Thankies so much to everyone who had reviewed. I'm glad you guys decided to give this story a chance. I don't have a lot to say...hehe
Enjoy, and I don't own.
Rukia giggled breathlessly as the man before her pushed her against a wall in the darkened alley.
His one hand was pushed against the wall beside her head and the other rested on her hip, his thumb brushing in a comforting circular motion against her clothed hip. His mouth is warm and persistent against hers, coaxing hers into delightful play while he presses his whole body flush against hers. Her hands were wrapped around his neck, pushed deep into the silky white strands of his hair.
She laughed softly and breathlessly again as he pulled his mouth from hers and trailed kisses down into her neck, running his hand up against her stomach to part her shihakusho. "We have to go and meet with Ichigo," she said breathlessly, pulling his face up to hers and kissing him gently again.
She watched as his eyes darkened and he sighed annoyed. She grinned him and gently kissed him on the lips before waltzing past him, out of the alley. "Tease," he hissed and she laughed boisterously again.
She didn't mean to be one. Honestly, she was madly in love with him, but she was not ready to jeopardize either his or her position in the rankings of Soul Society. A relationship with a taichou was considered against regulation and both shinigami could loose their standing positions. A taichou should not and would not and could not enter into a relationship of any kind (besides that of a superior and subordinate or friends) with any of his or her subordinates. Whether they were in the same division or not, it was not to happen.
And besides, if she ended up sleeping with him, she didn't want it to happen in some darkened alley where some drunken Eleventh member could happen upon them anyway. They could call her old fashioned, but she was sort of hoping for it to be special, the rose petals on the bed type of special.
The law had been brought to station a couple of centuries before she was even born. She wasn't sure exactly what happened for Yamamoto sotaichou to place such a law, but she realized that the man was to be taken seriously and that neither them would get off lightly if it was discovered.
She was about three streets away when he finally fell into step beside her again. No one would question it if they walked together. After all, everyone knew that she had served under him during the time the Arrancar had been in Karakura. It was common knowledge that they had fought in the war together and people would only assume two comrades were enjoying each other's company.
"How long is Kurosaki staying this time?"
Rukia glanced at him; his tone was darker than was normal and slightly deeper. She hid her smile of amusement.
Ichigo's situation was one none of them was sure how to handle. No one had the heart to tell him the truth of what would happen to him in a couple of months. He had so many dreams that it was difficult telling him, even for her. And she had vowed to always tell him everything if it had anything to do with the shinigami world.
About two months after the war with Aizen they discovered that there was a reason Substitute shinigami were a rarity and why it was illegal for a shinigami to give their powers to a human. Essential it was Rukia's fault he was going to die. No Substitute ever lived longer than five years. The switching between soul and human eventually wears on the immune system of the human body and with every switch the human body shuts down. And the closer the Substitute comes to the five-year anniversary of gaining a shinigami's powers, the weaker the body becomes.
At first she had thought that because he had a shinigami father, it would be different with him, but his mother had been human and their had been circumstances around Isshin's place in the human world that also counted against him.
Ichigo was dying and there was nothing any doctor could do to help him. And he didn't know how to take his sudden weakness in his human body because his soul was strong and health. Which causes him to spend more time in soul form than in human form, which is only speeding the process up.
Rukia felt immense guilt over what was happening.
She sighed softly and stared up at the sky. "I don't know. He didn't say." It didn't matter either. They never got to see him when he did come to Soul Society. He was always in the library or the archives, searching for a cure to his illness. It was frustrating him to no end that not even Orihime's healing wasn't helping.
He scoffed, muttering something she couldn't hear as they entered the part of Soul Society that belonged to the Ninth Division. There was a rumor going around that Ichigo would become the taichou of the Ninth Division once he got some basic kido training at the Academy. Matsumoto was very excited about the thought, Rukia often refrained from saying she thought she might have a crush on the future taichou, only because whenever anyone does, they get a fist to the face from Hitsugaya. And the busty fukutaichou often denied such claims.
They headed to the area behind the training grounds and slipped into the wooded area until they found everyone sitting around in a large clearing enjoying each other's company with lots of food and various other things like sake. She was sure it was courtesy of Matsumoto. Ichigo was sitting furthest away from everyone, broodingly staring off into the distance. He had probably been dragged away from his archives.
"Oi! Ichigo, look better!" she shouted and hurried towards him. She forced her hands onto her hips and loomed over him, grinning. She watched as his whiskey orbs flicked towards Hitsugaya and then back to her. Her grin faltered slightly at the curious look he was giving her, but she held fast. She was sure he would discuss it with her and Hitsugaya first if he figured it out. "You'll miss out on the party."
