Chapter 4: Defining Normal

Karakura town wasn't very special to those who lived there. It was a pretty place and quiet for a town of its size, but other than that it was a typical town; schools, shopping centers, parks, kids playing, adults working, the sun rose in the east and set in the west. Things went on as they should and people never gave a second thought about anything that wasn't normal. Well most people didn't.

Ichigo Kurosaki wasn't like most people. He knew more about the unusual than most; definitely more than anyone else in Karakura town. Aside from his own strange orange hair, Ichigo had a slightly demented and overly enthusiastic father who ran a small medical clinic in their home, two sisters; one that was more like a brother and the other who was more like a mother, and to top it all off he could see, speak to, and interact with spirits. This had been his life for as long as he could remember.

When he was little spirits used to frighten him. Of course a seven year old who could see old man Kiroji in his front yard a week after he died had every reason to be a little freaked out. Sometimes they'd follow him once they realized he could interact with them, asking him questions about things he couldn't even fathom to answer. 'Why can you see me?' 'Can you help me?' 'Where am I going to go?'

Then... well that happened.

Now that he was in high school, and had been through enough to stiffen the biggest of crybabies, he didn't mind being able to see them so much. It became something that just was instead of something that shouldn't be. He took it upon himself to help those he could see; whether it was to help them move on or just feel better about their situation, he thought it was the least he could do. After all he felt, for the most part, that he couldn't do much in the first place.

That's why she-

The sun was setting with a dozen reds and pinks stretching across the sky. The sounds of rush hour traffic and kids running home from their afterschool activities were dying down as people settled in for dinner. Ichigo decided to take a small detour on his way home and turned down a quiet street a few blocks away from his house. He came up to a small intersection and stopped to look down the three streets in front of him. A couple cars were parked in front of houses and off to his left he saw an older man walking away with his small dog trailing after him. He could hear the news blasting from the house on his right and from somewhere in the neighborhood there was the delicious scent of a large dinner being cooked. Ichigo put a hand to his stomach as it rumbled and crossed the intersection towards a telephone pole on the corner diagonal from him.

Tied around the pole was a small, worn out bow that waved back and forth in the light breeze. The ends were frayed from the elements and the once bright pink color had faded to a bleached out white-pink. On the little ledge of sidewalk between the bottom of the pole and the drop to the street was a little glass vase with a single wilting, white daisy. There was no water left in the bottle and the green steam had withered to a sickly brown color which was slowly seeping into the petals of the tiny flower.

Sitting on the curb watching the daisy bristle in the wind was a little girl, no older than ten. She wore a simple pink jumper and her long brown hair was pulled into two high pony tails that fell to her shoulders. She turned as Ichigo's shadow covered the vase and jumped up, her facing bursting into a huge grin. "You came back!"

Ichigo smiled and nodded as he knelt down to be eye level with her. "I said I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but everyone says that at first. Then they stop coming." The girl looked down at the daisy just as the wind tugged at a petal. Tiny desperate hands grabbed for the little petal as it lifted into the air, but it drifted through her transparent fingers.

"I'll bring you a new flower tomorrow." Ichigo said. "But you have to promise me something."

"Like what?"

"You need to hurry up and move on." Ichigo put a hand on the girl's head as she started to shake it back and forth. Sometimes it was a gift that he could touch spirits, other times not so much. "Your parents would want you to and it will help them feel better. You can't just hang around here forever, right?"

Tears were suddenly in the girl's eyes. "But…I'm scared. Will it hurt?"

"I honestly don't know, but you'll definitely go to a better place."

"How do you know?"

"Because my mom is already there." Ichigo smiled sadly as he stood up. He held out a hand and extended his pinky. "Promise me and I'll bring you a new flower."

The girl looked at his finger for a minute before looping her own pinky around it. She nodded firmly. "Okay, I'll try my best."

"Good." Ichigo turned as he said goodnight and made his way through the crisscrossing streets back to his house.

It was frustrating that that was the extent of what he could do. Talk, make a kind gesture and even if the little girl did move on, what did he really do? Blowing out a long breath Ichigo looked up at the few clouds in the sky that were sipping by with the breeze. It had gotten remarkably cooler since had had left school; not unusual for a spring night, but still something felt… skewed. It was almost like being able to taste smoke in the air, but not be able to smell or see it.

The street lights were coming on just as he turned up the path to the side door of his house. "I'm home."

He heard dishes clanking together from the kitchen and a high voice called back. "Welcome home!" Ichigo's sister, Yuzu, poked her head into the hall and smiled as he put his bag down and slipped on his slippers. "Dinner is ready."

