Huge. That was the only word Hitsugaya could come up with as he stood in front of the gate of the campus. Seriously, how big was this place? Well, at least now he knew why land in the city was so scarce nowadays, because as far as he can see, all the land has been used to do useless things such as building an ultra-school with an elementary school, middle school, high school and a university all side by side. Who was the genius who came up with this idea anyway?
Anyway, the ultra-school mentioned above is Spiritual Academy, one the best schools even by global standards, famous for its obscenely low teacher to student ratio (seriously, one teacher to two students? What kind of lives did they lead here?) And the cynical kid standing in front of the school gate wondering how many high-rise apartments one could build on such a large plot of land was Hitsugaya Toushirou, child genius who could talk when he was three months old. Alright, so who was he kidding? Point is, Hitsugaya had recently skipped two years of high school straight to university, and still managed to get into one of the best schools in the world. Now that's a genius.
Having such a large school compound can have its advantages. Like how one's never going to get bored here because there's probably endless things waiting to be discovered. But it has its own downsides too, as our young genius is going to find out in a moment.
"The genius who designed this place should have also drawn a map like one of those freakishly big tourist resorts, mass printed it, and stacked it near the gate, so that each and every fool who decides to step in here can at least know where they're going!" And why, why, why wasn't there someone nearby whom he could ask!? On the plus side, there was no one to see him being so embarrassing (A genius getting lost? Tsk.) , so he just kept on walking, hoping he could see some signs of civilisation ahead.
When Hitsugaya passed by the fourth cherry blossom tree blooming prettily by the walk-path (how did they get them to grow here anyway?), he finally saw someone – a redhead - walking in his direction. Glad that he could finally be freed of the endless labyrinth of paths and walk-ways, Hitsugaya walked up to him and started to ask.
"Excuse me, may I know where is..."
"You're on the wrong way, kid. The elementary block is on the other side of the campus." The redhead didn't even look at him. Hitsugaya suddenly got even more pissed off.
"I was wondering if you could tell me where the university block is." He gritted out. He at least had to get the location of the redhead before he beat the punk up.
"The university block? Why do you want to go there?" Damn it, why does he have so many questions?
"I'm a freshman there." Just tell me where it is already!
"You've got to be kidding me, a kid like you?" The jerk had the nerve to pat his head!
Struggling to control the urge to punch him in the gut, Hitsugaya fished in his pocket for his student pass and showed it to the redhead.
"Wow, I guess you really are a university student. Then we're on the same way, you've just passed the university block."
After the embarrassing case of getting lost right next to his destination, Hitsugaya immediately got a map from the General Office and memorized it. The redhead – he said his name was Renji – was really surprised at his memory. Hitsugaya just rolled his eyes. Did he think his title of genius was for nothing?
Now our young prodigy is on his way to the dormitories. After all, he's going to be staying here for four years.
What? Why doesn't he stay at home, you ask? Well, first of all, in Spiritual Academy, boarding is compulsory (it's supposed to train individual responsibility, hah, as if.). And secondly, being the main character, by default, Hitsugaya must have a tragic past, and that includes being orphaned at a young age. He had been living with his cousin, Hinamori's family, but as he grew older, the urge to move out had become greater and greater, and that had been one of his sources of motivation to get into Spiritual Academy. It wasn't that they didn't treat him well; he just didn't want to impose on them any longer.
"You're in room 412 on level four, son." The kindly uncle had handed him a rather worn out key and pointed to the staircase on the right.
Well, here was a surprise. The dormitories didn't have lifts. Hitsugaya pitied whoever who lived on the top floor.
"So, I heard your new roommate is a freshman, Ishida." Ichigo was snickering; God knows how much Ishida hates kids.
"And a genius, no less." Ishida was expressionless but Ichigo could hear the irritation in his voice. Why does he always have to end up with snotty brats for roommates?
Right at this moment, someone knocked on the door.
"Speak of the devil. I'll go get the door." Ichigo said as he walked to the door.
He opened the door and the first thought that crossed his mind was, where's the person? He shifted his line of vision thirty centimeters down, and the next thing he saw was a head of silvery white hair. Ichigo hadn't meant to stare, it's just that Hitsugaya's appearance had been so striking, and by anyone's standards, could be considered 'cute' (minus the scowl on his face) so it was a full twenty seconds before Hitsugaya snapped irritably, "Are you going to let me in or continue standing there and staring at my face?"
Catching hold of himself, Ichigo stood to the side and let Hitsugaya pass.
"I'm guessing you're my new roommates?"
"Roommate." Ishida corrected. "He's just an everyday disturbance." He gestured towards Ichigo.
"And you two are?" Hitsugaya asked in a tone that could be interpreted as cocky.
"It's none of your business." Ishida responded in an equally cocky tone.
Hitsugaya didn't reply to that, he just rolled his eyes and started to unpack his stuff from his suitcase that had already been delivered to his room.
"You haven't told me your name yet." Hitsugaya asked suddenly. If he really was going to be here for four years, the least he should do on the first day is to find out the name of his roommate.
"Isn't it only polite for one to introduce himself before asking the name of another?" was the irritable reply.
"..." Will someone please tell him what has he done to piss off his roommate other than to stand in front of him? "Hitsugaya Toushirou, computer science freshman."
"Ishida Uryuu, chemical engineering sophomore. Pleased to meet you." Well, he certainly didn't look pleased at all.
Great, Hitsugaya just hoped that the university will allow students to swap rooms after one year, because at this rate, he don't think they can stand each other for six months, let alone four years.
A/N: My first Bleach AU fic! Please be nice to me, and please, if possible, take the time to leave me a comment about my stories. I haven't decided the pairing yet, so I'm open to suggestions! I'll try to update often and regularly. Thanks, and I hope that you've enjoyed reading it.