Miracle - II

Rukia could deal with rumors, really. After all, rumors were really just what some people thought about others. And Rukia could have cared less what people thought of her. But the rumors...they killed her, really. Some of the things people were saying really got to her.

No one actually knew she had leukemia. It was a secret she'd worked hard to keep safe. When she'd started on the chemo, she had been out of school for about three months. She'd filled in her absence by saying she'd gone away for a family thing. And during that family thing, one of her cousins got his hands on a pair of scissors and chopped off all of Rukia's hair. She was proud of the story, really; it was pretty good, for an eight-year-old. But her stories only went so far. And she had absolutely no excuses as to why she had been out for an entire school year, and that had sent the rumors a-flying.

If Rukia had to pick a favorite of the rumors she heard going around, she probably would have said, "I heard she went back-packing across Europe over the summer, and while she was there she met a boy, and they got married, but when her parents found out they forced her to come home"

As far as rumors went, that wasn't a bad one. Her least favorite, however, was probably, "Well I heard she started taking drugs over the summer, and her parents were so ashamed of it they had her locked up in a rehabilitation center"

As far as rumors went, that was probably the worst one she had heard. There were others, of course, ranging from small things such as "family matters" to the thing about the drugs. And unfortunately, there was nothing she could about the rumors without revealing the truth behind her disappearance. And she'd never do that.

Still, though, it was annoying when she suddenly walked into a room and people who had been whispering behind their hands suddenly stopped and looked up at her like she was from another planet.

"I can't take it!" she blew up finally. It was lunchtime during the fifth day of school. Rukia had just walked over to a group of girls, which included one of her oldest friends, Imko Miyako. They had been talking in low voices until Rukia had approached them. Then they had stopped.

"H-Hi Rukia," Miyako said, her voice shaking slightly, "I mean...what's up?"

"What's with all of you?" Rukia ignored the greeting, "Everytime I come near you people, all you do is stop talking and stare at me like I'm from Mars or something!"

"It's...nothing Rukia," Miyako said after a second. Rukia noted that she was the only one talking. "It's just...weird, ya know? You weren't here last year, at all – I mean, you were here for three days, but after that you disappeared. And now you're back and well...to be honest, you look different"

That didn't surprise Rukia. She'd always been a naturally small and thin person. But between the medication, and the chemo she'd been on, it had basically killed her looks completely. Not that Rukia cared. But it was obvious everyone else did. "I know I was gone for awhile...it's a health thing"

This sent the girls into a muttering frenzy. Rukia finally lost her patience completely. "Forget it!" she raged angrily, whirling around, "Just forget it!"

She stormed away. Just as she was about to enter the school again Miyako caught up and grabbed Rukia by the arm and dragged her around to the back of school. "Let me-"

"Just give me a chance, Rukia," Miyako cut in, "Look, we've been friends for a long time, and we've dealt with a lot together. But...for a long time now...I feel as if you've been locking me out. I don't really know when it started, I guess back in third grade, but it was so small I didn't even notice. But after the last year...with you just basically disappearing off the face of the earth...and now you won't tell me about it...you're locking me out, Rukia. We've helped each other through a lot, but now it's like you're keeping secrets. Let me in Rukia. I miss our old friendship"

Rukia stared blankly at Miyako, unsure of what to say. It was true, the two girls had been through a lot together. They'd known each other since they were three and slept next to each other in daycare. They'd gotten each other through everything, from Rukia's broken leg when she was five, to the death of Miyako's boyfriend, Kaien, when they had been fourteen. But Miyako was right; Rukia had been locking her out. But Rukia couldn't help it. She didn't want anyone to know about her. She didn't want sympathy or awkward questions. She just wanted to be normal. "Rukia, let me in. Please"

"Miyako," Rukia whispered, blinking back tears. She tilted her head towards the ground, her black hair framing her face, "I...I want to. Really I do. I'd give anything to be able to just come clean with you. But I can't. I'm sorry"

"I thought we were friends"

"We are," Rukia said desperately, "But Miyako...you wouldn't understand"

"Since when wouldn't your best friend understand?" Rukia was saved by the bell ringing. She darted off to class before Miyako could ask anymore questions

"Rukia, what in the world are you doing?" Rukia, who had been burrowing around in her closet, peeked out. Her mother was standing in the door, looking somewhere between, amused, confused, and disapproving. She hated it when Rukia "over-worked herself".

"I'm looking for my old scrapbook. Have you seen it?"

"Why in the world do you want it?"

Rukia shrugged and muttered something about 'personal reasons' before going back to digging through her closet. By chance she looked up, and saw it teetering on the shelf. "Aha!" she stood up on her tip-toes, reaching for the book.

"Rukia, I don't think-"

Crash!

The book, along with a cascade of junk, came crashing down onto Rukia's head. "Rukia!" Hisana gasped, moving to her daughter's side at once, "Are you okay?"

"Uh huh," Rukia blinked a few times to clear her vision (stars had popped up in her eyes), then bent down to grab her scrapbook. She walked over to her bed and flopped down, flipping through it. She and Miyako had made these when they were in first grade.

"Did you take your medicine when you got home?" Rukia rolled her eyes.

