Chapter five: The Cat.

Chapter five.

"..." I knocked on the front door of the Kurosaki's house, taking a short step back as I awaited for someone to answer.

"Helloooo?" I watched as the door was pushed back, welcoming me inside without even bothering to check whoever I was.

The voice belonged to a girl, the distinctive childishness behind it making it clear that it was not an adult who was behind that door.

A short, kind looking girl with a curious look peeked at me from inside the house, her dark brown orbs fixated on me.

The girl didn't look to be much older than eight at most, and she had short blonde hair with short bangs falling over her forehead.

"Hello." I waved at her, still standing on the exact same spot as I tried to remember if I had ever seen her before. "I'm looking for Isshin-san… I didn't see him at the clinic though."

'Must be one of his daughters.' I reasoned, I could vaguely remember him mentioning two girls the other day.

"Dad…? I'll go find him, hang on for a second!" The blonde girl replied to me, her voice keeping that lively tone throughout our entire conversation.

"Thanks… Yuzu?" I thanked her, but before she even got the chance to hear what I had to say, she was long gone from sight.

'This girl… She left the door open.' I sighed, closing the front door she had left open as I waited outside for her to return. '... Isn't she a little careless?'

I stood there, waiting with my arms crossed for the girl to return, hopefully alongside Isshin so I could ask him for the phone number and leave.

I had to wait for another ten or so seconds before I heard the faintest hints of voices from behind the door.

I couldn't quite make out what their conversation was about, but I did recognize the two voices. One of them belonged to Isshin, the other one to the blonde girl.

"..." Three seconds later, the door opened once again; this time the blonde girl showed up alongside the man I was looking for.

"Isshin-san." I greeted him, waving at him much like I had done with his daughter. "I apologize for the interruption. You must be on break time."

I had noticed the clinic wasn't open so it wouldn't surprise me if I had somehow showed up during the man's break.

"Oh, Haru." Isshin waved back at me, his usual smile present in his face. "You came here to get that damned box? I found it a little while ago, it turns out it wasn't in the storage room…"

'The box?' I blinked, realization hitting me a second later. Last time I had forgotten about the box and left without it, though I think I can be forgiven given what transpired.

"That's not the reason I am here." I interrupted the man mid-sentence, the box was nice and all but I needed to know how the girl was doing.

"It's not?" Isshin inquired, his hand resting on his daughter's head as she listened to our conversation.

"Nah… I'll come some other time for it." I told him, waving off the matter as it wasn't of real importance. "You… You remember the girl, right?"

I asked him, making sure to be as vague as possible when asking the question, the man's little daughter was listening after all.

"I do." Isshin replied, an uncharacteristic frown now present on his face as he spoke. "I don't think I'll be forgetting anytime soon. What about her?"

"I…" I hesitated. Huh, this was, in all honesty, a little embarrassing to ask. "You still have the number of her aunt? I have been thinking… Well, thinking about how she is doing."

"Oh?" Isshin's frown was replaced with a cheeky smile. The moment his gaze landed on me, I had the feeling he could see right through me. "Well, isn't that nice? Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have her number."

"Would you…?" I tried asking, but came to a halt when I realized Isshin had his phone out already. "Thanks."

Isshin showed me the number and I was quick to memorize it and add it as a contact in my own phone.

"You are a nice kid." Isshin told me, and I stared at him strangely. It's not like I didn't like compliments, but I prefer them when they come from a woman.

"Thanks?" I thanked him again, nodding at the little girl as I began turning around, it was time for me to leave. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'll be on my way."

"Ah, one last thing." Isshin said to me, making me stop as I turned around to face him. "I have a feeling we will be seeing much of each other, so might as well get the introductions done."

Isshin patted the blonde girl's head, prompting her to introduce herself to me.

"Y-Yuzu, I'm Yuzu!" The girl said, introducing herself as she waved at me. "Yuzu Kurosaki."

"Name's Haru." I said in response, waving back at her, I sort of felt like I had said that exact phrase a lot these last couple days.

