Chapter 10 - Results
In the previous chapter...
"Don't worry, it was mine too. Now, c'mon, pick up your bag you just left lying in the road and come back," I smiled as I went over to pick up the bag and ran back to him, walking back only a few steps before we were at the clinic again, to be greeted by my new family.
This is what it felt like to have a family, after 7 whole years.
--
"Kishiko-chan! Guess what! We're taking you shopping!" I turned around to see Yuzu grinning and holding out some money. I shook my head,
"No, no, it's okay," I insisted. Yuzu tutted,
"Kishiko-chan, I've had to wash your underwear every night, the only clothes you have is your school uniform and your pyjamas, and frankly, I really wanna take you shopping!" she grinned and danced around, flapping the money. Ichigo stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders,
"Yuzu, if you're not careful, you'll drop all that money," he warned. She pouted,
"Aww, Ichi-nii!" she whined. I laughed at her antics, but suddenly panicked when I saw Isshin whirling towards me,
"Goooooooooood mooorrrnniiiinnnngggg Kisshiiikooooo!" he yelled. I quickly steped aside before he could attack me as he landed head first in the fridge I'd been cleaning out.
"...The hell?!" I yelled. Ichigo shook his head,
"It's okay, he does it to me all the time. That's just...him, I suppose." I looked over at him as he slowly raised his thumb,
"Good job, Kishiko. It seems you're just as good as my boy here," I relaxed slightly before he jumped out the fridge and into my face,
"BUT! Keep your guard up, because you never know when I'm going to pounce! Like BOO!" he shouted the last word in my face and I stumbled backwards, slightly freaked out by his antics. I leaned forward to Ichigo slightly,
"D...does he always do that?" I asked, slightly worried. He nodded,
"Yeah, he'd been behaving the last few days, but now it seems that now you technically live here, there's nothing to hide," I smiled and remembered yesterday,
"Yeah..."
~*~*~(Yesterday, After School)~*~*~
"Ahh, it felt so good to give those keys back! And now that we've offically sorted it out, I'm legally permitted to stay!" I sighed happily and stretched out, walking along the pavement with Ichigo. We'd had quite an interesting day. We'd walked into the classroom to find our usual group of friends. We'd kept our secret fairly quiet until lunch. After telling them that we were offically...well... a 'thing', we'd been given quite a mixed reaction. Uryuu had almost choked on his sandwich, Orihime had clapped her hands joyfully, and Chad had just stared on at us, in shock. It was quite amusing, to be honest. We'd managed to keep it secret from the rest of the school for the day, but no doubt it would slip out over the weekend. So, now, we were walking home, after we'd gone by the Housing Agents and dropped the keys off, while Isshin had sorted everything out earlier. He said he sort out bedroom arragement for me, though I had no idea how. As we reached home, I sighed happily. I savoured every moment I arrived home, now. It felt nice having someone to go home with, having someone to go home to, and all. As we stepped inside the clinic, we made our usual presence, but as we looked around, we couldn't see anybody. Ichigo looked puzzled,
"Dad?" he shouted. A sudden bang came from upstairs and then Isshin's voice,
"Up here, m'boy!" we trawled up the stairs, and standing there in the middle of the hallway, was a ladder. We looked up to see Isshin staring at us from the hole in the ceiling,
"Come on up, I think you're going to like this." We looked at each other, shrugged, decided that the worst that could happen would be the floor collapsing, and crawled up the ladder. I gasped when I reached the top of the ladder, and almost fell off and onto Ichigo, but managed to keep my balance.
"What is it?" Ichigo spoke from underneath me. I pulled myself up and Ichigo followed suite, stopping mid-track and muttering 'Wow...'. As I looked round, I realised that it was my new bedroom. The walls were painted a bright shade of purple, with the one wall down the end painted white. The wooden floor had obviously been scrubbed, as it looked extremely clean. A big double bed was in the middle, with purple quilt covers and a white throw over the top. A desk and white desk chair lay in the corner, a white vase with purple flowers sitting on it. A white bedside table sat by the bed, with a purple lamp on it. In the center of the room, a huge white rug was sprawled across the the floor, which Yuzu was sitting on. She turned around and grinned when she saw us, and stood up and gave us both a hug. She beamed when she noticed my expression,
"So, what do you think, Kishiko-neechan?" I gawped as I looked around at my room,
"It's.... it's absoloutely gorgeous," I muttered in awe. Yuzu clapped,
"Yayy! It's nearly finished, so you can sleep in it tonight, we even made you a custom ladder!" She hopped over to the corner and brought a white ladder with purple flowers to me. I smiled,
"Wow, thanks, guys, this is great!"
