I'm back. Once again, 3 f-ing reviews only? Sigh, just my luck I suppose. And I was hoping it was caused by a failed email alert. Oh well, what else can I do besides griping?

Now, I'm thinking about what to write after I finish this story. Probably a canon-based AU of sorts. More Bleach and IchiRuki of course, but right now all my ideas have gaping plot holes in them. I'll still continue this series, but if I think of something else, I'll write that instead. I don't like to have too many stories open at once. I hope to at least finish this story before I start school though.

Hey, maybe if any of you readers have an idea but are to lazy to write it, maybe I could take it up! Just a suggestion though.

fokker333: Eh, i was supposed to write that it was a security breach and a subsequent cover-up, since it would spell trouble for Iemura, but I guess I forgot about it. And don't worry, I'm not going to switch genres for the sake of it. I don't mind any story that has my fav pairing even if its not a main focus. No horror, drama or angst though. It was just a whine of mine.

Nothing else... So without further ado, here's the next chapter. Read, enjoy and review. Getting tired of asking though, so if you decide my story is worth the effort, by all means review. It'll be really appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. Neither do i own the series my story is based on or any group, place or organization mentioned in my story.

Strawberry Fix

Chapter 23: The Catalyst

Tuesday 1315 hrs

It was times like this that Rukia was glad she wasn't doing a typical 8 to 5 kind of desk job. As long as she turned in her work whenever necessary, her editor and director didn't need her to report to the office, and today was one of those days.

That was a good thing though, since she had woken up feeling slightly off-color. It had first started out with a slight headache and aching back. Not only that, she occasionally thought she heard whispering inside her head, yet when she tried to focus on the imaginary voices, they'd disappeared. Shrugging it off as something not worth worrying about, Rukia took a couple of aspirin and began her morning routine.

However, the painkillers didn't seem to have any effect. The headache and body aches didn't go away, although she no longer heard any whispering, and she'd felt tired and clammy the whole morning. She tried to concentrate on her work, but had found her bed way too inviting. Eventually, she gave up and went to take quick shower. The cold blast of water managed to wake her up and she felt better after that.

She knew it wasn't going to last though. Thankfully, Ichigo had called at that point, giving her something to do that didn't involve work, since she doubted that she could concentrate today.

When Ichigo finally arrived, Rukia's head was finally feeling clearer. Not by much though, but there definitely seemed to be some improvement.

"Hey Ichigo," she said as she opened the door to find her boyfriend standing there with a plastic bag in his hands.

"You feeling any better?" Ichigo asked as he kissed her cheek.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I actually feel better than I did earlier. But still, be careful. I don't want you catching anything. Come, I'll show you what I've found so far," she said, gesturing behind her.

"So what exactly is wrong with Harribel-san?" Rukia asked as they sat in front of her computer.

Ichigo paused for a moment, wondering if he should bring Rukia in on the loop. Eventually, he decided to go ahead, since she'd already seen Harribel's personality change before. "Honestly, I have absolutely no idea. I mean, I've never seen anyone with this kind of split personality before. The changes are so abrupt, it really seems like she has two people living inside her. The weirdest part is, it appears to be caused by microwave radiation."

"Was that why you asked me to research on radiation?"

Ichigo nodded. "As you know, Harribel had a brain tumor. The treatment she underwent basically flooded her brain with viruses that can be destroyed by other drugs, taking the tumor along with it. However, there was some… mutation, and this new virus seems to be doing something to her. The microwave that Karin has is leaking. Every time Harribel was close enough to an oven, her personality change would take effect. Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that the virus in her tumor is affected by this."

Rukia shivered slightly as she listened to Ichigo, a slight chill suddenly spreading through her body. It seemed that her illness was rapidly returning, but she did her best to hide it from Ichigo. She didn't want him to worry, considering he already had a lot on his plate. So, she steadied herself and began relaying everything she'd found to him.

"I'll skip the scientific parts, since I suppose they are unimportant. But microwaves are a form of non-ionizing radiation; its main effect is heat. The only known long term ill effects on humans are cataracts and it may cause sterility in men."

Ichigo made a face. "Then I better not stay too close to one. Nothing about brain tumors?"

