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SPOILER: Click to show

Spoiler
Takes place 1980 N.W
Weather: Light snowfall with a touch of sunshine~
30* Fahrenheit
4 inches of SNOOOOW

Oh, and since it takes place in the past, this is before Torako got her black cat outfit, so she's just wearing a warm outfit, colored blue and grey

Snow. SnowSnowSnowSNOW. Is there anything more awesome than SNOW? It's both fun to play in, as well as looking good on clear days like these. In the Second District of Rukongai, snow has coated the forest with it's beautiful white color, and on the small spots where the sun does shine, it sparkles like crystals. Near the usual route through it, going from the First District to the Third, one girl hid herself behind a tree.

Sui Torako.

Hidden well, the girl planned a funny snowball fight today, hit & run tactics involved with the people passing by. She had already fixed up several snowballs for attacking, filling some of them with small ice-bits. And of course, she dressed well, so she could hide from others over a long period of time. Now.. she waited. Who was going to be hit first? A shinigami? A fellow citizen of Rukongai? A hollow? Oh crap, don't let a hollow show up. She wouldn't be dumb enough to attack one of them.. right?

*crunch* Yoshiya trudged through the snow, leaning heavily on his staff. The day was chill, but not overly so. A comfortable coolness. Even still, this maddening snow. It impeded movement, the deep layers requiring more effort to wade through. Eventually it would be packed down and freeze into a more solid form, on which it was nigh on impossible to maintain any traction. He'd observed a number of citizens lose their footing on his way through the third. And the immature denizens of the land thought it amusing to bundle it up and hurl it at grumpy old men. Yoshiya felt a surging wave of misanthropy hit him, and bundled his cloak tighter around him.

He'd rather not be out, but he needed wood, and thus had set out to gather branches from the second district. The weather seemed destined to only get colder, more than he could face with just his hair and his cloak. He really should have stocked up sooner...

Harupia let a small shiver run through his body as he rubbed his hands against each other. Ahh, cold winter days...usually a time of frequent visits to his Division because of small sicknesses...it could be quite hectic time, but this year around it wont as bad. Besides, ever since becoming Captain, he didn't have as much time as he'd like to take care of the less serious cases, focusing more on taking care of the logistics of the Division and all that less then exciting stuff.

Right now he was moving through the second District, after having to personally come and settle the delivery of fire wood to his Division. Quite a silly thing to have to do having messengers and all that, but the owner of the shop seemed to be rather unpleasant during postal conversations. But after a personal talk and a little bit of help soothing a pain that he had in his back, everything in the deal was finally set. His division would be nice and warm, and he didn't have to make any formal complaints, as a lot of people seamed to do whenever some disagreement came up. A winning situation for him.

Well, besides having to go through the snow. But he was clad in pretty warm clothing under his uniform and Haori, and even though the snow was hard to move in, it made for a pleasant view around him. And at least all the kids were having fun with it... ahh, the days of carefree fun and games...sometimes he missed that in the everyday swarm of duties. He gave himself a small chill imagining himself throwing around snowballs and all that... Would be a nice change of pace, but he was a bit to old to start snowball wars or anything...

[bgcolor=E86100] Target Acquired! Along came a tall man with a haori, a shinigami! Perfect! The girl reached down and grabbed the largest snowball of the bunch, about the size of an average mans hand, and waited for a slow while. The man had to walk into position.. almost.. almost.. NOW!

'Special Move! TIGER SNOWBALL TOOOOOSSSSSS~~!'

The girl leaned out and threw the snowball in his direction, the ball soaring majestically, like it was the greatest snowball toss of all time. Nothing could ruin this moment. NOTHING. The snowball, with it's grace, flew faster and faster. Would he notice? Torako didn't make a single noise as she popped out, so he shouldn't have..

Out in the distance, a figure came into Yoshiya's view, one of a Shinigami. Yoshiya calculated that their paths would keep a reasonable distance from each other. Either way, he clutched tighter onto his staff, ready to use it if needs be.

Alas, the situation changed when he saw a white lump flying in the general direction of the distant figure. "Great" he muttered to himself. "Depending on that Shinigami's mood and if a Rukon hurled that, as is most probable, whatever cretin hurled that could damage relations between us." Yoshiya groaned at the thought.

