Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Ch.7 Yippy!! Find out what happens!!!
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Curiosity Killed the Cat
Ch.7
Ichigo stared at the grave in front of him. "Shiba Kaien?" He thought. The name sounded familiar. He thought of Ganju and his older sister. "Their last name is Shiba." He then remembered them talking about their brother's death.
"This must be their brother." Ichigo thought. But what did it have to do with Rukia? The few people around him just stared blankly at the grave. Some of the placed a flower on his grave.
"I know this is a hard time for you Rukia." Ukitake whispered next to Ichigo. How did Rukia know this guy? He then remembered Ganju saying something about his brother being in the 13th division which was also Rukia's division.
"Perhaps they were good friends." Ichigo thought. But how come Ukitake was only being this way to him? To Rukia? He said no other words of remorse to any one else.
Ichigo felt something strange inside of him as another idea popped into his mind. "Did she love him?" Ichigo thought. He knew he shouldn't worry about if she loved this man or not for he was dead. Wait, what was he worrying about.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance. Why did he have to be in Rukia's body? Ukitake once again pulled Ichigo over.
"Rukia, it's been a while since you've talked to me about this. I just want you to know that I hope you still don't blame yourself for Kaien's death. It wasn't your fault. A hollow took over his body and you had no other choice but to kill him."
Ichigo's eyes widened. She killed this man because he was a hollow? What if he turned into a hollow and started attacking people. Would she kill him too? "What's wrong Rukia?" Ukitake asked seeing the fear in Ichigo's face.
"Oh nothing, sorry." Ichigo whispered. Rukia had never mentioned anything about this man Kaien to him. He wasn't going to be angry with her or anything for it wasn't any of his business.
He could see that it was probably something she wanted to move on from and didn't like to think about very much. She obviously cared about this man very much.
"Well, if you want, you can leave now." Ukitake said softly. Ichigo nodded, glad to get out of there. He didn't want to be in Soul Society for too long.
Ukitake walked him out of the forest. "Rukia, I know that even though it happened a long time ago that it still hurts you. I know you cared for Kaien deeply. But you have others to care about now. That boy Ichigo needs you more than you or him realize."
Ichigo just nodded deciding it was best to keep his mouth shut. After Ukitake opened the gate to leave Soul Society, Ichigo stepped inside and waved goodbye to the captain of the 13th division.
As he headed back to his home he pondered over what Ukitake had said. "I need Rukia more than I realize? Is it true?" For once instead of denying what he thought would never be possible, he thought and hard.
"I wouldn't be where I am without Rukia. She's the only person in the world that really understands me it seems. I really look up to her but what does she see in me? What confidence do I give her?" Ichigo whispered.
He recalled the day they met Koro. Ichigo had been arguing with her about something. He couldn't remember what he had said to her, but he remembered how he felt.
Ichigo had felt the urge to kiss her. Something very strange and unnatural to him. Did Ichigo have feelings for her that he was unaware of? He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see how I could be with Rukia, but if it's meant to be, than it's meant to be."
He climbed into his room to see Rukia reading a romance novel. "Hey Rukia." Ichigo muttered. She didn't say anything to him.
"You ok?" He asked. She still didn't say anything and there was a long silence.
"I know about that guy Kaien." Ichigo said. Rukia lifted her eyes from the book and stared straight ahead. "I know what happened Rukia." She closed the book and her eyes.
"You were bound to find out anyways. I just didn't know how to tell you." She whispered. Ichigo only looked at her. He could see she was upset.
"I'm sorry." Ichigo managed to spit out. She chuckled. "It happened a long time ago and I'm now able to move on from it."
"Ichigo!!" Yuzu cried. She opened Ichigo's door and looked surprised. "What is it?" Ichigo asked.
She was staring at Rukia. "Um, Ichigo? What are you reading?" Yuzu asked shakily.
She looked down into her hands to see the book titled I'll Always Love You she had been reading and immediately started laughing.
"Oh! Haha! I was cleaning and found Rukia's book in here!" Rukia cried, throwing it to Ichigo. "Here you go Rukia" She said glaring at him.
Ichigo's face was full of disgust but Rukia elbowed him. "Ow! Yah, I love this book. It's really good" Ichigo cringed out.
Yuzu's face lighted up. "Oh Rukia, I'm so glad you are here, I really wanted to talk to you about something!" She said walking closer to Ichigo.
He flashed Rukia a look who in return shrugged her shoulders. "Um, what is it?" Ichigo asked. "Well, it's about a boy." Yuzu whispered.
Ichigo's face wrinkled up. "Oh really, a boy huh?" He asked nervously to his younger sister. Yuzu nodded her head as her cheeks flushed.
"Do you think we could go talk about it in another room?" Yuzu asked politely. What the heck could Ichigo say to her? First off, she was his little sister, second, he didn't know much about relationships and crushes. He never really had one through out high school.
Well he sort of had one, but he tried to deny it with every fiber in his being. He closed his eyes. "Ok Yuzu, let's go talk." Ichigo said smiling just a bit. As they walked out of Ichigo's room, he flashed Rukia a deadly look. She only responded by waving and smiling at him.
