I didn't mean to go so long without update, but between a new job and the new FF14 expansion, I've not even had a word doc open all month. I will try and improve my update times, I swear.

Hope you like it!

Chapter 52: New Student

"Kirara, good morning!" the voice called through the sleepy haze that Kirara was still trying to fight her way out of even as she stepped into the classroom. She rubbed her eyes and picked at the plaster across the bridge of her nose that hid the deep scar, before smiling at Orihime.

"Morning, Orihime. I see you're still just as energetic in the mornings as ever," Kirara yawned as she walked over to her. Orihime nodded with a bright affirmation, beaming widely. Again, she was glad to see Kirara back with them, unsure if she would return after the events of the summer. "Hey Chad," Kirara greeted the young man who was standing beside Orihime, and he nodded with a quiet grunt.

"You seem as perpetually tired as ever," Uryu commented as he sat at the desk they were beside. Orihime and Chad had naturally gravitated over to him when they had arrived, bonded over their journey that summer.

"I was not built for early mornings," Kirara replied seriously. "And good morning, Ishida," she greeted the Quincy, who gave a small nod back. While they weren't exactly friends, Kirara had warmed to him after learning that he'd protected Orihime when they were lost in the Seireitei. "Get all your homework done?" she asked with a grin.

"Yep! Tatsuki and I finished the last of it together," Orihime answered happily. "Did you finish that history essay?" she asked, and Kirara groaned. The essay had been the worst for her, and she had spent hours redoing it with Hibiki's help.

"Barely. I was tempted to set it on fire," she complained. Orihime laughed, but Uryu watched Kirara with an almost curious expression.

He remembered what she'd said - she wasn't a Shinigami. She'd denied it with such venom that Uryu had found himself believing her when she said she hated Shinigami as much as he did.

Ichigo had explained it later, after Kirara had vanished. The Captains hadn't been happy to know that she'd once again vanished without a trace, and Yoruichi had no answer for where she'd gone. She'd been with the rest of the Ryoka, and with Soi Fon barely leaving her side, she could confirm that Yoruichi hadn't helped her - this time.

A former Lieutenant, the same rank as Renji, from a hundred years ago. Knowing that she was a Shinigami, former or otherwise, had made Uryu feel that he would be on edge around her. Yet here she was, behaving the same as before, and he didn't feel a desire to hate her.

It didn't mean that she wasn't annoying, though.

"You could just not have done it," he pointed out, adjusting his glasses. Kirara put her hands on her hips with an affronted look.

"I'm a student, I would get in trouble if I didn't," she pointed out, a touch too enthusiastic, and Uryu shook his head as Orihime giggled. Her giggles grew as Kirara winked at her, before they turned when Ichigo stepped into the classroom. He looked sleepy as well, unused to the early rise after the summer.

"Good morning, Ichigo!" Orihime called, waving to him. Chad gave another grunt of greeting.

"Nice to see that your hair's as messy as usual," Uryu said, fixing his glasses as Ichigo scowled at him.

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"Yeah, clearly he puts a lot of effort into looking like he's put no effort in," Kirara nodded with a grin, and the tired scowl was turned in her direction.

"Why are you here?" he grumbled. Kirara smiled sweetly, tilting her head and putting her hands behind her back.

"I'm a student, it's my duty to go to school," she answered innocently. Ichigo rolled his eyes, standing with them as Orihime giggled. It was interrupted, however, when Keigo screamed in the doorway to the classroom.

"What, what, what, what is this?!" he screeched loudly. "You're all together again?! Chad, and for some reason Inoue, and why Ishida? And Kirara too?!" Keigo demanded as he looked at the group. Kirara had to admit, they were an odd combination. "You've all been acting weird since you all took that vacation at the same time. Your friendship level has increased even more! What happened between you guys?! Tell me already!" he wailed.

"Please shut up," Kirara sighed. "I'm pretty sure you're going to give me a migraine," she complained as he continued to whine.

"Nothing happened," Ichigo rolled his eyes. Keigo inhaled sharply as for a moment he stopped screaming.

"It's finally begun! I'm being left out!" he wailed.

"Pretty much," Ichigo agreed bluntly. Kirara smothered her laugh. "Now that you understand, go over there," he said dismissively, and Keigo sagged as a look of horror overtook him.

