As it turned out, the new students were separated into their class in a way not to dissimilar to the way the Club members were spread. Byakuya and Toshiro were in the same class as Hunny and Mori, Szayel and Yumichika were in the same class as Tamaki and Kyoya, and Ichigo, Grimmjow and Uryu were with the Twins and Haruhi. This arrangement worked fine, as everyone seemed to get along with each other perfectly well.
Apart from Tamaki.
He was still convinced that the new students were out to destroy the Host Club and create a new one themselves. During the time that everyone was in the clubroom but they had no guests he formulated plans to deter them from doing so, but no one ever listened to him because unlike him, they had made friends with the new students.
It was now a common sight for everyone to be sitting together when they ate. Ichigo and Haruhi, both being somewhat poor (what am I saying – very poor compared to the rest of them) compared their home made lunches and swapped recipes. What was odd about this was that even though Grimmjow was the one who allowed Ichigo to attend the school, he refused to pay for his lunches.
While Kyoya believed that making friends was all well and good, he did not think it was a good idea letting the Twins become friends with Szayel and Yumichika. It was bad enough when the Twins pulled pranks on everyone, but by adding Szayel's vast knowledge of various sciences into the mix, their pranks escalated to a whole new level. Yumichika played quite a big role in their pranks too – it might not look like it, but as it turned out he could be exceedingly nasty and manipulative when there was no one around for him to impress. Overall, the four made a very nasty group, one that Kyoya made sure to look out for, just in case they caused too much trouble.
Byakuya and Mori seemed to have become quite close since their meeting. Both of the stoic men could be seen having quite conversations or practicing their fighting skills against each other. Many of the ladies that visited the club liked to watch the two, especially when they sparred with swords. The weapons weren't real of course – if either were to be injured the school would have hell to pay – but they still used them as though they were the deadliest weapons ever to be created. It was indeed an impressive thing to watch, as every match ended with a draw. From time to time Toshiro joined them, although he seemed to prefer spending time alone or hang out with Hunny.
Haruhi and Hunny seemed to spend the most time with Ichigo and Grimmjow. Haruhi and Ichigo studied together and talked about their lives – how they had both lost their mothers and how they both had annoying friends that they just couldn't seem to dislike. Meanwhile, Grimmjow was determined to defeat Hunny in a fight, and so far he had been unsuccessful. None the less, he refused to give up, claiming that he would be the one to defeat the famed Haninozuka prodigy.
Kyoya enjoyed spending time with Uryu. They both had similar interests – their fathers both being in the medical industry – and both preferred silence and calm as opposed to noise and commotion. They often studied together, even though they were in different year levels, and Kyoya found that the other young man was indeed intelligent, his smarts rivalling his own. Still, he found no reason to see any competition in him, already planning ahead for some way he could get their companies to merge so as to create better profits for both parties.
On one occasion he had voiced his idea to Uryu, who had given him a positive reply, much to Kyoya's surprise. But while Kyoya thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Uryu, he couldn't enjoy the rest of his school day, as a certain blonde was determined to ruin any friendship he might have with any of the new students.
"Can't you see? He's plotting! That's the only reason he's pretending to be your friend Kyoya!" Tamaki hissed once again as they crossed the threshold to the club room.
Kyoya sighed, snapping his folder shut and turned his head to look at Tamaki. "I highly doubt that. I am very good at reading people, and I have not once seen anything from any of the new students that would suggest that they have some ulterior motive towards befriending us."
"That's because he's very good at what he does! His skills are so great that even you can't see through them!"
"Oh just shut up boss," Hikaru said from the doorway.
"Yeah, they're actually really awesome people," Kaoru said from beside him.
The Twins linked arms and walked into the room, both turning up their noses as they passed the blonde. "Although it's not like you would know anyway," they said, continuing past him without glancing in his direction.
"I agree!" said Hunny happily from his perch on Mori's shoulders. "They're all really nice and fun to play with!"
"Hmph! I don't believe you! They're up to something! I just know it!" Tamaki exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air as he started pacing back and forth in front of the window.
"Come on Tamaki-Senpai! Why don't you just drop it!" Haruhi said, closing her text book and turning to glare at him. "Maybe try being friends with them before you decide not to like them."
Tamaki turned to her, giving her his best puppy-dog face with tears glistening in his bright purple eyes. "But...Haruhi..." he whined, trying to be cute.
"No way. I'm not going to fall for that this time."
Sobbing loudly, Tamaki threw himself onto Kyoya's shoulders, burying his face in his chest. "Mama! Haruhi's being mean to me!"
Kyoya blinked, and remained straight faced.
Tamaki opened his mouth to continue complaining, but there was a thundering crash from somewhere deep inside the building. Moments later, there was the sound of running footsteps and Ichigo burst into the room, a terrified look on his face. He glanced around the room, spotted Hunny atop Mori's shoulders and sprinted over to them, hiding himself behind Mori's towering frame.
