Hey everyone, this is my first story for bleach and also my first story for fanfiction. So it will not be perfect.

Sorry if I made any mistakes in this chapter.

Please no Flames, but Constructive criticism, advice and ideas are accepted, as it will help me write this story and improve it.

I don't own Bleach, Tite Kubo does, I only own the OCs, plotline and Ideas(some have been inspired though)

Word count: 5044 in 9 pages.

Warning some course language, some sexual reference, and there is violence. Also there are some OCs but they only help the story work and the characters might be oocish but this an AU story.

I got five reviews for my last chappie. :]. Thanks to Dancing Butterfly, Teh Red Mage, xwhitemoonx, star133, BleachFan4ever and SerafinaDonna for reading and reviewing last chapter. Thanx for your comments and criticisms.

Remember if you have any questions about the fic just ask.

So here is chapter 11. I know its late, really really late. So I'm really sorry. My bad I'm such an idiot sometimes. Everyone thanx for telling me.

Chapter 11: Explanation

Karakura Inn. Karakura.

A collective gasp was heard from the occupants of Karakura Inn, when a young boy fell down the stairs injuring himself horribly. Inoue, Ishida and Chad rushed to his side. They gently observed the wounds. The boy was weak from malnutrition and because of that had broken quite a few bones. Without thinking Orihime began to heal him with her abilities. The customers of the inn fell silent their eyes widening as the bones began to pop back into place under the orange glow.

The boy stood up, eyes big in fear and shock, he quickly ran off to hide behind his mother's legs. As Orihime stood up the crowd took a step back.

"Marked One." A male in the crowd jeered.

"Yes and worse a witch too." A second person, female this time, shouted in reply.

A man pushed his way to Orihime and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her forward. As the man let her go Chad delivered a solid punch to his jaw, breaking it. Ishida rushed over and helped Inoue up, they stood behind Chad. He took a protective stance out in front of them. Orihime was sobbing in Ishida's arms, crying from pain and fear. Three more men went forward, intent on hurting the three adolescents. One of them pulled a knife out and they rushed at Chad. Chad immediately lowered his stance, readying for the attack. The two without the knife were faster and reached Chad first. He dodged the first attack but allowed the other to hit him. He barely felt it. He cuffed the second man in reply, forcing him back. He whirled and elbowed the first in the throat. That man fell to the floor choking as he gasped for air. Chad looked around ready for the knife wielding attacker, when the second man suddenly tackled Chad out of the way. The man with the knife grabbed and hurled Ishida out of the way and prepared to strike Inoue.

"INOUE." Ishida and Chad shouted in panic.

The knife raced down and stopped. The man felt cool metal near his throat and glanced down. He saw a small dagger resting against his jugular. He looked up to see a white haired woman, was the one who stopped him. In a swift movement she dropped his hand and removed her knife to deliver a hard kick straight to the centre of his chest. The man flew and crashed into the crowd.

"Wha ya doin? The girly there is marked, she is." Shouted a member of the crowd.

"Yes I know." Answered Alithra lowly.

"Then why ya elpin her." Asked a woman in the front.

"Because I am one too. And before you go on ranting about, how you are going to kill me. You can relax, myself and the children here are leaving." Alithra responded coldly, as she spoke her eyes silvered completely leaving no trace of gold. The crowd backed off a couple of paces, worried about what she may do. This was why, she despised the town. People here were just too judgemental. Alithra walked to Orihime and helped her up gently. Chad got up after the man had leapt away off of him, when Alithra had appeared and helped the shaky Ishida over to Inoue.

"Hello Inoue Orihime, Sado Yasutura and Ishida Uryu. My name is Alithra." Alithra introduced herself. These three had met her before but it was a while ago.

"Oh right, I remember you. You're the woman Ichigo came with to town, when he was younger." Inoue shouted happily. Alithra nodded slightly.

Before they could speak Alithra had ushered them out onto the street where Alithra's comrade and the horses were waiting.

"Wait. What are you doing?" Uryu shouted angrily.

"Helping you. You need to learn to control your abilities. So we are escorting you to somewhere safe." Alithra answered calmly. How she still had this much patience after dealing with Ichigo was anyone's guess.