"Can't you tell that he's just teasing you?" Mizuiro sighed, having been watching the chaos from the sidelines. Keigo just gave a cry and ran off.

"It is too early for all of this," Kirara complained, going over to her desk and practically throwing herself into her chair to slump over her desk. She yawned again, ignoring when Chizuru suddenly hugged Orihime from behind.

"It's always too early for you," Mizuiro pointed out.

"Exactly," Kirara yawned, her eyes closed. She started to doze as the class caught up after the summer break, seeing who still hadn't finished their assignments.

"Do you not sleep at night?" Hibiki's question made Kirara look up at the girl standing in front of her with a small smile.

"Good morning, Hibiki," Kirara yawned, not moving. "And I do, sometimes," she answered Hibiki's question. The girl giggled. "Enjoy your summer?" Kirara asked her.

"It was too short," Hibiki complained, and Kirara grinned.

"I hear that," she had to agree, rubbing her eyes.

"Get all your assignments done?" Hibiki asked as Kirara looked at her properly. She seemed a little different than she had done before the holidays. Less withdrawn and nervous.

"Barely. Did you?" Kirara asked, putting it down to her being a human teenager. They grew faster than she truly understood, and even though it had only been a few weeks, it was a big change.

"With a few days to spare," Hibiki answered. Both had neglected their work till the last minute, and had been glad that they at least had each other to go over it all.

"Great job. This is why you score so high," Kirara told her. Hibiki blushed, showing some of that shyness that Kirara was used to. 'First Haru, now Hibiki. What's with these shy kids suddenly getting confident? I really hope they aren't taking after me,' she worried. Despite her jokes, she knew that having others developing her same personality traits would be far too chaotic.

"Hey!" they looked around as their teacher stood in the doorway with a cheerful smile.

"Oh, teacher's here!"

"Get to your seats, you guys," Ms. Ochi called, and there was a shuffle as everyone made their way to their seats. Hibiki smiled at Kirara again, before heading to her seat near the back. "Yamada, I'd appreciate it if you at least stayed awake during attendance on the first day back," she said, and Kirara sat up to slump back in her chair.

"Only for you, Ms. Ochi," she flashed a smile as the other students laughed.

"Alright, everyone's all here today!" Ms. Ochi said as she looked around. "Oshima and Sorimachi are never here, but they're delinquents, so it's fine. They're probably alright," she dismissed, to the exasperation of her students. Kirara grinned. "Alright, I have a wonderful announcement for you all. Today I'm going to introduce you to a transfer student!" her words earned a murmur of excitement from the rest of the class.

"A new transfer student? Looks like you're old news, Yamada," one boy told her, and Kirara angled her head to look at him.

"I've been here for ages; I'm old news. And-" she stopped, biting back the words. Most of the class didn't remember Rukia, whose identity and time in their class had been erased when she'd returned to the Soul Society.

Ichigo's sudden screaming distracted the class and saved Kirara from having to finish what she was saying. She looked over at the young man, who had almost fallen out of his seat as the Combat Pass he'd been holding flashed and beeped loudly.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" Mizuiro asked curiously as Ichigo looked flustered.

"Oh…no…my stomach hurts a little," he lied weakly. Kirara watched him carefully, understanding what the Combat Pass was. It was warning him about a Hollow, which didn't feel too far away.

"Who screams out loud when they have a stomach ache?" Ms. Ochi asked, staring at him too. She shook her head, and walked to the door to open it. "Alright, come in!" she called, only to find that nobody was there. "Huh? Where'd he go?" she wondered, not seeing Ichigo until he'd slipped past her. "Hey! Hey, Kurosaki!" the teacher shouted as he ran down the corridor.

"I'm going to the restroom!" he yelled without looking back.

"The restroom? Oh, come on," Ms. Ochi frowned at the obvious lie, not registering Chad and Orihime walking straight past her. "Hey!" she yelled when the two broke into a run, following Ichigo. "Chad! And Inoue too?!" she shouted.

"We're going to the restroom!" they shouted the same lie, to her exasperation.

"Liars!" Ms. Ochi yelled, before realising that Kirara had slipped behind her and escaped too. "You too, Yamada?" she demanded. Kirara gave a laugh.

