Disclaimer - Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo.
The following afternoon, the shrill ringing of the bell signified to the students that lunch was over, and it was time to return to class. Accordingly, they packed up their lunches and the misfit group made their way back to their classroom. As soon as the students were all situated in their seats, Mrs. Ochi instructed them to pull out their sketch books and a few pencils.
"Alright students, it's time for art, today you'll be working on your own. We'll stop in an hour that way all of you will have time to come up here, and explain what you sketched to the class before the next lesson," Mrs. Ochi informed them as she heard a few soft groans in protest.
"Hey, suck it up, it's not a tough project. All you need to do is sketch one of your happiest memories." She told them as she sat down at her desk to grade other assignments while they began to work quietly.
The entire class had assorted expressions ranging from Orihime and Nel's determined smiles, to the furthest extreme being Keigo's panic regarding which memory he should draw.
On the other hand, Grimmjow sat in his corner seat with a maniacal grin on his face, while he scratched lines into his artwork rough enough to almost rip it. In between Nel and Grimmjow sat Ulquiorra, who softly sketched with a bored expression on his face.
A little while later, Mrs. Ochi informed them that it was time to stop working, and she would call on them one at a time to come up to the front.
When it was Nel's turn, she proudly strode to the front of the room, and waited till the last second to turn her paper over for the other students to view.
"This is Nel, Pesche, Dondochakka, and Bawabawa playing eternal tag," Nel informed all of them proudly as she pointed to the picture she drew.
In it Pesche, Dondochakka, and Bawabawa were chasing a smaller Nel, as she ran crying across the desert under a crescent moon.
Although, the other students noticed the people in the picture were drawn rather strange and it appeared as if a three year old drew it, they clearly understood what she was explaining.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ichigo interrupted with a stunned expression on his face. "Nel, where the hell did you find crayons?"
"Kurosaki-san, language! Don't listen to him Nel-san, you did an excellent job! It's just who are the people in the picture, and is that a snake?" Mrs. Ochi questioned Nel as she gave the girl a confused look.
Nel glanced down at the paper in her hands quickly before responding. "Pesche and Dondochakka are my brothers and Bawabawa is our pet, the three of us together are The Thieves Nel Don Pe." she cheered while striking a pose.
"That's lovely Nel-san, you can take your seat," Mrs. Ochi told the girl with an encouraging smile. "Jaegerjaquez-san, it's your turn," the teacher called out to him.
Meanwhile, Grimmjow strolled up through the rows of desks, grinning from ear to ear. As soon as he reached the blackboard he instantly turned his illustration around for the other students to see, earning him a collective gasp.
"Feast your eyes on this!" Grimmjow growled at them.
Accordingly, his work of art was nothing short of a bloody massacre. In it were all the Espada cheering on Grimmjow, referring to him as the king and such, while the blue haired man stood on top of Ichigo's dead body, impaled by Pantera.
"What's with the awful stick figures?" Ichigo paused as he stared at the drawing for a second to read the names scribbled on it to label everyone.
"Maybe he made it that awful on purpose to represent his hatred for you," Tatsuki chimed in.
"Hey, wait a minute, that didn't even happen!" Ichigo shouted as he abruptly stood up and pointed at the cerulean haired man.
"Yeah, it did I kicked your ass remember!" Grimmjow shouted at the orange haired Shinigami and took a step toward him with his hand curled up into a fist.
"Okay boys enough. Jaegerjaquez, return to your seat, that was a bit disturbing. Inoue-san, it's your turn to come up and present what you drew," Mrs. Ochi said in a firm voice.
Immediately, Orihime stood up with an enormous grin on her face and made her way to the front of the classroom.
In contrast to Grimmjow's picture, Orihime's was drawn considerably decent and had no bloodshed. It was a sunny day in a park, and she was a little girl, eating ice cream as she held her brother's hand.
"This is my brother Sora and I, even though he passed away a few years ago, I still cherish the memories we shared. I wish I could have drawn them all," the redhead explained with a smile on her face and slightly sad look in her eyes.
"Great job Inoue-san, now take your seat. Cifer-san, you're next," the teacher told them as she jotted down something on the piece of paper in front of her.
Ulquiorra stood up from his chair and noiselessly traveled over to the blackboard with one hand in his pocket, and the other holding his paper down.
Upon reaching the front of the room, he rotated around, and held up his picture. For a few silent moments, the entire class stared at it with confused looks on their faces.
"Umm, Cifer-san, what's it supposed to be? It appears to be a gigantic, rose bush, except without any flowers." Ms. Ochi questioned the young man while she looked just as baffled as the students.
The black haired man gave her a sideways glance before answering her. "Nihilism."
"That's not a proper answer! Do you even understand what that word means?" Mrs. Ochi shouted in frustration at his response.
"Of course I do," he replied before returning to his seat without waiting to be dismissed.
"Alright, moving on Asano-san, please tell me you have something normal to present." The young teacher announced as a deep crease appeared on her forehead, and she began to rub her temples with her fingers.
