Fourteen

It was a school day when Ichigo first saw her. He was walking along the sidewalk alone and with a hard scowl on his face like usual. Now one knew why the orange haired one always seemed to scowl, he always seemed mad at the world.

He continued to walk, barely noticing the people giving him odd looks and stares until something caught his eye. A head of royal purple colored hair was leaning against a window of a building; a woman held a cell phone up to her ear, mouth moving but the orange haired one couldn't make out what she was saying. She was wearing a white and navy blue baseball shirt, cropped cargo pants and black and white sneakers. Her purple bangs hung in her face, and by what the red head could see, she could tell it was choppy and layered. He saw black markings on her trapeziums and down her collarbone and disappeared under the collar of her shirt. He assumed it was a pair of tattoos.

The woman cut off the phone and tucked it away in her pocket. She opened the door of the building and she walked inside. Once the door closed, the orange haired one continued to walk. He stopped in front of the shop and looked up, the sign read "fourteen" and nothing else. Just "Fourteen." He looked down and into the building, he saw the same woman sitting at a desk, he noticed other people in the building but he was so focused on the woman. She was typing on the computer when she turned to the pick up the phone. Before she could pick it up, she finally saw Ichigo staring at her. Said gawking boy froze in place as silver eyes stared brown once for what seemed like a milli-second when the purple haired woman picked up the phone and turned away.

It wasn't until someone walked past him and walked into the building that he finally moved. He took one last look into the building and at the purple haired woman and he walked away.

It was strange honestly, a young man like him to stop and stare at a young woman on the street he had no wisdom of. He knew she must be new to town, he had never seen a head of purple before in his life. The store must be new too, he took the same route to school every morning and still he had never seen it before.

But what were the chances he was going to see her again?

________________________________________

A group of high school boys stood in front of the same shop, a bowl cut black haired young one named Mizurio, a pencil thin one with square frameless glasses named Uryu, a tall more muscular and tanned lad named Chad, a very shaky and timid brown haired one named Keigo, and Ichigo.

"Are you sure about this Keigo?" Mizurio asked.
"Of...Of course I am!" Keigo said a fake smile and look of confidence on his face.
"We've been standing here for 10 minutes," Uryu remarked fixing his glasses. "People are looking at us like we're crazy."
"Just get it over with already, Keigo," Mizurio said, placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort. "How bad could it be?"
"Hey!"

The three skinny lads jumped with surprise as they saw a tall but skinny man standing in the doorway. He wore a black tank top, blue jeans, sneakers, a beanie and black rimmed glasses. He seemed quite rugged; he had a bead and a goatee right under his chin. He leaned against the door frame, a look of annoyance on his face.

"This isn't a place to be window shopping. Unless you're getting a tattoo or a piercing, keep walking!"
'So this is a tattoo shop?' The orange haired one thought to himself. He never bothered asking what was so important for him to go too.
"We're sorry sir," The black haired one said. "Our friend just needs a few more minutes."
"Well there's a waiting room inside, I suggest you take a seat."

The man turned around and walked back inside, the door shutting behind him.

"Well he was more than inviting." The pencil thin one remarked sarcastically, once again fixing his glasses.

It took a few more deep breathes, a little pep talk, a small push towards the door for Keigo to walk into the shop with confidence, with his friends in tow. But after he signed in, and sat down in the waiting area with his friends, he began to shake and cower in fear again.

"Asano, Keigo!"

Keigo jumped higher than heaven as his name was called.

"Come on, Keigo," Mizuiro said. "I'll go with you."
"No," Keigo said, taking a deep breathe and standing up on his own. "I have to do this myself."

Everyone watched as he walked over to the front desk in surprise. The man that scolded him before stood at the desk. But to no surprise, they saw that his legs were shaking with every step.

"You're getting a tattoo, right kid?" The man asked, and Keigo nodded. "What are you getting?"

Keigo gulped, he dug into his pocket and fished out a piece of folded paper. He looked back at his friends, and then back at the tattoo artist.

"It's kind of a secret." Keigo muttered, handing the man the folded up paper.
"Huh. And who are these people?"
"M-My parents. I think I want to get them on my shoulders."
"Well, since it is your first time we'll do Mom's name first and then you can come back and do dad's name another time. How's that sound?"
"Uh, sounds good. H-How did you know this is my first time?"
"Only tattoo virgins shake and stutter like that on their first tattoo."

Keigo blushed as the tattoo artist called his bluff. Once they disappeared into the back room, Ichigo huffed and stood up and made his way to the door. They asked where he was going, all that they head was a grunt goodbye and that he was going home. He heard another holler but he paid no mind, he was going home and that was it. But it wasn't for him to come back and stay, it was for him to stop and watch where he was going.

He bumped into someone shorter than him and he stumbled backward, holding onto the doorframe for dear life. He opened his mouth to retaliate but when he opened his eyes, he stopped himself to see he had crashed into the same woman he saw earlier this morning. She had her hand over her face and a pissed off look as well. He opened his mouth to apologize, but before he could say anything he heard her scoff and pushed him out of the way, walking into the shop.

But there was something. For a second, just before he could say anything he thought he could feel a sort of pressure upon his body, sort of a weight slowing him down when she looked up at him. But once she walked by him it was gone.

"H-He-,"

But before he could say anything any further, she disappeared in the back. He clicked his tongue and turned his heel. He was never going back there again.

