Forced

CHAPTER 1- A Little Note & Some Hope

By- HichixIchi27

Disclaimer- I own this plot. But I do not take ownership of its characters. I do not profit from this story.

A/N- Well here is the first chapter after I did some revisions with my new knowledge of writing. Hope it better than the last one, same basic plot applies. Reviews aren't necessary but they are certainly appreciated and welcomed, oh and you flamers who wanna flame me about not writing for the past year, go for it ;) I totally deserve it, and I'm sorry.

Enjoy.

"Are you insane Ichigo?" Rukia said knowingly leaning against Ichigo's closet door frame as she took a wonderfully refreshing sip from her ice cold juice pouch after a hard day of training. Although it had been more like a duck and cover suicide mission in the underground training area. Kisuke had personally agreed to help with this session for some unknown reason. It had been hell; Rukia wasn't allowed to use her shikai and Ichigo his bankai. And to top it all off it was like a million frickin' blazing hot degrees outside. She glanced down at her juice box, little beads of water were beginning to roll off of its smooth plastic surface.

"Hell no, it's your fault for almost getting your head cut off!" Ichigo replied harshly. Ichigo remembered back to the training area, no bankai meant no super speed. Rukia and he had been separated by Kisuke's attack, and a bloody fast one at that. It really wasn't fair that Kisuke could use shikai and they couldn't. But the point of the exercise was so they would get better at strategy, if you had one well aimed blow and a plan you could go far. Simple right? Oh, no. not when Rukia was your partner. She was supposed to follow his lead and jump the way he jumped when he jumped. But instead midget decides to jump the opposite direction of him. They were separated now, and Kisuke took full advantage of the opening. He had bolted for Rukia sword poised to kill. Without his bankai he'd never make it in time.

Ichigo shut his eyes tightly not wanting to continue his thoughts. They marched along without him, reminding him sharply that had that not been a training exercise Rukia could very well have had her head lobbed off. His gut twisted and lurched at the thought. He would never be able to survive without Rukia in his life. They were just too close now to be separated, by anything. He turned away from his smaller counterpart and lay down on his bed trying to ignore her battering taunts and explanations as to why she was right to dodge in the other direction. He cleared his head and struggled to let his thoughts wander, slowly but surely they did. He thought about the past three months, the vizards, the big showdown, Aizen, his Dads shinigami abilities. It made Ichigo curious as to what else his father might be hiding. He wouldn't push it though, when the time came Isshin would share.

"Hello, are you even listening . . . Ichigo!" Ichigo's head snapped up in the direction of the raven haired death god who had called out to him.

"What do you want midget?" Clearly he was busy trying to ignore her.

"Never mind, just go to sleep we have school tomorrow." Rukia said angrily through gritted teeth, her hands bald into fist at her sides, and she could swear that her left eye was twitching! He had to go and ignore her in the middle of an explanation! Seriously, he was the one who started it. She spun around, her light blue dress flaring out ever so slightly, and climbed into her closet. What a stubborn ass, can't even pay attention long enough to finish his argument. Rukia grabbed hold of handle to the closet and slammed it shut. Her hand still gripped the door tightly. She looked down at herself, and sighed, her anger slowly ebbed away and left embarrassment in its wake. What was she doing? Her grip loosened and her hand fell lifelessly to her side. An argument is one thing but slamming doors like a three year old in the middle of a tantrum? She was being childish, and it wasn't just because she was being ignored. If she was being honest with herself, Ichigo was right. She was being the stubborn ass; if it hadn't been training she could have died. Rukia wouldn't admit it aloud though, she had way too much pride. Though, leaving things like this would only drive them apart, a sick feeling settled deep down inside of her stomach. Maybe she would offer a compromise as to who should lead next time, and maybe just maybe sneak a sort-of apology in while they were talking. Rukia let out an audible breath and nodded in approval of her plan.