"No, but here's something interesting," Rukia said as she pointed at the screen. "I received a lot of hits involving the central nervous system, from things like memory loss to mind control. I don't know how accurate they are though."

"The virus is located in her brain," Ichigo said.

"Which is the heart of the central nervous system. So it would seem likely that the virus is disrupted by microwave radiation," Rukia finished for him.

Ichigo pondered this for a moment. "Unfortunately, there's one problem with that theory. This man that entered the house while she was in the process of one of these personality changes definitely has the same virus in him. The problem is, he wasn't affected by the microwave radiation. In fact, he walked right up to the microwave and unplugged it. Any theories?"

Rukia shrugged. "None that I can think of. Besides, all these mind-control theories are pretty far-fetched anyway."

They sat there, immersed in their own thoughts, when Ichigo's phone began ringing. He picked it up and turned away while Rukia watched him. "Hello, Karin? Yeah I'm with Rukia right now…" He listened for a short moment before he exclaimed, "What? And you just let him in? Ok I'll come back now."

Ichigo hung up and turned to Rukia. "There's something fishy going on at Karin's place. I need to go and see what's up."

"Is it the cult thing?" Rukia said, swallowing as her throat began to itch, trying her best not to cough.

"No, but it's something else that's screaming danger. I need to-" He was interrupted when Rukia suddenly bent over and lapsed into a huge coughing fit. "Rukia!" He checked her forehead. "Damn, you're burning up. But I can't…"

"I'm fine, Ichigo. All I need is a rest," she said with a strained voice as she tried to string a sentence together without coughing. Her body began heating up and she started breaking out in a cold sweat. She leaned against the table as her knees began to feel weak, but Ichigo was there by her side before she collapsed.

"Yes, you definitely need to. Come, go lie down on your bed. I'll get you some water," Ichigo said as he mostly carried her to her bed.

When he came back with a glass of water and some aspirin, Rukia waved him away, but he was having none of it. "Ichigo, I'll be fine. I already took some before you came," she said as she took the water.

"You did? It doesn't seem to be taking any effect."

"That's because it takes awhile. Don't make me repeat myself. I'll be fine; go settle whatever issue you have with Karin," Rukia said with a faint smile as she tried to play down how horrible she was feeling right now.

"I can't just leave you here like this," he protested, which made her grumble in annoyance. The speed at which she had gone from fine to a sick wreck was making him slightly nervous. Rukia wasn't one to get sick easily, but when she did, it was pretty serious. Still, this was the first time he'd ever seen her turn violently sick in the blink of an eye.

"How about this? I'll call Nee-san over. In fact, why don't you do it? Or you're going to assume I won't do it."

Realizing he couldn't win with her stubbornness, Ichigo called Hisana. Thankfully, she was home. He watched Rukia shiver vigorously before taking refuge underneath her covers as he relayed her illness to Hisana. She agreed to come over immediately. While he waited for Hisana to come, Ichigo tried to put some sense into everything that had happened today, but nothing seemed to make sense. Every time he had a theory, there would be something else that came along to shoot it down. It was extremely confusing.

Once Hisana arrived, Ichigo headed home to fetch his car first, since he didn't feel like riding the train.

A while earlier

1230 hrs

Karin was lost in her own thoughts when the bell rang. She frowned. Who could that be? It couldn't be Harribel; she had her own key. Ichigo? But he'd just left.

She looked through the peephole to see a large man wearing coveralls. "Yes?" she said.

A voice filtered through the closed door. "Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Services. We've got reports of telephone lines having trouble with incoming calls all through the building. Are you having any problems?"

"No, I don't think so." Incoming calls? How would she know if an incoming call came through?

She reached for the door, then paused. She'd heard of tales like this – robbers or rapists posing as servicemen, who would… Well, their MO was mostly the same.

Making sure the chain was in place, she unlocked the door and opened it a few inches. "May I see some ID?"

He flashed her a warm smile. "Sure, no problem," he said and removed the badge that hung on his coveralls and held it towards the door to let her get a good look. It seemed authentic enough, and the photo was of a man who was slightly smaller, but had that same warm smile the man in front of her was wearing.

