I've been stalling to do this chapter because it's just too frustrating! I prefer writing about Rukia I guess. Wow is it chapter 5 already?

One thing I picked up while stalling: Did you know that the same person who plays the voice of Rukia in Japanese also plays Pacifica Casull in Scrapped Princess! and Victoria in Hellsing! I couldn't believe it. . Such a small anime voicing community.

Chapter 5

Convincing

Ichigo watched as his friend was pulled away towards the flashing truck. The spinning red lights painted Keigo's white, ghostly face. He looks dead. Ichigo concluded. He had brought Keigo to the clinic but there was very little they could do there. The sirens screamed and they drove off, leaving Ichigo along the road side.

"Strange night isn't it." Dr. Kurosaki cheerfully walked up and placed his hand on his son shoulder. The doctor had seen too many recent incidents like this to be much affected. "Are you alright son?" He said, noticing Ichigo's clammy skin.

"I'm fine." Ichigo growled as his dad shifted the hand to his forehead.

"Your feeling kinda' clammy."

"I said I was fine."

Dr. Kurosaki, sill not convinced, pulled out his stethoscope and experimented with Ichigo's heartbeat. "You seem ok…." The Doctor said to himself. He smiled and began to walk away while continuing to back at his son with the suspicious grin. Ichigo wasn't paying attention. Dr. Kurosaki too advantage of the moment and launched his leg right into Ichigo's face. The boy was sent tumbling to the ground, headfirst.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Ichigo screamed. His head was painfully resting against the cement. He almost swore he could feel blood. But it was just a bruise, probably a concussion too.

"Maybe you are sick." Dr. Kurosaki offered his hand but Ichigo chose to ignore it.

"I can never keep my guard down around you." Ichigo grunted. The boy sat on the ground for a while and then finally lifted himself up, but a little too quickly. The blood rushed from his head and it took all of his concentration to keep himself upright.

"Get some rest." Dr Kurosaki laughed and made one last waved and headed back for the clinic doors.

"Yea, whatever." Was all Ichigo could say. Normally he would have kicked the guy's ass but an unusually large headache dragged at his body.

His room was just how he left it. Clean and locked tight. Of course it was always clean. His sister made sure of that. And the window was locked especially tight ever since he met the bird this morning. But at the moment, Ichigo never hated the room more.

He didn't bother to turn on the lights, the moment he stepped in. Instead he slammed the door shut and did everything he could to make it as messy as he could. And he put all of his frustration into doing it. Paper was scattered from the desk and the sheets where quickly thrown from his bead. Several clothes hung loose from the dresser. He pulled the futon stored in his closet and pulled it out onto the floor as well.

At last he felt slightly better. He didn't know why he had this sudden urge to destroy everything, but at least his room was a disaster he could control. At last there was the window. Still shut and secure. He lifted his hand to the lock and slid the window as wide as possible. It was hard to admit, but he had felt slightly frightened of the raven. Now, he could almost feel himself calling out to it. He wanted it gone, he wanted it to do it's bidding and get it over with. Then maybe… my friends wouldn't get hurt he thought to himself and then fell into the sheets of his bed.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and felt the chill again. The icy breath stabbed his throat. The demon bird had come, just like he asked. Now he almost wished he hadn't. His eyes opened once more and there stood Keigo at the foot of the bed.

The mask on Keigo's face was strange and uninviting. It was black, with thick, red, lines that formed from the edges. The yellow eyes where the worst. They held a strong urge of death that Ichigo had never seen before.

The masked Keigo lounged.

"Duck!" A voice called from behind. Ichigo moved to the side as a man suddenly charged through the wall. The man continued forward with a sword directed at the mask. Before Ichigo could react a blade was cut deeply into the demon's head and the mask began to crack. It fell off, leaving Keigo unharmed as his body collapsed to the floor.

"What the hell…" Ichigo gawked.

