Dig up her bones but leave the soul alone.
Boy with a broken soul, heart with a gaping hole.
. . .
One would have expected it all to begin on a dark and stormy night, but in fact, Ichigo remembered it being a normal afternoon.
His boyfriend Renji had snatched up this old property for cheap out in the boonies a couple months prior and it was all he'd talked about since. Renji was really happy and proud of himself, bragging almost nonstop – Ichigo suspected it was partly due to the fact that now no one could call him a freeloader, and of course, he had a place to invite his baby over to spend the night.
Ichigo still lived at home, so it admittedly did sound nice to be able to sleep over at his boyfriend's place and have privacy, what with Renji's house being in the countryside, tucked away in the trees in a little mountain town. The downside was that although it had been left in alright condition, it hadn't been lived in for some time before Renji had bought it, meaning it was disgustingly dusty and the yard was a jungle.
They've done a lot of work on the inside and cleared out a couple rooms so that Renji could at least live there while they fixed up the rest. He'd come over a bunch already to help clean up the front yard and cut the grass – by hand with gloves and a knife, because mowing when he couldn't see the ground and any rocks or sticks that might be hidden under the wild grass might just break the mower. Not to mention Renji's yard wasn't flat, instead set on the same steep incline as all the surrounding roads. Just walking up and down the driveway as many times as he had, Ichigo's butt ached.
They'd moved on to the backyard, which was more flat, considering it was part of the same shelf of space that had been cleared off to build the house on. Ichigo actually really liked it back here, despite all the work still left. Once it was cleaned up, a little flower patch, a bird feeder, and some patio furniture, it'd probably be really nice.
Renji's backyard was a shaded area surrounded by woods that was just barely too small to be called a field. The grass was certainly tall and wild enough to qualify it as such. That afternoon, Ichigo was out cutting through the thick tangle of grass and weeds in the heat of late spring when he suddenly straightened up and moved back, startled. He let out a huff a moment later, scowling sourly and wiping his forehead with his wrist. "Ah geez," he muttered with a grimace.
"What?" Renji piped up, abandoning his job of gathering branches and big stones rolled down from the mountainside and moving them off the yard-space. Walking over, he came up behind Ichigo, who pointed at the bare patch he'd just cut.
"Look."
"Oh." Baring his teeth in a 'yeesh' expression for a second, Renji waved off the sight. "It's okay babe, it's just animal bones."
Ichigo folded his arms, frowning at the strange sight. Renji didn't seem to know what to say either, brow furrowed, as if trying to figure out what the sun-bleached bones – quite large ones, in fact – were doing there. "Why're they in a pile like that?"
"Maybe the neighbor's cat comes here to eat birds or something?" Ichigo's mouth widened skeptically, but Renji waved a hand. "I mean, we're out in the woods. Who knows what it was."
Ichigo made a noncommittal noise, leaning his weight to one side. Renji stood next to him, squinted at the stack of bones, and then offered, "You don't have to touch those if you don't want. I'll take care of it."
"Okay."
"I thought they were people bones for a second," Renji joked, shielding his eyes from the sun.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "No you didn't, don't be a weenie."
"Okay, fine, but still. Creepy though, huh?"
Ichigo took his gloves off and flapped his shirt around to get some air on his sweaty chest. Renji put his hands on his hips and looked at the pile for a few moments more with a curious expression. "Whatever," Ichigo muttered. "Your yard's a fucking jungle, no wonder cats were bringing shit here."
The bones were way too large to be anything a cat would eat - in fact, it was more likely the bones were cat bones, but he didn't bother correcting himself. Renji got a garbage bag and put the bones inside, taking them to the small fire-pit he'd made to burn dead branches and the piles of grass Ichigo cut.
They kept at it for another hour or so until the sun went down, finally going into the house to eat dinner and relax. The place still had a lot of work to be done on it. There weren't leaks or drafts or bugs or anything, but the inside hadn't been maintained by the seller and the yard was nasty. Renji'd cleaned up the front room and closet, the kitchen and the ground floor bathroom, and an upstairs bedroom and bathroom, and had furnished them, but the rest of the rooms were dusty and mostly vacant, the doors kept shut.
It was a pretty alright place. There were creaky floors and old lights, but Renji just beamed with pride whenever Ichigo came over.
That evening, the two of them were watching a movie on the couch together with the lights off. Renji half-lay across the couch, his arm around Ichigo to cuddle him. One hand wandered under the blanket tossed over their legs to rub his inner thigh and play with his fly. Ichigo let him do as he liked, paying him little attention in favor of watching Rodan destroy a building.
About halfway through the movie, he had to go to the bathroom, so he nudged Renji's hand away and got up and went.
The bathroom had been fixed up only to the point that it was functional. The water ran from the tap and the toilet flushed, and although Renji took showers here, Ichigo wouldn't. It looked like a goddamn murder scene with the rusty drain and the broken wall tiles. All the refurbishing they've done in here so far consisted of doing an initial sweep of the floor and gathering the cobwebs, fucking with the toilet spring system until it flushed, and putting peach hand-soap on the sink counter.