"Abilities? The only one with abilities is Inoue." Uryu retorted rudely.

"Oh really? Inoue is a healer. Chad has the ability to summon a massive beam of energy and you, young Ishida are a Quincy. Do not deny it either. You're grandfather would be disappointed to know how much of a liar his grandson has become." Alithra reprimanded harshly. She was not one to hear false denials over and over again.

Ishida looked at her surprised. She knew he was a Quincy and it sounded like she knew his Grandfather too. "How do you know...?" Ishida began asking.

"Do not worry about it now, we will speak of it later." Alithra answered as they got onto the horses.

"Miss Alithra, there are only four horses. What about you?" Inoue asked confounded at why there were only four horses, when there were five of them travelling.

"Because I am running on foot and going ahead to our destination. The route we are taking is the fastest and most dangerous course to our destination. I want that route to be clear before you go through. Do not ask to help, be assured I will meet you there and I will be fine. Good Luck and see you there." Alithra replied evenly.

They rode to gate with Alithra beside them. When they made it past the gate, Alithra sped up in front, soon leaving them behind.

Karakura outskirts. That Night

Urahara rode on his roan stallion while Yoruichi ran beside. They slowed down pausing for a second to discuss the matters at hand.

"So how are we doing this Kisuke?" Yoruichi asked.

"Well we're going to your family. It's closer to the valley then mine. And we'll have to go the fun way" Urahara answered. Yoruichi nodded in reply, a smirk forming on her lips. It seemed they were all going on reckless journeys. It would normally take 3 days to get the second family's keep. Then they would have to explain everything and get messages to the other families, calling for the meeting. Normally that would take a day maybe 2. After that they'd have to get to the valley which would take about a day. All in all it would take 5 to 6 days. If they were normal, but they weren't. They would make the trip in half the time. They were faster and they would be stopping a great deal less. Aloso they already had connections with the family so it would go smoother. They hoped.

They sped up going faster enough to meet their requirements but steady enough so Urahara's horse and Yoruichi didn't tire out or hurt themselves.

Somewhere in the Wilderness.

Rukia's POV

Nel walked to me, I was sitting next to Ichigo. I hadn't moved from his side the whole day he remained unconscious. And it was beginning to get late but I wasn't going to move. I watched Ichigo grimace and toss and turn. He was in pain, and I felt like it was my fault.

"Rukia you need to sleep." Nel spoke concerned. I knew she was worried about me and him. But I wasn't leaving.

"No Nel, I'll stay." I answered firmly, I kept my voice as unemotional as possible. She looked at me sorrowfully and then turned away.

I watched over Ichigo. He was shirtless and wrapped in bandages from the wounds of our most recent fight. But despite the bandages I could see scars. There was one in the centre of his chest, his left shoulder and along his right hip. And I knew he had more but they were currently covered. On his chest on the left side, over his heart, was a tattoo. But that wasn't right, it looked more like a... mark. Sometimes I swear it pulsed and changed colour. It was an angular skull. Through the skull's left eye was gap as if it was a scar. Just under its right eye was a second gap. The skull itself was black but the border would pulse going red to blue. Sometimes it would stay blue and that's when Ichigo felt like Ichigo. While when it stayed red, it felt like his other side.

My eyes were drawn to his face when he let out a strangled cry. I gripped his hand, and felt his forehead. He was on fire, he'd definitely gotten warmer. I was beginning to panic when his eyes shot opened and he sat up panting. Sweat beads falling off of him. Originally I wanted to yell at him for not telling me about him being a marked one. But I felt it ebb away. I wrapped my arms around him hugging him. I began sobbing onto his shoulder, he tensed but relaxed quickly. He brought his arms around me, hugging back. I calmed down, and felt the anger resurface.

"Ichigo what are you? What are they?" I said it as tensely, unemotionally and as coldly as possible. I pulled away from him. He looked at me emotions flashing momentarily before hiding behind his deep brown eyes.

"We'll talk about it later?" He answered quietly as he turned away from me.

