This chapter has been added to.
If you like Harry Potter fanfic, check out my friend VanityIre! I have not gotten around to reading, unfortunately, because I am occupied with my own writing at the moment. I am extremely positive that her fanfic is worth reading, because she is a very good writer!
I do not own Bleach or its canon, only the non-canon in the fanfiction.
A/N: I am behind in my daily word count for NaNoWrimo. There may be a chance that I will come out with two chapters in one day. On another note, I am aware that I mentioned that there will be slight novelizations of scenes from the anime and yet there have not been any recognizable scenes from the anime yet; they will appear somewhere down the story. Again, I will do my best to keep canon characters in-character acording to what I watch in the anime and what I read from the Bleach Wiki.
This entry has 2,351 words.
Chapter Three: Encounters
It took Ayame all the courage she could muster to approach Ishida in the morning and say hello. He walked passed her without as much as a hint of a grin. "Is he like this all the time?" She was curious to find out more about him from Orihime. The girl shrugged.
For most of the day, Ayame sat in her seat and quietly fumed in her seat. Lunch time rolled around and she sat alone. She rejected an invitation to sit with the other girls. Somehow, eating with a group of giggling school girls was not going to change her mood. Ayame could not, however, stay mad forever. She poked at her rice and nibbled at the plump shrimp in her bento box.
"Excuse me.~"
A shaky voice caught her attention. An apparition of a woman appeared. She looked no older than twenty. Ayame dropped her chopsticks the moment she clapped her eyes on the spirit.
"Are you gonna finish that?~"
"Can you…?" Ayame found it hard to ask the translucent woman the question if she was real or not, and if she could eat the solid food. Her eyes opened wide when the woman reached down to pluck a mushroom from Ayame's lunch. This is not the first time she had seen a spirit, but it had been a long time since she had last been approached by one. The woman mumbled swears under her breath as she failed to pick up the mushroom. She must not have known she was dead. "Excuse me," Ayame whispered. "Why are you here?"
"Silly, it's school," Orihime said behind Ayame. "I'm here to learn!" She pumped a fist into an open palm as a gesture of her determination.
Ayame jumped in her seat. She did not know how long Orihime had been standing there. Had she heard Ayame talking to the spirit? Could she see the spirit? The hairs on the back of Ayame's neck stood on end as Orihime walked around to face Ayame from the front of her desk.
"Don't forget about the club meeting after school today, okay?" Orihime gave a cavity-inducing smile accentuated with a tilt of her head and slight hunch of her shoulders. The apparition floated through Orihime's body and dissipated.
"H-hai," Ayame replied.
She took notes and made an occasional glance to the school yard outside. Ayame packed her things and waited for the class room to empty before she left on her own. Her head hung as she walked down the corridors to the handicrafts club room. A chill crawled up her spin, and she had the feeling she was being followed. She turned around but saw nothing. There was something about the air around her that made her uneasy. She turned back around and continued walking. There was no need to be paranoid… no need for it right now. Ayame's hopes to hold strong were dashed when another chill sent goose bumps up her arms. She spun around and shouted, "Leave me alone, dammnit!"
Ayame gasped and was stunned. Standing there behind her was Ishida with his school bag and a finger on the bridge of his glasses.
"I didn't know I was bothering you," he said. "In fact, I'm merely on my way to the club, just as you are." Ishida started walking again. Ayame stood with her mouth hung slightly open, and stared at him as he walked right through the female spirit. She stepped aside to let him by and kept her eyes on the spirit. The spirit bawled. Ayame did not know if he knew the spirit was there or not; she turned and caught up to Ishida.
"I… I'm sorry," she muttered behind him.
He topped walking. Ayame did not notice and bumped into his back. As he turned around, she took one step back. "You need to learn to ignore the weak ones. They go away eventually." The spirit bawled even louder after what he said. Ayame had a look of shock. "Yes, I can sense them. But there are more dangerous things in this world, and I'm not about to be distracted by a weakling." Ishida turned back around and walked away. She watched him, ignoring the woman's spirit that floated away, and was frustrated.
So, he's like that, huh? She thought.
Ayame followed a couple feet behind Ishida, and made sure to not stare at him. They got to the club and separated. Ayame took out her scarf and started crocheting more rows. Only a few minutes into the club time, a familiar feeling came over her. She looked out the classroom window and up to the sky outside. Something was wrong, or about to go wrong. As she sat there in a trance-like state, Ishida stopped his sewing and left the room. He was already gone by the time Ayame snapped out of her daze.
Some of the girls whispered among themselves. "Where is Ishida going?"
"I don't know, but he looks to be in a hurry."
Ayame spontaneously stood up, gathered her things into her bag, and followed Ishida out of the classroom. If he was up to something, she had an odd urge to know what. He could sense spirits like she could. Perhaps he had sensed the same thing back from inside the classroom? She ran to the shoe lockers and changed to her regular shoes. Ishida was already gone from the school, but she caught sight of him as he turned a corner down the street. The feeling of being watched came over her. There was neither a person nor thing nearby from what she could see.
She stopped at a three-way sidewalk intersection. The sky was darkening, and she was several minutes away from her grandparents' house. Her attention lied elsewhere, on Ishida and the grim feeling filling her senses. Goose bumps invaded every inch of her body as the feeling intensified. A paranoid thought came to her: something's behind, watching every move she made. Ayame turned around to face her fear. The fear turned out to be a grotesque figure with a white mask and a gaping hole in its chest.
"You smell tasty," it said without moving its mouth. A thick purple tongue emerged to lick lips that were not there. On all fours, it slowly stepped closer to her. Ayame was backed toward a wall. She lost her footing and fell onto her bottom. Her bag jumbled around on the ground until it stopped about a foot away from her; some of the contents such as papers and pencils scattered on the ground. She gasped sharply and crawled away with wide eyes. "E-he-he-he," the evil thing chortled, "Want to make this fun? For me, not you." Its tongue flicked up, saliva dripped from the tip.
