4 Chapter four: Whims.

Chapter four.

The look on her face the moment Isshin came out of the clinic and shared the news, it's a look I'll never forget.

The dim light of hope behind her brown orbs fading into nothing but despair, the sound of her knees hitting the ground as her legs became unresponsive… 

Whatever little progress I had made with her went straight into the trash bin the moment she heard her brother was gone.

"S-Sora… S-Sora!" I could hear her, she was a sobbing mess once again, even with Isshin kneeling next to her, it did little to help.

"..." Heartbreaking as this entire scene might have been, I could focus on one thing and nothing else.

Levitating in the air next to the sobbing girl, the transparent figure of Orihime's brother, Sora, watched in shock the whole scene unfold.

'This is the first time I have seen the transition between human and spirit in person.' I thought, half curious and half feeling like a piece of shit for ignoring the girl on the floor.

What was more important though, this spirit… I remembered him at last, this man was the guy that almost lost those hair-pins. 

Thinking about it was enough to make me shiver, it was so obvious to me now, those hair-pins were a gift for her sister. 

'No… This is not the time for that.' I decided dealing with a 'newborn' spirit could wait, there's no point in thinking about the dead after all, what concerns me is the living. 

"Orihime." I touched her shoulder once again and called her name, but it was to no avail. It was only natural, grieving the dead is part of what makes us humans. 

'I can be here for her, at the very least.' I told myself, I knelt next to her as I gave Isshin a look, he nodded back at me. 

Isshin stood up, taking his phone out and calling someone, must have been the police considering there was a corpse laying in his clinic after all.  

"Easy…" I repeated, much like before. I squeezed her shoulder enough to let her know I was there, that's the best I could do for her as things stood right now. 

"Orihime… Don't cry!" I heard his brother call for her, but I ignored him. "I'm here, can't you see me? Orihime!"

He kept on calling and calling her name, his transparent hand phasing through her as he tried to make contact with the girl.

'The ambulance will arrive soon.' I reminded myself, I needed to somehow get to her before that. I was a stranger, but I think I stand a better chance at calming her down than a bunch of paramedics and police officers.

"Listen, Orihime…" I hesitated, unsure on how to word what I was about to say, or even if I should say it in the first place. "Is there… Is there someone we can call?"

"S-Sora…" Again, nothing but her brother's name came from her mouth. No good, huh? I was not prepared to handle this sort of situation.

'Then what about him?' I glanced at her brother's spirit, his behavior had become even more frantic than before as he realized none could see him.  

"Is there a distant relative I could call?" I tried again, with the little info I had there was not much I could do to be of use.

"That's right!" The spirit, now levitating a few meters to the left of me exclaimed. Good, that could work as well… I needed to get an answer out of the spirit without making it obvious I could see him. 

"Our aunt… Distant as she might be, that's all she has left." I heard Sora mutter to himself, further confirming that the girl had no parents waiting for her at home. "If I could just get him to hear that…"

"..." I breathed in, well, might as well try it. "No distant relatives? An aunt, perhaps?"

The moment those words left my mouth, I got two reactions out of them. 

The first one from the spirit, Sora, he had turned towards me with a shocked look, wondering if his words had somehow been able to reach me.

"Y-You can hear me?" I did not even blink as the spirit shot closer to me, mere inches away from my face. "You can, right? Right!?"

I offered no response to him, there was no point in doing so, I had gotten what I needed out of him after all.

It was her reaction that mattered the most to me, and sure enough at the mention of a distant aunt, I got her to meet my eyes.

"I…" Orihime tried to speak, she looked like she was genuinely giving it her all to give me an answer. Her tears streamed down her face, dripping from her nose and mixing with the blood as she refused to wipe them out.

"A number, that's all I need." I reassured her, extending a finger to wipe some of her tears off her face. "I'll stay here, that's a promise."

"..." Both Isshin and her brother remained silent throughout our short exchange, listening as she spoke in between hiccups and sniffles.

"Isshin-san." I spoke to the man, still not taking my look off the girl. It had taken her a handful of tries to tell us her aunt's number, but she managed to do it at last.

"I'm on it." Isshin replied to me, I didn't even need to turn back to know he was making the call to the distant aunt.

I sighed in relief, at least she wouldn't be on her own before the police got here. Still, l needed to do something about…

'Him.' I thought, throwing a discrete glance at the girl's brother as the spirit levitated around, now looking far more relieved than before. 

I became fixated on the long chain coming off his chest, a chain that would begin the corrosion process soon enough…

Yeah, I'd rather not think about that. 

