Hey~ Just thought I'd mention that this is an AU story told in a mixture of first and third person. Er, that's pretty much it, but I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach, by the way, not me.

~ Vivid Entirety ~

Chapter 1: Bad Luck

'So that's how you complete this problem, however you have to be sure to use this formu-,'

The door opened sharply causing the heads of everyone in the class to turn, confusion plain on more than one face as they stared openly. Whispers ran amongst the students as they tried to figure out what was going on, then quiet giggling sounded and smirks appeared once they realised what must have happened.

The teacher, a tidy man in his early thirties, adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat loudly, 'Excuse me, but what's your name and what year are you in?' upon receiving no reply or any indication that he'd been heard, he continued edgily, 'This is Class 1 for Third Year Seniors,'

After a long pause, the student standing inside the doorway looked up, the movement painstaking, her green eyes scanning the classroom slowly. The blank expression on her face turned into one of intense bewilderment and her cheeks coloured faintly, 'M-my apologies, teacher,'

She bowed deeply, turned hastily on her heel and walked straight into the doorframe.

There was an awkward silence and then she reeled backwards and collapsed on the floor in a dead faint.

'Takahashi Shion~ Are you awake now? Takahashi~,'

Someone's gentle, lilting voice sounded by my ear and I opened my eyes carefully, expecting to be blinded by the fluorescent lights of the infirmary and getting exactly that. Although my hand felt unnaturally heavy, I managed to move it over to cover my eyes, thankful for the relief.

'Takahashi, are you alright?' the nurse, Ms Watanabe, gazed down at me from her seat beside the bed I was in, soft brown eyes showing her concern, 'You fainted before, do you remember that?'

I thought back, mind still groggy, trying to recall the morning's events. … Oh. That's right. I wandered into the wrong classroom like some neighbourhood idiot and managed to add injury to insult by walking right into the doorframe on my way out. My cheeks warmed again when I recalled the shock I'd felt, even in my muddled mental state, and the chilling embarrassment. It was probably a good thing I fainted, considering everything, and it shouldn't be too hard for me to avoid the students from that class from now on.

'Takahashi?'

I removed my hand from my face and blinked, stuttering slightly when I started talking, 'S-sorry! Ah, yes. I can remember fainting. Er, but I feel completely fine right now!' I sat up enthusiastically, ignoring the way my head spun from the sudden movement, 'My blood pressure is lower than average and I didn't really sleep last night because I was studying. I'm a scholarship student here, so I have to make sure my grades don't drop. At the end of last year, my rank position wasn't as high as it was supposed to be so I have to work harder or else they'll end my scholarship, you understand,'

I spoke quickly, ranting on and on in the hopes that she'd just let me go without any more fuss. I wasn't lying exactly, because I had been studying last night and I was a scholarship student and my grades had fallen last year. Not to mention the fact that my blood pressure was low. But, despite all that, none of those things were the exact reason why I'd been in such a confused state this morning, although in retrospect they'd probably contributed a lot to the problem.

'Oh, is that so?' Ms Watanabe smiled and it wasn't the first time I'd noted that the students who called her pretty weren't wrong, 'Well then, you can go back to class, but don't overwork yourself again like this, alright? We can't have you fainting all the time, Takahashi,'

'This is the first time,' I protested in a weak manner, silently thankful that this was all she'd be saying and that I was allowed to go. If she'd said she'd have to contact my parents or something like that, then I'd have been in trouble.

Ms Watanabe was a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, with long light brown hair and warm eyes. She really meant well, and under any other circumstances, I'd probably have really appreciated that. But as it was, it was better if I didn't attract her attention too much.

'Stay healthy, Takahashi,' she smiled that sincere smile, her whole expression completely genuine, and I felt a pang of guilt, 'And I hope you do well in all your studies, ne? Good luck and work hard!'

I swung my legs off the bed, standing up and dusting down my black skirt, 'Thank you very much!'

After bowing, I exited the infirmary, making sure to pass through the centre of the doorway this time. I inhaled deeply once I was out the door. Hopefully the rest of the day wasn't going to be anything like the morning.
But really, things couldn't get any worse, right?

