1 Prologue: Heavily inked. A/N: [Read comment attached to this paragraph].

[Karakura Town, Year 1998, late into the night.]

I woke up with a start, shivering on the spot as I felt that same familiar unnatural presence allow itself into my own room.

I could feel it, something was here, something that wasn't supposed to be here. This feeling… It was not unfamiliar to me.

I instinctively turned towards the source of this feeling, its presence seemingly drawing me towards it.

"You again…?" When I finally managed to spot the intruder, I breathed out a sigh of relief. It was her again. "It's 2 AM. Do ghosts not need sleep or what?"

I stared at the pale, almost transparent silhouette in front of me, levitating right on top of my bed.

Yes, that was a ghost, a legitimate, very much real spirit.

I don't like ghosts.

The ghost itself looked more or less exactly the same as a normal girl, minus the fact she was… Well, a spirit.

Ah, and that weird looking chain glued to the middle of her chest. Dunno what's up with that, but a lot of them seem to have it.

Her thin frame and short height, short braided black hair and the innocent but fun expression in her face had sadly become an all too familiar sight for me these past few weeks.

"I don't think so!" The girl replied to me, her head slightly tilted to her right side. "At least I don't think I do. I don't feel tired, like, ever."

"Yeah, I can see that." I stated in a blank tone as I watched the hyperactive ghost girl fly laps across my bed. "Unfortunately for you though, I do need to sleep. I'm tired."

I blinked as the spirit pouted childishly at me, the pleading look she was throwing my way almost seeming to beg for me not to throw her out.

'What did I ever do to deserve this…?' I thought, a frustrated sigh escaping my lips as I failed to brush her look off.

Bizarre as this entire scene might have been to most, for me it was nothing out of the norm.

Thinking back on it, even from the earliest memories I am able to gather from my mind, spirits have always been there.

Honestly, I think after all this time it would creep me out more if I suddenly wasn't able to see them.

Perhaps it is some sort of unique gift I had been born with? Hard to say, but it is unlikely it's a common power for humans to possess since no one I had ever met has reacted to their presence.

Whatever the case might be, I am able to see spirits, I have always been. Others however, cannot.

I brush most of them off, the few who decide to come near me get bored as soon as they realize I do not intend to help them.

I can see them, sure, but does that mean I need to care about them, care about what they want? The answer is simple, no, I don't.

That's how I deal with them; ignore them and move on with my life. Honestly, it works just fine with most of them.

There are some amongst them that require some more… Drastic actions, let us say, but that's neither here nor there.

The spirit in front of me was a bit special in that regard, it had proved itself to be quite persistent, if nothing else.

I met her not so long ago near one of the several houses that got burnt during a huge house fire that spread a few blocks from home.

"..." I sighed again, this time more frustrated than tired. The girl had not uttered a single word in regards to the circumstances behind her death.

It's not like I cared about it, but I couldn't help but feel a faint sense of morbid curiosity. Did she remember any of it? If so, how did it happen? Did it hurt?

I would imagine it does. Burning alive doesn't exactly sound like the most desirable of deaths.

"Ah! You are doing it again!" I looked up to meet the gaze of the girl. She was now levitating higher than before, as if attempting to get my attention.

Pointing at me with an accusing finger, she put on the most realistic 'sad puppy' look she could manage and pretended to look hurt.

Key word here is 'pretended'.

"Doing what?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow at her antics. I was not good at dealing with children, much less dead children.

"Doing that!" The girl repeated, her childish pout now in full display. "You are pretending to be hearing me, but you are not!"

'Ah.' I thought. That's what she meant. 'Guilty as charged.'

"Like I said, I'm tired." I repeated once again, though I had no hopes of having those words reach her. I knew for a fact she was quite a stubborn spirit. "We can talk some other time, school starts tomorrow so I need to get enough sleep. Unless I wanna look like shit, that is."

"You could never look like shit!" The girl denied, her words managing to make me smile, even if just a bit. Yeah, I liked compliments.

I stared at the mirror nailed to the wall opposite to the bedroom's door, just to the left of me. There, the reflected image on it matched the tired gaze I was throwing at it.

Even from that angle, the disappointed look in the girl's face was difficult to miss from the reflection on the mirror.

"..."

God, I am an idiot.

"Fine…" I said at last; the moment that one word came out of my lips, the spirit jumped in happiness. "I suppose we can talk for a little while."

"Yessss!"

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

Eight hours later.

"Up."

I shuffled below my bed covers, an irritated groan escaping my lips as I recognized the source of the noise that stopped me from going back to sleep.

"Nghhh… I don't wanna…" I complained, nothing but senseless gibberish coming out of my mouth in response to the gentle touches on my shoulder.

"Mnnh… Five… Five more minutes." I got one coherent sentence out at last, doing my absolute best to look miserable.

