Disclaimer; I do not own bleach or any of the characters used... even that characters not mentioned or seen in the series… I own nothing.
7 Remnants of their bond
Tatsuki held a semi tight grip on Chizuru's shoulders as she focused on allowing her to see Yasuko sitting on the chair a few feet away. Chizuru was relaxed yet still anxious for a chance at seeing her cousin again. Just for a moment would be enough for her to know that this was all real and not just a dream. So much of what happened today was too unreal for her to actually believe so willingly but her need for closure along with what had already happened made her want to believe it. She had been held by something that she couldn't see and Tatsuki knew too much about her for this to be fake.
Everything was silent as Yasuko sat on the edge of the chair unable to deny the fact of being anxious of having an actual conversation with her cousin without having to talk through someone. Her gaze shifted from Tatsuki to Chizuru as she searched for any sign that this was working but even after a few minutes there was no change and it was clear that Chizuru was growing skeptic.
Tatsuki's breathing had deepened as she did all she could to channel the little spiritual power that she possessed through Chizuru so she could see her cousin one last time. This was her last chance to see her and it was the best chance they both had for closure. Tatsuki tightened her grip a little more and focused on doing this. If she could do this for Chizuru it would more then make up for all the pain she had put her through. If she couldn't do this then she wouldn't be able to face her again.
Slowly Chizuru began to lean forward as there was a very faint shape sitting on the chair only a few feet away. The shape slowly became more defined and she found that it was moving forward a little too as it began to take human shape. Its hand clasped over its mouth as it became clear enough to make out facial features. Chizuru's eyes slowly widened as a single word slowly passed her lips, "Yasuko."
Tears rolled down both their cheeks as they shared a warm smile. "How are you doing, Chizuru?"
"I'd be great if I knew if this was really real." Chizuru breathed.
Yasuko smirked and went over to her and pinched her cheek with a smile, "Its real and I'm right here."
"So you've really been here the whole time?" Chizuru asked.
"I've been in and out of your house." Yasuko said. "I've mainly been haunting Tatsuki to keep her in line for you. She's a good kid and from what I've seen in the past few days she really sticks to things. You have a good friend here."
Chizuru smiled warmly as she placed a hand over Tatsuki's, "Yeah, she's really different alone then at school."
Chizuru's expression dropped dramatically concerning Yasuko, "What's wrong?"
"Things are going to be different at school tomorrow." Chizuru said sadly. "It's going to go back to what it was before."
"I don't think it will." Yasuko chuckled. "I gave her hell on Wednesday after she went home. She's become fond of you so I doubt anything bad will happen. If she tries it I'll come back and give her another evenings worth of earfuls."
They shared a short laugh and a smile before Chizuru spoke up once more, "Why do you have to go so soon, Yasuko? Why can't you stay just a bit longer?"
"I don't belong here Chizuru." Yasuko replied sadly. "I need to move on and so do you. The longer I stay the harder it will be. This is going to be the last conversation we have. I'm sorry, but Tatsuki's right, the longer I stay here the more dangerous it will be for the two of you. I've already have had a few moments where it's difficult to maintain myself. I can't put you two in any danger and I can't do any more to Tatsuki. She's already been through so much because of me. Even now this is difficult for her to manage yet she's still pushing herself when she should still be resting herself."
Yasuko reached past Chizuru and placed a hand on Tatsuki's shoulder. She didn't take notice in her meditational state that allowed this to go on as long as it was possible. Yasuko smiled warmly as Chizuru glanced over at her. There was a lot of strain on her face and her breathing was deep and slowly becoming hoarse.
"I think this is your best pick, Chizuru." Yasuko said fondly. "She has an amazing determination. She beat her cold on Friday so we could have this opportunity and she's still going. You two would really make a good couple."
"There's nothing like that between us and there never will be." Chizuru said with a smile. "She's not like me but that's okay because she's an amazing friend to have and just that is enough for me. I'm a little grateful for the storm on Wednesday after school. That was the first time she protected me even though she didn't mean for it to happen. That was the first time she really felt like my friend."
