A/N:

This is an AU and it is set up before Ichigo enters high school. There might be some random OCs and maybe a tinge of OOC. Reviews would be greatly appreciated.

Summary:

Ichigo Kurosaki, full of guilt from his mother's death, gets accepted into one of the elite rich schools: Karakura Shinigami Academy. Problem is that Ichigo doesn't want to go. Karin and Yuzu, however, doesn't agree to Ichigo's refusal nor do they want to hear his reason. With their constant nagging and by feeling guilty of hurting their feelings, Ichigo reluctantly agrees to go for his sisters' sakes. Would someone like Ichigo manage to adjust into a school full of rich, gorgeous girls and handsome guys, especially after meeting the school's idol, Orihime Inoue, and the popular tomboyish, Rukia Kuchiki? What happens when Ichigo learns that his tomboy sister is getting herself into something that has the potential of hurting her? Can this turn of events affect Orihime's and Rukia's effort of healing Ichigo? Will anyone be able to fill the hole in his heart, allowing him to let go of his guilt that's preventing him from moving on? HitsuXKarin Bonus!

Disclaimer:

I do NOT own Bleach at all. If I did, then I wouldn't be writing fanfiction here. Now, would I?

A little orange-headed boy paced back and forth in the same area for over an hour. He occasionally glanced toward the place where he had found his mother dead. She was protecting his unconscious body from something ultimately leading to her death. Tears began to well up and sting his chocolate eyes once more, threatening to fall. He crouched down, burying his head into his knees as dark thoughts began to overwhelm and coat his heart and mind.

"Mom… Why'd you die? What am I going to say to Karin and Yuzu? How can I face them?" Then, realization hit the sobbing boy. "I… I killed my mom. It's all my fault that she's dead."

"Ichi-nii…"

Ichigo lifted his tear-stained face from his knees and glanced towards the direction of the voice. His eyes widened as more tears began to overflow at the sight of Karin and Yuzu standing on top of the white, concrete stairs.

"Karin… Yuzu… I'm sorry…" Ichigo continued sobbing and buried his head into his knees once again.

"Ichigo, you're right." The boy's head instantly shot up and looked at his black-haired sister in bewilderment. "It's your fault. It's all your fault that Mom died!"

Ichigo looked helplessly at his other sister, hoping that she didn't think of him the same way. The timid, brown-haired girl closed her eyes and shrieked accusingly, "Mom died because of you!"

Both girls with no emotion evident in their eyes except for hatred simultaneously yelled, "I wished you had died instead of Mom!"

Ichigo jolted awake, sweating profusely, tears running down his cheeks. He held his head in his hands and whispered quietly to himself, "It was just a nightmare." He dangled his legs off the side of his bed and tried to shake out the image of his sisters looking at him with cold, heartless eyes. The words of his sisters screaming wouldn't leave his mind.

Slapping his cheeks lightly to forget the nightmare, he wiped the tears off his face and rubbed his temples as a scowl immediately formed on his face. A few strands of sunlight shone in the corner of his eye and he turned to look outside the window. The sky was painted a beautiful scarlet as the sun slowly sank into the horizon, but the scarlet color caused Ichigo to scowl even more, remembering the blood that covered his mother when he awakened from under her.

"Ichigo!" Yuzu's voice sang from the other side of the door. Ichigo stiffened as the sound of the doorknob turning slowly reached his ears. "Are you up yet?" The door immediately swung open and a smiling Yuzu popped into his room. "Huh? Are you okay? You look pale."

Now, breaking into a cold sweat, Ichigo choked out the words with great difficulty. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

Yuzu looked at him suspiciously as she placed her hands on her hips. "Are you sure?"

Ichigo cleared his throat to prevent her misunderstanding from growing any further and responded normally. "I'm fine, Yuzu."

The brown-haired girl broke into a smile and ran to give her orange-headed brother a hug. Ichigo tensed up, but then relaxed, breaking into a slight smile himself. 'It was just a nightmare. Nothing more. That Yuzu wasn't real.'

"GOOD MORNING! ICHIGO!" Isshin exclaimed as he went toward Ichigo at full speed in attempt to kick him.

Without even looking, Ichigo opened the window with his foot and easily lifted Yuzu, dodging the crazy father and gave the idiotic father the deserved don't-crash-just-fall-out-of-the-window trick.

