DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach in any way, shape or form

Author's note: This is my first story so I might be a little rough around the edges! haha.. go easy on me :)

Chapter 1

It was just another one of those days for Rukia Kuchiki. She found herself in the principal's office (again). Staring out into space, trying to figure out a good enough excuse as to why she missed trigonometry for the 10th time that semester, she notices the time and immediately starts panicking. Renji would be picking her up any minute now to go watch that new movie that had come out just a few days ago! Now mind you she is not interested in Renji like that. Just childhood friends who were still together in high school. He had been one of the few who had stuck by her side through thick and thin and she was ever grateful for that. He might have had, heck he still might have a crush on her but to Rukia, he was nothing more than a best friend.

The principal scrutinized her very closely and Rukia tried to return the favor but she couldn't without thinking he belonged in a museum. The man's face was full of wrinkles and he had that typical, "old man's beard". They were staring at each other for a good 2 minutes now and Rukia was starting to get impatient. She would've whipped out a check and given him a fortune if only Byakuya would've allowed her. Now don't get the wrong idea, Rukia is rich. As a matter of fact, she's loaded but the only place her money didn't have power was in school. Especially when she got in trouble with the teachers. Byakuya always told her to "face the consequences of your actions or don't get involved in the first place". Sometimes, she just wanted to stab him to death with a pencil but she couldn't do that to the man who was housing her, paying for her every needs and giving her an allowance enough to buy a theme park now could she? So, here she was in the principal's office at 4:30pm when she should've been out partying already.

Rukia was the first to break the awkward silence. "Umm.. aren't you going to say something?" Principal Yamamoto gave her a funny look. "What else is left for me to say? he said in an ancient voice. "No amount of advice is going to help you if you are just going to throw it out your head the very next day". Rukia sat quietly, fumbling with her uniform. "You may leave" Rukia's eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets. Did she just hear what she think she heard? "W-what did you say?" Rukia stuttered, still unable to believe her ears. "I said you can leave. I don't have time for this and apparently you look like you have things to get to". He stood from his chair and walked to grab his coat. When he turned around he still saw Rukia staring at him with eyes as wide as dinner plates. "Are you waiting for me to change my mind?" "of course not! hehehe.. I'll be going now! You take care Mr. Yamamoto!" And with that she ran out the room and reached for her phone. "What's taking you so long?!" Renji answered on the other side. "Don't tell me you got detention again.." "That's the thing!" Rukia practically squealed. "Huh?" he didn't understand why she was so happy that she got detention for the nth time that semester. "He let me off without even a single word!" Rukia was so happy but in the corner of her mind, she was still bothered by her principal's words. "No amount of advice is going to help you if you are just going to throw it out your head the very next day". Had she really changed that much in a matter of 3 years? Had she really lost her real identity? Rukia pushed those questions to the back of her head where they belonged. Right now, she should just concentrate on having a good evening with Renji. "Are you serious?" Renji sounded as baffled as Rukia had a few minutes ago. "Yup! and no more questions if you don't wanna miss the movie! I'll be there in 5 minutes" and then she hung up.

She was out of the school building and in the parking lot searching for a bright shade of red. In a matter of seconds she caught sight of it and ran over to him. "Took you long enough.." Renji mumbled. He was smacked upside the head as Rukia stepped in his car. "I just hung up a while ago" "you could've got here much faster if you had just been a good girl and went to class" Renji said, starting the engine. Rukia didn't say anything. She was thinking about those questions she asked herself earlier on the whole trip to the theater. She wouldn't have even realized they had arrived if Renji didn't startle her back into reality. "you okay?" he asked with a concerned look on his face. "I'm fine.. Just thinking about some stuff" she replied, walking over to the ticket booth and buying them a pair of tickets. "What kind of stuff?" Renji asked again with that look on his face, Rukia just shrugged him off. "It's fine, I told you no more questions didn't i?" He finally gave up and headed in to buy some popcorn and drinks. Rukia excused herself and went to the ladies room to freshen up before the movie began. As she trotted to the bathroom, her mind still pondering those stupid questions, she ran right into something hard and soft at the same time. Rubbing her nose, she slowly stood up and tried to see who or what was standing in her way when, "Hey! Watch where you're going midget!" Rukia was awestruck. She glanced up at the tall man in front of her with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "Am I so handsome that you can't even take your eyes off me or even speak?" he said with a smirk on his face. "You were born with a pair of eyes for a reason, use them" and with that he walked off. Rukia still couldn't get that stupid look off her face. How dare this guy? Not only did he stand in her way but he had the nerve to embarrass her on the spot? Who was he to throw insults at the Rukia Kuchiki? Normal people would stay clear of her when she was deep in thought. They all knew the consequences if they didn't. But this guy wasn't normal. Either he didn't know who she was or he was dropped when he was a baby.

