Ichigo, Rukia, Orihime, Ulquiorra, and Grimmjow are on their next case in an antique shop. Since there are so many objects that a spirit might be attached to this might be one case where the team may have bitten off more than they can chew.
Ghost Witness
Case Two_ Hide n Ghost Seek
Orihime giggled when Grimmjow snuck up behind her and kissed her neck as she sat at her desk, "Grimmjow, please be a good boy," She said smiling.
"I don't want to," He told her kissing her neck again. He nibbled at where the base of her neck met the start of her shoulder. She giggled again.
"Hey," Ichigo came into the room, "If you two are done we have another case."
Grimmjow stood erect and looked at Ichigo with a scowl, "Damn it, Kurosaki."
"Sorry," Ichigo said, he left the room and went back to his desk. Orihime giggled, she stood, took Grimmjow's hand, and they walked in to the other room.
Ichigo pressed play on the video when everyone was in the room.
"Hey guys, I'm Natsumi. Mom and I have been having trouble at our antique shop. Strange things have been happening, the usual ghost stuff. We would really appreciate it if you would see what you can do to help us." A fifteen year old girl told them on the video before it stopped playing.
"Wait, rewind that," Grimmjow told Ichigo. Ichigo pressed the rewind button. "Stop right there." Ichigo paused the video clip. "What the hell is that?" Grimmjow pointed to an antique mirror in the background. There was an indistinct face in the mirror but no one was standing in front of it.
"There's one thing weird in that place," Ichigo said.
"Should we look into it," Ulquiorra asked drinking his coffee.
"Yeah, who knows, this could be fun."
"Do you think they'll take that damn music box?" Grimmjow asked. The music box from their last case was sitting on Orihime's desk, silent as the grave.
Ichigo chuckled, "Maybe."
"Aw, but I was just growing fond of it," Orihime said.
"After what it was used for," Rukia asked her.
"I know, it's a little strange, but ever since we took it out of the Mt. Hiei lodge it's been acting like a regular music box. After all it was the ghosts of those children who were making it play and who moved it from room to room."
"True."
"Fine, keep the damn thing," Grimmjow said. Orihime smiled and hugged him.
###########
They talked to Natsumi and her mom then they got started. There were hutches filled with trinkets, china cabinets filled with porcelain collectibles, and so much more.
"Where do we even start? All this stuff in here, there could be numerous ghosts in this place." Rukia pulled back her hair that had grown out.
"Remember what we saw in the video?" Ichigo said, "Let's start out with the mirror."
"Hime, do you think you can dig something up on this place?" Grimmjow asked the strawberry-blonde.
"Sure," Orihime nodded. "I'll be back later." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Grimmjow. Grimmjow pulled her to him and kissed her hungrily. He let her go. "Be careful." She told him.
"We will," He told her.
"That's what you said last time," She smiled then left. Grimmjow smirked then watched her leave. He gave her ass a slap when she turned away from him. She smiled at him over her shoulder. She left the store.
"There's nothing in the mirror now," Ulquiorra stated.
"Nope, nothin'," Grimmjow joined the group. "We might as well see if we can find some other shit."
"Good idea," Ichigo nodded. All four took separate corners of the store.
"Again with the fuckin' music boxes," Grimmjow mumbled as he browsed through his section of the store.
"Hey boys, come check this out," Rukia called from the far side of the store. They all met up with her and the back of the shop.
"What is it Rukia," Ichigo asked her.
Rukia showed them a newspaper article. "It's some article about this place before it was an antique shop."
"You called us back here to show us some old piece of paper?" Grimmjow arched a brow.
"Not just that Grimmjow. Look at this," She held the paper up for the boys to read. She pointed to a specific article. Abandoned Mortuary Repurposed. The address was the exact same as the antique shop's.
"This place used to be a mortuary?" Ichigo asked baffled. He shuddered, "Now I know why I felt a cold chill when we came in."
