Hime Monogatari

Chapter 2: Target

Another morning had come. That meant there was another adventure awaiting her at school. Thinking only about this fact had made Rukia feel so happy. After all, she really was longing to go to a normal school since she was a little girl.

"You look so happy this morning, Sweetheart," her mother said to her while they were having their family breakfast.

Rukia smiled brightly to her mother, "I am very happy, Mom."

Hisana, being as protective as ever, felt worried about her daughter's well being. And her conversation with her husband last night just made her worry grows. Was Rukia going to be okay at the school since she had rejected her mother's advice about bringing some bodyguards? What if someone kidnapped her on her way to school?

With those fearsome thoughts about her daughter, Hisana unconsciously bit her lower lip rather hard.

Seeing her mother's familiar habit when she was worried, Rukia could guess what her mother was thinking about. She turned her attention from her toast and smiled to her mother.

"Mom, I'm gonna be alright. Trust me," Rukia said.

Quickly, Hisana smiled to her daughter, trying to hide her worry. "I know, Sweetheart."

Then Hisana rolled her eyes to her husband, Byakuya, who was staring at her with those you-don't-have-to-be-worried look on his eyes. Feeling a bit more comfortable now, Hisana smiled to her husband. Well, maybe she was just being paranoid. After all, Byakuya did tell her that he had hired him to protect Rukia secretly (since Rukia didn't know, therefore she couldn't reject his presence).

"Mom, Dad," Rukia called both of her parents as she got up from her chair, "I'm going to school. Ran-nee-chan must be waiting for me right now. See you later Mom, Dad!"

Rukia quickly grabbed her bag and walked toward the front door of their manor.

"Be safe, Sweetheart!" Hisana said to her daughter right before Rukia's figure disappeared from her sight.

"Don't worry, Hisana," Byakuya said to his wife with his usual monotone voice, though his wife knew better; even though his voice seemed emotionless, deep down in his heart, he really did care for the ones he loved. "He will protect her," he added.

"I hope so…" Hisana murmured.

--###--

"Good morning, Kuchiki-san!" Orihime greeted the raven-haired girl with a bright smile.

"Good morning, Inoue-san!" Rukia greeted back to her orange-haired friend.

"Yo, Rukia!" Abarai Renji, a boy with flaming red hair put into a high ponytail, greeted her with a friendly grin.

"Good morning, Renji!" Rukia smiled to him, then she rolled her eyes and find a still-so-sleepy orange haired boy sat not far from Renji, Kurosaki Ichigo. "Good morning for you too, Ichigo!"

"Morning," Ichigo replied sleepily, waving his hand carelessly to the petite Kuchiki.

"Ne, Kuchiki-san, would you like to join us on the lunchtime this day? We usually having lunch on the roof top and we'll be happy if you can join us," Orihime said to Rukia, still with the bright smile on her face. "And Tatsuki-chan, Ishida-kun, and Sado-kun will join us as well!" the orange-haired girl named some of their classmates who usually hanging out with her.

"Sure. It'll be fun," Rukia said, smiling back to Orihime.

But suddenly, Rukia's smile disappeared, right after she caught a glimpse of a certain stoic, green-eyed boy, Ulquiorra Schiffer. She saw him walk into the class with the same bored expression like yesterday. What the hell was wrong with him?! If he was so damn bored with this school, then why didn't he just skip the school and go somewhere else?! Just to see his stoic face was enough to make Rukia's blood boil; she was still angry at Ulquiorra's rude attitude at their first encounter.

Somehow, as she watched Ulquiorra sit on his chair next to the window with rather murderous glare, Rukia heard a soft whisper came from two of her classmates named… oh, well, she didn't remember their names.

"Look! Today, he's just as cool as yesterday!" whispered one of the two girls.

"Are you blind?!" the other one replied in the same low tone as her friend's, "He's looked even cooler than yesterday!"

