About this Chapter: Yes, this one actually is a chapter. In this chapter, Rukia goes to the new highschool and makes some new friends. It's not really important to the story line, but it's important to know all of the characters XD
I would like to apologize for how long it has taken me to update. I went away for a week and was without all technology. I deeply apologize and will try to post the next few chapters in quick succession.
Disclaimer: Over the past however long it's been, I have not gained ownership of crap. Thanks again XD
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"Are you ready yet, Rukia-Sama?" Asks my head maid, cracking open the door to my bedroom and looking through.
She's talking, of course, about my first day of school. I'm excited to meet new people, and I'm also excited to see Ichigo-San again. He seems like the type of person who will take me, illness and all, and treat me the same as he treats everybody else, which is really all I want**.
I check myself out one last time in my mirror, then head out the door, pushing past my maid. The uniform at the new school sucks, but I'll just have to deal with that; it's not the end of the world, I suppose.
"Will you be eating this morning?" The maid asks, scuttling on her short legs to catch up to me.
"No thank you, I'm fine." I say, and I head into the kitchen where Byakuya's sitting, drinking from a cup of coffee.
"Are you ready to go?" Byakuya asks, glancing up at me.
"Yes, Byakuya. Whenever you're ready, I'm ready to go." I say, sitting next to him and reading the description of the book he has sitting in front of him on the table. It's dark blue with silver lettering, and actually sounds rather interesting. Well, it's interesting for me; it's all about space.
"I thought that you said that studying the stars isn't important until it will save the world." I say to Byakuya. It takes him a second, but he realizes what I'm talking about when he sees me eyeing his book.
"Well, yes." He says, and I see him blush slightly. I don't want to make him uncomfortable, no matter how curious I may be, so I don't question into it.
"Whatever. You may read what you wish. I'll be out in the car." I say, and I leave out into the garage.
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The driver is off work today, so Byakuya is the one driving me to school. The semester started about a month ago, but I'm just starting today. I would have started sooner, but some medical things happened, and my doctor just said that I'm well enough to go to school. Even so, I have to sit out a few different classes, and I know that the teacher's won't be too happy about it. They especially won't be happy because it's the third and last year of highschool, the year of school where teachers want you to work as hard as you can and get great grades before college.
I eye Byakuya, trying to tell what he's thinking. He looks sort of nervous, and I smile.
"Everything's going to be fine, Byakuya." I say, and I look out the window. I see him glance over at me from the corner of my eyes.
"If anything happens, call home and I'll pick you up as soon as possible. Also, if you feel unwell, tell the teachers. They are all well aware of your situation, so they will let you go outside for some fresh air or to go drink some water if it is needed." He says, looking back at the road.
"Yes, Byakuya." I say. We drive ten more minutes or so in silence before we make it to the school. I leave before Byakuya can say anything else, not wanting him to worry out loud to me about anything. I look back at the car when I'm about ten feet away and see him looking at me through the window with a worried look on his face, so I turn back around and get into the building as quickly as I can without running—something I've been forbidden from doing.
I walk into the building of Karakura Highschool and look at a map. My locker is number 2-86, which is on the second floor near my homeroom. I follow the map and find it quickly. There are people everywhere—I had no idea the school is so big—but no one gives me a second glance, which is fine by me. I open up my locker with the combination I have hidden inside all of my folders, and I stuff everything inside. I put the books I'll be needing for the first few classes into a bag and then walk into the room in which all of my classes will be taking place.
Unlike at my previous school, all of the subjects are taught by the same teacher, not including gym and extra classes like sports and theater classes. I walk up to the person who will be my teacher for the rest of the year, a tall woman with a long brown pony tail and glasses who seems rather, well, silly. I stand in front of her desk for a moment, but she doesn't notice me, so I clear my throat quietly. She still doesn't notice me, so I tap her shoulder and she looks up at me.