"When was the first time it felt like more then that?" Yasuko asked with a smile.
A blush formed on her face as she looked away, "When she showed up by the river and took me in her arms. It hurt to see her suffering with her cold yet she still went there for me."
"I have a feeling everything will work out for the best." Yasuko said warmly.
"What should I do?" Chizuru asked almost desperately. "I don't want anything to come between us now that we've actually become friends."
"I'm not a high school counselor anymore." Yasuko said. "Work this one out on your own. Relationships are never a sure thing you just have to do your best and learn from the mistakes that you make. That's my advice to you. Don't worry so much, everything will be okay."
Chizuru frowned a little, "You always gave me good advice but now that I really need it you don't even tell me what to do."
"Of course not, I can't give you a walkthrough for life." Yasuko laughed. "You need to live for yourself and not by what others tell you. Live a little and explore that's the only way you'll get experience in life and the only way you'll make it on your own, Chizuru. I won't be around for you anymore and from the looks of it this conversation will only last a few more minutes. That's the thing about death it takes time away from everything and everyone."
"I don't want you to go yet but I know it's for the best." Chizuru said. "I'm just really glad that you were able to be here. Just being able to have this conversation means the world to me. It means a lot to have a friend here also."
"You know what they say, your sweet sixteen is always your best birthday." Yasuko said. "But what they don't say is that any birthday spent with the people you care about most are always the ones you never forget. Even if you don't remember how they end you will always remember the best moments."
"I know that, I'll never forget this moment for as long as I live."Chizuru said warmly.
"The best is yet to come." Yasuko said. "Now before we can't talk face to face anymore open up your gift."
"Shouldn't I wait for Tatsuki to snap out of this?" Chizuru asked. "She is the one that got it for me."
"I suppose," Yasuko said as she leaned over and placed a kiss on Chizuru's forehead. As she straightened up she removed her hand from Tatsuki's shoulder with a sad smile as she said, "Give her my best and tell her goodbye for me. I won't be here when she comes to."
"I'll give her any message you want me too." Chizuru said.
"Just tell her that." Yasuko said as her image began to fade. "I'll leave her a more detailed message in her room giving her my thanks."
"Goodbye, Yasuko." Chizuru said a little quickly so Yasuko could do the same while it would still be heard.
"Goodbye, Chizuru." Yasuko said warmly yet held some sadness. "I'll never forget the time we spent together."
She placed a hand on Chizuru's cheek and leaned over to her ear as her image faded away from Chizuru's sight but she faintly heard what was said to her, "Take care of her."
Chizuru smiled warmly even as the hand moved away from her face. She reached out and felt their hands graze once more. Their fingers lingered for only a moment before Yasuko pulled away. Chizuru's smile faded a little but she did nothing more to cling on to her cousin as she felt Tatsuki's body shift and behind her.
Tatsuki fell onto Chizuru's back as her breathing calmed. A warm smile formed on her face as she turned and held Tatsuki up so she wouldn't fall over as she shifted her so she was lying comfortable on her back while her head rested on her lap. A warm smile formed on her face as a part of her still sensed Yasuko lingering around for a bit longer. Her smile warmed considerably as she saw a bit of Tatsuki's hair shift so it was out of her face.
Tatsuki slowly opened her eyes and found herself laying down. Her body felt stiff and sore as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. She soon found herself on Chizuru's lap making her sit up quickly in a bit of awkwardness. She rubbed the side of her face trying to wake up, "How long was I out?"
"Not long." Chizuru said. "It was only an hour."
"Geez, it felt way longer then that." Tatsuki said as she swung her legs out over the edge of the couch and noticed the untouched cake and gift. She glanced over at Chizuru and found she was avoiding looking at her directly. "You could have started without me."
"No way," Chizuru said. "This is my first birthday with a friend. There's no way I want to do anything alone today."
