Disclaimer: Haha, I forgot to put this in the first chapter… oops, my badXD I am not worthy of owning Bleach. That honor belongs to, and solely to, Tite Kubo. May he live forever and bring us more great manga.

About this chapter: Ahhhh, the fated chapter in which they meet… or not. I'm not sure yet. Ichigo and Rukia might meet, but then again, they might not. We'll just have to wait and find out…

XDXDXDXD

I look at the bag, packed and ready to go, sitting on my bed. Next, I turn and look at myself, dressed, but not quite ready to go. I still feel very nervous about fitting in, and I'm afraid those feelings won't go away until after the first day of school. I look back at Kawaii, sitting on my bed, sleeping. He always sleeps, unless he's eating or using the restroom. Other than that, it seems like his eyes are never open. I go over and pet him, thinking about one time when I was starting my first day at a new school when I was younger.

"Hisana" I say, looking up at her and then looking back down at my reflection in the small bathroom mirror.

"Yes, Rukia?" She asks, stroking my hair, pulling it back into a braid.

"Why do we have to go to school on the first day of school? Why can't we just skip the first day of school and start on the second instead?"

I remember her laughing, but I don't remember her answer. I sigh, pick up my bag, and go downstairs to eat breakfast. Breakfast before the first day of school is the worst. You can have great conversations, and forget about the task ahead, but then as soon as a second of silence fills the room, all you can think of are the teachers, and the students, and the homework, and the classes.

I walk down the huge staircase, then through a few rooms until I get into the breakfast room. It's not the biggest room, but it's very nice, with three glass walls and plants of Hisana's everywhere, it's a nice place to enjoy breakfast in the morning. Or worry about school in the morning. When I enter the room, I see Byakuya and Hisana already digging into breakfast. It's a breakfast of eggs and potato pancakes. I look at the big plate sitting in front of my spot, and sit down.

"How are you feeling, Rukia?" They ask at the same time, Hisana looking up from a book, Byakuya looking up from a newspaper. I laugh at them; perfect unison without even trying. It seems like they always manage to make me smile, even when I'm so nervous I don't want to eat.

"I'm fine." I say, eating some of the eggs and pouring a cup of juice.

"That's good" Hisana says, and Byakuya nods in agreement. Of course, because they're reading, my whole breakfast is filled with that silence in which you can worry as much as you want. When I'm done eating, I brush my teeth and head out and sit in the passenger seat of Byakuya's black car. He's already in the driver's seat, starting up the car. We drive to the school in silence, and when we get there, he stops outside the school. I look around, seeing all the different kids. There are normal looking kids, then there are kids who look a little crazy, and then there are kids who look like total delinquents. Like, a boy standing near a gate, talking to some other kids. His friends look normal, but he has long, bright red hair and tattoos all over his body. He also isn't wearing the uniform tie, and has the first few buttons on his shirt undone.

I look back at Byakuya and see that he's looking at the same guy I am.

"Maybe you should stay away from him." He says, going into overprotective-parent mode; even though he's my brother-in-law, he acts like a father from time to time, too, the same way Hisana acts like a mother sometimes. I shrug at him and exit the car.

"Thanks for the ride." I say, and walk up to the school. I follow directions from random people to get to my homeroom, and then walk up to the teacher, getting my assigned seat.

At least the teacher seems nice, I think. I look around and see that guy with the red hair and tattoos heading over my way. He's followed by a girl with wavy orange hair and huge endowments, and I hope that they aren't coming to talk to me.

But, no such luck. "Who are you?" The boy with the red hair and tattoos asks, looking down at me like I'm some piece of trash.

"I'm Kuchiki Rukia. Who are you?" I ask, trying to sound polite. I hold out my hand, but he just stares at it like it'll bite him if he gets closer.

"That's not important. You new here?" He asks, and I nod, pilling my hand back and setting it on my desk.

"Well, we just wanted to let you in on a few rules, newby." He says, wrapping his arm around the girl's shoulders. "During lunch, the roof is ours. Don't even think of going up there. Next, Matsumoto here's not very good at math, so during tests, you're going to have to find a way to help her." I glare at the guy saying this, making a mental note to get to the roof as soon as the lunch bell sounds just to irritate him.

"Why doesn't she try studying?" I ask, trying to sound puzzled and innocent. He glares at me and opens his mouth to speak, but the bell rings, so he turns around and sits in his seat.

"Okay, class." Says the teacher. "We're going to start off by telling your name to the class since we have a couple new kids this year." I won't list all the names, only that the red-headed tattoo-covered guy is named Abarai Renji, and that his girlfriend is named Matsumoto Rangiku.

The first few classes go quickly and without problem, and I take as many notes as possible. We don't learn too much since it's the first day of school, so I don't really need to take notes, but it's nice to be able to look back and check what you learned at the beginning of the year when summer comes around. It can be fun to see how far you've gone. When the lunch bell rings, I shove my books into my bag and grab my bag lunch that Hisana made for me. I then run up to the roof. Right before I open the door to the roof, I feel a little apprehension; that guy was big, and he had a couple big friends. What if they really get mad that I ignore them and go up on the roof to eat? I shove this idea out of my head. No one messes with a Kuchiki, especially over something as insignificant as where to eat lunch, I tell myself, and I open up the door.

