SPOILER: Click to show

Autumn, 1811, roughly five years after the death of Tanaka Chiyoko

Times had been rough. With the death of her mother, Mai had developed a strong destructive persona due to her inability to cope with her emotions, and a distinct lack of an authority figure in her life (Malik had been around a little bit more, but his own way of coping[footnote:1]per his own history[/footnote] had him busying himself with his workload and left him very little time to tend to his young daughter) offered no means to reign in emotions. During his time away, she had taken to sneaking out and doing things that he most definitely would not approve of, even had she been a productive member of the military with a long and distinguished record under her belt.

Such was how she found herself here today, wandering the trees and forests of the second district. She had hidden amongst the caravans and slipped through the open gates as loads came and went during this busy harvest season; while ignorant to the ways of the world at a mere eleven years of age, it had been wet and rainy when she dressed that morning, and she had bundled herself up in layers. She was tall even as a child, though the bundled layers had her hunched over, and had managed to achieve the appearance of an elderly being; the folds of her hood had entirely obscured her face, and the limp from slipping from her window, nearly subsided, had more than likely granted another guise to her appearance.

She had slipped out without a hitch, a pleasant surprise (normally she was sent back whence she had came, but supposedly the harvest had more priority than a lone individual). From there, it was a simply journey up into the woods where she could watch the autumn leaves fall into the gently twisting creek and plot her life away from her father. Nothing would ever come of that, however, as she had a duty to fulfill, but that was neither here nor there; now was the time for watching the leaves fall in the shadows of trees.

The leeching was at its height. The Rukons gave goods to the Shinigami, the produce from their backs which they needed. In return the Shinigami provided a less than adequate defence. Their presence was only seen in the districts which supplied them with foods. Opportunistic leeches.

Yoshiya had done enough in his mind to bring in the harvest. At least for now. He had enough gold. He could take a few days off doing other tasks to prepare for the winter. Hopefully one of the more pompous leeches didn't decide to seize his labours.

He arrived in a section of the forest used for logging. As one tree was more than a single citizen needed, it was customary for a citizen to leave the remains of a tree after felling for others to take wood from. Once that tree had been dealt with another was chopped down.

Yoshiya held out his stave and channelled his Reiatsu into its form, letting it flow out the ends, moulding the metal as it turned into a variety of tools. Hammer and pick. Scythe and axe. It was the axe he needed.

He raised the axe head up and started chopping wood. The thunks echoed through the trees with each swing. He lost himself in his work.

Whistle and walk through the woods is what the arrancar known as Ryuu went with on this wacky wednesday. Although Ryuu's definition of wacky would involve a few odd pieces of vocabulary such as cannibalism, large blunt object, song and dance routine and potato peeler. But it was still fun while it lasted so Ryuu considered it time well spent. After cleaning himself up so he wasn't covered in blood, stew and cinnamon Ryuu decided that he was in the mood for a walk.

And thus our hero would put on a cloak and cover his mask fragments in bandages (as usual) in order to prevent a battle to the death from occuring at some point during his relaxing walk. It usually didn't seem as relaxing if your walk included being chased by a mob of Rukons or being forced into a swordfight with a shinigami. Not to mention the possibility of getting into a swordfight with a shinigami while being chased by a mob of Rukons WHO WERE ALL ON FIRE.

Finding himself in the second district as his walk took it's course, Ryuu would happily skip along and whistle to himself. When suddenly he would spy an odd shape in the distance. IT WAS AN OLD WOMAN. Except it really wasn't but Ryuu wasn't close enough to tell the difference yet. Skipping along toward Mai, Ryuu would wave and say, "Hello. Nice day for a walk." while giving his nicest smile.

It wasn't her fault, honestly, that she ignored the skipping man as he approached; she had taken interest in a rhythmic thumping some distance away and hadn't been paying attention to anything else in the immediate vicinity. Her bundled form had angled toward the presumed source of the beat, head cocked to one side to allow a thick chunk of white-blonde hair to escape the confines of the cowl upon her head; the wind took to toying with it shortly thereafter, thoroughly obscuring her view.