Tatsuki smiled for only a moment before it faded and she looked around, "Where's Yasuko?"
"She left already." Chizuru said with a bit of a smile. "I'm a little sad but I'm glad I was able to see her one last time and even have a small conversation with her."
"So it worked?" Tatsuki asked. "I'm glad, I really had my doubts about it actually working."
"Thanks for that, Tatsuki." Chizuru said finally meeting her eyes. "I'll never forget this day for as long as I live. Not once in my life did I actually wish for something and have it come true. You're really amazing for doing what you did."
A slight blush formed on Tatsuki's face as she looked away, "We just wanted to make today special for you, that's all."
"Well, you more then outdid yourself with letting me see Yasuko one more time." Chizuru said kindly. "I don't think anything could even amount to that one moment I had."
"Well, happy birthday." Tatsuki said. "That's my gift to you. The other one is from Yasuko."
Chizuru smiled warmly but slowly avoided Tatsuki's eyes as her gaze went back to the table. Tatsuki just smirked and said, "If you want to open it then go ahead. It's your day, do what you want I don't mind."
Her smile faded and a light blush appeared on her face but she didn't dare look over at Tatsuki to respond, "I won't do anything that would put you in an awkward position."
"Stop thinking dirty." Tatsuki said and lightly tapped her on the shoulder with her fist. The action immediately brought Chizuru's mood down which startled Tatsuki, "Is everything alright, Chizuru?"
"We have school tomorrow." She said sadly. "What's going to happen between us while we're there? There are still the rumors that are going around."
"Don't worry about it." Tatsuki said. "I'm not going to do anything to you."
"But wouldn't that just make it worse?" Chizuru asked.
"Probably," Tatsuki shrugged. "It's just a rumor. It will go away in time, they all do."
"Yeah," Chizuru agreed. "But what about in the meantime, what are you going to do about them?"
"Nothing, I don't care anymore." Tatsuki said. "After the past few days they are the last of my worries."
"Yeah, there was never any truth to it anyways." Chizuru said.
"High schools," Tatsuki said with a smirk and a shake of the head. "It's supposed to be the best time of our lives but it sucks."
"It sucks more for me then it does for you." Chizuru said.
Tatsuki fell silent for a while as they both stared ahead of them. It wasn't long before Tatsuki let out a slightly aggravated sigh and said, "Can we stop stalling and just eat?"
"Yeah, sorry." Chizuru said as she shifted to the edge of the seat and picked up the knife. "How big of a piece do you want?"
"You get the first slice." Tatsuki said. "It's tradition."
"I'm aware of that but I still need to know." Chizuru said as she cut herself a piece.
"I'll take only about half of that." Tatsuki said.
"I thought you were hungry." Chizuru said with a laugh.
"I am but I can't eat too much fattening food because of an upcoming karate tournament." Tatsuki said.
Her piece was cut and handed to her on a plate. They both relaxed on the couch and began eating the cake in a bit of silence before Chizuru started laughing a little, "It got a bit stale."
"So it wasn't just me." Tatsuki said looking down at her slice. "Oh well, it's to be expected with how long it's been sitting there. I'm not much of a cake person to be honest but I make exceptions for certain people."
"How many people is that?" Chizuru asked curiously.
"It's at three now." Tatsuki said. "It's just you and my parents."
"Wow, Orihime's not on the list?" Chizuru asked. "That's actually a shock."
"She would be an exception if she bought her cakes instead of making them." Tatsuki said.
"I can see why then." Chizuru said with a laugh. "I think her odd taste in different food is cute though."
"Chizuru, we may be friends now but that doesn't mean I'll put up with you fretting over her." Tatsuki said. "I don't like it when people hit on her or obsess over her. She's my best friend."
"And you're protective." Chizuru added. "I know, but just complimenting on something she likes isn't exactly fretting or obsessing over her."
"But it's coming from you." Tatsuki said skeptically.
