Sensei

Author's Note: Yup. It's another oneshot from the whacked up author suffering from IHKI again. I'm using my laptop more often, so be sure to check for spelling errors and other important language stuff. My notebook doesn't have it, so yeah. Thanks for the help; I appreciate it! (IHKI: IchiHitsuKusa Insanity)

Disclaimer: Isn't it obvious that I don't own Bleach?

Note: Jap terms that may (note; may) be unknown to you will be in italics, but after which, it will revert to normal writing style. This applies to Jap terms that you should know by now as well.

The soft shade of the ice blue gave the picture a beautiful toning as the artist fumbled his pencil case for another colour pencil before shading in the rest of the body of the dragon he had drawn. Or doodled, for that matter. He knew he was supposed to be paying attention to what the teacher was explaining about the ionic and covalent bondings of the different kinds of atoms belonging to different elements but he had already studied about all that by himself and, frankly saying, he had totally grasped the entire syllabus for chemistry for the entire term. He couldn't help but relax a little during class...

After all, it was the time when a teacher he looked at with disgust would begin teaching.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou."

Upon hearing his name being called, the white-haired student snapped out of his colouring daze and his head instantly shot up to look at his chemistry sensei standing right in front of him, arms folded across his chest and eyebrow raised expectantly. Dropping the colouring material, he suppressed a sigh and frowned. His sensei just frowned back with an audible and disappointed sigh.

"See me after school, Toushirou. We need to talk."

Averting his teacher's gaze, the cool, calm gakusei (student) released the sigh from its cage in defeat and slumped in his chair. "...HaiKusaka-sensei."

With a small nod, the purple-haired chemistry teacher picked up the marvellous drawing of a dragon of ice as well as the box full of nothing but colour pencils, casting his student a glance before moving back to the front of the classroom, resuming his explanation of the differences between ionic and covalent bondings from where he had left off.

Hitsugaya glared at the ground with a scowl that simply refused to leave his features. The bell had rung at least fifteen minutes ago, and his gay purple-haired sensei still hadn't said anything to him yet. All he was doing for the past fifteen minutes was flipping through the worksheets and assignments that were due on the day itself, marking things with the item which had been dubbed 'every teacher's best friend' - the red pen. Seriously, though, Hitsugaya would never understand what the hell's going on in a teacher's mind...

Leaning against the edge of the table, the white-haired teenager crossed his left leg across his right and arms folded in a manner that made him look like a military commander. Piercing teal eyes were glued to the concrete floor, die-die unwilling to look at the gayest teacher that had ever been assigned to his class. Heck, even Kuchiki-sensei once mentioned that he found Kusaka-sensei uncomfortable to work with because of his gayness...of course, he made the class swear not to tell anyone otherwise he'd pull some strings and make everyone stay back for detention.

This was worse than the last detention he had been given; far worse. That time, the purple-haired chemistry teacher went straight to the point about his attitude in class and the whatnot before letting him leave after, what, five minutes, ten? Snarl. And don't even get him started about what went on between him and his father; his old man's still ignoring him about the fight they had, and Hitsugaya still hadn't fully recovered from the gash on his shoulder. Should he get tugged by the arm, and the wound would re-open. It had happened twice in a row and it certainly not a pleasant memory.

His hand traveled up to his shoulder and wrapped its fingers around it, giving it a slight tug. With a wince, he let his hand fall limp, figuring that it'd be best if he should leave his shoulder alone for now. Holding back a growl, he clenched his fists with impatience. Just when will that purple-haired freak start talking already...?!

"Toushirou," Kusaka began, running his fingers along the side of the stack of papers in his hands before he held it upright and tapped it continuously on the tabletop. "I think we both know that we're here to discuss your attitude in class again." With a blank stare, Hitsugaya watched his teacher place the papers down on one corner of the table neatly before pausing and taking a sip from his cup of coffee. Settling the cup down gently, Kusaka continued, "You have to understand, Toushirou. I can't just lie to your father like how I did so last time. It's very clear to me now that you have no interest in studying, even though you never fail to amaze even the heads of the various subject departments with the perfect scores on your tests..."

As he trailed off, he opened one of the drawers of his desk and picked up a piece of paper, handing it to his rebellious student. Hitsugaya took it with a simple action of the rolling of his eyes before staring at the one hundred percent written with the teacher's best friend in numerals on the top left-hand corner. Folding the paper in half, he unzipped his bag and stuffed his marked assignment in, along with the other crumpled papers that had been marked with perfect scores.

Eyeing his student's every move carefully, Kusaka carried on. "It will be easy for someone of your talent to receive a scholarship and go abroad to study, just like I had when I was your age. However, with such attitude, I finally see why you turned down the nine offers the government had offered you over the past few years to go abroad to study."

Hitsugaya was still unfazed, much to his teacher's surprise. "What does that have to do with anything now?" the white-haired gakusei asked coldly, arms folded stubbornly. "So what if my chances to go abroad to study have been wasted? I don't even want to leave this place, as much as I hate it here."

"Personally, I have had enough with your negative outlook on education, Toushirou, but I can't help thinking of other areas I could maybe help you with..."

"I don't need any help. I'm fine on my own," came the icy reply.

Navy blue eyes darted across the room as Kusaka took in a deep breath and spoke, "A student who is addicted to drugs is not fine on his own, Hitsugaya Toushirou."

