have had another minute's warning," the hollow explained in an irritated tone.

Ichigo reluctantly ground out an apology, "Sorry."

"Damn right, you're sorry! I swear, you two can be so clueless sometimes... Anyways, I know why you're here. I don't really understand what happened either. I talked to Zan, but he doesn't know either."

The zanpakutou suddenly appeared next to the two. "I can talk for myself, thanks."

"Well, it's about time you showed up, Tensa-hime," the hollow retorted.

The zanpakutou took a moment to glare at the smirking hollow before turning and addressing Ichigo, "It almost seemed like you entered a mildly enraged state once the Cero's were fired. While in this enraged state, it appeared as if you two started to meld together slightly causing a temporary spike in power. I'm still not sure exactly what happened or why."

"Well, I got really angry after I sensed the cero's go off, the increased power felt insane, and I started acting almost entirely on instinct. Your theory has me kind of worried though." Ichigo turned to the hollow with his eyebrows furrowed. "We fought for dominance. I won, but just now my reiatsu was much more hollow than normal. It also reminded me of how it felt when you take over. Explain," he demanded.

The albino rolled his eyes, "I don't know, King. I'm just as confused as you are about this, so don't blame me. It felt like having my soul pulled in two different directions at once. Much different feeling than when you normally use the mask."

"I see... This is certainly something to think about," Tensa speculated.

"Do not pull that not-talking-about-it shit again, Zan."

"The bastard is right for once. Spit it out," Ichigo agreed.

"This isn't the time or the place to be discussing this. I need some time to think this over. Until we figure this out, you should try to avoid recreating the scene from earlier. You need to go Ichigo; the group is nearly ready to depart."

"Ugh, great," Ichigo groaned as he turned to address the hollow. "Look, you're not trying anything funny right? The mask changed again and that makes me nervous."

The albino just rolled his eyes and scoffed, "It ain't me, King. Just make sure you have enough time to play with me next time."

Ichigo suppressed a laugh as he replied, "Yea, yea. I'll make sure to have enough time to play with you, if that's what you want to call it."

The hollow was grinning like a maniac as his king returned back to reality.

I hope you enjoyed it! I appreciate any feedback about the story or my writing! Let me know if I'm doing something stupid so I can fix it for the upcoming chapters. ;p I already have what I think will be the 3rd chapter written out. I should have the 3rd chapter up before the end of the year. 3

Japanese- You probably know most of this stuff, but I'm going to put it down anyways. I'm not going to explain or translate abilities and stuff like that. If I missed something, I'm sure you can find it in google, the bleach wikia, or wherever.

仲間[nakama] - friends/comrades
はい[Hai] - Yes
あの[Ano] - Umm
隊長 [taichou] - captain
副隊長 [fukutaichou] - vice-captain/lieutenant
~ね[~ne] - right? isn't it? something along those lines.
ばか[baka] - idiot
テメ[teme]- You (bastard, asshole, or something)
姫[hime]- princess