The Blue Bird's Song {Bleach}

Chapter Two {Oaths and Promises}

"Good morning, Ichigo~!" Ishin yelled from next door. Funny enough, it was the only thing that woke me that morning. According to my alarm that I had set, it had gone off a half hour prior. I was rather exhausted after the events of the night prior.

I heard more yelling from my rambunctious neighbours when I looked over and notice the giant hole in the house. Every single detail of the night before come flooding back into my mind. "I wonder if he kept the powers he gained last night. I guess I don't have an excuse to hide this from him anymore. He's going to be pissed with me when he finds out that I hid that from him; we promised that we would tell each other everything. But, I promised them that, if I could avoid it, I would never tell a soul."

"Hey Kiko!" Ishin merrily called out as I left the house to inspect the damage further.

"Good morning! Hey, what happened to your house?" I attempted to casually ask, but I wasn't a good actress. Thankfully, the man had overlooked it.

"It's a miracle! A truck plows into our house and none of us got so much as a single scratch!" He was amazed, completely unaware of what had truly transpired.

"What's more miraculous is that none of us woke up when it happened," Karin muttered in response to her dorky father. "Did you happen to hear anything, Kukiko?"

I froze for a brief second, holding my breath. "No, I can't say I heard a thing. I'm a heavy sleeper, so it's really no big surprise." The lie came out all too easily from my lips; Karin appeared slightly suspicious, but didn't think of it further. I turned to Ichigo who had not taken his gaze from the hole. "Ichigo? If we don't move now, we'll miss school all together."

"Huh?" he snapped from his daze, "Oh, right." Slowly, he made his way back into the house to get ready to leave.

I did the same, running inside to prepare for the day. Putting on my uniform was a nuisance and it wasn't the nicest looking outfit. I hastily tied up my hair, making sure the loose strands framing my face did not look too messy. Gently I placed my pendent around my neck, the blue bird, covered in deep blue crystals, bound by its chain. Stuffing my bag, I stumbled out the door before locking it.

My mind briefly wondered to the soul reaper from the night before, Rukia. Her faint spiritual presence had disappeared soon after I had left. I had assumed that she left for the soul society to recover her strength and heal her injuries.

I walked over to the Kurosaki's door, yelling out a loud "You ready yet!"

"I'll be right down!" His voice rang down not a moment later. When he eventually arrived at the door, he was still deep in his thoughts. Never had I seen him so out of it before.

"Are you okay, Ichigo?" I'm sure that concern was written on my face, but I was really worried about him.

Despites his response of "Yeah, I'm fine," I knew he was far from it. He had something on his mind, and no doubt remained in mine that the incident last night was bothering him. I was hoping it was some kind of dream, but there was no such luck.

"Alright, but if there is something you know you can tell me, right?"

"Of course." Just those two words were able to make my heart sink. I wasn't too surprised he'd keep it from me, but that didn't stop the subtle ache in my chest. I knew he'd need time to process things for himself before he even thought about letting me in. I grew up with this, so I was already used to it. Though I wanted his trust, I'd kept something just as important from him; I wasn't going to be a hypocrite.

"Okay then; let's get going." I put on a cheerful façade, masking the conflicting emotions within. Stress overcame me, and I wanted the hollow sensation in my stomach to go away. I couldn't shake the horrid feeling chasing me; there was something terribly wrong.