Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Jury Duty

It was 11:20 on a Monday afternoon. Ichigo was sitting at the kitchen table studying, while Rukia was eagerly waiting by the door.

Every weekday at exactly 11:20 Rukia would situate herself by the door, because between 11:20 and 11:30 the mail came. Something about the mail absolutely fascinated Rukia. She loved looking through the flyers and catalogues that advertised new amazing human products. She would squeal with delight whenever they received coupons, even if they were for products that she would never buy. Even the junk mail was eagerly read by Rukia each day. And then there was the real mail. Ichigo had tried to impress on her the fact that it was rude to open other people's mail (meaning his), however despite his best efforts all of the mail he now received was first opened and inspected by Rukia before being passed on to him.

Except for the bills.

At first Rukia had opened all of his mail indiscriminately, but she had quickly learned how to discern bills from other mail. As a result any bills came to Ichigo unopened, for his eyes (and wallet) only, while other pieces of mails such as letters, etc., Rukia took great pleasure in opening and reading before delivering them to Ichigo.

The crème de le crème for Rukia though was when she received mail addressed to her. This didn't happen very often, but because she had been living in the human world for so long she had started to receive the occasional letter from businesses, organizations and even the government. When Rukia received a letter addressed to her, this was an occasion for celebration, and Rukia would eagerly interrupt whatever Ichigo was doing to inform him of the fact that she had received a letter. Then she would proceed to opening the letter, and any highlights would be read aloud to Ichigo.

Today was one of those momentous occasions in which she had received a letter, and Rukia had rushed into the kitchen to announce to Ichigo "I received a letter."

"Hmm." Ichigo murmured in acknowledgement and then went back to studying. Ichigo knew from past experiences (and bruises) that it was important that he acknowledge Rukia when she announced that she had received a letter.

"Let's see," Rukia said as she eagerly opened the letter, "It's from the Department of Justice."

That got Ichigo's attention. Why the hell would they be writing to her?

"Oh, look I've won something!" Rukia said in excitement.

"You've won something?" Ichigo asked sceptically.

"Yes, it says here I won a lottery and I've been selected for Jury Duty!"

Two things ran through Ichigo's mind when Rukia said this. The first was: Thank God it wasn't for me. The second was: Why the hell is Rukia so excited about jury duty?

"You don't know what jury duty is, do you Rukia?"

"Nooo."

"When someone is believed to have broken the law, they are usually subjected to a trial by jury. A jury is composed of twelve people who are presented with the evidence and the facts of the case and have to decide whether the accused is guilty or innocent."

"How come I haven't got to do this before? This sounds exciting!"

"It isn't supposed to be exciting Rukia!"

"Why not? Getting to decide whether a person has committed a crime, and then punishing them if they did sounds pretty exciting to me. I get to pass down judgement on these puny humans!"

"Rukia, jury duty isn't exciting, it's a very serious thing. You have attend the trial which can last anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of months. And during the trial you have to pay very close attention to all the evidence and facts that are presented to you so you can make the right decision. Your decision about whether a person is innocent or guilty can have very serious consequences. And it isn't just you passing judgement on a person, there are eleven other people on the jury who you have to come to an agreement with. That can take hours, sometimes even days and during that time you usually have to stay in a hotel and aren't allowed to leave or have any contact with your friends and families. Sometimes you can't even watch TV or go on the internet because they don't want you to be influenced by outside sources."

"No TV?!" Rukia exclaimed with terror filled eyes, "Ichigo you have to get me out of jury duty!"

"You know you wouldn't be in this mess Rukia, if you hadn't insisted on using your fake identification to vote for the Environment Party in the national election. Only people registered to vote get called for jury duty."

"It's not my fault that I care about the environment and don't want to see the Earth destroyed by you humans!"

"Well you know technically you should be exempt from jury duty because anyone over the age of 65 doesn't have to serve." Ichigo said snickering.

"Did you just make a comment about my age?" Rukia snarled.

"No! I was just trying to help think of a way to get you out of jury duty."

"I'll let that slide, but you better think of a way to get me out of jury duty Ichigo."

"Don't worry, I've got it! All that you have to do is convince the lawyers that you're biased towards the defendant and then the defendant's lawyer will ask for you to be excused."

"How do I convince them that I'm biased Ichigo?"

"Well during the selection the lawyer's will ask you some questions to see if you will be a suitable juror. So all that you have to do is say something that shows you're biased towards thedefendant. So if the defendant is a plumber for example say something like 'I don't trust plumbers' and then the defendant's lawyer won't want you on the jury and you'll be excused."

The door slammed, announcing that Rukia was home from the jury selection.

"ICHIGO! Your advice sucked!"

"What happened?"

"I did exactly what you said. The defendant was a politician, so when they started to ask me questions for the selection process, I said 'I don't trust politician.' And when I said that, the defendant's lawyer--that bastard--he laughed at me!"

She doesn't trust politicians? Ichigo managed not to laugh, but he couldn't keep a small smile off his face.

Rukia glared at him, and then she stormed off upstairs. When she reached the top of the stairs she paused, and then yelled down "You know who I should tell them I don't trust next time? Orange-haired Shinagami!"

The next thing Ichigo heard was their bedroom door slamming shut. He guessed he'd be sleeping on the couch today.

"Oh, and I have to be at court for 7 am sharp tomorrow morning and you're driving me!" Rukia added.

7 am! What type of judge would schedule court to begin—

"And if you EVER want to sleep in this bed again then I expect there to be pancakes waiting for me on the table when I get up tomorrow morning, considering this is all YOUR FAULT!"

All his fault? His fault?

Ichigo wondered to himself what the likelihood would be of a jury convicting him if he were to 'accidentally' slip some poison into Rukia's breakfast tomorrow.

A/N: I based this on the Canadian Legal System, I have no idea how the Japanese Legal System works. Also the part about the Environmental Party was based on the fact that Canada has a political party called the 'Green Party' whose main platform is the protection of the environment. Oh, and feel free to leave a review.