~*~*~(End Flasback)~*~*~
I was knocked out my trance when Yuzu began leading me out to the front,
"C'mon, Kishiko-neechan! Get your shoes on!" I stopped in my tracks,
"Wait, Yuzu! I'm still in my pyjamas, and I have no other clothes or shoes. What do you suppose I wear?" Yuzu's eyes suddenly lit up, as if a bulb had just popped over her head. I cowarded away slightly,
"I'm not liking the look of this..."
~*~*~(Shopping)~*~*~
"I feel SO stupid!" I muttered to Ichigo as we walked down the path towards a shop that Yuzu was leading us to. Yuzu had gone upstairs, and after a few minutes, had come down with some of Ichigo's clothing. A white round-neck shirt and his favourite pair of green ripped pants were in her hands. So, after forcing me to put them on, I was walking round in a shirt that was way too big for me, pants that, luckily, managed to fit me around the waist, and my school shoes. I was getting quite alot of stares, but I was trying as hard as I could not to look back. Karin and Isshin had decided to stay at home, since Isshin had some paperwork to attend to, and Karin had a bad headache. We finally arrived at the shop, which Yuzu dragged me into. I almost felt like throwing up when I saw what was in the shop. The walls were lined with dress after dress after dress, in colours such as pink, white, yellow, and purple. Sure, I liked Yellow, White, and Purple, but the pinks freaked me out, and the dresses were even worse. Don't get me wrong, the dresses were a nice style, but I hate wearing dresses. I was beginning to appreciate the fact that I was wearing Ichigo's clothes. Luckily, when Yuzu brought a dress down from the bottom rack, Ichigo took it off of her and put it back,
"Yuzu, I don't think this is really Kishiko's...style." I could tell he was feeling just as uncomfortable as I was in here. Yuzu pouted as she mumbled 'Fine' and we left the shop. After walking around for a while, I found my favourite shop.
"Hey, mind if we go in here? I used to go in here to get most of my clothing," they both nodded and we went inside.
~*~*~(A while later)~*~*~
We walked out the shop, completely satisfied. We'd bought a significant number of outfits and accessories, and Ichigo had found and bought a few things that had caught his eye. I'd been allowed to change into one of the outfits before I'd bought them, probably because the shop clerk's felt sorry for me since I was wearing boy clothes. So now, I'd gone from baggy clothing to a pair of dark denim skinny jeans, a long purple vest with a black waisted belt, high tops, and numerous necklaces and bangles, along with a purple belt that wasn't visible underneath my shirt. It felt great to be in normal clothing again, after living in my pyjamas and school uniform for a week. We then went into a shop and bought some underwear since I'd been wearing the same pair. Ichigo had decided to wait outside, blushing as he'd originally decided to come in with us, but as soon as taking a quick scan around, went back out. I'd given him a quick peck on the cheek before walking in with Yuzu. A few minutes later, after buying what we'd needed, we came out the door, laughing and laughing. Ichigo looked worried,
"What's wrong?!" he asked worredly. I struggled to get my words out,
"Man...dressing room...trying...bra! Curtain...not...closed!" we almost collapsed with laughter, and Ichigo just raised an eyebrow.
"You guys are such kids. I'm sure it was nothing." Somehow, he braved to go into the shop and took a quick looked, before running out again, and started bursting out laughing,
"Oh my God! Did you even LOOK properly?! Take another look, Kishiko! Man, I am NEVER gonna let him live THIS down!" I looked at him before making my way back into the shop, and peeking at him. I gasped and struggled to contain my laughter as I slowly walked back out, noticing the clerk was staring at us, but all the same, I didn't care. As soon as I stepped outside, I shrieked with laughter,
"OH MY GOD! THAT WAS RENJI!" Though Yuzu had stopped laughing, me and Ichigo continued. Yuzu cocked her head to the side,
"Who's Renji?" she asked. I placed my hand on her shoulder,
"A friend who doesn't really understand things. He has something a bit wrong with him." Yuzu pondered,
"What's that, then?" I stifled a laugh before I screamed,
"HE'S GENDER CONFUSED!" Me and Ichigo collapsed against each other, not being able to stop laughing. People in the street kept stopping to stare at us, but frankly, we didn't give a flying monkeys. When we'd finally calmed down, we saw Renji coming out, holding a bag with the bra inside. When he saw us, he smiled,
"Hey guys, what's up?" me and Ichigo looked at each other, and burst out laughing again, Renji totally defeating our ability to stay calm. After a minute I wiped the tears from my eyes and reached into my bag,
"Renji, do you know what one of these are?" I pulled out the white-laced bra I'd just bought. Renji smiled at me,
"Oh, so you bought some Battle Ready Armour, too?" my expression went from pure humor to pure confusion,
"Ehh~?" Ichigo, Yuzu, and I said in unison. Renji nodded,
"Yeah, Urahara said it would help in battle!" I shook my head and leaned into Renji's ear,
"Renji, it's really...." I began to whisper the rest to him. After I'd finished, his face went bright red,
"Wha...WHAT?! ARE YOU TELLING ME THESE ARE ACTUALLY CALLED BRAS AND THEY-" I clapsed my hand over his mouth and tutted,
"Renji, it's not something you should say out loud." I took the bag off him and looked inside,
"Wow, my size. Thanks, Renji! See you later!" We began to walk away, and Renji suddenly realized what I'd done,
"H-hey! I was gonna take that back!" he called to me.
