Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away or Bleach. Word Count: 645
The evening breeze had wandered in through the window. Not even the strongest current could disturb Ichigo when he was at work. His eyes were settled on the computer screen. His fingers were typing at a frequency I had never seen before. Honey-roasted nuts in one hand, a sort of melancholy in the other. I watched him work. My face lit up when he found an answer. He turned around and had a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Rukia, you free this weekend?" Ichigo asked. It had been many weekends since our last 'ghost' hunt. Ichigo wanted to go to locations of ghost sightings to see how good of a hoax it was. The truth was, that he was bored. He always carried a shinigami badge in his pocket, but he rarely ever used it. I sighed. "Sure. What did you find this time?" I cherished these rare moments where Ichigo actually did some research. "It's near some town in Osaka." I crinkled my nose. "We've already went to all the spots nearby?" "Anything in Japan is nearby." Ichigo protested. "Continue," I ordered. "It's an old shrine near a residential complex. Most of the people known to venture into the shrine don't return. Award-winning author Chihiro Ogino and her parents are the only people known to exit the shrine. They were there for at least three days," Ichigo recited.
"Ah, Ogino? I haven't taken the time to read her novel. I hear it received many prestigious awards." I said. "So what you're implying is that she got an inspiration for her story and stayed there for a few days?" Ichigo questioned. "That had never occurred to me." I replied. Yes, Ichigo was using the muscle that mattered: his brain. If only he used it more often, I wouldn't have to mentor him. It would be at least one hundred years before that could happen. Too many years of him going ghost hunting. A bit like the Ghostbusters. "Hello? Earth to Rukia?" He waved his hand in front of me as if he was trying to fan me. "Don't just stare into space. Answer me, Rukia!" I shook my head and fell back into a closet. "When are we leaving?" I mumbled. "Tomorrow night," He turned off the computer, shut the drafty window, and went to bed without turning the lights off. Luckily I did that for him. His tired and trembling fingers couldn't even pull back the sheets of his own bed. He was so exhausted he forgot to tell me not to eat my honey-roasted nuts in the closet.
So I sat there in the closet, doodling in my sketchbook under a stolen flashlight (taken from the kitchen drawer!). I knew Ichigo only discovered the ghost sighting location because Chihiro Ogino's 18th birthday was within less than a week. Chihiro was a child prodigy, writing her first and most successful novel when she was 10. It was an autobiography in a way, She said, but using her imagination and keeping an open mind was the key. We'll see if it's more than just imagination, I thought to myself. I decided to spare the flashlight batteries and turn the light off. My inner voice was nagging me to turn it back on. I was about to sleep, so why did I need to turn it back on? I ignored the predicament, and my mind slowly turned off. I felt my body twist and roll over, but I could do nothing about it. I felt myself bump into the flashlight, turning it on in the process.