Las Tentaciones del Diablo
I:IV El Camino de las Almas

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Si el corazón de los hombres es el lugar que lo diablo vives; yo me siento a veces que un infierno mora dentro de mi mismo.

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The hollow lay there, a lumpy mixture of a nearly shattered mask, tentacles and discolored blood.

Rukia resheathed her sword which hissed back to its normal state. Hitsugaya watched from beside Matsumoto, his arms folded across his chest. "Well. Wasn't that eventful?" It was a cold night, the colors of dawn already stretching across the far off sky. Most of the renagade group had been asleep when the call had come in, and in times like the ones they found themselves in, a Hollow Attack could mean a very many things and every caution was necessary. The only ones not to show up had been Yumichika and Ikkakuu, reguardless of reasons Hitsugaya had made a mental note to give them a particularly long winded lecture . If he had to be dragged out of bed, everyone should have to be, damnit.

But tonight, all the warning had meant was a simple lower level hollow that had been done with easily enough by Ichigo, much to Renji's dismay.

Renji scoffed, making a show of rolling his eyes in impatience "Oh we would have killed it eventually, with or without golden boy over there." Renji pointed a thumb to empty air, looking back when everyone stared in confusion. Ichigo had dropped to the foot of a tree, panting into his hand. A very different sight from when he'd been making an easy job of killing the hollow not seconds ago. "..What the hell?"

Rukia dropped to her knees in front of Ichigo, a hand on his forehead to check for a wound. "What's wrong with you?" Her voice sounded more accusatory than worried.

Ichigo was silent, just the sound of his panting as he held his face in his hand- Sucking in air in long gasps. Renji looked down at them. "What the hell's wrong with him?"

Rukia frowned up at him, "That would be what I'm trying to find out."

Feet away, Matsumoto glanced behind her shoulder suddenly, Hitsugaya looking up at her. "Is anything wrong?"

The vice captain blinked "No.." Her voice didn't sound too convinced, "..I just thought I'd heard something." Hitsugaya shrugged and turned back, waiting for the three to finish their little display so they could all go home.

Ichigo growled, looking up at Renji from behind his fingers. "Nothing.. Is the matter... With me.." beads of sweat dotted against his skin, his breathing labored and making his speech hesitant.

Renji cocked an eyebrow. "Clearly."

Ichigo glared.

"Boys! Could we leave this for the playground?" Rukia ignored the looks she got.

Renji scoffed, "What? Not my fault the kid's already getting worn out after one fight with one insignificant, lower level hollow."

Matsumoto looked around. "Captain, are you sure you can't hear that?"

Ichigo growled at Renji, cursing his sudden lack of energy and inability to punch the guy. "Look here red, There's nothing wr-" Ichigo's eyes went wide, his voice gone. That's when it happened.

Rukia frowned at him, but before she could say anything a limb from the not dead hollow sprung from behind Hitsugaya and Matsumoto and flew through the air to Ichigo- Hitting Rukia who kneeled in front of him, sending her flying across the air until her back made contact with a nearby tree with a sickening crunch sound.

Ichigo watched, absolutely helpless and immobile as the hollow rose behind Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, ignoring him and turning to Rukia, catching onto the thick scent of blood. Its limb lunged for her, stabbing her through the chest and hoisting her up in the air. She cried out and the hollow twisted the limb. Her eyes widened and she slumped down. Blood trailed down the one limb. The hollow stood where Matsumoto and Hitsugaya had been. But there was no Matsumoto, no Hitsugaya, no Renji. The limb let her drop to the ground, like a broken and bleeding doll. Ichigo could only stare.

When he found the strength he ran to her. There was no hollow. There hadn't been a hollow. There hadn't been anybody but them. He held her in his arms, cold and unmoving. He was silent and wide eyed.

"Rukia?" He shook her. "Hey, Rukia?"

Nothing.

He knew there'd be nothing.

Desperation swelled from the pit of his stomach and he shook her again, knowing it was futile. He'd been too weak. She was unmoving. Broken like a doll. "Rukia!" His voice was high with desperation. He should have saved her. He could have saved her. He had saved her before. But this time he had been too weak. This one time, he had been too weak. And that's all it had taken. That's all it would ever take.

