Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters.

Many thanks to narcotic_lullaby!!!

"It's so early in the morning, and I already hear whispers about him" I murmured to myself, "News travels like fire in this place…"

I dragged my tiny lead-filled legs to my next class, hearing everyone's whispers along the way.

"Hey, isn't that the girl?" one girl said

"Yeah" another girl said.

"Don't you feel sorry for her?" she asked, probably the same girl.

"Yeah, poor girl" she answered

"Shhh…..She can hear you." he answered

I reluctantly opened the door to my class and like I expected, everybody stared at me. Almost immediately, a tall, orange-haired girl appeared in front of me.

"Kuchiki-san, are you okay?" Inoue asked.

I paused, *Pity* I thought, *It's all over her face.*

I smiled sadly and answered her, "Yeah, I'm fine Inoue, thanks."

I passed her before she could open her big mouth again. I passed through a group of girls and sat down on my chair, all the way to the last row, for which I am thankful for. Next to my seat was Ulquiorra Schiffer, he was the only one who wasn't talking. I looked at him, he was looking outside the window as if he was looking for something. Suddenly, the door opened, the teacher came in.

"Good morning class," she said, "As you've all heard Kurosaki passed away last night due to a car accident."

She continued and looked at me, giving me a sympathetic look, "I give you my sincere apologies, Kuchiki."

I stared at my hands, feeling numb instead of the usual pain I was used to.

"Is that the only word I'm going to hear today? 'Sorry'?."

The class started, I was supposed to be paying attention, but my eyes keeps on landing on Ichigo's desk, two seats away from me. I noticed their were different flowers on his desk: Roses, Lilies, Daffodils…. I felt myself softening a little, as I remembered how he was allergic to daffodils. How can suck pretty flowers be so depressing? The rest of the class passed by in a blur. I wasn't really conscious of the going-ons until the teacher's voice snapped me back to her attention.

"Today's after school duty would be Schiffer and Kuchiki, you may now leave." she said walking out.

I sighed and turned to Ulquiorra, he was still staring out the window. I was about to start the task, which is cleaning the board and stapling papers together, when his voice stopped me.

"You don't have to do the task." he said in a monotone voice.

I furrowed my brows, "Is it because of pity too??"

As if he read my mind, he turned to look at me, his face blank and his green eyes embedded into me.

"It's not because of pity, it's simply because I can't stand to work with someone." he said looking back to stare at the window again.

I glared at him, instead of saying it to myself, I said it out loud,

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Without looking at me he said, "Is this how a person acts when they're mourning over someone's death?."

His hand was on his chin, not caring if he's hurting people's feelings. I clenched my fist and walked up to him and said,

"What do you know? Your just someone who would never understand my situation."

I wanted to say more, I wanted to scream my words at his face, I want him to understand the pain I'm going through, instead I walked away and started on my first task. For the past 2 hours we said nothing to each other, he did his task and I did mine. The only sound came from the staplers, which died out after I was done with the task. I left without another word.

After that we said nothing to each other and left. Different shades of red, orange, and yellow clashed with each other as I walk home. I still remember that incident so clearly…

*Flashback*

It was such a beautiful night, nice and cold. I looked up to see the stars, they were so bright. It feels all perfect, the weather, the walk, and the guy next to me. I smiled despite of myself.

"Hey Rukia! Are you listening to me?!" he said.

I looked at him, smiling, and said, "Of course, my lovely strawberry."

Noticing my sarcasm, Ichigo grabbed my head and lowered his face and said,

"Then repeat what I just said, my smart midget."

Annoyed, I kicked him on his shin.

"That hurt!" he groaned, grabbing his shin in pain.

"As far as I'm concerned I'm one of the top students in our school" I said to him, smiling evilly. "So don't you dare comment on my height again!, my retarded friend.

Still in pain he glared at me and I started laughing.

"You should see your face right now!"

I took out my phone to take a picture, but he already got up, grabbed my phone and started running.

"Hey! That phone cost more than your life!" I screamed, running after him. "My brother gave it specially to me!"

He turned and smiled.

"Huh? I see, so Byakuya could be soft sometimes."

I took off my shoe to throw it at him, but he caught it with his other hand.

"Ichigo! Stop playing around!" I said out of breath.

He was already across the park and into the empty, icy road. I looked down and noticed my white sock was covered with grass stains.

"Geez, this bastard plays too much" I muttered.

I yelled again, "Ichigo, I'm serious! Give it back, so we could watch the movie already!."

He laughed softly, then smiled and said,

"Okay, okay I'll be right th-"

He started to walk, but a bright light caused my eyes to widen.

"Ichigo!" I screamed my heart out.

A car was driving so fast it that hit him with full force and he flew back and landed as a crumpled, bloody mass several feet away. I started to run as fast as I can, not caring about who hit him. It felt like world was suddenly ending, just in those few, short seconds. I looked down at Ichigo, he was covered with blood. Tears started to form on my eyes.

"Ichi…go…" I trembled as I saw him.

Tears were now rolling down on my cheeks, I kneeled beside him and grabbed his hand and said,

"S-someone! Call an ambulance!"

I wiped my tears and tightened my grip on his hand.

"Ru…kia…" he said as his breath was growing weaker every minute.

I looked at him again, he looked so pale, his orange hair brighter than ever. My heart was hurting so much…I can't…breathe…

"Stop crying…it's not like…" he gasped in pain, "I'm already…dead."

"Don't say that! You said we were going to that festival, remember? You said you were going to tell me something important, we were going with our friends, remember?." I said desperately.

He looked so fragile…

"I'm…sorry." he smiled and his eyes were closing so slowly.

His hand dropped.

It hurts…

It hurts, Ichigo…

It feels like the world stopped right then.

*End of flashback*

I got home feeling the pain all over again.

"I'm home" I said.

"Ah…Welcome back, Rukia." my brother said appearing out of the kitchen.

This house was usually so quiet, ever since my parents died. One person always brought life in this house.

"Dinner will be ready in half an hour." my brother said.

"Okay, thanks, brother." I forced a cheery voice.

I walked up stairs to my room. I wanted to be alone. I collapsed on my bed, I looked at Kon, the tiger plushy that Ichigo gave me. I smiled reminiscing about the past, then suddenly I felt a strange aura. I quickly got up and my eyes widened. I blinked a few times not believing it.

"How long are you going to stare at me?" the orange-aired guy said.

"I-Ichigo?"

A/N: My first fanfic, so give me your honest opinion!