Disclaimer: I don't own BLEACH.

Warning: OOC-Ness, Angst, Mystery, Slight Romance

Off-topic Rant: After reading the recent chapters of Bleach, I can't help but become nervous and it's all because of Kubo. Kubo, you better deliver next chapter or I will have your head! _

Special Thanks: 110 Views, 86 Visitors, 1 Favorites, 1 Follower. Thank You so much for the love you all have bestowed on this story! ^.^

"The incident occurred in an orphanage named the KaraKura orphanage. Few days ago, KaraKura orphanage was caught in fire. It appeared that one kid, who was playing with fire, had accidentally allowed the curtains to catch fire and without adults' supervision, the whole orphanage caught fire and there were no survivors in KaraKura Orphanage. As the local residents said, a few days ago, about 0700, when they just woke up, they saw blazing fire and they heard a lot of screams just within KaraKura Orphanage."

A door opened and Ichigo walked out the door, having brushed his teeth and did all of his morning routine, coming out just for breakfast and ready onwards his journey to school. The 'Dreaded' school, or that's what Ichigo would have said, not for his sister happily greeting him when they were so glued to the television before, them being alerted just by the door opening. "Good morning, Onii-chan!"

Without even looking, Ichigo could tell that his Dad wasn't around. If not, there would be a brutal fight right about now instead of the 2 sister enjoying their TV. And, if Isshin was around, let's just say he would have a pissed off morning. "Morning. Where's Dad?"

"He has a meeting. He won't be home tonight."

Ichigo wondered what meeting could his Father be on about. Despite that Isshin being a doctor, there wasn't much errands that needed Isshin to really be there for. Deciding that he didn't care and his sisters would probably take care of themselves quite well, with or without Isshin. Though, if Isshin was to hear that thought, hell would probably descend on him. "I see." His gaze turned to the television where rubbles and shackles were shown. "Huh...?"

"Investigators and fire experts and currently working together to find out what could have caused the fire when all flammable products are supposed to be caught out of reach for children under 5 years' old."

Yuzu walked near to Ichigo, wondering what he was watchng. Ichigo had never seemed to be interested in news anyway. "What's wrong?"

"Looks like what she said was real after all..."

"The incident occured in an orphanage named the KaraKura orphanage. Few days ago, KaraKura orphanage was caught in fire. It appeared that one kid, who was playing with fire, had accidentally allowed the curtains to catch fire and without adults' supervision, the whole orphanage caught fire and there were no survivors in KaraKura Orphanage. As the local residents said, a few days ago, about 0700, when they just woke up, they saw blazing fire and they heard a lot of screams just within KaraKura Orphanage."

Taking a bite of her breakfast which is what she would call 'The Salad', only suspecting Youruichi would cook that because she was simply too lazy to cook anything else. Of course, she had Urahara for that, why would she even bother cooking herself? Rukia shook her head mentally. Why had Urahara assigned Rukia to Yoruichi again? Right, because if they were assigned to Urahara, things would be soooo much better. Simply said, Yoruichi was consider 'The Better of Two Evils'. Did that make sense? Apparently not. "Hm..." The cat purred, causing Rukia to ruffle Yoruichi's fur in a loving way, making her pissed but apparently, Rukia was okay with that. "Nothing, I just figured out why there are suddenly so many souls in KaraKura recently."

The question, hanging in the air, was not asked but a purr was heard. "I didn't inform Urahara." Fingers stilled for a moment before resuming stroking Yoruichi's fur. "Regarding the soul that you told me yesterday, I didn't inform Urahara about it."

Still gazing at the television, Rukia shrugged. "Is that so."

"Were you expecting me to?"

Rukia was silent for a moment. She certainly wasn't hoping for anything to happen when she risked to tell Yoruichi of the soul that had resided in KaraKura. Had she expected Yoruichi to tell Urahara? Taking a piece of the salad, she gazed at the cat. "Why didn't you?" The cat stayed silent and Rukia took it as a cue to continue. "I mean, we might have not been able to do anything about it but..." Rukia stayed silent after that and smiled, a hollow smile that she felt like laughing. What was she saying? If either of them had revealed their identities, all of these life... Would be for nothing. And, she had no confidence that the Resident Shinigami in charge of KaraKura Town wouldn't rat Urahara out. "I apologize, I was out of line."

