Hello again to all^^ Yes I'm doing a new story. However in this one I'm gonna stray away from my usual humour and be much more serious. I hope you enjoy regardless. I seem to always be drawn to writing heavy stuff, most of my non-ff stuff are serious and not complete farces. So I'm going down a different road than with Twisted Reality and The Bet which are obviously lighter fics.

I hope I'm not being too unoriginal with this fic, there seem to be a lot of reincarnation fics out there, but I also seemed to be drawn to the idea. I'll try to be as original as possible.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach; this is just a fanfic

A/N: edited June 2013

Cold wind whipped at my face and howled at almost deafening levels. It was impossible to see more than a few centimetres in any direction around me. Snow and violent gusts of wind slammed into my body making my clothes billow out around me. I put a hand in front of may face to shield it from the stinging snow. I suppose it should have been cold too; but I didn't feel it. The gusts of wind which should have chilled me to the bone felt as harmless as a gentle summer breeze. Yet, I did not think this strange. There was something beyond the blizzard; I had a feeling. There was something out there; calling to me, drawing me towards it, but I couldn't see it or hear it. All I could see was white flakes and hear the pained howl of the wind. A sinking feeling grew in my stomach because I couldn't move beyond the blizzard, because I couldn't even see a foot in front of me or hear anything other than the roar of the wind. I felt useless like I should have been on the other side of the storm; it shouldn't have overcome me like this...

The dream always ends with me feeling sick to my stomach and caused me to wake up with a jolt then rush to the bathroom and throw up.

...

"What'cha writing there, Koko-chan?"

I glared up at my older brother and quickly slammed my notebook shut. "Don't call me that." I growled really I hated that nickname and I had no idea where he had gotten it from. He'd been calling me that for as long as I could remember no matter how many times I had told him to stop.

He laughed and his blue-green eyes sparkled mischievously as he ran a hand through his dark brown – almost black – hair, "Sure thing, Koko-chan. Anyway, what were you writing?" he attempted to grab the book from my arms.

I clutched it to my chest and glared harder. "None of your business." I snapped. How could a thirty-something-year-old man be so annoying? "And don't you have somewhere to go? I don't know, like your job maybe."

He shook his head, "Nope, I'm off today. Come on you never let me read your stories."

"Great." I rolled my eyes, a whole day of Teito, things could not go well today. Okay, it wasn't that I didn't like my brother it was just that one of his hobbies was annoying the crap out of me. He was usually fun to be around except when he decided to be annoying, like right now.

"Let me see it, please. I promise I won't laugh or make fun of it."

"I don't care; you're not reading this. This is private."

"You let Mikami see it."

Mikami was my older sister; I was the baby of the family. So much so because Mikami was in her late twenties and I was only twelve. Yeah, my family was all settled down when I came along. Can you say accident?

"No I don't; stop lying."

Teito sighed heavily, "What's it for anyway, school?"

I shook my head, "You of all people should know I start school in two days. But no, it's for Hagino-san."

"Oh writing love poems to your therapist? I didn't take you for that kind of person, Koko-chan."

I thumped him on the head with the notebook, "Idiot, it's not love poetry; she's making me write down my dreams."

"Oh, so your dreams are private? I tell you mine all the time." he leaned his elbows against the table and placed his chin on his palms.

"I would hardly classify your dreams as private. You dreamt that your underwear got stolen by an Italian speaking monkey."

"With a-"

"With a can of spray paint." I folded my arms across my chest still holding onto my book. "My dreams are a bit more complex than that."

"Whatever, I would prefer to dream about monkeys than whatever nightmares you have. At least monkeys are cute."

I rolled my eyes. He just grinned and reached over to ruffle my hair. "The nightmares aren't getting worse are they?"

I shook my head, "I couldn't tell you; I haven't been sleeping well."

"It's probably because you're in a new environment. Don't worry you'll get used to it soon enough."

I shrugged, "I guess..."

"You wanna help me with dinner?" he asked, smoothly changing the subject.

"Sure, I'll just put away my things first." I said as I stood up and headed over to my room.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and placed the notebook under my pillow. My therapist had told me to record my dreams as a way to relieve some of my anxiety. Yes, I was a twelve-year-old with a severe anxiety disorder. Also, lately I had developed a phobia of sleeping; strange? Yes, I know. I, Hyōka Takemitsu, was the definition of strange. I was afraid of heights and I suffered from panic attacks, it wasn't something that normal twelve-year-olds could put on their résumé.

