Standard disclaimer applies.
Author's notes: Hiya! This past week has been very hectic, and so will this one. ((sigh)) But I really hope it gets better after the exams though. Anyway, as for this one-shot, it's a bit longer than the others so I get cookies, right? So, here we see a side of Ichigo we don't often see (or we don't see at all?). He might be kinda OOC, or not. I'm throwing in IshiHime too, because they are my second favorite pairing and I just couldn't resist. Added Tatsuki and Chad just for the fun. Please read and review. Have a nice week!

With that kind of friends...
06.11.2006

Three fifteen-year old boys surveyed their female classmates approvingly from the other side of the court.

"Did you watch Kuchiki today at gym class?" The black-haired Kimura Takuya eyed the mentioned girl as he spotted her on the track field with other two of their female classmates, the one with short, spiky black hair and the other of reddish-brown curls that went way past her shoulders.

"Huh?" His friend turned to look at him and then back at the field, "Yeah, she kicked Asano's butt in soccer today, didn't she? She's pretty cool." The boy named Hirotaka answered slightly confused about the question as his green eyes found the girls as well. They were standing some good twenty meters from them, but he could still distinguish the aforementioned women in their gym clothes.

"Not that, idiot!" the first one hissed, slapping his friend's head and glancing back at the black haired girl. He smiled impishly before crossing his arms and nodding appreciatively. The blue sports pants favored her as her legs looked longer than usual and it hugged her hips gently; and the white polo t-shirt framed her upper body prettily and contrasted with her dark, dark, shoulder-length hair. "See? She looks good in the girl's P.E. uniform."

"Seriously, Takuya, shouldn't you be looking at Inoue?" the third one piped up into the conversation, grinning as his eyes caught said girl's and she waved a little at them before returning to her own chat with Rukia and Tatsuki. Her exuberant personality often caught the boys' attention, even from those from other grades. Orihime was currently bobbing her head up and down excitedly at something one of her friends had said. He stuck his hands into his gym jacket and sighed. "Man, she has some body."

"I still think Kuchiki-chan has got one nice rack. She's quite small, but I think she'd fit in my arms rather well," Takuya smiled slyly. "Plus, she's really cute. Right, Hiro?"

"Yeah. But that Arisawa girl isn't that bad either, you know… Just check her out," the curly, brown-haired one noted interestedly, speaking of the last one out of the three girls. He grimaced slightly before continuing, "She kicks pretty hard, though."

There was no time to actually 'check her out', as the one orange-haired boy known as Kurosaki Ichigo suddenly snorted, appearing behind their backs out of nowhere. "Not just pretty hard…"

The three boys turned on their heels to face their smirking classmate carrying a net filled of basketballs easily slung over his shoulders as if it were nothing. Next to him, an even-looking Sado Yasutora and a crossed-armed Ishida Uryuu stood quietly observing the other male trio.

"Ku-Kurosaki?" the first boy stuttered. "Sado?" His and his friends' gazes changed from one to the other and then finally ending on the last of the three young men before them, the one who looked the scariest as of now. "I-Ishida?"

"I would advise you to cease speaking of Inoue-san, or any other girl for the matter, in such disrespectful ways. It's uncalled for and ungentlemanly," the glasses-wearing teen deadpanned. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, making them glimmer once against the sun's rays, before his serious, blue eyes narrowed at the boys. "I wouldn't like to teach you this the hard way."

"…"

"Heh," Ichigo glanced at Uryuu, seemingly humored, "Ishida, I didn't think you'd be the jealous type."

"Shut it, Kurosaki." His glare was met with one of Ichigo's.

"…" Chad looked on at their little bickering.

"Hurt a soft spot, eh?" the orange-haired teen taunted, the smirk on his face teasing. It seemed like he'd grown used to bugging the hell out of his self-proclaimed rival.

"…" And Chad looked on.

Crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his chin up in annoyance, Ishida huffed, "Bite me."

"Thank you, but no thank you," the other continued to smirk at the Quincy.

"…" And Chad still looked on.

"We're… sorry?" The two paused on their squabble to glance down at the one that had dared to speak up. Nagasawa Hirotaka, the one with green eyes and tawny brown hair, took a step back behind his two friends, gulping.

"You should be," Ichigo smiled almost pityingly, but only managed to scare his classmates further out of their wits. (And why were the other two behind Kurosaki looking at them like that!?, they thought anxiously.) "If Tatsuki ever heard you, you'd be praying in vain for your sorry asses in no time."

