New week new chapter! Please enjoy, and if you want to learn a bit about the character that appears here for the first time, read the Author's Note at the end.
Part I
Rukia was not sure what she was looking at. In her hand was what seemed like a candy dispenser. On the front were the words "Soul*Candy" pasted on in a sickeningly cheerful bubble font, meant to make the mysterious item look cuter and more trustworthy. It didn't work.
Then again, the toy head at the top was the cutest little bunny she's ever seen. It couldn't be that bad.
Eyeing Ichigo, she decided to keep just how much she liked it to herself. He'd probably find a way to lord it over her somehow.
"This," he begun, "is Artificial Soul Candy. Swallow one and it'll kick your own Soul out of your body in an instant."
Narrowing her eyes, Rukia asked, "Wasn't that what the strange looking glove was for?"
"Well, yeah," he said with a snort, "but do that trick to often, and we might kill you for real one day, and I know that death is a big deal for you humans." Rukia gulped. It would have been nice to know something like that earlier. "The candy inside has an artificial Soul that will keep that from happening, and as an added bonus, you can go Shinigami even when I'm not here."
The whole explanation sounded just a little too much like a shoddy sales pitch for Rukia's tastes, but hey, it looked like she would be buying. She brought the dispenser up to her other hand, and with her thumb, pressed down on the rubber bunny head causing a tiny piece of green candy to pop out.
Rolling it between her fingers, the little round candy felt smooth, and lightweight, not unlike a regular piece of melon hard candy, but when she concentrated, she could feel the tiniest bit of warmth from it. In the meantime, Ichigo was looking at her expectantly.
"We don't have all day," he said in a bored tone. "Hollows don't destroy themselves."
"Don't rush me," she spat out. She took another second to hold it between her fingers, and before she lost her nerve, swallowed.
For a moment, she felt perfectly normal, and then, as if experiencing some kind of lag, she felt herself fall out of her body. (Or maybe it was the other way around? She couldn't quite tell.) Having been used to the sensation by now, she quickly regained her balance.
"Huh, it worked," she said with a frown, adjusting her black and white collars. Her sword was at her back, and she could feel her powers come to life. Everything was normal. Well, almost everything.
While the sight of her own lifeless body was pretty disturbing, the sight of her own body moving, without her being the one moving it, set her on edge. She watched as the entity cracked its back, inspected all of its fingers, and in general, took stock of what it was working with. It was something straight out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Rukia had to consciously remind herself that it was better this way. Her body smiled at her brightly. It rung as fake, or at the very least, not her.
"Nice to meet you," it said. "I'm Rukia Orikasa. I hope we become great friends!"
At least the voice sounded like Rukia's, even if it was a bit off. The pitch was a higher, and something about it felt grating. Still, Rukia nodded to the Artificial Soul. Ichigo, however, didn't pay it any mind.
"The Hollow that's been hanging around the bus stop is back again," he said with a tinge of annoyance. "We have to go."
"Um," she started, looking closer at her body. It was still smiling and let out a little giggle when she stepped closer. Rukia frowned. "This is a bad idea. My classmates are definitely going to figure out this isn't me."
"Not my job to care. Let's go," he said, looking up from his cellphone to send her an icy glare. Rukia could do nothing but let out a long sigh. She knew he would drag her there by her hair if he had to.
Rolling his eyes, he asked, turning to the Artificial Soul, "You got things handled, right?"
"Leave it to me!" it said sweetly with a salute, and it watched as the two Shinigami left, running through the gates and into the distance. The second they were out of sight, it dropped and with a smirk added, "Take your time."
Part II
The Artificial Soul inspected its new body once it was left alone.
Well, "it" wouldn't really do, would it? She wasn't just a thing… "She"… That might do.
She flexed every muscle, checked every curve, and thought that this body wasn't bad looking. It was fit, unassuming, had a tiny waist. Sure, the chest was flat as a board, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
"Miss Orikasa, what are you doing here?" Rukia turned to see a woman with glasses and a ponytail.
If I'm stealing Rukia's body, I might as well spring for the name while I'm at it.
