Me and my sister's Bestfriend

"It is in being known that we flourish."

Jan Carothers

June 17, 2001; 12 pm

It's been two hours and a half since I met little Rukia. A hundred and fifty minutes I've lounged to suffering as I argued with her… nine thousand seconds to go over and over again about the cliff. It's not even a cliff…it's just a small hill!

As if fate isn't cruel enough, my sisters are rooting for her that I almost shouted at them to shut up…of course I just can't tell them that…they're innocent loving individuals…not some creepy specie I just come to know one-eight of the day. And I kept telling myself, she's just six years old with godly influence (of turning my sisters against me)… have a little patience. And I thought I've stretched it enough.

I saw dad with some guy conversing with him over a puff of smoke and told him of what took place on the hill nearby (I did ignore the girls' protests). He took one good look at me and smiled with those exaggerated teary eyes he never gets tired of using… and he examined Karin…she only had a small bruise, nothing serious. As I got myself comfortable on a pavement, I caught the guy looking over Rukia and I thought he's just some random guy adoring little Rukia in a cutesy way.

"Oh, so that's her daughter. Pretty young girl isn't she, Ichigo." My dad just made that remark and stood behind me. Being a kid means you can't ignore a word without settling an argument. And when it comes to argument, you had to do everything even if it means saying things that are rude…in order to win.

"Dad! She's not pretty!" I started.

And when Lady Fate had to strike at a very queasy time… "I heard that you brat."

And that's the first time I've received her infamous kick-in-the-shin.

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"Experiencing new growth means having a willingness to feel and share our feelings"

- the Reverend Deb Olive

August 10, 2005; 5:32pm

It's been what, 4 years since I met that brat…and I still stick to my word… she's.not.PRETTY.

She's annoying, bitchy, and a package of catastrophe. I just saw her a billionth time and the month seems to have a grudge on her as she started growing pimples and her face a good source of fuel…who says anything about oil being scarce?

She came up to me and frowned when a covered my eyes with both hands as I repeated the same phrase "Oil is thicker than water" just to mock her. On a normal basis, she would just scream at me or kick me on the shin and leave… this time, whatever caused her to come over our place like she usually did on the past, made her restrain from accomplishing whatever physical damage she had in mind.

"I came here for Karin. Is she home?" She released a long breath before she eyed me warily. Maybe she's sick.

"Karin's not home. She's out for a football practice." I almost added "Little oily brat" but then decided against it as I caught her blushed on something. I thought that seeing a girl going flustered in front of me meant she likes me…as I've seen my classmate Orihime Inoue doing that a number of times. And thinking about it with Rukia sent me a shiver… I'd like to call it goosebumps.

I thought that's the end of our conversation but she jostled past me and entered our main domain…the living room. She made herself comfortable and I had to stop myself from demanding her…to leave while the sun's still out.

"Uh…you really don't have to wait for her… I'll tell her that you dropped by when she gets home." Although my words aren't flattering in any way whatsoever, I knew she got the message but still forced herself to get used of it.

"No need. I just wanted to share this to someone and I badly need reassurance before I retire to bed." She softly smiled. I knew that it had to be serious so I sat across her.

"I've been feeling really weird these past few days… I woke up from my nap this afternoon and…" For a split second, I thought she's going to confess her love to me, judging her opening remarks. I braced myself for the following phrase… "I like you."

But it didn't come out.

"I've seen blood on my bed."

What? Blood?

"I've seen some on my skirt and even…" and she lowered her voice in a whisper. "on my underwear."

I had to stifle my laughter of how serious she's taking this issue. So she had her first period… and she's taking this on me… for the love of the world, I'm not even a girl!

"We've gone through that kind of thing on our Science subject, puberty and stuff." I simply shrugged, feeling proud of myself as I explained something about menstrual cycle. I even told her not to worry and that this usually happens on female when she wore this worried face; she asked me if I had it already and I said no.

At the end of the session, I see her out of the door and she waved at me, thanking me for explaining everything. And there I thought, she could have asked another female older than her or my father. He's the doctor. Yet I knew she hadn't met anyone that could be trustworthy aside from her father and my family…her mother died six years ago, and I felt sorry for her bottling everything up now she's hitting puberty… it's not as if I've been a great help, but she disclosed it to me maybe because it would feel awkward when she finds out that my sister hadn't any of it, yet…and she already had… or maybe that I'm older than her and had understood the law of nature.

Either way, I'm glad.

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A/N: I would like to thank those who are sending me private messages/ reviews for showing their appreciation on my work. Without you, I could have left this hanging. Anyway, I decided that I had to make a quick transition from child to adolescent stage… this has to be like a private diary of Ichigo, I'm only taking its highlights. But I'll focus more on adolescent to late adult stage of his life…so probably the succeeding chapters would consist of Rukia's highschool and college experiences. Please read and send in your reviews/comments.