disclaimer: i do not own bleach or any of its characters or locations mentioned in the manga or anime. i just own this story line and the OCs

thanks to: Red6, lovelylilvamp66, Moonstar2015, Avatarpotter, PeaceLoveChelsi, Gwenny-Dear, Doreen769, WWE-Little-Angel, NeeMou, Happy-Valley, and Evangeline43 for your reviews, alerts, and favorites!

sorry it's late guys, it's been a crazy weekend. the first of two flashback chapters =] hope you enjoy. R&R please!

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Chapter 5

*THREE WEEKS AGO*

I sighed and blew a few strands of hair out of my face. Slumping in the chair a bit more, I saw the eyes of my first enemy at Karakura High School peek over the computer monitor. Ms. Tanaka, the woman in charge of admissions, glared at me and huffed. Again. So, naturally, calling upon my stellar people skills for assistance, I glared back.

"Are you sure that-" she started in her nasally voice that made me want to blow my nose a million times.

"Yes. I'm 100%, absolutely sure that Emiko didn't forget any of the paperwork. No you can't call her, there's no phone inside the greenhouse. No, because she thinks a cell phone has to do with bacteria. Yes. 15. No. I don't know." I had answered the same questions at least five times in the last hour, and recited them all in a bored monotone. Glaring at me yet again, the old woman shrunk back behind the computer, like a wrinkly turtle retreating into its shell. Rolling my eyes, I began to pick foam stuffing out of a hole in the seat cushion. Maybe, one day, her face will stick like that and she'll only be able to glare at everything for the rest of her life, I thought bitterly. My new school experience was off to a phenomenal start.

As the keyboard clicked rather angrily at me from across the room, a few students ran in and out to drop papers in random wire baskets hanging on the walls. Each time, I turned away so no one could see my face. Out of Karakura High's bustling population of about 1,000 students, I was the only new kid. Besides having to deal with that, the very last thing I wanted was a bunch of strangers gawking at me while I sat alone in the office with The Shrew. After all, Ms. Tanaka just had a gift for spreading happiness and cheer wherever she happened to waddle.

As a few more students ran in, I pulled my uniform jacket tightly around me. Even though my scars were hidden, I still felt self-conscious, as if they would burn through the fabric at any moment and expose me for the freak I was. The temperature outside was pretty high and most of the kids that I had seen so far had chosen to just completely leave their jackets at home. I would be branded the oddity for sure if I tried to walk through the building baring my striped arms and legs.

If I had been allowed to go to class when I had arrived, instead of being shackled to the musty Admissions and Student Records office, I might have managed sliding into my classroom unnoticed and snagging a seat in the back. But now, I would probably have to stand in the front of the room and introduce myself. Great. Me public speaking. What an experience that would be. This whole thing was so unfair; it wasn't even my fault that I barely had any paperwork.

I had never been to a doctor before the accident. Whenever I had gotten sick, my mother had always taken care of me with special medicines she would acquire from a source that was always unknown to me. They never tasted very good, but they sure worked fast. I'd be up and running around the neighborhood again almost the next day despite how high my fever had been. However, with the bigger things like when I had broken my ankle, and my arm at another time, I couldn't understand why she wouldn't take me to a professional. Was she afraid they wouldn't do a good job? Whenever I asked about it though, she would simply stroke my hair and say that she preferred taking care of me herself.

Then, a look so terrifying would come over her face that I soon dropped the subject. After a while, it scared me so much I just stopped asking altogether. Her eyes would gloss over, andshe would seem so far away and unreachable. She seemed, in those moments, so fragile and vulnerable that I was often at a loss for words. It was completely unnerving and, as a child, I never really thought any further into what she could have been feeling or why she was so against anyone else having the ability to inspect my body. What was she hiding about me that I couldn't even figure out?

