Chapter 3: Extra Lessons
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
A/N: Third chapter is up! Thanks for all the reviews! Also, if you notice any OOC in the story, please forgive me!
Chika-rin: Haha, thanks for the support:D
CSENTIMENTAL VALYOU: Thanks for the feedback. Although I'm not going to repost the second chapter I will change it in my records. (I'm happy with my English to Japanese translations too! )
Sasusaku4eva101: No, I can only get my hands on the episodes people post up on Youtube. If I could get the manga now…I wouldn't. I kind of know what's going on already.
Cryptic Innocence: You think so? Oh well, I won't say anything for now…
Anyhow, back to the story…
"How was school? I found it fun-I made so many new friends!" Orihime squealed in delight as she and Isane met up with the others.
"Au contraire; I made an enemy, if you still remember," Hinamori grumbled, weighing her school bag. It was heavy from all the homework the teachers had given her. "Although I do feel sorry for him," she added, as she recalled Hitsugaya's sad tale.
"Why? I don't see any reason for you to be," Isane said. "From what you told me, I've concluded that Hitsugaya Toushirou is a jerk-"
"Speak of the devil," Rukia muttered as the afore mentioned student walked past with his shoulders slouched, frowning.
"Ano, Hitsugaya-kun!" Hinamori called out, running up to the boy.
"What do you want?" Hitsugaya gritted his teeth, already on the defensive. Hinamori saw the perfect chance to show that she was not a rich, spoiled brat.
"Look, if you're really busy, I can come around today-this afternoon-and help you with your household chores. I'm really sorry about everything, so I was just wondering if I could-"
"Don't pity me, bed wetter Momo. I hate being pitied, most of all by a no-good baka like you. I don't need help. Get out of my way," pushing the girl aside, Hitsugaya was about to walk away when he was blocked again.
"I was just trying to help, you insensitive jerk! Why can't you move on and accept the people who try to help you?" Hinamori yelled, feeling hurt. How could Hitsugaya live on his own, without any friends or family? She was on the verge of tears. How could he reject her like this?
"Momo-chan, leave him," Inoue pleaded nervously. "If he doesn't need any help, then that's alright, ne?"
"No, it's not!" although Hinamori knew how much attention she was attention she was attracting, she didn't care. The least she could do now was to make this boy see reason. "Why won't you accept help? Is it because you don't want to get so close to anyone else, so that you won't have to suffer if they die?"
Hinamori had struck a nerve. The courtyard was silent; even the wind had stopped howling. Then Hitsugaya slapped her. Hard.
"Don't. Even. Mention. That," the boy said, as he slapped Hinamori with each word. Rubbing her sore cheeks, Hinamori stared at Hitsugaya, shock in her eyes. Then, before he could react, Hinamori had tackled him onto the ground and was raining soft blows on him, crying gently. Two strong hands suddenly reached down and pulled the teenagers away from each other.
"Hinamori-chan and Hitsugaya-kun, what a shame," Kominara-sensei tutted. "I'm rather surprised. But we can't have this kind of fighting on the school grounds. Hinamori, detention two days from now at lunchtime."
"Demo, Hitsugaya slapped me first!" Hinamori cried, feeling the injustice of it all settle upon her shoulders.
"Is that so?" Kominara-sensei raised her eyebrows. "In that case then, detention for you too, Hitsugaya-kun. Have a good afternoon reflecting on what you've done wrong. We don't accept kindergarten fighting anymore." With that, Kominara-sensei walked away.
Putting her school bag back on, Hinamori hurried out of the gates, her eyes puffy from crying. Humiliated twice by the same boy. And on her first day, too.
At Hinamori's house, after dinner
"Hitsugaya Toushirou's in your class? That's nice," Mr. Hinamori remarked, flipping through his newspaper.
"No it's not, dad! That boy humiliated me at school today by insulting me. He also slapped me when I offered him some help, and we both got a detention!" Hinamori exclaimed. "I can't learn piano from someone like that!" There was no way her parents couldn't cancel her lessons now.
"Don't worry about it, Momo-chan, Hitsugaya is just teasing. I'm sure he doesn't mean anything. And if you got into trouble for offering help, maybe he didn't need any in the first place. Finally, if you can't work with him, then it'll be good opportunities for you to try working with someone you dislike ne?"
"How can you say such things?" Hinamori gasped. "It's as if you're totally biased towards him or something!"
Mrs. Hinamori stopped her knitting, sighing. "Hinamori, do you know that poor child's past?"
