Ok, I am just trying to get this one out and started. I'm trying out a bit of a different, "more light-hearted" style of writing, so I'll see how it goes down.
TO: chelley-chan luvs strawberries - sorry for taken so long to start this story :( hope you are still interested in reading it.
Setting: For Rukia's all women world, think somewhat early nineteenth century Europe, (have you seen Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)? Same setting as that story. For Ichigo's world, it's more recent times, but think 1990's ish.
This is in now way associated with "Alice in Wonderland," there is only one part that is similar but that will be the only part :(
Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Bleach (it's characters) or the idea of the rabbit hole.
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This story starts with a bang, literally ... but let's get back to that bang, for now we'll jump ahead and start at where it just starts to get interesting, although I find this whole story to be interesting, I am the author after all and I'm also blabbing so let's get this show on the road!
Bypassing the "big bang" that starts the off whole mess of this story, moving past the time where our main character wanders about aimlessly for about four hours, past the time she spends in confusion, until we get to the part where she finally meets our other main character. Here we go, let's start from this point in the plot-line.
"So start from the beginning," the orange-haired man said. "You fell down a hole, got lost and apparently hit your head at one time or another."
The small woman, he was talking to, again shook her head stubbornly, "No, no you have it all wrong. First, I did not fall down a hole like some blunder brain, second I was not technically 'lost' and third, in no way, time or space, did I hit my head hard enough to account for these hallucinations I'm apparently having."
She was still fidgeting like crazy, sitting there, looking completely out of place in his room. His bed was messy and unmade, her hands were folded primly atop her lap, his dirty clothes lay strewn about haphazardly on the ground, her hair was slicked down, not a single strand even daring to fall out of place.
With a sigh of defeat the man plopped his butt down on the wooden floor across from the small woman who sat upon the edge of his bed. Kurosaki Ichigo was suffering the worst bout of confusion he had ever encountered in his life. He looked up again, his quizzical brown eyes trying to figure out just what the joke was that he was supposed to be getting.
"So, let me get this straight," he said again, "you really have no idea who, or rather, as your phrased it, what I am?"
"Well, you told me you went by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo, but as far as I can tell, you are just a malformed person."
"Malformed how?"
"Well ..."
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Three days prior
Kuchiki Rukia enjoyed her life. Life as she knew it was simple. Why exactly was it simple? Well, because she had a good education, a steady job, a nice home, good friends aaaaand she lived in a world where men didn't exist.
"What?!" a woman sputtered, slopping half her tea down the front of her dress.
"Senna dear," Rukia sighed, picking up an embroidered, cloth napkin from the small table. She stood slightly, reaching over to dab at her friend's blue colored dress. "No reason to get all up and excited. I talked to my supervisor and she cleared me to go on this two week trip. No work for two weeks!"
"I am so jealous. You get to go two weeks with out having to wonder whether something is infectious, or if this looks inflamed or like it could be potentially hazardous yada yada."
Rukia happily nodded, clasping her hands together, "And you want to know the best part?"
"What?"
"You are coming with me."
Rukia's world consisted of three things: her job, her friends and her home. Her job was that of a medical professional, specifically dealing with woman's medical needs, not that she knew this, because after all, she didn't know that there even was such a thing as a male/man/boy/guy/dude/brother/father/grandfather/the-list-goes-on, to begin with. I did mention that she lived in a world of all women right? So the difference between doctors was merely between professions, such as surgeon, a healer, alternative medicine and such and such. There was no such thing as a "gynaecologist." There were no guy doctors and no girl doctors, just … doctors. There were no guy's sports, gal's sports there was just sports, no boy's clothes, girl's clothes, just clothes and so on and so on. Bottom line, there was no male this, female that. Human beings did exist in her world, they were just comprised entirely by the female gender.
And did Rukia ever sit and ponder why there was a very gaping, and rather prominent lack of Y chromosome action in her world? Simple answer, no. She didn't know that men were lacking, had been lacking or even ever existed in the first place. There was no history of men, no books about guys, no men in religion, sports, books, newspapers, not anywhere! All she ever knew was women, girls, gals, sheilas, ladies and all things thusly related.
Her life was extremely organized and full of long term plans. Even before she was born, half of her life had already been planned for her. All people started school at the same age, all studied the same curriculum, all moved on together and at the age of eighteen, after significant examination, their future occupations were determined for them.
"We are going on a trip?" Senna jumped to her feet. "I must go and pack then right?"
Rukia nodded, "Correct, we leave tomorrow morning."
"You think you could have told me this sooner? Where are we going anyway?"
