Psychic Chick

Part One: Becoming a Shinigami

Chapter Two: Meet The Parents

Main POV

Once my parents had finally run out of time before their cruise we were released from their hold. They left swiftly after for the city where the docks were. I stretched and let out a relieved sigh. I lead Renji out of the common rooms and into the private part of the house where my bedroom was located. He walked slowly behind me, I wasn't sure if he was doing it because he was feeling pretty awkward after the interaction with my family or if it was because he was still eying me suspiciously. I spun round in the corridor and walked the last few streps to my bedroom door as I watched him. As it turned out, it was neither. I caught him staring at me walking when I did and I leaned up against my bedroom door and smirked, waiting for him to catch up. I opened the door to reveal a semi-traditional looking bedroom and walked inside, immediately jumping on my bed and collapsing into the soft mattress. I was so done.

"They seemed nice," Renji commented. I scoffed.

"No way! You can't have liked them." I rolled around on the bed dramatically for a moment. I pushed myself up and propped myself up on my elbows. I scowled as I leant back on my arms. I knew my parents, they weren't what you'd consider nice. "They're so imposing and forceful."

"No, they're fine. I've seen much worse," he replied, pausing to look over at me.

Some of the fabric of my shirt had come up to reveal my pale, toned stomach. I noticed him glance down at it for just a moment and his eyes linger. It seemed that maybe he did like me almost as much as I liked him. This plus the watching me walk at least proved he thought I was attractive. He shook his head, snapping himself out of his thoughts, whatever they may have been. I could have just read them, but I didn't want to. This power was amazing in the respect that I had access to the inner workings of most people's minds, however I hated using it as it was a major invasion of privacy. I blamed all the movie psychics for clouding my view.

"They're okay, really," he reassured me. He sat down on the bed beside me, crossing his legs in a meditation position, I smiled at him.

"So what are your parents like, huh, just as crazy as mine?" I joked, nudging him with my elbow and trying to lighten the mood.

"Well actually, I live alone so there are no parents. I uh, don't really remember what they were like as I didn't really have any growing up. It was just me and my friend Rukia for a very long time," he responded rubbing his neck.

'Well that went well.'

"Oh I'm so sorry," I replied, shooting him a sympathetic look and placed a comforting hand on his knee. Damn me and my foot being constantly in my mouth.

"Don't worry about it. Can't miss what you never had," he tried to laugh it off. He placed his hand on top of mine when he realised it wasn't working. "It really is okay, you know. It was a long time ago."

I met his gaze and he gave me a soft smile that was sweet and comforting, even though I was supposed to be the one comforting him. His large hand felt warm and reassuring on mine. I knew the moment was passing and that I should move away, but I didn't want this feeling he was giving me to fade. I figured if he was going to keep his hand here so was I. Abari smiled at me and gave my hand a squeeze.

"So, how come you and your brother are 12 years apart?"

"Oh, my parents got married when my mother was 18 and Oyaji was 30 and they had my brother when she was 19. She wanted to wait a while before having their next child and they waited until he was about 6 but my mother had trouble conceiving, then," I explained. "When he was eight and they were still having no luck they sought help. The went to expensive clinics and spiritual healers but nothing worked. It wasn't until they went to this dodgy back street clinic in the middle of no where, somewhere in Japan that they finally were able to make me."

"Some random backstreet clinic?" Renji asked, raising a tattooed eyebrow.

"Yeah, some young doctor and his weird friend helped them." I confirmed. I couldn't quite remember who they were though.

"Weird." Renji laughed.

"Yeah what an origin story, huh?" I laughed, although it did make me think about how I actually gained my powers. I had always assumed they were from birth or some kind of freak accident. I'd never thought that maybe they came from being made in a dish. Like the Powerpuff Girls. Too much X-Lax or whatever. Liquid X or Ingredient X or something along those lines.

"Yeah like a manga character or something," he agreed, laughing.

Feeling less awkward now, stood up from the bed and went to start packing again. I realised I'd have to go to the bathroom to pack all my toiletries and I didn't want to leave Renji just sitting around twiddling his thumbs, so I sent him on his own errand.

"Hey, could you go grab me a soda out of the fridge?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah," Renji agreed, sensing I didn't really want a soda but agreeing anyway.

He walked out my bedroom door and off towards the kitchen. I went into the bathroom which was next door to my room and left the door open so Renji could find me when he came back. I was going through some of the drawers when I suddenly got a rush. A sudden tingling sensation burned my fingers and shot right up my arms and spine. Waves of information flooded through my grey matter and overwhelmed my brain. It was coming at such a high speed it was disorientating and headache inducing.

I've had visions before, it came with the whole mind magic abilities thing. They were random and I didn't get them often. Ufortuanetly they were never really useful future predictions. They were usually Monday morning getting a vision that I was going to be late to gym class on Thursday or finding out what Saturday's breakfast was.

