Heroes

Chapter Three

“Oh!” I said, honestly surprised. Did he really just offer us shelter? No. There’s no way I could just intrude like that.

“Oh, um…I really appreciate it, but no thanks. I’m sure we could find somewhere to room.”

“Oh, no! I insist! Please stay!”

I pondered it for another minute. Well, he did insi--no, no, Adel. You can’t burden them like this.

“No, it’s okay. We’ll be fine.”

“Well…” he said, looking uneasy. “If you insist….”

I smiled at him. “Thanks.”

Suddenly there was a ring as the bell hanging from the door hit the glass, signaling that someone was coming in. Isshin and I both turned our heads as Keigo came in with him: the one, the only, Ichigo Kurosaki.

I mentally screamed inside my head. Ohmigod. He’s actually here. Holy freak. If Tara were awake right now, she’d be freaking.

Keigo was nearly crying, probably at something Ichigo said when he tried to get Keigo to come to his senses. Ichigo was just standing there, looking bored. I squealed in my head. That must mean Rukia’s here, too!

But no Rukia.

Hrm.

Then I got a light bulb in my head: this must be taking place before Rukia arrives at the Kurosaki home. Ichigo still doesn’t know about Soul Reapers, yet.

The boys came in the room and plopped down on the sofa across from the makeshift beds. I decided just to turn back to my friends; they were more important, anyway. I looked at Tara: her face was getting red. I smiled. She must be sensing Ichigo’s presence. I took a cold cloth from a bucket placed on the ground and wrung it out and folded it before carefully placing it on her head. I watched her face go back towards a normal color, and took a deep breath. Okay, she’s alive. Good.

“So what’s your story?”

I turned my head to see Ichigo looking at me questioningly. I glared at him. How rude, just to ask bluntly like that. I smiled to myself. Then again, he wasn’t really known for being polite.

“None of your business,” I said, going back to my friends.

I felt Ichigo’s scowl directed completely at me. “Well, you’re in my house, so I find it appropriate that I should know what exactly is going on here.”

I decided to answer, but without much detail. “My friends were passed out, so Keigo came along and was nice enough to get me and them here so they could be taken care of. There, wasn’t it a beautiful story? I sure liked it.”

He glared at me. I just laughed and motioned for Keigo to come over to me. He hesitantly walked over before I whispered the story I told Isshin, so we would both be on the same page. I also told him not to tell Ichigo; he’d know after a while, but for now, I just felt like messing with him. He nodded before moving his head and smiling before heading back over to the couch beside Ichigo. Ichigo glared at him for a second. “What?” Keigo said.

“What’d she tell you?”

“Nothin’. She just asked a question.”

“What question?” Keigo didn’t say anything, so Ichigo turned to me. “So what’s up with the white hair? There’s no way it’s natural.”

I cut in. “I could say the same for your orange hair. Are you always this nosy, Ichigo? And for your information, mine is natural.”

He turned to me. “How do you know my name?”

“Keigo told me, duh. How the freak else would I know?” I left that question to answer myself. He just kept glaring at me. I huffed and turned to Babs. She was looking okay, but really tired. I pulled up the blanket on her and turned back to the boys. They were speaking to each other, so I got up and left. They took no notice, not that I expected them to.

“Isshin!” I said. “I’m gonna go out for a minute, ‘kay?”

“Sure! See you later!”

I left the Kurosaki Clinic, quietly closing the slide-door behind me. I took a deep breath. Okay, where to go? We needed somewhere to stay tonight; I had about three-thousand yen…about thirty-five bucks. We could probably find somewhere to stay tonight.

I walked around Karakura Town for a few hours; there was nowhere that I could find to stay. Guess I’ll find a nice alley…I’ve got nowhere else to go. I couldn’t go to Keigo’s, too pervy…Ichigo’s, no…he’d flipping kill me…guess it’s outside tonight. I’ll ask Isshin if Babs and Tara could stay there the night; by tomorrow I’d find somewhere, I was sure. As long as they’re okay….

It was starting to get dark, and I was getting tired. I found a somewhat-clean alley, and sat down. Weirdly enough, before I knew it, I was asleep.