Kido and How It Works (Yuzuru/Hiroe)

It was early morning in the Shin'o Academy and by all merits the school grounds were almost completely abandoned save for the teachers arriving to prepare for their day and a few staff members who were in charge of non-academic endeavors arriving to prepare for a long day's work. Inside of the library, almost completely on his own, save for the librarian, and maybe a few students, Yuzuru Satoshi sat at a long desk staring down at a book full of what he could only attest could be considered gibberish. Gibberish to him maybe, but to those that would pass by they would see him scowling, and glaring at a book on the arts of kido. The few people that were present kept their distance, even the librarian seemed to know better than to step over, and ask if he could be of assistance out of fear that they would be lashed out at.

While they may have misjudged how Yuzuru would have reacted to their approach, he was very clearly in a funk, and was quite actually concerned about his lack of understanding on the subject matter before him. Letting out a defeated sigh, Yuzuru would crumple up another note book page of notes, and toss it to the side. This marked the sixth page of waste paper and with the early morning seemingly disappearing and the approach of classes rapidly nearing, he didn't know how much more he could do at that moment.

"Maybe I should wake up earlier....I wonder if this place opens any earlier than this?"

As Yuzuru said this he looked over in the direction of the librarian, who jumped as he had been caught staring, and quickly began to panic place books on the shelves. Yuzuru ignored this sudden burst of activity as merely the librarian having a second wind to get everything organized before the day started and decided to ask his question later. Still, whether this place opened earlier, or not his struggle would not change. Kido was his Achilles heel and would continue to be so unless he got some free time to study more. However, due to him pulling double duty with his music studies to appease his parents to allow him to study here in the academy he didn't have much "free" time these days.

He nervously tapped the table absentmindedly with his hand placed near his pen, a melodic rhythm being formed almost entirely without a second thought, as he tried his best to continue to read the book in front of him.

"I don't want to take supplementary lessons, but it is looking like I won't have much of a choice. Might have to pick up some more shifts at the tavern to pay for a tutor."

He grumbled to himself lowly and almost unintelligibly to those around him who just chalked it up to him being a grouch if they were a male student and to him being mysterious if they were a female student. Such was the duality of Yuzuru's existence in the academy.

He brought his hand to his face, a groan escaping his lips as he leaned back in chair in a mixture of defeat and agony. Kido was indeed a cruel mistress and it was very clearly taking him to task in ways that none of his other studies had did before, he had thought that eventually he would have been able to solve the complexities of it using his normal methods, but it was now clear that there would be no quick defeat. Removing the hand from his face he heard the sound of a chair moving next to him and instinctively cast his gaze over at the young lady that was now going to sit down right next to him. Internally he began to panic, he had defused rumors about him and another girl meeting as being a lovers tryst only just recently, and now another lady was sitting right next to him. His eyes darted around the room, jealousy was clearly coming at him from all directions, and he quickly was about to try to push her away with a glare when she began to speak.

There were a few tense moments of silence as Yuzuru tried to wrap his mind around things and attempt to calm himself down, nothing was ever easy, and he was finding it really hard to focus with someone like her next to him.

"Uh...yeah..."

He said solemnly as he glanced back at his discarded papers and current paper that had a mixture of some diagrams for kido on it and a little bit of sheet music that he had almost doodled in subconsciously to keep himself calm. Right now, he was struggling with remaining calm, and then nervously began to tap his fingers once again on the table with his left hand. Some might view this as a sign of agitation, but to Yuzuru this was merely him trying to calm his nerves. He had to speak properly and try his best to convey his words without coming off as rude or brash, but around people, especially women, he tended to not be able to do so. It didn't help that this young lady had approached him so boldly either. He began to wonder just how many bold women in Soul Society there were and if it would be good for his social anxieties to have so many of them approach him.

"I'm Yuzuru...Satoshi..."

He slowed his words down to try and control his tone, not wanting to offend, or put off the woman who seemed to have taken an interest in his struggle. She also seemed to share his plight, which was astonishing, and made him feel a bit more relaxed than he had felt a moment ago. Just simply knowing that there was one other person who seemed to struggle in the same type of thing as him really helped his mental state. Perhaps he wouldn't need those supplementary lessons after all! Well, he probably still needed those lessons more than likely, but it was the thought of maybe not having to pick up more shifts and spend more time studying that made him feel relieved.

On the outside while all of the mental imagery and relief washed over him, he would stare blankly, and solemnly toward the librarian who quickly glanced over to see the stern face of Yuzuru glaring at him emptily. He dropped a few books and then quickly went to pick them up before making himself scarce.

"I just can't figure out the nuances of these spells..."

He uttered as he glanced over toward Hiroe, continuing to tap away with his fingers on the table in frustration.

"Do you always try to start up conversations with random strangers, Miss....?"

He realized he had no idea who this woman was at that very moment and began to wonder just who she was, not just anyone would walk up to him unless they knew him, or maybe, much like the girl from a few nights ago, maybe she wanted to inquire about him. Women were quite strange he was beginning to realize.

He had piqued her curiosity? Well he supposed he did stand out like a sore thumb in this particular place in terms of his appearance and with his social ineptness. It wasn't like he wanted to stand out, but with those two things combined together, and the general nature of the students to gossip about him it was extremely hard to not to have some form of justifiable mystique about him. While the truth of why he was the way he was could be easily less appealing then some of the rumors being spread, at least with the rumors being spread people tended to keep their distance, and allow him not to make a fool of himself. Well, that had been the case until only recently as now it seemed that those rumors were merely stirring up a large amount of interest, and causing people to want to approach him and in the process making him have to struggle to hold a conversation.

