Warnings: mild language

Noboru (Climb)

"It's pretty tonight." Gina looked up at the sky as they walked through the woods toward the mountains.

"Yeah." Hisagi nodded as he looked up as well.

"You wanna know a secret?" Gina giggled.

"What?" Hisagi looked over at her.

She was still looking at the stars as they shined in her eyes.

"Nah, I won't tell you." She shook her head and done a twirl.

"Aw, come on." He begged. "Now you have to tell me."

"You really wanna know?" Gina taunted.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Really, really, really wanna know?" She continued.

"Gina." Hisagi grimaced.

"Sixty-Nine." She made a face at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Just tell me."

"Well, okay..." She leaned up to his ear, as if whispering something. "Renji wanted to talk to you about me."

He was taken aback. "How do you know that?"

"Because I can taste his mind." She smiled before pointing forward. "About 500 meters that way. He's waiting. He heard I got transfered to your class and wants to question you."

"You can taste his mind?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"So you can, what, read minds?" Hisagi asked, thinking back to the incident with Captain Ukitake.

"Yep." She done a twirl again, almost falling this time but catching herself. "Itai."

Hisagi laughed. "What about my mind?"

"Sort of." She concentrated. "You're blocking, so it's hard. But I know that you're thinking that Renji has a little crush on me."

He gawked. "What? Nuh-uh."

"Yes-huh." She nodded. "And I wouldn't worry about that. We're just buddies!"

"Why would I worry about that?" Hisagi implied.

"Don't know." Gina shrugged. "Your mind just seems worried."

"Is not." He mumbled.

"You know, I'm going to change your nickname." Gina stated. "Cause Sixty-Nine is a mouthful and it's just way to obvious. What about...Emo? Yes, I shall call you Emo."

"Emo?" He asked. "What the hell is that?"

"You look like an emo kid." She told him. "With your hair in your face and your tat's."

"My hair is not in my face." He brushed his hair away to make his point.

"Uh-huh." She said. "Your new name is Emo."

"Whatever." He shook his head.

"Shh." She put a finger over his mouth as she peeked through the trees ahead.

She giggled. "Be very, very quiet."

Hisagi didn't have the slightest idea of what she was talking about, but when he was going to ask, she was already gone.

She flashstepped through the trees in a second, leaving Hisagi lagging behind. He ran as fast as he could until he reached the clearing where Gina had jumped on Renji's back and was trying to pull his hair down.

"Ow! Gina! Get off!" He demanded.

"I'm telling you right now, Renji!" She laughed. "You look a lot cuter with your hair down!"

"I'm not taking my hair down!" Renji argued, but she had already pulled on the tie and thrown it into the woods. "Gina! No!"

His bright red hair fell to his shoulders as she jumped off his back.

"Aw, there you go." She smiled before pulling a breathless Hisagi in front of her. "Now even Emo wants a kiss!"

"Woah!" Hisagi jumped before stumbling behind her. "No way."

Renji grimaced at the both of them.

"Why did you bring her?" Renji asked Hisagi.

"Because he's nice." Gina poked Renji in the chest. "Unlike Mr. Meanie-Pants, here."

He rolled his eyes. "You have the mind of a twelve year old."

"No, I have the mind of a Gina." She smiled. "There's a two year difference."

Hisagi collapsed on the ground and laid on the grass. Gina laughed as he tried to regain his breath.

"Aw, poor Emo." She sat down beside him and patted his head as he glared at her. "All out of breath."

"It's your fault." Hisagi told her. "If you hadn't of scared the shit out of me, I wouldn't of had to run."

"Did I scary the Emo-Bear?" Gina poked him in the nose. "Who's the funniest lookin' Emo-Bear in the world? You are!"

He swiped her hand away as Renji laughed.

"Ha ha!" He smiled. "She's in your class now! Now she can get on your nerves."

"Did I get on your nerves, Renji?" Gina asked him sincerly.

"Uh...no." He shook his head. "I do believe Kira wanted to kill you a couple times though."

"That's because he's a show off and I showed him up in Kido." She waved a hand at him. "That's all."

"And you kept messing with his hair." Renji added.

"Well, it looks funny." She shivered. "He really needs a hair-cut."

"Hey, hey, hey." Kira jumped out of a near-by tree. "Don't be talking behind peoples backs."

"Kira-chan!"

Suddenly, Gina was off the ground with her arms around Kira giving him a big hug.

"I wuv you!" She squeezed his torso harder.

