11 is with bad luck

by PhantomlikeGirl

She's new in the 11th Division and it seems that whether she goes, this number keeps following her. Ikkaku love story!

'You cannot possibly do that!'

Her mother watched her father disapprovingly:

'Trust me, she is not fitted to be a Shinigami, do you hear me?'

'Oh, yes, she is! Her father's doing well as being one, so she will too!'

The man grinned stupidly, as he would usually do only to get to make his wife agree with him. The woman was stiff about everything:

'No, Soto, I'm serious about this, she will not become a Shinigami. I simply can't bear with it!'

She was sitting at the table, with her parents arguing something which she did not know whether she would have to also include her point of view or not.

'I want her next to me! She'll be fine!'

'In your division? Are you insane?! 11 is a harsh number to this family, you know that! Especially when it comes to her!'

'Oh, c'mon, honey, just because she had a few bad-lucks…'

'Don't "oh, c'mon, honey" me! You know what I'm talking about!'

Of course he knew. Even she knew it.

11 had always been a bad-luck number for her, ever since she was born.

For a start, she was born on the 11th, in the 11th month, when her father had killed his 11th Hollow and the clock stroke 11 sharp mid-night.

That wasn't bad luck.

But she wasn't able to count furtherer than 11. She got hit by a heavy rock, which cracked her skull 11 times, so she had to spend most of her youth years in a hospital.

She got 11 times beaten like shit by several kids and 11 times was the number of how many times she had been stabbed by noobies.

She was rather quiet and her most often word was… "supposingly"…yep, 11 letters.

Bad-luck, bad-luck…

She tried to make 11 friends at the same time but that's also the number of times, she had been rejected violently. She had scars all over her body because of that and the deepest ones were 11 ones. One on her forehead, 2 on her shoulders, one on her ass, and six on her legs. The 11th was across her right eye.

She didn't get it why her mother said it was fully bad luck to bear 11 with her. She just didn't. She only had to agree on it, that was all.

'She will become a Shinigami and that's the end of it, is that clear?'

A year later, she was a Shinigami.

She didn't say many things about it, she was the quiet type, with no friends, not even pleasure in killing or fulfilling anything that a Shinigami would have to fulfill.

She had learned a lot of things, but not to fully practice them.

Still, on the 11th of the 11th month of the year, when she had turned 14, her father smiled to her, as he brought her a report.

'Lamika, I just received this. It seems you've been finally assigned to a division. Your school-record was at its best. This belongs to you.'

Her mother looked also, bending above her shoulder, as to read the name of the division.

When doing so, she bumped her husband with a kitchen knife on his shoulder:

'You did this on purpose! Tell me you pulled some strings, dammit! Number 11? On that demented Captain's order? Oh, and let me guess, you're backing up now, aren't you?'

'Stop that, honey, I didn't pull any strings, damn! And I'm not backing up!'

'Of course you're not!'

It was settled: she was in the 11th division.

It was rather freaky. She seemed to be the only girl, apart from that weird looking Fukutaichou, to be of a female sex.

Everyone else was of a male gender. They were all gathered as being the noobies of this division. The small girl, with pink hair seemed to be her Fukutaichou, as her father told her that. She was odd and funnily standing on the Taichou's shoulders, a big and imposing man with a weird hairdo and trashed up face.

He must have had more than just 11 scars and some of the biggest.

None welcomed anyone.

The Taichou was called Zaraki Kenpachi and only told them that everything he wanted from them was strength, strength, strength. That was all. Nothing else.

After that, he said that the noobies may train with the division veterans, since nothing dangerous was actually announced.

'Cmon, dear, you'll train with me!' her father said and then drew her outside on the training grounds.

There were others in her position, pulling out their Zanpakutous and releasing their shikai, in order to seriously train.

Her father got out his too.

'C'mon, Lamika, draw your sword!'

She pulled her katana out and pointed it.

When she had become a full Shinigami, she received this Zanpakutou from within her and it was only 11 times that she actually drew it out, while screaming its name out loud.

It wasn't that she had rarely used it. In fact, her team had the benefit of becoming well-known because the successes made by her. It was only that she liked calling it in her mind. And so far, her Zanpakutou listened to her.

She didn't call it out this time, though.

She sniffed:

'I don't want to call it out. It may be tired and wanting to rest.'

'Don't be stupid, child, we're supposed to train, damnit!'

Her father called his Zanpakutou in a shikai shape:

'Now, draw your sword out! C'mon, Lamika!'

She nodded negatively and then she backed up, resting under a tree.

'Don't play lazy, you're embarrassing your father now!' the man said, as he started to get angry.

Seeing that his daughter no longer did as she was told, he pointed his sword towards her:

'Fine, then I shall make you call it out!'

He swung the katana in the air and stroke the tree to its half core, a millimeter above his daughter's head.

She didn't move an inch. In fact, she yawned bored.

'Seems like she actually doesn't want to train' said a soft voice and then her father turned around and smiled:

'Oh, hey, Yumichika-san… Ikkaku-san…'

She noticed other two males, rather younger than her father. One of them was bold and with a weird frowning gaze on his face, and the other one, the one who spoke, had a weird haircut and he much resembled a woman, with his soft voice and his colored eyebrows.

Her father rested his Zanpakutou on his shoulder, smiling:

'Yeah, I guess you're right! She's a noobie, after all!'

He looked at her once more:

'Don't be stupid now, just draw your sword as a shikai! Now!'

'Should I try?' asked Yumichika again, still polite.

'Whatever, I'm fed up trying to ask her that!' her father said bored. 'I'm gonna train somewhere else'

Ikkaku got up on a rock and gathered his legs as in lotus, while saying bored:

'Forget it, Yumichika, she ain't gonna do it, if she doesn't want to!'

Suddenly, she got up on her feet and swung her katana around the ground, lifting it up then, to its full shikai form. All she did was to touch the ground with it and point it out to Yumichika. She didn't call it out loud.

Yumichika smiled:

'Hm… interesting… are you in the habit of calling it in your mind?'

It had a weird shape, as most Zanpakutous looked like. Its blade was cut into tiny crests, and if Ichigo was there, the best way to have compared it with was with a hunting knife.

It looked huge and heavy for a girl of her age, but she easily put it on her shoulder, yawning.

'I did it ever since I got it' she answered shortly.

'Aha… well, we should start training if now you got it on your shikai!'

'Not!'

Yumichika's face fell.

'Why the hell not?!'

'Cause I don't want to. It may be resting now. It already took me too much to wake it up and go with the shikai transformation' she answered bluntly.

Yumichika was stupidly looking at her. Was she a baka or what?

Ikkaku got on his feet and watched her sword interested. He sniffed:

'It's probably not even strong.'

'Yeah, probably…' she mumbled, imitating him.

He stopped and turned his head:

'Did you just imitate me, punk?'

'Nope, I just repeated your words. It is the same thing, isn't it?'

Ikkaku turned slightly red with pissing off, but Yumichika was the first to actually smile and put his sword on his shoulder, as well:

'Hm… interesting. We got ourselves an interesting noobie here. You know, we should really train. What's your name, girl?'

'Kendo Lamika!'

'You may call me Yumichika. Your name's rather beautiful. And your sword seems beautifully strong. Is it?'

'Dunno. Never trained it to the fullest' she shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

'Why are you here then?'

'Guess, I'm supposed to be a Shinigami, now.'

'You're a weird kid, you know that?'

'Nope… but I've been told approximately 11 times this month.'

She wasn't grinning, she wasn't smiling, she wasn't angry. She didn't seem at all pissed off or anything. In fact, she was beginning to be annoying with this indifferent way of being.

Yumichika called out his sword in the shikai shape and said, smiling smart-like:

'I should warn you, I'm not holding back!'

'Suit yourself' was her blunt and indifferent answer.

He jumped on her and it was a swift attack, but she managed to dodge it without any effort.

'Pretty good!' smiled Yumichika. 'One more time!'

They trained the entire afternoon.

Thus, she was able to see what both their Zanpakutous' abilities were. Yumichika's would often take the shape of a 4-bladed reaper and would have shattered everything with incredible strength.

Ikkaku's was formed into a long wooden javelin and he seemed rather skilled when using it, since the tiny bladed edge was very sharp and strong.

Her sword was often sleepy, so her hand would not have to move too much, but she managed to do something about it.

The training went well, after that.

Later on, she came looking for her father.

He was found at a bar with a few other men, so she decided to take her road home alone.

Surely, her father would again return drunk, argue with her mother, beat her in order to keep her mocking down, probably give her also a few punches and then head off to a deep sleep. It was always this way. In absence of drinking, he was good dad.

'Where are you going?' a voice bumped in her back and she turned.

It was one of the boys she had met today, on her first meeting with her division.

It was Yumichika.

'You're not supposed to go home. Once you've entered the Shinigami divisions, you may say that you don't have a home. You're supposed to go and get your bed fixed up at the 11th Division's bedrooms.'

'What are you doing here at this time of night?' she asked curiously.

He smiled amused:

'It seems you're rather baka or either loony! It's what we Shinigami do: we protect Soul Society.'

'You not only do that. You're supposed to protect the Ningen too, right?'

'Not to be put like that, but yeah…'

'What am I supposed to do then?'

She seemed sincere about her inquiry. Yumichika watched her stunned for a few minutes.

'Why in hell's name did you become a Shinigami in the first place?'

'Cause everyone was pushing me to. But that doesn't mean I have to give interest in it.'

He sniffed rather unpleasantly:

'You're a very weird kid, you know…'

'It's a 12th time… it's not fitted' she grinned forcedly.

'What's to be fitted?'

'Nothing. Supposingly'

Yumichika was beginning to think that they actually added up a real loony on this division. He sniffed tired, as he said:

'Oh, this is way not at all beautiful… you really need to have your things sorted out. You seem to fight very good though… and your moves are pretty fast, almost as fast as mine… I suppose you're ok with the basics, but not with practice. You want to train some more?'

'Nope. My Zanpakutou's asleep now.'

She smiled nicely, like a kid.

He sniffed again, also smiling gently:

'You know… you'll die pretty soon with this attitude…'

'Why?' she asked curiously.

'Because it's very light… and rather indifferent and it gives people the scent that you don't have the slightest idea what you should do at the moment.'

