Understanding II: School Daze
~Nervous Lunches~

Toshiro looked up at the board while he leaned on his right hand, his yes glazed over as the teacher continued the lesson. He didn't bother taking notes as he already knew the material and it was frustrating to have to listen to the teacher drone on about things he already knew. The depression he had been feeling since Momo had disowned him came back full force. He finally decided to distract his mind with random thoughts.

"So...what is up with those girls?"

"What do you mean?"

"Their behavior was weird. It was really weird, them coming up like they did."

"Boy... are you bored..."

"Well... girls are confusing creatures."

"Girl's aren't creatures."

"Aren't I a creature?"

"Where did that come from. Wait... you really are bored."

"Well... don't people think of me as a monster?"

"You really are bored out of your mind. Does this mean that you think that girls are monsters now?"

"Yes."

"What about Hollows?"

"They're worse then Hollows." Toshiro noticed that Hyorinmaru went silent. After a few minutes he spoke up again. "Why did you stop talking to me?"

"You're just trying to have any random conversation with me that you can to satisfy your boredom."

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's annoying."

"Fine. Back to what those were doing. Do you know why they were giving me cookies?" Hyorinmaru sighed and there was silence. Toshiro inwardly frowned. "Hyorinmaru... why did you sigh."

"I'm not sure if I should tell you." There was more silence as the dragon ignored him. Toshiro was finally at the point he wanted to ask a question, only to find himself stopped by the bell ringing for lunch. Toshiro watched as the teacher stepped out of the room for a brief moment. The boy then reached into his bag to pull out his bento, only to sense someone coming up to him.

Looking up he saw Nabara with her hands behind her back. "Would you like to eat lunch with my friends and me."

Toshiro frowned as he looked at the girl. "I really don't think she wants to be my friend, but I honestly don't think I'm one to tell these things. It would be impolite to say no, but I really don't want to say yes either." His eyes darted over to Karin and Yuzu, hoping that one of them would rescue him. He instead grabbed his bento from the bag. "Excuse me..."

It was then that one of Karin's friend's spoke up to his surprise. "Hey! Is that one of Yuzu's bentos?"

Toshiro blinked a couple of times. "I... " He blinked a couple of times as the four boy's pulled their desks over to his. Karin thankfully pulled her desk over as well. Nabara's face twisted up as if she had been slapped in the face. Toshiro found himself blinking a couple of times, as his muscles tensed up.

"I asked first." Nabara pouted.

One of the boy's blinked a couple of times. "You got asked to eat with Nabara and her friends. How lucky."

"How so?" Toshiro's comment caused the girl's jaw to drop.

The boy who had spoken up stared at him, then spoke up again. "Don't you get it. Nabara has a crush on you."

"What exactly... is a crush?" Toshiro's bright teal eyes blinked a couple of times, a frown spreading on his face in confusion. He watched as everyone stared at him while Nabara's cheeks turned red." What?"

The blond haired kind frowned, finally choosing to speak up. "It means that she has an interest in you romantically."

"Ro..." The small taicho found himself blinking a couple of times, his face paling. Nabar's cheeks turned even redder. Looking at the girl as his cheeks regained color, he set his bento down. He then bowed towards the girl. "I apologize, but if this is true I can no reciprocate your feelings." Lifting his head, he noticed that the girl had tears in her eyes. He watched as she stormed off. Turning to Karin, his tone faltering a bit due to how uncomfortable he was with the situation. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No... you didn't. The reason she wanted you to sit with her is because she wants you to be her boyfriend."

Toshiro felt his jaw drop. "Why the hell didn't she tell me this sooner?" His body tensed up more. "Then this morning..."

"Was related to the fact that she wants you to be her girlfriend."

"Should I have..." Toshiro closed his eyes. "I'm not hungry."

He pushed his bento away and Karin's friends tried to dive for it, only for Karin to push it back.

"You didn't eat this morning Toshiro. Try to eat." Reluctantly he started to eat.

One of the other boys... to be exact, the same one that mentioned the bento and the fact Nabara had a crush on him spoke up. "I don't see a problem with dating her."

Karin pointed her chopsticks at her friend. "Idiot. She's just a pretty face. Any boyfriend she would get she would try to use and once she was done using them she'd dump them. I've told you this."

"Yeah, well what would you know. Even if it were true it would be all right if I got to have sex with her."

Toshiro's face suddenly paled and he chocked on his food. He opened his mouth to say something. "You mean..."

"Don't say what I think you're going to say." The dark haired female shook her head. "Look... Toshiro isn't a pervert like you guys are, so refrain from making perverted comments around him."

"Why? Just because you think it is wrong for guys to look at porn magazines doesn't mean that we can't! It's part of being male and you know it! All guys are into that stuff."

Toshiro's face paled even more. He found himself lowering his head to the desk. Again Karin's friends tried reaching for the bento, only to have Karin place the lid on it. "No... he's saving that for later. Toshiro was raised by his grandmother and he's not had a lot of social interaction with kids his age. So be nice."

"Really?" The blond leaned back in his chair. "Then we'll have to introduce him into what it means to be a man."

"Don't you dare!"

"Dear god, what have I gotten myself into."

"Hell hath frozen over."

"That so isn't funny!"

"I wasn't trying to be funny. It felt like the apt expression to describe the situation. However, if you want me to joke, then perhaps you should ask your taicho to thaw things out."

"Not him of all people!"