The falling sun spread its beams across the land. From the Hollows in the Wastelands to the Rukon Citizens in the Rukongai and even the Shinigami of Seireitei, it signalled the day was almost over. Yet for one young Shinigami, it was the start, the start of her rebirth.

---

FOUR MOONS AGO

"No! Yumi! Get back!"

The battle had been raging for many hours now. How long? She had lost track. All around her the cries of battle. Steel upon steel. Steel upon flesh. The final screams of life, as death took them all to the same place. She would protect them, the Rukons and her fellow Shini. She, Konno Yumi, would fight her fight.

She had seen it. A scorpion like Hollow had managed to knock down and disarm a female Rukon. Yumi had glimpsed her a few times during the battle, elegantly swinging her Chakram upon the endless hordes of Hollow. But now she was down, as her soon to be killer taunted the pray he would soon end. But not if Yumi had something to say about it.

Disregarding the orders of one of her superiors, she leapt into action, running full pelt towards the scorpion. Approaching the beast from its blind side, the pint-sized powerhouse leapt across its neck, dagger drawn, leaving a fresh gash across it, from which its life sprayed out.

"Don't play with your food"

The fallen Rukon grabbed her weapon and picked herself up, her lips parted to utter thanks to her saviour, but it was interrupted by the youngling

"No time for that. Regroup. The battle isn't over yet."

She would have to do the same, but the masses of bodies, both alive and dead made the layout of the battlefield continually shift. Millions of routes opened and closed themselves in her mind. She chose one, vaulting over corpse and creature, her dagger ending any enemy that happened to be in range. She was nearly back at the rally point, but there was one more foe. A swarm of giant fly-like adjuchas had taken a liking to the speedster. They were smart, flying out of the range of her dagger, instead electing to engulf the surrounding area in a rain of spines. Yet she was too agile to be hit, unlike their forms, as they were swiftly taken out by a barrage of arrows from a platoon of her allies. All but one, however, who looked stunned at the sudden felling of his breatheren.

"Stunned....and open." 

She ran alongside a stone wall on her route, yet this soon changed to running along the side of the wall. Using her momentum, she propelled herself at the quarry, sinking Nizbel into its skull. The hollow turned and looked at the flying Shinigami in shock, as its life came to an end. Yet there was another sharp pain, besides the cranial injury, for before it had died the beast had shot a barrage of needles into her legs.

"KYAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Her own scream joined the cries of the others across two districts, as she fell hard to the ground, rolling right to the rally point, her destination. Her world then went dark.

It was her father who had delivered the diagnosis. The bad news was that the injury was infected with Reiatsu, and thus was resistant to Chiyudo. The good news was that there was no permanent injury. Though her legs would recover, and she would regain her former mobility, it would require much training.

---

She was bedridden for weeks as her legs healed, and even when she was allowed out, her walk was shaky, and required the use of something to help balance her. Finally, after many months of this, she had the speed and mobility of a normal person who hadn't done any training, and today she would be discharged.

By her side was her daddy, who had been there for her all this time. In her sack, instead of the usual assortment of post lay some belongings she had whilst in hospital. Some odds and ends from home, an assortment of comics, a multitude of drawings given to her by Kata, the stuffed bear from her childhood, and...a guide to the architecture of the Seireitei? She hadn't quite understood why Kabelja had given it to her during her stay, though she understood that her superior wasn't quite familiar with these social graces. Full credit to her, she had visited often, even if she didn't understand the social convention as she adhered to it.

Soon...soon she would be free. Just once her discharge paperwork had been filled in, she would be out of this place.

A joyous trill, a merry combination of a whistle with a hum if you were to ask him what he was doing, wafted from his smiling lips as he strolled down the halls with his daily task. Since his discharge the other day, when that poor soul had very nearly died in his arms (he had not been touching Brain when his life force had left him), Yashimaru had been given the most simplest of tasks: carting files. He was a blubbering mess as soon as he left the sight of his long-time friend (and eternal love interest destined to never come to fruition) Mai to haul the corpse to the morgue. Since then, he'd been an emotional wreck, but with time, he would be just like new. A new and improved Kobayashimaru.

It had taken him two days to come to terms with it, and then yesterday, he'd finally realized that it wasn't worth him acting like this. He knew, deep down inside, that despite their tumultuous beginnings, his Friend Brain would not want to be remembered with sadness, but with all the merriment that life had to offer. The tears stopped, the smile returned, and the boxes to haul had not moved themselves. He threw himself, or his back, into the task, and as the last crate was handed over, the orderly asked him for one last task before going home for the day to wallow in his soreness:

The girl in room 314 was to be released.

