Disclaimer: Well I don't own the Bleach characters they belong to Tite Kubo, I'm only borrowing them to play with them for a little while and I'll try to return them in one piece.

Summary: AU, Challenge. It's strange how fate chose the simplest place to intertwine four different lives together under the same path…

Pairings: Various that you'll find out as the fic advances…but only two are the major ones of this fic.

Well this is my first try at Bleach fandom and well this is most to respond a challenge someone placed upon me and since I'm so proud I couldn't let it pass, also this is a change from my Inuyasha fiction…that I really need to update.

This is an AU fic because usually I start with AU works, besides I couldn't do one actually on the story because well…I don't read the manga and I need to read it first.

Well hope that you enjoy and you the person that gave this challenge don't forget that part of your bargain, also forgive my grammar I'll try to find a beta soon.

"The Bookstore"

Prologue.

The black car suddenly came to a stop, a pair of blue orbs opened once the car engine was turned off; with little effort she unbuckled the belt and opened the door, a small draft of evening breeze greeted her while she closed the door her short black hair gently waltzed with it.

She gazed at the huge house in front of her, of curse it wasn't as big as the house they had lived before but in such a short notice it was the best one her brother could find, she looked up at her older brother, well her adoptive older brother, to see the now always present blank expression on his face, with a small sigh she followed him inside.

The inside of the house was as magnificent as the outside and of course it will be, after all her brother sent some of their servants, the word somehow heard mean, ahead to fix and tidy the place and they had done a real amazing job. A flower vase filled with white blooms called her attention; it seemed that Ayame had been there as well because no other maid will have dared to have those flowers there at least not after…her older sister's passing.

Really she didn't needed to be that much of a genius to know the hidden reason as to why her older brother had accepted such an important job that meant immediate transference to Karakura town. After Hisana's death almost a year ago, her adoptive brother had changed a lot, now he was more reserved and quiet than ever, she hadn't really know how much Hisana's death had affected him till he accepted that job, but she should had at least suspected after all he had deeply loved her and it pained her to see him that way, he might not be her real brother but she still loved him as such.

Besides they needed a change of atmosphere, after all, their old place was filled with memories of Hisana and if they wanted to somehow move on with their lives they needed to at least leave that place temporally. She knew however, that as much as she had loved her sister, she wouldn't have that much of a trouble to move on but Byakuya was another issue altogether.

If he wanted to move on he needed to somehow move on over her death, not to forget her because he wouldn't, but to start again and rebuilt his life, Rukia knew that Hisana will have wanted him to move on and to built a family even after her departure. But how was he supposed to move on if he didn't even try? Rukia could only hope that this change could help him at least a bit and that somehow he could find peace for his heart and soul to start again.

"Nii-sama, do you mind if I go to see around the town?" Rukia tentatively asked, her eyes still fixed on the delicate white flowers.

"You may" His voice like always was neutral and a bit empty "But return for dinner time"

"I will" She quickly promised.

Rukia stepped outside and walked back to the car, since she couldn't drive and her brother insisted on her to wait till she was eighteen, she had to rely on the driver her bother had hired for her, it kind of bothered her a bit to be driven around because it let other people know she was rich, but then she got along with her driver and he was almost like an uncle to her, besides that the man had started to secretly give her driving lessons.

She just hoped that Byakuya didn't found out or he could fire him, after Rukia told him she just wanted him to drive around town, she leaned on the back seat.

Really she had just wanted to leave that place, is not like she didn't liked to spend time with her brother but she needed a bit of time to herself and to think of what was going to happen now.

In that moment she decided to look outside the window and saw a small bookstore, well since she had nothing better to do and didn't wanted to return home and be questioned by Byakuya as to what she had seen, and be caught with nothing, she decided to check it out. After Shinji stopped the car and she told him that she wouldn't take that long, she hoped down the car and walked to the bookstore.

It wasn't till she was in front of 'Kumiko's Bookstore' she noticed that it was not only a bookstore but also a small coffee shop, with a small smile she opened the door, the gently tingle of bells followed that course of action. To her judgement it was a nice little quiet place, with what seemed to be a very big and varied selection of books and nice decoration, it seemed that she had found her possible new favourite place of the city.

