A/N: It's a bird, it's a plane, NO!!!! it's CHAPTER ONE!! HOLY CRAP!!! Yeah, um, hai gaiz, not dead, really.... just.... dealing with a thing called LIFE. Unfortunatley....

BUT I'M NOT DEAD YET!!!

And I bring you Chapter 1!!! ....Two months late.... Eh heh heh heh, sorry about that.... Chapter 2 will be out sooner, I SWEAR.

But anyways, I hope it was worth the wait.... Enjoy! 8D

Chapter 1

"Toshiro? Hey, wake up, sleepy head. It's time for school."

Hitsugaya rolled over and peered blearily up at his father. "Wha—?"

"School," Ukitake repeated, shaking his shoulder gently. "Come on, up and at 'em."

The white-haired teenager groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Okay."

Ukitake had to smile at his son, bleary-eyed and tousle-haired. He shook his head sagely and told him, "Breakfast when you come down, alright?"

Hitsugaya brightened. "What's for breakfast?"

Ukitake smiled. "Your favorite."

Hitsugaya grinned. "N'kay, I'll be down after my shower."

Ukitake nodded. "Alright."

As his father left his room, Hitsugaya got up and spent several minutes milling around looking for his track pants and a clean t-shirt before taking an ice-cold shower. The water helped jolt him into full consciousness, so when he stepped from the bathroom twenty minutes later, he was fully clothed and alert.

"Morning, Toshiro," Ukitake greeted him as he walked into the kitchen.

"G'morning, Dad," Hitsugaya said, going over to the kitchen island where he piled his plate with pancakes, bacon, and eggs.

"You're not hungry or anything?" Ukitake teased lightly.

"Starving, actually."

Ukitake chuckled and took a sip of his coffee as Hitsugaya began to eat.

"Are you excited about your junior year?" Ukitake asked after several minutes of silence.

Hitsugaya nodded. "I'm looking forward to beating the pants offa Hueco Mundo High again!"

Ukitake smiled a little. "Don't get to cocky," he warned.

"I know," the teenager muttered.

There was a ring of the doorbell and Ukitake looked up from his paper. "Who could that be?" he wondered, standing. "It's a bit early."

Hitsugaya flushed. "It's probably Momo," he said quietly. "I invited her for breakfast. . . I thought I told you. . . Sorry. . ."

Ukitake eyed his son critically. "I see. . . We'll talk about this at a later date, but for now, it would be rude to keep Hinamori-chan waiting out in the cold, so to speak." He chuckled slightly at his joke then went to the door to let Momo in.

Hitsugaya was left staring down at the remainder of his breakfast. He heard the door being unbolted and Ukitake invite Momo in, who, after greeting the white-haired man, began to instantly complain about the heat. Toshiro felt his lips twitch into a smile.

"Good morning, 'Shiro-chan!" Hinamori practically sang as she skipped into the kitchen.

"Don't call me ''Shiro-chan,'" Hitsugaya grumbled to his pancakes.

"Hmm, icy today aren't you?" Momo asked, setting her backpack down on the floor and scooting into a chair next to her friend. "Are you just upset that it's summertime?"

"Technically it's almost autumn," Ukitake said, sitting back down in his chair and taking another sip of his coffee.

"Same difference," Hitsugaya muttered, still sore from both his father's chiding and Momo's use of his nickname. "It's still hot and muggy and decidedly nasty outside, and I hate it."

"But I don't!" Momo chirped brightly. "I love the heat! You've always been a snowflake, 'Shiro-chan!"

Ukitake's eyes widened as he choked on a sip of coffee and Hitsugaya reacted like a scalded cat.

"A snowflake?!"

"Denial is always the first sign!" Hinamori giggled.

"Is not!"

"Is."

"Isn't!"

"Alright, you two, settle down," Ukitake chided lightly, intervening in their argument before it came to blows. "Toshiro, relax."

Hitsugaya slumped back into his chair. "Sorry."

