Woohoo!!! Third chapter!! I love writing this story.

I hope everyone likes it. Finally we all get to know what happened to Rukia. I hope that I did a good job. Thank you to all who review. When I see the reviews I get really happy, and that makes me want to hurry and get a new chapter out.

Chapter 3

Memories

Rukia quickly made her way up the rest of the steps and entered the school. She couldn't believe it. 'What the hell was that? That Ichigo guy looked so much like…' She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She couldn't dwell on that. She had a meeting to go to. She wanted to look calm and collected, but right now she knew she looked nothing of the sort.

She made her to the main office, took a deep breath, and went in. She was surprised to see the same secretary still there. Rukia wondered if she would remember her.

"Excuse me." Rukia cursed mentally when she heard her shaky voice.

The secretary, Kiyone Kotetsu, looked up.

"Hello! Can I help you?"

Nope, guess she didn't remember her. "Yes," Rukia answered while nodding. "I have a meeting with the headmaster."

"One second…" Kiyone said, as she was looking at her computer. "Ah, yes…Headmaster Ukitake cleared his entire morning schedule for you. He is very nice that way. He cares so much for his students, and the students respect him back.. I hope one day that I can achieve the kind of respect that he does."

"Ukitake is still the headmaster?"

Kiyone nodded. "Despite him being sick…" she trailed off trying to find the right words. "He is very dedicated to what he does. I don't see him stopping anytime soon."

"I don't know if Ukitake still being the headmaster is good or bad?"

Kiyone smiled. "I wouldn't worry. You are here. That says something. Like I said, he cares for his students. I know he's not suppose to have favorites, but I think you're one."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Go straight in."

Rukia went to the big wooden door. As she was about to go in she paused, and turned back around to Kiyone.

"Do you not remember me at all?"

Kiyone looked at Rukia and studied her face intently.

"Umm…Am I suppose to?" Kiyone asked sounding confused.

Rukia shook her head. "Maybe it's better if you don't." With that said, Rukia pushed the door open and walked in.

She stood for a few seconds then cleared her throat. The long white haired man looked up. When he saw who it was he stood up.

"Hello, Headmaster Ukitake."

He smiled. "Welcome back Miss Kuchiki. Please close the door and take a seat." He motioned to the seat in front of his desk.

Rukia did as she was told and sat down, with Ukitake following suit.

"Thank you for taking me back."

"Well despite everything, you were a good student. I've known your brother for as long as I can remember. If you weren't ready to be back, he would not have talked to me about you."

"Look, if your doing this just as a favor to my brother…" She trailed off as stood up. "I'm going to leave."

"No, no, no. Not at all. Please." He motioned towards her seat. "Everyone deserves a second chance."

She nodded and sat back down.

"So…how have you been?" He asked.

"Good, now I guess. Before…Well you know."

He nodded. "Yes I do know. Well I must say it's a pleasure to have you back."

"I guess. Not so many people think so though."

He eyed her curiously. "What makes you say that?"

"I see the way some people look at me. I see them talking. I try to block them out, but sometimes you just can't. I can't really blame them though. It's my own fault."

"No," He said while shaking his head slowly. "What the students here think are their own opinions."

"Yes. Based on my actions."

After a few minutes of silence he spoke.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe some people had these opinions before? That the reason you were liked was just because of the position you held in this school?"

"No sir. That never really occurred to me."

He nodded. "I just want you to know that it's not just because of you being here now that they all think like this. You've been gone. They feel like you're not above them anymore. Now in their world, you are weak. At the bottom of the food chain so to speak. They want to take advantage of that. Don't let them."

She nodded. "So, was this meeting just about the rest of the students?"

"No."

"Then what is this about.?"

"I know the real reason of why you acted out. At first, I was never aware of it. After you left, your brother decided to tell me. I'm sorry."

"I know you are. He was a major part of your life to."

"Rukia, if you don't mind, I want to talk about that. Do you think you can?"

Rukia was silent. Her eyes wondered around the room before finally resting on him. Slowly she nodded.

"Sure. Its been a year and a half. I think I can, and I feel that you should here it from me. From my point of view."

"O.k. Why don't we talk about him first, before we get into it."

Rukia couldn't help but let a small laugh through.

"You sound like a therapist or something."

"I do have a degree for that, yes." He said while smiling.

