A/N: Happy Friday! Leave a review :)

Tuesday

8:05 a.m.

Orihime's teacher had just finished calling roll, the irritation evident in her voice as she took note of how many students were absent. She assumed that many of the parents had pulled their children out to take an early vacation and she was not wrong about several of them.

She was wrong about the boy who showed up just before lunch, though, holding a white slip that he clutched in his hand like a lifeline. The teacher took it from him tentatively, frowning as she read. As she looked up in surprise and concern, the boy was already at his desk, head buried in his arms, leaving only his orange hair visible.

Orihime caught a glimpse of his face as she passed him in the hallway on her way to the bathroom.

The expression that he wore was too old for his face. It was the expression of a boy whose life was crumbling to pieces around him.

11:44 a.m.

"I heard that she was murdered."

"No way. I heard that she drowned in the river."

"Which one is he again?"

"The Kurosaki kid? How could you not know who that is? He's the one with orange hair!"

Orihime could hear snippets of speculative conversation as she played catch with Tatsuki and Michiru during recess.

"What are they talking about?" she asked her friend as she narrowly caught the ball that Tatsuki pitched to her. Her hand stung a little bit—that girl threw hard.

"They're talking about Ichigo Kurosaki. You know, the boy in our class that's been absent for a while. His mom just died. He's been gone for the funeral."

An image of the orange-haired boy's face flashed in her mind, his haunted eyes passing over her as she walked by him in the hallway. Orihime knew who very well who he was.

This was the first year Ichigo had been in her class, but she had noticed him before. You couldn't just ignore orange in a sea of black. Orihime had always felt a connection with him, and not just because of their similar hair color. She could feel that there was something that set them apart, something that made them different from all the other students at school. She wondered if he could feel it, too.

Michiru gasped sympathetically. She was a kind, gentle girl, just like Orihime, and had joined their group just recently.

"How terrible!" she exclaimed. "How did it happen?"

Tatsuki was friends with Ichigo outside of school and was therefore the one most likely to be able to sort out the truth from the speculations. She answered, serious for once.

"No one knows. Ichigo was with her when it happened. One moment she was there, and the next moment she was lying by the riverbank. If it was murder, Ichigo never saw anyone."

Orihime and Michiru had moved closer to hear, their earlier game of catch abandoned.

"Maybe it was ghosts!"

The girls spun around. It was the three boys from earlier whose murmured conversation Orihime had overheard. None of the boys were in their class, and Orihime knew none of their names. But apparently Tatsuki did.

"Shut your mouth, Taro! Don't make fun of someone whose mom just died!"

The boy Taro just raised his eyebrows. "What? Isn't he the kid who said he could see ghosts?" His voice dropped. "You just said they didn't find the murderer, if that's what it was. What if it was a ghost and that Kurosaki kid is just afraid to say it?"

"Come off it, Taro," one of his friends said, lightly punching his arm. "You don't actually believe in all that ghost nonsense still, do you?"

They were at an age where they were young enough to believe in ghosts, but too old to be able to admit it.

"Listen," Taro said seriously, an urgent tone to his voice. "This is just like what happened five years ago to a family in town. They were murdered, too. By ghosts."

He uttered the last two words dramatically, clearly expecting a reaction from his listeners, and he was not disappointed.

Michiru clutched Orihime's arm nervously. "What happened?"

"My dad told me all about it. A family moved in from out of town five years ago to a neighborhood not far from here. My family used to live near there—that's how he knows. Here was there when it happened."

The listeners stared at him, waiting for him to continue. He was obviously enjoying the attention.

He went on. "They were strange people, and didn't really talk much to anyone. They mostly just kept to themselves and people often saw them coming and going at weird hours. Then, several days went by without anyone seeing them. They had two kids who would sometimes play in the yard, but no one had seen them in a while either."

He paused for a moment for dramatic effect.

"One day, one of the neighbors went over to their house to knock on their door and see if they were alright. No one answered, but the door was unlocked, so she went in. That's when she found them."

