Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Ch.6 Woot! Find out what happens!!!
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Curiosity Killed the Cat
Ch.6
Rukia slowly opened her eyes, feeling a sharp pain on her stomach and back. "What happened?" She thought.
She sat up and tried to think hard. "We went with Yoruichi to find the boy, Koro Shimatarou." Yoruichi walked in the room, looking worried.
"Rukia, are you alright?" Yoruichi asked. Once Rukia heard her name being used, she glanced down at her body, hoping that she was back inside hers. She sighed, feeling a flat, hard, chest (though hers was flat to begin with).
"I forgot that you know about our bodies switching." Yoruichi smiled. "I thought maybe it would switch back since you attacked the boy."
"No, I'm afraid not." Rukia looked around. "Where's Ichigo?" She asked. "Oh, he's talking with Urahara. He was much better off than you, seeing as he only had a blow to the stomach."
"How long have I been out?" Rukia asked. Yoruichi grinned. "Five days." Rukia went to say something, but pain shot up her back.
Rukia winced. "Here, why don't you lay down, if you want Ichigo he can come in here." Rukia nodded.
"Hey, wait, does Urahara-san know?" Yoruichi chuckled. "Honestly? He's known all along."
Rukia felt like an idiot, of course he would know. A minute later, Ichigo walked into the room. "How are you feeling Rukia?" Ichigo asked.
"I'm ok. I just need to rest for a while." Ichigo looked extremely guilty. "What's wrong Ichigo?"
He didn't speak for a long time. "Why did you jump on me like that in the first place?" Rukia had to remember what he was talking about. "You mean when the boy Koro was about to attack you?" Rukia asked. Ichigo only nodded.
"I was trying to push you out of the way, and I tried to get off of you but it was too late and Koro stabbed me." Ichigo looked angry. "He stabbed completely through you, and into me."
Rukia looked down. "Look, I just wanted to save you." Rukia whispered. "I'm so tired of being in this body, I want my own back. I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around." Ichigo nearly yelled.
She was surprised by his sudden outburst. "You can't protect everyone Ichigo, sometimes not even yourself. That's why you have friends to help you. I'm starting to get sick of this body too, no offense. I don't know when we are going to change back, and Soul Society might find out sooner or later. Urahara-san knew all along and Yoruichi knows."
"I wasn't talking about protecting everyone." Ichigo stared in her the eyes. "I was talking about just protecting you."
Rukia didn't like the tension in the room; she couldn't handle it right now. "Well, let's talk to Urahara-san. We need to figure out what to do. It's going to be harder than ever to find that boy."
Ichigo nodded, still feeling frustrated. "Ichigo, just drop it ok? I protected you because I wanted to so just leave it at that." Ichigo didn't say anything else to her after that.
He followed Rukia out of the room and into where Uarahara was. "Ah, Kuchiki-san, Kurosaki-san, good to see your up." Rukia noticed that Urahara looked at her when he said her name. It felt nice having a few people other than Ichigo using her by her real name, and not Ichigo's.
Yoruichi was now sitting next to Urahara. "You've been in each other's body for over two weeks now right?" He asked. They both nodded.
"Well, I wish you would have come to me sooner, but I understand why. You were trying to get evidence right? So you could maybe ask Soul Society to help?" Urahara asked.
"Well that, or if we were caught we could explain to them what happened. But, now that Yoruichi witnessed the attack, maybe they would believe us." Rukia said. Urahara's face dropped to seriousness.
"I'm afraid there's a problem with going to Soul Society. Yes, you're right, you do have enough evidence, but unfortunately, you should have told them the first day this happened." Ichigo's eyes averted to Rukia, and he was shocked to see her eyes wide with fear.
"I don't understand!" Rukia yelled. Urahara took his fan and started waving it in front of his face.
"Well Kuchiki-san. I know it probably seems strange, but if you had told them the first day, then they would have seen it as a small problem and changed you back, but now its too late. If you go to them now, then they will think you were trying to hide it and punish you two."
Rukia was getting angry. "They know who we are! Surely if we told them we had evidence and if Yoruichi came along they would believe us!" Urahara shook his head.
"It doesn't work that way, especially with this sort of situation. If there's one thing that they're strict about, it's switching bodies with another soul. It's happened before in the past to some of the greatest captains, but even they were turned away and punished."
