FicWad

Of Bullies and Lovers

Chapter One: First Day

It wasn't supposed to happen like the way it did.

Someone had a rather tight hold on the collar of my shirt and was gripping it tightly. Almost too tight. Like, so tight it was almost hard to breath.

The hand belonged to a guy named Shiro. He was the bully of the new school I was currently attending. In fact, this was my first day. Yeah, I know, I was already getting into trouble on the first day of school. Was I a delinquent?

…Okay, maybe that wasn't the best first question to be asked mostly because at my old school I always seemed to get into a lot of trouble. I didn't think I was a delinquent, but others may had said otherwise. Like my brother and father, for example. Anyways, back to the bully. He was the top bully of this particular school. Everyone was afraid of him, including my new friend Keigo who was my very first friend I made in this school. He was one of Shiro's favorite victims. So when I saw my said friend about to get punched, (again), I decided to intervene and push Shiro away.

That was a bad idea. Better yet, that was the stupidest idea I ever had the pleasure of acting out in my entire life. That was the beginning of hell for me because ever since then, Shiro never left me alone… and no, he wasn't necessarily bullying me in the way you would think.

Let me start from the beginning, or relatively close to the beginning.

Today was my first day of school in which I was dreading. I hated when I started a new school, especially while still in high school where one mistake could send anyone to the loser end of the stick. I didn't want to be a loser. I didn't want to be bullied.

I didn't tolerate bullying. Verbal bullying was the easiest to get out of. You either laugh it off or come up with something wittier to say back. But when it came to physical bullying, I always fought back – or, at least defended from getting my ass, or my friends, handed to me.

Okay, getting off topic.

My morning getting ready was like any other morning. The uniform was a drag but I didn't complain mostly because I knew my older brother worked hard trying to get me into this school, so I put it on without any verbal complaining. The school wasn't anything too fancy, but with my past record they didn't want to tarnish their school reputation with someone like myself. That was what they first said until my brother convinced them otherwise. I'd always wondered what he said to them.

Which, now that I thought about it, what they said was quite comical when thinking about how Shiro acted during school hours.

Sitting at the table with my older brother, who was now in college, and younger brother, who was in middle school, was quiet to say the least. Usually, we always had something to chat about, but I had the feeling the two could sense my uneasiness.

"So," I started. "How's your guys' mornin'?"

My younger brother, Yoshi, (Yeah, I know, like Yoshi from Mario Brothers), shrugged his shoulders as he continued to eat his scrambled eggs with disinterest. Like me, he had curly red hair that he kept short and clean cut. If he let them grow out, they would curl into a mini-afro, something he used to be made fun of during elementary school. He also had bright blue eyes like me as well, with a small rounded shaped face that fit his eleven-year-old age. I kept my hair long, the weight pulling my curls down into a light wave and curled near the bottom. I liked my hair, it almost looked like I spent time in the morning curling it when in actuality it just dried the way it did. I had more of a heart shaped face with high cheek-bones and a more firm jaw than most girls which gave me more definition and character than other girls my age who had softer features.

My older brother had black hair like our father, and his face was what most girls called chiseled and had "rock star qualities". Even though he was my brother I knew he was handsome. Did he himself knew how handsome he was? In a way he did mostly from all his past stalkers, (both male and female), telling him, but he never acted on his looks. He never took advantage of girls like most guys with his looks would had done. Out of all three of us siblings, he was always the more serious and wise one. He'd always took on the responsibilities of taking care of us and making sure we were fed and whatnot.

You see, my father was hardly ever around. He was always on business trips. So, my brother took on the fatherly roll when he became old enough to take care of us.

My older brother, Akira if you were wondering what his name was, moved his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose and glanced over at me. He placed the newspaper he was reading down on the table. "Perfect. How's your morning, Naomi?"

I returned his smile. I tried my best to act happy about everything. "Good. Everything's going good." He continued to smile, but I knew he saw through my façade. Thankfully, he didn't call me out on it. Seemed like he didn't want to cause any problems on the first day of school.

He prepared lunch for both my little brother and I before we headed our separate ways to school. That morning couldn't have had been anymore awkward.

