AUTHOR'S NOTE : A IchiRuki fanfic. Basically a love story taking place at and general ed and music academy where the two types of students rarely interact. The idea of this came from a random thought of Ichigo actually becoming interested in classical or any kind of piano music when he falls for Rukia who's like a music prodigy. Hopefully it's good.

DISCLAIMER : I do not own Bleach or any of its characters. They belong to Tite Kubo.

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Tough Love in D Minor

Chapter 1 - First Day

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"Karakura Academy ..."

Ichigo frowned as he stood outside the iron gates that surrounded the large 5 story building. Karakura Academy was a famous school known across the country as a music school that taught the rich and made stars out of people who went there. Well most people anyways. Half of the school consisted of people who were just there to get an education. They were commonly known as the general ed students, and in just a few minutes, Ichigo Kurosaki would be joining them.

He grunted as he loosened the green and black tie of his uniform as he followed some people through the wrought iron gate. Ichigo looked around at the laughing and talkative people that lingered around the large courtyard infront of the school. The music students were easily decifered through the crowd of general ed kids. Unlike the general ed's gray pants and skirts, they had black ones and wore a red ribbon or red and black tie rather then the plain green or striped green ones.

That wasn't the only thing that split the group in two. The music class students usually carried out instruments or a music folder. Many were sitting outside practicing before heading to class, or were walking proudly with their heads held high. The rest seemed less punctual and elite as they walked around slumped and had that style of dressing that were similar to the way his friends dressed.

Ichigo shook his head as he made his way quickly towards the door. The loudness of the crowd was giving him a headache, and he just wanted to fall asleep in his first class.

He looked at the folded sheet of paper in hand and examined it quickly. His first class was homeroom and it was just around the corner. "Room 103." he muttered silently to himself as he pushed open the door roughly to find most of the class already there and the teacher watching him with cold eyes.

"Yer late." he said roughly. He had spikey black hair with a scar over one of his eyes as if he had gotten into a gang fight in earlier years. He wore plain black pants, and his white shirt was untucked.

"Class doesn't start until five more minutes." Ichigo pointed towards the clock with his thumb. "I'm not late."

"My class starts ten minutes before the actual start of the day." he growled. "If yer in my class then yer late. Name's Zaraki ... Remember it ... Fear it." Ichigo sneered. "Ichigo Kurosaki." Zaraki smirked. "Oh so yer the new guy the old geezer's been talking 'bout. Go sit yer ass down in that chair next to Abarai over there." He pointed towards a red headed boy with his hair up and had a lot of tattoos all over his body. He wore a white bandana, and had dark eyes that seemed cold.

Ichigo nodded and began walking towards his seat. As he did so, he noted that most of the class consisted of rather tough looking people. One guy was bald, and had a wooden sword sitting next to his desk, and another had a 69 tattoo on his cheek. 'Weird bunch we have here' he thought and slid into the chair.

The red head propped his head up onto his palm and looked at him with cold eyes. "Ichigo, eh? Name's Renji." Ichigo nodded. "Hey." Renji looked at him and grinned. "Let me guess. Your folks thought that you'd been in enough fights and thought that this place could help fix that problem?"

He frowned. "How'd you know?" Ichigo asked.

Renji shrugged. "That's basically the story for mostly everyone in this room." He scratched the back of head and stifled a yawn. Ichigo grinned. "Then I guess I'm not the only with a problem."

He smiled and nodded. "I guess not. Let's just say that you're not alone in this one." Ichigo nodded. This Renji guy would probably be someone to stick around with.

"Abarai! Kurosaki!" Their heads snapped to the front as a very disgruntle Zaraki glared at them. "Enough of yer chit chat. The old geezer wants me to whoop you guys into shape and that's what I plan on doing." An evil grin appeared on his face as he began ranting on about how he planned on using every hard method he knew on them until the principal was happy with his job.

Renji chuckled and smirked at Ichigo. "Welcome to your first day of hell, Ichigo Kurosaki."

.x.

The rest of the day seemed to ease right through quickly with the help of Ichigo's new found buds. In about every single class, he had atleast two of Renji's gang friends in it to keep him awake and entertained. It seemed to help a lot with the fact that Renji was there to teach him the rules of what he should and shouldn't do with the group.

Around lunch period, Ichigo, Renji, Shuuhei, Ikkaku, and Tatsuki sat around on the wall of the courtyard.

"Did you see Ise's face when you made that comment about her and Kyoraku?! It was fuckin' hilarious." Ikkaku laughed as he slapped Shuuhei on the back. Shuuhei beamed slighlty as he chugged down his drink. "Yeah. It was funny. It looked as though someone went up to her and slapped her in the face." Ichigo commented as he looked up at the sky. "So what's up with Zaraki?" he questioned. "Is he like ... crazy or something?"