Whatever that secret was that my mother had taken with her, it was now causing me a great deal of trouble. Due to my lack of interaction with medical personnel, I had a very short medical history. I had never gotten any vaccinations, yet somehow managed to never need them, and I had never had a physical exam before my stay in the hospital a year before. All of the necessary information regarding my health fit on one single sheet of paper, which Ms. Tanaka was very displeased with. She was convinced I was just another "bratty hooligan" and that I was, for some unfathomable reason, hiding the rest of my papers from her. She had been trying to contact Emiko ever since I had arrived, to no avail obviously.

The bell signaling the end of the first class began to ring and soon, a flood of students crammed themselves into the small office. Ms. Tanaka was suddenly surrounded by papers that needed signing, filing, and stamping, so she had to use all her energy to try and keep order. In the confusion, I slid off the chair and grabbed my bag. Slipping out the door, I let myself get swept up in the crowd of students as it moved through the hallway. Keeping my face turned down, I focused on not stepping on the backs of anyone's shoes. Avoiding a confrontation of any kind was my plan for the rest of my time here, seeing as confrontations usually led to crowds and lots of staring eyes.

My old neighborhood was a tough one to grow up in. You learned at a young age that the best way to stay out of trouble was to stay quiet and unnoticed. Luckily for me I was mortified whenever I attracted attention, so that was a very easy thing to do. However, always keeping your head down made it very difficult to meet people, and I went through most of my life without any close friends. Except for my mom. She had always been the closest thing I'd had to a friend.

Cutting out of the flow of students heading down the hall, I pulled open a staircase door that didn't seem to be harboring a lot of traffic and was met with a sudden silence as it shut behind me. Taking a deep breath, I pulled my schedule out of my pocket. It said that I was in class 2-3, meaning grade 10 and group 3. The room was up on the top floor so, tucking the paper safely back in my jacket pocket, I started to climb, shivering a bit at how no noise seemed to permeate the stairwell walls.

When I reached the top floor, I paused before I pushed open the door; there were voices coming from the other side. Pressing my ear to the cold metal, I listened as students chattered away about the weekend, the summer, and some television program about spirits as they walked to class. I knew that the longer I stayed behind the door, the harder it was going to be to just slip into class. But my entrance into the hallway would not go unnoticed, and the realization that I was so close to interacting with a large group of strangers made my heart skip a beat in nervous anticipation.

As the voices finally died away completely, I braced myself and pushed the door open. The whole hall was lined on one side with large windows that looked out onto one of the sports fields surrounding the building. Stopping at them before I continued on, I watched a few stragglers run back inside from their P.E. class. The sky was an electrically bright blue that morning, with only a few scattered clouds making their way slowly and lazily from one horizon to the other.

Tearing my eyes away from the glass, I turned to start walking down the hallway when suddenly, someone slammed into me from behind. Falling forward, I dropped my bag and threw my hands out to meet the floor before my face did, skidding a bit. A burning erupted on my knees and elbows, and, turning over to sit, I saw the skin in both places was rubbed raw.

"Sorry, I didn't even see you. You okay," a gruff voice asked. Looking over, I saw a boy pushing himself up onto his knees on the floor next to me, his eyebrows pulled together in either frustration or worry, I couldn't tell. After being distracted for a few moments by his fiery orange hair, I remembered I wasn't a mute and that he was waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My fault for standing right in front of the door," I said quietly, avoiding his eyes. Feeling them on my face anyway, a blush crept its way across my face. It was bad enough that I was uncomfortable in front of strangers, but attractive strangers were even worse. Playing with the hem of my skirt, I tried to distract myself from his attention, but I could see him tilt his head out of the corner of my eye.

"I've never seen you before. You new here?" I nodded, and he smiled. I was shocked. He seemed like a bit of a tough guy judging by his rough tone and semi-bored facial expression even though he was asking if I was alright. Seeing him smile however, was like watching the sun come out on a cloudy day; his whole face suddenly changed as his eyebrows separated again and his eyes lit up. I couldn't help but smile back, it was that infectious. Wow…smiling at a stranger. Making progress already Sayuri, I thought. Nodding at me, the boy said, "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Sayuri Kobayashi," I managed back.