"What can I do for you?" A feminine and soft voice suddenly asked surprising Rukia a bit.

Blue eyes quickly followed the sound of the voice and just as quickly found it; almost in front of her was a front desk, with some books, magazines and other small things that were obviously for sale. Behind the counter was a real pretty woman that seemed to be around her early twenties, with long light-brown hair and a pair of crystal blue eyes that were currently looking at her with a small smile on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm fine" Rukia answered a bit sheepishly and ashamed.

The auburn haired woman smiled "I'm Aya, by the way" She quickly presented herself.

"My name is Rukia"

"It's a pleasure then Rukia-chan" Aya smiled a bit more brightly and sweetly "Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Err---no, I just saw this place and I wanted to check it out" Rukia answered trying not to sound to rude for not wanting to buy anything "Do you mind if I look around?"

"Not, at all, please do" Her smile widened a bit when she saw the rather small girl walking to see around the many rows of bookshelves, the small tingling of the bells caught Aya's attention to the door once again while a small grin came to her face "Ohh…I'm sorry but we are closed"

"What do you mean with closed?" The young man asked thoroughly annoyed at the light-brown haired woman "The door says it is still open"

"Oh…it is, open for certain people" She replied the smirk still present on her face "But is it not open for irresponsible young man that uses his book as a toy"

"That wasn't my fault, Aya" He frowned at her, by that moment he already knew she was teasing him "So can I buy the book or not?"

"Yeah, go ahead Ichigo" She moved to lean on the counter and sigh "But take care of this one"

"Yeah, sure" He shrugged his shoulders and moved to the bookshelves.

Deep blue orbs looked through the rows of books seeing if she could find a book that will call her attention, her eyes finally fell on the book 'Universal History for students', well if she recalled the list of books for her new school, that had been faxed to her brother a week before, that was one the book she will need for the history class and to her bad luck the only one she didn't possessed.

Rukia was indeed lucky to find it there; with a small smile she moved her hand to grab the book, however she wasn't the only one that had reached for that very same book and her had crashed with another, quickly she whipped her head to her left side to see who tried to steal her book and the moment she did she felt that her world was coming to a total stop and a cold shudder run up her spine.

Standing besides her was a real tall and handsome guy with orange coloured hair and deep hazel orbs, but it wasn't that what called her attention. What it did was the amazing resemblance this guy had with him, never did she thought she will see someone so physically alike, for a few instants she felt numb and she couldn't move.

'Kaien-dono.' Her mind helplessly thought in the name of the man that had been so important to her "Err---"

"Seems it's the last book" He merely said as he took it up "Hope you don't mind, but I think I will need it more than you"

Quickly she snapped out of her thoughts and glared at him "How will you know? If I was going to take it, don't you think it was because I need it as well?"

"Well, maybe you do, but I grabbed it first, shortie" He snapped back at the raven haired girl.

"You…." She hissed between her teeth.

Aya was entertaining herself by flipping through a 'Cosmopolitan' magazine and seeing the new fashion trends for this month when she suddenly heard a strong slap. She looked up just in time to see Rukia stomping out of the bookstore and then to see Ichigo with a red hand-print on his left cheek, she had been tempted to ask but the glare Ichigo gave her was enough to her mouth shut but it didn't stopped the fits of giggles.

Well now it seemed that answered Aya's question as to why Ichigo was still single?...He didn't had any tact for women and the article in which she had suddenly stopped when she heard the slap will really help him.

TBC…

Well for being a prologue it was bit long, to me prologues are meant to be short and not this long. Anyway I think I did a pretty decent job for being my first Bleach fic and I'm sure I will improve with time.

Like I said this was a challenge and one that I'll definitively end to boost my ego, flames are not accepted, that only show how immature and mean can people be sometimes, constructive criticism---depends on the person that will actually do it for the good of the fic because if it is not…don't even bother.

Also 'Cosmopolitan' doesn't belong to me either is a registered mark and enterprise that I only borrowed for this fic.

Wait for my next update, one that I'll try to make weekly.