"Delinquent, remember?" she shouted, waving over her shoulder.

"At least one of them is honest," she muttered, grabbing Keigo and dragging him back in before he could run after them. He wailed, complaining about favouritism as she shut the door and ordered him back to his desk.

Kirara didn't really need to go after Ichigo, but she was somewhat curious as she passed Orihime and Chad, easily keeping up with Ichigo but keeping a short distance between them. He'd already left his body, clad in his Shinigami uniform as he headed straight to where the Hollow was.

She watched from the sidelines with Chad and Orihime as Ichigo easily fought off the Hollow. After everything in the Soul Society, a simple garden-variety Hollow was no threat to him. It didn't take him long to cleave through the monster, letting it vanish as he rested his Zanpakuto over his shoulder.

"Come to think of it…" Ichigo turned to the three spectators. "Wasn't it alright for me to take out the usual Hollows by myself?" he asked them. "You didn't have to cut class as well," he pointed out, not understanding why all of them had followed him out.

"To be honest, I've always wanted to try cutting class by pretending to go to the bathroom," Orihime admitted with a bright smile. Kirara laughed.

"It's good that you're not making any excuses, but that's way too honest," Chad told her.

"And you?" Ichigo asked Kirara, a little wary that she'd tagged along. Before they'd gone to the Soul Society, she hadn't interfered in what he did. She smiled at him.

"I wanted to see if you would be able to find the Hollow with how bad you are at detecting Reiatsu," she said, bringing a scowl back to his face.

"Why you…"

"Come to think of it, Uryu didn't come," Orihime murmured, stopping them before Ichigo could rise to Kirara's bait.

"It can't be helped," Ichigo shrugged, his temper fading as even Kirara couldn't help but stop teasing. "He doesn't have any Reiryoku now," he pointed out, aware of what had happened to Uryu in the Soul Society. In order to defeat Captain Kurotsuchi, he'd sacrificed his powers for good. "Don't worry, he'll figure something out," Ichigo said, seeing the concern on Orihime's face and the grim look on Kirara's.

"I can't pretend to begin to understand a Quincy's powers, but if there is a way to restore them, Uryu's a smart enough guy to find it," Kirara said as she patted Orihime's shoulder in an attempt to reassure her.

"Let's believe in Ishida," Chad said quietly.

"You're right," Orihime managed to brighten a little.

"Now come on, we better get back before we really do get into trouble for ditching," Kirara pointed out, and stretched with a groan.

"Who'd have thought the delinquent would be the one worried about that?" Ichigo rolled his eyes as he started to walk back to their school. Chad and Orihime followed, and Kirara grinned, watching them for a moment before looking up.

Completely undetected by the three, Shinji had been watching upside down, arriving before Ichigo even had. He met Kirara's gaze, and winked before vanishing. She shook her head, before jogging to catch up to the three.

"I'm pretty sure you're not much better than me, Ichigo. I heard about all those fights you and the big guy got into," Kirara said lightly, falling into step with them. Ichigo shot her an irritated look.

"Next time, don't follow me," he grumbled. Kirara's smile widened.

"You wound me, Ichigo," she said without a trace of hurt.

"Yeah, yeah," he rolled his eyes.

The four returned to class with little fanfare. Ms. Ochi briefly scolded them, but it was light and felt more like it was being done for show before they returned to their seats. Kirara instantly slumped over her desk, hiding behind her book as she started to doze.

She was pulled from that light doze before she could fall into a proper sleep, when Ms. Ochi pulled the book she was hiding behind from her hands to hit her over the head with it.

"What? I stayed awake for attendance, that's all you asked of me," Kirara yawned.

"You weren't even here for the whole attendance," Ms. Ochi said. She gave a cheeky grin in response, and the teacher rolled her eyes. "You sleeping through my class isn't the first impression I want to show. At least wait until you have a different teacher," she scolded.

"Of course," Kirara straightened up, all too aware that Shinji was standing at the front of the class watching closely. She refused to look at him, focused instead on the teacher.

"Or maybe you could sleep at night?" Tatsuki asked her. Kirara snorted, glancing at her.

