"Ah, the air smells so good here. I can't wait for my new school life to start." Rukia was running down the street not paying attention to her surroundings when she collided with something hard. "Ouch that hurt." Rukia fell backwards with her eyes closed in pain.
"Hey are you okay?" A young man was stepping towards her with a green haired girl standing next to him.
"Ichigo, she is not okay so you'd better say sorry for getting in her way." The girl knocked his forehead with her hand.
"You're right, sorry about that Maki." Ichigo turned towards Rukia, noticing she was different from most girls. She had a calm aura around her that felt soft like snow. "Strange, I've never felt anything like this."
"Hey, do you need some help up?" Ichigo extended his hand forward towards Rukia. He saw her school's class badge.
"Thanks for your help" Rukia took Ichigo's hand and he pulled her up.
"So tell me, what's your name and what class are you in?" Maki got right up in Rukia's face, far too close to be comfortable.
"Umm I think I'm in class 2-B and my name is Rukia Kuchiki, it's a pleasure to meet you Maki," Rukia said with a cheerful face.
"Yes nice to meet you . . . wait a second Rukia! Oh my god it's you! It's been so long since I've seen you, how many years has it been?" Maki said while grabbing Rukia's hands and shaking them up and down.
"Eh, I think you've got the wrong person, I don't know anyone name Maki." Rukia vaguely remembered something at the edge of her mind about two really good friends she'd had in the past but couldn't quite recall anything.
"That's harsh Rukia, I really thought you would remember Renji and me, how disappointing," Maki said while patting Rukia's shoulders.
"Maki, we're going to be late for the opening of the new school year. Your name is Rukia right?" Ichigo looked at the black haired girl and saw her nod. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, it's nice to meet you." Ichigo lifted his hand to pat her shoulder but froze. He suddenly felt ill and knew he was at his limit.
"Ichigo, are you okay?" Maki said seeing her friend wasn't looking too well.
"I'm fine but I really do need to get going alright so Rukia I hope to see you later." Ichigo walked off leaving Maki to chit chat with Rukia. "Damn what was with that girl, I almost had a nose bleed. I need to find someone fast," Ichigo thought to himself. As soon as he was out of their site he started looking for someone to bite.
"Jeez, I hope he's okay. He's been like that around girls ever since the 7th grade. I think it's because of his asthma," Maki thought to herself with a worried expression on her face.
"Oh ya Rukia I'm finally dating Renji! It was about time he asked me out. I have some new friends too, Karin and Kenta. At first I thought Ichigo and Kenta were brothers or something because of their messy hair and the mean look in their eyes but I guess they're not." Maki stopped talking to catch her breath.
"He did not have scary eyes; I thought they looked more like pain-filled eyes. Maki, Ichigo was right though, we need to hurry to school before we're late," Rukia said while looking at her cell phone to see what time it was.
"Oh no, I forgot it again." Maki slapped her forehead. "Rukia please go ahead, I forgot something at home. I'll see you later." Maki turned towards the opposite direction of school and hurriedly walked away.
Rukia shrugged her shoulders and turned to sprint towards school. As she passed by the park she decided to take a short cut she found a few days ago. She ran off the path and started cutting through the bushes and trees.
"This should be the way," Rukia thought as she headed deeper into the park. She cut through some more bushes and stopped dead in her tracks. There were two people who looked like they were kissing and one of them was Ichigo.
"It's about time I found someone to give this extra blood to. I hate being this way. I guess it's better then being like Karin who can't even erase people's memories," Ichigo gently laid the girl he had been biting down on the ground and realized someone was there. He recognized the aura as Rukia's and turned around to find her standing there with a surprised look on her face.
"I-Ichigo," Rukia could only sputter out his name.
"Shit, I can't erase her memories. Of all people she had to find me." Ichigo started to panic when he heard the unconscious woman stirring awake. "Quick, hide!" Ichigo quickly erased the woman's memory of her encounter with him and pulled Rukia into the bushes with him forgetting to heal the bite marks.
"Ichigo, what are you doing? What's going on?" Rukia blurted out loudly.
