Best Served Cold

Three years after standing on the threshold of death, two killers emerge to finish what they didn't start. IchigoxRukia AU Inspired by Goku's Daughter's "I love" series.

Rated M

Disclaimer: all characters belong to Tite Kubo


Chapter 7: The Lust (for Onna)


Mr. Hollow grabbed the back of the boy's head and slammed his face into the kitchen wall, the bloodstain of his new head wound imprinted on the stark-white surface. His body slumped down slowly, his knees giving way as they met the kitchen tiles and he fell to his side.

The Red Rabbit watched as the tip of Mr. Hollow's black Oxford shoe connected with the boy's chest to make him roll unto his back, and its red sole pinned him down. Zangetsu's blade pressed against the boy's jugular.

For a moment, she mulled over the final thoughts she would ever have towards The Espada lying underneath Mr. Hollow's foot and katana. "El Murcielago, The Heartless." Said to be the most fearsome Espada of the trio, but not necessarily for his skill, although his skill was undeniably deadly and precise. Her body glowed with sweat; she felt the stings of her wounds and the aches in her body.

It was said that El Murcielago was apt to using pure white face paint when he killed. It was also said that the paint only augmented the worst aspect of El Murcielago's actual face: his eyes. For unlike Mr. Hollow's eyes that conveyed the promise of a multitude of terrible things, she had heard how El Murcielago's wide, bright-green orbs spoke nothing less than…dispassion. For his target, for the things he did to them under for the sake of carrying out his job, and adhering to the orders that came from his leader.

She could see no marked difference when that face paint wasn't present, even now as he was pinned to the floor. But if his gaze spoke nothing but detachment, hers only spoke the absolute absence of fear and pity—like it had for the other Espada they had already cut down.

El Murcielago was young—a college student at best: young, sharp, adept. His frame was small and thin, the clothes he wore to counter the August heat, the pair of pajama pants and his green t-shirt, making him look almost birdlike. And pale, paler than her, the only scars worth noting being the identical cuts that ran from his eyes and stopped just short of his cheekbones. And his eyes underneath the fringe of messy black hair were just as listless as they had been described to her.

And the second thought was a slight but sudden and acute wave of…nausea at the smells of the cooked food and blood mixing together. She felt a stirring deep inside her and her free hand pressed against her stomach the feeling of the lukewarm curry plastered to her shirt against her hand.

And that's when they all heard it:

House keys.

Purple eyes met honey-brown. It was the worst scenario for a killer: someone unexpected, a witness, or worse—an ally.

"Omigosh! Wha, wh-what happened?!" A girl's voice rang out into the apartment. Footsteps over broken glass and around overturned furniture.

There was only one thing they could do.

The Red Rabbit turned her back from the scenario playing out behind her, and readied herself to lift her gun towards whoever it was that was walking through the apartment's living room.

It was a girl. Another college student, with long brown hair and a very generous chest and curvy body in a flower-printed dress that showed her long, bare legs.

…The Red Rabbit recognized this girl. Pictures with her face, her blissfully happy and smiling face, were hung on practically every wall in the apartment. Her and—

The girl gasped at the sight of her standing in the middle of the kitchen, her own harmless appearance, the striped shirt and curry-stained floral-print pants and flats, belied by the gun in her hand. Those gray eyes of hers searched around the decimated kitchen with its smashed plates and glass cups and hanging cabinet doors and puddles of water and the overturned pot of spilled curry on the stove. Those eyes of hers widened at the sight of Mr. Hollow's imposing figure and the shallow cut made across the back of his green plaid shirt…and El Murcielago's body pinned underneath his foot.

"W, Who are you?"

Neither spoke.

Mr. Hollow turned back to look at the girl. The scraps of sunlight that were left in the day casted his hair aglow.

"Who are you?!" She repeated. The girl made one step into the kitchen and The Red Rabbit raised her arm to greet her. Innocent, non-threatening young girl with her pictures on the walls or not, she wasn't taking any chances.

She stopped in her tracks. "Why are you here? What are you doing to Ulqui-k—"

"Onna…it's okay…"

The Red Rabbit snuck a glance back at The Espada. His head was lifted ever so slightly, but his eyes looked…living now. Full of mixed emotions.

"It's okay…I'm okay."

"You're bleeding!"

"I'm okay. You have to listen to me. Follow my directions exactly. Do you have your bag with you?"

She began to nod until she realized that El Murcielago couldn't see. "Yes."

"…Take out your keys, your phone, and your iPod."

The girl obeyed, rifling through into her canvas bag and pulling out her cell phone and the small, orange listening device. The little earbuds of her headphones dangled from the cord wrapped around her fingers. Her entire body was shaking.

