Love That Was Unexpected

Chapter One: The Meeting That Was Unexpected

"Art, like love, moves the heart in unexpected directions."

-Marty Rubin

A small figure in a ragged faded gray cloak tied with a simple rope tied around the collar of it, the hood covered it's top of it's head, including the upper face. Small pants escaped it's lips as it jumped over large roots and continued it's way down the path, running quickly. It seemed to be in a hurry for some reason, like they were in trouble or something.

"Kuchiki-sama, please return to the mansion!" A couple of guards with spears yelled, following after her panting as well, as if they had been running after them for quite a while.

"Just leave me alone!" She looked back at them, the wind blowing against the hood which forces the hood to come off, showing the face of this small figure.

"...woah, those eyes..." The two guards who had been chasing after her stared in awe.

"I'd never seen her up close before..." The one on the left said while staring at her in awe. "Amazing, those beautiful purple eyes..."

"Yeah," The guy next to him agreed.

'Damnit...!' She winced at those comments as she threw her hood over her face again and ducked into the forest. 'Damn, I wish this would hood would stay on more!'

Kuchiki Rukia, the adoptive sister of the head of the Kuchiki Byakuya raced off from the guards, her heels digging into the ground as she jumped over the root of the large tree and landed swiftly with a confident smile which soon disappeared as she ran across the patches of dirt and grass in the green forest with the tallest trees seen to mankind, she loved this place. She absolutely loved high places, it made her feel so free and...real!

She always felt like a doll on a shelf, just being shown to people and be told and what to do all of her life. Like she was silent, mute to her own desires, her own dreams. Sometime, she felt she didn't have a place in this world, that she was nothing but someone crowding up the earth.

But now that was all over now. She was free! She was real! She was her own person, not restricted by the rules of the Gotei or the Kuchiki Clan anymore!

And she absolutely loved that. Her face was pure joy, enjoying every inch as she got farther and farther away from her homeland.

Was she sadden at all...?

Yes, she was. Just a bit though, after all she was leaving behind people who cherished her for herself and not her looks. Those people didn't give a damn about how weird her eye color was or how short she was or how weird she was at times. They accepted all of that about her which she loved and adored about each one of them, she cherished them to the very in.

'Kaien-dono, Ukitake-sama, Kiyone-san, and Sentaro-san...forgive me, but I'm sure this is what you all would want.' She thought as she stepped onto a carriage, handing the driver the money he wanted. She sat comfortably in the soft hay, her hand-made purse that Kaien's wife had helped her make sat in her lap.

Rukia had wanted to become a talented swordswoman but also a women who could heal herself incase she was alone and hurt or perhaps if she needed to tend to a fellow warrior. But of course, the Kuchiki Clan hated the idea, they let her train at the academy and spend a few years on the battlefield in her assigned squad, but this year they called her out.

They wanted an arranged marriage between her and one of the Gotei captains, which she outright refused since Byakuya happened to not be in the room at the time. And this is why she ran.

Being stuck inside a large house,in a tiny room doing nothing all day and for years till she died...? She hated the idea of it! How could any woman be happy with a life like that?! Noble code or not! She refused to follow it and escaped at a price, she would leave everything she ever knew behind. And she knew the risks, so she sent letters to all the people she truly trusted and cherished, letting them know why they might never see her again.

"This is far as I'll go miss," The driver said as he made the horse come to a stop. She rose her head, lightly rubbing her eyes as a soft hushed yawn escaped her lips.

"Thanks for everything." She said, not caring at all that he had only taken her out of the country, at the border much less. She was just glad to be out from the god forsaken country, away from the Kuchiki's and Gotei's jurisdiction.

She jumped off the carriage and waved bye to the driver before taking a deep breath, tugging at the front of the hood to make sure it was covering her face like she wished it to. She grasped the strap and rushed away off of the land and into new territories.

She took a good whiff of the fresh, natural forest air that she loved ever so much. She looked around for shelter with a sweet smile on her lips, she ran across the grass, her violet eyes darting and flickering here to there for shelter. She stopped when she came across a large two story mansion that was well kept with a chimney. She smiled and dragged her feet across the land, tired and aching from the racing and running from earlier. Knocking a few times to be polite.

"Hello! Is anyone home? May I come in?!" She yelled, just incase they were upstairs. She received no answer, but she wasn't Goldilocks here, she wasn't just going to walked into a home just because no one answered.

'I can't just waltz in there,' She pouted, leaning against the gray brick wall and sliding down it till her behind hit the ground below her. 'Obviously, someone has to be tending to it for it to be well kept as it is.'

"So tired..." She said in a hushed tone, a soft yawn escaping her lips as the drowsiness could be seen hidden deep within her violet eyes, the dark bags under her eyes suggested she had been up many hours before dawn which she had, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She didn't want to waste any chance she had to grab onto her freedom and leave that dreaded manor.

She drew her legs in close, her purse sitting in her lap which she would use as a pillow, laying her head against it, closing her dark violet eyes for some quiet slumber if her stomach hadn't rumbled. She grew annoyed of her stomach quickly and ignored it, she could go longer without food, a couple hours were nothing to homeless people after all.

'Just be quiet tummy.' She thought childishly as she closed her eyes, focusing on gathering the many hours of sleep she had missed out on with one last hushed yawn she was about to fall into dream land she heard a young male's voice, warning someone else.

"Ichigo, watch out! Don't hurt yourself, you blind idiot!" Someone called as Rukia looked up in curiosity to widen her eyes. A young boy, probably her age or so with bright orange spiky locks who had climbed up over the tall brick wall and was now at the top with his hand supporting him as he was about to push forward but his eyes locked with hers, the color of hers surprising him.

She watched in awe as his epvc jumping over the wall failed miserably by his feet getting caught against the rim of the wall, tripping him over the wall. She bought her purse forward to protect herself, but he fell a few feet infront of her, grasping his redden lower forearm. She stared at him, he was well built, dressed in a white undershirt with black overcoat that was zipped mid-way at his chest and matching black jeans and his palms wrapped in white cloth.

"Ouch, damn it all!" He groaned, grasping the aching bruise. He bit back the pain and glared back Rukia who by this time had made sure to pull down her hood the farthest that it would go in order to hide her face.

'This is so not a good first day free from my torturing homeland...' She thought bitterly as she saw from the corner of eyes two people rushing over to him.