The Substitute Teacher
Chapter 3
Author's note: if you don't know who are Oshima and Kagine - Oshima is that big blond dude that wanted to beat the crap out of Keigo on the first day of school and then Ichigo and Sado went to save Keigo.
Kagine is the gym teacher, the one that yells at Ichigo for disgracing the school when he appeared in Don Kanonji's Bura-Rei.
xXx
It was the end of a school day and Renji had just gathered his things and made to leave the teachers' lounge when Unohana-san came hurrying in with a concerned look on her usually serene face.
"Abarai-kun... Good, you're still here," she approached him, clasping her hands.
"What happened?"
"Kurosaki-kun got into a fight with Oshima-kun in the schoolyard," she said, her voice betraying her nervousness. "Kagine-sensei managed to separate them, but I think it would be better if you talked to him and calmed him down."
"Of course," Renji said, already going to the door and holding it for Unohana-san to pass through. "Do you know why it happened?"
"No," the woman sighed, "Kurosaki-kun won't talk to anyone and Oshima-kun keeps swearing... because his nose is broken," she trailed off, shaking her head disapprovingly.
Renji almost smirked. Almost. He knew that Oshima was nearly two times bigger than Ichigo and way more defiant, so at least he got what he deserved. That is, if he'd started the fight.
xXx
Approaching the schoolyard, Renji found Kagine-sensei holding Oshima back while the ridiculously bleached blond tried to go back to Ichigo, yelling that he was going to wipe the floor with him. At the same time, Ichigo was sitting on a bench, surrounded by his friends. Renji already knew the bunch – Ishida, Sado, Asano, Kojima and two girls, Inoue and Arisawa. They were always somewhere near the blond teen.
Ichigo was glowering and by the miserable looks on the girls' faces, he still hasn't started talking. He even swatted off their hands and turned his head away when they tried to take a look at the bruise under his eye and the split lower lip. Renji glanced down, noticing how Ichigo was gingerly rubbing his right fist.
Just great.
"Abarai-sensei," Kagine grunted, pushing Oshima away, "Glad you dropped by... These two were going at each other like crazy!"
"I can see that," Renji muttered, eyeing the bigger teen's bloody nose and mouth. "Any idea who started it?"
"I'm not even sure anymore," Kagine sighed, "Kurosaki and Oshima seem to hate each other since before high school. But if you ask me who's the bigger troublemaker, I'll have to say - this ray of sunshine over here," he nodded towards the fuming Oshima. "As far as I know, Kurosaki had never started a fight except when he's defending someone else. But that's not the way to handle things, ne, Kurosaki?" He yelled over to Ichigo.
"Then it's okay if I get him outta here?" Renji asked, glancing at the teen.
"Sure. I'll take care of this one."
Renji nodded and went to Ichigo, gently patting Inoue's shoulder as he passed by. The girl seemed the most sensitive of them all and Renji felt bad for her. He smirked when Ichigo's eyes focused on him and gripped the teen's upper arm, tugging him to stand up.
"Come on, you're going with me." When Ichigo's brow furrowed more, he added, "No arguing. Come on," Renji said more softly, giving him a convincing look.
The teen sighed and nodded wordlessly. He followed Renji down to the street, but then stopped and stood there, giving him an uncertain look. "I should probably go home..."
"You should. But first, you're coming with me."
"Where?"
"To my place. I'm not letting you go home looking like that," Renji tugged the teen to start walking again. "It's only a ten-minute walk from school."
"Okay."
Renji glanced at him. Ichigo looked very tired. "How are you feeling?"
"My hand hurts," the teen shrugged.
"No wonder. You messed him up real good, you know?"
"I guess..."
xXx
The rest of the walk remained silent. When they arrived to a big apartment building, Renji led the way inside and up the stairs to the fourth floor. Ichigo waited for him to open the door to his apartment and followed inside.
The most of the apartment was a large living area, with a desk and a laptop, one big sofa and a TV in the corner. To the left of the front door was a kitchen, big enough to contain everything a kitchen needed, plus a small dining table by the window. In the further left corner of the living room was another door which led to a small corridor with two more doors on its right side. The first led to Renji's bedroom and the second to the bathroom.
It wasn't an especially big place but it was nice and comfortable. And Renji loved it. After almost a year in Karakura, he finally made it look like someone lived in there. It was warm and cozy, if only a bit lonely...
He turned to the teen. "Well, here we are. Sit down and I'll get the first aid kit from the bathroom."
Ichigo nodded and settled on the sofa, still looking around the place. He stared at the full bookshelf beside the TV, wondering if Renji really read all those books. He must have or at least he planned to – it would be pointless to have them otherwise.
"You can borrow some, if you like," a deep voice startled the teen.
"Oh," Ichigo blushed, "I didn't mean to stare but... So many books... What kind?"
"Hoo, any kind," Renji chuckled, "From poetry and classical novels to fiction and fantasy... I mean it, I'll lend you whatever you want to read."
"You'll do anything, just to make your students read more, right," Ichigo asked, smiling a bit. He was already past the point of shying away from the redhead.
