Something I learned about the increased dosage on the pills was that it made me drowsy. I missed a couple days of school because of it and when I returned with a letter from my dad explaining my absence, the teachers looked at me with pity.

Worse off, Tatsuki noticed my absence and hailed me out. Fortunately, Orihime Inoue wasn't with her.

"What happened?" Tatsuki questioned but then she halted as she took in my appearance. I was finally dressed in the school uniform -Hisashi was able to get- with the white buttoned up shirt, short gray skirt, and red bow tie. I didn't bother to wear the blazer since it was hot outside. "The school uniform looks good on you."

"Thanks for the compliment," I said with a small smile. I felt good for not sticking out like a sore thumb like my first day of school.

"Your welcome," but then she shook her head. Her dark eyes focused on me as she lowered her tone. "What happened to you? The teachers have been asking about you the past couple of days? Was it the earthquake?"

"No," I answered her. We were on our way to class when I continued with a lame excuse. "I got sick."

"Oh." Her tone lowered as though she wasn't expecting my answer and then suddenly her mood changed. She frowned. In the distance, I saw orange hair heading in our direction. Hoping not to bump into Ichigo, I stepped away from Tatsuki. For once I was glad for being short and having dark hair. I blended in easily with the crowd. Tatsuki seemed to have forgotten me as she began making threats to Ichigo.

"Can you believe that? Our school idol is so amazing! Arisawa is the only one who can stand up to the school bully," I heard one of the school girls whispered.

"Yeah, that orange head guy is so scary. He fights the local gangs every day. The other day he beat up some guys really badly and made them bleed."

"Thugs like him are bad news. I don't know why he doesn't get suspended already."

"He doesn't seem all that bad to me," I found myself intervening between the school girls who were watching Tatsuki and Ichigo ranting away about something. There was another guy standing next to him who appeared uncomfortable. He was shorter than Ichigo with brown hair and brown eyes.

The girls looked at me like I grew horns on my head. "And how do you know, you..." The one who made the first remark glanced at one of her friends. "Do you know her?"

"No." Her friends shook their head.

"Who I am isn't important. I'm just saying you shouldn't judge Kurosaki by appearance alone," I replied seriously.

The girl and her friends folded their arms across their chest. "You act like you know him really well. Perhaps you're his girlfriend?"

Why did I bother trying to talk some sense into these girls? Obviously, they were set in their ways.

I inhaled a deep breath and pinched the skin between my eyebrows.

"That's it, isn't it?" The girl acted like she discovered some juicy gossip.

"This is so troublesome," I remarked. I turned to walk away from them, not bothering to continue our inane conversation when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Her voice was loud enough to draw people's attention.

Calmly, I placed my hand on hers. She slapped at it with her other hand. I craned my neck over my shoulder to give her deadpanned expression. She couldn't seriously be asking for a fight.

"What's going on?" Tatsuki interrupted. For once I felt relieved to have someone's assistance.

The girl and her friends who idolized Tatsuki were suddenly struck speechless. Tatsuki noticed the girl's hand was still on my shoulder and moved it. "You know fights are forbidden in school. You can be suspended or worse, expelled from school."

The school girls dumbly nodded their head. Then, she shifted her attention to me. "The same goes for you even though you are new to this school."

I nodded too, knowing that she was judging the situation fairly. There was no way the girls could spread a rumor about Tatsuki taking sides.

"Okay, then. Let me show you to your class." I already knew the location of my class but I assumed she had a reason for wanting to take me to it.

The moment Tatsuki and I created a large distance from the school girls, the students went back to attending class.

"Do you want to tell me what's that all about?" she asked.

"Not really." I rather not have to explain myself if I didn't know what caused me to react the way I did with those school girls.

Tatsuki grabbed my arm, preventing me from walking further to class. "I appreciate you defending Ichigo. He's misunderstood and he had a tough life."

I remained silent as I lowered my head. My long hair shielded most of my face.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you."