It was raining, even if it hadn't been raining before. The scene changed, but you didn't notice it. Like watching a flower bloom, you knew it happened- you just didn't see it. The trees weren't trees but buildings, the building weren't close but far away in the horizon. The night wasn't clear but a cloudy day. And the broken body in his arms wasn't Rukias', it was his mother's.

All it had taken was one moment of weakness. All it would ever take was one moment of weakness.

"Ichigo! Ichigo, wake up goddammit!"

Ichigo woke to small, cold hands shaking his shoulders violently and wide lavender eyes inches from his own. Still reeling from the dream, his hands grabbed at the nearest thing and pinned it beneath him in a frenzied blur.

This time, however, it happened to be a small death goddess with one hell of a pissed off expression.

Eyes wide, The world started spilling back to Ichigo in a hazy blur. It was Rukia who had woken him.. He was in his room.. The sun was coming in from outside and a cool breeze pooled in from the open window, making the curtains flutter slightly. A small spider had begun to weave a web outside his window pane. The clock at his bedside table blinked 08:02

Ichigo released the breath he didn't know he'd been holding, falling to the bed bellow him when he released the pressure from his arms. He didn't even have time to notice Rukia was under him before several muttered curses had him pushed off and flying across the room with a small blast of energy.

He slammed unceremoniously back against his closet as she sat up in his bed, a deadpanned look on her face. She had sent him flying through the air and she was the one with that look? "What the fuck was that for?"

Rukia twitched, standing up in his bed. "You were suffocating me you Neanderthal!"

Ichigo countered the yell in her voice with his own "SO? YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD!"

To which she countered by raising her own voic, "KEEP IT UP AND YOU'LL BE JOINING ME IN THAT!"

And so the two kept at that until they reached a point at which if their voices raised one more decibel, either they would explode or a monk in Tibet would be hearing the finer points of just what Rukia thought the boy should do with his prized zanpakutou and just what Ichigo could do to her with the sword in question if she were to keep at it. Whichever came first, really.

The boy all but visibly bristled. "You irritating, little- You know what you are? You.. You.." For one who prided themselves on their insults, Ichigo found himself suddenly coming up sparse.

She cocked an eyebrow, voice smug at seeing the boy's more obvious annoyance as the hamster stopped spinning the wheel. "So eloquent in the morning."

Ah. "You're a pretentious, stuffy, irritating, growth stunted, pain!" There were the insults. With each word he stormed closer to the bed, and with her standing on it for the first time in a long while Ichigo had to look up to address someone. The fact that it was her irked him all the more.

She just grinned, her eyes narrowed in a thinly hidden display of an idiotically infuriating, oversized superiority complex. "And you know what the difference between you and a fat braying ass is?"

He blinked in rapid succesion "A braying- What?"

The girl smirked. "The fat braying ass would know."

He paused. She all but polished her nails in self satisfaction.

Feeling the weight of what he considered to be utter idiocy, the boy rolled his eyes. "Oh give me a break!" His face was harsh when he met her gaze- Prideful of what she obviously considered to be a highly witty come back. The only reason he'd walked into that one was clearly because it was just that stupid. Right. "Speaking of fat braying asses, keep it up and you'll be getting dumped on yours!"

"Oh yeah?" She leaned down closer to him, faces inches from his own, Just daring him. "Let's see you try."

A tick twitched at the corner of his eye, temptation to take her up on that just too much, and he flashed her his back before doing anything he might regret- contenting himself with little images of the girl gagged and angry and silent. He wondered just how much he would regret throttling the little creature, God or Goddess or whatever or not. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. You're just lucky I don't hit girls, much less when the girl in question is smaller than most ten year olds." Her temper took the form of a glare backed by enough volatile ferocity to kill before he heard her growl comments that almost had him complementing her on their sheer creativity and speed as he slipped off his night shirt, His muscles rolling beneath his skin. He grinned as the tables turned and it was his turn to annoy her. "What the hell are you doing in my room, anyway? Didn't dad shove you in with Karin and Yuzu?"

"Oh how nice of you to notice, but I came in to.." She paused, Her personal slew of insults intended for the boys immediate self suddenly forgotten when she caught sight of the new, fresh layer of scars on his back. "Check on you."