"ICHIGO! WAIT FOR ME! I DON'T WANT TO BE LATE EITHER!" Another person came tearing out of the stairwell and skidded to a halt right in front of where Ichigo and I had landed. This time it was a girl, a bit shorter than I was, with jet black hair and stunning violet eyes. "What are you doing on the floor? And who are you?" I blanched a bit under her piercing glare and looked down at the floor again.

"No need to be so sweet, Rukia. Sayuri's a new student, so quit lookin' at her like she just killed someone." Ichigo stood up and ran his hand through his hair, tousling it even more than it already was. The girl's eyes widened in shock, and her entire demeanor changed so suddenly I almost got whiplash from trying to keep up.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be so rude, I was just caught off guard that's all. It's not every day that someone new shows up here. I'm Rukia Kuchiki, it's really nice to meet you!" Smiling, and clasping her hands together behind her back, Rukia was suddenly thepicture of innocence. Bewildered I remembered how Ichigo's mood had changed at the same speed and thought to myself, Is everyone bipolar here?

"Back off Chappy," Ichigo said, pushing Rukia aside, "You're freaking her out." Rukia stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her arms in mock insult. Reaching down, Ichigo offered me his hand.

As I reached out to take it, the air suddenly felt much thicker around me and I had a bit of difficulty breathing. It almost felt like someone had their hand pressed against my chest, squeezing all the air out of my lungs. As I pressed my hand to Ichigo's, I felt a slight pressure emanating from his palm, almost pushing mine away. When his fingers closed on mine, it was as if an electric shock suddenly shot through my arm, and I became instantly light headed. Pulling me up, Ichigo seemed to be unaware of the exchange that had just happened between us, but I fell back against the window ledge, my palm feeling as though it were on fire.

"Woah, you alright? You don't look so good," Ichigo stepped towards me, reaching out his hand to touch my shoulder.

"No!" I said, much louder than I had meant for it to come out. I pulled my shoulder back and away from him, worried that another touch from him would send that painful shock through me again. My head was pounding and felt as if it were going to split open at any second. I could make out Ichigo's confused and slightly hurt expression (so much for being a tough guy), and I felt terrible. I wanted to tell him I didn't mean to act like a freak, but all I could do was hold my head which now felt ready to explode.

Rukia had a strange expression on her face as she glanced from me, to Ichigo's hand, up to his face, then back to me again. Something about the way she studied me when she thought I wasn't looking made me think she had at least noticed what happened.

Stepping towards him she said, "Why don't you go on to class. I'll make sure she's ok. Tell Miss Ochi we'll be right there." As Ichigo looked down at Rukia, who was at least two heads shorter than him, they exchanged a look that held an entire silent conversation. Apparently coming to an agreement, Ichigo nodded and began to walk away.

Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm myself down. I could feel my headache lessening as I listened to Ichigo's footsteps getting farther away, and my heart had slowed down from the frantic thumping it had taken on just moments ago. My palm still felt warm where Ichigo's had touched it and it tingled a bit, as if it were being poked by pins.

It was a few minutes that Rukia leaned quietly on the windowsill next to me before she spoke. "You feeling a bit better," she asked, her voice filled with gentle concern. Opening my eyes, I realized that breathing had gotten easier as well, and I nodded. "Good," she said. Leaning down she picked up the bag I had dropped earlier and held it out to me. Smiling she said, "Come on, I'll walk into class with you. It won't be so scary with a friend." Looking up at her face, I was shocked at the sincerity and innocence I found there, all traces of her earlier suspicious expression gone.

As she started to walk down the hall I followed her, contemplating what she had just said. "A friend." Although I barely knew her, when I looked at Rukia I felt this twinge of trust stir somewhere deep inside me. I couldn't explain it, but somehow I knew that Rukia was a good person and I was instantly relieved that she was walking into the classroom with me.

Placing her hand on the door handle, Rukia looked over her shoulder at me and winked. I gave her a small smile, and she pushed open the door. As we stepped into the room, I could hear a terrible hush fall over the students. Avoiding their gazes, I followed Rukia to the teacher who sat at the front of the room.

