~.~Chapter 1~.~


New house, new neighborhood, new school.

Those words repeated in her head like a mantra slowly consuming her sanity. She stood in the center of her lavish room starting angrily at her sister.

Her room.

'Not for long I guess...' She thought bitterly as her eyes scanned the light pink room fit for a princess. Her eyes moved from her fluffy queen bed with too many pillows to count, to her big white desk with a few scattered books lying around. Her eyes settled on the various picture frames of her and her friends smiling away. She had really grown to like this town…it was starting to feel like home.

"What is your problem Rukia? Stop acting so spoiled and be a little more understanding. You know we don't have much choice when it comes down to these things." The older look-alike sister said slightly irritated to the stubborn, younger version of her.

"Don't have a choice you say? Byakuya's business is doing perfectly fine here! There's no need for us to always have to leave everything and move at the drop of a hat when he feels it's for the best of the company!" She said angrily raising her hands.

"He's my husband and I need to support him and be there for him. A husband who has shown us great kindness and provides everything and anything your little heart desires might I add." She said running out of patience.

"Well I'd rather not have everything and have a stable home for once…I've lived with barely anything before and not only was I ok with it but I was also happy" She said unwilling to give in.

"You always do this…" Hisana said rubbing her temples.

"If you have such a problem with me I don't understand why I can't just stay here on my own. We'd both be better off." She said with cold eyes.

"Because you're my little sister and I want to take care of you." Hisana said with slight sadness in her voice.

"So taking care of me is having me move to some boring town in the middle of nowhere only a few months after I started my second year of high school? You're definitely doing a great job at taking care of me onee-chan, our parents would be sooo proud of you" She finished with sarcasm dripping in her voice.

.Slap…..

Hisana's small hand made contact with her sister's cheek. The sound of her flesh being hit echoed through the room. She stood frozen as she saw tears well up in her sister's expressive violet eyes and immediately felt remorseful for slapping her. It was not in her nature to be an aggressive person. She quickly reached for Rukia with a shaky hand,

"Rukia I'm so sor-"

"Stop…just stop…I hate you!" She yelled shakily as she touched her red cheek and ran to lock herself in her bathroom.

Hisana hugged herself as quiet sobs escaped her.

Rukia could hear Hisana's sobs thorough the walls but they meant nothing to her. They had been in this town for three years. Three years. It was the longest they had been at one place ever since she married the Kuchiki Byakuya. Didn't she know how hard it was for her to make friends? Or how hard it was to move from school to school and constantly be the new girl over and over again? Rukia's warm tears ran down her face as these thoughts flooded her head.


Ichigo sat at the school's rooftop during lunch with the people he'd been friends with for as long as he could remember. It was a rare occurrence though. Ever since his mom passed away not too long ago his attitude and behavior started changing and he rarely spent time with them anymore.

"…and so no one was able to find the guy on the TV!" Keigo said laughing loudly at his own joke. The people sitting around him stared at him blankly and continued on with their conversations.

"Ichigo what are you doing after school? We should go to the arcade I hear they have a new game." Tatsuki said hopeful to the orange head looking away at the passing clouds in the sky.

Silence.

"Owww! What was that for?" Ichigo said irritated rubbing his arm after the punch he received from his childhood friend.

"I asked what you were doing after school?" She repeated.

"Umm…going home? I'm not really in the mood to do anything." He said dully.

"Yeah going home, with Inoue." Keigo said and winked as he hugged himself and made kissing noises. Ichigo simply rolled his eyes, Keigo wasn't worth his breath.

"Well if you're spending time with your girlfriend then I can let it slide." Tatsuki said happily since Inoue was her best friend.

Mizuiro was about to chime in and tease him too when they saw a blue haired guy signaling for Ichigo to go with him. Ichigo nodded and got up,

"See you guys later." He said and left his old group of friends to go hang out with Grimmjow and his group.

His friends saw with disappointment as Ichigo walked away. They knew Grimmjow was bad news and were saddened by the fact that they were slowly starting to lose their good friend.

...

Ichigo sat on a bench outside of school waiting for Inoue. She was in the school council which meant they usually only got to see each other after her meetings in the evenings. He didn't mind at all, he actually liked that because that meant he got to see less of her.

"Kurosaki-kun!" She yelled loudly as she ran to him, her long hair moving from side to side. He stood up from the bench and was met by his girlfriend's amorous embrace.

Her giant breasts collided with his chest making him take a small step backwards and he fought the urge to roll his eyes. Why was he even with her again? Oh yeah, it was perfectly convenient and easy since she was too soft to ever question him or his moods. He had to admit she was attractive but even if he tried he couldn't develop any particular strong feelings towards her.

After their greeting the two started walking over to Ichigo's house.

"...and so she said not to worry but I said I couldn't let her do it all by herself and then I said I'd help and she said no but I said yes but then she said no until I finally told her I was helping her and then we finally started doing the work together. She's such a nice girl isn't she?" Inoue said lost in her own conversation as she kept a death grip on Ichigo's arm. When she was done with her mindless conversation she turned to him.

"How was your day Kurosaki-kun?" She asked sweetly looking up to his see his face in admiration.

