Understanding II: School Daze (Bleach Fanfic)

Monday

Much to the small taicho's dismay he found himself woken up to the loud, blaring cacophony of so called music from the living world. He sat up from where he had fallen asleep at the desk and felt his heart thud in his chest. He glanced to the side in time to see Ichigo sit up and let out a huge yawn. Toshiro opened his mouth to say something only to have the words refuse to come out.

Ichigo turned his head to look into the boy's teal eyes. "Toshiro... are you all right?"

"That noise..." Toshiro glanced around trying to figure out where the loud music was coming from.

The teenager scratched his head realizing what the problem was. "Sorry... that's an alarm clock. It helps me get up in the morning. Though truth be told it doesn't always work."

Two small hands suddenly clapped over two small ears. "Kurosaki... it's too loud. Why this early in the morning? I normally wake up when my body tells me too."

Ichigo pushed the sheets away and got up off the ground. "We've got to go to school, remember? You can't sleep in."

"I don't normally sleep in. I usually wake up at the break off dawn." Toshiro placed a hand over his eyes. "Can't I just go back to bed?"

"No..." Ichigo walked over and yanked on the back of the small taicho's shirt in order pulling him up out of bed.

"Owe... my neck," Toshiro reached up in an attempt to rub a crick that had suddenly occurred. The only thing he managed was a stifled yawn which prevented him from really doing anything to ease the pain.

Ichigo let go and began to rummage around some bags before shoving some clothes into Toshiro's arms. "You are going to take a nice hot shower in order to try to wake up. Got it?"

"I..." Toshiro tried to say something but found himself shoved into the bathroom by the orange haired teen. He blinked a couple of times before stepping over to the shower and turned it on. He stepped over to the sink and tried to splash some cold water in his face while the shower heated up. "Life sucks... I really don't want to do this."

He began to strip himself of his night cloths and tossed them precariously to the ground. As he pulled his shirt over his head he glanced groggilly into the mirror. He paused half way in the task of removing the article of clothing. "Taicho... I really don't want to do this."

Toshiro finnished stripping and stepped into the shower. As he stepped onto the hard, wet surface he almost let the hot water run down his stiff muscles. He leaned up against the shower wall wishing that the whole thing would just go away. "I am really dreading this..."

"At least you can now talk to Matsumoto and the others via soul phone," his dragon said.

The white haired preteen let the water run over his shoulders and he quickly lost track of the time that he was in there. He tried to wake up and tried to focus his mind to being inclined towards the dreaded task he would be setting out to do today. His head darted up when he heard the door open. His mind was fuzzy as it tried to process what was going on. Thinking it was Ichigo coming to check on him he spoke up in response. "Look... I'll be out soon..."

The next thing he heard was footsteps beating on the floor. A swirling sound was heard much like the sound water made when it was rushing somewhere at a fast pace. When this sound came he also felt the hot water in his shower suddenly turn burning hot. He let out a scream and his small hand instinctively reached up for the shower curtain in an attempt to prevent himself from falling backwards and hurting himself. There was a hug crashing noise as the shower rod dislodged from the wall and fell on top of him.

The white haired child was stuck in a sitting position with the curtain going from one shoulder to in between his legs. His two teal eyes went up from his embarrassing position to see exactly who the culprit was. He found his cheeks turning a deep red."Kurosaki!"

Ichigo came into the bathroom and quickly shoved his small dark haired sister out of the room. He then closed the door and walked over to turn off the water. He watched as Toshiro's chest rose and fell from the major stress his mind was going through. The substitute shinigami grabbed a towel and tossed it at the boy. He then looked Toshiro up and down carefully to make sure the boy wasn't hurt. "Toshiro... you do know you're freezing the water around your body?"

Toshiro began to move and brushed off the thin layer of ice that was trying to form on the top of his skin. A hand reached down to help him up. Before Toshiro took the hand he quickly wrapped the towel around his waist. "This sucks. Every time I turn around she's trying to get me."

"It's not your fault," Ichigo sighed before glancing away. "Are you any more awake then you were?"

"Yeah. No thanks to Karin," Toshiro leaned against the bathroom sink with his palms on the counter. His teal eyes looked up and caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror. The look on his face suddenly twisted up as if something pained him. He pulled back his fist and swung it with forward momentum at the mirror. Ichigo though quickly grabbed his hand.

"Toshiro... what are you doing?" Ichigo glanced first at the boy and then at the mirror before glancing back. "No smashing things. Dad does it enough all ready."

"Sorry..." Two teal eyes glanced away hoping the physically older boy wouldn't notice the look of shame that passed across his face. "I'll just get dressed." The small taicho paused for a few seconds. "Could you not tell your dad about this? At least not right away. I want to try to talk to Karin and handle this myself."

"All right," Ichigo left the small taicho to his own devices. Toshiro carefully pulled his clothes on before heading down the stairs. Karin sat at the table muching on cereal.

The small taicho grabbed the chair closest to her and pulled it out to sit in it backwards. "Why?"

"What do you mean?" Karin asked. She continued to munch on her cereal.

"Why did you do that to me?" Toshiro stated firmly.

"Because you were in the shower too long." Karin buttered a piece of toast.

"Maybe I needed it..." Toshiro hissed angrily.

"Yeah. You are a narcissistic bastard aren't you?" The girl took a bite of her toast.

Toshiro found himself wanting to get in her face about what was going on. "I don't like being picked on!"

"And I am not trying to bully you!" Karin pulled away not likely the fact he was indeed getting closer. "Seriously. Are you ready for school yet? You don't look it."

"I'm dressed aren't I?" the boy snapped back.

Yuzu found that it was her turn to pipe up. "But... where is your backpack? Is it packed yet?"

The small taicho stared at them with a blank expression that indicated his confusion. Ichigo however grabbed his shoulder. "Come on Toshiro."

The substitute soul reaper pulled the small boy up the stairs and grabbed a piece of toast and shoved it into the white haired boy's mouth. When they got up to Ichigo's room the preteen found himself shoved over to the desk. The teenager spoke up. "What do you think that you would need to pack for school?"

Toshiro blinked a couple of times until the teen placed a brand new desk in front of him. He began by putting his books into the bad. He was about to stick writing utensils into his bag when Ichigo shoved a box into his hands. "Isn't it a bit odd, to carry that stuff lose in a backpack?"

"Yes... I didn't know what that was for,." the boy packed the rest of the things he would need from the desk. "Is there anything else that I would need to pack?"

"Not that I can think of," Ichigo stated. "You need to get going so you aren't late. Actually... the same goes for me."