"That's just too screwed up," Grimmjow ran his fingers through his thick light blue hair, which had grown out a bit.
"That might explain some of the activity, but chances are that it's not the only thing responsible." Ulquiorra read over the article.
"What else could it be," Ichigo asked.
"It has to be an item or some items in the shop."
"This place is like finding a needle in a hay stack, how can we possible find an item that a ghost might be attached to? There could be thousands of ghosts in this place Ulquiorra."
"We can shift through the items," Rukia suggested. "We can pick out the items that a ghost has mostly likely maybe attached to."
"That'll take a while," He told her.
"You got any better ideas?"
"No, I guess I don't," Ichigo admitted.
"Let's just get this over with," Grimmjow headed back to the front of the shop.
They combed through the very front of the store and slowly worked their way back. They picked out a few that they assumed might have a ghost attached to it. They paused in their hunt when Orihime came back. "Hey guys," She smiled.
"Hey," They said. Grimmjow pulled her into a kiss.
"What are you guys doing?" Orihime asked them curiously.
"We're just sorting through," Rukia answered. "We did find this," She handed Orihime the article.
Orihime read the article, "My God."
"What did you find?" Grimmjow asked her.
"This shop sells items of the deceased that the families didn't want. It's pretty much a thrift shop of dead people stuff."
"Damn, that makes this place even more screwed up," Grimmjow said as Orihime wrapped an arm around his waist. He snaked a sculpted arm around her shoulders. "Where's that shitty EVP recorder?"
"It's in the bag in the van," Ulquiorra told him.
"I'll be right back," Grimmjow said and headed for the door. When he pulled on the door it wouldn't budge. "What the hell?"
"What's wrong?" Orihime wondered.
"We're locked in," He answered.
"Are you serious," Ichigo went to the door and he pulled on it too, "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Move," Grimmjow told him. Ichigo obeyed. Grimmjow kicked the glass door as hard as he could. The glass shattered everywhere as the door hit the asphalt. He went outside and retrieved the recorder. His timberland boots crunched against the shards of glass around him. He tossed the recorder to Ichigo.
"You do know we'll have to pay for that, right?" Ichigo asked him.
"They'll thank us later." Grimmjow brushed glass shards off his scuffed-up, broken-in boots. Ichigo sighed.
Orihime giggled, "Grimmjow, let's try not to make too big of a mess."
"Fine," Grimmjow said.
Suddenly a high-pitched squeal filled the room. They all had to cover their ears. "For crying out loud," Ichigo said over the noise. Rukia gave him a look.
"Where is that coming from?" Orihime wondered aloud. Then the screaming stopped and a cracking sound was heard. Grimmjow made his way to the back the far wall. "What is it?" She asked him when he stopped in front of a hutch. He opened it and took out a porcelain doll. Its face had been split in half.
"How in the world did that happen," Ulquiorra took the doll. They looked at it intently when blood started to seep out from the split face of the doll. Everyone paled when the doll's one eye moved to look at the girls.
Ulquiorra dropped the doll when the blood ran onto to his hand. The doll's head completely shattered. "Yet another thing we have to pay for," Ichigo went to get the broom and dust pan. He handed Ulquiorra a napkin. Ulquiorra wiped the blood off his hand.
"That was something new," Rukia held the dust pan for Ichigo. They looked up when Orihime squealed.
"Babe, what is it," Grimmjow put a calloused hand on her shoulder. Orihime pointed behind Ichigo. Her heart was pounding, it lodged in her throat. A shadowy, disfigured, malnourished ghost was making its way towards them. Grimmjow pushed Orihime behind him with a guttural panther-like snarl in warning. Ichigo and Ulquiorra lined up beside him with the girls behind them. Suddenly it disappeared. Orihime clutched the back of Grimmjow's shirt. He looked over his shoulder at her, "It's okay, babe."
"I'm sorry guys, I'm such a coward." Orihime said as they sat down at the diner across the street. Grimmjow glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and took her hand and gave it a light squeeze.