Those things were trivial compared to the fact that she was left speechless during the whole situation. Midget, she could understand but no one on the face of the earth had the ability to keep Rukia Kuchiki's mouth shut. And there she stood corrected in front of the ladies room. She realized she had been standing there for a good 5 minutes with her mouth slightly agape. Snapping herself out of it, she stormed into the bathroom and splashed her face with water. "Get a hold of yourself Rukia!" "You just got caught up in the moment, just pretend this thing never happened and move on.." She did some breathing exercises to calm herself down. The thing that bothered her the most was that she actually found him attractive. If he just got rid of that scowl, he would've looked like an angel sent from the heavens. Rukia quickly slapped herself. What was she thinking? Just a moment ago she was cursing him and now she was daydreaming about that cocky bastard! She shook her head and headed back upstairs and met up with Renji. "Just in time! Got me worried a bit there. I thought you slipped in the bathroom and couldn't get up" Rukia punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Let's go or we'll miss it" Renji nodded and the two found their seats near the back. The movie was some romantic-comedy which would've usually made her puke but this one was actually pretty good. She found herself laughing from time to time and she would've had a pretty good time with Renji if her mind wasn't on a certain guy with bright orange hair. No matter how much she tried to push him away, he would pop back in her brain and she finally settled on watching the movie with that orange haired buffoon in her mind. When the movie ended, they headed out into the cool night breeze. Rukia yawned, obviously tired after all the events of the day. It was too full of surprises for her liking but hey, what can you do? That's the beauty of life.

She glanced at her watch and started panicking for the second time that day. If she didn't get back home in 15 minutes, no phone, no T.V. and no computer for a month. It was pretty harsh for a curfew but she had to deal with it since she lived with an over-strict billionaire who had a stick up his ass. Renji noticed her expression and offered to drive her home. Apart from the short reviews of the movie and the music playing from the radio, the two rode in complete silence on the way to Rukia's place. As the car pulled up to her block, Renji looked over at Rukia. That concern creeping back on his facial features. "Are you sure you're okay? You've been acting pretty weird ever since we left from school" he muttered. Rukia gave him a small smile "Renji, I'm fine really. Stop worrying so much! I had a great time today, we should do it again sometime". A blush appeared on his face and coughed awkwardly. "Pervert" Rukia said with a small smirk and stepped outside after saying her goodbyes. She sneaked through the main gate and to the door, although she had no idea why because Byakuya's many cameras would've caught her the moment Renji's car pulled over. Rukia cleared her throat and fixed her clothes before quietly tapping on the oak doors. Right when she was about to knock again, the door suddenly opened and there stood Byakuya with his reading glasses on. His sudden appearance at the door nearly gave her a heart attack. "Exactly 8:59 pm. Just dodged the bullet I would say" he commented coolly before gliding off to his study. Rukia stood rooted to the spot. How many times was she going to be surprised in a day? Byakuya never answered the door! Where were all the maids? She shook her head and went to her room, not allowing herself to think about it too much. When she fell back on her bed, she closed her eyes and everything that happened that day from Yamamoto's out of the blue decision to that orange haired fool who dared embarrass her came flooding to her head. Rukia could've sworn her head would explode but instead she decided to just call it a day.

That's it guys, I'll definitely start writing longer chapters as the story progresses but I'll leave it at that for today. So let me know how I did, I'm still pretty new to this stuff so I'd really appreciate it if you all could give me a few tips and pointers or what I can do to improve my story. Next chapter will be up depending on the reviews so don't forget to leave one! Everyone's opinions are welcome. Goodnight! :D