A/N: Enjoy. I'm still pondering the couples...would anyone care if I kept in a few 'canonical' pairings, or made up some crazy rare pairs of my own with the Bleach characters? The SM crew would still have love interests too...

Chapter Two: The Wrong Side of The In-Crowd!

"I had a feeling that we'd run into you goons sooner or later." Ichigo practically groaned, wearing his usual scowling face with his hands shoved into the pockets of his pants, "Lemme guess, same situation, huh?" Ichigo hadn't realized it until this point, but the entire remainder of the class stood behind him, flanking him much like an army...and he supposed that made him the unofficial leader. Dammit.

"Goon, huh? That's pretty rich comin' from a strawberry." Renji Abarai growled, grabbing the shorter boy's collar with an upwards jerk, embarrassed that Ichigo had made him look even the slightest bit stupid in front of Rukia. Someone sighed then, and rather loudly too, causing the two quarreling boys to turn their attention from each other.

The blond woman scratched her strawberry-blond locks to get the primping effect, "Oh, can't you boys just chill out? It's too earlier in the morning for that mess." she gave a dainty yawn to go along with her advice, her humongous chest floating up with her. A shorter boy to her side growled as he leaned against the nearby wall, and all eyes seemed to turn to him, "Well, Matsumoto, if you hadn't stayed out all night drinking, then perhaps you wouldn't have such a terrible headache."

"Ah," she crooned lovingly, bending to catch the shorter boy in a tight, breast-induced hug, "Sempai is worried about me." The boy seemed to make a noise of negativity as he tried to escape from the black-hole that was her cleavage. Poor guy, some of the less perverted students remarked, as the white of his hair became the only visible part of his head. Rolling his eyes, Ichigo sighed and turned back to Renji, "So, what are you guys doing?"

"Our teach up and left us this morning, so we're kinda just wandering around." the redhead offered lamely, every now and then glancing over in the hopes of seeing Rukia's eyes.

"Well then, Ichigo, I don't see why they shouldn't come with us." Rukia suggested with a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Don't you idiots know that traveling in a large group is a better way of getting caught?" the orange-headed boy said, his hands back in his pockets. The redheaded boy snickered in front of him, coming over to catch him around the neck, "What's the matter? Is strawberry afraid of getting' caught?" No, of course not. Now, Ichigo wasn't a delinquent, but fighting to settle his problems had always worked before in the past. And he'd be damned if the school made him drag his dad up here from some kind of behavioral meeting or something.

"Hey Ichigo, we're here!" yelled a very chipper voice from behind the entire group, obviously having belonged to none other than Orihime Inoue. Behind her, closely following, were Tatsuki and the new girl, Hotaru, the orange-head remarked.

"Could you have been any louder?"

"I'm sorry, Ichigo," she giggled sweetly, finally releasing Hotaru's hands to cover her mouth. "But now that I' m here, we can start our epic adventure." The boy gave her an odd look, his pupils narrowing...she may have been cute, but she sure was strange.

Hotaru, on the other hand, simply chose to stay hidden behind Orihime and Tatsuki, and eventually the rest of the group. As they walked on, the girl couldn't help but get the feeling she wanted to run away. She wasn't sure why...just nervous, maybe? Even if she did run, she didn't know the school's layout at all and wouldn't know where to run to. She would have been lucky to have ended up at the front gate outside.

The group, she noticed, definitely seemed way more chatty than they should have been. You'd think they were on a field trip or something instead of skipping class. It was now that she seemed to get a good look at all of them. First, she noticed Ichigo first, as most people probably did. He had orange-hair, the color of Mina's favorite nail polish, and was quite tall with those long legs of his. Rukia, the girl on his right, was extremely shorter than him, possibly about her height, with dark-hair. Orihime was to the left of Ichigo, with the dark-haired Tatsuki close beside her. Another girl with red glasses, name Chizuru, was following them much like a stalker would while the rest of the other girls seemed discontent. Michiru Ogawa was a short brunette, a direct contrast to the tall, dark-haired Ryo Kunieda. Mahana Natsui was the only girl left of interest, and she was medium height, tan skinned, and had shaggy hair.

Moving on to the other boys in her class, Hotaru cast her eyes onto the tall, dark form who didn't seem to fit in anywhere, really. She vaguely remembered Ochi-sensei calling him 'Chad'. Orihime had mentioned that the dark-haired boy with glasses was named Uryu, and that he was a pretty good friend of theirs, too. The other two boys, Keigo and Mizuiro, were known only to her because of Ichigo's berating of them.

