The wind was ferocious, whipping the small trees around like they were made of paper. Rain pelted my skin, freezing me to my core. Sirens blared somewhere off in the distance as I tried to lift my head from the pavement. The ground was a strange mix of black and red, my head pounded but I didn't know why.

'Akari, Akari stay awake dear.' The voice was muffled and strained, I wasn't tired so why couldn't I keep my eyes open?

Blinking the sleep from my eyes I let the sight of my ceiling pull me from the memory. It was the second night in the row for that dream to happen and it somehow left me more tired than the night before, like I hadn't gotten any sleep at all. Blindly I reached over for my phone so I could check the time, it was just after 9 in the morning and I debated going back to sleep but a notification from my boss asking me to come in early stopped that thought in its tracks.

Part of me just wanted to ignore it and go in at my usual time but I didn't need to make my new boss angry with me. It was one of the only places I could find that would hire a student and I needed the money if I wanted to do more than just barely live.

Dragging myself out of bed I shuffled my way to the closet and grabbed my work clothes, a simple red button up shirt and black jeans. Deciding that a shower wasn't worth the effort today I got dressed and left my room to grab something for breakfast. My single bedroom apartment was small and cheap, the only thing I could afford at the moment with my minimal income and monthly allowance from my grandmother.

After my breakfast I left and walked to work. The small convivence store was the perfect distance between my apartment and my, soon to be, high school once the break was over. I'd only been working there for a few weeks but so far it was nice. I was in charge of keeping the shelves stocked and dealing with truck as I had a knack for organization and planning, and was stronger than any of my coworkers so hauling the heavy boxes was fairly easy. My boss Naomi was fairly laid back but she took no shit from anyone and expected all of us to do our work on time.

Walking in I greeted my coworker who was behind the counter, he was in his mid thirties and I don't think he ever told me his name but he was nice enough, "Is Naomi in the back still?" I asked and he nodded, the man didn't speak much.

Making my way to the back I found Naomi huddled over some paperwork looking annoyed and stressed. When the door closed behind me she looked up, suddenly looking guilty about something.

"Hey, Akari, we need to talk." She sounded exhausted and that had a lump forming in my throat, she never sounded like that. Did I do something wrong?

"Is something wrong Naomi?" I found myself fiddling with my fingers, picking at the dead skin around my nails. A nervous tick I'd developed over the last couple years.

"The shop isn't doing too well and I need to cut back your hours for now. I can only really have you working truck days for now, I'm sorry." She leaned back in her chair and rubbed the back of her head, I tried my best to hide my disappointment, at least I hadn't done something wrong.

"Oh, that's not good, but it's okay I understand." I tried to smile but it wasn't much. I needed the money but it wasn't the end of the world if I lost my job, I would still be able to afford the necessities it would just be harder. Maybe I should start looking for something else.

"I'm sorry Akari, hopefully once schools are back in business will pick back up and I can have you on the schedule more, but for now I just can't. I'll have an updated schedule for you by tomorrow but you can go home and enjoy your day." I tried to keep my shoulders from slumping over from her words but it didn't work and I saw the look of pity in her eyes.

"Thank you for still keeping me on staff Naomi, I'll see you later." I turned to leave, not missing her heavy sigh as I left the back room.

I exited the store as fast as I could not bothering to say bye to my coworker as I flung the door open. It wasn't my fault the store was doing so poorly, honestly it might have been better to just fire me or something and not drag me along in this mess. One day a week was definitely not going to work long term. Sure I had enough money saved up from the various small jobs I've done in the past year but eventually it would run out. I'd only been back in Karakura town for a few weeks and it's already starting to go wrong.

I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going but I found myself walking near the river, somewhere I'd been avoiding, the memories of this place made my chest hurt though I couldn't tell if it was from grief or loneliness, or both. Walking to the river bank I sat down to stare at the water, the cold air mixed with the feeling of small water droplets from the river had me shiver occasionally but it was a comfort. Watching the water made me forget my worries, the mesmerizing motion of the waves and the sound they made caused me to be sleepy. Shaking my head I frowned, falling in wouldn't be a good for my health. I made to stand but footsteps behind me caused me to stop.

