The Junk Industry Blues
Chapter 1: Rats of Civilization
Rukia laid still and limp, she felt nothing. Neither the thrusts nor her feelings, it was all the same. It was the only way she knew how to live.
She was abandoned as a baby, tossed into a garbage dumpster as if some discarded carton of milk. She was picked out by some homeless woman who was looking for a meal, that was how her life started and ended.
The man held her legs as he pumped into her, Rukia didn't care she was useless. A wet tissue that slowly broke away into nothing. That was all she was ever going to be: nothing. The man bit his lips as sweat rolled down his red puffed face and Rukia stayed limp as he finished and left her body.
She slowly lifted herself up from the bed and waited for the man who was fumbling in his discarded pants, "The usual amount right, Ru-chan?"
She hated that name; it was the alias she created so that no one would ever know who and what she was. She gulped down the small trace of bile rising in her throat, "Yes."
He quickly stepped into his business suit, in a hurry to leave to escape the possibility of rumors arising. He handed her the money and before he stepped out of the door he looked over his shoulder, "If I want to—"
"You know who to talk to," Rukia interrupted him and watched out of the corner of her eye as the bulky man smiled bearing his yellow crocked teeth.
"Bye Ru-chan," the door closed quickly and the sounds of hurried footsteps filled the room.
Rukia scoffed, "Politicians."
Rukia got up from the bed and into the bathroom; she nimbly entered the shower and took a scorching hot shower to clean away the filth. She then looked around and found her dingy patched jeans and quickly pulled them over her bare legs. She than pulled her faded yellow shirt over her head and counted the money, "300 dollars."
That would only mean that she would be getting a hundred dollars for that night, Rukia pouted as she shoved the money in her back pocket. And took a glance around the room before leaving the hotel room and walking out into halls, out of the hotel and onto the crosswalk.
"At least I have enough money for food and rent," Rukia said as all the panic filled thoughts of expenses filled her mind. People elbowed and pushed their way around her, who cares, they didn't and she sure as hell didn't. Besides she was trash, a street rat with no purpose but to die.
The city of Tokyo was filled with trash, some collected cans, some just lie in alleys to die, but the worse of trash was ones that were like her. It wasn't as if she had a choice on whether or not she can sell her body, she was forced into it by the ones who abandoned her, by the ones who relied on her and by the man who protects her.
Rukia walked down a dark and damp alley, taking careful care not to step on the scattered blades of glass with her thin wore down shoes. She climbed the fire escape and entered the abandoned building, well abandoned to the rest of society besides rats. There were some health code violations which made itself known as her nostrils were instantly filled with the smell of feces and urine.
She opened the familiar rotting wooden door to reveal a red headed man lying down resting the back of his head on his arms.
"Renji," Rukia softly said causing the man to look up.
"Rukia," Renji said smiling as he got out and took her in his arms in a hug, "did ya' make good money."
"Only a hundred," Rukia said her voice muffled by the man's white brown stained t-shirt.
"Well that will last for a couple of days, right Rukia?" Renji looked down at her to reassure her that everything was going to be alright. At first he refused to let her work, but under the circumstances the only way for them to survive was for her to work. He hated it, ever since he had known Rukia she was broken nothing could fix her. She was destined for a harsh life just like he was. Renji cringed at the memory as he released Rukia and smiled at her trying to cheer her up.
Rukia looked over at the make-shift house, the floor was rotting and the walls were dark and stained.
"I just wanted to check on you, just to make sure that everything was okay," Rukia said as her eyes scanned the room.
"You worry too much; they will never find me," Renji assured Rukia, "besides I have been trying to teach myself how to read with this."
He held up a flimsy water-stained article from the newspaper. "Who knows, maybe I will get smart enough to support both of us," he added cheerfully, knowing full well that the only support that would ever come was by Rukia.
"Alright, I will be back with food after I drop off the money," Rukia said as she closed the door leaving Renji in his own world of darkness. After the old woman whom Rukia nicknamed "Oba-chan" when she was younger died when she was five, she was forced to roam the streets alone. She was raped, beaten to the brink of death, and starved alone. That was until she met Renji and his band of friends, than slowly one by one they started to die from malnourishment leaving Renji and her alone, together.
Rukia swiftly climbed the fire escape and lightly jumped down onto the wet concrete alley floor, she walked back to the crosswalk and continued down the familiar and dreaded route. She passed by building and building, the lights flashing by her and piercing through the dark night sky, she was nudged and thrown to the ground by the pedestrians. Every time she would slowly get back up and continue stumbling through the large crowds. She had to be independent; no one would ever help her. She swallowed her spit to parch her thirst; it only helped to make her thirstier. Rukia walked twenty more minutes, the feeling of fatigue was plaguing over her, she hadn't had anything to eat since her last payment. She stopped in front of a small bar, dreading the moment that she has to enter and trying to postpone the meeting just a few seconds longer. If she could delay meeting him she would, but she had tried to reschedule before and he got angry, she had the bruises to prove it.
She stepped forward and opened the metal door and walked into the bar. The smell of sweat and alcohol filled the air as she sat down at one of the booths, the usual spot of their meeting.
"Rukia-chan," a gentle voice filled the air and instantly struck horror in Rukia.
"Aizen-sama," Rukia bowed her head and waited for Aizen to seat himself across from her. She felt cold eyes pierce the back of her neck and instantly knew it was Gin, he had some strange fascination for wanting to see her in pain. He made that evident to her while he was punishing her for Aizen.
