An Heir's Troubles [Mia]

He was going to get into a lot of trouble when he got back. This was what...the third time this week he'd went and snuck out? Aside from being spared a few bruises though what did it matter? If he stayed home, yeah...he may save himself from that, but he'd be isolated...walled in...

He didn't like that, he hated it.

So he'd gladly suffer the consequences if he could just stay out for a bit.

Right now, the young noble, dressed in the cheapest looking yukata he had, made his way through the Rukon; he had no destination in mind, he was just...out for a walk. He'd stopped by a restaurant and gotten some soup earlier, which had helped his rather empty stomach, so now that that had been handled he was enjoying some free time.

Or well, he'd hoped to enjoy some free time...

Just when he'd almost made it to the outskirts of the district, close to a river, he'd been stopped and was now standing back against the wall of a building surrounded by three...poor looking ruffians as they made him the subject of interest.

"Oi, those aren't clothes you'd just find anywhere? What are ya' rich or something kid?"

The other two bit their tongues and waited on an answer, though...it didn't come.

Masaru simply blinked, his expression rather monotone and blank...emotionless.

This...He should probably leave...or else this would get him in worse trouble...

What... how...where?

Mia had been out with her father, they were going to go out and have lunch together at a nice little place in the closer districts of Rukon. On their way out to spend some much needed relaxing and father/daughter bonding time, something...something had happened.

Her head was fogged, she was confused and she woke up...floating in the air. Rukon, it was definitely Rukon. Not the Seireitei they had been in... Why was she floating!?

Mia flipped around, her kimono shifting and moving in a disarray as she fumbled and let out soft little squeaks. Down! She wanted down! At that thought her body started falling, though slowly and with a bit of effort the woman realized she could control this a bit as long as she didn't panic too much.

Letting out a breath as her foot touched down first, the rest of her hovered slightly just above the ground. She had landed on a busy street, though no one seemed to notice her. In fact... a child ran through her as he moved to the side to escape an annoyed adult.

What? What?! Her cloak wasn't here, so she had been a bit freaked out but... no one... could see her... people ran through her...

Her love of stories and books helped her adjust just slightly, in that she had an idea of what she was... a ghost! She was a ghost!

Wait how was that even possible? Walking while she thought over this, she wondered where Papa was, how this had happened and what she could do about it. Without thinking she was following a pulling sense in her head, also instinctively avoiding running into anyone even if it didn't seem to matter...

Hearing voices near her, she realized she had moved away from the main stretch of road and had wandered off into the side. There were three men surrounding someone and speaking to them in a tone she recognized. Bullies... Eyes narrowed, she moved closer as she called out without thinking as she immediately forgot her weird ghost state. "Hey...what are you three doing?"

Her normal nervousness disappeared at the thought of bullies...

Thanks to the three in front of him, he couldn't see properly, but...

Usually people just ignored scuffles, it seemed this one though was drawing attention; that was bad, it would cause more trouble. Trouble...

"Oi!?" The "leader" of the three spoke up again after having waited on a response, moving to grab the front of Masaru's yukata.

Masaru glanced down at the man's hand, his eyes narrowing a bit. He needed to leave...

That in mind, his hand moved up, grasping the man's wrist, holding him in place before the noble promptly shot up, smashing his head into the man's. They were about the same height, so it wasn't like he had to lean up or anything...

It'd hurt some, but when he'd let go the man had out of instinct, and the other two backed away in shock; taking that opening, before any of them became angered by the sudden attack, Masaru darted off, running to put distance between them.

The scuffle hadn't lasted long, so hopefully any attention that'd been drawn to it had dispersed.

His head felt like his was bleeding some, he could still head to the river then to clean it up and maybe attempt to heal it.

Mia had barely time to respond, as she reached to grab one of the men's scruffy yukata's, her hand passed right through. Remembering the weird state she was in, she gasped and stumbled back even so in shock. As she did so, she heard the crack of two skulls connecting and then the other men were stumbling back as well.