I sighed heavily to myself as I walked to school. I was going to get through the day without any problems, just walk into school and attend every class like a normal student and only talk to people I knew were not going to be of any trouble.

At least, that was what I tried to tell myself as I was walking to hell.

When I arrived, my first destination was the principal's office. The first thing I saw when I walked in was a kid crying in a room that split from the main office. He was hunched over with his head in his hands and was sobbing like there was no tomorrow. After further examination, I noticed his shirt had a little bit of blood on it. Was he in a fight?

An older man in uniform, which I guessed was the principle, or maybe the councilor, was sitting at the desk looking at the kid apologetically, but when he saw me peering in he instantly stood up and walked over to the door and closed it while giving me the stink eye. Eh, guess I shouldn't have had been prying in other people's business. I wondered if he got in a fight or something. He sure did look like it.

"Ah, you must be Miss Uramasa," a soft spoken woman said from in front of me returning my attention forward. She sat behind the clerks' desk and was smiling up at me sweetly. She looked pretty nice. She had long black hair that was braided neatly behind her back. Her warm smile had made me smile in return.

"Yes," I finally replied. "That's me, Naomi Uramasa."

"Please to meet you Uramasa-san, please call me Unohana. I've been expecting you today. Here," she slide an envelope across her desk toward me. I walked over and took the envelope before giving her my full attention once more. "This holds your schedule as well as your locker number and combination. I've asked a fellow student – ah, here he is now." I turned around to see who she was referring too. I saw a nice looking boy with shaggy brown hair and a dopey smile come trotting into the office.

"Unohana-sama, you called?" he asked all too cheerfully.

"Yes, I was hoping you could escort Uramasa-san here to her classes since the two of you have similar schedules. If it's to no consolation to you, Asano-san."

Asano and I locked gazes. Both his eyes grew wide as he looked me up and down, his goofy grin only grew wider. "Of course Unohana-sama. I'll be more than happy to!" Again, he was sounding way too cheerful.

"I'm glad to hear it." Her attention was turned back toward me again, her creepy, yet still warming smile had not left her face. "I hope your first day of school will be delightful, Uramasa-san."

Again, I returned her smile. Both Asano and I walked out of the office together, his goofy grin not leaving his face. "You're the new student, huh?" He was such a dork. Wasn't if obvious?

"How you guess?" I said sarcastically, but I added a smile at the end just so he knew I didn't mean it to sound mean.

"My name is Keigo Asano, it's nice to meet you…?" He bowed respectively toward me; I returned the bow.

"Naomi Uramasa, but please call me by my first name, I hate going by my last."

"Noted, Naomi-chan." I couldn't help but laugh. He was flirting with me.

"Chan, huh? Already trying to get familiar with me?" He scratched the back of his head and sheepishly laughed.

"Sorry if I offended you."

"Not at all. Since we have most of our classes together I'm pretty sure we'll most likely become good friends. You seem like a nice enough guy."

"You seem like a nice person too, Naomi-chan. So, what's your locker number? Some of the lockers here can be pretty difficult."

I smiled at his generosity. I brought the vanilla envelope up and opened it, pulling out the papers and sorting through them until I found the one with my locker number on it. "201, it seems."

"201?" I looked over at him when I heard his tone suddenly turn from cheerful and happy to timid and scared.

"Is there something wrong with that number?" He looked away from me and at the far wall. He still seemed worried.

"Well, you see, we sort of have this guy that no one likes and is sort of a bully. Especially to new students, and your locker is near his…" he trailed off. He looked over toward me again and I smiled to try and reassure him. It didn't seem to work.

"Don't worry about me. I know how to handle bullies. They're all the same, full of shit until someone teaches them a lesson." That seemed to make him smile a bit.

"Well, anyways, let me walk you to your locker just in case you need my help with the combination… and also to escort you to our homeroom, my lady." I laughed and swatted at him and his antics. He walked me to my locker like he said he would. The halls were beginning to fill up with students, some were giving me stares in which I guessed was because I was new. Everyone liked to stare at the new kid. I didn't mind. It was to be expected, I guessed.

"Here it is," Keigo announced as he leaned against the locker next to mine. I pulled out the slip of paper that had my combination on it and began to work the dial of my locker. "Hey, you got it on the first try! Nice job!" I snickered.