"I've decided to move on." Chizuru said. "I'm not saying I found someone else or anything but pissing you off and making you hate me isn't something I really want to do. You're a good friend and I don't want to mess up our friendship."
Tatsuki eyed her carefully as she finished eating her slice of cake, "Coming from you that's a little hard to believe. I'm not saying that you want our friendship to be effected by your feelings but just giving up is strange. You're not going after guys now are you?"
"No way," Chizuru denied as if taking offence. "I could never be with a guy. It's just not how I am."
"I'm glad." Tatsuki said with a smile. "I think it's cool how proud of yourself you are so if you were to go after guys then you wouldn't be the same. I'm not the only one who thinks so either."
She looked over at Chizuru and caught a nice blush that ran across her cheeks. Chizuru immediately looked away and tried to eat her piece of cake faster to occupy herself and lose the deep blush on her face that only got worse the longer Tatsuki watched her. Tatsuki averted her eyes out of consideration of the girl's embarrassment. She had no doubt Chizuru had never been this close to another girl that she liked without anyone to interrupt so for her sake she would feign ignorance until it died down or she was ready to admit her feelings.
A slight smile formed on Tatsuki's face as Chizuru placed her empty plate on the table then brought her legs up so she was in the fetal position to help her hide her blush. Tatsuki did her best to ignore it and stifle her laughter so she wouldn't put Chizuru in an even worse place then she was already in now even if it was amusing. As she calmed herself Chizuru did the same but at a much slower pace though she didn't move her legs away from her face.
After awhile Chizuru built up enough courage to look back at Tatsuki though there was no eye contact made. Tatsuki was looking across the room in silence waiting for Chizuru to stop being so embarrassed around her. This friendship was going to be very difficult to manage if she kept blushing and getting overly embarrassed every time there was a bit of niceties or compliments. Those would definitely have to be restricted at school to avoid the completely obvious crush that Chizuru had now.
"Chizuru, for the time being I think it might be best that we avoid each other at school." Tatsuki said. "Just to let things settle down a bit. We can still hang out after school but just not really walking around. If you want to come to my house then it's fine."
"Yeah, I guess." Chizuru agreed but showed her disappointment clearly. "You can come here whenever you want also. Maybe we can eat the whole cake."
"No, my exceptions are limited to special occasions only." Tatsuki said bluntly. "Once the day is over then there's no chance that I'll make the exception again until another special occasion."
"You said that about being lenient towards me." Chizuru said. "That didn't really work out to well for you did it?"
"You're cousin was haunting me and dragged me to the river to find you." Tatsuki said. "After all that I couldn't really just let it all slide."
"So I'm an exception for more then just cake?" Chizuru asked. "What else can I make you do that no one else can?"
"Not much," Tatsuki said looking back over at her. "But since we're on that topic, before this happened I never knew you had a vulnerable side since you never showed any of that before."
"What about it?" Chizuru asked.
"Don't show it to anyone else but me." Tatsuki said sternly. "I don't want anyone to take advantage of it to bully you and I definitely don't want to beat up a group of people for something like that when you can easily confide in me about anything."
"Are you saying you'd defend me?" Chizuru asked.
"Yeah, you're my friend and I don't like it when people mess with my friends." Tatsuki said. "On that note what's your email address? I'll add you so we can make plans outside of school whenever you want."
Chizuru's face brightened at the thought as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. They swapped emails with smiles though Chizuru's was a lot happier then Tatsuki's was as hers was more amused then anything else. She wasn't aware how Chizuru planned on going about her little crush so she would take as many precautions as she could to keep it from getting out of hand. They would avoid each other at school to limit the time they spent together and the rumors and Tatsuki wouldn't give Chizuru her phone number to avoid long calls with possible bad timing and no explanation for them.
When they finished they held warm smiles and nothing more then that but their eye contact didn't last long as Tatsuki looked away as another form of distance between them. Her eyes went back across the room as she asked, "Now what?"
