To The Violent Spazz, yes, he comes in this chapter. To those who don't know the 'he' to which I am referring, see chapter below.
Ch. 7
BEEP BEEEPP BEEEEEEPPPP.
Masaki's head jerked up from her pillow to glare at the alarm clock. Rolling over onto her back, she groaned.
"Five more minutes," she mumbled.
BEEEEEEPPP BEEEEEPPPP BEEEEEPPPPP.
"Fine." She crawled out of bed, smashed the button and flopped back into bed. She was just getting comfortable again when Kaien stuck his head around the curtain, giving her a glimpse of his messy half of the room.
"You up yet?"
Masaki just growled at him. Kaien grinned.
"Oh, well, I guess that means I get the shower first—."
Masaki shot past him, almost getting caught in the curtain, grabbing a clean uniform off the dresser and sprinting to the bathroom. Kaien sighed, watching his sister go.
"Someday, she'll actually still be asleep when I do that…"
BREAK
Ichigo shuffled out of his room, Rukia still asleep in the bed behind him. The sound of running feet upstairs greeted him, followed quickly by, "C'mon Masaki! I was kidding! You take forever in the shower!"
Ichigo couldn't help but smile. Back into the normal routine, he thought. It was almost like Aizen had never shown up at all. Almost. Masaki had still been Hollowfied. There was no getting around that.
Twenty minutes later, she came down the stairs, black and orange hair still soaking wet. She tried and failed to hide a giant yawn before getting a bowl of cereal and sitting down at the table.
"Morning Dad," she mumbled, stirring the cereal around with her spoon.
"You're not gonna dry your hair?" Ichigo asked.
"Kaien kicked me out of the bathroom."
"At least he let you get dressed first," Ichigo said jokingly. She just stared at the table.
"You okay?"
"Aizen's been quiet for a while," she said, almost silently.
Ichigo sat down next to her. "You think he's planning something?"
"The last time I saw him—the night he Hollowfied me—he told Kaien to tell Mom to be careful…do you think he's going after her next?"
Ichigo copied her glare at the table. If Rukia was Aizen's next target…he'd have to keep a very close eye on her. As much as he loved her, he had to admit, she wasn't the best at staying out of danger.
"Dad?"
Ichigo looked up at Masaki who had been waving a hand in front of his face. She'd stood up and was trying to get his attention.
"Hmm? Sorry. I was thinking."
"Looked like it. I thought you were gonna burn a hole in the table…" she turned her attention to the stairs. "Kaien, hurry up! We're gonna be late!"
"I'm coming, jeez!" Kaien called back. "We wouldn't be late if you wouldn't take so long in the shower!"
Masaki opened her mouth to respond, then closed it mumbling about how they needed more than one bathroom. She grabbed her bag from the table and walked towards the door, slipping on her shoes.
"Bye Dad, love you," she said before heading out the door.
"Me too," Kaien mumbled quickly, sprinting down the stairs and out the door after her, bag in hand. A few seconds later, he opened the door again. "Shoes."
Ichigo just shook his head.
BREAK
Kaien caught up with his sister just as Evee came around the corner.
"Good morning!" she called.
"Morning," the twins replied in unison.
"Wow, Masaki, you look like hell," said Evee when they caught up.
"Thanks," Masaki yawned sarcastically. "I feel like I haven't slept in a week."
"You haven't," Kaien pointed out. His sister glared at him, the shadows under her eyes suddenly more prominent. Kaien noticed she was also looking a little pale. "Are you okay?"
"Fine. Why?"
Kaien shook his head, "Never mind."
Masaki raised an eyebrow at him before turning forward again, stepping a little ahead of the other two. The rest of the walk was quiet as Kaien and Evee kept shooting glances at Masaki who seemed too tired to notice. Images of the night she'd attacked them flashed through their heads. She seemed so different then, like she'd kill them all just for the fun of it.
Once they got into their classroom, Masaki flopped down at her desk, throwing her bag next to her and putting her head on her arms. Kaien poked her a few times to make sure she didn't fall asleep. The bell rang and Masaki twitched. Kaien assumed she had fallen asleep and jerked awake at the sound. The teacher walked in about five minutes later.
"Sorry I'm late," she said. "I had to help with enrolling the new kid. Oh, by the way did I mention we have a new kid?"
The class just stared at her.
