AN: Hey everybody! So, for those of you that already know me, I'm back! I didn't disappear permanently. And to mark my return, I decided I'd do a short story inspired by a pic I found. I've always wanted to a simple and short story like this, yet for some reason it never came together until now, so I thought that this would be a good introduction back into the world of FanFiction. Hopefully you guys like it even though it is a fairly simple story. Well, read and enjoy! And don't forget to check the end comments for news about updates to this story and some other things about my other stories!
Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own Bleach or any of its characters... I think...
I wish just to rest,
To wash away my worries.
And yet still, I wake.
I'm not sure when exactly I found out what was going on. It probably started around that time, when I first started to see them, but it didn't register to me right then. Now that I think about it, it was obvious. I had all the signs, and it was even stated clearly, yet I guess I couldn't accept it or believe it, so… I didn't. Perhaps if I had believed, if I had accepted the truth, I would have done things differently; but if I had… would things have turned out the same way?
Ж
"Nii-sama! Nii-sama! They're letting me go home today, right?" Rukia grinned excitedly up at the solemn figure next to her bed, her violet eyes shining. Byakuya gazed down at her with his emotionless grey eyes, a small frown threatening to form on his face. While she seemed more energetic today than she had over the last week, Rukia's face was still too pale for his liking.
"Yes, Rukia," he sighed, earning a curious look from the young girl.
"Is Nii-sama not happy?" Her eyes lost some of their excitement as she looked up at him
Byakuya met her gaze shortly before replying quietly, "Happy? I wonder…"
A knock interrupted his thought as the door to the room slid open. A women with black, braided hair and a warm smile stepped into the room. Her white coat seemed to blend in to the stark walls behind her as she made her way forward.
"Unohana-san!" Rukia called, her brilliant smile returning to her face.
"Hello, Rukia. Kuchiki-san."
Byakuya nodded to the woman before walking over. "We must speak before Rukia leaves."
Unohana smiled over at the young girl. "Please excuse us."
Rukia watched as Byakuya followed the doctor out and slid the door shut. The tall shadow of her brother lingered, visible through the frosted glass window. After gazing at the shadow for a while, curiosity won her over, and Rukia moved over to the door quietly. Pressing her ear against the glass, she tried to make out the muffled voices.
"How long?"
Byakuya's voice was more solemn than Rukia had ever heard, and it made her happiness waver slightly. What exactly was going on with him today?
"It is hard to say. Perhaps many years, or possibly only one. All that I can say is that you must keep her well taken care of. Regular visits should be established. At some point you need to tell h-"
"We will do no such thing. This is never to be brought up in front of Rukia, nor shall you ever inform her."
"It is unreasonable to believe that she will not realize at some point, Kuchiki-san. It would be best she not be-"
"Unohana, while I am indebted to you for taking care of Hisana, you will not tell me how to take care of Rukia. I have made my decision, and you will follow it."
Rukia grimaced at the familiar sound of Byakuya's disapproval. It was harsh to be on the other side of those words, and it made her feel sorry for Unohana. Even if Rukia didn't know what they were talking about, there was no need for Byakuya to be so harsh.
"I understand. However, I believe I know more about taking care of patients, Kuchiki-san. Do you not agree?"
Rukia's eyes widened slightly. This was the first time she had ever heard someone stand up against Byakuya's commands.
"While I do not doubt your abilities, this will be done the way I say. We will speak of this no further."
Rukia scrambled over to the other side of the room and tried to make herself look busy staring out of the window as the door began to slide open. She glanced back at the two that entered, the usual warm smile fixed on the doctor's face and her brother's blank countenance returned. Rukia smiled at them.
"Are you ready to leave, Rukia?" Unohana asked, walking over to her.
"Yup! I got ready this morning! But… will I be able to come back and visit you some time?" Rukia asked, tilting her head slightly.
"You can come anytime you need me," the older woman replied. "In fact, why don't you come by every so often so I can make sure you are growing up strong and healthy?"
Rukia nodded and skipped over to Byakuya's side. "Are we leaving now?"
"Yes," he replied moving toward the door. "It's cold outside, so wear your jacket and scarf."
