A/N: I'm going to be upfront and let you all know that Ichigo and Hermione will not be the final pairing for this story. Sorry if you were hoping for it.. I wouldn't mind eventually writing them up as a pairing but as it is Ichigo will probably remain single because I ship him with boys and I don't want to upset anyone's feels over his pairing :P This is a short chapter but I think it will have a good impact on you all.. I'm in the process of picking up a BETA if we can finally tie up some communication on it. I hope you all enjoy and as always please review. I'd love to know what you all think. (Also I have twice the amount of subscribers as I do reviews and it's a little disheartening when so many people will read stories but fail to comment on them. Especially when the site has made it super super simple to do now..)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but the 5 creepy boys and the skewed plot format.

After lunch she made her way back to her classroom, a sudden bought of nerves striking through her. She didn't want to go there but knew that currently she didn't have a choice, perhaps if she let her school work fail she could be moved to a different class, as her class placement had more to do with grades than anything else. The mere thought though made her slightly sick and she felt that if she was going to figure out what those boys were up to she'd have to be around them. She really didn't enjoy the thought of letting them roam free when there was already so many other things she'd have to worry about.

The classroom was empty as she sat in her seat, she'd come back from lunch earlier than the others, simply because she'd needed a little while to think about the new role she'd found for herself. She'd been here less than a week and already felt like she was a part of this ragtag bunch of people. She enjoyed the banter she had with the boys and the quiet conversations she could have with Hitsugaya and Ishida, the two being the more serious ones of the group. Sado and Kuchiki remained a mystery to her as the first one rarely talked and the second one just rarely talked to her about anything that wasn't superficial. She didn't think it was anything personal though so she brushed it off for now, Kuchiki seemed more fascinated with learning about humans in general than she did with the battle ahead. She supposed it could simply be her way of coping with the situation though, Luna had been along a similar vein.

Soon students filled the empty seats and the five boys wandered in, each of them staring at her intensely as they resumed their seats. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and soon the pressure on her mind began to build, she steeled her mental walls and gripped her pencil, charming it silently with to copy down the notes she needed as she preoccupied her mind keeping with rebuffing the energy so keen on piercing her shields. There was still so many hours of school left and she didn't want to be in the classroom anymore. The pressure only grew and she could only think of the panic and worry that her friends downstairs could be feeling, because surely they now sensed this? The pressure eventually capped off but remained persistent and she wasn't sure how long it had been since lunch but she could feel her shield slowly beginning to weaken. She didn't dare to look at the clock, afraid that a single distraction from her current purpose would break the floodgates and allow them access her mind in whatever ways they had planned. She was beginning to build a theory that they had abilities that related to mind, psychic but also somehow physical at the same time. It could be she felt the physicality more than most victims would but she figured it was more to do with her own abilities than theirs. She felt a mental crack and suddenly she her head began to pound in a much more severe way than it already did. She grit her teeth and ignored the pain, not letting out a sound. The people around them didn't need to know what was going on at all. As the pain increased and the crack grew larger she began to feel frightened, she wanted to run but she kept her feet in place and quickly enough she suddenly opened her eyes, the classroom was empty and the five boys stood in front of her, each of them smirking. Kobyashi strode forward, hissing out his question. "What are you?"

She tightened her lips, she wouldn't speak anything out loud to them, she'd been through worse pain than this. She realized rather quickly that she was hallucinating as somewhere in her head she could still hear the drone of the teacher. The boys seemed to be able to combine and share their abilities. Nakamura narrowed his eyes at her.

"Hachiro."

Suddenly the pain she felt intensified, she didn't feel any reaction in her physical body but her brain was firing on all cylinders now. It screamed the signals for pain all over her body and she did her best to ignore it. She could do this, she'd survived worse torture than this in the past.

The question came again, "What are you?" this time though and hand gripped her hair, forcing her face up as she stared into the face of Kobayashi.

She merely grinned, her teeth clenched in pain.

Tanaka's voice filtered into her mind, trying to coax her into revealing all of her secrets, offering temptations of the flesh and heart in return. She scoffed outwardly and sent him a glare, smirking than even in her hallucination his face was still bruised quite nicely. With a growl from him the voice stopped.

She gasped out a pained laugh and spoke aloud for the first time during this event, "Oh please, as if I'd want to a piece of something hundreds of girls have probably already had."

Tanaka lashed out physically, striking her face. He looked satisfied as she spat blood out on the floor. "You hit like a girl."

When he went to charge again Saitou grabbed his arm and yanked him back. "Knock it off."