The dark haired reaper began shuffling through her clothes on the shelf above her bed looking for her p-j's. I really need new clothes. She thought as her fingers grazed over a pair of shorts that looked pretty worn. She eventually found he night wear, matching fleece top and bottom, both chappy. She changed quickly, taking her dress and folding it before putting it in the dirty pile. Rukia feeling a bit cold then tucked herself snuggly into the covers. Though she was feeling a bit better now she couldn't help but wonder what Ichigo was thinking right then, he'd probably get over it pretty soon though. She hoped. Oh! An idea struck her, maybe tomorrow if there were no hollows she could talk him into taking her to the mall to get some new clothes! I can sort-of apologize then! It was perfect. Rukia smiled whole heartedly and wiggled down into her comforter. A shiver ran up her spine. I wonder why it so hot during the day and then once the sun sets it's like the arctic. Or maybe her gigai was just acting up? She shrugged; a little cold never hurt anyone. So ready for some sleep Rukia shut her eyes and waited for blissful unconsciousness to whisk her away. But there was this awful buzzing sound, Rukia couldn't quite place it to anything either. It came and went in waves it was like some sort of quiet alarm made to get someone's attention. Her soul phone! Rukia was immediately pulled out of her half aware state and jumped up on the bed. Now she needed to look for the damn thing! It could be a hollow, or several, the alarm had been going off for at least five minutes. God she was so thick headed sometimes!

"Come on phone where are you?" Her hands began rifling through her clothes wondering where she had last put the damn thing! Her dress was the only other place she could think of, she grabbed it and started fingering through the pockets. "Yes!" She shouted almost too loud, it was night after all, good thing her roommate was a heavy sleeper. She pulled it out of the pouch and flipped it on, but what she saw confused her at first. It wasn't the regular hollow GPS tracker screen.

THREE NEW VOICE MAILS AND SIX NEW TEXT MESSAGES. Shone in bright red were on the flashing screen. It buzzed again, and Rukia almost threw the damn thing out of surprise. The text number had gone up to seven. Jesus what could be so important? She hit view on the new message. It was from Byakuya. Oh shit, she was in trouble.

It read: RUKIA IF YOU DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE WITHIN THE NEXT TEN MINUTES I WILL PERSONALLY COME TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING AND DRAG YOUR SORRY ASS BACK HERE!

Her jaw unhinged after reading the words, she nearly had to pick it up off the floor. The small raven reaper had never known her brother could be so threatening and aggressive through a text. Byakuya was never even aggressive either, well not towards her. Apparently this was very, very important. Worried that her time might be running out, she quickly hit reply.

"I'm sorry Nii-sama, I am on my way." She said the words aloud as she typed them. "And send." She punctuated her sentence with the 'click' of the send button.

She needed to get her ass in gear before her brother hauled her back by her hair. What did she need to take? Well first off, she had to change out of her gigai. Rummaging around in her little dormitory she found her soul candy, popped one, and was out in no time. Turns out it really was just cold out tonight, though she was glad her gigai functioned properly. Ok, I'm out, now what do I need to take? The death god thought about it for a moment and came to the conclusion that she really didn't need to take anything. After all it wasn't like she was leaving permanently. She scoffed at the thought of even considering leaving forever. It was inconceivable at the very least. She and Ichigo were a team and nothing would get in the way of that. Not even her stupid half ass apologies when she did something wrong. It made her warm and happy all over knowing that no matter what Ichigo would always forgive her.

She turned and slid the closet door open a slow as she possibly could not wanting to disturb anything in the night. Which was stupid since Ichigo could sleep though a fire alarm. Throwing all caution to the wind she decided to fling the door open and jump out on to the floor. She looked over to Ichigo's sleeping form, he didn't even stir. Next stop window, and then she'd be on her way.

Rukia nearly stabbed herself with a pen climbing over his desk. After regaining balance she crouched down and unlocked the window with an audible click. She opened the window and began to shuffle out when she remembered to leave a note. Wouldn't want Ichigo to come crashing into her house while they were having a family meeting, now would she? Getting out of the window frame she grabbed some sticky notes and the treacherous pen from his desk. Sticking the final product on his window she was off to the soul society.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! Ichigo awoke to the unpleasant sound of his alarm clock. He could swear it took away a little chunk of his life force every time the damned thing would go off. He turned around in his blankets getting himself tangled in them. Eventually he put his face down in the pillow trying to drowned out the annoying racket. Finally, after a long battle of deciding to hit snooze or not, he lifted a heavy arm and slammed it down on the infernal noisy contraption. Taking in a deep breath the strawberry found pleasure in the way it stretched his diaphragm. His arms went out above his head and his back arced like a cat. God he hated mornings. He threw his legs over the side of the bed bringing his blankets with them. The chill morning air hit his chest telling him to get up. Ichigo decided on one more cat stretch before kicking himself completely free of the blankest and stood up. He was groggy still but more awake than he was, he put a palm to his eye and rubbed it awake. He really, really hated mornings. He walked over to the closet to get Rukia up. He used two knuckles and knocked gently on the door, he waited to see if the beast would be roused from its slumber. . . nothing. Ichigo loved this part. Time to kick it up a notch. He thought with glee. Two knuckles became the side of his entire fist; Ichigo started out slow and soft but then started hitting the door like a serial killer trying to get to his victim. It always scared the shit outta Rukia. He waited . . . Nothing still, could she already be up? Ichigo slid the door open finding a messy bed with no midget to be seen. Where the hell could she be? They had school in an hour, unless she was already down stairs eating.

