CHAPTER 14

RUKIA

Rukia groaned. It was the groan of someone who didn't expect to be alive. She tried to ignore it. All she wanted to do was roll over and let sleep or death take her.

"Whatever one's quicker," she thought morbidly.

She lay still for as long as she could before succumbing what her mind could only describe as the "hard pokey thing" she was currently laying on. Letting out a sigh she half heartedly felt around beneath her before giving up and trying to ignore the pain. All she wanted to do was sleep and forget. Her brain agreed whole heartedly with her decision not to open her eyes and move. After a few more moments of attempted sleep, Rukia opened her eyes and sat up. She reached up to rub her eyes and to push a few wayward strands of hair back behind her ears. She turned slightly to look at whatever it was that had woken her and noticed her sword in the gloom of the cave. She wrapped her fingers tightly around the familiar object before she turned her head to take in her new surroundings.

"Why am I in a cave?" She wondered as she struggled feebly to her feet, swaying slightly. She felt awful.

"Am I dead," she wondered as she took a somewhat shaky step towards the mouth of the cave using her sword for balance.

She hesitated only briefly before turning her head to look at her shoulder. It was still injured, that she could tell without needing to look. But the black substance that had been oozing from it had all but vanished. She furrowed her brow in confusion.

She had never been very good at puzzles.

She turned her attention back to the mouth of the cave, shoving any further questions about her mystery wound to the corner of her mind for the time being. It throbbed angrily with every step.

It had been a slow and arduous journey to the mouth of the cave but it had been worth it. Even though she had no idea where she was she felt better out amongst the trees.

She felt that the place had a familiar feel to it like a half remembered dream just out of reach. She placed a tentative hand on the trunk of a tree and felt the rough bark beneath her fingers. The tree looked real and it felt real but some part of her was telling her nothing in this place was real.

She clutched at her head and doubled over as a wave of nausea washed over her. When it passed she continued walking through the trees.

"Hello?" She called out tentatively at first and then louder with each step.

"Urahara if this is some kind of joke I'm not laughing. Urahara? Hello is anyone there?"

She paused when a rustling to her left caught her attention. Hand poised at the ready over her sword, Rukia took a cautious step towards the noise. She peered around the tree to get a look at whatever had made the noise only to find nothing. Frowning she studied the area until she heard yet another noise some distance from her position.

"Hey! Wait."

Forgetting her nausea Rukia again moved towards the noises only find nothing and then to hear rusting further ahead. After several minutes of zigzagging across the forest Rukia caught glimpses of pockets of light in the distance that could only be a clearing.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

ICHIGO

The sudden noise of someone approaching startled him awake. He tried to ready himself for his approach. Ichigo knew any effort he made would be useless but he felt he had to try.

"A prisoner's first duty is to escape after all," he thought with a mild sense of chagrin. Besides maybe He would make a mistake.

"Like I did."

He felt his wistful attitude fade a little at the thought before he brushed the negative thought aside and closed his eyes. Pretending to be asleep or dead was his best defence against Him.

He nearly didn't hear her when she whispered his name.

"Ichigo."

He opened his eyes, fully aware of how the barbed wire curled around his wrists, torso and legs, pinning him to the ground. He lay motionless. Waiting for her to speak again.

"Am I delusional? Am I dead?" He wondered as he strained himself in an attempt to hear the faintest of noises.

The brush of a delicate hand across his head gently moving long damp strands of hair from his eyes startled him.

He tried to move so he could see her but the movement only reopened old wounds.

"Ichigo. Ichigo can you hear me. It's Rukia. I'm going to try to cut this wire okay."

He waited. He could tell she was examining the wire for hidden Kido first. Once satisfied that it was in fact just barbed wire he felt her set to cutting it away from him. It was a slow and arduous process. Ichigo often had to fight his impatience for freedom in order to keep still and not reinjure himself.

When the last of the wire was carefully removed he felt Rukia gently inspect some of the deeper wounds.

"What's Rukia doing here in this place?" pondered Ichigo to himself as he began the laborious process of sitting up.

He couldn't help but cry out in pain. He had been laying there trapped for months. His muscles sore and his skin raw. Somehow seeing her again made him feel a little better.

