Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. Um, this is AU so some OOCness here and there... It's also Rukia-centric! Also bad language ahead.

Bleach: The Shoujo Side

written by Kurosu

Episode One: Enter Kuchiki Rukia! A Normal High School Girl?!

Life was good. It felt warm and safe, like curled up in thick comforters in the cool autumn morning and feeling so comfortable and lazy as to laze in bed all day long. It had been so long since she last had such a tender feeling, almost making her cry at the long lost opportunity. The sigh wistfully escaped her lips as she kept her eyes closed to the world, afraid to lose the moment from awakening to what might be just a dream.

Then a sweet hum reached her ears, and she knew. Her eyes burst opened, and she sat upright, seeking the origin of the soft tune. She was in the middle of the green field, laid beneath the warm sun that kissed her pale skin - no wonder she felt so warm - and for miles before her, fields of endless flowers. Not far off, though, behind her, to her left, sitting beneath the shaded tree, a young woman sat, with her legs tucked under her and a book in her lap. Her dark eyes followed each word in the book as the melody continued to flow from her thin lips. She looked up and smiled at the young girl sunbathing in the field.

"Rukia..."

The said girl blinked and stared then rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. To make certain that the woman before her was real, that her sister was actually smiling at her. She felt the wetness prick at the edges of her eyes and pushed them back, climbing to her feet.

As if with dramatic moments like this, time fell into slow motion as Rukia started running towards the angelic woman, with outstretched arms. She quickly shortened the distance between them and just as she was about to fall to the older woman and encase her into a loving embrace, the almost forgotten book smacked in the girl's face - so much for a heartwarming reunion.

"Onee-san?" Rukia spluttered out, filled with confusion. The girl, rubbing her face from the unexpected attack, stood in front of her older sister, as the woman seemed to dust off some invisible dirt off her dress.

"Rukia, do you remember the promise?" she asked, in a calm and gentle voice. The book had returned to its original spot in her lap.

"Yes! Yes, I remember!" she answered with great enthusiasm, which her sister was quite proud of.

"Good." She paused for a moment, but still smiling, she directed her index finger at Rukia with all the dramatics of a raging sea storm sinking a thousand measly boats of pathetic men. "Then... HURRY THE HELL UP AND FULFILL YOUR DESTINY!

"RUKIA, WAKE YOUR ASS UP NOW!"

Rukia blinked a few times at her words, then in the next second, she was no longer looking at her semi-psychotic sister screaming at her but the white ceiling of her bedroom. She laid there, very still, and tried to process her dream, which had seemed so real like she had been commanded by the queen of hell herself. She looked at her hand - front and back, flexing the fingers as if her appendage was completely new to her - and then brought it down to her face and rubbed it wearily. She sighed and peeked to the side table, towards her alarm clock...

Half pass six, in the morning.

With another sigh, she pulled her covers over her head for more undisturbed sleep.

Then in the next second, the covers and comforter and pillows flew to the side as she jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Obviously, chaos ensued for the sixteen-year-old girl with morning preparations for school. For a healthy teenage girl, one would think the pink wallpaper with white bunnies would be outdated, but then again, her height and petite size made her look more like a junior high student instead.

Twenty-something minutes later, she returned to her room in white robes and grabbed her new, pristine school uniform from her closet. She rushed through putting on her clothes, just as a knock on the door sounded. She gave an unladylike grunt at the acknowledgement of the maid on the other side, informing her of breakfast.

Rukia quickly smoothed out the gray, pleated skirt of her uniform and adjusted the red bow on her white shirt. She double checked her appearance in the mirror, and after one twirl for a full inspection, she was satisfied. Then her eyes stared in the mirror at the particular long bang between her eyes. She puffed at it and then tried to brush it behind her ear, only to have it spring back into the same spot. She flicked the offending hair and sighed, realizing it wasn't going to be out of her way, and resigned to having some breakfast.

And fast, since she needed to be on schedule to her first day of high school, which technically was already the third week of the school semester already. She sped down the hallway and then came to a quick stop before the dining room, of what appeared to be a traditional Japanese house. The maid greeted her and slid the screen door for her to gracefully enter. She quickly sat down at the seat prepared for her and bowed to te old man at the head of the table.

"Good morning, ojii-sama," she greeted politely and elegantly. He gave her a curt nod in return and resumed reading the morning newspaper as he normally did, keeping one eye inconspicuously on his granddaughter. After the food was brought before her, she started to eat, sipping the warm miso soup, and enjoyed the nice feeling in her stomach. She had tiny smile on her face that her grandfather noticed, and he folded his reading material and placed that aside. He took a sip of his tea and then... pulled out a camera and started taking snapshots of her.

