Authors note: I finally got this posted! Sorry that it took long. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it! Please Review~
Everything was silent; there was a deserted feeling that hung in the air. The room was dimly lit by a large computer screen, the light hum of running modems, the buzz of electricity. The man's pale fingers danced across the key-board, his hands moving in a fast paced rhythm, his eyes scanning the screen.
"Interesting…" the man said he voice scratchy, and then mumbling inaudibly a window appeared on the screen
"Nemu!" the man yelled
A woman appeared form the shadows wearing a black jumper, her hair dark brown in a braid, a red choker around her neck. "Yes, Master?" she asked looking at the man's back
"Tell me, who is working on this case." He demanded not bothering to turn around
"That would be Rukia Kuchiki and her new partner Ichigo Kurosaki." The woman replied
"New partner eh," the man tapped his chin, "Alert them both immediately."
"Master, it's already two 'o' clock in the morning," The woman said, her voice monotone, "They are both asleep right now."
"Yes, it seems so." The man put his hand on his chin, "Tell them when they get here." He said waving his hand dismissively.
"Yes, master." The woman bowed and resumed her spot.
"Simpletons," the man said, "Asleep at this hour, ludicrous."
The watcher looked around blankly, constantly checking the clock that hung on the wall of the diner.
His eyes flickered to attention, watching intently as a certain Rukia Kuchiki walked out the door to her apartment building, taking note of her locked jaw and clenched fist.
The man looked at the clock, '8:15, same as usual' he thought.
His prolonged staring didn't worry him; he was a good distance away from the woman, so there was no need to. He continued to stare at the woman as she went into her car and drove away. The watcher took out the small recorder that had rested in his chest pocket.
He looked at the clock, "8:20, Subject has left at the usual time of 8:15. Subject has not proved to be any possible threat, as of yet (Pause) Subject seems more irritable than usual, her jaw locked her fist clenched, possible change in routine, but things in this part of day seem, otherwise, normal."The watcher spoke into the recorder.
The watcher then got up from where he sat and exited the diner.
The ginger's eye twitched in annoyance as he stared in to the flaming violet orbs of a certain raven haired woman.
"Who the hell do you think you are!" Rukia said, her words dripping with authority and obvious irritation.
Ichigo simply scowled, she had been yelling at him for so long he forgot what had gotten him in trouble in the first place. He just watched her lips move to every word that escaped her lips, paying no heed to what she was saying. Not in the slightest.
"This is a serious job, Ichigo! Do think you can come and go whenever you please!" the raven haired woman said harshly.
'Oh yeah, that's it,' Ichigo groaned inwardly, 'I came late.'
"Why did you even join the SS?" Rukia paused as if thinking of a reason, "Don't tell me you joined just so you could get to me," she said with a smug expression.
Ichigo's scowl deepened at her accusation, "Don't flatter yourself, midget," he smirked, "The day I met you at the bar was the day I was accepted." The ginger said thrusting his thumb to his chest.
The raven haired woman opened her mouth for her retort, but heard footsteps coming towards her. The petite woman turned, a polite smile gracing her features.
Ichigo let out a sigh of relief he really didn't want to be lectured in the morning; well considering how long the raven haired woman had been talking he wouldn't be surprised if it were noon already.
The ginger furrowed his eyebrows as he watched a woman, who wore a black jumper, brown hair in a braid and a red choker around her neck; approach the raven haired woman, a vanilla folder clutched in her hand.
"Good morning, Nemu," Rukia smiled
"Hello, Ms. Kuchiki, I have information that Master Mayuri wishes to share with you," The woman said her voice monotone as she handed the raven haired woman the folder.
"Thank you, Nemu," Rukia bowed, taking said folder and looking at the contents inside, not bothering to add saying the no need for the formality.
Ichigo looking over her shoulder, scanning the papers that said folder held.
Rukia, feeling the ginger's presence, wasted no time to collide her elbow into to the chest of her redheaded partner.
"Bitch!..." Ichigo swore, "Why the hell do you keep doing that?!" he snarled with a menacing scowl, as he glowering down at the petite woman
"That's for being late." The raven haired woman smirked, undeterred by the ginger, "I'm not intimidated by you, even if you are bigger. So don't think for a moment that you scare me," she scolded her hands on her hips returning the ginger's glare.
Sucking in a deep breath for a moment, Ichigo holding it in attempting to will the pain from his aching chest away, staring into to the amethyst glare that returned his amber one.
Their little staring contest ended with a soft monotone voice breaking through, "Ms. Kuchiki, Master Mayuri sees it that you attend to the information within the folder immediately." Nemu said, putting the conversation back on track.
In perfect unison the raven haired woman and her partner turned their heads back to the woman in the black jumper, and then turned their gazes to said folder that was held close to Rukia's modest chest.
"U-uh…Yea, I'll report back to you…Thanks, Nemu," Rukia said refocusing and looking into the folder once again, a light blush gracing her features as she straightened up, 'Forgot she was there' she thought nervously
Nemu only nodded, bowed and went her own way.
