Films About Ghosts
"Hello there, little boy."
The sound of a patronizingly sweet voice, the kind that even a child can
recognize at age six as being utterly insincere, pulled the boy out of
his fog of a daydream. Even though it had been a very vivid collage of
cats, his favorite animal, he still couldn't piece it all together into
a coherent whole. Instead he slowly looked up at the person who'd spoken
to him, the first to actually do so in days. She was a rather old woman,
and while a week ago he would have made fun of her to her face the
energy to do so had abandoned him since then. "...Do you have a name?
Don't be shy," the woman continued, occasionally casting an uneasy
glance at the police officer accompanying the tyke.
"...Kisuke," he answered finally, earning an even more obnoxious smile
from the woman that he wasn't sure was supposed to make him feel good or
not.
"Here's his paperwork," the officer said gruffly as he let go of
Kisuke's hand to give the woman a pen. "Full name, Kisuke Urahara. His
legal guardian disappeared about a week ago, and he was only found
because he came to a neighbor's house looking for food."
"That's terrible," the woman said dully, not sounding like she thought
it anything other than ordinary. "...When did..." At this point Kisuke
tuned out the conversation, playing with the paper clip he'd found on
the floor of the policeman's car. He vaguely remembered the
blue-uniformed man making a few attempts at amiable conversation, but
he'd gotten bored after the standard-issue small talk questions ('What's
your name,' 'how old are you?'), finding the little folded piece of wire
more captivating. Its initial form was nothing special, but the
possibilities it presented fascinated him, as capable of being a
masterpiece as a block of marble is of being a statue.
"Oh!" the woman said as she fell out of conversation with the policeman,
noticing the clip in Kisuke's hand and snatching it away. "You shouldn't
play with that-- you'll hurt yourself!" The little blonde boy glared at
the woman, angry at her intervention and at that obnoxious voice, but
said nothing.
"He's a, uh...little quiet, if you can tell," the officer said with a
shrug as the caretaker grabbed her new charge's hand. "...You sure he'll
be all right here?"
"Don't worry-- I'll make sure that Kisuke-chan makes plenty of new
friends. We'll watch over him much better than his father, at least."
----------
Even looking back at the place he'd spent so much of his childhood at,
Urahara still couldn't remember the name of the orphanage, the name of
the obnoxious woman who'd run it, the majority of the people he'd lived
and ate and fought over top bunk with. But then he'd had the rather
convenient habit of blocking out anything that he found even slightly
uninteresting, that bored him. Two things he did remember, though. He
remembered that the woman's guidance towards acceptance with the others
wasn't what he wanted at all-- he'd quickly begun making friends even if
he'd had to act cheerful and sociable to do so; it was a fairly easy
mask to wear and he did so for the rest of his life with zeal. The other
thing that stuck out with clarity even after 13 years was the first time
he'd met Yoruichi."Hey new kid! Move it, you're holding up the line."
Kisuke turned from the water fountain to find a dark-skinned, scruffy
looking girl standing behind him, a little taller than he and with short
raven hair that stuck out at the sides. Normally the boy had enough good
grace to treat the girls around him with a bit of chivalry, but after
having to wake up early and be told by the caretaker that she was
'worried about his inattentiveness,' not to mention he'd nearly had a
heart attack playing softball with a few of the guys, he was feeling
less than willing to cooperate.
"No way, I'm thirsty! Wait your turn." He was just turning back around
to take another drink when a strong hand grabbed the scruff of his
t-shirt, turned him around, and he made eye contact with the girl
moments before she broke his nose and shoved him to the ground. He
stared up at her cold yellow eyes for a moment before what had happened
actually clicked with him and he angrily wiped the blood dripping out of
his orifice with his arm. "Hey, you cand do dat, you dumb gurl!"
"Screw you!" she growled back, and in spite of his defiance Kisuke felt
himself flinch. He glanced at the other kids in line that she'd cut in
front of, hoping they'd be equally indignant but they were all a fair
distance away, fearful but still acting as if this was as much apart of
their existence as the horrible food and the nearby jungle gym that had
long ago rusted over. Once the girl was gone one of them ran over to
him, a boy with curly dark hair and a rather long face.