"Where's the fun in that?" she asked, and Ms. Ochi hit her over the head again. "Hey, what was that for?" Kirara complained as a few people in the class giggled.

"That was to make sure you're listening, Yamada," Ms. Ochi told her, before walking back over to the front of the class. Kirara rubbed her head, but didn't lose her grin. "Listen up, everyone! The transfer student I was talking about this morning is here. I'll introduce him to you," she gestured.

There was a murmur of curiosity as Shinji wrote his name on the board, only to write it backwards. Kirara just rolled her eyes and yawned again, leaning back in her seat as she tried to at least stay awake for a little while longer.

'What a showoff,' she thought to herself, barely listening as she focused on Ichigo's Reiatsu. She was well used to the pressure in the room from him, but now also felt it from Orihime and Chad, who had grown stronger. They were a little obscured by Ichigo's presence, but after their time in the Soul Society, Kirara couldn't help but be aware of them. 'He seems to have been fine since he got back from that place…the Hollow is taking over at key times. But if it keeps up, it's only a matter of time,' Kirara mused.

"So you're my neighbour," she glanced over to where Shinji had sat down at the desk next to Ichigo's, addressing him with an over-friendly attitude that made Kirara roll her eyes again. "Let's be friends, Kurosaki," he said as he sat down.

"Y-yeah. Pleased to meet you," Ichigo was thrown, having been deep in thought when Shinji had suddenly appeared beside him.

'Idiot. You're not supposed to know his name yet,' Kirara growled to herself. He was lucky Ichigo was too distracted to realise. 'Not suited for something like this is right. I'm going to want to punch him before the day is done,' she grumbled, running a hand down her face. Kirara then sighed heavily. 'I'm sorry, Ichigo. You gave me no choice,' she said mentally, hoping that she'd be able to give Ichigo a real apology at some point.

By the time class had ended, Kirara had tension building in her body, and she had never been so relieved to hear the bell that signalled the end of the day. She stood, shoving her books into her bag as unceremoniously as ever, before pulling it onto her shoulder.

"Hey, Kirara," she glanced around as Hibiki called out to her. "My parents are working late again, want to go to that noodle place?" she asked. As if speaking for her, Kirara's stomach began to growl loudly at the thought of noodles. It had been too long since they had been, and despite the tension still in her shoulders as she remained far too aware of Shinji being around.

"Sounds great," Kirara grinned at her. "Hey Orihime, Tatsuki," she called over to the other two, who were talking as they cleared up for the day. "Wanna get food?" she invited, and Orihime's eyes lit up.

"Let's go!" she agreed eagerly.

"As long as you aren't going to try Orihime's suggestions again," Tatsuki replied, pulling her bag onto her shoulder. "I thought for sure you were gonna puke the last time," she remembered, and Kirara shuddered as she recalled it well.

"I've learned my lesson, trust me," Kirara laughed. "Orihime has a stomach of steel, and the rest of us are mere mortals in her presence," she said. Orihime just laughed as Tatsuki grimaced.

"That's one way of putting it," she said, having learned to fear Orihime's culinary habits long ago.

"I still can't believe you committed," Hibiki said as she and Kirara walked towards the door.

"I'm not a quitter," Kirara replied seriously.

"Maybe you should be when it comes to eating peanut butter and pickles with noodles," Hibiki told her seriously, and saw Kirara's skin take on a sickly tone. Her stomach churned at the mere mention of the combination that she'd tried on Orihime's recommendation.

"Please, let's never mention it again," Kirara pleaded, before her shoulder bumped against someone else's. "Sor-" she stopped, realising Shinji was watching her with amusement in his eyes. "Sorry," Kirara repeated this time, forcing an innocent smile. Hibiki had drawn closer to Kirara out of reflex at the sudden appearance of the new student, and Kirara felt that call to protect her. "Come on, before the queues get too big," she pushed Hibiki out the door.

"So popular, Yamada. I'm seeing you in a whole new light," Shinji's whisper was only loud enough for Kirara, who shot him a warning look.

"Behave," was all she said before she followed Hibiki out. Shinji watched for a moment longer, resisting his grin. Just one day in class with Kirara had given him plenty of things to tease her about, and both of them knew it.

"Maybe this student thing will pay off after all," he murmured.

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