So tomorrow was the day his mother died? That explained why everyone was so worried about him but not why he was acting so goddamned happy.
"Why's he acting so happy then?" Shiro asked the girl.
She sighed, "He doesn't want us to worry. Every year he acts like this for a day and disappears the next. Then he comes back like nothing ever happened."
Ichigo returned to the table and set the napkins and new juice box in front of Orihime. The orange haired girl then started to clean up the mess from the exploded juice box. The group around the table joked around the rest of the lunch period, Ichigo included.
Shiro wasn't bothered much by what he had just been told, though he did admit to himself that he did feel a small tiny, miniscule shred of pity for the orange haired boy. Oh well, as long as he didn't have to deal with emotionally depressed people for any amount of time he was fine.
The rest of the school day passed by slowly as usual before it finally ended. Shiro walked back with Ichigo, who at one point actually started to hum.
Shiro fallowed Ichigo into the house where Isshin immediately attacked Ichigo.
"HELLOOO ICHIGOOO!!!" The man yelled as he attempted to hug tackle his son.
Ichigo easily dodged and Isshin went flying past him. Unfortunately Shiro was behind Ichigo and received the flying tackle instead, which knocked him to the ground. Shiro gritted his teeth as pain shot through his side from his still healing ribs.
"Oh no! I'm sorry Shiro! I'm sorry! Please forgive me!" The old man begged as he began to sob loudly.
"Nice one dad." Ichigo said with a chuckle, his father continued to apologize profusely.
"I'm fine. Just shut up already, jeeze." Shiro said in annoyance, the pain from his ribs starting to fade.
Yuzu poked her head out the kitchen. "Come on you guys, dinners ready."
Diner pasted by quietly except for the usual antics by Isshin, which would cause either Ichigo or Karin to hit him out of annoyance. Shiro was about to leave the kitchen when Isshin placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I think we could take those stitches out of your arm now."
Shiro held out his arm. Isshin pulled a pair of nail clippers out of his pocket and quickly clipped the stitches. He pulled the small, plastic strips out of Shiro's arm.
"Dad, you better not be getting stuff all over my floors." Yuzu said, shaking her finger threateningly.
"Why no Yuzu. Daddy would never dirty your clean floors." The adult said in a innocent, child like voice.
Shiro saw Karin roll her eyes and Ichigo give a small, amused smile as Yuzu gave a warning look at her father. They looked like a happy family together.
Shiro suddenly felt very out of place as he left the kitchen.
*The next day*
~June 17th ~
A knock on Shiro's door woke him up from his light sleep. He sat up and walked over to the door and opened it. He frowned as he looked around and didn't see any one, whoever knocked on his door was gone.
Stepping back into the room he realized it was Tuesday, which meant he had school. With a small growl of resentment, he pulled on his uniform. Leaving the room, he went past the closed door of Ichigo's room and down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs he heard crying coming from the kitchen, curious, Shiro looked in the kitchen to see Yuzu with her head in her arms, sobbing at the table. Karin sat next to her, one of her hands placed comfortingly on Yuzu's shoulder.
"Come on Yuzu, you can't cry like this every year." Karin said to her twin.
"I-I k-know but I m-miss her so m-much!" Yuzu said before starting to sob even harder.
Karin gave a sad sigh and gave her sister's shoulder a small squeeze.
Shiro passed by the kitchen as quietly as possible, suddenly glad that he had school. Pulling on his shoes, he didn't hear Isshin come up behind him.
"You don't have to go to school today if you don't want to."
Shiro nearly jumped in surprise. He looked up to see Isshin smiling at him, though his usual enthusiasm wasn't there.
"Why?" Wasn't one of his conditions for staying there to finish school?
"None of the others are going to school today, so I won't make you go either." Isshin explained.
"Nah, I'll go today." On any other day Shiro would have taken the day off without hesitation but he didn't think he could deal with listening to Yuzu cry all day.
Shiro opened the door and stepped outside. He felt something cold and wet land on his head. Looking up he saw a dark, gray sky and felt another rain drop hit the side of his face. Something in his brain told him it would be a long day.
