Chapter: The War

Shalan's Doodoo: XDD I'm getting more creative every day no? And I've had a request to post another chapter so I've been working on this since I got that review… I'm thinking it'll take me a few more hours to get another chapter out so I apologize about that!

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Rukia sat cross legged on her bed. Two days after the second time she was held at gunpoint… and here she was again. 'How did this all happen? Oh right…' She looked over out the window. 'Kurosaki… you better come get me outta this mess…' she frowned.

"So… you gonna tell me what's wrong?" She had asked him earlier that day. Ichigo looked over at her. She stood before him in her pajamas, the conservative button down pajamas, the modest black chemise beneath it hid the rest of her skin from him… it frustrated him really but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Me? What do you mean?" He blinked over at her and she folded her arms. Ichigo sat before her in his black silk boxers and a white t-shirt he looked like a Hanes commercial she thought.

"I mean…" She didn't know… all she knew was that he was avoiding talking about his past.

"Have you ever killed someone before?" He asked as he looked out the window. She blinked.

"No! Of course not…" She sounded shocked that he would ask such a question.

"I have… and I didn't like it… but I did it for a living for four years," he said softly, turning his head towards her. "I told myself that I would never kill again, and I haven't ever… until two days ago I hadn't even fired a gun." She had noticed that he carried a gun with him at all times, although she had never seen him use it other than that day. Then she noticed something else that sent her mind reeling.

"NO! NO YOU CAN'T SMOKE IN HERE!" She took his cigarette from him and threw it out the window. Ichigo stood up.

"WHAT THE HELL CAN I DO?" He shouted back at her. "IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO? CAN I BREATHE? CAN I SHOWER? CAN I EAT? WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM! LOOSEN UP!" He finally let out the things that that been bothering him about her for a while now.

She stared at him, he had yelled at her… not something the usually composed young man had done yet. "I…" She turned tail and fled from the room. He reached out to her, realizing that he had scared her yet again… but she was gone before he could grab her.

"Sorry…" She heard him whisper from inside the room.

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Ichigo sat at a table in the police meeting with a cigarette in his fingers. He usually didn't smoke but he needed something to smooth his frayed nerves. He flicked the butt into the tray and leaned back. He needed to get back to the apartment soon, he had left her there along this morning and he was starting to worry… he didn't know why he was worrying but for some reason the girl needed someone to worry about her… and he supposed he was the best one for the job… because he never worried about anything.

"So… Kurosaki what do you have for us on the King of Hearts murders?" King of Hearts was unfortunately the nickname for their current murderer. He seemed to be rather professional and he always tore out his prey's hearts… while they were still alive. Ichigo shuddered lightly then looked over at the chief.

"Me? I'd have to have another look at the scenes… untouched of course…" He looked around at them all then frowned… "Don't tell me you've cleaned it up already!" He fumed.

"Well… we had to… several residents in the most recent scene wanted to go home…" Ichigo stood up and slammed his hand down on the table.

"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING WHEN YOU PEOPLE CONSISTANTLY SCREW THINGS UP?" He stormed and Uryu put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down Ichigo…" He pushed him back down. Ichigo tented his fingers and leaned forward, thinking back to what had transpired earlier that day.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you…" He walked into the bedroom and she stood before him all legs and pink flesh. He froze and she swung around so her back was to him. "JESUS! CAN'T YOU KEEP YOUR DAMN DOOR SHUT?" He turned his back.

"KUROSAKI! I keep telling you to knock…" She spluttered, he could tell that this had made her uncomfortable and he let a small smile cross his lips. She had quite a figure despite her rather shapeless clothes. He had heard her breathing quicken when he had stared at her and he got the feeling that somehow he had managed to make her heart stop. He chuckled softly.

