Annoyances Yoruichi sighed as she re-entered Class 4-E for the first time in a week, both grateful to her friends for helping her get better and annoyed that she had to return to school at the same time. She'd just left Soi and Kisuke in the hallway a few minutes ago, both of whom had expressed gratitude at her return to good health in their own ways (Soi with a warm, if slightly timid greeting, her male confidant by teasingly offering to give her a 'thorough physical' to make sure she really was better). As she'd expected, most of the class had already assembled; Yoruichi had been running a little late this morning and still felt slightly off-kilter, but Soi insisted that she was well enough to attend classes when she'd stopped by on the previous evening. She allowed herself a grin as she recalled the almost-comically agitated look on her young friend's face, but her thoughts were interrupted by a very familiar voice. "Well, well...Where th' hell've you been, y' bitch?" Yoruichi smiled and huffed in feigned annoyance as she walked over to the voice's source, a girl about her height and age with her ebony hair styled (if it could be called that, to be honest she looked somewhat raggedy) haphazardly into two long tails that lay across her shoulder blades. Many of this girl's peers were of the opinion that she would probably be very popular with the boys (considering her attractive features along with 'assets' that put even Matsumoto's to shame) were it not for the darkly mischevious expression perpetually worn on her face and her completely tomboyish nature. These facts didn't dissuade Yoruichi though, and when her peers observed that the second this girl had walked into Rukongai High and had been greeted familiarly by The Goddess, everyone had wisely opted to at least treat her with respect. "I've been sick, Kuukaku. ...And a 'good morning' to you, too." "You? Sick? Yeah, right..." "No, really-- don't you remember all that rain we got last week?" Yoruichi insisted, sliding the handle of her bookcase into the hook on the side of her desk, ignoring the slight jingle of the black cat-shaped charm dangling from the leatherbound luggage. "Uh-huh," the other girl answered with plenty of sarcasm. "...And I guess all those times we got 'sick' in middle school wouldn't POSSIBLY make me just a LITTLE suspicious about what you were doing. If you were going to just take a week off and party, then you should've at least invited m--" "Miss Shiba," a silky, masculine voice called out, followed moments later by the sound of the classroom door shutting behind it, "...Class has started now--please keep your...'extracurricular activities'...private, if you will." The students collectively stopped what they were doing and came to attention as their homeroom teacher entered, placing a fine black briefcase on his desk and tossing his tweed suitcoat over a chair. Kuukaku groaned under her breath as she turned away from Yoruichi and toward the front of the class. "...Yes, Aizen-sensei," she replied with as much subdued venom as her voice could muster. Sosuke Aizen was held in fairly high esteem, both with the staff and students of Rukongai High School, but his benevolent additude and compassionate nature only went so far. Yoruichi knew from firsthand experience that the bespectacled teacher hated troublemakers and delinquents, as he was completely dedicated to preserving the prestigious reputation of his place of employment. He'd requested quite a few times that any sort of criminal record or serious disciplinary problems in the past bar entering students from attending the high school, but fortunately many of the faculty considered him a bit too zealous in this area, and usually ignored his proposals. As such, he took it upon himself to make his class as difficult as possible for anyone he considered a 'problem child'-- people like Kuukaku and Yoruichi, for example. Aizen gave his female student a curt nod, then spoke again when he noticed Yoruichi. "Ah, Shihouin--Nice of you to return to class." That was all he said, but the hidden accusation in his tone that was ignored by the rest of the class came through loud and clear to the dark-skinned woman. After two years straight with him as her homeroom teacher, recieving this kind of subtle treatment barely fazed her. "...I hope you recieved the hand-outs for this class while you were 'incapacitated.' Yoruichi didn't like the emphasis he had placed on that term, but decided not to say anything regarding it. "...I did, Aizen-sensei." "Good. Then you should be prepared for our test