There was only a handful of people who looked up when the alarm went off, "Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!" Ichigo Kurosaki glanced down at the wooden badge on his desk with a scowl. The eyes of the skull, carved into the badge which no one in Soul Society seemed to take seriously, flashed a bright red as it chirped its warning.
"Ichigo!" Rukia Kuchiki glared next to him. Ichigo nodded, "I know!" He quickly stood and dashed out of the classroom, making a hasty excuse to the teacher as he went. Rukia stood too and went to follow him, "Kuchiki-san?" Orihime Inoue had half stood at her desk, asking her question with her eyes which looked worried, "It's alright, Inoue," Rukia said with a smile, "We'll be fine." Orihime nodded and sat back down, but she still looked worried as she watched Rukia disappear. She turned to look out the window, just in time to see Ichigo, dressed in a black kimono, fly through the air towards town. The rest of the class, unable to see Ichigo in his Soul Reaper form, exchanged glances but didn't comment. By now, they were used to the weird actings of Kurosaki's gang of odd friends.
He hadn't gotten very far when the alarm stopped. He paused in his confusion, causing Rukia to slam into his back, "Ouch!" Rukia shouted, "Warn me before you do that!"
"The alarm stopped." Ichigo said, gazing down at the badge in his hand. Rukia peered around his shoulder at it, "That's odd," she muttered and took from her pocket her cell phone, flipping it open and pressing buttons at an alarming rate, "I can't find it," she said after a while, "It's gone!" Ichigo shouldered Zangetsu with a sigh, "That's the third one this week!" He growled. He shook the badge, "Is this thing busted?"
"Of course it's not!" Rukia huffed, "Do you really think Captain Ukitake would give you something that's broken?"
"Then how come it keeps going off when there's no Hollow?!"
"There has to be a reason," Rukia said, crossing her arms to think, "Perhaps Hollows are appearing only to be dealt with before we can get to them? You should ask Ishida. I didn't see him in class today. Maybe he took care of it?" Ichigo sighed but agreed, "Let's head back. There's nothing to do here."
"ICH-I-GOOO!" Keigo Asano rushed gleefully at Ichigo the next morning, his arms extending in joy to embrace-BAM! Keigo, as usual, ran straight into Ichigo's lariat, "Yo, Keigo." Ichigo said in a bored voice, "You're as energetic as usual. Hey, Mizuiro." Mizuiro Kojima, who had held back in amusement to watch Keigo embarrass himself once again, smiled in greeting, "Good morning, Ichi-"
"ICHIGO!' Keigo, having recovered from the lariat, leapt to his feet and waved his arms excitedly, "Have you heard? We're getting a new classmate today! A transfer student!"
"Is that so?" Ichigo stifled a yawn, "And why should that be exciting?"
"Because-" Keigo waged his finger in Ichigo's face, "My sources tell me the new student is a hot babe!" Mizuiro rolled his eyes, "What sources? I told you that!"
"Do you know her, Mizuiro?" Ichigo asked. Mizuiro shook his head, "Not really. I just happened to run into her yesterday at the market. After talking a little she mentioned that she was transferring to our school today and, as Keigo elegantly put it, she is very attractive."
"Hm." Ichigo said thoughtfully, "Is that so? It's about time we got some beautiful transfer stu-" his sentence was cut short by a schoolbag colliding with his head. Ichigo doubled over in pain to reveal a very irritated looking Rukia standing behind him, "Oh! Excuse me, Kurosaki-kun!" She said in a faked goody-goody voice, "My hand simply slipped!"
"Rukia!" Ichigo growled in pain, "I should take you to the infirmary right away!" Ichigo tried to protest, but Rukia dragged him away from a very bewildered Mizuiro and Keigo.
"What was that about?!" Ichigo shouted once he and Rukia were alone on the rooftop, "Don't you have any other method to get my attention?!"
"You'll live," Rukia retorted shortly, "We have another problem."
"Oh yeah, and what's that?"
"The Hollows. I spoke to Ishida and he said he was in the teacher's lounge helping out. He didn't kill the Hollow from yesterday." Ichigo blinked, "So…that badge really is busted!" Rukia shook her head, "My cell went off as well before it lost the signal. If it was a simple matter of the badge not working, there's no reason why the same would happen to my locator."
"Did you charge the batteries?"
"Of course I charged them!" Rukia snapped, "What do you take me for?"
"Ok, ok!' Ichigo said and ran his hand through his bright orange hair, "So if the badge and locator aren't broken, then how come we haven't seen any of these Hollows? Who's taking care of them before we are?"
"Or what." Rukia muttered.
"Class!" Miss Ochi clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. As usual she hadn't been put off by Rukia and Ichigo's sudden disappearance from the classroom, and acted as if she hadn't even noticed that they were gone when they returned, only told them to take their seats, "I'm sure you all have heard the rumors, and I'm glad to say they're true. We have a new student joining us today! Reiko? You can come in now." The classroom door slid open and the class went silent. A girl walked in, but not just any girl. Mizuiro had said she was attractive, but Keigo's description suited her better. She was hot.
