Author´s note:

This is my first fanfiction, the first actual fanfiction (the others are just one-shot), so please be gentle with it. And really hope you enjoy it! This is completely IchiRuki, although the idea is to actually make a harem, Rukia in the center. Hey guys! We do need that from time to time, ne? XDXD. Although this is a subtle HitsuKarin, because I adore that pair too!

HADO

A Bleach Fanficion.

Some people say destiny doesn´t exist. We write our lives in everyday´s walk. Some others say that we all have a destiny to fulfill. But that it is rewritten by our every move.

Happiness, on the other hand, is something that is reached the moment we take our destiny in our own hands.

PROLOGUE.

The sun was setting already, casting deep shadows upon them, shielding their faces, hiding their emotions. They knew they couldn´t let them show, they had to be strong for the other. Ironically, trying to be strong for the sake of one another only made them give many steps further away. Ironically, because the thing that they both needed the most was the other´s comfort. Especially now that the last of their friends was dead and they were the only two left.

She stood up from the grave and gave some steps behind, hesitant, almost forcing herself to move.

Still kneeling in front of the grave, he turned around, seeking her figure, and found her facing the sun, her back to him. He wanted to run to her, to hold her, knowing how deeply this last death had hurt her. Being the only woman, she had always taken care of them, even if in her special, odd way; as if she were their elder sister, as if their well being were her responsibility. And he had always taken care of her. Now, he didn´t know what to do. He wanted to protect her, to take care of her again, but what could he say? He couldn´t find words of comfort to himself, how could he find words for her? She, who thought of this little group as her own family. She, who had given her everything for them since the first day that she had helped them escape from a certain punishment, when she found them stealing the water from that old man. How could he ease that pain?

So he stood up, facing the sun as well, getting closer to her but staying some steps behind, trying to leave her space but wanting her to know she wasn´t alone. He was still there, as he had promised once.

A couple of minutes passed by in complete silence, broken only by the whispers of the wind.

"Renji?"

He jerked his head up, startled by the sound of his name. "Yeah?"

"Let´s become shinigami."

She hadn´t turned at all to look at him, and at that moment, he realized where her sight was resting: the Sereitei.

He sighed. That was a promise they held for years now, ever since they were kids, but never seeked it out because they didn´t want to leave their friends, their family, behind. Now that they had no one to protect, what was the point on postpone it? What was the point on staying in that forsaken place? Time had come for them to reach their destiny. Besides, he thought that, by searching, he would find a way to ease her pain.

"Yeah." He answered, in a calm voice.

If she wanted to become a shinigami, he would follow her. Heck, if she wanted to become a hollow, he would follow her. He would follow her wherever she wanted to go.

"Let´s become shinigami."

CHAPTER 1.

"So, Shiro-chan, I must go now." Said the raven haired girl, chirping, happy with the idea of coming back to the Academy she loved so much.

"Don´t come back again." Was the little boy´s angry reply. He was short, skinny, and very young. His hair was as white as the snow, as if it had lost its color years ago, and with beautiful, blue-skyed eyes that were digging holes into the girl´s back. "And stop calling me by that silly name."

She smiled back at his frown, already running. "Sure! See you next week, Shiro-chan!"

"I told you to never comeback!" he yelled, but couldn´t know if she had heard him. He then lowered his gaze, feeling suddenly silly. "Baka." He said.

"Did she leave already?" someone asked at his back. He didn´t turn around to know whose voice was that. Besides, she didn´t need to see the look on his eyes now.

"What do you want, Kurosaki?" he barked without turning, when he suddenly heard the wind around him being cut by something very fast, and was fairly missed by a rapidly moving object aimed at his head. He turned around this time to face the girl with blood boiling on his veins. Her hair was completely black and almost shoulder-length, matching her deep dark eyes. She was lanky, a little bit shorter than him, but she seemed to be his age. Her attire was completely of a boy´s, even when she was a girl. She must´ve been too brave to tempt his temper at the moment. Or too stupid. "What´s with you, Kurosaki?? What do you pretend? To kill me??"

