"Kira! Kira, do I look okay?"

Kira looked up to see Momo standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She was dressed in jeans, sensible shoes and a bright yellow tank top. Her hair was held up in place by a yellow bun. Kira could feel the color rise in his cheeks as he searched for the words to reply. "You look nice Momo, but you know I'm not one to go to for fashion advice."

"I know, I just want to make sure I look alright," Momo said as she smoothed out a wrinkle on her shirt. "I need to look clean cut and professional. It's my first time meeting the professor I'm going to work with this summer. I can't have them think I'm a slob."

"The last thing you look like is a slob," Kira said firmly. "Would you like any coffee?"

"Please. In a to-go mug if possible. We need to leave soon."

Kira walked over to the coffee maker in the corner of his kitchen. He began to get Momo's coffee ready as he continued to listen to her usual morning small talk. The two both lived in student apartments not far off from Karakura University. Momo lived one story above Kira with her roommate Nanao while Kira roomed with Shuhei Hisagi. Despite this, each morning Momo would head down to Kira's and walk with him the university.

"Here's your coffee," Kira said handing Momo her usual mug.

"Thanks!" Momo said with a smile that caused Kira's heart to race. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just get my keys."

The morning was bright and sunny as the summer sun shone. Since it was the start of summer vacation, there was little foot traffic on the way to the University.

"You're crazy for wanting to work this summer," Kira said to his companion.

"You're working too!"

"Yeah, in the library! I'm not starting my grad studies until the fall. Like normal people."

"Well they offered and I couldn't say no," Momo said, pouting slightly at Kira. "What time do you expect to get off?"

"Oh, probably two or so. You know how work is. So tedious and such." Kira exaggerated.

At his words, Momo rolled her eyes. "Kira, you sit at the front desk of the library and help people check out books and pass out scantrons."

"Yes, but I survive each day without succumbing to boredom. That's enough for me." Kira said as they reached the main entrance of the library. "Now, come find me when you're done and we can walk home together. Stop worrying so much Momo. It's just summer, use it to adjust." He gave her a quick hug then proceeded up the stairs into the library.

"Have a great day babysitting those troublesome books!" Momo called after him. She saw him shake her head as he continued to climb up the stairs. After watching Kira walk through the doors, Momo continued down the sidewalk to the side of campus that held the science buildings. Pulling out her phone to triple check the room number, she entered the Life Science building and proceeded to the laboratory her email had specified. She checked the time. 8:50. Perfect. She was nearly ten minutes early.

Mustering up her courage, Momo made sure her bun was still in place before opening the door of the laboratory. At first glance, it was empty.

Unlike the student laboratories Momo had worked in during her undergraduate, this laboratory did not consist of rows of identical stations. Instead, half of the counters were filled with various machines and apparatuses. The other half provided room to work. Along one wall was a series of fume hoods, ending with the required one designated for chemical waste. The wall adjacent to the hoods was covered in shelves and drawers that held all types of equipment and glassware. As Momo walked into the lab, she looked around for anyone.

"I guess I'm a bit too early." She muttered to herself. "Oh well, at least I have time to prepare." She reached into her bag to pull out her lab coat and goggles. She pulled on her coat. When she placed her goggles on the table she noticed that a beaker was currently attached to one of the reflux condensers in the room.

"Oh, someone must be coming back soon," she reasoned to herself. "Or else why would they have an experiment running."

"You're not going spend this entire summer muttering to yourself are you?" Said a voice behind Momo

"AH!" The voice startled Momo. Instinctively, she jumped and tried to turn around to see the speaker, but clumsiness overtook her and she went crashing down to the floor.

"Hey, be careful now!"

Momo kept her eyes on the floor as she pulled herself up from the ground, to embarrassed to speak. "I-I'm sorry. You scared me!"

"I don't know how, I was here the whole time." The voice was cold and stern.

Swallowing, Momo looked up to see the owner of the voice. He was a short- very short, perhaps an inch shorter than Momo herself- man close to her age with spikey, unruly white hair that added an inch or two to his height. His lab coat seemed to swallow him up. The man's face was stern and his features seemed permanently in a frown. Behind his lab goggles were large, piercing turquoise eyes that stared at Momo with such an intensity that they made her feel as though she was under inspection.

"I'm sorry!" Momo squeaked. "I must have not seen you, you're so sh-"

The man cut her off before she could finish her sentence. "My height has nothing to do with your level of observation. Now if you expect to work in this laboratory, you will need to work on it. You're Miss Hinamori, I assume?"

"Yes, I am." Momo reached out to shake the white haired boys hand. When he did not return the gesture, she awkwardly drew her hand back to her side. "You must be another grad student. I'm so glad. I was worried I was gonna get paired with some crazy, old professor and have to deal with it myself. Speaking of which, do you know when the professor will be here?"

"You're looking at him." The white haired man straightened the collar of his lab coat, as if to help establish his prestige. "Dr. Toshiro Hitsugaya."

Momo felt her mouth go dry as she realized she had just made the assumption that this man, her superior and intended mentor, was just a fellow grad student like herself. She had been in grad school a mere ten minutes and had already made the worst first impression possible.

A/N: my uncle is a science professor at the university of Arizona so I'm modeling the lab and stuff after his own. Also, i don't know how the college school system works in Japan, so as God of my AU, I'm modeling it after the American version. Of course, not all grad schools are like this but I'm tweaking what I know and have experienced so that it fits the story. Until next time. Oh, and please review :)