"Rukia?" Ichigo called loud enough for the death god in question to hear even if she was down stairs, and still no reply.

He then resulted to frantically searching his house, first was his room, maybe she was hiding, under the bed? Nope. Then the bathroom, maybe she had to shower and couldn't hear his calling her. Nope. The Kitchen? No. Although Yuzu was making breakfast. He had asked if she had seen her, another no. Now he was back in his room, in a kind of panic as to where she could have gone. He looked at his clock above the window, only a half hour left till he had to leave. But then something yellow caught his eye as he looked away, Ichigo did a double take back to his window. Why was there a sticky note on it? He didn't know. Running a hand through his bed head he hurried to the window hoping that Rukia had left it saying where she was and why. He snatched the note off the window reading the familiar chicken scratch.

Ichigo, my brother has called me back to the soul society. Not sure what for quite yet, but I'll let you know a soon as I get back. See you soon

R-

A wave of relief washed over Ichigo, it gave him a bit of security knowing where she was, but the why part almost made him a bit uneasy. Byakuya personally calling Rukia back to the realm of spirits didn't make any sense; her brother hardly ever spoke to her. Unless. Ichigo faintly remembered that the midget had been called back once before, though it wasn't her brother personally it was her family. That had been for a possible arranged marriage, obviously she had turned down the offer or else she wouldn't have come back. And personally Ichigo thought that arranged anything was stupid. But still the possibility of losing her almost made him sick, the thought that his midget could be taken away so easily just because it was her duty as nobility. Sickness was soon replaced with irritation.

Why should she even need to leave? Really if she wanted to be married she obviously would have said something. Ichigo's thought still peeved at the whole damn situation. His mind obviously had skipped the whole arranged part of the deal. But then again she did manage to escape it last time; maybe her family was more lenient with this than he had originally thought. Or maybe she had just gotten lucky?Then again he could just be over reacting, maybe there was something else going on that needed her there, like . . . Ichigo's brain was struggling to come up with suitable possibilities that weren't marriage. Maybe they were redecorating? Ichigo shook his head in the negative. Well if they weren't redecorating, they had to be . . . painting her room a new color! Yes. Painting would work. Ichigo's subconscious told him he was a complete moron to even consider that, but that was all his sleepy brain could come up with, and that was enough to settle his temporary irritation. For now.

"Well whatever." Ichigo said to no one in particular. He was still here and he had to go to school. Sticking the note down on his desk he headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

The tile under his feet was cool compared to the air that was starting to fill with steam. Ichigo leaned over the sink and looked at his reflection, his hair was, and well it was a mess as usual. He let out sigh and picked up his tooth brush, and paste. After a good minute or two of teeth brushing he rinsed out his mouth with some Listerine. Running his tongue over his teeth he smiled at himself and turned toward his shower, Ichigo had always prided himself on his hygiene, and in all honesty he liked being clean. Placing his towel on a rack he stepped into the steaming water, it was hot enough that it almost burned his skin at first, almost. The shower was quick only about five minutes, Ichigo stepped out and immediately draped the towel over his head and began ruffling his hair. He wrapped the towel around his waist and shook out a little dampness left in his locks, he'd just let the rest of it air dry. Stepping out of the bathroom he noticed immediately that bits of steam were rolling off of his skin because of the temperature difference. He got a cocky grin on his face, oh yes, he was so hot.

"Ichigo you really should stop taking such warm showers, you're going to burn your skin off one of these days." Yuzu's gentle and concerned voice made its way to Ichigo's ears.

"And a good morning to you to." Ichigo said with just a pinch of sarcasm, he smiled letting his younger sibling know he was only kidding.