"It would be well deserved for that stupid look on your face." Was the straight reply of the raven-haired girl. That stopped him on his tracks. "C´mon. You need to focus on something else. Let me show the present someone brought me from the real world." She ran past him and fetched the thing she had thrown at him, giving it to him. It was a very weird-looking sphere, white and black on it, completely dirty.

"What´s… this?"

"A soccer ball."

"A… what?."

She rolled her eyes. "This is for playing soccer, you dumb. It´s a game one of my dad´s shinigami learned from the real world when he went there. He brought this for me and taught me how to play. C´mon. I´ll show you." By that she took him by the hand. He withdrew it immediately, as if it burned.

"Why should I follow you?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes again. Certainly her friend was too dense, but today it seemed it was the worst day of all times. "Because" she looked at him straight in the eye, menacingly. She was aware it didn´t quite had the same effect on him than with the other boys she knew (and she liked that of him) but at least she was certain she would draw his attention. "you´re just dying to know how it´s played. And besides, you need that stuck-up head of yours away from that girl." She took his hand again. "C´mon, you baka. Or else we won´t find a suitable place to practice."

This time he obligued. It was true, he was intrigued by this new game. But his thoughts were still striving around a certain, older raven-haired girl.

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Rukia was sitting on a tree´s branch, quite a few feet away from the ground, and almost hidden in between its bushes. She wasn´t hiding, but she didn´t want to be found at all. She had a lot of things running wild in her mind, and she had to sort them out before they drove her insane.

First of all, it was the Academy itself. It had been almost a year after she and Renji had entered the Shinigami Academy, and almost two months since she was adopted by the Kuchiki family. They had told her that it would take them a year to make her graduate, but she knew that it also meant she had to redouble her efforts. She looked at her hands and sighed. Small hands, not fitting for handling a sword. She had tried so much to master that art, but it seemed as if it just wasn´t made for her. The harder she tried, the more injured she got, but so far she hadn´t found any rewards from her efforts. It was during those days training that Rukia had found that she seemed to be good at kidou. Granted, not as good as the geniuses of her generation, but at least she found herself a little above the average. Still, she knew that a battle was usually decided at the point of a sword, so being below average on that particular issue made her feel a little bit insecure. And although Renji had always encouraged her and told her soothing words, she knew she wasn´t getting any better, even when she appreciated those words from him. Well, when he said those words to her, that is. Nowadays, she barely heard them coming from him.

Renji.

That was another matter to discuss.

They had been so close together when they were kids. Even when they had a family of five, they were the closest of them all, like a golden pair. Renji and Rukia had always been hand in hand, supporting each other, protecting the others together. They never did anything that didn´t involve the other, their bond stronger than anything that forsaken place had thrown at them.

He even had been her first kiss.

Rukia sadly smiled at that particular memory, a faint blush on her cheeks. But her smile faded quickly, remembering her present loneliness. Despite how close they had been in the past, he had been drifting away from her since the first weeks they´d arrived in the Academy, which clearly intensified after she had agreed on becoming a Kuchiki, and at first she had even felt it as if he was punishing her for leaving him alone. But then, she saw how much he was growing, how strong he was getting, and she tossed away that idea from her mind. She saw him with his friends, and saw how passionate he was with his training, improving every day. It made her feel proud of him, but as the days went by and his searching for her company became more sporadic, she started to feel lonely… and angry at him.

She tried as hard as she could not to be mad at him, not to let him know. He seemed happy, and she had no right on tainting that happiness. After all, they were like siblings, so she wished the best for him all the time. But… still, that didn´t stop the feeling of emptiness in her stomach, nor the aching sting on her heart.

