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Chapter 13
Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about their moment last night. It played over and over in his head ever since he had woken up that morning.
He especially couldn't stop thinking about the way she had looked at him. It was as if she was looking at something beautiful- like he was beautiful.
No one had ever looked at him like that before.
He knew then that he would spend his entire life waiting for her to look at him like that again.
As he leaned against his car parked out the station, Ichigo let out a humourless sound.
Rukia Kuchiki, with her terrible temper and razor-sharp words, had ruined him for other women.
And Ichigo promised himself that he would return the favour. He would make sure that he would be the only man who occupied her thoughts.
'Ichigo!'
He turned to see Chad's hulking mass walking toward him.
'Chad? What are you doing here?' he asked, meeting his friend in the middle of the way.
'Captain asked me to fill in for Rukia.'
'What happened? Is she okay?' Ichigo couldn't stop the worry from seeping into his voice.
'She's fine. She had a personal emergency and had to take a few days,' Chad explained casually.
This didn't little to quell his anxiety. A 'personal emergency' could mean anything. And for Rukia, it could mean involving herself in activities that saw her bleeding on the floor in the middle of the night. That feeling he had, when he saw her bloodied and sitting on the ground, came back to him hard and fast.
All through the day, Ichigo could barely concentrate on the case. At the medical examiner's office, not even that sickening corpse could pull his thoughts away from Rukia. He kept imaging her on those steel tables instead, her body bruised and disfigured.
When they met the guy who found the body, he asked the questions but didn't listen to the answers. Instead, he wondered who he would question., if anything happened to her. And while going through missing persons reports at the precinct, each of those little ID photos were replaced by Rukia's face.
He had tried calling her, when Chad was out of sight, but her phone just kept ringing, eventually going to voicemail. Nonetheless, he had sent a text asking if she was okay, and that he was there if she needed help.
He received no reply.
On the second day of her leave, he pulled up her employee file. She had no family listed.
She didn't even have an emergency contact.
Worry needled at him, and made him horribly bilious.
On the third day of her absence, Rangiku popped her head into their precinct to say, 'Rukia says 'Hi. And 'don't forget to clean the coffee pot!' and then went on her merry way.
Ichigo didn't know what to feel after that.
He was relieved-so, so relieved-that she was okay. The nausea he had been feeling these past days ebbed away.
Only to be replaced by a different sort of unease.
She was okay, and she hadn't returned his calls. Or answered any of the texts he sent.
He went to the break room and tried calling her again.
One last time, he told himself.
Still no answer, only the annoyingly calm automated voicemail prompt.
On the fourth day, Ichigo felt like a fool.
Rukia rushed out the door and nearly tripped over a pink giftbox tied closed with red ribbons, with a big red bow on its top. She eyed the box suspiciously, scanning the area for any movement. The only person around was her neighbour, who was leaving for her morning run. She saw the box and said with a wistful smile 'How romantic!'
Rukia smiled back as she picked up the box and brought inside. It was heavier than she expected it to be. She brought her ear close to it, listening for any ticking sounds. She jumped when her phone buzzed with a text.
The ID was a red heart emoji.
'You work too hard. Take a few days off. XoXo'
Immediately after that, Rukia's sliced the ribbons open with a kitchen knife. Stuck to the underside of the lid was a heart-shaped card that read, 'Moonlight Motel. Reservation for Yuki Shirakawa. Check in as soon as possible. XoXo.'
Rukia's jaw dropped at the contents of the box. In between shreds of pink gift paper, lay a matt black pistol, a silencer, extra rounds, a burner phone and a thick wad of cash.
With adrenaline spiking her system, Rukia tore the note into tiny pieces and flushed it down the toilet. She called Captain Kisuke and told him that there was an emergency so she wouldn't be in for a few days. He had agreed easily, happy that she was finally using her leave. She then opened Rangiku's chat screen and set a few timed messages. As an extra precaution, she set one for Renji as well. Her fingers hovered over Kurosaki's name for a second. Thinking better of it, she stuck her phone on the charge and left it there.
She then changed from her work clothes into a summer dress and a wide brimmed sun hat. She locked her own gun and badge into the a small safe she had hidden in the laundry closet in the hallway.
