2

Japanese Lessons

Shizuko looked at the small room that was now hers, it had been a storage room before she came. A small smile appeared on her face as she put her bag, which had been found courtesy of Ichigo at the park where she had been attacked by that monster, on the floor next to her bed. She liked it, sure it smelt a bit dusty, but it had a view of the small backyard and that was nice.

"We weren't able to find any information about you," Isshin Kurosaki informed her and she turned to look at him, "How did you get here?'

She gave him a look before pointing up at the sky. She came by plane, she remembered that much. He gathered that's what she meant and rubbed his chin in thought. She wouldn't tell him where she was from, but she was willing to inform him that she came by plane. His new kid was a weird one, he was certain of that.

She pushed against the mattress of her bed before sitting on it with a small smile. She was certainly a happy kid, well almost happy. It was most likely easier for her to exaggerate her expressions to communicate than for her to try and do charades. Well, he knew the best thing for that.

Now, to get his eldest on board. He needed someone who wouldn't leave her behind on her own, not that he had that little faith in her but her current state of health said otherwise. Who came to a country without even having a basic understanding of the language? That was just asking to get lost.

He gave her a grin before heading out of her room. She blinked as she heard his quick footsteps go down the stairs. She wondered just how weird the man who offered to house her was. She sighed quietly and turned towards her bag and picked it up, she had a book in there and she wanted something familiar to her.

A metallic clang rang out and she looked down towards the ground. A metal bookmark had fallen out of her bag, the small dragon charm on it was standing on it's small feet, and glinted in the afternoon light. She reached towards it and gently picked it up, she couldn't help but smile at it. It was one of the last gifts she had ever received from her grandfather, he had made it by hand, charm and all. It could double as a hairpin, if she tried hard enough.

She heard a shout from downstairs and froze. She couldn't help but find it far too familiar for her liking. She looked around for a placed to hide and saw a closet. She quietly walked to it and slid the door open before sitting down on the floor inside of it and closing the door. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees, closing her eyes. She hated listening to yelling but listening to the words helped her know just what she needed to prepare for.

She couldn't do that with a language she didn't understand.

She clutched her bookmark in her hand and stared down at it with slightly furrowed brows. Her Grandfather would be upset at her for hiding, it was obvious that the yelling wasn't about her. It was a trigger response, one that she would have to work on if she wanted to go back to school like everything was normal. She clenched her teeth and opened the closet door again, she crawled out of it and headed towards the bed. She grabbed her bag and quickly found her book.

Dune, that had been the book she was carrying around with her. She couldn't remember where she had left off reading, she was a bit annoyed at that fact. She opened the book and began reading from the first page. She dozed off when she came to the second chapter.

"Oi, wake up," She jolted awake and looked around in confusion before staring up at a slightly irate Ichigo.

She gave him a wave and his irritation seemed to deflate a bit and an amused glint entered his eyes. It was hard to remain annoyed at such a wide-eyed surprised wave. She looked confused as to what was going on, a book was in her lap with a single thumb keeping her page. She put her bookmark in to save her place and set the book on her bed. He stared at the cover; it was written in English that much he could tell. He guessed he'd have to get used to her reading in her native language.

"Dad's asked me to tutor you in Japanese," He informed her as he bopped the top of her head with a notebook, "He's trying to find a sign language teacher."

His English was improving, if it was from the slight refresher he had the night before one would never know. He watched as she slowly got up from the ground, a wince on her face, and then gave him a determined look. He was almost reminded by a girl in his class, both had light hair. He looked down at her smiling face and sighed, handing her the notebook. He had a feeling it was going to be a rough few hours.

"How is it, that you can memorize Hiragana yet struggle with the actual words?" He deadpanned in disbelief.

She had a small frown on her face before writing something down. Well, he couldn't be that bad of a teacher if she was able to ask him for a dictionary by just writing the word down. He got up and left the room, scratching his head slightly. Shizuko sat at the desk before slightly hitting her head against the light wood, she couldn't wrap her head around some of the words there were no equals in English for some of them. She quickly sat up straight when the door opened and Ichigo walked back in.

Well, she had ink on her forehead and was giving him the blankest look, he'd seen on someone in a while. He fought down the urge to laugh at how ridiculous she looked. Her hiragana was cute, almost childish, in the way that it was written. He knew that if Yuzu saw her writing she would call the older girl adorable. He handed her the dictionary and went back to trying to teach her how to read his native language.

