"Again, I really do appreciate this, Kisuke-San; I don't know what I'd do with him if you didn't offer to look after him for me." The small shop owner simply waved off her thanks with small short flaps of his fan and grinned behind it. The girl in front of him was the only normal high school student he freely associated himself with, partly because he found her too adorable to simply ignore. Her jet black hair was always pulled up neatly into a high pony tail, her bangs swept over to the right side of her face and were never present in her eyes; yet her sterling silver eyes were what the shop owner always found fascinating since they were similar to his own orbs, only hers were much more vibrant and seemed to shine at times just like the metal would.

She was thin, clearly had an athletic build to some degree from running back and forth doing odd jobs from what he could tell and knew about her, her bust was modest enough; not jaw-dropping like he knew a few women to be. And her smile was one he found himself growing more and more fond of every time he saw it.

"Don't worry about it, Mikoto-Chan; you know that we're always more than willing to look after this little guy." Kisuke Urahara – the owner of the shop they were standing just outside of – explained to the girl once again, knowing they would practically have this conversation every time she dropped off her only pet. Having to keep it out of the house whenever she wasn't there to keep her father from discovering the secret addition to the dwelling, as she had confided to Urahara once before when he had warmed up to her enough to question.

"If you say so, Kisuke-San; but, should he ever be any trouble, I'll find somewhere else to take him." Urahara's fan was waving again to dismiss the statement entirely as he held her black and white colored kitten in one arm as if cradling a baby. He adored her visits just as much as everyone else did and he was sure that Yoruichi enjoyed spending time with another cat whenever she felt like sticking around in her animal form. He didn't need to question her motives anymore than she needed to question his own.

"Better hurry off to school now, Mikoto-Chan; don't want to be late on the first day back, now do you?" Urahara reminded the girl as she shifted the grip on her briefcase to look down the street at a nearby hanging clock. The time made her look back at Urahara with an apologetic grin.

"I suppose I should; I'll stop by after school to pick him up, if that will be OK. Tenkyuu shouldn't be much of a problem until then."

Tenkyuu was her young kitten, solid black with the front of his neck colored white along with all four of his paws and a lone stripe going front the front of his neck down his chest to his stomach. His eyes were the pride and joy of the young feline-loving high school student; being a bright clear ocean blue color, similar to her favorite color actually only being a few shades darker. He was small and scrawny-looking for now, being new to the routine of staying hidden from Mikoto's father because of her only recently having adopted him as her own. His white whiskers twitched with the knowledge of her leaving him in the shop-keepers care once more and his short mew was the only goodbye the feline could manage in his current state.

"He helps us out here just as much as anyone who works here does. It's not like we'll be going anywhere anytime soon, you should stay for dinner tonight; tell us about your first day back at school." Urahara knew about her reluctance to go home immediately after school and would always subtly try to get her to open up about the reason why she was like that, but never succeeded so he decided to simply give her opportunities that would prevent her from going home like she would not like to do.

"I'm not sure about staying for dinner but I will happily make something for all of you. It's the least I can do to thank you." Mikoto answered honestly, moving to give the shop-keeper a short hug before saying her goodbye and hurrying off in the direction of the school. Waving to a few schoolmates along her way, she was ignorant of the golden eyes that watched her leaving their home.


"Good morning, Mikoto-San,"

"Good morning," Mikoto responded back in turn whenever she entered the classroom, quickly heading in the direction of her seat – the same one she sits in every year since entering high school – before greeting the students that usually sat around her just as she had done every morning the year before. They greeted the same in return.

"Alright class, settle down," the teacher – the newly appointed Mrs. Rem Hanami – said as she walked into the room and stood behind her wooden podium as she held up a sheet of paper that was supposedly going to be used for roll call. "I know you're all very excited to be here, being the first day of school as well as your last year here, but I would like you all to be on your best behavior so that I may get used to being here." New teacher, a majority of the students thought after her opening sentences, go figure. "Now, much like how I myself am new here, as is a fellow student. You can come in now."

