Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or any of its characters.
Long ago, when the world was young, humans and monsters lived in peace and harmony. The young world was blessed with many years of prosperity and peace. They knew nothing of war and famine and lived full, happy lives.
Until one day, a great evil rose, bringing chaos and destruction to the young world. Peace soon turn to war and harmony into calamity. Fearful and confused, the people begged to the gods for help, but the gods could only watch as one of their own claimed the young world for himself. To taunt the powerless gods, the evil god twisted their precious world in his own image. He plagued the land with evil beings known as demons that were loyal only to him. The evil god even turned the humans and monsters against one another.
All seemed lost until a brave hero stood against the evil god. The hero unified the monsters and humans to fight against the evil god. After a long and gruesome war, they were finally able to banish the evil from their world. But the war was not won without casualties, many died and even more so were wounded. After the great war the monster and humans lived in peace once again, under the great leadership of the hero.
But, when the hero died tension between the humans and monsters quickly began to rise. Realizing they could no longer live together in peace, the monsters and humans went to separate corners of the world. Years pass and eventually the legend of the hero became a thing of legend. Few still remember this legend but the gods have not forgotten. They prophesied that he would one day return to the mortal realm and reclaim it as he did so long ago. To prevent this from ever happening, the gods use all their powers to recreate the prophesy. But they knew such a fate cannot be simply undone, for this to succeed they needed a champion. With this in mind, they gave birth to a new destiny. Where good and evil will be placed in a bitter war, fighting for the fate of the world, with only one sole victor.
And so it was written...
When the world is in it's prime
A great disaster will take place.
Come Harvest moon's time.
Good will fall in disgrace,
and evil will climb
to take haven's place.
All will fall,
Except for one little girl.
With her noble heart and Courageous soul,
She will see through the darkness
and Vanquish them all.
Thus, restoring order to the world.
"hmm... " Byakuya said as he read over the ancient tale. He almost didn't notice the door to his office open slightly. He turned his gaze towards the door, curious to see who would disturb him. But when he saw strands of black hair sticking out behind the door, he nearly let out a sigh, "Rukia" He called out to her, knowing she won't come in without his permission. Hearing his voice, a petite girl with short black hair and beautiful violet-eyes quickly came in holding a tray of food.
"Forgive me for disturbing you Brother," Rukia said rather sheepishly, "but since I thought you might be hungry, I brought you breakfast." She placed a tray full of food on his desk, careful not to disturb his work. Byakuya only nodded and turned his attention back to the old legend. After setting the tray, she bowed gracefully. "Brother, if you don't need anything else, I'll be heading off to school now." She said as she walked towards the door. When she was about to walk out, the sound of her brother's voice stopped her.
"Rukia.." she turned, a little surprised to see his full attention towards her.
"Are you certain? Even with the consequences?" He said in his usual apathetic tone, not giving away any hint of worry or concern in his voice. However after living with him for some time, Rukia knows beneath his expressionless face, he truly does care.
Rukia glanced down to the floor when she heard her brother speak. He was testing her, to see if her resolve was strong enough for this seemingly impossible task. But was her reslove strong enough? If she failed, her death would be guaranteed. However, if she somehow managed to succeed, she could finally atone for her mistakes she'd done. Mistakes that have haunted her for many year and, no matter how much she wished, can never be undone. She takes a deep breath before meeting her brother's gaze. She knew the answer. "Yes lord Byakuya, I am."
His expression remained neutral. "I see."
In the end, they both knew her answer wouldn't change.
"I'll be leaving now-"She trailed off as she saw his gaze turn back to his work turned to leave his office. Sadden by this, she silently leave his office. 'Brother... I'm sorry, but I must do this.'
Byakuya waited a few moments for Rukia to leave and then turned his gaze to an old photo on his desk. It was a picture of a beautiful women he fell in love with. His gaze dulls as he remembers the short but wonderful time they had together. "She's reminds me of you when we first met" He spoke to the picture, he could picture her smiling back at him, trying to ease his worries. "I'm sure you would be proud of her-Hisana."
