Chapter 7:Shut Up!

Angel groaned as she entered Ichigo's apartment.

Correction:

Their apartment.

She still couldn't believe they were now living together. Ever since the sudden burglary at her old apartment last week, she's been living with Ichigo in his guestroom… which reminded her to thank his younger sister one day for adding a bed and a table in there.

Of course that will never happen since nobody is suppose to know that she was living with him.

But that wasn't what was bothering them the most.

It's been only a week and they were already going at each other's throats.

They could BARELY stand each other when they first met and now that they were living together, there was never a moment of peace in the house. From something small as misplacing the phone, to something big like the issue on whether she was or wasn't allowed to put up her Chappy poster.

Oh yeah, that was some day…

"It's my apartment so I say 'NO'!" Ichigo yelled.

"I'm paying half the rent so I say 'YES'!" She yelled back at his face.

The two had their foreheads touching…more like pushing, each other as they yelled at the top of their lungs.

"It's my room," she reasoned, "So I can put up whatever the hell I want!"

"I don't care! I don't want that piece of shit hanging around my apartment!"

In the end of course Angel won but only after delivering several hard kicks to Ichigo's shin. She grinned at the thought. Most of their fights she won only because she could hit him. Thankfully he was a man who didn't know how to hit a girl back, but that didn't stop him from making fun of her height.

She sighed as she dropped her bag on the ground and dragged her exhausted body to the refrigerator for a cool drink. She quickly popped open a soda can and drank down the carbonated substance as she glanced over the clock.

It was already past 6 in the evening and Ichigo wasn't back yet.

She walked over to the couch and plopped down into the leather cushions. She liked Ichigo's black couch, unlike her old one which started to smell back in her old apartment. With a sigh, she turned on the T.V. to look for something fun but in less than a minute she turned it off after seeing nothing but infomercials. She looked back at the clock, watching the second hand clicking away, its click click sound resounding throughout the quiet apartment.

An hour passed. Ichigo still wasn't back.

Angel frowned. What's taking him so long? I'm fucking bored! Even though she didn't like living with Ichigo, at least there wasn't a dull moment with him. But him being late was bugging her with annoyance. He didn't even have the decency to call her! Sure Angel came home late too but only because Justin dragged her to watch him during Kendo practice that day after school.

"Angel, please!" Justin begged with his two hands pressed against each other in front of his face.

Angel sighed. "I don't get it; it's only practice so why should I go? It's not like you're competing against anybody."

"Oh com'on," Justin sighed, "What's bad about a friend asking his best friend to come watch him during practice?"

"It IS bad since that friend is preventing this friend—" she pointed to herself, "—from going home for a much needed sleep."

Justin frowned. "Why are you so tired these days? Are you working or something?"

Angel looked away and scowled. No, she didn't have a job…but a certain orange top wasn't lightening the load of papers they had to grade. And she had to help him everyday now that they were living together; which means no need for her to stop after a certain time to go home. Since they live together now there was no way she could escape him with only half of the work done. She couldn't stop the groan from coming out of her mouth at the mere thought of what's been going on these past few days.

"See, you're stressed," Justin commented, pulling Angel out of her thoughts, "Come with me and maybe you can relieve some of that stress."

Angel was quiet for a second before looking straight into her friend's eyes. "You know what? That doesn't sound like a bad idea."

So Angel went to his Kendo practice. At first it was one of the most boring things to watch ever. She already knew a lot about Kendo because of her brother, but Justin and his friends were a bunch of idiots who couldn't swing their 'swords' as beautifully as her brother. She watched for a good hour before Justin called her over. With much enthusiasm, Angel grabbed the weapon in his hand and quickly swung it with all her might.

Angel was right about one thing. It helped her relieve a lot of her stress.

However, something good always come at a price. She was not only tired but her muscles were sore. Heck, she was whacking at Justin and his friends like a professional. Even Chai-sensei barked out in laughter saying she was better than most of his pathetic students.

"What happened to you?"

Angel groaned as she opened her heavy eyes. She looked over to the threshold of the apartment as Ichigo pulled his feet out of his shoes. He smirked at her as he walked over and plopped next to her on the couch.

"So how was your day?" he asked sarcastically.

Angel scoffed. "Nothing goods been going on this past week."

Ichigo chuckled. "Have to agree with you on that one, midget."

Angel glared but stayed still, too tired to move a single muscle. She closed her eyes again and slowly dropped her head against armrest.