He moved into a position among the trees to observe for now, a safe distance away, ready to step in if needs be. He sighed and shook his head. Collecting wood was going to take longer than he had thought.

Crunch.. Crunch.. Crunch.. Crunch.. Jeez that was such an annoying sound to listen to as you walked. The crunching of snow beneath one's feet and damn was there a lot of it. Zane stopped and wrinkled his nose at the sight of all the snow around the area and, though he enjoyed the sight of freshly laid snow, he hated to walk in it. Not because of the cold, no that bothered him very little, but the fact that snow melted and turned into water. Now.. getting soaked from walking in snow, THAT annoyed the man.

Zane glanced around him, strands of midnight black hair blowing into his face, and observed the people moving around the area. Young ones playing in the snow, people slipping and stumbling on the frigid surface. Zane even decided that he was going to be kind enough to actually help an elderly woman up who had slipped and fallen. Seemed the 13th seat had a heart after all.

And suddenly, the day got a lot colder then before.

Caught by surprise as the snowball hit his face, Harupia was straddled for a small second, jumping up with a surprised look on his face and looking around for a bit. After the surprise worn out a bit, he blinked a few ore times before a smile came to his face, followed by a small laugh. As he looked around, he would say "Hehe, that was a nice throw...come on now, which one of you kids decided to go to war with a Shinigami Captain?" looking around to see any kid laughing at his successful hit, but he didn't really see any of that. The closest children seemed to be to busy figthing amongst themselves. Hmm...perhaps the one who hit him was pretty good at hiding as well

Sighing a bit from the small break, he decided to move long for now...though he did lean down to scoop himself a snowball of his own...just in case.

[bgcolor=E86100] Fufufufu~ This was perfect! The blockhead captain didn't see her! In fact, he kept going on his route, ignoring her completely... PERFECT! She grabbed a bunch of her custom-made snowballs, the ones with the most ice in, and jumped out behind him.

"Nya-ha-ha! It is I, The Great Torako-sama, that attacked you! Now you shall feel the Wrath of the Tiger!

Urrryyyaaaaa~~!"

She tossed another one, just as awesome as before! Unmatched in Heaven and Earth, the most awesome-est of the awesome! You don't know snowballs at all, if you never make one like this! ...or so Torako thinks. The ice-filled snowball soared majestically, like the eagle in the sky, or a drunk husband being kicked out by his wife! Would this one also be a hit?

...well, maybe... if she didn't shout out her attack first.

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Yoshiya let out a sigh of relief. The Shinigami captain seemed to be taking it in good spirits. Unfortunately this would probably lead to a snowball fight between the two. He didn't want to get caught in the crossfire.

He heard a young voice declare herself to be Torako, and saw another missile flying from her position.

"Move"

That one thought crossed his mind. Something was not right. The shape and colour of that projectile... It's trajectory, the way it held together... That snowball was packed with ice!
"DODGE!"

He yelled out at the Shinigami. Regardless of his good temperament, Torako's behaviour was unacceptable. Yoshiya felt his temper flare.

Emerging from his spot, he marched towards the assailant, glaring intently at the feckless brat, teeth bared. Annoyingly his march wasn't his imposing as he would have hoped for, that much snow inhibited it a fair amount. 'Wrath of the Tiger'? Ha! Soon she would feel the wrath of the Watson!

Zane finished helping the woman and walked off from where he found her, coming to a quick stop when he overheard some loud voices nearby. Who was that? Hmm. Zane decided to head toward the sounds and check on who was making the noise. His head tilted to the side when he came into view of someone who was apparently tossing a snowball toward a Captain. Huh. What an odd choice for an activity. Zane shrugged, he couldn't be bothered to care much about what was happening here as it really wasn't his business and he was merely a bystander of the whole situation and it was probably best that he just leave.

That was.. until he heard another voice come from seemingly no where and then.. there was another person heading toward the female tossing snowballs about. Surely this wasn't going to end well at all. Zane let loose a low sigh, his breath visible in the cold weather, and headed toward the one tossing snowballs and the one heading in her direction.

And so as the Captain scooped up a snowy globe of his own, he had heard someone announce himself as the mysterious snowball pelter, and with intent to repeat the deed. Unfortunately while he wasn't the most combat Savy Taicho around, he knew all to well that you should probably dodge an attack you warned about.

