The contrasts of the blue sky made the clouds seem to stick out more. Ichigo lay facing the sky while he and his friends ate lunch on the roof. He sighed heavily as he sat up, grabbing his milk and sticking a straw through the tiny hole and began to sip the milk slowly. He looked back up to the sky as the guys talked amongst themselves. Uyru looked over at Ichigo and began talking to him, but noticed that Ichigo wasn’t paying him any attention at all. Uyru frowned.
“ Ichigo…are you listening to me?!”
Ichigo continued not paying attention as he drank the last of his milk, still staring up into the sky. Uyru frowned again. He sighed heavily and began talking to Ichigo again, telling him something about his plan for when another hallow attacked. Still Ichigo wasn’t paying him any attention. Uyru became flustered and frustrated with him.
“ ICHIGO! WHY AREN’T YOU LISTENING?!”
“ Huh? Why are you yelling? I’m right here Uyru…”
As the boys continued to talk and Uyru continued to fuss at Ichigo, on the other side of the door to the roof a girl was holding her lunch tray. She had been all over the school to find somewhere to eat, maybe even people to eat with. She reached towards the doorknob and opened the door. Everyone except for Ichigo looked towards the door.
A timid looking girl with long black hair stood in front of the door as it closed. She was holding her tray and had a very innocent appearance, as if it was by accident that she ended up onto the roof. She was somewhat tall and had very fair tan skin, not to mention she was very cute. Her green eyes looked over everyone on the rooftop. She smiled kindly, taking a few steps towards them.
“ Um…excuse me, but do you all mind if I ate lunch up here with you guys? I’ve been walking around the whole school trying to find somewhere to eat…and I didn’t really want to be by myself…so if it’s not too much trouble…”
The girl smiled again at them. Everyone looked at Ichigo, who still wasn’t paying attention to what was going on. He sighed, not even looking at the girl as he continued to lie on his back facing the sky.
“ Sure…whatever”
The girl smiled as everyone began talking to each other again. Ichigo closed his eyes and sat up finally. When he was up he opened his eyes to find that the girl was now sitting next to him. He looked at her for a moment, a bit surprised that she came and sat next to him. She smiled at him as a soft hue of pink appeared on her cheeks.
“ Thank you”
Ichigo was somewhat in a daze as she thanked him. He blinked a few times before coming back to reality.
“ Oh…yeah. Your welcome”
He watched as the girl smiled again and went to eating her lunch that was on the tray. He was slightly taken back on how cute she was. He had never seen her around the school before, then again he never really paid any mind to anyone else that went to the school. If he didn’t see you around, then he didn’t know you and wouldn’t even bother to look around for you to meet you and get to know you.
The bell rang suddenly and it was time for class once again. Ichigo sat at his desk, looking outside the window. Rukia wasn’t in this class so he had an empty seat next to him. He sighed again, bored out of his mind. He wondered about that girl, he hadn’t gotten a chance to ask her what her name was. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much, but it did and it almost drove him crazy. As the teacher began the lesson the slid open and another teacher called their teacher outside. Everyone in the class began talking to each other, but Ichigo still gazed out the window. The teacher soon came back in with a smile.
“ Boys and girls…I would like you to welcome a new student.”
Everyone looked up towards the front, Ichigo peering from the window to the front, slightly taking interest into whom the new student was. At first no one came through the door. The teacher smiled at the door gesturing the student to come in and meet the class.
“ It’s ok. Don’t be shy.”
“ It’s just…I’m a tad bit embarrassed that I manage to get lost on my way to class. I really didn’t mean to interrupt your lesson…”
A familiar girl walked through the door, catching everyone’s attention. Ichigo, now facing the front, widened his eyes as he looked at the girl. It was the same girl that sat next to him earlier at lunch. He had wondered why he’d never seen her before. She was new to the school and all. The teacher asked her to introduce herself. She smiled and faced the class giving them a bow.
“ My name is Maya Hikura. I just moved here and I am very glad to meet all of you!”
The class greeted Maya kindly. The boys gazed and gawked at how cute she was while the girls smiled at her and told her they loved having her in the class. The teacher smiled as they exchanged kind greetings with Maya, making her feel welcomed.
“ Ms. Hikura. There is a seat right next to Ichigo Kurosaki. Ichigo can you raise your hand so Maya can find her seat?”
Ichigo shook his head and blinked, nodding. He had dazed out again about Maya. He raised his hand slowly in the air as Maya looked over to him. Ichigo was surprised to see a huge smile on her face when she noticed that it was the same boy that had told her she could eat with him and his friends. Maya walked over to the empty desk, setting her bag on her desk. She looked over at Ichigo and smiled again.
“ So you’re name is Ichigo is it? It’s nice to meet you.”
“ Uh…yeah same here…”
Maya turned towards the front as the teacher began the lesson again. Ichigo couldn’t get over the fact that Maya was the same girl from lunch just a few moments ago. What really got him was that now he couldn’t get over the fact that she was way cute, maybe the cutest girl he’d ever seen. He shook his head and looked forward, trying to pay attention to the lesson.
