And now, a rather long A/N (by my standards) you probably should read:

WARNING: Do not read this story unless you have read Snow Instead Of Rain. So, to new readers, read that first before this. Or don't bother with any of this if you don't want to. Whatever you like. You don't have to listen to me. Yes, this could be a scheme to get more people to read Snow Instead Of Rain... you decide.

To my old readers... WELCOME BACK, GUYS! Bet you didn't think a sequel would come so soon! Or even at all! Well, I'm feeling generous and I miss Snow Instead Of Rain so... what the hell.

Boy, I'm feeling pretty insane. Two new stories in one day- that's a record, even for me! But the other one's Death Note, not Bleach, so slightly different.

To those of you who wonder if I'll ever update my other stories (Injustice, Will Of The Heart, Hollow Games etc.)... I really don't know anymore... :(

BAZINGA!

Of course I'll update them, as soon as possible. What kind of person do you think I am?!

One

05:39 PM

Rukia is pretty sure that everything isn't supposed to be turquoise.

It's unnerving to open your eyes and find yourself in this situation, and at first she supposes that she probably hasn't actually woken up yet. All around her, bubbles drift above her head, travelling in what she guesses must be the up direction. Which means that she must be vertical.

It also means she's underwater.

She assesses the situation through a slightly unresponsive mind that hasn't quite contemplated the severity of this. She's able to gather that she is in a turquoise liquid, and about a foot and a half away from her is glass, separating her from a world outside. Irritating. She's not fond of being underwater, and even her slow sleepy mind is able to comprehend that people aren't generally able to breathe underwater. Still, it could be worse- she could be drowning.

As she notices all these things, she begins to wonder why she's here. What happened last to bring her to a place like this? Thinking is becoming rather difficult, and that's worrying. She's never usually had a problem before, but every single thought going through her brain is sluggish and hard to interpret. She decides to try and command her body to do anything, and she is able to make a couple of her fingers twitch, but aside from that she gets no result. She is able to decide one thing- she wants answers.

Oh. That's right. It's beginning to seem clear.

Those bastards.

'The specimen seems to be awakening, Sir,' comes a faint robotic voice from the other side of the glass that takes Rukia exactly 4.57 seconds to recognise as Nemu's. A faint blurry outline of the lieutenant appears on through the glass.

'Well, just apply some more anaesthetic,' snaps Mayuri Kurotsuchi. He himself is off beside his desk, staring down at a particular set of data he required not long ago, before the specimen he was examining was sentenced to death, and was finally dealt with after it escaped. But now he has a new object of fixation. And what's better, a toy that was linked with the previous one. He hopes she doesn't break too soon.

'We had better hurry up!' he growls at no one in particular. 'If the other captains here about this, there's no telling how much trouble we'll be in! It won't be too long before they notice one of their lieutenants is missing. I'll bet Byakuya Kuchiki and Jushirô Ukitake will have something to say about this.'

07:03 AM

[EARLIER THAT DAY]

Rukia is awoken by another debate. Typical. She's getting pretty sick of this.

'… we're the same person, so how can you be more talented than me?'

'Simple. At the point where our souls split apart, one of us inherited all the intelligence and a load of the other good qualities, and the other one was you.'

'Hey! You're the weaker half, 'cause you weren't able to fight off becoming a Hollow!'

'Ask around and a lot of people will say I'm the stronger one out of the two of us.'

'I beat you!'

'What do you want, a medal?'

'Ha fricking ha.'

'Oh, will you two shut up?' Rukia groans as she slides the door to the cupboard open to glare out at the other two, who stop arguing to look up at her.

'… Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,' Hollow Ichigo says from his spot on Ichigo's bed.

Rukia clenches her fist angrily. 'You know, some people are trying to sleep!'

'And some people don't give a damn,' Ichigo mutters, earning a kick from the petite Soul Reaper and an unsympathetic string of laughter from his Hollow.

Ichigo glares at his Hollow, who is currently in the form of a cat plushie. 'Doesn't outwitting yourself feel stupid?'

'No, it feels pretty good. And you admit I win this argument?'