The cat stayed still on Rukia's lap, knowing that there were no words that she could say in order to make this better. Rukia had always thought that she carried the whole world on her shoulders. Back then and now wouldn't make a difference, Yoruichi had thought. But, she had always thought she saw a little of the reckless Rukia she saw back then, when she had pleaded to Urahara. And now, she definitely was seeing it, her job of a Shinigami leaking through her words yet the force of reality had caused her to stop and allow her to be apologetic for her words. "Don't be, Rukia." Rukia was silent. "I didn't take offense at your words." Silence was all Yoruichi met. "If I had a choice, I would have informed Urahara."

Be it consoling or the truth, Rukia had gazed up at the cat. "Why...?"

"If I had a choice, Rukia, I would." There was certain emphasizing of 'If I had a choice', Rukia knew. And, she knew, by her words, she wasn't the only one hurting after all. But, reality forced them not to have a choice. "But, we didn't have a choice in this matter, Rukia. All of us don't." Breakfast was officially abandoned as Rukia thought of the things, of the wretched situation that led to this life of hiding. If she had never realized anything was wrong with the Hollow back then, if she had never pleaded Urahara, would things have stayed where they were? Would she have been happy with that? Would Kaien have been happy with that? Sensing Rukia's distress, the cat purred. "Do you regret everything you have done up to this point, Rukia?"

Before she could answer, a bubbly voice made itself known. "Good morning, Mama! Good morning, Yoruichi-san!"

Both of them stiffened. Well, Kaien was certainly much earlier today, out of all the days. With her hair covering her eyes, she responded. "Morning, Kaien."

Yoruichi, seeing this, sighed mentally. She knew she had to buy some time for Rukia to actually calm herself down. What's more, with Kaien's observant personality, this action of Rukia's won't go unnoticed by him. Yoruichi's gaze stayed on Kaien as he bounced and sat on the chair like the happy kid he was. Realizing the awkward tension, Kaien gazed at Rukia and his eyebrow raised in confused. Did something happen to his Mother? Why was his Mother not looking at him? His small hands reached over to grab Rukia's, whose hands had stopped moving in a futile attempt to calm herself because she knew as well that she couldn't possibly allow Kaien to see that she was crying or even attempting to cry. Yoruichi, sensing the danger, leaped off Rukia's lap and landed on Kaien's lap, curling to a ball on Kaien's lap, causing Kaien to yelp at the soft sensation. But, seeing that it was Yoruichi, he smiled happily and began stroking Yoruichi's fur. If there was anything the cat yearned, it was Kaien ruffling her fur. "Yoruichi-san, good morning!"

A purr. "Good morning, kiddo. Your Mother said that I could bring you out today, knowing that you are always trapped at home. Would you like to go somewhere?"

Kaien gazed towards Rukia who had resumed her smiling face while gazing at Kaien, save for some tears that stayed stubbornly in her eyes, thanks to Kaien's attention span for 1 second. "Can I, Mama?"

Rukia reached out and held Kaien's hands in her own. "Kaien, I know you are dying out to go out on your own. Since I can't allow that and you are too young, Yoruichi has talked to me and I will allow her to bring you out, just this once."

Kaien's eyes shone. "Anywhere?"

Rukia smiled. "Anywhere of your choice. Now, eat your breakfast and prepare yourself. You know how Yoruichi is, she won't keep waiting."

Kaien bounced out of the chair and went to prepare himself. Rukia gazed at Kaien's retreating back before standing up and grabbing her teaching materials. Fixing her dress, she knew it was time to prepare herself for the first day of KaraKura High, no matter what class she might be assigned to. Did she regret Kaien? She was about to leave the house when Kaien came down, seemingly forgotten something. "Mama!" Rukia gazed back at Kaien. "You aren't going with us?"