"You okay?" Kisuke nodded, then accepted the hand-up as he wiped his
nose again, frowning to find that it was smeared with fresh blood. "A
piece of advice-- Don't get that girl angry at you if you can avoid it.
She can be a real bitch." In spite of the seriousness of his situation
Kisuke giggled at the other boy's casual swear, then followed him inside
to the nurse.
"...Wad's gonna habben ib I ged her agry?" the blonde asked through a
clogged nose as they walked, and for an answer the boy pointed
significantly at someone leaning forlornly against the wall of the
orphanage, arm and leg wrapped in thick casts.
"What's your name? You're new, right?"
"Huh? Yeah," Kisuke answered with a shrug, realizing that he was talking
more than he had since he'd gotten here a few days ago. "...Id's
Kisuke."
"Well, I'm Shusui. And don't worry, the nurse'll take good care of
you--she's used to fixing broken noses around here."
----------
For a few weeks Kisuke took his new friend's advice, building up a bit
of popularity as he gradually got used to his new home, and his athletic
capabilities made him a rather good catch for either side of the
occasional softball game or gateball practice. To counteract this the
girl from before, who he'd learned was called Yoruichi, started going
out of her way to bother him-- a fact that only added to his growing
respect among even the kids who'd been here for their whole lives and
were dealing with the early throes of puberty. Apparently, Yoruichi
didn't take very kindly to people who stood out or made a big impression
on others here, and the fact that everyone was afraid to so much as
sneeze in her presence had maintained her status as a force to be
reckoned with. Sometimes she simply threw his lunch away in front of
him, or otherwise grabbed a kid in his line of sight (boy or girl didn't
matter to her) and began to beat them senseless, as if daring him to
challenge her.
Kisuke was smart enough to know better, however, and always looked away.
He did feel bad, but it wasn't his problem, and he didn't need to go
looking for a fight anyway. At least that was what he told himself
before Yoruichi finally managed to make him snap.
----------
"You'd better be ready to pick that up," she said coldly as she glanced
at the fallen bowl of cereal, milk and soggy cornflakes splattered on
her ragamuffin sandals. Kisuke hesitated, the heat of every pair of eyes
in the cramped dining room on them. He almost acquiesced, but like that
day at the water fountain, a strange sort of rebelliousness gripped him.
"No."
"...Did you want to repeat that?" Yoruichi asked as she stepped closer,
venom dripping into her voice with each syllable.
"C...clean up your own damn bowl," he managed after a swallow. In
response Yoruichi promptly punched him in the face, glaring at him as if
she was ready to kill him and was exercising all her self-control to
avoid doing so.
"I SAID CLEAN IT THE HELL U--" she was silenced as the sound of knuckles
connecting with bone sounded again, and it took the entire room,
including Kisuke, a moment to realize that he'd just hit his nemesis, a
shiner on her right eye leaving incontrovertible evidence that he hadn't
just imagined it. Yoruichi stared at him for a moment, but then shock
boiled over into fury and she pounced on him with a growl, and the two
started hitting at every inch of each other they could reach until one
of the adults ran over and broke them up.
----------
"...If you'd just picked up the bowl, none of this would've happened."
Kisuke turned to look at the girl sitting beside him on the bench
outside the caretaker's office, his attention diverted from the hypnotic
rhythm of bubbles caused by the nearby water cooler. Both were much
worse for the wear now; Kisuke had a few bruises and bumps on his face
while Yoruichi had a fat lip to accompany her black eye.
"You started it," he retorted with as much tact and verbal prowess that
a child can manage.
"Don't think I've got a problem beating some more sense into you," she
hissed at the blonde.
"I managed to hit YOU a few times too, ya know." Yoruichi opened her
mouth to continue the argument but only gave a petulant "hmph" and
looked away.
"...That's the first time in a while, you know."
"Huh? I thought you weren't talking to me," Kisuke sneered at the girl's
sudden declaration. Yoruichi ignored him, however, and continued
speaking.
"None of the boys have ever hit me since I first got here. I figured
they were all just too wussy to do it, but you don't seem that tough at
all."
"Thanks," the blonde said while rolling his eyes at the 'compliment.' He
turned to the girl to say something else but somehow it never came out,
he just glanced at her stoic profile for a moment until the old woman
came out of the nearby door.