"Oi, why are you suddenly so tired now?" Ichigo asked, "I didn't think we had that many papers last night."

"No, it's not that," she shook her head against the leather, "I just went to the Kendo club after school and relieved some stress. Now I regret having such a persuasive idiot as my friend."

Ichigo chuckled as he scooted over to the other end of the couch until his back rested on the other armrest. He brought his legs up and placed it on top of Angel's lap. He timed it perfectly. Even though he heard her growling in annoyance upon seeing his socked feet on her knees, she was too tired to do anything.

The two stayed in their position silently as the clock kept ticking away.

It was still a weekday, but fuck they were tired!

"Ichigo."

"Yeah," he groaned his reply as he stretched his tired arms above his head.

Angel lifted her head and turned to look at him. "Can you please extend my homework to another day?"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Why? There's no paper to grade tonight and my assignment isn't that long."

Angel groaned as dropped her head back, resting against the couch while still looking at him. "I know but I really want to sleep. I was able to finish all of my other homework except yours. I was planning on doing it at home but now I'm way too tired to even lift a finger. So please," she begged with her puppy-dog eyes, "I really need some sleep."

Ichigo only stared back in silence for a few seconds before scratching the back of his head. He slid down from his position and lied completely on his back before responding. "Well, I would but that just gives you an unfair advantage. Since we're living together I really want to avoid doing something like that."

Angel, feeling extremely desperate, jumped on top of him with pleading eyes.

"AUGH!" Ichigo growled when her petite body suddenly landed on top of him. His hands immediately grabbed her waist to steady them before falling off the couch. He glared down. "What the fuck are you doing midget?!"

"ICHI-GO!" she pouted with her baby-talk, "PLEASE!"

Ichigo scowled in disgust. "That's not going to help you. If anything, it's making your situation worse."

Angel glared. "Then what can I do? I'm willing to do anything if you just give me one more day for the paper."

"I thought you were too tired to do anything," he raised an eyebrow.

Angel sighed as she placed her hands flat on his chest and rested her chin on top of them. "Yeah I am, but I'm more tired of thinking than anything else."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and looked over at the clock on the wall.

It was almost 8 pm.

He looked back down at her and sighed. "I'll give you an extra day if and only if you promise to clean this apartment and make food for the next two weeks."

"WHAT?!" Angel pushed herself up by her forearms which were still resting on his chest, "Why do I have to do all the work?!"

Ichigo smirked. "Because I'm way too busy to do it. Not to mention with midterms coming up next month right before summer break, it's taking up most of my time.

Angel frowned before dropping her head again, this time landing against his soft but firm chest. She focused on a certain spot on the wall as she thought. Ichigo stayed still as his eyes looked down at Angel on top of him. She's not as heavy as I thought.

"Well?" Ichigo asked.

Angel groaned as she moved her head to the other side. "…Fine."

Ichigo smirked as he quickly sat up, pushing Angel up with him as she slid down his chest and onto her knees. "Excellent. Then why don't you start now by making dinner?"

Angel glared at him. "Fucking bastard," she mumbled before hoisting her tired body up and dragging it to the kitchen.

"I want some yakitori!" he shouted at her.

"Just eat whatever I give you!" she shouted back at him from the kitchen.

Ichigo snorted before falling down on the couch like a dead weight. He closed his eyes and allowed his mind to wander while waiting for Angel to finish dinner. Man was he hungry…but more tired than that. Andrew, that fucking bastard, wouldn't let him leave until he made up a draft of the midterm exam that day. And so he was forced to stay after school for another few hours. I swear that school is sucking up all my energy, Ichigo growled in thought, I wonder if it's some monster or something that just loves to make my life miserable.

It took a good thirty minutes before Angel had set everything on the table. He did say he wanted yakitori but that was too much work. So she just decided to heat up some grilled fish from last night while making a new batch of rice and miso soup. With everything ready, she took off her apron and walked back to the living room. "Ichigo. Dinner's ready," she called out to the orange head.

"…"

Getting no response, she walked over to the couch only so see the man snoring away. She scowled. "Ichigo," she shook his arm, "Wake up. Dinner's ready."

But the dumbass just yanked his arm away and turned over to sleep in another position.

Feeling an impatient vein on her forehead, Angel quickly slapped the man on the forehead.

"OW! WHAT THE FUCK?!" he shouted, bolting up from his position while rubbing his sore skin. He glared over to see an equal amount of glare shooting back at him. "Why the fuck did you hit me, midget?!"