Rukia knelt down. "Of course not. Mama's going to KaraKura High, remember?" Kaien seemed to remember his request from yesterday and pouted before Rukia giggled. "I promise you, Kaien, I will negotiate with the principal before letting you know of the answer, alright?" Kaien pouted but obediently nodded, knowing that his Mother would keep her promise this time round, unlike the other time. Suddenly remembering something, Rukia took out a bracelet and placed it on Kaien's hand. Kaien was confused but gazed up at his Mother nevertheless. "It's a present for you, Kaien."

Instead of thanking Rukia, Kaien instantly whined. "But, Mama... The bracelet... Looks so girly!"

Rukia should have bonked Kaien for calling Chappy girly for that one but she knew better. She was almost late for her first day and any form of insulting her favorite idol ain't happening right now. Change of techniques. "But, Kaien, this is a gift Mama's buying for you. See, I even have an identical one, right here." Stretching out her arm, Rukia revealed an identical Chappy bracelet worn on the same hand that Kaien was wearing right now. "So, wouldn't you be a Dearie and wear it? For the sake of Mommy?"

Knowing by those words that she had gotten Kaien to wear the bracelet temporarily, she kissed Kaien's cheeks before taking the spare key out of her pockets and unlocking the door, only to halt her steps. Did she regret all of this? "Yoruichi." How Rukia had calculated the time Yoruichi took to change and came out of the room, she would never know. "I guess I don't regret anything."

A classmate who was standing near his house took off his earpiece and stopped concentrating on his Playlists once he noticed Ichigo, raising up a hand in greeting. "Morning, Ichigo. Ready to go to school?"

Noticing Yuzu and Karin walking out of Kurosaki Clinic moments after he did, he swung the bag behind him and faced his classmate. "Morning, Mizuiro. Come on, let's go to school before we are late."

"Did you hear, Ichigo? I heard that a new teacher was coming to teach our class."

Ichigo nodded. "It was a rumor that started a little before the previous semester ended, wasn't it?"

Mizuiro nodded as well. "It seemed as if Ochi-Sensei was rushing off to her wedding, that's why she resigned on such a rushed notice and the Principal, seemingly, was wondering what to do with our class when a new teacher seemingly offered to join KaraKura High."

Ichigo knew, if he wanted some information on how the school system works and what was happening in their class, Mizuiro was the one that he should ask. "You would know all of this information, huh, Mizuiro?" Mizuiro simply shrugged. Ichigo wasn't one to gossip but towards the new teacher, it all didn't add up. "So, the Principal had simply assigned the new teacher that just joined KaraKura High to our class?" Mizuiro nodded. "It seems weird, don't you think?" Mizuiro looked at Ichigo. "It just doesn't act up, why would the Principal assign someone new to KaraKura High to our class? It just doesn't make sense, to be honest."

Apparently, Mizuiro didn't think much of it. "I wouldn't put so much thought on it, though. All of us knows that when a new year comes along, we all have to adapt to new teachers, new classmates and things like that."

Before Ichigo could continue the conversation further, he saw a group of... What should he call it? 'Thugs' standing right in front of KaraKura High's gate and students who were by now, entering the school, cowered in fear and were scattered by one big fat guy who seemingly, were the 'Leader' of the Thugs. Narrowing his eyes, Ichigo continued his stroll with Mizuiro to the school, pretending as if he hasn't seen such a thing. What's with this guy anyway? This is KaraKura High for goodness' sake! If this particular guy and his gang didn't leave soon, Ichigo wouldn't be surprised if the Principal of KaraKura High had came out that instant and stopped the fight himself. But, seriously, what's up with that guy? Though, he wasn't surprised when the guy demanded for him. "Is there a bitch named Kurosaki Ichigo in this school? Get your ass out here!"

"Looks like they are looking for you, Ichigo." Mizuiro commented.

