WHEN THE SNOW FALLS
by Yih

Chapter One
The Shift in the Wind

Rukia still remembered the first time she had returned to the academy as a Kuchiki, how the other students and even the teachers had looked at her differently. She remembered how she had been told by the Headmaster that she would not need to continue on with her classes, that as of now she could graduate and be placed into one of the Gotei 13 as a shinigami. She remembered the look of surprise on his face when she politely declined and told him that her abilities weren't worthy of being a shinigami yet, but that she was confident that one day they would be.

She couldn't tell then if it was admiration in his eyes or if he thought she was foolish for giving up this chance to graduate out of the academy. After all, it wasn't easy. A good minority of the student body would never wear the robes of a shinigami and it wasn't like she was in the advanced class like Renji, where the pass rate was nearly perfect. She had made it, though.

She stood up proudly when her name, "Kuchiki Rukia," was called and she walked to the Headmaster to receive the black robes that marked her now and forever as a full-fledge shinigami. Rukia thought she saw the faintest of smiles on his face; regardless of if it was there or if she had just imagined it, she smiled brightly at him then turned around to the crowd that had gathered to watch the new class of shinigamis. She didn't see her brother, Byakuya, and the pure joy of receiving her black robes was dimmed a bit.

"Can you believe it?" Renji whispered loudly into her ear when she joined the other students that had received their black robes. "We did it!" he exclaimed fiercely, his eyes shining with such pride at their achievement. "Who would have thought the two of us from Rukongai would have made it this far?"

Rukia rolled her eyes at him. "I always had confidence I would make it through, even if you didn't."

"Like I had any doubts! Must I remind you who was in the advanced class?"

Rukia shrugged and retorted, "You only got into that class because you wield a zanpakuto better than I do."

Before Renji could say anything, Momo interrupted and asked innocently, "Are you two arguing again?"

"NO!" Renji vehemently denied and Rukia just grinned.

"It's too easy," Rukia said, laughing. "I know just how to provoke him."

"You two," Izuru said, shaking his head, "are impossible. I can't believe you two could bicker on this day. If there's anything to talk about, it's which squad we'll be assigned to."

"I hope it's squad 5!" Momo exclaimed. "Wouldn't that be amazing? Aizen-taichou is simply the best. Do you remember that time when he saved us from the Hollows?"

Even Rukia knew about the incident from start to finish thanks to Momo's idolization of Aizen. Rukia understood much better than the boys why Momo would feel that way. How could she not? When she herself deeply admired her brother, Byakuya? Rukia glanced at the crowd again, searching it diligently, but she couldn't find him at all.

"When do we find out about our squad assignments?" Renji asked. "I heard that they sent messengers to notify us. I wonder how long that takes…"

"Supposedly they're changing that this year, since the old method requires too much time and too much manpower," Izuru responded. "I heard that they're posting a list somewhere with our names and assignments."

Rukia wondered where she would end up, a part of her wanted to be placed in Squad 6 with Byakuya, just so that he would be forced to acknowledge her. For all her admiration, Byakuya didn't seem to care at all about her. In the beginning, when she found out she was being adopted into the Kuchiki family, she wasn't in awe of the name – she was in awe of finally being part of a real family.

She didn't have much to complain about. Byakuya was always unfailingly courteous with her, a true gentleman, but it wasn't the closeness that she thought she would get. It was anything but that. Then again, she wasn't really a part of his family. She was adopted into the Kuchiki family for some reason that was never made clear. All she knew from the elders was that her duty to the family was uphold the Kuchiki honor.

In time the elders had warmed up to her presence, Rukia would even daresay that they had come to accept her. It was far from obvious acceptance, which she didn't think she would ever get, but it was enough to her that they no longer criticize her impetuous actions or lectured about her improper behavior. If she could gain their approval, why couldn't she get Byakuya's?

It never made any sense to her why he had fought against his family to adopt her when he took no interest in her at all. For all the years she had lived with him at the Kuchiki mansion, for all that she might call him brother in her mind – they were no better than mere acquaintances.