Well, enough stalling. It was time to go or else I wouldn't have enough time to help Ikumi with her work, even if just a little.

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"Well…" I hadn't even taken more than ten or so steps before I took out the phone and looked for the aunt's number.

'I did all this, but…' I hesitated, unsure on how the hell I was about to explain how I had gotten her number or who I was even.

"That… That hurts!" I heard something, someone dropping to the ground and complaining, their voice filled with pain.

"Hm?" I blinked, realizing that the voice was all too close for the situation to not be connected to me somehow.

Sure enough, I stared down and blinked for a second time. In the ground in front of me laid a girl, about the same age as Ichigo if I had to guess.

"Don't 'hm' me! You could at least apologize!" The girl was short haired, her black hair not making it past her neck.

I had no idea what happened, but taking her words and her current position on the ground into consideration, I think it's fair to say I was the one at fault here.

"Sorry." I offered her a helping hand, but she stood up without making too much fuss, though I could tell she was disorientated.

'Then again…' I had been walking slowly, how on earth had she not seen me? I glanced at her again. 'Oh, she came out of the house.'

I could tell that given the angle she was in, it looked like this girl was Isshin's neighbour. That made more sense, I came out of nowhere from her perspective.

"Easy." Again, I offered her a helping hand but she refused it for a second time. It looked like she was quite the stubborn girl.

There was this sort of 'tomboyish' vibe around her, I got the feeling that was the sort of girl I was dealing with.

"I'm fine…" Again, much like the last person who had collided with me, I could read the look on their faces all too easily.

'What is this guy made of?' That's the sort of look she had right now.

"I mean… If you say so." I shrugged it off, I still had much to do so if the girl didn't need me to help her, I wasn't about to insist. "Again, sorry about that."

I left without another word being exchanged between us, and soon after I decided to make the call.

The phone rang once, there was no response. It rang for a second time, and again, no response.

'Come on…' I thought, becoming a little impatient. The phone rang for a third time, the beeping sound reaching me as I listened in silence.

"Hello?" The neutral voice of a woman asked, and I almost dropped the phone from the surprise.

"Hello." I managed to maintain an even voice, matching it with her own so as to not sound too out of place. "I'm…"

Well, here it begins. Story time.

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"Should be around here…' I muttered, looking from left to right as I repeated the instruction's from the woman. "District Sakurabashi… Near the Tsubakidai Park… Apartment 203."

I came to a stop, confident I was standing right below the girl's apartment. The aunt had told me she spent most of the time at work and so couldn't tend to her needs, all she was doing was the occasional visit and provide her with financial support.

'It looks like her brother was all she had.' I breathed in and breathed out, not sure on how she or her brother would react to me.

I knocked on the apartment's door, small as it might have looked, it would have felt immense to a girl who lived all alone.

"...?" You'd expect the first thing to happen after that would be seeing her check the door, see and ask who it was through a window, and then open the door, but no.

It took no more than a handful of seconds for the door to open, greeting me with the sight of the orange haired girl.

'How carefree can someone be…?' I thought, sweating a little at the thought of a girl like that living all by herself.

We met gazes, the surprise in her face at seeing who it was making me smirk in satisfaction, she remembered me after all.

"Oh…! It's you!" I heard her say, running the corners of her eyes as if to make sure she was seeing right. "But how…?"

"Well." I began, shifting my gaze to a spot behind her where I could see the transparent figure of her brother. "I did say it, didn't I? 'I'll stay', I am not the kind of person who throws those words without thinking."

Orihime looked even more confused than before, if that was even possible. The spirit of her brother looking both conflicted and suspicious about me.

"It's a bit of a long story." I began, thinking just how to summarize how I had gotten there. "I have been thinking about it, 'how is she doing?', then I decided I had to ask someone about it. I went to Isshin-san, then… It's a bit complicated but, in essence…"

"I wanted to see if you were okay."

"..."

Orihime stared at me, and I stared back at her, silence ensued after that little speech of mine, and all I managed to get out of my mouth was but one single sentence:

"Why are you crying?"

