Chapter 2:

Heart pounding, pulse racing. Everything passed by in a blur. All he heard were the sound of his footsteps picking up speed as he ran. Dirt and stones crunched under his feet with every step he took. His vision narrowed, his target growing closer. Mid-step, he jumped, twisting his body around, letting the metal bar pass under his body. The blue sky flew over his head in a blur. For a split second, time seemed to have stopped. Then he saw the white clouds and budding trees and the school building blend together in a colorful streak. He shut his eyes. The next thing he knew, he landed on his back, body sinking into the mat as if it were made of dough. For a moment, his knees almost touched his forehead. He let his legs straighten out and flop onto the mat, distributing his weight. He let out the breath he had been holding.

The next thing he heard were applause. He turned his head, seeing his classmates clapping for him.

"Excellent work, Kurosaki," said his gym teacher. "Another successful jump. With a form like that, you'll have the school record beat by the end of the day."

Ichigo scooted to the edge of the mat, every move making a gooshing sound against the flexible mat. It was high jump day in gym. Everyone was required to participate. The moment his sneakers touched solid ground, he pushed himself up and walked back to his classmates.

"Orihime, you're up."

"Yeah, Orihime! Go!"

Ichigo stood in the back of the line to wait his next turn. Even if it was the high jump, he still managed to work up a sweat. The breeze felt good. It was a nice warm day today, a breeze blowing every few minutes. He waited restlessly for the next gust to cool him down.

He heard a clank sound and looked forward. Orihime was sitting up on the mat, the metal bar on the ground. Tatsuki called to her friend. "Get your tush up, Orihime! Tush up!"

"Yeah! Sorry!" She bent down to pick up the fallen bar but the teacher stopped her, picking it up himself. She jogged to the back of the line and stood beside Ichigo. "Did you see that? I was really close. Too bad my butt's so big. It knocked down the bar. Did you see?"

"No, I wasn't looking."

"Aw..!"

He looked forward, watching Tatsuki make her run next. She ran with her body close to the ground. She jumped and soared over the bar, in a complete flip. She landed on the mat and turned around. The bar was still in place. The class clapped for her.

"Nice job, Tatsuki," said the teacher. "The flip wasn't needed, though. Let's see… Keigo! You're next! Get up here!"

Tatsuki jogged to the back of the line, high-fiving Orihime. "You did great, Tatsuki! That was a cool flip you did."

"Yeah, I didn't mean to do that. Just sort of happened."

"It was really neat, though. Like one of those high-five divers."

"Like one of those what?"

"You know," said Orihime. "Like on those high-five dives. You know, at the pools. They're really tall and go way up high. Those ones."

Tatsuki shook her head. "Oh, Orihime… Those are just called high-dives. Not high-five dives."

"Really? Ohh! Have I been saying it wrong all this time?" she whined.

They all looked up to see Keigo's run. He was possibly the fastest in their class when it came to running. He made a dash for the bar, showing off his speed. It went down hill from there. It looked like he tried to jump and continue his run at the same time. The result was disastrous. He had tripped over his own feet and slammed face-first into the bar. From there, he fell over backwards, missing the mat completely and landing on the ground on his back. Then the bar, shook from its balanced position, fell and landed on his nose. Keigo yelped and doubled over in pain, holding his face.

The teacher nudged him with the heel of his shoe. "Come on, get up." Keigo whined. The teacher nudged him again. "Suck it up, man. Now pick up that bar and move to the back of the line."

"Notice how he's tougher on the guys than he is the girls," said Tatsuki.

"I'm fine with that," said Orihime. "I think I'd cry if he yelled at me like he does the guys."

Keigo limped to the back of the line and stood with the others. "Hey…" he moaned. "Take a look at my nose. Is it bleeding?"

"You're good."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"'Cause it feels like it is."

"You're fine."

The teacher raised the bar up another inch and the routine started up again. Uryu was first in line again. After making sure that his glasses were in place, he ran forward. He kicked off at the last second and flew over the bar. He raised his legs, turning his body into an 'L' shape, avoiding the bar and landed on the mat.

"Good job. Ichigo, you're up!"

Ichigo wasted no time and ran. He jumped, bar at his level. He twisted his body in the air and saw the sky again. He landed on his shoulder in the middle of the mat and sat up. The bar was undisturbed. The class clapped for him.

