Been a while since I updated, huh? Anyway here you go.
Chapter Five
The four teenagers stood at the back of the Great Hall with the first years, waiting to be sorted. A short distance in front of them was a small boy wrapped in a coat that was nearly ten sizes bigger than him. They saw him mouth 'I fell in the lake!' to a boy who looked like his brother at one of the tables. The older group was earning some strange looks from the rest of the students, apart from a blonde-haired boy who wore a smug grin like he knew something the others didn't. He was sitting next to two large boys who looked like they were even unsure of their names.
Finally the first years were sorted and the Shinigami and arrancar waited obediently by the large oak doors. Dumbledore stood up at the owl shaped podium and raised his arms to silence the students for an announcement.
"As I'm sure you've all noticed, we have a few new students joining who are decidedly not first years." A few people laughed and he smiled before continuing. "They are transfer students from a wizarding school in Japan, the name of which is far too long and difficult to pronounce for me to tell you." Again, laughter circulated around the room. "They will be starting as sixth years, which is about where their curriculum at their old school left off. Make them feel welcome." He addressed the four in the back. "If you four will step forward when your name is called, we will sort you into your houses."
McGonagall unrolled another, shorter scroll and read off the names.
"Kurosaki, Kaien."
Kaien stepped forward, making his way down the aisle. He could hear whispers from the people around him ("Look at his eyes!" "Are they purple?" "What's with his hair?" "D'you think it's dyed?") before he sat on the stool. McGonagall placed the hat on his head. As soon as it touched his spiky hair, a voice filled his ears.
"Ah! I thought I heard Dumbledore talking about some 'strange new students'. Well it's not really my job to pry into that."
That was about when Kaien realized that the hat was talking to him and his fingers tightened around the stool. The hat continued, "Well, you're a brave one, there's no doubt about that. Almost to the point of being reckless…"
The hat mumbled a few more things that Kaien didn't quite catch before it shouted,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The left center table erupted into applause and Kaien went to sit by the four Weasley children. McGonagall looked to the scroll again.
"Kurosaki, Masaki."
A few people sniggered at the fact that her name rhymed. Others just thought that, like her brother, she'd dyed the tips of her hair orange. She sat on the stool and McGonagall put the hat on her.
"Oh! Another set of twins! We have quite a few of those already!"
Masaki glared up at the hat.
"Well, let's see where you belong. Indeed, like your brother, you are definitely brave. Very loyal to your friends, almost protective…but there's something else in you…you're cunning and resourceful, I see…but there's also something darker…hmm…I've decided to put you in—" The brim of the hat opened wide and shouted to the rest of the room, "SLYTHERIN!"
There was a small amount of applause from the Slytherin table, as if they almost regretted the fact that they got one of the foreign students. At least some of them seemed excited. The blonde boy she'd seen earlier cleared a spot next to him and patted the bench. Masaki sat next to him reluctantly, seeing as there was no other space, and he spoke slowly and deliberately, using large hand movements.
"I am Draco Malfoy. Do you speak English?" It sounded like he was trying to speak to a toddler. "English?"
Masaki's eyebrow twitched in annoyance, but she grinned, making a mental note to thank Kisuke later, and smiled up at Malfoy.
"Fluently," she responded. "Though you sound a bit slow…what year are you in again?"
Malfoy set his jaw with a glare and looked away to say something to the large boys next to him. Masaki looked back up in time to see McGonagall call,
"Ichimaru, Daisuke."
Daisuke strode up to the stool with the usual calm grin on his face. He looked over and winked at Masaki who rolled her eyes. The hat had barely touched his head before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Daisuke stood up and gave the hat back to McGonagall with a flourished bow. Again, Masaki rolled her eyes while Kaien and Evee laughed along with a few other students.
"Always the showman," Masaki mumbled with a grin. She couldn't help but smile. She'd definitely gotten used to his behavior.
"Schiffer, Evee."
"Oh, good. A normal name," Malfoy said to one of the large boys from before, not exactly trying to be quiet.
"It's not that hard to learn a name, y'know," Masaki grumbled back to him, pinching the bridge of her nose and switching to Japanese as she tacked on, "Watashi wa baka ni kakoma rete iru…"
Malfoy looked at her as the hat yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
"What did you just call me?" he asked.
"Nothing. Baka."
Malfoy was about to retort when Dumbledore stood up at the podium again.
"Now that our new students are sorted and seated, I have only a few other announcements. This year, Hogwarts will be playing host to two other schools for the Triwizard Tournament."
