It was just like another wake up; got out from the total darkness on your subconscious mind, abruptly getting stopped from your dream; be it good or bad, and then you slightly gasped for no reason at all. It's a good thing that I hadn't had anything to dream, because I didn't like to dream for a certain reason that I couldn't tell. Once my brain had registered that I was fully awake, my eyes reflexively lifted up. But then my hands moved by itself to cover my eyes and I had to squeeze it slightly as a dazzling ray of the sun viciously struck into my sight.

"What the hell… Is this morning already…?" I mumbled silently and asking a ridiculously obvious question to no one in particular. I didn't sense any presence here, but I knew I wasn't alone here. Well, at least until last night before I closed my eyes to sleep. I let out a small groan when I moved my arms and stretched it as high as I can above my spiky hair. Then I wiped the sleepy tears away from my eyes and got up. I looked at my surrounding. It was an old, rusty, and unique building. It was painted white and looked clean, but only a fool couldn't tell that this place obviously had been there for too long as the white painting had peeled off at many places.

My eyes slightly shifted to the ground below. The remains of the camp fire were still there, only it was flame-less and someone had just shut it as the smoke was still there. My feet felt a little cold, so I decided to stroll outside from this building. The heat ray of the morning sun must be soothing the chilling problems on my feet and spine after the heavy rain last night. Come to think of it, I hadn't noticed that the rain had stopped and the sun was shining brightly again until now.

And I just realized that I was topless when I felt a sudden warm sensation on my bare chest skin. I looked down again and found my kimono was there, beside my 'bed'. I bent down and then picked it up. The fabric was still wet and I knew that no way I would wear it before I dried it up unless I wanted to catch a cold. Lucky enough the sun was shining today; otherwise I'd have a whole day topless like this. I hanged the kimono near the windowpane of that building; the heat from the sun would be enough to dry it up in no time.

I yawned for the last time before I stepped outside the building and then watched the sun carefully. It was bright, but something still wasn't quite right with that sun. There was still a dark color engulfing the sun, consuming almost half of it size. I quirked an eyebrow slightly, this was never happening before. But what the hell, that wasn't my business at all.

"Quite strange, isn't it?"

My orbs shifted from the weird sun at the far north to the figure up there from another building. Sitting and watching with a blank stare, what an infuriating sight to behold. Why he was acting like this all was his problem? Not that I care, but this was just getting to my nerves and infuriated me. Well, being a caring-to-everything person wasn't my style after all. I flash-stepped next to him, sat down, and then heaved a sigh. He didn't bother to give me any attention by turning his head, but he actually did give me an inquiring side glance.

"Tell me, old man. Do you have any idea about that?" I pointed my index finger at the black sun on my line of sight.

"The dark curtain that was engulfing him yesterday is starting to peel away, that's all I know."

"Oh, really?" I smirked and then lied down and circled my arms around my head. I blankly stared at the dark clouds above. My eyebrow arched slightly when I realized what I just had seen. Okay, this was weird. When a sun finally showed up, there should be no way the dark clouds were still showing up like this.

At the far north, there were no signs of black clouds there; only a half-black sun hanging on the azure canvas. But at the opposite direction, the canvas was all black with much, much dark cumulus marching. There was a sign of another rain threatening to come from them. Damn cry-baby.

"His problem isn't totally enlightened yet. It's up to him to make this place clear again or rain forever."

As if he could read my mind, he answered all of the questions about this matter on my head. My smirk went wider as I closed my yellow orbs.

"We'll see about that…"

*****

She stepped out from the medium-sized bath-tub and then reached out the white towel hanging on the door. But instead of drying up her body from the cold water right away, she stared blankly at the mirror near the bath-tub. She cleansed the dewed mirror with her palm and then stared at the figure in the front of her. She saw a girl, a petite girl to be exact, holding a white towel idly there staring back at her.

The girl on the mirror was wearing an all-is-fine façade, but she knew it a little bit too well that deep inside she was struggling hard. She frowned and then put her palm on the mirror. The girl was actually doing the same as she lifted her hand and put her palm on it too.

