Disclaimer: same as always, I deny making claims to owning any original copyrighted material.

Chapter 4: Hidden Objectives

Day was breaking, and all the inhabitants of the town of Karakura were still fast asleep, including the birds resting on the telephone lines. A moment later, however, they were rudely awakened and sent scattering by an unusual figure who had decided to spend the early hours of the morning jumping from roof to roof. It was not unusual for the Reiou to be awake and actively attending to certain matters as early as dawn, but it was unusual for him to do so completely devoid of an entourage or attendants and while wearing a full body black cloak and hood. He had, however, been quite clear that he wished to attend to these matters by himself so as to be inconspicuous and efficient in dealing with them. Ever since he had left that Captain's meeting, he had begun the necessary preparations for his planned departure that night. Mere moments after arriving in the world of the living, he had sensed that reiatsu signature. 'It's strange how they're all so different based on their personalities, and yet their reiatsu is so similar. This one too is almost identical. Well Hanaou-dono, let's see who this new vessel of power is that you've had such trouble locating.'

Inoue Orihime woke up at a regular time that day, and began preparing for school in her usual way. She washed and dressed herself, ate her somewhat questionable breakfast, then gathered her school things and left the apartment of which she was the sole inhabitant. She waved to her neighbors as she left, as she did every day when she saw them. On the way to the school, however, she stopped and checked behind her shoulder.

'Something doesn't seem right'

Inoue Orihime, despite some outward appearances, was actually a very smart girl and would've picked up on any strange reiatsu or murderous intent in her vicinity. There were, however, no such obvious indications of trouble. This feeling was a very subtle thing; it was a small inconsistency in the fabric of destiny leading to a type of knowledge only describable as intuition. Intuition, however, does not lend itself to credibility and is not tantamount to proof, or, at least, it wasn't in her mind.

'I just got back from Soul Society after dealing with that whole Bount incident. I probably just still on edge.'

She turned back around and looked at her watch.

'Ah! While I've been spacing out, classes are about to begin. Have to hurry!'

And with that she resumed her journey to the school, although this time she was sprinting rather than walking.

'Hmmmm.. For a moment there I thought she would confront me. She has rather keen instincts for a pure-blooded human, likely born from an empathic soul and honed by exposure to tragedy and sorrow. At first I merely saw an ordinary young woman. An item as fickle as the one she possesses must require some extraordinary traits from its wielder, however. That's common sense. Regardless, from now on I will prioritize her safety as well as information gathering. There's no telling in what ways she will become useful.' These were the thoughts running through the mind of the Reiou as he reclined against the tree he had frozen in as soon as she stopped.

He had been following her, his objective, since she left her house, and now continued to do so as she resumed motion. Several minutes later, he arrived at a gate that had just been entered by his target.

'This must be that "school" place she was talking about with that old woman.' He looked in the window of the nearby building from his vantage point on the tree located just outside the grounds. 'It appears to be some sort of academy. Well, it's been awhile since I've had occasion to initiate a mission of infiltration. I'll have to find the governor of this institution and "convince" him to accept me as a member'. He felt the folds of his robe to ensure he still possessed a certain item. 'Luckily, I came prepared to blend into a crowd of humans.'

"Ichigoooooooo!" was the sound that could be heard coming from the hyperactive idiot of the class, Asano Keigo, as he rushed towards his friends. The next sound that was heard was the impact of Keigo's face with someone's foot.

"Quiet down, idiot," was the reply Keigo received from his close friend Kurosaki Ichigo. Keigo then tried to collect whatever dignity and poise he possessed and attempted to tell his best friends, Ichigo, Mizuiro, and Chad, the exciting news he had just discovered.

"Have you guys heard? We're getting an exchange student today!" blurted the excitable boy, unable to keep the secret to himself any longer.

"And how did you find that out, Asano-san?" asked Mizuiro, not looking up from his book.

While Keigo expression turned to its usual look of terror that occurred whenever his friends spoke to him with polite speech, Ichigo spoke up, "just ignore him. The idiot's probably just was looking for attention."

At that comment, Keigo switched to an indignant posture and exclaimed, " how dare you accuse me of something like that?! I'll have you know that I overheard the principal discussing it as I was coming to class."

Ichigo was about to ask him what he was doing eavesdropping when their instructor entered the room. "Good morning, class."

"Good morning, sensei," replied some of the students.

"We have a new member joining us today, an exchange student in fact." With that statement, the three boys looked at Keigo, who looked quite smug at the moment. "Please come in, young man." The class fell silent as they awaited their new classmate.

What they saw next shocked everybody, including the stoic Ishida Uryuu. The boy that entered was average height with a thin build. He wore the normal school uniform with the addition of a strange looking pendant hanging around his neck. His hair was jet black and extended nearly to his waist. What surprised most people, however, was the unusual colour of his eyes. They were an eerie shade of grey, seemingly devoid of life; somber and serious, and displaying a certain level of understanding or perhaps depth to his character, they impressed everyone present. "You may call me Kemeto-san," was all he said.

At this point, many of the females in the class had starry-eyed, glazed expressions on their faces. Some were even unconsciously drooling over the exotic and mysterious type of attractiveness possessed by the young man.

The teacher, on the other hand, was thrown off by his lack of enthusiasm and bluntness. Trying to get herself back in an appropriate frame of mind, she cleared her throat and turned to him, "Kemeto-kun, if you would take your seat now, please." She turned and looked at the room, "I see that there's a spot open next to Kurosaki-kun. Kurosaki-kun, if you could raise your hand, please."

The new boy called Kemeto proceeded to walk to his seat. If anyone who had been looking at him had noticed his discreet glance in Orihime's direction, they didn't show it. They were in fact too bust observing him in other ways. Chad, Uryuu, and Ichigo were all observing the new kid intently, as they all felt something somewhat out of place. There was nothing blatantly obvious in his reiatsu, but feeling it all left them with a nagging feeling in the back of their minds. They all independently yet simultaneously decided to drop the issue for now and focus on the lesson.

So he sat there, slightly intrigued but mostly bored, listening to very little of what the instructor was actually saying. Instead, the Reiou wondered to himself how many days he would end up doing this.