He accepted the papers thrust into his gut with the grunt that the air escaping his lungs made through his gritted teeth, and turned around to go do the task. He had walked by the room several times on his journey and had caught a glimps of her, but could not act on the growing infatuation that blossomed in his heart: the girl's father was right there beside her, and the sheer terror he felt as the ultimate suitor forbade him from entering. Until now. He paused outside the door, running a slender hand through his sweaty, unruly golden curls to be presentable, dusted his shoulders off, gulped, and entered with a smile.

It had been around forty-five minutes since the two had left the Fourth Division. Since they had departed, they had made a stop at the Konno residence, at which time Hikaru-san had collected Kata-chan. Now all three were stood outside the western entrance to the Second Division.

Their long shadows climbed up the building, blighting the otherwise sunny surface. Though it was not just their shadows that would be climbing. Secretly, young Kata was daunted at having to ascend two flights of stairs again. Yet she did not complain, for she was excited to see her sister, and she knew it would be the last time she would have to ascend up the interior of the building, for today was the day her sister would come home.

The party of three entered the bowels of the hospital, moving up to Room 314.

The door opened. Immediately Yumi's eyes turned to it with an excited exclamation!

"Kata!"

But it was not her little sister, it was a member of the Second Division. A small pang of sadness flickered across her face, but it was only a brief flash. She composed herself quickly.

"Sorry there sir, I thought you were my sister."

She stood there in her pink smock, slightly embarrassed by her error. The man there certainly did not look like Kata in any way shape or form. He was too tall for one, and his hair was the wrong colour. Also, Kata wasn't old enough to be part of the Gotei, so why would she be in uniform? If she had given but a second, then she would have not made the error. The last few months had not deterred her 'leap before you look' attitude in the slightest. She did note however that the pink of her outfit seemed to match some accessory on his uniform. She hadn't quite determined what it was as of yet.

"Ah, Kobiyashimaru."

It was her father who spoke.

"Here with my daughter's papers, I presume?"

Yasunari gave a slight leer as he looked to the blonde man, one that Yumi would have missed. It was a warning. Yasunari knew the man's repitation, and had given him a friendly reminder that the lady in the room was his daughter, and messing with her would be messing with him. And he, though a friendly enough man, was not one to be messed with.

The blonde boy's smile did not falter at the presence of the man in the room. No, as he stumbled into a vacant chair on the way toward the counter, where he had intended on having the patient's guardian sign, the smile stayed on his face even as the crack of metal on shin made the most stoic of men wince. And Kobayashi was anything but stoic. Tears did not fall from his eyes, though they desperately wanted to (and let's face it, smacking the shin is as painful as stepping on a lego or slamming your elbow onto a corner), and he whispered a greeting through gritted, but smiling, teeth. "Aah, Konno-sama," he twittered, bringing up his free hand to nervously mess with the blonde curls on the back of his thick skull.

"I have your papers right here, just need a signature or two, and all will be ready as you please." ^~^;;

The man terrified him. He always seemed to be there right at the unfortunate end to a terribly wonderful relationship Yashimaru has started. And ended. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't convey what he knew in his heart to be true, not at all. The words just always came out so wrong, and it had earned him a most terrible reputation that was anything but the truth. Woe was he.

He shuffled the papers pressed into his chest, nearly dropping them twice, and then presented them to the father with a most perceptive tremor. His eyes refused to meet the girl's, or even her father's, darting to the door, the corners, even the ceiling, to try and not make that most dreaded eye contact. The man terrified him.

The party of three made their way up through corridor and hall, ascending the many stairs up to the second floor of the Second division. Well, at least two were.

"Mummy! I'm tired."

Poor Kata's little legs couldn't get her all the way up the stairs. After all, being so small, she had to walk many more steps to match the gargantuan strides of mummy and Kabelja.

"Come here Kata, mummy will carry you."

However, Hikaru-san was already laden with a large bag, and hadn't quite recovered from her sprint through the Fourth Division. Kabelja was neither of these things.

"Hikaru-san, please allow me. Come here Kata-chan."