And with this new class...she wasn't quite sure what to think. Their group looked too small to be a class really. More like one of those classes for students with behavioral problems. Hotaru didn't know just how right she was.

The red-headed boy closest to Rukia was way taller than her, as most probably were, Hotaru decided. Hell, even she was taller than Rukia, even though is wasn't by much. Ichigo had called him Renji, she believed. The other consisted of a big-breasted blond woman that would have put Makoto to shame, a short white-haired boy with a scowling but cute face, a (dare she say?) bald boy, and a rather flamboyant shorter boy.

Once again, Hotaru felt her stomach sink and the urge to run away come up again. It wasn't fair that she was unable to feel comfortable around these people. They were so nice. Their familiarity with each other was reminiscent of the senshi. Of course, the other senshi would be here soon, possibly in few days if their transfer-paperwork worked out alright. Then, she could just hang out with them and wander over to Ichigo's group every now and then in the attempt to make more friends. The thought made her want to slap herself a bit...really, she sounded like she was choosing sides in some kickball game or something! If she was going to make friends, she'd need to start now and not use the other senshi as some sort of crutch. After all, the other senshi were so jubilant and full of life and so much more entertaining then her that Ichigo and his friends might have forgotten all about her.

Hotaru looked up then, trying desperately to lay her eyes on Ichigo's orange head. She'd ask him just where the gym was at, as well as the rest of her classes. Surely someone would start talking and trying to explain the school's layout! It seemed a nice way to start out a conversation. Only...Hotaru came to discover that she was utterly and totally alone.

She quickly looked behind her to see if she had somehow bypassed the group and they having said nothing about it. No, they weren't there. Not a trace of their voices either. Perhaps, instead of walking faster, she had slowed in her pace and let them get ahead of her. Darn it, her mind berated, as she checked her shoes then went tearing off down the hallway she was in. Unfortunately, she slowed all too quickly, and putting her hand against the nearby wall, heaved for heavy breaths of air. Darn it, even after all that training with Haruka-papa she was still coming up short in the running department!

Nonetheless, it looked like she'd come to the end of the hallway...if you could even call it that. The area smelled faintly of burnt wood and ash, not to mention that the ground was covered in it. The end of the hallway housed what appeared to be an old doorway. The sides had been licked black by flames, and the slightest of touches would probably have caused it to fall apart. Just where the hell was she?! Why on Earth would there be something like this inside the school? It was like something out of a scary book!

"Hey, whoever that is better fucking come out of hiding right now! You're breathing so heavily, it's starting to piss me off!"

Hotaru jumped instantly at the sound of the voice. She would have screamed and took off running if only she'd had the strength or the ability to. The girl felt her feet were frozen to the spot. Absentmindedly, she took three steps forward into the grayish, black room. Looking to her left, she saw them.

Yelping, her back collided with the nearby wall, sending sparks of gray ash everywhere and causing her to cough. The dust cleared quickly, and Hotaru turned her attention back to the source of the terrifying voices. They were two boys, one dark-haired, the other a bluenette...Hotaru felt her breathing calm just a bit. Okay, they weren't ghosts or monsters. That didn't mean, though, that they looked any less fierce.

The dark-haired boy was pale, so extremely pale that he possibly surpassed even her own skin pigment. He wore what looked like dark-eye-makeup down and around his eyes, and his mouth was strung into an unmovable line. The other one, the bluenette, had some kind of coloring about his eyes as well, only his mouth was bared into a ferocious smirk...like a wild cat finally catching a hold of its prey.

"U-Um...who are you?" she squeaked out, tearing herself away from the wall when she remembered her white tee uniform.

"I believe...that should be our question to you." the dark-haired one spoke, "You obviously have no business here." Hotaru felt herself agreeing with the boy with a nod of her head, why she wasn't sure.

"Shut the fuck up, Ulquiorra! It's been awhile since a girl's come to visit.." trailed the blue-haired boy from where he sat opposite the dark-haired boy. He gave a laugh here at the uncertainty creeping onto to Hotaru's features, and the girl once again jumped.

"You know, I could scream and there's a lot of people who would hear me..." she tried to say confidently, but it was nothing more than an empty threat. Who knew how far away Ichigo and the other's were by now? And honestly, transforming to beat up high school delinquents didn't sound like a good enough excuse to tell the Outers.

