Forced

CHAPTER 5 – Wanting & Bargaining

By- HichixIchi27

Disclaimer- I own this plot. But I do not take ownership of its characters. I do not profit from this story.

A/N- ok. Wow its been like fo-eva! My deepest apologies go out to everyone. I have literally the worst luck with computers in the world. It crashes, it comes back fixed it some how breaks again. Welllllll anyhoo sorry for the delay, and yes I know about what's going on in the manga right now. And sorry but I'm not going to change a story I thought of a year ago to fit the manga. Lol maybe in another life time. You guys already know I have no beta, so if there's errors and what not I'm sorry, if I were better at grammar I would fix this stuff myself but unfortunately I'm terrible at it. Lots of Rukia in this one, so hope yall like Rukia. But that's enough go on read and enjoy . . . hopefully

Rukia wheezed out the last of her air as the last strangling string was tightened on her corset. Her hands were gripping as tightly as they could onto the dresser in front of her, it felt as if she were to press down much harder the wood would snap and splinter underneath her tiny fingers. She had to bite her tongue to keep from cursing at her ever fateful maid. "Ahh, Y-yuki. . .aah hoo . . . no air." Rukia managed to squeak out in-between gasps. "This is crushing . . . me." She had to seal her eyelids down because if she didn't her eyes might pop out of her head!

"OH! Sorry Rukia, it's just that Cho- sama said to get it as tight as possible." The petit pink haired servant girl quickly started undoing the crisscrossing strings.

Rukia gave a sharp inhale, one similar to when a person breaks the surface of water just before drowning. She slammed an open hand down on the dresser as her back arched. She then slowly looked over her shoulder at Yuki. "Don't worry, a-ah-" she cringed a bit at getting feeling back into her ribcage. "You did fine at getting it tight enough." She felt Yuki re-tighten the last bit of the lace-up material, not nearly as tight as the first time, but tight enough to make breathing just a bit more difficult than usual. Rukia straightened her posture and looked at herself in the mirror the accompanied the back of the dresser. She looked, thin, pale, tiered, she could go on forever, but if she was honest with herself she looked a bit ridiculous. What Japanese heiress of one of the three great noble clans wears a corset!? To meet none other than the prince of the soul society, Rukia then got a nasty thought. Pshh, probably has some weird fetish for Victorian style women. Rukia felt a cold shudder run down her spine. What if the prince really did have some sort of freaky 1700 western clothing fetish? What if he liked to . . . She needed to stop herself. Her thoughts getting out of hand, he was probably just a normal guy, with ah, she swallowed hard normal uh- fetishes. Yeah, normal.

"I wonder why you aren't being dressed in traditional garb to meet the prince." Yuki thought allowed. "Oh, ya know what?" Her silver eyes met a distant looking purple in the mirror. "I bet the castle matches this style too!" She sounded way too excited. Rukia's mouth almost hit the floor when Yuki continued.

"Ah! Like an old, humungous, stone laden castle guarded by dragons and a moat! Oh it sounds so exciting."

Rukia looked blankly at Yuki who now seemed to be lost in some sort of middle aged renaissance fantasy world. "Well if you'd like to go in my place, that's fine with me." Rukia said developing an evil grin. She really was feeling better after the walk, and dressing wasn't half bad.

"Ha-ha right, you know on second though, I'm probably . . . uh . . . allergic to dragons?" They both laughed at Yuki's week attempt at protecting herself from being shipped to the prince in a corset and big red bow by Rukia.

"What's all this talk about dragons I hear?" Cho's aged and wise voice rang questioningly from behind the changing wall.

"Ah . . . nothing Grandma Cho we'll be done in a second." Rukia called out as she quickly lifted up the rest of her ensemble and shoved it into Yuki's arms. Yuki accepted the dark blue lump of fabric as she whispered "Nice save." quietly into Rukia's ear.