"It's not like that's the first locker I had to open with a combination, you dork."

He opened his mouth to comment, probably in reply about me calling him a dork, but stopped short when someone called his name. Instantly, his face began to pale. "Asano! What brings you here!?" The guy's voice was sly, almost smooth sounding, but hoarse at the same time. Wait, how did that make any sense? Anyways, the guy's voice was unusual to say the least. I looked behind Asano to see a boy that was pretty tall with stark white hair and bronze, maybe even gold, eyes come from behind him and wrap an arm around his neck like they were old friends. I would had thought so if it wasn't for the fact Keigo looked like he was going to wet himself.

"N-nothing Shiro," he stuttered and sounded a little frantic about, what I guessed, the situation he found himself in. "I'm doing nothing, I was just about to walk to my class!" Yeah, he had definitely sounded like he was going to pee himself.

"Is that so," Shiro smiled, then his eyes landed on me, his smile growing ten-fold. "Who's your pretty little friend here? Haven't seen her around?"

"Her? Oh, she's no one!" Keigo tried his best to defuse the situation, but was failing miserably. "You haven't seen her before? She's been here since, like, forever. You never noticed her, Shiro-san?" He was trying to protect me. I thought that was kind of cute.

He let go of Keigo's neck and pushed him aside, causing him to almost trip away from us. Shiro, and what a stupid, almost girly name that was, was now standing in front of me, his head looming over mine as he inched forward and I inched back until my back was hitting the lockers behind me. I glared up at him, but that only seemed to make his smile grow. "I'm pretty sure I would have remembered a pretty thing such as yourself." He reached forward, his hand inching toward my cheek like he wanted to touch it, but I swatted him away, rejecting his advance. "Feisty, aren't we? Something's telling me you're a new kid, because," his eyes traveled down my body as he took another step toward me, letting them land on my chest. "I'm pretty sure I would remember these." He pointed toward my chest, and before I knew it his finger poked one… mound rather hard.

A loud cracking noise made everyone in the hallway freeze, then turned toward the scene that I had created. Shiro was a couple of feet back, his hand on his chin with a rather surprised expression plastered on his face. He was staring me down with absolute hate. My chest was heaving as I tried to regain my cool. I held my hand to my chest, the hand that punched Shiro straight in the jaw. I continued to glare at the so called bully. "You're a jackass!" I practically shrieked. "Who the hell do you think you are going around poking a woman's breasts, pervert! That fucking hurt!" It did hurt. I was actually surprised on how much it hurt. It almost felt like his finger somehow pinched me hard.

He started to glare. No. He more than just glared. The stare his was giving me was menacing, lethal. It looked like he wanted to kill me. I didn't let up. I matched his death glare with my own. He took a step forward threateningly, but I stood my ground. Not letting myself move from that spot like it would somehow mean my defeat.

The warning bell rang, stopping Shiro from his stalking. He looked away from me momentarily, then glanced back at me and put his sly smile back into place. "Saved by the bell." He turned away from me, placing both hands into his pockets. "Watch your back after class, little girl." And with that, he left.

"Holy crap!" Keigo exclaimed from beside me. I turned toward him to see his eyes as big as saucers. "I've never, ever, seen someone hit Shiro and not get their butts kicked!" I smiled while shaking my hand that was still stinging from the punch. His jaw was rock solid.

"Yeah, well, like I said. I can take care of bullies easy."

"Yeah, but now you're his next target. You heard him, he said watch your back after class." It was nice to see someone other than my brother care about my well-being, even though I'd only known him for not even an hour. "Well, we better get to class. Ichigo is in our next class, he'll probably know what to do."

"Ichigo?"

Keigo scratched the back of his head while diverting his eyes away from mine. It was actually kind of cute. "He's Shiro's twin brother." Well, won't that be interesting.