"Yeah, thanks," another voice, a male's one to be precise intruded our talk.

My head whipped to the side and I saw Ichigo Kurosaki yet again standing next to us. His normal scold was gone as he rubbed the back of his ruffled pale hair with one large hand. A half smile formed on his thin lips.

Tatsuki gawked at him. Apparently, she was astonished that he and I knew each other.

"Wait, you're already acquainted with this beautiful girl?" the other school boy pitched in. There was a look of despair on his face.

Instantly, Ichigo whirled around, grabbed his friend's collar and began shaking him. "It's not what your perverted mind is thinking!"

"Let me go!" the brunette wailed. Tears streamed down his eyes when the orange head did let him go. "Why do you always treat me like this?"

"Why do you always make the wrong assumptions?" Ichigo returned. Soon, they were bickering like children.

It was Tatsuki's turn to shake her head. "You see, Aiko. This is what I have to deal with every day."

I only used one word to describe the pair. "Troublesome."

The dark-haired girl agreed before she began to head to class and I followed beside her, contented to leave the noisy males to solve their issues.

OoO

The rumor about the incident with the girls spread through the school like a wildfire. I became the focal point once again, which made me uncomfortable. A whole bunch of girls surrounded me during classroom break and bombarded me with a whole bunch of questions.

Tatsuki, once again, saved me. "Let's give her a chance to settle down. Remember, she's new to our school."

"Well, as long as she's okay," an orange haired girl, a darker shade than Ichigo's hair replied. There was a look of uncertainty on her pretty face as she clutched both hands to her chest. Immediately, I recognized her as Orihime, Tatsuki's best friend.

"Yeah. I hope those girls weren't mean to you. If you're troubled, you can always come to me for help," another girl with spectacles and short red hair that reminded me of the color of cherries said. I couldn't recall her name but she greatly admired Orihime.

"I'm fine but thanks for being concerned," I said I as I tried to sound polite.

"Anytime," she responded before slightly hitting me on my shoulder.

"Shucks! I was so rude! I forgot to introduce you to my friends!" Tatsuki suddenly exclaimed.

"It's okay." I glanced around me to see a few other stares of the guys on the girls and me.

Tatsuki, remaining oblivious, introduced me to a few dark-haired girls and mainly to Orihime and Chizuru Honsho. They would be the ones to later play important roles in the Karakura Town. However, Orihime would become an essential ally to Ichigo since she possessed the ability to heal.

Just then, another orange head popped into the class but it came from the classroom window instead of by the door. Instantly, everyone's eyes shifted to Ichigo Kurosaki. He bragged about jumping to the classroom window from the yard. Tatsuki and most of the others denied his claim. Silently, I got up from my seat and went to the front of the class.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Ichigo standing on the window sill wasn't Ichigo Kurosaki.

The fake made his move. He singled out Orihime and did something the real Ichigo would never do. He flirted with her.

All the girls began riling up in the class. Even Tatsuki was taken back by his flirtatious comment to her but that didn't stop her as she pushed back the fake against a desk. I already made my way to the door, about to exit the loud room when someone opened the door.

"Stop right there!" A feminine voice yelled out. "It's over."

The fake Ichigo was shocked to be discovered by none other than Rukia. Quickly, he changed direction and was running toward the window.

"Ichigo, look out!" To the students in the classroom, she was shouting not to exit through the window. However, she was calling to the real Ichigo.

The phony stopped dead in his tracks. A look of horror spread across his face as another Ichigo stepped through the window, only he was garbed in traditional Japanese clothes like the first time I saw him.

I stepped back against the wall, implanting myself in place as dread filled within me. How was I able to see Ichigo in his soul reaper form?

My hands raised to my eyes as I rubbed at them with disbelief. The meds I was on should have taken away my ability to see spirits yet I was clearly witnessing Ichigo confronting his fake self.