"Ojii-sama!" she screeched unexpectedly at the old man's sudden action and tried to cover her face for the horrendous flashing of the camera. "What are you doing?! This is highly unorthodox for breakfast!" She shoved the camera out of her face, since she was very shy in front of cameras, especially when she was the subject of adoration.

"But Rukia! Today is your first day of school!" he huffed out, with such beautiful eloquence that one forgot this man was a doting grandfather and not the former head, much feared and respected, of the Kuchiki clan. Rukia persistently refused, shaking her head with pursed lips and waving her hands in front of the lens to block out any more shots.

And with a defeated sigh, he resigned to his seat and to his now lukewarm tea. She started at him for a moment, in fear he might jump at her with the camera again, and when no signs betrayed such action, she continued with her breakfast.

"Rukia," he started eventually, getting her full attention once more, "about this school situation. I support you in this, but... you know how your brother is. When he finds out..." At the mention of her brother, every muscle in her body, including her facial ones, tensed, and her grandfather noticed immediately, chuckling, "Well, he won't find out for another month or so."

She let out a dramatic sigh of relief and absentmindedly placed a hand over the area of her heart, "Ojii-sama, I almost died."

"He will find out sooner or later, but are you willing to face the consequences?"

She gulped and nodded, looking down at the food and thinking about her sister. It took a few minutes for her to resolutely look up and face the old man, "I made a promise to onee-san, and promises are to be kept." And with flames of passion burning within her stomach, despite the loud growls of hunger, she pumped her fist into the air dramatically, "As in the words of dear onee-san, I will hurry and... FULFILL MY DESTINY!"

Grandfather Ginrei Kuchiki managed to snap this triumphant pose, much to Rukia's embarrassment and dismay.

After bidding her grandfather goodbye for the day, Rukia went into the foyer with her schoolbag and put on her shoes. A young, roguish man with wild hair was waiting for her at the door entrance. He wore a causal suit, leaving the collar of his white shirt unbuttoned, and a loose, black tie that made him appear like he had just returned from partying all night. He had a wide grin across his handsome face, which had tattoos proudly displayed: a bar of gray color and the number sixty-nine.

"Renji has the car ready," he informed her, "so any time, princess..." That earned him a knee kick to his guts, and he doubled over in pain.

"You know I hate it when you call me that, Shuu," she scowled and stomped out the door, gripping her schoolbag tightly in her hand.

"I was joking~!" Shuuhei tried to salvage the situation and then followed her, wincing slightly from the pain and making note to be on her good side for the next few weeks. When he stepped outside, into the morning sun, he grinned at the extravagant sight of the Kuchiki estate: two rows of very intimidating, tough men, dressed in black suits lined the stone pathway that led out to the main gates.

They all bowed to the young woman of the household with much respect and reverence, "Good morning, Rukia-ojou-sama!"

"Ah, good morning, everyone," she return the greeting, with a very composed expression that only a true Kuchiki could wear. This scene felt like it was right out of a shoujo manga, and that thought made Rukia's eye twitch for a millisecond, which no one, thankfully, caught. She took a step forward and walked proudly as a Kuchiki woman to the main gates, with Shuuhei in tow.

Shouts of being safe and good luck echoed among the men to her, and she smiled serenely in return to their kind words. How she loved her family, as quirky and strange they could be sometimes, but they were important to her. And to them, she would always be their princess of the Kuchiki yakuza clan! Well at least, they used to be a yakuza clan, but in recent years, the family managed to become a more modernized family business... of everything! This happened due to her dear, talented, older brother.

And whenever she thought of how wonderful her older brother was, her deep violet eyes would become all sparkly, filled with great admiration and respect. That was how she appeared at the moment, standing in front of the opened car door that Shuuhei had kindly held for her. In the driver seat, the red-head with the weird eyebrow tattoos just stared flatly at their young charge.

"She's at it again," he sighed and then shouted at her, "Hey Rukia! If you don't get in the car right now, you're gonna be late!"

That, of course, worked, and she snapped out of her daze and hopped into the backseat, mumbling something about a stupid, tactless, red pineapple. After Shuuhei closed the door, he climbed into the passenger seat, and the car started moving out of the Kuchiki estate. During the ride, the apparently loud driver started to voice his opinion on the situation, "Seriously, Rukia, this is a dangerous situation you're putting yourself in. What if you get attacked?!"