She really was a sight to see. Her long calves were muscular and taut, connected to a pair of creamy thighs. Between these thighs was nestled a small patch of black hair which didn't surprise him… she didn't seem like the type who would wax it off. Her rounded hips were set to either side of a slightly caved in navel which curved up into her toned tummy. Her dipped waist curved up into her chest and a pair of breasts he hadn't known that she had stood like twin pitcher's mounds of flesh. Her coral nipples had been coral in color and fully erect from the cold interior of the house. Her protruding collarbone stood out as the perfect T to her body. Her long swan-like neck was creamy, the same as the rest of her body and beautiful.

"Are you done yet?" He turned his head to look over his shoulder. She stood before him in her long black pants and an indigo blouse, her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes… now what do you want?" She stared at him. He was standing in front of her in a pair of jeans and his white t-shirt, his muscular arms were also folded across his chest, making his upper arms bulge slightly.

"I was apologizing for earlier… shooting off that gun brought back memories…" He looked off to the side and he saw her step towards him.

"What's been bothering you Kurosaki?" She looked up at him and he averted his eyes.

"War… war bothers me… anyways… I…" His cell phone rang from his back pocket. The detective pulled out his gold RAZR V3xx that his agent had bought him in celebration of his second best seller. He had always thought it was a bit much but it had worn on him. "Kurosaki." He nodded a slightly then hung up the phone. "We'll have to continue this later… I have a conference to go to…" He tilted his head and smiled at her. She followed him to the door and watched him put his coat on.

"Uhm… be careful…" She said. She didn't know why she said it, like she was a wife worried about her husband but it made her smile slightly.

"Alright… no need to worry… I'm just going down to the station for a little while… keep the doors locked and don't walk near the windows…" He grinned and walked out, shutting the door behind him.

"You may go Kurosaki…" he heard a voice interrupt his thoughts and he looked over, a pencil stuck between his nose and hit upper lip. He let it fall and stood up.

"Alright, thanks…" he smiled and practically ran out.

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Rukia sat on her bed, looking for a way out, the man that stood before her smiled vilely. "Now you listen to me missy… there's a sniper on the building next to this… ready to shoot your buddy if he comes anywhere this building… just thought I should let you know that…" He grinned, he was an ugly looking man with long greasy black hair and a filthy t-shirt and jeans on.

"Listen… do you think that you could… get off my carpet?" She pointed at his dirty shoes. She was amazingly calm, more like subdued, the look on her face come completely blank, no emotion could be read. Inside she had no feelings, no nothing… 'Ichigo… please come save me…'

"Maybe… perhaps I could come over onto that bed with you?" He smiled and move towards her, suddenly the door slammed open and Ichigo, gun in hand stood in the doorway, his barrel directed at the man.

"You try it and you won't hear the man count 5," he had that bloodthirsty look in his eye again.

"How'd you get past the…"

"Sniper? I saw him before he saw me… the cops should hauling him off right now…" Ichigo walked forward slowly. "Now put the gun down and you won't have to get hurt." Ichigo had found himself rather grumpy, this was the second time in three days that he had been forced to hold his gun, the steel made his skin twitch.

"Hah! You don't have the balls to shoot me…" the man lunged at Rukia and she scream, ducking away as a single gunshot was heard and the man fell to the floor, blood spurting, seemingly in slow motion to Rukia, from his head. Ichigo watched him fall then crossed the room to the shell-shocked Rukia. She was extremely pale and he smiled softly, then she did something that shocked him.

"Thank you…" she wrapped her arms around him, trembling as she did. He smiled lightly, hugging her back as she buried her face in his chest.

"It's not a problem… how did you hurt your hand?" He lifted her slight hand which was badly cut.

"I uhm… he broke the window and I cut myself…" She pointed at the broken window.

"You're not sleeping in this room anymore…" He told her and she stared up at him. "C'mon… we should get you to the doctor."

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She pouted as she sat in the passenger's seat Ichigo and she were moving into a furnished house out in the country. He told her that out there no one could hurt her.

"Why the hell are you still staying with me? Can't you live on your own?" She fumed, looking out the window.