"No, we're talking about it now." I shouted angrily, as I gripped his arm. I was angry and he was not getting out of. I wanted answers and I wanted them now. I saw the others begin to wake up. Toshiro was the first to reach us, then Nel, then Grimmjow and finally Rangiku. But that was after Toshiro went back and dumped a bucket of water on her.

We sat by the fire, Matsumoto half asleep and dripping wet, with Toshiro continually poking her awake. I glared at them, I knew they'd been lying, out of them all, only Ichigo could meet my eyes.

"Well Rukia, what do you want to know?" Nel asked cautiously.

"I want to know what you are." I was furious, they were trying to hold back from telling me, but that was not happening.

"Rukia..." Nel started but was quickly interrupted by Ichigo.

"Fine you want to know what we are. We're marked ones." It seemed Ichigo was through with hiding, after all.

"Ichigo we said we were going to try break to her nicely." Rangiku reprimanded, pouting.

"Break it to her nicely? How the hell are we supposed to do that, when she has already seen what we are?" Ichigo questioned angrily. I don't think he was angry about being questioned, I think he was angry about being found out. But there was definitely more to it.

"Okay, fair point Ichigo." Grimmjow responded trying to keep the situation calm. WOW. Grimmjow was trying to keep a situation calm, generally he was the instigator.

"Yes alright, this is completely normal. Grimmjow not being psychotic." Toshiro replied disbelievingly, voicing my previous thoughts. Wait they were trying to go off topic.

"Hey what type are you? I don't want a vague overview." I growled in annoyance.

They huffed in depression. They obviously didn't want to talk about. "Rukia, Nel is a shapeshifter. Grimmjow is a were-panther, Rangiku is a witch and Toshiro is an Ice Dragon Rider." Ichigo answered for the others but not himself.

"And you are?" I asked my anger at him rising.

"I'm complicated, we'll talk about what I am later, the others have more to say." Ichigo answered, eyes pained but still maintaining eye contact.

I huffed but accepted what he said, as Toshiro began to speak. "Well as Ichigo said, I'm an Ice Dragon Rider. Meaning I ride a dragon with the elemental power of Ice, and because of that, I too have power over Ice." To show what he meant he whipped his sword out slashing the air. My eyes widened as Ice came from his sword in the form a dragon and as it crashed into a tree, it froze the tree instantly. In my opinion it was kind of cool, I didn't know why he would want to hide it. "Rukia, I got this power three years ago when I was 9. That day I decided to be adventurous and explore a cave, that the townsfolk said had a few dragons living in it. I didn't believe it, but turns out it was true. I nearly died that day if it wasn't for Hyorinmaru. He decided that I was worthy to ride him, when I accidently jumped on his back thinking he was a rock. Luckily no one saw him take off into the sky with me on his back. Else then I wouldn't have been able to hide it."

Nel spoke next. "I'm a shapeshifter, I have three main forms that are easy for me to do. I can shapeshift into any person or animal but it takes a bit more time than my main forms." Nel quickly stood up and the crunching of bones was heard as she changed into a small green haired child and back again. "I gained this power on accident. A small child came into the village one day, she was hurt and running from some cruel looking men. I was about 11 and tried to help. When we got away, the girl changed into a Fox. She was a trickster and because I had decided to help her at my own expense, she rewarded me. She gave me this power." I looked at her shocked, she was touched by a trickster. Does this mean that marked ones were not born into it, except for the few special cases?

As I mulled over this, Rangiku began talk. "Well I'm a witch, so I can do numerous spells. What you saw during the fight was my familiar. Haineko is not your usual cat familiar, as she has the power over ash and dust, hence her name." Rangiku paused but didn't give an example of her abilities. My heart was sinking, she was a witch. My guards had always taught me to be wary of witches. "I received this power after my father died when I was 15. See my mother was a witch and when my father died she began to teach me and eventually awoke the latent power that I had." She was a witch and so was her mother but I liked Rangiku. Yet all the stories I'd heard about witches said they were evil and cruel. Wait I accepted Alithra and she literally said that she had killed a lot of people, that she was once what one of those tales constantly told about. What to do?

