Save The Last Dance For Me

Chapter 4: Meeting

Rukia tilted her head slightly and attempted to make a flirty face. All the mirror showed was a constipated-looking girl. Rukia sighed, quickly glancing at the clock. She was going to have to leave soon for school. Her hands shuffled through her jewelry box, searching for something suitable to wear on her neck. Rukia found a simple diamond necklace from Tiffany's. Rukia smiled as she remembered the moment she opened the sleek black case.

"Come on, open it!" Her elder sister exclaimed. "Go on!" Rukia smiled, sitting at the head of their dining room table, for it was her birthday. Her parents looked adoringly down at her. Rukia slowly opened the black case, to reveal a beautiful and simple necklace with a silver chain and rather large diamond hanging from it.

"Oh it's beautiful," Rukia breathed. It twinkled in the light.

"It's from Tiffany's you know," Hisana said, beaming. "I saw it while Byakuya and I were looking at rings, and I had to get it for you. It was perfect."

"Thank you so much," Rukia said, giving her sister a big hug. "I'll wear it at the Winter Ball."

"Yes, you must! Why, it will look beautiful with your dress!" Rukia's mother cut in. "The ball is occurring at the end of this month, after our skiing trip."

"Okay, onto the next present!" Hisana said cheerfully, shoving a large box in front of her little sister.

Rukia blinked tears out of her eyes. She never got to wear the diamond necklace; her parents and sister died, replacing the Winter Ball with a funeral. "Sorry," Rukia whispered to no one in particular. She put the necklace back in the box. "I can't wear you, not to school." Rukia chose a set of chunky black bangles, opting to leave her neck bare. Rukia took one last look in the mirror, wondering why she worked so hard to keep her appearance up.

"Rukia!" Her maid called out from downstairs. "It is almost time to go!" Rukia picked up her North Face black bag and ran out her bedroom door. Rukia entered the dining room, seeing Byakuya at the head of the table, reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. She suddenly lost her appetite for breakfast.

"Um, Nii-sama? Is it okay if I can walk to school today?" Rukia looked nervously at her brother. "It's only a few blocks down."

"If you wish, but you must inform the driver first," He said brusquely, leaving Rukia to stand there awkwardly for a few seconds.

"Oh okay. Um, goodbye Nii-sama."

"Goodbye."

Rukia left quickly, giving her driver the memo on the way. The morning was fresh; well as fresh as it could get in New York City, and it was simply bustling with people. Monday morning was always busy. Rukia walked quickly, trying her best not to be late. Maybe I should've asked for a ride. Rukia ran a few blocks until she her school (and the boys' private school) was in sight. The building was old; but extremely grand. Every piece of furniture inside the building was priceless authentic antiques, and the classes were inside grand rooms that were once bedrooms of a rich family. Long ago, back in the 1900's, a family donated the buildings to a teacher, where she and her husband created private schools across the street from each other. One private school for the boys, and one for the girls. Both schools were named Whitsinville, after the two teachers' last names. Everyone was already inside, meaning that she was late. Rukia flipped open her cell phone to check the time. 8:05. Rukia received at text.

Rukia, where are you?

It was from Inoue. Rukia was texting a reply message when she bumped into someone. Her phone flew out of her hands. She looked up and saw a business woman glaring at her. "Sorry," Rukia apologized and grabbed her phone, shoving it into her pocket and running up the stairs into the school building. Rukia entered the quiet halls, cursing herself for walking to school instead of getting a ride.

"You are late, Miss Kuchiki," A stern voice came form behind her. Rukia froze.

"I-I am very sorry, you see, I walked to school, and it was just so crowded, and I had some trouble…" A hand was on her shoulder. Rukia turned her head around, relieved to see it was her history teacher, Mr. Kaien Shiba. He was her favorite teacher, and he always gave her passes.

"Scared you, didn't I? Anyways, this is the third time you were late this month, Rukia. One more time and I'll have to give you a detention. You've got a pass from me, but this is the last time. Go on, go to class." Rukia thanked her teacher graciously, heading to her locker quickly to grab her books. That was a close one. Rukia ran off to class, her black bangles jangling on her wrist.

--------------

"Mr. Kurosaki, I suppose you can tell us who said the line Mr. Uryuu just recited?" His teacher was being a bastard today.

"Uh, I'm not entirely sure." Ichigo responded, quickly putting his cell phone away. Renji was texting him a few classrooms down.

