Jinta strolled down the park, walking with a swagger that was extremely effortless for just a child. The smile that rested placidly on his face was confident and cocky – coy. He continued to strut down the single stone-laid path, a dangerously adventurous look flitting past his eyes.
Walking alongside him was a small, shy girl by the name of Ururu. Where he was loud, she was quiet – they were opposites through and through. She shuffled quickly next to him, trying desperately to catch up but to avoid any eye contact or attention whatsoever.
Jinta had closed his eyes, humming pleasantly to the wind. And, just as Ururu was about to cry out for him to watch where he was going, he crashed into someone – a stranger.
Startled, Jinta collapsed to the ground messily without having a chance to regain his balance.
"Are you alright?" asked a soft voice that was, quite obviously, coming from next to him. Jinta recognized it as being distinctly feminine. Recognizing that, he scuttled backwards nervously.
Ururu struggled between tending to Jinta and apologizing the stranger who he had bumped into. In the end, she found herself caught in between, merely watching the two converse.
Jinta fumbled around clumsily, attempting to get up again. "Yeah, I'm alright." he replied evenly, disguising his nervousness. He hadn't really met others aside from Urahara, Tessai, Ururu, and whatever strange customers their peculiar store acquired, let alone spoken with them. In short, he had no idea how to react.
The girl above him smiled warmly. "That's good." Then, she offered him her hand. "Here," she said to him, "take it."
Slightly confused but still compliant, he held out his hand, too, mimicking the gesture. She took his hand instead and pulled him upwards onto his feet again.
"There you go!" she announced happily. "You're alright!"
He nodded dumbly.
Before he could speak and make a fool of himself, Ururu apologized to the girl quickly, fidgeting with her fingers. "I'm so sorry, Miss!" she cried out instinctively. "Are you hurt anywhere?" And, just as instinctively, she reached into her pocket to pull out a package of band-aids.
The girl laughed cheerily, shaking her head. "No, I'm just fine." She bowed deeply, introducing herself, "My name is Yuzu. What's yours?"
"Ururu," she stammered hastily.
"Jinta," Jinta offered, grinning lazily as he normally did.
Yuzu looked pleased with that. "It's very nice to meet you two!" With that, she turned around to leave, telling them, "I'm afraid I can't stay and chat, though." Despite her chirpiness, she looked genuinely apologetic – genuine, Jinta liked that word. "The Kurosaki Clinic won't run with just dad alone!" There was an awkward laugh following that.
Kurosaki Clinic…Kurosaki… The name sounded vaguely familiar but Jinta dismissed it immediately as coincidence.
Yuzu tucked a stray strand of light brown hair behind her ear, grabbing both Jinta and Ururu's hands and shaking them in a friendly manner. "I hope we can meet again sometime!"
Jinta merely half-nodded to that.
Ururu, being ever the chipper one, pitched in, still stuttering, "Yes, that would be very nice!"
Jinta continue to grin widely, finding it in himself to speak. "Yeah, I'd like that."
"Alright! Bye, then!" Yuzu waved energetically, expressing true joy for some reason, and then took off in the opposite direction.
"She was cute." Jinta murmured beneath his breath, receiving a curious look from Ururu.
On their way home, Jinta held his own hand carefully – the same one she had touched. It felt warm. Silently, he really hoped that he'd see her again soon, too.
Of course, little did they know, fate would indeed bring them together – but not in the way they would have expected.
Author's Note: Well, that was a bumbling failure. Nonetheless, this is my contest entry. I hope it was, at the very least, semi-enjoyable to read. I suppose that's all... Wish me luck!