Summary: You both stood there in silence for a good thirty seconds, Ichigo staring you down while you simply stared up, your eyes unblinking and omniscient. You had a Starbucks cup in your hands, the liquid inside icy blood, and Ichigo wanted to smack it out of your hands.
When Ichigo Kurosaki stopped outside the address Orihime had scribbled down for him, his first thought was Wow, they sure take this seriously.
It was a little house on the very outskirts of Karakura, neon brightly lit signs in the windows screaming Psychic over and over and over. He wasn’t sure what exactly he was doing here, but before he could think it over too much he was stepping up onto the tiny porch. There was a white swing swaying in the wind, just the slightest bit creaky, and he was reaching up to knock when he saw a sign on the door yelling at him Appointments Only!
He huffed and puffed. Why hadn’t Orihime told him? Matter of fact, why had Orihime even told him about this place? They’d been talking about what they were going to do after school, and she’d brought up you. She’d been coming to you to get her cards read the past two months, and she was completely smitten. He was so angry at the idea that Orihime was letting herself fall for a sham like that, while she was ripping a page out of his notebook to doodle your address down.
“They’re the real deal, I promise!!” she had boisted, complete with hopping up and down and clapping her hands together, and Ichigo had scoffed while still snatching the paper back from her.
The real deal! Ichigo was scowling at your front door, pink and green lights casting his skin a rainbow, staring down at the wooden plaque nailed to your door. He was about to turn away, angry at himself for even showing up and feeding into this, when the door swung open and there you stood.
You stared up at him; from your ears ouija planchettes swayed, and he was hit again with both Wow, you take this seriously and Are you kidding me!
You both stood there in silence for a good thirty seconds, Ichigo staring you down while you simply stared up, your eyes unblinking and omniscient. You had a Starbucks cup in your hands, the liquid inside icy blood, and Ichigo wanted to smack it out of your hands.
Suddenly you smiled, cocking your head, planchettes smacking your neck. “I’ve been waiting for you,” you said, and Ichigo wanted to scream.
“No, you haven’t,” he immediately shot back, though you seemed unaffected by the bravado in his voice, stepping aside and making a grand gesture into the house with the hand that didn’t hold your tea. It was complete with a little mock bow, your lips puckered up to him.
“Ichigo Kurosaki, right?”
So you knew his name! He didn’t care. You looked so sure of yourself, like you thought this would impress him, and he only narrowed his eyes at you. Orihime told you, he bargained. You’d been to the clinic before, he bartered. You’d seen him on the streets, he haggled.
“Your crystal ball tell you that?” he spat, but he still found himself stepping into the little house’s foyer.
“Did you want it to?” you responded, blinking up to him. The door shut behind him, and he was suddenly locked inside with both of you standing on the welcome mat.
“Take your shoes off,” you told him.
He took his shoes off.
“Do you want your cards read? Or would you prefer to look into my crystal ball?” You were looking up to him, your lips quirked just the slightest bit upwards, and Ichigo’s right eye twitched at the idea that you were laughing at him.
“How much does this crap cost? I’m not spending money on a fake,” he told you, and you hummed in thought around your straw.
“How about sushi after?” you suggested, and again his eye twinged.
You really thought he was going to fall for this crap! You had another thing coming.
“Conveyor belt only,” he still heard himself say. You stuck your tongue out, a raspberry puffing out your cheeks.
“Well, I guess that’s fine. I have mace if you try anything,” you responded. You stepped down the hallway into the living room, Ichigo following after you.
“Your crystal ball didn’t tell you if I was dangerous or not?” he asked, and you didn’t even look back to him, sitting down on the worn leather loveseat.
“My crystal ball told me a lot about you, Ichigo Kurosaki,” you said instead, your voice so full of faux wisdom that Ichigo couldn’t contain his scoff.
“Oh really?” he taunted, sitting down at the wicker sofa across from you. You sat your cup on the mahogany coffee table in-between the two of you, on a kitten coaster. “Like what?”
You looked up to him now, your tarot cards still in a perfect deck on the corner of the table. “What do you think, substitute?”
There was the slightest change to Ichigo’s gaze, though it was enough to satisfy you, pulling your legs up onto the cushions with you. “You didn’t look like you were expecting that!” you cried out, clapping your hands together like Orihime had done when she’d told him about you. “You made so much noise when you became a shinigami, you really don’t think anyone noticed? You have a big sword, too!”
You poked your finger towards him, and he immediately turned away, his cheeks tinged barely pink. “What are you?” he asked, his eyes on a looming monstera in the corner.
“Just a little fake psychic,” you purred. You sat there opposite to him, your legs crossed under you, and he suddenly realized why his body felt so compelled to walk up your slouched stairs despite his mind yelling at him that you were a fake, a fake, a fake.