"Itai! Itai!" He choked.

"Oopsy." She let go and sat on a rock before tapping Hisagi's nose with her foot. "Emo."

Kira looked at Renji. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Confirming my absolute death." Hisagi informed him as Gina repeatedly and randomly played with a braid by hitting it with her nose.

"Ah, so she did move to your class." Kira grinned. "Good luck with that."

"You guys say that like I'm some evil demon out to kill you." Gina frowned. "Am I really that bad?"

"No, we're just picking on you." Renji ruffled her hair and she glared at him.

"Yeah, Gina." Kira patted her back. "You're okay when you're not annoying the hell out of people."

She sighed and began playing with her hair again. It was her way of pouting.

"Kira?" She said as she poked her braid. "Why were you following me?"

"What?" He asked, fakely surprised. "I wasn't following you."

She didn't look up but closed her eyes. "Yes, you were. Why don't you like Shuhei?"

Hisagi was surprised to hear his first name, and also surprised that Kira supposedly didn't like him.

"I like him alright." Kira argued.

"Um-hm." She hummed. "That's why you don't trust him alone with me."

"What are you talking about?" Hisagi asked, confused.

Kira scratched the back of his head guiltily.

"Ever since you heard my voice in the clearing, you blocked your mind." Gina finally looked up at him, her eyes somber. "But you forget that the diameter of my power is quite large. I didn't know you were following me until I saw Renji while walking with Hisagi. And then I listened to your mind and provoked you to come out by talking about your hair. But I'm still wondering why you felt the need to follow me."

Kira coughed as she finished speaking and there was a waiting silence. He looked around at Renji and Hisagi's impatient faces and Gina's calm and collected expression.

"I just wanted to...make sure you were safe." He said quietly.

"From me?" Hisagi gawked. "What exactly did you think I was going to do to her?"

"Nothing, I-" He started.

"Kira, it's okay." Gina stood and put her hand on her friends shoulder. "But, honestly, just because Emo looks scary, doesn't mean he's gonna try something."

"What?" Hisagi asked, astonished. "Try what, exactly?"

Renji laughed. "I think he thought you were going to take advantage of her."

"Are you...serious?" Hisagi raised an eyebrow. "You are way to Knight in Shining Armor, man."

Gina laughed. "So that means you were planning on something. I knew it!"

"Was not!" He argued. "What the hell would I do? You could probably outrun me anyways."

"True, true." Gina smiled at Kira. "See! I'm safe with Emo. And Red Pineapple. And you."

"I think he needs a nickname, too." Hisagi said from the ground. "And make it really embarrassing, too."

"Hmm..." Gina thought.

She sat cross-legged on the ground and put her chin in the palm of her head as she brainstormed.

"Got it!" She called with a finger pointing towards the sky.

"Please tell me it has something to do with his hair." Renji smirked.

"In a way!" Gina jumped up and put a hand on Kira's head. "I dub you...Bou!"

Renji and Hisagi couldn't restrain thier laughter at the look on Kira's face.

"Why?" He demanded.

"Because Bou means both stick and shaggy hair!" Gina explained. "And you're really skinny and you need to cut your hair!"

"I do not need to cut my hair." Kira grimaced.

"Do to..." Gina danced around in a little circle. "Bou-chan!"

Kira rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Gina giggled. "Bou-chan! Bou-chan! Bou-chan!"

"Do I look like a little girl to you?" Kira asked her blandly.

"Do you want the truth or the lie?" Gina joked.

Kira turned on his heel to leave but Gina jumped on his back.

"Aishiteru, Bou-kun!" She squeaked.

"I really think she needs to cut back on the sugar." Hisagi muttered to Renji.

Gina jumped off his back and ruffled his hair. "Blondie."

Comments:

The Kira, Renji, Hisagi alliance! : it's true they were friends while in the Academy. And don't worry, Momo is thier friend, too!!

Kira's hair: I honestly think Kira's hair is cute, but Gina just picks on his hair for a laugh.

Kira not approving of Hisagi: I really don't think that Kira didn't like Hisagi while in Academy, but I had to come with some reason for Kira to just pop up!

Mind-reading: yeah, this isn't very common in the Soul Society (actually, I don't believe I have ever heard of it there before!) but Gina can be special!

Kira's nickname: I was looking through my japanese-english dictionary with my friend the other day and we were nicknaming Bleach and Vampire Knight characters and we came up with Bou for Kira! (not like Bou, former An Cafe band member!)