Chapter Ten

"Val-en-tine's Day?" Rukia asked, confounded by the strange name given to an even stranger sounding holiday. What did it mean? Valentine? It wasn't a Japanese word. It couldn't have been. Or at least, she had never heard it used before. That seemed to indicated to her that it wasn't a Japanese word. She didn't really know every Japanese word, but she knew the basic holidays. Valentine's Day wasn't one of them.

Orihime nodded brightly and started to explain Valentine's Day in great detail and how a girl was supposed to get a gift for the boy that she liked. It had been almost a year since she and Ichigo had started going out. So, whatever this Valentine's Day was, maybe it was meant to prove that you love the person. But for mortals, was proving one's love as easy as buying some cheap chocolates and giving them to the other person. It rather seemed to Rukia like it all just cheapened a relationship, that it could be gauged by whether the girl bought a crummy piece of candy for the boy. To Rukia, it seemed kind of dumb, but if that was the mortal custom, who was she to argue with it. She smiled and nodded, thinking about what she could get Ichigo that would mean more than just a piece of crap candy, which Ichigo probably wouldn't eat, anyhow. Maybe she could take him to a restaurant that served uber spicy foods. No. She couldn't ever eat spicy foods. They made her sick. But all restaurants had some kind of normal food. The problem was that Valentine's day was coming up really soon, and the stores would be running out of stuff to buy.

What had she gotten him for Christmas? Oh, right. She had gotten him those wristbands that eat spiritual energy like the eye patch that Zaraki had. Since he started wearing them, his power had increased exponentially. Rukia was starting to wonder if he would ever stop increasing in power. It wasn't like she really minded that he was so powerful. In fact, it was even a good thing. She had ended up getting one of the wristbands for herself as well, though it wasn't as effective on her, since she wasn't nearly as powerful as Ichigo was. That just meant that she had to work harder, though at her training. That was certainly something that she could get him. She could get him a new gigai. Those were expensive, though, and she didn't have much money because she didn't have a job. Maybe she could get a job working as a waitress or something. She had heard that waitresses make good money, especially around that time of year and around Christmas. She had never had a job before, other than being a Shinigami, but it didn't seem like a problem.

"So, Miss… Kuchiki… This is your first day on the job, so I'm going to put you with Sakura-san and you can just learn from her today," Rukia's manager said politely. He was a very formal man, nothing like Ichigo, even though he was only about three years older. That was why she liked the human world. Nobody knew that she was nobility, so nobody felt they had to be overly respectful toward her. Miss Kuchiki wasn't something that she was usually called. Lady Rukia was about the least formal greeting she usually got, except from her family and from people like Renji and her former captain, Ukitake, both of whom treated her as someone in their position would. Renji treated her as a friend, and Ukitake treated her as a subordinate, though he still treated her politely, and rarely ordered any of his subordinates around.

Rukia smiled politely at Sakura, who gave her a small smile back, though it didn't reach her eyes. Rukia could tell that the girl held some contempt for her, but she was the senior server, so Rukia was in no position to question it. Along with not being nobility anymore came the fact that not everyone was nice to you. It wasn't that Rukia minded. She just wished she knew why Sakura would so instantly dislike her.

"Listen, bitch!" Sakura hissed angrily. "You may be very pretty, and all, but you better not get in my way!!"

Rukia just smiled and nodded, muttering a polite "of course not." Sakura reminded her of Soi Fon; arrogant, prideful, and temperamental. She followed behind Sakura by three steps, making sure not to get too close, lest she trip her senior. Rukia was extremely graceful, and being a Shinigami gave her some extra ability in that area.

Sakura picked up two trays, holding one in each hand and striding into the other section of the restaurant, holding her nose up as though she was better than everyone else. Rukia could see right through her. Unfortunately, she could also see another server about to crash right into Sakura, which would likely incur the girl's wrath. That wouldn't be a good thing. Rukia tried to quietly tell her, but all she got was a "shut up, new girl!" and then… CRASH!!

Four trays of food flew up into the air. Rukia jumped over Sakura's head, forgetting that she wasn't with her Shinigami friends anymore and landed perfectly on one foot, catching one tray on the sole of her shoe, another in her right hand, the third in her left hand and the last one on her back. Sakura and the other waitress who had just collided looked up at Rukia from the floor in shock at the feat that she had just performed. She was no ordinary girl, and Sakura was going to find out more about her. She sneered and then glared at the other waitress, who blushed and looked away, looking like she was about to cry. Rukia put down the four trays, forgetting about the rest of the customers that were all still staring at her and crouched down in front of the other girl. She looked young to be a waitress. She could only possibly be fourteen.