Really, Ichigo didn't have time to worry about who his little sister was liking now-a-days. He still had a few questions to ask Rukia about that Kaien guy.
They walked into Yuzu's room and sat down on the beds. Yuzu sat on her bed and faced the doorway while Ichigo sat on Karin's and faced the window. "Ok, so what's the problem?" Ichigo asked, trying to sound interested. He really had no idea of what he was doing.
"Ok, well, I've been liking this boy for a few months now," Yuzu began. Ichigo nodded and let her continue. "And well, he seems pretty oblivious to who I am. I mean, I've been in his class all year and the only thing he's ever said to me was "Can I borrow a pencil?"". He nodded again.
He averted his eyes towards the window when he heard a strange noise. His eyes widened when he saw Rukia sitting on the edge of the window in her shinigami form with a paper and pencil in her hand. The window was open a little bit at the bottom so she could hear what Yuzu was saying.
"What is it Rukia?" Yuzu asked as she started to turn her head towards the window. "Oh, nothing! Just thought I heard something but it's nothing!" Ichigo said, grabbing Yuzu's shoulders to turn them back to him.
Yuzu shrugged her shoulders and spoke again. "So how I can get his attention?" Ichigo just smiled. "Hm, well, let me think." He said, putting a finger to his chin. He landed on Rukia to see that she had written something on the paper and pressed it to the window.
"I'll write what you say got it?" The piece of paper said. Ichigo nodded and looked back at Yuzu. She awaited his answer.
Rukia scribbled something down on the paper and pressed it back to the window. Ichigo began to read what the paper said. "Ok Yuzu, this one is pretty simple." Ichigo read in a sort of monotone voice. "You need to get the guy's attention. Maybe wear your hair in a different style or maybe different jewelry. Guys aren't great at noticing that, but if he sees something different about you than he might notice you and spark an interest."
Ichigo waited as Rukia scribbled down more. "Once you try that, try chalking to him." Yuzu looked confused and Ichigo looked at Rukia. She waved her hands up, scribbling on the paper. "Oh sorry, I mean try talking to him." Ichigo said, glaring at Rukia for half a second.
"Is there something out there Rukia?" Yuzu said, turning her head towards the window again. "No Yuzu! There's nothing!" Ichigo tried to say calmly.
"Ok so anyways, I should just try talking to him? Well what if that doesn't work?" Yuzu asked. "Hm, let me think." Ichigo said, placing his finger onto his chin once again.
He glanced at Rukia who paused for a second, than continued to write. "Well," Ichigo began in the monotone voice again as he tried to make out Rukia's crappy hand writing.
"Talking is the key here. Try smiling at him and being flirty. If he can't see how meat you are, than he obviously isn't a good enough fry." Ichigo said smiling. "Meat? Fry?" Yuzu asked confused.
Rukia once again scribbled out letters and fixed the words. "Oh sorry, what I meant to say was, if he can't see how sweet you are, than he obviously isn't a good enough guy."
Yuzu nodded. "Oh, ok, got it! Thanks Rukia. I'll give it a try and talk to him and stuff. I don't know if I can stop liking him though." Yuzu said sadly.
Rukia pressed the paper to the window again. "Don't worry Yuzu; there are plenty of other squid in the knee. I'm sure there's a toy out there that would bike you. You are very fart and food hooking." Ichigo said, smiling. Yuzu stared at him blankly.
"Are you feeling alright Rukia?" Yuzu asked. "I don't understand what you are saying." Rukia waved her arms in the air from outside the window.
Ichigo realized everything he had said. "Oh sorry again!" Rukia really needed to work on her writing skills. "What I meant was that there are plenty of other fish in the sea. I'm sure there's a boy out there that would like you. You are very smart and good looking." Yuzu stared at him again for a moment and smiled.
"Ok thanks for the advice Rukia, I'll remember that." Yuzu said giving her a small hug. "Maybe you should go lie down or something." She said as Ichigo left the room. Ichigo smiled nervously.
"Sorry about that, today has been a long day." Ichigo said as he left her room. Once he entered his own room, Rukia was sitting on his bed now back in her body.
"Rukia, don't you know how to spell words?" Ichigo asked irritated. "Well your welcome!" She shouted back. "Look, the way humans right here and in Soul Society are a little different, which is why I get such bad grades at your school."
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I could have said all that to my sister by myself." He muttered. "You didn't have to say what I wrote down Ichigo, you could have just ignored me." Ichigo didn't say anything.
She scooted closer to him. "So obviously you did need me. It's ok to admit it. I didn't want you to hurt your sister's feelings because of you saying something accidentally rude to her. I don't want her hating me when I get back to my body."
"If we ever get back." Ichigo mumbled. He had wanted to talk to her about something, but he couldn't remember now.
"Wait! Who says I would say something accidentally rude to her?" Ichigo demanded. Rukia gave him an unbelievable look. "Ichigo, you have the tendency to say the wrong thing at just the right time. Now, I know better than that and can ignore your rash comments, but your sister who is thinking that she is talking to me wouldn't understand and possibly get upset. Got it?"