'Well, I really don't know what I should be doing…'

'Oh, brother… so not beautiful… I would gladly have fought six stupid Menos than having to deal with you as an official partner by my side.'

'That sounds selfish. And not so… beautiful either' she answered bluntly again.

Yumichika watched her thoughtfully:

'You really like imitating people, don't you?'

'Only when I don't like what they mean by what they said.'

'Aha… are you sure you don't want to train?'

'Ok, if you insist, Yumichika-kun'

They trained all night, with out stopping but for only 30 minutes, every time a new hour would pass.

The next morning, Yumichika didn't seem at all tired, but she lied sleeping under a tree.

Her father came by that day. His head was hurting him a lot and he said to Yumichika that he would stay with her for now, so they were left alone. After that, he brutally grabbed her hand and shook her:

'Wake up, child!'

Her eyes drew sleepy:

'Ha? Oh, oyaji… it's you…'

'Yes, it's me. Have you been nice until now? These guys here need only one things from you: strength! So, stop sleeping and get to work!'

'What am I supposed to do?'

'I don't know! Maybe patrol the streets for a while and see how's it going? Anything might be at handy, other than resting! Move it!'

'Ok…'

She got up on her feet and then she started down the pathway, into the city, holding her Zanpakutou on her shoulder.

The streets were noisy and many people were doing their business.

The children would often play on the roads, while throwing things at each other, making others to join too.

The women were mostly gathered in large groups, either talking about the latest gossip, either just giggling or doing their shopping, while other Shinigami were wondering around carefully attending to their duties.

Everything seemed normal for the moment, nothing less.

She was getting bored.

At one point, she saw a huge mountain-peak, well-known for it's weird simply construction, where usually rogue or mislead Shinigamis were to be executed.

Some time back then, a Shinigami was about to be punished. Her name was Kuchiki Rukia and her father said rather awful things about her, due to his dislike for her.

She was never executed in the end. Some ryoka came to the rescue or something.

She had met her on the streets, while going back to her 11th Division's post. That is, she had met Kuchiki Rukia, but she heard that this brunet small-seized Shinigami belonged under Ukitake Taichou's command, under the !3th Division. She was also Kuchiki Byakuya's brother, the Taichou of the 6th Division.

Too complicated for her head to remember all that information.

She didn't give much interest to anything, especially not to the world of the Shinigami.

Her missions when in the academy were to gather and kill as many hollows as possible, a duty which was always done only because she and her Zanpakutou would fix anything.

Most of the times, she had been bullied and sometimes, her teammates would have taken credit for what herself and her Zanpakutou actually did. However, she never seemed to mind it. It was all normal to her.

'Oy!' someone called her suddenly and she turned to face the other new guy she met the other day, the day she first came to her Division.

It was Ikkaku.

His weirdly frowning look seemed to be the only sign that he wasn't approving with the fact that he appeared to be the only one available on having the task to visit the Ningen with her, as a noobie.

'Taichou says we should go on the mission. We're the only ones available.'

'Really?' she bumped rather light-headed and then followed Ikkaku.

Ningen was a weird place, to her opinion. Most noobies would have been surprised to see so many weird things, but she didn't give a damn about it. After all, people here seem to have had mostly everything that people in Soul Society had, only in different shapes, seizes and performances.

For the rest of the day, Ikkaku explained to her how is it to seal the souls of those lost, so the tasks were easy.

By mid-afternoon, she had already sealed… yeah, 11 souls.

It was weird how this number seemed to follow her around.

Her gigai was interestingly dressed, to her opinion.

She felt good in those things called jeans.

The people appeared to be nicer here than in Soul Society too.

She took the rest of the day off, as it appeared that Ikkaku was nowhere to be found.

So, she took off strolling around the streets, trying to know Ningen better.

Nothing was changed compared to her birth city. Just the quality and quantity differed.

At one point, she stopped in front of a kinder garden.

Kids were playing and running around, playing football and pushing themselves around or just screaming and yelling different incantations, which concerned their weird games.

It is said that kids' games are one of the most serious things in life, once you start to understand them.

She stopped and she watched the little boy who seemed not to be noticed by anyone. His eyes were wide opened with sadness and almost burst into tears when a football stroke him in the head and knocked him on the ground.

She hurried to get him on his feet, as the child cried.

'There, there now…' she mumbled tenderly and the child stopped from his crying, but remained to dry up his eyes.

'They're so mean!' he cried. 'I only wanted to play with them'

'Yes, well, there are times when people don't want you to do what they want.'

'But it's wrong, isn't it?' he looked at her curiously. 'I mean I only wanted to play.'

'I don't know if it's wrong or right… I never asked…'

She smiled rather too fast to be noticed, as she started to pat away the dust from the boy's clothes.

He sniffed through his nose and inquired again curiously:

'Do you know how many stars there are on the sky?'

'It's not night yet, you know.'

'Nope. I was just asking'

'Well, I don't know how many they are. Never took the time to count them…'

'Mom does that for me every night!' the boy said proudly. 'But she always ends up counting the same star over and over again.'

'You can't blame her. You know they sort of look alike.'

The little boy looked around and then said:

'You wanna play with me?'

'Loved to, but I can't. I'm on duty.'

'Doing what?'

'I'm a Shinigami'

'What's a Shinigami?'

She sniffed as she started to ruffle the back of her head:

'You know what a police officer is, don't you?'

'Yeah. He's a man in a uniform, protecting you from bad guys and robbers. That's what my mom says they are.'

'Well, that's what a Shinigami is. Only the police officers deal with bad guys that your eyes can see. Shinigami deal with freaks that aren't seenable.'

The boy watched her weirdly confused:

'There're also bad guys who can't be seen?'

'Yeah, sure they are!'

'And are you supposed to wear a uniform when you fight them?'

'Yeah.'

'You're not wearing a uniform now…'

'No. I'm in disguise.'

'Oh, I see. Do you have a gun?'

'Nope. A Zanpakutou.'

'What's a Zanpakutou?'

'It's a katana with a soul of its own. And it even has a name!'

'Really?' the boy asked enthusiastically. 'Sugoi! How can you get a Zanpakutou?'

'When you finish a Shinigami school and become a full Shinigami.'

'Oh, man, it sounds like a pesky thing!'

'Yeah, tell me about it!' she smiled. 'Well, kiddo, I gotta go now! I'll see you later!'

'Yeah. Bye, bye, Shinigami! Good luck!'

'Thanks! You too!'

As she waved joyfully to him, when returning to face her road, she bumped into her colleague, Madarame Ikkaku.

His face seemed again to be disapproving with something.

'Quit yapping around! Seen any Hollows so far?'

'N-no… not at all. You?'

'Nope.'

Ikkaku watched her thoughtfully, as he raised one eyebrow:

'What'cha talked about with that kid?'

'Nothing much… just crap here and there…'

She suddenly saw a couple, rather heading towards them. There was girl and a boy who seemed to look alike, since they might have been brothers.

The girl appeared to approach Ikkaku with incredible speed.

'Do you know them? Cause they sure seem to know you…' she said and as Ikkaku turned, the girl jumped on his neck, screaming joyfully:

'Daaaaarling!!'

'Ohayo, Ikkaku-san' Keigo Asano greeted him rather guiltily, now that his sister was clutched to the Shinigami's neck.

Ikkaku didn't exactly know what to do next. He no longer stood at Keigo's house, so letting this guy's sister hang of his neck was no longer something he was obliged to bear with. On the other hand, everything was about a girl, so… he respectfully took off the arms of the young smiling girl, as he answered:

'Oy, idiot!'

Keigo's face fell, and his sister refused to oblige Ikkaku so she jumped one more time on his neck, this time making him fall off:

'Darling!'

Only now, Keigo noticed the girl who was joining Ikkaku.

She seemed of his age and rather weird looking.

She had a white and long, simple cut hair, with a pair of extremely light blue eyes.

She looked weird and Keigo started to think that it was all in vain to ask Ichigo about how the hell he made up so many freak-like friends.

He smiled and said:

'Hey there, I'm Keigo!'

'I'm Lamika' she added politely.

'That's a nice name.'

'Thanks.'

'You new in town?'

'Nope. Been here for a long time. Only, I just came up with going out today.'

'Oh… I see… you don't go out too much, do you?'

'Nope. Be dsu-ni!'

'Oh…'

Keigo watched her seriously doubtful, but since these things seemed to be normal nowadays, he just shrugged his shoulders and grinned.

He then tried to forget about his sister (who Ikkaku was struggling now pretty hard to get her off him) when pushing her rather away from their group:

'So, Lamika-chan! In what high school are you?'

'I ain't in high school yet. I'm only 14.'

She grinned stupidly, as her father used to and Keigo smiled:

'Oh, really? That's pretty odd. I would've said you were older or somethin'. How do you know Ikkaku-san?'

'Well, he's my… um, friend…'

'Aha… nice.'

They both looked at the odd couple.

Ikkaku was struggling to push away Mizuho's body, while she was still smiling and singing "darling" as she was holding his neck firmly.

'They seem to like each other' Lamika said senile.

'Yeah… dunno about Ikkaku, but Mizuho surely likes him…'

Keigo sniffed, and then smiled:

'Well, we gotta go now! Nice meeting you, Lamika-san.'

'You too, Keigo-kun.'

'C'mon, Mizuho, mom's gonna mock us again for being late!'

The girl finally let go of Ikkaku and left him for her brother, which she started to hit in the head for no reason, as they parted away form them.

'She's nuts, that damn woman!' Ikkaku concluded nervously.

'Hm, seemed to me like she liked you…' she sniffed.

'Every time I meet them, things go worse for me…'

'He's nice, you know. If only you could be more polite to him.'

'Who, that idiot? Eagh! Forget it, we've got work to do! Let's go!'

Ok, this was weird! It was the 11th time that she thought about home today. Not of her father, not of her mother, but of her home.

When the weather started to get worse, as the ash-like clouds descended the sky, it was pretty obvious that not only rain was approaching.

Ikkaku sniffed the air, seriously thinking that something was wrong.

'Somethin's coming' he said, but when turning around to face his partner, he noticed that Lamika was just watching a hole in the asphalt rather interested.

