Title: Autumn Sky
Rating: Eventual NC-17 (Smut, language, gore etc. posted on my live journal under same username)
Pairing: Ichigo/Rukia
Genre: Alternative Timeline, Romance, Intrigue
Chapter: 1/42
Summary: Alternate timeline. Ichigo died. He protected Rukia and because of that, he died. There is no way to pay back those debts, but for once, Kuchiki Rukia wants to try. By taking Kurosaki Ichigo under her wing, she expects to at least the be entertained. However, the stench of something corrupt has begun to run through the Soul Society and Ichigo wouldn't feel right if he didn't get involved.
Comment: The title is from a Japanese proverb which is the first line of this fan fiction. Entered as a competition piece under the first theme "You find me, redefine me." The theme is subtle, but there…

Prologue

"A man's heart is like the autumn sky…"

"Nii-sama, I want to take on a student," She said, as calmly and respectfully as she could. He didn't turn around, just staring at the shrine as usual. He prayed to Hisana-sama daily, never forgetting, even when there were Captain's meetings…

"Why?" He asked, stoic as ever. Rukia held her head up.

"I may not be seated but I have been a shinigami long enough to tutor a student with potential. It would be interesting, I think, to watch the development of a young shinigami," She replied. The truth was that she was bored. There was little for her to do, besides her shinigami duties. Her friends from the academy, namely Renji, had all been seated and placed with the various responsibilities. She wanted someone to talk to again, someone to share something with. It could be like Rukongai again… A friend…

"You understand that you must take on a student who is worthy of the Kuchiki Clan," It was a statement. Rukia paled. A student worthy of the Kuchiki Clan? She didn't know how to tell who was worthy and who wasn't.

"I will return with reasons for my selection, of course, nii-sama," She responded. Byakuya-sama looked over his shoulder.

"Permission granted. Please choose wisely."

x

Ichigo groaned. Man, this class was so boring. He was in the second from best class, his teacher was a droning moron and he felt so bored he thought he might have more fun gouging out his eyes and seeing how long it took 4th Division to heal them.

"Did you hear about Haruko? Heard she got so scared when she saw Zaraki-taicho she wet herself," A boy behind him sniggered. Ichigo tried to tune them out. They were morons, bullies who didn't deserve to be in the academy at all.

"I bet she still stinks of piss," Another said. Ichigo sighed, his fist loosening and tightening. He really didn't know Katsuragi Haruko very well, she was just another girl in the class who was a little bit vulnerable. Even so, she always smiled and said good morning, even though he only grunted at her in return.

"And that concludes today's written work. Please collect your bokuto and head out to the training yards," The teacher said. Ichigo stood up, shoving his books in his bag and departing training yard. He liked the physical side of shinigami training more than the books and spells. He was best with hard metal.

They had predicted that he would work best in Zaraki-taicho's squad, if he ever managed to get seated at all. It wasn't expected of him, which made him even more determined to beat the shit out of the stupid system they had in place at the Soul Society.

He made his way into the courtyard, picking up the heaviest bokuto he could find. He never quite felt complete with a small sword. He half-wished they'd let him fight with his own practise sword, but whenever he asked the instructors would take one look at the thing, which looked more like a plank of timber than anything resembling a sword, and would shake their heads.

"Look at Haruko. She won't even push passed those morons to get her own sword. She'll be left with the heaviest one… again… God, she's such a wimp!" One of the boys snickered. Ichigo was beginning to get ticked off. They were right though, Haruko waited until the end and then picked up the sword, her smaller frame having to heave slightly to get it off the ground.

"Oi," He called. She started, dropping the bokuto and blinking at him. He walked over, putting his own over his shoulder.

"Wanna be my partner?" He asked. Her eyes went wide and she nodded, quickly picking up the blade. Ichigo made a small noise in the back of his throat as he watched her totter slightly. She was too small for that sword… Well, there was nothing for it, he'd have to teach her to fight with it.

"Come on," He said, walking into an unoccupied space. Immediately he got into a fighting stance, waiting for her to do the same. She bowed first, before dropping into her stance, her knuckles white on the wooden sword.