"Jeez, shut up for a minute." Ichigo was watching the woman stand up.
"Ouch, why does my head hurt? I feel so good though." The woman stretched her arms above her head and cracked her back several times. "It's time to go find me a good man." The woman jogged off out of sight.
Rukia pushed Ichigo to the ground and climbed on top of him. "Okay, spill it! That was not normal, what's going on here Ichigo?" Rukia was still sitting on top of him and had a firm grip on his arms so he couldn't move.
"Please get off of me Rukia, my blood is exceeding past normal." Ichigo was struggling to get her off knowing he could not bite her. He felt himself snap and turned his head to the side just before coughing up blood on the ground.
"What the— hey Ichigo, are you okay?" Rukia moved her hands to his shoulders and was gently shaking him. His eyes were tightly closed and he was still coughing up large quantities of blood. She was freaking out when two people pushed there way through the bushes and walked over to them.
"Uh oh, I knew he would himself into trouble but not this quickly," said a girl with brown hair wearing the same school uniform as them. She knelt down next to Rukia who was still gently shaking his shoulders after having climbed off.
"Karin, you know he just woke up, and since you are the same you should have known this would happen." Rukia looked over at the boy who had just spoken and thought he was about the same size as Ichigo. He pulled a rag out of his back pocket and knelt down next to Ichigo's head where the grass was now stained red. He started wiping the grass with it to try and remove some of the blood from it.
"Oh quiet Kenta, you make it sound like we're defects or something, it's embarrassing." Karin reached over and hit Kenta upside the head as hard as she could.
"What are you two doing, shouldn't we call an ambulance? I don't think this is the time to be bickering like siblings," Rukia pleaded as she grabbed Karin's arm.
"Don't worry, Ichigo's going to be just fine," Karin reassured her. All of a sudden Karin's face froze and she grabbed her nose as blood started to gush out. "Wah ahhh Kenta help, there's blood coming out of my nose again." Karin looked around frantically while still holding her nose wishing someone she could bite would magically appear. Just as Kenta reached her, she collapsed on the ground next to Ichigo.
"Jeez, why does this always happen when someone new comes around." Kenta started roaming around for Karin's cell phone. to call Anju.
"Um, can you tell me what's going on here? Are they alright?" Rukia said while moving over to Kenta.
"Sorry, I can't really tell you anything. They'll be fine though. I'm surprised that she was affected by you too though." Kenta looked over at Karin with a small smile on his face. "Hey, do you think you can help me get these two home?" Kenta said. He decided it would be more fun to learn more about Rukia then to simply call someone to pick them up. He placed the cell phone back in Karin's school bag and stood up looking at Rukia.
"Sure, I guess. What do you need help with?" Rukia watched Kenta bend down and pick Ichigo up. She got the hint and lifted Karin onto her back. "There's no way I'd let a guy carry a girl on my watch, and school's almost over so it doesn't matter if anyone sees us."
They were walking up the park hill about to cross the street when Rukia decided it was a good time to ask him some questions. "Hey Kenta, will you tell me more about Ichigo and Karin? They have a strange feel to them and you seem as though you're very close to Karin." Rukia stopped to adjust Karin since she was beginning to slip off her shoulders.
Before Kenta could answer, Ichigo began to stir and knowing he was on someone's back let out a loud yawn. "Huh where am I?" Ichigo lifted his head off Kenta's back and noticed the street as being close to his house.
Kenta stopped walking so Ichigo could slide off his back without falling. "Good morning Ichigo, you waited too long again and couched up too much blood. This is the third time this week you've passed out from losing too much blood you know that?" Ichigo let out a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his head.
Rukia looked back and forth between the two. "You guys look like brothers," she blurted out. "God their eyes are almost the identical," she thought to herself. They both turned to her as though they were just now remembering she was there.
Rukia shifted around and took a step backwards towards the street bench next to them so she could set Karin down on it. Her legs were shaky though and she tripped falling backgrounds. "Shit, not good, I hope I can make it in time without landing on top of Karin," Rukia thought. She twisted her upper body around and threw her hands out so eh would fall face-down instead. She made it and her knees slammed painfully into the ground from Karin's weight on her back. The boys rushed over to her side and Kenta pulled Karin off her back.