Ikkaku's face fell, as he muttered to himself:

'She's really gone…'

'Are you talking about a Hollow? Is that what's coming?'

Ikkaku startled and watched her thoughtfully:

'How do you know it's a hollow?'

'The smell's been bothering my nostrils since we got here. It should be on the north-west side, since that's where the most infamous neighborhood lies.'

She grinned, as she answered:

'Asked a few people… hi, hi…'

'Let's go!'

dressed now in full Shinigamis, Ikkaku and Lamika scattered the surroundings carefully.

It did smell like hollows, but there was no one there.

Ikkaku started to believe that it was nothing and that the scent might have belonged to a hollow which might have died only recently, killed by another Shinigami.

Suddenly, he heard a little boy's scream, coming from an open park and started to run on that direction.

When meeting a light open stadium, he saw a boy crying scared and trembling, as a huge hollow was stretching its hand in order to grab the little boy.

He had hid himself in between some quite narrow bars and for the moment, this had kept him slightly away from its predator.

'Meal! You are my Meal!!'

The hollow was struggling hard and furiously to grab the boy, but it couldn't even touch the human's flesh.

Ikkaku sniffed bored, as he rested his Zanpakutou on his shoulder:

'Oh, c'mon… this is too simple… Kendo, how about you deal with this?'

When he had thought that the girl was in his back, he finally startled rather stupefied when seeing that she wasn't actually there, but on the other side of the bars, trying to grab the little boy's arm.

'A Shinigami!' bumped the hollow. 'You low thing! Take your hands off my meal!'

'It's a human, you idiot!'

The boy screamed and when the hollow lifted his arm to strike the bars, the boy was rapidly pulled off, but the two bars caught something else instead.

She didn't even seem to notice, when trying to calm the boy down:

'C'mon, just run!'

The boy was frightened, due to the fact that he had been threatened by unseen dangerous things and now another invisible thing had pulled him away from his hide-out. He started to run on the street frightened and screaming out, while the hollow now turned to her:

'You're going to be my meal… a Shinigami's better this way…'

It just grabbed her caught hand, in between the two bars. She sniffed disgusted, as she hit it under its jaw, bursting out:

'Get your hands off, jerk!'

'Hey, idiot! How long are you planning on thinking how to eat her?' Ikkaku yelled behind him.

'Ha?' did the hollow, but when it returned, it only caught the sight of Ikkaku jumping on him with his sword, as he continued, smiling shrewdly:

'Thinking does you bad!'

The Zanpakutou stroke the hollow and with its last cry, it was sent away. The park was now left alone and within the rain.

'You're really baka' said Ikkaku, when again resting his Zanpakutou on his shoulder, while watching her.

She sniffed:

'Didn't ask for your help…'

'Of course you didn.'t… how are ya gonna get out of that now?'

'Simple: I'll cut my hand off'

'Practical' he muttered rather amused. 'But hurry up, we've got to go now.'

He then saw that she called her Zanpakutou in shikai form through her mind. Was she serious about cutting off her hand?

'Are you serious about this?' he asked.

'Yep.'

'You're really… really… baka…'

'Well, since you don't want to help, then…'

'You could just ask, you know… it's not that hard…'

'I don't want to.'

'Fine, suit yourself. I'll see you later, I'm heading off!'

He jumped in the air and then was not to be seen anymore.

Yumichika, the other day, decided to pass shortly to the hospital.

This time, he had some time to spare, so he decided that before training, he should visit someone at the hospital.

Urahana-Taichou was a busy woman, as usual, no matter if she had Kotetsu-Fukutaichou next to her.

The hospital wasn't so filled up now, but maybe only for the Shinigamis who's businesses had a bad ending.

At one point, Yumichika headed off for a third floor, and finally entered a white room, filled with other Shinigamis.

The one he went to visit was resting at the edge of the bed, with his hand wrapped carefully in bandages and seemed to be ready to take off.

'Hey there, Lamika' Yumichika greeted her with his usual rather superior smile. 'Doing better, I see…'

'Oh, hello, Yumichika-san. Yeah, my hand's healed.'

'I'm still amazed by how in places you managed to cut it off, I would not actually do it. I don't know whether that's a rather baka or right thing to do.'

She grinned stupidly and then got up on her feet:

'You're free today?'

'Yeah, I guess I am. Do you want to train? Do you feel you could deal with it?'

'Yeah, sure, why not? My Zanpakutou surely rested too much these days.'

After training with also other Shinigamis from the same division, Yumichika and Lamika relaxed under a tree.

She started to caress her Zanpakutou, as her friend bended over and lied on the ground, looking at the sky:

'Ah, so beautiful…'

She didn't say anything for the next few minutes.

'Are you thinking of something?' he asked.

'Nope.'

'Do you ever think of anything other than what you are thinking?'

'That's a trick question. And no, I don't usually think of anything.'

Yumichika smiled rather rascally, as he turned his face towards her.

She sniffed:

'Yumichika-san… why did you become a Shinigami?'

'Hm, let's say I did it for a friend. After all, our lives weren't so special. We needed some refreshes…'

'Did you do it for Ikkaku-san?'

'Yeah.'

'And why did he become a Shinigami?'

Yumichika sniffed bored, as he returned to watched the sky thoughtfully.

'He became a Shinigami when he found out that he also became one… when he became the 11th Division's captain…'

'Oh, I see… so, he also did it for someone.'

'Hm, yes, you may take it that way…'

Yumichika got up easily and looked at her:

'Why did you become a Shinigami, Lamika-san?'

'Everybody said it was best. I had no choice.'

'So, you also did it for someone'

She startled confused and saw that Yumichika was smiling to her softly. She turned sad for a reason or another:

'Ha-hai…'

'Why do I have the vague feeling that you thought we were different from you?'

Yumichika took a seat on a heavy big rock, next to her.

'I wasn't comparing anyone with me' Lamika answered plainly.

'You seemed as though you were. Ever since you came here, even though for a few weeks. But it seems you try to separate yourself from us, in order to give us this impression.'

He sighed bored:

'Utterly not beautiful…'

'Not everything's beautiful in this world.'

'Yeah, that's very sad, isn't it…?'

'No, it's not.'

Yumichika turned his gaze upon her. She had held her head down, with some sadness hidden inside her eyes. It was that sort of sadness which, fondly, every Shinigami possessed, because it came from tons and tons of problems, either spiritual, either materialistic.

She was probably sad because she had been forced to be someone she didn't want to be.

He then also noticed the way she was touching her Zanpakutou.

He had seen way too many Shinigamis touching their Zanpakutous. It was either when they would fight or train or clean it or polish it.

They usually treated them as what they were: katanas. Just because they possessed a name and a soul of their own, the Zanpakutous were in definite, katanas… swords…

Her touching seemed to have caressed the Zanpakutou, as if the blade was a kitten sleeping in her lap.

Not few were the times, when he had surprised her talking to it, as if she had spoke to an imaginary friend.

She was treating her Zanpakutou very special. Extremely special… it was weird, and yet interesting.

'Lamika-san… how did you feel when you felt your Zanpakutou in your hands?'

'Nothing much. Just that I had a new responsibility in my hands, from now on.'

'Would you care to tell me its name?'

'I'd rather not' she answered bluntly. 'It is asleep at the moment and I dare say I might wake it up, if I call it.'

Yumichika smiled again rascally:

'You make it sound like it would actually listen to your every call, no matter the need.'

'It doesn't sound like that, it is like that.'

Yumichika startled, but did not let go of his smile:

'Souka… well, then, I suppose you know mine and what it may do.'

'Yes, I suppose I do, but I don't remember because I don't want to. It's not likely nor fair to know your opponent's aces, when you haven't shown yours yet. Isn't that so, Yumichika-san?'

It rather blocked him, even though it wasn't a trick question, but rather a childish one.

'I don't understand…' he muttered confused.

'Supposingly…' she mumbled and sniffed. 'Let's say you're in a battle with a hollow which also possesses a Zanpakutou…'

'Highly a non-beautiful scene' mumbled Yumichika bored.

'Whatever! Anyway, and let's say you tell him all your Zanpakutou's aces. Better said, you show him all your Zanpakutou's aces, while he does nothing with his own, in order to give you on slight impression about what his katana can do… follow me until now?'

'Yeah, I guess I do…'

'Alright, so… wouldn't it be unfair that he already knows what you can do with your Zanpakutou while you know nothing of his? It's not fair, is it…?'

He smiled and laughed:

'It wouldn't matter. I'd kill him by the time he'd realize what my Zanpakutou can do.'

'Aha… I see… didn't think about that' she bumped senile and Yumichika watched in order to make sure that she wasn't making fun of him or anything.

She wasn't.

'I told you you're too light-headed… you'll loose in front of a hollow if you start analyzing your fight in logical terms. We don't do this in the 11th Division. We just fight and fight and fight!'

'So, I noticed' she muttered softly.

'Would you have preferred a different division?'

'Nope, this one's fine. The number 11 seems rather odd to me.'

Yumichika got his head up again:

'Why do you say that?'

'Well, it's been following me all my life. But it doesn't matter.'

'Right…'

Some footsteps were heard on the ground, as a voice bumped:

'Yumichika! We've got a new job!'

Ikkaku yawned sleepy.

He noticed that Kendo Lamika was with his friend again. One of her hands was bandaged carefully.

When he had heard that leaving her in that deserted park on that night determined her to really cut off her hand, he thought that she was really an idiot and a weird wench.

Now, seeing her again, this time polishing her Zanpakutou in an odd manner, he seriously thought that she must be a freak.

'Yukuzo! Yumichika bumped.

'Ha? Agh… hai!' said Ikkaku.

As he turned away, he watched her get up on her feet and swing her katana in the air.

'Lamika-san, why don't you join us?' said Yumichika.

'Haaaaaaaaaai!'

This was a weird scene. There were ten hollows and a menos at the same time. It was weird because it had not been reported that this was a grave level of danger.

There were several Shinigamis already knocked off conscious when they arrived at the scene.

Some other fighting men from several divisions were there, including her father. He seemed the most willing to fight against the hollows, so he did destroy some of them.

This was actually a training ground, as Lamika recalled, when she remembered her first missions during her academy years.

Things must have gotten out of control, when these noobies got into their own mission.