Rukia lifted her arms up and allowed Yuki to place the rest of the garment on her. It was strange the women outside this dressing room, Cho, probably knew everything about this, who she was betrothed to, when, where, why, and everything in between. Yet, the small raven reaper couldn't bring herself to ask any of these questions. Maybe it was out of respect? Or maybe on some insanely deep subconscious level in the darkest depths of her mind, she trusted Cho. Maybe that sly ever knowing smile might have been a good thing. Rukia let out a long sigh, it didn't really matter either way, positive thoughts didn't make it any easier to just throw your life away and let yourself be sold to the highest bidder. Her eyes had previously been locked with a swirl of misplaced coloring on the dark wooden desk, until she heard that familiar voice of her grandmother but so much closer. Hands hardened by years of use were suddenly gripping her shoulders, and shoving her towards the full length mirror at the end of the wall. Rukia stumbled over her own feet until she finally felt her body connect with the ground. It had been so long since she had actually fallen and hit the ground, because whenever she fell before Ichigo was always there to catch her. Weather she was falling form several miles up in the sky and had just been knocked down by a hollow, or weather she had had just simple slipped on the tiled floor in the kitchen while she was making him rice. Ichigo had never let her fall.

"Rukia you look beautiful . . ." The elders voice faded off as Rukia looked up at her reflection in the mirror. Blue and white was wrapped around her like elegant strokes from a painters brush. The dress was fairly simple for the style, sleeveless, and strait over the stomach. There was a layer of blue ruffles that reached around her dainty shoulders, an equally decorated boarder of white peeking out from underneath the collar of the dress, and a large blue bow blending into the embroidery on the chest. The skirt only had one layer of blue and one layer of white with no embroidery. The first layer, the blue, looked as if it had several because of the stitching and how it weaved In and out of itself with areas that dipped in and out but tapered toward s the end of the dress ever so nicely. The next layer of pristine white framed the bottom with elegance that only could have been perfected by an expert seamstress. But the thing that stuck her as the most shocking was the single tear rolling down her cheek. Quickly she wiped it off with the palm of her hand hoping that no one noticed. Rukia was disappointed in herself, she cried so easily now. Never before had she felt so weak, and never before had she looked so beautiful.

"Ah. Well we know that it fits now." Cho said satisfied to no one in particular. "This means we won't have to spend time on extra sewing."

Rukia's heart was in her throat, if no time was spent on sewing and tucking that would mean her date to meet the prince would be moved up. She really just wanted to sink into the floor and disappear, it seemed as though reality would not let Rukia escape its tight grasp. God and that's all she wanted to do, escape. If there was any way, and chance she could take she would do it in a heart beat. A thought appeared suddenly in her mind, a picture of her signing an old yellowed piece of paper in her own blood as she relinquished her soul to the blurred red figure that stood beside her. Rukia was appalled at the thought, though she wasn't quite sure, if given the chance she may even sell her soul. Rukia sighed. "If only it were that easy . . ." she whispered under her breath so no one else could hear her quiet plea.

Standing up and brushing herself off, she made sure nothing had damaged the magnificent dress as she gave it look. Although she did wish it would have torn into a thousand pieces when she fell. At second glance it was actually quite nice, and the blue was a similar color to the dress she often wore in the human world, a nice friendly shade of blue. The light must have played a trick on her, when she had at first noticed its color it was much too rich and deep blue for her. Too aggressive, but this . . . this wasn't so bad. She grabbed a handful of fabric, it felt like silk, probably was too. No expenses would be spared for this glorious occasion. The dark haired shinigami thought sarcastically. She wondered what Ichigo would think if he saw her in this dress. He'd probably think she looked ridiculous, and then say something along the lines of. "They should have given you heels, midget." Rukia grimaced; she didn't even want to know what he might really say. Ah! Here she was aging thinking about Ichigo! What was wrong with her? Maybe she only wanted to see him so badly now because she wasn't allowed to? Rukia concluded that this was the only plausible reason, just the plain old rebellious spirit that resided within her.