"I… Uh…"

She heaved a sigh and then decided it was ridiculous to talk with her own reflection. She wanted so bad to scream out loud, releasing all of these heavy pressures on her chest. The pressure of being guilt to tell Ichigo that she hated him, pressure of being guilt to not understand Renji's feeling toward her, and the pressure of being afraid to disappoint Renji when she told him she's not feeling the same way. Renji was her best friend, and would always be. She just couldn't consider him more than that, let alone lover.

Aside from those pressures that she felt on her chest, she also felt a gap on her heart. It was wide and longing for something; Kurosaki Ichigo. She had to admit that she missed him. She missed his scowl, missed his orange hair, missed his smile, missed his laugh, missed his stupid and stubborn attitude, and utterly, missed the warmness of being close to him.

"Ichigo…"

She mumbled quietly under her breath and then shook her head lightly. The pain of being sexually harassed on his heart was the only thing that preventing her from running into him and smacked the heck out of him again. She never ever told Ichigo that she missed him; instead she just gave him a nice uppercut on his jaw or a nice kick on his shins when he appeared again. Well, maybe that was the style of a tomboy girl like her to show her honest feelings.

She sighed again for the 2nd time before dressing herself again in school uniform attire. Being in an Urahara store for 3 days and doing nothing were actually boring for her, so she decided to go to the school again. Well maybe having a lunch with Orihime and her friends would light her heart up; she really needed to do something to hush the orange-haired shinigami away from her mind.

After tying the red ribbon below her white collar shirt and adjusting it on the mirror, she grabbed the white towel and then opened the door.

"You're surely awfully long when it comes to bath, Rukia."

She abruptly turned her head aside to see Renji was leaning against the wall beside her and he had a smirk on his face. He was wearing his white with pink-floral pattern sleeping yukata and carrying his bathing equipment on his hands.

"Hey, I'm still a girl after all. All normal girls need at least an hour when it comes to bath."

She shot him a playfully dagger glare which earned her a wider smirk from him. For this brief moment, she was like forgetting all of the pressures that she felt on her chest. Renji was always really there when she needed someone to light her day up.

"Oh really? Then you're not one of them because you've spent one and half an hour there. And by the way, are you really a girl at all? Because I really doubt about that with all of your—Ouch!"

A nice kick on his shins stopped him from saying further mockery toward her. He dropped his soaps, shampoo, and toothbrush instantly when his nerves registered the pain on that area. He glared at her while trying to sooth the pain that he felt. Rukia just chuckled after being successfully returned all of that mockery to him.

"Little brat…"

Renji mumbled before bent down a little to gather his bathing equipment that had scattered on the floor, and then carried it on his hands again. He mumbled a few incoherent words again before pushing Rukia lightly aside from the door pane. He smirked when he decided to piss her off once again.

"Don't get in my way, boy. Uh, I mean, girl."

Renji blocked the kick with his leg and then swiftly caught her wrist when she tried to score an uppercut on his lower jaw. His free hand patted her crown and then his smirk went wider. He arched his eyebrow in a cocky manner.

"Train for another 2000 years to defeat me."

Rukia used that chance to swing her free leg toward his shins again. Renji was actually caught off guard when it landed perfectly there, and this time, it was far harder than the previous one. His eyes went wide and not long after, he let loose a howl. Well, at least that's what she heard when he screamed in pain and instantly downed in one leg. Rukia patted his crimson hair and then smirked.

"Train for another 4000 years to say that to me."

Rukia laughed out loudly and then ruffled his hair wildly. Renji slapped her hand away and then scowled at her before he got up and regained his composure from the pain that he felt. His scowl was slowly shifting into a distant look on his face when he looked at her again. She stopped laughing abruptly when she noticed that look on his face.

"Err, Renji… About yesterday—"

"It's fine, Rukia…" he scratched the back of his hair and then averted his gaze from her figure to the windowpane at the far wall. She frowned, how could he say everything's fine when their friendship was at the stake? She might have broken his heart, and worse, might've ended their over-than-50-years friendship just because of small things like that. Well okay, love wasn't a small thing. But compared to a friendship that they had built long since they're still brats from Rukongai, love was mean nothing. She didn't want their relationship as a friend ended just because of one small denial from her.

