A long, dark street stretched on with only a few lamplights lit up. Dark houses loomed ahead, almost fading into the night. A few were lit up, lightly illuminating the street in light.

I walked down the street, getting spooked every now and then by random noises. As I reached a corner, I was about to take a right but I stopped. A little girl was sitting against a lamp post humming a song, and every now and then she would stop mid-hum and look at the little flower vase placed beside her. In the vase was a bouquet of tiny, baby blue perennials. I squatted down in front of her, watching her sing. She stopped mid-hum again, and as she glanced down at her vase, she noticed me. She jumped a little and stared at me curiously. I waved my hand lightly in greeting, smiling slightly at the girl as I took in her appearance.

She had brown pigtails that reached down to her shoulders, lightly touching them. She was wearing a white shirt with orange-pink stripes going across her shirt horizontally. She had on blue shorts with a pair of flip flops to complete her outfit.

The girl turned her head a little to the side like a puppy, and asked "Can you…see me?" Her voice was like a little bell, quiet but cheerful.

I nodded my head and spoke loudly. "Yep!"

The girl shuffled her feet nervously, glanced up at me, and said "Not many people can see me," she looked over at her flowers, "so I'm not used to it…"

I beamed at her and stood up from kneeling, walking up to the flowers. "So, who gave you the pretty flowers?"

Her eyes widened for a moment before glittering happily and she chirped "Ichigo gave them to me!"

It was my turn to turn my head to the side slightly. I looked at her curiously and spoke in a nonchalant manner. "Is he this tall," I raised my hand up as far as I could reach, which isn't very far because I'm short, "has spiky, orange hair and chocolate brown eyes?"

The girl beamed and nodded, but stopped after a moment and spoke up with a grin. "Ichigo is taller than that!"

I was annoyed. 'He's even taller?' I pushed my shoulder length, midnight black hair to the side in frustration, black strands that got loose lightly fell over my eyes. I put up a fake smile and asked. "Do you know where Ichigo's house is? I'm kinda lost!" I rubbed the back of my head, embarrassed over my predicament.

She leapt up to her feet and pointed around the corner she was on, to the left. "Go down the street a little and take a right at that stop sign. He should live around two or three houses down that street on the right."

I nodded my thanks but I couldn't resist asking. "But how do you know where to go if you're…" I trailed off, suddenly feeling uncomfortable talking to the spirit.

Luckily though, she finished the sentence for me "Stuck here?" I nodded and she huffed indignantly, putting her hands on her hips. "Is there something wrong with me asking him?" I shook my head hurriedly and waved goodbye as I walked away quickly.

It took me a few minutes to follow her directions before I walked up to Ichigo's tan house. As I walked past the front, above two glass doors, a sign read Internal Medicine Pediatrics Kurosaki Clinic. I walked past their clinic doors and around a bend into a driveway with two parking lots. I walked up to the brown gate and pushed open one of its sides and walked up the sidewalk to the door. I rang the doorbell and stood there patiently for a few seconds until I heard a noise.

A loud shout could be heard from above my head and I looked up to see a dark shape on the balcony. It leapt off and hollered "Page~!" I nimbly stepped out of the way as the shape crashed onto the ground, the figure was sprawled out. I blinked in surprise and leaned forward, muttering, "Uncle Isshin…?" The figure leaped up from their position and I looked at them.

A tall man in his forties hovered over me. He had dark brown hair that slightly spiked in the front and dark, chocolate brown eyes. He was in tan pants with a white jacket covering a large, green t-shirt that said in black lettering 'I'm big, I'm bad, and I'm an awesome Dad!' His eyes were wet with happy tears as he attempted to give me a huge hug.

I sighed and, after dodging a few times from his embrace, let him hug me, watching as more figures came to the door. A small girl with short, light brown hair and similar chocolate brown eyes stepped up to the door. She wore a green hooded sweatshirt and a white cooking apron. She also wore a red hairclip on the left side of her head. Another girl with short, black hair came up behind her with an indifferent look upon her face. She was wearing a white t-shirt with short, black sleeves on it and crimson red shorts.

After a few seconds, I couldn't breathe well from my uncle's death hug. My face slowly started to turn purple as I attempted to gasp for breath. I sent a pleading look over to the girls at the doorway as I tried to pry myself away.

The indifferent girl sighed as Isshin continued to fawn over me, oblivious to my suffocating. "Dad, you do realize she can't breathe right? Oh yeah, by the way, hi Page. Long time no see."

Isshin continued hugging me happily, seemingly in his own world as he took in another 'daughter' of his own.

The blonde girl shuffled nervously, gripping her cooking spoon tightly as she shouted "Dad let her go!" Isshin finally released me and I took a deep inhale of breath, filling my lungs that were practically screaming for air.

After a few moments of inhaling and exhaling, I looked up and smiled cheerily at the girls in front of me. I looked towards the relaxed, dark haired girl. "Hey Karin, sup?" and turned to the blonde with a thankful look. "Thanks Yuzu, you saved me there." I walked up to them and Yuzu hugged me tightly while Karin friendlily patted me on the shoulder. Suddenly, I smelled cooking inside and my mouth instantly watered. I haven't eaten since I left my house, which was eight hours away!

