There might be some spoilers if you haven't read the manga.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor any of the Bleach characters. There are a few OC (like the whole Kurayami family), but the rest of the characters are works of the mangaka of Bleach.
The next day came, and Kurayami and Kyoraku met again in front of Ukitake's house. Before Ukitake came out, the two of them talked a little bit.
"Ukitake was really worried about you yesterday, you know?" Kyoraku mentioned.
"Really?" Kurayami said. She seemed really surprised.
"Yeah," he replied. "Wasn't it the first time you were that late to a class?"
"Ohh," she said. After a few seconds of silence, she said, "Wait... How would he notice? And how do you know?"
"Well," Kyoraku replied, "your hair is quite unique. There's no way anyone wouldn't notice you."
"Stop playing around," Kurayami said and hit his head just as Ukitake came out. He saw Kyoraku on the floor with his hands on his head, and then he looked at Kurayami in confusion.
"Hurry up and let's go!" Kurayami said, turned around and walked away irritated.
"Huh?" Ukitake said. Then he looked at Kyoraku and said, "What's wrong with her?"
"Hehe," Kyoraku just laughed and said, "nothing really. I just teased her a little bit and she got mad, although I wasn't really joking..."
Ukitake looked more confused. After a few seconds, he said, "Let's go, or she'll get mad at us for being late."
"You're right."
When the two young men caught up to Kurayami, she seemed to have calmed down.
"What took you so long?" she asked them.
"You can't blame me!" Kyoraku said playfully. "It really hurt my head, you know? You're really strong."
Ukitake laughed at him, and soon the three were laughing together.
"About why I was late to class yesterday," Kurayami said. "Some girls talked to me to ask me a favor."
"Oh, I see," Ukitake said, relieved. "It really was nothing big."
"Yeah," Kurayami said, "nothing to worry about." She walked up slightly ahead of the other two.
Kyoraku and Ukitake looked at each other and smiled in relief. Then they followed right behind her.
They went through the first few classes in the usual way: the three excelled in almost everything, and the teachers always had to tell them to do something else to keep them occupied. Finally, it was lunch time. Kurayami, Kyoraku, and Ukitake went to their usual spot, under the tree in the middle of the garden. They had just started eating when two girls, unfamiliar to Kyoraku and Ukitake, approached them.
Kurayami smiled at the two girls. Then she turned to Kyoraku and Ukitake and said, "Juushiro, Shunsui, do you guys mind if they eat with us?"
Ukitake and Kyoraku looked at each other in confusion, and then shook their heads. At this, Kurayami waved at the two girls and motioned them to sit with them.
"So," Kyoraku said as soon as the two girls sat down. "What are your names?"
"Maruyama Saki, from the Third class," said the one with long hair very shyly.
"Kinoshita Ayame, also from the Third class," said the one with short hair, also shyly. Both girls were blushing.
"Those are really pretty names," Kyoraku said. The two girls blushed, Kurayami rolled her eyes, and Ukitake just awkwardly laughed.
"I'm Ukitake Juushiro," Ukitake said warmly.
"And I'm Kyoraku Shunsui," Kyoraku said with a sweet, flirty voice. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you," the two girls said.
Lunch time was the same for Kurayami, Ukitake, ad Kyoraku. The three joked around and laughed while eating their lunch. The only difference was that there were two other girls with them. These two girls were so quiet that the other three hardly noticed when they had finished eating. The only sounds they made were giggles whenever someone said something funny, and they were blushing the whole time, especially when Kyoraku or Ukitake talked to them.
Lunch time was over, and they said their goodbyes to go to their next classes.
"Umm," Kinoshita and Maruyama mumbled as they stood up.
"Hmm?" Ukitake said smiling. "Is there anything you want to say?"
"Umm," Kinoshita said, "if it's okay... Can we eat lunch together tomorrow too?"
Kyoraku patted Kinoshita's head and said, "Of course!" She blushed.
"Really?" Maruyama said, excited.
"Yeah," Ukitake replied. "I don't see why not." He smiled.
The two girls, with their faces completely red, got really excited and thanked the two guys. "See you tomorrow!" they said as they waved their hands and walked away.
On their way, Ukitake, Kyoraku, and Kurayami were talking about the two girls who had had lunch with them.
"Were those the girls that talked to you yesterday?" Ukitake asked.
"Yeah," Kurayami replied. "They asked me if I could introduced them to you because they wanted to meet you so badly. It seems the two of you are pretty popular."
"Really?" Ukitake said in surprise.
"Have you not noticed?" Kurayami said. "Most of the girls are all over both of you. They're always staring and blushing and everything."
"Huh?" Ukitake said, looking around. He noticed that the girls were staring at him and Kyoraku, and whenever he made eye contact with one of them, they would all blush and look away timidly.
"Also, you guys are way too nice to the girls," Kurayami said as if scolding them.
"What?" Ukitake and Kyoraku exclaimed.
"With the way you guys act with other girls, there's no way you won't be popular."
"What do you mean?" Ukitake said and bumped into a girl. "Are you okay?" he asked with a very gentle smile and a warm voice.
