Shinigami?

CHAPTER 1 - The Beginnings

Ichigo ran up to Aizen, sword in tow.

Ichigo and Aizen had been fighting for a while now and both had sustained several injuries. Aizen had it worse than Ichigo who was only sporting a few cuts here and there. Aizen on the other hand, was covered in cuts all over his body and could barely stand.

'Fucking shinigami.' Aizen thought as the orange-haired youth moved towards him to finish him off. 'Maybe now's the time to launch the ace in my cards,' he smirked internally and spotted the youngest Kuchiki preparing for an attack on him with seething eyes. Aizen smirked and said to himself, "Perfect…"

"Die you fucking bastard!!" he said, while swinging his sword down upon him.

"No Ichigo, wait!!" Rukia shouted from the sidelines, launching her sword's 2nd dance towards them.

Ichigo watched the incoming attack and dodged just in time Rukia's attack on Aizen took a fatal hit on the former Squad 5 Captain.

It looked like the Soul Society finally won against Aizen and his band of Arrancars. All the remaining arrancar agreed to cooperate with the Soul Society.

Unknowingly, Aizen had launched his final attack on the Kuchiki princess. Aizen had not died as they all thought. He was waiting for the right time to strike again using the final ability he had in his sleeve.

Rukia, Ichigo and the others who fought against Aizen were welcomed back in the Soul Society as heroes.

Aizen stood in their midst waiting.

"Captain Kuchiki, here are the reports that you wanted,' a girl from the 10th Squad said with a bow to the infamous Kuchiki Captain.

"Thanks Amari-chan." Rukia said as she sat down on her desk again. 5 years after the Winter War, she was promoted to Captain of the 5th Squad. She had achieved her bankai during the war and was able to master it in the span of 5 years. Though she was thoroughly surprised that she was able to much Hitsugaya, the resident genius of the Seireitei, she denounced it as skill and luck.

"Oi, Rukia! When are we going to take a break?" Ichigo asked as he looked at boring paper after another. Ichigo was offered a place in Gotei 13 as captain but denied to be part of it, though he agreed to be Rukia's vice captain after she had asked him.

"We'll get to that Ichigo, don't worry," the raven haired captain said to the impatient boy. "I just have to look at these reports from Hitsugaya-taichou."

Ichigo grumbled a bit but continued to do the work assigned to him. A few minutes later, Rukia motioned for him to get up and go.

"I'll stay around for a bit," she said when Ichigo asked if she would like to get something to eat. "I still have some business with Unohana-taichou." she said with a smile.

'Man, a few years as captain really got to her,' Ichigo thought as he walked away from the 5th Division to meet up with Renji who remained as vice-captain after the war.

Rukia on the other hand was worrying about the mark that had appeared on her neck. It looked like with a sort of eccentric design. Good thing her haori covered most of it.

[a.n. for a better look at the mark look at my profile…]

'I have to let Unohana-taichou have a look at this.' She thought as she touched the scorching hot mark. 'Why is it hot to touch?' she asked herself as she felt the heat. Finally, Rukia sighed and immediately went to the Squad 4 barracks.

"Ohayo, Rukia-taichou!" greeted Isane, Unohana's vice captain. "Is something wrong taichou?" she asked as she saw Rukia's worried face.

"O-oh, Good morning Isane-san." Rukia said shakily. "Actually I do have a problem. Could I speak to Unohana-taichou immediately?" Rukia said with a slight smile on her face.

Isane looked at the petite captain with worry on her face for a short second and readily agreed to get the Medic Captain.

'I hope it's nothing to serious.' Rukia thought as Isane went off to get Unohana. When she saw Unohana approaching with Isane in tow she suddenly felt a bit nervous.

'Why should I feel nervous?' she berated herself. 'It's only Captain Unohana.' She assured herself but to no avail.

"What seems to be the problem Kuchiki-taichou?" Unohana asked in a gentle voice. She looked at the young Captain with a gentle smile on her face.

"Actually, I have something you might want to have a look at." Rukia said in a small voice.

"Of course, captain," Unohana said with a smile. "Isane do you mind if you…" she didn't continue for her vice-captain had already left.

"Now, what seems to be the problem?" she asked with the same friendly smile.

"Well, it seems that I have developed some sort of…" she stopped when she pulled down the part of her haori covering the mark.

Unohana looked at it briefly and touched it. Rukia flinched at her cold touch but did not say anything else. She continued to look at it, all the while mumbling some complicated healing kidos around it. Then she sighed.

"When did this appear?" Unohana asked in a tired voice.

"A-about two days ago." Rukia said in the same small voice. "But it was a bit faded then." She added thinking this would be too important leave out.

"Hmm…well, I would suggest that you let Kurotsuchi-taichou have a look at it," she said with a slight smile. "It's unlike anything I've encountered and I'm sure Kurotsuchi-taichou would have the answers you need."