"Then maybe you can pay attention and stop doing whatever you are doing in your desk." Ichigo nodded and looked at his book with a newfound interest. His teacher sniffed and turned to Ishida. "Thank you, Ishida, a wonderful reading." Ishida nodded and sat down in his seat, but not before flashing Ichigo a warning look. Ichigo stared hard at his paper to stop himself from rolling his eyes. It's only second period.

--------------

Lunch finally came. Rukia found herself slightly forgetting about Ichigo, or finding him. Inoue called her name. "Rukia! Come on, let's go sit outside today," her shy friend said. "Guess what? I have sweet potatoes and butter today!" Rukia smiled at her friend's weird concoctions.

"Can't wait," Rukia said happily, arm and arm with her dearest friend. They met up with the other girls, and all of them sat down in the courtyard, pulling out South Beach diet lunches and salads made by their chefs.

"So, Rukia, I hear that you kissed a hot guy at the masquerade party last weekend," Mahana Natsui inquired while nibbling the piece of lettuce. Rukia's juice went down the wrong way. She started to cough.

"Oh, Rukia, are you okay?" Orihime jumped up and patted her friend on the back. Tatsuki scowled at Mahana.

"Come on, do you have to be that blunt about it?"

"Well yeah, why not? I am sure the rest of the girls wanted to know the details!" Mahana said boldly. The two other girls, Chizuru and Michiru, nodded shyly.

"Ah, Orihime I'm fine, really!" Rukia said in cheerfully when Orihime offered to go to the nurse with her. The rest of the girls looked at her expectantly.

"So? Is it true?" Michiru asked, leaning forward.

"Um… yes." Rukia didn't know any other way to respond. These girls were her friends, she guessed, but they didn't really know her. They didn't know the real her. Plus, Rukia wasn't really one to kiss and tell.

"Oh my god!" Chizuru exploded. "So romantic, kissing in the steamy, crowded place. So romantic, right, Inoue?" Chizuru leaned into Inoue, putting her hand dangerously close on Inoue's thigh. Tatsuki immediately punched Chizuru in the face, causing her to lose balance and fall backwards, clutching her cheek. "TATSUKI! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS GET BETWEEN ME AND MY INOUE!?" She cried.

"Back off, you lesbian," Tatsuki scoffed. "You know Inoue doesn't swing that way." Chizuru sat up, pouting and rubbing her now bruised cheek. She opened her Coach handbag, taking out a compact mirror to see the damage. Michiru nervously brushed a strand of brown hair behind her ear, her Tiffany's tennis charm bracelet jingling with the motion.

"Anyways," Mahana continued, everyone turning their attention back to Rukia. "Who was he? What was it like?" Rukia sat quietly, cursing silently for the fact that Chizuru making the moves on Inoue not causing enough of a distraction.

"It was nice… and I don't really know who he is," Rukia mumbled, keeping her answers to a minimum. 'Um, actually, a lot girls seem to take a liking to him. He's just that kind of boy.' She remembered Inoue's words, and Rukia certainly didn't want to have a fight with her friends just because she kissed Ichigo. Jealousy could break any friendship, and Rukia hated bitch fighting. It wasted her time.

"But Rukia I thought that he was—"

"What are you talking about Inoue? I don't know what his face looked like because of the mask! So I wouldn't know!" She said with fake cheerfulness. Rukia looked at her watch. "Oh, would you look at the time! Time to get back to class!" Rukia jumped up, running off with amazing speed. The rest of the girls sat there, confused at their friend's behavior.

------

"Dude, pay attention!" Renji hissed as he threw a crumpled up piece of paper at Ichigo's head. He looked up suddenly and glared behind him.

"What the fuck, Renji? You've been throwing papers at me all day!"

"There's a reason for that, dickhead. She's telling us what's gonna be on the test tomorrow!"

"What do you care?" The orange-haired teen snapped.

"I don't. You've been such a fuck head today, it pissed me off, so I threw papers at you." The red head snapped back.

"BOYS! Would you like to tell us what you are talking about back there?" Their teacher asked testily. "Hmm?" She expected an answer. Renji glared at Ichigo.

"Apple pie." Ichigo mumbled. And then he said more clearly, "We were talking about apple pie." The class erupted in scoffs and snorts. The teacher glared at them again.

"Last warning. Any more talk from you and I'll have to give you a—" The rest of the class stood up; the bell had rung. The day was over. The boys rushed out, grabbing their backpacks and leaving for lacrosse practices or Crew.

