All right this is my first Bleach story so be nice. I recently fell in love with Neko Rukia and Ichigo, there aren't enough of those stories on here yet. I do want to point out a couple of stories that have inspired me to write this.

First of all, Concrete Angel by KittiKat626, and To Mend Thy Shattered Heart by .x were fantastic. I highly recommend them. The couple of Neko stories I can't stop reading, Catnipped by Vi0letButterfly was unfortunately taken down by , but I hope she decides to repost it! We're The Same by hunterofcomedy, and Bits and Pieces also by Vi0letbutterfly, which is still in progress.

I can't recommend these enough, go read them and enjoy! Hopefully more Neko rukiaxIchigo stories will be written, I can't seem to get enough! Oh, and be warned my grammar is not great, so there will be mistakes. Hopefully nothing bad enough to keep you from enjoying the story, I am looking for a beta reader. I don't own Bleach blah blah blah.

That Girl

Can you imagine being hated just because of who you are? For being something that you can't help being? The human race has overcome so much throughout history. They've gone from being bigots towards their own kind just because of a difference in the color of their skin, to accepting and believing in equal rights for all. Scratch that. Not everyone gets equal rights, and not everybody believes they should.

The discovery of the nekojin race brought a new era of discrimination, but instead of segregation, humanity demanded they be destroyed. And the only physical differences between the nekojin and the humans were that the nekojin had a pair of cat ears atop their heads, and tails on their rears! Apparently that alone was reason enough for the humans to brand them abominations. Words such as "not normal" and "mutations" began circulating, prompting the government to send soldiers to the cities to shoot the "cat people" down like the animals they believed them to be.

For the longest time the nekojin had to avoid any contact with humans for fear of being hunted down. Prices were put on their heads, and the rewards for capturing a nekojin alive were great. Eventually, a group of nekojin supporters opened the eyes of the public. They were reprimanded for the support of the cat people, but their words reached the people, and these words were: "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish as fools." A Dr. King quote

It was like a switch had been flipped, and those who had been afraid to voice their support for the nekojin found their courage and protested the massacres. The cat people were persuaded to come out of hiding, and safe havens were offered until the government agreed to end the discrimination of their kind. They would no longer be hunted, and would be looked at as members of society that deserved the same rights as humans. The damage had been done, but the nekojin were a kind and peaceful race and did not wish to go to war with the human race.

So they lived with the humans. Some held grudges while others did not. And as generations passed, they became as common as humans. No one batted an eye at them anymore, and all was well.

Pain. That's all her mind could register as she woke up. Memories of last night came flooding back and she closed her eyes and sighed. She slowly turned her head towards her bedroom door, ignoring the dull thudding pain that came from the slight action. There was a small smear of blood in the middle of the door, and a shattered sake glass that was the reason for the smear, lay shattered on the floor. The offending bottle had been thrown at her head, and luckily missed its intended target. Her decision to dodge however led her to slam her head into the damn door.

Rukia could feel the dried blood in her hair, and groaned as she forced herself to sit up and walk to the bathroom. She gripped the bathroom's doorframe as a dizzy spell nearly sent her to the hard floor. She remained still until the dizziness passed, then walked to the shower and turned it on. The old rusted pipes sputtered before shooting out the cold water into the tub. She made no attempt to turn the water handle to hot, as the water heater had been broken for almost two weeks now. She took off her night wear and swept an index finger across the sink, violet eyes narrowing at the coat of dust that appeared on said finger. 'I'll have to clean soon.' She observed silently. Her father hated it when the house got too dirty, saying it made him look bad in front of the CPS.

Rukia stepped into the shower, clenching her fists as the freezing water hit her skin. When the water hit the back of her head, the dull ache suddenly felt like someone was stabbing it with an ice pick. She carefully washed her hair, making sure she got all the blood out of it, and tried her best to keep the freezing water out of her delicate neko ears. As soon as she felt the blood was gone she jumped out and turned the shower off. Wrapping a small towel around herself, she walked out of the bathroom and made her way to her room.

Before she could make it through the door, a large hand grabbed her wrist with unwelcome force. Her neko ears slicked back instantly and her eyes narrowed as she turned to glare at the man behind her.

Kaito Shinobu was in his early fifties, with black hair that fell to his shoulders and dull brown eyes. His eyes narrowed and he tightened his grip on her wrist.

"Don't give me that fuckin' look. You need to clean this place. Now."

Rukia jerked her wrist out of his grasp and took a step back as she discerned the finality with which he emphasized the last word.

"I'm already late for school; I'll clean when I get back."

