A/N: Akane has short red hair and grey eyes. She is 5'5.
This is an idea that had been floating around in my head for quite a while, so I decided to write it.
As for my other stories, I'm not sure how I would continue them since I seem to have lost my inspiration. I am trying to get back into the groove of writing again, but I cannot make any promises.
Updates will be irregular because I am still in school and how often I update will depend on how much homework I receive.
I do not own Bleach.
Akane was on her daily run when she heard fighting nearby. Curious, she quietly jogged over. When she arrived on scene, she saw a boy with the brightest orange hair yelling at a wannabe skater gang. Beside him, was a fallen vase of flowers; a memorial for the dead girl anxiously standing behind the boy. Akane's heart ached. It always did every time she saw a child with the damned chain protruding from their chest. Akane walked over softly to the girl.
"Hello," she said.
The girl met Akane's dark grey eyes in shock, "Y-you can see me?"
Akane nodded, "Yes. Are you alright?"
The girl blushed and nodded with a shy smile, "Yes, they just scared me."
"It's alright now; your friend will take care of them."
"W-We're sorry!"
Akane looked up just as the group of skateboarders tripped over each other trying to get away from the orange haired teen. As soon as they were out of sight, he sighed and the tension leaked out of his body. He turned around to pick up the fallen vase.
"I'll bring you some fresh flowers tomorrow," he said eyeing the girl beside the ghost carefully.
"Thank you," she replied gratefully. "I think I'll be able to pass on peacefully now."
"Don't mention it. It's about time you passed on."
The soul nodded and disappeared. Akane watched in relief.
"You can see them too?" Ichigo asked the red haired girl.
Akane nodded, "Yeah. You go to Karakura?"
"Yeah, do you go there too? I don't think I remember you."
Akane nodded her head, "I'm in 1-C."
"Oh, I'm in 1-A, which might explain why I don't know you," Ichigo hummed thoughtfully, "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki."
"Akane Mori. It's nice to meet you too, Ichigo."
"I'm back," Akane announced taking off her running shoes.
Urahara poked his head out from the back, "Welcom back, Akane-chan! How was your run?"
Akane shrugged. "It was okay. Do you need any help with the store?"
"How kind of you!" Urahara exclaimed snapping his fan open. "Hmmm, I guess the shelves do need to be restocked."
Akane nodded and rolled up her sleeves before heading to the back to grab the extra supplies.
It only took about an hour to fully restock everything and for Urahara to come back from whatever it was he did.
"Thank you so much, I don't know what I'd do without you!" the shopkeeper exclaimed.
Akane stared blankly at him. She would never get used to his odd behavior.
"So, are you excited for school tomorrow? Any plans?" he asked fanning himself.
"Tatsuki has a karate competition tomorrow, and she asked me to be one of the score keepers, so I'll be home late tomorrow," Akane replied. "Oh, that's right! I met someone from Karakura today on my run. His name is Kurosaki Ichigo."
Urahara stopped fanning himself. She didn't notice.
Akane put the last box into the recycling bin and stretched, "Well, I'm beat. I want to get some rest for tomorrow."
"Okay!" Urahara said. "Goodnight, Akane-chan!"
The blond man watched his ward disappear into her room from behind his fan. As soon as she was out of sight, he closed his fan and let out a sigh.
She was running.
"Get back here, you thief!"
Akane clutched the dusty leather bound book closer to her chest and ran picked up her pace. She felt tired. How long had she been running from the surprisingly persistent shopkeeper? She glanced around, looking for any escape routes. There! The marketplace! She sped up again and ran headfirst into the crowd, skillfully weaving her way around the other inhabitants of the dingy area. She heard crashing noises behind her and heavy footsteps getting fainter. Looked like her idea was working.
"When I get my hands on you…" the balding shopkeeper threatened.
Akane looked behind her. He was gaining on her again. He swung the stick in his hand aggressively to make his point. Damn, why did her want the book back so much? It wasn't like he was going to read it or sell it. It just sat in the corner collecting dust. She stuck her tongue out at him, unable to help herself; he was just such a stingy man. Suddenly, pain erupted on her behind.
"Ow," she winced.
Crap, she had bumped into someone. This would definitely slow her down. She looked up, about to apologize to whomever she bumped into, and froze. In front of her stood the tallest man she had ever seen. He had dark green eyes with a scar running down the left side of his face and wild black hair that suited his unkept appearance.
"S-sorry," she apologized dazed.
"I'm going to get you!"
Akane's heart skipped a beat when she heard the shopkeeper's voice. Shit, she didn't have time to run. She would have to hide. Thinking quickly, she dove behind the man and pressed herself to his back, trying to make herself as small as possible. She prayed that the large man wouldn't move or decide to tell the angry man where she was. The shopkeeper stopped just in front of the man Akane was hiding behind. He looked around frantically an angry snarl sitting on his face.
"You!" he said pointing his stick at the large man. "Have you seen a girl run by here? She has red hair."