"No." The femenine voice replied with a tone of finality behind it.

Fuck. Well, time to switch strategies then.

"Mnh…" I shuffled around once again, 'accidentally' knocking my pillow to the floor and doing my absolute best to sound half-asleep. "Lovee…. Youuu mmmom."

"Aw." I heard mom mutter, and it took all the self control I had left not to smile at the sight of the chance of five more minutes of sleep. "How sweet…"

"... But no."

Before I could even process her words, mom pulled my bed sheets out of my grasp, the cold morning air hitting me like a truck.

"Ah, come on!" I complained, standing up from the bed in a flash. "It's just five minutes, I'm serious!"

"No." Mom repeated once again, escaping the room with every single blanket I had left still in her hands. Shit.

It took me no less than a few seconds of silence in my room to realize I wasn't about to get those precious five minutes of sleep.

"Fuck me…" I cursed, muttering more than a handful of insults at the spirit who had managed to convince me to stay up late.

'Time to get dressed…' I rubbed the corner of my eyes, forcing myself to stay awake. I stood up from the bed and turned to the left, heading to the mirror.

"I am a fucking mess." I stated, an amused smile making its way to my lips.

Long, black messy hair covered most of my sight, wild waves of hair covering my forehead almost entirely from sight.

Pale, almost sickly looking skin covered me from head to toes; it sort of made me look fragile. Strangely enough, I was fond of it.

I was about average in height for a male teen my age, perhaps slightly taller than most fifteen year olds.

I am slim, though not enough to be seen as athletic; I reckon 'thin' would be the most accurate description, if I am being honest.

From in between the strands of black hair, a pair of green, almost emerald looking orbs stared back at me.

"Yeah… You kind of are!" The sound of a new voice behind me would have almost certainly managed to put me on alert, were it not for the fact I had spotted the reflection of the person said voice belonged to beforehand.

"You still here, huh?" I thought outloud, not even bothering to turn, I was well aware it was the same spirit who had kept me up last night. "... Do I look that bad?"

"I didn't say bad." The girl corrected me as I dressed myself. "You look like a mess, but it's a good sort of mess."

"That so?" I muttered absentmindedly, not making too much of the spirit's comment. "Well, whatever the case… You have a reason for still being here?"

"That's cold, Haru!" The spirit complained, but the girl flinched the moment she noticed I was scowling at her.

"Don't." I told her, the scowl deepening even further. "I've told you many times, don't call me by my name."

"M-my bad." The spirit girl apologized immediately, her mood dampened thanks to the quick turn our conversation had taken. "I'm sorry, it slipped."

"Whatever… I'm heading downstairs before mom forces me to." I muttered back to her, feeling more than a little grumpy all out of a sudden. "Later."

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

I know what you are about to say; I shouldn't have been so hard on her.

You see, I have sort of a golden rule when dealing with this sort of persistent spirit, an unbreakable principle that ensures I don't get needlessly emotional about some walking corpse.

'Don't get attached.' I repeated in my head, almost like some kind of mantra. No names, no nothing that helps me humanize them.

I interact with the occasional spirit that decides to bother me, sure, I talk to some of them even, but I don't make friends with them.

That's because, sooner rather than later, they will get devoured. It's not a matter of 'if', it's a matter of 'when'.

Devoured by what, you ask? You'll see, with time. It's not like I can avoid them, they seek me out after all.

And when they don't, I seek them out.

You want to call them something? Let's call them evil spirits then, because as far as I am concerned, that's what they are.

"What's with that face?" Mom questioned me, it was almost frightening how fast she could realize I was in a sour mood.

It had been a solid ten minutes since I had walked downstairs and the spirit was long gone from our home.

I was somewhat skilled at 'feeling' someone's presence, not just ghosts of course, humans as well. It's like I am sensing some sort of… You know what, it doesn't matter.

I don't know how to explain it, but I could just tell she had left the house.

"..." I looked up, meeting mom's gaze for a brief moment before dedicating an instant to think of an appropriate answer.

If a person was to try and come up with a suitable description for my mother, I am confident most would answer with the same two words.

Heavily inked.

From her neck to her shoulder blades, her back, her two sleeves, her legs, mom was full of all sorts of unique tattoos.

No surprise there, she is the owner of a tattoo parlour after all, one of the most prominent ones in town as matter of fact.

Her blond, straight hair rained down her back, her two hazel orbs staring at me intensely as she awaited for an answer.

"It's nothing much." I replied, half a toast hanging from my mouth as I took a bite of the other half. "It's just that…"

"Do I need to go to high school?" The best thing I could come up with as a somewhat believable excuse for my sour mood was school.

"Not this again, Haru…" Mom sighed, though I noticed she looked a little relieved at the fact that was what bothered me.

Honestly, lying can be so convenient sometimes! It's not like I could tell her I was mad about a discussion I just had with a dead girl.

