Ichigo was staring at the crowd with a bored eye. All of his friends were watching but he was stuck helping Rukia test some stupid kids!

He would wonder how he got pulled into this but sadly he already knew…

Ichigo was finally having a peaceful night; the first one in a long time, believe it or not. His family was out of town for the weekend and he planned to take advantage of the hard earned peace by indulging in his guilty-and very secret and he wanted to keep it that way, thank you very much- pleasure; a relaxing bubble bath. Ichigo had it all set up; lavender scented candles, lavender bubble soap and bath salt, a bottle of cherry cider-non-alcoholic, of course- and a glass. He also had his favourite romance novel, a CD player that had a Lindsey Stirling disc inside and a platter of his favourite snacks. He was planning on not coming out of the damn tub any time soon and who ever tried would get their ass kicked, friend or foe; he didn't care. They would meet a very sudsy demise.

Ichigo had changed into a soft cotton bathrobe and he turned on the water, setting it to the perfect temperature. He opened the bubble soap and he dumped a little in; the bath salts were next. As the water developed suds, Ichigo lit the candles and poured himself a glass of the rich crimson cider, setting it within arm's reach. He turned off the water when it was just right, dropped the robe and climbed in.

Ichigo leaned his head back against the back of the tub, getting comfortable and letting the stress of the last few months ooze out of him. Ever since he had gotten his Shinigami powers from Rukia, he had gone on one stressful adventure after the other with very little personal time. His home had turned into a Shinigami hot spot and Ichigo was close to snapping. Ichigo normally had very good patience-with two sisters and an annoying dad, he needed it by the ton- but the Shinigami were very good at destroying it.

Ichigo picked up his novel, opened it to the page that he had stopped at and he got lost in the plot.

He was so engrossed in his paperback that he didn't hear the door open or one Rukia Kuchiki gawking at the seemingly absurd scene that was playing out in front of her.

Ichigo had reached for a peanut butter cup when he spotted a waraji and sock covered foot. Paling, he looked up. He paled even more when he realized two things. One, he had been found out. Two, the person who found him out was a girl.

His mind chose that moment to clock out.

They stayed that way for two minutes before Ichigo suddenly shrieked-mind working again and racing a mile a second- and dove up to his nose into the water.

"I'm so sorry Ichigo! I didn't know that you were busy!" Rukia yelped.

Ichigo grumbled, "What is the matter Rukia? If it's a Hollow, I will be extremely pissed. I am having some private time and you assholes will not ruin it. You guys can handle a simple Hollow."

Rukia knew two things. One, her best friend was not in the best mood. Two, she had the perfect one-use only piece of blackmail.

Her original plan was to ask him but this was better.

Rukia smiled at Ichigo; knowingly making said person mentally freak out, "The Shino Academy- It's were Shinigami learn how to be Shinigami- have a graduation tournament every year. One Squad is elected every year to be a part of it. This tournament is to show off the Graduating class to the Taichous and the rest of the Seireitei. My Squad was elected this year. Only the seated officers can do the testing but we are a little short this year," Ichigo feared where this was going, "I told my Taichou that you would be more than willing to help out with our dilemma."

Ichigo raised his head above the water and opened his mouth to protest when he realized that he was the one in the compromising position and if he knew it than Rukia knew it.

He signed; well he could kiss his baths good-bye.

He had been right too. Rukia had blackmailed him into doing it. He had no choice in the matter.

"Hey, at least act like you want to be here," Rukia snapped, "You're scaring the graduates."

Ichigo deepened his scowl even more just to piss her off. Rukia scowled back.

"Rukia, is everything ready?" She turned and beamed at Ukitake-Taichou.

"Everything is going smoothly… mostly," She twisted around to level Ichigo with Kuchiki glare # 34- the 'I'm pissed at you and you better grovel at my feet and beg for forgiveness' one.

Ichigo was immune to it because it's Uryuu's signature glare.

He just glared back.

Ukitake just laughed and ruffled their hair, "Everything will go smoothly. All the students have a seated officer assigned to them, "His face took a pensive turn, "One student however is not registered and she is a nervous wreck. One of the other students fixed the registration issue- had an issue with her name though- but she is as skittish as a kitten. Ichigo," Ichigo turned to look at him, "Do you mind battling her? I think that if she went against an opponent that would push her to do the best she can, she would succeed and prove to herself that she can do it."

Ichigo mulled this tidbit of information over as Ukitake pointed the mystery girl out to Rukia. He wanted to refuse but Ukitake had some good points. Ichigo had a secret teaching side that had been born because of years of teaching his little sisters. He was also a big softie and Ukitake knew it.

"Fine," He scoffed, "Who is the mystery gal?"

Ukitake beamed at him and pointed to a small huddle on the bench, "She's on that bench. You might want to get a look at her before the rest of the class gets there."

Ichigo scowled and walked over to the group. He was tall enough that he didn't have to shove people around to see the center. What he saw surprised him. A girl sat on the bench. She looked about five feet, three inches. Her uniform was a wreck, the normally white parts a light brownish-red and the bright red pants were dark; bandages were seen through the folds of the clothes. The girl's skin was an alabaster colour and was littered with even paler scars. Her eyes were an arctic blue that had specks of pale jade and lilac; making them look like exotic opals. The weird part was the fact two members of the crowd- one a male with dark red hair and rich green eyes and other a female with blonde hair streaked blue and gold-freckled hazel eyes- had water bottles and a small bar of soap. They were running the soap through the unidentified girl's hair and were using the water to rinse it. It looked like a light brown to Ichigo but as the water and soap did its job, he realized that there was another colour under it because the brown was disappearing. As the dirt-because that was what the brown colour really was- was rinsed out of her hair, a pearlescent white appeared. Ichigo was captivated by it but he noticed that it was in a short spiky style that didn't seem to complement her exotic looks at all.

He left because he wanted to give the girl some space.

It was not because he was chased off by a pack of protective students.

Rukia was amused by the fact the class had huddled around the bench and that some of them were practically hissing at any Shinigami stupid enough to wander too close to the huddle. And that included Ichigo, who bolted back after seeing his opponent.

"What, a pack of kids sent you away with your tail tucked between your legs?" Rukia teased as he scurried away.

"Yeah, they were vicious brats," Ichigo admitted as he watched the huddle. Ichigo wasn't about to tell Rukia this but he had seen something on the girl that didn't belong. He had just decided to tell Ukitake when the gong that signalled for the tournament to start went off.

Wildcat: Ya! My first bleach fic is out for the world to see!

Ichigo: Wildcat!

Wildcat: Uh oh... gotta go! I own noting but AU's OPT's headcanons and OC's!