"It's cold?" Rukia glanced out of the window again and noticed that white specks had started falling past the window while they had been talking. "Ah! It's snowing!"
She rushed back to the window and gazed out, eyes shining. As she watched the world slowly bathed in white flakes, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A black shaped fluttered off to the side of the window, landing on a bush not far away. Its delicate wings seemed to reflect different colors even though they were jet black.
"A butterfly?"
"Butterfly? There aren't any butterflies this time of year, Rukia," Unohana said, moving over behind Rukia, who looked back at her.
"But there is one," she said, turning back to point. When she looked back at the bush though, it had disappeared. "It was right there…"
"Perhaps you mistook something else as a butterfly?"
Rukia continued to gaze out of the window, confused.
"Rukia, we must go," Byakuya called from the door. Rukia reluctantly turned back around, but soon her spirits had returned and she ran over to her brother.
"Please take care of yourself, Rukia," Unohana waved as Rukia followed her brother out of the room.
"I will! I'll come and visit soon, too!"
Rukia said her goodbye and skipped after the tall figure striding in front of her down the hall. As she followed him, another person in a white coat walked by with a boy next to him.
"Bya-bo!" The man called, waving at him, but her brother did not acknowledge the man at all, only striding by. Rukia's eyes went to the boy as she walked, drawn by his bright hair. He had orange hair, like a highlighter color, and his eyes were an unusual amber color. As she walked by, he flashed her a big grin that ended up looking lopsided due to a missing tooth on one side. As she smiled back shyly, she noticed a small motion behind his left shoulder. As she moved past him, she noticed that it was a butterfly. It was shaped exactly like the one she had seen earlier, except this one was a soft shade of pink. Confused, she almost tripped as she tried to keep walking while looking backwards. As she stumbled the boy laughed, but it was drowned out by the man behind him.
"Don't be so mean, Bya-bo!"
"Um, Nii-sama… do you know him?" Rukia asked, turning back around to hide her blush from the boy behind her.
"No. Just ignore them."
Rukia did as he said and followed him to the elevator. When they reached the front door, Rukia's excitement washed away her confusion over the butterflies. She ran ahead, going out into the snow and looking up, letting some of the flakes land on her tongue. Finally, she was going home again!
"Come, Rukia."
"All right!" Rukia followed him to the car, feeling happier than she had in a week.
Ж
Rukia gazed around the room. As she thought, she didn't know anyone. That was to be expected when she chose a public high school after going to a private school since she was little. She frowned. Although, the only reason she had done it was to spite her brother. Who said she wanted to learn how to run his business anyway? He hadn't even considered her thoughts, so she had applied only to Karakura High without telling him, and here she was. As she swept her violet eyes around the room again, she thought that maybe she was going to regret it.
Almost everyone in the room seemed to have friends already, as most stood off in groups, chatting amicably, and there seemed to be some very… interesting people in the class. There were two boys off to one side having what looked like a very animated yet one-sided conversation, since one of them was constantly checking his phone. The person talking to the phone kid kept pointing across the room to a giant of a guy, who happened to be one of the only other people who was alone. He looked like a foreigner, and definitely looked like he could be trouble if someone messed with him. On the other side of the room, three girls were talking, well, two of them were talking while one was being held in a headlock as she tried to grab the shy looking one in the group. The one who held the redhead in the lock looked like an athletic person, with short black hair and sharp eyes, while her friend had long, flowing orange hair and rather large… endowments. Sitting not too far away was the last of the people that was alone, his black hair framing his glasses as he gazed down at a book.
As she waited for the bell, everyone else moved to their seats slowly. Her spot was nice: back row closest to the window. It gave her a great view of the room and made sure nobody was looking over her shoulder. When the bell finally rang and the teacher walked in, she noticed that the seat had one other thing that made it perfect. It looked like no one sat next to her. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Hello everyone!" the teacher called out as Rukia switched her eyes to the front of the class. "My name's Ochi Misato, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the year." She pushed her brown ponytail behind her shoulder before continuing.
"So, let's introduce ourselves!"