"You know I don't care about school." I insisted, now that I had gotten us on this topic I intended to make the most out of it. "I'll work at the parlour regardless, what's the point in sending me to school if I wanna…?"

"Haru." Mom warned me, her tone making it clear she wasn't in the mood for this sort of talk. "Not now."

"Tch…" I clicked my tongue in displeasure. Well, it was worth a try. "Fine then, I'll go."

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

"Karakura High School, is it…?" I muttered, a bit uninspired by the simplicity behind its name. Although, standing before it, I had to admit the facility was quite impressive looking.

It had been a little over an hour since I had breakfast and, after a hot shower and dressing up in my school uniform, I was here at last.

I had no real friends to speak of, I was never much of a social guy back in middle school so it's no surprise I am all by myself here.

It wasn't like I was ostracized, but I used to be so self-absorbed that perhaps, unconsciously, I ended up pushing everyone away.

'Well…'I thought, not even slightly taken aback by the sight of a curious male ghost checking out some of the new female students.

'Let's make the most of this.'

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

[Urahara Shōten, five hours later.]

What is Urahara Shōten, exactly?

It is a plain unassuming shop with an unclear background, it's rather strange choice of placement making it so no sane human would dare to step foot on it.

The shop itself was one of the most common and average looking shops of Karakura Town, if it were not for the weird aura surrounding it, that is.

This place serves as the base of operation for Urahara Kisuke, a mischievous and weird looking middle aged man.

"Curious." Urahara himself was present at the back of the stop at this very moment, holding a conversation with one of his most trusted friends. "Most curious indeed."

The man waved his handheld fan back and forth in front of his face, hiding his mysterious smile from his friend.

His sharp eyes shadowed by his striped dark green hat managed to somehow give him an almost sinister air around him, despite his interesting clothing choice.

"What is curious?" The raspy voice of his friend inquired, its head tilted ever so slightly to the side. "Did something happen?"

That friend of his who had just asked him a question was even more interesting looking than the man.

It was a black cat, a talking black cat that outside of the fact it could talk, looked mostly normal for cat standards.

"it's just that…" Urahara's smile widened ever so slightly. "It seems I have managed to locate our friendly neighbour who has been taking care of all the work this past month."

The man was staring at one of his many strange looking devices, his face not revealing even a single of his thoughts.

"Oh?" The cat, bizarre as it might have looked to some, managed to speak once again. "Is that so? Then, who is behind it? The soul reapers sent here this past decade have hardly been qualified enough, so I doubt it's one of them."

"That is what is curious, Yoruichi." Urahara stated in response. "It would seem this is not the work of a soul reaper at all, much like I suspected. It's a human."

"That does sound interesting, I'll give you that much." Yoruichi said in reply, the cat's gaze settling onto Urahara's own for a split second. "So, what do you want me to do with that information?"

"Nothing." Urahara replied, his smile widening at the annoyed look he got from his feline friend. "For now, that is."

"You can observe if that's what you want; though I'd advise you to approach him with caution." The shop owner told his friend, his hands fidgeting with the device.

He was unsure on how the human would react to them, so it was best to be careful and try not to scare him away.

"I'm sure it's been quite boring for you. It's been a while since you got to stretch your legs after all." Urahara added, but the cat chose to remain silent.

"..."

"I'll think about it." Yoruichi answered at last, head resting onto her front paws as she prepared herself for a not-so-short nap.

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

Karakura Town, Karakura's High School.

The sound of a loud 'thud' managed to gain the attention of a handful of students still present in the classroom, a few curious glances turning towards the source of it.

'I fucking hate school.' Haru had, in the midst of thinking about his homework, smashed his head against his desk.

He had tried, he really had, but some people are just not made to be stuck in a classroom for eight hours a day.

'Whatever… I'm done for the day.' Haru stood up from his seat, leaving the classroom without bothering to exchange even a brief look with his classmates.

While he walked across the mostly empty halls, a transparent figure followed his every step, and this one was but another spirit.

"If you ask me, I think you are overreacting a bit." The spirit, a male who seemed to be around his late teen years told him. "Don't get me wrong, I used to hate school as well but it's the first fucking day!"

"Cool." Haru replied, quickening his phase when he got some weird looks from the selected few students still around. "It's a good thing I didn't ask, then."

The ghost scowled at him but still followed the teenager nonetheless.

"Yeah, alright." The spirit replied, crossing his arms across his chest. "Be an asshole."

"..."

"..."

"Why are you following me, exactly?" The black haired teen asked, the faintest hints of a scowl now showing up in his features.

"Dunno, I'm bored." The spirit replied matter-of-factly, not even hesitating for a second when answering.

"..." This was the exact same spirit Haru had seen staring at some of the new female students earlier that morning.

Much to his misfortune, the ghost had spotted him as well and somehow realized he could actually see him.

