The Black Cat
Chapter 3
Houseguest, Soul Reaper and…Student?
As Ichigo and Rukia walk to school, they meet up with Orihime and Rangiku.
"You're wearing our school uniform." comments Ichigo.
"The captain and I have to pose as students again. He sure wasn't happy about it, either. …Hmm, then again, he's not usually happy about anything is he?"
"Shut up, Matsumoto." says Toshiro blandly as he strolls from between Ichigo and Rukia. "Let's just get this over with."
During Class
Their teacher is in the middle of a geography lesson. Toshiro is not paying attention. He is staring out the window, thinking about the strange girl he met the night before.
"Toshiro, can you tell me the capital of Spain?"
"…" (he is not paying attention.)
She turns around, curious as to why one of her best students is ignoring her. "Ahem. Toshiro? Can you please tell me the capital of Spain?"
"…"
"Mister Hitsugaya! What is the capital of Spain?!"
"…"
Annoyed she walks up to his desk. "Toshiro Hitsugaya!"
He jumps and nearly falls out of his desk. "What?"
"I have asked you three times what the capital of Spain is! You have not answered me once! What is it out there that is so interesting to you, anyway?" she asks, peering out the window herself.
"…nothing. I was just thinking."
"Oh. Then perhaps you can do your thinking out in the hall-" she is interrupted by a knock on the door. "excuse me."
She walks to the door, where a man hands her some papers.
Rangiku is laughing her head off. Toshiro quickly scribbles a note, balls it up, and tosses it at her, causing it to bounce off her head.
松本場合は、笑いを続けて、私はあなたに降格されますことを確認しますよ！
(-Matsumoto, if you continue to laugh, I'll make sure you are demoted!)
"A new student?" their teacher asks, reading the papers. "NO WAY!! Are these numbers right? ….. A-are you sure you're putting her in the right class?"
She walks back to her desk with a bright smile on her face. "Class, we have a new student. Please welcome Miss Kyoko Naka."
Kyoko walks into the room a few seconds before her introduction and bows blandly. She scans the classroom. Her eyes pause momentarily on Toshiro, though no one notices.
"Hmm…Why don't you take a seat next to Mister Hitsugaya. Perhaps you can show him how to pay attention in class… considering your grades, you must pay pretty good attention yourself."
"meh" she mumbles, then pauses. "Uh, Which one is Hitsugaya?" she asks innocently.
"The young man with the obscenely bleached hair that he claims is natural.
"Oh, ok." she says before sitting down.
Now they had class together. Toshiro was staring at her with a mild look of shock on his face. She didn't even react when she saw him.
Lunchtime
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY SCHOOL!!!" shouts Ichigo.
"Hmm… Well, I'd hope I'd be learning…"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN! You don't look nearly old enough to be in high school."
"Neither does he." she jerks her thumb over her shoulder at Toshiro, who became impossibly more annoyed. "So that doesn't mean anything. Besides, I'm an honor student." Victorious in her argument, she walks off.
She is soon cornered by the other girls of the class and is more or less forced to have lunch with them.
Lunch with the girls
"So, you're new around here?" asks Mahana.
"Yeah…"
"So, do you see anyone you like?"
"Wha-?…Not really."
"Well, that Hitsugaya kid certainly seems interested in you." comments Ryo, looking up from her book.
"HUH???"
"He keeps looking over here. He never did that before. It seems to me like he's interested in you."
"HEY! You should go talk to him!" chimes in Michiru.
"No way!"The girls continue to bicker. Suddenly, Kyoko senses the spiritual pressure of several hollows nearby.
"Hey, I just remembered I have to go do something."
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
Kyoko runs off without answering. Toshiro watches her curiously. Almost as soon as she gets out of sight, his, Rukia's, and Rangiku's soul phones go off.
"I'll-" Rukia begins to offer to go after the hollows.
"I'll go." says Toshiro before marching off.
In town
Just as Toshiro arrives where the hollows are, their signal disappears. He looks around frantically. Where could they have gone? Just then, he sees someone slip out of sight. "Hey, wait!" he shouts, but to no avail. The person escapes, and there isn't a trace of spiritual pressure anywhere.