The red-headed lady knelt down with her arms open. Kata had never been carried by Kabelja, so she thought she would give her a spin. The little bundle trotted into her arms and was picked up. It only took her a few seconds to regret it. You see, when mummy picked her up, it was also a hug. She felt warm and loved in her mother's arms. But here, in Kabelja's, she felt none of that. True, Kabelja's grip was secure, and wasn't uncomfortable, but all she felt was the coldness of efficiency. Mummy's was better.

Soon the party reached the floor where our heroine was staying. Kata wriggled slightly in Kabelja's arms.

"Thank-you Kabyuh."

Kabelja set her down.

"It's Kabelja."

"Ka-bul-ya"

"No, Kab-"

But she was already gone, scampering off into her sister's room.

Hikaru laughed, as the two elder ladies picked up the pace slightly. The little one barged into the room and squealed her sister's name.

"YUMI!"

But this squeal was made by a flying creature, who had pounced at her sister. The leap was impressive, for someone her age.

A loud bang filled the air, as the young doctor slammed his leg against a chair in the room. Yasunari, who was on the other side of the room at the time, strode over to his colleague.

"Are you OK, Kobiyashimaru?" An air of genuine concern was palpable upon his voice. He sat the blonde down in the chair, taking his papers from him and laying them upon the nearby table. "Let's take a look at you."

The elder knelt down in front of him, rolling up the relevant parts of his shihakusho to inspect his leg, causing Yumi to turn away and blush, though this turn had her looking at the door, just in time to see it burst open and a small creature fly at her, calling her name. Yumi caught the lump.

"Hey Kata!"

She cuddled and nuzzled her little sister, happy to see her again.

Shortly after her mother and superior also entered the room.

"Mama! Kabelja-san! Helo!"

Her hand flicked slightly from around her sister's back, waving to the two.

Suddenly, the poor blonde man found himself ushered into the chair that had damaged him, and his scrawny leg bared to the air. This was, he thought, unacceptable behavior, and he protested most eloquently, he thought, with a series of disbelieving stammers. Eventually, regrettably, he managed to place his hands atop the elder medic's and, with great strength of will, pressure them into stopping this invasive action. "I am fine," he thought he said, through the wincing the pressure upon his tenderized shin. "Tis but a flesh wound."

In reality, all that managed to come out was a series of whimperings that amounted to the fact that, yes, he hurt, no, he did not want it touched, and one great shrill one that clearly stated, you have gone too far...which earned a reflexive jerk of the leg that had the potential to send even the most confident of restrainers, or medical personnel, onto his keister. At which point, the blonde rose to his feet, favoring the injured one with its handsome and generous bruising, and presented the papers to the girl's father again.

This one, he thought, was not worth the trouble of his already aching heart if her father was that forward. And weird. Creepy.

The elder Konno fell to the ground with a bump.

"Allow me." Paperwork was Kabelja's speciality, and she took up the clipboard from Yasunari san, bringing it over to her subordinate.

His wife however was more on the ball.

"Don't worry, I've got you." She helped her husband back to her feet. "I've given up trying to understand things here," she added, with a slight chuckle.

"Before we start, Konno-san," Kabelja asked to her subordinate, "out of curiosity, how long until you will be returning to work?"

Her daddy fell with a big KA-RASH and a slight "Owwww" as he fell with a thud after being kicked. But instead of receiving a hand up, he received papers. Kabelja came to him, but instead of offering help, she relieved him of the papers.

"Shouldn't you have helped dad up, Watson-san?"

"Why? Your mother has him."

She shrugged slightly. Kabelja was awesome at paperwork but...not much else... The young Shinigami kissed her sister on the forehead before setting her down to run around.

"Umm...I am eager to get back, but I'm sure that others will be eager to have me back home too, so may I request a few more days off? Say...four?"

Kabelja did not reply, save to make note of that on a piece of paper separate from the release documents. A short pause filled the air, yet to Yumi, it felt like an eternity.

"Hey...uhhh....Kabelja....may I ask, will you still want me to do deliveries for you? After all, you said you kept giving me work as I was efficient and well...I can't go fast any more...at least for a while..."

She had felt a connection to Kabelja. Both cared for efficiency. Hers was in systems, and Yumi's was in movement. To get from A to B as fast as possible, using as few resources as possible. Though Kabelja also had the added duty to make sure everything was recorded.

