Hey, Hi, Hellooo! Welcome to my Bleach fanfic! I'll let you go ahead and read the first chapter instead of blabbering on here!
Enjoy!
I fumbled with the little toy that seemed so interesting. I kept poking my fingers around the little object, observing as other pieces of the toy began poking out with each little poke from another side of the toy. I rotated the toy around several times while I jammed my fingers rapidly on one side to observe the bumps poke out. I would quickly push them back inside while pressing on the trigger on the other side, locking them in place inside. As I began to understand a bit of the toy's mechanics, a man talked loudly into the waiting room.
"Next is… Hiragi Katsuko!"
My mommy quickly put down the magazine and ushered me up. "Come on, Katsuko."
Great, just when I became a master of this little toy.
Reluctantly, I put the toy down. My mommy sighed and picked it up before putting it back in the corner where all the kid toys were supposed to be. Like a little duckling, I followed after my mommy into a hallway while looking around. Plain white walls. Boring. The man who called us smiled brightly before opening the door and letting us enter the room.
I stood in the middle of the room while my mommy sat down on the chair near the bed-looking thing. I walked over to her like the little chick I was. She brushed away my black hair away from my dark brown eyes.
"Another yearly check up, huh?"
Mommy laughed. "Yeah, got to keep my daughter healthy, right?"
"Yes, and that's very good!" The doctor laughed before directing his attention to me. He smiled brightly. "Hello, Katsuko-chan! How are you today?"
"I'm good." I smiled.
"Good, good! Now, why don't you come on over here." He said while tapping the bed with paper on it.
Climbing was super easy. There was a little step-up for me. I got on it before placing my hands on the bed and pushing myself up. I put one knee forward before crawling my way to the center, and then sat properly to face the doctor. He cheered and praised me for climbing up even though I ripped a piece of the paper…
He started using that silver medal thing he was wearing. He put it on me before telling me to take in deep breaths and breathing out. He even made breathe-in and breathe-out expressions as I did it. He also put the medal on my back. It was cold. I repeated the breathe-in and breathe-out. Then, he checked my ears and eyes.
He took out a little stick and asked me to stick my tongue out. I did. He brought out a little flashlight and pointed it at my tongue.
The door opened.
With my tongue stuck out, I turned my head away from the funny doctor and stared at the door. A little boy poked his head inside with wide curious eyes.
"Daddy?"
The doctor brought his attention to the door, "Hm? What's up Ichigo?"
The boy known as Ichigo looked over at me. Immediately, I put my tongue back in my mouth and shut it. He quickly went over to his dad and brought a box with him inside.
"Mommy made you lunch!"
This made the doctor get a goofy look on his face before taking the box from his son. "Thank you, Ichigo!" He ruffled little boys' orange hair affectionately. "And tell mommy I said thanks!"
"Okay!" Ichigo nodded with a smile. "Work hard daddy!" he cheered before leaving the room, but not before glancing at me one more time.
"Lunch from Masaki?" Mommy laughed a little.
The doctor sighed. "I'm usually so busy these days… I can't even eat in the kitchen with my family when they're right there." he whined before quickly turning his attention back to me. I was staring at him curiously. "Sorry, Katsuko-chan! Let's finish your check up, shall we? Then I'll give you a lollipop!"
Katsuko woke up with a jolt when she felt something land on her face. With a groan, she pried the object off of her face. It was a wet towel. With her face no longer obscured, she winced when her bedroom lights attacked her eyes. When she turned to her door, her mother was standing in her doorway with her arm outstretched.
"Go shower." her mother said before walking away from her room and most likely into the kitchen to prepare her breakfast.
Katsuko gripped the wet towel and turned her face away and into her pillow. The wet-towel thing was her idea. During elementary school, she was never late for school without a good reason. Her elementary school was literally a couple of blocks away. In the morning, she was able to wake up but she still felt sleepy. She somehow came to the conclusion that a towel was effective in knocking away at least half of her drowsiness. Now that she was entering middle school, she didn't want to lag behind. She had to commute to get to middle school. It was basically pre-high school, waking up early without fail was needed. Today was her first day in middle school.
"If you don't shower now, you're going to be late!"
The wet-towel method was annoying though. She wasn't going to do that for her second day of school.
Maybe.
With a groan, she sat up and went over to her closet to grab her towel. She was slow when it came to showering. Time was needed for her shower. She couldn't waste time on it. When she finished showering, she came back in her room to find her bed made and her uniform laid out on her bed. Her mother was one of those people who didn't mind helping their children get ready for school. Katsuko could only assume it came with the habit of helping her father get ready for work very early in the morning. She was always fast asleep when her father left the house.
