My eyes fluttered open. The ache in my leg was still there, but it wasn't as bad as before. My eyes shot open as I noticed I was somewhere I didn't recognise. I immediately sat up, which caused my whole body to ache. I looked to my side seeing Abarai-Kun was asleep.

"You shouldn't get up so suddenly. Your body still needs rest," I looked over to the other side, seeing a light blond entering the room. I looked over at what I was lying on. It was a futon with a yellow floral pattern. I ran my hand over the pattern, "You were out for some time," he squatted beside me.

He had grey eyes, which were pretty peculiar to me. I only knew brown, blue, and green eyes ever since I was born. Purple may be peculiar, but it wasn't as peculiar as grey though. He set a cup down on my side, "How are you feeling?"

"Confused," I blurted out. I shook my head, "Sorry," I placed a hand on my face, "I feel better I guess," I answered, looking over to Renji, who was still sound asleep.

He laughed softly, "That's good. But still, you should rest. I would imagine it would be exhausting getting chased by a giant centipede in the middle of the night," now that he pointed out, that felt like a fever dream. When it was actually real. I looked under the covers, wanting to see how my leg was. I couldn't move it without it hurting. My calf was neatly wrapped with a bandage, which reminded me of the time I broke my leg.

"Do you know what was on my leg?" I asked the blond stranger.

"It was poison designed to paralyse the victim," he sat down, criss-cross. I noticed he was wearing those wooden Japanese sandals which I dreamed of wearing. "And it's also pretty concentrated acid which caused the burn on your leg," he explained. I nodded, slowly trying to recall all the memories of last night.

"You call that I burn?" A raspy voice sounded from beside me. I watched Renji slowly sat up, "You had me worried, kid," he patted my back, causing me to flinch.

"Oh, it looks like freeloader woke up," the blond held up a fan, covering his grin.

He waved his hand to dismiss the statement. He looked over at me, "How's the leg?"

"It doesn't hurt as much like yesterday," I answered.

"I guess that's natural, since Hanataro handled it."

"Who?"

"A kid from Squad 4."

I paused for a moment before remembering what a Squad 4 was, "Oh."

We heard a snap of a fan. Both of us turned to the blond, "Oh, Abarai-San, remember the room you stayed in?" the blond asked.

Renji leaned forward to look at him, "Yeah, what about it?"

"You didn't clean up before you left," the blond replied.

Renji sighed, getting up. He grumbled some words as he left the room. He slammed the door shut, leaving me with the blond stranger. I turned to him, "He lived here?" I asked him while bringing my knees together. The blond nodded.

And that was it. End of conversation. We sat in silence. I placed my chin on my knees. I didn't even ask for his name, which was considered rude in my culture. And I was starting to feel guilty over it. "Um..." my gaze went to him, "Could I know your name, please?"

"Urahara Kisuke," he said, presenting his hand, "Nice to meet you."

"Neddy," I gave his hand a shake. His hand was slightly rough. And his grip was firm. Silence again. I looked away from him, furrowing my eyebrows. What am I supposed to talk about? I looked around the room. It had a traditional Japanese interior design. The colours were all light and yellow. The doors were all sliding doors.

"Y'know, Renji was pretty worried about you," Kisuke said, I looked over to him, "He refused to go home until he was sure you were alright," he was looking out the window. The green-striped bucket hat cast a shadow over his eyes, giving him a mysterious look, "Even after you were treated, he insisted on staying up late watching over you."

I kept my mouth shut, unsure of what to say. What was I supposed to say? I assumed I should thank Abarai-Kun. Honestly, I was flabbergasted by his actions. I hugged my knees, "I'm sure he does this to a lot of people," I muttered.

"Oh, he does, but not to the point of staying by their side all night," I watch him pick up the cup he settled down earlier. I narrowed my eyes, I thought that was for me.

"Maybe because of the injury looking pretty horrible last night..." I looked at my foot, remembering the splash pattern on it and the sickly colour of it.

"It did discolour your flesh," he muttered, causing me to shudder.

I looked at the bandage on my calf, "Is it okay for me to look at it?"

"W-Well, I prefer not to, but it's your choice..."

When did my curiosity do me good? It never did. But it got the best of me. I slowly unwrapped the bandages. I looked over at Kisuke, who was covering his face with his white fan. I turned my foot so I could see my calf. And there it was. The edges of the wound had scabs. My hands itched to peel them off.

But the wound had a sickly colour, as if the muscles were rotting away. "That's going to leave a scar," Kisuke muttered, his eyes on my wound, though he was still hiding behind the fan. I nodded. That was going to be a problem. My mother would definitely panic about it. The good thing was, it wasn't so noticeable.

By noticeable, I meant I always wear long pants or long skirts.

Staring at it wasn't making me feel better. It made me feel sick. I quickly wrapped the wound, "I don't wanna look at it anymore," I muttered as I wrapped the bandages around the wound.

"Me neither," Kisuke said, fanning himself.