oOo A L I V E oOo

Summary: 14 year old Saki Honoka was born with a unique ability that allows her to see and know things others cannot. Her job as a prodigy detective grants her media spotlight, which she does not want. While investigating the meaning behind a strange spike in Japan's suicide rate, her only lead is a strange new transfer student with curious white hair and a bad attitude. But what happens if what she finds is more then she bargained for? Hitsugaya X OC

Genres: Romance/Drama/Humour/Mystery/Action


For those who were expecting another twilight fanfiction I AM SORRY.

Welcome to my second attempt at a Bleach story! For the one or two people who have read my fail of a first one, know that my writing has improved greatly since then and I am happy to present you with chapter one of ALIVE. This will be a rather long story, so I hope you all stick with me to the end!

Hope you enjoy!


Chapter One: Saki Honoko

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The low rumbling of the road beneath the tires was all I could hear as I drifted in and out of sleep. It was a long day at HQ today, and yesterday, and the day before that. With the case finally closed, I was excited to finally get home so I could get the first decent nights sleep in over a week.

The other person in the car was my aunt. I was put under her care as a child because my parents were (and still are) more interested in their work then raising their child. They are usually in America on business. When I was small, they would come home every other weekend to see me, but they don't even bother doing that anymore.

I fell asleep for all of ten minutes before I was jerked awake by the car tires hitting a particularly nasty pothole, and the low cursing of my aunt next to me. I looked around to see what the problem was. I groaned loudly when I saw the vans parked along the street in front of my house; the media was here. I knew this peace could not last.

"I know you are tired, Honoka, but please remember who you are." She warned strictly.

I grunted in acknowledgment. I knew what she meant. I was Saki Honoka, the sweet, cute, young investigator who could solve any case using superior intellect and deduction skills.

Yeah right. If the media could actually see what was behind the fake smile and the makeup; they would see a less-then average fourteen year old, born with a strange ability that allows her to see what others couldn't and shouldn't. Other then that, my face looked less then average; my intelligence was less then average (just ask my science teacher!), and I was defiantly not the sweet little princess my aunt made me out to be.

We pulled into my long cobblestone driveway. My house was a twenty minute or so drive from Tokyo, and the closest neighbor to us was a good half a mile a way. My aunt and I moved to here a few months ago, in a failed attempt at reducing the number of reporters knocking on our door. This move was made on my request. My aunt loved the media spot light.

Before we even turned off the car, there were reporters running towards us. I counted three different television stations, and a few from the local and national newspapers. I think there were also one or two freelance journalists here as well. How annoying.

I jumped out of the car with a smile that looked like there was nobody on this earth I could have wanted to see more then this group of reporters. All of them seemed to want to be the first one to speak, so there was a minute of two of all of them shouting questions at once before some sort of order was established.

"This case of the serial kidnappings has been under investigation for a month now, but you solved it in a week! Please, do you have any comments on the out come?!" Shouted one reporter.

Before I could answer, another shouted. "Do you have any information you could give us regarding the accused? When will the court proceedings start?"

"I am sorry but there is no additional information I can give at this time. More information regarding all this will be announced tomorrow…"

"Saki-chan, at the young age of 14 you have already become a top notch investigator at the JNBCI. What is the secret of your success?! "

With that, I gave a sweet smile and replied, "Trade secret."

"Ok everyone! Saki-chan is very tired and needs her rest! Please save anymore questions for another time!" My aunt is the Chief Investigator at JNBCI, people who know what's good for them know not to piss her off.

"Saki Yukiko, you are the aunt of Saki-chan correct? Is she currently under your care…?" one last gutsy reporter asked as the rest turned to leave.

"I have raised her since she was a child. She is like a daughter to me and I am very proud of her. Now if you please… It's rather late." Her voice held a note of finality. There were going to be no more questions tonight.

We hurried inside the house as the reporters left. My stupid mask disappeared as soon as the door shut behind us. Without saying goodnight I headed to bed.

I was always bitter towards Aunt Kiko after things like that happened. After all it was her fault that I had to deal with all this. However a nagging voice inside of me always reminds me that I owe it to her.

My parent's original plan was just to give me to some adoption agency. They didn't have the time or skills to raise a child. However, Aunt Kiko offered to take me in. This decision was largely influenced by the fact that she could have no children of her own, because of a car accident when she was a teen, left her barren; but I still owe her so much.

