Chapter 1: First Impressions

Inside a classroom situated on one of the higher levels of Karakura High School, the students waited while their teacher organised herself, chatting amongst themselves. It was the start of a new week, a new term, a new year, and no one was sure if they wanted the class to actually start or not.

'Everyone!' Ochi Misato, a cheerful and generally rather accepting woman, spun around and grinned ferociously at her class, 'Welcome back to school for another exciting and exam filled year!' a few people couldn't hold in their groans, 'Anyhow, today we've also got a new student!' turning to the door, she beckoned the girl standing there forward, 'Hello, I'm your teacher, it's nice to meet you. Please write your name on the board,'

Kuchiki Rukia

The characters were fluid and each seemed like its own piece of artwork. Somehow, almost everyone in the classroom could tell that this petite girl was, or had once been, an artist. And, most probably, a very talented one at that.

'Alrighty,' Misato adjusted her glasses and smiled again, 'Please take a seat,' returning her attention to the whole group of students, she continued, 'If everyone will take note that this will be Kuchiki's first time attending a regular school, I'm sure we'll all be grateful. Prior to today, she's been tutored privately at her family home, so do your best to make her feel welcome,' light seemed to flash across her glasses, 'Got it?'

'Yes!' although the reply was strong, not many of the students were actually too keen to start a conversation with the new girl. After all, her expression was carefully black and her eyes held a barely concealed glare. It looked like she wasn't so happy to be where she was at all.

Sitting down, Rukia swallowed her sigh, and silently resolved to live through this. It would have been much easier if Kaien was in her grade, and had been sent to school with her, but instead he was still off studying in Tokyo, having probably returned from Kyoto by now, and he hadn't visited once. Still, she thought she could remember that he was coming back to Karakura soon, and she could hardly wait.

Whose idea it had been to make her go to a regular school, she didn't know, but it wasn't looking to be the most enjoyable of experiences. Rukia's keen eyes had already noticed the odd looks she was receiving, so it wasn't like she was exactly welcomed with open arms.

Not concentrating on what her new teacher was saying at all, as she'd already covered the topic a while ago, Rukia began to scribble idly on the edge of her notebook. She'd often considered taking up art as a hobby, but her brother's calligraphy lessons, and Ukitake's bonsai and tea ceremony lessons took up most of her spare time. It was interesting though, especially considering that Byakuya was a calligraphy master, and Ukitake knew practically everything there was to know about tea. The bonsai, on the other hand, was a losing battle, because neither of them had the talent in turning the miniature trees into works of art at all. Rukia had often contemplated asking her Nii-sama if he was any good at bonsai, because then he might've been able to teach both her and Ukitake, but he was always so busy managing the multi-national business he ran, called the Sixth Division, that she didn't even speak to him unless it was absolutely necessary.

Ukitake, Kaien and Rukia, herself, had once made up a kind of club, or gang, that they called the Thirteenth Division, a play on Byakuya's company name, and also because Rukia had been thirteen at the time. But since Ukitake was in poor health, and Kaien and Rukia were often studying, the whole thing was more like a name with nothing behind it, but they still had fun doing 'secret stuff'. That 'stuff' being mainly silly things like fighting each other with rulers and pretending they were wickedly sharp katanas, or going scouting to find evil demons called Hollows. They mightn't have been the most original ideas, but the three of them, or more realistically, Kaien and Rukia, had had some of the best times playing 'shinigami'. Kaien was particularly good at pretending to die dramatically because he'd been 'stabbed', and Rukia had the perfect expression needed to act the condemned prisoner, doomed to die at the hands of a ruthless Society because of a crime she had hardly committed.

They were good times, Rukia sighed deeply, ignoring the additional stares she received, When Ukitake was a little healthier, Kaien was around, and I could smile easier.

The teenager tried to recall if her white haired 'second guardian' had mentioned exactly when Kaien was supposed to be returning. It was one of those topics that would remain on her mind for hours, taking up every bit of her concentration as she remembered the things she'd done with Ukitake and his mischievous ward. Those thoughts generally led to thinking about either more Kaien, or her Nii-sama, Kuchiki Byakuya.

Sometimes, I wonder just how happy he is to manage that business of his, Rukia turned to stare out the window and at the sky, absently filling the answers on the sheet she'd been handed at the same time, Because I can't read his emotions at all.

