Haunted

Review Replies- ZN18: Thanks! I should be updating fairly regularly.
Kunitsu: Creepy and interesting is exactly what I’m going for…I hope this chapter is just as much so.
Yakumo: A lot of readers think I don’t like Renji…but I really do, or I wouldn’t pair him with Ichigo so much, even if he isn’t always the bad guy (like Cursed)
Lynzee: Thanks! I’ll keep writing them =D

Thank you WarriorNun for being such a great beta =)

Haunted: Chapter 2

Ichigo frowned in his sleep as something sought to wake him. He tried to ignore whatever it was, but it was persistent and soon Ichigo had to give into the insistent tugging of his hair. “Ngh…what?” He muttered sleepily and tried to bat whoever it was away.

“Wake up.”

Ichigo groaned and cracked open an eye. For a moment he thought he was still asleep because why else would he be seeing what he was seeing. A pale guy was standing over him…white hair and white skin like an albino except instead of red eyes he had golden yellow irises with black where their should be white. Ichigo blinked and frowned. “What..?”

“Tch. Are ya still asleep or something?” The figure moved and Ichigo realized that he could almost see through him, but dismissed it as a trick in the lack of light.

“What the-”

A very cold hand slapped over Ichigo’s mouth, cutting off his cry. Ichigo tried to struggle but the guy straddled his legs and pinned his hands above his head with a feral growl. Ichigo’s eyes widened as the light from the street lamp partially illuminated his attacker’s face, revealing that Ichigo could almost see all the way through him.

“Scream again and I’ll kill ya.”

“Ngh…” out went Ichigo’s muffled response.

“I’m letting ya up now, be good.” The icy figure slid off of Ichigo and the teen jolted upright and scrambled as far away as he could from the other.

“Who are you?” Ichigo asked uncertainly as he tried to figure a way out of this situation.

A dangerous, clouded expression came across the guys face. “I thought ya would recognize me, seeing how you’re the one who killed me.”

“What? No…” Ichigo grimaced and clutched at his head. “For one, I’ve never killed anyone. Second, ghosts aren’t real.”

“No?” The exceptionally pale man narrowed his eyes and snatched at the lamp sitting on the bedside table. Ichigo grimaced and waited for the crash but none came. He stared as he saw the guy’s hand go right through it.

“This…no, I’m dreaming, I must be dreaming.”

The guy claiming to be killed by Ichigo growled and reached down to dig his nails into the teenagers arm. Ichigo yelped and jerked away in surprise. “You’re not dreaming ya idiot. Ya are the one who killed me and I will take my revenge.”

“You’re fucking crazy!” The ghost narrowed its eyes and shot forward, slamming Ichigo into the bed.

“I can only touch ya, did ya know?” The ghost murmured as his cold hands gripped Ichigo’s throat, making the teen struggle for breath. “I can move some people’s bodies around, but I can’t touch them.” He tightened his grip and Ichigo’s vision began to blacken. Finally the ghost released him and he gasped for breath, coughing loudly. “Listen close, cuz I’ll only say this once. My name is Shirosaki Taikei. Remember it.”

And then he was gone, like a wisp of smoke being blown away in the wind.

There was no more easy sleep for Ichigo that night. He wanted to believe that it was just a dream, and that when morning came it would fade. He didn’t know how he managed to fall asleep again, but the sun shining on his face woke him up instantly. He sat up, bleary eyed as his sister Yuzu called him down for breakfast.

“Coming!” He said, but it came out hoarse and dry. He coughed and frowned, feeling along his throat which felt tender. Standing up, he went over to his mirror and looked at his reflection. His brown eyes widened in surprise as he saw the small bruises around his neck that were finger-shaped, like someone tried to choke him.

