Edited on 7/12/2010
Chapter 2: Getting With the Program
"Ok class lets take attendance. Raise your hand if you're not here." The teacher looked around the room and sighed. "Would it kill you all to have sense of humor, I mean when I was in school if the teacher made that joke the whole class hands went up." She sighed and did a head count of the class. "Ok looks like everyone-," she paused and recounted the class a small smile spread across her face. "Kurosaki, your classmate Ordihime Inoue was kind enough to keep up with your missing assignments if you'd like to pick them up from her."
At the last statement every head in the room turned towards Ichigo and whispers along the line of, "He's back? How long was he gone this time? How long do you think he'll last?" could be heard from the class gossips.
Ichigo ignored all of this and nodded to the teacher. "Yes ma'am."
"Ok, then if you all will take out your English Textbooks and turn to page one-seventy-nine, we can start today's lesson. Uryu Ishida if you would start us off, we can popcorn read."
A few grumbles went around the room about how they weren't in grade school anymore and popcorn reading was too childish for them.
"Either we popcorn read or you all read silently and answer the five questions ad the end in no less than two paragraphs each," the teacher stated, all complaints immediately ceased.
Ichigo couldn't help but smile. Though he would never admit it, he really had missed being in school with his eccentric teacher and crazy classmates.
::-::
"Ahh, I give up, Ichigo you explain it to him." Yumichika sat back in his chair and with an aggravated sigh and threw his pencil down on the table.
"Come on, don't be that way Yummy," Ikkaku said, "Just explain it one more time."
Yumichika rolled his eyes at the stupid nickname that Ikkaku insisted on calling him by. "No way, some people just cannot be taught and the stress of trying to teach you is so unbeautiful."
"Please Yummy; I swear I'll get it this time," Ikkaku begged.
"No." This started a back and forth conversation of Ikkaku begging and Yumichika saying no.
"Alright guys, I'll explain it to him just shut up already." Ichigo put down his pencil and pushed the notebooks and textbook in front of him out of the way as he stood and leaned over the table looking at the homework assignment that was giving Ikkaku so much trouble. It all looked pretty simple to him, just solving and graphing quadratic equations. "What don't you get, chrome dome?" he asked the other teen.
"Any of it, I don't get any of it," was Ikkaku's reply.
Ichigo sighed. "It's not that hard really Ikkaku, all you have to do is…" Ichigo spent the next five minutes explaining quadratics to the other. "Get it now?" he asked sitting back down. His eyes scanning around the room, he noticed that it was mostly empty except for a few other kids talking animatedly to one another, and Byakuya Kuchiki was standing by the door, his eyes seemed to be focused on Ichigo.
"Yeah, just stick to the formula," Ikkaku was saying. "Why wasn't it so easy when you explained Yummy?" he teased the other boy.
Yumichika rolled his eyes. "Perhaps because I'm not qualified to teach the mentally retarded," Yumichika remarked. "Ichigo could you help me with this? Chemistry is so unbeautiful."
Ichigo sighed and stood back up leaning over the table to Yumichika. "Do you have a Periodic Table?" he asked.
Yumichika looked through the pile of papers next to him. "Seems I don't," he answered, "Do I really need one?"
"If you don't want your brain to explode while doing nomenclature you do." Ichigo took a piece of scrap paper from Yumichika's notebook and drew a rough version of the Periodic Table of Elements. "Now all you have to do is follow these rules," ten minutes went to explaining different types of nomenclature problems to Yumichika and Ichigo sat back down going back to his own pile of assignments.
He had already completed the homework that was due the next day, now he was just working on the back assignments from the days be missed. He always took the time to make up every missing assignment when he skipped large amounts of school, that way all he had to do was arrange a date with his teacher to make up missed test and he wouldn't worry about being held back a year.
"Hey Ichi, could you help me with this?" Ikkaku asked.
Ichigo let out an aggravated sigh. "What is it this time?" He stood and spent another five minutes explaining what led to the fall of the Roman Empire for Ikkaku's history assignment, then another five minutes explaining the European cast system of the middle ages for Yumichika's history assignment.
