Penny was ready. She had bided her time suffering in the slums of Rukongai as early as she could remember. Her name was what her last owner had paid for her. She had suffered physical and emotional pain along with all the indignities of slavery. She realized she had power when she was young and decided to hide it away from the world until she had enough to liberate herself for a better opportunity.
The rumors of a new academy began to surface, and she knew it was her opportunity at freedom and a more normal life. Not that she really understood what normal was, but she knew she could live with less pain.
One sunny afternoon her owner entered the hut in which he kept her chained. "Penny, time for my breakfast. Time for my morning delight!" He grinned at the thought and it faded when he saw the chain piled on the floor, but no Penny. How'd she manage that? Was his last thought.
The young girl with a messy short black bob exited the hut, mud smudged on her face. There was a small splatter of blood she wiped away from under her large dark sunken eyes.
She could've been a pretty girl, but the abuse she had endured had left many scars. The man with a knife fetish was the last owner, and after he did his work it left her face lopsided. One of her eyelids drooped and the lower lid showed the pink underneath. Despite this her vision was still excellent. The corner of her mouth on that side dipped low, but it made no difference to a girl who never knew smiles nor laughter.
There were other marks along her scalp, and one in particular healed poorly leaving a long thick pink scar that interrupted her hair. It dragged from the base of her skull, up and over to her forehead. It dipped down, like a small dribble of pink wax onto her forehead. She generally combed her hair and parted it on the side to cover the line. She found it distracting as it was the final blow she received before being left for dead. She woke in a new place, nursed back to health by a man she thought to be kindly until she was healthy again. Then he raped her. She learned never to trust adults after that.
Her body was crisscrossed with burn scars and old knife wounds. She was missing a couple fingernails from her first master who wanted to test discipline methods. Despite her ragged appearance she was strong and agile. Despite her gnawing hunger she had strength to go on.
She left the hut and the body of her last owner behind then began to wander. She walked day and night into and out of different neighborhoods. There were no districts in Soul Society as of yet. It was still just a collection of neighborhoods, villages, and cities. She was he heard others talk about her appearance and realized she was dressed shabbily.
One day she realized she was outgrowing her slave garb and her tunic was indecently short. She took a turn off the road hearing the sound of running water. She didn't like being dirty, and went down to stream edge, pulling off her tunic on the way. She splashed into the water and swam until she felt clean. She was naked as the day she was born but when she was submerged in the moving water she didn't care. She was alone in the world of nature, floating, listening to the birds chirp.
Then she heard some other sounds. A foreign, almost alien sound to her. Two young women were giggling. Penny stood from the water and walked to the edge. She had no shame about her nakedness in the forest but was suspicious of the young ladies. She stealthily made her way to the tree line and watched them. Curious, she stepped forward and clumsily snapped a twig, and it was loud. The girls stopped in their tracks. Penny stood up, unafraid of being seen. The girls were dressed finely in Penny's eyes. She wanted one of their colourful yukata. She was going to take one, and murder for it if she had to. Life was cheap to the wild child.
The girls screamed at the sight of the mutilated naked creature staring at them and ran off, screaming all the way.
Just then an old woman shuffled down the road, to investigate the screams. Penny crouched down. She did not trust adults. Adults beat her, cut her, burned her, bought and sold her. Adults were not to be trusted.
The old woman looked around and saw Penny, hiding unsuccessfully behind a bush. The old woman only took a few steps towards her, but it was enough for Penny to feel threatened. She backed up, slipped on some wet leaves and slid backwards tumbling back down towards the river. Her leg scraped along a low hanging tree limb along the way and opened a big gash on her leg. She cried out in pain and was covered in filth again.
She was dazed from hitting her head and rolling downhill. Penny realized she was losing a lot of blood and tried to crawl towards the water to clean her wound and summon some spirit power to help. Unfortunately, her body was weak from lack of food, and now blood, and she passed out.
*************
Elsewhere in Soul Society a young woman by the name Yachiru slashed her lastest victim and relished testing her blade after having the hilt rewrapped.
An adolescent Shunsui Kyoraku was eying the first girl he had a crush on across a busy dusty street. He ran a hand through his unruly hair and said "Okay guys. I'm going to talk to her!" His elder brother and a couple friends gave him encouraging pats on the back and shoulder.
A dark haired Yamamoto looked on from a nearby window behind the boys with a smirk and a chuckle. The Soul Society run by Shinigami was slowly becoming the vision of his. After keeping his eye on Shunsui and was sure he crossed the street of horse drawn carriages and the throngs of people safely, Yamamoto returned his attention to the planning documents on his desk. He often poured over them, trying to perfect his idea. He would sit and look at the tree of lines each representing squads in the hypothetical group of enforcers. He felt he was finally there and he nodded in approval.