He frowned then, looking over his shoulder to her. She faced away from him, still standing on his bed, a look on her face he didn't recognize. "Check.. on.. Me?" He pronounced each word carefully, as though he himself couldn't believe them- Indignant anger growling in his voice.

"You heard me, alright?" A scarlet wash colored her unnaturally pale cheeks. "Check on you. Wake you up." She folded her arm across her chest and dropped back to the bed, sitting with her back to him with an indignant 'Hmph'

He turned back to her, shoving himself into his school shirt. "The hell are you checking on me for? The fuck do I look like, a third grader?"

She looked over her shoulder at him, her voice steady. Her expression grave. "What's going on, Ichigo?"

His look went from indignant to surprised as quick as if a switch had been flipped. "Goin.." ..And right back to anger. Ichigo had never like being confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't give me that." She turned herself back to sit facing him. "You know what I'm talking about."

He rolled his eyes "Then why don't you do what you do best and tell me what I know."

He heard the girl grumble under her breath, satisfied he'd been able to annoy her. "Yesterday."

Ichigo paused. The Hollow. The Fight. He had killed it, he had been sure of it. But he had spent too much energy hiding it. Hiding him. The hollow fell and so did he, the energy gone from him in a struggle no one would see. The Hollow hadn't died and it had lashed out for him. Rukia had been in the way, and he'd been to weak to save her even when he saw it coming. It flung her away and would have finished the job. Renji had saved her and yelled at him, but he hadn't paid attention to what he'd been saying.

It hadn't been a dream.

"Ichigo?"

The boy shook his head, looking back to Rukia who had gone from kneeling on the bed to standing right in front of him- He jumped back a bit, startled. "Jeez- Could you not do that?" He sighed and turned away. "Besides, you're one to ask. I wasn't the one who took a hollow to the back." The look on her face made him turn his back to her again, shuffling through his closet for nothing in particular to hide the blush that had crept into his face.

She laughed then. "Oh, are you kidding me? Not you, too. Yesterday it took me fifteen minutes to get Renji to shut up about that."

Renji had yelled at him. It had been his fault, he had said. Rukia had healed herself easily but Renji had been livid.

Ichigo growled at the memory. "Fine. One bad day on the battlefield. You can get out now."

"This isn't the first time this has happened recently, Ichigo. You've been like this ever since we got back from soul society, and it's getting worse. I'll ask you again, what is going on with you?"

There was a pregnant pause in the air. He looked back and she was still there, an expression on her face like she was a teacher scolding some god damned child. He'd known that look from her for too long to let it piss him off too much, but it still reminded him just how much he wanted to strangle her at times.

He'd also known that look too long to think she'll be letting up on her questioning.

He made his way to the door, voice heavy with reluctant resignation. "There's nothing wrong with me, alright! And I don't have to answer anything. School's going to start so why don't you go get changed instead of sitting there!"

He'd barely closed the door behind him when she trotted out of his room and ahead of him, planting herself in front of him. Blocking his path.

Damned.

He looked at her, that set look in her eyes that said she wouldn't be moving until she got what she wanted. Sometimes he..

Rukia watched as Ichigo suddenly grabbed at his head and fell to his side, Only the wall of the narrow corridor keeping him from falling to the ground. His shoulders quivered and he growled, his eyes clenched shut behind his hand.

She made a move towards him as he proved her earlier point, a worried look on her eyes but she stopped herself before she could go any further. "Ichigo... What's going on with you?"

"Damnit, Rukia." His voice is a growl between clenched teeth. "Don't you people have headaches where you come from?"

Her voice dropped to a heavy tone when she realized her current tact in questioning would get her nowhere. "Headaches, Ichigo, don't cause this. Headaches don't-... They.." Something stopped her, like as if she were trying to speak underwater. Her thoughts were drowned and mixed with memories and she couldn't say the words when she suddenly realized what had been bothering her. Headaches don't change your spirit energy.