He walked to the school and arrived there mostly dry. The rain hadn't really started to fall yet.
He walked into the classroom and took his seat. He looked out the window and watched the speed of the rain pick up slightly, the sound of the other students talking filled the background until the teacher came in a few minutes later. The teacher began a lecture that Shiro promptly ignored.
By the time the lunch bell rang the rain outside was coming down much faster then it had that morning.
Ichigo's friends sat with him again, but they were more subdued then he ever seen them. He had felt his mood get worse through out the day. Damn, all this depression was getting to him.
The bell rang again, signal for everyone to class.
Shiro went back to class expecting note taking or things of that nature but he got a pop quiz instead. After finishing the useless quiz, the day past by as annoyingly slow as it had that morning.
He watched the rain, which was falling at a steady pace as it struck the window with small tapping noises. Finally he turned to watch the clock, as it was one minute before the bell would ring. With a click the minute hand moved causing the bell to ring and all the students to gain their freedom.
He ran back to the house so hopefully he wouldn't be soaked.
That wasn't the case. When he reached the house he was sopping wet, his hair was flattened against his head and his is clothes stuck to him uncomfortably.
He walked inside the house, past the living room, and was about to go upstairs to change when he heard someone start talking to him.
"Oh Shiro, I'm sorry. I should have gotten a umbrella for you this morning."
He turned around to see Yuzu standing behind him. She had stopped crying but her eyes were red and puffy.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." He said before continuing upstairs. He still wasn't use to people caring about him and it made him feel strange.
He walked into his room and grabbed some clothes before going to the bathroom. He turned the shower and pulled off his shirt as he waited for the water to warm up.
He looked to most of the bruises on his chest were a greenish-yellow color. His ribs were mostly healed but still hurt if he twisted too much. He looked at the fresh white scar on his arm where Isshin had taken the stitches out of his arm. A constant reminder that he would have to watch his back from now on.
He removed the rest of his clothes and stepped into the hot stream of shower water. The hot water felt nice on his rain-cooled skin. He stood there for a moment, letting the water run over him before grabbing some soap and cleaning himself off.
After rising, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. He quickly toweled off and was getting dressed when he felt his stomach grumble hungrily. He wondered what they were going to eat as he pulled on his shirt.
He stepped out of the bathroom and went down the stairs. The unmistakable smell of Chinese take out coming from the kitchen.
Walking into the kitchen he saw Karin, Yuzu, and Isshin almost done with their boxes of take out, leaving two boxes on the table. Shiro picked one of the boxes up along with a pair of chopsticks.
"Think he's going to eat that?" Shiro asked, nodding to the last remaining box that was presumable Ichigo's.
"I'll take it up to onii-chan and see." Yuzu said as she picked up the box and left the room.
The three left in the room continued to eat until Karin stopped and threw away her empty box. She left the room and the sound of television voices filtered out of the living room.
"I have a question." Shiro said as he looked up from his box of food.
Isshin looked at him curiously, waiting for him to speak.
"How'd she die?" He saw Isshin visibly sadden at the question and he took a few moments before answering.
"She was walking Ichigo home when she was hit by a drunk driver." He gave a sad sigh before continuing.
"Ichigo saw the whole thing."
Shiro eyes widened slightly at this. He knew it was bad by the reactions of those who knew about it, but to have seen it... Shit.
A mournful silence filled the room as Isshin sat back quietly, thinking of old memories. Shiro thought reflectively about how things made more sense after hearing this.
Suddenly they heard someone running down the stairs. Yuzu came bursting into the kitchen, fresh tears running down her cheeks.
"Ichigo is gone!"
-AUTHOR'SNOTE-
Sorry about it being a cliffhanger. -_-
I saw an interesting question in the reviews by MurasakiShiori asking how long this story will be and I have been thinking about how to answer that. I have absolutely no idea.
For those who are wondering if this is going to be a yaoi or not, your question shall be answered in the next chapter because if nothing happens in that chapter it won't be. I've been wanting to write chapter 10 for a while.
Wow 35 reviews! I feel loved! :)
