Body Shock

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or the characters. I wish I did. Just having fun with them for a little while.

A.N: Thank you again for continuing to read this story and for leaving so much positive feedback. Hopefully you are all still enjoying it. A special thank you is for those who have reviewed multiple times. Just keep on sticking with me, everyone.

I haven't read much of the manga so things will mostly be based on what's been said in the anime so far.

"I'm home," Ichigo called as he closed the door behind him.

Yuzu smiled happily, turning to face her brother from where she sat at the table. "Welcome home, Onii-chan!"

"Thanks, Yuzu."

"Ichi-nii," Karin said, also turning from where she sat, "you might want to watch Dad. He's in one of those moods again today."

"What kind of mo-" But Ichigo never got to finish his sentence before Isshin leapt out of nowhere and blew a whistle, the harsh sound of it cutting short any conversation and the blast finding its way directly into Ichigo's ear.

"Welcome home, son! Now you're here we can commence the Kurosaki Family Quality Time Evening!"

"That was right in my ear!" Ichigo yelled, roughly shoving Isshin away from him. "And tonight is supposed to be my night off for quiet time!"

"Your night off?" Karin asked. "But you don't go anywhere in the evenings."

Ichigo froze briefly. "Yeah, but-"

"He has homework, Karin-chan." Yuzu inadvertently saved Ichigo from constructing an explanation. "It's ok, Onii-chan. If you have other things to do then you can do them."

Isshin stood firmly with his hands on his hips. "But we never have proper family time! This is a rare time to stay together for the night after a hard day's work. We'll eat dinner, play games, and watch TV! We've had a busy day at the Kurosaki Clinic and this is the night to relax and partyyyy!" He struck an excited pose, his grin stretching from ear to ear.

"How can you relax and party at the same time?" Karin's sarcastic comment resulted in Isshin's face falling.

"Well, I'm going out for a little while." Ichigo quickly moved past Isshin who was dejectedly looking at his whistle and trying to think of a reply. "I'll be back and then we can have our family time...But then I'm sleeping early." He didn't want to leave Rukia on her own for the evening. It was her night off too after all so why shouldn't they spend it together?

But once Ichigo got upstairs to his room, he noticed that there was nobody there. Well, nobody except a little plushie lion standing on his cushions, angrily pointing a fabric finger at him.

"Kurosaki Ichigo! Your sister came in here today and I had to hide under your bed!" Kon's expression was one of absolute fury and Ichigo found himself wondering yet again how Kon managed to make such a cute face into something so ugly. "Why does she always have to come in here? And she keeps on calling me Boss Tuff! What the hell is up with that?!"

Ichigo felt that he had a headache every time Kon started speaking. Unfortunately, although plushies were silent, Kon sure as hell wasn't. Most of the time his words were either screeched or screamed. "Where's Rukia?" Someone as attached to her as Kon was ought to know her whereabouts.

"Nee-san left a little while ago. She came here to collect something and then left again. And she didn't even say where she was going again!" Kon sniffled a little.

"Hmm." He should probably change quickly and then go out. The sooner he left, the sooner he would be able to come back. If he was able to tell his family that he was sleeping early, then he could sit up in his room with Rukia. He liked talking to her. Sure, Kon would be in the room but he usually ended up sleeping. He was always snoring long before Ichigo finally slept at night. Rukia was fun to talk to if she wasn't so focused on work. Probably because she didn't gloss things over; she was honest and practical as well as clever and witty. She was a very fast learner. How long had it taken her to polish her act at school up to perfection? Apart from suspiciously dragging him away every time her spirit phone beeped, of course. There probably were rumours flying around at school but at least they had their friends, and at least neither of them cared about the rumours.

Or cared about each other in that way...

He wasn't going to get mushy about it, that wasn't like him at all. The fact of the matter was that he did care about Rukia. He cared about her a lot. He enjoyed her company, and there was that dark beauty in her eyes that came from something deep within herself. Probably because she was strictly speaking just a soul residing in a temporary case, if you wanted to put it that way. But if her body was just temporary, and it was just a case and not a real body, then why did her hand always feel warm whenever she grabbed him and said that there was a hollow? Rukia as a girlfriend...the idea of it was strange but not repulsive. He had never really paid attention to girls before, probably because he had never met anyone like Rukia. What would his dad say? He shuddered to think of it. Ichigo then snapped out of his musings for a moment to realise that Kon was still blabbing away about something.

"Shut up, will you?" Ichigo unbuttoned his school shirt and tossed it carelessly on the bed, reaching for a t-shirt.

"How dare you tell me to shut up! I have just as much right to talk as you do!"

"But I don't talk a lot of shit. Turn your back."

"I wouldn't want to look at you anyway." Kon did turn around though, looking out of the window at the darkening sky.

