Not-so-long-author-note: Hey! This is the seventh chapter of It Takes Two to Make a Heart! I'll say more in the author note below, SO PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR NOTE BELOW.

This is rated T for mild language.

Warning: Possible spoilers

It Takes Two to Make a Heart – The Dead is my Music Teacher Assistant

As the secretary shut the door with an apologetic look, leaving Rukia in the room with the other three boys, she took in her surroundings, trying to ignore her new companions for the time being.

It was a lavish room, as expected of the prestigious and wealthy school, with purple velvet flooring, four king-size beds with a generous amount of high-quality feather pillows and thick blue blankets. The bed frames were made of dark mahogany wood, and were equipped with a clip-on lamp and an alarm button for emergencies. Next to each bed was a large mahogany bedside table with drawers and a silver lamp.

Rukia turned around, noticing how light and airy the room seemed to feel because of the large and spacious windows, and the lack of furniture. …Lack of furniture?

She studied the white walls closely, and realized it was true. Whether it was to save space and expenses, or because the design was more modern and pleasing, there were shelves and drawers built into the walls next to each bed for clothes and other supplies. She could already see one set of shelves filled with some clothes.

The school had also granted to the left of her room a gleaming silver kitchen, complete with two microwaves, an oven, a stove, a freezer, a refrigerator, and more shelves and drawers that were designed as a part of the walls. There was a marble island counter with four stools and a complementary bowl of fresh exotic fruit.

She saw to the sides of her what she assumed to be brown closets for shoes and coats, and to the right of the massive room a short hallway, leading to what she assumed to be the bathroom.

Talk about living in comfort and style.

While she was still busy gaping at her new quarters, the trio of boys had stopped arguing long enough to approach her, weaving around the open baggage and strewn items and articles of clothing. Noticing them, Rukia turned around and barely suppressed a wince.

Ichigo approached in a plain white T-shirt that hugged his body and his school uniform pants, his shoes discarded in favor of walking with white socks, wearing his customary scowl. Hisagi's outfit was the same as the one he wore at the assembly, but his feet were now clad in simple open-toed black slippers. Hitsugaya had changed out of his robes into a short black polo T-shirt and long tan pants that ended right above his bare feet.

That's right; I have somebody who's apparently my fiancé, my Button vice-president who proposed to me, and Ichigo. All in the same room… Just great.

"I think we should calmly sort some things out first," began Rukia when the four of them stood in a loose circle.

"Isn't that obvious?" Ichigo grumbled, before she unceremoniously stubbed his big left toe with her school shoes.

"Ow!"

"Of course it is! Just be quiet for a moment!"

"You're the one who started it!"

"Toughen up and be a man, you! It shouldn't hurt much for a big guy like you, right?"

"Why you-!"

Toshiro sighed as the two squabbled for some more and Hisagi's gaze flickered uneasily between the arguing duo.

"Enough of this!" Toshiro eventually shouted, and both flinched in shock at his loud and deep voice and stopped.

"Enough," he growled, "Kuchiki's right, we should get some things settled here."

"What things, Captain Hitsugaya?" asked Hisagi, mindful of the little boy's proper title.

"The living arrangements, personal preferences for space, noise and time," Toshiro rattled off, before he was cut off by Rukia.

"Excuse me," she began awkwardly, unsure of how to address her fiancé, "but I'd like to deal with the things that happened at the assembly first… like our… engagement…" She cringed at the last word.

Toshiro studied her before he seemed to relent. "Seeing as you didn't seem to know anything, it's only fair."

"You knew already?"

"Mm, your brother approached me around two weeks ago, proposing a marriage between the two of us."

"Nii-sama did?" Rukia uttered in bewilderment. Sure, he had announced himself at the assembly that this had been arranged by his hand, but it seemed out-of-character for him to personally meet with Hitsugaya to do something like this.

Treading even more cautiously, Rukia questioned, "Did he say why? ...Or anything else?"

"I promised not to tell," Hitsugaya explained, "But I can tell you that the marriage itself will happen in three months."

As Rukia's face displayed new shock, Ichigo was sizing up the white-haired Captain. He was short even for his age, but he was obviously fit, evidenced by the slightly tanned and muscled forearms that were exposed and his trim waist shape. His white-hair seemed to defy gravity, leading him to believe the little Captain must have put gel in it. His aqua eyes were mature in an unsettling way, for they were on a face too youthful for them.