Angel quickly smacked him upside the head this time. "Stop calling me a midget. And I was trying to wake you up to have dinner but you were too busy snoring away to hear me."

Ichigo grunted in pain before falling back down on the couch to his previous position, ready to go back to sleep. "I don't feel like eating anymore."

Angel could practically feel steam shooting out of her ears. "Hey! You told me to make dinner so I did! You better get up Walker Ichigo or else I swear I'll make your life even more miserable!"

Ichigo simply placed an arm over his eyes, ignoring her comment.

Seeing nothing but red, Angel shook his shoulders and started to shout. "OI! LISTEN TO ME—"

"OH JUST SHUT UP!" Ichigo's arms quickly shot up and grabbed her wrists before yanking her down on him again.

"HEY!" she half shouted and half squeaked when she landed right back where she was only half an hour ago. Angel tried to push herself off but one of Ichigo's arms snaked down to her waist and held her body tight against him. "Ichigo, let go!" she grunted.

"Just shut up and sleep," he snapped back, wiggling under her to position her petite body in a more comfortable position above him. "I'm too tired to argue with you and I know you are too. So let's just get some shut eye"

Angel lifted her head and had to blow her bang out of her face to deliver a full glare at the man holding onto her. "I swear I'm going to cut you into little pieces when you're asleep. Then I'll bury them in each of your stupid books and burn it all together."

"Psch," Ichigo scoffed as his other hand came up behind Angel's head and pushed it down under his chin. "I know you too well to know that even though you hate me you like my book collection."

Angel pouted. "But I hate the amount of work you give me."

"Whatever," Ichigo scoffed as he closed his eyes. For a few seconds Angel remained quiet before she started to wiggle around again. Ichigo could feel his patience running thin. "Oi, stop doing that."

"Just let me go," she whined, "This isn't very comfortable."

"Well it is to me so stop moving." He tightened his grip and lifted her body up a little higher. "You're too warm for your own good so share some of it with me."

Angel rolled her eyes. "That totally didn't make sense."

"Shut up," he muttered.

Angel sighed as she relaxed herself. "If I wake up with a bad back tomorrow, you're so going to pay."

Ichigo lightly chuckled and Angel closed her eyes as she felt the small rumbling from within his chest. She could hear his steady heartbeat under her ears and slowly it was putting her to sleep.

Silence encased the two roommates with only the small ticking noise from the clock running through the apartment.

But even though sleep was just beyond his grasp, Ichigo frowned and he opened his eyes.

The lights were still on and it was difficult to sleep through it.

"Oi Angel, can you turn off the lights—" when Ichigo looked down, he stopped his question upon seeing his little housemate sleeping peaceful on top of him, her mouth slightly open to allow her to breath evenly.

Ichigo just looked down at her peaceful expression. It was really surprising to see such a loudmouthed, bitchy and fiery midget suddenly sleeping so relaxed…and quiet. He couldn't help but smirk upon seeing her as she slept. After a few seconds, he lifted one of his legs, careful not to bother Angel, and stretched his long leg above the couch where the light switch was located.

Mentally thanking god for giving him the height that some people obviously lacked, he was able to strain his body, with much care, to turn off the lights in the living room. Sadly the kitchen was still lit with their cold dinner sitting at the table.

But Ichigo wasn't concerned about that now. After relaxing on the couch again, he looked down and smirked knowing Angel hadn't woken up. He couldn't resist himself from burying his nose into her hair, allowing her sweet scent to lull him into a comfortable sleep.

Angel groaned.

She was really warm and lying on top of a very odd but comfortable mattress. She turned her head to the other side to stretch the muscles behind her neck that was a bit strained from lying on one position for a long time. She sighed against whatever it was she that was lying on, wiggling her body to get a little more comfortable when suddenly…

"You really got to stop doing that," a husky voice murmured from underneath her.

Angel frowned, stopping all movement.

Did beds talk? Last time she checked…no, they did NOT.

Suddenly something tightened around her waist, pulling her closer to the source of the blissful heat. It was nice, yes; but something was really off. It became even more confusing—and slightly scary—as she heard a low sound from underneath her head as the 'bed' grunted and held her tightly.

Slowly—every so slowly—Angel opened her eyes but kept her body still as a rock. In her peripheral vision, she could see something…orange.

"AW!" she screamed when she realized what—or who—she was on top of. Without realizing what she did, Angel quickly pushed herself off of him and fell off to the side.

"Angel!" Ichigo tried to grab her but was a second too late because she was already on the ground with a sore butt. He looked over and couldn't help chuckling at the sight before him.