He took a strained breath and looked at her from beneath his hand. She caught a glimpse of his eye and was suddenly taken aback. He stared at her from eyes that were suddenly drowning deep and alive with their own light. She wanted to step back, and she didn't know why. His hand dropped away from his face and he unfolded himself back up, standing at his full height almost as easily as though nothing had just happened.

Rukia also never liked being confused.

"Headaches don't what?"

Anger edged into her voice. The look in his eyes. The confusion of seeing it. The anger of knowing something was wrong, but not knowing what. She met his eyes- Alien or not- with a defiant will. "Headaches don't make you a liability on the battlefield. Headaches don't drain you of your energy. Headaches don't make you cry out in the night, drenching you in sweat and tearing at your very bed." Her voice picked up with momentum as Ichigos face slowly darkened. "Headaches don't have you sleeping up to three days in a row if left alone! Headaches don't weaken you in fights and make you all but useless!"

"Something's wrong with you." She stood up straighter, the famous Kuchiki look of pure arrogance in her eyes. "And I don't like it."

He stepped closer to her and she was suddenly reminded just how much taller than she he was. How much bigger. He took yet another step closer to her, and she fought the nervous urge to step back- But she didn't move. She wouldn't. "And you just know everything, don't you your nobleness?"

The tone in his voice. The closeness. Rukia visibly puffed up like a cornered cat. "Don't you dare try and use size to intimidate me, Ichigo Kurosaki!" She groped for the object nearest to her without once looking away from his eyes. When her hand found something to hold on to she swung it towards him- Keeping it between them. "Get back!"

He looked down at what it was that kept them at distance, then back up at her. "You cannot possibly be serious."

She shook the broom before her, shoving it that much closer to his chest in trying to push him back. "I said back!" Ichigo stared. Only she could wave a broom with the same confidence she would wave a sword.

He looked back down to the broom, then to her. That light to his eyes almost brightened and something flashed behind them. A smirk tried to tug at his lips. The look froze her in confusion. There was a sudden pull to the broom and she was caught off guard, not even having enough time to let go of it before she was pulled closer to him. He's so near she can feel the unnaturally fervent heat radiating off his body. Rukia could taste her heart in hear throat, and could almost pretend it wasn't fear. She had to look straight up to meet Ichigo's eyes; His strange, strange eyes. "Back off, Ichigo."

It wasn't even resolution, just pure alien intensity. "And just what will you do if I don't?"

The air around them became heavier, and for the first time Rukia was aware of just how much stronger than she he was. Just how easily he could break her neck.

"ICHIGO!!!" Isshin very literally waltzed into the room, freezing Ichigo and Rukia where they stood. The middle aged man stopped mid twirl and stared at them, the position they were in and took a very deep breath before launching himself at Ichigo. "Can this be?!" He flitted looks at each of them before folding his hands beneath his cheek, cradling his face. "Oh How did I not miss this? Is this love blossoming in my household? Oh Ichigo!" The two didn't even have time to pull away when the man child launched himself at his son, taking both of them careening through the nearby doorway.

"I never knew yo-" But rather than his son's open embrace he only met a foot to his face as it repeatedly kicked him away.

"Don't. Even. Start it." Ichigo stopped suddenly, blinking as he took a look around. He looked down at Rukia, the broom on the floor. Something flickered in his eyes before he shoved himself away. "Whatever. I'm going to school." Rukia watched his expression change, watched him all but run off and realized that there was something inherently different from the Ichigo that had just stormed out in a tantrum and the one who had just faced off against her. Something was indeed amiss.

Rukia watched the door slam after him, still blindly grasping at what had just happened. When she had gone out into the hallway she had had every intention of telling the arrogant jerk where he could shove that oversized sword of his, but right before her eyes something had.. Changed. Something she didn't like.

"It'll be alright."

Rukia turned to Isshin, surprised by the sudden tone to his voice. "Excuse me?"

There was a pause to him, and for the first time she saw the man serious.

The moment didn't last.

"Ooh. You know." The familiar gleam shone in his eye and had Rukia make a face. "Shy one minute and then all hands and-"

Rukia broke into a nervous, tittery laugh before he could finish with what would lead to mental images that would haunt her. "Oh Dr. Kurosaki, it's not that." She grasped at excuses to escape any kind of embarrassing questioning from the perverted older man "We were just. All. Uh, I better be heading off! I wouldn't want to miss class!" She dashed for the door, sending him a brief wave before slamming the door behind her.