A fight erupted in the class and the Ichigo in his soul reaper form was getting his butt kicked. The phony kicked him hard until Ichigo was thrown back into the room, crashing into the desks and chairs on his way. The whole classroom became a mess as students asked questions.

I clenched my hands into fists while I bit down hard enough on my bottom lip to taste blood. I had to exit the classroom before anyone noticed, especially Orihime since she had the ability to see the real Ichigo.

My eyes darted to where she stood at the other end of the classroom. She was the only one looking at the other side of classroom while everyone else were staring all around the room. It was clear that Orihime was staring at the soul reaper Ichigo. Then, my gaze darted to the window as the fake Ichigo jumped out it. Ruki was fixated on him. This time I didn't hesitate to leave the room when she ran to the window. The real Ichigo dashed to her side.

I ran down the hallway to the point I reached outside before I collapsed onto the floor from exhaustion. I was panting for air as the blue sky filled my vision. The same question returned to me with a vengeance. How was I able to see a soul reaper Ichigo?

OoO

The moment I got home, I was greeted by a rare sight of my father being home early from work. He was lounging comfortably on the couch while watching television.

"Hey, you're back early from school," he greeted me. He didn't to turn around on the couch so I could get a look at him. Most likely, he had a rough day since his job consisted of hard labor.

"Hey," I lazily returned his greeting. I removed the shoes on my feet and took off my backpack. Instead of heading to my bedroom as I usually do, I went to sit next to him on the couch.

"How was school today? Hopefully, there wasn't another incident," he said with concern etching in his tone.

"Okay, and nothing happened," I half answered his questions. I was extremely tired and my head hurt from trying to think of possible reasons I could see Ichigo's spirit.

Finally, Hisashi diverted his attention from the television to me. His face was stern. "What happened, Aiko?"

I leaned my head on one of the soft pillows on the couch before closing my eyes. I pinched the skin between my eyebrows to center myself.

"Aiko?"

"I don't think the pills are working." I told him the truth.

I waited for his reaction but there were moments when my father could remain expressionless. This was one of them. The silence between us became unbearable and I breathed in the word, "Troublesome." It seemed to be my favorite word to simply describe everything.

"We can't increase the dosage," he said while fixing the glasses on his face. "And you need your meds."

"The pills make me tired all the time," I commented. Even now, I could feel the ache in my arms and legs from the little sprint I did at school.

"Are you still hearing them?" He wasn't referring to the regular spirits but the scarier ones that haunted me as a child.

I closed my eyes and exhaled a breath. At least I didn't have black eye sockets in front of me. "No."

His tone changed into a cheery one. "Then, there's nothing to worry about."

My eyes opened and I turned to seriously look at him while still keeping my head on the pillow. "Are you sure?"

His gaze was on the TV but I knew he wasn't really paying attention to the show. "If you're not seeing the little demons then you're going to be okay."

"Hmmm..." He actually called the bad spirits by name, which sent chills up my spine. He must have guessed my facial expression. "If anything happens, we'll be out this city."

It was our main reason for moving to Karakura Town. We had been on the run since I could remember from the little demons who disguised themselves as children. When I attended therapy, and described to the doctors that little demons were outside the window calling to me, they labeled me as a patient with an overactive imagination. And then one day, one of the nurses walked in on me almost falling out a window and then I got labeled as psychosis but behind my back I heard them call me crazy.

The doctors feared that I would harm myself and Hisashi dreaded losing me so he experimented with different pills that could suppress my ability of seeing spirits and had doctors prescribed them. As an extra precaution, we moved to different places.

"But, I will like it if we can stay here," he revealed to me.

I blinked my eyes. "Why?"

"This place is special, Aiko."

"Special, how?"

"One of my sources told me this is where we can find answers."

I blinked at him again. It was unlike Hisashi to explain anything to me. Most of the time he kept information to himself.

"Answers. Hmmm..." I was beginning to understand why he would think Karakura Town had answers. The small city was the center fold for all the supernatural activity. "So instead of running you want me to face it?"