Renji slowly and carefully turned his face again to her and then opened his mouth to speak again.

"Rukia… You… You still want to be my friend, right? I mean, after you've rejected me and you've known the truth now, I hope we could still be—"

"Always, Renji, always. We'll always be friends forever." She smiled genuinely at him. Deep down she felt relieved that Renji didn't hate her or worse, holding a grudge against her.

"That's very… relieving. I thought that you would hate me after I… after I… you know..." Renji heaved a sigh and then scratched his crimson hair timidly. Rukia had to suppress her laugh when she saw a vague tint of red shade on his cheeks. Instead she just let a snicker escape from her thin lips. Renji quirked his eyebrow and then quickly frowned when he heard her snickering like that.

"Oi what's funny, you chappy-freaks."

Her eyebrow twitched hearing those infuriating words.

"You got a problem with that, Mr. Weird Eyebrows?"

She just had pressed the right button to activate his rage. Rukia knew it better than anyone else that, beside Ichigo of course, Renji would be very pissed when someone insulted the style that he had applied on his eyebrows.

And like the other time, it was working when Renji gritted his teeth. But then his mouth curved widely to form an evil smirk.

"Yeah, I got a problem with girls having an acute obsession over a stupid, ugly, and disgusting little bunny."

If Rukia had succeeded to activate Renji's rage, then this time he had succeeded to activate her hatred. Rukia's eyes were narrowing dangerously and she shot a deadly glare at him with such intensity that if looks could kill, Renji would be more than dead by now.

"What did you say about Chappy?"

Rukia cracked his knuckle and then approaching him slowly. She was smirking evilly and her eyes were looked like a slit, just like Ichimaru Gin had. And that was scarring the heck out of him. Renji swore he could see an evil aura radiating from her in the form of a rabbit with sharp fangs and claws, ready to shred him to pieces. Beads of sweats were forming and growing rapidly on his face as he gulped down his saliva in fear.

He had to step back as Rukia was still approaching him slowly but sure and pressing him with her murderous intent. And actually, he was pinned to the wall behind him. But Rukia didn't stop; instead her smirk went wider. Renji lifted his hands as a form of protection from being killed and then begged for his life.

"R-Relax, Rukia! I-I was just joking!"

But Rukia didn't stop; instead she cracked her knuckle again.

"I-I'm sorry Rukia!!! I was just—GYAA!!!"

*****

"Kuchiki-san, you sure want to go to school again? Your body still hasn't recovered yet from the fever." Urahara greeted Rukia while she was wearing her socks and shoes on the cloister of his shop. He wagged his fan in the front of his face in a typical fashion like he always did.

"Yeah… Being here and do nothing is kind boring for me. And I'm perfectly fine now. Thanks for your concern, Urahara." She gave him a slight side smile to him and then stood up.

"If that's what you want. But Kuchiki-san, aren't you going to wash your hand first from that blood? Speaking of which, whose blood is that?" Urahara arched his eyebrow in curiosity while staring at her crimson-colored palm. Rukia lifted her palm and she just realized Renji's blood was soaking it after she landed a nice uppercut on his lower jaw and a nice punch on his nose. She smirked evilly knowing that Renji was still unconscious right now in the front of the bathroom, after she put a hellish punishment to him for insulting her beloved rabbit. What a brute…

"Blood? What blood? Oh! What is this?!" Rukia pretended to be panicked and made her voice as innocent as she could. Well, that was actually convincing, because she had been used to play an innocent girl role on the school for almost 3 years up until now. To emphasize her act, she furrowed her eyebrows and then widening her violet orbs in a fake shock. She rashly washed her hands on the sink near the kitchen and then waved her hand before she opened the door. "See you later, Urahara. I'm in kind of hurry."