In a rural area, in an ancient noble house of Kuchiki a young man named Ginrei was committing to his first wife during a san san kudo ritual.
In the coming years they would all be drawn together.
*************
Penny came to in a clean, warm, and dry environment. Her wound was dressed, and the old woman sat in the opposite corner of a very small thatch roof hut.
A modest fire was going in the hearth in the center of the room, and vegetables were simmering in a cast iron pot. The wrinkled grey-haired woman appeared to be a gentle, well fed, kind old lady. She was darning a sock when Penny came to.
She noticed the girl waking almost right away, as if she had been waiting. "Oh! Dear, you are awake! Thank the Spirit King!"
Penny sat up and looked down. She was wearing a simple maroon yukata. She touched the fabric and noticed it was stiff, as if new. What will I owe her for this, I wonder?
The old woman toddled forward. As she scooped some of the hearty stew into a well-worn bowl she said "You took one nasty fall. But I was able to staunch the bleeding quickly. You'll be weak for a few days, but you should be fine."
Penny nodded.
"That's when you say thank you dear. Who raised you? Wolves?" she chided gently with a laugh.
Penny only stared at her. She is fattening me up. She it's going to sell me to someone. But I can't resist the meal. I need strength. Gods I'm so hungry all the time.
The old woman then handed the bowl to Penny. "Eat up dear… you…"
She is staring at me. She is gauging my worth. Penny hesitantly took the bowl and began to pour the contents into her mouth.
"I was teasing, but you really were raised by wolves! This is how you eat properly! In polite company" and she handed Penny chopsticks. They were red lacquer and very pretty.
Penny had been threatened by a pair once. The man told her he would poke out an eye if she stepped out of line again. She still had her two eyes. She gripped them in her hand like a dagger, uncertain how to use them.
The old woman observed Penny. "Sweetheart…" her eyes are full of sorrow, "Who are your parents… have they done this to you?"
"No" was all Penny could say.
"No they haven't? Ok, who are they?"
Penny shrugged and dug into her bowl. She stopped asking who and why a long time ago.
Over the following weeks it became apparent Penny had come from nothing and was basically feral. She was only aware of society and not particularly keen on joining it, and while she was sharp and understood language, she did not speak much. She couldn't. She had rarely been allowed to do so.
At a mere 110 years old, Penny knew too much about adult life. You could see it in her eyes. The old woman taught her over the course of a few years simple things like how to comb her hair instead of sheer it off, table manners, and basic greetings. There were bigger lessons such as the old woman was safe to talk with, and what Penny looked like. She had seen her reflection in the river many times but the old woman told her others would treat her different because of her appearance.
"It's nor fair, it's not right, but it is true" said the old woman as she combed Penny's hair with an ancient boxwood comb.
Penny had noticed the strange mix of things in the hut. The old woman was poor but could make ends meet selling whatever vegetables and fruits she managed to grow. She had not been born a farmer, nor brought to Soul Society poor. Her parents had been wealthy aristocrats who lost their fortune. She had managed to hold onto a few fine items to remind her of the good times. "It's important to groom yourself well, Penny. A girl with a face like yours will be judged very harshly, the least you can do to combat their cruelty is keep clean and neat."
Which Penny did, almost compulsively so.
The years passed by and Penny learned something new every day. The old woman had not let go of her aristocratic and very polite ways and she taught Penny how to stand, how to talk, walk, and how to move about in the world with natural grace. She also taught her to read and write and Penny grew a fondness for learning.
Penny never let go of her feral desires to survive, nor her lust for power to defend herself, but she did accept that the lessons on social behavior, and especially the etiquette, would serve her well.
She grew into a young woman and the combination of wildness and grace gave Penny a very eerie and frightening aura. When the girl looked at you she stared through you and because of the destruction to her face she was unreadable. It was like looking into the eyes of a wild animal. She kept her spirit power in check, but barely. The old woman was not sensitive to such things and never knew the power Penny was developing in the darkness of night.
Penny made a habit of quietly learning what she could about her spirit power and was pleased with her own progress. One evening she said to the old woman "I want to go to the Yamamoto Dojo."
The old woman shrieked and then laughed "You? Sweet pea, no. No No No. They won't take you" she said.
Penny continued to chew until she was done. Her straight, black hair, pinned back neatly in a bun, shined even in the firelight. It had been combed in an elaborate manner to cover her scalp scars. "Why not?"
"Do not speak with your mouth full, dear" chided the old woman. "Because, you have no spirit power and we know you are physically too weak."
Penny was tiny and wilted from malnutrition. Her skin was an odd grey, an effect from a spirit fever that poisoned her blood and tried to take her when she was little.
We'll see about that thought Penny, politely resting her chopsticks on a porcelain rest.