'Yo! Takahashi Shion, you damn troublemaker! First day back at school and you're already making a huge fuss! Can't stay out of trouble for one second, can you? I don't know what we'll do with you,'

I grinned at the sound of the familiar voice, 'Oh how dare you call me a troublemaker! You're the one who brought chaos to our class trip last year by appearing in the girl's dormitory in the middle of the night! I'm surprised you weren't expelled! Ya, Sato Akihiro, control this immature fool would you?'

'Nakamura,' Hiro's tone was withering, and I chuckled when our noisy friend twitched in irritation, 'Try to act a little more responsibly. We're Second Years now so we're supposed to be setting some sort of example for our kōhai. If they start copying you, the world will have more idiots to deal with,'

'Hey! What's with this Nakamura crap? You guys gonna start treating me like I'm a stranger, are ya?' Sho seemed legitimately worried, although it wouldn't be the first time he tried for sympathy by doing that, 'And here I was about to say 'welcome back'. You did miss all the morning classes after all,'

Sighing deeply, Hiro ignored the sniffling teenager and turned to me, 'Here,' I accepted the proffered papers, 'I made copies of my notes from this morning, you don't need to thank me. Now let's eat, or we'll be hungry for the rest of the day,'

I nodded and watched as he walked away to our usual seat underneath one of the older trees; the shade it provided was really the best. Then I crouched down beside Sho, 'Thanks for worrying about me, it's good to know you guys aren't just faking it. That is to say, being my friends,'

He scratched his head, fingers ruffling his tawny brown hair, and then he grinned, 'Good to know you're not immune to mistakes. Makes me feel a whole lot better, there being the two of us,'

'Oh please, I have a long way to fall before I reach your level of insane idiocy,' dragging him behind me, I moved over to where Hiro was waiting, an ever-patient look on his face, 'I know you said not to but by the way, thanks for those notes. I'm sure I would've been dead without them,'

'Dead? I'm sure you're overreacting again, Shion,' he continued to eat his food, utterly unconcerned, but was shortly drawn into an argument with Sho, who was possibly the only person who could do so with such speed and efficiency … if at all.

Those two are my closest friends; Sato Akihiro and Nakamura Sho. I met them on my first day at this school, exactly a year ago, and despite the fact that my first impressions can sometimes be terrible or lost in the fourth dimension, we got along well enough right from the start. The fact that they're in my homeroom class again this year is something that makes me extremely happy and relieved. They're personalities are almost polar opposites though, so even if they're childhood friends, I don't know how they ended up becoming so close.

Hiro is your stereotypical 'high-intelligence' student, minus the glasses. He's shorter than Sho but not by much, has black hair in a neat style, and perceptive deep blue eyes. On the other hand, Sho has unruly russet coloured hair and energetic hazel eyes. One wears the uniform to the book and the other often forgets his tie, leaves his top button undone, or wears mismatching socks. One, like me, is a scholarship student while the other is the third son from a damn wealthy family.

Still, maybe it's their differences, whether in personality or background, which somehow help them connect. Either way, I'm glad they found something in me to relate to, or else school would probably be pretty lonely and less than half as entertaining.

'Hey, look over there,' Sho gestured behind me with his chin, speaking through a mouthful of food.

Giving him a look of distaste, I turned around, noticing that most of the other students around us in the spacious courtyard were doing the same. After seeing everyone's slightly awed looks, and the fairly dreamy expressions on the faces of some of the girls, I'd already guessed that one of the school's most privileged students must be passing by.

Sure enough, the Academy's resident 'ice prince' was walking along the path, across the courtyard from where we were, talking to a man I assumed was some kind of attendant. He's a Third Year student known as Hitsugaya Tōshirō and, from what I've heard, it's not just his appearance that garnered him the title.

'Tch,' just watching gave me a headache so I turned away, focusing on my lunch.

'That's quite the frown you have there, Shion,' Sho eyed me with a teasing look, 'Are you jealous of our prince-y? Or do you secretly like him but think there's just too much competition?'

Wham

'Ouch! Hey, what was that for, can't you take a little joke?' he did his best to glare at me.

