Title: Bleeding Strawberry

By: BloodyTears87

Warning: Yaoi, Violence, Abuse, Language

Summery: After years of abuse from his father Ichigo finally breaks free, only to end up on the streets. Soon he is found and taken in by Byakuya Kuchiki who tried to help the timid teen through his emotional problems.

Note: This is a rewrite of Shiraihime Fuyuki's fanfic Bleeding Strawberry. Thanks for letting me write this!

'Thoughts'

'Shiro talking to Ichigo'

Chapter 5: Turning life around

Ichigo sat in his hospital room and stared at the less then good tray of food in front of him. He hated hospital food so much, it was barely edible and if he wasn't so hungry he probably wouldn't have forced himself to eat the few bites that he had. The strawberry teen was busy staring down what could have been squash when a knock on the door brought his attention away from the food.

Standing in the doorway was Byakuya Kuchiki and his little sister Rukia who Ichigo recognized from school.

'Great just what I need, her to tell everyone at school I tried to kill myself,' the teen mentally sighed.

'Relax king, everything's gonna be fine,' Shiro said in the back of the teen's mind.

"I heard your evaluation went well. They will be releasing you shortly," the raven haired man informed. Rukia walked into the room holding Ichigo's duffle bag. "You should get ready to go. I'm going to talk to the doctor about getting your paperwork in order." Ichigo nodded once and the Kuchiki heir left the room leaving his sister with the boy.

"Look Ichigo, I'm not going to tell anyone at school about this," the short girl spoke getting the strawberry's attention.

"You're not? he asked unsure.

"Of course not! I'm not the type that would go around spreading gossip like that," she defended. Ichigo offered her a weak smile but she noticed that it didn't reach his eyes. "So you're going to be staying with Nii-sama and me?"

"I guess so," Ichigo confirmed. "Sorry if I'm intruding…"

"Don't worry about it!" Rukia assured as she handed over his bag. Ichigo got up and headed to the bathroom.

Rukia was a little more than surprised her brother Byakuya told her that the boy he brought home the night before was going to be staying with them. She was barely awake when the ambulance came and none of the staff felt the need to inform her what was going on. She was a little excited though, her brother never took interest in anything or cared about anyone outside the Kuchiki family. When the short bunny enthusiast had asked her brother, he simply said that Ichigo's living conditions were too harsh to send the teen back to. She asked what he meant but he told her that it was Ichigo's choice to tell people. Byakuya was even a little distant with her at times, but he was definitely interested in Ichigo if he was going to let a complete stranger stay with them. To Rukia he wasn't a complete stranger though. The strawberry went to her school and though they never really talked to each other since Ichigo kept to himself, she really had wanted to be his friend.

A few minutes later Ichigo came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and hair still damp from the shower. Just as he was coming back into the room Byakuya came back in and told them the doctor would be in momentarily with some papers for the strawberry teen to sign.

"Sounds good," Ichigo told him quietly. Just then the pink haired doctor came in with some papers.

"Hello Mr. Kurosaki, how are you feeling?" Dr. Granz asked.

"Just Ichigo please," the teen said not liking being addressed as Mr. Kurosaki. "I'm feeling alright."

"Well that's good to hear Ichigo," the pink haired man said while adjusting his glasses. "I'm going to be releasing you into Mr. Kuchiki's care."

"Okay," the teen said simply. Ichigo signed the papers to have himself released before they grabbed his things. The drive to the Kuchiki estate was a silent one. Rukia tried to make conversation but it didn't hold up for very long and soon they had arrived. Byakuya instructed his sister to bring Ichigo's things to the guest room he had been in the night before.

With Rukia out of sight the raven haired man led Ichigo to his study so that he could talk to the teen more privately. The strawberry teen was nervous as he walked into the dimly lit room and took a seat on the other side of Byakuya's desk. Ichigo refused to meet the man's eyes as he fidgeted with his shirt hem. He didn't know what this man was going to want from him.

"You're going to be here for a while Kurosaki, so I'm going to lay down the house rules for you," Byakuya told him in a voice that commanded respect, making the teen look up at him. "We do have maids but you are expected to clean up after yourself. You will attend school like normal. You may come and go as you please but dinner is served at seven o'clock sharp and I do not tolerate lateness without good reason."

"Is that all?" Ichigo asked.

"Well besides the obvious rules of no partying, drinking, drugs, or rough housing inside the house," the raven told him. "Also I would like you to consider seeing a counselor."

"But I-"

"No Kurosaki, you need someone you can talk to. Only once you get all your problems out in the open with someone you can confide in can you start to move past them," Byakuya explained. "I'm not going to force you but I would like you to think about it."

"Alright…" the teen agreed then added as an after thought. "Please just call me Ichigo."

"Sorry, Ichigo. You may go settle yourself in," Byakuya told him. "I have some work to do." With that Ichigo got up and headed out of the room. When he reached the door he paused and turned back to the raven.