Back at School
Toshiro was late. Very late. As soon as he opened the door to the classroom, he was greeted by the teacher's angry face, her eyebrow twitching slightly.
"Well, well. Looks like mister Hitsugaya finally decided to come back to class.
"I-"
"Hmm. Considering how much you seem to like it outside my classroom, perhaps you should spend the rest of the day in the hall." She slams the door in his face, leaving him out there all day, just as she said.
After school
Kyoko is walking home. She stops walking abruptly when someone grabs her arm.
"Wha-?! Oh, Toshiro! You scared me!" she says innocently.
He only glares at her.
"Um, did you need me for something?"
"You can cut the crap, Kyoko." he says sharply.
"W-what are you talking about?"
"I still remember you from last night, you know."
"…I see." she closes her eyes and lets out a sigh. "I also told you to stay away from me."
"Why? Who are you, anyways?"
"That's-" she gasps slightly and cuts off mid-sentence, staring into the distance.
"What is it?"
"…Hollows." She jerked her arm out of his grasp.
"Where are you going?!"
"Where do you think?" she shouts over her shoulder as she runs off, Toshiro at her heels.
He ends up following her to the same park where Ichigo first fought Ulquiorra and Yammy. Twisting her head left and right, she scans in all directions. "Where are you?" she mutters softly to herself.
"What the hell are you doing?" asks Toshiro, aggravated. "If this is some stupid plan to avoid my questions, then you can just give up."
"Ugh, why did you follow me, you moron? I told you to stay away from me!"
"I'm the captain here, so I don't think I'll be taking any orders from the likes of you. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me a moron."
"Humph!" crossing her arms, she turned away from him and stuck her nose in the air. As she was about to march off, she suddenly gasped and whipped around. In a matter of seconds, she abandoned her gigai, shoved Toshiro out of the way, and thrust her zanpakuto into the stomach of the hollow that had been sneaking up on him until now.
"…how…?" stammered Toshiro in awe. He had never had a hollow sneak up on him like that before. He could usually sense them coming.
Kyoko chuckled rather sadistically. "Sneaky little bastard, aren't you?" With one swing, she cut the hollow clean in half.
Toshiro leaves his gigai and gets to his feet. "How was that hollow able to mask it's presence so well? And more importantly, how were you able to detect it?"
"Just a little talent of mine. I can detect spiritual pressure at a far greater sensitivity than the average soul reaper. In case you haven't noticed, I can also mask my own spiritual pressure perfectly. That's how I've been able to live in the same house as Ichigo and Rukia without them confronting me."
"Interesting, but perhaps we should save this conversation for a better time."
"That's the best idea you've had yet." smirked Kyoko as more hollows surrounded them.
They made quick work of the hollows, fighting together flawlessly. Despite the fact that Kyoko's skills were not nearly as honed as Toshiro's, they had no trouble.
"Not bad…your skills need fine-tuning, but you're still a very talented soul reaper."
"Thanks, I guess." she replied stiffly, walking off.
"Where are you going?"
"Home, duh." she shot him one last glare as she left.
About halfway back to his apartment, Toshiro realized that he never got to ask her any of the questions that had been bugging him.
The End…for now…
Well, there's chapter three for ya. lots of arguments. -lots of scene changes, too.
Oh! before i forget (as i'm prone to) i want to give you a little background info.
-Kyoko's a genius. well, as far as book-smarts go, anyways. She's the kinda girl who would be sharing a class with Light Yagami. -Not quite that smart, or crazy for that matter, but in the same classroom. (not tryin' to burn Light by any means!)
One more thing. this is supposed to take place after the Winter War and Aizen is defeated, (as the summary now says) yet i've only read up to the fight between Kenpachi and Nnoitra.(what can i say, the internet is distracting!) -so if something happens to be completely wrong, like someone who's supposed to be dead by now is up and walkin' around, please don't hate me.
oh, yeah, and I don't own Bleach, Kubo-sensei does; you know the drill.
-sorry for the looong footnotes! ^^'