Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or the characters. Song: Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. Thanks to CrystalRaindrop007 for beta'ing!

A statue stands in a shaded place,
An angel girl with an upturned face.
A name is written on a polished rock,
A broken heart that the world forgot.

Concrete Angel — X

June 26th, 1994, 8:13 PM

"Mommy, how much do you love me?" little, three-year-old Rukia asked, her violet eyes bright and wide. She stretched her arms out as far as she could manage and said, "Do you love me this much?"

Her mom shook her head and Rukia looked a little sad until her mother, Rei, kissed her on the cheek and said,

"I love you more than the sun and the stars, Rukia."

"Oh. Well, I love you that much, too, mommy!"

She grinned and laid back on her bed.

"Do you love Nee-san?"

"Yes."

"And Nii-sama?"

Rei laughed softly as she brushed little Rukia's hair back. "Yes, I do, Rukia. I love you all."

"Oh."

As Rukia sat there, grinning happily, her eyes twinkling, Rei found herself overwhelmed with love for her little girl. Even if Rukia had been her last child, because of complications during birth, she couldn't have asked for anything more. She was willing to give up anything... anything, for her baby girl.

"Now go to sleep, Rukia."

"OK! Night, mommy! I love you, mommy."

"I love you, too."

Rei kissed Rukia on the forehead and walked out of the room, smiling when she heard Rukia climb out of her bed. In seconds, the little girl was latched onto her legs, grinning up at Rei.

"I love you more, Mommy!"

Then, without another word, she raced back to bed and jumped under the covers, giggling quietly.

When Rei reached her bedroom that night, however, she was met with her husband, Kai, and he didn't look happy.

Seconds later, Rukia's quiet whimpers changed to sobs as her mother's cries echoed throughout the house.

November 23rd, 4:42 AM

Rukia bolted up in bed, her eyes wide. She was breathing hard, and she didn't realize she'd screamed in her sleep until Ichigo appeared at the doorway, looking sleepy and worried.

"Rukia, you OK?"

He walked over and sat down beside her on the bed. She tried to hold back her tears as she nodded and hugged her quilt more tightly to herself. Ichigo reached over and his fingers brushed away the tears she didn't realize had escaped. He smiled softly and sleepily and said,

"Wanna talk about it?"

Rukia shook her head, but soon, the shaky words were spilling out of her, anyway.

"M-my mom, she ... I was r-really little, and she had j-just finished saying goodnight to her, and s-s-she told me she loved me. My d-dad..."

Ichigo reached out and took Rukia into his arms as she broke down crying. He didn't know quite what to do, so he just held her and whispered quietly in her ear. When she'd finally calmed down a little, she pulled back and wiped away her remaining tears.

"T-thanks, Ichigo."

He smirked.

"Don't thank me. I want to be here for you when you need someone, all right?"

She nodded and laid her head on his chest again, taking in a deep breath before closing her eyes.

"Stay with me until I fall asleep again?" she asked quietly. He smiled.

"I'll stay with you forever."

November 23rd, 5:12 PM

"Rukia-chaaan! Will you play with us?"

Half of the members of us didn't look like they were playing by choice. Rukia laughed at the pouting look on Karin's face as she was forced to do some random art project with Yuzu. The little girl's dark hair was flat against her head because of the paper crown she was wearing, and Rukia's laughter grew when she saw the teddy bears wearing lipstick and blush.

"Sure, Yuzu-chan, I'll play."

"Yay!"

"And Yuzu?"

"Huh?" The little girl stopped drawing on her bear for a second to look over at Rukia, who was getting comfortable on the floor.

"Please, just call me 'Rukia'."

"O-oh. Well, then call me Yuzu!"

The older girl smiled and nodded and soon, the art project had begun and Rukia pouted as a large, paper crown was placed on her head. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, not sure if she liked doing art with Yuzu and Karin. Well, Karin was fine. She didn't use Kuchiki Rukia as a test subject.

