Title – Of Haunted Houses and Shinigami
Rating – PG
Summary – A dare leads to Ichigo and Rukia spending Halloween night in a supposedly haunted house. Both of them think it's ridiculous, of course. So what happens when the haunts become real?[Halloween One-Shot, slight IchiRuki
Disclaimer –I do not own 'Bleach'. I don't even own my computer.
"And they say that every Halloween night, you can hear the woman's dying screams," Asano Keigo finished on a haunting note. Kurosaki Ichigo rolled his eyes, feeling somewhere between annoyed and pitying. Pitying for himself, anyway, and for the people that had to hear this stupid story. Those people were Inoue Orihime, Kojima Mizuiro, Arisawa Tatsuki, and Kuchiki Rukia, who now leaned forward and whispered in Ichigo's ear,
"Ichigo, what's Halloween?"
And Ichigo sighed. He truly lived in an asylum.
It was lunchtime, October thirty-first. For some odd reason, Keigo, Ichigo, and Mizuiro had decided to eat lunch on the grounds today, and had somehow ended up with Rukia, Tatsuki, and Inoue (Ichigo had a feeling Keigo had arranged it that way on purpose, to get closer to Rukia and/or Inoue). And Keigo had decided that, in the spirit of things, he would tell ghosts stories. He'd just finished one about an old house on the outskirts of Karakura Town, which had been abandoned for over fifty years. Rumor had it that the owner, a lady, had been murdered there on Halloween night. And now her ghost haunted the place. Ichigo, of course, knew that was ridiculous for two reasons; if the lady's ghost really hadhaunted the place at one time, she either would have been a hollow by now, or she would have been sent to Soul Society already.
Wow. Being a Shinigami, even a substitute, really killed Ichigo's imagination. Not that he had ever had much of one to begin with.
At that moment, someone poked said strawberry in the back of the head. "Ichigo," it was Rukia, of course, hissing in his ear again, "What's Halloween?"
"Shut up," he muttered back, "I'll explain later"
Or better yet, he'd have Inoue, who had more patience for Rukia's persistent questions about the human world, explain it. "You do realize that's a load of bull, right Keigo?" the orange-haired teen asked, running a hand through his hair. Keigo looked offended.
"It is not!" he protested, "Kids break into that house on Halloween all the time, you know, for a dare, or for fun, and they've all seen the ghost!"
Now that was really a load of bull. As far as Ichigo knew, very few people could see ghosts. He knew about five. And considering one of them was a Shinigami in disguise, one of them was from his family, and one of them was a Quincy, he didn't really think they counted. That left him with about two people all together. "I'm telling you Keigo, it's a stupid story"
"Oh yeah?" Keigo protested, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Ichigo's heart stopped. This would only lead to badness. "You don't believe it, huh Ichigo? Well then why don't you put your money where your mouth is? I dare you to go to that house tonight!"
"Forget it," Ichigo said boredly, leaning against a tree with his hands behind his head, "And before you say I'm scared, I'm not. It's just a waste of time"
"If you're not scared, then prove it," Keigo said challengingly, "Spend one night in the house, and if you don't see a ghost, then I'll never say anything about the story again"
Nowthat was a tempting offer. "All right," he finally agreed grudgingly, "On one condition. Someone has to come with me"
Everyone exchanged glances. None of themwere about to spend the night in a house that was supposedly haunted. "If one of you guys don't do it, I won't go," he informed them, "And before you ask, no I'm not scared. But it'll be boring as hell, all night in a house by myself. I deserve some company. All right, who's up for it?"
Silence then, "Kuchiki-san!"
The Kuchiki in question had been in the middle of taking a sip of her juice when her name was shouted. She choked and looked around at Inoue, who looked halfway between relieved and horrified. "W-What?! Why me?"
"You're not afraid of that kind of stuff, Kuchiki-san," Inoue said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ichigo was interested now. Would Rukia really agree to this?
"And you are?" the girl asked incredulously. Inoue giggled.
"Well, maybe a little..." Ichigo rolled his eyes and sighed. A night in a haunted house with Kuchiki Rukia. He'd rather have his teeth drilled.
-------------------------------------------------000000000000000000000--------------------------------------------
"So what's Halloween?" Rukia asked as they walked home from school later that day. Ichigo slung his bag over his shoulder, rolling his eyes.
