Freudian Slip Yoruichi stared at the flickering television set as she flipped through the channels, only vaguely interested in the comedy program that was on at the moment. She'd hoped that it would be enough to distract her from her thoughts, but all it did was bring what she had seen more firmly into her consciousness. How the hell could this have happened, she repeated to herself for the twentieth time that evening. The upperclassman had known Momo for nearly two years, and in that time she would never have believed that this sweet-natured, quiet girl could have been sleeping with a teacher if she hadn't seen her like that herself. But then, the more she'd thought about it, the more it had made sense. The Hinamori girl had been recommended for the position of Class Representative by Aizen himself, but everyone had just assumed that it was because she sucked up to him all the time. And of course the Class Rep had more responsibilities, some of which required her to stay longer hours... What Yoruichi couldn't get over was why Aizen was doing this. It didn't seem even remotely possible that he could be serious about caring for her, and it seemed terribly hypocritical of him to press the importance of rules on his students when he was breaking one that could cost him his job or put Momo in a terrible position. What if someone found out about them? Well, the dark-skinned girl though with an ironic smile, I guess I'm someone, aren't I? What was there for her to do? Should she tell someone about them? It was illegal, and (she hated herself for being happy about it) it would probably get him banned from every school in the prefecture. But at the same time, what if this relationship was a real one? Did she have any right to interfere if they were happy? The young woman clutched her forehead and groaned as the strain from thinking too hard about the problem got to her. She shut off the TV with the nearby remote and slumped against the couch, heaving a sigh as she closed her eyes. ...I guess I'll just keep quiet about it, Yoruichi admitted to herself as she tried to drift off to sleep. Soi woke up the next morning covered in sweat, though whether it was from the summer humidity filling the room or her most recent dream about Yoruichi she wasn't sure. She had to admit as she got dressed that she hadn't expected for her emotions to wage such a strong battle within her once she'd seen the upperclassman yesterday, but now that she knew what to expect it might be a little easier to deal with. After a rushed breakfast of dry cereal and a quick chug of coffee the freshman headed off to school, the whole time assuring herself that this wasn't anything she couldn't handle. I can't avoid her, Soi thought seriously as she finally reached the school. ...So I'll just have to be calm and think rationally. Soi didn't take notice of the flyers until she nearly slipped on one in the school hallway, carelessly tossed aside by an apathetic-looking upperclassman in front of her. Bending down quickly to avoid being pushed over by the students flooding the hallway, the braided girl picked up the light blue sheet of paper and read it curiously. ...A dance? "Hey, whatcha lookin' at?" At the sound of Yoruichi's voice Soi prepared to turn around but suddenly found the flyer snatched out of her hands by the grinning upperclassman. She nearly turned red from the girl's closeness but caught herself, employing a deep breath to prevent losing her nerve. "Oh, uh...I dunno. I just picked it up off the floor..." Suddenly the freshman found the piece of paper back in her hands, Yoruichi groaning as she did so. "Ah...THAT thing," Yoruichi said with an undercurrent of annoyance in her tone. The younger girl suddenly felt a little nervous about asking what she had been intending to but decided that it was probably better asking Yoruichi than anyone else. "Y-Yoruichi-san... do you know about this dance?" "Hmph. It's really not as big a deal as you'd think," the taller of the two says with a roll of the eyes. "...Just that everyone likes to pretend it is. They get all the upperclassman excited for this thing but it's just kinda boring." "U-upperclassmen?" Soi inquired, a strange sort of anxiety building up in her chest as she said it. "Yeah. See, the dance is only for Juniors and Seniors." "...Oh..." Soi said with more disappointment then she had meant to. She didn't know why it even mattered to her-- she'd never liked these things before... "Why do you ask? Did you wanna g--" "N-no," the freshman answered quickly as she felt her face burning up. "I-I-I gotta get to first period, bye!" Before Yoruichi could ask her what was up, Soi had run off down the hall and around the corner, her path hidden by the people rushing past in both directions. Once Soi had gotten out of sight she slammed her back against the wall, clutching at a stitch in her chest in the hopes of slowing her pounding heart. Goddamnit...get it together, Soi! the girl chided herself once she realized she'd just run away again. Why couldn't she just ignore this, pretend it