"Hey Rukia!" Renji shouted as he grabbed her hand. "They've posted the results on the board outside of the academy, remember? That's where we found out we got accepted into the Shinigami Academy."

Rukia noticed now that Izuru and Momo were running toward the board that was located outside of the main building, just inside the front entrance. It wasn't only them, though. Every other new shinigami was also hightailing it over. As Renji dragged her along, she watched the others running, feeling herself also doing the same, yet it felt so surreal. Like she wasn't really here and she wasn't doing what she knew she was doing.

Everything was going to change again.

"I'm in Squad 5!" Momo cried out with such exuberance. "And so are Izuru and Renji! Isn't that great? I can't believe that three of us are in the same squad." Momo's excitement lessened when she noticed Rukia on her tiptoes trying to look over someone's shoulder to find out which her squad. "I didn't see your name in any of the previous squads. You must be in one the other ones."

Rukia nodded absently, her attention completely on trying to find her name on the lists. She could only see the squads that were posted at the top, which happened to be the uneven squad numbers. It didn't help the list she most wanted to see, Squad 6's, was blocked by some new shinigami she didn't recognize. She already knew she was in Squad 7 or 9, and she couldn't possibly be in Squad 11 with her inferior zanpakuto skills. She hadn't bothered checking further down yet, so intent on seeing if she was part of Squad 6.

"Hey—" Renji began before Rukia jabbed him quickly in the side with her elbow.

She knew he was going to do something rude to tell the guy in front of them to get out of her way. It wasn't that guy's fault that he'd gotten there first. As it was, he moved on down and she now had a perfect view of the Squad 6 list.

Her eyes scanned the list, searching for her name, coming to the end of it without seeing it. Even though she knew it was fruitless, she still went to the beginning of the list and looked through the entire thing again, just to double check. Her name was not on the Squad 6 list.

"Rukia!" Momo called and Rukia snapped her face in the direction of Momo's voice. "You're with Ukitake-taichou!"

Rukia remembered students gossiping about how the Taichou of Squad 13 was sickly and rarely did any of his duties. She heard that the Fukutaichou pretty much covered for Ukitake. She couldn't remember his name, but knew that he also came from a noble family. Rukia didn't see anything wrong with being part of Squad 13; she had no prejudice against them for having a sickly taichou – but she was disappointed all the same. Mainly because she had hoped she could train under Byakuya and show him that she wasn't the girl from Rukongai anymore. She was a competent shinigami and he had nothing to be ashamed of.

So much for that dream of finally being able to garner his approval, or even his affection…

Rukia squared her shoulders and put on the brightest smile on her face that she could muster. "You might have Aizen-taichou," she told Renji, "but I have Ukitake-taichou, do you know who he trained under?"

Renji shrugged as if he didn't really care, he was already touching his zanpakuto and Rukia knew he was already anticipating training under Aizen. "No."

"My taichou was the student of the Yamamoto-sou-taichou."

"So?"

Rukia shot him a scathing glare. "So that means when your taichou was a mere baby, mine was already a taichou!"

"Congratulations," Momo said with a sweet smile, trying to diffuse the tension that was rising between Renji and Rukia again, "I've heard Ukitake-taichou is a very honorable. I'm sure you'll do great with him."

"I suppose it's good they aren't going to the save squad," Izuru remarked. "They'd be fighting all the time."

"And Rukia would be winning," Momo added.

Rukia laughed, not even having to try to make it sound natural, it came easily as Renji started arguing at what Momo had said. Renji never did like being told that he wasn't the strongest, the best of them all. That was just Renji for you. She was going to miss them, hanging out with these three when they weren't in their different classes. They had always treated her as Rukia, not as a Kuchiki. It was just what she needed.

Now she was being asked to separate from them, going on her own path, to find what the future holds.

-

A/N: Hopefully, I represented the characters somewhat accurately, if not I hope you like it all the same! I know the general direction I'm going, but if there's something you'd like to see or if you have any suggestions, just let me know. Any questions too, I'll be happy to help. This was a pretty quick update, which I'm sure you'll appreciate. The next one should be pretty fast too. Thanks for all the reviews, they're great!

Released: 11/06/08