The Rebellious Novice

She was running as fast as she could.

Her lungs were burning but she couldn't bring herself to stop, she was almost outside the forest and it was about to get dark, she couldn't afford to be alone at night, she needed to reach the city or the beach, it didn't matter. She needed help urgently. Forcing her legs to go faster she reached the edge of the forest, she was about to smile victorious but she never got the chance, she didn't know that at the end of the forest was a cliff, she gasped and tried to grab something to stop her fall but it was too late.

She fell violently and everything went dark before she could even scream.

Kurosaki Ichigo was driving as fast as he could.

He was late to dinner and his father, being the dramatic jerk he was, was going to make a scandal out of it. The orange haired teenager cursed under his breath, it wasn't his fault, it was Byakuya who sent him to deliver some important documents outside the city and while he appreciated the trust his boss put into him he couldn't believe how uncaring he was, Ichigo didn't have a driver's license yet, he was too young. Well, apparently the Kuchiki heir didn't care about Ichigo's problem, all he cared about was his efficiency in delivering the documents and luckily he delivered them on time so his job was safe for now.

He sighed and accelerated, going outside Karakura always came with lots of difficulties because the roads were tricky, not to mention that he had to drive near the beach and the traffic was a nightmare around that zone, thinking about that he took a shortcut, it was a lonely road next to some cliffs but it didn't matter, he wanted to avoid the policemen and he knew no one would take this road.

Once he realized there were no other cars near him he relaxed, he could still make it on time.

It was then when it happened.

He didn't know how but something or someone fell from the cliffs and he hit that person with the car before he or she could reach the floor, he hit the brakes immediately but it was too late, he could tell that he had hit whoever had fell from the cliff.

He started to think, could it be that someone tried to commit suicide? Could it be that someone was trying to get rid of a body? Was he so damn unlucky that he had killed some crazy asshole that for some reason wanted to enjoy the view from the cliff? His heart was beating hard on his chest and for a minute it felt as if the world had stopped spinning.

He couldn't call the police.

Without the license they would take him along with the car, not to mention that there were no witnesses so he couldn't prove that the person fell from the cliff, instead they would blame him, there was no way. Besides, policemen always gave him a hard time because of his hair and his permanent scowl.

"Fuck" he said aloud and letting out the air he didn't know he was holding.

With trembling hands he get off the car and ran towards the probably deceased person.

"Please" he said under his breath "please God, if you really exist let this one be alive, I cannot go to jail" he wasn't used to praying but he supposed that it a lame prayer was better than no prayer at all.

He kneeled down next to the body and the first thing that he noticed it was that it was completely dressed in black, it looked like a huge dress with an apron, a veil and a cross.

He paused.

"No" he said aloud "I killed a nun?!"

He took the veil off her face and his eyes widened, this nun was gorgeous. Pale skin, button like nose, she couldn't be older than him, if anything she was younger. He gulped and checked the pulse.

He gasped.

She was alive! He wasn't a murderer!

He picked her up bridal style, he was glad to see that there was no blood anywhere but it was obvious that she was hurt. He ran towards the car and lay her carefully on the backseat. Collecting his thoughts he got to the conclusion that he wasn't going to make it to dinner in time, so he grabbed his cellphone and sent a message to his father, after that he took a deep breath and decided to drive towards his best friend's house.

From: Useless son.

"Hey dad, I won't be able to make it to dinner. The traffic is crazy and Renji says he needs my help with something, don't wait for me, I'll tell you how everything went tomorrow."

Kurosaki Isshin sighed.

Well, at least the boy was responsible enough to let him know.

When Renji heard the doorbell he knew that Ichigo was the one who was at the door. The orange haired loser was the only one who always showed up unannounced, pausing his videogame and sighing heavily he walked towards the door. He thought about waiting for a few minutes to make the bastard suffer but, considering the hour, the visit was probably because of something important, the last time Ichigo showed up in the middle of the night it was because he had a fight with his father, so Without even asking who was ringing at this unholy hour he opened the door.

His eyes widened at the sight of Ichigo carrying a nun.

"What the...?!" Renji was about to ask but Ichigo's angry look shut him up.

Renji took a step aside and once Ichigo stepped into the apartment, Renji closed the door behind him. He was glad that he didn't have nosy neighbors otherwise he wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Okay" Renji said carefully "I don't know what happened but please tell me that she's alive."

Ichigo looked at his redheaded best friend and nodded.