today." The class let out an audible groan, the volume of which was only equaled by the amount of shock on Yoruichi's face. "Aizen-sensei," Yoruichi said in as calm a voice as she could manage given the circumstances, "...I thought that the exam wasn't until the end of the week..." "Well, I announced on Wednesday that the test was going to be moved up. You can miss quite a bit when you're out for nearly an entire school week, Miss Shihouin." Yoruichi knew that this was no mere coincidence, but rather than give an excuse to be reprimanded she sighed and slumped in her desk. Figures. "Jeez, what a bastard." It took Yoruichi a moment to answer Kuukaku's sudden remark, as she had been in the middle of eating her lunch. The weather today had been an agreeable opposite to the conditions of the previous Monday, so the two girls had opted to have their meal on the roof. Catching a napkin before the breeze could carry it more than a few inches away, Yoruichi turned to her friend. "Oh, come on...it's not like I would've passed even if I had a whole week to study..." "That's beside the point," Kuukaku muttered as she took a swig of her cola, letting loose with a loud belch once she was done. "...He did it on purpose and you know it! Why are you just sitting and taking it, anyway? The Yoruichi I know wouldn't have dealt with this shit for more than a week..." Yoruichi rolled her eyes as she continued to focus on her sandwich, hoping that her silence would send the message that she wasn't feeling energetic enough to take a stroll down memory lane. Whether Kuukaku caught the hint or not soon became irrelevant as Yoruichi caught a glint of silver near the stairwell that led up to the roof. A smile found its way to her face as she realized who that silver hoop was attached to, and without any hesitation called out to its owner. "Hey, Soi!" The freshman was halfway down the first flight when she'd heard her name, called in that now-familiar voice, and froze. She'd felt stupid when a strange boldness pushed her to find Yoruichi and sit with her for lunch. She felt even more so when she'd arrived at the roof, only to find Yoruichi already sitting with someone else, a tall girl she didn't recognize. After all, who was she to think that Yoruichi would always want her around? She was an only child, but she'd often overheard classmates with siblings complaining about a lack of free space. Why should it be any different with her? In spite of the long list of reasons her brain kept giving her to give Yoruichi some breathing room, she'd found herself looking for the older girl anyway. When Yoruichi called her a second time, shaking Soi out of her reverie, the younger girl climbed the few stairs she'd managed to descend, dismissing the pounding in her chest as fatigue. "Well, I THOUGHT it was you," Yoruichi said with that Chesire-cat grin she always had, giving Soi a bit of comfort in the fact that the older girl was fully back to her normal self. "Did you come up the stairs a minute ago?" "Y...Yeah," Soi answered after a moment, her hands betraying her nervousness by toying with the wrapper on the sandwich she'd purchased from the cafeteria. After forcing herself to calm down, Soi made eye contact with her friend. "I'm...I'm glad you're feeling better, Yoruichi-san." Before the older girl could respond, Kuukaku interrupted. "Hey, Yoruichi--I didn't know you liked 'em young." Soi finally turned to acknowledge the stranger sitting beside Yoruichi, already getting a bad impression of her for interrupting them. When her two companions made no indication that they appreciated her jest, Kuukaku tentatively stuck out a hand in Soi's direction. "...Uh, sorry kid, I was just playin'. The name's Kuukaku Shiba." After a moment, Soi grasped the other girl's hand, allowing only the most polite of smiles to cross her lips. "...Charmed, I'm sure," the Chinese girl answered with as much false warmth as she could muster. She didn't want to come off as rude, but she could tell that Kuukaku was a troublemaker, just the sort of person Soi worked most of her life to avoid. "Hey, don't worry," Yoruichi suddenly remarked with a grin in the freshman's direction. "...She used to be pretty...well, rowdy...at our old school, but she's harmless these days." Soi blinked and turned in Yoruichi's direction, eyeing her suspiciously. Was she that easy a person to read? "Oh, like you're one to talk," Kuukaku quipped with a snort. "You haven't changed a bit since middle school, you know that?" Before Soi could ask what the other girl meant, Yoruichi guided her