I know, I know... This isn't really the next chapter of the series. I am still in the process of writing the next chapter actually. A while ago, I said I had 11-13 chapters all done and written up, but as time progressed and I started typing them up on my laptop (I write them in a notebook first), I realized that I didn't like how I wrote some of my chapters so I had to rewrite some of them. The previous chapter and the next chapter are one of those chapters. So... I'll try to get it out as soon as I can.

In the meantime, I thought since I haven't updated this story in a while I'd put in little specials, or oneshots, in to keep you readers somewhat happy that I updated something. I thought it would be fun to add a little humor to the series too since there wasn't a lot, but the chapter didn't turn out as funny as I thought it would. It's more cute than anything which is good, but I wanted funny. Oh well, you readers will like it... I hope... :D

I want to thank those who reviewed before! I truly do love reviews! :D Reviews make me happy.

Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure: What? Are you saying you don't like to be tortured with cliffhangers? lol I kind of am torturing everyone again though... It wasn't on purpose though! I thought I'd have the next chapter out by last weekend, but I had no time. I'm sorry! lol
Amaris Solbes de la Vega: I know! I couldn't kill Kana off. That just would be way to depressing for me! lol
ruler of dragons: Yay, for you being happy about finding Kana and I'm sorry for torturing you and everyone else once again... I didn't plan on it! Well, that would be a lie. I kind of did, but I don't mean for everyone to wait so long. As for the questions... you'll just have to wait and see. :D I will say that some questions will be answered next chapter.
Musicfreak25: 1 of 2 of your questions will be answered next chapter. :D
I-Elli: I'm trying my best to not torture everyone! I swear! :D

Kana Mitsuya walked up the doors of her new middle school. She was extremely nervous since she was new to the school. Not only that, this was the first time Kana had ever gone to a real school. She was always home schooled because of who her parents were and had to travel back and forth a lot.

After her parents died, she stayed with her uncle and was home schooled there. The teachers there weren't as great as her father since they had no real common knowledge of her old home (Momo, Izuru, Renji, Ikkaku… Just to name a few), but she didn't mind. She liked living there nonetheless.

Kana did need a change and get away for a while, so she enrolled herself into a middle school that was by her old home. She hoped to get away from all her problems by returning to where she was born, but she never realized that was where her problems really began.

After she finished finalizing information in the office, she walked to her new classroom. She hesitated opening the door to her ninth grade class, but she forced herself to gain the courage and knocked on the door.

((In Japan, I know that the middle schools hold seventh - ninth grade students but in an episode of Bleach, it is said that Ichigo is a ninth grader in high school. I just kept it at the usual ninth graders are in middle school but if someone knows for sure what grade Ichigo and his friends are currently in, PM me or leave a review telling me so. Thanks!))

"Come in."

She followed the orders of the male teacher and opened the door. When she walked inside, she was not prepared to see roughly 20 students staring back at her. Shyly, she handed the papers confirming her as the new student to the teacher and did her best not to stare back at the other kids.

"We've been expecting you, Miss Mitsuya," the teacher said. "Why don't you introduce yourself to the class."

"U-Um… Okay." She nervously turned to the class and politely bowed. She really didn't want to talk in front of everyone and when she looked up, she could see everyone else knew she didn't want to speak. "My name is Kana Mitsuya. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

"You may go sit down behind Tatsuki Arisawa, the girl with the short black hair," the teacher told her before any of the students could ask any questions.

Kana nodded her head and went to her seat. After she sat down, she let out a heavy sigh as the teacher began talking about the high school entrance exams. She was glad she didn't have to answer any questions because she wasn't sure how to answer them. If she would have, there would be no way anyone would believe her.

.: - :.

Lunch time was here that meant the day was half way over. Kana wasn't exactly having the best first day at the new school. She was stared down by many students like she was some alien from another planet, she answered every question the teacher asked wrong, and she could have sworn she felt a spitball hit the back of her head. In other words, this day was the worst day in Kana's life. Maybe not the worst, but it was pretty close.

