Hello everyone! :) I wrote this story mainly because I wanted to try my hand at a first-person POV, since it seems to be really interesting to write. Also, it's because I recently discovered the awesomeness that is BLEACH! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!
… (cough) Anyways, please read and tell me what you think! Constructive criticism would be a great help! ^^
*Edit: 12/26/12
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Every story begins somewhere, and I suppose that mine began waaaaaay back on my first day in Karakura.
I can still remember some of the random, mundane details, even now -how those deep forest-green trees lining the asphalt road blurred past so quickly, the thousands of leaves upon its branches catching and reflecting the bright sun. How they rustled together whenever there was a passing breeze, how those stunningly breathtaking multitudes of gleaming emeralds glinted, twirled...
... I never realized it back then, but everything began on that day.
Everything.
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Ch 1 : Unlucky
"When are we getting there? I'm bored!"
High-pitched, annoying whining. I yawned.
"I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored!"
... Correction: high-pitched, annoying shrieking.
"Patience is a virtue," I finally muttered, tearing my gaze away from the car window, away from the tall trees and dancing leaves. Beautiful moments never lasted very long... and the blessed silence that had lasted a record time of three seconds was abruptly broken by another ear-splitting caterwaul.
"Mom! Dad! Tsuyu is being mean to me again!" The volume of my little half-sister's irritating voice turned up another notch, and I inwardly winced. I never even knew that this octave was even humanly possible. "Make her stop!"
"Yeah, yeah, she's always picking on us and dropping snide comments!" Great, the other one was joining in too.
Ugh. Cue incoming headache.
"Alright, that's enough!" My mother's voice somehow, miraculously, managed to be heard over the clamor being raised by the two kids in the back of the car, "We don't need to start off in a bad mood when we're moving in to a new house! Nyoko, Seiji, settle down... and Tsuyu, be nicer to your younger siblings."
I sighed.
The two of them high-fived each other, and my little seven year old half-brother stuck his tongue out, pulling down an eyelid with one hand and making a face at me. Nyoko just giggled, her hazel eyes screwed shut in triumphant laughter.
Nyoko took after our mother, stringy light brown hair and all. The pink-flowered dress she'd gotten during her nine year old birthday party last month was getting crumpled as she squirmed in the back seat with Seiji, the two of them growing restless from the five hour drive.
(Truth be told, I was starting to feel a little restless, too.)
Seiji... how do I describe Seiji? He was almost a carbon copy of my stepfather, complete with the same short dark hair and glossy raven eyes. My mother loved to dote on her 'adorable little angels', which, in my personal opinion, wasn't exactly a bonus in regards to their 'high and mighty' attitude.
Then again, the two of them probably just disliked me because they picked it up from my stepfather. It was no secret in our family that he held a great deal of distaste toward me, mainly because I was... well, wasn't your average teenager. I was different. Unusual.
... Okay, I'll be blunt. What were the words that he'd used to describe me, so long ago...?
Ah, yes.
I'm a freak.
The signs had always been there, even during my childhood. When I was small, I'd made a pillow self-destruct on its own. My mother had been absolutely terrified as a witness, watching the feathers fly everywhere all over the house...
I think that little episode was what had warranted me a trip to the doctor's office for the first time.
Long story short, I'd been diagnosed with a load of mental disabilities by the doctor, who also claimed that I was simultaneously suffering through depression from losing my father at such a young age. These factors, all combined and twisted together, were what had resulted in the strange symptom of psychokinesis... mixed with a dash of hallucinations. After all, what normal girl saw people with chains dangling from their chests, wandering down the streets?
He'd assured my mother that all this was only temporary, and I would be back to normal soon.
... I don't think I'd ever been normal, but that doesn't really matter now, does it? I never 'recuperated', as the doctor so kindly put it.
I nearly gave my stepfather a heart attack back when he was still in the middle of dating my mom.
She'd invited him to our cramped apartment for dinner one night, years ago, and had told me to be on my best behavior. As an innocent little six year-old at the time, I'd firmly wanted to make a good impression on the 'nice man taking care of mommy'.
... My perception of entertainment obviously differed from his, though, since he'd knocked over and spilled most of the food on the table when I started levitating spoons.
It had taken a whole lot of begging and explaining on my mother's part after he panicked and ran out the door, desperately trying to get him to calm down, to listen to her, to please not leave her alone.