Ichigo didn't want to, but he nodded. Rukia was right. Maybe not about him saying rash comments, but about his sister. Yuzu could be pretty sensitive, so if he had said something wrong to her, it could have been bad.
He somehow remembered what he had wanted to say to Rukia. "Um, Rukia?" He asked, not really knowing how to word it.
"What is it?" She asked. "Well, I was wondering if you would tell me about Kaien." She dropped the pencil that was in her hand.
"You don't have to of course; I just thought that maybe since I knew about it, you could tell me more. But if it's too hard, then don't worry about it."
There was more silence, and Rukia closed her eyes. "No Ichigo, you deserve to know. You told me about your mother, and so I will tell you about Kaien."
She smiled. "When I first arrived at the 13th division, Shiba Kaien was the vice captain. He was a very obnoxious guy and sort of frightened me at first, but the more I got to know him, the more I looked up to him."
She paused, smiling at Ichigo, and continued. "Well, admiration grew to a much stronger feeling. I don't know if it was love, but it was something like that. Kaien was married to a beautiful woman named Miyako and I really looked up to her too." She paused again, choking on her next words.
"Well, one night Miyako strangely started killing people in the division and then she vanished into the forest. So Kaien, Captain Ukitake, and I all ran after her. When we reached Miyako, it was too late. All that was left of her were her clothes. Before us stood a hollow." She paused again and wiped a stray tear away.
"It turned out that the hollow could take control of a human body, which is what happened to Miyako. The hollow then ate Miyako. Kaien was furious and attacked the hollow, only to find that the hollow instead entered into Kaien's body, controlling his movements. After Captain Ukitake tried and failed to save Kaien due to his health, I was the one that had to save him. I ran threw the forest and finally turned around with my sword in front of me. Kaien flew into my sword, killing the hollow and him."
Ichigo couldn't believe it. She had killed Kaien. Well not really killed him, Kaien sort of pushed himself into the sword, but still, it must have been hard for Rukia.
He always blamed himself for his mother's death, but he soon found that it was due to a hollow. But Rukia, Rukia had seen with her own eyes what happened. She had to witness as Kaien's life slipped away.
"Do you know what's funny Ichigo?" She asked, chuckling and wiping a few tears away. "What?" Ichigo managed to ask in a whisper.
"You and Kaien look almost identical to one another. The only difference is his hair color was black."
Ichigo was sort of freaked out by that, but he didn't say anything.
"That must have been hard." He blurted out. She smiled lightly.
"It was hard. I blamed myself for his death for a long time, but I understand now. It still hurts to think about, but I am able to move on from it now."
Ichigo placed a hand over hers. "Thanks for telling me Rukia." He said softly. His sensitivity towards Rukia being rather odd.
There was suddenly a knock at Ichigo's window.
"Urahara-san, come in." Ichigo said. He opened the window and Urahara calmly stepped inside.
"We have a very big problem." Urahara said. Ichigo and Rukia glanced at each other.
"What is it?" Rukia asked. "It seems that when Ichigo was with Captain Ukitake, Byakuya thought that something was amiss with you two and is currently investigating it with Soul Society."
"What is he investigating?" Rukia asked. Urahara smirked.
"It looks like your going to have to use the temporary soul switcher now instead of when you fight with Koro. Captain Yamamoto and Captain Soi Fon are on their way right now to speak to you. They're investigating on if you two switched bodies or not."
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Yoruichi's eyes slowly opened and all she could see was darkness around her. "So, you're finally awake are you?" A female voice asked.
"Who's there?" She asked, surprised by the sound of her voice. A body stepped into the light and Yoruichi was shocked.
"Hello Yoruichi, it seems that when you attacked me our bodies switched instead of Ichigo's and Rukia's."
She looked down to see small hands. "You monster." Yoruichi shouted out. Koro only laughed.
"No, you see you are the monster, or at least that's what everyone is going to think when I turn you in as the bad guy." Yoruichi's eyes widened but she stood up, getting into position.
"You'll have to fight me first." She said daringly. Koro laughed even louder. "You could but there's a problem with that. You see, when we switched, I took both your powers and my powers, making me invincible. You don't stand a chance against me."
Yoruichi grew angry and lunged at Koro. He put a finger up to her and pushed her back. She flew across the room and hit the wall. She winced in pain.
"Like I said, you are going to do exactly as I say."
Authors note: That little nasty Koro! He thinks he can do whatever he wants! But now he has Yoruichi's body and all her powers, so what can Yoruichi do? Oh yah! And Ichigo and Rukia now have to use their temporary soul switcher so that Soul Society won't suspect them!! I know this is getting more serious than funny, but the plot has to come through at some point right? (And I hope you guys liked the scene with Ichigo, Yuzu, and Rukia!) What can Ichigo and Rukia do to stop Koro and how will they deal with Soul Society? Find out next chapter!!
And please, REVIEW! Tell me your thoughts and what you think is going to happen. I have a pretty good idea of where this story is going but it really helps when you guys give me ideas! Don't be afraid! Tell me what you're thinking!!