Today is my birthday. I don't have to hunt down or tend to hollows. I don't have to do anything I don't want to. I was promised I would have the best birthday ever and I hope that promise isn't a lie.
"See you later Ichigo!" Orihime called as she and the rest of her friends left the doors of the school. "Oh, and Happy Birthday again!"
"Thanks!" The teen called back happily. Ichigo was quite happier than usual. He smiled all day today and laughed goofed around and all. The teen even passed a pop quiz today. Ichigo was glad to be having a good birthday so far and that's all he wanted. Ichigo did have to work though, and he didn't mind. Although he wishes he could've been a stocker instead of a cashier. Some people can be very rude and ungrateful; the only thing that kept him from quitting was the good pay other than that he would've told everyone to go fuck themselves. The teen walked to the side of the school where he hid his bike in the bushes. Ichigo paddled away down to Amherst Street.
"Hey Ichigo! You decided to come to work today!" Jazzy called waving her hands back and forth.
Jazzy is a 16 year old girl who's always positive and peppy. She works at Wegman's with me and always lectures me about being grumpy all the time. Over the months I've been working with her she seems to have befriended me. Even though I rarely ever talk about myself and yet she knows me quite well. But I must admit she makes coming to work worthwhile.
"Oh hey Jazzy how are you today!" Ichigo chirped
"Oooo there's something different about you today." Jazzy muttered as she studied the vibrant haired male, stroking her chin. "I know you're happy! Oh and I didn't say those two special words...so Happy Birthday!"
"Thanks, it means a lot that you remembered." The teen chuckled. "I should get to work talk to you later."
Ichigo made his way to lane 28 to take his shift. "I can help whose next over here!" The teen called. And his lane filled up instantly. Was it because he was happy today or because he was super attractive, either or was fine.
"Hi how are you?" Ichigo asked the young woman who was first in line while scanning her items.
"Good, how about you?"
"Good thanks for asking, that'll be fifteen-eighty-two." Ichigo chirped.
As the time went by Ichigo's lane never emptied there was always a line. No one would go to any other lanes. And truly he thought everyone who was in line really didn't need half of the items they were buying.
"Ok, everyone else has to go to a different lane my shifts over!" Ichigo announced as he took his last customer.
There's was an echo of disappointed sighs as his line disappeared.
As the teen went into the staff room and gathered his things and checked out, he could hear Jazzy's loud energetic voice calling his name, although muffled by the door. Ichigo exited the staff room and went to locate Jazzy.
"Ichigo, there you are I've been looking all over for you!"
"What do you need?' Ichigo asked.
"Boss wants to see you." Jazzy answered. "He said he wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, ok thanks see you Monday."
What did the boss want with me? He never wants to talk to me good or bad, well he did want to talk to him about bad things such as getting into arguments with fellow emploies. The teen walked to the bosses mahogany door with a golden name plate screwed on it.
"Uh... ?"
"Ah, Kurosaki there you are. I have some good news for you." Mr. Greyson chirped as he ushered Ichigo to one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Your performance today was outstanding...your cash register was filled with more than $300."
"...Sorry?" The teen answered.
"No need to be sorry, your performance today has earned you a raise."
"Really, thanks." Ichigo chirped
"Here take this."
"$200?" Ichigo asked looking at his pay check.
"For your raise, which is now $50 an hour; and for your
Birthday is the extra money." Mr. Greyson answered happily
"Thank you...it means a lot."
"Have a nice day, Ichigo."
The ride home seemed to take forever...like everything was going in slow motion. But something didn't feel right, something made the teens stomach churn.
He could see figures in the shadows, watching his every move. Whispers in his head telling him he's in danger. The teen was now standing up walking down the sidewalk...where was he going? Everything's spinning, his thoughts dissolving, his sight blurring, whispers taunting, his stomach churning. Everything is happening so fast the teen's brain couldn't register anything. It was like his body was acting on his own, and the ten was getting frightened by the second.
