Miracles – III

Ichigo ran an annoyed hand through his hair as he walked into his house. Another day, another portion of his life completely wasted. "Someday I'll regret all the time I spend in that place," he grumbled, "I don't learn anything useful, and it's my Senior year..."

"Hi Ichi-nii!" Yuzu chirped. The smell of fresh cookies wafted from the kitchen. Ichigo walked in and grabbed a cookie off the plate on the counter. "Hey!" Yuzu slapped his hand with the cooking spoon, "No cookies until after dinner"

Ichigo huffed, annoyed, "Come on!" he whined, "Just gimme one"

"Are you eighteen or eight?" Karin asked as she walked into the kitchen. Ichigo scowled in his sister's direction, then looked back at Yuzu.

"Just one"

Yuzu gave in. "All right, one"

Ichigo grabbed one, and Karin did at the same time. "Now who's eight?"

"At least I wasn't whining"

Ichigo grumbled under his breath and continued to munch on the cookie. "So what do you guys want for supper?" Yuzu asked as she pulled another batch of cookies out of the oven. Karin and Ichigo both shrugged, and Yuzu pouted. "You guys have no minds of your own, do you?" the young girl asked as she started going through the cabinets, "How about chicken and rice?"

"Hey, where's Dad?" how Ichigo missed his father's annoying presence in the first place was beyond the orange-haired teen.

"Meeting," Yuzu said, "He said this morning he probably wouldn't be home until nine or so. But he told me to tell you...um..."

She looked confused. "Tell me what?" Ichigo prompted.

"Well...he said something...about telling you to invite someone to dinner...a girl, I think..."

Ichigo silently promised that he would kick his dad in the face as soon as he walked in the door. Scowling, he reached out to grab another cookie. Yuzu slapped his hand again.

"No more until after dinner!"

"Where's Dad?" Rukia asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"He's working late again," Hisana said as she spooned some rice into a bowl, "Things have been...well, tight, the last year, he missed a lot of work, and money..."

Rukia sat down at the table, feeling guilty. Hisana, picking up on her daughter's feelings, said, "I didn't mean it like that, Rukia. You know I didn't. Your father would do anything if it meant helping you, don't take it the wrong way"

"I'm not," it was so completely obvious that she was. Hisana sighed as she set two bowls down on the kitchen table.

"Don't worry about it Rukia, just come and eat, all right?"

"I'm not hungry," Rukia muttered. But Hisana gave the girl a stern look.

"You have to eat"

Defeated, Rukia sat down at the table. The dinner was mostly silent, until finally Hisana couldn't take it anymore. "So how's school going?"

"Okay," Rukia didn't dare mention that some of the kids had pegged her as a weakling, and had been harassing her off and on for the last week. She knew it would send Hisana into a panic.

"Classes going okay? You don't feel too behind?"

"After Ishida-kun's tutoring? I feel too far ahead," when Hisana and Byakuya had found out Rukia would probably miss most of the school year, they'd worried about her falling behind and being held back. One of the nurses, Ishida Orihime, had told Rukia's parents about a program the hospital had, for kids like Rukia who had to spend long parts of the school year in the hospital. And Ishida-san's husband, Ishida Uryu, happened to be one of the tutors in the program. He'd worked a lot with Rukia throughout her stay in the hospital, getting work from school and work of his own. He was really very smart, though most of the time Rukia didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about.

"That's such a nice program the hospital has, isn't it?" Hisana was speaking again, "I was glad Ishida-san mentioned it to us, I think she's taken a liking to you Rukia, over the last ten years..."

"Well when a person's constantly in and out of the hospital, they start to like you a little," Rukia didn't even bother hiding the bitterness in her tone. Hisana easily picked up on her daughter's tone. She was sensitive like that.

"Well, hopefully your last visit will last you awhile," she said with an air of wanting to change the subject. Rukia obliged.

"Yeah, maybe. Look, I don't feel too good, can I go lay down?"

"What's wrong?" Hisana's airy tone was gone at once, replaced with one of worry.

"Nothing," Rukia said in what she hoped was a half-way soothing voice, "I just...maybe I'm catching a cold or something"

Hisana looked down at Rukia's bowl. "You hardly ate anything"

"I told you, I'm not really hungry," Hisana and Rukia looked at each for a second, and finally the former gave in.

"All right, go lay down," Rukia, feeling just a bit on the side of triumphant, stood up and walked upstairs. She hadn't been lying; for the past couple of days she had felt a little...iffy. She hadn't planned on mentioning to her mother – she figured it was probably just a cold, after all – but if it got her out of a mother-daughter confrontation...

