"Hello classmates, I'm Kuchiki Rukia. Pleased to meet you all."
He stiffens at the rigid, prideful voice and turns to look at her; her cheerful eyes and carefully sculpted smile are so sweet, so fake that he can't help but cringe, yet, he narrows his eyes, her rigid and classy posture was so similar to someone he couldn't pinpoint to. But he knows one thing for sure-
-he did not like that person, and therefore would not like this person either.
The others feed on her lies and instantly fall for it, impatiently waiting to be seated next to her.
He turns away and hopes she will be far from his sight.
"You will sit next to Kurosaki Ichigo."
The fangirls wail; the fanboys glare.
She keeps her plastered smile on and then the teacher says-
"Kurosaki, please share your textbook with her."
He scowls while shifting his desk closer to share; he really didn't want to interact with people any more than he had to, especially with her.
Ichigo shifts his textbook closer to her and glances up, her eyes were on him. Usually he wouldn't be bothered by it since he always without fail received stares for his flashy, orange hair. Yet her stare was not eye-gaping, she was looking at him, like she could see how empty he was.
And that was the last thing he wanted.
"Is there something...?"
She hesitates, then says-
"-Thank you, but," she says in a low, firm tone, "I don't need it."
He blinks once, twice, then says-
"-Are you sure?"
"Yes," she replies convincingly as she flips through her sketchbook.
Ichigo slowly retrieves it back.
"Kuchiki-san, please read verse 10."
He pushes the book back at her, but she instead stands with her sketchbook in hand and -he observes- seems to be reading from it.
"I dive towards what I cannot see, what I cannot hear, fearlessly. It is dark, it is black, and yet for a reason only I could understand, I feel it brim within me-
-freedom."
"Perfect. Thank you Kuchiki-san, you may sit down."
As she sits down, Ichigo eyes her from the corner of his eyes, and swears that while she read, he'd heard something he'd never heard so definite and clear before-
-longing.
"Did you memorize the entire book?" He asks curiously after the period ends.
She pauses, then, "not exactly", before leaving him more puzzled than ever.
He watches her disappear down the hall, then turns to leave himself.