Ikkaku and Yumichika started to fight the minute they came there, and they really seemed pleasant about everything.

The menos had not fully waked up, but it was only a matter of time.

Soon, they discovered that the more hollows you killed the more they replicated.

'What's going on?!' someone cried, parted from his group considerably.

'What's keeping them multiplying so much?'

'This will be tiring!' said Yumichika, now rather breathing hard after an hour of continuous fighting.

'We have to kill the menos! It may be the one that's helping them multiply!'

'I really didn't need this right now!'

Several Shinigamis prepared their Zanpakutous to attack.

Most of them were seriously wounded or tired and her father had a huge and deep scar on his face.

'Damn these guys!'

there were angry cries everywhere, as most of them were continuously fighting a countless increasing number of hollows.

Ikkaku and Yumichika seemed to have lived to their fullest standards, since they were mostly some of the few who still had the strength to continue fighting.

Help was on their way, but it may have been too late.

'Head for the menos!'

'I'll do it!' bumped Ikkaku and as he swung his Zanpakutou in the shikai form in the air, he stroke the menos, cutting it in two.

As he reached the ground, the menos cried, when shattered into darkness.

'Damn it, they're still multiplying!' Yumichika cried out angrily. 'Someone's controlling them. We need to destroy them all at once!'

'Regroup, men!'

'No use! We need someone's bankai!'

There were Zanpakutous killing hollows over hollows, as these weird creatures were crying for food and often attacking Shinigamis 4 to 1.

Ikkaku and Yumichika fought too many at the same time, even though they enjoyed it, but it was tiring.

Her father had difficulties too. He had parted form his group considerably and now was surrounded by 5 hollows.

'Meal, what a delicious meal! I never tasted Shinigami before!' said a hollow.

'Yes, we'll scatter him into bits and eat him while he can still see us!'

'We'll see about that!'

The Shinigami jumped in the air crying victoriously, as he swung the katana in the air. The shikai shaped Zanpakutou released a great amount of light, as its owner cried out:

'Run through them, Kaireitsu!'

'Don't blunt with us, Shinigami!'

Another unexpected hollow jumped above him and as the Shinigami turned rather frightened and surprised to see what was happening, the great bone-like arm stroke his forehead painfully and send him into the air with am impressive speed. It made him collapse seven pillars one after the other.

The man only stopped its road through the air, when his body was really torn apart and unconscious.

The hollows rushed to deal with his body, happy that they finally got a decent meal.

At that point, Ikkaku turned his gaze and saw them and was just about to hurry to him.

'Gora-san!' Yumichika called the unconscious Shinigami's name, but it was too late.

Suddenly, the surface of the ground on that spot was delicately touched by the tip of a Zanpakutou and as it was raised and pointed towards the amount of rushed hollows, it set loose six silvery-white smokes, which took the shape of large and strong wolves.

Hungry and rabid, they all rushed to the hollows, grabbing their necks and tearing them apart.

One by one, the once-fierce-and-dangerous hollows were scattered into the darkness.

The Zanpakutou rested on the ground, as its owned stiffed it through the earth and bended over to the wounded Shinigami.

'Dad, are you ok?'

The man vaguely opened his eyes, only to see the silvery wolves return to the Zanpakutou and a girl smiling rather frightened.

He managed to smile too:

'H-hey there, Lamika…'

The few Shinigamis still managing to stand up gathered around him:

'Are you alright, Gora-san? Gora-san!'

'Well done, Kendo!'

They patted her back joyfully, as she smiled:

'Y-yeah…'

She then backed up from the group, as the rest tried to help her father on his feet.

All she did was to get back to her Zanpakutou and grab its handle.

'You did well, Lamika-san' Yumichika added softly.

She didn't speak anything. She just backed up even more.

She felt someone watching her again. It was Ikkaku, but his gaze was rather disapprovingly.

When returning back to the 11Th Division's HQ, from the hospital, after a brief check upon her physical presentation, she seemed to have noticed that she was rather alone.

Most of the men in this division were out doing their job and so she was left alone.

It pleased her to know that she hadn't reached a Taichou which was insisting that she must do what others did.

It seemed Zaraki Kenpachi was a man who only wanted his own interests and wanted his men to be strong, that was all. How this strength could have been obtained, it wasn't any of his concern.

She checked up the surroundings on the training ground and then headed for the forest outside the divisions' HQs.

She felt her Zanpakutou pulping in its place. She put her hand upon it, as she muttered:

'Hush now, any minute now, we'll be alone. Just wait, ok…?'

After a 20-minute walk, she finally reached a spot to her pleasure.

She yawned bored, as she pulled her Zanpakutou out:

'Ok, little fellow… we're alone here… let's swing you guys out, shall we?'

She sniffed amused, as she scratched the ground delicately with the tip of her Zanpakutou.

She closed her eyes and called her katana in the shikai form in her mind.

When her eyes open, there were 12 wolves standing in front of her, glowing with silvery strength.

They all seemed to have been grinning of something.

'Hiya, guys! Long time, no see!'

Ikkaku was just patrolling the south district, bored as he was and rather frustrated that there was no hollow to fight now.

It had been several days since they had that problem in the training grounds, with those annoying hollows.

Yumichika was patrolling another district, somewhat furtherer than him, so it was quite impossible for him actually to do anything, just to lack boredom.

'Eagh, this is way too boring for me! C'mon, Taichou should have picked another idiot to do this job! It's shitty!'

He yawned again, tired, as he rested his Zanpakutou on his shoulder.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps and turned to see who it was.

It was Kendo Lamika.

She seemed bored, carrying her Zanpakutou no longer gentle and careful, but simply letting it tangle along her legs, while continuously scratching the ground.

He remembered that day when he was finally able to see one of her Zanpakutou's abilities. It was weird and rather interesting. It was often said that a Zanpakutou's abilities, whether in shikai or bankai form, always showed the way of its master's inside. It was part of his soul.

So, it was slightly expected that her Zanpakutou must've had weird and interesting abilities.

'Oy, Kendo!' he called her up and it seemed to have woken her up from her dreamy face.

She saw him and then grinned:

'Oh, hey, Ikkaku-san!'

'Where have you been?'

'Hm, just training on one of the undergrounds. I was alone. What are you doing here?'

'I'm on duty, baka' he sniffed bored. 'I don't linger around like you!' he continued proudly.

'I don't linger around' she answered bluntly. 'There's a difference between having something to do and refuse to do so, that is linger on it, and having nothing to do so you bet bored just lingering.'

'Ha?!' he bumped stupefied.

'Never mind! H-how was, um… Gora-san?'

'He was fine, last time I visited him. Why? Haven't you seen him until now?'

'Nope.'

Her face turned rather sad somehow.

Then, she startled and watched him, as Ikkaku yawned again and started to scratch the back of his head.

'Nee, Ikkaku-san…'

'Hm?'

'Does your Zanpakutou sleep a lot?'

'Oh, yeah, it does. But I wake him up pretty fast!' Ikkaku grinned proudly. 'We both beat the shit out of anyone who underestimates us!'

'Aha…'

'You should train more often with yours' he mumbled, smart-like.

'You think so?' she asked senile and then she stretched her katana towards him.

He suddenly startled rather insecure, since he felt a strange reiatsu circling this Zanpakutou. It was different. It wasn't mean and it wasn't good either. It was just there…

He watched her thoughtfully.

'Nee, Kendo, how well do you know your Zanpakutou, anyhow?'

'Not so well. Rarely used it. I don't need to call its name sometimes. It just floods up into whatever I want it to. Shikai, that is. I don't think I could go as far as bankai, if that's what you're thinking.'

'You should get to know it. You should train, baka!' he sniffed bored again.

'That's what I did today. I punch them up and I won!'

She grinned joyfully.

'Who did you fight with?'

'You noticed them, didn't you? Back then, that day… the silver wolves… they're from my shikai shaped Zanpakutou.'

'Oh, they are, aren't they…?' he mumbled rather thoughtfully.

'Yes, they are!'

'And how's that thing of yours called anyway? How do you… summon them, shall we say?'

'That's a secret!' she smiled.

'Oh, yeah, I forgot… you like doing it in your mind, right…'

It appeared to her that he was mocking her or just playing ironical.

She didn't smile anymore, as she backed up:

'You know, if you don't like me, you should say it. I give credit to people to bluntly say what they think of things.'

'Your opinion, baka…'

'Stop calling me like that, I have a name.'

Ikkaku watched her grinning meanly:

'Don't want to. You're a noobie, so I call you baka, cause you're new and stupid!'

Suddenly, he felt that weird reiatsu again, this time growing harder and harder. It might have taken the shape of a thick smoke.

He watched the girl in front of him. Her gaze was weirdly ugly, as she studied him disapprovingly.

It seemed that the strange reiatsu was coming from her.

Her light, very light blue eyes seemed to grow even lighter and a thin, but silver light covered her, as the Zanpakutou in her hand began to shake slightly to the left of its master's side.

'Oy, Kendo…' he mumbled. 'Stop that, this isn't training, you know…'

Suddenly, she dropped the Zanpakutou and as Ikkaku watched it, he could see that it sort of set something loose, because the thin silver light disappeared, the light blue eyes returned to their original color and she no longer seemed to possess that awkwardly strong reiatsu.

She sniffled and shook her head confused:

'Ha? What'cha said?'

Ikkaku exchanged looks towards her and then the dropped Zanpakutou. Did that katana just tried to take over her body?

As she bended over to raise the Zanpakutou, he again felt that reiatsu, but only until she rested her sword inside its place, next to her left hand.

'I better be going now' she said as senile as before and then was about to leave.

'Hey, a… Kendo…?'

She stopped.

'How about if I train ya tomorrow, what do you say about that?'

'No, thank you, I don't need to be trained. My Zanpakutou may be sleeping and I wouldn't want to wake it up. Thanks for the offer, though, Ikkaku-san.'

She grinned and headed back for the dormitories.

Ikkaku remained watching her thoughtfully.

'You noticed it finally…' said a soft voice, and Ikkaku answered:

'Yeah, only just now… how about you?'

'Since the beginning' said Yumichika.

'Man, my senses must be going down' Ikkaku sniffed bored.

