So, this story has been more popular than my other one, so I figured I should keep writing. Thanks for the reviews from my two loyal readers, and thanks for the reads from everyone out there who took the time. It means a lot trust me.
Yuzu had come home from dinner that night with a cut on her knee and scrapes on the backs of her legs where she was dragged, or where she had fallen in her account. Ana had put ointment and bandages on them but their father still took a look at them with a worried expression on his face over the small cuts and bruises on his childs legs.
"What happened Yuzu?" Isshin was for once serious, he knew what had happened from Ana who had brought his daughter home after their dinner. When she had turned to leave he had seen the glint of the knife that she had clutched almost out of sight in her right hand, and he wondered again what had really happened.
Yuzu hadn't noticed the knife but she had noticed that Ana had been acting strangely, "Well, I was walking and I guess I tripped on something and hit my head because I thought that something was dragging me but that's silly. Then Ana was there and she took me inside and fed me and bandaged up my legs." She smiled up at her father as he replaced the bandages and let her go up the stairs after a quick goodnight, and then he went to his room as well to worry over his son and daughters, and the various messes that they were in.
The next afternoon Ichigo was walking around the town, he needed to think about what to say to Ana when she eventually came asking about what had happened last night, he knew it would be soon because she didn't seem like that kind of girl to just let it go.
It was getting dark by the time Ichigo started home wondering what Yuzu was cooking for dinner and if he should start on his homework before or after eating.
"That was some pretty impressive fighting last night you know?" Ana was standing in front of him on the sidewalk outside her door with a look of extreme interest on her face. "But I'm guessing you don't get a lot of compliments for your fighting because no one else can see you." She walked closer to him and he again thought about how tall she was, secretly wondering if she had come from Mexico like Chad.
Ichigo backed away from her, she wasn't all that intimidating but he didn't know what he should say or do, he didn't even know if she would get in trouble for knowing to much about him and the other Shinigami.
She got closer to him again, she wanted to know what that thing was that had attacked Yuzu and had turned on them both with the intention to kill them. "What are you?" She looked him straight in the eye and stood only inches away from his still form. "I had been wondering since that morning, but I can't think of anything." She stared at him a little longer and shook her head, "Fine, whatever, I guess I should just start asking around to see if anyone knows anything about what's going on." She turned away from him and opened her door to leave him out on the street but his hand around her wrist prevented her from getting through the door. "That's not a good idea for you to go around asking about things like that." Ana yanked her arm away from him and glared at him while he looked at the ground and not at her. "Well then what's going on? What was that thing that attacked your sister? Why are you running around town at random times dressed like a nut killing monsters with a giant sword?"
She looked around the street and reached out suddenly and pulled him inside her house and closed the door. "Umm… what are you doing?" He didn't like the thought of being alone in a dark hallway with a girl who was as demanding very private information from him. "I'm giving you privacy so you can explain yourself cause you obviously don't want to do so outside." He heard her feeling along the wall and was blinded by the light in the hall and when he finally adjusted his sight he just caught the edge of her skirt going around the corner to where he knew the living room was and he could hear the water running in the kitchen.
"Well, I don't know how to explain it exactly." Ichigo walked forward down the hall towards where she was and saw her leaning against the sink waiting for the kettle to boil so she could make tea. "Well try your best and I'll ask questions when I need to." Ana drummed her fingers on the edge of the counter and watched him expectantly as he put his hand to his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
The following hour was filled with explanations of Shinigami, which she didn't believe in until he popped out of his body to show her; and hollows like the one she had encountered, which she did believe in because she had seen one for herself. "So it's your job to take ghost from this world to the next? That about it?" She was sipping at her cooling tea and sitting at the kitchen table tapping her foot on the ground.
"Yeah, that's the short version of what I just told you." He now wasn't sure about what to tell her, he had left out Orihime, Chad and Uryu, he didn't want them to be told about since it was their business if this girl knew what they could do. "Now, you have to swear not to tell anyone about anything that I just told you, especially my family." He drained his tea and stared at her, for a person who seemed to be skeptical in all things, especially trust, she seemed to be taking it all very well.
Ana stood up and walked to the kitchen to put away their cups, "Well why would I tell anyone about anything you've told me? They'll just think I'm crazy and I'll end up in the loony bin." Sometimes she had a strange way of putting things, "Thank you for telling me all of this though, its good to know that if one of those… Hollows, comes after me again you'll take care of it. I plan on living for the next twenty years of so."
He had followed her to the kitchen and was watching her wash the cups when he decided that he wanted to start asking some questions of his own. "Why are you so tall?" It sounded harsh the way he said it, and he noticed that she stopped washing and turned off the water with heavy movements. "So I guess you've noticed…" She didn't continue, just seemed to slump against the counter, he wasn't sure why she was so touchy about it but he decided to try and remedy the situation. "Well I only ask cause the majority of girls are shorter than me by a lot and well your almost as tall as me, and I know your not from around here so I guess I was just wondering if it the height ran in your family and where your from so I could understand better…" It wasn't often that he ranted or talked this long, but this girl seemed to have the effect of Yuzu or Yoruichi when they had caught him doing something that he shouldn't have.
"Oh quit it." She turned around to face him and straightened her back, "I'm from a small town in Texas, but I decided to move here awhile back and I've just recently gotten the money to do so. As for the height well… yeah, everyone in my family was tall." She looked at him again and the hurt in her eyes was there for a moment and then it was gone as she turned away from him to answer the phone that had started to ring during his questioning.
'Everyone in my family was tall.' Ichigo thought about that sentence, was, that word seemed to jab at him in the worst kind of way, did that mean that they were all gone, that she didn't have anyone in the world to call family?
"Ichigo." She was back in front of him with the phone pressed to her chest and he tried to see if there were any indicators in her face as to what kind of tragedy had struck her. "Ichigo?" She flicked him between the eyes and he seemed to snap out of his pondering. "Yeah?"
"Your dad is on the phone and he says that if your not home for dinner in five minutes he's going to lock you out of the house." She seemed amused by this statement but the look in her eye told him that she was thinking hard about something. "Okay, tell him I'll be home." She nodded and relayed the message to Isshin, and after a teary goodbye on his fathers part she hung up the phone and looked back at Ichigo who was now staring at her so intently that she was reminded of the day that she had first seen him.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" The question went unanswered however as he stepped closer to her and looked into her face trying to find the lines of sorrow and misery etched in her face, wondering what she had done to block out what he was sure were depressing memories. He stared at her for a few moments longer before she took a breath and stepped away from him, "You need to go home Ichigo, I don't want to talk about it."
He blinked again and watched her turn around and lean against the sink, "Okay, I understand." And he did understand, better than she would probably know, "I'll tell Yuzu you said hi." She didn't turn around until she heard the door close and the familiar shouts from two houses down as Isshin greeted his son in his unusual violent way. "Goodnight." and then she cried.