"All of your friends are having their lunch up in 1-3. You should go join them," she babbled on. How annoying. Her first day in a real body and she has to deal with two bozos and an old hag. She guessed if she answered the lady, she might go away quickly.
"Thank you," she said with a smile, "I'll be right up there." The lady smiled back and looked like she was going to say something else. That was Rukia's cue to leave.
Without a second thought, she turned, got into position, and sprinted past, leaving only upturned dust. In a moment, she lost sight of the lady entirely.
She was free, and boy did it feel just as good as she thought it might. The air was crisp, her body felt alive and warm, and everything just felt real. She weaved around the school grounds with reckless abandon, looking for something new, which to her, was just about everything. It only took her a couple of seconds to come across an open window, one ripe for investigation. She stopped in front of it, took a few steps back, and keeping her eye on the target, jumped into it, feet landing safely on the windowsill. She looked inside.
About twenty sets of eyes looked back, not that she cared. She had a sneaking suspicion, though…
"Is this class 1-3?" she asked. Suddenly the whole class erupted into madness.
"Rukia?! What are you doing in the window?!"
"She didn't jump, did she?"
"No way…"
People were whispering, yelling, looking utterly shocked. On any other occasion, she might have liked the attention, but honestly, they were just giving her a headache. If they were going to scream at her, they could at least be a little interesting to look at. She took stock of the classroom.
Girl, girl, girl, ugly, geeky, girl, weird nose, baby face doesn't look to bad, and…huh.
The last one she noticed caught her eye. He was muscular, had a real broody air to him, even with his face twisted in shock as it was. He had tattoos exposed by his short-sleeved shirt, and a ponytail that was to die for. He was what she always imagined a "bad boy" to look like, and to be honest, it was kind of working for her. She hopped down from the windowsill, using desks and stepping stones until she reached him.
She landed on the floor right in front of him, and with a bat of her eyelashes asked, "How are you doing today, handsome?"
He sputtered at her, his face turning pink. It was cute, but he obviously wasn't getting the message. She'd have to be a bit more forward. She grabbed his bicep (and yeah, it felt pretty nice) and pulled herself close to him. He froze and turned as red as his hair.
"I think she broke him," whispered a boy that was certainly not her Bad Boy. She paid him no mind. Then, a red-haired girl with glasses dragged her away from him, holding her by the shoulders.
"B-but Rukia, how could you do this to me?" she asked, shaking the smaller girl. "I thought we were supposed to be together?"
"Uhhh…." Okay, she didn't know what to do here. Was the original Rukia gay, or what? This situation was starting to take a turn for the worse. It might be time to bail.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Rukia's head snapped to the corridor, and in it stood Rukia. The real Rukia, breathing heavily and looking angry beyond imagination.
Yep, it was time to go.
"Don't take another…" Rukia didn't even hear the word "step." She was already on the ground below, running far, far away, and she couldn't help but laugh with a strange mixture of mirth and excitement.
Part III
Looking out the window and down to the streets below, Rukia, the real Rukia, already knew she wasn't going to be able to catch up to the body snatcher. She was so fast it was kind of ridiculous, and with a sigh, she pushed back from the window. She'd have to find a way, somehow.
"Of all the shitty luck," Ichigo hissed out, looking out the window for himself.
"Okay, what just happened?" Keigo asked.
"Well…" Rukia said nervously. Then, she remembered that no one could actually see her, right now. Ichigo, glancing at her, cleared his throat.
"You see," he started, "Rukia is…sick."
She felt like slamming her head against the wall. Her reputation was ruined.
"Sick?" asked Chizuru.
"Maybe," Keigo said with a pout. "Sounds kinda suspicious to me."
"Yeah!" Chizuru added. "Sick doesn't explain how she was all over Renji and not me!"
Great, if even these two weren't buying it, she was doomed.
This triggered a debate amongst the class. People divided into camps of sick and not sick, mostly as an excuse to gossip about what just happened. Rukia was starting to get a good idea of what took place, too, and she didn't like it one bit.
By the side of all of this stood Renji, who had stayed silent throughout. He discretely waved her over.