Angel was on the ground with her messed up hair, rubbing her sore ass. Thankfully she was able to avoid the coffee table, but seeing her in such an imperfect state was hilarious to the orange head.

The young woman glared at him. "Zip it, would 'ya?!"

Ichigo closed his mouth but his shoulders kept shaking up and down to control his laughter.

"Shut up!" Angel yelled at him.

"Sorry," Ichigo downed his laughter to a small snicker, "But you okay?" He extended a hand. Angel nodded with a groan, but once her hand fell onto the extended hand of Ichigo's, she remembered where she was sleeping on just before. A sudden blush came across her face and she immediately pulled her hand back.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "You okay?" he asked again.

"I—I," she stuttered, "On—you…sleeping…"

Ichigo was silent until he realized what she was talking about. He suddenly blushed too, looking away. "Ah, you mean that? Yeah, well…we were both tired," he started to mumble.

Angel clenched her eyes shut, trying to shake the image of them sleeping together out of her head. "Still…"

Ichigo sighed. "Look, it's not like we slept together."

"What?" Angel looked at him weirdly.

"No, I mean," he sighed, scratching the back of his head, "We didn't sleep together, you know?"

Angel stared at him before realizing what he was talking about, and quickly looked away, her blush turning to a deeper shade of red. "You didn't have to say that."

"Yeah well…at least it's true," he replied.

Angel rolled her eyes. Men are idiots, she told herself before looking over at the clock.

6:30 am.

"Eugh," she groaned, "It's still too early."

Ichigo looked over to the clock and nodded, still keeping his wide smile. "Yeah, well we still have school to go to today." He quickly got a bigger groan as a response.

Angel looked at the clock again before looking up at Ichigo who was still lying on the couch. "Oi."

"What?" he looked over at her. Angel stood up from the ground and quickly got onto the couch, throwing one of her legs over Ichigo's body, trying to squeeze into the small space that was between his body and the back part of the couch. "Oi, what the hell are you—aw!" This time Ichigo screamed when Angel suddenly used her foot to push him off the couch. He landed at the exact spot Angel was a few seconds ago, but this time bumping his head, not his butt, on the ground. He groaned in pain as he grabbed the back of his head. "What the fuck was that for?!" he yelled up at her.

Angel, who was now lying face-down on the couch, merely smirked at him. "I still have enough time to sleep for another hour." She looked at his scowl and returned the same look. "Don't look at me like that."

"Che, I'm not looking at you like anything," he growled.

Angel rolled her eyes. "Please, you're looking at me like I'm crazy."

"Because you are," he snapped back, "No wonder you live alone."

Angel suddenly stiffened at his words. "W-what did you say?" she whispered.

"You know its true; you live alone when you have family somewhere in this country. I wouldn't be surprised if you were forced out of your home," he continued, not realizing the sudden change in demeanor at the girl he was criticizing. When he noticed she wasn't snapping back at him like how she usually did, he looked over and frowned at her distant look. "Oi, Angel. You okay?"

The young woman just looked down for a second before pushing herself off the couch. "I'm going to go take a shower," she mumbled, quickly making her way out of the living room.

Ichigo watched as she disappeared around the corner and kept staring where she went to until he heard the bathroom door close shut. He let out a frustrated sigh before falling back down on his back. "What the fuck is up with her?"

Ichigo kept looking to the side as he silently walked next to Angel towards school. Usually they don't go out together in fear of getting caught, but for some reason he didn't feel like leaving her alone just then. Her expression was still kind of blank. Was it because of him?

Ichigo scowled. What the hell did he say to make her mad?...Wait a sec; what did he talk about before she suddenly went quiet? Heck, shouldn't he be the one mad at her? After all, she was the one who woke him up from a nice dream with all her squirming; not to mention how her legs kept nudging his…sensitive parts. Ichigo shook his head to get rid of a blush from coming on his face before looking back at Angel.

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Angel, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," she whispered before letting out a long breath and speaking again in a louder voice. "Don't worry about me; I'm still tired, that's all."

He was about to say something back when he was rudely interrupted.

"Walker-kun!"

Ichigo and Angel stopped in their track and turned around to see an auburn-haired woman approaching them at top speed.

"Ah, ohayo…Kyla," Ichigo awkwardly greeted his high school friend.

Kyla quickly caught up to them. She bent down, trying to catch her breath with one hand on her knee and the other…holding onto Ichigo's sleeve. Angel quickly looked away at the image, especially since Ichigo wasn't pulling away.