"Anything else, or can I do my own work now?" Ichigo asked, sitting back down at his seat, his back was killing him from leaning over the table so much. The other two teens shook their heads as they continued to work.
"Um, I could use some help," A voice said from behind Ichigo, he leaned back in his chair and glanced up at the boy who had lust joined the group. "You're late Shuhei," Ichigo stated. "Pull up a seat."
"Sorry, my teacher held me after class, but I could really use some help with this biology homework."
The next half hour was dedicated to teaching the finer parts of different assignments to the group. "Ok, enough you three, I'm sure Kurosaki-kun has work of his own to get to."
Ichigo looked up to find the source of the dull baritone voice. "Byakuya," he stated in greeting.
"It's good to see you're all serious about working on you school assignments, but I'm sure Kurosaki-kun would like a chance to get to work on his own assignments. Tomorrow there will be a group of homework helpers on duty. As for now, I'm the only here to help today so if you have any further questions please bring them to me."
"Thanks Kuchiki-sama," Ichigo's three friends said. Ichigo only looked up at the man with a defiant look on his face.
He really hadn't minded helping his friends with their homework. He had grumbled and complained about it, but that had been all for appearance. The way he saw it, since attending school was a new requirement for being in the program, making sure his friends understood the assignments would make them more willing to stay in school and thus keep them in the program longer. When Renji had went through the new program, he and Ichigo had gotten together everyday to work on the boy's homework.
Byakuya's face remained impassive as he looked the three boys over before turning to Ichigo. "You can feel free to come to me if you need help as well." He stated his voice trying to convey some unspoken message.
"Thanks Byakuya, I'll keep that in mind," Ichigo said. "Now if you'll excuse me I still have assignments to do."
Byakuya looked away from Ichigo, trying to hide his expression. What could pass for an exasperated sigh escape his lips. "The next program meeting starts in ten minutes, I hope to see you all there." He didn't wait for a reply as he turned and strode away.
Ichigo watched his retreating figure; he shrugged."Who pissed in his Cheerios?"
His three friends looked at him with curious looks. "What?" Ichigo demanded. The rest of the groups shook their heads mumbled, 'nothing' and returned to their homework. Ichigo's eyes drifted back to Byakuya who was now standing at another table on the other side of the room talking to a few other kids that were also in the program, as if he felt the teens eyes on him he turned and glanced Ichigo's way. A light blush spread across Ichigo's face as he quickly turned his attention back to the work in front of him. He wondered why that look had set his heart pounding so much.
::-::
"Today we will attempt to find the roots of the reasons you're here. We will discuss what provoked you to enter the streets in the first place so that we can find what we have to do to make you leave them."
Ichigo sat in the back of the room that the center had official given over for use of the Change of Hearts Program listening to the man giving the 'lecture' with a bored expression on his face. He had heard this seven times before and doubted his need to attend the meeting, but attendance was mandatory, so Ichigo had let his three friends drag him here.
He already knew where this was going: the speaker, this time it was Shunsui Kyouraku, would recite some B.S. about different situations and conditions that would prompt a teen to become a street kid, there'll most likely be some statistics saying crap like 98% of teens to turn to the streets are either looking to escape unfavorable living conditions or searching for acceptance in a world that they feel is against them, then he'll have everyone think on what they're own situation was like and figure out what made them turn to the streets. He'll ask for volunteers and no one will raise they're hand so he will randomly call on a few people. Then everyone would be told to think of what they could to make things better for themselves so that they can get off the streets, the meeting would be released and Ichigo would leave without having learned anything of use to get him back home.
Sure enough Shunsui began his lecture, starting with a statistic that used the numbers 98% and 2%, because everyone knows that 98% of statistics use the numbers 98 and 2 and of the 2% that didn't, 80% used the numbers 80 and 20. Ichigo tuned out the lecture and opted instead to let his eyes roam around the room. There was exactly seven people in the program this time, Ichigo and his friends plus three other kids that Ichigo had seen around the Center but wasn't personally familiar with.