"Ichigoooooooo!" Keigo yelled with glee as he flung his body forward toward someone when we entered our homeroom. The guy who he called Ichigo, elbowed poor Keigo in the jaw and let him fall to the ground in a twitching frenzy of pain. My eyes stayed on Keigo's twitching form, but they slowly moved up to the boy Keigo tried to tackle, or at least I think he tried to tackle. To tell you the truth, I had no idea what he was doing… Ah, yep. That guy was definitely Shiro's twin brother. But unlike Shiro, his hair was orange and his eyes were a natural brown, and also unlike Shiro, this guy had a scowl on his face that made me think it was permanent.

And like he knew I was staring at him he moved his eyes up to mine, raising an eyebrow at me with question. Did I mention he was pretty damn gorgeous?

"Ichigo!" Keigo popped up off the ground with his hands clasped and butt wiggling back and forth with excitement. "Meet my new friend, Naomi-chan! Today's her first day!"

"Hey," he said with no interest. In fact, he sounded uncomfortable. He was rubbing the back of his neck with his hand and was diverting his eyes away from mine. I couldn't comprehend his actions. Was he embarrassed, uncomfortable, or… I didn't really know at the time.

"Wanna know something awesome and yet really, really, really, bad at the same time!?" Keigo didn't wait for him to answer before he continued. "She punched Shiro and got away with it - sort of! Well, besides the threat about watching her back after class!" Was everything he said always had to end with an exclamation mark? Seemed when he was talking to Ichigo he did.

"What!?" Ichigo sounded genuinely surprised. He was looking at me again, his eyes wide. "You didn't. Do you have any idea what you just done to yourself?" Now he sounded mad.

"That bad, huh?" I sheepishly laughed, but the way he was still scowling at me made me think he didn't think it was funny in the least.

"It's more than bad. My brother is insane."

"I think I can handle myself."

"You really are clueless, aren't you." Now he was getting on my nerves. The way he said that wasn't a question, he was stating a fact. That jackass.

"You don't know anything about me," I defend.

"I don't need to. All I need to know is how much of an idiot you are and the fact you decided to pick a fight with my idiot brothers just shows you're a moron."

I snapped.

"You don't know me. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself. I've always been capable of taking care of myself. He's only one guy, I don't see why you and everyone else are so scared of him. Why don't you guys just gang up on him or something instead of being idiots and sitting on the sidelines?" Ichigo opened his mouth to say something, but I stopped him before he could speak. "I don't want to hear it. If you're so keen on making assumptions about me after only talking to me for less than ten minutes then you are a very shallow and pathetic person." Again, he looked at me with surprise. I turned around, not wanting to see his face any longer, and walk over to a random seat to sit down. When class started there was a seating chart so I ended up sitting in the back of the room, far away from Ichigo which I was grateful for. Keigo sat next to Ichigo, but occasionally I would see him glance back at me and give me an apologetic look. I smiled in return, trying my best to reassure him. I hoped he didn't think I was mad at him as well.

When the bell rang I gathered my material and waited by the door for Keigo. When Ichigo passed me he didn't even look at me, he continued to walk forward while scowling at nothing in particular. Jackass. Keigo quickly walked me to my next class. Even though I wasn't scared of Shiro, I wasn't planning on staying around for him to find me and pick a fight with me. Something told me he wouldn't mind hitting a girl.

We made it to class without an incident. The whole way there I didn't see a head of white hair which I was grateful for. Keigo and I sat in the back row together when we entered class. Kids were staring at me. Were they also staring at me during my last class but I was too pissed to notice?

"Their surprised that you're still walking," Keigo whispered next to me when he noticed me glaring at all the people around us. I gave him a quizzical look, so he elaborated. "Everyone knows about your situation with Shiro. When he makes a threat he usually goes through with it no matter what."

"I see. Oh, I've been meaning to ask you," I began, leaning in closer to him. "What's up with you and Shiro? You seemed pretty scared of him earlier, more so than a normal victim would?"

He looked away from me and out the window he was sitting next to. "He likes to pick on me. A lot. I guess you could say I'm his favorite victim." I gapped at him.

"Why would a bully have a favorite? Who the hell does he think he is?"

"Hey, it's fine. Really. Ichigo is a good friend of mine and Shiro doesn't mess with me when he's around."

"But what about when he's not around?" When he didn't reply, I got my answer. "Why the hell doesn't anyone stick up to him? He's only one guy."