The teen falls on his hands and knees vomiting up a dark red liquid. The teen stands up holding on to a light post, everything in front of him speeding up going around in circles the whispers growing louder, he's getting light headed he's running out of air. Why is he running out of air? Why is he in danger? What's happening? Why can't he breathe?
"Sir...Sir...Sir are you all right? Can you hear me?"
"Mmm...wha...where..." Ichigo stammered as he fluttered his eyes open.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" A raspy voice asked holding some fingers up.
"Five." Ichigo answered sitting up. "Where am I?"
"This is my house." The old man answered.
"What happened...how much time has passed?"
"Well, by the looks of it you vomited up some blood ...and passed out on my lawn."
"Blood...that's not normal...right?" Ichigo asked looking at the elder.
"No it isn't son...what's your name?"The elder chuckled.
"Ichigo...how long has it been?" Ichigo asked.
"I'm Grandpa Jack, it's been five minutes." He answered giving Ichigo his bag.
"Maybe you should stay for a couple minutes."
"No, I have to get home." Ichigo mumbled
"But-"
"Thank you for your help...but I'd better get home." Ichigo chirped as he shuffled off of the couch and out the front door.
The teen ran all the way home...really wanting to be safe from the outside world. And still he was rather baffled by the events.
Ichigo pulled his keys out of his pocket and opened the door and entered the dark house flicking on the light as he entered.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
"You guys didn't!" Ichigo gasped as he marveled the sight. Streamers, confetti, balloons, presents cards guests, oh it was such a wonderful sight.
"There's nothing like a surprise Birthday party." Rukia chirped.
Ichigo received 'happy birthdays' and 'how are you doing' etc, and was having quite a good time. But he knew he didn't see his sisters or his dad...they probably was going to let him have a party with his friends and one with them the next day. They had already wished him a happy birthday this morning before he left for school and Yuzu made cupcakes and put a candle in one made especially for Ichigo, so it was a mini party. They were really thoughtful especially when it came to his birthday.
"Do you like your party?" Orihime asked
"Yes, I like it very much...and I'm having lots of fun." Ichigo replied
"Birthday boy, you owe me some hits!"
"I'll talk to you later." Orihime chirped.
"One." The male counted as he punched Ichigo n his arm.
"Renji, you're punching hard!"The teen whined rubbing his arm.
"Tuff up, I still have 17 more to go." Renji chuckled
"Ha-ha."
"Renji give him a break, it's his Birthday." Byakuya intervened. "Happy Birthday by the way."
"Thanks."Ichigo chirped. "I'll get it"
The teen left his company to answer the door, but to see nothing but the dimly lit street. Was he just hearing things? No, he couldn't have... because Renji and Byakuya heard it too.
The teen stepped outside of his house and examined the cool dark night. "Hello? Anyone out here?" There was no response just utter silence, and the small sound of the cool night air blowing.
The young male felt a chill start from his spine and take a course through his whole body, as he heard movement towards the side of his house. Ichigo turned and looked but saw nothing but their rusty garbage can and their backyard. The young male shrugged and headed back into the house only to freeze when he heard clattering and the sound of objects hitting the concrete. Ichigo glance cautiously in the direction of the ruckus. Was there someone over there after all?
As more sounds occurred the male began to falter, turning towards the sounds stepping forward then faltering even more as he neared the edge of his moved closer to the wall and began taking smaller steps as he began to have second thoughts about checking out all of those sounds. What if it was a murder or something like that? He could be killed easily. When he reaches the corner he peeks around to see if there was any figure, waiting to commit cold blooded murder.
"Boo!"
"Jeez, Renji that's not funny!" Ichigo growled as he turned towards his friend standing behind him.
"You're out here missing your own party." Renji chuckled. "And you're so easy to scare"
"No cake for you." Ichigo sneered as he shoved his friend out of the way and entered his house.
"Do you like your party?" Rukia asked the young male once he took a sip from his red cup.
"Very much, are you having fun?"
"Yes, I think everyone is. We're all glad to see you happy." Rukia chirped.
