If you haven't yet, check out my friend VanityIre's Harry Potter fanfic! I have not gotten around to reading it because I am occupied with my own writing at the moment. I am extremely positive that her fanfic is worth reading, because she is a very good writer!

I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.

A/N: I am still behind, but catching up, to the word count I am supposed to have. It is a tedious process. I go back and forth between the anime, the Bleach Wiki, and Word. Everytime I watch the anime, I will rewind to re-read the subtitles to write the dialogue in the fanfiction. This makes it a very slow process for my writing. But I don't always do that, like last night I had a sudden burst of creativity and wrote what came to my mind instead of in the anime. ANYWAYS ... I do NOT edit this for the fact that this is for NANOWRIMO - editing is pretty much a taboo for NaNoWriMo participants.

This entry has 3,408 words.

Chapter Four: Promises Not Kept: Part One

Ayame walked into the classroom the next morning with a light bounce in her step. She was ready for the day's first lessons. There was something about what happened last night that made her giddy. She did as Ishida told her to do and never removed her cross from her wrist at all after their talk. When lunch came around, her mind was floating in the clouds. She was not aware of the glances students gave her. Not like they bothered her at all.

Orihime walked to her side and asked, "You seem awfully cheerful today. Something happen yesterday? You left the club really early."

Ayame chewed and then swallowed her last bite of sushi. She looked up at Orihime with a big stupid grin. "Nothing happened, I just feel really happy today!" A person entered her view, and she stood up. Ishida left the classroom with his lunch. She realized how often he would leave the classroom during lunch, but she did not know where he ate. Before she gathered her mind to make a move, she was blocked from moving by Honshō. The female student bent down to emphasize where she was looking.

"Oh~ Kawano, what happened to your necklace?"

Ayame blinked and looked shocked anyone would notice such a thing. Of course, she had come to know that Honshō Chizuru had interests in a couple of the female students, especially in Orihime. It made sense that she would being looking at Ayame's chest, and therefore see the necklace and Celtic cross. "Oh." She lifted her left hand and lightly touched her chest. "I felt like wearing it differently." The cross dangled, reflecting sunlight beaming in from the open windows.

"Doesn't Uryū wear something like that on his wrist, too?" Ogawa Michiru asked after appearing between the other two girls.

"What?" Honshō sounded stunned by this.

Orihime was silent, and remembered something. "He does. He's had it for as long as I can remember."

"What could this mean?" Honshō inquired.

Ogawa spoke over Honshō as she continued chittering. "Ayame, do you like Ishida?" Ayame looked to Ogawa with a question on her face. "I saw you two leave the Handicrafts Club room yesterday. Are you seeing him?" Honshō fell silent and the three girls stared at Ayame, pressuring her to answer.

"Ano…" She could tell the truth, but she was afraid. During the only times they talked, Ishida did not show much interest in her. To her, he seemed rather uninterested until last night. Even then, however, he seemed more interested in the fact she could be what he called a Quincy. There was nothing scarier than rejection on Ayame's mind right now if she said yes. "Ano… I have only talked to him a few times. We just happened to leave at the same time yesterday. He just made a suggestion to wear my charm around my wrist the other day, but I didn't move it until this morning." A little white lie never hurt anyone. Ayame, however, did feel a pain in her chest like a pin was moving toward her heart.

"That sounds like Ishida," Orihime said. Honshō let out a sigh, and Ogawa looked slightly disappointed. "Hey, we still have a few minutes left for lunch! We should do something!"

Ayame blinked. "What did you have in mind?"

"We could make a game up!"

"Orihime, every time you create a game it makes no sense." A girl with dark, spiked hair approached their group. "Besides, we've got phys ed next. We should be cleaning up and letting our stomachs settle before exercising."

"Oh, okay, Tatsuki."

Every student in the class was outside in the physical education uniforms. Ayame tugged at her white shirt as she stood in a line with her classmates. She felt a little underdressed because the gym shorts were not something she wore regularly. Kagine-sensei called out the role, and then told everyone that they would be doing track and field for the entire class. A few students grumbled in aggravation but were ignored. The girls and boys were split up between the activities: girls began with jumping and the boys ran around the track. Ayame joined the line of girls and then sighed. Today the sun was high and the day hot. Nearby, Honshō was latched onto Orihime and drowning her in compliments about her figure and how cute she always will be in any clothing. Ayame looked away from the girls to find Ishida. He was standing with Kurosaki Ichigo and the other guys, getting ready to run. The sound of people walking toward her caught her attention. She stopped fidgeting with her shirt when Orihime and the others huddled around her.