She looked down. She pushed her back against the back of the chair. "You can go first." Rukia said softly.

He leaned back in his chair. "Kaien Shiba. He was a wonderful student. Brilliant too. Always in the top percentile of his class. He was well liked by everyone. I like to think he had a bright future ahead of him." He paused.

"He did." Rukia whispered.

"He was like a son to me. I knew his parents very well. We were friends before he or his siblings were born. They made me his godfather. I never had a son of my own, so you couldn't have imagined how I felt to have that title. I would watch him whenever I could. Despite that, I would treat him like any other student in this school, I thi-"

Rukia cut him off. "Not that I mind you telling me this, but why are you telling me this?"

"I want you to know Miss Kuchiki that you weren't the only one affected by what happened."

Rukia crossed her legs trying to get comfortable. "Well, then you should know he didn't have high views of his parents."

"That I did." He answered. "But you're right. Lets move on to you. You met him in your sophomore year when he was a junior. What did you think of him?"

Silence filled the room. She took a few deep breathes.

"You're right when you said he was smart. He was beyond smart. He was kind…to others." Her lips formed a small smile. "When we first met, we didn't exactly get along. Only until later when I needed a tutor for math did we actually get closer." She paused as happy memories flooded her head.

Ukitake studied her carefully. Waiting to see if it got to much for her. 'So far so good.' He thought.

"When we got closer we talked about so many things. I shared things with him that nobody knew. Not even Renji was privy to that information. We could always let loose and be our real selves around each other. He also told me things, more so about his family. He love his brother and sister, but his parents made him feel so constricted. He wanted to leave. That's why he wanted to graduate early."

Ukitake nodded. He was absorbed into Rukia's story. "I remember that we talked about it. Yes."

She continued. "To get there he was going to have to work really hard. He decided that he wanted to have one last night of fun without any cares."

-Flashback-

"Please!"

"No."

"Rukiaaaa…Pleaseee!!!!!!!!"

Rukia let out an exasperated sigh.

"No Kaien."

"Come on! It'll be fun."

"Why can't we wait?"

"I want to graduate as soon as possible. I want to live my life my way. In order for me to do that…" Kaien wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I have to start soon."

"Kaien!!! I'm tired!" Rukia whined.

He softly pulled her so that she was facing him.

"Please. One night. You. Me. No worries. That's all I'm asking." He said with a puppy dog look on his face. She knew that he knew that she couldn't resist that face. She let out a sigh.

"The things I do for you." She muttered.

"What was that?" He said with hope in his voice.

"Fine. I'll go."

He pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"You don't know how much this means to me. Thank you." He whispered. His arms tightened.

"But…"

He pulled away quickly and eyed her suspiciously. "But…"

"I'm going to have to ask Byakuya. Hisana. No problem. Byakuya different story."

Kaien shrugged. "He never likes any guys around you. If you ask me, he's to over protective."

"Yea. Listen, you go home and get ready. I'll call you."

He nodded. "Yea, yea. I'll see you." He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and left.

-End flashback-

"So I take it, Byakuya let you go."

"After Hisana convinced him."

-Flashback-

"Please Byakuya. I hardly get to go out with him." Rukia tried her hardest to let Byakuya let her go, but he still said no.

"I have work to do."

"I'm sorry to disturb you." Rukia said and then left.

At this point Rukia was desperate. She was going to have to ask Hisana, so she could convince Byakuya to let her go. Rukia found Hisana and explained everything to her.

"I'll see what I can do." Hisana said. "You just start getting ready."

Rukia did what Hisana told her to do. After a while Hisana came back.

"Well…"

"You can go."

Rukia jumped up and gave Hisana a hug.

"Thank you so much!!!"

"No problem, but you have to be back by 11:30."

"On a Friday?" Rukia exclaimed while pulling away from Hisana.

Hisana shrugged. "Take it or leave it."

"I'll take It."

"I'll let you finish getting ready." Hisana left the room.

Rukia went to her closet and pulled out a black mini dress. It was simple and still cute. She texted Kaien and told him that she could go. He texted back and said he was on his way. Ready to go, she grabbed her silver clutch and went to the forye. To her surprise she saw Byakuya standing there. Soon enough the doorbell rang. Rukia went and opened it.

"Hey." She said.