"No." He turned his head to look at me. The smile was gone from his face and I was greeted by the blinding light of his spectacles. "I want to see if you can find out more information about what those little demons are. As of right now, we are running on theories."

"And who exactly will have answers?" I questioned him. I couldn't give away that I knew the people and the events that would take place in this city.

"I heard about a place, a store to be exact called Urahara Shop."

My eyes widened at the name of the store. How did he find out about it quickly?

"I'm going to visit it one weekend."

"Seriously, you can't be doing all of this for the sake of my, well, whatever you want to call it?"

He let out air while facing the TV again. "Aiko..."

"No, I want to live a normal," I demanded. Now, I was sounding like a childish person but after dying in my previous life, I realized there were so many things I wanted to do in my life. The only thing that was hindering me from living a normal one was with my weird ability. I couldn't do the things a teenager my age did like join afterschool activities or visit a museum with friends.

"I know, honey." My father used his smooth talking to appease me. "I'm trying my best to give you one."

Immediately, I shifted my body on the couch. My body protested against the movement but I owed my dad so much. I grabbed his hands with my own, making him look at me. Without wavering my gaze on him, I expressed my gratitude. "Thank you so much for everything."

His lips twisted into a small smile before I let go of his hands. I moved back into my comfortable position. "By the way let's not rush seeking answers to my problems. I'll just cope with the pills."

"All right," he agreed.

"If things get out of control, I'll let you know," I said to him so he wouldn't have to be concerned for me.

"You better."

My lips stretched wide across my face.

There was a moment of quietness between us. Only the people talking on the TV made noise in the living room. Then Hisashi broke the silence. "Oh, I saw Dr. Kurosaki today. He asked for you."

"Yep."

"Well, he told me about his frequent business trips and how he feels uneasy leaving his daughter, Yuzu, by herself. I feel the same way about you being alone when I have to work late so..." Hisashi hesitated to complete his sentence.

"So..."

"I invited her to come to our place anytime."

I exhaled. "Dad?"

"You need friends. I don't like you being by yourself."

"You're not going to say it's unhealthy for me to like to spend time by myself?"

"No, it's just that with friends around, perhaps, those things won't intervene."

"It won't work." I tried my best to suppress the sadness in my tone. "You remember what happened to my last friend?"

Hisashi shut his mouth. There was a good reason for us keeping to ourselves. The people who befriended us had a knack of going missing or worse, being discovered dead.

"We won't stay here long enough to let that happen," my dad promised me. "I know how considerate you are of other people, but look out for yourself too in my absence."

"I got it," I accepted his request. By pushing away others from me, I was trying my best to save their lives. Anyone who hung out with me ended up getting seriously hurt and I felt like I had endured enough pain of losing people. As long as I talked with people to camouflage myself in an environment I was okay.

I wearily got up from my seat to make something to eat for us.

"What you're making for dinner?"

"Do you want a full meal or half course?"

Hisashi spread his arms on the couch cushions. "I don't feel like eating anything full so let's eat a light meal."

"Then sandwiches it's going to be," I responded as I made my way to the kitchen. The rest of the evening passed by in a blur.

OoO

The next day of school, during break, Tatsuki visited our class again. In the anime, she was in the same class as Orihime and Ichigo. It wasn't the case for this world. Everyone was chatting about the yesterday event with Ichigo but it didn't surprise me that they forgot that a fake Ichigo entered and exited the class through the window.

"I hope Ichigo is okay," Tatsuki replied. She, purposefully, made her way to me with Orihime and they both sat around me.

My black eyebrows scrunched together on my face as I wasn't following her story. Rukia used one of her little gadgets to make the classroom forget what really happened yesterday to Ichigo.

Even Orihime frowned since Rukia's gadget didn't work on her as well.

Seeing that Orihime wasn't going to answer, I acted as she usually would, naïve. "How was he acting again?"

The raven-haired girl raised her eyebrows at me. "Seriously, how can you forget what happened to him?"

