A New Mission

Chapter 2

Kisuke gave the teenagers a tracker he has invented to track down hollow bait. He used Uryu's bait for his research and to make the device. "Alright. Rukia and I will go in first, Uryu, you tell us which way to go. Orihime and Chad, you watch out for rocks." Ichigo stated.

"Ok." replied Uryu.

"Ok Ichigo!" squealed Orihime.

"Hmm." answered Chad. Rukia and Ichigo went in the dark cavern. Uryu was holding the tracker, which had a light that lit up the way. The rocks were very loose. They walked slowly, so they can prevent rocks from falling. After an hour or so, they hit a dead end.

"Great. Where do we go now?" asked Ichigo with an irritated tone to his voice.

"The tracker says the bait is forward." Uryu pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"That's no help Uryu! Haven't you noticed the dead end?!" yelled Ichigo.

"Obvi-" Uryu got cut off. Chad punched a big whole in the wall with his power, La Muerte, which also caused more rocks to fall onto them.

"Santen-Keshu, I reject!" Orihime shielded her friends.

"Great Orihime and Chad." acknowledged Rukia.

Everyone continued walking and after about an hour, they finally made it to the bait.

"Finally! Let's just get this over wi-" the rocks started to crumble, and fall down. Orihime shielded Uryu and Chad, and Ichigo used his Zanpaktoe to shield himself and Rukia.

"Hey! Are you guys ok?!" asked Orihime through the wall of rocks. They had gotten seperated, Uryu, Chad and Orihime were together, and Rukia and Ichigo were together.

"Yeah! We're fine!" yelled Ichigo. "There's just no way out!"

"Should I punch the rocks again?" Chad suggested with his deep voice.

"No! Don't do it! It will cause the other rocks to fall, and Orihime's shield won't be able to reach all of us!" Rukia answered. "You guys have a way out on your side, don't you?"

"Yeah we do. But we can't just lea-" Rukia cut Uryu off.

"Don't worry about us! Here, slide the tracker through this gap. Be carful!" Uryu slid the device slowly and as steadily as possible. Finally it was in Rukia's grasp. Uryu, Orihime, and Chad reluctantly walked back carefully, using the dim light of Uryu's bow. Ichigo and Rukia found the chunk of bait that was letting out the powdery dust that attracted hollows.

"Ok. How are we going to do this without rocks falling on us?" said Ichigo.

"I... it's impossible." said Rukia in defeat. They both exchanged looks. "Hado 33! Sokatsui!"

"Getsuga Tenshō!" The bait was destroyed, but what came with that was, as they expected, rocks tumbling and falling from all directions.
"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled. He tried desperately to try and block the rocks from falling on them, but they got seperated. The rocks stopped falling. Rukia hurt her leg badly, it was gushing out blood, and Ichigo hurt his arm, it had gotten cut from a jagged rock and was bleeding nonstop. "R-Rukia? Are you o-ok?" he asked.

"I'm...I'm f-fine. A-are you ok?" she asked. Her voice filled with pain. A small jagged rock fell on Rukia's side, and crashed into more rocks. Oh just great. Rukia thought. The rock caused a chain reaction and there was no way out.

"Rukia?"

"I'm- I'm here Ichigo." she said. Both voices filled with sadness.

"I- I love you, Rukia." said Ichigo. A small gasp slipped from Rukia's lips.

"I-" the rocks came, about to consume them both.

"GETSUGA TENSHŌ!" In a blink of an eye, Ichigo was there beside Rukia. He was wearing his hollow mask, and he was in bankai form. Ichigo wrapped his arm around Rukia and lifted her up off the ground. With his other hand he held his Zanpaktou using Getsuga Tenshō once again, this time, facing up. He used flash step and was above the ground. They had escaped. His mask cracked and broke off his face. Ichigo dropped Rukia on the ground as he passed out, falling back into the ground where they once were. Rukia's eyes widened.

"ICHIGO!!! ICHIGO!!!" she yelled, tears running down her cheeks. "Ichigo..." she whispered with her last bit of energy before passing out.