As the sun set, the sky and clouds in it were lit up with a rusty light and twinges of pink, creating a beautiful display for all who cared to look.

On the corner of a street that had a dented street lamp, small pale hands gently placed a red vase filled with white lilies right beside it.

The owner of these hands was a young teenage girl, dressed in a fine black kimono with spider lilies printed all over. She held a black parasol over her shoulder, completing the funeral look, despite not going to one.

Her juniper eyes stared rather sadly at the scene before her.

An accident had occurred here only a week ago, taking a young life and the reckless drivers as well. The vase she had just placed wasn't the only decoration, a few other small bouquets were there, a few cards with children's handwriting, and some toys and candy.

This child was loved, and clearly missed.

"They're so pretty! Red's my favorite color!" a young voice said. "Thank you onne-chan!" a child happily said, looking up at the girl that had left the vase. They looked transparent, and had a chain dangling from their chest.

"I'm glad you liked them. You have a lot of gifts here." the teenager said.

"Mmhm! All my classmates left them for me! My cousin came to visit too even though she lives far away! I miss them all so much, I wanna see mommy, but I don't know where I am. I got lost and now I'm stuck here." the child said sadly.

The teenager looked at the child for a moment, before continuing to speak.

"Would you like me to help you find the way? I think I know where you live."

"Huh? Really!? You'll help me find home!?"

"Mmhm, here." she said, offering her hand. "I'll take you there."

"Thank you so much!" the child said as she happily took the hand.

Yomi opened her parasol and the two of them then walked along the narrow streets.

"Hey hey, onne-chan! What's your name!? Mine is Mei! My mommy named me that because she only wanted to eat plums when I was in her belly! That's what Obba-san told me!"

"My name is Yomi."

"Ohhh, are you going to take me to the afterlife?" the child asked curiously.

"No, I can't do that, I can only take you to your house."

This wasn't the first time Yomi had been asked such a thing, though usually it was said mockingly by her peers.

Eventually, Mei began to notice familiar streets and buildings, and by the time the sun had full gone down, Mei had let go of her hand and began running towards a house.

"It's home! It's home!" she yelled excitedly, going up to the gate and trying to ring the bell but was too short.

Yomi walked over and rang the bell for her.

"Mommy I'm home! Mommy Daddy!" Mei shouted.

The porch light turned on and a woman stepped out.

She looked slightly disheveled, with unkempt hair and bloodshot eyes, heavy bags were also visible. She looked over to the gate rather confused.

Yomi should have said something but with her parasol up and she knew the woman couldn't see her.

She rang the doorbell again, causing the woman, who she guessed was Mei's mother, to jump slightly at the sudden noise.

The older woman eventually came over, and opened the gate, most likely wanting to see how the bell rang on it's own.

"Mommy!" Mei happily said as she saw the woman and hugged her around the legs.

Her mother flinched and goosebumps could be seen all over her skin. She looked around frantically as if she almost heard her.

"I'm sorry for wandering off mommy, I didn't mean to." Mei said as she hugged tighter.

The woman then looked down, as if she knew someone was there, and reached down her hands to try and touch this invisible force right next to her.

Eventually, Mei began to glow brightly and fade away. This wasn't the first time Yomi had seen a spirit do this, pass on. It seemed all Mei needed was to properly say goodbye.

After a moment she was gone, and it seemed deep down her mother knew what had just happened as she seemed more calm and at peace. She wiped her eyes as tears began to well up in them and went back inside.

Yomi decided that she should go home as well, she already did what she wanted to do and then some, it was late anyway.

Since it was already dark and no one was around, she closed her parasol and began to walk home, but as she did, she couldn't help but think that maybe someone was around, as she felt the sensation she was being watched.

Maybe she should open her parasol again.

"Bitch, that was my dinner." a deep raspy voice said from behind her causing her to turn around only to be met with something colliding with her head.

The last thing she felt was pain shooting all through her body before passing out.

*~...~*

Yomi suddenly came to and shot up, expecting to see the same street she was on before, only to instead see what looked like a hospital room.

What happened? Did someone take her to the hospital? Was she attacked by someone!?

She looked around and didn't see anyone else, she did see her parasol leaning against the wall. That was good, she would never forgive herself if she lost it.

Getting up to retrieve it, she suddenly felt her head begin to hurt and sank to the floor, resting on the hospital bed. All of it was pounding and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears, it wasn't pleasant.