'Hell no!'

'I thought as much.'

Rukia sighs. 'Who's turn is it to go to school today?'

At the same time, Ichigo says, 'His,' and Hollow Ichigo says, 'Mine.'

'Over keen, much,' Ichigo says with a scowl.

'I do better than you at school.'

'Oh, now I know you're lying. That's impossible. We both have exactly the same knowledge. The theory that you inherited the brains it utter crap.'

'I've been getting straight As and A*s on every piece of work,' Hollow Ichigo says, and he grins triumphantly when Ichigo's mouth falls open.

'Wh-what?!'

'How does that even make any sense?' Rukia asks. 'You're the same person, so how can one of you be doing better?'

'I concentrate. He stares out the window.'

Rukia laughs and Ichigo's scowl deepens.

'Are you coming to school today?' the Hollow asks.

'No, I've got to report back to the Soul Society,' Rukia answers. 'I'll be back in about two days if I'm lucky, but I do have a lot of paperwork to complete.'

'You should get a Hollow yourself,' Ichigo says with a yawn, stretching out lazily on his bed. 'Then you could take the work in turns. It's way more convenient.'

'I'm not a tool!' the Hollow says indignantly.

06:02 PM

A simple gigai check. That's what Nemu told her when she came back to the Soul Society through a senkaimon and was confronted with the lieutenant of Squad Twelve. Rukia was informed that she was expected to present her gigai to the Department of Research and Development to they could give the gigai a check up and make sure everything was working fine. Rukia's been told she was gullible before regarding how quickly she believed Ichigo's inner Hollow. Still... that turned out well in the end. Sort of.

As she sees Nemu draining the turquoise liquid in the aquarium so she can apply more anaesthetic, Rukia makes a mental note never to trust anyone from Squad Twelve. Ever. No matter what the circumstances. No stupid exeptions.

What the hell was she thinking?!

'Please remain calm,' Nemu says.

'Let me out of here,' Rukia croaks angrily. 'What do you want from me?'

'Now, now, don't start causing any trouble!' Kurotsuchi says, looking up from the papers he was examining. 'This will be over nice and quickly if you cooperate like a good girl.'

'There's nothing about me worth examining. I don't have whatever you want.'

'Except the knowledge that I need about Ichigo's inner Hollow.'

Rukia chokes. 'He's dead.'

'You can tell the rest of the Soul Society that but you can't fool me,' Kurotsuchi cackles. 'He was a part of Ichigo Kurosaki, so you care about what happens to him. You didn't let him die.'

Th... that's n-not true,' Rukia breathes, her voice breaking a little.

'I can access your memories,' Kurotsuchi warns her.

'Wasn't I just... having a simple brain scan or something?' Rukia whispers, remembering the weird metal helmet (not too different from the one they used on Ichigo to extract his Hollow) being placed on her head, and after that... just darkness.

'I was going to access your memories, but I noticed something... uh, rather interesting in your brain... and I couldn't help but investigate further...'

'What are you talking about?' Rukia snaps nervously.

'It seems you are not aware of an anomaly inside your head,' Kurotsuchi says thoughtfully. 'So interesting...'

'There's nothing wrong with my head! Let me go!'

'As I said, cooperate and this will be quicker,' Kurotsuchi replies, shooting her a creepy grin, and Rukia feels something sharp being shot into her right arm. She was so distracted by what the captain was telling her that she didn't notice Nemu approaching her with a needle.

'No...' Rukia whispers fearfully as she feels her eyelids begin to droop in heaviness.

'Don't worry, you very probably won't die,' Kurotsuchi sneers. 'Lieutenant Rukia Kuchiki of Squad Thirteen, sister of Captain Byakuya Kuchiki of Squad Six and heir to the Kuchiki head of family... as if I could get away with letting anything bad happen to you!'

This won't be updated as quickly as Snow Instead Of Rain was because I have quite a lot of fan fics on my plate right now. It was a seriously bad idea to start yet another story, but I couldn't resist.

I am going to regret this later. Probably. But oh well. It's worth it for nice reviews, neh?