As the introductions proceeded, Rukia managed to catch some of the names of the people she had noticed before, and as she had expected, none of them were familiar. Even as the introductions came to a close, Rukia still hadn't even heard a family name that she knew someone from. Suddenly the door to the class slid open and another student walked in. He, too, was tall, and his bright orange hair seemed to capture everyone's attention. Wait… orange hair? Rukia felt an odd tug in her mind as a memory tried to surface, but she couldn't quite place it.
"And who are you? You're late on the first day!"
The boy looked at the teacher, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that. Kurosaki Ichigo."
Kurosaki? Isn't that the name of Nii-sama's doctor?
"Ah, I see. Your seat should be next to Kuchiki. Kuchiki, raise your hand!"
Rukia did as she was asked, and the boy made his way down the aisle to the empty desk next to her. Now that she looked at him closer, his amber eyes also seemed familiar, although the fresh bruise forming next to his left eye distracted her from this fact. Was that why he was late? As she looked at him from the corner of her eyes, Rukia noticed that there seemed to be something moving at his shoulder. Curious, Rukia looked at it more closely. Her eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the object. A small butterfly fluttered around his shoulder, landing on it occasionally. While it was true she was seeing these weird images more and more lately, this specific one was one she had only seen once before. Its wings were a light hue of pink.
That… that boy at the hospital?
It was true that he had the same hair and eyes, and now that she thought about it, he had been with what Rukia later learned was probably Byakuya's doctor. It had to be him. But now he seemed angrier, no longer that happy kid who had seemed so carefree.
The guy glanced at her, making her face heat up as she realized she was staring. She quickly turned her face away, choosing to look out of the window.
The first part of the day went by fairly quickly, and soon the bell for lunch rang. Rukia turned back to her neighbor, clearing her throat as she did so. "Ichigo Kurosaki, right? My name's Rukia Kuchiki, nice to meet you," she said, layering in false sweetness into her voice.
He shot her a look, but didn't turn towards her. "Nice to meet you," he replied dully.
Rukia hesitated, not sure how to continue the conversation after such an abrupt and simplistic reply.
"Are you perhaps related to Isshin Kurosaki of the Karakura Hospital?"
Ichigo scowled and looked at her fully for the first time. "Are you one of the many victims he likes to call patients?"
"Oh, no, my brother is."
"Then consider yourself lucky," he replied, turning away and putting his head down on his desk.
Rukia could feel a slight twitch above her eyes. This guy was hard to talk to.
"Um, by the way, is your eye okay?"
"Yeah, fine. One punch isn't a problem." This time he replied without even lifting his head, making his voice muffled.
Rukia frowned. "You know, you could at least look at me when I talk to you," she said, losing all of the fake friendliness from her voice. Ichigo lifted his head slightly and looked at her.
"Maybe you should take it as a hint that I don't want to talk to you. Besides, why should I show you respect when you don't even respect your own self? Only someone who isn't comfortable with the way they are would act all perfect just to get people to like them."
This hit a nerve. Rukia glared at him. "I have respect for myself. It's just that I didn't want any misunderstandings to form with my new classmates, not that a delinquent like you would understand what it means to have an image you need to maintain," she snapped. Why was she losing her temper like this?
"You don't know anything about me, princess, so why don't you turn back around and stare at birds out of the window or something?"
"At least the birds would have some semblance of intelligence, unlike you," Rukia countered sarcastically. Ichigo only smirked.
"Too bad. You can't even talk to me face-to-face, how is someone as short as you going to interact with those 'intelligent birds?'"
Rukia stood up and glared down at him, her hand forming into a small fist. "I'm not that short."
A stifled laugh came from the man in front of her as he looked up. "I only guessed since I figured you'd be shorter than me anyway, but you really are short!"
Rukia was really not liking this guy. All he had done so far was be rude and make fun of her. "I am not that short!"
Rukia paused as she realized she had said that louder than she had meant to. She looked around the room to see most of the eyes on her. She smiled and put a hand on the back of her neck, laughing nervously. "I-I mean, I would appreciate it if you didn't refer to me as short, Kurosaki-san."