"There's the Birthday Boy." Yoruichi called as she walked over to Ichigo. "I've never seen you smile so much in one day."
"Well, I'm just happier than normal, to tell the truth."
"I'm-"
"Hey Ichigo wanna have a drinking contest?" Renji called, cutting Yoruichi off.
"Yeah...sure."
"Let's go then! If you're not in the living room at... let's see... 7:15 I'm playing with someone else." Renji called as he left the kitchen.
"No need to say anything you've got lots company to entertain." Yoruichi chuckled
"Thanks; could you fill my cup with water, I'm going to need it later."Ichigo asked.
"Yeah, no problem."Yoruichi answered
"I'm coming with you I want to see who wins."Rukia called tailing Ichigo.
"Go Ichigo!"
"Go Renji!"
Guest cheered as the two sat across from each other guzzling down a bottle of vodka. Ichigo choking every here and there and Renji spilled some here and there.
Ichigo slammed his empty glass bottle on the table and shouted "Done!"
Renji finished shortly after.
"Jeez, how do drink that stuff so fast?"
"Practice." Ichigo chirped as he as he turned to Yoruichi and asked her about the water and then stumbling into the kitchen. The young male took a sip of the cool refreshing water to keep the alcohol from taking over, and headed back into the living room to gloat about his victory.
"So you won." Rukia called as she ran over to the male as he finished off his water.
"Yeah, you sound like you doubted my skills." Ichigo chuckled.
"Actually, I did." Rukia babbled." I never knew you were an alcoholic...that's the correct term right?"
But the male didn't hear anything after "actually, I did." In fact he couldn't hear anything, not the loud music, the chatter or laughter, just dead silence. The male's sight began to blur and his stomach began to churn. He could feel a bountiful amount of liquid rushing up his esophagus. Ichigo bolted to the garbage can in the kitchen and spewed up a dark red liquid. Why was this happening to him? It's abnormal to throw up blood.
The male remembered he did this on the way home so to be told by Grandpa Jack. He felt horribly nauseous and it felt like his body was going numb. His brain felt like pins and needles were penetrating the soft muscle. The male puked up more blood and Rukia witnessed.
"Ichigo, what's going on? Are you okay? Why are you vomiting up blood?" Rukia cried. "Urahara!"
"What's the problem?" Urahara asked as he entered the kitchen fanning him-self.
"Something's wrong with Ichigo... he's vomiting blood?" Rukia stated
"I'm not quite sure, but I'm positive he's ill." Urahara answered as he examined the male who began spewing up more blood. And turning paler each time he did.
"Renji!"
"Yeah...! Oh what's up with him?" Renji asked as he saw the younger male cradled in Rukia's arms.
"He's ill. I need you to carry him to the car."Rukia answered as she looked at the redhead.
The redhead took the younger male in his arms and exited the front door causing the party to come to halt immediately. Seeing that their host was terribly sick, and suffering dearly.
"What's wrong with Ichigo?" Orihime asked.
"He doesn't look to well."Ishida mumbled
I could list what every single thing everyone who was at the party whispered to their neighbor, or stared in awe. Like Yoruichi went to talk to Urahara and Chad just watched in amazement and so on.
"Renji you can drive." Rukia stated as she hoped in the back of Renji's car sitting next to Ichigo who was breathing heavily.
"Ichigo can you hear me?"
The young male saw Rukia's mouth move but didn't hear anything...just like he couldn't hear anything when he was in the house. He couldn't speak either; it was like his throat had been scorched by flames. And his body was blazing and aching all over. What was wrong with him...why was he feeling like this? He just wanted it to end...he didn't want to suffer nausea and burning or aching. The young male had to focus on something besides fatigue because he feared if he closed his eyes he may never open them again. He just needed to until he got to the hospital right? He can manage that... more than likely to.
"Get him to the ER, we need to determine his illness, quickly!"
"Be sure to keep him awake!"
"Get the poison specialist!"