Someone darted out between them, rushing off in a hurry away from the three who Mia now ignored. She felt a pull now, wanting and having to follow that dark haired person... who from the back seemed...familiar... But she couldn't place anything since she hadn't seen his face...

She flew along behind them, catching up easily in her incorporeal form but not overtaking them as she called out beseechingly. "W-Wait! Wait for me!"

It was futile, he couldn't hear her, but she knew she had to stay by this person... Even if she didn't know how she knew that.

Once far enough away, Masaru slowed, having heard someone telling him to wait, though he didn't stop moving.

Judging by the voice, it was the one that'd noticed the scuffle; he guessed knowing that he ought to wait up some, he'd reassure her he was fine if that's what she was concerned about. It'd hardly hurt...

Floating past the young man, Mia flipped in the air while waving her hands in a pinwheel motion. "Whoa whoaaa!"

He had slowed but she hadn't much as she hovered to a halt and straightened herself after overshooting the young man by quite a bit... Looking up at him, she smiled reassuringly. "Are you all ri- Eeh?! M-M-Masa!?"

No...it couldn't be... her smile faltered as her hand came up, falling onto her butt backwards while still floating. Her startled response was odd, it couldn't be Masa, this man was too young by far but the resemblance was uncanny...

As the woman...flipped in the air to stand in front of him Masaru came to a halt just a short distance from her, blinking.

She...knew his name? He'd never met or seen her before, but...she also didn't look like she was in the academy or anything...

Obviously, he was confused; "A...Ah, yes...I'm alright, but..."

What...?

"...O-Oh...sorry. Y-You look...like someone... I know..." Mia gave the young man a sheepish laugh, glad he was okay but entirely flustered by her mess up. This you man...may...almost be Masaru's twin but he was way too young! A teen!

She assumed that was what the but was for and tried to stand straight on the ground, only to end up spinning herself sideways as her hair fell around her and she gave small embarrassed squeaks. "I-I'm...glad...W-Wait you can...see me?!"

Okay so that was important, no one else could at least... so why could this young man!? She brushed aside black hair falling in her face and just fought against her confused panic. What in the world was going on here?!

He looked like someone she knew? He supposed that was possible, many people had black hair; it was a common trait.

She seemed surprised by the fact he could see her which seemed...odd, then again...

She...she was floating!?

"Yes...I can." He answered, blinking once now that he was more aware of things...

Mia finally righted herself, her feet landing on the ground with a bit of effort as she got her hovering under control. He was as confused as she was by all of this, but she couldn't help him too much in figuring this all out.

"Th-Thats good... someone can see..." Mia breathed one relieved sigh, afraid she had become a real ghost after all those years of being a fake one. She stepped, walking carefully as if afraid she'd hover away. She was terrified of that. What had happened...

A bit of blood seeped from under his hair, causing Mia's eyes to widen. He may not be Masaru but he had the same looks and her instinctive reactions kicked in. "H-Hey! You lied, that wound... th-that needs treatment... L-Let me see, I can use some healing kido... Wh-What's your name? I-I'm Mia..."

"Eh?"

Ah, right, he was bleeding; "It's alright, I hardly feel anything from it, I've been told I have a thick skull, ahaha..."

He gave a sheepish laugh at that, but let her see it regardless, so she could heal meaning...she was a shinigami; odd, he'd never seen a shinigami that could float like a ghost before, though...apparently no one could see her besides him so far either...

This was still a giant bundle of confusing...

"My name?" She'd...said it earlier though? "I thought you knew, you'd said...well, some of it earlier. I'm Masaru. It's nice to meet you, Mia."

Friends and friendly conversations were extremely rare...it was...nice to have one.

He was reminding...her of Masa quite a bit. Mia had to heal him, she felt too strongly attached to this man who looked like a younger version of her love. Reaching out a hand, she had to work to summon the energy for the spell as her fingertips glowed softly. "P-Please... I-I don't...like seeing... people hurt..."

Her eyes watered softly, she really really had to heal him... It would make her cry not to and she started lightly hovering now that she was focused on the injury and not touching ground.