"Ah, ohayo Walker-kun!" she greeted him with a smile after her breathing returned to normal, "I didn't think I'd end up seeing you on the way to school this early."

"Yeah," he scratched the back of his head, "I just got up early this morning so I decided to go to school now."

"I see," she smiled. Kyla was about to add something else when she noticed that the two of them were not alone. "Bushū-san?"

Angel looked up and tried to act innocent. "Hai. Ohayo gozaimasu, Reyes-sensei," she bowed.

Kyla's lips twitched up and down, not really sure how to react at seeing a teacher and a student walking together. "O-ohayo. Ano, why are you here?"

Wow, talk about being direct.

"Ah, I was going to school and I just met her on the way," Ichigo quickly intervened, "Apparently she lives near my neighborhood."

"Oh, I see," Kyla nodded before looking at the two back and forth, "Still, you should be more careful. If anyone else sees you two together they might think something's up."

"Ah, wa li," Ichigo nodded, "I'll be more careful next time."

"Yes, me too," Angel bowed again.

Kyla nodded at the young student before turning back to the orange head with her happy smile. "Anyways, now that we're together let's go to school together!" she pumped her arms into the air.

Ichigo gave her an awkward smile which quickly got replaced with a frown when he noticed Angel was frowning. Serious, what's wrong with her?

"Let's go!" Kyla squealed again before grabbing Ichigo's arm and pulling him away from Angel.

"Ah! Wait, Kyla!" he tried to stop her but couldn't wiggle his arm free from its encasement between her arms and her breasts. He turned back to look at Angel, begging her with his eyes to help him.

But Angel wasn't looking.

She looked away the moment she saw Reyes-sensei grab Ichigo's arm and pulling him further away from her. She didn't know why but she didn't stop a scowl from appearing on her face. Angel continued on with her slow pace and reached her high school within five minutes.

Ichigo scowled even more as he arrived at his office. He was pissed that Angel ignored him when Kyla suddenly came and took him away. He really wanted to break through that ice wall she created and see what she's thinking. They've been living together for over a week and known each other for almost two months. And from the day they first met they couldn't keep their real selves hidden from each other. Just looking into each other's eyes was enough to figure out what the other was thinking, even if other people could not.

But today, after waking up together on the couch, she put up a wall within her; something she never done to him before. And it was bothering the shit out of him.

"Walker?"

The orange head kept his frown as he turned around. "What?" he growled.

Andrew raised an amused eyebrow. "What got your panties in bunch?"

"Shut up," Ichigo glared before adding, "And I don't wear panties."

"Sure you don't," Andrew smirked as he approached his friend and sat on his vacant seat. "Anyways, Kyla-san told me you came to school with her."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I just met her on the way here. Before I knew it, she grabbed my arm and literally dragged me here." He turned back to his desk and started getting ready for his first class…with Angel. Bitch, he thought, I'll make you pay for ignoring me.

Andrew nodded. "That better be it. Don't forget this school is strict about relationships amongst the staff members."

"You don't have to worry about that; I never saw Kyla as anything more than a friend."

"But can you say the same about her?" Andrew added his voice all serious suddenly.

Ichigo froze from unpacking his bag. He slowly turned to his friend and glared. "Don't you dare bring up that topic again, Fernandez."

His friend glared back, crossing his arms across his chest. "Walker, you know as well as I do that Reyes-san still hasn't gotten over you from high school. Heck, her feelings for you revived itself when you came to this school." He became quiet, waiting for his friend to retort but when he got nothing Andrew continued. "Just make sure you keep your distance. This school doesn't take lightly of these sorts of relationship. They only allowed Noel's relationship because his situation is a bit different. But if anyone catches you with another teacher—or a student—then you can kiss your career 'goodbye.'"

Ichigo was quiet, taking in everything his friend just told him. A relationship with another staff member…or with a student, was forbidden. He suppressed a sigh and looked at his friend with fake amusement. "Then shouldn't you leave my office? You wouldn't want anyone to question your sexuality again, now do you?"

Andrew immediately reddened with rage as he stood up and stomped out of his friend's office.

Ichigo smirked. "Look's like he's still not over that stupid rumor," he mumbled to himself. He sat down on the seat Andrew just vacated and slump his head back, his arms dangling on his sides. "This is fucked up…" he sighed. In less than an hour he gathered his materials and made his way to class.