"So who's going first?" Honshō asked.

Tatsuki straightened up, "I'll go first!"

None of the girls argued with her. Tatsuki was the one girl in their class that was best at sports. The girls stepped back to give Tatsuki some room. Ayame watched Tatsuki approach the rectangular sand pit at a run. She landed ankles-first before falling to the sand. Measurements were taken, and Tatsuki dismissed. The sand pit was touched up to make it usable by the next person. Ayame was not next in line, and she would not be jumping anytime soon. Several girls were assigned to jump before her. This gave her some extra time to watch the guys.

Like the girls, some guys stood in small groups. Ishida stood off on his own, but was not preparing to run. "Hey, Ayame!" A female classmate approached her with a bright smile. "Who're you looking at?" The question might as well have been rhetorical. The classmate was not someone Ayame knew well. She brought her attention back to the guys when her classmate was finished talking.

"I was just wondering if that's Kurosaki's natural hair colour," she lied.

Her classmate did not appear to have recognized a lie when it was told. It was Tatsuki who answered her question, however, responding with, "That is his real hair. No dye or anything." She took a drink of water from a clear plastic bottle. "It's definitely got him into a lot of trouble in the past." Ayame glanced from Kurosaki to Orihime. Orihime had a smile on her face. Ayame was curious if she had or ever would see Orihime frown. Smiling all the time made Ayame assume the fellow student was an airhead.

"Okay, Kawano Ayame, you're up!"

Ayame froze and dreaded having to do the long jump. So far, only Tatsuki had jumped and landed the furthest from the edge of the sand. The others that jumped before Ayame dropped short, maybe half the distance Tatsuki jumped. She walked up to the starting line, prepared to make a sprint, and waited for the signal to start. When Tatsuki shouted "Go!", Ayame sprinted and then ran. She jumped at the edge of the sand, and in less than two seconds landed ankle-first in the sand and landed on her butt. Before she moved, one of the others told her to sit still for measurements. When it was read off, a couple of girls gasp in awe at the reading. Ayame had landed just short of Tatsuki's jump by a few inches. She stood up and brushed the sand off her bottom after she was allowed to move. By the time she looked back over to the guys, Ishida was already running down the track. He looked to be in a race against Kurocaki – though the run was not meant to be a race at all for today's class.

It was time to switch activities. Some were relieved. As the girls and guys passed each other, some stopped to talk. Ayame was hoping Ishida would say hello to her. She paused to raise a hand and say hello, but he passed by with a serious and determined look on his face. Her hello came out as a hushed sound and her hand became limp as she put it down to her side. Something worried her. What made him change from the gentleman last night? Vengeance shot daggers from his face to someone who had passed her by before he did.

Ayame was called to line up on the track with Orihime, Honshō, Ogawa, and Tatsuki. At the sound of a whistle, they went off at a run. All of them were able t okeep up with each other for a short distance. Tatsuki, Honshō, Orihime, and Ayame broke off from Ogawa as she could not keep up the pace. Soon, Honshō was slowing down. Ayame, Orihime, and Tatsuki stayed together, but it was Orihime who ended up getting to the starting line first.

"Oh~! Orihime~! I knew you could do it!" Honshō jogged up to Orihime and squeezed her in a hug. Tatsuki had to pry Honshō off of Orihime. Ayame bent over, her hands on her knees, and tried to catch her breath. Beads of sweat dripped down the sides of her face. Watching the girls made her chuckle. She suddenly felt that she never really took the time to get to know the girls more. Ayame's happy expression faded into one of melancholy thought. It had been a month since she had started school in Karakura, but she did not know anyone on a friendly level. She made a promise to herself to be more open to her classmates. A close friend would come in handy some day, and she was not sure how much she would be able to confide in Ishida. The order to see her after school came back to her. Ayame fought with herself to not read it as anything it could not be; she wanted to be realistic and not jump to conclusions too soon about their sort-of relationship.

The rest of the day dragged on forever. It seemed like only minutes had passed, after returning to the classroom from physical education, once school was over. Ayame skipped going to the Handicraft Club and headed straight for the shoe lockers. Ishida was already waiting for her. "Come with me."