"No Orihime, it's okay. It freaked us out too," Rukia told her. She sipped her iced tea.
"I know that's right," Ichigo said as he ate sesame chicken.
"This case is going to be harder than we thought," Ulquiorra sipped his hot Ginseng tea.
"Kurosaki, where's that notebook of yours?" Grimmjow asked Ichigo.
"Right here," Ichigo pulled out a small legal pad out of his back pocket.
"Make a list, it helped last time," Grimmjow continued to hold Orihime's hand, he rubbed a calloused thumb over her soft knuckles.
"Sure," Ichigo started writing.
"Grimmjow," Orihime looked at him. She squeezed his hand as they headed back to the van after lunch.
"What babe," Grimmjow looked at her.
"You didn't have to do that."
Grimmjow gave her a lopsided grin. He kissed her forehead. She had changed him from what he was like when they first met. She had revived that little glimmer of good that was in him. She had been the only one who had seen it. But she would never be able to tame his attitude.
##########
"Okay," Ichigo pulled out the legal pad and put in the middle of his desk at the office. "This is what we got so far."
-Face in the mirror
-Newspaper article
-Get locked in the shop
-Screaming
-Porcelain doll's face break, and blood seeps out, it looks at the girls
-Disfigure, malnourished, ghost comes at us
"Things aren't adding up," Rukia sat in Ichigo's lap. Ichigo put an arm around her and kissed her cheek. Orihime came in with a tray of cups of coffee. She sat the tray down and picked up her cup. Grimmjow slipped a sculpted arm around her waist and pulled her unto his lap.
"I betcha that screaming came from that damn doll," Grimmjow sipped on his black coffee.
"Most likely," Ulquiorra agreed as he put creamer in his coffee.
"What about the mirror, what part does it play?" Orihime drank her sugar, no creamer coffee.
"It must have a ghost attached to it," Rukia said as she went through the article again.
"Well, it'll be dark in three hours, so we'll find out soon enough," Ichigo put down his empty mug.
In the meantime Orihime dragged Grimmjow to the store to get things for their small kitchen of their apartment. Rukia and Ichigo went with Ulquiorra back to the shop to set up.
"Let's start back sorting through," Ichigo said when the team was all there.
"Me and Grimmjow will take the right of the shop," Orihime smiled and took her mate's hand and they went to that side of the shop before anyone could say anything.
"Hime, where are you goin'?" Grimmjow wondered as Orihime went into the office space.
"I want to see if something's back here," Orihime answered. She saw a door that had the word "storage" on the door. Orihime jiggled the doorknob to find it locked. Orihime jumped back when the door started to expand and contract like a lung. It suddenly opened slowly then flew open to reveal a black abyss. Shadowy hands stretched out to her. He grabbed at her arms, legs, hair, and neck. "GRIMMJOW!" Orihime screamed at the top of her lungs.
"HIME," Grimmjow and the others ran into the back of the shop just in time to see Orihime being dragged into the storage room. Orihime screamed and the door slammed tightly shut. The others could her hear screaming hysterically. "HIME!"
"ORIHIME!" The others followed Grimmjow to the door. Grimmjow started kicking and shoving the door with Ichigo. Orihime's screams were getting louder. Suddenly everything went quiet. The door unlocked.
Grimmjow jerked the door open and then caught Orihime as she fell. "Hime," He found her unconscious. "Hime!" His heart was starting to pound. He checked her pulse and sighed in relief.
"Oh God," Rukia squealed when everyone finally noticed what was on Orihime. Deep scraps and cuts were all over her arms, legs, neck, and cheeks, and thin streams of blood that trailed down from the cuts. The scraps and cuts looked as if they were made by fingernails.
Orihime squealed awake. "Easy, easy, easy," Grimmjow told her as he held her still, "It's okay, Hime, you're okay."
Orihime threw her arms around Grimmjow's neck and sobbed. Grimmjow held her tightly. "Orihime what happened?" Ulquiorra asked.