"I suppose that will do," Karin said, and she unlocked the door and allowed the man to enter.

"I apologize for the inconvenience, but please understand, we're having some problems throughout Tokyo, and if I don't do this today it could be another week. I think our competitors are trying to sabotage us," he said with a laugh, which also made Karin smile.

"Ok, I suppose there's no problem."

"Thank you. It'll only take a couple of minutes," he said as he stepped in. As soon as he did, Karin suddenly wished she hadn't let him enter. She hadn't noticed it when he was outside, but now that he was inside; his warm smile did not extend to his cold, hard eyes, which seem to hold some sort of zealous gleam in them. He seemed tense and something about him seemed to scream danger. His eyes darted here and there, almost as if he was searching for something.

But when he spoke, it was in a businesslike tone. "How many phones do you have?"

"Three," Karin said, trying her best to stay calm. "One in the kitchen and two in the bedrooms."

He placed his tools on the counter and it was then that she realized that he was wearing an oversized left glove. Only his left. "Ok, so I'll be working on this one," he said, gesturing to the phone in the kitchen. "All you need to do is to pick up any of the other phones and keep talking through it. Don't dial, just talk about anything, it doesn't matter."

She picked up the phone in her bedroom and began counting to a hundred. Moments later, she heard the phone come off the hook before the man called out, "That's perfect, just keep doing that."

Through the receiver, she heard the sound of whistling and some ripping tape, and she wondered what the man was doing. Too bad the bedroom phones weren't cordless. On the bright side, her wallet was sitting beside her bedside drawer, so she knew he wasn't raiding it.

After two minutes or so, she heard a series of beeps before the man's voice came on. "Ok, we're all set."

Replacing the phone, Karin returned to the living room to find the man packing his tools. "Is that it?" she asked.

"Yes. Your phones are doing fine. I apologize for the inconvenience," he said with a smile.

As he left, Karin couldn't help but notice that the man seemed happier, as if he'd been relieved of something. She shrugged. Perhaps this issue with Harribel was making her more paranoid then before.

She wondered what Ichigo was doing. Maybe she'll give him a call and inform him about the lines, just in case something still went wrong with them.

1400 hrs

"And you simply just let him in like that?" Ichigo exclaimed as he ran a hand through his hair, making it messier still.

She shrugged. "He had a genuine Nippon Telephone Services ID. What was I supposed to do?"

"Well, for starters, you could have not let him in." He didn't want to go into how easy it was to create a false ID. He would know, since he had a few sitting at home which he used for various purposes. He didn't know why he was feeling so paranoid, but that Zommari guy had a key into the apartment. What if he wanted to do something else like install hidden cameras as well?

"Ok, so what exactly did he ask you to do? Tell me exactly."

"He told me to go into the bedroom and speak into the phone while he worked on the extension in the…" She flushed as she pondered her words. "Actually, that does sound a little dumb."

Ichigo sighed. "Ok, so how long was he alone?"

"Only five minutes tops." She said.

Ichigo rubbed his neck as he looked round. Suddenly, something struck him which sent a chill running through him – Nippon Telephone Services didn't exist anymore.

He moved towards Karin and whispered to her, "Play along with what I say, ok?" She gave him a confused look but nodded.

"5 minutes? I suppose he couldn't have stolen anything valuable right?" He motioned for her to play along.

"Oh, uh… No I don't think so. My wallet was in my room, and it was there the whole time. I don't think I have anything small and of value lying around," Karin said, but Ichigo was only half listening. He began his search for any possible bugs or cameras. Searching for things with the naked eye wasn't exactly his best option; the best would be the bug detector he had on at home, but right now, this would have to suffice. All he needed was just one bug to prove his theory that they were under surveillance.

First, he turned the radio on loud and started with the kitchen phone – an obvious place for a bug, if someone was actually searching for one. He found nothing even after disassembling the phone. A further search of all the lighting fixtures in the living room and kitchen, as well as the insides of the cabinets came up empty as well.

He made a face. Maybe he should try something different this time. So he got down on his back and began sliding on the floor, looking for anything, anything that didn't belong. As he did, an immense feeling of relief washed over him. His muscles, which strangely felt kind of stiff and sore, relaxed, and it felt good.