Ichigo was absent-minded. His thoughts already could not seem to focus on the class when he leaned his head on the palm of his hand, elbow propped against the table. Every now and then he'd shake his head, as though his brain were some kind of etch a sketch that if shook hard enough it would go blank.

With the strange ringing in his ears, Renji would have never noticed it if it weren't for Rukia looking up every bloody second. There was a look on her face Renji couldn't quite place, too worried to be angry, too confused to be worried. But every time Ichigo so much as moved, there it was.

Renji didn't like it.

And all things considered it was pretty damn obvious just who it was that put that look there.

The class droned on and on, unnaturally slow and doing nothing to help the red haired boy's growing impatience at the whole situation. Ichigo would tense. Rukia would look up. Ichigo would relax. Rukia would look back down. Rinse and repeat. Renji shifted in his chair, all he could do to keep himself from yelling at the two to quit it.

Had Renji not been so caught up in his thoughts, maybe he would have noticed that he and Rukia weren't the only ones to take note of Ichigo's odd behavior. Ichigo winced, Rukia looking back up at him instantly like a deer raising its head at a far off sound. That strange look on her face.

Renji really didn't like that look.

Finally Ichigo raised his hand, asking to be excused to the nurse on account of some bullshit illness. As soon as he was out of the room and the door closed, Renji too asked to leave. The teacher didn't question him. Actually the teacher didn't make a sound, just nodded slowly. Being big and imposing had it's advantages. Renji left a confused class behind him and only Hitsugaya and Matsumoto didn't look after them.

It wasn't too hard for Renji to find Ichigo. For all the big talk the kid was known for, he had about as much control over hiding his spirit energy as he did his oversized ego.

Renji leaned on a tree that faced Ichigo as he slumped back against a wall, one leg stretched before him and another bent at the knee. Renji scoffed, lookinh down at him as Ichigo ignored him completely, "Look here, boy."

Ichigo barely acknowledged his presence, not even turning his face to fully look at him. Ichigo eyed him like he were some all important man with no time or patience for people like Renji. He made note of making sure to one day remind the boy of his place. One day soon. "Don't think your little act hasn't gone unnoticed."

Ichigo didn't even bother to speak, barely cocking an eyebrow.

Renji had never liked being ignored, and the growing growl in his voice didn't hide it. "Don't you dare give me that look you piece of shit. I could care less for your little problems and whatever the fuck crawled up your ass sideways and died."

Ichigo remained unmoved. "Then why did you follow me here?"

Renji pushed himself off the tree and stormed closer to Ichigo so he was standing directly in front of him- making it impossible for Ichigo not to acknowledge him, snarling like a stray dog whose piece of meat had just been taken away. "Because you seem to have a bad habit of draggin' Rukia into your bullshit."

"Oh, is that so?" Ichigos voice was empty. No emotion, no anger, no disapproval. Empty.

Anger coursed through Renji at Ichigo's indifference. He didn't make another move towards Ichigo but the effort showed. "Yeah, it is fucking so. I don't care if you get yourself killed while falling to bits in battle, But if Rukia gets caught up and hurt because of your goddamn problems one more time without me being there to save her ass I will-"

For the first time emotion flickered in Ichigo's face, a smirk tugging at his lips and he pushed himself up- bringing him face to face with Renji. "You'll do what? Don't you think its a little sad, you trying to threaten me? Especially in your circumstances?"

Renji frowned. "What the fuck is that meant to mean?"

"Oh," Ichigo took his time looking Renji up and down. That fine trembling of pent up anger had started to prickle under Renji's skin, his fists clenched at his side. Renjis' power started to hum in the air, to a normal human it would have been suffocating. Ichigo was completely unafected save for the increasingly bemused expression on his face. "I think you know what I mean."

"Well-paint-me-a-fucking-picture." Every word was growled carefully from clenched teeth, as though Renji were afraid to open his mouth in light of just what would come out.