Hearing the two's whispers, Rukia's eyes widened in disbelief. What the—?! Ulquiorra?! Cool?! Hell no! He was just an annoyingly stoic jerk who was gifted with cleverness, nothing more! Irritated, Rukia glared again at the green-eyed boy. However, Ulquiorra moved his gaze from the window to his surroundings. And soon, his eyes met with Rukia's purple ones.

As their eyes met, Rukia realized that actually, Ulquiorra's eyes were really beautiful. They were deep green, and looked like emeralds. And when you looked into them, you would feel like you were drowning into a deep, green, cool lake. It was like you couldn't hide anything from those eyes, like the eyes were x-raying you right to your core. Those green eyes were really hypnotizing (though Rukia would never admit it).

Suddenly, Rukia felt her cheeks were burning. Quickly, she moved her gaze from Ulquiorra, back to her friends. Great. Now, she was blushing just because she looked into that jerk's green eyes. Really great.

"Oi, Rukia, are you alright?" Renji asked the petite girl, raising his eyebrow, as he saw those red tints crossed Rukia's cheeks.

"Wh-what? Oh, of course I'm alright," Rukia stuttered.

Orihime, who was realizing that her friend was blushing, asked her too. "Your cheeks are red. Are you sure you're okay? Or maybe you caught a fever?" she asked rather worried.

"Yeah," Rukia smiled, trying to calm herself so that her cheeks' color would back to normal, "I'm sure I'm fine."

--###--

When lunchtime finally came, Rukia quickly joined her friends and went to the rooftop to enjoy their bento. The rooftop they went to was the rooftop of the main building. It was vast, and from there, you could see the entire school, including the gymnasium, which was located on the corner of the school, next to the running track. You could even catch a glimpse of the numerous trees behind the gymnasium from this rooftop.

"Aah~… finally!" Tatsuki Arisawa, a tomboyish girl with short, black hair, said, stretching her slim body. "Lunch!" she said again as she stepped on to the rooftop.

"Let's eaaaaaat!" Renji yelled energetically, causing everyone there laughed at his rather childish action.

"What are you guys laughing at, huh?!" the red-headed boy asked, glaring at his friends.

"Maa, maa, let's sit and eat our bento!" Orihime said. "By the way, anyone want to try my bento? I was trying a new recipe!" she chirped happily, opening her lunch box and revealing the weirdest meal they had ever seen. It was a mixture of curry rice with banana and pineapple!

Rukia and the others quickly answered Orihime's offer with a bold, yet polite enough, 'No thank you'.

And with that, the arguments between Orihime and Tatsuki about the orange-haired girl's lunch began, while the others just ignored the two and started to enjoy their lunch. They ate their bento silently, watching the weird debate between the tomboyish girl and her best buddy about 'what the right curry should be made from'.

Rukia, being one who had never experienced having a lunch with her classmates, was really happy with this situation. For her, it was the first time, and she really liked to try something new. In her opinion, having lunch with her classmates was really relaxing. It was very different from having lunch or dinner with her father's business partner's family, which was very uncomfortable; she had to act in a ladylike manner, which was really tiring for her.

Silently, Rukia smiled at her new friends. She really liked her new school life, and it was all thanks to her beloved father who gave the permission to go to this school.

Still smiling, Rukia watched her friends a bit more before she threw her gaze to the running track beneath them, watching some students walked across the track. Ah, they were just as happy as her, right?

As her gaze moved to the gymnasium, she caught a sight of a familiar figure: black, shoulder-length hair, pale skin, walked with both hands in pockets. Ulquiorra Schiffer? Raising an eyebrow, Rukia looked more carefully at the figure walking near the gym. Where was he going?

Curious, Rukia approached the guardrail on the edge of the rooftop so that she got a better look at Ulquiorra. Wait! He went to back of gymnasium! What was he going to do there? Rukia wondered. It was weird to see the top student among the first years went to a place where most of the school's troublemakers hang out (Rukia got this information from Renji).

"Is there something wrong, Rukia?" Ichigo asked when he saw Rukia stood on the edge of the rooftop for a moment with a raised eyebrow.

Rukia turned her head quickly and smiled to the carrot-top boy. "Oh, nothing, Ichigo," she said as she walked back to her former spot.

