AN: I already had quite a bit of this one done, so I decided to break it into a few chapters and post them all at once. Then as I write more I'll post more I guess. Anyway, yay if anyone's moved on to Chapter 2 and on with the story, right? Oh I forgot to throw this in with the other warnings - I'm not fond of cursing (I blame my childhood) and so I tend to stray away from it, but sometimes a curse word is needed in a story so if there are a few and folks find it offensive, or if folks find it offensive that I substitute words for curse words then I apologize in advance. Oh and I apologize for any grammar, spelling errors, or typos. I did use spell check and of course I've read over what I've written (with the exception of the Author's Notes) but sometimes my brain glosses over the stuff that spell check doesn't find because I know what I was trying to say when I was writing this thing. Oh and of course, sorry for any out of characterness.
I don't own Bleach.
Great, first day at a new school and not only was I late, but I was lost, I'd tried to follow the map that the office had given me, but my poor sense of direction had me all turned around. I looked up at the sign for the restrooms again and realized that this was my 3rd time passing this area. Damn. So involved with the map and trying to figure out where I was and where my class was, I didn't even hear the women's room door open or see the girl that stepped out before I collided with her. Quick reflexes had me steadying her before she fell, and I immediately began apologizing, still focused on the map.
"It's ok," a soft voice practically smiled at me. "Hey, I've never seen you around here before, are you new?" Realizing there was no way of getting out of this conversation without appearing rude, I looked over at the other girl. She was pretty, I thought for a moment with a small stab of jealousy, petite with shoulder length dark honey blonde hair, and warm grey eyes.
"Just transferred today," I nodded.
"Oh! Well welcome! I'm Kurosaki Yuzu," she said with a slight giggle. "Is that your schedule? C'mon I'll show you where to go," she grabbed the schedule out of my hands and briefly read it over.
"Sure," I replied. "I'm Chiyome Eri."
"Nice to meet you, Eri," she glanced up. "Now follow me, we're in the same classes which means you're a senior too!" Yuzu took off down the hall, and I followed her up 2 flights of stairs I hadn't noticed and down a couple of hallways. We came to a stop outside a classroom marked 1-3, and burst in. "Yamachiro-san, I found Eri!"
"Hmmm... ah the new transfer student," the teacher smiled in what looked like relief. "Class this is Chiyome Eri, she's just transferred here from ******, so I expect everyone to be nice to her," Ms. Yamachiro instructed. I felt an odd rise in spiritual energy and a pair of angry eyes glaring at me and wondered if I was going to have to fight someone right then and there. Faking a nonchalance I didn't feel I looked around the room, most of the eyes staring at me were either curious or mocking, but there, near the back of the class sat a girl next to 2 empty desks - one was covered with books and a notebook, so I assumed that was Yuzu's, while the other near the window was just empty. I was put off by the anger I saw snapping in her nearly black eyes, but the energy that radiated off her was eerily familiar... Ah! The shop, one of the frequent visitors gave off a similar energy, if a bit more heavy and angry. Had to be related, I shrugged to myself, and both seemed to have a chip on their shoulder. Oh well, not my problem, I finished and tuned back in to what the teacher was saying - "yes, good idea Yuzu, we'll have her sit by you and Karin."
So dark eyes was Karin eh? I followed Yuzu to the desks, landing in my new chair with a graceless flop. I spent the rest of the class staring aimlessly out the window, my thoughts shifting back to why Renji had left so suddenly.
"Eri!" a voice accompanied a pinch on my left shoulder. Startled, I slammed back into the present to a now empty classroom, save for the two girls that were looking at me. Yuzu had concern in those gray eyes, while Karin just looked impatient.
"There you are!" Yuzu smiled. "This is my twin, Karin." I bit back an exclamation of surprise, the girls were night and day, where Yuzu was light in hair and eyes, Karin was dark, shoulder length jet black hair pinned down by a red baseball cap and those midnight black eyes.
"What's with the attitude, Karin?" I growled, and the angry pressure lessened, the girl looking at me with surprise and a little admiration.
"Don't like new people," she shrugged. I had a feeling it was something different, but I didn't press, and besides Yuzu interrupted with one very important detail.
"Lunchtime! C'mon Orihime is waiting!" she clapped her hands together and took off. With a shrug, we both followed the energetic girl.
"Tsch, admit it, you're hoping she brought Chad or Noba along, maybe even both!" Karin teased as we all bounded outside. Yuzu blushed bright red, and I smiled at the poor girl that obviously had a crush on both guys.
"N-n-noo that's... " Yuzu stuttered, then something mischievous glinted in her eyes. "Besides, I'm not the one that sneaks down to Urahara's shop every time the shingami visit, trying to catch a glimpse of Toshiro," she giggled, and this time Karin turned red. Across the campus an older girl with waist length strawberry blonde hair waved us over, two flower bobby pins holding back her bangs at her temples. She was holding take-out bags and my stomach growled as I realized that there were four bags instead of three.
"Hi," the older girl grinned as soon as we were in earshot.
"Hey Orihime, what's for lunch today?" Karin asked.
"Ramen," Orihime responded. Then she turned to me, "You're Eri, aren't you?"
