Chapter One: The Brush Stroke of Destiny

Toshiro Hitsugaya sighed as he swung his legs back and forth in the waiting chair of the art teachers private office. How could this of happened to him? He was the school prodigy, not to mention the school's soccer captain. If only he didn't need this stupid class to fulfill the school's acquirements. Maybe he should have joined the drama class or chorus...no, art class was the lesser evil even if he's ... failing.

"Now, I want to talk to you about your effort in class, Toshiro." The teacher spoke softly. "I know it is impossible to grade art so I grade one's effort and overall work. You haven't been putting anything in at all."

"I can't draw." Toshiro snorted as he leaned further in the chair and crossed his arms.

"Some logical thinkers can't and that's nothing to be ashamed of. Why don't you try asking for help? I know some of your friends are also in the class so you can reach out to them. I already talked this over with all your teachers and had your schedule changed."

"What?! Just for a stupid art class?!"

A sly grin crossed the teacher's face before she spoke again. "If you don't pass this stupid class, you can't graduate, genius."

~ Next Day~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The new schedule was just horrible. His routine was thrown out of whack and now he was surrounded by idiots and even worse, more fan girls. Who wanted to wake up to Literature class anyway? His eyes roamed to the window of the door when they froze, locked upon a picture of bright color.

Who drew that? Who could have drawn something so...perfect? The bell rung and he quickly made his way over to the wall to examine the new piece of art. It wasn't there yesterday, or was it? How could it be; the colors were simply too vivid and eye catching to go unseen by all who's eyes would wonder.

It was of a goddess, or at least a woman of surreal elegance, holding a small brown bird in her pale hands as she sat upon a rock by a slow running river. Her hair was long and flowing in the wind, the color of it was a burning gold, her clothes were a flowing white silk.

"Like that, huh?"

Toshiro turned to see Rangiku Matsumoto smiling at him. She was a good friend, his oldest and best in fact, but that only meant she knew how to get under his skin. "If you're wondering who drew it, then you're out of luck. The artist uses a pen name and only the teacher knows who it is."

"A pen name?" Toshiro studied the piece again to try finding such a thing. In the bottom right corner was the name 'Tobiume' written in the most beautiful cursive he had ever seen. "Flying Plum Tree? What type of name is that?"

"A fantasy-based one...duh. Name aside, she is a wonderful artist, huh?" Matsumoto sighed as she glazed from the artwork to her small friend.

"How do you know it's a girl? Maybe a guy did this." Hitsugaya snorted as he began to make his way to his new art class, his friend following him.

"Not with a name like that! And look at it! It's way to romantic to be a guy." She smirked as she heard him snort. "You know...they say one's art is their soul. I wonder who's soul could be so soft and iridescent like that?"

