Edited on 7/12/2010

Chapter 1: Another Try

"Hey, are you coming in or not?"

Ichigo looked up at the boy questioning him, Renji Abarai stood by the door of the Community Center, holding it open, allowing a burst of warm air to escape the building and make Ichigo realize just how cold he was. It was December first and the weather was brutal. Ichigo wore only a thin jacket and his usual attire of jeans and a dark colored tee-shirt. The jacket was a bit tight on him because he'd borrowed it from his friend Mizuiro and the other boy was much smaller than him.

Ichigo shook his head. "Nah, I'd rather not," he said. "If I go in there, they'll just start talking about the Change of Hearts program thinking it'll convince me to rejoin it. Or worse, they won't say anything but they'll stare at me like I'm the biggest disappointment known to man. I can't put myself through that. It's bad enough I have to go through it at meals and bedtime; I'm not going through it unnecessarily."

Renji let the door swing closed, robbing Ichigo of the small amount of heat he was reveling in. "Come on, Ichigo," Renji said, "It wouldn't kill you to enroll in the program one more time. Besides I really want you here with me for this. It's a great occasion."

Ichigo sniffed. "A great occasion would be graduating from high school; you're just graduating from a stupid program at a stupid Community Center. I'm not going."

This had been the second time Renji had been through the Change of Hearts Program. The first time he'd dropped out half way through, but this time he made it all the way to the end and the Community Center was throwing a celebratory dinner, not just for Renji but for everyone who graduated from the current group of kids in the program. Ichigo had never attended one of the dinners because they had been added after he'd given up on the program's ability to 'save' him. It was a celebration that the new director had added as incentive to complete the program.

"Whatever, suit yourself, just don't come crying to me when you freeze to death."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Whatever," he agreed. As the other male turned to enter the building Ichigo stopped him, "Renji."

"Huh?" the boy with bright red hair asked turning back around to his friend.

"I just wanted you to know, I'm proud of you," Ichigo said in a low voice. "I always hoped you would get off the streets; I knew you could make it through the program if you put your mind to it. Congratulations."

"What's this Kurosaki?" Renji teased, "Going soft on me? Sure you're Ichigo?"

"Of course I'm Ichigo," the orange haired boy growled. "Just know that if I ever catch you back out here up to your old acts I won't hesitate to kick your ass."

Renji grinned. "That's the Strawberry I know. I'm holding you to your word."

"Whatever Pineapple, don't you have a celebration to get to? Do me a favor, bring me out something to eat, I didn't get dinner."

"I'll see." That said Renji disappeared into the building, leaving Ichigo sitting outside.

Ichigo really was proud of his friend. Renji and he had met at the Canter a few months before and immediately became friends. Both of them had been on the streets for a while and thought the entire world was against them. But Renji's situation was completely different from Ichigo's. Renji was an orphan that grew up in a foster home from the time he was six. He talked fondly of his foster parents and the other kids in the home, there had been a lot over the years and that sole fact was enough to make Renji feel unwanted. He'd been in the foster home for ten years and no one ever wanted to adopt him. Other kids came and went, but he just stayed there. No one wanted him. His foster parent's didn't seem to mind having him around at first, the first few times he'd seen other kids being adopted before him they would tell him it would be ok and someone would come for him soon. But no one ever did.

Renji had felt rejected in his foster home and had turned to the streets for the acceptance he had always wanted. But even on the streets he couldn't help but long for something more. Ichigo had known immediately that what Renji wanted was what the boy had left behind, but who was Ichigo to tell him that when Ichigo himself was running from what he most needed. No, Renji had to figure out for himself that the place he belonged wasn't on the streets, but back in his foster home with his foster parents.

The first time Renji had entered the program, Ichigo didn't let on how much he wanted the other to succeed, when Renji had dropped out he had joked it off as if he didn't care. He hadn't wanted to sound like a hypocrite since it was no secret that Ichigo repeatedly dropped out of the program.

The second time Renji entered the program, Ichigo made it clear that if Renji dropped out again he was on his own. Renji was his friend; he felt the need to save the boy from the very mistakes he was making himself. Making him stay in the program had done just that. Ichigo knew, or at least hoped with all his might, that once Renji went back to his house he would never return to running the streets. Ichigo had, indirectly, saved Renji. But who was going to save Ichigo?