away like it didn't exist? She hadn't had any trouble talking to Yoruichi before, why couldn't she just go back to that? No...Be strong, she told herself evenly as she took a deep breath and headed toward her classroom. ...I can do this. Walking was apparently something she couldn't do however, because another of the stray flyers made contact with her foot and sent her flying onto her back. Yoruichi gave a worried glance in the direction Soi had gone as she walked down the hallway, then turned away once she reached the stairs. It probably wasn't anything major, but the freshman was definitely acting strangely. She was considering trying to confront Soi about it at lunch when she nearly ran into someone. "Woah! Sorr--" the young woman began, but the apology stuck in her throat when she saw whose path she had crossed. "Oh! Hi, Yoruichi!" Momo smiled cheerfully at the taller girl. "...Don't worry about it-- I wasn't really paying attention, either..." she admitted as she glanced at the floor, trying to hide the slight blush on her face that had appeared upon recalling her most recent encounter with her lover. "Oh...Hey, it's the Class Rep!" Yoruichi said with a grin of her own, recovering just enough to pass for normal conversation. "...How are you, Momo?" "Me? I...I'm fine," she answered as the blush only grew deeper. The two girls were silent for a few moments, as Hinamori was lost in her thoughts and Yoruichi was feeling uncomfortable about the whole conversation. "...Well, we'd better get going," the tiny girl said as she glanced at her watch. "We're gonna be late for homeroom!" "...Yeah..." Yoruichi agreed uneasily as Momo passed, suddenly noticing the unmistakable aroma of a strong perfume coming from the teen. She'd never noticed it on the petite girl before, but now Yoruichi wondered just how often she wore it, how many times she put it on for Aizen and if it meant they were planning another 'rendevous' that evening. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't accept any of this as being consentual; Aizen was a frigid bastard and Hinamori blushed every time someone so much as mentioned the word 'kiss.' There had to be something darker, more sinister to this... "Ahh-- Good morning, Miss Hinamori," the teacher of Class 4-E said with a warm smile as the girl entered. "G-good morning, Aizen-sensei," Momo smiled back, and Yoruichi thought briefly that their eyes lingered for just a moment longer then was appropriate. She tried to walk past nonchalantly as she entered the nearly-full classroom but the bespectacled instructor caught her in the act. "...Shouldn't you have been here five minutes ago, Miss Shihouin?" Yoruichi grimaced as she felt the eyes of every last student turn on her, but she was too proud to do something as undignified as stutter from embarrassment. "...With all due respect, Aizen-sensei..." Yoruichi said as evenly as she could, "...The bell hasn't rung y--" As if the gods were in the business of taunting smart-aleck students, the chimes for the beginning of first hour sounded throughout the school. The upperclassman sighed as she felt a satisfied smile on Aizen's features, even though she hadn't bothered to look over. "Well, then-- I guess class just started, didn't it? If you don't get to your seat immediately I could just fail you right now, Miss Shihouin...though God knows it wouldn't be difficult at this point." "...Yes, Aizen-sensei," Yoruichi muttered through gritted teeth as she walked over to her seat, ignoring the handful of students who were foolish or ignorant enough to taunt her. As she sat down she caught the briefest of glimpses from Hinamori, a look that seemed to express empathy for her unfair treatment. It didn't satisy Yoruichi much, however, and as she took out her textbook Kuukaku leaned in to speak to her. "Oooh, someone got in trouble..." "Shut UP, Kuukaku," Yoruichi practically growled at her friend who recoiled in surprise. "...I'm NOT in the mood for this." "If you don't mind, Miss Shihouin," Aizen said with just a bit of a taunt to his voice, "...I'd like to start the class NOW, but you can waste people's time with your banter later." Yoruichi said nothing as she felt her anger rising, the confusion over Soi's behavior earlier providing the kindling that her firery temper required to reach its peak. "Now then, Aizen continued as if nothing had happened, "...I'd like you all to pass in your assignment from yesterday, along with your take-home exam that covered the last week..." Oh God, Yoruichi thought wide-eyed as the entire class dug through their bookcases. She'd completely forgotten her homework after what she'd seen last night... As the boy next to her handed his papers in her direction, she passed them on, hoping no one would notice that she didn't have hers. Once all the papers got down to Aizen he began to rifle through them, as if checking to see that everyone had complied. Don't call my name out...Please, don't call my name out... "Well, well," the brown-haired teacher said with a self-righteous chuckle as he held up the stack, "...It