--###--

"What?! To the back of the gym?!" Rangiku asked in disbelief. "Are you sure you will go there alone, Rukia-chan?"

The petite girl with purple eyes nodded firmly. "Yes, I'm sure, Ran-nee-chan."

Rangiku's eyes widened. "Rukia-chan! That's the place where most of the bad students hang out you know, especially after school! That place is th-their… their base! Their hideout!" the strawberry-blonde tried to explain to the younger girl about how dangerous it could be to go there all alone. "Besides, we have to go home right after the school. Otherwise, Hisana-sama will be worried and mad at us!"

Rukia smiled her infamous it's-gonna-be-ok-just-trust-me smile to Rangiku. "I just want to go there for a while, Nee-chan. Just to… check on something. It won't take a long time, so I think it's gonna be ok and we still can get home right on time," she said, looking at the silver watch on her left wrist.

"But Rukia-chan at least—"

"Wait for me in front of the gate, okay?" Rukia said as she ran toward the gym, not even waiting for Rangiku to finish her sentence.

"Rukia-chan!" Rangiku yelled to the raven-haired girl's back, but the said girl just ignored her and kept running.

Rangiku let out a breath and shook her head. Then she turned her back and walked toward the school's gate. It looked like she had to wait for Rukia for a while now.

Rukia kept running to the gym. Sure, she was curious about what Ulquiorra did at the back of the gym around the lunchtime. And her curiosity got the better of her, defeating her logic about how dangerous it could be to come to the 'most dangerous place of the entire school.' Well she was Kuchiki Rukia after all, a tough and pretty stubborn girl. Sometimes, she could be really confident that nothing bad would happen to her; too confident for her own good.

Finally, Rukia reached at the back of the gymnasium. And now, she could fully understand why all those troublemakers picked this place as their so-called hideout. The place was pretty gloomy since it was surrounded by numerous high trees, hidden from the people's eyes (especially from teachers' and prefects' eyes). Rukia was sure enough that those infamous troublemakers would be safe here; planning their next pranks or just skipping some classes and hiding here, under the protection of the trees' shadows.

As her eyes examined her shadowy surroundings, her mind began to wonder more and more about what that stoic boy did here, on the nest of the 'gangsters'. Did he hide something here? Or did he come here to meet someone?

Suddenly, some questions popped out in her mind, snapping her out of her curiosity: why the heck did she care about what that jerk Ulquiorra did here?! Was she his mother, his caretaker, or what?! What was it between Ulquiorra and her curiosity?!

Twitching slightly at her own questions, Rukia glared at her surrounding, like it was the innocent place's fault that she was here in this very moment. Then she closed her eyes and shook her head. What if her Nee-chan's words were true, that she was—somehow—attracted to Ulquiorra Schiffer (which made her become so curious about him)? Rukia's eyes snapped open at her own thought. What?! She?! Attracted to him?! To that walking ice cube?! Hell no! What was wrong with her and her head today?! Stupid brain! Please think properly!!!

While Rukia was busy cursing her own mind, someone walked silently behind her. This person walked very quietly, like a cat. He approached Rukia's petite figure and he placed his left palm on her shoulder, causing her heart to nearly jump out of her chest in surprise.

Narrowing her eyes in surprise, fear, and anger, Rukia turned quickly. She went to see who the culprit who for nearly giving her a heart attack and, honestly, she was really tempted to slap this person, regardless of who it was.

Once she had turned around completely, her purple eyes found a tall boy with long, black hair and one scary eye (the other eye—the left one—was covered by an eye patch) standing before her. Rukia blinked a few times before she really realized that the boy in front of her was smirking at her.

Uh-oh. This couldn't be a good sign, and there were a few reasons why Rukia thought so. 1) This scary-looking boy was smirking a perverted, maniac smirk at her. 2) The place she was standing on right now was 'the most dangerous place all over the school' A.K.A. 'the nest of the gangsters and troublemakers', meaning this boy might be the one of those said gangsters-slash-troublemakers as well. 3) If this boy really was one of those bad guys (which Rukia was 99.99% sure that he was), Rukia had no one to help her to escape this situation. Right now, Rukia was, indeed, in trouble, thank you very much.