Yuzu smiled back at her big brother. "Morning Ichi-nii, and I came to let you know breakfast is ready."

"Thanks, I'll be down as soon as I'm dressed ok."

She gave her brother a painful look. "Does that mean I have to fend off dad from eating your food?"

Ichigo chuckled a bit at the thought of his little sister fending off his plate while there father tried to sneak a bite in. "Well, let's just say it would be much appreciated."

Ichigo turned to go inside his room, but stopped half way through and peered from behind the door. "What's wrong?" He asked when Yuzu hadn't moved from where she was.

"Ichi-nii, when will Rukia-Chan be back?" Yuzu looked up at him with big hopeful eyes that she'd be back soon.

Ichigo's playful demeanor vanished he didn't know when she would be back. "I don't know when, sorry." He answered somberly as he shut his door. He leaned back on the door letting his head hit harder than intended, but he didn't really care at the moment. The note did say she'd be home soon; he shook the possibilities of bad thought from his mind, after all . . . how long could painting a room take?

When he finished getting dressed into his school uniform he followed the smell of bacon to downstairs where Isshin, Yuzu and Karin were waiting for him. Ichigo took a seat next to Karin and stared at his food. Ichigo too his fork and poked at the scrambled eggs for a while before taking a bite. Ichigo looked across the table to Isshin suspiciously, he hadn't been attacked yet. Where was his real father!

Isshin looked back at Ichigo with a devious little grin on his face. Oh, there he is. Isshin greeted his eldest son with a good morning kick to the chest.

"So where'd you stash her son? My beautiful third daughter seems to be missing, and yes I know that technically she's not blood but damn it son!" Isshin raised a righteous fist to the sky. "That gives you no right to-" His words were cut off by Ichigo's fist.

"Rukia has some things to take care of." Ichigo spat at his dad while following up the punch with a head-butt knocking his dad out cold. Thank god, and may that old pervert stay down. He looked down at his breakfast that was now cold, and he had only gotten one bite in too! Ichigo excused himself from the table thoroughly pissed at his father; he grabbed his book bag from the counter. When he reached the door he slipped his shoes on and said his goodbyes. "Yuzu good breakfast… Bye Karin…Dad." The "Dad" at the end was pointless though, Isshin was still passed out on the floor.

Rukia walked briskly up the path to her home in the spirit world. "Welcome home Rukia," The servants greeted her at the door to the Kuchiki mansion. The cobbled paths way lead through the gardens and large main entry, it intertwined with itself throughout the mansion too, and also a few Zen gardens. She loved it here it was always so pristine, and personally her favorite part was the way it smelled. It was always so natural to her, various flowers and grasses putting off their own unique scent had mingled together into what she thought was the most beautiful perfume.

"I'm home!" Rukia breathe with excitement as she entered. She was still curious as to why her brother had called her home so suddenly. Maybe she should have read the other six messages, or at least listened to a voice mail or two. Oh well, Rukia brushed it off as nothing, although last time she was spontaneously called back it was a request for her hand in marriage. The Sudden Realization Panic was slowly beginning to set in. (Or S.R.P. as she commonly referred to this event.) She had barley gotten out of the last one too, only thanks to Byakuya had she managed to wiggle out of it. There had been a family meeting called and everything even though only six of the twelve elders showed up; it didn't really matter as long as Ren was there. God she hated that man, he was old wrinkly and meaner than a starving Lion. Usually once he's made a decision the family goes with it too, oh Rukia really, really hoped this wasn't an arranged marriage. If it was maybe her big brother could manage another miracle. Rukia began praying and chanting about good luck in her head.

"Rukia are you feeling ok?" Her personal bubbly silver haired maid Yuki approached her with caution. Apparently Rukia's skin tone had dropped several shades in her mini panic attack.

"Whaa?" Rukia was pulled out of her repetitive inner chanting.

"I asked if you were alright, are you?" Yuki came a bit closer with her arms extended, Rukia looked like she was about to scream or pass out. "You look a little pale." She continued a bit timidly.

And then fully fledged, wait for it . . . PANIC! (Or F.F.P.) "Yuki!" Rukia spun to her servant that was now scared out of her mind, and grabbed hold of her collar and began shaking her with ferocity. "I NEED to get out of here!"

"W-whaa-whaay!" Yuki did her best to say "why" through all of the shaking. Rukia's shaking stopped but Yuki was still being held captive by the small Kuchiki's vice grip.