Ichigo raised a curious brow at the folder and at the petite woman who held it, "What does it say?"
"Hushh…" Rukia raised an index finger to the ginger's face and waved him away dismissively
"I just wanted to know what it said," Ichigo let out a pout and a halfhearted scowl, crossing his arms over his chest; he stood by the raven haired woman, waiting for her to answer his question.
Ichigo only watched Rukia as she read softly to herself, since he wasn't getting his answer any time soon; he was only able to make out a couple words:
"… Magnesium Oxide... Phosphorus pentoxide… Calcium oxide… That's not right… What… Shit... Ichigo!" The raven haired woman barked
Ichigo jumped at the sudden call of his name, but went to the raven haired woman none the less, "Yeah, what is it, Rukia?" he asked a confused scowl taking his features
"Look at this!" Rukia said, her amethyst eyes shining as she pointed at the paper, moving closer to Ichigo to give him a better view.
The sudden change in the raven haired woman's mood made the ginger grow apprehensive. He looked at the paper and was immediately confused, not only did he not know what some…okay all the words that were written down were, he didn't understand them either.
"Um…Rukia…What am I suppose to be lookin' at?" the ginger said scratching the back of his head.
"Can't you read it?" Rukia said crossing her arms over her modest chest
"Uh, no, I can't read it," Ichigo quipped, "Just tell me."
Rukia rolled her eyes in annoyance of her partner's incompetence, "Well, is our victim an elephant," she said mockingly, "or a rhino?"
Ichigo narrowed his amber eyes at the raven haired woman, growing slightly irritated of her cynical tone; "No." was his short answer
"Okay then, well, this paper says that this man's teeth was made of ivory," the raven haired woman said as if talking to a toddler, "Do you know what ivory is?"
"Okay, quit it with the baby talk," Ichigo said through a clenched jaw, "I'm not stupid."
"You sure about that," Rukia gibed
"Yeah, I'm sure," the ginger said crossing his arms defensively, "So, what if the victim had false teeth?"
"That could be possible if there was a company that would stick the false teeth into the jawbone of its user, plus, Captain Aizen was only in his mid thirties. Not a time for false teeth." Rukia said as she and Ichigo walked to forensic wing of the SS
"So these ivory teeth were implanted."
"Right," Rukia said walking onto the platform, standing among the men and women in lab coats that surrounded the ivory toothed body.
Ichigo went on after the petite woman only stopping, staying a good two feet from the horrid mush of decomposing body parts that laid on the table ahead. He continued to watch Rukia as she talked to one of the people in lab coats and her handing the vanilla folder.
"What are you doing?" The ginger asked the raven haired woman approached him
"Telling the forensic team about the folder and the ivory teeth," She said watching the lab techs running around the body and paying attention the mouth of the victim.
"Hey, since the teeth are ivory and were implanted, doesn't that mean that the body lying on the table over there isn't who you identified him as?" Ichigo said gesturing towards said body.
"That's why I had to tell them," Rukia said her facial features sharp and attentive, "They should be alerting the head captain by now."
"I see," Ichigo said joining Rukia as they watched the workers move and pace about the platform.
"Although, this might look bad on our part," Rukia said, her eyes not leaving the commotion
"Why is that?"
"We misidentified the victim for a captain. So now we have a John Doe, a captain missing and a killer on the loose, a killer who may indeed be a member of the SS."
Ichigo looked around, he then saw a man with short silver-gray hair and a small black handlebar mustache, the man was dressed more formally than most SS officers that he's seen. Hell, Rukia was wearing the same thing before, just this time the color shirt changed and now she was wearing a jean jacket over it. He himself was wearing a plain white button up shirt and a pair of jeans. But this man was wearing a black suit jacket with a white turtle neck underneath and black dress pants and shoes. The man walked towards the front of the platform, his eyes fixed on Rukia and him.
Ichigo felt Rukia's body tense ever so slightly next to his, "Lieutenant Chojiro Sasakibe," she breathed
Everyone began to stir as men in black suits, armed with weapons, surrounded the platform blocking all exits.
"What's going on?" Ichigo whispered, "Aren't the guys in suits on our side?" he scowled
"Yes, but they are special trained officers, they come from higher up, people you don't want to mess with, just hang on tight and do whatever they say, got it." Rukia snapped in a low voice
The man with silver hair walked up to the two, his voice strong and wasn't shy of authority as he said, "Rukia Kuchiki and Ichigo Kurosaki, by the orders of Head Captain Yamamoto himself, you two are here by ordered off the case of the murder of Captain Sousuke Aizen and are to destroy all evidence and information pertaining to the case." The man then turned to face the rest of people on the platform, his voice booming, "No one is to talk about this. Anyone who disobeys and fail to do what's ordered of them and continue to peruse the case any further will be relived from their duties in the Soul Society Armed forces and will be charged with conspiracy and treason."