"Hiya, Ojou(*)-chan!" said the creepy boy, still smirking. "Watcha doin' here, eh?" he asked as he took a step closer to Rukia.

Scared, Rukia took a step back out of her instinct. Now, her alert sensor had been activated and the so-called sensor told her about one thing: this boy with maniac smirk was 100% dangerous.

But before she could say anything or make any excuse to escape, another you'd-better-stay-away-from-him boy appeared. This newcomer had teal-colored hair and eyes. Both of his hands were stuffed in his pockets, and he looked a bit surprised to see that his friend—who was still smirking manically to Rukia— was accompanied here, at their hideout.

Raising his teal-colored eyebrow, the boy approached his friend and asked to the black-haired, maniac boy, "What are you doing here with this Kuchiki girl, Nnoitora?"

Hearing this, Rukia's eyes widened in surprise. Did this teal-haired boy know her?

The maniac—who was called as Nnoitora—turned his head to his friend, still smirking slightly. "Oh, so her name's Kuchiki?" Nnoitora said, "If yer so fuckin' curious, better ask Ms. Kuchiki herself, Grimmjow. I have no fuckin' idea why she's here."

Thrusting forward, Grimmjow turned his attention to Rukia. He stared—or more precisely glared—at her before asking in a harsh tone, "Oi, girl, what the hell are you doing here? Spying on us, or what?"

Panicked, Rukia began to think about what she should say. She really needed to pick her answer carefully. One wrong answer and maybe these guys would beat her into a pulp, or worse; rape her.

Rukia shivered in discomfort at her own thought. She gulped and tried to calm herself so that she could give an acceptable answer and make these guys let her go peacefully. If she said she was here because she wanted to know about what Ulquiorra Schiffer did here around the lunchtime, would they let her go? Ugh, seemed not…

"Well?!" Grimmjow asked again.

Shoot! Her mind seemed freeze as well as her legs now. She couldn't think of any excuse at all! What should she say? What?! This time Rukia just wanted to run, away from these creepy boys and go home with her Nee-chan. Oh, if only she obeyed Rangiku's advice to just go home…

"Oi, girl! Are you mute?! I'm asking you!" Grimmjow said, twitching in anger.

Snickering, Nnoitora leaned closer to Rukia, much to Rukia's discomfort. "Better answer him, or he'll be so fuckin' angry, ya know," he said mockingly.

Rukia gulped. She knew she was in trouble right now. Finally, the time when her curiosity led her into trouble had come—like they said; "curiosity kills the cat". And all of this damn trouble was caused by her curiosity on a certain blank looking jerk?! How pathetic…

Having no made-up answer, Rukia decided to just tell the truth about why she was here on the first place. She didn't know what the creepy boys would do to her after they heard her answer, but… well, she'd better answer now or the teal-haired boy with short temper would slam her face against the ground in a moment.

Trying to answer as calm as she could, but failing, she stuttered, "Erm… well, I-I'm—"

But suddenly, Rukia's answer was cut off by a deep melancholic voice of a male.

"What are you doing there, Grimmjow, Nnoitora?"

Rukia, Grimmjow and Nnoitora turned to the source of the voice, finding none other than the pale-skinned Ulquiora Schiffer standing a few feet from the three of them; hands in his pockets, his face held the same expression as ever: blank. He was looking intently at his… well… friends in front of him, examining them with his usual calculating look.

"Ah, Ulquiorra Schiffer, the top student from 1-A class," Grimmjow said sarcastically.

Ulquiorra, being as calm and emotionless as ever, just stood on the spot and kept staring at the two boys with those big, green eyes, ignoring the sarcastic comment thrown by Grimmjow. He waited patiently, rather confidant that one of the boys would answer his question. And like other numerous times in his life, his deduction was proved to be right since Grimmjow did answer him (though with another twitch before he answered).