Chapter 1- Prologue
"This place is impressive." Rukia said as she saw the building before her. The structure was fairly large, it easily towered over any of the nearby buildings. She noted that the Gothic styled gave the building a sort of menacing feeling that would frighten any child. Also, with the weathered gates and unkempt gardens, the building looked almost like an ancient castle. In fact she wondered, when was this building actually built. But the thought quickly faded as she noticed a few students wearing the same uniform as her waiting outside the gates.
'This must be the school brother informed me of ' Rukia thought as she began walking towards ominous building.
"Is it now? Well that's a first."
Rukia stopped and turned to find the source of the voice.
Behind her, she saw a rather tall man with messy blond hair wearing dark green shirt and pants with a black coat over it. His face was covered by white and green bucket hat, but by the tone in his voice she could tell he was mocking her.
Rukia tensed slightly, there was something about this man that made her feel uneasy. After a moment of silence, she spoke up. "What do you mean?"
The man just smiled and pulled a fan out and start waving before his face. "I've heard that place been called creepy, old, run-down, disturbing, but never impressive. Guess you must like those sort of things." He teases her.
"Actually yes." Rukia smiled, refusing to let this insane man get the better of her. "Well truthfully, I'm more interested in m-"
"hmm. Oh! Please excuse my bad manners, I forgot to introduce myself." He interrupted, smiling innocently, "My name is Kisuke Urahara, handsome owner of Urahara's shop"
She pretended she didn't catch the Sarcasm in his voice. "It is quite alright, I didn't introduce myself either. My name is Ru-" She started.
"You're Rukia Kuchiki, the human girl adopted into the Kuchiki clan" The storekeeper once again interrupted, the sly smile still on his face.
Rukia's eyes widen, shocked that someone recognized her so easily.
"How do you know my name?" She glared, mentally scolding herself for letting herself be so easily fooled by him.
The blond man just widely grinned and wave his fan dismissively. "Please miss Rukia, it would be an insult not to know who you are. Everyone knows who you are" He said, emphasizing the last part. She couldn't decided if he was teasing her or giving some kind of message.
Either way, he continued talking. "You're like a huge celebrity around here, the only human to ever set foot in this town, first ever adopted into one of the 4 great noble clans, and not to mention your very presence here puts the united council into a state of inner turmoil. Yep you pretty much stick out like a sore thumb" Rukia snapped out of her state of shock when she heard the Council's name.
The united council are the 12 representatives of the 12 districts of the world, 6 of them are human and the other 6 are monsters. It is their job to ensure order and peace in the world. However, hatred of each other stops them from ever reaching peace. She remembers the countless meetings discussing whether or not it's allowed for a human to live in monster's territories. Eventually the council couldn't find a law that prohibited this, so they reluctantly allowed it.
After composing herself, she turned back to Urahara. "Yes, most of the things you said about me is true. But it is the Council's own fault that their old, flawed, and decrepit system of government is failing, not mine." She said dismissively.
"Actually, it's pretty much your fault." Urahara muttered mostly to himself.
Rukia shot him a glare. Unfazed, the storekeeper smiled "Well would you look at that, school started. Off you go now." he said as began pushing her.
Rukia was about to protest when she heard the dark tone in Urahara's voice.
"Listen. Very. Carefully." He whispered, his voice so low only she could hear him. "You've become quite an influential person in a short amount of time. Before you, the very idea of humans and monsters living together in peace was nothing but a foolish idealistic fantasy that only happen in stories. But now you're living proof that fantasy can become an reality. However, whether it was your intention or not, you've angered a large number of people. People who fear change, and hate the very idea of monsters and humans living together, but love the idea of you being burned alive." He was somewhat surprised she didn't even shudder slightly at the gory image. "Your playing a very dangerous game little girl, and if you're not careful, will lead to the gruesome death of you and anyone you love." He paused, allowing her to assess everything he'd said. "My question for you is... Are you prepare to face the challenges that lie ahead? Becuse if you aren't I suggest you-"
She quickly turned to face the the store keeper, determination in her eyes "Know this, Kisuke Urahara, Although I do not fully grasp everything you have said, I can fully assure you that I won't be discourageso easily and gladly accept any challenge you or anyone else dares throw in my path."
