"What happened? You were supposed to be dead." asked Renji.

"Well…he was supposed to kill me but then when he was about to, we launched into a fight," Rukia said slowly, trying to remember everything from last night. Her voice quivered a few times. But once her voice started shaking, she would stop, take in a deep breath, then continue. "A fight? He didn't kill you because you two got into a fight? That's supposed to make him want to kill you more!" said Renji. "Well…" Rukia fell silent. That was true…

"Wait." Renji got up from the couch and disappeared somewhere through a door. Rukia took this time to actually look around. Everything was well organized and modern. Her gaze stopped at a small picture near the small table against the wall. She walked to the table.

Other than the picture, the table contained some house keys and a car key. It had his cell phone, and then the picture of a woman. She was extremely pretty with shocking orange hair, just like Ichigo. Was this his mom? She picked up the picture of the table and took a closer look at it. In the background, there was park and…there was a little kid with orange hair. He was sliding down the slide, grinning, laughing, and all. There was no way…how could a carefree boy such as him turn out to be a murderer?

"Want some to drink?" The picture almost slipped out of her hand and she put it back to where it was on the table. Rukia turned around and saw Renji holding out a beer bottle. "Uhh…no it's okay," she said quietly. There was a moment of silence.

"Yeah, Ichigo's mom is pretty," Renji said as he sat down again. Rukia sat down, "Can you really take that without Ichigo's permission?" He snorted, "He won't care, trust me. So anyways, what about the kiss?" Rukia felt puzzled, "what kiss?"

"You said he kissed you last night so he could knock you out…"

"Oh, that was nothing…"

Renji smiled, "You liked it, didn't you?" Rukia blushed. Renji raised his eyebrow and smile faded, "Ichigo…has a way with women." "What?" asked Rukia. A way with women? What's that supposed to mean? "It means Ichigo likes playing around with women. In the beginning, he didn't like it but I guess he got used to it…" the red pineapple hair man mumbled. "I don't quite get what you mean…" said the shorty. "Well, in the beginning, after his whole family was killed, he was adopted by Yakuza. Like many new recruited members, he was ignored by Yakuza, and was given a poor home." Renji paused and gulped down some beer out of the bottle, "the girls noticed that he didn't have much money and decided to well…use him."

"Use him?" sputtered Rukia as she cast a quick glance at Ichigo. His eyes were half closed. He moved his head slightly so he could get a better angle of Rukia. Rukia felt her body shiver at the acknowledgement of Ichigo's full attention.

Renji paused as if nervous to continue on, "they would give him money and he would, uh, sleep around with the girls. Some guys even offered him money, but Ichigo wouldn't even hear them out. Soon, he turned into a lady-killer and managed to get every single lady swooning over him however he wanted."

Rukia kept on staring at Ichigo. "Yeah, uh, swooning, um, just like the way you are…" Renji said as he took another swig from the bottle. Rukia suddenly tore hers eyes away from Ichigo's, "sorry, continuing on…" she mumbled.

"Ichigo was very powerful even at the time when he just started sword-practice against devil dummies…" "Devils?!" interrupted Rukia bluntly.

Renji sighed, "Guess I'll explain Ackey then…" "Wait, Ackey's that gang that goes around stealing and killing people, right? My mom and dad searched forever for even at least one member of Ackey…" Rukia stopped shortly when she mentioned her parents, then continued on, trying hard to not cry. "Why do people always think Ackey are the bad guys? No, your parents got the wrong idea. We are not the gang going around and stealing things, that's another one. Ackey is a gang found by Yakuza to kill devils and dangerous people. Our group has this thing where we demolish anything devils and people who communicate with them."

"Why do you guys have to kill the people who communicate with them?" asked Rukia, thinking of her parents, "and why did you guys have to kill Kaien?" She quickly wiped away the one tear drop that was finally set free.

Renji sighed, "Another long explanation…people cannot actually manage to summon a devil unless if the specific devil senses their evil-doing and decides to help them. Another way to summon one is if you have a rare artifact that can attract devils. You're parents, by the way, have been threatening specific people whose votes count the most to vote for not only themselves, but their whole family. If they had threatened people who vote just for themselves, we would've just killed them only. But then they dragged their family in, and to top that, they were evil enough to attract a devil to help them."