Just before Ryuu would call out to her, a pleasant greeting on this blustery afternoon, Mai's tiny, timid hand would inch out from the bowels of the cloak upon her childish frame and gentle coax the wayward locks back into their soggy prison. She then visibly jumped at the suddenness of the man's voice very near her person, having been caught off-guard by his approach. The scream was involuntary due to her age and supreme lack of control over her emotional reflexes. It reverberated off the trees in the area, quickly distorting and losing all sense of clarity as it battled against the sound of the little creek and rainfall.

"G-g-go away!" she mustered at last, face flushed with fear and a hint of embarrassment. Her chin was held high in defiance that only a child could obtain; she knew she wasn't supposed to be out in the trees, which made it all the more exciting, and she assumed that the man had been sent to fetch her and return her whence she'd came.

The scream filled the air. Instinctively Yoshiya froze, listening for any more noise. None came. There were many of the Leeches in the area. One of them would hear and deal with it. That was their job, after all.

He got back to his craft.

And it turned out that the old lady wasn't in fact an old lady but a small child. Usually Ryuu was able to tell the difference between the two. Obviously this meant that the little girl was a MASTER OF DISGUISE. Which was quite a feat considering her hair was white and stood out a lot. Reminded Ryuu of that other person he had met and had fought an EPIC WAR OF WORDPLAY AND OTHER WORDS THAT BEGIN WITH W. But that was quite a while ago and Ryuu was in fact a bit suprised that he remembered something like that so easily. But then again it was quite a VICIOUS AND INTENSE WAR OF THE WORDS.

Staring at the child as she screamed, Ryuu's smile shifted from cheerful to more of a reassuring smile. "Now there's no need to be so scared." Ryuu said to the child. But then she wanted Ryuu to leave. Was it because of his smell? WHY DID EVERYONE WANT TO HIM TO LEAVE THEM ALONE (other than the whole trying to eat them thing but that didn't count). "If you want me to leave then I will. But may I ask why?" Ryuu asked.

Still in the throes of fear, Mai's chin held it's high ground; the man towered over her, sure, but still, she put on airs and made damn sure she was in charge. "I have permission to be here," she lied, crossing her arms over her chest - difficult due to the layers. "My father knows I'm here. You don't need to escort me back." She spoke with a slight lilt, tone toying with that of contempt. Her violet eyes flared dangerously, or what would be considered dangerously in her age group, in an attempt to stare the man down, make him cringe under her mighty powers.

*THUNK* *THUNK* *THUNK*

Yoshiya's axe work was coming along well. He had isolated a part of the trunk from the rest of the tree. He dragged it away and started on that to break it down into smaller pieces. He had to do this here, he had no room to chop wood back home.

*THUNK* *THUNK* *THUNK*

Staring at Mai as she explained why he should leave, Ryuu knew only a few things for certain. The first is that based on her body language, Ryuu could tell that she was lying and wasn't supposed to be in the forest. Although he wasn't certain why someone wouldn't allow her to go into the forest. It wasn't like there were a lot of dangerous things there (except for cannibalistic humanoids who had once been in the form of monsters). Ryuu could also tell that she either was important or thought she was. But then again that was somewhat common with children. But now Ryuu was curious and thus RYUU THE DETECTIVE WAS NOW ON THE CASE.

"Okay. Not too sure who your father is though." Ryuu said to Mai. "Besides I can easily tell that you are more than capable of handling yourself out here in the forest. So why would you even need permission to be out here?" Ryuu said. Ryuu figured that a bit of flattery would probably help him find out a bit more about Mai. Although good old fashioned stabbing them until they talked (or died) would make a good plan B if Ryuu had to use his SUPER DETECTIVE SKILLS.

"It's of no concern to you," Mai drawled, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her chin further. "I can be where I want to be when I want to be with whom I wish!" she declared, voice rising with each spoken syllable until her pitch quivered and crackled under the now-releasing rage she suddenly felt; yes, she was mad at her father, but she had never, ever dared to raise her voice even in his vicinity, for fear of a severe reprimand; she had, either as a dream or a spied memory, seen him in action and since developed a slight fear for her own physical wellbeing - she had been spanked, only once, but the memory even now made her keister tingle.