This time when Ichigo met his eyes he was outright smiling- And it wasn't a pretty sight. "You? Threatening me?" He crossed his arms behind his neck, leaning back against the wall and never once breaking eye contact with Renji. "Those are mighty big words from a man who put his own girlfriend in danger without being able to save her, then fell at his knees before someone else and begged for them to do what he couldn't."

The effort that had been thrumming along Renji's skin broke and he lunged for Ichigo. "You fucking bastard!"

His fist was a dark blur, but Ichigo caught it in his hand as easily as though he'd seen it coming. He pulled Renji down by his wrist, Ichigo's long leg kicking out and connecting solidly with Renji's stomach. Renji doubled over, surprised to feel all the air drain out of him in one solid movement. Ichigo brought his knee up, smashing into into Renji's face and sending him tumbling back.

"Still not used to the limitations of this tricky little gravity and its effects on a human body, are you Renji?" He pushed away from the wall and stalked towards Renji. Ichigos power leaked out like a boiling current of water, blistering and thick. When the line of power hit Renji it took his breath away, the power crawling into his bones and making them ache. Making him hesitate.

Renji was still doubled over when Ichigo's elbow came down on his back, sending him straight down. He was on the floor when Ichigo's foot came at him, but this time Renji caught it in his hands. He came up in a rush, hoping to catch Ichigo's knee between his arms and popping the joint. He saw Ichigo smirk for a brief second and Ichigo twisted away from him- totally airborne for a second. Renji dropped back to the ground and felt the air pass over him as Ichigo's leg kicked out where Renji's head had been. Renji was on the ground again, but this time by choice. He rolled away from another kick and pushed himself up before Ichigo could turn back.

Ichigo turned and dove his fist for Renji who grabbed it with one hand, his other hand grabbing Ichigo's arm and flipping him overhead. Ichigo connected to the ground feet first and flipped the same arm over, grabbing the arm that Renji had been holding him with and flipping that over, taking Renji with it. Unlike Ichigo, Renji landed on his back.

Renji stayed down and for a brief minute he wasn't quite so sure just what made breathing so difficult; The impact of the ground, or the suffocating energy saturating the air. Ichigo took his time stalking towards him, openly enjoying the moment. "Down so soon, Renji? I'm quite disappointed, I was hoping for a better pastime with all the talk you were doing." Slowly Renji could begin to make out Ichigo's feet from the corner of his eye. "Here you were going on and on about protecting Rukia from me.. You couldn't even protect yourself."

When both of Ichigo's feet were in his line of vision Renji swung his leg around, taking Ichigo off his feet and in a sudden show of speed he caught Ichigo by the neck before he could hit the floor and slammed him against a nearby tree- Renji's look bloodthirsty. He knew it would only be a moment before Ichigo realized he could free himself by kicking his legs out and hitting Renji in the stomach, but what Ichigo did next caught him entirely by surprise.

He laughed. A high pitched, uncontrollable sound. The sound wasn't fake or forced or remotely pleasant, but genuine..

And suddenly, everything stopped. There was an icy feel to the air and everything halted, the flow of power freezing in the air- so thick it may as well have been tangible.

"What are you two doing?"

Both men turned to the source of the voice. Hitsugaya walked towards them, each step making the air heavier and heavier. He did not look pleased. The captain looked at each of them who seemed to have frozen in place along with their power, Ichigo held up against a tree by his neck, Renji pulling back a fist for a punch. The two exchanged glances and straightened themselves back up, Renji dropping Ichigo who- much to Renji's regret- landed on his feet, both looking back at Hitsugaya like bickering school boys who'd been caught.

The captain's icy face did not change. "Should I have to repeat the question?"

Ichigo scoffed at him, still smiling "Should we have to answer to you?" He glanced over to the boy, Histugaya's expression hesitating for a split second.

The was a heavy silence. Everything felt as though it had just stopped again, the tension breaking when Matsumoto and Rukia trotted up to them. "Hey!" Matsumoto called out, "What's going on?"

Rukia looked ahead of her, her expression openly confused.

Her gaze hadn't the time to shift to him before Ichigo's power suddenly receded back to him completely, like a tide suddenly pulled back to the sea. He blinked a couple of times, looking around him. He took one hesitant step back, and another. The small group looked at him in confusion. His eyes when he looked back to them were wild with confusion. "I..." Ichigo looked around again. "I have to.." Silence. "I have to- Oh hell. I have to go."