to the ledge and sat her down. Taking the hint, she liberated her meal from its plastic prison and began to eat. "So..." Kuukaku said after a few minutes, breaking a fairly awkward silence, "How do you know Yoruichi? She's never mentioned you before..." When she suddenly realized that she was being spoken to, Soi put down her food and turned to her new 'friend.' "Oh...Well, I was being...picked on... by Ichimaru, and Yoruichi helped me." "...Really?" Kuukaku responded to Soi's explanation, giving her friend a knowing grin that was lost on the freshman. "I'm tellin' you, Yoruichi-- if you want Aizen taken care of, just say the word," Kuukaku said as the trio descended the stairs after lunch. "God knows I'd like an excuse to teach that creep a lesson." "...Who's that?" Soi asked, intrigued since the name sounded familiar. "Oh, he's just our homeroom teacher," Yoruichi answered casually. "...Kuukaku doesn't like him very much." "Damn straight, I don't! Bastard's been failing me ever since I walked in that class." "That's because you don't study the material, Shiba," Yoruichi said with an arched eyebrow. "Well, yeah, but...it's the principle of the thing! He's always willing to help out suck-ups like the class rep, but kids like you and me? No luck at all!" To the inattentive Soi Fong's surprise, Kuukaku rounded on her. "You know what I'm talking about, right kid?" "Uh, yeah..." Soi answered uncertainly, not really understanding what was the other girls were talking about in the first place. In fact, she was feeling rather like an outsider, and considering that she wasn't able to hold a conversation with Yoruichi without this ostentacious girl butting in, she was wondering why she had stuck around at all. Maybe I should just hurry to class... "Well, I've gotta get to next hour," Kuukaku said once they reached the second floor, which instantly made the freshman perk up. "See ya, Yoruichi--oh, and good meetin' you, kid." Once Kuukaku had headed off her own way, Yoruichi matched pace with Soi, who was walking a little ways ahead. "Man, Kuukaku's something, huh? Sometimes that girl scares me a bit." "Um, yeah..." Soi answered after a moment, Yoruichi's proximity and the fact that they were alone now making her a little happier than she had been moments ago. "To be honest...I kind of don't like her." The older girl let out a noise a little like a snort, amused by Soi's frank assertion. "Well, she is a little rough around the edges," Yoruichi admitted, "...but she'll grow on you." Soi gave Yoruichi a glance that told her quite plainly that she had no plans of giving Kuukaku an opportunity to do any such thing, and the upperclassman laughed. After a brief silence, Yoruichi spoke up again. "So...have you had a chance to talk to Byakuya-kun? ...About taking the test?" Soi blinked for a moment before tapping her forehead in self-punishment. She'd completely forgotten due to worrying about Yoruichi. "...No," she admitted sheepishly, "...I haven't had a chance, what with last weekend and all..." "Yeah, about that," Yoruichi said guiltily as they stopped at Soi's locker, "...I feel pretty bad about making you miss that..." "Oh, no! I was happy to stay with y--...I mean, it wasn't a problem, if that's what you're worried about," Soi insisted, wondering briefly why she had felt uncomfortable saying what she had meant to. Yoruichi shook her head, equally unwilling to acquiesce. "Anyway...I was thinking, I'd like to make it up to you, if you don't have a problem." Soi's brain did a double-take, wondering with a strange sort of anticipation what Yoruichi had meant by that statement. "...'M-make it up to me?' What, um...did you have in mind?" The Chinese girl didn't like the idea of people doing favors for her or paying her back, or at least she hadn't before Yoruichi had offered to do so. "Well, you need to have a Black-belt give you the test, right? Well, you're looking at a very available one right here," Yoruichi indicated herself with a smile, while Soi felt a slight bit of disappointment, almost as if she was hoping Yoruichi had meant something else by paying her back... Damnit, what's wrong with you, Soi? she blushed as she shook the uncharacteristically scandalous thoughts from her head. "So, just tell Byakuya-kun that you'd like to take the test Friday, and then I'll be able to do it with you, okay?" Soi nodded enthusiastically in response, after which Yoruichi headed off to her own classes, leaving behind a Soi who felt very strange about what had passed through her mind concerning her sempai. As much as Soi had been