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"I… I think I should leave, Isshin-san." Haru managed to say, his expression remained grim even after the girl was no longer there.

The ambulance, the cops, the call with her distant aunt, all of it had culminated in the girl heading to the hospital for a check up.

Her brother's soul had left alongside her, not without taking one last look at the teen, both thankful and intrigued by him.

Haru and Isshin had remained at the clinic, the former lending a helping hand in cleaning up the place from the blood.

"You'll go out looking like that?" Isshin asked him, pointing at the teen's shirt, his palms and pants, all of them painted with blood. "I don't think that's a smart idea."

"Man…" Haru complained, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips as he took a good look at his clothes. "Mom is gonna kill me."

"Himari will understand, I'm sure." Isshin assured him, ruffling the teen's hair which earned him an annoyed look. 

"Tell you what? I'll give Himari a call, I'll explain all of this to her." Isshin told him, taking his phone out from his coat's pocket. "You go and take that shirt off, I'll look for some of my old clothes."

"You don't need to do that…" Haru began, but he quieted down when he saw the man waving off his response.

"Nonsense." Isshin replied as he pointed upstairs. "The bathroom is upstairs, be careful though… I'd rather not have Yuzu and Karin see you soaked in blood like that."

Isshin was grateful, even if just by mere coincidence, had it not been for the boy's presence today, Ichigo would have been forced to help him instead.  

"I… Thanks." Haru replied, nodding at the man as he headed to the second floor. 

The road towards the bathroom was as grim as it was uneventful, a permanent frown drawn in Haru's face as he walked in silent contemplation. 

"..." Haru found the bathroom soon enough, the door was half-open so he didn't even need to knock.

He turned on the lights, and paused for a second as he stared at his reflection on the mirror. 

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

'What a mess…'  I thought, more than a little disgusted at the state I was in. I could spot the dried blood -blood of a complete stranger, at that- scattered throughout several places.

First, I washed my hands and watched as the dried blood was slowly but surely removed from my palms. 

Then I took the once white shirt off, ruined beyond repair and threw it in the sink, frowning as the water failed to get rid of it. 

"Well… I'll need a new uniform." I muttered, cleaning the back of my neck where I could spot some more spots of dried blood. 

I turned around, hearing a knock on the bathroom's door that I had left closed, but not locked.

"It's open, Isshin-san…" I replied, and the moment the door opened I blinked as I found myself staring at the orange haired kid from earlier this morning. "Oh… Ichigo, is it?"

"Yeah, dad is talking with someone on the phone." Ichigo explained, handing me a large white shirt. "... So he told me to bring this to you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." I grabbed the shirt, nodding at him as I turned around to face the mirror again. "Your dad is a lifesaver, chances are I wouldn't have walked ten meters without having the cops arrest me if I left wearing that."

I half-expected him to leave the moment our short exchange ended, he hadn't struck me as much of a social person before after all, but for reasons that escaped me, he didn't leave.

"That thing…" I heard Ichigo talk, and I stared at him through the mirror. He was pointing at my left forearm, more specifically, at something in it. "Is it a tattoo?"

There was a strange, almost conflicted look on his face, but I didn't know what to make of it, so I shrugged those thoughts off.

"It is indeed." I replied, basic as it might have looked, that had been the first and only tattoo I had gotten so far. "First one I made."

"You made it?" Ichigo inquired, raising his eyebrows at me. "You mean the design?"

"I mean both." I clarified, turning to face him as I pointed at the tattoo. It was basic looking, nothing but a transparent woman with a chain coming off her chest. "Mom owns a tattoo parlour, you see. When I was in the orphanage, she showed up one day looking to adopt a child, walked in and handed us all a pen and a piece of paper."

"Then she asked us to draw whatever came to mind, and I drew this." I explained, showing him the tattoo at a better angle. "Then, she told us to show her what we had drawn and picked me soon after."

"Your drawing was the best, then?" Ichigo asked me, his eyes fixated on the tattoo.

"I once asked her that same question." I trailed off, vague memories of the scene coming back to me. "Mom said mine sucked the hardest, that's why she picked me."

I smiled while I thought back on it, I remember laughing at her response. No wonder mine was bad, I had never tried drawing before. 

Then, the tattoo… I  must have been around Ichigo's age when I sneaked in the studio while mom wasn't there.

I wanted to get a tattoo, but she wouldn't let me. While she was out doing the groceries, I picked up the drawing I had kept and cherished so much and tattooed myself.