Her hands suddenly snapped to her sides, fists balled in anger, as the winds gusted about, tugging at the folds of her many layers. This brought the thunking from off in the distance closer, which once again drew her attention away from the man before her. Not a wise move, considering the circumstances, but that noise was just...so....

"Annoying!"

The wind blew through the trees, fluttering Yoshiya's cloak through the breeze. He gritted his teeth as the cold air smacked against his face, tickling his beard.

The wind also brought something else, besides a chill. It also brought the voice of a girl.

"I can be where I want to be when I want to be with whom I wish!"

It sounded whiny and annoying.

"That child speaking of freedom? There is no such thing."

He groaned and despaired about the future generations. So naive, and so whiny.

He chopped harder to drone out her voice.

Seemed like the child didn't like his compliment at all. Noticing how she seemed to be dwelling on something and was apparently taking it out on him, Ryuu wondered what it was in particular that had her so agitated. AND THUS RYUU CAME UP WITH A GREAT SOLUTION TO THIS PUZZLE. First there was step one which was agree with her, "I know that you can be where you want, when you want and with whoever you want." This would hopefully placate the child to a degree. Then Ryuu would take a seat and say, "So if you can be where you want, when you want with who you want. Then why not make that where into here, that when into now and that whom into me. You seem to have something on your mind and I will be willing to listen if you want." Ryuu said to Mai.

Hearing the thunking noises in the distance, Ryuu raised an eyebrow at Mai's reaction to it. Sure it was a bit irksome but it was quite simple to tune out. "It's just someone chopping up a tree for firewood. Just focus on something else and you won't even notice that its there." Ryuu suggested to the girl. Hopefully that would get her to calm down. Although just in case she was too stubborn to take that advice Ryuu then said, "Though if you do wish to talk we can just move the where to somewhere else if thats better for you."

"Well, you're still here, so you're a liar!" she said, talking over him as he mentioned they could go elsewhere. If she was focused on the sound of the thunking, then by his own statement, he should have disappeared. But he did not, and so he was deemed a liar. Still in her defiant pose, Mai raised a finger and pointed it at the arrancar. "Why are you here, anyway? Don't you have wood to chop?"

Yoshiya's mind dwelt on her whine. Yoshiya was generally a negative man, full of bitterness and hate. That's why he had left Seireitei, he didn't trust himself to be in an occupation that required thought. He was in a self-imposed exile.

Unfortunately this gave him plenty of time to think. Fortunately he didn't have to rely on others, and thus his internal turmoil generally remained internal.

"STUPID" *THWACK* "PATHETIC" *THWACK* "HUMANS!" *THWACK*

"Tell me, what is the point in your existence?" *THWACK* "There is no GLORY in this life, no purpose" *THWACK* "Humanity is a DISEASE! A BLIGHT upon this land. It would be far better if we had never existed!! *THWACK* "All we are good for is causing pain and suffering, hurting, committing acts of evil" *THWACK*

If anyone had been there to watch, they would have seen the face of a demon. His expression and posture were more akin to one who was committing murder with the axe. Indeed, he had gone too far. Eventually the flare of his rage burned out, and saw that the wood had been smashed into a pulp. It was of no use to his needs. He went back to the felled tree to start again.

"Baka."

MAI WAS ON TO HIM. She was obviously an expert in deductive reasoning to be able to see through Ryuu so easily. HOW ELSE DID SHE KNOW THAT RYUU WAS A LIAR. Perhaps she was A MIND READER. But Ryuu knew how to deal with such a foe. AND THUS RYUU WOULD COUNTER HER MIND READING POWERS BY SINGING SONGS IN HIS HEAD.

But now Mai was trying to interogate him. THIS WAS OBVIOUSLY A PLOY TO COMBAT HIS ANTI-MIND READING POWERS. But Ryuu would answer truthfully FOR THAT WOULD CONFUSE MAI AND HER MIND READING POWERS. "I don't have any need for firewood though. I just decided to go for a walk through the woods. What about you?" THIS COUNTER QUESTION WOULD HELP RYUU COUNTER HER MIND READING POWERS. Plus it would also help counter her question too because that is what counter questions are supposed to do.

