Summary –

What is it like to lose the beauty in life? Yumichika Ayasegawa knows the meaning of beauty, as we know, but he hardly knew it as a beginning soul in Rukongai. Awakening in a different world – a dead world – has more magnificence than he knows when he meets a strange little girl.

Warnings –

Some sadness, some happiness, all adds up to some sappiness, and First POV.

A/N –

Well, here's another story from little ol' me. I believe this should be a really sweet little story; it incites more of Yumichika's view, than our OC, and shows (my opinion) of what caused him to be so narcissistic. Plus, you just have to love an innocent little kid's view on things. :3

There was a soft muttering; a voice. It was close, and seemed to be the same tone. Whomever this voice belonged to, they were talking to them self. The words were a bit hard to depict, but in accordance to its slightly high-pitched tone, I was able to convey it to be feminine.

"Yare yare1…" The voice grumbled to itself. Judging by his gruff tone, it seemed to be aggravated. There was a slight crackling sound. Something warm licked at my legs; a fire. There was a sudden distraction; a new sensation in the air – an aroma of some sort. It was sweet, yet a burnt bitterness clung to it. Instinctively, I felt my mouth water. The organ that was my stomach sensed the food that was nearby. The hollow emptiness churned the very dust that it collected. I needed to let whoever this person nearby know that I was here. Just to let them know that I was there.

"Ungh…" I had to question myself what just escaped my mouth. Words were difficult to form. I stayed where I was, straining to listen for any changes. I didn't want to open my eyes just yet. I wanted to gather as much information of what was around me. There was no change; the voice simply continued to mutter to itself. There was another soft crackling in the air and the scent grew. I felt my stomach about to crawl from my throat to leap at the food. I did what I could and lightly gasped. This finally caught the person's attention.

"You awake now?" asked the soft course voice. It was suddenly difficult to portray this person to be feminine. The tone was now a bit lower and deep.

This person was expecting a response. According to my closed eyelids, the tint of red that signified sunlight vanished; the person was in front of me. I didn't want to open my eyes just yet. I slowly formed the words in my mind.

"Where am I?" My mouth was dry and tasted of dirt. A small sound echoed in the air. A chuckle.

"I knew it!" Now the voice was high pitched. The tone was of success. "I knew it. That's why I didn't give up on you just yet." The response hardly answered my question. I tried my best to keep my mind off the riddle they exclaimed.

"Where am I?" I repeated myself, trying to cleanse the taste of dirt in my mouth.

"Somewhere where nobody wants to be, believe me." The voice finally registered my question, and held a solemn quality. But there was a hint of lightness somewhere along the sad line. Hope, I figured.

Curiosity picked my mind. I wanted to see what this person was talking about; this place of no desire. What made it so unsuitable? I slowly began to pull back my eyelids, but light immediately shone down. I closed my eyes once more. So painful, and my eyes itched unpleasantly. Whether I liked it or not, my eyes yearned to see the bright world once more. To see it, and its beautiful colors.

Ever more slowly, I widened my eyes and the first I was able to see was a thin looking girl. (At least my deduction was right, I hoped.) She seemed to be about my age, 11, if not, maybe younger. The clothes on her back were raggedy, and stained with dirt. The fabric was thin, from what it looked, and the sleeves were clearly uneven. One sleeve was ripped, while the other stayed intact (though the holes on the sleeve proved otherwise). Her skin was tinted with patches of brown from dirt. Her appearance was less distracting than her face. She was smiling broadly, with closed eyes. Her cheeks were a portrait of healing bruises and cuts. Whoever she was, she seemed to be the type that was prone to many fights, judging by her rough character. Her hair was surprisingly long as it touched the dirt floor as she sat; it was coal black.

"Like what you see or something?" She was staring down at me with an eyebrow higher than the other. This new look was of questioning, I knew. I blinked once as I realized something; the most fascinating feature of this girl seemed to be her eyes. Now that she wasn't smiling from ear-to-ear I was able to see that this girl had an abnormal set of eyes; scarlet.