________________________________________

It was almost time for bed when he saw her again. The sun was setting and Ichigo was just about to finish his pile of homework. He walked across the room when he noticed something go pass the front of his house. He went over to his bed next to the window and he saw her again. This time she was with another man. Ichigo figured it to be her brother, he had the same tint color of hair and they were pretty similar in looks. He took a closer look and noticed she was holding a bouquet of flowers; he couldn't make out which kind. Suddenly she stopped in her tracks but the man kept walking. She felt someone staring at her; Ichigo saw her turn her head just a bit and in a flash he had his back down on the bed. He placed a hand over his mouth to stifle his breathing. Why? Not like had sonar hearing and could here from miles away.

"Hey sis!" Ichigo heard the man exclaim. From outside the house, the man walked back up to his sister. He looked up to where his sister was looking and just saw an empty window "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," His sister said, looking back at her older brother.

"Well, come on. We're running late."

And they started to walk again. Ichigo sat back up and saw them leaving. He knew he shouldn't but he was oh so curious. Soon he found himself out of the house and following them at a safe distance. Occasionally he hid behind every lamppost, mailbox, wall, whatever he could find that could shield them in case they looked back.

'Haven't these people ever heard of a car!'

About what seemed like an hour had passed until Ichigo thought about giving up. Soon enough, he found them at an abandoned warehouse. He saw them disappear behind the building. Altought hesitant, he followed them, pressing his back against the wall and out of sight. He peeked from the corner, and the sight he saw was more than a surprise.

The woman had placed the bouquet on the ground against the wall, and crouched down, holding knees pressed against her chest and the man standing next to her. But what...or who they were in front of shocked Ichigo the most. They were in front of a small group of children...or rather their spirits. Three of them to be exact, two boys and one girl. The boy on the far left had a green shirt, tan shorts and a blue baseball cap. The boy on the far right had a grey shirt, dark blue jeans and black choppy hair. The girl in the middle had black hair in beaded pigtails and a white dress.

How could he know? They had a sort of glow to them, very different and odd compared to the two people in front of them. And they had a sort of spiritual pressure to them. That's how he could know. He then saw that she began for talk, Ichigo listened carefully and steadied his beating heart, but he couldn't make out what she was saying.

He turned his head and leaned his back against the wall and sighed. They could see premonition; spirits of the long done and deceased just like he could. He shook his head, of course he couldn't be the only one that could see ghosts. He was over looking things.

He turned back to peek from behind the wall, only to come face to face with the woman crouching down in front of him with a frown on his face. He jumped and fell backwards on his butt. After he fell the woman stood up and the man came up by her side a long with the spirits of the children.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked suddenly, though it wasn't his place to ask.
"We should be asking you that." The man said.
"What do you think you're doing, kid?" The woman said, venom in her voice. "Following us around like a dog."
"Are you going to play with us too?" The little spirit girl asked, kneeling next to him.
"What?" Ichigo asked.
"Miss Keiko and Uncle Nao always play with us!"
"Wait a second!" Nao, the man the woman was with. "You can see them kid!"
"Yeah." Ichifo said, standing up. "Since I can remember. What about you two?"
"Same. But...it's quite complicated."
"Are you Miss Keiko's boyfriend?" The girl asked.
"N-No!" Ichigo exclaimed.
"Suki!" Keiko scolded. She crouched down again in front of the kids. "He's not our friend, he's just a stalker that can see ghosts like we can. Now we don't have a lot of time, we only came to drop off the flowers. But I promise next time we'll play, alright?"
"Okay," All three of them said sadly. But after a moment they smiled, knowing Nao and Keiko would be back soon.
"Thank you for the flowers," The little girl said. And with that they turned and ran off.
"Where do you like, Kid?" Nao asked. "It's not safe out here at night."
"I can take care of myself." Ichigo said.
"Look kid, I'm trying to be nice here. Either let us take you home or be left here to be ambushed and raped."

Ichigo was taken back a bit for a second but he gave in. He found himself walking with the two look a likes; walking wide by side with Nao while Keiko walked in front of them.

"Sorry about my sister," Nao said to him. "Keiko can get a little mean sometimes."
"I can see that," Ichigo said, staring at the woman walking in front of him. "Are you two new to the city? I've never seen that shop before."
"We've lived here for a while, maybe three years. We used to like in Kyoto with our mother but we had other opportunities here in Karakura."
"You lived all the way in Kyoto? You must have lived pretty nicely."
"Heh, you can say that I guess."
"So, do you work with her? At the shop I mean?"
"No, I have my own thing going on. If I worked there she's probably boss me around more than she does now."
"What do you mean?"
"She owns that shop. She built that business from the bottom up."
"So what do you do?"
"I co-own a gym. Rising fitness?"
"That's your gym? The guys in my school go there all the time!"
"Yeah, we get a lot of high school kids at the gym. But I've never seen you around either."
"Yeah, I don't really work out a lot."
"Could have fooled me. How old are you anyway?"
"I'm seventeen. I turn Eighteen in the summer."
"Seventeen huh? Enjoy your childhood while it lasts, kid. It'll go by real quick."
"How old are you? You can't be that much older than me."
"I'm uh, 27. But Keiko's closer to your age."
"She's that young, and she's already a business owner?"
"She worked really hard. Still does, honestly. We're all proud of what she decided to do with her life and her talent."

Ichigo looked at Nao, and saw the way he looked at Keiko. Ichigo turned his head towards Keiko, Nao was so happy for her, and so proud of her accomplishments. He could tell they had a close relationship and that they were a very tight family.

After a while, they came across Ichigo's house. It was late for a high school student, maybe 10PM. They said their goodbyes and Ichigo went into the house, greeted by utter silence. He was quiet, as noiseless as possible as to not wake anyone, and he went to bed.