He glanced at Karin, who was looking at him like he was mad, but she thankfully didn't say anything. He wiggled out of the kitchen and into the living room, checking under the chairs, under the table-

"Holy shit!" Ichigo's saliva drained away as he stared at the object that was taped to the underside of the table. He recognized it immediately – it was a bomb – the size of a brick. Wires were running through it and through a timer attached right next to it.

"What is it, Ichi-nii?" Karin asked, but Ichigo didn't answer her. The readout on the timer was dark. Did the battery die or something? Or was it already about to blow?

Then again, it didn't look too sophisticated. It looked like it had been assembled in a hurry. It could be easily disassembled; all he had to do was gently pull it out. He gently tugged the blasting caps he could see protruding from the side. Easy does it… there! As they came free, Ichigo ripped the block from the tape and the timer and rolled away, feeling slightly giddy when he did that.

Karin gasped when she saw the item in Ichigo's hands. "Is that…"

Ichigo nodded grimly while his insides were boiling with anger. He inspected the block and realized it was C4. "Enough plastic explosive to really mess up this building," he said as he reached back under the table and pulled out the timer. "And here's the countdown timer."

Karin staggered into a chair in shock. "No… How's that possible? Who could… who would want…"

Ichigo didn't answer immediately. Using a knife, he severed the wires between the detonators and the timer. The detonators themselves could still cause some damage.

He turned to a still shell-shocked Karin. "I have no idea too. But let's look at the whole picture. You've got two people living here. One of them is acting really strange. The other person and her brother hear the strange one say weird things, then the strange one's cult leader comes to take her away, and he has his own key to do that as well. A few hours later, a phone repairman shows up, and a while after he leaves, we find a bomb hidden under the table. So who could the target be?"

Karin was shaking her head. "No… Harribel can't have…"

"She's not exactly the Harribel you once knew anymore, Karin. Even if she still was, it doesn't change the fact that someone wants either you or me or both of us out of the way permanently." Even those words were causing him to seethe inwardly. Someone was out to kill Karin, and good luck to the person responsible for this once Ichigo got his hands on them.

Yet at the same time, he was worried. Who could have gotten their hands on a block of C4? Something like that wasn't easy to obtain. As Ichigo stared at the block of military grade C4 in his hands, he couldn't help but remember two brothers who he'd been hired to deal with about a year ago. What were their names again? He was sure one of them was called Shiroganehiko, but he couldn't remember his brother's name, nor did he know their family names. They just seemed to go by their given names.

He had been hired by some guy who'd had a friend on the receiving on one of their bombs to discredit them; sabotage their work. Ichigo had done that and more, tailing them back to their warehouse, and had proceeded to destroy it, which included blocks of plastic explosives like the one sitting on the table right now.

Technically, it wasn't hard to build C4; one could find instructions on the internet. Yet the brothers had gained their reputation with their use of military grade explosives, which they were rumored to have stolen from an army shipment. They had been the best in their field, until Ichigo came along. Could they be responsible for this bomb? But that would mean that Ichigo was the actual intended target, and not Karin.

Yet, how was that possible? This wasn't his house, and with every Japanese law enforcement agencies working with Interpol to track the brothers down, they had vanished without a trace, so why show their face again? It just didn't seem possible.

"So what do we do now?" Karin's voice snapped Ichigo out of his thoughts. That was a good question. He looked at the timer. The LED lights had been disabled, and the only reason for that was that the planter did not want the glow of the lights to give away the bomb's position. That would mean that it was set to blow at night, when the occupants were asleep. The question was – what was the exact time?

He turned to Karin. "Would you be ok if I left for a while?" She nodded. He headed for the door before he paused. Was it possible that the brothers were watching this building? He probably should assume so. So, he turned to Karin. "You wouldn't happen to have another way out of the building, like a fire escape or something?"

1500 hrs

"Hmm? So you're thinking it's the brothers Shiroganehiko and Koganehiko?" Urahara said as he disassembled the timer. They were sitting by the counter located in Urahara's basement, since they didn't want anyone spying on what they were doing.