would seem that Miss Shihouin's assignment isn't here. But, I'm sure she has a perfectly reliable story for it, don't you?" he finished as he and every other head in the class turned in her direction. Yoruichi clenched her fist beneath the desk, wanting more than anything to hurt Aizen right now but knowing that to do so wouldn't be in her best interests. "...No..." she mumbled as she stared at the wooden surface of her desk. "...Did you think that you were too GOOD to finish the assignment, Miss Shihouin?" Silence. "...Or maybe you just decided that it wasn't worth your PRECIOUS time?" When Yoruichi still didn't answer, but was shaking quietly with frustration, Aizen addressed the class as a whole. "Let this be a lesson to all of you that no matter how well-off you may be, your responsibilities are more important than wasting your time frivolously. Now as for Miss Hinamori here,"-- he turned to the tiny girl sitting up front-- "...It looks like she's got yet another perfect score in this class." "Jeez, Aizen-- you don't need to butter your girlfriend up to get her to sleep with you again." Yoruichi nearly covered her mouth as the jibe slipped out, but was a little too shocked by what she had just said to do anything. Almost as one the class began a chorus of catcalls and various phrases of disbelief, while both Aizen and Hinamori stared at the dark upperclassman with looks of utter shock glued to their faces. Pandemonium reigned for a few minutes as Aizen tried to regain his mental balance, but he finally snapped out of his stunned silence and addressed his students. "That's enough, everyone...I SAID BE QUIET!" he finished at a yell, deriding himself as soon as he had spoken for only adding to the truth of Yoruichi's assumed slander. "...Now...Let's move on with the lesson, all right?" For the rest of the period Aizen pretended like nothing had happened, and though Yoruichi was certain that Aizen would want to see her after class, he didn't so much as glance at her once the bell rang and the other students began filing out. That was all right by Yoruichi though, since she did feel terrible about what she had said. I promised myself I wouldn't say anything, she thought angrily. How could I have been so goddamn careless? Taking a deep breath, Yoruichi decided that it probably wouldn't be that bad-- just a vague rumor for a few days, then it would tide over when the student body found something new to talk about. Still, I should apologize to Momo... Isane gritted her teeth as the iodide was dabbled onto her knee, both grateful that it would clean out the gash on her leg and wishing that someone could develop some antiseptic that didn't burn like hell when it got under the skin. "Just hold still," Unohana said patiently as she pressed a washcloth to the girl's leg. In spite of the electric jolt that ran through her at the older woman's touch, Isane complied, contenting herself with looking around the room to avert her restlessness. "It certainly looks like it was a bad scrape...Miss Kotetsu?" "Wh-what?" the short-haired girl managed as she realized that she'd just ended up staring at Unohana again, entranced by the texture of her dark hair and the gentle warmth of her eyes. "...I hope you're not getting feverish as well-- your face is getting red..." "Uh, n-no, I'm...I'm fine..." the girl answered after a moment, hating herself for not being able to even look her crush in the eye. "This is the fourth time you've been in here this week, Miss Kotetsu. Please be more careful, all right?" "Y-Yeah..." Isane had hoped that by trying to start a relationship over the summer with Soi Fong she'd be able to forget about Unohana, about this ridiculous infatuation she had for the school nurse, of all people. But if anything she'd only fallen deeper upon seeing her once school had started again, and just like last year she kept finding ways to injure herself and thus have an excuse to see her again. What am I still doing this for, Isane thought glumly to herself as she watched that gentle, compassionate woman turn around and soak the washcloth in the nearby sink. There's no way she'd ever like me...I'm a student, for God's sake... Her thoughts were interrupted as the door to the nurse's office slid open and someone came in with a groan. "Oh! Here, let me help you..." Unohana said warmly as she walked over to the room's new occupant. "Ahh!" The girl hissed as Isane watched the nurse gingerly place a hand on her back, then began to help her over to where the cots sat. "...Don't worry, Miss Fong, you'll be all right...I'll get some ice for that in just a minute." ...Fong? Isane thought for a moment as the name suddenly registered with her again, then looked up to see the short freshman with the long braids sitting on a nearby cot, rubbing her apparently sore back. "Soi?" the white-haired girl asked with disbelief even as she stared the girl who'd rejected her in the face. Upon hearing her name Soi looked up, her eyes widening in recognition. "...Isane?"
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