Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach mmk?

Yay! Ch.2! You'll get to know more about Rukia in this chapter and the plot. This story is pretty intense (at least I think so) so I hope you guys like it!

The Secrets We Hide

Ch.2 Just the Beginning

Rukia fluttered her eyes open the next morning, feeling a bit colder than usual. She glanced to the right of her to see that she was alone. "He's gone." She whispered.

Deciding not to think much about it, she quickly got dressed. "Lucky for me today is a busy day." She said, putting her clothes on. Rukia had a vice captain meeting that would last a few hours, she had to train some of the shinigami in her division, and her brother wanted her to come by and visit.

Rukia loved busy days like this because it could keep her mind off of her husband. Seeing that she had a little bit of free time before the meeting, she decided to go and chat with a friend of hers.

"Kurosaki-san! I'm so glad you came by!" Hinamori called out. She hugged the smaller girl and let her inside. "Well sit down and we'll chat." Hinamori exclaimed.

Rukia smiled and sat down. "So Hinamori, how are you?" Rukia asked. Hinamori shrugged her shoulders. "Things are alright at the moment. Toshirou had to leave on his mission this morning, so I'm a little sad about that."

Rukia nodded. "Yah, Ichigo left too." Hinamori looked confused. "Oh, I didn't know your husband was going on the mission. He's only been back for a week right?"

"Yep, just a week ago. But it's ok, there's nothing we can really do about it anyways." Hinamori nodded in agreement. "So when is the wedding?" Rukia asked. To this statement, Hinamori perked up.

"Well, Toshirou and I aren't really sure yet because we don't know when he has to leave on missions, but I'd say in the next few months." Hinamori said smiling sadly. Rukia rolled her eyes. "That's what you said last month."

Hitsugaya had really grown up in the past seventeen years. He was no longer the short boy that everyone knew and made fun of. He reached several inches taller than Ichigo, making his looks even more handsome than before.

Hinamori laughed nervously. "It's just hard to find the time, your husband isn't the only one gone a lot." Rukia laughed too, but with a hint of sadness.

"Come to think of it, if my brother hadn't been the one to set up the marriage then we probably would have waited a long time too." Rukia said. "I don't mind waiting. I know we'll eventually get married." Hinamori mumbled blushing slightly.

"Well we better get going to the meeting." Rukia said standing up. Hinamori followed and they made their way to the meeting.

When they arrived all of the vice captains were there. There were new faces and old faces. One person Rukia recognized was Ichigo's vice captain Haru. She smiled at him and made her way to Matsumoto.

"Oi! Rukia!" Matsumoto cried patting the girl's back. "I haven't seen you in a while, how are you?" Rukia only sighed. "Things are ok at the moment."

"Alright everyone, let's start the meeting." Izuru Kira said, standing up in front of everyone.

The meeting was pretty standard. A few new rules were set for everyone and talks about previous missions were spoken of. "Alright Kurosaki, please give us your report."

Rukia stood up from her seat and looked at everyone around her. "The division is doing pretty well for this time of year. The new shinigami are training and moving at a pace faster and greater than those of previous years. The only problem I am seeing is it seems the new shinigami don't understand enough about hollows. I don't know if we can do anything about this, but when we were younger, we knew a great deal about hollows before entering into a division. If we could maybe do or say something about this, I would greatly appreciate ate it. That is all from the thirteenth division." With that said, Rukia sat back down.

Matsumoto stood up. "I am having the same problem in my division. The new shinigami don't know enough about the hollows. I took them to the real world a few days ago and they were scared out of their minds. Don't they see hollows while training at the academy?" She asked. Izuru stood up.

"I'll tell my captain, Yamamoto-taichou, about these problems." Everyone nodded in agreement and the meeting continued.

Once the meeting was finished, all of the vice captains left the building and departed into their different ways. Rukia had become good friends with Hinamori and Matsumoto.

"Well since my captain's gone, I have to run the division." Matsumoto complained, scratching her head. "Same here." Rukia replied.

"I hate paperwork!" Matsumoto shouted. "I guess I better go then, I'll talk to you guys later!" She yelled and disappeared.

"I better go too. Sentaro and Kiyone are probably fighting." Rukia said sighing. Hinamori giggled. "Yes, Abarai-taichou probably wants me to get back too." They both waved at each other and went their separate ways.

When Rukia arrived at her division, she was surprised to see that everything was actually under control. The newer shinigami were sparring with one another, and all of the others were working on whatever needed to get done.

"Kurosaki-fukutaichou!" A man yelled as he approached her. "Yes, what is it?" She asked. He handed her a note. "Instruction from Ukitake-taichou." She took the note from his hand.

"Thank you." She said. The man bowed and walked away. She immediately rolled her eyes and sighed as the first thing on the note mentioned "lots of paperwork". Honestly, why did so much paperwork need to get done?