"Thank you," the strawberry teen said quietly before leaving. Byakuya nodded to him. Only when the door shut did the raven haired man let out a long sigh. He really wasn't sure what he was thinking. He had never been this compelled to help someone, even after he had promised his late wife Hisana that he would take Rukia in as his own sister, he had not felt this compelled to help her even with his love for Hisana. However there was something about Ichigo Kurosaki that pulled Byakuya to him. Some force that made him want to help the teen more then anything, even if he didn't understand it yet.

Ichigo unpacked what little things he had in his duffle bag. He was sure that if he called Karin that she would meet him somewhere with more of his things later. Right then he didn't really care about that though. The teen's mind was too occupied with what Byakuya had said about counseling. Ichigo didn't think he would ever be able to open up to someone who was getting paid to hear his problems.

'Relax king,' the distorted voice advised.

'Easier said then done,' Ichigo replied a little irritably. 'What's your name by the way?' he added as an after thought.

'I have no name king,' the copy of himself informed. 'Would you like to give me one?'

'Hmm… how about Takashiro? And I can call you Shiro for short?' Ichigo asked in his head.

'Sounds good to me king,' Shiro said, liking that he now had a name. 'But even if it's not a stranger getting paid to hear your issues, it would be good to talk to someone.'

'I know… I just don't know who,' Ichigo sighed. Just then a knock on the door interrupted him from his thoughts.

"Yea?" the strawberry teen called out.

"Can I come in Ichigo?" came the sound of Rukia's voice.

"Sure," was the short reply. The short raven haired girl opened the door slowly and poked her head in to see Ichigo. "Sup?" she came fully into the room.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," she told him.

"I'm doing better then I was," the teen said honestly.

"That's good," Rukia said with a smile. "You know I've been wanting to talk to you for a long time now, but whenever I see you at school you look pissed off." Ichigo scowled at that.

"Sorry, that's just my natural expression," the teen explained.

"That's an odd expression to be neutral," Rukia commented making the strawberry sigh.

"It wasn't always like this," he informed her. She said he could talk to her and Shiro had advised him to get it out. "Before my mother passed away I was always smiling and happy all the time. When she died I changed, I wasn't the Ichigo I used to be."

"Death of someone close changes people. That's understandable," she assured. Ichigo looked up at the small raven girl hoping that she truly understood and wasn't just trying to make him feel better. "Can I tell you something Ichigo?"

"Yea."

"I know what it's like," she told him as she sat down on the bed next to the troubled youth. "To lose someone so close to your heart and feel like it's all your fault."

"Who-" he wanted to ask but stopped himself, it might be too personal.

"Kaien Shiba was his name," Rukia said wistfully. "You actually look a lot like him except for your eye and hair color that is. He was the first guy I ever fell in love with."

"I'm sorry," Ichigo said, feeling bad for making her bring up such painful memories for his sake.

"Don't be, I want to tell you this," she assured before continuing. "There was this party that Nii-sama had forbid me to go to. I was going through a rebellious stage and I snuck out and went anyway. Half way through the night almost everyone was wasted."

Rukia made her way threw the large crowd of drunks over to some friends she noticed were there as well.

"Rankgiku!" she yelled, catching the red head's attention.

"Rukia!" Rangiku waved at her, spilling some of her drink as she did so.

"Rani!" a teal haired girl beside her scolded. "That's alcohol abuse!" Rukia couldn't help but laugh at her friends antics. Sitting on the arm of the couch near them was Momo, a small raven haired girl. She kept looking around nervously until her eyes landed on Rukia.

"Rukia! I thought you couldn't come?" she asked once the girl was close enough to hear her.

"I…snuck out," Rukia shrugged like it was no big deal. In truth, if her brother found out, he'd kill her. Without a word, Nel handed Rukia a beer. She popped the can open and took a good size drink. The beer was ice cold and kind of bitter, but as she consumed more of it, the bitterness went away. Starting to relax, Rukia made her way to the middle of the room where some people were dancing. She started swaying her hips in time to the music, not really dancing with anyone in particular. She swung around and bumped into a taller teen with shockingly bright blue hair and electric blue eyes. When their eyes met, a predatory grin crossed the blue haired teen's face and it sent a shiver down Rukia's spine.

"I'm Grimmjow. Wanna dance?" the teen asked.

"Sure," Rukia agreed, allowing the teen to pull her close. She pressed herself up against him and danced most of the night, never giving thought to anything else. When they finished dancing, Rukia made her way over to the cooler where the beer was located. Grabbing one, she popped it open and stepped backwards, knocking into someone.

"Oi watch it!" a voice snapped.

"I'm really sorry," Rukia apologized, turning around quickly. She came face to face with a teen with ear length black hair and was wearing a little makeup. Rukia looked down at her beer then back at the person in front of her, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes. For the life of her, she couldn't tell if the person was a guy or a girl. Reading her thoughts the teen spoke up.

