It was probably half an hour or so after they had began their journey that Kisuke ground the Jeep to a hault infront of what appeared to be a small shop.

"Pit-stop?" Rukia asked from the backseat, breaking the thoughtful silence that had filled the truck after Yoruichi's strange warning. Kisuke unbuckled his seat belt and the purple haired woman in the front passenger seat followed suit.

"Nope!" He replied cheerily, tipping his weird, ugly hat towards Rukia in the back seat, "We're here! This is home sweet home, Miss Kuchiki."

Rukia slowly undid her belt, eyeing the place up from outside. It didn't look to be anything spectacular. Heck, it looked like a small store, like the kind you find on the corner of suburban streets, that sell candy and tobacco and fizzy drinks. Yoruichi noticed her bemused expression and grinned. There was something feral about her smile, Rukia noted. Maybe because her teeth were so white and... pointy?

"It looks... cosy." The black haired woman said uncertainly, and Yoruichi broke out into her purring laugh as she hopped out of the truck with enviable grace. Ther door slammed closed with a force that made the huge vehicle sway, before the feline woman seemingly magically appeared at Rukia's window.

"Oh, Rukia, you should see your face. Come now, I promise, it's much more impressive inside."

More than slightly confused, Rukia opened her door and slowly slid from the Jeep, allowing herself a brief moment to stretch her legs after the long journey. Granted, it hadn't taken too long; but that was because Kisuke apparently drove like a madman. She hadn't dared look at the speedometer once.

Rukia followed the unusual pair inside the house, all the while wondering when on earth she was going to get home.

_(LINE BREAK)

Elsewhere, another Kuchiki was also confused. Infront of him, on the floor of his personal office, sat a hyperventilating Renji. His clothes were muddied and crumpled, and his hands were covered in scrapes, like he'd fallen over several times. The man stank of stale sweat and vomit.

"Abarai," Byakuya asked the distraught redhead infront of him, "Where is my sister?" Renji's gasping sobs continued, and he looked up at the stoic older man weakly.

"She- she, oh God, Mr. Kuchiki, she-" He broke off into another round of guttural sobs. By this point, Byakuya was losing his paitence. He knew the pair had gone out the day prior- he knew all about Rukia and Renji's little... trysts, and always had. He was not a stupid man, by any means, and though he was distant because of his work, he was fiercely protective of his younger sister.

Byakuya may have accepted their illicit relationship, despite Renji being one of his employees, but now he was beginning to get angry.

"Renji Abarai, I will ask you one last time, you blithering fool." Reining in his anger, he spoke with slow deliberation. "Where is Rukia."

Renji choked.

"Woods." The redhead rasped. "We went for a..." He faltered under Byakuya's cold stare. "Walk."

"Yes. Continue."

"We heard... growling." Renji swallowed audibly. "And decided to leave. But it... followed us." Byakuya's stare went from cold to positively arctic. Renji shifted back in fear at the darkness in his employer's eyes. He had never seen such an expression on the man's face. He was always so calm, collected and cool.

But now he looked positively dangerous.

In a voice barely over a whisper, Byrakuya rasped, "Continue."

"We ran, and it chased us..." He faltered again, but Byakuya's black gaze made him stutter on. "It was some sort of monster. It was nearly as tall as me, on four legs! And it stank of blood and... death."

Renji let out an agonised moan.

"And Rukia?" The black-haired man prompted in his rasping voice.

"She never got back to the car." Renji's voice was barely a hoarse whisper. At those words, Byakuya's eyes seemed to become darker than the space between the stars.

"You mean to say, Abarai, that a beat-like creature in the woods last night attacked my sister."

Renji shut his eyes in agonised resignation. "Yes."

He dropped his head to restart his sobbing on the mahogony flooring.

"Byakuya," He blubbered, "I-..."

But as he looked up, Byakuya was long gone, and the door was slowly swinging closed infront of the tearful redhead on the floor.

_(LINE BREAK)

Yoruichi had been correct. The sweet little candy store was indeed, much more impressive inside.

Or rather, should she say, downstairs.

The strange pair had walked Rukia inside, breezing through the shelves of candy and magazines that they were greeted with inside the double doors, and continued through to a door behind the till. There were small quarters there; a small kitchen that appeared to be mostly used by staff for tea, a tiny bathroom and a small, comfortable lounge. Then, kisuke pressed his hand firmly to the wall besides the fridge in the kitchen and said, apparently to the fridge, "Kisuke, Yoruichi and Rukia Kuchiki."

Rukia stood there in bewilderment as the seconds ticked by and nothing happened. The blonde man was still staring hard at the logo on the fridge door with his hand pressed to the wall. Just as she was about to ask the purple haired woman infront of her what on earth was going on, the fridge seemed to emit a strange glow.

"Welcome Kisuke, Yoruichi and guest Rukia Kuchiki." and the fridge seemed to shimmer, before vanishing completely to reveal a doorway with a long stairwell beyond it.

"What the flying-"

"Shh Rukia. All will be explained later." Yoruichi butted in with a wink, leaving Rukia to gape at the door where the fridge had been. By the time she had wrapped her head around the space where the fridge had been (waving her hand several times through said space to confirm the fridge was indeed, gone) Kisuke and Yoruichi had long disappered down the stairs. "Hey, wait up!" She yelped, hurtling herself into the doorway. As soon as her second foot hit the wooden boards of the stairs, the "entryway" resealed itself to the world, with Rukia having no doubt that the fridge had magically reappeared. Just thinking about it made her head hurt.