The scarred man glared at the stick in his face and then at the shopkeeper. He gripped the stick in his hand and shattered it. He obviously did not appreciate being threatened. The shopkeeper took a step back, anger tinged with fear.
He cleared his throat, "S-sorry, she isn't here. My bad."
He ran off quickly. Akane waited half a minute longer making sure she couldn't hear the man's heavy footsteps anymore. She peaked out from behind the man she hid behind; all clear. She stepped out of his personal space.
"Thanks for your help," she said gratefully.
She didn't flinch when he focused his attention on her. Maybe it was the girl on his shoulder.
He grunted, "Whatever, I just didn't like weaklings like him trying to threaten me."
She smiled, "Still, thank you."
He grunted again and started to walk away. She chased after him.
"Hey, who're you?" she asked. "Where are you from? What's your name?"
"Kenpachi Zaraki."
She stopped walking. He looked back at her raising and eyebrow at her odd behavior. She smiled.
"Kenpachi Zaraki, huh?" she said. "That's a pretty good name. I'm Akane Mori."
Akane woke up in cold sweat, feeling something brush against her very core. The familiarity chilled her to the bone.
The next day…
Akane brought out her bento from her bag, glancing around the class. Neither Tatsuki nor Orihime were in the class. Tatsuki was probably getting in some last minute practice before her competition, and Orihime had a home economics meeting. The redhead grimaced at the thought of Orihime's cooking, suddenly feeling a lot less hungry. She put away her lunch with a sigh. What was she supposed to do now? There were still 20 minutes before her next class, and none of her friends were here (Chizuru did not count, no matter how much Orihime insisted she was). Maybe she could go talk to Ichigo? He said he was in class 1-A. She got out of her seat and made her way down the hall. She slid the door open, and immediately spotted Ichigo. He was sitting with a couple of his friends; and ordinary brown haired boy, a baby-faced boy, and the tallest high school student she had seen.
"Ichigo, I heard a truck crashed into your house," the brown haired student said.
Akane frowned.
"Are you okay?" she asked approaching the students.
"Oh, Akane. Hey," Ichigo greeted. "Yeah, I'm fine. No one was injured."
"Ehhhhhhh, how do you two know each other?! Who are you anyway?!" the brown haired boy exclaimed.
Akane and Ichigo exchanged a look.
"We ran into each other yesterday," Ichigo replied. "Akane, this is Asano Keigo, Kojima Mizuiro, and Yasutora Chad. Guys, this is Akane."
Mizuiro waved and Chad nodded. Keigo bent down and started whispering furiously into Ichigo's ear. The orange haired boy scowled and pushed Keigo's face away. Akane glanced at the confusedly, but didn't dwell on it.
"Do you need help cleaning up?" Chad asked, bringing the conversation back.
"Er, no… That's okay," Ichigo replied.
"Yeah! You'd probably break more stuff than help," Keigo added.
Akane laughed. It was nice that they were close enough to joke like this without feelings being hurt.
"What's your next class?" Akane asked.
"Modern literature, I think," Mizuiro replied.
"Oh, you're Kurosaki-kun?" a new voice asked.
Everyone turned to face the newcomer. She was petite, but pretty with soft black hair that flipped out at her shoulders that was slightly wispier than her own. Ichigo's face slackened in shock and her smile grew.
"My name is Rukia Kuchiki, I'll be sitting next to you from now on," she said.
It was almost comical watching Ichigo freak out.
"Y-you!" he exclaimed pointing at the dark haired girl.
"What?" Keigo asked confused. "What's wrong, Ichigo? Do you know her?"
"Oh, no," Rukia answered pleasantly. "This is our first meeting. Isn't that right, Kurosaki-kun."
Akane somehow found that difficult to believe.
"It's nice to meet you," Rukia held her hand out to the orange haired teen.
They definitely knew each other Akane decided, watching them walk out together.
"That was weird," Keigo commented.
Akane hummed in agreement and the conversation picked up where it left off.
"So have you been at Karakura for the entire year? What class are you in? Did you and Ichigo only run into each other? Where do you live?" Keigo babbled.
"That's creepy, Asano-san," Mizuiro said tapping at his phone.
Keigo started crying as Mizuiro continued his relentless verbal assault. She wasn't listening though. She was busy watching Ichigo yell at Rukia outside. Her jaw nearly dropped when she saw Rukia slam her gloved palm into Ichigo's chin. His body fell to the ground lifelessly but, Ichigo was still standing, dressed in familiar black garbs. What the hell? There were two Ichigos? She looked away and closed her eyes. A faint throbbing made its presence known in her head.
"Hey, you okay?" Mizuiro asked, noticing Akane's lack of participation in the conversation.
She pushed the thought of Ichigo in the black robes out of her mind and tried to control the pounding in her head.
"Yeah," she replied. "I'm fine."
A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome and appreciated.
Please feel free to alert me of any mistakes.