I flopped back on my bed and stared up at the plain, white ceiling of my new bedroom. It was so new that I hadn't even finished unpacking. Actually the only things that were unpacked were the things my sister had taken out from the boxes. I wasn't exactly home sick – I had hated Tokyo with a passion – but I couldn't bring myself to call this strange, small town my home. We had moved from Tokyo to a small town called Karakura two months ago, but it already felt like an eternity. Maybe that was because Teito and Mikami had been planning the move for some time now. Mikami has lost her job at the hospital a while back and I... well let's just say I ran into a bit of trouble at school. I had no idea why she had chosen such a small town as Karakura. It was really out of the blue, we had no relatives here and as far as I knew the Takemitsu family had always resided in Tokyo and the neighbouring towns of Kawaguchi and Ichikawa. However, they both seemed to like the town so far, Teito especially since a cop from the big city was a gem in the small town's police department. I, on the other hand, was not too sure what to make of it; something just seemed... odd.

"You know, it's not going to be that bad."

I shot up and looked around for the source of the voice and spied a girl of about six in a frilly pink tutu sitting on a box in the corner. I studied her suspiciously and noticed that she had a chain attached to the front of her chest. Ah, a ghost or spirit or whatever she was.

"What isn't going to be so bad?" I decided to humour her; usually these types of ghosts were normally harmless and pretty friendly.

"Living here; Karakura is a nice place." she spread her arms wide and spun in a circle as if trying to indicate the whole town.

"Suuure." I rolled my eyes. It had to be a nice place if six year old girls were dying and turning up in my bedroom.

She stood up and twirled around like a ballerina. I raised an eyebrow as I watched her twirl around the small room. "Yeah, it's a great place; I can tell you're going to make tonnes of friends here!"

I sighed; I did not make friends easily; Teito sometimes joked that I did not do the whole 'friendship' thing. The only friend I had was Hyourinmaru, my stuffed dragon. Okay, laugh all you want. I admit that I have a stuffed dragon which I consider my friend. I got him when I was a baby and sue me if I'm reluctant to part with him. He's gone through as much as I have and that's more than I can say for any human being, excluding Teito and Mikami, of course -

"What are you doing?!" I yelled. The ghost had climbed up on to my window sill and was doing a series of clumsy pirouettes. My stomach started to churn uncomfortably.

She only laughed before bowing and doing a back drive out of the window. I paled and felt my heart speed up. I could just imagine her guts spread out on the hard pavement below. It was not a pretty sight; gravity did strange and gruesome things to people. I had every right to be scared of heights. I closed my eyes for a minute and told myself not to think about it. The girl was okay; the fall – no jump – had done nothing to harm her. I would see her twirling around on the pavement if I looked out the window. There was no way I was getting myself to look out that window, though. I felt my mouth go dry and my head spun at the thought. I took a few deep even breaths and leaned over placing my head on my knees. Damn ghost, why did she have to go and do that? And I was supposed to have a decent day too...

There was a knock on my door, "Hyōka?" Teito's voice called from the doorway. He must have heard me shout. "What's going on?"

When I didn't respond I heard him sigh then push the door open. His heavy footsteps stopped at the foot of my bed and then I felt the mattress sink as he sat down next to me.

"What's wrong?" he repeated.

"Ghost j- jumped out the w-window." I managed to gasp.

"Hyōka."

I uncurled from the ball I was in, "We're on the third story, Teito! Don't you Hyōka me."

He flicked me on the forehead, "Calm down. If it was a ghost then it's going to be alright; I've seen them do things that should normally be impossible."

I angrily rubbed the spot and glared at him.

"Now come on; I already chopped up the vegetables and that was supposed to be your job."

I sighed, "It must be a hassle to take care of me." I mumbled, "Don't you or Mikami ever get tired of it?"

He looked at me like I had grown a second and third head and started to breathe fire. "Now where would you get that idea, Koko-chan?

Again with the blasted name. I growled in annoyance.

He laughed and ruffled my hair with a huge hand. "You're my little brother; it kind of goes without saying that you're going to be a hassle."

("\(^.^)/")

Mikami came home later that night looking exhausted. Her waist length dark brown hair was tied tightly in a low ponytail but a few stands had escaped adding to her overall haggard appearance. Mikami and Teito were like polar opposites. Where she was willowy he was muscular. He was playful and she was serious. He lived in the moment and she liked to plan ahead. He was an idealist and she was a realist. He had a sharp sense of humour, she... well, she laughed at his jokes, sometimes. I often wondered how they were able to live together. They both had dark brown hair and blue-green eyes which were characteristics of our family. They were also pale; I was pretty pale myself also. And both of them were somewhat tall; I missed out on that gene though; 4, 0" was not common height for a twelve year old. The only thing that would have linked me to my brother and sister was the fact that we all had the same blue-green eyes. I guess I would have looked more like them if it wasn't for my hair. I think it was a birth complication that had caused it to turn completely white.