"I have you people to chop wood for me." The answer was out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She didn't realize it at first, but soon after her mouth shut she did; her eyes widened and her fisted hands soon clamped down over her mouth. Her shoulders slumped forward as soon as the embarrassment set in, color spreading across her cold-tinged cheeks.

Well, oops. She hadn't meant to reveal her presumed stature to the little, er..taller, people, but what could she do now that the cat was out of the bag?

Unfortunately for our heroine, she was just loud enough for Yoshiya to hear. That line meant that she was probably a Shinigami. He called out.

"And in return you protect the wood. And the food too. Not so great on protecting the areas which don't produce stuff for you, are you?"

His words were followed by more thunking.

And the child showed yet another hint of her self-importance. But this time she seemed to be embarassed about it. Though the question was why she was embarrassed about this comment but not about the other ones. Taking note of the woodchopper's comment, Ryuu changed his smile from cheerful to a bit more of an amused one.

"So tell me why you feel we have to chop wood for you? Ryuu asked the little girl. However one might notice that instead of being said in more of a hostile or sarcastic tone, Ryuu's question instead seemed to be the result of curiousity. But was it truly curiousity or a FIENDISH ARRANCAR MIND TRICK?

Once again, Mai ignored the man before her and focused instead on something else. With a swift turn, inelegant due to her layers, the little princess stalked through the trees in the direction of the insulting voice. Her stamping over the leaves preceded her, along with the huffing and puffing her angered journey instigated, and the occasional ouch! as stray branches struck her delicate shins. She was gonna give this one a piece of her little mind, too.

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Yoshiya heard a rustle in the trees. "That kid must be coming to apologise," he thought to himself. This thought cheered him up no end. Perhaps there was hope to be had in this world.

The voice had sounded young. It was admirable for one so young to take responsibility for her misdemeanour, and courteous of her to come apologise in person. Yes, thinks were looking up.

He manoeuvred round so he would be facing Tanaka Mai-san when she emerged from the clearing, ready to great her with a hearty 'Hullo'.

Watching the child ignore him and walk away, Ryuu sighed to himself. Why did this child seem to ignore him so much? It hurt his feelings. And when she wasn't ignoring him she seemed to be mean and angry. Was a bit irksome in fact.

Now most people would probably escort the small child when it was obvious that she was going towards some person with an axe and most certainly wasn't going to apologize. But then again Ryuu wasn't most people. Plus if Mai wanted to go annoy some random person with an axe then that would be her problem. In the meantime Ryuu would continue to sit and began to hum to himself.

Mai stomped her way through the trees, pale hair plastered to her flushed face. She exited into the area where Yoshiya was chopping the tree, rounding about to face him fully, only to lose her balance and slip on the wet leaves. Landing with an unladylike umph, she managed an angry squeak of indignation before breaking into tears.

Today hadn't been going so well for the poor child.

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Noise. A humming off in the distance. A crashing in the trees. And of course, metal against wood.

Yoshiya could tell two things about the figure coming through. First off she wasn't very graceful. Secondly she wasn't very familiar with the forest; she had picked one of the more dense areas to barge through. A minor deviation in course would have given her a much simpler path.

But eventually she emerged from the undergrowth. And then she promptly proceeded to fall down. The sight of her small frame was almost comical.

Yoshiya may have been a prudish auld grump, but he was old fashioned, some may say downright anachronistic, and tried to adhere to adhere to some form of chivalry. As such, with an extra hard swing, he lodged his staff in the log and approached the young bundle.

"Are you all-right there m'am?" he said, with an outstretched arm, an offered hand up.

Deciding that the most interesting to do at this point was listen in on the young girl yelling at the woodsman (and possibly getting killed if she really annoyed him), Ryuu instead heard her fall down and the woodsman's offer of help. Well there went his entertainment for the evening.

So now Ryuu was faced with a moral quandry. Kill the young girl and make things entertaining. Or not kill the girl and wait and see if something interesting would happen. Or a third option of leaving and finding something else to do. On one hand if Ryuu killed the girl that could lead to consequences. But on the other hand Ryuu didn't really care. But on a third hand (if such a thing was possible) the girl might be useful alive. But on a fourth hand (Ryuu might actually have a fourth hand back in his home) Ryuu was starting to get bored. "Decisions. Decisions." Ryuu said to himself as he listened in on the girl and the other guy.