"It's not the morning, stupid. It's evening." Ichigo mumbled to himself.

After confirming the sound of his father hitting the ground with an 'oof!', Ichigo walked out of his room and headed to the dining room with Yuzu still in his arms. Being the good little girl she was, she spoke up with concern evident in her voice. "Don't you think we should check on Dad?"

Ichigo paused as he was in the middle of walking down the stairs. He tilted his head to the side and contemplated for a bit before he looked down at his adorable sister with a smile. "Nah, he's fine. He'll be up to no good as soon as he enters the house again."

"Oh, my dear, lovely Masaki!"

"Well, speak of the devil…" Ichigo mumbled under his breath as he released Yuzu and looking over at the place where Isshin was hugging the photo-shopped poster of his mother.

Isshin continued complaining as tears ran down his cheeks. "Look at how cold our kids have gotten! They don't care about their dear, old father anymore!"

"What happened to you?" asked a completely drenched Karin as she walked in through the front door at that moment.

Isshin and Ichigo stopped doing whatever they were doing to look toward Karin. When they saw Karin soaking wet, their jaws dropped and they both spoke simultaneously. "What happened to you?"

Karin coolly looked down at her appearance and pointed to her drenched clothes. "Oh, this? Nothing. Just accidentally broke some puny water hydrant while playing a game of soccer."

'A water hydrant?' Both father and son sweat-dropped after hearing that revelation from the raven-haired girl.

Karin shrugged and continued to make her way past the two mind-blown males. Ichigo, still very confused as to what happened to his sister, followed her with his eyes with suspicion. She walked by the clock and that's when realization hit Ichigo.

"Karin, wait…" He stopped her as soon as she had placed her foot on the first stair step. "Out of all things, how the hell did you break a water hydrant? Also, who in their right mind would play a game of soccer this goddamn late? It's almost 8."

"Didn't I tell you before?" Karin asked as she turned to face Ichigo, leaning on the wall near the staircase. Her gray eyes focused on the strawberry's face while a frown of dissatisfaction formed on her lips. She waited for her forgetful brother to magically remember what she had told him last night while he was listening to his iPod.

Ichigo's scowl deepened the harder he thought. He pulled out a chair from the dining table and sat down with his arms crossed. He looked at Karin and noticed the look of annoyance on her face. After staring at his black-haired sister for a minute or so, Ichigo felt a light-bulb light up in his head and hit his palm with his fist. "Oh, that's right! You came into my room last night."

Karin nodded in approval. "Glad that you finally remembered." She stated as she was about to resume going up the stairs, but froze after hearing the strawberry's nervous chuckle.

"But I wasn't really paying attention…"

Karin immediately stomped up to him and literally yelled in his face. "You what?"

"Sorry," Ichigo began while sheepishly scratching his cheek, "I really don't rememb-"

"Dinner is ready!" announced an extremely happy Yuzu, unaware that she just broke the tension in the air. She had just walked out of the kitchen when a smile even bigger than before appeared on her face after seeing Karin. "Welcome home, Karin. Did you enjoy your game with Hitsugaya-kun?"

Karin stuck her chest out proudly and smirked. "Hell yeah! Toshiro was no match for me."

"Toshiro?" Ichigo questioned. The name sounded so familiar to him yet he couldn't remember who this Toshiro Hitsugaya was.

"Yeah." Yuzu politely began while setting the table and placing food in everyone's plates even though no one else was sitting there except for Ichigo. "You know, Toshiro being–"

"The one who told Karin to tell you to go to Karakura Shinigami Academy instead of Karakura High." finished a certain teal-eyed, white-haired boy dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, the type with chains dangling on the sides, as he entered the Kurosaki household. He was also equally drenched in water as Karin was with the exception of a mud stain on his knees and lower pant legs. He shoved his hands into his pockets while smirking, "The name's Toshiro Hitsugaya. Nice to meet you."

Ichigo switched glances from Karin and Toshiro as Karin's words from last night played in his mind.

"Hey! Are you listening, Ichigo? I said Toshiro is coming over to give you the acceptance letter to Karakura Shinigami Academy after we play a game of soccer. By the way, it's a late game."

'Karakura Shinigami Academy? …Isn't that the private school where the super rich go to?'