"Is that so?" He mused, patting her head. "Well then, I'm sure you'll be just fine." Uhruara then began to walked away, not even bothering to glance back at the confused human girl. "I'm expecting big things from you, Miss Rukia.."
"Insane storekeeper" She muttered as she reached the schools gate. The Gates were all rusted and in desperate need of repair. 'For a pristine school, it is a piece of junk' She noted. As she was walking, she noticed the other students were all staring at her, their expressions clearly showing she was not welcomed at their school.
'Do they treat every new student like this?' Rukia wondered as she recalled her conversation with Uhrahara. 'Is this what he meant?'
She chuckled silently to herself. "A celebrity? More like a criminal."
She ignored all their stares and walked passed them confidently. She was not going to be intimidated by their stares, she had every right to be there as them. Besides, this was not the first time- nor will it be the last- where she was judged by her appearance. She recalled how the nobles at the council meetings would openly mock her. Even after they discovered that the Kuchiki family head wanted to adopted, they still gave her looks of disdain. She wouldn't be surprise if one of them would sent an assassin to murder her.
As soon Rukia enter the building she notice the interior of the school, like the outside, had a similar medieval style and the same eerie atmosphere to it. However, unlike the exterior, it looked extravagant. The main hallway was clean and organized and had an odd regal feel to it. Also, not one thing inside the school looked worn out or old, in fact almost everything looked as if the school remodeled not too long ago.
After deciding that the school is odd, she checked her schedule to find her class. Her first class would be History with Professor Ukitake in room A-103. Rukia's eyes furrowed when she read the name Ukitake. For some reason the name seemed very familiar to her. Ignoring the feeling of nostalgia the name brought, she focused on finding the main office since she didn't know the layout of the school and asking the other students wasn't an option. Luckily the office was close by, she was about to walk in when she heard laughter.
She turned to see three older guys laughing at a meek looking boy. He was kneeling on the floor, trying to pick up all his belongings and looked as he was trying not to cry.
"Aww. What's the matter Hana? You crying because you have a girl's name?"
"Or maybe it's because his only friend is the school's nurse"
"Maybe he crying because he asked her out and he turned him down."
The three guys taunted the boy on the floor.
Rukia narrow her eyes in disgust, she hated people who think someone else's pain can be their source of entertainment. It took every fiber in her body not to intervene, most likely if she did she would only make things worse for the boy.
They were laughing at their jokes about the boy and the nurse, completely ignoring the meek boy notice this and finish picking up all of his belonging and turn to flee in the opposite direction. Unfortunately for him, they noticed him running away and gave chase.
They quickly caught up and cornered him. "Not so fast Hana." The apparent leader sneered.
"Come on guys class is about to start, please let me go."The boy pleaded. They only laugh in response. " Of course Hana we'll let you go, that is if you can make us." The leader said smirking.
"B-But-" The boy stammered.
"Or you can hit me" The leader taunted. "Come on, hit me with yo-"
Rukia suddenly stood in front of him and punched him right in the jaw. Her punch had completely taken him by surprise. He was holding on to the other two monsters for support, trying to regain his balance. Ignoring the shocked faces of the two bullies, she turned to face the boy.
"Are you alright?" She asked. The boy only nodded, too surprise to speak. Rukia smiled "I'm gald, my name is Rukia Kuchiki, I'm the new transfer student."
The boy eyes widened 'Wait- transfer student? Is she the awful human everyone has been talking about? But she seems so nice... and pretty.' He blushed even more at that thought.
