"Hey, have you heard?"
"Heard what?"
"We're going to have a new homeroom teacher apparently."
"Oh my god, really? What happened to Professor Chizuru?"
"Dunno. Apparently she's missing?"
"Ah. I heard that too. Strange isn't it?"
"Well I think... She ran off with her boyfriend!"
"Oh come on. That's-"

As Rukia quietly opened the door, the chatter instantly dimmed as the bustling class turned to look at her. With her head bowed, Rukia walked over to her seat next to the window and propped her bag on the window sill. As Rukia sat down, the loud babbling continued.

Rukia rested her head on her hand, looking at the beautiful greenery outside. Her cold violet eyes warmed as she saw the familiar sunflowers leaning against the crumbling wall a few metres away.

Clack.

Distracted by the loud sound, she turned to the doorway to see the new arrival. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she saw a vibrant mop of orange hair.

"What the hell?" She muttered to herself. "I have never seen hair as absurd as that."

Apparently, the man's presence had also been noticed by the rest of the class.

"Oh my God… look at his hair! That has so got to be dyed…"
"Well obviously. There's no way in hell that shade of orange is natural. "
"Okay… forget his baffling hair for a minute. Who the hell is he?"

"Dude… he'd be a good basketball player…"
"Where the hell did you get that from?"
"He's frigging tall. Hey… you think I should invite him to our team? We're losing really badly in the league!"

The man leant against the doorway as he observed the people in front of him. He sighed as he placed his large hands in his pockets, and wandered over to the front of the class.

In a swift moment, he whipped his hands out of his pockets and slammed them down on the teacher's desk. Silence ensued.

"You done with your gossip?" his deep voice enquired.

The whole class didn't say anything.

He seemed pleased as he crossed his arms against his chest and nodded appreciatively. "Good good."

With that, he picked a piece of chalk lying on the desk in front of him and turned around to face the board behind him.

As he wrote something on the board, he ruffled his bright hair with his free hand. After he had finished scribbling, he turned to face the class again.

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo, and I am your new homeroom teacher. Any questions?"

A few hands immediately shot up.

"Oh yeah, no questions about my hair." He added on as an afterthought. "No sarcastic comments would be appreciated as well."

The hands slumped down immediately.

As the new professor continued to talk, Rukia stared inquisitively at the new teacher. He was indeed quite tall and well built.

He must work out, she thought to herself observantly.

His choice of clothing was also quite flashy. A tailored suit with a crisp white shirt and a black tie, alongside polished black shoes, very suave. On his right hand was a clunky ring, there seemed to be some sort of pattern within the dark stone, but Rukia could not make it out.

After she had observed her new teacher enough to satisfy her curiosity, she returned to gazing out of the window. Rukia could hear her homeroom teacher talking to his students about their previous teacher, but she wasn't really interested. She never really got along with Professor Chizuru. A flash of a smile passed through her face as she noticed the sunflowers once again.

Rukia loved sunflowers. She doesn't know why she loves them so much, she just does. Normally, if you ask a girl what her favourite flower was, she would usually answer: rose, lily or tulips.

However if you asked Rukia, within a heartbeat she would answer "Sunflowers." And if you asked her why, she would probably shrug her petite shoulders and give you a vague answer. Like: "I just love the way they always reach up to the Sun." or "They're strong and beautiful."

But no one asks Rukia what her favourite flower is.

Rukia was jolted out of her daydream when the harsh bell began to trill loudly. The surprise made her jump upwards and knock her bag over the edge of the window sill.

Rukia grimaced as she heard a few girls titter as they walked out of the class, though not before looking their new teacher up and down.

Rukia quickly knelt down to pick up the papers that had scattered on the floor, not even bothering to ask someone to help her. She knew they wouldn't come to her aid even if she begged. And she would not give them that satisfaction. No Kuchiki pleads.

That's why she was surprised when a pair of hands efficiently gathered a bunch of papers that was scattered underneath a table and proffered them to her. Startled, her head jerked upwards to glare at the offender.

A pair of amber eyes looked at her as she felt herself freeze.

Hastily, Rukia snatched the papers out of the big hands and stuffed them in her bag that was leaning against the wall. As she straightened her back, she eyed the teacher that was now sitting on a desk lazily examining his nails."Tha-"

"Hnn?" his voice droned. Not even bothering to look at her.

Rukia felt herself seethe at the blatant disregard.

Not even bothering to try and offer her thanks once again, she grabbed her bag and flung it over her shoulder.

Without a word, she stormed out of the room to her next lesson.

As Rukia tried to settle down in her new lesson, she felt her anger increasing as time went by.
What a prick.

Rukia placed her hands over her face as she closed her eyes.

Amber eyes. He had amber eyes.

Cold, lifeless amber eyes. Inhuman eyes. They were so… cold.

They had sent shivers down her spine and her heart skipped a beat. Or two.

Why were his eyes so cold?