I remember sitting numbly at the table, my mind shutting down and going into shock from the unadulterated disgust and fear I'd seen in his eyes.
Even as time passed, after he came back to finish dinner, and eventually married my mother... no matter how cleverly disguised and well-hidden it was nowadays, I could always see those same emotions running through his eyes whenever he looked at me.
Always.
... That had been the first time my mother hit me, and it most certainly hadn't been the last, either. I think I'd finally realized at some point around then that I was losing my mother.
After my real father had left, she'd changed radically, turning into an entirely different person. I hadn't thought too much of it at first, as she'd always said that she was completely fine, and that we were better off without him. But looking back, maybe that was when something fragile inside her finally snapped.
Sometimes, I loathed my father for leaving us, but at other times, I just wished that he'd come back and let everything go back to what it was like before.
It was a fool's hope.
My mother had told me once before that I looked a lot like my biological father. The one that abandoned us and went somewhere 'dangerous'. I don't remember too much about him, just a few blurry details. She'd said that I had the same auburn hair as him, spiked a little in the same manner, and the same pale blue eyes -"Eyes that were like two chips of ice."
I brushed a few stray strands of hair out of my face, grimacing lightly when it just slid back to its former position.
"Guess I'll just have to grow it out..." I fiddled with the ends idly, trying to distract myself and move my mind onto other thoughts.
"Alright, gang, we're here!" My stepfather called out, drawing a cheer from my two half-siblings as he turned the corner. "Karakura at last! Whew, that was quite the long drive, wasn't it?"
It was a quaint little place, I suppose. The neighborhood seemed to be pretty nice and orderly, quiet and peaceful... dare I say, inviting and friendly? There was a sort of idyllic aura that the place was saturated with, which succeeded in bringing a good mood to my family.
"Our house should be around here somewhere." He drove the black car down one of the smaller streets branching onto the sides, "It's actually supposed to be next to a home-run clinic, so it shouldn't be too hard to find..."
"Ooh, it looks so nice around here!" Nyoko exclaimed, jumping up and down in her seat, no longer able to repress her bubbling excitement. "Look! Look! All these houses look much better than the one we lived in before! I really, really like this place!"
"Hey, is that a park?" Seiji suddenly pressed his face to the car window, eyes shining with a flushed sort of longing, "Mom, dad, can we please go? They've got swings over there! We hardly see any of those! Please, pretty please?"
"Well, what do you think, Kaede?" My stepfather chuckled at the children's jubilant antics, "We're pretty early right now, since we got here before the moving truck. I think that we've got some time for a little impromptu family outing."
"Alright, then." My mother smiled at him adoringly, going along with his words, "I suppose we do deserve a break, don't we?"
"Yay!" The two hyper kids high-fived each other, bouncing and laughing together.
... I didn't belong in this picture. Never did, never will. As excited chatter began building in the car again as my stepfather turned the steering wheel and began heading towards the park Seiji had pointed out earlier, I focused on looking out the window at the street signs again, blotting out the uncomfortable sensation rising in my chest.
There was no place in a perfect family for a freak.
"Hey, um..." I bit my lip slightly, tugging down the corner of the white T-shirt I was wearing, with one hand. This shirt, the one with swirling red patterns reminiscent of flower petals, was one my mother had worn in her teenage years. I didn't like using my stepfather's money.
I coughed a little, trying to get my family's attention, "I'll go take a look around town or something while you guys go to the park, alright?"
At that suggestion, my mother turned around in her seat to fix me with a tentatively worried look. "Are you sure? We don't get many opportunities to be together like this..."
I don't blame her for trying to incorporate me into the family, but all of her plans had ended up just making things awkward for the entire family instead, me included... sometimes lasting for days on an end.
"If she wants to explore Karakura, I think we should let her." My stepfather suddenly said, adding in his input. "She's a big girl now, right? All high school kids need some independence from their parents."
Obviously, he didn't want me to be there, either. He didn't want a freak to be a part of his ideal life.
My psychokinesis hadn't faded over the years like the doctor claimed it would -if anything, it had gotten stronger. I had a sneaking suspicion that my stepfather knew I constantly experimented with my psychokinesis, but that subject was considered taboo in this household.
Besides, he didn't want his kids to become aware of the family freak's freakiness.