This one was different, it was so strong and I was feeling light headed. My head was pounding and my skull felt like it was going to crack open there was so much coming in. My knees grew weak and if this kept up then I was going to faint. I lost connection with my limbs and felt like I was having an out of body experience right here in my very own bathroom.

I cried out in agony and my legs gave way, I collapsed on the ground and clutched my head. It was like someone was trying to fill a water balloon with a high pressure hose. Not only was the neck of the balloon too small but the speed and pressure would inevitably make it explode. That's how I felt, like my brain was going to crap out at any second. It was leaving me breathless and I was running out of energy. All I could picture was those videos with the eggs. "This is your brain, this is your brain on drugs" *splat*.

"She needs someone to adopt her. Someone who's willing to take on a somewhat troublesome child and guide her in the right direction. A talented person she may be, a powerful soul she may have but that is all worth nothing without direction."

Who, who needs guidance? Who needs adoption? Who?

"I'll do it." A man with white hair and black eyebrows raised his hand. He seemed friendly but a little frail.

Dude, troublesome child, you might get hurt.

"Ukitake. With all due respect we need someone who is firm. Can discipline in the appropriate time and teach nobility. You are a great Captain and great guidance is in you, waiting to be given but with a child as troublesome as this, I do not believe you are right for this."

Yeah, wouldn't want someone as nice as you getting hurt.

"I shall do it."

"Kuchiki?" A large number of voices asked at the same time.

Must be an unusual volunteer.

I could hear the smashing of glass and the muffled sound of swearing and someone calling to me. I let out a choked sob and clutched at my head even harder. Renji dropped down at my side, soda long forgotten. He cupped my face gently, no longer yelling to me. I felt something wet running down my face. And smell something coppery.

"Kurodo-chan, Tina, are you alright? Come back to me," he said softly. He stroked my hair with care and held me in his arms. "Tina, Tina, come on. Shit."

"My head," I gasped, trying to explain. How could I explain?

"Are you okay what happened?" He asked, I was still feeling pretty out of it. I opened my eyes but I couldn't make anything out. In the end I had to scrunch them closed again.

"I don't know," I wailed. Yes, very manga character like. I was pathetic.

"Okay, come on."

He lifted me up and carried me out of the bathroom, broken pieces of the dropped soda bottle crunching under his feet. He laid me down gently on my bed and sat beside me, stroking my hair softly.

"Did you hit your head?" he asked.

"No. It's a headache," I replied, sitting up and turning to him.

"Seems like a pretty serious headache," he commented. "Do you need a doctor?"

"No!" I yelled out. "I mean, I'm okay, I'm fine. I just need to rest," I said a bit more quietly.

"Are you sure?" He responded in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

I wasn't sure at all. All I knew was if I went to the doctors about this I would be carted off to some mental asylum asap. And that was the last place I wanted to be.

"Well okay. If you're sure," he reluctantly agreed, not sounding convinced.

"I'm sure," I breathed.

I laid back down again, this time a little closer to Renji. He continued to stroke my hair and I rested my head on his warm, firm chest. I only meant to close my eyes for a second, but it wasn't long before I had drifted off to sleep to the sound of a steady heartbeat.

I jerked awake, unaware that I had fallen asleep. I felt overly warm. My eyes flashed open and I tried to sit up but I was held firmly in place. I looked around as much as I could while I was pinned to the plush mattress. I was still in my bedroom at least.

"Hey, shhh, relax. You're okay, you're safe," I heard Renji say, his voice rumbling through his chest. I could feel the vibrations of his deep voice flow softly though me and I felt comforted.

"How long was I out for?" I asked, starting to remember but still feeling rather groggy.

"Only a little while. Few hours at most," he responded quietly.

"Holy shit!" I cried out, trying to jerk back up again. He still held me, his arms tight but not hurting me.

"Hey calm down," he soothed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sleep at all, we've got to get back to the hotel. I forgot about the others!" I said frantically. Anything could happen to those idiots while I was away, I'm sure Mr Bell wasn't kidding this time when he told me to stay in line.

"It's okay, the others are fine. I called them already." He rubbed my arm reassuringly.

"What?" I asked. How was I going to explain? "What did you say?"

"Just that you had a headache and you needed a rest for a while so you could drive safely," he responded calmly.

"Oh," I replied dumbly.

I'd forgotten that he didn't know about the vision. He chuckled softly now that I'd settled down and pulled me back to his chest. I lay back against him and the mattress, relaxing for a moment. I spent a while, gathering myself, trying to think rationally about what was going to go down. I wasn't sure I could drive like this but I didn't exactly have another choice. Unless I gave Renji a very quick crash course on how to ride a motorbike. No, that wouldn't work.