"Ye-yes!" the girl said and rushed away blushing.
"That's what I'm talking about," Kurayami said shaking her head. "You're always smiling at them so warmly that they misunderstand."
"Yeah, Ukitake," Kyoraku said, standing next to Kurayami.
"And you're no better, Shunsui!" she said. "You're always complimenting the girls so openly!"
"But I really mean what I tell them!" Kyoraku complained.
"Seriously," Kurayami said. "You guys will get in some deep trouble later on."
"It's okay, it's okay," Kyoraku said lightly.
"And you'll also get ME in so many troublesome situations, like what happened yesterday and today."
"You think more cute girls will ask you to introduce us to them?" Kyoraku asked her.
Kurayami sighed and walked up ahead.
"You think all girls are cute," Ukitake said and laughed.
"That's true," Kyoraku said. Then he walked up to Kurayami, who was now walking ahead of the two. Then he put an arm around her and said, "But I think she's the cutest of all."
Kurayami slapped his head. "Quit it," she said and laughed.
"Take it easy, Haruna-chan," Kyoraku said playfully. "You don't have to hit me so hard!"
"And since when do you call me 'Haruna-chan'? Just Haruna is okay."
"But it sounds cuter this way, doesn't it, Haruna-chan?"
"Whatever," Kurayami said. Then she walked up ahead, again.
"She must love walking in front of others," Kyoraku told Ukitake.
"Or she just gets away from people whenever she's frustrated, embarrassed, or anything else that would want her to be away from others," Ukitake noted.
"You're probably right," Kyoraku said and smiled.
In the middle of their after-lunch class, the founder of the Shinigami Academy and Captain-commander of the newly founded Gotei 13, Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni, came in to the room. All of the students stood up and bowed in respect.
"Yamamoto-sama, do you need anything?" the teacher asked in deep respect.
"Yes," Yamamoto said, "I would like Kyoraku Shunsui, Ukitake Juushiro, and Kurayami Haruna to come with me."
The three of them looked at each other in confusion and walked to where Yamamoto was. They bowed their heads in respect until they were told to lift up their heads. Then they were led out of the classroom by Yamamoto himself. Kurayami, Kyoraku, and Ukitake were confused and curious as to what Yamamoto would want with three normal students of the First class, but they dared not say a word while they were walking behind the grand figure.
They arrived at an isolated room in the corner of the building. Yamamoto opened the door and told the three students to go in after going in himself.
When the three students were in the middle of the room, Yamamoto looked at them and said, "I would like to personally instruct and train the three of you."
The three looked at each other in a mix of surprise and confusion.
"I have been observing the performance of all the students in the First class and you three have shown a great potential since that incident in the kido training session. I have noticed that the three of you have such an easy time doing all the activities even in the First class, which is supposed to be the most elite class. Even though you three are still young, you have shown signs of great power which still needs to be nourished. I will be in charge of nourishing that power from now on."
The three students were awestruck, unable to say a word in response.
"I will talk to all of your teachers about this, so starting tomorrow, you will be training here in this room. You are dismissed for today."
They bowed their heads and left the room.
They walked out of the room and through the hallways in silence, both for the other classes that were still going on and for time to think about what just had happened. They didn't say a word until they were out of the Academy.
"That..." Ukitake said. "I don't know what to say about this."
"Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni..." Kyoraku muttered. Then in a louder voice, he said, "He is among the strongest Shinigami that live today, and he offered to train us. That's crazy."
"I guess we have to do our best not to disappoint him," Ukitake said.
"Of course," Kyoraku replied. "But I wonder if we really show great potentials."
"He is also known as a very wise man, so he wouldn't have said so unless he didn't truly think so," Ukitake said.
"I guess you're right," Kyoraku said. "I mean, it's pretty great that he would choose to take the time and personally train us instead of having others do that job."
"Yeah," Ukitake said, still a little bit awestruck. "Let's not disappoint him."
The two of them then realized that Kurayami had been quiet the whole time. They looked at her, and she seemed to be deep in thought.
"Haruna?" Ukitake called her. "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" Kurayami said, still a little spaced out.
"Are you okay?" Ukitake repeated.
"Yeah," she replied. "I just..." She couldn't finish her sentence.
"Can't believe what happened?" Kyoraku asked.
"No... It's not that," Kurayami replied. "I mean, of course I can't believe it. Who would have thought that the founder of the Academy and one of the strongest Shinigami would offer to personally train me? But I'm really wondering... Are we... Am I really worth going through the trouble? What if he misjudged me and I'm not really strong?"
"None of us are strong, Haruna," Ukitake said, "but everyone has the ability to get stronger. If that's not nourished correctly, the power and strength will remain hidden forever. I think he realized that in the three of us and chose to help us. I know we will get stronger."
"But," Kurayami said with an insecure voice, "what if I can't?"
"We'll get stronger together," Kyoraku reassured her. "Remember what you told Hiroshima? Teamwork is really important. As long as the three of us are together, I'm sure we'll all get strong."
Kyoraku and Ukitake smiled, and Kurayami smiled back.
"Thanks."