Finally Grimmjow spoke. "Well Rukia I'm a were-panther and there is not much to say how I got it. Simply I was bitten when I was 18 and now I can turn into both a humanoid panther and a normal panther. It's not too bad, I'm not cursed or anything."

"Yeah sure? Except, Nel told me, that before you were bitten you were a lot less crazy." Ichigo retorted. There was chuckling around the group, including Grimmjow. I didn't understand it, how could they be so jovial about. They were marked ones, people who were the outcasts of society, and yet they smiled and joked about it, as if it was nothing. And I was still furious with them for lying to me.

I hissed lividly and the smiling stopped. "You smile and joke, even though you're outcasts. You lied to me and I trusted you. Riders, Shapeshifters, Weres and even Witches, I could deal with but liars and fraudsters I can't abide."

They fell silent and backed off a bit, they could see I was angry.

"You're nothing more than unkind freaks, looking to get back at the world." I yelled. I didn't care if was true, I just wanted to hurt them and it worked. They either looked away or flinched except Ichigo.

"Rukia..." Nel tried but I wasn't having any of it.

"You aren't human. You should be in a circus." Others looked away again but Ichigo still kept eye contact, he even smirked.

"Should be in a circus. That's one even I haven't heard." He said it chuckling. Chuckling. Here I was insulting him and he thought it was all some big joke.

"All of you should be damned in hell, just like the demons you are." I shouted. That line would have to hurt. It wiped the smirk off Ichigo's face and he finally broke eye contact.

"Don't worry about it princess, you'll get your wish for one of us." Ichigo replied coldly. The others were silent. Seemed I'd hit a nerve. But there was something in his voice...

"What do you mean by that? Done some horrible things to people have you?" I snapped furiously.

I watched as he stood up straight and squared his shoulders and looked up again. This time his eyes held no emotions other than... anger... no, hurt. "When you said like the demons you are, you hit the nail on the head for what I am."

My lord, God help me. He was a demon, but how? Why was he still one?

"Why don't you get exorcised then?" I hissed. What did he want to be one?

"I wish I could, but I can't." He answered quietly.

"Why?" I asked blunt and rude.

"Because it's not as simple as a mere possession, the demon is part of my soul. He dies, I die, I die, he dies." He answered his voice strengthening.

"A part of your soul, so you let some witch put it in, so you could get stronger, then realised it wasn't so great." I accused angrily. Ichigo had said he was 16 years old, that means for the demon to be a part of him in such a short time, there would have to be some kind of spell involved.

I looked around at the others and I heard Nel mumble. "Ichigo, are you sure your ready to tell us all?" Wait, so they didn't know his background story. I went to interrogate him more but he stood up and walked away.

"Looks like the kid's not ready yet." Matsumoto said sadly.

"Damn kid, why can't he trust us?" Grimmjow muttered angrily.

"Because of what he has gone through. We have only seen mere snippets of his ordeal." Nel answered, she was concerned and I could tell. I huffed and went to bed. Hopefully I'd be able to find some troops I knew and then leave. Get away from them. I was hurting but I wasn't sure as to why. Was it because they lied or was it because of what I'd just done?

As I walked to my bed, I looked towards the river. I saw Ichigo standing there looking at the moon. He just stood there, watching it... a few tears slowly ran down his cheeks. He gasped and looked down. I don't think, he actually knew I was behind him. Despite what I'd said, I did care for him, for all of them. It's just... They didn't have to lie and I still wanted answers from Ichigo. I walked up to Ichigo and put my hand on his shoulder turning him around. He spun round slowly not fighting me.

"Ichigo, I want to know how it happened." I told him sternly. He was looking off to the side, staring into space. He wasn't talking, his jaw was clenched. I shook him, gently at first and then shook him roughly. He snapped into attention, meeting my eyes. "Ichigo why? Why did a demon become a part of you?" I whimpered. Witches won't join just anyone to a demon, they do it for their own reasons. What would a witch gain by doing it to Ichigo? Did Ichigo get Rangiku to do the ceremony? "Ichigo did Rangiku...?" I asked trailing off.