Mikoto watched along with the rest of the class as someone walked into the already over-populated room, standing out greatly with his bright sky blue hair and matching electric orbs glaring at those closest to him. Mikoto smiled to herself after thinking that the look reminder her much of how a cat would treat everything new to it in a new environment. "Class, this is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. He'll be joining our class this year and I would like you all to treat him with kindness and respect. Why don't you tell us something about yourself, Grimmjow-San?" Mrs. Hanami turned towards the obviously muscular adolescent as he turned his electrifying gaze towards her and glared. Mikoto thought she saw Ichigo Kurosaki's natural scowl deepen at the sight.

"Listen here, lady, I'm not here to make fucking friends and I certainly ain't here to take any pity or crap from anyone; especially you. Why don't you hurry up and shut the fuck up and point out my goddamn seat already." Quite the colorful language, Mikoto thought, her smile having gone when he started snapping at the new teacher; who was too busy gaping at his introduction to point out his seat like he had suggested.

"Grimmjow, knock it off and just sit down somewhere."

"Can it, Kurosaki, I didn't see anybody talking to your punk ass." Grimmjow snapped at Ichigo Kurosaki next, the ginger-haired adolescent frowning at the statement yet saying nothing because of the blue-eyes male strolling casually across the classroom and taking his seat directly behind Keigo Asano; the latter of the two looking worried about that fact. Mikoto – one row to the right and two seats behind Keigo – watched the look being tossed between the two and decided that the duo must've known each other previously because of the stare. It was like communicating with their eyes.

Mrs. Hanami seemed still in shock over having a student talk to her like that before she blinked back into reality and looked down at her roll sheet to check over what students were here and what students were missing. She seemed almost hesitant to speak with the new student in the room. Mikoto felt a small amount of pity going out to the teacher for not knowing what to do in such a situation, and it was happening on the first day of her career at that. Sighing softly to herself, Mikoto rested her elbows against the desk and leaned her head against her knuckles; she knew that the rest of the year would be eventful with the two of them in one class. With Ichigo and a lot of his friends being in the same class, at that; Mikoto thought, glancing over the rest of Ichigo Kurosaki's circle of acquaintances that were ironically all seated around him and on one side of the classroom.

Very eventful, indeed…


"Finally; I never thought this class would be fucking over! You bunch of dumb shits are putting me to sleep with the amount of ignorance you have leaking out your fucking asses. I think I can find piles of crap with more intelligence that you stupid –"

"Grimmjow, will you just shut the hell up already?" Mikoto watched blankly as Grimmjow and Ichigo continued to cuss and argue at each other without problems or distractions because of Mrs. Hanami staring at them wide-eyed as well before coming to her own new unique senses and choosing to ignore the scene by gathering what she would need for her own break and leaving the room just as some of the other students were. Mikoto deemed her ready enough to handle the rest of the year if she stuck to simply ignoring certain things in the classroom, as well as certain people.

Turning her attention back over to the fighting sore-thumbs of appearances, Mikoto found the argument ending by the two of them – who had tight death grips on each others' collars – being forcefully broken up by two friends of Ichigo's that she remembered from about a year ago. They didn't stay very long but it appeared as if they were hoping to stay longer this time around since they returned to Karakura.

Ikkaku Madarame – the taller of the two that was always seen with a wooden sword in his possession and had no hair what-so-ever on his head – was behind Grimmjow, pulling him and his hold on Ichigo away. Yumichika Ayasegawa – the obviously close friend of Ikkaku's with decorative and colorful feathers attached to his right eye – was off to the side of the pair and was pushing against Grimmjow's chest in order to get him away from Ichigo. It wasn't something that surprised anyone nearby who had been in the same class as the rest of the group and had seen the fights between Ichigo and Renji and even Ichigo and Ikkaku… and also Ikkaku and Renji at times when it appeared that Ichigo didn't feel like arguing at that exact moment.

They all seemed to enjoy getting into fights with one another, regardless of the fact that they were all obviously close to each other.

Grimmjow finally moved away from Ichigo after being forcefully pushed away from him, not caring about the argument anymore and deciding it wasn't worth his time. With a low growl that made many of the students in the classroom look over with wide eyes if they had already adverted their gazes, Grimmjow walked towards the door and slammed it behind himself as he proceeded to the roof in order to get some air and calm down to some extent. As much as he would love to beat in Ichigo's face and tear him limb-from-limb, he knew that it would be a bad idea to do so right now when he was already on thin ice as it was.