"Remember? I almost got in trouble yesterday with the girls in the hallway. I was too preoccupied thinking about that," I answered easily while shrugging my shoulders. Orihime gave me a funny look and I hoped she didn't catch on with me knowing more information than usual.

"Oh yeah!" the idol student said. "How could I forget that episode?"

"Probably, because it became second news."

"Yeah, I see," Tatsuki replied and then she began to explain the false memory. "Ichigo wasn't feeling well. All of a sudden, he held his stomach and shouted that he had to use the bathroom. Then he ran out of the room."

Orihime finally caught on. "Yeah, that's so unlike him." Nervously, she laughed at her best friend.

Tatsuki put a hand under chin as if she was speculating something. "I questioned him this morning about it and he and Rukia changed the topic."

The dark orange-haired girl glanced down at her hands, which were folded together on top the desk. There was a flicker of unhappiness in her eyes that Tatsuki missed. The dark orange-haired girl really did care for Ichigo. "It seems like he is very close to Rukia," she voiced her opinion.

"Now that you mention it, I noticed the same thing. I wonder why they always leave together. A lot of students have spotted them alone in the school yard."

I knew there were times Ichigo and Rukia formulated plans in the yard. "Perhaps, they're working on a school project," I guessed.

"Or he knew her before she started school," the school idol suggested. "In fact," she paused to look at me suspiciously. "You knew him too."

I refrained from rolling my eyes. "I live across the street from him."

"Wait, really?" the dark orange-haired girl asked me.

"Yes, and I met him by accident." I passed a hand through my long black hair. From the expressions on their faces I could tell I had to describe more about our first, well, second encounter. I didn't count seeing him in soul reaper form as our official meeting. "I went to the clinic for a check-up when I saw him talking to his sisters and father."

"So, then you know his family?" The raven head questioned me. Why did I feel like I was getting grilled by these two girls for knowing Ichigo?

"I won't say know but I've met them and they seem like nice people."

Just then, Ichigo came into the classroom and my eyes sought him. He was hard to miss with the particular orange color of his hair. No wonder he was picked on by people. He must have felt my stare because his eyes landed on us and he gave us somewhat of a smile before looking elsewhere.

"He doesn't look to be himself," I observed.

Orihime's gaze never faltered on him.

Tatsuki looked down at her watch on her left wrist and slowly got up from her chair. Her movement caught our attention. "I see..." She seemed lost in her thoughts. "He's not in a good mood. He acts like that when he's really tense."

"Tatsuki?" the orange-haired girl questioned her best friend.

"Don't worry. I know the reason why. Tomorrow, he's going to miss school."

I tried to recall the day when I realized what was today. June 16. On June 17, he took the day off from school and with his family, went to visit his mother's grave. He didn't understand that his mother's death was a hollow's doing, so he blamed himself for killing her.

I bowed my head, letting my hair shield my eyes. My chest briefly tingled with pain before I took in a deep breath.

"I better get going. Class is about to start," the school idol said.

Orihime blinked her eyes at her friend. I forced my lips to curl upward. "Okay, I'll see you around."

"Yeah," Orihime agreed with me.

The moment Tatsuki left class, I concentrated on taking out my notebook and textbook. Orihime had moved back to her seat. While sitting at my desk and waiting for the teacher to come into the classroom, I couldn't help the emotions that surged within me. Quickly, I peeked at the orange-haired guy. He was chatting and smiling as normally as he could with his friends but there was tension brimming under the surface of his body. He wasn't okay.

I went right back to opening my notebook and writing my heading on the top of the page. This was the reason I took my meds. Emotions made me act on impulse and my impulse made me reckless. The meds numbed my emotions, helping me to think logically. And yet, knowing how Ichigo felt about his mother, I couldn't help but be sad.

The teacher came in and everyone returned to their seats. As the students took out their notebooks and textbooks, I noticed there were water drops on my paper. Squinting, I placed my pointer finger on one of them and examined the liquid at the tip of it.

