The Mist Of Hime
"Kurosaki-kun," whispered a voice from the mist in front of Ichigo. "I recognize that voice," thought Ichigo but the words reverberated around him like he had shouted them. "What the f…" he thought and again the words boomed around him. "Inoue?" he said experimentally hoping to not hear his "thought voice". Slowly a shadowy figure began to appear in front of him that began to take the shape of a woman. " Kurosaki-kun" the shadow figure whispered "I need you, please help me". "Inoue?" he questioned as he reached to grab the figure but all he caught was mist." Kurosaki-kun, Please" the mist pleaded as the figure slowly dissolved into an indiscernible shape and faded into the background. "Inoue" Ichigo yelled into the mist, looking around franticly to find the source of the voice he'd heard only moments earlier. All around him the mist got thick and heavy like someone with an incredibly strong reiatsu was around. "ICHIGO" the mist screamed.
Ichigo Kurosaki sat bolt up in bed panting like he has just finished a marathon. His name echoed in his head like he has actually heard Inoue scream his name. "It was just a dream," he said to himself "I think". " Onii-chan" Yuzu called "breakfast ". Ichigo swung his legs out of his bed and rested his head in his hands for a moment. 'It seemed so real right down to the moisture in the mist, I must be out of my mind,' thought Ichigo.
"Good morning, Kurosaki-kun," said Orihime from her seat where she was talking to her friends Tatsuki and Chizuru. He grunted a reply and took his seat. Focusing on nothing in particular outside the window he couldn't help but over hear the conversation Orihime and her friends were having. "…it was a strange dream I was floating in a mist yelling at someone but I couldn't hear what I was saying and then this huge shadow appeared in front of me and extended its hand to me it said, 'come with me and you will have everything you could possibly want,' I went to reach for its hand but then I heard someone else call my name and the shadow waivered and disappeared then all of a sudden there was this huge spiritual pressure and the shadow reappeared and charged at me I screamed and then I woke up, weird hu?" Ichigo almost choked on his tongue as he heard almost a perfect description of the dream he had this morning. "Alright class find your seats I have a new student to introduce you to everyone say hello to Seishinouji Ankoku he is a transfer student from the Kildare-Bree School in Northern Ireland." A well groomed young man with hair the color of midnight and eyes to match stood at the front of the class. Bowing to the class to say hello his eyes locked on to Orihime and a small smile spread across his face. "There is a seat right behind Inoue-san" said the teacher pointing to the right side of the classroom. Sitting down in the desk in between Orihime and Ichigo, Ankoku begins to unpack his bag and organize his area.
"Alright see you all tomorrow get some good sleep cause I may pop a quiz on you and I know you want to be prepared, RIGHT?" asks teacher-sensei getting the classes attention. The whole class answers in the affirmative and begins to file out of the classroom.
"You're Inoue Orihime right?" says a voice behind Orihime. Startled Orihime turns around to see Ankoku smiling at her.
" Please forgive me, I didn't mean to startle you" says Ankoku apologetically
"Oh no that's alright I'm kind of a space cadet anyway my fault." Orihime says smiling back at him,"Oh and yea I'm Inoue Orihime pleasure to meet you."
"The pleasure is all mine" says Ankoku grabbing Orihime's hand, kissing the back of it.
"May I walk you home, princess?" he asked not letting go of her hand.
"Um well I usually walk home with Tatsuki I could ask her if she is alright if you walk home with us" says Orihime, a bit of color showing in her cheeks from the kiss planted on her hand.
"Well I do not want to impose" Ankoku says a bit downhearted.
" I'm sure she won't mind she's a pretty good friend" said Orihime making her way over to Tatsuki.
"Oi are you alright if Seishinouji-kun walks home with us? "asks Orihime as she gets to Tatsuki.
"That's the new kid, right?" Orihime nods in response.
"I don't see why not but Kurosaki-kun asked to walk home with us as well, said something about needing to talk to you."
Looks like we're gonna have a group thought Tatsuki.
Ichigo met them at the front of the school on their way out.
"Hey aren't you the new kid in our class" asked Ichigo of Ankoku
"Yea that's me" answered Ankoku holding out his right hand to shake Ichigo's "Seishinouji Ankoku at you service"
"You transferred from Ireland right" asked Ichigo
"Yea that's right but I was born right here in Japan, my father is Japanese and my mom is Irish funny hu?" Said Ankoku with a grin almost laughing at himself.
Continuing with their conversation Ichigo almost missed the group of guys staring at them.
"Hey sweet hotness" the boys jeered at Orihime and Tatsuki.
Trying to ignore them they just keep on walking but the boys wouldn't have it and came running to intercept them grabbing Orihime's hair to stop her from walking away from them. A scream escaped from Orihime as the boy pulled her to him.
"Oh your hair smells so good" the tallest of the group said as he buried his nose in her hair. Without any warning a fist came flying at him and landed right smack on the jaw forcing him to release Orihime's hair. A strong arm pulled her away from the group and quickly to safety of her own small group of friends.
"That was the wrong thing to do man" the tallest boy said to Ichigo holding his jaw. "I'll just have to take her by force now and that is not what I really wanted to do today."
"Well then you should probably just leave then hu?" said Ichigo hoping to avoid a real fight in front of the girls.
"Not gonna happen I have a score to settle with you now" said the boy
"Get them out of here Ankoku" Ichigo yelled behind him
"No way it's six to one I'm stayin you're gonna need the help" said Ankoku with determination
"Fine but don't get in my way, Tatsuki can you and Orihime get away?"
"Yea we're gonna go to that one place where we all used to go to watch fireworks" said Tatsuki not wanting to give away where they were going.
"Sounds good we'll meet you there soon" said Ichigo as the girls ran towards the river park.
"Do you think they'll be ok" asked Orihime as they got to their destination.
"It's Ichigo you know he can handle himself" said Tatsuki
After a few moments Ankoku and Ichigo come running around the corner looking for Tatsuki and Orihime.
"Are you two ok" pants Ichigo as they reach them.
"Yea we're fine how about you two" answers Tatsuki
"We'll be ok what matters the most is that you two are ok" answers Ankoku before Ichigo can respond.
"Can you make sure Tatsuki gets home alright" Ichigo asks Ankoku
"Yea sure, but what about you and Inoue?"
"We need to go talk to one of our old friends about a problem that just came up" says Ichigo getting a quizzical look from Orihime
"Yea I have no problem with that as long as Inoue is not going to be alone" says Ankoku
"Oh and thanks for the assist back there I would never have thought that guy would have been that fast" says Ichigo over his shoulder as the two groups turn to be on their way.
"No problem" says Ankoku smiling back at him