NEW CHAPTER :D Seeing as it's towards the end of the year, the amount of spare time they give us at school is incredible. Thanks to that I was able to finish this chapter real quick. It's even longer too. Yay!
I thought that I'd like to mention for the people in-the-know, I started watching Bleach about 2 days after I started writing this. I'm cursing myself for renaming Mikan as Ichigo, it's quite awkward.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I do writing it.
Chapter 3: Reunions
"Everyone! Listen up now," called Narumi in the home room of Class B. As a majority of the class began to whine, Ichigo Hana perked up her ears. She had received a vague warning the day before about being prepared. There was a plan. A plan that was meant to be set in motion today.
Ichigo examined Narumi from the corner of her eye. He was a kind man as always but some of his methods were quite infamous throughout the school. In the verging on loony sort of way. Though he was cheerful as normal, there was something different about his grinning face that gave Ichigo a heads up. It wasn't simply his usual beaming face, there was something else in it... mischief.
Five minutes before home room started, Hotaru Imai was rummaging through her bag. She had to make sure that she had the necessary equipment for today's procedures. Having spoken to Narumi the previous day, it was decided that 'Operation: Suspicion Suspension' was to be set in motion today.
She had appropriately been given the crucial task of controlling the students throughout the day. If anything were to get out of hand, then she would have to settle things. A sly sparkle reflected in her eye as she once again double checked her equipment.
"The baka gun, baka canon and baka bazooka (a more recent addition to the collection)?" asked her curious blonde boyfriend. "Are you out on an assassination today? What are they for?" Ruka was obviously shocked at the arms that her girlfriend had bothered to bring today. What was more surprising was that she brought the entire baka projectile collection. He started to feel sorry for the person these were intended for.
Hotaru, whose face was now chibi, continued sorting her possessions, "For pesky flies who get in the way of my plans." Ruka's sweat-dropped. Obviously, today wasn't the day to bother her. Not at all.
Hold on a second, thought Ruka, plans? His eyes narrowed as he interrogated his girlfriend, "Plans? Is there something you're not telling me?"
Hotaru looked up from her activities and stared Ruka down with a piercing gaze. Although he began to feel nervous, a determined Ruka held it. They stared for about a minute or so until Hotaru finally uttered, "Yes, yes there is."
Ruka's pupils dilated as he pressed, "...and?"
"What I haven't yet told you," Hotaru said slowly before she turned chibi again, "is that... I enjoy listening to reggae music while I draft my inventions." It was dismissive and definitely conclusive. Ruka nearly fainted. It's no use, he shook his head, it's definitely no use.
"Alright," Narumi said with a sure smile, "today we will be having a particularly special home room class." The students of Class B began to buzz with anticipation. Ichigo merely kept her eyes to the front; she did not want to miss a single detail.
"Hush now," he continued. "As you know, this academy is separated into the elementary, middle and high school divisions. Hardly any interaction between the separate groups are carried out with the exception of the ability classes. Even so, you are only exposed to a select few from each grade. I doubt that any of you have spoken to more than a handful of seniors either." Ichigo thought she knew where this was going.
"I myself have been a great supporter of interaction between the divisions of schooling and believe that there is definitely not enough! I have been proactive and strive to encourage such opportunities. These are such golden ways to let generations share knowledge with younger generations and build a close and blossoming school community..." His speech continued on for a few minutes. Ichigo found it dumbfounding that he could come up with all of this within a day.
Well, she thought, it is Narumi-sensei.
Haruo-sensei stepped in through the door of his home room class. The numerous chatters of the class died down as he entered the room. He was a very well-liked teacher in the middle school. He had mid-length, messy brown hair and was quite young. He'd often have students confessing to him or following him around. Despite this, he was quite a lazy person and slacked off many a time. But, as mentioned earlier, this was easily overlooked by at least the female population of the class.
He casually took his place in front of the room and began to speak, "Alright, alright class, listen up! I had a friendly chat with Naru – or Narumi-sensei to you – yesterday and he happened to come up with a good plan." What first seemed like excitement upon the faces of the students turned into looks of disbelief, surprise and mild horror. Narumi-sensei. A groan escaped the mouths of half the class.
"Well, he said some stuff about inter-division interaction and asked if our class would like to come on down to the elementary division, I'll be leaving you in his care for today," he had just confirmed the class's worst fears. "Mind you," he continued, "I think it's a brilliant idea too. You can never have too much of inter-division interaction. We don't have much in this school. I'm all for it."
