Standard Disclaimer applies for this chapter and all chapters that follow: I don't own Bleach.

Author's Notes: STOP THE EVIL PLOTBUNNIES FROM DOMINATING MY BRAIN! I have to stop starting new stories and start ending some. For now, please feast on this clichéd storyline that popped out of nowhere. I blame the bunnies.


Tumbling Down.
Chapter One.


The whole canteen turned to look at them, not that they weren't conspicuous enough, or recognized enough. Shuuhei clapped a hand over Rukia's mouth swiftly to keep her from making further excessive noise.

"Come on, you just have to spend one week of your entire life with him! Besides, I doubt he'd do anything to you, since you guys hate each other so much…" his confident voice trailed off weakly at the end as he managed a slanted grin under her terrifying glare.

"And why, may I ask, do I have to fulfill a fucking debt that you made with him?" Rukia snarled, slamming her fist on the table at every pause she made and attracting more attention.

"Because I have a thousand dollars and my entitlement as a student in this school at stake," Shuuhei mumbled back as a reply, hanging his head in genuine shame. At this, his female companion simmered down and sat next to him.

"Damn it Shuuhei, whatever possessed you to bet your existence in this school with that bastard?" she asked, placing her head in her hands. "You know he has the power to drag you out of this school and even I can't do anything about it because you initiated the bet."

The tattooed male stared at her, wounded. "I didn't initiate it!" he sputtered.

"Yes, but you agreed to it, so it's your own fault," she pointed out matter-of-factly, ignoring the "puppy-dog eyes look" he was giving her. "I still can't believe you practically sold me at a thousand bucks. Me, your best childhood friend!" she continued, glowering at him accusingly. He shrugged a little helplessly and turned away in the other direction. Sheesh, so he was giving her the "silent treatment" now.

"So I guess that means you're not going to help me," Shuuhei said a little coldly, and stood up to leave the table. Exasperated, Rukia stuck out a hand and pulled him back. "No, I didn't say that." His eyes immediately lit up, and he returned to his previous position.

The raven-haired girl rolled her eyes and folded her arms before saying very seriously, "Do you realize that my brother, and Renji, will be after your crotch if they ever learn of your stupid bet and how it involved me, and another guy aside from the three of you?" "Puppy-dog eyes look" again.

"I'll help you, but in a different way," she began, only to be cut off her friend. "So you'll help me?" he asked, almost enthusiastically. She sighed. It was likely that he'd only heard the words "I'll help you" and missed out totally on the "different way" part. He was staring at her as though she'd just given him the elixir of life or something to that extreme. Scratch that, it was HIGHLY likely that he'd only heard the words that he'd wanted to hear.

Knowing that she would regret it greatly later on, Rukia nodded her head slightly as an answer to his question. "Thank you, Rukia!" he said, clearly relieved, and stood up once again before striding off in his usual "cool Hisagi style". As he reached the corridor, he turned and looked as though he'd forgotten something.

"Oh, and let's keep this a secret between the two of us shall we? So that your overprotective brother and his faithful minion won't erm, castrate me?" With that, he walked off with a casual wave and a grin.

Rukia scowled. She was so going to kill him when she had the chance and when his existence in the school wasn't at stake. For now, she just had to confront Kurosaki Ichigo, her arch-nemesis since a long time ago. Oh yes, and it was most unfortunate that he was the one who'd just "bought" her for a whole week for a mere thousand freaking dollars. But then again, it would be good to have him out the school, once and for all. She shook her head at that thought – Nah, the headmaster would never let Kurosaki Ichigo leave the academy, with the amount of school fees he was paying.


Seireitei Academy was a private boarding school that accepted their students based on their merits, talents, and money. Perhaps, money more than the other former reasons. In other words, the whole school was mostly filled with filthy rich kids, and some occasional true geniuses once in a while, who probably survived on scholarships.

Now, just like a gang must have a leader, this school was practically ruled by two groups of people. The Kuchiki, and the Kurosaki. Actually, the Kuchiki just consisted of Kuchiki Byakuya and his sister Rukia, while the Kurosaki was well, just Kurosaki Ichigo himself. They came from the richest families in the country, and just as two leaders of equal status and capability are not too fond of each other, the Kuchiki siblings and Kurosaki Ichigo were as close as say, oil and water. Which meant to say that they definitely did not stick with each other at all.

And so, the rest of the school was basically just divided equally to be "followers" of these exceptionally bright pupils, and tried not to get into their affairs as far as they were concerned. Clearly, Shuuhei was not one of them.

Senior Byakuya was too busy being elite and excellent to notice what his little juniors did, preferring to simply remain as someone unreachable and terrifying. Of course, he expressed a certain amount of distaste for the sole member of the only other family which could match with the Kuchiki in terms of business, but that was where he drew the line. No petty fights or pulling of the other's hair (although, Byakuya would have killed anyone who touched his perfect hair), just a few cold glances here and there if they passed each other in the corridors.

His sister, on the other hand, was another matter altogether.

She was a raging spitfire, and hated Kurosaki Ichigo to the core. It was most unfortunate that he felt the exact same way about her. It wasn't known when the hating game started; everyone just took for granted that the two of them were born to detest each other. There was not a single time that they had met without practically biting each other's heads off with verbal insults and lame bickering, really. It usually ended with the both of them stomping off into opposite directions in a huff, rather like a child's fight. Except that these two "children" never did make up and become friends again.

This was why she was hitting herself inwardly with a metal hammer as she made her way to his lunch table, where he was surrounded (as usual) by a group of dorky friends she never made a point to acknowledge. Smashing a hand on his lunch table and startling everyone except for the person himself, she practically bared her teeth at him.

"One week it is," she hissed, knowing very well that he knew what she was talking about. He stood up from his chair, making sure that it screeched long and loud as he did so – Ichigo knew that she hated the sound of screeching metal. She scowled.

"Let's see how long you last," he said before walking away; she swore she saw the slight saunter he had to his normal walk.

"By the way, the bet said that you would let me OWN you for a week, not just accompany me everywhere I go. Which means that you'll have to do whatever I tell you to do," he called over his shoulder. All of a sudden, Kuchiki Rukia couldn't find her jaw because it had dropped a few hundred feet below.

Fuck, she was really going to kill Hisagi Shuuhei.

To be continued.


To readers: Bet most of you hated it like hell. XD Apologies if I made Shuuhei too OOC; I couldn't find a better character to fit that role. Rukia isn't CLOSE to anyone in canon except Renji and maybe Kaien. Oh, as for the feud between Ichigo and Rukia, that will be settled in chapters to come. That is, if you guys want me to continue. Personally, I think this plot just sucks, but I really really enjoyed writing it (was grinning the whole way), and would like to continue. Comments, suggestions, anything, just please review and tell me what you think. :)