With a jolt of fear, Rukia flew off in pursuit, heading towards the Kurosaki clinic. She had been running patrols through downtown Karakura when Ichigo's spiritual presence suddenly vanished.
Rukia burst through the front door, skidding to a stop in the living room. Ichigo lay in a heap in front of the TV, painfully twisted around a silver mat. The TV was on mute, showing a flaming logo that read "DDRMAX2". Every few seconds, an animated person appeared onscreen.
Kneeling beside him, she pressed her hands to his neck. His heart thumped lethargically before pounding out a rapid tempo. Almost instantly, he began to stir.
"Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed as he blinked wearily. Grasping her hand, he slowly pulled himself upright. "Where are you wounded?" she asked as she worked to untangle him from the mat.
"I'm fine," he moaned.
"No, you're not! Who did this to you?" Rukia demanded.
"Dance," Ichigo gasped. "Dance…Dance…Revolution," he choked out, slumping back onto the floor. The poor guy was out cold again, so Rukia decided to let him rest for a while.
With tremendous effort, she pulled the snoring teenager onto the couch. "Dance Dance Revolution," she muttered. "Who is Dance Dance Revolution?"
Twenty minutes later...
"Dance Dance Revolution, or DDRMAX2, is a video game," Ichigo explained. Rukia pressed a cold compress to his forehead while he lay on the couch and told her what happened. "I told you about video games, right?" She nodded. "So in DDR, I had to step on the pad-" gesturing to the mat-"and match my footsteps to the game."
"I'm lost." Rukia said. "What do you mean?"
"Well-here, I can't really explain it. Look at the screen." Rukia watched as arrows appearing from the bottom of the screen floated upwards, where they disappeared. "So, basically, you have to step on the pad when the arrows hit? Like this? As a double vertical arrow appeared, she rammed repeatedly on the down button with her foot.
Astonished, Ichigo watched as Rukia adeptly jumped over the pad, hitting every note with ease. "Geez, Rukia. Have you played this before?"
"No, but it seems pretty easy," Rukia commented, unaware that she was already on Standard mode. "Have you tried using the flash step?"
Ichigo was rendered speechless. He mentally kicked himself for not seeing such an obvious idea. "You've got a point."
"Told you." Rukia smirked.
"Shut up."
"Hey, maybe you should get Renji to play."
"Why?"
"He's faster than I am."