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

"Here…" I sat in silent contemplation, taking the cup she offered me as I pondered what had just transpired. "It's a bit hot though, be careful."

I nodded, almost not registering her words as I remained deep in thought. I sat there, gaze fixated on the hair-pins she was wearing as I kept thinking.

When I first came here, I had been under the impression her aunt would be calling her to explain things. That hadn't been the case.

Had she forgotten? If so, I can't help but feel like she was too irresponsible to be taking care of her.

I was a total stranger, and she had not hesitated to not just provide me with her address, but also told me she was alone.

Plus, the moment I showed Orihime even a little kindness, she broke down in tears… It was a little infuriating, how lonely she was.

"You… You are bleeding." I blinked as I heard Orihime's voice again, taking me out of the trance I was under. "Your lip."

I felt a sharp pain coming from my lower lip, and sure enough when I raised my left hand to feel it, it was painted in droplets of red.

"I… Sorry." I apologized, I could deal with her aunt later, that's not what I was here for. "I got a little upset there."

I saw her fidget around her seat from the other side of the table, her brother's spirit with his gaze still glued on me.

"Why?" Orihime asked me, her orbs fixated on me as she talked. The question was vague, so vague in fact she could have been talking about a million different things.

I knew what she was talking about though.

"Why indeed?" I replied, staring at the ceiling as I pondered about the question. It wasn't a simple one to answer. "I could say I did it on a whim. I could say I did it out of pity. Truth is…"

"I did it because I cared." I replied, locking gazes, not with her, but with her brother. I could see him, I wanted him to know it.

"You…" I heard the spirit whisper, but I did not bother to look back at him, no, I was focused solely on her now.

"T-Thank y-you." Orihime was staring at the floor, so I couldn't quite tell how she looked right now. I didn't need to see her though, I knew she was in tears again.

"There's nothing to thank me for." I took a sip of the weird tea she had prepared with a handful of questionable additions. "..."

It tasted good, that's a surprise.

"T-Thank…" I listened to her repeat the same line, four times, five times even, until she broke down again.

"Like I said, no reason to be thanking me." I stood up as I finished the tea, feeling some mild hints of pain from my lower lip. "I wanted to see you, so I came. That's all there is to it."

"Still…" I watched her struggle to gather her thoughts, unable to turn them into complete sentences. "You came, no one else did."

"You have no friends in school?" I asked, and again, I saw her flinch. Shouldn't have asked. "Guess not, huh? That makes two of us, then."

"N-No way…" She seemed to find that hard to believe, for some reason. "You?"

"Yes, me." I repeated, tilting my head to the side. "I can't say I have tried that hard to make friends, though."

I stared at her hair-pins again, this time it looked like I wasn't discrete enough, since her hand traveled upwards, touching them.

"He… H-He gifted them to me." Orihime explained to me, her fingers lingering on them for a few seconds.

"They are beautiful." I replied, meeting her gaze for an instant.

"I told him… I told him I wouldn't wear them…" I leaned in closer to her, it was hard to make out her words in between sniffles and hiccups. "I told him it looked childish… If I hadn't…"

"There's no point in thinking like that." I interrupted her, that was one path I did not want her walking into. "You can't blame yourself like that."

"But…" Orihime tried to argue back, but I cut her mid-sentence again.

"No, no buts." I told her, the answer coming off a little stronger than I intended it to. "There's so many other factors at play here, a discussion wouldn't have changed a single thing."

"Still, even if that was the case, I doubt he would have liked to see you blaming yourself for it."

"I…" Orihime began, but she didn't finish her words.

I saw her pause for a second, it looked as if she was deep in thought. Good, that meant something of what I said got through her.

I looked out the window, noticing the skies had darkened a considerable amount. Shame, I wanted to talk to her some more.

'Mom is gonna butcher me if I miss dinner again…' I turned towards her, then towards the spirit, and he stared back.

"I hate to say this, but…" Taking a pen from a desk nearby, I wrote my number on the back of an old paper. "I need to go."