Renji snickered. "He's kind of on the crazy side, but trust me. He'll be your favorite teacher here by the end of the week." Ichigo looked flabbergasted. "Seriously?" Shuuhei and the others nodded. Tatsuki grinned. "He doesn't give a damn if we get into a fight. He'll either sit there and enjoy the show or join in." He smiled. "He sounds pretty cool."

They all laughed and began another random conversation about the roughest fight they've ever been in. As they laughed and talked, the sound of music came filling through the air and seemed to drift around him. Ichigo looked around as the sound rang through his ears. His eyes ran across every music student in the courtyard but none of them were the source of the peaceful sound that surrounded them. "Where's that coming from?" he frowned.

Ikkaku looked at him and rolled his eyes. "Probably from one of the practice rooms. Those music snobs are always practicing that classical crap." He pointed towards one of the open windows. "Probably from that room."

Ichigo nodded and stood up. "I'm going to go on and head to the next class." he said as he turned towards the school. "We'll see ya then." Renji called as he watched amused as Tatsuki and Shuuhei argued over which gang was better.

.x.

Ichigo wandered through the upper levels of the building. Those floors consisted of music classrooms and practice rooms. The sounds of some instruments pierced through the cracks of some of the rooms as he passed. His eyes went through the glass windows on the doors. In one classroom a white haired boy sat with a guitar, and a girl with a bun sang into a microphone. He looked to the other room to find a blonde guy playing a cello in it. Apparently the music kids didn't do much besides practicing.

He continued down the long hall in attempt to figure out who was playing the melody he heard outside. The tune was strangely familiar but he couldn't remember where he heard it. Ichigo paused outside one of the doors as the tune began once more. The door to one of the rooms was left half open and a raven haired girl sat by the white grand piano. He stood in the doorway as he watched the girl concentrate on the music in front of her, and her fingers raced across the keys.

As the piece progressed and her concentration increased, he took a step forwards. His foot came into contact with one of the stands that held several music textbooks and some sheets of music causing it to fall over. The stand slammed into the ground with a loud clang sending its contents across the floor. The girl paused abruptly as she turned her head to look at the intruder. "What are you doing in here?!" she snapped as she stood up and made her way towards the mess.

"I just-" he stopped and bent down to help her pick up the mess he made. "I heard you playing." he said quickly.

The girl paused and stared at him. "I know ... I suck at this piece." He shook his head. "It didn't suck. It actually sounded really good." She smiled. "Really?" he nodded. "Yeah. I mean I'm not really into that kind of stuff but it was good. What's it called?" he asked as he placed her stuff back onto the stand.

She stood up and looked up at him. Apparently she wasn't very tall. Maybe only five feet tall perhaps. And she was very petite. "Thanks." she smiled softly and nodded. "It's Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu Op. 66 Number 4."

He frowned. "I've never heard of Chopin. Is he famous?" She rolled her eyes. "In the classical music world, yes. But in your world, no." she walked back over towards the piano and flipped through the pages to the front. Ichigo flushed slightly as he looked away. "Who are you anyways? You're not a music student." she noted his uniform. "Ichigo Kurosaki. And what about you?" he looked down at her. "Rukia Kuchiki."

His eyes widened to saucers as she said her name. "Kuchiki?! Are Byakuya Kuchiki's daughter?! I mean he's like one of the richest men in Japan!" She laughed. "Hah. I'm his younger sister. He's not old enough to be my father. Shouldn't you be heading off to class? It starts soon." Ichigo grinned as he walked over towards the piano. "Hey ... Could you do me a favor before I go?" he asked.

Rukia looked up at him. "What?" she frowned. "Play that song again for me." She looked down at the keys and nodded. "Okay."

Ichigo watched as she inhaled before she started the piece once more. The notes rang out one by one as her tiny fingers pressed the keys. For once in many years, he felt as though he was at peace in his chaotic life. The piece ended soon and she looked back up. "Now get out of my practice room." she said roughly. He frowned. "That's no way to talk to someone who helped you clean up the mess, runt." Rukia rolled her eyes. "You're the one who made the mess in the first place. Now leave."

.x.

That night he kept hearing Chopin's song play through his mind as images of the raven haired midget ran through his head. "Rukia Kuchiki ..." he muttered. "I can't believe she blames that on me." he frowned as he shook his head. "This first day was the weirdest ..."

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And that concludes the first chapter to Tough Love in D Minor. If you're wondering what Chopin's Fantasie Impromtu sounds like, go ahead and search it up on youtube or veoh and listen to its. You might have heard before if you've listened to any kind of classical in awhile. It's quite famous and its a beautiful sounding piece. It'll show up a couple times in the story, and may play an important role. I'm still deciding.

I hope you enjoy the first chapter, and please review. I really LOVE reviews. Favorite or something. It makes me happy. XD

I'll update as soon as I can.