"But he isn't just one guy." He turned to look back at me. I could see the sadness in his eyes. "He has friends, all of them are tough and can beat up anyone who stands up to them."

"Then why doesn't anyone tell a teacher or something? Get them expelled?"

"Two of his friends, Ulquiorra Cifer and Shinji Hirako, both have – erm, rich parents that make very generous donations to our school…"

"That's stupid! What the hell has this world come to?!" I couldn't have said anything more. I was fuming too much to want to say anything more. That school was worse than my last.

Class went by quick. Like the last I had to introduce myself to everyone. No one asked me questions which was probably because of the whole Shiro incident. Pansies. Next class was the same deal. Everything went by quickly and before I knew it, it was lunch period. Something I was dreading in all last class period.

"You can sit with my group if you want. He probably won't bother you if he sees you sitting with his brother." Keigo tried his best to help me.

"I don't think Ichigo would like that too much. I don't think he likes me."

We were at his locker now. I didn't want to go back to my locker just yet. I had a strange feeling Shiro was waiting for me to show up. "Nah, he doesn't know you. That's how he acts when he's worried about someone. He really hates his brothers bullying."

"Then why doesn't he try to stop him?"

"They're to evenly matched; they fought plenty of times in the past. Ichigo would win some, then Shiro – it was never ending. But Ichigo couldn't be with him twenty-four/seven… and then something bad happened."

"What happened?"

Keigo shut his locker slowly. He didn't move as he stared at his lockers door, then he finally turned to look at me with those sad eyes of his. "Ichigo got close with this girl named Orihime. I don't know the details but once Shiro saw them dating and stuff, he did something to her and now she won't even talk to Ichigo. She won't even talk to me and we use to be close friends."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah. Ichigo took it pretty hard. I'm pretty sure he loved her. I think Shiro threatened him after that and ever since then Ichigo doesn't get in Shiro's business unless it has something to do with his close friends."

"That bastard!" I flung my arms up in the air from exasperation, then crossed them when they came back down. I didn't think I could be this mad at one guy. "Someone definitely needs to teach him a lesson."

"Hey now, don't be coming up with any suicidal ideas. Ichigo's right about one thing; he's insane. He'll destroy you. He's like a leader of his own little gang. He has more insane lackeys outside of school. One of them is Grimmjow Jagerjack and he's a genius when it comes to street fighting. I've seen him take on five guys at once without breaking a sweat." Keigo shivered when a memory popped in his head. I shook mine, hating how that one guy had so much control.

"Do you have a lunch?" He changed the subject, giving me a questionable look. I scratched my head and sighed in defeat. I had to admit I was a little grateful he changed the subject. I jad about enough of that guy for the day.

"Yeah, but it's in my locker…"

"I see," he smiled and perked up, his back straight with excitement of an idea that must had suddenly popped into his mind. "Hey, I'll buy you something at the café nearby. It'll be my treat for punching Shiro." I laughed.

"Sure, sounds great."

We walked through the halls together. Everything was going great, so far. I didn't see any white hair all day, I was going to get a free meal, and, to top it all off, I made a friend. I'd had friends before, don't get me wrong, but it usually took me about a month to obtain one. I wasn't very social despite what you may think.

Of course, those thoughts jinxed me.

"Asano! Little girl! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere."

Both Keigo and I stopped in our tracks when we heard his voice. Slowly, we turned around and saw a stalking Shiro with a couple of other guys trailing behind him coming toward the two of us.

It was silence before the storm. Everyone in the hallway grew quiet as they watched Shiro and his gang stalk toward us. He had a huge, triumphant grin plastered on his face as he stared me down, not once looking over at Keigo.

I felt Keigo pull on my arm like he was trying to get my attention, but I ignored him, I didn't want to let up my stare down with Shiro. I wouldn't let him had the satisfaction. Then, out of the blue, Keigo steps in front of me blocking my view of Shiro.

He was protecting me.

Shiro didn't seem to like that. He was now glaring at Keigo and was also frowning which seemed unnatural for him. The two guys behind him were both still looking at me. One of them had a creepy ass smile on his face and had short blonde hair. The other seemed like an emo with black hair and piercing green eyes which, randomly, were actually kind of pretty.

