Chapter 1

Kisuke Urahara was sitting under the heavily shaded bleachers drawing pictures in his almost filled sketchbook of the main character for his comic. Nearby, there was a football field where the girls' cheerleading team was practicing for their annual Cheerleading Competition. The cheerleading squad was sporting black uniforms with hints of white. Their pom-poms where black, white and splashes of gray and on the front of their uniforms were two big letter 'S' almost laying on top of each other. The two letters were in black All Star font with a white outline, which popped nicely off their all black uniforms.

Under the warmth of the radiant sun, the girls continued to dance, tossing their peers into the air, marching in place and shouting out their cheer chants. The cheer squad assistant captain, Matsumoto Rangiku, paced back and forth yelling at incorrect formations and or cheer tactics. Matusmoto was very pretty, so much so, that a nice portion of students, girls and boys, would come just to stare at her while she practiced.

Sitting on the bleacher above where Kisuke decided to fortify himself underneath were a few members of the Soul Society football team. Among the small group sat Byakuya Kuchiki, the starting quarterback for the SSU Skulls. He was extremely popular, almost every guy wanted to be him and every girl wanted him, well almost every girl. Between the chatter among the football group, the cheer squad cheering, the constant yelling from Matsumoto and the whistle blowing from the captain all started to become too distracting for Kisuke, so he reached into his canvas book bag and pulled out his Beats Bluetooth headphones.

About 15 minutes later, a purple haired girl jogged over to the bleachers where Kisuke was. She tapped on Kisuke's shoulder startling him a bit. His clear gray eyes calmed with relief when he saw the girl's golden eyes looking down on him. "Hey," she giggled a bit, flashing her pearly white teeth. "You know I was calling you, but I guess you were too into your music..." She explained as she made herself comfortable next to him.

"Um… yeah. I'm sorry." He smiled embarrassingly.

"What cha working on?" she asked curiously peeking over at his shielded sketchbook.

"Just my comic." He showed her.

"Is this the same comic you've been working on for years? What's it called, 'Cross Kill', right?" She asked, to which he nodded his head up and down. "I remember when you drew it up and showed it to me. I loved the concept. You should totally finish it!" She exclaimed.

"Maybe… I just don't have the whole story flushed out. Besides, I'm working on something else now."

"At this rate you will never finish anything Kitsuke." She rolled her eyes.

"It's not a race Yoruichi. These things take time."

"Anyway, what has you so stressed?"

"Why do you say that?" He looked at her with a blank stare.

"I know you Kisuke like the back of my hand. We've been friends since like the 1st grade. The only time I ever seen you draw this much is when you're stressed about something."

"I draw to relax, not because I'm under stress."

Yoruichi rolled the thought around in her head a bit before breaking the silence between them. "Sure, whatever you say. Something is up, I know." Switching the conversation quickly, before Kisuke can reply she announces, "Tomorrow there's track tryouts again since one of our runners broke their ankle, and two others stopped showing up to our weekly meets. You should try out for it."

"I'll think about."

"Which is code for, no thanks. Just say it." She rolled her eyes again, this time slapping the brim of his fitted hat, which fell over his eyes. He quickly readjusted his cap so that it sat properly on his head again. Yoruichi got closer to him, so close that their bodies were touching. She pulled out her cellphone to look at some videos.

"What's that?" Kisuke asked leaning in closer.

"Some YouTuber I found yesterday. He talks about science and space mainly. Disproving theories and explaining complex and obscure concepts in depth. He talks about politics and new emerging laws too. Suffice it say, pretty much all things geeky." She said gleefully like a kid at Christmas.

If there was one thing that perplexed Kisuke's mind it was definitely her; Yoruichi Shihōin. Among some of the prettiest girls in school, as extremely popular and likeable she is for a girl of her status, she always seem to hang out with Kisuke. She enjoyed all things geeky and she loved learning. She wasn't like most pretty girls or popular girls. Instead of relying on her sex appeal, she loved challenging individuals with her mind. She never hung with the cool kids or paid them any mind. Socially she was like a butterfly; she could gracefully float between different social groups easily, effortlessly without any repercussions. Kisuke was the complete opposite; he was a true geek, which came naturally for him. Probably one of the few brightest students at SSU. He loved reading and testing theories, but most of all he loved to experiment, making all sorts of contraptions.

Appearance wise, he was a very attractive young man, if only he kept himself well groomed. He wore a light stubble beard; his platinum blonde hair was almost shoulder length and often covered his eyes. He always sported a fitted cap no matter what; his cap was a part of him. Most of the popular kids didn't really pay him any attention, because of his lax nature. He would often find himself in trouble for correcting teachers in class or for providing cheat sheets at a low, but affordable cost. No matter what it was, Kisuke was always hustling something on campus.

Despite Yoruichi and Kisuke being so opposite in terms of social status, these two actually have a lot in common. Yoruichi's intellectual prowess and shared interest in many of the things he loved stimulated Kisuke, seducing him every time. And that was what he loved about her the most, her just being herself, a side she seldom exposed to many. Another thing they both had in common, the ability to relax and confide in one another, no secrets. They could say that without a doubt they were truly best friends for life. Best friends, huh. Those words have continuously echoed in the back of Kisuke's mind for a very long time.