As he turned around to the source of the call, a little blue haired girl came in sight, flinging another snowball. And a shout from the side telling him to dodge. Well, fate seemed to truly think lowly of his moving skill's...but fear not, as Harupia managed to preform the stunning maneuver of side stepping, letting the snow projectile pass by him.

And as soon as he did, he locked his eyes on Torako and swiftly threw his own snow-globe at her, one made out of only snow, so it would be simply mushy cold fun if he managed to score a hit. After throwing it, regardless of the result, he would look around to notice an adult member of the Rukongai society, moving towards the girl. Most likely with the intent to scold her. Scratching his head, he would move towards Watson as he said *Now, now, no need to be angry! Nothing bad happened here after all, just the younger of u shaving some fun, hehe" trying to show he was not offended or angry. Hopefully that would help the Rukon citizen cool down a bit...as if the weather wasn't enough for that, haha.

[bgcolor=E86100] Trouble be brewin'!

What was she going to do? The blockhead captain seemed to take things well, but bush-face over there seems to get offended for no particular reason. Maybe it was his time of the month? But enough about that! She needed a plan! And just like that, she had one! She ran up to the haori-dressed male and hid behind him, playing out her innocent-child routine as usual.

"Hey mister.. I was only trying to have fun, I-I never meant for anyone to get.. hurt..", the girl said, expressing herself with cute, watery eyes, looking up at Harupia with an expression filled with cute innocence, like a newborn kitten.. nyan~

"P-Please.. help me~"

Her hand grabbed onto his haori, imitating a shaking motion with her arm. Would he fall for it? Or would this all end REALLY bad? If it did, she would have to resort to 'Plan R'.

*dun~ dun~ duuu~~n!*

Yoshiya saw the child dart behind Harupia as he tried to calm him down. Looks like he would have to go through the Shinigami. That wasn't an issue. If Yoshiya could make it Hitoshi's problem, that was all fine and dandy.

Yoshiya strode past the two to where the last snowball had landed. He scooped it up in his gloved hand and walked up to Harupia, observing the red number '2' and his haori.

Watson spoke, his voice polite, but with a hint of indignation.

"Captain, second division, correct?" He offered the snowball to Harupia. "Please, observe how this snowball is packed with a large quantity of ice. Now, as a medic can you hypothesise what effect such a missile would have had if it had struck you? Or indeed, someone more frail?"

He peered round the Shinigami to stare down Torako and raised his voice slightly

"I would have hoped that even a child of her age would have had more sense."

Zane shook his head as he watched the events unfold before him as he made his way forward. He shifted his path and made way to the group of three. Sure the Captain here could handle what was going on, but always better to be sure of things. He bowed his head lightly toward Hitoshi, "Niban Taichou. Is everything alright here?Zane questioned. He wasn't actually familiar with Hitoshi on a personal level, but he was aware of the man's status.

Haru blinked as the girl ran, fast enough to dodge his own snowball with relative ease...guess his throw was a bit weaker then he remember. Then again, the girl in question was exceptional quick, running through the distance between himself and her quite quickly...After that she would hunker down behind him, and try to convince him of her innocence with a big, puppy eye like stare. Da'ww.

He flashed the girl a nice, soothing smile, before Watson would approach and address him with one of her snowball's. Simply nodding to his question about his Division, he listened to him explain about the snowball, and as he peered behind him at the child he inspected the snowball himself. Indeed, a lot of sand under the snow...Well, that wasn't that nice was it?

And then another actor came into the scene, a Shinigami he had not a chance to familiarize himself with earlier. Shaking his head slightly, still a pleasant smile on his face he would say "No,not really my friend...just a bit of child-play..." After that he would turn his head down at Torako, his brow raised and a slightly more serious expression on his face as he said "Though you elder here is right, little girl. Loading snowball's like this could hurt someone. There is nothing bad in some fun and games, but someone getting a bloody nose or a blue eye isn't much fun for them...". He wasn't as much scolding her, as just trying to explain the danger. He tried to keep his tone nice but a bit of seriousness could be heard. He was more laid back then most, but if someone was trying to harm other (consciously or not), now that he couldn't let fly.