"Tch, what do you think we are? Rapists?" the blue-hair asked again. It was so dark in here, as the windows had been deliberately closed, but Hotaru eventually came to make out that they were both wearing a modified version of the school's uniform- 'Ulquiorra' had an open black jacket over a white shirt and hat, while the blue-haired guy simply wore a white tank top. Hotaru shook her head no when she realized that the ruder of the two of them was expecting an answer.

"Look, I'm really sorry I messed with you," Hotaru tried as hard as possible to stretch the apology, "but could you tell me what this place is? It's embarrassing but I got lost when I walking with my friends..."

"What the-? Are you new or somethin'?" Hotaru nodded, causing the blue-haired guy to grimace and sigh, to scratch his blue locks.

"This 'place' was the room of the old chemistry lab. It was burnt down years ago when an experiment went wrong and caused the fire." 'Ulquiorra' filled in, obviously sounding as if he didn't want to be the one to explain it. But, it would keep Grimmjow from pissing him off, he decided. And what to make of this girl?

"Oh, then are you upperclassmen?"

"Yep," the blue-haired boy announced proudly, "one more year of this shit and we're free! So, I guess that makes you a freshman, huh?" he leaned back into his chair, one that had been brought from somewhere else by the look of it...'Ulquiorra''s chair, too. She nodded and decided to creep a little bit closer to see what she could learn.

"Uh, can I ask you one thing?"

"Sure, what is it?" It was off-handed, casual, almost like he didn't care...almost like he had already accepted her and gotten use to her.

"Are you delinquents?" There, she said. So what? If they chose to come after with some motorcycle gang or weapons at least she would know the reason why.

"He is." the boys announced simultaneously with fingers pointed at the other. Growling, either one quickly flipped the other one off. Furiously, the two glared at each other before finally breaking eye-contact. "So what?" the blue-haired boy spoke first, "It ain't like we're the only ones skippin' class! What about you? You look pretty goody-shoes to me."

"Oh, well, my teacher left our class today. She said that she was retiring, and we don't have a substitute. Is that what happened to you?" Hotaru asked, hopeful that she would have something in common with them. Why, she wasn't sure...she felt drawn to them. Here were two outcasts just like herself-

"Psh, we might know that if we actually gave a shit about going to class." the blue-haired boy explained.

"Pardon him. He is an idiot. I simply do not wish to associate with those other people. And as for him...I have no excuse." the dark-haired boy spoke up. It had been awhile since he'd said more than two words, and of course, it would be something similar to throwing gasoline on a fire.

"Oh yeah, who the hell said I was your friend anyway? Damn bastard, you piss me off!"

"Grimmjow, kindly silence yourself before I make you."

'Grimmjow! So that's his name!' Hotaru quickly collected in-between comebacks and retorts. She had been just about to ask him anyway. But now...

"Oh yeah?! Well come on! I'll gladly kick your ass!"

"Oh, please don't fight!" Hotaru managed to shout over them. Clenching a fist, as well as what appeared to be sharpened teeth, Grimmjow growled then threw himself back into his seat. "Please, you see-"

"Hotaru, are you down here?" Hotaru looked behind her...it was Tatsuki's voice. They'd finally realized that she was missing. It feel good to her troubled soul to know that they had been concerned about her.

"Is that you?" Grimmjow asked with a shake of his head in her direction, quickly vacating his seat.

"Yes. That's my friend Tatsuki..." But it appeared that the two of them were no longer listening or caring to what she had to say.

"See, you fool, she was trouble from the start of it."

"Shuddup! I got it!" Roughly, Hotaru found herself being snatched by the elbow from the room, in Grimmjow's almost inhuman grasp. Following Ulquiorra, the three of them ended up in another room that was in, more or less, the same shape as the last one.

"No one ever comes here so it's the perfect place to be alone. I'd rather people not find out about this." Ulquiorra explained, opening what appeared to be a cabinet. Considering the state of the room, the cabinet was in noticeably better shape and looked to be able to fit a whole person inside...or rather, three people as Hotaru was soon to find out. She was quickly sandwiched in-between the two boys in the dark confines of the cabinet; Grimmjow's chest her support, and Ulquiorra's back up against her stomach.

This...this was so wrong! Hotaru couldn't stop her face from flushing red at the multitude of dirty thoughts that ran through her head. No, they were just hiding. That was all! Wait a minute, come to think...why was she hiding again? She could have just as easily gone out to greet Tatsuki and whomever else might have been with her. Oh no, just think of the embarrassment if someone were to find her with these boys! The idea made her head swim and her knees close to giving out. The choice was to either stay here and faint and risk knocking the cabinet over, or jump out and expose these delinquent's cutting class place. Hotaru decided to take her chances.