"Why, hello!" She says, smiling hugely. "You must be the new student! I'm so happy to meet you! My name is Ochi Misato. You may call me Ochi-Sensei. I'll be your teacher this year!" She seems very happy, and shakes my hand vigorously. "Just wait here a moment. The bell will ring soon, so I can have you introduce yourself to the class then. After that I'll find you a seat." She looks around, counting the students to see if everyone's here yet, and then she seems to remember something.
"I can't believe I forgot!" She says, slapping her forehead and turning to me. "If you need anything, just tell me and I'll try and get it for you. Also, don't be embarrassed to tell me if you need to go outside or anything."
"Yes, thank you." I say, bowing.
Soon the bell rings, and the class settles down. I see Ichigo—rather hard to miss with the orange hair (I still can't get over the color!)—and he waves at me. I wave back, but I can't talk to him because the teacher needs me to introduce myself.
"Class, settle down please." Ochi-Sensei shouts out, and everyone stops chatting.
"We have a new student joining us today. How about you introduce yourself?" She directs the last bit to me, and I nod.
I bow to the class. "My name is Kuchiki Rukia, Kuchiki meaning rotten wood and Rukia meaning light***." I say while Ochi-Sensei writes it down in kanji on the blackboard (A/N朽木 ルキアis how you write her name in kanji). Most of the people in class smile at me, which makes me happy.
"Okay, Kuchiki." Ochi-Sensei says. "You can go sit next to Ichigo over there. He's the guy with the bright orange hair." She says, pointing, not knowing that I already know Ichigo.
"Thank you." I say, bowing, and I move over to sit next to Ichigo.
"Okay, now that everyone knows everyone, let's get going with class. Today we're going to start with last night's homework in math. Rukia, you can follow along to get an idea of what we're doing. Anyone who knows the answer to number 1…."
I listen to the class going over homework and have a pretty good idea of everything. I do a few sample problems from the homework the class had last night and get almost all of them right. Ichigo's actually really amazingly smart, and when watching him correct his homework, I didn't see him get a single problem wrong. When the teacher asks for someone to explain how to do a problem though, for some reason he never raises his hand. By the end of the first few periods I know pretty much what is going on, so I'm not very worried about the classes until we get to history; they're studying something I've only ever heard of a couple times in my life, let alone studied.
When the first classes of the day end and everyone goes out to their lockers to get the books for the rest of the day before lunch, I go up to Ochi-Sensei and ask her what I should do for history.
"Well, we've been studying this since the beginning of the school year, so I'm not really sure what to tell you. I suppose I could have someone tutor you…" She says, trailing off, lost in thought. She looks through some history quizzes she has on her desk, reading through them to find a good grade. She finally stops on one and smiles, then looks up at me.
"Kurosaki Ichigo. He's really good at history. I've seen your old grades, and I know you're very smart, so it shouldn't take long for you to understand this topic at all. I would say maybe three or four meetings with Kurosaki are all you'll need." She says. "I'll ask him if he'll tutor you later. Now, go get the rest of your books. We only have two more classes until lunch, and then the rest of the day goes by pretty quickly. I'll have his answer by the end of the day."
I smile at her and go out to my locker to get my books, then go back into the classroom and sit down, continuing on with the rest of my classes and counting the minutes for lunch break.
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Lunch break comes far too slowly, but when it does come I wish that it were already over because I have no idea where to go. I walk around with my light lunch bag, looking for a place to sit. I wonder outside, and after a few minutes find a tree that seems easy to climb. I'm not supposed to exert myself, or go up too high in case I faint and fall, but I climb up the tree anyway. I sit on a thick branch and pull out my lunch once I've settled down; half a piece of bread, a few almonds, a calcium chew, and an apricot. I start eating, finishing almost everything quickly, then look around.