Rukia scoffed, "Attack by who? Other high school students with books?! Or pencils? They're what, gonna stab me to death with them? Or bore me with lecture notes to the grave? Geez, Ren, you ought to have more faith in me. I can take care of myself very well, thanks."

Shuuhei laughed while Renji fumed in redness, to match his ridiculously colored hair. The latter punched his friend in the arm to shut him up while he glanced over his shoulder to Rukia, who seemed to grab something out of her schoolbag. "Look, this is a public high school we're talking about. Who knows what kind of people attend..."

"You mean teenagers?" Shuuhei chuckled.

Renji sent him a deadly glare and continued, "Anyway, if you wanted to attend high school, you can go to a private one... and I think Kuchiki-taicho-"

"Why do you keep calling Byakuya-sama 'taicho'?"

"Huh... well, it sounds cool."

"Good point. 'Kuchiki-taicho' does sound like he leads a group of badass yakuza members," he grinned.

"Hisagi, quit interrupting me for pointless shit. I'm trying to get some sense into Rukia here!"

During this whole car ride lecture, Rukia barely paid them any attention. Her nose was stuck between the pages of a book, a girly book... that looked more like a shoujo manga than anything else. Her brows furrowed together in deep concentration, while the background noise of Renji's ramblings kept playing, and when he finally noticed that Rukia had not participated in the discussion, he turned back to see her reading the shoujo manga.

"WHY ARE YOU READING THAT STUPID THING?!" he yelled at her, filled with irritation.

The said manga smacked him in the face, and she told him, "This will help me with being a normal high school girl! A girl must be kind and gentle, refreshing like a spring day... humble and shy and be positive!" Her eyes glossed over while Renji tried not to gag.

"Rukia, you're the opposite of that!" That earned him a few more smacks from the manga.

Meanwhile, a cool-looking delinquent with wild, azure hair was preocupied with the black bundle in his arms. Who knew the almighty, tough guy named Grimmjow Jeagerjaques had a weakness for little felines, and if anyone ever found out, they were dead. He still had a reputation to uphold, but right now, in this unknown neighborhood, no one would know about his cuddling the cute cat right now.

The said black cat seemed a bit annoyed though, not enjoying the affection the man was giving her. She was trying to glare at him, until something in the distance caught her eyes. The cat flailed her paws in the direction of danger, causing Grimmjow to follow her gaze...

"OH WHAT THE FU-!"

"RENJI, YOU MORON! WATCH THE ROAD!

"WATCH OUT!"

With Shuuhei and Rukia screaming in his ears, he turned to the road ahead of them and panicked, quickly hitting the brakes before it could hit the blue-haired man whose eyes were large as soccer balls, and the cat in his arms looked like it was suffocating from the deadly grip.

The vehicle screeched to a stop, a mere three inches from Grimmjow whose back was pressed against a tree and he was breathing deeply and slowly trying to process a close call with death. It didn't take long for him to snap out of his stupor when Renji yelled at him, "Stupid, get the hell outta the way!"

"What the fuck!" Grimmjow shouted back, loosening his hold on the cat who then immediately escaped. "You shithead, you're on the fucking sidewalk!"

At that note, Renji finally glanced at their surroundings, and lo and behold, his crappy driving had the car halfway upon the sidewalk, and said driver had no comment. The other two passengers in the car were still recuperating from the insanity, especially Shuuhei who looked like he was seeing his last moments on earth.

"Where the fuck did you learn to drive?!" the stranger kept shouting at Renji and went up to the car and kicked the front of the car, which almost caused Renji to get out and deal a beating, but Rukia placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him and exited the car as a representative of the incident. Her full blown Kuchiki mode was on!

She stood next to the car - more specifically next to Renji's side of the car - with arms folded over her chest and feet firmly set about two feet apart, and a cold, hard stare graced her delicate features. It caused Grimmjow to falter back a step at the unexpected presence. She looked like a princess with a glowing aura of 'bow before me and grovel at my feet, peon', and her tone was even and strong yet humble as she spoke to him, "On behalf of my incompetent driver..."

There was an offended 'hey', but Rukia silenced him with a backhand to his face when he tried to poke his head out to interrupt her. She continued without missing a beat, "I apologize. You are not injured, I hope."

Grimmjow, currently speechless at the apologetic girl before him, just shook his head in response. From his observation, for such a small girl, she held such a proud but modest air about her. She, dropping her arms to her side, stepped closer to him to make certain he sustained no injuries. And with her standing so close, he really noticed how short she was but she still held that noble-like authority. For the first time in who knew how long, Grimmjow was nervous as the girl inspected him closely, mumbling something about no physical damage and inquired about any traumatic mental damage.