She heard something faint, a call of her name in the back of her mind. She had a vague realization that someone was pulling her behind them. Since they had called her Hermione, she assumed it to be Ichigo. The vision still firm in front of her eyes as Kobayashi pressed his face next to hers, his mouth near her ear. "What are you? Where do you come from? Why are you here?" He repeated the questions, his voice going smooth and silky, the same tempting feelings from the day before came back. She wanted to answer him, she should answer him. It wasn't like they could really do anything about it could they? As she opened her mouth to respond the vision suddenly disappeared and she blinked her eyes, aware of Ichigo's face swimming in her vision.

"I really didn't want to have to do that again." He muttered as his hand went to the back of her head, prodding gently and jerking back when she hissed. "Sorry."

"No, no it's fine." She murmured and then clutched her arms around him. She felt him tense and then awkwardly pat her back. She laughed and managed to keep the tears she could feel burning her eyes right where they were. "Thank you." She whispered out before she moved back.

"You're welcome, Hermione." The boy responded and then grabbed her hand, pulling her along the hallway to their friends. School had ended and she remembered her promise to them earlier today. She was going to show them the funner side of magic, hoping that they'll be able to see that power, no matter the kind doesn't have to be used for battle.

IKIKIKIKIKIKIKIKIKIKIK

Ichigo had sat through the last two hours of school literally vibrating in his seat. He could feel the reitsu upstairs and glancing around the room he saw his friends could feel it as well. He needed to distract himself and his eyes bounced from person to person until they landed on the new kid, he was tall and blonde. Earlier he had come upon the same kid holding Hermione to his chest as he spoke down to her. Hermione hadn't looked repulsed or like she was struggling so he hadn't thought much of it until he had spotted those same 5 boys he'd been told about leave the classroom. He saw the blonde boy stare at them as they passed, a smug smile on his face as they scowled at him. Had the blonde boy known what was going on? Had he been protecting his friend? He could admit that he didn't feel much power coming off from him but he also knew he was terrible at detecting reitsu to begin with.

He pondered this train of thought for a little while and when the bell signaling the end of school rang he was on his feet and out the door in seconds. He had to get to Hermione. When he stumbled into her classroom, she was sitting at her desk, the energy in the room was rather oppressive the closer he was to the source. As he looked at his friend he noticed her clenched jaws and eyes, peering around the room the Tanaka and his friends had a glazed look to their eyes, sitting still, hands clenched into fists. He realized that something he didn't understand was going on and quickly moved to Hermione, pulling her up out of her seat. She followed behind him with stuttered and instinctive steps. As they walked he called her name, trying to snap her out of whatever was happening to her and then he realized that he might have to smack her again. He really didn't like the idea of hitting her but it had been the only thing that had worked last time.

Finally after he got her down to the second floor and she still hadn't responded he stopped and sighed. He clenched his fist and smacked it to the back of her head, hoping he wouldn't actually cause her harm. Her eyes cleared and he felt around her head, flinching as she hissed in pain. Great. Soon though she clutched at him and he patted her back awkwardly, apologizing again for hitting her. She thanked him and he noticed her eyes shining with tears, what had been going on in her mind? He responded softly before prying her arms off him, he did however tuck her into his side, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her arm went around his waist and they walked as she leaned into him. He felt like he had a best friend for once in his life and he was starting to enjoy this feeling. Knowing that they cared for one another but there wasn't a bit of pressure on him to behave a certain way. He enjoyed not having someone expect things from him but still needing him just the same.

There progress was halted as the new boy, Shinji Harako popped up before them. His concerned eyes falling to the girl tucked into his side. The blonde man ignored him and addressed Hermione.

"You alright Princess?"

HGHGHGHGHGHGHGHG

She felt safer pressed into Ichigo's side. It was nice to have this feeling again, the same feeling she got with Harry and Neville. Each boy made her feel safe in their presence, they counted on her much the same way she counted on them. They didn't expect things from her but they believed in her just the same. Ron had made her feel safe as well but the elephant that was his romantic expectations had always left her feeling anxious and unsure of their interactions.

When the blonde man from earlier that day had appeared and asked after her, calling her princess of all things she'd scowled slightly. No one had called her princess since Fred, George had called her that as well but it'd stopped abruptly after Fred's death. She supposed it had something to do with the fact that it was a thing the three of them had shared.

"I'm feeling better than I was if that's what you're asking." She murmured and was confused as he grinned at her.

"Good, good." He was nodding his head before his arm clapped down onto Ichigo's shoulder. "Good looking out." And then he just walked away. She stared after him confused, twice in one day he had appeared when she was in, well, a moment of peril. Was it coincidence? She'd felt the undercurrent of power beneath her hands earlier. Maybe he was a Quincy like Ishida? But Ishida had alluded to being the only Quincy left. Was he like Sado and Inoue? Then she remembered the dark sensations that had threaded through the energy within him, was he like Ichigo?

Her and her friend stared after the blonde, before turning back to head outside. When they met their friends at the steps everyone began to launch a dozen questions at her. She blinked and said she'd explain everything when they got to Kisuke's.