It took him two hits to disarm her. It wasn't just the weight of the sword either, but her grip and posture. She looked defeated before she even began the fight. Sighing, Ichigo picked the blade up and gave it to her. She muttered a thank you and got into stance again.

"Move your left foot right a bit," Ichigo couldn't help but instruct. She did as she was told, until he was certain that her stance was perfect. He gave her a push to see if she fell over. She seemed to surprise even herself when she didn't.

"Now, you're grip. You're holding that thing like a baseball bat," He commented. She looked down at her grip warily. He forcibly moved her hands and arms so that she created the solid framework that was needed for good swordplay.

He still managed to win in five moves, but there was a newfound strength behind her attacks now. There was also something else. It seemed like confidence was beginning to bloom in her. She became more and more daring in her strikes, closer and closer to nearly bashing him with the sword, the intent to win was present where it had never been before.

Then it happened. One of the other students caught her blade and yanked it from her grasp. Ichigo growled. How dare they treat someone else like that? She wasn't a dog. What was even worse was that she bowed her head and stepped back, like she was trained to know what to do in those kind of situations.

It was almost in slow motion that Ichigo saw the weighted wooden blade rise, ready to strike against her collarbone. Fire woke within him, the desire to protect.

The sword struck against his own collarbone as he saw red.

x

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" Rukia could hear the chant from where she was. She smiled slightly, remembering when she had been the one stood there, watching apprehensively as Renji got into yet another miniature battle with someone or other.

The shinigami instructor seemed to be at his wits end. He was trying to show her the latest shinigami-to-be yet at the same time keep his class under control. He wasn't doing a very good job. Rukia cleared her throat and the crowd stilled, then parted. The sounds of two teenagers engaged in battle still echoed around the training ground.

The first thing she saw was a very beaten up boy with black hair and a long scar running down the side of his face. He was sporting a split lip, black eye and, from the looks of things, broken nose. He was out of breath, trembling, wide-eyed, propped up on his practise sword.

"Kurosaki! You're a demon!" He yelled. Rukia turned her gaze to the other student. Her eyes widened in recognition. A shock of orange hair, warm brown eyes, tan skin. Kurosaki Ichigo. The boy she'd saved only to discover he'd died the next day. There were murmurs about fates and how his might have been different but they didn't know how. In the end, Rukia had just decided to let it go. People often died after you saved them, so what if this one had so closely resembled him.

"Don't you dare beat on weaker students, dickhead. Haruko-san is a good fighter, or she would be if you ever let her fight with a sword that's the right weight. What's yours, Daisuke-kun, the second lightest? I bet you could do with a heavier sword, right?" His eyes bored into the wounded boy. Rukia began to piece together what had happened in her own mind.

"Fine, I'll give her my sword," Daisuke threw the wooden training sword across to Kurosaki, who bent down and picked it up. He then handed it, hilt first, to a plain looking girl to his left. She bowed and accepted it.

Then the tension diffused. The two boys, who had been completely absorbed in the battle, began to realise something was wrong. They both turned, Daisuke fell to his knees and began babbling apologies. Kurosaki just looked at her for a while.

"Kuchiki Rukia, right?"

x

The moon had never seemed so bright. He had never felt his breath taken away so forcibly before. Everything seemed so brilliant. So surreal. So goddamn beautiful. And she stood there, dressed in black accented with white, pale moonlight reflected from her skin.

She was ghostly, ethereal.

Her eyes told of an age, of wisdom that the living could not obtain.

Her hair moved in a wind that he could not feel, it did not belong in the world of the living.

Her hands gripped a sword as blood, as red as his own, ran down her arms, staining the hilt crimson.

"I am Kuchiki Rukia," She had said over her shoulder. He had opened his mouth to say something. He had dealt with spirits before, but nothing had prepared him for her. He tried to say something but fear overcame him. He needed to protect his family, but she seemed to be doing such a good job. Looking up at the creature, he wouldn't have known where to begin.

"Kurosaki… Ichigo…" He replied brokenly. It was strange but blood seemed to be bubbling up from his lungs. He couldn't feel any pain, but was that a good thing?