His lack of social graces and his lack of talent when it came to talking to women aside, Yuzuru at least believed he was making some progress in terms of speaking with others, but he still struggled in keeping his tone from being too rough. Still, it didn't seem to run Miss Miyashiro away, or the girl from a few nights ago. He supposed they were anomalies or perhaps it showed that they were just built different in terms of understanding or perhaps the lack of understanding. He continued to nervously tap a melody with his fingers on the table, and looked Miss Miyashiro dead in the eyes, a hard feat as he had to crane his head down a bit to look at her.

"I assure you, I'm no charmer, Miss Miyashiro...I struggle with wordplay and lack the social graces of people who have had constant conversations with their peers. As for envy..."

He looked over at a particular group of male students who were glaring over in his direction, already whispering, and forming new rumors about him. He wondered if it was some vain attempt to make him seem like a lady killer and to put themselves in the women of the academy's good graces. It was silly. He was no lady killer and more over he found the proposition of seeking openly women in such a manner to be quite barbaric. Romance and love were things that should be shared between two people who want those things and should never be fabricated for quick physical pleasure, at least that is what he thought of the subject at the least. Though his only interactions with those subjects were through writing music and studying the music of others.

" I doubt they would be so envious if they saw my scores on the kido practical exams....I would sell my guitar pick to gain the knowledge to pass one of those exams."

He grumbled to her as he looked back to her, his hand finally stopping its nervous tapping, and his eyes becoming as soft as they possibly could. It was not too much as his face wouldn't allow himself to appear as concerned as he actually was for her reputation.

"Talking to me might have them develop rumors about you as well, Miss Miyashiro... you do realize that, right?"

He said, with his natural gruff tone which came off a bit aggressive at times.

Yuzuru, who was no the best person in the world when dealing with any sort of interaction, found his jaw dropping, and his face turning a bright red. There were not many times that Yuzuru had found himself embarrassed to a level or capacity that the tough guy facade of his face breaking if only for a moment. She locked her fingers around his, claiming to be his girlfriend, and to let the rumors swirl for all she cared. His mind went blank, almost as if he had shutdown like some kind of computer, and for a second he sat there red faced and mouth agape.The students who were in attendance also were dead silent, no amount of rumors could be spread if he was truly dating this girl, and there was nothing that they could do to slander him now.

Finally, his brain would come back online, and he would quickly jump up. He would stare down at her, face still red, but eyes almost bulging out of his head, a look that almost denoted rage, but for Yuzuru the face merely meant absolute shock.

"You're...you...but...how...umm..."

Yuzuru stumbled over words as people once again began to speak, this time about the way he was staring at Hiroe, and making such a scene about a public sign of affection. He glanced around at them, much like he had been staring at her, and the people quickly went about their business not wanting to get any of what they thought was rage directed at them. He glanced back at Hiroe, putting one hand behind his head, and looking down at her in an utter state of confusion. His mind was chaos and his words were jumbled up in a way that they had never before been in, he had never been so embarrassed, or in such a state of loss of words. Finally he managed to right his mental state and cleared his throat, sitting back down, and adjusting his papers on the table and looking at his other hand where he had snapped his pencil only a moment prior without his noticing.

"Why would you do something like that? Now people are going to be talking about how I lost it at you in the library and I'm going to have to fix another misunderstanding..."

He reached into his bag nearby and pulled out another pencil, already mentally trying to figure out how to damage control this particular issue.

There comes a time in every man's life when the struggles of dealing with the opposite sex quickly send them into a tail spin, that they feel like they have been dropped on their head from a high height, and as of that moment Yuzuru was feeling that particular way. He was being teased and he knew this now because of the little laughter she had slipped out earlier, but it still made him feel embarrassed in a way that he was not used to, and to be quite frankly he had no defense for. Years of isolation in a compound studying music at his parent's behest did not make him good at these types of situations, in fact the isolation had made this particular situation horrifying for him. He was about to say something when she spoke about how this had happened with other girls as if he was two timing her in some capacity.

His mind boiled and his facial expression ranged from defeat, confusion, and sorrow in rapid succession, none the less he was losing this war of words with Hiroe, and there wasn't much he could do about it. He couldn't possibly win against someone as nuanced in the ways of dealing with people as her and to even attempt to was now absolutely embarrassing him in a public setting. Which made this twice in the span of a few days that he had to deal with this type of thing.

"If...if we...if we were dating..."

His voice came out a disgruntled whisper and he could almost audibly hear people trying to pick up what he was saying to Hiroe at that moment. They wanted the juicy story just as much as some kind of tabloid journalist did and he realized he would have to pick his words wisely to avoid some kind of fallout.

"If we were dating I would never dare cause any misunderstandings with any other girl!"

He blurted out, face almost completely beat red, as he went to grab his bag, and push all of his books and papers inside of it. He had blown a fuse and the sound of a few squeals from a few girls around the room sensing perhaps the romantic side of Yuzuru and wanting to propose a date seemed to ring out as he tried to gather his things in a hurry. He supposed he would have to find another spot to study his kido as the thought of having to be emotionally toyed with was not something he felt very good about, especially with people from the academy watching. People who could spread hateful things about him or make him out to be a bad guy when all he desperately wanted was to fit in and be a part of the group. Not that a guy with lack of social skills could ever do that, but he longed for it so much that it was insane.