So this kid's her fiancé? Good match… in height…

"Are you okay with this?" Rukia asked, bringing Ichigo back to the situation before him. Closing his eyes, the Captain explained patiently, "You don't have to worry yourself about that. I'm fine with it, that's all there is to it."

Rukia frowned. "That doesn't seem to be fair," she argued, "You should have a say in this too."

Hitsugaya studied Rukia for a bit, then, to everyone's shock, smirked for the first time.

"You remind me of her," he said vaguely, "That innocent and naïve belief and sense of justice… But there's really no issue on my side, so don't worry." He continued to smirk in a fond manner and Rukia tentatively smiled back, surprised at how dashing he looked just from a small smile.

Sighing, Rukia decided to let that matter rest until she had a proper moment to discuss this with her brother, if that ever came up. Though he had his pride, she had the sneaking suspicion that he would avoid her right until the wedding just for that reason.

She then turned to Shuhei, who had turned noticeably red again with her attention on him.

"Um…" she began awkwardly, not quite sure how to deal with a marriage proposal from a guy she hadn't known for even an hour and happened to be the student body vice-president.

"I'm sorry for putting you on the spot," Shuhei apologized, scratching his cheek with his eyes diverted down in embarrassment. "I guess reading too many romantic novels just got to my head."

"That explains why your style of acting was like that," Ichigo frowned, "but that doesn't explain why you actually did it in the first place."

Rukia uttered a small hum of agreement, before questioning, "Why did you… p-propose to me, Hisagi-senpai?" for she reminded herself, he was her senior as a Button.

The dark-haired man seemed to stare off in space for a moment before he spoke. "Do you remember some of the Zippers introduced today?" Rukia nodded, recalling the eccentric group of former Captains that had literally dropped into the ceremony.

"Muguruma Kensei, the tall and muscular dude in combat boots, used to be a mentor of mine," he explained. "He always said I should give 100% and then some in whatever I did, as long as I believed in it. When I saw you, I-" And it was here he cut off, but the gist of his sentence reached the group and Rukia, who felt rather touched.

This guy, though one slightly confused Ichigo, thinks a proposal is 100% effort for… liking someone at first sight?

"Thank you for your feelings," Rukia replied, an unsaid "but" hanging in the air for a moment.

"But apparently... I'm already engaged, and… I don't know anything about you yet."

Hisagi quickly whipped his hands in a gesture of understanding. "No, no, I'm fine with that!" he assured her, "And… we can still be good friends, right?" He asked the last sentence in a tone of uncertainty, still feeling guilty for his rash action at the ceremony earlier today.

Rukia blinked at him with large eyes, before they lowered and her lips crept up into a small smile.

"Aa, I'd like that."

They smiled at each other too just as Rukia and Hitsugaya had done earlier, feeling like close friends already, before Rukia brought up a question that had been bugging her ever since she entered her dorm room.

"Hisagi-senpai is a Button, so why are you in a Stitch dorm? Secretary Nanao said all grade levels had buildings of their own."

"Ah, before you came into the ceremony, I had already been assigned to help Toshiro get used to school for his Captain duties. I guess I was also assigned to watch over you for Captain Kuchiki."

"And what is Class 3? I heard you mention at the ceremony that you were the vice-president of Class 3."

"Oh, that. We have the ranks of Pins, Stitches, Buttons, and Zippers, but when you talk about Classes, there's only 3 this year in this school. Class 1 is the Captains. Class 2 is the Zippers and other less-important faculty members and Class 3 just refers to all the Buttons, Stitches, and Pins or the student body. So me being the Class 3 vice-captain just means that I'm the vice-captain of the entire student body."

Rukia nodded her understanding, before she turned to Ichigo, who was scowling in impatience.

Studying him as closely as the other two boys before him, she debated on whether to ask him another burning question of hers.

I wonder… if he remembers me from eight years ago...

"Well this is certainly surprising," Kyoraku Shunsui drawled out.

"It's certainly suspicious," amended Kaname Tosen.

The Captains of the Karukara Institute of Boys were gathered in a room around a large projector screen. No one seemed to be ill at ease with speaking to one of the Captains that had left them to join Hueco Mundo Academy.

The room's walls were a dull light green and had brown wood flooring and several pieces of equipment, some of which included the projector screen, the projector itself, and several large computers that showed charts, data, or current and past security footage.

"Deliver your report, Kaname Tosen," commanded the Captain Commander, who was seated on a firm leather couch directly facing the screen. To the sides of him, the Captains sat on softer brown leather sofas, all watching the screen with rapt attention. The only Captains missing were Byakuya and the 11th and 13th Captains.