"Kids dress up as their favorite characters from a show or movie or something, and they go around to houses and people give them candy," he said boredly, "It's supposed to be the day of the dead, supposedly it's when all the ghosts and stuff come out"
"Ghosts come out everyday of the year," Rukia pointed out, "They don't need a specific day to come out, you know-"
"Yeah, you know that and I know that," Ichigo cut her off, "But Keigodoesn't. And unless you want to go into an explanation of hollows and Shinigami that will probably make his head explode, he'll keep not knowing that"
Funny how Ichigo was chastising Rukia for the exact same thing hehad been thinking while Keigo was telling the story. "Are you really going to that house?" Rukia asked after they had walked in silence for a few minutes. Ichigo shrugged.
"If it'll get Keigo off my back, sure. Why?" he looked around at her, smirking. "You're not afraidare you Rukia? Scared to be in a big old house all night long with no one but me for company?"
"God that's a nightmare in itself," Rukia muttered under her breath, "And no I'm not scared. I don't even remember agreeing to this"
"You were volunteered, you have no choice"
"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "So what exactly are we supposed to tell your dad?"
------------------------------------000000000000000000000000000000000---------------------------------------
"A Halloween party?" Kurosaki Isshin repeated, looking between his son and the girl he considered to be his adoptive daughter. Ichigo and Rukia exchanged nervous glances. "And just what are you two supposed to be, anyway?"
They'd gone for the obvious thing. "Ninja," Ichigo explained impatiently, "See, that's why we're wearing all black"
It was true. Ichigo had dug up a black turtle-neck and a pair of black pants which were slightly small on him, and Rukia had "borrowed" on of Yuzu's old black dresses. She was a rather odd ninja, wearing a dress. But Isshin didn't seem to notice. "Ichigo must have come up with the idea," Isshin said seriously, "Only he would be so unimaginative..."
"Whatever," Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Can we go or not?"
"All right, all right," Isshin said, waving his hand impatiently, "Go on, get going. Just don't get back too late, you're already breaking curfew by going-"
"And you're letting me, so no dive attacks when I walk in," Ichigo shot back. He grabbed Rukia and dragged her towards the door without another word. But as they left Isshin shouted,
"Be gentle with her Ichigo, she's fragile!"
And Ichigo resisted the urge to go back in and hit his dad as hard as he could. "Grab your stuff," he muttered instead, pointing at the ground underneath his bedroom window. They'd dropped their backpacks (which had a change of clothes, a flashlight, extra batteries, and a sleeping bag in each) out the window before going downstairs, so Isshin wouldn't see them. Once the bags were securely on their backs, they started down the street. "This is stupid," Ichigo muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"I can't believe you actually agreed to it"
"Better than listening to Keigo whine," Ichigo muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets, "Anyways, I can't believe you agreed to come as well. What made you agree?"
Rukia just shrugged. "Anyways, it's not like there are really going to be any ghosts," Ichigo continued, "It's going to be such a waste of a night"
"Would you have rather gone out trick-or-treating with your sisters?" Rukia asked with a smirk. Ichigo made a face.
"Not a chance. It's a nightmare, going from house to house with them, Yuzu practically flies, one time we almost lost her..." Ichigo scowled, remembering that. All too soon they were at the house, forcing their way through the ancient door, which showed signs of being broken into before. "House on haunted hill," the orange-haired boy muttered as he and Rukia started walking through the house.
"This is dumb," Rukia muttered under her breath, "It's kind of insulting too, when I stop to think about it"
"What's so insulting?" Ichigo asked, not really caring. But Rukia would talk whether he wanted to hear it or not, so he figured he'd be saving himself some trouble by just pretending he was a little interested.
"Humans think all ghosts are bad and scary," she said as if it were obvious. Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"Well not all humans know about Shinigami, you know," he informed her. She shot him a 'no duh' look, and he went on. "Besides, some ghosts are bad, moron. Look at hollows. They're not exactly fluffy bunnies-"
At that moment a scream echoed through the house. And both Ichigo and Rukia were sent flying out of their skin. "What was that?!"
The house was silent again. "Okay," Ichigo said, glad that his voice didn't shake too much, "That was kind of weird. You don't...sense anything, do you?"
Rukia shook her head, her violet eyes narrow. "We-ell...maybe it was just the wind"
"Oh what, so now the wind screams?" Rukia rolled her eyes, and Ichigo scowled again. She always made him feel like an idiot somehow.
"Just shut up"
They continued through the house, their ears and eyes and (in Rukia's case) senses peeled. As they got further into the house they were forced to pull out their flashlights. After about an hour of searching and not finding anything, Ichigo said, "This is such a waste of time. Remind me to kill Keigo when I see him in the morning"
"Will do," it was obvious Rukia was no more thrilled about the situation than Ichigo was. She was waving her flashlight boredly back and forth, staring at it like it was the most fascinating thing in the world (and to her it probably was).