He presented his award winning smile and within an instant a majority of the girls were hooked on the idea. No going back now. A sigh escaped Natsume's lips. That lazy, good-for-nothing creep, Natsume thought, he's only handing us over so he can go slack off somewhere. Give me a break.
"Well then, shall we?" Haruo-sensei invited as he made his way for the door. A large pack of girls followed him dreamily out the door. Natsume stayed in his seat, feet rested on the desk. No way was he going to go talk to a bunch of ten-year-olds. He would stay right here. He crossed his arms and shut his eyes.
"So what class does Narumi teach now?" Anna asked Kitsuneme.
"Hmm, Koko hasn't said anything so I suspect he's still the home room teacher of elementary class B." Natsume's ear pricked up.
"Oooh! That was our old class wasn't it? How nostalgic, I can't wait to go!"
"Hey, Natsume, aren't you coming?" Kitsuneme called over to Natsume.
Natsume grunted.
"But it's the same class we walked past yesterday," Kitsuneme persuaded. Natsume's eyes fluttered open. "We might find out about the Mikan look-a-like if we go, c'mon!"
This was all the persuasion Natsume needed. It took him some restraint not to jump out of his seat and sprint down the hallway, but he decided to keep his cool. He slowly (so slowly) put his feet on the ground and stood up. "Fine, I'll come."
He headed out the door and followed the rest of the class. Ichigo Hana, you better have something good to say for yourself.
"Ahem," Narumi cleared his throat. It had been around five minutes since he began his endless speech, so naturally half the class had zoned out. Sensing that it was about time for him to finish, the class once again turned their attention to their teacher.
"And so, without further ado," spoke Narumi as he dramatically motioned to the door and made room for entrance, "I present to you middle school class D!" He began to clap wildly. The class refrained from joining in but looked expectantly at door.
Although she was expecting it, Ichigo still felt her heart skip a beat when the first person entered through the door. She was about to see her old friends again.
"Well, I guess we should go in." A conversation of whispers ensued inside the hallway.
"So who's going to go first?"
"Not me."
"Nor us."
"Hey, what about you? I think the class rep should set a good example and go in first."
"M-me?"
"Yes, you."
"B-but -"
"Just go!"
As it happened a neat, bespectacled middle-schooler was shoved through the door and timidly shuffled to the centre of the room. "H-hello," he stuttered as he fidgeted with his fingers, "I'm Tobita Yuu, class representative of Class D. Pleased to meet you all."
Silence. The elementary class stared at the older boy as he beckoned his classmates in. "What an anti-climax!" said a sandy haired boy rather nonchalantly as he stepped into the room, "That's what half of you are thinking."
Ichigo, who was still recovering from the site of Inchou (who was still Inchou - class rep) let out a gasp. She tried her best to control herself at the site of Koko again. Biting her tongue, she nervously continued looking to the front.
"Honestly, Inchou," Koko continued, "you could put on a better show than that. These kids are rather disappointed." He motioned to the class and made Inchou even more fidgety. "Fine, I'll help you out," Koko concluded, "I'm Kokoro Yome from middle school Class D. I have the mind-reading Alice."
The elementary class burst into excited chatter as Koko, at least, met their expectations. The rest of the class slowly shuffled in and introduced themselves one by one. Ichigo began to feel more and more nostalgic at the sight of an increasing amount of familiar faces.
Ichigo's stomach churned when the last person stepped in to introduce themself. As soon as he entered the room, the class fell silent. The aura coming from him commanded respect and fear.
"Natsume Hyuuga," he stated tersely, "Fire Alice."
With that, he stood over next to Ruka. The class broke into further excited mutterings. Most consisted of gossip about Natsume who was always very infamous throughout the school.
Ichigo eyed Natsume. Was it only yesterday that she had remembered him? Was he one of the people that saw her? Confusing feelings began to rush through her. Luckily, she regained her composure the very second that Natsume turned to look her way. Quickly avoiding his glance, Ichigo turned to her right and engaged herself in a conversation with Yuri. This was going to be harder than she originally thought.
There! Natsume flipped his head to the side as he spotted a painfully familiar sight. Ichigo Hana. She seemed to be speaking animatedly with the person next to her. He stared her down, drinking in her features. A hole reopened in the pit of his stomach. No matter how he looked at her, she looked exactly like the Mikan he remembered.