"m-My name is Hanataro Yamada, i-I'm a second year student." He introduced himself sheepishly. She laugh at his nervousness, not cruel and mocking like he was use too, but a warm friendly laugh. "Thank you for helping me, I don't know would have happen if you didn't help"
Rukia blinked and stared at the boy, feeling strangely nostalgic.
The leader soon got up, angry that a human girl was able to get the better of him. He and his friends were about to confront the raven haired girl but just then, the bell rang. Promising himself he would get back at her, he shot her a glare before walking off to class. Rukia noticed and glared back, not intending on backing down. After they left, she turned to face Hanataro and bowed "I apologized for not helping you sooner, but it was nice meeting you Hanataro."
She turned to walk away.
"Uhh Wait!" Hanataro called out to her. Rukia looked back, slightly surprised at the boy sudden outburst. "Your new right? M-Maybe I can show you around to thank you for helping me." He offered. She gave him a grateful smile and nodded in response.
Hanataro walked Rukia to her first period class and gave her a map of the whole school. She thanked him again and walk into home room class. She was about to apologize for her tardiness when she saw her teacher, he was a tall man with long silver hair and green eyes. She couldn't remember where but Rukia knew she had definitely seen him before. After hearing his voice she realized who he was, one of the 12 Councilman; Councilmen Ukitake.
'He must be here to monitor my progress' She thought warily.
Finally noticing her standing there, the teacher gave her a warm smile before turning to the class "Hello Class my name is Jushiro Ukitake. I'll be your teacher for the semester, please refer to me as Professor Ukitake." He said still smiling "Also we have a new student, please introduce yourself." He motion for Rukia to talk.
She stood in front of the class with a warm smile on her face, "Hello! Pleased to meet you all, my name is Rukia Kuchiki. I hope we could all become great friends." She secretly hoped her kind behavior would win the class over.
To her dismay, the entire class stare at her in complete surprise, almost as if they didn't expect she would actually be foolish enough to show up. Their surprise quickly turned to resentment for the human, who dared think she can suddenly transfer here and everyone would accept her.
Noticing his students behavior, Ukitake sighed "Well Rukia, why don't you sit down and we can start." He then smiled at her for Rukia guessed as reassurance .
She nodded and sat down next to the desk right next to the window. As she sat down, Rukia noticed that few of her classmates were smirking and some giving her looks of pity. Ignoring their expressions, she began to take out her notebook when she felt someone staring at her. Turning around, she notice that the boy behind her was glaring at her. He looked different from the other students, he had spiky, white hair and cold, calculating teal eyes. His muscles were well defined and his skin ragged. Despite his height and youthful appearance, she could tell he was dangerous. ' He isn't like the others, there's something... frightening about him. Whatever the case, I'll need to be extra cautious around him.'
"Hello there! What's your name?" She asked, still speaking in her sweet voice.
He blinked in surprise, not expecting her to react that way.
"Toshiro Hitsugaya" He said trying to sound uninterested, but was finding it difficult to do so.
"Well Tos-"
"It's Hitsugaya, human. " Toshiro coldly interrupted her. He didn't want her thinking she could call him by his first name.
She clenched her teeth, refusing the urge to glare at the teal-eyed monster. "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Toshiro Hitsugaya." She said, emphasizing his first name. Her smile grew wider as he scowled at her. Noticing Council man Ukitake starting the lesson, Rukia turned her attention back to the front.
Toshiro didn't pay any attention to Ukitake's lesson. He didn't need too, having already completed learning the whole subject last night. His full attention was focused on the enigma that sat before him.
'Rukia Kuchiki' He thought.
He had heard the rumors about the head of the Kuchiki clan adopting a human as his sister. Not one for believing in rumors especially as ludicrous as this one, he was surprised to see the human girl standing before him. Even more surprising, the girl was different than he had expected. He thought she would be another shy, timid girl. But what he seen so far, she was the exact opposite of his expectation. She cowered to no one, not even to him.
He frowned 'If she thinks she fooling anyone with that fake act of hers, she's delusional.' He thought, wondering what her true motives were. Clearly a girl like her wouldn't have risk her life for nothing, but he just couldn't figure her out. Could she be here just to make a political statement to the world?