As of that second, Rukia was wearing a pink paper crown, had lipstick flowers painted on her cheeks, and black make-up. God knows where Yuzu had gotten it from, but...

Just then, Ichigo walked into the room.

"One word, Ichigo, just one, and I'll kill you."

Ichigo laughed.

Rukia pouted some more as Yuzu began to draw green swirls on her cheeks. Ichigo sat and watched, and soon enough, he was being drawn on, too. He grinned happily and helped Yuzu draw on Rukia, and even Karin joined in.

When Isshin came to find out what was making everyone so silent, he was surprised to see all three of his children crouched around Rukia, lipstick, paint or some other art supplies clasped in their hands as they drew insane designs all over Rukia's face.

He burst out laughing and Rukia turned around so quickly that the lipstick flew out of Ichigo's hand and landed on his face instead.

In less than a minute, everyone was in a puddle of laughter, and before they knew it, they were all called in the kitchen to have dinner; even Karin was disappointed at having to stop.

Isshin turned around and laughed again as they all walked into the kitchen.

"You all have to clean up before you can even sit in my kitchen."

Yuzu and Karin ran upstairs to the bathroom, and Ichigo and Rukia to the one downstairs. Ichigo quickly washed himself up, then took the washrag from Rukia's hands.

"What? Gimmie that back," she said, reaching for it.

"You're just spreading it. C'mon, let me help ya."

Rukia sat down and let Ichigo poke at the lipstick and paint all over her face. He smiled as he washed a slef-inflicted bunny off of her cheek.

"So... want to tell me what happened last night?"

Rukia flinched and stiffened up, but she soon relaxed a little. She said slowly, "I've been having nightmares lately. They always start out with my mom and me, sitting down and talking. She was saying something about how much she loved me, and I was smiling."

She found it much easier to talk about her dreams knowing that Ichigo was there to hold her if she broke down and began crying again.

She continued,

"Then she left, and I ran after her to hug her once more and tell her I loved her. I didn't know it until I was older, but I was the reason my mom couldn't give my father another son. There were complications during my birth and mom couldn't have more babies after that. My father wanted another son more than anything, because he only had one, and he blamed me and my mom, but mostly me."

Ichigo's lips were set in a straight line as he tried not to let his anger boil up again.

"My dad was drunk that night, and he was mad at me... he wanted to kill me, but my m-mom wouldn't l-let him out of their bedroom b-because she knew what he was going t-to do."

She was trying her best not to cry. Even though she'd promised not to ever let her father or brother make her cry again, this was something she could cry about—this was her mother.

"He k-killed her, Ichigo. Oh, God, he killed mommy..."

Ichigo held her as her small body shook, and he knew that, more than anything, he wanted to put Kuchiki Kai behind bars, forever. They had the evidence, but Isshin hadn't turned it over to the police yet, because he knew that, when he did, Kai would get a trial, and Rukia would have to testify. She wasn't strong enough yet for that, they had to wait... just a little longer.

Ichigo closed his eyes as he held Rukia.

November 24th, 8:15 AM

It was early morning, and Ichigo was getting ready for school. He yawned deeply and took another large gulp of his coffee.

He'd been up late with Rukia, because she was afraid to go to sleep. He'd stayed awake until she'd finally passed out in his arms, and even then, he hadn't slept throughout the night. He kept waking up to Rukia's whimpers from the bed beside him, as he'd told her he'd stay with her.

"Sleepy?"

Ichigo looked up to see Rukia standing beside him. What surprised him even more was that she was wearing her school uniform, and was carrying her school books.

"Rukia..."

She smiled and sat down beside him before stealing his cup of coffee.

"How far behind am I?"

"Pretty far," he replied slowly, realizing that she didn't want to talk about it much. "But you'll be OK. We have most of our classes together, and you can borrow my notes."

"You, the great Kurosaki Ichigo, take notes?" Rukia asked, raising an eyebrow.

He stuck his tongue out at her and muttered that they needed to go or they'd be late for class. They were pretty early, in fact, and Rukia had plenty of time to settle into her desk and find her pencils and school books before everyone began to shuffle into the room.