He sighed softly and looked away from her. She sighed sadly and she crouched in front of him. "What happened?" she asked softly.
He had already been in Soul Society for three days, but with his constant disappearances to the archives or library she hadn't gotten much chance to talk to him and the bit she did, was brief glimpse before he would be dragged away by someone else who wanted to talk to him about something or by Hanatarou who thought he might've found something. Poor Hanatarou was too dense to pick up on the fact that he actually knew what was going to happen to Ichigo eventually. He has been faithfully helping the future taichou without much sleep.
"I needed a blood transfusion last week after cutting my hand while I was making a sandwich."
She cringed. "Why were you out of bed?" she asked.
He glared at her, his fury temper flaring up. She had gone to see him in the Human World a couple of weeks back. According to Yuzu he had looked worse now. Ichigo's hair was a pale peach orange and his face gaunt and his brown eyes looked empty. He was more skin and bone than anything else and while he was showing symptoms from various human illnesses, some doctors claim that it was impossible for him to get all of it at the same time.
"I'm not sick, Rukia!" he hissed. His frustration echoed in his voice. It echoed harshly in his voice, hiding the fear and panic he was feeling. "Something is killing me and I can't figure out what it is. No matter what I look at and no matter what I try, I am dying." Frustrated tears shot to the boy's eyes and her heart clenched as he leaned forward and rested his head on his knees. She watched him take deep; even breathes before he sat up again and looked at the sky.
She sat down, cross-legged, and felt guilt wash over her. She wanted to tell him, but everyone was under order to let him discover it on his own. Yamamoto sotaichou wanted him to work it out for himself believing that it would be a great show of character if he could handle something like this calmly. She figured it was in some way true, but it was killing him and his family. Even Kon had become less perverted and more subdued. "I'm sorry, Ichigo."
"Ichigo!" she smiled half amused as the angry look in his eyes softened and he raised his head to look at Matsumoto. She was carrying a small plate loaded with various foods. She grinned at Rukia and sat down beside her. She nudged Ichigo off his rock and set the plate down on it. "I thought I'd bring you guys something to eat. Taichou said I should tell you that you're being rude, sitting here all on your own." She said grinning.
Ichigo smirked and glanced over Matsumoto's head. "Oh he's just jealous." He said, as he looked straight at Rukia. Her eyes widened marginally, but she showed no more emotion that she knew what he was talking about. It was obvious that he knew. "And soon enough he's going to be even more jealous." He said firmly.
Matsumoto smirked. Her pale blue eyes were bright with mischief. Ichigo smirked and leaned towards her. "And why would that be future taichou-san?" she asked, her voice low and seductive. "I wouldn't happen to have something to do with that, would I?" Rukia didn't know whether or not to gag and run or to laugh and watch how this would play out. She wondered if Ichigo even realized that he would not be allowed to have a relationship with Matsumoto. If he took the job as taichou he would be of a higher rank than her. If he didn't take the job he would be a lower rank than her and then she wouldn't be allowed to have a relationship with him. If Rukia weren't already in the position as the Thirteenth Division's fukutaichou she would've suggested that rank.
"Exactly, I have two of the most beautiful women sitting right here with me, all to myself and what does he have?" Rukia laughed softly as she turned to look at the scowling Hitsugaya. "Two creepy men, bound to kill each other sooner or later." Hitsugaya was indeed surrounded by two men who were bound to kill each other if given the chance. Zaraki taichou and Kurotsuchi taichou looked seconds away from tearing away at each other. And the poor white haired taichou was right in the center of their growing argument.
Matsumoto threw her head back and laughed brightly. Hitsugaya turned his head towards them, still scowling when he caught her looking at him. Rukia's face flushed a faint red and he smirked as she turned away. She nudged Ichigo's leg with her foot and Matsumoto's ribs with her elbow. "Maybe he's right. It does sort of look like we're being rude by keeping the future Ninth Division taichou to ourselves."
Matsumoto pouted amused, but got up nonetheless, extending her hand towards Rukia and helping her up as Ichigo got up on his own. She half draped herself across Ichigo when he came to stand beside her. Ichigo had grown up in the last couple of years since Aizen's death. Rukia started forward, still looking at the two of them and watching as Ichigo waited for Matsumoto to say what she wanted to say.
Just as she was about to say something, explosions echoed from the Division area just over.
The ground shook beneath their feet and their heads snapped in the direction of the Tenth Division. Screams of fear filled their air and her blood ran cold as the distinct scream of 'Taichou!' echoed through the suddenly quiet streets of Soul Society. It was as if the color had drained completely from Hitsugaya's face and it was as if time it self had frozen them in their places.
