Disclaimer: I own nothing, please don't sue! Tite Kubo owns Bleach. I own a bottle of it. (keke lame joke, I know. I'm sorry.)

IIIII

Prologue: Of Best Friends and Purple Bunnies

IIIII

"Aww! No! No way!"

It was currently art time in Ms. Ran's second grade class, Classroom B, when everyone in the classroom suddenly stopped coloring in the coloring books the teacher had just given them a mere twenty minutes ago and looked up, turning around as their little eyes wandered toward the child who had caused the break in silence.

Oh. It was just him.

And because he was always causing trouble, his outburst was nothing new.

Therefore, everyone in Ms. Ran's second grade class, Classroom B, returned their attention back onto the matter at hand, which was to color in-between the lines of the pages on the coloring book and bring home "mustard pieces" to their parents. At least, that's what their teacher had said. The children were all very excited to show their own respective parents their coloring skills and proceeded to, very meticulously, color in the blank spaces within the black lines of various length.

Of course, no one had made any comments except for Gin Ichimaru, the teacher's pet and class snitch. "Ooooo!" Gin quickly exclaimed in a high pitched whine-like voice. "You didn't use your indoor voice!" He smiled smugly and narrowed his eyes threateningly. "I'm going to tell Ms. Ran on you! You won't get a sticker for the sticker wall this week." His grin got even wider at the thought of getting his fellow classmate in trouble. "Maybe you'll even a sticker taken away!"

But before the silver haired boy could burst out of his seat and run, with his short and stubby legs, to the teacher's desk, Ms. Ran was already walking past Gin and toward the back of the classroom, closing in on the boy who had disrupted the class.

"Thank you for your assistance Gin," She smiled sweetly, looking back at the boy who sank back into his chair unhappily, his smile replaced by a large frown. "But that won't be necessary. You may return to your coloring like the others."

She turned her attention to the boy in the back row and winked. "I bet he was so loud that even Principal Takeshita could hear him all the way in the gym." A warm smile formed on her face as she lightly teased the boy.

The other children chuckled but none of them stopped their coloring.

The boy looked down, blushing furiously. He hadn't meant to yell out so loud.

"Hey," Ms. Ran put gently put a hand on his shoulder; a concerned look fell upon her face. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry…" He muttered quietly but the boy still didn't look up. "Are you going to take away my sticker? I didn't mean to use my outdoor voice, and, and I really am sorry…"

He started to sniffle.

Ms. Ran had started using the "Sticker Wall Method" as a way to encourage the children to develop good behavior by rewarding a sticker every two days to the students who did not cause trouble and acted appropriately in a classroom setting. To make things more interactive, the students were given a sticker sheet and able to choose their own stickers and place it upon the Sticker Wall by themselves. As an added incentive, the boy or girl with the most stickers at the end of the week was allowed to take home the class basket, a basket which was filled with board games, toys, and educational cartoon videos, for the weekend. And after each month, the Sticker Wall started with a brand new

She thought it was odd that the boy was so worried about his sticker on the wall. But then again, she understood. It was the only sticker he had, compared to the other children who already had eight or ten. It made sense that he was so worried about it.

He was a good boy at heart and had good intentions, but sometimes he was just too disruptive and didn't always think things through. She sighed.

The teacher bent down so that she was now at eye level with the little boy. "Okay, well, I won't take your sticker away this time, but you have to get back to your coloring right away okay?"

The boy, still sniffling, looked up so that his amber eyes looked straight into hers. "Kay."

"And," She continued, "After you're done coloring, I want to talk to you afterschool, before you go home okay?"

The boy wiped away his tears. "Kay. I promise Ms. Ran."

"Good." She smiled brightly, patting his head. "Now, no need to cry, get to work!"

The boy nodded as an equally bright smile fell upon his face and opened his coloring book to the first page. He stared at it for a few minutes and his face scrunched up, obviously in deep thought. Suddenly, an imaginary light bulb lit inside his seven year old mind and he quickly got out his box of crayons and scanned the choices. He smiled happily when he located the color he was looking for and, grasping it quickly, began to color.

The next forty minutes passed without incident as the children were let out for their third and final recess break of the day.

IIIII

"Do you really have to go?"

The same little boy who had previously caused somewhat of an uproar in his class pouted as his eyes began to water. "You just got here!"

He threw the tiny piece of paper in the trashcan.

"Sorry about getting you in trouble…maybe I shouldn't have left the note in your desk and should have just given it to you after your class ended."

"Nah." The boy sucked in air and puffed up his chest. "I'm tough! I'm not afraid of trouble!"

"Haha, you're funny." Replied a tiny, fairly squeaky voice. "Sorry, I gots to go. My mommy's waiting."

"Wait!" His mind worked overtime as he thought about how to keep his friend from leaving, at least for a few more hours. "Can you wait a little? I mean like just for a few seconds, I need to give you something but I have to go to my teacher for a bit or else Ms. Ran'll take away my sticker!"