Urahara said nothing, but he knew that she was lying. He had been too used of Aizen's innocent act for almost 10 years to fall into that trick. A chuckle escaped from his lips and than he waved her goodbye. "See you later, Kuchiki-san. Hope you don't mind to do the dish for the dinner." He smirked while waving his fan at her. Rukia heaved a defeated sigh, knowing that she could do nothing to avoid that task. She was a free-loader, just like Renji right now.

The front door rolled aside and she walked outside the store. She stopped for a brief moment to watch the surrounding scene; the aesthetical azure sky, the brightly shining sun, the chirping flying birds, and the fresh cool air in the morning. She closed her eyes, took one big gulp of fresh air to fill her lungs, and then released it again. Oh what a wonderful morning! After two days of being lying down and sick, her body surely needed something to refresh it and she got it now. The cool breeze flew to her direction and she let it ghost her skin and fill her lungs again by inhaling it as deep as she could. She smiled cheerfully and then took one step forward.

"Morning, Rukia! Good day, isn't it?"

Rukia opened her eyes again and in the split of a second it went wide and she could feel her heart stopped pounding for one beat. There's a boy standing and leaning his back at the nearest pole smiling warmly at her. It was him, the guy whom she missed but hated the most at the same time.

Her tongue almost slipped off and said a morning greeting to him, if only she couldn't get a hold of it immediately. She could feel her heart was pounding loud, and the hot flush that was starting to climb up to her cheeks. Her inner was screaming in a cheerful tone, feeling happy that she could finally see his adorable figure again. His spiky orange hair, his handsome face, and his toned muscular arms. But then again, her grudge preventing her to glomp into him and greet him like usual.

She closed her eyes for a brief moment, trying to calm her heartbeat and erase the pink tint on her cheeks. And she swore she could've heard a chuckle on her head and a muttering of 'what a shy little girl…' words. Then another wave of chuckles coming again and it was actually irritating her. Damn Shirayuki, damn my feelings, and obviously, damn him!

"Err, Rukia… You alright? You were—"

"What do you want, Kurosaki?"

After regaining her composure again and actually able to shut the irritating sounds in her head, she lifted her chin again and shot a murderous glare at him. Her face was stoic and expressionless. Ichigo's heart skipped a beat after seeing her face and especially, hearing her voice. She resembled someone when she was like that, and it was very familiar to him. Err… Let's see… Who's that again…? A-ha!

"Well… I wasn't realizing it before, but now I can see why you and Byakuya are related."

And again, she almost lost her composure when her mouth was about to throw a tantrum at him. What the hell with that stupid statement?! Of course nii-sama and I were related! But instead, she just arched her eyebrows slightly in an uncaring fashion. Byakuya-mask facade mode on.

"Not that I care about your opinion concerning the relation about me and my brother."

"Is this Byakuya or Rukia? Because I can't tell the difference now."

The tantrum was about to fly from her mouth; it was at the edge of her tongue, ready to take off. Luckily, years of how-to-be-an-elegant-polite-and-stoic-Kuchiki-princess training helped her to keep her composure from crumbling. She narrowed her eyes in a slight disinterest before she spoke to him again in such a cold and expressionless sound

"If that was supposed to be funny for you, then we have a difference in our humorous sense. There's nothing to joke about me, and mostly my brother. Now if you please, I—"

"Can I walk you to school, Rukia?"

Her composure that she was struggling hard to retain was almost crumbled when she heard his offer and saw his warm, genuine smile. But then again, it was still 'almost' as her mask hadn't crumbled yet. Lucky for her; her uncaring expression that she wore on her face remained still, though her inner had already melted and flattered just like the other girls when they heard someone cool like Ichigo said that to them.

"I'm sorry I have to refuse your offer. I'm not walking with a sex maniac like you; it will be just too dangerous for me."

"S-sex maniac?!"

He stuttered a bit and his eyes widened in disbelief after hearing his new nickname. Okay, strawberry was a bad one. But this was way too worse than that!

"You heard me, didn't you? And don't you dare to forget why I called you like that."

