I danced around the kitchen, listening to my iPod, throwing dishes into the sink. Last night stuck into my mind, though I tried to just pay attention to my music as I piled all of the plates and bowls into the dishwasher. I had gotten bored just putting them in, so I was trying to put all of the silverware in a cup I had put aside with a single knife. After I had done this, and rinsed the cup, I knocked over the cup and was putting the silverware in the dishwasher the same way, when Ageha came in.

"Whatcha doin'?" she mimicked my accent.

"'Ishes," I replied, ripping an earbud out of my ear. We had made a deal a while ago, if she started a conversation with my accent, I could finish it in said accent.

"Why are you doing it with a knife?"

"'Cause 'm 'ored."

She looked at me funny, and I returned the gaze until we both cracked up, which wasn't very long. I threw in the last couple of things, smiling as we raced out the door when Ageha realized what time it was. I knew the semester final was today.

I smiled all the way through the test, not taking my eyes off the paper once, until I was done, listening to my music the whole time.

I was curious to what Ageha and I got on the finals. Mostly Ageha, because I knew how smart she was, I knew that she would've scored high on the test that was easy to me. We got to where the postings where for the test, and stared at the listings.

"Damn," I whistled. "How did you get all the way up there?"

"Uh, by getting a higher score than Orihime, and a lower one than Uryuu?" She stared intently at her second place score of 895. "Are you on here?"

"Well, duh." I answered, pointing to a spot near Ichigo's name.

"You where 23rd?" Ageha marveled.

"Yeah, I'm not as stupid as people think I am."

"I know, I know," Ageha mumbled as she looked over to see the over-dramatic, as always, Keigo perform. I looked over to see Ichigo not worried, but more focused on trying to remember Uryuu's name. I smiled and nudged Ageha. She looked up and choked back a laugh. We walked in the classroom, swallowing our laughs. Settling in a place near Ageha's desk, where she had left her bag for this purpose, we watched Uryuu show off his sewing skills. We smiled at each other as he left the room, and we started walking back to Urahara's shop. About halfway there, we realized, for the first time, that we were unintentionally following the acclaimed "last" Quincy, with intent to simply get back to the Internet.

"How long have you known?" I heard in the distance.

"Since you and Orihime poked your heads into the classroom," I heard a softer voice reply.

"They're ahead." I mumbled.

"Maybe we could stop them from fighting?" Ageha suggested.

"It's possible, but somehow I doubt it." I answered. "Both of them stick to their pride, more so Uryuu than Ichigo, but he still has his. I say we just walk by like nothing is happening and leave with Rukia."

"That's a good Idea," Ageha agreed. "But I think you should stay with Urahara. You know, because of that." She pointed to my side, where a sword would be if I had one. I lowered my eyes sadly, and then looked up dangerously. "Come on, you know I only have your safety in mind." I closed my eyes and knitted my eyebrows together, reluctantly giving in to Ageha's worried tone. Suddenly loosing my voice, I nodded silently. We kept walking, right past the two boys, me glaring at Uryuu while he glared back. Ageha had to break our staring contest, because I refused to break eye contact with someone else before they did, and, apparently, so did Uryuu. She pulled me down the street until we were so far away, I couldn't hear the two powerful teenagers bickering. When we got to the store, I walked right through the door, interrupting a one sided game of Jan, Ken, Poi. I ignored Rukia's approach, and Ageha's giggles at Rukia throwing her Soul Pager at Urahara. I walked straight through the shop into the living area, up a flight of stairs, and fell facedown onto a bed. I heard the beginning of Urahara's explanation of Quincies, then soft footsteps as Ageha climbed the stares. The door creaked slightly as she opened it. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," I said, my harsh tone slightly muffled by the blankets.

"You sure?"

"Yes! I'm fine! Leave me alone!" I shouted into the bed, involuntarily raising my reiatsu to an unbearably high level.

"O-okay," Ageha muttered, reaching for the door while trying to raise her reiatsu to a level somewhere close to mine.

A few minutes later, I heard Rukia's Soul Pager go off, and she and Ageha left the store. I felt the rise and fall of two major reiatsus, then felt them coming closer to the shop. When they where almost on top of me, I heard Urahara shout, "Kenichi! Lower your reiatsu and come and help us!" I sighed and got up reluctantly, not having moved since I first fell onto the bed. When I finally got down Urahara, Orihime had woken up and Urahara was vaguely explaining the current situation to the two. Orihime looked up as I walked into the room.

"Kenichi!" she yelled, drawing Chad's attention to me. "How much of this stuff did you know?"

"All of it," I sighed, leaning against a wall.

"Oh," she said, no longer curious.

"Kenichi, could you go help Tessai get ready?" Urahara asked, his usual playful manner gone.

I nodded silently, and left the three in the room.

(V)(;,,;)(V)

I stood off to one side in Shinigami form, watching as Ichigo ran down the nearby steps, threatened Uryuu, and then grabbed the mod soul by the shirt he was wearing. I leaned against a pole as the two started fighting, then as Rukia joined in, I moved toward Uryuu.

"Hey! Kurosaki! I'm your opponent!" He yelled, to no avail.

"Don't worry about it, Uryuu," I said simply. "From what I've seen, that happens a lot. Just wait for them to realize that they're fighting about something stupid."

Uryuu looked at me. "Why should I trust you?"

I shrugged. "I guess you don't have to. I mean, if you really think that you can't trust me, then don't."

Uryuu's glasses glinted as he pushed them up his nose. "Good answer."

I nodded slowly, about ready to throw a rock in the middle of the bickering trio, when a loud crack suddenly echoed throughout the area. "Aw, shit," I muttered, as we all looked up to the rip in the sky. I watched as Uryuu yelled at Ichigo, and then ran toward the mass of hollows. I stood back as Rukia explained the Quincies to Ichigo, and then watched him run away. I sighed and, dragging Rukia away from Kon, made my way toward the unlikely fighting duo.