As Ichigo swiftly finished changing his clothes, he went to the window and stood behind Kon. "Rukia keeps disappearing. I hate it when she does that." Then he remembered. Wasn't Rukia supposed to take Kon to Urahara to get rid of him for the night? He had agreed with her when she brought it up earlier, thinking that it was necessary for a degree of peace and quiet.

"Yeah. But Nee-san seemed cheerful today. Ahhh, when Nee-san's happy, I'm happy!" Kon followed this with a cheerful dance along the windowsill.

As Ichigo watched the clouds crawl slowly across the sky like fluffy and sluggish snails, he thought again of Chad, Orihime and Ishida. He agreed that they needed the practice and hoped that no particularly strong hollow would be out playing tonight. It was a nice evening though and as the sun set, the temperature got cooler. The perfect evening but it still didn't stop him from thinking of the what-ifs, even if he was only going out for a short while. Maybe if he was going out he could drop Kon off at the Urahara store, save Rukia some hassle and reassure himself in the process.

"Hey," Ichigo said, picking Kon up by the arm, despite Kon flailing about and shrieking in pain and anger. "You're coming with me. Maybe some fresh air will get rid of the stink that's on you."

"But how can I get fresh air if I'm in your ba-OOF!" As Ichigo stuffed Kon into a small bag and swung it onto his back, he felt relieved that at least he couldn't hear Kon talking properly anymore.

Rukia walked back to Ichigo's house, carrying a small shopping bag with a neatly folded dress in it. Tonight was special so she felt that none of the dresses she had were appropriate and she didn't want to wear her school uniform. Although in one of the magazines she had seen...Even so, it wasn't for her, really.

Strange how humans valued clothes so much. She opened the bag briefly to look at the contents and was pleased by the colour and feel of the material. At least Ichigo had given her some money to use in an emergency. After all, only one store accepted bounty rewards and she highly doubted that she could get a dress there. She hadn't wanted anything incredibly elaborate but the dress was nice enough that it would suffice. She wasn't giving Ichigo the dress, was she? Even though there was nobody who knew what she was thinking, Rukia still turned a little pink. Her heart was fluttering and other...lower...areas were doing the same.

"This will be sorted tonight." She couldn't bear to think what she would do if Ichigo rejected her, though. Probably laugh it off and say that she was just teasing him. Or something like that.

"Please let everything go smoothly tonight..." She didn't know who she was asking but she was hoping that if she wanted it badly enough, then the evening would go perfectly. Even though in her experience, things didn't always work out as planned.

But she had planned every last detail. Kon would be out of his plushie body and hopefully out of the way so that he couldn't interrupt. Either that, or as she had suggested to Ichigo earlier, she would take him to Urahara and tell Kon it was for a check up of some kind, saying Mod Souls had only been inserted into corpses before and not stuffed toys. She didn't really want Kon interrupting. Nothing could interrupt tonight.

But what about Ichigo's family? Rukia considered this for a moment as she rounded the corner. Would they disturb her and Ichigo? She sure as hell hoped not but the way things usually went in the Kurosaki household was that there was a certain bedtime and nobody disturbed anybody after that time unless there was an emergency, seeing as they had to wake up early for school and opening the Kurosaki Clinic and so on. As long as they kept quiet...

Rukia skipped a little bit as she neared Ichigo's house. She was really excited in more ways than one. She wondered what Ichigo's expression would be when he realised what she was planning to do and grinned to herself. It would be a new experience for sure. Rukia slipped the bag a little way down her arm and proceeded to climb up to Ichigo's window, making it easily and slipping inside. She expected Kon to yell a greeting of some kind and run to give her a hug but none came.

She frowned as she carelessly threw the bag on the bed. Where was Ichigo? He should definitely be home by now. She could hear commotion downstairs, probably from another argument between Karin and Isshin.

"Kon?" she whispered. There was no answer. And Ichigo obviously wasn't around from what she could hear of the shouts downstairs.

There was more noise from downstairs and then the sound of the main door closing. Rukia stood at the door of Ichigo's room, listening carefully as the house went quiet. What was going on down there? Had they gone out? Why?

She waited a few more long minutes before drawing the conclusion that she was indeed alone in the house. But that didn't explain where Ichigo and Kon had gone. Would they be together?

Then she realised. He must have taken Kon to Urahara as she had said.

Despite herself, Rukia smiled. Things were working out absolutely wonderfully.

"Yay! Sado-kun, you did it! Yay!"

Chad dropped his arm and unclenched his tough, strengthened fist as the last remnants of a hollow faded into thin air with the hints of a dying scream. He nodded satisfactorily. He then suddenly stumbled in surprise as Orihime jumped up and hugged him violently, still loudly singing his praises.

"I-It was nothing," he said awkwardly.