"Next, Orihime!"

Orihime was already running before Ichigo made to over to the line again. Her jump was different every time. This time, she looked like she was jumping off the high-dive into a pool. Her arms were spread out like a pair of wings, soaring over the bar, head-first. This time it was her large breasts which knocked the bar to the ground.

She went to the back of the line with Ichigo and retold the tale which only happened moments ago in front of so many witnesses. Ichigo listened anyway. Tatsuki went next. Her jump was successful, but she came very close to missing this time. Next up was Keigo.

The breeze picked up and Ichigo turned his head to greet it. He let the wind blow through his orange hair, cooling the sweat on his forehead. The wind had picked up the scent of grass and trees. He could feel the warm sun on his face. The breeze had blown the clouds across the sky, clearing a path for the sunlight. He much preferred to be outside than in class on a day like this. His teacher was going to be passing their tests back after lunch today and he wasn't sure how he did. He was sure he passed but couldn't swear he got all the questions correct. Many students were dreading returning to class after lunch.

"Are you kidding me, Keigo?!"

Ichigo looked forward and saw Keigo sitting on the ground with the metal bar in his lap. He missed again. Not only that, but he failed to jump again as well.

"That's no fair! The sun was in my eyes!"

It was lunch time. Ichigo went up to the roof with his friends like he always did and ate with them. Keigo kept complaining about gym class, letting no one get a word in edgewise.

"I think the best part was when the teacher started to beat you with the bar," Ichigo told him when Keigo finally stopped to catch his breath.

"It's not funny! I'm pretty sure he left a mark on my ass. Here, look."

"Get away from me!"

"You did piss him off a little, Mr. Asano," said Mizuiro.

Keigo whined loudly. "How am I ever going to get to show off to the ladies my true power and skill with things like this happening to me? He chased me all around the yard, making me look like a little baby!"

"You think you're going to get the ladies' attention by doing well in the high jump?"

"Totally. I have it all worked out on a chart I made. They'll think I'm cool and awesome and totally skilled and start following me around asking for my autograph and begging me for dates. You know, stuff like that."

"That's just sad, Keigo."

"I have to agree with Ichigo."

"Uh-huh."

"Nobody asked you!" Keigo leaned over and looked down at Ichigo's sandwich. "Did you make that or did your sister?"

"She did. But the chips and carrots are mine."

"Do you ever make your own lunch, Ichigo?"

He sighed. "Whenever I do, Yuzu always gets sad. I guess she feels that me doing that is kind of like saying that I don't like her food. So I just let her. It makes her happy."

"I'm glad you get along well with your sisters. I'm scared of mine." Keigo shuddered.

"Who isn't? She scares me, too," said Mizuiro.

"So what have you got today, Ichigo? Is that ham, same as last time?"

"No. Egg salad. Why? Do you want some?"

"Depends. How much mayo is in it?"

"Not a lot. She doesn't put too much in it." Ichigo tore off a corner and handed it to Keigo. "Here."

Keigo opened his mouth and took the torn piece of sandwich out of Ichigo's hand with his teeth. Ichigo pulled back, wiping his hand off on his pants.

"Don't do that! Take it with your hand! Your hand!"

"My hands are full!" Keigo said with his mouth packed with egg salad.

"You should eat your own lunch, Mr. Asano."

He chewed and swallowed and took a bite out of his salami stick. "I just wanted to try it. Besides, all I have is this. My mom didn't go shopping yet so I had to take whatever my sister left for me. Dad took the rest with him for lunch."

"There was nothing left but that?"

"I'm not bringing a can for lunch. And we were out of bread. Sis used it for her lunch and left me with the empty bag."

"Sorry to hear that, Mr. Asano."

"It's fine." Keigo leaned over. "Hey, Chad, you gonna eat that?"

"I intended to."

After lunch, everyone returned to class and had their test passed back. The teacher placed Ichigo's face-down on his desk like she did with everyone else's. He wasn't nervous. He knew he passed. He turned it over without hesitation and looked at his grade in the top right corner: 95. He had only missed two questions, which wasn't bad at all. He put his test away and took out his notebook. The next lesson was about to begin.