"All right, you two can go back now-- but if I see you causing trouble
again, Yoru-chan, it'll be time-out alone, understand?"
"...Fine," Yoruichi answered darkly as she tossed herself off the bench,
Kisuke following along behind her. "What are you doing, new kid?" she
asked after a moment of hearing his footsteps behind her in the hallway.
"...Don't you got someone else you can bother?"
"Who cares what I'm doing...Yoru-chan?" Yoruichi turned around at the
sound of the pet name the caretaker had forced on her three years ago,
grabbing the boy's collar and pulling him close with surprising
strength.
"Don't you EVER call me that again, you hear me? I HATE that stupid
name!" He knew that he was in a bad situation all over again, but
somehow it occured to Kisuke that there was something about pressing
this girl's buttons that he actually...enjoyed.
"Oh, come on, Yoru-chan, don't be mean or you'll get a time out." As her
eyes widened his bravado evaporated, and when her hand recoiled to
deliver his punishment he was prepared to get on his knees and beg for
forgiveness. At least he was, until he felt a smack on the top of his
head that, while softer than her fist, still hurt.
"Hmph. Wuss," she muttered under her breath as she walked away, leaving
him in a heap on the floor. Kisuke rubbed his now-bruised crown and
watched the girl walk away as he stood up, then muttered a curse of his
own as he headed in the other direction.
----------
"You're kidding! I don't remember it like that," Yoruichi said with a
grin as she pushed her shoulder-length hair behind her ears.
"Oh, come on...Don't tell me you really forgot that?" the blonde
chuckled in response. "It was only a few years ago."
"Well, I kicked a lot of kid's asses back then-- you can't expect me to
rememeber them all." She gave Kisuke a teasing smile before jumping off
the low wall of the public Middle school, landing gracefully on her
feet. "Come on, we'd better get back inside before the bell rings." As
Yoruichi tossed the remains of her lunch into the nearby trash can he
couldn't help but feel a little glad, even though he knew she was just
putting on an act for him.
After their fight at lunch all those years ago Yoruichi's behavior
changed again; she suddenly began leaving Kisuke alone, and was actually
friendly to him to a certain degree, greeting him with a curt nod at
least, a wave of the hand at most. Even though he didn't quite know what
was going on he had innately realized that they had reached an impasse
of sorts, an unspoken bond of grudging respect that took him off her
hostile radar. Yoruichi otherwise didn't change a bit even now; she
still beat up anyone who happened to be in the vicinity when she was in
a bad mood and never seemed to smile unless it was a sadistic sneer, but
around Kisuke she gradually became softer, although he was the only
beneficiary of this newfound benevolence. He never asked her why she was
nice to him and she never offered him a reason, but he suspected that
one of the reasons she lowered her guard with him was because he knew
better than to bother her about stuff like that.
"Oh, Kisuke!" she said out of the blue as she pulled a small wad of cash
out of her back pocket. "Here-- in case you wanted to order out for
dinner tonight." The teen accepted the money silently, stuffing it into
his own pocket carelessly.
"Oh, by the way...how's work going?"
"Ahh, a little slow," Yoruichi answered with a shrug. "You know how
people get at the grocery store--all those old ladies and stuff..." Her
companion nodded in acceptance, knowing the truth even though he was
afraid to confront her with it. It hadn't surprised him when he caught
her coming back to the orphanage late at night once, a handful of silver
watches in her arms while the sound of other boys filled the street
outside. But he knew better than to say anything--she'd just say it
wasn't his business, then threaten him again. Somehow, in spite of the
fact that he knew she was a bad seed, especially since she'd started
hanging out with that Shiba girl and had added theft to her list of
vices, he still couldn't bring himself to sever ties with her. Even
though they were friendlier, they never talked about anything really
personal. He didn't understand her any better at age 12 than he had at
6, but he never complained. If this is what she wanted, than he'd rather
comply than drive her away.
----------
"...You're what?"