"Sir. As I said before-"

"No need to repeat that, I heard," grumbled the veteran Captain.

"Then what would you suggest as a next course of action?"

The Captains and Tosen were silent for some time.

For the first time today, Komamura spoke up.

"Aizen and Ichimaru do not suspect you?"

"On the contrary, they believed my suggestion to return to Karakura Institute would be beneficial for them, if I were to act as a spy."

"But they don't know," sneered Sui-Feng, "that you're the one acting as our spy."

"It seems to me though," piped up Unohana from her seat, "that the likes of Aizen Sosuke would not be that easily fooled by Captain Kaname Tosen, not to slight Captain Tosen."

"Even geniuses may have gaps in their reasoning… or not," quipped Mayuri unhelpfully.

Kyoraku added his clarifying question to the conversation. "Currently, the students don't know that you officially became a teacher here again last summer, but have switched out to allow another fellow from Hueco Mundo Academy to take your place as part of… the friendly staff and student exchange program, right? Of course, you will still stay for a while here to observe for Sosuke and Gin-kun, and said fellow will… well…

"I guess some of the students will find out today… in their first class."

"Argh, what's with this schedule!"

"Calm down, it's only like that because of the ceremony today. Normally, it's actually pretty easygoing," Hisagi assured Rukia.

Rukia adjusted the messenger bag slung across her left shoulder, conscious of the fact that everyone around her seemed to have designer-brand backpacks, some including Kipling-brand ones. That she didn't have expensive bags like everyone else didn't bother her one bit, but she didn't want to stand out any more than she had already had in the ceremony today.

Currently Hisagi, who had taken it upon himself to show her the ropes of the school as much as he could before first period started, was giving her a rushed tour which would end with her classroom.

"The school is big enough that incoming Pins are given a map so they can find their way around here, but it isn't that hard to get adjusted."

While he took her past the gymnasium, a building of Olympic quality and proportions complete with the latest physical equipment for nearly every sport or activity imaginable, Rukia thought back to her unfinished conversation.

"Well, let's get on with it," Ichigo scowled.

"Huh?"

"Don't give me that, you still have to apologize for the kick earlier!"

Now Rukia was scowling, and rather heavily towards the orange-haired man in front of her.

"For your information, you got what you deserved!"

"For what? For saying the truth? Face it, you are pretty small."

"Take that back!" she shouted, leaning in front of his face, unaware of the bemused looks of the other two males in the room.

Ichigo would have said more, but he managed to rein in his anger and annoyance in time to remember why he had wanted to talk to her in the first place.

Right, I need to ask if we had ever met before, which probably isn't likely anyways, he thought.

But before he could even open his mouth, a bell chimed in the dorm, out in the hallway, and presumably, throughout the whole school.

"What the-"

"That's the warning bell," Hisagi remarked, who quickly picked up a dark navy blue backpack filled with materials and strode over to the closet for his shoes.

"Wha-what...?" uttered Rukia, as she watched the boys hurriedly pick up their own backpacks.

"Don't panic," advised her fiancée as he located his own shoes. "There are only 2 classes today because of the ceremony. We normally have 4 classes in a day. But today's classes are almost twice as longer than usual."

"But I'm not sure what materials-"

"I'll get you a student kit for today, but it'd be better if you could get your own materials set up by tomorrow," her vice-president promised, who was now in the process of slipping on school shoes.

Rukia turned away from him momentarily and saw that Ichigo had already left and that Toshiro was about to step out now.

"Captain Hitsugaya," she called out, not sure what she wanted to say.

He turned back to her, and was silent for a moment, before he said, "Have a good first day, Kuchiki."

Then the door closed, leaving Rukia with an outstretched hand and the words "You too" on her lips.

"Right," Hisagi said as they neared a classroom marked with a silver plaque labeled "Music History – Hirako Shinji".

"This is your first class, if you've noticed on your schedule," he said as Rukia checked the white schedule form in her right hand. The teacher for this class was the former 5th Captain and is a current Zipper, and he's supposedly a pretty easy-going Captain, so you'll be in good hands."

Rukia nodded, and simply said, "Thank you."

Hisagi nodded in return, a faint blush still on his cheek.

"Right, off to class then."

The petite raven-haired girl watched his disappearing figure for a bit, before she turned open the gold knob of the mahogany wood door.

The sight that greeted her was a large spacious room with white walls and surprisingly ordinary vinyl chip flooring. Windows dotted the walls on all sides except the front, which was covered by a large blackboard and whiteboard, and the back, which held various music-related posters of instruments and famous musicians. Rukia fancied she could recognize some from her childhood lessons.

