*Realizes it has been a lot of time since he last updated*
…
*Proceeds to scream* Oh fuuuuuuuuuck, I'm not gonna lie, I completely forgot about this one. I'M SO SORRY *chains himself to the wall* YOU ALL CAN TORTURE ME IN EXCHANGE. *internal gross sobbing*
N/A: Again I'm sorry for any grammatical errors or errors at all that I may have. English isn't my first language, please bear with me *continues sobbing* This chapter is unbeta-ed. I'm sorry... Again.
xxxx
After all the classes ended, Shirosaki decided he wanted to talk to 'Ichigo's friends'. They were going to hang out after school and Shiro had some free time before he had to go to Ichigo's house. He followed the group, mostly listening to the conversation but no joining it, until he noticed the hour.
"Hey guys," he started saying to catch everyone's attention. "What's up with Ichigo?"
"Oh him…" A red haired tattooed teen smirked nervously. "Berry's a loser."
"Renji!" The black haired midget called Rukia punched him… hard. "Don't say that about him!"
"Abarai-kun, Kuchiki-san and Kurosaki-kun were childhood friends," the busty red hair girl explained to Shiro. "But they got separated when Ichigo stopped talking."
"Why?"
"I dunno, but I'm glad. He stopped talking around Fifth Grade, and it's a good thing 'cause he was such a noisy child. Crying for this, crying for that…" Renji rolled his eyes and another punch was aimed to his face by Rukia.
"Stop it you asshole! You don't know how much pain he has been enduring!"
"Oh so do you? He hasn't said a fucking thing in seven years! How are we supposed to help?!"
"Abarai, stop." Sado stepped between the two before the argument went too far.
Shirosaki frowned. Wondering why they hadn't tried to do anything to help his friend anyway. For him, they weren't trying hard enough. No wonder Ichigo was still feeling lonely even if he had some friends. He had still to make the last question before having to leave to meet with Ichigo.
"Is it true he lost his voice at the accident?"
The group glared at him with wide eyes, surprised by the statement. They shared looks between them before nodding. Rukia stopped in her tracks as everyone did the same.
"Did Ichigo 'tell' you? About the accident I mean," Shiro nodded. "He wrote something about his vocal cords being damaged, right?" The teen nodded again. "His vocal cords were damaged, yeah, but two months later his voice was back. It wasn't the same but it was still there."
"What happened then?"
Rukia sighed in defeat and shook her head. "We don't know. Ichigo was happy when he finally regained his capacity to talk, it seemed like he would lost it again after so much talking. Then the day after that he didn't come to school. One week passed by and when he came back… he had stopped talking again."
"We thought he still needed more healing, in fact, we went to talk with his dad and he told us that Ichigo may had not been able to talk again. We believed him." Renji added.
"Ya' never asked why?"
"We couldn't. Isshin-san was devastated and…"
Shiro growled and turned around ready to leave. Lifting a hand in the air he waved it and said goodbye bitterly. Ichigo's dad was devastated? Bullshit. He didn't know the man but it wasn't worth all this suffering for the orange haired teen. Shiro was determined to know why Ichigo stopped talking, even if he had to ask the teen or his dad himself.
xxxx
The orange haired teen was standing by the front of his house, his fingers still gripping tightly the key between them. He was about to turn the lock open when he noticed the door was already open. Ichigo opened and closed the door softly with a loud gulp. There was no sign of his dad yet; the old man was probably passed out in his bedroom as always…
Sighing quietly, he went up the stairs to his room as fast as he could without making much noise. Ichigo quietly slipped into the room and changed his school uniform for more casual clothes, still covering his bandages with a black long sleeved shirt and a scarf around his neck. Checking himself quickly over the mirror, he deemed himself good before taking hold of his wallet, his phone and his guitar case.
The teen headed for the front door afterwards, leaving silently. He waited outside the house, evading those spots he knew that could be seen through the windows. Ichigo didn't want his dad spotting him and forcing him inside.