"I'm a guy. The name's Luppi," he said, rolling his eyes. He acted like he went through that a lot.

"Really sorry bout that," Rukia giggled. Not used to drinking, her 3rd beer was making her feel a bit tipsy. Luppi raised a brow at her and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Want to go sit down somewhere?" he asked. "Its getting crowded."

"What the hell? Why not?" Rukia giggled again, allowing the raven teen to lead her away from the others with little protest. Suddenly a pair of arms snaked around her from behind and she felt herself being pulled away from Luppi. Looking over her shoulder she met the same electric blue eyes from earlier.

"Hey there cutie," Grimmjow said, nuzzling her neck lightly.

"Oh stop, Grimm," Rukia laughed, pulling away. Grimmjow let out a loud barky laugh, the smell of alcohol overwhelming on his breath. Rukia knew he was very drunk. Luppi wrapped an arm around her waist loosely before dropping his hand to her firm bottom and giving it a squeeze. Rukia jumped away from him ready to yell when another teen joined them.

"What the hell ya's doin' over 'ere?" he asked, looking around at the others.

"Not a thing, Nnoi," Grimmjow slurred out. "Meet Rukia." He shoved the little raven towards Nnoitra who captured her up in his arms.

"What we got 'ere?" he said, looking into her eyes.

"Let me go, please," Rukia said, struggling to get out of his arms.

"Now where's da fun in that?" Nnoitra laughed. Just from the smell of his breath she knew he was as drunk as the other two. They kept hitting on her until she finally got fed up and shoved them away from her. She began to head back to where she had last seen her friends when Luppi grabbed her by the arm.

"Aww come on," he slurred. "We's just havin' fun." Rukia yanked away once more and continued making her way back to the others. Grimmjow was the next to grab her.

"He tol' ya we just havin' fun," he hissed out. Rukia elbowed him in the gut, making him let go before running away from them. Luppi, Grimmjow and Nnoitra ran after her, stumbling over each other and knocking other people down. Not sure where to go, Rukia ran upstairs and located the bathroom. Just as they caught up to her, she slammed the door shut and locked it. The trio tried to get the door open and after a few minutes they gave up. Shaken up, Rukia pulled out her cell phone and dialed her boyfriend Kaien's number.

"Rukia?" his sleepy voice came over the line.

"Kaien!" she whisper shouted in relief. "Can you come pick me up? I'm at Nel's house."

"You went to the party after Byakuya said no?" the raven haired man scolded. He didn't like the fact that his girlfriend had also went without him.

"Yes, but right now I'm locked in the bathroom," Rukia explained. "Some guys were trying to…"

"I'll be right there!" he told her, understanding what had been left unsaid.

"Thank you," she said with a sob, glad that he was coming to save her.

"After he picked me up we were pushed off the road by a drunk driver who was leaving the party as well," Rukia told the strawberry teen in a sad voice that was close to cracking. "We hit a tree. It would have been head on but Kaien saw it and swerved at the last minute so that the driver side took the impact. He di-didn't die instant-ly," she choked out.

"You don't have to tell me, I know this must be hard for you," Ichigo said trying to comfort her, much like he had his sisters when their mother had died.

"I'm okay," she insisted. She needed to get it out and tell him. She hadn't really talked about that night with anyone before in such detail but she knew Ichigo needed this. Once her emotions were under control she continued. "He bled to death while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. From that moment on I changed, just like you did."

"Thank you," the teen told her giving her a light comforting hug. "It's nice… to know I'm not alone…"

"You're not," Rukia assured. "You know Nii-sama lost someone precious to him too, but you'll have to wait for him to tell you about that."

"I will," Ichigo assured with tears dripping from honey brown eyes due to Rukia's sad story and how much it was like his own loss. "From now on I'm going to turn this life around."

"I'm sure that you will, Ichigo Kurosaki," said a soft baritone from Byakuya who was standing in the door way. "You have the Kuchiki family to help you after all."

"Yes…" Ichigo agreed with a small nod. He wasn't alone anymore, he could do this and they would help. He still had Karin and Yuzu as well. Ichigo knew that with all that support he could make this work.

AN: hey sorry it took me forever to update. finally got some of my stories back from when my computer crashed but a lot of them are gone forever =( sorry to those who were also reading Temporary Home. i almost had the next chapter of that completed when i lost it and now i dont remember where my train of thought was going with it. unless i can remember what i had written i'll probably discontinue it at lest untill i have time to really work on it.

I dont know when i'll be updating anything i've been working on them all at random but i'm also a mother of two and now that summer's here we take a lot of vacations down to canton to visist my in laws. also i've been working on editing/rewritting a story on my Fiction press and booksies accouts call in the strangest places. i'm hoping to get it published eventualy and the new edited virsion seems to be straying away from the original lol but its got a lot more detail and events now so hopefully its better then before. well thanks to everyone who reads and leaves a non-bashing review ^_^