That in turn had managed to peak the spirit's interest and so, he was now stuck with an unwanted companion.

The both of them carried on with their walk after that last exchange, marching in silence towards the school's exit.

"Say… You just planning to ignore me?" The male ghost inquired, quickening his pace when he noticed Haru walking faster.

The spirit was unsure what was on the mind of his unwilling walking partner but he could tell there was something bothering him.

"Nah." Haru replied, not even bothering to look back at the ghost as he made a stop near the school's front gate. "That won't be necessary."

"What do you…?" The spirit tried to ask, a suspicious look painting his features as he stared at the teenager.

However before he could even finish his sentence, he was left speechless at what he witnessed, or rather, what he didn't.

Haru had vanished, the teen he had been following who had not been more than two meters away from him was gone.

"What…?" The spirit was left in shock, unable to formulate a single coherent sentence at what had just transpired.

All that was left behind was a trail, a thin trail of pale green light right on the exact spot the teen had been standing in no more than mere seconds ago.

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

Karakura Town's Shopping District, eleven seconds later.

Flickering into existence in the middle of an alley, the form of a black haired teenager 'appeared' from out of nowhere, scaring a poor street dog who had been rummaging through the trash.

"Man, that spirit was a pain in the ass!" Haru complained, his shoes exuding that same pale green light. The dog ran off, whimpering.

The teen acted like nothing out of the ordinary had transpired, almost as if he had not just traveled a little over three miles in the span of a handful of seconds.

"Alright then…" Haru stretched his legs around for a bit, his mind going back to what had just occurred. "What now?"

Haru exited the alley after that, still without a plan and no idea on what to do with what was left of his day.

"..." He soon reached the busy streets of the commercial districts, avoiding the few pedestrians that didn't notice him coming out of the alley.

'Let's see…' Walking through Karakura's street was about the best chance for entertainment that he had available right now, so he did just that.

However, it looked like life had a different plan for him, since not a minute after he began his aimless walk through the streets, someone bumped into him.

"Agh!" The man who had just collided with him groaned in pain, wincing as his back hit the ground.

Haru stood there, his feet still planted at the exact same spot he had been standing in before the two of them collided.

"You good? The teen asked, extending a helping hand while he bit back the venomous words his mind asked to throw at the stranger.

The man looked to be around his thirties, he was tall and slim, with chin-length brown hair falling over his face.

"I…" It took the man a second to recover from the embarrassing fall, but he soon accepted the helping hand and managed to stand up.

"...?" Haru gave the man a strange look, he still looked rather disoriented for a fall that shouldn't have been that hard to begin with.

'The hell is this kid made of…? It feels like I crashed against a wall of bricks.' The brown haired man thought, rubbing his back in discomfort.

It was even weirder when considering the teenager in front of him looked almost fragile in comparison to him.

"I… Y-Yeah, I'm alright." The stranger managed to get out, still in a daze. "I feel like I should be the one asking that though… I bumped into you after all. Sorry for that."

"Nah, don't sweat it." Haru said, nodding at the man as he decided that was as good of a spot as any to end their conversation.

The man, embarrassed as he was, had no problem in accepting the quick exit from the conversation and nodded in response, muthering another apology as he turned around.

Right when Haru was about to leave, he came to a halt, his keen eyes staring at something shining on the ground.

'Hair-pins…?' He thought, kneeling on the ground as he found himself staring at a pair of hair-pins, shaped like six-petaled flowers.

The hair-pins had been knocked out of a small box wrapped up in rather girlish looking decorative wrap.

'A gift…?' Haru thought in silent contemplation, it was his best guess after all. It took him less than half a second to come to the realization the gift belonged to the man he had just met.

'Well shit…' The teen turned back, staring at the multitude of pedestrians walking all around him. 'Gotta find him now.'

Haru focused his mind on tracking down the soul of the man, closing his eyes as he extended his consciousness over his surroundings.

'Shouldn't be that hard…' He thought, after interacting with him, even if for less than a minute, he had managed to get a decent enough grasp of his 'presence'.

'Found you.' He thought, locating the man in an instant. The moment he did, he walked in a straight line while pushing some pedestrians to the side.

"Hey!" The boy screamed, loud enough to have several heads turn towards him with an annoyed look. "You lost these hair-pins!"

'That should do the trick.' He thought, and sure enough, the man who had been previously ignoring the screams turned back to look at him.

"That's…" The man extended his hand as he was handed the small box, checking inside it to make sure the hair-pins were there. When he found the hair-pins, he smiled.

Right when he was about to thank the teen and offer him something for the trouble, he realized the stranger was no longer there.

'How did he…?' The man thought, the teen had vanished so fast he couldn't even spot his silhouette amongst the crowd.

'...' His gaze landed back on the box, the gift he had bought for his sister and smiled, he was sure she would love them.

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

End of the prologue.