"Miss Ochi, this is Sayuri Kobayashi. She's a new student." That last sentence was repeated about twenty times as the class began to whisper, and I could feel my insides burning in embarrassment. My new teacher, Miss Ochi, gave me a once over through her slim glasses, and then stood up. Motioning to everyone to quiet down, she picked up a pile of books from her desk and handed them to me.

"Welcome aboard, Miss Kobayashi," she said, her voice cheerful yet stern. "I've been expecting you. Those are all yours for the year so take good care of them, or else." Laughing a bit at her own joke, she placed a hand on my back and led me to the front of her desk. Why don't you take a seat over…there, next to Orihime." She pointed towards the back of the room where there were two empty seats, but I was more inclined to jump right out the window. Not only was I standing in front of my entire class as they ogled at me like some attraction at the zoo, but I would have to walk past pretty much all of them to get to my seat.

A girl with long orange hair almost as bright as Ichigo's waved her hand in the air and bounced up and down in her seat. Clearly, that was Orihime. Taking a deep breath, I began my descent into hell and started walking towards the back of the room. Making sure I didn't step on anyone's things or trip over my own feet, I kept my eyes on the ground. Finally arriving, I put the books down and slid into my seat, noticing that there was still one more empty desk behind me.

Looking back up at the class, I noticed that everyone had pretty much turned around in their seats and was staring at me intently. Did they expect me to make a speech or something, because that was never going to happen. Ever. After a few people raised their eyebrows in expectation, I managed at least a small wave and a quiet hello. Rukia and Ichigo smiled at me from the next row over, and I felt a little bit better. Just a little.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself, Sayuri," Miss Ochi said. A few students nodded while others vocalized their agreement, and I figured that since there was no quick way out of this, I might as well just get it over with.

"I'm Sayuri. I moved here about two years ago from Hidori. I live with my adoptive parents. And-"

"Wow, you're from Hidori," one boy interrupted from across the room, "You don't look like you kick much ass." A few kids laughed at this, including me to my surprise, but Miss Ochi shot the speaker a glare and told him to watch his language. I didn't blame him though; Hidori had a bad reputation.

"I know the Kobayashi's. They do all the floral arrangements for my mom's wedding business. They're super nice," another girl said from the front of the room. I heard compliments of Emiko and Isamu from a few other kids as well, and I smiled.

"Yeah, they're really great. I couldn't ask for two sweeter people." Rukia was smiling at me and nodded, as if to say I was doing a good job.

"What happened to your real parents?" Even though I had expected the question to come up eventually, it still cut through me like a knife. My eyes dropped to my desk, and I could feel a tug on my heart. I searched for the words, any words actually, to explain my situation to these complete strangers, but I just couldn't. I didn't even know the answer myself.

Sensing my distress, Miss Ochi decided it was time to cut in. "I think that's enough for right now everyone. Let's get back to our reading for today. Turn to page 17." And with that, I gratefully lowered my eyes to my book and opened it.

ooo

Lunchtime came pretty quickly after that, but not quickly enough. All through class no matter where I looked I was met with a pair of inquiring eyes. After a while, I just focused on my textbook, still feeling their stares boring into me. When the bell finally rang, I sighed and laid my head down on the pages, feeling that stupid familiar blush still on my face. Why did I have to be so bad with attention? And why did it have to be so obvious.

"Hm, you think she's ok?" Opening my eyes, I saw a shadow fall over me. Sitting up straight, I almost collided with whoever was leaning over me. "Woah, easy there," the girl said, holding up her hands as if to ward me off. "Don't get all excited now." Aw man…what's her name, I thought frantically, trying not to seem too stupid on my first day. It's…Tess. No, no. Tommy…? No, that's stupid. It's Tatsuki! Yeah, that's it! Her name is Tatsuki! She was the smartass with the pixie cut who sat behind Orihime next to the windows. While some of the other students hadn't really enjoyed it when she called them out on being stupid or ignorant during class, I thought she was pretty funny and I liked that she openly spoke her mind. I admired anyone who was able to do that easily.

