The Chemical Reaction

Atagoki: Here we are, once again. Reading another one of Dawn's never ending supply of Bleach fics. Wooplah! Anyway, this one is AU ftw because I'm losing my touch...so bear with my insane imagination and "creativity" as I try to create a fun and imaginative and interesting storyline. Enough banter, let's get on with the story.

Story: The Chemical Reaction

By: Dawn Shard

Rating: T for language, sexual references, alcohol/drug/tobacco references, sensuality

Warnings: None in particular for this chapter; probably slight language...but that's it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach; nor the chain around my ankle which that bastard Aizen put to keep me writing when I lost a bet. —.—"

Prologue

The only true knowledge is in knowing that you know nothing — Socrates

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Present day

Rukia opened her eyes softly and tried to reason out where she was. It occurred to her she was still in her brother's house, completely ignoring his instructions of preparing for the move. At this point, she began to think of what she was going to do. Would she either ignore the empty suitcases and boxes screaming for her to fill them, or would she succumb and leave this place for a long time?

Rukia knew a lot of things. As long as she had lived, she had to admit she knew a lot of things. And Rukia was an educated person.

She spoke several languages fluently—Japanese (her native tongue), English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portguese, Korean, and at present moment, she was learning Greek and Mandarin. She was a linguistics expert. However, she had to admit she also knew very little.

For one, she did not know how to solve a simple geometric equation. She did not know how to balance a chemical equation. She did not know how it was that plants could sexually reproduce or how it was her best friend Renji had such a great poker face. She did not know why she was allergic to pollen or polyester. She did not know why the sky was blue or how the leaves turned green every spring. Hence why her grades in school were so low—at least for sciences and maths.

However, one thing she did learn in science was that love was a chemical reaction. Just a chemical reaction in your brain. Which was spurred on from chocolate and peas. And sometimes alcohol and drugs.

So every time a guy said he "loved" her, she'd tell him he's just experiencing a chemical reaction in his brain and "to kindly fuck off before she kicked his ass all the way to the remains of Chernobyl." Part of that came from not ever experiencing love. The other part came from fear of experiencing it.

But when the autumn haired young man stood in her door way as she opened the door which had been knocked upon, Rukia lost all control in her legs. They turned to jelly and mush, and she stumbled forward, then backward. Her knees buckled and she collapsed on the ground. The uncovered porch was holding water from the downpour of rain and salty tears mixed with warm rain streamed down her face. Her body became soaked by the second and soon she stopped feeling the sensation of water pouring down her back. Her eyes looked up for a second to see him, bent at the knees and arching his back towards her. His hand cupped her chin and a gentle thumb wiped away the combination of tears and rain.

"Don't go, please."

That was it. All he said. Three words. Three words that had more meaning than anything; even "I love you." Even "I would die for you." And at that moment, it was all the motivation she needed. And all the reason she needed to remember how she got here.

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"I don't understand what the point of kidnapping this...boy is." Rukia lamented softly, her eyes cold and hard.

"He's a free lance for information recovery or liberation of information. Doesn't matter; I know for a fact he's worked on liberating stuff for the CIA and I want to know what he knows."

Her eyes blinked a few times, then she tightened her jaw and folded her arms. "You've got to be shitting me Renji; I'm as stretched as it is...the entire thirteenth division is. Not to mention, I'm up to my eyeballs in shit Ukitake-san gave me. You can't possibly imagine that I have time to wipe snot off this kid's nose and do all my—"

"Christ, Rukia...you're such a whiny ass bitch. I talked to your boss and he gave it to some others to spread it out. So you have no way out of doing this."

She frowned and stood up, then used her open palm to shove him backward into a wall harshly, then stormed out of the room, fingernails gripping so tightly into her skin little crescents began forming. "Baka..." Rukia hissed. "And I imagine I have to appropriate him tonight, no?"

"Yep. Have fun with that."

"Sixty-one kilograms? I have to lug that all the way back here? You're out of your fucking mind, Renji...out of your mind..." she exclaimed, slamming the door to the conference room behind her and storming out.