I don't own Bleach

Transfer Student

Chapter 7: Wednesday Means More Rain

Crappy title, oh well. I have to finish this damned fic, not work on chapter titles! R & Fucking R.

((Finished: 1/4))

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

The next day, Nozomi and Ichigo were walking to the library to meet up with Rukia and Renji for studying.
"Ichigo-san," Nozomi said, "you're going to the fireworks in a couple days, right?"
"Yeah. Are you?"
"Yeah."
"… Did we already talk about this?"
"I think so."
"Oops. Whatever," Nozomi said, looking up at the gray clouds in the sky, "Do you think it's gonna rain?" She worriedly remembered that neither she nor her friend had an umbrella and that her coat wasn't waterproof.
"Looks pretty cloudy, doesn't it? We'll be fine, the library's right up here anyway."

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

"Rukia! Renji!" Nozomi half-shouted once she was inside, remembering a little too late that she was in a library. She and Ichigo walked over to the pair where Nozomi hugged Rukia and offered Renji a brofist.
"So, what're we working on today?"

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

A few hours later, Ichigo and Nozomi left to go to another class. They walked slowly along the road in close-to-complete silence, one of the two coughing of something like that every now and then.

"Hey guys!" Nel screamed, running over and grabbing Nozomi up in a huge hug.
"N-Nel-chan… you're killing… me."
"Oh! Sorry about that!" Nel set Nozomi back down on the ground and smiled brightly at the pair.
"Where's Jeagerjaques?"
"Not sure. He was here a minute ago. He probably went to class instead of running over here to talk to you guys! Lame-o…"
"Well c'mon, Nozomi," Ichigo said, grabbing her arm and dragging her off, "class is this way."
"I know where class is, let go of me!"
"Bye~!" Nel said, waving and then turning around and chasing after her boyfriend.

Nozomi had to punch Ichigo square in the jaw before he finally let go of her and let her walk by herself.
"What the hell?!" He had screamed.
"You weren't letting me walk!" She pushed him. He pushed her back and she lost her footing, slipping and heading straight towards a giant puddle of murky water.
"Kya!" Ichigo grabbed her arm and quickly pulled her up, cracking her forehead against his.
"Fuck! What the HELL, Ichigo?!" Nozomi screamed, putting her back against a tree and rubbing her forehead.
"Sorry for trying to keep you from getting SOAKED!" Ichigo screamed. He had been TRYING to be nice. Why didn't Nozomi understand that?!

"I appreciate that, but I think you broke my head!" Nozomi screamed back, rubbing her forehead and closing her eyes from the stinging pain coursing from the stop which was inevitably going to bruise.
"I didn't break your head," Ichigo replied, rubbing his own head, "at the most your head'll hurt for a while."
"Are you implying this has happened before?!" She asked.
"Yeah. Only once though. With my little sister."
"You have a sister?" Nozomi asked, intrigued at this side of Ichigo. When he said the word "sister" he had smiled softly and his eyes gained a sliver of unusual kindness.

"I've got two," he replied, "twins. Yuzu and Karin. They're the light of my father's life. They're in high school now."
"Aww," Nozomi said, "that's so cute! What're they like?"
"Well," Ichigo replied, "Yuzu's real sweet and innocent. She smiles a lot and always knows how to make you feel better if you're down. She's actually cooked for me and my dad and Karin after my mom died.
"Karin, on the other hand, is a different story. Karin does what she wants when she wants to. Yuzu and I are both worried we're going to have to bail her out of jail before her senior year. She doesn't cook, but she close to getting a scholarship to a really good school over by Kyoto."
"Academic?" Nozomi asked, thinking that Karin must've been really smart.
"Sports," Ichigo said, half-shocking his green-haired friend, "Karin is the best baseball player I know. But the scholarship might be for basketball or volleyball. Or soccer. Or track. I'm not really sure. But it's for some sport, that's for sure!" Nozomi laughed and straightened her backpack, looking at the pavement and then up at the gray clouds above the pair's heads.
"Sorry for yelling… I didn't mean to be so mean… Or yell so much..." Nozomi whispered, still not looking up from the blades of grass which had her utmost attention at the moment. Ichigo smiled and hugged her.