He almost slapped her away from him, "WHAT TRAUMA?! How can I be traumatized by this stupid thing?!"

Rukia raised an eyebrow at his outburst and said calmly, "Well I would've offered some reparation..."

"Hey," Renji called to her, "we're gonna be late!"

Her neck snapped around to him at the realization, and she fled from Grimmjow's side, hopped into the car, and Renji backed the car off the sidewalk then drove off while flipping the stranger off. A very pissed off Grimmjow kicked the tree and let out a string of vulgar words.

During all this, the black cat from before had watched it all and now was staring at the vehicle disappearing down the street. A flicker of emotions passed through her feline eyes, and she jetted down the road in the same direction as the car - though she had another destination in mind.

Rukia was running down the sidewalk as fast as she could to make it through the school gates before they closed. Because of the car incident, she just had to be late on her first day of school. To make matters worse, she forced Renji to park the car a few blocks away from the school so that they wouldn't recognized, even if know one would notice them, she still couldn't take that chance. She had pulled this stunt behind her brother's back, so she couldn't drag the Kuchiki name any further.

She didn't make it in time at all. The gates had already closed, but a few lingering teachers were still present. She bowed apologetically to the teachers inside the school grounds, and after catching her breath, she explained with teary eyes that her first day started out horrible... waking up late, barely able to eat her breakfast, almost got into a car accident, and getting lost on the way. She was looking forward to coming early to meet her wonderful teachers and classmates, since she always had private tutors due to her family situation.

Moved by such tragedy that a lovely girl her age should face - and being understanding and gullible people - the teachers allowed her inside and also gave her words of support and encouragement, welcoming her to their high school. Rukia dabbed her wet eyes with a handkerchief and thanked them and made her way to the main building, mentally congratulating herself on an acting job well done. She slightly frowned thinking how her acts never did fool her brother, which probably just meant she needed to work harder.

It wasn't too long when Rukia found herself lost within the hallways. She never knew schools were big enough to get lost in, but then again, she sometimes got lost on the Kuchiki estate too, even having lived there the majority of her life. She was... now lost in thought... when a hand suddenly landed on her left shoulder, and on instinct, Rukia grabbed the insolent hand tightly and spun around to her astounded assailant, twisting the arm to his back. Her right foot kicked his lower legs from underneath him as she pressed the captured arm to his back and forced his whole body to the ground, also pinning his other arm next to him with her free hand.

He was shouting his loud protests when she, sitting on his back, noticed the male uniform of Karakura High School, so she quickly released them as other teachers and students entered the hallway after hearing the loud cries. Onlookers watched in amazement as the young man with obnoxiously loud orange hair turned his furious amber eyes to her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he demanded, after gathering the remains of his dignity together and crawled away from the unfamiliar psychotic girl. He leaned against the wall and glared at her, absorbing her details so next time he could avoid her. She was a petite female - one of the smallest he had seen, he guessed - with raven, short hair and... big, round, violet eyes... beautiful eyes that drew him in, into her chaotic world. That completely sealed his destiny - he was royally screwed.

She blinked her attractive, violet eyes at him unintentionally and speechlessly and then realized her identity would be blown if she didn't do something fast, so she dropped into her weak and demure girl act again, sniffling, "I'm very sorry! You just... startled me! And I don't know what came over me."

She crawled towards him, in between his legs, and leaned close to him, grabbing his hand, and he looks very nervous and scared - and also being the very aware, teenage male, his cheeks flushed a heated pink. She whispered softly, "I hope you're not hurt. I don't know what to do if... if..."

Rukia, forcing her tear ducts to start a bit of the water works, tugged at his hand which pulled him towards her and cupped his face with both of her hands. When she got his face close to hers, several gasps echoed in the hallway - though many weren't sure why the two weren't being stopped at the public display of affection on school grounds - and everyone held their breaths at the intimate scene, but what really happened between them wasn't a cliched kiss.

Her expression changed, sliding her noble Kuchiki mask of threatening indifference on, which caused him to stare at her with wide, interested eyes, and he wondered if this was the same girl from before. "Just follow my lead, and no one gets hurt," she warned and quickly turned sweet again, "You are okay, ne?!" She finally stood up, looking down at him with fake worry.

"Err, I'm alright..." he answered hesitantly, avoiding the eye-level of her skirt that revealed a nice pair of toned legs and still trying to figure out what the hell just happened. One moment he was heading back from the restroom when he spotted the confused girl, and with that overwhelming need to help her, he approached her quietly, then BAAM, out of the blue, he was thrown to the floor... by a girl half-err, two-thirds his size!

