I'm really sorry for the late update. You see, the desktop was broken. And too bad we only have laptops and the other desktop is available in December. So yeah, after transferring the files, I worked on this fic asap.

In case you're forgotten the plot, here's a sneak peek:

Rukia has HIV; her dad abused her; she has a crush on Ichigo; and she has a chemistry project with him; he left her alone in the rain after insulting her;;

CHAPTER 04

It was Ishida Uryuu.

"Here." He took out his hand. The weak smile carved on his thin lips assured me he saw everything. I stood up with his help.

Out of sudden a red Mercedes stopped in front of us. "Come in, I'll ask my driver to bring you to his house." He offered. I wanted to decline, but the rain was getting heavier; so I accepted his offer. He didn't seem to mind at all that my dress was still wet when I got into his car.

There was an awkward silence between us. I kept my gaze outside the window but I could sense that he was staring at me. He made me feel uncomfortable; I bit my lower lip to calm myself.

Out of the blue he took my hand and observed it. "What are you doing?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. "Shh. Your hand is injured, let me help you." He massaged my hand softly with his thick fingers. The uncomfortable feeling I had earlier rose up slightly. "That Kurosaki, he shouldn't have done this to you." I just remained silent and let him continued massaging my hand.

"Sir, we've arrived at Kurosaki-san's house." The driver told him.

I went out of the car and bowed at both Ishida and the driver.

"Be careful. I don't want you to get hurt by that ass-hole Kurosaki. But if you're really pissed off, make him piss too. You have to learn how to fight back with words sometimes."

"Thanks Ishida."

"Nothing much. Actually as I help you, I'm helping myself too. Bye." We waved each other goodbye as the car started moving. Helping himself? To get that Inoue bitch? Haha. I couldn't help but chuckled. Wait, did I just call her bitch? But it suits her perfectly somehow...

I turned my body around to face Kurosaki Ichigo's house. Should I call it mansion instead? It was extremely enormous.

Be strong Rukia. You can do this. Stop being such a weak girl. And one more, don't cry no matter how harsh his words may be. Good luck!

I stepped forward and pressed the bell button.

"Good evening. Who are you and who do you have business with?" I looked around but no one could be seen. Where does that voice come from? Anyway, I guess I had to answer it. "I'm Rukia and I have school work with Kurosaki Ichigo." This looks really stupid; I'm talking to a bell button. "Come in then." Suddenly the main door opened by itself so I entered the house.

As I stepped into it I had a very peculiar feeling. I've never been into this kind of house before. It kind of scared me because it seemed large but empty. But I just ignored the feeling and kept walking. There was a swimming pool located behind fountain, and beside it, a maze garden could be seen. I spotted three gardeners were busy trimming the plants. Wow.

Seconds later, an old woman dressed in a maid uniform greeted me.

"You must be Rukia; oh my, your cloth is pretty damp. Here, follow me. I'll get you clothes to change into." I wanted to decline but after looking at myself, I accepted her offer and changed into a yellow dress she gave me.

"Young master will come down soon. Please, have a seat first." I did as the old woman said. She served hot tea for me so I drank it. "Thank you. For the clothes and tea." I said slowly. "It's okay. Master always prepare some extra clothes to give to our guest permanently. So don't worry about it. Well, I have other works to do. Would you mind waiting for young master here?" I shook my head as my answer. Then, I was left alone.

I observed the interior of the house astoundingly. The wooden sofa I was seating on probably made of high-quality wood. Oak, I guess. The glorious thick and soft carpet under my feet was probably imported from another country. Iran, or maybe Turkey. I looked up; a baccarat birdcage chandelier was hanging on the ceiling. My knowledge about these stuffs was probably because I used to read magazines about house decorating while staying in the hospital. It was the first time I've seen the real thing. My, I could smell how expensive everything in this house was.

Soon, I saw Ichigo was descending downstairs. He was dressed in a tight black t-shirt that emphasized his chest with dark blue skinny jeans. His wet hair dripping onto the towel draped around his neck. Gosh, he looked hotter than usual. I bet he had just taken a shower.

"So you finally arrived. I thought you'll be dead in a car accident." There was a short pause before he pointed his finger at me. "That dress belongs to my dad right? You should be grateful that a filthy pig like you were given a dress." I gave him an ice glare; I wish I could slap him anytime. Now, to be honest.

