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How will Rukia react to being with Ichigo? Will she push him away? Read and find out!
The Secrets We Hide
Ch.9 Comfort Her
Ichigo's grip on Rukia tightened as the faces of those monsters flashed through his mind. He glanced down at his small wife to see her looking out in the distance.
She looked so broken and weak and it really tore him up inside.
"Let's get you to see Unohana alright?" Ichigo asked. Rukia barely nodded her head. Ichigo really didn't know how to feel about all of this.
His wife had been taken against her will while he was gone and was threatened. If she didn't do as they said then he could have possibly been killed. He felt a large amount of guilt for understanding that.
Ichigo wouldn't be leaving on a mission for a long time, even if he was demoted from captain. The two men were still around and alive, and he would protect her until they were stopped, or killed.
He kissed her head as they approached the clinic. Unohana was already up and waiting for them. "Bring her in here please." The woman said softly.
Ichigo did as he was told and laid Rukia down onto one of the beds. "Why can't you move Rukia?" She asked. "They put some sort of binding curse on my body." Rukia said softly.
Ichigo couldn't help but look at his weakened wife. Her clothes were still not on properly and the front of her kimono was pulled down almost to her stomach. Her hair was a complete mess and she looked more tired than ever.
"They're still out there somewhere, so we need to be on the lookout for them." Ichigo said. Hitsugaya nodded.
A moment later two people emerged into the room. "Rukia!" Hinamori cried as she ran towards her bed. Hitsugaya stopped her.
"She'll be alright now Hinamori." Hitsugaya whispered to her as his arm wrapped around her waist. The second person to emerge walked in calmly yet angrily.
"Kurosaki, what is the meaning of this?" Kuchiki Byakuya demanded as he saw Rukia's weakened state.
"You don't know?" Ichigo asked as he finally took his eyes off of Rukia.
"All I heard was Hinamori crying about Rukia, so I followed her." Byakuya stated coldly. The room was silent for a moment.
"Byakuya, you see, Rukia, well, she's been raped." Matsumoto stated as she saw that Ichigo couldn't say the words. Byakuya twitched with anger and looked back towards his sister.
"Can I have a word with you Kurosaki?" He hissed. Ichigo didn't want to be away from Rukia but followed him.
Once they were outside, Byakuya nearly exploded on Ichigo. "How could you let this happen? Don't you care about what happens to her?" Byakuya nearly yelled. Ichigo was quite surprised by his voice.
"If you think that I would ever let something this horrible happen to her than you've got it all wrong!" Ichigo screamed. "Don't go preaching at me about what has happened because trust me I feel pretty damn guilty about everything! You weren't there to witness the look of terror on her face! I almost killed them but they slipped right out of my grasp but I'll get them." The last part was directed to no one but himself.
Byakuya fell silent. "I'll let this slide for now but I want to talk about this more later." When the two walked back inside it was obvious everyone had heard the entire argument.
"I need everyone to leave the room please." Unohana advised. "Why do we need to leave?" Ichigo asked angrily. He was sick of people telling him what to do.
"I'm going to need to check her entire body and I'm sure she would feel rather uncomfortable with a bunch of men in here so please leave."
Ichigo looked at Rukia to see her eyes averted downward. Without saying anything they all left. "Hinamori and Matsumoto, Rukia would like you to stay."
Rukia was afraid, but she wanted to at least be with some people she knew well. If it hadn't been for Hinamori and Matsumoto then nobody would know and she would still be there getting tortured...
She shut all thoughts out of her mind as Unohana helped her stand up. "Can you move?" Unohana asked. "Not very much."
Within an instant Unohana placed a hand on Rukia's shoulder and closed her eyes. A small green light formed around Rukia. "Can you move now?" Unohana asked.
Rukia nodded her head. "Alright, well as soon as I look at the bruises, I'll heal your body ok?" She asked. Rukia only nodded again.
Rukia removed her clothing and let Unohana look over whatever she needed. About ten minutes later the men were called back into the room.
"I need to speak with you for a moment alone Ichigo, please come with me." They made their way outside.
"Yes what is it?" He asked. Unohana looked a bit disturbed. "Ichigo, I thought I should tell you this because you are her husband. Rukia has been raped but it's much more than that. Now lucky for her nothing was physically damaged too a bad degree, but she is going to be sore for a while."
Ichigo fought the urge to punch a nearby wall. "Why does she have to go through all of this?" He whispered angrily.
"Ichigo, I need to explain more of this to you. She may be able to heal physically, but mentally, it could take much longer. When a woman is raped, she usually becomes traumatized and unstable. Not only was Rukia raped several times, but she was forced to hide it from everyone. The stress she has undergone is very unhealthy."
