Chapter 19: Friends

Ichigo kept checking his phone as he slowly led several of his co-workers to his apartment. Did she make it in time? he thought to himself.

"Walker-sensei, can you walk a little faster? I have to go home soon," someone called out from behind him.

A nervous chuckle came from Ichigo as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Ha ha ha, yes, I'm sorry." He increased his speed by a notch as they turned the last corner that would lead to either his doom or his paradise (if Angel got everything out then the stupid rumor would finally die!)

Ichigo gulped when they came in front of his apartment. "Um, here it is," he told them.

"Well let's get this over with," a second person informed him.

Ichigo nodded as he slowly made his way towards where the stairs were located.

"Ichigo, which floor do you live in?" Andrew suddenly asked, stopping several feet away from the staircase. And since he and Zander were standing in the front, everyone else stopped behind them.

Ichigo turned around and frowned. "Um, second floor…?"

Andrew sighed as he pulled his glasses off and started to wipe the lenses with a beautifully embroidered handkerchief. "I'm really not wearing the right shoes to walk up the stairs."

Ichigo was silent as he continued to frown at his friend.

"Want to take the elevator then?" Xander asked.

This time Ichigo's confused expression was directed to his bigger friend.

Andrew shook his head. "It would seem pointless to ride the elevator for merely one floor, but," he sighed as he looked down at his shoes, "I really don't want to ruin these shoes."

"Umm, excuse me Fernandez-sensei, but should we really be discussing this here?" someone asked from behind them.

"They look really expensive. Are they new?" Zander asked.

"Are you two ignoring me?!" the same person shouted.

"Why yes they are! Thanks for noticing Zander," Andrew nodded his head in appreciation, continuing to ignore the teacher who tried to interrupt their conversation.

Zander nodded back before looking at the stairs. "I really don't feel like walking either. I was forced to participate in a relay this afternoon because a student was absent in one my classes."

"Then maybe we should take the elevator," Andrew inquired.

Zander shook his head. "I'm too big so we won't all fit in."

"Ano, excuse me?"

The two turned their head to see Kyla standing before them. "Yes?" they asked together.

"Um," the brunette frowned, "Is this really necessary? We should really go up to I Walker-kun's apartment and check things out."

"We know that, and at the moment we're discussing the best method of going there," Andrew informed her.

Zander nodded in agreement. "So this is necessary."

Kyla pouted. "But it's taking too long."

"You should never rush someone when they are making an important decision," Andrew crossed his arms in front of him and smirked, "You'll only end up losing the war a lot faster."

Her expression quickly brightened. "Ah, I see!" Andrew nodded in excitement.

"What the hell are you guys blabbering about?!"

The three all looked down to see an angry Hitsugaya glaring at them.

"I'm sorry about your shoes but I really want to get this over with. I have important business to take care of," he snapped at them as he pushed passed the three and stood in front of Ichigo. "Hurry up and lead the way," he ordered.

"Um sure," Ichigo looked at Zander and Zander skeptically before smirking at his shorter friend. "Do you want to take the stairs or the elevator?"

"Ichigo!"

"Fine fine fine," Ichigo raised his arms in defeat as he turned around and went to the stairs. The others quickly followed.

As Andrew passed by Noe, he smirked. "If my shoes get ruined from the walk, then you owe me a new pair."

"Fuck off Andrew," Noel growled as he pushed passed him again.

Ichigo sighed, not sure if his friends were really stupid—and Andrew really gay—or was helping him out. If it was the latter, then that meant they already knew about their situation…

Which wasn't surprising since Andrew was the one who gave Ichigo all those warning about having a relationship with a student. Man, looks like those two bastards really knows something, Ichigo grunted at the thought.

They finally reached the second floor and made their way down to Ichigo's apartment. The orange head stopped abruptly in front of his door when his phone suddenly rang. He quickly flipped it open and read the message on the screen.

We're good.