No, she's not Mikan! Natsume told himself forcefully but then an uncomfortable feeling crept up inside of him…or have I forgotten her that much that I can't even tell the difference? At that thought, Natsume's insides felt as though they were twisting each other into tight, awkward and painful knots. He cursed softly to himself.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. Natsume reflexively tensed up and turned around to the source. After recognizing it, he relaxed. "What's wrong?" asked Ruka with concern. Natsume forced the unyielding knots to the back of his mind. He didn't want to worry Ruka, especially over such a trivial matter.
"It's nothing."
"Oh, come on," Ruka insisted, "you look constipated and you've been staring at the same spot for ages. What on earth could you be looking…at?" He trailed off as his eyes found what Natsume was looking at. He stared, mouth agape.
Natsume sighed, there was now no doubt that Ruka found her. "I-Is… Who is that?" Ruka stuttered at he pointed meekly at Ichigo. "…Mikan?"
Natsume grunted, although he felt the same when he first saw her, he got a tad annoyed. It was this and the fact that he wanted to avoid all the awkwardness that made him say, "No, of course not. Don't be stupid, Mikan couldn't be in elementary anymore."
Natsume slowly stepped away to find a nice secluded corner in which he could calm himself. Ruka gradually recovered, "O-of course," and he made way to join his best friend, still a little dazed.
Ichigo was still speaking quickly and nervously with Yuri – who by now was used to Ichigo's strange antics – when a looming shadow was cast over the two girls. Ichigo looked up only to find two cold lilac eyes staring her down.
Her face found new life as she exclaimed, "HOTA-" But before she could finish a hand was cupped over her mouth.
"Baka!" Hotaru whispered fiercely, "it's sempai to you."
Ichigo escaped from Hotaru's death grip and excused herself meekly, "Ah, sorry, um… hello, Hotaru-sempai." Ichigo chuckled nervously. Hotaru sighed.
"Ne, Ichigo, you know Imai-sempai?" Yuri asked. Hotaru was quite famous for her inventions throughout the school.
"Uh…um...yeah..." Mikan managed.
Hotaru nodded, "We were friends before we came to the academy, and she was like my little sister."
"Oh, is that so?" asked Yuri thoughtfully, "That's nice!"
"Yes, now if you could excuse us," spoke Hotaru. Yuri consented and waved as Hotaru dragged a helpless Ichigo to a corner.
As they leaned on the wall, a comfortable silence ensued between the two best friends. After a few moments, Ruka began to wonder where her girlfriend had gone. He was still suspicious about her motives for bringing the baka projectile collection. He searched the room.
When he found her, he let out a gasp. She was with none other than the Mikan look-a-like that he discovered earlier. They seemed to be whispering to each other. Remembering that Hotaru had violent incentives for today, he began to feel a little nervous. Could she be Hotaru's target?
"Psst, Natsume," Ruka called over. Natsume turned his attention to him. "Well, you see," Ruka began, "Hotaru has … plans … for today." Natsume's eyes widened; even he knew what this meant.
"What sort of plans?" asked Natsume tensely.
Ruka responded grimly, "The-whole-baka-projectile-collection sort of plans."
At this Natsume searched the room frantically for Hotaru. He didn't know why he was so worried. But perhaps there was something in the back of his mind. His eyes looked onto his target and he felt his heart skip a beat when his worst fears were confirmed. She was with Ichigo.
They were whispering stuff to each other, in an oddly familiar way. Natsume entered a panicky mode. What should he do? Ruka was feeling the same way. He had no hope of controlling his girlfriend but for some reason he didn't want her doing anything to the elementary girl.
They looked morbidly at each other. Ruka turned to the front and gasped audibly. Natsume whipped his head to the front just in time to see Hotaru extract a small pill from her pack and slip it into Ichigo's mouth.
"OH MY GOD, SHE'S DRUGGING HER!" Ruka yelped.
Hehehe, I thought I'd end it there. Unavoidable note: I just watched Harry Potter 7, good stuff (Y) I don't know how long until the next chapter will be up, because it's the last week of school and it's surprisingly busy. I'll try and write when I can but even if I don't update soon, it's not like I died or anything. Anyway, I'd adore reviews :) So um, REVIEW...please?