"What are you getting at?" Ichigo asked still keeping his head down. "For something so horrible like this to happen to her, she's taking it all very well and could possibly heal within the next year or longer. But, if Rukia seems afraid of you in anyway you must not be offended."
Ichigo's hands clenched into fists. "If she asks you to step away from her or even for you to leave the room you need to just listen to what she says. Do you understand?" She asked in a very serious tone.
"Yes, I understand. Will Rukia ever recover?" He asked. Unohana looked away. "It would look that way, but Rukia hasn't really had one second to sit down and breath. When she wasn't being tortured she was having to lie to everyone. All you can do now is be there for her. That's the one cure she can get from you Ichigo. I know you love her very much and this is very hard on you too so please, comfort her."
Ichigo nodded and made his way back to Rukia.
The only people speaking in the room were Matsumoto and Hinamori. Rukia had fallen asleep on the bed. "You are free to go now, though I advise to keep Rukia with a large amount of people. Those two men are still on the loose after all."
"You can stay in my home." Byakuya said. Ichigo didn't feel like arguing with the man and nodded. Unohana looked at the other two girls.
"I think it would be best if you two stayed close to her. She might want a female to be around her. Is it alright if they stay too?" She asked looking at Byakuya.
Byakuya nodded and they made their way out. "Be careful Toshirou." Hinamori said as she hugged the now taller man.
He kissed her lightly on the lips and disappeared. Ichigo carefully picked Rukia up as to not wake her and they made their way to the Kuchiki mansion.
Once they entered through the front door, Byakuya gave them each rooms. "You two can sleep in this room next to Rukia's. Ichigo, you can sleep in here." He pointed to the room on the other side.
"Sorry but I'm going to be sleeping in the same room as my wife." Ichigo muttered. Byakuya glared at him and turned the other way. "I want to talk to you more about this in the morning Kurosaki." He said one last time and disappeared down the hallway.
Rukia was still sound asleep in his arms. "If you need anything just call for us." Hinamori said kindly. He nodded at her and entered the bedroom.
Even though all of her bruises were gone, she still looked injured and hurt. Ichigo almost wanted to wake her up so she could change, but decided that she should sleep.
He placed her onto the futon and laid next to her. Ichigo kept a little distance so she wouldn't be frightened if she woke up.
The mission and everything had been a set up just so Ichigo would get away from Rukia. The men killed innocent people just so they could get what they wanted.
Even in her sleep she looked to be in pain. There were no words that could describe his hatred towards these two men. If he met them again and he knew he would, he wouldn't be able to control himself. They wouldn't escape.
They had hurt his wife in such a horrible way. He now understood why she had cried when Hinamori had asked about her bruise that day when she had the meeting, it was because she couldn't tell anyone.
Knowing that Rukia had to hide everything, and to protect him only made him feel worse. "Ichigo?" Rukia whispered next to him.
"I'm here." He whispered back. She slowly sat up and looked at her surroundings. "Where are we?" She asked confused. "We're at your brother's house."
"Why don't you sleep now ok?" He asked softly. Rukia had no energy to respond as she slipped back into a deep sleep. And several hours after he drifted asleep, he felt Rukia moving next to him. "Ichigo?" She whispered softly.
"Hmm? What is it Rukia?" He asked. Ichigo was relieved that she hadn't screamed to seeing him next to her.
"Ichigo, can we get something to eat?" She asked. Ichigo was sort of confused by the question for Rukia never asked for food at such an hour.
"Alright, I'll go get you something." As he started to stand up Rukia pulled on his sleeve. "I want to come."
Ichigo didn't want to fight with her so he let her come. "I can carry you if you want." He whispered. She shook her head. "I can walk, don't worry." But as Rukia stood and quickly winced in pain, Ichigo lifted her into his arms without saying a word.
Rukia was too tired to protest and allowed him to carry her out of the room. Ichigo finally found the kitchen and set her on the counter since there was no table in sight.
It was then that Ichigo realized he didn't know where any of the food was. Unlike the human world where things were pre-made, the word snack did not exist in Soul Society.
As Ichigo scrambled around for food, Rukia kept her head down with her arms on both sides. "Ichigo," She asked softly.
"Yah, what is it?" He asked as he continued to look around. Rukia lifted her head to look at him but dropped it again. "You know everything now, don't you?"
Ichigo stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her. "Yah, Rukia, I know." After a long silence, Ichigo continued to look for food again, determined to get Rukia something to eat.
And that's when he heard it, a soft but quiet sob. He turned around again to see Rukia's shoulders shaking violently when another sob escaped.
