Bleach One-Shots

Ishida Uryū - Impressed

     You dashed through the hallways and dodged other students left and right, skidding to a halt just in front of the class rankings.  You spent weeks holed up in your bedroom, eating nothing but blueberries and fish, for this moment.  Every question on the exam was a breeze, and you even had extra time to check over your work.  Your heart pounded harder in your chest with every second your eyes scanned the poster for your name.  By the time you reached the top of the list, your heart was ready to leap out of your chest.  You were in -- second place.

     That couldn't have been right.

     You checked again, carefully combing each row of the list from bottom to top, top to bottom, until the black lettering all started blurring together.  The name order on billboard remained the same.  Above your name, for the third year in a row, was Ishida Uryū.

     Your heart plummeted down into your stomach.  Fighting tears back, you stormed into the staff's office, only to find those familiar glasses and that stupid haircut conversing with his homeroom teacher about the sewing club.  He walked past you with the same empty expression he always wore -- the same one that sent shivers down your spine every time you walked past each other -- and didn't even glance your way as he took to the hallway.  You pretended to ignore him and stomped up to your homeroom teacher, thrusting the English paper into his face.

     "Excuse me, Sensei, but can you explain to me exactly why I received a perfect score on this exam, but I wasn't ranked top in my class?" you asked.

     As your teacher's monotonous voice droned on about present participles, you caught the glare of Ishida's glasses through the window.  His cold eyes bore into you, demanding your attention.  With bitter resignation, you took back your paper and shuffled out of the staff room.

~*~
     "I just don't get it!" you cried.  "If we both had perfect scores, shouldn't we both have gotten first?  There's nothing wrong with this sentence!"  You waved your exam paper in front of your best friend's face, as if she could really see it.

     "It's fine, isn't it? I mean, aren't you satisfied with getting perfect grades?" Shira asked.  "Every year, you go on and on about Ishida-kun beating you.  This year, you scored the same as him!  Isn't that an accomplishment?"

     "I know, but at this rate, he--" you trailed off, shaking your head.  "I just wanted to see my name at the top of that list for once."  Your friend smiled knowingly and gave you a firm pat on the back.

     On your walk home, you restructured that one sentence out loud again and again, as if repeating it would somehow make your teacher -- on the other side of town, by now -- suddenly change his mind, run back to school, rip down the paper, and spend his time printing and posting a new list.

     "Talking to yourself again?" you heard someone call behind you.  You knew that voice.  You whipped around to come face to face with him.  "Supposedly, talking to yourself means you're self-reliant, but it looks like you could use some professional help."

     "I could use help?  You're the one rushing to the bathroom every day for some mysterious reason.  Surely, you're smart enough to know that no one buys into your excuses."  You gave him a hard glare, and he retaliated with that familiar face of stone.  Your faces were so close to each other that you could feel the tension between you flying like sparks.

     "Of course I am; on the contrary, you," he teased, "seem to think I look down on you."

     "Hm?"  You crossed your arms.  "Am I wrong?"  He was baiting you, but you couldn't help but make a fool of yourself around him.  His breath tickled your skin, and it took all you had to keep yourself together.

     "Yes, you are."  He turned on his heel to walk off, but not before saying, "It's clear that you're trying to impress someone, but there's no need.  You're smart enough as you are.  You don't need to compete with me to prove that."

     You watched him as he walked away, and when he was out if earshot, you lost your composure.  "Of course I do," you whispered, "I was trying to impress you, you idiot!"

~*~

Credit to Kurinto-W on DeviantArt for the picture!