"Because now you're too deeply involved… they'll come look for you and I'd hate to see my lawyer get it because of me…" He pulled into the driveway to the beautiful two story ranch house. The wide veranda was made of beautiful wood and the rest of the house was built in brick, old brick. She smiled softly it was well taken care of. "There are 15 miles between us and Washington… it shouldn't be too bad of a drive for me from time to time. We will communicate only by text messages unless absolutely necessary." He handed her a white SideKick and she looked down at it. "My number's already programmed into it… if anything happens use this to contact me…" He motioned to it. "I have one as well…"

"So can't I use my old cellphone?"

"Sure… but don't tell anyone where we are on the phone… otherwise I'm sure we'll have company. Now… no more talking… let's get everything into the house.

She sighed and got out… she had the feeling that this was only the beginning.

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"So you two moved out of Washington?" Toshiro blinked over at Ichigo.

"Yeah."

"You sure are taking a lot of precautions with her…" They looked over their shoulders at the prudish young woman who walked behind them.

"Yep… yep I am…" He smiled softly. "I figure that she needs someone to look after her… if I don't they who's gonna?"

"So does she go to the bathroom with you?" Uryu blinked.

"No… okay… she comes in…" He frowned slightly.

"Seriously?" Uryu said in disbelief.

"Yeah… she has to… I'm not going to leave her out there by herself!" Ichigo laughed. "She can't handle herself out there without me!"

"I guess you have a point… why don't you just arm her?" Toshiro looked over at his friend.

"I'm working on getting her used to using a gun… but so far she's been to scared to even touch it…"

"Why are all of you talking about me like I'm not here?" They heard a voice from behind them.

"Uhm…" They exchanged looks.

"I'm not deaf Kurosaki… I can hear you talking down about me…" She muttered something else under her breath that sounded an awful lot like 'I hate men…'

"Sorry… I couldn't understand that one…" Ichigo turned his head.

"Good… you shouldn't have…" She looked away giving him a good look at her profile. He chewed on the inside of his cheek lightly.

"Alright guys… we better get going…" Ichigo smiled. "I'll let you know if anything goes wrong…" Ichigo looked over their shoulders to see another of the police officers, he was staring at Rukia and for some reason that made Ichigo's blood boil. He realized how possessive he was getting of the petite lawyer.

"Okay… don't do anything too stupid Kurosaki…" Uruy warned as the other two walked out.

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"That guy was staring at me…" She folded her arms in the car seat next to him. "I didn't like it… I never like it…" her eyes were sad.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened?" He looked over at her.

"Maybe… maybe not… why would you care? You're a cop…" She shot him a glare.

"Because… I'm a detective… and I do care…" He smiled at her and she scoffed. There was a bandage beneath her left eye holding a cut together from the glass of the two way mirror and her hand was still bandaged, she had been forced to get 14 stitches in her hand to sew up the damage from the shattered glass. He smiled; she had a bad habit of getting hurt by glass.

"Yeah right… detectives are still cops…" She looked out the window as they arrived at the beautiful farm house.

Later that evening Ichigo walked through the house looking for her. He walked through the stainless steel kitchen and through the living room to the veranda where he saw a black head through the window, sitting on the porch swing. He smiled and watched her swing for a while and take a sip from her mug of chamomile tea that she always drank before she went to bed.

"It's a beautiful night isn't it?" Ichigo asked as he walked out with a down blanket. He wore a pair of jeans and a long sleeved navy blue shirt that read "MARINES" across it in large letters.

"Yeah I guess… until you interrupt…" She was stunned when he sat down next to her in the swing and covered them both with the blanket.

"I thought you'd get cold… it is almost November you know…" He smiled softly and she looked over.

"Thank you," she nodded to him… "I think I might tell you the story now…"

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HAHAHAHAAA! Guess you're gonna have to wait until tomorrow to find out what her story is! HAHAHA! Unless I get an overwhelming amount of review tonight!

Shalan