"Yes Mom," the younger girl paused on the page with the pictures. There was one of three little kids, all around the same age – three – sitting in a sand-box; Rukia, grinning up at the camera as she showed off her sand castle, Miyako, who was digging a hole that she claimed would make it all the way to America, and a boy who was taller than both girls, with spiky red hair. He was grinning as he showed off the pile of sand he had made. "Hey Mom, can I call Renji?"

"What's with the sudden trip down memory lane?" Hisana asked curiously.

"I found out today I only have two weeks to live"

"Rukia!" Rukia winced.

"Sorry Mom," she muttered, looking down at the carpeted floor, "I don't know why, really. Can I call Renji or not?"

Rukia expected a no after what she had said, but Hisana nodded. As Rukia bustled down to the kitchen, she could have sworn she saw tears in Hisana's eyes, and she felt guilty; sometimes, when Rukia was bitter, she made stupid jokes like that, but she knew they upset her mother.

Rukia tapped her foot impatiently as she leaned against the counter, phone pressed against her ear. Finally, "Hello?"

Rukia tried to sound upbeat. "Hi! Is Renji there?"

"Rukia!" Abarai-san sounded over-joyed, "Of course, just a second – Renji, phone! Oh Rukia, how are you? We haven't heard from you in awhile, we were worried. I talked to your mother a few months ago, she said you were in the hospital again-"

Rukia had to struggle not to be impatient, "Yeah, minor complication, all better now though"

"Mom, give me the phone!" a voice on the other end whined suddenly.

"Go away Renji, I'm talking"

"Mom!" Rukia laughed. There was a scuffling noise on the other end, then Abarai-san came back on.

"Rukia, I have to go – Renji's pulling the phone away – it was nice to hear from you again, bye – Renji!"

A second later, a male voice said, "Hey Rukia!"

And Rukia grinned. "Hey loser, forget how to use a phone?"

"Back atcha," Abarai Renji laughed good naturedly, "How ya feeling?"

Rukia groaned. "Please, Renji, for once I want to have a converstaion that's not about me and my health, all right?"

Renji picked up the hint at once and started going on about absolutely nothing. After about five minutes, Rukia broke in to say, "You found a girlfriend yet?"

There was silence. Usually Renji got pissed off when Rukia said something like that. Rukia blinked. "You...found a girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Renji said quickly.

"Oh yes she is!" Abarai-san piped up from the background.

"No, she isn't!" Renji protested; Rukia could almost hear his scowl, "She's just a friend, her name's Matsumoto Rangiku-"

"And you just happened to go to a couple school dances with her?"

"Aw, how cute!" Rukia chirped, "Renji's in love!"

"Oh shut up," Renji grumbled, "Both of you. I'm surrounded my psychos"

"But you know you love us," Rukia said in a sickeningly sweet voice. Renji made a gagging noise on the other end, and Rukia just had to laugh again. She loved talking to Renji, he was good at making her problems go away.

"Rukia," she looked around. Her mother was standing in the doorway. "Don't you think you've been talking long enough?"

"We've only been talking for ten minutes!" Rukia protested, "Mom, please-"

"Why don't you tell Renji you have to go?" Rukia scowled angrily.

"Renji, I have to hang up now"

"Aw, why? Wait, your mom? Or dad?"

"First one," Renji sighed.

"All right. Talk to you later?"

"Unless some disaster comes up, definitely," Rukia didn't bother to keep the annoyance out of her voice this time, "Bye Renji"

"See ya Rukia," Rukia hung up, fuming.

"What's the big deal about talking on the phone?" she asked, knowing full well if her father was around she would have gotten in trouble for speaking that way, "It's not like I was actually doing anything!"

"I'm sorry, Rukia," Hisana said with a sigh, "But I want to talk to you," Rukia started to say something sarcastic, but before she could, Hisana held up a small pill bottle. Rukia's pills. Rukia winced.

"You er...counted them?" it was an annoying habit Hisana and Byakuya had taken up when they found out Rukia had stopped taking her pills. They'd count them after she said she took them, just make sure she wasn't lying.

"You told me you took them Rukia"

"I forgot," it was the truth. She'd gotten home, so eager to find her scrapbook, that she hadn't stopped to worry about her pills. She figured she could just take them after she found the book. But she hadn't counted on her mother coming hme before she found what she was looking for.

"Rukia-"

"I'm sorry," Rukia said at once, "I got home, I wasn't thinking I just ran right upstairs...I was gonna take them as soon as I found my scrapbook though. Look, here-"

She took the bottle from her mother and dumped out two pills, then grabbed a cup, poured some water into it, and popped the pills into her mouth, quickly sipping the water. "See? I didn't mean to forget, it just happened"

Hisana didn't look at all satisfied. "Rukia. Do you know why your father and I act the way we do?"

"Because...you care?"

"Exactly," Hisana ignored the sarcasm, "Rukia, you're all we have. If something happened to you...we couldn't handle it. We just want what's best for you"

Rukia sighed. "I know. I'm sorry"

And she was too. But sometimes, she would have given anything to just be...normal

Author's Note: I can assure you, this chapter was written for the soul purpose of throwing a little torture Rukia's way. Honestly, I had fun, but what do you guys think/pokes reader/ come ooon, you know you wanna review...please? I'll give ya a cookie. Chocolate chip. Please review though? Something between 50-65, maybe higher (depending on how nice you people are). - Sam

PS- Remember; cookies!