"Akari? Is that you?" An unsure but familiar voice from behind me had me almost falling over into the river but a hand grabbed the back of my shirt before I could fall.

"Holy shit!" I blurted before I could stop it. Once I was steady on my feet again I spun around to come face to face with a very familiar boy with bright orange hair, "Ichigo?" I stared, mouth open, at my old friend. I wasn't expecting to see him until school started but seeing him here had so many questions going through my head.

"It is you!" A big grin spread across his face as he said it but that grin quickly disappeared to be replaced by a look of confusion, "What are you doing here?" The question shouldn't have caught me off guard and it definitely shouldn't have made my chest feel tight. Damn anxiety.

"I moved back to attend the local high school. Hated the city way too much" I rubbed the back of my neck, unable to look my once best friend in the eyes. After the move I never thought I'd see the orange head ever again and part of me just wanted to pull him into a bone crushing hug.

"I figured you'd hate it, did you move back with your parents? I thought you guys moved because your dad got a better job opportunity." The mention of my parents made me flinch and I thought he didn't noticed but I guess even after being apart for so long he could see when I wasn't okay. "Did something happen? Are you okay?" The worry in his voice caught me off guard, why would he be worried about me.

Shaking my head I gave him the biggest smile I could muster at the moment, "That is a conversation for another time. But I currently live alone in a small apartment that's being paid for by my grandma." His concern was still there but it seemed he decided to drop it for now. I would probably end up paying for that later when he found out but I'd deal with that later.

"Well alright, do you know if we live close to each other? I could invite you over for dinner, catch up with the whole family." The offer sounded nice, even though his family was mildly insane, well that was only really his dad. However the thought of free food was more appealing than my desire to stay away from the crazy man.

"Hm, I don't actually know where you live. If I did I probably would have come by and said hi." It was a bit embarrassing to admit I'd forgotten where he lived. But who could blame me, last time I'd been there I was eleven and wasn't paying attention to where my parents were taking me.

Ichigo's POV

He'd been walking to the river, trying to get some time to himself after an argument with his dad. The old man had kicked him awake again and they'd gotten into a pretty bad fight. Ichigo had just walked off the path to start heading to the river when he noticed someone else was sitting on the bank of the river. He froze in place as he saw their long bright blue hair tied up into a braid. Something about it seemed familiar, the way they sat and stared at the water had been familiar and he didn't understand why until he stepped closer and recognized her.

His childhood best friend was just there, sitting at the same spot they would go after school when their parents allowed it. It was somewhere he hadn't gone since she'd moved away four years ago and he never thought he'd see her there again.

When he'd called out her name and then caught her so she would go falling into the water and realized it really was her, he had to keep himself from pulling her into a hug. He looked her over and she looked both the same and vastly different, she looked the same but her eyes were sad and lost. She sounded happy to see him but that look in her eyes didn't go away and for a moment it seemed to get worse. It was weird, growing up she'd never been sad, angry yes, sad never. The first time he'd ever saw sad was when his mom died and even then she would put on a brave face for him.

Ichigo couldn't figure out why she'd move back here alone and why she was avoiding talking about her parents and why was her grandma responsible for her being here again. He'd met the woman once and promptly refused to ever see her again. The old woman was horrendous and mean, the things she'd said about Akari had made his blood boil and he was very aware the woman hated him.

Akari's POV

We figured out that I lived fairly close by and we decided to walk to my apartment first to catch up and go to his house later in the day. However upon getting to my house I realized that I was still in the middle of unpacking my things and it was kind of a mess.

"I uh, wasn't planning on having any visitors, sorry." Ichigo laughed and told me it was fine. I gave him a tour of my small living space, when walking through the front door you started in the living room and off to the left of that was my very small kitchen. To the right of the kitchen was a closet where the washer and dryer was and across the room from that closet was my bedroom with an attached bathroom.