"Hey are you okay?" Ichigo knelt down next to her and saw the painful road burns that were gushing blood on her knees. "I am so glad im not a normal vampire."
"Hang on, just sit there for a second Rukia." She rolled over and sat on her bottom looking at her bloody knees. Ichigo reached around and pulled out some bandages from his bag that he kept in case he got in a fight. He grabbed the small bottle of cleaning solution that was with them and gently squirted it across her bloody knees to wash all the dirt from them. He then took the bandages and rolled them around her knees.
"um uh th-thank you. I would have been fine though." Rukia was reluctant to speak because she didn't like being treated as though she was weak.
"It's no problem, I'm surprised you were able to pull a move like that. Karin didn't get hurt one bit either." Ichigo smiled at her. She reminded him a lot of his sister.
"I can't believe Karin is still asleep after all that." Kenta said and slapped his hand on his forehead. He looked over at the smiling Ichigo and thought, "This is the first time I've seen Ichigo truly smile in a long time."
"Kenta can carry Karin, do you need any help getting home Rukia?" Ichigo said while helping her up from the ground.
"I'm fine. I live by myself over in that apartment building." Rukia pointed at the building where Kenta and his mom lived.
"You're joking right? You live there?" Kenta was surprised with the turn of events.
Ichigo cut in and said, "That's where Kenta lives. In that case Kenta, you can help Rukia and I'll carry Karin since it's getting late." He went over to Kenta and gently took Karin from his arms. "Don't get into trouble alright?" Ichigo turned towards the hidden manor where he and Karin lived and quickly walked away from the two.
"Shall we go?" Kenta said. They had only taken several steps when Kenta's stomach started growling.
Rukia looked at Kenta who was rubbing his stomach, "Would your family like to come over for dinner tonight?" Rukia could always tell if a guy was hungry, growling stomach or not.
"I'm sure me and my mom would love to come as long as we won't be a bother." Kenta turned and bowed low to her.
"It's alright! Let's just call it a three-way celebration for being in the same class, being new neighbors, and making new friends."
Rukia didn't even notice they were at the apartments already until she almost walked into the door. "We're here already. When your family is ready just knock on my door several times so I know it's you guys." She walked inside her apartment and waved goodbye to Kenta. On her way to her bedroom she noticed a note lying on her table. There was nothing on it to indicate it was urgent at all so she tossed it back down and decided she'd just wait and read it while she prepared dinner.
"She seems like a really kind girl," Kenta thought as he walked into his living room. His mom was bustling about cleaning and paused to say hello when he walked in. He told her about Rukia's invitation and she clapped her hands together happily since she forgot to shop for ingredients to cook dinner.
Meanwhile at Karin's manor…
"Ichigo you fool, you're just like Karin for pete's sake. Next time make sure no one is looking. And why didn't you erase her memories?" Boggy said as he swung his knife around.
"Boggy, stop it now." Anju could always make Boggy shut-up with very little effort.
Karin, who had been placed on the couch, finally began waking up. "Good morning." She rubbed her eyes and looking around noticed how late it was. "Where are mama and papa?" By this time Karin's mom would usually be complaining about the blood her dad got for her.
"They had to leave town with Ren for a couple of weeks so I'm in charged of taking care of you two. More importantly though, why did you bite that girl Ichigo? I thought you were alright this morning when you left." Anju said.
"Well, my blood reacted pretty strongly when I got near her. She wasn't hateful either. In fact, her aura was soft like snow." Ichigo looked down at his hands. The memory of her sitting on top of him flashed through his mind and he couldn't help but flush a little.
"An aura like snow…I see, thank you for telling me." Anju left the room and went downstairs to the basement where her grandmother was napping to ask her a few questions. "That reaction Ichigo had, it sounds as though she's his soul mate. I need to do some research on this." Anju went downstairs towards her grand-mother's room