Love At First Word

Chapter 5

I'm gonna be a little unorthodox today.
____________________

~ Szayel ~

"Lab Day!" The teacher exclaimed.

It was finally the last period of the day and I sat in Chemistry with the new kid. Grimmjow and Nnoitra seemed very fond of him, and Shinji took a quick liking to him.

My interest had peeked, though, when I had finally glanced up to see his hair - a bright orange.

I had met his eyes and I almost had a heart attack.
One of his eyes, his left, looked normal behind his glasses, but the right eye seemed as though he looked into my soul and at nothing at all simultaneously.

I didn't believe in things like 'looking into souls' and other spiritual things, but if this kid told me to, I might have.

"Mr. Kurotsuchi? May I speak with you and Mr. Kurosaki in the hall?" Mr. Urahara peaked his head in.

Mr. Kurotsuchi agreed, waving for Ichigo to follow him out with the blonde teacher.

They came back in a few minutes later and I frowned at Ichigo's crestfallen look.

"Are you okay, Ichigo-kun?" I asked quietly, but all I got was a sluggish nod as he stared at the front while Mr. Kurotsuchi wrote the lab directions on the board.

~~~~~~

I was steadily getting more irritated. Our class had an even amount of students, so I had to work alone. Ichigo just sat there, not doing anything physical - aside from writing down what I told him to.
Finally, I turned on him.
"Why aren't you helping?" I hissed. "I usually do this by myself anyways, but you could at least try!"

I immediately regretted my words when he looked up at me, his expression sad, but his eyes burning with a furious fire.
"I'm sorry, Szayel-San. I was told I can't do anything more than write."

"O-oh. No, it's okay, Ichigo-kun-"

"We'll finish this tomorrow!" Mr. Kurotsuchi told the class, and Ichigo got up, running his fingers down the desks on his right before he turned in our lab sheets for the day.
And it clicked.
"Oh."

~ Ichigo ~

I agitatedly walked from the chemistry classroom, fidgeting to keep my anger in check.

I thankfully remembered where the gym was and made my way tree quickly.

Vaguely, I heard my uncle calling my name behind me, but I kept walking.

My bag got flung and I grabbed the nearest person in the gym by his shirt, a basketball player, and growled, "Where's Zaraki?"

Frightened, he pointed to the door outside. "W-with the football players." He whimpered. I let him go, grabbed two wooden kendo sticks, and stalked out.

"ZARAKI." I snarled. Slowly, Kenpachi turned to me. The football team eventually stopped as well, watching me warily.

"FIGHT ME." I tossed him a stick and used the momentum from jumping into the fence to jump at him.

I was mad. They weren't treating me fair.

"Ichigo-!" Kenpachi tried, but I smacked him in the gut with my stick and went into attack.
I knew he could take it.

I'd done this once before. After the first accident.

"I HATE THEM ALL." I screamed.
"FIGHT ME FOR REAL."

Kenpachi grabbed me and pinned my arms behind me with one hand, the other tightly in my hair to pull my hair back, forcing me to look at him.

"What. The hell. Do you think. You're doing?" Kenpachi dropped me on the ground and I picked myself up, wiping dirt from my face.

"Fighting you-"

"No, you're childishly taking your anger out on me because you think I'll beat you and make you forget."

~ Kenpachi ~

It was weird for me to see Ichigo like he was. It was difficult too, because I knew why he was like that.

It wasn't fair to him to be treated differently, and I was definitely having a talk with Kisuke about his overprotectiveness later - and I thought I was bad!

"Maybe you don't remember, but you did this after the first accident too. You fought me until I beat you til you were unconscious. I'm not doing it again. How many years have you been with me?"

"Twelve.." He muttered, shame leaking into his voice.

"Yeah. And what did you promise me after the accident?"

"That I wouldn't cope with my anger by being a self-centered asshole." Ichigo grumbled, shuffling his feet.

"And what did you just do?"

"I...coped with my anger buh bin a sefsintrr asshrl.." Ichigo trailed if into mumbles, and I laughed.

"Yeah. Now you have to sprint around the track and hurdle. I'll call Kisuke and tell him I'm bringing you home." At his shocked expression, I grinned maliciously.
"Jiruga! Set up fifteen hurdles! Now!"

"You're aiming to kill me." Ichigo decided. I slapped his back.

"Nah! Just working you till you collapse."

____________________

Too weird? Do I need to rewrite this one?