Author's Note – Gyah! Writing isn't a hobby for me, it's a drug! I kept saying over and over, 'I won't start this story, I won't'. But the idea kept bouncing, and bouncing, and...Gyah! Anyways...
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Title: Miracle
Rating: T (For language and possible Adult Situations)
Pairings: Ichigo/Rukia, Byakuya/Hisana
AU:Uh huh!
Summary: She's a dying girl, he's a rash, idiotic orange-haired teen. But he changes her world in ways she never thought possible, and gives her back a hope she thought she had long lost. Maybe there really is such a thing as a miracle
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Story Note: As this is an AU, I'm changing things a little; Byakuya and Hisana are going to be Rukia's parents, instead of her siblings. That's 'cause in every other AU I've written (all of which are currently collecting dust in their respective folders on my desktop), I've had to come up with gruesome ways to kill of Rukia's parents, and I'm tired of it. So Byakuya and Hisana are taking the position this time (don't worry, I'm not going to kill them). Okay, okay, enough of me, on with the story
Miracle
By: ForeverSam
Miracle – Prologue
"What if something really iswrong with her? I don't think I could stand it if we lost her, Byakuya"
Eight-year-old Kuchiki Rukia froze, her hand on the doorknob of her parents' room. Her violet eyes widened in surprise. "You can't keep thinking like that, Hisana. It's probably just a touch of flu, it's nothing to worry about-"
"She's been sick all summer," Rukia's mother, Kuchiki Hisana, insisted, "I'm not saying I want something to be wrong, but...what if it is?"
"What if it isn't?" Kuchiki Byakuya countered in his quiet voice, "Then you'd bee worrying and making yourself sick for nothing"
"I know, I know," there was a lull in the conversation. Rukia closed her eyes and bit her lip, willing herself not to cry. She hadn't meant to scare her parents so much, but she couldn't help it. It wasn't herfault she was sick.
It had started at the beginning of the summer, just after the end of second grade. Rukia had been getting all kinds of stomach aches, and her throat hurt a lot too. At first her parents said it was just a "summer cold" (whatever that was), but after a month she still felt sick, and she got fevers and threw up a lot. Finally her parents had decided it was time to see a doctor. They'd gone that day. The doctor had said it would take about twenty-four hours to get the tests back. Rukia had been a bit dissapointed when they left. She had always thought doctors could make everything better right away. That was how it had always been before.
Now it was almost midnight. Rukia had been asleep, up until about five minutes before, when an upset stomach pulled her out of her already fitful sleep. She'd laid in bed for a few moments, trying to figure out whether or not she wanted to actually move, or just let herself fall back to sleep. Then she remembered that her mother had told Rukia to say something if she felt sick, so she'd decided to go and see if her parents were awake, and had been on her way to her their room, when when she heard her them talking, and stopped. "I know you're scared," Byakuya spoke finally, "I am too. But we can't think about the worst scenario. I'm sure Rukia will be fine"
Now, normally Rukia wasn't a crier. She had established that fact well in school, letting it be known throughout her class that, despite her size, she was not a force to be reckoned with (a few kids learned that the hard way). But as she listened to her father and mother speak, Rukia couldn't hold back the tears. They were worried, they were scared, and it was all her fault. She hated thinking that she was causing them to worry.
"I know she will," Rukia could almost hearHisana's smile, "Rukia's a strong girl, I know she is. But she's still young..."
"She's a fighter," it was the simple way Byakuya spoke that seemed reassure Hisana, and even Rukia felt a little comforted, despite the fact the words hadn't been meant for her. "Whatever it is, she'll fight. It's the way she is. Just like her mother"
Rukia reached up, rubbed the tears from her eyes, and finally brought herself around to opening the door. "Mommy, Daddy?" she whispered as she stepped in. She hadn't referred to her parents like that since she had started kindergarten. But this felt like the right moment for it.
"Rukia," Hisana, who had been laying down in bed, sat up at once, "What's wrong, sweetie?"
"I don't feel good," the little girl muttered, suddenly feeling guilty over eavesdropping on her parents' conversation. Hisana, however, noticed nothing of that, and gestured for Rukia to come up onto the bed.
"Come here, Rukia," she crawled up on the bed and into her mother's arms. Hisana wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter, "What's wrong?"