"Sit down!" He shouted as he entered class 3-2 as soon as the bell rung. In a few seconds the students all returned to their seats and Ichigo started class.

He took the regular attendance and quickly collected the homework that was due. When he reached Angel, she just handed him a blank piece of paper which he took so nobody would suspect anything. When he returned to the front of the room, he quickly grabbed his book. "Open to page 43 and we'll continue from where we left off yesterday."

"Hai," the students responded as they got out their copy of the book.

Ichigo took one look around the room before calling on a name. "Tan, you start."

Justin, who was looking at the slump back of his friend in front of him, was suddenly brought out of his train of thought when he heard his name being called. "W-what?"

Ichigo scowled. "Pay attention next time." He looked over to another student and called on him. "Lopez, you start."

"H-hai," Jonny jumped up and started to read out loud.

Justin scowled, glaring at Ichigo who ignored the red head after humiliating him in front of everyone. He knew he didn't like his new teacher; the bastard was way too cocky in his opinion.

But Ichigo really didn't care. Heck, he was feeling extremely pissed off. When he first walked around the classroom to collect the homework, he tried to get Angel's attention by sneaking a small note in her hand when she handed him her 'homework,' asking if she was really okay. But that damn bitch just merely read the little note and quickly shoved it into her book, not even bothering to look at him.

Angel kept her gaze out the window, not even looking at her book. Ichigo could call on her, embarrassing her as well…but he knew she would end up killing him later back at home once she's normal again. So Ichigo only let out a quiet sigh and listened to Jonny, who was doing a horrible job using different tone of voices for each character.

The class continued without drama. Soon the bell rung and Ichigo left the class, only to be replaced by another teacher for the next class. But as Ichigo left, he took one last look over at Angel but the damn bitch still wasn't looking at him.

Before she knew, Angel was sitting around with her friends and opening up their lunch box.

"You okay?" Jane asked.

Angel looked up from her lunch. "Huh?"

"I asked you if you're okay," Jane repeated.

"Of course I am; why wouldn't I be?" Angel sweetly smiled at her friend.

Jane frowned but couldn't say anything when Bia and Clara returned from the restroom.

"Hey Angel, I heard you moved into a new apartment last week," Bia said, "What happened? Why'd you suddenly move?"

"Oh, about that," Angel sighed, trying to figure out how to tell her friends the truth but keep the part of living with their teacher a secret, "Well, last week I was on my way home and I found it totally ruined." She paused when her friends gasped, "Apparently somebody broke into my place just before I got home."

"Oh no!" Clara gasped with watery eyes, "Did you call the police."

Angel nodded. "But I don't know if they caught him yet. I haven't gotten any call back from them."

"What did you lose?" her friend asked.

Angel shrugged her shoulders. "Mostly jewelries and some stash of money that I had secretly hidden at my place. Not to mention I'm missing some underwear."

Jane scowled. "If I ever get my hands on that preverted bastard I'm going to fucking kill him," she sneered through her clench teeth.

Jane smiled at her friend. "I'll give you a call if he ever gets caught."

"Then where do you live now?" the blonde asked.

"Um, not too far from my old apartment," Angel replied, chuckling nervously, "It's close to my old place and I was able to move in only a day after the break in." She quickly brought up her juice box and started to drink its content before she said anything unnecessary.

Jane looked at her other two friends and nodded. "We should go and visit that place."

Angel almost spat out her juice. "W-what?" she stuttered.

Jane raised an eyebrow. "Your new home. We want to visit and help out with anything that might not have already been unpacked."

Jane quickly shook her head. "That's okay. I already moved into my new place a week ago and everything is already set. So no need to worry about anything," she chuckled nervously.

Bia frowned as she crossed her arms under her…ahem, gigantic…gifts (?). "But why did you move without telling us?"

"Um," Angel could feel balls of cold sweat sliding down her neck, "I didn't have much to move since most of the big stuff have been destroyed. And I didn't want to bother any of you guys."

"Still, I wished you would have told us," Clara added.

Angel smiled. "I'm sorry. I promise I will next time."

"Well then," Bia clapped her hands together and smiled widely. "I say we all go over to Angel's place today and christen her new place with our presence!"

Jane and Clara was about to respond with a cheer when Angel, looking pale white, jumped in. "NO YOU CAN'T!"

The three girls froze and stared at their friend.

Realizing her sudden action was a bit suspicious, Angel let out a small nervous laugh again. "You see, this time I decided to move in with someone since living by myself is unsafe. And I don't think…she would appreciate it if you guys suddenly came over."