She replied without hesitation and turning her back on him, started for her room, but Kaito growled and brought his hand to her neck, slamming her into the wall.

"What did I say about giving me attitude?"

He sputtered bitterly; and while his grip on her neck wasn't tight enough to deprive her of any air, she flinched as her head pounded from being slammed into the wall.

"Can't remember, why don't you remind me."

Kaito brought his fist back and slammed it into her stomach at her cheeky response. Rukia gasped for air as the wind was knocked out of her, and she wasn't given any time to recuperate before he punched her again in the ribs. He removed his hand from her throat and watched as she fell to the floor and clutched the towel to her body.

"Remember now?"

Rukia gasped and winced at the sharp pain that tore through her side as she inhaled, and slowly nodded.

"Good."

He ruffled her hair in a show of mock affection, and she nearly hissed in pain.

"Grab some cleaning supplies from the school, we're out."

He commanded and waltzed into the kitchen, leaving Rukia squirming on the floor. As soon as he was out of sight she glared in his direction and swore under her breath.

"Bastard."

She opened her towel to look at her stomach and side, sighing distastefully at the bruises that were already forming. She stood up slowly and finally making it to her bedroom, closed the door behind her. She looked at her pink Chappy alarm clock and cursed, school started in half an hour.

Rukia quickly dried herself off and threw on her school uniform, cursing her tail as it seemed to resist being put through the hole in her undergarments. She then grabbed her backpack and walked out the front door. Usually it would only take her ten minutes to get to school when she ran, but the stinging pain in her side kept her from doing so.

Despite the events of the morning she lifted her head and smiled at the clear blue sky. At least it's nice out. She thought with a glint of hope in her violet irises, exhilarated to be finally out of the house.

"Rukia-san!"

Her ears perked up towards the source of the yell, and she turned around and smiled. Yamada Hanataro, her best friend and classmate, was such a nice kid who unlike her was very shy and submissive. He reminded her of a younger brother, and that caused her to be naturally protective of him. He caught up to her and bent over, breathing hard from the short sprint.

"How are you Rukia-san?" He asked with a polite smile as they started walking again.

"I've been better, but it's not too bad." She returned with a smile which dimmed immediately when she scanned him over and spotted the large bruise on his arm.

"What about you; how have you been?"

He quickly covered it with his sweater sleeves and laughed nervously. Then he said quickly, trying to reassure her. "I got into trouble last night, but I'm alright!"

"If you say so, but you know you can always knock on my window if you need to get away."

At her caring words, Hanataro smiled genuinely and nodded.

"Thank you Rukia-san."

She waved him off and explained further with a firm but reassuring mien. "Don't mention it at all. You're my friend, and friends help each other out."

The walk to school was otherwise uneventful, and even though they chatted about this and that while walking slowly they still managed to make it to campus with five minutes to spare. They walked into the classroom, and headed straight to the back right corner where their usual seats were. Rukia let out a hiss as she sat down, then sighed.

"I am not looking forward to today."

Hanataro lifted up his eyes from scanning his bag, and knowing exactly what Rukia was referring to asked her, "What excuse are you going to use to get out of gym today, Rukia-san?"

"I'll just tell coach I'm on my period; that always seems to work."

At Rukia's rather blunt reply Hanataro blushed and looked away abashedly, making Rukia chuckle and ruffle his hair affectionately. Her tail vibrated in delight at the sight of his blush.

"I want to see your face when you take Sex Ed. Now that will be funny."

Hanataro fidgeting uncomfortably in his seat suddenly found his fingers very interesting. "I don't think I could make it through that class, Rukia-san."

Rukia's face lighted up as she pounced on the opportunity to further torture the poor boy. "You'll be fine. Then when you get a girlfriend things won't be as confusing."

"G-G-Girlfriend?" Hanataro stuttered innocently making Rukia give up and smile while intentionally redirecting her gaze to the chalkboard.

"Yes a girlfriend, and don't you go on telling me you'll never have one. You just need to find the right person."

She opened her notebook and took a quick look at her schedule, changing the subject quickly as if it never came up at all.

"I have Home Ec. today. Hopefully we'll make something good; I didn't grab breakfast."

She sighed and Hanataro supplied.

"It's going to be a long wait until lunch."

~Groooooowl~ Rukia's stomach growled for the fifth time and she cursed silently. Then again, she was in Home Economics, and the fact that she hadn't eaten anything that morning wasn't helping. Today they were making Ichigo daifuku, small cakes with strawberries and a red bean paste filling. It was times like these she cursed her feline abilities. The small plate of the sugary treats was right in front of her face, and her superior sense of smell was making the wait torturous.