“I’ve been watching you for awhile,” you confessed, your hands folded in your lamp, prim and pristine. “Since before you became a soul reaper, if I’m being honest. You’ve always been so nice to the spirits.”
Ichigo could feel how hot his face was now.
“Do you think I’m such a fake now, huh, Ichigo?” You didn’t bother with honorifics, smiling your all-knowing smile at him.
“You still shouldn’t be charging people money for all this crap,” he snapped to you.
“And you shouldn’t be telling people how to live their lives when you’re already breaking all the rules.” Your voice wasn’t clipped; it still held the same timbre it had when you’d clapped your hands and laughed at him, though your eyes were fixated on him, looking through him.
He was silent.
“Are you ready to get sushi now?” you asked him, standing from the couch already however.
“Are you kidding me?” he asked, looking up to you. “For what? You didn’t even read my cards or whatever!”
“Oh, I thought that was a bunch of crap!” you harrumphed back. You picked up your deck now, shuffling without looking down to the cards, only at him. “Touch them!” you told him, and his eyes never left yours as he reached out and placed a finger atop the deck.
You stopped shuffling now. You laid the cards out in front of you, reaching across the table, and before Ichigo could yank away you held his hand in yours.
“Is there anything specific you want to ask?” you asked him, and you tittered quietly. “Like, ‘Is this relationship right for me’?”
You let him pull away now as you giggled, reaching and plucking only one individual card up, flipping it over. A pair of geese flew together over a kaleidoscope of color, and you grinned at it like an old friend.
“The Lovers! Sweet, right? If you want a Celtic cross, it’ll cost you a lot more than conveyor belt sushi, Ichigo,” you told him, already beginning to pick up your cards and arrange them back in a deck on the corner of the table. His face was red, though he still stood up, looking down to you hunched over the table.
“What’s that card mean?” he asked, and the way you looked up at him made him want to close his eyes and look away.
“What do you think it means?” you asked him, your voice lower than it had been a second ago.
He didn’t answer.
“It’s called The Lovers. Seems pretty straightforward, right? No card is that straightforward, though.” You looked back down, away from him, still picking up individually the cards on the table. “Maybe it’s a good time to explore your personal desires, or look into forming better connections. It could be platonic, or maybe sexual-”
“Okay, I get it!” he snapped, much too loud for the small living room, and you smiled down at your cards as you finished stacking them in their neat pile in the corner.
“Good! Let me go change, and then we can head out. Would you mind turning off the signs in the windows for me, Ichigo?”
He still didn’t know your name.
“Hey!” he said as you began walking out of the room, and you turned towards him, your big gaudy earrings the only sound you made.
“[Name],” you said before he could continue, and you smiled at him as you went back to go change your clothes.
He hoped you took off those stupid earrings.
You kept the stupid earrings on.
“You better not eat too much! I’m not made of money,” he told you once there. You pointed your chopsticks at him, the fuzzy knit cardigan you were wearing dripping down your shoulder and exposing your skin to him.
“My crystal ball,” you began, not bothering to pull it up, even as Ichigo got the smallest bit distracted and embarrassed, “also told me that you were a cheapskate.”
“Hey!” he objected, as you plucked a plate of salmon nigiri off the belt, clapping your hands together and murmuring a quiet thanks for the meal. “You should be thanking me,” he huffed out, and you winked at him.
“The Lovers,” you reminded him through the sushi.
“Whatever, it was just a stupid card! And pull up your shawl, before people start staring!” he snapped, reaching over the table to yank your cardigan back up over your shoulder. You caught his hand as he started to pull back, and you stared up at him through your lashes.
“Thank you for the meal, Ichigo,” you whispered, your hand small and warm cupped around his, and you traced a scar over his knuckles without ever looking away from him.
He yanked away like you were burning him, and his face was on fire. You giggled at him, offering a piece of nigiri that you slathered with wasabi.
“If you eat the whole thing, I won’t charge you for one future visit!” you told him, as if you’d forgotten you just clutched his hand like a lifeline.
He furrowed his brow, clearing his throat, and stared at you. “Hmm. If you eat the whole thing of wasabi, I’ll pay!” you continued when he stared.
He considered for a moment.
You swiped it back before he could fully weigh the pros and cons, eating it and grabbing a plate of tuna maki.
“Finish your first plate!” Ichigo scolded, and instead of responding you jabbed your chopsticks towards the spicy salmon uramaki Ichigo had in front of him.
“Can I try that?” you asked him, though you already reached for a piece, Ichigo swiping his plate away just before you took one.
“Eat your own!” he said in the same tone, and you shook your head, picking up a piece of your maki.