'I don't know about that, but anyways, that katana of hers is really something, I hafta say…'

'Yeah… you're right about that.'

The next day, Lamika tried to visit her father at the hospital, but when she arrived there, she was told that he had been set free and was probably back to his division's HQ.

She turned away too. As she continued her road, she saw many Shinigamis from different divisions, walking along in rather small or large groups.

The point was that no one seemed to be alone. Only few were those who walked alone and most of them had something probably physically wrong.

She had nothing wrong physically.

She seemed weird, perhaps. Maybe it was also due to the fact that she belonged to a rather fierce division.

Maybe it was because of that.

She decided suddenly to visit her mother.

Her legs turned around instinctively and then she ran along the wider streets, in order to find the way out.

As she ran down the alley, she just bumped into the road, which lead to her Division's post.

Yumichika and Ikkaku were there, both of them.

'Oh, hello, Lamika-san!' Yumichika said softly. 'Going somewhere?'

'Yes, I was. I was going to visit my mom.'

'You're supposed to ask permission for that' Ikkaku muttered bored.

'Really?' she asked again senile. 'I didn't know about that…'

'You should. This is the way we Shinigami do our jobs, in order to keep ourselves clean.'

'Aha' she mumbled. 'Are there punishments for disobeying stuffs like these?'

She seemed sincere about this question.

'Are you mocking me?' Ikkaku asked stupefied.

'N-no…'

'Listen here, you little…!' he rushed angrily, but Yumichika stopped him in time, saying:

'We never broke the rules, so I don't know about these things. But there are certain rules that we must follow and would be harshly tough if not respected.'

'Oh, I see… well, then… I guess I'll go train.'

'Um, Lamika-san…? Would you mind if I join? I would very much like to see how you deal with your Zanpakutou' said Yumichika thoughtfully.

He had thought that once asking her, she would most certainly refuse.

But she didn't. She smiled rather light, as she answered:

'Okey dokey, Yumichika-san, whatever you say!'

'I-I'll come too then!' bumped Ikkaku rapidly.

'Suit yourselves!'

Ikkaku chose a spot when he took off his upper uniform and sat down in a lotus position, in order to gain some concentration.

Yumichika took a seat under a tree, as he sniffed through his nostrils, smelling the air, while watching the girl.

Lamika now was standing in front of them, at some considerable steps away, with her Zanpakutou transformed into its shikai form. It was a large and heavy blade, which seemed rather impossible to be controlled.

There were 12 or maybe 16 silvery wolves surrounding her and she didn't even call them out loud. She was fighting with them now, slightly violent, training.

Her moves were pretty good and her feet were at an impressive speed. She seemed somewhat suitable to be a Shinigami.

'She's doing fine so far…' Yumichika muttered. 'I wonder where that weird reiatsu came from. It always stops after something happens to the sword…'

'Then, it comes from the sword' Ikkaku answered.

'It's not that simple, I sense this. There's something more about this. I think we should talk to the captain.'

'We can fix this on our own. We'll supervise her.'

He grinned stupidly.

'Don't treat this lightly, Ikkaku. She may be…'

'Dangerous? Gimme a break!' Ikkaku sniffed bored.

Yumichika sniffed regrettably and then turned his gaze towards the girl again.

Lamika was fighting her wolves continuously. They didn't seem to give her any break.

Yumichika frowned his stare, as he started to notice that something was wrong with the faces of those wolves.

As the animals fought the girl, at the beginning, they seemed to have taken this training seriously, but not too crossing the limits. Several times, Lamika had been hit of a rock or thrown high into the air and then falling down with a big gap through the earth, but it was only a rough training.

Now, it suddenly felt different, as if something had activated a different angle through these wolves, as they no longer took this training light, but very… very serious…

The light around them grew more and more silver-like, as their bodies seemed to transform into heavy-like machines.

Lamika didn't appear to notice. She did ask herself several times why they had managed to tire her so, but she thought it was due to the harsh training until now.

She had many scars and she was bleeding, but these things were normal in her training.

She swung her Zanpakutou with delicacy and yet, with strength, as she tried to hurt the wolves. But it must have been to her hesitation that the animals were rarely stroke.

She was tired, she could feel her bones hurt, as the minutes passed with incredible speed.

The wolves started not to give her any credit for her exhaustion.

Now, as she started to feel, it was as if even though she wouldn't have to hesitate hitting them, she couldn't do so, since they were jumping on her for no reason without giving her any breaks.

'Wow… what…?! wow!'

All that was left for her to do was swing the sword around, in slight fear for her enemies once thought friends.

Yumichika felt that strange reiatsu, as he got up on his feet.

'Ikkaku? Do you…?'

'Yeah, I do. It's definitely from that sword!'

Ikkaku came back on his feet and yawned bored:

'Oh, man, she's a gonner, really… baka…'

She screamed suddenly, when a wolf jumped on her and almost took her left arm off.

'H-hey! Stop it, not now…!'

She got up on her feet, only to swing her katana around, in shikai form, as another wolf jumped in the air, to attack her.

She screamed again and fell on the ground, hitting some feet, which seemed to stop the threatening wolf, with a long and wooden strong stick.

Ikkaku yawned again, when looking at her with superiority:

'You're a baka, as I said before…'

'I'm… n-not… Agh!' she screamed again, when another wolf rushed to her and made her grab the Shinigami's leg.

Yumichika stopped that one. He also stopped the others, as all the animals now withdrew into smoke, inside the sword, now lying on the ground silently.

Yumichika watched it thoughtfully, and then returned to the girl:

'Are you alright, Lamika-san?'

'Quite, thank you'

'That seemed like a very strong reiatsu. I didn't know you possess it on such a high level…'

'I… I did…?'

She again seemed sincere, which is why Yumichika and Ikkaku exchanged looks.

'Yeah, you did, baka!' Ikkaku sniffed and then bended over to help her get up.

'Don't call me baka' she mumbled and got up on her feet with his help.

'Well, that's what you are, noobie!'

'Being noobie doesn't mean you're automatically baka…' Lamika mumbled again.

'Quite' Yumichika smiled, only to agree with her, but then he turned serious.

'I say you're a baka, cause you are!' Ikkaku turned angrily.

'I'm not! The real baka is the guy who says I'm a baka!'

'You better swallow up those words, girlie!'

'I won't. I won't stop calling you so, unless you stop calling me baka! I have a name!'

'I could care less! To me you're an idiot cause I say you are!'

'That's not a pretty good motive!'

'I don't need a motive to tell you what you are!'

As they both started a rather endless fight, Yumichika approached the Zanpakutou lying on the ground silently, without that weird strong reiatsu popping out from it.

Everything seemed to have come back to normal.

He bended over to study it closely. He then turned to the others, as Ikkaku and she were fighting verbally on who should be really called an idiot and why.

'Lamika-san?'

'Ha?!' the other two both went at the same time stupefied.

'Ha-hai, Yumichika-san?' she answered confused.

'What's your Zanpakutou's name? Did you call it up on shikai form in your mind?'

'Y-yes, I did…'

'Why?'

'B-because…'

'Because she's a baka…' muttered Ikkaku and she stroke his chest nervously:

'Stop saying that!'

He grinned, as she continued:

'Um, I always did that… it seems to obey me…'

'And what was that technique you just did now, summoning those wolves? What's its name?'

'I-it's called Wolves of silvery dreams. It's one of my shikai's abilities. Why do you ask?'

'I'd advise you not to train with it in this form. At least, not while you're alone. And I'd also advise you to start calling your Zanpakutou out loud.'

'Wh-why?'

'You may have caused it to get used to certain things which it shouldn't actually. Take my advices for good.'

Yumichika smiled, in order to give her the impression that she was doing the right thing, if following his words.

'Ok, Yumichika-san… but why would I do all those?'

'Cause you're a baka, that's why!' bumped Ikkaku ruffling her hair harshly, as she started to cry "ouch!!!"

'Stop that, you baldy!'

His arm suddenly did as he was told. When her eyes lifted up to face his, Ikkaku seemed upset. Really upset…

'Don't ever call me baldy. I am not bald…'

'If you stop calling me baka, I'll stop calling you so too.'

He bended over, as he caught her skull in one hand and pushed it, while he grinned extremely dangerously mean:

'I really mean do not call me like that.'

She gulped, but said:

'O-ok… as long as you keep your promise too.'

Yumichika smiled generously, as Ikkaku set her skull loose, sniffing rather disgusted.

'Persistent kid' Yumichika said.

'Tgh! Yeah…' Ikkaku sniffed again, as Lamika patted away the dust from her clothes, smiling gently:

'Thank you!'

'N-now?!' Gora bumped stupefied, as he and the other members of this team gathered in front of their Fukutaichou.

The pink-haired little girl smiled joyfully, as she swung on the table on which she was standing.

'That's Ken-chan's orders! You better do a good job there, Gugu-san!'

'Gora…' he mumbled bored, as he knew too well that this little pink haired bitch would never remember his actually name.

'Whatever! Ok, go!'

Gora and his men sniffed unpleasantly.

'This doesn't smell too good, does it?' said one of them. 'Do we really have to deal with those Arrancar or what? I mean I thought this business was over some time ago.'

'Apparently, they want us to do a check-up' said Gora. 'We have no choice. It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it. I'll go prepare myself, you guys do the same. We'll meet here in about half an hour, ok?'

'Yeah!'

Gora took the path down straight forward, as to reach a certain training ground, where he knew he had seen someone go there.

When reaching the entrance, he went down the stairs, which led him to an open deserted place, which usually meant a different dimensional training field.

There were a girl and two of his companions training there, with their swords and often with each other.

Now, they were resting, as they also started a fight.

Well, it was more like Lamika and Ikkaku started a fight once more, since he had refused to stop calling her a baka and she had started to call him baldy.

It was restless, by the bored face of Yumichika, since he must have been fed up with their continuous fights.

Still, the girl had agreed to massage Yumichika's shoulders, so now everything seemed calm between them.

'Sugoi, Lamika-san, you're pretty good at this!' Yumichika smiled pleasantly. 'Thanks very much.'

'You're welcome, Yumichika-san.'

'Oh, Gora-san! Welcome!' Yumichika muttered smiling, as he saw their companion approaching them.