"…And then place your bags down."

The bags dropped to the tiled floor, the books inside making a heavy thud. The contents of the other bag from a local bakery spilled out, loaves of bread getting dirty.

"Now, sit at the kitchen table. Put your things on the placemat and then press your palms on the table. Whatever you do, don't move them."

The girl's eyes flitted to her right where the kitchen table and its chairs stood. And once again, she followed directions, choosing the tangerine-colored placemat that had been pinned under what may have been an overturned teddy bear-shaped cookie jar without its head. The jar rolled from side to side, causing her breath to hitch in fear of the consequences of this action. And she fought against the urge to look over at The Red Rabbit, and scrutinize her own harmless appearance and the contradiction of the gun in her gloved hand. Fear and a million and one questions weighed heavily on her mind.

There was a glassiness to her eyes that hadn't been there before.

"Onna. It will be okay. …I promise." His voice carried with it the edges of calm and reassurance, one a parent would give its child.

Throughout their exchange, The Red Rabbit had deigned to speak, but now she turned back to The Espada that was making promises he wouldn't be able to keep. Part of her wondered about this girl and the extent of their relationship because, yes, they were lovers—they were probably beyond the scope of a young love—but had she never questioned anything about the man she called "Ulqui-kun?"

"…Usagi-chan. I have two things to say…Mr. Cinco left Japan shortly after your attack against Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, and took Kitsune with him. Right now, I am the only one who would be able to tell you where he is."

"And you will tell us where he is." Her tone was icy.

"And I will tell you where he is."

"…And the other thing."

"…I apologize for my actions on that day."

She stared at the young boy lying prone on the floor with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"I apologize for what I did that day."

Mr. Hollow's hand gripped Zangetsu's hilt tightly.

"…Are you truly apologizing after this long? Do you think that telling us you're sorry will make us forgive you? You shouldn't waste your time."

His eyes slid from the brown, angry eyes that stared at him, to the petite woman that stood in the middle of the shambles of his kitchen. "…I've been told that it's never too late to apologize when you've done wrong to another person."

The girl's forehead furrowed and tears were beginning to fall from her eyes, but she didn't speak.

"I don't beg for your forgiveness… I…understand why you've killed Pantera and The Shark and now seek me because I understand what it means to…love someone. And to want to protect them…and forfeit and change aspects of your own life for them… And I accept the outcome of my actions that day. Those actions when I had no remorse."

El Murcielago's glance trailed until he was staring at the ceiling. "I offer my life to you and Mr. Hollow—"

"…What?" The girl's voice was high, almost shrill.

"—in exchange that—"

"What! I don't understand! Ulqui-kun!"

"—you do not harm Onna after my death."

"Wait!" She turned her head and stared at The Red Rabbit's face. "I don't understand! Why is he apologizing to you?! Why is he offering you his life?"

The Red Rabbit didn't speak.

"Why is he offering you his life?!" Her hands slammed on the table. "Ulqui-kun wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone! He's kind—he's nice! He wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone?!"

"Onna…that's not true. I told you when I first met you…I've done terrible things to other people. I did terrible things to Usagi-chan and this man here."

"What? What could you do that was so bad? Ulqui-kun, what could you have done?"

He paused and then he said, calmly even gently, "…I killed their children."

Mr. Hollow's eyes narrowed in the slits of his mask.

The gasp that expelled from the girl's mouth was almost inaudible. "B, but—"

"That was the bad thing I did, the thing I said I didn't want to tell you. …I killed their children and helped others kill them too. They've killed almost all those other people. And now it's my turn." There was that calm, even tone—acceptance of the events that would unfold in the next few minutes.

The Red Rabbit felt her stomach dip queasily at the thought and the smells of food and blood that hit her nose. "And willingly giving his life for what he did to them is the only option he has left." She thought back to a conversation that had taken place a while ago, when they had sought out The Brit to help guide them towards the steps that would lead to this moment, the moment before the last moment. "For balance: an eye for an eye. Because we're not going anywhere and there are no other options left for him. He understands that…and now you do, too." Her free hand once again patted against her stomach, a particular soft, rotund part she didn't remember being there before…

The girl jolted—or rather, her hand jolted from its resting spot on the kitchen table, and shoved itself inside the hollow body of the stomach of the cookie jar. She saw the weapon before it had been aimed at her: a tiny pistol. A .22.

The Red Rabbit was nonplussed. Her gun lifted again. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You're not going to take him away from me."

"This isn't a game. The guns we're holding aren't toys. You now know everything there is to know about your Ulqui-kun; we've explained why he's going to die."