"Correct," the redhead laughed and then sat down beside the teen. "Now let's take a look at those bruises..." He gently gripped Ichigo's chin and turned his head left and right before taking a wet piece of gauze from the little tray he'd brought and began to clean Ichigo's lower lip.
As the boy hissed, he smirked apologetically. "Sorry. I'll be gentler." His brows furrowed in concentration not to cause any unnecessary pain while he gently applied the pressure to cool it off a bit. "Can't do much about your lip... Good thing it's split, otherwise it would swell up like a bee sting."
Ichigo snorted and made a grimace quickly after. "Ow..."
"Don't laugh," Renji scolded with a smirk of his own. He then took a small bottle of clear liquid and poured some on a cotton ball. "This might sting a bit. Hydrogen peroxide. So tell me," he drawled while treating the teen's injury, "What caused this anyway?"
Ichigo huffed and remained silent, his mood dampening gradually.
"Hmm?" Renji hummed, raising an eyebrow.
"He called me a mama's boy. That I'm pathetic and can't live normally without my mom."
Renji kept silent, still gently cleaning the injury.
"I think he deserved it," Ichigo said, wincing slightly at the burning sensation on his lip.
"Well he did, to tell you the truth, but... I never told you that," Renji smirked and finished with the teen's lip. Then he gingerly brushed his fingertips over Ichigo's left cheekbone, examining the forming bruise. He only had some kind of a gel for bruises, but he knew it worked wonders. He took the tube and squeezed some out on his fingers before gently applying it to the bruised skin.
"I mean, he doesn't even know how it is," Ichigo continued, looking nowhere in particular, just letting Renji take care of him. "He doesn't even come from a bad family, he's just a jerk... He still has both his parents..." The teen trailed off, taking a shaky breath. "He doesn't know how lucky he is."
Renji listened as the boy opened up for the first time. He paused with the treatment, and just observed him, showing him that he was listening.
Ichigo squirmed in his place and lowered his gaze to the floor. "I don't wanna talk about this anymore."
"Alright," Renji nodded.
"Thanks, sensei."
"No problem," the redhead smiled and patted Ichigo's knee. "Alright, now let me see your hand and you're done. Are you hungry? I was planning to order a pizza. I might as well order two, or a jumbo."
"Uh, thanks but... I don't wanna bother you..."
"You're not bothering me," the redhead laughed, cleaning the boy's knuckles with hydrogen peroxide. "So what would you like to eat?"
"Something spicy?"
Renji grimaced. He wasn't too enthusiastic about spicy food. "Two it is, then," he grinned, finishing up and putting all the medicinal stuff back on the tray.
"You don't like spicy?" Ichigo asked, relaxing into the sofa.
"Not really, no. Let me take this back to the bathroom and then I'll order our pizzas, okay?"
"Sure," the teen nodded and then paused. "Mind if I take a look at your books?"
"Of course not! I told you, you can even borrow them if you want." Renji said and disappeared in the bathroom.
Ichigo stood up and slowly walked to the bookshelf, tilting his head to the side so he could read the spines of the books. There really were all kinds of books. He picked out a really expensive looking one that was incased in black leather with silver print on it - 'The greatest love poems'.
Ichigo opened it and on the first page, he noticed a dedication, written in fine calligraphy. The one who wrote it clearly was an expert at it. 'Paris is a lonely place without you. All my love – B.'
So it was a gift. Ichigo felt like he was violating his sensei's privacy and before he knew it, he was blushing furiously but that didn't stop him from flipping through the book. The curiosity was stronger and he wondered if he could find out a bit more about this 'B' person.
There was nothing more in that book that didn't belong there so Ichigo put it to the side and reached for another one. This time he picked it by the title – anything involved with Paris or France. The one he took was something of a tourist guide for Paris. All the hot spots, museums, streets and other possible attractions. He opened the first page and smiled as he found another dedication.
'I hope this will encourage you to come with me. Love, B.'
'Again only a 'B',' Ichigo sighed to himself. Well, he was getting nowhere with this. He put the book back and picked out a couple of fantasy novels that he'd heard were good. He placed them on top of the book of love poems and hoped it wasn't too much to borrow in one go. Just as he sat back down on the sofa, Renji was back with a phone pressed to his ear.
"Yeah, so that's one 'diavolo' and one 'margherita'. Abarai. You've got the address already. Yep. Alright, thanks." He grinned at Ichigo and flopped down beside him. "The food's on its way."
"Great, thanks," Ichigo offered a smile of his own and glanced at the TV that Renji turned on.
After a few moments, the redhead's cell rang and he walked away to answer it. Ichigo wondered about the none-too-happy face Renji made before answering it, but he couldn't hear one word of the conversation as the redhead closed the bedroom door after him.
What could upset him so? Was it 'B'? Ichigo felt more and more curious and kept glancing back to the bookshelf, thinking he still might find something in there. And then his eyes got caught on a title. It wasn't really a title, and it wasn't really a book. It was a photo album. Would it be very wrong to take a peek?
xXx
To be continued...