The young male was in a hospital bed in seconds with dozens of doctors' nurses and specialist operating on him. They had all kind of tools determining if he was poisoned or, had some disease and what not. The male stays conscious long enough to see scalpels and other tools placed by a doctor. They weren't going to cut in him were they? At least not while he was awake... he was in enough pain. Ichigo's brain began to burn and it felt like it was imploding or exploding in areas and being drowned by the blood.
"You must stay awake! Tell me your name." One of the nurses stated as Ichigo began to drift off into unconsciousness.
"We need to work fast his Nervous system has begun to shut down."
"His heart rate is decreasing."
"Start drawing blood, we need to know he's what virus may have formed." "15...14, we don't have time to draw blood, we must make him stable. Along with he needs that blood to survive right now."
"He's dying... put him on a life support system, stat.' A doctor gasped as she examined the male.
"Do you feel any pain?"
"Mmm...my...my...head." Ichigo forced out.
"Can you hear me?"The nurse asked as the doctors hooked Ichigo up to a life support.
'A-a...a...little..."
"What do you mean?"The nurse asked trying to keep Ichigo conscious.
"I... can hear...a-a ...little." Ichigo murmured.
"He's all set."
"His heart rate is returning to normal."
"Let's take those blood samples now."
"Your son isn't...doesn't have a super chance of surviving." A doctor sighed as she reviewed her papers.
"There isn't a...cure or a chance?"
"Sadly, whatever your son ingested is not known. Meaning it's not a rare, uncommon, common, or even somewhat studied. We even had poison experts examine his blood...but... they said it wasn't any type of poison known to man.. And he's having an immense amount of pain...and abnormal sickness. Whatever your son ingested is working fast killing all of his needed cells as well as shutting down his nervous system. It might be a virus or disease but we are still working on identifying it. But he does have a very slim chance of surviving."
"H-how... long does he have?"
"Seven hours at the most... maybe less."
"Can he have visitors?"
Yes...I'll be in the room next-door if you need me."
Why? Why am I on the verge of death? How did this even happen? The doctors keep talking about viruses, disease, and death... I don't even know why I'm in so much pain. I can't hear, see too well, my whole body isn't functioning correctly. What did I ingest? I drank some Vodka and water, no one touched the vodka but me and... Yoruichi wouldn't poison me. I asked her to fill my cup with water but she wouldn't poison me. Would she?
The male was now in tears, wailing silently. Why am I dying on my birthday? It was going so well and... and I was happy for once. But that's not fair... I can't die on the day I was born? Who would do this to me? Put me through so much pain and suffering... knowing it would kill me.
"Don't cry Ichigo... you'll be okay." Yuzu mumbled trying to
comfort her older brother.
"I hope so." Ichigo murmured.
"You will be okay because you are strong and a fighter." Renji assured
"Yeah Ichigo, I know you're going to be fine." Karin added.
"It's not fair. It's my Birth Day. I'm not supposed to be in a hospital bed... Ow..."
"Ichigo what's wrong?"
"My... my... head." Ichigo murmured as he groaned in pain.
"Orihime go get the doctor!" Rukia commanded
The dark night sky that is lit by the moon and stars makes everything seem okay when everything isn't. Me, I'm lying in a bed waiting for death... I'm not afraid though. But just because I'm not afraid to die doesn't mean I want to. I can't believe I ingested a virus of some sort at my party, and the thing is I don't know who did it. Yoruichi wouldn't do something like that to me. She treats me as her son... I run to her when I have things on my mind, I mean I talk to my dad too but sometimes he doesn't understand.
Now that I think about it, what happened to my bike? I had it before I passed out no I had before I started walking... but my body was moving on its own. I didn't see it anywhere. I wonder why the doctors can't identify my illness. What if... it was an enemy out of my normal life. Maybe that's why the doctors can't identify the illness. Since it came from outside of this normal world we live in.
Sooooooo do you like? Does anyone know how old Ichigo is in this fanfic? Leave reviews or I'll think it sucks eggs. But if you don't like something you can let me know1 Tune in next time!