"I am not quite sure," Rukia pulled a paper from the front pocket of her dress. "I received this letter from the Baroness herself that offered me the trip to a place she called, her garden of relaxation."
"From the Baroness?" Senna's orange eyes widened at the words.
In their world, the government and power were all held in the hands of a single person, the queen. She made the choices, and her decisions were carried out down a chain of command from the queen to the duchess, then the marchioness, next to the countess, viscountess, baroness and lastly the dame. Standings were assigned each time a new queen took the throne and the queen was elected by the people so, heritage was not the main factor in determining the next ruler. The only person of the hierarchy that Rukia had ever actually talked to personally was the dame that ruled her town.
"Yes, it was strange," Rukia said, "I was under the impression that it had something to do with my recent promotion to head health care specialist. But it is still so strange for me to receive a letter from the Baroness."
Senna's surprise turned to smiles as she grabbed Rukia's hands, spinning her about in circles. "Yay we are going on a trip!"
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The world Rukia lived in could be thought of as a slightly naïve place. The citizens were happy to be ruled by a queen in a world that resembled nineteenth century England. Children were raised in a school setting like the structure of a boarding academy and stayed with the same class of girls each consecutive year.
Each town establishment was ruled by a dame, appointed by the queen herself. The dames answered to a baroness and the baroness to the viscountess and so on and so on, all the way up to the queen. As far as anybody knew, the only people that had frequent contact with the queen, were the duchesses, of which there were only four.
Rukia sat next to Senna on the low bench of the wooden wagon, their suitcases behind them on the floor of the cart. "Rukia," Senna reached out, clasping her friend's hand. "I am nervous, this is the first time I have left Rukongai," she said in reference to the town that both girls had grown up in. They both glanced up at the wooden front of their house once more, and then gazed ahead, down the road that led out of town.
"Do not worry," Rukia squeezed her hand, both slightly jumping as the driver of the cart clicked her tongue and the horse before the wagon began to walk along the light brown colored, dirt road. "We will just stick together."
Senna's nimble fingers loosened the strap about her neck, and she pulled her bonnet style hat from her head, laying it on the seat beside her. The sun's rays highlighted her purple hair and a pleasant breeze caressed her skin. Looking about at the fields of green on either side of the road, Senna sighed aloud and happily stretched her arms above her head. "I guess this is our adventure then?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, what happens in those stories of the people, that despite lacking proper social understanding, they are still able to pull themselves out of a bad situation and end up better off. All this the person does during the duration of a period of time called an adventure."
Rukia's giggle was smothered by Senna's hand and the black haired girl reached up, removing her friend's hand from her mouth. "I was not laughing at you. I was merely laughing at the idea of our simple outing turning into your definition of adventure. I hardly doubt we shall encounter anything terribly life changing."
"I am going to keep my hopes up despite what you say."
"Very well," Rukia squeezed her friend's hand. "On this trip, we will live life to the fullest and not miss a chance to provide you with the excitement of adventure."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
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The wagon came to a stop, and the driver unfastened the horse from the cart, leading her over to the side of the road. "How about a bit of a break?" the woman said, tossing the long strands of her blond hair back over her shoulder.
"A break sounds wonderful," Senna happily grabbed Rukia's hand, jumping from the cart and pulling the smaller woman after her. "Let us go and stretch a bit."
"Make sure to not go too far," their driver called after them, "It is rather dangerous out here."
Rukia called a thanks over her shoulder, facing forward to watch her footing. She couldn't quite place her finger on it but something about the driver was amiss. The woman was almost too regal in her mannerisms to be in the lowly occupation of a driver.
"Rukia," Senna had come to an abrupt stop, Rukia running into her shoulder.
"Senna? What are you doing?"
Senna made a shushing motion, holding her finger to her lips. Her eyes alight with delight, she pointed out across the fields. "What am I looking at?" Rukia lowered her voice to a whisper.
"There, see it, that white color? I believe it is a bunny rabbit."
"A rabbit?!" Rukia beamed, finally spotting the animal that Senna had seen. "It is so cute."
"I know, we should catch it," Senna grabbed Rukia's hand, and both girls started in the direction of the small, fluffy white animal. The bunny, finally noting that there were two women chasing it, started hopping off, its white ears appearing and disappearing in the tall grass.
"Grab it Rukia," Senna giggled and as they finally neared the rabbit, only to find it had vanished. "Where?" Senna said catching her breath, as they came to a halt, "Where did it go?"
Looking about, Rukia approached a raised mound of dirt in the center of the grassy field, signaling to Senna that she had found something. A large hole opened up in the dirt, the bottom seemingly non-existent as both girls inched their way to stand near the edge. "The rabbit went down the hole?" Rukia asked of her friend.