"No, no one did it." Ichigo answered.

"Then how?" I questioned, confused at his answer.

"It's complicated but mainly it's because of what I was born as. Have you ever heard of the chosen souls?" He asked his voice quiet.

No...No there was no way. That story was just a legend. "I know of it but just the basics." I answered. I knew some of the story but not all of it. No one ever knew how to explain it. No one ever understood the myth. Seems now that myth wasn't so fake.

He sighed and resumed speaking. "I don't know how to explain it to you, but I know I'm one and really wish I wasn't." I went to speak, to tell him that he shouldn't tell tall tales, but he continued. "I was six when some men came and destroyed my life. One of them was possessed. My mother hid my two sisters and me and went to fight them off. It was in vain. I heard the struggling, then my mother screaming. After it stopped, I left my sisters in the hiding spot telling them not move and went downstairs. I dared to hope that Urahara, Yoruichi and Alithra had come and stopped them. They said they were visiting that day. When I reached downstairs, I saw five men standing around my mother..." Ichigo trailed off and allowed more tears to fall. I glanced around and saw the others had gathered and were listening. They all knew he was ready to tell his story, well at least some of it.

"I felt my heart sink, they weren't there and my mother's body was mangled, there was blood all over the walls, floor and the ceiling. I ran up too her and saw she was still alive and conscious. The men they laugh... laughed at the sight. One of them moved towards me preparing to strike but was stopped by Urahara. They had come like they said they would and the three of them quickly finished them, except one. The one, who was possessed. He was fighting them off, all three. Urahara landed the first hit and pinned him and Yoruichi finished him by slitting his throat. They waited, ready for the man to heal, but he didn't. The demon left him...and went straight at me. I still remember the pain, as if my body was on fire one minute, then frozen the next. Switching back and forward constantly between the two. Alithra ran up to me, her eyes wide. It was the first and only time, I'd ever seen that. There was gasp from my mother as she tried to speak, her voice showing the pain she was in. She asked Alithra, Yoruichi and Urahara to take care of Yuzu, Karin and me. I also remember them discussing something." He paused again, and I went to say something but stopped when I realised he wasn't finished.

"Alithra picked me up and began running. She ran as fast as she could in front of everyone. It's the reason why most in Karakura, know she isn't normal. She took me to the Quincy temple, to see what they could do. The trip is usually 5 days for normals on horse back but she did it on foot in 3 days. She never stopped, ate nor drank. She reserved all the water in her flask and the food snacks she'd brought for me. When she finally got there, she still ate nothing, until she found out what was wrong with me. The Quincies told her there was nothing they could do... The demon had already managed to join with about 80 percent of my soul... They couldn't remove it without damaging me. In all my life, I'd never seen her so angry. She left for a couple of hours and when she came back, I could smell blood. When I asked her what she'd done, she said she went hunting. Nothing more. Originally I thought she was angry at me for my weakness, but later on she told me, she was angry at herself for failing in her duty of protecting me. It was then she promised to help me control it. She told me it was similar in how a wolf controls their compulsion. She wasn't sure though but she said she'd try even if it killed her. And it wasn't only her, but Urahara and Yoruichi too. A day later we left and went back to Karakura. I went to live with her at the forest, while my sisters stayed with Urahara and Yoruichi. Every three days we went to see them, for my little sisters and extra training." He stopped and didn't talk. He said the how but what about what he had done to others?

"How many people have you hurt?" I asked. I needed to know.

"I'd rather not know." Ichigo answered his voice cold and iron-like.

"My sister Hisana died because of a demonic disease. She touched a boy in the outlying villages near Wolves' Forest, and began to get sick. The doctors tried to heal her, But nothing. Then a Quincy came through and said it wasn't a normal disease but a demonic one. And the only thing that could heal her was the demon that gave it to her." I said quietly. They'd given a bit of themselves so I did as well. I saw Ichigo tense and the others did as well.

"How well did you and your sister look alike?" Ichigo asked nervously.

"I'm basically a mirror image of her." I answered. Something was wrong and I didn't know what.

"Shit." Ichigo muttered.

