Chapter | 4

"Come on," Ichigo said and took off in the direction of the noise.

Rukia hesitated, but quickly caught up with him. They sprinted through the streets, Ichigo fiddling in his pocket for something. He came to a sudden stop when he found what he was looking for.

Rukia stopped next to him, trying to see what was in his hand. She instantly recognised the little green pill, happy that Ichigo still kept Kōn around.

He lifted the pill and popped it into his mouth. There was a distinct whooshing sound followed by two Ichigos, one in normal clothes and one in traditional Shinigami clothes.

Rukia didn't waste any time. Kon had barely opened his eyes befoe Rukia smacked him in the back of the head, catching the pill as it came out. She repeated Ichigo's steps and soon felt the sensation of her body and soul tearing apart.

Something was different, Rukia noticed it immediately, but she couldn't tell what was wrong. It almost felt like she only had half her soul, like she didn't have access to her entire body.

"Don't be stupid," she whispered to herself.

Kōn, now in Rukia's body, woke up just as Ichigo's body fell into him.

"What?!" he cried out and tried to catch the body, but Rukia's human body wasn't strong enough. Rukia never saw if they had fallen, because she was already two blocks away by then.

"Where is it?" Rukia asked as she caught up to him mid-flight. Ichigo pointed in front of them and Rukia felt stupid for asking in the first place, the hollow was huge. They landed behind it, giving themselves a chance to investigate.

It really was gigantic, even bigger than it had looked from above. It had a long tail with spikes that looked a lot like broken glass shards protruding from it. It stood on two legs and had two long arms that almost reached the ground. Rukia couldn't see its mask, but she had a feeling that would change soon enough.

Ichigo tugged Rukia's sleeve before he started gesturing with his hands to explain the plan to her. At first she didn't understand him, but soon he slowed down a bit.

The plan, from what Rukia understood, was for Ichigo to move in first and open up for Rukia, who would then aim straight for its mask. They looked at each other and nodded, unsheathing their weapons.

Ichigo slipped out from the shelter of the shadows and into the line of fire.

"Hay! Ugly!" Ichigo yelled as if they weren't in a battle. Rukia probably would have laughed if weren't for that reason either. The hollow turned around and looked at Ichigo before letting out another ear-splintering roar.

Ichigo didn't waste any time in attacking and Rukia moved into position, waiting for an opening to strike. She watched intently as Ichigo swung Zangetsu back and forth, weighing every attack instead of attacking blindly. It wasn't the first time that Rukia had noticed how much Ichigo had grown up since their first fated encounter. He could barely lift his Zanpaktō back then.

She was so caught up in her sudden moment of nostalgia that Rukia almost missed her opportunity. Ichigo had swung his sword high enough that the hollow had left its chest and head open for a clean death.

She lunged forward, Sode no Shirayuki extended at her target. As she got closer she was finally able to see the hollow's mask. Her heart skipped a beat and it felt as if her blood was being replaced by fire.

Not now, she thought to herself, but she couldn't stop it. The world started to slow down before her eyes and all she could hear was the sound of her escalated heartbeat.

She watched as the hollow threw Ichigo off and spun around, slamming its tail into Rukia. Two of the shards sunk into her flesh, but Rukia barely noticed it, barely had control over her own body.

With the last of the power she had over her own body, Rukia grabbed hold of the hollow's tail, drawing its attention to her and away from Ichigo, giving him a chance to do what Rukia couldn't.

And unlike her, Ichigo didn't hesitate. In one smooth motion he plunged his sword into the hollow's mask, shattering it completely. He didn't wait for the hollow to disintegrate either, he was already pulling Rukia into his arms and out of harm's way.

"What the hell, Rukia?" Ichigo asked as they flash stepped away from the disappearing hollow.

Rukia didn't answer, but felt herself falling back into paralysis. She gasped and started shaking in Ichigo's arms before letting out a blood-curdling scream that echoed over the city.

"Uru… hara" Rukia panted before the next wave hit.

Ichigo didn't ask anything after that, only moved as fast as he possibly could.

They landed roughly in front of Urahara's house and Ichigo ran forward, letting go of Rukia's legs as he threw open the door.

"Urahara! Help!" he yelled into the empty shop.

Barely a second had passed before Urahara burst through the back door, took one look at Rukia's shaking form and told Ichigo to bring her into the back.

"Put her down one the floor and keep her down," Urahara ordered before disappearing.

Ichigo did as told, but it was getting harder and harder. Her tharshing was getting wilder, and it hurt Ichigo to see her in so much pain.

Rukia screamed again, unable to keep it in. It wasn't the pain, they pain she could handle, it was what came with the pain that she couldn't stop and it frustrated her.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled as he threw himself over her, using his hands to keep her arms on the ground.