With that, she shot another vicious glare at him before she walked again, ignoring his flabbergasted figure there beside the electric pole. Rukia just walked past him with such an uncaring and stoic expression on her face. She didn't even care to look, or give him a side glance when she did it. Ichigo was hurt, but just like Ishida said to him, love needed much, much sacrifice more that you could've ever imagined of. He heaved a sigh and then put his hands on his pocket before he started to walk toward his school. This day would be the longest day of his life.

*****

"Kuchiki-san!"

Inoue's eyes widened when she saw the petite figure that was walking inside the classroom. Then she stood up from her seat, running at her, and glomped her without waiting her response of her earlier greeting. Rukia gasped from the deadly brace that Inoue gave her. Inoue held her very tight and her large chests were pushing her smaller ones, suffocating her lungs. Rukia then laughed nervously while trying to breathe.

"Kuchiki-san, where have you been? I was worried about you when Kurosaki-kun told me that you're missing from his home 3 days ago!"

Rukia was still struggling hard to fill her lungs utmost need right now; a big gulp of fresh air. But she couldn't just push her away, that would be too harsh for a girl that was worrying her. Instead she just scratched the back of her hair sheepishly and then forced a grin on her face.

"Err… Inoue, could you please…"

Inoue tilted her head aside and quirked her eyebrow slightly, clearly didn't get what she was saying. Rukia sighed a little, though it was hard to do because her lungs barely had any air left to waste.

"Uhm… I can't breath, Inoue…"

"Oh… Sorry…"

Inoue released her brace and then smiled cheerfully at her, before she grabbed her arm and dragged her to the seat where Rukia used to fill everyday. It was beside Ichigo's. Rukia took a quick glance at his seat, but it was still vacant. She heaved a relieved sigh; both from finally being able to breathe and knowing that Ichigo still hadn't arrived yet. Inoue sat down at Ichigo's seat and then started to talk to Rukia again.

"So, Kuchiki-san, where have you been?"

Rukia smiled warmly at her, feeling grateful to have a friend like her. Her brain was rolling fast, thinking how to make a good lie. But considering Inoue was a type of an easy-to-be-lied person, this would be too easy for her.

"Uhm… Ukitake-taichou called me; he said that he needed me to do a mission." She lied, obviously.

"Oh… What kind of mission? Was it great? Was it dangerous? Did you get hurt? Did you do something awesome and thrilling like having a sword clash? Did—"

"I-Inoue, one question at a time, okay?"

Rukia didn't expect Inoue to ask such a lot of questions at her. Honestly, she didn't like to lie; moreover to Inoue. More questions meant more lies, and more lies meant more guilt. She felt sorry for lying at her like this, but she just couldn't tell her the truth. She heaved a heavy sigh to somehow ease the guilt on her chest, even for a slight before she answered all of her questions (with lies).

"Uhm, the thirteenth squad got a command from the Captain Commander to wipe 5 strong hollows that were detected inside the forest at the 67th district of Rukongai. It was actually fun, just like hunting the other hollows. Only they were at least five times stronger than the ordinary ones."

Rukia paused for a bit to see her reaction. But as it had been predicted, Inoue gave her a full attention at her story. And her eyes furrowed a bit when she heard that the (fake) hollows were much stronger that the ordinary ones. This was just making her more feeling guilty for lying at such a nice girl like her.

"And I didn't get any injuries. They needed to train at least another 100 years to even score a scratch at me." She gave her a haughty smirk and Inoue just chuckled after hearing her words.

"Really, Kuchiki-san. You're such a great shinigami. I wonder why your brother still hasn't given any permission for you to be promoted to be a seated officer."

"Well… I think you've already known the answer…"

"Yeah, I have… But— Ah, good morning Kurosaki-kun!"

Rukia instinctively turned her head to the direction where Inoue suddenly turned her attention to and found that irritating orange-haired boy was standing on the door way with that usual permanent scowl on his face and a bit of smile on his face.

"Yo, morning, Inoue! And Morning, Rukia!"

Wait the minute, she thought; didn't he just call me by my first name in the front of everyone?

Sorry for long time updating. I didn't mean to abandon this story, it's just many bad things happened in these past few months. Hope you still read it and perhaps leave some reviews… Thanks…