"Everybody seems to be looking for me the first time I stepped into this school." Ichigo shrugged without taking off his gaze at the 'Leader'.

Mizuiro laughed. "That's right, you are always such a troublemaker."

Ichigo scoffed. In all the years that he has been in KaraKura High which was just the second year, it wasn't false that Ichigo had been to a lot of trouble due to his hair, his rude behavior and his 'Do-Not-Care' attitude but in his 2 years of being in KaraKura High, he didn't remember getting involved with this particular 'Leader'. Though, he would remember this face if he was from KaraKura High but judging from the uniform, this guy isn't from KaraKura High. So, who exactly is he? And, why was he looking for him? Had he gotten into a fight with him before? "Look what he did!" Dangling from the 'Leader's' hand was a guy covered with a hood jacket and the right side of his face were covered with stitches. "That Kurosaki guy broke 7 of my boy's teeth. Seriously, 7? What's wrong with you?! Normally, it would be 2 at most!"

"Wow, those stitches looks bad, Ichigo." Mizuiro commented.

Was there an incident that he had beat someone that hard? He really didn't remember. "I really don't remember such an incident happening though. I would think I would remember if I hit on someone so hard that his teeth was busted."

Mizuiro laughed. "You were always quick to forget incidents, Ichigo."

Ichigo continued concentrating at the situation at hand, seeing the guy folding his arms and releasing the poor guy. "I know you are listening, Kurosaki." Genius, who wouldn't be listening once the Leader had began to shout his name over the whole school? "You must be pissing your pants, wondering how I found out your name!" Although, Ichigo was still scratching his head, figuring what had happened to have boys entering their own school and creating trouble. "You don't know nothing! My boy saw your face real clear! Plenty of ways to find a guy after that."

Real clear? Mizuiro was wrecking his brain as well, trying to think of such an incident when his mind went off and pointed to a side entrance and Ichigo nodded. Of course, how could one forget that KaraKura High had a side entrance to it as well? "Say, Ichigo, would it be the theft that Keigo and I had encountered a week ago where you ran after him? I remember his face looked slightly like that though." Theft? What was Mizuiro on about now? "Do you remember after school, when we were together going through a tutorial process when a guy was running away?"

Ah, so it was that incident.

It was after tutorial lesson that Mizuiro, Ichigo and Keigo were on their way back home. Sure, Keigo was a pain in the ass and Mizuiro was silent but Ichigo felt glad that at least 2 of his classmates were there, suffering with him despite sucking at this particular subject after all. Why would one need to learn Physics in High School, Ichigo would never know. But, as long as he did well in the other classes, it was okay, right? Apparently not since Ochi-Sensei felt that it was necessary to give them her last lesson as a teacher the 'Physics Tutorial'. And now, finally out of class, they were on their way home... "Hey, you!" A guy came running past them and he had bumped into Keigo as Keigo stumbled on the side street, nearly fallen, that is. "Stop, damn it! Give me back my bag, you bastard!" Going through the same way the thief had went, Ichigo and Mizuiro watched as the owner of the bag chased after the thief.

"Mizuiro." Muzuiro, surprised, looked at Ichigo. "Do me a favor, hold my bag."

With that, the bag in Ichigo's hands was dumped to Mizuiro as he chased after the thief. And, within a few seconds, he had caught up to the thief, much to the bag's owner surprise and tapped on that thief's shoulder, giving him a punch on his right side of the face, making him and the stolen bag fall to the ground. And, just when the thief finally regained his movements, a knife directed itself at Ichigo and using his reflexes, probably more from the troubles that he had found in his year of KaraKura High, his fists blocked the knife that was about to injure him. Instead, his fists grabbed the guy's knuckles, making his knife unable to move before he punched the thief in the right side of the face once more. Seeing that the thief is down, Ichigo picked up the bag and walked to the bag owner. The bag owner was pretty delighted of retrieving his bag and he gave a shout of delight. "Woh~ That was pretty cool, kid! Thanks!" His hands stretch out to get the bag before he offered Ichigo lunch. "You hungry? I will treat you to ramen or something. Sounds good, right?"