Her large violet eyes wandered over to Yuki who was struggling with the many other dresses that had been laid out for Rukia to try on. She couldn't wait for the sleep over tonight with Yuki, and now since the date of her arrival at the soul palace was going to be moved up, this would be the last one she would ever have. Her eyes returned to the image of the foreign women standing in the mirror, she was going to pretend she didn't know who this was, and she never wanted to know. The women who would dress this way every day, due her hair, and wear make up like a doll was someone she never wanted to know. Yet, she somehow had to become.

Rukia stumbled along the cobble stone path; she would have fallen if it hadn't been for the sobriety of her friend. After the fitting was over Rukia had thought it a good idea to raid the mansions for only its best sake. This was suppose to be a celebration after all. The petite reaper took in a large breath of air and sighed, the alcohol was giving her that warm fuzzy feeling inside. "Hah thanks Yuki." She said as she regained her balance for a short period of time.

Oh my god! Yuki thought in terror, I knew Rukia was kind of a light weight but she only had a few sips so far! Were going to get caught, oh my god, oh my god, Kami help me! "Ah!" Yuki peeped quietly as she rushed over to Rukia who was now standing on top of the biggest rock she could find in the middle of a Zen garden. She just seemed to slip away in this condition. "Rukia!" Yuki stated through stress clenched teeth. "Were going o get caught if you keep acting like this." There was nothing but pure pleading coming from the servant girl's eyes. Oh man, some serious action regretting was going on right now. Yuki just merely wanted to cheer her friend up a bit. And now she was being punished for trying to be a good person. But the way Rukia had looked when they left the fitting room . . . she was so sad, but now it seemed-

"I don't care Yuki, not any more; I'm care free, not a care in world!" Rukia said stretching her arms up to the sky and standing as tall as she could.

"Rukia you're going to-"

"Umph! Ooow, Yuki why didn't you catch me?" Rukia whined as she got up, bracing herself against the large rock. She brushed the dirt off of the light brown kimono she was wearing. The kimono had a deep chestnut brown emanating in a tree-like fashion from the bottom and up the sides. The small reapers hair was also still up in a loose but decorative bun, a bit of her bangs escaped from the ties hold and fell just above her eyes.

"Er. . . fall . . ." Yuki finished the remaining fragment of her sentence. She watched as her friend battled against gravity and eventually loose. Yuki chuckled as Rukia tumbled to the growned again, she reached out a hand to help up her unstable friend. "God you're a bad drunk." She said as she hoisted Rukia's arm around her shoulder. They started towards Rukia's quarters again, only a bit further. Yuki thought longingly, as they continued down the path. Rukia continuously batting at Yuki's sleeve like a cat pawing at a mouse. It was where she had hidden the sake bottle, and Yuki wasn't going to take it out until she deemed it was safe.

"Yuki . . ." Rukia's now small voice reached her ears.

"Yes Rukia?" The silver haired maid asked as they walked up the steps to Rukia's room together, soon finding the sliding door and opening it. Yuki watched as the now slightly depressed looking form of her friend made her way to her bed and flopped down on it face first into the pillow.

"Am I a bad person?" A muffled sounding sentence came from the pillow faced shinigami.

Yuki sighed, "Rukia just because you can't hold your liquor doesn't mea-"

"No, not that." Rukia said sitting up and turning towards Yuki who was now making her way towards Rukia. "About the whole wedding thing . . . am I over reacting?" her already hot face seemed to get a tinge darker as she asked the question.

Yuki didn't really know what to say. She entered the room while shutting the thin door and set herself on the edged of Rukia's bed and thought about the question she had been asked. In one hand Yuki had never seen Rukia react this way to something in her life, but in the other, if presented with the same situation she wouldn't know how to react either. But then again this is the duty of an heiress so? "Umm . . ." Yuki started thinking about what to say that wouldn't upset her somehow very drunk friend. "I thought you said you didn't have a care in the world." Yuki said smiling, knowing that after this they could hopefully get started with the fun. "So, why worry?" Yuki said in hopes of picking up Rukia's mood. She even removed the stolen bottle of sake she was previously hiding in her sleeve.

