I own Reigashi no Aozora.
Chapter 9: Not Normal
"Welcome Home, Ichigo!" Yuzu greeted as his brother and Nozomi entered the house. She immediately pulled up a piece of paper and held it in front of Ichigo. "It's the skills test they gave us after school started! I got a 95! That's good right?" She looked at him expectantly.
"That's pretty good Yuzu, nice job! Right, Nozomi?" He said as he ruffled his sister's head.
"Um, yeah." She answered.
"Show that to dad, he'll be thrilled!" Ichigo said as he released Yuzu. "Speaking of dad, where is he?" He asked his sister.
"… I don't know. He's been gone since morning." Yuzu replied.
"Actually, I saw him earlier, but he left the house in a hurry." Nozomi spoke up.
"Really? Did he say where he's going?" Ichigo asked.
"No."
"I see… I'll be in my room."Ichigo said as he headed to the stairs, with Nozomi following shortly.
"Ichigo…" Yuzu sighed. She can easily tell that something is wrong with her brother.
…
"Now where did that idiot go?" Ichigo thought out as he sat in his bed. "Darn, If I had my powers, then I'd be able to follow his Reiatsu…" He thought but quickly reprimanded himself. "Ah, what am I thinking?"
"Ichigo." Nozomi called out as she entered his room.
"Nozomi?" "That's it! Nozomi can follow his Reiatsu!" Ichigo thought as he stood up and held Nozomi on both of her shoulders, causing her to blush.
"Ichigo, w-what are y-you-" Nozomi attempted to speak but was abruptly interrupted when Ichigo leaned closer. Nozomi blushed even harder, and she found herself unable to produce a coherent word.
"Nozomi! I need you!" Ichigo said, not realizing his poor choice of words.
Nozomi was stunned by what she heard. "Ichigo, what do you mean?" She thought, her face completely red as a tomato. Not in control of her own actions, she leaned her face closer as well. "What am I doing?"
Their little moment was interrupted however when Inoue called out from outside. "Heeeeyyy! Kurosaki-kuuuunn! Nozomi-saaaannn!"
"That's Inoue… sorry Nozomi, Let's continue this later." Ichigo said as he peeked out the window, leaving Nozomi blushing like mad staring at nothing.
"W-what? Continue what!?" Nozomi complained.
"Oi, Inoue! What's up?" Ichigo called out from his room.
"Bet you could use some bread! I'll give em to you cheap!" Inoue offered while holding a tray full of bread.
…
"We can't eat all this!" Ichigo said as he saw the amount of bread Inoue gave.
"Oh, I guess you couldn't…" A slightly embarrassed Inoue said.
"That's right! There's only four people in my family! Five if you include Nozomi." Ichigo stated. "Well I'll take what you gave though. And why're you fidgeting so much?"
"Well… I didn't think you'd invite me up here…" Inoue shyly looked away.
"What are you talking about? It's not like it's your first time here." Ichigo said.
Nozomi was sitting on Ichigo's bed, still shaken up by the events that just transpired between her and Ichigo. She still had a slight blush and stared at the wall while Ichigo and Inoue argued about the difference of discarded and unsold bread.
"Hey… Kurosaki-kun, did something happen recently?" Inoue asked, causing Nozomi to slightly perk up.
"Not really." Ichigo replied while Nozomi exhibited a murderous aura. "Nozomi, are you alright?"
"Go die, you useless perverted idiot." She glared at him viciously.
"Geez, what's gotten over you… Anyway Inoue, why ask?"
"Huh? Well… a hunch, I guess. I was wondering if you're in some kind of trouble… like being followed or something." Inoue answered.
"Followed around? You're more of the type to get followed around!"
"Well I guess I was mistaken. And no I don't get followed around!"
…
Ishida was walking down the streets slowly, still in deep thought after the discussion with Inoue. "I guess she beat me to the punch. Inoue-san, I hope you're able to sound out the true nature of this feeling. But this is Kurosaki we're talking about. It may be easier to get him to talk using a roundabout manner than direct confrontation. I suppose I'll investigate the town should Inoue-san fail to figure it out." Ishida's train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted upon seeing someone walking on top of the roofs while reading a book. "Who's that?"
Just as he noticed, the man suddenly disappears, leaving a cloud of dust in the air.
"Running away?" Ishida thought as he gave chase to the mysterious man. "He's fast! This speed isn't human! And I can't see any spirit particle fluctuations around him, so Shunpou is out of the question! What on Earth is he using to accelerate like that!?"
Ishida continued the chase but was forced to stop when the man steps on a telephone pole and disappears, leaving a strange light behind.