Karin opened the door to Shizuko's room and peeked in, she was supposed to be informing her and Ichigo that it was dinner time but even she had her moments where she was curious. She watched as her brother was uncharacteristically patient with the newly mute girl as they went over what she had just learned. She had learned a few key phrases, enough that Karin could just inform them that dinner was ready in Japanese and not have to struggle through her small understanding of English.

"Dinner is ready," Karin informed them in a lazy drawl.

"Ah, thanks, Karin," Ichigo said as the two teens turned towards her.

Shizuko had a smile on her face and looked a bit relieved to have a break from learning. Karin fought down a smirk at the ink on her forehead, Ichigo had decided not to inform her that it was there. He wondered if she'd even notice before leaving her room. The two Kurosaki's got their answer when she brought a hand up to her forehead and pushed her hair out of her face, her fingers smudging against the ink on her skin. They didn't know someone could turn red as fast as she did, it started at her neck and slowly crawled up her cheeks. She hid her face behind her hands in embarrassment.

It was cute, and Ichigo would deny that fact until the day he died.

Karin grinned before leaving the two. A few minutes later Ichigo and Shizuko came down. Ichigo has his trademark scowl on his face while Shizuko seemed a bit…unsure of how to act. The customs were different, sure she could eat with chopsticks, but table manners were different. She hoped that she wouldn't insult the nice family that was allowing her to live with them.

She didn't have to worry about that, Yuzu and Isshin made sure that she knew exactly what to do. She liked the manners here a bit more than her home country, one too many times she had seen someone double dip at an event and lost her appetite. She stayed quiet, not that she didn't have much of a choice, and watched the family interact with one another.

Isshin liked to agitate Ichigo, the glint in his eyes when his son snapped at him showed that he was proud of him. She didn't get why he would bother his son that much, especially knowing that it made him angry. She gathered that he just wanted to show that he loved his son, but she had to wonder if there were better ways to do so. Karin seemed to agree with her on that.

"Making him mad isn't the best idea, dad," Karin sighed before she picked up a piece of chicken and bit into it.

Ichigo huffed and his scowl increased. He caught the eye of Shizuko and she gave him a slightly sympathetic look, there wasn't much she could do to help him. He watched as she slowly wilted under his scowl before letting up on it. He was more observant than most people gave him credit for, he could tell she didn't like it when people were angry. The tension that had started to build in her shoulders was gone after he went back to his regular amount of scowling.

"Our children are so cold, my dear Masaki!" Isshin said as he turned towards a large poster of a beautiful woman with light brown hair.

Shizuko didn't really know how to respond to that. How does someone respond to that? She put her chopsticks down and gave Yuzu a smile of thanks. The little girl beamed from the unsaid praise and went back to her dinner. Shizuko didn't know if she should put her dishes in the sink or leave them on the table. She looked towards Isshin as he continued to cry at the poster.

"You might want to head upstairs, Shizuko," Karin said getting her attention, "He'll be like that for a few hours."

She motioned towards the dishes and made a confused face. Ichigo was able to catch on and his eyebrows rose in surprise. She didn't seem like the kind to help keep things clean, then again he didn't have much of a read on her personality besides easily flustered and shy. He kicked her shin to get her attention and ignored the slight glare she sent his way.

"Don't worry about it," He informed her, "Yuzu is particular with how things go."

"Hey," Yuzu exclaimed before pouting at him.

Shizuko gave a slight nod before getting up from the table. She gave a wave to the others and Karin gave a lazy one back as Yuzu smiled. The strawberry-blonde hurried back to her room and sighed as she entered it. She leaned against the door and stared at the ground in thought.

She was surprised that Ichigo took his tutoring seriously, then again it could be review for him. She knew that review was good for the mind, it didn't matter what country one was from. She smiled softly; she liked the orange haired teen.

Her head jolted up as she felt a pressure on her. Sweat began to roll down her face as she tensed up. She didn't know what could make her feel the way she was. It was like the day she had been attacked. Her stomach began to churn at that thought.

She blinked when the feeling disappeared.

She took a deep breath and sighed in slight relief. Her hands were shaking slightly, and she clasped them in front of her to stop it. She didn't know what that feeling had been, but she had a dawning suspicion that it wouldn't be the last time that she'd feel it. The town she found herself in was turning out to be interesting to say the least.

She pushed her hair back, turned off the lights, and headed towards the bed. She collapsed onto it and buried her face into the pillow. She winced slightly when she tilted her head and her throat pushed into her shoulder. The bruises were still fresh and more than a little sore.

She closed her eyes and tried to get some sleep.