They were different sides to the same coin. Or the same side to different coins, she wasn't sure which. Regardless, being dismissed was going to be hard for her. She felt appreciation for this lady. Whilst others only saw an impenetrable wall of ice, Konno Yumi had found a mentor of sorts, someone who had been invaluable to her when she had first joined the Gotei.

The first days had been OK but after a few weeks, a sizeable number of her colleagues in her department had...shunned her in a way. They were jealous of her abilities, and felt she was showing them up. As such, the girl thoroughly enjoyed doing special work for the nineteenth seat.

Was it all to end soon?

Yashimaru stood in the corner, having scrambled away from the terrifying father the moment he had the chance to do so. He trembled, mostly from pain, watching as the scene unfolded before his glistening eyes. Everything seemed to go terribly wrong for him, no matter his intention. It just wasn't fair.

And now, he was trapped. Trapped in this shrinking room, with a child and a father and a mother and a woman from the first, presumeably to oversee his discharging. No one trusted poor Kobayashimaru. Kobayashimaru could never win. TT-TT

The superior looked at her junior.

"Konno-san. You may not have your speed, or your agility, but you still are very reliable. We both know that most of the documents that come from my office aren't urgent...""Oh really, then why are you always so insistent that we get them filled in?""...but there is a high volume of them to keep you busy, and as I understand it, exercise is the best way to have you recover to your former condition. So, it is better in the long run if we keep to our arrangement."

She didn't know it, but she had just made the young girl's day, and this was the day she was getting her freedom!

"Oh Watson-san"

Kabelja's affirmation to Yumi had caused the unseated one to lose nearly all self-control, as she threw her arms around her superior, in a tight embrace.

"T-thank you"

Her parents looked on. They were happy for her, though they took some slight perverted delight in Kabelja's slight comfortableness.

And what of the youngest member of the family? Well, she was sauntering up to Kobiyashimaru on her little legs, sizing the blonde man up.


"Eh mister? Who are you?"

She stared at him with her little eyes.

Yashimaru jumped out of his skin at the child addressing him; he hadn't noticed her approaching him, having been too focused on eavesdropping on the first division members. Whatever information he had gleaned, amounting to nothing at all, promptly fled through his gaping mouth as he brought a delicate hand up to the base of his throat to collect himself -- and display his fright. "I am Kobayashimaru, Konno-ko." He said warily, though with a bright smile on his face. His eyes darted to the father figure, watching him closely in case he thought that Yashimaru was going to do something terrible to his youngest.

She was bemused. Why did her subordinate have her arms around her? Why was she crying? It was all a mystery to Kabelja. Regardless, social convention dictated that she should respond. Robotically the lady ran her hand along Konno's back, rubbing it. She had no idea why she did this, it was just what was done.

"One. Two. Three. Four."

The seated one released her junior.

"Come, we must read over this document."

She sat down on the edge of the bed and ran her finger along it.

"Everything seems to be in order...."

Her voice was soft, as she muttered to herself. She wasn't scrutinising just the details on the form, but the form itself. Whilst the lady had blanks of this form back in her division, this event provided an opportunity to examine it again.

"Yes, I believe we just require a signature from yourself, or guardian for those under one hundred or otherwise dependant, and the one releasing you."

She passed the clipboard to her associate along with a pen and barked at the one whose hair shone like the sun.

"Kobayashimaru-san, please sign the release form once Konno-san has finished."

"But I could have told you all that! I deal with these forms all the time!"

His complaints were heard by no-one but his wife, who patted him on the back knowingly.

"I'm Kata! Pleased to meetcha!" The youngest of the crowd stuck her chubby hand with her chubby fingers out at Kobiya.

And what of the main character of this post? Well, she was sat there. Kabelja had taught her well, to read everything before signing. It was her name on the form, her information that would be logged. She would be bound by the terms of the paperwork.

The form was long, but enough time spent around her superior had expanded her vocabulary somewhat, so she was able to grasp the details. All the information was correct, and it was a simple release form.

A flick of a pen, and it was done. All that stood between her and freedom was a single signature. That, and the trip out of the building. It had been a shock a month ago when she had been finally let out, supervised of course to see just how far in the building she was. Poor Kata, with such short legs...

Sweat beaded across the blonde man's brow as the child introduced itself, complete with an outstretched, expectant hand. He paused, hesitating as though this issue was truly life or death (and in a way, it was), before ever so gingerly taking the outstretched chubby digits into his equally sweaty fingertips. His father would have been ashamed at the terrible handshake, but he was not his father. His father was at home resting, as he always did, not cornered in a room with a nemesis, a child, the mother, the patient, and an auditor from the First Division.