"You can head home without me when you're done, I can ask around for directions." I mumbled as I climbed out of the car, my stepfather having already pulled over to the curb as soon as the suggestion had left my mouth, ".. See y'all later."
The summer heat was cooling down rapidly in the evening, and I was hit with a particularly chilly breeze as soon as I stepped out onto the sidewalk. Maybe those black denim shorts weren't a good idea, after all... but then again, it wasn't like I had much choice for my clothes in the first place, anyways.
"So... where to?"
I began walking aimlessly down the road I'd been dropped off at, my eyes flickering over the new, unfamiliar surroundings that I would have to associate with 'home' from now on. There wasn't anything particular I had in mind to do, really, I just wanted to get away from my family while they were having their precious 'bonding time'.
There were lots of people up and about despite the hours growing late, children running around in the streets, little girls playing hopscotch, groups of boys huddled together playing marbles... Their parents were gathered together a little ways off to the side, chatting amicably with each other as they watched over their kids affectionately.
The irony of this is just killing me.
"RUN!"
My head snapped up at the sudden scream, eyes tracking the small boy tearing around the end of the street, a panicked look deeply etched into his face. Feet pounding hard against the ground, he sprinted toward the heartwarming families, who-... didn't seem to have heard him...?
I frowned a little in confusion, until I noticed the pain protruding from his chest. But... usually, the hallucinations just meandered around the streets, so why was this one-
"RUN! It's coming!" There were tears leaking from the corners of the boy's eyes as he yelled desperately, but everyone remained oblivious to his shouts.
I'm not sure what made me walk up to him. A whim? An instinct? I'm not sure what made me respond at all, but... my hallucinations had never done this before. And even though I knew that this was all just a hallucination, just another trick my already messed up mind was playing on me, it just seemed so... so real. It was so real that I couldn't just ignore it like all those times I'd done in the past, and this one was just a kid, and... and...
Running the risk of making myself into the new laughingstock of the town, I began talking to my hallucination.
After all, I was already a freak. Things couldn't get any worse, could they?
"Calm down, kid." I offered the boy what I hoped was a reassuring smile, "I don't think they can hear you now, so..."
The young boy was panting heavily, sobs wracking his body... but none of his actions could mask the look of utmost terror carved into his body. If anything, they were highlighting that pure fear.
"Hey, um... why don't you tell me what's going on?" I knelt down to his height. Thank goodness no one seemed to have noticed what I was doing yet... maybe I should just-
"It-it-it-it's c-c-coming!" He wailed, bursting into a fresh round of tears.
Startled that I actually got a response from talking to a hallucination, I almost didn't catch the words he said.
"W-What's coming?"
At that exact moment, a distorted, piercing shriek tore through the air. The boy froze, with that proverbial 'deer-in-the-headlights look' plastered on his face, and took off running again... this time away from the happy group.
"O-Oi, wait!" I chased after him, almost an automatic reaction. I admit, I probably wasn't thinking straight... but right now, I was entertaining the possibility that maybe these people with chains weren't just hallucinations, maybe I wasn't a crazy, mental teenager, and maybe, maybe...
"What are you running from?" I questioned, catching up to him. Thank goodness he wasn't running too fast (for me, at least), since I probably would've gotten completely lost in this strange new neighborhood.
"M-m-monster!"
I froze when I suddenly heard heavy, thudding sounds behind us, right as the barely coherent word left his mouth. When those sounds were gradually becoming louder instead of fading away, I finally managed to get my limbs moving again after the boy, as the giant whatever-it-was came steadily closer, closer, closer...
"Is it actually following you?" I asked the little boy incredulously.
"M-monster!"
As another roar split the air, I decided against my better judgment to glance behind us... and nearly tripped over my own two feet. Barely keeping my balance and somehow still managing to stumble forwards, for the first time during the entire run -no, chase- tinges of panic registered in my mind, and my pulse began beating dangerously fast.
'Monster' didn't even begin to describe the atrocious beast pursuing us. There was a creepy white mask over its face, filled with strange red markings, and the entire hue of its body was a dark shade of amber. The titanic thing resembled a crude mimicry of an ape of some sort in the aspect of its arm, but no ape was as tall as a building, right? I certainly hope not. But the strangest part about its appearance was a giant hole through its stomach. Like, literally, a hole. You could even see what was on the other side through it, for crying out loud!
