a/n - helloooo, dropping this off
"Tsugi no Mae, Hakuren!"
Renji split the oncoming ice wave down the middle with a lazy stroke of Zabimaru, and it shot around him, freezing everything in a split behind him
"C'mon Rukia, don't you think I've seen that move enough to be able to counter it?" Renji asked
"Dammit" Rukia replied, wiping sweat off her brow "I usually manage to hit Joel with at least one"
Renji snorted
"You're hitting Joel with these? Only because he's letting you, I'd rather not get frozen just to give you a false sense of satisfaction
"…"
"The only way to get stronger, is to get stronger, Joel's just nicer than I am"
Rukia ignored Renji and pointed at the incoming Hell Butterflies, that had just flown over the wall of the training ground
There were two, so both Renji and Rukia held their fingers out, allowing the Butterflys to land and relay their messages
Rukia and Renji stared at each other in shock as the messages began to relay
"Man it's so freaking cold" Layne complained, shivering and resting his chin on the desk, the classroom's heating wasn't working and Layne's ears wanted to fall off his head
His muttering caused Ichigo to turn around and give him an amused look
"Your ears are actually blue!" Ichigo remarked
"This is the most exposure to air they've had in 4 years" Layne replied, glaring through the window outside at the snow falling and coming to rest on the ground
"Snow" Layne muttered "Earthquake country, and we get stuck with Blizzards, We have to go to school on a day where the temperature is below 0, and there is perfectly white, icy bits of snow falling… and Pedocat cuts my hair, this day is just freakin' perfect, got anything else to throw at me, gods of irony, cause so help me"
Just then, the teacher burst through the door, with snow still in her hair
"Listen up brats, since Kazuki went exchanging to Australia, the Australian student he's exchanging with just got here
"This class gets all the new people" Layne thought idly, still glaring at his mortal enemy out the window "Mind you…theres a lot of Shinigami interference"
"And his name is Jim…and I can't read the last name" she said, peering at the paper and adjusting her glasses "This handwriting is atrocious"
"Sounds just like another Jim I know….wait"
Layne turned his head to look at the Australian exchange student, and nearly fell off his chair
"It's Jim Kent" The exchange student said in perfect English, which judging by the expressions of confusion of everyone in the room, Layne guessed that he was the only one who understood it
The class began speaking among themselves, all wandering what Jim had said
Layne stood up
"Typical, out of everyone, they send you, the only person liable to forget that he actually speaks Japanese"
"Holy shit!" Jim exclaimed, his jaw dropping to the floor "James!"
"So what happened?" Renji asked, arms folded as he questioned Ukitake outside Joel's hospital room
Inside, Moll was rebandaging his wound, and Nemu sat silently at his side, completely stonefaced
"Lieutenant Kurotsuchi found him not far from his quarters, he'd almost bled out"
Ukitake let that sink in, and Renji whisteled lowly
"Nemu got there just in time then" Rukia said "Lucky for Joel, lucky for her too"
Renji nodded
"Do we have any idea who attacked him?"
"Not yet, but Soifon and her Onmitskido have not yet completely their preliminary findings"
"The Onmitskido instead of a regular division?" Rukia asked, her eyes wide with surprise "Captain, what's going on?"
Ukitake hesitated
"Come with me" he said finally, motioning for them to follow him
Moll watched them go and then returned her attention to Joel
"You dumbass" she muttered "If you can hear this, Getting yourself nearly killed is possible the stupiedest stunt you've ever pulled, and you're bloody lucky that Nemu cares enough about you to go find you, I'd of been too late, too damned late like every other single time"
Nemu wasn't even blinking as she stared expressionlessly at Joel
"Don't worry Nemu, he'll recover, I'll kick his ass if he dies to a stupid injury like this"
"It's Layne" Layne said coldly, they eyes of the entire class on him, cause he was still speaking in Japanese, even though Jim was speaking English "I don't care what you call me behind my back, but to me, it's Layne"
"Sorry J- Layne" Jim hastily said
"And speak Japanese; it's rude to jabber on in a language that only you and I understand"
"Oh"
Layne sat down and stared out the window, shaking his head
"I'm Jim Kent" Jim introduced himself to the class "Please take care of me"
Layne couldn't even summon the energy to sigh
"Shit James, you've been missing for almost a year, everyone you know believes your dead, they had a funeral for you and everything… everyone thought Kieran, who somehow got out of Juvy, got you"
Jim spoke so fast he was out of breath by the time he finished
Layne looked up from his food and thanked whatever deity that was watching over him that Keigo and Mizuiro couldn't understand English, it wouldn't of mattered if it had just been Ichigo, Uryu and Chad
"I'm about to slap you aight, speak Japanese for the last time, and call me James to my face again, I'll break your fingers" Layne replied, a slight Japanese accent tinging his English "And don't mention me apparently being dead in front of everyone, it'll freak people out"
"Why not?" Jim countered "If you're doing something illegal…"
"Don't be retarded" Layne said "Just don't do it, and I'll allow you to keep your front teeth, now speak Japanese and sit down or I'll just ignore you"
Jim sat down
"You didn't have to threaten my teeth" Jim said reproachfully, finally switching to Japanese "And are you going to tell me what's been going on"
"Eventually, but not until you calm down, It's like talking to a brick wall when your excited, and it just pisses me off"
a/n, well i gave you a bunch of questions, and now i just need to make up answers to them ;D
