Vertigo

AN: Thanks for all the reviews! I shall get my ass in gear. You guys are awesome! *throws confetti and does a little dance*

It was roughly 3 A.M when Ichigo woke up, to nothing other than a hollow scream. They had gotten a replacement during the vacation, and though they had come back early because of Chad and Tatsuki's accident, they had let him take care of things until the full two weeks were up. But now the hollow's cries were for them, and only them. No replacement to fight hollows for them. The break had been good while it lasted.

They had caught up to it easily, and disposed of it even faster, but it seemed to have a multitude of friends. While each insect took all of a couple minutes, there were so many, that they chopped away at them for nearly an hour. It left the pair of them grumpy and tired.

"I just don't like it." Rukia muttered, once they had finished the batch.

"It did seem like a lot, didn't it?" Ichigo replied. It was unusual to have so many hollow in a night.

"Hey Rukia!" cried a familiar voice. Rukia and Ichigo swiveled to see who it was.

"Renji? Why are you here?" Ichigo asked in surprise.

"The hollow levels are off the charts tonight. I was asked to come help." Renji explained gruffly.

"Were you the replacement for when Rukia and I went out of town?" Ichigo wondered aloud.

"No, I wasn't. As I mentioned I'm here because of hollows, not because of some little trip." Renji scoffed, "How many have you guys gotten?"

"For all of tonight, 14. All fairly weak." Rukia supplied matter of factly.

"I got 12 on the west side. Why the hell are there so many?" Renji swore and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Excuse me!" They all turned to face the new arrival, a young shinigami that none of them recognized.

"Who the hell are you?" Renji and Ichigo asked simultaneously. Rukia was very tempted to jinx them, but now wasn't the time.

"I'm the replacement for Kutchki and Kurosaki. Tonight was my last night, but I was told to give them information before I left."

"Proceed." Rukia murmured. She now recognized the shinigami as being from the 4th squad, but she couldn't remember his name.

"Proceed?" Ichigo laughed. "Who even says that?"

Rukia simply glared at him. She made a mental note to kick him later. She looked forward to it.

"Well," stuttered the replacement, "There was a fire in a well known brothel in the red light district tonight. A lot of people died, and the types of people who work at or go to brothels are likely to become hollows. That's where they're all coming from."

"That makes sense. Prostitutes and pimps aren't the happiest people." Renji agreed. "Any other information?"

"Captain Ukitake is in charge of the situation, and he has orders for any Shinigami in Karakura to report to the neighborhood in question."

"Very well. Thanks kid. Ichigo. Rukia. Let's go tend to some dead escorts and pervs." Renji laughed a bit at his own 'clever' remark and let the young shinigami tell them the direction and location of the brothel.

Once there they found several wholes, and assumed that the victims who had been turned into hollows had been the ones that they had already killed. It was sad to see the building in such disrepair, though it surely hadn't been a great place to begin with. The entire structure was standing, but tiles were broken from the heat, smoke stained the tacky red curtains, and broken bottles of booze were scattered around in broken shards. The glass glittered like the sequins on a showgirl's staircase had fallen down in a sad little heap of lumber. The only thing left intact was the stripper pole in the middle of the room, though it was rust stained from having flames near it.

A few wholes had stuck around, looking lost. Men with oily hair and finely tailored sportscoats hung around, still searching for girls. Ichigo spent a good chunk of time convincing a girl in a microscopic miniskirt to let him konso her. She didn't accept at first that she was dead. Renji and Rukia helped the rest of the wanderers. It was an easy job and they wrapped up shortly. Renji went back to report and Rukia and Ichigo started the walk back home.

As far as Rukia was concerned it had been a pretty efficient night. But Ichigo was being really quiet. She didn't get what was wrong. The wholes and Hollows alike had been taken care of. Maybe he was sad about the fire, but he couldn't have prevented it.

"So what's wrong with you?" Rukia demanded kindly.

"Nothing." He grumbled.

"Ichigo." She growled, "You are a terrible liar."

He sighed "I just think prostitution is a sad business, that's all."

"It is. It's a hard lifestyle, and a dangerous one." Rukia agreed.

"It's not just that. Can you imagine being someone's property? Those girls were so out of options that being someone's property was the only goal left."

"You feel really strongly about this don't you?" Rukia mused.

He nodded.

"Well that makes sense. You're just one of those guys."

"That's a little vague." He laughed.

"One of those sensitive guys." Rukia clarified.

"I've been called a lot of things, and sensitive isn't one of them."

"Well you are loud, blunt and crude. And at times socially awkward."

"Way to make me feel good." Ichigo remarked bitterly.

"Don't get all bent out of shape! What I meant is that you're rough around the edges, but that you were still a very nice guy!" Rukia yelled.

"Then why couldn't you have just said that?" Ichigo demanded.

"Why can't you just take a compliment?" Rukia whined. He laughed and hugged her.

"Ichigo! You're squishing me!" He laughed again and squeezed her a little tighter. She relaxed into his snug grip and smiled despite herself.

"If you weren't so little and cute I wouldn't be tempted to squish you." He pointed out playfully.

"Idiot! You can't just hug someone because they're small and cute!" She chided, snuggling into his embrace.

"Then you can't hug your Chappy doll." Ichigo countered smugly.

"Eh?"

"If I can't hug you because I think you're cute, then you can't hug Chappy because you think it's cute." Ichigo said with mirth. She smacked him playfully and laughed.

"Fine you can hug me." Rukia grumbled. He tugged her just a little tighter against him and kissed the top of her head. Who would have known he was so cuddly?

Dating him had yielded so many discoveries.

AN: Did y'all like? Lemme know!:]