Gazing up at the huge place that was Seireitei University, Rukia realized her dream of becoming an artist seemed very much within her reach now.

The university once used to be a palace and one could easily see this through its old and beautiful architecture. Its sloping roofs and intricate windows glinted in the morning sun. Obviously renovations had been made here and there to make it in sync with the 21st century. Huge lawns spread in front of it and the path in the middle of it was lined with cherry blossom trees. Students sat on the benches, under the shade of the trees and some were actually sprawled on the soft grass. This place definitely had a world of its own.

Walking in she found the inside to be just as impressive as the outside. She slowly walked noting things and seeing the students around her until she came up to a woman talking with a group of students. She was dressed in a grey pencil skirt; a badge pinned to her blazer read NanaoIse. Her glasses glinted with the light and her hair was in a neat bun with a strand framing one side of her face. Rukia waited for her to finish and went over once she saw the group of students leave.

"Um…excuse me?" She called to her. The woman looked up at her and answered in an authoritative tone "Yes?"

"I am one of the 1st years joining this year."

Before anymore could be said she replied in her crisp voice, "Very well then, follow me."

She led her along the corridor at the end of which was an office that read 'ADMINISTRATION'. The woman walked in and Rukia followed behind as she went to the desk in the middle and motioned for her to take a seat. She sat down and looked around as the other ruffled through some papers.

"Here," she said handing her a piece paper. "This is just a form all students are required to fill on the first day."

Taking the paper, she scanned the details on it and then filled it in with the pen she was handed. After returning the form she exchanged it for a file instead. "This contains your time table, a map of the university and other things you will require for your classes here."

She took the glossy file that read 'Rukia Kuchiki, 1st year'. "I hope you know the rules and regulations of the university?"

Affirming with a nod the woman did the same. "Very well then, that's it you can leave."

Rukia thanked her and made her way out before looking down at the timetable in the first page of the file, which also had her locker number on. First period was 'Basics in General Arts' and started in 15 minutes. Being who she was she made her way straight there not wanting to waste another minute.

Walking into the class, she had that happy little dance in her head which she was sure everyone had when they realized that they were in the place of their dreams pursuing the career you love.

Sighing with happiness, she gazed at the room which was pretty big with its dark walls giving an alluring look to the place. She walked into the empty class and picked a seat near the window and stared out at the view before her. Sitting down, she could soon hear the chatter as people began to make their way in. Taking out her phone she saw that she had two unread messages; one from who had demanded her number the day before.

Good luck on your first day!

And do tell me what my delinquent son does there. Would ya?

She smiled to herself as she read the first line and remembered how he used to be like a second father to her. However, her smile vanished when she reached the second line. As for his son . . . she had no intention of running into him whatsoever. She checked the next message sent from the guy she considered very important to her. Before it had been Ichi-

Stop! she mentally scolded herself. Stop thinking about him. He's a jerk remember? You haven't thought about him all this time, why now then?

Liar, another part of her whispered.

Mentally, she sighed. Out of all the excitement in coming to Karakura the only part that sucked was meeting Ichigo again.

She groaned inwardly when she realized she was thinking about him again.

Forget the past Rukia and think of the present, she repeated. They were words Renji had once told her.

Speaking of which, Renji Abarai, her best friend was the guy the next message was sent from. It read:

Have a blast on your first day!

And I know that you will have the people there charmed by you in a matter of seconds as always, princess ;)

Love Renji

Smiling at this, she placed her phone on silent and slid it into her pocket when a girl came up to her and asked in a cheery voice, "Can I sit next to you? Almost all the seats are already taken or reserved."

"Of course you can," she replied smiling.

She was a few inches taller than herself and had raven colored hair with warm and friendly brown eyes.

"Great!" she said. "Uh...are the seats behind you empty as well?"

"I think so….," She said glancing back.

"All right!" she said smiling brightly and taking a seat next to her. "It's for my friends who I hope are coming today."

"Doesn't everybody come on the first day?" she asked inquisitively with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't know them…," she said rolling her eyes thinking about them. She looked at Rukia and narrowed her eyes, a quizzical expression on her face "and I don't know you..?"

Putting her hand forward, she let out a small laugh. "Rukia Kuchiki,"

"And I am Momo Hinamori" she responded grasping her hand. "You must be new here. Am I right?"

"Pretty much" she replied. "I moved from Tokyo to study at Seireitei. What about you?"

"I am one of the blessed people to be born here" she said smiling smugly "and most of the people here know each other as you know this a pretty small town."

She nodded at this and was about to ask another question when there was a sudden yell from the door and a guy with brown chin length hair came running at full speed towards them.

"Momo…!" He yelled and was about to jump on her - no seriously jump on her - when a fist came flying at him and he fell to the side groaning. The punch came from a girl with short black spiky hair who glared at the fallen guy. "You never learn, do you Keigo?"

