[Edited as of June 17, 2014 with a lot more metaphors sprinkled in there.]

Chapter One: Contention

The best way Rukia could describe Ichigo Kurosaki was with a word that, had Byakuya heard, he would be washing her mouth with soap.

Of course, it seemed that most in her school thought differently, which made navigating through conversations extremely difficult, him being a welcoming topic for others. Everywhere she went, they sang praises. "Oh, don't you think Ichigo Kurosaki is good-looking?" or maybe "Man, why does he have to be so smart?" Frankly, it brought out a jealous side of Rukia that she never had access to before (she was just as smart as him, she is just as good-loo – well.) Even her two friends, Orihime and Momo, weren't immune to those flatterings, made more incriminating by the fact that the latter already has a boyfriend.

There was no easy method to pinpoint the exact moment in time when this distaste had been birthed, but Rukia supposed it was most likely in grade school. He had once received better marks than her on the students' quarterly progress reports and didn't hesitate to brag about it. Maybe not straight to her face, but somewhere near it.

School was one area that Rukia prided herself in, and such a shameful defeat was simply not acceptable. To make matters worse, she then proceeded to lose to him by half a percentage point in math class in middle school. That stung more than bees ever can. Adding salt to the injury was that the strawberry continued to outperform her in math class, but never by a large margin, mind you – never more than a point or two. Oh, then he had the audacity to walk up to her in the halls one day and offer his assistance during a particularly difficult unit on quadratics. Assistance that she had no desire to accept, thank you very much.

That was not even the most irritating aspect about him. Ichigo had a particular air about him gave him the facade of being cool or uncaring, despite his highly respectable grades, which definitely clashed with the image. But that couldn't fool Rukia in the slightest. If "cool" were the sun, he would be a galaxy away.

She also did not comprehend why he kept approaching at her, be it in the hallways of school or somewhere off school grounds when they happened to bump into each other. The snarky, sarcastic grin that often followed his signature scowl. He never appeared fazed when their conversation turns into an argument, which happens frighteningly often, or she walks past him quickly, wearing a similar scowl harsh enough to scare children.

Needless to say, Ichigo Kurosaki was a dick.

No matter how many times Rukia tried to convince her friends of it, none of them listened and merely waved it off with a, "Oh come on, move past it, Rukia."

Renji Abarai was perhaps the most guilty out of them all, even going so far as to consort with and befriend Ichigo and calling her dislike of him a manifestation out of jealous, but in a less eloquent manner. It wasn't surprising though, considering they were on the same basketball team at the high school for two years before Ichigo quit, which had inevitably lead to the two spending more time together.

Orihime Inoue might be then the runner-up for the spot of most guilty, considering she does have a sizable crush on Ichigo. It had started a few years back when he prevented her from falling in gym class during a soccer unit. Her being slightly clumsy and a magnet for trouble made tripping on the ball practically unavoidable. Due to a questionable pass to her made by a fellow friend, Uryu Ishida, she lost her balance and tumbled down. Thankfully, her knight in shining armor swooped in from nearby and looped his arm around her waist, pulling her upright again. The only good that came out of the situation was Rukia grabbing the chance to steal the ball and score a goal for her team. Orihime, however, became hung up on the strawberry ever since and paid no mind to other possible suitors.

Momo Hinamori was probably the most tolerable when it comes to Ichigo, and for that, Rukia was thankful. She admired him quietly, but that was the extent of it. She was sweet on some prodigy by the name of Toshiro Hitsugaya, who was short in both stature and temper, a year and a half younger, but in their same grade. They balanced each other out spectacularly, actually. Momo was bubblier than a fish tank, and Hitsugaya would often become flustered by her mannerisms, which appeared quite cute.

As for Rukia's own love life? Nonexistent as of now, and she held no grudges against that. It will come when it does, and if it doesn't, then that was that. It wasn't essential for happiness.

All this she contemplated on one October Sunday, trying to delay finishing up a history project due tomorrow.

After typing the last finishing touches to the report, Rukia cracked her knuckles with satisfaction and leaned back on her chair with a slightly fatigued sigh. Finishing work usually came with a pleasant feeling of accomplishment, despite its strains.

Her phone lit up as her ringtone played "Spring" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Rukia designated one for each of her closest contacts (Byakuya, Renji, Momo, and Orihime), and this was the one given to Hinamori. "Hey Momo, what's been happening?"