I'm near a thin forest through which I can see some houses, and next to the tree is a trail to the school. I can see the main part of the school, and see some people sitting on the roof, eating their lunch. I spot some bright orange on the roof and see that it's Ichigo-San, probably sitting there with some of his friends. Next to the school are the gym and the outdoor track. There are some more kids sitting, eating their lunch on the track, probably kids from my class because we have gym next.
I look back up at the roof, looking for Ichigo-San's hair, but it's not there. Deciding that he probably went inside to get something, I settle back, leaning against the trunk of the tree and waiting for the bell to ring, signaling the end of lunch.
"OI!" Someone yells from the bottom of the tree, scaring me half to death and making me jump. I look over the edge of the trunk and see Ichigo-San standing there, looking up at me.
"Hello, Ichigo-San." I say, still looking down at him, breathing heavily because of the freight he gave me.
"Hey, Rukia." He says, ignoring honorifics. "Watcha doin'?" He asks.
"Eating lunch." I reply, holding up my near empty lunch sack to show him.
"Alone?"
"Yes."
"Ok." He says, and he bites down on the top of his own lunch sack, then climbs up the tree, ending up sitting across from me.
I look at him, and he pulls out a juice box, taking a sip out of it while staring back at me.
We continue to look at each other, him eating, neither of us saying anything, when his face gets suddenly irritated and he puts down his fork.
"Wouldya stop looking at me? It's weird. Also, I came up here to eat lunch with you out of the goodness of my heart, the least you can do is thank me and try to make conversation, baka!" He shouts at me, looking very important.
I look at him, surprised, when I regain my composure. I slap him and eat one of the almonds that I didn't finish before.
"Don't speak to a girl like that." I say, and he looks at me like he wants to slap me back.
"Fine." He says after a few moments, and he drinks some more from the juice box, sulking.
We sit there like that, Ichigo sulking, me wondering about what is wrong with him, when he suddenly speaks again.
"I talked to the teacher." He says, and I look at him out of the corner of my eye.
"And?" I ask, trying not to sound too interested.
"Well, she told me about how you're clueless and don't know anything about what we're doing in history, and she asked me to tutor you."
"And?" I ask again, keeping the intense irritation out of my voice.
"Well, I didn't want to, but she threatened to dye my hair black if I didn't, so now I have to." He says, looking at me. I stop myself from smiling, picturing Ochi-Sensei holding a box of dye in front of Ichigo.
"When?" I ask.
"When you stop asking one word questions." He says, taking a bite of curry rice.
I roll my eyes, sigh, and turn towards him.
"When will we get together for our tutoring session?" I ask, restraining from rolling my eyes again.
"When are you free?"
"Tomorrow after school." I answer after thinking for a moment.
"Tomorrow after school it is." He says. "I'll pick you up after school tomorrow and take you to my house where we'll study." Right as he says this the bell rings, and we hop out of the tree, heading to gym and throwing away our lunch things on the way.
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At the beginning of gym, I walk up to the teacher with Ichigo and hand the teacher, Kagine, a note from the doctor that was also signed by Byakuya that excuses me from gym class for the whole year. He reads the note, then looks up at me, then read the note again.
"Is there anything you can do?" He asks me, and I think for a moment.
"I suppose I could lift really light weights." I say, and he sighs, rubbing his temples.
"Fine, I suppose that will just have to do. Go get changed in the locker room and come out here and I'll give you something to do." I nod and head to the girl's changing room.
I start to change, looking around at everyone. There aren't that many people in our class all together, so just the girls by themselves is a very small number of people. I look over and see four girls standing in a group and looking at me. Well, three of them are looking at me; the last one is reading from a book.
They soon all move over to where I'm standing, and I stop changing to look at them.
"Hi, you must be Kuchiki Rukia, am I right?" One of them, a girl with a short brown bob and brown eyes says. I nod. "I'm Ogawa Michiru, nice to meet you. This is Honsho Chizuru, Natsui Mahana, and Kunieda Ryo." She says, first gesturing to a girl with red hair and brown-grey eyes, then a girl with short brown hair styled like a boy's, and last to the girl who was—and still is—reading, who has long, straight black hair and slate grey eyes the same color as Byakuya's. I smile at them and bow, each of them bowing back at me.
