DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH. JUST THIS STORY.
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The Guardians Club
written by: anime16
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Problem Number One:
Part 2. The Whereabouts of the Stalker.
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Orihime Inoue slowly opened her eyes and groaned softly. She blinked, trying to adjust her hazy vision. When she could see clearly, she looked around and found herself in the infirmary. Gradually, the events that happened before she passed out started to come back to her. She immediately straightened up in sitting position and tears began to well up in her eyes. Why her?
"I-I-I-I-I'm glad you are already awake Inoue-san."
Orihime paused for a moment before following the source of the voice. Her eyes scanned the room for the second time and rested on an odd boy with a very large eyeglasses, bushy eyebrows and freckles on his cheeks. He has an unruly, brunette hair and bloated face. He has a small and chubby frame. He was sweating profusely and seemed to stammer a lot. He fished out a handkerchief from his pocket and began wiping away his sweat.
"Who are you?" Orihime asked cautiously, and then continued, "How did you know my name?"
"W-W-W-Well, you're quite popular Inoue-san, don't you know? You're very beautiful and kind." The boy offered her a grin while wiping his sweat with his now damp handkerchief. He grabbed a lone chair from the corner and was about to sit down when the doors of the infirmary banged open. Ichigo, Momo and Tatsuki appeared and approached Orihime worriedly.
"Hime! I'm so worried!" Tatsuki hugged her friend tightly. "What happened to you?"
"Inoue, you really had me – Tatsuki, yeah it's Tatsuki. You really worried Tatsuki, you know," Ichigo told Orihime in a very loud voice while scratching his orange hair in embarrassment. Dang it, I almost spilled the beans.
Momo smirked and elbowed Ichigo in the ribs, causing the young lad to wince. She stepped out and smiled at Orihime. "Hello, Inoue-san. I'm glad you're alright." She raised her hand and offered it to her. "My name is Momo Hinamori by the way if you don't know me. I'm a friend of Master –" She shook her head a couple of times and continued speaking, " – I'm a friend of Ichigo."
Orihime furrowed her eyebrows for a moment but then lightened up and accepted Momo's hand. They shook hands and grinned at each other. "Nice to meet you Hinamori-san, my name is Orihime Inoue."
After their handshake, Momo finally noticed the boy sitting at a chair behind them. He was glaring at them so much she thought his eyes would pop out of his sockets. She coughed lowly while grabbing Ichigo's necktie and forcing him to bent down to her level.
"What is the matter with you Hina?" Ichigo hissed. He was still busy looking at Orihime and Momo just have to intervene, cutting all his excitement and fun.
"That guy is glaring at us," Momo whispered to Ichigo, pointing at the boy behind them with her mouth. "He's really creeping me out. Can't you do something?"
"What's wrong with you guys?" Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "You've been whispering to yourselves. Is there something wrong?"
Momo gulped nervously and released Ichigo's tie from her hands, pushing him away a little. She smiled and said, "It's nothing. I'm just straightening a crease from Maste – Ichigo's tie. Yes, it's Ichigo's tie."
Meanwhile, from the Guardians' clubroom, Toushiro and the other members of the club were watching what was happening in the infirmary from the huge monitor set up by Renji. They installed secret cameras inside the infirmary when Orihime was still sleeping and when the boy with large glasses was momentarily out of the room. They watched every section on the screen and didn't let themselves miss anything.
"Those two were really bad at acting," Rukia grumbled, folding her arms around her chest and pouting. "You should have sent me and Renji instead of them."
"You two don't have any connection to Inoue-san while Kurosaki has and it's his childhood friend, Tatsuki Arisawa. And as for sending Hinamori instead of you, it's a good choice. We don't want you to act jealous once you saw Kurosaki and Inoue-san together." Toushiro sighed and continued watching the scenes that were unfolding in the infirmary.
"I'm an actress, Prodigy. And I'm not jealous about Ichigo and his princess. Why would I?" Rukia grunted and clenched her fist. "He was just gawking at her. I'm not angry because of that."
"See, there you go," Toushiro spoke up. "It's best not to talk about this anymore and focus on watching, Chappy."
Then he turned towards Gin and Rangiku. "Matsumoto, do you know that guy who was behind them?"
Rangiku narrowed her eyes and finally recognized the lad. "I know him. He's the captain of the chess club known for his dirty way of playing chess. He might seem stammering all the time but that guy is really cunning. His name is Tatsuya Hiragi."