"Hey there the two of you," said Momo in a bored voice as if this was normal.

"Hey yourself Momo," said the girl and glanced towards Rukia about to ask something when she was interrupted by a cheery voice yelling, "Hey guys!"

The voice belonged to a girl with dark orange hair who stood with a guy with raven hair.

"Orihime….!" the guy named Keigo yelled, apparently recovered from the punch earlier. He tried to jump on the busty orange haired girl but before he could make a move he was punched again by the same girl who yelled at him "How many times do I have to tell you fool!?"

"You guys are finally here huh?" said Momo shaking her head. "I thought you guys were gonna bunk again," she said exasperatedly.

"Don't act like you weren't also with us," the raven haired guy said, not looking at his friends but at the phone in his hands.

"I would like to erase that memory out of my mind. It was pretty much a disaster," Momo said rolling her eyes.

"Speaking of pretty, or shall I say beautiful," in a flash Keigo was kneeling on one knee on front of Rukia.

"Who are thou o beautiful goddess?" he asked.

Embarrassed, Rukia glanced around trying to avoid his weird display. "Shut up, idiot," Momo interrupted before she could respond. "And since when did you learn the word 'thou'? My guess is that it isn't a part of your limited vocabulary,"

Keigo turned back and winked at Rukia. "Whatever impresses the ladies,"

She rolled her eyes as Momo introduced her. "Everyone, this is Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia, this is everyone,"

"Oh man, I always wanted to say that line," squealed Momo.

"Kuchiki? As in Kuchiki Corporations?" asked the raven haired guy now looking up from his phone.

"Uh…yeah, my dad kind of owns that company," she responded cursing mentally. She didn't think anyone would figure it out so quickly.

"Wow!" said Orihime her eyes wide. "It must rock to be elite and not just any elite - the Kuchiki."

Rukia let out a laugh. "I would love to switch places with you."

"Ah ha! That's why I thought your name sounded familiar," Momo exclaimed.

"Ok, ignoring Momo's weird intro," said the black haired girl shooting the pouting Momo a look, "I am Tatsuki Arisawa."

"My name is Orihime Inoue," introduced the cheery girl with a wave.

"Mizuiro Kojima," the raven haired boy smiled lightly.

"And my name is Keigo Asano," said the brown haired boy "Please Marry me?" he said his eyes sparkling as he begged.

"You might want to ignore Keigo's stupidity," said Mizuiro.

"I figured," Rukia smiled.

Just then the bell rang signaling the start of class so the four took their seats behind Rukia and Momo.

Ah! Momo's reserved seats for her friends, I thought.

The professor entered, introducing himself, and before she knew it the class was over. When you love the subject she couldn't help but think how the time flies by as you are lost in the beauty of it. She was glad she chose it but wished the class could be longer.

She glanced over at Momo who had the same satisfied look on her face. When their eyes met she could literally feel that this was what she was thinking about and grinned at her, Momo's eyes telling her that she felt the same thing too.

"Well then, we will get going," Tatsuki voiced from behind as she started gathering her things. "We all have different classes now."

"I guess so," she replied as Tatsuki skimmed over her timetable.

"Hmm...We all have General Arts and Eng. Lit together - just as I thought," said Mizuiro comparing his time table with hers.

"Uh...what are you guys pursuing anyway?" she asked.

"We will tell you during lunch. Kay?" said Orihime. "Be sure to sit with us."

She nodded and waved as they disappeared through the door then turned to Momo who was sifting through her file.

"From looking at this I gather you want to become an artist…I guess we are gonna have most of the classes together as I want to become a photographer," she said grinning at her. "That's so weird…it's like we were meant to be friends."

Rukia grinned at this and secretly hoped it was true because most of her life she never really had any good 'girl friends'.

"So let's go, we both have the same class," she said getting up and taking her things.

They left after and were soon enough enjoying the next class but, like before, it was over before she knew it.

"Ok, 1st years over here," the class assistant said loudly motioning towards the front of the class. "Before leaving for lunch please write your name here," he said motioning to a paper at the front desk.

Both Momo and Rukia lined up to go when a couple of seniors pushed their way in front laughing and high-fiving as they passed causing them to be separated. She was pushed to the back of the line whilst Momo was at the front writing her name. She looked at her with raised eyebrows. Rukia nodded her head and motioned for her to get going. Momo did the same and mouthed a 'see you in the cafeteria'.

Finally writing down her name, she arranged her backpack holding the files she had received in her first two classes and made her way to the cafeteria trying to figure out where it was. She remembered that there was a map of the university in the file and, with her free hand, tried to locate the paper.

Suddenly, she collided with something pretty hard sending all the files in her hand to go flying and onto the floor. To top it off, she then lost her balance and was about to fall when she felt someone catch her wrist breaking her fall.