"You're going to freeze if you stay out here."

Ichigo was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of a dull baritone voice echoing through the night air. He turned and looked into a vaguely familiar face with piercing gunmetal grey eyes and hair as black as the night itself. It took a moment for Ichigo to place exactly where he had seen the man before, his eyes narrowed into a look somewhat akin to a glare, but not carrying as much menace. "Rather I freeze or not has nothing to do with you, Byakuya."

The man tilted his head to the side as if to get a better look at the boy with the sharp tongue. "Have we met before?" he asked. "I don't know your name, so how is it that you know mine?"

"No we haven't met," Ichigo replied, "but everyone knows the new director of the Change of Hearts program."

"Are you one of the kids who have enrolled in the program?"

This time Ichigo's glare carried all the menace that was absent in it the first time. "I'm never enrolling in that stupid program again. It's a pointless waste of time."

Byakuya's eyes that had once looked at Ichigo curiously and calculating narrowed and hardened. "To you it may be a pointless waste of time, but I'm sure the kids that have this 'waste of time' to thank for their lives would beg to differ. That 'stupid program' has saved more kids than you can count from ending up hurt, dead, or on the wrong side of the law. I doubt they think it was a waste of time at all."

"Save me the success tale. I've heard it all before. Sure it's saved a lot of kids but it failed just as many. Your stupid program doesn't save everyone. It never saved me, and it never saved-." Ichigo cut himself off from saying the last part of the sentence. "Excuse me," he mumbled as he pushed passed Byakuya and fled down the street. Behind him he could hear the door opening to the center and Renji's voice calling out his name.

But he cared not about that as he ran away, all he could hear and see in his mind was the face of a girl, her voice low and guarded as she hesitantly let Ichigo close enough to call her friend.

::-::

"Hey Ichi, over here." Ichigo looked around the cafeteria area of the Center for the voice calling his name. It was easy to spot who was waving him over since the place wasn't as crowded as it used to be, seeing as how early it was and the fact that about ten kids had "graduated" the night before.

Ichigo made his way over to the table where the group had called out to him; their usually full table was practically empty as well. "Hey Ikkaku, Yumichika, where's Shuuhei?"

"He went to sign up for the program," Yumichika said in his usual airy tone, his eyes locked on the compact mirror in his hand. Ichigo had always thought that the other, more feminine, boy was too concerned with his looks to be a street kid.

"I heard Renji graduated last night," Ikkaku said. "That's good for him, but I wonder how long it'll be until he's back out here with us."

Ichigo gave Ikkaku a look that said, say that again and die a painful death. "He bet' not ever end up back here with us or I'll kick his ass. When are you two going to enter the program anyway?"

Yumichika closed his compact and turned to look at Ichigo. "For someone so against the Change of Hearts program, you're sure eager to stuff us in it."

Ichigo glared at the dark haired teen. "I never said I was against the program, I just said it can't do anything for me. I never doubted its ability to save anyone else."

"Are you really so eager to be rid of us Ichi?" Ikkaku asked.

"Shut up chrome dome, you know it's not like that."

Yumichika rolled his eyes. "Yes, we know, you don't think we belong out here on the streets, it's not suited for us. But what if we were to tell you the exact same thing? You're always nagging us about entering the program or returning home in our own right, but what if we refuse to go unless you're going with us."

"We all know we don't belong out here Ichi, but you don't belong out here either. You may have coaxed Renji into the program and back home, and sure Shuuhei followed his lead, but we're not leaving you out here to fiend for yourself. We ain't going anywhere without you. You've practically been taking care of us since we came out here. You made us into a family that can hold our own in a world that's completely against us. You've had our backs from day one. We ain't leaving you out here if you got no one to watch your back."

Ichigo sighed. "So if I enter the program again, you two will enter with me?"

Yumichika nodded. "That's the gist of it. Renji had wanted to stay with you, too, but we convinced him it would be wise for at least one of us to get off the streets first."

Ichigo grumbled under his breath before finally conceding: "Fine. I'll do it. I'll enter the stupid program."

"Yes!" Ikkaku cheered."Atta boy, Ichi!"

"Hurry up and finish eating," Yumichika said, "The introduction meeting starts in ten minutes. Shuuhei already put out names on the roster."

"You bastards had this all planned out." Ichigo stared at his friends in disbelief. "Incredible, I don't believe this."