"R-Rukia? What- What are you doing here?"

"Where's here Ichigo?" Her question surprised him. He wondered how she could have entered his mind and not know where she was. His response was slow almost careful as he tried to feel out any possible traps.

"We're in my mind."

"What! What do you mean we're in your mind? Is this some kind of trick? If Urahara put you up to this-." Exclaimed a startled Rukia.

"Ichigo. What's going on? If this is your mind how did I get here? I don't understand!"

Mention of the outside world shocked him into silence. It had been so long since he had spoken to anyone but Him, let alone allow himself to think about the place he called home and the people he loved.

"He trapped me here. The hollow part of me," exclaimed Ichigo, his responses still slow.

"He said it was his turn. As for how you got here and how you found me, I have no idea!" If the situation hadn't been so serious Ichigo would have laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all.

"I tried to control him. I tried to keep him away from you." Ichigo forced back another wave of pain and panic. It was getting harder to concentrate, nothing was making sense.

There were still too many gaps. Too many unanswered questions.

"Let me get this straight you have been trapped in your mind by a uh- hollow Ichigo?" Said Rukia her hand on her chin as she slowly worked her way through what he had just told her.

It was just like old times, her sitting at his desk, him sitting across from her on his bed as they discussed strategy or their latest mission, all except for one thing.

He had never seen her face turn that shade of white before nor seen that particular expression.

Her voice was shaky, her eyes never quite meeting his.

"Ichigo...h-how long have you been trapped here?"

He furrowed his brow trying to pin down an exact date but he had been cut off for a while, his information infrequent at best.

"I'm not really sure. The only information I get is when He feels it was necessary to gloat over something in person. A few months maybe. The last thing I remember before I became trapped was you and me...and uh." He could feel himself blush even now at the memory. He looked over at her and then realization hit him. It was like an elephant had just walked into a room or rather exploded into it.

He wanted to know what happened after He took control.

"I didn't, we didn't-" she said in a tone he didn't recognize.

Just when he was getting the courage to ask more questions, Rukia doubled over in pain. He leapt over to her, worried and unsure.

"Rukia what's going on? Are you okay?" Her reply was only a whisper before she sagged to the ground.

"Ichigo- I- I don't know what's going on but I think we need to leave now. Right now!"

"Rukia, Rukia. Come on lets go."

Ichigo hauled Rukia to her feet, she wobbled but stayed upright.

"Uh were too?" He stated aloud as he scanned the area for a likely exit.

"I woke up in a cave not too far from here? Maybe that's the way out?"

"I think I know the place. Let's go."

Wincing with every step on his injured feet they hobbled together towards the cave.

"I hope this is right Ichigo. I don't think I'm going to get a do over," groaned Rukia, her face pale, her lips an alarming shade of blue.

He pulled Rukia tighter to him and grinned down at her. She looked up at him with her relentless violet eyes, and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had lied to him.

"There's no place like home."

RUKIA

Rukia opened her eyes wearily, her surroundings coming into focus slowly. After a moment she began to recognize small things about the place, the colour of the table, the curtains, and the man sitting quietly in the corner across from her. She groaned clenching her fists in the blanket that was covering her.

It felt like a very large very heavy object had been put on her. Even her fingers hurt when she tried to move them.

All she wanted to do was close her eyes and sleep for all eternity.

She wanted to forget.

She couldn't tell if it was her shinigami training, or her stubborn nature that made her open her eyes and sit up but she cursed them both as she placed her hands to her sides in an attempt to push herself into a sitting position.

With her head pounding and specks of light dancing across her vision she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position. At last, sweating and panting with exhaustion and pain she managed a half sitting half slouching arrangement, the contents of her stomach making a daring attempt at freedom.

Taking long deep breathes she turned her head so she could face the man in the corner.

"Urahara," she rasped, the words sounding like they belonged to another much older woman. She licked her lips, suddenly aware of how dry her mouth was.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked. The way her bones ached she wondered briefly if she had been asleep for an eternity.

She wondered if he would let her sleep for another eternity.