"Are you okay, Kaya?" a classmate asked from next to me.

"Uh, yes," I answered while nodding my head.

"Then why are you crying?" My hands landed on my cheeks to feel the girl was right. I pulled my hands back to see they were wet and then she handed me a napkin.

"Thanks." She nodded her head in understanding. She turned her attention on the teacher while I discreetly cleaned my face. For the first time since taking the pills, I was expressing raw emotions.

OoO

I was seeing Ichigo in his soul reaper form.

I was crying despite the pills numbing my emotions.

These things shouldn't be happening while I was on my meds.

I sighed. I was sitting by myself in the classroom. Class was long over and students had gone home. Tonight, my father was working the late shift so I wasn't in a rush to get home. I wanted somewhere to think openly without being compromised. However, the school wasn't the safest place since ghosts tended to linger in local places.

Peering through the classroom window, the sun was disappearing behind buildings. I didn't prefer to travel in the dark since I died in my previous life by walking home alone at midnight. I simply gathered my things and stuffed them in my backpack. I made my way to the lockers where my shoes were stored. As I was replacing the slippers on my feet with sneakers, I noticed there was no other sound than my calm breathing. I frowned, looking down either end of the hallway and the front entrance of the school.

Beyond the glass doors, I didn't see cars driving by or people walking the streets.

Swallowing, my hands began to tremble. I craned my neck over my shoulder to see the hallway and I noticed that a darkness was creeping close to me.

Again, I swallowed as fear tumbled into me.

My head whipped to see in front of me and I shrieked.

There was a bloody and misshapen little girl hovering a few inches away from me.

My mouth became dry, I staggered while trying to retreat.

Bile rose thick and fast. I spun away and ran for all I was worth. My backpack bumped against my back as I pushed the school door open and sped through the streets. Everything around me became a blur.

Finally, I stopped running to catch my breath. While hunched over, I felt chills travel up and down my spine. I raised my head as the hair stood up on edge behind the nape of my neck.

The bloody form of a ghost was no longer standing in front of me. Instead, it was a young girl about Karin's age who stared right back at me. Her long mocha hair fell over her shoulders and disappeared in a navy blue baggy hoodie. She had wide green eyes that reminded me of emeralds. Besides the baggy hoodie, she wore faded blue jeans and black ankle boots. Yet, my eyes did not miss the chain that was hanging on her chest.

"You're a spirit," I stupidly said while blinking my eyes. The fear didn't leave me as she seemed to glide forward.

"You can see me," she whispered.

Slowly, I swallowed to moisten my throat before nodding my head.

She burst into tears and I blinked again, astounded by her behavior.

"Finally, someone can see me," she said in between sobs.

Gradually, the fear dissipated and astonishingly, I closed the gap between us. I seemed to have a weakness for crying children as I disregarded that when I saw the spirit earlier, her body was bloodied and disformed.

"It's going to be okay," I said in a soft tone to soothe her.

As her tears subsided, she wiped away the wetness on her cheeks with the back of her small hands. She looked up at me, making me noticed the difference in our heights, with hope filled eyes. "You can see me," she whispered. "That's all that matters."


A/N: Hi everyone. Thank you for your support! I've seen the numbers in favorite and follow has increased since my last update and these means a lot to me! Really, it does! Please continue to show your support for this story! I have major writing plans for this fanfiction and I hope put a lot more time and dedication to it, even if I'm swamped with work. Some of you may have noticed that I'm writing this fanfiction according to the dub version of Bleach. I hope you don't mind since when I watched the anime, I've grown fond of the dub version.

Also, I put up this story on Wattpad under my same name Perseverance-n. Wattpad is fun because I post images for this story and update my writing progress with readers so if you're on Wattpad, don't forget to add this story to your library. And maybe you can leave a hi too.

Thanks for reading and if you will like, leave a comment to let me know what you think so far.