And voila! A miracle has happened and four years later there's an update! So without any further ado other than the perennial disclaimer that I own nothing but the figments of imagination swimming in my head, I give you chapter three of 62442 after a revised chappie 2!
Enjoy!
Rukia was vaguely staring in the distance, not really registering the animated chatter around her.
'Great job Rukia! You're gonna work with five other for the foreseeable future and how do you get their attention?! Your full-blown, sneak-attack elephant sneeze, of course .Couldn't have done a better job at making a fool of yourself even if you'd planned it beforehand. '
Slightly frowning and letting a small sigh of defeat, the young brunette snapped out of her berating monologue and tried to re-focus on her project colleagues. She looked around and noticed the girl who earlier tried to spare her the embarrassment of her outburst chatting animatedly with who she remembered was a foreign exchange student. The other girl in her group was currently trying to get the group's designated Grinches to participate in the conversation. Rukia's first impression of Orihime was re-affirmed as she amusedly watched the young woman try and coax the other two men to forsaken their apparent vows of silence. Deciding their uncomfortable looks could only increase the longer this went on, Rukia smirked inwardly and proceeded to reinforce the bubbly girl's conversational attacks.
Ichigo was sure there was something very wrong with the stars today. For one thing, his horoscope had failed to mention that his perfectly arranged schedule would suffer major changes without so much as a courtesy warning. Remembering his previous dish-washing and shopping arrangements, he sighed as he tried to re-focus his attention on his project partner currently prattling on. He briefly wondered how it was humanly possible to talk so much and still breathe. The dark-haired man next to him looked equally uncomfortable at the on-going pour of information. He noticed the small frame of Sneezy (he was particularly pleased with his nickname for the petite girl) turn slightly towards their direction. She opened her mouth, and he could swear he saw a flickering mischievous look cross her features right before she went on interrupting the awkward pause following Orihime's breathing pause.
"You know fellas, for people considering themselves Men of Letters; you sure have a strange way with words", she taunted.
"Yes, well, we were waiting for the great and powerful Sneezy to grace us with her attention and provide us with more entertainment", countered Ichigo.
Snickering inwardly, Ichigo was pleased to see the brunette narrow her eyes, as well as noticing the almost imperceptible smile tugging at Ishida's mouth.
"Sneezy", asked a confused-looking Orihime. "Oh right, because she sneezed in class and is tiny like a dwarf, that's clever" continued the auburn-haired girl, giggling.
Rukia joined her, good-naturedly.
"Aw, man, and here I was hoping I'd be upgraded to Snow White this time round", pouted playfully the young girl.
Arisawa and Chad turned around and joined the other ones as well at the moment.
"There, there Sneezy, I'm sure dwarves also have a happily-ever after" , offered a thickly-accented voice, as Rukia found herself an arm rest for the tall, burly man next to her.
She shook her head, laughing as the rest of the group joined her. They were all enjoying the friendly atmosphere when the quiet, tall, lanky bespectacled boy interrupted them.
"So, what do you think Urahara's special assignment for us will be" he quietly inquired.
The five turned his way and shrugged their shoulders as they wondered themselves what the mysterious extra-assignment would be.
Sorry for the short chappie, but you know, it's been almost four years since it's been all quiet on the Western front and I sort of needed to ease back into it. Here's to hoping the next one will sooner rather than later follow. Oh and you know, make some noise if there's anyone out there still into fanfic reading this.
Sylarnith ^^