Eventually he let me get up and I climbed out of bed, padding over softly to the bathroom. I looked around. There was no longer any broken glass, Renji must have cleaned up the soda bottle fragments himself. I grabbed my backpack up off the floor and glanced briefly in the mirror. I had to do a double take. There was a trail of dried in blood coming down from my nose. No wonder Renji was so adamant i rest properly, and it explains why he didn't believe I was okay.

Once I was finished packing I thought more about my game plan. I couldn't take the fastest rout back to the hotel because the traffic was too busy, if I crashed I'd be sure to kill us both. If I took a slightly round about rout I could drive slower as well and hopefully even if I fell off the bike I wouldn't be too badly injured. Once I was feeling up to it, we headed out, Renji keeping careful watch by my side.

'I must have really worried him.' I thought.

"Are you sure you're good to drive? I can do it if you want," he offered, clearly still worried about me. Not that I could blame him.

"Do you even know how to ride a motorcycle?" I asked. I had thought about it earlier, I just didn't want us to die.

"Well, no but it can't be that hard, can it?" He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm fine, Abarai-san. But thanks for the offer," I laughed, handing him my backpack and swinging my leg over the bike. I tugged on my helmet and started her up. He shrugged on the pack and then his helmet, getting on behind me and holding me extra close this time.

"Renji is fine," he insisted. I smiled beneath my helmet.

Putting the keycard up against the reader I shoved the door open and staggered inside. I dragged myself over to the closest bed and dropped down on top of it. I kicked off my shoes and tugged my pillow closer, snuggling into it. My head did not feel any better.

"Soooooo, how are you?" Rangiku asked.

"What do you want Matsumoto?" I asked in a muffled groan.

"The gossip of course!"

She giggled, climbing onto the bed beside me and poked and prodded me until I rolled over. I pushed myself up and scowled at her. She seemed genuinely excited at the prospect of something having happened, even if she had no idea what. I wondered if it had something to do with what Renji had told everyone.

"Nothing happened," I replied with a groan.

"Oh come on, Tina-chan. I saw Renji and you kissing in the parking lot," she admitted.

After pulling up into the parking lot at the hotel I didn't get off my bike right away. Renji climbed off, backpack lazily hanging off his shoulder. He held me around the waist and helped me off. I didn't really need it, I don't think, but I had no momentum. I really didn't feel like moving. He kept one arm around my waist as he lead me inside, our helmets tossed lazily in the back of the dodge.

As he lead me back to the hotel I stopped in the parking lot, gazing up at him. He looked down at me, mentally checking me over.

"Is something wrong?" Renji asked.

"No." I replied and stayed silent for a moment.

"Did you want me to carry you?" He questioned, wondering why I was just staring at him in the parking lot.

"Uh no. I just.." I stared awkwardly. "I wanted to thank you for how you were today."

"O-oh, it was nothing," he responded nervously.

"No, it meant a lot to me. Not only were you good with my parents and put up with my granny, you really helped me with my headaches. It may seem small but no one has ever been so kind and gentle with me before. I felt so safe with you and it was really good of you to let me rest. I know I wouldn't have done it otherwise," I explained.

"Oh, well no problem."

"Thank you, Renji." I smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. I moved up to kiss his cheek out of gratitude. At the last minute he cupped my face, pulling me towards him, bringing our lips together. Sparks shot through me and a warmth spread through my belly. His lips were so soft and dominating, which usually I would have fought. Right now I just wanted to let him take the lead.

"It's no problem," he breathed as we pulled apart.

'God he was smooth.' I internally sighed.

"You were spying on us!" I accused, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Maybe," she admitted guiltily. "I didn't mean to be nosy I was just hoping the sound of the motorbike was you coming back. I really did hope you were okay, Abarai-kun said you were ill."

I sighed. "Yeah, I was. I'm actually still feeling it but I didn't want to tell him and get him all worried again," I confessed.

"Maybe we should have dinner in our room tonight then," she suggested. That actually sounded fantastic. I nodded to her.

"That's just what I need. Thank you Matsumoto," I breathed, sinking into the pillows further.

"Great I'll text the others," she chirped.

'Fuck.'

I groaned. "We don't have enough chairs, Matsumoto."

"Good point, Tina-chan," she gasped. "I'll tell everyone to bring theirs."

"We have four, they just need to bring two. Ask Renji and Hitsugaya, they're next door," I corrected. The last thing we needed was 12 chairs all in the one room.

"Right," she responded, pulling out her phone and beginning to text. I rolled over, laying face down in the pillows.

It wasn't long before there were knocks at the door and the others came filling in. Ikkaku and Renji carrying in a chair each and placing them at the table, which Yumichika came and perched on the bed. Hitsugaya pulled Matsumoto outside for a moment but I was too preoccupied with the bird sitting at the end of my bed.