In that instant his heart sank. Ichigo walked over slowly to Rukia. "Ichigo, I'm s-so sorry!" She choked out. He placed his hands on her shoulders gently.
"Rukia, you have nothing to be sorry about." This only caused Rukia to cry harder and Ichigo couldn't handle it. In all his life of know this girl he had never seen her looking so fragile.
And without thinking he moved closer to her. Rukia placed her hands on his chest and cried more as Ichigo's hands fell around her back and head.
"Ichigo" She choked out. "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." He whispered back. All of his anger subsided as he held his small wife in his arms.
She pulled on his kimono as she sobbed more. Ichigo knew that the situation was just now beginning to sink into his chest and that his hatred would have to stay bottled up for now.
Rukia needed him the most right now and he wouldn't leave until she wanted him to. "I'll never let anyone else hurt you Rukia, I love you." He whispered into her ear as he ran his fingers down her hair.
Rukia nodded at this. "I l-love you." She whispered back. "I wasn't g-going to risk them h-hurting you, not e-even if they were bluffing."
He held her even tighter. "You're amazing, you know that?" He whispered to her smiling. Rukia had gone through all that pain for him. Even though he wished she hadn't, he felt so much love for her.
They had blackmailed her and she could have given in at any time, but she didn't.
"We're going to get through this and I promise they won't ever get near you. I'll kill them if they do."
"It h-hurt so much Ichigo." She cried. "And then t-tonight before y-you came, they k-kissed me and I tried my h-hardest to imagine it w-was y-you." Their lips had touched hers and it killed him inside to think about.
He didn't want to imagine anymore. The fact that they raped her was already a deep stab. Rukia pulled her head back just enough to look at him.
One of her hands came up and caressed his cheek. "I w-was scared that I would be afraid of you, b-but I'm so glad I'm not." She said softly. Tears still fell down her cheeks but she was no longer sobbing.
Ichigo rubbed her shoulder soothingly. "I would never hurt you." He whispered to her. Rukia nodded willingly. "I'm s-so glad you know e-everything." She said back to him with her head in his chest. A moment later she pulled her head back up to his face.
"Ichigo, k-kiss me." She said leaning her head closer. "Rukia, I don't want to scare you." Ichigo whispered. "Ichigo, y-you won't. I p-promise." Her voice shook violently.
"Please, just l-let me know you're real." He paused for a long time but slowly brought his lips down onto hers so he wouldn't frighten her in anyway. Rukia immediately moaned and placed her hands on his neck, pulling him closer.
The kiss deepened slightly and Ichigo pushed Rukia a little closer. She still continued to cry even as he kissed her but they were tears of joy.
Her husband was with her and loved her. Feeling his touch made everything better.
After pulling himself from Rukia, she didn't seem hungry for food any longer. He carried her upstairs and into their small guest room. Ichigo kissed her once more as they lay down together.
She continued to whisper his name and he smiled. The anger had completely subsided at the moment as he caressed his wife's face.
Rukia enjoyed every minute of it. Even as thoughts of the two men came into her mind, she didn't care. She had Ichigo.
"You need to sleep now Rukia." He whispered kissing her forehead. She nodded and snuggled into his chest. "I love yah." He whispered.
"I love you too." Rukia said back and kissed his chest.
There would still be more problems in the future, but they didn't matter. Ichigo and Rukia had each other and that was what they pondered on.
When Rukia woke up the next morning, she felt someone lying next to her and smiled. Ichigo was there and he knew everything, everything.
Ichigo moaned and looked to see Rukia smiling up at him. "Good morning beautiful." He whispered groggily. She only continued to smile. He looked into her eyes and saw an emotion he truly missed.
Happiness. The feeling was faint, but it was there. And so, he smiled back. "How do you feel?" He asked softly. "Ok I guess." There was much more meaning to her answer.
Rukia wasn't going to feel good for a long time and he knew this. But he also knew that she was already attempting to heal, him being so close to her was proof.
She kissed his cheek lightly and sat up in her bed when she glanced down at the clothes she was wearing. The memories clouded her mind and she closed her eyes shut.
"Rukia, what is it?" He asked alarmingly. "I, I just need to change out of these clothes." She said standing up. In fact, she wanted to wash her whole body. "I think I'll see if I can head to the hot springs near by." Ichigo watched her carefully to make sure she could walk on her own.
"Hinamori and Matsumoto are here so see if they'll go with you." Ichigo said slowly getting up himself.
"I didn't know they were here too." Rukia said surprised. "You were asleep when everything was discussed; they're just here to help out some."