"Ichimaru, can you search more about this guy for me?" Toushiro told the quiet silver haired boy beside Rangiku. Gin nodded and immersed himself in his laptop.
"Oh! Ichigo is blushing so hard his face could rival my hair. I haven't seen him like this. I'll definitely tease him later! What can you say Rukia?" Renji laughed like an idiot while pointing the monitor with his right index finger. "This is amusing, right?" He glanced at Rukia and he found himself gulping when he saw her glaring at him.
"Shut up Renji! I had enough of this. I'll just come back later," Rukia pounded the table and stood up. She swiftly glided towards the door and opened it roughly. She exited the room and closed the door with a bang.
Renji furrowed his eyebrows and asked everyone, "What's eating her? Didn't she find Ichigo amusing?"
Rangiku and Toushiro looked at each other for a moment and said the next words harmoniously, "We have idiots as members of the Guardians. Is our club going to be alright?"
"Hitsugaya," Gin called Toushiro. "I think we have a slight problem later regarding Inoue-san."
Toushiro sighed. "What is it?"
"Apparently, she would be detained later for her math class because she missed it today. Her teacher, Hiroto Matsuyama would teach her one-on-one and she would be dismissed an hour late than the appointed time." Gin explained.
"Why? It's the responsibility of the students to catch up for the missed classes. Why is Matsuyama-sensei offered to tutor her?" Toushiro narrowed his eyes for a second and placed his right hand under his chin, thinking deeply.
"It is said in his report that Inoue-san was slightly failing his classes. He noted that she couldn't focus during class hours and would hand her assignments late," Gin answered.
"That's because she was burdened by her stalker. So if that's the case then she would be walking alone towards the dorm late at night," Toushiro hissed. He sighed again for the umpteenth time and said, "We're going to protect her. We need to make sure she would reach the dormitory safely."
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When the bell for the dismissal filled the air, the students whooped and quickly stood up. True to Gin's information, Orihime was indeed asked to stay behind for catching up for today's math class.
"Are you going to be alright? Do you want me to wait for you?" Tatsuki asked her best friend.
Orihime shook her head. "Our dormitory was really near the school. I would be alright so you don't need worry that much Tatsuki-chan."
Tatsuki nodded and hugged her friend. "Then I'll be going now Hime. Good luck to your make up classes." She peeled herself away from her friend and skipped towards the door. Before leaving, she waved her hand and Orihime returned the gesture.
Orihime smiled and took a deep breath. "I can do this!"
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Hiroto Matsuyama is a very fine man. He was good-looking with his newly trimmed, tidy, black hair and shaven face. He has tall stature and lean, slightly muscular body. He wears glasses to cover his brown eyes.
Time seemed to fly when studying and finally, Orihime's makeup class was over. Orihime was about to stand up from her seat when Hiroto-sensei grabbed her hand. Orihime gasped and forcefully yanked her hand away from her teacher. "What are you doing sensei?"
"Whoa, easy there, Inoue-san...I just want to talk to you about why you can't focus on my classes anymore." Hiroto-sensei gave her a sheepish grin and said playfully, "Then you suddenly tugged your hand away from me just like that."
Orihime's voice rose dangerously, "It's because you..." Realizing that she was talking to a teacher, she stopped her words mid-air and calmed herself and her beating heart. She took deep breaths then sat on her chair again. "I'm sorry sensei. I really have a rough day today. I'm sorry for my behaviour."
"No, it's alright. But more importantly, are you alright?" Hiroto-sensei asked with concern lace on his voice. "Do you have any problems at all that you want to confide on me?"
"Nothing really sensei," Orihime muttered. She had a feeling that she didn't want her teacher to know. It's alright because she already sent a letter of distress to the guardians. Surely, they would come one of these days to help her.
Hiroto-sensei placed his own hand on top of Orihime's hand and squeezed it gently. "If you have any problems at all, feel free to approach me, Inoue-san." She pulled her hand away from her teacher again and gathered her things.
She placed everything in her bag and spoke up, "Thank you for teaching me sensei. I'm going now." Orihime exited the room in a flash because her very own teacher was giving her a very, very bad feeling.
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"I thought I was going to be partnered with Hina in this mission. Why in hell are you here, Toushiro? Don't you have any better thing to do in the dormitory?" Ichigo asked the white haired boy beside him while sneezing loudly.