'It turned out like shit.' I stifled a laugh at the thought, Ichigo looked weirdly at me, I had not bothered explaining all that to him. 

"Sorry, I zoned out there." I apologized, buttoning the shirt and hiding the childish tattoo behind the shirt's sleeve.

"I'm Haru, by the way." I told Ichigo, offering him a handshake. "I think I forgot to introduce myself before. Pleased to meet you."

"..." Ichigo accepted the handshake, and for a moment I think I saw that permanent frown stuck in his face lessening. "Likewise."

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"I'm home." Haru announced, the moment he did, he was embraced by his mom, handing him the most crushing and painful motherly hug in recorded history.

"You alright, Haru!?" Himari didn't even allow him to close the door as she assaulted her son with a barrage of questions.

"Jeez…" Haru managed to say, overwhelmed at the amount of questions his mother was throwing at him. "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Haru managed to close the door with his feet, pushing it back as he tried to get his mother to release him.

"I mean it, mom. I'm fine." Haru repeated once again, this time sounding a bit more irritated. "Nothing happened to me… I talked with the girl for a little, that's all."

"You sure about that?" Himari didn't sound all that convinced, looking her son up and down as she scanned his skin. "There's blood here… And here… And there…"

"It's not mine…" Haru said in response, letting out a tired sigh as his mother's brain tried to comprehend what she had just heard.

"Eww…" Himari said, sounding disgusted, she was quick to take her fingers off the spot. "You should… You should probably take a shower."

"Yeah, I should." Haru agreed, a little amused at how fast his mom had changed her mind about not letting him go.

The teen headed to the shower not a second after, his mind still occupied with thoughts about the girl and her brother.

'I hope she's alright.' He sighed, it had been a long time since he had felt so stressed. 'Well… At least I missed school.'

Haru cracked a smile at the thought.

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

[Two days later.]

"Ichi-nii." The unmistakable sound of his sister's voice made Ichigo turn towards his room's door.

"What is it, Karin?" The orange haired kid asked, his focus alternating between his sister and something on top of his desk.

"Meal is almost ready." Karin answered as she did not bother to open the door, after all her brother had not told him to do so.

"I'll be there in a minute." Ichigo replied, his focus back on the thing on his desk, or to be more precise, a rough sketch he had made on a piece of paper. 

His frown turned into a scowl the more he looked at it, his drawing skills sucked but even then the resemblance was evident.

'That chain coming off her chest…' Ichigo could see the reason why Haru's mother had picked him based on that drawing, it was quite the interesting design.

That's not what bothered him though, what had him thinking so much was the fact that the tattoo resembled the spirits he had seen throughout most of his life.

'It can't be a coincidence.' Ichigo thought, his hands massaging his temples as he tried to think deeper about it. 'Karin can see them as well, and Yuzu can feel them sometimes. All this time I thought it was something unique to us, but what if it's not…?'

'I can't make a sense of it.' Ichigo felt like something wasn't quite right. If it wasn't exclusive to them, then what was the reason some could see spirits and some couldn't?

Plus, there was this certain vibe he got around Haru, from the first look he got at him, it felt almost as if he was hiding something, like there was more to him than what meets the eye. 

"IIIICHIIIIIGOOOOOOOO!" His dad's voice reached his ears, but he was unable to react in time and thus missed his chance to lock his room's door. 

"Not this again…" Ichigo groaned, standing up and preparing himself for something that had turned almost into his daily routine.

Crashing through his door with a flying kick, Ichigo's father, Isshin, made a scandalously elegant landing on top of his son's bed as he pointed at him with an accusing finger.

"You know the rules, Ichigo!" Isshin pointed at his son, raising his fists as he braced himself for another fighting session with his son. "And so do I! No arriving late to meals is allowed in this house!"

"You old bastard…" Ichigo bared his teeth as his father, seeing his front door busted open with a kick was one thing, but landing on his bed as well!? "Don't step on my bed!"

Ichigo launched himself at his father, the two of them disappearing into a comical looking cloud of dust as they punched each other across the bedroom. 

"You… Come back here! You'll get it, I promise!" Blows and insults were exchanged between father and son, trading punch for punch without stop.

Ichigo's fight with his father turned wild enough that the both of them knocked stuff down from all over the room, his trash can, some books, portraits, and at last, the both of them collided against his desk.

"Agh!" Isshin hit his head against the edge of the desk, knocking over all sorts of books and, perhaps most importantly, one single paper.

It landed right on top of his face and covered his vision, forcing him to roll around until he managed to get away from his son's grasp.

