Ichigo Kurosaki shook his orange hair carelessly, his fingers treading through his head. Tatsuki was on his side, walking casually with her school bag in hand, talking amicably with her vibrant friend.

"I heard that some exchange students are coming to our school today!" Orihime chattered brightly, her facial expression openly excited. "Do you think some are going to be in our class?"

"I wouldn't doubt it, our class is pretty small right now," Tatsuki replied, mentally recapping off everyone she knew in their class. "There's Chad, Ishida, Keigo, Mizuiro… and… that's all I remember."

Orihime gave off a laugh, playfully scolding her friend for not remembering most of their classmates' names. Tatsuki huffed and waved her hand sloppily, saying that the rest didn't matter. Ichigo stayed silent through the whole chat, barely listening. His whole demeanor gave off vibes that he was tired, slouched back, dragging feet and dark bags underneath his eyes.

Although Tatsuki didn't notice, Orihime piped up. "Kurosaki-kun, what's wrong?" He slowly turned around and met his eyes with her, which was generally enough to scare Orihime, but she stood her ground, her question still hanging in the air. She always felt braver when Tatsuki was near.

"My dad thought it would be great practice for me if he kept me up all night with his 'training'," Ichigo drawled out, facing the front again with his school bag dragging along the ground. "I don't think I knocked him out until 6AM."

Tatsuki gave a hearty laugh, which was promptly cut short by Ichigo's narrowed glaring eyes. "Oh, how bad," she said dismissively, her thoughts turning to other subjects. Orihime gave a sympathetic smile, not really understanding what 'training' was. The talk soon went to what Orihime was having for lunch, which was another distasteful concoction.

Ichigo tuned them out and entered the school gates, picking up his bag, trying to look like his usual self. Orihime and Tatsuki kept chattering behind him as he strolled through the hallway, giving an angry glare to anyone who dared come near a feet of him. He nearly missed his own classroom door as he was too busy glaring.

Inside the classroom, there was a ruckus already. People were all like Orihime, excited about the prospects of exchange students and wondering if they'd be in the class. Ichigo rolled his eyes and put his bag down on his desk, too tired to care if new students join the class or not.

He rested his head on his folded arms on the table as he closed his eyes, praying for some precious shut-eye that was stolen from him last night. As soon as he felt he was drifting off, Keigo shouted out.

"Ichigo!" was the loud boom that came from his mouth. Ichigo twitched. Now not the time to bother him. "Ichigo-chigo-chi-go!" Keigo relentlessly prodded him with an eager smile on his face.

Soon, he was met with a fist to the face as Ichigo unfolded his arms and 'stretched'. Keigo fell to the floor with his hands covering his face, curses flying out of his mouth as Ichigo amusedly look down.

"Sorry, Keigo," Ichigo yawned again as Keigo sprang back up, his pained expression replaced by a happy smile. Ichigo seriously thought his body could take more punishment than a punching bag.

"That's alright! Now, I was wondering… uhhh… what was I wondering again?" Keigo pondered eyes to the sky and a finger on his chin. "Oh right! We're all going to the movies after school, would you like to come?"

"Not interested," Ichigo shot back quickly, not wanting his time for sleep to be interrupted. "Sorry, family business."

Keigo's face fell dramatically as he pretended to cry. "But if you don't come, Tatsuki won't come! And if Tatsuki won't come, Orihime won't come!"

"So?"

"I want my precious Orihime-chan to come, of course!" Keigo lowered his voice as he rolled his eyes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Your love pursuits are none of my business, Keigo."

"But—" Keigo was cut off by the teacher opening the door, slamming it.

"Alright, everybody to their seats!" she yelled out, her voice emanating around the walls. Everybody immediately obeyed, shoving others aside as they reached their seats. Soon, the whole class was silent, readily waiting for the announcements.

"Right. As you all know, we have some exchange students coming today," an animated chatter rode through the class, but the teacher slammed her fist down on the table, silencing everyone once more. "We only have one new student joining us today, but more are coming," she spoke louder, her eyes daring anyone to talk. Ichigo sighed, putting his face to the table once more.

The door to the classroom slid open unexpectedly. A small girl with raven black hair walked into the classroom, a smile playing on her lips. She was incredibly short, with milky pale skin and a strand of hair stubbornly across her face.

"Good morning, Miss." She tilted her head slightly as her melodic voice addressed the teacher. Ichigo opened up one eye, simply to observe the new student. The teacher smiled back at her, then stood up.

"Class, this is our new exchange student, Kuchiki Rukia."

'Christ, she's annoying,' Ichigo thought as he listened to her sickly sweet voice introducing herself to all of his friends. Hopefully, his angry glare kept her away enough, he already had one Orihime to deal with, and he didn't need another clone. Keigo was already all over her, fawning over her apparent 'pristine beauty' and 'cute accent'.

"You have to eat lunch with us today, Rukia-chan!" Keigo breathlessly made a huge scene over her joining everybody at lunch. There was no disagreement from the female part of their group, nor the male. Ichigo lowered his eyes, his head back to the table. 'Seems like she's a hit though,' he thought grouchily, deciding to stay silent.