And then Ichigo was moving and the moment his feet hit the whitewashed stones that made up every Division's streets, they were following, shunpo'ing towards the Tenth Division. The moment they stepped into the Tenth Division Rukia's heart sank. Bodies littered the grounds; in the short amount of time they had been spending between the Ninth and Tenth Divisions something had laid waste to the lower seats of the Tenth Divisions.
Some had been caught in the explosion and others had holes in their chests the size of a small person's fist. Their blood pooled beneath them, mixing together and creating a sickening crimson river as the blood slowly pooled into the drainage system, staining the whitewashed streets red. Pain flashed across Hitsugaya's face and she could see guilt simmering in them. She could almost hear his thoughts.
He had not protected his Division. He had let them die. He had let this happen.
Rukia's head snapped to the side when she heard a soft moaning sound. One of the men with a hole through his chest moved, as if trying to escape something. He was using his arms to pull himself away from whatever it was that he was afraid of. Rukia hurried towards him, ignoring the splash of blood against her white socks and sandals. Hitsugaya followed her while the others started to spread out, heading out to comb the Division area for the perpetrators. She knelt beside the man and set her hand on his shoulder.
Ichigo was standing behind her and Matsumoto close to Hitsugaya.
The moment the man raised his eyes to hers fear crept into them and he started to move faster. As if he was afraid of her. He kept whimpering, begging for his life and pleading not to be killed. He kept saying that he had never said anything against the Kuchiki house and that he never would do such a terrible thing because he had been part of the Sixth Division and Kuchiki taichou had been a wonderful man.
Rukia didn't understand his ramblings, but his fear escalated the moment Hitsugaya came into his line of sight. The man was crying at that point. His bloodied hand wrapped around Hitsugaya's ankle and begging to be forgiven for whatever dishonor he had done to the Division and that he would never do it again.
Nothing they said could calm him down long enough for him to explain what had happened. Matsumoto and Rukia were performing emergency medical kido just to heal the worst of his wounds. They knew he would have to be taken to the Fourth Division, but if they could just calm him down, they might get out of him about what had happened.
The more he blabbered and begged and pleaded and cried, the more blood slipped down the corners of his mouth. Eventually Ichigo leaned down and pressed a faintly fluttering point in his neck hard enough to knock him out. Hitsugaya glared at him for a second, but they all realized they weren't going to get anything else out of him. When she and Matsumoto had done what they could, she stood up, cringing at the feel of the blood trailing down her legs and stared out over the grounds.
This was not a massacre, this was genocide.
The whole front yard of the Tenth Division, straight down to the large set of doors that led into it, was covered in blood. Dead shinigami lay scattered all over the place. Some were missing limbs, nearly all had a hole through their chest and some were burnt. Zanpakuto lay discarded, the majority not even drawn yet. It was as if whatever had attacked had surprised the shinigami, as if they had not known what to do in the face of an adversary.
It was as if they had not been able to attack whatever had laid waste to them.
Her gut twisted sickeningly. How far did this go? How many shinigami of the Tenth Division survived and how many hadn't? Was it Arrancar? Was Aizen back? How many unanswered questions would come up with this mess?
She looked at Hitsugaya. She wanted to wrap her arms around him so badly, hold him against her and say that it was going to be alright. She wanted to tell him that he didn't have to worry, that they would find whatever had done this to his Division and they would make it suffer.
But she couldn't.
She was too scared to move. She was too scared to think beyond the fact that they had not sensed a thing. Something had laid waste to what seemed like more than half of a three hundred man Division and they had not even sensed it. There hadn't even been a tiny, insignificant trace of something out of order. Everything had been as it should've been right up until the explosion had taken place.
Everything had been going so well for the last five years.
"Hitsugaya taichou!" they looked up as Hisagi flickered into existence in front of them. The man looked like he was going to take the expected position of respect, when he thought better of kneeling in the blood. "We've found survivors, we suspect it is recruits. They were hiding in the office building basement."
There was a moment of relieved silence. Survivors were good. Survivors meant a chance closer to capturing the perpetrators. "Did they say who did this?" the white haired taichou asked as he started forward towards the office building.
Hisagi remained quiet for a moment, looking at Ichigo as if he actually needed confirmation to be allowed to say what they had said. Ichigo looked confused for a second, not sure how he was supposed to respond to the questioning look in his eyes.
"Hisagi fukutaichou," Hitsugaya growled.
The man swallowed.
"Yes Taichou," he whispered, "they said it was you."