Looking up, she found a pair of amused amber eyes staring right at her.

"Should've known it was you midget," Ichigo said. "I mean, you were born a klutz,"

Suddenly aware of the close contact, she jerked her hand away before straightening up and glaring at him. "Oh sure! You're one to talk strawberry," she said sarcastically whilst rolling her eyes.

She crouched down and started gathering her fallen things. That idiot isn't even helping!

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked indignantly.

Things collected she stood up. "Need I remind you of the time you slipped on the floor in third grade, not once but five times in one day?"

"That's because you kept applying lubricants all over the place!" he said angrily.

"Making excuses are we?" she smirked.

"I did no such thing!" he replied.

"Did too."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did- Oh great, now I sound just like the immature idiot you are!" she said shaking her head and walking away.

"Wait-,"

She moved forward cutting him off and, before she had noticed, found herself in the cafeteria. She glanced around until she spotted Momo at the end of the hall waving at her. Rukia made her way past the tables seeing how the others kept glancing at her and giving her the once over.

Ignoring this, she sat down next to Momo who pushed a tray of food in front of her. Picking up a fry she looked at the others only to find them staring at her with wide eyes.

"How-,"Momo began but was interrupted by Orihime who rushed, "How do you know Ichigo Kurosaki?"

"Uh…I just met him?" she answered, her tone sounding more questioning than anything.

"Na ah! No way! Ichigo doesn't talk like that to people he just met, and he certainly doesn't introduce himself to new people!" said Tatsuki eyeing her suspiciously.

"Wait a minute…You all know him?" she asked incredulously staring at each one of them.

"Yeah we all know him; he's a friend of ours, "answered Mizuiro casually.

"I did tell you everyone here knows everybody right?" Momo pointed out. "He was always our senior too."

"Tatsuki here is closer to him than most," said Keigo taking a break from stuffing his face. "Tell her Tatsuki!"

"Ichigo and I used to go to the same dojo when we were kids. He was 5 and I was 2 but that didn't stop me from kicking his sorry butt."

"Which brings us back to the question of how you know him?" asked Orihime frowning.

Orihime sure is curious, she thought.

"It's nothing much really," she told them trying to sound convincing. "My mom was kind of close to his mom so we just met a couple of times."

"Well, you should know that he's like the hottest and coolest guy ever," Momo sighed.

"I bet Toshiro would love to hear you say that" Mizuiro said to Momo.

"Please...as if we all don't know Toshiro tops him," replied Momo rolling her eyes.

Rukia raised one eyebrow inquisitively and Orihime answered, "Toshiro is Momo's boyfriend…Oh look there he is!" she said pointing behind her and towards the entrance of the cafeteria.

Rukia turned to see a hot guy with white hair donning jeans and a white T-shirt under his black jacket. He looked to have a cold demeanor that she swore warmed up the second his searching eyes fell next to her.

Beside her, Momo sighed dreamily staring at him. He made his way over to their table and as he got closer she could see that his eyes were a brilliant turquoise.

"Hey Momo. Hey guys," he greeted stopping in front of them.

"Hey Toshiro," everyone around her replied.

"Momo," he said sounding calm (which later she would find out was the calm before the storm) "Where is your phone?"

"Umm…right here," she said taking it out of her pocket. She glanced at it and gasped.

Toshiro sighed and put his thumb and index finger on the bridge of his nose closing his eyes.

"Oh my god! Shiro I am so sorry I had kept-,"

"My phone on silent and missed your messages," chorused everyone. "Seriously lady, do you never learn?" asked Tatsuki.

"He he," giggled Momo sheepishly.

Just then a pair of arms wrapped around Toshiro bringing him into a bone-crushing embrace by a girl with long wavy auburn hair. Toshiro, being of a smaller build, had his face crushed between her . . . assets.

"Toshiro!" the girl squealed happily.

Toshiro pushed her away and growled at her. "Rangiku! Do you have to do that every single time?"

"Of course," she said flipping her hair. "You're like the little brother I never had!"

Toshiro mumbled something inaudible and Rangiku turned to Momo. "Hey Momo," she said bending down to give her a hug. "Hi everyone," she said waving at the others, her beautiful grayish blue eyes sparkling.

"Hi Rangiku," they all chorused with the exception of Keigo who tried running towards her before he was stopped by Tatsuki.

"Oh Keigo," Rangiku giggled. "Oh! Who do we have here?" she posed looking at Rukia.

"Rukia Kuchiki,"

"You must be new here then!" she concluded smiling. "Hi! I am Rangiku Matsumoto and this here is Toshiro Hitsugaya," He gave a nod of acknowledgement to which Rukia did the same.

"Come eat with us," said Momo smiling at them.

"Sorry we are eating with the gang - I hope you don't mind," Rangiku said.

"Oh, ok," Momo replied sounding a little disappointed.