"Oh, sorry," I mumbled, looking back down at my books.

"Don't worry about it," another voice chirped from behind Tatsuki. "She's got a really hard head so it wouldn't have hurt her that much. There was this one time when we were eating at my house and I started daydreaming that I was a professional boxer and I accidentally swung at her and smashed right into-" Tatsuki stepped aside as Orihime began to rant on and on. At least two seconds into her explanation I lost my train of thought and couldn't manage to keep up with her. But, Orihime just plowed on, not even aware that her audience had tuned out. Sure, she was beautiful, but she seemed like a bit of a ditz to me. Tatsuki, however, just shook her head and laughed.

"I think you're just confusing her, Orihime," she said, placing a hand on the top of her friends head and ruffling her long orange hair a bit. Orihime laughed too, and then smiled down at me. Ok, maybe she was a sweet ditz.

"Hey, Orihime, Tatsuki!" Looking over to the door I saw Ichigo, Rukia and two other boys standing in a group. "Come on, we're going up to the roof," Ichigo called, a bored expression on his face. Glumly, I gazed back down at my desk. I already knew what would come next: they would skip off to join their friends and I would be left to eat alone in the classroom, just like I always had been. Closing my book slowly, I couldn't help but feel a little let down. And here I was, thinking I might make a new start in this school.

"I can't today," Tatsuki replied, "I've got a meeting at the dojo."

"Alright." I watched as Tatsuki gathered her bag and walked passed Ichigo, waving back at Orihime before she stepped out the door. I turned my eyes back down to my desk, preparing myself to sit alone right there and eat.

"You too Sayuri! Let's go!"

My head snapped back towards the door so quickly that I thought it was going to spin right off my neck. Astonished, I just sat still for a moment, not sure that I had heard correctly. Did he just…tell me to go with them? I could feel my eyes widening in surprise, as a warm feeling spread through my body.

"Yeah," Orihime chirped. "Come eat with us!" Genuinely smiling for the first time today, I grabbed my bag from under my desk.

Swinging my legs out into the aisle, I failed to notice another student walking past with an open cup of water in his hand. As I stood up, my head crashed into the bottom of it, sending it shooting up into the air. It was like slow-motion as I watched, with a sinking feeling, as it flipped over and came tumbling back down. But, of course, not before a fountain of water had rained down on me, leaving me completely soaked.

There were a few gasps as all the conversation in the room came to a screeching, stomach twisting halt. I sputtered a bit as the boy I had walked into howled with laughter, along with a couple of his friends.

"Way to go, freak." So much for that warm happy feeling.

Looking down at my uniform, I could feel my throat closing up in embarrassment. It began to burn as if I was choking back tears, but I wasn't. I hadn't cried in a long time. I had learned from living in Hidori that most enemies took crying as a weakness, and taught myself to stop whenever I felt the urge. But now, if I wasn't going to cry, then my face was surely going to melt off from the heat my blush was emitting.

I was focusing so hard on not falling apart completely that I hadn't noticed Ichigo grab the water boy by his shirt and throw him up against the wall. Orihime had come to stand beside me and held onto my arm as the group by the door moved back into the room. They came to stand around me, forming a wall of bodies between myself and the rest of the classroom.

I watched as Ichigo defended me, something no one had ever done besides my mother. Then again, I had never become close enough to someone for them to feel obligated to come to my aid. But these kids were clearly different. I looked around at all of them, their faces sincerely angry.

"-you jackass! Now apologize, before I beat you into tomorrow!" The boy, although quivering in fear as Ichigo shook him a bit, was trying his best not to appear so terrified. Leaning over, he shouted a panicked apology at me and then sped towards the door. "What an idiot," Ichigo added, bringing a small smile back to my face.

"Just forget about him, Sayuri," Rukia said, crossing her arms.

