If I had more room, I'd have more plushies. If I had friends, I'd give them odd nicknames. If I owned Bleach, well, it's probably best that I don't.
Looking into the Eye
Chapter 2: Meet the Cast
As expected, the movers weren't there the next day. Diana just helped her dad go grocery shopping but otherwise played on her handheld until she went stir crazy in the mid-afternoon. High-school was supposed to start in a week, so her father left to set things up for her at Karakura High, go figure.
She had two options: wander around the neighborhood and try to get used to it because she had no sense of direction, or introduce herself to her neighbors. This should be fun.
She grabbed her phone just in case her father called and walked out the door, only to spot a certain orange-haired teenager heading home. Mind made up, she brought up as much friendliness as her personality allowed, and "Hello!"
He blinked as if broken out his thoughts, and looked at her confused, "Konnichiwa?"
Right Japanese, not talking to dad. "Konnichiwa." She corrected herself and walk towards him. "I just arrived in the neighborhood yesterday and decided to introduce myself to my new neighbors. Diana Fle… er" Damn naming conventions, "Fletcher Diana, by the way, nice to meet you."
"Kurosaki Ichigo. You're an American, aren't you?" He asked, scowling. She felt like someone was watching her.
"Yes, but I've been living in Japan for two years now." "ICHIGO!" Oh, boy.
Ichigo's dad flung open the door, ran straight for Ichigo and… got punched Diana as he ran past, head smashing into the wall. Ichigo looked torn being vaguely impressed and just exasperated. "Dad, do you have to do this in front of our neighbor?!"
Apparently so, because he pealed himself off the wall and started arguing with his son. What a nut. Watching it was kind of funny, but what could she say when she got completely ignored. She felt like someone was standing right behind her.
"Sorry about Goat-Face, he's just insane." Diana turned to find Karin standing in the doorway.
"Normally, this is when someone tells me not to punch people, or to 'act like a girl'."
"Not around here we won't. Punks like to pick on anyone that looks or acts different. It's good to know how to defend yourself." Karin shot an annoyed look over Diana's shoulder.
It seems the feeling she kept getting was just a spirit. Wonderful. Diana didn't want to be overly involved, so she tries to ignore it.
"Name's Karin, by the way." She says with a gesture to come in.
-2-
Diana decided she liked Karin. By the time Ichigo and Isshin stopped fighting and made their way into the house, Yuzu had introduced herself, made everyone tea, and lightly scolded Karin and Diana when they said something particularly mean, which was often given the topic was the idiocy of boys.
Isshin finally got around to introducing himself when he noticed that she "wasn't Tatsuki". An easy mistake, given that Diana resembled the girl in body type, hair-style, and punching power. She could have passed as Tatsuki's sister if it weren't for her face.
"You look more Japanese than American." Isshin pointed out.
"Dad that's rude." Yuzu chastised her father.
"No, it's alright Yuzu, my mom was Japanese." Diana said easily.
"'Was'?" Ichigo's scowl deepened.
"Oh, my mom died not a year after I was born, so I don't remember her. I do have this necklace used to belong to my mother, so I have her close anyway." She played the pendant on a simple chain, it was just a small disc with fake gems placed in a crescent shape and an inscription that said 'Mirror the moon and glow'.
"How about your father, or siblings?" Isshin again.
"Dad will have to work a lot, but he takes care of me anyway he can. No I don't have any siblings, but back in America I had a friend and his brother that were like older brothers to me, Chip and Dale, I called them. They bickered like idiots, and I didn't understand half 'the things they said, but they taught me how to defend myself against threats, (although half the time I had to defend myself against them) and introduced me to judo." She smiled to herself reminiscing.
"Sounds like you miss them." Yuzu this time.
"Miss those idiots? I'm still trying to convince them that they don't have to call every week to check up on me. They won't let me miss them!" throwing her hands up in mock surrender, earning a chuckle from Karin. "Though they'll probably lay off, once I manage to actually make a friend." She added sadly.
"Don't worry, Ichigo will be your friend!" Isshin offered much to Ichigo's chagrin.
"I don't think that's how things work, but I would like someone to show me around town, since my sense of direction is god awful and the movers haven't shown up with our stuff yet."
"If they're not here tomorrow morning, I'll show you around and introduce you to Chad. If you ask, he'll help you move in." Ichigo offered.
"And if don't have anything to cook with yet, I'll cook something for you and your father."
"Thank you, I'll call Dad to see if he's okay with it."
-2-
Ichigo wasn't entirely sure what to make of Diana. She looked like Tatsuki, but had nearly nothing in common, except a small interest in martial arts. Sure, she was nice enough and she got along with his sisters, but as soon as her father came in she faded into the background. She was polite and responded when talked to, but seemed lose enthusiasm fast, like she was used to being overlooked by people, or maybe she counted on it.
One thing was for certain; she wasn't as social as she tried to make herself out to be at first.
"You mentioned Judo, do you have any other hobbies?" Karin asked Diana.