She pulled out a packed bag that she had stashed beneath the floorboards, and added the contents of the pink box to it. She slipped her feet into a pair of wedges, grabbed her biggest sunglasses and her car keys, and drove to an underground parking space. She then hopped into a cab, and an hour later, she was staring at an old, faded sign that said 'Moonlight Motel.'
She checked in, telling the old clerk that she was meeting someone here. She was quite proud of the way she had managed to sound both embarrassed and excited at the same time.
The clerk gave her a bored look that said he didn't really care. He handed her the keys, and went back to reading his paper, flicking the page loudly, clearly dismissing her. She fought against her natural instincts to snatch the newspaper out of his hands and tear it to shreds.
She found her room, and once inside she locked the door and jammed a chair beneath the doorknob. She surveyed the stuffy room, taking in the yellow walls, brown carpet and narrow bed.
She tried to open the single window to let some air in, but the wooden frame wouldn't budge. She looked through dusty glass and saw a pool -its water green with neglect, and littered with trash.
She ventured into the bathroom and was pleased to see it was at least clean-even though there was a sign that said 'No Hot Water.'
She then checked under the bed, looked inside the empty vase and behind the framed picture of a fruit bowl. In the bathroom, she looked in the cistern, and tested for loose tiles. Satisfied that there were no unwanted surprises, she returned to the bed, where she had left her bag, and fished put the burner phone.
A text was already waiting for her.
'The pool is lovely, isn't it? Don't go for a swim just yet. Wait for the weather to change. XoXo'
That was four days ago.
And every day since, she had waiting with the pistol in her gloved hands, her eyes strained on the pool.
The next day was exactly the same.
Until there was a loud, impatient banging on the door. She looked through the peephole and found the grumpy, old front desk clerk waiting. She quickly hid the gun under the bed, pulled off the gloves, then opened the door, putting on the timid façade that she had checked in with.
'Look, girl, you gotta clear out,' he told her.
'But, I-'
'He ain't coming. You don't gotta be a genius to see that. Now clear out!'
The clerk gave her what she assumed was his scariest look, and hobbled away.
She quickly typed a message on the burner phone and sent to the only number saved on it.
'The weather has changed. XXX'
She hoped she was right.
A reply came immediately.
'I hear its beautiful at night. XoXo'
She packed up all her things and with the countenance of a heartbroken girl, she handed in the keys, paid her bill and called for a cab.
The cab dropped her off at a nearby diner where she told the pretty waitress there her pretend sad story, dabbing her eyes behind her sunglasses. The waitress sympathetic and angry on her behalf, let her stay at the diner as long as she liked, offering her a piece of cake after the sandwich she ordered.
When the darkness set, Rukia slipped off to bathroom, leaving the waitress a hefty tip with the remainder of the cash. In the stall closest to the window, she changed into black combat gear. With gloved hands, she strapped the gun to her waist and zipped up the rounds and silencer in the pocket of her pants. And in another pocket, she kept the burner phone. She pulled out a black case from her bag, and removed the six black throwing knives set in it. She cleverly concealed the knives across her body, twisting this way and that, making sure she wouldn't accidentally stab herself. And lastly, on her right thigh, she secured a long thin blade, its sheath camouflaged against her pants.
She pulled a black, wool hat over her head, and covered the lower half of her face with a black mask. She briefly wondered if she should have purchased coloured contacts. It would have been an added layer of anonymity, but it was too late now.
She shoved her discarded outfit into the bag, checked if the coast was clear and left the stall. She looked outside the window for any passersby, tossed her bag to the ground and shimmied her body through.
It was times like these that she really appreciated her petite stature.
She discarded her bag into a dumpster behind the diner, and like a cat in the night, she slinked back to the Moonlight Motel, praying that her she did the right thing by trusting her informant.
'Fuck,' she cursed softly when she saw the old clerk sitting behind his desk with a knife sticking out of his throat.
When she reached the pool, she had to cover her mouth to stop from gasping audibly. There standing by the disgusting pool, was the mask that she had been hunting for.
Six of them, actually, she counted. Each attached to muscular men of varying sizes.
Her informant had done it; had found the Menos.
Finally, she could exact her revenge on those fuckers that killed Kaien.