Reaching up to rub her temples Yomi felt bandages wrapped around her head so she was certain she must have been attacked.

Dammit, she should have never closed up her parasol. Oh well, just a stupid learning experience for her.

After a while she felt okay enough to stand and got to her feet. She looked around the room some more and spotted the door, was it okay if she just left? Would that cause concern?

"Oh hey you're up."

"Ah!"

Yomi let out a startled shriek as she turned to see a guy standing in the doorway. He looked around her age and was wearing a school uniform, a uniform she had seen before. His hair was a striking orange color, did he bleach it? Was he some sort of delinquent?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. You're at my family's clinic, I brought you here, I found you on the road, after you left flowers for the spirit." the guy said casually.

Yomi's eyes widened. Did this guy just say he saw the ghost too? He seemed to catch on to what she was thinking and spoke again.

"Yeah, I can see them too. Always have. I leave them flowers too... I was actually going to leave some at the same time as you but then you walked off with her, and then I lost track of you, but then I heard something, felt something, and I just found you on the road."

"I guess I was mugged, thank you for helping me. I'm Fujioka Yomi." she introduced herself with a bow, though couldn't do it properly as it caused her to become lightheaded. "Um, how long have I been here?"

"Barely an hour, it's still early in the night. I'm Kurosaki Ichigo by the way. You should sit back down, I'll go get my dad, he's the doctor."

"Um, yeah."

With that Ichigo left the room and Yomi decided to text her father and let him know where she was. She thought about lying but having a bandaged head wouldn't help.

Her purse had been securely attached to her wrist all this time luckily and she took out her phone. She saw that she had a couple of missed calls from her dad and a few texts as well. Darn, she would be in trouble.

She texted him back, apologizing for not answering and just told him the half truth of being at a clinic after she tripped and fell. She would have to break her sandal to sell the story. it didn't seem anything was missing so it would be believable enough. She didn't need him worrying too much, she'd never be allowed out of the house again if he knew the full truth.

The lights of the room suddenly turned on and an older man's voice began to speak. Looking up she saw a man with black hair and a white doctor's coat walk in.

"So how are you doing? You have a pretty bad bump on ya head, it bled a lot but head wounds do that, nothing serious! It should heal up in a few days!" he said with a very positive attitude.

"Thank you sir. Sorry for causing trouble."

"No need to be sorry over an accident! Now then do you have anyone that can come get you or should I send my son to escort you home."

"No, It's alright, I can call my father, may I have the address to this place."

Ichigo's father gave the address to the clinic and she texted it to her father along with a warning not to speed and to wear his seat belt. With that done and after being given the all clear Yomi gathered her things and went to stand outside the clinic waiting for her father to pick her up.

Ichigo followed, wanting to make sure she was safe, to which she thanked him again.

"That uniform, Karakara High?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Huh, oh, yeah. You know it?"

"I'm transferring there this Monday."

"Really!? Small world I guess. Where from?"

"Takai Oka."

"What!? Isn't that some snooty rich kid school!?" he asked with voice full of shock.

"It is, I don't care much for it, so I'm going to Kurakara, it's nice and far away."

"I see, well, I guess I'll see you there then."

"Mm... You can really see ghosts?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, since I was young, I try to help them out every now and then. Sometimes they can be clingy and annoying when they realize they can be seen. My sister can see them too, but she likes to ignore them."

"This town has a lot of them, not all are nice, but I still leave flowers and offerings for them, especially the older ones. Not a nice feeling to be forgotten."

"Yeah."

I became quiet after that and soon a jet black car came speeding down the street and coming to a loud stop in front of the clinic.

Yomi had to try very hard not to roll her eyes. She could see her father unbuckle his seat belt so she spoke up immediately.

"Stay in there! You're not causing any problems tonight! This is my dad, thank you again for helping me, I'll see you at school."

"Yeah. By."

With that Yomi bowed and got into the car. She saw her dad glaring at the redhead from his seat and this time she allowed her eyes to roll like dice.

"Knock it off, he's the one who helped me."

"What happened!? How did you fall!?"

"I just fell, accidents happen you know. Let's just go home, I'm tired."

Her father didn't say anything anymore and just started the car and drove off down the road.

Yomi looked through the mirror back at the clinic and saw Ichigo walk back inside.

Initially, she was nervous about transferring schools, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad, if people like him, like her, went to that school.