Ichigo walked past the bag owner, causing the bag owner to frown. "I will pass." Mizuiro and Keigo had caught up to Ichigo by this time and Ichigo walked to them, retrieving his bag from Mizuiro's hands and placing it just behind his shoulders. "I will have hell to pay if people find out about this later, so please keep the fact that I beat that guy up all to yourself."

Stunned. "R-Right." A smile. "That's too bad."

"Let's go, Mizuiro, Keigo."

"Ah, that incident."

Mizuiro looked genuinely surprised. "So, it's that incident after all? Really?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I only gave him 2 punches. I had no idea that would cause him to lose 7 teeth."

"You really don't know your strength, do you, Ichigo?"

"Anyway, Kurosaki!" The 'Leader's' loud voice snapped both of them back to attention as they were sneaking in through the side entrance. Despite that it was his fault for hitting one of his boys, he could go straight to class and pretend none of this happened. He was good at doing this, wasn't he? This was something that he was afraid of. Bullies. Would Ichigo rather be this guy than the other one in KaraKura High who had problem with his hair? That's... Debatable. "Until you get out here, me and my boys from Miyasho High are taking over this gate!"

"Hey, guys!" A second voice joined. Both Ichigo and Mizuiro turned their heads to whom the voice could be. Oh, dang, now, he joins the fun? Plan A. Abandoned. "Would you mind giving this outdated nonsense a rest?" The thugs had all turned their heads to see who could it be. "Can't you see you are inconveniencing everyone here?" Cue KaraKura High's students shivering and whimpering. "Now, you look reasonably bright for Kurosaki's friends. you should at least be able to understand what I'm saying." By now, he stood in front of the 'Gang'. "Now, hurry up and go home."

"Huh, what's that?" The tone didn't seem pleased. "Are you Kurosaki?"

The figure froze. Him, being Kurosaki Ichigo? What kind of a joke was that? Is that even a joke? "What was that?" His tone had became icy. Without giving the one who asked him if he was Kurosaki Ichigo any response, he literally face-palmed him, causing him to fly off, blood oozing out from his nose and his figure hitting on a pole and stumbling onto the ground afterwards.

"What the hell did you do?!" The 'Leader' demanded. "Are you taking us lightly?!"

"That would be my line. Didn't you say you got a good look at his face?" His glasses shone as he gazed up at the gang, without fear. "In what way could I resemble Kurosaki?"

"What's with you, Four-eyes?"

The figure smiled. "I take it all back. You don't have to go home. Or rather, none of you should expect to be able to walk away."

Ichigo felt like face-palming. Seriously, he was trying to run away, to pretend nothing like this ever happened and what does he do? When did he have such an idiotic classmate as Student Council President? God help him or else... Although, that question on him being Ichigo also pissed the hell out of him and he would have rushed forward to correct them who Ichigo Kurosaki truly was if not for Mizuiro holding him down, telling him that he was reckless. "You son of a bitch! Get him!"

With that, all of the members came rushing towards the figure and the figure was just standing there while Ichigo, knowing he couldn't look at the situation anymore, rushed forward from the side entrance and pushed one of the lackeys' head into the ground, wrestling his leg and holding his leg in place with a bored expression, causing the gang to stare at Ichigo with shock. "Hey! One... Two... Three... Four... Five... Six..."

"Owwwwwwwwwwwwww~~~ I give up, I give up! It's gonna break!"

Before Ichigo could finish counting up till 10, he was kicked to the ground. Gaining a tick onto his forehead, he glared at the figure. "Why would you do that, Ishida?!"

"I should be asking you that. Why did you come out, Kurosaki?"

"Why? To get you to back off, duh!"

"That's the guy, Obuta-san!" The lackey said to the leader.

"Him?" Obuta was confused.

"He's the one who did this to me!"

