Disclaimer: BLEACH belongs to Kubo Tite, not me. ...Though I won't mind to own Ulquiorra and Toushirou... *get kicked by Kubo-sensei*

Chapter 7: 'Murderer'

Run, run, run… Turn right, turn left. Run, run, run… Turn left. Run, run… Turn right, the right again. Run, run, run…

BANG!

A bullet flew over Rukia's right shoulder.

Eyes widened in shock, the petite Kuchiki glanced over her shoulder just to find their pursuers still hot on their heels—they were just a few feet away behind them. Damn, those guys sure could stick to them like a stamp glued on a letter. It was really hard to shake them off. What a pain in the—

BANG! BANG!

And, God, couldn't they stop shooting?! Those pretty little bullets had almost hit her for several times now. Besides, those damned bang bang sounds were starting to get on her nerves. First, she was forced to run like hell down the dim, seemingly never-ending alleys leading to who-knows-where by Ulquiorra; second, she was tired, her legs were about to give up soon, and her lungs felt as though it'd explode at any moment; third, she was chased by some guys who had short temper and homicidal urge. Very 'nice' and definitely 'unique' experience for her first school trip, right…

"Tch."

Rukia heard Ulquiorra clicked his tongue. Ha, even the Iceman had his limit, and his patience was getting thinner now—so was Rukia's.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra took another turn to the right sharply, pulling Rukia with him. The girl gasped in pain as the green-eyed boy yanked her hand to make her follow his lead.

Seeing their prey took another turn, Ilfort growled in frustration. It was like a sick hunting game between cat and mouse in a maze. And apparently, his partner just added his frustration by shooting at their prey every now and then, waking up half of the residences around there in the process. They'd better be quick and catch her before one of the civilians who was woken up by the sound of the stupid Edrad's revolver call the police. And so the blond guy quickened his pace.

"We'd better be hurry, Brother," Ilfort managed to say between his quite-ragged breaths, his tone deadly serious this time.

Edrad just gave him an incoherent grunt as a reply. He was pretty pissed that he hadn't managed to hit any of those little brats they were chasing yet.

The two partners quickly took the same turn that Ulquiorra took a moment ago. And soon, they both cursed out loud when they found the alley was empty; no sign of their prey. Could they be so fast and had run some good feet ahead now?

"Damn!" Edrad muttered again. He then pushed his legs to run as fast as he could, hoping to catch up with the two brats, and keep the irritated Ilfort tailing behind him.

The loud footsteps of the two men echoed along the walls around the alley. And soon, after the footsteps faded at the distance, the silence fell back upon it.

A lean figure clad in white jacket and black trousers came out from the gap between two huge trashcans lined the wall around the alley's entranceway. For a moment, the boy just stood stiffly, his wide, green eyes shining like jades through the gloom surrounding him; he was watching the other end of the narrow alley, where the two pursuers had gone.

'Heh… seems those guys were just all-muscle-no-brain types,' he mused, 'or maybe they're just simply blind…'

Feeling it was safe enough to continue their way, Ulquiorra looked down at the petite figure of Rukia, who was still crouching between two trashcans in front of him.

"Come on," he said, offering his hand to her.

Rukia sighed; grabbing her bags beside her, she took Ulquiorra's pale hand.

And off they ran again.

--###--

After what seemed like hours, Ulquiorra and Rukia stopped at an empty park located a few blocks away from their previous location. Thank God that blond man and his huge partner hadn't found them again.

Catching her breath, Rukia rested her hands on her knees and examined her surroundings. The park, she found, was quite nice. On an ordinary occasion, Rukia would be happy to sit and take a rest on one of those benches around the beautiful fountain. But she couldn't do that now, could she? No, she wouldn't take a rest like a clueless, stupid girl just then; because that meant she was serving herself on a golden plate for those bad guys who were determined to get her in their hands. She and Ulquiorra shouldn't and couldn't rest here.

Wait… If so, then why did he lead her to stop in this park?