"My stomach feels funny," Rukia murmured, nestling against Hisana, who was gently stroking Rukia's black hair. She didn't see her mother and father exchange worried glances, "And my head hurts. My throat hurts too. Mommy, why can't the doctor give me medicine to make it better? That's what he did the last time I was sick"
"The doctor doesn't know what's wrong, Rukia," Hisana said soothingly, "That's why they took the blood tests, remember?" Rukia nodded, allowing her hand to drift up to the bunny band-aid on her left arm, where the doctor had drawn the blood. The girl shuddered, remembering the needle; she hated needles. "They'll know tomorrow though, and then they'll be able to give you medicine. And then you'll be all better"
"In time to go back to school?"
"In time to go back to school," what a shame. She'd been sick all summer, and now she was going to better for school. How typical. Rukia pouted a little as she thought about this. Talk about a wasted summer.
"You should go back to bed, Rukia," Byakuya said after a few minutes, "If you're sick, you need your rest"
Rukia nodded, then suddenly found she didn't want to leave the comfort and protection of her mother's arms. When she had been really little, those same arms had wrapped themselves around her when she had nightmares, comforting her. And even though she hadn't had a nightmare this time, she still felt like she needed the comfort. Hisana, sensing this, said in a low voice, "Do you want to stay here for tonight, Rukia?"
Rukia's lips twitched into a small smile, and she nodded. Hisana looked over at Byakuya, who nodded as well and reached over, switching off the lamp that had been supplying light to the room. The three were plunged into darkness. Rukia slipped under the covers and leaned her head against her mother's chest, content now. "Mommy, Daddy?"
"Yes Rukia?"
"I love you"
"We love you too, sweetie"
Rukia fell off to sleep almost at once. When she woke up the next morning she felt, if it were possible, worse than she had before. She coughed as she sat up; her throat felt so scratchy. "How do you feel?" Rukia was surprised to see that her mother was still laying in bed with her; usually Hisana and Byakuya were both very early risers. But Hisana, it seemed, had felt guilty about leaving her daughter while she was sick.
"Yucky," Rukia muttered, leaning back against her mother's warm body, "Mommy, how much longer, until the doctor knows what's wrong?"
"Not long, hopefully," Hisana ran a gently hand through Rukia's raven hair, and at that moment, the phone on the small table next to the bed rang. "Well what do you know, maybe that's him now," Hisana reached over and grabbed the phone off the hook, bringing it to her ear. "Hello? Yes, this is she..."
Rukia rolled over and looked at her mother. Hisana's eyes were narrowing as she listened to whoever was on the other end speak, and Rukia bit her lip. Suddenly, her mother's eyes widened in surprise and fear. "Oh...God...Are you sure?...I see...yes, I see...I will...yes, okay...thank you. Good bye"
Rukia swallowed with great difficulty as she watched her mother hang up the phone. "Mommy?" she whispered, not sure if she could bring herself to speak louder, "What is it? Was that the doctor?"
Hisana nodded. Rukia could tell she was struggling to keep her face blank. She wasn't succeeding. "That was the doctor, Rukia"
Rukia sat up again, looking up at her mother with wide eyes. "Well?"
Hisana reached an arm over, and wrapped it around the girl's small shoulders. "Rukia...this is so hard, I don't know what to tell you, exactly," now Rukia was afraid, and she had no problem showing it, "It's...Rukia. The doctors think...you're not going to get better"
Rukia blinked, confused. "What?"
Hisana sighed. She wasn't explaining this very well. "You remember your friend, Renji, right?" Rukia nodded, "Do you remember his father? His father was very sick, do you remember what he had?"
Rukia tried to think. That had been a few years ago. "Cancer. I think," suddenly realization hit her, and her small body began to shake. Hisana, sensing that her daughter had figured it out, pulled Rukia into a tight hug. "M-Mommy? Am I going to...to die, like Renji's father?"
Hisana was at a loss as to how to answer this. Rukia pushed herself away, looking up at her mother with wide eyes, waiting for an answer she couldn't give. Hisana closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her daughter.
"No, Rukia," she whispered at last. But Rukia knew she was lying.
Author's Note – I wasn't sure how to do the part at the end; how do you tell an eight-year-old she has cancer? It was hard. But anyways...that's the prologue. Next is chapter 1, which takes place about...ten years into the future. There will also be some Ichigo-ness in the chapter, so stay tuned! 5-10 reviews saying I should continue would be nice, otherwise I'll bury this story in the "Graveyard of Forgotten Stories" (AKA my desktop). Review! – Sam