Entry #3 – Of Work Leaves and Customer Dissatisfaction
Name: Abarai Renji
Occupation: Shin'o Academy second year student


He appeared at the doorway, later in the year than the previous. Later than Hatano Aoi had expected. That was the first thought that registered in the female tattoo artist's mind when he entered. The second thought followed quickly, when he slid the door shut again.

He had come in alone.

"Ah?" she inquired, her tone light. "Where is Rukia-san?"

The Shinigami Academy student kept his head lowered, his expression shadowed. Aoi knew she had broached a sensitive topic. Just as she was about to retract her question, the boy suddenly spoke.

"She graduated," his voice was low, a wealth of emotions bubbling beneath the surface. "The Kuchiki clan adopted her and had her graduated straightaway."

"That brat," he continued, gritting his teeth. Aoi noticed his fists clenching at his sides, fingers turning white with tension. "She even got to enter the Thirteenth Squads immediately! I-I'm..."

The turquoise-eyed girl mused for a moment, then concluded, "You liked her." Brown eyes widened a fraction at her statement. The redhead dropped his gaze, considering it. Then, slowly, he shook his head.

"I loved her." He looked up at her. "She was family, the only family I had left." Desperation was laced in his brown eyes, desperation of being understood, of being comforted. I understand, Aoi whispered in her head. She too, had lost people dear to her. She too, had been left behind by a loved one.

"What are you going to do about it, Abarai-san?"

The boy closed his eyes, frowning. "Suck it up, forget about her, I don't know. What I do know, though," he opened his eyes and his voice dropped a notch lower. "Is that I'm gonna stay out of her way now, out of her new life of happiness."

How noble, the girl mused, mildly surprising herself with a hint of remorse. Aloud, she spoke, "I assume you're here to commemorate your passing of the second promotional examination, Abarai-san."

The boy nodded, then glanced away. "It was after the second phase, when she, when she..."

"...I don't even know what I'm doing at the Academy anymore. What's the point? I-"

Enough. The female tattoo artist gazed curiously at the sorrow-stricken shinigami student for a while, before reaching a decision.

"Really sorry, Abarai-san. But I can't tattoo you today."

The boy's gaze snapped back to hers, alarmed. "Why not?"

"I just..can't?" she responded by casually stretching her arms above her, the sleeves of her robes sliding down to reveal slender limbs. "The shop closes early today, I'm afraid."

"Since when?! What about me, then?"

The girl shot him an attempt at an apologetic smile. "Come back again tomorrow?"

The boy snarled. "I can't just come back again tomorrow! I have no place to stay over for the night!"

"Go back to wherever you used to stay!"

"It's no longer there!- Hey, wait! Hatano!"

He made a grab for the girl as she ducked through the doorway into the other room, but missed. He rushed in after her. Swatting the curtains aside, he managed to take in a small, undecorated room, bathed in the evening sun streaming in through the windows before noticing the sharp point of a needle at his throat.

"The parlour is closed for the day," the tattoo artist at the other end menaced, while smiling sweetly at him. "Didn't you hear what I said?" Renji gulped. His fingers itched for a sword at his side to retaliate.

"Ye-Yes," he managed to make out, uncomfortably aware of the needle less than an inch away from piercing his skin. "I'll just head back out now. And come back again tomorrow."

"That's kind of you," the girl sang.

"Have a good day, Abarai-san."


In the morning, the redhead academy student was found crumpled against the walls of the parlour, snoring soundly. A tiny amused smile materialised on the tattoo artist's face. She stepped up to the human lump, humorously noting the drool dribbling out of his wide-open mouth. She carefully bent down, positioning her mouth at his ear.

"GOOD MORNING!"

A noise sounding halfway between a snort and a yelp broke through the boy. He gave a start, abruptly recoiling at the sight of the girl's face inches away from his, grinning. The back of his head smashed into the wall, and his hands flew up to his head as he let a few swear words fly.

"C'mon, Abarai-san!" Aoi called, too cheerful amidst the entire ordeal. "We have the whole day ahead of us!"

"Hrghh..." the redhead student managed to groan out, still cradling the bump on his head. "My tattoo?"

"Not yet!" the girl remarked brightly. "You and I are going out!"

It took a moment for her words to sink in. "Wait, what? What about your shop?"

"I'm taking a day off! And don't worry, I've got someone looking after it for me." Renji wasn't worrying, just confused at the sudden turn of events. He had forgotten how terribly uncomfortable sleeping on the ground was. That, and his head was hurting like a bitch.

"Try to catch up!" Still confused and disoriented, Renji, with a bit of difficulty, pulled himself to his feet. Further away, the tattoo artist was already sauntering down the street in a thin and worn dark blue yūkata. Running a hand over his face in exasperation, he started off after her.

Hatano Aoi gave him a quick glance as he fell into stride beside her. "Good morning."

"Uh, yeah, okay, back at you," Renji mumbled in return. This had not been a good morning. He was grumpy at the fact that he had to spend the night on the streets – something he thought he'd never have to do ever again – and he was not going to return to the academy without his tattoo. He would hate to think he had travelled all the way for naught.