I almost laugh when I see that the roof is empty, and that no one is there yet. I choose a corner to sit in and start my lunch. The corner is visible from the door, but also far enough away that if you're distracted you won't notice someone sitting in it. I then open up my bag lunch and start eating the food Hisana packed for me. She's not a very good cook, so the food pretty much sucks, but it's edible. I start in on something that looks like a burnt sandwich, though what you have to do to a sandwich to burn it is beyond me. Before I take a bite, I notice a movement in my peripheral vision, and look to see someone standing there. The door hadn't opened yet since I'd gotten on the roof, so he must have been on the roof, and I just hadn't noticed.

He has black hair almost as dark as mine, and glasses that reflect the sun, so I can't tell what color his eyes are.

"Hello, Ms. Kuchiki." He says politely. I slightly recognize his voice, and figure that he must be in my class. I smile up at him, embarrassed that I don't remember his name. "I'm Ishida Uryuu." He says. "May I join you?" He asks, and sits down beside me when I nod. When he sits down, he puts his hand up to shade his eyes from the sun, and I can see his eyes. They're a dark blue-grey, even darker than my dark blue eyes.

He smiles at me and opens his mouth, about to say something, but at that moment, the door to the roof bursts open, and there stands Renji, with some more kids behind him. I recognize the other kids from class; there's Keigo Asano, a loud boy with brown hair and brown eyes, Mizuiro Kojima, a shorter guy with black hair and dark eyes who's a total lady's-man. Next there's Tatsuki Arisawa, an aggressive-looking and acting girl with short black hair, and Chizuru Honsho, a flamboyant girl with red hair and grey eyes. Last, there's Inoue Orihime, a girl with long orange hair who's soft spoken, and a huge guy named Sado Yasutora, who probably speaks more with his fist than his vocal chords.

"Ishida!" Renji yells, pointing at Ishida, who turns around to face the group. "What are you doing talking to her? And you, Kuchiki!" He says, pointing at me now. "I told you not to come up to the roof!"

"I didn't know that you were serious. Or allowed to tell me what to do." I say, knowing I'm just setting myself up to get beat up or something, but I don't really care. On my first day, already people are becoming my enemies before even having a real conversation with me.

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After a few minutes of listening to Renji get mad at me and me shooting sarcastic retorts back at him, I get bored and leave, going to eat lunch in the classroom. When class starts back up, the only thing worth mentioning that happens is Renji glaring at me from across the room. I just ignore him, listening to the teacher and taking notes, then packing up when the end-of-school bell rings. Before I leave, the teacher asks me about my day, and I consider telling her about Renji being less-than-friendly, but I decide against it. I tell her that everything went well and walk out to wait for Hisana and Byakuya—they always manage to both come to pick me up after the first day of school.

I walk out of the school and stand in front, hoping that Renji is done being mean for the day, when I hear him yell something to someone from the other side of the school yard.

"Oi! Ichigo! Why didn't you come to school today?" He yells, and I turn to see who he's talking to. At first, all I notice is the spikey, bright orange hair, but then I see that he has a very handsome face, though he seems to have a permanent scowl plastered on.

"Yuzu was sick today, so I had to stay home and help out." I hear him say—talking a lot more quietly than Renji. "You know that my dad and Karin don't know what to do with themselves when Yuzu's sick. I woke up and had to make them breakfast because they weren't sure what to do." I smile hearing this, remembering how desperate and lost Hisana gets whenever Byakuya gets sick and vice versa.

"Anyway." The guy—Ichigo, was it?—says. "It was only the first day of school. I can't have missed much." I think of how right he is—he missed absolutely nothing but me being yelled at—and am brought out of my thoughts by the sound of Byakua's car horn coming from the front of the school. I turn to see his car, the window open. Through it I can see Byakuya at the wheel and Hisana, smiling and waving.

"Rukia!" She yells loudly, and I blush at how loud she is. I run up and get into the back of the car, happy to be going home. When I sit down, I put my bag next to me and see Kawaii sitting there, wagging his tail, his tongue slopping out of the side of his mouth. I pick him up and hug him while Byakuya drives away. While Hisana questions me on my day, I answer all of her questions as truthfully as possible, only bending the truth where Renji is involved. I don't want them to hear about him being mean today because it will make Hisana worry and make Byakuya call the school and complain. The drive home is quick and easy, and when there I run up into my room to start my homework, leaving Hisana and her questions to talk to Byakuya about what she thinks of my school so far.

I wanted to say thanks to the people who added this story to their favorite stories— it made me very happy. I'm especially grateful because I know that whenever I read a multi-chapter Ichiruki that's still in progress, I don't like to read it if they haven't met yet in the chapters made (I'm an impatient child, I know). So, just wanted to say thanksXD Please review!