"Think of it as charity!" I called back, without turning round.
"I thought you didn't take charity!"
"Well, maybe I changed my mind!!" he yelled something else back, but I was too lazy to listen and even lazier to respond. We stopped off for a drink in the cafe before heading home.
~*~*~
I lay in bed, not being able to sleep. I didn't know why, I guess I just wasn't tired. I looked at the clock. 11:21pm. I sighed and climbed out,
"I guess I could go see if Ichigo's still awake..." I silently climbed down the ladder and tiptoed into his room, to see he was still in his clothes and on the phone. He looked up in panic when he heard me close the door, but relaxed again when he realised who it was. I sat on his bed next to him and waited for him to finish the conversation, which didn't take long.
"Yeah... okay, Urahara. Yeah, yeah. 'Kay, we'll be down tomorrow afternoon." he hung up and placed the phone down, looking at me,
"Urahara?" I asked. He nodded,
"Yeah, he said he has the results of that test. He wants us to go down tomorrow," he replied. I nodded as I rested my head on his shoulder, and he linked his fingers with mine.
"So, why aren't you asleep?" he asked.
"'Cause, I couldn't."
"Yeah, me neither."
"I bet you haven't even tried."
"Oh yeah? What's your proof?"
"You're still in your clothes," he looked down and gave up,
"Okay, you caught me. A hollow was in town so I decided to go kill it."
"Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?" I laughed. Before I knew it, he'd fallen asleep, his head on mine. Too comfortable to move, I soon found myself drifting off, too.
"Kishiko-neechan~? Kishiko-neechaaaaan~?! Ichigo, have you see-" she opened the door to see Ichigo and I talking on the bed. Yuzu came forward slightly,
"Kishi-nee-"
"No talkie. Bubblegum competition." Since we'd both woken up early, and were bored, we'd decided to have a bubblegum competition to see who could blow the biggest bubble. Since that had started about 3 hours ago, I was on my 32nd gum, whereas Ichigo was only on his 8th, numerous amounts of wrappers littered the bed and floor. It was a good job they had that sale on at that random store we'd visited on our little shopping trip. We both chewed for a good minute before Ichigo counted in,
"3...2...1...blow!" At that moment, we both blew our gum. Ichigo's gum popped after a few seconds, but mine went on for much longer before popping all over my face. I smirked,
"Ha, you lose, again! Stick it to 'em!" You pulled the rest of the gum into your mouth before taking it out, handing it to Ichigo. He sighed and took out his own, holding it while he popped yours into his mouth. He chewed for 10 seconds before taking it back out, throwing it into the bin. I smirked as he placed his back into his mouth, and began to unwrap another gum.
"This isn't fair, my gum's all worn out, and because I lose, you get new ones."
"Stop whining and get a new one then. I bet you I still win, though."
"Tch, don't bet on it!" he took the gum out of his mouth and threw it into the bin, adding to the huge pile collecting inside it. If we'd continued like this, we'd have probably formed the worlds biggest gum ball. We both chewed for a while before a smirk spread across my face,
"3...2...1...blow!" we began to start blowing our bubbles once again, and smirked in victory as Ichigo's popped before mine. I placed my finger inside my growing bubble, bursting it. I continued to smirk as I took my gum out handing it to Ichigo. I began timing and I turned round to Yuzu,
"Hi, Yuzu-chan, what's up?" I asked. She smiled awkwardly before beginning,
"Oh, we were just worried since you weren't in your bedroom. What would you be liking for breakfast today?" I simply shook my head,
"It's okay, Yuzu-chan. I'm planning on visiting a friend with Ichigo." Yuzu looked round to see Ichigo putting both pieces of gum in the bin. He looked up to his younger sister and nodded,
"Yeah, we may be there for most of the afternoon," he said. Yuzu nodded before leaving. I stretched out before rolling over, forgetting I was in a single bed and falling off. Ichigo snickered as I glared at him, standing up. I began walking out of the room,
"I'm gonna go get changed to go to Urahara's. You can clean that up," he scoffed as I opened the door,
"Not bloody likely. You can help me sort out this crap," he muttered, but all the same he began to pick up the wrappers. I climbed up to my bedroom and made my way over to my wardrobe, which luckily, now contained more than uniform. I browsed through before I decided on a grey 'I 3 U' shirt, a pair of shorts, a black and white striped cardigan, and a pair of grey armwarmers. I smiled, pleased with my look, and fixed up my hair, applying a coat of lipgloss before I had a quick tidy round, climbing back down to brush my teeth. As I came out I noticed Ichigo, all dressed and ready. He sported his favourite (and mine) green ripped pants, with a grey polo shirt with a red '15' on the back. I smiled as I pecked him on the cheek, linking arms with him,
"Ready to go?" I asked cheerfully.
