Awake
ichigo/tsubasa
Rating: T/M
Genre: Romance/Drama
Pairings/Characters: IchiSaku(Tsubasa);
Canon/Timeline: AU before Bleach vol 1;
.ghost stories;
It was no news for him, who was used to see spirits ever since he was little, to talk to them, to interact with them; As the years went by, he started liking them a bit more, even though he didn't know why they disappeared, why there were blood stains on the floor, as if something very wrong had happened.
The spirits of kids and old aged people were the ones he talked the most.
Until someday, when he was 15, he found a girl about his age.
She was using a different school uniform - she wasn't from that part of the city - and the chain in her chest looked bigger than the others he had ever seen.
In fact, it didn't looked broken, just invisible, even for the girl herself, where this chain would go. But the thing is, Ichigo and this girl started to form a bond.
She would help him with the other spirits, and would be waiting for him in the very same spot everyday. They would talk until before the twilight all the afternoons about anything. Even the bruises he got from the fights with some thugs from his school, thanks to his colorful orange hair.
Her name was Tsubasa. It was all she could remember in the beginning.
One day, he asked what happened to her, for the girl to be in that state, in spirit form.
Besides, for an spirit, Tsubasa was the only one he knew that was lasting for so long, that didn't disappear all out of sudden or was attacked. Ichigo didn't understand that, but he was thankful for Tsubasa being there.
"What happened to you, to be like 'this'?"
"I don't know well... All I can remember is crossing a very crowded street. Suddenly, I couldn't see anything else. When I woke up, I was here."
A car accident, maybe...? - The boy thought, narrowing his eyes.
"And this chain? Did you try to see where it leads?"
"Ah, this is...! Eh, ano, I don't know very well... I've never tried before..."
"We could try today. What about that?"
"But like this? All of sudden?!" - she asked, looking a little scared.
He held her hand gently, feeling her warmth, not caring for the people in the streets, seeing him "alone".
"C'mon. I will guide you back." - he smirked, and she smiled back, blushing a little.
He was surprised to see that her chain leaded Tsubasa as far as the local hospital;
Her body and soul are still connected.
Ichigo tried to ask for info at the reception, to know if she was a patient there or someone with her name.
"Ah, you're talking about the Kinomoto patient, right? She's been here for almost two months." - the nurse informed him, and the boy looked shocked when he knew the truth about Tsubasa - "Are you her friend? There's still time for visits, her father and brother should be in the here soon, too."
He was left alone for some minutes with her, and he could finally see the girl for what she was: deeply asleep, with no help from medical instruments. The only ones were monitorating her heartbeats - The sound of it indicating her heartbeats, without much change.
At first, Tsubasa looked at herself with a mixture of sadness, surprise and grief, because even though she was linked to that body, she couldn't return to it.
It was like she was rejecting herself.
Ichigo offered comfort, then;
"Hey, no problem. One hour or another you will wake up, you'll see."
"Are you sure?" - she said, almost crying.
"Of course I have. You are still alive, you'll be back soon, Tsubasa."
"Then I will talk with Ichigo-kun in person instead of giving you problems for being... Like this!"
"There's no problem in talking to you the way you are, you know that."
"But the people in the streets..."
"Whatever, then. You are my friend, Tsubasa. I won't stop talking with a friend because of what the others think." - he affirmed, scratching his neck a little, and looked away for a moment, feeling something warm in his chest.
"Thank you... Ichigo-kun. Really... Thank you very much!"
The bond between them was getting stronger everyday; Seeing her smile after a hard day in school always made him feel better. Ichigo felt like he needed her, her presence, to keep him strong and going on.
It was from her that he got the biggest incentives. And he said, proudly, how his grades were going up, much to his teachers and some schoolmate's dismay, despite his appearence and looks - like a delinquent, they always said.
About the time he met Chad, some weeks after her spirit disappeared, much to his despair.
He went to the hospital, to see what happened to her, if was everything okay, and was relived when he saw she was still breathing, still sleeping depply.
Maybe her spirit went back to her body, just like he said it would happen;
Eventually, he got to know her family: the father, Fujitaka, a sympatic, gentle man with glasses and teacher in the local university, and the older brother, Touya, who disliked him immediatly.
"It's good to know that Tsubasa has more friends to come visit her. Maybe, this way, she can wake up sooner then we expect it?" - the older man said with a sad smile.
"I'm still aganist it and still think it won't work." - Touya said, grumpy, and Fujitaka laughed about his son's implication with Ichigo - or with any other boy who came near Tsubasa.
"Don't say that, Touya-kun. Your sister may end up hearing and be sad with you."
"Tch."
From that day on, Ichigo got Fujitaka's permission to see Tsubasa anytime and anyday he wanted to.
And so Ichigo did that.