As soon as Rukia opened the door, her brother stood in the way. "Rukia, how are you feeling?" He asked flatly. She looked away and didn't say anything. Byakuya was a little too close…
Ichigo sensed her alarm and was by her side in an instant. He moved past Rukia and exited the room. "You wanted to talk to me right?" Ichigo asked. Byakuya glanced back at Rukia and nodded.
As the two passed, Hinamori and Matsumoto were coming out of their room. "Hey Rukia!" Hinamori said enthusiastically. Rukia smiled faintly. She really wanted Ichigo to stay with her. "Good morning." She replied.
"How do you feel?" Matsumoto asked. "Better I suppose." Rukia responded.
"Look, you don't have to stay with me. I appreciate it but I'm sure you have work to do." Rukia said feeling uneasy. Hinamori and Matsumoto grinned.
"Nah, don't worry about it. We both talked to our captains and they're fine with it." Rukia looked at Hinamori. "Unless you want us to leave Rukia. We totally understand." Hinamori finished. Rukia shook her head.
"No, I'm glad you two want to help out." Rukia paused.
"So Renji knows now?" Rukia asked quietly. Hinamori nodded. "Yah, but he's the only other person besides everyone who was there last night."
"He's a close friend to me, so it's fine. But really, I don't want this to get out ok?" She asked. The other two nodded. "I wanted to go to the hot springs today if you wanted to join me." It seemed rather soon for Rukia to be going somewhere like a hot spring, but they agreed none the less.
"Yah, that sounds really relaxing." Matsumoto said overdramatically. "Sure!" Hinamori beamed. Matsumoto and Hinamori were going to have to be extremely careful around Rukia.
As they changed and got ready to leave, Byakuya and Ichigo were in one of his personal studies room.
"Have a seat." Byakuya demanded. Ichigo sat and waited for Byakuya to say more. "I want to apologize for my outburst last night because I know you would never allow something like that to just, happen, but can you please explain the entire situation to me, I do not know much."
Ichigo was surprised. Byakuya was always one of the first people to know just about anything. "Yah sure, but it's not going to be easy for me to explain." Ichigo mumbled.
Even before Ichigo said a word he could feel the anger and hatred building up inside. "After I left for my first mission, Rukia was kidnapped that night. Two men threatened her saying that if she didn't do as they asked that they would kill me. After proving to her that it was possible, she had no choice but to do as they wanted."
Ichigo didn't need to say what it was they wanted by the look on Byakuya's face. "Please continue." He said.
"They also told her not to tell anyone due to the fact that they could kill me, so she didn't tell a single person for the next week and every night while I was gone they…" Ichigo couldn't finish the sentence once again but Byakuya understood.
"I immediately knew something was wrong and Matsumoto knew something wasn't right either. She soon received a letter from Rukia explaining the situation. It also turned out that the two men could watch Rukia and see what's she was doing so Rukia didn't try anything funny and tell someone. But, somehow Matsumoto found out without them knowing and we went and saved her."
A long silence followed. The previous night was now fresh on Ichigo's mind and he wanted nothing more than to hunt the men down.
"Oh, and another thing." Ichigo began. "You need to be careful around Rukia. She might be sort of afraid of men for a long time so you need to keep a good distance from her and watch what you say. Rukia seems ok around me but I could already tell this morning that you were too close to her. It's nothing personal, she's just gone through something horrible."
Byakuya nodded in agreement. He too felt great anger towards these two horrible men. "Do you have any idea of what they're names were?" Byakuya asked.
Ichigo thought for a minute. "Well in the letter that Rukia gave Matsumoto, there was a mention of the names um, I think they were Ryo and Hiraki, or Hiraku." Byakuya eyes widened momentarily.
"Did you see what they looked like?" He asked in a more interested tone. "They looked pretty much alike except for their hair color. One had light hair while the other had dark."
"That is very interesting." Byakuya murmured. Ichigo looked at him curiously. "Interesting?" Ichigo asked.
"Those names sound vaguely familiar but I can't remember from where or when." He said quietly to himself.
"Well you can leave now if you want." Byakuya said shooing Ichigo out of the room.
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A/N: Ok, so this chapter and last chapter were extremely tough to write so I really hope everyone liked them! And sorry if anything seems rushed, but I know you guys (and me too) were dying for Ichigo to come! Like I said, this story is probably only half way through. Ryou and Hiraku are still on the loose and aren't going to let Rukia get away that easily. So please review and tell me your thoughts! Oh and for Ichigo already kissing Rukia, I know it probably doesnt make sense for her to be wanting that, but she just missed him is all I can really say.