"Don't worry about it!" He said with a smile, "I was overreacting too! But we're still friends, right?"
"Yup! Friends!"
"Friends… who've kissed!" Ichigo said with a smirk. Nozomi punched him in the shoulder.
"I think you're forgetting that was YOUR FAULT! Remember, smartass?"
"Nope! I don't remember at all!" Nozomi deadpanned and punched her friend again.
"You're such a fucking idiot," She said, throwing open the door to the building their next class was in.
"Yes, but I'm YOUR fucking idiot!"
"No, you're RUKIA'S fucking idiot."
"Oh yeah. I'm KINDA your fucking idiot!" Nozomi gripped the bridge of her nose.
"You're a fucking idiot for sure. I don't know about MY fucking idiot, but you're a fucking idiot."
"Mean!" Ichigo whined, sitting down in the middle of Rukia and Nozomi. He smiled at Rukia and she kept tapping her pencil on her desk, waiting for class to start.

This was apparently going to be one of the few days that Shunsui Kyôraku taught his own damn class. The man scratched his face and said,
"G'morning class! Let's pick up where Nanao-chan left off, shall we?" …

His voice practically faded away to Nozomi. She still participated in the lesson, but her mind swarmed with thoughts of other things. She wondered when Renji was going to finish that drawing. It had only been two days, but he never took longer than four. Although, he said he had quit drawing so it might take him longer for him to get her the picture.

Mostly though, Nozomi thought about the carrot-topped boy in front of her. He and Rukia were a cute couple, more like friends with benefits, actually. They treated each other like friends and they were as romantic as Grimmjow and Nel or Ishida and Nemu. Nozomi had to admit; she was a little jealous.

She couldn't really help it, Ichigo was popular, sweet, handsome and nice (when he wanted to be.) She liked the way he rambled on and on sometimes. He made her and Rukia breakfast once and it'd take a while, but Nozomi knew Orihime would be included eventually. They both just needed to get over themselves. Orihime'd obviously moved on. Ichigo had too! They were both just too full of themselves to say, "We're over and I hate you, but I suppose I can stand your presence for one meal once a week."

Nozomi shrugged. They did have a solid relationship for a long time. Or at least that's what Rukia had said. She had a slight epiphany at the fact that the only information she really had about Ichigo and Orihime came from Rukia.

Nozomi scribbled something down on a piece of paper and answered a question, turning back to her paper and writing a smiley face on top of what she was doing.

It was the concept for a story: A girl is driving home at night in the pouring rain (she needs to get home and prove her boyfriend was cheating on her) and her car breaks down. She sees a house and runs to it, knowing its three am. But a man answers anyway and lets her inside. She sees from the pictures on the mantle he takes care of foster children with his son. She falls in love with his son and eventually forgets about her cheating lying asshole ex. Main x Son and foster kid x foster kid. (A/N: This will eventually be a fic of mine, as long as you like Death Note and LxMisa. Oh, and MattxMello)

Nozomi smiled at her thoughts. Perfect, she thought. Just perfect! She put down her pencil and stared at the wall clock, hoping she could will it to move faster. No such luck. In fact, she thought she saw the second move BACKWARDS. This was her last class of the day, and she wanted to go home, do her homework and crawl into bed. Maybe start writing her story…

"Miss Kûjo, would you like to answer the question?" She quickly scanned the board.
"What was the question?" She said quietly, sinking back into her seat. The man smiled.
"There was no question, but you should really pay attention!" Nozomi sweat-dropped and smiled a little, nodding as she did.
"Alright class," the man at the board said, "your homework assignment for tonight will be…"

About fifteen minutes later, Nozomi, Rukia and Ichigo were walking out of the building and running towards the bus stop.
"I told you it was gonna rain, Ichigo!" Nozomi said between pants as the group reached the small bench which (thankfully) had a tiny roof over it.
"Yeah, but I didn't think it'd actually rain!" He replied.
"You're such a moron!" Rukia replied, "And seriously? You're both out of breath? Nozomi, if you don't like sports, I get it. Ichigo, didn't you play sports in high school? Actually, I KNOW you did! You shouldn't be out of breath like that!"
"Look guys, it's the bus!" Nozomi said, climbing into it, Ichigo and Rukia not far behind.