"How are you feeling now?" He asked, taking my hands in his.

"Better. Really, I'm fine," I tried to convince him, nodding my head violently.

"You know, Renji-kun isn't listening. You can be honest."

"How do you know I'm not?"

He smiled knowingly at me. I looked over and sure enough he was wrestling with Ikkaku. "They're old buddies," he explained. "And After what Renji told us, I'm not so easily convinced a nap can fix everything."

"What'd he tell you?" I asked.

"The collapse, a blood nose," he started. "The crying. Are you really sure you don't need some kind of doctor?"

"Honestly," I sighed, I shook my head. "As much as my head is still killing me and I feel awful, there isn't anything a doctor can actually do to fix me. I know what's wrong, and that's just something I'll have to cope with. But what's bothering me is I've never felt this weak before," I replied with a sigh. I've always been strong.

"Yeah, there's a lot of people I know who struggle with pain. Or rather admitting they're in pain. They're so used to being tough that they can't handle it when they're not. It's okay to not be strong sometimes." He squeezed my hands affectionately. "It doesn't mean you're weak. It's not your fault. Just do you what you need to recuperate and you'll be back to being strong again."

I nodded and gave him an appreciative smile. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he grinned.

"No really, thank you," I replied, making sure he knew I was being genuine. I really liked these exchange students, they were easily the friendliest and least judging of all the exchange students I'd dealt with before. Maybe I was harsh on the short one earlier. They still were hiding something though.

"Renji, you should go down the hall and get some ice from the ice machine," Yumichika called across the room.

"Why?" He looked perplexed. Then his face flashed in horror as he looked at me.

"For the drinks at dinner Renji, don't be an idiot," Yumichika replied.

"Oh..." He responded, relief filling his face. "Sure." He left the room with a silver bucket he found by the kitchenette.

"Now, how about we get you to the table before he comes back?" Yumichika smiled and helped me up. He kept a hand on my back as he guided me to the table. He pulled out a chair for me and pushed me in with ease after I'd sat down. He was kind of strong for someone so thin and slightly feminine.

"Just how bad is it?" Ikkaku asked, sitting beside me.

"I don't know. I'm hoping I'll be better tomorrow but I'm worried that it won't," I answered, running my fingers through my side fringe.

"How come you're hiding it from Renji then?" Ikkaku asked gruffly. I wasn't expecting him to pick up on that.

"He was just so concerned today and he's really worrying about it. I don't want to make it worse when it could be nothing. For some reason he cares and I don't know why but I don't want him to stress out any further. Especially when he'd be worrying about something he can do nothing about," I explained.

"Right," he accepted.

"So that means we have to keep this quiet, Ikkaku," Yumichika added, sitting in the chair next to him.

"I know!" He yelled. "I'm capable of keeping things a secret." He crossed his arms indignantly.

"Keep what a secret?" Renji asked, coming through the door with the ice bucket.

Yumichika slapped his hand on his forehead, shaking his head. I know I shouldn't have, because it was my secret in jeopardy, but I burst out laughing and I couldn't stop. I leaned back in my chair and laughed more. My stomach hurt the more I laughed and the constant jolting wasn't doing much for my head ache. I could practically feel my brain rattling around in my skull.

"What's so funny?" Renji asked. I tried to come up with an excuse, but I was too busy laughing. He sat down behind me, a mixture of annoyed and amused. I clutched at my ribs which were also hurting now.

"She's probably laughing at how much of an imbecile Ikkaku is," Yumichika answered while I continued to laugh and Ikkaku got more and more annoyed.

"It's not that funny!" Maderame yelled.

"Renji..." I stuttered out through laughs, I had managed to come up with something. "I was just telling them about this idea I had, but I didn't want Matsumoto finding out and going on and on about it."

"So I said we needed to keep it on the down low and Ikkaku immediately brags about how he can keep secrets, almost spilling the secret," Yumichika added on while I clutched my stomach. All this laughing wasn't doing much good for my already declining health, I needed to calm down.

"Now that is funny," Renji grinned, also teasing Ikkaku, seeming none the wiser.

It was at that point Matsumoto and Hitsugaya came back in and sat down. Apparently Matsumoto had already decided what food we were having and ordered it. We all made light conversation, Hitsugaya seeming like he was hiding something. I honestly couldn't be bothered what it was, I was too exhausted. I started tapping my foot under the table anxiously even though I wasn't quite sure why I was anxious. Renji slipped a hand under the table and put it on my knee, stopping me from bouncing my leg and also comforting me. I shot him a subtle smile and placed my hand on top of his. The food came and under Hitsugaya's orders Ikkaku grudgingly answered the door.