He walked her away from the school. "Kawano-san… you can see spirits, right?" Ishida had his back to her. Her eyes glanced at everything around them. The area looked safe. No one was around to see them; no one to make an assumption out of nothing. She realized that she was over-reacting and decided to take a pause to breath before answering.

"Yes, I can."

Ishida stopped and turned around to face her. "Follow me, and I'll tell you more about what I said last night." Ayame was confused. Was she not already following him? There was no mistake that he tried to act cool in school, but some of the things he said were not cool. She walked a few steps behind him. They came to some stairs. Once they reached the top, Ishida stopped. Before she could ask why, he spoke loudly. "Do you plan on following us forever?"

She was spooked, and turned around. Ayame found that Kurosaki had followed them all this way.

Kurosaki stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding his bag over a shoulder. "You knew? When did you notice me?"

Ishida looked over his shoulder and down to Kurosaki. "I knew from the time you and Inoue-san spied on me from the door."

"Sugoi, I'm impressed!"

"You're an idiot. You fail to restrain your spiritual energy." He was turned around to face Kurosaki completely. Ayame was stuck between them. She looked from Ishida to Kurosaki and back to Kurosaki. What was she supposed to do? She was afraid to move at all. If she moved, the tension could possibly direct to her at the slightest movement or sound. Ishida adjusted his glasses before continuing. "You're clearly not aware of this. You lack the ability to detect anyone with a high spiritual energy." Ayame blinked and thought about this. She herself had not noticed his spiritual energy until the moment she saw him. The spiritual energy from Ishida was barely noticeable, opposite of Kurosaki's. "It's no surprise at all that you haven't noticed me until now."

"My apologies," Kurosaki said rather sarcastically, "but I've never been good with remembering faces."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Ishida pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Since the first day of school, I've known you had an unusually high level of spiritual energy." A look of alarm flashed across Kurosaki's face. "And I know that you became a Soul Reaper sometime in May. And… I know who Kuchiki Rukia really is." In the next moment, the area darkened and bright white ribbons, faintly glowing blue, were summoned around Ishida and Ayame. Both Ayame and Kurosaki gasped. They shared an expression of awe and fear. Ayame moved one foot back to hug closer to the wall, but found that she would not allow herself to leave the scene. She looked to Ishida. He had his hands on his hips, and the light from the ribbons made it impossible to see his eyes behind his glasses. It was easy to tell he was still looking down at Kurosaki with an annoyed and disapproving glare.

"Spirit ribbons?"

"Yes, spirit ribbons." Ishida continued. "The compression and manifestation of spirit energy in the atmosphere. And…" Ayame blinked, and Ishida was standing in front of Kursaki. She did not know how he got down there so fast. Kurosaki looked genuinely surprised at the move.

"Ishida-kun!" Ayame gasped.

He would not look away from Kurosaki to respond to her. The Quincy did not respond to her outburst at all. Instead, he grabbed a spot in the air between him and Kurosaki. A ribbon like the others, but coloured a bright red, appeared in Ishida's closed hand before Kurosaki's face. "Your spirit ribbon…" He stared at his classmate, still unamused by his confusion. Without hesitation, he ripped the ribbon in half. "Don't tell me you don't know. The ribbon of a Soul Reaper is a different colour." The red ribbon dissipated into thin air. Soon, the rest of the ribbons disappeared and the area was as it was before. "I challenge you, Kurosaki Ichigo, to a duel. We'll see who is stronger – me or you."

Ayame repeated, "Ishida-kun!" But he would not stop.

"It will also show that Soul Reapers aren't necessary in this world."

Kurosaki looked at Ishida with growing frustration. The tension in the air weighed down on Ayame. She looked from Kurosaki to Ishida repeatedly. Her hand was close to her mouth, and a finger raised slightly to show her fright. Ayame had begun to panic. What would happen if they started the fight right here and now? Should she try to stop it? If she did, she had no idea what would happen to her. Her attempt might have no effect at all, either. Kurosaki tsked and said, "A duel?"

"Correct."

There was a pause that made the tension heavier. Ayame blurted out, "What're you guys doing? Can't we all just get along? Don't fight right now!" She made exaggerated hand gestures when she spoke.