Hinamori had not expected this question. "Y-yes, that was why I was offering help. I wanted to go to his place this afternoon and help him do his household chores…"
"That's sweet of you, but in a sense, you're hurting his pride. What he might think you're trying to say is that he can't do well on his own, even after four years. Leave him be."
Feeling that her fate was sealed, Hinamori retired to her room to finish of the rest of her homework.
At Hitsugaya's house, 11:59pm
No matter how Hitsugaya twisted and turned, he couldn't get to sleep. Why was that? Because of Hinamori Momo. He couldn't sleep because he'd hurt her feelings. "I'll say sorry to her tomorrow after history," he said aloud before closing his eyes. This time, sleep came for him.
The Next Day
"Which room are we in?" Inoue asked. "I'm so glad we're in the same class for history!"
"Yeah," Rukia agreed. She flipped her timetable open, her eyes scanning the 'Tuesday' column. "Looks like we're in that room, U301," the girl said, pointing at a classroom across from Hinamori's, Rukia's and Tatsuki's homeroom.
The class was noisy. The teacher had not arrived yet and Rukia ducked as a stick of chalk flew over her head. Looking in the direction the chalk had flown from, Rukia realised that it had come from Ichigo, who was trying to start up a conversation. Before Rukia could cross the room and beat the living daylights out of the strawberry-headed baka, the door opened.
"Class, please take your seats," Students scrambled for their seats as a man entered the room. He had brown, wavy hard and, strangely enough, wore a lab coat. He wore glasses and his hands were big, perhaps capable of crushing three soda cans at once.
"I am Aizen Sousuke," your new history teacher," Aizen-sensei said. Putting a huge stack of folders and papers on the teachers' desk, the tall teacher then extracted several pieces of paper, ripped them into quarters and handed one quarter to each student. He ended by giving each some tape.
"Write your names on your pieces of paper and stick them on your shirts," Aizen-sensei instructed. "Now let's start the lesson."
Hinamori sighed and looked out the window. History was one of her weakest subjects. I have no interest in history whatsoever, she thought.
"Hinamori Momo? Please answer the question," Aizen-sensei's voice rang through the fifteen year old's ears. Snapping out of her reverie, Hinamori looked past the teacher at the blackboard. It was black.
"When did the Cuban Missile Crisis take place?" Aizen-sensei asked, repeating his question slowly.
"Ano…" Hinamori thought for a moment. She vaguely remembered her old teacher mentioning it in Junior High the year before. It was something like…19…got it! That had to be the answer!
Lifting her head, Hinamori replied, "June 4th, 1989."
The class was silent until a girl called Hina cracked up.
"You silly twit! That's the Tian an men Square incident in Beijing! Everyone knows that!"
Hinamori felt herself redden as the class laughed. Aizen-sensei smiled sympathetically.
"Calm down class. Everyone makes mistakes. The Cuban Missile Crisis took place from October 18-29, 1962. Don't fret about it, Hinamori."
Aizen-sensei's words confronted Hinamori. Making an effort to forget about the incident, the fifteen year old paid closer attention to her teacher for the rest of the lesson.
Forty five minutes later, the bell rang. Everyone packed their books and left in twos and threes.
"Come on, Hinamori, let's walk to maths together!" Rukia called out, but Hinamori shook her head.
"Iie, you go ahead. I need to do something first."
As Rukia left, Hinamori shouldered her school bag and slowly walked to the front of the classroom, where Aizen Sousuke was still packing. Little did she know that Hitsugaya was just outside the door waiting to apologise to her for his rudeness the day before.
With Hitsugaya
What was taking Hinamori so long? Rukia had already left without her. Hearing voices in the classroom, Hitsugaya listened closely, wondering what Hinamori-chan could possibly be saying to Aizen-sensei.
"Aizen-sensei, you might have already noticed, but I'm not too good at history. I-I want to get better," the boy heard Hinamori stammer.
"Is that so? I can arrange extra history lessons with you, but only three weeks from now on a Friday, from 2:30-4:30pm," Aizen-sensei replied. "Is that fine with you?"
There was a silence, but when Hinamori replied, her tone surprised Hitsugaya.
"Sure!"
Why was she so eager? Hitsugaya thought for a moment before the answer hit him. Too angry to speak, the white-haired child-prodigy stormed away. He wouldn't apologise to that baka now.
A/N: Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review!
Japanese Dictionary:
Ano: Um
-chan,-san,-kun: -chan is addressed to girls who are the same age as another. –kun is the same, but for boys. –san is a polite form for both genders.
Baka: Idiot
Sensei: Teacher (e.g. Kominara-sensei literally 'Teacher Kominara')
Demo: But
Iie: No