I handed her the paper as she glanced at me with a look I wasn't quite able to read. It was hard to guess what was going through her head.

"You need someone to talk to? Call me." I told her, heading for the door. "I mean it, call me. It's not a bother at all."

"Ah… That's right, one more thing." I touched the door's handle, smiling as I turned to face her one last time . "Keep the hair-pins, they look good on you."

[ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ]

The moment I bid farewell to her, I felt both relieved and conflicted about her situation. It was bound to take some time, but I was confident she would get through it.

There was something about her that resonated with me. Her loneliness, perhaps? It could be, but I had a feeling it was something else.

Orihime felt similar to me, but different. I am not talking about her past, it's something deeper than that… Her 'presence' feels almost similar to mine, but less polished, if that makes sense?

'Man… I hate complicated stuff.' I complained, pouting as I kicked a small pebble, making it bounce through the street.

'Can't things be simple for once? Less serious?' I thought, nothing like inner monologuing to deal with stress. 'I am alright with some nonsensical stupid shit happening!'

"You sure took a while to come out." I froze, a raspy voice reaching me as I was about to kick another pebble. "Well, it can't be helped."

I looked to my left, then to the right, in front and behind me, I saw no one, not a single person, not even a car near me.

"Down here." I heard the voice again, prompting me to look down until I was almost staring at the floor.

"A cat." I stated in a blank tone. Yes, I was staring at a black cat, looking up at me as it sat on the sidewalk. "..."

What's more, I recognized this cat's presence, it had been the same cat that had creeped me out and vanished in a blink.

"Huh." The cat, bizarre as it might have been, opened its tiny mouth and talked, actual human words leaving its throat. "I'm a bit surprised, I half expected an… AAAAAGH."

"A talking cat." I restated, picking it up from the scruff as it began speaking again. I watched in amusement as the cat fought for its life for a second when it noticed what I wanted to do, but it reacted a little too late.

"That's weird." I muttered as I looked at the cat more closely. "You look like a normal cat. You feel a little off though."

"Y-Y-You…" The cat tried to escape, but it was of no use. I had targeted the universal weakness of all cats, the back of the neck. "Unhand me at once!"

"Hn, as if I would listen to…" I raised the cat up, making it be at face-level of me as I matched its gaze.

What followed was something that perhaps, in retrospect, I should have expected. The cat swung its sharp claws at me the moment I got him within reach.

I managed to react on reflex alone, free hand up as I shielded myself from the attack. I felt the claws connect, the sharp pain making me release the cat as it fell to the ground.

"Y-You little shit…" I hissed, feeling a stream of blood pouring from the back of my hand. "Hey! What's the big idea!?"

"That's my line!" The cat hissed back at me, narrowing its feline eyes at me as it displayed its sharp claws.

"But… You are a cat?" I tried, still feeling the blood pour from the wound. Fuck, those claws were sharp.

"So!?" The cat raised its voice, looking even more offended by my response. "You just go picking up random cats like that?"

"... Yeah?" I answered, wasn't it normal practice to pick up random cats in the street? "I mean… You are just a cat, after all."

I mean, I pet random dogs that could bite half my face off, so why not cats?

Eh, I am more of a dog person anyway.

There was something about the cat's overall behaviour that made it look almost like it felt offended. I suppose it had imagined this encounter going differently.

"You brat…" The cat's raspy voice became dangerously low, looking almost as if it was scowling at me. Not sure if cats can even do that, though.

"Just a cat, you say…" The cat began to glow, if such a thing was even possible, and I took a cautious step back as I saw it grow. "You'll see…"

A cloud of smoke covered it, right there in the middle of a street that for whatever reason had no one to be seen on it.

Then, the smoke swallowed its figure, shadowing it and leaving me able to see nothing but its silhouette.

It was a human's silhouette, no… It was a woman's silhouette. The smoke settled, and I was left speechless by what I saw.

A naked woman stared back at me, so exotic looking I was sure I had never seen no one that even resembled her.

You know, I seem to have become more of a cat person all of a sudden.

End of chapter five.