"I don't know," Chizuru responded. "Is there anything in particular you want to do?"
"Not really," Tatsuki responded a bit uncomfortably as the absence of Yasuko was really starting to sink in as there were no little comments or anything in particular to say for her. She wanted to comment on it but she didn't want to upset Chizuru after she seemed to be in such a good mood. It was something that she hadn't seen in a while.
All of last week at school she had been a little quiet but it was only on Wednesday that it was really noticeable since it was right after it had happened. A surge of guilt filled her as she recalled the anger she had felt towards her the moment she jumped to the conclusion that Chizuru had been planning something and how she planned to confront her about it. Her guilt rose even more as she realized that she most likely would have used violence if Chizuru merely mentioned Orihime in any way at all.
Her chest tightened at the thought of hurting Chizuru now. After spending just a couple of days with her and Yasuko her eyes were really opened to so much that she couldn't even bring herself to harm Chizuru even a little bit. The little knocks to the arm had absolutely no force to them and they were more of a small nudge then anything else. If Chizuru were to go after Orihime now then Tatsuki would be caught between them and would be at a loss of what to do. At least Chizuru had agreed to get over Orihime so that would take a lot of pressure off of her.
"Chizuru," Tatsuki started. "I don't think I ever apologized properly to you. I thought that by doing all of this that I'd be making amends but I've realized that this still isn't enough so if there's ever anything I can do for you just let me know. That one's a standing offer so it's good whenever and wherever."
"Tatsuki, everything you did for me in the past five days was already more then I can ask for." Chizuru said. "Don't tell me to ask for more from you because I can't do that to you. If anything I'm the one that owes you now. You saved my life and helped me accept Yasuko's death as well as give me a reason to keep on going with my life and there's so much more that you've given me also."
"Like what?" Tatsuki asked with a slight smirk.
The immediate blush on Chizuru's face was too amusing for her to pass up as it covered her face this time. Unfortunately for her she couldn't help but laugh making Chizuru blush even more. She turned a deep red but there was also a small glint in her eye that Tatsuki didn't like to see. Tatsuki had crossed a small line and she treaded dangerously now as she had tempted Chizuru to do something. Luckily her embarrassment won over her small urge and she looked away as she pulled her legs tighter to her body as a form of defense.
"Where the heck did your dog go?" Tatsuki asked suddenly to change the subject and to distract Chizuru from her small urge to act on her emotions.
"He's probably upstairs with my parents." Chizuru said nervously. "They've been gone for five days so he probably missed them."
"You're not good company for him then?" Tatsuki asked with a bit of a laugh.
"I am, but they buy his food." Chizuru said.
"I guess it makes sense then." Tatsuki said.
"Yeah," Chizuru replied but avoided her eyes. "He usually stays with me though."
"With the exceptions of thunder storms though." Tatsuki laughed as she recalled how he hid when the power went out. "I've never seen a dog act like such a coward."
"Hey, he's a small dog and blackouts scare him." Chizuru said. "He doesn't understand them."
"Is there anything that you're afraid of?" Tatsuki asked with a slight smirk.
Chizuru remained silent for awhile before saying, "I don't really know anymore."
"What do you mean?" Tatsuki asked as their eyes met once more.
"Well, I used to be afraid of you and death." Chizuru said. "But you kind of took that away by showing me that there's really nothing to be afraid of. Everything else, doesn't seem so scary right now. I don't know maybe it's just because I don't remember the last time I was this happy but I feel as though everything is going to be alright now."
Tatsuki smiled at Chizuru, "I'm glad to hear that. I was pretty worried about you before so it's good to know that you're happy now."
Chizuru returned her smile with a blush but Tatsuki didn't look away this time as she felt relieved with her better mood and even more so that she had an influence on her now. That made any future problems easier to deal with and she wouldn't have to rely on a ghost to help her through it. Now she could do it on her own without any help and that was how it should be between two friends. There shouldn't be a third person involved with any problems that could occur.