"It's almost time for us to go," Hinamori commented.

Hitsugaya looked at the wall clock, then at his plate and he hurriedly scarfed down the rest of his food. He stood and dumped his empty glass and plate into the sink and ran some water over them.

"My pack's in my room," the white-haired boy told Hinamori. "Be back in a sec." He darted upstairs and returned moments later, black backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Ready?" Momo asked, standing by the kitchen doorway with her backpack.

Hitsugaya nodded. "Yeah."

"Now hold on just a moment," Ukitake interjected. "I want to talk to Toshiro for a moment. Hinamori-chan, you go ahead; Toshiro will catch up with you in a minute."

"O-Okay," Momo stuttered, looking a bit surprised. "It was nice to see you again, Ukitake-san." She bowed and hurried from the room. The front door closed softly.

Hitsugaya bowed his head, bracing himself for the reprimand that was sure to come. He feet were suddenly quite interesting.

"So, you like Hinamori, huh?"

"I— what?" Hitsugaya's head snapped up.

"Hinamori," Ukitake repeated. "You like her, don't you?"

Hitsugaya flushed. "Well—that is—you see—uh. . . yeah. . . How'd you—"

"Know?" Ukitake asked, completing his son's sentence for him. "To be perfectly honest, Toshiro, it's painfully obvious."

"Oh." Hitsugaya flushed darker and inspected his sneakers once again.

Ukitake sighed. "I'm not mad with you, 'Shiro-chan. It was a mistake. You may invite Hinamori-chan over, however I would just like some forewarning next time, alright?"

Hitsygaya nodded. "Okay."

Ukitake smiled. "Glad we understand each other. Now hurry up, or Hinamori-chan will get worried."

Hitsugaya flushed. "Thanks, Dad."

Ukitake shook his head. "Go. You'll be late."

Hitsugaya nodded and darted down the hall and out the door where Hinamori was waiting. They began walking towards the school, Momo walking slower because of her longer legs.

"What'd your dad want?" Hinamori asked as they went.

"N-Nothing," Toshiro lied quickly, flushing a dull pink. "Just wishing me good luck."

Momo nodded, unfazed by the lie. "Okay then. Who d'you think is gonna be in our classes?"

Hitsugaya shrugged. "I dunno."

"I hope Abarai-kun and Kira-kun are in my class!" Hinamori said with a touch of wistfulness. "Oh, and you of course!"

Hitsugaya nodded. "Yeah."

"The class list'll be posted on the front doors, right?" Hinamori asked. "That's what the letter the school sent home over the summer said."

"Then shouldn't we just trust what the letter says?" the white-haired teenager asked slightly impatiently.

Momo shrugged. "I guess. Who do you want as your teachers?"

"I dunno. I don't really care."

"Well, I know who I want," Hinamori said dreamily, staring off into space.

Hitsugaya tugged on his friends arm to keep her from running into a telephone pole. "Focus, Momo! We can't have you missing school for a hospital stay."

"You're one to talk!" Momo snapped, shaken out of her reverie. "The boy who missed half a week of school because he basically lived at the hospital!"

"You know full well that was because my father was in a coma after having an attack!" Hitsugaya snarled.

"Geez, Momo, that was a low blow."

The two friends turned to see the ever-depressed looking Izuru Kira standing behind them, looking slightly disapproving.

"Izuru!" Momo squealed, launching herself at her blonde friend, her spat with Hitsugaya forgotten. "I haven't seen you all summer!"

Kira turned fire-engine red. "I-It's good to see you, t-too, Momo."

"I really hope you're in our class!" Momo said excitedly.

"Me too."

The white-haired teenager felt a pang of jealousy at Hinamori's over-enthusiastic greeting of Izuru.

"Well, why don't we just go to school and find out?" he suggested, picking up the pace.

"H-Hey!" Momo helped, "Wait up, 'Shiro-chan!" She raced after him, dragging the unfortunate Kira along in her wake.