Rukia dropped her head in frustration. "So, what are we supposed to do?" She asked angrily. Ichigo just watched the conversation, trying to think of something, anything.
"You have to change your bodies back with out Soul Society ever noticing, and there is only one way to doing that." Urahara said.
"And how is that?" Ichigo finally asked. He had been sitting there silently long enough. "Defeat Koro. Once you defeat him, than all of the hollows he's made will be released and you will switch back." Urahara said. Yoruichi sat silently through all of this.
"We just now tried to fight him but we ended getting our butts kicked. We were nearly turned into hollows for cryin out loud!" Ichigo shouted. "We can't fight with our open zanpaktous because they've mixed for some reason. I tried to use Rukia's sword and my power ended up taking over hers, causing a huge explosion."
"I have a few things that can help you two out for now. The first one is a reiatsu pressurizer. It allows your reiatsu to hide and be pushed down for a few days so that no one can sense your bodies being switched. The second thing is a temporary soul switcher. Since you stated that you can't really fight using your own swords, this can switch for just a few hours. When we find Koro, you can use it then, but you can only use this once."
Urahara handed the two items to Rukia and Ichigo. "Take the pressurizer now. That will last a good week. But don't take the other one until we know where Koro is."
Ichigo and Rukia nodded. "Well, at least we will get to be switched for a few hours as we fight." Ichigo said. "And hopefully we can defeat him and switch back."
Ichigo could see Rukia was upset about something. "You ok Rukia?" Ichigo asked. She looked at him for a second, than looked down.
"I thought that maybe Soul Society could help, but they would only punish us instead." Rukia said. Ichigo looked away. It was true, this whole time they thought that by getting good evidence of Koro they would change them back, but they wouldn't even do that.
"Don't worry Rukia, we'll switch back and Soul Society won't know a thing about it." Rukia grinned at him lightly and turned away.
Her face soon turned to utter horror and she sat on the ground frozen to the spot. Ichigo didn't seem to notice and started to walk away, but she quickly grabbed his arm and pulled her next to him.
After seeing why she was so frightened, Ichigo was scared too. Urahara walked into the room. "Ah, Kuchiki-san, how are you?" He asked Byakuya.
"I came to see Rukia." Byakuya said. He looked at her and Ichigo coldly. Rukia already knew why he was there. Byakuya knew about their bodies switching, it was obvious.
Ichigo, realizing why Rukia was so upset to see him, stood in front of her. "What do you want?" Ichigo asked coldly. Byakuya stared at him.
"Rukia, why are you speaking to me so rudely?" Ichigo was confused at first, but then he pictured how insane this looked. Rukia standing in front of Ichigo protectively, talking rudely to her brother.
"Oh, sorry Bya-Ni-sama!" Ichigo said, trying to act super politely to Byakuya. Rukia sighed with relief. Byakuya didn't know they were switched. Good thing they took that pressurizer Urahara gave them.
"Did you need me for something?" Ichigo asked. He really hated acting all kind to Byakuya of all people, but he had to.
"Your captain wanted to speak with you." Byakuya said coldly. Oh crap. Ukitake? Ichigo knew nothing about the man except that Rukia was pretty fond of him.
"Do you think Ichigo could come?" Ichigo asked. He didn't know what he would do if Rukia wouldn't be able to come.
"No, just you. Now, let's go." Byakuya commanded. Ichigo whirled around to look at Rukia. She looked fearful for their lives.
They didn't have time to speak as the gates to Soul Society opened. Ichigo glared at Rukia for as long as possible and stepped into the gate.
The pressurizer lasts about a week so Ichigo would have to get back before the time ran out. He looked at Rukia one last time and saw her face scrunched up in panic.
The gates closed and Ichigo stood silently next to Byakuya. Poor Rukia, she had to deal with this silence all the time.
It was just him and Byakuya, passing from earth to Soul Society. Ichigo felt like he was on an elevator and Byakuya being the only other one in him.
Of course there would be cheesy elevator music to set the mood.
He was really tempted to shout out the word awkward but held it in. He felt relieved when they walked into Seireitei. Captain Ukitake was standing there with a sullen look on his face.