I frowned again, 'Just so you know, you're completely wrong whichever way,' I sighed deeply, 'It's just that people like him don't have to work and that is what annoys me,'

Hiro probably saved Sho, who was about to make another comment, when he glanced at his watch and said we should be getting back to class. Whether or not he noticed my thankful look, he knew me well enough to tell when our somewhat tactless friend might be putting himself in too much danger.

'Class dismissed,' our homeroom teacher, Mr Yamato, closed the textbook in front of him with a snap and nodded at us, 'I'll see you all again tomorrow. Be on time, everyone,'

After gathering all my things together and sliding them into my bag, I walked with Hiro and Sho to the front gates of the school; being a high class private school, the grounds are secluded from the town with a few rows of trees and there's a road that everyone walks to and from the buildings on. Although they could get picked up in the parking area or drop-off-pick-up roundabout, to the right of the main gates, accessible by another road, they always walked to the front with me.

'See you guys tomorrow then, alright?' I waved at them, knowing that while they lived near each other and generally took one car to and from school, I had a decent walk ahead of me.

'Yeah, bye Shion. Don't get into any more trouble,' Sho laughed and waved over his Shoulder.

'While I'm not so sure about trouble, as per se, be careful anyhow,' Hiro smiled almost imperceptibly, 'See you tomorrow then, Shion,'

'Likewise,' after watching them depart in the familiar sleek black car, I sighed deeply. Somehow, as that air was exhaled, the daze of the morning seemed to settle back in around my mind, tugging my mental focus inwards. After all, it wasn't light matters which had caused me to wander around in confusion like that. Not at all. It caused me grief just recalling the current issue which had been steadily growing in my mind. And this was long before I'd gotten into that situation at school this morning.

「'Look, I'm really sorry, Takahashi. I know we've had this agreement going on for a long time now and all that, but I really can't afford to keep you here since you're the only one left in the building now,' he stared at me earnestly, the age lines on his face seeming more pronounced as he silently pleaded with me, 'If I sell this block of land, then I'll have enough money for my retirement. I have a family to look after, you know. I mean, of course you'd understand; you've been living her for so many years after all,'

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing in my head, 'How long have I got?'

He seemed to hesitate, no doubt guessing that I was hoping for a couple of weeks at least, 'Until the day after tomorrow. If you could move your things before tomorrow evening, that would be … nice,'

I bit back a retort, knowing that this man would never mean me any harm. This is something that he has to do for the sake of his family. An apartment block with only one tenant is obviously not viable profit wise for the landlord, especially since I've never payed the full rate.

'I'll try to sort something out then, don't worry about me,' I forced a cheery smile, waving away his concern, 'I've always been alright, haven't I? This place is too far from the Academy anyway. I always have to walk as far as possible before catching a bus back. It was good while I was in elementary school and Junior High, but now it's about time I moved closer to my high school. I think it's a good thing this happened before school began though,'

'Oh really?' he sounded so relieved that I was glad that I'd acted as if everything would be alright, even if I was worried, 'That's good then. Best of luck for the future, Takahashi,' he smiled, 'But for now, I talked to my wife and she said we can store your things at our house until you find another place to live,'

'Seriously?! Thank you! Ah, I better be off to work now, I'll see you later,' I waved before turning and walking running in the direction of the nearest bus stop. 」

And that's how I found out that I'd no longer be able to stay in that place anymore, and ended up having to dump all of my things in my former landlord's house. Yes, and that was a more than three damned weeks ago. They were really nice people, but it was kind of awkward for me whenever I was invited in because I constantly felt like I was intruding into their family life. Consequently, I generally only went when I needed to get new clothes or something and aside from that, I'd ended up sleeping in parks, hidden behind bushes where it was hardly likely I'd be seen by any passer-bys. Which, in turn, meant that I was practically a homeless person now.

But if that was old bad news (although it was technically still very current), then yesterday night's was just the icing on the illusory cake. All in all, I had four jobs – had being the key word there. Apparently, two of the places I worked were both getting some new, fancy equipment that would effectively put me out of not one, but two jobs. So, basically, I'd been fired because I'd become redundant.

