Chapter 2: The New Girl

Three days later. West Belin, Kurosaki Clinic

"Ichigo, your friends are here waiting for you."

Ichigo slowly opened his eyes and sat up. "Huh... Oh, hey Yuzu."

Ichigo's little sister smiled. "Also, breakfast is ready downstairs!" She walked out of the room.

Ichigo looked out the window and waved at Yasutora Sado, Keigo Asano, and Mizuiro Kojima.

"Ichigo, what's taking so long? We've been waiting for ten minutes!" Keigo shouted.

"Sorry guys, you can go on without me. I'll catch up."

Mizuiro smiled. "That's okay, we can wait."

Ichigo changed and walked downstairs. He quickly ate breakfast, grabbed his backpack, and walked out the door.

"Ichigo, did you see that new American movie RoboCop? It was awesome. The action scenes were so cool." Keigo is jumping up and down, obviously excited about the movie.

"No, not yet. I've been helping a lot in the clinic lately." Ichigo explained. It was true, he had been helping in the clinic a lot, but he also wanted to get Keigo to shut up before he started ranting about other movies or manga.

"Oh, that sucks. It's a pretty good movie, right Mizuiro?" Keigo asked.

"It was okay."

Keigo looked stunned. "What! That's it, just okay!?"

Mizuiro shrugged. "I mean, it wasn't terrible. Just not my type of movie."

Ichigo smiled as they walked together to school. They may be annoying, but they were also his best friends. He had met Mizuiro in the fourth grade. Mizuiro was the only one who would talk to him. Back then, Ichigo had been quiet and anti-social because of an incident a few months earlier. Mizuiro helped him get through his time of depression, and caused him to open up again. He had met Keigo two years ago. Keigo was getting bullied by a local gang. One day the gang trapped him behind a building and began to beat him, looking for his money. Ichigo saw this and called the cops. He then began to attack the gang, taking down three surprised members before the two remaining gangsters pinned him down. Keigo, who was completely forgotten, pushed them off him and began to attack one. By the time the cops arrived, the gang members were laying unconscious on the ground. Ichigo and Keigo were friends ever since.

"What about you Chad? How was your weekend." Ichigo asked Yasutora.

"...Good." Chad responded.

Ichigo nodded. Chad was a man of a few words. Correction, he was a giant of a few words. He stood at around six foot five and was built like a tank. Ichigo didn't know much about him, he had only met him last year.

When they got to the school, Ichigo walked up to his classroom. Despite being late this morning, the room was almost empty except for a few students reading or doing homework. He looked out the window at some new graffiti on the Berlin Wall. The wall had cut into the schoolyard when it was built. Apparently, the school had a huge field where students would run races on a track and teams would play soccer.

As Ichigo watched the students below walk into the school, he noticed someone out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over and saw a student standing there, reading a book. The student had long black hair, glasses, and was really skinny.

"Ishida." Ichigo growled. Uryū Ishida was the most annoying person in West Berlin, and the smartest in the school. He believed that East Germany was better than West Germany, and also claimed that if his grandfather (an important communist official) had not been assassinated, he would be living in East Berlin right now.

"I wish his grandfather wasn't killed either." Ichigo thought to himself. "Because I would have never met him."

A few blocks away.

Rukia Kuchiki had not eaten anything after she climbed the wall. She couldn't even find any clean water aside from some drinking fountains in a park. The thought of Renji getting shot trying to help her escape did not help her either.

"Shouldn't you be in school, miss?"

Rukia turned around and saw a man wearing a suit and a weird striped hat. He was probably walking to work.

"I... I'm new here. I don't know where the school is." She told him.

The man smiled. "It's right over there. Just take a left at the end of this street and continue walking until you see a tall red and brown building. There should be a huge sign on the door."

"Thank you." Rukia replied. She began to walk away when the man suddenly called her back.

"Are you okay, miss? It looks like your limping, and covered in bruises." He looked suspicious.

Rukia didn't know what to do. "I just fell off my bike, that's all." Rukia lied.

"Oh. Well, if you need anything, I own a shop a few blocks down." The man said. "It's called 'Urahara Shōten'. I could give you some food and a bed."

"Okay, I'll go with you." Rukia had given in because he mentioned food.

They sat together at a japanese-style table. A huge muscular man brought them food, and two young children were fighting each other outside.

"Thanks Tessai." The man said.

The big guy smiled. "It was my pleasure sir, you know I love cooking steamed vegetables with rice and fish."

The man turned to Rukia. "I never asked what your name was. Do you mind telling me your name?"

"Rukia. Rukia Kuchiki."

The man picked up a cup of tea and took a sip. "My name is Kisuke Urahara. Nice to meet you, Rukia."

Rukia smiled and looked around the store. Everything was Japanese-themed. "Are you Japanese?" She asked.

"No, I'm German. The reason this is a japanese store is because I have an interest in the deep and mystic history of Japan. I love reading about the Samurai and other groups." He replied. "I also changed my name."

Rukia nodded. She was part Japanese, and a history freak too.