"Urahara, what- what happened?" She flinched at her own hesitation, this wasn't like her.

She felt detached from herself and her emotions. Like someone watching someone else's life.

"You were quite badly injured you know. If you had taken any longer that poison along with your other injuries would have be fatal," stated Urahara matter-of-factly, his voice soft almost hesitant.

Urahara's words came as no surprise to Rukia. She had known the wounds and the poison were bad. But she was a shinigami and she had a duty to protect. She wondered if she should remind Urahara of that fact but decided against it.

"I feel terrible."

"I told you it was bad. A little longer and I think my poison would have had a more lasting result. I mean Tessai is good but perhaps not as good as Miss Orihime it seems."

Rukia thought she saw Urahara wince as the words left his mouth. But then Urahara did not make mistakes.

"Your poison? I thought a hollow poisoned me?" The words felt like glue in her mouth. She watched Urahara closely for any sign of deception but his posture remained the same and his voice assiduously calm.

"I'm sorry Rukia it was the only way. He always seemed to be watching you. Plus I needed it to be believable. And you where- uh quite believable."

Rukia grimaced and turned her head to the window, careful to keep her voice free of emotion.

"That thing was far more believable then me."

"Yes well," started Urahara before letting the rest of his sentence drop. Rukia closed her eyes, the unspoken words dancing their way through her mind.

She was the only one who had found him believable. He had avoided all of their friends, his family even Urahara, but not her. He had essentially avoided everyone that would recognize him as an imposter and he know she would not recognize him.

She was glad he had turned her head or Urahara would have seen her cry.

She waited a minute to regain her composure before she asked her next questions.

"How did you get a hold of hollows? How did I end up in what I can only assume as Ichigo's mind? Why me Urahara?" The last question she asked was nearly a whisper by the time she finished. She wasn't really sure she wanted to know the answer.

A pregnant silence passed between them before Urahara began speaking.

"The hollows were not hollows you see, they were only made to look like hollows. They are constructs. Initially I created them to test you and Ichigo but then I decided they had a more useful purpose. They carried a solution I invented and followed you, waiting for the perfect time to strike and to give you the chance to enter His mind or not."

"So what your saying is you created a construct that would follow me around then inject me with a solution that would help me cross into Ichigo's mind but only if the timing was right or it would have killed me?"

"Exactly! And it worked splendidly, better than I could have ever imagined."

Rukia could hardly believe what she was hearing. She couldn't believe Urahara had not only cooked up this as Ichigo referred to it, a half baked plan, but then went ahead with it. She didn't know if she should be angry for putting her in such a dangerous situation or flattered that he believed so highly in her abilities.

"But I know that first hollow Renji and I sensed was definitely not a construct. Does this mean you can you control real hollows now too?" The last part of that sentence came out mocking even though she hadn't intended it to. All of this information was a little unsettling to hear all at once.

Urahara continued to watch Rukia intently as he continued his story,

"No I can't control hollows, however I can catch them and stun them in advance and well, strategically place them as it were."

Rukia bowed her head feeling her anger rise, she tried to hold onto the anger she felt but her fatigue got the better of her and it slipped away.

"So I was bait then all along. You couldn't tell me because you needed me to be convincing enough so I could distract that- that thing-. And all this strange hollow behaviour Renji and I have been reporting to the captain was you all along?"

Urahara cut her off with the raise of his hand.

"It needed to be you Rukia. You were the only one close enough that my poison could work to allow you to slip into its mind undetected and save Ichigo."

His words rattled her. He was right of course. She had been the best person for the job and it had worked. The truth still didn't make her feel any better than before. She still felt tired and used even though Urahara's intentions had been noble.

She hesitated with her next question,

"Is he- is Ichigo – alive? The real one I mean." She felt tiny as she spoke those words.

She watched Urahara shift uncomfortably, pulling his hat down further, and drumming his fingers on his cane, his fan uncharacteristically missing. His voice was still soft, empty of his usual antics,

"He's recovering." he paused letting his words sink in before continuing,

"You know Rukia, there was no way you could have known. They were identical in looks and he practically had front row seats, watching Ichigo, watching all of you and learning how to act around you. Don't blame yourself…"

His voice trailed off leaving a long empty silence in the room. Rukia let her head drop, her eyes focused on the lines of the white bandage that covered her arm.