Although Kana was looking forward to lunch, she also dreaded it. Everyone was with their circle of friends while she sat alone at her desk with her bento box. She almost dreaded enrolling into a school, but she had no other choice. If there was one, Kana would probably still rather be in school than her old home. She was too scared to go back.

"Hey. Your name's Kana, right?"

That voice startled Kana out of her thoughts, and made Kana look at the owner. It belonged to that girl that sat in front of her in class. Tatsuki something or another. Anyway, the girl had moved to a desk a couple of seats over and was sitting in front of a girl with shoulder length orange hair.

"Um, yeah," Kana replied quietly. "Sensei said you're Tatsuki?"

"Correct," Tatsuki confirmed with a smile. "Why don't you eat lunch with us?"

"Okay," Kana said, also with a smile and joined the two girls sitting next to the orange-haired girl.

"Hi there," the other girl greeted in an excited tone. "I'm Orihime Inoue. It's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you, too," Kana replied, her smile never fading from her face. "Thanks for letting me join you two today."

"It's not a problem at all! We wanna be friends with you!" Orihime's over-happy attitude stayed with her as she spoke. Kana was beginning to wonder if Orihime ever got upset. Secretly, she sort of wished to have Orihime's happy attitude. That attitude would probably help her get over a lot of things in her life. "Do you want to try some of my rice balls? It has melted marshmallows, tiny slices of pickles, and mustard inside!"

Kana tried her best to hide the disgust in her face as she politely declined the offer. Okay, maybe Kana didn't want to have Orihime's taste in food, but she could definitely see a strong friendship growing between the three of them.

"I don't understand how you can eat that, Orihime. I don't think anyone has the stomach to eat that," Tatsuki commented. Kana could tell Tatsuki was also trying her best to hide the disgust she was feeling just by looking at Orihime's lunch. The black haired girl leaned over slightly toward Kana and whispered, "If I were you, I wouldn't try to eat it."

"Trust me. I'm not brave enough to," Kana whispered back, glancing at the disgusting meal from the corner of her eye. From doing so, she could see a brown-haired boy looking at her with hearts in his eyes. "Um… Who is that?" she dared to ask, almost too scared to know.

Tatsuki looked over at the group of boys and sighed. Orihime didn't look because she was too into her homemade lunch describing why the meal was so delicious.

"Are you talking about the idiot drooling over there?" Tatsuki asked. Kana nodded her head so the tomboy said, "That would be Keigo Asano. He falls for every human girl with a pulse."

"Kana wasn't sure if she should take that as an insult or not. She cecided not because of how Keigo seemed to be an idiot staring at her like he did.

"It's a good thing we talked to you before he did. He would have probably scared you out of this school." Tatsuki continued as she took a bit out of her lunch, "I suggest you stay away from him. Mizuiro, too, now that I think about it. He's a bit of a player."

"Which one is that?"

"The black-haired dork with Keigo."

Kana nodded her head again and looked back over to the boys. There was still one more guy that Tatsuki hadn't mentioned. He had orange hair, just like Orihime's except his hair was short and pointed in all different directions. He sat in his chair and acted like he wasn't paying any attention to his two friends who were obviously talking about Kana with how they kept looking over at her.

"Who's the other one over there?" Kana asked while looking back at her new friends. "The one that acts like he doesn't care about anything."

"Oh, him? That's Ichigo Kurosaki," Tatsuki replied. "You don't have to worry about him. Girls are usually scared of him because of the scowl he has permanently imprinted on his face."

"I don't think he's scary," Orihime finally decided to join in the conversation.

"You wouldn't, Orihime," Tatsuki commented with an amused smile. "Anyway, he really isn't scary. He just looks it."

"Do you know him, Tatsuki?" Kana asked, getting very curious about this mysterious Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Yeah. We've been friends since we were really young. We took karate classes together," the tomboy answered after taking another bite of food. "He's definitely changed since then, though. He keeps a lot of things to himself."