"The door opened and that ghost that we saw earlier pulled me in," Orihime shuddered. She continued to sob.
"Shush up," Grimmjow soothed as he stood with her in his strong arms. He carried her to the front of the shop.
"It might be best if we don't separate again," Ulquiorra said as Rukia doctored Orihime's wounds. Orihime was still shaking.
"It's my fault I should've gone with you," Grimmjow sat next to Orihime.
"It's not your fault," Orihime told him, "I shouldn't have wandered off."
"All right, what now?" Ulquiorra wondered.
"We wait until night fall," Ichigo said.
"I'm gonna take Hime home," Grimmjow held out his hand for the van keys from Ichigo.
"I want to stay here with you all," Orihime stood up.
"No you're not," Grimmjow told her firmly. "Not after what happened."
"Grimmjow," Orihime began.
"No," Grimmjow said. Ichigo tossed the keys to Grimmjow. "Now come on Hime."
Orihime reluctantly followed Grimmjow out to the van and got into the front passenger side seat. Grimmjow started the van and drove off. "He really does care about her, doesn't he?" Ichigo smirked.
"Yeah, he does," Rukia nodded.
"Orihime has tamed him, to an extent," Ulquiorra read the article for the third time.
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It had been a half hour since Grimmjow took Orihime home and returned to the shop. All of them looked at the former Sexta when his phone started ringing. It was Orihime. He habitually put it on speaker. "Hey Babe," Grimmjow answered it.
"Grimmjow its here! Please come home!" Orihime rushed through her words.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down Hime. What's going on?"
"Its here, its here in the apartment!" Orihime sobbed.
"What is?"
"The ghost! It followed us home!" Orihime answered. "I just saw it!" Everyone was alert when they heard her scream.
"Hime!"
"Get away from me!" Orihime shrieked at someone.
"Hime, what's going on?" Grimmjow's hand tightened around the phone.
"Grimmjow!" Orihime screamed his name before the line went dead. Without hesitation Grimmjow ran to the van with Ichigo right behind him and rushed towards the apartment.
When they got there Grimmjow didn't even bother reaching for his key, he kicked the door open. They ran in. "Hime!"
"Orihime!" Ichigo called. Everything was completely silent. They froze when they saw the bedroom door slowly creak open. They saw Orihime lying on the floor completely motionless with her back to them.
"Oh my God," Ichigo felt his blood run cold.
"HIME!" Grimmjow ran to her. His blood began to boil when he saw a black mass gathering around her. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Grimmjow roared. When they reached the doorway the black mass evaporated away.
"Orihime," Ichigo looked at her. She hadn't moved an inch.
"Hime!" Grimmjow dropped to his knees. He rolled her over. She was merely unconscious. He began to breathe again when Orihime's eyes fluttered open.
"Grimmjow," She looked at him. She threw herself in his arms and started crying.
Grimmjow held her to him, "It's ok, Hime, its gone."
"Orihime, what happened?" Ichigo sat down beside them.
Orihime began shaking. "I knew it was the ghost because Grimmjow had already left. I was going to go in the bathroom and take a shower. I saw it that took the form of Grimmjow. It had its back to me. That's when I called you guys." Orihime started sobbing again, "When it turned around it had no face. It said my name as it walked towards me then it…it attacked me."
Orihime clung to Grimmjow tighter. The guys looked at each other. "We can't leave her here alone," Ichigo said as he followed after Grimmjow as carried her out of the room. They sat on the couch. Orihime curled up next to Grimmjow. Grimmjow held Orihime to him.
"No shit. What I want to know is, why the hell the bastard focusing on her." Grimmjow said. Orihime covered her ears with a whimper. Grimmjow kissed her head and pulled her to him tightly.
"We'll figure it out," Ichigo said. "I'll go back to the shop while you stay here with her."
"Ok," Grimmjow nodded. "Thanks for the backup, Kurosaki."