Reaching out hesitantly, she froze solid and choked as he said his name. M-Masaru... His name...was also...Masaru... This was...an amazing coincidence. She had no idea why she was like this, but... this was really odd and weird... Maybe if she stuck around Not!Masa for a bit she would find out?

"Hehehe...y-you...have the same name as him too... Hehehe how...odd... N-Nice to meet you Masaru..."

"It's fine, go ahead..."

She was so worried about him despite having just met him? Well, he guessed since it was bleeding it was a cause for concern, still...her concern was strong.

He blinked at the reaction to his name; the...the person she knew had the same name as him, yet he also resembled that person? Wow, that seemed like a really amazing coincidence.

"Ahh, really? Maybe I have a doppleganger...though there's a saying that if you meet your doppleganger you'll die three days later, I'd hate for that to happen." He gave a smile, attempting to reassure her considering how worried she still seemed.

Her eyes were watering too...

Mia's hand at that acceptance moved forward quickly, as if afraid he would say no and change his mind. She brushed aside black hair and gently settled her fingers above the wound before healing it up with a small relieved sigh. Pulling a handkerchief out with her other hand, she wiped up the blood before he could protest and then looked away.

She felt...better and sighed in relief before speaking. "Th-Thank you..."

Looking startled at that saying, she brought a hand up to her mouth and shook her head. "N-No! No that'd be bad! Y-You both can't die! Y-You should stay away from each other! I-I'll k-keep Masa out of Rukon. H-He'll be safe...and y-you too..."

That would be bad, Masa and Not!Masa dying would be really bad! She wrung her hands together, worried now that in her weird ghost state she couldn't see or stop the man from running into his doppleganger and dying...

It seemed...his words hadn't helped at all!

"Aaa! I'm sorry, I thought that'd...aha...I'm not...good at socializing, my fault." Quickly, he attempted to apologize; this was bad! He didn't know how to talk to people at all!

Politely clearing his throat, he averted his eyes for a short moment before they returned to Mia; "Welcome, and...thank you with the injury."

Really, if he hadn't treated it before he got home he...well he almost didn't want to imagine how much trouble he'd be in.

"N-No! Its...its...okay... I-I am not...e-either..." Mia looked down, feeling miserable now that she had made Not!Masa sad. She wanted to cry, she was so bad at this... she had hurt his feelings with her worry...

She missed his glances, nodding softly at the thanks without looking up once. Her face was a mess of blushing and a small smile... He sounded a lot like Masa too, so she felt at ease... "I-I am glad...to help..."

Realizing she was hovering again, she let out an eep and tried to get herself back down to the ground. She murmured softly, shaking her head as her feet settled against the ground again. "Wh-What is happening...why...why am I like this..."

So she wasn't good either, still...he'd the one that'd made jokes about death so...he felt he was more in the wrong here. She'd been acting fine; currently, she was confused and worried which...considering the floating she had every right to be.

"Hm...I'm not sure, I've never seen anything like that before..." Masaru replied, tilting his head slightly as Mia attempted to lower herself on the ground again.

"Mm..." Well if neither one of them knew the source... How could this help anything?! Sighing a bit dejectedly, without thinking she sat back in the air and held her face to her hands. She was back to hovering...

"I-I was about to go...eat with Papa...and now...this...Where am I? Wh-Which district is this?" She was asking questions of Not!Masa but she wasn't sure what she would do with the answers... "A-Are we close to the Seireitei? M-Maybe Masa and Papa...can see me too?"

She sounded hopeful, very hopeful... Wait...wait she had touched Not!Masa... Her head jolted from her hands as they reached out. She poked his yukata shyly, before looking up in wonder. "I-I can touch you...I couldn't touch those...bullies earlier..."

So she'd been about to go eat with her father before this had happened...that was upsetting, and worrying. What had happened to cause her being here?

"Maybe..." He couldn't really give much of a reassurance... "Um, I went a bit far out from the Seireitei so...we're a bit of a walk from there."