Ichigo snapped his fingers in revelation. "So that's his brother's name. But that's the problem. My gut's telling me so, yet I don't see how it could be them."

Urahara shrugged. You should learn to trust your gut sometimes," he said as his fingers moved across the timer, rewiring the circuits. Ichigo was no good with electronics. He could use it, but he couldn't do anything about the insides, and since Urahara could handle it, there wasn't any need for him to try.

"There!" He finally said, as the display lit up.

"Good," Ichigo said. "Now let's check the time." Urahara pressed a button on the timer and 03:00 appeared.

"3 am," Ichigo said with a sick twist in his stomach. If he hadn't found this, he would have awoken without a sister tomorrow. "That asshole." So he had been right. This kind of bomb was their signature move, although they were usually more sophisticated than that.

"So what're you going to do?" Urahara asked him.

Ichigo shrugged. "No idea for now," and he really didn't. Right now, his mind was in a bit of a haze. He felt tired and irritable as well.

Urahara was looking at him strangely. "Are you ok? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," Ichigo snapped. "Just… Just give me a moment to think, could you?" A thought was hovering at the edge of his mind. If he could just – Wait.

Back when he was trying to take them down, he had attempted to do so from a distance, destroying their stash of explosives and make off without them even knowing he was responsible. It hadn't worked though; they had shown up just as he was making his escape and he had to shoot his way out. He'd had to use his Kel-Tec at one point, and the brothers had seen it.

Ever since that Tokyo Midtown incident, papers had mentioned his use of a mouse gun in the robberies, andthey could have easily linked it with his weapon. How they'd found him he had no idea, but that was no longer important. He had to deal with Shiroganehiko and Koganehiko before they got lucky.

"Ok, old man. I need some equipment for when I deal with them tonight."

Wednesday 0200 hrs

"It's two in the morning Ichi-nii. Aren't you going to sleep?" Karin asked him out of concern.

"Hmm? Oh, I can't. Not now, not tonight I'm afraid," Ichigo said. He couldn't even if he wanted to. There was too much going through his mind right now. He had been waiting in Karin's house since eleven last night. According to her, Harribel hadn't returned the entire day, and it had stayed that way even when Ichigo was here, thankfully.

But he was worried though; worried about Rukia. He had returned back to Rukia's house just before coming here to check on her, only to find that according to Hisana, her condition hadn't improved. In fact, it had gotten worse. Medicine seemed to have no effect on her, so the only think she could do was fight it herself, and that worried Ichigo to no end. As he'd watched her, he could see a pained look on her face and hear a faint whimper coming from her as she'd slept. It'd pained him, but he didn't have the heart to wake her. She looked like she was having a nightmare, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Now, come to think about it, he wasn't feeling too good himself since the afternoon. He'd taken a rest earlier in the evening because the tired and achy feeling had carried on from when he left Urahara's place. He'd woken up not feeling any better, but not feeling any worse either.

He turned to Karin and he saw her jump when she saw two glowing green spots where his eyes should've been, which make him laugh slightly. "Night Vision, Karin," he said as he gestured to the contraption strapped on his head that he'd gotten from Urahara.

Karin looked at her brother. She was a little taken aback to see how bad Ichigo looked. He'd only disappeared for around 9 hours, and his whole body seemed to have deteriorated during that time, and he definitely didn't look good. His face looked pale and pallid, and his usual mild eyes were glassy. At least the bomb was gone; Ichigo said it was now at his place, which come to think of it, she still didn't know where it was.

"Why don't you go get some sleep?" she heard Ichigo say.

"How can I sleep?" She said indignantly. "Someone tried to bomb us! How can I sleep?"

"Relax, I'm taking watch. Nothing's going to happen when I'm here, I promise. The both of us staying awake is not going to do us any good. Get some sleep, or you'll crash tomorrow. I'll be fine. I've done this before, trust me," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Karin opened her mouth to protest again, but Ichigo had already turned back to the window. She did trust him; despite only meeting him a few days ago, she'd come to trust the brother she had thought she lost 10 years ago quickly. Well, she definitely needed sleep, and some way to relax as well. Seeing no other choice, Karin left for her bedroom, and fell asleep soon after that.