School was finally over and everyone rushed out their classes to meet up with their friends and hang out. Ichigo walked out the class, looking over his shoulder to find that Maya was talking with the teacher. He thought he’d wait for her, but then thought that she would think he was weird for doing so. He couldn’t help but want to though, so he just stood there watching her for a few minutes. His train of thought was broken when he felt someone push into him. He turned around to see Keigo, Mizzuro and Chad around him. He tried to play off the fact that he was waiting till Maya was done and began walking with them. As they walked towards the front Keigo sighed heavily.
“ Man I can’t believe what a hottie that girl was at lunch. I mean I’ve never seen such a lovely sight.”
“ Who Maya?”
Keigo paused and looked at Ichigo. He smiled widely at him, excitement taking over as Ichigo said her name.
“ Really?! Is that her name, Maya? Wow what a cute name! It fits her perfectly! But wait…how the heck did you find out what her name was?”
“ She’s in my last class. She sits right next to me…”
Ichigo had a feeling he shouldn’t have been saying all this to Keigo. He nearly blew a hole through the roof when he heard that Ichigo and Maya were sitting next to each other in his last class.
“ No way! Ah that’s so unfair! I was hoping to have a chance to get to know her…maybe even ask her out or something…”
“Are you serious Keigo? She just got here and already you’re on asking her out? You have about as much as a chance to date her as anyone else at this school. Who knows…she might not even want to date you…”
Keigo glared at Mizzuro and started fussing at him as they all walked out of the school. Ichigo paused some while looking back at the class window. He could see Maya putting her things in her bag, ready to leave for the day. Chad looked back at Ichigo as he gazed at the window.
“ Ichigo. Are you alright?”
Ichigo snapped out of it and looked at Chad. He nodded as he walked with them once again, still thinking about Maya as he walked.
The group separated a little while after they left school. Ichigo was on his way home when his ears picked up a soft melody. He blinked and followed the sound back to a telephone pole that had some flowers in front of it. He looked up and was surprised to see that the melody was coming from a small, strange flute. He was even more surprised to see that the person playing the flute, was Maya. As he watched her play, a small little girl’s spirit appeared before her. He wondered it Maya could see the little girl spirit as she played. The little girl was smiling, seeming to be at peace somewhat. Maya stopped playing suddenly and began walking off, going home. Ichigo stood there as the little girl disappeared as well.
When Ichigo finally arrived home he went straight to his room. He lay on his bed facing the ceiling. He sighed, reflecting back on the day. Lunch, class, and the strange sight he saw a few moments ago. Ichigo closed his eyes as he heard his closet door opening slowly. Not too alarmed though, knowing it was Rukia.
“ You’ve come back home finally”
“ Yeah. It was a long day at school…”
Ichigo opened his eyes to look at Rukia. Clung to her back was Kon, who looked over her shoulder and was looking at Ichigo.
“ Where have you been all day Ichigo?! Why were you out so late?!”
“ Shut up Kon. I was at school…I’m guessing the reason why you weren’t there was because something came up with the Soul Society? Hmmm…Rukia?”
Rukia nodded some and became quiet. She looked up at Ichigo as he sat up in his bed. She noticed that he too became quiet in thought suddenly for he was looking towards the ground at his feet. Ichigo wasn’t ever really this deep in thought.
“ Did something happen at school today Ichigo?”
Ichigo looked up at Rukia. He blinked, thinking, then nodding some.
“ Yeah. We got a new student today. Her name is Maya…”
“ Nothing strange happened at school?”
“ No.”
Rukia paused and looked down thinking again. Ichigo could tell that something was bothering her. He looked up at Rukia as he sat on his bed. Now that he thought about it, he did notice something strange, Maya playing her flute, the little girl spirit at peace suddenly. It all didn’t really make sense, but he didn’t really think too much of it to tell Rukia.
“What’s up Rukia?”
“ Well I got a strange signal about a lot of spirit energy in the area around your school. It was moving all over the place…I was just wondering if you had sensed anything strange like that today while I was not there….”
Rukia paused some. She took out her cell phone and looked at it. It was beeping like crazy suddenly like it had done earlier today. She looked up at Ichigo. Ichigo nodded knowing what was going on now…
Ichigo and Rukia were running towards the signal. It was another hallow in the area. They had to take care of it before it hurt any innocent lives. Ichigo was trying hard to focus, but he couldn’t seem to. Maya, the little girl spirit, that strange flute…he couldn’t seem to put it all together. It was driving him crazy!
“ There it is Ichigo! On the roof of that building!”
Ichigo looked up to where Rukia was pointing. It was a hallow all right, a down right ugly one at that matter. Ichigo smirked as he began drawing out his Zanbakuto. He was ready to dispose of this hallow quickly so he could hurry up and get back home. As they drew near Ichigo began hearing that strange melody again. He thought it was all in his head and that he was still thinking about what had happened earlier, but when he got even closer he could see the hallow slowly disappearing. He heard it shriek in pain and then it was gone. Both him and Rukia stopped suddenly, most confused about what was going on.
“ How can this be?! That hallow was just there a moment ago! Who could have gotten to it before us?”
Ichigo paused in thought. Could it have been Uyru? No it couldn’t have been him. It had to be someone who knew how to play a flute or something that could play a melody. This whole thought bothered Ichigo for the rest of the night. He couldn’t seem to put it behind him. Sure the hallow was gone for now, but who could have gotten to it before him and Rukia? And what about that strange melody? Could who ever had played it destroyed the hallow somehow? Who could it have been…and were they friend…or another enemy making their appearance.