The leader grinned and Ichigo gazed back at them. "Aren't you...?" Eh, so it really was that guy after all. At first, he wasn't sure but given the situation now, he was positive. Hearing his question, the thief shrunk back a millimetre. "I punched you out because you were committing a crime in the first place. You don't get to play the victim!"

"S-Shut up!" The thief defended.

Clenching of knuckles were heard. "Enough of the chit-chat. Prepare to have your ass kicked! Kurosa-"

Buying the vase she had almost forgotten, she placed it on the side street where she had last seen the soul. She apparently hasn't been here since yesterday but Rukia didn't mind that. Knowing that KaraKura orphanage had been burnt to bits, she figured that the Resident Shinigami in KaraKura might be busy in trying to send all the souls that had recently just died to Soul Society. Or Rukongai, whatever it is. After placing the vase on the ground, she made her way to KaraKura High. The school really wasn't located far from her house but she had wondered if the Principal would allow a kid to wander around the school. It was when she was nearing the school before she noticed some students of KaraKura High seemingly watching something. Knowing KaraKura High, she kenw it had to be some fights involved. It was rumored that from the past year, people from everywhere had been coming to KaraKura High, looking for one certain student. Not that Rukia cared enough to know who that student might be, that is. She might not have cared before but now that she's a teacher of KaraKura High, she had to care. Sighing as she walked near the entrance, she heard 2 students bickering and decided that it was a bother, turning to the side entrance instead. Looking at the view, one big fat guy was down and she arrived just to hear the bickering involving 2 students. Joy. "These guys came after me! It's none of your business, so butt out!"

"It just became my business a minute ago, so you butt out!"

"You getting involved only made things worse! Think about your position! You are the Student Council President, you moron!"

"What?!"

"Damn it, we are not done with you yet!"

Rukia heaved a sigh. Student Council President getting into a fight? This should be interesting. Rukia heaving a sigh had caused Mizuiro to gaze at the newcomer. Eyebrows raising up in confusion, Mizuiro couldn't confirm the identity of this newcomer. But, judging from the uniform, she couldn't be a student. And, she's too short to be a teacher. Who could she be then? "You are..."

"You have no need to know who I am. Just tell me the situation that's going on over there."

Mizuiro hesitated. How could he say it that so Ichigo doesn't get into trouble? "People of different schools have been coming to KaraKura High. And, these gang is one of the gangs, that's all."

Mizuiro was lying and Rukia gazed towards Mizuiro. Even before Mizuiro had spoken, the way Mizuiro had spoken, the way that he had looked anywhere but her had already told her that Mizuiro was lying. If she was to analyze the situation, she knew who they were looking for. It became more than obvious with the bickering these 2 had, apparently. But, all of those weren't Rukia's concern. Rukia's concern was simply how to drive these gangs out of KaraKura High. And, she had an idea. With that, she proceeded walking and Mizuiro, knowing that Rukia was about to stop the fight, reached out a hand, about to stop her. "Um..."

"It was nice meeting you..." She faced him.

"Mizuiro, Mizuiro Kojima." Mizuiro introduced himself.

Rukia nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Mizuiro-san but shouldn't you be rushing for your first lesson?" Mizuiro nodded as well but not without taking a last gaze at Ichigo and Ishida's direction before running off to his first lesson. Rukia, gazing at Mizuiro's retreating back, faced back to the situation at hand. Taking out her cellphone, she knew her cellphone would be placed to good use as her high heels clashed against the ground as she commented. "Oh my, what a crowd we have today." All the people who were involved in this fight, inclusive of Ichigo and Ishida, gazed at Rukia. Yet, as Rukia gazed at Ishida, her gaze stayed at Ishida for a few moments before gazing at the 'Thugs' again, observing their uniform. So, this was the Student Council President? Ichigo and Ishida gazed at Rukia who had stood at the centre of the fight. "If I'm not wrong, all of you are from Miyasho High, am I right?"

All of them looked surprised at Rukia's observation while Rukia simply shrugged. "It isn't hard to figure out where you guys come from, actually. Your uniform kinda shows it all."

