From Ghoulies And Beasties pt4

From Ghoulies And Beasties
File Four: Black Shuck
Despite the fact that it was nearly noon when the duo reached Wales, they had left at around five in the morning Mexico time and neither had been able to sleep on the plane due to a group of triplets behind them, nicknamed via Ichigo as Kangaroo, Screamer, and Pokey.... you can imagine why.... and if that wasn't QUITE bad enough there was a newborn baby SOMEWHERE on that plane that cried non-stop and a man in first class who Ichigo had come to call Snorelax, once again, you can imagine why, needless to say they both felt like they were going to drop into comas right then and there as they stumbeled into the hotel, frazzled, tired, and with Ichigo missing a few pieces of hair from Pokey finding a nice new place to put his bubblegum, but as Ichigo checked in, half-dazed, Rukia did manege to catch notice of something... "Hey Ichigo look, they have a spa.." she muttered with a yawn, pointing somewhere off in the distance, "Mm-hm... that's nice," "I think we both need some spa time.." she muttered as he finished checking in and pulled her along towards the elevator, "Later," he muttered back

After getting up to the hotel room Ichigo and Rukia both went straight to bed, hoping to catch a few more winks of sleep, "Hey Ichigo?" Rukia said quietly as she shut her eyes and pulled a pillow close, "Hm?" he muttered back, "Could you do me a favour?" "Depends... do I have to get up?" "No," "Then sure," "My leg hurts... could you put pressure on it?" absentlmindedly he slung his own leg over top of her's and she squirmed slightly, trying to re-position it, "Thanks.... that's helping...." she muttered, he scooted a little closer to her so that he was more comfortable and yawned, "Uh-huh..." he muttered before drifting off to sleep

Rukia yawned quietly and rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust them to the light in the hotel room as she awakened, stretching slightly, she turned over and noticed that Ichigo was not next to her on the other side of the bed as he had been, no he was right behind her, in fact when she turned her head their noses touched, and the more she examined the situation, the more she realized that she was completely imprisoned; his arms had her's bound and twisted, his legs were on top her's and no amount of wiggling or squirming would release her, he seemed bound and determined to keep her there, even if he was unaware of it, but it wasn't like she was in an uncomfortable position, she always loved sleeping with or near Ichigo, he made her feel safe and secure and he was oh so warm... wich was pleasent for someone with little to no body heat, but she had things to do so she was going to have to get up, and since squirling away wasn't possible, she'd just have to wake him up, "Ichigo?" she wispered quietly, noting, "Ichigo~?" she called again, still nothing, so, she got a very devilish idea and started to run her fingers ever-so-lightly under his shirt and down his back in a very ticklish way, "Wake up Ichigo~" she called, laughing a bit as she did, he started to twitch then, his fingers curling and his legs shifting, he shivered a bit and her fingers went up to his neck, "Ichigo~" she called again with a giggle, he snorted slightly in his sleep and flipped over, taking her with him, she gasped as he tossed onto his back with her hands still under him and she was forced on top of him, her legs on both sides of him, "I-Ichigo... my hands..! Get off!" she wimpered, his weight on her tiny hands definatly hurt and she was starting to lose circulation, she couldn't even move, "Rukia...?" he muttered, opening his eyes and meeting her own, "Why are you on top of me?" "Please get off!" she growled, only then did he notice something under his back, he sat up and she spilled into his lap, jerking her hands back and rubbing them slightly, flexing her fingers little by little to regain feeling, "What were you doing...?" he muttered, "Trying to wake you up..." "By running your hands down my back?" "Yes until you flipped over," she replied, he rubbed the back of his neck slightly, "S-Sorry...." he muttered, she shook her head, "It's ok, we need to start going over the files," she said as she got out of bed, "Want to do it.... over lunch?" she smiled at him, "What do you have in mind?"