Glancing at Ulquiorra with a suspicious look, Rukia wheezed at him, "Hey… Ulquiorra, why did we stop here? Shouldn't we meet up with your so-called friend somewhere?" Oh, she couldn't hide the sarcastic tone, could she?

Ulquiorra cast a sideway look at her. "We're already at that 'somewhere', you know. And my 'so-called friend' must be around here now, waiting for us," he replied calmly—if he didn't have a superb self-control, he surely would have answered Rukia's question with a mutual sarcastic tone.

As if on cue, a male suddenly appeared from behind them and greeted the two; "Took you long enough."

"We had to shake some 'trash' off first, that's why," Ulquiorra said, turning around to face his teal-haired friend who was standing in front of a bunch of thick bushes not so far from where Ulquiorra stood.

Following the pale-skinned boy's gesture, Rukia was quite surprised to find none other than Grimmjow stood there. So, Ulquiorra's so-called friend who was going to help them was this famous troublemaker from their school? Was it really okay to trust him?

Realizing that Rukia's wide, purple eyes were staring at him as if he was some sort of alien or a new species, Grimmjow snickered. "Stop giving me that look, Midget, I'm here to help this Emo saving your fucking life, you know," he said mockingly.

Rukia's eyes narrowed slightly, "What did you just call me, Bastard?" How dare he call her a midget!

Grimmjow twitched in annoyance and anger (another short-tempered person, indeed). Who was she to call him a bastard?

"What? Are you fucking deaf or too fucking stupid to understand my words? Should I repea—"

"Grimmjow," Ulquiorra cut him off. "We have no time for this childish behavior," he said with a slight warning in his melancholic voice, "We'd better get this over with. Very quickly."

Grimmjow snorted upon hearing Ulquiorra's short speech and seeing that smug smirk on Rukia's face. "It's not over yet between us, Midget," he barked to Rukia, turning on his heels and disappearing into the bushes behind him.

"Anytime," Rukia said mockingly, the smirk firm on her lips. Ha! So, the mighty Grimmjow was obedient to Ulquiorra Schiffer? She thought she had just got some great blackmail material on the famous troublemaker in her school.

Sighing silently, Ulquiorra then followed Grimmjow, motioning the petite Kuchiki to come with him as well.

There, behind the bushes, was a quite spacious ground—spacious enough to place a dark blue sport bike there. True, Rukia didn't know much about motor vehicles, but upon seeing the sport bike gleaming under the moonlight, she thought it must be a good one. She liked its elegant yet strong appearance, and she could tell that the bike was designed for some sort of racing purpose.

"It was rather difficult to put her here—keeping her safe from the annoying branches of the bushes wasn't easy—but it's the best place I can find to hide her," Grimmjow said, indicating the sport bike.

Ulquiorra just nodded and approached it. He examined the bike for a moment before turning his gaze to Rukia. He then realized that the girl was only in her pajamas. So, he proceeded to pull off his white jacket, revealing a black, long-sleeved t-shirt underneath it, and handed it to Rukia. "Put this on," he said, "it'll keep you warm."

Rukia took the jacket and put it on silently. Actually, she was a bit taken aback with his concern for her. Ulquiorra couldn't be that nice, right? He was the Ice Cube Dude, after all. Or maybe he actually wasn't as cold as what Rukia had assumed him to be…

"After this, I'll be on my way to Tokyo to help Nel," Grimmjow said, tossing the bike's key to Ulquiorra who already had his helmet covering his head with the dark eye shield over his green eyes. "You won't have any back up from here on, so stop being a fucking chicken and don't get yourself troubled by just some 'lowly trash'," he added mockingly.

"I think you're the one who needs to be worried about," Ulquiorra retorted calmly, handing another helmet to Rukia. "I doubt you can do any good for Nel's task."

"What was that? Did I just hear you beg for a beating?" Grimmjow growled. "Don't forget to keep my dear bike safe! If you cause even a single scratch on her, I swear I'll kill you!"