"Well, back in America, I lived a rural area, so Dad and I would drive out to shoot cans. I had a pretty good aim. 'Can't do that anymore though." She looked homesick.
Yuzu tried to keep the conversation going when Diana didn't seem to have more to say and both Ichigo and Karin were distracted by the ghost woman that was floating around behind her trying to get everyone's attention.
She put her hand Diana shoulder and startled her.
"Something wrong Diana? You look like you saw a ghost." Her father asked. Ichigo tried to keep his face neutral.
"Pff." She look amused. "If I saw one, I'd only get scared if it looked like some monster out an anime."
Ichigo wondered if she could really see the girl, but dismissed the thought when the ghost started to wave her hands in front of her. Maybe she was more like Yuzu who could sense them but not see them. At least the spirits could follow someone around who wasn't in his family.
-2-
The movers still weren't around the next morning so as promised Ichigo showed her around town, met Sado Yasutora, aka 'Chad', and he agreed to help. Diana must have referred to Chad as "Sado-kun" a grand total of twice before the giant became "pipsqueak".
They were all wandering around the shopping district, until Diana spotted a black cat plushy in a window. Adorable.
"You two want something?" A faintly amused Ichigo asked her and Chad, who started to inspect the other plushies in the shop.
"I want the cat for my stuffed animal collection." Diana spoke with no hesitation and started into the shop. Chad followed. Ichigo just shook his head.
Chad found a pink 'devil bunny' as Diana called it, and Ichigo looked slightly put off by being in the shop. So when they left, that had to change.
"Now I have Sombra, the hacker cat, and she is mine." Diana cried out, lifting up the cat plushy and stealing a glance at Ichigo and Chad. Chad simply looked slightly taken aback, and Ichigo looked at her like she was an alien. Success. "What, can't take my brand of weird?" She asked with false sweetness. That shook them out of it.
"Not many people are so open with their quirks." Chad went straight to the point.
"Well, all people are odd, and not everyone accepts that. If someone doesn't accept the way I do things, then I'd rather know that upfront, then have them walk away when I had thought they were my friends." That was what happened whenever she tried to make friends after she moved to Japan after all, and she had a distinct feeling it had happened in her old life as well. "There is no point in pretending to be someone I'm not. Enough with the sob story. It is what it is, and I found a couple of odd-balls that seem to be able to tolerate me." She finished with a smirk.
"Yeah." They understood well enough.
Diana's phone rung with the sound of Final Fantasy's victory jingle. It was her dad.
"Sup."
"Hey, Diana. I thought you'd want to have a say in what your room looked like."
"The movers are finally there?"
"Yes, and your cousin, Tatsuki, is here as well." Arisawa Tatsuki, it was hilarious how she wasn't brought up before given she's Ichigo's childhood friend, but Diana shouldn't have known that, Ichigo has more tact than his father, and Chad's not the type to bring it up if it wasn't important.
"I'll be back ASAP."
"Movers there?" Ichigo guessed.
"Yep, and so is my cousin, Tatsuki. I never met her before, actually." If she had, she'd have realized she was in Bleach-verse sooner.
"Arisawa?"
"That's right. How'd you know?" she asked like she didn't already know.
"She's an old friend of mine, and the family resemblance is obvious." So, was Ichigo's to Kaien, not that she could tell him that.
"Well then, shall we be off?"
-2-
Whatever Tatsuki was expecting of her cousin, it wasn't what she saw. Apparently, Diana was a bit of a Judo buff, but with a plush cat balanced on head and a big goofy grin on her face, she was reminded of Orihime. She just let out a laugh.
"Finally! Someone laughs!" Diana cried out. "Pipsqueak's too quiet," Pipsqueak? "And Kurosaki-kun is being too gruff."
Tatsuki cringed at the way she said 'Kurosaki-kun', it was like she the person in question was the cutest thing in existence. She hoped Ichigo didn't pick up on it.
"Did you have say it like that!?" He did.
"Would you rather I call you Ichigo instead?" She teased.
"Yes! Just don't say it like that!" He ground out.
"Jeez, Ichigo, can't take a little teasing?" Tatsuki taunted, unable to resist the opportunity.
"Yes, Ichigo, you could loosen up a little. You get worked up too easily."
Ichigo bristled, but deflated when Chad put hand on shoulder in silent support.
"Better." She turned to Tatsuki, "By the way, my name's Diana. Nice to meet you."
"Tatsuki, same to you, and I promise Ichigo isn't as big an ass as he looks."
"I noticed, if he was he probably would have brushed me off. Anyway, let's help with the move in, I want to show pipsqueak my stuffed animal collection." Diana punched the air.
Tatsuki was just certain that when Diana met Orihime, all hell would break loose.
That way I act changes with my mood. When I'm nervous or feel overcrowded I try my best to disappear. When I'm happy I can be outright ditzy. When I really focus on something the world around disappears and I try to analyze every single scrape of information.