'Hey, guys! Training, huh?' said Gora rather hesitating. 'Say, um… Lamika-san? I need to speak to you…'

'Ah, alright…'

She parted from Yumichika and Ikkaku, as she went ahead, following her father.

Ikkaku grinned stupidly:

'Ya think she's his… hm…?'

'No, not quite. Gora-san doesn't look like that. But who knows…?'

'That baka…'

Yumichika rolled his eyes in the air, exhausted:

'Ya-re, ya-re…'

'Lamika' her father started, after they were furthered away at quite some distance of the other two. He put his hands on her shoulders, as he looked at her rather worried:

'I must tell you something…'

'Yeah?'

'Listen to me and listen carefully, ok?'

'I'm all ears, oyaji!' she grinned.

'I have a mission, you see. It seems this business with the Arrancar… well, you'll soon get the hang of this… we're just baits, you see. For the moment… later on, others will join too, you know… Ikkaku-san, Yumichika-san… the Taichou… and many more Shinigamis, if there's any need. But for now, I'm just among the baits. We're sent to see other traces, ok? I can't guarantee I'll be gone for long. But I also can't guarantee that I'll be coming back…'

She sniffed:

'You'll come back, I know it!'

'No, you don't! Just listen, Lamika… about your Zanpakutou…'

'What about my Zanpakutou?'

'Ever since you were born… see, whenever a child is born in Soul Society, it immediately grabs reiatsu, from their parents, from the environment… you get the picture, right?'

'Hai…'

'When I was born, I had the perfect reiatsu for a future Shinigami. I didn't just become so because I wanted it. My dad and my mom sensed that I was pretty good at controlling my reiatsu and doing all other stuffs, pretty adultish for my age, you see…'

'Souka…'

'… but for you, Lamika… it was… it was different…'

He sniffed, as his eyes fell down, sadly.

'Toush'ta no, oyaji?' she asked confused.

'Lamika, I only wanted you to be a Shinigami be you have too much reiatsu… to become a soul reaper means to have a least way of controlling it, you see…'

'Wh-what do you mean I have too much reiatsu…oyaji…?'

Her father rolled his eyes in the air, as he tried to think of a better way to explain this to her.

'Lamika… what did I tell you when you were a child, on your 8th birthday?'

She startled, as she looked at him.

'Sisue… y-you told me… that my strength may as well hold up the entire sky and earth and seas…'

'Then picture Soul Society a part of the earth… what do you get then now?'

She startled, this time rather frightened:

'S-sisue…'

'That's how great your reiatsu is… you may say that you have the possession equal to a Taichou's, if not even more… I sensed that since the day you were born. I only forced you to become a Shinigami because I thought that being the bearer of such a high power, you might not be likely to control it perfectly. Shinigamis are used to controlling their reiatsu. Maybe being a Shinigami makes you control a bit of your reiatsu, too. At least a bit of it, if not entirely… do you understand me, Lamika?'

She rested there rather shocked, but pulled herself fast, as she muttered softly:

'Y-yeah…'

'Alright then… now, about your Zanpakutou… it is a part of your soul. Through it, you may also control a part of your reiatsu. But this is just indirectly. That is why, at times, your Zanpakutou may try to take over… you mustn't let it do that. You must surpass it and show it who's the real master. Do you understand, Lamika, you must never let your guard down!'

'H-hai…'

'Never, do you hear me…? That's why I wanted you to the 11th Division. I want to keep an eye on you and your Zanpakutou!'

'And why are you telling me these right now?'

'Because I'm going off, further away from you and I need to know that you will be safe during my absence.'

She kept quiet for a few minutes. In the end, she smiled, adding:

'I'll be fine. I have Ikkaku-san and Yumichika-san to help me.'

'Souka… all right then, Lamika. Be a good girl now, and keep my thoughts in mind, be careful. Don't let it take you over.'

'Yes, oyaji! Good luck to you in your mission!'

'All right. I love you, Lamika… you know that, don't you?'

She stopped, with her back against him, as she had turned so since he had got up the stairs. She didn't make any move, as she answered back softly:

'I love you too, dad…'

He smiled, and then continued on ascending the stairs.

As she had continued training for the next few days, with her father still on his mission, her light and rather indifferent way of being wasn't so rude now, that Yumichika was training with her, whilst observing her weird sword.

Everything seemed to be ok, for the next few days, as a new week passed. Her missions were doing well, and it appeared that she had been passing to a higher seat.

She still couldn't get along with Ikkaku, as he continued on calling her a baka, and she continued on calling him baldy back.

But this nice and vivid situation couldn't last forever though. It was due to a day, which had destructive powers that her life began to change radically.

It was on the 11th of the 11th month of the year. It was her 15th birthday.

No one bought her anything, as she hadn't told them when her birthday was. She was just happy she had been left alone to train all by herself.

It was early in the morning, when she had decided that to happen, and it was still that her father was missing for a month.

It was said they were still on mission.

She was smiling rather sleepy and bored.

She hadn't hoped for someone else to be there, on her training ground, but it was.

Ikkaku was resting under a tree, slightly snoring his day out, probably because again, he had nothing to do for the moment.

He was half naked, and he smelled like sweat, which meant he had probably spent the night training on this ground.

She didn't wake him up, but smiled rather amused and then backed up to train.

She got out her sword and letting it bathe under the artificial light of the training ground, she approached her lips and whispered the katana's name.

It rapidly took the shape of its shikai.

She again whispered her well-known (just for now) technique, summoning 12 wolves again. She smiled and murmured:

'Hey, guys… nice to have you back…'

'Just one sec there, girlie!' she suddenly heard a voice and turned to see who it was. It was Ikkaku scratching the back of his head:

'Didn't Yumichika tell you to stop training by yourself?'

'N-no, not really…' she tried to fool him.

Ikkaku got up on his feet and planted his Zanpakutou on the earth, as he then approached her and grabbed her skull, while pressing it:

'You're a baaaaaaaaaaka!!! He did say that, you can't fool me! You're gonna do as you're told, baka-noobie!'

'I'm not a baka!'

'Yea, you are! You never listen, baaaaaaaaaka!!!'

'Yes, I do!'

'You wanna train now?'

'Yes, I do!'

Ikkaku sniffed, as he let go of her skull and watched the surroundings thoughtfully:

'You know… I could teach you to your bankai…'

She startled and watched him with curious eyes:

'Honto-ni?'

'Yeah, really.'

'How can you be able to do that? You don't have a bankai. You're only on the 3rd seat. Isn't it true that the ones who can have bankai are those who get to be taichous? Or even fukutaichous! And how come your sword can be like that?! I don't think you have a bankai, seriously! You couldn't help me and…'

'Oy, baka. Yame-te!' he sniffed rather bored and grabbed her skull again. 'Shut up, you talk too much and too lousy.'

She brightened her eyes with enthusiasm:

'So, you do have a bankai…'

'Shut up, I said!' he got annoyed.

'You do, you do!'

'Yeah, I do, so what?!'

He grabbed his arms and crossed them up at his chest slightly annoyed of something.

She muttered senile:

'Then, aren't you supposed to be a Taichou or something…?'

'Not, baaaaaaaka!'

There were a few minutes of silence, during which she breathed while watching him thoughtfully. He noticed that and he turned his confused gaze upon her:

'Whatcha looking at?'

'Nothing really… I just figured out why you didn't become a Taichou… it's cause of our previous Taichou, isn't it…?'

'Listen, here, you…!'

'Ikkaku!!!!' someone called him.

They both turned their head as, they saw a comrade of theirs running down the stairs, as he screamed panicked:

'They brought them up! The bait-shinigami! They're back!'

'They're back?!" Ikkaku burst out worried.

'Yeah, their situation is extremely bad! They're halfly dead already! C'mon!'

the man ran back up, as Ikkaku followed him. He then noticed that he wasn't at all followed. He stopped and turned to see her:

'Whatcha waitin' for, baka, let's go!'

She had remained petrified. The bait-shinigami… not fine… half-dead…?

'Sisue…' she mumbled and ran towards the stairs.

She passed Ikkaku, as her feet wildly went ahead of her, as is her body was not longer keeping up with her brain's commands, but were doing things on their own.

She saw that the 11th Division's HQ was busy ahead, bringing back half-alive Shinigami.

Yumichika was asking them different questions:

'You should have retreated!'

'We couldn't. We were ambushed!'

The injured Shinigami suddenly felt his arm being grabbed by another one, tinier and thinner:

'G-Gora-san…'

'Oh, hey here, little Kendo…' the Shinigami muttered softly.

'Wh-where is Gora-san?' she asked worried, as a lost child.

'He surely must be at the hospital' Yumichika muttered back seriously.

'I… I don't know, kendo-san…' answered the Shinigami. 'I couldn't see him, after the battle was over.'

Her head turned around, madly enough to hit others, in order to grab a glimpse of some harshly wounded Shinigami who could have possibly be her father.

'Si-sisue…'

'Lamika-san, calm down, what's the matter with…' Yumichika started, as he grabbed her arm, but she swiftly turned to her extreme right, as she saw something on a wooden plank.

She couldn't have seen him before since, he had been covered by other Shinigami.

He was lying there, restless, yet stiff, and quiet.

He had just been brought here…

She approached him:

'Si-sisue…?'

She whispered that word, as she came to face a very bruised Shinigami, with his face cut off brutally and a very deep wound at his chest. The stiff and hard bone of the hollow was still penetrating his stern, as he no longer breathed.

There were other Shinigamis who helped around, so nobody noticed her touching the dead one's face.

'D-daddy… told you that you would come back…'

'I need help here!' bumped a Shinigami.

'Me too! Help!'

she let go of the man's face and then turned away from that battle scene. She furthered herself away from them all, as she went away through the streets, in order to return to where she had left her sword.

Ikkaku yawned bored, as he kept on dragging his eyes up and down the streets, in order to find the right path.

He did, after 30 minutes of searching.

It appeared to be the most backed-up training ground in the extreme north part of the district.

The door was still open, so he descended the stairs, confident that he had found what he had been looking for.

But when he came in sight with the inside, he startled rather stunned.

Everything seemed to be demolished. The highest rocks were now resting on the ground into millions of pieces, as other trees were cut off from their roots and violently pushed away to their left sides and cracked.