"So what's the plan?" Ichigo asked as he peered over Rukia's shoulder and took a bite of some kind of pastry he had ordered, Rukia didn't even look up but raised her hand and pushed him away, "Don't crunch that in my ear... that's the plan," she muttered back, he rolled his eyes and moved slightly, she shook her head, "I'm not sure... the creature we're going after is something we SHOULD be able to take care of easily since it's of the spirit world," she said, he blinked, "Really? What is it?" "It's called 'Black Shuck', also knowen as a Hellhound or Devil Dog," "Oh yeah... I've heard of Hellhounds, they're supposed to be vicious..." "Right, the thing is that we'll need to collect samples as always but since it's spirit and can cross between worlds, apparently without the use of a gate-" "It could dissapear at any time... right.... how will we catch it? How will we even lure it out?" he mused, Rukia took a bite of the blueberry pancakes next to her, "Well actually I have an idea for that..." "You do? What is it?" she rubbed the back of her neck lightly, "Well.... there are reports that Black Shuck accompanies women who walk or ride bikes alone at night to protect them..." "So what are you suggesting?" she looked up at him and smiled sheepishly, "Well..... I'm a woman.... I can walk alone at night?" he stared at her for a moment, she was sitting on the floor wile he was laying on the bed on his stomach, he tilted his head down and their noses touched, "No," he replied, she huffed and stood up immediatly, "Why not?!" "Because you're not going to be live bait to a HELLHOUND, I've gone to Hell once and I'd prefer not to do it again thank you," "I am a grown woman Ichigo and I can protect myself, besides if it DOES become a danger I have kido and my sword to protect me," "And where will I be?" "Somewhere off in the distance, not so far away that you can't come to me quickly but not so close that he'll sense your presence," he rolled off of the bed and started pacing around the room, "Rukia are you familiar with the works of Sherlock Holmes?" "And here he goes," she muttered, sometimes she really HATED how much he was into classical litterature, he would occasionally launch into speeches and lectures and she suddenly had flashes of meetings with nobles and wanting to fall asleep.... "Well I am, and my favirote case is the case of the Hound Of The Baskerville, do you know how BIG and BLOODTHIRSTY that hound was Rukia?" "I know that that hound was just some poor, starved animal and not a Black Shuck," she replied with a smirk, he frowned, "That... that isn't the point..." he muttered back, "Mm-hm," she muttered back skeptickally, "Rukia, my POINT is-" "I know your point, but I have faced hollows, I have faced Espada, and I have faced Renji after twelve cups of coffee, I can handle a little, black dog," she replied with a frown and a narrowing of her eyes, he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Rukia I just...." "You just don't want me to get hurt," she concluded, he nodded slowly if not a bit sheepishly, she smiled at him, "Ichigo, it'll be fine," she promised, "Alright... fine...." he muttered, she smiled, "Excellent, now we won't be going until about eight o'clock, it's currently about four so we have four hours to spare, you want to go down to the spa?" he smirked, "Sure if Soul Society is paying," he chuckled back

~+~

"So how long are you planning to be out here?" Ichigo asked as the two walked out of the hotel, it had been a few hours and it was getting dark, meaning it was about time for Rukia to get to work, "Um... until Black Shuck comes around?" "I mean if he doesn't," "Oh... all night," she replied simply, he crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes, "....Or you know, three or four hours..?" "Better," he muttered, "You know Ichigo we've been pretty lucky the last few days, we've been finding these creatures without much greif," Rukia mused as they walked down the road, "Yeah, because sitting aimlessly in the woods and getting an arm nearly torn off is a complete picnic," he replied, "Well no but atleast we weren't out there for weeks with no sign of anything, sooner or later we're going to come across something that isn't so easy to find so you better get used to that fact," she mused, he sighed lightly, "Sure sure, as long as we don't ACTUALLY have to sit in the woods for weeks," "We'll see," she muttered as they came to a fork in the road, "Well Ichigo, this is where you and I part ways," she said, he frowned at her but she smiled reassuringly at