"No problem," Ichigo smiled. "See ya'll later. I hope you feel better, Orihime." Ichigo gave her a gently smile.
"Thanks Ichigo. You and the others be careful, please," Orihime sniffled.
"We will. I'll call if something comes up." Ichigo told them.
"Cool." Grimmjow said. Ichigo left the apartment.
"I'm sorry, Hime," Grimmjow pulled Orihime into his lap. "I shouldn't have left you here alone."
"Don't be. There was no way we could've know that it would follow us here." Orihime laid her head against his shoulder, "What does it want with me though?"
"You probably did something to make it mad," Grimmjow told her.
"How could've I had done that?" Orihime asked.
"I have no idea. One thing is for sure, that thing's probably not stupid enough to attack you while someone else is near you. Man, if there were anytime I wish I was an Arrancar again it would be now."
"You wish I didn't turn you human?"
"Sometimes I do. I mean, Ulquiorra and I hadn't been humans for thousands of years and then suddenly we're human again is just a lot to take in, being Hollows is all we know."
"I wish I could reverse it then. After all, I fell in love with a Hollow," She looked at him, "But whether you're a Hollow or a human, you're still my Grimmjow, aren't you?"
Grimmjow smiled at her, "You know I am." Suddenly he froze with a gasp.
"Grimmjow, what's the matter?" Orihime asked. "Grimmjow?"
Grimmjow saw a guy in the shop talking to a girl that was almost identical to Orihime. He watched as the woman pushed the man into the storage room and saw her tie him up to a chair. She kept him in there and let him slowly starve to death. She buried him under the floor boards and then had cement put over them.
"Grimmjow!" Orihime shook him back to reality. Grimmjow jolted back and started breathing hard. "What is it?"
"I think-I think I just had a vision," Grimmjow told her.
"A vision of what?"
Grimmjow looked past her at it. It was merely standing there watching them. "How he died," Grimmjow said. Orihime turned her head then screamed when she saw the ghost that had been tormenting her for the past hour or two. Grimmjow placed a steady arm around her, "Easy, he won't attack you as long as I'm here."
"Please, make it go away," Orihime whimpered.
"Get lost bastard. She's not who you think she is," Grimmjow told the ghost, "She's not the one who killed you." The ghost looked at him. "Her name's Orihime, she's my girl, not the bitch that locked you in that room."
"Y-Y-Y-Y…" The ghost stammered eerily.
"What's it trying to say?" Orihime asked Grimmjow.
"I can't tell," Grimmjow answered her.
"Y-Y-Yu-ri," The ghost struggled to say.
"Yuri, is that what you said, Yuri?" Orihime asked it nervously.
"Yu-ri, s-she w-w-was m-my g-girl," It told them. Grimmjow and Orihime watched in awe as the malformed ghost slowly returned to where he looked like an actual human. He had thick brown hair and deep brown eyes. He had the same build as Ichigo and height as Grimmjow.
Orihime shakily stood up and got close to him. Grimmjow stood up and was ready to pounce at any second. "We can help you," She told the guy.
"N-No one c-can help me," He said.
"What's your name, man?" Grimmjow asked.
"Chan," The ghost answered clearly.
#######################
Chan followed the couple back to the shop and they explained what was going on and what Grimmjow saw.
"If you let us, Chan, we can help you find peace." Ichigo said.
"How can you do that?"
"We can find out why Yuri did what she did to you."
"How can you do that? She's long gone. She's been gone for years."
"How many years has she been gone?" Rukia wondered.
"I don't remember. All I know is that it's been a very long time." Chan answered. Chan looked at Orihime. Orihime took a step back. Grimmjow stood in front of her with a warning snarl. "I'm not going to hurt her," Chan told him, "Please, let me speak to her." Grimmjow studied his eyes then stepped aside but stood beside her. "I'm so very sorry for what I've done to you, Orihime-san. I had no idea that you weren't who I thought you were."
"I forgive you," Orihime told him.
To Be Continued...