While he was in there, he kept hearing Renji messing with him, whispering his name, trying to be scary. Ichigo ground his teeth together and sighed, unzipping and watching a spider crawl up the side of the toilet.
"Ichigo."
He knew it was just Renji, so he merely rolled his eyes and wasn't freaked out in the slightest. After the fourth time, it was getting annoying though, and he at last called out for him to quit it.
"What?" Renji replied from some distance, having been quiet enough to sneak back into the living room without making a peep.
"Dude, cut it out," Ichigo demanded flatly.
". . ." Renji was quiet for a second or two. "Cut what out?"
Ichigo groaned and let his head flop back on his shoulders. God, Renji could be annoying sometimes, especially when he got it in his head that teasing him was funny.
It kept happening, and finally Ichigo'd had enough. He shook off and zipped up and came out of the bathroom, finding Renji, of course, sitting on the couch like he hadn't just been trying to fuck with him.
"I don't know if you think this is funny, but it's fucking not!" Ichigo yelled at him. Renji stared at him, mouth ajar.
"Huh?"
"Oh, don't play dumb!"
"... Whadda' you mean, who's dumb?" Ichigo glared at him, setting his jaw. He was not in the mood to entertain this shit tonight.
"You're the fucking worst," he said at last, turning and stomping back to the bathroom, grumbling and huffing through his nose.
He turned the sink on to scrub his hands, and not five seconds into cleaning his nails with soap, it happened again. "Renji, I fucking swear, I'm this close to dumping your ass!" he hollered, completely fed up.
"Ichigo, I'm not doing anything, I'm way over here!" Renji cried from the living room, the fucking liar. Ichigo slammed the water off, furious, and reached for the lightswitch.
Not a moment later, the noise happened again, and the moment Ichigo's hand touched the lightswitch, without having flicked it off, the light suddenly shorted out and switched off, plunging him into complete darkness.
After the moment of surprise, his shoulders dropped and he sighed. "Great," he muttered. They had to fix the lights now too.
A second afterwards, he heard low laughter just next to his ear and jumped out of his skin.
"Ichigo? Hey, what's the matter?" he heard Renji call, definitely from the living room, definitely not the one who'd just laughed. When Ichigo didn't answer, frozen stiff from dread, he could hear Renji get up, his footsteps echoing as he came down the hallway.
"Ha ha haaa…"
Ichigo unfroze then and threw himself against the bathroom door and bolted down the hall, running straight into Renji and slamming into him hard. Renji grabbed him and reflexively laughed, probably thinking at first that he was just fucking around, but when he pulled back and saw Ichigo's face, his expression dropped. "Whoa, you're white as a sheet!" he said, aghast, putting a hand to Ichigo's cheek. "Ichigo!"
Ichigo squeezed Renji's arms with his hands, not breathing, his gut clenched up tight as he stared back at the bathroom, heart pounding.
Renji chuckled a little bit then, running a hand over Ichigo's hair and the back of his head. "What happened? Did you see a ghost or something?"
Ichigo swallowed hard, his expression hardening. Renji had been fucking with him after all, hadn't he, and he'd fallen for it.
"Ghosts aren't real," he said flatly, and shoved away from Renji viciously. That fucker had played a prank on him. He fucking hated when Renji did that kind of shit.
He was mad at Renji for the rest of the night. If Renji had been trying to get handsy before, he could fucking forget it. When Ichigo gave him the stink-eye for long enough, Renji eventually started playing the stupid act again. "What happened?" he hummed, reaching a hand out to try and brush his cheek, banished to the other side of the couch.
"Don't touch me," Ichigo snapped.
"Ichigo, what happened?" he insisted in concern. Ichigo slapped his hand away with unnecessary ferocity. "... Whoa." Renji held his hands up in surrender.
"You think you're funny, but you're not!" Ichigo glared at Renji, who clammed up and shied back. "Fuck you, you think it's funny to scare me then act innocent about it?"
"Ichigo, what the hell happened, I dunno' where this is comin' from," Renji coaxed, smiling with his brows pushed together.
"Pff'," Ichigo scoffed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Whatever man."
Later, after he'd cooled off a bit, Ichigo put softie cheese on a plate of crackers while Renji went to get the next movie. He was still scowling and butthurt over letting Renji get one over on him. Fuck though, that had really spooked him. Ichigo still couldn't figure out how Renji had pulled that one off.
He caught sight of Renji passing down the hall behind him, and Ichigo watched as Renji went and peeked in the bathroom curiously, playing with the door and inspecting the squeaky hinge. Renji flicked the switch, and the light turned on. Ichigo scowled.
So he still won't admit that he was punking him. Looked like it was going to be the long con, huh?
"Jerk."
. . .
Dig up her bones but leave the soul alone.
Let her find a way to a better place.