I went straight to the washroom to wash my face of the makeup my aunt applied this morning. Meaning she knew that we would be bumping into media monsters (that's what I call the reporters) today. What a pain.

After I got all remnants of the black eyeliner and mascara from my face I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was sticking up all over the place as usual, so I tried in vain to flatten it.

Aunt Kiko and I look nothing alike. Her long brown hair always straightened to perfection, and sharp blue eyes that seemed to analyze and see everything. She was tall, and poise, always looking like she was ready to go to an important meeting of some sort. She wore black wire framed glasses and had pale skin, like me.

I on the other hand have short spiky green hair (dyed) that I could never get to stay straight like my Aunts. I had large dark brown eyes, with dark circles underneath; making me always look like I could use another few hours of sleep (I usually could). I usually walked with a slouch, except under the keen eye of my aunt. I was also lanky and short. Very, very short.

With the right amount of make up and the right kind of clothes, I could look cute. But then again, who couldn't? Like Aunt Kiko always tells me, there are no ugly girls on the world; just lazy ones.

I yawned loudly and looked at the clock. Two thirty in the morning. Oh that's fantastic, I have school tomorrow morning!

* * *

I felt like my head barley hit the pillow when my alarm went off again. Of course in my state of half-asleep I already hit the snooze button a few times. Groaning I flopped over, wishing for more sleep but forcing myself up, a little to fast because I was suddenly hit with bad head rush. Sitting on the edge of my bed, head throbbing, and rubbing sleep from my eyes, I looked over at the time.

7:14

The bright red letters seemed to etch themselves into my brain. I closed my eyes shut hard, trying to stop my head from spinning. Forcing my eyes open, I looked at the clock again (head still spinning).

7:15

But that is impossible; the train comes at 7:40. Aunt Kiko would have woken me up if she didn't see me downstairs… right? I closed my eyes and opened them again, straining my eyes to make sure I am seeing things right.

7:15

Oh Shit.

I jumped out of bed, and fell on the floor because I was still dizzy and tired. I managed to stub my toe like three times in my rush to put my uniform on.

Tachikawa Middle School's summer uniform for girls consisted of a red plaid kilt, a white blouse with the schools logo printed on the chest. Around the collar of the shirt there was a thin red ribbon tied in a lose bow. I wore my plain black dress shoes with it. The guys had navy dress pants, a white dress shirt similar to the girls blouse only they wore a red tie.

I didn't bother trying to fix my hair, I knew it was a lost cause, so I just grabbed my favorite white headband and stuck it in my hair before hurrying off.

I managed to get to the station on time because Aunt Kiko was able to drive me on her way to work. After thanking her for the ride and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"… Are you ok Aunt Kiko? You are so stressed. You have a new case you are working on." The last part of what I said was not a question.

"Yeah, did you see the details about it?" She asked.

"No, I just learned that there is a new case and that you are stressing out about it. You should think about taking a holiday." I joked.

"I have no time for that right now, defiantly something we should think about later though. You are just as stressed as I am. Plus you have to feel other people's problems as well. If you don't feel up to going to school today, I would understand…"

"No that's ok! I want to go. I already missed way too much, plus Hikari would flay me if she found out I missed another day." I said laughing.

Aunt Kiko looked at me as if contemplating whether she should just force me to stay home. Before she could make that decision I said a final goodbye to her, and hurried to my train.

The train ride to Tachikawa was a good forty five minutes. I decided on this school, even though it was so far away, because I knew all the people from my elementary school would have gone to the attached middle school or some other one nearby. I wanted to get away from all them because I was a stupid kid who didn't realize that showing my "physic" powers (that's what I called them then) to all my little friends probably wasn't the best of ideas. Their parents didn't believe a word they said when they told them so they soon dropped it, but I didn't want them badgering me about it later on.

* * *

"Well here is a face I haven't seen in a while! What have you been up to?!" I heard a feminine voice say from behind.

"You know, work as usual… At this rate, no high school will accept me…" I said before grinning like mad and turning around to give my best friend in the whole wide world a big hug. Immediately I felt her calm, cheerful emotions wash over me. It was a great feeling, for the past few days the only people I have been contacting were stressed, over worked and tired. Either that or a murderer.

She had French toast for breakfast this morning…

"Awesome to have you back at school Honoka! School has been so dull without you!"

"You know you are lying. However it is awesome to be back!" I had to take the past week off school to work on the case.