him, "Look, just go someplace and do something constructive, ok?" she said, he nodded slowly and reluctantly left her side, running off, Rukia took in a few deep breaths, the legend of Black Shuck told of a ghostly black dog that would walk with women at night to protect them from wrong-doers and evil forces, but he would vanish as soon as she felt safe or was at her destination, meaning that luring him in by being in the middle of Cardiff, all alone and miles away from St. David's Hotel And Spa, would only work if Rukia was afraid of being here alone, wich is why she closed her eyes and started thinking of every single thing that made her afraid of the dark, from the time in Rukon when Renji had to save her from nearly being murdered, to Kaien's death, to worrying over Ichigo and her many life-threatening battles, and all the horror stories she had heard about young girls who wandered the streets alone at night and were never seen again, and when she opened her eyes again she was no longer the brave, confident woman she usually was, she forced her fear to take her over, and now that she had, it was there, she could feel herself start to shake and sweat and looking around made her realize that she was alone in a dark and completely unfamiliar place, and she felt genuienly afraid, it had been a long time since she ever let fear get the best of her, and now that she finally was letting it do so again, it returned with a vengence, slowly, she took a step forward, feeling her heart thudding in her chest, despite not being cold she shivered as she walked down the empty street, she reached up and immediatly started to twirl and pull her hair nervously, an old habbit she developed at a very young age and quit when she became a Kuchiki; that was secretly why she cut her hair after becoming a leiutenit, she couldn't have a nervous twitch if there was nothing there... but she soon found out that that had been a mistake, because instead of that she started to bite her nails, and that was more noticable, so she started painting them frequently to prevent biting (bright colors reminded her not to bite everytime she brought her hand to her face) but then she started to jam her fingernails in her palms, all subconciously ofcourse, but since there was no "cure" for that and her hands had started to scar she let her hair grow back and the oldest habbit devleloped again, only... it hadn't really, because after she returned Ichigo's powers she didn't have any nervous twitch no matter how shaken she was, now that both her confidence and her freind were no where in sight, the twitch had returned, and the more she walked the more she forgot her original purpous in being out here, the more she forgot about her mission, about the ghost dog, and about only PRETENDING to be afraid.... one of the worst things about being a good actress was that the best actresses... aren't acting at all, she learned that the hard way a long time ago when she was crying fakely to make a man in Rukon let her off for stealing water, but then she started to cry for real and Renji almost couldn't snap her out of it, wich was why she kept her serious acting to a minimum, she never wanted to retreat to that, but here she was, trying to only pretend to be afraid, and suddenly about to hypervenalate, all she was concentrating on now was her shallow breathing and the fact that she was afraid, she didn't ask herself why, because then she'd snap out of it, she just knew that she was, so it startled her greatly when she heard someone walking beside her, jumping, she looked down and saw a large, shaggy, black dog walking beside her, and for some strange reason releif flooded over her, it was unlike any other feeling she had ever expereinced, it was one of complete calm and safety, she couldn't even remember what fear felt like, the security she felt with this dog was even greater than that of what she felt with Ichigo, and she had no idea why, swallowing some spit, she started to speak, "Black Shuck?" she wispered, the dog looked up and stared at her with glowing green eyes... but his eyes didn't scare her away... in fact they made her feel even better, now remembering her mission, she opened her backpack and grabbed her gikongan, popping a pill in her mouth as quickly as she could, and now that she was in her Soul Reaper form she bent down and lightly put her hand on the dog's head, Black Shuck panted happily to her and sat down, "You're pretty smart aren't you?" she cooed, reaching into her backpack again, "You're a good boy too," she said with a smile