Ignoring his friend's threat, Ulquiorra swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life. Then, he turned to Rukia. "Get on," he said.

Rukia twitched slightly at the authority held in his voice; she didn't like to be bossed around. But, well, this was definitely not the right time for arguing, so she just obeyed the green-eyed boy and climbed onto the bike, her left hand clutching her bag, while her right one gripped Ulquiorra's t-shirt.

"You'd better hold on tighter," Ulquiorra said.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Rukia carefully placed her bag between her stomach and Ulquiorra's back so that it wouldn't fall during the ride. Then, she hesitantly latched her arms around Ulquiorra's waist. Rukia was quite surprised to find that Ulquiorra, albeit his lean appearance, was quite muscular—though not as muscular as that teal-top jerk over there, but still! Oh God… she could feel those muscles of his abs beneath the black fabric of his t-shirt. Rukia felt herself go red, and she could hear Grimmjow snicker upon seeing her flushed.

Still with a red face, Rukia glared at Grimmjow, only to earn a huge mocking grin from said boy. Rukia swear she could hear the jerk mumble something that sounded like, "Interesting."

'Go boil your head, Grimmjow,' Rukia thought.

Ulquiorra, who was oblivious to the exchanges between his two companions—or simply ignored them, drove the bike out of its hiding place after he decided that Rukia's hold was firm enough. With a roar, the bike sped onto the road, leaving Grimmjow in the dust behind.

"The Midget and the Emo. Funny couple," Grimmjow muttered and walked off the park, a devilish grin spread over his lips.

--###--

At first, their ride was smooth (as smooth as possible for a bike driven at 160 km/hour). But when they reached a suspension bridge, two black cars showed up behind them. And the cars in question started trying to pass them in order to block their way.

"Back up…" Rukia heard Ulquiorra murmur as he caught a glimpse of the cars.

The cars tried and tried, but after a while, they found that it was futile because Ulquiorra didn't even let them to get near. He kept moving the bike through narrow spaces between the vehicles on the road, slipping from one to another, like a butterfly dancing trough the small holes in a spider's web—avoiding every sticky yarn on its way. It was dangerous, indeed, but very effective at confusing the enemy.

Frustrated, the enemy decided to change their tactics; the men in the damned cars started raining them with bullets, which mostly were aimed for the bike's tires.

And it led Rukia into a (rather unimportant) question: what's with today and bullets?

'Must be 'National Shoot-the-Kuchiki Day',' Rukia thought sarcastically as she tightened her arms around Ulquiorra's waist and shut her eyes tight. Really, the sounds that came from the guns were irritating and frightening at the same time.

But Rukia was grateful that Ulquiorra was proven to be a skilled rider; he managed to dodge the shots, and he kept them both untouched with that dancing-like maneuver. But the petite Kuchiki wasn't really sure as to how long they could dodge those bullets coming for them in a rain-like way.

Suddenly, she felt Ulquiorra made a sharp turn to the left, barely braking in the process. And just like that, everything became silent; the whistles of bullets and the buzzing sounds came from the cars on the road had gone, replaced by the swishing sounds of the wind whipped around them. Curiously, Rukia opened her purple eyes, and she found that they had passed the bridge and were speeding down another empty alley in Kyoto. Rukia glanced back and saw the two cars had stopped in front of the entranceway of the alley. Ah, surely a car couldn't get through a narrow space like this…

"This feels like a déjà vu…" Rukia muttered, staring at the dirty wall on the left side of the alley. "Is it 'National Shoot-the-Kuchiki Day' or 'National Running-away-through-an-alley Day'?"

Ulquiorra just ignored the utterly stupid comment from the petite girl behind him and increased the speed of the bike instead. And for the first time since they met, Rukia didn't really mind being ignored by the stoic boy, she didn't even bother to yell at him for ignoring her. After all, the quicker Ulquiorra brought her to a safe place—her home, the better.