"We're interrogating an 'intruder' in our place," he said in a low hiss.

Really, Grimmjow looked like he was ready to kill Ulquiorra at anytime. Judging by his expression, Rukia could tell that Grimmjow hated the green-eyed boy just as much as he seemed to hate politeness that was always suggested by his elders and the teachers. And truth to be told, Rukia was wondering, was there any problem or a grudge between these two boys? Wait! Again, what was it with her curiosity and anything related to Ulquiorra?!

Raising one of his thin, delicate eyebrows, Ulquiorra gave the teal-haired boy a look before he approached him and Nnoitora. And after he was close enough to the two boys, he finally could see the so-called 'intruder'. He saw her petite figure stood there, hidden behind Nnoitora's back.

"Kuchiki Rukia," he stated her name, recognizing his classmate.

And for god's sake, Rukia was sure her mind was suffering an error or infected by some kind of virus right now. Why? Because, for the first time since she met this boy with deep-green eyes, she finally heard Ulquiorra speak to her. And somehow, his melancholic voice was comforting her; it made her a bit confident that she could leave this place—and those creepy boys, of course—in one piece, without any bruises at all. Oh, her heart even skipped beat when Ulquiorra's voice caressed her ears. Great, now, her heart was suffering some kind of error too.

Ulquiorra kept staring at Rukia's figure for a moment before turning his gaze to Nnoitora and Grimmjow. "There's a change on the plan. We won't discuss about it here. Nel thought it'd be safer at her place. She is waiting for us now," he said. Sparing no second glance to Rukia, he turned on his heels and left.

Though he thrust in annoyance, Grimmjow did walk after the green-eyed boy. And so did Nnoitora. The black-haired maniac left after he said, "See you soon," to Rukia with the same perverted smirk on his face.

After the three were out of her sight, Rukia felt the shivering feeling in her spine was slowly subsiding. She had managed to regain her usual composure now. The dangerous moment for her had passed, thanks to her luck… or should she thank Ulquiorra who had came before that Nnoitora and Grimmjow could do god-knows-what to her?

Rukia shook her head rather violently, trying to shake off the memories of those three boys—especially the one with those emerald-like eyes. She told herself to forget the three and everything that just happened a moment ago; no need to keep a bad memory in her head, after all. And she silently promised to herself to not let her curiosity get the better of her again.

However, as she began to walk away from the so-called hideout of the troublemakers, her mind betrayed her; she was once again wondering about Ulquiorra and his two friends. What were they going to discuss? What was the 'it' referred by Ulquorra about? Was it about a bad thing?

"What are they, just another bunch of troublemakers, or… Yakuza?" she mumbled, heading toward the school's gate where her Nee-chan had been waiting for her. Little did she know that they were not just ordinary troublemakers—though they weren't yakuza either.

While Rukia was walking out from the shadowy place, Ulquiorra and his friends had already passed the school's gate. Now, they were walking silently on the rather empty sidewalk, bathed in the light of the setting sun.

"Oi, Ulquiorra," Nnoitora called the pale boy, only to receive a questioning look from the said boy, gesturing him to spit out what was in his mind. "She'll be a rather fuckin' interesting 'target', won't she?"

Ulquiorra kept looking at his accompany for a while before he turned his gaze back to the pavement in front of him. "I don't care about it," he said in his usual bored tone.

Right, for Ulquiorra Schiffer, it didn't really matter whether the 'target' was interesting or not. The only matter was that she's his next 'target'.

--TO BE CONTINUED--

A/N: Finally! Chapter two! Sorry it took me over two months just to update this chapter! I'm trapped in a hell named exam right now, and I hope I can go through it *laugh*. Now, let me say thanks to realityfling18, yume girl 91, Byakuya Sama, Ojou-sama, and kluxces for reading my fic and leaving the reviews ^^. Ah, and thank you very much to Cat Alex for beta-ing this chapter! ^^

Disclaimer: you all know that Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo.

(*)'Ojou' means 'mistress'

Reviews and critics are very welcomed!

Thanks for reading! n_n

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