"Anyway, he should be here any sec—."
Someone knocked on the door before entering. A boy with very light ginger hair that almost covered his eyes and went down his neck and a broad grin strode calmly into the room. He was tall and lanky, the uniform sort of hanging off of him. His grin shrank slightly and his eyes opened. They were bright blue.
Kaien saw Masaki glance at the new kid before closing her eyes again.
"Daisuke Ichimaru," the boy said brightly, his grin growing again.
"Right, I was gonna say that, but okay," said the teacher, almost looking a little put-out. She pointed at the two sitting near the window. "Ichimaru, you can take a seat beside Kurosaki over there."
Daisuke looked at the twins. "Uh…"
"The girl one, not the boy."
"Ah."
Daisuke slung his bag over his shoulder and sitting down on Masaki's other side. She outright ignored him when he said hello and just kept her head on her desk.
"Just ignore her," said Kaien over his sister's back. "It's just that time of the—OW!"
Masaki's foot shot out and kicked him in the leg.
"Look," she started, her voice muffled by her arms. "I don't wanna be rude or anything, but I haven't slept a lot in the past week or so. Bear with me."
"Oh believe me, I will," Daisuke muttered matter-of-factly. This caught Masaki's attention. Her head came up a fraction off of her arms. Kaien faced the front, not hearing Daisuke.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Masaki glared at him for a few more seconds before lying her head down again. She may have been half-asleep for the rest of the hour, but it wasn't hard to see Daisuke shooting glances at her every few minutes. The hour seemed to drag on and Masaki wasn't looking any better. In fact, Kaien thought she looked even worse than that morning…almost green actually.
"Masaki, are you—?" he started leaning over.
"GONNA THROW UP!" she shouted, standing up before taking off down the hall. The class looked at the desk where she used to be to the doorway.
"I'll go make sure she's okay…" Daisuke started.
"Why, thank you, Daisuke!" said the teacher, putting her hands on her hips. "See class? Ichimaru hasn't even been here a day and he's already trying to help out."
Most of the class just rolled their eyes as Daisuke walked calmly after Masaki. He stopped just outside the girls' bathroom and knocked.
"Masaki-chan? You in there?"
"Go away."
"The teacher sent me to help," Daisuke lie d smoothly. "I'm s'posed to bring you back to class if you're feeling better."
He heard someone sigh from inside.
"What do you want Ichimaru?"
Daisuke grinned and she cracked the door open. "Just seeing if you were still alive in there."
She glared at him then started turning a little green again before running back towards the toilet, the door slowly shutting itself behind her.
"Guess not," Daisuke muttered. He leaned on the wall, waiting until she came out about ten minutes later.
"Were you waiting for me?" she asked. She was walking slowly, like she didn't want to get too far from the bathroom just in case there was still some breakfast left she hadn't upchucked. "What do you want?"
"I already told you Masaki-chan—."
"Please don't call me that. I haven't even known you for a day yet."
"I already told you," he continued. "I'm supposed to make sure you're—."
"You're lying."
He paused, his smile fading off his face. "What do you mean?"
Masaki sighed and looked up at him, brown eyes boring into blue. "I can feel your reiatsu. You're not doing a very good job of hiding it. You're not a normal human. You're a Soul Reaper. So, what do you really want?"
Daisuke grinned again. "You got me, I'm a Soul Reaper. I was assigned to this town to help with the growing Hollow problem."
He moved suddenly closer to her, pinning her against the wall. Masaki tried to keep a straight face as his hand drifted toward her waist. It made its way into her pocket and stayed there for a second before he backed up.
"Now you know right?"
She quickly patted herself down to make sure he hadn't stolen anything and felt her phone still in her pocket, sighing in relief.
"Whatever. I'm going back to class."
Daisuke stepped in front of her again. "I think you should head home."
"Why? I feel fine now—."
"Masaki-chan—." Daisuke put a hand on her shoulder.
"Stop calling me that!" she shouted, shrugging him off. Masaki made her way past him and down the hall, leaving him standing there. No trace of his grin was left on his face. He could've sworn he'd seen a flash of yellow in her brown eyes as she'd yelled at him.
Hmm…did anyone catch the joke in there? The ironic thing? Cookie to anyone who does! Well…at least a virtual cookie…unless you want to make yourself an actual cookie because you feel like you accomplished something…