"Explain" Renji said while walking towards his room.

Ichigo lay the nun carefully on Renji's bed and turned to see him but he couldn't say anything. He sat down on the edge of the bed and hid his face on his hands. Renji approached him and patted him on the back twice, Ichigo wouldn't admit it but that little gesture helped him a lot. Before he could process everything, he told Renji the complete story, he accelerating Byakuya's car, hitting the crazy or suicidal nun with the car and how he couldn't think about what else to do or where else to go.

"What am I supposed to do?!" Ichigo asked desperately once he let the whole thing out of his system.

"Leave her on your father's hospital, someone will eventually show up to pick her up." Renji said wisely "is not as if you can treat her here!"

"What if she has lost her memory?!" Ichigo asked "what if they send her to some unknown place full of crazy people?!"

Renji looked at the girl.

She looked fine.

"Let's wait for her to wake up" Renji suggested "once she does, we'll explain everything to her and we'll help her."

Ichigo gulped.

"Hopefully she won't sue me."

"I don't think nuns know how to sue someone" Renji said "come on, you need something to eat."

Rukia groaned.

Her whole body ached and she didn't know why. Closing her eyes tightly she tried to remember what happened to her, the day had begun quite normally, the usual prayers and then breakfast and as time went on she kept replaying all the details of her escape plan which succeeded until she got to the edge of the forest where she fell and...

She gasped and sat down immediately.

With widened eyes she looked around and noticed how she was in an unknown room that didn't smell very sanitary. She checked herself and noticed how she didn't have any broken bones and her garments were still on so she guessed that no one touched her or hurt her.

She gulped.

Someone probably found her when she fell from the cliff. She stood up and decided to leave the room, she didn't know what time it was but obviously the people from the convent would be already looking for her. With trembling hands she opened the door and peeked outside, there was nothing but an empty hallway, she could tell she was inside a tiny apartment.

She blinked. Was she already in the city?

"I'm telling you Renji, she fell out of nowhere I swear to you that if she doesn't wake up..."

"Ichigo, she'll wake up, just give her time."

Her eyes widened. They were obviously talking about her, apparently someone called Ichigo had helped her.

"What if I made permanent damage? I could go to jail or worst, to hell."

Rukia frowned and followed the sound of the voices.

"Didn't take you as a religious one." Renji said smirking and Ichigo glared at him.

He was about to tell him how he wasn't an atheist but he couldn't talk, once he saw the girl stepping into the dining room words failed him. She was walking, that was a good sign but still, she looked pissed. Ichigo and Renji stood up immediately at the sight of her.

"Which one of you is Ichigo?" She asked and Ichigo thought that her voice was quite peculiar.

Renji pointed at him.

"You were the one who helped me?" she asked.

Ichigo nodded but didn't speak. As he observed her he noticed that her eyes were gorgeous, she had violet eyes, he had never seen that eye color. Hell, he wondered if she was wearing contacts, he couldn't take his eyes off her face, were nuns really that pretty?

"Where am I?" she asked and Renji, after noticing Ichigo's idiotic stare, decided to answer.

"You're in Karakura town" he told her and Ichigo noticed how her eyes widened at that "My name is Abarai Renji, the orange haired idiot brought you to my apartment."

"Was anyone following me? Did you see someone?" she asked Ichigo and he shook his head.

"Why?" Renji asked "is someone looking for you?"

She shrugged.

"Hopefully not" she said "I escaped for a reason after all."

Ichigo gaped, her final statement settled on his head and he felt as if a bucket of cold water had fell on him.

"You what?!" he finally asked "you escaped?! From where exactly?!"

Rukia looked at the orange haired boy and frowned, he was loud and had quite the scowl on his face. She wasn't sure if she could trust him, but he had helped her and she supposed that she owed him an explanation, she didn't have to tell him everything.

"I escaped from the convent" she said "although I was lucky enough to fall from the cliff because..."

"Lucky?" Ichigo asked aghast "Idiot! I almost had a heart attack, I thought I killed you!"

Rukia glared at him.

"Well, sorry is not as if I planned to fall from there." She said crossing her arms.

"You're sorry?! I hit you with my boss's car, if I had killed you he would've been involved, I cannot even begin to explain how awful that would've been."

Rukia tilted her head confused.

"Boss? How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen" he said "but my father gave me authorization to" he paused "you know what? Never mind, I shouldn't be explaining myself to a stranger, what's your name anyway?"