Ayame froze on the spot. A scream built up inside her chest, but her throat was too dry to let it out. The next moment happened so fast that Ayame became light-headed. A blue, glowing arrow cut through the masked being, and it dissipated within seconds. There was not much daylight left when the light of the arrow disappeared. Ayame sat up and put a hand to her forehead. Feet approached her from the right. It was impossible to tell who it was with her hand massaging her temples. But when the person spoke, she knew immediately who stopped next to her.
"You shouldn't be out here by yourself."
"I-Ishida-kun!" Ayame removed her hand from her forehead to look up at him. He was not wearing the school uniform anymore. What he wore looked like some sort of costume. Ishida wore a white high-collared tunic and white pants. The clothing was a bit form-fitting. Ayame's eyes went straight from his face to the glowing blue bow-like form in his right hand. It disappeared before her eyes. Before she had the chance to figure out what to say, Ishida reached out a hand to her. Hesitantly, she took it. He helped her to her feet as any gentleman would do for a lady who had fallen down. When she placed her sight on his eyes, she felt warmth ignite from within. There was something different she saw in them than she had earlier before the club meeting. His expression was softer, but Ishida still held an air of someone who thought he was better than others. "Uhm." Ayame was afraid to say something wrong but settled with a simple, "thank you."
Ishida let go of her hand, and started to pick up her bag. He handed it over to her once he was done. "Why were you following me?"
Ayame took her bag and held it to her chest. She diverted her eyes to stare at the ground. "I… I was curious."
He looked down at her, fixing his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. "Curious? Coming out here, following me around at this time of day with dangers lurking around… that's not curiosity – that's stupidity."
She looked up quickly, offended at being called stupid. "It's not stupid!" Ayame abruptly fell silent. Her heart stopped. Ishida reached out a hand toward her. Swinging from his wrist was a cross, like hers, from a thin silver chain. "What… is that?" She followed the movement of the charm with her eyes.
"I'm honestly surprised, maybe a little offended, that you don't know what it is," he started answering. "You're wearing the same thing around your neck. On top of that, your spirit energy signature is similar to my own." He closed the hand into a fist, and then brought it gently down into the open palm of his other hand. "Let me ask you a question." Ishida did not wait to be given permission to ask his question. "Do you know about the Quincy?"
"Quincy?"
Ishida nodded and looked at her. "I thought I was the last one, but here you are."
Almost all of the colour drained from her face. "A Quincy? What is that?"
He hesitated to answer. Instead of replying to her question, he changed the subject. "You should be getting home now. It's getting late." After pointing out the obvious, he offered to escort her home. "Just in case something else jumps out for you, I will be close." The colour returned to Ayame's face, but it darkened to a blush when she looked into his eyes again.
"That… would be nice."
They started walking side-by-side. With Ishida to her right, her right hand tingled. It had a mind of its own – it wanted to be held by another hand. But she kept it gripped around the strap of her bag with her other hand. The night sky seemed to be filled with brighter shining stars, and the Spring wind more crisp than before.
Despite his adamant rejection to come inside the house, Ishida reluctantly took the offer of a cup of green tea. Ayame's grandfather somehow convinced the boy to stay for a little longer. He sat on the couch in his form-fitting outfit with an uneasy air. Ayame was not used to bringing home anyone home. The first person she ever brought to the house and it happens to be her male classmate Ishida Uryuu. She sat next to him, her hands on her knees and her head tilted down.
"What do you do outside school?" Grandfather Kawano asked. He sat in a cushioned seat adjacent to the couch.
Grandmother Kawano came into the room from the kitchen with a tray of tea cups and a steaming kettle. She had a big grin on her face. Not just any old grin, either. It was the kind that many women had on their face when they were planning something. Ayame and Ishida took a cup of tea for themselves. Ayame was just as uncomfortable as Ishida at the questioning. She interrupted her grandfather's talking by standing up and clearing her throat.
"I'm sure Ishida-kun has somewhere important to be," she said. She placed her cup of tea back down on the tray that was positioned in front of the couch on a short table. Her sigh came out heavier than she wanted. Ayame moved to leave the couch and stand behind it, waiting for Ishida. He put his cup down, stood and then bowed, then followed Ayame to the front door. The two of them stood outside for a moment.
She sighed. "I'm sorry. I've never had a friend over before." He said nothing, so she continued. "Can I ask something? What is a… Quincy?"
"We… I… destroy any Hollow that threatens an innocent life."
"What does this have to do with being a Quincy?" Ayame picked up her Celtic cross from its resting place above her chest. She noticed how Ishida could not help but look at it.
He took a moment to gather how to answer her question. "It's what allows a Quincy to create a bow out of spirit energy gathered from surroundings." Ishida hesitated and looked into her eyes. "I'd like to tell you more, but I'm not sure how much you're interested and willing to sacrifice after learning everything I can tell you." The night fell silent around them. Crickets did not chirp, but the wind blew across the grass and through the trees. She thought for a moment that Ishida could hear the increased pounding of her heart. Ayame had thought about it during their time inside and on the way to her grandparent's house. She reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. It gathered into a small pile on her open palm. Her hesitation dragged the silence.
When she looked from her cross to Ishida, there was a wordless acknowledgement between them. He took the necklace from her, raised her left hand, and then quietly looped the chain around her wrist. "Once you've decided if you want to commit to a responsibility, don't back down." Ishida finished what he was doing, but held on a little longer to her hand. "Keep this with you, and don't remove it from your wrist. Meet me after school. We'll talk more then."