Other than the seven juveniles in the room, there was three adults present also: Shunsui Kyouraku who was giving the talk, Jyushiro Ukitake who Ichigo vaguely wondered if he was even well enough to be here, and Byakuya Kuchiki. The dark haired man was dressed in a pure black suit and tie. His dark as night hair was neatly pinned back and his steely gray eyes was set on Kyouraku, but Ichigo was sure Byakuya was watching him out of the corner of his eye. Ichigo turned his attention away from the new program director. He might just be acting a little paranoid but the dark haired man was always present somewhere around Ichigo when he was at the center and Ichigo always had the feeling that the man was watching him.
He didn't realize that the only reason he noticed that was because he was always watching the man himself.
"I guess the reason I'm here is because I felt suffocated and unloved at my house."
The voice drew Ichigo's eyes back to the three kids he didn't know, one of them was standing, having been called on to give the reason as to why he was out on the streets. Ichigo noted the fact that the kid was dressed in a pair of jeans and a red pullover hoodie, hands stuffed in the pockets, but despite the male attire, Ichigo also noted a distinctive feminine voice. So one of the other kids was a female huh? Ichigo vaguely wondered if he'd ever bumped into a girl in the program before. He pushed the thoughts away as he continued listening to her speak.
"I'm my mom's second child, but she has five children after me. Two of them still in diapers, one barely potty trained. It feels like I'm more a parent to them than our actual parents are because I was always the one babysitting. I got up every morning and made them breakfast before rushing to school. Then I picked them up from daycare and stuff and watched them for four hours until my mom or dad got off work. I had to cook for them and clean the house while at the same time stopping them from destroying things or killing each other. And my parents never thanked me for it because it was like doing this stuff was expected of me. I had no time for myself because I always had to look after the kids, while my older brother was free to come and go as he pleased. I guess I just got sick of it."
The girl's story was one Ichigo had heard before: the overworked older sibling who couldn't deal with being in the household, it was a classic, but it was also most likely true.
"Thank you for sharing, Kaya-san, would anyone else like to share?" Shunsui glanced around the room. "What about you, Kurosaki-kun?"
Ichigo looked up at Shunsui in disbelief, he hadn't been called on since his first three times in the program when he'd given the same non-answer every time. Did Shunsui really think this time would be any different? Ichigo sighed. "I'm sure we both know why I'm here Shunsui," he replied in a guarded tone. "Do you really have to ask?"
"You can't use anger as an excuse forever, Ichigo." The man called him by his given name since Ichigo had been just as informal with him.
"I don't see any other excuse for me to be out there."
Shunsui sighed. "You know there's no reason for you to be so hung up on the past Ichigo, there's nothing you can do to change it."
Ichigo said nothing, just glared at the man, his eyes demanding the subject to be dropped, his fist clenched tightly at his side, as he tried his hardest not to let out a sharp retort.
"Hey Ichi, relax, it's ok," Ikkaku said.
Ichigo took a deep breath willing the tension to release from his body, he looked and found three pairs of concerned eyes on him, he sighed. "I'm ok guys," he reassured his friends. As the tense atmosphere relaxed he turned his attention back to Shunsui in the front of the room, the man had moved to call on someone else; out of the corner of Ichigo's eyes he could see Byakuya staring intently at him.
::-::
Time passed without notice.
About three weeks ago Ichigo had stood outside the Community Center talking to his friend Renji who had just completed the Change of Hearts Program. About three weeks ago Ichigo had sat in the mess hall of the same center letting two of his friends talk him into joining that same program. About three hours ago Ichigo had made up his mind. About three minutes ago he had strode into the Community Center and into the meeting room of the Program. About three seconds Ichigo had stood before the crowded room and declared, "I'm dropping out of the Change of Hearts Program."
All eyes turned to him. Three pairs of eyes looked at him in confusions as Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Shuuhei wondered where this had come from. Three pairs of eyes only cast him the briefest of glances as the other three teens decided they didn't care if he dropped out or not. Two pairs of eyes shined with grim acceptance as Ukitake and Shunsui both agreed that they knew this would be coming soon.