The boy, eyes wide, threw both hands into the air, emphasizing the important of his gift and his sticker. "Okay then, I'll totally wait for you anytime you want if you wait for me today."

His best friend nodded and smiled quite a large smile. "Kay, I love presents! I guess I'll wait for you a little bit longer and I hope my mommy won't get too mad."

"Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise."

And the two interlocked pinkies and promised they would wait for each other.

The boy and his best friend walked toward Classroom B and as he placed his hand on the doorknob, he turned to face his friend so that his amber colored eyes were accentuated by the light the setting sun behind them.

"Even if you go back, let's be best friends forever!" He smiled as big as his little cheeks allowed him to. "I'll see you soon!"

"Sure!" The entire hall rang with the equally cheerful response.

And as the boy turned the doorknob and entered the room, he didn't know that that would be the very last time he would see his best friend and that their friendship would almost all but disappear.

However, it wasn't the end.

IIIII

Ms. Ran was lining up the chairs and cleaning the room when she heard the door open.

She smiled when she saw who it was and motioned for the boy to sit down.

"Hey…I know you've had a bad start this year and you don't know many people, but that doesn't mean you should act out." She started. "I'm sure things will get better!"

"Nah, I don't think so." He shrugged. "My best friend in the whole wide world is leaving today and going back home…I'll be alone again."

Ms. Ran could feel the sadness radiating off from the boy and felt a wave of sadness overcoming her as well. He was referring to the child she remembered seeing around the school three days ago. Initially, she was worried that the child was lost and needed caring but once she had realized who the child actually was and knew that the youngster was already well taken care of, she decided that it was best to turn a blind eye. Ms. Ran was happy that the child was returning home yet felt awful for the boy who had finally made a friend. "Well, what about the other children in your class? Couldn't you make some friends with them?" She tried to help.

The boy frowned and slouched into his chair, his bangs fell, covering his eyes. "I don't think so Ms. Ran." He sighed. "All the other boys make fun of me and the girls think I have cooties because of what my dad does."

He lowered his gaze onto the floor. "I'm too different…"

"No, I don't think so. I think you need to give it time." She smiled, brushing his bright, orange colored hair away from his eyes. "In fact, you remind me of somebody I used to hear lots of stories about. Growing up, he was my hero."

"Really?" His eyes lit up. "Who?"

She smiled. "I'll tell my favorite story out of all the ones my mother used to tell me, but you're going to have to start behaving yourself and stop trying to pick fights with the other children, especially with Gin okay?"

He nodded slowly. "Okay…well, I'll try my best but Gin's always so mean!"

Ms. Ran cleared her throat.

The boy sighed. "BUT, I guess I could try to ignore him."

She smiled, "Okay well-"

"Wait!" He cut her off, "I, umm…But you can't take too long kay? Cuz, my best friend is waiting for me and…" He pulled out the folded paper from his side pocket. Carefully, he unfolded the paper and made sure to flatten out the creases. He held up the paper for his teacher to see. "I have a gift to give!"

The boy was quite proud of the bunny he had colored during art time, especially since he had only gone outside the lines twice!

"It's beautiful. I'm sure your friend will love it." The teacher smiled, amused. "But aren't bunnies supposed to be white? Why is your bunny purple?"

"Because," He answered simply. "That's the same color my best friend's eyes are!"

"Ooh," Ms. Ran said. "Your best friend must have really pretty eyes."

"Nah…" The boy blushed. "They're not THAT purple…so can you tell me the story now?" He asked, regaining his composure. "I mean, my friend's still waiting for me."

"Sure." She replied, sitting down on the desk next to the boy. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone of this grand and elaborate tale!"

He gulped, the excitement filling within him as he nodded. "Kay."

Ms. Ran smiled cheerfully. "Alright! Well, I'll tell you an undisclosed tale of unending affection!"

A quizzical look fell upon the boy's face. "What's that mean?"

The teacher laughed. "Well, to put it simply, it's a se-" She put her index finger up to her lips and whispered. "-cret story about a love that never ends."

"Eww!" The boy made a face. "Yuck."

Ms. Ran couldn't help but smile at his reaction. "So, this is a story about a boy named Ichigo…"

IIIII

A/N: Greetings! So…I haven't written anything in forever so hopefully I'm not too rusty. And yes, I was inspired by a certain movie I watched recently BUT! I cannot give it away, simply because the story might be spoiled, even if I'm tweaking a heck of a lot of it. (But brownie points for whoever can figure it out before the last chapter of this story!) So yes, this is my first Bleach fanfic and I hope all you Ichigo/Rukia fans will accept me amongst yourselves.

The "real" story's just starting so please read and review!

Reviews give me warm fuzzies and happy thoughts.

What is this?? A time skip? Forwards or backwards? Wait…what does time have to do with this? Eh? Trippy. Has anyone ever seen a purple bunny? What a confusing prologue.

Stay tuned!

Until next time…