Kaien gave her the once over a smile appearing on his face. "Damn. You look…" He trailed off seeing her shake her head. He looked at her confused. "Hot as hell." Rukia rolled her eyes.

"Would you like to repeat that." Byakuya said, appearing behind Rukia.

Kaien's eyes widened and he gave off a nervous laugh. "No, sir. What I meant to say was that she looked beautiful."

"Have her home by 11:30."

"Of course sir."

-End flashback-

"We decided to go to a local club. I'm not gonna lie to you. He did drink. How much? I don't know. I lost count after the 5th shot. It being his last night of fun decided to do it. We had so much fun. It was one of those nights a person wouldn't want to forget. After, I didn't even realize the time. I checked it, later, and it was past 11:30."
-Flashback-

"Kaien!! Kaien!!" Rukia called out over the loud music.

"Hey. Rukiaa…" He slurred. "What's up?"

"It's way past 11:30. We need to go."

"Aww…Let loose come on."

"I'm going to be in enough trouble as it is. Lets go NOW!"

"Fine. Fine. We'll do it your way." He said as he downed one last shot.

Rukia grabbed his arm and led him through the crowd.

"This was fun wasn't it Rukia?"

"Yea Kaien it was." She said with a smile.

They made it outside to his car. Kaien gabbed the keys from his pocket.

"O.k. Keys." Rukia told him with her hand held out.

"What?"

"Keys."

Kaien started laughing. "Watcha talking about Kuchiki?"

"Well, let me think. You plus drinking equals no driving."

He raised an eyebrow. He gave her a 'you gotta be kidding' type look.

"No. Me plus my car equals me driving." He explained to her.

"Kaien don't be stupid. You're smarter than this. Keys. Give them to me." She demanded.

"No!"

Rukia made a move to grab the keys from his hand, but he held them above her head. Rukia being much shorter couldn't reach. She jumped up and down a few times trying to get the keys, but she wasn't lucky.

"Damn it Kaien! This isn't funny!" Rukia exclaimed.

Kaien walked past her and around to the drivers side of the car. He opened the door.

"Kaien, don't be an idiot."

Kaien let out an angry sigh. "This is getting old…" He muttered.

"Kaien."

"Rukia. Get in the fucking car, or I swear I will leave your ass out here!"

Rukia looked at him in disbelief. Did he really just say that to her? She mentally cursed the alcohol. She sighed. She opened the passenger side door and got in.

-End flashback-

"So… yea. I got in the car." Rukia's voice cracked and her eyes were watery.

"If you want to," Ukitake said softly. "You can stop now."

Rukia shook her head. "I started, so I'm not going to stop. Plus, I want you to hear it. He would want you too."

"Then by all means, please continue."

"So we were in the car. He saw how upset I was, so I guess he decided to comfort me."

-Flashback-

The ride in the car was silent. Kaien kept on looking at Rukia. Rukia on the other hand was staring straight ahead. Kaien reached over and grabbed her hand while looking at her.

"Eyes on the road Kaien." She demanded.

Kaien turned back to the road. Rukia's hand still in his.

"Hey," He said softly. "I'm sorry."

Rukia's response was to shrug.

"Don't be like that. Please.

"How am I suppose to be like Kaien. You fucking yelled at me. I mean, you may have yelled at me before, but not like this."

"I'm sorry for that. You know I am."

"Right. That could very well be the drinks talking." Rukia turned to face Kaien for a second. Then turned back to face the front. Kaien turned to face her.

"It's not the-"

He was cut off. Rukia felt her head hit the window hard, as everything in her vision seemed to turn black.

-End flashback-

"I can't even say what happened at that point. The next thing I know I'm waking up in a hospital room."

"And that's when you found out."

"Yes." Rukia wanted it to come out strong, but it came out weak. "Hisana told me that we were in a car crash. Well, more like a semi with a little tiny car. She said that Kaien ran a red light. I didn't even know. And then she told me the news that I never expected to hear."

-Flashback-

"Kaien is dead. I'm so sorry." Hisana said with tear in her eyes.

"What?" Rukia said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry."

"No. No. NO!" Rukia had tears running down her face. "He's not dead." Rukia threw the covers off of her. She tried to get off the bed, but failed as she went crashing to the floor.

"Rukia, please. Don't do this." Hisana said as she helped Rukia up.