Yuuko Hikari was my best, and only, friend. She was the only friend I really needed. We laughed at the same stuff, tell each other all our secrets (yes, I mean all) and we both loved mango flavored ice-cream topped with caramel sauce and pop rocks.

Hikari and I may be best friends, but we couldn't be more different. She is athletic, always nice and tanned, and had beautiful long blond hair (her parents are from Europe somewhere). She was funny, and kind. Guys loved her, and girls looked up to her. She was defiantly way up there on the social ladder. I was at the very bottom, which was fine with me. At first I thought that maybe my fame as the genius investigator would earn me a spot on that ladder, which it did for the first week or so. Then people saw that I clearly didn't belong and wasn't the person shown on TV. Disappointed, they stopped bothering to talk to me (I didn't really want to talk with them anyways).

Lot of people thought of our friendship as strange, but we have been besties since we were in diapers. She was probably the first one to know about my strange ability. She also gets all the inside scoop on the all the latest things happening within JNBCI. JNBCI stands for Japan National Bureau of Crime Investigations; it is the headquarters for all the big cases within Japan. We worked on either really serious cases that were too much for local Crime Investigation units to handle, or they were wide spread. The HQ is located in Tokyo. About a twenty minute walk from my school.

"Oh my god there is something you absolutely have to hear Honoka!"

"What?" I asked.

"There is a new transfer student!"

"So?" Transfer students are not all that uncommon. We get a few each year.

"Oh wow! If you were not my second favourite person in the whole wide world, I would have so thrown you off a cliff for that comment!!"

"What?! Second?! When was I demoted?!"

"When the transfer student came!" Hikari squealed.

"Is it a guy?"

Hikari nodded vigorously.

"Ahh. You will get over it in a week." I said, losing interest. The guy will fall for her; she will date him for a few days, get bored, and then dump him.

"No no no Honoka! This is different! You got to see him to understand. He is different from all those stupid guys in our school. This guy radiates maturity and he good looking and mysterious and quiet to boot!"

"Quiet?"

"Yes! He doesn't say a word! Isn't that wonderful?!" She swooned.

"I guess." I didn't find being socially awkward the best trait in guys but I guess it would be best if he just shuts up, and lets her run with her fantasies.

"A few other girls also were interested, at first. He acts all cold and ignores pretty much everyone which scared away most of his admires. I think I might be the only one left…" She pondered this thought.

"That's fantastic dear, but if he is an asshole… why are you still interested?"

"He is not an asshole! I am sure his cold demeanor is just his way of covering up the fact that he is actually shy and not comfortable around new people! I will be sure to be there to help him make lots of friends!" Hikari patted her chest proudly, as if she was about to do the world a favor.

I laughed at her.

The warning bell rang, and Hikari and I headed for class –which we had together like always-. The way our school worked was, rather then students changing classrooms for each subject, the teachers would rotate instead.

On our way to class Hikari looked at me and asked "have you been eating right lately?" She asked, concerned.

"Yeah I have been eating fine, why?" I asked, lying. I rarely lied to Hikari, but I knew if she knew that I haven't really been eating much recently she would freak out and overreact. I simply didn't have the time at work to have big meals that's all…

"You know that you are a terrible liar right?"

"What do you mean? I am a great liar! Do you not see me on TV?" I asked, insulted.

"So you mean you admit to lying to me."

Oh shit. "uhh… Well you see Hikari, there is no need to freak, I just have been really busy lately… that's all…"

Hikari scowled, but luckily dropped the subject because we arrived at our classroom. We took our seats at the back of the class. My cell phone started to beep; a new text message. Because of my work, teachers knew not to take away my cell phone so I was free to take it out in class and read it. It was from my aunt.

I am so sorry to bother you after
we just finished the last case,
but I really need you to come to
HQ after school. It is urgent.

No! It hasn't even been twelve hours since I finished my last case (a case regarding a series of ritual kidnappings and killings, really brutal) and now they need me back there already? Usually I got called on for a case once every few months (big weird and mysterious cases don't pop out every day you know) but now this? It's not fair!

Still exhausted from my lack of sleep the night before, I barely noticed Hikari's squeaks and continuous poking, indicating the new transfer student just walked in. I looked up just long enough to notice white hair, before laying my head down on my desk and falling asleep.

I was woken up by Hikari shaking my shoulder. I shot my head up, hurried to wipe the droll off the desk and my mouth.