He shot the female beside him a dark look, but the girl was looking on ahead. As he continued to observe her – but not, like, in the creepy way, of course – she suddenly picked up her pace. Renji watched as she ran ahead to a middle-aged fisherman, who was hoisting a bundle of fishing nets on his sunburnt shoulders as he carried a pail with his other hand.

"Oji-san! Let me help you with that!" The ebony-haired girl bunched up the sleeves of her robes, before taking over the heavy pail from him.

"Oh, Aoi-chan!" the man broke into a smile. He was missing a front tooth, Renji noticed. "Long time no see!"

The tattoo artist was carrying the practiced smile that she used with customers. "How have you been, oji-san?"

"Same ol', same ol'," the man laughed, pressing down on his straw hat. Renji caught sight of something inked onto his bicep. They walked to the edge of the waters, where a dingy fishing boat was waiting. By the time they had settled the equipment down and walked back, Renji was waiting for them there.

The fisherman spared a look at him, his gaze flying to the ink on his forehead.

"One of yours?" the fisherman asked the tattoo artist, raising a thick eyebrow.

"Yes," the girl responded. "This is Abarai Renji."

"Renji, huh? That's a pleasant enough name." The man chuckled, his tanned face creasing up like a wrinkled flower. "You're in good hands, Abarai-kun. She was the one who gave me this, after all." He flexed his bicep, well-toned from the years of doing his line of work. Upon closer inspection, Renji realised that the tattoo he saw before was that of two fishing forks, crisscrossed to form a cross.

Renji nodded, pretending to agree with what was said about him being in good hands, as the man said he had to leave for the day's fishing trip, and how he hoped his catch would be better than the last, before bidding them both goodbye. He watched as the fisherman walked back to the riverbank, before setting off in his small boat into the waters.

"Kasagawa Shinichi," Aoi said quietly, almost startling him. "His beloved younger brother drowned in this river during a fishing trip. He has been searching for his brother in the river when he goes fishing ever since."

Renji stared at the girl, who was still gazing solemnly at the river. "Er, why are you telling me this...?" Aoi turned and started walking off in another direction.

"Next one, Abarai-san."

The 'next one' was a fruit vendor, who was in the midst of setting up his stall for the day. Renji remembered him as the one with the crippled leg – someone that he and his friends back in the days would always take advantage of due to his limited running capabilities. The redhead hung back a bit as the girl approached the stall, wondering if the vendor would recognise him as one of those pesky brats that had probably run away with three month's worth of fruits accumulative. But as the man's gaze shifted past Aoi to him, there was no sign of recognition.

"Madoshira Ryō," Aoi had whispered, in the same way. "Tried to escape to the Seventy-Seventh District, once. But was caught by the police force over there with no legal documents on him. Beaten half to death and thrown back here. His leg hasn't been the same ever since." Renji recalled, with clarity, then, the mark on the damaged leg that he had occasionally caught sight of, when he was running away from the fruit vendor's stall. They were the characters: Freedom. He tried to grapple with the immensity of the knowledge suddenly bestowed onto him.

They continued after that, and the tattoo artist brought him to even more places around the town, to even more people. At each person, she would stop and introduce him or her and the story behind them. Each one, without fail, bore a tattoo on his or her body.

"Shūgo Kotare. Mother passed away when he was young. Father took to physically abusing him until one day, he decided to retaliate and struck back. The father ended up dead..."

"Nimasa Hana. Forced into a marriage before she even hit puberty. But her husband was an abusive man so she ran away from his house one night..."

"Kobayoshi Izuki. Born an orphan, but was taken under the wing of another, older, orphan who became his 'big brother'. Witnessed the death of his big brother one day when..."

Renji had stopped trying to ask her how she managed to recall all these after a while.

They stopped by at a small, run-down house. "This is our last stop," the female announced. Renji waited for her to substantiate, to introduce the story, but she didn't say more, gazing into the house with brooding.

After a period of silence, Renji remarked, "I don't see anyone with a tattoo around here." It was true. Save for two children in the yard, there was no one around, at least from what Renji could see.

"That's because he's not here," Aoi breathed out, her eyes soft with sorrow. "Toshigawa Reizaki. Successfully enrolled into the Shin'o Academy. Left his family to become a shinigami and hasn't been back to visit ever since."

Renji felt heavy in his chest. He felt as if there was some unspoken connection between him and Toshigawa Reizaki, but he didn't know what. He didn't know what to say, to think, either. The ebony-haired girl beside him was still for a moment, before turning her back and leaving. Numbly, he followed.

They walked down two streets back towards the parlour, before he spoke again.

"Hatano..."

The ebony-haired girl looked back, and saw the redhead had stopped, his head bowed in deep contemplation. "I have a theory." He raised his head and caught sight of her turquoise eyes watching him closely, before hastily continuing, unsure of why heat was flooding into his cheeks. "The reason you brought me out today, to see all these people with their tattoos...was to remind me, wasn't it? Of my own story, of my own purpose of getting the tattoos. Though I'm still not sure why...But I think...I mean, there isn't any other explanation..."

"Abarai-san," the girl cut him off, her tone serious. "You actually think a lot more than you look."