"Are you alright?" Rukia asked sweetly, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. Sakura had something to say about this, too.

"Don't bother worrying about her! Her daddy will just kiss her boo boos and make them all better… won't he, Rika!?" she snapped, glaring venomously at the young girl.

"I-I… I mean… M-my father doesn't favor me…" she said shyly, looking down at the ground, mashing her forefingers together.

"Oh yeah!? Then how do you explain your not being fired yet!? Unless being an above average klutz is an asset now!?" Sakura hissed, making sure that nobody heard her. By now, they had moved to a more discreet location. Nonetheless, Rukia couldn't just let her beat up on Rika like that. Besides, it was Sakura who wasn't looking where she was going.

"Hey! Sakura, how dare you talk to her like that!? Anyone can make a mistake!" Rukia snapped, grabbing Sakura's wrist and pulling her over in a vise grip. Sakura looked down at Rukia's hand and smirked.

"Take your hand off me, new girl. This is none of your business, and if you saw the klutz coming, why didn't you warn me!?"

"I tried, but you told me to shut up. So, given that, I think this little accident is really your fault, isn't it, Miss Klutz?!" Rukia said with a smile of cold satisfaction at the look on Sakura's face.

"Come on, hurry up, new girl! The people's food is getting cold! Klutz, watch out! You're lucky I don't have time for this!"

Rika nodded timidly and tried to smile at Rukia, but couldn't muster up enough willpower to do it. Rukia smiled at her as she walked away, still feeling bad.

"Since you're so damn nimble, you can carry the trays that Rika would've been carrying. They're going over to that table right there. Don't mess this up like she did!"

Rukia nodded and grabbed the two trays that she saw Rika carrying and walked over to the far table, smiling politely at the people at the table.

"Hi. Sorry about the wait. Now, who ordered this?" she asked, picking up the first plate. A child raised his hand, still looking at Rukia in awe. His mother looked down at him and frowned.

"Suguru! Don't stare! It's impolite!" she said, and he nodded.

"How did you jump like that, lady? Are you an astronaut?" he asked in wonder. Rukia smiled nervously.

Damn! What is an astronaut!? Is it anything like a juggernaut!?

"Suguru… I'm sorry. He saw a show where some people were able to jump like that on the moon, so now I guess he thinks that you must be one, too…"

"Oh, that's alright. I'm just a normal human girl…" Rukia lied. Smiling the whole time. She noticed that Sakura was getting a little bit impatient, so she put the rest of the plates on the table and hurried over to her, smiling in apology. Rukia noticed that she seemed to be doing a lot of smiling, though that was what her manager had told her to do beforehand, so she guessed that she was doing the right thing.

"Could you have gone any slower!? God! What were you talking to them about!?"

"The boy thought I was an Astronaut… because of the jump I did back there."

Finally, Rukia's day was over. It was close to midnight, and she was tired. She didn't have work the next day, which was fortunate, because she wasn't sure if she could do it. She really wondered how some people got up and did this kind of thing every day. As she was about to walk out, her manager stopped her and said, "So, Miss Kuchiki… Do you have a ride home?"

"No, I can walk. It isn't that far from here," she said with a grin. He looked at her, his smile dropping for a moment.

"You might want to be careful. There are some pretty shady people out there this time of night. Are you sure you don't want a ride?"

"Yes. I'll be fine, sir… Thank you for your concern, though…" Rukia said politely. Almost as if on cue, then, Ichigo walked into the parking lot. He walked over to Rukia and waved as he got closer, looking at the name of the restaurant. In all of the years that he had been in Karakura, he had never come to this place. It didn't seem much like his type of food, but if Rukia was working there, then it had to be an okay place. Ichigo smiled at the manager and put out his hand.

"This is my boyfriend, Ichigo…" Rukia said cheerfully, actually glad that Ichigo was there. Despite being a Vizard, she wasn't too fond of the idea of walking back to the warehouse alone. Her manager was right. There were all kinds of creeps out.

Secretly, Sakura watched Rukia and Ichigo walk away into the night. She kept thinking irately that Rukia could have done much better than that Ichigo guy. What she couldn't figure out, though, was why she would waste her time on such a punk. She could tell he was a punk just from the way he looked. He was wearing tight fitting jeans and a slim fit tee shirt that was probably too small for him, though she couldn't tell from that distance, and he wore a long black trench coat that went down to his ankles, and his hair was bleached. The worst part was, Sakura had to admit that Ichigo was kind of cute for a punk. Maybe she could cause some trouble for Rukia if she stole Ichigo from her. That would be hilarious. Maybe she could even make Rukia cry. Man, that would be awesome. Rukia seemed like such a solid person that to see her cry would be the best. Sakura figured that Rukia was probably going to try to take Ichigo out on Valentine's Day. That would be the perfect time to crush her for good. She watched as the two walked out of the parking lot and got smaller as they faded into the distance.

Valentine's Day was only a day away, and Rukia had just gotten her first paycheck. Of course, since she had started working alone, she had proven to be an extremely popular server at the restaurant, so she made quite a bit of money in tips, but it was gratifying to receive her first paycheck ever. Sakura silently watched with great contempt for Rukia. In less than three weeks, Rukia had already become more popular than Sakura was, and that made Sakura angry. She couldn't believe that a newbie to the world of work like Rukia was picking up on everything so fast. Rukia never tripped, no matter how much she was told to carry. She could carry three fully loaded trays at once. One on her head and one on each hand, and she made it look so easy that Sakura tried it once and ended up spilling food all over the place and humiliating herself. And the worst part about that was that Rukia rushed over to help her clean it up. It was almost like Rukia had no idea how much Sakura hated her. She had almost completely stopped picking on Rika and had focused her wrath on Rukia.

In fact, Rukia more than just noticed. It was obvious to her, but she didn't care. She knew that she had nothing to worry about. Unless Sakura could do something to inexplicably get her fired, there was really nothing to fear from her. She was all bark and no bite, as the humans would say. Rukia sighed and tried to look at the positives. She had heard that getting a job in the first place was difficult, so she was lucky to have one at all, even though she only looked like she was maybe sixteen. Another good thing was that even though she had to work with Sakura, there was also Rika and her manager, both of whom were very nice people. She still hadn't told Ichigo why she was getting a job, though, and she was sure that he was beginning to get suspicious. She knew that he would never suspect her of doing anything wrong, but it was quite noticeable that she was always at the restaurant in a uniform.

Well, whatever. She still had to focus on working. The restaurant had gotten extremely popular lately with people who always seemed to request her as their server. She had become uber popular, and it was beginning to get really difficult to get anything done before being called off again. She wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to do, but she had to figure something out. She was beginning to go crazy. It was hard having to be polite to all the people who were making rude jokes and hitting on her. It made her feel a little bit awkward. She hadn't been informed of that part of the job when she was hired. She felt a little bit maltreated. She groaned, though, and walked back to the person that she was serving.

"Would you like any desert?" she asked brightly, smiling politely to the man, who just smirked and said, "Yeah… Could I maybe get a piecea that ass, baby?!" Rukia was going to ignore it, but then he did something inexcusable. He reached out and grabbed her left breast. Rukia squeaked in embarrassment. Sakura looked over at Rukia, noting her problem. She could see the man groping her. At first she noted this with satisfaction. It was kind of funny to see Rukia in a situation that she couldn't handle for once. But then Sakura remembered the first time a man had ever groped her on the job. It was horrible. She was so humiliated when that happened. As a waitress, she was supposed to be polite, but as a woman, she couldn't just stand there and let someone treat her that way. She drooped her head and strode over to Rukia, who was frozen to the spot she was standing. The man had let go, but she still couldn't move.

"Hey, what's up, girl!?" the man asked cockily. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy my magic touch, baby…" he finished, laughing. He reached up to touch Rukia again, but Sakura grabbed his wrist before he could do anything.

"Excuse me sir! How many drinks have you had tonight!?" She asked angrily.

"Wha!? I only had seven or eight glasses of Saké! I ain't drunk!" he shouted, swaying a little bit in his seat.

"Sir, I think you've had enough to drink. Please pay your bill, go home, and get some rest…" Sakura said sternly. The man glared at her, but accepted the bill and dropped some money on the table and staggered out of the restaurant. Sakura quickly pulled Rukia out into the coat room and sat down with her. Immediately after they sat down, Rukia burst into tears. She was so upset. Nobody had ever been quite so abusive to her. She didn't realize that humans could be so unpleasant. Back in Soul Society, even when people got drunk, they treated her with basic respect. The only male humans that she had ever had extensive contact with were Ichigo, Uryû, and Chad, and they were all extremely respectful people. She knew quite well that Ichigo would never even think of touching her like that man did.

"It's alright, now, Kuchiki…" Sakura said, feeling a strange sensation inside. It was something that she rarely felt, but if she had to put a label on it, she would probably call it… pity?

No. Pity isn't right. Pity is like feeling sorry for someone. Maybe the term is empathy. It feels kind of weird, like there's something nagging at my mind… and my heart. Is that guilt?