"Whatever." Toshiro mumbled though his mind had drifted toward the same thought.

~~~ Art Class~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where is she? Class started two minutes ago." Rukia growled as she paced the large, enclosed room in the back of the class. It was sound proof, only advance students were allowed to use it, and had four large windows that looked back into the class room. The connecting room was smaller, containing a table and an airbrush station set up for students to use. The teacher always let them back here on good days, but since they were now suppose to help Toshiro, this was where they would be staying from now on.

"Maybe she's mad about us taking her spot." Ichigo sighed as he took out his sketch book and flipped it to a new page. "I mean, she is an advance student, so this was her spot first."

Unable to bear the weight of his curiosity, Toshiro groaned as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Who are you talking about?!"

"Momo Hinamori of course." Matsumoto smiled as she watched his eyebrows twitch. "Don't know her? Well, she's very sweet and very nice. She's very outgoing, but she can be very quiet too. She has black hair and these big auburn eyes, but her hair is usually in a bun or so."

"I didn't need her life story, just her name." He sighed as she just giggled at him. Toshiro was going to scold her, but the door was suddenly opened revealing a small (though still taller then him), panting girl.

His eyes were glued to her instantly, not only because she made such an appearance but by her looks as well. Her shiny, black as night hair was down and covered most of her downcast face. Her lips were plump and a beautiful natural peach, and by the small glace he was able to catch of her eyes...They were so bright they shined. Was this girl Momo Hinamori?

"Sorry...I'm late...I got...held up in the hall..." She straightened herself before she let out a puff of air and a smile. "There were all these crazy girl's screaming for some guy named 'Hitsugaya'. How rude to block the hallways like that just for some guy!"

"Huh...Hina-chan..." Rangiku sweat dropped as she pointed to the stunned - no one sure if by Momo's appearance or her words - Toshiro.

"Oh! The new guy's here already?! I wanted to clean up a bit before you came too!" Hinamori whined as she rushed over to the smaller male and smiled. "Well, I'm Momo Hinamori. It's nice to meet you!" Before Toshiro could speak, she was digging through her satchel and pulled out a number of things and handed it to him. "I went out and bought you some supplies so you can work more comfortably. This is a high grade sketch book and these are some beginners' sketch pencils. I figured you might not like using hand-me-downs so I bought you your own!"

"...Thank...you?" Hitsugaya blinked before he shook his head and placed his normal scowl on his face. "There was no need for you doing that. Oh, by the way...my name's Toshiro Hitsugaya, nice to meet you." He smirked when he watched her face drop, he knew what was coming next. A big flustered rush of apologies for speaking so ill about him and hopes that there were no hurt feelings. It happened all the time when people found out his name.

"Oh...Well, could you not have your fan club block the halls? It's so hard to get around."

"Wha-?!" Toshiro couldn't believe it, the sheer nerve of this girl! He glanced at everyone laughing their asses off and then glared at her, excepting to see her laughing too, but only found her as confused as he was. He watched her shake her head at him and walked over to a small wall mirror and began to pull her hair up in a bun.

"That's Momo for you!" Matsumoto chuckled as she wiped the small tears from her eyes. "Just as cute as ever!"

"I can't believe she called it a 'fan club'!" Renji laughed as he held his stomach.

"Whatever." Toshiro growled as he only continued to glare at this 'Momo Hinamori'. "When can we start getting to work?"

"Oh yeah...school work." Rukia sighed as she took a sit on the floor and glanced up at the ceiling. "We're supposed to help you, so we have to do a super big project."

"Before we decide on that, why don't we figure out what the 'boy genius' is capable of first?" Ichigo teased.

"Why would I want to do anything in this class? Art is just for losers who can't do anything else." Toshiro snapped, so enraged that he, as well as the others, missed the flinch and hurt glance Momo threw to them. "I just need a fine arts credit and then I'm outta here."

"Now don't be like that! You know as well as I do that art is super important. Heck, art is a huge part of Human History and still plays big roles today!" Matsumoto scolded him.

"What do you like to do?" Momo asked, her voice soft and gentle. "Maybe you should try drawing that? Or would you rather paint?"

"...I like soccer." He grumbled.

"Then draw yourself shooting a goal or dribbling the ball. It doesn't have to be perfect, just a good effort." She smiled before she turned and walked into the second room, closing the thick wooden door behind her.

It was a long, boring hour before Toshiro noticed that Momo had not come out of that room. He had asked questions about what would look better or how he should draw this or that, but it turned out that they weren't that much better than him when it came to complex drawings. Hitsugaya was growing frustrated and angry at the poor drawing in front of him and he really needed some proper help, but he wasn't just going to beg for that stupid girl's help either...maybe he could ask her a question or two and she'd finish it for him...yeah...that sounded good.

Toshiro stood up, his work in hand and went for the door. His fingers were on the knob before he heard a clicking behind him. He turned to see Rangiku shaking her finger at him, she had a look of knowing on her face that irked him greatly. "What? I'm just going to ask a question."

"I wouldn't bother Momo-chan. She's super busy." Renji said as he looked at his own poorly drawn piece. "Don't you know her assignment? Didn't you have any advance students in your old class?"

"I never bothered to look for any." He fully turned his body to face his friends, his plan put on the back burner for now. "Why is she so busy?"

"Advance art students must complete one hundred different pieces all involving a single theme. Not only that, but she has to do it using new medians and ideas." Rukia explained .

"Yeah, but that's not even the worst of it! When she's done, the teacher is going to take all her pieces to some art gallery filled with college professors and art critiques and if they don't like her work or if she fails to complete all one hundred pieces, then she fails the entire year!" Rangiku sighed as she clasped her hands tightly to her chest. "I feel so bad for her! All that work plus her normal school work on top of it! No wonder she can't hang out with us on the weekends."

Toshiro Hitsugaya had heard of some outrageous things, but this was just insane! Why would she burden herself like that just for some stupid art?

A/N: My advance art was just like that, but it was well worth it!