Sighing, the girl collapsed onto her bed. She was tired, but it was only a little after six. Oh well. She didn't even bother to change into her pajamas or crawl under the covers before falling asleep.

Ichigo shoved his left hand into his pocket and slung his bag over his right shoulder. Another day, another small portion of his life about to be wasted. Why couldn't he just graduate already and get it over with?

"Hey, stop it – leave me alone!" the angry voice reached Ichigo's ears the second he entered the school building. It was a female voice, and it was vaguely familiar...

"Just hand over your freakin' money, shrimp," a gruff voice answered the angry one, "Come on, we don't wanna hurt you, right?"

"Right," said a second voice, "Just be easy, midget-"

"Don't call me a midget," the first voice snapped. A second later there was a howl of pain. Ichigo, curious now, moved quickly through the halls, and, upon turning around a corner, found himself facing an odd sight indeed; two Seniors, Ikkaku and Kenpachi, were facing off with the tiny Kuchiki Rukia. Well, Kenpachi was facing off with her anyway; Ikkaku was on the floor, clutching his shin, which Rukia had apparently just nailed.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that..." now, Rukia was obviously stronger than she looked. But Kenpachi was huge. Rukia would never be able to take him...

"Oi," Ichigo stepped in between Rukia and Kenpachi, "What's going on, Zaraki?"

"Just trying to teach the little shrimp some respect," Kenpachi growled, "Move aside, Kurosaki. Or don't, I'll just deal with you first"

"Back off," Ichigo said threateningly, "And leave Kuchiki alone, got it?"

"Or what?" Kenpachi shot back. Ichigo jerked his thumb at Ikkaku.

"See him?"

"What 'bout 'im?"

"He looks better than you will when I'm through; you'll be unconscious," Kenpachi glared down at Ikkaku.

"I'm not afraid of you Kurosaki"

"I don't expect you to be, but back off anyway"

After a second Kenpachi bent down, grabbed Ikkaku, and hauled him up. "This isn't over," he glared at Ichigo and Rukia once more before walking away.

"Hey, you-" was as far as Ichigo got. As soon as he turned around, the flat of a small hand connected with his head; Rukia had slapped him. "What the hell?!" he raged, "Is that how you thank someone who just saved your sorry ass?!"

"I didn't need you to save me!" she shot back, "You should have just minded your own business!"

"Zaraki would have flattened you!"

"I wasn't afraid of him"

"In that case you're just an idiot"

"You weren't afraid of him either, does that make you an idiot?" Ichigo blinked. Damn. She had him there.

"Oh...shut up," Rukia smirked.

"So, you know me, who are you? Wait, let me guess. Kurosaki Ichigo, right?" now Ichigo was surprised.

"You know me?"

"We were in the same class when we started here. You kind of stand out, you know, the hair and all," Ichigo was feeling dumber by the minute. So she knew him. Talk about being a fool. He could practically feel the word being etched across his forehead.

"Oh. I see. I don't...er..."

"You don't remember me?" she supplied him with the words.

"Er..." now he was just embarrassed, "I have trouble putting names with faces. It's nothing against you, really-"

"It's okay, I'm used to it," she assured him, "I kind of...made it that way. I like hiding in the shadows, you know? Keeps me safe"

"Safe from what?" he didn't know

"Safe from...everything. People, emotions...all of it," the depth of the answer really surprised Ichigo, though he couldn't help but feel a little put off by it. Why did she want to be safe from things like that? What was she hiding?

"You've thought a lot about this, huh?" she nodded, her eyes focused on the linoleum floor. "You know...people aren't really that bad, once you get to know them. Those two thugs you just dealt with don't set a great example, but..."

"You're not one to preach, Kurosaki," she smirked slightly, her violet eyes shining with a sort of mischief, "You don't exactly enjoy the company of people yourself. I see you, always looking for an escape. I bet you understand what I'm saying a lot more than you're letting on"

Ichigo scowled a bit at that. She was obviously a very observant girl. "Well, yeah, I mean...you don't seem like the kind of person...I mean, you don't seem like me"

Her smirk became an almost sad smile, "You're right. I'm not like you. You have a lot more going for you. I have nothing going for me"

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "You wouldn't understand. Come on, we'd better get to class, we're going to be late"

And she left Ichigo feeling very confused indeed. He wasn't sure, but he felt as if he had just made a new friend.

Author's Note – Isn't interaction nice? Seems like a typical Ichigo and Rukia moment, doesn't it? I thought it did...but yeah. Let me know what you think /points to review button/ Go on, you know you want to press it...some review number that's 75 or above for this chapter would be nice - Sam