Not too long ago, they had managed to talk out everything about her powers, what she's been doing, and how they would move forward. It was a hard pill to swallow for him, but it wasn't as if something like this would ruin the friendship they've had for so long. They worked it out, like they always do, and with her best friend in the loop, things were much easier, now, emotionally and otherwise.
When she got close enough, he asked, keeping his voice down, "What the hell was that?"
"Honestly," she answered, bringing a hand to her temple, "I have no idea. One moment, I'm destroying a Hollow and the next that thing is jumping out of windows and causing trouble in my body!"
"Yeah, I don't think you've said what that thing even is, yet," he growled out. "Why does it have your body?"
Before she could answer, Ichigo called out, "Hey Abarai, come here." He took the time to look right at Rukia, and she knew it wasn't just directed at Renji. It almost frustrated her. Why did he get to save face and not look like a crazy person? Grumbling, she followed him out to the hall, away from prying ears.
"'She can take care of things,' you said. 'It'll be fine,' you said." Rukia mocked.
"Hey, it's not my fault that someone gave me a crappy product!" he yelled back. With a growl, he ranted, "Usually Soul Candy works just fine. No freak outs, no jumping out of windows, no missing body!" Then he stopped, blinked, and his eyes widened. "Unless it wasn't normal Soul Candy."
"I could have told you that," she said with a frown, "but you think you know what this is."
"It might be a Mod Soul," he explained. "When I was little, I had heard about a project, 'Operation Spearhead.' The Soul Society wanted to make an artificial Soul that gave special powers to the body it occupied. It was gonna be something simple like strength or speed, and they were supposed to support us in fights.
"The project's mostly memorable because of how much of an embarrassment it was when it failed. The Mod Souls turned bad, and some of the researchers got hurt. They couldn't figure out why, so they shut it down."
"Let me get this straight," Renji said, speaking for the first time since they were dragged out here. "You're telling me that your freaky secret society made a bunch of evil fake Souls, and that one of them escaped and is taking Rukia's body for a joy ride right now?"
"That about sums it up," Ichigo answered with a deep frown.
"Oh great," Rukia groaned.
Part IV
Rukia, and yeah, the name didn't sound quite right, but she had gotten pretty used to it over the last hour or so, was enjoying her walk around town. After wandering around long enough, she had found herself in the shopping district, and it was even better than she imagined. All the shops had these flashy displays, but that didn't even compare to how they looked on the inside. They were filled with colors and clothes, and cute things that she didn't know the names of yet. It was all so amazing, and every bit of it looked much better than the boring old school uniform she was stuck in. She ran into a bit of a road block when the lady behind the counter claimed she had to "pay for it", though. She had to leave the store after that.
She probably would have left that area of town pretty quickly then were it not for these wonderful little things called "samples." The shops that sold food had them, these tiny morsels of fresh food that they handed out for free. She made sure to try every single one.
With hands full of these little goodies, she sat comfortably, swinging her legs back and forth. That everyone was giving her attention and staring was simply a bonus. They'd probably never seen a girl sit on the roof of a café before.
"Hey!" someone called from below. That didn't sound like the usual shocked cries she'd been getting. She looked down only to find none other than her Bad Boy.
"I guess you've found me," she said with a sly smile. He turned that interesting shade of red again and stuttered for a moment. How could one person be so cute?
"You're going to have to come down from there," he said shakily.
Standing up, she asked playfully, "Why don't you make me?" Forgetting her samples, she ran, speeding across rooftops.
Her face was to the wind, and she was grinning from ear to ear. She almost didn't see the orange haired Shinigami standing directly in her path. She frowned. She just knew he would be trouble. She saw the Reishi crackling at his finger-tips, but still had ample time to dodge his poorly aimed Kidō. She raced right past him only looking back to stick out her tongue.
Now that was fun.
She realized after a moment that she had already reached a different area of town. The shops were gone, and she could see a school, but not the one she had started at. She landed on the ground, running out of roofs to jump over, and ran up to the surrounding wall, curiosity getting away from her.
Just beyond it, she could hear voices, but she couldn't make anything out. Luckily, there was a locked gate just nearby, a perfect place for spying. She carefully snuck ahead, and peeked around the corner, trying to stay out of sight.