"The meeting went well I suppose," Aizen said as he smiled, any normal person would think of him as a kind and gentle soul, but for those who knew his true interior that smile was terrifying. He folded his hands together and laid them on the table and Rukia instantly knew what she was supposed to do.
She pulled out the money and placed it in front of him, if she delayed a moment he would surely sick Gin on her. He quietly looked at the money and fingered it, eyeing the amount of money there was until he was completely satisfied, this only last a few moments but to Rukia it lasted a lifetime.
He looked up at her an smiled coolly, he reached over and patted Rukia's head, "You're such a good girl. Gin, see how she doesn't flinch when I touch her unlike the other girls."
"Seems as if the sparrow doesn't fear ya'," Gin said through his sickening smile.
Rukia wanted to flinch; she was desperate to flinch, anything to further her from Aizen's hands. Her eyes never left Aizen, the spectacle wearing wavy brown haired man that had so much control over her. He continued ruffling her hair as he said, "Than that means we will just have to teach her."
Rukia's eyes widened as he said those words, Aizen gently pulled a lock of her hair up and picked a single strand of the tresses and plucked it, a sharp smirk instantly followed Rukia.
"Don't worry, I am going to just give you a warning and no payment," Aizen said as he smiled at her.
This was worse than being beaten; at least when she was beaten she was able to buy her and Renji food. Desperation sunk in and choked her, she swallowed the small amount of pride she had and said, "Please do anything other than that, Aizen-sama! If you want beat me, torture me, just let me have the money for food!"
"Seems as if ya' have only one thing to do my little Rukia-chan," Gin sing-sung.
Aizen grabbed the back of Rukia's head and slammed her face against the wooden table, splinters stabbed at her skin and she felt Aizen's hand rubbing and digging her face into the table.
"Fear me, love me, and obey me, Rukia-chan. Let all your dreams become nightmares of me and let yourself become so dependent on me, that you would die without me," Aizen whispered into her ear. The hand soon departed from the back of her head and she heard footsteps leaving, Rukia stayed there looking at the wooden table for five more minutes feeling nothing.
When she finally looked up from the position, the feeling of dread still remained. She failed. She failed at making sure not to make Aizen mad, she failed at getting the money, she failed at getting food, she failed Renji. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, but she sucked in her breath and promised herself that she would never cry again. She hadn't cried since she was nine, she sure as hell wouldn't cry now.
The hour was past midnight now and Rukia slowly stood from the booth and exited the bar. There were few people walking around at this time of night, well besides for the drunk and the men returning from their work to a warm happy home. Some of which were her best costumers, she quickly walked past them with her head down ashamed of being acknowledge outside of the hotel. She closed her eyes and continued forward, until she crashed into somebody and was knocked down.
"Hey are you alright," came a gruff masculine voice.
Rukia just nodded her head and waited for the man to leave.
"Here," she saw a large calloused hand appear in front of her vision, she blinked twice not registering what was happening. Was he trying to help her? She quickly looked up to see a man around her age looking at her with hard auburn eyes and loud orange hair.
"Come on and quit looking like an idiot and grab my hand," the man said with a scowl.
Rukia complied as she slipped her hand into his and was hoisted onto her feet.
"Did ya' hurt yourself," the man said as his eyes scanned her body.
Rukia finally found her voice and said, "No." She bowed her head quickly and said, "Thank you."
She started to quickly walk away until she felt a strong grip on her wrist pull her back and she was forced back with a scowling face, "You don't walk away from someone without saying sorry for bumping into them."
Rukia blinked again, the man's grip still on her wrist, she did the only thing that she could think of… kicked him in his shin. The man instantly breathed in through his teeth as he suddenly went limp in one of his legs, he involuntarily let go of Rukia's wrist when the pain was inflected and she started walking away.
She heard a pissed voice say, "Oh like hell you don't."
And suddenly she felt her body fall to the ground as something heavy tackled her. She turned around to see herself face to face with the orange haired man and it only took a moment to register what had happened to her, "You tackled me!"
"You kicked my shin!"
"Well that's because you grabbed my wrist!"
"Which is because you didn't say you were sorry!"
"Why am I the one that has to say sorry?!"
"Because you bumped into me!"
"Who says that you aren't the one that bumped into me!" Rukia was officially pissed off, she had no food and now she was stuck with a pompous ass that just made her day go from bad to crappy.
The man in returned supported his weight on his hands, to not crush the girl below him. He instantly realized their position and jumped back, trying to cover his blushes.
"Why the hell weren't you blushing?" He said trying to regain his composure.
"What do you mean," Rukia said as she lifted herself onto her elbows.
"Normally girls would be all red in the face in that position," he said as he ran a hand through his orange hair.
"I didn't realize that we were in an odd position," Rukia said as she fully stood up.
There was a moment of awkwardness until Rukia shrugged and started to walk away.
"Wait, I might as well tell you my name," the man said as he scowled at her, "the name's Kurosaki Ichigo."
"Mine's Ru-kia," Rukia said surprised at the fact that she had just given her real name to a stranger. That was a big no-no in the line of business that she dealt with.
Ichigo held his hand out and Rukia only looked at it, not knowing what to do, Ichigo decided to help her out, "Nice to meet you, Rukia."
Rukia only arched an eyebrow and replied, "You are weird…"
First chapter, I got this idea during school don't know why and how but I was like I wanna make a dark story... than VOILA! I wrote this! So please review and enjoy!
Hayden Days