No one spoke as one set of gunmetal grey eyes' look of confusion hardened over into disdain. "Unacceptable," was the word that broke the silence. Byakuya's baritone voice carried across the room to the orange haired teen.
Ichigo glared at him in defiance. "I wasn't asking," he stated. "I'm leaving the program."
"Again," Byakuya replied in a neutral voice, "Unacceptable. I will not allow you to leave the program."
Ichigo's face twisted into a snarl and he wanted to make some smart-aleck retort but thought the better of it. "Again, I wasn't asking. I'm leaving."
"Ichi," Ikkaku called after his friend.
Ichigo sighed and turned to the three people that had talked him into joining the program in the first place. "You three stay," he ordered. "There's only three days until you complete the program no use backing out now."
"But Ichigo," Shuuhei said.
Ichigo glared at the three of them. "Either stay in the program or face the ass kicking I'll give you if you leave."
The strawberry's three friends were at lost for words and Ichigo took this as a chance to turn and leave the room, shutting the bewildered looks behind the door. Ichigo barely made it two steps down the hall before the door opened behind him swung open and a stern voice called out to him.
"Kurosaki," Byakuya said, "I have not yet dismissed the meeting; you are not allowed to leave."
Ichigo turned and shot him his deadliest glare. "I've already told you I'm dropping out of the program, so you have no authority over me."
Byakuya said nothing but the weight of his gaze told Ichigo that this was no matter for discussion. With an aggravated sigh Ichigo forced himself to turn back around and storm out of the Community Center.
Behind him he thought he heard Byakuya saying one last thing to him but he pushed it aside as he made his escape.
::-::
Sitting on the grass overlooking the river, the exact spot where his mother had died so many years prior, Ichigo wondered what had possessed him to leave the program this time.
Things had been going great. The changes that had been made to the program had kept him entertained and made him believe there was hope for him this time. In the past he had always used anger as his excuse for entering the streets, the program used to make him admit that reason but didn't do anything about it, until now.
He had said he was there because of anger, now the program offered him ways to redirect that anger. He had been enrolled in both self defense and kendo classes, though the self defense classes were pretty pointless since Ichigo had already been a fighter to begin with.
He attended school everyday and had completed all of his missing assignments, he had a job at the local convenience store. Everything was perfect; he had no reason to not return home now. It seemed that Byakuya's new program had really saved him. Even his friends were doing well and were ready to leave the streets now, Shuuhei had even returned to sleeping in his parents' house instead of at the center with the rest of them. Ikkaku was back on speaking terms with his father and Yumichika had gone shopping with his little brother and sister just the other day. The program was doing wonders for all of them. In just three days time they would have graduated the program and given up their lives as street kids.
But Ichigo had wanted out.
Everything was going the way he wanted it to. His friends were about to leave the streets like he wanted them to. Their lives were about to be saved like he wanted them to be. It was all he'd ever wanted for his friends.
But what he wanted for himself was completely different.
The streets still called to him. The streets called to him, telling him that this was where he belonged. No where else would accept him. No where else could be his home. He belonged on the streets. They were made for him, he belonged to them. There was no way he could ever leave.
He was this close to what seemed like a permanent escape from the rough and tumble life he was living, and he had turned away from it. This was his way out and he hadn't taken it. Why the hell hadn't he taken it?
"Damn it all to hell!" Ichigo cursed, yanking at his orange colored locks. He had been so close to leaving the streets possibly forever. He could feel it. The streets weren't where he wanted to be anymore; he could go home and fit right in with his family. He could be normal again. All he had to do was make it through three more days. Three more days in the program, his graduation would be held on Christmas Eve and he would be back home with his family for the holidays.
Why had he left? He was so close. "Why did I leave?" he asked aloud to himself.
Ichigo sighed and stared out at the waters in front of him. A light breeze caused him to shiver, gunmetal grey eyes looked up at him from the depths of the water, a deep baritone voice spoke to him, "Leave now, but I assure you I am not letting you go."