Ikkaku just smirked and Yumichika went back to looking at himself in his compact.

::-::

"Hello everyone, my name is Jyushiro Ukitake and I'm one of the founders and former director of the Change of Hearts program. I want to thank you all for putting forth the effort to attend this meeting. Just by coming here today you all show you're ready and willing to do whatever it takes to return home. Before we start I would like to you all some brief history on the Change of Hearts program."

Ukitake, a man who looked quite young despite his completely white hair, smiled at the assembled group of teens before continuing his speech. "I started this program ten years ago when I was just out of collage. I grew up in this town but attended collage in Tokyo. When I returned here with my degree in business management I was surprised by the number of teens I saw on the streets. A friend of mine, who was quite a few years younger than me, was one of those teens. His name was Kaien and he came from a decent family, so I was surprised to find that he was now a street kid.

"Kaien had always been a good boy, carefree and fun loving, without a worry in the world. I wondered what had changed from the time I was away to the time I came back, so I sat down with him to ask what happened and beg him to return home. He explained to me that things were different now and that even if he wanted to go home, he doubted his ability to do so. I told him I would help in any way possible. Together he and I did whatever it took to get him off the streets and he returned home to his family.

"But Kaien felt guilty that he escaped the streets, but had left the people he'd come to know as his friends behind. He wanted to find a way to save all the teens on the streets living the way he had at one point and he wanted my help to do so. Together we graphed a program that would save troubled teens from the streets and get them back where they belonged, we went to the head of this Community Center with our plan and they approved it. Our first group only had three teens in it, but we never gave up.

Five years later, after saving more kids than he had ever dreamed of, Kaien died in act of trying to save one of the program kids from being attacked by a gang. As co-founder of the program, I carried on with it in his memory."

Ukitake's eyes shone with a kind of sadness as he completed his story. "Now I'm sick and had to retire as director of this program, but I happily hand over my title to the new director, another close friend of mine, Byakuya Kuchiki. Ten years ago, Byakuya was one of the three that entered the program. He is one of our very first success stories and I am very proud of him." The white haired man stopped talking long enough to let out a very sickly sound cough.

Ichigo watched as Byakuya, who had been standing behind Ukitake, rushed to the man's side. "Are you ok, Ukitake-sama?'' He asked, the white haired man tried to nod as another cough racked through his body.

The door to the room opened and another man entered rushing to Ukitake's aid. "Jyushiro," he said, "I told you not to over exert yourself. Come on; let's get you out of here. Sorry about this Byakuya."

"It's ok, Kyouraku-sama," Byakuya said.

The man leading Ukitake to the door turned back to Byakuya. "I told you already, none of the Kyouraku-sama crap. Call me Shunsui, and call this sick fool here Jyushiro."

Byakuya nodded and the two other men departed the room, the door closing behind them. Byakuya turned back to the group of teens watching the scene in silence. "I apologize for the disruption." His baritone voice easily carried through the entire room. "Jyushiro-sama is very ill and wasn't even suppose to be here today had we not thought him well enough to attend. It looks like I'll be wrapping up this meeting,"

He paused and his eyes scanned around the whole room, Ichigo thought that for a second they lingered on him. "I would like to thank you all for joining the program here today. It will be a very rewarding experience if you make it to the end. Things are a bit different from how Jyushiro-sama ran it. While his program focused mostly on getting you to cut ties with streets and re-establishing relationships with family and friends, my program's focus is to help you learn to prosper in society.

"We still will take to steps to get you off the streets and back into your homes, but part of our focus now will be to keep you off the streets after we do that. There are new requirements now to qualify as completing the program, one being attending school and another being getting a part time job or some other steady flow of income, by legal means. Also in addition to the group meetings the original program offered in order to get to the root of why you ended up out here in the first place, there will also be programs and groups to help you refocus away from the original reason and allow a healthy alternative, such as self defense classes, art classes, kendo lessons, and volunteer work.

"Our goal is to do whatever it takes to get you off the streets, and keep you off the streets," Byakuya seemed to be looking everyone in the eye as he gave his speech. "We save a lot of teens," his baritone voice rolled through the room, "but unfortunately we don't save everyone. My hope is to change that." As he said the last part, Ichigo could swear that Byakuya was staring him straight in the eye like no one else in the room existed.