Ichigo smirked as he quickly pulled out his key and opened the door. "Here we go," he announced as he stepped aside for the others to go through. Andrew and Zander walked by him first, both giving him a skeptic look, before being followed in by the others. Ichigo followed after them and closed the door. "So, is there anything specific you need to check out?"

Several people looked around the kitchen and some were checking out the items in the living room.

"Ano, where's your room, Walker-kun?" Kyla asked.

"Oh, it's this way," Ichigo led the way before opening one of the doors. "This is mine and the other one—" he pointed to the closed door across the hall from his, "—is the guest room."

Somebody quickly entered the guest room and looked around while Kyla entered Ichigo's room along with Andrew, Zander and Noel.

"Hmm," Zander looked around, "Nothing seems suspicious."

"I agree," Noel nodded, obviously not interested in rummaging through someone else's room.

Kyla just giggled as a blush appeared on her cheeks. "Still, I can't believe I'm actually in Walker-kun's bedroom. This is the first time."

Ichigo just smiled awkwardly at her.

"Ahem, Walker-sensei."

Ichigo turned around to confront a greasy looking man with a balding head looking at him through a pair of thick, bug-eye like glasses. "Yes, Jones-sensei?"

"What is this?" he lightly coughed as he held up a pair of Chappy underwear between his fat fingers. The other teachers quickly looked over and gasped. They huddled together and started whispering among themselves.

Already prepared, Ichigo groaned as if annoyed. "Sensei, I know it's your job to search for anything suspicious, but I would really appreciate it if you didn't go through my sister's stuff."

"Sister?" they all questioned in unison as they looked at him.

Ichigo nodded. "I have two sisters—twins—and they like to visit me once in a while. They use the guest room when they're over here. Maybe somebody mistook them as a student or a teacher from our school when they were visiting."

The other staff members looked at each other before frowning.

"A-are you serious?"

Ichigo nodded.

Noel sighed as he quickly exited Ichigo's room. "This whole trip was pointless. Why couldn't you have just informed us of your sisters beforehand?" he glared.

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "Because I knew none of you guys would have believed me until you checked it out for yourselves. So I was just patient. And I should be the one who's pissed off, not you," he quickly glared back.

"Whatever," Noel shrugged as he continued to the front door, "If there's nothing else to check then I'd rather get going now. There's no need to stay here any longer." He was quickly greeted with agreements as others quickly followed him.

"Jones-sensei?" Ichigo called out.

"Yes?" the said teacher turned around to see Ichigo's outstretched hand in front of him.

Ichigo smirked. "I would appreciate it if you would give me back my sister's underwear."

Everyone who heard him quickly looked down to see the said panties stuffed inside the wrinkled pants pocket of the older teacher who was now laughing nervously. "Ah ha, sorry. Old habit," he kept laughing as he handed Ichigo the underwear.

Ichigo only smiled back, more in relief that they were leaving, as one by one his co-workers disappeared through the open door.

Noel, who was holding the door opened, was about to leave when he looked back inside. "Are you guys coming?" he asked Andrew and Zander who were still inside the apartment.

"Just go on without us," Andrew replied, "I needed to talk to Ichigo about something anyways."

The shorter teacher just shrugged his shoulders as he closed the door. Kyla, who was standing next to him, waved at the three men just before the door shut.

As soon as they were gone, Ichigo let out a long sigh of relief. "Thank god that's over."

"Good thing you were able to make up that 'sister' thing quickly," Andrew sighed as he pushed his glasses up.

Ichigo just stared at him before shaking his head. "I don't know what you're talking about." His two friends just stared back at him and Ichigo glared off to the side. It was likely those two already figured him out, but it was best to keep it low just in case.

"We should get going," Zander suddenly suggested.

"Yes, I agree," Andrew nodded as they walked over to their shoes. They quickly slipped it on and opened the door. "Oh and Ichigo," he stopped midway and looked back, "You still owe me."