She had a slim waist and long legs that looked amazing in her school uniform. In the chest, she was smaller than the busty Orihime, but she had nothing to complain about. Her eyes were a sparkling grey and she had a bright and kind smile that would make any boy melt in his shoes, but the thing that made Ichigo stare wasn't her eyes, her smile, or even her chest. It was her hair. Her hair was cropped short in the back with her bangs hanging long, touching her collarbone, and it was bright red.
"Everyone," Miss Ochi said, bringing them back to attention, although some of the boys still stared with open mouths as the girl made her way to the front of the room, standing next to the teacher, "I'd like to introduce Reiko Sagara. She will be joining our class as of today from...erm..." Miss Ochi looked confused for a moment before turning to Reiko, "I'm sorry, where did you say you were from again?"
"Oh, all over," the girl said with a smile. Ichigo heard Keigo sigh in total rapture as the girl continued, "My family has moved around a lot, but I hope that we'll be staying here for some time." Miss Ochi nodded, "Well you heard her! Let's all make sure Sagara-san feels welcome. Go ahead and take your seat behind Ichigo there. Ichigo, raise your hand."
Ichigo raised his hand and the girl turned to smile at him. He felt something stir within as she looked at him, but he wasn't sure what it was. Reiko slowly walked towards him, with all eyes upon her, and when she was level with him, Ichigo felt something, like a bolt of electricity, shoot through his body. He gave a small gasp and Rukia gave him a questioning look beside him.
"Your hair is interesting," Ichigo turned. Reiko had taken her seat behind him, "Such a nice shade of orange. Is it natural?" Ichigo nodded and the girl smiled even wider, "Have you ever thought of dying it?"
"A lot of people say I should dye it black to keep out of trouble, but-"
"Oh, I didn't mean black," Reiko interrupted him, her grey eyes catching his, "I was thinking more of a red. You would look nice in red."
"I take it red is your favorite color?" Ichigo said, entranced by her eyes.
"I despise it." He blinked. He stared at her, no longer entranced but alarmed. But Reiko smiled sweetly. He must have heard her wrong. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by his badge going off, "Hollow! Hollow!" He looked quickly down at the badge, "Again?" he muttered.
"Is something wrong?" Reiko looked concerned. She, of course, couldn't hear or see the flashing badge, "Just fine, I just, uh, need to go to the bathroom!" he nodded at Rukia and took off out of the classroom, muttering another excuse to Miss Ochi.
"Is he always like that?" Reiko asked Rukia, who smiled, "Oh he just has a small bladder is all. I should go check on him!" Rukia also rushed out of the classroom, with Reiko staring after her.
"Looks like we actually got one this time!" Ichigo unshouldered Zangetsu. He was standing on the roof of the school building with Rukia, staring at a large Hollow as it approached the school. As usual, it was ugly, with a large white mask that bore horns like a demon. To Ichigo, it slightly resembled a bull, and as he looked he noticed it even had cloven hooves instead of hands and feet.
"We can't let it near the school!" Rukia shouted as she unsheathed her Zanpakutō, "Should I get Chad or Ishida to-"
"Nah, just leave this to me!" Ichigo said, "I've been itching for some action!" He leapt from the rooftop and charged at the Hollow, raising Zangetsu to strike. The Hollow reared its head and roared, the sound echoing throughout the city, "Ichigo! Look out!" Rukia's shout warned him just in time. One of the horns came hurtling down at Ichigo. He raised Zangetsu to block, but the force of the impact sent him flying through the air. He steadied himself just before he crashed into the side of the school, and hovered in the air to compose himself, "That thing's a lot stronger than it looks," he grunted as the Hollow charged towards him, "But not strong enough!" he raised Zangetsu, "Getsuga Tenshō!" Ichigo swung his Zanpakutō. A burst of black and red light erupted from the blade and collided with the Hollow. It sliced right through its mask, splitting it in two. The Hollow screamed, but it was too late. Slowly it vanished.
Ichigo shouldered the Zangetsu with a sigh, "That was anti-climatic, but at least this one wasn't another false alarm." He turned, preparing to fly back to the rooftop, and stopped. The window he hovered in front of lead to his classroom. Inside, Orihime, Chad, and Ishida all smiled at him, glad that he had gotten rid of the Hollow before something horrible had happened. The rest of his classmates, unable to see Ichigo, carried on with their lesson, their eyes all on the teacher. Except one.
Reiko Sagara, whose seat was behind Ichigo's and next to the window, was not looking at Miss Ochi along with the others. She was looking at Ichigo; her grey eyes staring straight into his brown ones.
She could see him, and she had seen what he did.
-To be continued...