Disclaimer: All owning-ness goes to Kubo-sensei.


Winter Song

Wednesday, December 14th

Part Two


"I still don't believe I have a class with you." he said, his body turned towards hers as he sat in his seat.

"Correction, you have three classes with me." she told him and held up three fingers as a visual aid.

They sat in the top row of one of Tokyo U's stadium-like lecture halls. The room could hold at least one hundred students. The walls were a depressing gray, the desks were old but comfortable enough. Students filed in from the double doors on the bottom floor.

Ichigo sat at the end of the row, his desk closest to the aisle. His ever present scowl mingled with a look of complete confusion as he stared at the woman to his right.

"But I never saw you."

Rukia, ignoring his stare, kept her attention on her backpack and she readied herself for class as she spoke.

"It's a big campus, Ichigo." She reached into her bag, pulled out her textbook and placed it on her desk.

"I mean in class. The film class only has thirty students." He said as he watched her small hands move for the second time.

"And the other classes are bigger. This one, United States History, has one hundred and ten and Algebra II has ninety-five. It's perfectly understandable that you went almost an entire semester completely ignorant of my glorious existence." She glanced up at him then, a smirk on her lips and a playful glint in her eye.

His eyes met hers for a quick second and he turned away before he spoke.

"You know what I noticed?" he asked her as he lifted his brown messenger bag onto his own desk. He sighed.

"What?"

"You never talk to anyone."

"What do you mean?"

"On the bus, when we were walking through campus, in the library earlier… It's like… you don't have friends or something." he trailed off.

Rukia stared at him, closed her eyes and let out low laugh.

"I choose to focus on my studies." She shrugged.

"Aren't you a little lonely?"

"Do I seem lonely?"

Yes, you do.

"And I do have friends and from what I saw you don't talk much either."

"I was just making an observation." Ichigo said as he searched his bag for a pen.

"Is that why you seem so guilty over not noticing me? It's not a crime to ignore the loner, Ichigo." she said jokingly.

"Well I'm not doing that anymore."

"Doing what?"

"Ignoring you."

"You can't ignore someone you never knew."

He scoffed.

"Whatever. I mean I'm going to hang around with you. We have classes together and we see each other on the bus, so why not?"

"That seems stalker-ish to me. You barely know me."

"Shut up." he growled as he continued to dig through his bag for a pen.

"Dammit. I don't even have a pencil." he whispered to himself.

Rukia laughed.

"What a pathetic student you are, forgetting to bring one of the most essential instruments of learning to class."

"How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?" He shot a glare at her and Rukia simply stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

"I should rip your tongue out."

She grinned and turned back to her bag. She pulled out a pink pen, a rabbit on its cap, and held it out to Ichigo. His eyes narrowed.

"No."

"Just use it."

"No."

"Ichigo."

"Rukia."

"It's just a pen, idiot."

"I'm not using something with that stupid rabbit on it."

Ichigo felt a sharp pain on his foot as the heel of Rukia's boot dug into it.

"Chappy isn't stupid!" she whispered.

"Dammit, Rukia! Fine! Just give me the damn pen!"

She smirked, handed it over and then reached to pull off her hat.

"You really love rabbits huh?"

"Yea." she said as she played with the felt fabric on her hat. She smiled.

"My Nee-san made this for me. I was only nine and it was too big. It fell right over my eyes when I wore it. But, she said she did it on purpose. That way, as I grew older it would always fit me."

Her eyes became sad but she continued to hold her smile.

"She said it was like a part of her would always be with me." She seemed to daze off for a second, lost in her own mind.

"Rukia?" Ichigo asked. "You okay?"

She shook her head and placed the hat on her desk, facing forward and waiting for their professor.

"I'm fine. Pay attention." she said as she motioned to the front of the class.

Ichigo sighed and turned forward as class begun.


A/N:

OOC? I hope not.

Thank you everyone who reviewed! It makes my day and gets me all happy and bubbly. Which is hard to do…

Also… I love bunnies. A lot. BUT I hate when they become PLOT bunnies and bite me in the ass… -_- The point of this is… NEW STORY is coming soon! The details and (crappy) summary are on my page so check it out and tell me if I should write it. ^_^

Till next week,

S.B