"Hmm?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow but couldn't say anything else as his two friends quickly left his apartment. "What the fuck was that?" he muttered to himself before pulling out his cell phone. He quickly dialed a number and waited for the other end to pick it up.

"Hello?" she answered.

"They're gone," Ichigo said before he heard the call getting cut off. He stared at his phone for a few seconds before glaring. "You could've said 'bye.'" In less than a minute he turned around when he heard the front door being opened abruptly. "Oi," he greeted Angel who was standing in the threshold with several stuffed bags behind her.

"Are they really gone?" Angel breathlessly asked, obviously having ran up the stairs once she got the call.

"Yeah," he smiled as he walked over to help her carry in her stuff, "Where were you hiding?"

Angel groaned as she stepped inside. "I was just outside the building, hiding in the bushes that are by the front door."

Ichigo smirked. "Man, so we almost got caught, huh?"

"Yeah, it would have been problematic if Fernandez-sensei and Ramos-sensei hadn't stalled them," Angel let out an exasperated sigh.

Ichigo paused when he looked over. "Wait a second, you heard all that?"

Angel nodded her head. "I was coming down the stairs when I heard Fernandez-sensei talking about his new shoes."

"Man, we were really close," Ichigo scratched his head. "Guess I really do owe those guys something now."

Angel smiled as she quickly opened one of the garbage bags to pull out her shoes. "I wonder what might have happened if we weren't fast enough."

"Don't even bring that up," Ichigo expression turned sour at the thought as he pulled out some of her belongings including her school supplies and several pictures. "I was lucky to use my sisters as an excuse again for some of your stuffs here, but we should still try and be careful. Oh, that reminds me…" he paused to pull something out of his pocket and handed it over to Angel. "Here. Jones-sensei tried to take it."

Angel glared at the offending item he was holding. "Burn it," she growled.

Ichigo smirked as he quickly threw it into the nearest trash bin. "Good thing it wasn't one of my favorite ones."

Angel only rolled her eyes as she continued organizing her stuff. "Why am I surrounded by so many idiots," she groaned as stood up to put away some of her Chappy plates.

Ichigo chuckled as he stood up to follow her to put away some of her girly magazine. "But your life would be boring without me hanging around."

"Please, you're the source of all my problems," she groaned as she tried to go back to the living room when suddenly Ichigo wrapped an arm around her waist and stopped her. "What?"

Ichigo smirked as he pulled her closer to him. "But would you have wanted things to go differently?"

Angel glared at him before looking away. She mumbled some incoherent words to the side, barely above a whisper.

"What?" he asked as he used his other hand to pull her chin towards him.

"I said 'you're an idiot,'" she muttered, "You're an idiot if you don't already know the answer to that question."

The smirk just widened. "I knew you'd be helpless without me."

"Shut up."

Ichigo leaned down and placed his lips over Angel's dainty ones, smiling through the kiss as he caressed her sides. A small moan came from the back of her throat as Ichigo tilted his head to the side to deepen it and—

"Oi, we forgot—"

A total of four people froze in everything that they were doing at the sudden unexpected situation that just came in front of them.

Ichigo and Angel pulled away to stare out the door where Andrew and Zanderwere staring at them with wide eyes.

"B-Bu-Bush—" Andrew stuttered as he kept staring at the two people who were still wrapped around each other. It took a good few seconds before he could regain his sanity. "WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Ichigo quickly pulled Angel behind him as tried to reason with his friends. "G-guys, i-it's not what you, um what you might think it is—"

"Oh, I think it's obvious what this is," Andrew spat back.

"Well you see—"

"Ichigo, we pretty much saw everything," Zander interrupted.

Ichigo looked between the red-faced Andrew and the slightly calmer Zander back and forth several times before dropping his head in defeat. "Fine, you won."

Andrew and Zander quickly stepped into the apartment and looked around the living room. Several bags, which weren't there several minutes ago, were opened with several feminine items spewed throughout the apartment.