With a dull ache on her chest, she remembered the last time they had been close to one another. There had been almost a month now that he had rushed to her, holding her, telling her about their field trip that had turned out into the killing of two senpais, and that got Hisagi Shuuhei, a senpai admired for almost everyone in the Sereitei, severely wounded. She had looked at Renji horrified as he retold this trip, the anguish they all felt and how he had ran to help the senpai, along with some of his friends, and just barely getting back alive thanks to the aid of one of the Taichous that had arrived there in perfect timing. Rukia had hugged him tightly, aware of how close she had been on losing him. After that day, and for several weeks, he had come looking for her more frequently, almost daily. But that had ended as well, he becoming too enthralled with his training to even notice they were getting apart again. And this time she felt even lonelier than before.

She hugged her legs at that idea, resting her chin in her knees and sighing deeply. She didn´t want to lose his friend again, but she knew there wasn´t anything she could do if he didn´t want her around. A little bit overwhelmed by the feeling of lost, she closed her eyes, least a tear ran down her cheek….

When a horrible shriek, like a cry from a wounded monster, pierced her ears almost painfully, opening her eyes wide in fear and making her body tremble. She had never heard such a cry before, it was as if some soul was tortured insanely… with a thousand times fold. She heard the cry again and her body openly shivered, prompting her to hug herself tighter and freezing her every move. She couldn´t imagine what kind of being could make such a horrid sound, but she was sure it wasn´t a normal soul. It didn´t even sound like an animal at all.

That´s when the idea hit her.

A hollow.

Renji had described to her the intense feeling of fear when they had heard the hollow´s cry, that it had made them feel empty inside, as if by screaming the hollow had stolen their souls, leaving the empty carcass of their bodies. She heard it again, closing her eyes in fear. Yes, this must be the way a hollow screamed for sure.

Noticing that the sound was somewhat far from her, she tried to will her body to move, but found it resisting to her orders, totally glued to the tree branch she was in. The fear so complete it had rooted her on place.

She heard the scream again, but this time she noticed it seemed different, as if divided, as if the tone were not the same. As if it was altered somehow. The next time she heard it, she could tell the difference: the hollow´s cry was mixed up with human screams. Children´s cries, to be exact.

She went numb, her blood dropping down her ankles, her heart accelerated. She gripped tightly the katana she had to use in the Academy, the asauchi, knowing that it was useless against the hollow. Although she had gone into her own field trip, and had actually been able to kill some fake hollows, because of Renji´s story she knew the sword wouldn´t be enough. And even less with her swordsmanship. She heard the cry again and this time her mind went blank. She didn´t mind if she couldn´t win, she had to try and give those kids time enough to run and hide, or to someone more powerful to come over and help them. She didn´t know what she was doing, she only knew that she wasn´t going to let those children die.

She jumped from the tree and started in a dash, with only a praying in her mind.

That she could get there in time.

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The earth exploded beside them with the strength of the hollow´s blow, sending both of them few meters away from the floor. Toshirou held Karin in an attempt to shield her from the impact, but when they hit the ground, his head crashed against a rock, and he felt the warm liquid running down his temple, while the world started whirling all around him.

"Toshirou!!!"

He could hear Karin´s voice close to him, but he couldn´t place it. His eyes were open, but he couldn´t fathom what he was seeing. His senses were confused apparently by the strength of the impact, although he noticed they seemed to be focusing little by little, until the moment came when he finally was able to see her concerned face in front of him… and right behind her, the huge shadow of the hollow, menacingly standing in front of them. He saw it extending its massive arm towards them, and felt his own lips moving, trying to voice a warning, but no sound came from them. The concusion was weighing on him too deeply to do anything. Helpless, he saw the monster close its fingers around Karin´s body, and he could see her screaming at him, pleading for his help, but what could he do?

"Karin!!"

He was finally able to scream, and extended his arm towards her, reaching out for her, but he knew it was futile. He closed his eyes, and the boy that denied his youth, felt like a little baby, completely defenseless. He hated the feeling, loathed the sense of defeat and complete loss that surrounded him. He almost felt himself crying. 'Karin' he thought 'I´m sorry for not being strong enough for you…'

He then heard the piercing cry of the hollow, and opened his eyes immediately, only to feel Karin´s body fall on top of him

"Uuuuffff!!"