She was by no means a cook, but she found that she was pretty good at making desserts. She eyed the twelve small cakes in front of her and glanced at the clock, only five minutes until lunch. Not that it mattered too much because all she had was the daifuku.

'Better than nothing.' She thought with a shrug—

Immediately the lunch bell rang and Rukia sighed in relief. She carefully packed up her lunch and placed it in her backpack, and walked into the hallway with her tail coiled around her waist. Instead of walking to the front of the school or the roof, where most of the students ate their lunches, she made her way to the back of the school. It was here that she and Hanataro met up at lunch every day... Along with the smokers and any group of teens that had snagged their parents liquor bottles from home. The smell of second-hand smoke invaded her senses, and she frowned and quickened her pace to be rid of the disgusting smell.

She found Hanataro under their usual tree, and spotting her approach waved enthusiastically. She winced as she slowly sat down next to him, using the tree for support and kept her eyes closed until the pain went away.

"Rukia-san?"

She opened her eyes at Hanataro's concerned voice and smiled at her friend. "How's your arm, Hana?"

"It's fine, but are you alright?"

He watched as she dug out a small container from her bag.

"Fine," she replied, "We made daifuku today."

Hanataro's eyes lit up at the treat. "They look great, Rukia-san."

She smiled and her tail unwrapped from her waist and rested on the warm grass. "Glad. We're sharing."

Every day Rukia and Hanataro would combine their lunches, trying to make a small feast for themselves. Hanataro brought out his bento box.

"Let's see… we have rice, teriyaki beef, some onigiri and cooked vegetables."

He handed Rukia a pair of chopsticks and smiled as she took a piece of beef into her mouth.

"Oh my god, Hanataro your mom makes the best beef!"

She moaned in delight as the delicious taste spread in her mouth. Hanataro smiled at that and started to pick at the rice. The end of lunch came too soon, but both teens sighed contently with full stomachs. Later as they went back into the hallway Rukia waved as they started down different directions in the hallway.

"See you later, Hana."

The rest of the school day passed by quickly, and Rukia found herself dreading the walk home as she looked outside the window and noticed rain clouds steadily approach the town. She looked at the huge clock in front of the classroom, and fingered the paperclip in her shirt pocket in anticipation. School was over in ten minutes. She'd have to wait for everyone to clear the hallways before breaking into the janitor's closet, but she'd make quick work of it. When the bell finally rang, everyone packed up so quickly you'd think a tornado was about to hit.

It took close to half an hour for all of the students to leave the hallways. A majority of the girls ended up chatting next to their lockers, making Rukia tap her foot in impatience at their inadvertent hindrance to her raiding plans. Eventually most of the students left the school, leaving the hallway and the janitor's closet clear. She dropped her bag on the floor and brought out the paperclip from her shirt. She had broken into the janitor's closet with it a couple of times before, so it only took about a minute until she heard the tell tale click. She looked up and down the hallway to make sure no one was there before opening the door. Luckily Rukia didn't need much, so she was able to quickly stuff three bottles of cleaning supplies into her backpack and gracefully slip back into the hallway.

"Time to go back to the hell hole." She muttered to herself and headed for the exit of the school. As she walked to the front door of the school she looked outside and groaned. It had begun to pour outside, and she didn't have an umbrella nor could she run thanks to her ribs which were still hurting. She sighed in surrender.

'No use delaying the inevitable.' When she stepped outside the rain instantly soaked her to the bone, making her shiver. Her ears frantically twitched, desperately trying to keep the water out, and she had wrapped her tail around her thigh to try and spare it from the downpour. Five minutes later the rain was coming down so hard Rukia could barely see five feet in front of her. This caused a couple of unfortunate things to occur. Thanks to the rain blinding her, she bumped hard into someone. The fall to the concrete caused her to hit her head and further aggravate her bruised ribs, making her curl up and gasp from the pain.

"Watch where you're going!"

The voice never reached her ears however as all she could hear was her own heartbeat pounding as she waited for the jarring pain to go dissipate. The figure knelt down next to her.

"Hey!"

She slowly opened her eyes and bright orange filled her vision, making her squeeze her eyes shut.

"Holy crap, your hair is hurting my eyes!"

"Yeah, don't thank me or anything, I was just trying to help."

The owner of the orange hair retorted sarcastically, and Rukia opened her eyes to glare at the person next to her. From her position on the ground and thanks to the rain, all she could see was his spiky orange hair and his amber eyes. She ignored his bizarre features and lunged at him with her words.

"You knocked me down, fool!"