"This is pretty nice for how small it is. Though are you going to be okay living alone? If you were anything like you used to be I would be worried about you setting something on fire." I know he was just teasing me but the shit eating grin he gave me got me riled up.

"Oi, I'm not as clumsy as I used to be," I knew I was pouting when he started laughing. "Besides I've gotten used to being alone so it's fine." I punched his shoulder laughing, but his smile fell when I looked back up at him.

"What do you mean you've gotten used to living alone? How long have you been here? Have you been avoiding me?" He looked almost upset but there was a glit of amusement behind his eyes and I resisted the urge to roll my own at him.

"It was lonely in my Grandma's house but I've only been here for a couple weeks, and no I haven't been avoiding you I've just been busy." I shrugged before sitting down on my couch, pulling him down with me.

We continued to talk for the next several hours, catching each other up on what had been going on in our lives. I kept a lot of things secret from him, talking more about school and the friends I'd made instead of talking about my home life. I think he noticed I was avoiding the topic but he didn't pry for information, it was nice getting to talk to him again. It was like the last four years apart didn't matter, we still got along great and I didn't want this day to end, it was the happiest I'd been in a long time.

We were interrupted by Ichigo's phone ringing, he groaned loudly when it was his dad calling him but he still picked up with a smile on his face.

"Hey dad, what's up?" Ichigo leaned forward gesturing for me to listen to the conversation. I leaned in, my ear close to the phone as I listened.

"Where are you Ichigo? You've been gone all day, you said you were just going to get some fresh air." His dad sounded annoyed but I knew he was just worried, the man had always been a bit overbearing.

"Uh, I lost track of time?" The excuse sounded more like a question to himself, "I'm currently hanging out with a friend." A sly smirk made it's way onto his face and I rolled my eyes at him, he was planning something.

"A friend? You? have a friend?" I had to suppress a laugh as Ichigo's face dropped into a scowl. He then shoved the phone into my hand and looked at me expectantly.

"Hi Mr. Goat it's been a long time how have you been?" I tried to make my voice as sweet and innocent as possible while holding back a laugh. I'd given him the nickname after an incident where he ended up with a mouth full of grass and I was the only one brave enough to actually continue calling him that. By the time I'd moved away it had just became what I always called him.

"Who? AKARI!" I jerked the phone away from my head as Ichigo's dad started screaming about me being back into town and not saying anything and then immediately telling me I had to come over for dinner.

Ichigo took his phone back, telling his dad that we would be there before hanging up on him.

"I think my ears are still ringing, I forgot how loud your dad could be." I dug a finger into my ear as if trying to get water out of it and Ichigo just grumbled about the old man needing to calm down for once.

"Well, we have about an hour before we need to head over to my house so get ready for more screaming that isn't limited by a phone." He settled into the couch rubbing his hands through his hair.

I didn't reply, I just looked at him fondly. He hadn't really changed much from when we were kids, sure he was grumpier but he was also a teenager so that wasn't all that surprising. He still laughed and smiled with me like we used to before I'd moved and having that familiarity back in my life made me happy. I sat back into the couch with him and sighed contently, enjoying the silence for once.

We sat like that for the next hour, not really talking, just enjoying each others company. He was the only one I'd ever done this with, though back then it would be on my parents couch and we'd put on a movie or something and just sit. It made me realize just how much I'd missed him in the time that I was away, I wouldn't tell him that though, he'd tease me about it for the rest of my life if I did so. But part of me hoped that he missed me too, his reaction to seeing me told me that but to hear it coming from him would be nice. When we decided to get up I realized that he didn't have a jacket and the sun was going down.

"We probably should have left sooner. It's going to get cold out tonight and I don't know if I have a jacket big enough for you, or well long enough." I looked him up and down before going into my room to grab myself a jacket and look for one for him if at all possible.

"I'll be fine Akari, it's not like it's the middle of winter or anything, also what was with that look?" He seemed to have realized I basically just checked him out and he peeked around the corner of my door to stare at me.