When the three reached the high school, a large percent of the student population was outside, craning to see the bulletin boards that had everyone's homerooms on them.

"There's Renji," Hitsugaya said, spotting the tall redhead through the throng.

"Abarai-kun!!" Momo called out excitedly.

Renji turned to search for the caller of his name. When he saw them, he waved and pushed through the crowd to get to them. "Good news, guys," he said, looking like he was about to deliver something that would change their lives forever. "We're in the same room."

Hinamori, predictably, let out a happy exclamation and proceeded to dance with excitement.

"Rukia's in our homeroom, too," Renji continued. "Along with, Hana, Rikichi, and Rin."

"Kuchiki-chan?" Hinamori chirped, intrigued. "But that means she got bumped up to the higher classes!"

Renji nodded distractedly. "Yeah."

"What's wrong, Renji?" Izuru asked quietly.

"N-Nothing, nothing," Renji said quickly.

"Abarai, who's homeroom are we in?" Hitsugaya asked, changing the subject.

Renji shot Hitsugaya a thankful look. "I'd cover you ears," he advised with a grin. "'Cause our homeroom teacher is Aizen."

Hinamori gave a squeal of delight and continued her happy dance.

Hitsugaya rolled his sea-green eyes. "Stop acting like a child. You're embarrassing yourself."

Hinamori managed to contain her excitement, but still sported a wide grin.

"We should go inside before Sasakibe-sensei decides to give us detention," Izuru said quietly, eyeing the vice principal intently.

The man was standing on the stairs overlooking the courtyard, watching the crowd like a hawk, a sheet of neon-green detention slips under his arm.

"And I've got no inclination to get one," Renji drawled. "So let's jet before he decides we're loitering."

The four juniors struggled through the throng of students and up the stairs into the school. Hitsugaya started off down the corridor, only to be stopped by a confused noise from Renji.

"Where're ya going, Toshi?" he asked, using the annoying nickname he had picked up from Kaien the year before.

Hitsugaya pivoted on his heel. "One, don't call me 'Toshi,' and two, Aizen's room moved. Or did you forget all the boxes we helped pack at the end of last year? He's down at the end of the Foreign Language and Language Arts corridor."

"Oh," Renji muttered. "Trust you to pay attention to that kinda stuff."

"You bet." Hitsugaya rolled his eyes and continued down the hallway towards the classroom. Sure enough, outside of 104 stood the smiling brown-haired English teacher, Sosuke Aizen.

"Ah, hello everyone!" Aizen said warmly. "Welcome back! Sit wherever you wish."

"Hello, Aizen-sensei!" Hinamori chirped, her brown eyes immediately starry.

Aizen nodded at her. "Hello, Hinamori-kun. How was your summer?"

"Very good!" Momo piped up. "I did a lot of really fun stuff and I hung out a bunch with 'Shiro-chan!"

"Did you now?" Aizen asked over the shout from inside the classroom of "Dammit, Momo, it's not ''Shiro-chan!'." "That's wonderful. Toshiro, watch your language please."

"Yes, sir," Hitsugaya grumbled, sitting down in the front. Hinamori laughed, gave Aizen a smile, then plopped herself down next to her best friend. Renji and Kira moved to sit in the back.

"Stop being so grumpy, 'Shiro!" Momo said happily, taking her pen out of her bag and taping it on the desk. "Smile!"

Hitsugaya's scowl only deepened. Momo sighed and turned her attention to Aizen, who was greeting people as they walked in the door.

"Isane-san!" Momo called, waving the silver-haired girl over. "Hi!"

"Hello, Momo," Isane said shyly, coming over and sitting next to Hinamori. "How are you?"

"I'm good!" Momo chirped. "How was your summer?"

"O-Okay, I guess," Isane said, shrugging and putting her bag on the ground.

Hitsugaya sighed and tuned out his best friend's excited prattle as he watched the class trickle in. His eyes narrowed as he realized there were a few missing.