The rest of the note talked about what the seated officers and everyone else in the division needed to do. She folded the note and stuck it in her free pocket. "First thing's first, training."

One thing Rukia enjoyed doing was teaching the younger shinigami. It amazed her at how fast they learned. They sort of reminded her of herself when she first joined the division.

She even allowed them to call her "Kurosaki-san" to make them feel more comfortable, while the rest of the division had to call her by her proper name. Rukia wanted them to have someone to look up to, just like her old vice captain had done for her.

Even though she worked them pretty had, she always gave them breaks, where she would try to talk to them all and get to know them. They were all shy at first, but they were slowly warming up to the short woman.

After hours of training, Rukia allowed them to leave and she went to check on the rest of her squad. "Sentaro, Kiyone, what are you two doing?" She asked as she walked into their small little office.

They were fighting about something. She always thought that in the many years they worked in this division that they would stop their silly antics, but they were exactly the same, except a little older now.

"Oh! Sorry Kurosaki-fukutaichou!" They shouted in unison. "We were just filing these papers Ukitake-taichou requested!" Rukia folded her arms and nodded. "Good, try to finish it by tonight ok?" They nodded and she left the room.

Rukia felt proud of herself, like she really was the actual captain of the division. "Maybe I'll be captain in a hundred years." She thought to herself. If she wanted to be captain, then she needed to achieve bankai which wouldn't be for a long time.

Her thoughts wondered to her idiot husband, who had in just three mere days achieved bankai. She shook her head, not wanting to get distracted at the moment. Rukia had done a pretty good job of keeping him off her mind, and she wanted it to continue that way.

She finally retired to the office where she had double the paper work to due. "Great, I hope ni-sama won't be angry that I'll be coming by late." She muttered.

The harsh work of doing paperwork began. She signed her signature at least a hundred times and had to stack papers into the right files.

After three hours of doing the loathsome work, she left her division. "Well it's only 8 o'clock, not too late." She thought to herself as she walked up to the Kuchiki mansion.

Byakuya always visited with Rukia at least once a month to see how she was doing. Over the years Byakuya had been kinder to her. He would always have his cold and emotionless stare, but the fact that he took time out of his very busy schedule to talk to her was a big deal.

"Kuchiki-sama, your sister is here." A servant called. A moment later, Rukia entered the room. Byakuya was sitting on a small couch. In front of him was a tea kettle and two cups.

In all honestly, Byakuya reserved that room for special visits from guests like Rukia. "Ni-sama, sorry I'm so late." She apologized, taking a seat across from him.

A servant poured some tea into both cups. "It's fine. You must be busy with your captain being gone." He replied back emotionlessly.

Rukia smiled lightly and took a small sip from her tea. She really didn't like tea all that much, but she felt it would be rude to not accept the drink from her brother's generosity.

"How are you?" He asked, looking directly at her. She looked away, not being able to handle his intense stare. "I'm fine. I'm just trying to get all the work that needs to be done within the division. It's a little more stressful with the captain being gone." Rukia responded.

She hated complaining to her brother, but she didn't know what else to say. "I see. Yes, it can be stressful at times, but it will pay off." Byakuya said, sipping on his tea lightly.

"How is Kurosaki?" Byakuya managed to spit out. He did care for Ichigo, but he would still always grow with irritation by the fact that on several occasions, Ichigo had fought Byakuya and beaten him every single time.

"He's on another mission. There's been some sort of attack in the human world, but you know all about it." Rukia said. Of course Byakuya would know, even if he wasn't a captain he would probably somehow find out.

"Yes, I know about it. I'm sure Kurosaki will handle himself just fine." Byakuya muttered.

"I know he'll be alright, but I can't help but worry." Rukia responded and put her cup down. "Well I wish I could visit more, but I should probably head back home. Tomorrow is another busy day and I have to get up early." Rukia said, rising to her feet.

Byakuya stood along with her and walked her to the door. "Please be careful Rukia." Byakuya said with an almost caring hint in his voice. Rukia smiled. "Don't worry Ni-sama, I'll be fine."

She waved goodbye to him and left the Kuchiki mansion. The visits with him always lasted that short amount of time, but enough to satisfy Byakuya. He was after all a man of few words.

Rukia then remembered why she hated visiting her brother at night. She thought that he would surely make Rukia and Ichigo live in the mansion or close by his home, but she instead was given a large home very far away.

Deciding to practice her horrible shunpo, she started to make her way to her house. Embarrassed at how slow her movements still seemed, she felt thankful that no one stood outside to see her.

She wouldn't even allow Ichigo to her see her shunpo skills. Ichigo didn't even know that she had been training. Rukia shook her head for the millionth time that day so that she wouldn't think of Ichigo.