"Stop glaring. You look fugly you know that? I want to finish my lunch first so you'll just wait for me at my room." With that, he left me alone. I gritted my teeth. Hard.

I was about to stand up but then a man in about forties or fifties greeted me. "Wow wow wow who is this pretty girl~?" The excited expression on his face totally changed to shock when he looked at my face properly. I wondered why though. He wore a maroon shirt and his tie was barely hung on the collar of his shirt.

"Kurosaki Isshin, Ichigo's old man. Nice to meet you." He took my hand and kissed it softly. "I'm…Kuchiki Rukia." Is he really Ichigo's father? Their attitudes are… WAY different.

"Ichigo's friend is here?" A voice came out of nowhere. I averted my gaze behind Isshin and noticed a tan skinned woman approaching me.

"Nice to meet you! I'm-"

"Ignore her." A new guy, totally younger than Isshin suddenly stopped the woman from continuing her words. When he saw me, his expression was the same as Isshin, but he stared at me with wider eyes. He had long black hair and… are those HAIRPINS on his hair?

"Stop that, Byakuya-boy! I'm Yoruichi, Byakuya's-"

"She's nobody." The hairpin guy interrupted. Gosh, what is happening here?

"Ignore him girl, I'm his fiancé, Yoruichi. And he's Byakuya. Ichigo's big brother." She took out her hand and I shook it.

"Ahh… you guys look so cute together." I stated.

"I thought we look like a donkey together, right Yoruichi?" Wow. I believe that Byakuya is REALLY Kurosaki Ichigo's brother. Still, their attitudes were different than their dad. And it was weird that he treated his fiancé like that.

"Ah, too bad I have to go. Soifon asked me to accompany her shopping." Yoruichi picked up her handbag and was ready to leave the house. "Great. Finally I can have some freedom." Byakuya said. Oh my, I better go to Ichigo's room quickly.

"Geez you two. Stop it. We have guest here. Oh by the way Rukia-san, if you're looking for Ichigo's room, it's upstairs. The first door you meet." Ichigo's old man told me. "Thank you." I smiled.

"It's always my pleasure to help pretty girl like you." He gave me a thumb up and grinned happily. For a billionaire, he's really weird.

I sat on the chair waiting for Ichigo. His room was so big on the first look. On the second look, I realized that his room was bigger than my whole house!

A picture of him and Inoue on the study desk intrigued me. Seeing them smiling happily in the picture somehow produced an uneasy feeling inside my stomach. In other word, jealous. Wait a minute, jealous? Oh come on, that was just not right. Right?

Just sitting and waiting was not my favorite hobby. Especially after staying in hospital for two months. So I decided to walk around and observed everything that he had in his room. It was a perfect room actually. Unlike my room which only had a single bed and a dusty tattered cupboard. I walked around again and stared at the big LED television in front of me. Damn rich bastard. They had everything. As I went back to the place where I started my 'journey', something caught my eyes; it was an old picture lying under the study chair. I bent down and picked up the picture.

I could feel my heart stopped beating, literally. I blinked multiple times to make sure my eyes weren't pranking on me.

It was an old picture of my family. Dad, mom, sis and me at a waterfall.

How could my family picture end up being in Ichigo's house? It was utterly inconceivable.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ichigo's sudden voice totally startled me I almost jumped out of my skin! "Nothing!" I said as I quickly hid the photo behind me. He gave me a 'like-I-would-buy-that' look, so I added, "Just… looking around. You know, your room is bigger than my whole house! Oh and, may I go to the washroom?" I smiled, a fake plus silly one.

"Yeah, but not the one in this room. I won't let any pig use my bathroom. Get out. Find it yourself."

"…" Hurriedly, I went out of his room. While clenching my fist tightly, of course.

Oh man, where should I go?

As I was wandering inside the big house, I could hear some nagging voice nearby which caught my attention.

"Stop it Byakuya-sama, I'm working right now." Huh? Whose voice is that? Yoruichi-san just went shopping right?

"I don't think it's wrong for me to hug you." Isn't that Byakuya's voice? I peeked through the hole in the door where the voice came from.

I saw Byakuya was hugging a lady in a maid uniform. I couldn't see her face because she was burying her head into his chest. Wow, their relationship was kind of… close. Extremely close, I presumed.

