This is a story that I thought about and it's a collaboration with xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx. This was inspired by a video on youtube with the same title. Go check it out when you get a chance.


Stage One: Meeting


It was just supposed to be a normal day for Ichigo. He just needed to the bookstore for a book of Shakespeare's sonnets for his European Lit class. He wasn't expecting to find anything out of the ordinary. But when he found the book that he was looking for and looked up from the low shelf, he saw her. He immediately thought how beautiful she was, despite himself. Her short black hair kissed her cheeks as she moved it out of the way. Her pale skin was practically glowing in his eyes, and she had a small smile gracing her lips as she as she read the back of the book in her hands. It was all hard for him to keep from staring, but somehow he had managed to tear his eyes away, but only for a moment.

He watched her for a while longer, all the while feeling more and more like a stalker towards the beautiful stranger. As he watched, he noticed how she was very short. Never had he used the world 'cute', but when she was reaching for the shelves that were just a little too tall for her, the word popped up in his mind.

She then looked up at a higher shelf, and found a book that was incredibly interesting to her. But she couldn't quite reach it, and unlike other books that were too high up, she didn't just leave it. Ichigo couldn't just watch that happen to her. So, despite himself, he walked over to her and reached up to get the book she was eyeing. She looked up at him with big, beautiful, violet eyes.

"Is this the book you wanted?"

She gave a smile and nodded. "Yeah, thank you."

"Sure." Ichigo nodded. He looked at the book for a second, then smirked before handing it to her. "I've never heard of this book before."

"It's a horror romance story. Not many people know about these kinds of stories. What do you have?"

Ichigo flipped his book in his hand before looking at her. "I got a book of Shakespeare's sonnets for my European Literature class. But to be honest, I'd probably have gotten the book even if I weren't taking the class."

"A fan of Shakespeare are we?"

Ichigo nodded. "He's my idol."

"Well that's good. Not many people really like Shakespeare. They know of him, but really the only work they know by him is Romeo and Juliet."

"Is someone a little sensitive about this topic?"

"It's just I like a good read. And the tragedies are my favorite."

"I'm personally more of a sonnet guy. I was surprised when I looked through my collection of books and found out that I didn't have this book."

Rukia smiled. "So where do you go to school?"

"Oh, I go to The University of Tokyo. I study medicine there."

"Really?" She said, giving a dazzling smile. "Why medicine?"

"My family run's a clinic in Karakura Town. I want to be able to take over one day. I'm planning on starting my training at the end of next semester."

The girl nodded appreciatively. "Impressive. That's pretty cool."

"So, are you in school too?"

The girl nodded. "I go to the same school you go to. But I study Law there, so that may be why I've never seen you. I'd remember hair like yours."

Ichigo shifted his chocolate brown eyes upward towards his slightly shaggy, yet still handsome orange hair. "Yeah, I get noticed a lot because of it. Sometimes it brings me unnecessary grief. When I was in high school I used to get teased a lot because of it. And then people would pick fights with me. Then I would get in trouble for winning the fights."

"Oh well then, at least you weren't getting bullied. You had a bite to go with your bark."

"Yeah, unlike those other guys."

She gave a delicate giggle, making Ichigo's heart give an involuntary flutter. He was broken out of his distracted stupor by her hand being held out towards him.

"I'm Kuchiki Rukia. It's nice to meet you."

"O-oh… Kurosaki Ichigo. The feeling's mutual."

Rukia looked at the delicate watch that was on her pale arm before looking up at Ichigo with a smile. "Are you free?"

"Y-yeah, sure I am."

"Then join me for lunch. I wanna hear more about this European Lit class."

"Okay then. Let me just pay for my book, and I'll be ready to go."

Rukia nodded and watched him leave as she smiled to herself. She had been noticing him notice her for the past ten minutes, and had been trying to figure out a way to casually introduce herself. Who would have guessed that just being short would have worked to her advantage? She looked at the book he had given her, and decided that it was worth the buy and followed Ichigo to the checkout counter.

After that was all said and done, Rukia looked up at Ichigo with a smile. "So how's that European Lit class? Who teaches it?"

"Sasakibe Chojiro- sensei. He's really into the whole European aspect, especially the English lifestyle. Everyone makes the joke that he's not even Japanese anymore. But I still really enjoy the class. He aims to make each day a little different."

"Oh, I've heard of him. I hear that he brings in English tea for his class to drink while his students are going over things like Shakespeare, or the Bronte sisters' works."