"I don't believe you." Rukia didn't belief herself. She knew that there was a good chance that Hisana was right.

"I'm so sorry!" Hisana said as Rukia gave out a sob. Hisana pulled Rukia to her and hugged her.

-End flashback-

"Byakuya told me that the semi hit his side. Pretty bad too. It was fatal for him." By this point Rukia had tears running down her face. "He was the one to die. Not me. I ask myself why. It's not fair at all." She paused taking a deep breath. "I can remember that his brother and sister were so mad at me. They had every right to be. It was all my fault."

"How is it your fault. He was the one who decided to drive when he very well knew that he had a lot to drink."

"I could have tried harder to get the key's away from him. Just something. Anything. He would be alive right now. I have to live with that every single day." She wiped the tears away.

"One can't blame you for acting out. For a few weeks, sure. A month, maybe. But more than that, I don't know. The excessive drinking and partying were not you. You coming to school late and sometimes a little drunk were not you Kaien wouldn't have wanted you acting that way. We both know that." Ukitake said.

"I know" She said, voice hard.

"And yet you still did." Rukia stood up angrily.

"I didn't have anyone else to turn to. Everyone, including my brother and sister told me to keep that night a secret. They wanted me to say that I had no clue what happened, that I wasn't with him! Why the hell should I have lied? All they wanted was to keep Kaien's pristine image up. They didn't want it tainted."

"Calm down." Ukitake demanded, but that fell on deaf ears.

"So my school grades went way down, a few parties here and there, a few guys here and there. My own way of handling things. So what? I know what happened that night. The others don't. What I did was wrong. I will admit that. What they did though, was so much worse."

"I can underst-"

Rukia cut him off.

"No you can't. It hurt lying ever single damn day. They wanted it that way, and since he was their son, what could I have done? Someone deserves to take the blame."

"And let me guess," He watched her sit down. "The one to take the blame would be you?"

"There is no one better. They don't want to, they can go to hell. I was the one in the car. He was my responsibility." She crossed her arms.

"So by thinking you deserved the blame, you choose to ruin your life."

"Yes. I had to make myself feel better, I guess. That's how I chose to do it."

"This has effected you most out of everyone."

"Maybe." Rukia said softly.

"But like I said, everyone deserves a second chance. That's why you're here."

"That maybe true. Some people don't deserve a second chance though."

"That's not for them to decide."

The tension in the air lessened considerably. As silence engulfed them. After a few seconds, Ukitake spoke.

"I wanted to let you know Miss Kuchiki that if you ever fell like talking, there are always your friends, me and the counselor."

She nodded.

"I'm trying to change." She told him.

"I know. Why do you think I accepted you back. It wasn't about your brother. I believe in you. I must emphasize Miss Kuchiki, I will not condone this that type of behavior again."

"Your saying one mess up and I'm out." She stated.

"No. Three strikes and your out. I'm giving you three chances."

"Thank you sir." Rukia said as she stood up.

"Your books are by the door," He pointed to a table on the side of the door. "And so is your schedule."

Rukia nodded in understanding.

"You will get your uniform from Ms. Unohana."

"Is she still the counselor?" Rukia asked him.

"Yes. But she is the nurse this year also."

"O.k. Thank you again sir." She grabbed her books and schedule and grabbed the door handle.

"One more thing Miss Kuchiki."

Rukia slowly turned. "Yes."

"It won't stay hidden forever, about Kaien. Whether it's now or later."

"I know. But hopefully not now." She was about to leave. When she stopped. "Um…This Ichigo Kurosaki guy, is there any relation at all to Kaien?" She asked.

Ukitake looked at her. "No. I thought that too. There is no connection whatsoever."

"Thanks." With that, Rukia left the headmaster's office.

End of the third chapter!!! Yes!!! I'm really glad a lot of you like this story. Like I said, this is my fav. Story to write.

This chapter was suppose to be longer, but I decided that was a good place to end it. To me this was an emotional chapter, and I didn't want to change the mood. I hope this was good. I tried my hardest to get this just right.

Please, Please, Please, Review. They make me want to get another chapter out faster.

All kinds welcomed. Good or bad. Please, any criticisms give them. Anything to help make my writing better. Any questions please ask. I hope this chapter wasn't confusing.

So….Please REVIEW!!