Since today was her first day of middle school, Katsuko's mother actually offered to bring her to school with her friend for their first day to help them find their way.
Katsuko let her hair air dry while eating breakfast. After eating, she brushed her teeth and let her mom brush and dry her hair. Katsuko didn't like having messy hair in the back, especially when she couldn't see it. She considered the wavy parts of her hair messy despite her mother telling her that it looked nice like that. So, her mother offered to spray her hair with some anti-something spray that would help her hair chill out. Katsuko was such a noob at hair products so she just trusted her mother. After a while, a knock was heard on her front door. Quickly, she ran and slide to the door in her socks and opened it, revealing a boy who was literally her age. Ichida Haruki… or just Haru. He struck a pose with finger gruns and grinned at her.
"Ayee! We're in middle school!" he said while pointing at their uniforms.
Unlike most girls, she was actually wearing mid thigh shorts under her skirts with high knee socks. She was so used to wearing pants in elementary school that she couldn't take it when she felt air touch places that were usually never touched. With her short shorts and high knee socks that left just a bit of skin exposed to the world, she felt much more comfortable.
Katsuko rolled her eyes and let him enter her house.
"Can you believe it though? We've been in elementary school since like forever… and we're practically entering almost-high school."
"Middle school." Katsuko laughed.
"Same shit."
Katsuko's mother pointed at the bus stops.
"So, when you want to head back home just go to the other side, okay?"
Haruki and Katsuko nodded together.
"You two okay?"
Haru nodded again. "Yes, thank you auntie!"
"Thanks mom!" Katsuko said before hugging her mother.
The two friends watched Katsuko's mother hurried over to the other side of the street to catch the next bus. This little trip wasn't a total waste for her since she had to take that bus to go to work anyway. They waited until she got on the bus and watched as it disappeared from their sights before turning to each other. They walked a little towards the entrance of the school and hesitated a bit before entering. First day of school jitters. Obviously, their first concern was finding which class they were in.
They arrived in front of a beige billboard which displayed the first year classes of Mashiba Middle School on six sheets of paper. Her eyes scanned the first list closely. Nothing. Second. Nothing. Third. Nothing. Fourth… there it was.
She was in Class 1-D.
"… Haru? What class are you in?"
"Um… I don't kn— oh here! Class 1-C!"
Katsuko pouted. Great, that was one friend she wasn't in the same class with. She was already getting sad about it. Out of curiosity, she looked behind her shoulder to make sure she and her friend weren't obscuring others from seeing their names. No one was behind them. She did a double-take when she saw someone approaching.
"Jun!"
Haruki turned around when he heard his friend's name. Upon seeing Haruki and Katsuko, Jun darted towards them in a goofy run since he was happy to see them, making the two of them laugh. "Haru! Katsuko!"
Katsuko grabbed his arm and shook it. "What class are you in?!"
Jun stared at her oddly. "… I just got here. Lemme check."
To help him search, Haru and Katsuko also searched for his name. The three of them stood in order of their height with Katsuko being the tallest and Haru being the shortest. People could probably mistake them as siblings since they had the same colored hair and eye color. However, unlike Katsuko, Haru and Jun did not have brown highlights in their hair.
"1-C."
Katsuko internally groaned in despair. She was hoping to at least be with one of her friends from elementary school. Most of their circle of friends ended up going to different middle schools.
There was something special about this trio of friends. Aside from coming from the same elementary school, they were each born on the same month. Ichida Haruki and Hiragi Katsuko were born on the same day (which caused a lot of debates to determine who was older) while Matsuoka Jun was born on the next day. Obviously, this revelation made them ecstatic back then.
"Yo, I'm all alone!" Katsuko cried silently.
Meanwhile, Jun and Haruki high fived each other and got hyped up as their other friend stood in a dramatic spotlight of despair and envy.
…
…
…
At least they were nice enough to bring her to her classroom when they looked for their assigned classrooms (even though the C and D classrooms were next to each other). Thankfully, it was only orientation today, she could mope about it all she wanted after a few hours.
The middle seat in the third row away from the windows. That was her seat. When she sat down and glanced around, the anxiety of being in a new school, surrounded by new people while being without her friends was slowly making a nest in her heart. It was stressing her out to the point where she simply kept her head hunched over on her phone while blocking out the rest of her new classmates who started swarming in as the starting time approached.
She was probably sweating from the nervousness judging by the heat she felt all over her body. She was freaking cooking herself in her seat!
