Disclaimer: Kurosaki Ichigo and Kuchiki Rukia are original characters of Kubo Tite. :

A/N1:

This is an AU, with Ichigo and Rukia as vampires. I intended for this fic to be an entry to the Halloween contest in the IchiRuki FC in Bleach Asylum but I wasn't able to beat the deadline. I wanted to make a one-shot but as I began writing it, I realized I couldn't squeeze all the things I want to write in a one-shot. So, in the end, I decided to make this a multi-chapter fic, though this is actually my first time making a multi-chaptered fanfiction. :/

This fic isn't finished yet, and I didn't want to post it unfinished, but I also wanted to post it at least on Halloween. So yeah, here I am posting it on Halloween. This is still unfinished, and I am hoping you can bear with me. :D

A/N2:
While I was writing the chapter, I realized it will give a 'Vampire Knight' feel. I didn't mean it to appear as if it's a VK fic, but I couldn't help it. I couldn't express what I want to write in any other way. But only for this chapter. Chapter 2 will no longer be similar to Vampire Knight. I promise. :p

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Chapter 1

He could hear something from afar, it was an indiscernible sound and he couldn't comprehend what it was. It was a sound coming from far, far away. He tried to figure out what it was, or where it was coming from, but his central processing unit wasn't functioning too well. He tried to discern that lone something that he knew existed in the nothingness that he thought he was in. He couldn't feel a thing. He tried to feel his hands, his feet, his whole body, but to no avail. He tried to move, and tried his hardest to discern that single sound that existed. He would cling to it desperately if it was the only thing that could validate his existence, if ever there was. He wasn't sure of anything, anything at all. He didn't know where he was, or what his position was, or if he was still existing. He wanted to open his eyes, he wanted to sharpen his hearing, and he wanted to feel a thing, he wanted to do something, anything just so he could escape from the helplessness that was surfacing from deep within him. It didn't take long when his wish was granted. The first thing that he felt was he was cold, and it took time for him to realize that he was actually chilling. And the next second, he felt the pain burning the whole of his body. He almost wished he could come back to numbness. He was struggling to open his eyes when he felt something move, and it took some time to register that it was just actually inches away from him.

"How long are you gonna stay lazing around like that, stranger?" a strong voice of a woman said.

The voice caught him off-guard. It seemed like a long time ago when he knew of another person's existence. It was enough to bring his senses back to him, and he was finally able to open his eyes. Slowly, he opened his eyes and he was greeted by a pair of lilac eyes. He caught his breath when he realized who owned that pair of beautiful eyes. It was the pair of iridescent eyes that he wished would look into his.

"Ku-Kuchiki Ru-kia?" he voiced groggily. He was so surprised to see her. She was the last person he expected to find him in his current state. He saw the surprise in her eyes as he recognized her, and it took him a while to realize that the person he just addressed doesn't know his existence, that it was the first time she ever saw him. In a vain effort to redeem himself and save his face, he said,

"Kuchiki-dono, what are you doing here? Or rather, what am I doing here? I mean, where am I? What happened to me?" He sequentially asked her, dismissing the pain in his body that was increasing by the minute.

"Who are you, stranger? And why do you know my name?" the woman looking down on him asked him coldly.

He was about to answer her when he was stopped by the sharp pain that burned his throat which stemmed from his heart. It was a physical unendurable pain. Seconds later, he was already clutching his chest, unable to contain the pain. The next second, he felt the overwhelming thirst for blood, and he doesn't think he could appease it in his current situation. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to breathe normally, hoping that the amount of pain he felt wouldn't manifest on his face; and then the woman sitting beside him asked in a worried tone,

"What's happening to you, stranger? Are you alright?"

He wanted to answer her, tell her that he was okay, but he was afraid to open his eyes. He knew that the hunger he was feeling would manifest in his eyes, despite of himself.

Minutes ticked by, his pain and thirst growing by the minute. At this very moment, he cursed the nature of his being, he cursed his innate desire to seek blood, and he cursed his current situation. Of all times, and of all beings, why does the monster in him have to go out of control at this time, and in the presence of this woman? Why her? He has always wished for his existence to be known by this woman, and it never occurred to him that it would be granted, at his worst time.

"I know just what you need stranger. I can help you," Rukia said in a very calm voice that it unnerved him.

Instead of answering, he just concentrated on trying to dismiss the intensifying thirst that he was hopelessly curtailing. He was both feeling hot and cold. He was shivering yet he was also sweating abnormally. He writhed as he laid on wherever he was laying, trying to chase away the inhumane hunger that was winning over him.

"Stop struggling. It will only be aggravated if you keep fighting it. It's in our nature to seek blood, and you know that. And look at you! You're wounded all over your body. You've lost too much blood, and it's impossible for you to recover by yourself," she said.

"N-no… I cannot afford to do what you're suggesting I do. I just can't. N-not you…"

"If I'm getting it right, you know who I am, and that's all the more reason for you to accept my help. And besides, if you haven't realized it yet, we're so close to the enemy's territory. If you don't hurry, they'll know that we're here, and I can't promise if I'd still be able to help you by then."

"Y-you don't understand. Y-you're a pureblood, and I don't think it's right to just drink blood from the likes of you," Ichigo replied strenuously. It was causing him too much just talking like this.

"Don't be stupid. You know you need what I'm offering you. And I am not offering you this for nothing."

That stopped him. He looked at her questioningly, unable to wait for the condition of this offered help.

"You have to help me get what I am trying to get from the humans," she related steadily, her voice full of confidence.

He frowned, and he searched her eyes as she brushed away the hair that was covering one side of her neck.

"Here. If you don't do it now, you'll die."

At the sight of her exposed neck, as he saw the throbbing of the rushing blood in her veins, a monstrous greed took over him, and he wasn't able to think when he violently sat up and gathered her in his arms. He sank his fangs on the open and inviting vein that ran through the length of her pale white neck.

He could feel the rush of blood as he fed from her enchantingly delicious blood. Her blood and the essence of her being the rarest of their kind, makes him want to forget who she was or who he was. He just wants to bask in the delight that this seemingly unforgivable act brings. She moaned softly, causing him to want to drink from her even more. But his mind was already beginning to clear, and it was a cue for him to stop what he was doing.

He reluctantly withdrew from her neck, licking the traces of blood that trickled on the expanse of her neck. He didn't want to waste even a drop of it. He began to sit up straight. As he sat in front of her, he was unable to look straight into her eyes. Now that his head is cleared, he was ashamed of himself for committing what he has just committed, and he felt sinful for doing it. And he felt even more sinful because he still wanted more. He wanted and desired to drink all of her blood even to the last drop, and he cursed himself for that. He didn't have the right, in fact, he didn't have the right to even desire it. This is Kuchiki Rukia for crying out loud!

"How are you feeling now, stranger?" She said feebly, also breathing heavily.

He felt like the worst as he saw the effects of what he did. Never mind that all the pain that he previously felt seemed to vanish in an instant after drinking from her.

"I'm okay, thanks to you." He gathered all his might to talk normally in front of this woman. He didn't want to sound like a loser, even if he really was. "And by the way, my name is Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Alright Ichigo. Since you're feeling okay now, I think it's time for you to realize that we are in a very dangerous place, and I can feel the enemy fast approaching. We have to get away from here."

"Wait. What do you need my help for?" Ichigo asked.

"That could wait. Let's get out of here first. Quickly."

He looked around him. They were in a forest, and from what he's getting, they were on the border of the hunters' headquarters, which means that he had to comply with what the woman with him is suggesting. His sense of guilt could wait. For now.