7 years after his mother's death, Kurosaki Ichigo is back in Karakura Town that his family fled after his mother's death. But as it was then, the dead are walking in Karakura again - Ichigo meets one of them, a girl named Rukia, with a fondness for switchblades and snow. She helps him chase a deadly poltergeist out of his house, but then refuses to leave herself, and Ichigo can't bring himself to abandon his ghostly saviour.
But Rukia hides a deep secret in herself - the reason why the dead are walking. And Karakura hides a few secrets of its own - like Ichigo's dead mother.
The most startling thing about Rukia's appearance was not her pale white skin, or her equally white muslin dress, but the red ribbon she wore around her neck. Compared to her muted colours, it was garish and bright, like a gash. Ichigo had considered questioning her about it, but the thought of her quick sharp temper and her quick sharp blade quickly put a sharp end to the idea of voicing those thoughts.
Instead Ichigo asked Rukia about how the town had changed. Sometimes she spoke about things that were before Ichigo's time, but otherwise she knew the same places and people that he did. The old schoolhouse where Ichigo had studied now admitted both boys and girls. Rukia sometimes procued the frocks from the school store, and took to prancing around in them. She also had a strange fondness for the Inoue girl, who was not aware that she was dead and talked to her like an old friend. The Inoue girl still talked to her dead brother too, Rukia confided in Ichigo, but Inoue Sora remained peacefully resting beneath the earth, quite unaffected by whatever had disturbed Rukia from her own repose. Ichigo hoped for Inoue’s sake that that would remain the case, even though Rukia seemed adamant that Inoue would take it as well, if not better, than Ichigo had. Ichigo, in a rare show of wisdom, chose not to state his belief that the dead should remain as they were, and not talking to innocent girls who did not know better. (255 words)
Bleach - Gothic Horror
But Rukia hides a deep secret in herself - the reason why the dead are walking. And Karakura hides a few secrets of its own - like Ichigo's dead mother.
The most startling thing about Rukia's appearance was not her pale white skin, or her equally white muslin dress, but the red ribbon she wore around her neck. Compared to her muted colours, it was garish and bright, like a gash. Ichigo had considered questioning her about it, but the thought of her quick sharp temper and her quick sharp blade quickly put a sharp end to the idea of voicing those thoughts.
Instead Ichigo asked Rukia about how the town had changed. Sometimes she spoke about things that were before Ichigo's time, but otherwise she knew the same places and people that he did. The old schoolhouse where Ichigo had studied now admitted both boys and girls. Rukia sometimes procued the frocks from the school store, and took to prancing around in them. She also had a strange fondness for the Inoue girl, who was not aware that she was dead and talked to her like an old friend. The Inoue girl still talked to her dead brother too, Rukia confided in Ichigo, but Inoue Sora remained peacefully resting beneath the earth, quite unaffected by whatever had disturbed Rukia from her own repose. Ichigo hoped for Inoue’s sake that that would remain the case, even though Rukia seemed adamant that Inoue would take it as well, if not better, than Ichigo had. Ichigo, in a rare show of wisdom, chose not to state his belief that the dead should remain as they were, and not talking to innocent girls who did not know better. (255 words)