Mikoto watched him leave with her blank gaze in place, being used to just about anything that happened around her in this town. She had seen much worse in her life than she was sure most of the students would ever see in a lifetime. And she had caught the look in Grimmjow's eyes right before he slammed the wooden door behind him on his way out. Looking down at the lunch she had neatly spread out on her desk, Mikoto had taken note of Grimmjow leaving empty-handed; not taking anything that seemed even remotely close to resembling a lunch. Sighing shortly to herself, Mikoto wrapped up the lunch once more after having divided it evenly; carrying it with her across the near silent classroom and leaving, not bothering to question the looks that were sent her direction at having the courage to walk out of the door that Grimmjow had just left from.

It wasn't as if she would jump out the window that she knew Ichigo's group was prone to do from time to time.

Mikoto wandered around the building for a few minutes before checking the last place she had thought of him being in, when she realized that I should've been the first place to look in since it was one of the only places at the school that people were not supposed to be in but was a very common hangout spot for most that just didn't care at times. Mikoto thought Grimmjow fit that description fairly well.

Opening the door at the top of the narrow staircase that led to the roof, Mikoto was thankful she caught sight of the lightning colored hair that could belong to only one person at the school: Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. He had his back to her and had one hand rested against the chain-link fence while the other was nestled comfortably – it seemed – in his pocket; obviously enjoying the view from the roof as Mikoto took notice of the sudden heavy rise and fall of his broad shoulders, tell-tale signs of a sigh.

"Quite the ruckus you caused downstairs." Mikoto stated shortly, taking notice of how he suddenly tensed up and looked over his shoulder at her with a glare poised ready to kill. "Although it's not hard to get Kurosaki-San riled up, I'm surprised it only took you a few words to do so. Usually he doesn't care for new students."

"What the hell do you want? Didn't I say earlier that I didn't care much for making friends and didn't need anyone's goddamn pity?" Grimmjow snapped at the raven-haired girl as she took a few steps closer before putting a neatly folded portion of her lunch against the small portion of the fence near him, ignoring the vicious glare directed towards her and the low nearly inaudible growl she thought she heard.

"You did. I noticed you didn't bring a lunch with you and decided to bring you some. I think you'll need it should you go back to arguing with Kurosaki-San when class starts again; he has quite the stamina when it comes to arguing with others." Mikoto said to him before starting to walk back towards the stairway door, pausing in front of it with her hand still on the handle. She felt like he needing to hear something. "Loneliness isn't the best way to live life; sometimes you need to lean on someone. I'm not saying that I want you to lean on me or that you even need someone with you right now. I'm just letting you know that even if everyone else turns their back on you when you actually need someone, I'll be here should you ever need anything." Mikoto smiled shortly to herself and opened the door, closing it behind her quietly since she knew that silence around Grimmjow must mean that he was either thinking or trying to ignore her. She simply hoped that her message got through to him.

With that mission accomplished, she returned to the classroom and ate her lunch in silence at her desk; not putting anymore thought into the new student or Ichigo Kurosaki's circle of friends. Mikoto would rather just let life play out on its own without her hoping for something extraordinary to happen.


The rest of the day passed by without incident; or too much incident outside of the now normal occurrences that everyone at the school was familiar with. The bell rang signaling the end of the end and Mikoto gathered her things along with the rest of the school and left. Walking out of the school grounds, she caught sight of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez standing beside Ichigo Kurosaki as Toshiro Hitsugaya – the 'child genius' as some nicknamed the short snow-haired teen – was talking to the both of them with a frustrated glower on his face. She caught the electric gaze of the newest student and waved shortly as a parting goodbye sign and watched him return the gesture just as shortly before disappearing behind the stone walls that bordered the school as she made her way towards her favorite candy store.

