Miracle – I

Eighteen-year-old Kurosaki Ichigo ran a hand through his spiky orange hair as he slung his school bag over his shoulder and made his way down the street to Karakura High School. This was his last year. Last year of being trapped at a small desk for eight hours and listening to teachers drone on about things that really didn't matter one way or another to him.

He was finally a Senior. All he could really say to that was thank God

"Oi, Ichigooo!" he looked around and stepped out of the way just in time for his best friend, Asano Keigo, to go flying past. The hyperactive boy crashed into the sidewalk, and Ichigo rolled his eyes; it was a miracle Asano had lived to see Senior year. "So!" Keigo, of course, recovered instantly, "It's all over after this year! Can't believe it, feels like we just...oh, I can't do it!"

Ichigo sighed heavily as he walked through the gates of the school. There was a group of girls standing just outside the entrance. Ichigo caught small snippets of their conversation as he passed. "And she's so thin, have you seen her?"

"No, but I heard she'd be back for this year," Ichigo made a face. Who the hell could they be talking about?

"Oi, Asano," Keigo bounded to Ichigo's side at once.

"What's up?"

"Are their any new students this year?" for some reason Keigo was well informed about these things. Ichigo had never questioned why.

"Er...not that I know of," Keigo made a face and tapped his head, clearly thinking hard, "Wait, wait...there's one...but she's not really new...I dunno, it's weird, she's new, in a way, but she's been here before-"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. Obviously he wasn't going to get an answer, so instead he started off for homeroom. He didn't pay any attention to where he was going, however, until he walked into someone. "Oh, damn, sorry," he grumbled as he stood up. He looked around to see who he had walked into. And his amber eyes widened in shock.

It was a girl, a small girl. Ichigo guessed she was from the new class. But that wasn't what surprised him. It wasn't even her wide, oddly violet eyes that got him. It was how frail she looked, how sickly, that really got to him. "Er...you okay?" he reached out a hand to help her up. She stared at it for a second, then stood up on her own.

"No, I'm fine thank you," she had an amazingly strong voice. Ichigo blinked.

"Um...okay. I'm-"

"Do you know where Class 3-A is?" the question took Ichigo by surprise.

"Yeah, it's just down the hall...but that's a Senior homeroom," it was his homeroom, actually.

"What's your point?" and she walked away, leaving Ichigo feeling utterly confused. It wasn't until the warning bell rang, telling everyone to go to class, that he scurried off, making it to homeroom just before the final bell rang. He noticed that his classmates were all muttering behind their hands, and couldn't help but wonder what was going on. He sat down, still feeling confused, and barely noticed who was sitting next to him.

"Welcome back!" the teacher walked in, smiling, trying to get them all in the mood for school. Seventeen stony faces stared back at her. "Ah well then..." she shrugged, "Look at it this way, this is the last time you'll be dealing with me. Is that better?" a cheer went through the room. "I thought so. Oh, and I would also like to welcome back Kuchiki Rukia. We're all very glad you can be with us again," she nodded in the direction of the person next to Ichigo, and he looked around, receiving a slight shock; it was the girl he had seen in the hall. She's a Senior?!

The girl – Rukia – smiled, almost sadly, and nodded in recognition of the teacher's greeting. "It's...good to be back"

Ichigo made a face, confused. He couldn't recall ever seeing her before in his life, much less in his homeroom. Had she really been here before?

Ichigo looked Rukia over again. If he had heard her speak before he saw her, his mind would have conjured images of a strong, tall girl with a look that said 'mess with me and you're a dead man'.

But Rukia was none of those things. She was pale and thin and sickly looking, her wide violet eyes drawn and weary. Despite the fact that she was incredibly short, her facial features gave off the sense that she was older, more mature than her real age. Ichigo squirmed in his seat, suddenly desperate to know more about this girl.

"Kuchiki Rukia," Ichigo flung the name at Keigo during lunch.

"Yeah, she's hot isn't she?" Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"What's her story, you moron?"

"Oh, that," Keigo took a sip of his soda, a thoughtful look on his face, "Well, let's see, she's lived in Karakura Town all her life, her parents are Kuchiki Byakuya and Kuchiki Hisana...um, she hasn't been in school for the last year because she was in the hospital..."

"She was in the hospital?" Ichigo repeated in disbelief, "For what?"

Keigo shrugged. "Not sure. Must have been pretty serious though"

"No shit," Ichigo muttered. Had the girl really spent the last year in the hospital? What in the world for?