After the final bell, everyone was dismissed. As Ichigo packed up his things, he felt someone slam something onto his desk and looked up. Keigo was sitting on the corner of his desk, palms down on Ichigo's bag. "What?"

"What did you get on the test? Huh? Huh? What'd you get?"

"A 95."

"What?!" Keigo screamed. "How could you, Ichigo? You're such a traitor."

"Huh?"

Keigo sprang up from the desk, throwing his hands into the air dramatically. "Ichigo Kurosaki! Secret nerd! When were you going to tell me?!"

Ichigo continued to pack his things, ignoring him.

"Fine. Be that way. Too good to hang out with us normal students, I see. Come on, Chad. Let's go. We'll leave the nerd to his studies. Us failures have places to be."

"Actually, I got the same grade." Chad held up his test with a 95 in the top corner.

Keigo cried out as if someone had hit him with a baseball bat. "Well, at least I know you have my back, right, Mizuiro? That test was hard so I'm sure you didn't get a 95, too."

"Nope," he smiled. "I got 100."

Keigo banged his head on the desk. "Am I the only one who failed it? I got a 48! That test was hard!"

"It's not hard if you study," said Mizuiro, taking out his cell phone.

"I did! I studied with the TV on like I always do!"

"That's not a good habit. No wonder you failed. You're not supposed to do it with the TV on."

"I need background noise."

"Then why don't you listen to music or something? I listen to classical music when I study. It really helps." Mizuiro started texting.

"But all those studies are for babies and how listening to that stuff with make them smarter. I'm not a baby. It won't help me none."

"In your case, I'd try it anyway," said Ichigo.

"Ok, smart guy!" Keigo leaned into Ichigo's face, resting his upper weight on the top of Ichigo's bag. "Do you listen to classical music when you study?"

"Sometimes. I usually do it in silence if I can." He pulled his bag out from under Keigo and watched him fall to the ground, but not before smashing his chin into the desk on his way down. "I listen to rock, too."

"See, I can't do that because then I start to sing along to the lyrics and focus more on the words then what I'm studying." Mizuiro stepped over Keigo's body, following after Ichigo and Chad. "Background music is good. Something without too many lyrics… or at least sung in a language I don't understand so much. You should really get off the floor, Mr. Asano."

"Is anybody going to help me up?!"

Everyone left school and went home in the same direction. One by one they all left until only Ichigo was left. He went straight to his house and called out once he was inside the door. His sister's shoes were missing. They were usually home before he was on a school day. He wondered where they could have been. He removed his own shoes and stepped inside. The house was empty. This was odd but he thought little of it. As he started up the stairs, he heard his sister calling him from the other side of the house. "Ichigo? You home?"

"Yeah!" Ichigo turned back down the stairs. "I'm here, Yuzu!"

"Oh, good! Dad and I are doing some things in the clinic, but don't worry! Dinner will be on time as usual."

"That's great. What are we having?"

"Beef stew tonight!"

"Sounds good. I'll be down in a bit."

"Ok!"

Ichigo started back up the stairs, now knowing where at least one of his sisters were. As he reached the top step, he walked straight to his room, peering into his sisters' for a moment. Karin's soccer ball was missing. Ichigo had a pretty good idea where she was. He continued on and didn't stop until he reached his bedroom. Once inside he closed the door and let out a deep sigh. It was good to be home.

He set his bag down on his desk chair and started to unpack his things. He took out his notebook and his math book and set them down on top of his desk. He had plenty of homework to keep him busy tonight. Thankfully things hadn't been too busy around Karakura Town for a while. There were very few Hollow attacks in his area. No complaints there.

He had no intention of doing his homework then and there, but he wanted to get everything situated for when he was finally ready. He had everything he needed except for a pencil. He looked around his desk. He had plenty of pens but no pencils. He started to look around in desk drawers trying to find one. He looked in the top left drawer. Plenty of paper and notebooks, but no pencil. He looked in the drawer under it. Magazines and a plush lion, absent one Mod Soul, but no pencil. He opened the top right drawer and stopped.