"Because I just can't help but worry." Rukia said a hint of stress in her tone as she reached out a delicate hand for the bottle.

Yuki let Rukia have the bottle deciding that she probably couldn't get much worse before she would pass out. "I'm letting you have this but only if you promise not to do anything stupid."

Rukia nodded with a weak smile and took a swig of the alcohol. Rukia sucked air through her teeth in a hiss. "Ahhh. Nothing like sake to take the days trouble away. Haha." The drink was clearly taking a tighter hold on the young Kuchuki. She handed the bottle back to Yuki who, preferring to stay sober and babysit Rukia, just set the bottle beside her on the ground.

"So." Yuki started trying to get this thing started. "What's the world of the living like?" Yuki asked with curious, she had never been to the world of the living before, and it made for a good change of subject. Or so she thought until her friends face fell and she sunk back down into the bed while groaning.

"uuh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring it up . . ." Yuki said waving her hands back and forth in front of her, the gesture was clearly to emphasize both that she didn't have to talk about it and how sorry she was.

Rukia turned her head towards Yuki but didn't bother lifting it up from the comfort of her pillow. "No, its fine, I really do need to vent though." A small smirk coming and then leaving her face just as quickly as it had appeared. She rolled onto her back and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm . . . the world of the living lets see . . ." Rukia's look of concentration hardened. "Ah! I know!" She exclaimed almost shooting up from her former blob-like position, scaring the timid Yuki half to death. "They have these wonderful inventions call 'juice pouches', they're nifty little devices made out of thin pliable plastic that you poke a straw through and sip away." A grin spread across her face as she continued. "That was one of the first things I learned about in the world of the living." She looked at Yuki for her reaction, which currently seemed to be a mix of confusion and amazement at this surely new discovery. "Yeah, Ichigo taught me-" Ichigo. Rukia's voice seemed to have been thrown off a cliff as the conversation was suddenly put on hold. Maybe it was because she was drunk, or maybe it was because the moon was full that night, she would never know, but the very thought of Ichigo made her want to wallow in a dark pit at the bottom of the ocean and slowly be crushed to death by the pressure. It was probably because she was drunk, right? Her head hung low her bangs covering her face in a shadow so that Yuki couldn't see her eyes. What's wrong with me!? She wanted to scream it to the world, her thoughts and frustrations with herself getting the better of her. She wanted to throw a huge tantrum about this whole situation and cry like a child. Cry or scream, that's all. But why!? Her hands bunched into tight fists. She couldn't figure it out, there had to something wrong with her, there had to be some kind of parasitic worm eating her brain making her emotions sporadic and unpredictable. Maybe it will kill me before I go to the palace? She thought dripping in sarcasm, but still, it would be nice . . .

"Rukia? Are you ok?"

She tilted her head up knowing that she couldn't hide forever. She relaxed her hands, the nails biting into her skin were becoming quite uncomfortable. "Yeah, I'm good." She confirmed forcing a pained and horribly fake smile.

"Rukia . . ." Yuki began slowly, she reached over for the sake bottle and took a swig, she was going to have to get drunk for this one. "Tell me about Ichigo." She watched Rukia's large violet orbs get even bigger at the mention of his name. Yuki knew she was on to something now, this man had to be the problem. She waited for Rukia to say something but when she didn't, Yuki decided it was time for her friend 'Buzzed Yuki' to step in and help with this situation. "Lemme rephrase that one," The pink haired maid took another swig of the bitter-sweet liquid. "What is he to you?" she asked eyeing up her friend and master.

Rukia just sat there with her mouth opening and closing with nothing coming out. Firstly she had never seen Yuki act so boldly before. Secondly, she knew what Ichigo was to her, but why did the answer not seem to be a satisfying one? "He's . . . h-he's just a friend." Rukia answered quietly, almost shy.

"AND!?" 'Buzzed Yuki' was quickly becoming 'Drunk Yuki'.

"And . . . a-and I'm not ok with being separated from him . . ." Rukia's once small voice was becoming stronger and had a bit more backbone to it. "And I don't want leave him just so I can be shipped off to some prince!"