Everyone in the room looked over at him, then turned their attention over to the open door, hearing more heavy footsteps approaching rapidly. Another person crashed into the room, slamming the door open with enough force that it hit the wall and bounced back, leaving a large dent in the wall.
Standing in the doorway was a man who was bigger than Mori. He had a huge, muscular frame, and frightening features, most noticeably the long scar that ran down the side of his face, the eye patch that covered his right eye and his long black hair that was held in spikes that gave him an extra foot of height.
"Ichigo! I know you came in here! Stop hiding and fight me already!" the man roared, a manic grin on his face.
"Excuse me sir, but might I ask who you are?" Kyoya asked, throwing Tamaki off and stepping forward, a pleasant smile on his face.
The giant looked down at him. "Kenpachi Zaraki. Where's Ichigo?"
"I'm not fighting you Kenpachi! Last time I was in hospital for a week! I'm not doing that again!" Ichigo yelled from his hiding place behind Mori.
"Ichigo!" Kenpachi yelled gleefully, bounding across the room and trying to grab Ichigo, but the orange haired boy ducked out of reach and positioned himself behind the twins.
The game of cat-and-mouse continued for several minutes with the two yelling back and forth at one another. At some point, the rest of Ichigo's friends had turned up and were watching the commotion from just inside the doorway. They edged their way forward as Kenpachi lunged at the smaller man. Ichigo leapt away and grabbed Hunny, who had climbed down from Mori's shoulders moments earlier.
Kenpachi stopped instantly and looked down at the tiny third year. A flash of pink appeared on his shoulder and tugged at his hair. The man grunted and relaxed his stance, seemingly no longer in the mood to fight.
"Kenny! Look! Ichi has a new friend!" the girl giggled, jumping off his shoulder to stand in front of Hunny. She looked him up and down twice before looking at his face with a stern expression. "Do you like sweets?" she asked seriously.
"I love them!" Hunny exclaimed.
"Yay!"
The two tiny individuals skipped away from the others to a table that was laden with sweet cakes and tea. Mori wandered after them silently. Ichigo gave Kenpachi a sideways smile and followed, sitting at the table between the sweet loving people, trying to hide himself behind one of the towering cakes.
"Well, that was...unexpected," Kyoya said slowly, his eyes following Kenpachi as he moved to sit at one of the large windows.
"Yeah, you're not kidding," Tamaki said quietly.
"Kanpachi?" Yumichika said, stepping forward. "Hey, if you're here, does that mean that-."
"Hey! What's going on here?"
Yumichika spun on his heel, a glowing smile on his face. "Ikkaku!" he exclaimed gleefully pouncing on another person who had just entered the room. The man squawked and collapsed under the sudden weight of another person.
"Yumi! Leave the poor man alone!" Szayel sighed, trying his best to pry the dark haired man away from the other.
"Yeah, get off 'im feather boy!" said another stranger, who appeared just as suddenly as the rest of them. He leaned down and grabbed Yumichika by the back of his jacket, successfully lifting him off the ground with ease.
As he straightened up, his height was revealed. He was taller than Kenpachi, but thin as a post. He was holding Yumichika at arm's length, and his feet were dangling a good two feet off the ground.
"Damn you Nnoitora! Put me down!" Yumichika growled, lashing out, trying to kick and punch at the tall man.
"Heh, ya look funny feathers," the tall man – Nnoitora – laughed.
"Really, what trash are you conversing with now?" said a cool, monotone voice from behind the tall man.
"I don't care. I'm just here ta make sure King hasn't got himself into trouble," this voice was more high pitched and cackling. It sounded almost demonic.
"Honestly, if any more people turn up, this will be counted as a class," Kyoya muttered darkly. He surveyed the new arrivals closely. The two boys both had paper white skin, but while one had shoulder length black hair, the other had short, spiky white hair. It took a few moments of thinking, but then everything clicked. "Are you the transfer students from Espada International?" he asked.
"Yes," said the monotone boy, turning to face him. "Kenpachi however is a teacher that is also transferring into the school from Seireitei. He's taking the place of the P.E teacher here who recently retired for medical reasons."
"Forgive me, it slipped my mind that you were arriving today. I had meant to greet you and give you a tour of the school, but I was caught up in...other matters," he said, sending a dark look to Tamaki.
"No problem. I am Ulquiorra Schiffer. This is Nnoitora Gilga," he indicated the tall thin man. "Ikkaku Madarame," he nodded his head towards the man Yumichika had tackled earlier, who was only just picking himself up. He had red tattoos around the edges of his eyes and no hair on his head. "And Shiro Kurosaki. I believe that you know his cousin Ichigo."
Shiro stepped forward and looked towards the orange haired boy. "Yo, King! How ya doing?"
"Shiro? Why are you here?" Ichigo asked, not moving from his place at the table.
"Ta look afta ya King!"
"Well, this year is turning out to be far more eventful than originally thought," Mori said quietly.
"Hmm? What was that Takashi?" Hunny asked, his face overed in cake crumbs.
"No. It was nothing."