"Look at me!" he demanded, and Rukia did. Ichigo went dead silent when their eyes met, but Rukia didn't know why, and at that moment, she didn't care either.

Urahara came back into the room, caring a syringe in one hand.

"Keep her down," Urahara said and Ichigo strengthened his already death-grip on Rukia.

Urahara sat down next to them and tapped the glass syringe before bringing it down to Rukia's neck.

The moment Urahara plunged it into her neck, Rukia let out another cry, but it sounded anything but human. Ichigo stared down at her and the expression on his face broke her heart before she slipped into a deep, dark, dreamless sleep.

He was scared, terrified… of her.

"Ugh," Rukia muttered as she opened her eyes. She had barely sat upright before memories started to flood her mind. She cringed at the thought of how she let it take over, even though she had tried to supress it.

Rukia sunk her head into her hands and noticed she was back in her human body.

A rustling made her look up.

Ichigo was sitting across the room from her, looking sternly at her.

"Guess I have a few things to explain," Rukia said, her voice coming out a little hoarse from all the screaming she had done.

Ichigo beckoned with his hand for her to continue, moving so that he was sitting at the end of her futon.

"A few weeks before I left I was called in by the Head-Captain. He told me off an unbalance in Hell that was supposedly being caused by a prisoner. The only problem was that no one was able to find this prisoner, not even the Kushanadā.

"The Soul Society decided to form a task force, one that would go down and find this person. They asked me to lead the expedition, because I had been there before and Renji was already away on another mission.

"After going through the material they had given me, I agreed, since it would only be for two months, but as you know, it took a little bit longer. After we arrived at the lower level, we almost instantly found the prisoner. We were fighting so blindly that we didn't notice where it was taking us. I barely had time to stop everyone before we followed the prisoner through a warp.

"I don't know what it was, I guess it was where he was hiding, but inside time flowed differently, like inside the tunnel when you travel from the Soul Society to the human world," Rukia tried her best to explain, but it wasn't something that could be easily compared.

"Anyway, we were stuck in there for four years until I was finally able to kill the rogue prisoner," Rukia said softly, looking up to see Ichigo's response.

He stared at her, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say.

"I was stuck down there for five years in total. I lost about 80% of my men, had to listen to their dying cries and watch them suffer over and over again." Rukia put her hands against her ears, as if speaking about them made it start again.

Ichigo moved closer and put his hand on her shoulder. "That explains the hair and panic attack, but I still don't understand what happened with the hollow," Ichigo said softly, not wanting to sound rude.

Urahara walked in then, "I think I can explain that."

Both Ichigo and Rukia looked up at him.

"Rukia, dear, do you mind lifting you shirt?" Urahara asked in a voice that immediately told them both that he was being serious.

Ichigo looked at Rukia curiously and she sighed, "When we finally caught up to the prisoner, it took almost all of the remaining men to subdue him. The battle was one of the toughest I've ever fought," Rukia started to say as she stood up, Ichigo helping her.

"At one point I was able to get close to the man, I thought I'd be able to use my speed against his size, but it backfired when he suddenly ducked.

"I wasn't sure what was happening, but the next thing I knew there was a blinding pain in my side. It went away the moment I got the man off me, so I didn't pay much attention to it."

Once Rukia could stand on her own she pulled up her shirt, revealing an oval shaped scar just above her hip bone.

"He bit you," Ichigo said, reaching out to touch it. His fingers had already circled the mark before he realised how he was touching her.

"Sorry," he muttered, but Rukia simply dropped her shirt back down.

Urahara cleared his throat and they moved away from each other.

"My theory is that the man wasn't just you ordinary prisoner, he was something called a Hebi no otoko, or Snake man. There aren't many of them left in Hell, but when I prisoner is attacked by one of the Kushanadā and survives, they become poisoned. As I said, this happens rarely. If this person was to bite someone then that person becomes infected as well."

Ichigo seemed to be taking all the information in, but it was clear that he was struggling. Rukia didn't understand it all that well herself.

"From what I can tell, the poison of one of these Snake men doesn't have any negative effects on people who are from Hell. It's like they have an immunity against it," Urahara explained further.

"What happens to the infected person if they're not from Hell?" Ichigo asked.

Rukia and Urahara looked at each other, wondering who would tell him. Finally Rukia decided to try and explain it to Ichigo.

"There's never been a case where a Soul Reaper was bitten by a Snake man, so there's no actual way to know what will happen to me," Rukia said, pausing before she took a deep breath.

"But…" she tried to say, obviously having a hard time getting the words out. Urahara touched her arm and smiled down at her.

"Rukia's path can go one of two ways. Either the poison will work its way out of her system," Urahara said, a grave look crossing his face.

"Or Rukia will die."

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