The man who now stood in front of him wore traditional Japanese clothing that was covere colored completely in black. A scowl rested on his face that resembled Ichigo's and he had similar black hair. It didn't make Ichigo trust him one bit. From all Ichigo knew, the man could have been an anti version of himself.

Ichigo rushed to his friend for damage. He looked copmpletely fine, just really pale and sick. That's what worried Ichigo the most.

"We have to provide medical care." The tall mad stood over his shoulder. Ichigo moved Keigo over his arms and slowly stepped away.

"Who are you?"

" I'll tell you later, just follow me."

"I don't have to do anything." Ichigo snapped. He began to move to the door while keeping his back to the wall. But before Ichigo knew it, the man was already blocking his exit. Did the guy even move? Who could move that fast?

"There's no time for this! We have to hurry!"

Everyone stood still. Ichigo struggled between the decision of getting Keigo to proper medial care or relying on this complete stranger. He was voting for the first. Maybe if I can somehow distract him and move him away from the door... he decided to try and talk his way though. "Hurry for what?"

"Your friend will really die if he isn't properly treated. But I'm not leaving without you, whether he survives or not."

Ichigo looked over his shoulder. Keigo looked even paler than before. His chest was hardly even moving. He could tell his breath was getting faint.

"He's getting lighter isn't he?" The man smirked. "His soul is slowly draining from his body. He's suffering an unnatural death. Your dad would be able to do little."

"where are we going?" Ichigo finally gave in. It almost sickened him to do so but Keigo's symptoms did seem unnatural.

"Follow me" was all he would say. Ichigo was about to protest but the man was already leaping out the window.

"I still don't know your name!" Ichigo suddenly realized as he jumped down from the side of his house.

"I'm Kaien Shiba, lieutenant of the 13th Division." The man, 'Kaien' apparently, said from the middle of the road. His speed was impeccable. Ichigo hurried to catch up with Keigo still on his back.

"Division of what?"

Kaien cleared his throat. He seemed annoyed, perhaps because he had never had to deal directly with a living human. "13th division of Seireitei in Soul Society." He looked over at Ichigo who still didn't seem satisfied with the answer. "Your kind tend to think of it as heaven," They began to walk down the road, towards the main part of town from the looks of it.

No one said anything else. As they walked past the park, Ichigo looked at the gates with distrust, No demon bird anywhere at least…He couldn't help be feel that Kaien had to do with the bird's absence. After that he felt a little more relaxed.

They later came to the downtown area of the city where the buildings slowly grew taller and taller into apartments and stores. No one had been seen on the streets, strangely. Ichigo was relieved as he didn't want to have to deal with everyone's reaction if they decided to gawk at crazy samurai next to him. And carrying a seemingly dead guy on your back would look a little suspicious too.

"I'm going to die aren't' I?" Ichigo finally said as just as they stopped in front of a very wide lot. The mention of 'soulsociety' brought that thougt into him. The lot they stood before looked odd being the only empty space for several blocks. Especially between two large buildings. A small store stood in the back with a wooden sign that said "Urahara Shop"

"Funny you'd be asking about that." Kaien smirked. He began to walk towards the shop.

"What? where going in there!? That's a candy shop!" Ichigo shouted. He stopped screaming for a moment gaze at a man standing in the shadows of the porch. All he could see where his wooden shoes and short kimono but he couldnt help but think a large grin was pasted across the man's face.

The person on the porch turned out to be Mr. Urahara himself. He wore slightly more traditional clothing as well, with his kimono and the wooden shoes of course. Then there was the odd stripped hat that always seemed to hold a shadow of his eyes. It would have been hard to treat him seriously if it wasn't for that mysterious shadow that suggested dangerous thoughts.

"Tisk tisk" Urahara hissed though his teeth.

Keigo was laid on the wooden floor as Urahara stood above him making no attempt at kneeling down for a close exam. "Get that uh… medicine." He called out to the girl in black hair. She left and came back only a couple seconds later with a tray of cups and assorted liquids.