Jane looked at her and frowned. "But you're not the type to live with anyone. You'd end up driving that person up the wall."

"Wow, thanks a lot," Angel glared at her friend.

"And what kind of person gets mad just because her roommate brings over some friends. I doubt she never did," Bia pouted.

Angel looked away, afraid of looking straight at her friends' eyes. "Yeah well, she's kind of anti-social."

"Man, did you move into the wrong place or what?" Jane snorted.

Angel nodded. "But I was in a hurry so there was nothing I could do about it."

Bia frowned. "Then I guess there won't be a party."

"Yeah," Angel chuckled, "Sorry."

Jane nodded. "There's no helping it. But you are okay, right? That burglary must have scared you."

Angel shrugged her shoulders. "I try not to think too much about it. It's already been a week and I'm trying not to make a big deal out of this. The move enough was stressful."

"…But does your brother know?" Clara suddenly asked, very carefully at that.

Angel stared at her friend before looking down and shaking her head. "It's not like he'd care anyways. Heck, ni-isama doesn't even call me unless it's an emergency or something. He only contributes by putting a good amount of allowance into my bank account every week but other than that he really doesn't care what happens to me."

Jane frowned. "You're brother really needs to let loose."

Angel looked at her friend and offered a small smile. "I think so too."

The bell suddenly rang and the four girls stood up. "Well, let's get going before Clara's fiancé starts biting our heads off." Jane smirked.

"More like kill us while biting only Clara," Bia winked.

"You guys!" Clara blushed, giving her two friends a cute glare.

Angel smiled as she walked with her friends back to their classroom. However, her mind was still completely on her brother that she didn't even notice when she bumped into someone in the hallway.

The person nearly tripped, dropping all the papers in his hands. "What the—" He turned around to say something when he noticed who it was.

Jane quickly appeared in front of him to stick up for Angel as she kept walking on by. "Sorry about that Ichigo. Angel just has a lot on her mind."

Ichigo frowned. "What could it possibly be that she'd bump into her teacher and just continue walking by like nothing happened?"

"Well, we accidently brought up the topic about her brother, which is a sensitive subject to the girl," she sighed.

Ichigo froze as he went into deep thought. Brother… He looked at Jane with a curious look. "What's her brother like?" When Jane suddenly raised her eyebrow, Ichigo rolled his eyes and retorted. "I just wanted to know what kind of person my student's brother is like that could possibly leave his little sister like that."

Jane was quiet for a second, not sure whether or not to tell Ichigo. "Well…"

"Just spit it out, Bieber," Ichigo scowled.

Jane sighed in defeat. "Okay, well you see…that brother of hers, Zack Bushū, has probably the longest pole stuck up in his ass."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

"He's not really her brother; she was adopted into his family because of her sister…it's a long story," she rolled her eyes. Ichigo had to bite his tongue from saying he already knew about that part of the story, and just let her continue. "Anyways, that dude barely talks to Angel; heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know what she even looked like! He gave her a full speech of what it meant to be a Bushū, putting way too many pressure on her shoulders starting at a young age. In the end, Angel couldn't stand it anymore so she left his place. It took awhile for him to accept this…actually Bushū-sama still doesn't like it but can't do anything about it now. So he only contributes by giving her money often. But that bastard doesn't even call or send a message." Jane scowled and added, "Prick" at the end.

Ichigo, who's been listening very carefully, was starting to dislike this brother of hers more and more he heard about him (which wasn't much). He now slowly realized what it was that got Angel so pissed off at him the entire day: he made the stupid mistake of bringing up the topic of how nobody wanted her.

Ichigo inwardly groaned. Looked like he needed to make a full apology to her.

"You should go back to class now, Bieber," he pointed at her, "Thanks for telling me though."

Jane shrugged her shoulders. "Just don't tell Angel that I told you," she glared before running back to her class.

Ichigo nodded his head as he made his way to his next class as well. But even throughout the entire class he just couldn't get rid of Angel from his mind, nor how twisted her life was. Just like me…he thought, barely concentrating on the students who were reading in his current class.

He made the mistake of starting her day off wrong by bringing up such a touchy subject. And if what Jane said was true, then Angel was still distressed, if not more because her friends seemed to have brought it up too.

Ichigo sighed, thinking about some way to cheer her up a bit…

Angel waved at her friends as they all left the classroom one by one.

"See you later Angel!" Bia sang out loud as she exited the room.

"Bye," Angel waved back.