"Hey Ichi!" The orange haired whirled around only to yelp when he met a pale teen in front of him. Amused golden eyes glared back at him as a chuckle left pale lips. "Did I scare ya'?"
"Shh!" Ichigo shushed him putting a hand over the other's mouth.
"What the… oi!" Shiro tried to protest but he was dragged by Ichigo down the street.
Once they were far enough from the Kurosaki Clinic, Ichigo let go of his new acquaintance and sighed with a relieved expression.
"What was that for?" Ichigo looked away while playing with his fingers nervously not being sure of how he should respond to that question. He forgot his notepad at home anyway. "I thought we were goin' ta' meet at yer house?"
Ichigo shook his hands in front of him, trying to tell Shiro that it was a bad idea at the moment to go there.
Shiro sighed and shrugged. What was up with Ichigo now? He couldn't understand him at all. It's true that he could tell what the orange haired was feeling by looking at his eyes but hey… Shirosaki wasn't a mind reader.
"Tell me Ichi… Do ya' know sign language?" Ichigo nodded 'yes' excitedly and the pale teen hummed. "I guess if I want to understand ya' I'll have to learn it at some point. Let's stick with writing notes for now, 'kay?"
Ichigo smiled and took Shiro's hand between his and wrote something with his finger in the pale palm.
'Arigatou.'
"Please stop thanking me so much, will ya'? Yer gonna make me blush and it's not funny." It was Ichigo's turn to chuckle lightly. A blush on Shiro's pale cheeks would be so obvious that no matter what he did it wouldn't be possible to hide it.
Ichigo really wished he had the willpower to talk again. It was a weird feeling after so long. A vow to never say a word again years ago transformed into the inability to talk, even if he wanted to. Not that Ichigo wanted to talk to anyone… until Shiro came in. Being incapable of forming words was so frustrating at the moment. Why couldn't he? Was it his body or his mind?
Shiro seemed to note that something was going on with Ichigo judging by his clenched teeth and deep frown. Clearing his throat to bring back Ichigo's attention to him, Shiro smiled afterwards trying to calm the other teen a little bit before formulating his question.
"What now?"
Ichigo seemed to think about it. His house was completely out of question with his dad being in there. He didn't want Shiro knowing about his serious problems so soon… Ichigo wanted him to know, but not now.
An idea crossed his mind and he smiled about it. That one will work. There was a music shop not far away from there that Ichigo likes to frequent when he didn't want to be at home. He was friends with the shopkeeper and the man wouldn't have any problems with them using the soundproof room at the back of the shop to play the guitar. Ichigo grabbed Shiro's hand and signaled the pale teen to follow him.
Shiro shrugged and followed him without questions. They wouldn't be possible to be answered anyway, so what was the point?
xxxx
Already in front of the music shop Shiro stared at the crystal door. He had never been there before but the sign said 'closed'. Ichigo looked really disappointed when he saw it. Then his expression turned somehow angry and he banged the door with his fists. Shiro stared at him quite surprised at the outburst. What was the point on banging the door like that? If it was closed then probably there wasn't anyone inside and…
"Mah, mah! Who is it? The door is gonna break!" A blond man in his thirties opened the door making the bell at the top of it tinkle noisily. "Ah! It is you Kurosaki-kun~" The man said in a excited tone. He was happy to see the orange haired teen again after some weeks. "Oh, who is this?" He asked when he saw Shiro behind Ichigo.
Ichigo talked to him with his hands and the blond nodded in understanding until the teen finished with a huge grin. What did he tell the man?
"Ah! So this guy is your new friend I presume?" The blond chuckled and smiled to the albino. "Hi Shiro, my name is Urahara Kisuke but you can simply call me Kisuke. I'm not one for formalities, you know. Come inside! Make yourself at home."
To say Shiro was surprised would be an understatement. He was beyond surprised that the man could understand Ichigo so well. In fact, Shiro was a little jealous of Kisuke because the man could have a real conversation with Ichigo when he still could not. How much time would it take to learn sign language anyway?
'I think I just found myself a provisional translator.'