"Plus sweetie, I need you here. You help so much on my little plot of land and it's better that ladies stick together. You don't want to become part of that kind of group."
Penny's inner fire raged. I will leave this place and go where I want. And if the old woman gets in my way I will turn her to dust.
"Hank would be very sad if you left" added the old lady before politely holding her own rice.
"I don't like Hank" said Penny soft and quiet. Her wide grey uneven eyes stayed cast down. She slipped a bit of rice into her mouth and chewed slowly.
"I don't understand why. He is neighborly, helpful when we need a strong hand, and not bad looking" advised the old lady.
He looks at me like the slave owners. He wants to hurt me, maybe like they did. She said nothing but chewed. They think I don't know. That I don't realize they do not have my best interests at heart. Adults are not to be trusted. I have not forgotten.
Only two days later Penny was pulling weeds in the small garden behind the hut and a tidy tool and supply shed next to the hut. She realized she had forgotten a bucket to put the items in. These radishes are something. We'll get quite a price for them at the market. She hopped up and scampered towards the shed.
Penny halted. She was about to round the corner but heard Hank and the old woman chatting. She was just going to walk to the shed a different way to avoid Hank when their words caught her ears.
"When do I get her?" growled the hulk of a man.
"Calm down, Hank. She isn't a mule. She is a young lady. A bit more complicated" replied the old woman, trying to whisper.
"I think a mule might be easier and cheaper. I said I would buy her, what's the hold up?" he grunted.
"She has this idea that she can join that silly dojo so I don't want her running away on you. I just have to make sure she has let go of the idea."
"What dojo? I told you it would 've been bad to teach her to read. She picked that up too quick."
Penny had predicted it, but it still hurt to hear. The old woman had been kind, but for exactly the reasons she had expected.
It's time thought Penny.
Penny walked around the corner and saw the two of them. They knew she heard. "Can we help you, my dear?" asked their old woman trying to salvage the situation.
Penny looked at Hank. He took off his hat and nodded at her. The three of them stood between the tiny hut and worn out shed. "I heard you."
As the two adults shifted on their feet and exchanged suspicious looks Penny walked up to Hank and put her hand on his chest.
From beyond the little hut came a large puff of ash, and then a muffled scream from an elderly woman.
Penny looked at the woman, frozen in her last agonizing moments of death. Every detail of her expression preserved in ash, leaving her clothing untouched. Adults are not to be trusted.
A breeze came along and blew the old woman's ashes away. Penny entered the hut, packed up all the cash the old lady had, along with what small items she knew to be valuable and headed to the new Shinigami Academy.
Penny arrived at the small collection of buildings known as the Yamamoto Dojo in the fall. She walked along the outside wall of white plaster topped with red clay tiles. She heard the boisterous jeering of grown men sparring in the courtyard and swallowed. You can burn them up. Youth can defend yourself. They are no longer the roaming band of murderers led by that bearded man. They are students and you will be one too. You are powerful. You can fight them.
Penny was about to turn into the yard when she heard an eerie but almost kind voice "You want to go in?" The leaves were red and tumbled about the street. Penny turned around and met the kindly gaze of a very very powerful woman. "I am Yachiru" she said. "And who might you be?"
Penny felt for a moment she had miscalculated this move. She looked at the legendary killer and knew her reputation. She took a subtle breath to calm her racing heart. "They call me Penny."
Unohana nodded and with her voice more serious she said. "Go on, Penny. No more hesitating."
Penny glanced downward for a moment and saw a large gash on the woman's chest. She felt a bit of kinship to this woman, wild inside like herself. She didn't trust her, but she understood her. "Yes, Yachiru-dono" she replied and entered the school.
Penny walked into the courtyard and there was an interesting mix of mostly young men, wearing blue and white kimono, and the young women wore red and white kimono. Penny was a child while the others were young adults. Everyone stopped to gawk at the well-groomed, but gruesome girl who arrived.
There was a table across the courtyard where a few young men sat. One with short white hair that stood out to Penny instantly. He seemed a bit weak, but warm. He did not stare at her but had a half smile that appeared to cautiously welcome her to this new place. Next to him was a fair skinned man with unruly dark brown hair who looked at her with curiosity. He looked at her and Penny tried to find something else to focus on. She could not pin down what he was thinking, but she could tell immediately he was not at all hostile, but very shrewd.
A burly man with a bushy grey beard approached. "This is no place for beggers, little girl."
Penny felt fire in him, similar to her own. She decided to reveal her fire, just a little, to them. She raised her eerie grey eyes and used her spirit force to shove him back. She didn't say anything but looked him deep in the eyes. The man saw flames there and then it was gone. "I want to learn" was all she said.
The bearded man experiencing a rare moment of humility sighed and said "And so you will. I am Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni and this is my academy."
She bowed respectfully, and he led Penny inside.