"Where's Hanataro, Rin, and Rikichi?" Hitsugaya muttered to Hinamori as the bell rang to signal the beginning of class.

Momo shrugged. "Where's Kuchiki-chan?"

This time it was Hitsugaya's turn to shrug. Aizen shut the classroom door and walked to the front of the room.

"Welcome," he said, smiling kindly at the class. "As many of you know, I am your English teacher, Aizen Sosuke. I'm not very strict, and so long as you behave and do your homework, you'll do fine. I'm going to take attendance, and then I'll pass out the things that need to be signed, give out schedules; and, if we have time, I'll begin to give out locker numbers and combinations."

The teacher went to his desk and pulled out an attendance log from a drawer. "Alright, let's see. . . Abarai, Renji?"

Renji raised his hand. "Yo."

"Ayasegase, Yumichika?"

"Present, sir."

Hitsugaya sighed and leaned his head on his hand. Their class was large this year, and it would take a while to read through all the names. He tuned out the names until…

"Hinamori, Momo?"

"Here!"

"Hisagi, Shuuhei?"

"'Sup?"

"Hitsugaya, Toshiro?"

The young teenager raised his head from where it was propped against his hand and called out, "Here."

Aizen smiled at him and marked the box next to Hitsugaya's name and continued on.

"Kira, Izuru?"

"Here."

"Kotetsu, Isane?"

"Present."

"Kuchiki, Rukia?"

Silence.

"Kuchiki, Rukia?" Aizen repeated, looking up from his attendance book. There was more silence. "Rukia is not here today?"

Several people nodded.

"Does anyone know where she is?"

Renji raise his hand. "She's not gonna be here awhile, sensei."

"Is she on vacation?" The teacher asked, looking puzzled.

"Something like that."

"I see." Aizen made a note on his attendance long then continued on.

"Kurotsuchi, Nemu?"

"Present, sir."

"Madaremare, Ikkauku?"

"Yo."

Aizen continued on with attendance for a few more minutes. As he was nearing what Hitsugaya knew to be the end of the list, there was a knock on the classroom door and Hanataro, Rikichi, and Rin entered.

"They put us in the wrong homeroom," Rikichi explained, handing Aizen their pass. "We were sent here."

Aizen nodded. "As you're on my attendance list, I am guessing you are indeed where you are supposed to be. Welcome back to my classroom, please take a seat."

The three boys nodded and Rikichi slunk to the back to take a seat behind Renji while Rin sat next to the long-haired Nemu, leaving Hanataro to take the remaining seat behind the silver-haired Isane.

"All right, then the only one missing is Miss Kuchiki," Aizen said, putting his attendance log back into his desk drawer. "I'm going to pass out the schedules now. After you get them you may move your seats and see who else has your same schedule."

Aizen picked up a stack of papers and began to pass them out. Renji got his first and desk-hopped to where Momo and Hitsugaya were sitting.

"Who d'ya have?" he barked as soon as they got theirs.

Hitsugaya glanced down at his schedule. "Aizen-sensei, Akon-sensei, then lunch, Ichimaru-sensei, Yoruichi-sensei on A days and gym on B days, and then Kyoraku-sensei. . . again."

"You have that one, too?" Renji asked, peeing over at his schedule. "I wonder why we have Shunsui again?"

"Maybe Ise-sensei isn't teaching this year and Kyoraku-sensei is teaching the higher up classes or something," Momo said, "because I have the schedule, too, and all three of us passed his class last year."

"Renji by the skin of his teeth," Hitsugaya muttered.

Renji was about to make an angry retort when a voice came over the intercom.

"Hello, teachers and students, sorry for the interruption. Could all current members of the soccer team report to the main lobby? They will be returning before the period is over."

Renji, Kira, Hitsugaya, Hanataro, Rin, and Rikichi all traded bewildered glances and stood up slowly, looking at their teacher. He nodded and they all headed towards the office. They met up with the rest of the team in the lobby, and they mingled together in one large group, looking rather confused.