Two jobs down, belongings in the ex-landlord's home, and living like a homeless person … I really was in a bad position, no matter which way I looked at it.

So, maybe if I withdrew the money set aside for my third year of senior then I'd be able to get by. I already doubted that I'd be able to keep my grades high enough for them to give me a scholarship for my final year as well. And due to my current circumstances, staying in school just wasn't that much of a viable option – I really had to find more work and a place to live. Yes … If I dropped out of school now, then I'd have a lot more time to find other jobs. I mean, after graduating from Junior High, I hadn't even been planning to continue my schooling and go to high school. But since I'd dropped all my jobs then and had studied like mad during that time before the entrance exams, I'd ended up doing so well that I got a scholarship offer from the Academy and, since it was full coverage, I continued without really thinking.

I'd heard about the school before; that it was located in the high class area of the very town I'd grown up in (albeit with a decent distance and some forest separating each sector) and had a mixture of students from the upper-middle and upper class. The school was also very well known for its scholarship students, one of which I ended up becoming. That whole part of town – small city actually – was a wealthy place and it was a bus ride from where I'd lived, but that's just where the school was, so I ended up doing a lot of travelling. And, compared to the area I'd grown up in … well, the class difference was obvious in any case.

For my first year, I'd focused more on school work than I probably ever had, to make sure my grades didn't drop. But I still had work and, clearly, my efforts left something to be desired because my rank position had fallen noticeably. None of my Junior High friends had gone to the Academy, but I was on reasonably good terms with my classmates, with the exception of Hiro and Sho because I could confidently call them 'friends'.

But back to the situation at hand, I was homeless and soon I'd probably be asked to move my belongings out of that house too, so I had to think of something to do in order to prevent myself from being stranded on the streets with boxes that would no doubt attract thieves, even though the contents were essentially priceless. Maybe if-

'Ack!' my foot caught on a raised piece of pavement and I was flying through the air, cursing my absentmindedness. I hit the ground hard, pulled myself up again and then staggered to one side, shoe slipping off the edge of the footpath and causing me to tumble forwards. Blinking, I had time to notice a fancy black car speeding towards me and, feeling absolutely defeated, I closed my eyes tight and waited, wondering if after everything this would be how I'd end.

A dark haired man glanced briefly at the rear vision mirror, looking at the occupant of the back seat, before returning his eyes to the road. They were almost to the house, which he was glad for, because despite being very used to the chilly and uncomfortable atmosphere, today was one of those days when his job felt a little too taxing. Returning his eyes to the road, he saw a girl walking along the footpath some distance ahead. That in itself wouldn't have been too unusual, but she was swaying from side to side, feet crossing over one another awkwardly, and looked, to put it bluntly, downright drunk. He was about to shake his head and ignore the bemusing sight, because it had nothing to do with him at all, when the girl tripped over something and fell hard. She seemed to recover because she got back on her feet, but then she stumbled right off the edge of the footpath, falling onto the road directly in front of the car. Biting back a curse, the man slammed his foot on the brakes, hoping that the car would stop before he had more than just a difficult passenger to deal with.

The car lurched to a halt and the dark haired man was out the door in a flash, hurrying to the front of the vehicle and peering down at the girl lying face down on the road. Knowing that he could cause more injury if he moved her suddenly, he knelt down beside her and laid two fingers on her neck, feeling for a pulse. He almost laughed with relief when he realised she was still alive at least, and then he looked her over for any injuries, seeing deep grazes on her palms and knees. She groaned all of a sudden, making him jump slightly, and her eyes opened a fraction, revealing a pure green colour.

'Are you alright?' it seemed like a strange question considering the situation, but since she could've been hit by a car, the car he was driving no less, he asked anyway.

Those green eyes were unmistakeably baffled, and she just stared at him for a long, heavy moment before she smiled widely and let out an awkward laugh, 'Don't worry about me. This is nothing. I don't need to go to hospital,'

And then she passed out.

I'm sure you can guess what's going to happen in the next chapter (to a certain degree anyway) but I hope you enjoyed this little introduction to Vivid Entirety.

Thanks for reading!