So, the rest of their ride was in silence; Ulquiorra focused on driving the bike at a high speed through one alley after another and avoiding the main road where the chance to get caught by the enemy was pretty high, while Rukia just busied herself with her own thoughts—mostly about what had happened to her since the first time she arrived in Kyoto.

--###--

In the northern part of Kyoto, in the area named Tango area, there was a small shop specialized in selling furisode and komon kimonos—the Urahara Shoten. And right now, a man with a green-stripped bucket hat named Urahara Kisuke—the owner of Urahara Shoten—was standing in front of the shop, tapping his foot against the hard pavement beneath him and fanning himself with his ever-present fan. His dark green coat fluttered behind him as the wind passed by, his dark blue eyes looked blankly at the empty street in front of his shop. Urahara, was waiting for someone… and this someone was late; according to the information he got from Grimmjow a moment ago, he should have been here now. Did he get some trouble on his way here?

Suddenly, he heard a roar of an engine came from afar. Soon, he saw a dark blue sport bike coming at him with such speed that made Urahara question why the police hadn't caught the bike's rider yet. But apparently, Urahara had no time to wonder about it because he suddenly heard the brakes squeal, nearly deafening him in the process, and the dark blue bike came to an abrupt stop right in front of him.

"Geeze, Schiffer-san, with the way you drive, I'm sure someday you'll get yourself caught by the police," Urahara said with a smile. "By the way, you're a bit late. Why's that?"

Ulquiorra lifted the helmet's eye shield up and stared blankly at the, man stood in front of him. "Trash got in our way, Urahara-san," the green-eyed boy answered.

"Ah, I see," he said. "Well then, let's get inside and have a little talk." With that, Urahara made his way toward the shop.

As the green-coated figure of Urahara disappeared behind the shop's door, Rukia hissed suspiciously to Ulquiorra, "Who's that man? And why are we here? I thought you're going to take me home when you said you wanted to save me!"

"I believe my exact words were 'I'm here to save you' not 'I want to save you'. And yes, I'll take you to your home, but not now. Right now, I have a matter to discuss with Urahara-san," Ulquiorra said in a bored tone.

Rukia growled, purple eyes narrowing dangerously. "Screw your words! And how am I supposed to trust you if you keep hiding everything from me?! Come to think of it, I don't even know who you really are, Ulquiorra Schiffer!"

There went a pregnant silence.

After a moment, Ulquiorra spoke, "I can explain everything to you latter. But for now, just get off the bike and follow Urahara-san inside, I have to hide this bike on the back of the shop first."

For a while, Rukia just glared at the boy; she was pondering whether to trust him and do what he said or not. But then, she sighed and climbed off the bike with her bag clutched in her right hand. "Fine. But you owe me a long, long explanation, Ulquiorra."

The raven-haired girl took a deep breath and encouraged herself to come into the shop. Once she was inside, she took the helmet off her head so that she could see the room more clearly. The shop, she noted, was not so big, but it was very neat and traditionalistic. Rukia's purple eyes roamed the shop, trying to find that green-coated man, Urahara, but unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found. Except the kimonos, the only thing she found there was a sliding door across the room. So, Rukia stalked toward the said door and opened it in hope to find Urahara.

Poking her head inside, Rukia found a long corridor with some other sliding doors on the both sides of it. Then, she called out, "Uhm… Excuse me?"

"Just come here, Kuchiki-san!" Urahara's voice came floating through the sliding door directly on Rukia's left.

Rukia was stunned. 'He knows my name?' she gulped.

She didn't really know if she could trust this man or not, but she decided to give him a try. So, she strode over to the door, opened it and stepped into the room, which she found out to be a living room. Just like the shop, this room was in traditional style as well—tatami flooring, shoji covering the window, and small, short table in the middle of the room, right in front of a TV set. And there, sat facing the small table, was none other than Urahara.

"Please, sit down," Urahara said casually, eyes glued on Rukia. "Make yourself comfortable."