The drawer was filled with torn envelopes and different colored pieces of paper. There was also a notepad and a stationery which Ichigo found himself using from time to time given to him by the very person who sent him those letters. They were all from Linnette. On top of the pile of papers was a thin chain bracelet, given to him by Linnette the last time they parted ways. It had been quite a while since he had last looked upon any of these. Her last latter was sent to him a little less than one month ago. Each one of her letters varied in length, nearly all of which were covered in colorful stickers and doodles. She wasn't a very good artist, but she was better than Rukia. Linnette drew a lot of cats and dogs whereas Rukia drew bunnies and that was pretty much it.

Ichigo pulled out the stack of recently received letters and started to skim over them.

Dear, Ichigo. How are you? I'm fine. Today I went shopping with Victor. He bought me a new dress. It's yellow and white. Because I'm so pale, yellow doesn't look very good on me but this one did so we got it. I also got jeans and some shirts. The jeans are baggy. I don't like things that are too tight.

He went to the next letter.

Dear, Ichigo. Today I went to my friend's birthday party. She just turned 14. I'll be turning 14 in a couple months. Then we'll be like twins. I wasn't sure what to get her, so I asked Cedric to help me pick something out in the mall. She likes horses a lot so I got her a plushie. It's a brown horse. It looked like she liked it. We had cake at the party. It was yellow cake but it had jelly in the middle and I don't like jelly very much so I just ate around it. We played games, too. I didn't win. Another girl did. But that's ok. I spilled some soda on my shirt. I hope Victor can get the stain out. I like that shirt. It has flowers on it. One of the girls at the party was playing with us and she ended up ripping part of her shirt. Since it was just us girls there, she took it off and went to ask my friend's mom if she could fix it just when her dad came home and saw her. It was so funny. But she was embarrassed. She's bigger than I am so none of my things would fit her.

Ichigo looked at another.

Dear, Ichigo. My friend's pretty upset. Her pet cat died and she's too sad to play with us today. She's been like this for days. I'm worried about her. Sorry. I'm just really bored so I decided to write.

Ichigo went to the letter at the bottom of the pile. It was covered with animal stickers.

Dear, Ichigo. Today was a good day. I helped Victor cook in the kitchen today. I learned how to make grilled cheese and tomato soup. He even let me make it all by myself. But he stayed with me and watched anyway. He tasted it and everything. He said it turned out good. I also got Cedric to play video games with me since my friends couldn't come over. It started to rain so we didn't get to play outside. I went outside anyway to get the mail so they wouldn't have to. I was soaked but they weren't mad. Victor told me to stay put and he got a towel and got me dry. It was fun. I like playing in the rain but Victor's afraid I'll get a cold. He made me a hot bath. I had to get out quick because there was a thunder storm. I wasn't scared. I like storms. I watched it with Cedric. The lightning was really cool. The wind was awesome. The trees in our yard were really blowing. Victor wouldn't let me use the TV or anything electronic because of the storm. It was ok. We did other things like watch the storm. It started to die down then it started up again. When I went to bed it was still storming out. I'm glad I wasn't outside then.

Ichigo looked at the bottom of the letter where Linnette had drawn stick figures representing herself and Victor and Cedric watching the storm over her house. She didn't need anything fancy or more than what she had. She was content with things as they were.

It was a shame that Linnette lived so far away. Her home resided in New York city. There she lived with Victor and Cedric, two inhuman men who had become her family and lived to protect her and see to her every need. Ichigo had grown fond of that young girl. She had this charm about her that made it easy to experience what it was like to be a child again. She acted very childish at times but she just wanted to have as much fun as she could and live life to its fullest. They wrote to each other from time to time. Unfortunately, Ichigo hadn't been keeping up with it as much as he used to when the letters first started. He had missed writing back to her last two letters. He responded to the one he had gotten at the beginning of this month, getting back into the habit. Sometimes he would write to her to let her know that he wrote to her because he wanted to and not just because she wrote to him first. Every now and then he did miss her. But he had his own life here with plenty of other friends who he, too, had grown fond of. The same way she had her own life there.

Ichigo folded up the letters and stuffed them back into the drawer. He should write back, but not now. That could wait. Right now he wanted to relax and do nothing for a while. As he closed the drawer, he heard something rattling around at the bottom. He reached under the letters and pulled out a pencil. Grinning, Ichigo tossed it onto his notebook and closed the drawer.

Doesn't this chapter make you smile? I smile ^^

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