"Come on then Orihime, it doesn't look like she wandered in here." It was Tatsuki, her voice was easily discernible against the three's heavy breathing.

"Ooo-kay...I just hope nothing bad happened to her, like she got kidnapped by monsters or something!"

That was the last thing Hotaru Tomoe heard before she lost consciousness.

"Hotaru? Yeah, that's it...wake up!"

Cracking her eyes open, still tired from her from little 'adventure' in the burnt out chemistry lab, Hotaru was relieved to see Orihime Inoue's face smiling down at her. "Orihime-san? Where am I?"

"You're in the clinic. The nurse says some boys brought you in here earlier, and I came running just as soon as I heard!" Orihime announced, a fist clenched in determination.

"Thank you." responded the dark-haired girl, managing to pull herself up into a sitting position. "I'm sorry about wandering off like that, Orihime-san. I was just..."

"Don't worry about it, Hotaru-chan. Actually, it was Hitsugaya-kun who first noticed you were gone!" she giggled lightly, but seemed to amend herself, "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it." Hotaru repeated in the same manner Orihime had used. The two girls both giggled sweetly.

"Oh, that reminds me...Matsumoto-san was here earlier, too. Hitsugaya-kun sent her with me to check up on you."

"Hitsugaya-kun?" Hotaru repeated, more to herself than the slightly distressed brunette girl. Perhaps he was one of the boys she'd seen with Ichigo's group earlier? She couldn't help but blush when the thought of one of them being worried about her surfaced.

"Orihime-chan!" The two girls looked to the doorway to find a very distraught strawberry-blond-haired woman at the door, "Look out! I brought the sake so everything is going to be okay soon!"

"Sake?" the unsuspecting girls chorused. Before either had time to react, Matsumoto seemed to 'flash' over to the bedside, grab a hold of Hotaru's chin, and pop the uncorked bottle in the girl's mouth. "Matsuomoto-san!" Orihime shrieked, jumping up from her seat, "Hotaru-chan says she's alright now! She's not allowed to drink alcohol either!" After a moment of letting that information sink in, Matsumoto removed the bottle quickly and popped the cork back on. A now, very drunken Hotaru, collapsed back onto the bed.

"Dammit, and all that sake went to waste then..." lamented the older woman with a sigh. She turned to leave soon after that, "Guess I'll go tell Sempai that she's okay..."

"Oh, Matsumoto-san..." moaned Orihime while looking over Hotaru's current state. What a rough day for her this must have been...first coming to a new school of which she had no idea about anything, then getting lost, then fainting, then being found by some strange boys, and now she was drunk in the infirmary.

Orihime clapped a hand to her forehead...what kind of crazy, mad world had this school fallen into?

"Oh, that's right...I never got to tell you." Orihime smiled down at a very flushed-cheeked Hotaru, "Because you weren't with us, Ichigo said he didn't feel much like heading to the gym at all." announced the girl with a giggle, practically verbatim, "I think you and Ichigo are gonna be good friends!"

I know it's been awhile since I updated. All I can say is that I'm sorry...I don't really have any excuse, except too much videogames. Anyways, same thing as I mentioned above only there are some pairings that I will refuse to do:

Ichigo/Rukia

Ulquiorra/Orihime

Grimmjow/Orihime

Toshiro/Rangiku

Renji/Orihime

Uryu/Orihime

Halibel/anyone (I really hate her, sorry)

Ichigo/Yoruichi

These are more personal preference rather than interfering with the story line. On the other hand, these are the suggestions I've received along with others I've considered:

Ichigo/Orihime

Renji/Rukia

Ichigo/Hotaru

Toshiro/Hotaru

Byakuya/Hotaru

Uryu/Ami

Shinji/Makoto (I'm liking your rare pair ideas, guys)

Wonderweiss/ Chibi-Usa

Usagi/Mamoru (eye twitches...that was unexpected, but a breath of fresh air)

Kyouraku/Nanao

Zaraki/Soi Fon (you read that right)

Zaraki/ Unohana

Hanatarou/Hotaru

Shuuhei/Isane

Uryu/Nemu

Gin/Rangiku

(Yeah, this story is turning out to be pretty epic (long) which explains the pairings. I need some help with the Inner Senshi.)

I plan on taking any other offered suggestions. Either that, or we can let the story write itself, you know? In response to this chapter: oh, love triangles (grabs popcorn). I need one more deciding vote on my poll on my profile before I can update Rare Pairs. Please!