"Fine." He answered dryly not meeting her eyes.

"I heard you and Shiba-kun almost got into a fight in class today..." She said slightly nervous. Kaien Shiba was also in the school council and was always very nice and helpful to everyone -not to mention he was just as hot as Ichigo-. She didn't have a problem with him so she always wondered why Ichigo hated the guy so badly, but given Ichigo's temper she would never ask him about it.

"He was being too much of a stuck-up brat like usual and it was hard to let it go." He said with a scowl.

Kaien and Ichigo were long time rivals at school, mostly because Ichigo hated the guy and was always the one to start things with him. He hated the fact that Kaien came from a wealthy family and acted like Mr. Perfect...no way could someone be so nice all the time. He also hated the fact that people were always comparing them because of "how much they looked alike". Kaien himself was a very laid back guy and got along with everyone though.


When she heard Hisana leave the room, Rukia left her bathroom and threw herself on the bed. She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off for a few hours…

*knock*knock*

"Come in" Rukia said sleepily with her face buried in the pillows.

"Rukia-sama, dinner is ready." A servant said awkwardly.

"Thanks." Rukia said and the servant left quickly.

She grunted knowing dinner was something the family always did together. She rolled herself off the bed and headed to the dining room.

….

She sat on her spot across from her older sister on the long rectangular table, Byakuya sat at the head of the table. They ate quietly and gracefully like they always did. When they were done eating their meal the servants retired the plates. They then brought a few sweets to the table for the ladies of the household and a cup of green tea for Byakuya.

Rukia stabbed a chocolate covered strawberry with her silver fork and started nibbling on it. Byakuya looked up and broke the silence,

"The arrangements have been made. We will depart a week from today." He said and took a sip of tea from his porcelain cup.

"I also received a call today to finalize the arrangements for your school. Your first day at Karakura High will be Monday." Hisana said with a soft voice meeting her sister's eyes warily.

Rukia knew better than to protest like she did in her room. She looked at Hisana once before lowering her eyes and focusing back on her strawberry again. Byakuya gave Hisana a quick inquiring look before regaining his stoic face and continuing to drink his tea.

Rukia felt a tinge of guilt for her earlier blow-up with her sister. She knew even though Byakuya had a cold exterior, he cared deeply about her and her sister. He had also sacrificed a lot himself to be with Hisana.


A few minutes after Inoue left his house, Ichigo went to eat dinner with his family.

"You know you don't have to kick your girlfriend out every time before dinner onii-chan…it would be nice if we could meet her." Yuzu said shyly as she deposited a scoop of rice in a small bowl.

"Yeah, all you ever do is sneak her in to do who knows what in your bedroom and after a few hours she leaves. That's rude! I wouldn't put up with that crap if it was me." Karin said as she played with her chopsticks.

"Watch your mouth Karin!...and mind your own business." Ichigo said with a scowl. He didn't take Inoue seriously enough to have her meet his family and he found it rather annoying for them to be butting in…they were always so nosey.

"She's right you know, that girl comes around too much for us to not meet her properly." Isshin said as he sat tiredly on the table. Everyone was slightly taken back at Isshin's gloomy mood. He was never this serious and was usually annoying everyone -especially Ichigo- during dinner.

"Is everything ok dad?" Yuzu asked worried.

Isshin gave her an apprehensive look; he couldn't bring himself to tell them.

"Just spit it out already old man!" Ichigo said with frustration.

"The clinic hasn't been doing so great financially. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep it going if things keep going the way they are." He said with sadness in his voice.

Ichigo, Yuzu and Karin were speechless. These were news they were definitely not expecting. The rest of the dinner was unusually quiet after that.

As soon as he was done, Ichigo disappeared into his room like he always did. He threw himself on the bed wondering when his family would finally catch a break. His mother had died not too long ago and now his father's clinic might be shutting down. He put on a sweatshirt and left his room, he needed to get away from this mess…


A week later…

She sat in the empty room, the now bare walls staring at her mockingly. Everything had been packed and tomorrow morning they would be moving to their new "home".

"So what's the name of the town you're moving to again?" One of her friends asked.

"Karakura." Rukia said with a frown.

"Hmm." The girl said putting a finger to her lips, "Never heard of it."

"It's some small town literally on the opposite side from here. It's a few hours away…" Rukia explained.

"Well, we'll miss you!" Another girl said sweetly.

"Yeah but we'll keep in touch. We'll email, talk on the phone, video chat, whatever it takes but we'll definitely stay in touch!" A third one said optimistically.

Rukia simply smiled with her eyes closed and nodded. She knew that wasn't true. It was always like that no matter how strong her newfound friendships might be. They might stay in touch for the first weeks or even months if they were lucky, but soon enough the friendships dwindled in the wind like they had never even existed.

After finishing their tea and sweets the girls departed with farewell wishes and big smiles plastered on their naïve faces. Rukia walked them out the door with a fake smile of her own pretending to be fine and hiding her true feelings like she always did.

She closed the door and turned to head to her room when she noticed Hisana standing by the hallway. Rukia simply sent her a cold glare and headed to her room.