Every time it took a step, the ground shook and the pavement beneath its foot cracked, leaving a sizable crater smoking in the middle of the street.
"What is that thing?" I almost screamed at the poor boy. Instinctively, I knew that if that thing caught us, we were as good as dead.
"MONSTER!"
"Gee, what happened to your vocabulary?" I muttered sarcastically, desperately trying to ignore the alarming trepidation crawling over me.
The monster was gaining on us quite rapidly, and we were running out of places to hide.
"No way! A dead end?" My jaw dropped. We'd come to a screeching stop in an alleyway, where there was only a dumpster. There was nowhere to run... "Kid, don't you live here?"
The boy was full-out crying now, and I sighed. There was no point, really. He'd probably been so scared that he didn't even think about where he was going. And, somehow, I had gotten caught up in this mess. Did I have a gift for getting into difficult situations or something?
... This isn't funny. This isn't funny.
It's terrifying.
The monster roared again, its bulky form blocking the only way out from the alleyway. It advanced on us slowly, as if it knew that the chase was finally over, and its prey was trapped.
Think, think, think! Aaaaaaaagh, I'm too young to die!
I quickly scanned the alley for something that could help us, anything. A piece of string, some chewed-up gum, and a banana that had been here for who knows how long... oh gods, there was nothing useful here!
... But what had I been expecting, anyways? After all, there was just a dumpster crammed in at the end of the alley, it was obvious that people would only throw unwanted, useless garbage here... what in the world could we do with a dump-
Actually... that just might be it. Gods, I am such an idiot.
I gave myself the equivalent of a mental kick and prepared myself to be ready to take drastic measures. Desperate times called for desperate actions and all that crap.
"Kid, don't move. I don't want to hurt you by accident." Closing my eyes, I began concentrating, hard, trying to draw up the euphoric sensation I felt whenever I let a mirror shatter itself, whenever I made the hands of a clock turn on its own...
This was much more difficult than usual, considering the fact that I was almost hyperventilating by now. Besides, I usually only made pencils dance around for fun, and considering how massive the towering dumpster was...
A trickle of sweat rolled down the side of my face as the monster moved in on us.
Move.
One second, two seconds. The monster roared, and the kid screamed.
Move!
Three seconds, four seconds. Why wasn't anything happening? Why was my freakishness failing me the one moment I really needed it? The monster was way too close now, bearing down on the kid who'd resorted to hiding behind me, and I had a feeling that it was going to target me too, and if nothing happened NOW, then we were going to-
MOVE!
I screamed, and a miracle happened.
The giant dumpster flew into the air, ricocheting off the side of the wall first before it shot the monster at an insane speed, smashing into it face-on, and knocking it over.
I rubbed my forehead, feeling a nauseating wave of dizziness, sucking in quick shallow breaths as I struggled to re-orient myself. It had been so long since I'd last experienced any type of backlash to using psychokinesis...
"D-did you g-get it, miss?" The little boy was stuttering, wide-eyed.
Truth be told, I was feeling something along the same lines as him...
"Dunno..." Using the grimy wall as a crutch, we tiptoed out of the alley to look at the... the apparently downed monster. I couldn't discern anything though, as the entire dump was sitting on its head. A roughed-up teddy bear was precariously balanced on top of the mound, which, under any other circumstances, would've made for a rather comedic sight.
Taking another tentative step forward, slow, cautious, daring myself to hope optimistically for the first time in ages…
"Wow. What happened here?"
Both of us jumped -I never even noticed their arrival, never noticed the other person who sneaked up on us- before you ask, no, I did not let out a squeak several octaves higher than my usual voice!
My eyes found a guy around my age standing there behind us -how did he even get there?- with a partially amused look on his face. Although, his entire demeanor overall still radiated a dangerous aura more or less along the lines of 'explain what the hell happened here, pronto.'
He was okay-looking, I guess, even though his hair was a pretty weird orange shade. Then again, I had weird-colored eyes, so I wouldn't pass any judgment. His black outfit was waaay out of date, though, looking like it belonged back in the feudal times or something... and he had this insanely large sword slung over his back.
Now, still struggling with my the residues of my inner panic and desperately trying to calm my beating heart, I admit that I was being a scatterbrained idiot when my eyes took in the sight of the guy's giant cleaver and blurted out the first intelligent thought that popped into my mind.
"Dude, is that thing legal?"
End Ch 1
… So, how was it? :3