His forms needed some help, sure, but was he really so terrible at them that he needed supervision from the Soutaichou's office?

"I'm Kobayashimaru," he said nervously, releasing the girl's fingertips; he could not remember if he had introduced himself at all, though if he had, a reminder to the girl wasn't a bad thing. Just as well he did, it seemed, as the hawking Watson addressed him so knowingly that he visibily flinched. Why was he on her radar? It didn't make sense! Oh, how he wished to cry and hide away in a darkened corner, ohsovery eager to put this madness behind him.

He much preferred getting a stern talking-to like the one he had from Hitoshi-sama the other day, about behavior and patient respect, over an apparent audit and the unfortunate invasion of not only his privacy, but the scanctity of the hospital. Normally, the family would wait outside during an audit so the privacy was maintained, even if they were related to the patient. But having them here was so nerve wracking, it was no wonder why he was being audited.

He hadn't moved. No, that wasn't true. He had made quite an impressive jerking motion upon the declaration of his name. The delay was...inefficient, even though it was but a few seconds.

A puzzling creature, to be sure.

"I'm Kata!" The young girl was enjoying this game, repeating herself over and over. She slid her hand from his and laughed, pointing at the poor Yashimaru when he flinched. "You're silly," she giggled.

"Oh dear, Watson-san has gone and done it again." The elder sister slid off the bed and stiffly walked over to him, giving a sweet, reassuring smile.  "He is rather timid...how does he manage to survive here? This place can get rather intense at times...."

"I think that's me. You just need to sign it yourself and I can leave, right?"

She continued to smile at him, talking in a soft, pleasant tone, hoping to bring calm to him. The ridiculousness of the patient treating the medical worker briefly toyed at the back of her mind. Yet her reassurance tensed up one person in the room. The other male in the room. Her father.

At the present time, he was content to just fidget. After all, the womaniser hadn't made a move...yet.

He stammered, unable to bring the right words out of his mouth for fear of stumbling over them and making a greater mess of things than he already had. Blushing from the embarrassment of the situation, the resigned male had but only to sign and then he would be free. Free to flee down the halls and streets and lock himself in his small apartment and sob the frustration away.

Begrudgingly, he took the proffered clipboard from the auditor, and signed the bottom line without his usual flourish. He then thrust it back, wincing and flinching as though he had been lashed with a barbed whip.

The power of a man's irradiating stare was as such.

And it was completed.

The form had been filled in, and now they could all leave.

"I am glad you have recovered, Konno-san. I'm afraid I must excuse myself now. I have to read up on procedures in your division, Hikauru Konno-san. Sayonara, Kobayashimaru-san, Yasunari-san, Hikaru-san, Yumi-san, Kata-san."

The lady bowed to each in turn as she spoke their names. True to her work, Kabelja did not return home, instead making a trip to the Third Division's libraries, to learn for the days ahead.

[EXIT]

And it was completed.

She was free. She took the clipboard from Kobiyashimaru and tore off the top sheets. Because of Kabelja, every document had to be made out en triplicate. One for the subject, one for the division, one for the library. Thankfully they had developed sheets which impressed the writing upon them unto the two sheets below, thus in effect a person only had to make out a document once. A welcome relief, or so she heard from those who came before her.

"Come along Kata, time to go."

"Hey, Kobiyashimaru, take a break or see someone, you don't look well.

The party of four departed from the room, the room which had housed the elder daughter for far too long. Yet, even still, Yumi could not resist giving it one last look as she departed, her bag by her hip.

It was the dawn of a new day. She had risen from the ashes.

[EXIT]

And then, they left as they had come. The moment was over, the auditor and the father were gone. Yashimaru was alone in the room, which swelled to its welcome normal size. He immediately sank into the chair that he'd tripped on, sighing in relief. That girl wasn't worth it, he thought. Her father was far too forward, she was affiliated with the first, and there was that child.

With another sigh, he rose from the chair and busied himself by beginning to clean the room. He removed the sheets, far too stressed to take in the scent of them if he had wanted to, collected the remainder of the papers, and walked back out. He would deposi the sheets on his way out, he thought. Yes, that would work.


[exit]

Rewards:

Yumi: 8 + 1 RP
Yashimaru: 8 RP

Thread locked, points to be allocated shortly.