"Anyways," Keigo was talking again, "Why are you so interested, Ichigo? You must know Kuchiki-san, after all, she's been in our class since we started at Karakura High"

Ichigo didn't feel right, admitting that he didn't remember ever seeing the girl before in his life. But he said it anyway. "I have difficulties putting names with faces"

"That's true," Keigo smirked as he sipped at his soda again. Then, "Do you think she'd go out with me?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and took a bite of his sandwich. "Asano, you're a moron, you know that right?"

"Is that a 'no, she wouldn't go out with you'?"

Ichigo didn't even bother responding. The truth was, no, he didn't think the girl ever would go out with Keigo. He didn't know much about her, but he could tell Keigo wasn't her type. The orange-haired teen wasn't dumb enough to say that though; it would have led to a lot of whining for the rest of the lunch period. So instead he kept his mouth shut, puzzling over why a girl would spend an entire freaking school year in the hospital. It seemed so odd.

"A year?" Kurosaki Isshin repeated, "Well, there are plenty of reasons..."

It was later that day, after school. Ichigo, desperate for answers, took his questions to his father, who ran a local clinic. If anyone would know something about reasons to spend so much time in a hospital, it was Isshin. "Does she have any kind of disabilities?"

"Not unless you count shortness," Ichigo scoffed, smirking slightly. Isshin made a face.

"I thought you were serious about this," Ichigo's smirk faded. He was curious, though he wasn't completely sure why. What did some girl who might or might not be new have to do with him, after all? But all the same, he was curious.

"I am. You know, it's weird, but..." Ichigo considered whether or not to admit this, "She's been in my class since I started at Karakura High, that's what Keigo said anyway. But I've never seen her before in my life"

"What's this girl's name, anyway?"

"Kuchiki Rukia"

Isshin nodded. "I see. And she really spent the last school year in the hospital?"

"That's what Asano said," Ichigo sighed as he took a sip of the soda he had gotten out of the fridge, "Maybe it's nothing, really. Maybe she just...broke her leg really badly. Or something. I'm sure it's nothing though. But thanks anyways, Dad"

"Hey," Isshin called after his son, "If you like this girl so much, get her phone number!"

Ichigo didn't even bother answering

Rukia sighed as she dropped onto the couch. One day of school, and already she felt completely exhausted. "Rukia!" her mother, Kuchiki Hisana, called from the kitchen, "Come in here, it's time for your medicine!"

Rukia scowled slightly as she stood up again and dragged herself to the kitchen. She knew full well it was time for her pills, but jeez, couldn't a girl get a moment's rest? "How was school?" Hisana asked as her daughter entered the room. Rukia just shrugged as she grabbed her pill bottle off the turn table in the middle of the kitchen table and carefully dumped out two pills. "Did you meet anyone interesting?" Hisana pushed. Rukia just shrugged again as she grabbed a glass and poured some water. "Do you know how to do anything besides shrug?"

"School was a nightmare, all right?!" Rukia snapped finally, losing her patience. She couldn't help it, she was tired. "Everyone treated me like a freak. They knew I spent the last year in the hospital, and they didn't know why, and that made them treat me even worse, like I had some kind of terrible disease or something!"

"Don't raise your voice to your mother," Kuchiki Byakuya walked into the kitchen at that moment. Rukia scowled for a moment before popping the pills in her mouth and sipping some water. Byakuya waited until she swallowed to say, "And you were in the hospital for your own good, you know that Rukia"

Rukia felt the anger drain from her body, and dropped into one of the kitchen chairs, feeling defeated. "I know, I know. But still...the way they treated me today was the worst. I don't want to go through that again"

"Would you rather you got sick again?" Rukia winced. She'd spent the last year in the hospital because of her own stupidity, really. In a rebellious streak, she'd stopped taking her medicine, maybe just to prove that she didn't need it. That went quite badly, of course. She hadn't made it through three days of her Junior year (she'd stopped in the middle of the summer) before she was being put back in the hospital. Her parents had been far from happy. Rukia wasn't sure she'd ever seen either her mother or father that angry before. And she certainly didn't want to see it again.

"No," Rukia muttered finally, knowing this wasn't going to be an argument she would win. Byakuya looked at her for a second, then left the kitchen for his study. Hisana looked between her daugher and her husband.

"Rukia, we only act this way because-"

"You care," Rukia sighed, "I know"

Author's Note: Now, let's get one thing straight; it is not usually my style to update so soon. But I got such good feedback on the prologue, and I wanted to see if I could get it as good with this one. So what do you think? Like most first chapters, it was just an introduction, but feedback is still nice. So...between 30 and 40 reviews, okay? Just say something, "good story", "Keep it up", "I'll kill you in your sleep for impersonating a writer" any of that is okay. So yeah, review! - Sam