[bgcolor=E86100] As the ongoing talking went on, Torako moved her free hand slowly, and pinched herself in the leg, creating a pain sensation for her eyes to cry, making her cute kitten-like eyes even.. cuter. She moved herself even closer to the blockhead captain now, and welped out a weak response..

"I-I-I didn't know t-that it was f-f-filled.. I just g-grabbed some snow.. I-I never meant to hurt you.."

Hopefully, this would work, as she moved her feet upward in a sense that she would stand on her toes, creating a sensation that her face would move closer to the blockhead captain.

It's not like they would hit her, she's just a innocent and sweet young girl~

Yoshiya leant on his staff, as he listened to Harupia's lecture. He doubted he would be able to make a move, especially after Zane arrived.

"Lapdog," he thought to himself. Still, as long as Torako behaved, then he would be content.

His job was done, he waited for the end of the lecture, and Torako's reply, hiding his impatience.

Unfortunately Torako then made a bad move

"Gyah, I could have gone on if she hadn't done that"

For Yoshiya had saw a slight movement by her side, a slight jerk of her frame, the tearing up of her eyes. Watson analysed her movements. It was a probable enough hypothesis to put to her.

"Miss Torako," he said, his voice expressing his tiredness of this situation, "if you are as sorry as you claim, why did you feel the need to injure yourself before you spoke? Was it so you could turn on the waterworks?"

He probably shouldn't have spoke. Now he'd have to stay around for longer. -_-

Zane exhaled uneasily at the situation, but nodded toward Harupia," I assume you have this.. situation under control then, Hitoshi-Taichou.", Zane said. It was.. more an observation than a question. Zane took a single step back and crossed his arms over his own chest, acting as more of a by-standing moderator in case a fight broke out, but he surely wasn't about to leave just yet.. Not until Yoshiya left first.

Harupia nodded to Zane, assuming he indeed had control of the situation. But as it seemed, while not really a bad situation, it was turning out to be a bit more complicated then it should be. On one hand he had the cute little girl all teary eyed claiming she meant no harm... And then the other Rukongai citizen suggested that she made herself all teary eyed. Ehh, he never had to deal with stuff like that when he was one of these people...


Seeing Torako stand on her tip-toe's, he would move his hand and gently tap her on the forehead to say "Now, now, don't over do it missy. I'm a doctor, so I have a bit of experience with a child trying to cry its way out of trouble...If you didn't know about the ice in the snow ball's, who did? I mean, someone else had to do it for you if you didn't know what they were made of..."

Turning his head towards Watson, he would ask "Could you tell me if this girl has any caretakers? Unless you the one trying to keep her in check on a daily basis." he concluded with a chuckle. Now, it was quite possible the child was on her own, but still, if there was some kind of parent figure he would most likely need a little chat with them.

[bgcolor=E86100] As if destiny replied to the Captain of Seireitei, a giant snowball of fluff flew at amazing speed towards the group, hitting the unlucky... Torako in the face. "Wa-haha!", a laugh cried out, as a man of normal height stepped into the scene, sporting short golden hair and beige/brown clothing, his eyes beaming with a confident yellow.

"I happen to be this child's guardian!", the man proclaimed, stepping forward to the group, placing himself next to the prankster full of snow in her face, as Torako moved her arm up with a sleeve to wipe it off.

"Consider that snowball our payback, Mis~ter~ Cap~tain~!"

For each syllable the man produced in his address to Harupia, he pushed the child down into a bow, further and further.

Yoshiya lept back at the impact of the snowball upon the child. How did he miss him? Perhaps he was getting complacent in his old age. But that could be considered later. He had taken an instant dislike to this man. So cocksure was this man, so brazen his mannerisms. Yoshiya did not trust him.

With every syllable Torako did bow. With every syllable Yoshiya tightened the grip on his staff. He'd wait before making his next move.

Well that seemed to be taken care of. Time to depart then and just as Zane was about to depart from the scene.. a man came to the scene claiming to be the guardian of the small girl in question. Fantastic, another problem. Zane spun around on his heels and faced the group once again, keeping silent as he had before. It was simple, if he needed to get involved, he would.