"Ah, damn it, he lost again!" a young boy groaned. He and two others were messing around with these small machines. They looked interesting, actually. She might try and find her own tiny machine.
"Stupid thing can't even fight. Who do you think created you?" he asked. Rukia gulped.
What?
With a laugh, one of the other boys, asked, "Why don't you delete him?"
She could remember them. The Shinigami in the long white coats.
"This batch is obviously defective. Terminate it."
"Yeah, those that don't listen to their master die!"
She could remember seeing all those other Mod Souls getting destroyed. She remembered being the last one left, that horrible feeling of waiting to disappear.
"Bam!"
She couldn't breath.
"Oh, he really erased him."
"So, what? I'll create a better one!" They all laughed.
Rukia backed up one step, then another. For some reason she thought that the people here in the World of the Living would be different. How could they, how could little kids, be that cruel, just throwing away a life if it didn't suit them. This wasn't fun anymore. She wanted to leave.
She felt a hand close around her arm.
"Got you."
Part V
The three split up at the school, knowing that to catch an enemy with super-speed, they'd need to cover a bit more ground. The more places they checked, the more likely they were to find it. This is what Rukia told herself a few hours into her own search.
Great, she might as well forget about going back to school today. She's pretty sure her teacher thought she was some kind of hoodlum by now.
She parked herself on an office rooftop, overlooking the town, trying to find any sign of her body. Soon enough, she got lucky. Just there, a few rooftops across, she could see it running. It went by so fast, if she blinked she would have missed it.
She immediately gave chase, trying more to keep it in sight than to catch it. She knew she couldn't outrun it, so she'd have to surprise it, and to do that, she needed to stay quiet.
She kept her eyes on the prize for as long as she could, but as rooftops varied and blocked her sight, it became much harder to do. Eventually, some particularly high roofs made her lose sight instantly. The Mod Soul hadn't changed its direction too much, though. Hopefully she was still on track. She ran, sticking to her gut, keeping her eyes wide open.
Eventually, she skidded to a stop, and went down in a crouch. She found it!
Her body was there, standing in front of the side gate of a middle school. What on earth the Mod Soul was doing there, she had no idea, but it seemed distracted. Now was the perfect chance.
She silently landed on the ground just as her body started turning away from the gate. Before it had time to take even another step, she grabbed it by the arm, and she wasn't intending to let it go this time.
"Got you," Rukia said with a smirk. Then she noticed the expression on her body's face. The Mod Soul looked…hurt. It looked like it was going to start crying at any moment, and that caught Rukia seriously off guard. Still, she didn't let go, not even when she felt the now familiar presence of a Hollow in the area.
"Shit," she hissed out. With her free hand she reached back to grab her sword. She couldn't even see the thing, yet.
"Wait!" the Mod Soul gasped out. "There are kids here."
"I know that. This is a middle school," Rukia said. Now where would that Hollow be appearing from.
"No," it said with more urgency, "I mean there are kids here!" It pointed to the gate to three very confused looking boys that Rukia had just now noticed. This complicated things.
Before Rukia could even figure out how to get them out of harms way, the Hollow came down from above, silent and deadly, its bug-like shadow passing over them and to the other side, right where the kids were. Rukia had to act fast.
She let go of her body and hopped over the gate. She dropped to the ground, using the height of her sword to her advantage, and the Hollow fell onto it before it could redirect its path. Glancing around she checked to see it the kids were alright, if she had made it in time. The kids weren't there. The Mod Soul had two of them under her arms, and one of them already in a track field some meters away. Rukia couldn't help but sigh in relief. If they were fine, that meant she'd be able to kick this things ass with that much more ease.
She drew the blade out of the Hollow's face. (Not a direct hit, sadly. She only got it in the jaw.) Using the flat of her blade she shoved it aside, and using the edge, she sliced into its side.
It wasn't having any of this. With an ear-piercing shriek it unfurled its wings and flew up to higher ground, right onto a nearby roof. Great, it could fly.
The Mod Soul had moved in beside her, looking incredibly unsure of itself, staring out at the Hollow. Rukia decided that for the sake of this fight, she might have to give it an extra push.
"You can fight, right?"