Her head crushed on his belly, taking out all the air from his lungs. He felt he couldn´t breathe.

"Thank you, Toushirou! I´m so happy I didn´t hit your head instead. Its so hard I could´ve been killed!"

A beaming Karin was sitting on top of him. He saw her sparkling eyes and suddenly, without a warning, her arms reached around him, hugging him. It felt uncomfortable but, he had to admit, nice at the same time. In spite of that, he pushed her away: he had never liked girls hugging him in any moment, he wasn´t a baby, for heaven´s sake! Either way, he kept her close, searching for her eyes and trying to understand, while he tried to recover some of his breath.

"What… ?"

"I don´t know, it just released me and…"

But she couldn´t finish the sentence, as they both heard another cry from the hollow. They turned to see it, when they saw what seemed to be another girl landing in front of them. Her red hakama told them that she was in the Academy, but how old was she? On what year? Certainly she must be on the high level years, Toshirou thought, to be confident enough to face a hollow that size. But she seemed so short… she couldn´t be too much older than they were.

"What the hell are you doing, standing there??" the girl yelled at them, "run for your lives!! I don´t know how much longer I will be able to keep it at bay!!"

Then Rukia saw both children opening their eyes wide in terror.

That moment cost Rukia a second of distraction, which the hollow used perfectly, sending her a few feet away from them and slamming her against a tree. With a nasty open wound on her left arm, and her head throbbing fantastically, she saw the hollow facing both children now, who were paralyzed on the ground. 'No!' stumbling, she started to rise up, when she saw another boy, taller than them, a teenager maybe, standing in front of them, his arms held wide on his sides, as if trying to shield the kids from the monster´s attack. She couldn´t hear what he was screaming, but she could see his flashing orange hair… as well as the hollow´s killing intent.

"Shit!" For a second time in a single day, Kuchiki Rukia lunged forward without thinking, with only one thing in her mind. To protect.

She felt a sudden rush of fire on her left shoulder that made her scream. And then everything went blank.

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Her dreams were plagued with images she couldn´t quite fathom. She saw herself and Renji, both very young, playing on the riverside, when suddenly she saw a flash of sparkling orange. She was on the academy now, playing with Renji and laughing, when she noticed he was walking away from her, still beaming. She tried to run to him, but her legs wouldn´t obey her. Rukia looked down and saw the asauchi resting in her hands, and looked up again, to find a fake hollow confronting her. She launched forward to attack, and suddenly the fake hollow was replaced by the huge one that had attacked those children she was so determined to protect. Then the flashing orange light shielded her view. Confused, she turned around, when she felt her shoulder like burning and a curtain of deep red enveloped her.

A white light covered her after that, and she saw that same orange spot in front of her, only this time it was more defined, not as ethereal anymore. She tried to reach out, but a painful sting ran on her left. Panicked, she jumped up, sending a punch forward to defend herself.

"Hey! Watch out!" She heard someone yell, and strong hands held her forearm, at the same time she felt herself being pushed down delicately by her shoulder.

"Calm down. You´re safe now" a male voice spoke soothingly at her. "You´re at my house."

She laid down, albeit a bit wary still, and her sight started to focus.

'Oh. So that´s where the orange flash came from'. The boy that stood in front of the kids was now leaning close to her, as if inspecting her. He didn´t seem that old, maybe even her age; she stared at him, surprised by his handsome features that in some way seemed familiar to her, when she noticed his amber eyes digging holes on her amethyst ones, as if trying to search her soul. Still confused, she looked away, feeling a bit warm up on her face.

"Where am I?"

"You´re at the Kurosaki manor. We brought you here after you got injured."

Injured? 'I see' she thought 'the hollow got me'. She remembered the way she had jumped in a futile attempt to protect them, to stop the hollow from sinking its fangs on them. It sank them in her flesh instead.