"She must be an insane, dim, human girl." He muttered to himself and lifted his head to see a pencil flying directly at him.
"Oh! I am so sorry Toshiro. The pencil flew out of my hand. You see, we dim humans tend to be pretty clumsy." Rukia said in her sickly sweet voice, not even attempting to hide the smirk on her face. She heard what he said and he's lucky she didn't threw a book at him.
"Kuchiki.." He growled out while holding his eye. The pencil got him straight in the eye and the innocent act was only irritating him further. 'Are all humans like this?' He briefly wondered.
The class watched them in horror, fearing the short-tempered boy will rip the human girl to shreds. No one had ever angered the temperamental boy, in fact few had ever talked to him. There were many rumors him. Horrifying, disturbing, rumors that caused even some of the teachers to be cautious around him.
Noticing the tension in the air, Ukitake took his attention off the board to see what was causing whole class was watching Toshiro as he was muttering something to his new student. He frowned. " 'lil Shiro, Rukia, care to explain to the class?"
Hitsugaya twitched hearing his old nickname. 'Damn you Ukitake.'
Before Toshiro could explained what happen, Rukia broke into a sob. "I am so sorry professor Ukitake. I was trying to pay attention but Hitsugaya kept distracting me. When I asked him kindly to stop he got angry with me and-and- I'm sorry!" She sobbed dramatically.
Ukitake shot Toshiro a look of disappointment. "Shiro, I expect better of you. See me after class." He said and then he turned his focus back to the class.
Toshiro could only gape as he watched the whole scene before him. She painted herself as a victim and him the villain.. and Ukitake actually believed her! He sighed, deciding that he will plan a way to get back at the evil vex known as Rukia Kuchiki.
Ukitake class ended and Rukia continued to her next class, ignoring the glares she was getting from a certain white-haired, temperamental monster. She soon learned that she had every class with him and it was clear that he wasn't too happy about her 'performance' in Ukitake's class. She felt a little guilty about deceiving the kind teacher but the look on Hitsugaya's face was worth it. After her last class, she decided to eat her lunch on the roof of the school. Hanataro invited her to eat with him but she declined the offer since she didn't want to burden him any more.
The roof was Rukia's favorite part of the school, she loved high places and the school happened to be one of the largest buildings in the town. Plus very few student would ever come up here, giving her the escape she needed. So far her first day of school has been exhausting.
'"It's the same here as well." she said solemnly, remembering her classmates reactions towards her "The hatred between humans and monsters is greater than I first thought. But, at least I met one person who didn't seemed to care if I was human or monster." Hanataro. For that, she should be the one thanking him.
Rukia sat down and looked at the sky. She couldn't help but think about him, "Can you believe it? It's been 7 years already." She smiled, "Hey, do you remember when we would just laid down and look up to the sky?"
That was her favorite memory of him. Back then they always look to the sky because it gave them hope for a better future together. They shared many good and bad memories. She remembered how they met, how he always got into trouble and she would have to save him. She also remembered how much they struggled, no place to call home, always hungry, seeing others like them perished again and again. She wiped the tears that were threatening to fall. 'You shouldn't be crying, he wouldn't want you to feel guilty.' She chided herself.
She closed her eyes, the memories of that fateful day were overwhelming her. "But even right now, I don't deserve your forgiveness." She whispered
"Yeah you sure as hell don't, but if you ask nicely maybe we'll reconsidered." Said the taunting voice. Snapping her eyes open, Rukia turned to find the three who were harassing Hanataro.
They were smirking at her, not bothering to hide their malice intentions.
"What do you fools want? To get your butt handed to you by a girl again?" She said irritated. She tried not to laugh as their taunts and smirks were replaced with rage and silence.
"Watch what you say human, it might the last thing you say." The leader hissed. His eyes started glowing red and his skin turned to scales. His hands and feet turning into claws with razor sharp nails. He and the other soon turn into snakes like monsters. The three began to circle around the girl, preventing her from escaping.
