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in
herdedcats
[Bleach] Pea's Challenge #1: "Talking to Spirits"
As the Pea is my lord and master, she's giving me prompts now, much as she's been doing with tenebris at ramblinprose. (Some very good stuff there, check it out.) Today's, talking to spirits, made me think of a crack idea we once had where despite being essentially a ghost in Soul Society, Hisana begins haunting Rukia, watching over her, except Ichigo is the only one who can see her. So I went with that for the first challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't get started until after exercising and after Supernatural and I was all tired, so this is quite lame. But thus is the challenge.
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There was a time when seeing ghosts made Ichigo a freak. Not a complete freak, since Karin could see them too and Yuzu could see stuff and if anyone called his sisters freaks he’d beat them down-but still. A partial freak, at least.
Then things had gotten really freaky, like become a monster-killing, war-fighting, psychotic voices-hearing warrior for great justice freaky, and seeing ghosts seemed like the most normal thing ever. And once most of the fighting was finished, it had been; it seemed like everyone in Karakura could see spirits by the time Aizen went down for the last time.
So of course just when Ichigo was starting to be normal again, the universe had to find a way to make him a freak among freaks.
The first time he saw her, it was only for a few seconds on the way back from a Hollow hunt. Rukia was lecturing him on his lack of efficiency and he was pretending to listen-really, as long as the Hollow went crunch in the end, what was the difference? He paused to crack his neck, letting her walk ahead of him, and was squinting up at the sunny sky when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
When he looked, there Rukia was, but she wasn’t dressed as a shinigami. She was wearing a light summer yukata and smiling at him, her expression gentle. It was bizarre. He blinked. “Rukia?”
“What?”
He jerked his head around at the sound of her voice ahead of him and there she was, waiting impatiently, the same woman he’d just tag teamed a Hollow with. He glanced back. Nothing. “Never mind.”
Too much sun, he figured. Until he saw her again. This time she was standing in the corner of the living room as Rukia and Karin fought over the remote control for the TV and Yuzu made snacks. Again with the sweet smile. It was weird to see something like that on Rukia’s face. Not Rukia’s face. Whatever.
He marched right up to her when Rukia and Karin went out to help Yuzu finish the caramel corn. “Who are you?” he demanded.
The woman blinked. “You…can see me.”
“Hell yeah, I can see you! Hard to miss when you’re walking around with my partner’s face. Look, if you’re just a ghost with a weird trick, will you please knock it off and stop being invisible to everyone else? If you give me a minute I can send you to Soul Society. It’s kind of a crap place but it’s less boring than hanging around our house.”
“That is no longer possible,” she said softly. “I have been there.”
“Huh? What? How?” He shook his head. Started over. “Who did you say you were?”
She smiled again, but she still managed to look sad. “Hisana,” she said. And disappeared.
He didn’t say anything to the girls when they came back, just spent the rest of the night wondering if he hallucinated the whole thing. When he finally decided to run the whole crazy thing by someone, he picked the nearest person available.
“Dad,” he said, leaning against the kitchen doorway, “Do you know if ghosts can have ghosts?”
Pops blinked at him through early morning pre-coffee haze. “Is that a trick question?”
(551)
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There was a time when seeing ghosts made Ichigo a freak. Not a complete freak, since Karin could see them too and Yuzu could see stuff and if anyone called his sisters freaks he’d beat them down-but still. A partial freak, at least.
Then things had gotten really freaky, like become a monster-killing, war-fighting, psychotic voices-hearing warrior for great justice freaky, and seeing ghosts seemed like the most normal thing ever. And once most of the fighting was finished, it had been; it seemed like everyone in Karakura could see spirits by the time Aizen went down for the last time.
So of course just when Ichigo was starting to be normal again, the universe had to find a way to make him a freak among freaks.
The first time he saw her, it was only for a few seconds on the way back from a Hollow hunt. Rukia was lecturing him on his lack of efficiency and he was pretending to listen-really, as long as the Hollow went crunch in the end, what was the difference? He paused to crack his neck, letting her walk ahead of him, and was squinting up at the sunny sky when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.
When he looked, there Rukia was, but she wasn’t dressed as a shinigami. She was wearing a light summer yukata and smiling at him, her expression gentle. It was bizarre. He blinked. “Rukia?”
“What?”
He jerked his head around at the sound of her voice ahead of him and there she was, waiting impatiently, the same woman he’d just tag teamed a Hollow with. He glanced back. Nothing. “Never mind.”
Too much sun, he figured. Until he saw her again. This time she was standing in the corner of the living room as Rukia and Karin fought over the remote control for the TV and Yuzu made snacks. Again with the sweet smile. It was weird to see something like that on Rukia’s face. Not Rukia’s face. Whatever.
He marched right up to her when Rukia and Karin went out to help Yuzu finish the caramel corn. “Who are you?” he demanded.
The woman blinked. “You…can see me.”
“Hell yeah, I can see you! Hard to miss when you’re walking around with my partner’s face. Look, if you’re just a ghost with a weird trick, will you please knock it off and stop being invisible to everyone else? If you give me a minute I can send you to Soul Society. It’s kind of a crap place but it’s less boring than hanging around our house.”
“That is no longer possible,” she said softly. “I have been there.”
“Huh? What? How?” He shook his head. Started over. “Who did you say you were?”
She smiled again, but she still managed to look sad. “Hisana,” she said. And disappeared.
He didn’t say anything to the girls when they came back, just spent the rest of the night wondering if he hallucinated the whole thing. When he finally decided to run the whole crazy thing by someone, he picked the nearest person available.
“Dad,” he said, leaning against the kitchen doorway, “Do you know if ghosts can have ghosts?”
Pops blinked at him through early morning pre-coffee haze. “Is that a trick question?”
(551)