A movement caught the corner of her eye, and she turned a little further to watch a boy with the brightest orange hair that she thought she'd ever seen, shoot a fierce glare at her. His scowl was dark, and his whole body posture showed just how much he detested being where he was. Strangely enough, it seemed to Rukia almost as if it was only her that was causing his irritation. And that was confusing, as she'd never met anyone in this classroom before, having generally always remained on the Kuchiki Estate's grounds.

Not wanting someone who kind of looked like a juvenile delinquent to worsen her already bad day, the petite girl turned fully and sent back her own death glare, one which she hoped would portray her disgust of such ill-mannered human beings. It seemed to work, because whoever the orange haired jerk was, he twisted his body and faced out the window, right beside his desk.

What the hell is his problem? Rukia was in a very dark and dangerous mood now, Does he have a hatred of new students, girls, black haired and violet eyed people . . .

She couldn't figure out why she needed to get glared at. It wasn't like she was trying to get people to notice her, more like she was glaring at them, she wasn't being overly know-it-all, considering the fact that she was just writing down her answers and hadn't verbally responded to any of the teacher's questions at all, and, all in all, she really didn't want to be there. Her first impressions of this class were that they were either strange, smart, overly enthusiastic, normal, whatever 'normal' was, or just rude.

'Right!' all of a sudden, Misato's voice brought the brooding teenager back to the present, 'Get out of here in five minutes or you can stay inside for lunch,'

The rush of people slamming back their chairs and zooming from the room created a mass of chaos, screeching noises and loud chatter drowning out whatever else the teacher had been about to say.

Rukia stood up to go as well, but, although she'd only looked to the door for a second, when she turned back to her desk, she couldn't see the book she'd had there anywhere. It was a collection of photos, all taken by either Ukitake or Kaien, depicting the three of them on their adventures. Some people might have thought her obsessed with both the white haired man, and his black haired 'son', but in reality, it was actually rather understandable.

Rukia had only ever really known Ukitake, Kaien, and Byakuya. Initially, she'd had Abarai Renji, but he was living in Sapporo now, so they rarely saw each other, although she emailed, rang, or wrote to him quite a bit. So, meeting the trio who lived in the Kuchiki Mansion, and making it a quartet, had caused a drastic change in the way she lived. Byakuya rarely shared words with her, so, as a consequence, although she was thankful for what he'd done for her, and although she loved him, in her eyes, the other two living in the second main house were a lot closer to her. Ukitake acted as the 'father', although both of his charges believed he was more like a grandfather, and they just ran around being themselves. Quirky, yet serious, and a whole lot madder and more dangerous than anyone would expect, just from looking at them, that was.

'Are you looking for that book?' a cheerful voice made Rukia turn slightly, once again brought away from her musings. Indigo eyes came to rest on a curvaceous, auburn haired teenager with the largest grin Rukia could possibly have anticipated.

'Yes,' her voice was a bit tight and her posture rather rigid, but it didn't seem to faze the other girl, 'Do you know where it is?'

'Did you forget?' there was no malice in the words, 'Well, I'm Inoue Orihime, and I forget stuff like that heaps. Anyway, that book is on your chair. I saw you put it there as you got up. And, I'll repeat because I'm a scientific space robot . . . don't worry if you can't remember the little things, it's the big things that matter!' after losing her robotic voice on the word 'matter', Orihime turned and skipped off, calling out to an athletic looking girl with black hair.

Scientific space robot, Rukia felt exhausted just looking at the bouncy teenager, And I do not forget things. This is just because I'm angry.

As she picked up the book, she glanced across at the doorway where the orange haired boy was leaving the classroom, Jerk.

'They say first impressions are really important. That they can define a relationship,' Kaien lay sprawled on the fresh, damp green grass, 'But I dunno if I believe that all the time,' he didn't seem to care that he was getting wet because of the light rain still falling from the sky, 'I mean, once I met a man who freaked me out real bad, but then I spied on him, and he was writing poetry, and then he caught me. After that, things weren't so tough between us, because he'd try to make me write poetry too, and I'd try to make him leave his house, and we'd end up launching fireworks from the roof,'

Rukia, sitting on a comfortable chair under the roof of the terrace, hid her grin and snapped, 'How can you go from arguing to setting of fireworks, it doesn't flow,'

'We're not in class, don't be so technical,' aqua green eyes flicked to the girl in mild amusement, 'And that's not the point, the point is-,'

'Did you just make that all up?' Rukia had no qualms interrupting, she knew he'd still say what he wanted to after she'd finished talking.