"It's nice to meet you." I say, and they smile at me.
"We noticed that you were eating alone today until Kurosaki-Kun joined you and were wondering if tomorrow you would like to eat lunch with us?" Mahana-San says, and I smile and nod enthusiastically.
"I would love to." I say, and they all look happy.
We exit the changing room together once everyone is in their gym uniform and we go outside. I learn that the four girls have been friends since they were really little, and at first I feel slightly intrusive in their group, but they soon make it known that they are happy to know someone new.
Once outside, I walk up to the gym teacher and he tells me where to go. I end up going to the indoor weight room alone, doing what it says to do on a little sheet of paper that Kagine gave me.
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After gym finally ends, I go back to the original class and sit down. The rest of the school day goes by, and before I know it the end-of-school bell is ringing and I'm being surrounded by the four girls I met in the locker room, Ryo-San still reading. We talk and laugh a bit, but then I spot Byakuya's car parked out in front of the school and hurry and leave.
I'm halfway through the building when Ichigo walks up next to me and keeps pace with my speed.
"Don't forget tomorrow, Rukia." He says, looking ahead. "I'll call you tonight and tell you the details."
"Okay, Ichigo-Sensei." I say in a mocking tone, but before he can answer—most likely rudely—I speed up as much as I can and go out into the car in which Byakuya awaits me.
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I sit on my bed, surrounded by my school books, doing my homework. I'm answering the last math question when my phone rings. I jump out of freight and start coughing. After a few minutes of coughing, I pick up my phone and press redial without looking at who it was that called.
"Rukia?" I hear a voice say on the other end.
"Hi. You call?" I say, realizing that it's Ichigo on the line.
"Yeah. I was just calling to ask you about tomorrow. Is four fine? Do you need more time before I pick you up, or will that be okay?" He asks.
"I think that four o'clock will be great. Also, should I bring my other homework so we can do it together, or just my history?"
"What, you need tutoring in your other subjects, too? What, are you an idiot or something? You know what, don't answer that."
"Haha." I say sarcastically. "I just thought we could do our homework together. Believe me; I don't need help with the other stuff."
"If you say so. I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then. Can you give me your address really quickly?"
"Sure." I say. I give him my address and we talk for a little bit, but then he has to go to eat dinner and I get off the phone, going back to doing my homework.
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**I'm going to see how many people actually read this this by telling you what I mean by Rukia's illness here in the author's notes. If only half of my readers understand what's going on, then, well, SUCKS FOR YOU, PEOPLE WHO DON'T READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES! MUAHAHA! Anyways, evil laughter aside… In my story, Rukia has the same thing that Hisana had before she died. As I don't think it was ever specified what Hisana had, so I'm just going to give her random symptoms that Hisanan had and some that she didn't have and say that no one knows what it is. Kk, thanks for reading—if anyone is actually reading this XD
*** I looked it up. Rukia is the Italian name Lucia meaning 'light' being pronounced in Japanese. Kuchiki, translated directly, means 'rot', or 'wood', or 'rotten wood'. When asked, Tite Kubo says that her name means Rottonwood Light. Just thought I'd clear that up and let you know that I'm not completely making this up.
I wanted to apologize for something. I just read the prologue of this story before writing this chapter, and I realized that there are a lot of mistakes near the end. In my defense, I wrote that all in one day, and by in one day I mean in one night, meaning that I was tired while writing the second half. I know, excuses excuses. I'll try to edit better this time. P.S. If you ever notice bad grammar or punctuation or spelling or anything, please feel free to point it out in a review and I'll try to fix it.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please, review the story by pressing the button that is bellow and to the right of this line. ThanksXD