My stomach growled loudly and my cheeks turned pink in embarrassment. Yuzu giggled. "Do you want to have dinner with us?"

I nodded hastily in agreement, my small blush slowly fading as I beamed. "I would love to!"

Karin let out a large sigh. "Can we just go in now, this atmosphere feels kinda awkward." I laughed loudly, and we walked inside with Isshin trailing behind us silently like a lost puppy.

The walls were a creamy white color and the floor was a shiny, dark brown, wooden floor. As we entered the hallway, on the immediate right was the kitchen, and on the left was the living room, which had a small sofa, a little T.V. and a coffee table that was only around two or three feet high.

Without a second glance, I walked straight into the kitchen. A medium sized, light brown table sat in the middle of the room with a wooden counter on the side, behind that counter was another counter that held a black microwave with a toaster sitting beside it. Above it were four little glass cabinets that held all the dishes and a little drawer was underneath it, most likely holding cooking utensils because all the way to the left was a large pot on a stainless steel stove.

Isshin continued to trail after me silently while Yuzu went up to the pot and took a bowl. Karin sat down comfortably at the table. I realized they were about to eat when I came to their home because Yuzu served six bowls. I blinked in confusion. 'Six…?' I thought quietly to myself. Curious, I asked, "Yuzu, why is there six bowls? There's only Uncle Isshin, you, Karin, Ichigo, and I eating," I was counting off the names on my fingers and realized, "by the way, where is Ichigo?"

Isshin chuckled a little bit and made his presence known as he spoke. "He's upstairs, with his friend that's staying over for the night, dinner's ready though, so they should be coming down soon."

I grinned happily. "I can go get them!" Before anyone said anything, I started heading upstairs.

Once I reached the top, I took a right into Ichigo's room and froze in surprise. A short girl (I always focus on heights since a lot of people tease me about my height) with short black hair and dark eyes stood before me. She was wearing the school uniform from what looked like Ichigo's school. But that's not what shocked me. What startled me was that Ichigo, my tall, spiky, orange-haired cousin, was slumped down on the ground with the girl's foot on his head.

I watched them in confusion as the girl shoved a piece of paper in front of his face and shouted "My drawings are superb! How dare you insult them?"

Ichigo mumbled "All I said was that you needed drawing lessons…" as he struggled to get up. But the girl wouldn't let him rise. Instead, she pushed his head closer to the ground and continued to yell at him in a rage.

I cleared my throat, still staring at the odd events happening in front of me. The girl looked up and noticed me, then looked back down at my cousin, who was still face-down on the ground. "Ichigo, who is this?"

She lifted her foot off of his head and he sat up with his legs crossed, rubbing his head in pain. He glanced up at me and lifted his hand in greeting. "Hey Page."

I blinked a couple of times, still in slight shock, and replied "Hey Ichigo, who's this?"

He nonchalantly stood up and gestured at the girl. "This is Rukia, a friend of mine; she doesn't have a place to stay so she's staying at our house."

I nodded and jerked my thumb behind me, pointing towards the hall. "Dinner's ready." Ichigo and Rukia followed me downstairs and we had beef stew. While we ate, we chatted about random things and basically caught up, though the girl, Rukia, ate quietly and didn't speak much.

Ichigo went back to his room and, after excusing herself politely, Rukia followed. I looked towards Isshin, "Where can I sleep tonight?"

Before he could answer, Karin hastily grabbed my arm and led me upstairs. We walked past Ichigo's room and went to the next door. She grabbed the handle and swung the door open. Inside was a neat room, with a desk near the window and a bed on the right side of the room. Across from the bed, a dresser stood with tiny, intricate carvings of vines curling along the edges of the wood. About four or five feet away from it, a tiny closet was open, empty on the inside. Little accessories decorated the room, like a small radio on the desk and a little T.V. that hung across the room from my bed. A phone was placed on the desk also, along with an alarm clock that said it was 10:30 p.m.

I thanked Karin as she left and shut the door lightly behind her, leaving it about half a foot open. It took me about ten minutes to unpack the small amount of stuff I brought with me and I plopped onto the bed with a sigh escaping my lips.

I thought about the recent things that have happened to me. My dad disappeared, leaving a note saying to stay over Uncle Isshin's house. Usually he tells me when he's going away, though I don't know where he disappears to. I asked him about it once, but he merely dodged the question and changed the subject.

I normally only visit my relatives once, maybe twice, a year. Each time I visit them, Ichigo is taller than the time before. He teases me about my height which is, last time I checked, about up to his chest. I'm 4'4" and…well, Ichigo caught me reading a book once on how, if you sleep well, you'll grow. I swear I think that was one of the most embarrassing moments in my life, and that was the turning point when he started teasing me endlessly about my height. Even though I was his age, sixteen, he would walk up to me and ruffle my hair playfully as if I was a little kid! I was still thinking about strawberries and my height when I slowly fell asleep in my bed.