"So how did it go?" Ichigo asked as he watched Rukia walk towards him, "Well, he's a good boy, people insult him by calling him a Hellhound," she replied as she smiled at him, "Well I have to say I'm impressed you handeled that alone," "Why?" "As a reward, here," he said, handing her a small bag, "Reward?" she muttered curiously, reaching inside and pulling out a thick book, "I told you I would get you a copy of Frankenstein," he replied with a smirk, she smiled at him brightly, "Thank you..." she wispered, he shrugged sheepishly, "It's even in English, so there are no translation mistakes," she put the book in her backpack and looped her fingers through his, "Thank you Ichigo, I love it," she said, he smiled at her and they started to walk, "By the way there's an ice cream shop near the hotel," "There is?" "Yeah it's still open, want to get some?" her smile increased, "Have you ever knowen me to turn down ice cream?" "I guess not," he chuckled, swinging her hand in his lightly as they walked, "So this 'Frankenstein' is good?" "It's one of the classic horror stories! Other than Dracula and The Wolfman; Mary Shelly brought mad science and the undead into mainstream," "Wow, so it's science fiction then?" "Yeah, but it's pretty good, it makes alot of sense too it isn't just mindless dribble," he replied with a smile, she blinked, "Any other good science fiction stuff?" "Hm.... well..... there's Planet Of The Apes... that's a movie," "Sounds bad," "It isn't, it's pretty good but it's old, we'll see if we can find it on TV sometime," "So it's about alien apes-" "No no, apes have taken over earth," "How?" "Genetic engeneering," "Why?" "Searching for a cure for alzheimers," "Oh.. no I mean why did the apes take over?" "Oh, because humans mistreated them, it's funny actually, they have pet humans and can talk," "....Sounds awfull," "It's not, just trust me, you thought Van Helsing sounded bad too but you love that now," he mused, she shrugged, "Good point..." she mused as they walked into the ice cream shop, the young man behind the counter greeted them both and Ichigo asked for a cup of chocolate ice cream, "Um, do you have anything with cookies in it?" Rukia asked, having to stand on her toes to see over the large counter, "Sure do, cookie dough or chips or oreos?" "Um, oreos please," "Sure," he said, Rukia looked over the counter and was amazed at just how many toppings she saw, the ice cream parlor Ichigo usually took her to back in Japan was much smaller and didn't have the toppings out in the open like this one, she was fascinated... "Wow, there's a minagere of things back there..." she muttered as Ichigo paid the young man, who raised his eyebrows at her, "Minagere? That's a big word," he muttered, she just tilted her head, apparently he didn't seem at all put off by her accent but maybe he thought she wasn't so fluid in English? Sadly Asian folk were noted in English media for having thick accents and not speaking clearly, but she had always prided herself in having a very versitile tounge and even being able to adopt certain accents and phrases from other langueges, she was a little surprised that someone had pointed that out... maybe she should try getting rid of her accent.... before she could think any further she was handed a cup of oreo ice craem with cookies stacked on it like a mountain, "You get extra cookies for being such a smart little girl," the boy said, making Rukia nearly drop her treat in offense, this boy himself couldn't be any older than nineteen and he was calling HER a little girl? "Come on Rukia," Ichigo muttered, already having noted the poor shcmuck's mistake and trying to prevent Rukia from going Bankai in here, as she stumbeled out of the shop, one arm being pulled by Ichigo, the other supporting her cup of ice cream, she just gaped like a fish and wondered where she had gone wrong, "He called me a little girl!!" she finally shreiked as they started back to the hotel, "Calm down, I'm sure it's just the way he talks, it probbably is used more loosely here than in Japan," he muttered, Rukia was sick enough of always being asked for her ID and her age and occasionally where her parents were, it drove her up the wall when people mistook her for not just a teenager, but a CHILD... she remembered once when Ichigo had taken her to Sanrio in Tokyo a truent officer asked for her ID because he refused to believe she wasn't missing grade school.... sure Ichigo was in hystarics but Rukia was one growl away from tearing that guy limb from limb... she was never allowed to buy anything adult-ish without being asked for her ID card... or in some cases her parent's permission.... she had thought that it was just where she lived that she looked like a child, especially because of her unnaturally large eyes, but she never dreamed everyone looked at her that way, big eyes were common in England... weren't they? When she cut her hair the unneeded attention had died down by about half, but she still found people skeptickal that she was of legal age, atleast sometimes, but once she grew her hair out again it seemed things went back to normal... "Maybe I should cut my hair," she muttered as she took a spoonfull of ice cream in her mouth, "Well it is getting a little long for your usual taste," Ichigo mused, "No I mean CUT. MY. HAIR. OFF." she clairified, this time it was Ichigo who nearly dropped his ice cream, "Wah-!? Not any shorter than you've already had it!?" "Much," "NO!" he said with a grimace, "Why not?! I have the right to do what I want!" "I just mean... don't let that influence your opinion... you told me when you had your hair cut that you missed it being longer, well, it'll take alot more time to grow back if you chop it all off," he replied, she took a strand of ebony hair in her fingers and stared for a moment, she liked it this length, maybe she could use a trim but she really didn't WANT to go back to that short hair, she tried it, just like she had tried having really long hair after Kaien died, but like back then she didn't care for it and went back to her normal style, she didn't like change, not at all, and she had regretted cutting her hair before, she sighed, "How do I look older then? I'm tired of people thinking I'm a kid!" she grumbeled, licking up more ice cream as they walked into the hotel, "Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Kurosaki," the recoptionist said happily, they bowed once and walked on, "Actually," she said with a grin, "I seem to not have much of a problum if I'm wearing a wedding ring...." she hummed, he just shook his head, "Wear jewlry if you want, but don't do something drastic just to make yourself look older ok?" "Depends.... what do you mean 'drastic'?" "Cover yourself in make up, cut your hair shorter than mine... get plastic surgery?" "I am not that stupid Ichigo," she replied as they walked into the hotel room, "I've had enough surgeries to come to the conclusion that I'll never have one WILLINGLY," she replied, he sighed, "You know what I mean Rukia," she muttered an "ok" under her breath and sat down at the desk where her laptop was, turning it on and eating her ice cream as she waited for an answer, "Ah Kuchiki, so you've finally rung in," she lookd up from her ice cream and smiled, quickly straightening her appearence, "C-Captain Histugaya! Hello!" she gasped, "Hey Toshiro!" Ichigo said with a smile as he leaned over Rukia's shoulder, "It's still Captain Hitsugaya!" he grumbeled, "Not for long, Rukia and I are going to finish this stupid assignment soon so we can become captains, ain't that right?" Ichigo asked Rukia with a smirk, she laughed lightly, "Well yes but there's still no reason to be so rude," she said, jabbing him in the side, "Ouch..." he grunted, "Well I do so hope you've found some evidence of whatever mystical monster you've gone after now," he grunted, "Oh, yes Sir I have all the data right here," she said as she slid the samples into the transporter and went back to eating her ice cream, "What.... kind of ice cream is that?" Toshiro asked quietly, "Oh, it's vanilla with cookies in it," he gulped, "Really now...? I have yet to try that.... is it good?" "Very! My favirote flavour is actually a tie between this, strawberry, toffee, chocolate and chocolate and peanut butter," she replied, he cleared his throat, "I'll have to try it sometime..." he muttered, "I digress however, your next stop is Germany," Ichigo sighed in releif, "YES! No more content-hopping!" "Germany is on the other side of Europe you know," "...Crap....."