"Walker," Andrew growled as he glared at his friend.

Ichigo sighed as he turned back to Angel. "Hey, can you step outside for a moment?"

"Huh?" she looked up at him like he was crazy, "Why?"

"Just for a few minutes," he smiled reassuringly, "Why don't you go to Mark's and buy some of the stuff we were planning on buying today? I'll come get you once I have this all cleaned up."

Angel was about to retort when she heard coughing from Andrew. She looked at Ichigo before pouting. "Okay," she quietly muttered. She turned to bow to her other teachers before quickly running past them and going outside.

Once the front door closed shut the screaming began.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Andrew yelled again.

"SHUT UP!" Ichigo yelled back, "You're annoying me with that high-pitched voice of yours."

"I don't think now is the time to be talking about shit like that, Ichigo," Andrew snarled, "Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"

Ichigo stared at his friend before scratching his head. "I thought you figured it out."

Andrew sighed, trying to control his breathing. "Yes, I knew about it but I—for god's sake Ichigo, Bushū?!" he stared at his friend in utter disbelief.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You're making it sound like I fucked the princess or something."

"No but damn close to one!" Andrew shouted. "What happens when someone checks the student information and finds that your address is the same as Bushū's?"

"You don't have to worry about that," Ichigo said, "Angel's address is written under the landlady's address."

"Lucy-san's?" Zander asked.

Ichigo nodded. "She already knows of our situation. Heck, she and Mark were the ones who actually pushed for our relationship even though they already knew she's my student."

"Wait a second, those two perverts actually played a part in this?" Andrew eyebrows furrowed in complete rage, "Do they not know what this would imply if the authorities find out about this?!"

"That's why I need you guys to keep quiet about this," Ichigo said.

"How can I possibly stay quiet about this?!" Andrew shouted.

"Calm down," Zander said, "Let's not talk about that now. What's more important is what we're going to do from here on out."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Since when did Zander talk this much? "Look, this is really serious so I would appreciate it if you guys can keep this to yourselves. Only until she graduates."

A different colored brow went up. "'Serious'? Just how serious are you about this relationship of yours?" Andrew asked skeptically. "For all I know you might be screwing her just for fun and that girl could be trying to get good grades from you—" his words got abruptly cut off when Ichigo grabbed his front collar and fiercely pulled him forward to come face-to-face with an angry orange head.

"Don't talk shit like that about Angel," Ichigo threatened through his gritted teeth.

Andrew just stared at the rage shooting out from his friend's eyes. "Or what?" he asked, trying Ichigo's patients.

Ichigo brought up his other fist, ready to collide it against Andrew's nose when Zander quickly came forward and grabbed his wrist. "Ichigo, stop," the giant ordered.

Ichigo stood in that position for a while, his muscles still tense before slowly calming himself down. He released his grip on Android's shit. "Sorry," he quietly muttered.

"Whatever," Andrew rolled his eyes as he straightened out his clothes, "I'm already used to your pathetic threats so it doesn't bother me."

Ichigo remained quiet before he looked over to the front door that Angel went through only a few minutes ago. "I'm serious," he suddenly said.

Andrew frowned at him before realizing what Ichigo was implying.

"How much?" Zander asked this time.

A smile appeared on Ichigo's face as he looked at his two friends in all seriousness. "I want a future with her."

Andrew and Zander looked at Ichigo with disbelief. After a few seconds, Andrew pushed up his glasses and smirked. "Looks like Walker Ichigo has finally given his heart to someone."

Ichigo smirked. "Yeah, I think I did."

The three friends looked at each other as the apartment got filled with their happy and amused laughter. They never noticed the shadow of a fourth person standing outside that had been listening to everything that they were saying through the small opening of the window.

Kyla Reyes tightly gripped her mouth shut to stop her screams as tears started pouring out of her eyes. The laughter from inside almost felt like it was mocking her.