~*~*~
The street was fairly quiet. Many of the shops were closed, but hey, it was a Sunday. Ichigo had found out about my 'unusual' obsession for video games after I'd dragged him in to what seemed to be the only shop open.
"Oh my God! They released the new Kingdom Hearts? And lookie! Final Fanasty!! AND OH MY FREAKING GOD, THEY HAVE FREAKIN' SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!" I'd pranced around the shop, singing the Sonic theme tune, before I was forced to refocus on what we were doing, and left, well, was pryed away from the store, leaving a very confused and annoyed shop clerk to stare at us. I pouted comically as we walked down the road, disappointed. Ichigo couldn't help but smile at me, which caused my rare, cheesy grin to come out. We were walking when Ichigo slowly came to a stop, looking at me worridly. I looked at him, matching his expression,
"What's wrong?" I asked, puzzled. He shook his head,
"N-nothing. Just thinking about things." His feet pivoted and he carried on walking, as I hurridly followed after him towards the Shoten.
~*~*~
"Ahh, Kishiko-chan! Ichigo-kun! Welcome!" Urahara spoke in a seemingly delighted tone, but I picked up on the nervousness in his voice instantly. Leaving it, I bowed as I entered the Shoten shortly after Ichigo, taking off my shoes, and following Ichigo through to the room where I'd been previously, when I'd been lured.
"I'll be back in a minute, just make yourselves at home," Urahara flipped open his fan, waving it in front of his face before disappearing. We sat down on one side of the table, waiting, not saying a word. After several minutes Urahara came back in with several papers in his right hand, his expression clearly expressing negativity. He sat down oppsite us, shuffling the papers on the table, not making eye contact with us.
"I have the results of the test," Urahara spoke, almost sadly. I crossed my fingers under the table,
"And...?"
"They're not good..." my fingers instantly uncrossed, and Ichigo placed a hand on top of mine. Urahara looked up at us,
"I'm sorry, but as we speak a hollow is dwelling inside of you." Ichigo's hand tightened around mine. I sighed,
"Isn't there anything we can do to stop it?" I asked. Urahara opened his mouth to speak but Ichigo butted in,
"Once the symptons appear, you can't go back... someone... told me that once." I looked at him, and then back to Urahara, who nodded,
"He's right. I'm sorry, Kishiko. The best you can do is learn to control it." I nodded,
"Okay. I can't upset myself over things that can't be fixed. Like you said, the best I can do now is learn to control it." I forced out a smile and stood up,
"Thank you Urahara, I'm sure Ichigo will help me, since he's experienced this before." Ichigo stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder, looking at me,
"Of course, I'll help you. Don't worry about it." he gave my shoulder a soft squeeze, before we turned around. As we were about to walk out the door, Urahara tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around,
"By the way, if you suddenly start to experience...negative events, come and see me straight away." I cocked my head, puzzled,
"Like what?" I asked. Urahara sifted through the pile of paper and picked a sheet out, handing it to me,
"Read through it. If any of those happen, come see me." I folded the piece of paper and put it in my jeans pocket, bowing before leaving with Ichigo. After we got out onto the main street, Ichigo spoke up,
"Aren't you gonna look at that list?" he questioned, I shook my head,
"No, I don't wanna get paranoid about anything on there, 'cause if I do, it's bound to happen from my own silliness."
"Ahh, I can understand that." After that, we didn't really talk.
Was hell starting now?
It was almost as if I could feel a hellfire raging inside me, and I could feel myself trembling.
It was slight, but I was still trembling.
It was then I knew.
Hell had indeed, begun.
--
Well, I hoped you guys liked it : D
Sorry about the long delay, school and exams have been taking over my life, and writers block has been hurting my head like hell (:
I didn't really know how to end this, to be honest XD
Also, I'd like to thank everyone who's faved this story/me/set to have alerts for new chapters. Within 24 hours I'd had quite a lot of e-mails about people who had done this, and I was quite shocked since this was originally posted on Lunaescence, and in around 5-6 months, it had 12 views, no comments, no faves, or anything, so I was quite happy to find that it was much more popular on here (:
Stay tuned for the next chapter! 3
In the next chapter...
I picked up the list out of my jeans on the floor, reading through the list,
"Here it is, number 7, recurring nightmares." Ichigo looked over my shoulder as we read the small neat print on the paper. I sighed, folding it back up,
"Looks like another trip to Urahara, huh?"