"Okay that's it. Now let me sweep the floor." She broke the hug and reached for her broom, but then Byakuya held her waist and as quick as flash, he pressed a kiss on her lips. Gosh, Byakuya had an affair with his maid! This explains his behavior towards his fiancé just now. Geez. This family is weird. I better find washroom quickly before they spotted me.

After washing my face. I observed the picture once again. Unmistakably, it was the picture of my family. I smirked looking at my sister and I in that picture. We were surprisingly similar. Even before, people have always thought that we were twins because of the same eyes and hairstyles. Anyhow, it was still strange to me how the hell did our picture ended up inside Kurosaki Ichigo's room.

When I returned to his room, I could hear he was talking on the phone.

"What? You're at Ishida's house for the project? Jealous? NO WAY! You're overreacting, Inoue. Yeah yeah. Okay. Bye. Love ya." He ended his call with a wide grin on his face. I couldn't help but giggled looking at his face. He looked so funny grinning like that.

Anyway, I took the opportunity to ask him about the picture since he was in a very good mood.

"Ichigo, can I ask you something?" He automatically changed his expression into his usual scowl. But it was an approachable one, if you get what I mean.

"What is it?"

"Can I know how'd you get this picture? I found it… just now. In this room." I showed him the picture. He rose an eyebrow while seeing it.

"I don't know. Not mine. Not my family's too. Guess it belongs to her. Maybe she accidentally slipped it here while cleaning this room."

"Your maid? What's her name?" Is she the one who was with Byakuya just now?

"Don't ask something that you shouldn't know. Remember your place."

"Please, I need to know." I spoke seriously, emphasizing the 'need' word. I could hear a light sigh escaped from his mouth.

"I don't know her full name, but we call her Hisana. Now shut up. No more stupid questions."

I widened my eyes; it was hard to register his words properly into my brain without trembling myself.

Hisana… she had the same name as my sister who drowned herself into the sea 9 years ago.

I could still remember the reflection of sadness on her face.

Her sad face when mommy died.

Her sad face when she was abused by dad.

Her sad face before she left me. Forever.

FLASHBACK

"Nee-san, where are you going?" I asked as I caught her trying to leave the house sneakily.

"I j-just want to p-play at the beach for awhile R-Rukia…" She stuttered.

"But why didn't you bring anything? You should have brought bucket to collect oysters' shells."

"…I don't need those things…"

"Can I go with you?" I pleaded.

"NO! You have to stay here. Okay?" She said while hugging me tightly.

"But please…" I held on to her tighter.

"I'm sorry Rukia. I gotta go now." I could see small droplets of crystal tears formed in her misty eyes when she broke the hug.

"When will you come home?" There was a deep pause between us.

"Soon. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." She smiled. A weak smile. And that was the last time I saw her.

"Oi pig!"

A male voice snapped my wandering mind back to reality.

"Geez, where do you put your mind, in your ass?"

"Shut up. Let's start our work." He widened his eyes, totally shocked by my response. Even I couldn't believe what I just muttered. But he just let it be. Lesson of the day: Ishida's advice really helps.

In about approximately 4 hours, we completed half of the project. I was awfully hungry, tired and sleepy.

"Hey, how do we solve this?" I repeated my question when I heard no response. I turned my gaze towards Ichigo and to my surprise, he was already asleep. He looked so peaceful. A total contrary to his conscious state. A sudden knocked on the door startled me.

"Young master, dinner's ready." From the sweet voice, I could tell that she was still pretty young. And her voice sounded familiar somehow…

"Can you please come in here? He's sleeping and I don't know how to wake him." I said, my eyes were still on Ichigo's sleeping face; observing, studying, and watching him.

"Oh, okay." Slowly, the door creaked open and before she stepped her feet into the room any further, I heard a loud gasp. I turned my gaze towards her direction and for once, my heart stopped beating for 5 seconds. Were my eyes kidding me?

There was no doubt. Her hair, her face, her eyes, everything.

Deep in my heart, I just knew she was still alive.

This chapter sucks a bit because after I've completely edit it and pressed the button save, IT SAYS "PLEASE LOG IN" WTF? I HAD TO EDIT EVERYTHING AGAIN! ARGHHH ! _

It seems Rukia had gotten a little stronger than previous chapters. I hope it's not too drastic . oh and sorry for too much italics in this chap haha.

Oh wells, if you have any questions then don't hesitate to ask. Please review. Actually the more the reviews the faster I'll update the next chapter since I'm on holiday right now lol xD