The girl's voice was soft when she posed a question after some customary greetings, "Hey, Rukia, do you think I'm smart?"

Leaping adeptly into friend mode, Rukia assured her with an, "Of course! I mean, you could be lacking in street-smarts sometimes, but nothing that can't be fixed with some special conditioning. Why are you asking? Oh wait, let me guess, this is about Hitsugaya isn't it? Did he call you dumb, because if he did –"

"No, of course not!" She was quick to defend. "Shiro wouldn't say that, but – oh this sounds so silly – we were playing Trivial Pursuit, and he just utterly demolished me. It's probably me being a sore loser. But then there's the suspicion that – I mean, I know I'm not as smart as him, but what if he actually does think I'm dumb? Considering he skipped a grade and got into MENSA and... What if?" The last part was said in a whisper of horror.

"If Hitsugaya truly is that smart, then he should realize that you're the best thing that's ever going to happen to him and hold on tight." Momo was the type to overanalyze, especially on the said subject.

Momo giggled nervously, less anxious now. "People always say they get a fiery, fluttery feeling in their tummy when they meet 'the one'. Or maybe that's a sign I should stop reading romance novels."

"People say lots of things," Rukia mused. Momo could be entirely too naive and trusting sometimes, so Rukia assumed the job of bringing her friend down from her cloud of innocence. "For example, I get a fiery, fluttery feeling in my stomach when I see Kurosaki, and that mostly contains my animosity and a desire to punch someone."

Momo giggled again, this time more relaxedly. The two then moved on to another topic of discussion, a very heated debate on whether whipped cream was acceptable on coffee or not ("Momo, it'll just ruin the sanctity of caffeine!"; "Whipped cream is a versatile food and acceptable on anything!").

The two ended the conversation a few minutes later when Hinamori realized she still have unfinished chores.

As soon as Rukia hung up, another call came through, this time "Summer," which meant Renji.

"You have to rescue me from my inevitable death on Tuesday," he groaned.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Drama queen."

"No, you don't understand. My parents are hosting this huge, formal dinner at our house in two days, and it's going to be all old, boring people in suits and dresses. Even worse, they're forcing me to attend so they can present me as their 'most excellent son' to their coworkers." With horror, not unlike Momo's tone before, Renji added, "And I have to dress up in a suit, tie, and kiss old ladies' hands when inviting them inside." A gagging noise was audible.

"What do you want me to do? Get a huge wrecking ball and knock your house down so you don't need to go to the party, greet old people, and learn how to tie a tie?"

"No, no, just endure the party with me. That way, I can at least bring someone down with me."

"Hmm..." Rukia tapped her chin with an index finger.

"There will be professional catering."

"Done."

She could practically see Renji roll his eyes. They went over a few more details of the dinner party, like what types of clothes are suitable to wear and when to show up, and he ended the connection with a sincere, "Thanks, it'll be less hellish than before."

Throughout the two phone conversations, Rukia had moved from a corpse position on her bed to standing up beside her window. Her room claimed a large space on the second floor, and she was grateful for all the space. There was only one downside, and that was the view.

A practically identical house stood next to the Kuchikis (except with blue shutters) that belonged to no one else but the Kurosakis. Yours truly. Rukia scowled towards the direction of the building only to have the room directly across from her window light up. It was getting dark, actually. Right when she was about to go and turn on her own light, Ichigo himself popped up from behind his window, probably meaning to close his blinds as well.

He immediately looked to Rukia's face from his windows and cocked his head with a curious expression. Oh, now it probably looked like she had been trying to take a peek into his room or something equally intrusive.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she clenched her curtains with her hands and flicked them shut without another thought.

Ichigo didn't understand why Rukia Kuchiki disliked him so intensely, made rather evident by her constant need to shoot him dirty looks or the sort. To be frank, it even frightened him a little how intense she could be with it all.

No one in his school can even hope to contend with her apparent loathing, and yet, he can't find a reasonable excuse as to why she felt that way. He didn't want her to feel that way like anyone would who had such an avid hater with no cause.

Not once had he insulted her or belittled her, except perhaps a quip about her height here and there, but come on. That was trivial. One day during elementary school, she had just shown up one day with a sudden sour expression and never really moved on from that. A true mystery with no leads.