"Hold on. This Hollow will be gone soon," She promised, glancing over her shoulder. He nodded, feeling the warm blood dribble down his chin. Shit, was it his lungs?

The girl, so small, so fragile, launched at the monster. He saw the way it reared and knew that she was going to get bit. He placed himself in the way. Pain seared through his entire being and he fell to his knees, the creatures mouth still attached to his shoulder.

"Kill it!" He screamed. She seemed to collect herself and raise her blade, bringing it down upon the creature's head. The mask cracked to show the face of a young girl, looking happy as she turned into a black swallowtail butterfly.

Ichigo looked down at his blood-soaked form and then up at the woman who'd saved him.

"Shinigami… Kuchiki… Rukia…" He'd managed to choke out before the blood had begun to bubble. He'd died the next day. Not even healing powers had been able to change his fate.

x

It was her.

She looked a lot less goddess-like in the bright sunlight. The warmth and the light seemed to wash away all the mystery and beauty around her, leaving an adolescent girl in her place. Even so, he could still see the beauty in those blue, almost black, eyes. He could see the twitch of her lips into a smile.

"You can't have been dead three months, Kurosaki-kun," She said. He smirked, placing his blade across his shoulders and hooking his arms over.

"Three weeks and two days. It took me that long to get into the Court of Pure Souls. I was lucky in that I wasn't in a far away area. I was taken in by the Shiba family for a while. Came to an understanding with Kuukaku-san," He explained. He saw her eyes widen momentarily before she tilted her head to the side. He watched as she began to trace her lips as she thought.

"I need to speak to my brother. Kurosaki-kun, it's been… interesting… to see you again," She smiled, a smile sparkling with falsity, and departed, their instructor trying to talk to her.

Haruko approached him, seeming almost awed by his presence.

"That's Kuchiki Rukia-sama," She whispered. Ichigo sighed. He really didn't have time to explain how he knew some pretty death god. It was weird enough that she'd just had a pointless conversation with him and left, never mind having to relive the painful memories of his death with a girl he barely knew, and certainly couldn't say he liked any more than any other girl in the class.

"She's a noblewoman. Kuchiki-taicho's adopted sister," She explained. Ichigo blinked.

Nobility?

x

"What are you talking about, Rukia?" Renji asked. Rukia took a deep breath before retelling the story, only this time pausing to breathe in between words.

"I decided to take on a student," She said. Renji looked vaguely surprised, but she expected it to a certain extent. He always underestimated her. Especially when he'd been put in the class above her and she'd had to put up with him running off with Hinamori and Kira.

"Who?"

Rukia at least had the decency to look a little sheepish. "Kurosaki Ichigo."

Renji looked at her for a moment, as though casting his mind back. His eyes suddenly widened.

"You mean-?"

"Yeah, the guy who accidentally blew up Hinamori-san on his first day. I only found out today though. Strange, who'd have thought Hinamori-san would get caught in an-"

"No," Renji cut off her babble. Rukia met his eyes for a moment.

"It has already been arranged," Was her only reply. Renji made a few motions, as though he was going to strangle her, then sighed.

"You know he only sees you as a ticket to nobility, right?" He pressed. The petite shinigami fiddled with the hem of her hakama.

"He died… to protect me. At the time, I didn't think much of it but… He tried to become a shinigami as soon as he got here. I…" She looked away. She knew that Renji's gaze would be pitying, it always was when she spoke this way.

"You couldn't save Kaien, it will make no difference to his family if you take on another student," He put a hand on her shoulder. Rukia smiled faintly, thinking about how Ichigo had actually come from the Shiba household.

"Renji. You can see Ichigo as me trying to atone for Kaien-dono. I don't think it's that way. I'd define it as…"

x

"-freakin' weird," Ichigo groaned. "What kind of noble woman, who is partly responsible for my goddamn death, takes on students?"

What kind of hormonal teenage boy would turn down the offer on a little one-on-one tuition?

Another groan. His brain was trying to kill him, he was sure.

Kuchiki Rukia… Shinigami… Soul Reaper… Beautiful by moonlight…

Tutor…