Disclaimer: If I ever own Bleach or Naruto, Rukia and Ichigo will be together and Orihime wouldn't even exist LOL :D And, Aizen would be the matchmaker of Rukia and Ichigo and Naruto would have been together with Sasuke. *Shrugs*

Warning: OOC-ness, angst, mystery, slight romance

A/N: This is the thirty-three chapter of 'Healing One's Heart' and this chapter is Ichigo and Tatsuki's seating arrangements done and Rukia seeing something that she shouldn't have seen, causing her to act like how she acted on her birthday. Lastly, it's about Shiba Kaien protecting Rukia.

Replying To Reviews In Progress:

kyuriko-chan: My guess is, it will be revealed pretty soon enough. XD

lovelose05: Ah, I never comnmented on your novel comment, did I? XD Well... If I may say, my fanfics isn't that well written. To be honest, there are others who are probably better than me, I do know that. Being in the FanFiction world reading IchiRuki stories everyday, I know that there are some people who writes better than me, so, I don't really intend to embarass myself for the sake. XD Another point: I don't know how to do a novel. LOL XDXD

Tamryn: Ah, about that, it's a typo. When I was intending to change the description of the story and because it was midnight and I was feeling kinda sleepy, I accidentally placed my cursor on the story name and accidentally added a small 'h'. XD Sorry about that and enjoy reading! :D

Special Thanks To:

Poofa: Adding 'Healing One's Heart' to Story Alert Subscriptions.

In the blink of an eye, lunchtime was already over. Beginning to grade the papers that Ishida brought in this morning, Rukia yawned. It certainly is boring to have nothing to do except grading the papers. Taking the pen once more, Rukia swirled the pen around in her fingers, finding it ridiculous while she massaged her head, sighing. Hearing the bell ring once more, Rukia gathered up her books. "Time to go to my next class."

Walking out of her office, Rukia closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh scent of the students and of KaraKura High. She took a last glance at the picture in front of her table before she closed the door and got mentally prepared for the rest of the lessons. Kaien, you will protect me, won't you...?

Tatsuki and Ichigo both glanced at each other and nodded, finally finishing both of the tasks their homeroom teacher had set for them. It wasn't an easy task, but, they finished it, eventually, causing them to skip their lunch and they groaned. "Finally, we are done." Ichigo exclaimed as he scanned the seating arrangement plan.

Tatsuki smirked. "About time since I'm done with my classroom cleaning plan too."

"Now, the problem is..." Ichigo glanced at the clock. "... How do we deliver it to Rukia-sensei since class is about to start?"

Taking a glance at the two plans, Tatsuki picked it up. "I will deliver it to Rukia-sensei."

Ichigo was surprised. "Eh...?"

"Class is starting, and, you have to get to class before class starts. So, leave it to me the task of giving Rukia-sensei the plans." Tatsuki said.

"But, it's too far, Tatsuki!" Ichigo protested.

Tatsuki smirked and took the plans, before running off. "That's why it's best to not talk any longer!" Ichigo was about to shout at Tatsuki when Tatsuki turned her head back. "Oh, by the way, send Inoue back to class for me!" With that, Tatsuki was gone.

Ichigo stood dumbfounded, watching Tatsuki's retreating back. "Inoue...?" Looking around, he saw Inoue fidgeting her foot uncomfortably as she looked shyly at Ichigo. "Why didn't you return with the others..?"

Having a slight blush on her cheeks, Inoue shyly answered. "I... I was waiting for Kurosaki-kun..."

Ishida, who was just beside the rooftop, was originally wanting to take Inoue back to the classroom since she hadn't arrived. Walking up to the rooftop, his hands in his pockets, Ishida froze when he saw Inoue seemingly waiting for Ichigo. Standing still, he listened in to the conversation.

Tatsuki ran as if her life depended on it, to Rukia's office which Rukia was just coming out. Seeing that, Tatsuki sighed in relief. "Rukia-sensei!"

Turning to glance at Tatsuki, Rukia was surprised. "Arisawa, what's going on?"

Showing the 2 plans, Tatsuki panted. "During our lunchtime, we managed to finish the plans." Rukia smiled at this. "And, because the lessons were starting, I told Ichigo to go back to the classroom."

That's why he isn't here. Wait, since when had you paid attention to him? Rukia shook her head out of her thoughts. "I'm glad your spent your lunchtime over this, Arisawa. Thank Kurosaki for me, too." Rukia replied.

"I will, Rukia-sensei!"

"Alright, I shan't take your time any longer and you should run along for your lessons now." Rukia smiled.

With that, Tatsuki ran off for her classes. Whether it be fate planned it, Rukia's position was near the rooftop and out of the corner of her eyes, she glanced at Ichigo and Inoue and narrowed her eyes. As if frozen to the ground, she felt herself, her eyes, unable to peel off from the scene in front of her, just like what she had done at the birthday party 11 days ago. The plans were left forgotten in her hands as she clutched it tightly, but, not enough to tear the paper apart as she listened in to the conversation.