He has tried to investigate the matter before, through initiated conversations that never really led anywhere except straight to a verbal argument. Perhaps it was time to abandon such a fruitless pursuit, because there would be no real loss, but giving up was never his bowl of soup, and so he persisted. Even some of her closer friends, like that Inoue girl who speaks to him often, failed to shed some light on the situation. She had posed some theories like Rukia having a jealous streak or an inferiority-superiority complex, but they seemed outlandish. This all led to him deciding on getting more intel by fieldwork in order to get to the bottom of this.

The situation with Rukia wasn't the only thing that perplexed him, though, and the other included him not understanding why people looked so favorably upon him. It was honestly tiring and left him with no room to, well, mess up. He once surveyed one of his closer female friends, Tatsuki, and she had given him a "why are you being so dense?" look.

She had said, with a shake of the head, "You know, for someone with one of the best grades at Karakura High, you can be really, really blind."

"What?" He had complained.

"Let's lay it out, shall we? You're among the top students, like I've mentioned, you're not bad-looking, even borderline attractive depending on what kind of day it is –"

"I do appreciate the compliment."

"– and you try to please everyone..." She had ticked the points off with her fingers. "Even Kenpachi appreciates your skills at holding your own in a fight, which is rare because he almost never speaks good about someone in that respect."

"That just means he wants to pick a fight with me."

"That's entirely beside the point. Did you also forget the dog incident last year, where you became a household name?" Tatsuki was referring to the incident last year when three extra-ferocious dobermans and three mutts were set loose within the confines of the school in the morning. No one knew who was the culprit, but many underclassmen assumed it was the senior prank for that year. However, it didn't prove too successful when one student fainted from anxiety out of cynophobia, and several ran out of the school. There were mixed reviews about the whole thing, as the majority were extremely amused by the distraction the dogs caused, but on the other hand, it wasn't the most thoughtful prank ever done.

Somehow, two janitors, several student council members, and a very irate principal weren't enough to catch the beasts as they weaved through the hallways, doing their dog thing and occasionally defecating.

Dogs were not Ichigo's favorite animal, and so all the barking was really grating on his nerves. In an attempt to calm everyone down, he bought a package of beef jerky from one of the school's vending machines and sort of waved and flopped it at the group of them, albeit not very enthusiastically.

Seconds later, they were hooked, and he was buried under six dogs that eagerly snapped at his hands, but not threateningly. He was not thrilled, to say the least, but at least the animals were under control.

Animal Control was then called, and it was revealed that they had all intentions of euthanizing the animals for "potentially causing bodily harm to students," as the principal so graciously put it.

As much as he didn't like the dogs, the fault cannot be placed on them and now, they're the ones paying with their lives for no real reason. Except scaring a few people here and there, but that was not a serious enough of a rap sheet.

In the short amount of time that it took for the Animal Control people to arrive, Ichigo managed to convince and rally enough of his friends to take the dogs into their care. In fact, he himself volunteered to adopt one of them, thinking maybe it could play frisbee with Karin or something. Isshin was hesitant on it at first, but Yuzu's pleadings were the ultimate catalyst in the final decision, and the new dog was christened as an official Kurosaki.

Since that day, a large population of the school looked upon him with some new recognition or even just giving him a general nod of acknowledgement through the halls. Rukia, however, was no different. There was a second though, seeing him buried under a pile of dog, when her eyes widened with surprise. It was a moment of being caught off guard that replaced the usual frown, which was a pleasant change, he thought.

She had the same exact expression on when he saw her standing by her window across from his. Then it disappeared, like it had before, and she seemed to pull her curtains shut at an incredible speed. Hm, no surprise there.

There was no time to brood over its meaning because then, his cellphne rang, interrupting his thoughts. "Hey Renji, what's up?"

"Kurosaki, you gotta help me out." He then went on to relay the heartbreaking tale of a dinner party he had to attend, hosted by his parents. It was filled with prospects of polite talk, meticulous table manners, and formal clothing – none of which were his forte. "So now I'm cordially inviting you to suffer alongside me on Tuesday at six. How 'bout it?"

"You'd owe me one, Abarai."

A/N: Title inspired partly by a line of the Minecraft ending poem crossed with how the Italian pronounciation of Rukia's name could be taken to mean light.

Thanks for reading, and a review would be greatly appreciated!