"…"

Ishida merely sneered.

"Can we… leave?" The one that had waved at Orihime previously, Minoru, squeaked out softly. He was trying to evade the annoyed glare coming his way from Ishida, wondering how such an even-tempered and silent genius boy that sewed as a hobby could look so… terrifying at the moment. "Please… sir?"

Chad raised his hand and pointed behind them. "There they come."

As Uryuu and Ichigo turned their heads to look at the girls that were walking their way, Ishigaki, Nagasawa, and Kimura took this as their cue to escape; they had been almost successful, almost. The latter hadn't gotten very far, as Ichigo had suddenly clasped Takuya by his shirt. He brought him to eye-level (making the poor guy float above the ground a couple of inches) and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Hey, Kimura, just one thing before, Kuchiki only fits in one person's arms and they're not yours. Got that?" Takuya had bobbed his head up and down hurriedly like the perfect imitation of Orihime just a few minutes ago, minus the happy smile and plus the terrified, pale face. "Good. Now, let's keep that a secret between the two of us. No one needs to find out, right?" The last word was said through gritted teeth, like a hiss.

"H-hai!" He nodded once again, quick enough to make his view spin afterwards.

"Kurosaki-kuun!" Rukia's sugary voice snapped suddenly, drawing their attention to her and causing Ichigo to drop the boy. "What are you doing to Kimura-san?" she inquired cheerfully. Then, the second scolding sentence came out in a much deeper, menacing voice. "Stop messing around with people."

"The hell you're talkin' about?" Ichigo snapped back, crossing his arms over his chest and pretending to be innocent.

Takuya slipped away as fast as he could and Rukia raised her eyebrows. "Nothing… huh? Anyway, come on, idiot," she hissed slightly, grabbing a smaller net of balls next to Ichigo's feet. "The teacher asked me to help you put these things away." Her eyes shifted to the red balls, then back to him. "Move it!"

"Whatever!" He grunted, trudging behind her. They walked past Ishida and Chad, who had been joined by the other two girls.

"Hyaan! Ishida-kun, why can't you tell us what you were talking about with Ishigaki-san and his friends?" She inquired curiously, tilting her head to look at Ishida straight in his eyes. The boy had lowered his gaze in hopes of avoiding hers. His usually pale skin changed into several pinks before managing to look away again.

"Forget it, Orihime. It seems the cat caught his tongue, again," her short-haired friend emphasized and smirked at Ishida. It seemed she was enjoying seeing him flustered up by a simple question.

Uryuu did her best not to glare at her… so openly. He coughed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose one more time in a very Ishida-like fashion (yet, this time somehow managing to look like a squeaky mouse) and glanced up at the tan-skinned, silent boy beside him for help.

"…"

Ah, not really helpful…

"Unimportant matters, Inoue-san," he rambled on after coughing once again, cursing mildly under his breath.

"Vegetables." The three turned to look at Chad curiously, blank looks stretched over their faces. Chad paused before speaking again. "We were… talking about vegetables."

"Seriously?" the red-head turned inquisitively at the Quincy, who nodded hastily though not completely able to erase the surprise from his face. Orihime nodded herself in understanding. "I see. Vegetables are good. Am I right, Tatsuki-chan?"

"Sure, Orihime, especially when you don't cover them with whipped cream," Tatsuki sighed, patting her best friend's head. The cheery long-haired female was about to complain when a sudden yell startled the three of them.

"Oh. SHUT UP!" Ichigo's voice snapped in the background, followed by a loud groan as the short-sized girl walking beside him elbowed him. They could hear him arguing loudly with Rukia as they came back from the storage room.

"Those two are at it again, ne?" Orihime's lips curved up, smiling childishly at their antics.

"Aa." It was general consent.

"They are really good friends!" she noted, still smiling as she waved at the two.

Ishida and Chad looked at each other while Tatsuki simply rolled her eyes. "Aa…"

¤ ¤ ¤

Around the school building, the three panting boys dropped to the ground, the last of them looking slightly blue in the face.

"Kurosaki and those guys are scary," Hiro gulped inwardly, as he and Minoru turned to look from the strange group of teens in the middle of the court to their friend on the ground. Takuya had already fainted.

Minoru nodded at this. "Very, very scary."