They ate in silence for the remainder of the meal. The two little kids joined them when the shop closed.

"Jinta, get a bed for our guest please." Kisuke told the boy.

"Mr. Urahara, actually I... I Decided to leave." Rukia quickly said. What was she thinking? She was turning down an offer to sleep in a warm bed.

"Oh, do you have a house nearby?"

"Yes." Rukia lied. Her mind was telling her "no", but she knew she had to leave sooner or later. She couldn't live here forever.

5 hours later, West Berlin

Ichigo couldn't fall asleep. Tonight was one of those nights where he felt like he needed to sleep, but knew he wasn't going to for a while. He decided that he might as well get some extra homework done. Ichigo sat down at his desk next to the open window and began to do some research papers for school. The street lights below cast shadows on the empty street. After an hour, Ichigo noticed a little girl standing motionless at the corner of the street. At first he thought he was just tired and was seeing things. It was cold outside and she was standing motionless. After five minutes, he decided that he WAS seeing things and decided to sleep.

Ichigo woke up surprisingly early the next morning. He didn't try to fall back asleep because he knew he wouldn't be getting back up. Instead, Ichigo walked to the old playground to kill some time. When he got there, he found a girl sleeping on the bench. It was the girl he saw from last night.

"Damn, I guess I wasn't dreaming." Ichigo thought. "I wonder if she is homeless or something." The weird thing was that he had never seen her before. Last night, she looked like a little girl. In the sunlight, she looked about his age.

"Should I wake her up, or leave her in the cold?" Ichigo thought. "I'll wake her. If she wants to sleep, she can sleep at the clinic." He noticed cuts and bruises on her. Maybe she got into a fight. Or was physically abused.

Ichigo placed his hand gently on her shoulder and shook her. She jolted awake.

"Huh!?" She quickly turned to Ichigo. "Who are you, and why did you wake me up?"

"Is she being serious?" Ichigo thought. "I woke you up because your sleeping on a wooden park bench in almost freezing weather, wearing only a sweatshirt."

"So? Why do you care what I do?" Her face was bright red from the cold, and her legs were shaking.

"Hmm, maybe because it looks like you have hypothermia." Ichigo said.

"Hypothermia?"

"Yeah. It's what happens if you stay in the cold too long. It could kill you." Ichigo knew that she probably didn't have a doctor as a parent, but he had learned about hypothermia in school.

"Look, why are you trying to help me?" She asked.

"Did you not just listen to what I said? You were sleeping in freezing temperature, and you could die." Ichigo responded. "I also saw you standing on the corner of my street last night. My dad is a doctor, he could help you."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not interested." She turned her back and sat back down on the bench. "I appreciate you trying to help me, but I don't want you to help. I can handle myself."

"Whatever." Ichigo said. He turned and left.

When he got to school, Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about the girl. She was obviously homeless, but for how long? Why had he never seen her before?

"What if she escaped from East Berlin to West Berlin?" Ichigo wondered. "That explains why she wouldn't accept my help. She was scared that my dad would send her back."

As Ichigo was still thinking, the teacher walked into the room and began to teach the class about Germanic kingdoms. Ichigo raised his hand.

"Yes, Kurosaki?"

"I need to use the bathroom."

"Make it quick, Kurosaki." The teacher turned his attention back to teaching.

Ichigo walked out of class and snuck out the school doors. He ran to the old playground and saw the girl laying on the ground unconscious.

"Idiot." He said as he picked her up and carried her to his house. When he got there, a sign on the door read that the clinic would be closed until further notice. His dad also worked in the major Berlin Hospital. So in other words, his father wasn't home.

Ichigo placed her gently on a couch and put a couple blankets on her. He knew he shouldn't go back to school, so he sat down next to her and watched tv.

After about an hour, she opened her eyes and looked around.

"It's you again... Why did you take me here?"

"You were literally about to die. I came back and found you unconscious face-first on the ground." Ichigo told her.

The girl threw her arms around Ichigo and hugged him, tears rolling down her face. Ichigo was not expecting that kind of reaction.

"Umm... It's okay. Your not going to die now." Ichigo said.

The girl looked up at him. "It's not that... It's because your being so kind to me. You basically saved me, after I was rude to you."

Ichigo was even more stunned. "I wasn't about to let you die. You also weren't being rude to me. I guess it's my fault for waking you like that."

The girl stood up and walked over to the door.

"Hey, where do you think your going? Your not healthy enough to go back outside." Ichigo walked over to her.

"I'm fine, really. Thanks for everything." She smiled at him.

It was the perfect time to ask about the wall.

"Look, if you escaped from East Berlin, you don't need to hide it. I won't turn you in."

The girl stopped and slowly turned around. She looked scared.

Ichigo continued talking. "If that's the reason why you didn't want to come here, I totally understand. I promise I will not turn you in, or tell anyone."

She looked him in the eye. "Promise?"

"Promise."

The girl walked back to the couch and sat down. "What is your name?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Mine is Rukia Kuchiki."