Chapter: The Desperado

Shalan's Tee Hee: How is everyone? Torn up about what happened last chapter? XDDD Mean aren't I? Read and review por favor!

Glossary:

PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for certain severe psychological consequences of exposure to, or confrontation with, stressful events that the person experiences as highly traumatic. "Triggers" are sometimes associated with this disorder and are usually situations or items that bring the person back to the place and time from the experience. They can sometimes be entirely unrelated.

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When she awoke she found herself in her employer's lap. He held her head upwards and her feet her propped up on the armrest of her couch. Ichigo was looking down at her with a worried look on his face. She blinked for a second.

"Sorry… I shouldn't have tested you like that…" PTSD… that had come to be his conclusion… and it must be chronic because he figured that if her trauma had occurred earlier she wouldn't be allowed back at work.

"Y-You did that… were you the trigger?" Her wide eyes searched his and he looked down at her. His deep amber eyes captured her, bringing her in. He smiled softly.

"I'm sorry about that…" He bowed his head. He didn't want to kill his lawyer.

"It's alright… I never really know when it's going to happen…" He ducked his head down in apology.

"So what is it that you remembered?" He asked as she sat up and moved away from him.

"How did you know how to deal with my seizure?" She looked over at him and he smiled.

"My father's a doctor… I learned a lot from him…" Ichigo smiled again and Rukia looked away, simply turning her eyes to look at him out of the corner of her eye. His defined jaw line was rough with a shadow of unshaved hair. His amber eyes were fixed on something on the other side of the room.

"So… I always wondered something… how you know all that about a crime scene." She wondered out loud.

"Because I pay attention to even the tiniest details…" He sighed softly. "And I know a lot about human body language… I could teach you if you want… it may help in your profession…" He smiled at her and she looked away. He got the feeling that she didn't want him to be around her anymore. He stood up and walked out of the room and shut his bedroom door behind himself.

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September in Washington was always fun… he loved to walk through the streets and watch the leaves fall, however this time he had dragged his keeper along with him. Four days since her first encounter with him. He laughed as he guided her along the twisting paths of Lincoln Park. She had slowly relaxed in his company and was now comfortable enough to at least walk beside him… a big step for her.

"So anyways… I was talking to this guy and he suddenly puts his arm around my shoulders and kisses me!" He laughed, bending back slightly. She chuckled softly into her leather glove. Her cream colored pea-coat hung to her knees and the black gauchos she wore went well beneath the tailored jacket. Her black gloves were nice and seemed to keep her hands warm enough.

"Are you serious?" She laughed softly. He enjoyed her laughter, it reminded him of his mother's laughter.

"Yes! I'm not kidding honestly!" He hooted and noticed the other people walking towards them, he gently placed an arm around her waist and shifted her to the side with him as they let the other two pass. She slapped his hand hard and he laughed at her, removing his arm from around her waist. He still hadn't found out what it was about men that bothered her, at least… not the full story.

"That's crazy…" She looked off into the distance. He had come to notice that she was almost always in a different world form everyone else… she was suspicious, always looking for a way out just incase there was an emergency. She was also a prude, since he had come to live with him the most skin he had ever seen of her was her face and her arms. She kept everything else covered.

"Yeah! I pushed him away and I was like 'What the hell are you doing?' and the guy answers 'Oh I just thought you were attractive' Can you believe that?" He laughed again.

He knew it was rape… it had to be… he had searched the files Toshiro had sent him and found out that she had reported the rape and abuse but the police had done nothing about it. After that she had worked as hard as she could to get to Harvard where she went to law school and got her degree in law.

"I think that's hilarious!" She had apparently passed through her first three years in college in high school, graduating with a 4.6, one of the highest GPAs ever from that area. She had entered grad school when she was 19 and exited when she was 22. At 25, only three years into her career she was well known around the city and wanted across the country for her expertise in law.

"Yeah… so…" He looked slightly uncomfortable for a second. She apparently only fought for the things she believed in, instead of just wanting to get paid and was known to take cases for free or an extremely reduced price. Ichigo found her to be a saint.

"So… do you know anything about the murder's yet?" She looked over at him and he shrugged. "Is that a no or a yes?"