She had promised Kisuke Urahara dinner and would give him just that. She adored the shop keeper and his employees; always having a suspicion that the pale blond, gray-eyed male was up to something by the way she noted his flashing gaze and the certain twitch of his lips whenever he would ignore her questions or even someone else's. He was much taller than her, a good head taller whenever she thought about it since she only reached his shoulder on occasions; built in a lean sort of way that she took particular notice of whenever they had first met, considering – she thought with an exasperated smile coming to her face at the memory – his shirt was open to the point of revealing enough information to let her know that he wasn't exactly as lazy as he appeared.

Arriving at the candy store, Mikoto greeted the two youngest employees that worked at the shop: Jinta and Ururu. Jinta Hanakira was a small kid with fiery red hair and was the one always caught bullying on her favorite employee: Ururu. Although he denies this whenever she points out the fact simply because of not wishing her to think badly of him anymore than the shop keeper would. Ururu Tsumugiya was the shy polar-opposite of young Jinta, having a violet shade to her own raven-colored hair; the plum-eyed girl usually had her hair up in pigtails whenever Jinta wasn't pulling on them. She thought of Mikoto as an older sister, regardless of how much limited contact they had around each other.

Tessai Tsukabishi – the shop keeper's best friend and eldest employee – was putting away large crates and boxes whenever Mikoto wandered into the store, giving a short bow and greeting before complimenting the shop's appearance as she did every time she entered. Which caused the tall muscular man to cry dramatically behind his glasses and attempt to wipe away his tears with the only free tan hand he had. His thick mustache moved whenever he spoke and thanked the smaller girl as she continued on her way through the store to get into the kitchen and begin making the Urahara Shop's dinner; which was going to be a large spread of different fish, ramen, and rice bowls.

The food didn't take long to make and before anyone knew it, Yoruichi Shihōin and Mikoto Itami had finished setting the table and spreading out the food; the golden-eyed dark-skinned woman patting Mikoto's head and complimenting her cooking skills as the girl smiled and declined the pleasantries modestly. Tenkyuu was perched on the purple-haired older woman's shoulder before Mikoto clapped her hands once and caught the kitten as he jumped towards her at the recognized command, curling against her in her arms comfortably while mewing his own greeting to her once more that day.

"You can stay for dinner, you know," Yoruichi said to the girl, watching her swing a piece of string from one of the packages in the kitchen before throwing it away. Urahara stood in the doorway behind Yoruichi listening to the transaction, deciding to not say anything this time and see if Yoruichi had any luck charming the girl into staying when they all knew that she did not wish to leave and return to her own dwelling. Shaking her head politely, Mikoto declined.

"I wish I could, Yoruichi-San, but I really should be getting home now. I have dinner to cook at home and I do have some homework that needs to be finished." Mikoto lied easily, not telling a completely untruth because of having two problems to finish on her work and had her father at home possibly waiting for her to get there and make the food. "I hope all of you enjoy the food. I know that the ramen is one of Kisuke's favorites so I hope he likes it." Urahara smiled to himself at the thought of her worrying over whether or not she made the ramen the way he liked it; he loved her cooking and if she made his favorite food then he was sure it would be better than normal. "Will you tell him goodbye for me? I know he doesn't like being bothered when he's in his office."

"Of course I will; have a safe trip home," Yoruichi smiled down at Mikoto and watched as she bid farewell to the employees before going home, not having the heart to order her to stay and tell them all what was wrong with her home-life. Both her and Urahara knew what was wrong with her home-life yet knew that they couldn't do anything about it until she came to them and confided into them the story; they weren't able to do anything until then. Urahara stepped out of the doorway and watched through a nearby window as Mikoto stopped part of the way away from the shop in order to let Tenkyuu hop into her purse, continuing alone the route to her home once she was sure that the kitten was hidden from view.

"I worry about her, Kisuke."

"There's nothing we can do for her though… not until she tells us herself." Urahara answered in turn to Yoruichi's concern, looking back at her shortly before forcing a smile onto his face and saying, "Well, we might as well gather everyone else and eat." He said just as Jinta shouted something about a 'moocher' in the other room that made Urahara's fake small grin melt into a real mischievous one at the thought of his housemate questioning who made the food and not knowing who it was. Even though Ururu and Jinta might dance around her name simply to tease the poor boy.


[A/N: Review Are Appreciated. ^^ No Reviews. No Story. That's Going To Be The Way I Handle All My Stories. Fair Warning.]