Fuck…that meant it was all real. He whipped around quickly and assessed the room with narrowed eyes. Shirosaki Taikei wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Ichigo massaged his neck with a hiss and dug around in his dresser drawers to find the cover up he sometimes used when Renji felt the need to mark him. He hurriedly applied it- grimacing at the thought of wearing make up- and made his way downstairs where he had left over cake for breakfast. None of his family seemed to sense anything was wrong so he sighed in relief.

After fulfilling his social quota with his family for the morning, Ichigo headed back upstairs to get onto his laptop and see what he could find on ‘Shirosaki Taikei.’

He opened a search engine and typed in the name, but nothing came up. He sighed in aggravation and tried just the last name ‘Taikei’ but it produced mostly results on a mecha anime series and something about a martial artist. Ichigo growled in aggravation and tried ‘Taikei + murder’ but it brought up the anime series again and something on Buddhism.

Ichigo sighed in exasperation and slumped over his lap top before standing up to stretch. “How the fuck am I supposed to find out what killed you if I can’t find out if you’re even dead!?”

Ichigo’s POV

“Ya killed me!” A voice hissed behind me.

I nearly jumped out of my skin in surprise and whipped round, knocking over the computer chair and sending it clattering to the floor. There was the man from before that I had almost convinced myself hadn’t existed. In the clearer light of the room (not to mention a not-as-hazy mind) I could make him out a lot better. Shirosaki Taikei, as he called himself, didn’t look very solid. He was like an image that was blurry around the edges. But right now I was concentrating more on the menacing golden eyes glaring at me.

He appeared to be only a little older than I was, and was completely white. White hair, white skin…I would have thought he was simply an albino if his eyes weren’t the strange gold on black. His clothes reminded me of something a greaser would wear, worn blue jeans and a heavy motorcycle jacket. But what freaked me out the most wasn’t that he was not fully corporeal or that his unnatural eyes but the absolutely murderous gaze he had fixed upon me.

My first thought was that he was the burglar that was breaking and entering houses along this street, but dismissed that. Although I could pretend at night that I was seeing things, there was no mistaking the way I could see through him at some parts. I swallowed thickly and took a step back from him.

“You-you’re not here!”

The guy blinked in surprise and then a smirk slowly spread across his face, making me take another step back. “Ya think I’m not real?” His voice sounded like he was talking underneath water. “I used to be real; I used to be alive before ya murdered me!”

What was with this guy? “I think I would know if I killed someone.” I hissed in aggravation, hoping that I sounded not nearly as freaked out as I felt. The –ghost (?) - took a step forward, his face twisted in anger. I backed up until the back of my legs hits the bed.

“I think I would know who killed me.” He shot back and continued to advance forward. A terrible cold washed over me as he got closer. I lifted my hands to push at his chest to try and keep him away, but it didn’t feel like flesh I was touching, it was like pressing cold piece of meat. I was sure if I pressed any harder my hand would go right through him. But there were no such things as ghosts!!!

“What are you?” I whispered, but I was fearful that if he said it out loud, it would somehow make it more real/

“I’m a ghost.” Shirosaki Taikei smirked and gripped my wrists. He was so cold…it felt like there was ice circling my wrists instead of hands.

“I didn’t kill you.”

Shirosaki looked even angrier at that statement, which was much more impressive when I was closer to him. “Yes. You. Did.”

“I don’t even know who you are!” I tried to jerk my hands out of his grasp, but they didn’t even budge. Fuck! Was he this strong when he was alive or was it a ghost thing?

“I already told ya who I am.”

With that he shoved me back onto my bed. Fear thudded in my chest and I wondered what the hell the crazy albino was doing. A second later the wind was knocked out of me as Shirosaki landed on my stomach. One of his knees pressed down on my chest while the other pinned my hand, grinding the bones together painfully. He loomed over me, looking like a powerful ivory idol with single-minded wrath. Unfortunately that rage was directed at me, and I had no way to escape it.

LINE

Expect the chapters to be around this length or a little longer for future reference. None of the chapters are going to be five thousand words long like some authors can pull off, but I do promise to update at least once a week and I will not abandon this story.

Please review!