"Get out of my way, Asano," Shiro growled. Keigo gulped but stood his ground regardless.

"No."

And just like that, Keigo was on the ground withering in pain, clutching his hands to his bleeding nose. I looked down at him dumbfounded, too stupid to move and help him as my mind tried to comprehend what the hell had just happened. It all happened too quickly. He advanced on Keigo, still glaring, but this time I reacted and stood in front of Keigo like he did for me. That made Shiro stop and look at me with curiosity. That sickly smile back on his face.

"Isn't that sweet," he began. "The little girl is protecting her boyfriend from getting his ass kicked."

"He's not my boyfriend," I had no idea why I had to clarify that. "And you're a perverted dick-wad who needs to learn to be more respectful. He didn't do anything to deserve."

"You know it's not nice to call people names, and you're wrong on one thing. He did deserve to be beat. He didn't listen to what I told him to do."

"You're sick. Do you just expect everyone to get on their hands and knees for you when you ask them to? I don't know what sick fantasy you live in but that's not the real world, idiot. Grow up you lunatic." Before I knew it, the collar of my uniform was being yanked forward and I was being dragged and forced to be face to face with the menacing glare of the unnaturally white haired bully.

And this was where we first started off at. I was about to get my face pummeled in on my first day of school. Couldn't wait to explain that to my brother.

"You have quite a tongue in that pretty little mouth of yours." He was back to smiling again. He had to be bipolar. He reached up with his free hand and began to caress my cheek like he tried to do in the morning. "I wouldn't mind putting it to good use."

And with that little statement I had him hunched over in pain, his hand that was previously grasping my collar now pressed tightly to his crotch. What? He left it wide open? Besides, he was sexually harassing me! I had the right to defend myself!

The guy with the weird smile and short cut blond hair began to laugh. "Wow, I can't believe what I'm witnessing right now!" He said between fits of laughter. "She got you good, Shiro."

"Shut up!" Shiro roared, standing up and glared daggers at me. I automatically took a couple of steps back, not even realizing I was backing up, but I kept my own glare leveled with his. "You'll pay for that, little girl." He stalked forward again, but faster and with longer strides.

But before he could get to me a bombing voice rang through the crowd of people around us. "What is the meaning of this?!" We both look over to see an elderly man walk through the crowd of people and look pointedly at the two of us. He was bald and had a long white beard. In his right hand was a cane he held close to his body. If I wasn't mistaken that was Yamamoto, our school principle. There was no mistaking it.

Shiro scuffed, jerking his head to the side and rolling his eyes before giving the old man his full attention and giving the old man a fake smile. "Nothing Mr. Yamamoto-sama, we were helping our friend here who fell and broke his nose into the locker. We were going to take him to the nurse." I looked down at Keigo who was now sitting up and leaning against a locker while holding his bloodied nose. He looked up at Shiro with horror when he heard his name being called.

Yamamoto looked down at Keigo with narrowed eyes. "Is this true, Mr. Asano?" Keigo vigorously shook his head in agreement. I didn't blame the guy, if he confessed he probably would had been hounded by Shiro and his gang after school. Yamamoto finally turned his eyes to me. "You're the new student that just started today, am I correct?" When I nodded he continued. "Is this true, young lady?" I hesitated, but nodded my head as well. I didn't voice my reply, I didn't trust my voice at the moment. I was so pissed.

"I see. Well," Yamamoto turned around and began to walk away from us, his cane making clicking noises as he went his way. "See to it that Mr. Asano makes it to the nurse in a hurriedly fashion, Mr. Kurosaki."

"Yes sir," Shiro snickered when the old man disappeared down the hallway. He turned his attention back to me, all the anger from earlier disappeared. "Looks like today is your lucky day, little girl." He turned away to walk but stopped and turned his head to look back at me. "I like you. You'll be fun to play with in more ways than one for the rest of the school year."

And just like that, he left. Everyone around us whispered as they stared at me but soon went their own separate ways.

I stood there dumbfounded. My mind trying to comprehend everything that just happened in what only felt like ten minutes. I was fucked. No. That's putting it too lightly. I was dead.

Yep.

Dead.

And what the hell did he mean in more ways than one?!