Byakuya nodded at Ukitake and vanished. It was just Ichigo and Ukitake now. Ichigo had seen Ukitake as a very friendly and caring person, but he was quiet right now.
Ukitake finally spoke. "You don't need to stay long but I know this is important to you." He said softly. Ichigo had no idea what he was talking about but just played along.
Ichigo only nodded. Ukitake put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go." He said. Ukitake started to dash away and Ichigo followed quickly behind. He had no idea where they were going.
After a few minutes of traveling, they stopped just outside a forest. "There are others coming too so let's hurry." Ukitake said. Ichigo followed behind into the forest.
Where were they going? What was so important to Rukia? Ichigo really had no idea. Once they broke free of a few trees there was a trail.
Ichigo still kept silent. "You've gotten a lot stronger Rukia." Ukitake said. Ichigo walked a little behind the man.
"I remember that first year after he died, you were a ghost." He stopped. Ichigo didn't understand.
"But look at you now." He said turning around and smiling. "You keep your head up high and walk with confidence, something I wasn't sure was possible." Ichigo only stared at the man. He didn't know if smiling would be right.
Ukitake turned around and started walking again. "I'm sure that Ichigo boy is helping too." Now Ichigo was really getting curious.
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked. Ukitake chuckled. "You probably don't know it, but you two are much closer to one another than you think."
"How so?" Ichigo asked as they continued to walk. His curiosity was growing by the second. "I just remember Ichigo saving you three years ago and you decided to stay in Soul Society instead of going to the human world. You're attitude was completely different. You were so much happier and confident."
Ichigo dropped his head. "Was I?" He mumbled. Ukitake chuckled again with a little more force.
"Don't let that boy go Rukia. You might just end up marrying the kid."
That was it. Ichigo couldn't handle the conversation any longer. "Marriage?!" Ichigo screamed in his head.
Rukia was his friend, his best friend, and nothing more. Ukitake glanced back at Ichigo and laughed.
"Oh Rukia, why are you so shy? Just admit it, you like him." Ichigo turned his head away. Rukia was a lot closer to her captain than he thought.
"Ichigo is just a friend." He squirmed out. "For now at least." Ukitake said continuing to laugh.
Ichigo only kept his head down for the rest of the walk. For now? No, Rukia was a friend and always!
He shook his head shuttering. "How could I be with Rukia? Stubborn and retarded Rukia!" He scratched his head angrily.
He went to say something to Ukitake, but his face was completely serious. In front of them were several people Ichigo recognized from Rukia's squad and their faces were all silent.
Passed them was a grave. The stone read. "R.I.P SHIBA KAIEN."
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Rukia was freaking out. "Why did her brother have to come now?" Rukia thought. What could possibly be so urgent?
Then it hit her and hard. "Today is Kaien's death anniversary." She whispered to herself. So why hadn't Ukitake come instead of her brother?
She shrugged her shoulders. "Now Ichigo will know how I killed that man."
Why did everything have to happen then? From the corner of her eye she could see Urahara and Yoruichi talking.
"Kuchiki-san looks depressed." Urahara said. Yoruichi nodded. "Probably because Ichigo left for Soul Society and she's afraid he'll get caught."
Urahara nodded his head. "That reiatsu pressurizer should last a good while so he should be fine."
Yoruichi shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I'm going to investigate. I'll be back later." She said and left.
When she walked past Rukia, she smiled at her. Rukia looked at her and smiled back slowly as she passed.
"Was it just me or did Yoruichi seem different?" She thought. Rukia shrugged her shoulders.
Yoruichi walked outside the house and down the street. Her eyes changed from bright to dark.
She snapped her fingers and hollows appeared all around her. "Follow me." She demanded.
Yoruichi couldn't help but let a laugh escape her throat. "It seems everything worked out to my benefit when Yoruichi attacked me. I'm now in her body and those fools didn't even notice."
The body was indeed Yoruichi's, but the soul in the body was that of Koro Shimatarou.
Authors note: Oh dang! So! Ichigo and Rukia didn't switch back, but Yoruichi and Koro did!! So what will Koro do now that he is in Yoruichi's body? What is Yoruichi going to do? And now Ichigo has to learn about Shiba Kaien, the man Rukia used to love!!
I know this chapter wasn't really funny like AT ALL, but the next one will have lots of humor!!