Ichigo faced Inoue. "What do you mean you were waiting for me, Inoue?"

Inoue looked up at Ichigo and had a faint blush on her cheeks. It was such a rare chance for her to be with Ichigo alone, let alone Ichigo talking to her, so, she might as well grab this chance. "I was wondering what Kurosaki-kun was doing with Tatsuki-chan, so..."

"Oh? That?" Ichigo scratched his head awkwardly. Weird that I can never be myself when it comes to Inoue. "I was helping Tatsuki making plans for Rukia-sensei."

"For... Rukia-sensei...?" A deeper blush formed.

Weird that Inoue blushes whenever I talk to her too. "Yeah, the seating arrangements plan and the 'cleaning-of-classroom' plan."

Inoue looked down. "I see.."

Deeming this moment as the most awkward moment ever, Ichigo remembered Tatsuki's request for him to walk back to the classroom with Inoue and he offered his hand. "Shall we walk back to the classroom, Inoue?"

Ishida, hearing this, closed his eyes and using his fingers to push his glasses up, he leaned away from the wall and proceeded back to the classroom, sighing deeply. Perhaps, I originally stood no chance at all against Ichigo. Congratulations, Ichigo, you won, although this morning's conversation wasn't on Orihime at all.

Seeing Ichigo and Inoue holding hands, Rukia shifted her gaze to Ishida whom she knew was just near them. Narrowing her eyes, she saw Ishida walking down the staircase of the rooftop and her gaze shifted back to Inoue and Ichigo once more. Inoue was blushing deeply and Ichigo was scratching his head awkwardly with his other hand. Looking away, she continued her walk to the other class, scanning the plans in front of her. It's none of my business.

Classes were rowdy as usual in Class 1-5. Naruto Uzumaki, a transfer student in Class 1-5, was in his usual form of creating mischiefs today. Truth to be told, Naruto isn't scared of anybody, but, Kuchiki Rukia, who is coincidentially their Mathematics teacher who's coming in in just any moment. "Neji, you fell for the trick!"

Hinata, who was sitting just beside Naruto, tugged his clothes. "Naruto-kun, I don't think it's good for you to scare Neji-kun like this..."

"Eh...?" Naruto whined and pouted at the same time. "But, it's Neji who fell for the trick!"

"Even thought it was Neji who fell for the trick, don't you think it got a little too far, Naruto?" A voice spoke.

The students looked up to see Kuchiki Rukia walking in the classroom, with a stern look on her face and Naruto immedialtely felt guilty. "I'm sorry, Rukia-sensei."

Rukia smiled. "I'm not the one who you should apologize to, Naruto." Before Naruto could apologize though, she nodded to the representative of Class 1-5, Neji Hyuuga. "Neji, commence the class."

Neji nodded. "Stand. Bow."

"Good morning, Rukia-sensei!" The class greeted in unison.

Rukia nodded and opened her books to the desired page that she was supposed to teach the class. It was in this moment that Naruto raised up his hand, seemingly asking a question. To Rukia's logic, it was weird since she hadn't started her lessons yet. Maybe something about the previous lesson? "What is it, Naruto?"

"Ne, Rukia-sensei, you have been teaching us for 25 days now. Can't we take a break for once?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Naruto?"

"We hadn't heard anything out of Rukia-sensei's personal life since the very beginning of the year when you came to teach us, Rukia-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "So, we would like Rukia-sensei to say a story to us since Rukia-sensei is the only one left for not telling us her story!"

Rukia was confused. "A story?"

Hinata spoke up this time. "W-Well, any story, actually..."

Putting the textbook down, Rukia sat on the chair and eyed the students. "Only if you agree that all of you would score well in the upcoming test." Seeing the students nodding enthusiastically, Rukia knew it was a trap set by them and she had fell for it. Damn that Naruto... "This story..." Rukia closed her eyes. "Might not have a happy ending..."

"Cinderella is overrated." Rukia glanced at Neji in surprise. If Neji wasn't my student, I would have beaten him to a bloody pulp. Sensing everybody's stare on him, Neji glared at all of them. "What? Seriously, don't you think so?"

Rukia smiled and folded her arms. "Why do you think so, Neji?"

"Seriously, you guys don't think so?" Sensing the loyalty to Cinderalla students surrounding him, Neji sighed. "Just think about it for a moment. The 3 words 'Happily ever after' should have thrown all of you off, seriously." When he was met with the raising of eyebrow from his teacher nevertheless, he continued. "I think all of us knows, being the high-schooler that we are, there are no 'Happily Ever After' at all."

Rukia stared at Neji. Weirdly, his words reminded herself of her brother. Smiling, she closed her eyes. "Neji's right in some way." All of the students looked at Rukia except Neji. "In Society..." Rukia opened her eyes. "... It just doesn't ends with that." Still smiling and facing the class, Rukia continued. "After this High School, each of you will be on your own, and, I want all of you to remember a lesson and not to forget this particular lesson."