"Ichigo was it Rukia's sister?" Nel asked solemnly. Wait what? Did Nel just ask if Ichigo caused the disease that killed my sister? I looked Ichigo expectantly for an answer.

"It must have been... Rukia I'm sorry." Ichigo answered. No! I felt tears run down my cheeks. I started hitting him, I only stopped when Ichigo tenderly gripped my wrists.

"How? Why her?" I sobbed while I yelled.

"It was an accident. The demon was trying to take over and I was fighting it. You're sister went to help and touched me. The bastard let the illness out on her. Making her sick. I didn't even stay there. I ran. I couldn't face what had just happened." He answered his eyes shadowed.

"Damn you! I hate you! It's all your fault! You MUDERER! Y...You...YOU MONSTER!" I screamed and I pulled out of his grip. I slapped him as hard as I could. I slapped him so hard it made my hand hurt. His face was red where my hand had met his skin. It was already bruising too. I backed away, into Nel and Rangiku. They hugged me gently and lead me to my bed. I was asleep in a matter of seconds.

End of Rukia's POV

Ichigo's POV

My face ached, it hurt a lot. I felt the sting of her slap and words. She was right, it was my fault and I was a monster. This was why I told only other marked ones about what I was and even they were wary of me. It hurt so god damn much. More than any other time. I was too close, I left myself open for it. I was such a fool. I started walking away. I heard the demon chuckling. Damn Bastard.

"Kurosaki." Hitsugaya shouted trying to get my attention but I ignored him and kept walking. I went without my sword, and I wasn't going back for it. Not yet anyway. From the look of camp it seemed we would be staying here for a bit. We needed to get more food. Which meant we had to hunt for it. Rukia would be furious, but oh well. I walked up to the river, until I found a shaded alcove. I went there and sat. I rested against a tree and closed my eyes. He was laughing again. "Poor, poor king. Seems that girly doesn't like you much." I groaned as the headache began and rolled over, pushing him out of my mind. I soon felt another presence there, pushing him back.

"Ichigo, don't let this stop you from doing what needs to be done." I sat up, as I heard the voice it was... Zangetsu.

I muttered inwardly. "And what's that?"

"Why ask a question you already know? You have the knowledge and strength for the deed, yet you act as if you have no idea of what it is?" He answered cryptically.

"What the hell do you mean?" I shouted out loud at him. Thank god no one was around or they'd think I was a raving lunatic.

"Help her Ichigo." He answered simply. God this was infuriating. I didn't know who was worse, him or the demon. They both gave me headaches.

"Help her and how do I do that when she hates me?" I mumbled sarcastically.

"You do not know what true hatred is. So you cannot recognise it." He answered completely off topic. God how I disliked this add on to my sword. Please let me get some sort of a refund.

"I know what hatred is, people always hate me." I replied. I had lived a life of running from people's detestation of what I was.

"Yes, but it is only face deep. It does not run deep, corrupting one's heart." He responded with another strange statement. I thought Urahara said he was a great swordsman not a damn poet.

"Say that to all the people who tried to kill me." I hissed angrily.

"Are you sure they tried to kill you because they hated you?" He asked. What the hell was it supposed to mean. He resumed speaking. "Are sure it was not because they fear you? People often cover their fear by saying it is hate. Fear often leads to hate, but the hate it leads to is not deep. A deep hatred is far beyond anything you can imagine and it isn't always blatant. I have seen it only once so obviously." He relied unemotionally.

"And who did you see it in?" I asked disrespectfully.

"Alithra." I fell silent, shocked at the statement. I knew Alithra, she wasn't one to hate unreasonably, if at all. So why did she have this so called pure hatred and who was it for? And why? As I sat there stunned, Zangetsu retreated back and I eventually fell asleep.

Oh-O IchiRuki fight. Don't kill me, things will get better soon, maybe.

Next Chapter: Meetings. Some more familar characters are coming in there's about 5. Try and guess who.

Note: So far I've written up, 13 chapters and a 1/2 and planned 17 (but there will be more)

I'm on holidays from school in a week I promise I'll make up for my lateness.

So please review and read the next chapter.