On several places, the earth was cracked, as if a strong earthquake had just passed by and the wind was still blowing rather frightening, since it had appeared to be dealing with a mad-like reiatsu.

He felt it again. Shaking the atmosphere and almost swallowing all the spirit particles gathered up from around.

'What in places…?'

He descended the stairs:

'Kendo? Kendo! Hey, baka, where are you?!'

He crossed the almost completely destroyed deserted training ground, as he now approached a big rock, standing across his sight, blocking it. There was a forest behind it.

'Kendo! Ken-'

She was resting under a tree, sleeping.

It was as if she hadn't rested in all those passed days, since the bait-Shinigami had gotten back.

Her body was ravished and full of blood and scars, sign which meant she had been fighting continuously.

There were silvery wolves everywhere, resting or even playing around; there must have been a whole bunch of 30 or 40 of them. Her Zanpakutou was planted in the ground, stiff and cold, with its uncontrollable reiatsu, which started to calm down, the moment the girl seemed to wake up.

The wolves started to wither away, when her eyes were fully open.

'Ah, I-Ikkaku-san…' she muttered still sleepy, as he approached her with a serious look on his face:

'What are ya doing here, baka? All alone out here? We've been searching for you everywhere; you lost two important missions, damnit!'

'Gomen…' she rubbed her sleepy eyes.

'Don't gomen me, damnit! Just get up on your feet and head back to the HQ.'

She got her head up but only to rest it against the tree's trunk.

'Gomen, Ikkaku-san, but… no…'

'You rather stay here, baka? Fine, suit yourself, your business, not mine, baka-noobie!'

He turned away, as he rested his Zanpakutou on his shoulder.

'Please, don't call me like that… not today…'

He stopped.

She had pleased him once before, in order to make him stop calling her that way. But the way she pleased him right now was almost totally different than usual. He turned to watch her eyes. Not her face, but most importantly, her eyes.

They were sad. Sadder than usual. Moreover, they seemed to have tiny bags under them, as they were rather reddish.

'Did you cry, noobie?' he asked.

'No…'

'Don't lie about it, baka!' he sniffed and then he head back to her, as he took a seat next to her, on the ground.

'What was it about?'

'B-betsu-ni…'

'Oh, c'mon, girlie, we both know you've been crying like a baby in these days. That's what you do best, baka: you cry like a baby. Cry-baby…'

He grabbed her skull and hoped that she would get back to her normal way of being, but he was wrong. Only in this moment did he finally realize that this was serious.

'Ok, Kendo, what's wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong…'

'You can't say that, while denying it!'

'I'm not denying it!'

'Aha! Caught you!' he grinned, and she blushed.

'Told you there was something wrong. What is it? And don't make me say it 11 times, ok?'

'It's…'

'Nande?'

'Si-sisue…'

'Your dad? What about your dad? Have you been crying your guts out cause you don't know how to go and visit him or something? C'mon, it's a matter of asking permission, baka-!'

'N-no… he's… he's dead…'

Ikkaku sniffed:

'Oh, I see… well, you're not the only one in this situation.'

'G-Gora-san…'

'What about Gora?'

'… sisue…'

when she grabbed her knees and started crying again, this time covering her face under the place between her arms, Ikkaku got annoyed, as he couldn't understand what she meant!'

'Stop talking in riddles, woman! What is it?!'

He grabbed her skull and grinned at it meanly:

'Say it!'

She burst into tears and the next minute, she pushed him away, screaming:

'He was a damned bait! He was caught by those stupid hollows! He got killed!'

She got up on her feet and grabbed her sword, as she swung it in the air. The reiatsu was back again and this time it was much more fierce than before, because as she lifted it up, the immensity of the reiatsu cracked the ground again:

'He got killed!'

'Oy, Kendo! Stop it!'

She called 12 wolves again, after that started to brutally kill them, cutting off their heads, making them scream and filling her face with blood:

'I hate hollows, I hate Shinigami! Damned Shinigami! They let my father die!'

'Kendo, stop it!'

He just furthered a wolf, which got into the ax of the blade and got cut off violently, as its scream was ripped off with a flying of its head.

Ikkaku pulled out his Zanpakutou in shikai form:

'I'll fight you down, Kendo, stop it now!'

'… he said he wouldn't come back anymore! He knew it!'

She suddenly calmed down, as the reiatsu withdrew itself.

She abruptly felt weak and fainting.

'He said that he… he loved me…'

Her body was suddenly grabbed by two strong arms, as the foreign voice woke her up one more time:

'You're really tired, aren't you, Lamika-san…?'

She faced Yumichika's gentle once more, before withering away.

'Si-sisue…'

flashbacks

'You can't be serious about this…Trust me, she is not fitted to be a Shinigami, do you hear me?'

'Oh, yes, she is! Her father's doing well as being one, so she will too!'

flashbacks over

She opened her eyes, as she felt rather sleepy and lying under a warm blanket.

Her body was resting at the entrance of a large and empty room, with its doors opened wide, in order to let the sunlight in brightly.

Everything was so beautiful and warm…

Her body was everywhere wrapped in bandages and taken care of, as her wounds were to be healing.

There was somebody resting at the corner of the room. He seemed to be sleeping, although his head was held in a rather uncomfortable position, as he slightly snored.

It was Ikkaku and he was holding his sword firmly next to his hands, as if he were put there to guard her.

He must have been doing so since there was nobody else there.

'I see you're awake' said a mumbling strong voice and she turned her head to face a giant man in the sunlight. It was the 11th Division's Taichou, Zaraki Kenpachi.

'Ha-hai…'

His eyes were watching her as if he was scolding her, but he didn't say anything much.

She certainly thought that her ears would go blasting up since he would have to start screaming at her.

But something else happened: he turned away, as he mumbled:

'Na, teme… if you're alright then… you got pretty strong on this occasion. Your rotten sword got a bit out of control, huh…?'

'N-no… not really… it was… it was my fault actually…'

'I'm sure of it.'

He turned his head with a slight imposing gaze:

'Your pops wasn't a very good one. I made him a bait because he was an idiot. If you meant somethin' for him, he wasn't goin' to make you a Shinigami. Got it?'

'Ha-hai…'

'Yeah, he just got what he deserved, I guess… although, this ain't entirely ok with the others… get better and get stronger, teme! Don't let your guard down, baka…'

He turned and withered away, as she watched him thoughtfully.

She thought of how he had spoken about her father. Normally, she might have had the pride of keeping her father's memory quite clean, by stopping her Taichou to speak bad about him. But she didn't feel like doing anything of that sort. It was as if her thoughts were shouted out loud by a different voice, so she wasn't anymore supposed to feel bad of thinking like that.

Then again, it was all about what she thought. Maybe her father thought otherwise. After all, it wasn't as if he didn't care about her at all. It was more as if he had decided only the best for what his daughter needed.

She got up and let the sunlight struck her half-naked body, covered in bandages to bronze in the warmth of the raises.

It was comforting and pleasant at the same time.

'Oy, baka…'

The katana slightly touched her back and she rapidly turned red in her cheeks as she noticed that she was standing now half-naked in front of a man.

She swiftly grabbed the sheets and covered her chest, very red in her cheeks.

Ikkaku bended over and watched her frowningly:

'You ok, baka?'

'Ha-hahaaaaaaaaaaai….'

Her face was all red now.

'Seems so…' said Ikkaku light-headed and then backed up.

She lied back again and then watched the ceiling thoughtfully:

'Why are you here?'

'Taichou told me to keep an eye on you. Normally, you would have been checked up for any… well, never mind, I guess you don't know these stuffs either, so…'

'Where's Yumichika-san?'

'He's on patrolling, I guess. Nothin' special happens nowadays…' he sniffed bored.

He then turned his serious and thoughtful look upon her:

'Care to tell me why you lost control, back there?'

'N-no… not at all…' she answered careless and gave him an annoyed look:

'Teme…'

'It's a personal matter…'

'I know that, you totally went wacko back there!'

'It may have been worse, I guess…'

'Oh, really?' he asked matter-of-factly.

'Hai…'

Her eyes fell upon something stuck on the ground, sparkling in the sun-raises.

Her Zanpakutou was resting and she could hear its quietness being rather subtle, as if it were trying to say something to her.

'That katana of yours is really something, you know…' he sniffed. 'I tried to touch it and it wouldn't let me. It didn't at all let me pull it off from that spot.'

She smiled enigmatically:

'I suppose you could say that it knows who is its true master then…'

'Yeah, guess so.'

Ikkaku approached her and then took the lotus position next to her, while still watching the Zanpakutou resting under the sunlight.

'What's its name anyhow? I'm really curious' he asked.

She just watched it quietly.

Ikkaku let his gaze down and startled as he read in her eyes a rather strange feeling which she seemed to possess towards her katana. It was as if a mother had admired her son. And when looking back at the Zanpakutou, the sword seemed to have responded to its mistress with the same lovable gaze. There was something between them which made this situation very special. It was as if the Zanpakutou had more than just a name and a soul of its own.

'If I call it out loud… it may think that I want to use it…' she muttered softly.

'That's stupid!' he pointed his own sword out, by letting it rest now on his shoulder.

'It may be so, but ever since I got it, it's been like this…'

'And when did you get it? I suppose the minute you got in the Academy, right?'

'No… a month after I did so. My senseis believed I was a failure so they just let me take one which was normal and with a few power in it. But bit by bit, since I had no one with me and I was alone, without any friends, I guess I started talking to it…'

She smiled.

'I don't know why… I used to tell it all my problems… what my dreams were… how I hated being a Shinigami for the fact that I had been forced to be someone I didn't want to be… I trained with it and killed a lot of fake hollows. And when I was on mission, my team was always the one to win… not a single mission failed… it was because I knew the basis, but not the practice and my Zanpakutou knew the practice and not the basis… it unwillingly started to protect me. It would force my hand to defend myself.'

She sniffed tired:

'That katana is my friend… probably the only one I'll ever have, in order to be fully understood…'

She turned her gaze upon the ceiling:

'It always answers to my call, no matter the situation. That's why I rarely call it out loud.'

'Souka…' Ikkaku sniffed thoughtfully. 'That's a nice story, baka!' he grinned stupidly.