"W-why are you being s-s-so ni… nice to me? I-I thought that you hated me…" Rukia asked, trying to stop crying. She was sure that she looked like a total idiot in front of Sakura.

"Because you didn't deserve that… and… you didn't deserve to be treated badly by me, either. Kuchiki, y'see, at a restaurant, it's actually the job of whoever is serving the customer to cut them off when they seem to be getting drunk. Why don't you go home for the night? It's almost the end of your shift, anyhow."

Rukia nodded and stood, punching out at the door and walking out of the restaurant. As soon as she got down the steps, though, she was grabbed from behind and dragged kicking and screaming into an alley next to the restaurant.

"Hey, bitch! We didn't get to finish our little talk, so we're gonna finish it now, huh?!" the drunk man said angrily, pushing his body roughly up against Rukia's. He pushed hard on a spot right above her shoulder and just below the nape of her neck, causing her right arm to go numb. He did the same with her left arm and then kissed her roughly, forcing his tongue into her mouth. Sakura had been right. He smelled strongly of alcohol, but Rukia never thought that he would be any threat to her. She was obviously wrong. The man thrust his crotch against hers violently, his bloodshot eyes glaring into her bright blue ones. He reveled in the primal fear that shone in her eyes, causing her to tremble. He ripped her uniform shirt off, revealing her bra underneath. He then yanked down her skirt and panties. She could feel his hardened penis against her body. It was so disgusting. She had dreamed of Ichigo being her first time, but that obviously wouldn't come to pass. He pulled his pants down and began to slowly push his way into her, causing her to tighten up in pain. He pushed all the way in, then, breaking her barrier, causing her to scream in pain. He laughed at her agony as he began to thrust in and out of her violently, causing white hot pain to sear through her legs with every thrust. He slammed her up against the brick wall with every thrust bruising her back and banging her head a few times. She suddenly felt so weak… so helpless… so pathetic. Was this really the extent of her strength? She tried in vain to push the man off of her, but he thrust into her one more time, gritting his teeth as he came in her, smirking as he did. She moaned in pain as he then pulled out and shoved her face first against the wall again and began to rape her from behind, repeating the process all over again. He raped her a few more times on both sides and then let her slide down to the wet, cold pavement, covered in blood, cum, and sweat. He pulled up his pants and then took out a few hundred thousand Yen and tossed it on her limp form. She couldn't believe it. He was paying her now, like she was a common prostitute. Was that all that she was worth? Could her value really be measured with something so simple as mortal money? Rukia found her hating herself for everything that she was, or perhaps for everything that she wasn't.

Then, she heard a voice. It was Ichigo. She didn't want him to see her like that, so she vainly tried to crawl behind some trash cans to hide from him. She couldn't let him see her like that, weak, disgusting, unclean. She didn't deserve his concern or his love. She wasn't worth anything more than being a little whore. Ichigo quickly found her, though, and ran over, grabbing her and looking intensely into her eyes. Of course, he noticed right away that she was naked and covered with blood and something sticky. He wasn't stupid, and he quickly put the pieces together. He pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Rukia-chan… A-are you alright? Stupid question. Of course you aren't alright. Here, put on your clothes, and I'll take you back to the warehouse. We can ask Hachigen to heal you," he said quietly, turning around so that she could get dressed. She quickly put her torn clothes back on and Ichigo picked her up and started to run back as fast as he could to the warehouse.

I wonder if anyone back at the warehouse is even awake. Maybe I can take her to dad's clinic. No. I can't wake them up. Maybe Karakura General. Ishida's father owns that hospital. He'll understand… maybe. I wonder if he's as much of a jerk as Uryû is. If he is, maybe he won't even let us in. But he has to. He's a doctor! I don't have a lot of money, but maybe he'll understand. No. That guy is a jerk! I'll go to Urahara. He doesn't mind being up late.

Ichigo's thoughts raced as he ran along the nighttime streets of Karakura toward Urahara Shôten. He turned a corner sharply, almost slamming into a homeless man, who just barely managed to get out of the way in time. He cursed loudly at Ichigo as Ichigo ignored him and continued running. Such small things as running over hobos didn't matter to him when Rukia was hurt. He could see the shop beginning to come into focus in front of him. It was only another three blocks away. He continued to run straight for the shop, seeing a man and leaping for all he was worth, jumping clear over him and landing perfectly with Rukia still on his back and continuing his run. The man looked at him in shock, tears still filling his eyes, having been expecting to be sent flying up against a wall. If Ichigo ever caught who did this to Rukia, he wasn't making any guarantees that he wouldn't kill him. He might not need to, though. Ichigo was fondly hoping that the man would die of an STD or some shit like that. He ran the last few meters to Urahara Shôten and started banging on the door.