"Who are you?! How dare you interrpt our fight, we have a score to settle with Kurosaki Ichigo!" One of the lackeys demanded.

Rukia looked on with a smile. "Right, I haven't introduced myself. How rude of me. I'm a teacher of KaraKura High and I believe all of you here, just the lot of you in the school's presence, have brought inconvenience to the students studying in KaraKura High. So, do you mind?" The thugs appear unfazed and Rukia continued smiling. "I see all of you are not going to move. That's too bad then." Showing the cellphone to all of them, she switched her gaze back. "It's a pity that I know your homeroom teacher quite well. A call could easily connect me to your homeroom teacher." Now, they were looking at her as if she was crazy, inclusive of Ichigo and Ishida. "Don't believe me? Oh well..." Rukia turned to Speaker Mode and dialled a set of numbers, only for the call to go through.

That had set the Thugs in a wave of panic. "Come on, let's go!"

Within a few seconds, they had dragged their leader out of KaraKura High and all of them ran back to Miyasho High. Hanging up the call, she placed the cellphone back in her own pockets before going the other way, pretending as if she hadn't stopped a fight at all. "Um...!" Rukia halted her steps before gazing at Ichigo who ahd spoken up. "Did you really know...?"

Her gaze stayed on Ichigo for a few moments. "Nope, I don't. Why would I have their homeroom teacher's contact for?"

Both Ichigo and Ishida nearly dropped their jaws. "Then... You lied to them?"

"It's a pity that they didn't notice that, isn't it?"

With that, Rukia had began walking away from them once more ony to have Ishida catching up to her. "Wait, K-" A glare was directed his way and that was his cue to snap his lips shut and clear his throat. "R-Rukia-san." Rukia's gaze was directed to the road in front of her once more. "You are the newest teacher of KaraKura High, aren't you?"

"I believe I just introduced myself just now."

"Ah..." An awkward moment. "Our Principal had given me the task of leading you to his office."

Now, it makes sense. A principal of KaraKura High would give the Student Council President the newcomer's name and of course, leading her to the Principal's office. "Lead the way, then."

Ishida turned back to Ichigo. "I will see you back in class, Kurosaki!"

"Got it!"

On the way to the Principal's office, neither Ishida nor Rukia bothered to converse. They didn't see a reason to but Rukia was in her deep thoughts. Not only did she recognize Ishida but she had vaguely recognized Ichigo Kurosaki as well but at that moment, she just didn't know when. Ichigo had orange hair, that was really familiar to a guy that she had seen before. Dismissing all of this as unimportant, she knew she couldn't be distracted by all of these memories. She considered herself lucky that she had the bracelet to help her cover her Reiatsu. If not, she was fairly certain Ishida would have discovered her identity as a Shinigami by now, with however little reiatsu she has. She had to be extra careful, she knew that. With how little reiatsu she has in favor for the bracelet, she deduced she shouldn't be too worried seeing that there's a resident Shinigami here in KaraKura Town as well. "We have reached the Principal's office, Rukia-san."

"Thank You, Ishida-san."

When Ishida turned his gaze back to Rukia, Rukia mentally bit her lips. Great, because of her carelessnss, she had said Ishida's name out loud. Although, she was lucky she added a honorific to his name, that is. Maintaining her composure, she faced Ishida. "You shouldn't be surprised, Ishida-san. Did you think I wouldn't know of the name in charge of the Student Council President?"

"If there's nothing else, I shall take my leave, Rukia-san."

Rukia nodded, allowing Ishida to run back to his class. Mustering her courage to knock on the door of the Principal's office, Rukia was allowed entry. Taking a deep breath, silently counting from one to three, she pushed the door open to greet the principal when she was stunned by the Principal's appearance. She opted to say nothing as she narrowed her eyes and close the door behind her. Taking a seat in front of her, she folded her arms and stared at the Principal, speaking in an annoyed tone. "I really shouldn't be surprised, should I?"

A/N: Reviews make me happy~ ^.^