Keeping Up Appearances

Hello! This is my second Bleach fic and I thought I would try a chaptered one, just to see how it goes. I really like crack pairings or just the non popular ones to try writing, so I present to you...

An AU High School fic with Urahara x Ishida as the pairing.

I know the first chapter is kind of short and doesn't really get into the storyline so much, but I value your opinion in order to continue this fic or not. So comments and constructive criticism are welcome, but no flames please. So, hope you enjoy. Also posted on ff.net just so you know...

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters. No money is made from this.


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Keeping up appearances

Chapter 1: Methodical

Methodical. That was how Urahara Kisuke would have described his number one science student. He wasn’t sure exactly how the boy spent his free time, outside of the handicrafts club, but he could have guessed that it was on an obsession with perfection.

Perfect. That was how Uryu’s tests, homework, and quizzes came back to him, when Kisuke bothered to grade them, that is. Kisuke wasn’t fond of work if he could put it off until later to do something else far more exciting. He knew his students, with the one exception, didn’t mind. His mind was always up to something far more exciting even if his body wasn’t so quick to react.

But Ishida Uryu, he knew minded about work being done and graded. He often remarked on Kisuke’s work and more often the lack there of, staying after class to ask. That was the only time other than answers Kisuke heard him speak. He couldn’t see why though, as Uryu had a very nice voice, even for a high schooler. It would have almost been described as monotonous to anyone else, say someone that didn’t grasp his lonely personality.

Lonely. Poor Uryu always seemed to be alone. Kisuke never saw him eat lunch with the other students or interact with people. No one ever seemed to hang around him and he never seemed to go looking for people to talk to.

“Will you have those quiz grades back tomorrow?” he asked, pushing his thin and streamlined glasses up his slender nose with the fingers of one hand as he stood before Kisuke after class. Kisuke shook his messy head, making it obvious that his mind had wandered off again and that he hadn’t been paying attention.

“I’m not sure,” he smiled lazily, wondering what the student was going to reply to that. Ishida should have known that he wasn’t going to give a straight answer. He was never sure that he would have everything graded by next class time, since he never took the time to deal with them.

He liked the teaching part of his job, just not the assigning grades part or the failing students, and especially the homework. His coworkers often called him lazy and unmotivated. Of course he was, just about work.

“You say that every day I ask you,” Uryu pointed out.

“And?” he smiled, leaning across his desk a little more.

“Do you ever grade anything?” he asked.

“Yes, but only when it suits me.”

“I see. Could you please at least try?” Kisuke knew Ishida wasn’t looking for an answer but rather results as he almost sauntered from the room. Kisuke’s eyes followed, trailing from his short black hair to the pristine white of his shirt to the pressed Khaki pants he donned as his shined black shoes clicked across the tile.

He sighed as he began to pack up his briefcase to leave for his car behind the faculty suite. He was usually the last to leave after all the other teachers, not so long after the students. If he knew when the handicraft club was meeting he would probably go hang out.

Before Ishida Uryu entered his classes, Kisuke had never had interest in students. He had never looked at them as anything other than young minds to mold. He knew that he liked men as women were just too difficult to maintain a relationship with.

He based that on an ended relationship with Shihouin Yoruichi, one of his best friends and former girlfriend. The relationship had just never worked as anything but friends.

She tried to set him up sometimes, with different men that she was friends with. He always appreciated the gesture on her part, since she didn’t have to try to do that. But the dates always ended the same with a one night stand and no phone call to follow up. If the school found out his relations then there would probably be a bit of trouble. He had never worried about it until now, since he had never noticed students before.

His sandals clicked down the hall, Kisuke never wanting to conform like the others. He often carried a cane, not for discipline or old age, but simply because he liked it, just like the soft green pants and robes he donned on weekends. He figured his appearance merely added to Ishida’s attitude.

He couldn’t stop another lazy smile from creeping across his face as he began to loosen the tie on his suit, the silken material feeling as if it were going to suffocate him. He liked the free feeling of his clothing. Saturday he could enjoy walking around in whatever he pleased, even his skin if he wished.

“Urahara-san, could I have a word please?” another professor asked as he stepped out into the hall. He recognized the man as Kuchiki Byakuya, a stern and almost android literature teacher.

“Yes, what is it?” They hardly ever exchanged words.

“I was going to inquire about one of your students,” he said hardly blinking his gunmetal colored eyes.

“Sure go ahead,” Kisuke nodded. He would have crossed his arms had he not been holding the all important briefcase.

“An Ishida Uryu.”

“Yeah, he just left.”

“I hardly ever experience concern for any student outside of the normal boundary but it would seem that his personal life is beginning to show through in his work. I was curious to know if it was showing up in his work in your class or not.” Kisuke was a little surprised.

“No, I haven’t seen anything,” he said. He really wanted to know more. What kind of home life did he lead then?

“Oh? Hm well alright.”

“What was it that tipped you off?”

“A few things. He missed my class a few times; he hasn’t turned in all of his work, and then the excuse he gave me for the absences about a family incident.”

“Oh, I see. Maybe someone should talk to him about it.” He began thinking that he could do it.

“I tried but he simply blew me off. I couldn’t get a clear answer out of him.”

“Hmm. Tomorrow I will try speaking with him then,” Kisuke resolved. He figured it couldn’t hurt of course. He knew that Uryu would stay after class anyway for grades or something. He and Byakuya parted ways before he headed out toward his car and back to his lonely life.

X

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