Inside, Kisuke yawned and looked up from the television that he was watching. He was watching his favorite show, too, Chappy the Rabbit. He loved the little bunny rabbit and all of his adventures. He had just gotten the DVD from Soul Society and he wanted to watch all of the episodes on the disk at once. He paused the show, though, and stood, walking up to the door, irritated at Ichigo's banging. He was going to break the door. Kisuke was sure that the door was already cracked in more places than one. Before Kisuke could get to the door, though, Tessai moved between them. He was in a bathrobe and had a nightcap on his head. He overall looked rather funny, but Ichigo didn't have time for funny.

"Yes?" Tessai asked belligerently, yawning a wide yawn. Kisuke pushed him gently aside, though, and smiled.

"What a surprise, Mr. Kurosaki, Miss Kuchiki. Do come in. Oh, is Miss Kuchiki alright?"

"No she isn't alright!!" Ichigo snapped, as though it were obvious. He adjusted his tone, though, fairly quickly. He needed Kisuke's help.

"No. She was raped down where she works." Ichigo said nervously. Rukia groaned. She was obviously in a lot of pain.

"Oh, I-I see," Kisuke said quietly, leading Ichigo in. Ichigo quickly walked in and put Rukia down on a mat that Kisuke pulled out for her.

"Tessai. Call Miss Inoue. I know it's late, but we need her specific abilities." Kisuke said politely. He hated to bother Orihime at such a late hour, but it was vital to have her. She could return Rukia's body to the way it was before the rape happened.

"Ah, yes… Miss Inoue… This is Tsukabishi Tessai, from Urahara Shôten…" Tessai said respectfully, hoping that Orihime knew his name well enough.

"O-oh… U-um… alright. W-what do you need?" she asked nervously. Tessai sighed with relief.

"Miss Kuchiki and Mr. Kurosaki are down here and we need you to come down as quickly as you can."

"Of course! I'll be right there!" she said determinedly. She didn't want to wake up Tatsuki, who was sleeping over at the moment. She put on her clothes in the dark and took a can of mace that Tatsuki had given to her as a present for her birthday and made her promise always to carry it with her. Orihime didn't understand this, but she acquiesced because she trusted Tatsuki. She then put her shoes on and ran out of the apartment.

"MR. URAHARA!! MR. URAHARA!!" Orihime cried, running into the shop. Kisuke looked over at her and brought a finger up to his lips, shushing her.

"Miss Kuchiki is sleeping…" he whispered. Orihime nodded and knelt down next to Rukia, looking her over.

"W-what happened to her? She looks… terrible!" Orihime said, aghast. Ichigo looked at her sternly.

"She was raped. She was working the late shift at a restaurant and when she left, she was pulled into an alley and raped… That's all that I really know. All I need to know."

Orihime nodded, knowing what she was expected to do. She focused her reiatsu and surrounded Rukia with her Soten Kisshun, reversing all of the damage done to her gigai and to her Konpaku. It wasn't a long process, but when she was done, Rukia woke up and smiled gently at her, hugging her tightly. She felt so small and so vulnerable. She needed someone to hold her. It wasn't that she was afraid to hug Ichigo. She was just so ashamed. Ichigo had already done so much for her. He didn't mind touching her, even though she was so filthy. She could still picture that man throwing money on her like she was just a simple prostitute. It had been the most horrible feeling ever. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to handle it. Orihime hugged her snugly, though, rubbing her back gently, whispering in her ear that it was going to be alright. Orihime knew that Rukia was strong, and that she would work her way through this like she worked her way through everything else that came her way. She had managed even to come to terms with being unfairly executed that one time. Orihime was sure that Rukia could get through this.

Suddenly, though, Ichigo felt an insanely powerful reiatsu in the human world. He didn't have his representative Shinigami pass, though, like he usually did. He couldn't believe that he would leave it behind.

"Hey, Kurosaki… Do you need some help, maybe?" Urahara asked, despite the fact that it was so obvious. Ichigo nodded. Rukia started to stand up to go fight as well, but Ichigo pushed her back down.

"Listen, Rukia-chan. Just stay here and get some rest."

"No, Ichigo. I have to go. It'll help me feel better."

"Fine. Have it your way." Ichigo said as both were expelled from their bodies almost simultaneously by Kisuke's cane. Orihime knew that she would only be in the way, so she stayed behind. She knew that she wasn't much of a fighter, but that she was good at healing. So, she stayed with Kisuke and wished Ichigo and Rukia well as they sprang into action