Excited whispers broke out through the hall and Dumbledore silenced them again. "However, there will be a change. We have decided to allow four schools to compete, if our new transfers would like to represent their old school. My second announcement: We will have three new teachers joining us this year."
Ishiin and Renji, both in dark colored wizards' robes, stood up at the teachers' table.
"Accompanying the transfers students, are professors Ishiin Kurosaki and Renji Abarai. They will be assisting our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Alastor Moody…" Dumbledore looked up and down the table. "… who doesn't seem to have arrived yet."
At the Gryffindor table, George leaned over to Kaien.
"He's got the same last name," he said, pointing at Ishiin. "Any relation, or is Kur—eh—Kuro…saki a common name where you come from?"
It took him a couple tries to pronounce the name.
"My grandpa," Kaien confirmed. Fred raised himself in his seat slightly to get a better look at Masaki. "Looks like she's having a row with Malfoy…"
"Shame about her being in Slytherin though," said George, pulling his brother back down.
"Why's that?" Daisuke asked.
"You didn't know?" asked Ron.
"Any wizard who's ever gone bad was in Slytherin," Ginny clarified.
Daisuke and Kaien exchanged a look, knowing exactly why Masaki had been put in Slytherin.
'The hollow?' Daisuke mouthed. Kaien nodded.
"Don't worry, Masaki's not evil," said Kaien.
"Unless you wake her up early," Daisuke cut in. "Then she'll bite your head off."
"I see," George said slowly, casting a pointed glance at Ginny. She just rolled her eyes and went back to her food. Evee seemed to be making friends quickly over at the Hufflepuff table.
"I'm Ernie," said a blonde boy, holding out his hand, "Ernie MacMillan. It's nice to meet you—er—Evee, right?"
"Yeah. It's nice to meet you too, Ernie!"
"So you're from Japan?" asked a girl with pigtails. "I'm Hannah by the way."
"Yep, I am," Evee replied with a smile. "I hope we can be friends."
"That probably won't be a problem," said Ernie. "Hufflepuffs tend to be generally nice people."
There was a sudden splash followed by a shout from the Slytherin table. Evee looked up to see the blonde boy from the train covered in what looked like pumpkin juice and Masaki nearly falling out of her seat in silent laughter, her wand in her hand. The new Hufflepuff couldn't help but smile at her friend.
Masaki hastily put her wand away as Malfoy turned to face her.
"Why—dammit—!" he spluttered. The two large boys next to him got up from their seats and cracked their knuckles menacingly at Masaki. She sobered up, the smile disappearing from her face and her eyes gleaming dangerously.
"You don't wanna do that," she said, warning the two boys. They either didn't hear or were too stupid to understand. The taller of the two lifted her by the front of her robes and she felt something flare inside her.
"Put. Me. Down," she growled. The boy grinned stupidly at his friend. He is a lot bigger than me, Masaki thought. Her hand reached up to her side before remembering her zanpaku-to wasn't there. Swearing under her breath, she ran through other ideas of how to get down. Suddenly, she began to feel like she was choking. Within seconds, she realized that her hollow was starting to force its way out. Judging by the lack of reaction around her, nothing was visible yet and she tried to take a deep breath and force the hollow back. Soon the feeling went away and she opened her eyes to see the boy pulling back a fist. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her brother and friends standing up at their tables. Before anything happened however, a teacher appeared as if out of nowhere and placed a hand on the boy's arm. The teacher was a tall man with a large, hooked nose and greasy, black hair.
"Mr. Crabbe, I'd prefer not to take points from my own house before the year officially begins," he said in a slow drawling voice. "Please put Miss Kurosaki down."
Crabbe blinked at him vaguely before slowly lowering Masaki back on her feet. Masaki cleared her throat and dusted herself off.
"Thank you," she said with a small bow to the teacher. Masaki looked over at the other transfers and nodded slightly before taking her seat again.
Kaien and Daisuke sat back down in their seats with nearly identical glares on their faces.
"She okay?" George asked.
"Fine," said Kaien.
"A teacher broke it up," Daisuke explained.
"Which one?" Ron asked. The other two shrugged.
"Black hair, hooked nose—," Kaien started. Ron cut him off with a noise that sounded something like disgust.
"Snape. He hates us, so don't go doing anything stupid around him."
Kaien raised his eyebrows at Daisuke. "Thanks for the tip."
Finally, the feast was over and Dumbledore was sending everyone, following the prefects, to their common rooms for the night.
So, yeah, whatever. Let me know what you think of the houses, those of you who read the other story that this kinda goes with, and if you're wondering what she said, it was "I'm surrounded by idiots."
Anyway, read and review or whatever.