Naruto brightened his eyes. "What is it, Rukia-sensei?"

Giving a look to Naruto and smiling, hiding the tears that are about to fall, she replied. "Society... Is cruel." There was silence in the classroom and Rukia continued. "What you see... Might not always remain. There may be changes that you don't think of, that are unbelievable to you. But, all the same, you would just have to accept it... Because, that's what's life is."

Naruto looked at Rukia in surprise and grinned which Rukia noticed but didn't comment. "We want the story now, Rukia-sensei~~~!"

Smiling at Naruto and deeming him 'Unbelievable' and 'Moment-ruiner', Rukia took out her plans that Tatsuki and Ichigo both did in the expenses of skipping their lunchtime. Keeping the 'classroom-cleaning' plan down and the seating arrangments on top, she took out a red pen. "Looks like Cinderella won't work on you guys..." Narrowing her eyes at what Ichigo did at the seating arrangements, she heaved a sigh mentally. There will be amendments, alright. "This story..." Cancelling out the name Ishida who was placed beside Ichigo, she looked up. "... Doesn't have a happy ending."

"Oh? So, what ending does it have?" One of the students asked.

Looking at the red-haired student which reminded herself of Ichigo mentally, she smiled. "If you are thinking about sad, it isn't that either, Karin." Karin looked at Rukia in a confused gaze. "If you ask me, Karin... I would rather call it 'Tragic.'"

"Tragic...?" The whole class gasped.

Rukia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, tragic." As Rukia let herself drift off into the memories of 20 years ago, she smiled. "A very tragic tale of a guy and a girl who was meant to be... At least, that was what they thought until they realized... Fate and Destiny had very different plans for them."

Naruto immediately grinned. "I'm interested in this story already!"

"But, Rukia-sensei, what did you mean by 'Who was meant to be... At least, that was what they thought'?" Akiru asked.

Looking at Akiru, Rukia replied. "Just what I meant, Akiru. The guy and the girl both thought they would be together forever. The girl was still a child and everything seemed so naive at that time. That girl never thought things would get complicated at all. What I meant by 'Meant to be together' would be..." Rukia scanned the classroom. "... LIke Hinata and Naruto right now." Seeing Hinata and Naruto blushing, Rukia inwardly giggled.

"So, what happened to the both of them in the end? Did they get together?" Akiru asked further.

Rukia stood up. "As I said before, Akiru, society is cruel." Leaning on the whiteboard, Rukia smiled a little. "The main characters in the story... Didn't get their happy ending."

Akiru gasped. "What happened...?"

Clenching her fists, Rukia maintained her smile ehich everybody could see was a fake one. "The girl... Was having some peoblems... Back at home... Finding nobody to confide on, she confided the boy and the boy promised..." I will protect you, Kuchiki, I swear on my soul... "The boy promised..."

A vocie spoke. "To protect the girl..."

It was as if Kaien appeared out of nowhere and spoke, causing Rukia to widen her eyes and look at the classroom, one tear accidentally falling, due to the shock of hearing somebody speak that phrase. "He swore on his soul... To protect the girl, didn't he, Rukia-sensei...?"

Rukia glanced up at the voice to find that it was Neji. How could I mistake Kaien's voice for him...? Or, is it the fact that... He said those words... Rukia nodded and smiled. "Right, the guy promised... To protect the girl... Forever and ever."

"Forever and ever seems a long time, doesn't it...?"

Rukia closed her eyes, letting another tear fall. "To the guy and girl, those words were... Their sign of love." Walking to the chair, she sat on it. "So, they cherished the words every moment."

"What happened to the guy, Rukia-sensei?" Naruto questioned this time.

Putting her head on the table, the plans forgotten completely on her table, she laid her head on the table, letting the tears flow out one after another, letting them drop on the table before she whispered the ending of the story to Class 1-5. "He... Died..."

Silence ensued for the whole class as they never expected such an ending. But, only one seemed unfazed by the ending. "Did he die protecting the girl?"

Rukia's eyes widened before glancing up at Neji. "He died... While protecting the girl."

Neji stood up and went to Rukia, wiping away the traces of tears on her cheeks. "If that is so, I can safely say... The guy will be happy wherever he is..." Rukia ganced up at Neji in surprise. "Becaue his motive is fulfilled, because he died while protecting the girl."

Rukia closed her eyes, her body shaking in silent sobs as Neji's words influenced her that reminded her of Kaien's last words and the promise. With this gesture, the bell rung, signalling the end of this lesson. I'm sure... Naruto and the others must have learned something too...

A/N: What will happen next? Now that Rukia cried in front of her class, would rumours start spreading? And, who's surprised I used Naruto and gangs for the students of Class 1-5's names? XD