"But Rukia." Yuki interrupted quickly before she could go any further. "You're not his."

Rukia's fire suddenly seemed to have vanished; Yuki's words had been the cold watery reality check that she had needed. Yuki was right, the only person that her mind, body, and soul could ever belong to now was the prince. Her voice was now nothing more than a whisper, yet still seemed to hold strength all on its own. "But, what if I want to be?"

Ichigo's breath came in ragged pants, his body had a light sheen of sweat covering him. He had been running, searching in fact, for at least three hours at full speed. There was no way out; even the outside of the castle wasn't even the outside! It was some kind of hallucination barrier, it seemed that every time he would try to walk out into the openness of this new world he would end up just facing back towards the castle not remembering how her got there. It was as infuriating as trying to keep your ice from melting in hell.

Currently he was faced with a different problem than a hallucinogenic barrier. Even after all the time he had spent running and trying to distance himself from his would be father he always seemed to catch up just as quickly. This constant chase of cat and mouse reminded him of when he had taken the sereite by storm and rushed in to rescue a certain raven haired shinigami. Well, it wasn't exactly the same, after all he didn't know for sure that Rukia was in danger, and he wasn't anywhere close to even knowing where he was let alone Rukia. But consequences be damned! An arranged marriage was close enough to execution and he had to stop it. Then there was always that nagging thought in the back of his mind. What if she wants to go through with it? It was the thoughts like that one that made him want to get to her even faster. Maybe, if he got there fast enough he could at least try to talk her into staying . . .

The thought of loosing her honestly made him depressed, he leaned his head back against the wall he was propped up against and stared blankly up at the ceiling. He could feel his father's spiritual pressure closing in on him. Ichigo let out a weary sigh, with no way to escape this hell hole he was going to get caught eventually, so it would probably be best not to use up all of his strength on running around in circles. Who new, even after they re-captured him he might be able to find out some way of escaping. If there was a way to get in there was a way to get out, or at least he hoped.

This place was strange, besides hallucinogenic tendencies on the outside; he couldn't even summon his sword. It was another one of the strange qualities of the palace, though he wondered if he was the only one being affected. He scoffed and rolled his eyes, probably. Ichigo was no longer bothering to hide his spiritual pressure, he was found and the chase was up. Now, Ichigo wasn't usually one to trust plans, always too many things that could go wrong or get delayed, but right now he hoped to god that this one would work.

Ichigo's eyes snapped to the open doorway that now held the silhouette of his supposed father. "Isshin." Ichigo said with bitterness.

"Ichigo." And that was all that was said before Ichigo felt the familiar tingle of ice in his veins and the awareness of his vision slowly dying on him.

This time when the slender orange haired reaper awoke it was very different. He was laying in a lavish king size bed that had a beautiful black bed spread over it. Ichigo looked at himself to make sure he was clothed. "Oh, thank god" he sighed in relief that he was in fact wearing something, but what it was he wasn't quite sure. Ichigo threw his legs over the edge of the bed and began exploring around the extravagant room, which was also decorated in black. Of course the door was locked. After checking the door he came across an excessively large full length mirror, he stopped in front of it. Observing what he was wearing closer he noticed that he was wearing a slim-fit white undershirt with a black gentlemanly vest overtop, upon closer inspection of the vest he noticed that the silver buttons holding the front together had small Victorian designs in the mold. Above the vest was a large grayed scarf that tucked into the gap at the top of his shirt, where he assumed the first few buttons were undone to compensate for the intrusive piece of clothing. His eyes wandered to his black dress pants, obviously ironed thoroughly. Below the pants were some very expensive looking black leather dress shoes, shined to perfection. To his surprise he was actually enjoying this look until he realized . . . someone had to re-dress him. He cringed at the thought of someone dressing him in his sleep, or even worse what if his father had been the one to dress him? A shiver ran down his spine. But that wasn't even the worst part. Ichigo sniffed the air . . .was he wearing cologne!? . . . and was his hair washed? He lifted up an arm and smelt, deodorant. Oh. My. God. Someone had washed him! In his sleep! Ichigo almost crumpled to the ground in the fetal position. And, was this minty freshness? Oh no someone had the audacity to touch his teeth! By the end of his panic attack Ichigo wanted to go and shower again. Who knew what they did to him, they could have . . .

