He decided to leave work early that day and take his parent to the hospital to get checked out, just to be safe. And while his mother had readily agreed. His father had been particularly stubborn and in the end he had only relented because of his wife.
Thankfully, they were both okay. Suffering no injuries whatsoever. Not even a couple of scrapes or bruises.
Which was nothing short of an actual honest-to-god miracle to the doctors that had taken the time to see them.
They'd been informed by one of the more gossipy nurses a little while later of how lucky they were to come away from that incident in one piece. Especially since nearly ten people had died in the crash.
After that he'd decided that they'd had enough excitement for one day and he'd taken them both home and spent the rest of his day fussing over them endlessly.
His mother had appreciated the attention. His father however had griped at him to leave him be despite the fact that he'd secretly liked the attention too. Something that he'd teased the man mercilessly about, making his mother laugh at his antics. While his father merely threw a pillow at him and growled at him to stop it.
He stuck around late into the evening, making sure that both of his parents genuinely were okay, and even helping to tuck his mother into bed before finally deciding to ask the questions that had been burning on the tip of his tongue all day.
And since his father wasn't tired just yet, that meant that he could ask him everything.
Walking back downstairs, he found his father still sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the muted TV as a story about the bus crash began to play again.
In the hours since the trip to the hospital, the body count had gone up significantly from ten people dead, to nearly forty-three. Most of whom had died of unknown internal injuries or while on their way to the hospital.
Walking over to the couch, he picked up the remote and turned the TV off.
"There's nothing that we can do about it. So it's best not to dwell on it." He said gently. Noting how upset his father looked.
"I know, but I can't help it, son," His father said tiredly. "Your mother and I could have easily joined the number of the dead if it wasn't for that young lady saving us."
Taking a deep breath, he then sat down on the coffee table in front of his father and asked, "Do you recall anything about her?"
"Some. But not much. Why do you ask?"
"She saved you and mother. I want to find her and show her my gratitude."
His father gave him a slightly shaky sounding chuckle before asking, "Do you really think that you can find her, Shuichi?"
"Yes." He said confidently. He didn't bother to tell his father that there wasn't much that he couldn't do. That was simply something that his father didn't need to know.
His father smiled wryly at him. "Very well, son. I'll tell you what I recall of her." His father said before then telling him everything that he could remember of the incident and the woman.
He listened patiently, not saying anything when his father occasionally paused or took a shuddering breath to collect himself. He did, however, fetch the man a few glasses of water to help him steady himself. Something that his father was grateful for.
Finally, he finished speaking and Shuichi took a few moments to think things over before he recalled her. The young lady that he'd seen around a few times, but never really spoken too.
She matched the description that his father had given. And she had very memorable features. How could she not?
She was a very lovely young woman with her angelic facial features. With her peculiar rose red colored hair. Which was a pretty combination of pink and red that gave her a shockingly eye-catching look and went well with her vivid green eyes.
And while it was good to know just who he would be tracking down, it troubled him that his father mentioned that she'd been bleeding. His father had been fairly certain that she hadn't been clipped by the bus.
So, he wasn't sure why she'd be bleeding unless she hit her head when she'd knocked his parents out of harm's way. Either way, he had the information that he needed to find her and would begin his search as soon as he left the house.
He left an hour later, once his father had finally decided to go to bed. And only after he had assured the man that he would call in the morning to check on he and his mother.
He'd been walking down the street towards his company for the past forty-five minutes or so while mentally going over what to do once he found the woman. He hadn't been lying when he'd told his father that he wanted to show his gratitude for what she'd done.
But he also couldn't help but think that something monumentally life changing was going to happen once he found her. And to be totally honest with himself, something was.
Knowing him and his normal behavior patterns- he was likely to attach himself to the woman in much the same manner that he had with his friend Yusuke. Though he would imagine that their relationship would likely be vastly different in many ways.
After all, she was a woman.
A woman that had saved both of his parent from certain death. And now, whether she liked it or not, she was under his protection.
A small smile curved his lips as a thrill went through him. He suddenly couldn't wait to learn her name. To stand close to her, face to face, and hear her voice. To take her scent deep into his lungs so that he would always be able to track her, even over a distance.
To shoulder her burdens and keep her safe from harm.
Something that he couldn't quite place sparked inside of him as he turned the corner and went towards where his company was and came to a pause in front of the building.
He couldn't help but wonder if she felt restless due to the incident earlier today, and would decide to wander around tonight night in an effort to clear her head? And if so...perhaps he could keep her company for a bit.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there, patiently waiting for her to appear somewhere in the vicinity. The thing about demons was that those as ancient as he was tended to have boundless patience and could often plant themselves in one place and wait out their prey.
For the moment, thinking of the woman as his prey helped him to stay put and not give up despite the fact that the temperature was uncomfortably cool, and his jacket provided only so much warmth. As it was, his nose, cheeks, ears, and even his hands were beginning to go numb.