I noticed someone standing in front of our desks. Startling green eyes glared down at me. It was the transfer student; there was no one else it could be. One, because there is no way I wouldn't have noticed someone like him in our school, never mind our class, before. Plus, remembering what Hikari told me about him, he fit the description perfectly. Cold, mature, and different.

He looked to be a bit taller then me (defiantly shorter then Hikari). He had white hair that stuck up all over the place, some of it falling over his eyes. His eyes were an intense green. He had naturally tan skin and what looked to be a permanent furrow between his eyes (from scowling).

"Are you going to make me stand here all day while you finish whipping the droll off yourself; or are you going to give me your assignment?" he said, his voice void of any sort of emotion, other then perhaps boredom.

I turned bright red, both from being embarrassed and from anger. What a jerk!

I scrambled into my book bag and pulled out the essay that was sent home with me last week. He took it, and without saying a word, proceeded onto the next person.

"Hikari! What the hell could you possibly see in a total ass like that?! And I thought you said he didn't say a word!"

"He is not a total ass! Anyone would be upset if they had to stand around all day waiting for some girl to finish her nap so they can finish what the teacher asked of them… He usually doesn't say a word, you just must have really pissed him off I guess." She mumbled.

I scoffed. "He is an asshole and you just wait and see. In a week or so, you will be agreeing with me; like always."

Hikari ignored me and opened her notebook to continue with the picture she was drawing. It looked suspiciously like her and a certain white haired grump surrounded by hearts.

The school day passed without much incident. Since I have been excused from P.E (because of heath problems) I used the free period to work on stuff I missed the past week. I didn't see anymore of the white haired kid anywhere. He seemed to have vanished after lunch. I soon forgot about the guy as I started to wonder what my aunt needed. I pray it's nothing to annoying. Maybe its just some weird paperwork or an interview or something (stay hopeful Honoka!).

When school ended I went straight to HQ. The JNBCI Headquarters was a huge building with at least fifty floors. The outside was silver frame with tinted widows that covered most of the building and the JNBCI logo was placed on the upper left hand corner.

I wasn't sure if I hated or loved this building. I loved it because since I started working there a year ago, I have made good friends with many of the employees. Also, it was sort of cool to be a part of all that, and knowing stuff that the public couldn't know about. I hated it because of the things I had to do there. Investigate into the dark pasts of places, people and things. I still have nightmares from the last case. Plus the stress…

I walked in through the front doors (revolving doors, still are my favourite part of this building) and asked the secretary where I could find Saki Yukiko. They told me she should be in her office so I headed there.

When I got to her office, I saw her name etched on a brass plate on the door. "Chief Investigator: Tokyo" Was etched in big letters above her name. I pushed the heavy oak door open. The office was huge, but it didn't seem so because it was so jammed packed. Aunt Kiko's massive desk stood was placed against the back wall of the room, and the huge bookshelves that were built against the wall on the left. To the right there were three big filing cabinets and coat rack. Her desk was covered in paper, which was actually rare because my aunt was very picky about organization.

"Oh good you are here Honoka! I am afraid there is another case you will have to look into. This one is of great urgency and we need your help." She picked up the paper she was reading and handed it to me.

"That is the number of people reported to have committed suicide in the past week. Look at the numbers." She said gravely.

Confused, I looked at the sheet.

Monday: 10
Tuesday: 18
Wednesday: 26
Thursday: 33
Friday: 46
Saturday: 54
Sunday: 63

"That's for Tokyo alone."

"That's…" I tried to quickly do the math in my head.

"250" Aunt Kiko answered.

"That's insane, but I don't understand what this has to do with us…"

"There are too many deaths for us to brush it aside. We suspect foul play, probably some sort of cult activity. However we have not been able to get any leads at all and the number of deaths keep increasing each day. We have been paying the press a lot of money to keep quiet about all this. If this is somehow leaked out to the public, our problems would increase threefold". She said sternly.

"I won't tell anyone about this, of course." Except Hikari, and I trust her with my life, she wouldn't tell anyone. Course, to keep my aunt happy, I won't tell her that.

"Of course you won't, after all, it would affect you the most I believe." She said with a slight grin that turned out to be more of a grimace.

She was right. With a resigned sigh I asked,

"So where do you want me to begin?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So what did you guys think? Interesting? Boring? Silly? Undecided? Please let me know!

PLEASE REVIEW! Reviews are my lifeblood!