I finally made it to art and walked through the door just as the bell rang. I smiled triumphantly to myself before wiping the grin away and approaching the teacher.

"Oh, hello." He said, looking a little surprised at my sudden appearance.

"Konichiwa." I said softly with a small bow. "My name is Emily, I'm the new student."

"Oh! That's right!" He said, slamming his hands on his desk as he jumped to his feet. He smiled warmly at me. "Well Miss Kurosaki, you can just sit wherever you like. Today we'll be painting pictures that describe how we think, so you might want to take off that cloak so it doesn't get ruined."

"Hai." I bowed again before walking instinctively to an empty table near the back, wondering but not questioning why he called me by Ichigo's last name.

"Emily-chan!" A sudden voice called. I looked over to see some random girls waving at me. "Come sit with us!"

"Uh, no thanks." I said softly, ducking my head as I continued my way to the back.

The teacher handed out empty canvases, smocks, and a multitude of different colored paints to everyone. I stood as I took off my cloak and folded it, setting it in my chair and pushing my chair in so the fabric wouldn't get any paint on it. I set my blank canvas on the easel before picking up a pencil and looking curiously at the white slab of fabric. An idea suddenly popped into my mind and I set to work fervently.

It somehow only took me thirty minutes before I was done and stepped back to observe my work. It was a charcoal grey, well detailed skull with black bulky headphones on its head and its mouth wide open. Music notes and lines, all in black, red, and white, flowed from its mouth and covered the rest of the canvas.

"Sir, I'm done." I called. He walked over and studied my project closely before nodding and smiling at me.

"Excellent work Miss Kurosaki. You have quite the talent in art, if I do say so myself."

I blushed at the compliment and bowed deeply.

"Arigato."

He pat my shoulder before walking off to help another student. I smiled at my painting with pride as I just stood there, thinking about whether or not Isshin would let me hang it in my room.

*splat*

A huge, hideously bright blob of pink paint splattered all over the skull, causing my blood to run cold as my jaw dropped in horror.

"All that hard work..." I whispered. I heard badly hushed giggles and turned to stare at the table of girls from earlier, all of which were smirking at me.

I couldn't breathe.

I couldn't speak.

All I could do was turn back and stare at my ruined painting. The painting that was the best I've ever done. Now the painting that was ruined by petty bullies.

"Oh my, what happened?!" The teacher gasped loudly. He took hold of he ruined canvas as the rest of the class turned to look at my frozen face. "Who did this?!" He demanded angrily.

I shook my head and my eyes narrowed with determination.

"It doesn't matter." I said quietly, making him look at me. I carefully took the painting from him and put it back on the easel. "We've still got fifteen minutes, I'll just fix it."

"But Miss Kurosaki..." He said slowly. "It took you thirty minutes to paint it in the first place..."

"Well then I'll work fast." I said, my voice firm as I picked up my brush and got on one knee to begin.

Ten minutes into the restoration, something hit me in the face. I gasped, falling back and closing my eyes. My head hit the book shelf behind me loudly and a couple History of the Arts books fell on my lap.

"Miss Kurosaki!"

"I'm fine," I sighed, wiping white paint from my eyes as he helped me stood.

"That's not right! Mr. Shinjoku (A/N: not sure if that's the real art teachers name so I'm winging it), Lin and her friends have been bullying Emily!" A random boy yelled. "They ruined her painting and they threw paint in her face!"

"I see." Mr. Shinjoku scowled. "Girls, go to the principle's office, now."

They huffed as they stood and stormed from the room. I rubbed a forming bump on my head with a sigh.

"Miss Kurosaki, you should go get yourself cleaned up."

"I'm fine." I argued, putting the books that fell on me back on the shelf. "I said I'm going to fix my painting, so I'm going to fix it."

The class and teacher watched in silence as I picked up the paintbrush and worked relentlessly on my painting for the last four minutes.

*briiiiiiiiing!*

I stepped back and looked at my work, unable to keep an accomplished grin off my face. You couldn't even tell it had been splattered. It was exactly the same as before those bratty girls ruined it.

"Good job Miss Kurosaki!" Mr. Shinjoku said, clapping me on the back as the rest of the class, surprisingly, cheered. "You did it!"

I smiled and set my paint brush down before wiping my hands on a rag he handed me. I then wiped my face off, but some pesky paint was dried on and wouldn't budge.

"Oh well." I sighed. "My hair is white anyways, it won't make a difference."

"You can leave that here to dry and pick it up at the end of the school day." Mr. Shinjoku said. "And don't worry. I won't let anyone touch it."

"Arigato Mr. Shinjoku." I said with a deep bow as I untied my smock. I returned my cloak to its place around my shoulders before leaving the room and heading to history.

~timeskip~

"I'm home!" I called, walking into the house.

"Emily! Please come here a moment!" Isshin called from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" I asked, poking my head in. He was sitting at the table with a serious expression. Yuzu was at the stove, Karin was reading the paper, and Ichigo was leaning against the wall.

"The principle of your school called me today." He said slowly.

"Yeah, and?" I pressed curiously.

"It seems you're being bullied."

I blanched before forcing on a goofy grin.

"It's nothing serious, really. Here, I made you guys a cake in Home Ec. See ya!" I said, setting the cake and my painting down before dashing out the door.

"Emily!" I heard them yell, but I just kept running. I rounded a corner and...

"Oof!" I grunted, backing up and bowing to whoever I had just run into. "Gomenesai!"

"It's fine." Grunted a familiarly deep voice. I looked up at Chad and felt a smile slip onto my face.

"Hey Chad!" I grinned, straightening.

"Hey." He nodded. "What's wrong."

I flinched slightly as my smile became slightly forced.

"Nothing! Eh eheheh!" I laughed nervously, scratching my head.

"You wanna talk?"

"....... Maybe......."