As Keigo stood up at the front of the room stuttering about what he drew, Orihime passed a folded piece of paper to Nel, and tilted her head towards Ulquiorra.
In return, Nel gave her a nod, leaned sideways toward him, and inconspicuously tossed the note on his desk. Ulquiorra glanced down at it for a second before he removed his hands from his pockets, and smoothly unfolded it.
Ulquiorra,
What she meant by your happiest memory was that it should be something positive. A memory that you feel as if you couldn't live without, one that you'll always find comfort in.
Orihime
After he read the note, he folded it up neatly, and stuck it in his pocket before he glanced over at the ginger haired girl. When their eyes met she gave him an encouraging smile, and in return he gave her his usual stoic expression before he went back to staring at the front of the room.
A few minutes passed, and his face took on a slightly considerate look as he flipped to the last page in his notebook. He stared at the blank page for a moment before he started softly sketching something, which he continued to work on for the rest of the day.
Finally, the bell rang indicating to the students that the day was over, and it was time to head home. Since Grimmjow noticed Ulquiorra drawing something all through class, he made it a point to quickly stand up, and as inconspicuous as possible glance over at what the other man had spent half the day working on.
As soon as, he realized what Ulquiorra drew Grimmjow's jaw practically hit the floor in shock. Immediately, he stretched and played it off as a yawn before anyone could tell what he was up to.
In the meantime, the others began to make their way out the door, and Ulquiorra didn't seem to notice the blue haired man as he snapped the notebook shut, and stuffed it into his school bag.
"I thought your picture was really sweet, Hime." Nel told Orihime as they walked across the courtyard toward the front gate.
"Arigato Nel-chan," the redhead replied to the other girl walking alongside her. "It's been awfully cold lately, I hope it snows in time for Christmas."
"What's snow? And Christmas?" The sea green haired girl questioned her.
"Well, snow is basically frozen water that falls from the sky, but it's lots of fun to play in." She replied with a grin, "and Christmas is a holiday that you spend with your family and friends where you buy gifts to exchange with them." Orihime informed her as the smile on her face grew brighter.
"Wait, earlier you mentioned that your brother passed away, then who do you spend Christmas with?" Nel asked her innocently.
Orihime stiffened for a second and her smile dulled a bit before she responded. "Usually, I spend it with Tatsuki and her mom, unless they're off visiting their family," by this point the smile was completely gone from her face and her eyes grew distant.
"It's alright Hime, this year you have us, even though we don't fully understand it, we'll still have a blast," Nel announced cheerfully.
"I'm not buying shit for anyone. Besides, I have no money and even if I did, I wouldn't waste it on something as stupid as that." Grimmjow interjected from behind the two girls.
"Oh, you don't have to buy anything, it's meaningful enough just being with people who you care about." Orihime told him and waved her arms dismissively.
"Whatever," the cerulean haired man responded.
With this, Orihime remembered something and stopped walking to turn around and gaze at the quietest man in the group. "Ulquiorra, did you consider what my note meant?"
Meanwhile, Ulquiorra walked up along Orihime's other side and began to speak with her.
At that moment, Grimmjow took the opportunity to gently grab Nel's arm, pulling her slightly back from them, and in return she gave him a puzzled expression. The other two didn't notice as Grimmjow and Nel slowed their pace a bit that way there would be some distance between the two pairs.
Once they were out of earshot, Grimmjow leaned closer to whisper in Nel's ear. "Tonight after midnight you need to sneak over again, I have something to show you that you're not going to believe."
She turned to him with wide eyes and a startled expression on her face, "Grimmy, you are disgusting! How can you even say that to a lady? You pervert!" She shouted and took off running ahead of him.
When she passed Orihime and Ulquiorra, she happened to bump the ginger haired woman just enough to push her into the man beside her.
"Gomenasai," Orihime told him and straighten herself upright. "Nel-chan where are you going?" She shouted after the turquoise haired girl.
"That's not what I meant, you brat! Hold on a minute and let me explain, dammit!" Grimmjow roared as he took off after Nel at a blinding speed.
Just as Grimmjow came barreling in Orihime's direction to catch up with Nel, Ulquiorra grabbed her arm at the last second, and yanked her toward him, out of harm's way.
Orihime's face flushed bright red as she stared intently at the ground while pressed to his chest. A couple of seconds passed, and she stepped back from him still not able to lift her head, and meet his eyes.
"Um, thank you that probably would have been seriously painful," she told him with a nervous giggle as her blush began to fade.
"I would rather need to pull you out of the way, then handle all the commotion it would have caused had you actually been harmed," he replied while he glared in the direction the other two were running.
"See? It's not that awful being concerned for others, now is it?" Orihime questioned him and finally raised her face to display a pleased smile.
"I never claimed to be concerned," he argued while he stared down his nose at her.
"No, you're right, you didn't say it out loud, but your actions did," she teased him before she spun around and continued to travel down the sidewalk.
For a moment, he just stood there watching her wave to their other two companions in the distance, and then he began to head down the sidewalk to join them.
