New story! (obviously.) Just started it, so let me know if you like it so far. Any ideas and or criticisms are welcomed. If you guys like it, I'll write more and update soon. Thanks again!

Health class. The favorite class of the pervert, the immature, and the average hormone raging teenager alike. But not for Ichigo. For Ichigo, health class was just one more 45 minute session of teachers imparting their "wisdom" soon to be forgotten after the test over that section. But what Ichigo didn't know, was that his health teacher was going to need immediate back surgery and be out for a month. He also didn't know that his substitute teacher was going to be very interesting….

Vice Principal Kuchiki walked in and stared blankly at the noisy class.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat dryly. "Attention class." The whole class immediately stopped talking and looked at the raven haired man standing at the front of the room. "Your teacher needs to have back surgery and will be out for a month. We will assign a substitute for the month and I expect that you will all treat him with respect and carry on with your learning. Correct?"

"Correct…." the class mumbled somewhat in unison. Vice Principal Kuchiki was very dry, but no student dare disobey him.

"That's what I thought. Your substitute will be here tomorrow. As for today, I expect you all to keep quiet and finish your assignments." He nodded and walked quietly out of the room. Ichigo decided to go ahead and finish his homework while some of the other students talked quietly.

"Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime whispered.

"What?" Ichigo said without looking up from his book.

"Umm, do you know what happened to the teacher?" She asked, wondering why Ichigo wouldn't look at her. He let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm guessing he hurt his back." He said dryly, annoyed with her stupid questions. It wasn't so much a stupid question as it was a stupid excuse to talk to him.

"Oh." She said quietly and sank down in her seat, embarrassed.

"I wonder who our sub will be! I hope she's pretty." Mizuiro said to Keigo.

"Don't go getting your hopes up. She'll probably be old and nasty and she'll be the one teaching us sex ed!" Keigo said, waving his arms frantically. "How can she teach us about condoms if her teeth keep falling out?! Oh no, that can't happen! I can't afford to go through eight boxes trying to figure out how the hell to use them!" Keigo began running in circles and panicking.

"If you can't put them on, you shouldn't be using them." Uryu mumbled to himself. Keigo overheard him and shot a dirt glare his way.

"Oh yeah? I bet you'll never need one Ishida! But hey, if you did, you could always knit yourself one!" Keigo yelled back, yet again, frantically waving his arms. Uryu's face went completely red. "Hahahahaha!" Keigo laughed, dancing around. He spun around in circles but suddenly spun into something, hitting his face. He cringed and looked up at Chad.

"Sit down Keigo." Chad said in a deep, serious voice.

"Oh." Keigo winced. "Sorry Uryu." He said sheepishly as he sat down in his seat. Uryu simply nodded and pushed his glasses up with his finger.

"I wouldn't worry about it Keigo. It's a substitute. They'll only be here for a month." Ichigo reassured him. Keigo flashed him a weak smile. It's only a sub, what's the worst that could happen?

Ichigo stood next to Chad, talking to Uryu and Orihime about their chemistry project.

"Well," Uryu started, "I think for our presentation we can…" A puzzled look plastered Ishida's face as his voice trailed off. Ichigo looked at him with a puzzled look too. He turned around to see what Uryu, Orihime, and Chad were now all staring at.

Standing at their teacher's desk, organizing his papers, was their substitute teacher. Their very interesting teacher. The whole class had gone silent as they watched the intriguing stranger place his briefcase on the desk.

"Oh, hello class." He said, slightly caught off guard by their stares. "Um, I'm obviously your substitute teacher, Renji Abarai. Well, Abarai Sensei to you all."

Renji Abarai, substitute teacher. He was strangely attractive and very peculiar. His long red hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, his curious tattooed eyebrows slightly covered with a few red strands of hair that hung in his face. He wore a slightly open collared white shirt beneath a black blazer and black dress pants that clung nicely to his well defined legs. He took his black rimmed glasses off for a moment, chewed on the end of them, looked around the room, and stuck them back on. He stood uneasily at the front of the room, knowing the class didn't know what to make of him.