"You're a tall bastard now, and I was looking at you to see if I maybe have something long enough for you to wear on the way to your house. Because if you're anything like you were when we were kids you can't stand the cold." I shot his own words back at him and I watched as his nose turned a bit pink before he turned around and left my room. I raised an eyebrow at the behavior, did he just blush?

I managed to find an old black jacket that looked to be long enough for Ichigo to wear, I pulled it out and the smell of my dad's old cologne hit me like a train. How had I not know his jacket was in my closet, I didn't remember putting it in there nor do I remember hanging it up with my other clothes. The last time I saw him wear this jacket was the day before the accident, he'd taken me flower shopping for my mom's birthday. It was cold that day but the sun was out and the wind was calm, I'd picked out some tiger lilies for my mom as they had been her favorite flower.

"Akari? Are you okay?" Ichigo's voice pulled me out of my thoughts and I realized that I'd been staring at the jacket in my hands not moving.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." I shook myself and handed him the jacket and he hesitated on taking it from me, "It should fit you just fine so lets get going. I really don't want to be late to dinner, your dad can be insane." I joked trying to distract myself and I watched Ichigo's lips formed a hard line but he didn't say anything and just step back to let me leave the room.

The walk to his house was awkward, I didn't know what to say and Ichigo kept looking at me with concern. I know I should at least tell him something about what happened but I didn't want to ruin this day. It was selfish of me I knew but I just wanted to be happy.

"I swear you keep staring any harder it's going to burn a hole through my head." I bumped my shoulder into him to get him to snap out of his thoughts and he just turned his head forward with the same grim expression, "Look I don't want today to be ruined, but I know you won't let it go until I tell you so how about this. Ignore it for tonight please? I'll tell you when I'm ready." I asked and looked up to him waiting for a reaction.

He kept the grim expression for a few more seconds before closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. Ichigo didn't look at me but he ruffled my hair with his hand, "Fine, but you'd better tell me soon." He sighed again and finally turned to look at me, "Besides we promised we'd always tell each other everything and not keep secrets." My jaw dropped at his statement and I stopped walking.

"You remember that? We made that promise when we were eight!" I couldn't help the smile that formed and Ichigo just laughed before grabbing my arm and pulling me back up to walk beside him.

When we made it to his house it was fairly calm inside, Yuzu was making dinner and Karin was likely in her room. Ichigo's dad was no where to be seen and I was about to mention it when the man came out of no where aiming a kick to Ichigo's head. However said kick would have hit me first and before I could really think I'd grabbed the man's leg and twisted it making him spin in the air before landing with a hard thud on the floor.

"Dammit old man you almost hit Akari!" Ichigo yelled from next to me while I backed away with my hands up apologizing for what I'd done, "Akari, he'll be fine, are you okay?" Ichigo asked turning to me while his dad pitifully crawled over to a poster of his wife and began complaining about how his children were ungrateful and cruel.

"I, uh, didn't mean to do that but I'm fine. Is this normal?" I didn't really know what to make of what was happening, Ichigo seemed annoyed at his dad and Yuzu hadn't even reacted from the commotion. I knew that Isshin was a strange man but this was a bit much.

"Yeah it's normal, actually I think it's been getting worse lately since I'm starting high school soon." That was true, school was starting in about a week.

The dinner itself was pretty calm, Karin and Yuzu kind of remembered me and while Karin was more reserved Yuzu was happy to see me and mentioned something about how Ichigo would be happier again with me back. I wasn't able to ask what she meant as Ichigo quickly changed the subject but I could have sworn I saw his cheeks turn pink. After dinner Yuzu managed to convince me to stay a little longer and play a board game with her and I dragged Ichigo into it. It was some knock off version of candy land that their dad got a weird store, instead of the usual bright and happy characters the board was with creatures called hollows and our little characters had to run from them. Seeing the hollow creatures made something in my stomach turn but I didn't know why.