"Why were we called here?" Hanataro asked timidly. "We aren't in trouble, are we?"

Hitsugaya could only shrug. "I dunno."

"Hey there!" a boisterous voice called out from the direction of the hallway that connected to the gym. "Y'all are the soccer team?"

The group turned to where the speaker was standing. He was tall, with shaggy black hair, dark blue eyes, and was wearing a black track suit with the jacket top tied around his waist, exposing his white t-shirt underneath and swirling tattoo on his lower-right forearm.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened in recognition. His eyes met the man's and the adult grinned a rather familiar lopsided grin.

"Heya, Toshi, how's it going?" the man drawled.

"K-Kaien?!" Hitsugaya stuttered as Renji and the rest of the team snickered at his nickname. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"It's not 'Kaien,'" the soccer player huffed. "It's Shiba-sensei."

"Shiba-sensei my ass!"

"Hitsugaya-san, do you know him?" Hanataro squeaked.

Toshiro nodded. "Yeah. He's an old teaching assistant and friend of my dad's. I dunno why he's here though. He's a player on the pro soccer team Gotei 13." There were gasps of awe from a few of the team members.

"Was," Kaien corrected. "I was a player for the Gotei 13. My contract ended this summer and I thought I'd try teaching again."

"Are you really a pro player?" Renji drawled, looking unconvinced.

Kaien nodded. "Sure am. Will prove it to you later if ya want, pineapple." Renji stuttered indignantly and Kaien continued as if he'd never been interrupted. "So, yeah, I'll be coaching y'all at soccer this year."

"We'll beat the Arrancars for sure!" Rikichi crowed gleefully. There was a loud cheer from the entire team, except for Renji, who was still nursing his pride from the 'pineapple' comment, and Hitsugaya, who wasn't about to act so childish.

Kaien laughed. "Glad to see you guys are so excited 'bout this! First practice'll be next Monday at six-thirty before school." There were understandable groans from the team.

"What?" Kaien asked, a dark eyebrow raised. "Surely you babies can handle an early practice? If you wanna be coached by a pro, you have to be on the schedule of one. No exceptions. Your homeroom teachers have the permission slips for first practice already in your classrooms. Now, git back to class before the bell rings!"

The team split without much argument and Renji, Rikichi, Rin, Hanataro, Kira, and Hitsugaya trudged back down the hallway to Aizen's classroom.

"Is he always like that?" Rin asked, discreetly popping a piece of candy into his mouth. "So . . ."

"Kaien?" Toshiro asked. "Yeah, pretty much."

Renji made a noise that sounded very much like he was cursing the coach's very existence.

"C'mon, Renji, lighten up," Hitsugaya said, rolling his eyes at his friends behavior. "That's just the way Kaien is. You'll get used to it."

"I can't believe we have to get up at six-thirty," Rikichi whined from besides Renji.

"Six," Kira corrected quietly. "Or earlier, depending on how fast you get ready in the morning." Rikichi let out a groan.

"I can barely stay awake as it is!" he whimpered.

Hitsugaya was quiet as they reached the classroom and reentered. As they crossed the threshold, the bell rang. There was a massive scraping of desks and people rushing to get into the halls and mingle with friends.

"Welcome back, boys," Aizen greeted them, handing them each a folder. "These are the papers you need to get signed by your parents. The soccer forms are included." The six teammates thanked their teacher and Hitsugaya grabbed his bag and stuffed the papers into it before following Hinamori to their next period together.

A/N2: So yeah, Chapter 1!!! Hope you like it! AND LOOKIT WHOS BACK! 8D Gotta love Kaien. :D (Especially my beta, who had a serious fangasm when she read this XD) And the trio of dorks of course. :D And Renji-the-pineapple. :3

EDIT 8/15: Now beta'd, yay! :D Thankies a bunch, Kit! :D

...so YEAH, drop me a comment/review and tell me what you think please! Comments/Review are crack, and will be used to fuel my addiction!!!

-Luffles, Toasty Vadar