"It appears that way," Senna leaned forward.
"Senna be careful." The warning came too late, as Senna tilted too far, losing her center of balance and toppling headfirst into the hole. "Senna!" Rukia grabbed the bottom of her friend's skirt, losing her own footing and following her friend down the hole. They both tumbled into the darkness, the black engulfing their senses and overtaking all they could see.
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Did I really just fall down a hole?
Rukia flexed her cold fingers, gingerly pushing her body up and into a sitting position. "What the bloody hell happened?" she rubbed her limbs, trying to get the blood flowing through her arms and legs. Luckily, nothing appeared broken but it felt as if she had been sleeping for at least a few hours on the hard ground below.
She looked down, amazed to see that she was now sitting upon the moss covered ground of a rather large forest. Getting to her feet, and brushing off her dress, Rukia took a few tentative steps towards the nearest tree. Her slender hands reached out, rubbing against the rough bark of oak. "It feels real," she said quietly to herself. "Am I not dreaming then?"
She looked up, searching for the hole that she remembered passing through. The canopy of the trees was so thick, it was difficult to see past the foliage of the tall flora. "Sky? But there's no hole? Bah, what am I even thinking? I have never seen a hole in the sky before but there is no way this can be a dream and I know that this is not the field I used to be in."
A realization of sorts dawned upon her as she looked about and noticed that she was very much, and terribly alone. "Senna? Senna where are you? Senna! Can you hear me Senna? Answer me this instant!"
She began to walk about in circles, losing track of where she had started searching. "Senna?" she said, her voice beginning to become hoarse from overuse. "Where did that girl go?"
Her body felt tired and she leaned against a tree, catching her breath. A building panic began to assault her chest, and she worked to keep her worry in check. "Where is Senna? Where am I?"
In an almost premonition like way, Rukia's body tensed and her eyes stilled. A loud noise nearby, and the ground shook causing her to shakily stumble her way to grip her arms about the tree trunk. "Was that an explosion?" escaped from her lips.
As if affirming her suspicions, another explosion went off, even closer than the first one. Her heart skipped a beat at that one and she released her hold on the tree and began a tottering run away from the sounds of destruction.
Reaching a clearing, Rukia came to a standstill, working once again, on catching her breath. The noises had finally stopped, but her body was still on edge, her muscles twitching and ready to respond if need be. She leaned over, her hands on her knees and her head hung. Her dress was torn, and scratches decorated her legs and arms.
A twig snapped nearby, and Rukia nearly jumped out of her skin in realization that there was someone or something else nearby. "Who's there?" she said in a shaky voice.
After half a moment of receiving no answer, and hearing no other sounds, Rukia credited the breaking twig to her imagination. She took a deep breath and calmed her racing heart. "I need to keep my head, now is not the time to start losing my marbles."
"Hey, what are you doing there?"
Rukia really did jump this time, due to the sudden occurrence of a another's voice right behind her, very very close behind her. The top of her head made contact with something hard and Rukia crouched down, both of her hands shooting up to clutch the large goose egg emerging on her head. "Oh for crying out loud," she groaned, orienting her eyes in the direction that the voice had come from.
A rather tall person stood behind her, hands upon chin, looking down at Rukia. So that's what the top of her head had made contact with. Rukia slowly straightened to her full height, inching back closer to the very odd looking person.
This person was unlike anyone she had ever seen before, possessing a body much larger than any other being she had ever meet, and lacking in all presence of womanly form in body type. The body appeared well muscled, substantially more-so than she had ever seen, and the person's hair was cut much shorter than most. With a hesitant hand, Rukia slowly reached out, patting the face of the other person. "You are real?" Rukia said in a soft voice. "Thank the heavens. But just what is wrong with you?"
"What are you talking about?" Rukia's new companion continued to stare in fascination at her, as if in disbelief that Rukia, herself was actually real. "Why is there supposed to be something wrong with me?"
"Well, you just do not quite look right," Rukia said, noting that even this person's voice was lower than most women's. She was starting to get the impression that this person wasn't a woman, let alone even human, despite the very much human-like form.
The ground shook, and nearby another explosion was heard. Her companion's brown eyes narrowed and reaching out a hand, Rukia was pulled from the clearing into a thicket of trees.
"Where are you taking me? I need to go back and find my friend," Rukia had to say rather loudly to be heard over the newest series of blasts.
"It's too dangerous, didn't you know that you're in the middle of a war here?"
"A war? Are you serious? When did this happen?"
"Never mind that now, let's just return to my base." A black device was pulled from within the pocket of her escort, and bringing the device near to the mouth, Rukia heard, "Sir, this is Kurosaki. I have found a Queen inside the zone 86, I repeat, I have found a Queen inside zone 86 and I am requesting permission to bring her back to headquarters."