The insult took a moment to sink in. "What, what does that mean!" Seeing the girl's face relax into a humorous grin, he lowered his voice again. "So, is it true?"

"Who knows?" the girl stretched, turning again so that her back was facing him and he could see the long ebony tresses stretching to her slender waist. "I myself didn't really know why I brought you out either, I just felt like it so I did. It was a whim."

"Wait wait wait." Renji couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You mean you dragged me around town the entire day, on a whim?"

"But it achieved something in the end, didn't it?" Amusement broke out over the female's face as she spun around, then her expression turned serious. "What I did know, though, was that I couldn't tattoo you yesterday, Abarai-san. Because you were too consumed by grief over the loss of your friend, you lost sight of why you were even getting the tattoo in the first place. There is no point in getting a tattoo, marring your skin permanently, for a purpose that you no longer believed in."

While she spoke, her electric eyes had stared right into his, serious and penetrating. Now, as her words ended, Renji lowered his gaze uncomfortably.

When he raised his head, he stated flatly, "You're weird." But your words make sense.

The female laughed, turning back again as she resumed walking. "You're the masochist here."

They continued their leisure pace down the street, before they reached a cross-junction, then turned. Renji's breath caught.

The road opened out to the river that ran through Inuzuri. Granted, on most days, the river was murky and polluted with a town's worth of waste and grime. But at some times of the day, evenings especially, the way the twilight struck the water surface made it shimmer with a subtle shade of gold.

Already, Renji could feel waves of childhood memories threatening to flood into his mind. He faltered, his mind struggling to come up with something, anything, that could distract him.

"Why, why did Horiyko-san choose to have these tattoos?"

His voice came out slightly panicky but Aoi appeared not to have noticed, not looking back as she prepared her response. "Because..."Her voice sounded small, distant, even though they were just a few feet apart.

"Because, every time she had one of her...achievements, a small part of her dies. So she got herself tattooed, to let the ink fill up the holes left behind."

Her answer left Renji with a lot more questions to be answered, but for a start, he needed to confirm one thing. "She," he repeated.

"Yes." Now the tattoo artist peered back over her shoulders, and he caught wariness in her eyes. "She."

"But I don't get it," the redhead pressed on. "Why would a small part of her die every time she accomplishes something? Shouldn't she be proud?" The ebony-haired female didn't answer, looking forward again.

"Now let me share my theory, Abarai-san," she finally said, after a long while. "I don't think the only reason you want those tattoos is for them to serve as mementos of personal accomplishments. You are using them as a statement, too. A statement to the nobles in the academy that you are not one of them, that, unlike them, you fought tooth and nail your way into the school from Inuzuri, that they have nothing on you. Am I right?"

Renji was stunned at the girl's depth of perception. "Is it wrong?" he asked in a low voice.

He stopped abruptly as the girl in front of him halted as well, before she spun around, fixing him with a queer look. "No, not at all!"

"To be honest," she continued softly, the shadow of a smile on her lips as she gazed into the setting sun. Her blue eyes reflected bits of silver. "I think it's a great reason."

Renji couldn't help himself. The scene of another girl flashed briefly across his mind – a diminutive, violet-eyed girl knee-deep in the water, holding the river flowers to her nose as she smiled serenely.

"Anyway," the ebony-haired girl was now saying. "You really are a lot more thoughtful than you look, Abarai-san." The shinigami student bit back a growl about how, again, he did not appreciate the implication of her words, but something else slipped out of his mouth instead.

"It's Renji."

The girl stopped and turned around to look at the boy again, who had glanced purposely away, suddenly awkward. "Ju-Just call me Renji."

Her turquoise eyes shot him a strange look. "Okay. But that doesn't mean you can call me by my first name too, you know."

"Huh?" the boy exclaimed. "Why do I still have to address you formally?"

"Because you're my customer, and I'm the shopkeeper. So there."

"Shouldn't it be the other way round?! Hey! Don't just walk off! Hey, Hatano!"

"C'mon! Don't you want your tattoo?"

"Wait, you're gonna give me my tattoos? Like, now?" The redhead nearly stumbled in his haste to catch up with the girl, who had taken off and was now running ahead, laughing. "Wait!"

"Hurry, before the shop closes!"


Hatano Aoi remained at the counter, long after the redhead customer had left. Eventually, a silhouette emerged from the next room and joined her.

"So, what do you think?" the ebony-haired girl asked, propping her chin onto the table with her hands. The figure beside her sighed.

"You know I hate shinigamis."

The girl hummed, acknowledging his comment. "He seems okay, though. They both did."

"And then she went on and abandoned him. Sounds familiar to you?"

The tattoo artist stopped, purposely diverting the topic. "You've been holing up for long enough. How did looking after the shop go?"

"Same-same." The figure released another sigh. "Just...don't fraternise with that guy excessively, nē-chan. I would hate to see you get hurt again." The girl smiled, warmed with the other party's concern.

"I won't."


Not supposed to be doing this but...Anyway hope this chapter gave the two characters more interaction time. Lots of plot (and background) left to unfold!

Feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated!