"She's not my girlfriend!" Ichigo shouted; he had been shouting this nearly all day. The Kurosaki family, or in other words Ichigo's family, were very amused by the fact that I had embraced him. I didn't really understand its purpose. "Ichi-ni, its okay if you're embarrassed we understand." Her name is Yuzu. She was very considerate of others feelings.
"What's there to be embarrassed about? If she's your girlfriend, she's your girlfriend." Karin is the opposite. From my stay at Ichigo's side as the Kurosaki Clinic's latest injured patient. I learned that Karin is Yuzu's fraternal twin. It explained why the girls were the same size, same age, but had different appearances and opposite personalities. Karin is cynical and sarcastic; she is assertive and aggressive which contrast with her sister, Yuzu, who is more soft-spoken, empathetic, and emotional.
Isshin, being their father, is the head of the house. He is what I suspect to not be the typical father. He's very energetic and loves to put on shows for his children but Karin and Ichigo seem to not like it much. While only Yuzu stays entertained until something of importance like a chore or dinner must be tended to. She is actually very capable for a girl at the age of eleven.
She is young, yet she was already a full time housewife when ever she was home. When I watched her, something wasn't right to let her do these things by herself. Especially, when I was very capable of working and I was staying in her home freely with out any debt. To me helping out was the cost I had to pay, I had to contribute something if I was to be apart of the household.
Which is why I choose to accompany them on their family hike; I helped everyone pack. "I already told you, she is not my girlfriend!" Ichigo fumed. He had brought me back to the current events taking place. It made me curious; why was there all this fuss about the term "girlfriend"? "Ichigo, may I ask you something?" I touched his arm.
He flinched as if my touch was deadly. "What do want?" He scowled, irritated; most likely from all the teasing. I immediately lost my confidence under his glare. "Nothing," I smiled to ease up the atmosphere. During my stay, I have also come to learn that Ichigo is a short-tempered person and he can also be very distant sometimes. But, I believe he's a good person. He is my reason.
"Here we are gang!" Isshin shouted, happily. He had been walking on his hands the entire time. He pulled out a little black box that held small…things. "What are those, ?" I picked up one on them. "They are whistles, Kana," He said. "See this one is a duck- He blew on it and it made a strange noise- and this one is a cow-he blew on that one and it also made a strange noise- and this is my favorite: the chicken!"
He breathed in for air. "That's enough already!" Karin shouted, as she kicked her black and white sphere at Isshin's head. It violently hit him at the side of his face leaving a large circle shaped burn as he fell to the ground. It caught my interest.
"What is this?" I picked up the sphere. "That's Karin's soccer ball that she uses to practice for her games." Yuzu answered.
"Soccer, what is soccer?" I asked her, intrigued.
"It's a sport that a lot of kids at school like to play. There's also basketball, volleyball, tennis, cheerleader, martial arts; there are a lot of sports." Yuzu explained. My eyes widen with interest.
This world was full of amazing things to behold. This is the world my rescuer, Ichigo lived in; that fact alone encouraged me to learn more about it. For I wish to know so much more about him. Speaking of Ichigo, he had not said anything. I looked back at him to see he was getting signals from a hidden person in the bushes. They're scent was familiar; it was the woman who was with Ichigo when I had been attacked.
I seemed to be the only one who noticed, "I'm taking a walk; I'll be back later!" Ichigo said, suddenly. "Wait, Ichi-ni, where are you going?" Yuzu called. "He always does this, Kana. But, you'll get used to it-Hey, you're going too?" I ran off after him with out really listening to her. I wanted to know where he was going with this woman.
Why was she there at the time of my rescue? Who is she to Ichigo?
I followed behind quietly; Ichigo needed to work on his since of awareness. He met up with the woman eventually and they continued running together. She hadn't noticed my presence either. "Where are they this time?" Ichigo asked; he was familiar with this, he did it often. "There isn't any hollow. I just had to get you away from that girl." She answered as she stopped running. Ichigo tripped and fell.
"What! You can't just call me out for a hollow like that!" He picked himself up out of the dirt. "I'm sorry; I didn't know you took it so serious now." She mused; her apology was more mocking than sincere. She had called him out to get him away from me; why would she think I was a threat? The woman became serious, "Ichigo, get rid of that girl. She's bad news."
"No," He replied simply.
"Excuse me? Didn't you hear me, Ichigo?" She questioned shocked at his answer.
"Yeah, Rukia, I'm not deaf. You said get rid of her and I told you no." That was the first time he had said her name in any conversation I had eavesdropped in. "Ichigo she's dangerous! We don't know where she came from and I can already guarantee to you she's not human." Rukia argued.
"Kana hasn't done anything to deserve that. I'm not going to abandon her on the street because you're suspicious. I need some proof that she's bad before I do anything that will cause her harm." Ichigo was defending me. "Well, then have you noticed her leg? It's already healed after being a fresh wound since this morning." Rukia still wouldn't agree with him. "So? That tells me she not normal, but I already knew that from the fact she was being attacked by the Grand Fisher and she was still alive. She wasn't just some spirit he wanted to feed off of." Ichigo replied, making her proof useless. "So you assume she's something important that the Grand Fisher was trying to get out of the way?" Rukia was being to ponder at the clues of my identity. "…Well, I never thought about that." Ichigo was getting lost in Rukia's calculations.