"..." Isshin took the paper off his view and prepared himself to keep throwing hands with his older son, but something made him stop.

He peeked at the content's of the paper and came to a halt as he gave it another more profound look. 

"What…? You done?" Ichigo asked, dusting himself off as his gaze followed his dad's. "Oh, that."

"Hm… That's an interesting drawing." Isshin commented, something about his usual goofiness was missing from his tone.

"It's not mine." Ichigo clarified, snatching the sketch from his dad's hand. He saved it in his pocket as he picked up the mess in his room. "It's Haru's design, I asked him about his tattoo and that's how it looks. He made it."

"Did he…?" Isshin asked, his tone a little too serious for a man who had been brawling with his son a minute ago. "Well, I hope he draws better than this…"

Isshin trailed off, clenching his fist as he prepared himself for another fight against his son. "... Cause yours sucks!"

"Hey!" 

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"Man…" Haru groaned in annoyance, the sound of chimes signaling the end of the last school period for the day. 

Half of the class stood up in unison, most of them leaving in a hurry, anxious to leave the school's facilities as fast as possible.

Under normal circumstances he would have been first in that sea of students battling to escape school, but he wasn't feeling it.

It has been about two days since the situation at the Kurosaki Clinic and he still couldn't quite recover his usual snarky self. 

'Fuck, this is so lame…' Haru thought, biting his lower lip in frustration. He felt like punching the shit out of some monsters would help his mood, but he had been unable to spot or feel even the briefest signals of one.

Haru left the school soon after, his mind focused on the events from the other day. Perhaps he could ask Isshin for the aunt's phone number? 

He roamed the streets, nothing but the usual aimless walk as he tried to come up with a plan, for the most part.

It wouldn't hurt to ask about Orihime, see how she was doing, and most importantly… He needed to make sure her brother wasn't about to turn into one of those monsters.

'It's decided then.' Haru told himself, feeling a little better all of a sudden. 'I'll drop by Isshin's house and ask him about it.'

'I could pay Ikumi a visit later…' He added, his usual cocky grin back in his lips. 'Bet she misses me.'

"...?" He paused, coming to an abrupt halt as he felt something weird, a weird presence near him that was hard to describe.

It felt strong, but weird. His first instinctual response was to extend his consciousness and search around for the person.

Some humans, a pair of spirits, a black cat, he scanned his surroundings with his green orbs, but he found nothing out of the ordinary.

'Not him…' Haru thought as he focused on a tall man, switching his vision to another. 'Not him, not him and not her.'

He locked gazes with the cat for the briefest of instants, almost by accident as he was merely looking through the streets, but the moment he did, he felt something was off.

Its feline piercing orbs felt almost glued to him, orbs with a level of intelligence behind them that left him frozen for a second.

Then it happened, he blinked, losing vision for less than a fraction of a second, but by the time his sight returned, the black cat was gone.

'Well, talk about creepy…' Haru decided it was best to leave, he had a plan now so he wasn't about to get himself into some pointless fights.

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"You are back, Yoruichi." Kisuke Urahara noted as he watched his feline friend walk towards his shop's entrance. "You discovered something interesting?"

"Hm… You could say so." Yoruichi's raspy voice reached the man as both of them sat at the front of the shop. "He's an odd one, I'll admit that much. He's sharp, so I had to keep at a safe distance most of the time, but I still got to see a decent amount."

"Oh?" Urahara waved his fan in front of his mouth, hiding his amused smile behind it. "You think he shows some promise? I wouldn't mind expanding the number of employees around here."

"He's a special one, alright." Yoruichi replied, her tail moving from side to side in little quivering motions, almost like a snake would. "I don't think he knows what he is doing, though. From what I have seen so far from him, his knowledge seems surface level at best, it seems to me as if he acts based on his whims."

"Don't we all?" Kisuke argued, his words earning him a look from the cat sitting right next to him. 

"Hm…" Yoruichi didn't offer him an immediate answer, opting to stare at the sky instead. "Well, some do. You don't."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kisuke asked, pretending to act hurt as a laugh escaped him mid-sentence. 

"Just that." The feline replied, her cat-like orbs still fixated on the sky. "I plan to meet him, if that's alright with you."

"And if it's not…?" Urahara asked, his smile never leaving his face even for an instant. He was alright with it, of course, he just wanted to prove a point here.

"I'll do it anyway." Yoruichi replied matter-of-factly, her tail still moving from side to side as she took her gaze off the sky. "Ah… I see what you did there. Yes, point proven, I do so as well."

"See?" 

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

End of chapter four.