“Here, you can have a piece of this too! Please?” you pleaded, and he rolled his eyes, though still slammed his plate back down on the table. You grinned, leaning over to him with your hand held over your chopsticks to catch the roll if it fell.
“Oh, you’re not feeding me!” Ichigo objected, indignant, though you were only getting closer, standing up even to lean further over the table.
You made a deliberate roll of your shoulder, the sleeve of your cardigan once again tumbling down your arm. “You don’t want people to stare, do you?” you asked, your smile a taunting curve as Ichigo sputtered. He finally took the maki from your chopsticks, his face aflame and your eyes twinkling.
“Now me!” you said, falling back into your chair, and Ichigo choked on rice.
“I am not feeding you, no way!” he stammered, and you pouted, shaking your head.
“This is a terrible date,” you told him, and he wildly shook his head.
“This is not a date!” he hissed out, and you smiled now, reaching now for his uramaki.
You chewed slow and calculated, swallowing before you opened your mouth. “You know it is, Ichigo.”
He didn’t like the way you said that.
You two ate at the sushi restaurant for over two hours, and when Ichigo left you had cost him just over five thousand yen.
He walked you back to your little house, and with the neon lights in the windows off it looked solemn and quiet; if you hadn’t stopped, Ichigo might have walked right past it. The rickety porch swing swayed in the dark, the only sound above you and Ichigo’s breaths.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” you asked as you turned towards him, and he rose a brow.
You reached into the pocket of your fuzzy cardigan, the ever persistent sleeve still dripping from your skin, and produced a small business card. You offered it to him, and when he took it you tapped with a nail at the bottom of it.
“My number,” you told him, and without warning stood on your toes and pressed your lips to his cheek. Your lips were cold against his hot cheek, and you smelled like wasabi and soy sauce.
Your clacky earrings and the squeaking porch swing were a symphony flooding his ears. You fell back onto your heels, grinning at his red face as he reached up and smacked a hand against the cheek you’d kissed.
“My crystal ball tells me you’ll text me when you get home,” you said, pointing your finger into his chest, and he didn’t get a chance to respond. You turned away from him and skipped up your leaning stairs, unlocking the front door with a wave thrown over your shoulder. Ichigo stood frozen, even as your lights came on, and you peeked out your front window curtains and waved again when you saw him still standing there.
He waved back.
When Ichigo got home, he punched in the number from the business card and did, indeed, text you.
Take a few centering breaths and focus on the cards. When you feel ready, choose which card or crystal speaks to you the most. You can even choose more than one if you feel a strong pull to multiple cards! There’s no wrong way to decide. Keep in mind this is a general reading, so, as always, take what vibes with you and leave what doesn’t. Keep reading to see the reveal. Thanks for looking!
Deck used: The Wild Unknown Animal Spirit Deck 🦊
Card #1 | Larimar | Elk | Earth element
The elk speaks to stability, planning, and knowing your values. Feel that stability while you experience life’s inevitable changes and seasons. Remain grounded in yourself and remember who you are and what you stand for. Be proud of the person you have become/are becoming and take care of yourself. Be sure you are operating within your own value system and, if you feel up to it, help provide some stability and consistency in someone else’s life. Someone you know may really need this right now and the elk suggests you could be the one to give it to them. If you are the one in need of this consistency and stability, lean into that elk energy and take part in activities that help you feel grounded and authentic. You don’t have to do anything that doesn’t feel right to you.
Card #2 | Emerald | Tarantula | Fire element
The tarantula signals a choice that must be made and it’s an important one. It’s a choice that would help your most authentic self shine through, if only you could work up the courage to do it. The tarantula asks you to follow your gut because you already know what the right answer is, even if it seems difficult. If you’re at a crossroads, ask yourself what you really want and the path to take will become clear to you. If you have a tendency to over-think or feel torn, maybe start a journal or make a pros and cons list, so you can see your thoughts in front of you instead of circling around in your head. Be patient with yourself right now. The tarantula doesn’t mind waiting til you’re ready.
Card #3 | Garnet | Horse | Earth element
If you’ve been feeling sluggish lately, the horse is here to give you momentum. If you’ve been working hard toward a goal, the horse is here to tell you you’re on the right track! The success the horse can help you gain does not come without hard work though. Dedication and training are necessary. Take care of your mind and body so they can perform well for you and help you reach your goals. Maybe take some time each day to meditate or go for a walk outside. Spend time studying and perfecting your idea or craft. When the horse’s mind and body are working together, their potential is limitless and there’s nothing they can’t accomplish. So, prepare to jump right in and the horse will help carry you where you need to go.
Does anyone have the "The Wild Unknown" tarot deck? I've read some reviews about cards being off-center and poor card quality and I wanted to know what other people's opinions are
