Title: Cheating
Word Count: 300.
Rating: K
Details: Ichigo-centric. Written for Wk9 Prompt "Guess" for bleachcontest
Summary: Our heroes get a helping hand.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Please let me play in this sandbox.

Ichigo could not remember having sand kicked in his eyes, but it probably felt like what he was experiencing. Ishida was suffering similarly; his head was tilted back as he forced in the recommended dosage of eye-drops. Ichigo would have borrowed them, but the enforced hush in the classroom stopped him - hollows had nothing on Sensei's wrath.

Ichigo closed both eyes, knowing he couldn't take long, otherwise Sensei would think he was sleeping. Also, he couldn't rest his eyes for longer and still hope to pass the term tests.

Chad, Orihime, Ishida and himself may have pulled all-nighters to catch up, but it was still unfair. If the world worked the way it should have, then him putting his life on hold in order to save everyone should mean, at the very least, that he could do the tests later.

And yet, here he was, guessing answers for the first time, ever. Getting answers wrong didn't bother him; in the past he could always say that he had given it his best, and that his best was all that could be asked for. Zen reasoning wouldn't work this time.

He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and looked blankly at another question that refused to make sense.

'Oi you lot! If you can hear me, pretend you can't!'

Ichigo jumped at the sound of Renji's voice breaking the silence of the classroom. He looked up to see that cocky bastard standing behind Sensei. He was about to yell at Renji for being an idiot, when he realised that Sensei had not reacted to his presence at all.

'You lot have had a bitch of a year. We know that. So, here's a token of our appreciation.'

Renji grinned, and leant over Sensei's shoulder. 'Questions One's answer is -'