Justin, who finally packed up all his stuff, walked up to her desk and ruffled her hair. "I'll see you later, Angel."

The young woman glared before ripping his hand off of her. "Yeah, see you later you baboon,"

Justin merely smirked before heading out to his Kendo club.

Now being the only left behind, Angel allowed herself to let out a long breath, stretching her arms up and down.

"Staying late, midget?"

Angel looked up and frowned upon seeing her 'sensei' casually leaning against the doorway of the empty classroom. "As a matter of fact, no, Walker-sensei," she replied lowly.

Ichigo smirked before pushing himself off. He slowly approached Angel who was still packing her bag. After taking a look on what was on her desk, he couldn't help but frown. "Why do you carry around so much shit?" he asked, picking up a useless looking utensil from her desk, "I doubt this was all required at the beginning of the school year."

Angel quickly yanked the item out of Ichigo's grasp and shoved it into her bag. "For you information, Walker-sensei, I like to carry around extra stuff because you just don't know when something might come in handy."

Ichigo chuckled before sitting on Angel's desk. "Oi."

"What?" she growled.

Without another word, Ichigo suddenly grabbed one of her wrist and started to pull her away.

"Ichigo! What are you doing?!" Angel asked in hysterics.

"Just shut up and follow me," he said.

"Ichigo—" Angel strained to free herself from his grasp but Ichigo only held tighter and pulled her out into the hallway, "—let go! What if somebody sees us?!"

Ichigo didn't even bother to look as he dragged her smaller body behind him. "Don't worry, if they do I'll just tell them that you were trying to run away after causing a fight and so I'm punishing you."

"WHAT?!"

"I am your homeroom teacher after all," Ichigo smirked.

Angel glared holes into the back of the orange head as she finally allowed herself to be dragged by him.

Thankfully nobody seemed to be around as Ichigo continued to pull her down the hall. Soon they reached the stairs and they started to climb…up? But they were already on the third floor which meant the only thing above them was the school ceiling, which had been locked off since she started attending this school.

"Can we really be up here?" Angel asked.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Will you stop acting all goody-tissue and just trust me? Besides, I have the key." Before Angel could retort Ichigo slid the said key into the keyhole, turned it, unlocking the door.

Angel crossed her arms and stepped back. "I don't know…we're still in school and if anyone sees us now they'll get suspicious."

Ichigo smirked. "Just don't think about anything else but what I'm about to show you. Trust me, it will be worth it."

Ichigo twisted the doorknob and opened the metallic door. Angel drew in a breath when cool air suddenly blew inside, flowing through her dark tresses. When the door fully opened she had to squint her eyes at the sudden light, barely able to see anything in front of her. Only after a few seconds she was able to open them again, this time seeing Ichigo grinning next to the open door and holding out one of his hands.

Angel stared at his hand for a second, before placing her own on top of his. Ichigo enclosed his larger hand around her smaller one and pulled her outside. The two walked through the door and Angel let out a gasp.

Ichigo leaned over and whispered next to her ear, "I told you it would be worth it."

Angel only responded with a smile as she walked over to the rail only to see a grand view of Tokyo in front of her.

"When I attended this school I would often sneak up here for lunch," Ichigo said, looking out into the town with her. "It's one of my favorite places."

"I can see why," Angel replied.

Ichigo smirked before looking down at their hands that were still holding each other. He lifted her hand and turned it over, palm up. Angel  looked at him before looking down at her hand. Ichigo placed the key into it and used his other hand to curl her fingers around it, entrapping the key in her fist. "Whenever you feel worried, scared, pissed or just plain bored, come up here."

Angel looked at him and smiled. "Is this your way of showing you care about me?"

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "I just know there are times when you need fresh air. So why not get it from the highest place where the air is most fresh?"

"What if someone catches me up here?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I used to help out the old janitor in this school and only he had the one key to this place, which he later gave me. Nobody will be able to get up here but us," he said before lifting up another key, the exact copy of the one in her hand, dangling it from between his fingers. "This will be our little secret."

Angel let out a loud laugh before hugging him. "Arigatou, Ichigo."

Ichigo hugged her back. "No problem, midget."

They released each other to look back out. The sun had started to set, setting the sky into a beautiful array of dark and bright colors. Ichigo slowly started whistling a small tune.

"Oi."

"What?" Ichigo replied.

Angel looked up at him and smirked. "Shut up."

Ichigo looked at her with confusion etched on his face before letting out a chuckle. "Fine, you win."