"Ah, sorry," I muttered, registering the girl's comment. She only laughed at my apology, and turned her back to me. I wasn't able to comprehend whether her laughter was forgiving or not. But I wasn't able to think more on that as I did my best to move. My head felt like a brick weight and there was something heavy in the atmosphere. It felt like being in a dense fog.

"I don't think you should try moving just yet… There's a lot of energy walking around in the morning, so the pressure might get to you at first. I know it did to me." Another chuckle escaped her lips. I wondered what she meant about 'energy' and how she knew that I tried to get up.

"Who are you?" The words were beginning to be easier to form, now that I was more conscious.

"The name's Minikuiko2. But just call me Niku3. Boyish, ne?" The girl explained with a laugh. To me, both names were preposterous. Ugly child? Flesh? She had some really strange names. "What's yours?"

"Yumichika Ayasegawa…" There was a small high pitched whistle after I answered her.

"That's sure a mouthful," she laughed once more. It was calming to hear such happy sound.

It was time for another attempt at sitting up. Inhaling slowly, I lifted the upper half of my body and used my elbows to help prop me up. My mind swirled through the massive headache I was receiving. It felt as though someone was pushing their hand down my head, and succeeding nonetheless.

"I told you not to move, didn't I?" Her arm went around my back helping me up. It assisted only slightly, as I was able to stabilize myself and sit in a firm position. I muttered my thanks before watching her return to her business through the corners of my eyes. From what I noticed, she was cooking something. I averted my gaze ahead of me and blinked as I noticed a few people going different ways. I confirmed we were in an alley, judging by the walls that surrounded us from left to right. The people looked rather fierce with their begrudging expressions. A few of them carried around sheaths by their hips, or on their backs. I figured it was the people that walked around that made the place undesirable.

I strained my hardest trying to figure out why I didn't remember passing out. Surely from what I remember, was that I was sleeping at home, or something along the lines of that. So how did I end up in such a rugged place?

"Here." My nostrils filtered the smell of something sweet, and I fluttered my eyes as I noticed a piece of something steaming in front of my face; a potato – hot and fresh. My mouth watered, craving to taste its starchy flavor. That was another thing; why was I so incredibly hungry? My arms wearily tried to reach out for the food, but it loss to whatever pressure was around. "What? You ain't hungry?"

"No!" The sudden exclamation escaped my lips. I didn't want the delicacy to go away, not when my stomach was jabbing me from the inside to snatch it. "I just…can't move my arms." Defeat was clear across my tone, as I tried not to whimper. Moisture was gathering in my eyes, when I saw Niku pulling the steaming potato away. She tore a piece of it off with her dirt stained fingertips, and blew on the small chunk. The steam slowly danced away. She pressed the small ration on my lips, and I felt its sudden warmth. I savored the softness in my mouth and only moaned when I tasted its sweetness. A delicious sweet potato.

"Want more?"

I meekly nodded before watching another piece nearing my mouth. This time I didn't wait for it to touch my lips, and nearly snatched the portion with her fingers still holding it. Luckily she retracted her hand before it became a part of my small meal.

"Sheesh! You could've told me that you wanted to eat my fingers too, y'know?" I ignored her sarcastic comment as I slowly chewed on the mushy starch. I felt as it hit the pits of my stomach and sighed contently. I wanted more, but I wanted to keep the sweet taste cleanse the dirt in my mouth for a little while longer. I lifted my eyes and watched as she stared at me. A corner of her thin lips curved upward into a small smile. "You're weird…" She commented lightly, wearing a familiar grin. She took a bite of the potato, not bothering to take pleasure in it, as I had done. "Judging by the way you're starving could mean you have it." I heard her mutter, not quite sure whether the comment was directed to me or herself nor of what she was talking about. I saw her glance towards me and watched her smile grow. "Or so I hope."