"Oh really?!" She stared at him with shimmering pools of violet, not sure if she was still acting or not, but they made her look even more beautiful, and he blushed again at the thought.

To hide such embarrassment, he quickly stood up, laughing nervously, "See! Totally fine! Aha-ha..."

Now would be the perfect time for a responsible adult to intervene, and Rukia looked around for one, still in her good girl mode, when she spotted a teacher who then waved the girl over, leaving him quietly to thank whatever gods were watching over him.

Or whatever gods that weren't, because after he had returned to his classroom, Ochi-sensei was speaking to one of administration personnel, and then the crazy girl from earlier appeared! She was smiling sweetly - the type of smile Ichigo would learn to fear - to her new classmates, as their teacher introduced her as a transfer student, into the third week of the first semester of school.

Ichigo looked around at his classmates who were already enthralled by her superficial appearance of an angel and scowled. He wasn't going to be fooled by her; he had the upper hand in this... this, he wasn't quite sure what to call it, but he knew that girl was a devil!

"Kuchiki Rukia~!" she bowed, recalling her wonderful and helpful shoujo manga she adored, "Please take care of me~!" Her eyes quickly scanned her audience, who seemed to approve of her introduction with big smiles and wistful sighs (mainly from the guys), and a flash of recognition and annoyance appeared for a second when she spotted the noisy, orange-haired student.

He shared the equal irritation and shot it right back at her, who retained her charming smile as the teacher told her to take the empty seat in the back row, next to...

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Ochi-sensei pointed to him, and he resisted the urge to facepalm but instead held a challenging glare at his neighboring actress. "Please help Kuchiki-san get better acquainted with the school, Kurosaki."

"Ah," he answered, slightly glaring at new girl as she sat down, and received a piece of chalk thrown at his head from his teacher at his rude reply, "I mean, yes ma'am!"

Rukia was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the plastered smile on her face, but she must! It was the role of the normal and refreshing, innocent girl that she decided to take. If she considered it a mission, then a Kuchiki never, ever failed a mission! Of course, Kuchikis were proud, strong, determined people with cool, badass attitudes - she was taught well.

"Please take care of me," she said, filled with pure saccharine tone with the underlying threatening nature that Ichigo easily picked up, "Kurosaki-kun~!" That made his eye twitch uncontrollably, and a sudden chill swept through is body.

Meanwhile... that black cat from earlier, free from the clutches of Grimmjow, spent the morning sprinting across town to her very important destination, that ended up being a small noodle shop in a quiet neighborhood of no importance (for now). The sign on the 'Urahara Ramen' door indicated that it was currently closed, but she walked up to it and pushed against the door, shoving it open. She sneaked inside and looked around at the almost empty restaurant, except for the lazy owner who was currently sprawled across the bar top and dozing away. His face and snoring were covered by his bucket hat, and nothing, apparently could disturbed this man's peaceful slumber...

She hopped on the stool, then onto the counter top, and gave the disheveled, useless man a hard glare. With a heavy sigh, she popped her sharp claws out and proceeded to decorate his lovely face with them. Her poor victim shrieked in horror, and after recomposing himself, he slumped forward in his spot still on the counter with his legs dangling over the side. His rather handsome face was marred with red lines, but he didn't seem bothered by it, instead he adjust his hat and looked down at the cat beside him.

He grinned, "Yoruichi~! What brings you in to my humble restaurant?!"

"You mean your pathetic, little noodle shack," she jeered, rolling her eyes in the process.

"Aha, but you love my 'noodles'!" he chuckled, but whatever implications he had soon disappeared when she raised her sharp claws again.

"I have more serious matters to discuss with you, Kisuke."

"Hmm~ is that so?"

"Ah, I found a shinigami..."

Next episode, A Magicial Shinigami?! But Where's the Transformation Sequence?! (another working title?)

Notes: This is my first Bleach fanfiction, and it's been a while since I've kept up with the series - meaning I've missed a few story arcs - but I've been in a Bleach fanfic reading mood lately which inspired me to write one.

Rukia is my favorite character, so I had to write her as the heroine. This will reek of shoujo-ness, and since it's Rukia-centric, it will have a Rukia harem too since I couldn't really decide what pairing to go for... I like Rukia-pairings, even crack ones. Heh. Right now, two possiblities: IchiRuki or HitsuRuki (which isn't until later though)... but GrimmRuki, UlquiRuki, StarrkRuki?

Not sure what else to add here, but if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask. Please let me know also if you find an error about a character or something I wrote, even though this is AU. My Bleach is a bit rusty these days. ~kuro