"Kisuke!" Yoruichi said nudging him in his gut. She was practically laying in his arms. His tall frame easily engulfed her tiny slim frame in his gentle embrace.

"Yeah?" He replied snapping out of his deep thoughts.

"Um… you want some?" she asked holding up a bag of peanut M&Ms. Kisuke reached over to grab the bag. He poured himself a decent handful before passing it back. Yoruichi buried herself deeper into his arms, curling up as if she were a baby. Still looking at her phone, she wanted to ask Kisuke so bad what he was thinking about, but she decided to let the moment be. Although they were friends, she secretly enjoyed moments like this. She felt safe with Kisuke; nothing could harm her as if all of her worries were suddenly washed away by his presence.

They continued to watch on until they heard footsteps getting closer, "So this is where you've been! I've been looking all over for you." A small girl with short jet-black hair hissed.

"For what? Besides, you could have texted me."

"My damn phone is mis-" her words slowly tapered off toward the end only after realizing the two people laying cuddled up right in front of her eyes. The girl's frantic face abruptly turned to repulsion. With much delight Kisuke smiled at the girl, relishing the moment and mentally taking a snapshot.

"Soi…" he said casually with a grin he couldn't resist.

"Ugh… Kisuke" she greeted in disgust.

Like any close friend Soi Fon was definitely that one friend that just didn't like or understand why Yoruichi chooses to hang out with him. To her, she thought their friendship-relationship was weird, something she just never understood. And Soi Fon would always express her opinion one way or another.

"So, you lost your phone?" Yoruichi asked, trying to break up the awkward tension in the air.

"Again?" Kisuke mumbled knowing it would irritate Soi. "Ouch!" he yelled out, rubbing the spot on his leg where Yoruichi playfully pinched him.

"Not lost…" she snarled in Kisuke's direction. "It's misplaced somewhere in my dorm." Soi Fon sounded as if she was trying to convince herself that it was misplaced. Kisuke simply raised his one eyebrow to clearly indicate he wasn't buying anything she said.

"But that's beside the point. I was looking for you because we are having a quick track meet in like 20 minutes. Coach wants us there."

"On such short notice…" Yoruichi stated as she sat up releasing herself from Kisuke's grasp.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Did he say for what?"

Soi Fon shook her head left and right. Yoruichi started to gather what little belongings she brought with her. She stood up dusting herself off since they were both laying on the ground, although Kisuke had a thin quilt spread out. Sliding her small cross body bag over her head, she did one more dust check before coming from under the bleachers. She quickly said her goodbyes and walked off with Soi Fon.

Following suit, Kisuke begin to pack up as well. After being outside for over two hours, and spending a bulk of his time with Yoruichi watching interesting YouTube videos, he figured it was time to go back to his dorm. Upon exiting his shady den beneath the bleachers, he bumps into the football team. "Kisuke! Wassup man?!" exclaimed Renji with his hand hanging in the air for a high five. "What's under there?" he questioned with an extremely puzzled look.

"Nothing, I was just-"

"Jacking off, I bet." Byakuya interrupted in his usual stern and melancholy voice.

"Well how would you know that? You weren't watching me, were you?" Kisuke countered in a condescending tone. Almost close in height, Kisuke was a little taller than Byakuya who stood at five foot eleven. Despite the small height difference, Byakuya walked up to Kisuke. His dagger like stare fixated on Kisuke like missiles locked onto their intended target. They both stared at each other until Byakuya spoke, "Watch yourself Kisuke."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, it's a fact." He stated before walking off. Byakuya never liked Kisuke for some strange unbeknownst reason. The only real guess Kisuke could come up with was that Byakuya never could sway Yoruichi his way no matter how hard he tried. She was one elusive woman that always spent too much time with Kisuke for some weird ass reason.

"Shit man, what was that about?" Renji asked as they both watch Byakuya walk away with his small posse.

"Byakuya being Byakuya as always. Wassup?"

"Dude! There's gonna be this rad ass concert going on this weekend at the Local Stop Café. I hear Nelliel is going to be preforming too. You gotta come man!"

"Sure, I don't have any plans yet."

"Cool. Alright, bro. See you around."

"Yep."

Finally making his way back to his dorm, he notices graffiti written all over his room door in horrible taste. Kisuke took a moment to look at the badly written messages, 'Loser! Creep! HA HAHA!'. This was the 4th time in one month someone vandalized Kisuke's room door. After letting everything sink in Kisuke proceeded to let himself in. Once inside he saw the entire room a complete mess, his roommate things were scrawled everywhere, the beds were flipped over, broken glass everywhere.

"Just what the hell happened in here?!" Kisuke said to himself extremely pissed off. The clutter of the messy room was so overwhelming that focusing was too difficult. Kisuke could do nothing but look around in complete shock. Then suddenly his mind stated to race, "Shit…" he yelled out quickly running to his disorganized dresser. Panicking, he started to roam through all of his drawers throwing clothes on top of the huge mess that already settled in.

"Whoa… what happened?" asked a very familiar voice. Too busy in his own world he forgot that he had the door wide open for all to see inside his disorderly room.