Rukia would be mad, sad, and hurt at Ackey and her family. But she was immune to those feelings cooped up inside of her. In her way of thinking, even if she's unconscious to the fact, curiosity owns all. "Tell me more," said Rukia.

"Maybe Ichigo should tell you the rest, I guess I'm not the one who's supposed to tell about his life," said Renji slowly. "No, no, no, tell me!" Rukia urged Renji.

There was a moment of pause as Renji studied Rukia's determined look on her face.

"Yakuza adopted Ichigo when he was four years old. After twelve years of hard sword, fighting training, Ichigo became invincible among Ackey. Yakuza still didn't notice him that time. The best assassinator of that was time was a man called Cloud. And then you know, at sixteen years old to seventeen was when he slept around. When he was around seventeen and a half, Yakuza finally noticed him and how intelligent and powerful he was. Ichigo was invited to Yakuza'a tight circle. And within half a year, Ichigo slowly rose to the top." Red Pineapple hair Renji finally stopped and took in a deep breathe and let it out.

"What about his family? And why's Ichigo making just a big deal out of some small rib pain?" Rukia stopped. Small? Maybe it's not that small, actually. She looked at Renji. Okay, now he seems really uncomfortable. "I can't answer that," Renji said. "Any other questions?" Rukia shook her head. "Guess I should be going then," said Renji as he carried out his empty beer bottle. "Aren't you going to kill me?" Rukia asked. She regretted it the moment the last word slipped out of her mouth. Renji paused. "No, I'm not going to kill you. Ichigo needs to learn how to stop playing with women. I just feel something different about you. It's a lot different than those other girls he met with all the time."

Rukia's mouth opened and closed. "O-okay…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Rib pain…OW…Rib pain…it really hurts…Can't move…

Ichigo looked at Rukia, who was gaping at the door where Renji was a few seconds ago. Wait…She's starting to come towards me. Panic, panic…

XXXXXXXXXX

Rukia knelt down right beside him on the floor. Ichigo glared at her the best he could in his state right now. It's not that bad is it? Rukia asked herself. Quickly, she rolled up the bottom of his black shirt. She heard Ichigo gasp but then ignored it. Her mouth fell at what she saw.

Ichigo was well-defined. Got abs, got muscles, not too much muscles, but perfect to still be a lanky boy. What caught her throat were the bruises on his ribs. They were purple and really big. It was like a big glob of purple on his right side of his stomach that traveled to his back. Impetuously, she touched it. Ichigo growled and hissed in pain as he jerked away. "Gimme ice pack," he growled. Rukia winced. "Where is it?" she asked.

Ichigo pointed his head toward the door Renji disappeared in before to get some beer.

XXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes later, Ichigo was sitting upright with a lot of pain and ice pack to his bruise. "Come here," he told Rukia. Rukia came to where he was. "You see that necklace under the coffee table?" She looked under the coffee table right in front of where they were. "Yes…" mumbled Rukia. It was black choker with a small silver circle hanging. "Give it to me." She gave it to Ichigo. She didn't know what was happening because Ichigo just put his thumb on the small circle.

Then his left eye twitched. It was a slow twitch. Yes, a slow twitch…"Okay," he said, "Put it on." Rukia looked dumbfound. "Why?"

He groaned, "Do you want me to lock you in this house or would you rather go out, walk freely, and go to school?" "Okay, okay!" said Rukia as she slid the necklace to her throat.

Instant. Choking. "Oww…" muttered Rukia. She tried to pry some space between the necklace and her neck. One great sharp yank, and the necklace went back to neck. It didn't choke her as much anymore. "What is it, tell me," she demanded. "It's a tracker. And don't bother trying to take it off; it's just a waste of time. The only way you could take it of is if I do it." Ichigo said with a sly smile. "Those necklaces were made for hostages, people, and demons who were needed to stay alive or questioning."

Another sly grin and a blank "I'm in pain" look.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I do not own Bleach.

Whoohooo!!! Long boring chapter! Wait, that's not good. I'm finally done with my homework! Except for Kumon…and Morgan loves pizza! I can't go on computer during school days so the next time I'll upload will probably be next Saturday or Sunday. Mainly Sunday, I think. Aurhg, I'm so scared…I have swimming after this…I HATE SWIMMING!!!!

-Cyndi