So it was rather obvious that Renji wasn't exactly "teacher" material with his tattoos and red hair and all. But he felt that it gave him a bit of an exotic edge, if you will.

"Alright guys, enough talking, sit down so I can take attendance." He reached into the drawer and pulled out the attendance list.

"Why the hell is he our teacher?" Ichigo whispered to Chad.

"Beats me." Chad said plainly.

"I mean, he just isn't….I don't know…."

"Teacher like?" Renji said as he stood next to Ichigo's desk.

"What?" Ichigo said, startled by Renji suddenly looming over him.

"I know, I'm not exactly teacher like, am I?"

"Well…." Ichigo just stared at him.

"It was rhetorical, umm, Ichigo, is it?"

"Yeah, Ichigo Kurosaki. Present."

"Obviously." Renji chuckled. He moved on down the row, checking off any students who weren't in their seats.

"All right guys, just so you all know, there's a good chance I might be here for more than a month, back surgery take a while to heal. But anyways, today you have a simple homework assignment. Do yourself a favor, get it done in class and then you can talk. Just make sure it's finished for tomorrow, ok?" The class mumbled and started working on their homework.

Ichigo sat in his seat, staring at Renji with a puzzled look. Something about this guy was so, captivating. He was just too intriguing to look away from.

Renji sat down at the desk and pulled the hair tie out, slipping it around his wrist. His bright red hair graced his shoulders and his glasses were placed on top of his head as he graded papers.

"Ichigo." He snapped out of his stare and looked at Keigo.

"Dude, what are you staring at?"

"Huh?"

"You've been staring at Sensei for like five minutes straight." He said, obviously a bit concerned with this sudden odd behavior.

"Oh, um, I don't know. I was just, staring. Not at Sensei, just staring, in general." He lied. Ichigo turned away from Keigo and opened his health book. "The Effects of Alcohol on the Human Body." Exciting.

When the bell finally rang, the class all got up and left soon after. Ichigo was the last to walk out since he had to wait to pick up his younger sisters from school anyways. He gathered his things and walked toward the door when he was stopped.

"Hey, Ichigo." Renji called after him.

"What?" The boy was caught off guard. "Oh, uh, what is it Abarai Sensei?"

"Would you mind staying after school and helping me grade papers while I'm here? There's so many classes and I can't keep up."

"Why me?" He asked.

"Well, you seem to know your classmates, and not to mention, Vice Principal Kuchiki told me if I needed any help, to ask you."

"Why would he recommend me?" Ichigo was rather puzzled.

"Something about you being a good kid, willing to help, all that jazz." Renji flashed him a smile as he unbuttoned his collar a bit further. "And, I guess I could always give you a little extra credit if you'd like, even though you probably don't need it."

"No, I don't need it. But I guess I can stay after and help you. My sisters don't get out of school for another hour anyways."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." Renji was sincere. He needed all the help he could get. Ichigo sat at the front desk across from his new sub and began grading papers.

"So if you don't mind me asking," Ichigo said without looking up from his papers. "why the hell are you a teacher?" Renji laughed.

"I really can't convince you that I'm a teacher can I?"

"Well, you just don't seem like the type to be a teacher. Especially a health teacher." Ichigo said a matter of factly.

"Why do you say that?" Renji asked curiously.

"Look in a mirror. You have bizarre tattoos, bright red, long hair, a personality."

"Teachers can't have personality?" He chuckled quietly. "No, no, I know I don't look like a typical teacher. But what fun is the typical?" That was a fair enough question, and Ichigo could tell already he was going to enjoy getting to know this guy, he definitely wasn't the least bit typical. "In fact, I'd like to think of it as a teaching device. You know, get the students' attention first." Ichigo looked up at him with a blank stare. "Ok, so I really have no idea why I'm a teacher either. Well, a substitute. But who knows, I might surprise you."

"More than you already have?" Ichigo chuckled to himself.

"Oh trust me, there's a lot about me that mighty surprise you."

And so began Ichigo's daily routine of staying after school to help Abarai Sensei grade papers and tests. And chat. Lots of chatting.

Thanks again for reading.