Rukia made the mistake of hitting a loose board on a building and started falling to the ground. Lucky for her she turned her body so that she hit the ground feet and hands first.

Right after she landed onto the cold dirt floor, she slowly stood up and brushed the dirt off of her clothes. Checking for scratches, she decided to walk for the rest of the way.

"I'm halfway, I can do this." Rukia thought to herself, feeling a little silly about being afraid. She laughed at herself as she strolled down the dark alleyways of Seireitei.

Rukia then heard footsteps coming from behind and stopped dead in her tracks. She listened for a long time, and after not hearing anything she continued to walk home.

The footsteps continued once again and she paused, only to hear silence. She looked around and tried to sense another reiatsu, but felt nothing. "Come on Rukia, get a hold of yourself." She thought.

Just as she turned a corner, a black object jumped in front of her and leaped towards her. Rukia jumped out of the way and reached for her sword, but whatever attacked moved with great speed and stopped her before she could attack.

The black blob ran into her, knocking her to the ground. She could now see that this blob was a person wearing a black cloak. Rukia tried kicking the person off but her body wouldn't move under the person's grasp.

She went to scream but something covered her mouth and everything went black.

Rukia slowly opened her eyes, but she couldn't see anything around her. She tried to move her hand but it wouldn't budge. Voices could be heard all around her.

The only thing Rukia could make out clearly was someone saying her name. "She's awake." A voice hissed. Rukia tried to lift her head to see if that would help, but it wouldn't move either.

Footsteps now approached Rukia and she felt a bit afraid. Something touched her head and before she knew it, Rukia could see everything.

A person wearing a black cloak covering their face held what looked like a bandana. "Sorry Rukia, we weren't sure when you would wake up, so we kept you blind folded." The person said. The voice snarled and pierced through Rukia's ears. How did they know her name?

She went to say something, but instead went into a coughing fit. "Oh dear Rukia, please take it easy." The person said. He walked over to her and sat her up against the wall.

Rukia realized that no shackles or knots kept her tied down. "Am I paralyzed?" She thought. She looked around the room.

On one side of the dark room sat a bed next to a nightstand. The walls were dark brown and the room only gloomed with more darkness due to all windows being absent. After coughing one last time, Rukia found her voice.

"Where am I?" She demanded. Another person in a dark cloak walked up next to the first person, a deck of cards in his hand. They both laughed.

"Rukia, now why would we tell you something like that?" The second person asked.

"Tell me!" She tried to shout. They still wouldn't answer to her. The only parts of their faces that Rukia could see were their smirking lips. Her body still wouldn't move.

"Why can't I move?" She asked. They laughed again and still didn't say anything. It was safe to say that Rukia was now furious.

"We have a proposition for you Rukia." The first person said crouching low next to her. Rukia assumed the two to be men due to their deep voices.

"We've been watching you for quite some time now." The second one said, walking back in forth across the room. He kept shuffling the deck of cards in his hands. "And we have a great interest in you."

Rukia only let them continue to speak, trying to figure out someway to escape or move her body. She averted her eyes to see that her sword was gone. "You have something, well a lot of something that we want."

Fear began to sink into her mind. Ichigo's face popped into her head and she couldn't control what slipped out of her mouth.

"What do you want with Ichigo?" She hissed, staring at the two ferociously. The man in front of her turned and looked at the man pacing around the room with the deck or cards who looked back at him. They both laughed even more hysterically than before.

"Oh Rukia, you really are amusing." The man in front of her said, placing a hand on her leg and scooting closer to her. Rukia tried to move away but couldn't do to her body not being able to move.

"This does in a way have to do with your husband, but he's not the main focus here." Rukia didn't understand.

"Then what do you want?" She asked, having the ability to now move her head. Was whatever spell that was paralyzing her body wearing off? The two men only chuckled now.

"As we stated earlier, you have something that we want Rukia." She tried to think of everything possible thing that they would want and she could think of nothing. Though of course, Rukia once had the hougyoku in her body, and she hadn't been aware of it until it was finally taken out.

"Then what is it?" Rukia snapped back, trying to move any other part of her body. To her luck, her fingers started wiggling.

The man with the deck of cards now stood next to Rukia as well. "The answer is simple Rukia." He whispered moving closer to her face.

Once he was next to her earr, he whispered

"Your body."

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Authors note: Woah Creepy! They want her!! I know you guys probably think I am sick and demented, but I've really wanted to write a story like this so please forgive me and I hope you all liked it. I also let you guys get more of a taste of what Rukia does as vice captain. I totally made up a lot of the stuff though due to the fact that I have no idea what she would really be doing. I hope you all like it so far. I'm really enjoying writing this, probably more than any of my other stories so please REVIEW! Tell me what you like about it! (And if you must, you can flame, but please be nice about it)

In the next chapter, you will learn more about these two strange men that want Rukia for who knows why.