"Well…ahh…umm…maybe I'll go there tomorrow then." Rukia said with a slightly frightened expression on her face. "I'm sure Kurotsuchi-taichou is quite busy right know…" The 12th division captain was well known for dissecting anything that was unknown to him and Rukia DID NOT want to end up in his dissecting table.

"Don't worry taichou, I'll accompany you." The kind medic said. "How about tomorrow after the meeting, is that ok?" Again, she smiled at the fairly young captain.

Rukia smiled back with relief obvious on her face. "Very well, But I'll have to bring Ichigo." She laughed. "That idiot gets worried when I go missing." She shook her head in exasperation.

As Rukia walked back to her division quarters, the mark on her neck started to burn painfully than usual.

'Argh. Stupid, fucking mark. Making my already difficult life even more complicated.' She thought as she clutched the mark trying desperately to soothe the pain. When she touched the mark, it was burning hot. 'Man that's hot!' she thought as she thought of a way to cool it down.

"Oi Rukia!" a very obnoxious voice called to her. She'd know that voice even if she were asleep.

"What is it Ichigo?" she didn't even turn to look at him. The mark on her neck was still burning considerably.

Ichigo was a bit shocked at the venom in Rukia's voice. Normally she wouldn't get this angry till he stopped doing the paperwork and goofed around. "I was...uh...just wondering if you'd be getting back to the office now." He said with concern in his voice. "You see it's already noon and we'd have to finish the work by..." he trailed off when Rukia faced him. She looked like she had something on her mind.

"You go ahead Ichigo. I'll be there in a sec." she said and then turned his back on him, her hand still at her neck.

'Man, she really needs a vacation…' Ichigo thought as the petite captain sauntered away from him and went her way to the 5th Division barracks.

'Damn this stupid and painful mark!!' Rukia thought as she walked away from Ichigo. She was still rubbing the mark that burned painfully. When she had reached the barracks, the burning had finally stopped. She sighed with relief.

'Thank God. I probably would've gone crazy…' she exclaimed happily to herself as she sat down to finish her leftover paperwork.

Little did Rukia know that those horribly familiar brown eyes stared down at her and smiled evilly. Aizen looked down at her from his hiding place.

'It will be soon, Very soon. She will awaken.' Aizen said to himself and chuckled.

Early next morning…

The captain's meeting had already begun and Rukia stood beside her brother whom she had acknowledged with a simple 'Good Morning'. The pain of her mark had subsided and it no longer bothered her.

"Is everybody here then?" the captain commander asked with one stoic eyebrow raised. He looked around and noticed that one particularly short and black-haired captain looked a bit troubled and tired.

"Is everything alright Kuchiki Rukia-taichou?" the concerned old man asked. Ever since the young shinigami joined the ranks of captain, he had been overly protective of the young captain. It felt like something bad was about to happen to her and he hoped not. The Soul Society had not yet recovered from the previous war with Aizen and he did not want any trouble just yet.

All eyes turned to the Kuchiki princess as the commander said this. She blushed a deep scarlet color as she answered, "I-I'm quite fine commander. I just have a little…problem on my hands."

The commander looked at her with doubt etched all over his ancient face but he nevertheless accepted her answer. "Very well then," he finally said after giving the girl a final look in the eyes, "Let us start the meeting then,"

As the meeting went boringly on, the mark on her neck had flared up again. Her hand immediately shot up to her neck which she immediately tried to soothe by rubbing it. Unknown to her, she was being watched by a very curious Ichigo and an equally disturbed Unohana and Kurotsuchi-taichou. Apparently, the medic captain had already briefed the Research Department head on her…illness.

'Damn the stupid mark!' she cursed, 'Why today of all times?! Doesn't it know that I'm trying to concentrate?!' she tried to start cursing herself again when she heard a voice speak up.

'Why are you being like that Rukia-chan?' the creepy voice said. She looked around the room but saw no one that had the voice similarity.

'Maybe I'm going crazy…' she said to herself as the mark continued to burn horribly. 'God, why is my life like this?!' she asked to no one in particular.

'Tsk, tsk, Rukia-chan…' the awfully sweet voice said again. 'You know, talking to yourself isn't going to do you any good…' than the voice laughed until it faded into the distance.

'Thank God , it's gone…' she shivered. 'That voice was giving me the creeps…it sounded familiar though…' she said as the captain-commander dismissed them for the day.

Brown eyes stared down and seemed to doubt her own words. 'I doubt that Rukia-chan.' The voice said to itself.

After all the captains had filed outside Unohana and Kurotsuchi approached the extremely nervous Kuchiki captain.

"Are you ready Rukia?" Unohana said in a calm and sincere voice.

Not really finding the voice to speak out loud, Rukia nodded mutely and followed the 2 captains who had acknowledged her agreement by carefully walking to the famous 12th Squad barracks.