After several minutes, a teacher entered the room, signaling the start of the class. It was a woman. Her name was Suzumura Kagura. She was smiling in a welcoming manner middle school was a big step for freshmen. She greeted everyone before taking attendance.
"Akagi Kaoru?"
"Here."
"Yamada Ryousuke?"
"Here!"
"Takahashi Yui?
"Here."
Katsuko slowly half-muted the teacher's voice and looked at one of the corners of the black board behind her. She just wanted to get this orientation day over with and head back home. It was too soon to start school. She wanted at least another week. Maybe if she prayed hard enough the teachers would all get sick for a week… Maybe.
"Hiragi Katsuko?"
Katsuko's eyes darted back to the teacher, "H-Here!"
"Kanzaki Nanami?"
"I'm here."
Katsuko let out a relieved sigh.
"Kurosaki Ichigo?"
"Over here."
"Kimura Ryouhei?"
"Here!"
The teacher went down the list until she made absolutely sure she didn't miss anyone. She even made sure to ask if someone's name wasn't called out. When everything was done, the teacher clapped her hands and announced that they would be heading to the auditorium for the opening ceremony.
All the chairs in the classroom scraped across the floor as students got up. Katsuko decided to exit the classroom through the back since she saw the teacher exit through the front and walk towards the back. The students near the back gathered in a messy line that seemed to have more than one end.
Silently, Katsuko shuffled her feet behind the student she was following absentmindedly. When it seemed like it was her turn pass through the door, she took a step forward to exit only to realize that someone else was doing the same thing since their arms brushed against each others'. Realizing her mistake, she quickly stepped away and looked at the person.
It was a boy with striking orange hair who was around her height, only a few inches taller. He looked equally surprised when he turned his head to look at her.
"Uh, sorry. You go first." he stepped back.
Katsuko's eyes widened.
Wait. What did she say? Kurosaki? Ichigo?
Oh no.
Katsuko shook her head and lowered her gaze. "No, it's okay."
Meekly, she motioned her arm in front of her to tell him to go ahead first, and he did without saying anything else.
The boy I used to play with… is in my class…?
She felt awkward.
The black haired followed in suit and cringed to herself.
When orientation day was over, Katsuko quickly left her classroom and joined her friends who were just exiting their own classroom. Katsuko had to hold them back when she saw Ichigo exit the classroom at his own pace. Jun and Haru looked at her strangely.
"What?"
"What are you doing?"
When Ichigo was at a reasonable distance, Katsuko released Jun and Haru's arm. She briefly pointed her finger ahead of her before lowering it back down to avoid attracting attention.
"The guy with the orange hair." she said lowly. "He's in my class…"
Jun looked ahead of him and pinpointed Ichigo's obvious bright colored hair in the sea of students. "… What about him?"
"I know him… He's the son of my pediatrician."
Haru and Jun stared at her.
Katsuko stared back.
Haru dropped his fist in his hand and he had a look of realization. "He's going to give you a check up?"
Katsuko's hand flew in Haru's direction which he avoided at the last minute with a laugh.
"Dumbass…" Katsuko rolled her eyes. "It's just weird. I used to know him when I was a kid." She said before running her fingers down her face.
"So?" Jun said with a shrug.
"… It's… It's just weird, okay?!" Katsuko hissed.
"Who cares. You're not talking to him anyway." Haru said with a nonchalant tone.
They exited the school building and made it on its grounds. The conversation about the orange haired boy came to a silent conclusion as soon as the made it outside.
Now that school was over, Haru and Katsuko were ready to commute home independently. That was the plan, have her mom drop them off and explain some stuff so that they could be ready for the trip home. They could tag along with Jun too now that they thought about it!
Several cars were parked in front of the school entrance. A window of a silver car rolled down and a man poked his head outside while waving his hand. And... he was smiling at them behind a pair of sunglasses.
"Haru! Katsuko! Over here!"
Wasn't that…?
Katsuko gaped. "… That's your dad."
Haru sighed. "Aw man. He didn't even tell me he was going to show up…"
Jun grinned and waved at his friends since he knew they were obviously parting ways for now. "Bye guys!" he laughed before running off to catch the bus.
"Bye…"
This story has been in my mind for quite a while now. I always wanted to make one for Bleach but just didn't have anything good. I actually wrote a Bleach story back in 2011 (which has been erased from existence because my dumbass didn't know what the hell I was writing lol). Here I am, nearly a decade later, with a proper Bleach story! Works well since the anime is coming back soon XD
First chapters won't cover the main storyline yet. But we'll get there eventually. I hope you'll give this story a chance and enjoy it!
See you in the next chapter!
