Ok so its been close to forever since I worked on this fic and I have completely lost any work I had on it that hadn't been uploaded already, the reason for that is my laptop died on me and I had to get a new one. So let's see if I can still do this.

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Finding and moving into a secure location in the barren wasteland that is Hueco Mundo/Seireitei border was not easy but the group managed to do it. After they were as settled in as they could get given the circumstances it took another hour or so for Orihime to completely rid Kagome of the Venom she had been injected with. Even free of the cause Kagome remained weakened from the encounter and they were forced to remain to let her rest.

Kenpachi and several others were getting antsy at the delay, though Kenpachi was the only one getting antsy from anticipation.

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Naraku fumed. He was not happy to see that the miko that had plagued him in the past had found friends even stronger than those from the past. He had concealed his identity till this point with the hope it would prevent her from joining this fight and finishing what she started before he had a chance to build a base of power to overwhelm her. It was too soon.

A commotion outside his lair drew his attention and he rose to go and greet his guest.

Entering the common room of his domain Naraku took in the arrancar causing the commotion among his servants. He stood tall, his cocky grin taking up a large part of his face, wild blue hair and worn white robes that resembled those of a shinigami. He turned to Naraku when the former demon entered the space.

"I did not seek you out Grimmjow so you could pester my servants."

Grimmjow seemed to loose some of his boisterous nature at the scolding, scowling slightly, "Then what did you want from me. I'm not all that interested in what you have planned for seireitei."

Naraku almost lashes out at the cure for his attitude but calms himself before answering, "I have a proposition for you."

Grimmjow raises a brow, "Oh, and what might this be? You don't really have anything I want."

Snarling at the continued disrespect Naraku swallows his pride for the moment and continues. "I understand you hold a grudge against a certain shinigami with orange hair, the one that took down Aizen."

His attention caught Grimmjow remains quiet.

"I need this shinigami taken care of. I would be willing to send as many of my subordinates with you as you would need to distract his friends. All I ask in return is that you deal with him and remove him from this world."

The grin returns full force to Grimmjow's face. "Eh, that sounds like a good offer." He cocks his chin up a bit to the side. "Alright you got yourself a deal."

It was too soon, but Naraku would work with that. He grins softly at his triumph.

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Starring out across the expanse between their group and the apparent base for their enemy, Kenpachi scowls. They hadn't made any progress since the little miko-shinigami had been hurt, he was growing impatient.

"How much longer are we gonna just sit around here wasting time? Just leave the girl here while we go deal with this Arrana guy."

Byakuya brings his cool gaze up to Kenpachi's angry form. Yachiru, Chad and Hitsugaya look up as well, but do not answer the large captain's question.

"The hell! Are you saying we should leave her out here alone and defenseless?" Ichigo looks incensed as he steps closer to Kenpachi.

Kenpachi tilts his head looking a bit bored at Ichigo, "So leave someone with her and let the rest of us move on without her." He grins angrily, "We won't even be that long."

Glares are sent towards the berserker by those that were friends with Kagome. Ichigo looks ready to tear the battle-driven captain a new one when Byakuya interupts the growing tension.

"Kenpachi is not completely wrong. We came with a purpose and the girl is only slowing us down at this point, there is no reason not to leave her behind with a small guard while the rest of us go on ahead."

"Yeah well what if that is exactly what the bastard wants. I won't leave her." Ichigo rounds his anger on Byakuya.

"Then I suppose you will be among those that stays behind with her." Byakuya stands and begins to stride toward the dwelling of their enemy, Kenpachi following hot on his heels.

"Fine then." Ichigo huffs and storms over to sit next to the sleeping Kagome, glaring around at those remaining and challenging them to choose if they would stay or go.

Yachiru hurries after her captain with hardly a thought. Renji gives Ichigo and apologetic look as he follows his own captain. Hitsugaya pauses before following the other two captains, "Matsumoto, stay with Kurosaki and Kagome." "Hai, Taicho." Matsumoto stays where she had been sitting before the argument. Orihime looks Kagome over a final time before hurrying after the captains. This left Chad, Uryuu and Rukia not having made a decision.

Sighing and pushing his glasses further up his nose, "I would stay but the real fight will not be fought here and I could do more good going with the others." And making his decision leaves to follow the others.

Chad settles into his seat more solidly, silently speaking his choice.

Rukia looks after her brother's group and then turns to Ichigo, "I'm sure you'll be able to keep her safe, so I'll be going with them." then she leaves to follow the others.

Sighing, Ichigo runs a hand through his hair and looks down at Kagome, sleeping and completely unaware of the argument she had sparked. He knew they were right, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her in this place. He'd heard her tale three times and each time he had noticed discrepancies in certain facts involving Naraku, Inuyasha and Kikyo. He knew that the demon had coveted her past self and he was concerned that that may have carried over. He also knew that the one thing everyone seemed to be overlooking was that Naraku had wanted to jewel in the past and he probably still sought it. Ichigo narrows his eyes a bit thinking back tot he snake-like hollow they had fought earlier. It had wanted to take Kagome back to Naraku, which means it hadn't just been a bad draw of positions that had Kagome getting attacked back there. To add to his discomfort, he had noticed that Kagome had purposefully left out the details of the jewel's fate and current location.

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The group that had gone on to face Naraku and his followers travelled in silence, closing the distance between them and the rock mound quickly, while the distance between them and the ones that stayed behind grew.

Suddenly they stop and take up defensive positions as a horde of Hollows of all levels of power swarm down onto them. Above the group now fighting for their lives hovers Grimmjow, scowling down at the battle. "He's not with them." He turns to look in the direction that the shinigami group had come from and then heads off in that direction, a small fraction of the hollows following him.

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With the group that had stayed behind with Kagome, Matsumoto stands and draws her blade. Her actions prompt Ichigo and Chad to prepare themselves as well. Ichigo spares a glance at Kagome and nudges her with his foot.

"Kagome." The three fighters glance around, tensing.

Kagome groans and opens her eyes to see Ichigo standing over her, zanpaktou drawn. "Ichigo?"

"Something's headed our way, I need you to get up and be prepared to fight."

She just manages to sit up and grasp her own zanpaktou when Grimmjow, flanked by several dozen hollows, appears on the outskirts of the groups haven.

"Ne, Ichigo? What are you doing hanging back like this?"

"Grimmjow." Ichigo tenses, but stays by Kagome as she tries to hurry to her feet.

"Take care of his friends." Grimmjow commands the hollows, which surge forward to attack. Grimmjow grins, taunting Ichigo, "Let's go Ichigo, I only came for you." Grimmjow launches at Ichigo.

Hesitating only a moment Ichigo curse and rushes forward to meet Grimmjow as Matsumoto, Chad and Kagome are left to fend off the hollows.

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I feel that this is way too short, but I really feel the need to update this so, here you go.