Creeeeeeek
And again, both Shinigami jumped a mile, and Rukia's flashlight flew upward, pointing to the ceiling. "It was coming from upstairs"
"Probably someone else broke in," Ichigo dismissed it, "It's like Keigo said, kids break in every year. And of course, they claim to see the damn ghost"
"Well I don't sense anything," Rukia said finally, "But still...maybe we should stick close together. Just in case"
"What, you scared?" Ichigo smirked. His taunt earned him a hit over the head with a flashlight. While he whined, Rukia pouted and said,
"No. But I'd rather I didn't lose you in this place. That'd be real story back in Soul Society, boy who masters Bankai in three days disappears in a haunted house," it was Ichigo's turn to pout.
"Shut it. Come on," and they started upstairs. When they got there, they noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly no other kids. Rukia waved her flashlight between the doors. They were all closed.
"I don't think anyone's been here, Ichigo"
Ichigo didn't think so either. As far as he could tell, he and Rukia were mercifully alone in this creepy old house. But there had to be some kind of explanation for the noises, they had been hearing, right? "Someone has to be here," he said stubbornly, "If it's not a living person, maybe a hollow. But regular ghosts don't make noises when they walk around"
Rukia didn't say anything. Instead she stepped forward and reached out to open a door. As soon as she did though, a low voice groaned, "Geeeeet oooooout..."
Rukia practically flew away from the doorknob. "Scaredy cat," Ichigo taunted, not saying that he was freaked as well. Rukia glared at him.
"Shut up. It just surprised me, that's all"
The two looked around, both of them trying harder than ever to find some logical explanation for what was happening. Because of course, it couldn't just be a ghost. They both knew too much about ghosts to allow themselves to admit there was one there.
Then, out of nowhere, something grabbed them from behind. Neither bothered to hide their shock and fear as they yelled and jumped forward, whirling around, flashlights shining. The hall behind them was empty. They exchanged looks. "We're out of here"
"Definitely"
Flying couldn't even be used to describe how quickly they ran downstairs. They could come back tomorrow, they reasoned, to take care of a ghost. But right now...right now they just wanted out.
Bang!
As they ran past a storage room door it flew open, hitting the wall with a bang, and something flew out of it, tackling Ichigo who, in his surprise, didn't have time to duck. He and the mysterious figure were sent sprawling across the floor.
"Gotcha!" a familiar voice screeched in victory. At the same moment, Rukia's flashlight (Ichigo's had been knocked out of his hand) was joined by three others. The raven and orange-haired Shinigami both looked around. And that was when Ichigo realized who had tackled him.
"I'm gonna murder you guys!" he yelled, throwing Keigo away from him and standing up, his red face clashing with his bright orange hair. It was Inoue, Keigo, Tatsuki, and Mizuiro. All four of them looked amused. Keigo was grinning from ear to ear, Tatsuki was smirking, Inoue was wearing a small, but bright grin, and Mizuiro was just smiling.
"You guys should have seen the looks on your faces!" Keigo crowed, "It was so priceless! That'll teach you to doubt my stories Ichigo!"
"And you three went along with this?" Rukia asked Inoue, Tatsuki, and Mizuiro, looking doubtful. All three just shrugged and muttered something about Halloween spirit. If Ichigo looked ready to murder someone, it was nothing compared to Rukia. But of course, she had an image to keep. So she just put on a smile. "It was a really good joke!"
And Ichigo groaned. He knew when they got home she'd be complaining to no end. But not now, no. Now she'd play Ms. Perfect. "At least someone has a sense of humor," Keigo said, still grinning, "Come on Ichigo, you gotta admit-"
"I'm gonna kill you? Yeah, I'll admit to that," Ichigo huffed angrily, "What a waste of a night. This was ridiculous. I told you there was no ghost here"
"Hey, what's that?" Inoue said suddenly, her flashlight swiveling over to a far corner of the room. There was a bright light was glowing.
"Just the moon"
"The moon isn't out tonight"
The teens stared for another second. "Ya know what?" Keigo said at last, "I vote we don't find out. Run!"
No one wasted time bothering to argue. Even Ichigo and Rukia had had enough of ghosts for one night. They darted out of the house behind their friends. They could go back in the morning to preform a konso. But tonight...well, it was a Halloween. The ghost could have it's fun.
Author's Note – You have to squint and look into the sun to see the IchiRuki element. But it's there, really. Anyways, Happy Halloween, make mine a good one by reviewing! – Sam