"Yeah, and that tea takes some time to get used to… Anyways, any classes that you're particularly sweet on?"

"My Ethics class with Ukitake Jushiro is pretty cool. He's very kind, and understanding. To be honest, the only reason I originally took the class was because his teaching assistant was pretty nice, but he got married and moved to Nagasaki. Plus that was around the beginning of the semester."

"Hm." Ichigo said with amusement. "I didn't peg you as the girl who would take a class for a guy."

"Hey, it was a moment of weakness. What are you gonna do?" Rukia said with a slight giggle. "Don't act like you've never taken a class because the teacher or the TA was cute."

Ichigo gave a light blush and turned away. "Well… I did take a Traditional Medicine class taught by Urahara, and his wife and TA, Yoruichi-san, is pretty attractive. But she's kind of… I don't know how to explain it. But she's not as bad as Urahara. He's just insane…"

"I've heard the same. But thankfully, I don't have to take that class."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll have your share of crazy teachers by the time you're done with school. Everyone does."

"Well, I'd rather get all of my crazies out of the way first. So, onto another subject, where would you like to go for lunch?"

"I'm pretty much fine with anything."

"Then let's go get some okonomiyaki. I haven't had some in a while, and I was thinking about it earlier. Are you sure you're okay with that?"

Ichigo nodded. "It's fine. I was craving some today too."

The two found a place where they could get some good okonomiyaki and sat talking for a long while. They talked so long that they didn't even realize that they had spent about three hours just talking about nothing.

"So," Rukia started. "How about your family? You said that your family run's a clinic, so you've pretty much grown up around medicine, right?"

"Pretty much. My parents have always wanted to help people. I guess that love for helping people rubbed off on me over the years. My dad's the doctor, and my mom's a Registered Nurse, so they kind of tag team a lot. And then, my two little sisters are considered assistants, so they help too."

"So it really is a family affair. That's really nice."

Ichigo nodded. "So now, since you asked me, I get to ask you. Why are you becoming a lawyer?"

Rukia smiled. "You want the honest answer?"

"Show me what you got."

"Well, I've realized that I love arguing. So I thought, 'why not put it to good use?' And that's why I'm studying law."

"It is not, and you know it."

Rukia giggled. "Okay, okay. My brother in law is a lawyer. I like the fact that he can help people who can't help themselves, at least on a legal level. It really inspired me, so I decided to follow in his footsteps."

"And arguing just helps make the deal all the more sweet?"

"That's right."

Ichigo gave a smirk. "Well that's still pretty cool." He looked at his watch and gave a tiny sigh. He still needed to go home and start on a paper that was due the next week on the book of sonnets he had just bought.

"Do you have to go?"

Ichigo looked at her apologetically. "Yeah, I have a paper that I have to write and it's worth a third of my grade. I really need to start on it."

"When's it due?"

"Oh, the end of next week. It's gotta be six pages and I don't even know how I'm going to start it…" Ichigo sighed putting his head in his hand. Rukia gave a sweet smile.

"Well, what class is it for?"

"My European Lit class. It's for the book I just bought."

Rukia nodded. "Well, I may not know much about Shakespeare's sonnets, but I am pretty good at writing papers."

"Is that so?"

Rukia nodded again, and pulled out a pen and a little piece of paper. She started writing down her phone number before giving it to Ichigo. "You can give me a call anytime, and maybe I could give you a hand with it."

Ichigo nodded nervously. He was not used to feeling this way. But that wasn't to say that he didn't like it. "T-that's fine. Sure! Yeah!" He berated himself mentally for sounding so desperate. Rukia giggled at him, then picked up her check for her food.

"Just give me a little bit of a notice about what the paper is about, okay?"

Ichigo just watched her go to the checkout counter, and quickly after, she was gone. Ichigo couldn't help but feel a smile form on his face. He couldn't stop his heart from pounding, and the butterflies floated around everywhere.

"Wow, Ichigo. That was pretty awesome!"

Ichigo looked up to find his childhood friend looking down at him with a smirk. Ichigo rolled his eyes, the butterflies still not completely gone.

"Thanks Tatsuki."

"So are you going to call her?"

Ichigo got up from his seat and grabbed his check, and the napkin with Rukia's phone number on it, and took his wallet out to get the money to pay.

"I'm seriously considering it." Ichigo said, trying hard to hid his smile.


So, this first chapter was written by me, La Vie Musicale. The next chapter will be written by my partner, xXxMiserableLoveFairyxXx, and that will be up soon! Hope you enjoy!