'Yeah, but anyway,' it really took a lot to make Kaien lose his confident, relaxed manner, 'The point is that first impressions can sometimes be misleading. You might meet someone on the street and think they're the average delinquent, and then the next day, you read in the newspaper that that person is actually the junior calligraphy champion of Karakura Town,'

'Once again, your ideas are strange,' Rukia sighed deeply, lowering the book she'd been trying to read, 'I mean, the best thing you could think of was calligraphy,'

'But don't you believe me?' Kaien chuckled and rubbed his forehead as more raindrops splattered down on him, 'Another example then, let's see,' there was a faintly wicked gleam in his eye when he continued, something that made Rukia instantly wary, 'Well, the first time we met, I thought you looked like a,' he paused, considering, 'A stray dog. Quite thin, unhealthy looking, with scared eyes and a jumpy demeanour,' ignoring Rukia's strangled protests, the teenager continued, 'But once I got to know you better, you really turned out to be quite the lively little puppy, eh?'

Rukia was practically seething as she stood up, slammed the book down, and marched over, not caring that her clean slippers were getting soaked, 'A stray puppy? Unhealthy?' she plonked her fist on his forearm, the one still resting on his head, 'You sure know how to compliment people!'

'But it's true,' he sounded sickeningly innocent as he rolled away from her and stood up, catching her fist as she tried to hit him again, 'Never just rely on first impressions, try to get to know whoever ticked you off. They mightn't be as nasty and jerk-ish once you've spoken to them a bit more. Or at least,' taking on a distant and dumb expression, Kaien added, 'They might actually have a good reason to call you a homeless waif,'

Rukia used his hand on hers to pivot and she kicked him on the shoulder, which was about as far as she could reach without jumping, 'Don't ruin philosophical crap with such a stupid, rude and annoying ending!'

Running away and back into the house, purposely ignorant to the wet footprints he was leaving in his path, Kaien laughed, 'If you think my wisdom is crap, then it shouldn't matter about what I end it with,'

'That's not-,' Rukia was cut off when the clouds opened once again and a torrent of rain poured down on her, soaking through her clothes in seconds, she amended what she'd been going to say, which had been 'true', to, 'Fair,'

'Now, if we'd met just at this moment,' leaning on the doorway, Kaien laughed at her, 'I would've said you looked like a drowned rat instead,'

'I'm ignoring you,' shivering, Rukia walked under the terrace roof and straight past her friend, could he even be called a friend, and into the massive entrance hall of the second mansion like building on the Estate.

Opening her eyes, Rukia sighed deeply, fingers curling on the cover of the unopened photo book. The day after that incident, she'd come down with a horrible cold, and had had to stay in bed for three days straight. The coughing, sneezing, and choking hadn't been pleasant at all and her throat had felt like she'd swallowed a handful of nails. Kaien had acted completely unrepentant and he'd teased her a bit, but behind that carefree demeanour, she'd seen that he really was worried, and he hadn't left her side the whole time. Ukitake had given him a talking to, and Rukia half suspected that Byakuya had too, but behind the scenes, of course. It was a secret that she knew, but her brother-in-law did kind of care for her, because once she'd overheard him asking Ukitake how she was going, and telling Kaien off for almost knocking her out.

Jumping down from the tree she'd been perched in the whole lunch break, Rukia turned and walked back towards the classroom. She couldn't help but wonder if Kaien had been right. Not about the fireworks, stray dogs, or drowned rats, but about first impressions.

Sure, that orange haired guy was being unusually rude, although they hadn't exchanged any words yet, and his demeanour was irritating, but maybe he had a good reason not to like her. Although, as of yet, she couldn't think of one because she hadn't even met him before, so he couldn't possibly not like her for something she'd said or done. Personal issues, was the only thing that came to her mind.

'Urgh,' the quiet growl was all she was prepared to give, after all, people who were such losers didn't deserve the time of day.

That was the direction Rukia's thoughts were taking just as she stepped around the corner, intent on getting back to class, and almost ran into a certain orange haired teenager, the one wearing a relatively permanent scowl.

Oh this is just cliché

Author's Note:

So how will Rukia's first conversation with Ichigo go . . . probably not that well, considering everything

Anyhow, this story looks to be 'safe' now, which makes me happy. Just thought I'd say it, and I hope you continue reading