When she hit the final stair of the excessively (in her opinion) large staircase, the mysterious pair that had brought her here were nowhere to be seen. Not that it mattered, as the young woman now had plenty more questions in her head.

For one being how on earth had they managed to fit a rather grand looking hallway of this size underground?

And prehaps more importantly, how on earth did it have windows, clearly showing what was going on outside- she could see the Jeep in the window closest to her, sitting in the carpark for the shop. A bird fluttered down to perch itself on one of the wing mirrors and Rukia rubbed her eyes ferociously until they felt raw, but to no change. The view remained the same.

Stupid Hat, without Yoruichi, reappeared from a door on the left and beckoned her inside."Come now Miss Rukia," He said cheerfully, "It's time to meet your destiny."

WIth little else to do, Rukia followed helplessly like a lamb to the slaughter.

Inside was an incredibly large room (You could probably fit her whole flat inside it, she mused, and it was not a small place). though, oddly enough, it was decorated with huge slabs of mossy stone and- were those seriuously real trees? Huge great towering conifers, that by all means should have reached the shop above them but somehow didn't. The sky seemed endless, just as it would do outside. Rukia only felt more confused.

"What on earth is this place?" She gasped, clutching at the sides of her head and gripping her hair tightly. "This is insane! I must've hit my head or something, this can't even be real!"

"You're about to learn that seeing really is believing Rukia. Try and relax." Kisuke said from behind her. "Yoruichi dear, would you start please?" Rukia felt Kisuke's arm circle her shoulders and hold her firmly. With a small test wiggle, she found his grip to be incredibly strong, like stone. Fear gnawed in the belly of her stomach suddenly. What was going on.

Yoruichi walked into the clearing, barely dressed. Rukia shut her eyes instinctively as always when faced with a woman in her underwear.

"P-put some clothes on!" She yelped. Yoruichi just laughed.

"Rukia, I'd ruin them. Besides, soon you'll be just as casual as I. Open your eyes." Rukia opened them obediently, and her violet gaze met Yoruichi's golden one.

"Don't look away."

"I... I won't."

Yoruichi shut her eyes and seemed to go completely still, her face serene. Then suddenly she crumpled in pain.

Rukia could hear her teeth grinding, and the tall woman's eyes snapped open. But instead of their previously friendly gold, they were a harsh yellow. Suddenly, her shoulders seemed to dislocate themselves and pop out of place, shortly followed by her hips. Yoruichi crumpled to the soft lichen covered floor, and seemed to convulse.

"What are you doing Kisuke!?" Rukia shrieked, struggling against her imprisoner. "She needs help, why aren't you doing anything?"

"Wait." He replied, calm as ever. "And watch."

When rukia re-fixed her gaze upon Yoruichi, she gasped.

Thick black fur was bursting forth all over the soft-skinned woman on all fours on the floor. Her joins had all re-aligned into places suitable for a four-legged animal, and her fingers were slowly webbing together to become great black paws, with her nails lengthening into claws.

Within half a minute, the creature moved from it's pain-wracked heap on the floor and stood. It looked at Rukia with a fierce intelligence in it's eyes, and nodded it's great head to Kisuke. He slipped his arm from Rukia's shoulders and stepped forewards.

He smiled and walked to the beast that stood where Yoruichi once had.

"Hello my dearest." He said softly. Yoruichi, now as a 5'ft tall panther, leaned forewards and gently butted her head against his stomach.

Rukia stumbled backwards, eyes wide.

"Yoruichi?!" She yelped, looking at the huge black beast infront of her. The panther inclined it's head towards Rukia and it's ears twitched. Rukia could have sworn she saw it smile.

"What the hell?" She squeaked. "Y-you're a massive cat?!" She looked at Kisuke. "Are you a cat man too?!" The man in question began to laugh heartily, and Yoruichi purred along with him. "This isn't funny Kisuke! Is everyone here a massive cat or what?"

"No, no, Rukia. We are not all 'massive cats' as you call us. Yoruichi, for one, is what is called a Were. I myself am something different."

"You mean like a Werewolf? She doesn't look much like a wolf..." The black haired woman said in confusion. Kisuke smiled at her kindly.

"Yes. But there are more than just Werewolves. Yoruichi for one, is a Werepanther. However, Werewolves are the most common."

Rukia suddenly felt her stomach drop as she realised. "So... What has this got to do with what happened to me last night?" Her voice lowered to a whisper.

"I think you already know Rukia."

"Y-yes." She swallowed audibly, looking away from Kisuke's kind face to Yoruichi's great cat one. "I'm one now right?" Kisuke smiled grimly.

"Indeed you are." He said, beginning to walk towards her, with Yoruichi in tow.

"Then what are you?" She inquired shakily to the man getting closer.

"Oh, I'm something you've definitely heard of Rukia. I'm a wizard."

And Rukia, after a long night and incredibly strange day, finally fainted.

Enjoyed writing this one, and I'll be grateful for any feedback on what you think. Sorry for any spelling errors etc. I was in something of a hurry to get this one out. Thanks again for reading!