"Ooh, Kuchiki-saaaan! You're baaaack!"

Before Keigo could reach Rukia, however, Ichigo reached out and punched him in the face. The hyper teen sunk to the ground, rivers of tears flowing down his face as he whimpered about his best friend betraying him.

Ichigo just sat down behind Rukia and stuck his head in his hands until the teacher came in the room.

"Welcome back to another week of school," she said, smiling. "Oh! And welcome back, Kuchiki-san! We've all been pretty worried about you! Are you feeling better from your recent illness?"

Rukia looked at Ichigo for help and he nodded; it was the cover-up story, as he hadn't wanted to tell the whole school the real story of why Rukia had been gone for weeks.

Soon, school was in full-swing and Ichigo and Rukia were bouncing from class to class. Without having much time in between learning about the stars and the bodies of Amoeba, Rukia was doing fairly well, and it wasn't until fifth period that Ichigo noticed a change in her behavior. She was gripping a small, white piece of paper in her hand, and she looked scared.

He freaked out and took her out of class, pulling her into the hall.

"What's wrong, Rukia?"

"N-nothing," she said, her hands shaking; the white piece of paper was gone. "I just... I was thinking about my dad again."

Ichigo knew it was a lie, but he didn't want to press her further.

"Rukia..."

"I... can I go back home?"

"Home?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I m-mean to your house," she stuttered, her violet eyes wide.

Ichigo wasn't sure he should let her go alone. She looked so scared.

"I'll call my dad and have him pick you up. I'll wait with you until he's here, all right?"

"No, I want to go now," she said, wrapping her arms around herself. She was shaking, and everything inside of Ichigo was screaming at him not to let her go alone, so he put his backpack over his shoulder.

"I'm coming with you."

When they got home, Rukia went up to her room while Ichigo told his dad what had happened. He then began to help Yuzu with dinner, and when everyone was called down to eat, Rukia didn't show.

Fear grew in Ichigo's heart as he raced up to her room. He knocked on the door hard, and when she didn't answer, he kicked it open.

She was gone, and her window was open.

"Rukia!"

Isshin, Yuzu and Karin had gathered at the doorway, and Ichigo turned around, his hands shaking. In them, he held the small, white piece of paper what Rukia had been holding earlier.

"Dad, how do I get to where Kai lives?"

Isshin's eyes went wide. "Ichigo—"

"Dammit dad! She went back! I need to go find her, so tell me now!"

Isshin quickly rattled off the address, and before he knew it, Ichigo was running down the stairs and out of the house, not even bothering to put on his shoes before he ran out into the snow. His coat and hat were forgotten, too, but he didn't notice as the cold nipped at his feet and arms.

The words that were clearly written in the paper flashed through his mind again and again.

"Rukia, come back to daddy, or I'll kill him. I'll kill that little friend of yours—I'll kill Kurosaki Ichigo."

She had gone back for him. To save him.

And he had to find her, or he knew that Kuchiki Kai would kill her, too, just like he'd killed his first daughter and his wife.

(Cringes) Ouch. I'm gonna get, like, super flames for ending it that way. Anyway, SORRY for the long wait! I was busy. What did you think of this chapter?

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Sneak Preview of Chapter 11!

Ichigo's eyes went wide when he saw Rukia.

She was laying on the floor, surrounded by a small pool of blood. Kuchiki Kai was standing over her, a knife in his hand. Ichigo felt fear boil up inside of him as he watched Rukia, unmoving, on the floor. Her face was so pale, and her white dress was covered in her blood.

"R-Rukia..."

Kai turned around to see Ichigo standing behind him and laughed. "She's gone. Dead. She's never coming back, and you're next."

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Note: More flashbacks in the next chapter, with more Hisana and Rei(Rukia's sister and mom)! Also, I just started my first Inuyasha Multi-chapter, and if you want, please check it out!

Please Review! And don't kill me! Kill Kai!