"Oh, my apologies, Kuchiki-san," Ichigo replied, mocking her overly sweet tone. "I will try to restrain myself from further use of the word short."
Rukia sent him the most chilling glare she could muster before sitting back down and turning her back to the annoying kid next to her with a huff. Seriously, where did he get off? She was just trying to be nice, and look how it had turned out. Jerk.
The rest of the day went by slowly for Rukia, who was still irritated with her confrontation with the idiot next to her. By the end bell, she felt exhausted. Why was she so tired? It wasn't like she had done anything out of the ordinary. Even with her weak body, she should have been perfectly fine. Waving it off as she needed to readjust to the school schedule, Rukia stood from her seat, sliding her notebook into her bag.
Oh well, I guess I'll just rest when I get home.
Rukia turned towards the door, ignoring the glance from Ichigo as she walked by. By now, most people had already left the room and were loitering in the hall, which was what Rukia had hoped for. She hated crowds, and her plan was to wait around until the number of people thinned down a little. As she reached the door, a sudden wave of exhaustion swept over her. Her legs gave way as she lost her strength. Panic welled up in her as she felt herself lose control of her limbs and her weight shifted towards the floor. Her stomach plummeted as time slowed. Why hadn't she hit the floor yet?
"You alright?" a voice asked from behind her. As soon as she heard the voice her body tingled slightly as she regained some of her strength. She looked back to realize that someone had grabbed her shoulders as she fell. Looking down at her were amber eyes filled with a mix of amusement and genuine concern. Jumping out of Ichigo's grip, she straightened up, although she was still a little shaky.
"I'm fine. Thank you," she said brusquely. "I just tripped." Ichigo continued to look at her for a second before saying anything, but when he did, it wasn't what she had expected.
"Have we met somewhere before?"
Rukia froze up. He remembered? No, he was asking for conformation. He might remember seeing her, but he didn't know it was her. It was better that way anyway, right? That way he would see her as some weak little girl that had a weak body. She couldn't stand the look people wore on their faces when they heard that. Like she was some poor, fragile doll about to break.
"N-no, I don't think so. Why do you ask?" she replied a little more rudely than she had meant to.
Ichigo raised his hands in front of him as if warding off an attack. "It's just that I remember a girl I saw one time when I was little. She tripped over herself too, which is what reminded me. Anyway, if it wasn't you, that's fine," he said, moving to the door. As he made his way out into the hall, he waved over his shoulder. "Try not to trip on your way home, princess. I won't be there to save you if you do."
Rukia scowled as she watched him walk out, but couldn't think of any retort. It wasn't until he had made his way into the corridor that she moved to the door and yelled out at him as he strode down the hall. "Just where do you get off calling me princess?!"
He looked back over his shoulder with a smirk before facing forward again and mixing in with the thinning crowd, his orange hair sticking out amongst the other heads.
"So annoying…" she muttered to herself, but her scowl softened.
Maybe he wasn't as bad a guy as she had originally thought. He was just irritating and full of himself. Wait, more importantly…
Rukia looked down at her hand, closing it into a fist before opening it and gazing at her palm again. What had just happened? It was a lot worse than her normal loss of energy or strength. It was almost like her entire body had shut down for a second. Was it just a one-time thing? Rukia closed her eyes and sighed.
Maybe I should talk to Byakuya or Unohana about it…
"No. They would worry too much. I'm sure it was nothing," Rukia whispered to herself as she clasped her hand again. "It'll be fine. If it happens again you can think about talking to them. For now, just go home and rest."
With that, she walked out of the room, sliding the door closed behind her. As she did she noticed she hadn't been alone in the room. Near the window, fluttering around her desk was an elegant black butterfly.
AN: So, how was it? Please feel free to let me know or to ask any questions!
As for when this story will update again, it should be up in one weeks time unless I get too eager and post it early (which is a distinct possibility). In other news, I have decided that in order to finish up my other stuff, I will work on one at a time for the moment. I have put up a poll question on my profile page for those of you who have read and liked one of my other fics to vote on the one you want to see finished. So don't forget to go and vote! Anyway, it's great to be back, and I hope you all liked the first chap of this story. Until next time!