Moving her left shoulder, she could remember now, the intense pain, the blood that covered her all, and how her blade was the only thing that had prevented the monster from killing her off. She remembered the feeling of bone breaking apart, transmitted through her hands. It wasn´t a killing blow, the one she had inflicted, but at least it had prevented it from killing her. And maybe, just maybe, giving the others time to run away. While she mused at this, she started drifting away, enveloped in the dark. She really needed to rest.

"Oi!" the boy called, startling her. "What´s your name?"

"Kuchi… ki…." Her body felt numb, and she could no longer feel the cold that surrounded her "… Rukia…" the last word was almost like a whisper, but Ichigo could grasp it enough. He sighed. 'A Kuchiki…'

Ichigo sat there motionless, deep in thought, contemplating her as she closed her eyes, her pained expression softening with the relief of sleep. "Rukia" he sighed the name. His brow eased just a bit at that, happy that at least she wouldn´t hurt anymore. For now.

He had been impressed by her, by the determined look in her eyes the moment she came out of nowhere and stood in front of him, shielding them all with her blade and her own body. At first he scolded her for being so reckless, but then felt ashamed of himself. This petite girl had shown him the ultimate sacrifice, by giving her life for them all. Complete strangers to her. Wasn´t that the thing he wanted to do the most? Protect the people he loved, even at the cost of his life. But this girl, this student, had shown him that he was far from good. She had paid with her life the teaching he had thought he´d learned by now. He had, indeed, impressed him.

"Why do you think she did it, Ichi-nii?"

Karin´s words took him out of his reverie violently. She spoke as if she had been inside of his head. He had always stood in awe at how easily his little sister could read him. Well, this little sister. Yuzu seemed to him like any normal girl so far.

He looked at her, with a blank expression in his face, but turned immediately back towards their savior´s figure. He didn´t have an answer anyways. And she seemed to understand, because she didn´t ask again.

Ichigo then turned to see the boy sitting in a corner, the same empty expression for the past hours. He wasn´t much concerned for Toshirou, that boy had a heart made of steel. But Ichigo wondered anyways. He was still a boy, after all.

"Yo. What´s with you?" he asked.

Toshirou didn´t aknowledge him at first, but after the third 'Yo' he looked at him for a split second, then resumed his contemplative stare, without a word.

Ichigo sighed. He would talk to him later. He wasn´t in a mood either. His mind was a whirlpool right now.

He remembered how bathed in Rukia´s blood he was when she took her limp body in his arms, after the hollow had released her. If it wasn´t for Sado´s help, his childhood friend, he wouldn´t have been able to save her. The direct impact towards the hollow´s thorax had helped him to open the monster´s mouth, although the hardest thing was to take out the girl´s katana, deeply embedded in the hollow´s palatine bone.

After delivering her body into Chad´s arms, he knew that their only way of surviving was to actually kill the monster. So he took the asauchi in his hands and charged against the hollow with all his might, only to find that the katana wasn´t enough. Fortunately for all of them, his father´s shinigami arrived to save them all.

That´s when he noticed Chad´s look. He was staring at the petite girl completely terrified. As if he were afraid of breaking her with just a breath. As if she were made of glass. But when he wanted to take her from his arms, trying to release him from that predicament, he found his friend wasn´t willing to give her back. Ichigo complied, allowing his friend to carry her all the way to his house. He would talk about it later, but he was still concerned for his friend. That look hadn´t abandoned Sado even after leaving her body on the bed.

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Here it is!! What do you think? Of course this time I intent on giving many chapters to you, but I still have to think over which ones will be Rukia´s guys. Ichigo is for sure, but then I thought Sado would be nice. I mean, their relationship is of respect, and are connected by the complete trust and loyalty they both feel for Ichigo, but why not something else? I was thinking on Hisagi of course (I wouldn´t miss him for the world!!) and even Kaien, although I don´t like him in particular. But what about Ishida? Or… umh… dunno, lot´s of things to mull over! XDXD thank you so much for reading!