The girl poured the liquid into a cup and brought it up to Ichigo. "Drink this please."

Ichigo examined the thick, black drink. It didn't look one bit appetizing. "Thanks…." He mumbled.

"It's medicine that will concentrate your reiatsu, making it portable. If we inject some into your friend, he should get better after a while." Urahara pulled out a needle as he spoke and held it gently in his hands and he stepped towards Ichigo. "Drink up!"

Ichigo chugged it down and tried to ignore it's bitter taste. There was a momentary glow to his skin and then, suddenly, Urahara jabbed the needle into Ichigo's skin. Ichigo didn't feel a thing, strange enough. And as Urahara pulled at the needle, a glowing mist filled seeked into the device.

"There we go." He pulled it out and then bent down to stab it into Keigo's skin. The procedure seemed overly simple compared to the work done at the hospital.

"That's all?"

Urahara nodded.

"What's reiatsu."

"It's like your soul, your energy. Keigo's body was fine but he was attacked mentaly. He only needed so Reiatsu to fill in the cracks. Yours is very high quality amazingly." Ichigo wanted to say something but the words where caught in his throat. These people knew so much about him. It wasnt very comforting to have soemone know things about you that you've never even heard or thought of.

"Are you sure that's was enough?" Kaien stepped in to check Keigo's pulse. It was steadily rising.

"Ichigo's Reiatsu grows rather fast. I'm sure you will find that it was more than enough. Now let's get to business!" Urahara waved towards the girl and sat down. "Thank you, Ururu." He said as she replaced the medicine tray with tea. Everyone gathered around, including Ururu.

"Soul Society." Kaien began, " Is the resting place for all souls once their living body had died. In soul society there is a sort of government that controls the 'passing on' of the souls and any other activity that might have a threat to the spiritual world. The mask you saw on your friend earlier resembles that of a Hollow. A sort of demon, created from a dead soul, that eats dead souls." Ichigo couldn't help but feel he was only getting a brief overview of the information as the lecture continued on. Kaien explained the hollow's appearance and then something about recent unsettling events blah blah blah…….

"What?" Ichigo suddenly perked up at one word.

"Marriage, you are to be sent to soul society as for an arranged marriage."

There was silence for a moment. "Because I have a high Reiatsu?" Now he wished he had listened.

"It's as a safety precaution. We believe there is something after you and we would rather have you under our close supervision and control."

"But I have to get married! Can't you just send someone to watch me or...!" Ichigo shouted and began to make all his movements increasingly violent. Who is this stranger to tell me what to do!? He was opposed of the idea of anyone keeping a close watch on him but a body guard was better than what they where suggesting.

"We have a strict government system. We would rather not let our existence leak out through one human when he has no ties to our law."

"So your worried I might tell someone?"

"Yes." Ichigo slumped a little and glared.

"It can be…. only temporary." Kaien said a little unsure.

"Temporary? Only temporary?" Ichigo recited the words with suspicion.

"There will surely be more hollows like before. You are unusually hard to get control of. It will attack the one's around you instead... Like your family perhaps?"

And more silence. Ichigo took a deep breath and for a moment forgot about the marriage. My family... "They will notice if I'm gone."

"We've gotten that taken care of."

"Only temporary right?"

Kaien cleared his throat "Yes. I'll come to pick you up in 2 days."

"Fine." Ichigo grumbled. He stood up and left and left the room without bothering to look back.

"So," Urahara smiled as soon he was sure Ichigo was gone. "Only temporary huh?"

"shutup... they told me to tell him whatever necessary to persuade him."

"It's going to be hell at the wedding." He let out a small laugh and drank his tea. "I'll be sure to send them a card."

Didn't think this chapter would be so long! Well here is it. Sorry it's so late. I got... caught up. Theres probably a lot of mistakes and not the best quality. I got a little lazy in the editing so help me out if you see anything I need to fixup. R&R please .

Next chapter Rukia and Ichigo finally meet!