"My name's Rukia" she answered "and yes, you're right, you shouldn't explain yourself to a stranger but you hit me with your car."

"Boss's car" Ichigo corrected her.

"Therefore you're going to help me, carrot top" she said smirking.

Ichigo chuckled sarcastically.

"Help you? After you almost made me had a panic attack? Hell no, I don't even know you, why should I help you?"

Rukia grabbed her head then and she winced dramatically.

"My head hurts" she said and then leaned against the wall "now I'm all alone in the outside world, my head and my body aches, the principal is probably already looking for me."

Ichigo frowned.

"I'm not falling for that trick" he said angrily "go look for the closest church, you might find someone to help you there."

Rukia frowned at that. She approached Ichigo decisively and kicked him on the shins, the orange haired boy doubled in pain and Rukia pulled his hair painfully. Renji was shocked to see a nun acting so violently so he didn't interfere, he didn't want to get hurt too.

"What the fuck?!" Ichigo asked.

"Listen here, idiot." She said "I escaped and I'm not going back, you'll help me to get on my feet and you'll teach me how to fend for myself."

"And if I refuse?!" he asked looking at her sort of scared.

"I'm going to the nearest police station to tell them how you hit me with your car and brought me to this tiny, dirty apartment instead of taking me to a hospital like any decent man would."

"Hey" Renji said offended "this apartment is not dirty!"

"So, make a choice." Rukia ordered and Ichigo sneered at her.

He would have to help her.

An expensive black car parked outside the convent.

"Sir" the chauffer said while opening the door for his bosses "we've arrived."

Kuchiki Soujun stepped out of the car along with his son Kuchiki Byakuya. The young novice that was sent to greet the guests blushed at the sight of them and quietly guided them towards the Principal office, both men ignored her nervous staring.

"I never understood your decision of leaving my favorite granddaughter in here" Soujun commented while walking next to Byakuya and admiring the hallways. The convent had quite the gothic style and it looked as if it belonged to a horror movie, the walls looked ancient and the fact that the place was crowded with nuns gave Soujun quite a nasty feeling.

"Rukia is your only granddaughter" Byakuya replied coldly.

"Fine, let me rephrase my question" Soujun said unaffected by his son's coldness "why would you leave your only daughter in a place like this?"

"I already explained" he said dodging the question "I'm surprised that you decided to come today."

Soujun shrugged.

"I haven't seen her in ages, besides I promised Ginrei that I would make sure she was okay."

"She's living with nuns" Byakuya said "this is the safest place on earth, grandfather always exaggerates when it comes to Rukia."

"You cannot blame him" Soujun said "the only heiress of our clan, living with nuns, I think it's time for you to finally get her out of here."

Byakuya sighed and refrained from uttering another word, once they reached the principal office the young novice left the room.

"Oh sweet God" the Principal, who was an old woman with a mean smile, greeted them "it's so good to see you, Lord Kuchiki."

Both men nodded.

"May I ask the reason behind your visit? We're honored of course but all of our young novices are quite busy at the moment, Rukia is not an exception."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"We've come because as I stated the last month I think it's time for her to go back and live with us" he said "you were, of course, informed about this."

The old nun in front of him never stopped smiling.

"Of course" she said "but it's so sudden, I don't think Rukia wants to leave this place."

This time Soujun was the one who looked at the old nun incredulously.

"Rukia has sent us several letters begging us to get her out of here" he said "I thought that lying was a sin."

The woman's smile faltered for a second.

"She's really special" she said.

"Oh, we're aware" Soujun said "are your bringing here anytime soon? We've quite a busy schedule."

"Oh" the nun said "such busy business men as you cannot wait much longer I understand, which is why I must ask you to leave sweet Rukia with us for another couple of months, I don't want to imagine her living alone in a mansion like yours."

Byakuya frowned.

"Is none of your business" he said "but I've taken my position inside our enterprise since my grandfather already retired, Rukia will not be alone, Ginrei Kuchiki is anxiously waiting for her return."

The old nun was about to speak again but a young novice burst inside the office with a frantic expression.

"We already searched the whole convent, she's nowhere to be found, nothing was found in the forest either, Kuchiki Rukia escaped leaving no traces behind her."

Soujun's eyes widened and Byakuya looked angrily at the Principal.

"Were you planning on informing us about this? Or perhaps were you asking for another couple of months with Rukia so you could find her?"

The woman paled.

She hoped that Kuchiki Rukia was okay otherwise they would be hell to pay.