Understanding II: School Daze (Bleach Fanfic)

Standing Up

In the office Hashigami and Toshiro sat in the chairs. The vice principle turned towards them having picked up the paper work to make his report. "Now tell me... what happened?"

"He just came after me for no reason," the freckled boy stated turning to glare at Toshiro before shutting his mouth tight. Hitsugaya was also keeping his mouth shut about the whole matter.

"You aren't going to try and defend yourself?" the man said as he tapped the papers with his hand.

"No... don't see the point." Toshiro continued to simply stare straight ahead with his hands in his pocket. His backpack sat to the side where he dropped it.

"Good... because I am quite sure you are completely at fault," the man stated. He went behind the desk and suddenly scribbling down what he wanted too.

Hashigami turned towards the white haired boy with a sneer on his face. "You are mondo stupid! I mean! I would be thinking up a lie right now!"

"You mean like you just did?" Toshiro stated. His tone was rather monotone. "Also, thank you for pointing out your crude opinion."

"Crude?" the other boy suddenly snapped out. Hashigami made to attack Toshiro again only to find himself freezing when he looked the boy straight in the eye. The teal eyes of the other boy had a coldness about them that made even some adults kid happened to turn around letting out a loud humph. "I'm not going to do anything about your smart ass because I'm better then you."

"So. You are really backing down because you are afraid." Toshiro was again looking straight forward.

"Hey! Are you trying to bait me?" the boy snapped back.

"No. You've just walked into everything I've said." Toshiro suddenly folded his arms behind his head. He startled when someone came hurrying through the door.

"Toshiro!"

Two teal eyes blinked back their surprise. "What are you doing here Kurosaki?"

"I want to talk to the principle's secretary," the girl stated as her dark eyes watched the boy suddenly bristle.

"I don't need your help..." the boy muttered out.

"You might not need my help but you don't deserve to get punished while he doesn't either" Karin stated firmly. She walked over to where the female secretary was busy typing up some reports. The woman paused for a bit and then stood up.

"I've called your guardian Hitsugaya-kun." the vice principle stated. "I told him everything." He watched as the boy flinched and paled at what was going on. He then turned to the other boy. "I think you can go back to class."

"I don't think so," the female secretary spoke up causing the man to flinch. "I am unfortunately going to have to rewrite those reports. Punishment can wait until the principle gets here."

"The fact are simple," the man spurted out only to have the woman grab the papers from him.

"I will be calling up the other kids parents. While both should be suspended the one at fault is the one you were willing to let go," the woman stated firmly before going back to her desk.

"That can't be! He never said he didn't do it!" the man stated.

"Hitsugaya-san also never admitted to doing anything either. He merely said he wouldn't argue his own case. Kurosaki here did that for him," the woman stated.

"You trust her word? She is an absolute troublemaker!" the man stated.

"You could ask Yuzu you know. The reason she's not here is so she isn't late for class and because I told her I can handle this myself. She's worried that he'll be unfairly punished," Karin stated firmly.

"He was still in a fight!" the man roared out with his anger quickly rising.

"Yes, and I am going to tan his hide!" came the response from the door. Isshin stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. "I am rather disappointed in you Toshiro. I mean, you had to go and pick a fight with a kid for no reason. Let me guess. He made fun of your height, your hair? I am going to make your days miserable until your suspension is over."

"Dad..." Karin suddenly tugged on his sleeve.

"Not now sweetie," her dad stated.

"Dad!" Karin suddenly lost her temper and kicked her father hard causing the man to let out a yelp of pain. "Toshiro didn't get into a fight because someone made fun of him. He was standing up for me."

"What..." the vice principle blinked a couple of times.

"Karin, it is nice that you are finally trying to be nice to Toshiro but he knows as well as I that you can take care of yourself. There wouldn't be a reason for him to need to stand up for you." The man grabbed Toshiro by the ear and began to drag him out the door.

"Dad... wait!" Karin grabbed her own father's ear and whispered a few things into his ear which caused Isshin to let go of Toshiro's ear. His eyes suddenly went wide and then his eyes had anger flashed across them. He then turned towards the other boy with anger in his voice. "Don't ever let me hear about you touching either of my girls that way."

"Why? I know how immature you are! I've seen it! You going to beat up a little kid?" Hasigami blurted out.

"Oh, I don't have to worry about that. Toshiro and Karin-chan can take care of you themselves. I'll just make sure you receive the worst punishment you can for sexually harassing another student," Isshin stated.

"It was an accident!" the boy stated firmly.

"It was not an accident," Toshiro stated. "I saw you bullying a kid smaller then yourself and even taking stuff from them. Karin stood up to you, then you pushed her. If it had been a game, maybe. But it wasn't it wasn't a game. And even if it was a game you crossed the line when you said you could touch her there because she doesn't act like other girls."

The vice-principle felt his mouth twitching a bit. The secretary spoke up. "I told you that there was more to this. I think that the normal punishment would be to suspend Hitsugaya for the rest of the day and to suspend the other student for three days."

"That isn't fair! All we did was fight!" the other boy protested.

"No. She's right. While you both got into fights you also stole another students stuff not to mention you inappropriately touched another student." The vice principle pinched his nose. He then glared at Isshin. "I hold that I was not wrong about him getting into trouble on his first day."

"What ever," the man stated firmly. "Come on Toshiro. Lets get going. Get to class Karin."

The boy made a quick bow to the other people in the room and turned on his heals smartly. He followed closely behind the man as they headed away from the school. Toshiro quickly noticed that his former taicho was not heading towards the house. "Hey... Taicho... we're are we going?"

"Just a bit," the man stated suddenly stopping in front of an ice-cream parlor.

"But... I got in trouble..." Hitsugaya couldn't help but give his taicho a confused look.

"Yes... you did. And I really shouldn't be doing this because on top of making me take time out of my work I also know you don't want to go to school," the man stated. "However, while you need to be punished for doing the wrong thing, the fact is you didn't purposefuly try to get out of class and you went out of your way to stand up for Karin even though you knew it would get you in trouble. You do deserve a treat."

"I'm not a little kid who needs to be rewarded." Toshiro put his hands into his pocket.

"Everyone needs to be recognized for what they do right even if it doesn't matter much to them," Isshin stated. "Plus... think of it as also a reward for taking a step towards your goal of getting to go home even though you still have a long way to go."

"You really think so?" A small smile spread on the boy's face. His suddenly face fell as his mind driffed to many different things.

"Yeah." Isshin stated, opening the door to the ice-cream parlor.