"You're not going to take him away from me."

"You're not going to stop us from killing him."

The girl's hand shook, but that didn't stop her from lifting it higher slightly. Her other hand held the bottom of the handle carefully. "You're not taking him away from me…It doesn't matter what he did before. I told him that his past didn't matter and that I would help him make his future together. I'm keeping my promise to him. So, you're not going to take him away from me!"

The Red Rabbit watched as Mr. Hollow's arm lifted and he pointed the tip of his sword towards the girl. She almost missed the strides he took towards her, the malice in his eyes bright and clear. He was done playing games; his tolerance for the girl, Onna, was spent. The girl gave another gasp as the white edge of Zangetsu placed itself against her neck and she came face to face with its wielder.

"You will get off her!"

She felt movement come from her blind spot and remembered the kitchen drawers and the possible kinds of knives they held inside. Her body moved on autopilot, her leg lifting and her foot connecting with El Murcielago's jaw and the muzzle of her gun pressing into that unkempt, inky hair before he righted himself.

There came a quiet, yet steady sound of water…the girl peeing on herself. The gun that was clenched in her hand fell into the puddle on the floor. The safety hadn't even been taken off. The thump of Mr. Hollow kicking it away and the rattling sound of it sliding across the floor overtook the room.

The Red Rabbit looked at the fear and tears in her eyes, the beads of sweat popping up on her forehead."You're not going…you ca, can't take him away from me…you can't because…I'm pregnant." The admission came with more tears and a dripping nose, emotions meant for happiness being shed in fear. "I'm pregnant with Ulqui-kun's baby."

She felt the fight El Murcielago had had built up inside him give way. "What?" The Espada's voice warbled.

"…I, I haven't been feeling well for…awhile. And all the food I eat was making me feel sicker sometimes. I can usually…just take something for, f-f-f-for the flu and feel better, but it wasn't working. And I was at work, but I asked my, my boss Hikifune-san if I could leave early and go to the doctor.

"And then I went to the doctor and he said…I'm pregnant. I'm six weeks pregnant with Ulqui-kun's baby. I'm six weeks pregnant and he's the father of my baby. So, you, you, you can't take him away from me!"

No one spoke, but there were the sounds of dry sobbing and heavy, panicked breathing. And breathing from El Murcielago, quick and breathy…how own breaths of panic, joy, and disbelief.

And her own breathing, almost constricting in her own chest… "...If you're pregnant and you're not lying about it, where's the paper?"

"…What paper?" El Murcielago's voice whispered.

"When a woman goes to the doctor and gets tested, the doctor gives her a paper telling her she's positive…and pregnant and when the baby might be coming. And that woman takes it to her husband so that he can see it and know that he's about to be a daddy. So, where is your paper...Onna?"

"…My bag."

The Red Rabbit's eyes flashed over to the canvas bag lying on its side—just like how the girl had left it.

"Okay…okay… What we're going to do is…I will walk to your bag, find the paper and look for myself. If you're telling the truth, we will leave. But if you're lying or if you move or speak, Mr. Hollow will kill El Murcielago and we will decide what to do about you." She felt a movement under her gun and kicked the boy underneath her foot. "We will decide what to do with her!"

She looked over at her partner. "…You can step away from her."

Mr. Hollow pulled back, slowly, Zangetsu's blade being the last thing he moved from the girl's neck. He walked back towards her, not hesitating to place the blade to El Murcielago's fair skin once more.

Gun aimed at the young girl, she walked back to the front door, her footsteps quiet across the floor, the smell of ammonia in her nose, her stomach threatening to betray her again. She kicked away the now inedible and slightly soggy loaves of bread.

The bag had no zippers or buttons to keep out intruders. Her hands began to pull things out: a small makeup kit; a pencil case; Tupperware, of some leftover meal—sweet potatoes and cheese with hot sauce; rice and red bean paste, and avocados with beans and pieces of sausage and chunks of mozzarella.

And then a textbook about graphic design. The only book with a sheet paper tucked between the front cover and the first paper to the tome.

She skimmed the paper, barely taking a moment to glance at the girl's name and other information about her.

…And there it was, on the last page:

"PREGNANCY TEST / POSITIVE"

She put the paper back inside the book and then the book inside the bag once more. And then she stood. Her eyes sought out Mr. Hollow's.

She was sitting on the edge of their bathtub sink in her favorite towel, the mint-green one, hair damp and amethyst eyes watching his movements. He was sitting beside her, on top of the toilet cover. "You're holding it wrong."