Ishida was thinking to himself as Orihime began to protest that Chad shouldn't be so modest. Perhaps they would all be able to work in a team after all. Still, a part of him was disappointed that he hadn't been able to kill the hollow before Chad did, but that was part of being a team. You worked together; you didn't get angry because of wanting to claim victory for yourself. So he smiled at Chad also and congratulated him.

"There doesn't seem to be too much activity tonight," Ishida noted.

"That's a good thing!" Orihime released Chad and looked up at the sky. "At least we won't be humiliated on our first mission."

"That's true."

All three of them paused briefly for a moment and exchanged proud smiles.

"So...Perhaps we should continue moving? It doesn't look like there will be any more hollows in this area."

But as soon as Ishida had finished his sentence, his eyes narrowed and that feeling made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his heart rate unconsciously increase. The feeling of a hollow... As an almost reflex reaction he spun around and ignored Orihime's confused cries, feeling spirit power surge through him and manifest itself in the form of his glowing blue bow. Without thinking, Ishida let fly an arrow, watching it shoot through the air, straight for a hollow that was staring to emerge from a dark spot among the clouds.

But the arrow narrowly missed the hollow as it retreated back where it came from.

Even as Orihime started cheering and praising him, Ishida thought to himself how that should not have happened. Hollows had hardly ever managed to move fast enough to evade his bow. And he sure as hell never missed a shot.

After a moment, they walked on again, Ishida troubled.

Some time later, Ichigo was on his way back from the shop, a small carrier bag hanging from his wrist with two strawberry puddings in it. He hoped that Rukia liked strawberries. Maybe it would have been wise to check first. "Idiot."

No response from Kon inside the bag. That was obviously a good thing because maybe then Ichigo could enjoy some time without a headache.

Was he supposed to do something? He could have sworn that perhaps he was forgetting something. Something to do with Kon...

Perhaps Rukia would be back by now. He couldn't think of where she had gone. What if she had gone to get strawberry pudding as well? Ichigo smiled to himself, thinking of how amusing that would be. But he was really looking forward to just resting, hanging out and enjoying a sweet treat. Hopefully Rukia would share the same feeling.

If they were going to be talking a lot, Ichigo was slightly worried that he might let something slip that he didn't particularly want to reveal. Not just yet, anyway. But if it did happen, Ichigo would just play it cool. Make like he was joking or something. Since when had he ever cared what people thought? It wasn't like that in the case of Rukia. He cared what Rukia thought. He hoped that whenever he did tell her whatever he wanted to tell her that she wouldn't reject him. Maybe he just feared rejection. He didn't like failing at something. It gave him a bad feeling.

Like hairs standing on the back of your neck...heart rate raising unconsciously...breathing deepening...muscles tightening, getting ready to spring away...

Ichigo didn't dare to turn around. He could hear the rasping breath and could almost see a glaring smile with wicked teeth even though he wasn't actually looking at the hollow. What did this one look like? What was its power?

"My my my. What a tempting smell..."

He hated it when these things spoke to him. And they never had anything creative to say. But he stayed still for the moment, remaining tense and considering his options as his lips curved into a thin smile.

"Enjoy it while you can."

The hollow chuckled. "I will enjoy it." Ichigo felt the air move as the hollow sucked in a deep breath. There was then the smack of a tongue scraping against lips in anticipation. "And I will enjoy eating it as well..."

Ichigo dived just as the hollow sprang forward and rolled out of the way. The carrier bag of puddings fell away from him into the middle of the street but Ichigo wasn't concerned with that as he hurriedly whipped his backpack in front of him and unzipped it, struggling to make his fingers work. "Kon! Kon!"

Kon appeared looking sleepy. "What?"

"We're switching!"

Kon had no time to respond as Ichigo jammed a hand into his mouth, rooting around for the tiny green pill that would enable him to transform into a shinigami. But he was forced to dive out of the way again as the hollow lunged for him once more.

"Dammit! It's supposed to be my night off from fighting you bastards!" Ichigo found the pill and swallowed it, suddenly experiencing the sensation of being pushed roughly as he changed. Kon stood there dazedly in Ichigo's body before he reacted and moved out of the way, snatching up the backpack and the plushie he was formerly in.

"Hmm...this makes things more interesting. And you certainly smell more delicious!" The hollow smacked its lips together.

The sight repulsed Ichigo. This hollow was seriously going to get it. He had better make this quick. He stood with his sword at the ready and looked straight at the hollow while addressing Kon. "Kon! Go home, check on my family and let Rukia know what's happening. But tell her not to worry, I'll be there soon. This guy won't take long."

"Yes!" Kon started off at a run.

"Now..." Ichigo smiled wickedly, his brow furrowed and his entire being ready for a good fight. "Come and get me, you son of a bitch."

As the hollow moved forwards again, its large feet crashing into the street and leaving indents, neither it nor Ichigo noticed two strawberry puddings in a carrier bag being crushed.