----------------

At the same time, the girls were leaving for hair appointments, shopping or track. Rukia had signed up for Kendo, but that did not start until next week. Rukia walked down the steps, Inoue talking busily next to her.

"I think doing colored Onigiri would be a wonderful idea… except no one wanted the color green because it looked too much like…" Inoue's voice seemed to fade out when Rukia saw a boy with hair that obviously stuck out from the crowd. His bright hair was unmistakable. Rukia didn't know how to react.

"Uh, hold on, Inoue," Rukia said as she pushed past her classmates to catch up with the teen across the street.

"Rukia, where are you…?" Inoue walked down the steps slowly, searching for where Rukia had went.

Ichigo slowly made his way across the street, hoping for a glimpse of Rukia somewhere. But there were girls and limos lined up on the street almost everywhere, and he couldn't differentiate them from each other. "Ichi-nii!" Ichigo looked down to see his little sister, Yuzu staring up at him.

"Hey, Yuzu. Where's Karin?" He looked around for a red baseball cap, but didn't see one.

-----------

Rukia finally caught of the to him, seeing him only from the back. Regardless of the fact she couldn't see his face, no one in the world had the same intensity of color to match his. "RENJI!" Rukia shouted. Renji turned around, his face was filled with surprise.

"Hey, Rukia! What are you doing here?" Renji asked.

"Well we moved here a few months ago. I forgot you moved here too." Rukia smiled at her old friend. They have been friends since preschool basically, but when she moved away to Paris for a year, they stopped talking instantly, almost forgetting each other. Renji hated the fact that he was left behind. "I signed up for Kendo. Are you going to?"

"Hell yeah. I did yesterday. It'll be just like old times." Renji said. Rukia stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Oh crap! I forgot my chem book in my locker," Rukia said suddenly her brow furrowing. "Well, see you around Renji." Rukia quickly turned on her heel, running back to the school. She left just as fast as she had come.

---------

"Oh, she left her soccer ball in her locker." Yuzu replied, fixing her headband distractedly. Ichigo took his sister's hand and walked them back to the girl's private school. They waited in the lobby while Yuzu chatted happily about her day.

"Where the heck is Karin? We've been waiting for a while," Ichigo asked suddenly, checking his watch. He was starting to get worried.

"I'll go look for her!" Yuzu said cheerfully, skipping away down the hall and out of sight. Ichigo slumped back onto the bench, feeling awkward being the girl's school. He always met up with his little sisters to walk home with them. And on occasion, things like this would happen. Ichigo stared curiously at the cases filled with trophies and awards given to the girls in the school. Ichigo stood up and walked over to the case, which held the biggest trophy; it was obviously polished more than once a day.

Rukia flipped open her cell phone, dialing Inoue's number to tell her that Inoue could just go home, because Rukia would be late anyways. She pressed send, but the line was busy. Rukia ended the call and dialed Inoue's home number this time. Rukia walked into the lobby distractedly, passing a boy with orange hair. Being oddly oblivious, Rukia passed the boy of her dreams and continued walking down the hall while Ichigo continued to stare at the rather large trophy in the case.

A soccer ball came skidding down the hall, right in Rukia's path. Still being distracted by her cell, Rukia tripped over it, flying into the air with flailing arms. "Oh, I am so sorry!" Yuzu cried, running down the hall to see that one of the older girls had tripped over Karin's soccer ball. "I just kicked it for fun, and it just went really far!" Karin ran over also, chiding Yuzu on the fact that she didn't kick it right. Ichigo looked over to see that a girl was laying face flat on the ground next to Karin's soccer ball with his little sisters helping the girl up.

Ichigo ran over. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked as he ran over to them. Her dark hair was all messed up, and she slowly got up.

"Yeah I'm fi…" Rukia trailed off when she looked up. Ichigo stared at her. Dark hair, purple eyes and freakishly small. This has got to be her, Ichigo thought instantly. His face heated up. Orange hair, soft brown eyes and tall. This has to be him, Rukia's heart fluttered at the thought.

"S-So…"

"Y-Yeah…" The two stared at each other, unable to find the right words. Yuzu and Karin stood next to them, wondering who in the world this pretty girl was.

This took me about forever to figure out... Sorry for the late update... (haha that rhymed)

Next chapter will leave off from where this one ended!! i will be updating soon!