Isshin hadn't really made much of a fuss about me being there longer, though he did say something about the third daughter he never had which was weird and I tried to ignore it. When we were done with the game Yuzu went to go find another one but my phone started ringing. My grandma was calling me and I realized I forgot to check in with her.

"Shit I need to take this I'll be right back." I quickly got up and ran outside the house so I could answer the phone without anyone hearing the conversation.

"Dear, where are you? You haven't talked to me today." My grandmothers rough mean voice came through the phone and it took everything in me not to shudder.

"I'm walking home from work grandma, had a late shift today." The lie was easy and something she would hopefully believe. I shifted my weight from foot to foot waiting for her to say something.

"Hmm, try to call sooner next time please, I want to hear from you everyday before you start school so that I know you aren't with that boy." I grimaced at the tone her voice took, she was talking about Ichigo. For whatever reason she hated him and tried to get me to promise I would never talk to him, I had told her that would be impossible since we would likely be going to the same school. She had to live with me just trying to stay away from him, even if that was never going to happen.

"I'll try grandma, and you know I said I wouldn't go near him. We have a deal and I'll keep my end of it." She huffed and told me to have a good night before hanging up. I shut my phone off and had to sit on the ground, my hands were shaking and I couldn't get them to stop. That woman could ruin my new life in an instant if she wanted to and if I didn't stay on her good side she would.

The woman had become cruel in the past few years and had begun to take her frustrations out on me. The only reason I'd convinced her to let me move back was because she wouldn't have to see me anymore but that didn't mean she didn't want to still control my life in any way she could.

"Akari? You've been out here for awhile are you okay?" Ichigo's voice pulled me from my thoughts. I turned to look at him, he was halfway out the door and looking at me confused.

When his eyes locked with mine that confusion turned to concern and he stepped fully outside and closed the door behind him. He sat down next to me and forced me to look at him. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of what was going on but what came out was a choked sob as a few tears rolled down my cheeks.

"That was my grandma on the phone. She's the whole reason I'm able to be here right now and I'm doing something very stupid by talking to you again. She's never like you, says you're a bad influence and made me promise I wouldn't talk to you and if she finds out I'm going against my word, she'll force me to go back to the city." I had to stop myself from saying anymore but that was all I really needed to say as Ichigo looked down at me. There was anger in his eyes but it wasn't directed at me.

"I won't let that happen, I just got you back and nothing is taking you away from me again." He pulled me into a hug as I started crying more.

I couldn't say anything else. I didn't know what I would even say to that, deep down I knew he meant it but what could he do against my grandma. She was my legal guardian and I no say in where I stayed. If she didn't want me here anymore I wouldn't be here anymore, end of story.

Ichigo must have known that but I don't know if he really cared about the legality of it. We stayed there on the front steps just hugging until I was no longer crying. Only then did we break off and just sit in silence, neither of us good with words. It was well into the night and both of us were shivering from the cold when Ichigo's dad came out. It was obvious he wanted to shout about something but one look at the both of us and he stopped, seeming to read the mood for once.

"It's getting late you two. Akari I can drive you home tonight, don't need you catching cold from walking home." I smiled softy, not looking at the man, sometimes he could be like a parent even if those times were few and far between.

"Thank you Mr. Goat, that would be great. I think I have work tomorrow anyway." I could almost hear the twitch of the man's eyebrow at the nickname. Though I did hear Ichigo snicker which made me feel a bit better.

The ride home was quiet, Ichigo had tagged along and was currently holding my hand. When I had given him a weird look for it he just shrugged and held on tighter. I didn't mind it, his hand was warm and covered mine completely, it was an odd comfort. When we made it to my apartment I had to all but pry his fingers off mine so I could get out of the car and get inside. They both told me to have a goodnight and Ichigo promised to talk to me soon.

Upon getting inside and closing the door I started feeling dizzy and my legs felt weak. I fell back against the door and slid down it as my legs gave out, my head began pounding like something was trying to get out and I heard a voice before blacking out.

'About damn time you noticed me.'