"Uhh…" the Mod Soul breathed. "Yeah." Rukia's grip on her sword tightened. That was all she needed to know.
"Then I need you to go left while I go right." She charged, and it didn't even surprise her when the Mod Soul actually followed her orders.
She met the Hollow on the right connecting solidly, but in the end, not hitting nearly as hard as the Mod Soul. When it said it could fight, it really wasn't kidding. Its legs were powerful, and as it attacked didn't hold back with a single high-speed kick. It was one kick to the back of the head followed by a well-placed blade when the creature fell forward that did the Hollow in.
When the dust settled, Rukia turned to the Mod Soul.
"So…" it said, "you caught me." It wouldn't look her in the eye.
"I did," Rukia agreed, and she wasn't quite sure what to do now, either.
"Then it really is over," it said wistfully. "Are you going to destroy me, now?" Rukia's eyes widened in shock.
"Why on earth would I do that? You just helped me."
The Mod Soul didn't look convinced when it explained, "It's because I'm a Mod Soul. That's just what the Soul Society does to Mod Souls."
Rukia studied the Mod Soul for a moment after that. With a sigh, she sat herself down onto the roof. She was too tired for this, right now.
"I'm not killing anyone," Rukia finally said, "and I'm not a part of the Soul Society. Honestly, they're sounding worse by the minute."
"You're serious," the Mod Soul said, looking at Rukia with wide eyes. Rukia nodded. She saw the Mod Soul smile for a moment before the expression turned blank and she fell forward.
"She's still going to need that body back, though." Ichigo stood behind her body, holding it up with one arm, wearing that red skull glove. With his free hand he caught a tiny green candy that fell from its mouth. He held it up to the light.
Honestly, it was amazing that such a tiny thing could cause so much trouble. It was even more amazing that it could feel so much. Well, maybe calling the Mod Soul "it" wasn't fair. She'd have to think of a proper name, soon.
"I'm guessing you want to keep this," Ichigo said with a raised eyebrow.
Nose upturned she said, "I'm not letting you destroy it if that's what you mean." He just chuckled and walked up to her, placing it carefully in her open palm.
"I'm not going to destroy her," he said. "I never really liked how the Soul Society did things, anyway."
It didn't take too long for Rukia to get back in her body, and she had to marvel at just how sore all that running around the Hollow did made it. She immediately wished she had waited until she got home to get back in the thing. The walk back was going to be miserable.
They made their way down the emergency fire exit of the building, and at the bottom, Renji was there waiting for them. He immediately looked at her with suspicion.
"It's me, Renji," she assured. His shoulders slumped.
"Thank god," he sighed out. He was maybe a little too easily convinced. Then again, she didn't really know what had him so on edge about the Mod Soul. She'd have to ask him later.
"So, what are you going to do with that?" Ichigo asked, pointing to the hand that held the Mod Soul. She looked down at the tiny pill.
"I'm not really sure," she answered honestly.
"That thing just needs a body, right?" Renji asked. "Why don't we just put it in a doll or something."
Ichigo rolled his eyes, opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it again.
"That might actually work," he said, considering. "Rukia, do you have any?"
Rukia scoffed, "What you're saying that just because I'm a girl I have dolls just lying around?"
Renji stared at her, raising an eyebrow. Rukia glared back. The two held it for a few moments, a silent battle going on. Eventually, Rukia broke.
"I might have a few Chappy stuffed animals lying around." Ichigo snorted, and Rukia levelled a glare at him a return.
She tightened her grip on the candy. She'd have to find a decent doll for her. The Mod Soul deserved at least that much.
This is the first appearance of the (now unnamed) Mod-Soul Character, one of the first OCs I crafted for the sake of this plot. For those of you who haven't figured it out, she's basically a female version of Kon, or rather my take on a female version of Kon. I've always gotten the impression that Kubo didn't like Kon very much. He's the butt of every joke and gets forgotten a few arcs in. Conversely, I would like to do more with this character in the future. As I analyzed Kon's backstory for the sake of writing her's, I found it to be way more interesting than I remember it being, and I'd like to roll with it in the future. So, keep an eye out for her, okay.
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