I nodded, and we all sat down to eat. As it turned out, Orihime was a teacher of one of the freshman classes at school and often ate her lunch with the girls. She'd started out friends with the girl's older brother, Ichigo, but once Ichigo left - everyone was a bit close lipped on where he went, but it sounded like some sort of military - she'd befriended the girls too. The three girls chatted while we ate, mostly Yuzu and Orihime speaking about girl stuff, but every once in a while Karin would pipe up with either a comment about Chad or Noba, much to Yuzu's embarrassment. It seemed neither of them really seemed to notice Yuzu beyond her being Ichigo's younger sister, much to all of our dismay. Toshiro's age and relationship to the group was a bit harder to pinpoint, the way Orihime talked about him made him seem much older than her, but the way Karin spoke about their antics over the years if seemed like he was the same age as the twins. All I could really gather was that he was Ichigo's superior officer, though it did seem like he had some feelings for the raven haired girl once I heard about the vast differences in his behavior around her. After a particularly teasing remark about Toshiro from Orihime, Karin brought up the subject of Uryuu, earning a scarlet blush and stammering response from the strawberry haired girl. We all laughed at that, and it was Yuzu who filled me in on how Uryuu was friends with Orihime, Chad, and Ichigo since their junior year in high school, and that while he was a bit on the boring side (which Orihime vehemently denied) he did sew rather well, and seemed the most responsible of the four. It seemed they'd had an eventful last 2 years of high school, and though she wouldn't go into detail, I could tell that some of it was hard and still troubled Orihime deeply.
In an effort to dispel some of the awkward silence that had descended after Yuzu had asked what Uryuu was up to these days, and Orihime got lost in a memory, I mentioned that I was now staying in Urahara's shop. Yuzu and Orihime squealed, and Karin made me promise to call if any late night visitors showed up that had spiritual pressure. It was my turn to clam up whenever the girls asked about my past though, and soon enough they stopped asking. The lunch hour flew by, and by the end of it I knew I'd made new friends. Orihime went back to her class to teach and Yuzu, Karin, and I returned to learning in our classes.
After that school became easier, the twins and I would hang out at the back of the class, not causing too much trouble but getting into harmless mischief, and we'd have lunch with Orihime and sometimes Chad (who turned out to be an oversized, if nice, guy). Over the fall months we fell into an easy routine of hanging out, ignoring the whispers that we were all too close-knit for a group of girls.
The whispers had started that first day in PE, when Yuzu and Karin quieted the girls' locker room when we all went to change. Forced to change with the group, it didn't take long before gasps were heard and everyone was staring at the ugly scars that mangled my stomach, torso, and hips.
"Aww shaddup! You all act like you've never seen a scar before," Karin growled, before throwing my shirt at me. Yuzu stood up and screened me with a towel, and I sighed in relief before pulling the shirt quickly on. After that the vicious rumors started, and Karin and I got into a lot of fights dispelling any perverted thoughts people had, quickly earning a thuggish reputation -bolstered by the fact that when he was in school, the girls' brother Ichigo was a badass too - and people stopped messing with us. The protection extended to Yuzu as well, something we were all glad about, because the rumors and the stares had bothered her much more than it had bothered any of us.
I'd started having dinner at the Kurosaki's before going home, Yuzu was a mean cook and Isshin was hilarious in his overprotection of the girls. He was an overly dramatic big kid, goofy and a bit over enthusiastic with his desire to spend time with his kids and their friends, which was actually kind of cool.
It was the Friday before the winter break in school, and I was spending the night at the Kurosaki's, Isshin gone for the weekend. We were taking full advantage and having a much needed girl's night, gorging ourselves on ice cream and watching horror movies. I'd just finished brushing Yuzu's hair, both of us laughing at Karin while she made fun of the heroine.
"Eri?" Yuzu said, not turning around as the end credits rolled across the screen.
"Yuzu?" I mimicked, then snickered. Instead of laughing or continuing, Yuzu stayed silent for a second, all too serious even for her. I was just about to ask her what she wanted when she spoke up again, voice slightly timid.
"Why don't you grow your hair out?" she almost whispered.
"Wow, we need more soda!" I tried to brush off the question and grabbed our glasses. Karin's hand caught my wrist before I could escape to the kitchen. "I like it this way," I shrugged, hoping that they would be satisfied with the answer.
"Bullshit," Karin sighed.
"Karin, if she doesn't want to tell us it's ok!" Yuzu admonished, and both girls were looking at me with huge eyes. Fine, if they wanted to know, I shrugged again.
"It-" I started, struggling to find a tame way to phrase my reason. "Longer hair provides a handhold... makes it easy for someone to trap and control you." Yuzu looked at me in horror while Karin studiously avoided my gaze. Then the moment was shattered by an ear wrenching howl seconds before tentacle crashed through the nearest window. It wrapped itself around Yuzu, and we all screamed as it yanked her back through the newly created hole. Karin and I didn't say anything, just shot to our feet and took off after Yuzu. The tentacle retracted in front of us, always dancing just out of reach, leading us to an open field before it came to a rest beside a huge squid like monster. My mind boggled at the horror of it, and something inside me snapped. Wishing for enough power to protect my friend, I was surprised when a bright blue mass of energy started collecting in my palm, and I wasted no time spiking the energy into the tentacle, an attempt to get it to drop the girl. It howled in pain, tightening its grip on Yuzu, causing her to pass out. I roared back at it, and quickly gathered another burst of energy, watching as a soccer ball flaming with energy came sailing out of nowhere to slam into the thing. It dropped Yuzu, only to catch her with another tentacle before sending a different one to crash into Karin, knocking her out of the fight. Renewing my attacks I concentrated on pouring more energy into them. In the distance I could feel familiar spiritual pressure approach, and I gritted my teeth, determined to not allow this thing to escape now that the cavalry was on its way.