'You may laugh, but it's the truth.'

'I wasn't laughing.'

'No, you were grinning…'

'I do what I like with my face' he answered smart-like.

'Indeed…' she muttered tired.

Ikkaku watched her thoughtfully again and then said:

'Can you stand up, Kendo?'

'I guess so… why?'

'Call it out loud for me.'

'Nande?' she asked confused.

'Call your sword out loud for me.'

She looked at him puzzled and saw that Ikkaku was as serious as he could be.

He then grabbed one of her arms and put it around his neck, helping her to get up:

'C'mon, do this one time for me!'

It was a good thing that underneath the sheets, she had remained in her large black feet-robe, or else, she would have certainly blushed. The fact that she was standing so close to a man was making her more than just blush.

'I-Ikkaku-s-san… you don't have to…'

'I will hold you up on your head until you'll accept to call your Zanpakutou out loud, baka-teme!' he sniffed annoyed.

'Hai, hai…' Lamika mumbled softly and was drawn outside into the sunlight.

He stopped with her in front of her sword.

It was quiet and lonely around, so no one could have seen them do anything.

The forest lied next to them, and so nature felt quite at home with this particular spot.

'Here we go, Kendo!' Ikkaku sniffed again and put her back on her feet. 'Call it out now…'

Her hands trembled for some reason and Ikkaku felt that weird reiatsu again. As he watched her looking at the sword rather confused and tired, he thought seriously:

'So, as I thought, this reiatsu comes from… her…'

'I don't…' she started, but he slightly grabbed her skull again and muttered softly:

'Oh, c'mon, Kendo…'

She took a deep breath and after that answered:

'Alright…'

Her hand shook as she stretched it to grab her Zanpakutou.

She grabbed the handle and closed her eyes.

The reiatsu was overwhelming and it may have started to become an advertisement to the others. Any minute now, anyone could have come to see what was going on.

'C-cry out, Nookamitsu…'

The pale bluish powerful light drowned out from her katana and it embraced her, while backing up as sudden as it appeared.

When she opened her eyes, her Zanpakutou was in its shikai form.

'Nookamitsu?' Ikkaku asked curiously. 'That's your Zanpakutou's name?'

'Ha-hai…'

'Aha… pretty interesting.'

Ikkaku backed up, as her sword returned to its original form.

'Why is it interesting?'

He turned to her and saw her gazing at him purely confused.

'I don't know! I say that to every Zanpakutou!' he burst out rather annoyed. 'Eesh! You really need to know everything? Baka!'

He pushed her and his mistake was that he pushed her too hard. She almost lost her balance and popped out a ":wow" which could have lead her to a nasty fall.

He swiftly grabbed her arms and pulled her towards him, as this time she ended up at his chest.

The sudden intimate touch made her blush harder and she tried to back up forcedly, as he remembers that she didn't like to be much touched.

'Wow' Ikkaku bumped, the minute he felt her falling again. This time this entire weird situation was stopped the minute ikkau found himself holding a young and skinny body in his arms, with a strange reiatsu popping out from it, not so threatening.

He suddenly turned slightly red in his cheeks, as he looked around confused. It appeared as if he had done a mistake.

'Um… oy, a, baka…'

'You can let go of me now' a soft voice bumbled.

'Then you better sit down.'

'I will if you let me'

Lamika didn't feel like becoming too frustrated. She just felt tired and bored.

Ikkaku dragged her back inside the house and lied her down on the sheets, but didn't seem to remove his hands, though.

'Um, you may let go of me…'

'Yeah, I know… but your bandage got stuck into my katana's handle.

She rtuned her gaze only to vaguely see that a part of the cloth which appeared to be her bandage had stuck stubbornly to the Zanpakutou's handle causing Ikkaku's hands to sort of entwine.

'Ksou!' bumped Ikkaku nervously and started to pull away the Zanpakutou, still swearing.

'A-auch!' Lamika started, as she felt certain pain around it.

'Shut up, baka, I need to break this!'

'You're hurting me...!'

She suddenly slapped his hands and then sniffed bored:

'Don't touch that anymore, it hurts me. You're the baka here, because you insisted on grabbing me.'

'You rather had me letting you fall, baka-teme?!' he bumped stupefied.

'I didn't ask you to catch me, if that's what you're inquiring…'

'That's a very stupid answer… are you really that slow-headed, Kendo?'

Ikkaku smiled amused, but saw that she didn't smile. On the contrary, she took a deep and tired breath, as she let her head down:

'I don't think I'd care of another wound really…'

She put her hands on her back and started to pull off the bandages. The cloth was heard being torn apart, as she continued:

'Just let me be, alright?'

When she finished the sentence, she dragged herself away from his body and backed up in time to easily put herself resting on the sheets again. She covered herself with the blanket and bumbled from under the material:

'Go away!'

'Ksou, baka…'

'Stop repeating that and just leave, I want to be alone. After all, I think the Taichou will let you handle missions now, I'm ok and I'm certainly not a threat…'

She yawned sleepy and then closed her eyes, falling asleep instantly.

A few days later, Yumichika came to visit. He was free that day, so he thought of checking Lamika out, especially now that it was about time her wounds might have healed pretty well by now.

But when he arrived at the isolated house, near the entrance of the forest, he was surprised to notice that the place was totally naked. There was no one there.

The sheets that must have taken the place of a bed were nicely packed and resting silently, as the gap in the ground announced the absence of the Zanpakutou as well.

There was a weird smell in the air, as if something not so nice yet not at all bad was going to happen. The only reasonable thing you could have concluded was that Kendo Lamika was nowhere to be found in that spot.

Yumichika sniffed tired and rather not at all pleased:

'Mendokuse… I thought she might swing away pretty soon, but I hadn't figured out it must have been this soon… I wonder where she swung off to…'

It wasn't that cold today, but it was chilly indeed.

Still, it was strange how she couldn't feel the coldness at all. She wasn't at all dressed appropriate for the weather in Ningen.

She just took whatever she thought it might have been enough to keep her normal in between human beings. She was looking for someone. The fact that she was carrying a rather strange wooden-like bat on her right side of the waist, while wearing simply a t-shirt and some simple jeans in a rather chilly winter morning, it was more than enough to make her pop in evidence and make several looks turn towards her. Still, she ignored their gazes, as she was looking for someone.

She reached a kindergarten, which her mind remembered instantly and came looking for someone.

She hid behind some walls and then she forced her soul from her gigai to come out. She left her gigai resting stiff on some corner of the building, hiding there and then came back to observing the children playing around joyfully.

Out of the others, there was a boy who didn't seem to find his place among the others because whenever he tried to enter their games, the other children would ignore him completely or push him away and address him nasty words, which kept on backing him up.

He now was resting on a bench, looking rather sad.

She knew the consequences of pulling him out of there, in the circumstances where her presence might have been completely invisible. She didn't know how to speak, but yet she was determined to have a word with the kid.

She stopped in his back, without him, of course, noticing and she whispered:

'Can you hear me?'

Nothing happened so she stretched ahead and bended to his ear, repeating the question much louder this time. Now, the boy seemed to have sensed something because he slightly turned to his back confused:

'W-who's there…?'

There was nothing in his back and a few children laughed of him.

'Can you hear me? You can, can't you…' Lamika said.

The boy this time turned again, more frightened:

'Who's there? I-I can hear you…'

'Do you remember me? The Shinigami…?'

The boy suddenly raised from his seat enthusiastically:

'Shinigami? You're here?'

'Yes, on your back!'

'Wh-where are you? I can't see you?'

'I told you I can't be seen!' the girl smiled.

The boy lowered his voice and said:

'Are you on duty again, Shinigami?'

'Yes, I am. I need to speak to you… please, follow me but act as if you're just on your own, alright?'

'Hai!'

The boy soon found himself completely alone in the back yard of the kindergarten and although he might have been thinking that it was slightly weird to follow something you couldn't see at all, but simply hear, when she asked him to sit down on a bench, he did as he was told.

'What's wrong, Shinigami-san? Why did you want to speak to me?'

'I wanted to know something from you… I may ask a rather personal question, but… did someone close to you die recently?'

There was a moment of silence during which the boy started to move on his spot.

'W-why do you ask that, Shinigami-san?'

'Because I need to know…'

'Well, my mom died a few months ago. She was sick and she died. Daddy says she won't come back this time. Is that true, Shinigami-san? Is that what die means?'

'Y-yes…'

She stretched her arm and pulled him closer to her, as an embrace. Although it was a weird sight, the boy let her do that.

'You were the boy who got attacked in the park, weren't you…?'

Her question bumped like a bomb, but not with the intensity of one.

The little kid sniffed, whilst starting to cry and asked curiously:

'Were you the one to save me, Shinigami-san?'

'Yes, that was me… but what were you doing in the park alone?'

'Mom used to take me there every weekend and play with me all day. It was fun. I just thought she might come back and see me play.'

The boy yawned for some reason and decided that it was pleasant, the warmth that came from his invisible friend.

'Then that thing appeared and ran me off the entire park… I was scared, Shinigami-san… it kept on screaming about I being food or something… I was running and running and running… but you know what felt strange about everything…?'

He stopped and got up and tried to find her face in mid air. He found something nice and silky which seemed to be her hair.

'… I felt like it was mom following me… I ever smelled her…'

She startled not at all pleasant. She was aware now of one important thing. As she let her head down, leaving the boy to play softly with her hair, she breathed heavily and profound, as she answered:

'That was all I needed to know, gaki…'

'Why did you want to know about my mom?'

'Because like you, I have also lost someone dear to me… he was my father…'

Wondering around alone, in her gigai wasn't exactly her ideal way of spending her afternoon. It was as if she was skipping her duties as a Shinigami, which was impossible and rather illegal by now. First of all, she left without permission, second of all, if any hollow was around, she should have fought it. And third of all, she should at least seal deal souls…

She wasn't doing any of those. By now, she figured that some Shinigamis were here to get her and punish her for the lack of respect.

She was thinking of her Taichou's words… Your pops wasn't a very good one. I made him a bait because he was an idiot. If you meant somethin' for him, he wasn't goin' to make you a Shinigami.

'Souka…' she mumbled matter-of-factly. 'He's right… he could have refused… but he didn't…'