"Ah it seems you're awake." An unfamiliar voice stated the obvious from behind him.

Ichigo turned from the mirror to find happy blue eyes staring back at him. He actually had to take a few steps back because the proximity of their faces made Ichigo quite uncomfortable. "uuh . . ."

"Ah yes, forgive me young prince." The blond man said apologetically giving Ichigo a deep and dramatic bow. The stranger's right arm coming under his abdomen and the left stilled gracefully out to the side. "I am Tamaki." The man said joyfully, and slid back into his upright position. He was just as tall as Ichigo, bust not muscular as far as he could tell. He was almost in the same outfit Ichigo was in only Tamaki's pants and shoes were white as opposed to black. His vest was also different, it was electric blue and had gold buttons but as far as Ichigo could tell it was the same cast. The last difference was the white over coat he wore over the whole thing. Tamaki seemed to be more slender and lean, as apposed to the wiry and muscled appearance Ichigo gave off. Even under all of the ridiculous clothes. Which Ichigo had to admit, he looked pretty good in.

Tamaki didn't seem to be malicious. But Ichigo could swear he had saw him somewhere before. "I'm sorry but have we met before?" Ichigo asked slightly confused.

"Hmmm. . ." Tamaki thought about Ichigo's question for a moment. "I believe we have, I was Karin's soccer coach, If I'm not mistaken I've met you at a few of her games before."

"What do mean?" Ichigo asked his confusion now doubled.

"I am Karin Kurosaki's Guardian." Tamaki said smiling.

Oh, great more of this guardian shit. Ichigo thought dryly. "Ok, but if your Karin's guardian why are you here?"

"Oh, well I do more than just protect Karin, and to answer the question your highness, I am here to check up on you." Tamaki's bright blue eyes began scanning the room, it didn't appear that Ichigo had done anything drastic, but then again he probably couldn't without his sword.

Ichigo eyed him cautiously. "Did you dress me?" His tone dead serious.

"Eheh . . . no, I think Midori is the one who dressed you." The blond said in a tone that would almost lead Ichigo to think he was hiding something.

Before Ichigo could question any further about his new look and how it got there, a new presence entered the room.

Ichigo turned to his father who was walking towards the two of them, Ichigo began walking towards him as well intent on meeting him half way. "How do I get out of here old man?" His voice calm yet demanding at the same time.

"Through the door." Isshin replied sarcastically.

"You know what I mean." Ichigo had to bite back the anger that was rising from within him.

"Ichigo . . . I will tell you how to leave the palace, hell I will even escort you out myself if you do this one thing." Isshin stated in a matter of fact tone.

"What do I have to do?"

"You have to at least meet her. You don't have to talk; you don't even have to look at her again after your encounter. But if you meet her and you still want to leave after that, I will tell you how to get out." The bargain was said.

Ichigo didn't need to think about it very long, if this was the only way then so be it, but he had to get out of this place and as quickly as possible. "Deal." The deal was struck.

Isshin gave his boy a big toothy grin and grabbed him around the shoulder just like he would have if they were back at home. "Alright then!" Isshin shouted happily. "Lets go get some food!"

"Wait." Ichigo said before going any further. "How long until I meet her?"

"Depends on how quickly she can pick a dress my boy. And by the way, I guarantee you won't be leaving."

AN- Yay! And yes that is tamaki from the host club :) I just couldn't resist using him! He just fit the part so well, and I suck at thinking of names. teeheeThat was it hope you liked it, I have no idea when the next chapter will be out. Sorry, but if you can, Review and let me know what's going on in yo- brains. :) OH AND HEADS UP! The rating on this story may change to M. if ya catch mah drift.