Rukia nodded and sat down on a sitting pillow across him, putting the helmet and her bag next to her. She was pretty cautious; if this man proved to be untrustworthy, then she would immediately take her leave. That was why her sitting position was so stiff, because she prepared her body to kick the sliding door behind her off its sill and run out of the room at any moment if the situation forced her to do so.

As if he could read her mind, Urahara smiled. "No need be so cautious like that, Kuchiki-san. I assure you, I'm not a bad guy. I'm just a mere honest, handsome, perverted merchant," he said.

Hearing the 'perverted' part, Rukia's face twisted cynically. What kind of man who had just confessed that he himself was a pervert? But she had no time pondering about it because her thought was interrupted by the sound came from the sliding door. And when she glanced over her shoulder to see who was coming, she met face to face with a little girl whose black hair was pulled into pigtails.

"Tea," the little girl whispered shyly as she brought the tray with three cups of tea on it into the living room. She then put the cups onto the small table.

"Thank you, Ururu," said Urahara.

Rukia just smiled to thank the little girl whose name was Ururu.

Ururu just bowed politely to the two people sat around the table. She then asked Urahara, "Should I call Okaa-san, Otou-san?"

Urahara nodded, "Yes please. I'm sure Schiffer-san would like to ask her advice as well."

"Okay then." With that, Ururu left the room.

"Ah, sweet, little daughter of mine," Urahara murmured more to himself.

When the door was pushed open again a second latter, it was Ulquiorra who stepped into the room with his usual blank look, as if nothing had happened this night.

"Ah, Schiffer-san, done with the bike?" Urahara greeted the boy.

Ulquiorra didn't bother to answer the elder man; he just sat down on Rukia's left. "Where's your wife?" he asked flatly.

"Ururu is waking her up. Would you like to start discussing whatever it is you want to discuss with us now or should we wait for Yoruichi first?"

"Let's wait for Yoruichi-san," Ulquiorra said, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Urahara nodded. "Well then, as we wait for my wife, how about we use the spare time for you, Kuchiki-san?" he asked cheerily to the raven-haired girl sat across him.

"Pardon?" Rukia blinked.

"Well, I suppose it sucks for you to be chased around like a criminal for a reason that you don't even know, am I correct? Besides, I'm sure that Schiffer-san here must hasn't explained anything to you," —Urahara grinned to Ulquiorra who merely clicked his tongue— "He must thinks that it's unnecessary to explain the details about his mission to you—well, everything outside 'succeeding the mission' is unnecessary for him. And I bet you're dying to know what the hell is happening to you, right?"

Rukia stunned. Was this man an oracle? "Uh… yeah, he hasn't told me anything yet. And I have a bunch of questions in my mind now," Said Rukia with an extra glare to Ulquiorra.

"So," Urahara spoke again, "Why don't let me explain the trouble you're facing right now for you? And then you can ask any questions you have in mind, I and Schiffer-san will try to answer them."

"Well, that sounds good for me," Rukia said.

"Okay. So, do you know why those people are pursuing you?" Urahara asked, earning a bold 'no' from Rukia. "Hmm…. You have to know that the root of this chaos you're facing is a strange letter gotten by your father, Kuchiki Byakuya, three months ago."

Rukia's eyes widened at the mentioning of her father's name, and a how-could-he-knew-my-father's-name-too written all over her face. "Strange… letter?"

"Yes. There was no name written on the envelope, but it was clearly directed to your father, because he found it perched neatly on his desk that morning when arrived in his office," Urahara explained.

"What did it say?" Rukia asked curiously, wondering why her father hadn't told anything about it to her, and whether her mother had already knew about this or not.

This time, it was Ulquiorra who answered her question, "One word: 'Murderer'."

And Rukia's purple eyes went wide in shock.

--TO BE CONTINUED--

Anyways, I want to thank all the readers who has kept up with this fic until it finally reached the seventh chap! :) You guys are the best!! Every single review you've given to me is like a drop of precious water in the middle of a never-ending desert that keeps me alive! XD

And special thanks goes to Cat Alex for her hard work on beta-ing this chap! :D

So, review please? :)