'So this must be one of the rare abilities of the monsters; the ability to transform.' She pondered as she watched them with an unreadable expression on her face. She got into a defensive position, thankful that Byakuya himself trained her in case of situations like this.
Without warning, they lunged at her. For creatures without legs, they were surprisingly very agile. If she didn't move out of the way they would easily rip her to shreds. Rukia waited patiently for the right moment, moving only to avoid their razor-sharp claws, she had only one chance and couldn't afford to mess up. When the lizardman got close enough, she lunged forward, landing on top of the leader's head.
Using his head as a spring broad, Rukia launched herself away from the other two. She landed at the very edge of the roof. Undeterred, the other two lizard-men attacked her once again. Not having enough time to dodge, she braced herself to fight them off. Though she fought valiantly and was able to block their more deadly swings, she was simply outnumbered. They grabbed her and try as she might, she couldn't break out of their strong grip.
Smirking, the leader stood right in front of her."You shouldn't have tried to make us looks like fools."
"Trust me, you don't need my help with that!" Rukia spat.
"Why you little bit-"Before he could finish, she head-butted him as hard as she can.
Feeling the searing pain spread through his head, he grip his head and muttered a curse while the other two laughed at him. Using this to her advantage, Rukia broke out of the monster's iron grip and knee him in the stomach. As he groaned in pain, she ran straight for the door. She hated the fact she was running away, but it was the only option she had left.
Unfortunately, she just wasn't fast enough. The third monster beat her to the door. The other two were right behind her.
"You're a feisty one aren't you?" The leader snarled. "But you'll have to do better than that." He said as they circle around her, making it impossible for her to escape.
Rukia was about to retort when it started snowing. Slowly at first, then changed into a fierce blizzard. Next, she was shocked to find, despite it being a powerful blizzard, not a drop of snow touch her at all. After a several minutes, the blizzard had finally stopped. She notice the three lizard men were gone and she was alone, standing on what appeared to be pure ice. Confused, she walked around in hope to understand what happen.
'Could they have use magic to cause this? No.. someone else must have been responsible for this' she thought logically. Rukia noted that this world had a surreal beauty to it, and although everything was covered in snow and ice, she wasn't cold at all. She felt as if someone was beckoning her deeper into the winter world. Then out of thin air, she saw a woman appear in front of her. The woman was in one word beautiful, her skin was pale as snow and had long white hair. She was dressed in a white kimono with a pale yellow slash.
When she saw Rukia, a ghost of a smile appear on her face "It is a pleasure to finally be in your presence, Rukia... Kuchiki." the mysterious woman called out to her. The voice was as soft as snow and as majestic as a queen.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Rukia demanded. She didn't know why but she felt a part of her already knew the answer.
Rukia couldn't help to feel guilty when the smile on the ghostly women dropped and her expression forlorn. "So... you cannot hear me. How unfortunate." the pale woman said faintly.
The raven haired girl shook her in confusion "I don't understand. I can hear you perfectly fine."
The snow woman said nothing she soon began to slowly fade away.
"Wait!" Rukia called out "tell me your name." For some reason, she felt as if she had to know.
"The rain," She whispered "Only when the rain stops, I will tell you my name." Before Rukia could even ask what she meant, she faded back into the snow.
Snapping out of the trance she didn't even know she was in, Rukia realized she was back on the roof. She suddenly felt drained and struggled just to keep her balance. Her vision was blurry and felt she would lose conscious at any moment.
'Was it all just a dream?' She thought as she tried looking around for something that would prove otherwise. There was no signs that the blizzard happen, the air was warm and there were no puddles of water anywhere. However behind her, she was shocked to find the three lizardmen that threaten to kill her, frozen in ice. They were staring at her, surprise and fear written on their faces "Did she do this?" She thought out loud.
She collapsed on the ground, all of her strength completely gone. "...did I do this?" She said as she drifted into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw were teal eyes staring at her.