Toshiro glanced at her before bending down to her level. "You want me to be here?" he asked softly so only she could here. Rukia heard anyway. Momo shook her head. "Alright then, I will see you later," he said giving her a kiss on the cheek then walking away with Rangiku following him waving bye to us.

"You might have noticed that Toshiro is a bit shy with public displays of affection," said Orihime.

"Coward," snorted Tatsuki at which Momo replied with a flash of anger, "Hey! He is not shy; you should see him when we are-"

"TMI Momo!" interrupted Tatsuki. "I don't really care."

"Who is Rangiku?" Rukia asked.

"She's just a close friend of Shiro's but he would never admit that," Momo chuckled. "And before you ask, she is not interested in him. She already has a boyfriend,"

"Please! I wasn't going to ask that," she scoffed.

From the corner of her eye she saw a flash of orange and turned to see Ichigo entering with a blue-haired guy who was pretty good looking (in an evil kind of way). They made their over to the table where Toshiro and Rangiku had occupied along with a couple of other people.

Momo followed Rukia's line of sight. "See the blue haired guy? That's Grimmjow; he's Ichigo's best friend,"

At that point Ichigo glanced up his eyes meeting hers. He smirked, as if he knew she had been ogling him, and winked at her.

'HE DID NOT JUST DO THAT!' she yelled mentally and quickly looked down at her food. She glanced at Momo who regarded her with a raised eyebrow. 'Oh great'. She opened her mouth to no doubt ask her something when Rukia cut her off. "Don't. You know that he loves flirting, right?"

She hoped she would drop it. Frowning, Momo nodded and went back to eating.

The others continued chatting away telling her about Karakura and other things and, soon enough, they were making their way to – the second class that they all had together.

Rukia took a seat next to Momo and was searching her bag for a pen when the girl in front turned around. "Momo, did you know that resigned?"

"Really?" Momo asked frowning. "But then who resigns at the start of a term?"

"I think his old age finally caught up with him. I heard we are gonna have a substitute for the whole year until they find a new one to replace the teacher," Someone called the girl and she apologized to Momo and left.

Rukia turned to the thoughtful Momo and leaned forward to ask her about the teacher but accidently knocked over a book in the process. Sighing, she bent down to pick it up when she heard the whole class hush up as footsteps echoed through the class.

"Good Morning class,"

No way!

She would have recognized that voice anywhere.

Slowly, she sat up and that was when she saw him with his spiky orange hair casually writing his name on the board as the whole class stared at him in complete shock. The long silence was broken with the scraping of a chair and Tatsuki yelling. "What the heck are you doing Ichigo!?"

Everyone gasped at the way she had spoken but Ichigo turned from the board and smirked at her. "Hello to you too Tatsuki,"

Before she could respond he interrupted. "Sit down and listen to me will ya?"

"You all might have heard the news that Mr. Atari resigned at the start of the year and apparently no teacher could be found at such short notice. So, I have been given the unfortunate responsibility of handling this class for the year as your English Professor."

"Interesting…," muttered Mizuiro who was sat in front of Ichigo.

"Believe me, it wasn't my choice."

The class started whispering and muttering among themselves.

"Wow! That is so weird….,"

"Is that really allowed?"

"OMG! He is sooo hot….,"

Rukia rolled her eyes as the girls started giggling. She looked over at Momo who simply shrugged and mumbled something about Toshiro not telling her.

She looked back at him and noticed he was reading the class roster. He started calling everyone's names and the class immediately quieted down. They started raising their hands as he read their names out; some even threw sarcastic comments at him to which he shot back his own retorts. She could only guess that these were the people who were jealous of him.

"Orihime Inoue,"

Orihime giggled loudly and raised her hand, her eyes dreamy and that's when it dawned on her that Orihime actually liked him.

As if anyone could like him.

Ichigo smiled at her politely and moved on and soon enough…

"Kuchiki Rukia,"

Wincing, she looked up to see that he had frozen after reading her name. He stared at the roster to check if he had misread it and then his head shot up as he scanned the students. His gaze swept past her before he did a double take, his amber eyes locking onto her and widening.

His mouth opened wordlessly and all of a sudden he glared at her.

What are you doing here? he almost seemed to ask her through his glare.

When they were young they had this uncanny ability to communicate through only their eyes. She guessed that was because they knew each other so well. Rukia was taken aback to see that it still worked.

Dumbass! Didn't you remember I was a 1st year!? She shot back telepathically.

Her thought was proved right as he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair causing a few girls to swoon.

He gave her a look and she instantly raised her hand. "Present,"

She glanced around to see the whole class staring at her and Ichigo. Great. Of course they would think something was going on. She was such an idiot for taking so long to answer him. Momo just stared at her with a black expression.

Here we go, she thought.


A/N: Took me ridiculously long time to complete, so review and let me know what you think- Keira