"What is that light?" Ishida thought but was interrupted when the man suddenly dashes in front of him. "Oh shi-!"
A quick slashing sound echoed through the streets and Ishida was left lying down the ground on a pool of blood.
…
"Dad's still not home yet… Where could he be?" Ichigo said while deciding to examine the card Ginjou gave him earlier. The card had the words "Welcome to our Xcution." on it. He then hears a noise from nearby and decides to check it out.
…
Inoue was now at her apartment, pondering about her encounter with Ichigo and Nozomi. "I guess those two got into a fight or something…" She wondered why Nozomi was hostile towards Ichigo. "But he's so nice to let me in his room just like that! No wonder Nozomi-san likes him! Wait… does she?" She thought out loud as she placed her stuff on the table. "Well living together like that for over a year… I'm surprised they still aren't going out… I mean it's quite obvious that they like each other."
"But it really seemed that Kurosaki-kun is hiding something…" She then heard her phone ringing, which startled her for a bit. "Wonder who's calling me at this hour…"
Inoue stood up to check the phone and find out that Ishida is the one calling. "Hello? What's up Ishida-kun? … Yes… um… What!?"
…
Back at the Kurosaki clinic, Yuzu and Karin were eating dinner, while Nozomi was watching tv, already finished eating.
"Hey Yuzu, where's Ichi-Nii?" Karin asked her.
"Upstairs. Said he'll eat later." Yuzu replied nonchalantly.
"Teenage boys are gross, total pervs."
"Karin-chan! Don't talk dirty during meal time! And Ichigo isn't like that!" Yuzu defended.
"Okay okay, but don't you think it's time to let go of your weird delusions about Ichi-Nii? He's just a normal guy now, not an anime character or whatever." Karin lectured, but this only angered Yuzu and she stormed off.
"I never thought like that! But I don't care!" Yuzu said as she ran upstairs.
"Man, I guess Ichi-Nii's been mean again. Gonna have to ask him to apologize later." Karin said as she cleaned up the dishes, but heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. "Yuzu?"
She checked but saw Ichigo running down and quickly leaving the house, catching Nozomi's attention.
"Ichi-Nii!?" Karin said in surprise.
"Where are you going? Ichigo!" Nozomi tried to chase down Ichigo but stopped after reaching the door. "What… happened…?"
…
"Ishida!" Ichigo called out after entering a patient's room in Karakura Hospital.
"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue said as soon as Ichigo came in.
"Inoue? Here already? What about Chad?"
"I told you, he didn't pick up. I think he's still at work, given the time."
"… You even called Kurosaki…? Honestly, you always take things too far." Ishida suddenly said, who was lying on a bed behind the curtains.
"…Ishida…" Ichigo said with a concerned tone. Just then, Ishida's father, Ryuuken, entered the room.
"Taking things too far? At least your mouth still works." Ryuuken said.
"I'm not supposed to have visitors. What will you do if my condition worsens because you let people barge in here?" Ishida retorted.
"Are you stupid? Who do you think performed the surgery? Something minor like that won't aggravate your injuries. Novices who get slashed up by their enemy and nearly die shouldn't be telling their doctor to do this and that." Ryuuken won the argument.
"What's he talking about, Ishida?" Ichigo asked.
"… none of your business…" Ishida answered coldly.
"The hell it isn't!" Ichigo lashed out. "You got your ass handed to you! If you couldn't handle it alone then we work together, right?" Ichigo angrily reprimanded him, but there was no answer. "Say something!"
"It's important to share information, you know? Do you intend to waste the kindness I've shown you?"
"You shut the hell up!" Ishida yelled at them, but winced in pain and settled down.
"Woah. That was close. Another 5 hertz louder and your stitches would've opened up." Ryuuken commented.
"Ishida-kun…" A worried Inoue looked at him, and so did Ichigo.
"Sorry, Inoue-san… I really can't tell you anything right now… could you please go home?" Ishida requested, to which they both complied.
"Alright, I'll take Inoue-san home in my car. You be careful now, Kurosaki-san." Ryuuken said as she approached Inoue.
"Okay, thank you." Ichigo said as he left the hospital.
"See you at school tomorrow Kurosaki-kun! And say hi to Nozomi-san for me" Inoue yelled out.
"Hey, don't yell in the hospital." Ryuuken reprimanded her.
"Oh, sorry." Inoue said before childishly covering her mouth.
"… There doesn't seem to be anything he can do to help so I'll tell you this." Ryuuken stated, causing Inoue to look at him in a confused state.
"It wasn't a Hollow that attacked Uryuu."
Fourth Chapter today! I made it in time! As always, thanks for reading my story! Okay, Ja.