"You knew though Urahara. One look and you knew, who, what he was from the very beginning. I saw it in your eyes the moment you saw him in that place. You knew what he was."

She felt rather than heard Urahara's indrawn breath. If it had been any other time she would have been thrilled that she had managed to make the one and only Urahara uncomfortable.

Now she just waited. The pain in her chest tightening, threatening to squeeze the very air from her lungs. She kept her head down lest he see her face. She glanced again at Urahara, facing him. She down all the thoughts, memories and emotions that raged against the door of her mind, pushed them down and locked them away.

She needed to know.

"How could all of this have happened?"

She saw him wince but only slightly. He had known the question was coming.

"Ever since he became a shinigami he has always carried both reitsu's within him. And I taught him to use the power of the hollow part of himself so he could be stronger instead of fighting it."

Rukia was left dumbstruck by Urahara's admonition. She couldn't believe Urahara a shinigami, a former captain no less would do such an abominable thing as to teach a person to use hollow powers. She could feel her anger rising in her like a huge unstoppable wave.

"How could you do such a despicable thing? You turned him into a monster." She felt herself losing her grip on her anger, humiliation, pain and betrayal as they fought their way to the surface of her conciseness to fight this new foe. She wanted to lash out at him, hurt him the same way she had be hurt.

His words stopped her cold.

"Rukia, I only taught him to use what was already there," he paused considering his words.

"You took his life, you put the sword through his heart."

"No."

Her thoughts jumped to the night she and Ichigo had become inextricably linked. It was too much. She couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it. She wracked her brain trying to think of an explanation, anything that would sooth her conscience.

"What about the others like Ichigo, the ones created by Aizen." To Rukia's ears her words sounded more like a desperate plea then an argument. She watched Urahara pause at her question. Maybe if she had been any other person he might have lied to spare her feelings.

"I'm sorry Rukia, but the situation surrounding Ichigo is infinitely different then what happened to the others. He had a choice for one..."

Rukia felt her heart break.

Letting out a choked laugh that was more sob then laugh Rukia turned away from Urahara. The truth of his words was too much. She brought her fingers to her face, feeling the unfamiliar wetness of tears.

"Some choice, become a shinigami or watch your sister's die."

"Rukia-"

"What are they going to do to him Urahara?" Asked Rukia, not wanting to hear any more of Urahara's explanations. She didn't need to hear anymore. It had been her own hand. She was the one responsible for the creature Ichigo had to keep locked inside.

"The captains are going to decide whether they will take him before Central 46," replied Urahara shrugging his shoulders.

Rukia almost toppled over at Urahara's statement. A hearing at Central 46 meant that they were considering locking Ichigo away. His expression stunned her.

She put her hands on the mat in front of her and leaned towards Urahara.

"What aren't you telling me? The hollow is gone, Ichigo is back now." She watched as he shook his head slowly.

"I'm afraid Ichigo's case may not warrant imprisonment but rather death."

Urahara leaned back with a sigh, his cane twirling slowly in his hands his customary smirk once again absent.

"Urahara the captains' do know the hollow part of Ichigo is gone right?" asked Rukia her voice at the edge of pleading.

"I have no idea. That's why you're going to have to ask them."

Rukia felt her face flush as she thought about the prospect of addressing all of the captains in such a formal matter. Brushing the thought aside for the moment, Rukia continued to press a surprisingly forthcoming Urahara for more information.

"Rukia if it was up to me, all of this would have been over and long forgotten." Rukia hid her grin as she imagined what Urahara actually meant by long forgotten.

"I think their afraid this might happen again. That he will become the next Aizen," proclaimed Urahara nonchalantly.

Rukia blanched at the memory of Ichigo's hollow form poised and ready to attack. He had even declared himself King of Hueco Mundo.

"But all of that is over Urahara. Right? The Ichigo we all know is back," stated Rukia. She watched Urahara's expression for his tell-tale mischievous grin but found none.

"When are they deciding?"