"Please cover your mouth while you sneeze, Kurosaki," Toushiro mumbled. "I don't want to catch anything from you."
"Oh, shut it Toushiro. It's cold. How about you? Aren't you cold?"
"The temperature is tolerable..."
"No it's not. It's just your weirdness again. You love winter so much that you can tolerate anything cold..." Ichigo trailed off, "...that is what Hina said."
"That girl...is saying too much again," Toushiro grumbled.
"Why did you substitute for Hina anyway?" Ichigo questioned the white haired lad. "You don't usually do this."
"It's already dark. Girls should not be out at night time. It's dangerous."
"For what I remember last time, you ordered Matsumoto-san to follow a student from our school that is always skipping class, and you didn't substitute her when it was night time."
Toushiro didn't have a say on that so he kept quiet.
Ichigo smirked and snaked his arms around Toushiro's neck, mock-strangling him. "You little white dog! You are only worried about Hina's safety. I didn't know you could be sweet like this Toushiro."
"AH!" Toushiro shouted, pointing at some place with his mouth. "It's Inoue-san!"
Without delay, Ichigo untangled his arms from Toushiro's neck and frantically turned his head everywhere. "Where is she? Where? Where? Where?"
Toushiro raised his fist and smacked Ichigo in the head. "She is still inside the school. I only said that because you're trying to kill me by strangling me."
"You...I won't believe you anymore."
As if on cue, Orihime came out of the school, running like a madman.
"Inoue-san!" Toushiro said. "She finally came out of the school!"
"I said I won't believe your lies anymore!" Ichigo grunted. He folded his arms in front of his chest and glared at nowhere.
Toushiro rolled his eyes and pushed Ichigo to the bushes. "We'll be seen by her if you keep that up."
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Orihime walked swiftly on her way home, as if the ground has no friction. Her heart was thumping like crazy and she thought that she was getting paranoid. She tried to calm herself but to no avail. She paused for a moment to catch her breath then continued walking again.
The distance between the school and dormitory was not that long so she assured herself for the nth time that she was going to be alright.
Suddenly, out of the darkness, someone grabbed her hand. Her eyes widened and she screamed. "No! No! Please!"
"Hime! Don't run away! Stay with me! It's –"
"NO! Someone please help!"
"OI. What in hell are you doing to her?" A voice she knew so well suddenly spoke up. She sighed with relief and looked up, finding Ichigo beside her. "Kurosaki-kun! Thank God you're here!"
Ichigo was glaring at the man clad in hooded jacket who was trying his best to hide his face. Ichigo clutched the man's hand so tightly Orihime thought it would break. The man snatched his hand from Ichigo's iron fist and pushed him a little before breaking into a run.
He saw Toushiro standing not too far from him. He was blocking his path and way of escape. He changed route and went to the stiff rocks on the side. He tripped a few times and disappeared in the darkness.
"Damn! He got away!" Toushiro cursed under his breath. He approached the rocks and fished out his cell phone from his pocket. He opened the gadget and used it as a source of light to investigate the path the man in hooded jacket took. He smirked when he saw something.
He sauntered over his friends and bent over to look at Orihime who was being hugged so tight by Ichigo on the ground. "Oh? You two are being comfy down there!"
Both of them stiffened and quickly broke apart from each other.
"You don't have to worry about me. Come on, continue what you're doing."
"Shut up Toushiro," Ichigo rumbled.
Toushiro sneered at him and glanced at Orihime. "Are you al – what is that? Is that skin?" He pointed at something resting on top of Orihime's bag. She followed the direction he was pointing and saw a skin-colored object lying just above her bag's zipper.
Toushiro stooped down and grabbed it from her bag. "Oh it was just a paper." He sniffed it and placed it in his pocket. "Maybe it will serve as an evidence later." He saw something glistened on the shadows of the trees. He stood up and held a finger on his lips. "Shhhhh... guys wait here."
He cautiously walked towards the trees and bushes darkened by the color of the night. He used his cell phone again but found no one. "I definitely saw it here," he mumbled. He focused his light on the ground and saw a couple of cigarette butts lying on it. He knelt down, grabbed his handkerchief from his pockets and picked up the cigarette. It was still warm. He neared his face on the cigarette butts to examine it better.
A thought struck him and he smirked. "Hmmm...So that's it, huh."
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To be continued...
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