"I can understand that," Kana said, knowing personally how that was like. She had secrets of her own that she had to keep to herself.

"Okay, enough about stupid boys," Tatsuki said, wanting to change the subject. "Why did you transfer to our school, Kana?"

Kana almost spit out her drink at the sudden question. She hadn't come up with anything to reply to that. She had no lie in mind. Another problem with answering the question was the face that she can't lie to save her life. The moment she would say the lie, Tatsuki and Orihime (well, maybe not Orihime) would know Kana was lying. Lying to new friends was definitely not a good thing to do.

"Um… It's kind of complicated…" Kana finally answered, finally figuring out a way to answer the question. "I was home schooled my whole life because I traveled around a lot." Technically she wasn't lying. She did travel a lot and she was home schooled. She just did those things in a different way many people wouldn't expect.

"Let me guess… Your parents jobs, right?" Tatsuki asked.

"Um… Yeah." Again, it wasn't lying. She did travel back and forth because of who her mother was. She was beginning to think that maybe it wasn't going to be so hard living in Karakura Town. "My dad's a teacher and then my mom…" Her mind came to a blank. How was she suppose to describe her mother's job? Sending spirits to the Soul Society wasn't a job that someone should say in a conversation. "My mom helped people move on with their problems."

"You mean she's a counselor?"

"Yes!" Was is just Kana or did she just answer that a bit too quickly? "She's a counselor. She travels around a lot to different places so we move a lot."

"That stinks," Tatsuki commented while Orihime nodded her head agreeing. "Where have you lived?"

"'Where have I lived?'" Kana repeated slowly, not really wanting to answer. She could see Tatsuki and Orihime smile, excited to know where she had lived. All she could do was give them an uneasy smile and say, "Well, I've been everywhere."

"Even Iceland?" Orihime asked with interest in her eyes. All Kana and Tatsuki could do was give the carrot top a strange stare. Kana began to wonder what Orihime really put in her recipes.

"No, I've only lived in Japan," Kana replied, disappointing Orihime slightly.

"Really? With your hair being the color it is, I'd think you were from France or something," Tatsuki said, a bit surprised by Kana's answer.

"My father's from Germany, actually," Kana said, even more happy she didn't have to twist her truths a bit to keep her secrets. "People say I'm the splitting image of my mother with the exception of my hair and eye color. Those are from my father."

"So you've been to Germany before?" Orihime asked, with just as much enthusiasm as before. "Can you speak German? How do you say 'Polly, want a cracker?'"

What really goes through that girl's head? Kana thought as she answered, "No. I've never been to Germany before so I don't know any German."

"Oh, beautiful maiden," a new, obnoxious voice suddenly entered the girls' conversation. The voice belonged to Keigo who was staring at her a few moments ago. He stood next to Kana's desk and Kana could have sworn she saw hearts floating around him. "For someone as beautiful as yourself must need someone to show you around town, right?"

"Is he talking to me?" Kana asked aloud to Tatsuki and Orihime who were staring blankly at the boy. Obviously, Keigo was talking to her, but she didn't want to believe it. He was actually beginning to scare her.

"My dear sweet Kana! Please tell me you- Ow!" Keigo's ranting came to an end as a testbook fell on top of his head. A hand was still connected to the book and the hand belonged to none other than tough guy Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Damn, you're annoying," Ichigo commented with a heavy sigh. He looked at Kana and said, "Sorry about him. He may be annoying, but he's usually harmless."

"Umm… It's okay," Kana said shyly.

"Ichigo!" Keigo whined with tears streaming down his cheeks. "Must you embarrass me in front of the beautiful Kana?!"

"You've done that to yourself already," Ichigo stated while gripping the back of Keigo's shirt and walking away towards the door. "Now come on, Lover Boy."

"What! I didn't get to-"

Kana, Tatsuki, and Orihime couldn't hear the rest because the door had shut behind the boys by Mizuiro who walked out with them. The girls sat in silence for a moment, replaying the last few seconds in their heads.

