Author's Note: I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU.
And Make Me a Perfect Match
Rukia was still in a state of shock. She had not expected her evening to go the way it had at all. She had gone to class feeling fairly excited about getting her paper back, and the class itself wasn't too bad. When she hadn't gotten her paper back and Professor Aizen had asked her to stay after class she had begun to worry. When he had started on how plagiarism was a serious offense, she had been startled and a sinking feeling began forming in the pit of her stomach. Then he had produced the other paper. Who had written it was marked out, but it was clear from just glancing over it that parts of it were identical to her own. And Professor Aizen didn't believe her when she had said she had never seen the other paper before.
They were already in the process of expelling her she was told. She would need to wait and hear from the University Committee in charge to hear what the final result would be and if she would be allowed to finish the term. So it was no wonder that she was kind of out of when she got home. She remembered blurting out to Ichigo that she was being expelled. The next thing she remembered was being sat down on the couch with a cup of tea in her hands. Of course, tea tended to be Ichigo's response to crises when he couldn't hit something.
It wasn't hard for him to coax the full story out of her. Rukia was frustrated and upset about this, and it felt good to be able to tell someone and have them actually listen to her. Ichigo's frown got progressively deeper as he listened.
"And the professor didn't let you do anything to defend yourself or prove that you didn't copy someone?"
She shook her head. "No. He didn't even go to my advisor with this because I know Professor Ukitake would have contacted me about something like this. I've just barely started school, and it's already over."
"Not necessarily." Ichigo was still frowning, but he also looked thoughtful. "There has to be an appeal process, and it's not like they can make a decision without talking to you first. That wouldn't be fair. We need to find out what the process is for this, so we can protest it. Do you have the original file on your computer for the paper?"
Rukia nodded, a little confused. "Yes, but what good with that do?"
"There's a mode that will show all the changes to a document. It also shows if you cut and past things. We can use that as evidence that you didn't copy the paper from somebody." Ichigo sighed. "Let's eat, and then we can work on a plan."
She realized then that he kept saying 'we'. She wasn't going to have to do this alone. Impulsively, Rukia threw her arms around Ichigo in a tight hug. He seemed rather taken aback by this but hugged her back however tentatively. He let go and pulled her towards the table.
"Come on, let's eat. Then we can figure out how to fix this."