The group watched in stunned silence as the boy backpedaled away from them before turning around and all but running from them. Rukia made a move forward. "I'll find out wha-" A heavy hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks and she turned around to find Renji looking at her with a grave expression.

"No, Rukia. Leave him be."

Rukia's eyes widened "What? You know as well as I do there's something wrong with him. We can't just let him go off like that, not after the display of power he just released. You all must have felt it as well as I?"

"Yes, Rukia, we did feel it. And there is something wrong with him." Renji paused as Rukia's expression quickly turned to hopeful expectancy. She honestly didn't know. He sighed, dropping his hand from her shoulder. His voice was uncharacteristically careful, as if he were balancing a glass of water that was filled to the very brim. "Rukia, you can't stand there and tell me you haven't noticed."

"Noticed?"

Renji's face twisted. "Rukia.. The boy is going crazy!"

The girl all but choked. "...Excuse me?" She searched Renji's eyes, even if she knew better she almost expected him to say that he had been joking. He remained silent. "You cannot possibly be serious."

His expression answered her before he could speak. "Rukia, not three minutes ago I realized that the kid I was fighting wasn't the same one that had-" His face turned sour, like he'd just swallowed a bad piece of fruit, "-gotten the advantage over me in soul society. That boy is losing it and I'm not going to let you get caught in the crossfire between him and his fucking sanity."

Bitter sarcasm leaked into her voice as she slowly realized he really was serious. If he had been angry or ranting or raving she could just brush it off as him being himself.. But his voice was too heavy, his expression too set. He honestly believed he knew something about the person she had been living with that she didn't. "Oh? And just what do you plan on doing about all this?"

He knew that look, and that tone. But those didn't have to tell him the girl was pissed, anger all but visibly radiated from her tense shoulders and straight back. He shook his head, sighing in resignation. "We've all discussed this. Its too dangerous for you to be sticking too close to him. Its time you leave where you are and come stay with us."

She laughed, a bitter bark of a sound. "And how do you expect me to explain this? 'Oh, yeah, hi, Ichigo? Yeah. I'm going to be leaving now because everyone thinks you're going insane and are going to strangle me in the belly of the night!'"

Renji only stared on in silence, further fueling Rukia's indignation at the sudden turn of events. The realization that this had been a frequent topic of discussion amongst them and only now did they feel like sharing didn't help her rising anger.

"And what's with this We?" She looked around them, looking to someone- anyone- to be as surprised as she was, to back her up. "You mean..All of you..." No one spoke. "You all have got to be kidding me."

There was a pause, no one meeting her eyes. Hitsugaya was the first one to speak. "No, Kuchiki. We're not." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, an expression that was almost like incredulous confusion. "You cannot possibly have kept from noticing the changes within him."

She frowned. "Last time I checked, Captain, fatigue in battle and a quick..-er temper weren't part of being insane."

Hitsugaya searched her face in a confused glance. "And.. Those have been the only changes you have noticed in him?"

The events of the morning flashed in the back of her mind, but she wouldn't let them know. Not like this. Rukia only glared at him.

He sighed, seeing this would get nowhere and knowing better than to argue with anyone of the Kuchiki Hard Head. "Regardless. The boy is human, Rukia. His powers are stunning and it makes it easier to forget, but he is a human- He is not a Shinigami. Humans aren't built to handle the kind of power lower level Shinigami have, much less the kind he has." The boy shook his head, "He's going to start breaking soon, and with that much power he could become a liability. Worse." He met her eyes full on then, a hardened look he had become famous for. "He could become a bigger threat."

"A threat? A threat?" Rukia's voice raised with indignation, "He's been fighting alongside us this entire time and you're telling me he's a threat?"

The boy shook his head, brushing her off. "I understand you've come to have a certain protectiveness over him, but you cannot deny-"

She froze then. Her anger boiling her voice down, her tone grave. "Captain Hitsugaya. Are you implying that I am letting my emotions get in the way of my judgement?"

"I am not implying it. That is exactly what I am saying."