"Believe it, Kisuke," Yoruichi said with a grin as she stuffed another
shirt into her tattered briefcase. It was a few days after Yoruichi's
fifteenth birthday, the snow outside the cramped building drifting in
with the cold through the cracks in the orphanage's facade. "...I'm
finally getting out of this hellhole. Just think about it-- I can't
believe my worthless parents had that much money! I'll finally have my
own place like you, and they had my name put down for Rukongai! I should
be able to have some fun with the poor bastards out there..." She smiled
that mischevious grin that he had come to love so much, forcing him to
turn away quietly.
He would never admit it to her face, but puberty had been kind to
Yoruichi...TOO kind, in fact. She had blossomed rather early, and thanks
to the revelation of her newfound power over the opposite sex (and a
surprisingly great number of her own), she had all but abandoned
thievery for a different sort of rush, finding people much more
enjoyable when they were worshipping her body than when they were on the
ground covered in blood.
"Yoruichi..."
"Hmm? What is it?" she asked gently, putting her briefcase down and
looking at the young man with concern due to the tone of his voice. She
was still the same...but with him, her bitterness disappeared, replaced
by gratitude and even kindness for the only person she could really call
her friend.
"I...I was just thinking..." he said as he swallowed the words longing
to escape his throat, "...are you really just going to the high school
to play around?"
"...Well, what else am I gonna do?" Yoruichi said with a chuckle, her
carefree attitude reappearing with surprising ease. "...I'm barely
making failing grades as I am now, just like you, pal."
"Don't you think...that maybe it's time you calmed down a bit?"
"...Are you telling me what to do...Kisuke?" she responded in a whisper
as dangerous as those she had used when they had first met, advancing on
him with flashing eyes.
"N-no, I just...I just think that...you can do better than being in a
gang, is all." Yoruichi stared at him for a moment, her fury evaporating
as she considered his words. It was the first time he had ever really
spoken his mind to her, and she turned away in silent consideration as
he announced that he had to get home before long.
----------
"'Shinshun,' you can't do this!"
"Come on!"
"I'm serious. I'm through with this shit, and you guys should be too.
It's boring." At the sound of the name "God of Flash" Urahara glanced
over at Yoruichi from the other side of the street; she was talking to a
few of the more unscrupulous members of her little gang, and he smiled
in a small measure of pride as she casually walked away.
"See guys?" one of them said as she retreated. "...I told you she was
getting sof--" the blonde turned away with a chuckle as the now familiar
sound of Yoruichi's shoes meeting an unsuspecting face sounded in the
distance. Now that he knew Yoruichi wasn't going to be involved with
people like that anymore, he had to make sure that she'd be all right
where she was going. She was too smart, had too much hidden potential to
spend the rest of her life in jail. Rukongai...her parents must really
have been something-- it was nearly impossible to get in unless you had
the smarts or the cash.
Fortunately he had plenty of the former, but he'd kept his intellect
hidden so that he could stay with Yoruichi-- otherwise he'd easily be a
college graduate by now. His grades were bad right now, so it looked
like the only way in would be to pass the entrance test and get a
scholarship. With that in mind, he promptly decided to get studying that
evening.
----------
Once he had brought Soi to the present, he looked over to see the girl
staring blankly into space. He remained silent for a moment, needing a
moment to recover himself. Just talking about it all had made him
realize just how long he'd known her, how far they'd come and how little
she'd really changed since that day at the drinking fountain. In fact,
he couldn't remember ever seeing a genuine smile out of her. At least
not until...
"...You okay?" he finally asked.
"H-huh?" Soi muttered, snapping out of her stunned trance. "Y...Yeah.
I'm fine. I'd, uh, better get home," she said quickly as she lifted
herself off the curb, the slowly sinking sun casting shadows across the
landscape and bringing a chill that accompanied the one running down the
freshman's spine. "...Urahara-san...Did Yoruichi...was she really like
that?"
"...Yeah," he answered. He wanted to say something more comforting to
Yoruichi's friend, but either he couldn't think of anything or he didn't
want to as she walked away in a daze. Once Soi had become a dot on the
horizon he stood up. He knew that even now, he was still in love with
his best friend, and regardless of whether or not she could ever feel
that way about him or for anyone he knew what he had to do. It took him
ten minutes to walk back home, and he resolved to skip classes tomorrow
so he could get to the hospital. He had quite a task ahead of him now,
but he wasn't about to let Yoruichi's effort go to waste.
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