"Of course, I'd be honoured to," another pretty smile came from Rukia as she started packing her books back into her desk. Keigo almost melted from it, but kept his wandering eyes on her as she started talking with Tatsuki and Orihime. Keigo knocked into Ichigo as he walked away from the girls, grinning like a madmen. Mizuiro came and joined them, his fingers clicking away on his mobile phone.

"So?! What do you think, Ichigo?!" Keigo sang out happily, his smile still wide on his face.

"She seems… annoying," Ichigo muttered, raising his head to look at Keigo.

"A-Annoying?!" Keigo stuttered out a bit too loud, the girls turned to look his way but he waved them off with a fake smile. When he turned around, his eyes were furious at Ichigo. "You can't call the exquisite Rukia-chan annoying! She has the loveliest eyes!"

"She seems cute," Mizuiro added, not looking up from his mobile phone.

"Oh god, don't tell me you're going to go after her, Mizuiro," Ichigo shot a disapproving look over to Rukia, who was still talking innocently with Orihime and Tatsuki.

"I'm into older women, you know that."

"Whatever," Ichigo stood up from his seat, grabbing his lunch from his desk as he headed towards the roof. "Meet you guys up there." Mizuiro nodded and Keigo stood still, his eyes staring hungrily at Rukia. Ichigo tapped the shoulder of Chad, who nodded also.

"I'll see you there," Chad said quietly, finishing off his classwork.

Ichigo looked over at Ishida, who was carefully placing his book back in his desk in his own complicated filing system. Ichigo rolled his eyes. He'd just have to walk up there by himself. A small feminine figure cut his path ahead of him, opening the classroom door and walking out. Ichigo followed suit, turning to go to the roof, but instead was met with a pair of violet eyes staring curiously up at him.

A silence passed between them, as Ichigo stared down at the small girl who was blocking his way.

"Kuchiki Rukia, pleased to meet you," she tilted her head in the same way and smiled prettily.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, wanting you to get out of my way," he said irritated, putting a hand on her shoulder to shove her aside. He gave her a light push, but she didn't budge like he thought she would. Instead, her eyes turned icy as she glared up at him.

"You're being rude," she said curtly, her melodious voice turning to a darker tone. "Please apologize."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"Make me, brat."

A fiery glow appeared in her violet eyes as she grabbed the hand that was on his shoulder, flipping him over her easily onto his back.

"Don't ever call me brat, kid," she said with threatening eyes, turning around to face him. "Are you willing to apologize now?"

Ichigo lied on his back, staring wide-eyed at the small girl who had just flipped his whole weight over on her back. His mouth was open, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

The classroom door slid open again, with Ishida and Chad walking out, originally chatting with each other. As they turned, Rukia immediately fell to the floor, feeling Ichigo's forehead.

"Oh no! It seems that Kurosaki-kun has fainted!" she proclaimed dramatically, the back of her hand on her own forehead now. "Are you alright, Kurosaki-kun!?"

Ishida and Chad looked at each other uneasily, then eyeing the scene. Ichigo didn't just… faint out of nowhere. Ichigo suddenly got up on his hands, his eyes level with Rukia with an angry scowl on his face.

"Just you wait, midget," he snarled at her as he attempted to grab her. Rukia smirked as she leaned back, his hand missing her by inches.

"I'm waiting, Ichigo," she said quietly, her lips smiling. Ichigo stared at her fuming as he alternated his view from her to his friends, who were standing there agape and shocked at their behaviours. He sighed heavily, and then glared at the girl, who was hardly containing her victory smile.

"Let's just go eat our lunches, okay?" she said fakely, her pretty smile still on her face as she held out a hand to Ichigo, offering to help him up. He ignored it blatantly and got up quickly by himself, as if on a race to the rooftop.

"…It, uh, seems he left his lunch here…" Ishida said awkwardly, pushing his glasses up. Chad looked at Rukia, who was starting to stand up again. Her face wore a smirk, as she stared at Ichigo rushing off to the rooftop.

"Let's just let him find that out by himself, shall we?" Rukia asked playfully as she dusted herself off. "Could you show me where the 'rooftop' is?"

Ishida nodded, walking off and starting a conversation. Rukia followed, and happily participating. Chad stood alone, staring at them as they walked off, not believing what he just witnessed. He sighed, picked up Ichigo's lunchbag and followed suit.

a/n: first bleach story i've ever written. i'm trying to keep everyone in-character, and improve my writing skills as much as i can.

i love the ichigo and tukia pairing a lot, so i've been having fun writing this first chapter. there will be a lot of chapters, as i have a few ideas in my head right now. i will be updating every week (a new chapter will be uploaded by sunday each week).

i don't have a beta reader, so i have to proofread everything myself and ensure that the plot and characters are on track. otherwise, i'd update everyday!

so, good or bad starting? reviews are always good, even if it's just a single word.