-sighs- Now what have I gotten myself into?

Well, in honor of dear Rukia's birthday, I wanted to write something. So I got together with my sister... and this is what resulted from that plotting session. It's kind of a sequel to Beautiful, but I still like that as a stand-alone story, so here we are with my new chapter fic, Control. Rating is for safety-there'll be violence, and a bit of sensuality. Setting is pre-Hueco Mundo, so minor spoilers through the Arrancar arc. And sadly, the only Bleach I own is the several hundred dollars' worth of manga, DVDs, figurines, posters, cards, keychains, and videogames that take up my entire paycheck most months.

Please, someone hurt me if I try this again.

xx

Rukia is fighting for her life.

She isn't quite sure what happened. All she knows is that one minute she was leaning over Ichigo, beginning to heal his wounds... and the next, she was flying through the air, blood splashing the pavement from a shallow cut across her shoulder. Angry, she had turned to see what had managed to sneak up on them, but anger was doused in a wash of cold fear when she saw what had been the cause of her injury.

Ichigo was no longer lying on the ground. He was standing, and turning toward her, and his eyes were black and yellow and empty. And as she saw him smirk, she realized what must have happened.

The hollow who had taken Ichigo's place licked his lips, smiling at her reaction.

"Nice to meet you, dear Rukia-chan."

He pointed his sword at her, and the bandage on the hilt began to wind itself around his arm.

"Care to dance?"

xx

The hollow feels alive, for the first time in a long time. He flicks his tongue-no, not his tongue, this body still belongs to the King, at least for the time being-out of their mouth, tasting the sweet night air. He can feel the blood flowing through their veins, the breath rushing into their lungs, and it feels good. For a moment, he just stands there in the street, relishing the fact that he is now, finally, in control.

A flicker of movement catches his attention, and he turns to see the girl, the King's precious Rukia, drawing her sword as her eyes grow cold. "You," she hisses. "What have you done with him?"

He says nothing, just smiles at her. Her eyes narrow. "Ichigo!" she yells. "Ichigo, I know you can hear me, so fight back! I know you can defeat him!"

The hollow sneers. "Sorry, Rukia-chan. 'Ichigo' isn't in right now. Can I take a message?"

The girl in front of him opens her mouth to respond, but he beats her to it.

"Bankai."

xx

Rukia stills, taking a deep breath as she tries to conceal the fear she feels for Ichigo. For, not of. She will never fear Ichigo, she trusts him too much for that. But as she looks up at him, at the thin black blade he now bears, she cannot control the fear that she may not be able to stop this hollow. He is strong, strong enough to defeat even her Nii-sama, and Rukia knows that she is not nearly as strong as Byakuya. The only way she can hope to win is to use her knowledge of Ichigo to try and weaken the hollow's control.

I can do this, she thinks. I have to... for Ichigo's sake.

So she raises her sword, and prepares for battle.

She blinks, and suddenly the hollow has disappeared from in front of her. She spins to meet his blade as he jumps toward her from the left, and the force of his blow drives her backward. She jumps aside, parrying his blows, unable to do more than block as he presses his advantage.

As she jumps backward, attempting to get out of his range long enough for her to regain her breath, her foot hits the curb on the side of the street and she stumbles. Grinning madly, Ichigo-no, it's not him, Ichigo would never do anything like this, you must remember that!-sweeps his sword toward her throat. Rukia manages to duck, but the sword slices a shallow cut across her right cheek. She hits the ground, barely rolling out from under him before the tip of his sword hits the ground where her left arm had been a moment before. Panicked, she shoves her hand toward his chest, palm out, and yells.

"Hadou no san-juu-san, soukatsui!"

The force of her kidou drives him back, and she uses the moment of distraction to scramble to her feet. Turning, she runs from him, trying to find a position where she can defend herself properly.

She hears a whisper of sound behind her and spins, holding up Shirayuki to block an oncoming attack... and finds that the street before her is empty. Ichigo is gone.

Before she can react, an arm snakes around her neck.

"Found you, Rukia-chan."

xx

...I can't believe that took me about six hours to write. Hopefully, the next chapter (and a better rewrite of this one) will be up by the end of the week. Complaints? Comments? Send me a review. Thanks for reading, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who finds dear Hichigo so intriguing. (And hot.)

See you later!