"It's an: I can't tell you…" He replied and looked over at her. She was rather beautiful, her creamy skin was tinted with pink, her nose and cheeks were stained with raspberry kisses of red from the cold September air and he thought it was rather cute. Her red lips, creamy skin and black hair gave her a Snow White look. He watched the streaks of brown and red whisper through her hair as it blew back in the wind. He smiled again… she was good company.

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When they finally arrived back at her apartment they were both laughing their heads off. She pulled off her jacket and hung it on the rack with a grin and he did the same, his hand brushing hers for only a second. She felt her face flush brilliantly and he smiled lightly.

"You're cute… you know that?" He told her for the first time. She turned brighter red and stormed out of the room. He loved making her blush like that… he walked over to the answering machine and pressed the play button.

"Ichigo! Hey man! I have a job for you! Think you could bring you attachment down to the station with you? I've got a case for her too…" Toshiro's voice spoke over the machine and it clicked off.

"Attachment?" She lifted an eyebrow. Ichigo shrugged.

"You wanna come see how a real police force is run?" He grinned and she folded her arms uncomfortably and his look softened.

"I guess you already know… what the police did to me in New York…" He tilted his head to the side. "I mean… you seem to know everything… so I'm thinking that you know that the police ignored my case…"

"There must have been a good reason…" Ichigo shrugged.

"NO! NO THERE WASN'T!" She screamed and for the first time he saw fury in her eyes. "THERE WAS NO FUCKING REASON FOR THEM TO IGNORE ME!"

"Calm down… I didn't know…" He reached out to touch her and she shrunk away from him. He didn't know why he kept trying… but something told him he had been sent her to help her.

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"So Hitsugaya… what you got for me?" Ichigo sauntered into the police department and the snowball looked up from his work with a grumpy look on his face as Ichigo pulled out a toothpick and stuck it in his mouth.

"I have a case that I want you to look at," Toshiro stood up and nodded his head to Rukia. "I have a woman who wants you to help her… the two of you are on high demand today…" He walked off. Ichigo rolled his eyes and followed him. "You're the king of interrogation… go interrogate…" Toshiro pointed at the interrogation room.

"What am I interrogating?" He questioned with a goofy look as he opened the portfolio that was handed to him.

"A man who says he has information on the real killer… we found him after a call came in from the woman in the other room… she's requested a lawyer and we knew you had one on hand…" Toshiro grinned and Ichigo smiled over at Rukia who rolled her eyes.

"I know where to go… do you stuff Kurosaki…" She disappeared into the room where the woman was.

"She really is beautiful…" They both heard a voice out from behind them.

"Ishida!" Ichigo grinned. The other detective stood behind them in his signature tailored suit. The steely blue of the suit stood against the brilliant cerulean of his eyes. His steel blue tie was loosened and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. The black haired young man could never be caught without a cigarette behind his ear, whether he was smoking it or not. "Thought you'd quit!" Ichigo laughed.

"Yeah… I have… but it's good luck… I've never gotten shot with it behind my ear…"

"He gets a new pack everyday and takes a cigarette out and puts it behind his ear, the rest he gives out to the other detectives." Toshiro laughed. They both knew what a depressing habit their friend had picked up but had finally given up.

"So who talked you into it?" Ichigo grinned.

"I did," a soft female voice could be heard from behind Uryu and Ichigo lifted an eyebrow. A beautiful woman with long red hair stood behind Uryu in a pink silk blouse and a white skirt. Her white heels extended her legs out and showed the carved muscles in her legs. Ichigo bit on his toothpick thoughtfully as his eyes made their way up from her long legs to her wide hips and small waist, the white tailored vest made him blink as it was slightly straining on a pair of breasts that he found rather magnificent.

"Keep your eyes off my wife Kurosaki," Uryu snapped his fingers.

"You got married Ishida?" Ichigo hooted, "That's a laugh! How in the hell did you get a woman like that to marry you?"

"He's a very persuasive speaker…" Kazumi smiled, her red lips parting to show straight white teeth.

"Is she real?" Ichigo lifted an eyebrow.

"No she's fake Kurosaki… I just borrowed her from the local Macy's because I like plastic…" Uryu rolled his eyes and a hand brushed his back.

"Be quiet." She commanded and he shut his mouth. "Seriously… we met two years ago because he dumped coffee on me…" She laughed.

"That was an accident…" He looked off to the side with a grin on his face.