looking forward to Karate today, her enthusiasm for the sport had quickly evaporated thanks to the results of the missed test. It seemed like nearly everyone was wearing a bright yellow belt now-- only a few besides Soi, including Keigo and a tall boy she didn't recognize appeared to failed to arrive like she had. She tried to ignore the new boy and focus on the lesson at hand, but it was that hair of his that kept distracting her--it looked almost like he'd tried to bleach it, but had failed in the attempt, tinting it a bright shade of orange. Fortunately, Rukia seemed to have noticed a general lack of motivation in the group as a whole, and the twenty push-ups she'd assigned everyone as a result came as a welcome change in focus. "Um, Rukia-san?" The diminuitive upperclassman snapped out of her post-club fatigue and threw on a polite smile as she turned in Soi Fong's direction, wiping a lone bead of sweat from her forehead in the process. "Oh, hello. Soi Fong, right?" Rukia asked as she narrowed her eyes in attempted recollection, relaxing when Soi nodded in the affirmative. "Well, then--what do you need?" "Rukia-san..." Soi began a bit nervously, but continued once she gathered her resolve. Just because Rukia was Byakuya's sister doesn't mean they're alike...right? "...I missed the test last weekend, and, um...I need to take it soon--that is, if it's not too much trouble." "Oh really? You know, I was surprised when you didn't show up, Soi Fong-- you're probably one of the better students in my group." "Uh, no, t-that's silly..." Soi lowered her head slightly, feeling more embarrassed about being praised than about her current situation. "Okay," Rukia smiled, picking up on Soi's additude and not wanting to make her more uncomfortable than she clearly was. "...Just let me talk to nii-san and we'll get you set up. Does this Friday sound all right?" "Y-yeah, that'd be great!" Soi smiled as the older girl walked towards her much-taller sibling, who was quietly talking to Renji about something. Soi sat there uncomfortably for a few minutes as the two Kuchiki children began to speak, too far away to be heard, until she felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped. "Geez, you still scare so easily," Yoruichi muttered with a satisfied grin as she continued drying her hair with a towel. Soi was about to chide the senior for startling her when she noticed the rather flattering tank top Yoruichi was wearing and decided instead to hide the growing blush on her face. "Hey, what's wrong?" the dark-skinned girl asked as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "...Are you getting sick again?" Fortunately (and especially since Soi had no answer to the question), Byakuya broke off from Renji and Rukia and came towards them, eyeing Soi calmly. "...You want to take the Belt exam on Friday, correct?" Soi bowed low and confirmed his assertion with a nod. "Very well, then," the steely-eyed upperclassman responded. "...Then be ready to take the exam at 4:30 sharp. I have a prior engagement and cannot afford to be late." Soi Fong promised that she would do so, but before she could walk away Yoruichi spoke up. "Hey, Byakuya-kun... If you've got something to do, then I can give her the test--no problem." The freshman was about to smile gratefully at her sempai, certain now that she would pass, but Byakuya's response pulled the rug out from beneath her. "I'm afraid not. You see, it's my philosophy that people should EARN the things that they want in life." It took a moment for Yoruichi to process what her fellow classmate was implying, upon which her cheerful disposition turned sour. "...What's that supposed to mean?" Byakuya said nothing at first, only giving the two girls a look that made it clear he knew what Yoruichi's intentions were. "...If you're suggesting that I'd let her pass--" "What I am suggesting, Shihouin-san," the eldest Kuchiki said calmly, "...Is that as her friend, you may feel inclined to give her...an unfair advantage over other students. Since I won't tolerate anyone who can't keep up with this program, I'd like to ensure that Miss Fong is capable of passing on her own." For a while, no one spoke, Yoruichi's face stuck somewhere between indignance and abhorrence, while Soi was wearing a renewed expression of anxiety. "...4:30 this Friday, Miss Fong. And don't bother showing up if you can't make it on time." Without another word, Byakuya left the two girls, rejoining his sister but wedging himself between a now-disgruntled Renji.
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