Nothing came from the white-haired adolescent except for maybe an inaudible snarl or two before it all became silent once more. Hitsugaya shifted in his position uncomfortably, avoiding having any form of eye contact with his chemistry teacher for the time being, and stared at the broom leaning against the wall in the corner instead. It seemed much more comforting than looking at the king of gayness who just passed down the edict to eradicate the world of lesbians and drugs to support gay rights.

Unfortunately for Hitsugaya, his silence gave Kusaka the chance to heave a heavy-hearted sigh before speaking, "Look...I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't think of the circumstances and the outcome; most of all, I didn't think of the pain that it would inflict on you. I'm truly sorry, Toushirou."

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Kusaka," Hitsugaya spat with a hint of venom and menace in his voice.

"I know whatever I do will never gain your forgiveness, but please Toushirou, at least spare yourself from the agony. Stop abusing all these drugs," Kusaka begged, voice nearly cracking with worry and plea.

However, such sorry emotions were never enough to warm even the icy student's heart. "Says the one who administered the drugs in the first place."

Silence settled in as time passed by as slowly as the pace of a turtle. Neither parties gained the initiative to say anymore from where they had left off and Hitsugaya's patience finally snapped. He found no need to stay on any longer and stormed out of the office, dragging his school bag along the floor. Kusaka stood there like a statue, unable to think, unable to speak, before his feet gave way and allowed him to fall back onto his seat, knocking a bit of sense back into him as he closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose, holding back the tears as memories of the past came flooding to haunt him.

'What have I done...?'

"Oi, Toushirou!"

The white-haired student looked up from the ground and locked eyes with his orange-haired friend standing about a few feet away from him. Hitsugaya blinked slowly before pulling his bag up and slinging the straps over his shoulders quite reluctantly, taking a few steps closer to his schoolmate who had begun running in his direction.

"Hey, Toushirou, what kept you? All your other classmates came out like, forty-five minutes ago and when I asked Rukia about you, she said something about the chemistry teacher holding you back." Noticing the glum expression hanging from his schoolmate's face, Ichigo blinked in confusion and bent down to reach his friend's height, meeting him in the eye. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"...Nothing, Kurosaki," Hitsugaya replied quietly, taking the first few steps out of the school gate with the orange-haired strawberry following at the same pace. "Look, when we get back home, don't tell the old bastard about me getting held back. I don't want another lawsuit and a fine for landing his son and his teacher in the hospital."

With an unnoticeable sigh, Ichigo agreed.

"And also, don't tell him that..." he took a pause to frown before he continued, "...don't tell him that...I'm going for another round."

"...Another round?"

"You know...I'm helping out the soccer team...they're going for another round of soccer practise in the sports stadium," Hitsugaya lied, averting Ichigo's confused and kept-in-the-dark gaze upon him. "I probably won't be back till about evening, so don't think about making my share of dinner."

"Alright, Toushirou, but I'll make sure Yuzu makes a bit of extra just in case."

With a shrug, Hitsugaya left his neighbour alone, waving a small goodbye as he headed off in the direction of the town's sports stadium. Ichigo stood there, hands by his sides and feet stopping in their tracks as chocolate brown eyes looked after the fading figure of his white-haired neighbour, wondering when Hitsugaya will finally tell him the truth about his whereabouts all the time.

He knew that Kurosaki knew that he was lying about the soccer team having extra practise. He knew that Kurosaki was getting suspicious about his actions. He knew that Kurosaki was waiting for him to open his mouth and speak of the truth he longed to speak.

All the more he knew that he had to keep his mouth shut about the matter.

If Ichigo were to learn about what had been troubling him, he would strongly object against Hitsugaya's choice of actions and hold the tainted child back from his temptations and desires that he had succumbed to. Knowing Ichigo, he would go to drastic lengths to purify the soul which had been stained for far too long; he was like a bottle of bleach filled with the pure fluid that could cleanse all things of its stains and dirt, returning it to its original state.

But Hitsugaya knew that bleach doesn't last forever.

He, who had ventured far too deep within the abyss of darkness, would never be able to see the true light of day ever again. He, who had succumbed to his mind's temptations and desires, would never be able to learn how to rid of these temptations and start anew. He, who had tried all means and ways to keep his troubles caged up within himself, would never be able to unlock the locks that had been keeping the cage chained and secure. He, who had realised that time by all means could never be reversed, would never be able to free himself from clutches of the present.

Just one bottle of bleach wasn't enough...

It would all be used up within a short period of time, and the stain would never leave. It would, in turn, be tainted by the stain.

"Are you ready...Toushirou?"

And Hitsugaya...

"Yes."

...didn't want that to happen.

Under the darkened heavens which had begun speaking in the language of thunder, the sensei's hands trembled with fear and anxiety as he moved the syringe closer his gakusei's skin where the veins could be seen. Closing his eyes shut to keep his sight free from the terror, he tapped the tip of the needle near the skin before his thumb pushed it further. With knitted brows and sweat trickling down his forehead, Hitsugaya shut his eyes tight as he bit his lower lip to prevent it from trembling. He could feel the cool metal pierce through his skin, and the forbidden fluid entering his bloodstream.

His soul had been tainted, and it forever will be.

'...I'm sorry...Ichigo.'

It was...far too late.

A/N: I only have one thing to say. And that is I didn't like the idea of how dark and ooc this turned out. Dunno if anyone actually likes this one; it was supposed to end with a different ending (in fact, the original idea was to have Kusaka rape Hitsu during his detention and Hitsu keeping quiet about the matter...I have no idea why my mind had suddenly gone so twisted as I wrote this o.O)

But it'll be nice if you could press the periwinkle button down there and type something, though...