Rukia leaned in so close to Yuki's face that their noses were almost touching "Don't you see what they're doing?" Rukia breathed in a harsh barely audible whispered. Damn, and her eye was twitching again! "Don't you!"

Yuki's mouth was ajar and her eyes were huge! She had never seen her Rukia act like this, and they had been more like friends, than servant and master since Rukia was first adopted. "No." Yuki shook her head with the same expression on her face. "No I don't see."

"Then I am doomed! Doomed!" Rukia collapsed into her faithful servants shoulder. She could feel Yuki's hand calmly stroking her hair trying to bring her back to sanity.

Yuki took her master by the shoulders and held her out so she could get a better look at the damage dealt. Rukia's head was hanging as low as it could humanly go, signifying her depression. Not knowing how to approach this delicate situation, she let out a long exhale. I might as well start by asking what's wrong. Well better than nothing.

"Rukia?" She said cautiously, bending down so she could look up at Rukia's face. "Hey, tell me what's wrong." The silver haired maid took her hand and slowly lifted up Rukia's so she could look her into her eyes. It almost looked like she was going to cry.

"Oh Yuki." Rukia said doing her best to fight back the tears the threatened to spill. "I was called back for an arranged marriage." She could feel her face getting warm and puffy, but her iron will kept the tears from coming.

Yuki pulled Rukia into a hug; obviously her friend was hurt and needed comfort. So this was the terrible reason her friend had temporarily gone psychotic. "Are you absolutely sure?" She asked hoping that maybe there was a chance Rukia might be able to escape her fate as the Kuchiki heiress.

Rukia pulled back from the embrace and mushed her burning eyes with her palms hoping it would make the tears retreat. It was working, slowly her eyes became less puffy and her face cooled down a little. She straitened her posture trying to regain some dignity. "I'm about ninety-nine percent sure that it is."

"Only ninety-nine? Does that mean there's hope?" Yuki asked hoping that there was. It was almost funny, hoping for hope, almost.

"Not exactly. I haven't been to the meeting yet so the possibility of it not being an arranged marriage is about half a percent, and the other half would be my brother sticking his neck out for me again." Rukia closed her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. "And that's never going to happen." Her body was calming down now.

Yuki had a fragile soul, and if she was honest with herself she was having trouble holding back tears now, and really could not think of one comforting thing to say except. Hope married life treats you well. And there was no way in hell she would ever say that. Just as she was about to stammer out something she hoped might have some comforting properties to it a red and black butterfly began floating around her. It was one of the Kuchiki family's personal message butterflies. They worked the same as the squads did delivering there little butterfly messages to death gods. Only difference between theirs and the Kuchiki's was that the Kuchiki's were color coded for the servants according to how quickly a task should be done. Black meant no hurry, just another regular chore to do. Blue meant that it had to be done within two hours and red meant that if you didn't drop what you were doing and do it immediately and without fail that you would be left on the street to rot no matter how long or how good you had served the household. Yuki had never had a red butterfly before, but she knew the potential consequences if not done. She outstretched her hand with one finger extended so it could land. It landed and delivered its undeniable message.

Bring Rukia Kuchiki to meeting room 106 for a family meeting.

Oh no. She really didn't want to be the one to have to do this, but the butterfly was red, and Yuki was sure her master, no, her friend would understand. They watched as the red winged fly flew away back to its house ready to be sent out again.

"What did it want?" Rukia hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was.

Yuki looked down her silver bangs hid her eyes ashamed of what she was about to do. "Rukia, as a servant of the Kuchiki house hold I am instructed to escort you to meeting room 106." She reached out offering her friend a hand, silently sending her message that said I'll be there for you.

Rukia took Yuki's hand and interlaced their fingers together showing that she understood that it was her duty as a servant. She was sad that this was the day her life was going to be sold to a man she didn't know, and frankly didn't want to know. As they reached the sliding doors of the meeting room, all Rukia wanted more than anything was for Ichigo to come bursting in like usual, and rescue her. I guess I shouldn't have left that note.

A/N - And there you have it, the new and hopefully better first chapter of Forced. At this time I would like to inform you that I no longer have a co-author to go over my work to edit, and help the story along. So I apologize for any grammatical errors that may occur, I always sucked at that part in English class. And now all I have is my word doc. To edit for me. lol