Taro stopped, taking in the rapt faces of his captivated audience.

"Found who?" Orihime urged. Michiru was still clutching her arm.

"The bodies of the family. The mom, dad, and older brother were lying on the floor. They were covered in blood. The neighbor, who was a nosy old lady who lived next door, ran away screaming and called the police. My dad was there when they came to investigate, and he said that he overheard some of the police saying that none of the bodies showed any gun or knife wounds. Instead, the family looked like they had been mauled by some kind of giant animal."

"Animal? What kind of animal?" Michiru asked, trembling.

"No one knows," Taro continued. "They never found any traces of fur or anything. Just a few scratches on the floor. But the zoo never reported that any animals were missing, so what else could it have been if not giant evil ghost spirits?" he concluded matter-of-factly.

Orihime and Tatsuki exchanged glances.

"Hold on," Tatsuki said after a moment. "I thought you said the family had two kids? But you just said they only found the body of one."

Taro looked as if he had been waiting for someone to ask this exact question. He answered with obvious relish, lowering his voice again.

"That just the thing. There were four people in the family: two parents and two kids. But only the parents and the older brother were found. What happened to the little girl?"

The spectators waited expectantly.

"They say the little girl hid during the attack and still lives there in that house with the spirits of her dead family. Any time anyone comes near it, something bad happens to them. People try to move in, but they always end up leaving in a hurry. They tried to demolish the house, but the equipment always breaks down. One by one the neighbors started moving out, too. Hardly anyone lives in that neighborhood anymore."

The listeners shivered as if a sudden chill had passed through them.

"Well, good thing you don't believe in ghost stories," Taro said cheerfully and the spell was broken. The bell rang to end recess and he ran back towards the building, his two friends following close behind.

"Did you believe him, Tatsuki?" Michiru asked, still frightened from the story.

"Hah! What a bunch of boloney. Only sissies believe ghost stories," Tatsuki boasted, grinning.

"Then what do you think actually happened to the family?" Michiru countered.

"I dunno. Wanna go check out the house?" Tatsuki suggested with a wink.

"No way!"

The two girls raced towards the door while Orihime lagged behind, still pondering the story. After school, Orihime cornered Taro and asked him one last question.

"About the story you told us today. What was the name of the family?"

Taro scratched his head, trying to remember. Orihime had to lean in close to hear him over the excited shouts and pounding feet of schoolchildren rushing past them, racing towards the doors. "Uhhh, let me think. It's been so long since my dad told me that story. I can't really remember."

Orihime began to walk away, disappointed. She joined the stream of students heading outside, her left hand shielding her eyes against the sudden brightness as she searched for the person she knew would be waiting to walk her home. Taro caught up to her just as she caught sight of Kensei waiting in his usual spot.

"Inoue. The family's name was Inoue."

4:13 p.m.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Orihime asked Shinji that afternoon. They were sitting on the couch, Shinji playing video games while she leafed through the newest copy of Shonen Jump.

"Nope," Shinji said.

"Really? Not even the least bit?" Orihime was skeptical. She figured if anyone was superstitious, it would be Shinji.

"Nah. Never seen one," he lied.

"Oh really?" Lisa asked, unimpressed. "So you're saying it's not ghosts that are stealing my magazines?"

"Wouldn't know anything about that," he replied unconvincingly, scratching his neck. Shinji swore he could feel the heat of Lisa's glare on the back of his head.

"Besides," he continued, "there are much scarier things out there than ghosts." His hand hid his mouth as he whispered conspiratorially, "Like Hiyori."

Orihime swore she heard something break in the next room as Shinji flinched and muttered something about supersonic hearing.

"Where do people go when they die?" she asked again after a few more minutes of reading.

"Dunno," Shinji answered. "Wanna play me?"

Orihime hid the thick magazine behind a pillow and grabbed a controller. Just that moment Love raced into the room, visibly distraught.

"Has anyone seen my copy of Shonen Jump? I just bought it today!"

"Nope," she answered, flicking her controls to knock Shinji's character off the screen.