Which was a good indication of what he could expect if he had to stand there all night. He'd likely get a cold from the exposure, which would be annoying. But he'd bounce back easily enough with his immune system.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there waiting, but it was definitely a while. He knew this because he'd been internally counting down the minutes. But finally, she appeared.
She was across the street from him with a waif-like young lady. Her hands were in her pants pockets, her mid back length hair was up off of the nape of her neck in a twist style, the thick locks were held in place by a mint green butterfly shaped clip that matched her long-sleeved thick cotton shirt.
She wasn't wearing a jacket, was the first thing that he noticed. Or rather she'd given up her jacket to her small friend whom was holding it closed around her slender shoulders while she talked to her.
She wore a fond smile on her lips. Her absolute attention on her friend, while she deftly maneuvered the smaller woman down the street. Occasionally taking her hands out of her pants pockets to reach out and absently place one of them in the middle of the smaller woman's back or twisting her body ever so slightly when people passed in an effort to keep some of them from bumping into the smaller woman.
He waited until they crossed to his side of the street before falling into step a discreet distance from them while he eavesdropped on the two of them.
"Are you sure that walking me home is necessary?" The smaller woman asked again. She'd asked the same question five times already and didn't seem as if shed stop anytime soon.
"I'm sure." Her friend assured her, again.
"But I'm totally capable of walking home by myself." Tiny, as he'd dubbed the smaller of the woman in his mind, argued.
"I know," Rose, his prey, said easily. "But you're also carrying precious cargo and have the uncanny ability to get yourself into trouble."
"I do not!" Tiny sputtered as she flushed with embarrassment. Rose smiled down at her in amusement. Obviously enjoying flustering her.
"Do too."
"Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black. You get into more trouble than I do!" Tiny said with a glare.
He lifted a brow at Tiny's insinuation and shifted his gaze to Rose's back.
Rose merely gave the smaller woman a pointed look and then replied gently. "Only because I'm usually bailing you and everyone else out."
"Well, it isn't as if you have too." Tiny muttered.
"If I didn't then the number of my friends would drop dramatically, and you know it."
"That's not true! Some of us would survive. And natural selection would take care of the rest." Tiny said in a carefree manner.
Behind them, he tilted his head curiously. Wondering what the women meant by that last bit of conversation.
As Rose merely hummed and chose not to comment. Sending the two women into a lapse of silence for several heartbeats before Tiny then asked, "How is your head? Does it still hurt?"
"A little bit. But the medicine is finally kicking in, so I should be fine."
"You don't have a concussion or anything?"
"I answered that earlier, Rukia." Rose said.
"I know, but the extra assurance goes a long way. Especially since you were hit in the head by a brick."
"Two bricks, actually." Rose corrected her absently.
"Why do you sound almost proud of that?" Tiny asked, looking at her friend, disgruntled.
"How many times have you been hit in the head by a couple of bricks in one day?" Rose asked her with a grin.
"None. I'm at least smart enough to duck when someone swings at me."
"Not everyone can afford to duck, Rukia. Those guys had a gun," He nearly tripped over his own feet in alarm upon hearing this as she then went on to say, "I needed to keep my eyes on them."
He carefully righted himself and moved just a little bit closer. Not enough to clue the women in on the fact that he was stalking them, but enough so that he could silently assess Rose's wellbeing since he hadn't liked hearing of how she'd become injured. And he could only assume that she was probably more injured than she was letting on.
"You didn't get shot, did you?" Tiny asked worriedly as Rose merely shook her head and replied.
"Even if I had, it wouldn't do much."
"So, what happened to your would-be muggers?"
"I broke both of their arms and legs in several places. So, they're chilling in the hospital right now."
Tiny shook her head and chortled in amusement as the two of them finally came to a stop in front of a two-story brick house. The smaller woman's laughter tampered off and she took a moment to slide Rose's jacket off and hold it out to her. "Here, you're probably half frozen by now without it."
Rose reached out and gently took it from Tiny's hand and then bid her friend goodbye. Tiny shook her head again, a grin splitting her lips as she walked off.
Rose stood there watching her, making sure that the smaller woman got inside her home without incident before she then slipped her jacket on and began to walk away.
He knew the exact moment when she had finally led him to her home a little while later. The way that she hastily moved to get inside out of the cold was very telling. Though not nearly as telling as checking her mail.
He was hiding himself in some shadows watching her. Amusement bubbling in his chest as she began to mutter to herself about how frigging cold it was, and how her numb fingers felt as if they were on fire.
Once she finished checking her mail, she then made a beeline for the door of her home where she spent the next few minutes or so struggling to unlock her door, and accidentally dropping things and cursing.
Deciding that he'd seen enough to be able to locate her easily, he quickly checked the name on her mailbox. Absently noting the name, Ichigo Kurosaki, on it. And then turned and left.
The hour was growing late and he still hadn't had his dinner nor done his research on her just yet.