"I did not! You walked right into me!" He hissed back at her and she uncurled her body and attempted to sit up, but the overpowering pain made her lay back down.

"Oiy, are you alright?"

He touched a hand to her shoulder, but she shrugged it off and growled.

"I'm just dandy."

"Yeah, that's why you're lying on the ground in the rain." He spewed sarcasm again, but the temporal joy of the pain finally dissipating made Rukia ignore him and after slowly sitting up, she then stood to her feet.

She looked at the orange-haired kid and glared when she noticed he was still standing there staring at her. "Why are you still here?"

He growled in response."It's called gratitude, you stupid midget."

She sneered at him and he simply smirked, walked up to her, and put his hand on top of her head without any reservation.

"You're so short I'm surprised you haven't been hit by a car yet."

Rukia brought her elbow back and slammed it hard into his side. His hand recoiled as he let out an audible 'oof'.

"What the hell was that for?"

He glared at her and she glared right back, her ears flattening against her head and her tail twitching with annoyance. It was then, when she was standing straight in front of him, that he took notice of her neko features. Before, her ears had been flat against her head, and it had been raining so hard that he couldn't see them camouflaged with her hair. Now that the heavens had calmed a bit he also noticed her tail, which had been wrapped around her upper thigh, out behind her and soaking up the rain like a sponge. She noticed his gaze was on her tail and ears, and sighed.

"What the hell are you staring at, carrot-top?"

He blinked for a second then scowled. "Not you, that's for sure."

He let his umbrella drop to the ground in front of her and turning around, plodded away. "Watch out for cars, midget neko!"

She watched him walk away. And if looks could kill that orange-haired brat would be lying dead on the street. She eyed the umbrella with anger, and looked up once more to see if that kid was still around. When she was certain he was gone, she carefully kneeled down to pick up her backpack and the umbrella. The pain in her side was less sharp, and now she had shelter from the rain. She wouldn't thank him for the umbrella, and if she happened to see him again and he asked for it back, she would immediately deny she had it and walk away.

She continued the trek home at a slower pace, not looking forward to reaching her "unheated" house that would undoubtedly be freezing inside. By the time she was close to home the rain had lightened up to a drizzle, but the dark cloudy sky remained. Her tail dragged behind her, heavy and full of water. She stopped at the front door and wrung out her soaking appendage, not wanting to track a river of water inside. She shook the umbrella free of water, and dropped it next to an empty pot plant, then opened the front door. The freezing air hit her and she shivered.

"Shit." She cursed aloud and quickly walked to her room, dropping her backpack in the corner. She shut her bedroom door and immediately peeled off her soaking clothes. After drying off her body with a towel, she carefully dried her tail and hair and ears. She immediately threw on her underwear, thick black sweatpants, and her pink chappy the rabbit themed shirt, thick chappy socks, and her pink chappy hoodie. Even with all the warm clothing, the cold tore through her and made her head throb nastily.

'I hope we still have tea'. She thought and made her way to the kitchen, quietly walking across the wood floor as she saw the slumped snoring figure in the living room in a chair in front of the TV. She grabbed a small pot out of the cupboard, and filled it with water. She turned on the gas stove, and set the pot on top of it. Then she returned to the cupboard, and sighed in relief when she found one remaining bag of jasmine tea. She waited for the water to boil, her ears twitching anxiously. When it finally did boil, she grabbed a large mug, placed the tea bag inside of it, and poured the hot water. She let it sit for a couple of minutes before adding the last dredges of the honey in the bottle to the cup of tea.

Lifting the mug to her nose, Rukia inhaled and sighed at the sweet smell and warmth it created inside her. She walked back to her room and shut the door. Wrapping herself in her thick quilt, she slowly drank the tea and smiled when she felt her body warm up in trouncing victory over the cold. Her ears picked up the noise as the rain began falling heavily again, and she thanked god that she wasn't out there anymore. When the tea was gone, she placed the mug on her nightstand and lay down on her bed. With the combination of the noise of the rain, and the warmth of her quilt, she easily fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

So hopefully that was interesting, a lot of things will be explained later, like how Rukia and Hanataro met.

In every story involving Rukia being abused, she was understandably traumatized or timid. I just wanted to try and write a story where she would be strong and fight back for herself ya know? Please review it will help me know whether people like it or not. Although I will continue it whether people like it or not ^_^ I'm going to start writing the next chapter right now, and I will probably wait for a week or so to post it. Hopefully I can write a couple of chapters and have frequent updates, but don't count on it. And if anyone didn't know, cps stands for child protective services. As I've said, it will all eventually be explained.