Then she noticed a sea of shocked male faces and a… bright orange blob?

Ah, she thought in dismay, Ichigo's in my class, huh? And from the look on said male's face, he didn't seem all that pleased either at the turn of the events.

Also to her dismay, she noticed that no other seat was available except the one to the right of Ichigo, so she resignedly made her way over there.

"And where do you think you're going, squirt?"

She froze in her tracks.

That voice…

"Good to see your cute reactions are the same as ever, Kuchiki."

How could this be?

The figure strode towards the front of the class from the doorway, and huffed as he set down books, folders and other miscellaneous items on the glass desk in front of him, which already supported a sleek black laptop and writing utensils.

He then proceeded to stand in front of the class, hands on his hips, and surveyed them with one sweeping look.

"Right then, Shinji's coming soon, so I'll introduce myself first."

How could this be?

Rukia, who could bear it no longer, whirled around on the spot and beheld a face she had almost forgotten about in the hullabaloo of the morning, one that she had thought she would never see again.

This was…

"Yo, Kuchiki! Guess I'm your music assistant teacher again!"

Impossible.

"K…Kaien…dono…"

Super-long-author-note: Hey guys, as usual, thanks so much for all the visitors and hits to my stories! While I'd love to hear from you guys by review or messaging, your interest in my fics has made me quite happy!

PLEASE READ THIS. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I'm again sorry for those who waited so long for this to be updated. Read on for my excuse/explanation, however you view it. Also, I also hope you'll excuse me for this, but I'm putting my other fic, When It's Rukia, on hiatus for the time being to focus on other fics. The condition I'm in now barely lets me put my attention to one fic.

For some of you, you may know that I have lung cancer, about early to mid-stage. After updating Ch. 4, I fell gravely ill and my heart stopped functioning for a while. So I was sent to the ER and later the ICU, and have recently been discharged from there. I'm recovering, but I'm sorry that you readers have to have such a sickly author and I hope I can pick this up later. The cancer has spread as of recently, hence the long wait because of tests and chemotherapy treatments and school, so now I also have stomach cancer. So to make this clear, When It's Rukia will be on hiatus. Don't worry though; I will focus on this fic and the occasional oneshot for now. Now, on for the actual story reflection.

Ahaha, poor Rukia somehow forgot about the apparently alive-but-supposed-to-be-dead Kaien with all the things going around her. This is going to get pretty serious, so if you wanted a light-hearted romance fic… (T.T) I'm sorry. I hope that the length of this makes up for the long wait, by the way.

Um, if you haven't gotten used to my writing style or haven't noticed, I like descriptions. It helps me to visualize and pretend I'm there. If any of my readers have read the Eragon series, I recommend you do so. The descriptions are so fantastic that I can "see" everything going on. Also, it helps for me remember details about places and people. So yeah, hence the dorm room description. What a lovely room…

Rukia pretty much is sorting things out between the three boys that will make life for her pretty hectic in this chapter and getting adjusted to this school. I think I will have trouble assigning the Captains subjects they could teach, but we'll see.

Plans for this fic… I don't think I'm confident in my strength or commitment to start my other plot bunnies yet until this is done. Sorry for being selfish. I just hope you guys enjoy this and go along with the ride. Thanks so much for the reviewers and readers of this fic, and my other fics! When I was recovering a while ago and after learning I now had stomach cancer, it lifted my spirits to see new ones and reread old ones! Sometimes I cried after being discharged from the ICU rereading some of the reviews wishing me good health and complimenting my story. Thank you also for alerts and favorites!

Remember, making an account doesn't take too long, and you're not forced to write stories. It makes it easier for me to express my thanks and thoughts with you if you do! Really? I only have sent out 6 (now 7) chapters and I already have over 30 reviews? Thank you all so much for helping me reach the 30-reviews milestone for the first time! It's all thanks to you wonderful guys!

To anon: Ehehe, I don't think so… Is it? I hope it's not true. (T.T) Um, no. Actually, I think I'll end the contest and give ShadowSword524 the prize since he was pretty detailed about his guess, though it was wrong. Thanks for trying though!

The rest of the reviewers logged in, so I have replied to you all as soon as possible through review reply. Thanks so much all of you, anonymous or not!

PS: ShadowSword524, I recently posted another chapter to my oneshot fic collection on my profile. It's titled Carnival Proposal Part 2. I dedicate that to you. Sorry for the long wait!