He'd wanted to get far enough out to not attract attention of shinigami patrols, they'd send him home immediately if they caught him out here...

It was more freedom for a bit, but a higher risk; the farther out he went the more attention his not-quite-cheap clothing would grab, which could cause repeats of thug encounters. He was strong but he could only handle so much...

His eyes moved down as Mia touched his yukata before looking up to him in wonder.

She could...only touch him?

"That...that is odd..."

The Seireitei was a ways away, which made Mia sigh softly. She couldn't ask him to take her there, and she felt the strongest pull to stay by his side as her hand dropped from his clothes.

Something hit her though... Floating... only able to be seen by one person... Can go through solid things... Oh oh no. Horror filled her eyes as she spoke.

"...D-Did...I...die...and somehow...become an odd...haunting ghost? Am I-I stuck...haunting you...and n-never seeing them again?" Her voice was filled with utter despair as she fell over on the air. Tears streamed from her eyes, worry overwhelming her as she thought about this. She was dead, out in Rukon, stuck haunting Masaru's baby doppleganger...

This...this was miserable... She had such a nice life ahead of her... How had she even died?! She couldn't remember! What had happened... Was Papa caught in it too? No! Not Papa....Papa deserved happiness!

At Mia's worries Masaru seemed surprise, though...

"That...I'm sure there's a solution for this, and I'm sure you'll see them again! There has to be a way to...to fix whatever's going on! D-Don't cry..."

He didn't know what to do! She was crying, and had legit concerns about this that he wasn't able to answer! This...What was going on....?

"H-How can the Soul Society have true 'ghosts' anyway? That...This is what people call the afterlife right? So if you were really a 'ghost' then you'd be in the Human World haunting things..." He tried to reassure, maybe if he could give her some hope on this...

"B-But how? I... I don't know...where...or anything... or...what is going on..." Mia did not stop crying even though Not!Masa had wanted her to. She couldn't stop, rubbing her eyes and sniffling as she did try at least. Not!Masa was worried and she felt bad for making him so, but it was...it was hard not to.

Even his words, meant to reassure didn't do much. She started sobbing more, realizing she was stuck like this... "Just because it was the afterlife didn't mean there might not be ghost ghosts... They did have kids here! So what if there were some beings who were so filled with regret they were left in it... I-I act like a ghost... R-React like a ghost... I-I...d-don't know what else there is..."

Curling up in a despairing ball in air, much like a scared kitty, Mia wrapped her arms around herself as her hair covered her body as if it was an inky black cloak.

"B-But if you were a ghost how would you be able to feel my clothes or heal my wounds? Maybe...some ghosts can interact with things but to that extent? Um..."

She was crying rather strongly, sobbing even; she...she couldn't be dead though! That was too cruel for someone like her! She was nice!

"A-And aren't ghosts that stick around usually mean spirited? You're really nice so..."

"I-If I am haunting you... M-Maybe thats...why?" Mia's voice was tiny from inside her self made cocoon in the air, her sobs slowing but not stopping. Talking helped a bit it seemed but she was just still so distraught and couldn't hide it even if she wanted to reassure this young man.

"M-Maybe I'll...c-corrupt with time...like...like pluses..." He had called her nice and she blushed brightly in her cocoon before... She sat up suddenly. Shouldn't she have a chain of fate or something if she was dead like that?

Hair floated around her as she yanked her kimono open and stared at her chest. No hole! No chain of fate! Maybe...Maybe she wasn't dead. "N-No chain of fate.... n-no hole...m-maybe you...are right..."

"B-But..." Masaru wanted to say more, but... couldn't think of what to say; what more could he say to attempt to reassure her? She was obviously more than a little upset about this and...

!!

A yelp escaped him as Mia yanked open her kimono, and immediately he turned. That...He knew she was worried, but-!! His face had begun burning immediately. He'd seen nothing! Absolutely nothing!

Ch-Chain of fate...That's right, if...if she were dead without having been...been purified then she'd have one! "Y-Y-Y...Y-Yeah..."