Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
AN: My first Bleach fic. Gotta start somewhere, I guess. Hahaha. Be kind.
Long Almond Hair
The little dark-haired girl sat on the steps of the clinic, watching the ghosts come and go. The sun was setting and the night chill was setting in, but she stayed on the steps, watching the street. Occasionally a ghost with long almond hair would flutter by, and the girl would stand up, tiny lunchbox in hand. "'Kaa-san?"
But every time, the ghost would turn to her and shake her head sadly. "No, I'm not your mother," they would all tell her, and continue on their way.
She wanted to cry, but she never did. 'Kaa-san would come home eventually. Sometimes the wind would smell softly of spring flowers, and the girl would stand. 'Kaa-san's perfume, 'Kaa-san's coming home. But no matter how long the girl craned her neck down the street, 'Kaa-san never came.
But every afternoon she would wait. No cartoons, no snack. She would watch the horizon, waiting for 'Kaa-san's ghost to return. There were lots of other ghosts there, why not 'Kaa-san's?
And then, one day, some almond-haired ghosts floated by, and were shocked to discover that the little girl was missing. No hopeful smile, no cheery rattle of her lunchbox handle as she stood up... nothing.
Inside, the small dark-haired girl sulked by the TV, watching her cartoons.
If ghosts were real, then 'Kaa-san's ghost would be home by now. She would be drifting through the kitchen, fixing a snack. She would float up the stairs to tuck her in at night. But 'Kaa-san never came home.
And that's what she told herself every time she saw a ghost. "You're not my 'Kaa-san, you're not real."
But even though she had stopped believing, she still flinched when the wind blew the scent of spring flowers in her face, and she still looked twice when she saw a ghost with long almond hair.