Mikami all but dropped onto a chair at the kitchen table. Almost instantly Teito placed a mug of hot green tea in front of her; it was one of her favourites. She smiled at him in thanks.

"So, how was your day?" Teito asked as he sat down next to her and left me to finish washing up all the dishes.

She shook her head, "I'll tell you later."

She tried to send a discreet look my way. I knew this meant that she didn't want to talk about it in front of me; I could tell when she didn't want me to know things. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to the bowl I was scrubbing. She should have known by now that I always found out these kinds of things; I had talent, what could I say?

"So, Hyōka," she fervently tried to change the topic. "What did you do today?"

I raised an eyebrow and glanced at her over my shoulder. I placed the bowl in the draining board before I answered her. "Nothing much." Two could play at that game.

Teito snorted, "Yeah, nothing as in almost having another panic attack because some ghost decided to jump out his window."

I scowled at my older brother and Mikami in turned scowled at me. "How many times do I have to tell you not to keep these things from me, Hyōka? And you, Teito, should have called me. I don't want any more complications with your health."

"Sorry," I grumbled, my voice was laced with sarcasm, "It won't happen again. The next time I see a ghost jump out the freaking window I'll come straight to you."

"Watch you language. And it's not funny, mister." she narrowed her eyes, "And you're still seeing ghosts? I thought we would leave all this behind when we left Tokyo."

"I didn't ask to see them. And don't act like you and Teito can't see them either."

She sighed, "I know but that was one of the reasons why we left Tokyo. So we wouldn't have to deal with all those ghosts and monsters coming after us and now I find out that they're still here!"

They were probably following me, I thought. The ghosts were pretty harmless, but the monsters were a different story. The smallest one I had ever seen was the size of a bus. They were all gruesomely ugly, had a skeletal mask with red eyes, and holes going through the center of their chests. They also liked to attack the ghosts and on rare occasions people.

"Well it's not like we can do anything about them," Teito stated, "and we haven't been hurt."

"Yet." Mikami took a long sip from her cup while Teito got up to set the table.

I sighed. She really did worry too much. Her worrying wore me out most of the time. It was a wonder that her hair hadn't turned grey yet. Teito started to hum trying to diffuse the sudden uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Mikami," he asked as he pulled out three plates from a cupboard, "did you pick up the sleeping pills from the pharmacy? Koko-chan didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

"Yeah, I got them. Did he sleep at all today or take any naps?"

"Nope, but I have a feeling he's going to drop on us any minute now."

I grumbled; I really wished they wouldn't talk about me like I wasn't there. And naps? How old did they think I was? I hadn't had a nap since I was what, three?

Mikami got up a walked over to me. She gently held my chin and forced me to look at her. "You're paler than normal," she noted, "and your bags have gotten even darker."

I jerked my chin from her grasp. Yeah, it was kind of hard to sleep if you were afraid of the idea. Actually it wasn't sleeping that I was afraid of, it was the dreams that accompanied sleep. More often than not it was that dream about the blizzard that left me feeling sick to my stomach as I woke up in a cold sweat. But sometimes I dreamt of people dressed in black kimonos with swords in the midst of battle. There was so much blood; so many people moaning in pain. And then the monsters, I always woke up before I could see much more. After those particular dreams I could never fall back asleep, my heart was racing and there was this phantom pain in my chest like someone had run me through with a sword. But the scary thing was sometimes that I actually coughed up blood because of it.

I didn't think Mikami or Teito would have appreciated me to tell them this, so I kept it to myself. That was probably not one of the smartest things I had done in my life.

...

I shielded my eyes from the blizzard. Winds swept around me howling in my ears and blowing my hair in clothes in every direction. I had been standing in the same spot for some time now, but I was too afraid to move. I had no idea what was out there; if there was even something out there. It must have been my mind playing tricks on me every time I saw figures move in the distance. All the snow was confusing me; I could barely see past my nose much less make out figures and shapes in the distance. But... then why did it feel like someone... something was watching me. I slowly spun in a circle. I don't know what I expected since all I could see what white in all directions. All my senses told me that I was alone in this storm, but there was something else – a feeling – that convinced me otherwise. So, I strained my eyes and hesitantly took a step forward.

overall a generally slow chapter. I decided to try first person narration, a new approach for me, since I'm not a huge fan of the style, but I just think that this makes it more personal.

I was just trying to get over the introductions and set the plot, however Ichigo and company won't be making an apparence for a while yet. I want to put the Takemitsu Family on firm ground before I completely throw them into chaos... if that makes sense. I also don't want to get into things so fast. Hope it still seems interesting though...

I also don't mind reviews... *looks hopeful*

-Mymomomo