0330 hrs

"Damn it!" Shiro swore as he banged the dashboard in anger. "Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!"

"Calm down Shiro," Koga said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder in an attempt to calm his brother down. He checked his watch. It was 3.30 am, and there was still no explosion.

"That bastard must have found it!" Shiro raged again.

"Calm down Shiro!" Koga said with a slightly raised voice, and Shiro ceased banging on the dashboard, but he still had a raged look on his face. "Think about it. Do you think he'll still be up there if he knew there was a bomb? No, he'll be on his way to Hokkaido by now."

"So you're saying I screwed up?" Shiro said, turning his anger towards his brother.

"I never said that. Look, you've never screwed up before right? But what's different about this particular job?"

"Nothing! It's just another job. I double and triple checked all the connections, the timer and the display, and it was the simplest bomb I ever made! There was nothing fancy about it; I even added two detonators! There was nothing wrong with it. I tell you Onii-san, that bastard found it!"

Koga didn't mention his brother's injured left hand, which he was sure was the cause of the bomb's failure. "So what's so different about this job?"

"I told you, nothing!"

"Then let me remind you why we were the greatest. Every job we did was plain business; no emotions involved. We don't know the people on the receiving end. But the same can't be said about tonight. We knew this guy; we wanted him dead, most of all, you. So let me ask you again. How badly do you want revenge, Shiro?"

Shiro started to protest, but stopped. "Shit… I screwed up, didn't I?"

Koga patted him on the back. "That's alright. It's not over yet. You get out and wait here. I'll go cook something up."

0430 hrs

Ichigo jerked awake before shaking his head, trying his best to keep his eyes open. He stretched and tried to soothe the aches in his body. He was feeling horrible; he must've picked up a flu or something, perhaps from Rukia. "Shit. What a bad time to get sick," he said to himself.

His body had been roller-coasting all night. First, he'd broken out in a drenching sweat, soaking his clothes to the point that he needed to get a towel to dry off. Then, just when he thought he'd die from dehydration, his body made a 180 degree turn, and his whole body began freezing up, and even the blanket he'd salvaged did little to help.

Too weak to stand, Ichigo had to grab a chair and continue to keep watch. About 45 minutes ago, about ten minutes before he broke in a sweat, he'd spotted a van through his night vision goggles pulling away, leaving a large figure lurking half hidden in the shadows. One of the brothers, he was sure.

He had half a mind to go confront the man, but in the shape he was in, the only person he would be confronting was an old bedridden lady, and even that would be a challenge. So all he could do was wait and wonder what they were up to. Did they know he was watching them? Well, he would have to wait… and see…

The van was back. Jack stiffened and shot upright, earning a headache in the process. He checked his watch. 5 am? Crap! He must have dozed off. Then, as he focused on the van, he spotted a man moving across the road from the building towards the van before getting in.

This was bad. What had that man been doing? Did he set another bomb in the building? A bigger one, perhaps?

The van stayed put. That was a good sign. There was no reason for them to be so close if they wanted to destroy the building since they would get caught in the blast zone. So what had they done? A remote controlled one? But where? His car, maybe? Ichigo had parked it by the side of the road, along with many others. Did they spot him earlier when he'd returned in his car?

Unfortunately, it looked like he would have to go down and check.

That was when another wave of chills slammed into him and he began shivering uncontrollably again.

o.o Imminent confrontation ahead! o.o

Exploding ordnances are fun to watch, as long as it's done without any harm to people. Or property. Movies tend to overdo it though.

Some extra stuff.

Microwaves are harmless in small amounts, but they will cause problems in large quantities.

Cataracts is the clouding of a person's eye, and it can cause blindness if not treated. No, it's not the hip hop artists featured in that Far East Movement song.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone services is one of the main telephone service providers in Japan. It's still going strong though. I wanted a real defunct one, but I couldn't find any.

A pity this arc doesn't have many nice cliffhanger scenes. Things will start happening in the next chapter, so look out for it! Next update shall be site time Wed mid-morning or evening, haven't decided on that.

If only my story could influence people to rape the Review button. Ah well, I can't force you guys to, but do review if you can. It'll be greatly appreciated!