"Oh! So you're Hasegawa… I always wanted to meet you… he used to blabber about you all the time… I never knew you were actually a knock-out!" Ichigo chuckled.

"Thank you Detective…" She smiled and Uryu growled. She liked compliments too much. "No need to worry Uryu… I like your eyes better than his…" She chuckled and he nodded.

"I don't want her anyways… she's too good looking for me! I'd go mad worrying about men being all over her!" Ichigo threw up his hands.

"That's not true… you've got a pretty one living with you right now…" Uryu nodded his head towards the door where Rukia was.

"Yeah… I suppose you've got a point there… but she's terrified of me…" Ichigo turned to the interrogation room. "Guess I better get this over with…"

"Ichigo…" He turned his head towards the raven-haired man. "If you're careful… this one may not spook…" Ichigo frowned and walked into the interrogation room.

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"So… your name is Jacob Finnegan right?" Ichigo asked as he sauntered into the room good naturedly. The young man was trembling lightly, his hands in his lap fidgeted together, twisting around each other. Ichigo's eyes picked up the smattering of blood on his shirt and the dirt that hemmed his torn jeans. A coffee stain was also thrown across the man's wife beater which seemed to be fairly fresh, leading Ichigo to believe that it had been him, instead of this woman who had been scared. "So when did she attack you?" He set the portfolio down.

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On the other side of the two way mirror Rukia stood with her arms folded across her chest. She watched the carrot-top talk to the now slightly relaxed man. She let a smile cross her lips then she stopped, why was she happy about this? He was a man… men were good for nothing idiots who didn't know shit from apple butter… "Excuse me…" The woman next to her spoke.

"Oh… sorry…" Rukia turned around and suddenly a gun was pointed in her face. 'Again? Twice in three days? SHIT! This guy is some kind of curse!' "What are you doing?" She had known the woman had a gun, she had looked for the signs that Ichigo had taught her.

"Now watch… if I have a gun and I'm planning on using it I would keep my hands somewhere near it if I wasn't really experienced with it…" Ichigo moved his hand closer to the gun at his belt.

"So what you're saying is that they're going to give themselves away before they even shoot?" She lifted an eyebrow. He had taken her out to the firing range for a lesson in shooting guns and he had noticed how nervous she had been while holding the weapon.

"Yeah… basically, you can also look for their body signs… a person who is experienced with weaponry is going to keep their hand at a slight angle at all times, as if ready to grab the weapon, they also tend to be rather shady so their eyes will constantly look for a way out once they do shoot…" Ichigo's hand whipped into the air dramatically.

"Okay… so… is that they way they say you never get shot?" She snorted as he had been shot only a few days earlier.

"Yeah… for the most part… if you pay attention you can disarm a potentially fatal situation," he laughed.

"Look miss… I really don't think you want to do this…" Rukia lifted her hands into the air. "Because see… this whole place is filled with cops… and…" The gun went off and the glass behind Rukia shattered as she ducked. The woman turned to run but a single gunshot was fired and she fell. Rukia slowly turned and there behind her was Ichigo, his gun in his right hand pointing straight ahead, the barrel was smoking slightly and there was a deadly look in his eyes. It was a look she had never seen before.

"…you have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law…" as she heard the Miranda Rights recited Rukia dropped to her knees. A hand rested itself on her shoulder then pulled her up by it.

"Come here… they have a doctor on call… he can fix up those glass cuts…" Ichigo's eyes were fixated on the woman. She was standing now, her thigh bleeding furiously. Her gaze was at Ichigo and the tooth pick snapped.

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"This is ridiculous! You are a CURSE!" She shouted as she walked into her house. "TWICE IN FOUR DAYS KUROSAKI!?" She stormed over and threw her jacket on the coat rack.

"Good you can count," he said unenthusiastically. She paused and looked over at him. The young man had a grim look on his face as he stared at her from the door. It was shut behind him and she blinked… wondering what he was thinking about.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You haven't had two near death experiences in four days!" She fumed. Ichigo shook his head.

"You still have no idea do you…" he turned and walked off. She stared after him, what was it that was eating this guy?

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MEE!! HAHAHAHAHA! Anyways I hope you guys like that chapter… I wonder what it was that the woman wanted… or maybe… was she in cahoots with the other man? AND WHY IS EVERYONE TRYING TO SHOOT RUKIA?

XD

Tune in next time XDD

Shalan