"Forget about all of them. They're just morons anyway," the boy with the glasses said, shooting a few gossiping girls a nasty glare. The boy next to him, who was about three times my size (upwards and outwards) nodded in agreement. Ichigo even yelled at some students nearby. I just stared in awe at how quickly they had involved themselves in my mess, something that would have been suicide back in Hidori. Yet, they had all come back for me, to defend me, without even knowing me.

Just like with Rukia, I felt this strange trust for all of them even though I couldn't completely explain where it came from. It felt as if there was a string inside of me, pulling me towards each of them, connecting us. I focused on the feeling, something I had never before experienced and it became even stronger and felt thicker, turning the strings into ribbons that I could almost see in my mind.

Orihime tugged at the dripping sleeve of my jacket and said, "Maybe you should take this off for now."

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, straightening his shirt. "It's pretty wet, and it's already like a hundred degrees out. Why are you wearing it anyway?" Panic flooded into my stomach, causing it to knot up painfully. I stared at him with pleading eyes, wishing I was anyplace but this classroom at the moment. The others seemed to be in agreement and I realized that there was no possible way to talk myself out of removing my jacket. I swallowed hard and focused on the floor tiles.

Orihime held my bag for me as I undid the buttons. Closing my eyes, I slipped one arm out and then the other. Here it comes, I thought. They'll all regret helping me now for sure. Someone in charge of the cosmos had clearly woken up that morning and thought up all the ways to possibly make my first day a living hell.

I had already been expecting the gasps and whispers from the other students, but I was not prepared for the reactions of my rescuers at all.

"Alright then, can we please go eat now? I'm starving." My eyes shot open and I watched as Ichigo simply turned back towards the door. They all did. Not one of them said anything to me. There were no questions, no disgusted looks. They simply ran their eyes over the scars, taking them in, and then followed Ichigo. I stood there in shock. Did they really not care? Was this really something that did not bother them? Who were they…?

Rukia stopped at the door and turned back, motioning for me to follow them. After a few more moments of uncertainty, through which Rukia stayed at the door waiting for me, I took a step towards her. Then another, and another, and soon I had reached where she was standing. Smiling, she looped her arm through mine and dragged me down the hallway. As we reached the group, Orihime handed me back my bag and we all began to climb the stairs to the roof.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Orihime slapped herself on the forehead and turned to me as she walked. "Introductions! You already know me and Rukia and Ichigo it looks like, so that leaves Uryuu!"The boy with glasses pushed them higher up the bridge of his nose and blushed a bit as Orihime flung an arm around his shoulder and hugged him tightly against her chest.

"Hello." Uryuu didn't smile at me, but something about his tone at the moment was kind, and I could just tell that he worked hard to come across as a tough guy. Kind of like Ichigo.

"Yeah, and this is Chad," Ichigo added, pointing his thumb back over his shoulder at the boy walking behind me. He was absolutely huge, which was pretty evident even if he was sitting in a desk. So, naturally, when he stood up, his size was that much more impressive.

"I thought your name was Sado," I said, confused.

"It is. Chad works too." Clearly a man of few words, Chad reminded me of Isamu. His voice was deep and rumbly, his face stoic and straight. But as he looked at me, Chad's eyes were kind and crinkled a bit in the corners. I knew that if his cheek muscles worked like a normal human's, he would be smiling at me.

"Nice to meet you two. Thanks for um… letting me eat with you." I looked back down at my hands as they gripped my bag even tighter.

"Well of course," Rukia laughed from my side. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Yeah, that's what friends do, right?" Orihime smiled and crossed her arms behind her back. There was that word again. Friends. Thinking back, I really had never had anyone I could consider a friend that wasn't my mother. There were neighborhood kids that were safe enough to play with, but I had always felt distanced from the other children. I felt different, even though there was nothing wrong with me even before the scars.

These people, who I had known for perhaps an hour had stood up for me. They had ignored my scars as if they were nothing but freckles, and they had invited me over the threshold and into their group. I suddenly realized that the warm feeling spreading through my body was acceptance, and that brought a genuine smile to my face.