"She says she doesn't remember who she is." Rukia looked at him. "And you believe her?"
"I don't have reason not to."
"Ichigo, you're going to wind up getting yourself killed." Rukia scolded.
"Well, if it was for protecting Kana, someone I care about, then I don't give a damn." He turned his back on her, leaving her to stand alone in the woods. "You even named her…" Rukia smiled, then dropped kicked him from behind. "Just who do think you're talking to? Always trying to act so damn cool." She stepped on his head.
I decided to make myself known, "Rukia!" They both looked at me in surprise. Ichigo and Rukia looked alarmed for some reason as they reached out to me. "I'm sorry if I come off so suspicious, but I'm not here to-"Kana, your going to walk off the cliff!" It was too late I had already walked off and hurt my head when I had fell down.
"Ow…" I felt dizzy as Ichigo rushed to me side. "You idiot, what do you think your doing out here?" Ichigo demanded as he helped me up. Everything was still spinning, "I wanted to know where you were going."
"Next time stay with Karin and Yuzu." He said. Rukia stayed behind us with a smirk. "You look worried Ichigo." She said slyly. "Shut up, I have to get her some band aids." He ignored her as he let me lean on him to help me back. "I'll see you later, Rukia. I have to take care of her."
My insides felt funny when he had said, "I have to take care of her." I felt important to him, maybe just as important as he was to me.
"I would like to visit your family again. But, I want to go check into something first." Rukia said as she walked off in the other direction. That left Ichigo and I to be alone. I paused, how should I tell him I eavesdropped? Or would he be angry with me that I did? Or would that make him suspicious? I confronted my fears, "…Ichigo?" "Yeah," He looked down at me; it made me really notice how small I was to his height.
I lost complete confidence again and changed the subject at mind, "Why do you call me, "kana"?"
"Do you know your real name so I can call you that?" He asked. I shook my head.
"That's why; it means "wonder", like to wonder something. So, I thought it would fit since I wonder who you are." He explained. "You don't like it or somthing?"
I began to panic, I didn't want to insult his choice of a name for me, "No, I do like it! It's a beautiful name!"
"Good, cause I wasn't going to change it anyway." He said as we made it back to the spot where the others had been. "Hey, Dad, where's the-A straight kick to the face interrupted Ichigo's question.
"So, you think since we're out in Mother Nature you can get in a few rounds, huh, son?! I'm so proud!" Isshin mood swung from a disciplining father to being proud then to being suspecting. "That my boy. But, did you use protection?"
Ichigo elbowed him in the nose, "What the hell is wrong with you?! She fell off a drop off!" He grabbed my hand and led me to a white box that had a big red cross on it. I recognized it as a First Aid Kit. I remembered seeing them a lot when I was younger.
"My nose! Ichigo broke Daddy's nose!" Isshin struggled on the ground holding his nose. But, Yuzu ran to Ichigo, "Ichi-ni, are you okay? Daddy stop picking fights with him!" Yuzu scolded her bleeding father with a disapproving finger. "By now you should see my family isn't normal." Ichigo stated as he put a band aid on my scraped elbow. He had all different shapes and sizes of band aids in the kit.
And for some reason seeing them felt nostalgic. I laughed, "I find your family is very funny." "Funny? You think that's funny?" Ichigo pointed to his whining father being hit with Karin's soccer ball again. "Very! It's good to have an enthusiastic family; they're full of life that way." I pointed out the bright side. "Whatever, that is freaking insane. Not, funny." Ichigo placed another on my knee.
I didn't say anything after that. Though I should of, it was our 3rd conversation together. But, I couldn't help but wonder why was Ichigo trying so hard to make this detached persona when really he was extremely kind-hearted and sensitive?
"Ichigo, aren't you tired yet?" I asked him. "Tired? The day just started, why would I be tired?" He mistook my question.
I sighed as I started to pout at his lack of understanding me, "Aren't you tired of being something that your not? You act so detached when really you're a person who cares a lot about those around him. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd give anything to protect someone."
He paused as he sat and looked at me, until he finally laughed, "You remind me so much of my mother." He smiled, it was the first time I had seen him so happy and not angry or annoyed or frustrated. Ichigo, why don't you smile much?
"Onwards! Let us continue our mountain trail!" Isshin shouted as he dramatically pointed towards the top of the hill.
"You mean bike trail?" Karin commented as she walked past him. We were right behind her. "Daddy said it's a mountain trial!" Isshin pouted. "Then you aren't properly educated." Karin said, crushing him again with only mere words.
Finally I realized I didn't know where we were going. "Ichigo, where are we going?" "To a cemetery," He answered. A cemetery, a burial ground in which the dead are buried, "Why are we going there?" "Daddy wanted to see her grave again. I guess he wanted to make sure her ashes are still there after seeing you." Yuzu smiled.
"After seeing me?" I didn't understand, Ichigo said I reminded him of her but were we this similar? "You do know you look exactly like her, right?" Karin asked, it was rhetorical but sound more like a statement.
Did I really look so much like Mrs. Kurosaki?