Renji and Matsumoto all but flinched at the boy's infamous bluntness. Rukia visibly gulped down what she had wanted to say, throwing her shoulders back, her eyes darkening. When she spoke her voice was steady. Trained. "Well I am sorry you find me as well as my competence as a soldier to be as lowly as that, captain, But I cannot comply. In light of this, I will refuse your offer in leaving my current post and go back to where I was. If things are truly as bad as you make them out to be, then it would only be to our advantage to have someone in constant post over this.. Threat."

She bowed her head to him, threw an icy glance to Renji and Matsumoto and left.

Renji sighed and let the tension off his body in a heavy sigh, quickly going from a tense calm to exhaustion. "Noble or not, you always know she's pissed when she uses proper grammar."

Matsumoto looked at him from the corner of her eye "You're one to talk."

He turned to her then, his voice a low growl, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Hitsugaya twitched. "Children! Could we possibly leave the bickering until after we have control of the situation?" Renji and Matsumoto looked to Hitsugaya before turning their backs to each other, arms crossing across their chest like kids. Deep in his mind, Hitsugaya wondered just what had he done to deserve such a fate as having to be in charge of people with the mental capacity of six year olds and two lovestruck teenagers. "If you two are done, maybe we can shift our attentions back to trying to figure this whole thing out?"

The two relaxed, even with certain hesitation, and turned back to the captain. Renji looked up and sighed, leaning against the nearby fence of the school. "When Ichigo and I were fighting.." Renji's words were hesitant, as though he spoke while watching the memories play across his eyes "There was a sudden.. Break in power. Even when I first got to him he.. I'd never seen him like that. When we fought it was like he was a whole new person. The boy is many things, but I have never known him to kick a man while down." And enjoying it. Renji grimaced at the memory of the kid's maniac smile.

"It doesn't make sense. Kuchiki is known for a good amount of power, and whether she lets her emotions blind her or not, her intuition has always been one of the things that make her a well known fighter. How she wouldn't notice.." Hitsugaya held his chin with his right hand, left hand holding his elbow as he lost himself in thought.

It was Matsumoto's turn to speak. "No, I do think she's noticed enough to know something is wrong.. But she still can't tell what."

Hitsugaya looked to the ground, almost as though he didnt want his vice captain to see the confusion that clouded his eyes. "She's always been one of the best reapers we have for her unmatched ability to sense a hollow's presence. How come she doesn't notice it when it's.."

Renji's voice was cold "When it's not even two rooms away from her."

"Precisely."

Matsumoto looked to Renji. "How come you didn't just ask her?"

He was silent, throwing his gaze away from her with a 'hmph'.

Matsumoto frowned, realization slowly dawning on her "...Because you didn't want to tell her." It wasn't a question and she didn't make it one.

Renji turned his back to them, another silence as he chose his words carefully. "She.. Isn't ready to hear it."

"Isn't ready?"

Hitsugaya answered the question for him. "Shiba Kaien. The captain she killed."

Matsumoto looked to Renji, understanding now why he had turned away from them. His voice was distant "It's too soon, and he's too much like him. She..I don't think she could take it"

"Oh get real, Abarai!" Hitsugaya looked to Matsumoto, startled at her sudden angry tone of voice. "You would risk her life and the lives of others as she protects him? All because you're afraid of hurting her feelings because she may just end up losing her boyfriend!?"

Renji turned back in a blur, snarling in rage "And you just know so much about about boyfriends going insane, don't you Rangiku?"

Matsumoto growled, Hitsugaya interrupting her before she could tear Renji's neck from his shoulders. "She's right, Abarai."

Hitsugaya was unmoved by the look Renji gave him. "Are we really to hide this from her because she let her feelings cloud her judgement? If not for the innocent people he could endanger, then remember that she is closest to him now. Right now she's on her way to the proverbial den of the beast. Everytime she goes into that house with him, the chance of her coming back unharmed lessens. Is this really a risk you want to take?"

-

Authors Note: I am currently looking for a beta reader. Not so much for grammar and editing, but just to give a second opinion to help make sure everyone is in character, the plot flows smoothly, story pace good, etc. If you are interested, please let me know through either email or private message.

Thanks for reading.