I wonder what she meant by that…

After filling myself with our shared 5th potato, my stomach was truly stuffed. I placed my hand over my abdominal area as I cocked my head back with satisfaction. That was when I realized my ability to move my hands. I waved both of them in front of me, and side to side, simply to make sure. My confirmation was highly grateful as I stared at my hands, gripping them slowly. A laugh echoed softly, and I figured Niku noticed my small test run.

"Glad you can move again." She noted, still trying to stifle her laughter. I nodded in agreement before watching her reveal a bag made of a thick itchy-looking fabric – hemp, I suggested to myself. She packed the remaining cooked potatoes in the sack and placed it to the side. She took one look to the fire near her, and scooped a handful of dirt into her hands. She scattered it on the fire that soon gave away. She turned to face me with her back leaned against the close wall. "By now, I bet you wanna know where you are, huh?" She asked, as the flash of her previous humor vanished within a second in those scarlet eyes.

It had slipped my mind, before she brought it up. In truth, I had many questions to ask her, but it was best to start with only one at a time. She took my silence as an answer and went on.

"Right now, we're in the 80th district of Rukongai. We're going to the 79th really soon."

"Rukongai?"

"The City of Wandering Souls." Her lips curled upward into a smile, but her eyes held a much more sullen expression. The name itself confused me. And to be told that we were moving districts so soon, when I was just beginning to learn of our location. I hardly remembered the name Rukongai on any map as well. My brows furrowed as I tried my hardest to comprehend it all. She probably noticed my expression as I heard her sigh.

"Tell me Yumichika…" She started. I looked up, wondering what caused her to pause. Her head was tilted back, and her eyes were closed in a tight wince. "How did you die?"

The words took me by surprise. I blinked twice replaying her sentence in my mind.

"Die? What do you mean?" I asked, a sudden hesitance made my words slowly come out.

"You thick-headed fool. How did you die?" She repeated herself with a more aggravated tone. Her eyes flashed open, and I could swear I saw the dead fire rekindle in them. I visibly flinched from her voice, and stared at the ground.

What was she talking about? If I died, then how was I still alive? How was I still breathing? A previous quote from her replayed in my head as I felt my limp hands twitch on my thighs: 'Somewhere where nobody wants to be, believe me.' My lips trembled as I felt the food in my stomach bounce off the walls of my esophagus. I felt sick; I wanted to throw up. A shaking hand went straight to my mouth as I tried to fight the unstable ingestion.

A hand was pressed against my back, and I flinched. The movement made me lose control of my body within a second, and I immediately vomited. I coughed, as the disgusting stomach acid lingered in my mouth. My head felt light from the sickening process. Niku's hand still remained on my back, patting it occasionally in comfort.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't remember either," I heard her say in a small whisper. I didn't know what to make of it. Whether to relax me or not, I hardly wanted to believe that I was… dead. And if I was, how did I die? Was I murdered? Choked? Stabbed? How?

My body shuddered away from the vomit that mocked me on the ground, and I fell back onto my rear. I felt my back press against something; it was warm, soft – Niku. Her body was only a bit smaller than my own, but her arms were able to make their way around my chest. "I'm sorry Yumi-chan…" The small voice breathed against my ear as an unknown moisture escaped my eyes. The tears trailed down my cheeks and I felt new moisture against my hair. Niku's arms tightened around me, and shook slightly. Was it this small girl's tears against my hair? Or was it the oncoming rain that mocked my very discovery? Whatever the answer, I was unable to contain my sobs.

The phrase: 'Yare yare'in Japanese is like saying 'Oh boy!'; in Niku's case, her exclamatory is used for agitation.

Minikuiko: 'Minikui' means 'ugly' in Japanese, and when using –ko (meaning child), it means 'ugly child' like Yumichika interpreted.

Niku: flesh; meat – However, Niku is suggesting that it is boyish in the terms of katakana; 'Niku' is similar to the Japanese way of saying 'Nick'.

- I may be a bit rusty from my Japanese, so some of these notes may not be true; I suggest not using my Japanese in a case of learning. ^^;;