And suddenly, headshot. He wonder if there was a friend of the girl who used this moment of distraction to strike back at her. And it turned out he was right...in some sense of the word. As the man clad in brown came towards them, he would announce himself as the guardian of the trouble maker. Well, if that was true then he had to say the apple didn't fall far away from the tree.

Before the man could finish sylabyzing his name and pushing the girl down he would chime in and say with a slightly raised voice "Bow's wont be necessary...The snowball was a good enough measure of justice for me. No need to get more physical now" he would conclude, his expression going from a slightly annoyed to his usual small smile. He didn't really appreciate seeing other people hurt, especially children. He didn't really believe in physical discipline.

Turning to Torako, who would hopefully be standing up normally by now, he would ask "Soo, is he telling the truth? Do you know this person?" wanting to confirm it with the girl. Of course he couldn't be certain just how good of a caretaker this person was, but there was little he could do without being sure of anything.

[bgcolor=E86100] Reaching the full potential of her bow, Torako retaliated by shoving her elbow backwards, striking her eccentric master in the gut, as she stood up from her position. Shooting off a glare at him, she shouted as he grabbed his stomach in pain.

"You king of all morons!! That hurt!"

She then turned her attention to the captain, and replied to his question; "Yes, he's my master and my guardian! ...andthekingofmorons." Her voice was filled with anger and annoyance, but also a slight hint of being polite, aimed mostly at Cap'n Friendly. Looking at the others at the scene, she concluded that the other shinigami was of no interest, but.. this bush-faced man on the side was getting quite riled up for no particular reason. The only logical answer would be that he forgot his favorite snack at home. Yeah, that's legit, since Torako herself gets annoyed on those occasions too.

Meanwhile, Dorobou Neko had won against the pain of the young tigers attack, and shot a smile to the Captain with a polite question; "Is there anything else this little twerp has done? In case if, would there be anything we could do to pay back?" He, just like Torako, gave no attention to the angry what's-his-face on the side.

The cold had gotten to the bones of the old man, as he bundled his cloak tighter around him. He'd play his part, taking it further would be the duty of the captain.

He turned to look at Neko. "Raise that child with dignity."

He'd had enough. He had better things to do than argue in the snow. So, with a shake of his cloak to loose any snow which had settled since he arrived, and a glance to Harupia and Zane, he went on his way.

He wanted to get home.

[EXIT]

Zane arched a brow at the actions of the two. Is this really how the Rukon citizens acted with one another or was it just these two? Zane figured it was none of his business to further inquire about that and that he'd find the answer on his own someday. He cleared his throat some and looked toward Harupia, "Seems that everything will be fine here. Have a pleasant day, Hitoshi-Taicho.", He said as he bowed toward Harupia. He then shot a glance at Torako and her master, "You two as well.", He murmured to the two before he made his way from the small group, returning to the First Division's barracks for the day.

[/Exit]

Harupia also couldn't help scratching his head at the display before him...but for all intents and purposes all seemed to be well. The girl wasn't frightened or anything of the man, and she confirmed that he was responsible for her. It seemed as good as it could do him...and it seemed the other elder Rukongai citizen thought the same, or at least calmed down enough to slowly walk away from the scene, with a word of warning tucked in for good measure.

Seeing the other Shinigami be on his way, he would give him a light nod of the head as he said farewell, before turning to the two Rukingai folk and saying "I must be on my way as well, being a Taicho means a lot more work then you would imagine, hehe. Take care of yourself now you to." before he would give both a small bow and a smile, after which he would start heading back to his division. All in all it was a nice little distraction...he could use a bit more of those. Just more peaceful...yes, more peaceful would be grand.

(Exit)

[bgcolor=E86100] The captain made his way back to his daily routine, as Torako glared up at her master, rage filling her eyes as she lashes out a punch in his side. He falls over on his knees in pain, coughing for a moment.

"Y-you! That hurt!"
"W-well that's what you get for throwing a snowball at me!"
"Excuse me for saving your butt!"
"... saving me or not, you owe me for this!"
"Fine! We'll have steak tonight!"
"... and you think that will cut it?"
"Urgh.."

The man fixed his position, and took the girl up on his back and wandered off into the forest, heading home after this small adventure they had.

[EXIT]

Thread Rewards:

Torako - 8 RP

Yoshiya - 7 RP

Harupia - 7 RP

Zane - 6 RP

Points added, thread locked.