School House Blues(Yuzuru/Hiroe)

The final bell at the Shin'o Academy sounded out, sending a close to another long, and arduous day of honing the skills of the next generation of Shinigami, and as the afternoon sun began to dip as night time quickly began to approach one student remained. It wasn't like Yuzuru didn't have any place to be at this particular time, in fact he was due to play a set at a tavern down in the Rukongai later that very evening, but something was bothering the young man. Music was his second passion, it was part of who he was deep down to his very core, but as of late? Well, his heart just wasn't in to the music he was playing at that particular moment, and while it would suffice in him selling out a tavern or two, it was just a very confusing feeling to him.

He had always just let the music play through him without a second thought, but as of late the music just didn't play the same way as it used to. He let out a rather audible sigh as he thumbed his way through a few sheets of music that he had been scribbling in over the last few days, finding once again that he was completely indecisive about which direction he wanted to take this particular song. Luckily this funk he was in musically hadn't effected his work as a shinigami as he had continued to showcase a talent for it, but if he couldn't afford a place to live because his music was subpar? Then things would become quite difficult, after all his entire income was coming from music, and little else. He didn't really have any other talents outside of it at that particular moment and the concern was wearing him thin.

"Perhaps a break is in order..."

He stated to no one in particular, pulling out a notebook from his backpack as he decided to spend his time studying as opposed to floundering on a tune. Maybe he would find inspiration from between the pages of his notebook? He mused over this thought as he had heard several famous musicians gained inspiration from outside influences, not that he did much outside of play at taverns, and go to school. It wasn't necessarily the most sociable life, but it was a life, and a life that he had chose. He hummed to himself as he looked over the notes on Zanjutsu forms, zoning out as he did so.

Nothing seemed to be working, all of the notes he had taken looked like nothing more than scribbles as he rubbed his temples with his right hand while flicking through the pages with his left. Frustration was seeping in and Yuzuru was beginning to visibly show signs of this frustration. His face looking a bit more stern and even angrier than it normally did, if one were to look at it, and not know him they might have thought that he was about to lay them out. It was at that moment that Yuzuru felt a playful jab into his back.

He jumped initially, trying his best to go back to his normal expression as if to play off his frustrations, and quickly turned around to face the source of the jab. And there she was, with pet name included. Looking like an angel being backlit by the setting sun streaming in through a nearby window, Yuzuru found himself staring intently. For a while now he had known Hiroe was a "knock out", as some referred to her as, but today the 4'11 divine being in front of him seemed to wash a bit of his exhaustion away. The frustration and tenseness leaving his shoulders and his face.

She was the only one who knew him at the school for who he really was and even knew about his job outside of the academy work he was putting in. In essence, to him, Hiroe might be the only person in the world he could consider himself close to. Yuzuru put his hand over his heart and then began to speak.

"Don't surprise people like that...and Yuzu?"

He hadn't seen her in a while, not since the tavern he reckoned, and he supposed she was busy with her own training as much as he was with his own. Still, that didn't mean that he didn't miss her. After all, who else could he just be himself with.

"I thought giving nicknames out was something only friends do, Ms. Miyashiro?"

He wondered if they were friends internally, they couldn't possibly more than that of course. She was out of his league on a bad day and in an entirely different universe on her best day.

"Ung..I mean...I don't really have any friends so..."

It was embarrassing to mention just how few people he seemed to hold conversations with or really let into his own personal sphere of trust. In fact, he was sure that she was the only one who even knew about his work in the tavern, or really knew anything beyond the fact that he was a big, stern looking guy. Yuzuru, caught her glancing at his notebook, and pushed it toward her a little in an attempt to share his notes.

"I tend to take notes during school, helps me keep track of the important stuff just in case I grow absent minded because of my job."

She then quickly switched gears and asked the real questions. For a moment Yuzuru said nothing and then let out a deep sigh as he closed the notebook before softly speaking.

"It was going fine...until I started to go through this funk."

Why was he telling her this? Well it is because unlike most of the people he met, he felt a tad bit comfortable around her, and that was mostly because she knew him a bit better than most he supposed. Or maybe it was because she had spoken positively of him a while back and he didn't mind opening up to her a bit more.because of that? Or maybe it was because she was downright beautiful and Yuzuru couldn't help, but blurt out his problems when asked? He really hoped that he wasn't that much of a pushover, but he really had never had someone like this interested in him before.

He had to hide from her his happiness at being called a friend of hers, looking away for a bit to get better control over his facial expressions before turning back to her. She had been reading his notebook pretty intensely, maybe she was curious as to what class he had been studying up on? While Zanjutusu was his best class at the academy as of late, he did have several notebooks to thank for that, and this particular notebook was all about proper movements to defend one's self from certain attacks. A noteworthy subject if Yuzuru did say so himself.

When she began to speak, Yuzuru listened intently to what she had to say, locking eyes with her, and hoping that him staring at her so intently wouldn't bother her too much. He had been known to scare off quite a few people with his intense stares. Most of the time he simply had a question he didn't know how to poise or was so deep in thought that he was simply staring out into space in the general direction of that person. He still had the air of one of those guys though. A thug.

"I usually am really good at composing or making alterations to certain songs to play them in a way that is different, but lately...well lately all I can think about is the money I will earn off the song I'm working on. I wasn't always this way...music was always so pure to me and now it just feels like...I'm doing the motions."

Yuzuru looked down and let out a large sigh before looking back at Hiroe.

"But that is not important right now, what is important is what is going on with you. As my only friend, it is important that I take care of you."

He said this with a slight smile on his face as if merely thinking about how he had a friend now brought him just a little bit of joy.

Yuzuru nodded his head, understanding where Hiroe was coming from completely. He felt the same way in a few ways, while his music was the main concern he had right now, he still had dreams of his own. To become a shinigami that his brother would have been proud to go on patrol with. The thought that his brother was gone and he was the lone heir to his family's name had not been something that he had focused on often, but after hearing Hiroe talk about being equal with her peers? He couldn't help, but feel that he himself was a bit behind the image that he had of his brother.

Still, this wasn't about him, and focusing on his brother would not help Hiroe solve her problem, but in reality he didn't know what to say to her. He wanted to comfort her in some capacity, but he had never done this whole "give advice" thing before. Having friends, after all, was uncharted waters for him. He rubbed his chin and began to look deep within himself, hoping he could give her some introspection of some kind to help her out.

"Hmm...I don't know if you should be worried about that or not to be honest."

He said as he looked up to the roof of the room they were in and then back to her, nodding his head as if he had finally gotten some kind of nugget of positive feedback he could give.

"Everyone achieves what they want at different paces and as long as you are working at it...I think at least...you will get what you want. And to me, I can see you work hard, probably harder than most, and I'm sure your peers have noticed that. In fact, I'm pretty sure it would be pretty hard to not notice."

Yuzuru was losing momentum now, this whole giving advice thing was hard for him, but dammit! He was going to try his best!

"So when you learn the name of your zanpaktou? I'm sure not only will you be side by side with your peers, but you will be way ahead of them!"

Yuzuru looked at her sideways and then let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry if this pep talk isn't what you expected..."