Rukia was so confused, there was so much that was just said that she didn't understand. Why was he talking into some black box? What was zone 86 and a Queen? Was that in reference to her? She wasn't a queen.
And just what the heck was a Sir?
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Rukia was brought to a large, cement building, slung on the overly broad shoulder of her rescuer. Not believing her eyes, Rukia rubbed her hand across them once again. All the people in this building were just as strange, just as oddly proportioned as the first she had met. Sure there was slight differences in hair color, stature and skin color but all were just as misshapen. Some even had, what appeared to be hair, growing out from their noses and chin. Perhaps they were demons, or some sort of semi-bald race of monkey.
Rukia was set down upon her feet once more. "Where am I?" Rukia asked, following her companion along, down an all-white colored hallway.
"I can't disclose that information yet, until we figure out what a Queen is doing in a war zone." They two came to a stop near a door, and Rukia was led inside. It appeared to be someone's living quarters, very messy living quarters, the likes of which she had not seen before. Made to sit on the low-set bed, Rukia nervously glanced about, unconsciously rubbing her hands up and down her arms.
"Here." A bundle of clothing was dropped onto Rukia's lap. "Go ahead and change into that. I need to go and discuss something with my commander, then I shall return." With a nod in departure, Rukia's new acquaintance opened the door, leaving and shutting the door behind.
Rukia looked down to the pile of clothes, holding up what looked to be a rather long shirt. "I have to wear this?" she questioned the clothing itself. Looking down to her own beyond repair attire, she decided she had no other choice and slipped off the dress, discarding it to the floor. Glad that her undergarments appeared to be intact, she slipped the new shirt over her head. The bottom hem reached mid-thigh and the sleeves were down to her elbows but at least it appeared clean, and had a very pleasant scent to it.
A few apprehensive moments later and her companion reappeared, taking one look at Rukia before blushing, although she herself didn't see anything that warranted blushing in the first place. "So, are you going to explain what is going on?" Rukia asked, sitting down upon the bed again.
"In a second," was her answer, as the strange person kneeled down next to her, pulling her arm up. Rukia flinched away momentarily until she realized that her companion was trying to clean the scratches on her arm. The same process was repeated on her other arm and both legs, and then a series of bandages were wrapped about the deeper wounds.
"Now," Rukia heard upon completion of the bandaging, "We talk."
"Alright?" Rukia cautiously said, feeling as if she was now under suspicions of sorts.
"First off, my name is Kurosaki Ichigo and as you can see, I am a soldier. What I want to know, is just what a Queen is doing out here, in our territory line, between Karakura and Hueco Mundo?"
"A Queen?" Rukia repeated, pointing to herself in question. "You think that I am a Queen?"
"You are female are you not, because you certainly do not look male."
"Muh -ale?" Rukia felt that she must have heard him wrong. Why were they suddenly talking about mail?
"Yes, you are evidently not a man, so you must be a woman."
"A woman," that word she at least made sense. "I know what a woman is, but what is mail thing you were talking about? A letter perhaps?"
"No, you are female and I am male," Ichigo said. "Hasn't your master taught you anything?"
"Master?" Rukia pulled a face of disgust. "I have no master. I only answer to my queen."
"But you are a Queen yourself." This conversation was getting more and more confusing for both of them with each passing moment and both parties involved were beginning to think that the other had more than just a few screws lose.
"No, I am not. And just what the heck are you?"
"What do you mean? I am obviously a man."
"What is this man thing you are talking about?"
Ichigo was silent, knee jerking in annoyance and brow burrowed in deep thought. "So, let me get this straight," was finally said, "you really have no idea who, or rather, as your phrased it, 'what' I am?"
"Well, you told me you went by the name of Kurosaki Ichigo, but as far as I can tell, you are just a malformed person."
"Malformed how?"
"Well," Rukia got to her feet, raising her arm and thrusting her pointer finger in Ichigo's face. "What the hell is wrong with you exactly? Just what kind of woman are you?"
So, it's may be a bit confusing and/or awkward now, but I promise that it will become more clear as the chapters continue on and I can actually start using the word "he and him and such"
Thanks to anyone who read and most of the ideas that I relate either as being as male or female are only being used to help the story, they are in no way meant to put down either gender or associate woman with old-fashioned ways, or man with war.
And yes, I had recently seen a preview for the new Alice in Wonderland Movie that inspired the fall down the rabbit hole :) yea I'm lame ...
Questions? Comments? Anything that this story just has to have? All thoughts are welcome.