"Ayame." She froze and dropped her arms to her sides. Ishida did not move anything but his eyes to look at her. "If you want to learn, you should stay back and observe." Ayame felt a little upset, if not offended in some way. And here she was, beginning to enjoy her time with Ishida. If Kurosaki had not been following, this would not have occurred. She shut her mouth and gritted her teeth.

"I think you should listen to Kawano-san," Kurosaki responded. He then shouted, "This duel sounds stupid! Why should I have to do something ridiculous like that?" He folded his arms and continued, "I don't know why you have a grudge against Soul Reapers, but it's nothing to do with me."

"You're actually trying to get out of it? That's unexpected."

"What are you trying to do, Ishida-kun?" Ayame gasped and put her hands to her mouth immediately, realizing she may have said something wrong.

Kurosaki glanced toward Ayame. "It would be no contest to see who is stronger. Besides, I don't want to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend." He turned to walk away.

Unaffected by Kurosaki's remark, Ishida fired back. "I see now. You received your powers from Kuchiki-san," he adjusted his glasses again, "which means you're merely a substitute Soul Reaper. Without her command, you can't do anything." This stopped Kurosaki in his tracks. He looked over his shoulders, taking the bait. Ayame was stuck between thick tensions once again. Her eyes were wide with the fear of not knowing what to do or what would happen next. Then, Kurosaki opened his bag.

"All right, then, let's get to it." He had a mischievous smile as he pulled out a Ponkichi plush doll. The first thought that rang through Ayame's mind was: What kind of guy carries a stuffed animal with him?

She watched, stunned by what she witnessed. The Ponkichi doll started talking – yelling at Kurosaki, to be exact. Her inner girl could not resist the cuteness of the doll, but hearing it talk horrified her and overshadowed the cuteness factor as it continued to talk. Dolls are certainly not supposed to talk! "Cough it up, Kon." The stuffed animal exclaimed something in horror, and then Kurosaki forced his hand into its mouth. This feat did not look possible at all – Ayame knew that most stuffed animals did not have throats. The doll fell dead silent when the pill was removed. Kurosaki held a small green pill between his fingers after he removed his hand. He cleaned it as best he could on his shirt before popping it into his mouth. Once he swallowed it, Kurosaki split into two. One was the everyday Kurosaki in his school uniform, and the other was in period clothing with an over-sized katana. Kurosaki stood confidently. Ayame could swear she saw a smirk at the corner of his lips. "Kon, watch me kick his ass!" The other Kurosaki did not reply. He had caught sight of Ayame and rushed for her.

"Hello pretty lady!" He gave her a lecherous grin as he petted her left hand. "It's gonna get rough pretty soon. What say I take you somewhere safe and far away from here?"

Ayame was spooked by how fast he went from crouching on the ground feet away to holding her hand. She did not hesitate to drop her bag and throw a punch at his chest with her free hand. Her fist made contact. The possessed Kurosaki felt the hit, but did not flinch. He let go of her hand. Ishida and Kurosaki looked at the two of them with wide eyes. Ayame's face turned a bright red. She blurted out, "I'm not going anywhere, and there'll be no duel!" She turned to Ishida. "I thought you were going to teach me about the Quincy. Now, there's something called a Soul Reaper?" Ayame had obviously snapped somewhere between the beginning of the encounter with Kurosaki and being flirted with by a possessed body. She suddenly froze on the spot. Her head felt heavy, so she dropped it a little. "S-s-sumimasen. I think I'll just go home now." Fearing she made an idiot of herself in front of the two guys, Ayame picked up her bag and then turned on her heels. She ran as far as she could before stopping to catch her breath. Ayame reflected on what happened.

At first, she actually thought highly about Ishida… admiring him as a stalker would. She realized how uninterested he really was in her and how much more concerned he was in his own agenda. Ayame rushed to the conclusion that if she was a Quincy, she would have to figure things out on her own. She focused on the Celtic cross dangling from her wrist. It was of more importance than she had imagined – that much she knew. The image of Ishida saving her from an attack the other day flashed before her eyes. Ayame concentrated on his wrist, and the bow formed out of spirit energy in his hand. Another conclusion was rushed: the cross was her sorce of power. Ayame straighten up, dusted herself off, and headed for her grandparents' house.

That night, after a quick dinner and a shower, she started searching the internet for anything about spiritual energy and the Quincy.