Ichigo (once again) sat down between his girlfriend and his friend. Nozomi pulled out her phone and typed out the summary for the story she had thought of during class and sent a quick text to Orihime saying she and Rukia would be home soon. Orihime responded with a smiley face and said that she had Ulquiorra over because they were doing homework together.

"Hey Nozomi," Ichigo said, "My cousin Kon lives in Nara. Do you know him?" Nozomi groaned at the sound of his name.
"Yes I know him," She said, putting her phone away and looking at Ichigo, "He is the BIGGEST pervert I have EVER met. N-no offense." The strawberry laughed.
"None taken! It's totally true!" He folded his arms behind his head.
"I met him once," Rukia said, "when Ichigo and I were in middle school. He came over from Nara for a couple days and I was over one of those days and he tried to look up my skirt like EIGHT times!"
"Yeah, all the girls in our school were given skorts instead of skirts because he was such a pervert!" Nozomi replied, "I mean, he was a nice kid when he wasn't perverted, but still. He was BAD." She and Rukia locked eyes then giggled, simultaneously remembering the pain they both knew had been brought upon the perverted teen.

"This is our stop," Ichigo said, standing up as the bus slowed to a stop. Nozomi and Rukia followed, picking up their backpacks.
"Here!" The bus driver said, handing Nozomi an umbrella.
"Really?" The man nodded, "Wow! Thank you!" He smiled and Nozomi unfolded the umbrella and pulled Ichigo and Rukia under it with her.

"That was nice of that bus driver!" Ichigo said as they opened the door to Nozomi and Rukia's building.
"Yeah it was!" Nozomi agreed, "But Orihime said that she and Ulquiorra were home studying, so if you don't wanna stay…"
"Yeah," Ichigo said, taking the umbrella from Nozomi, "I should go." He kissed Rukia, hugged Nozomi, and opened up the umbrella, waving goodbye and walking out in the pouring rain.

"Why would you say that Orihime and Ulquiorra were studying?" Rukia asked as they walked up the stairs to the third floor.
"Because Senpai and Orihime still pretty much fucking hate each other and I don't want things getting broken! I've only been here for like a week!" Nozomi said, crossing her arms and repositioning her backpack on her shoulder. She pulled out her keys just in time for Ulquiorra to open the door for the pair.

"Hello," He said, moving out of the way to let the pair in.
"Hi Ulquiorra-kun!" Rukia said, flinging her back pack onto the couch and letting Nozomi sit down before all four of them began working on their homework.

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

Nozomi lay in bed, wearing short-shorts and a tanktop, staring up at the ceiling. Her green hair was half soaked from the shower she had just taken when she lost the bet to go get something that flew out the window of their dorm. She had returned to find her friends laughing their asses off before Orihime threw her a towel.

She looked up at the fifteen dollar ceiling fan and watched it spiral around and around. She hoped it wouldn't fall. Her older brother had a ceiling fan fall on him once. She recalled the memory with horror and slight hilarity. Her brother wouldn't enter any room with a fan in it for eighteen months after that day. At least he stayed out of my room, she thought with a smirk.

She let her mind wander elsewhere. It sure was fun hanging out with Senpai today. Ichigo really is a nice kid,she thought, stretching her arms towards the ceiling. She thought about Ichigo's smiling brown eyes and the force that he used to keep her from falling into a puddle. His lips were soft and tasted like pancakes when he had kissed her the day before.

"Oh god," Nozomi said out loud, "I like Ichigo. Son of a bitch…" She swore much more in her head than out loud, and realized that she had been acting like a complete idiot around her friend.

"Completely… myself." Nozomi remembered when Rukia said about being "too in love" with someone. She smacked her palm to her forehead and rolled over on her side, staring out the window to where her neighbors were still awake too.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…" She said, mentally swearing some more.

"Ichigo had just been through a terrible breakup and now he has me to worry about? No, he doesn't deserve that! He and Rukia are good together, or… they will be when they make their relationship for real at the fireworks, anyway," she said to herself as she rolled over onto her stomach and shut her eyes, hoping whatever she was feeling would disappear.


-Chiharu :)