"That is so cool, Kana," Orihime stated, breaking the almost awkward silence. "You already have an admirer on your first day! I'm so jealous!"

You're jealous? Guys are probably all over her like flies, Kana thought as she noticed how much Orihime was matured in the physical sense. Then again, Orihime also wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed…

"Yeah…" the blonde finally replied, a little spaced out still while staring at the classroom door. She could already tell that going to this school was going to change her life, and she was looking forward to it.

.: - :.

"Stupid ghosts… Why don't you just go away?" Ichigo Kurosaki groaned as he tried to shoo away a spirit that was making funny faces at him. "Come on. I have no time for you," he complained in annoyance. He had plenty of time before his curfew since school had just ended, but he still didn't want to have to deal with any ghosts that day.

"Um… Are you Ichigo Kurosaki?" a voice asked from behind Ichigo, making him freeze in mid-motion of waving him hand in the air.

He must have looked like an idiot in that position so he quickly stood up straight with his hands to his sides. He lightly coughed as he turned around to face whomever spoke to him. It surprised him when he saw a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing the same school uniform as he, except hers was obviously the girls uniform. He hadn't recognized her voice before but now he knew why. The girl was the new transfer student in his class.

"Yeah, that's me. Why?"

"I thought so," she said in a soft tone. "I heard some girls say that they think you're scary…"

"So what? A lot of people say that," Ichigo said, not really caring. He couldn't care less about what people thought of him. If he had, his hair would be dyed black.

"They also said how cute your name was…"

"My name is not cute," Ichigo said annoyed now. He hated how everyone thought his name was cute and girly. "It means-"

"He who protects," the new girl finished with a smile. "Tatsuki told me that you would say that."

Ichigo stared at her curiously while the new girl continued to smile at him. He tried to figure out why she was talking to him. He didn't mind. He was just confused. The new girl didn't seem to be the type to randomly start conversations with people she didn't know.

"Anyway, I wanted to thank you for earlier today," she spoke. Ichigo was confused what she meant by that. He couldn't recall anything, but then again his memory wasn't always top notch either. The new girl noticed his confusion and said, "With Keigo, I mean."

"Oh, right," he said, now remembering Keigo's attempt to ask her out. "It's no problem."

After some (very awkward) silence, the new girl said, "I guess I'll let you go then. Bye." Then she began to walk down the street the opposite direction Ichigo was going.

Did she really go out of her way to thank me for that? Ichigo thought as he watched her walk away. If that were the case, he didn't want to be rude to her.

"Hey, wait a second," he called out to the new girl, making her stop and turn towards him. It was her turn to look confused. "What's you're name?"

She smiled in response and said, "My name is Kana Mitsuya. It is very nice talking to you, Ichigo."

"Yeah, same here," he replied with a kind smile he rarely gave out.

He turned around and began to walk away, but Kana's voice had made him stop. "Hey, Ichigo?"

"Hn?" Ichigo looked over his shoulder and caught sight of her standing there avoiding his gaze.

"I just want to say I think those girls in class are wrong," she said, looking like she was afraid to look up at Ichigo. He turned slightly so that he could see her better waiting for her to continue. Then, she looked up at him straight in the eyes and said, "I don't think you're scary at all."

After saying what she said, Kana ran down the street. Ichigo turned towards the direction he had to go and let a small smile appear on his lips again. As he walked, he knew that after that small conversation, he had made a new friend.

And that's how Kana and Ichigo became such good friends. :D Now, there's more to their friendship so yes, there will be more specials coming. They won't appear for a while though. I'll wait five or six chapters before updating the next one. Maybe less depending on how many I can come up with. Roughly there's going to be 24 chapters in this story (give or take) and at the moment I have four specials in mind so it should work out perfectly. If anyone has ideas for specials, just PM or review and I can see what I can do. I can't promise anything though. If it doesn't quite fit into the "special" category, I might just end up making it a oneshot. :D

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think! I'll try to get the next chapter up by the end of the weekend. I just got a new job so posting will be a little more difficult but what's life without challenges? :D