He looked away from reading the back of the box he was holding and looked up slightly, somehow able to scowl, even with their height difference. "…How am I holding it wrong?"

"You're holding the side with the cap. You should hold the other side."

"It's not a big deal, Rukia."

"That's the side I peed on!"

He didn't answer, but moved his fingers to the other side of the stick—or rather, the pregnancy test.

Her pregnancy test.

She was more than ten days behind on her period—the longest she thought she had ever been late. And for a few weeks now, she always seemed tired. It didn't matter that she slept soundly and solidly beside Ichigo. She had no idea how she wasn't getting caught closing her heavy eyelids at the receptionist's desk at work. She knew that Kirinji-san liked her well enough because she did good work managing every appointment and group that came to the bathhouse, and Kazuo and Kazuhiro were willing to cover for her, but still…

She never seemed to not be tired, to the point that she wished she just leave work, or find one of the empty rooms and sleep for hours.

And she had been throwing up all day.

Fatigue…nausea…

What else could it possibly be?

How long had they been waiting…?

"The lines match…" he murmured.

She looked down at the stick in his hand. The smaller circle, the control circle stood with its solitary vertical line. And the one beside her, the actual result, indeed had a matching line.

She had no idea that he was looking over at her rub the flat plane of her stomach in small circles.

Her eyes looked up to see Ichigo standing. The pregnancy test and the box it came in sat at the top of the toilet. It was only when she looked at the slight crease in his brow that she realized she had the same expression on her own face.

"What's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong."

"Rukia, something's wrong… Are you not happy?"

…It wasn't that she wasn't happy…

"Do you think the test is wrong?"

No…they had done everything right with the directions…they had even waited for the results longer than they had to. And she was sure that that was what it was—pregnancy, a baby growing inside of her. All that was left was for the doctor to confirm the news, and he had already made an appointment at the doctor's on her behalf to do just that.

"Are you scared?"

She…was scared. They weren't safe yet. Throwing away their phones and leaving Zangetsu and her Sode no Shirayuki behind with someone else, the man called The Bard. The jobs they had to cover what may have been an otherwise comfortable lifestyle, the things they had done enough to pay their expenses for a lifetime, for the space they rented…the names they had taken and gotten married under—"Sasaki Jiro" and "Sasaki Yuki"…All of that didn't guarantee that they were safe…

If they were missed or had been found out, The Shogun…the other Shinigami…they could find them.

Ichigo's hand touched her thigh and moved underneath her towel. "…I'm scared."

Her brow furrowed more, but it wasn't his words that upset her. "…How can you be scared and you're moving your hand there? This is what happened and now we're here."

The smirk on his face was faint.

"It's not funny, baka." But she couldn't help but smirk too.

The upward curve of the corners of his mouth went away. "…Do you not want one yet?" He looked up at her. "Maybe it's too soon…" He was aware of the risks having a baby meant, the period of time when traveling—possibly escaping—could be and would be dangerous…

But she looked at him and into those eyes of his she was helplessly drawn to. She couldn't help it—even with all the problems they had yet to escape from, from all the responsibility and stability a baby required, she imagined a life they would lead nine months from now and for the rest of their lives. A life with a baby. Maybe a boy. She…loved the idea of a boy. She loved the idea of him growing into a man…with eyes like Ichigo's…

Just like Ichigo's…

"I want a baby." She murmured. "Let's have a baby."

Her heart melted when he smiled at her.

"Thank you."

And he kissed her, sweet and tender.

"…Tell us where we can find Mr. Cinco."

El Murcielago did without hesitation.

"…When we walk out that door…forget that we were here. Do not call the police. Do not try to find us. And if you haven't already, don't go back to Mr. Cinco. You're not allowed anymore because the…the only way the person you'll bring into the world will have a good life is if you leave the bad things behind."

"I already know that."

Mr. Hollow's hand enclosed hers, the band of his wedding ring catching her eye.

"If we hear you've done any of these things, we will come back and we'll make sure to square the debt you have with us.

"…Congratulations."


Chapter 7. Me shipping UlquHime is almost as natural as shipping IchiRuki—"almost" being the keyword (I love IchiRuki and need no other pairing in the manga). And while I've been writing this fanfic, I've been rereading BLEACH, and just came to realize how much I like Ulquorria and the dynamic between him and Orihime. It was to the point that I just couldn't kill them off. I tried—I thought of maybe 2 scenarios of him and Orihime dying but those didn't feel right. And this one came and I just…let the chapter write itself.

Kinda wrong I made Orihime pee herself when Mr. Hollow almost kills her, but Orihime being frightened of Ichigo in his mask is canon so…eh.