Yoshiya's assistance was declined by way of a series of alien, high-pitched, unintelligible sounds that may or may not have been a resemblance of words. Loosely translated, they may or may not have been a crude narration of how bad her day was, how horribly painfully her bum hurt, and why things were picking on her so much. Also, she was an orphan.

Not really, as she had a father somewhere, but she considered herself as such since the death of her mother; the severe absence of a matriarchal figure had been detrimental to her perseverance as a budding flower. Instead, she was as the flower precariously peeking through the brush by her trembling knees: terrified, alone, and struggling to be seen amidst carnage life wrought upon it.

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Yoshiya blinked at this outburst. It was...in brief...completely and utterly unintelligible. This high pitched whine. Was this even language? It had the rhythm of speech but he could discern no meaning from it. Whatever words he could make out made no sense.

"Pardon?"

It's all he could think to do. This...child confused him. He was stunned, standing there like a wazzock.

"Please calm down."

And things had suddenly become entertaining for Ryuu. Somehow doing the impossible and making an even bigger smile than he usually had at the sounds of the whining high pitched noises, Ryuu found that the hilarity of the situation had the annoyance of said noises trumped. Not only that but the utter confusion of the woodcutter only served to make the child's transition from arrogance to sobbing even more comical. THIS WAS COMEDY GOLD. Perhaps Ryuu could form a comedy troupe and use this as some sort of act. ONE DAY RYUU WOULD DO SUCH A THING AND IT WOULD BE GREAT.

However for now Ryuu would be content to listen in on the young child's misery for his own amusement. Hopefully there would be more comedy outside of the child's sobs. Maybe a song and dance routine. Or an axe murder. Or a song and dance routine about murdering people with an axe and baking pies out of the corpses. It could be called the Demon Woodcutter of the Second District (Ryuu would have to work on his naming ability) .AND WITH THAT RYUU HAD A SECOND ACT FOR HIS HYPOTHETICAL TROUPE.

Once more ignoring the man talking at her, Mai lost herself to her emotions. Her wailings lost out to some more garble as her pitch drastically dropped and body convulsed in synch with her sobbing. Delicate hands wrapped about her head as she sought to shut the world out, sobbing for her mommy.

SPOILER: Click to show

Enter the concerned parent!

[bgcolor=000000]Blasted child! He thought as he ran this way looking for clues as to where she had run off to. Making me worry like this! Oh she is so grounded! Running away from home when I'm at work! Gah! Eventually he was pointed in the direction of the woods when a kind passerby said he saw a girl (though it had been assumed an old lady at the time), matching Mai's description wander up there. Yep, sooo grounded!

In a panicked run the Shinigami went this way and that, looking for any signs of his daughter. Sweat was bleeding into his eyes, hair matting and sticking to his skin, it was starting to annoy him to the point to where he almost cut it off. By, nay that would take time, time he might not have. Mai was a babe still, she knew little of the world and far more less about the dangers of strangers and beasts.

Then he heard it, all though faint (keep in mind this was not a recent sound as I'm still working on the entry <<), the sound of an axe, he knew it well. He had chopped his fair share of trees down in his day. Perhaps whomever was doing the chopping might have seen her. His body shifted, paused, waiting for another thunk. ... ...... ...... .......... THUNK!!! His body dashed toward the source of the noise.

Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe!

Yoshiya just plain gave up. He wasn't going to get anywhere with her; she was too worked up. Her noise was drilling into his skull.

And thus he dislodged his axe from the log and resumed chopping until she calmed down. Hopefully soon he could get some sense from her.

*thwack* *thwack* *thwack*

Maybe the noise would drown her out. Maybe the drowning out would speed up her calming. Ether way, he would give the young child as much attention as she currently deserved which was, to say, very little.

Whoever she was talking to (unless she was talking to herself, Yoshiya hadn't heard Ryuu's voice) didn't seem to show any concern for this shriek. He wondered who that was....

*thwack*