Dinner started out normally enough. Bantering between father and son, eye rolling from the tomboy sister and gentle but futile attempts of stopping said bantering from the mom sister. Ichigo stood up to serve himself his second bowl of rice when a gust of wind rattled the kitchen's bay windows and the table suddenly tilted sideways. Ichigo dropped his bowl and gripped the edges of the table to steady himself and took a deep breath trying to stave off the grey hazing around the edges of his vision. His stomach was in one big knot and his chest heaved trying to get one good gulp of air.

"Ichigo?" His father's usual playful grin had disappeared, replaced by worried wide eyes.

Waiting until after his head cleared a little Ichigo looked down at the table where his bowl lay on its side rice spilling out into the table. He quickly scooped the rice back into the small bowl with his hands and stepped away from the table. "I- I'm sorry, it was a long day at school. I'm not very hungry." He glanced at his dad quickly. "I'm going to go to bed early."

Without regard for Yuzu's worried inquiry he strode out of the room and up the stairs to his room closing the door with a rough shove. He leaned on his desk trying to catch his breath. It felt like he had just run the entire way from his house to school and back again, and with the way he was sweating and shaking he probably looked like that too. A few deep breaths later Ichigo felt trusted his legs enough to take the couple steps to his bed. He sat down heavily and pushed open the window to situate himself against the sill. Ichigo closed his eyes against the cool breeze that blew in causing a chill to run up his spine.

What the hell was that?

He's had similar reactions before, but never so severe. It was usually around a spirit, sometimes they felt like normal people and other times they made him feel sick to his stomach. Although, he could never figure out why some felt different from others; maybe it was the amount of time they had been dead or something to do with the person they were when they were alive. Who knew? In the end, the spirit was a spirit and he had to try his best to help each one regardless of how they made him feel.

But there aren't any spirits in the house and I've never been able to feel one unless it was close so-

Bang!

The sound of Karin's door rattled the walls as it slammed shut from across the hall.

"Karin!" Yuzu's worried voice piped up from downstairs. "What's wrong? Both you and Ichigo aren't feeling well? It wasn't my food was it? Karin!"

Karin's door creaked open. "Dinner was fine! Leave me alone!" Slam!

Ichigo frowned. If only Karin and himself were influenced it had to be a spirit. She wasn't as sensitive as he was, but she could still see them from time to time, so if he had been affected so severely it wasn't much of a surprise she had been as well. Yuzu could only sense things and that was only when they were really close so she probably hadn't felt anything. His father…well his father was oblivious to so many things that not being able to sense or see ghosts wasn't much of a surprise.

Letting his head fall back against the windowsill Ichigo let out a long breath and peered out to the street. The street light in front of his house was still out as it had been for the past two weeks. Wonder when someone is going to fix that. Not that it really mattered; the houses and other street lights were more than enough for people to see by. He could hear the patter of footsteps on pavement from a couple houses away, probably someone taking a walk after dinner.

No…

Their footsteps were too fast, too hard on the pavement. It was a determined footstep; someone on a mission. Ichigo waited until the person was within his view. Without the light in front of his house he could only make out general features. A guy judging from the spiked mess on top of his head, taller, wearing-

A gee?

Ichigo sat up straight, squinting his eyes to try and get a better look, but as soon as he shifted the figure disappeared. No, no I definitely wasn't seeing things. That was there. Right?

Person in strange clothes, almost passing out at the dinner table, Karin being affected as well…

Something was definitely out there and the fact that his stomach still hadn't untied itself told Ichigo it wasn't a good thing or going away anytime soon. He was up and out the front door of his house and running down the street barefoot before he realized what he was doing or before Yuzu's questioning yell registered in his head. Gunna have to come up with a good one for this…

At first Ichigo didn't even know where he was going, but then he recognize a house he had passed on the way home from school. He sped up his pace; feet pounding painfully on asphalt as he wove through the streets and came to a skittering halt at an intersection desperately looking around. No one was in sight, but a small bleached out white bow laid in the middle of the road. A couple feet away lay the white flower, smashed amongst a pile of shattered glass. Ichigo walked to the middle of the street and bent down to pick up the bow. His fingers clasped around the frayed silk when-

Why am I on the ground?

He tried to push himself up off his stomach, but it felt like there was a ton of bricks on his back. Ichigo gasped for air as he twisted only to catch a glimpse of a giant white claw buried in the street to his right. And to his left. He was pinned and hot breath blew the back of his hair as a low growl echoed in his ear. Ichigo put his arms out in front of him and gripped the gravel in the road and pulled. Slowly he inched himself from between the two claws and as soon as his hips were clear he slid out and rolled over to get a look at his attacker.

Oh that's just not normal!